Chapter 1 "The New Normal"

As the soldiers came rushing in Verna kept an eye open. Not only was she looking for the wounded but also for Max.

"Verna this one had been bleeding out for a while," says a man holding a soldier on his shoulder. Both were covered in more blood than a human can possibly have.

Verna had been attending to soldiers for about 2 years but had yet to get used to seeing this much blood. She loved the drive that emergency medicine gave her but she never vocalized it as its price was a deadly war. She remembers the days when she would sit in the hospital, bored, wishing for something to happen. Now those boring days are what she longs for.

Verna worked in a hospital near the border of Hadila and Kira. Both nations had been at war several times but nothing to this extent. Kira where Verna lives is a nation that's only goal was to grow. Verna's town Lullin was a perfect place for a military base and that is what it turned into. It was also the first place that the soldiers would enter after coming back which made it that all medical personnel were needed at all times.

Verna grabs the man and puts him on a gurney, she first checks his puls then his pupil to see if there is any brain function.

"Do you know how he was injured?" asks Verna as she cuts his shirt to see where the bleeding was coming from

She then saw a bullet wound. Trembling the man says "I SHOT HIM, I DIDNT KNOW HE WAS THERE I WAS SCARCE AND DIDNT KNOW WHAT TO DO PLEASE TELL ME HE'LL BE ALRIGHT PLEASE."

Verna looks at him with an angered look. She can't focus on this patient if he keeps up this rambling.

"Sir I need you to calm down. If you want to help go get more wounded and bring them here"

The man wipes the tears falling from his face and salutes.

"Give me 2 litters of O neg blood. NOW."

This man was lucky the bullet when through and through without hitting any vital organs. All Verna needed to do was stop the bleeding.

A nurse comes and Verna tells her to patch the man up. She needed to go see how the others were doing.

A swarm of men walk in all at once blocking people from moving around. Verna gets pissed

"WHAT ARE YOU MEN DOING IN HERE IF YOU ARE NOT DYING OF HELPING GET OUT!"

With a frightened look on their face, the men stand in a line, one of the soldiers gets pushed by another.

"Max is hurt" Without question, Verna follows the men.

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Outside, tents were put up as an extension of the Hospital. There were so many patients that many didn't even fit inside the tents and were treated on the floor.

The men show Verna where Max was being teated. When she enters the room she sees Max lying on the table.

"MAX" shouts Verna as she grabs the stethoscope off her neck.

"It's nice to see you too," says max smiling despite his clear injuries.

"Are you stupid"

Verna starts to assess his wounds. She sees multiple lacerations on his stomach they looked pretty deep and wouldn't stop bleeding out. Verna tells one of the men to place pressure as she went to go get the suturing kit. This wasnt normal but Verna needed to adjust. Normally all the supplies would be by her side but now, everything was disoriented. When she was turned from everything a tear fell down her cheek.

Why am I crying, I can't let them see me like this. Verna had been overwhelmed with everything but she needed to keep herself together, she knew what she was capable of and how good she was. Many times governors and rich businessmen came to her looking to hire her as their personal doctor but she refused. If there was something she hated more than war it would be those who caused it. After wiping her face regularly she turned around.

"Why do you look like that" asked Max as he was literally bleeding to death. Verna's eyes gleamed as there were still tears in her eyes.

She tightly pinched him then cleaned the wound with alcohol. Normally she would give her patients a numbing cream but all the doctors are now saving that for major surgeries.

"Are you serious what do you want me to do smile, what happened anyways you said it was a small mission." she slowly started to sow him.

Verna asked this knowing his response, he and the other troops were not allowed to say what they were doing. She was still asking to hear his voice. When she looked back she can see that he was trying to hold back his scream.

"I can't imagine what you all must have gone throughout out there" Verna quickly finished him up and got up to go help, other patients. She wanted to stay by Max's side but knew that there were better things for her to do. When she looked back she saw Max covered in sweat catching his breath.

Poor him, he must have been in so much pain. He could have just screamed, why did he have to try to act all cool about it. Frustrated, Verna left the tent.