Chapter Eleven: Do No Harm

 

The McClane County General Hospital looked pretty much exactly the same as it had when I worked there as a hematologist. It felt just like old times as I pushed my patient’s gurney through the ambulance bay’s massive doors. I had not been an emergency room doctor back then, but I was called into action during the hospital’s many crises because of my medical experience and knowledge. The similarities to the past ended quickly as I escorted my patient into the waiting area. A young, female doctor who I did not recognize ran up to greet me with two nurses in tow.

“Mr. President,” she stammered. “When the paramedics called ahead I thought they were joking.”

“Call me Nick or Dr. Whittier,” I told the woman. “I was a terrible president. I’d much prefer the title from a job that I was actually good at. We’ve got one more critical besides this guy who should be pulling up right behind us. Where’s the trauma team?”

“You’re looking at it,” the woman replied. “I called in another doctor who should be here soon. Noah, go with Dr. Whittier to trauma one. Abby and I will take the next patient.”

The male nurse jumped into action and helped me maneuver our patient into the first trauma room. I was disappointed by the lack of familiar faces, but I knew I should not be surprised. The hospital was no doubt one of the worst places to be at the start of the zombie outbreak. People who had been bitten but escaped their attackers would have flooded the emergency room, died quickly and then reanimated. The dedicated medical professionals who had been on duty at the time were some of the first casualties of the apocalypse. The Mayor’s militia eventually managed to secure the hospital, but the damage had been done. New soldiers could be trained quickly, but doctors and nurses required far longer than three months to learn the necessary skills. As they had been in the past, the emergency room’s staff were in desperate need of my help.

Noah and I strained to lift the patient onto the bed in the trauma room. “I’ll work on the chest tube. I need you to place the central line and set up the rapid infuser...” I barked at the nurse but trailed off when I noticed he was not moving. I looked across at Noah and found that the young man’s face was white. His fingernails were digging into the side of the bed as he stared down at the patient.

I engaged the terrified man in conversation as I started to work to stabilize the wounded teenage girl. Noah had been in nursing school when the outbreak started, and he was far from qualified for his current position. I decided to give him only simple tasks to perform, and I did the bulk of the work by myself. It was not an ideal situation, but I had worked under much worse conditions. I had practiced medicine for centuries. I had saved lives on Civil War battlefields without the aid of modern technology and techniques. Compared to that, stabilizing my current patient was a walk in the park.

“Why is it that whenever you are in my ER there is some sort of calamity going on?”

I glanced up at the doorway briefly and smiled. Dr. Berkowitz, a colleague of mine from the old days, grinned back at me as he watched me work. His hair had grayed since the last time I saw him, and his face was tired and wrinkled. The stress of working at McClane County General for so many years had taken its toll.

“It’s not my fault this place is always chaotic,” I joked. “Well, except for that one time with the iNazis who were pretending to be terrorists. That one is on me, but the rest were just coincidences.”

“I should have expected to find you here when I got a phone call in the middle of my nap telling me to come in. You need a hand?” Berkowitz asked.

I shook my head. “I’ve got this. Check across the hall with the other doctor. She’s working on a guy with a nasty-looking partial amputation.”

Berkowitz nodded his head and went off to assist the younger doctor. I finished with my patient a few minutes later and trusted Noah to escort her up to surgery. The ordeal was far from over though. The next patient from the balcony collapse was wheeled in and deposited on the bed by two paramedics. They gave me all of the vital medical information about the young man before departing. I was left alone to work on the patient.

The teenager had suffered a nasty head wound and was unconscious. He had abrasions and lacerations all over his upper body as well. His vital signs were good, and I knew that none of the injuries were life-threatening. My first patient had been clinging to life, and the excitement of trying to save her had gotten my adrenaline pumping. There was no sense of urgency regarding the young man, so I calmed down as I went through the motions of treating him. The procedures were second nature to me, and my mind started to wander. At first I was not consciously aware of how good his blood smelled. All the small wounds on his body meant that the alluring smell was rolling off of him in waves. I leaned closer to his face as the smell overwhelmed me. My fangs extended, and I hissed involuntarily. My eyes locked onto the skin of his neck. I was mesmerized by the rhythmic pulsing that occurred as blood pumped through his carotid artery. I did not think about my Hippocratic Oath or my own personal sense of morality. At that moment, the only thing I cared about was feeding.

