Chapter 4

"I'm sorry, Mandy," Tommy Jamieson said as they headed back to his car. "Doc Mayfield is very dedicated. I?ve got to go back to work. You want a ride?"

"Thanks, Tommy," she replied, "I think I'll try to find Doc and worm some more info out of him."

"Okay. Nice meeting you, Mandy," Jamieson smiled as he shook Mandy's hand.

Mandy smiled back and shook his hand warmly. "Thanks for helping, Tommy. I owe you one."

Tommy smiled and winked as he pushed through the doors and out to his car.

Mandy turned back to the Emergency Room and began searching for Mayfield. She talked to several nurses and learned about the Nirvana poisoning problem.

"We're up to twenty-two cases now, Mandy," Nurse Joanna Riley said as she walked beside Raven. "Doctor Mayfield has managed to keep eight of them alive. We're learning more and more with each patient, but we haven?t found a cure yet."

Mandy shook her head. "Is there any way for me to talk to the survivors?"

"Not without Doctor Mayfield's blessing. And even then it may not be possible. They're all pretty heavily sedated."

"Are any of them improving?"

"Nope. The blindness seems to be permanent, but the dizziness and hunger come and go."

"How did the one's who died die?"

"Mostly loss of blood. The constant hunger causes bleeding in the stomach lining and after a day, they throw up too much blood."

"An ugly death."

"The life isn't much better. Blood is being pumped into the eight survivors at an alarming rate. The antacid Doctor Mayfield is giving them has slowed the bleeding down."

The two women turned the corner as an ambulance pulled up to the doors. Paramedics burst through the doors pulling a gurney.

"What've you got, Johnny?" Nurse Riley asked the paramedic in the front.

"She collapsed at school. Claims to be blind, dizzy and there is blood on the crotch of her white pants. She's 17, 5'6", 110 lbs. The school called her parents and they are enroute."

"Put her in five, Johnny." The paramedic nodded and hurried to the room with a 5 above it.

"I'm sorry, Mandy," Joanna said turning away and heading for room 5. "Hey, Casey," she hollered at the nurse behind the counter. "Page Mayfield and get him to 5. Stat!"

Nurse Casey nodded and soon the hallway around room 5 was filled with activity. Doctor Mayfield pushed past Mandy as she stood outside the room and watched the race to stabilize the young girl.

The girl's parents arrived and Mayfield stepped out to talk to them briefly. Mandy stood back and took in all the efforts to stabilize the young girl.

After an hour, Joanna Riley came out of the room and explained the situation to Mandy. Nicole Carter had Nirvana poisoning. She couldn't tell Mayfield how she had gotten it. She was hungry and shaking, but didn't know why.

"I told Doctor Mayfield that you were here and he said he would talk to you when he got the chance. It'll be a while. Do you want to wait in the lounge?"

Mandy sat down in the lounge and pulled her laptop out of the bag and began to enter all the information she had gathered today. Shortly, the door opened and then closed quietly. Doc Mayfield slipped into the lounge and stood for a moment with his back resting on the door. The screen in front of her consumed Mandy's attention as she typed all the information she had gathered into her data bases.

Mayfield cleared his throat and Mandy whirled around in her chair, nearly dropping her laptop.

"Sorry, Miss Mitchell," Doc said apologetically. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Oh, that's all right, Dr. Mayfield," Mandy replied, recovering from her surprise with grace. "How is the girl?"

"She's stable. That's about all I can do right now. I'm hoping the lab can tell me something soon. Joanna said you had some questions?"