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Episode 12:

Hurricane – Part 1


A loud crackle of thunder sliced through the once silent night sky.

Brian Littrell sat up in his bed with a gasp, his sweat-soaked hair plastered to his forehead. Brian pushed back the layers of blankets on his bed and placed his feet on the cold wooden floor just as flash of lightening illuminated his bedroom, followed by another loud crack of thunder.

Glancing at the alarm clock with bleary eyes, Brian let out a sigh and began to walk out of the room before stopping and grabbing a sweatshirt.

It was now 4:23 on a Monday morning, just a little under two hours before Brian’s usual wake up time. It had been raining almost nonstop since Saturday morning, and instead of the weather letting up, rain continued to pound mercilessly on the earth below.

Brian gave up on his battle to stay awake and trudged towards the direction of his bedroom. He had some sleep to catch up on.

+++

Two hours later, Brian again woke up to the sound of thunder. A sense of déjà vu overwhelmed Brian’s senses as he again exited his room and walked towards the kitchen.

After turning on the coffee machine and retrieving a cup
for himself, Brian sat down in a chair placed in front of the picturesque window of his home, just watching the rain continue to beat down. It was now that Brian noticed the winds had picked up considerably since the night before, signaled by the intense swinging of the tree branches in the front yard.

Brian took one last sip of his coffee and placed the cup in the sink on his way back to his bedroom. It was another wonderful start to another wonderful day.

+++

Addie Burke exited her apartment with a bounce in her step, a jacket thrown over her head to block out a large percentage of the rain.

Pushing a small button on her key ring to unlock her car, Addie quickly threw open the door and tossed the jacket inside before she entered the car, temporary hidden from the pouring rain.

As she drove through the town to get to her destination, she observed that the grocery store and pharmacy parking lots were packed, along with the hardware store, which was, for the most part, vacated of customers during the week.

Without giving it a second thought, she turned off on the next street over and drove for another mile before pulling into the parking lot of a well taken care of apartment complex, the home of her best friend, Kylie McCartney, and Kylie’s husband Josh.

Taking off in a jog with the jacket again thrown over her head, Addie barely reached the doors leading to the stairway before another strong burst of wind picked up and rustled the tree branches with severe intensity.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Addie stood in front of apartment 2-E, hand raised to knock on the door. She stood away from the door as footsteps were heard from within the apartment, greeting the person who opened the door.

“Morning, Josh.”

“Hey, Addie. Come on in,” Josh invited as he stopped by the kitchen table to take one last sip of the soothing liquid inside before emptying the cup in the sink, the coffee swirling down the drain like a whirlwind.

“Kylie is in our room getting ready for work if you want to go on in there. I have a meeting this morning so I need to get going.”

Addie nodded in response and walked down the narrow hallway towards the last bedroom on the left side and entered after announcing her arrival with a short knock on the door.

“Hey, Addie!”

“Morning, Kylie.”

“Some storm we are having isn’t it?” Kylie asked for lack of anything better to say.

Addie looked out the window and nodded. She actually happened to love storms, especially the kind with lots of rain, thunder, and lightning. But even she had to admit that this one was making her a little nervous. The winds were stronger than she had seen them in a long time, and the rain had poured down relentlessly for two days.

“Josh told me you would probably be here,” Kylie said as she turned her gaze towards her best friend.

“How did he know?” Addie wondered out loud her only answer being an uninterested shrug from Kylie who again turned her gaze to the window.

“He is a dork.”

“Yeah,” Addie agreed. “Turn around here, Kylie, I don’t like talking to your back. What is up with you today?”

“Sorry,” Kylie apologized. “I had a bad morning, and I’m just not in the best of moods.”

“Aww, what happened?”

“Morning sickness decided to visit at two this morning, and in combination with the storm and Josh’s snoring, I got no sleep at all.”

“That sucks,” Addie said in sympathy. “Oh guess what?”

“What?” Kylie asked, her curiosity being sparked by the simple question and the beaming smile on Addie’s face.

Addie didn’t answer, just placed her left had in front of Kylie’s face. “Ohh!!” Kylie said with a squeal of excitement and a hug. “Congrats!”

“Thanks! He proposed Friday night after the game.”

“Too cute,” Kylie said with a smile, taking a trip down memory lane to when Josh proposed to her and the excitement she felt, knowing exactly how wonderful Addie must be feeling.

The girls began to talk excitedly about the plans Addie had for her wedding, which she had yet to discuss with Jack in all the excitement.

“You wanna grab some breakfast down at Sully’s?” Addie asked as she walked towards the doorway.

As soon as the two best friends battled the raging storm outside and entered the car, Kylie immediately set out to find the music she wanted to listen to on the way to the small restaurant. She flipped through the buttons on Addie’s radio, all preset to various rock and pop stations.

“Whoa, stop switching the channels! Listen!”

A horrendous beeping sound filled the small car and a computerized voice came over the airwaves. The message sent fear racing through their hearts, for now they understood the uncharacteristic way in which the townspeople were acting and why the stores and streets were so jam-packed.

They both felt like idiots for not even thinking about the possibilities.

There was a hurricane coming straight for Atlantic City.

+++

“Get out of the road!” Brian Littrell roared as his brakes again squealed as he skidded to a halt. A small group of people raced across the road, for what, Brian didn’t know. He turned on his turn signal and pulled into the crowded parking lot of the grocery store that had the best breakfast sandwiches in town.

Entering the small store, Brian immediately made a beeline for the deli, grumbling as a line of people greeted him and dutifully took his place in line. Looking at his watch, he decided he could wait about ten minutes, knowing it would be best to just forget the sandwich and attempt to force down what the hospital cafeteria classified as breakfast.