“Dr. Crusher finished up in trauma two and...” Dr. Berkowitz started as he entered the room.

My colleague’s voice shattered my trance. I jumped away from my patient and knocked over a tray of medical instruments in the process. I gasped and threw a hand towards my mouth as my fangs quickly retracted. My body started to shake violently, but this time it had nothing to do with hunger pains. I took a few deep breaths as I realized how close I had just come to taking an innocent life.

Dr. Berkowitz knew that he had walked in on something unusual, but he was not entirely sure what that was. “Dr. Whittier? Nick? What is it?”

“This was a mistake,” I declared. I pulled off the latex gloves I was wearing and tossed them on the trauma room’s floor. I avoided looking at the young man on the bed as I stormed towards the exit. “Can you handle this patient?”

“Of course,” Berkowitz responded as he sidestepped to get out of my way. “I’ve never known you to be squeamish about a trauma victim. What’s wrong?”

I balled my fists and shook my head in frustration. “I haven’t fed since the start of the outbreak,” I explained. “If it was just a question of food I could go down to the blood bank but it’s... I can’t... I need to kill. It’s getting harder to control my thirst... and his blood...” I trailed off as I suppressed a dark fantasy. “It’s too much. I wanted to help, but I can’t... I can’t,” I stammered as I ran my hand over my face.

Berkowitz rubbed his hand over my shoulder. “It’s okay. Dr. Crusher and I can handle the rest of the balcony collapse victims by ourselves. The critical patients have already been sent up to surgery. No one is going to die because you’re not available. If you’re feeling up for it, you can help out with the backlog of regular patients. I let the staff know that you have full hospital privileges. Go through the charts and find patients who you can handle. Preferably ones who aren’t bleeding,” he finished with a smile.

I thanked my colleague quickly as I was eager to get away from the wounded patient. I dashed down the hallway, out the doors and into the ambulance bay. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as the cold wind struck my face. I had left my coat in the ambulance on the ride over, but I did not mind the chill. The irony of what had just happened was not lost on me. Five years earlier, I had worked tirelessly to hide the fact that I was a vampire from my coworkers. I was convinced back then that I would be put to death if anyone ever found out the dark truth. Now Dr. Berkowitz had seen me almost murder a man right before his eyes, but he thought nothing of it. He had not called for the police or searched for some wood to plunge through my heart. He had seen how close I had come to taking an innocent life, but he chose to react with sympathy and understanding. He did not blame me anymore than he would have blamed an elderly man with dementia for running naked through the halls or a Parkinson’s patient for involuntarily knocking over a lamp. As a medical professional, Berkowitz more than anyone knew that my need to kill was merely a result of the disease that was ravaging my body.

It took a few minutes before I calmed down enough to go back inside. Some of the patients who were in the waiting area pointed at me and whispered to one another. Some seemed excited by the presence of a celebrity, but I heard others cracking jokes about my failed legislative agenda. The people loved me or hated me because of my political career, but not one of them showed any signs that they were afraid of me. I had hidden my true identity for over six centuries because I was convinced that people would never be able to understand my condition. It had only been a few years since my secret was revealed, but I realized how wrong I had been. I had been accepted by my fellow human beings as a member of society.

My loss of control in the trauma room was disturbing, but the resulting realization filled me with joy. I lost myself in the job for the next few hours. Practicing medicine was one of my oldest passions in life. The patients who I saw all seemed excited to have me as their doctor. Some liked meeting one of the most famous people on the planet, but most were just happy that their six-hour wait was finally over. None of the cases were unusual or interesting. I spent the time diagnosing the flu, treating a minor drug overdose and dissolving industrial strength adhesive from a do-it-yourselfer’s fingers. It was the same type of problems that any ER doctor would handle on a usual day, except for the increased number of patients who were suffering panic attacks. The zombie apocalypse had, understandably, increased the demand for anti-anxiety medications.

“Am I going to turn into a zombie?” an eight-year-old girl asked as I wrapped a bandage around her ankle.

“No, honey,” I smiled. “It’s just a minor sprain. You only turn into a zombie if you get bitten.”

“I got bit by Marvin,” the little girl offered.

“Is Marvin a zombie?” I questioned.

“Marvin’s her brother. He’s going through a phase,” the girl’s mother said quickly, lest I think her daughter was infected.

“He’s not a zombie, but he’s a douchebag!” my young patient declared in her adorable voice.

