Paradise Lost: Tales of the Dead Tropics

  ****

  Surprisingly, we got out of the house on time. Being winter, Cairns was enjoying a glorious day. Brilliant blue skies, balmy breezes and lush green hills on all sides. Even after all these years, its beauty could still take my breath away. However, it seemed I was the only one taking notice of our beautiful surrounds. Michele had her iPod plugged in, the twins were loudly singing a Wiggles tune while Joe tried to listen to the news.

  "Shush, kids!" he called out abruptly as he turned up the radio.

  "...at least 5 suspected cases of the unidentified strain of encephalitis are currently being transported from Mossman to the Cairns Base Hospital where they will undergo testing to confirm the diagnosis. All the victims so far have been employees of the Coldman Mining Company; however, anyone who has been to the Mossman region recently see their doctor immediately if they experience symptoms such as a sensitivity to light, headaches, vomiting and a stiff neck. It is suspected that the virus is being transmitted by mosquitoes which may have been disturbed by the mining operations. As a result, people are being advised to stay clear of Mossman until further notice..."

  I sighed. "Looks like I am going to be busy at the hospital today." The shortage of nurses at the hospital meant that we were spread pretty thin and an influx of Emergency cases was going to make it a hairy day.

  Joe shook his head in dismay. "If they have this many patients in one day, this could very well turn into an epidemic."

  "I wouldn't worry about it, the Department of Health will be on top of it."

  He quirked an eyebrow at me. "Lori, I love your trusting nature, my sweet."

  I snorted. "You know what you can do with that condescending attitude, mister. You wait and see, this will all blow over in a few days."

  Yeah, I know, I owe the man an apology.

  At the jetty, my brother in law, Andy, was already waiting with a few other guys in front of a medium sized fishing boat. "About time, git." He called out as we pulled in. "Putting on your makeup, were you?"

  Joe pulled his gear out of the back of the four wheel drive. "Don't need makeup, mate. I'm naturally gorgeous. You, on the other hand..."

  I interrupted their good natured bantering. "Hey Andy, make sure you guys do less drinking and more fishing this time, will you? That puny fish you brought home last time was an embarrassment."

  Andrew wandered over and gave me a hearty kiss on the cheek. "Leave the fishing to the men, Lori, and we'll leave the childbearing to the women."

  Joe laughed and pulled Andy away. "We'd better get on the boat now, mate! Lori may be 5 feet nothing but she's a fiend behind the wheel, and I don't like the way she's looking at us!"

  I grinned at them as I reversed out of the car park. "This is me secretly jumping for joy at the prospect of not seeing your sorry asses for a whole weekend." My last glimpse of them was in the rear view mirror as they laughingly loaded their gear onto the boat.

  After dropping Michele at the shopping mecca which was Central Shoppingtown, I drove along the highway towards my sister's home in the hills. I passed the usual droves of tourists lounging on the Esplanade, a green stretch of park paradise that separated the city from the sea. It was an irresistible attraction for families, bird lovers, sun seekers and active people with its boardwalk, mudflats, palm trees, playgrounds, bicycle paths, skateboarding park

  "Muddies, Muddies" the twins hollered as we passed the adventure playground. Even this early, it was already full of children climbing rope and running through fountains.

  "Maybe tomorrow, kids. Mummy's got to work today." I answered distractedly. For some reason, a mother and child standing outside the gate to the playground caught my eye. Maybe it was the nurse in me but I immediately recognized that the woman was sick. She was clutching the gate, her skin was pale and sweaty and she seemed to struggling for breath. My foot hovered indecisively over the brake but before I could make a decision, she had opened the gate and was gone.

  'I guess she'll go see a doctor if she is sick." I muttered under my breath, trying to talk myself out of the instinct to find the woman.

  My sister was sitting on her verandah drinking a cup of coffee as I parked at the bottom of her steep driveway. Nestled in the midst of a rainforest, Kaye and Andy had built a beautiful pole home, or as my children called it, the tree house. As always, I complained about the hike as I walked up the driveway, lugging the twins behind me. " Ever thought about installing an escalator?"

  Kaye's dark hair fell around her laughing face as she leant over her balcony. "And deny you the only exercise you get? I think not."

  "Hey, these kids keep me plenty fit, thank you very much!" I retorted as I ushered the twins up the spiral wooden staircase. As always, the view from the house was breathtaking. There was lush rainforest on three sides and a river running through a deep valley on the remaining side. On rainy days, a low mist hung over the tops of the mountains making you feel part of a world untouched by man.

  I greeted my sister with a kiss and gratefully took the hot cup of coffee she held out for me. I plonked myself down on a chair and took a sip of freshly brewed black coffee. "You do know the way to a woman's heart."

  "Of course - coffee, chocolate, massages and time alone to read a good book." She sat down gracefully in the cane chair opposite me and picked up her china cup. Next to Kaye, I often felt as graceful as Fergie must have felt next to Princess Di. Kaye was all finished elegance and gentle manners while I was a t-shirt and jeans gal with foot in mouth disease. She took after mum with her dark coloring whereas I had inherited my Dad's honey -colored hair and fair skin, not to mention shortness.

  "Ooh, you really do know me!" I said admiringly. From within the house came the sound of four toddlers creating havoc, but we ignored it with an ease that only mothers can. "Uh, I suspect I am going to need a caffeine drip for the day ahead."

  "Yes, I heard about the encephalitis outbreak on the news. Do you think you will be looking after them?"

  I raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm an ER nurse. There's a good chance of it." I sighed. "I'm supposed to finish at 7pm but if I'm not here by 7.30..."

  Kaye grinned. "Feed 'em and bed 'em. Yeah, I know."

