Chapter 5 - Flatline
""Code Blue, Room 404! Code Blue, Room 404!""
The overhead PA system blared the announcement across the floor. Within seconds, the quiet room erupted into organized chaos. Dr. Vance burst through the door, followed by two respiratory therapists and three trauma nurses pushing the crash cart.
""He's seizing! Intracranial pressure is spiking past thirty!"" Vance barked, ripping the blanket off Lucas's chest. ""Push twenty of mannitol, right now! Get the bagging unit ready!""
Evelyn was shoved backward toward the door by the incoming team. She felt completely paralyzed, her back pressed against the corridor wall as she watched the medical staff fight for the boy's life.
""Evelyn, out! You can't be in here!"" one of the charge nurses shouted, pulling the privacy curtain halfway shut.
""No, please!"" Evelyn begged, tears streaming freely down her face. ""Let me help! I'm an ICU-certified nurse, Marcus, let me stay!""
""Step back, Evelyn! He's going into V-fib!"" Dr. Vance ordered, his voice cutting through the alarms. ""Pads on his chest! Clear the bed!""
Thump. Lucas's back arched off the mattress as the electric shock jolted through his body.
On the cardiac monitor, the jagged rhythm flattened into an agonizing, continuous horizontal line. The piercing, high-pitched hum of a flatline filled the room.
""Charging again! Clear!""
Thump.
Nothing. The line remained flat.
Evelyn dropped to her knees in the hallway outside the open door, clasping her hands tightly against her chest. ""Don't take him,"" she prayed aloud, sobbing so violently she could barely draw breath. ""God, please don't take him. Punish me. Take my house, take my license, take my life. But don't let this boy die without knowing the truth. Please, don't let him die because of us!""
Inside the room, Marcus was performing manual chest compressions, his sweat dripping onto the blue sheets. ""Come on, kid. Don't quit on me. Push one of epi! Charge to two hundred!""
Thump.
Silence hung in the air for two unbearable seconds. Then, a single, weak blip registered on the monitor. Another blip followed. Then another.
""Sinus rhythm restored,"" the respiratory tech called out, exhaling a massive breath. ""Pressure is stabilizing at ninety over sixty. But the pupil on the left is sluggish. The hematoma is expanding. We have to open his skull right now, Marcus, or he won't survive the hour.""
""Prep OR Three!"" Dr. Vance yelled, ripping off his bloody gloves. ""Get neurosurgery on the line! Move, move, move!""
As the team unlocked the bed wheels and began racing Lucas down the hallway toward the surgical suites, Evelyn scrambled to her feet. As the gurney rushed past her, she caught a glimpse of Lucas's hand dangling over the edge of the guardrail.
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Acting on pure instinct, she grabbed his limp fingers and squeezed them with all her might. ""Fight, Lucas!"" she cried out as they ran. ""You hear me? You stay alive! I'm going to be right here when you wake up! I'm not leaving you!""
The heavy double doors of Surgical Suite Three swung shut, locking Evelyn out in the freezing hallway.