“Watch your mouth, young lady!” her mother scolded. “Where did you hear that word?”

“We’re all done,” I said, eager to avoid the family squabble. “My good friend Noah here is going to show you how to use these crutches. Remember to use plenty of ice and keep pressure off the bad foot for the next week.”

My patient’s mother thanked me before they departed. I watched them go, but I was not eager to return to the nurse’s station to retrieve a new chart. I leaned back in my chair and let out a groan as I stretched my arms and legs.

“You only worked a quarter of a shift and you’re already tired?” Dr. Berkowitz joked. He hopped up onto the bed that my patient had just vacated. “It’s good to see you, Nick. Things have been... rough since the start of the outbreak. I was working on day one when the first wave of patients started to turn. We lost two doctors and three nurses before anyone even knew what was happening. I ordered the surviving staff to evacuate, and we had to leave behind a lot of friends. Dr. Kingston, Dr. Tierney, Julianna...” he listed.

“Julianna?” I asked as I struggled to remember the name.

“Uh, she was really attractive, hard worker, liked Mexican food,” Berkowitz listed.

“Aw, not Sexy Nurse!” I lamented.

“I miss her for more than her good looks. I’ve been doing my best to train all the new personnel, but most of them aren’t suited for this lifestyle. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t even think of letting them work in the ER. I’m happy to have another competent doctor around.”

I snorted at the compliment. “They must really be bad if you prefer the guy who might eat his patients,” I whispered. “To be honest, I’m surprised to see that you’re still working here. I’m glad you survived the outbreak, but I would have thought that you’d have moved on long ago. Hell, Dr. Condo got promoted all the way up to Surgeon General... and then he became director of the CDC for some reason.”

“Dr. Condo,” Berkowitz smiled ruefully. “The crackhead fool who knows as much about medicine as the average goldfish. How many times did you and I save one of his patients from a painful invasive procedure?”

“Too many to count,” I chuckled. “He certainly didn’t deserve the promotions, but at least it prevented him from torturing anymore innocent people.”

“Somehow it seems fitting that Condo was the leader of America’s medical community when everyone died,” Berkowitz said. “Fat lot of good all those promotions did him though. He just ended up back here with the rest of us.”

My eyes went wide. “Condo’s here? At the hospital?” I demanded.

“Yeah...” Dr. Berkowitz said in confusion. “I was pissed that he was back, but he hasn’t been treating patients and he mostly keeps to himself, so it’s not a huge inconvenience. He set up in one of the vacant offices on the second floor for his ‘research’. Why does it matter if...”

Berkowitz trailed off as I leapt out of my chair. He jogged to keep up as I dashed towards the nearest elevator. My colleague had not understood my excitement at first, but he must have caught on quickly because he told me Condo’s office number and did not ask me anymore questions. I began breathing heavily and my fangs extended before the elevator’s doors even reopened. Berkowitz giggled to himself as he watched me. He knew what was about to happen and he was, to say the least, supportive of the idea.

The door to Condo’s office was ajar, but I slammed it open for good measure. I found the idiotic doctor alone inside wearing a white lab coat and staring into a microscope. He turned at the sudden noise, but a grin formed on his face once he saw me. He extended his hand towards me as if we were old friends. Evidently the murderous look in my eyes was not enough to tip him off that he was in trouble.

“Dr. Whittier! It’s good to—”

I knocked the desk chair that was in my way aside with one hand and lunged towards Dr. Condo. He was too stupid to understand that he was under attack, and he did nothing to defend himself. I groaned in excitement as my fangs sank into his neck. I was desperate for the kill, and I sucked down several mouthfuls of his blood as quickly as I could. The blood immediately came back in the opposite direction. I shoved Condo into the wall as I tore my fangs out of his neck. I doubled over and vomited the foul-tasting blood all over the floor of his office. Pain shot through my abdomen as my stomach desperately attempted to pump out every last drop of the disgusting blood. I collapsed to the ground and continued to gag.

“He’s infected,” I moaned.

Dr. Condo gave no indication that he was upset by my violent attack. He pressed his hand against the wounds in his neck and nodded happily. “I sure am. Infecting myself with the vampire zombie plague is phase four of my brilliant strategy. I won’t be infected for long though, because I have found the cure.”

“There’s no way in hell that you found the cure,” Berkowitz declared.

“I’m surprised you can find your car keys in the morning,” I added.

