I'm right, you're wrong [Krystal]

[David Hale]

It was a dark and miserable night when David decided he needed to go out into the city to go and try to retrieve some very special corpses. Most people would stay inside during these hours, not even soldiers were out in the city, and that was exactly why David went out during the nights. Zombies he could deal with, soldiers… not so much. He didn’t want to think of himself as a weakling, but sadly, he probably was compared to the average man. David wasn’t one for working out and buffing himself up, what reason could he possibly have for doing that? He was no soldier, he did not care about impressing other men, and he most certainly did not care about impressing women, which seemed to be the reason for most to work out. There was no time for such things, he needed to work on his experiments if he ever wanted to make things right again.
It wasn’t that he was exceptionally old, but considering the amount of time it had taken him to develop the ‘cure’ in the first place, he had no time to waste.

Every now and then he’d stop to examine a body lying on the lonely streets, but none of them seemed sufficient. The body he needed, needed to be fresh. Preferably less than 8 hours old. People usually seemed to take a while to turn, so he needed to study them in those crucial hours to discover the exact process of mutation. You couldn’t fix something if you didn’t know where it was broken, after all.
“Area secure.” The radio cracked slightly as the group’s scout reported in. “Roger that.” The man closest to David said with a stoic expression lingering on his face. David was thankful for these men, though he held little respect in his heart for soldiers, he appreciated that this particular group knew what they were doing and, more importantly, did not interrupt his work unless it was a matter of life or death. If only all soldiers were like that…
It was… strange. If he didn’t know better, he’d think this was just a regular neighborhood. Aside from the occasional corpse, the streets were empty and silent. The only sound coming from the nearby battlefield. If only it was like that… what he wouldn’t give…

As he continued to search, he faintly heard the scout report seeing a nurse wandering around. Apparently he wasn’t the only one adjusting his schedule to the war, but what could a nurse be doing out in the city? Surely the soldiers that had been shot during the day would have more use for a mortician than a nurse by now? It didn’t matter, what she did here was her business, and so long as she didn’t interfere with his activities, he wouldn’t interfere with hers.
“Doc, want to take her in for questioning?” the soldier holding the radio called from a distance. “I doubt she’s going to be much trouble, lieutenant.” David huffed as he stood back up. This one wouldn’t do either.

So far, this had been a serious waste of time. Without his lab, there was no way to be perfectly certain of how long these people had been dead, and he couldn’t exactly load them all up and drive them back to the base. He could, but what if a few of them would awaken during the car-ride? No matter how strong his current crew was physically, fighting a bunch of flesh eating monsters in close quarters would certainly put their skill to the test. Of course, if they got bitten and they somehow managed to get to the base anyway, he could study them instead of some corpse. He could even see the direct results of his poking and prodding if that were to happen, seeing as the men would still be alive and unturned and… no, that would be wrong. He shouldn’t even think like that. The situation wasn’t so dire yet that he needed to test on life human specimens.
One day, he might have to though. The thought of purposely inflicting that much pain upon another made his stomach turn.

“Are you a doctor?” David jumped slightly, and his entourage pointed their guns instinctively at the source of the voice.
“Just a kid.” One of the soldiers sighed as he lowered the gun, pointing away from the young boy. Or was it a girl? David could never tell.
“I am.” He answered simply, perhaps sounding a little too harsh. The child seemed frightened, and he should be. Why in the hell was some child out here? His parents should’ve taken him to the safe-zone by now. There were plenty of Northern soldiers out here during the day, and they just loved playing hero, so how had they missed him?
“C-Can you help my mom? I think she’s hurt.” The boy spoke with a trembling voice as he looked up at David with pleading eyes. He really hadn’t come here to fix people up… especially if they were too stupid to get themselves to safety, but the doctor in him told him to go. There was enough pain in the world as it was, did he really have to contribute to that farther?
“Where is she?” he asked finally, ignoring the looks the others gave him. The boy smiled appreciatively before hurrying down the street, “I’ll take you to her, follow me!”
Glancing over his shoulder, he told the man with the radio to tell the scout to go get the nurse he’d spotted earlier. He could probably handle the situation himself, but should things go wrong, a pair of extra hands couldn’t hurt, if only to keep the child out of his face while he worked on the mother.

It was actually a considerable distance away, and David began to wonder about how long this child had been looking for help. If he’d been gone too long, there was a chance his mother had already died of her injuries by now. That would be tragic… he hoped the scout had been able to find the nurse, someone would need to comfort this boy if his mother truly had passed away, and David wasn’t the right person for that.
“Found her, sir.” The radio cracked again, “Two clicks to the west, you can’t miss her.”
“Go get her, try not to scare her to death.” He told one of the men as he entered the boy’s house. The place was a mess… as he moved towards the staircase he heard a woman’s voice call from upstairs, apparently she was still alive.
Before heading upstairs, he turned back to look outside. Where was that nurse? Why did women always have to take their sweet time with everything?

