Another One Bites the Dust (20 page)

“You’ve been puking like this for the last three months.  When is this shit supposed to go away?”  Max asked from the other side of the bed.

I looked up from tying my shoes and replied, “Well, all the books I read said twelve weeks.  Yet here I am, nearly thirteen and I’m still puking, so I got nothing.”

He left the room, and disappeared into the main part of the house and called out, “What time is the ultrasound appointment today?” 

I followed the sound of his voice to the kitchen and found him digging in the fridge.  “Today on my lunch break, they’re working me in since I’m not sure when I can get free for lunch.  I’ll text you when I head down there.”

Seeing as I slept days and went to work during the night, it wasn’t so easy to get to the doctors unless I wanted to lose a couple hours of sleep.  To a pregnant girl, that’s worse than anything you could imagine.  My doctor is one of my favorites in the maternity ward, and since he’s in the next hall over from where I work ninety nine percent of the time, he said he would work me in since he had two inducements that night.

“You won’t have a man on you today.  A tree limb fell through the roof of the garage  early this morning and we need to get it patched since it has yet to stop snowing in a day and a half.”  Max explained.

In Texas, snow of any kind was rare.  For it to snow for that long was unheard of.  The trees couldn’t keep up with the weight of the snow and ice, and they were just collapsing, breaking, and uprooting all over the place.  We’re lucky that worse hasn’t happened.  Hell, at least we had power.

The lights flickered twice before going out completely.  The last thing I witnessed was Max lifting the jug of orange juice to his lips.  Straight out of the jug he drank.  I glared at him, but since it was dark, he couldn’t get the full impact of the glare.  Pig.

 “Yeah, but what about the rest of us?  We’ll all probably die of exposure, and there you’ll be all nice and cozy.  Think of the children!”  Max teased.

I walked slowly with my hands out until I found the counter.  I filled up a glass of water, downed my prenatal vitamin, and placed the cup in the sink.  Displaced air informed me of Max’s arrival at my side as he leaned down and threw the empty orange juice pitcher into the sink.  The man couldn’t find the trash when the lights were on, what made me think he could when the lights were off?

 “I
am
thinking about them, or at least ours!”  I laughed.

Max came up to me and wrapped me up in his big strong arms.  My face was buried in the soft flannel of his shirt.  His chin rested on the top of my head and my tiny bump nestled up to his crotch.  “You were glaring at me weren’t you?” 

Tiny flutters in my belly made my heart happy, but they weren’t noticeable to Max yet.  I couldn’t wait for him to feel the baby kick. 

I didn’t follow seeing as it was dark and I’d probably find every damn chair in the kitchen with my shins, and still never catch him.  “Alpha!”  I yelled.

Alpha was at my side instantly, and I gave him a body rub before standing and saying, “Truck.”

He led me through the house, and never once did I hit a chair or ottoman.  I don’t know what I ever did without this dog; he was such a large part of our lives now that I don’t even know what I used to do before him.  Max and he had a competition going on for my love and affection.  Max teased that I loved the dog more than I loved him at time, which might have some truth to it because Alpha doesn’t leave a complete mess everywhere he goes.

“Ready?”  Max asked from directly behind me.

I jumped three feet in the air (well okay, maybe like six inches) and turned with a flare.  “Jesus Max.  Can’t you freaking stomp or something and let me know you’re coming?”

“Sorry, sweet cheeks.  Let’s get going.”  He said as he lifted me up in his arms and cradling me against his chest.

I rolled my eyes, but was secretly happy that he was so thoughtful.  The man was a pain the ass, but he was my pain in the ass.

The drive to the hospital was a slow one.  It was good that I wasn’t driving because people were being complete dumbasses.  Some drove excessively slow, while others went too fast.  There were wrecked cars abandoned on the side of the road.  A few power lines down here and there, as well as downed trees.  The snow was making a kaleidoscope effect as we drove, and soon I found myself dizzy and nauseous.

I’ve never been so happy as when we pulled up to the front entrance to the hospital.  “Hold on and I’ll walk you up.  Hopefully they don’t care if I park here.”  Max said as he rounded the corner of the blazer.

