The Gathering of the Clans Book 2

TGC Book 2 Chapter 23

Book 2 Chapter 23

<<< Avon >>>

Mieters Hospital

Leonard cried. "There's so few of us left Doc. Forty-four survivors. That's all that is left of us. It's all my fault" Earnest held his lover's hands." "We'll rebuild Leonard. We'll come back in the spring stronger than ever." Doc Ater frowned. "This wasn't your fault Leonard. I keep telling you that. The Sickness isn't going to stop until it has killed or converted each and every human on the face of the earth. That is definitely not your fault." Colonel Keir Gilbert sighed. He'd felt useless as the people died. He'd finally started helping with the sick. Getting them to eat broth and soft foods as they could. What had he been thinking? The deaths weren't just numbers on a sheet of paper. They were real people. Men, women, and Creator help him the children that had died.

The men respected him more now. After he'd recovered from the shock of seeing the pit of the dead, he had changed his ways. He helped with the sick and dying now. Maybe this is what his commander had sent him to learn here. He'd cried for each person that had died and especially the children." Sister Ruth stopped by him and helped him prepare the patient for travel. They were heading back to Pepepski with the 44 survivors. Efforts had been made to collect their belongings as best possible. They would need them in Pepepski. He'd made sure to get all of Honorio and Fuller's things. They were his new sons after all. He'd adopted the two 12-year-old orphans.

They'd caught his heart and he just had to adopt them. They were brave boys and deserved a home. Preteens couldn't need as much as a baby or toddler so he felt more comfortable with this age group. Although he couldn't figure out all the snickers when he had said his assessment of the situation to the other men. They knew something and weren't telling. He hoped his commander wouldn't object too much to his having the boys. The patients were being transported in large buses to the hospital in Pepepski. They had survived but were still weak as kittens. "Colonel Gilbert, we've shut down all non-essential systems."

"The trucks are loaded with any possessions of the patients we found in their residences as well as any of the equipment we came here with. Anything we missed can be retrieved at a later time. We're loading what's left of the patients now. The men are folding and loading the cots as we speak." Thank you, Corporal Wildes. Make sure the patients are as comfortable as possible before we get on the road." "Owen nodded. "Yes, Sir. He saluted and walked off to the next patient. Keir sighed. "He would have to adapt to Pepepski's rather loose ways of command. He could see the reasoning behind the looser command style now. The civilians and astonishingly the men responded to it better in these stressful situations.

He'd always been told tightening up the discipline in situations like these gave the men a sense of order but he supposed the Sickness had changed that as well. Corporal Owen Wildes had explained it to him. Perhaps this was another lesson he had to learn. He finished preparing the patient for transport to the bus and moved to the next one. Only 10 of them left. They would be on the road home soon. Keir jerked. He'd never thought of a posting as being home before. They were just postings and never really lasted long. Maybe that was changing as well. Pepepski was shaping up to be a permanent posting by the looks of things.

"Are we really going to Pepepski Doctor?" "Yes, Mishka. Everyone is being evacuated there for the winter. Then you can return to Avon in the spring with others who want to live here." Mishka looked over at his 3-year-old son and smiled. "I wondered how we would make it through the winter. Thank goodness Miko survived the Sickness. Are you absolutely sure we can't catch it again?" Aaron smiled. "I'm sure. Once you've had it and survived it you can't catch it again." Mishka sighed and allowed the Doctor to finish wrapping him up in the blankets for transport. He watched as Sister Anne did the same for his son.