“Oh, no problem. I don’t want to bother him—”
“Good,” she smiled. “Because you won’t be.”
I couldn’t resist the smile back. Typical head nurse, stern and quick to put people in their place, but kind once they got to know you. At least I hoped so. It felt like I was back in nursing school, and the nostalgia bloomed in my chest.
“But seeing as there’s no one rushing in here with blood pouring out of various orifices,” Rhonda continued, making her way around the desk toward me, “I can show you around a bit.”
It wasn’t until she grabbed a cane and leaned on it heavily that I realized she walked with a significant limp.
“Gunshot, border wars,” she grunted out. “Don’t know what they’re calling it now, but it was at the old Oregon-Idaho border about five years back.”
“Sorry to hear that.” I picked up my pace as she walked alongside me. Even with a cane, she was fast.
“Heh, I’m not. About time I got a soldier’s welcome everywhere I went,” she cackled. “And all these nice young men offering me their hands and holding things for me. It’s not a bad trade at all.” Her sharp eyes roamed over me as we walked down the hallway, my boots and her sneakers an odd mix of sounds.
“I did about three years in the border wars too,” I said. “From East Texas to Arizona, just following the battles west.”
“You’re in damn good shape for being a battle medic,” Rhonda observed. She was right—I had no major scars or injuries to speak of from those times.
“I don’t know how,” I admitted. “I traded pills to get me out of some hairy situations, but even still, I got lucky.”
“Someone must’ve been watching out for you,” Rhonda muttered.
Freyja’s loud purr sputtered to life as she headbutted my ankle, walking in perfect time with my leg as she rubbed against me.
“Maybe.” I smiled. “‘Til I ran into a biker gang, and then they became those someones.”
Rhonda lifted in an eyebrow, taking note of the black cat for the first time. “We don’t usually let animals into the hospital, but your little critter sure is stuck to you like velcro. He better not get into anything, though.”
“She,” I corrected. “And you don’t have to worry. Freyja sticks by me and she’s great with patients. She’s like a,” I paused to think of the pre-Collapse term I learned in school, “like a therapy cat.”
Rhonda nodded, the gesture stern, like she’d give me one chance and no more than that.
“So, is it true you’re married to all of them?” she asked. “The bikers you rode in with?”
“No,” I laughed. “I’m committed to three, and… I guess, in the early dating stages with a fourth.”
Both eyebrows shot up and Rhonda resumed facing forward with a chuckle. “Oh, to be young and beautiful again.”
She took me to a large room at the end of the hall where an actual, real CT scanner sat. My jaw dropped open and I nearly wanted to cry. Hell, I wanted to kiss that beautiful machine.
“How did you get this?” I asked in an awed whisper, approaching the machine. “I thought there were hardly any working ones left.”
“Governor Vance bought it himself and had it shipped from overseas,” Rhonda declared proudly. “See? All the words are in German.”
“I can’t imagine what it must have cost him,” I said, shaking my head. “But this is amazing! No more guessing games like out in the field.”
“It’s quite possibly the only one in the southwest.” Rhonda fondly ran a hand over the machine. “And it’s helped us save hundreds of lives, that’s for sure.”
“What else does the hospital have?” I turned back to her, giddiness running through me. “Ultrasound machines? X-rays? How about a lab?”
“Down, girl,” Rhonda teased with a chuckle. “We have all of those, yes, but not many, and even fewer people with the skills to use them. Our poor lab tech is always run ragged. He works the longest hours out of any of us and is always behind. We’re working on getting more people trained, but you know how it is. Medical professionals don’t grow overnight.”
“I’d love to help.” Excitement continued to brim throughout me despite her down, girl. “My specialty was in labor and delivery, but you can put me anywhere that needs the most support. Anything I haven’t learned out in the field, I can pick up quickly—”
“Ah, just the person to decide where an eager young medic should go.” Rhonda tilted her head down the hallway and I followed her gaze.
A tall, slender man was coming down the hallway with long strides. He wore the iconic, long white coat of a doctor with plain jeans and a T-shirt underneath. Glasses sat on an attractive, friendly face with a medium-brown complexion. What surprised me the most was how young he looked, close to the same age as any of my guys.
“Dr. Brooks, this is Mariposa,” Rhonda introduced. “Accomplished combat medic and Kyrie Vance’s personal savior.”
“Oh please,” I laughed, shaking off my surprise at the sight of the young doctor. “It’s amazing what a small knife and a huge dose of adrenaline can make you do.”
“I’ve heard you’re exceedingly modest too,” Dr. Brooks teased me gently with a warm smile, accepting my outstretched hand. “It’s a pleasure, Mariposa. I’m sorry we didn’t get to meet at the governor’s dinner party. We were swamped here.”
“That’s why I’m here,” I offered. “Heard you could use some extra hands and Rhonda was nice enough to show me around.”
The doctor nodded, his warm expression turning grave. “Rumors of a retaliation from Blakeworth are already swirling, even an all-out war. We’ll need lots of combat medics, and soon. People who can move fast and treat major injuries on the fly.”
“You’re looking at one.” I crossed my arms. “Have you been a combat medic yourself, doctor?”
“Ah, no.” He blushed slightly. “I went to medical school in Canada. University of Toronto, to be exact.”
“Canada?” I repeated. “Why on earth would you leave Canada for this place?” I had been hoping to escape to the great frozen north before running into my guys. It was a major refugee destination that few were actually able to reach.
“Governor Vance reached out to me,” Dr. Brooks admitted. “I had recently graduated, just started my residency, and apparently was near the bottom of a long list of candidates he’d called.”
Rhonda scoffed. “I can’t imagine why anyone else would have said no.”
“Right?” Dr. Brooks laughed. “A hospital job in a foreign land in the middle of civil and political unrest. Also, I wouldn’t get paid for the foreseeable future, but housing, food, and all basic necessities would be taken care of.”
My curiosity got the best of me. “So why did you say yes?”
The doctor straightened. “I wanted to help those who needed it most—the ones without any access to medical care.”
“We also take in patients traveling from other territories,” Rhonda explained. “Some cross hundreds of miles to get here. They have to be screened by the army at the borders, so we try to have medics posted there in case it’s something life-threatening. But it’s like Dr. Brooks said,” her eyes lifted to him, “we need more people. Badly.”