The Class 6 shrieked again as it was sucked into the ghost trap in a bright light. Once it had closed again, Ray held it up triumphantly.
"We got it!!" the cheery engineer exclaimed.
"Yeah, after using me as bait!!" Peter yelled annoyed as he was once again covered in blue ectoplasm.
"Not his fault the ghost seemed to like you more than us." Winston replied before turning to Janine, "Nice job Janine."
"Thanks Winston." the fiery receptionist replied as she removed some slime from her fiery red hair. "But I think I'm done with field work for awhile."
"Well, that'll depend on when Egon gets better and if we get anymore calls like this." Ray said as they walked down to the first floor. Once there, the manager paid them, and the four headed back to the firehall, unaware of what happened.
"I'd better see an extra zero on paycheck this month Peter." said Janine as she glared at the eccentric psychologist.
"Patience Janine, patience." Peter replied teasingly.
"She's got a point Peter, she did help us out with this one." Winston added from the driver's seat.
"Et tu, Winston?" Peter said dramatically.
"Sorry Pete." the Marine shrugged, "I just hope Egon's doing ok."
"Yeah, me too." Ray replied.
About 15 minutes later, Ecto-1 pulled into the firehall. The four got out of the car only to find everything was a mess.
"What the hell happened here?!" Peter exclaimed.
"Did ghosts get in here somehow?" Janine asked worriedly as she raced over to her desk.
"I'm not picking up anything, so I doubt it." Ray replied scanning the air with his PKE meter.
"It looks like we've been robbed. I mean, everything's been ransacked." Winston said as he picked up various objects.
"But how did they get in?" Janine asked, "We locked all the doors, and there are no accessible windows on the first floor."
"Hey, guys!" Peter exclaimed, "This door looks like it was forced open!"
"Oh, God, I hope Egon's ok." Ray said just remembering their sick colleague.
"Yeah, Janine, go upstairs and check on him." Winston said, "Peter, Ray, and I will check the containment unit."
Janine raced upstairs to check on the sick physicist while Peter, Ray, and Winston quickly went down to the basement. The large red containment unit was quietly humming like normal and had no signs of damage. Neither did anything else. Thankfully, the robbers hadn't gone done there, so nothing was taken or touched.
"Thank God the containment unit's still in one piece." Winston said relieved.
"Although even if a robber came down here, they wouldn't be able to access the unit thanks to our trusty biometric security systems in place." Ray replied.
"True."
"C'mon, let's go call the police and tell them what happened." said Peter.
"GUYS!!!!" Janine yelled. She burst through the basement door, her face pale and her eyes wide with terror.
"What's wrong Janine?" Winston asked.
"It's Egon! He's been shot!!" Janine said panicky.
"WHAT??!!" Peter yelled, his eyes growing to the size of saucers.
"Oh God!" Ray exclaimed.
The four quickly ran upstairs into the lab. Egon was lying on the floor, unconscious, and bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen.
"Oh God Egon!" Peter exclaimed.
Winston quickly rushed to Egon's side and put his fingers on the side of his neck. "Thready pulse." he said, "Gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen. And this one looks dangerously close to his heart. And man, he's burning up. Call 911. NOW!"
Janine quickly rushed downstairs to the phone on her desk and quickly dialed 911. While she did that, Peter, Ray and Winston continued focusing on Egon. He was pale, despite the fact he was burning up, he was bleeding from the gunshot wounds, and he was having difficulty breathing.
"Hold on Spengs!!" Peter said, "You'll be fine. Please stay with us."
"Police and paramedics are on their way." Janine said as she rushed upstairs. "How's he doing?"
"He's burning up. And his heart rate is too fast, and it sounds like he's having trouble breathing." Peter replied as he pressed his hands against the bleeding bullet wounds.
The sirens became louder as they reached the firehall. Winston rushed downstairs to let the paramedics come in. A few minutes later, Winston, along with duo of paramedics quickly rushed upstairs. The woman rushed to Egon's side and placed her fingers on the side of his neck.
"How'd this happen and who did this?" she asked.
"We don't know." Janine replied, "We were out on a call. He had the flu."
"That's why he's burning up." the male paramedic said as he took Egon's temperature, "His temperature's at 104. He's dehydrated too. And his heart rate's too fast."
The duo wrapped Egon's wounds in bandages and got him on a gurney and loaded him into the ambulance. The police had arrived as well. The three Ghostbusters and Janine quickly told the police that they were out on a call, and they didn't know what happened and they said they found Egon lying on the floor upstairs and that the robbers had most likely forced their way in through a back door. But the bad news was the police had to tell Walter Peck what happened as was standard procedure.
"Oh great" Peter muttered under his breath, "Peck's going to lecture us again.
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After an hour, Peter, Ray, Winston, and Janine were on their way to the hospital. They were all scared, worried that Egon might not survive considering he was already seriously ill.
"I hope he'll be ok." Janine said.
"He will be," Peter replied putting a hand on her shoulder, "He's stronger than most people think."
