CHAPTER 2

We never got Mom to the tub. After I heaved everything in my stomach onto my parent's bedroom floor, I held my breath and tried to lift Mom, but she was freaking heavy.

Suzie wouldn't come anywhere near Mom once she saw the disgusting mess of feces on the bed. My sister ran out of the room and refused to come back in.

Thank goodness Dad got home in record time after Suzie ditched me because I didn't know what else to do. The shock on Dad's face once he saw Mom was something I'd never seen before.

Dad was actually scared.

After trying to wake Mom up with no success, he told me to grab a blanket from the linen closet. He moved Mom from the bed of her bloody feces to the blanket, cleaned her face, and forced ibuprofen down her throat before carrying her to our SUV.

Five minutes later we were speed racing to the hospital until Dad slammed on the brakes. Somehow, we'd landed in the middle of bumper to bumper traffic only a mile from the hospital.

"Casey, go see what the holdup is." Dad's voice was shrill.

I could tell he was contemplating doing something drastic in order to get Mom to the Emergency Room.

"I'll have an ambulance come to get her," I said.

Dad's stiff demeanor didn't ease. "Just hurry."

I jumped out of the car and took off.

"Hurry, Case! I can't take this smell much longer." Suzie hollered. Her head was hanging out the window, red hair and all. At Dad's insistence, she was still trying to get through to 911.

As I ran down the dark sidewalk, I noticed a bunch of vehicles with people that had swollen, bruised faces like Mom. After about three-quarters of a mile, I slowed to glance inside a small sedan filled to the brim with kids of all ages. There had to be at least six kids stuffed inside. The young woman at the wheel was on the phone freaking out and was way too young to be their mother. Maybe she was their babysitter.

Two toddlers with lumpy and bruised faces were asleep while the older ones were struggling to keep their gooey swollen eyes open. They all had similar symptoms to Mom.

I continued running until I discovered the cause of the traffic. Empty cars with their doors hanging open were triple parked chaotically along the road next to the hospital. They formed a blockade across the entire street, stopping all traffic from both directions.

The parking lot had reached capacity a long time ago and everyone was blocked in.

My stomach dropped at the realization that the hospital had become a freakshow. It would become a memory I would never forget.

Hundreds of people struggled to walk with their nearly unconscious loved ones in their arms. My gaze locked on one man holding two unconscious toddlers in his arms like rag dolls. He struggled to keep the children from flopping out of his grip.

Most of the sick were just as bad or worse than my mom. Some were puking on the walkway, splattering vomit onto bystanders.

Away from the clusters of people, an elderly man caught my attention. He was sitting motionless against the building and it took me a moment to come to the conclusion that the shadows covering his skin were dark purple bruises. A dark liquid oozed from his eyes and ears. Was that blood?

People had collapsed on the grass, sidewalks, and even on the asphalt because they were too weak to stand or hold their loved ones upright. Those who still had strength were mashed together in a huge group, pushing and fighting to get inside. Some were staggering back and forth as others were shoving one another.

Several people were angrily shouting and threatening each other about why it was more important that they see a doctor first. I couldn't understand why they were fighting because there wasn't one medical professional in sight.

What the hell was going on? Where were all the nurses and doctors? Or police? Because this craziness was getting way out of control. People were close to throwing punches if they hadn't already.

Help had to be here somewhere because police cruisers and ambulances were haphazardly parked in front of every entrance with their lights blazing, but I couldn't find one officer managing the madness and not one EMT was visible. We all needed help. Where were the professionals?

I had to see what was going on inside. Mom needed help hours ago. There had to be nurses checking people in.

Maybe there was a list I could sign her up on. There had to be some sort of organization to this madness.

But what if there wasn't? The thought scared the crap out of me. If we couldn't bring her here, then where would we go, and more importantly, how much time did Mom have left?

I maneuvered and ducked my way through one crowd to see that the waiting room was packed solid.

And holy crap, it stunk. Bad.

Sick people were everywhere. Some were passed out on the floor and others were stepping directly on them.

I noticed several hulked out men decked out in non-descript black uniforms and medical masks, forcing people to stay away from the doors that separated us from the patient areas. It looked like they had rifles slung over their shoulders.

I jumped up and down to check for nurses or staff, but they were all MIA. I noticed the elevator was also being guarded by more of the huge bouncers wearing the same get up, but these guys were also sporting handguns on their hips.

What the hell? They didn't look like police.

Some guy, trying to pass me, yanked my hoodie and pushed me to the side. I tripped over a teenage boy not much younger than me. He was hunched over on the tile floor, face down and unconscious.

I struggled to stand and nearly stepped on his arm. Dark red blood oozed out of his swollen eyes and ears. Was he dead?

Before I could check, someone elbowed me in the face almost hitting me directly in the eye. This crowd was going to kill me. Trying again not to step on the possibly dead boy on the ground, I found my balance.

"Where are all the doctors? Why aren't they helping us?" A woman said beside me. She hugged a wailing infant tight to her.

"My brother is dying in my car. There are people waiting for miles to get in. What are you people doing here?" The man that pushed me over was standing on top of the front check-in desk, yelling at the men holding guns.

The crowd started egging him on.

"Help us!" A couple people yelled.

"We need medicine!" A woman screamed.

"Daddy! Get up!" A little girl cried. "Daddy!"

"My wife just stopped breathing!" A man yelled. "My wife's dead! Please save her!"

The voices became louder and louder until people started pushing from the back of the crowd. I tried to stop them from stepping on the sick boy under me and from pushing the small woman with the baby, but they were way too strong.

The force of the furious crowd throttled me forward into the back of a woman that smelled exactly like my seventy-year-old neighbor, but she wasn't nearly as nice. The woman grabbed my hair, wrenching my face over her shoulder and held it there.

"Wait your turn!" She screamed at me. Then, she punched me in the side of my face over and over again.

She was one of those women that had big rings on every finger. I mean, yeah, they were most likely costume jewelry, but that didn't mean they hurt any less. Damn, I'd definitely underestimated the scrappy old broad because she landed some decent hits before we were both thrown forward by the angry mob.

The woman was forced to let go of my hair in order to protect herself from hitting the floor.

I got to my feet. I had to get out of this shit storm. I didn't pay attention to who I kicked or stepped on, I just wanted out.

Wherever we were going to find help, it wasn't going to be here. Once I finally made it to the sidewalk, my body jerked at the pop of gunshots. I took off running at full speed.

People yelled and screamed. I couldn't tell if they were fighting the armed guards or if they were trying to get away, but I didn't care. This hospital had no intention of helping any of us.

As I ran toward my family, I spotted the car full of kids. The woman was pacing outside the car.

"Hey, I saw you run past here earlier, didn't I?" Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears. "Were those gunshots I heard?"

I slowed my pace. "Yeah, go somewhere else. This hospital isn't helping anyone."

"Where?" She yelled as I passed her.

"I have no idea. Just don't go here!" I couldn't turn to see her face. All those sick kids in her car squeezed at my heart, but I had no answers. This was a crap storm no matter which you looked at it.