Thus it begins...(ZPT) (656 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.7 on 13 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Astropath (View user info) at 2006-02-09 13:41:02 EST
David was tired. His bone-deep fatigue left him strangely calm and lucid, and it was thus that he was able to work on his seventy-third hour in a row. Snow crunched under his tires as he backed the ambulance into the bay behind him. It was flu season in Ontario, and during times like these, with almost half of his colleagues off sick, it was a little more difficult to recall the love of the job that drew David to become a paramedic in the first place. He turned the engine off, and murmured wearily to his partner, "wanna grab the drugs out of the back ? I'll get the defib..."
She nodded, her movements slow and mechanical, as she too felt the strain of back to back shifts. Flu season or not, these absences were a little unusual. David and Julie both knew what the other was thinking, and had been thinking this whole time: no one wanted another SARS. They were all too familiar with the ravages of the illness, and how susceptible they were, doing what they did.
Once inside the small, but comfortable, base, they all but collapsed onto their couches, lazily flicking the TV on with the remote. As if in answer to their unspoken fears, a news bulletin featured the latest on an illness that seemed to be spreading alarmingly fast. David wondered idly whether they would be drawn into this eventually on a call. He hoped not....he hated having to gown and mask up. The TV droned on as David started to drift. The dispatch phone rang discordantly, and David picked it up, his voice a hoarse whisper, "two five, what's up ? ...Got it, thanks". Julie was already up, buckling on her belt, and shrugging into her vest. "What do we got?" she asked, already expecting something along the lines of fever, shortness of breath. "Female, thirty- seven, short of breath", David answered, confirming his partner's suspicions. "Mmhmm", she grunted, already moving to the door.
Street lights drifted past David's eyes, leaving lazy streaks of light. He rubbed his temples, smiling to himself. He refused to look at his watch or the dashboard clock; it would only serve to remind him how many hours he had left to his shift.
As they stood opposite each other, to either sides of the dilapidated door, they smiled wryly at each other, their breath misting in the frigid night air. The door opened, and a distraught young lady looked them up and down through the screen door. "Uh, someone call for an ambulance?" David asked, his eyes taking in the scene beyond the door, over the young woman's shoulder. The house, while seeming pleasant and cozy enough, seemed to be in complete disarray.
The girl let them in, the two medics shouldering their way through the doorway, burdened by their bags of equipment. The chaos became more obvious once inside. Broken shards of vase littered the living room floor, and books were strewn around the room. Beyond that, cutlery seemed to have been thrown onto the kitchen floor. If this patient was short of breath, David would eat his stethoscope. "Ok, so what's going on?" he asked the girl. "Um, my mom. My mom's upstairs, and uh...she can't breathe...." The girl's face was streaked with tears, and she nibbled on her nails, arms crossed defensively in front of her chest. Julie and David exchanged looks. "You wanna show us where your mom is, love ?" David asked gently, and the girl nodded, making her way up the narrow staircase. David felt uneasy enough about this call to lean back and whisper to Julie ,"can you get us the ten twos, please ? " and Julie repeated the request into the radio at her shoulder.
On the second floor, the devastation was more pronounced, and David took note of several spots of blood at the bathroom threshold, as they moved toward the bedroom at the end of the hall. Wheezing was audible before even entering the room, and David almost smiled to himself, once again surprised at what patients could come up with. Clearly, this one hadn't read the textbook on shortness of breath; no one should have the strength necessary to wreak such havoc, while deprived of oxygen.
A brown-haired woman was supine on the bed, night-clothes soaked in sweat. Bright blue eyes glittering feverishly out of a pale, haggard face. Her chest barreled outward, nostrils flaring and neck muscles straining to draw breath into her constricted bronchioles. Pillows propped her up, arms helplessly limp at her sides. Faint wheezing accompanied her expirations. "What's her name ?" David asked the girl, "oh, um, Gina" "Ok", David nodded, "and is there anyone else in the house ?" The girl shook her head, anxious eyes taking in their equipment, and brisk, practiced movements. David moved to the bedside, taking in Gina's appearance, as he automatically reached for wrist, trying to get a general impression of her heart rate. Confirming the presence of a radial, he looked up at Julie, as she busily obtained vital signs for her partner. "Can I get some oh-two, 6 liters, on a nasal, when you can?" she nodded in response, as David took his stethoscope from around his neck. "ok, Gina, just gonna listen to your breathing, ok? " Gina just barely managed to nod weakly. Apparently, whatever strength Gina had drawn upon to wreck the house had exhausted itself.
The urgency of this call impressed itself on David as he auscultated his patient's chest. He was hearing wheezes from top to bottom, surprised that she hadn't deteriorated beyond this point. Cyanosis was becoming more evident around her lips, though, as he removed the stethoscope from his ears and flashed Julie a look; "let's get her out to the truck", he said quietly, as the young girl looked back and forth between them. "Ok, sweetie, you coming with us? " She nodded, and David smiled, "ok, can you do me a favor and go find all of your mom's medications ?" She nodded and dashed off to the kitchen, while David turned to the bed-ridden Gina, and asked, "got a health card, Gina?" She waved feebly at a battered purse on the nightstand. David grabbed the purse as Julie returned with the equipment necessary to transport Gina.
