Psych Ward Zombies by James Novus Read Free Book Online Page A

and was tucked in his own bed now. She added that, despite the cleaning, he continued to possess a pungent smell.
    Dave did not really care to dwell too much on Luther’s personal body odors, so he changed the subject. “Can you believe what Chester did? He totally saved my bacon.”
    “Yep, if there was bacon involved, you can bet Chester was right there,” Janet snorted sarcastically. She had never cared much for Chester. Her negative feelings for him were based strictly on her perception of his weight and dietary habits. In reality, she did not know much about him.
    “Hey! Don’t pick on him, Janet. I think Chester’s all right. He seems like a really good guy. Just because he has a thing about food doesn’t mean —”
    The thought was interrupted by the shrill tone of Dave’s pager. He cringed a little, but felt reassured knowing he was caught up on the rest of his work now. He picked up a nearby phone and dialed the number appearing on the pager’s screen. A man’s voice answered.
    “E Ward. This is Steve.”
    “Hey Steve, this is Doctor Hexer. What can I do for you?”
    “We have a patient here with a fever, and he’s vomiting too. Can you come over and take a look at him?”
    “Sure,” Dave replied, rolling his eyes. He had zero interest in getting puked on or catching some sort of contagious flu bug. “I’ll be right over.”
    He flashed an obscene gesture at the receiver before hanging up, and then turned to see Janet. She had been observing the phone conversation with amusement. She simply smirked and went back to her own paperwork. Dave swung by his office to grab his stethoscope before leaving the ward. When he arrived on E Ward he encountered Steve, the nurse he had spoken to on the phone.
    Steve was a middle-aged man whose hair was shoulder length on the sides and back, yet completely bald on top. It was like a mullet, only with all party and no business. Steve wore glasses with lenses so thick they could probably be used on the Hubble telescope. Dave had met Steve before and always thought he looked like an alien. He had considered modeling a Halloween prop on Steve’s likeness, but figured someone might recognize it.
    Steve explained how a young boy on the ward had developed a stomach ache this afternoon. Things were mild at first, but the boy’s symptoms had worsened in the past hour. He had thrown up his dinner and had a high fever. Steve said the boy had gone on a home pass to visit his family over the weekend and several of the family members were having similar symptoms. It sounded like a common stomach virus.
    Dave walked out onto the ward and found the child, a thin eight-year-old with red hair. His name was Samuel, and he had arrived at Eldemere for six weeks prior. The juvenile patients generally had much shorter stays than their adult counterparts, since their symptoms were less severe than the adults. The kids were typically hospitalized due to anger outbursts and tantrums, rather than psychosis or other kinds of severe mental illness. Samuel had been admitted to the hospital to work on his problems with anger, but he also had obsessive-compulsive issues .
    “ Hi, Samuel. I’m Doctor Hexer. How are you feeling?” Dave asked the child, who appeared tired and a bit pale. The two stood almost eye to eye.
    “ I puked.” Apparently the child was not in the mood for prolonged conversation.
    “ Uh, yeah, I heard. Feeling better now? I know I always feel better after a good barf.”
    Samuel smiled a little. If he had felt better, he probably would have giggled. “I think I got the bad stuff out. It came out my nose. I’m just tired now.”
    Dave felt the child’s head, detecting the fever. He produced his stethoscope and listened to the boy’s heart and lungs, followed by palpation of his abdomen. He completed his exam by checking Samuel’s throat and feeling for swollen lymph nodes around his neck. While he did these things, he asked Samuel about any other symptoms, such as