Chapter 6: Hope
A tank had smashed through the gates of the hospital and entered into the courtyard.
Initially, the hospital crew panicked. They knew fighting was occurring in the city but thought they still had time to evacuate. However, they were confused that it was not a Pravda tank. It was a Panzer IV.
It pulled up along the side of the main entrance and Miho jumped out.
"I need a doctor ASAP!" She called out as Erwin was taking Yukari out of the tank.
"W-Wha-" Yukari called out weakly, "What's going on?"
"We are getting you help." Erwin reassured her.
Miho ran into the reception with her MP40 and pointed it at the staff.
"Hands up or I'll shoot you in the fucking face!"
The staff raised their hands and were motionless.
"If she dies then you die." Miho told them as she motioned to the tank outside.
Moments later a hospital bed was wheeled out and Yukari was placed into it.
Miho ran to the Panzer IV and checked up on Mako.
"Reizie-san you good to go?" She asked as she popped her head inside.
"Ye-Yeah. Give me a moment." She called out weakly, "You go save Yukari. I take it Saori didn't make it?"
"No." Miho told her, "She didn't even know what killed her. It was that quick."
"Well, that's good to hear." She told her, "Now go!"
Miho ran back inside the hospital and into the lift as Yukari was taken up.
The doctors and nurses were running around franticly. Casualties from the battle were being taken there. There was the smell of blood and fire as the papers were being burnt.
Yukari and Erwin were desperately looking for doctors to help, but they received no attention. They stood there as Yukari was barely conscious in the hospital bed.
A man was spotted walking out of a room. He had a red cross armband on the sleeve of his green coat. His rank slides showed he was the rank of Obersturmbannführer. Clearly, he was a bald, SS man.
"Mr..!" Miho called out to him timidly.
"Miss Nishizumi?" He asked as he turned around, "What are you doing here?"
Miho tensed up. She was one of the top aces at Kuromorimine, so it would be obvious that people knew her. However, that was back then. Now she was their enemy.
"We are here to help our friend." He looked at Yukari in the bed. "Can you get a doctor to operate on her?"
He looked frustrated.
"I have to get medication here." He told her in a hushed tone, "This place is going to be overrun, and we have a makeshift hospital at the bunker."
"She'll be dead by then." Miho told him.
"Then you might as well cut your losses."
"Please!" She pleaded with him as he was trying to leave, "I could win the tournament but I'm here instead."
He paused before he nodded.
"Alright, your mother helped fund my medical training after all."
Erwin looked at the lightning bolts on his collar tab as he undid his coat. "Of course she did."
They wheeled her into a room and the doctor began working on her.
"Miho...I'm scared." Yukari told her.
"It's ok." Miho reassured her as she grabbed her hand, "The doctor is here to help."
"I need to place her under anaesthetic right now." He said as he put on an apron.
Erwin helped the doctor prepare her for surgery by removing the bandages and getting the supplies he needed.
"I need to tell you something..." Yukari told her, "It's about the tournament."
"You can tell me later."
"No…" Yukari weakly said, "It ended up being an awful tournament, but there's one thing I'm happy about…"
"What is that?" Miho asked with tears in her eyes.
"I was always scared of what mom was saying to me. I was frustrated, but I couldn't say anything back, thinking that she could be right…"
The doctor began to place her under anaesthetic as Yukari became sedated and her eyes felt heavy.
"But even now, I still love Tigers and Panthers, they look cool…"
Yukari then closed her eyes, looking peacefully at being able to say what she wanted to say with confidence.
"I'm going to take her intestines out and make sure they have no twists in them." The doctor told her, "Then I'm going to try and fix whichever ends I need to stitch together."
He began his work on her as the two girls helped him with the operation.
The machine Yukari was connected to suddenly made a beeping sound.
"She needs blood!" The doctor called out, "What is her type?!"
"O type, I believe." Miho told him, "I memorized everyone's type in case of something like this."
"Everyone?" Erwin asked her.
"Yes, everyone…" Miho told her, "But that doesn't matter now seeing most of us are gone."
"Go get blood for me."
"I'm O type." Erwin told him, "She can have mine."
"Alright." He said as he set up a blood transfusion.
He stuck the needle into Erwin's arm who winced at the pain.
"She should stabilise but I still got to work." The doctor told them, "This is going to take some time."
They worked hard to operate on her. It was going to be a long shift.
