Chapter 14 – Left For Dead

Excerpts from Chapter 12, Starvation

Trigger warning: talk of rape and death

After the vicious attack on the village, Maura knew that the only means of obtaining food was to have someone go out and search for food or edible berries. Maura and the two aids, Shannon and Shelley, had gone through a survival course which included identifying edible food that they might find in the jungle. They were given a little picture book which they were instructed to keep on their person at all times.

Most of the MSF personnel wore cargo pants just for that reason. In one of the pockets, they could store this little picture book so if they were ever in a situation where they needed it they would have it. Some of the personnel thought it was stupid and didn't keep their little picture book with them. Maura, Shannon and Shelley had their books with them at all times. Maura had refused to work with one aid who didn't like to follow the rules. She felt that it might be a disadvantage to her to have someone like that in the field with her.

Shannon and Shelley, the two aids, that accompanied her on this village visit, volunteered to go out and search for food. When they returned from their second attempt at finding food or edible berries and told Maura that they had failed to find anything, Maura was worried.

They had very little food remaining. Maura and the aids had emptied their daypacks and offered up every bit of food that they had stashed in their daypacks. They wanted to make sure that they shared everything that they had. Knowing that they would only be in the clinic for maybe six hours they had only brought snacks to get themselves through the day.

One patient was near death and Maura wasn't quite sure how far away the rest of the women were from starving to death. She knew that she and the two aids were in better physical and emotional shape than her patients. However, she wasn't sure how long they would last before they starved to death. She knew what a person's body went through when they were deprived of food and water.

The woman near death, told Maura to spread her portion of the rations evenly between everyone. She didn't want to take up rations that could help the others stay alive, she knew her time was limited. When she came to the make shift clinic, she knew that there wasn't much that the doctor would have been able to do for her. She thought that the doctor might give her some medication that would make her last hours or days less painful. That was all that she had hoped for.

The woman had no idea that coming to the clinic that morning had saved her from being tortured and possibly raped by the village attackers. The nearby villages had not been attacked in over a year. Villagers were still on guard because they could be attacked at any time but so far, this village had been safe from attacks.

Maura had heard about the fierce attacks that had happened from time to time. MSF had lost entire medical teams at times but she tried hard not to let the fear of being attacked stop her from treating the people in the villages that she encountered.

She remembered a conversation with her mother when she told her about her pending job with MSF: Constance told her daughter, "Maura, my dear working for Médecins Sans Frontières in that part of the world is a very dangerous endeavor. I know you want to help but this assignment worries me. Please rethink your decision."

"Mother, I know the risks and I want to do this. The experience that this assignment will provide is valuable and I can help so many people that wouldn't get the help any other way. I want to do this now, before I choose to settle down and get married and have children. I promise it will only be for two years and then I will come back and become a medical examiner like I have planned. I want to have this time of working with live patients before I dedicate my life to speaking for the dead. I strongly believe that the experience will make me a better medical examiner."

Constance couldn't argue with her daughter, her mind had been made up already. "Okay, darling, I am going to hold you to that promise. Two years and no more, not a day over two years. I know that the hospital in San Francisco is holding a spot for you so knowing that, I will not argue with you about this. I am still not okay with this decision, but you are old enough to make your own decisions. I just wished that you would have chosen a safer location."

"Yes, I am old enough mother. Thank you. When my time with MSF is over, I will go complete my residency in San Francisco. I promise."

After they woke up in the morning, Maura had discovered that the older patient had passed away. They buried her with the other villagers. After burying the older woman, they looked over their rations. They really didn't have that much. Everyone except for Maura and the aids had a little bit to eat. Shannon and Shelley wanted to go looking for food and edible berries again. They looked over the map and then set out on their next area on the map. Within two hours they returned with no food or edible berries. Maura was becoming frustrated. She felt like they were left for dead.

There was nothing for them to do. They were too weak to venture out into the jungle. She wanted to keep the group together as much as possible. There was strength in numbers. During the daylight hours they played games with the children and tried to keep them entertained. Everybody was hungry and worried, not knowing when they would get food again. As it turned dark, they all fell asleep. This pattern continued for days.

