Chapter Two
Unknown/ 2533/ UNSC Calendar
Seti Borta System/ Seti Borta VI / UNSC M.A.S.H. SIXTY ONE DELTA
"We've got severe plasma burns here," came a muffled mans voice. His voice seemed to be miles away, yet close enough to hear as well. The frantic voice of another person could be heard, she couldn't make out the exact words they were saying. "I don't care, we've lost forty two patients today. For god's sake, lets try and change that," came the mans distorted voice again.
"I need some dermacortic steroids in here," said a womans voice that sounded closer now. "C'mon, move your asses! Her heart rate is decreasing!"
"We're losing her aren't we," said the man again in a much more hushed tone then it had been before. "Her left forearm is badly burned. I don't know if we're going to be able to save it, if she survives this."
"We'll worry about that later," replied the calm woman's voice. The sounds of metal scraping and material being cut echoed in the dark void that filled Stephanie's mind, she tried to focus more on the people in the room near her but her concentration quickly faded and she found herself floating in the darkness once again. It was a calming feeling not having the urgent yelling and demanding voices filling her head anymore.
Stephanie tried to move her body, but found she couldn't. Her body felt like it was floating in the vast darkness of open space. She willed her hand to move upward in front of her face and it wouldn't move, this confused her and she felt her confusion disappear just as quickly as it had appeared. What is this place? Why am I here? Maybe I'm dead. But if I was dead, then why did I hear voices? What the hell is going on?
Stephanie's thoughts were interrupted by a piercing pain that ran up her side and across her stomach. If felt like being eaten by hundreds of ants, they were crawling all over her body, in and out of every crevice. Stephanie looked down in the darkness and saw her body, it was burned and torn exposing red charred flesh across her stomach and arms. The ants crawled in the thick soupy blood dripping from her wounds and she could feel the slight itch as they took bites of her bloody flesh. She instinctively moved her hands and tried to brush the ants away, her hands peeled away the burnt flesh like the blackened outside of a marsh mellow being cooked over a fire.
The bloody skin fell from her hand and plunged into the darkness. She listened intently, she looked at her hands in silence. They glistened with wet red blood and she felt a rising scream echo from her throat. What is happening?
Stephanie sat up and instinctively swung outward with her arms. Her right hand hit the small heart rate monitor standing next to her, sending it clattering to the floor. It gave a loud mechanical smash while her other hand got tangled in a small IV tube leading to her right wrist. Fear welled up from her throat and she leaned over the side of her bed, she began to vomit all over the floor. It splattered in a thick puddle on the sterile white floor of the room she was in. She continued to throw up until she gave dry heaves, each heave sent a sharp stabbing pain from her lungs to her finger tips.
"Shes awake," called a nurse from her right side. Stephanie glanced over at the doorway where a middle aged, blond haired nurse called down the hallway. Stephanie fought off another wave of nausea, she bowed her head towards the floor in a vain attempt to stop the feeling from happening. It came again and Stephanie gagged until it felt like her heart would fly out and into the brownish orange pile on the floor next to her bed.
The nurse quickly walked over to her side and picked up a large metal pale shaped object. Stephanie grabbed it and gagged into the stainless steel pale. "I take it, your not feeling to great," said the women in a calm motherly sort of way. "That should pass. Its a side-effect of the treatment they gave you for your injuries."
Stephanie finished her most recent heave and looked up at the woman. Her blond hair was tightly behind her head in a bun, while her cat like green eyes looked down at Stephanie. Her face was one of general concern mixed with knowledge of how she was feeling. She wore the pale blue uniform nurses wore in the civilian medical centers, it was odd that she was in a civilian medical center. "Where-," she attempted to say. She stopped just as she started and grabbed her throat, it felt like large razor blades were lodged in the spongy muscle of her throat.
"Try not to speak. After being unconscious for as long as you have, you'll need to give your body a little bit to wake up." Explained the nurse in a matter of fact tone, "It'll just be a moment before Doctor Gerin arrives."
"Where...am...I?" Struggled Stephanie to say over the pain in her throat.
"Your at MASH Sixty One Delta nearly sixty miles from K'tinga city. You were brought here nearly eleven days ago and you've been unconscious the entire time."
The door on the far side of the room slid open and a man in his late sixties entered the room. His white lab coat swished behind him as he quickly entered the room. He looked down at her and then at the puddle on the floor. "I see you've already had your wake up sickness. That's good, it means your treatment is going well," he said straight to the point.
"What..happened to...me?"
He looked at her in a quizzical fashion. "Don't you remember?" Stephanie shook her head in reply to him. He leaned back on his heals and grabbed a small hand held computer from a nearby wall. He read it, then looked up at her with a slightly grim look on his face. "You took a charged plasma pistol blast to the upper chest. Both your arms, chest and a portion of your face were badly burned by the plasma. Thankfully, you were found fairly quickly by a marine recon team. They said it couldn't of been more then a day after you'd been shot. You were brought here and have received treatment, your chest and face have healed nicely. There's little or no scarring. But, your arms are only forty percent healed."
Stephanie looked down at her arms, they were covered in a thick white bandage that was stained red in random spots down her wrists. "How long till... their fully healed?"
"It shouldn't be more then two days," he said with a smile.
"Do we really have that kind of time doctor?" Said the nurse to the doctor in a grim tone.
He glared at her before speaking, "This isn't the time nurse Sanders."
"You heard the military announcement just like I did, they just took K'tinga and secured the star port. Its only a matter of time before-." She was cut off before she could finish what she was saying to the doctor.
"Thats enough nurse. Our patient just came out of a brief coma and she doesn't need to be rushed with our recent troubled events."
She bit her lip and nodded to the doctor. "I'm going to go check up on the evacuation of the west tents," she said quickly before exiting the room.
"Whats happening doctor?" Asked Stephanie, surprised that she managed to finish the sentence without gasping from pain.
He looked down at her with a frown across his face. He stepped over and placed the hand held computer back in its slot in the wall, "I'm sorry to say corporal. But K'tinga City fell today. The covenant have finally secured a clear landing zone for their Spirits to touch down safely. The Covenant have began invading the rest of the planet, since this hospital is so close to the front we're being evac'd to another MASH past the city of Hor'ish."
Stephanie looked around the empty room she and the doctor were in. There were eleven other beds besides the one she was occuping, she looked back up to the doctor. "When does the evacuation start? The nurse said we don't have much time, how much time do we actually have?"
His gaze looked downward and his mouth twisted into a frown, "We should be evacuating within the day. The latest recon reports from the outer perimeter marines stated that they encountered an advanced scouting party moving in this direction. That was nearly ten hours ago. The colonel wanted to play it safe, so he ordered an immediately evacuation of the MASH."
"Am I able to move?" She asked looking at her bandages.
"Well, you can move. Its just," He said looking at her arms as well. "You can't let your arms touch anything. Not only would it be excruciatingly painful but it could damage the exposed flesh and prevent it from healing properly."
Stephanie sat looking at the bloody bandages, the doctor stood in silence next to her bed. A floodgate of thoughts raced through Stephanie's mind. How long till the Covenant will arrive?Will I be evacuated before then?Would they leave patients behind just to save themselves?
Doctor Gerin looked down at her, his eyes locking with hers. "No matter what happens, we won't leave any of the patients behind. Regardless of what state there in."
She looked up at him with a grim smile, "I'm sure you won't leave anyone. Not if the Covenant get here first."
