It's Coming Around | Lawrusso

It's Coming Around Chapter 7/10

"He's what?" the doctor asked.

"A boy he teaches Karate to broke his back in a fight," Daniel said, then he motioned towards Johnny's arm. "The same fight that caused these cuts."

Johnny gasped. He was barely conscious, his eyes half closed as he groaned in pain and he rolled onto his side. His face screwed up in agony and he let out a strangled cry, as his body contorted on the bed.

"Can someone get me 10 of Diazepam!" the doctor shouted.

Johnny cried out as his head drew back and his spine bent at an unnatural angle, twisting his body into a curve as his muscles pulled taut.

"Diazepam going in," a nurse said, as she injected a syringe into the port on Johnny's hand.

"Will that work?" Daniel asked, starting to panic as Johnny's back continued to bend.

"It should," the doctor said, as he took hold of Johnny's shoulder.

"Should?" Daniel asked desperately.

"Can someone help me get him on his back?" the doctor asked, as Johnny seemed to relax slightly.

The nurses moved forward, and placed hands on his chest and shoulders, trying to straighten his body. They rolled him onto his back, and Johnny's head lolled to the side on the pillow.

Daniel let out a breath he didn't even realise he was holding, as Johnny sagged onto the bed, his limbs hanging loosely against the sheets. It looked like the drugs were working at last, and the danger was passing.

Johnny's head jerked to the side and he let out a groan as his right shoulder seemed to twitch upwards. His chest jerked up as his back lifted off the bed, his muscles contracting, forcing him upwards.

"We need another 10 of Diazepam!" the doctor shouted, as he placed his hands on Johnny's chest and pressed down, trying to stop him from rising any higher.

Johnny let out a scream, his back arching up off the bed and contorting his body as the muscles went into spasm, locking rigid.

"Oh my god," Daniel gasped, watching as Johnny cried out with every breath, as his back seemed to arch to an impossible angle.

A nurse rushed in and injected another syringe into the port. "Diazepam is in."

Daniel stepped back, his mouth open, as Johnny started to gasp for breath.

"What the hell happened to that splint?" the doctor shouted, as he straightened Johnny's broken arm. "He's going to need surgery if we don't get it soon."

"I'll find out," a nurse said, as he rushed from the room.

Johnny finally sagged against the bed, letting out small cries of pain, even though he seemed to be unconscious.

"His sats are dropping," one of the nurses said, then a shrill alarm sounded.

"The muscle spasms are blocking his airway," the doctor said, then he pointed at Daniel, and said, "OK, outside, now."

A nurse came over, and took Daniel by the arm, leading him out through the doors of the room and into the corridor.

"Why can't I stay?" Daniel asked, as the doors swung shut behind them.

He could see Johnny on the bed through the large window, his body still fighting against the drugs, his spine still being forced into an arch by the spasming muscles, as the medical staff worked desperately around him.

"We need to give them room to work," the nurse said.

"Get me an anaesthesiologist down here now!" the doctor shouted inside the room.

"Anaesthesiologist?" Daniel asked. "Why do they need one of those?"

"Just wait here, and as soon as we can I'll send someone out to speak to you," the nurse said, then she rushed back into the room and closed the blinds on the window.

Daniel sat outside the room, tears in his eyes, as he held his phone in his hand.

He knew he should call Robby. He knew he should tell Miguel too, but the vision of Johnny, arching off the bed in an unnatural position was seared into his brain. It was like something from a horror film, and he didn't want the kids to go through that.

He knew only 20 minutes had passed since he'd been removed from the room, but the time had been a blur of medical staff rushing in and out of the doors, of equipment being wheeled in, and the sound of the shrill alarms of the machines.

The alarms had stopped beeping at least five minutes ago, and Daniel wondered what it meant. It could go two ways – either Johnny was saved or he was dead.

He wiped the tears from his face, and looked at his phone again, then the door opened and the doctor came out.

Daniel jumped out of his seat. "Is he OK?" he asked, then his voice broke as he asked, "Is he dead?"

"He's alive," the doctor said, motioning towards the chairs.

"Oh thank god," Daniel said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Johnny's going to be transferred up to the ICU in a while," the doctor said. "They're getting a room ready for him now."

"ICU?" Daniel gasped. "What... What happened to him?"

"As you saw, Johnny was suffering from intense muscle spasms, and for those we'd usually give muscle relaxers, but the spasms were so strong they didn't work," the doctor said quietly.

"Oh no," Daniel said, his breath hitching as he expected the worst. He wiped his face again, and asked, "Did it happen? Did he break his back?"

"No," he replied shaking his head. "But we had to take drastic action in order to save him, so for the moment we've placed him in an induced coma until his body clears the virus from his system."

"What?" Daniel gasped. "He's in a coma?"

"We had to induce paralysis to stop the muscle spasms from fracturing his vertebra," the doctor said. "So right now he's on a ventilator that's breathing for him, and we have him on strong antivirals to try to help him recover quickly."

Daniel couldn't help the sob that escaped him, and the doctor placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We're taking good care of him, Daniel," he said comfortingly.

"I know but... but he's on a ventilator," he cried. "People go on those, they sometimes don't come off them."

"It's only going to be a few days, just until he tests negative, and then we'll be waking him up," the doctor said. "I need to go back inside now, but as soon as we're ready to take him upstairs I'll come get you."

"OK," Daniel said with a nod. "Thank you for taking care of him."

"That's what we're here for," the doctor said with a smile.

Daniel watched as he walked back into the room, the doors swinging closed behind him.

He opened his phone, and flicked through his contacts, then hit the call button, and waited until it picked up.

"Hey, Robby, it's Daniel," he said.