The moment I entered the room, i heard siren sounds, and the door behind me locked automatically. The room was dark with no additional sounds from humans like talking and whatnot. All I could hear was the deafening siren wails. I looked around to analyze the situation, with such sounds, I think the examiners were alerting me that it was an emergency situation. This was a stimulation, which meant that things had just gotten practical!
Looking around under the dim light, I saw a hand that was raised. From here, I could see that the person was lying on the ground and not moving an inch. I also noted that the person was wearing the military uniform. Was he hurt? I rushed over to him, calling him out.
" Sir, Sir, are you alright?" I asked
" Sir, Sir, can you hear me?" I asked again as I got to him, but he still did not respond. I found that strange, but I decided to check him for any life-threatening wounds.
" Sir, if you can hear me. I will need to check your body for any wounds, okay?" I said as I opened his uniform carefully.
He did not have any. Before I could feel distraught about the situation, I saw that his eyes were bloodshot, and his forehead had beads of sweating. What was going on? He still would not talk to me, and I did know if I could figure this out without asking him questions!
Feeling his pulse, I felt that it was very fast!
" About a 120 beats per minute." I muttered. As I moved my hand, I accidentally knocked on something. I frowned, " What's this?" I muttered.
It was a small black device and it was flashing a red light. I turned it around and I saw it immediately. In red, it was beeping " CO"
" Carbon monoxide?" I mumbled. Is that the test they were giving me? I immediately looked around the room and found a safety set. I took out a set of gloves and a mask from it, and I thought about my next course of action. Right now, that man was stuck in an environment filled with the toxin , so for my first step, I needed to move him away from the environment.
I rushed back to the soldier and looked for something to lift him and move him away, but there was none. I'm in the room, i was given the safety kit, the first aid kit, and some herbs on a table. There was nothing I could use to lift the soldier and escort him out of the room.
This meant that my first plan failed. Pacing around, I could hear the clock tick through every second.
" Five minutes left." I heard Ms Hilda's voice. Looking up, I saw her standing close to a window looking down at me. Next to her were a few other people. The only ones I could recognize were Ryan and his right-hand man, Tom.
Ryan was frowning the entire time. It was the first time he had shown such emotion in public. I stared at him for a while, lost in thought, because I was trying to figure out if he was unhappy that o wasn't doing we or if he was frowning because he thought I was disgracing him?
" 4 minutes left." Ms Hilda announced with a smile, and I immediately snapped out it. Looking back at the soldier, I needed a new plan.
" That's it!" I exclaimed to myself.
I had to find the source. That was the only way, I was running out time and the man lying there was probably very heavy and if I were in enemy territory moving a heavy man would mean that I would be preoccupied with him and it would leave me open for any attacks from the enemies. So the only thing remaining was to kill off the source of the carbon monoxide.
" Now, if it were to be a battlefield. Where would the enemy hide the carbon monoxide as an ambush?" I mumbled, holding my chin.
I walked around the soldier. Then I saw something, if you were caught in a surprise gas attack, the first thing you would do would be to retreat and move away from the source. So, observing the solider's environment, I saw trail marks on the ground. I carefully followed them, and I was right. The air was getting thicker and thicker, to the point that I couldn't breathe.
Coughing I moved away from that area.
" 2 minutes left." Ms Hilda announced again, I looked up again and saw Ryan, his expression unchanged, looking down at me. That's when I got my resolve! Was he frowning? Why? Was I shaming him as the grand Duke and general of the army?
" Just stand there and watch." I muttered. I went back to the safety kit and took three more sets of masks, and wore one after the other. I looked and even found a face shield, which also wore over my face and walked back.
The air git thicker again, and I could feel the carbon monoxide entering my system, but I'd didn't stop. I walked straight through. I found a tiny bottle on the ground oozing a lot of gas, I took it and my first reaction was to put it in one of them bags I got from my safety kit, as long as the was no gas leaking.
Coughing and struggling to breathe, I rushed back to the table. My heels were getting in the way, so I took them off and ran barefoot. I got there and emptied one of the bags and placed the small bottle inside.
The air began to become less denser. Though i was also affected by the poison, I couldn't relax. I immediately took a plant that looked like the ginkgo . I crushed a small bit of it and went to the soldier.
" Mister, are you better? Can you hear me? please take some of this herb, it will help." I said, but he didn't respond
" 50 seconds left." Ms Hilda announced, I swear she was enjoying this a bit too much.
Thinking that I had no other choice, the patient was, after all, in real danger. I even felt sorry that the soldier would volunteer to this kind of torture. Why would he agree to be poisoned with CO? What if the applicant failed to realize that his symptoms were due to poisoning? would he die? Just like that? No way!
Determined, I ate some of the herb, ready to give it to the soldier using my mouth as a feeding tube. I leaned in and got closer to the soldier's face.
" That's enough. Time's up." This time, this announcement was not made by Ms Hilda but rather by Ryan.