Melly took one of the mugs and immediately drank about half the contents. “I needed this.” She sank into the chair, hands curved around the warm mug.
“How are you doing?” Tamsyn asked as she refastened the baby’s diaper and rewrapped the blanket.
“Practicing medicine in a way that would get me thrown out of the medical profession,” the doctor said. “Probably worse than what the ancestors did on Old Terra but it’s all I can do in these conditions.” She finished the synthcaff and rose, setting the mug on the supply cabinet.
“A lot more people would have died if you weren’t here,” Tamsyn said, positive she was right.
Melly flashed her a tired smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Can you keep an eye on the baby?”
“Sure. I’ll send a runner up to Pediatrics and see if there’s a portable crib. Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Thanks for the synthcaff.” The doctor stepped through the doorway without another word and was immediately drawn away by frantic calls for her assistance.
Tamsyn fashioned a sling out of the blanket and carried the now quiet baby with her as she continued her efforts to manage the unmanageable. More survivors came in from the collapsed building, as well as a few bodies which were taken straight to the morgue. Many of the walking wounded were able to leave once their injuries had been patched up. Trent came inside, saying there was no more need for triage and went straight to work in the red zone. Melly was operating on a ruptured spleen in a cobbled together OR created during the day as there was no power to the upper floors of the hospital so the regular OR’s were unusable.
Tamsyn checked on Helena and her blood donor operation, finding the girl finishing up the next to last person standing in line. “You did great,” Tamsyn told her. “Dr. Jericho and the others have put all the blood you drew to good use.”
“The machine does all the work,” Helena said. “It checks for blood type and all the known contaminants and disease indicators automatically. I don’t even have to touch the patient, just decontam the machine in between donors.”
“Yes but there had to be one person to step up and run the operation,” Tamsyn said. “And you did.”
“She did a great job, doc,” said the burly man who’d finished donating as he rolled his sleeve down. “Didn’t even hurt.”
Tamsyn didn’t bother to correct him about her status, merely nodded. “We can use a few more units just in case if you can find any more volunteers to donate. We’ve got the stasis keeper running in the ER now so the blood won’t deteriorate.”
“I’ll spread the word,” Helena said. “A lot of people came in already, from the town I mean. They want to help. Is that the Sampsons’ baby?”
“So I’ve been told. She was found uninjured in the rubble.”
“Lucky kid. How about her parents?”
“No news yet,” Tamsyn said, wondering what would happen to the baby if her parents hadn’t been as lucky as she was. Surely a family in the community would adopt her? There was no way they could take her with them in the APC’s when they left. Cross that bridge when I come to it, she decided.
Things were definitely quieting down in the ER now, for which Tamsyn was grateful. She sent the crew out in shifts to get synthcaff and food. Melly finished one operation and immediately started on the next, a person with a partially collapsed lung and broken ribs.
Jeff and Cody came in through the doors, both covered in dust, Cody with a nasty scratch on his cheek. The two men were supporting a disoriented woman whose arm was obviously broken. “We got her out a few minutes ago,” Jeff said. “She was pretty far under the building but in a void.”
“Take her to the red zone,” Tamsyn said, pointing. She followed along until the men laid the woman on a gurney. “Dr. Jericho will be with you in a minute,” she told the patient.
She grabbed Tamsyn’s arm and hung on tight. “Have you seen my baby? Any news about my child?”
“Are you Mrs. Sampson?” Tamsyn asked.
The woman nodded, tears making tracks through the gray dust on her cheeks. “I’d just walked away from putting her down for her nap. I was visiting with Mrs. Petrie from next door. She—she didn’t make it. I saw her, she was crushed?—”
“Well I have the best news for you,” Tamsyn said, undoing the sling. “Your baby was brought in earlier. The doctor checked her out and she’s fine. Missing her mom though.” She lifted the child and placed her in the crook of the woman’s unbroken arm. Tears were making her nearly blind as the mother burst into huge sobs and did her best to hold the baby close. Glancing up, she saw Jeff and Cody having a hard time with their emotions at the reunion.
Melly bustled up. “What do we have here?”
“I’ll take the baby while the doctor does her exam,” Tamsyn told Mrs. Sampson. “I’ll stay right here where you can see us, okay?”
She stood patiently holding the baby while Melly did her exam and then the treatment. Mrs. Sampson barely flinched, all her attention on the baby. Tamsyn was happy to hand the child over once the mother had been cleaned up and taken to a bed in one of the cubicles. A volunteer came to stay with them, to ensure if Mrs. Sampson grew fatigued the baby would be safe.
Emerging into the ER, Tamsyn took a deep breath, glad for one happy ending and made her way to where Jeff, Cody, Melly and Trent were talking.
“There won’t be any more building collapse victims coming,” Jeff was saying as she walked up.
“How can you be so sure?” Melly asked.
