Chapter 7: Death Toll


Winry gasped as blood splattered all over her, the patient was deathly still. Her stomach lurched, but the need for action not emotion had to prevail. Shouting orders to the nurses she tried desperately to save his life. "Doctor...should I call it?"

Winrys head snapped in the nurse's direction, "NO!" she took a deep breath calming herself, "No, please I can still save him." It was the same line over and over again. She could not say it, nor would she stand to hear it. No, no one would die in front of her.

A gentle hand touched her shoulder, "Please doctor there is nothing more you can do for him...he has lost too much blood."

Winry chocked out a sob, the little boy lying on the operating table couldn't be any older than 9 or 10 years old. She stared at his lifeless body until her body could no longer take it. Grabbing the nearest towel she started to furiously wipe the blood off her body. The tears wouldn't stop coming as she strained to get a grip on reality. The next second she was on the ground in a heap her body racked with tears of despair, his blood still covering her hands. She hardly noticed the nurse sitting next to her trying to calm her until someone else approached them.

A veteran doctor had seen the whole thing, he watched as the young blonde doctor fell to her knees in a wake of hysteria. He had seen it happen time and time again. How could the human mind be asked to witness such horrors? There was nothing that could prepare anyone to handle these situations, yet they had to. They didn't have the leisure of time to waste crying over the ones they couldn't save, every moment was another second in which another life could be saved. He grabbed the girl's shoulders firmly and shook her. "SNAP OUT OF IT! Doctor Rockbell you are one of the head doctors, pull it together. In the time you just wasted crying you could have saved someone else." He knew his words were harsh, but this was no time for coddling. This scene was all too familiar as he had been through it the first week he had arrived. The only way to combat such an emotional breakdown was with harsh reality.

Winry slowly stood up and dried her tears, as she strained to regain her composure. She looked at the older doctor, "I apologize...thank you." With that she grabbed the charts from the nurse and began to prep for her next surgery. It was weird how time flew not by the second but by the hour. One hour she was amputating a limb, the next she was performing open heart surgery. She racked her brain as she preformed numerous surgeries; all of their faces seemed to blend together.

Reports from the front were not promising; the last that they had heard was that the medic team at South City had stayed longer in an effort to assist the soldiers as well as the small percentage of citizens who were still trapped in parts of the city. Ed held his breath as he read over the list of deceased, but her name was nowhere to be found. Al looked anxiously at his brother, "So what has happened?"

Ed finally looked up from the newspaper, "She's not on there Al, but the city is still under siege. It's been about a week now; I'm not sure how long the emergency medic team will be staffed there." In that one week their army had taken the lead, now the only real battle sight was in South City.

Winry shivered in the cold night breeze as she tried to catch some sleep before her morning shift. Sleeping out there was impossible; it was like falling asleep in midair. She couldn't close her eyes for fear that she would hit the ground before she woke. The constant state of alertness had taken its toll, she was extremely thin and her skin was pale with fatigue. Exhaustion was a constant state of being therefore she really didn't see it as a problem, merely an annoyance. The gunfire was getting closer and closer each night. Part of her worried about the fact that they were getting closer to the fighting while the other half concerned itself on matters of the heart. A soldier the day before had shown her a picture of his wife and son as he was being prepped for surgery. He had begged her to save him if only so he could see his wife and son again. Her heart broke, but not only for this man and his family, but for the family she feared she would never see. Questions clouded her mind as she went through her day, will I ever marry, have kids? Ed...how could she forget him, the man who had stolen her heart so long ago. Would she ever see him again? Had her luck run out on her?

Supplies were short; shipments to their station were being stolen by the enemy's forces. If they could not get in a shipment before the next day she feared they would not be able to operate at all. The worst news however was to come in the afternoon.

"RETREAT!! RETREAT!!"

Winry looked around in confusion as the man ran through the station, "Hold on soldier what has happened?"

His voice was hysteric, "They're on their way, they have taken down the last of our men with poison gas. Everyman for themselves."

Winry stood her feet planted firmly on the ground her mind racing, "Quickly start loading up the men who cannot walk into the jeeps. Those who can walk start moving towards the nearby station." If that man was telling the truth, she knew it was only a matter of time before the enemy's forces would find their way to the station.

The sound of gun shots rang out feet from where she stood, the ground trembled. Winry's mind flashed back to Ed's face her voice barely escaped her lips as she felt a gun barrel push into her back, "I'm sorry, I don't think I will make it home."

The enemy had taken South City.


Sorry these are all starting to sound the same

as ALWAYS Ill try to fix it later

most likely when Im done

not sure when that will be

Amy