a weird sound from the corridor. The nurse looked up and frowned as she fiddled with some cables. “Go and check that, will you?”
The lights flickered again as Amber walked swiftly down the corridor. She automatically looked over her shoulder. It was like being in an old-style horror movie—never her favorite kind of entertainment.
The metal doors of both elevators were still closed. Shouldn’t Jack be here by now with Aaron?
The lights flickered once more then went out completely.
Black. Everywhere.
She automatically sucked in a breath and held it.
“Darn it,” came the shout from further down the corridor, followed by the flickering of some kind of light. Must be from a phone.
“You okay, Amber?” shouted the nurse. “We have a backup generator. It should kick in any second.”
Something flooded into her brain. Keeping her hand on the wall, she walked quickly back to the room she’d just come from. The nurse had her phone in her hand and was using the light from it.
“Are the ventilators still working? Do we need to bag him?”
Even though it was dark, Amber moved to the bed, watching for the rise and fall of Zane’s chest. The nurse was at the other side. She shook her head. “We should have three hours’ worth of battery power. Honestly, the backup generator should kick in. Give it a few minutes.”
There was a large thump from the corridor and some muffled voices shouting.
“Oh, no,” said the nurse.
“What?” asked Amber.
“The elevator. I think your colleague’s stuck in the elevator with Aaron.”
Amber’s heart started to thud in her chest. She lifted her hands from the bed. “Okay, you’re okay here? I can go?”
The nurse nodded. Amber pulled her own mobile from her pocket and flicked the switch on as she walked back down the corridor.
The shouts were getting louder. “Jack? Are you okay?”
“Amber? Is that you? The elevator’s jammed and the emergency phone isn’t working!”
Amber ran over to the doors. It was ridiculous. She tried to pull them apart with her hands but it was obviously no use.
Mamo appeared from the lab. “Problems?” He shook his head. “Can’t do much without power down here.”
She pointed to the doors. “We’ve got one of the kids with meningitis attached to a portable ventilator in there.”
Jack shouted from inside. “Is there anything outside you could use to try and pry the doors apart? I can try from in here, but I think I need you helping on the outside.”
There was a strange sound from inside. Almost a whimpering. Oh, no. The nurse inside must be freaking out. Being trapped inside a black box wouldn’t be most people’s idea of a normal working day.
“Hold on.” Amber held her phone up and tried to scan the corridor around them.
Something seemed to flick in Mamo’s head. “Over here. I think there’s an emergency fire ax next to one of the exits. Maybe we could use that.”
Sure enough, on one of the walls there was an ax mounted in a red box behind a breakable panel. Mamo pulled his lab coat over his fist and broke the glass, grabbing hold of the ax.
“Give us a minute, Jack,” Amber shouted. “Mamo is trying to pry the doors from this side.” Something flashed through her brain. “Where’s Ty?”
The reply was slightly muffled. “He stayed upstairs to make a few calls to the surf school. He wanted to check all the kids had been taken to an evacuation center.”
Prying the doors apart was more difficult than it looked. Mamo put the edge of the ax into the gap at the doors and tried to turn it sideways to widen the gap. After a few minutes he turned to Amber. “You keep holding it,” he said gruffly as he slid his hands and foot into the space that was only a few inches apart.
Amber kept trying to turn the head of the ax wider, while keeping it in the space. Her shoulder muscles ached. Her jaw was tight. From the other side she could see a flash of light. The nurse inside must be using her phone. White knuckles appeared on the inside of the door. She could hear the grunts and groans from Jack. “Grrr...”
After a couple of minutes the doors started to release a little further; both Mamo and Jack stuck their shoulders and body weight in the doors, using their feet to push the opposite door apart.
The elevator wasn’t completely aligned with the floor—probably the reason they’d had so much difficulty prizing the doors apart.
The nurse looked numb. Amber ducked inside and grabbed the end of the bed. “You get the ventilator,” she said to the nurse. “There will be a bit of a bump as we push out.”
Mamo and Jack stayed at their doors, holding them back with their body weight as they guided the bed through between them. The nurse jerked as the bed thudded the few inches to the floor, then steered the portable ventilator alongside. The lights flickered in the corridor again.
“Got everything?” checked Mamo. Jack nodded as he pulled out the emergency trolley and let it roll across the floor. The two of them glanced at each other, then gave a nod and both jumped. The doors slid back into place swiftly just as the lights flickered back on in the basement.
“Thank goodness,” breathed Amber.
Mamo gave a nod of acknowledgment as he glanced at Aaron in the bed. “Everyone okay? I need to go back to the lab and check the machines.”
Amber, Jack and the nurse pushed Aaron into the room in the basement. It only took ten minutes to make sure he was safely set up alongside Zane and that the power supply was working as it should be. The IV infusions with fluids and antibiotics stopped pinging, as did the cardiac monitor and ventilator.
“We’re good.” The nurse nodded. “I’ve phoned one of the ICU doctors and they’re going to base themselves downstairs with us.” She gave a rueful smile. “Don’t worry. I’ve told them to take the stairs.”
Amber walked back over to where she’d abandoned her paperwork. She had to get back on task. Time was ticking.
This was her responsibility and she was in charge. “Jack, how do you feel about making some calls? Let’s do the international ones first. I can give you numbers for the public health agencies in the countries our patients are heading to. Following the patients up will be their responsibility.”
Jack gave a nod. That tiny little feeling she’d had that he might want to take over seemed to flutter away. “Yeah, I’m not sure how long our phone lines will work. Let’s try and do these as quickly as possible. Then we could look at the people who’ve returned to any of the surrounding islands. See if we can get someone local to prescribe and supply the antibiotics.”
She was pleased. He was methodical and logical. Definitely what she needed right now. It was odd
