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

diarrhea or sore throat. Once finished, Dave was satisfied that this was nothing terribly serious. Since his pager had remained silent and his work was caught up, he decided to sit and chat with the young patient.
    During his examination of Samuel, he had noticed that the boy would frequently extend his fingers sequentially, as if counting something. He asked the boy about it, careful not to make him feel self-conscious. It turns out that one of Samuel’s symptoms was the compulsion to count words in series of threes. Every time someone spoke, Samuel was busy in his mind, marking off the words in orderly sets of three. Since he was still young and not particularly good at math yet, his subconscious mind recruited his fingers into the irrational counting. It was not a terribly noticeable or disruptive behavior, but the net effect was that the child could never apply his full concentration to any conversation. He also had obsessive thoughts about being “bad” or “evil”. Those thoughts just popped into his head randomly throughout the day and stuck there. Much like the counting, these obsessions were completely irrational .
    Despite his illness, Samuel was a good kid. He came from a solid family who had been trying their best to provide everything he needed. For no clear reason, his brain had developed the mental disorder. His symptoms had caused Samuel to struggle academically and socially. Samuel had terrible self-esteem and had become very withdrawn. The stress of his illness and the social isolation contributed to depression and anger issues. Although he had improved dramatically with the medications and counseling here at Eldemere, he still had some residual symptoms. His improvement meant he would probably be discharged home soon and could continue his treatment as an outpatient.
    They talked for a while, but eventually Dave had to answer other pager calls. One was an elderly patient who had fallen and needed to be checked over for injuries. Another was a patient whose medication order for anxiety pills had expired. These tasks were quick and easy. Dave was also called to see a couple of patients on D Ward who had gotten into a fight. Much like restraint incidents, fights between patients always led to a lot of paperwork, even if there were no injuries.
    During a lull, Dave called B Ward to check up on Luther. Janet reported that he was awake again and nonchalantly walking about the unit like nothing had ever happened. Amber had been shadowing Luther, and those two were quickly becoming chummy .
    “That’s just lovely,” Dave said, in a facetious manner he knew Janet would appreciate. Janet expressed concern that the two patients would work together to create chaos on the ward, although she figured it would take several days before the drama erupted. After her shift ended tomorrow morning she would have several days off in a row, so she did not expect to be at work when the fecal matter hit the whirling blades.
    It was now ten o’clock. Dave made his way to his office on B Ward, unlocked the door, and sat down at his computer to clear out the remaining emails. While he worked, he ate a couple snack bars he had stashed in his desk. He began to feel tired, so within a half hour he picked up his duffel bag and grabbed the small battery-operated clock off his desk. As he left his office, he pulled the door shut behind him and heard the reassuring click of the lock engaging. His office door had a manual lock, but it was designed to default to the locked position whenever the door was shut. This reduced the risk of patients sneaking into the office.
    Dave trudged a few steps down the corridor to a nondescript door bearing a small plaque that said “B Ward Physician Quarters”. Each ward had one of these small lodging rooms where the doctors slept on their overnight shifts. Each of the rooms contained a twin-sized bed, a small nightstand, a phone, and a lamp. There was no television, radio, clock, or night light. The