The nurse asked the two adults to step out of the OR and wait outside. The woman wept on her husband’s shoulder as he consoled her with gentle strokes to her head.
The lounge was quiet at midday. The empty hallways also had this eerie silence to them. Benjamin could feel such things, while sipping on a cup of coffee. Right across from his seat was Walter Green. They sat back at the lounge for a break, while waiting for another call from the ER.
“So…” Benjamin broke the silence. “Where are you in all of this?”
“To be honest,” Walter quipped, “I have not thought about it yet.”
“If you want, you can come with us to the farm,” Benjamin suggested.
“Oh, I don’t know about that.”
“It’s no big deal. My family’s going to be there,” Benjamin insisted.
Walter was six years senior to Benjamin. However, seniority didn’t stop them from building a strong bond. They were quite close to each other. In fact, they were best friends in the hospital. Walter used to serve as a medic for the army. He also went on a few tours in Afghanistan.
On returning home, he pursued medical studies. He had been serving in Southcrest Community Hospital for a couple of years now. This was about the same amount of time they had known each other.
Benjamin was the first person in the hospital to initiate a conversation with Walter. They spent their breaks together, either having coffee (like in that moment) or sharing stories about their families. This helped them establish mutual trust.
“Anyway, as I was saying… you’re welcome to come with me when I rejoin my family at the farm. I’m sure Mary wouldn’t mind!” he confided.
“Thanks, that means a lot.” Walter smiled.
Benjamin took out a pen from his shirt. He started scribbling on a tissue paper that was lying on the coffee table, just beside his coffee cup. He wrote directions to their farm and handed it over to Walter. “Keep that, just in case,” he said.
“Sure,” said Walter as he folded the tissue paper and placed it in his pocket.
------------
Benjamin switched off the shower knob. He grabbed a towel, and got dressed for bed. The night was uncharacteristically quiet. The next-door neighbors had already fled the night before. He looked out the window and found the streets to be empty too.
On his way to the master’s bedroom, he passed by the boys’ room. He took a heavy breath, and entered the room. Benjamin could feel the deafening silence thumping against his ears. The only sound he could hear was the ticking from the clock. It hadn’t been much since they left, but he was already starting to second guess. It wasn’t possible to let go of the nostalgia. Quickly, he made his way out of the boys’ bedroom.
He curled up like a fetus on his bed. He tried to close his eyes. But the silence was too hard to handle. He turned over to the other side, and then closed his eyes again. Still, he couldn’t get himself to sleep. He got up and checked the time. His bedside clock read 11:00 PM.
I should have been asleep by now, he murmured to himself.
He switched positions again. But sleep evaded him.
Finally, he decided to get up and grab his phone. He dialed Mary’s number. It rang.
The phone rang six more times before Mary finally picked up. “Ben?” she asked, her voice raspy and sounding a bit nervous.
“What made you call so late?” she continued.
“I’m sorry for waking you, but I just couldn’t sleep,” Benjamin confided.
Mary heaved a sigh of relief. “Oh I see… You scared me. I thought something had happened.”
“Sorry to worry you,” he said. “I also wanted to check on you and the boys.”
“We’re safe now here at the farm. Both are sound asleep. Tired from the long drive, I guess.” Mary said.
This made Benjamin smile.
“But…” she added.
“But what?” the smile quickly faded off of his lips.
“There was an incident earlier today,” Mary said slowly, as if frantically searching for the right words to use.
“Go on…” Benjamin pursued.
“A stranger with a pistol held us at gun point. He made me drive in a different direction. And fortunately, we had a flat tire. That forced us to stop. We took advantage of the opportunity to get rid of him. Well… Justin did.”
“What did he do?”
“He hit the man with the baseball bat, Ben…” Benjamin could now hear her tearing up on the other side of the line. “But he had no choice. He had to!” Mary was sniffing in between so her words were a bit muffled.
“He saved my life, Ben.”
Benjamin could not respond. He was battling between feelings of shock and relief.
“Ben?!” she finally asked when Benjamin had stopped speaking from the other side of the line.
“Are you okay – you and the boys?” he finally spoke.
“Yes!” she reassured.
“None of you got hurt?”
“No, we’re fine,” she said, fighting through tears.
Benjamin let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry for putting you through this, Mary,” he said, now crying himself.
“It’s okay, Ben. We’re safe now – there’s nothing to worry about,” she insisted. “Just take care of yourself,” Mary told him.
Benjamin nodded. They said their goodbyes and Mary hung up.
For a few minutes, Benjamin sat on the edge of the bed. He was in a state of shock. The news Mary shared kept playing over and over again through his mind. He could not have forgiven himself if something bad would have happened to them. He worried most about Justin.
