Rookie 2 | Ethan Ramsey

Chapter 18~ Countdown

Countdown

"I promise, Blue, we'll fix this. I'll fix this."
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⚠️Warning: Sensitive Content

In the diagnostics patient room, a dark blue aerosol canister rolled on the floor, sputtering empty.

Blue felt a painful tingling in her throat, her skin catching in the light where the spray had covered her. Rafael was coughing a little, feeling discomfort in his throat as well, and Danny was sitting nearby Bobby's writhing body, clearly stunned.

"I...I...it's on me...it's all over me." Danny stuttered, his eyes wide in shock. Travis, the cause of all this mess, was hacking and coughing on the floor. Rafael grabbed him by his collar, pinning him to the wall with his strong frame. "What the hell was in that thing?!" Rafael growled. For the first time Blue had actually seen him so angry, yet terrified.

"I...I don't..." Travis stammered before twisting away from Rafael and vomitting in a trashbin. Blue's mind raced at how fast whatever that was in the can was affecting the occupants of the room. Her eyes snapped back to Ethan, who was still watching whatever was transpiring in the room with wide eyes from the other side of the window.

"Blue..." he uttered out when he met her eyes again, and he immediately moved to enter the room, but Blue beat him to it. She held the handle of the door closed with a vice-like grip, tightening it even more when she felt him tug at it. "Ethan, don't come in here!" she exclaimed, holding the handle tight, as she faced him through the window.

Ethan stared back at her, his blue eyes narrowing to the red circle rimming the emerald hue of her eyes. "What's going on, Blue? Talk me through it." he said, trying to keep his voice even. "Travis just tried to kill Senator Ed with whatever was in that canister." Blue started, pointing to the dark blue canister that was on the floor next to Travis now. "Ed got out, but we have no idea what was in there." she continued, trying not to croak as she talked with the discomfort increasing in her throat.

"Bobby took a full blast of it to the face, and Danny, Raf and I were right there when Travis deployed it. Whatever it is, it's clearly dangerous. We can't risk it getting out into the rest of the hospital." Blue explained further as she turned to look back at Travis who was still heaving into the trashcan.

"Is this why you paged me to the office while you came down here?!" Ethan almost growled, as he tried not to lose his cool. He was not angry with her, but at the situation, and he hated how Blue got caught up in it while keeping him out harm. "I did'nt want you to get hurt." Blue replied with rueful eyes.

Ethan sighed heavily, pressing his palm on the glass door, his aquamarine gaze holding all the worry in the world. Blue placed her palm over his against the glass door, desperately wishing that she felt the warmth of his skin instead of the chill glass. Her palm half the size of his, as they met each other with the glass barrier in between.

"Ethan, we need to make sure no one else gets exposed to it." she said with difficulty. Steeling himself, Ethan replied, "You're right. We have to stop it from spreading." He whipped out his phone, his hands visibly shaking as he phoned 911 and Naveen immediately. Before Blue could do anything else, a struggled groan could be heard in the room. "I...I don't...I don't feel good..." Danny uttered out lurching to side as he threw up heavily. Rafael crouched down next to him, as he rubbed his back comfortingly. "Whatever this is...it's bad..." Danny heaved out when he finished.

With her heart pounding, Blue looked around and spotted an air duct near the ceiling. "Raf, help me! We need to seal the vent!" Blue exclaimed. "On it." Rafael responded, pulling away from Danny to help Blue look around with something they could use to seal the vent. They rummaged through the the supply cabinets in the patient room, finding some plastic sheeting that was usually used for some exam tables.