As Brian got closer and closer to the clerk, he looked around. The store was very busy for a Monday morning, especially that early.

“What is going on?” Brian wondered out loud, jumping as the elderly man turned around and looked at Brian questionably.

“Did ya not hear about the hurricane, son? Everybody is getting ready for the big storm by stocking up. But you can’t stock up on a empty stomach, eh?” the man said with a chuckle and turned back around to socialize with the other people around him, the young man who knew nothing about what was going on becoming his topic of conversation.

Brian turned around and ran out of the small store, his breakfast long forgotten. His heart pounding, Brian got in his car and quickly exited the parking lot, speeding towards the hospital and hoping that no unsuspecting pedestrian would cross in front of his path.

Flipping on the radio - for the first time in days, he realized - Brian didn’t need to search far for a channel reporting the hurricane warnings and path. It was amazing how much you could miss in a period of one day of not paying attention to the radio or TV broadcasts.

Screeching to a halt again in the hospital parking lot, Brian found a parking spot and ran up the hospital entrance, not caring that he was coming in over an hour early. He knew he, along with everybody else, would be needed today. He just hoped the hurricane had other plans and would miraculously take a different route and miss them.

Wishful thinking.

+++

Holli Brunson entered the hospital entrance, a scowl permanently etched in her cold features. Soaked to the bone by the rain and a hot temper to accompany it, Holli was someone nobody wanted to mess with.

Making her way towards the conference room, Holli took in the sights around her; the ER waiting room was packed, the OR section of the hospital was virtually deserted because all surgical procedures had been called off, and staff members ran down the halls, finding things to do in preparation for the upcoming crisis.

Holli entered the conference room, and the small group immediately fell silent. Holli had called upon staff members in small groups for an overview of emergency procedures, along with anything else she thought of within that time. She allowed a small smile to grace her face - when no one was looking, of course - when she noted that all staff members she had requested had shown up, even on their days off. This proved to Holli how dedicated they were. She had to give them credit for that.

Looking around the room, she realized a large percentage of this group had not been involved in the last hurricane that swept through the area five years ago, Hurricane Cammie. She would have a lot to go over.

Twenty minutes later, the meeting was over. Holli felt she had gone over everything pretty well, considering how much she was pressed for time, making sure she made clear if anyone on staff was currently not with a patient, they were to help other members of the staff and/or help the maintenance crew in boarding up the windows to help protect against broken glass and debris when the hurricane roared through.

“One more thing!” Holli bellowed as the staff began to rise out of their seats. “I must offer this option - if any of you want to evacuate, feel free to. TIMBERLAKE!”

The yell echoed throughout the room, the young man who was trying to escape through a side door blushing in embarrassment as all eyes turned towards him. “As I was trying to say, if you want to evacuate, feel free to, but there is a chance you will not have your job when and if you return. I will not tolerate people who do a half ass job, especially in these situations. That is all. Keep safe, everybody.”

Holli finished her speech and pushed her way through the small group, exiting through the door Justin had moments before been eyeing as an escape route.

“What does she want us to do, stay here and die?” Justin questioned once he was sure Brunson was out of hearing distance.

“Just remember why you got into this profession. We aren’t here to save our own asses; we are here to help others. Quit being so stuck on yourself”

Justin spun around to give the source of the voice a piece of his mind; but stopped when he realized something.

The voice was right.

+++

“Dr. Littrell, where should I go next?” Nick asked, looking around the crowded ER. In a short time, it had turned into one of the busiest days he had ever seen, due to the approaching hurricane and the frenzied residents of Atlantic City. The waiting room was packed with people waiting to be examined, and the hallways were lined with patients, for they had run out of rooms.

“We are closed to traumas,” Elizabeth O’Brien was saying firmly to Jaela Miller. “Tell them we can’t handle any more patients right now. We’re already packed, and we’re understaffed.”

“Alright, Dr. O’Brien,” Jaela said dutifully. Everyone knew better than to cross Elizabeth when she was in one of her moods, which she definitely seemed to be in that day. Justin couldn’t blame her though, with all this going on. And he had to admit, she was doing a good job of trying to keep things organized and under control. It could have been a lot worse. And at least she wasn’t as irritable as Holli. He always appreciated Elizabeth more after a run-in with the infamous Dr. Brunson.

“Go find somebody from the waiting room to examine,” Brian Littrell told his student. “Chris is keeping a list of names. Just call whoever is next on the list.”

“Okay,” Nick said. He found nurse Chris Kirkpatrick, who was back after taking a week off of work. “You have a list of people waiting to be examined, Chris?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Chris handed him a clipboard with a list of names. Some of them had been crossed out. Nick ran his finger down the list, stopping at the first non-crossed-out one he came to. “Hannah Gregory?” he called into the waiting room.

A young woman came over to him, a little girl tagging along behind her, clutching her hand.

“Are you Hannah Gregory?” he asked the woman.

“No, I’m her mother. This is Hannah,” the woman replied, gently pulling the little girl out from behind her legs.

“I’m Nick Carter, and I’ll be examining her,” Nick said. “If you’ll just follow me…”

He led the way to an examining room that had just been cleared. “Can you hop up here for me?” he asked Hannah, patting the gurney on one side of the room. Hannah climbed up on to it and lay down listlessly. Her cheeks looked flushed.

Nick pulled up a swiveling stool and sat down on it, facing her. “Okay, so what seems to be the problem today?” he asked, looking from Hannah to her mother.

