The 4077th was in a crossfire.
The fact that ICORPS and the fire direction centre knew it, notwithstanding, the 4077th was in a crossfire, and likely to remain so for some time to come. Colonel Potter had endeavored to find someone on the other end of the phone that had the authority and the common sense to redirect the shooting, and still the 4077th was stuck in a crossfire. The only option was to bug out, but it was too dangerous to bug out properly with the war coming at them from every direction. Potter called the senior staff to a meeting in the mess tent to discuss alternatives.
Captain Lloyd leaned close over the body of corporal Havers, shaking her head in concern. The boy looked no older than Radar, and he had been sent to a frontline unit where the chance of survival wasn't terribly encouraging. He had been so badly hurt, she had had him on the table for almost an hour, whilst the nurse monitoring life-signs grew increasingly worried.
With the camp being packed up around her in preparation for moving out, she was extremely worried about him. He was so young!
His life-signs were barely registering, and he needed to be monitored every second. He had stopped breathing once already, even with the assistance of extra oxygen. He gone into cardiac arrest twice since coming out of surgery. He was still alive, but, as the saying went, hanging by a thread.
So concerned was she for her patient, that when the Colonel patted her shoulder a little while ago and informed her about the senior staff meeting, she had felt unable to leave his side.
"Nurse Able can sit with him for you, Captain." Potter had told her gently; but Kerry's heart melted at the thought of leaving a nurse to deal with the Corporal without a doctor's immediate assistance if he should go into cardiac arrest again. True the nurses all knew their jobs well, but… Potter nodded his head in understanding. So far, Captain Lloyd had been fortunate, in that the few weeks she had been here in Korea, she had not lost a single patient. She had had a few scary moments, true. Once or twice she had had a patient go into cardiac arrest right there on the table, causing her to temporarily abandon the operation and all but dance on the solder's chest to get an output…any output. The first time that had happened, had been the first time her colleagues had come anywhere close to seeing her lose her composure. Both of those patients had recovered well, and had been sent home. This young man had been fighting hard all the way through. Potter knew, and in his heart, he doubted that the boy had much of a chance. He had been so badly hurt, and the damage had been so bad that he ought to have died right there on the battlefield. Only a combination of his own stubbornness, and Lloyd's expertise had got him this far. Young Kerry had virtually carried him this far. She was determined to stick with him right to the end…whichever it turned out to be. The meeting went ahead without her.
It was nurse Houlihan who informed her of the decision that had been made in her absence. Kerry raised her eyebrows.
"A cave? I imagine we know that this cave will be large enough to house the entire staff plus all the patients and food and equipment?"
Margaret nodded.
"Yes, we think so. It'll be a bit tight, but we'll manage. It's been used for a similar purpose before apparently, so it's well tested. Will you need any special preparations for your patient, doctor?"
Kerry shook her head.
"Technically no, but he needs very close monitoring every second. I didn't want to burden any of your nurses with it at this point Major, but now that the other doctors are close by, would you mind taking my place here for just five minutes whilst I go to the latrine?"
Margaret smiled.
"Of course. Go ahead."
Kerry wasted no time hurrying to the latrines, and then grabbed her cousin's arm as he hurried across the compound in the direction of the hospital. She dragged him into the shadow of the latrine and hissed at him.
"Hawk?"
"What's the matter?"
"A cave, Hawkeye? Did you seriously agree to go hide in a cave?"
He shrugged.
"I was outnumbered Kiwi, what could I do? Throw a bucket of ice-cold water on the whole idea just because of my stupid irrational fear?"
She frowned.
"Hawk, you are as much a member of this camp as anyone else, no less important than any of them. You should at least let them know about…"
Hawkeye quickly grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth.
"Sssshhh! Don't tell them, Kerry, please. I can handle it."
Her expression made it clear what she thought about that. He softened slightly.