[brighteye]

[/i] want to run into one.

As she was all alone in the City, and at night no less, she kept pausing, jumping at noises - real or imagined. She kept swearing she could see movement out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned to look there was nothing there. Deep, deep down, she knew she was just making things up, but she still had to look. What if this time it was a zombie and she just ignored it? Then she'd be dead. Not like she'd live anyway - she couldn't use the pistol she had tucked behind the stuffed penguin at her hip. No, she carried it to placate the Captain at the Safe Zone, and to scare would-be attackers that didn't happen to be zombies.

It was her fourth excursion into the City. Maybe this time - since it was nighttime and no one in their right mind would be out and about in the City at night (which did say something about her mental state now didn't it?) - she would get what she was searching for. Each time she came out, she had a specific goal: find some medical supplies. Each time she had been distracted and led astray by something. The first time had been the boy who had attacked her and ended up needing stitches, the second had been when she found the half-dead man in an alley, and the third was when she'd gotten cornered in the very housing district she was now walking through. Why she was here, when she really should be in the more industrial side of the City, she didn't know. She must have taken a wrong turn. It wasn't like she knew the City layout - it was her fourth time out here for crying out loud!

Another noise startled her out of her thoughts, and she turned, expecting to see nothing but shadows once more. However, what she saw was a man wearing a Southern uniform. She squeaked, stumbling backwards a few steps, before tripping over a brick and landing hard on her butt. "I need you to come with me." the man said, but not in a dangerous tone. Her eyes were wide - what in the world was this man doing out here? She hadn't seen a Southern soldier since she and her mother had fled at the beginning of the war. It had been her brother and father who had worn the uniform, along with a few other military buddies they had brought home when they managed to visit. Her hand slid behind the penguin as he approached her, and she lifted the pistol shakily - it was obvious to anyone that she had absolutely no idea how to use it. The safety was still on, for one, and the barrel shook for another.

"Whoa there, little lady. No need for violence." The man said, eying the gun and the girl who held it. "Just lower that there thing down - no need for anyone to get hurt." Krystal - the girls name - didn't listen, but merely sat in quiet fear, pointing the barrel of the gun at him. He took another step forward, tentatively, and she jumped, her finger pulling the trigger while she squeaked in alarm. When nothing happened, he realized that the gun was useless. As she tried to figure out what was wrong, he came forward and took the weapon from her easily. "Now then. On your feet, there you go." He hauled her gently to her feet. "The doc wants your help. Come on then." Doc? Who was the doc? He steered her along - since she was completely unable to do anything but go along with what he wanted. She was helpless out here, even with the gun. She knew that, and yet she'd denied the guard. They needed their rest; she wasn't going to bother men and get another killed just because she wanted to go search for something that might not be there.

It was a short distance away on foot, with the man leading her with one hand at her elbow the whole time. His grip wasn't painful, but it was commanding - she had no choice but to follow. As they drew nearer to a building - where another soldier stood guard (wonderful!) - she could hear a woman calling out into the night. Who was she? What was wrong? The man pushed her gently towards the stairs; apparently he expected her to go up them. "The docs up there - you have a patient, nurse." They hadn't asked why she looked so young - they'd just determined that she was a nurse (how she wasn't sure, since she didn't wear anything on the outside that proved such a fact) and came and got her. But, the man said something about a patient. With a sigh, but no complaint, Krystal made her way quickly up the stairs and to the source of the voice.

Inside the room was a small child, a badly injured woman, and a brown-haired man. He must be the doctor, and she must be the patient she determined as she strode into the room. "I'm assuming you're the doctor?" She asked, stepping towards the woman. The lady didn't look too good - blood was pooling around her in dark crimson puddles. They might be able to save her, but Krystal wasn't willing to bet money on that. She glanced away from the bleeding woman to the child. Was this her son? If so, what a poor thing, for a child to see their mother die.

(( Didn't want to elaborate on injuries, since I wasn't sure where you wanted to go with it. ))[/ul]

[David Hale]

Before he had the chance to dump the child with one of his ‘friends’, he pushed past him and dashed up the stairs like his life depended on it.
“Dammit.” He hated kids. Well, hate was a strong word. But he most certainly didn’t like them. Little rats, always getting in the way, always being noisy when you needed silence… he couldn’t believe people actually wanted them. He understood accidental pregnancies, but planned pregnancies? Absurd.

