I Am Morgan

Chapter 16: Viral

"You're supposed to be looking up how-to videos on taping drywall." Herrmann glares at Otis who is updating his podcast. "We got to get back to fixing up the bombardier, alright. We're behind schedule."

"Oh, stop calling it the bombardier. That name has poisoned the well with the locals. We got to re-christen it something else." Gabby says.

"May I propose 'Moustache Petes'?" suggests Otis.

"No, you may not." I retort. "We need something simple. A single, evocative word like, uh, 'Solstice' or 'Perception'--"

"Or uh 'Pretentious'? Or we could call it something fun like 'Moustache Petes'."

"You can name it 'out of business' if we don't get back on schedule." Herrmann snaps.

"Okay, okay, here we go. How to tape drywall, part 1 of 15." Otis reads from his computer screen. "Gee, you know who I bet's really good at drywall? Casey. Too bad somebody got on his bad side by fraternizing with one Detective Voight." Otis glares at Dawson, who visited Voight in prison to try and find a way to help Antonio.

"Ugh, you guys make my brain hurt." I stand up and walk away from them.

"Ambulance 61. Person down, Michigan and Upper Wacker." The intercom says so Dawson and I head to the rig.

"Did you hear about Shay and Clarice?" she asks me.

"Uh-huh. The custody things not gonna work out because they're living with Kelly so they want to get their own place." I nod, having spoken to her about it earlier. "I was thinking of suggesting that Kelly move in with me actually, it would save them the money and well--"

"You two are so cute together." Dawson smirks. "But watching Shay and Kelly move back in and out of that place is like watching a ping-pong match."

"I know, right?" I agree with a chuckle.

"I tried to get him to come inside a store, but he won't move." A lady holding her shopping bags says to us once we've got out into the snow and approach a homeless man led on a bench.

"Hey, it's too cold for you to be out here, hon. What's your name?" Dawson asks.

"Mick," he replies.

"Mick, can you stand up? You think you can walk over to that ambulance?" I say and we help him up and into the rig where it's much warmer. We take his vitals to check that he's okay.

"Whoa, 70 over 50. What are you on?" asks Dawson but he doesn't say anything, "okay, fine. It looks like you might be suffering from exposure, so we're going to get you to the hospital, all right?"

"No." He tries to sit up but we push him back down.

"Yeah." I tell him. "It's nice and warm at the hospital, Mick. You'll like it. Lots of pretty nurses."

"Prettier than you two?" He asks.

"Come on, be realistic." I say seriously and then break a smile. "Okay, Mick, just a little pinch." I explain and then push the needle into his hand.

"Ahh!" He pushes me away and the needle sticks into my arm. I stagger back and pull it out, making my wrist bleed. Gabby stares at me with wide eyes. That needle was in him. I could have been given anything now.

We get to the hospital and I'm made to change into a gown and sit on a cot while the doctors try to determine if I've received any diseases from him. "We'll keep trying to convince him to consent to a blood draw, but we can't force him to." The doc explains to me. "And unless he does, we can only guess at what transmittable diseases he's carrying."