Chapter 466 It Reeked of Blood
“In today’s morning news, multiple accounts of car accidents have been recorded happening in and out of the city caused by obstructed vision due to heavy rain. A multiple-vehicle collision had occurred on Stoughton Overpass at 8:05AM. A truck driver who was driving under the influence of alcohol had caused the accident that left 12 victims injured. A few ambulances from the nearest hospital, Melrose City Hospital, have already arrived at the scene.”
“…”
Courtney had just finished cleaning the dirty dishes when she heard the voice coming from the television. Feeling her heart skip a beat, she quickly took off her apron and wiped her hands dry. That was when her phone rang.
“Hello? Chief Kenell?” she greeted after picking up the call.
“…”
“Yes, I know. I saw it on the news. I am going to the hospital now.”
“…”
“Understood. I will head straight to the emergency room.”
“…”
After hanging up the phone, Courtney reminded Angie to take care of her sister before heading to the hospital hastily.
Accidents caused by bad weather like this often left the hospital so overloaded that all the hospital personnel who were in Melrose City had to be there to lend a hand. That was why she had to hurry to the hospital even though she still had a half-day break.
The first batches of ambulances were already at the hospital’s entrance when Courtney arrived. Without even changing into the proper attire, she immediately stepped forward and pushed a patient into the emergency room.
“A steel bar punctured the left chest. Prepare an x-ray to check the extent of the damage. And inform Chief Lawson from the thoracic department to come here.”
“…”
“Please take a look at this patient, Dr. Hunter. He is in shock, but he doesn’t have any physical wounds,” one of the interns urged.
“I am not a professional at this. Chief Cheryl from neurology should arrive by now. Just take the patient for a CT scan in the meantime.”
Courtney had been knowledgeable in clinical medicine when she was still in university, and on top of that, she had more experience than the other interns because of the time she volunteered. She might only be a pediatrician, but she was always the first person the surgical interns in the emergency room consulted in case of an emergency.
However, she didn’t waste her time on these patients when she already knew that she wasn’t qualified enough to diagnose them.
The intern then pushed the patient’s bed past her. Even though the man in the bed had his eyes tightly shut and his white blouse dirtied by rainwater and mud, none of that affected how handsome his features were. His hand abruptly jolted right as he was beside Courtney, but all he managed to do was grabbing the hem of her white coat before his hand fell back onto the bed again in a split second.
Melrose City Hospital’s wards were already fully occupied because of the influenza and the aftermath of the accident that seemed to continue spreading. Ambulances were still continuously bringing in victims of the crash to the hospital.
“This won’t do,” Linda concluded with a frown on her face. Her white robe had been stained by blood. “There are too many people here. It is easy for the patients to cross-infect if we keep so many of them here.”
Courtney’s eyes were full of worries as well as she looked at how chaotic the emergency room was.
“What else can we do? Close the door and don’t let them in? We can’t possibly do that,” she sighed.
Now that the doctor-patient relationship in the hospital was so tense, it would definitely result in an uproar in Melrose if the hospital were to close its doors on patients and someone were to start a rumor about it. There was no doubt the Health Bureau and Central Commission for Discipline Inspection would immediately come and pay their visit. The one who would have to deal with the backlash later would be the president.
Linda’s expression was dim. “Nothing is impossible. I will go to the president.”
She then swiftly dumped the patients’ information sheet she was holding to Courtney before walking away.
The hospital’s doors were officially closed after 30 minutes. After letting in the last ambulance to arrive, they locked the wailing family members of the victims outside the hospital.
Courtney was on the second floor when she watched all of this happen. Her emotions were getting more conflicted by the second.
A few interns behind her started discussing in hushed voices.
“Won’t things get bad if this continues?”
“Didn’t the hospital close their doors too when SARS hit? Even so, some patients and family members managed to push their way in, and 2 doctors and 1 nurse were hacked to death.”
“I know about this! Isn’t it scary? I wonder why Chief Hass is doing this.”
The interns had always been displeased with how stern Linda was to begin with. Now that they knew that it was her who insisted on closing the doors, their doubt about her only went up another notch. The tension between patients and doctors had already put the industry’s reputation in jeopardy. The doctors and nurses would be the ones in danger if anything were to happen.
But Linda made the decision for the good of the patients and hospital, Courtney thought. She isn’t getting anything out of this.
Unable to continue listening to those words, she reproached them.
“That SARS incident was from years ago. The security measures of the hospital have already been heightened after that. Let us all do what each of us are responsible for. Don’t go out if you don’t have to. Even if something really were to happen, it will all be because of you, who keep spewing nonsense and going where you shouldn’t go. You can’t blame anyone else when that happens.”
She was considered a person of authority for the interns. As soon as she spoke up, everyone instantly shut their mouths, and they soon dispersed.
She took one last look at the swarm of civilians and reporters outside the hospital door, and eventually sucked in a deep breath before letting it out. She then turned and headed toward the staircase. Her phone began to ring before she even reached the first floor.
It was a call from an unknown number, but it somehow looked familiar to her.
“Hello?” She hesitantly spoke into her phone after accepting the call.
“Miss Hunter. It is me.”
She momentarily froze when she heard the person’s voice. “Mr. Reynolds?”
From what she knew, Sunhill Enterprise had sent Josh to Australia three years ago.
“Is there something wrong?” With the mountain of duties waiting for her, she immediately asked him without beating around the bush. “I am preoccupied with work at the hospital now. You—”
“Have you seen President Duncan?” he cut her off mid-sentence. His voice sounded anxious as he asked the question.
“He left my house this morning. Did something happen?”
“We can’t get through to him.” As soon as the assistant said that, Courtney was hit by a feeling of impending doom.
He then continued somewhat incoherently, “President Duncan called to inform us to prepare for a meeting this morning, but he still hasn’t appeared even after everyone else was in attendance. I received news a while ago that an accident has occurred on Stoughton Overpass. That is the road the president was using. I found his car when I rushed over to the scene, but the bumper was in terrible condition when I found it. They told me that he has been brought to Melrose City Hospital. No one can go in now that the hospital doors have been closed. Madam Fiona has been on edge since earlier. I can only call you because there is nothing else I can do.”
Courtney could also hear Fiona’s voice coming from the other side of the phone.
However, all she felt then was the buzzing in her head.
“I…I didn’t see him. I…”
Without finishing her sentence, she hung up and ran downstairs at the speed of light. She was hit by the thick scent of blood drifting through the air in the emergency room as soon as she stepped in. She went on and pulled each curtain open, but still she didn’t see Alexander anywhere.
She then went and asked the other medical personnel in the room. “Have you seen a tall man in suit pants and a white shirt sent in? He is around 30 years old.”
“I haven’t.”
“Have you seen—”
She had almost finished circling the ward when a nurse’s voice called out to her from behind.
“Dr. Hunter, is the person you are looking for someone who wears a Vacheron Constantin wristwatch?”
The colors on her face immediately drained when she heard the nurse’s words.
“Yes! Have you seen him?” she urgently asked.
“He was sent in before the crowd came, and he was already in shock at that time. He was the one that Dr. Kenell asked you what should be done to him. Didn’t you ask to send him straight to the neurologist?”
Upon hearing that, she suddenly recalled the feeling of the familiar touch on her wrist as panic overtook her. Without saying thank you, she turned around and ran straight to the neurology department.
