This is War

'Lemon, Lemon' shouted a man 'Where is that good for nothing Doctor, I have an injured man here', the man was holding a young soldier. The young soldier was about twenty two years old, six foot and his hair was dark. 'Doctor' the man yelled again at the top of his voice, 'I'm here, place the lad on this bed here, I will be only a minute' Lemon replied. Lemon then disappeared leaving the injured young soldier in the arms of the other man. 'Will you hurry up Doctor this man has been shot', at the sound of the man's voice Lemon once again appeared, this time holding a few flasks of water and some bandage dressing. 'Well, Captain Roberts', Lemon said to the man stood by the young soldiers bed, 'I heard I'm good for nothing' he said sarcastically, while tearing the young soldiers trousers to get a better look at the wound on his thigh. 'I will remember that the next time you limb into my hospital' this comment caused a tut from Captain Robert, who soon realised that he was not welcome and left, leaving the Doctor with the injured soldier. 'Doctor' he murmured while wincing at the pain, lemon glanced at the boy and answered 'Yes', 'How bad is it', he asked with a hint of sadness in his voice. Lemon did not answer but continued his examination of the wound, 'Aha' Lemon said with a small nod of his head, he then stuck two fingers into the wound and pulled out the bullet 'Got you' he said triumphantly, while flushing out the wound, completely ignoring the young soldier who was screaming in pain, Lemon then quickly dressed the wound, placed his hand firmly on the boys shoulder 'Right, all done, so what's your name anyway', the boy, once he had calmed down replied, 'Second Lieutenant Lundie, sir', 'Well, Lundie I will be back later once I have treated my other patients', without waiting for an response Lemon walked to another bed, and started treating an older man with a bandage on his shoulder.

Mid-day, had once again arrived on the battle field of the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the mud covered environment was hell to those who spent their days fighting and when a bullet finally struck them down, they had a clean, friendly field hospital to arrive to. This hospital was expertly run by Dr. Lemon, and over the three months he had worked there, the death rate had dropped substantially. 'Dr. Lemon, you should go for something to eat with me, being a Doctor you should know to keep your strength up', Lemon turned his attention from making one of the beds up and turned to look at the owner of the voice, 'Well' he considered while checking his pocket watch which he kept in his trouser pocket, 'it is mid-day, and I could do with a small thing to eat … why not' he announced 'I will just inform Fredrick of our plans, I will meet you there', the two men then nodded in agreement with each other and set off to do their tasks. As Lemon walked through, the hard wood door into, a small room with a few tattered seats, he barley greeted his colleagues, for Lemon made a small vow on the day of his arrival not to see any of the men he met as friends, for their loss would then be too hard to handle. Lemon took his place on his usual chair in the corner of the room, as it was the only chair that allowed him to see everyone present. 'So, Lemon' a plump gentleman said, 'How long have you been here now, Well, that's if you remember the war affects us all in different ways' followed the man, Lemon gave a fake chuckle 'Fredrick, you of all people should know that, wasn't it only yesterday that you cleared us of our entire stock of gin', this comment from Lemon, sent a whole-hearted laugh rippling through the hospital, 'I recall some of the brandy gone as well' added a small man who was sat on the floor. The laughter seemed to annoy Fredrick, so with a simple raise of his hand he immediately muted the room and left it in silence 'I better answer your question' Lemon said to break the silence 'I have been present for 106 days', this left confusion among the group until the small men finally gave the answer he knew the others would understand, 'That's three months and two weeks'. At that note Lemon then stood up, said his goodbyes and exclaimed that he was to go and check on his patients.

