Dead and Forsaken (5 page)

******

“
Don’t worry sir.”
responded the agent. “We are going to get you both some help
but that story seems a little farfetched!”

The
agent could see needle track marks on both of Juan’s arms so
he knew he was a drug user.

“
Are you sure this wasn't
just a bad drug induced fantasy?” asked the agent.

“
You have to listen to me! I
don't do that anymore! I'm clean!” said Juan. “I'm
telling the truth!”

The Tucson sector chief thought the whole thing was nonsense but he
called Homeland Security and told them the whole story anyway. They
were more concerned about the drug dealing coyotes than the killers
that came out the desert. Homeland Security told him to transport
Juan and Anthony to Phoenix. The detainees flew on a UH-60 Black
hawk medical evacuation helicopter to the Maricopa Hospital. The
detainees would have to have a medical exam before they were moved
to a holding center. Homeland Security had questions about the
coyote camp massacre because it was similar to other attacks at the
border and in the valley. Half the country of Mexico was under
Martial law due to civil unrest. Back at the hospital Hernandez came
over the radio and said we had an inbound helicopter. It would be
here in forty minutes. I immediately went to the security desk and
turned on the helicopter pad lights. It would take a minute for the
HELO to show up so I went to check on the psych patient in holding.

I
had just passed the nurses’ station when I saw the smiling
face of Dr. Sanchez. She had the rare combination of beauty and
brains. Around the hospital I had seen firsthand as she showed her
compassion and ability to put other people first. With the body of
an R&B diva and the mind of a rogue scholar she stood out in a
crowd. One of the guys told me she grew up in California and was an
only child. Her parents emigrated to the U.S. thirty years ago from
Mexico. They worked hard and became U.S. citizens. Dr. Sanchez was
born a few years later in Modesto. She graduated from Fresno State
University. After that she attended medical school at the University
of Arizona in Tucson. The demands of the hospital required staff to
work long hours. Most of the women did not keep up with their
appearance but Dr. Sanchez always looked good. She walked around the
hospital full of confidence and sex appeal. It did not matter if her
hair was in a ponytail or down on her shoulders. Her look always
turned me on. I started to ask her out a couple of times but lost my
nerve. I could take on a group of insurgents but fell apart when it
was time to talk to a pretty girl. She was talking to a couple of
her nurse friends.

Nurses
are the backbone of the hospital and dished out quality care with a
smile. From check in to discharge they were involved in almost every
phase of the healthcare process. Most of them knew more about the
patients than the doctors. They monitor machines, dispense
medications and start IV's. At that moment they were helping Maria
check on a patient who was admitted earlier. The patient was sent
upstairs to the ICU after falling into a coma. Her friend admired
her devotion to her work and let her know when they found out that
the patient had died. That was strange because other than a few bite
marks on his arm the patient only had a Fever.

Dr. Sanchez was confused but figured that the patient had other
medical problems. She picked the phone up and was about to page the
ICU physician that took care of him.

“
Girl, look who is
coming!” one of the nurses said to her.

“
That is one fine piece
of brown sugar!” said her friend.

“
Yeah I see him.”
She shot back with a smile on her face.
Then she walked straight up to me
and stuck out her hand.

“
We weren’t properly
introduced. My name is Dr. Sanchez but you can call me Maria.”
I smiled
back and shook her hand.

“
How are doing, Maria? I’m
Officer Robinson but you can call me Kevin.”
I was
about to ask her out when another voice chimed in from behind me.

“
Dr. Sanchez I need you to
come with me. We have a patient.” Dr. Black told her.

“
Yes sir!” She told
him. “Just gives me a second.”

“
As for you Kevin I guess
I’ll see you later!”

I
smiled as she walked away. Dr. Black told her to examine the patient
in room #6. He was the overnight attending physician in the ER and
supervised the residents that were on duty tonight. Dr. Black was in
his late fifties but looked a lot younger. He was a man that had
swagger and arrogance. He trained all the residents and knew they
could handle the pressure of the job. He was a born teacher and
demanded the best from his students. The male patient in room # 6
was sweating and had a fever. His fiancée said he was fine
two hours ago. The nurse thought it might be a heart attack so Dr.
Sanchez went straight in.

“
I’m Dr. Sanchez.”
she said. “How are you doing sir?”