“You two have mocked my genius for far too long,” Condo suddenly snapped. “I’ll have the last laugh once I reach phase five and you two see that I have found the solution to this crisis. It’s actually quite simple,” he began to lecture. “My cure is a combination of Gingko biloba, St. John’s Wort and garcinia cambogia. That last one is the most important ingredient in the formula I developed. I know a guy named Dr. Roz who assured the world at the start of the outbreak that garcinia cambogia has amazing antiviral properties! He said that there have been clinical studies that prove that it will increase immune functions by thirty percent! He must know what he’s talking about because he had his own national television show. I mean, it’s not like he would have any reason to exaggerate the effects of the supplement or just flat out lie. Do you think he would make outlandish claims just to draw in viewers and improve his ratings? Only a money-grubbing prick would do something like that, not a really dedicated physician like Dr. Roz.”

“Alternative medicine?” Berkowitz sighed at his colleague. “That’s your miracle cure? God, I knew you were stupid, but how could you possible think that a handful of herbs would be the solution to zombism?”

“Uh, because they all have mystical properties that native peoples have known about since ancient times, duh,” Condo countered. His cheeks bulged out for a moment as he looked at Dr. Berkowitz. His eyes went wide a moment later as he doubled over and added more vomit to the pile I had left on the floor. He put the back of his hand against his head as sweat started dripping down. “Although, come to think of it, I haven’t heard of any scientific studies that prove the herbs I took are at all useful. I suppose if they did have amazing properties then the big pharmaceutical companies like Mercizer would have studied them, extracted the relevant compounds and then developed real medication.”

I struggled to get to my feet, extracted a wooden stake from the pocket of my pants and walked towards Condo while giving the pool of blood and vomit a wide berth. “I really would have liked to drain you, but I suppose this is a more fitting finale for you. Condo, you were undeniably the worst doctor I ever met, and in the end your stupidity cost you your own life.”

“I was a dedicated professional,” Dr. Condo argued. He struggled to stay standing as the fever took hold of him. “I dropped everything and risked my life traveling across the country to Starside so that I could investigate the first confirmed case of this plague. By the time I got here, the Vampire Research Institute was overrun and outside the safe zone. I never got to examine patient zero, but I still think I deserve some credit for trying.”

“There was no ‘patient zero’,” I told the dullard. “The outbreak occurred everywhere at once. Everyone who got the vampire virus vaccine was infected around the same time when they popped the bubble wrap and were exposed to the zombie virus.”

Dr. Condo ignored my comment and continued to eulogize himself. “I selflessly put my work towards a cure for rickets on hold...”

“We already have a cure for that, it’s just vitamin D,” Berkowitz sighed.

“... and put all my efforts into researching the strange case I heard about,” Condo said as he continued to ignore us. “When the CDC got the message about the mysterious patient at the end of September, I decided to investigate it personally. I tried to contact the doctor from the VRI who had sent the e-mail, but he had seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet. I knew it was—”

“End of September?” I questioned. Berkowitz and I exchanged worried looks. “That’s weeks before the main outbreak.”

“Do you need to get any more information out of him?” Berkowitz asked me.

“No,” I replied.

Berkowitz snatched the wooden stake out of my hand, grinned and then slammed it into Dr. Condo’s chest. The most incompetent doctor who I had ever known gasped before falling to the ground dead. He was face down in a pool of bodily fluids, but neither Berkowitz nor I cared enough to adjust his body to a more dignified position. We walked into the hallway and closed the door behind us without giving our deceased colleague a second thought.

“God that felt good. I wish I had found an excuse to kill him years ago,” Berkowitz admitted. “I never heard anything about a zombie in the VRI back in September. I learned through the rumor mill about how the iNazis infiltrated the VRI and used the vampire virus vaccine for their evil plan. If they wanted to conduct secret tests to make sure their biological weapon worked before they deployed it, the VRI would be a great place to do it. A whistleblower could have found out what they were doing and e-mailed the CDC. Then again, maybe Condo pulled the whole story out of his ass. What do you think?”

“Condo was an idiot, but he wasn’t a liar,” I reasoned. “I think we need to get inside the VRI.”