Back in the Hospital, Lemon felt he would visit the young soldier Second Lieutenant Lundie first. He had been in the hospital for two weeks and although he had suffered from several fevers and a mild infection, lemon was successful in bringing him back up to full health, now Lundie sat on his bed with the biggest smile seen for months in the hospital. 'Hello, how are you feeling' asked lemon, 'great thanks, I'm guessing I will have to return to the war again, out there' he said softly while pointing a bony finger in the direction of the battle. 'Yes, I have set the date for tomorrow, thought you might like a good meal and nights rest before you go back', Lemon said thoughtfully. 'Why thank you sir, I honour you for your kindnesses', this brought Lemon to laugh slightly as he had never heard that said about him before 'Well for your sake, I believe you should honour me for my abilities to treat the wounded', this was followed by many nods of the head from Lundie. 'Lemon, do you know how to fight', Lundie only asked this of Lemon as a matter of curiosity, but it caused many old memories of the days he spent with Sargent Kennedy, 'Fight no, but shoot yes, Sargent Kennedy, he was the man who taught me to shoot, once said I was the best he had seen' proclaimed Lemon, 'With a shot like that you would make an excellent marksman, and may I ask Doctor, you are a man of status, so why do you still call that man by his status' wondered Lundie 'Well' lemon replied 'It is because I feel that man is still a lot greater than I am and could probably ever be, also I feel that the Sargent is a man that deserves great respect'. The two men then politly nodded to each other and parted.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, rang the alarm that immediately woke lemon from his sleep; he jumped from his bed pulled on his jacket and took his trusty service revolver from under his pillow. Fully loaded he firmly held his gun, it was his only protection, for the alarm meant that the defences had been broken and the hospital is under attack. Lemon held his gun up and ran down the corridor; knocking on each door he passed to make sure its inhabitant was awake. He then ran into the hospital, the alarm had only been ringing for a few minutes but the invasion was already clear, some of Lemons patients had been shot, beds, cupboards and screens had been overturned. Lemon charged into the room shooting at any unknown soldier he could see, but unlike other soldiers fighting alongside he did not stop to fight he continued running through the hospital for their was one person he needed to see. Dodging bullets and firing his revolver everywhere Lemon ran until he reached the bed of Second Lieutenant Lundie, before he could stop him however Lundie was already holding a gun to his head and was preparing to take his own life. Lemon could not let this happen, he had helped him, cured him and although he had only been a patient at his hospital, Lemon felt he was his friend. Lemon without thinking ran to his friend, he ran and pulled down firmly on his hand, removing the gun from his head. BANG, the gun fired, the bullet flew down and struck its target, Lundie's foot. Lundie crippled in pain and fell to the floor, with shots firing everywhere Lemon had to move. He picked up Lundie and his service revolver; he had to get out of there. Running as fast as he could firing shots at enemy soldiers he ran to the small room were the men ate their dinner. He then laid Lundie on the floor with his back against a chair and ran out to fight for his hospital once again.

Looking at the hospital now it would be hard to believe this was once a clean place, dust was floating in the air, obscuring the view of the soldiers. Chunks of furniture were scattered everywhere meaning that movement was kept to a minimum. The once white sheets were stained grey or red with blood, the white washed walls, were no longer their colour. Lemon was shocked, but nevertheless he had to fight. Lemons instinct kicked in, he ran and ducked behind a table, re loaded his revolver, he had only six shots left, the enemy unfortuantly had more and as Lemon is a Doctor he didn't often carry much ammunition. Lemon then fired his shots, all six perfectly on target killing its receiver. Something hit Lemon; it was like his 'bad days' back at Cambridge University, he sprung up from his hiding place and ran out into the battle, throwing left and right hooks at anybody that was close enough, each shot knocking the enemy to the floor. Fredrick stopped amazed at the scene, the quite harmless doctor, was a strong fearless man. He seemed invisible fighting to the bitter end, many had fired shots at him but all had missed there target. Lemon then turned, facing him was a huge man, he was bald, strong and had his small beady eyes fixed on the ambitious Doctor. Lemon however never believed he would ever meet his match, so he courageously attacked the man, who was swift to pull out his gun and shoot Lemon in the shoulder. His whole upper body seemed to fall away, his arm fall from his body, as he hit the floor he Doctor blacked out. His head was bleeding from the fall, his shoulder from the bullet wound. Lemon had been beaten.