BATTLEFIELD

By Jo

Robin's hands clenched the steering wheel grimly as he followed the two speeding ambulances along the two curving lanes of road leading into Coffs. Maximus and Alistair had become his two best friends in this new continent so far from England and he was
worried he might lose both of them tonight. Evidently no one had been aware for a while just how much blood Maximus was losing. He'd seen men that white on more battlefields than he cared to remember. He only hoped with modern technology the
outcome for the General would be different than it had been for those men.

Julie watched the hard set of his profile. "They'll take good care of them."

"They better," he replied without unclenching his teeth.  He was speeding despite the heavy rain, determined to stay right behind the ambulances with their lights and sirens slicing through the night. His thoughts strayed to his own stay in that hospital. He hadn't
liked the experience at all, what he remembered of it.

He took a sharp, hilly curve at high speed and his car hydroplaned, spinning around on the pavement three times before its front bumper impacted a sign post and the car came to an abrupt halt. Instinctively, his right arm had gone out, stretched over Julie's upper body, but his forehead snapped forward, hitting the top of the steering wheel, opening up a long gash just inside his hairline. Blood flowed down his face, getting into his eyes, and furious with himself for letting the car get out of control, he wiped at it with both hands.

"Julie? Are you all right?" He turned, trying to see her but the blood obscured his vision.

"I'm fine," she replied, turning on the overhead light so she could see him better. "Robin, my God, your face!"

"It's nothing. Just can't see to drive. You'll have to take us the rest of the way. I'm so damn sorry."

She had a scarf tied over her hair because of the rain and took it off, handing it to him. "Press it up there, Robin. Maybe it will help."

They changed places and she was able to back the car away from the post, though the front bumper fell off. "Don't worry about that," Robin said, "just go."

The ambulances were completely out of sight now and though Julie drove faster than the speed limit, she didn't floor the accelerator like Robin had been doing. He sat in silence, his temple resting against the side window, holding the scarf to his forehead with one hand. The other, red with his own blood, rested in his lap.

In addition to the fact they were the spouses of the patients being transported, the medics wanted both Joimus and Ahnna to come along as they'd been in the flipping car and needed to be checked out themselves. In the interior lighting of the two ambulances, it became evident that all four of them had been more extensively bruised than at first had seemed evident. Ahnna's back muscles had been sprained and it took a great deal out of her to sit there on the jumpseat and hold Alistair's hand, but nothing was going to make her let go of him. He was semi-conscious but not really responding to what was going on around him.

Cort had just come out of the treatment area, having been x-rayed and receiving confirmation that three ribs on his left side were badly cracked. An enormous bruise was already starting to color his skin above them. He'd been strapped and given some pain med, but the hospital wasn't going to admit him. Ambulatory, he headed for the waiting room, intending to call Maximus to see what had happened. He also needed to arrange for a ride back to the Glen.

He'd halfway punched Maximus' number into his phone when the ER double doors slammed open and a gurney was pushed through, closely followed by a second. It was Joimus' face he saw first as she hurried alongside the first gurney. There was an absolute horror of desolation in her eyes and he dropped his gaze to the man on the gurney. "Maximus!" he gasped, staring at the still, white face.

The medics wouldn't let Joimus go where they were rushing the gurney and she stepped miserably aside as Alistair's was wheeled through, also disappearing down a curtained hallway.  Ahnna could barely stand and a nurse got her in a wheelchair and took her off for x-rays of her back. Cort, not able to stand fully erect, still placed both his hands on Joimus' shoulders. "What happened to him?"

"He was shot, Cort. He's almost bled out. I...I...."

"Come, sit," he urged, leading her to a row of chairs, startled by the deep bruise forming on her left cheekbone and several others on her arms. "And you?" he asked. "Ahnna? What happened?"

Joimus sat, taking a deep breath, trying to control the trembling that kept taking control of her person. "Bud stopped the SUV, Cort, and Dwayne was killed. He almost killed Alistair, from what Zack said, and Bud had no choice. But Maximus was shot and...and...
no one thought it was very bad...his shoulder...so...so...they came by the mill, got Ahnna and me so we could come to Coffs with them... you know? We...we used my station wagon...more room...Zack drove. It was dark...dark in the car...and he was bleeding... Maximus was...but we couldn't see...didn't know. I tried to stop it, but I think the bullet hit...hit something important."  She closed her eyes, pressing her hands over her face and Cort curved his arm around her shoulders.

"Then that man...the one driving the SUV...he got loose somehow...I don't know...he was just there...following us...ran us off the road. Car rolled...just rolled and rolled...and the next thing I knew I was lying in a field. It was raining so hard...so dark. I couldn't find him, Cort." She dropped her hands to her lap, turning to look at him. "He...he wasn't in the car...and I tried so hard...back and forth across the field...back and forth." She shuddered. "Then...then...I fell over him...in the dark, Cort, I fell right over him. He was cold...so very cold. And the man came...tried...tried to shoot everybody. But Zack killed him. Then Robin was there. I don't know how he was there, but he was there."

"Where is Robin now?"

"He's not here? He was right behind us. I...I...don't know where he is. Julie's with him."

The doors opened again and Robin and Julie came in. Cort looked up, seeing blood all over Robin's face. "Good Lord!" he gasped. A nurse came to take Robin back and Julie, seeing Cort and Joimus, came to sit by them.

"You, too, Cort?" She hadn't heard the full story yet.

"Ribs," he said. "Car got pushed into my side."

"So, tell me what you know."

He told her about the call from Alistair and how he and Maximus had gone to Dwayne's meeting Zack outside. "And I think it was that big vase Dwayne must've hit Alistair with," he ended.

Joimus' fingers were clasped together so tightly her knuckles were white. A nurse came up to her. "Mrs. Meridius?"

"Yes! What news of my husband?"

"Nothing yet. They've got him in surgery. But it's you I've come for. Doctor wants to check you out, too."

"I'm all right."

"Your cheekbone might be broken. Could be other things. You've got to come with me, all right?"

Sighing, she stood up. "You'll let me know, wherever I am, you'll let me know about my husband?"

"Sure thing," the nurse smiled.

"What about Alex?" Julie asked Cort.

"I don't know. He was really bad off. I haven't heard a thing since the ambulance arrived here. They whisked him away damn fast." He leaned forward, folding his arms around his middle, his jaw muscles working.

Within a few minutes, Robin came back out, his face cleaned, the long, thin split just in his hairline glued. "Maximus?" he asked, stopping in front of Cort and Julie.

"No news. They took Joimus back to check on her," Julie said.

When Robin sat, they told him what they knew of events. "Damn battlefield," he growled.