As he made his way up the stairs, he noted the blood beneath his feet. Some of it was dried up already, but there were also some wet footprints leading up to a chamber down the hall, the door was slightly ajar and there were voices coming from inside. So that’s where the patient was, huh?
“Mom, I found a doctor!” the boy cheered as he sat down next to his mother, completely unaffected by the pool of blood around her.
“Hell…” David whispered to himself as he entered the room and noticed the state it was in. Blood was seemingly everywhere, and it was a miracle this woman was even breathing at all. When she noticed his expression, she just smiled “It’s not as bad as it looks.” She coughed as she pushed herself in a sitting position, causing more blood to ooze out of her wound.
“Stop moving.” He snapped at her as he began wiping his hands with a wet tissue – it was the best he could do right now as far as hygiene went – and knelt down by her side, careful not to sit in her blood, though he might have to later. “What happened?” he asked as he changed his gloves.
“Our dog Bruno… mistook me for one of those… those ‘things’ and bit me,” she winced slightly when David tried to rip her clothes in order to get a better look at the wound, “My husband had to…” she looked over at her son and motioned for him to cover his ears, “He had to shoot him.”

“Right…” dog bites were pretty bad. They didn’t leave nice clean cuts, instead they left the most horrible looking wounds that could rarely be fixed without leaving a scar. Judging by the size of the wound – as far as he could tell through all the blood – it had been a pretty large dog too. On the one hand she’d been lucky to have been bitten in her hip rather than near her vital organs, on the other hand, he hoped the dog hadn’t ripped an artery. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to fix that here, with just a few simple tools.
"I'm assuming you're the doctor?"
David almost slipped on the pool of blood when he suddenly heard a voice come from behind him. ”Oh right, the nurse.”
“Indeed I a-“ he rose an eyebrow when he noted how young the girl was – he’d expected someone a bit closer to his own age. Was this even a nurse, or had the scout simply been smoking some of his magic mushrooms before heading out? This looked more like a lost high school student than a medical professional. It didn’t really matter, so long as she kept that brat out of his face, she could stay.
Instead of heading straight towards the boy however, she seemed more intent on helping him treat the woman. Again he felt a wave of confusion hit him, it was obvious by now that she wasn’t just a regular student… but how could she be a nurse? How could she be a nurse already? Unless she had been studying for it and figured three months of school were more than enough to call herself a medical professional.

But he didn’t exactly have time to go and question the girl about her age and demanding she show him her diploma; this woman was going to bleed to death if they didn’t do anything.
As he dug into his first aid kit, he handed the girl a pair of gloves. Gauze, gauze… where was that damned gauze? Ah, there it was. He took a large hand-full and pressed it against the wound. It would’ve been better if he’d cleaned the wound first, but seeing as he didn’t have any clean water, this would have to do.
Finally his curiosity got the best of him, and though he didn’t turn to look at the girl, he addressed her anyway. “So are you an actual nurse, or just a student?” he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, but still… he needed to know how useful she’d be to him. “It’s pretty late, shouldn’t you be home by now?”

((The idea is that her dog was infected with the virus when he bit her, only they don’t find that out until later. He didn’t rip an artery by the way. In this post David’s doing all the work, but feel free to semi-godmod him and have him make way for Krystal’s nursing skills.))

[brighteye]

[/i] he cut off with a raised eyebrow. She raised one back, knowing exactly what he was thinking. She was much too young to be a nurse - and she would be, actually, if she hadn't started learning nursing skills at eleven. Not that she learned anything mildly important past wrapping bandages and splinting broken arms until she was sixteen, but it wasn't that hard to learn something after being around a parent who was a nurse. She'd observed stitching, IV's, shots - she picked it up rather quickly once she was actually allowed to practice with the rest of the nurses and doctors. With a sigh - as she knew he'd probably want some sort of verification that she was actually a nurse - she pulled her backpack down into her arms and fished out a badge before accepting the gloves, careful not to drop anything. "So, are you an actual nurse, or just a student?" He asked as he pressed gauze to the woman's wound.

"I'm actually a nurse, sir." She replied, carefully shrugging the backpack onto one shoulder while holding the gloves and ID, keeping them from the blood. She tossed it down next to the woman where he could see it as she pulled on the gloves. "There's my credentials." Eyeing the woman, she wondered how they were going to go about saving this woman. It was a large wound, and there was a good deal of blood. Not that that would stop her - she'd saved badly off patients before. One of them had even been out in the city, in the middle of an alley. “It’s pretty late, shouldn’t you be home by now?”

"You're one to talk. I can go out if I find it necessary." She replied, before turning to the woman. "Ma'am, are you in any pain?" She asked the woman gently, as she knelt down on the opposite side of the blood, wincing as her leg brushed against it. Oh well, she'd just clean up later. "A little... it's nothing. Really." The woman said, even though she could see the pain lining her face and in her eyes. Either she could no longer feel the pain, as her body had blocked it out, or she was trying to be strong for the child in the room with them. Krystal grabbed the penguin at her hip and looked at the child. "Why don't you take Mr. Penguin here and go play over there, okay?" She tossed the stuffed toy to the boy without waiting for an answer and turned back to the woman and the strange doctor.

