My stomach plummets. You can’t be a first responder without knowing Code Orange. A hazardous material has been detected, and since we’re the ones locked in the Radiology Department, I’m guessing it’s us.
“What the fuck?” I yell again.
One of the orderlies, no older than 18, scrambles as far away from us as he can and slides to the floor. He wraps his arms around his legs, curling up into a ball, clamping his hands over his ears.
As if that will help him now.
The alarms continue for ten more minutes until they’re cut off, and blissful silence follows. Too much silence. The regular hustle and bustle of a hospital is gone - replaced by eerie quiet - like we’re in the morgue.
The red spinning light is still going, along with the strobes. It’s starting to give me a headache.
At least, I hope it’s the strobes.
Camellia is still unconscious, and this worries me more than anything else. She should have woken up by now.
My phone rings. I don’t recognize the number, but through a window in the hallway door, I see someone in a HAZMAT suit motioning for me to answer it.
I swallow and accept the call.
“Chief Pearce?”
“The one and only.”
“It seems you and your friend have been contaminated with radiation,” the voice delivers the bad news as if we’re talking about what we’ll have for lunch. “We’re setting up a perimeter. We’ll get you to decon soon, but I’m hoping you can tell us where you’ve been in the last 24 hours.”
I work backward from the hospital, back to Legacy Lakes, Saber Security Headquarters, and the cabin in the woods.
“Saber Security already has their team tracking down stray radiation there and in Legacy Lakes. We’ll send a team to the cabin,” the voice explains. “Sit tight. We’re almost ready to get you into the showers.”
With that, he hangs up.
I study Camellia. Her face is paler than it was, and somehow, she looks thinner in the bed. She remains unconscious.
I turn toward the orderlies. “Here’s what’s happening. We’ve been exposed to radiation. That’s why the alarms went off. The Hazardous Materials Team is outside setting up a decontamination shower right now. Within the next fifteen minutes, they’ll usher us through an airtight tunnel to the shower, where they’ll take your clothes and have you wash off any external radiation.”
The teenage orderly looks up with tears in his eyes. “Am I going to die?”
I sigh. Best hit him with the truth. “I hope not. But you sitting as far away from us as possible is a good idea. Lower’s the chances of coming into more contact with us.”
The other orderly blinks.
“After the shower, doctors may give you potassium iodine to keep your body from absorbing the radiation and making you sicker. They’ll likely keep you under observation and in quarantine for a few days.”
Orderly Two blinks at me. I think he’s in shock.
I know how that feels. I’m a little in shock myself.
But I don’t have time for a breakdown right now. I need to get Camellia into treatment immediately.
What if it’s too late to save her?
I shake my head at these not-helpful thoughts and focus on the woman in front of me. I just got her back. There was no way I was losing her again.
