As the vehicle closed in, chatters spread among the awaiting settlers, and tensions peaked. Present among the settlers was Maria, not faring any better due to the previous day's events etched on her mind.
To her, the event felt similar to yesterday: wait for the vehicle, it arrives in bad shape with severely injured people, and she treats the people. Dark thoughts started manifesting the longer she thought.
Slap! Slap!
"No." She slapped herself, "Aden promised me not to take stupid chances. I'm sure he's fine."
Vroom! Vroom!
The vehicle stopped inside the settlement. Immediately, people swarmed.
"Is my husband there? Is my son with you? Where's my brother?...." Panic-filled voices bombarded the group, trying to find out about their relatives.
"Everyone, calm down," Ethan exclaimed. "Those are our injured brothers in the back. They need immediate care. The rest will arrive in a couple of hours."
"Maria, hop on. We can't waste any more time." Ethan said.
Shortly, Maria popped out of the crowd and hopped in the back. Immediately, she scanned the people for their injuries and found people with missing ears, arms, and other injuries.
Suddenly, she heard Aden's voice from the corner. "I'm here, sister."
"Aden." A wave of relief flooded her as she glanced at him.
He grabbed her arm, urgency plastered in his eyes. "Sister, don't worry about me. You have to check on Uncle Ben."
"Thank God, he's fine. Looks like he didn't do anything foolish," she thought as she examined Ben, his pulse weak, breathing irregular, heartbeat erratic, exhausted, and the biggest problem: a missing arm.
"He has lost so much blood. The injuries must be from yesterday." Immediately, she performed chest compressions.
A couple of minutes later, they arrived in front of the clinic.
Thud!
The clinic doors opened abruptly, frightening Sara and Amber inside.
"Sister Maria, you're back." Both exclaimed.
"Yes, but no time to waste now. Amber, prepare my tools for surgery, and prepare to receive more patients." She went to the left corner, Aden on her tail.
"I'll take this one, you grab that one." She grabbed the nearest stretcher and left, Aden right behind.
Both Ben and Franz were placed on the stretchers and carried inside. Meanwhile, the other injured personnel were well enough to walk by themselves.
Once inside, she placed Ben on an operating table and resumed chest compressions, and Franz in a patient bed.
"There are not enough beds for all. Sara, prescribed medicine to yesterday's patients and discharged them." Maria ordered.
"Yes, sister." Sara examined previous patients one at a time, and prescribed them medicines: antibiotics, pain relievers, depending on their situation.
Meanwhile, Amber approached Maria with the tools.
"Keep them on the table. Administer two Quinidine tablets to Be. Then, take his blood sample and test for his blood group. Aden, bring Tom and Lucy." Her orders were swift and clear, then she cleaned his wounds with saline solution.
"First son, now father. Poor Lucy." She murmured, seeing Ben's missing arm. "The wounds are too uneven. I'll have to slice off the extra parts."
***
"Sister Maria, I'm done. It's B+." Amber approached her with three separate glass tiles; contained within were diluted blood samples mixed with Antisera-reagents containing antibodies.
"Let me have a look." She placed the samples under her scrutiny.
The first blood sample remained unchanged, but the second and third clumped together, meaning it belonged to Blood group B and Rh positive (+).
"Good. It's B+ indeed." Keep an eye on his heartbeat. I'll check on other patients."
She approached Rex and took his vitals. "Rex, how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, Maria. How are they faring?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Ben's situation is delicate. Can you hang on for a while? I'll have a look at Franz." She asked.
"Go ahead." He replied.
She approached Franz and took his vitals. "Looks like he lost a fair bit of blood too, at least he's faring better than Ben."
She took it on herself to determine Franz's blood type since both Amber and Sara were busy.
She examined his blood type using the same procedure. "A-. Let's hope Riku's blood can match."
She didn't have time to spare, so she asked Ethan for help. "Ethan, can you bring Riku? We need A- blood for Franz, hope she's a match."
"Ok, Maria."
Vroom!
He zoomed towards the settlement.
***
"Aden, you're back." He heard Tom's call while on his way for their search.
He peered at Tom and saw his anxious figure with Lucy.
"Tom, you're here. Right on time! Let's head to the clinic. It's about Uncle Ben." He replied with an urgent voice.
Ben's name distressed them even more. "What about my husband?" Lucy asked, her voice trembling, barely able to speak.
"I know you're worried, Aunt. That's why we need to be there right away," he picked up his pace, Tom and Lucy right behind.
"Aden! You're back already?" Just as Maria thought about Ben, Aden arrived with Tom and Lucy.
"Tom, Lucy, come here," she guided them to the operating table.
