The television droned on. Another rumored case near Frankfurt. Dr. Buchanan tapped a pen on his desk with one hand as he sipped coffee with another. On the desk, a dozen memos all marked urgent laid before him. All of them discussed unusual cases, but no two of them were the same. It was an old trap for doctors to fall into, and it was being fueled by panic. When you hear hooves, expect a horse not a zebra. Now all these rumors of a plague or the end of the world were making cases of epilepsy or rabies pop up as this new virus. The names of the twelve hospitals which originated the memos were blacked out, essentially removed from the world as the CDC descended on them. Rightly or wrongly, the CDC was withholding any confirmed cases to try and stem the false positives and maybe avert a public panic.
The press secretary was on again. Behind him stood a variety of decorated soldiers. Buchanan shook his head at the sight. "None of them have a fucking clue," he thought. "We warned them for years, decades even. The real threats were with us all along, living on us, getting stronger each and every day. It was only a matter of time until some freak amalgamation turned us into fodder for the next stage of bacterial evolution."
One of the generals moved to the podium, and Buchanan turned up the volume, "...which is why effective today, we will be stepping up our presence around the nation. National guard units are coordinating to provide support to all local law enforcement. Let me be clear, this is not martial law."
"Bullshit," Buchanan said. His pager rattled on his desk. Erica had been instructed not to bother him unless something arrived that seemed out of the ordinary. He grabbed the device and headed downstairs.
—
The emergency room was in chaos. Buchanan rushed forward to the nurse's station, "What's going on?"
Erica looked relieved to see him, "Major traffic accident. We have multiple criticals already and three more on the way. They want to send more, and we have some heavy foot traffic."
"Our limit is six criticals," Buchanan said, feeling comfortable in the crisis. "Reroute any others to Mercy, and they can push them off from there. Page Moires and Shapiro, and if there's anyone not here that can be here, call them. Triage the foot traffic by priority." A gurney rolled in through the ambulance bay doors. Dr. Buchanan went to it.
"What've we got?"
"Pedestrian collision. Patient is unconscious and non-responsive. Experienced a strong seizure en route. Head trauma from the crash. Multiple lacerations to the abdomen, punctured lung, right leg and arm likely broken."
Buchanan cut open the shirt on his patient and started to probe her abdomen. "Patient is a Caucasian female, estimated age twenty five. No ID. What happened to her clothes?"
The EMT shrugged, "Heard some witnesses say she was naked when she got hit. You got this one Doc? We need to get back out there.
"Yeah, yeah, thanks," Buchanan waved him off. "BP is dropping, she's bleeding internally. Buzz OR 2 tell them we're on our way." He looked at Erica, "Take her down, get her prepped for surgery."
—
Buchanan watched the circus of gauze and tubing as the ER nurses worked. He scrubbed his hands mindlessly, thinking through all the possibilities of his patient's condition. Head trauma was bad, but if he didn't stop the bleeding, she'd die anyway. A nagging question kept coming up again and again. Why was she naked in the middle of the intersection in the first place? "Nurse, could you give Detective Farrell a call, tell him I think we may have something. Current Jane Doe, probably missing at least."
The nurse nodded and disappeared in another direction as Buchanan entered the operating room. The girl on the table looked pale, but her vitals had stabilized. Slowly, the room quieted down as everyone moved into position. Buchanan picked up a scalpel and went to make his first incision to her abdomen above the puncture wound. He paused. The bleeding had stopped.
"Uh, Doctor?" Erica said, a note of wonder in her voice.
"What is it?"
"The lacerations on her legs are healing," Erica said. Several others in the room gasped as she pointed to the young woman's legs. Buchanan watched as well. Before his eyes, he saw flesh rapidly mending itself. In seconds a two inch gash in the woman's leg healed without so much as a scar.
A twinge of panic roiled in Buchanan's stomach. He looked around the room. Everyone looked back at him, only their eyes visible and full of fear. Carefully, he reached out and grabbed the patient's arm. Not thirty minutes prior, it had been seriously fractured with dark bruising and swelling, but now he saw not a scratch on it. He grabbed his light and pulled open the girls eyelid. Her pupil responded, but he saw something altogether unusual. Her eyes were bright green, not a lustrous tone of emerald, but a vibrant, gleaming lime color.
"Spontaneous tissue regeneration. Green coloration of the eyes. Seizures. Everyone please scrub out. Leave the patient here. Go immediately to decontamination." Buchanan walked over to a phone on the wall and picked it up. "Security, this is Dr. Richard Buchanan. We've had an exposure to an infectious agent, please quarantine the building. Not a drill. Code 4285."
Buchanan hung up the phone and looked back at the crowd. None of them moved. Their eyes all focused on the patient. She was moving.
"Everyone out now!" Buchanan yelled. "Restrain the patient and seal off this room." Two orderlies grabbed restraints and started to tie the woman down. Buchanan watched as the girl easily resisted the two men's efforts. She was fully conscious now, and she wanted to get up. "Fuck it, let's go, out!" He called for the men, and they reluctantly backed out of the room. Buchanan sealed the room just as the girl broke free of her restraints.
The bruised and battered young woman who had come in on a gurney not twenty minutes before was gone. Buchanan watched as vitality returned to her body. The girl's breasts had been small and unnoticeable, but now they were twice their former size, sitting high on her chest with rosy red nipples at their peaks. The girl reached around to feel her own ass as Buchanan watched through the door windows. She seemed pleased with herself. Her hands continued to explore her body, her skin taking on a slight sheen in the florescent lights of the operating room. Buchanan grew conscious of the eerie contrast between her beauty and the sterile environment around her.