Page 42 of Bite Me Alpha Cole

We nurses don’t learn too much about where these people came from and what happened. Quite frankly, it’s not our job to ask. We pick up bits, but it’s mostly the same as what Jade and Ivy told us – confusion, chaos. It soon becomes clear that the earliest who ran did it because they wanted to – they were looking for a way out. But those who came in later were delayed by injury or ran because they became too afraid to stay.

These are the worst – the ones with tears on their face, looking backward, clearly wanting to go home. I patch them up quietly, trying not to pry or interfere. But to see people wanting to return back to a situation that was hurting them…

God, but by the time the sun rises, my heart aches.

I groan as my newest patient lies back on her bed, shutting her eyes and laying a hand over them, trying to rest – as the doctor recommended she should – until the transport comes. She’ll need to go to hospital too, though she’s even less happy about itthan Jade is. Still, the cut on her foot is not fresh and it’s livid and rotten enough that even she knows that she needs more help than she can get either here or with the Children of Solace.

I take a deep breath, forcing myself to turn away, to not judge or pity or…god, feel any of the thousand emotions that run through me.

I turn back to the desk, waiting for my next orders, but Arnav – who replaced Daniel several hours ago – shakes his head at me, letting me know there are no new cases for me to attend.

“Cool,” I mutter, putting my hands on my lower back and stretching it as I move for the door. “Breaktime for Na-na.”

My brain empties of thoughts as I walk out into the dawn light – very rare for my silly over-active mind. I exhale slowly, tilting my head back as I take a moment, feeling the light on my eyelids. The exhaustion I’ve been pushing away for hours starts to overtake me, but I push it away again as I hear the rumble of a truck.

I open my eyes, smiling a little as I watch the military transport pull into camp. Nodding, eager to get my patients loaded onto it, I start to turn –

And nearly bang right into Jeanie.

She laughs at me, reaching out her hands to steady me as I start to stumble back. “Easy, Nadia,” she says, grinning at me. “You all right?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I say, only scowling a little in my embarrassment. “We just need to –“

“Nad, I’ll handle the transport,” she says, nodding to me, smirking. “You’ve been working all night –“

“Well, so have you!”

“No, I haven’t,” she says, raising her eyebrows at me. “I got five solid hours between midnight and now. You didn’t notice?”

I sigh, raising a hand to cover my eyes, wondering if it’s exhaustion or idiocy that made me miss that. “I am verydedicated to my work, Jeanie,” I say, pretending to be stuck up and too cool to care. “I cannot bebotheredto notice everyone’s breaks –“

She laughs at me and gives my shoulders a fond squeeze before dropping her hands. “Seriously, let me handle this – you need to sleep –“

“No,” I say, sighing, putting my hands on my hips as the transport settles into a spot quite close to the tent and a few military personnel start to climb out of it. “Let me…let me see this through. Then I’ll sleep.”

“All right,” she says, a little dubious but letting me make my own choices. “If you say so.”

“I love it when people say that,” I murmur, smirking at her as we both head off to the tent, ready to give our orders for who needs to be transported and how.

The military moves fast, helping people quickly and efficiently into the transport, but still – it takes longer than I thought it would, especially as some patients panic at the last moment, not wanting to go. Eventually, Jeanie climbs into the transport along with them, promising to be back by night.

I sigh, knowing that we’ll miss her help but…that the patients need her most.

Cole comes to my side as Jeanie ducks into the darkness of the transport. “They’ll be able to get her back tonight?”

He smiles at me. “If you order it, Nadia, it shall be so. They’ll air-drop her if you tell them to.”

I laugh a little, shaking my head and waving to Jeanie, and then to Jade and Ivy, who catch my eye from inside. They lift their hands in farewell, too, as the transport starts to pull away. “I don’t know about this limitless power, Kincaid,” I murmur. “It might go to my head. Corruption is imminent.”

“Exciting,” he says, playing along.

The sight of the transport is soon lost amongst the trees and I sigh, turning back to the nursing tent, knowing that we should strip several of the beds and prep the –

“Nah,” Cole says, prodding my arm with the butt of his rifle. “No way.”

I huff, yanking my arm out of range and giving him a nasty glare. “Don’t you try to push me around with your stupid gun –“

He grins at me. “You’refinished,Nadia.”

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