The DayZ Novel
Page 5
Chapter 5 – The Hippocratic Oath for Hypocrites
Doc was certain that he would be the last person off the ship. The cowards had all lept off at the first sign of trouble and left him with his patient, a crew member who had been struck down with malaria on this trip and was currently shivering in the ship’s poor excuse for an infirmary. Doc had spent the last hour looking around the ship for a life raft to go with the stretcher since the patient was unable to swim. In the bridge he did find the Captain with a bullet hole in his head – you didn’t need to be a doctor to know that was fatal.
The ship was drifting at a 45 degree angle which made his searching much more difficult. As he moved through the ship he was overwhelmed with how empty it seemed as it drifted along the coast in the dead of night. His patient was unconscious, strapped onto the bed to prevent falling in high seas, which meant he had no issue with the current angle.
With the search proving fruitless and his patient stable, he had nothing else to do. Savoring the moment he stood on the deck and watched the stars. It was peaceful.
For a moment.
Then the ship juddered and rocked as it hit sand, slowing down. He heard the sounds of rocks scraping the side of the hull and the ship lurched to a sudden halt. The speed with which it happened caused Doc to lose his footing and he knocked his head against a rail. The impact would leave a mark that he wouldn’t see until morning, although the pain was instantaneous.
Rubbing his forehead he looked out at the coast. The ship had beached at a peninsula somewhere on the coast. He could see the outlines of nearby rocks but that was all. His head throbbed not only from the bump but from the ungodly noise that was coming from the bowls of the ship. The engine lurched and whined, screaming for mercy with the propeller jammed in a rock, forcing it to screech as the motor tried to dislodge it.
Thankfully, something in the engine blew and it cut off, granting Doc blessed silence. It was so dark that he would need to wait it out here until dawn. The wait would give him time to form a plan and find some way of getting the patient off the boat.
He could see the shore; it was just a small jump to land. Would it be so bad to just jump off? He had been abandoned so why should he risk his own life to look after this sick person who would inevitably die anyway? Even with a stretcher, getting him off the boat would be risky. Doc could break a leg and then what – he’d be no use to anyone.
He pondered going to shore, looking for help and maybe some supplies, and then coming back for the patient. There might be a town right near him or he might have a long hike ahead. And if he made it there would he really come back and would there be anyone to come back to? The patient was very sick and would most likely die without the right medication – medication Doc just didn’t have on board. He couldn’t just leave him here to die a slow and painful death – but he couldn’t just euthanize him either. Why was this suddenly my problem? The Captain had checked out so why can’t I?
Doc had always been selfish, always looked out for number one. When he was younger he worked hard, and did his best. But age and life had beaten him down and now he just coasted by, did what was needed and took care of himself first.
Perhaps that's why he punished himself by working the ship – running from his problems like most on the ship did. He wanted to run now – and he could find many reasons why he should. Survival was key and this patient was already proving to be dead weight. He’d had many conversations with the Captain so he had a pretty good idea what was waiting for him in Chernarus. Dragging a fevered malaria ridden patient through a town already swarming with the infected didn’t seem like a very good plan – unless your plan was to be lunch. But then again, he couldn’t just leave him without any chance of survival.
Looking out at the shore that was so close and yet felt so far away, he knew he was going to be in for a long night. And if he was honest with himself he already knew what the outcome would be – it was always the same for him. Self over others – but because he was selfish he needed the night to reason it out and come up with an excuse. He knew that inevitability he would abandon the patient - he just needed the night to make himself feel better about it.