"Yeah, his stubbornness knows no bounds." Ray quipped.
The quartet pulled into the parking lot, and went inside the hospital. According to the nurses, Egon was up in emergency surgery, so it'd be awhile. After almost three hours, a doctor came up to the Ghostbusters to give them an update on Egon.
"Hello, are you the Ghostbusters?" the doctor asked, "I'm Dr. Ava Ryan. Are you associated with Dr. Egon Spengler?"
"Yes and yes." Peter said, "How is he?"
"Stable." Dr. Ryan replied, " He had multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen. There were several bullets stuck in his body, so we were able to remove them. Two bullets penetrated both his lungs. making it difficult to breathe. One bullet was shot dangerously close to his heart. The bullet barely missed going through, actually grazing the the side of it. But other than that, he's responding well to treatment and should be ok. We were able to get his temperature down and has been given an anti-nausea drug as the sedatives can sometimes be upsetting to the stomach."
The Ghostbusters sighed with relief.
"Can we visit him?" Winston asked.
"Of course." Dr. Ryan replied, "The anesthesia should be wearing off by now. Follow me."
The Ghostbusters and Janine followed Dr. Ryan as she led them to the room where Egon had been admitted. "He's still weak, so don't pressure him too much. I'll leave you alone for now."
The four then walked in. Egon was lying in the bed looking calm. His chest and abdomen were wrapped in white bandages and an I.V. tube ran into his arm. A nasal canula helped him to breathe while his lungs healed. A cardiac monitor was showing that his heart was beating in a strong rhythm. His glasses were folded and sitting on a small table.
"Hey Egon, can you hear us?" asked Janine.
"C'mon Spengs, wake up. You'll be fine." Peter said.
Hearing their voices and wanting to see them again, Egon instinctively moved his hand trying to get back to them.
"Hey, I think he's waking up. Or he can hear us at least." Ray said.
"C'mon Egon, we're here for you. Can you wake up for us?" asked Winston.
Egon then slowly opened his eyes. His eyes were a little glassy and glazed over, but there was no distance stare or lifelessness in them.
"....Guys...?" Egon asked in a low voice.
"Yeah, we're hear." Janine said, "Glad you're still with us."
"Me too." Egon said sighing in relief.
"Do you remember anything?" Peter asked.
Egon closed his eyes as he tried to clear his head, "A little. I heard voices, and I knew right away they weren't yours. I immediately knew there were robbers but I kept quiet for a minute. Then I heard them come upstairs and go into the lab. So I then got out of bed, quietly walked down the hall and confronted them. Then one of them pulled out a gun and shot at me. I then fell on the ground and that's the last thing I remember.
"Ok, did you get a good look at them?" Ray asked.
"Not really, but a little." Egon replied. His eyes were fluttering wildly as he tried to fight off more sleep.
"Go back to sleep. We'll still be here when you wake up." Winston said.
"Thanks guys." Egon said. He then fell asleep and his body relaxed.
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A week later, Egon was out of the hospital and back at the firehall. The police found fingerprints at the scene and they caught the robbers. Turned out they were Loren and Roger Spinor, two well known robbers, and the stuff they took from the firehall was found too. The two were found guilty of assault, burglary, along with a few other crimes, and were sentenced to at least 15 years in prison.
Meanwhile Egon was recovering well, and resting. His case of the flu was better and was not throwing stuff up anymore. His cough and fever weren't so bad anymore. But it was still a little hard for him to sleep at night due to soreness and some lingering head congestion. He took a pain medication and Janine's brewed teas helped as well.
"You ok?" Ray asked as he walked into the bedroom one morning.
"Yeah." Egon replied.
"Still can't sleep?" Peter asked as he walked in.
"I was able to fall asleep for about two and a half hours." said Egon sitting up in his bed.
"Good, at least you were able to get a little sleep." said Ray.
"At least those bastards are now in jail." Winston said he walked in. "We got a call, but Janine's staying here to keep guard."
"Ok." Egon replied. Peter, Ray, and Winston then exited the bedroom and slid down the pole. A few minutes later, Janine came upstairs to check on the physicist(and her not-so-secret(except Egon himself) crush).
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Janine asked as she sat down at the foot of his bed.
"Better but still not great." Egon sighed as he leaned back against his pillow.
"Well, you do sound a bit better." Janine remarked as she stood up again, "I'll bring you some tea in about an hour."
"Ok." Egon replied. Before Janine walked out again, Egon called out to her.
"Janine?"
"Yeah?"
"I...just wanted to say thank you for everything you've done in the past couple of weeks." the scientist replied.
"You're welcome Egon." Janine replied brightly.
"Remind me to add a couple of zeroes to your paycheck this month. Peter won't notice." Egon said smiling.
Janine's eyes widened with a bit of shock and mischief. "I would like that very much. I'll be sure to remind you." She then walked back downstairs.
Egon decided to go back to sleep. He smiled, thinking how lucky he was that he had such good friends looking out for him. Within seconds, the usual night-owl was sleeping like the dead.
The End