------
When I returned the next morning to inspect the prisoners, I entered their cell block excited to find out what happened.
Unlike the quiet from the night before there was a growling noise that sounded menacing.
“Has anyone checked on them since last night?”
“No, sir.” Schmitt answered turning the key to that second gate housing the last set of cells. “I told the men to stay away from this area until I gave the all clear.”
The growls were getting louder as we stopped right in front of the first cell.
“Holy mother of God!” Schmitt exclaimed. “What did you do?”
“Created the perfect weapon that’s going to win us the war.” I peered further into the cell pleased with what I saw.
The man before me was a mess. I wasn’t sure if he’d died and become an animal or if he had turned into an animal from my injection.
Schmitt rapped on the door and a bloody hand reached out trying to get a hold of us.
“Are they all like this?” He closed the little small door and the hand hanging out fell off to the floor.
I nudged it with my foot and if moved all on it’s own. I left it laying there and moved on to the next cell.
This man or creature appeared to be in the same condition as the other man.
Looking at all the test subjects, I had a good idea.
“Can you bring me something that you don’t want to see alive again?”
“What? Why would I want someone dead?” Schmitt looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
“I need to see what they’ll do to a human when they’re not caged.”
Schmitt shrugged. “The warden said to help you however we could so I guess I can figure something out.”
He left to get a few willing volunteers.
“I don’t know what you promised them, but I hope it was enough.” I whispered to Schmitt as he lined them up outside the gate.
“How do you want to do this?”
“Um, let’s get them out of sight around the corner and then let each one go in and open the door so I can watch what happens.” I picked out one of the strongest ones to go first. “You, I need you to go ahead and walk inside, open the door and get that prisoner transferred from one cell to the next.”
The prisoner looked at the two of us standing there and went through the door.
As the gate clanged behind him, he looked back just once as if he’d known what his fate was before he entered the death row area.
The first cell opened and the thing that was inside went straight for the prisoner’s neck. It ripped his skin and tore into him as the prisoner did nothing to stop him. The thing started to eat the flesh of the prisoner, turning to look at us with its blood rimmed eyes.
“Was this what you were expecting?” Schmitt seemed to have gotten over his shock.
“I had no idea what was going to happen. I thought it might be a virus, but this is beyond even my wildest dreams. I need to get some live samples from them. What I’ve had to work with was really old and I’m sure there will be a few differences in new samples.”
“How do you suggest that we do that?”
“Can we let the prisoners shove that one back into the cell? Or even kill it if they want because you have guns so if they try to use the weapons on us, we can still kill them.” I shrugged not really caring how he accomplished it.
“It’s your experiment.” He walked about around the corner, “Come here.”
As the line of prisoners rounded the corner, the body lying on the ground started to move. Their fear of Schmitt was quickly overcome by the strangeness unfolding in front of us.
“What the hell? He looked dead.” One of the breathed quietly.
“I believe he was. Your job is to go in there and get them back into the cell without them eating you.”
“That’s like sending us into the lion’s den without armor.”
“On the contrary,” I smiled at the man as Schmitt arrived with a few items, “Shields and pitchforks should do the trick. Make sure they don’t bite you or you’ll end up like your friend in there.”
“Common on,” One of the prisoners grumbled to the other, “It’s not like we don’t face dying every day. What have we got to lose?”
“Our lives?” The other one offered back.
“If you can keep them pinned with the pitchfork, then I need to try and get these straps around their arms and legs.”
“You want us to get them in a straightjacket so you can do tests on them. Got it.” The snarky prisoner answered picking up the pitchfork and handing the shields to his friends.
We watched in fascination as they worked together to get the bodies wrapped and the mouths covered with straps.
The leader walked out and dropped his pitchfork on the ground. “There.” He dusted his hands off, “Any chance we can get an extra ration of food today?”
Schmitt ignored him and rounded all of the men up to be taken back to their normal duties.
“Hold it. What’s your name?” I questioned standing directly in front of the leader.
“Karl Müller.” He eyed me suspiciously. “Look if you’re wanting more test subjects, I’m not volunteering. I prefer to die in the normal ways. Quickest was to work on them without fear of getting bit is to pull their teeth out so they can’t bite you.”
“Well, Karl Müller, what did you do before you were put in this place?” I inquired as a thought occurred to me.
“General all around supplier. Whatever you need I could supply it until someone snitched on me.”
“Hmfp,” I muttered as Schmitt led them away.
Carefully approaching the strapped undead bodies, I pulled on a thick pair of leather gloves that would help protect me from any bites as I hooked up an iv to withdraw blood.
“He’s right you know. If you’re going to do much with them, it would be best to take out their teeth. Are you going to keep them here or transport them somewhere?” He carefully looked into the slots of the other cells to see the same crazed dead inside.
