Page 22 of Healing Love

“Gotta take that chance,” Cam decided. “We’re running out of time fast.”

Disconnecting, Cam hustled to finish the dump and return to the camp. It appeared that no one was even paying attention to him anymore.Good.This’ll make getting Miriam out of here a helluva lot easier.

9

That night, Miriam lay on her cot, sleep eluding her as the day’s horrors played over and over in her mind.

Dr. Villogas had come to her first thing in the morning, informing her that she needed to accompany him to a nearby village where one of the weakened buildings had collapsed during the night, injuring a number of workers.

Looking around at the infirmary needs, she asked, “Can’t Sharon go with you?”

She was surprised at his reaction, noting for the first time the lines of fatigue around his eyes. His face contorted in a grimace and then it was quickly replaced by his typical expression of superiority.

“No,” he replied sharply. “I want you with me.”

Sighing deeply, she nodded. “Fine. Let me informSister Genovia that she’ll be short-handed today,” she said testily.

Fifteen minutes later the two were in the back of a jeep bouncing over the rough roads leading toward a village. Neither speaking, Miriam held on to the side of the rollbar, attempting to keep her teeth from clattering as the bone-jarring potholes continued. Tall trees lined the cart path they were on, with nothing but vegetation as far as she could see.

The trees finally fell away, and farmland was on either side of the road. A few houses came into sight and, as they rounded another bend, came to the village. She could see the men working to haul off the rubble from the collapsed building. On the ground nearby was a large tarp with several bodies lying on top, the wails of families heard above the workers’ equipment.

A man waved the jeep over and they were taken to a makeshift infirmary, similar to what she had seen before. Inside were about seven men with various injuries. She quickly went to work, auto-pilot kicking in. Assess the injuries. Prioritize. Stabilize.

She and Dr. Villogas worked side by side for several hours until the last of the injuries had been seen. Several women from the village came at noon and brought a meal for them. Accepting the food gratefully, Miriam sat in a corner for a few minutes eating the simple fare. One of the women motioned for her to follow and as she did, she was grateful when the woman showed her to a latrine. Smiling her thanks, she was able to quickly take care of her business, glad that the woman anticipated her needs.

A few more hours of work in the early afternoon and then they were back in the jeep, bouncing along. Fatigue was showing and she noticed Dr. Villogas kept glancing her way.

“Are you all right?” he eventually asked.

All right?A rude snort escaped as she turned to look at him. “I don’t even know how to answer that.”

He had the good grace to look askance before the jeep slowed down to navigate a nasty turn in the rutted road. She noticed that they had taken a different road out of the village than they had going in, but the explanation was only that there may be trouble on the other road. Not understanding the reason, she turned from Ernesto and gazed to her side of the road.

Miriam’s eyes latched onto the sight up ahead in the grass. The stench of death rose from the ground…littered with body parts. Hacked off legs, arms, torso…and heads.

A scream erupted from her lips as she clasped a hand over her mouth. Dr. Villogas’ eyes darted to see what the cause was when his eyes landed on the carnage.

“Goddamnit,” he cursed, then yelled for the driver to get them out of there and then stop. When they had moved away from the site of terror, the jeep came to a jolting halt. Dr. Villogas jumped out and ran to the other side, reaching in and pulling Miriam out of the vehicle.

Dragging her body to the side of the road, he knelt down beside her, holding her head as she retched into the grass. Weakened, she leaned heavily onto him, shaking uncontrollably, unable to sit on her own. Afterseveral long minutes, she raised her head looking into his face, which at that moment appeared to be as ravaged as her own.

“Wh…wha…” she stammered, unable to articulate.

Sucking in a ragged breath, he said, “War.”

Her brow knitted in confusion at his one-word explanation.

“Cartel wars,” he added.

The extra word hardly gave her any indication as to what she had witnessed, and she continued to stare at him dumbly.

Drawing in another ragged breath, he looked at her face. “Wars are fought all over the world, Miriam. I realize it hasn’t touched you, but in many parts of the world wars are a way of life.”

She said nothing…just continued to stare.

“I’ve lived my whole life here in Sinaloa except for attending the University of Guadalajara for college and medical school.” He paused before continuing, spearing her with a stare. “My. Whole. Life.”

She gave a short nod, feeling that some response was expected but still had no idea what he was saying.

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