“She’s been running a fever for a few days now, and it just keeps getting worse,” Mrs. Gregory said. “And she’s been so tired lately. She hasn’t had any energy. I thought it was just the flu, but she hasn’t been nauseous at all, and it hasn’t seemed to go away. I kept her home from school today, and I’ve noticed she’s gotten worse just since she woke up.”

“Lucky you kept her home from school, huh? Saved you the trip back to pick her up. I heard all the schools are shutting down ‘cause of the hurricane.”

Mrs. Gregory gave a little shudder. “I know. Do you think it’s going to hit?”

“Who knows. But if it does, you couldn’t be any safer here at the hospital. I heard Dr. O’Brien – she’s in charge of the ER – say that Memorial and the other hospitals around here were all built to withstand even the worst hurricanes. We’ve got backup generators and everything too, in case the power goes out.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Mrs. Gregory said, though she didn’t look quite relieved.

“Well, let’s start by taking your temperature, okay, Hannah?” Nick said. He gently put the thermometer in her ear. It beeped a moment later, and he pulled it back out, frowning as he read it. “Yeah, she is running a high fever,” he said to Mrs. Gregory. “103.2.”

“It was only 102.7 before we left,” Mrs. Gregory said, looking worried.

“Okay, I’m going to listen to your heart now, Hannah, okay?” Nick put his stethoscope in his ears and gently slid the end of it down Hannah’s shirt, pressing it against her chest. “Take a deep breath,” he instructed. “And let it out.” He listened for a minute, then removed the stethoscope.

“So, how old are you, Hannah?” he asked.

“Seven,” she replied in a tiny voice.

“Wow, seven. You’re a big girl, huh? What grade are you in? Second?”

Hannah nodded, smiling a little.

“Do you like school?” Nick went on, as he wrote out a chart for her.

“Sometimes,” answered Hannah.

Nick chuckled. “Just sometimes, huh?” He set her chart down in his lap and turned to Mrs. Gregory. “Because of her high temperature, I’d like to run some more tests. It could just be the flu, since we are approaching flu season, but I’d like to be sure.”

Mrs. Gregory nodded. “Alright.”

“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back,” Nick said and left the room. He immediately tracked down Brian.

“Hey, Dr. Littrell?”

“Hey, what?” Brian replied.

“I’ve got a seven-year-old girl in Exam 5 with a 103.2 temp. Her mother says she’s had it for a few days, and it just keeps getting worse. I listened to her heart, and I heard a murmur. Do you want to come examine her, or should I page cardiology? It could be a defect or an infection or something.”

“Yeah, go ahead and get someone from cardiology to come down. I’m really swamped already,” Brian replied.

“Okay,” Nick said and headed to the nurses station to use the phone.

+++

“… again, meteorologists have discovered that Hurricane Cortney, which originated near the Bahamas, has shifted courses and is heading directly for the North Carolina coastline. In Beach, Camden, and Walter County, evacuations have just been ordered. Residents living in those counties are asked to pack up necessary belongings, as little as possible, lock their homes, and head inland. For those of you who do not want to leave the effected towns, you should take cover in designated shelters. Here is a list of these shelters…”

Addie watched the news broadcast with wide eyes as a list of shelters scrolled down the screen.

“Can you believe this?” a voice behind her asked. She turned around to find cardiologist Shannon Chung standing at the counter behind her. She, too, had been watching the news on the TV overhead.

Addie offered Shannon a grim smile. “I sure wasn’t expecting it,” she said. “We’re almost out of hurricane season, and this one came so suddenly. Usually we get more warning.”

“Yeah,” Shannon said. “So, did someone page me down here?”

“Oh, yeah, Nick did,” she replied. “He was checking on his patient last time I saw him. Try Exam 5.”

“Thanks,” said Shannon and headed to the examining room, nearly colliding into Nick himself. “Oh, there you are,” Shannon said with a laugh. “You need a consult?”

Nick explained his patient’s condition to Shannon and sent her on in to her room.

“Hi there,” Shannon to the little girl who was lying on the gurney in the room. “You must be Hannah.”

Hannah smiled shyly.

“And you’re her mother?” Shannon asked the woman sitting next to her.

“Yes. Alice Gregory,” the woman introduced herself.

“I’m Dr. Chung. Mr. Carter asked me to come down to look at your daughter,” Shannon said.

“Yeah, he told me you were a cardiologist,” said Hannah’s mother. Lowering her voice so Hannah wouldn’t hear, she asked, “Is there something wrong with Hannah’s heart? The other doctor didn’t explain why he wanted her to see a cardiologist.”

“Well, don’t be alarmed. It’s just that when he listened to Hannah’s heart, he heard a murmur, or an irregular heartbeat. It’s really common with children, and it’s not something to worry about, but with her other symptoms, it could be an indicator of something other than the flu, like an infection. I’m just going to examine her myself, get some bloodwork and an EKG, and we’ll go from there.”

+++

“Yes, baby, you have to go. It’s not safe to stay here,” Justin insisted to his girlfriend, Britney.

“No, Justy!” she cried over the phone. “I won’t evacuate, not without you!”

“I’ll be fine here, Brit. We’ve got this place hurricane-proofed. We’ll be fine. But the apartment isn’t safe. You need to go inland, wherever everyone else is going.”

“Why can’t you leave that stupid place and come with me?” she whined.

“I’ll get fired! Dr. Brunson already said that this morning during our meeting!”

“So you’re saying your stupid job is more important than your life? More important than me?” she screeched.

“No, not at all, Brit! I’m perfectly safe here, and this isn’t even about you. I want to protect you! That’s how much I love you!”

“You do not! If you loved me, you’d come home!”