“I don’t want to have to keep coming here, but I’m unable to take them with me today. Give me three days, I’ll be back with transportation for them and a secure location to keep them. What would it take to get Karl Müller transferred into my custody?”
He gave a short laugh, “Not much, honestly. He’s always stirring up trouble or trying to find ways to escape. In fact, for a small donation the warden might just have his name put on the lists of the dead.”
“Wonderful. He seemed to very resourceful and that’s what I’m going to need to get this transport worked out.”
“Do you want me to tell him?”
“Nah,” I grinned, “Let him stew for a few days thinking I forgot about him. It will make him more grateful and willing to accept my offer.”
“Very well sir. What do you want me to do with these men or the bodies of them?”
“Leave them here in the cells and keep the guards away. These two shouldn’t be able to hurt anyone, but those in the other cells can. If they’ve died then we’ll bury them, but I have the new samples so I can create more if I need to.”
Schmitt gave me a salute as I walked out briskly while the cell doors clanged shut with a shudder.
While I was certain that this was the perfect weapon that our army needed, the fresh air was a welcome relief.
I held back my excitement until the car had left the prison grounds. There was so much work to do before I told the other scientist and German officers, but I was only months away from taking my rightful place as a scientist and not an intern.
The army was well known for rewarding it’s scientist with fame and money if they helped win the war. It was a large incentive to continue coming up with new things in the name of the war effort. I might even get nominated for all of the different scientific journals scientist of the year.
It was still in the early stages, but I knew it was going to be the turning point of the war.
------
The radio blared a news report and the driver turned it up to listen.
“This just in…The man known by our enemy as the Red Baron as their aviators are beginning to call him, has been shot down. Respected by both his peers and his enemies our best pilot was killed today in a fight over Britian. Part of his legendary career was the fact that while his many missions were successful, he shot down 79 British planes and on French.”
“We must honor and plan our justice for this wonderful hero that was taken from us far too soon.”
I reached between the seats and switched the radio station to until the melodious strains of Strauss filled the car.
“That’s better.” I closed my eyes and envisioned our glorious victory where we could honor all of our lost soldiers and my name would be there beside those that had given their lives for the cause of the war.
-----
Chapter 8
Joseph
It had been almost a year since I’d stepped foot on French soil. I’d thought that I would be sent out to one of the field hospitals by now. A battle had broken out before they’d sent out the call for more surgeons. It had only been a few hours into this new battle, but our men were in great need of help.
When Vivi heard the news, she’d broken up with me.
“Joe, I don’t think we should kid ourselves any longer. We are from two different worlds and if something were to happen to you then I would just be devastated. It is better that we part now because we never know and you are going into battle.” Vivi had batted her long lashes at me when I’d snuck out for a few moments in between surgeries.
“I’ll be back when this battle is over. The critical patients will be brought here and I’ll be with them. It will be weeks at the most. Don’t leave me over a few weeks.” I pleaded.
She laid a hand on my arm, “Joe, it’s not you. You’re a strong hero and I can’t handle it. I know we’ve been together for a while, but I got word that my boyfriend is wounded and I need to focus on him.”
“Your boyfriend?” I sputtered, “You’ve been sleeping with me and I thought I was your boyfriend. What the hell?”
“Look you mean a lot to me,” She slid a hand up my chest and twirled her finger in my hair. “It’s just he’s French and we always promised that we’d get married. You were fun and I thought he wasn’t coming home, but now that he is, I can’t leave him alone to recover.”
I flung her hand from me and turned to leave her behind. I was going to have to put her out of my mind.
The back door slammed behind me and Carson paused with his hand on the coffee pot. “What’s wrong man?”
“That girl, I’ve been seeing, Vivi, she’s engaged to someone else.” I ran my hand through my hair, “She has been this whole time, but now that he’s been injured she’s going to run back to him. Evidently, I was just a toy for her to play with for a short while.”
Carson pushed a chair toward me and I slid into it. “I was hoping that we had something special.”
“She’s just using the war to play around. You dodged a bullet man. You wouldn’t want to take her home to mom, dude.” Carson handed me his cup of coffee. “Take it from me, this is going to hurt for a short while, but you will come out of it better.”
“That’s kind of not the point, Carson. She used me and I thought we had something. Now, I’m supposed to leave tomorrow and instead of concentrating on my job I’m going to wondering what it is about me that someone like her is drawn to. Do I just have a sign on me that says gullible American on me?” I took a sip of coffee almost spitting it out because it tasted old.
“Nothing wrong with you. I’m betting you’re not the first one she’s done this to. In fact since you’re here and not stationed out there on the battle field, she probably stuck with you longer than some of the others. Remember what Jeff said that first day about her reputation. It was more than likely true.”
“Give me a chance to recover and I’ll try to be over her when I get back from the battle field. There won’t be any time to think about it and I’ll be exhausted. All things that will keep my mind off of her.” I groaned knowing that she was what had kept me going in between surgeries. A breath of fresh air to look forward too.
