Do not get emotionally attached to patients. The sad fact was, sometimes they died.
The rule made a lot of sense and Daniel had always thought health professionals were foolish to ever choose to get emotionally attached to their patients. That was until he was grinning at his patient as he breathed the stale tasting air that circulated through his hazmat suit and realised choice didn’t come into it. Against his will he was well and truly emotionally attached. Like the rest of America he was fascinated by this man, this hero that had gone where no other man had. From the first moment he’d met him, almost a year previous, he’d been in awe of him. Now he was desperate to help him.
“Morning Frank, how are you feeling?” Daniel asked as he skim read the chart from the end of the hospital bed. Daniel had known Frank as a handsome man with an easy charm, the charm was still there but his face and neck were obscured by inflamed patches of skin with sporadic blisters and flakes that made him hard to look at.
“Itchy.” Frank answered with a rueful grin.
Daniel managed not to grimace as a dry patch of skin on his friends face split and thick plasma leaked out. Instead he swept his eyes to the small TV set and watched Lucy yelling comically at Ricky. The TV was the only piece of non-medical equipment in the room and he’d bought it from his home to entertain his chronically bored friend. Every other surface was clear as Get Well Soon cards and flowers were not permitted within the room, instead these offerings to the astronaut lined the perimeter that had been set up at the hospital entrance and there were thousands of them.
“You’re due another application of cream in twenty minutes, I’m sure that will help.” When he looked away from the TV he saw that Frank was staring at him.
“Do you really have to wear that thing around me? You don’t honestly think I’ve been infected by some space germs do you?”
“Yes I do and no I don’t. You appear to just have a severe case of eczema. What I can’t explain is why the treatment is not clearing it up.”
“I’m telling you Doc, it was the same when I was a kid. My Mum slathered me with cream for months; nothing. Then my Dad took us on a holiday to the coast and after a few days of playing in the surf my skin cleared up.”
Daniel could see that the salt water could have an exfoliating affect so he scribbled instructions for the assistant that had been security cleared to assist him with the astronauts care. “I’ll have a salt bath arranged for you.”
Frank grinned and more clear liquid oozed down his face. “Not quite the same as a surf beach is it Doc?”
“That salt bath is about as close as you are going to get right now.”
“You could sneak me out under cover of darkness.” Frank teased.
Daniel fixed him with an un-amused look.
“Alright, alright. But any chance of getting these off?” Frank raised his taped up hands. “I feel like a kid that can’t be trusted not to scratch his measles.”
Daniel caught one of his raised hands and worked the blood pressure belt up his arm. “Kids can’t be trusted not to scratch their measles and neither, my friend, can you.”
Frank rolled his eyes as Daniel inflated the cuff and then released it as he listened to his stethoscope.
“Are you still experiencing hunger?”
“Yes, I’m starving. This hospital’s food doesn’t cut the mustard.”
“Never had any complaints before.” Daniel consulted the chart again. “You ate two hours ago, how could you still be hungry?”
“Doc, you were the one that put me on that training regime that had me eating six times a day, guess my body is just used to that routine.”
“Okay.” Daniel clipped the chart back on the end of the bed. “I’ll see if I can’t scare you up a protein shake.”
“Steak would be better.”
Daniel laughed. “In your dreams.”
Behind him Frank groaned dramatically. “Doc, you’re killing me!”
19th June 1959 – Daniel was studying the latest skin scrapings from Frank under a microscope when two men in business suits burst into the lab without knocking. The first man, Jeremy Faulkner, he knew as the Director of NASA, a man he had worked with for years. The second he knew only from the T.V, he was President Eisenhower’s VP, Richard Nixon.
“Gentlemen?” Daniel queried with a frown.
“Dan, we have a problem.” Jeremy said as he closed the door and pulled at the tight knot of his tie. He was clearly unnerved by the man at his side.
“”A problem?” Richard interrupted. “Men, this is more than a problem, this is a catastrophe!” He shook his head as he spoke and Daniel was fascinated by the drooping jowls of his face that struggled to keep up with the action.
“Doctor you are out of time.” The VP asserted.
“I beg your pardon?” Daniel frowned and looked at Jeremy for clarification.
“It’s the public Dan, they want to know what’s happened to Frank – they are demanding to know.”
“And what do you think the public’s reaction is going to be when they see him? His skin is bright red and spontaneously splits? Do you think that is going to allay the nation’s fears of alien interaction? The look of eczema would be alarming to anyone who’d not seen the condition before but a case as severe as Frank’s? Even I’m finding it hard to look at him.” Daniel challenged.
“I agree with you completely.” Richard said with a nod as Jeremy tugged harder at his tie as though he couldn’t get enough air. He also was looking everywhere in the room except for at Daniel.
“What am I missing here?”
Jeremy started speaking in a rush but Nixon cut him off with a wave of his hand. His dark eyes fixed onto Daniels and for almost a minute the only sounds that could be heard in the room were their breathing and the steady humming of the refrigerator filled with blood samples.
“Doctor, I don’t need to tell you how important this race to space is do I? This whole nation wants, no damn it, they need us to win this race and the Republican’s will be the government to deliver that dream for them. Next year is an election year and this recession is already killing us – we need the public behind us on this or I’ll lose out to the Democrats. I need to produce a healthy Frank Bowman to the public to restore their faith in us and our commitment to this race.”
Daniel found himself losing patience with the man. “With all due respect Vice President Nixon, I am doing my best with Frank but he is not ready to meet the public. I’m sorry if that is hurting your campaign for presidency.”