The ride to the hospital passed all too quickly for David, in the back with his patient. His mind raced through the possibilities; Gina had no history of shortness of breath, and did not have any medical problems other than diabetes, which certainly wouldn't account for this condition. In addition, Gina had started to become more aggressive, to the point where David had secured the sheet tightly around her frail body, and tightened the straps of the stretcher. He chalked it up to hypoxia. Humans got aggressive when their bodies were deprived of oxygen for too long. Looking at Gina, however, caused a twinge of doubt to reverberate in David's mind. She was all but frothing at the mouth, arching her back and gnashing her teeth. By contrast, his monitor showed only a seventy-three percent oxygen saturation, and it was rapidly dropping. Whatever it was, it was literally taking her breath away. He leaned toward the small window separating the back from the front, "Uh, lady ? Drive faster".
The two medics lost no time in wheeling their patient in, the hospital already having been alerted that they were coming in with this acutely short of breath patient. By now, Gina seemed to have exhausted herself and proved difficult to rouse, her breath rattling in her chest.
The doctor closed his weary eyes, and massaged his temples. He'd lost this one. He caught sight of David and Julie bringing someone else in and approached them. "I hope you guys were wearing your PPE... 'cause between you and I, we have no idea what this is." "Is she still around ?" David asked. The doctor shook his head slightly, "Nope. She's done." David looked down wordlessly, his mind already thinking ahead of what he would do on the next one like this, namely, wear the gear that would prevent him catching this fearsome illness. He moved back outside, to stare reflectively at the numerous ambulances parked there. Already, Gina was forgotten as his sleep-deprived brain struggled to maintain the order and discipline that had carried him through his medical studies. God, he wanted to sleep so bad.
Downstairs in the hospital, a young staffer moved toward the loud thumping coming from the cabinet housing Gina's body. He sternly rebuffed his own superstitious fears, and reached for the door handle.
User Reviews
Submitted by The_Yellow_Dart (user info) at 2006-02-10 15:00:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Astropath (user info) at 2006-02-10 08:33:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
sorry about that big block of text. its difficult to read. But please make the effort and read it. i'd feel better if you gave me some response.
i shouldnt be taking ZPT so seriously. its just that picture. FUCK
===============================================
Sorry dude, it sucks that its distracting you from the story. Zombies/ ghosts are never pretty though, I agree.
Submitted by Nellypaal (user info) at 2006-02-10 05:21:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This was really good.
There was enough character development and I got the clear idea that the two leads were used to working together, which is no mean feat for a first installment.
Obviously, it's predictable as hell, 'cause we all know what goes on with zombies, but I eagerly await more.
Submitted by Yoga (user info) at 2006-02-09 20:40:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I love that zombie/possesed girl's rack. Somehow, I would suck on a decomposing nipple. Oh, good story PS.
Submitted by Iago (user info) at 2006-02-09 18:02:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
sorry about that big block of text. its difficult to read. But please make the effort and read it. i'd feel better if you gave me some response.
i shouldnt be taking ZPT so seriously. its just that picture. FUCK
Submitted by Iago (user info) at 2006-02-09 17:59:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i fucking hate that picture. Seriously, im having mental problems dealing with it. Every time i see it, it glares at me, personally. It knows who i am and knows my secrets. I am now afraid to look under my own bed for fear of finding one myeself. Im not giving a long-whinded review, but youve messed me up for a while. i have an irrational fear of the supernatual, and i cant bear it. I just have to hear something unfamiliar at night, and i wont be able to go to sleep till the sun comes up again, or if i have all the lights on in my bedroom. In any case, its never restful. Ive been touched by a ghost once before in my life and it was the most unpleasant time i have ever had in my life. Even worse than the feeling i got when i hit a cyclist and hospitialised him. I thought i would be getting buttfucked in prison by the weekend for sure. Back to the picture, its the eyes, the freaky, glaring eyes that thouch my soul. Im RIGHT NOW afraid to look in the mirror incase i see the devil in it. the same goes for reflective surfaces. When im scared i can only look straight ahead, unless there is a reflection. As i could see something demonic in the reflection. i cant even keep my eyes closed, as im afraid that when i open them something will be in front of me, and that would be worse than seeing something materialise. You think that this is a gimmicy review, but its not. Im genuinly freaked out and you dont appreciate how much this is going to ruin my evening. Congratulations. I really hope to effect people on the internet, and make them think my way and whatever, but you, at this moment have had a huge effect on me, for the worse. i cant deal with that picture. By christ its horrible. I just had to vent on this, as its your fault, and its better for me to put down everything that im thinking.
Your probably thinking that i real wierdo. well im not. i just have an unreasonable fear of the supernatural. im worse than an 8 year old child. Im 22 and im still afraid of the dark.
To let you know how bad my phobia is, one time i was having sex with my ex, and i saw her looking up the ceiling whilst we were doing it and i thought she was in some secret communique with a ghost/goul/satan and had to break it off that instant and was creeped out for 3 days, and couldnt sleep in the same room without the fear coming over me and having to leave.
I dont do drugs. i exercise and am of normal intelligence. But i have this problem and i hate it.
Submitted by punkerrjess (user info) at 2006-02-09 17:33:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I wanna be like that lady at the end of Shaun of the Dead who is married to a zombie.
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2006-02-09 15:26:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
zpt is at least 158 times better than spt
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2006-02-09 14:49:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Zombies... only so much scariness in the subject of the perambulatin' postmortals. After the "Thriller" video, I can't see a zombie movie without laughing.
That pic is quite good, though.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2006-02-09 14:44:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
That picture is seriously freaking me out.
Submitted by simple_catalyst (user info) at 2006-02-09 14:02:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i did not realize twas ZPT...
*sigh*
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2006-02-09 13:48:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
brains
that's all
Submitted by Astropath (user info) at 2006-02-09 13:42:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Sorry if this sucks...I almost forgot ZPT ! Scrambling to to create a dire, devilish, dirge of uh...death....(I feel like the Crypt Keeper)...