Kickdrum Beating in My Chest Again (Alternate Version)

Chapter 138

!!!!!!!!!!Author's Note!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Everyone! Happy Friday and Happy Thanksgiving to those in the U.S.! I hope you all had a good week. Mine was good. We decided to take our travel-trailer somewhere this weekend, so I'm at the RV park right now. We are leaving on Sunday. Then we have three days and my parents come for Christmas. It will be busy, but it will be nice to have some help.

Anyways, this week, Joe catches Dan and his friends up on what's going on with Patrick. They are shocked, angry and empathetic for Patrick. They also offer to be there for Joe if he needs it because he can't talk to the prison therapist about it. She would think he was nuts. Joe says he'll take them up on that if he needs it. They talk more until Yard Time is over. Joe finds Brad and asks him to go back to sick bay instead of his cell. Brad begrudgingly agrees, but makes Joe basically run back to sick bay. When they get there, there's no one in Patrick's room. Joe thinks the nurses stepped out, so he reads his book. Twenty minutes later, no one has come so Joe goes to find out why. A lab tech tells him that there as a fight or attack on a prisoner who was stabbed multiple times and everyone is there working on him. Joe asks where they were and the tech tells him. Joe goes there, looks through the window, and sees them doing CPR on the patient, whose heart wasn't beating and wasn't breathing. Then Spencer brings the crash cart and they shock him several time to try to get him back. When all their measures don't work, Spencer calls it. Joe goes back to Patrick's room, zoned out. Brad asks him if he knew where everyone went, but Joe says he needs a few minutes. Brad gives him time until Joe's ready to talk, and Joe tells him what he saw. Brad offers to bring him back, but Joe refuses since it will bring more questions than they can answer. Joe takes Patrick's temperature and it's up a bit. The nurses return followed by Spencer a bit later. Joe tells the nurses what he's observed and when Spencer returns he examines Patrick and tells Joe what he found. Joe tell him he observed the same things and asks if they can give Patrick some cold medicine to ease his symptoms. Spencer says yes, but they have to be injectable because Patrick can't swallow. Joe points out that Patrick may be feeling worse that they can observe, but he can't tell them, so Spencer does a more thorough exam. He orders Joel and Ian to start Patrick on oxygen while he goes to grab his laptop.

As always, enjoy, tell your friends, and if you like it, feel free to vote on my story or leave me a comment! If you'd like to discuss the story with me directly, you can find me on tumblr @dancecoaster. Happy Reading!

Chapter 138

*****Trigger Warning for Drug Use, Discussions of Medical Conditions and Situations *****

"After that, Patrick quieted down and hadn't mumbled anything, so I had no idea what was going on. I figured he must be unconscious, sick, or dead because he hadn't moved or made any noise for a long time. Honestly, I thought for sure that he was dead after whatever attacked him, although sometimes I'd see his body tensing up, and show signs of sickness or being in immense pain, so someone must've saved him in the hallucination somehow. Patrick seemed to be alive, but he was getting very sick. He started out by getting very congested and then began coughing, both of which were getting worse, which wasn't good at all. Then he started running a fever and profusely sweating. I was getting concerned because his skin was hot to the touch, his cheeks were red and his hair, body and uniform were completely soaked with sweat. Patrick had also sweated through his sheets and blankets on his bed. I kept an eye on it to make sure it didn't get out of hand, but it just kept getting worse and his fever was spiking really high. I debated whether I should call for Spencer, but then I'd have to explain to him what was going on, so I chose to just watch it carefully. The longer it continued, the hotter and sicker Patrick got. He looked awful and he appeared to be getting weaker and weaker. I didn't want the fever to fry his brain, so I decided it was time to call Spencer.