"Dear," Seeing Ben's delicate situation, Lucy couldn't hold it any longer. Beads of tears fell like waterfalls. "You told us you would be fine."
Tom hugged Lucy, but couldn't utter a single word as if some grabbed him by the throat.
"Lucy, I know you're going through a lot. However, if we don't do a blood transfusion now. The situation could worsen." Maria exclaimed.
"O…okay. W…what do we have to do?" Lucy asked, barely containing her emotions.
"Sit here." She offered a stool, "Point one of the fingers down."
Lucy followed the instructions. Suddenly, a sharp needle pricked her finger, followed by blood drops.
Maria placed each drop in glass tiles and mixed them with antisera. A couple of minutes later, the result came out.
"Ben's a lucky fellow. Your blood matches his. Lay there, we'll start the transfusion soon." She pointed at the nearby patient bed.
"This will sting a bit, okay?" Maria inserted a syringe connected tube in Lucy's vein, and inserted the other end in Ben's, once the tube was full.
"That should take about 20-25 minutes. Sara, if you're done with discharging, stitch Eric's wound. Amber, once you're done, help Franz. He needs a transfusion and surgery on his cheek."
"Yes, sister." Both replied in unison.
***
Maria started the surgery promptly after the transfusion was completed, and natural complexion returned on Ben. Meanwhile, Amber and Sara were busy with Franz and Eric. Riku's blood didn't match Franz's, so Ethan stepped in as a donor; his blood matched with Franz.
A couple of hours later, the rest of the team arrived with a damaged Power Wagon towed by a functional one. Most of the team looked exhausted, but excited to return alive. Meanwhile, loot occupied the cargo bed.
"Husband! Father! Brother!..." The settlement erupted in cheers, kisses flew everywhere, and hugs spared no one. Morale was at an all-time high, except for some. It became the biggest event for the settlement, and would be for the foreseeable future.
The Clinic
"That's it for today. Everyone, please return. The patients need to rest." Maria exclaimed. "Amber, offer a prescription and discharge Eric and those two."
"Yes, sister," Amber replied.
"Thank you, brother." On his way back, Tom hugged Aden.
"T…thank you, Aden." Lucy followed up, her complexion pale, likely from the blood transfusion.
"No need to thank me, Tom, Aunt. Please take good care of yourself." He said, concerned about her situation.
"You too." Both left the place.
Inside, only two patients were left: Ben and Franz.
"Good work, everyone. Go get some rest now." Maria placed the tools in a large pot for the sterilization-standard procedure. "You too, Aden. Get some sleep."
"Okay, sister." He went inside and lay there, the exhaustion battered him like waves. Soon, darkness engulfed him, and his eyes closed.
"Aden! Aden! Aden!"
"Who is it?" He shouted.
"Aden! Aden! Aden!" The voices repeated.
"This feeling." He had experienced it before: the noises that embedded deep in the skull. He tried looking for a source, only to find himself in a dark space.
"This place." He was familiar with the place from his 'hallucination' after the overlord's battle.
"This doesn't make any sense," he thought.
"Aden! Aden! Aden!"
This time, the voices were different, the source was near: behind, to be exact, and it felt almost human.
Immediately, he turned around, only to find figures of his parents, identical to the image from his locket: a parting gift from Luna.
"Dad! Mom!" A maelstrom of grief and disbelief ripped through him after seeing their figures.
"Why didn't you come find us, son? Why son? Why?" The figures asked.
"I…." The question left him speechless, unable to retort.
Rrrraaww!
He heard a familiar roar.
"This can't be." He checked the direction of the roar and found his parents' figure in the beast's jaw.
"Nooooooooooo!"
He howled with full might.
"What's wrong, Aden?" Maria quickly approached him.
Huff! Huff! Huff!
He woke up with a body covered in cold sweats and goosebumps.
"Nightmares, again?" She asked.
"Yes," he replied, "It was worse this time."
"Don't worry, I'm here to protect you." She caressed his hair.
"Sister, can I be honest with you?" He asked.
"Of course you can." She replied. "If not with me, then with whom?"
"I had nightmares about my parents and something else," he said. "I've had weird feelings since my scavenge trip to Golden Valley city."
"A…." She saw a rare moment of uncertainty in his eyes, mixed with unease and fear.
"It got worse after Bullhead City. I dismissed them as hallucinations, but I'm not sure about it anymore. So, I want to go on a journey to search for my parents, and hopefully unravel the secrets behind hallucinations." Determination dispelled the previous negative emotions.
"How about this? Give me a couple of days to think about it?" She couldn't turn down his request, not after seeing his determination.
"Okay, sister." He replied, waiting to hear good news from her.