The Cure

DOCTOR CARTER BACKED AWAY TO THE corner of the room and took a seat to digest the newest curveball that had been tossed his way. The Senator’s coma was going to present a new problem. The thought of giving the serum to someone who wasn’t aware of what was going on around them made Xavier very uncomfortable. The last time he ever considering doing something like that he almost had a nervous breakdown, and he couldn’t afford to do that right now. June seemed to realize what was bothering him and walked over to console him but didn’t know what this meant for the serum. Xavier had never administered it to anyone without their full consent, and each of those times the patient was conscious enough to make that decision on their own. Xavier looked back up at David, his face clearly showing his frustration.

“Is there any chance we can wake him up?” Xavier inquired, “Could the Senator could be woken with drugs long enough for us to speak with him?”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” David replied, as he was clearly unsure of what the pressing issue was. “Is there some sort of problem?”

“This drug isn’t approved by anyone, let alone considered safe.” Xavier replied as he put his head into his hands.

“It hasn’t?” David said, as that was the last thing he expected to hear.

“It’s never been administered to anyone without their full, informed consent,” June informed her friend, taking over the conversation. “I’m not going to sugar coat it David; some people have died taking this stuff.”

“I see your point,” David said, as he walked back behind his desk, “You need the patient to be aware of the dangers before giving them something experimental. Yet, our patient is unconscious and pretty much already at death’s door. We’re testing him for every poison or bacteria we can think of but there are thousands of them to go through and time is not on our side. When our people finally find the answer, the Senator will probably already be dead.”

“Just the ethics of testing something like this on someone who isn’t aware of it and doesn’t know about it isn’t fair,” June countered, “Especially considering we’ve never tried this on this kind of ailment before!”

“How long has this stuff been around?” David asked, somewhat confused.

“We’re talking less than two years.” June answered, “It’s only been used on less than a hundred people, and like I said some haven’t survived the testing.”

“But those who didn’t survive might have been because of age,” Xavier added, “We think anyone over sixty might have been too old for their system to handle the serum. The Senator is only forty-six, so I think he should fare better especially considering he’s here and under constant supervision.”

“So, what you’re saying is this miracle cure is unavailable to seniors?” David repeated, as he took that detail in. “That’s rather unfortunate since they are the ones who would benefit from it the most.”

“No,” Xavier disagreed, “It means they can’t handle that particular dosage. There’s a chance if I tweek the dosage, or even try a different delivery method, it might work better and be less lethal to those over sixty.”

“Fair enough,” David said, as it understood, “I supposed weight and age has always made a different to how much we prescribe.”

“Exactly,” Xavier concurred, “We’re actually working on an inhaler that might be less harmful to older patients.”

June was beside herself upon hearing this news. “An inhaler? That’s brilliant!”

“It was Sammy’s idea actually.” Xavier confessed, “We’re in the early stages, but if it works it might deliver the serum in smaller does and make it less aggressive and easier for some patients to intake.”

“Pills are no good?” David asked.

“No, the digestive tract can’t handle the serum.” Xavier answered without hesitation. “That has proven to be fatal to the patient.”

“So, what’s the problem? What’s stopping us here?” David inquired, eager to know why this wasn’t being used on his patient right now.

“Informed consent, or in this case that lack there of it.” Xavier sat back up and started to scratch his three-day beard. “I don’t know if I can do it. It’s unethical.”

“I’ll tell you what’s unethical.” David said as his tone started to sharpen a little. “What those bastards did to him when they poisoned friggin’ food. I don’t remember anyone asking for the Senator’s consent for that! Senator Jackson didn’t ask to be poisoned, so I don’t think he’s going to have a problem taking this stuff, especially if this might be his only chance to survive.”

“None of my patients asked to have AIDS or cancer,” Xavier countered, “But I still needed to inform them of the dangers, so they knew what they were getting into. I’m uneasy about doing this with the Senator because he’s unaware of what might occur.”

Xavier looked back up at Dr. Roberts and could tell this conversation was frustrating him. He seemed like the kind of doctor who didn’t hesitate to bend some rules, especially when someone’s life was on the line. This was the difference between the two doctors, because Roberts spent the majority of his practice on the front lines, dealing with real patients and real emergencies. That meant he was pushed into real corners where he sometimes had to do things that others might deem unethical to save a life or ease someone’s pain or suffering. Xavier had sheltered himself in a lab and didn’t have to quibble with anything like that until he was forced into the real world by the politics of money and greed. Now he was being forced to debate the extremes with little or no practice with a seasoned professional. David also didn’t appear to be letting go of his side anytime soon, which was for the benefit of his patient.

“I know this man personally,” David continued, “We’ve been good friends for a long time.”

David walked over to the bookshelf that housed an entire library of medical books and journals, and grabbed a framed photo that was displayed on the top shelf. David walked over and handed the framed phote to Xavier. It was a picture of himself and the Senator on a fishing trip. Dr. Roberts was empty-handed, and holding the fishing rods, but Senator Jackson was there with what looked like a seven-pound fish.

“I know the real Senator Jackson,” David declared, “And I know he wouldn’t want to lie there and just fade away. The Senator would want to fight to the bitter end. If we had something that would help him do just that he’d be all for rolling the dice.”

