He groaned, softly at first, then he just let it out. But he couldn't. It felt like there was a rock in his throat, but it was easier to breathe, he wasn't even trying. Trent forced his eyes open. It was bright, too bright. Trent tried to bring his hand up to shield his eyes, but he couldn't. He was too weak.

Trent hadn't had a chance to really grasp what had happened to him. He had been so consumed in making sure his mom was okay the day before that he hadn't even thought about how HE felt. And then there was that pain. He couldn't breathe. There had been an extreme tightening in his chest, and his throat closed up. But that rock in his throat was helping him.

He felt really hot, but cold at the same time. And even though he didn't have any trouble with oxygen, his chest felt like an anvil was resting on it. He was sore too. He didn't know how it was possible, but he could practically feel his previous lung injury. He felt like he had no strength left. 'It's gonna be hard to work back all this muscle I'm losing.' he thought, and would've smiled if he could, but it would've hurt too much. He didn't feel so bad the day before. Forget that anvil, his whole body hurt. He shuddered. This was a hospital. Where were the doctors with meds for his aching body?

Suddenly, as if someone had heard his thoughts, Dr. Anjer came striding in.

"Well, well, Mr. Malloy, you're awake," he said cheerfully as he walked in. He smiled, and began checking his vitals. His smile quickly disappeared when he checked his temperature.

"How did that happen?" he muttered softly, "104.3, this isn't good." He cleared his throat. "Okay, Trent, I'm going to push gently on your chest in different areas. Let me know if it hurts." he gently pushed in the middle of Trent's right lung. Trent didn't flinch. He tried on different spots around the right lung. He shrugged. "So it doesn't hurt?" Trent shook his head slightly. "Okay, we'll try the left lung." As soon as he touched the area, Trent closed his eyes in pain and gritted his teeth. Dr. Anjer looked at his reaction, very concerned. He carefully took Trent's hospital gown off on the left shoulder to reveal his lung area. From a scar on the side of his chest radiated a deep purple bruise that extended all over the left area of his chest. "Dear God." Dr. Anjer cried out, a little too loudly.

Trent looked at him, alarmed. What was going on? He didn't get his answer, Dr. Anjer ran out of the room.

"Nurse Sonders, get me Dr. Hunter on the phone right now. Okay, I want someone to call up to surgery and tell them we need an OR as soon as possible. I need a specialist, preferably heart and lung. Now, you four," he pointed to some nurses. "Go prep Mr. Malloy for emergency surgery. I want a full prognosis checkup, temperature, heart rate, sputum culture, everything. "

***********

Katie cheerfully walked through the doors of ICU, a vase of flowers in her hand. The house had been flooded with flowers the past day from concerned friends, and she thought Trent could use the cheerfulness in his room as he was getting better.

She stopped as soon as she walked through the doors. What was all the commotion for? Dr. Anjer was standing in front of, oh no, Trent's room. All she heard was 'emergency surgery.' She ran the rest of the way to his doorway, but was pushed away by a nurse.

"Excuse me ma’am, you need to go to the waiting room." She spoke briskly.

"What's going on? Where's my son, Trent Malloy?" Katie exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, but you need to get out of the way, we're extremely busy."

"No, you don't understand. He's my SON!" Katie cried out.

"Ma'am, GO!" The nurse was getting angry.

Katie backed up a few feet, but refused to leave ICU.

A nurse brought Dr. Anjer a phone. "Here's Dr. Hunter, Doctor."

"Thank you Nurse Sonders." Dr. Anjer put the phone up to his ear. "Dr. Hunter.........Yes, I do............I have a patient, and I need an OR immediately.........Yes, it's life or death.........................What do you mean, there aren't any OR's available?!........... Then get me one, for crying out loud!............................ I've got a massive acute hemorrhaging due to complications from a previous lung injury with acute bacterial pneumonia..........yes, it's internal, and I'm guessing that there's a pretty severe infection along with it.......................What the,.......................Okay, Hunter, I'm gonna level with you. I've got a young, fit guy very healthy, at least until he got this pneumonia. I lost him several times. Once, he was clinically dead for 25 minutes and then he just came back!!!! ......I know it doesn't make any sense, but the guy was dead! So now, I'm not going to let this guy die just because I can't get an OR!!!!!!!.................Thank you, which one?.....Okay, we'll be up there in 10 minutes.." He hung up the phone and turned back towards the room.

"Okay, let's get him ready, we're due up in the OR in 10 minutes."

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