“
I don’t feel that good
doc.”

“
What seems to be the
problem?”

“
I keep throwing up and I
feel dizzy.”

“
Don’t worry sir just
let me check you out.”
His temperature rose from 98.6
degrees to 102.7 degrees in an hour.

“
Sir you’re burning up.
I’m going to give you some fluids and medication.”

“
Thank you!” he added.

“
I’m also going to
give you an EKG test to make sure your hearts OK.”
Dr. Sanchez was concerned about the man’s
rapid temperature gain, and the nausea. His girlfriend was scared
that he would not get better.

“
Is he going to be okay?”
the fiancée asked the nurse.

“
Don’t worry. The
doctor will take care of him.”

“
I don’t know what
I would do without him.”
The patients nurse and a tech helped put a gown on
him after he was undressed. That’s when they noticed he had a
bite mark on his shoulder. The bite wound was nasty looking. It was
also severely infected. They had seen a couple of bites like his
already tonight.

“
Where did he get this at?”
asked the tech.

“
Some dumb ass bit me!”
He answered.

“
Why does it look bad?”
his girlfriend questioned.

“
It actually looks infected.”
the nurse responded.

The
patient was bitten at 6:00 pm. A homeless man attacked him. He was
at a gas station in South Phoenix getting gas when a man wearing a
tattered suit jacket came out from behind a dumpster. His hair
greasy and he smelled. It was hard to tell if he slept in sewage or
just hadn't bathed in weeks. The patient was pumping gas while his
fiancée was putting on her makeup. She saw the homeless man
stumble up and bite him. The patient knocked the homeless man into
the gas pump and kicked him when he fell on the ground. His future
wife opened the car door for him and he jumped in. As they drove
away she saw the man get up and walk toward another car. An hour
later they were at the diner where he started to feel sick. When
Dr. Sanchez looked at the bite wound the area around it was red and
swollen. She also noticed milky white pus leaking out the wound.
This was a symptom found in the infected bites of rabies victims.
She told the nurse to clean out the wound and then left to find Dr.
Black. Dr. Sanchez found him in one of the triage rooms with Dr.
Okonkwo another intern. I was at the ER registration window when
Hernandez called out over the radio.

“
Security needed in triage
Robinson.”

“
10-4.” I answered.
“I’m in route.”

“
The triage nurse said we
have a disorderly patient.”
I ran toward the commotion and got
there pretty fast.

“
Robinson to communications
I’m on the scene.”
All
I heard was a lot of cursing. Dr. Black and Dr. Okonkwo were talking
to a big man who looked upset. He was Native American and built like
a tree trunk. The man was six foot six and weighed over four hundred
pounds. He was physically imposing and loomed head and shoulders
over all of us. His long hair was in a ponytail and he waved his
fist in the air. The man was mad about having to wait so long to be
seen by a doctor.

“
This is bullshit! I’ve
been here for over three hours!” the man barked.
Dr. Sanchez and the nurse were standing off to the side and I
just stood back and waited to see if they needed my help. It started
to look bad so I stepped in between him and the staff. When I
entered the room he balled up his fist and turned toward me.

“
What did they do?” he
asked. “Call the fucking cops?”

“
I’m not a cop sir.”
I responded. “I’m a security officer.”

“
What the hell do you want?”
he yelled. “What you think I’m supposed to be
intimidated by your punk ass?”

“
I’m just making sure
everything is okay.”

“
Hell no! I’m not
fucking okay.”

“
Calm down sir.”

“
I’ve been here for
almost four hours so you calm down.”
Things were about to escalate into a fight when Dr. Sanchez got his
attention. She touched his elbow and held his hand. He quit looking
at me and listened to her.

“
We are sorry for the delay
sir. Please let us take care of you.”

“
I just want my arm fixed
up.”

