Warm Bodies: Awakening

Where Rules Unravel

"We're losing him!" Stephen yelled, eyes glued to the ECG monitor. The kid's heart beat was spasmodic, arrhythmic, and his blood pressure was ridiculously, dangerous low. And still sinking.

Shit.

"One more minute," Dan mumbled through his mask, "last stitch."

The ECG wailed as the boy went into cardiac arrest.

Stephen swore loudly and grabbed a long syringe off the med tray. "Epinephrine?"

"2 milligrams, now, I'm closing up now"

Stephen adjusted the volume, tapped the syringe, and drove it between the boy's fourth and fifth rib, sinking it deeply enough to reach the left atrium. He plunged the depressor, and watched the ECG. Sweat trickled down his forehead.

"C'mon c'mon..."

Dan knotted off the last stitch on the boys chest, and readied the defib.

The boy's heart pulsed twice, then flatlined again.

"Dammit." Dan grabbed the paddles, waited for the charge, and delivered the shock. The boy's body arched for a second and relaxed.

There was a tiny blip, then nothing. "Come on!" Dan grunted, and shocked him again.

The ECG beeped, there was a long pause, then another beep followed as the young man's heart resumed beating.

Stephen exhaled the breath he'd been holding. It was a shitty rhythm, but they could work with that. He clapped Dan on the arm, and Dan nodded to him, wiping his forehead on his sleeve. He was clearly beyond exhausted. And a miracle worker. Twice now.

"How many more do we have?" Dan asked, pointing to the blood bag on the IV stand.

"Not enough," Stephen said, shaking his head. "We need more donors."

"Talk to the Colonel, we'll have to get some of his crew in here tomorrow - might even need to set up a direct-"

The ECG wailed again, and they both turned to stare at the flat line, then down at the boy, hoping that something had come loose. Stephen felt at the boys neck. No pulse.

"GodDAMMIT," Dan shouted, and immediately began CPR, "We're gunna pull these again!"

Stephen watched as Dan pushed in rapid succession against the boys chest, then stared at R's face. They were missing something here, something vital.

Someone vital.

He turned and ran from the room.

Slamming through the door into the ICU, he rushed to Julie's bedside and shook her awake.

"Wha... hey..." she mumbled.

"No time, come on!" Stephen grabbed her arm and half pulled her from the bed.

Julie tried to jerk her arm away, but her eyes finally focused on Stephen's frantic, flushed face, and she frowned, then looked over his shoulder for R.

Her eyes snapped back to his, "Oh god, where?"

He didn't answer, just pulled her behind him as he ran from the room, down the hall and into the operating theater. Dan was still performing CPR, and the ECG was still wailing in that horrible continuous tone.

"Where the hell did you go?!" Dan yelled over his shoulder.

Julie's hand shot to her mouth, "Oh my god!"

"Hold him Julie, okay?" Stephen said as he pulled her to R's bedside. Fresh blood was starting to pool under Dan's gloved hands as he pumped against the young man's wounded chest.

Stephen looked back at Julie, and she was frozen, her face drawn in anguish, clearly in shock. He had no time to make this easy. He grabbed her hand and placed it over R's, then grabbed her other hand and drew her closer, resting her hand on R's shoulder.

"HOLD HIM," he said, with such force that she jerked back. But it helped, even as tears streamed from her eyes, she clasped him close and buried her face in the young man's hair.

"R... R, I'm here," he heard her whisper, "Please... come back."

Dan's arms shook, and he finally stopped, swearing loudly. "Stephen take over, I'm done."

Stephen didn't respond, his gaze passing from Julie, to R's pale face, to the ECG.

"Steve, what the hell?!" Dan yelled at him, "I need you on CPR, NOW!"

"R, it's Julie," the girl cried, her voice breaking, "I... I need you." She closed her eyes and leaned into him, tears falling down her jaw.

Beep.

Dan froze, in the midst of starting one last desperate attempt at CPR, and stared at the lone peak on the ECG as it scrolled off the screen.

Beep.

A big grin spread on Stephen's face. He squeezed Julie gently on the shoulder, and she looked up at the monitor, then closed her eyes in relief and pressed against R again.

"Oh god R... thank you."

Beep... beep... beep beep. The boy's heart returned to a steady rhythm.

Dan stared at Julie, at R, then looked up at Stephen. "I don't... damn well... believe it."

Stephen smirked back at him, "The kid used to be a corpse Dan, this might be a good time to start believing."

Dan just shook his head, incredulous, and watched the monitor for a little while. Finally, he took a closer look at the boy's stitches. "They look okay. Let's get him cleaned up and back in ICU. We can talk about miracles later, after I've had about a week of sleep."

"Yeah," Stephen nodded and set about replacing the bandages. Julie watched him quietly, her hand still entwined in R's, her cheek resting against his head. She looked just as tired as he felt.

"How did you know?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Know what?" he asked, then blinked, "Oh, that that would work?"

She nodded.

Stephen sighed. "I didn't. It's just..." he gave a slight smile, "the two of you, together, are the miracle here. It's not just R, it's not just you. Somehow, when you are close, normal rules just... unravel."

He looked down at R, "You broke death together. I was kind of counting on that working again. Glad it did."

Julie sighed. "Me too."

"I think we might need you to stay at the ICU for a while, as close to him as we can get you - you up for that?"

She nodded, and they made the final preparations for moving him. Just before they wheeled him out he noticed the boy's eyes moving rapidly under his eyelids.

"He's dreaming," he murmured, more to himself than anything. For some reason it surprised him, and he wasn't even sure why. The kid wasn't a corpse anymore, why shouldn't he dream?

Julie stared at R, "I've never seen him do that before," she said, her voice full of wonder. "I hope they're good dreams."

Stephen nodded slowly, "Yeah."

But inside, and he didn't want to share this with her, he doubted they were.