Resurrection Hour - Hidden in Ice(Nanowrimo)

Chapter Twelve

Security went in first and stood off to the left side of the door, standing in a relaxed but attentive position. His feet were a shoulder width apart, and his hands were clasped behind his back, as he stood by the wall.

Hannah and Corey approached the boy from the left side of the bed as Flynn prepared the card with the necessary equipment for their assessment. She knew they would all look scary to the young boy if he could see them, so she brought a small teddy bear with her.

His head turned in their direction when they approached, but aside from that he made no other attempt to move. No signs of fear or aggression either. That was concerning. He was alone and a bunch of strange people in strange suits were coming towards him, and it did nothing but elicit a head turn. He didn't even attempt to wipe away the black ooze dribbling down his chin.

"Catatonic?" she asked Corey.

"Not sure, usually that's connected to no movement at all. I've never quite seen this before, but maybe Doctor Booth has. I can confer with him after we're done here."

"Okay.' Hannah stopped beside the bed and smiled behind her face shield. "Hi, sweetie, I'm Doctor Fraser. How are you?" He just stared at her, almost like he was looking straight through her. "We need to check you out. Is that okay?"

Again she received no response. Could he not hear her as well? She waved a hand in front of his face, and he didn't react to it at all. What made him turn to face them if he was blind and deaf? She wanted to scratch her head, but the gear made it impossible.

"Let's set up the ECG, and then we'll take the blood work."

Doctor Booth had brought down a small portable ECG machine that could be placed into the bubble and worked with from there, which made it a heck of a lot easier than trying to figure out how to get wires from an outside machine to on the inside of his bubble.

She placed the ECG machine and the small teddy into a side corner pocket that had a zipper on both sides of the bubble. Securing the outside, she went over to where the arms were closest to the bubble. There were numerous arms that could be used to do what was needed inside.

Hannah gave the young boy the teddy and he held it loosely in one hand on his lap. Whether he was really aware of it she wasn't sure. He didn't lift it to play with it, it just lay there in his hand.

"We're going to place a few electrodes on your body, hun. We want to make sure that everything is okay with your heart. My partner here is going to do that, okay?" She just kept talking to him as they worked. Corey took off the boys shirt and Hannah expected that to at least elicit a response, but he still appeared to be in another world, even when Corey laid him in a supine position to place the electrodes on him. There weren't as many as a standard machine, but it was enough to do the trick for what they needed to know.

Corey messed about with the machine, attempting to get a reading, but the screen remained full of flatlines. He tried adjusting the leads, but to no avail. They simply could not get a reading.

"Malfunctioning machine?" Hannah asked Corey. They tried one final time to see if there was a disconnect somewhere, but all the leads were attached just fine. They changed the batteries in the portable machine, but nothing they did made a difference.

"Hmm," Corey murmured, rubbing his chin. "Let's just try the blood test next. Maybe we'll try another machine later."

She wished she could use her stethoscope to listen to his heart, but there was no way to do that with him in the bubble unless she exposed everyone. "We should also get a swab of that goo on his face," she suggested.

"Agreed." Corey pulled his hands out of the arms and prepared the vials and needles for the blood test. He was going to perform them because it was part of his duties, not hers, technically. She could do it if she had to though.