Chapter 3 — Zoe

The SICU was the largest ICU in Silver Bay General Hospital and was also the most recent to get renovated. The twenty-four-room section was modernized with the latest technology. The shift had only been a few hours in and the 24-bed unit was nearly full. Besides, there had been 3 codes so far, one of which where the patient survived. Zoe watched as two morgue carts wheeled past her assigned room while she and Amber continued setting up. Room 24 was quite big at the end of the hall. Getting the report of the patient and list of several officers and a dog arriving, Zoe, in fact, hoped it would be large enough. Slowly, she turned to watch Amber who was setting up some suction canisters. "Hey!"

"Hmm?" Amber turned and eyed her friend who had paused. Zoe took her to the open glass slider and pulled back the privacy curtain. They were almost toe to toe, when Zoe inched close to Amber's ear, whispering.

"Don't you think it's strange. It's Halloween. In past years, we've seen first-hand rival gangs in Cyprus Row come in here in the dozens."

"So?"

"So… Cyprus Row is such a dump. Anyway, I was thinking about the explosion we saw earlier by the seaport. I wonder if it was caused by fireworks or a terrorist attack."

Amber was nodding as she listened, almost thinking Zoe was going mad. "Girl, if you don't stop thinking about that. We already had 9-11. We don't need another one. Girl, we got work to do."

"I don't know. It just seems weird." Zoe licked her lips and took a deep breath. "The ambulance we saw when we were coming in was driving from that area…then, within a half-hour, the entire area is gone, Amber. We might be under attack."

"Does seem a bit odd since you put it that way but don't worry. We'll make it."

Zoe opened the curtain, glancing out to the rest of the unit. In the far corner, one of the patient care techs, Shauna was having a very deep discussion with Dr. Eric Salinger, a 4th-year surgical resident. To say that Zoe disliked the pair would be an understatement. Shauna was a petite hottie, with mousy fair ash brown hair that was always halfway pulled up. She was ok but not stunning. Zoe always saw her look as though she had taken a huge bite out of a shit-sandwich. Shauna did not get along well with the others either, her poor work ethic and attitude towards everyone including the patients made her an unpopular choice when the nurses needed assistance. The fact that she kept company with Eric did not bode well either. Zoe crinkled her nose as Amber peeked over her shoulder. "Speaking of weird. Look at those two," Amber added.

"Right? They give me the creeps, even more so when they are together like this."

Eric looked okay would be handsome if he wasn't always smiling. That constant grin spoke as if he knew the exact date and time in which the world would end. He paraded around the hospital as if he was already a resident physician, being bossy to nurses and others. His behavior knew no bounds. Eric and Katharine had gone a few rounds before after he had been rude to one of her staff. Days later, he offered the nurse a half-hearted apology that was demanded only by his superiors. According to the other surgical residents, Eric was a butcher in the OR. He preferred patients to be under as little anesthesia as possible, arguing that patients had better responses when awake than not. The anesthesia team was not fooled however, openly and abashedly scolding Eric in front of his peers whenever the topic would come up. Recently, the surgeons and anesthesiologists had grown tired of his antics and his OR privileges were temporarily revoked. Eric was ordered to do research until the hospital board of directors stepped in. The nurses were glad he was confined to a desk in the hospital's library. Yet here he was…talking to Shauna, nearly nose to nose. Her giggling indicated there was something going on.

* * *

The moment was broken as the sound of a bed being wheeled down the main hall was heard; it was moving fast and there was quite a bit of commotion as several voices loudly tried to speak over one another. The bed, with the length extender that Amber had so nicely found, came briskly around the corner. Anesthesia was at the head, one gloved hand pushing as the other squeezed an Ambu Bag, providing the intubated patient with oxygen and mechanical breaths, not of the patients own making. On either side of him, two techs kept pace, each one wheeling an IV pole that had several pumps and channels infusing medications. With so many infusions running, the flashing lights on each of the channels reminded Zoe of a Christmas tree. On either side of the bed, two residents and two attending surgeons pushed, remaining was Dr. Lake, who was the director of the SICU… steering at the foot.

A kind and gentle natured man, Katharine and her nurses enjoyed working with Dr. Lake, who despite his advanced age was as sharp as a tack. Patients and their relatives also loved him; his calm and supportive bedside manner was unparalleled. Though he was the director, Dr. Lake was an expert anesthesiologist and intensivist. One week out of the month, he took his turn in the rotation of the SICU's intensivists, of which there were three others, and performed rounds and fulfilled a week-long on-call schedule. His truest passion, besides patient care, was teaching the residents who rotated. Each resident would be completely under Lake's spell as he talked and taught; frequently scribbling notes and answering questions he would quiz them on.