He opened the door and grabbed me around the waist with both hands, letting my body rub against his until my feet met the asphalt.  My nausea disappeared, and was instantly replaced by need.  I inhaled deeply, taking the scent of him into my lungs.  This would be a long twelve hours.

His hearty laugh filled the night, and I beamed at him.  “Alright, let’s get this shit over with.” 

“Remember to call me.  Don’t you dare start without me!”  He said as he led me to the nurse’s station.

The lights flickered but stayed on.  We all groaned.  If the lights went out, this would be one hell of a shift.  Babies continued to be born whether there were lights or not.  It was a scary thing to be in the middle of a delivery and lose power. 

“Call me if you need anything, Payton.  Love you.”  Max said as he kissed me and then took off for the stairs.

“Why did we not just ride in the same vehicle?”  Cheyenne asked from behind me.

I turned and smiled at her.  She was wearing her hair down tonight, and I envied the long curly mass.  “Probably because I’m twenty minutes late again, and you’re always on time.”

“That’s right.  Sam drove me; he wanted to spend a little more time with me.”  Cheyenne said and then amended, “Well, if you wanted to be technical, he said, ‘you’d probably end up in a ditch, and then I’d have to come get you anyway.  Get over it.’  I chose to think he did it with love, though.”

“Sure you did.  What do we have today?”  I asked while scanning the charts.

“It must me a full moon, the whole floor is filled; we’re actually having to double up patients to rooms.”  Cheyenne informed me.

It was six hours into my shift before we got our first break.  I’d called Max about twenty minutes before, and just took my eighteenth bathroom break of the day when the power went out.  It had been flickering on and off for the entire shift, and we’d prepared for it to go out almost as soon as I got on shift.  

We checked every single battery in every single machine that resided on this floor.  We also informed the patients that if the power did go out, not to panic.  We had hospital policies that prepared us for any possibility when the lights went out, except one.  They didn’t tell me how to prepare for a killer set on taking you out, and didn’t care about babies getting hurt in the process.

Alpha scratched at the door frantically, and I assumed that it was Max on the other side, but when I opened the door, nobody was there.  Alpha slunk out the door and into the hallway, leaving me behind.  Good thing the battery on my phone was fully charged as I was now down a guide dog who left me high and dry in the dark.

The high pitch cry of a baby screaming in pain had me dashing through the corridor and straight up to the nurse’s station.  Just as I rounded the corner, I tripped over something and fell to my hands and knees.  Pain radiated up my arm, but all I could think about was how thankful I was that I’d caught myself before falling on my belly.

I may not be showing much at this point, but it was definitely there if my pants have anything to say about it.  It was just the tiniest of bumps.  It fit perfectly in the palm of Max’s hand, which seems to have a permanent home there whenever we are within reaching distance of each other.

I ignore the pain in my arm, as well as the stinging in my knees that signals that most likely, I’ve broken the skin, and turn to see what tripped me.  It doesn’t register with me at first, but then I see the long curly blonde hair and it takes everything I have to hold the throw up that wants to exit my stomach inside me.  I crawl over to her quickly using the hair as a guide since my phone is now somewhere I can’t see it.  Once I reach her head, I feel something slick, but continue to run my hand over her face until I reach the crook of her neck.

Her pulse is steady and strong, and I release a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding.  Just as I was standing to find someone to help me, I heard a noise that chilled me to the bone.  Alpha’s growl warned me that something wasn’t right, and I needed to find a place to hide.  I couldn’t hide though, if something was wrong, there were eighteen babies on this floor that didn’t have the same warning that I’d just gotten.

Moving the desk chair out from under the counter, I dragged Cheyenne’s limp body over to the little nook and folded her inside.  I felt her front pockets and was elated to find her phone there, yet quickly deflated when I couldn’t figure out how to work it.  It was a brand new one that I had absolutely no idea how to even open, so I shoved it back into her pocket.  I shoved the chair in front of her.  Most likely she wouldn’t be seen anyway, but more is better and all that.

A quick survey of the floor and surroundings yielded nothing, and I cursed beneath my breath.  Crawling on my hands and knees, I peek around the nurse’s station and see my phone lying face up illuminating the hallway.  I crawled quickly to it and called Max.

