Strawberry Red

Chapter 13 Ruby

"Ruby, can you draw us a game of hopscotch onto the ground?", asked Billy and help up a piece of chalk.

"Of course I can." Ruby accepted the chalk and dropped to her knees. "An easy one? Or a difficult one?"

"Difficult, it should be a challenge," answered Sammy. The little boys were standing close to Ruby and watched every stroke she made. Ruby drew fourteen boxes onto the floor with a green chalk.

"How does it look? Any changes?" asked Ruby and stood up again. The boys shook their heads and immediately started to fight over who was to start. Ruby laughed at their silly behaviour and cleaned her hands on her trousers.

"Hey, Ruby! The planes should be landing soon," informed Lemmons. He had oil smeared all over his face and hands.

"Good, I'll be heading over to the runway soon."

"I can take you. Some of the guys and I have to get there anyway to take care of the damages," he offered.

"Alright, let's go then," said Ruby. She bid her goodbyes to the boys and left them playing their intense game of hopscotch. Then she got into the car with Lemmons and a few other mechanics. Together they drove onto the runway where multiple ground crews were already waiting for the airmen to come back. On the inside Ruby was a nervous wreck. Buck and Bucky had both gone on the mission and truthfully, they meant everything to her. From the moment she had met Bucky, he had acted as a brother figure. And from the moment she had met Buck, he had made his way to her heart and now he'd forever have a place there. She wouldn't be able to handle it if they didn't come back.

The sirens began to sound, and the first plane came into sight. Ruby quickly went over to the Ambulance and waited nervously for the planes to touch down. Impatiently, she grabbed a bag full of medical supplies and walked up to the first plane which landed. During landing, they had sent a red flair into the air which meant someone on board was injured.

"Impatient, today, are we?", asked Will, one of her fellow nurses. He was heading over to the plane with her.

"I just need to do something. Anything to be honest," answered Ruby. The airmen had opened the side door to the plane and were pulling out one of their own. He was screaming and twisting in pain. Carefully, they laid him down onto the ground.

"What's your name?" questioned Ruby. She examined his injuries and wanted to keep him awake and talking.

"James, ma'am," answered the gunner panting. Sweat had gathered on his forehead, and he was white like a chalk. Ruby cut through his clothing to find the source of the bleeding. He had a bullet on the right side of his stomach. It must've hit an artery, otherwise it wouldn't have bled as much.

"Hey, Will? Can you call Dr. Houston over? I think the bullet hit one of the gastric arteries in his stomach," shouted Ruby to get Will's attention.

"Let me have a look," said Will and kneeled beside Ruby and James. He took a closer look at the wound and pressed on it which made James scream out in pain. "I think it's just a flesh wound. We'll transport him to hospital, but he won't be the first on list. There are more life-threatening injuries."

"What? No, he'll bleed out without an operation. Look at the bleeding, that's way too much for a flesh wound," argued Ruby. James was now looking frantic between the two nurses. To sooth him, Ruby took his hand in hers and squeezed it.

"I'm head nurse today. And I'm saying he can wait." Ruby wanted to interrupt him, but Will put a finger to her lips to silence her. "Don't. I know you only want to what's best for your patient. But right now, you need to listen to me and move on. There are more airmen who need our help."

Will left them. Ruby was unsure what to do. He had given her orders, but she disagreed with him. James had a serious injury which Will didn't care about. Ruby had seen many injuries like James, she knew they had to do something soon otherwise he wouldn't make it.

"Please, I don't want to die," pleaded James. He had tears in his eyes. He understood what was happening to him and felt helpless laying there.

"I'm going to help you, okay?" Ruby felt like a liar again. To be honest, she couldn't ask for Dr. Houston's help. He was responsible for life-threatening injuries which Will had to look at first before they sent patients to him. And Will had decided James' injury wasn't bad enough to be looked at any time soon. "I'm going to give you very strong pain meds, to aid the pain. And then I'll try to get the bullet out and stop the bleeding."

"Have you done this before?", asked James.

"In presence of a doctor, yes. But don't you worry. I can do this," answered Ruby as confident as she could. She proceeded to give him fluids and pain meds through an IV. She put on gloves. Then she cleaned the area of the wound with saline. She used James' belt to apply more pressure on the wound. On a sterile cloth she had laid out her instruments. She grabbed clamps to clamp the artery the minute she took out the bullet. With steady hands she carefully extracted the bullet from his stomach and then quickly clamped down the artery. She tightly gripped the needle and started to sew close the artery. When she was done with sewing, she removed the clamps to see if there was an additional bleed which she hadn't seen before.

"How are you feeling? Are you still in pain?", asked Ruby.

"I'm doing fine, and I don't feel any pain." Ruby continued to work on his wound. She started to close his skin and dressed the wound with a sterile cover.

"You're good to go to the hospital for observation," informed Ruby and smiled at him. She was glad that he didn't die on her. Then she would probably have been fired. Ruby called over two of her fellow nurses and together they loaded him up into the ambulance. She got in with James and stayed with him on the way to the hospital. As soon as they arrived Ruby was rushed away from James into the operating theatre to assist Dr. Houston. For the rest of the day Ruby was helping taking care of patients. At the end of her shift, she could barely remember the names of her patients. She had treated many and never got a break in between. And thankfully, Will didn't notice that James had been operated by Ruby instead of Dr. Houston. She had done what she thought was best in the situation. And James was still alive, that was all that mattered to her.