Zoe was relieved when she saw that Lake was on this week. Amber swiftly unhinged the glass as Zoe grasped the foot of the bed, helping guide the heavy bed. At that moment, her eyes went wide as saucers… she was looking at quite possibly the largest man she had ever seen in her life. Unexpectedly, a cold wet nose touched her fingers and she directed her wide-eyed stare to the furry jet-black mass at the foot of the bed. Glassy brown almond-shaped, intelligent eyes watched her intently. His ears triangular and erect, swiveling in response to new noises, taking in rapidly changing surroundings. Besides that, the dog Rudy was perfectly still, like a statue. The behavior from the K-9 surprised her, but Zoe didn't really know what to expect. Having never seen a Rhodesian Ridgeback before, she had quickly cruised the internet for a quick reference. Though she had read its physical description, it paled in comparison to the proud looking animal that was laying in front of her. It was large, maybe 80 lbs, squarely built and well-muscled. Despite this, it was not bulky, but rather compact, agile-looking.

"Zoe?" Dr. Lake yelled, her head snapping immediately to face him, as the bed was locked into position in Room 24. "Are you taking our friend here?"

"Yes, Doctor."

Anesthesia stopped squeezing the Ambu bag momentarily to connect the ventilator to the patients breathing tube. Other nurses, including Katharine, swarmed into the room, helping to settle the new admission. None of them spoke but went about the task at hand without any direction, like bees in a honeycomb that instinctively knew what must be done. The in-room monitor came alive, displaying numerous numbers and tracings which indicated the man's vital signs. Zoe agreed to take the report from Anesthesia then, satisfied at the moment with his stable condition. Katharine was at the head of the bed, making a list of all the infusions that were running, dose and volume, confirming also that each channel was programmed with the correct documented weight. Amber took note of all of the man's invasive lines. He had a radial arterial line in his right wrist which showed second-by-second blood pressure, in a red waveform displayed on the monitor just under his EKG reading which was green. The man had a triple lumen MAC line above his left collarbone… instead of having peripheral IVs. This special IV was centralized in the patient's body, directing the medication infusions to his heart via his superior vena cava. This particular one had a way of measuring his cardiac output, the yellow waveform on the monitor belonged to this PA line. "Urinary catheter?" Amber chimed out, another nurse answering affirmatively while taking account of the amount of urine in the bag. Josie who appeared opposite of Amber squatted down and called out, "Chest tube to suction!" as a soft bubbling noise is heard.

Amber moved towards the patient's head and was about to document the placement of the breathing tube, when she did a sudden double-take of his face, gasping inaudibly. The left side of his face and neck was a devastating burned and scarred. His mangled skin was a jigsaw as it twists and craters, around his left eye and Amber wondered if the man's vision is intact. At his jaw, the skin here is especially thin and superficial, it wouldn't take much to expose the bone of his mandible. Her assessment continues, finding he is without a left eyebrow and where his ear should be, is a gnarled stump.

Zoe finishes her scribbled report in a shorthand that only she can comprehend and look to her team. The OR techs begin to file out and Anesthesia heads to the desk to write a transfer note. As she passes Lake, he squeezes her shoulder gently. "I'll write you some orders, dear. In the meantime, blood pressure with a MAP >65, heart rate 60-100, and SpO2 should be >96%. They say ventilating him has been problematic… more than likely due to his size. They put him way under. The officer shall rest tonight and tomorrow, we will wean him off slowly."

Silently acknowledging, Zoe steps up to where Amber is and is also taken aback by the sight. However, it was not the scars Zoe noticed first, and not knowing what possessed her at that moment, her fingers grazed the forehead of the sedated officer and softly brushed slickened black strands of hair that stuck to his face away. Turning her hand, so that the underside was against his skin, her knuckle just ghosting over his right, heavy brow and down his defined cheek. His jaw was prominent and masculine, the slight stubble that grew there tickled her skin. Withdrawing her hand, gaze fixated still on his face, Zoe let out a breath she wasn't even aware that she was holding in. She realized then that she was alone with Officer Sam Dalton, the other nurses had left to settle another admit rolling through. Amber went to tend to a phone call at the desk. Rudy softly thumped his tail against the blankets, making his presence known, in case she had forgotten. Zoe hadn't, she was very much aware of all the work that needed to be done."

Zoe purposefully moved quietly to his right side, leaning to whisper in his ear… just enough over the bubbling chest tube, beeping monitor, click of infusion channels and whirring of the ventilator.

"I'm Zoe—" Drawing a deep breath, "And we will spend this night and the next, and the one after, together."