Sacred Heart ~ and Other Stories From The Zombie Apocalypse

Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart

June 3rd 2022 approx. 7:40 pm

Sacred Heart Hospital and Emergency Shelter

Avro rested his arms on the front desk, aiming what, in his opinion, was a 1000 watt smile at Nora. She didn't look up from her screen, her fingers flying over the keys with the unbroken tapping of a pro. Avro leaned in, trying to see what she was working on. All he caught was some sort of form she was filling in before she reached up, not breaking eye contact with her screen, and pulled her desk sign over in front of Avro's nose.

Welcome to Sacred Heart

Please take a seat and someone will

be with you shortly.

Avro made a show of grimacing and rolling his dark eyes. "Nora, you're killing me."

"Lucky you. You're in a hospital." He was almost certain she batted those impossibly long eyelashes at him before turning her attention back to the screen. He drummed his fingers on the white counter, right beside the chip in its pristine surface where someone had fainted and slammed their head. He stood out just as starkly in the pure white room with his dark brown skin and stained EMT coat.

Nora sucked her lips and turned, both brows raised. Though she didn't wear much makeup (who did these days) she had managed to line her eyes so they really popped. Avro clutched his chest and staggered back, still grinning. "Girl, be careful with those eyes! Anyone would fall in love just looking at them!"

"Mmmm hmmm." Nora sighed. "Are you that bored, Avro? Aren't there some zoms out by the fence you and the guys could go throw cans at?" She pulled a pencil from behind her ear and lightly rapped his fingers.

He pulled his hand away, and flashed her another smile. "Not today. I only have eyes for you, beautiful."

"Lucky me." Was it his imagination or did her lips tremble like someone trying not to smile?

"You know you love me, don't lie." He waggled his eyebrows and was sure he caught a little smile this time.

Nora gestured at her screen. "I've got a backlog of patient forms to enter before the power goes out tonight. The governor rationed it back by another hour, or didn't you hear?"

Avro shrugged. "It's always off when I get home anyway. What's another hour?"

"Tell that to Stanley. If he has to limp those generators along any longer than necessary –"

"Right right." Avro slouched against the counter, this time facing the empty waiting room. Only one bank of lights was on, illuminating scuffed, plastic chairs and the sliding doors that had been propped open with a bucket of gravel. He envisioned the maintenance guy, who somehow managed to be crotchety at the age of thirty five and wandered the halls with perpetual stubble and a malaise of cigarette smoke."Let's not think about Stan huh? It's really killing my game."

"Look at you thinking you have game." Nora snorted. "Why don't you go wipe down your rig or play catch with Tia or – " Nora was cut short at the phone beside her rang. They both jumped, but she composed herself instantly. She gave Avro a warning look as she put the reciever to her ear. "Sacred Heart Hospital, emergency dispatch speaking. Mmmm Hmmm. Where are you located?" She deftly clicked around to the correct screen and began typing furiously.

Avro pushed back from the counter, his heart rate already rising. An emergency call, right before lights out? This was the kind of action he was looking for; if he couldn't get Nora to flirt with him anyway. He listened as she rattled off her questions, trying to glean what was going on. Her voice was level, steady, exactly the kind of calm someone in crisis would want to hear. Avro bounced on the balls of his feet. Nora switched from typing to a notepad beside her. She wrote without missing a conversational beat, and passed the paper to Avro.