Chapter 11
"Skye, was it this hot down here when you first came down?" Coulson asked as the elevator opened and they walked into what felt like an oven.
Skye nodded. "Something's malfunctioning, I guess. We didn't know what. They're down this way!" She hurried down the hallway as fast as she could, silently sending up prayers as she went. Please, please don't let them be too late. Agent Hand was fighting so hard, don't let them be too late to help her!
"This hot, I wouldn't be surprised if she hasn't had a heatstroke on top of the fever." May and Coulson exchanged worried looks. Heatstroke combined with the fever from the infection, even if Victoria was somehow still alive, what potential damage could have been done to her brain?
"Jemma? Fitz? I've got help!" Skye called as she pushed the door of the lab open and grabbed a box to catch it before it could shut on her. She was almost afraid to look at where Agent Hand had been resting, afraid of what she might find, but after a second she forced herself to and sighed with relief. It looked like the two scientists had ended up pouring buckets of water over her, and she didn't know where Fitz had found giant feathers to make into a fan, but Jemma was smiling, and she could see that Agent Hand was still breathing, and it was all she could do to keep from hugging her again. Probably not the best idea at the moment, though. She would just have to hug her later. A few hugs would probably do her a world of good.
Coulson couldn't help but wince as he caught sight of Victoria on the floor. She just looked…. Small was the only word he could think of to describe her appearance, curled on her side and deathly pale. Small and very, very vulnerable, two words he never expected to associate with Victoria Hand. Could a fever somehow shrink someone? "How bad?"
"Her temperature's 106. She's tachycardiac, with severe dehydration." Jemma sighed as she saw the supplies on the gurney. "Bless you!" IVs and cooling blankets, exactly what they needed. "Can someone hand me one of the IV setups please? And spread out one of the blankets so we can get them under and over her." Even if she didn't have medicines to give her until they got upstairs, forcing fluids intravenously would be a major help and so would the cooling blankets. 'Here we go, ma'am. Just a little stick and you'll be feeling much better in a few minutes."
It sounded like a hive of bees buzzing around her. Victoria struggled, trying to open her eyes, as she felt a pinch and then a sting in her right arm, but they wouldn't budge, her lashes just fluttering uselessly.
"Victoria?" Coulson and May both knelt by her. It looked like she was trying to open her eyes but couldn't. How bad a sign was that? "Jemma, can she hear us?" Coulson asked her.
"I'm not sure how much she can hear, but touch, she still seems to be able to feel people touching her. That's a good sign. Be very, very gentle when you lift her." Even with her temperature starting to drop a bit, she was still in serious danger of suffering a seizure, and until she had the drugs on hand to prevent that, Jemma was going to be extra cautious with handling her. Three on one side, three on the other, they got her lifted onto the lowered stretcher with the second cooling blanket tucked on top of her, and the IV bag secured to a pole attached to the side.
"We're going to have to clear out a space in medical for her." Coulson murmured. "May, can…."
"No, medical's not a good idea." Jemma told them as they hurried the stretcher down the hall to the elevator. "Her office will be better. I can set up the equipment I need there, and right now she doesn't need the exposure to the germs in medical. She's pretty much used every bit of strength she has fighting this. She's going to be extremely vulnerable to a secondary infection like pneumonia. We need to isolate her to hopefully prevent that."
Pneumonia. He didn't bother to ask. He knew that would happen if that set in. Coulson reached out and gently stroked Victoria's fingers, hoping Jemma was right, that she could still feel something, and would know somehow that they were trying to save her. And he hoped that Jemma was right too, and that keeping her isolated might prevent the infection that would likely be deadly if it set in.