Slave to the System

"Doctor, I think there is something wrong with my chest. Are you sure they are supposed to be this big?"

"Well, I am afraid it could be a lot worse than we predicted. I am going to need to take a closer look."

"But doctor, I am in so much pain, please help me."

Just as Dave was about to bury his head in the woman's breasts, he heard a loud buzz, one that was only associated with his work. He cursed aloud at the unfortunate timing. A few more seconds and he would have been in heaven but alas the world was cruel and duty called. He had essentially begged his superior for months to allow him to take time off from work. He had prepared a bullet proof plan, in order to chase this beautiful woman, he had met at a charity dinner, the hospital he worked at had organised. But all that dining and wining in order to get the crucial sexing had gone to waste.

Dave got up with a groan and looked apologetically at Sophia, whose previous coquettish and innocent expression had been replaced with an icy cold glare. It was such a contrast, that David was momentarily stunned. The thought of having her roleplay a strict teacher flashed across his mind before he hurriedly apologised.

"Sophia, baby, don't be angry, I'm sorry, I will be really quick and then we can get back to it, yeah?"

His hopeful gaze was quickly shot down by her angry response.

"This is why I bloody hate doctors, as soon as I get into the mood work calls. I knew I should not have gotten involved with you. Now when I'm all hot and bothered, duty calls. Fucking doctors."

"Baby, please, stay here for the night yeah? I will be right back."

Dave still held on to a little hope and quickly grabbed his phone, wallet, keys and glanced at his phone, before giving the still naked Sophia a once over, then he ran out of the hotel room. As he waited for the lift, Dave read the message.

"Urgent! Short of staff. Need you to come in. Hurry, big incident."

Dave only just noticed the number was his direct superiors and his eyes widened in shock before he pressed the button to call the lift a couple more times, hoping it would speed it up. There was only one other time he had received a text message from his superior and that was when a drunk driver had ploughed into a bus full of children when they had run a red light. That was the longest and most distressing day of Dave's life.

Dave knew his boss would not call him in for no reason and especially after he had finally been granted leave, Dave could guess that something bad had happened. Just as he was contemplating using the stairs, the doors to the lift opened and he hurried inside.

Within were an old couple discussing something whilst looking at their phones.

"Oh, John would you look at this, those poor people. 10 dead and they're still counting. How did this happen?"

"What was that? Show me that."

The old man grabbed the phone off his wife, before he too opened his eyes wide in shock.

Dave, standing just behind the doors, felt that the sudden call-in and the couple's conversation may be connected and hurriedly checked the news.

"Breaking: Truck loses control and leaves many casualties…still to come…"

"Carnage, as police confirm 10 dead in wake of out of control truck."

Dave scrolled through the news and each headline left him more shocked and as he read the contents of the live updates he knew he had to hurry. The hospital having just gone through what the government liked to call an efficiency dividend, now suffered from a severe lack of staff. As for the doctors currently on roster, Dave knew that they were only barely enough to keep each floor manned, in a somewhat reasonable manner.

As the lift finally arrived at the basement, Dave ran out and into his Porsche 911. Fortunately, the hotel he chose was only a ten-minute drive from the hospital.

Dave parked in his usual spot, before running inside to find the place in chaos. There were cries of pain and wails of sadness, the air was so stifling and the mood so sombre that Dave subconsciously ran a little faster. The usually cheerful staff, who would on other days tease or joke around with Dave were replaced by exhausted and serious faced workers. They were so focused that they did not even recognise nor realise Dave was there.

Dave arrived at his office and was greeted by the expressionless face of his boss, Glen. Glen nodded in acknowledgement and as thanks for Dave's prompt arrival and quickly relayed the situation.

"Those originally on roster are already dealing with those still alive. We need you to certify the dead as we don't have enough beds available to have them continue to occupy them. The family members won't allow us to move them into the morgue until they have been declared dead, some are still hopeful, and the others are simply deluded. No matter how many years I have been in this job it never gets easier. You should start with room 210 before her grandfather gets in or he may very well have this hospital shut down. Fortunately, the press hasn't revealed their identities yet. Now, hurry along, I need to give him a call before he finds out through the media."

Before Dave could even get a word in, he had already been kicked out of his office by his boss, whom upon mention of 'him' had revealed a rare nervous expression. Dave could do naught but follow his orders. Grabbing his stethoscope which hung by the door, he quickly left to find room 210.

Dave seeing the chaotic situation with his own eyes knew that it would be a long and hard night and he would definitely not have time to see Sophia after, if she had bothered to stay and wait for him.

Dave entered room 210, only to see a young woman lying in bed, she had been put into a hospital gown and her vitals were being monitored. However, there was no sign of life. All the signs were flat, if she was not dead, then he had no business being a doctor. He shook his head, mourning the passing of someone so young and so beautiful, but he also found her face looked a little familiar.

Dave picked up the report about the woman's identity and quickly skimmed through, his eyes shook upon recognition of the surname. Longford. A name that nearly everyone in the country knew of, now he finally understood why his boss had sent him here first. If this person had been anyone else, they would have been sent to the morgue straight away.

However, with her special status, the paramedics on scene had no choice but to send her back to the hospital and have the staff attempt treatment. However, even with the most bleeding edge technology, there was currently still no way to bring the dead back to life and possibly would never be.

A nurse entered and saw Dave shake his head in disappointment, she nervously walked over to him.

"Doctor, our preliminary scans reveal the patient suffered blunt force trauma to the head which has led to internal bleeding of the brain. Currently she is showing no signs of life. But you know, we had to try everything otherwise things would become very difficult for us here."

Dave turned around to ask the nurse a few more things when he suddenly heard a loud gasp behind him.

The nurse stared wide eyed as the definitely dead patient sat up and a barely audible, "I accept" left her mouth before she suddenly fell back, as the monitoring equipment roared to life and a steady beep echoed from the machines.

Dave in a similar daze, had never believed in gods nor miracles, yet on this day he believed for the first time in a greater being or force. The world truly worked in mysterious ways.

He hurriedly regained his composure and ran over to check her vitals. Breathing, steady. Heartbeat, regular. The previously pale face had begun to regain a glow of life, as blood once again flowed through her veins.

If Dave had not seen the dead Sarah only moments before, he would never have believed that she was only just recently dead. In fact, the situation was so bizarre that Dave could honestly find no injuries on her. It was as if she had never been injured.

However, he could not be too sure and knowing the backing that Sarah had, he decided to do everything he could to ensure that this miracle would not be snuffed out just like that.

"Hey, get it together, quickly organise a whole-body scan for her. We need to make sure that the lack of blood flow for the last few hours will not leave lasting damage to her. We also need to check to see if the damage to her brain is still there. I did not think I would ever utter these words, but I think she came back from the dead."

The nurse jolted out of her stupor, hurriedly thanked whatever god had brought about this miracle and ran out to arrange the things Dave had asked for.

Dave still amazed by what he had witnessed stayed in the room and continued to monitor Sarah's situation and dreaded the furore this event would create.