Under the Blue Moon

Chapter 33

You have no idea how long you've been deep under the surface of conscious awareness. But you can start to feel yourself drifting up. Every once in a while, you break through the surface and hear commotion around you.

"C'mon, c'mon, let's get 100% O2 started. Quickly folks! I need labs drawn stat. Just put it in as a verbal order. We need to address the cyanide level. Um...okay, I'm going to need sodium thiosulfate. Let's do a 4 g/m2 bolus and give 12 g/m2 over.... 6 hours. I'm also going to need some methylene blue. Can I have the lab results please? Okay.... Let's start with 20 mg. We can give it over the next couple of minutes so do that first and then do the bolus of sodium thiosulfate."

You think, "Who is this woman that is shouting orders at everyone?" You can feel the brightness around you more than see it and you can feel cool air going into your lungs.

Then you hear the same woman shouting, "No, no. She has no sign of tracheal burn. We can just let her be with the reservoir mask. She already has it on. She is in much better shape than the others that were in the train. No crackles, rales, rhonchi. I don't know how her respiratory damage was so limited.

"Okay BP and heart rate are all looking five by five here. Let's get her upstairs so that we can continue to monitor her. Do we have a room number for her yet? What did you say? Did you say 614? That's telemetry. Right? Okay, good. Let's get her up there. Anyone know what her name is?" You try opening your eyes, but the light is too bright. So bright that even with your eyes closed, they hurt. Another voice says, "Franny! I think she is waking up."

The voice of the same woman that was barking orders before, seems to be right over you now. She is blocking some of the light that is blinding you, so you try opening your eyes a tiny bit. Other than the vague shape of a head and shoulders, you can't seem to make out anything else.

The woman says, "Hello! Ma'am, ma'am, can you hear me? My name is Dr. Sinatra. You know like that old American crooner? You were on the Underground tube when the bombs went off. Do you remember anything? Can you hear me? What is your name?" No longer standing over you, she says, "Uh oh... I think she is fading out again...Hey...." Then, as slowly as you had drifted up to the surface of consciousness, you feel yourself descending back into the deep abyss where the fabric of time and space doesn't exist. The only thought you have, before the shadowy depth swallows you whole, is "I am so tired."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Jin arrives back at Royal London, he can see that it has become exponentially busier than when he was there earlier. As he walks into the ER once more this evening, he finally allows himself the chance to look around him. The hallways are filled with patients, and you can see, for the first time today, the true carnage that these explosions, these attacks, had left behind. The human misery that is unfolding in front of Jin makes him feel utter disdain for those who were responsible for what happened in those tunnels today. Jin checks his cellphone to see if he has missed any calls and makes his way to the emergency management command center at the Royal London Hospital. When you enter the conference room again, the gentleman that you spoke with only a couple of hours ago looks like he had aged ten years. When Jin walks up where the man is, he finally looks up at him.

Jin asks, "I'm sorry to bother you again, but I was wondering if anyone matching my girl's description came through here since I was here last. I know you are overwhelmed and busy, but I am really desperate."

The man replies with some frustration in his voice, "Sir, I have been compiling names of victims as they get registered in, but most of the people that we have been getting in here are, for now, unidentified. And your wife wasn't amongst the people that have already been identified. But I do have your contact information," he picks up a small notepad with Jin's name and phone number written on it.