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“Never,” I managed to rasp.
The darkness that swallowed me whole proved greater than my will.
Chapter Thirty-eight
Missy
The van screeched to a stop at the entrance of the emergency room, where a group of armed guards flanked the doors. Several doctors and nurses poured out, ready to receive Javier. Dash and Micah carried him out of the van and sat him up on the stretcher. His head lolled listlessly as they rushed him down a long hallway and into a private exam room at the far end of the ER. I chased after him.
“Sorry, miss,” a nurse said in English, trying to close a door on me. “You can’t come in.”
“The hell I can’t.” I pushed the door and made my way inside.
Behind me, Thena tried to make amends with the nurse and Dash and Micah trailed on my heels as if they were my bodyguards. The room was slightly larger than the standard ER setup, but not by much. It was equipped with everything that was necessary for an acute intervention. A floor-to-ceiling glass panel in the corner allowed the sunlight in. Javier’s bed stood in the middle, surrounded by state-of-the-art medical equipment.
Several doctors and nurses were already working on him. They hooked him up to the monitor, stripped off his vest, shirt, and boots, and then covered the lower half of his body with a light blanket. After a couple of attempts, a skilled nurse located a vein and inserted a canula in his forearm. The amount of blood that streamed from the puncture terrified me.
A stout, gray-haired doctor led a thorough assessment. He unwrapped Javier’s bandage and examined the wound while barking instructions to his team. Javier’s vital signs weren’t stellar. His pulse was fast and his blood pressure was low, but he was breathing on his own.
The team took a blood sample and set it up for a twenty-minute whole blood clotting test. I didn’t need a test to know that his blood wasn’t clotting right. The bite site continued to bleed and so did the vein puncture from where the lab technician drew his samples.
“He’s tough.” Thena hugged me against her side. “He’s going to get through this.”
“We’re going to assume full envenomation,” the doctor announced in Spanish.
So much for Javier’s “it’s just a scratch” theory.
“Prepare the antivenom solution to maximum dose,” the doctor instructed. “Get the epinephrine ready as well.”
Dash leaned over my shoulder, “Epinephrine?”
“In case Javier has an allergic reaction to the antivenom.” I clasped my hands and prayed.
“Who the hell are you people?” the doctor asked in English, looking over his glasses and narrowing his eyes on me. “Why are you in my room, Miss…?”
“Missy Astor,” I took a step forward. “I’m a nurse.”
“I’m Doctor Alvarez,” the man said as he inspected some new results on his tablet. “Snake bites are my specialty. I know what I’m doing.”
“My apologies,” I said. “I’m not questioning your treatment. I just… I need to be here.”
“Fine,” the doctor allowed. “You and your friends can stay, but don’t get in the way of my team. I’m making an exception because I don’t think you’ll go quietly.”
He was an excellent judge of character. I was not leaving Javier’s side.
As soon as the solution was ready, the nurse hooked the bag to the pole and connected it to the IV in place.
“Slow and easy,” the doctor instructed. “Start the IV.”
I held my breath and watched as the first drops of thetransparent liquid slid down the tube. When his vitals didn’t tank, I let out an exhale, but still, it was touch and go.
The antivenom Javier was receiving was the best choice to fight the viper’s venom and its severe local necrotizing effects.If we got lucky, it would help neutralize the threat of thrombosis and other complications.
The next twenty minutes grated on my nerves. If he was going to suffer anaphylactic shock, it was going to happen now. Thena held my hand while I chewed on my lips until they were raw. When Javier didn’t show any signs of an allergic reaction, the doctor increased the rate of the infusion. Slowly, painfully, I began to breathe again.
“What about Negative Pressure Wound Therapy for his hand?” I asked.
“Oh, so you know about that, too.” The doctor showed me the order on his tablet. “NPWT is on its way.”