“Brit,” Justin started, but she refused to listen.

“Fine then! Just stay there and die, for all I care! I hate you!” Britney screamed and hung up the phone.

“Brit? Britney? Are you there? Please, Brit, say something!” Justin pleaded.

After a few minutes, an automated voice came over the phone. “If you’d like to make a call, please hang up and try again…”

Justin sighed heavily and slammed the phone down.

+++

AJ McLean ducked his head against the wind and hurried to avoid that rain that pelted down on him as he helped wheel a patient into the ER.

“Wow, you’re drenched,” said his girlfriend, Bianca Parker, her eyes widening when she met him and the other paramedics at the door.

“No shit,” AJ said with a short laugh. “It’s getting worse out there.”

Bianca shivered and helped them wheel the patient inside. “So what do we got here?” she asked.

“Audrey Rogers, fifty-six-years-old, got trampled outside a grocery store. Complains of back and shoulder pain, looks like a dislocated shoulder,” AJ said. “Vitals are normal.”

“Okay, Audrey, we’re going to help you out,” Bianca said soothingly to the woman. “How bad is your pain?”

“It’s pretty bad,” said Audrey, her voice shaking slightly. “My shoulder…”

“Yeah, that definitely looks dislocated,” said Bianca, as they pushed Audrey into a room. “We’ll give you some medicine for the pain, and then we’ll fix your shoulder. Do you hurt anywhere else other than your shoulder and back?”

AJ, Josh, and Allison left Bianca to take care of Audrey.

“How about a quick coffee break before we head out again?” Allison suggested, shivering. It was freezing outside, and they were all soaked to the skin.

“That sounds great,” Josh replied, relieved, and AJ nodded vigorously. The three headed for the staff lounge, when AJ heard someone calling his name.

He turned around to see Howie Dorough waving to him from down the hall. “Hey, AJ!” he called.

“I’ll be right back,” AJ said to Josh and Allison and jogged down the hall to Howie. “Hey, D, what’s up?”

“Jeez, Aje, you’re soaked,” Howie said, his eyes widening when he saw AJ up close.

“Thanks, Howie, I didn’t know that,” AJ said dryly, rolling his eyes and grinning. “And how come you’re so dry anyway?”

Howie shrugged. “I’ve had time to dry out, I guess. We decided to just hang out here until we got another call; it’s nasty outside.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” remarked AJ with sarcasm in his voice. “Well, we’re taking a coffee break. You got a few minutes?”

“Well, I was just on my way up to surgery to get Rita. We were gonna head down to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat. Too bad out to walk to Sully’s. You wanna come with; you can get a cappuccino or something down there.”

“Eh, I don’t wanna be a third wheel…” AJ hesitated.

“You won’t be,” Howie assured him. “Come on, it’s just Rita.”

“Well, okay, I guess,” AJ said with a shrug.

The two men headed to the elevators, where two familiar figures already stood, waiting.

“Hey, Brian, hey Ivory,” AJ said to the couple, who both turned and smiled at him and Howie.

“Hey, guys,” said Brian. “Whatcha up to?”

“Going to get Rita and then having lunch. You?”

“We’re on break; just thought we’d head up to the eighth floor to get a better look at that storm out there,” Ivory answered with a grin.

The elevator did not seem to be coming, so AJ impatiently punched the up button again, and they continued to wait. Finally, elevator doors slid open, two nurses walked out, and the two doctors and two paramedics walked in. As the doors began to close, they heard two more voices shout, “Hold the elevator!”

AJ shot out his arm, stopping the doors and pushing them back open just in time for one of the med students (a particularly good-looking Hispanic one, AJ thought), to dart in, extending her own arm for what had to be a second med student, a tall, blonde young man, who was pushing a little girl on a gurney.

“Thanks,” the guy said breathlessly, grinning at the elevator’s occupants, while the female student giggled and released the door once the guy and his patient were safely inside. “Hey, Dr. Littrell,” he added, noticing Brian.

“Carter,” Brian nodded with a smile.

“Where you guys headed?” Howie asked them.

“Cardiology,” replied the man.

Howie hit the buttons for the second floor, surgery, where Rita worked, the eighth floor, and the fourth floor, Cardiology. “Man, this storm is sure something, huh?” the girl commented, as the elevator began to rise.

“Tell me about it,” said AJ, looking down at his wet uniform. “It just came on all of a sudden. I mean, it was storming yesterday and all, but a hurricane? I had no idea.”

“I don’t think anybody did. The weathermen didn’t even know,” said Ivory in her Southern drawl, rolling her eyes. “In this day and age, you’d think they’d be able to predict a hurricane by now.”

“I heard it shifted courses,” Howie said. “It wasn’t supposed to hit us.”

Their conversation was interrupted as the elevator stopped on the second floor, and surgeon Kevin Richardson stepped in. Howie and AJ made to step out, then realized they were blocked by the gurney the two med students had brought in.

“Um…” AJ said uncertainly, eyeing the gurney.

“Oh no, is this your floor?” the girl asked. “Nick, maybe we can just move her out and then-“

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Howie interrupted. “Too much of a hassle. We’ll just go on up to Cardiology so you guys can get off first and then come back to this floor.”

“Oh… well, okay,” said the guy, looking a little relieved.

“Hey, guys,” Kevin greeted finally, as the doors slid shut.

“Hey, Kev,” AJ and Howie both replied, the med students nodding in acknowledgement.

“What floor?” asked Howie, who was manning the buttons.

“First,” Kevin said. “I’m heading down to the ER to help. Hear they’re pretty swamped down there. All our elective surgeries have been cancelled, so there’s not much I can do up here right now anyway.”

