Sea Sick: A Horror Novel(19)

“I’m a police officer, and I have a very bad feeling. This isn’t just a cold virus.”

“Do you know something I don’t?”

Jack shook his head. Of course he knew something, but there was no way to explain it and not seem like a whackjob in the process. “No, I don’t,” he said.“Just, please, tell me what you know.”

The doctor let out a sigh. “There’s something strange about the virus. The people that have it are suffering from elevated blood pressure. The later it has gotten in the day, the quicker their pulses have been when I’ve measured them. It’s almost like their hearts are speeding up.”

“Jesus. Isn’t that something to be worried about?”

“I don’t know. I can’t explain it, but the measurements are still within safe levels. It’s just very strange, that’s all, because a simple cold cannot affect a person in such a way. At least, not typically”

Jack thought about things for a while. “What would happen if their heartbeats kept getting faster?”

“Tachycardia could cause excitement or even mania at first, but eventually it could lead to ischemia.”

“What’s that?”

“It is where the heart beats so fast that it can no longer supply the body efficiently with blood. The resulting oxygen deficit can result in the vital organs shutting down and muscle deterioration.”

“What can be done for someone with…ischemia?”

“An antiarrhythmic agent could be administered but, as I said, what I have seen is nowhere near the required levels to make a diagnosis like that. I’m just worried that the conditions I have been seeing may continue to worsen. Anyway, enough hypothesising. My prognosis is still a simple cold virus. In fact, I shouldn’t have spoken as freely with you as I have.”

“Okay,” said Jack. “I’ll leave you to your work, but I have one last question.”

“What is it?”

“If someone’s heartbeat gets to dangerous levels, how would I know?”

The doctor shrugged. “They would become lethargic. They might also have chest pain and become very pale.”

“If I bring someone like that to you, could you help them?”

The doctor stared at Jack, probably trying to work out what was going on. “Possibly?” he said finally. “I could try.”

“Okay,” said Jack. “That’s a start, I guess.”

Jack left the doctor alone and headed back towards the elevator. A plan began to form in his mind.

***

It was ten-past-seven and Jack was sitting in the High Spirits lounge nursing a shot of bourbon. The parents and their daughter were sitting two tables ahead. He was observing them intently. The little girl was lying across her mother’s lap. She was lethargic, and she was pale.

It was Jack’s intention to get the girl downstairs to the doctor before eight-o-clock when her condition would take an irreversible turn for the worse. Jack knew that once the little girl started tearing into people and snarling like an animal, there would not be a doctor in the world that could help her. He needed to get her to the medical bay before that happened. The only thing standing in his way was getting her parents to comply. Jack knew it would be a task easier said than done.

I guess if I fail, I can just try again tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the next…

Jack was not without a plan, however. He stood up from his table and downed the last of his beverage. Then he headed over to the family at their table. They looked up at him as he approached and seemed immediately distrustful.

Jack wore his most reassuring smile which he had perfected during years on the police force. It was something he relied on to calm people down more than anything else he had at his disposal. It worked, and the family loosened up as he got closer. Jack knew he would still have a challenge on his hands though.

“Hey, there,” he said in a friendly voice. “I’m sorry to come over like this, but I’m a nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. I couldn’t help but notice how poorly your little angel looks.”

The mother looked up at Jack and seemed on the verge of tears. It was obvious the woman was feeling under the weather as well, but her concern was only for her daughter. “She’s been ill since she woke up this morning. The doctor said she just has a cold but…I’m beginning to worry.”


Jack nodded as if he knew exactly how she was feeling. He’d never had children himself so he didn’t know what a parent’s concern felt like, but he could at least imagine it. “Well,” he said, making sure to look both the father and the worried mother in the eyes. “Why don’t we take her back down to the medical bay again? We can get the doctor to have another look at her.”

The mother’s eyes widened and she seemed alarmed. “Oh, God, you think there’s something wrong with her, don’t you?”

Jack held his hands up and shook his head. “She’s fine, I’m sure. But it’s obvious that she’s suffering, so we should go see what the doctor can do to help her.”

“Why, might I ask, are you so interested?” asked the father in a clipped, Scottish accent. Despite his accent, his speech was very prim and proper, in stark contrast to the casual idiom used by his wife. His age was also at least fifteen years her senior. He was perhaps mid-fifties.