B.P. 80 and dropping.
Saw.
B.P. 75.
Spreader.
We should wait for the senior resident.
He's bleedin' now. We don't have time.
Have you ever done this before?
Only on a cadaver in anatomy class.
B.P. 70!
Not to worry. Palpate spine...
now the aorta.
- B.P. 65! - Come on.
- Something wrong? - I can't find the aorta.
B.P. 60!
If you're gonna do it, Doctor, do it.
- Come on. - B.P. 55.
All right, got it. Aortic clamp.
B.P. 50!
B.P. 60...
70...
80...
90...
105.
Way to pop your cherry, Dr. Ferguson.
Only your second day on the job.
Our congratulations to Dr. Jay Ferguson...
who has just saved his first life.
But tonight he will meet a patient...
who will challenge all his assumptions...
about living and dying...
in the Twilight Zone.
Your husband's gonna be fine.
- Oh, thank you so much. - You're welcome.
God bless you.
Excuse me.
What do we got?
Attempted suicide, found hanging in an abandoned warehouse.
- Vitals? - Heart rate 20.
Blood pressure 60 over 30. Respiration 12.
Looks like you got him down just in time.
I don't know about that. This transient we talked to...
said the guy had been hangin' there over 20 hours.
Bums and their rum.
One, two, three...
- He's ice cold. - Thermal blankets! Any I.D.?
No I.D. Just this.
It's empty.
He's comin' around.
Sir, do you know your name? Sir?
I'm... death.
Can you say that again, please, sir?
I'm... death.
You're traveling to another dimension...
a dimension not only of sight and sound...
but of mind...
a journey into a wondrous land...
whose boundaries are only that of the imagination.
You're entering...
No, I didn't ask him why he hung himself.
You're the shrink. You ask him. That's 6 hours from now.
What am I supposed to do with him until then?
Preliminary evaluations, right.
39 hours, and counting.
Better keep chuggin' that coffee.
Some residents work 50, 60 hours... and counting.
Fifth floor. Head nurse.
You're the wind beneath my wings, Linda.
Hello. I'm Dr. Jay Ferguson.
Look, Doc, you don't have to worry about me.
I'm not gonna do it again.
That's good to hear, but still, hospital...
I mean, I would if I could...
but hangin' up there for 22 hours...
pretty much answered that question.
- That's a long time. - Not to me.
But I should've known I was wastin' my time.
I'm not even alive.
Now, what makes you think you're not alive...
Mr., uh... what?
I already told you... Death.
You don't like that one? I answer to plenty of others.
Anubis, Thanatos, Yeng Wang...
the Big Sleep. Take your pick.
You ever try anything like this before?
Uh-uh. But I thought about it.
A lot.
Sounds like depression.
You figured that out all by yourself?
What are you, a specialist?
So, when did you start feeling this way?
I don't know.
I guess somewhere in the mid-1300s.
All right, look, I'm really tryin' to help...
but you gotta work with me here.
Mr. Bedside manner...
remember, you asked me a question? I'm answering it.
The mid-1300s. The Black Plague.
Took out 1/3 of Europe.
Went a little light on France.
If that's not enough to get you depressed...
I don't know what is.
Let me get this straight.
You tried to commit suicide...
because you feel responsible for the Black Plague?
No, not the Black...
Don't you get it? Death isn't just my name...
it's what I do.
It's what I've been doing day in and day out...
since the beginning of time.
Well, I guess that's enough to make anyone depressed.
I've had it. I can't take it anymore.
I quit.
Really? So no one's gonna die anymore?
Yeah. You got it.
Might put you out of a job.
So, if you quit, why try to commit suicide?
Because they're just not gonna let me quit, are they?
They?
They, they... the celestial choir.
The harmonies of the universe.
The ancient gods, the fates...
Whatever you want to call them.
- I have to take this. - Oh, go ahead.
- You can't help me, anyway. - I wouldn't say that.
We have a very good psychiatric department here.
You guys... you never give up on a patient, do you?
