Doubt Thou Stars Are Fire

Chapter Twelve

I woke up with Ben's forehead and my own pressed together. I groaned softly and lifted my head, which felt heavy due to my sobbing from the night before. Ben stirred as I sat up. I rubbed my eyes and yawned. Benjamin groaned and wrapped an arm around my waist. "Lay back down, dear, it's freezing." 

He was right, it was rather cold. I was about to lie back down when a nurse rushed into the room holding a steaming mug of what looked like coffee. She began to sputter, the poor girl's cheeks were red and wet due to crying. "M-Matron, you need to come with me." she forced out. I glanced down to Ben and back to the sobbing girl,"Well of course dear, I'll...Just wait outside please I'll only be a minute." I pulled myself from the bed as she exited. 

I brought myself outside after putting myself together. The girl wiped off the new tears and began to lead me to a tent in the nurse's sanction. There were a few more girls standing about the tent with red faces. They wiped their faces with their handkerchiefs and aprons quickly as I approached them. They nodded their heads to me and parted ways so I could enter. 

Three girls crowded around a blonde angel-esque girl. She looked perfectly normal as if she were asleep. Except for the large stain of blood that stayed at her abdomen. I shut my eyes and took in a deep breath before opening them again to evaluate the scene. 

"Has Matron Bianchi seen this yet?" I asked gravely. The girl looked so peaceful, there must not have been any suffering in her death. The three girls shook their heads. "Why not? She's in charge as much as I am."

One of the girls promptly left to retrieve Florence for me. I needed her here with me. I felt someone's hand on my shoulder a moment later. "She told me what happened on the walk over." Florence said quietly. She stood beside me and analyzed the body from a distance. 

"And what did she say?" I glanced over at my friend. Her curly mass of hair and pulled back. 

She sighed deeply and then began,"well, between gasps of air, she said that she and Mary came in to check on her after noticing she wasn't up yet. She was an earlier riser I guess. Anyways, they just came in to check in on her and found she was dead."

"that's terrible, the poor girls." I shook my head. I noticed that on her dress, there wasn't a single rip or tear in her dress. "Flo...Her dress, look at it." I knelt down to the bed and pulled at the fabric. There was no tear at all. 

"Jesus Christ, that's strange," Florence whispered, kneeling over the other side of the bed. 

"Hello-?" Ben poked his head from the window,"My God!" 

I got up and rushed to him,"Stay calm, it's fine. Will you make sure no one come in? Please?" 

"Fine? There's a girl lying dead!" 

"Ben, I have it under control, please." 

"My god, Winnifred, it doesn't seem like it." 

"Well I do, now make sure no one comes inside." I spat back. He nodded after looking at me, desperately wanting to help. I turned back to Florence. "We need to undress her, there's no incision in the fabric so either we find that there's an incision under the skin or we have a much bigger problem on our hands. 

After a moment of wrestling to get the girls to corset off, we found a slash across the summer. I sighed in relief. It was terrible at the time, but at least there was an obvious cause of her death instead of having to find out how she died. Florence leaned over the cut and pursed her lips. 

"it's very...ragged is the word maybe? It looks like someone stabbed her between the ribs and dragged the knife down to her stomach. The knife was very dull too." She said. 

"Yes, how did she stay looking so peaceful while..while she was murdered?" 

Florence shook her head,"I don't know how, but something doesn't seem right about this. Usually the facial muscles tense, right?" 

I shrugged my shoulders,"I don't know, I think that it takes longer for the muscles to tense, right?" 

"I guess. I don't know, something really doesn't seem right here. Of course she's murdered so thats not right, so I guess 'off' is the right word." She stood up and kept looking back to the body every few moments. 

"I know, I'm getting a bad feeling from this." I walked from the tent with Florence following at my side. Ben came up to my other side. I turned my head to Benjamin. He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze,"Benjamin, do you think you can convince the General to up security in the barracks?" 

I can try, but we're going thin after yesterday's incident." He said, looking forward. 

"We can have them work shifts like nurses do. Now if we have a group work in the days and have the others secure the camp at night, then we shouldn't have a problem." 

"Yes, but what if we have another attack at the men on the night shift are too exhausted to fight?" Benjamin asked. 

"He's right, Winn." Florence chimed in. 

I sighed and pushed open the tent flap to my tent with my unwounded arm. 

"Do we have any men securing the camp at night?" I turned around and faced them both. 

"A small group of ten," Benjamin said sitting on my bed. 

"We should triple it, how many men are available?" Florence asked. 

"Available we have one hundred and thirteen not securing borders during the night. That's available, but not those who are willing to volunteer. You know we don't have the currency to up their pay." 

I sighed heavily and sat down in the chair,"Would the General possibly tell them to do out of the goodness of their hearts?" 

Ben rubbed his face,"Maybe? I think we should just think 'bout it before we do any actions." 

A voice yelled for Benjamin outside the tent. A bearded face peered into the tent. "Holy 'ell, I was looking for you forever Benny where've ya been?" He glanced to me and then to Florence. "Oh...'ello ladies, I 'ope I'm not interuptin' anythin' 'ere." he shot Benjamin a mischevious smirk. 

"N-no, Caleb...One moment, I'll be back in a second." He left the tent and went with the bearded man named Caleb. 

I let my head drop. the adrenaline of thought made the pain in my arm almost numb, but I was beginning to notice it again. "You look like you need a hug, Winn." Florence said, coming towards me and running a hand through my hair. 

"I do, there's just been a lot." I looked up at her and stood up.

Florence pulled me in for a hug and rubbed my back,"I know, we're all a bit shaken up after Helen's death after last night's attack, but you need to take it easy. You'll take forever to heal if you push yourself, let me just take some of the weight of your shoulders." 

take the weight off my shoulders. 

I can't do that. 

"No, Florence, I'm okay." I put my head on her shoulder. 

"After that bullet got taken from your arm, I doubt it. Take it easy for today at least, Ben and I will still consult you about this mess."

"Florence-" 

"Winnifred. You need to rest." She said sternly, sounding more like a maternal figure than a friend. "You're important to this camp, yes, but if you don't slow down and take time to heal then it'll take more time until you're better. Please give yourself a break." She smiled,"I would hate to tie you down to a cot." 

"I think I would hate that too." I returned her smile.