"Look, I know, I know, and thank you for caring; but there is really nothing else we can do, and it's certainly too dangerous to stay around here. I'll just have to wing it."
"I still think you should tell the Colonel."
"I know…I know…I will if I have to, but I think I can handle it…Kerry, promise you'll tell nobody about my claustrophobia?"
Slightly more than an hour later, Captain Lloyd was still crouched close beside her patient, right at the rear of the cave. As she was determined to give the young corporal the care he needed for as long as she could, she had volunteered to watch the other critical patients at the same time. Therefore, she was perched on a small stool, surrounded by four critical patients. Father Mulcahy saw her white, set face and knelt on the floor beside her.
"How are you doing, Captain?" He asked her in his kind, gentle voice. She glanced swiftly around the cave before giving him half a grin.
"Fine…father, would you do me a favour? Could you lay your hand on a glass of water? I'm so dry…"
He nodded eagerly.
"Of course."
His return was slightly delayed. He apologized sweetly.
"Here's the water you asked for Captain, and a mug of tea…well, half a mug anyway. Hawkeye's taken sentry duty at the cave entrance."
Karry looked round.
"Thanks father. Sentry duty eh? Sounds rather dangerous, though I guess someone ought to do it."
Mulcahy nodded.
"Being his cousin, I imagine you already knew about his claustrophobia?"
Kerry leaned forward, depressing the sphygmomanometer, checking the blood pressure of her patients in turn. Once done, she sat back and sighed slightly.
"Yes, I knew about his claustrophobia. I was the one that caused it."
"You did?" Mulcahy's astonishment was clear. "When?"
"We were about four years old. We were playing games in my house. We had a small wooden cupboard on the upstairs landing, where we used to store all our coats and shoes. We were playing hide and seek, and he climbed into the cupboard to hide, leaving the door open. I looked inside for him, but I didn't see him, because he had put on a long coat and a pair of my wellies…so I closed the door and locked it without realizing I had locked him in."
"How long was he in there?"
"Must have been almost half an hour. I felt really guilty about that. I said I was sorry, but he never wanted to play hide and seek again. Not indoors anyway. I decided I had scarred him for life."
"He was obviously very good at hiding."
Kerry nodded.
"He was always the best…"
Two hours later, she was starting to nod. She had not had chance to sleep for more than a day. She felt someone prod her knee. She looked up. Winchester was bending over one of her patients, listening to the chest through his stethoscope.
"You need rest Captain." He said blandly and in a tone that indicated he would brook no argument. "There's a blanket and a pillow over there for your use if you want them. I'll take over here for a bit."
She opened her mouth to argue, but Father Mulcahy got there first.
"You won't help your patients by becoming overly exhausted, Captain." He reminded her mildly. Kerry nodded.
"Thank you, Charles."
She got up tiredly and stepped across to the one clear space at the side of the cave where the senior staff had been taking turns to nap. Winchester watched as she moved away, for a moment, seemingly mesmerized. Then he gave a small smile and blinked.
"No, thank you Kerry." He murmured under his breath, turning away deliberately to focus on the four critical patients. "Thank you."
Captain Lloyd slept solidly for two hours before she was awakened by a slightly harassed looking nurse.
"Doctor…the major…your patient, Corporal Havers…"
She leapt to her feet and dashed across where she found Winchester and Colonel Potter working hard on the young man. She itched to take over, but the two doctors knew their job well…had been doing it in these conditions far longer than she had…she knelt by the boy's head.
"Come on Havers, fight!"
Winchester panted.
"Anything, Colonel?"
"Still nothing. Time nurse?"
He glanced round and noticed Kerry for the first time.
"I'm sorry, Captain, but we've lost him."
"No! Charles! Colonel, we have to keep trying…he did it before! He can fight back again…Colonel please…"
Potter looked almost as devastated as she felt. He shook his head.
"I'm sorry my dear. You did everything you could and then some. Sometimes we just have to try and remember that we are doctors, not magicians. Sometimes the damage is just too great."
