I know absolutely nothing about medicine. Only what I got from the movie Saving Private Ryan.
I'm sorry if anyone is offended by my lack of knowledge…
"Lewis!"
Reiben's voice echoed from the left of the field, and mixed with Mellish's surprised shout.
"Wade get her back!" yelled Miller running up and motioning to the squad to give him cover.
Just as he did so, Jackson's rifle popped three times killing four men behind the machine gun. Reiben ran in and slid to a stop next to Wade and Harper. He fired his B.A.R toward the hill while at the same time helping Wade pull Harper, who was still hanging onto life, back. Miller joined them and together they successfully managed to get behind a low hill.
Once there, Wade immediately got to work assessing the damage to his squad member. Without a seconds hesitation, he ripped her field jacket open and was down to her olive green t-shirt before he realized he wasn't dealing with a man. He stopped suddenly and looked for the wounds. He couldn't see them with her shirt on. He slowly began lifting it up, searching her stomach for wounds. Wade had done this on hundreds, no thousands of men, but never on a woman.
His face started flushing, though no one could see it under all the dirt and grime, but Reiben noticed his hesitation.
"You can apologize for seeing her boobs after you save her, Wade!" Reiben shouted firing wildly at the machine gun.
Wade shook his head, internally scolding himself for being embarrassed. He was a doctor after all. He quickly and efficiently ripped Harper's shirt up the center exposing two bullet wounds on her lower stomach. One looked like it was going right through her hip bone and the other was in the fleshy part of her side. Wade took a quick sigh of relief. They were lucky those two hadn't hit anything important.
He scanned up across the rest of her body and noticed blood pouring out of her right shoulder. He judged that was a flesh wound and he would worry about it later. For now he had to get the bullets out of her stomach.
"I need the extra medi-kit!" Wade shouted to anyone who was listening.
"That little prick Upchuck wont come up that hill!" yelled Mellish. "He's too damn chicken!"
"We have to kill those damn Krauts first!" yelled Horvath firing off a round killing one of the Germans.
Suddenly out of nowhere an explosion rocked the hillside. Wade and Reiben threw themselves over Harper at the same time, shielding her from falling debris.
"Was that you bumpkin?" Reiben yelled toward the hill the sharpshooter was behind.
"You bet your ass it was!" yelled an ecstatic Mellish.
When the rocks and German body parts finished falling, Wade popped up and immediately got to work getting the bullets out.
"UPHAM! Get your ass up here!" yelled Miller putting his gun down and going to assist Wade in any way he could.
Jackson galloped down his hill and dropped to his knees by Harper's side. They could all see tears struggling to get free of his eyes.
"How can I help?" he asked letting his eyes roam over Harper's now trembling form.
"Where's the extra medi-kit!" shouted Wade, ignoring Jackson's question.
"I'm here!" panted Upham running up to the group that had now formed around Harper.
Wade snatched it and opened it pulling out septic powder and really long tweezers.
"Canteen," he said and was immediately offered four different water holders.
"Jackson, get her head. Reiben, Mellish hold her arms. This is going to hurt. Sarge, try to elevate her legs. Captain, I'm going to need you're help. Hold her bone while I try to get the bullet out…"
Everyone took their positions before Wade began to work. Miller put one hand firmly on either side of the bullet wound in Harper's hip bone. Wade began to wash the extra blood away so he would see the wound. As soon as he could see the bullet, Wade handed the septic powder to Jackson and instructed him to pour it on as soon as the bullet came out. Jackson didn't look like he had heard any of what Wade had said.
"Jackson! Now is not the time to zone out! I need you here with us right now. Harper needs you," said Wade glaring at the sharpshooter.
Jackson nodded and held the powder ready. Wade took a quick breath though he was suddenly afraid he wouldn't be able to save Harper. Fear quickly washed over him, but he pushed it out of his mind for the time being.
He glanced up at Reiben then Mellish who were holding Harper's arms firmly. They both nodded and Wade wasted no time in diving into the bullet wound with the huge pair of tweezers. The previously unconscious Harper screamed and almost sat up.
"Hold her!" shouted Wade continuing to dig for the bullet.
Before Reiben or Mellish could adjust their grip's however Harper began clawing at Wade's hands.
"NO stop! Please Wade!" Harper shrieked, but Wade had heard these same pleas from other soldiers undergoing far worse than her so he felt no pity.
"Hold her damn it!" Wade yelled to Reiben and Mellish.
The privates put moved their hands to Harper's shoulders and wrists successfully holding her down. For a few minutes anyway. Miller held Harper's hip bone steady so Wade didn't have to wrestle with Harper.
Harper continued to fight the five men, but it was useless. Their strength combined with her amount of blood loss was making her unusually easy to control.
After what seemed like hours, Wade pulled the bloody bullet out of Harper's bone and nodded to Jackson. He poured septic powder into the bloody hole making Harper's now soft whining turn into a bloodcurdling scream.
"Hold her," Wade cautioned. "I've been told that feels like taking a bath in lemon juice right after getting a thousand paper cuts all over you body."
Wade's description made Upham's skin crawl.
"Wade, is she going to be alright?" asked Upham staring wide eyed at all the blood.
"She will be fine!" said Jackson before Wade could answer.
Everyone glanced at him. He was never worried, and when he was, he never sounded frantic, but that's all any of them could describe his voice as.
Wade was the only one who hadn't looked at Jackson. He was in the process of pulling the second bullet out of her stomach. The 19 year old private was screaming as tears poured out of her tightly squeezed eyes.
"She will be fine if I can get her stable," said Wade pulling out bandages and packing the bullet holes with septic powder and gauze.
"Well is she…" but Upham was cut off by Reiben.
"Oh will you shut up Upchuck? Let the doc work!"
"As long as nothing gets infected, Harper should be fine," said Wade finishing with the last bullet that had lodged itself in her shoulder.
Everyone looked relieved as Wade stabbed Harper's leg with morphine and finished wrapping her shoulder.
"We are going to have to take it easy for a while, sir," said Wade to Miller.
Miller nodded and said, "We will stay here for awhile until Lewis is better."
Wade nodded approvingly and Miller let his eyes wander to the rest of the squad. Jackson was the first to catch his eye. The sniper was showing more emotion than he had ever shown before. But then everyone was. Miller was glad Harper hadn't died. If she had, he didn't know how many of the men would continue with this mission. He didn't know how many of them would still have faith in his decisions as it was.