“Yeah, they’re really busy down in the ER,” Howie said with a nod, as the elevator began to rise again. “I’ve been hanging around there, waiting for another call, and it’s been a madhouse.”

The elevator rose upward again, heading for the cardiology floor. But all of a sudden, the lights flickered, and the elevator gave a sharp jerk, sending the seven people stumbling. The child let out a whimper from her gurney, as the elevator stopped abruptly.

The eight of them stared at each other, wide-eyed.

“Um… why aren’t we moving?” asked the blonde man, looking nervously around the small enclosure.

“Did it break?” asked the little girl, her voice rising. She looked up at the med student in fright.

“It’s alright, honey,” he said quickly. “Don’t worry. If it is broken, someone will come fix it right away. We’ll just be stopped here for a little bit.”

“Oh God, Nick…” murmured the young woman, her dark eyes frantically scanning the elevator. “Please don’t say that. I can’t stand to be in elevators for too long. I get claustrophobic.”

“Oh great,” AJ muttered with a sigh.

Howie hit the button to open the doors, but nothing happened. He tried the emergency call button. Again, nothing.

“Don’t they check these things?” Kevin asked exasperatedly. “This is a hospital, for God’s sakes. Elevators shouldn’t be malfunctioning like this.”

“What do we do?” Brian asked. “Will they know we’re stuck?”

“I guess they’ll figure it out eventually,” said Howie with a shrug. “We’re probably stuck between levels. I wonder if anyone would hear us if we made noise.” To test his own question, he banged against the metal doors and shouted, “Help! Can anyone hear us?! The elevator broke down!”

They all started shouting then and banged against the walls for a few minutes, finally stopping when it became clear that no one was coming to their rescue.

“Well, this is just lovely,” said AJ, his voice laden with sarcasm. He pressed his back against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor. His wet back left a streak of water on the shiny metal wall. “I’m going to get pneumonia sitting in these wet clothes, and then I’ll sue Memorial for their crappy, unreliable elevators.”

The young Hispanic woman let out a shuddering breath and slowly slid to the ground as well, burying her head in her knees. She was breathing hard.

“Hey, don’t freak out now,” AJ said softly, reaching out and lightly touching her shoulder.

She jerked when he did so and looked up, her eyes wide. “I-I need to get out of here,” she said. “I can’t stand being in enclosed spaces.”

The blonde man sat down beside her. “Shh, it’s okay, Isabel. Just try not to think about it. Take deep breaths, close your eyes, and don’t think about it.”

Isabel squeezed her eyes shut, scrunching her face up as she tried to imagine herself being anywhere but there, in a large, open area. It seemed to work, for her breathing eventually slowed. After a few minutes, she tentatively opened her eyes.

“You okay?” asked the blonde beside her.

“Yeah,” she said uncertainly, looking around. She gave another little shudder, but kept calm.

Brian and Kevin had sat down as well. The male med student, Nick, rose back up to stand beside his patient. She had sat up and was looking around. Her fear had seemed to diminish though, luckily.

“So… you’re seven, right, Hannah?” Nick asked, breaking the tense silence that had filled the elevator.

“Yeah,” came Hannah’s reply.

“I have a daughter who’s about your age,” Howie piped up. “She’s six.”

“What’s her name?” Hannah asked interestedly.

“Her name’s Danielle. We call her Dani though usually,” answered Howie.

“Hey, how is Dani anyway, Howie?” piped up Kevin from the floor.

“She’s great,” Howie said. “She’s almost fully recovered. She’ll probably be back in school next week.”

“That’s wonderful,” said Kevin. AJ and Brian nodded in agreement. Then silence enveloped them all again.

“So…” AJ searched for a new conversation topic. His eyes focusing on the young man and woman next to him, he asked, “You two are med students, right? I’ve seen you around the ER.”

“Yeah,” said the man. “I’m Nick Carter.”

“He’s my student,” Brian added with a grin.

“I’m Isabel Rivera,” Isabel introduced. “And I’m Dr. Palmer’s student. Oh, and this is Hannah,” she added, smiling at the patient she was helping Nick transport upstairs.

“I’m Howie Dorough,” he nodded to Isabel and Nick. “And this here is AJ McLean; we’re both EMTs. And this is Kevin Richardson; he’s a surgeon.”

Once introductions were made, the group settled into silence again.

“This sucks,” Nick said after awhile, his voice flat.

“No shi… I mean, no duh,” AJ agreed, his face reddening as he glanced quickly at Hannah. He knew better than to swear in front of a seven-year-old.

Kevin snickered.

“You think anyone’s missed us by now?” Isabel wondered aloud. Nick only shrugged.

“I dunno about you, but everyone thinks we’re on break. No one will be missing us for awhile,” said Howie.

“Allison and Josh will be wondering where the hell I am,” AJ said.

“Ummm…” Hannah said softly, staring at AJ with wide eyes. “You said the H-word.”

AJ’s face reddened again as he realized he’d forgotten to catch himself that time. He was not used to being around little kids.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I meant ‘heck’.”

Kevin snickered again.

“I wonder what it’s like outside,” Brian said absently.

“It’s probably getting pretty bad,” replied Howie. “Look on the bright side – at least we’re stuck in here and not out there.”

“I might have to agree with you there, D,” AJ said, looking down at his still-damp clothes.

“Take off your jacket,” suggested Ivory. “Then you won’t be so wet.”

“I’ll freeze,” said AJ, but he removed the jacket anyway. Underneath, he was wearing only a white wifebeater, but it was only slightly damp and much better than the wet, heavy jacket.

