The Casualties

[Sloweko]

Lαηα

Lana was on shift in the hospital again, not her favorite job, especially today. Both of the enemy sides had attacked, leaving the peacekeepers, shocked and unable to fight from lack of training and weapons, struggling to save themselves. That was the way of the Peacekeepers, they didn't fight unless absolutely necessary.
Since today, it hadn't been. The peacekeepers had no experience in war.
Lana guessed that they would stock a few more weapons from now on.

If the peacekeepers had been the only ones with casualties, maybe the hospital wouldn't have been filled.
But they weren't the only ones.
Seeing each other attacking, the two armies had clashed. Seeing as the hospital accommodated both sides, the hospital was full. So full that the Peacekeepers were turning people away. Telling them to go back to their camps, that the hospital was too busy.
Amongst the lucky few, inevitably, tensions were high. With rivals in beds next to each other, arguments rose throughout the hospital.
Lana gazed at the patient she was supposed to be treating, though she wasn't quite sure how, as he glared with hatred at the man in the bed next to him. The man- a facultas soldier- was lying, face down, on his bed. He was almost dead, and the human seemed to want to finish off the job.
Now it was Lana's turn to glare.

"You madman." The Humans head snapped up.
"What?" He sneered.
"That man there is dying and all you can think about him is how much you hate his kind. This is what war does. That could just as well be you there, so buck your ideas up, or I'll throw you out of this hospital. Do you know how lucky you are to be here? There are thousands of men, women, and ,yes, CHILDREN out there who need our help..." Lana trailed off, her anger changing into sadness. How could people do this to each other? She turned to the soldier. He wasn't too badly injured, just lucky to be one of the first in the hospital. Seeing the tears in her eyes, the soldier looked at Lana. "Look..."
"Get out."
"What?"
"Just GET OUT!" Flustered, the soldier staggered off the bed, almost falling on his way out of the door.

"There's room for one more." Lana called to the door man.

Цιrϊς

Ulric felt more than saw the men pick up his stretcher. He winced from the pain searing up his leg, and tried not to scream. He had been shot in the leg by a Facultas soldier, leaving him unable to walk and also unable to negotiate with those bringing him to this place.

Ulric hated the peacekeepers' hospital, not only because he hated hospitals generally, but also because he hated the Peacekeepers. And their principles.
Despite his complaints, Ulric's 'friends' had brought him to the hospital. He had thought that he would be lucky, that the hospital was full and that he would be turned away, like so many others he had seen.
But as they neared the door, a man with a mild arm wound and a manic expression ran out, and a female voice called to the doorman "There's room for one more."
Just great.

As he was brought into the hospital, the smell of disinfectant hit Ulric like a slap, and he gagged. Those carring the stretcher looked down at him, concerned.
"Get me out of here" Ulric whimpered, but to no avail. "Please." The stretcher men shook their heads. "You're too sick." One of them said, as they lowered him onto a bed, unstrapped him and left him.
Suddenly, Ulric reasised that he had his eyes clamped tightly shut. He gently loosened them, afraid of what he would see.
A girl, about his age, stood before him. She looked flustered and had tears in her eyes, clearly upset. God, I hate this war. He thought to himself. Why should someone who's not ready to go into it be forced to?
The Ulric realised that she was a Peacekeeper. True, she wasn't ready for war, but also true that she wasn't actually going into it.

But she was just a girl, forced to work in an appalling hospital? Ulric didn't really know what he felt. The girl opened her mouth to speak.
"My name's Lana, I'm going to treat your wounds for you." She lowered her voice, and Ulric assumed that she thought he couldn't hear her. "Somehow." Lana lowered her eyes before looking at Ulric. "Whats your name?"
"Ulric." Lana nodded and walked over to the medical box next to the bed. "Sorry, we can't do much for you. We're low on supplies, but I can give you some paracetamol and bandage it up until the surgeon comes to get that bullet out." She paused. "It is a bullet, right?" Ulric nodded.
"Yeah, and it hurts like hell."

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