Unexpected

Part 1: Resonating

Begging has become their new form of communication- for him at least.

Bzzzzz...

Bzzzzzz...

Phone buzzing on the nightstand, Max goes to it and picks the damn annoying device up.

"Hello?"

"Max! I need you!" Helen cries in panic over his phone.

"What's going? Helen? Is everything alright?!" He asks worriedly and in the background he hears gunshots going off and people screaming. "Where are you?! Helen?! Where are you?!"

"....Dam! The Dam...." She cuts in and out and panic sets in him.

"I'm coming! Get somewhere safe! I'm coming to get you!" A few more shots fire through his speaker and then the phone disconnects. Grabbing Luna, who begins to fuss- he forces her into her jacket and takes off out of his bedroom, just barely jumping into his sneakers and grabbing his keys on the way out his door.

Feet pounding against the pavement and cold air stinging his lungs in the early morning mist- Max pushes through the crowded streets as the fog rolls in from the harbor. Getting to the corner, he steps in front of a cab, forcing it to stop.

"Are you crazy?!" The drive yells out his window.

"I need you to take me to New Amsterdam! Now! It's an emergency!" The driver doesn't question Max's frantic attitude. He steps on the gas and is off into the traffic. Redialing his phone, he waits and waits and waits for Helen to pick up again, but she doesn't. She doesn't pick up and that worries Max terribly.

"$15.50." The cabby says as he stops the car. Max throws a twenty through the window and rushes from the car with Luna. "Change!"

"Keep it!!"

Cop cars litter the entrance walkway. Lights blazing red and blue and a crowd of people surrounding the barricade the police have set up.

"Buddy! You can't go in there!" A cop says and Max shows him his badge.

"This is my hospital. I'm the medical director." He commandingly says and the cop let's go of Max's arm. Going in through the doors, Max immediately assesses the situation. The lobby is vacant and there is no sound. It is eerily quiet.

It sends chills down his back.

Walking through administration, Max makes his way to his office and finds it locked. Taking out his key, he opens it up and finds a nurse hunkered in the corner.

"Marie, what's going on?!" He closes the door and goes to her, setting the child on the floor near her.

"A black college student was shot by a cop. He died upon arrival. There was news of it on the tv and when three officers came in to check on the boy- five black men with guns showed up and started shooting."

"And now?"

"Last I heard, two of the five men were shot and there's a wounded police officer."

"Any casualties on our end?"

"The three remaining civilians took a few of our doctors hostage." A put drops in his stomach and Max goes to leave. "They're in the ED."