Chapter 11
The screech of mortar shells tore through the dawn sky over the Western Military District.
Mary pressed a bandage against her bleeding right leg, shrapnel embedded deep as stinging pain fermented in her flesh.
It mirrored the agony when Karen had pressed a curling iron against her skin, searing patches of her leg into charred flesh…
“Nurse!
Over here now!”
A frantic shout came from outside.
Ignoring her own injury, she limped toward the new casualty carried in on a stretcher.
A steel rod pierced the man’s chest, blood frothing from his nostrils with every ragged breath.
“Hold him down! Quick!”
The head nurse barked orders as several nurses pinned the casualty. The rod was extracted
with excruciating care.
“Stop the bleeding!”
Mary ripped open the emergency kit…
Sweat plastered her hair beneath the Army Base cap stamped with a Service Star.
Before finishing one casualty, another arrived.
Some pulled through…
Others lay there, breaths fading despite resuscitation efforts.
Mary had witnessed trauma as a nurse, but never so many lives extinguished in a single day.
War laid bare how fragile life was.
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All those consuming emotions-joy, sorrow, resentment-now felt trivial.
During a brief noon respite, the head nurse summoned her outside.
Unaware of the reason, Mary followed.
Outside the Military Garrison stood a man.
She turned to leave when a sentry called: “Miss Mary!
Your family’s here!”
She stiffened her pace, then told the sentry coldly: “I don’t know him. Likely an enemy spy. Stay vigilant!”
Without a backward glance, she walked away.
When guards relayed her words verbatim to Ralph, his face turned ashen.
Adjusting his tie, he stated: “I’ll wait here until she sees me.”
The soldier gaped. “Sir, this is a warzone!
Shells could hit any minute. Civilians must leave!”
“I’ll wait!”
Ralph’s obstinance drew scowls from the garrison staff. Unfamiliar with business news, they didn’t recognize him. Soldiers promptly dragged him ten miles away as a troublemaker!
The warning was blunt: “Return and disrupt order, we’ll have military police jail you!”
His polished media persona meant nothing here.
After thirteen calls through nine layers of connections, finally…
A soldier invited him to drink water at the Military Checkpoint guardhouse,
The sentry now beamed: “So you’re Ralph, president of Walker Group from Metropolis!
Paying billions in taxes annually! But why search for someone here?
Who exactly is that Miss Mary to you?”
Isolated from outside news, they hadn’t connected that the Walker Group president’s wife-a
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nurse surnamed Thompson-matched the very woman they’d just summoned.
Ralph said deeply, “She’s family. We argued over something trivial, and she stormed off. I’m here to take her home.”
“Army Base has its rules. If the higher-ups disagree, not even a princess can leave.”
“Then have Miss Mary’s superior talk to me!”
“Mr. Walker…”
The sentry poured him another cup of hot water, speaking in a grave tone: “Given your status, this is the only place I can receive you. The medical team directors are swamped, barely able to step away. We’ll pass along your message, but when Miss Thompson might agree to see you-that’s beyond our control.”
Ralph’s expression darkened as he sipped the water.
Standing outside the guardhouse, he gazed toward the heavily barricaded military and medical camps in the distance.
A mere two hundred meters separated them…
Yet he couldn’t reach her.
For the first time, Ralph felt utterly powerless.
Two days later, Mary remained immersed in tense battlefield triage.
Suddenly, the head physician advised solemnly: “Miss Thompson, that man seeking you- he’s still here. Are you certain you won’t see him? Coming to find you in this hellscape… it suggests deep concern.”
Behind her mask, Mary pressed her lips tight. “I volunteered here having made peace with life and death and human indifference. Everyone here serves our nation. His arrogant intrusion is unworthy of your attention.”
The physician fell silent.
Mary suspected Ralph either couldn’t find household medicines, needed a free nanny for his mother or sister, or required her to tend to Karen’s growing pregnancy. No other reason would bring him here.
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She’d never return.
Not a word. Not a glance. Never again to Ralph.
Afternoon artillery struck without warning!
The first shell hit the medical camp’s perimeter as Mary changed a soldier’s bandages. Deafening explosions shook the tent, sending medicine bottles crashing from shelves.
“Enemy attack! All personnel evacuate NOW!”
The sentry’s scream pierced through smoke. Mary’s heart hammered against her ribs.
She dropped her gauze, hauling the wounded soldier upright. “Can you walk? Lean on me!”
He gritted his teeth in affirmation. But before they took two steps, a second shell screamed overhead-
BOOM!
Shrapnel and scorching wind blasted them. Mary shielded the soldier’s head as they tumbled down. The tent’s corner disintegrated, flames painting the sky crimson.
“Move! To the bomb shelters!” The soot-covered physician dragged medics to their feet.
Mary’s right leg wound tore open during the fall, blood seeping through bandages. Biting back agony, she and a colleague carried immobile casualties toward the exit.
Chaos reigned outside. Shells rained down, spraying earth and dismembered limbs.
“Mary! MARY!”
A frantic shout cut through explosions. Mary froze mid-step.
She turned in disbelief. Against the fleeing crowd, Ralph sprinted toward her-expensive suit coated in grime, usually immaculate hair plastered to his forehead.
“Who’s that lunatic? He’s got a death wish!” A soldier roared, lunging to intercept him.
Ralph was like a madman, grabbing every single person in a white coat to check.
When he finally spotted Mary, wild joy flashed in his eyes-only for her to coldly shrug him
off.
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She had never seen Ralph like this-eyes bloodshot, face scraped, tie crooked around his neck. Where was the dignified demeanor of the Johnson Group CEO?