I always liked that about this hospital.
You've been here before?
Plenty of times.
Why don't you give me your real name...
so I can look up your records?
You're very funny.
I remember the first soul I ever collected from this place.
God.
Bill Breem. Little Billy Breem.
March 9, 1968.
Don't believe me, Jay.
Look it up.
- You rang? - Yeah.
Eight-year-old girl with a fever in exam "B."
How's our John Doe?
Oh, says he's responsible for the Black Plague.
Well, that's good. Now we know who to blame.
Yeah.
How you holdin' up?
Oh, except for this pounding in my head...
and the fact that my eyes...
are about to drop out of my sockets...
I'm gettin' my second wind.
Fifth floor.
- Oh, do me a favor. - Yeah, I'll hold. Sure.
Get me the name of the first patient to die here at Mercy.
Dr. Ferguson?
John Doe took off.
What the hell?
Maybe he's not really the Grim Reaper.
Maybe he's Houdini.
- Someone must have helped him. - Maybe.
Oh, by the way, that name you asked for?
William Breem.
You're kidding, right?
Would I kid you?
If I were Mr. Bones...
where would I go?
Well, I know this is probably too little too late...
but l... I apologize...
and I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me.
I knew it.
How did you get out of your restraints?
Please.
I took out the dinosaurs.
He thinks a couple of belts are gonna hold me.
Did you look up Bill Breem?
Doesn't prove a thing.
No... but I got you wonderin', don't I?
You could have gotten Breem's name off the internet.
Do I look like I own a computer?
Death certificates are public records.
Now, look, are you gonna go back to your room...
or do I have to call security?
Calm down. There's no need for threats.
If you must know, his name was in here...
just like all the others.
So you found a pen on the way down here.
So what? Now, are you comin' or not?
Could we have a second, please?
Anyway, like I was saying...
l... I just wanted you all to know that I quit.
I know what you're thinkin'.
You wish I'd made this decision a few days earlier,
but... that's the way it is.
All right. Take it easy, Dave.
You know who I've been thinkin' about a lot lately?
Lin Po Wong.
Do me a favor. Save it for Dr. Rand, will ya?
She was this little old Asian woman...
fourth century, B.C.
She was a peasant, but very enlightened.
She had this way of talkin' about life, you know?
All I can say is I finally understood...
what all the fuss was about.
With her I was really tempted to, you know...
Iook the other way for a couple of years.
And I mean rea//y tempted.
But in the end, like all the others...
Good night, everybody! She had to go.
All right, enough already.
Wh-what do you want me to say?
You want me to say you're death?
OK, you're death. You satisfied?
Great. Now you're patronizing me?
Look, if you really want to be convinced, here.
Come on, come on, come on. Open it.
Is this a joke? What...
Am I laughin'?
This isn't possible. People die every day.
Not anymore, they don't.
Yeah, the obituaries, check 'em, will you?
And?
No one in the whole city?
Yeah, I know it's weird.
All right, that's New York...
L.A., Chicago.
Yeah. I'm good.
Know anybody in London? Rome? Bora Bora?
I admit, it's very, very strange, OK?
The odds that no one would die...
for 24 hours in... anywhere is...
it has to be astronomical...
but it doesn't have anything to do with you.
- You're sure? - Yes! I'm sure!
Look, you are a very...
very clever, very delusional human being...
but you are not death!
Hi, Jay-bird!
Mom?
Please, God, watch over my family.
Keep Jay-bird safe.
That's all I ask.
That's all.
- Aah! - Aah!
Dr. Ferguson, I'm sorry.
Sorry. Is everything OK?
The power went out. I thought I heard yelling.
No, everything's fine.
I'm fine, really. Thank you.
OK. Yeah.
Watching your mom go through that agony for weeks...
must have been rough.
I remember you from when I came to take her.
That look of determination on your face...
like you'd never let anyone suffer that bad ever again.
You might say I'm the reason you became a doctor.
You really are death, aren't you?
