Letters to the front

Chapter 13 - Close to the battle

Alice 

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Four weeks later 

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The rain poured down from the black sky as we hurried outside to meet the waiting ambulance, bringing fresh casualties from the front line. I closed my eyes and hurried out to get the next victim, a fresh faced youngester who would die on our beds, not even having had a chance to live life. 

"Hardwick! Get to the ambulence" shouted Gregory Fell.

Gregory Fell was the leading paramedic and had seen some awful things, he was a kind man and had been empathetic of my being here. 

"Yes sir!" i called, running as fast as i could. My feet splashing in the deep puddles. Motor oil had leaked into the water and burned my skin as i ran through it. A saw a soldier, lying helpless, coughing blood. He didn't have long. His leg was infected and i pulled him out. He looked about sixteen and utterly terrified. "Don't let them take my leg!" he howled. 

I ignored his remark and simply instructed him, "arm around my shoulder, we need to get you inside" 

He did as i asked and limped inside hastily, where he was rushed on to a strecher and whisked to theatre. I didn't stop, just hurried out for the next man. I dragged in countless men, each with serious injuries. I could here the shelling close by, this was a first response hospital, only half a mile from the battle field.

Smoke covered the sky like a thick blanket, the smell of death hung heavily in the air. "Alice!" screamed Shelia. I turned my attention to her, headng in the direction of her shouting. She had been helping a soldier and he had collapsed. She was too slight to take his weight and he was now smothering her. I lifted him off and she took huge lungfuls of air. "Quickly!" i said, hoisting one of his arms around my soldiers, she took the other and we got him inside, leaving him in the capable hands of another doctor. "There's too many, we can't take anymore, we're already to full" 

"I know, but we can't turn them away" i said, concentrating on getting more inside. 

"Alice" she said, grabbing my arm, "you can't save them all" 

"The hell i can't" i snarled, running towards the waiting men. 

"Miss!" 

"Nurse!" they all called me. 

I helped another young man, he reminded me of my cousin, his face youthful and his hair a tangled mess. "Come on" i said.

"Your gorgeous" he said, his speech garbled. I rolled my eyes, and smiled at him, trying to raise spirits. "Come on, Romeo, let's get you inside" 

I got in, and Gregory caught me. "Alice, there's no more room"

"What" i said, this couldn't be happening. 

"They'll have to go else where, we have no more beds, not even another inch of floor"

My vision reeled. "What's going on?" asked the man, his speech slurred. 

"Someone'll have to take them to St. Pauls, it's five miles up the road,  but there are no drivers free"

"I'll do it" i volunteered. 

"Are you crazy, this is a bloody war zone!" he shouted.

"Gregory, i used to work on a farm, i'm used to driving cart over difficult terrain" i countered. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Go" he said, "but for goodness sake be careful"

"Always am" i said, dragging the soldier back out into the downpour, putting him in the back of the ambulance. 

I helped as many men as i could. "Shelia!"