Eclipsed Star

Chapter Nineteen

ROMAN POV

Sitting with Jake, I watched as his eyes came in and out of focus. One minute he was playful, the next serious, and it was like he didn't remember what he was saying from one minute to the next. When he finished eating, I offered to push him back to his room.

"You haven't finished yours," he stated and despite the grumbling in my stomach I wanted to get him back to where the doctors and nurses could keep an eye on him.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me. You're the one who's sick."

"I guess," he said roughly.

I reached over the back of the chair and laid my hand on his shoulder. He leaned into my touch and dropped his head back onto the back of the wheelchair looking up at me.

"I feel ridiculous with you pushing me around like this, like some kind of invalid."

I smiled. "Just relax."

He closed his eyes and by the time we got back up to his room, he'd fallen asleep.

"Jake? Come on." I shook his arm to wake him. "Get up. We have to get you back in bed."

I knew he was exhausted, but I was shocked at how quickly he fell asleep. "Jake?" I said again gently, closer to his ear now that we were in his room. The door was open and I didn't want to risk getting too close. I knew he didn't want anyone to know about us yet, but he wasn't waking up.

"Jake, baby?" I leaned in closer and spoke a little louder. He still didn't wake and when I touched his face, his head rolled to the side - limp.

Panic washed through me. "Jake! Come on, this isn't funny." I shook his shoulders and when he didn't respond I tried to pull open one of his eyes. They had rolled back into his head, he seemed more unconscious than asleep.

I pushed him back in his chair to make sure he wouldn't fall and ran out into the hallway to find the nurse. "I need help!" I yelled, panic lacing my words. I ran back to the room, the nurse close on my heels.

"Jacob? Jacob, can you hear me?" the nurse said as she got close to his face and shook him. She checked his eyes and tried to move his hand but it just fell limply at the side.

"I already did all that," I said terror and panic coursing through me. What happened? What had I done by taking him to the cafeteria?

The nurse didn't acknowledge I had spoken, instead she pushed a large button on the wall and said, "I need Dr. Keller, now."

Alarms started to sound throughout the room and a blue light flicked outside his door.

"You need to leave now." The nurse pushed me out of the way as she maneuvered Jake out of the wheelchair but he was too heavy for her.

"Let me help." I took his arms and pulled him up against my chest.

"You can't do that. The orderlies will be here soon." I could tell from the look on her face she needed to get him into the bed fast, so I hauled him up and dragged him across the room to the bed. He fell back completely unanimated.

"Thanks," the nurse whispered before pushing me out of the way again and checking his pulse. "His heart is slow. It's still beating but...."

Just then a gaggle of orderlies, nurses and a doctor I had met the day before stormed into the room, filling the space.

"Come with me," one of the burly orderlies commanded, pulling me out of the room.

"No, I want to stay. I need to know he's okay," I cried trying to see Jake's prone body lying on the hospital bed behind a wall of bodies.