“I’m about five minutes away, there was a wreck at the intersection in front of the hospital, or maybe it’s just an abandoned car, hell I don’t know.  I went around the side street and am just pull…”  Max was saying before I interrupted him.

“Something’s wrong.  The powers out, I found Cheyenne unconscious with a head wound, and Alpha is somewhere on this floor growling at something.”  I whispered as quietly as I could.

“Fuck me.  Can you go hide somewhere?”  He asked.  I could hear a commotion in the background, almost as if he was running, but I couldn’t be sure.

I crawled along the hallway wall, keeping one shoulder on the wall so I wouldn’t get lost.  “No can do, I have babies to take care of, and parents to warn.”

The first opening I came to signaled to me that I reached the first patient room.  Pushing it open silently, I listened for a heartbeat before going in all the way.  Since I could still hear Alpha growling, I made an educated guess that whatever was wrong wasn’t on this side of the floor.  There were no sounds of TV, or moms talking to their babies, no sound whatsoever, and just as I made it to the bed, I heard a whimper.

“It’s okay, its Payton, I’m a nurse on this floor.”  I whispered.

“Payton!”  A voice hissed.

It took me a few moments to recognize who it was since she was whispering.  I finally realized that it was another nurse that was normally on day shift.  “What do you know?”

“Nothing.  I came out just as the lights went out.  This was the first room I came to so I could check on them.  When I came out, I saw some woman standing behind Cheyenne with a flashlight.  She swung it at the back of her head, and Cheyenne went down.  I closed the door and haven’t moved since.  I put the family into the bathroom.”

“Okay, I’m going to the next room.  Jodie, Tina, Jacklyn, and Aida are probably in patient rooms as well.  I know where Cheyenne is.  You need to call 911 on the patient phone.”  I ordered and then crawled out the door.

I don’t know where all my bravery came from.  I just know Max was boosting me just with being on the phone with me.  Except now that I think about it, I forgot about him as soon as I entered the room.  Putting the phone on speaker, I dropped it into the front of my pants and crawled to the next room.

“Max.  Can you hear me?”  I whispered.

“Yeah, I’m on the second floor, but all the doors are fucking locked.  How do I get in?”  He whispered back gruffly.

“There’s an emergency code that will get you inside, but it also sets off a silent alarm, which wouldn’t be a bad thing right now.  There is a keypad beside the door, punch in three-five-six-five-pound.”  I explained.

I went to three more rooms, told them to get into their showers.  The next door I came to I could hear an infant urgently crying, so hard that it was making my insides hurt. 

As soon as I pushed the door open, the whimpering of the young mother could be heard.  “Stacy?”

Stacy was all of fourteen, and had a C-section just four hours ago.  She was also on psych watch because she tried to kill herself, which in turn led to the C-section two weeks before her due date.  I’d walked out on an argument between her and my boss about when she would get to see her child.  “I can’t move to get her.  She fell off the bed, and I can’t get her.”

I felt sick to my stomach just thinking about why the baby was on the floor.  Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.  Where was the sitter that was supposed to be in this room?  The woman was a silent watcher every time I had come in to check on Stacy today.  She rather gave me the creeps, and I’d tried all night to stay out of the woman’s sight, but alas, duty called and I sucked it up.

“Stacy, honey, where is your sitter?”  I asked quietly as I checked the baby.

The baby calmed as I placed my hands on her little chest.  The infant was tiny, a little over six pounds.  I was concerned that the baby might have something wrong with her.  Sadly, there was nothing I could do with the power out.  Not to mention there was a psycho bitch on the loose.

Scooping the baby up in my arms, I grabbed a sheet from the closet and tied the baby to my chest in a makeshift sling.  There was no way I was leaving this baby with a suicidal mother.  The baby was sleeping now with little sniffles and catches in her breathing every so often from the fall she took.

I reached the door when it was silently pushed open.  I quickly stepped to the side and crammed myself into the corner so the door would open and conceal my body.  The footsteps were nearly silent except for a slight clicking sound that may have been from a rock or a pebble stuck in the grooves of their shoe.  I put the phone from my pocket to my ear and listened, but couldn’t tell where Max was since no sound was coming from the earpiece even though I could see I was still connected.