Page 84 of After 5
“Who is this man?” Gertie asked.
Before we could obtain any further clues to the identity of the man, the bushes rustled again, and a young soldier stepped into the clearing. He seemed surprised by our presence and saluted me. “Doctor, what are you doin’ here on the battlefield?”
“I—” clearing my throat, I returned the salute and lowered my voice. “I was summoned to help this man, but I’m afraid I was too late.”
He moved in next to Marco and viewed the dead man. It wasn’t the first time the young man had seen a corpse. His blue eyes held a degree of familiarity, and I saw them track to the coat Gertie still held in her hands.
“Where’d ya get that co—”
Marco gave him a right uppercut to the tip of his chin that lifted the gangly soldier off his feet. He went lights out and Marco lowered him to the ground.
Gertie and I gasped. “What did you do that for?” I asked Marco.
“If he starts yelling for help, we’re in trouble.”
Gertie used the general’s coat and made a pillow for his head. A wisp of white hair fell across his forehead. I found his kepi hat and laid it on the ground next to him.
“Now what do we do?” Gertie asked.
I moved to the edge of an overlook. “I don’t know where—” and then I saw him. The boy from the letter. His legs caught in the casualty of a battle-ridden snake-rail fence, and his left shirt sleeve soaked dark with blood. Unable to reach up and remove the heavy wood off his legs, he lifted his head and wrote on paper propped against his thigh.
“Oh no,” I said.
“What?” Gertie followed my gaze to the boy.
“Oh. Jen, you didn’t land us near the boy from the letter?”
“What boy?” Marco crossed his arms over his chest.
“There was a boy I read about. He was stuck on a fence and bled to death because he couldn’t free his legs. He wrote a letter to his mother.”
Marco frowned.
“I was concentrating on the designated landing spot, and then the words that poor soldier wrote in the letter came to mind. I’m sorry, I thought about him during the transport, and landed here um…accidentally.”
“Crap on a cracker,” Gertie said.
I stared at the battlefield in the setting sun. Men scattered the field, dead and dying. Medics, slowly, carefully, made their way across the open field, offering water and choosing the wounded to be carried off by stretcher. Soldiers lucky enough to walk drug their comrades by the arms away from the enemy fire.
“I’m going to save him.”
“Jen, no fucking way am I going to let you go into that battlefield.” Marco stomped about. “The cannon fire alone is deadly.”
Gertie remained quiet.
“I know…I know, it’s violating the rules, and I’ll probably get in trouble, but I can’t sit here and watch him die.”
“Thousands of men are dying. You going to save them all?” Marco asked me.
I pondered the questions for a moment.
“For the love of God, she actually thinks she can.” Marco looked helplessly at Gertie.
“Marco, you can use your gift to slow time, and Jen can free his legs,” Gertie said. “If we are close to the Rose Woods, which I think we are, the fighting should be done for the day.”
Another cannon blast echoed in the distance, and Marco grimaced. “It doesn’t sound like it’s done.”
“Marco. You didn’t read the letter. He’s only a boy. He shouldn’t be here. He lied about his age to serve his country.”
