For several seconds, he simply stared at her.
Then he started growling again.
Stronger.
He scratched the wall.
Once.
Twice.
And again.
“Rex, enough,” Daniel ordered.
The dog ignored it.
His barking became frenzied.
“He’s reacting to something,” Daniel said.
Then the lights flashed.
Once.
Twice.
The heart monitor flashed briefly.
A faint crackling sound came from behind the wall.
And then I smelled it.
Burnt plastic.
Emily’s expression changed instantly.
“Depart from Lucas from that wall.”
Before we could move it, the door slammed open.
The Dr. Collins was there, furious.
“What is that animal doing in my ICU?”
But before anyone could answer…
PUM!
A loud electric sound exploded behind the wall.
The lights went out for half a second.
Lucas’s monitor began to beep frantically.
Rex barked so violently that Daniel had to hold him by the necklace.
The Dr. Collins immediately forgot about the dog.
“Call for maintenance. Now.”
Within minutes, the technicians arrived.
They cut off the electricity from the room and moved Lucas to another intensive care area.
I kept them terrified.
Several workers opened the wall that Rex had been scratching.
One of them suddenly backed down.
“My God.”
Behind the coating, a section of the electrical wiring had become severely overheated. Some of the protective coating had partially melted around the wires supplying electricity to the equipment of that section of the ICU.
But the technicians soon discovered something even more worrying.
The damaged electrical system had been causing intermittent instability in voltage.
One of the devices connected near Lucas’ bed — a pump that delivered liquids and nutritional support — had recorded irregular operation at various times during the previous days.
The Dr. Collins completely paled.
“Check the bomb.”
They did.
Then they checked the intravenous bags that Rex had sniffed.
That’s when everything got much worse.
Two sealed bags came from the same batch recently delivered.
Hospital staff sent samples for an urgent analysis after noticing unusual turbidity in one of them.
Hours later, preliminary results revealed contamination.
A manufacturing or storage failure had compromised several units of the shipment.
Lucas had been getting one of them.
Suddenly, the mystery surrounding his deterioration ceased to seem like a mystery.
His doctors immediately discontinued the nutritional solution, replaced the pump, adjusted his treatment and began a therapy to treat possible contamination.
I stayed by his side all night.
For the first three hours, nothing happened.
So, shortly before dawn, Emily leaned toward the monitor.
“Sarah.”
I was afraid to look.
“Their values are improving.”
I stared at the screen.
His oxygen level had increased.
His heart rate was more stable.
An hour later, Lucas moved his fingers.
Then he opened his eyes.
Solo un poco.
Comencé a llorar tan fuerte que apenas podía respirar.
“Lucas?”
His tiny hand squeezed my finger.
The Dr. Collins remained silent behind me.
Finally he said:
