Just Close Enough to Burn (station 19)

Crazy Train

Dear Diary,

It was a wild day. I was on aid car with Jack and Maya (oh yeah, Sullivan told Ripley that he wanted to keep Bishop at 19 and he agreed!). Before we got called out, I was getting ready in the locker room and Maya burst in and interrupted Andy's shower to talk. But Andy being Andy just started venting about her own stuff. It was honestly so funny to watch cause Maya just keep saying random shit in response knowing that Andy wasn't listening. I had to try so hard not to audibly laugh from the other side of the room. Finally, Maya got a word in and expressed her concerns about Jack; she thinks he might have come back too soon. Before we could really talk about it, we got called out again to treat patients in a stuck subway car.

We got there and realized it was just a boo-boo call. Lots of people with really minor injuries, honestly the worst kind of call. We started checking people out, putting small bandages on scrapes, etc. All of a sudden, this kid started coughing up blood... after traveling from the Middle East. Maya theorized that we might be working with a contagious disease and I agreed so we called dispatch to get the CDC. They agreed that it could be bird flu, a new and more airborne strain, meaning all of us had been exposed. We had to quarantine the subway car.

Announcing the quarantine only made things worse. People started freaking out and this one jackass was insistent on getting off the train and was getting everyone more and more worked up. The guy kept saying stuff that was batshit crazy and defied everything that is scientifically sound. A group of them were about to push their way off the train, but Maya spoke up and calmed everyone down. Jack didn't know what to do, and I was on the opposite side of the train car and couldn't say anything fast enough.

We did our best to keep everyone calm and monitor our patients that had travelled to the Middle East. There were three of them, so we each took one to monitor, and traded off as needed. I was with the boy, Will, and tried to keep him calm by asking about the game he was playing. He told me about the challenges he had completed, all the times he beat his friends, and showed me how hard his current level was. I had absolutely zero interest in the game but it kept him relaxed for 20 minutes so it was worth it. I had to leave him to check inventory with Jack and Maya. As we were checking on what we had, our third traveler started coughing up blood and lost consciousness. The three of us worked together to get him stabilized and monitored.

I kept noticing Maya looking over at Jack. I know that she was worried about him being back, but it seemed different. She wasn't looking at him the way she looks at a fire, when she's trying to figure everything out, assess the situation, and decide what needs to be done. She was looking at him the way I've seen her look at girls in bars; with intrigue and a little excitement.

Just when we thought we got a handle on everything, Will collapsed and the jackwagon business guy tried to pry his way off the train. There was a security guy who tasered him, but it was too much. He lost consciousness and started having arrhythmias. Jack jumped up to put him on a monitor and had the security guy look for a flat line. I was still working on Will and Maya got up to collect medications from the passengers. We were running desperately low on supplies, and without access to the aid car, we had to get creative.

With just 10 minutes until the CDC arrived, our tasered business man flatlined, our second infected passenger stopped breathing, and Will still wasn't stable. Maya started compressions on the businessman, and got a rhythm back. I started working on our second traveler, got him bagged and taught another passenger how to use it while I looked for an intubation kit. While I intubated, Jack got Will's dad to act as a walking blood bank for his son, and Maya got our jackass breathing and awake. The CDC arrived just as we got all our patients stabilized.

We masked up and had to get fully decontaminated. The CDC did a rapid PCR that showed our patients did in fact have bird flu, but thankfully none of us had contracted it. Once we were cleared, I checked my phone and saw texts from Travis saying that Sullivan had wormed his way into their painting party. Then a video of him dancing around the apartment. And finally that they all actually had a good time and were going out for drinks. It was so bizarre haha.

As we made our way out of the CDC containment area, Maya was congratulating us on a crazy job well done, and she kept mocking Jack. Knowing Maya... that means something. I didn't know what was going on in her head... I just kept hoping she would shut it down quickly. Unfortunately she didn't.

We headed home after getting cleared by the CDC, but on our way Maya texted Jack to come over. She thought I wouldn't notice somehow, but I saw him sneaking out of her bathroom and then the apartment. Thank god Andy wasn't home to see it, but I'm gonna have to have a real talk with Maya tomorrow. I ignored it for the night because Andy went out and got soup from our favorite Chinese restaurant downtown and we all just ate and hung out and watched dumb movies, relieved that we didn't have bird flu.

-Mattie