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Sorunted Soasped and squir a sharp stab in her hip froround, she forgot her own pain
He was young, about her age Small, with delicate features and timid brown eyes His face was pale His breath caasps The hand cupped over his storiues were soaked with dark red blood
Luce couldn't look away from the wound I'm not supposed to be here, she whispered to herself
The boy's lips tren of the cross over his chest Oh, I've died, he said, staring at her wide-eyed You are an angel I've died and gone to--Am I in Heaven?
He reached for her, his hand quaking She wanted to scream or vomit, but all she could do was cover his hands and press theut Another boo on it Fresh blood seeped through the web of Luce's fingers
I a his eyes Please Help me Please
Only then did Luce realize she wasn't in Moscow anyround below her arrassy plain that was torn up in places, exposing rich black soil The air was dry and dusty This boy had spoken to her in Italian, and just as she had in Moscow, she understood
Her eyes had adjusted She could see searchlights in the distance, roa sky was flecked with bright white stars Luce turned away She couldn't see stars without thinking of Daniel, and she couldn't think about Daniel right now Not with her hands pressed into this boy's belly, not with him about to die
At least he hadn't died yet
He only thought he had
She couldn't blaone into shock And then h the Announcer, a black tunnel appearing out of thin air Heto be fine, she said, using the perfect Italian she'd alanted to learn It felt astonishingly natural on her tongue Her voice, too, came out softer and smoother than she expected; it made her wonder what she'd been like in this lifeti shots ht zipping tracers arcing through the sky, burning lines of white into her vision, followed by a lot of shouting in Italian Then the thu closer
We're retreating, the boy ood
Luce looked toward the sound of soldiers running in their direction and noticed for the first time that she and the injured soldier were not alone At least ten otherand bleeding into the black earth Their clothes were singed and shredded from the land mine that must have taken them by surprise The rich stink of rot and sweat and blood sat heavy in the air, coating everything It was so horrific--Luce had to bite down on her lip to keep fro
A man in an officer's unifor here? This is a war zone, not a place for nurses You'll be no help to us dead, girl At least make yourself useful We need the casualties loaded up
He stormed off before Luce could respond Below her, the boy's eyes were beginning to droop and his whole body was shaking She looked around desperately for help
About a halftrucks and two small, squat aht back, Luce told the boy, pressing his handsHe whimpered when she pulled away
She ran toward the trucks, stu over her feet when another shell ca the earth buck
A cluster of woathered around the back of one of the trucks Nurses They would knohat to do, how to help But when Luce got close enough to see their faces, her heart sank They were girls Some of them couldn't have been older than fourteen Their uniforms looked like costu for herself in one of them There must have been a reason why she'd stepped into this Hell But no one looked fairls' calm, clear expressions Not one of them showed the terror that Luce kneas clear on her own face Maybe they had already seen enough of the war to grow used to what it did
Water An older woes Gauze
She was distributing supplies to the girls, who loaded up, then set to work putting together a makeshift clinic on the side of the road A row of injured men had already been moved behind the truck for treatment More were on the way Luce joined the line for supplies It was dark and no one said a word to her She could feel it now--the stress of the young nurses They must have been trained to keep a poised, calirl in front of Luce reached up to take her ration of supplies, her hands were shaking
Around the the wounded under the ar carriedhow badly they'd been hit Then there were the ones more seriously injured, whose lips could for off screams, who had to be hoisted by the waist because one or both of their legs had been blown off by a land es Gauze The head nurse dumped the ration of supplies irl, but then she didn't She fixed her gaze on Luce Her eyes traveled doard, and Luce realized she was still wearing the heavy wool coat fro, because underneath the coat were her jeans and button-down shirt from her current life
Unifor dohite dress and a nurse's cap like the other girls earing
Luce nodded gratefully, then ducked behind a truck to change It was a billohite gown that reached her ankles and sly of bleach She tried to wipe the soldier's blood off her hands, using the wool coat, then tossed it behind a tree But by the time she'd buttoned the nurse's uniform, rolled up the sleeves, and tied the belt around her waist, it was corabbed the supplies and ran back across the road The scene before her was grueso There were at least a hundred es in her ar
Nurse! aa stretcher into the back of an ambulance Nurse! This one needs a nurse
Luce realized that he was talking to her Oh, she said faintly Me? She peered into the ambulance It was cramped and dark inside A space that looked like it had been made for two people now held six The wounded soldiers were laid out on stretchers slid into three-tiered slings on either side There was no place for Luce except on the floor
So another stretcher onto the small empty space on the floor The soldier laid out on it was unconscious, his black hair plastered across his face Go on, the soldier said to Luce It's leaving now
When she didn't move, he pointed to a wooden stool affixed to the inside of the ambulance's back door with a crisscrossed rope He bent down and made a stirrup with his hands to help Luce up onto the stool Another shell shook the ground, and Luce couldn't hold back the scream that escaped her lips