You want to hit me?
Go ahead. It's all right. I understand.
All the stuff about you quitting, is that true?
You saw the obituary pages.
No more death, ever?
Ever... is a long time.
Like I said, they're not gonna be too happy...
with me walkin' out.
They'll put on the pressure.
And when they squeeze... whew.
No, they can squeeze all they want, OK?
You... you have got to stay strong here.
So you think I'm doin' the right thing?
Hell, yes.
There could be drawbacks.
What, like... like overpopulation?
Yeah, the world could get pretty crowded.
- We can deal with that. - I like your attitude.
Don't you see? This changes everything.
What you've... what you've done here is...
it's a miracle.
I'm tearin' up here.
Great.
Code yellow. L...
Where you goin'?
I'll be back as soon as I can.
Jay, it's fine. I'm off the meter.
Don't go anywhere, OK?
We still have a lot to talk about.
Contact burn unit. Tell 'em we got eight comin' in.
And alert surgery. They're gonna be busy.
What do we got?
Gas truck went head-to-head with a bus.
Get an I.V. Started here, Linda.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
I need saline.
I need an I.V. Stat here now, OK?
Let's get on it. Linda!
This isn't right. There's somethin' wrong.
What?!
Look at the monitors. No heart rate...
no blood pressure, nothing.
There must be somethin' wrong with the monitors.
I'm getting no blood pressure here!
Their hearts have stopped! They're still alive!
What the hell is going on here?
These people are all flat-lined.
But they can't be. They're still moving!
Aaah!
Dr. Ferguson!
Where are you going?!
Lookin' all over for you.
I kill flowers, too.
Bet you never thought about that.
It's not just people and animals.
It's grass, trees, roses.
Bring death to them all.
The other day, I saw a rose...
kind of like this one.
For the first time, I stopped...
and I thought, my God, that is... it's beautiful.
And I knew I didn't want to kill that rose...
or anything, or anyone, ever again.
What did you want to say to me, Jay?
You have to come back to work.
You don't want to do that.
It doesn't matter what I want. You don't have a choice.
You know what this means?
Yeah. Yeah, life without you isn't a miracle. It's a curse.
Unless you return to work...
people will suffer and never die.
But you knew that all along, didn't you?
I had my suspicions.
Guess I didn't want to believe it.
You want proof? Just go down to the E.R.
One day off in 41/2 billion years.
It's gonna have to do. Come on.
Tell me, Jay, when was the last time...
you stopped and smelled the roses?
We do not have time for this!
I think we do.
All right.
I don't know.
Between college, then med school...
let's just say it's been a while.
Now...
Here.
Come on. It's not gonna hurt.
Remember that smell?
Life.
Bringing me back into the world...
you sure that's what you want to do?
I'm sure.
Looks like you're back in business.
I'd like my book back now, if you don't mind.
Open it.
Why?
Please.
Funny.
Yeah.
They have quite the sense of humor, don't they?
Those patients down there need...
Ohh! Goohh...
Maybe you should sit down.
Aah!
Ohh!
God!
Feel better?
Actually, I do.
What's goin' on?
The headaches. It was an aneurism.
Wha...
Your name was in the book, Jay.
It's your time.
But I'm only 26. It's not fair.
It's not...
Now you know why I'm always depressed.
I don't suppose there's any way I could talk you out of this.
You know, you just... just put me back...
forget it ever happened?
I'm tempted.
I'm really tempted.
But that's not how it works, right?
'Fraid not. Time to go.
There's just one other thing I need to know.
That gunshot victim, Fred Jonas...
who came in last night?
Who really saved him, me or you?
If you hadn't been in the room, kid...
he would have been in my book.
How does it feel to save a life, if you don't mind my asking?
Felt good.
Felt real good.
Yeah.
That's what I thought.
Life and death walk side by side.
They are partners in the cycle of existence.
If you don't believe it...
just talk to Dr. Jay Ferguson...
now a first-year resident in the Twilight Zone.