Our Wrong Choice

Panic

                                 The GIs from the US Army, including William Estes, is trying to calm everybody's fears and keep a panic from ensuing inside the hospital. Just as William calms down everyone in the emergency room lobby, one set of doors to the emergency room department bursts open. There is a female physician wearing a white lab coat stained red with blood who is running toward him. He has no idea what to think. But he knows whatever she is about to say is not going to be good. From the looks of it, she has a bite on her left arm, close to her elbow. With horror and shock on his face, William quickly pulls the doctor to the side and asks her, "Ma'am, what in the world is going on in there?"

                                  The doctor looks at him and says, "Sir, I don't know. Nobody does. I was just informed by one of the nurses that another one of those patients from the interstate accident had just died. I had gone into the room to pronounce him. When I got to his bedside, he sat up and took a chunk out of my arm. I have no idea what is God's name is going on. But I do know this: the dead just don't come back to life. When you're dead, you're dead. End of story. You don't come back from that, and if you do, you don't try to cannibalize your fellow man. But he did!!"

                                    William sees all the occupants of the emergency room lobby, including small children, turn toward the doctor as she is talking to him. One of the men sees the bite on her arm. As the man listens to what she is telling William, the man gets a horrified look on his face. He turns to his wife and whispers something in her ear that William can't quite make out. As he finishes talking to the nurse, the woman walks up to him and says, "Sir, my husband and I couldn't help but overhear what you and the doctor were talking about. I'm sure that everyone in this lobby should know what is going on in this hospital. Some of us have children here and we need to know if we need to get them out of this hospital. So can you please tell us what we need to know?"

                                       William's blood runs cold as he listens to what the woman is saying to him. Judging by the look on her face, he is only seconds away from having to deal with a full-blown panic. He wracks his brain for the right words to say that will keep things calm in the lobby while truthfully answering the questions the woman is asking. Just as he has the right words, he hears a terrible scream come from behind the doors of the emergency room. He looks around the emergency room lobby and, automatically, he sees the panic in everyone's eyes. He tells them all that the hospital is no longer safe and that they need to get outside.

                                      The doctor who told him what was happening inside the emergency room quickly tells everyone that they have to leave the hospital for safety reasons. As soon as she gets everyone safely outside, she goes back into the hospital to help William with the situation that is unfolding inside the emergency room. She has no idea how bad things are in there now. The only thing that keeps going through her mind is that things could not get any worse than they already are. As soon as the doctor goes back in the hospital, she heads straight to where William is standing by the doors to the emergency room. As soon as she gets to William's side, she says,"Okay, soldier. You know what is going on in there. You also know that there are many people who are in a dangerous situation. My question to you is what are you going to do about it and how can I help?"

                                    He looks at the doctor and sees the determined look on her face. He knows by the look on her face that even if he tells her to go outside and wait with everyone until the hospital is clear of danger, she is just going to ignore him. Instead, he tells her that the only thing that can be done is to kill those things. He tells her, "While I am taking care of the threats to the people behind these doors, I want you to help the patients who are able to help and the other nurses and doctors get everyone out of the emergency room."