“You have lots of tattoos,” said Hannah, again staring at AJ with widened eyes. AJ’s muscular arms were nearly covered in ink.

“Yup,” he said, rather proudly.

“I have some tattoos too,” Nick piped up. He pushed up the sleeves of his blue scrub top to reveal a band of something going around one of his upper arms and a shark on the other.

“Cool,” said Hannah, staring at his arms. “I like the shark.”

“Thanks.” Nick smiled at her. “I have another one on my back. A music note.”

“Oh, you’re into music?” Brian asked in interest.

“Yup. I’ve been singing ever since I was little,” Nick replied, his cheeks growing slightly pink.

“Me too. I used to sing all the time in church,” said Brian.

“Same here,” added Kevin. “Brian and I practically grew up together. He’s my cousin. I’ve known him my whole life.” (AN: I just had to have him say that there. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up LOL)

“Oh really? And you both became doctors here? That’s neat,” said Isabel with a smile.

AJ laughed. “Oh, that’s not all,” he told Isabel. “Bri’s brother Harry is an EMT here too. It’s a whole Littrell-Richardson family thing, I guess.”

Isabel laughed. “Music and medicine must run in your blood then,” she said to Brian and Kevin. “It’s the same way with my family… the medicine part, that is. My dad’s a cardiologist, and my older sister’s a neurosurgeon. I have a lot to live up to.” She chuckled wryly.

“That’s tough,” Howie said, looking at her in sympathy. “Are you really interested in medicine, or are you only becoming a doctor because your family wants you to?”

She frowned. “Of course I’m interested in it,” she said in a defensive tone. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by that,” Howie said, holding up his hands. “I was just wondering.”

Isabel smiled sheepishly. “I know. Sorry for snapping at you.”

“No problem.”

AJ looked up at Hannah and saw that she had lay back down on the gurney. Her face looked flushed and feverish. He cleared his throat and gave Howie a meaningful look, nodding towards Hannah. Nick looked down at her and gently pressed his hand to her forehead.

“How you feel, Hannah?” he asked.

“Tired,” she said softly.

“How about taking a nap?” he suggested.

“I want my mommy. When can we get out of here?”

Nick pressed his lips together in sympathy. “I’m not sure, sweetheart. We have to wait for someone to fix the elevator.”

Brian stood up and came over to the other side of Hannah’s gurney. “Why don’t you try to go to sleep?” he said, repeating Nick’s suggestion. “Maybe if you take a little nap, we’ll be out of here by the time you wake up.”

“Okay,” Hannah said. She rolled over on her side and closed her eyes. Brian smiled and gently smoothed back Hannah’s hair, just as a mother or father would. Before long, Hannah had drifted to sleep.

“She’s a cutie,” Ivory said, smiling as Brian sat back down. “What’s wrong with her, Nick?”

Nick pursed his lips. “She’s pretty sick,” he said. “I hope we get out of here soon. She needs to be started on antibiotics right away. She has bacterial endocarditis, according to Dr. Chung.”

Brian’s head shot up sharply, and he sucked in a breath. “That’s what I had,” he said quietly.

Nick cocked his head at him. “Really? When?”

“When I was five. I skinned my knee, and it set in then. No one discovered it for two weeks, and by then, it was so far advanced, the doctors said I had no chance of recovery.”

Nick’s mouth dropped open. The others looked equally shocked.

“You never told me that,” Ivory said, seeming slightly hurt. “I knew you used to have a heart condition, but I didn’t know that.”

Brian shrugged. “It’s not something you talk about a lot, I guess,” he said with a chuckle.

“No chance of recovery?” Nick asked, his eyebrows raised.

“That’s what they said,” Brian replied. “They said it was a miracle when I pulled through.”

“Wow.”

Ivory sighed. “They have to have noticed that we’re gone by now. And they have to have realized that the elevator’s broken. Why hasn’t anyone come to help us yet?” she complained.

“The repair people probably can’t even get to the hospital,” Kevin realized. “I hate to say it, but we could be stuck here for awhile.”

“Couldn’t someone pry open the doors with a crow bar and help us out?” asked AJ, frowning.

“We’re probably between floors though,” Howie pointed out. “They probably wouldn’t be able to get to us.”

“God, this sucks ass,” AJ muttered, banging his head back against the wall. “Ow…”

“It’s the end of the world as we know it…” Nick began to sing softly.

“Don’t,” Isabel hissed, smacking him playfully.

“Everything you say to me, takes me one step closer to the edge, and I’m about to break,” he went on, changing songs and grinning devilishly at Isabel. “I need a little room to breathe, cause I’m one step closer to the edge, and I’m about to break…”

“Oh, don’t sing about needing room to breathe,” Isabel moaned, looking around the tiny elevator.

AJ grinned mischievously at Nick. “There’s something inside me that pulls beneath the surface… consuming, confusing… this lack of self control I fear is never-ending… controlling… I can’t seem… to find myself again… my walls are closing in…”

“Oh, stop it!” Isabel cried, clapping her hands over her ears.

Brian snickered. “Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out,” he sang.

“Help… I need somebody… help… not just anybody… help… you know I need someone… heeeelp…” Kevin joined in.

“Rescue me, and let me in your heart… rescue me… I don’t know the rest of the words…” Ivory sang, laughing.

Isabel stuck her bottom lip out and glared playfully at the others. Then she opened her mouth and sang, “Oh, I… I will survive… oh, as long as I know how to love…” She trailed off, dissolving into giggles, and the others joined in laughing.

“Join us next week for Atlantic City Memorial Karaoke Night,” joked Howie. They all laughed again, glad for the diversion from their situation.

