Page 17 of Senseless
“My brief time in Blakeworth showed me that their most vulnerable, their most disenfranchised citizens, will likely be the ones our soldiers meet in battle.” I looked at Gonzalez, who confirmed my words with a nod. “It’s our duty to tend toallthe wounded, not just our own. If you are treating a Blakeworth soldier, give him the same care you would anyone coming into the hospital. Most of them are not thrown into this conflict because of love or loyalty, but because they have no other option. If you have someone who is conscious, let them know there is possible refuge in Four Corners.” I cast one final glance to Gonzalez. “They’ll be interviewed and evaluated by the army for citizenship once they’re well enough.”
I stepped aside and allowed the lieutenant to hold the team’s attention once again. “We will engage the enemy just over that ridge.” Gonzalez turned and pointed at a hill in the distance. If you see us coming down this side toward you, be ready. It means we’ve got injured.”
“What if they completely overwhelm you guys?” asked another young medic. “And it’s them coming over the hill on their way to capture or kill us?”
“Welcome to being a combat medic,” I said sharply, turning toward the young man who spoke. “Being captured or killed is a risk that comes with this job. We’re basically soldiers, only we try to keep people alive instead of killing them. As for defending yourself against a hostile enemy, you have scalpels, syringes, and lethal amounts of drugs. I’ve had to use all of them at one point or another, you probably will too. If any of this is too much for you, you’re better off being a medic somewhere else.”
Everyone was as still as a statue, except for Gonzalez, who was trying hard not to laugh.
“Understood, ma’am.” The medic who asked the question lifted his chin and squared his shoulders.
He wassoyoung, barely into his twenties, most likely. I saw a flash of myself in him for a moment, the bright-eyed nursing school graduate who left Texas for better opportunities, who wanted to bring some goodness back into the world. Nothing could have prepared me for the horrors I found along the way. My life on the road molded me, hardened me into someone who shut away all emotional responses when faced with battle injuries. It wasn’t who I expected to become—the smiling, joyful labor and delivery nurse who would proudly place a newborn baby into its mother’s arms.
Still, I preferred embracing the role of the hardened combat medic to the alternative—falling apart at the horrors of war and being unable to help anyone.
Lieutenant Gonzalez leaned toward me, a smile still playing on his lips. “You’d make a good drill sergeant, ma’am. No wonder General Bray likes you so much.”
I snorted out a laugh. “He has to, because I’m his daughter-in-law.”
The words stung my throat as they left. I hadn’t thought about it until now, but I missed my kind, smiling father-in-law too. Shutting Reaper out also meant cutting off other members of my family. My in-laws and I were still only just getting to know each other, so it wasn’t exactly the same. Even so, I had to remember my relationships with Reaper and Gunner weren’t the only ones affected by our issues anymore.
The lieutenant only smiled as he headed back to his Jeep. “Thank you for supporting us, medics. And hang tight. The action could start in a matter of hours or days.”
He drove off, leaving us to stand outside our tent.
“You heard him,” I said to the others. “Be ready. Let’s double-check the solar chargers and make sure everything’s sterilized.”
The rest of the day was uneventful. Gonzalez’s men rotated patrol shifts every few hours, with the ‘off’ soldiers still required to stay nearby. Some of them came over the hill to hang out with us, drink coffee, take naps, and just shoot the shit.
It was early the next morning, roughly twenty-four hours later, when the first shot was fired.
We heard thepop-pop-popsof rifles over the radio of a soldier having breakfast with us. Then Gonzalez’s voice ordering all units to the front line, and everyone sprung into action. The soldiers on break dropped everything and scrambled into their Jeep, tires kicking up mud and slushy ice on their way up the hill.
I yelled at all the medics once again to be ready. We were about to get very busy, very quickly. Returning to an operating table, I sprayed everything down again with an alcohol solution. I had just set the bottle down when a loudBOOMcrashed through my eardrums and sent the ground shaking under my feet. It had some medics, myself included, falling on their butts.
“What was that?” someone cried.
“Was that the enemy or us?” another medic asked.
“Not us,” I said, scrambling to my feet. “General Bray wouldn’t be that aggressive right off the bat. It’s Blakeworth.”
“Bombs?” The young medic sounded panicked. “They’rebombingus?!”
“Shh! Hey, hey!” I grabbed her shoulders and made her face me. “The soldiersneedus. Stay with me, medic.”
Another blast went off, this one slightly further away, but an ominous plume of black smoke rose up from the other side of the hill.
“They have backup units,” I said, more to myself than the others. “If they’re in trouble, help will come.”
The first truck loaded up with injured soldiers came about fifteen minutes after the first explosion. I winced at the sight of the vehicle coming down the hill at lightning speed, fishtailing precariously through the mud and ice. The driver seemed to hit every boulder and uneven bit of terrain, which was no help to our patients that he carried. He swung around when he reached the flat plain of our camp, backing toward the main tent where we waited.
My worst fears were already confirmed as medics touched fingers to the necks and wrists of unmoving soldiers.
“Take the deceased to the black tent,” I ordered quietly, my voice suddenly feeling like it lost all power. “There’s nothing we can do for them right now.”
Living soldiers were quickly rushed to different areas to assess and treat their most serious injuries. I helped two other medics lift a larger man onto a bed. He seemed dazed, but otherwise uninjured.
“Watch his head,” I instructed, my nursing autopilot taking over. “Check for internal bleeding.”