“This might be just what you need.”
“Right, a chance to go to the battlefield where bullets are flying around and there’s are bombs everywhere.”
“Brightside, they’ll be aiming to for the big red cross on the tent so you’ll be a good target.” He announced cheerfully.
“I should get back to see if they need me.” I rose slowly, my heart not really in it.
“Why don’t you go on up to the room and get some sleep? I’ll tell them that you’re not feeling well.” He nudged me up the back stairs.
“But…” I tried to protest.
“No, buts. You’ve been working like the rest of us night and day and you need a chance to rest. That field hospital is no joke. You might get a night of sleep the whole time you’re there.”
I nodded, but didn’t think I could fall asleep with her betrayal fresh on my mind.
While the same thought continued to run through my brain, I finally fell asleep and dreamed that we’d made up.
------
The next morning I pushed everything else from my mind as I joined those lining up for transport to the front. The truck carrying supplies also held three doctors, and also held a few telephone operators which were women. Traveling this way didn’t exactly allow for much conversation.
“Hi, I’m Joseph, have any of you ladies ever been to the battle front before?” I introduced myself over the screaming of the truck engines.
“No, I’m Emma and this scared thing next to me is my kid sister, Inez. The others are Holli, Ruby, Susie, and Lois” She pointed out the others. “First battle?”
“Yep, I’ve been stuck in the hospital surgery center, but they needed supplies and more help. Thankfully, I’ll be away from most of bullets, unless I’m taking them out of soldiers.” I joked and the other two doctors laughed with me.
A round of bullets strafed the truck and we all hit the floor piled on top each other.
Our driver didn’t stop or slow down to check on us.
“Is anyone hurt?” I yelled as I rolled off the top of the pile and started helping the others back into their seats.
“No,” Emma answered, “Wait, Holli are you okay?”
The girl that must have been Holli sat up slowly rubbing the back of her head.
“I think so. My head hit the bench as we went down. It’s okay though.” She continued to rub it as if that would make the pain disappear.
The driver yelled back at us through the small hole between the cab and the back, “Sorry about that. If we stop then we’re just sitting ducks and that wouldn’t help any of us.”
“We’re all alive.” I yelled back at him glad that I’d been at the hospital for most of my time in France.
I hadn’t realized that I’d had it really easy, but flying bullets were about to the least of my worries for the next few days. Carson was right when he said I wouldn’t have time to do any serious thinking.
Our truck made two stops: the tent that house the small telephone switch board and the big tent with a large red cross on it.
The ladies hopped down and hurried to their post with a quick wave as we continued on to our stop.
I felt a little better knowing that most of the time the redcross kept bombs from being dropped directly on top, but that didn’t mean things accidentally fall in the wrong place on occasion.
When the flap opened up, I couldn’t believe the chaos inside. There were nurses and doctors moving around while men tossed and turned moaning.
Throwing my bag into a corner, I stepped up to the first man that I saw that needed immediate attention.
If he didn’t get the bleeding stopped, he’d die before he ever reached surgery.
Gauze and the things to fix him were just sitting
there as if someone had been about to dress the wound, but had been called away.
He would need more help, I thought as I clamped off the vein in the huge hole where his thigh used to be. Carefully removing all of the shrapnel from around his wound, I wasn’t sure if I should go ahead and close his wound up now or wait for an actual surgical table. From the looks of things, it seemed like was on the bottom of the list as far as being in need of a surgeon, so I repaired things as best I could and closed him up.
A yell from the man next to me left no choice, but to start taking care of his needs.
It continued on from there and I finally got a nurse who brought me new supplies to take care of those waiting to be seen. When my new commander finally noticed me, I had already done ten different patch jobs making their future loads much easier.
“Are you the one who is supposed to replace the surgeon on duty?” He demanded as I straightened with the last’s patient’s blood still on my hands.
“I’m not sure sir. The driver dropped me off and I just started helping those in need. I couldn’t let someone die from injuries that I could fix right then.”
He nodded wearily, “Nurse Stevens mentioned we had a new doctors out here. She didn’t say that one was a surgeon.”
“Sorry, I had the other two doctors with me and it seemed like the best thing to do since I didn’t really have instructions for all of us.”
“It’s just as well. We lose almost as many men before they ever make it to surgery. Those that are urgent, generally take so much longer to repair and then we lose some that would have lived had they received care immediately.” He motioned for me to follow him through to the inner tent where three tables were set up for surgery.
“Those that you were able to save out there can be transferred back to the hospital and then on to recovery.” He handed me a cigarette and unlike when I’d first arrived, I lit it up like a pro.
With a deep drag he inhaled new energy, “Hope you can handle another eighteen hours of this because that’s how long it will take for a replacement to get here.”
“Can you not send a message through the women who arrived toady? The ones that are operating the telephone switchboards came in at the same time we did.”
Infected Poppy Fields Page 6