"I'm going to give her a bit of Codeine to relieve some of the pain." She told the man as she fished out a syringe and a small vial of the liquid narcotic. Quickly the needle went into the vial and took in some of the liquid, before being removed and stuck into the woman's side. "That should help your body cope, alright?" She told the woman. "How bad is the wound?" He had it covered in gauze, and she hadn't gotten a good look before he'd hidden it away. "What do you need?" Nurses could work alone or as assistants to doctors - this man obviously knew what he was doing so she was going to assist him where she could.[/ul]

[David Hale]

"I'm actually a nurse, sir." the girl replied and David felt a smirk creeping up his face. So she was another one of those girls, the ‘no mommy, I don’t need an education because I’m already smart, haha’ type. How he loved those, especially when they fainted as soon as they saw a bloodied wound. That hadn’t happened in this case yet, but then he’d already covered the wound up, probably before she got a good look at it.

He was about to thank her for her time and send her on her way when something dropped down next to him, glancing over he noticed they were… credentials? They seemed legit too.
“I see…” he couldn’t hide the surprise from his voice as he spoke, “My apologies then, Miss Clarke.” David was never one to be overly proud and unwilling to admit to any mistakes, he had obviously misjudged this girl, and so she deserved an apology.
He tentatively removed the gauze to see if the bleeding had stopped, judging by the wetness he almost instantly felt, it wasn’t time yet, and so he pressed back down. It was somewhat concerning that the wound hadn’t stopped bleeding yet. He’d treated dog bites before, and they usually stopped bleeding after a few minutes.

"You're one to talk. I can go out if I find it necessary." she replied when he asked her about her curfew.
“As you wish.” He was an adult, and she was barely more than a child in his eyes. There was a big difference right there, but he decided not to mention it as it would be patronizing to her. He hadn’t seen her in action yet, but if you were capable of graduating school with such amazing grades at her age, you weren’t a dumb little goose, and you deserved to be treated with at least some respect. Of course, excelling in one area did not make one mature, but still…
"Ma'am, are you in any pain?" just by the tone of her voice he could tell she would be a lot better at delivering potential bad news than he, during his time as a doctor – and even today – he wasn’t known for his gentleness.
"A little... it's nothing. Really." David looked from the woman to the nurse and back to his own hands and shook his head. Why did patients lie? How could they ask for help if they were going to actively sabotage their physicians?
“When were you a bitten, and has your dog had all its shots?” he looked at the woman expectantly and felt slightly annoyed when she looked confused.
“Umm... a few hours ago, maybe? And I… think so…”
“Mom,” the boy walked up and seemingly wanted to ask her something, thankfully the nurse had a toy on her to distract kids with. Maybe he should consider carrying some sort of stuffed toy on him in the future, it could save him the trouble of dealing with these brats.
“You are uncertain then?” he asked impatiently as he checked the wound again. The blood flow had slowed down a bit, but small streams were still pouring out.
“My husband took care of that… I-I don’t… know where he is…”
“The joys of marriage.” He muttered sarcastically. If the dog hadn't had all its shots yet, there was a chance he'd infected her with something, and he wasn't sure if there was anything he could do in that case.

"I'm going to give her a bit of Codeine to relieve some of the pain." Though it sounded more like a statement than a question, David nodded slightly in approval anyway. Normally he wasn’t big on painkillers, pain was a very useful tool, after all. A woman in labor suddenly feeling more pain than usual was a good way to tell if something was wrong with her baby, something you might not have noticed if she’d gotten an epidural. Still, there were exceptions to every rule, and there were plenty of reasons to give this woman some relief. One of them being her son. If she suddenly cried out in pain, it would alarm the boy, cause him to be difficult. The situation was dire already, they didn’t need more distractions.

"How bad is the wound? What do you need?"
“It’s bad,” He stated bluntly, ignoring the woman’s fearful looks as he spoke, “Without the proper tools, I’m not sure she’ll make it.” What she needed was extra blood to compensate for the blood she’d already lost. Not that it would change anything if he couldn’t get the blood flow to stop. And where was he going to find blood? He sure didn’t carry it on him, and it would amaze him if the nurse had any blood bags on her person.
“First we need to get this wound to stop bleeding,” he reached into his kit once more to get more gauze, “Then we’ll need to clean and disinfect it, just bandaging it up isn’t going to do the trick, we’ll likely have to stitch it up.” He looked up at the nurse then with a worried look, “Unless you’re carrying a small hospital in that bag, we’re going to have to transport her to a nearby clinic.” And considering the woman’s condition, plus the fact that there were zombies everywhere, that really wasn’t an option.
“But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Do you happen to have clean water and Betadine on you?”

