Zombie Sheriff Read online

  Chapter 3

  Dr. Doom

  Dr. Dorn sat in the conference room of the clinic he and his three partners owned. It was seven at night and the clinic was closed but the three other partners called a meeting to discuss something important that they didn’t want to say over the phone. Dr. Dorn was a bit nervous and had an idea what the meeting was about, but was hoping for the best. He had recently had a string of medical errors that put the clinic in a bad light and caused an investigation by the state that hurt the clinic’s reputation.

  The doctor looked at his watch and tapped his foot repeatedly. Then he heard voices in the hall and four men entered the room, his three partners and what looked like a lawyer with a briefcase. The men sat down at the other end of the long wood table as far away as they could. It sent a visual signal that didn’t sit well with the doctor in the hot seat.

  “Brent, this is Eric Day, he’s an attorney we hired.” Dr. Newman said.

  “We have an attorney,” Dr. Dorn replied.

  “Yes, but Eric specializes in corporate law.”

  “What’s going on John? What’s with all the cloak and dagger bullshit?”

  “Brent, we’ve decided to remove you as a partner in the clinic.”

  “I see,” Dr. Dorn said.

  “You had to know this was coming,” Dr. Newman said.

  “No, not really, I thought you were bigger than this.”

  “Brent, everyone in town is talking about what you did. We have long time patients that are driving a half hour to Clarks to doctor. We’re losing money.”

  “It was a mistake,” Dr. Dorn replied.

  “You know that, and I know that, but they don’t know the details. All they know is that one of your patients ended up in ICU because of something you did.”

  “Yeah, and how the fuck did they find out? Who at the clinic has the mouth? Did you bother to find out?”

  “That’s water under the bridge, what matters now is that as long as you’re associated with the clinic, we’ll continue to lose revenue,” Dr. Newman said.

  Dr. Dorn leaned back in his chair and looked at the other two doctors who were too spineless to speak up. “What about you two? Usually you don’t shut the fuck up, now you won’t say a word.”

  “Our attorney advised us not to say anything,” Dr. Newman said.

  “What a bunch of fucks,” Dr. Dorn said. “I make a mistake, a mistake you probably made a million times, but when there is an adverse reaction, I get nailed. How many times have you missed a lab and didn’t change the dose? Probably happens a few times a year.”

  “Yes, and I’m sorry, but you got nailed. It’s not fair, but shit happens,” Dr. Newman said.

  The attorney spoke up, “I wouldn’t offer any information,” the attorney said. “Just keep to the facts as we discussed.”

  “So that’s it?” Dr. Dorn asked. “No meeting to try to fix this problem? Just toss me out like garbage?”

  The attorney replied, “You are terminated as of this point, your partners have voted you out of the corporation and you will be paid for your services up to this date. They have included two weeks’ severance as well.”

  “Two weeks? Jesus John, I’ve worked here for sixteen years,” Dr. Dorn said.

  “And in those sixteen years you’ve made a lot of money.”

  “I’ll sue you fuckers if that’s all you're offering.”

  The attorney stated, “According to your corporate agreement, they don’t have to pay you anything beyond what you earned. The two weeks’ pay is an act of kindness.”

  “Tossing me out on the street isn’t an act of kindness, its bullshit and you know it. In six months nobody would remember what happened and the clinic would be fine. You’re scared and acting like idiots. Just let it go.”

  “No Brent,” Dr. Newman said. “The mistake was the straw that broke the camel’s back. We had been considering removing you for some time.”

  “For what?” Dr. Dorn asked. He was pissed.

  “Your conduct was below what we consider professional. We had many complaints from patients who said you were rude. Some said downright mean. They said you were sexist, condescending and short with them.”

  “I tell it like it is, I’m not a pussy doctor like you that lets your patients run you around.”

  “Pussy?”

  “I’ve seen you give antibiotics to people who don’t need them just to shut them up. I’ve seen family members tell you how to treat their parents, I’ve seen you kiss so much ass it’s embarrassing. I never let anyone push me around. If someone comes in with a cold, they don’t leave with 500mg of Levaquin, they leave with a lecture on how antibiotics don’t work on viruses.”

  “Most doctors give antibiotics for colds,” Dr. Newman said. He was starting to shake.

  “And most of them are wrong, but do you see them getting fired for doing their jobs?”

  “You’re being fired for not checking an INR and not changing a Coumadin dose. Because of that, the patient bled out so much they had to be hospitalized in the ICU.”

  “That was the nurse’s fault, they didn’t get the lab.”

  “You didn’t order it.”

  “How am I supposed to keep track of every fucking lab draw?”

  “You’re supposed to order it, we all have to do this,” Dr. Newman stated.

  Dr. Dorn shook his head, he knew he wasn’t going to win or keep his job. “Do you know how hard it will be for me to get new patients? This is a death sentence for me. I’ll have to get a job waiting tables after this.”

  “Sorry Brent, you did it to yourself.”

  Dr. Dorn swallowed hard and tapped his fingers on the conference room table looking at the ceiling. “So now what?”

  The attorney slid a sheet of paper across the long table. “We need you to sign at the bottom of the sheet and initial each section.”

  Dr. Dorn pulled the sheet in close and read it. It was very official looking and read like a legal document. “No, I won’t sign, if you’re kicking me out, I want more than two weeks’ severance. I’ll take you to court and that will cost you way more than that. If you want me gone, I want ten thousand.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” the attorney said.