As the food ran out and the five remaining patients, three children and her two aids sat in the small out building, Maura could only think that they really had been left for dead. But how could you be left for dead when no one knew that you were alive in the out building. The attackers certainly didn't know or they would be amongst the dead as well.

She continued to think, would it be too much to hope that the supply team would show up early. Would they even know that there might be people in the little out building? Did other MSF personnel even know about the out building? Should she have left some sort of signal for them? If so, what signal could she have left? She really wished she would have located the satellite phone, or that one of the vehicles was still operational. If she had a vehicle, where would she have gone?

She had too many thoughts running through her head. She had nothing to do, she didn't have the energy to do anything. She was in and out of consciousness. She knew their time was limited. She tried hard not to think that it might have been better if they had just died with the other villagers. She quickly tried to get that thought out of her mind as she tried to think that there was a reason that they were spared. She didn't believe in a higher power but maybe a higher power had a plan that involved them and that is why they were spared. But spared to be left for dead, why, she wondered.

It seemed like too many days had passed and she hadn't heard the supply truck. It came by every week without fail. But this week for some reason it hadn't come. Maybe the attackers had gotten to other villages and attacked them as well. Maybe there would be no supply truck this week or any week in the future. She was too tired and hungry to think. She looked around the room and noticed most of the others had fallen asleep. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

She awoke to a loud noise. She wasn't sure what it was. She looked over at Shannon and Shelley and saw them stirring but they did not get up. She hoped it wasn't the attackers circling back. She listened to the noises and then she heard voices, English-speaking voices. It must be the supply truck. She struggled to get up. Her body didn't want to move. She tried pleading with her limbs to move. They didn't respond.

She called out to Shannon and Shelley, but they didn't respond. She didn't hear her voice. Had she made a sound? She didn't know. Finally, the adrenaline started pumping and she was able to move. It took her a minute to stand up enough to open the door to the out building. She fell out of the building as the door opened. She wasn't able to get back up. She wanted to get up but after several attempts she gave up and thought it best to crawl. She crawled as fast as she could towards the entrance to the path. After a few feet she was able to stand and she ran, or attempted to run to the entrance of the path. She had to get to the people before they left.

She heard the voices say, "Not much to do here, let's venture to the next village." Maura screamed as loud as she could for them to stop. She wasn't sure if her scream was heard. Just as she had reached the entrance to the path she fell down and continued to crawl towards the vehicle. She thought to herself, 'I don't want to be left for dead, I want to live.'

She saw someone running to her. As they reached her, she tried to smile but she passed out. When she came too, she told them, "others, down the path." Annabelle stayed with her while others ran down the path to find the others.

Annabelle took her in her arms and told Maura, "Dr. Isles, hello, I am Annabelle. I am a nurse and I am going to attach an IV to you while my coworkers are looking after the others." Maura nodded, it was all she could. Annabelle reached into her backpack and pulled out an IV and hooked it up to Maura. She continued talking to her as she held her and tried to comfort her.

It was too late for the five patients and the three children, as they had already passed away. However, Shannon and Shelley were still alive. The team treated the three women the best they could in the field, which meant mainly they just started an IV.

They used their satellite phone to call and request medical assistance. It was deemed faster to send a medevac helicopter. The team loaded everyone up in the SUV and headed towards their main base camp. The helicopter would meet them enroute. It would be faster than waiting for the helicopter to arrive at the village. Every minute was precious to the recovery of the three women.

Annabelle continued to hold onto Maura as the SUV flew down the dirt road towards the main base. She didn't want to let Maura go. She felt an automatic kindred towards Maura and prayed that Maura would survive this horrific ordeal.

It wasn't long before they heard the helicopter and stopped the SUV so that they could transfer the three women to the helicopter. The medevac medics attached a cocktail of medicine to the IV line and started the drip, almost wide open so that the medicine could start its magic. As soon as all three patients were secured, the helicopter took off. The team in the SUV was so relieved that the helicopter had made such good time. They now felt that the three women had a fighting chance at survival.