Chapter 2

Eponine felt her head swimming. The world slipped in and out of her memory as she slipped in and out of consciousness. Everything around her seemed to be muffled by a blanket of silence. She heard gunshots ringing out, the sound of distant drumming, the angry voices of the students countered by orders from the National Guard, and the frantic voices of medics that searched the fallen for any signs of life. At one point she was rudely jerked from her fevered slumber by a searing pain to her chest. Her eyes flew open and she remembered seeing the concentrated face of a young man in a white uniform as he stooped over her. Eponine gritted her teeth, but could not hold back the scream that ripped from her throat. Her fists clenched and her leg kicked out, knocking a tray to the floor with a crash.

"L'infirmiere, nurse!" called the young man urgently. He turned back to the girl lying before him. "Mademoiselle, please hold still, I am trying to remove the bullet from your wound."

It was like she had been shot all over again, as the pain radiated from her chest towards every nerve in her body. Her back arched in pain as she released another horrible cry. Suddenly there were strong hands holding her down on each limb.

"Hold still, mademoiselle, it will all be over soon!" said a voice. A blurred figure stroked her forehead as black spots dotted her vision. The pain was unbearable, and she felt every stitch the young man pierced through her skin, and every tug as he tried to close her wound. At each sting of pain, Eponine instinctively lashed back at her captors, fighting to free herself from the throbbing pain they were causing.

"Put her out, put her out!" she heard the young man say. Suddenly, there was a wet cloth thrown over her face, and Eponine felt her fist slowly unclench, and every muscle in her body relaxed as she once again drifted into a numbed darkness.