A/N: It's been a long time coming, but I'm finally fixing this fic and plan on finishing it :) I'm adding things, so if you've read it before you may want to reread (although theres nothing vitally important thats new), and if you haven't read it before, enjoy!

It wasn't all that busy of a day, which is pretty rare around here. We're always stitching someone up or giving them pills or taking bullets out of their backs. I guess that's war, but I sure don't like it. I'm thankful that I'm just a nurse, not even a doctor, and definitely not a soldier. I see enough blood as it is, and I'm not even out there fighting.

There hadn't been anyone new for three days, and even though no one said it, I'm pretty sure we all knew it was the calm before the storm. I didn't really want anyone else getting hurt, but it would be nice to see someone else for a change; someone with both eyes and all limbs, or to hear a different voice. Being around the same people, or the same injuries, really wears you down after a while. Besides, it gets you thinking about things you don't want to think about, and around here there's a lot you don't want to think about. Somehow though, I knew something was going to happen- I think we all did.

"Miss?" someone asked, and I turned around, fully alert- you have to be alert around here, or else you'll get your ass chewed out for disrespecting an officer, or for not being ready to work. I relaxed a little when I saw it was Doc Rossberg- he's an alright guy, a heck of a lot nicer than most of the doctors. He was sincere while the rest of them put on a fake, hopeless smile to make people feel good. I liked him a fair bit- most of the doctors were always on your back about something or another, and I could hardly stand it half the time.

"You feeling alright?" he asked me and I sighed.

"Yeah."

He nodded in a way that let me know that he knew I didn't want to talk about whatever was on my mind, and he continued on my way. Usually I would have liked to have a chat- I'm a fairly chatty person- but I was in a mood where I didn't really know what the heck was bothering me, so there was no way I could tell him.

This place gives people a lot of wierd feelings and bizarre thoughts and mood swings- we'd had to let a doctor go home a couple of weeks ago because he wasn't able to control himself. One second he'd be cheery and the next he'd be screaming like a raving lunatic- sometimes I didn't think I was very far away from that.

The rest of the day went by until dusk like that- nothing big happening and me doing my duty in a daze which isn't a good thing when you're a nurse, but I didn't manage to screw up.

Just after darkness though, the day changed. I was just finishing my dinner, if you can call it that, when a call came through the door- "Any nurses?" It was sounding pretty frantic, and it kind of suprised me. Usually, people came in by helicopter, and I hadn't heard any rotor blades. Usually the sound gave us a couple of minutes to wash our hands and get our thoughts together before we were needed. I hated it when that happened, though- I mean when I was free when a call came. I didn't want to be one of the first people to see the damaged bodies

some of which were either dead or dying by the time they got to us. It wasn't a pretty sight to see, but I usually was one of the free nurses at the time a call came. I guess life's funny that way, making us do the things we hate most.

When I stepped out though, I saw it was worse than what I had thought. There were dozens of men there- no, boys, they couldn't be much older than 18. A couple of older guys were there too, but most of them looked younger than me. And they all looked pretty badly wounded. I didn't know which was worse, looking at them all or the shouting that was going on.

Seeing all these boys and men, it made me truly glad that I was female. There was a lot of womans rallies and stuff going on back home, someone had told me that she'd heard one where women were protesting wearing skirts in public. They wanted to be equal to men, but I didn't think women would ever be able to live like these soldiers were. This made me glad that I was female.

"Ambushed just up the road-"

"Didn't even see them coming-"

"Got a few dead back there, going to have to look after-"

"Got some of the fuckers back though!"

"You!" one of the doctors said to me. "You and Ghalliger here sort them out, in priority! Mark them!"

I looked beside me, and Ghalliger was looking as appalled as I felt. Of course, we didn't hate our jobs, but me and her were friends and we both hated the look of blood. Don't ask why we were nurses, but there was something out here that called to me. Maybe looking after people, since I never had been good at it before.

"You take the left?" she said to me, and I nodded before moving off, feeling disgusted. There should never be enough injured people in one place that you have to split up to mark who needs urgent care. It reminded me of a big car crash, back home, just before I'd came out here, where a station wagon had hit a truck and there was half a dozen injured children laying around, waiting to be helped. It was like this all the time though, sorting people- who was going to die, who needed emergency attention, and who could wait until everyone else was looked after?

I knelt down to see what was wrong with the first guy I got to on my side- I saw anything wrong with him except a deep cut on his face—and that he was apparently bleeding somewhere else because he was drenched in blood. When I wiped a bit of the blood off his face to see where it was coming from, I felt my heart drop to my stomach, because there, in front of me, was Sodapop Curtis, Tulsa heartthrob.