  “You’ll pay more than ten grand fighting me, give in and pay me.”

  Dr. Newman signaled to the attorney that he wanted to speak in private. Leaning in, he whispered in the attorney’s ear. Once the conversation was done, the attorney addressed Dr. Dorn. “Would you mind stepping out for a while, Dr. Newman has requested a private meeting with the rest of the board.”

  “I’m still on the board, I haven’t signed anything,” Dr. Dorn said.

  “Please, if you don’t step out, we will. It will make things run smoother if you do as we ask.”

  “Fine,” Dr. Dorn said. Frustrated, Dr. Dorn got up and left the room. On his way he had an idea, left the building and walked to his car. At his car, he popped open the trunk and fished out the rifle he kept next to his shotgun and spare tire. This was going to go his way or no way.

  Two hours later Dr. Dorn got a call on his cell from the University Hospital. He was the surgeon on call and was needed for an emergency operation to save the life of a man who had been shot in the chest with a rifle. Three other men didn’t survive the attack at the clinic he worked at but one was still hanging on for life and now Dr. Dorn was charged to save him.

  At the hospital, Dr. Dorn learned that the surviving man was Dr. Newman, who had received three shots to his upper torso, and one that had nicked his descending aorta filling his chest cavity with blood. Once the x rays were examined, and the doctor was scrubbed in, he took his place at the operating table. Laying on his back, draped, tubed and ready to go, was Dr. Newman who was getting closer and closer to his death.

  “Scalpel,” Dr. Dorn said aloud and the OR nurse handed him a scalpel. With one continuous cut, Dr. Dorn split the skin and tissue along Dr. Newman’s sternum to the bone. “Saw,�
�� Dr. Dorn said and he was handed a bone saw. With a sharp buzzing sound the saw cut the sternum splitting it in two allowing the doctor access to the chest. “Retractor,” Dr. Dorn stated and the nurse handed him the rib splitter. Once in place, Dr. Dorn turned the crank and opened the chest revealing a large pool of blood that had filled the chest cavity. “Suction,” the doctor said and the nurse put the tip of the catheter in the pool of blood and sucked the cavity as dry as she could.

  “Blood pressure 70/50 and dropping,” a nurse said.

  “Hang Lactated Ringers, run wide open,” Dr. Dorn said. “And another unit of whole blood.”

  The nurse adjusted the rate on the I.V. and then called the lab for a unit of whole blood to be delivered stat.

  Then the doctor stopped what he was doing and leaned back as if he was confused or thinking about something. He looked over to the anesthesiologist and shook his head.

  “Something wrong?” the anesthesiologist asked.

  “No,” Dr. Dorn said as he returned to his patient. “Kelly clamp,” the doctor said and the nurse handed him a clamp. Quickly, Dr. Dorn cut open the pericardium and clamped off one of the four main large vessels connected to the heart. Immediately a warning buzzer sounded alerting the staff to an emergency. “Kelly clamp,” the doctor said and the nurse handed him another. Once again he clamped off a vessel. He continued this until all four large vessels were occluded.

  “What are you doing?” one of the nurses asked. She had never seen a doctor do this before.

  “Scalpel,” Dr. Dorn said.

  The nurse handed the doctor another scalpel and watched as he cut the four vessels, pulled the heart out of the chest and threw it against the wall. It fell to the floor with a wet plop sound.

  In shock, the nurse screamed as Dr. Dorn pulled off his surgical mask and tossed it on the floor heading back to the scrub room.

  The nurse didn’t know what to do so she ran to the phone and called a code. It was too late and emergency measures wouldn’t do anything at this point but she followed her training anyway. As she walked back to the operating table, she leaned down and picked up the heart and dropped it in a sterile bucket. The monitor showed asystole.

  “Somebody call the police!” one of the other nurses yelled.

  Dr. Dorn left the hospital and drove away leaving Dr. Newman dead on the table. He was sure he had killed him back at the meeting but now he was positive. It would only be a matter of time before the law caught up with him, so the doctor decided to go for a nice ride until they did. How about seeing the countryside? The doctor thought to himself. Once he was away from the hospital, he drove down the highway leaving town to head towards the lake. The same lake he and his partners held their annual 4th of July party.

  On the radio played some country song that took his mind away from his stressful day as he waited for the lights and sirens to come up from behind him anytime. It took longer than he thought, but eventually he saw the flashing lights of the deputy’s car and heard the sirens. He might be fucked, but at least he managed to take down the rest of the assholes with him. That alone put a smile on his face as he recalled throwing Dr. Newman’s heart across the room.

  Up in the distance, the entrance to the lake came into view. Dr. Dorn slowed down and pulled into the drive that led to the camping area with the patrol car a few feet behind him. He didn’t try to run, he just drove slowly looking at the nice trees and grass and he moved closer to the lake. He was planning on giving himself up, but he wanted to do it on his time, not on the law’s side. Once he drove to the parking area by the lake, he stopped his car, and rolled down the window anticipating the sheriff, or whoever was working today.

  As he looked in his rearview mirror, he watched a deputy step out of the car with his gun drawn. The deputy looked grey and dead, like the sheriff, he too was a zombie, the only other zombie on the force and lead deputy.

  “Out of the car!” the deputy yelled. “Hands where I can see them!”

  Dr. Dorn opened the door and stepped out facing the deputy. He wondered how this officer could function as a dead man. As a surgeon it made no sense, but here he was face to face with a zombie with a gun and a badge.