The First Night on Watch
CHAPTER FIVE

That night seemed to fall quickly. Before too long the sky was lit with endless stars and a moon that overlooked the city. Thunder rumbled over the night sky after every strike of lightning, setting off a slight nervousness in my system. Thunderstorms were rare in this part of the state, which made the reality of everything befalling this city hit a little stronger.

I've said this before, but since the epidemic, I started to see a change in many things; the main thing being the atmosphere. Though there had been changes in other things, such as moods and sales at stores and the sort. Just daily activity in a general.

I'd been sitting in my office looking over Luke's documents. He had a history of influenza throughout his life. This information made me wonder what kind of environment he was living in to attract such cruel health problems, and maybe this could have something to do with the sickness in a whole. What if this was affecting those with a history of influenza?

Standing from my desk chair, I left the room. Looking down the hall towards Luke's room, I silently prayed that influenza had been the root cause of the problem. I walked down the narrow hall, the quiet of the stiff clinic making my senses stand on edge. The clinic smelt of rubbing alcohol and sanitizers, the cold air annoying me more and more.

Once I had reached my lab, I pulled my key chain, consisting of many different keys, from my belt and unlocked the steel door. I went inside and flicked the overhead light on, making my way through many boxes and drawers until coming face to face with a closet with a white slap of paper that read; "Unknown Sickness."

This closet obviously held the documents of all the sick patients, and I pulled it open with a deep inhale of breath. Only one box sat on the mid shelf, with just 44 documents of different patients that have been here over the past two months. Pulling the box from the shelf, I left the room. Sitting the box on the floor, I closed and locked the door and picked the box up before heading back to my office.

I decided, for whatever reason I had, to leave the door open slightly. Something about the clinic had now given me a weird sense of fear. The look, the smell and the endless silence all frightened me. I think it was more about the deaths that were getting to me. It was very rare for anybody to pass in my care; and usually had only been due to cancers. The core of my being was shook by the deaths I couldn't prevent.

I pulled the first folder of the first patient I had ever had in the first place; Vivian Bloom. Of course the first part I reread was the entire situation from the day she came in, and that's when it dawned on me.

Two patients were having hallucinations. Vivian and ten year old Zach. Before Vivian was sedated she had asked nobody in particular not to let "them" hurt her. Who had she been referring to? Obviously nobody from reality, because Zach's parents said he was hallucinating as well, and speaking about seeing ghosts.

After reading through the notes of a few other patients, that had been disclosed; no one else was having those hallucinations.

As I was reading through Vivian's past visits, the creaking of the door had my eyes shooting up to the door. Luke had been peaking his head through with droopy eyes.

"Luke," I said as I quickly stood from my chair and rushed towards him, opening the door and kneeling in front of him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing to do," he whispered. Whispering was his favorite way of communication.

"Come in." I guided him into the room and left the door open halfway, having him sit in a chair right across from mine. "Do you like games?" I asked.

"Sometimes," he muttered innocently as he fumbled with his hands.

"Here, try this game." I gave him my mini tablet so that he could play a game.
He took the tablet from me and focused his attention towards the screen. Luke was a smart kid so I was sure he could play it with no problems.

Sitting back down in my chair across from him, I got back to my reading. Vivian didn't have many visits to the clinic in the past, but I noted that the few visits she did have seemed to be because of the same thing - chronic cough.

Now, ruling out many things in one minute, I could assuredly say that this sickness was very different in everybody who had it. Some people had hallucinations first, while others had them later; some people died of heart attacks while others died of seizures; some people realized fevers first and some realized a cough first. I just couldn't seem to put anything together. Nothing made sense.

I already ruled out influenza because only Luke had a past of that. So what else was there to go on? All I could do was try to stop the "sickness" before it killed somebody else.

Putting all the folders back into the box, I closed it up and slid it under my desk to the far right. "Luke," I said, grabbing his attention. "Time to get back to bed." He jumped off the chair and walked to the door.

I walked him back to his room where I tucked him in and pulled a chair closer to the bed. I sat down and read a children's story to him to ease his mind, and he fell into a deep sleep. I gently put the back of my hand on his forehead to check his fever, and it hadn't subsided but it hadn't gotten worse either. I quietly left the room to check on my nurses and see what was going on with the other patients.

I entered the room where Mrs. Roster watched 10 patients. "How are they?" I whispered so I wouldn't disturb the patients who were asleep.

"Mr. Prescott has a rough, dry cough so I gave him some Robitussin to make him feel better. It worked, but I'm sure it'll come back in the morning," she explained. "But aside from that, everyone else is doing the same. Fevers and pain. How's Luke?"

"Keep me updated on Mr. Prescott, would you?" She nodded and I continued, "Luke is a fighter. He's still got a fever, but he's good in every other aspect. I'm praying it stays that way." She gave me a small smile and I left the room to check in on Ruth.

Peaking into her room, I saw her placing cold towels over one patients forehead and arms. I walked in and cleared my throat. She flinched in surprise and turned to face me. "You scared me." She held her hand over her heart and shook her head.

"How bad is the fever?" I asked.

"She's up to fatal," she said quietly. "She might not make it through the night."

Deciding not to answer, I left the room and went down to the basement where the freezer was. Unlocking the ice box, I went inside, putting a cement block in front of the door, and I pulled a few ice packets from the shelf. Leaving the room, I went back upstairs and into the room where Ruth was.

"These should help a bit," I told her, placing the ice packets all over the woman's body. She whined out in agony.

"It's so cold!" She was moving around and wouldn't be still.

"I need you to calm down,," I said. To that, she stopped moving and tears rolled down her cheeks. "Your fever is fatal. Trust me, there's much worse things you could go through that isn't just ice packs. If this doesn't work, you might need to sit in an ice bath, and I don't think you would like that more than this, so I need you to relax."

She completely relaxed. "Thanks, doctor."

"I'm just doing my job." I turned to Ruth who had a terrified look on her face. "I need you to calm down, too. I know you've never dealt with this kind of thing before, but I need you to not only speak very encouraging, but I need you to look encouraged. You can't give off that you're scared to any of these people. It will affect them ten times worse than they are," I said quietly but firmly. She nodded. "You need to run as fast as you can to get me if you need me. Do not take your eyes off her, you hear me?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"Thanks. I'll be in Luke's room, and you know where that is." I said before leaving.

And before I knew it, morning rolled around.