+++

“Excuse me! Excuse me, sir?”

Justin turned around when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder from behind. He found himself face to face with a panicked looking woman. “Can I help you with something, ma’am?” he asked dutifully.

“I’m looking for my daughter, Hannah. She was down here, and then they supposedly sent her up to cardiology, but I went up there, and she’s not there! Do you know where they might have taken her? Can you find out for me?”

“Um… I’m sorry, but I really don’t know. I’ll page cardiology and see what I can find out though. Just sit in chairs and wait.”

“Alright. Thank you,” Mrs. Gregory said, reluctantly heading back to the waiting area.

Justin was about to have Chris Kirkpatrick page the cardiology ward for him when a pair of arms wrapped around his waist from behind. He jumped, startled, and spun around, coming face to face with his girlfriend, Britney Spears.

“Brit!” he exclaimed. “What are you doing here??”

“Oh, Justy, I’m so sorry!” Britney cried, flinging her arms around him and kissing him on the lips. “I packed my things, and I was about to leave without you, but I just couldn’t do it! So I came here instead. We’ll be safe here, right?”

“That’s right,” Justin said. “Oh, Brit, baby, I’m so glad you came here. Now we can be together.” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.

“Timberlake!” shouted a voice. Justin looked up over Britney’s shoulder to see Holli Brunson marching towards him. “Break it up! This is a hospital, and you’re a med student! Please set an example. No public displays of affection!”

“Sorry, Dr. Brunson,” Justin mumbled, his face growing hot.

“Find something productive to do or get the hell out of here,” Holli snapped and stalked off.

“Who was that?” Britney asked, making a face at Holli.

“Holli Brunson. She’s in charge of, like, everything here, and I’ve already gotten in trouble with her once today. I thought Dr. O’Brien was bad enough. I’m so glad Brunson is a surgeon and not an ER physician, or it would be absolute hell working here.”

“It sounds like it already is,” Britney said, looking around the crowded ER and shuddering. “All these nasty sick people… how can you stand it?”

Justin just shrugged. “Hey, Brit,” he said suddenly.

“What?”

Justin grinned devilishly. “You wanna go do something ‘productive’?”

+++

“Hey, Dr. Veers?”

Risha Veers turned around to find nurse Hayley Aldworth coming down the hall toward her. “Yes?”

“Have you seen Kevin Richardson around lately?” Hayley asked. “He was supposed to go down to the ER for a consult a little while ago, and I thought I saw him leave, but the ER keeps calling up here and saying they need more surgeons and that he hasn’t shown up yet.”

“Hm…” Risha frowned. “No, I haven’t seen him,” she said. “Should I go down there and help?”

“Yeah, I guess so. Sounds like they’re swamped down there.”

“Okay. I’ll head down there in a few minutes. I need to go look for something real quick first,” said Risha.

“What are you looking for?” Hayley asked.

“A ring. I think I took it off to scrub in for a surgery last night and left it in the scrub-in area. I’m going to go check there now,” Risha replied.

“Aw. I hope you find it. Is it really valuable?”

“It wasn’t expensive, if that’s what you mean, but it’s priceless to me,” answered Risha and walked away before Hayley could ask any more questions. She went into the scrub-in area and looked around, praying she would see it laying on a counter somewhere.

How could I be so stupid? she wondered. Usually, she left her ring in her office before she went to scrub in for a surgery, but she had been pulled into an emergency surgery the night before and had forgotten. She remembered taking it off and setting it down on the counter before scrubbing in, and she had meant to pick it up again when she was done with the surgery, but it was late, and she had completely forgotten about it.

Risha wandered around the small room several times, thoroughly checking every nook and cranny. The ring was nowhere to be seen.

Someone must have found it, she told herself. I’ll ask the other doctors and nurses about it when I see them. Someone has to have it. Surely it couldn’t have fallen down the drain or something. She eyed the sinks warily, imagining how easily a ring could have gotten knocked off the counter and fallen into the sink and down the drain. She sighed and tried not to get too emotional about it. It’s just a stupid ring, she scolded herself. It wasn’t even expensive. I can buy myself another one.

But it wouldn’t be the same, her heart argued. It just wouldn’t be the same.

Giving up her search for the time being, Risha sighed again and was about to go down to the ER like she had promised, when she noticed that there was a light on in one of the operating rooms down the hall. There weren’t supposed to be any lights on in any of the OR’s, for all elective and non-emergency surgeries had been cancelled. Figuring someone had just forgotten to shut off the lights, she went down the hall to do it herself. She saw that the blinds over the windows on the double doors were closed, but thought nothing of it. She grabbed the handles of both doors and swung them open. The sight that greeted her made her gasp in utter shock.

Lying on the stainless steel operating table was a woman, and straddled over her was a man. Both were stark naked, and both were gasping in passion. It was not too hard to tell what they were doing.

Risha’s mouth dropped open, but she said nothing. She was too shocked to speak. Her first instinct was to leave right away, but the sight of two people having sex on an operating table was so unexpected that she felt frozen with astonishment.

The door must have made a sound when it opened, or the woman must have sensed someone watching them, because she sat up suddenly, pushing the man off of her. When she sat up, Risha got a good look at her face… and everything else. She was a young, pretty woman, but she was wearing way too much make-up, her hair was way too bleached, and her breasts were way too massive to be real. The man turned around, a horrified expression on his face, and Risha caught a good look at him too. He had curly blondish hair, blue eyes, and looked very familiar to her.

“Who are you?” Risha asked, finally finding her voice, as the two people scrambled to cover themselves. “Do you work here?”