Now, he lost all his urge to sleep. Instead, he picked up the remote control and turned on the TV. He was just in time for the Late Night News. The News reported that the National Guard had arrived in Memphis. He got up from his bed, and leaned closer to the TV. He was eager to hear more updates. He clasped his hands together, somewhat relieved. This was probably the only good news he had received in the past few days.
He sat back, a bit relaxed, on his bed. He let the news play on…
…the President’s injuries are still considered serious, but his condition is now stable. He is out of danger, but doctors are still monitoring his condition constantly...
Meanwhile, Anthony was also having trouble sleeping. Most of the time, he would lie half-awake in his bed, forcing to shut his eyes in hope of getting some sleep. Any little sleep he would have was interrupted by phone calls from the ER. Anthony could get only about 10-15 minutes of sleep before being awakened by the phone’s ring.
Anthony woke up feeling a bit groggy the next day. Although he was tempted to hit the snooze button on the alarm clock, he knew he had to be up early. He spent only about 5 minutes in the shower. Then, picked up a couple of bread he toasted so he could have his breakfast on the way to the hospital. Before leaving, he took one last sip of coffee, and then grabbed the keys from the counter.
***
Chapter 4 – More Trauma
“Ring!!! Ring!!!”
Benjamin was startled from his sleep. The phone resting on the bed side table rang incessantly. According to his bedside clock, it was already 4 in the morning. It was Saturday. Almost 24 hours had passed since his family left town.
He quickly grabbed the phone and the number from the ER registered on the phone.
“Dr. Perry speaking,” Benjamin said while batting his eyes, trying his best to stay awake.
“Dr. Perry, nice to speak to you,” Dr. Woods spoke from the other side of the line.
“Dr. Woods, any problem?” Benjamin asked, squinting his eyes at the sight of the light streaking from the lamp.
“Yes, in fact, there is…” Dr. Woods told him. “We have another victim brought in. Another gunshot injury it appears.”
Benjamin shook his head in disbelief. “How is the victim doing?” he asked.
“To be honest, he is not looking good. His blood pressure is barely readable. Significant blood los
s too. It seems he was shot for a while before making it to the ER,” Dr. Woods pointed out.
“Okay, just keep me updated about what’s going on over there,” Benjamin said.
“I will, Dr. Perry.”
------
In the hospital, everyone had been busy with the increasing number of cases.
Dr. Bosch quickly bid farewell to a visitor as a nurse called his name.
Anthony came rushing to the hospital’s front desk, and went straight to the ER. He, too, got a call from Dr. Woods about the patient that was brought in for gunshot wounds.
He found Dr. Woods at the ER. Anthony could see him performing external chest compressions on the patient who was lying in bed, seemingly lifeless. “How’s it going, doc?” Anthony asked.
All Dr. Woods could do was to shake his head. Anthony rushed to perform the chest compressions himself.
“We’ve done all we could,” Dr. Woods exclaimed.
“Have we looked into the patient’s vital signs?”
Dr. Woods nodded.
“He lost too much blood by the time he got here. From what we have gathered, he has been shot for a few hours before he was found. We thought we could revive him,” he paused. “But his blood pressure was so low and his heart was no longer responding.”
Dr. Woods let out a deep sigh. He walked out of the ER and tapped Anthony on the shoulder on his way out.
Anthony followed him on the way out. They called on the morgue department to take care of the patient’s body.
Later that morning, Benjamin was doing his regular rounds when he bumped into Dr. Bosch at the first floor hallway.
“Good morning, Dr. Bosch,” Benjamin greeted.
“Well, let us hope it will be…” Dr. Bosch tried to joke. Neither of the men laughed, though.
“By the way, do you have a few minutes to spare?” Dr. Bosch continued.
“Of course,” Benjamin obliged.
They entered the break room. Benjamin closed the door behind him so they could have a little privacy. Dr. Bosch sat down first. He was facing the window, with the room’s door to his back. He asked Benjamin to sit on the chair across from him.
“So, what’s the agenda?” Benjamin asked without wasting any time.
“These past couple of days in the hospital have been unusual, even crazy you might say…” he started, looking far out the window.
“And as Mr. Burchard had mentioned in yesterday’s meeting,” a slight pause followed, as if he was picking out his words. “We need to… uphold… our responsibilities,” he continued. “I can reassure you that I… uh… intend to do the same.”
“Bosch, cut to the chase,” Benjamin was getting anxious now.
“Okay,” he said while taking a deep breath. “I need you to hold the fort for me, Perry. I will be away for a few days. I just got word from my sister that my mother is not doing too well. They’re in Memphis. They, too, like us here, are having trouble with managing patients; they had to turn her away,” Dr. Bosch said, his voice fading at the end.
