Chapter 327 - Noah's Speech (Unedited)
Chapter 327 – Noah’s Speech (Unedited)
"It is not a case of food poisoning but someone has actually poisoned the food served in the event." Aria declared, her frown not leaving the face. Her answer made both Ronnie and Noah to stare at each other in shock before they looked at Aria. If what she said was correct, it meant that all the four hundred people whoever ate the food was poisoned. This was a serious situation now and they could not help but shake their head in fear. Although they had dealt with death before and had killed people themselves, they had never seen anything this heinous and barbaric. Who would dare to poison these many people at one go?
"My deductions may be wrong too. We will have to perform a test to get the actual truth." Aria added but suddenly she gasped loudly when the man she was looking at started to convulse heavily. His body started to twitch and foam started to drip down his mouth. Now was sure that he was poison. 'My God, the man is actually poisoned." Aria said with worry and the next second, she called for the ward boys who were nearby to assist the man to the emergency ward.
Noah and Ronnie could not help her in any way other than giving her moral support. They knew nothing about medicine nor did have knowledge on how to remove poison from a human body. They could only stand and watch at the sides while Aria rushed with the patient to the ward. Ian was nowhere to be seen and they knew where might be. He too must be attending to patients seeing the commotion at the reception.
However, they saw Ian coming from somewhere near the reception. He looked stressed and his face was filled with fatigue. Just like Aria, he too was frowning, his eyes completely serious no trace of warmth in them. He noticed the two men standing at the sides and went to them immediately. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Aria." That was all Noah said and Ian understood him immediately. "How is the situation?"
"Grave. Can you do me a favor?"
"Go ahead."
"Can you send some of our men? We need them to maintain order and peace here. I don't think the staff here will be sufficient." Ian said rubbing his forehead. He could foresee the upcoming headache and just the thought of it was making him miserable. All he could do was sigh in his place.
"Sure," Noah replied and sent a text on his phone before nodded his head at Ian. "Done."
"Thanks."
"By the way, Aria was telling me that this was a case of poisoning the food. Is it true?"
"It seems like it. I have sent it for tests. We will have to wait and see. I am sorry, I need to go now. Are you guys staying here or will you be leaving?"
"We thought of staying here in case you guys needed something," Noah replied almost instantly. He looked determined and even if Ian had asked him to leave the hospital premises, he would not have budged from his place. And he knew Ian would not do anything like that. So, he answered honestly.
"Good. I think I would need your help. You guys come with me." Ian gestured to them and the two men followed behind without any questions although they did not know what Ian wanted of them.
Meanwhile, Aria was tending to the man who was now severely twitching. She tried to stop his movements, but the man only became violent. She could not even induce any sedative in his body as she did not even know what he had consumed. There were chances of the sedative reacting with the poison and this could only make it worse. She had no idea how to deal with the situation and induced the highly used antidote for poison, atropine. She could only hope that there would be no side effects and the man would calm down at least a little.
Fortunately, the antidote showed its effect and the man stopped moving. The man calmed down and the foaming stopped. Aria sighed in relief and even the nurses who were with her thanked the gods. One of the nurses cleaned the man's face and removed the foam while Aria checked his pulse again. He seemed to be fine for now, but he was still critical and his life was still in danger.
She could only monitor his situation for now as Aria was yet to receive the reports. She could not decide the treatment until she found out what caused the poisoning. She left the man in one of the nurses care and went to help the other patients. She would be informed about the poison once the results came out. Until then, she could do nothing.
Meanwhile, outside the hospital, a huge mob was still creating a ruckus and it became highly difficult to control them. Everybody wanted to get inside as their kin was serious and wanted to find out how the situation was. Not only them, even the reporters were pushing and pulling trying to find out what exactly was happening. There was utter chaos everywhere and it seemed that the people were getting agitated slowly. If this continued, there were chances of them barging inside and wreaking havoc in the hospital.
Thankfully, Noah's men arrived on time and they controlled the situation. Noah had called a lot of men for help and they formed a barrier, not allowing anybody unauthorized to enter the hospital. Although they could not control the people fully, they at least stopped them from barging inside. However, this act of the guards riled up the people even more and they started to throw sticks and stones at the hospital.
Noah had had it enough. Although it was Ian's hospital and he was in charge of everything, the man was quite busy now and he could not address this issue. Nor there was anybody from the management who was willing to step forward and coax the angry mob. So, he took it upon himself set things rights. He could not allow the brainless people to hurt his men when they clearly innocent and were just following his orders.
Noah stepped forward and stood at the entrance, his eyes wandering everywhere taking in the condition around him. He saw the people pushing his men as they tried to get in and one of them even bit his guard in anger. he could not control any longer. "Enough." His voice boomed loud and clear even in this chaotic place. Although the men at the back could not hear him, the people at the front heard him clearly and they stopped their actions for a second, trying to see who this man was and what he was even doing.
When Noah noticed that he had got at least a few people's attention, he continued with his speech. "What do you think you guys are doing? Is this the way to behave in a public place, causing riots and commotion like hooligans, especially in front of a hospital? Don't you have basic common sense that people here might get affected by all the noise and disturbance and for what reasons are you guys even here?" Noah reprimanded the people, his expression grave and cold. By now, a lot more people had noticed his presence and were listening to him.
One of the men who was standing quite close to Noah could not stop himself and spoke up. "Our families are in there. Who do you think you are to stop us from seeing our family members?" He scolded him, his eyes glaring at him as though he was the culprit who poisoned everyone.
"I know somebody related must be inside and that is the reason you are even here," Noah replied, not bothering about the man's rebuke and mockery. "But do you think that the hospital can house all the people here? Look around you and see how many are present here. There are hundreds or even thousands of them waiting to get inside and do you think that the hospital can house all of you? Just think about it and give me an honest answer."
"Then, what do you think we must do?" The same man questioned again. It seemed as though the man had been elected as everybody's representative as he was the only one daring enough to converse with Noah. As soon as Noah had started speaking, a lot of them had already recognized him and were now scared to open their mouths before him. To them, he was a deity they could never touch or even see, let alone speak.
"Why don't you guys form a line? We will take your names and the person who you are looking for and once we confirm that the person is indeed in this hospital, you can go in." Noah suggested. "There are chances that the family member you are looking for might not even be in this hospital. So, this is the best possibility we could come up with."
Noah's suggestion seemed fair to everyone. It was only right to allow the hospital and its staff to do their work in peace and not create a ruckus in front of them. So, they formed a line and one of Noah's guards started to gather their information.
Meanwhile, Ian and Aria were completely oblivious to the situation outside. They were more worried about the poison and were waiting for the results anxiously. As soon as the pathologist arrived with the report, Ian and Aria rushed to him.
"What does it say, doctor?" Ian started.
"I believe I have some bad news. The victims have inhaled the highly poisonous chemical, Sarin." That was all the doctor said but Ian and Aria knew what it meant. Now, not only the people who had consumed the chemical were in danger, even the hospital staff's lives were in danger too, and that included even Ian and Aria, as well as Noah and Ronnie.