[brighteye]

[/i] She heard the surprise in his voice. That was only to be expected. Even for her age, she shouldn't necessarily be a nurse. She knew people older than her that were still being taught the skills a nurse or doctor needs. Many of them were jealous of her, as they wanted to be done with the education like she was. There were doctors and nurses around who were jealous or skeptical of her - like the man kneeling beside her. "My apologies thenm Miss Clarke." The man continued. Krystal nodded slightly.

"You aren't the first, nor will you be the last, to have the same thought." She told him simply, because it was true. She'd argued with nurses, doctors, patients - pretty much a large number of peopel she worked with - over her ability to take care of people. Either they didn't want a child like her to heal them, or they didn't want to babysit a child. No matter - she'd won most of these arguements after showing that she was more intelligent than they thought she was. That, and because she flashed them her credentials. Honestly - you'd think that in this time of need they'd just accept that more people, young or not, are working on either helping fight the zombie scourge, fight the war, or to heal the injured.

She saw him fiddling with the bandages, watched them move, and then saw the blood move to flow forward as the pressure stopped. Before Krystal could say anything, he put pressure against it once more. The wound looked nasty - what a horrid injury for the woman to take. That dog must have really wanted to hurt her. Most could tell the difference between a zombie and human, she thought. Scents and all - they'd be different, right? It didn't matter, though, not now. The woman needed to be healed, and they had to do their best to save her. Krystal didn't know if she could survive the bloodloss - there was quite a good bit all over the place.

"When were you bitten, and has your dog had all of its shots?" The doctor asked, not removing any of the pressure on her wound as Krystal went for the pain medication. "Umm... a few hours ago, maybe? And I... think so..." The woman told her slowly. Krystal sighed softly - people really should go about learning this information about their pets! "My husband took care of that... I-I don't... know where he is..." Lovely. Just lovely. What kind of husband was a man who'd leave his son and injured wife in a zombie-infested City? "The joys of marriage." The doctor said, summing up Krystal's thoughts.

As she shoved the needle into an empty section of her bag - keeping it well away from the other sterile needles (as sterile as they could be, anyway) - and turned to the man, waiting for an answer. "It's bad." The womans' eyes widened and Krystal patted her hand gently, with a comforting smile, as the man continued. "Without the proper tools, I'm not sure she'll make it." Couldn't he at least soften his words to not frighten the woman? If he gave her no hope of survival, she'd resign herself to it and let herself go, and that was the last thing they needed. He told her what they needed, and she nodded.

"I have some gauze and Betadine, along with a bottle of water. I don't happen to have a small hospital, but I have some stitching material - if you want to see if I have enough." The last half of the sentence was said with a bit of doubt - she'd seen the wound, and she didn't think she had enough for it. She carried pain killers, needles to inject it, and a stitching kit. Mainly, though, it was antiseptics and gauze, because that was the main thing needed for wounds. Krystal fished around her bag once more, and produced a bottle of Betadine and a small water bottle filled with clean, pure water. "What would you like me to do with them, Doctor?"[/ul]

[David Hale]

David didn’t miss the disapproving look the nurse gave him when he openly admitted his uncertainty about the woman’s survival. He merely rose an eyebrow at her before focusing his attention on the wound once more. Even if she didn’t agree, she seemed wise enough to know this wasn’t the time to argue.
Perhaps she was also wise enough to understand she couldn’t sway his mind anyway, and trying would be a waste of both of their times.
Oh, he’d had complaints about his behavior before. ”Doctor, you need to be more sensitive, doctor, you need to give the patient hope. Doctor this, doctor that.” he’d heard them all, and so far, no one had managed to change him into a ‘better’ person.
He didn’t believe in sugar-coating problems. Unless he was dealing with children – which very rarely happened, seeing as he hadn’t studied pediatrics – he felt it appropriate to be open and honest with his patients, even if the news might not be what they wanted to hear.
From then on, it was their own responsibility whether they continued to fight or gave up on themselves.
Survival of the fittest, he liked to think. Those who wanted to live, would live. They were strong, and a strong mind could heal even a weak body. Those who refused to fight for their own survival would likely die, true, but ultimately, it was up to them to fight whatever illness they had. He could be nice and pretend everything was sugar and sunshine, but what would that accomplish?
Ultimately, they were alone. And the sooner they realized and accepted that, the better.
He firmly believed that a patient survived by believing in themselves and their own ability to heal, the doctor was merely there to provide some aid.

