Remedy

17

Bleak faces covered in blood and mud were the first things which greeted Dot as she and Alice exited the ship. Tugging the reins encouragingly Dot looked over her shoulder as Orion and Fletcher walked hesitantly down the plank.

Some of the soldiers, the ones in slightly better shape, even smiled and looked half cheerful at their appearance. Dot and Alice tried to smile back but it was so hard. All these men looked so broken, there were a group who sat on their own just staring off into space. Then there were other men who looked so utterly confused as to where they were they'd twitch and jump and move positions to hide somewhere.

"Ah!" An exclaiming male voice bought both Alice and Dot out of their own private thoughts. A doctor stood in front of them, he was rubbing his hands on a grimy looking cloth, his apron was patched with blood.

"You are the new nurses, hm? Excellent, and these must be our new ambulance mounts? Even better!" He seemed rather cheerful considering the chaos and horrors which surrounded him.

Dot dearly considered he'd lost some of his sanity along with perhaps the twitching men behind her. Margaret soon appeared and talked to the strange doctor, another doctor briefly told them where to take the horses, but no sooner had Dot got them calm and comfy in their new rather cramped pens did she get told to rig them up to the carts.

Fletcher was the first horse to get affected by the process of this war. Dot grimaced, they had been here barely a week and already it was taking its toll on him. It had also been a week since she last heard any word from Arthur or James.

She did receive a letter from her brother saying they reached base camp and she did reply back. Whether he got her letter she didn't know.

She hadn't received any other letters from James and she hadn't wrote one to him. Dot had debated with herself whether to or not. But then when she really mused over the thought of sitting and writing she couldn't think of any words.

There weren't exactly any words she could write down and send to him. Anything she'd write and read back would seem so false. Through minor actions Dot was rather sure James knew all that she could ever imagine to say, and write to him.

Watching Orion reappear tugging the ambulance behind him, she stopped cooing at Fletcher and watched as a stretcher got pulled off of the back. There was a man screaming and writhing in pain, he was followed by men with bandages around their eyes, as soon as one man jumped down from the back he was joined by another. Two become five and five soon become twelve. It was rather odd to see so many men jump out from a cart which looked so small.

It didn't take Dot long to pick up and treat common injuries. The screaming writhing man on the stretcher on the other hand was a complete mystery to her. Quickly walking towards the makeshift hospital she pushed open the curtain doorway and almost bumped into Alice who rushed out. Dot watched her run and disappear around the corner. Frowning lightly and venturing into the dingy hospital she soon reached the bed with the screaming man.

The doctor, who was shortly named after their first meeting as George Bannister, stood gripping the man by his shoulders. "Restrain his legs!" George exclaimed, Dot along with another nurse gripped onto his legs, likewise Margaret and someone else restrained his arms.

Dot could now see why Alice had charge out of here.

The man screaming on the fold up bed was riddled with shrapnel. In fact his torso was so riddled that his green uniform was no longer green but a deep red. George quickly cut away at his uniform and pulled a face at the amount of shrapnel sticking out of the man's body.

Dot pulled a face and it took everything she had not to turn and run off much like Alice had. Rather ungracefully George took to removing the pieces of metal as quickly as he could, the longer he took the more blood the man would loose.

----

Arthur read over the neat writing of his sister's and smiled. And here she thought she wouldn't give him anything in return for giving her their father's pocket watch. Arthur wasn't very hopeful about coming out of this in one piece, it was clear that other men shared his outlook. Percy had commented on it quietly too one evening in base camp. He made sure that no one else had heard him though or else they may think he had thoughts of turning tail and running away. Running away from duty was cowardice and would result in firing squad. Arthur couldn't think of anything more worse than dying but by the hands of your own comrades.

The morning of the cavalry's charge through the encampment of their enemies came too quickly. Arthur woke with a start and all the while he was getting Dutch ready there was a horrible dread filling his stomach. He briefly looked over to his Captain, who much like himself and nearly everyone else had a reserved look on his face. There were not many words spoken between the massive group. Sometimes words weren't needed to be spoken. Just by glances and looks they all pretty much shared their opinions.

The ride to the encampment took less time than Arthur actually thought, a part of him hoped that it would go on for longer. The longer the journey the longer he could mentally run through everything.

The main concern in his mind was Dorothy. If he did not come back she would be on her own, that was a fate worse than death, Arthur mused. Knowing she'd be left alone made his mood sink even more, if it sunk anymore he'd have to jump down from his horse and pick it off up the floor.

The group came to a halt amongst the long grass, by now they were all walking on foot. With one short shouted command from Major Stewart they mounted. Atop their horses each man stole a look at the soldier beside him, friends tried to hunt each other out amongst the sea of grass and men.

Arthur managed to catch sight of Percy and Tommy who were side by side, both drew their sabres and looked at him. Percy smiled and Tommy nodded slightly, in return Arthur smiled as best he could and set his sights forward again.

Looking towards the head of the group Arthur and Captain Nicholls glanced at each other before snapping back to reality. Arthur let out a slow sigh, logically they'd both leave behind the one person they had in common if the worst case happened.

There was another command from ahead and that simple command was: charge. So kicking Dutch into motion Arthur and his fellow cavalrymen did what they had practised nearly non stop for a week. They all charged forward, sabres glinting in the sun, and all heading full pelt towards the encampment of their enemy.

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(Edited: 29/August/2019)