“
Then please sit down so we
can take care of you.”
She got him to sit back down
in the chair and the nurse started to take the bloody towel off his
arm. I called over the radio that the situation was okay but I was
going to stand by while the man was in triage. Dr. Okonkwo started
the man’s exam while Dr. Sanchez and Dr. Black went to check
on Dr. Sanchez’s patient in room #6. When Dr. Okonkwo asked
him how he hurt his arm he replied that he was in a fight. He was
leaving a downtown bar after watching the baseball game. His team
won so he celebrated by knocking back a couple of beers. He stopped
to take a pee between two parked cars. He heard a noise and looked
over to see a crazy looking dude with sunken eyes on top of another
well groomed man. The crazy man pulled himself to his feet using a
car bumper. The large man stated that the man had a suit on but his
white dress shirt had dark stains on it. He also had strange looking
eyes. When he walked it looked like he had been drinking. His
movements were increasingly irregular. The large man asked him if he
was okay but he just moaned. The man in the suit fell forward and
grabbed the large man by the waist. The large man held the man in
the suit up by his shoulders to keep him from falling down. The man
in the suit was able to bite him before he could react. The
intoxicated man took a chunk out of his arm. The large man punched
him in the face but he kept on coming. He had never punched someone
and not put him down. The large man reached into the back of his
pick-up and grabbed a crowbar. It took a couple of whacks to take
the man in the suit down. He covered his arm with a towel and drove
himself here. Arvayo had come by to check on me by the time he
finished his story. He said he would stand by with the large man so
I could finish my patrol. I walked past room #6 and the room was
full of nurses. Dr. Sanchez and Dr. Black were in the doorway
talking to patient’s fiancée. She had spent the last
couple of hours pacing back and forth in his room only stopping to
whip the sweat off his face with a handkerchief. The patient’s
prognosis had gotten worst and he could no longer speak. His nurse
took a quick reading from his forehead with a temporal thermometer.
The man had a temperature of 106.1 degrees. I got out of the way and
continued my patrol. Hernandez called Lt. Arvayo over the radio and
told him an agent from Homeland Security was here to see him.

His
name was Cullen Rose. He was the special agent in charge for the
state of Arizona. His department was committed to keeping terrorists
and dangerous criminals from entering the country. The news reports
from the last couple of days caught their attention. The trouble was
centered on the US border with Mexico. Agent Rose was here to
interview the injured detainees found in the desert. He needed to
know if the stories were true. He needed to speak to them before
they got deported back home. Arvayo told him we would let him know
when the helicopter touched down. I was at the ER registration
window checking to see what room the large man was in. I looked
through the bulletproof glass into the ER waiting room. Everyone’s
eyes were focused on one of the three TVs mounted on the walls. I
opened the security door to see what was going on. That room was
always crowded and noisy but now it was silent. I wondered what
could have everyone’s attention. When I looked at the
broadcast I could see it was a breaking news story. The anchor
cleared his throat and started to talk:

“We
are interrupting this program for a crisis update. The violence that
we reported several hours ago is no longer taking place just at the
border. All across the city of Tucson we are getting reports of
violent attacks leading to injury and death. Throughout the day
eyewitness accounts and information has been constantly updated.
Most of the attacks have been committed by people infected with a
strange new virus. The attacks are centered near the cities largest
hospital. The first responding officers radioed in that screams
could be heard coming from inside. What ever made the sounds was
coming straight towards them. A woman pushed open the hospital doors
and ran towards them out of breath. She bumped into one officer and
rushed past him without saying a word. Her face was pale and her
hands were bloody. When he grabbed her by the shoulder and asked
what was wrong she stood there glaring at him with a blank look.
That’s when they found out what had happened. Strangers were
hurting each other. Friends were attacking friends. Families were
killing their own kin.

Within
minutes more officers showed up along with TV news helicopters and
trucks. More than two dozen law enforcement units including the
police , sheriffs department, and S.W.A.T. responded to the call.
Many of them were in uniform but some of them were in plain cloths ,
body armor, and riot gear. Some of the officers used their cars to
barricade the streets. Their initial perimeter spanned for a block
around the building. A few minutes later a scared group of
bystanders scrambled out the hospital and took off down the
sidewalk. Running from an unknown enemy the crowd spilled out into
the street and blocked off traffic. That’s when dozens of
people clad in hospital scrubs and staff uniforms began to stream
out the building. They wounded some stragglers and critical injured
others. The commanding officer and chief negotiator used a megaphone
to give orders to the approaching mob. He shouted for them to stop
and when they didn't his men opened fire with pepper spray balls and
rubber bullets. The gas failed to slow them down and the rubber
bullets bounced off causing little injury.