"I have some gauze and Betadine, along with a bottle of water. I don't happen to have a small hospital, but I have some stitching material - if you want to see if I have enough."
“Excellent.” With those supplies, they were a hell of a lot closer to a happy ending than five minutes ago, “If you could…” he motioned to his bloodstained hands, still holding the gauze pressed against the wound.
“It’ll suffice.” He said simply as he checked the amount of stitching material. It really wasn’t enough for a wound this large, and the nurse likely knew that judging by the uncertainty in her voice. Still, some was better than none, and if they couldn’t completely stitch the wound up, they’d use gauze and bandages to make up the difference. It wasn’t ideal, but then, this entire situation wasn’t ideal. They’d have to make do with what they had.

"What would you like me to do with them, Doctor?"
He looked up to see Krystal had brought out the Betadine and water already and nodded briefly to himself as he began to plan out the following steps.
“Once the blood flow stops, we’ll have to flush the wound with water, and then use the Betadine to combat infection.” He briefly looked down on his watch. Almost nine minutes had passed, if the wound was still bleeding after such an amount of time, something was seriously wrong.
He carefully removed the gauze and let out a deep sigh in relief when no more blood poured out of the area. He took another piece of gauze and carefully wiped away any of the remaining blood, giving both himself and the nurse a better look at the wound.
The sight was quite gruesome, and David was glad the child was currently too busy playing with Krystal’s toy to witness it. It was like the dog had actually ripped out a chunk of flesh. There were several scratches along the wound area as well.
“Did your dog bite you more than once?” he asked the woman as he examined the scratches. They looked like teeth marks, like the dog scraped over the skin with its teeth before finally grabbing on.
“No… no, I don’t think so…” she sounded uncertain, though that could very well be the blood loss making her a bit forgetful. It didn’t really matter anyway, the scrapes wouldn’t be the cause of her death.
“I see…” he directed his attention back to the nurse as he began to remove his bloodied gloves and reaching for clean ones, “Have you treated wounds like these before?” he asked calmly as he wiped his hands once more before putting on the fresh new gloves.

[brighteye]

[/i] The doctor told her as she revealed the supplies she had. She hoped that she had enough to make the difference. "If you could..." he made a gesture towards his hands, which were becoming bloody. Quickly she set the two small bottles down between the two of them, tugging out some gauze to help stop the blood flow from the womans body. Her pack hung from one arm as she reached over to press a pad of gauze over the doctor's hands, applying firm pressure so that he could move his hands from the wound. As she held the gauze in place, she noticed he was checking her supplies. "It'll suffice," he pronounced, and she wondered if he were telling the truth. She wasn't sure he was, but she wasn't going to voice it. So, she stayed silent as he went on to explain the steps they were going to take to help this woman.

"What happens if..." She hesitated, glancing over at the woman. She was watching the two of them, taking in everything they said. But, she had to ask, because this wound was most unusual. "if it doesn't? Stop, I mean." If the blood flow didn't stop, they couldn't flush the wound out, because the blood would make it very difficult, and they didn't have water to waste. Finally, after a short period of time, he peeled the gauze away, and she moved her hands. Krystals' eyes widened as she saw the womans' wound. That was one of the nastier bite wounds she had - she was certainly lucky that she hadn't bled to death or had any damage to her organs. Krystal glanced over to the boy to see him amusing himself with Mr. Penguin. Good. He shouldn't have to see this.

"Did your dog bite you more than once?" The doctor directed a question to the woman once more. The wound certainly looked large for a singular dog bite - unless it was a really big dog. "No... no, I don't think so..." The woman seemed a bit dazed. She was probably going into shock from the trauma and blood loss. Krystal certainly would have been in shock by now if she'd had the same happen to her. This woman was a real trooper, to have lasted this long. It probably helped that she had a son and husband to live for - even if the husband was currently missing in action. Maybe he went to get a doctor himself - she didn't know, since she wasn't with the man. "I see." The doctor replied, before turning to her and taking off his gloves. "Have you treated wounds like these before?"

Krystal shook her head slowly. "I haven't treated an animal-based wound like this before. I've worked on gun shot wounds and land mine blasts, and other such wounds that come with this stupid war." She let her disgust for the fighting tinge her last words. Technically, if the soldiers downstairs were any proof, this man next to her was an enemy. A southern doctor, one who might have aided in the zombies, was sitting before her, and she was letting him dictate their plan to help this woman. There were many doctors and nurses she knew who wouldn't. It wasn't the patients' fault that they'd called to them a southern forces doctor - a doctor is a doctor, after all.