Xavier looked at the picture and stared at it, gazing upon wide smiles on each man’s face and excitement brought from their fishing trip. Xavier stood up and gave the photo back to David.

“Bring three bio-suits up here so we’ll get changed,” Xavier ordered, “That way there is little exposure to the police as possible.”

“You don’t honestly think I’m going to let you to administer this do you?” David asked, somewhat amused by the notion.

“If it makes you feel better, you can do it if you like.” Xavier said to ease the man’s paranoia. “But I need to be in there in case there are complications.”

“Alright, that seems reasonable,” David conceded, “I’ll go get the suits.”

David left the room to fetch the suits, and it took them all about ten minutes to suit up and another ten to walk to the wing of the hospital where the Senator was being treated. The entire section was closed off and quarantined, and heavily guarded by secrets service agents. Until the hospital was able figure out what was going on, the Senator was to be kept isolated and under guard. For the same reason, all medical personnel going into his room had to wear a bio-suit as a precaution.

As they were walking towards the wing, Xavier noticed there were two guards at every door, and it was clear to them it was the secret service. As they walked up to the main area where the Senator was being treated, agents blocked the door.

“Who are these people, Dr. Roberts?” one of them inquired.

“This is Dr. June Zaun from Atlanta General,” David said, gesturing to the person on his left, “And this is Dr. Alex Rodricks from the CDC. They are both here to see and help treat the Senator. They traveled here as quickly as they could by my request, so please step out of the way.”

The guards were apparently used to having Doctor Roberts ship in new experts, as they stepped aside with little protest. It seemed the agents appreciated the fact that David wasn’t holding anything back and calling in as many people as he could to try to save the Senator. As they walked into the quarantined area, Xavier found it easy to roam around since everyone was only noticeable by their face and not even their hair or ears or chin could be seen inside the bio-suits. People look very different when just the basics of their face can be seen.

They strolled down the hall for a moment and came to the room where the Senator was being kept. Xavier was let in first followed by June and the Chief of Staff. Once inside, Xavier began to examine the patient to just get the basics. Checking the charts, looking at his vitals to get an idea of where he was and how well he might be able to handle the serum if given over at this time. David was waiting near the door and watching out as they examined the Senator.

“How does he look?” David asked, “Are we good to go ahead?”

Xavier looked back at Dr. Roberts. “Are you absolutely sure you want to go ahead with this?”

David looked back at him for a second. “If we don’t, he’s a goner for sure. What kind of a choice is that? At least if you give that stuff to him, he’ll at least have a fighting chance to live. At this point, I’d rather beg for forgiveness after he recovers rather than risk losing him while waiting to seek permission.”

June looked over at Xavier, trying to read his reaction.

“This is not an ordinary patient Xavier,” June reminded him, “Someone tried to kill this man for a what I assume are nefarious reason. This is nothing short of an attempted assassination, and it was done by bad people who don’t care about us or our way of life. They’re no better than the assholes who are trying to silence you, and they are trying to silence this man and his political ambitions. If we stand by and allow them to win, we are no better than the evil people who carried out this attack. If we give him the serum, we give the Senator the chance to fight back and prevail over the people who are trying to silence him.”

Xavier looked back at her and knew she was right. The Senator deserved his chance to fight back and keep going. He turned to David and deeply sighed, aware that he was going to have to take that chance.

“There might be complications,” Xavier started, “Such as fever and seizures, so I would recommend having a crash cart nearby before we inject him.”

“There’s already one here,” David said pointing to the corner, “We’re expecting him to crash soon because of the poison.”

“Alright,” Xavier said, “Let’s do this.”

David stood there and watched as Xavier took out a vile of the serum and began to prepare it for injection. As the Chief of staff watched him prepare it, another thought suddenly occurred to him.

“This why you’re a wanted man, isn’t it?” David inquired, “It’s just another way to stop you from curing people?”

“In a nutshell, yes.” Xavier said as he kept working.

“What about the people you were alleged to have killed?” David asked.

“If you mean my former boss and co-workers?” Xavier guessed, “They were murdered to destroy the project and the any trace of my cure. They tried to wipe out any trace of its existence, but they didn’t realize my boss was a credit stealing fraud. I had been working on it from home, so when they torched the building that allowed me to take what I had and run… and that was a few years ago.”

David was about to say something else, but June returned to the room with some extra equipment that she thought would help with the procedure.

“Everything alright?” She asked.

“Yes, we’re good.” Xavier said as he held up the syringe. “Last chance people, because once it’s in we can’t take it back out.”

Xavier held it up to no one in particular.

“Did anyone else want to do the honors?” Xavier asked.

“No,” David said without hesitation. “You’re the expert with this stuff, so you should be the one to inject the patient.”

June looked back to David as she realized what a concession that must have been for her colleague to make.

“Okay, here we go.” Xavier paused for a moment, and then he injected the serum into the Senator’s right arm. There was no immediate reaction, but Xavier wasn’t expecting one. With a million cops around, that would be too much to ask for at this time. Like most times, his serum was likely going to take its sweet time.

“So, now what?” David asked.

“Now we wait and watch him like a hawk.” Xavier replied, “One of us has to been in here at all times to make sure he doesn’t have seizures or even crash.”

Xavier walked to the back of the room and pulled up a chair and took a seat. They all began to monitor the Senator for any changes and were ready to wait no matter how long it took to see whether or not the serum would work.