In Times of War

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Two

Another terrifying thing is that Lee is the man carrying him.

   I don’t hesitate at all, I put David’s other arm around my shoulders. I hold his hand to help me keep his arm on my small shoulders. I put my free arm around his waist to help Lee and me both to support him. I look at him to try and see where he is hurt. I don’t see anything first off, but then his jacket moves a little and I can see the hole in his stomach. It doesn’t look like it was made with a bullet. I question if he is even alive until he groans and his beautiful eyes roll back in his head.

   Lee and I manage to finally get him inside the tent and I set him down on a stretcher. Sarah and a doctor come and take the stretcher back towards the operating room. I’m about to follow when I hear someone hit the floor. I whip around and see Lee on the floor. I temporarily abandon my mission to follow David and help Lee onto the free bed. He’s still conscious, which is a good sign.

“Which leg?” I ask.

“Left. Calf.” He pants. He looks absolutely exhausted and in agonizing pain. I’m not surprised either when I pull up his bloody pant leg.  “H-how bad is it?”

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll be fine.” I squint at the wound to get a better look.

   “Mia, how bad is it?” I can tell he’s trying to sound strong but I can tell how much pain he is in. There is a jagged gash running down his calf. His leg and ankle are coated in dried blood. The cut isn’t bleeding currently, but it looks like it is starting to scab over. It doesn’t look good, but it isn’t the worst thing I’ve seen.

   “I wouldn’t want Leo to see it, but you’ll be fine. What happened?” I get some water and a rag and start to gently clean the dried blood away. I take his boot and his sock off and wash the blood off of his foot.

   “We were marchin’ down the main road and someone set off a Bouncin’ Betty. The road was supposed to be clear, but the whole squad went down. Tony and I were back at the back so we didn’t get hit as bad. I hit the dirt and got slashed by some passin’ shrapnel, but Tony didn’t get down fast enough. I carried him here.” He winces as the rag touches the gash. A Bouncing Betty was another name for an S-Mine. Whenever it was set off it would leap into the air and then detonate, sending lots of shrapnel in all directions.

“How far did you carry him?”

“I don’t know. A mile or two maybe?” He acts like it’s no big deal.

“Thank you. You might’ve saved his life.” I say quietly, not looking up.

“He’s saved mine a hundred times out here and with Zachariah. He’s practically my brother and I wasn’t gonna leave him to die. Do you think he’ll make it, though?” I give him some morphine to dull the pain.

   “I don’t know…” I honestly didn’t know. If the shrapnel was still inside him like I thought it was then they would have to get the shrapnel out and stop any bleeding. It was a miracle that he had lasted long enough for Lee to get him to the hospital. I had seen the surgeons here pull off miracle operations before, but this was still a long shot. A lot of it was up to David, too. He had to want to live and if he didn’t then he wouldn’t. “It depends on him. The doctors will do the best they can, but if he doesn’t want to live then he won’t. He’s gotta find somethin’ to hold on to. He just has to…”

“He’ll hold on to you, you know that right?” He winces as I start to sew up his leg. The morphine hasn’t completely taken effect yet.

“He hasn’t seen me in over a year. I doubt he even knows I’m here.” I say quietly.