Chapter 3
"Alright," Jemma said as the cargo doors of the bus opened, and the eerie silence of the Hub washed over the six agents standing there in front of carts stocked with boxes of Tamaflu, bottles of acetaminophen, ibuprofen, thermometers, and aspirin, water, tea and juices. She still couldn't believe that the director was expecting them to take care of 300 sick people alone, but at least she had developed a list for how to try. "Does everyone have their list?"
"Right here." Skye waved the paper and then read. "Hand out Tamaflu and drinks, take temperatures and anything 102 or over, dose them with medicine. Anything over 105, come and get you. Dehydration, come and get you. Write everything down. Recheck temperatures every two hours." Checking temperatures for 300 people every two hours? The would no more than finish the first check than it would be time to start all over again. "I don't mean to question, okay, actually, I do, but shouldn't there be medical teams in here, and not us? The last I checked, over a thousand people have been hit with this, not counting us, and the number in the hospital is up to 150."
"We would have medical teams if they could risk sending them." Coulson said. "According to the medical staff the director is working with, we did get part of the effected batch of vaccines. So far, only the Hub seems to be experiencing problems, but it's going to take days probably to sort things out. Until then, we're the only agents Fury trusts to deal with this, since we're the only agents he can find who went against protocol and got our shots from an outside source, that doesn't deal with the company who caused this problem."
"The director sent lists." Coulson continued as he passed out more papers. "Fifty people each, we should be able to handle that. There are forty in medical. Fitzsimmons, you're handling those. The rest should be either in their offices or at or near their workstations. All of that is on the lists. I'm reactivating the lockdown on the external doors. And the lockdown on the weapons rooms, and the computers should still be in place. Other than that, all of you will have full access to the building. Follow Simmons' instructions, I'm sure this will all go fine."
Jemma was actually smiling slightly when she closed the door on the last agent on her list and joined Fitz in the hall. Working with Fitz, they had been able to check off their list of sick agents much faster than she had expected, and better yet, she had only had to start three IVs so far. Maybe the director was right. Maybe they would be able to manage tending 300 sick people.
"Are the two of you finished with your lists yet? Because I need help, if you are. Never mind, I need help even if you aren't. I've got a major problem!" Skye called as she hurried down the hallway towards them dragging her cart.
"What's wrong?" Jemma asked, feeling more than a bit of panic that she he thought had gone away hitting her at the expression on Skye's face. Was someone showing signs of pneumonia?
"There's one person on my list…" Skye pointed to the name. "Do you know of any reason why the Director might hate me and be trying to kill me?"
"I'm sure that the Director wouldn't do that."
"You got assigned Agent Hand to look after? Do you have a will?" Fitz asked as he looked at the list in Skye's hand.
"Fitz, stop." Simmons told him with a glare, before turning what she hoped was a reassuring look on Skye. "You're bringing her medicine. I'm sure that Agent Hand will be happy to see you."
"I wish I were sure." Skye was picturing all she had ever seen on TV about not poking sleeping bears, and she couldn't help but thinking of Agent Hand as a scary, feverish sleeping bear. And according to Jemma's list, she was supposed to poke this sleeping bear awake to be medicated and have her temperature taken. She could see so many ways this could end in disaster and pain. "Come with me? Please? Maybe with her fever she'll have forgotten that the two of you are PhDs and not actual doctors."
"That fever wasn't seriously high from what Agent Coulson said," Jemma said slowly, "but maybe high enough for her to have forgotten that incident with Agent Sitwell." And Agent Hand was rather high ranking. It was probably a good idea for someone with a bit of proper training to take a look at her. "We'll go and help you."
"But if I get killed doing this, I hope you know I plan to haunt you forever." Fitz informed Skye as the trio hurried in the direction of Agent Hand's office, dragging their carts with them.
After a brief scuffle at the door, Skye was forced to knock. "Agent Hand? It's Agent Coulson's team." She called. Better not to identify themselves by names in case the fever hadn't messed with her memories of them. "We have medicine for you. Can we come in?"
"It's quiet in there. Do you think she heard?" Fitz asked.
"Maybe she's sleeping still. Sleep's good for the flu, right? Maybe we should let her sleep." Skye said.
Sleep was good, but Jemma couldn't help but have a concern about that fever. "We'll be very, very quiet. Maybe she'll sleep through us checking her." She said partially to reassure herself and partially to reassure Skye and Fitz. She slid the door open just enough to ease in with the other two following behind her.
The room was dark, and it took a minute for their eyes to adjust, but when they did, they saw the bed that had been made on the floor out of couch cushions, pillows, and at least ten blankets, but after a few seconds they realized what they weren't seeing. Agent Hand was nowhere to be found in the office.