April raised her eyes, looking from Grey to the patient, barely able to make a sound, she was so horrified.
Why had they tried to move him? Why had that happened? Why wasn’t Dr. Grey looking as shell shocked as she was? Had he seen this type of thing before?
‘April?’
She huddled forward, trying to breathe, trying not to be sick.
‘April, we’ve lost him. We did our best,’ Dr. Grey said.
Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, a warm, strong hand that somehow made it easier for her to breathe. April looked up and into dark, warm eyes that were the complete opposite of how she felt inside.
‘He’s gone, April. He was probably never going to make it.’
She gulped, nodding her head, over and over again. Had she killed him when his leg had come away?
‘Don’t let this moment stop you. What did you come looking for?’
April exhaled. ‘A blanket.Blankets.For the patients arriving.’
He extended his hand, and she grasped it, pulling to her feet as he slowly let her go.
‘Go get those blankets, and then come back and find me when you’re ready to assist again. Send someone else back in the meantime; we need more nurses in surgery.’
She glanced at Dr. Grey one last time before hurrying to get them, taking three just in case. She tried to forget the smell, the feel, the look of the leg in her hand, of the way it had just so casually fallen away from the man’s knee like slow-cooked meat from the oven, and ran all the way back to her patient, the one who’d been shivering. The one who was waiting for her. The one she could save.
But he was gone.
And there was already another man in his place.
‘Where did he go?’ she asked aloud, but of course no one heard her and no one answered. ‘Where is he?’
‘Water,’ croaked the new patient. ‘Please. Water.’
She wiped tears from her cheeks and tucked the blanket around him, needing something to do, needing to give the blanket tosomeone.
‘Please let this be over,’ she whispered. ‘Please.’
She put a straw into the cup of water and gently touched the back of her patient’s head to help him rise, terrified skin or bone was going to come away and grimacing as she waited for him to sip.
‘Don’t let them take me,’ he cried. ‘If they come for me, kill me first.’
She kept hold of the water, frowning down at him. ‘Who’s coming for you?’
‘The Japs,’ he whispered. ‘They’ll come back for each and every one of us. This isn’t over!They’re coming!’
April set the cup down and stared at her patient as her legs began to shake.
No one was taking her. She’d fight alongside their men if she had to, but no one was ever coming back and taking her prisoner. She knew what kinds of awful things men did to enemy women, and she was never, ever going to let that happen to her.
‘You’re safe here,’ she whispered, not knowing if she was lying or not. ‘I’m here to save lives, sir. I promise.’
His smile made her knees knock even harder. She’d already lost more patients than she’d saved today, but as she gritted her teeth and started to assess his wounds, she decided that there was nothing wrong with a little optimism and a dash of a white lie to make someone believe they were going to survive.
‘Grace?’ April called, spinning around and looking for her sister. She didn’t know what the time was, it had been the longest day she’d ever experienced, and she didn’t even know if it was the same day or the next. As the influx of new patients had finally slowed, the corpsmen and some of the less wounded soldiers and navy boys had started to fix big heavy blankets to the windows, which explained why she’d found it so hard to find a blanket for her patient earlier. She pulled at the front of her dress, trying to let in some air against her wet, sticky skin. The humidity was bad enough as it was without the blankets blocking out whatever air was able to circulate naturally. It was like a furnace in the ward now, and she bet the operating theaters would be even worse when they eventually made their way there.
But if it meant their lights couldn’t be seen, and the blackout stopped them being hit, then so be it.
‘Grace!’ she called again, walking around and looking for her sister still. She touched one of the nurses on the arm, apologizing when she saw her jump at the contact. ‘Sorry—I was only wondering if you’d seen my sister, Grace? She looks a lot like me, blonde hair in a bun?’
