The Marriage Contract

76 - Familar Faces

It was exactly 11;30pm when Abhimanyu entered the emergency unit and relieved his fellow colleagues of their duty. On sight today, completing their regulated emergency unit hours for the month were Dr. Rohan and Dr. Mayank.

Normally, the night shift at the emergency unit wasn't that difficult or exciting for the lack of a better term. Other then the once in a blue moon accidents amongst drunk drivers which usually ended up in stitches, there wasn't much going on.

After doing rounds and spending time checking out patients which needed his care, Abhimanyu decided to grab a quick nap.

It was around 6am in the morning when he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in." Abhimanyu yawned, sitting up on the makeshift sofa bed.

Dr. Rohan entered carrying a cup of coffee in his hand and handed it over to Abhimanyu. "Here you got, Sir."

"Thanks." Abhimanyu took the coffee and began blowing on it to cool it down, before sipping on it slowly. "How are things out there?" Abhimanyu inquired, getting a bit of his energy back.

"Quiet as quiet can be." Dr. Rohan chuckled.

Abhimanyu's chest let out a silent rumble upon sharing the inside joke with Dr. Rohan. Night shits at the emergency unit really were the worst.

"You and Dr. Mayank can take some much needed rest, I can handle it for now." Abhimanyu offered, feeling much more fresh and awake after his nap.

Before Rohan could reply, their pagers went off. Abhimanyu and Rohan passed concerned glances towards each other before rushing out of Abhimanyu's cabin.

~*~

Dr. Mayank joined Abhimanyu and Dr. Rohan in the hallway as they headed towards the nurses station. The entire Birla Hospital was buzzing with ambulance sirens with the paramedics wheeling in patients with burn marks, glass shards, blood and bruises covering their bodies.

This was one of the times when it was a healthy mechanism to detach oneself from the gruesome scene unfolding in front of them. Panic wouldn't do anyone any good. So it was better to think with a calm, composed brain. That's what they were trained to do as doctors.

"What happened here?" Abhimanyu asked the head nurse on duty, Nurse Sakshi who was busy handing out intake forms to the other nurses.

"Nothing is clear yet but from we are being told there was a massive 5 car pileup on the highway caused after an over-speeding drunk truck driver crashed into them." Nurse Sakshi explained.

"Any casualties?" Abhimanyu asked, gearing to take charge.

"There don't seem to be any casualties as of now, but many of the patients are suffering from life threatening injuries as informed to us by the paramedics."

Abhimanyu nodded his head. "Clear the ward. Get the patients settled into a room, split them up by severity first and take their vitals. We deal with ones requiring immediate attention and then work our way down."

"Yes, Doctor." Nurse Sakshi understood Abhimanyu's instructions and made way towards the entrance to do a head count and do as she was told.

Abhimanyu turned to face Dr. Rohan and Dr. Mayank and began delegating the work. "One of you make sure the operation theaters are set up and ready to go in case of emergency surgeries."

"Yes, sir." Dr. Rohan replied.

"And Dr. Mayank, you stay out here and help the nurses in case they require it."

"Yes, sir."

Abhimanyu nodded his head and went back to his cabin, preparing himself for what seemed like would be a hectic morning.