The man and woman exchanged glances. “Uh… I do,” the man finally admitted, hanging his head.

“I thought you looked familiar,” Risha said, frowning at him. “What’s your name?”

“Justin Timberlake,” he answered in a gravy whisper. His face had gone from red to ashy gray.

“Mr. Timberlake, do you have any idea how much trouble you could get in if Dr. Brunson or anyone else found out about this?”

Justin’s eyes widened in terror. “Oh God, please don’t tell Brunson! Please, I’ll do anything! I-I’m only a med student here, and I’ve already gotten yelled at by her twice today! Please, you can’t tell her! I’m so sorry! I don’t know what I was thinking! Please, it’ll never happen again!”

Risha just stared at him in disgust. She had no patience for this today. “Just get dressed,” she said exasperatedly. “And get back to work.”

She turned around and walked back down the hall, debating over what to do. In the end, she decided not to tell Holli. The kid had done something incredibly wrong and stupid, but he was young, inexperienced, and in love (hopefully). Risha remembered those days when she felt the same way. It seemed so long ago, but she would never forget how it felt to be young and in love, no matter how painful the memories were now. And she also remembered how it felt to be a med student, young and ambitious. She was not sure exactly what would happen to him if Holli did find out, but she had a feeling it would not be pretty, and she decided it was not worth ruining his career over.

And so, she did not tell Holli, nor did she tell anyone else. As she passed the nurses station on her way to the elevators, all she said to Hayley was, “You might want to call housekeeping and have them clean OR 4 again. It might be a little… uh… messy in there.”

+++

“Unit 309, what is your location?” a voice crackled over the small radio.

“This is unit 309, we are exiting Atlantic City Memorial, over.”

“Unit 309, we have a twenty-one-year-old male down at Chaser’s Bar and Grill on Oceanview Drive. Victim was involved in a bar scuffle. Labored breathing, suspected head and facial injuries, over.”

“We are on our way Dispatch. ETA five minutes.” Harry Littrell placed the radio back in its holder and looked around for his partners Kylie McCartney and AJ McLean. Spotting Kylie helping move a patient towards a trauma room, Harry jogged over towards her.

“Kylie, we have a call. Let’s get going.”

Kylie looked up at him sheepishly and walked towards him. “Sorry, Harry. I had my radio turned down, and I didn’t hear it.”

“It’s okay. Where’s Amelia?”

“Right here.” Amelia Caston, the youngest member of the EMT squad, came up behind Harry. “Are we ready to go?”

The three paramedics quickly put on their rain gear and scrambled out to the ambulance waiting by one of the side doors. Harry climbed behind the driver’s seat and put on his seatbelt, flipping the switch that put on the sirens and flashing lights.

“We will have to get there by the back roads,” he informed the women as they exited the hospital parking lot. “The main roads are packed because of evacuation.”

Exactly six minutes later, the ambulance pulled up at the entrance of the town bar and grill, Chaser’s. Chaser’s was very popular with residents and tourists alike with their full service bar and wonderful food.

Kylie and Harry both jumped out of the front of the ambulance, and Amelia opened the back door. The three of them lifted out a gurney, along with some equipment, including a defibrillator and neck collar, not knowing exactly what the situation would be. Entering the large bar, they were astonished to see customers still sitting in the bar.

“Why are these people here?” Kylie whispered. “Don’t these idiots realize a hurricane is coming?”

Harry and Amelia just shrugged their shoulders and approached the man behind the bar. “Go through those double doors and out back, just look for a crowd. The cops are already there,” the man said before Harry asked. Harry nodded his thanks and they walked through the double doors, immediately spotting a small group and several police officers mixed within.

“What’s the situation, Williams?” Harry asked the closest officer to the scene.

“He was drunk and started a fight in the bar with a local gang, and they brought it out here and beat him shitless and ran. We suspect he has head and facial trauma, and his ribs may be broken. He’s experiencing labored breathing. Nice guy though.”

“What is his name?”

“Adam Anderson,” the officer replied.

“Adam, can you hear me? My name is Harry Littrell and these are my partners, Amelia Caston and Kylie McCartney. Can you tell me where you feel the most pain?”

Instead of receiving a response, Harry watched as the young man’s breathing sped up, and his eyes grew wide.

“It’s okay, sweetie. I’m just going to put this tube in here to suction out any vomit you may have in your lungs and put an oxygen mask on your face when I’m done,” Kylie explained as she performed the procedures. For personal experience, she knew most patients felt better about what was going on when it was explained to them.

“My chest hurts,” Adam gasped behind the mask, terror filling his dark eyes.

“I know, sweetie. We are almost finished here, and then we will take you to the hospital.”

Once they evaluated Adam, the EMTs carefully put on a neck brace and placed Adam on a backboard as a precaution. Carefully loading him into the back of the ambulance, Amelia jumped in and began to hook Adam up to various IV’s and a heart monitor.

While Harry drove, Kylie was on the radio, spouting out information to the hospital, as Adam lay still on the backboard, pain radiating throughout his body. Without warning, Adam’s body went rigid and his eyes rolled back into his head the beeping on the monitor changing erratically.

“Shit, Harry, step on it!” Amelia yelled.

As suddenly as the seizure had started, it stopped, the beeping of the heart monitor immediately following suit. The eerie flat tone filled the ambulance as Harry pulled into the hospital parking lot with sirens wailing.

Amelia warmed up the defibrillator machine before placing the paddles onto the still chest.

“Come on, come on!” she chanted as each attempt had negative results. She and Kylie sagged against the wall in relief when a slow beeping sound replaced the wailing of the machine. Adam was going to be okay, for now.

+++


To be continued…