Nixon narrowed his eyes at him but it was Jeremy that spoke. “Dan, we have a solution.” Still Jeremy couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “And it’s to employ Directive 2.51.”
Daniel gave a sigh of impatience. “Sorry Jeremy but I’m not fluent in NASA’s directives. Just tell me straight.”
Jeremy blew air between his teeth and then gave one final tug on his tie. “We are going to use Franks body double to appease the public.”
“His what?”
Nixon breathed out impatiently through his nose while Jeremy raised his hands in a placating manner towards Daniel. “With the importance of this mission being so great it was decided that should anything happen to Frank his double would step in to face the public.”
Daniel was aghast. “What?”
“Did you think Frank was chosen for his skill alone?” Jeremy laughed humourlessly. “We matched the facial features of the astronaut potentials to members of the Secret Service – Frank and his double were the closest. With Frank having no family and next to no close relationships, he was the perfect choice.”
Daniel leaned heavily back on the lab bench he’d been working on. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “So Frank Bowman risked his life for this country and now some other guy gets to face the public and get all the glory while we wait for Frank to recover?”
Nixon fixed him with that look again. “Doctor, I don’t think you understand. Frank is now a risk to National Security. The meteor dust found on the hull of the spaceship would suggest he has been exposed to some contaminant and we cannot risk that contaminate infecting others.”
“Contaminant? He has eczema for God’s sake!”
“Doctor, your country thanks you for your efforts but we’ll take it from here.” Richard nodded curtly and left the room. Jeremy went to follow but Daniel grabbed him by the arm.
“What is he going to do to Frank?”
“You know what has to happen Dan. He could be contagious.”
Daniel wasn’t a violent man but he squeezed Jeremy’s arm harder. “If that were true, you would be able to look me in the eyes. Why is this the first I’m hearing about this meteor dust? I’ve done numerous studies on Frank and have been telling you the Hazmat suits were unnecessary. Are you really going to let them kill Frank just so that asshole can get elected next year?”
“Dan I have no control over this, we both have to go along with it. You’ve signed documents that agree with all directives put in place by NASA and the US government, if you make a fuss they’ll be forced to deal with you.” Jeremy yanked his arm free and strode to the door. “Start destroying the files on Frank.”
Daniel spun and smashed his fist against the lab table. The microscope toppled to the side and Frank’s perfectly normal skin sample fell to the floor.
20th June 1959 – Frank woke as Daniel was tearing off the tapings around his hands.
“What’s going on Doc?” He asked groggily as he raised his head off the bed. “Where’s your hazmat suit?”
“We’re going to the coast like you wanted.” Daniel tore away the last of the taping and pulled the bed sheet free. “Come on.”
“Doc, what’s going on?” Frank asked as he followed Daniel to the door, when Daniel turned he noticed new splits on Franks face.
“They’re going to kill you; they think something is wrong with you.”
Frank blinked in surprise and shook his head. “Is there something wrong with me?”
Daniel gave a fleeting smile. “Do you think I would be busting you out of here if there was?”
“Good point.”
“Follow me and stay quiet.”
Daniel led them along a darkened corridor. The entire ward had been sealed off for Frank and the silence that surrounded them made their footsteps seem inordinately loud. Once they reached the end of the corridor Daniel paused. Beyond the door was a short walk to the entrance of the private car park but they would have to pass the dispensary and the dispensary was very rarely unattended, even at 3am.
“Frank, I want you to walk beside me, act like everything’s normal. If anyone tries to stop us you let me do the talking – just stay quiet.”
“Roger that.”
They entered the main part of the hospital and walked briskly towards the car park door. As they approached the dispensary a nurse Daniel vaguely recognised left the office carrying a tray. She gasped when she saw Frank but the look of revulsion on her face suggested the reaction had nothing to do with her recognition of the astronaut. As she gasped Frank’s stomach gave off an ungodly growl that made the nurse’s step falter. Frank slowed in reaction and Daniel had to grasp his arm and speed him along. Frank grunted lightly and under Daniel’s hand he felt liquid seep into the sleeve of the hospital gown where he must have torn the skin.
“What the hell was that noise?” Daniel whispered as they put distance between themselves and the nurse.
“I’m hungry.”
They made the door to the car park un-accosted but as they passed through it Daniel noticed the nurse was still standing in the corridor staring at them. He hurried them through and shut the door.
“Almost there. There’s a private exit that leads around the back and down past the river for a couple of miles and then out onto the highway. We can sneak out and no one will know we are gone until it’s too late.”
Again Frank’s stomach growled, even louder than before.
Daniel thought he may have a chocolate bar in the glove box so he rushed forward to unlock the car but as he pulled the door open two moist hands fastened to the sides of his head. Before he could react his neck was jerked to the side savagely and his limp body fell to the ground.
Frank looked down at the lifeless body at his feet and knew he should be feeling something. He’d been friends with Daniel and now, not only was he dead, but he had died by his hands. Still he felt nothing except for the new strength that flowed through his limbs and the hunger.
The hunger wasn’t new, it had been with him since he’d first woken at the hospital and it was unrelenting. Nothing seemed to appease it, the more he ate, the more his body demanded. Another growl sounded from his stomach and with it a came a savage stomach cramp.
Frank knelt on the ground beside his friend’s body and pulled the man’s forearm to his mouth. The muscle was tough and very hard to bite through but the reward was worth the effort.
By Dayv Metcalfe
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