Chapter 6: O Negative

Lottie's fever kept climbing, and by nine o'clock she did not know me.

She lay under the white lights with her cheeks burning and her eyes half open.

"Daddy," she said. "Daddy, get me."

I held her good hand and said, "I'm here, baby. I'm right here."

She turned her head away from me and said it again.

It was the worst thing I had ever heard.

Terrence stood over her with two nurses and a clipboard, and he talked fast and low.

"Cultures are running. Start the broad-spectrum antibiotics now. Hang the second bag of fluids. Her count is dropping."

A nurse looked up from the screen.

"She needs red cells, Doctor. The blood bank has no O negative on the shelf."

"A truck is coming from the regional center in three hours."

"Three hours is too long."

"I can try the other hospitals."

"Try them. And page the donor line."

I stared at him.

"What does that mean? What does she need?"

"She needs blood, Hannah. Her type is O negative. It's rare, and tonight we've run out."

"I'll give it. Take mine."

"Your type is A," he said. "It won't work."

The glass door banged open.

Sawyer came in, in jeans and a gray sweatshirt, with a security guard at his elbow trying to catch up.

"I'm her father. I heard she needs blood. Take it from me."

"Sir, you were told to stay out of this unit," the guard said.

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