 

Dr. Berkowitz and I exited the building in search of my two friends. The hospital was at the very edge of the safe zone, so it was easy to follow the chain-link fence until we found them. Lara was shivering on the near side of the fence while Reginald was on the other side. My werewolf comrade was not alone. There were a hundred well-armed militiamen outside the fence. They had constructed a makeshift barricade which, when added to the main fence, effectively cut off the Vampire Research Institute from the outside world. Zombies were trickling out of the VRI’s main entrance, but they were not getting far. Reginald and the militiamen cut them down with crossbows once they cleared the door. Given how many corpses were on the ground, I determined that they had been working for some time. I shouted over the groaning of the undead for Reginald to join us. Lara opened up the gate in order to let him back inside the safe zone.

“What’s the situation?” I asked.

“It took us a while to kill all the zombies in the area and set up the barricade,” Reginald explained. “After that we opened up the front entrance and let the zombies come to us. We’re making lots of noise to attract them, but you know how stupid they are. They have trouble navigating around obstacles and going down stairs. We’ll still have to deal with the ones that are trapped in rooms and closets, but this strategy will let us kill most of the zombies. It’s slow going, but it’s safer than having the militia go inside to try to clear the building.”

“Has power been restored to the building?” I asked. I continued after Reginald nodded his head. “Good, that’ll make things easier. Let the militia handle mopping up the zombies. You and I can go inside without the undead bothering us.”

Dr. Berkowitz and I quickly retold Dr. Condo’s story about the mysterious “patient zero”. We all agreed that the report was worth investigating, but Lara was not happy about the specifics of the plan.

“I’m coming too,” she declared. Lara raised her hand to silence me before I could voice my objection. “The VRI was my second home for a long time. I know the building’s layout, and I know exactly where to look for the information we need. If Hitler’s infiltrators were doing secret research there’s only one place it could have happened. The animal testing area on the top floor is the only place with cages large enough to hold a human being. They were designed to house the primates and monkeys that we tested the vampire virus vaccine on. Most of the zombies are at the bottom of the VRI or heading there. If we take the skywalk that connects the VRI to the hospital we shouldn’t have any problems.”

I was reluctant to let my granddaughter back into harm’s way so soon after delivering her to safety, but I knew she was right. Dr. Berkowitz was intrigued by the new development, and he opted to join us as well. The four of us entered the hospital and made our way to the skywalk. It had been barricaded to prevent the VRI zombies from making their way over to the hospital, so it took us about ten minutes to clear a path through to the other side. Two zombies greeted us when we got through, but they were easily dispatched. Aside from them, the halls we passed were unoccupied. The power was on, but some of the florescent lights were flickering. It was eerily quiet, and I must admit that even I felt a little uncomfortable even though I knew the zombies had no interest in attacking me. We stayed in a tight formation as we climbed the stairs up to the top floor and began our search.

I insisted on leading the way even though Lara was the expert on the building. She whispered directions in my ear as we systematically checked all the rooms where animal testing had been conducted. Dr. Berkowitz, who was more worried about zombies popping out at him than watching where he was going, accidentally kicked a coffee mug that had been dropped in the hall by one of the fleeing researchers. It was a minor blow, but it was enough to send the object into the hallway’s wall. A low-pitched groan broke the silence in response to the noise. We braced ourselves for an attack that never came. Cautiously, I followed the noise and pushed forward towards the last door at the end of the hall.

The florescent lights flickered and buzzed as we entered. There were four large cages at the far end of the room, but only one of them was occupied. A frail zombie stood hunched over in the cage in the left corner of the room. His back was turned towards us, but I could tell by his gray hair and physique that he was quite old. The floor creaked as I took another step forward. The zombie groaned in excitement and whipped around to investigate. I felt tightness in my chest as I stared at the elderly man. The test subject had not been exposed to sunlight, so his flesh was not rotting like most of the other zombies I had seen. It made it easy to identify him. Although I had never met him in person, I had seen him in plenty of photos. I did not understand what was happening, but I was suddenly filled with a sense of dread. I froze as I stared into the lifeless eyes of my son.

I jumped when the gunshot rang out. I turned around in time to see two bodies falling to the ground. Reginald grimaced on his way down, but he was unconscious by the time he hit the floor. The bloody, quarter-sized hole in Dr. Berkowitz’s forehead made it clear that he had not been as lucky. My mouth dropped open, but it was not to extend my fangs at the new threat. Lara stood stoically near the entrance to the room. She held a syringe in her left hand and a revolver in her right.

A wicked grin formed on my granddaughter’s lips. She turned to her left and nodded her head at the zombie in the cage as it stretched its hands through the bars and moaned hungrily.

“Hi, dad,” she said.