(( Sorry it took so long! ))[/ul]

[David Hale]

"What happens if... if it doesn't? Stop, I mean." The nurse asked him hesitantly, and though he wouldn’t normally have bothered with educating someone, this question was actually quite relevant.
What would he do if the wound didn’t stop bleeding? There likely wouldn’t be anything he could do in that case. If the wound didn’t stop bleeding now, there must’ve been an underlying cause for that, and without the proper tools around, he wouldn’t be able to figure out what that cause was.
The most straight-forward answer would’ve been ’She’ll die’, but he couldn’t exactly openly admit that with the woman’s son being this close-by. He wasn’t worried about his feelings too much, but he was likely old enough to know what the word ‘death’ meant, and would cause a scene, lowering the woman’s chance of survival even further.
“It will.” He told her simply, and technically, that wasn’t a lie. Even if he couldn’t treat the wound, the blood flow would stop eventually… when she’d bled out completely.
When he removed the gauze and noticed the look on Krystal’s face upon seeing the wound, he knew the next question was likely unnecessary. One didn’t look that shocked if they’d worked with similar wounds in the past.

And surely enough, the young nurse shook her head when he asked her about her experiences dealing with bite wounds of this magnitude.
"I haven't treated an animal-based wound like this before. I've worked on gun shot wounds and land mine blasts, and other such wounds that come with this stupid war." the disgusted undertone of her sentence was quite hard to miss, but David decided now was not the best time for a conversation. Besides, what could he say? He hated this war as much as she did, perhaps more so because he was forced to be a part of it, though this wasn’t a contest and it really didn’t matter who hated war the most.
“Indeed,” He stated rather plainly as he began working on the wound himself, “Experience in those areas does seem preferable.”
“You just don’t understand war, missy,” The soldier standing guard by the door seemed to have taken offense and felt it appropriate to comment, “It’s necessary sometimes.”
David merely shook his head and decided to ignore the man, hoping Krystal would do the same.
Occasionally he asked her for a clean band-aid or to pass him the water again, he didn’t work as slow as he probably should have, considering this was a fine opportunity for the nurse to learn more about these types of injuries and which actions to take and why. He couldn’t take his sweet time, because the woman was really starting to look pale by now and he felt the sooner that wound was closed up, the better.
Maybe Krystal was able to keep up despite his pace… she had finished school at a remarkable young age, after all, and one just didn’t get their degree unless they were genuinely good at what they did.

“There we go,” a few drops of Betadine had dripped down her thigh, and he carefully wiped them away before tossing the used piece of gauze to the side.
Rather than getting right back to work, he left the wound as it was for a few minutes as he prepared for the next steps. The wound had to dry first, and he couldn’t exactly go around blowing on it to fasten up the process because that would kind of beat the purpose of disinfecting it in the first place.
The woman didn’t even seem to notice he’d stopped working on her, and the child was still too occupied with that penguin thing to notice anything. The soldier did shift to get a better look at what he was doing, and seemed confused for a moment, but David didn’t intend on enlightening him.
“Almost done Miss Clarke,” he informed her, deciding to keep her up to date, “Once the Betadine dries, we’ll have to apply some antibiotic ointment and stitch it up. If we don’t have enough wire, we’ll cover the remainder of the wound up with rolled up gauze.” It wasn’t ideal, but it would have to do.

As they waited, David again felt curious about the nurse’s age. How was it possible for someone this young to already be a licensed practitioner? It made no sense to him. Did she have some sort of medical background? Or was she just a genius? Either way, it was fascinating. Not even David would’ve been able to finish school that quickly, even if nurses needed to know less than doctors. What was so special about this girl that she’d managed to get her degree before even hitting twenty?
Wait a moment! Maybe she was actually a lot older than he thought, and she just looked young. That would make a lot more sense.
“So, Miss Clarke. Your credentials didn’t mention your age. How old are you, exactly?”

[brighteye]

[/i] He told her easily. She knew that one way or another she'd stop bleeding, but that wasn't really the answer she was looking for. Then again, it might be the best one he could give her, and she'd have to accept it. She wasn't going to question it - not with the child and the woman in earshot. They could try to work around the volumous blood flow, but she doubted they could do much good. Stitching with that much blood would be quite difficult, and gauze would only slow the inevitable.

"Indeed." The doctor replied. "You just don't understand war, missy. It's necessary sometimes." A guard - southern, of course they would be southern (she was a bit prejudiced) - said from the door. Other than a glare tossed over her shoulder, she didn't respond to the man. Rather, she turned to aid the doctor in the way she was best equipped to. Sure, she could stitch up wounds and do all sorts of things that could save lives, but a doctor was much better at making the calls in that short space of time that meant a patient would live or die than she was - only because that wasn't where her abilities lay. She was to assist the acting doctor, and if there wasn't an acting doctor to do her best for the patient until one could be found. So, she did not feel slighted in the least when he had her passing him items as he did all the heavy work. Not like she had the skills to heal a bite like this anyway.

