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Jing Mei walks in to the ER, looking around at the people crowding the place out. Fighting her way to the admit desk, she asks, " Where did all these people come from?" Randi replies before picking up a ringing phone, " Pile-up on the freeway." Jing Mei looks around, and gets ready to start work.
Back at the admit desk Carter is juggling several charts, and sipping coffee. Kerry marches over, yelling, " Dr Carter, I know for a fact that you have patients waiting, is this anytime to be drinking coffee?" Carter raises his hands in surrender, saying, " Hey, I need the caffeine!" Jing Mei walks over, now wearing her lab coat. She smiles at Carter and says, " You want me to take some patients off your hands?" Carter sighs in relief and replies, " That would be great Deb, thanks. Here, have Mrs Williams - she has abdominal pain and superficial lacerations, Mr Andrews - needs sutures, and Eleanor Milton - she's six months pregnant and was involved in the crash. Thanks it'll be a great help." He passed her the charts, winking and saying, " Have fun." Jing Mei rolls her eyes and walks with the charts to the suture room. She enters, studying the chart and says, " Hi, I'm Dr Chen, Dr Carter is a little busy with other patients right now." She looks up but sees no one. " Mr Andrews?" she calls out. A clicking noise comes from behind her, and she turns slowly to see a man locking the door. He closes the blinds. Her eyes widen, and she stutters, " Um, I think we'll need the door open for now Mr Andrews." He stares at her unwielding.
An hour later, Mark is walking through the corridors of the ER with Kerry. Mark says, " Well that crisis seems to be over." Kerry nods and they head to the admit desk. A pregnant patient walks over in a gown and says agitatedly, " Where the hell is my doctor? I have things to do today you know." Mark looks up and replies, " Who's your doctor?" The woman replies, " Dr Carter."
Carter is in curtain 1 ordering some tests for a patient when Mark walks over, calling out, " Hey Carter you've got an angry pregnant patient waiting for you." Carter looks over and says, " No, I handed her over to Deb over an hour ago." Mark frowns and goes back to the desk. He asks the nurses whether they have seen Jing Mei recently, to which they reply, " No." He looks worried, and grabs Kerry. They go and look in curtain 2 and 3, then arrive outside the suture room. Mark opens the door to darkness.
Mark felt strange as he switched on the light. He had a bad feeling about this. A vibrant red colour on the floor caught the light, and Mark looked down. He felt like he had been punched in the stomach. There on the floor lay Jing Mei, wearing only her bra and panties, unconscious. Blood trickled from her a small cut on her lip and a deep knife wound in her belly. Horrific blue-green bruises lined her legs, arms and face, and scratches covered her neck. Kerry pushed past him, yelling, " Get a gurney now!" Mark stood at the door, traumatised by the sight. Kerry grabbed a sheet to try and stop the bleeding, and turned to Mark, saying, " Mark, move. CPR." He slowly moved forward, kneeling by her side, and started CPR.
Haleh was strolling down the corridor, feeling great. The ER was quiet again, and that was the way she liked it. Suddenly a shout broke the peace, " Get a gurney now!" Haleh rushed in to the trauma room and pulled a gurney towards the sound. She arrived in the suture room, and was shocked by the sight that awaited her. She saw Dr Chen lying on the floor whilst Mark did CPR and Kerry did mouth-to-mouth. Jumping to action, she shouted down the corridor, " We need some help in here!" As more people rushed to their aid, Haleh felt sick. The sight of a colleague like that turned her stomach.
Haleh calls out Jing Mei's stats in to the chaos in trauma 2, " BP is 90/70, an she's satting at 67%." Luka calls out, " Multiple stab wounds to the upper left quadrant of her belly". Mark intubates, and orders 2 of Epi. Suddenly the beeping on the monitor becomes rapid, and Kerry looks over in alarm. " Charge the paddles to 30!" she orders. Everyone stands back as Kerry shocks Jing Mei's heart. The heart rate returns to normal. Kerry sighs with relief, saying, " Lets push another amp of Epi stat." Mark orders more Epi, and calls out in to the madness, " Someone page a surgeon!". Haleh calls out Mark's name, drawing his attention to the near flat-line on the heart monitor. Mark, with renewed energy, shocks her heart once more, and Haleh declares her asystole. Kerry applies heart compressions as Conni resets the defrillibator, and Mark shocks her heart once more, and says, " We need to get her up to the OR." Kerry snaps back that before she goes up to the OR, Jing Mei will have to have a rape exam. Luka touches Kerry's arm tentatively, and says softly, " Kerry, she's in a coma. She's asystole." Kerry looks at him, tears in her eyes, and asks, " Does that mean we should give up on her completely?" Luka sighs. Tears trickle down Kerry's face as she stops compressions, and everyone slowly steps away from Jing Mei's lifeless body. Mark starts to slowly and uncomfortably say, " Time of death...".
Suddenly, the slow beeping of the monitor gaining speed interrupts him, and Chuny calling out, " Wait! Tachycardic at 170." They look up, and Kerry continues heart compressions. Haleh calls out, " She's stable at 150 with 3 of Epi." Kerry looks across at Mark with tears of joy and sadness in her eyes, and says quietly, " I think we need to do a rape exam." Mark nods, and the room slowly clears out.
Carter is sat in Doc Magoos with Abby, drinking coffee. He jokes, " This coffee would've been more use to me a couple of hours ago!" Abby smiles, and replies, " Long shift huh?" Carter nods, saying, " Car crash on the freeway - we only just emptied out from triage patients. It was hectic." Luka, Haleh and Chuny walk in and join them in their booth, looking sad. Carter asks, " Hey guys who died? You look miserable!" Luka looks away uncomfortably, and says, " Dr Chen was found stabbed with signs of rape in the suture room. We only just got her back." Carter stares at Luka, a feeling of nausea rising inside of him. He abruptly stands up and hurriedly walks to the ER.
Kerry and Mark have finished the rape exam, determining that Jing Mei had been raped. " How could this happen?" she asks Mark, her face pale from the shock. Mark shakes his head, and replies, " At least she'll be okay." Carter runs in, and grabs Jing Mei's hand, saying, " Deb? Deb?" Kerry puts her hand on Carter's shoulder, and gently says, " John, she's in a coma. She was raped and stabbed, but luckily we got there in time." Carter eyes fill with tears as he stares down at his friend, so un-recognisable covered with bruises and scratches. He shuts his eyes to the pain, and softly tells Kerry, " It's my fault. I gave her the patient." Mark steps forward saying, " Don't blame yourself Carter. You couldn't have anticipated the guy would do this to her." Carter bites his lip and fights the tears in his eyes.
A tech takes Jing Mei up to the ICU as the staff watch from the admit desk. Randi snaps her gum, and says, " I'm not coming in to work tomorrow with a rapist on the loose." Kerry reassures her, " Security measures will be taken to ensure staff safety." She slowly puts her coat and scarf on, and leaning on her crutch for support, walks out of the ER. She walks along, visibly wary of men passing her as she walks.
Carter is sat next to Jing Mei's bed in the ICU, holding her hand and staring at her bruised face.
~The End~