  With a glance at my watch, I finished off my coffee and went inside to bid farewell to my kids. Needless to say, they brushed me off with a hasty goodbye and returned to their game with their cousins, Beth and Allie. I grinned to myself as I returned to my car. At least I didn't have to go to work worrying about separation anxiety.

  3

  By the time I clocked in, there were four patients being examined in the cubicles and three more waiting in the triage room. The first lot of encephalitis patients had already passed through and been moved to an isolation ward. However, I had been informed that several more Mossman miners were now showing symptoms and were currently being transported to the hospital.

  As I checked the status of available beds on the computer, Emma dumped records on the counter beside me with a heavy sigh. "How much longer have we got on this shift?"

  "Let's see." I glanced deliberately at my watch. "Our shift started half an hour ago so...only eleven and a half hours to go!"

  She heaved another dramatic sigh as she reknotted her auburn hair.

  "Why? Got somewhere else to be?" I asked, amused. Emma's chaotic love life had been the source of much vicarious entertainment for me over the years. Blue eyes widening innocently, Emma leant forward with a cheeky grin. I could feel another ear-burning anecdote approaching.

  Dr Wilson hurried by and beckoned to us for assistance. The ER doors opened and Dave and Bob, the paramedics, hurried in with one of the encephalitis patients. Big Dave had a rough bandage wrapped around his left arm while Bob had a wad clamped over a neck wound. As the wiry paramedic passed on the details of his patient to Dr Wilson, I got my first good look at the patient. A man of about forty, strongly built, he was fighting his restraints, tossing his body to and fro as he mo
aned. As he turned to face me, a shiver went down my spine. If the eyes are the window to the soul, then this man had lost his soul. It felt like I was looking into a vacuum. No sign of recognition, of emotion, or even a glimmer of humanity. I had never seen such emptiness - at least not in a living person.

  Emma patted his hand hesitantly. "You will be fine, sir. Just relax." With a sudden twist of his body, he lunged across at her, teeth snapping violently together. Emma jerked away with a startled gasp. Groaning, he sank back on the gurney. "Watch it." Dave glanced over. "This guy has already taken a chunk out of both me and Bob."

  "I'm having trouble finding his pulse." Dr Wilson mumbled, a frown of concentration on his wrinkled face. He turned back as Bob completed his report. "This patient presented with a high fever, severe headache and confusion. He went into cardiac arrest half an hour ago. We successfully revived him but he began displaying extreme aggression and irrationality. As you can see, he managed to get a couple of bites in before we were able to physically restrain him. Skin is cold and clammy, pupils fully dilated, temp is..." Bob hesitated. "low. Sedation was unsuccessful."

  Dr Wilson frowned. "Unsuccessful?"

  The paramedic shrugged. "Two doses - no effect."

  The doctor raised his brow but didn't comment on it further as he headed off with the patient to the isolation ward. Emma and I watched in bemused silence as the patient continued to struggle down the corridor.

  "What do you make of that?" Emma asked.

  I shrugged noncommittally, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling in my gut. "Encephalitis has been known to make people aggressive."

  She looked at me incredulously. "Ok, Lori, but did you see his eyes?! And what about his skin - so grey and slack, like it was suddenly too big for his bones. Creepy!"

  Looking sideways at her, my lips twitched. "Is that your professional diagnosis? Creepy?"

  She flicked a rude gesture at me in response.

  A yell jerked our heads around, to see more encephalitis patients being wheeled in, also struggling against their restraints. Another bleeding paramedic called for assistance. Nurses and doctors hurried over. I got a glimpse of blank eyes, bloodless skin and clawed hands as the trolleys passed by. Emma raised her eyebrows at me as she hastened after them, promising further discussion over coffee later.

  I shook myself and walked over to Dave as Bob was led into a nearby examination room. "Come on, let's take a look at that arm." Dave obediently allowed himself to be led into a room and sat thankfully on a bed.

  "Never seen anything like that before in my life." He muttered.

  I glanced at him as I gathered my supplies. "Really? You know encephalitis can cause aggression and confusion."

  Dave shook his head. "This is something else, Lori. This guy tried to eat me."

  I laughed as I sat down beside him. "Come on, Dave. Never heard of a virus turning people into cannibals!"

  The big man shrugged. " Yeah, well, I'm the one who had to watch this guy chewing on the piece of flesh he tore from my arm. He was drooling and chomping and watching me the whole time like I was a giant piece of meat dangling just out of reach...it was freaky."

  I shuddered. "Quit it, Dave. That's gross." I pulled away the bandage and whistled. The patient had managed to tear a seriously thick chunk out of Dave's arm. "You are going to need some serious stitches, my friend."

  "Yeah, I kinda figured that."

  We sat in silence for several minutes as I cleaned the wound. Dave clearly had something on his mind as he kept clearing his throat and opening his mouth to speak, then shutting it. Finally, I sighed in exasperation and met his blue eyes firmly. "Just spit it out, for goodness sakes."

  Dave straightened his shoulders decisively. "Lori, that guy was dead."

  "Yes, I heard you say he had a cardiac arrest and you revived him. What about it?"

  He looked a little embarrassed. "The thing is we didn't succeed in bringing him back. We'd given up. Then he just opened his eyes and attacked us."

  "Okay." I frowned. " Odd, but spontaneous revival has happened before."

  Dave met my eyes. "I saw the heart monitor. Even when we were struggling to strap him down, the monitor remained flat lined."

  I blinked. "Well, it had to be broken."

  "Yeah. That's what I thought. Until I talked to the other guys over the cb and found that the same thing had happened to them. What are the odds that all the monitors in all the ambulances were broken?"