Victoria stretched her aching back. Her experience with Dr. Sherman's stories of occasionally volunteering as the army doctor had led her to believe the work was light, and the patients mostly suffering from bumps, bruises, scrapes, and the occasional broken bone when things went far awry.
When Gabriel had gotten her assigned as an army nurse to assist himself, she'd wondered if they would have enough work for the two of them.
She couldn't have been more mistaken.
Sparing a glare across the room to watch for the return of the man she not-so-secretly-loved but also couldn't stand to be near because of his unclear feelings, she wiped the back of her hand across her forehead.
Three days. It had been merely three days since she'd joined the army, and she was more exhausted than she could remember being. Even that summer when she thought competitive swimming against the other girls at school would be a fun thing to try.
Not even helping with the triplets when they were babies had been this tiring. Of course, back then she'd been quite young and full of energy, herself.
Captain Napier, in charge of the company they were attached to, had frowned at her appearance in male garb, which she had been given at the registration office because they lacked female uniforms.
He'd found a female version somewhere in the trunk of a barracks before they left the city, saying it would be a distraction for the men to have her running around in fitted pants. Gabriel had vehemently agreed, and Victoria suspected it had been his idea in the first place that Victoria not run around in pants.
The women's uniform was utilitarian, but oddly flattering. Once she received it, she had no complaints about the garment. Though the fabric and colors matched the male uniforms, someone had clearly put a good deal of thought into making this uniform work well for a woman. Unlike Victoria's own frilly, loose, girlish clothing, this was more womanly, with a fitted waist and a skirt that was narrow enough to not get in the way of manual tasks but flared enough to not interfere with running and fighting if need be.
Mrs. Sherman had learned basic sparring during her time in the military, but it seemed that was not to be on Victoria's to-do list. In fact, she had not learned anything at all so far. Wasn't the point of army training to learn army things?
Captain Napier was a kind enough leader, but the recruits in his company were near the end of their year of service and focused on being exposed to the ways of army life more than they were being directly taught specific lessons.
Victoria was out of place with them. And she didn't like her assigned place, assisting Gabriel. However, Captain Napier's company had just received orders to respond to a crisis in one of the townships, and a doctor was required to accompany them.
Apparently Gabriel had been the doctor for the Captain's last expedition, and the man welcomed him back for a second time, having had little luck finding a doctor to be reassigned to him.
The request for aid had come via a peddler spreading word of a dangerous sickness in a town directly North of Klain, along the edge of the mountain range. The citizens, apparently, would not let the man come close, shouting that he needed to flee before it was too late.
The peddler, having a strong sense of self-preservation that slightly overrode his desire for profit, complied when he was told the disease was deadly.
Victoria had been put to work labeling, storing, and loading medical supplies as quickly as could be managed, followed by an entire night and day of nonstop travel at a grueling pace, with her responsibility being making sure the medical supplies that Klain could spare remained intact in a wagon that was jarring and bumpy on roads of the foothills.
That alone made her sore. She became motion sick along the way and nearly begged for permission to walk or jog next to the wagon instead of riding inside, but her pride wouldn't let her. Besides, Gabriel was out there. It was better to be inside and motion sick than face him any longer than necessary.
Why was he even doing this? There was no reason for him to have come along when she joined the army. There was no sense in him endangering himself just so that he could keep an eye on her.
He said he wasn't sure how he felt. Then he should just leave her alone until he did! Why was that so difficult?
If he'd just left her alone, she'd probably be an assistant at the training camp, close to Klain but not interacting with him at all. Instead, here she was, setting up a quarantine camp for the truly ill citizens of an outlying town who were suffering.
The fact that the occupants had sent the peddler away indicated that they thought it was contagious. Napier said that according to the last census, they did have a doctor in residence, but that might not be up to date information.
Many things had shifted in recent days. The Cetoan refugees and increasing number of portals had driven many people towards Klain for answers to the disturbances of the world. It was uncertain how many citizens had moved, and they had yet to take full stock of the situation in town, electing to set up the treatment center on the fringes of the settlement.
And it was now set up. She looked around and heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that things were unlikely to let up anytime soon.
Gabriel had gone with the Captain after assuring the shouting citizen-guard of the town that he was a doctor and there to help. A huge, crudely painted sign on the town's edge read "DANGER. SICKNESS–DO NOT ENTER."
It was ominous, and couldn't they have chosen a better color of paint than red? It really was overkill for what was probably a common illness.
If it weren't so far North, Victoria would have suspected it had to do with the contaminated water sources from the acidic ocean, but as far as she was aware, that seemed confined to areas closer to the sea.
Flopping down on one of the temporary cots, she laid her head back and stared at the ceiling of the tent. The canvas moved slightly in the wind, and its methodic movements were hypnotic. Combined with her fatigue, she felt herself in very real danger of drifting off to sleep.
Would a nap be the end of the world? She didn't have an assignment right now anyway. She completed it. And she knew from personal experience with Dr. Sherman that tending patients often meant staying up all night long working at various tasks. Surely napping now when there was nothing to do was a wise use of her time, not foolish and lazy.
At war with herself and fading quickly into sleep, she missed the movement at the door of the tent. The breeze hit her and she shivered slightly, debating crawling under a blanket. This was to be a patient's bed; perhaps it would be prudent to go to her own instead…
"Nurse Victoria?" A voice came from nearby, and she nearly leapt out of her skin.
"Oh!" She popped up to her feet to face the one addressing her. "Captain Napier! Back already? What's the situation in town? Are patients on their way?"
She peppered him with questions to cover her faux pas of laying in a bed designated for recovery. Giving him a shaky smile, she tried to project confidence in her abilities rather than weakness.
"The situation is worse than we had feared. Gabriel is triaging the patients to be moved here for ease of treatment. The ones too sick to be moved will be left where they are. Those who are not sick will be kept separately for a time before they are allowed to leave the town, so that they do not spread the disease elsewhere." He explained.
"Is it confirmed that the disease is contagious and is not rooted in some centralized cause?" She pursed her lips.
"The local doctor suspects so. Those who fall ill have previous contact with other ill. Of course, in a town like this, most everyone has contact with everyone else in the course of a week," Captain Napier shrugged. "We have hope that Gabriel can work with him to figure out the cause, and the cure."
"Of course," Victoria nodded. "What is needed from me?"
"The disease has some rather unpleasant symptoms," The Captain cringed. "Gabriel has asked me to tell you to make sure that each cot has an extra chamberpot next to it for vomit."
"Ah," She nodded. "Thank you. How long do you estimate I have before the patients begin arriving here?"
Captain Napier opened his mouth, but voices outside distracted him long enough to change what he was about to say.
"Right about now, it seems."