The line went dead. Dr Clark just sat there, holding the phone against her ear in stunned silence.
Then she leapt to her feet and raced for the door. She had to get the situation contained. God only knew what Daniel Houser had brought into the hospital, but she had a duty to contain it. She quickly headed towards the emergency department and made her way to the operating theatre.
We need to quarantine the patient.
Oh God, oh God. What does he have? His blood is all over me.
Houser was still in surgery. Dr Clark pushed through the heavy double doors and entered the theatre. The attending surgeon, Dr Bryce, looked up at her from behind his mask. Both of his gloved hands were covered in blood.
He looked at her over the top of his surgical mask. “Dr Clark? Can I help you?”
She nodded. “I just got off the phone to Disease Control. We need to isolate this patient immediately.”
Dr Bryce and his two attending nurses all shook their heads simultaneously and sighed. It seemed like something they had been prepared to hear. “Great,” said Bryce. “What are we exposed to?”
“I don’t know. They just said to isolate him and ourselves until a team arrives.”
Bryce wiped some sweat from his wrinkled forehead with the back of his arm. “Okay,” he said. “Let me get him sown up. He should remain stable for now, but I don’t see him recovering from whatever has gotten inside him.”
Dr Clark frowned. “What did you find?”
“His organs have liquefied. I knew there would be a story with this man. Let’s just hope we don’t end up in the same condition.”
“I’m sure we won’t,” Dr Clark said hopefully. “He might have been the victim of a terrorist attack. He may not even be contagious.”
“Guess we’ll find out,” said Dr Bryce. “I’ll let you know when I’m done here. You’ll be in your office?”
She nodded. “I’ll stay there until you’re ready to enact quarantine procedures.”
Dr Bryce nodded and got back to work.
Dr Clark headed out of the operating room and back towards her office. Along the way she bumped into Brad, the floor’s security officer.
“Brad,” she said. “We need to lock down this floor. Can you secure all the exits?”
Brad raised an eyebrow. “Sure I can, but why?”
“No time to explain. There may be an infectious disease in the hospital. Disease Control are on their way.”
Brad seemed worried. His lower lip was quivering. “Infectious? How infectious?”
Dr Clark sneezed.
She blinked tears from her eyes and then sneezed again. Brad’s face was drenched with her mucus. She tried to stay calm as she spoke to him, but was already losing herself to panic. “I think it’s pretty damn contagious,” she said. Then sneezed again. “We have to get this place locked up now.”
She ran off to lock all the doors herself.
Brad, however, snuck out quietly while nobody was looking. He was still wiping the doctor’s mucus from his face as he headed across the car park.
FAMILY MAN
Brad hurried across the hospital car park while trying not to cause suspicion. His instinct was to run as fast as he could, but he didn’t know if people would be looking for him.
There’s no way I’m staying in that cess pit with a disease on the loose. They don’t pay me enough for that.
Brad knew he would probably lose his job, but when he’d heard that there was something loose in the hospital, a primal instinct had demanded he flee. His stomach ached, even now, at the thought of Dr Clark sneezing all over him.
Dirty bitch.
Brad wanted to go straight home, see his wife, but he didn’t know if the hospital would try to contact him there. He also needed to work out a way to tell his wife that he had just walked out on his job.