A Healer's War

Chapter 25 - Ancient Remedies

Chapter 25: Ancient Remedies

21:07. Saturday. - April 21st

Room Twenty, PICU.

The mask felt hot and rough against Rory's naked cheek. Until shaving, he'd never noticed how much his beard had cushioned him from the rough fabric. The wind was colder, the sun warmer. As he walked, the air over his face made him feel faster, like the superheroes from the comics he read as a kid. He liked it, but it took some getting used to.

"Two, three, four..." Katherine froze and brushed back her black hair with the sleeve of her yellow gown. Over her blue facemask, her thin eyebrows knit together over a beak-like nose. "Oh fu-dge," she whispered. "Rory, a leech is missing."

Rory drifted back from his musings, meeting Katherine's eyes. "Are you sure?"

She raised an eyebrow as though reminding him who she was. Dumb question. Katherine currently held the hospital-wide record for most consecutive days with no errors. And if the rumors were true, they had asked her to speak at the nursing school regarding her planning and preparation. If Katherine said a leech was missing, then a leech was missing.

"Right," he said and studied his patient's face. The sedated five-year-old lay on their back, covered in a pile of white blankets. The dog's bite had taken off most of the girl's upper lip and part of the bottom, leaving teeth and tissue exposed. Luckily, the dog dropped the lip when an older cousin hit it with a rake. The cousin then called for help, recovered the lip, and got the tissue on ice. Smart kid.

Rory studied the girl's mauled face and counted the dark-ridged leeches feeding on her upper lip. Modern medicine has its weaknesses, capillary regeneration being one of them, so the doctors turned to an ancient Greek treatment. What modern medicine couldn't provide, nature often already had a solution. Leeching. The blood suckers' saliva promoted capillary recruitment. Plastics had reattached the lip, and the surgical notes gave it a coin toss if the graft would take. It all came down to returning blood flow. If the critters did their job, their patient might have a chance of smiling again.

Three... Four... One is missing. "Another runner."

Katherine stooped down and searched the floor. "How are they so fast?"

"Leeches are natural sprinters." Rory squatted down. "Very dangerous over short distances." He expected her to laugh - she loved the nerdy references as much as he - but something was off tonight. She didn't even look up.

"Just look, okay?" she said. "The mom will be back soon."

"It's a leech, Katherine. We'll find it. I mean, imagine this from the leech's perspective. It just gorged itself, and now it just wants to take a nap. Off to find a soft bed-"

"Can you be serious?" Katherine snapped.

Rory closed his mouth. It wasn't like Katherine to snap. "Of course. Yeah," he said, unsure what he did. "Hey, I'm sorry, I'm-."

"No." Katherine exhaled slowly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't yell at you. It's... it's just been a lot recently, with Rodger being gone... and the boys."

"Did he...?" Rory didn't want to finish the sentence.

Katherine's head dipped, and she let out a shuddered breath. She nodded, but Rory wasn't sure what that meant, so he assumed the worst.

Oh, God... did Rodger get killed? "Katherine, I'm so sorry. If you need-."

"No, no," Katherine sniffed, wiping her eyes with each shoulder. "Ugh. I told myself I would not do this tonight." She tipped back her head and blinked back her tears. "They activated Rodger's unit today. He's deploying."