Even so, her eyes watched as he applied antibiotics, water, and gauze to the womans' leg, cleaning it out and drying it so that it would be a suitable work place for him. Finally, after a few agonizingly long minutes, they were done for the moment, as the doctor made apparent by his "There we go." He used a piece of gauze to wipe stray liquid off of the woman before tossing it to the side. The wound was still open to the world, so she was surprised for a moment that he'd just let it be. But, as she eyed the wound, she figured there was a method to his madness if she could just figure out what it was. "Almost done, Miss Clarke. Once the Betadine dries, we'll have to apply some antibiotic ointment and stitch it up." So, that was the reason why he had left it alone. That made sense. "If we don't have enough wire, we'll cover the remainder of the wound with rolled up gauze." Krystal nodded her understanding.

"Yes, Doctor." She told him, realizing that she didn't have any idea what the mans' name was. She was working elbow to elbow with a complete stranger, all in the name of the patients' health. Not that it bothered her - she'd worked with plenty of people she didn't have any extensive knowledge of back at home, only they hadn't been southern medical staff. But, when it came down to the nitty gritty, he was a doctor and she was a nurse and the woman was a person in need of medical attention. So, whatever. They could dispute their political views later. "So, Miss Clarke. Your credentials didn't mention your age. How old are you, exactly." Oh no. Here it comes. She'd tell him her age and he'd scoff and then the arguement would come. Most didn't want to grow up, but she honestly couldn't wait until she was older - physically anyway. Then people would leave her alone and let her do her job.

"I'm eighteen." She told him with a sigh. "I started learning at eleven, however, instead of later like most students. Children are more malleable to learning, as we've all be taught, and I was no different it seems. My mother taught me until I was fifteen. Then, while she was helping wounded soldiers on the battlefield, some Southern idiot," Krystal turned her gaze, now a glare, on the soldier at the door. "Used a tank to blow up her medical station." The medical stations weren't biased when it came to aiding the wounded, either. At least, not the northern ones. She'd heard of doctors on their side who had stitched up Southern soldiers, just because it was the right thing to do. They were a human in pain - it didn't matter what side you fought for. Some didn't even have a choice - like her father and brother, who had also died for the South.[/ul]

[David Hale]

“Eighteen?” the surprise was apparent in his voice, but not in a negative way.
In all honesty, he’d expected her to say she was somewhere in her mid-twenties and just looked young, so this came as a bit of a surprise. Now he was even more curious as to how she could be a nurse already.
Thankfully though, she didn’t make him ask for it and instead decided to elaborate on her own.
"I started learning at eleven, however, instead of later like most students. Children are more malleable to learning, as we've all be taught, and I was no different it seems. My mother taught me until I was fifteen. Then, while she was helping wounded soldiers on the battlefield, some Southern idiot," Krystal turned her gaze, now a glare, on the soldier at the door. "Used a tank to blow up her medical station."

“Huh…” he didn’t really notice her glaring at the guard, and truth be told, he wouldn’t have cared even if he had.
The dislike she seemed to have towards soldiers mirrored his own in many ways, though she seemed to genuinely hate them, whereas David just didn’t care for them much.
Did that incident with the tank cost her mother’s life? It would certainly explain her feelings towards soldiers…
He pondered about offering his condolences, but in the end decided against it. Krystal wasn’t a dumb girl, so she must’ve figured out by now that he was with the Southern army.
How would she react if someone she most likely saw as the enemy – everyone and their grandmothers thought the South to be the enemy – sympathized with her? He couldn’t have the only useful person in the near vicinity yelling and screaming, and potentially even getting violent. Besides, he wasn’t even sure if the woman was dead or if she’d been able to escape and just found her station in shambles later on.

And so he kept silent about it, deciding to instead address the young age at which she’d started learning.
“That’s amazing,” he sounded sincere, and he didn’t even have to fake it. A child’s mind worked so quickly and efficiently… it was a shame not more people decided to give their children an advantage over their classmates by teaching them things early on in their lives. Once you passed a certain age, your brain would just slow down – like an old computer – and then it took a hell of a lot longer to get a decent grasp at things a child might have picked up in a manner of days.
Honestly, he felt a little jealous. He’d started med school at age sixteen, which was considered quite an accomplishment, but by then, his mind had already begun to degrade it seemed.
What if he’d started at age eleven as well? Would he have finished school years earlier? And would he have been able to remember things he’d learned throughout that period better? He guessed he’d never find out now.

Of course he wasn’t going to admit to being jealous. He wasn’t the type to act childish and petty whenever someone was seemingly better than him.
And in the end, wasn’t he a doctor and she a nurse? At least she wasn’t an eighteen year old doctor, which would've stung a hell of a lot more.
“Your family must be very proud of your accomplishments.”