Burnt Into Her Skin

Peter's POV

The drive to the hospital was normal. Just a little bit of traffic. Not that my house was particularly far from the hospital, it was just that I hated driving so much and that made me not so much of a good driver.

But then, just when I thought that I had won the driving saga for the morning, someone almost bumped into me as I was about to drive into the hospital's driveway.

I quickly turned my wheel, trying to avoid the driver who was obviously drunk, only to hit my car against a nearby pole, and even I could tell that the damages done were certainly not small.

I got out of the car to go confront the useless driver, but it seemed as if he was hiding in his car. I waited for him to come down on his own but he didn't, so I went to the driver's seat and pulled the door open, wanting to drag him by the collar out of the vehicle and question why he almost bumped into my car, but what I saw made me scream.

A woman, a pregnant woman, a burnt pregnant woman, was sitting on the driver's seat, with her head placed on the wheel, and I just couldn't say if she was dead or alive.

“ Page ER, page ER, we have a casualty”, I said into the walkie-talkie I carried along with me, “ get me a gurney right now in front of the hospital!” I screamed, panicking, and that wasn't so good because people started gathering to see what was happening, and on seeing the smoke emanating from the poor woman's body like log of wood, they would scream and hold their breast.

“ Did you page OR?” I asked as Vivian and Ken arrived with the gurney.

“ Yes, we did”, Vivian said.

“ Holy shit!” Ken exclaimed, covering his mouth with his hand.

The crowd was growing much bigger, and it was starting to get uncomfortable.

“ What happened to her?” Vivian asked, carrying a curious expression.

“ You'll have to hear from her after we resuscitate her. Now Ken, help me get her out of this car”, I said.

Ken came over and held her by the hands while I held her by the legs.

“ Okay, one, two, go”, I said as we both tried lifting the body, but as we did, her skin peeled off, making her unable to lift.

“ Oh gosh, her skin is peeling”, Vivian said, already on the verge of crying. The burnt woman was bleeding when I opened the door, but the spots on her hands and legs where we had tried to hold while lifting her was now bleeding profusely, like water from a running tap, almost flooding the insides of the car with her blood.

“ She's loosing a lot of blood!” Vivian yelped.

“ Oh my gosh, she smells like grilled meat”, someone from the gathering crowd shouted and I snarled at him.

“ I need everyone to back off right now. Back off right now, please, give us some space”, Dr Bailey said as she made her way through the crowd, her short frame barely making her visible.

“ Give me your coat”, I said to her as the look of shock also appeared on her face on seeing the woman.

“ For what?” She asked, taking defense.

“ Dr Bailey, please!” I said, almost shouting at her. There was no time to explain what I wanted to do with the coat, and as if she knew, she brought it out and handed it to me.

I angrily tore the coat into two, bearing in mind that the more time we wasted, the more closer the poor woman drives to her death.

“ Here”, I handed ken the other half of the coat and he followed my lead, wrapping the woman's hands with the coat and using the cost to carry her unto the gurney.

“ Did you check her pulse?” Dr Bailey asked. She was the only one who could such a question in such a situation.

She yelped as we placed her on the gurney and I gave Dr Bailey that look that said “ she's alive”.

“ She's in active labor!” Vivian panicked as blood streamed down from her vagina, onto her skin, the skin which her clothes were born into.

“ Let's go, let's go, let's go!” I shouted as everyone started pushing the gurney into the hospital.

“ She needs to have a C-section”, I said as we rushed her to the ER, running as if we were in a game of Temple Run.

“ No, the anesthesia will kill her and the baby in this situation”, Dr Bailey retorted, “ she needs to push”.

We got her into the ER and transferred her to the labor bed. Ken almost vomited as her peeled off skin stuck to the gurney like banana peels, falling off everywhere.

She was in pain, so much pain that she was too weak to even make a sound.

“ She is too weak to push”, I said as Dr Bailey got into her scrubs, preparing to spread her legs apart.

“ She has to. It's the only way she and the baby gets to survive”, she put on her gloves.

“ What of an epidural? Give her an injection”, I kept on.

“ Don't you understand? Any medication apart from heat care medication will kill her!” Dr Bailey shouted at me, making everyone in the ER to freeze, even the young man behind whose foot was cut off in an accident, “ she needs to push. I get that you want her to stay alive, but hey, we all want the same thing, so if you want the best for her, go take care of your cosmetic surgery department and leave me to tend to her!” She snapped, and I just couldn't bring myself to get angry.

I quietly stood apart from the bed, watching as Dr Bailey took over from everyone.

“ Look, I know that you can hear me, very clearly”, Dr Bailey said to her as she kept grasping for air, “ you've been in a fire, you are currently in labour, and your baby is in danger”, Dr Bailey was holding her hand, and as soon as she heard “ baby”, her eyes flickered, “ so look, I need you to push, okay, we all need you to push”, Dr Bailey continued, “ for your baby, okay?”

By this time, her eyes were wide open, and just as Dr Bailey had instructed, she started pushing. Her mouth was wide open. She was screaming, but no sound was forthcoming, and I didn't just know why, but I felt the need to hold her, to tell her that it's going to be okay.

I didn't even know that I was crying, not until I saw my reflection in the window.

“ Push!” Dr Bailey said as the woman kept trying, “ it's almost here, I can see it's head, keep pushing, it's almost here”, Dr Bailey kept saying, urging her to push.

“ Turn on the air conditioner, she's dying of heat”, Dr Bailey said to me, and I immediately turned on the AC, putting the temperature at 5°.

“ Almost there, almost there”, Dr Bailey said as Vivian held the woman's hand, and as she yelped in pain, making just a slight painful sound, the cry of a baby was heard.

“ It's a boy!” Dr Bailey exclaimed, “ you did it. Your boy is safe”.

The woman smiled through her burnt lips before slumping on the bed, passing out.

“ Here, hold him”, Dr Bailey gave the baby to Vivian to hold as she moved over to the mother.

“ Dr Bailey, he's not breathing”, Vivian said, cooing the baby in her arms.

“ Who the hell is not breathing?” Dr Bailey asked as she kept concentrating on the mother.

“ The baby, Dr Bailey, the baby”.

“ The baby?” I asked, coming close to take a look. “ He was crying just a second ago”.

Dr Bailey came over, “ cardiac arrest. Take him to the OBG right now”, she said, her voice sounding urgent, “ now!”

Vivian ran out with the baby in her arms, while I ran after her, praying for a child that I didn't know, and a mother that I had never met.