“I won’t be back until Monday next week,” he continued.
Benjamin stared at him point-blank. “Promise, I will be back. I just need someone who I can trust to attend to my patients, while I am temporarily away,” reassured Dr. Bosch.
“Do you have patients’ records?” asked Benjamin.
Dr. Bosch was quick to hand over a few papers with patients’ lists and records. Benjamin studied the list for a few seconds, then stopped and placed them on a nearby desk.
“You still need to let Mr. Burchard know. We’re already under-manned,” Benjamin told him.
Dr. Bosch nodded.
“When are you expected to be back again?” Benjamin asked.
“Monday next week,” Dr. Bosch promptly responded.
“I’ll talk to you then…” Benjamin got up off of his seat. He excused himself out of the break room to finish his rounds. Dr. Bosch also proceeded back to his own rounds.
Benjamin was signing discharge slips on some of the patients under his care, when a nurse approached him. He was given an update on Darla, the five-year-old girl who was brought into the ER because of gunshot wounds. Benjamin quickly made his way to her ward to check on her condition.
“Hi Darla,” he greeted the little girl who was lying on her bed. She was fully conscious now, and looking much better than when she was brought into the ER.
She could not easily respond. However, she gave the doctor a faint smile.
“How are you feeling?” he asked as he sat on the edge of her bed.
“Okay?” she faintly replied, her eyes still looking a bit heavy.
“Just wanted to see how you’re doing. We’re happy that you‘re recovering faster than expected,” said the doctor as he gently stroked her forehead.
“Are you still in pain?” he asked.
“A little bit…” she shyly said.
“Don’t worry, we will make sure that you don’t have to be in pain anymore, okay?” she nodded in response.
“Do you have any idea where your parents might be?”
She shook her head profusely. The couple was who brought her in and told the doctor that her parents were dead. She was the lone survivor in a highway attack. Benjamin then started having recollections of his own family’s ordeal when traveling to their farm. He tried hard to shake off such thoughts. He focused back on Darla, who looked curious. He eyes glanced at the ceiling, before catching a glimpse of the bed, and resting on to the doctor’s face.
“I want to see my mom,” Darla said, lifting her blanket up to her chest.
Benjamin frowned. The girl was still in critical condition. Any news of her parent’s death would surely aggravate her condition, he thought.
“You will see them as soon as you have fully recovered,” he reassured. “But you can’t for now…”
She just stared back at him.
As Benjamin was about to leave Darla to rest, the lights began to flicker. This lasted for about five to six seconds until the entire hospital went completely dark.
Darla screamed. Benjamin went over to her side of the bed. She was curled up behind her blanket.
A moment later, the lights began to flicker again. As the flickering ended, the emergency exit signs were the only ones visible. It meant that the auxiliary power was switched on. However, the red glow of the emergency lights gave an eerie vibe to the empty hallways.
Benjamin turned to Darla again, “It’s okay sweetie, lights are back on now.”
She slowly lifted the blanket off her head. She looked startled. “It’s okay, it’s okay…” he said, trying to calm the frightened child.
“Good girl,” he told her as she was taking the blanket completely back down. She looked up to him. He smiled back.
“See? There’s nothing to be scared of. The lights are back!”
Her eyes traveled back and forth, like a prey on the lookout for predators.
Benjamin stood up. “Would you be fine here on your own?” he asked.
She lightly nodded.
“Great!” he cheerfully responded. “I’ll just go and see my other patients. But I’ll be checking on you again once I’m done.”
“Okay” she slowly replied.
From Darla’s ward, Benjamin headed to the ICU. He knew how critical it was to have the auxiliary power working. Several patients at the ICU needed life support. At the ICU, he met a nurse who was checking on the patients since the lights went off.
He was relieved that the auxiliary power was stable enough to get the lights back on, and supply power to the life support equipment. He assigned the nurse to watch over the patients, just in case the power went out again.
Benjamin had just finished his rounds for the night. He went back to the nurses’ station to leave some patient files. However, the area was empty. One of the hospital nurses, Jessica, approached him.
“Dr. Perry,” he was startled when he heard a female voice from behind.
“Oh, where have
you been? I thought hospital policy is strict on not leaving the nurses station. I expect everyone to respect the rule.” he said, eyebrows curled.
“Sorry doc, I just came from the restroom. My co-nurse was also doing her rounds,” she explained.
Benjamin placed the files on the desk and pointed at it with his index finger. Jessica quickly grabbed the files and placed them into a drawer.
“By the way, can I talk to you about something?” she asked right when Benjamin was about to leave.
The Second Amendment: A Novel On Surviving The Coming Collapse Page 3
