The Worst Place to Be

Everyone knows that one of the worst possible places you could be during the initial outbreak was in a large city. The only local worse than a large city was being in a major hospital in a large city. They were the epicenters of the first outbreak and that's exactly where I was when I saw my first infected. In fact that's where I was when I saw my first, second, third and so on. I worked in a hospital at the time of the first global outbreak.

I would like to say I was a doctor, nurse, EMS personnel or some other kind of specialist helping understand and contain the outbreak, but I actually worked at the coffee shop on the main floor. My day usually consisted of making cappuccinos, lattes, espressos and other fancy coffees for hospital staff and visitors. The cafe was at one of the two main entrances to the hospital, so I experienced the whole gamut of hospital life at the front doors. I had seen my fair share of injuries and illnesses, but it didn't prepare me for the first infected I saw. I don't know if he was the first one to ever walk through the front doors, probably not, I was usually focused on coffee making. I also didn't watch the news much, but apparently the night before the news had been reporting a strange global outbreak. I only knew about it through my co-workers who seemed pretty worried.

The first of many

It was late morning when this guy came in with two people who looked like friends or family helping him walk by bracing him on either side. He looked rough, his eyes were the most blood shot eyes I had ever seen, and he was hacking viciously. His skin was waxy and he had lost his colour, his clothes were also sweaty and dirty. The two men on either side of him yelled out "where's emergency?", several people pointed him in the right direction and they walked off. I didn't see any wounds at all, so I have no idea how he got infected. One of my co-workers looked at me and said "Holy shit, that's what was on the news man!".

There was a lineup for coffee and our supervisor gave him a dirty look for swearing in front of the customers. He sheepishly went back to work.

Our supervisor said "well he's in the right place, I'm sure they will fix him up."

I remember saying "I hope he's okay, I've never seen someone with skin that colour, caner maybe?"

We got back into the swing of making coffee and everything was as usual, but about an hour later our supervisor pointed out a lady who had just walked in the front door alone limping. She looked totally confused and dazed, her skin looking pale, but her eyes were not quite as bad as the first guy. A hospital staff member saw her and asked her if she needed help, but standing back a little almost afraid to go near her. The lady just stared blankly back at her, a nurse slapped a mask and gloves on and came over to guide her to the emergency room.

Now our supervisor looked at us concerned and said, "That's two now."

We talked for a bit between brewing coffees and even some of the patrons were talking about the outbreak that was now all over the news. I have to tell you, my first though was will I get infected by being near all these sick people? With so many flu scares over the past few years, I thought this might be the big one? I quickly walked over to the hand sanitizer and squirted some on my hands. It was my lunch break and I told my co-workers I'd try to find out what was going on.

I went over to the sandwich shop also in the hospital and ordered a turkey sub. I was hungry and in a hurry, my break was only 45 minutes. I paid for the sub and headed towards emergency to see if anyone was there as I ate my sandwich. I remember thinking to myself should I really be going over there while I'm eating, maybe not a wise idea? Curiosity got the best of me though, and before I knew it I was standing at the entrance to the large emergency room. There was nothing out of the ordinary, and I couldn't see either of the two who had come in earlier that day. There was a TV on the ceiling with the news on it. Several people were sitting in the room looking up at it. I stared at the television as the news unfolded. People were getting sick in several major cities around the world. It also seemed that there had been many violent outbreaks of rage in the same cities. People who were sick had come in contact with others who were infected. The news was calling it a very viral form of rabies, but a doctor being interviewed was debunking the idea, of course the media still continued to call it an "extremely virulent rabies like outbreak".

My focus was interrupted by a commotion. A man was being wheeled in on a gurney while four medical staff and one police officer held him down. He was convulsing violently and screaming. He looked far worse than either of the first two I saw. His eyes were a mess, and his face was waxy and bleeding. A very worried cop walked in behind the commotion pressing one arm against a blood soaked towel with his other hand. A nurse came up to him and his first words were, "he bit my arm really bad."

I now know that this day was the last healthy day of that officers life and it was the last normal day of mine. One thing that struck me a few hours later was the realization of the steady sound I heard when the screaming man came into emergency. It was the EKG the man was hooked up to, he had flatlined. It still didn't sink in right away, I kept insiting that the EKG was malfunctioning, but it wasn't, that man was dead. I actually served many more coffees for the rest of that day, it would be my last day on the job.