John was in the middle of his night shift and it was a slow day. He was mostly just filling out paperwork right now. The patients were mostly asleep and the other staff of the hospital had already distributed the nightly medications. The paperwork needed to be done but he almost wished something would happen so he could do anything else. He didn’t know how he always somehow got saddled with this crap. John crushed that thought quickly. Exciting things at hospitals were almost never good news. Stab wounds were exciting. The paperwork was nice and boring.
He was saddled with the mountain of paperwork because he accidentally put the wrong medical chart out for that brain injury patient last week. Usually nothing much, but they almost injected him with something he was allergic to before they realized the chart was wrong. The doctors were always supposed to check to make sure the chart matches too, but John got chewed out anyway.
He just felt lucky they followed procedure. He knew sometimes they barely even glanced at them. He was just glad they had checked. Who knew what would have happened otherwise? He would take grunt work over getting fired from his residency. With a flourish, John finished scribbling out the last form on the stack before putting down his pencil and cracking his knuckles as he leaned back in his chair. Hmmm. The chair creaked and he glanced around. Didn’t seem like he was needed anywhere at the moment. Several other nurses met his gaze and distractedly nodded but none diverted their path to ask him for something.
He stood and glanced at his watch. 11:57. About halfway through his shift. John made his way to the bathroom and did his business. Feeling lighter and reinvigorated, he made his way back toward the main desk. As he rounded the corner, he stopped in shock. The door to his right was hanging off its hinges and visibly battered. Impacts that looked like they came from a giant fist covered the whole top section of the door. Splinters covered the floor and as he stood there the door slowly swung open with the creaks and groans of splintered wood.
John looked around in stupefaction for a moment as if to subconsciously check for the hidden cameras as if it might all be a prank. But when his eyes turned back, the door remained in its very destroyed state. What in the world? He thought as he took a step forward. As he took another step he paused. Why be dumb, this is the kind of thing police are for, aren’t they? He’s not going in there by himself.
John looked up and met Rachel’s eyes as she suddenly turned the other corner across the way. Her bored expression quickly morphed into shock as she took in the state of the door and John standing there. Her eyes quickly widened and after a moment quickly backpedaled while keeping one eye on the open door. John was unnerved by her sudden fear, usually, she was the calm and collected type even with all the stress they dealt with at the hospital. Then a thought struck him that sent chills down his neck.
What if whoever beat down the door was still in there? That thought broke his inaction. He followed her lead and turned to run silently looking for a hospital officer. Thirty seconds of running later, he finally found two of them idly chatting near the elevator. When they heard the thudding of his squeaky shoes on the tile floor they turned and immediately put their hands on their weapons upon seeing the expression on John’s face. One of them was a towering man with jet black hair and a thick mustache. The other was shorter and heavyset with straw blonde hair that was slicked back. John gestured wildly behind him and panted as he slid to a quick stop.
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“Come quick, I think someone broke into Room 311! They kicked in the door and probably are still in there! Whole thing was shattered into pieces!“
The officers glanced at each other and shared a look before simultaneously drawing their weapons and jogging past John. John ran behind them not sure what to do now as the shorter officer began rapidly talking into his radio. He found it odd how calm the two seemed despite the situation. The taller officer stopped him with his free arm as the officers suddenly stopped at the corner closest to room 311. His other hand held his gun as he poked his head around the corner.
— — — O — o — O — — —
“Step back”. His voice carried a no nonsense tone to it that led John to follow his instructions without a second thought. As his rational mind kicked in John decided to take a few more steps backward. The officers' radios began squawking back at them as they rounded the corner. John couldn’t make out the tinny words from this distance over his beating heart as the two rounded the corner. But the intensity and volume seemed to be increasing as time went by after the taller man's deep voice gave an inaudible reply.
John spread the message to anyone he saw nearby until word spread and the hallways were quickly abandoned. The two officers had rounded the corner and now John could hear them approaching the door. The crunch of splinters crushed under their boots sounded with each of their footsteps as they walked.
The taller officer demanded something in a harsh tone, and there were a few seconds of tense silence as John stood around the corner, unsure why he hadn’t fled yet. But the muffled reply from the room seemed calm enough. The shorter officer barked out something aggressive in reply. The delayed response from within the room caused both officers to tense for a moment before they relaxed fractionally. The two carefully entered the room and their voices became even more muffled than before. John wrung his hands for a few minutes and wondered if he should leave. But his curiosity was getting the better of him now. And he had already stuck around for this long, after all.
— — — O — o — O — — —
John sighed in relief when the two officers emerged no worse for wear after a few minutes. The black haired man was talking into his radio while the shorter man looked a little lost and was glancing around as if the intruder would suddenly appear at any moment around the corner guns blazing. He kept glancing back into the room with thinly veiled looks of disgust. Two more officers appeared from the direction Rachel retreated from and the four officers had a brief conversation before leaving again. John peeked around the corner before entering the hallway after seeing the coast seemed clear.
The two officers both stared at John in disbelief but the taller officer just shook it off and kept talking into his radio while still keeping his eyes fixed on John. John still felt a little nervous but he felt safer near two cops than taking his chances right now. John also knew the patient in room 311 was a severe case so maybe he could help keep the patient stable until the doctor could get there if there was a problem.
He leaned forward as he whispered to the shorter blonde officer and stepped slightly to the side so as not to interrupt the larger man on the radio.
“Is the guy in there okay? Should I go check on him?”
The officer seemed to grumble under his breath but glanced at the taller man for confirmation. John thought he was quiet but apparently the other officer heard him anyway. The tall man’s mustache twitched as he nodded back and dismissively waved at the two of them before stepping further away to stay on the radio. John followed the officer into the room and carefully tried to avoid stepping on the larger splinters covering the floor. He stepped to the various machines in the room and checked the patient's vitals at a glance. Nothing seemed out of order. He gave an internal sigh of relief. The patient was stable, and all vitals looked fine.