"No!"
She leapt to her feet and was caught in a strong embrace by Charles Winchester. He held her gently in a reassuring embrace.
"Where's Hawkeye?" She asked, her voice muffled.
"Hawkeye and Margaret have had to return to the camp…an urgent surgery case."
Hawkeye was not there. Hawkeye was not there to give her support or reassurance. Not there to be the big brother figure he had always been for her. She was on her own. She pulled away from Winchester and rubbed her eyes with her hand. He directed her to sit on the stool and stood hovering over her. He seemed genuinely worried about her.
"Captain, are you alright?"
"I was so sure I could pull him through…"
Charles nodded.
"If anyone could have, Captain, you could. The Colonel glanced at his watch.
"Major, will you stay with the Captain for a while? Make sure she is alright?"
"With very great pleasure, Colonel."
Potter hurried away, and Charles sat himself on the floor with his back against the wall. He watched the new captain in some concern. He had been watching her from afar for some time. Despite his initial misgivings, he had concluded that she was an outstanding doctor. Circumstances had been kind to her, for in the five weeks she had been at the 4077th, she had enjoyed a one hundred percent survival rate. He suspected that she was very much like her cousin Hawkeye. The kind of person who resented death, and would fight it to her last breath. What had made it harder this time was that before being put under for his operation, young corporal Havers had been conscious. He had asked her if he was going to be alright? I'll do everything I can, Kerry had promised the boy. Well she had, but in the end, he had simply been too badly injured.
He saw her, pale, almost grey face staring at the still form, now covered with his sheet, and suddenly, with a burst of insight, Charles knew what was coming next. He grabbed a kidney bowl and leapt forward as Kerry suddenly heaved and vomited. Charles crouched low beside her, one arm around her back for reassurance, holding the bowl for her as steady as a rock until she was through. Nurse Kellye moved silently from behind and took the bowl of vomit from him as Kerry started to weep silently. Charles held her close, suspecting that there was more here than the loss of a single patient, but not knowing anything for certain. Kerry buried her face in Wnchester's ample and comforting chest feeling his arms holding her protectively, and somehow felt safe. Her tears became freer, less strained and awkward, until she managed to quash them altogether. She pulled away and smiled shyly.
"As a stand-in for Hawkeye, you did pretty well, Charles." She said in a soft voice. "Thank you."
Not knowing what to say, Charles simply nodded.
By the time Hawkeye Pierce and Magaret Houlihan had woken up, they found the rest of the camp had returned, and life had just about returned to normal whilst they had slept. Charles had taken Hawkeye aside and spoken confidentially to him. Hawkeye had given Charles an odd look, which Charles could not quite fathom, thanked him and hurried off to find his cousin. He found her in the mess tent, cradling a mug of coffee. He grabbed one for himself and sat beside her.
"Sorry about Corporal Havers."
Kerry grunted.
"You've worked the emergency rooms, and theatres before coming here. You know as much about death as anyone."
"Doesn't mean I have to accept it."
"I know the feeling."
They sipped their coffees in unison, then Hawkeye spoke again.
"Colonel Potter tells me I will wind up at the funny farm if I don't start to ease up and stop taking death so personally."
Kerry looked round at her cousin, her eyes blazing.
"Funny farm or not Hawkeye, if death comes near me, I'll pull his arms off!"
Hawkeye let out a snort of laughter, which after a minute Kerry mirrored.
"I wish I could promise you that it gets easier. All I can promise is that he won't be the last. Just remember…"
Kerry nodded.
"I know, I know. Pulling his arms off wouldn't be polite. This coffee tastes like old Mrs Pearson's treacle. How about some of the good stuff? Got any left?"
Hawkeye's face broke into a smile, and he nodded.
"Come on, it's on the house." They got up and headed for the door.
"By the way Kiwi…you do know that Winchester's fallen in love with you, don't you?"
