Read Online Sky Hunter by Chris Reher - Free Book Online Page A

them here.”
    “ Locals. I guess we’ll learn together.
Just follow the doctors around. They’ll tell you what they
need.”
    They returned to the main ward. She scanned
the hall to take a closer look at the few armed rebels loitering
near the exit. All of them were Bellac natives, indistinguishable
from the neutral population except for their guns. By their stance
and demeanor, none of them were trained for this. And none of them
seemed inclined to help with the wounded.
    An excited babble of voices reached them,
speared by a high-pitched wail that sounded the same at the edge of
every battlefield. The rebel guards stood aside to allow another
stretcher to enter, carried by several harried civilians. A
distraught older woman seemed to want to help and impede their
progress all at once.
    “ Come,” Djari said and rushed toward
them. He waved at the men to carry the stretcher to an open spot on
the floor where a stained mattress had only recently been vacated.
Nova helped to transfer the injured youth, wincing over the lack of
clean supplies for these people.
    The boy, his hair a wild pattern of blue and
violet streaks, howled in pain and weakly fought to keep them from
checking his wounds. “Hold him down,” Nova snapped to one of the
men. She tore the blood-soaked shirt to reveal a bullet wound. The
woman behind her cried out at the sight. Nova grabbed a handful of
bandages from someone and pressed them into the wound. She looked
over to Djari kneeling beside her and saw that he understood the
hopelessness of this injury. “That’s not an Air Command weapon,”
she said quietly. They raised the boy’s shoulder and she felt
beneath him. “Shot in the back.”
    “ We can’t help him,” Djari said. He
glanced up at the woman. “I’ll try to find something for the pain
until…” he trailed off and stood up. For a moment he just gazed
over the rows of pallets. Perhaps he meant to say something more
but then he turned and walked away.
    Nova covered the boy’s injuries and then
motioned to the woman who had come in here with him. The others had
gone, leaving only the quietly weeping Bellac at his side when Nova
turned her attention to another casualty.
    And so it went. Victim after victim needed
medicines they did not have, water they had to ration, equipment
that just did not exist in this part of town. Nova did what she
could, using her rudimentary training to patch up laser burns,
bullet wounds, lacerations and broken bones. There were just two
actual doctors here and a handful of medics. Even the basic scanner
in her lost data sleeve was more adept than the single diagnostic
tool they had here. She worked at Djari’s side to move victims,
clean equipment and tools, carry out the doctors’ orders and
distribute what little food was brought in by the locals.
    “ Sunshine,” Djari whispered when, hours
later, she walked past him to fetch more saline from their meager
stores. He gestured urgently.
    She squatted beside him to peer at an
unconscious Bellac that had just been brought in. Her hair was dyed
a muted tan color and she wore a patched set of fatigues. Nova
whistled soundlessly when Djari parted the rebel’s jacket to expose
a belt studded with concussion charges. Unfortunately, the weapon
they belonged to was not also with her. They worked quietly as if
seeing to some injury while slipping the blunt cylinders into
Nova’s trouser leg. She flinched when she felt Djari’s fingers
brush over the bare skin of her calf but he had been working with
the ill and injured for so long that he probably didn’t even
notice.
    She rose, hoping the charges wouldn’t rattle
as she walked. Djari caught her hand. “Bring back a splint for her
arm.”
    She looked down at the Bellac, frowning.
    Djari squeezed her hand. “She’s not a rebel
right now,” he said. His soft grey eyes shifted to their patient.
“She’s someone who’s going to be in a whole lot of pain when she
wakes up. Let’s not add to