Chapter 11

Junior was halfway to the house, the wounded woman in his arms, before the others comprehended what was going on. Jessica ran to him, opening the door as Junior barged through. Junior deposited Juanita on the dining room table, pulled his knife and cut the bandage from her leg. He was relieved to see the bleeding had slowed to a trickle and left the tourniquet in place. Examining the wound he found a through and through wound on the inside of her left thigh, with round holes on both ends. Janet ran into the room, then stopped at the doorway.

"Is she dead?" she asked in a cold voice that said she had buried too many comrades. Junior shook his head as he continued examining the wound, trying to remember everything he could about battlefield triage.

"Any chance there is a doctor in the house?" he half mumbled under his breath as he cut the rest of the leg off of her pants. He looked up as Jessica rushed in with a med kit from one of the Hummers. He grabbed the scissors from the kit and began cutting the rest of Juanita's pants away, leaving a small strip under the tourniquet. Junior noticed she had used an unfired round to tighten and secure the wrap, and wondered at the irony. A bullet may have taken her life, and she used one to try to save herself. Junior was worried about the loss of blood first, as the back of the truck had been covered in it. His other concern was infection, and he knew the wound would have to be cleaned. He noticed she was wearing what had once been a frilly pair of white panties that were now stained red with blood. Cutting them away he threw them to the floor with her pants. He took a breath, trying to decide what to do next when Janet came back into the room with a Coleman power mate cooler and a large hard case with a large red cross on the side.

"There is plasma in the cooler," she explained. "The case contains everything needed to do surgery in the field, or so the quartermaster who outfitted us said."

"Great, all we need now is someone who knows how to use it." Junior groused as he rubbed the back of his hand on his forehead. Janet pushed him toward the door, telling him to wash his hands as she slapped a bar of disinfectant soap in his hand. Jessica came into the room carrying a large wash pan of steaming water, a bundle of towels under one arm.

"It's all I could find." She said to Janet as Junior left the room. He hurried into the kitchen and washed up while thinking of what he needed to do. He would have to see if the artery was leaking, which would be simple. When he loosened the tourniquet blood would start squirting if the artery was damaged. If not, he would try a pressure bandage to see if they could control the bleeding that way. If the artery was damaged someone, most likely him, would have to cut into her leg and see if he could do anything about it. He shook his head as he dried his hands on a clean towel and went back into the dining room.

Janet and Jessica had gotten the blood cleaned off their wounded friend, and had somehow gotten a blanket under her to keep her off the hard table. Junior took the pair of gloves Jessica handed him, noticing the others were wearing them.

"Either of you ever started an IV?" he asked, half joking, half in desperation. Receiving two negatives, he dug into the cooler, finding a small book on top with a large "READ FIRST" label on the front. Opening it he found step by step instructions on how to set up the IV to administer the plasma and looked around for the standard IV bag everyone has seen in a hospital at one time or another. Not seeing any he asked Janet who said there were some in one of the trailers, and ran outside to get them. Sarah came into the room as Janet left, wanting to know if she could do anything to help. Junior placed a large gauze pad on both sides of Juanita's wound and had Sarah put pressure on the one while he held the other. With his other hand he slowly loosened the tourniquet, lifting his bandage slightly to see what happened. The spurt of blood surprised him, and caused his heart to lurch. He knew with the kind of wound she had, the amount of blood she had lost, and the lack of competent medical help, Juanita would need a miracle to survive. He tightened the tourniquet, and dug through the medical case while waiting for Janet to return. He found several dozen plastic handled disposable scalpels, and prepackaged needles already threaded. He shook his head at the miniscule size of some of the needles, and wondered if any of the women could sew. He must have spoken out loud, for Jessica and Sarah both said they couldn't. Before he could tell them his question was not really one, Janet returned. Sarah asked her if she could sew, getting another negative.

"What do you need someone who can sew for?" Janet asked as she lay several of the familiar clear bags on the table. She handed a bag to Sarah, pushing her arm up, showing her it would have to be elevated. Junior knew that might work for a few minutes but something would have to be found to hang the bag on before long.

"She's got an artery damaged," he explained to Janet. "Someone is probably going to have to stitch it up. I've never even sewn a button on a shirt, so I don't know if I can even do it." As he talked he looked at the book and recalled times in the past he had seen an IV started. He wrapped the rubber band the kit contained around Juanita's arm, grimacing as he read that someone who has lost a large amount of blood can be hard to start and IV in. Junior figured God had to have been helping out a little, because he got good blood return on the first try. Following the instructions step by step he soon had an IV going. It was then a simple matter of hooking the plasma bag to the IV bag. Junior stepped back, thinking of what to do next.

A groan from Juanita surprised him and he looked up at her face to find her looking back at him. She gave him a crooked smile, pain evident in her face.

"If you wanted to get me on my back with my legs spread, all you had to do was ask Hillbilly." She said in a hoarse whisper. Jessica gave a startled cry and ran to her side. "Got any morphine in that bag doc?" Juanita asked. Janet found a labeled preloaded syringe and handed it to Junior. Junior looked at the package, hoping to find instructions as he knew too much morphine could be fatal. "Just give me the whole thing," Juanita said. At Junior's raised eyebrow she continued. "I used to be an ER nurse. Trust me, that is exactly what I need." Junior hesitated, then injected the contents of the needle into the IV tube.

"If you were an ER nurse, maybe you can tell me what to do." He said. "I got an IV started, and have plasma going like the manual said, but something is going to need done about your femoral artery. I'm no surgeon, but I'll try. I'm just not sure exactly how to go about fixing whatever is wrong." The desperation was plain in his voice, and Sarah grabbed his hand.