Part 9: The Remedy

"Come on Abby." Carter said waking her up.

"Huh, what," she said sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"We need to take out another round of immunizations that came in." Carter said to her.

"What time is it?" Abby asked.

"It's a little after 6 am." Carter said to her, "they came in last night and we need to take them out today."

"Okay." She said.

"Come on I need a nurse to come with me." He said.

"Carter I am coming I said." She pulled herself out of bed.

"We are leaving in 15 minutes. Make sure you are outside. And just pack a light bag we might be gone for a couple of days." John said to her.

Abby got up and packed a change of clothes. She had only put in there what she would think she needed, but she also threw in an extra tourniquet and three epi pens. She didn't want to get stuck somewhere with out at least that if there was an emergency.

Abby watched the countryside and they drove to where they would be doing the clinic. She glanced over at John. He was looking out the window. She was across from Gillian. She came along to help Luka at the small Clinic that was there. They pulled up. Luka came walking up there was already a line of people there. She was amazed with the number of people that they would be able to save with just a simple vaccine. But she remembered here, that this wasn't just a simple thing.

Abby helped with the vaccinations when they were done, she saw Luka sitting by a tree. She walked over and sat down next to him. "Long day?" She asked.

"Not really."

"Is the fighting close," Abby saw the smoke rising from the other side of the river.

"Yeah," Luka said, "it's just a couple of miles away if that."

"You did a lot of good today." She said to him.

"Yeah back at county when do you get the chance to do this, are you glad you came?"

"Yeah Luka I am." She said smiling at him.

"Even though Carter won't admit to anyone. I think he's glad that you came as well."

"Luka that you might be wrong on." She said to him. "I don't think he wants me here."

"Don't sell Carter short Abby." Luka said as he looked back over the river.

Abby sat there in silence for a few minutes when Carter walked over to them.

"Hey there." Carter said.

"Hey yourself." Abby said.

"Is this crate taken?"

"It is now." Abby said to him as she moved her feet.

"Thanks," He said. "Looks like the fighting is moving this way."

Luka was still staring across the river. "Yeah it is. But I think we'll be okay they usually don't come this way."

"Will we be safe?" Abby asked, her voice cracking a little.

"Yeah we will." Carter said putting his arm around her. "I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

"I'm going to go." Luka said getting up and leaving Carter and Abby sitting there.

"I know you wouldn't." She said, 'but you can't prevent everything Carter."

They sat there in silence for a while. And watched the sun go down.

Later that night Abby was lying in bed when she heard music playing. She got up and walked out. She was surprised to see Luka and Gillian dancing on the porch of the clinic. She stood there watching when she felt someone's arms go around her back.

"Hi there." She said to him.

"Hi," Carter replied back.

"Luka looks so happy with Gillian." Abby said, "I haven't seen him that happy in a long time."

"Yeah he sure does," Carter said. There was an explosion in the background. It stunned the two of them. Abby saw Luka hit the ground and cover Gillian's head with his arm.

"Carter, get her down."

Abby stood there she had never seen this before. She was so scared so couldn't move. The fighting had gotten so close. In was right on top of them. She felt Carter grab her arm.

"Get down Abby." He said tugging her to the ground. She saw the fear in his eyes as he covered her body with his.

A woman came running up to them with a screaming child that had been hit by the fighting. Abby pushed Carter off of her and ran over to the woman, she grabbed the child from the woman and ran into the clinic as fast as she could. She laid the child down on the table. Luka and Carter were right by her side. Abby had an IV started before either of them could say anything to her. She didn't want this child to die. She worked faster than she had ever worked in her life. She helped Carter the best that she could.

"The fighting is getting to close Luka we need to get out of here now." Gillian said.

"We can't move her yet." Luka said.

"We have to go Luka, now." She said, Abby could tell from Gillian's voice that she was getting nervous with how close the fighting was.

"In a minute, I can't move her yet." He said.

Abby watched as they amputated the young girls leg. Then Luka scooped her up as the headed out they all moved thru the jungle heading to the old mission where they would be away from the fighting. They sat down huddled against the trees. The shelling had started to die down. Carter hugged Abby tightly to him. He was glad that she was okay. She had scared him standing up in the middle of all the firing.

"Thank god you are okay." He said to her.

"I'm with you." Was all she could say Abby had never been that scared in her life? She had never been near an actual war and that had come to close for comfort. She noticed that Gillian was in Luka's arms. It must have scared him as much as it much as it did Carter to have them there.

When the shelling had stopped they all headed back to where the clinic was. Everything was a wreck. Things had been strewn everywhere and bodies lay scattered across the ground. In places the ground was blood stained bright red. It broke Abby's heart to see that man could do this to each other.

"Carter I need your help. This one is still alive." Luka called out.

Carter went over to help Luka. The man had been shot. They took him inside and did what they could to fix him up.

They spent three more days at the clinic before they received word that the roads were open to head back to the main hospital.

They had just gotten the last of the patients loaded up to take back, when a group of guerilla soldiers pulled up. To the clinic. Carter pulled his ID out of his shirt so that they could see it. Abby followed his lead. They started to poke around. It made Abby scared to have these men standing so close to them with their guns drawn. She stood as close to Carter as she could. Luka was talking to them. He was the only one of them who knew any French.

They were all forced down onto their knees at gunpoint. Abby was extremely scared. She didn't know what they were going to do. She felt the gun to the back of her head. She closed her eyes and fought to keep it together. She could hear the men talking and the voices escalating. She knew that they had found the soldier that Carter and Luka had patched up. They didn't seem happy about it. It had made all of them more agitated. Abby opened her eyes and saw Carter next to her. She could see the fear in his eyes. The more then men talked the more scared she got.

They were standing next to Carter talking. Abby was scared she saw them point the gun right at Carter's temple. She was praying as hard as she could. Please dear god; please don't let them kill him. Abby watched as the men moved away from Carter. One of them was standing in front of her, another in front of Luka. She couldn't see him the sun was in her eyes. She couldn't see Carter either. She was about to lose it. Here was a man with gun standing in front of her. She felt the cold steel of the handgun pressed against her temple. She said a quick prayer hoping that if they pulled the trigger she would feel no pain.

The guerilla took a few steps back away from her. She could hear him yelling now. They were once again extremely upset. She wished that she had taken that French class after all. Luka was still trying to reason with them. Abby heard the gun go off. And she felt someone fall on top of her pushing her to the ground. She heard more talking and then she could hear the men driving off. She opened her eyes a little. She still couldn't see anything. Whoever had fallen on top of her wasn't getting up. She didn't know if it was safe to get up yet. She turned her head to see that Gillian was getting up off the ground. Abby moved to role over. She couldn't see Carter anywhere. Blood covered her hands. It was running down her arm. She realized that it was coming from the person who was on top of her.

"Oh God." She heard Gillian.

Abby saw her moving towards her.

"Luka help." Gillian screamed.

She felt them pulling the person on top of her off. Abby was covered in blood. She looked to see who had fallen on her. Abby let out a blood-curdling scream. Carter had jumped between Abby and the gunman. It was his blood that was all over her.