Chapter 105 Tending the wounded
Serena kept checking the vitals on the patients in the field hospital. She’d done several rounds already, and there were still com stragglers being brought in off the main battlefield.
“Untie his wrists,” Serena said, going over to one of the Moonshine captives. “Alpha Logan said all Moonshine members are to be restrained and detained until we can determine who is loyal to Damon,” she was told by the warriors that had brought her newest patient in.
“I don’t care,” Serena said. “He is wounded and needs to recover. That goes for all the Moonshine wolves. Right now, health and recovery is the priority, not loyalty.” “Yes, of course,” the warriors said, nodding and running off again. Serena checked the new patient over. He wasn’t badly injured, a few deep gashes that needed sutures. “Can I get a suture kit, blood transfusion bag, and saline drip?” she asked, snapping to the nurses nearby. They immediately jumped into action. Serena washed her hands and found a mask and gloves. She cleaned the gashes with antibacterial wipes and an antiseptic. She also made sure to clean around the cuts. This wolf had been fighting outside and was smeared with dirt and mud.
When the nurses came in with the equipment she requested, they got to work with the saline drip and the blood transfusion. Serena took the sutures and started stitching him up. “Why do you care so much about the Moonshine wolves?” a nurse asked her. Serena Jooked up from her work, raising an eyebrow. “I am a doctor, a healer,” Serena said. “I don’t discriminate against who I take care of. You shouldn’t either.”
“Night Sky and Starseeker wolves should take priority,” the nurse told her. Serena finished stitching up the larger cuts. She pulled her gloves off and found some bandages. “Werewolves are werewolves, regardless of what pack they came from,” Serena said. “I wouldn’t deny another wolf medical treatment, regardless of their status outside this hospital.” The nurse sighed but got back to work.
“Finish bandaging his wounds,” she instructed. “I don’t want to see any Moonshine wolves being given sub-par or secondary care.” “Understood” the nurse said with a nod. Serena did the rounds again. One of the Night Sky wolves was low on their pain medication. He had taken a bad blow to the head and had a broken leg and a broken
arm. He was lucky he hadn’t needed major surgery, but he was concussed and still unconscious. Serena intended to keep him that way until the swelling of his head went down.
She checked the status of his bruises. They were starting to show some improvement, turning yellow around the edges, the purple and blue receding. She double checked the broken bones to make sure they were healing properly.
Before moving on, Serena put notes on the clipboard to update his charts. He was one of the few wolves that she had moved into the “intensive care” section of her field hospital. There were a couple others recovering from surgery. Serena had tried to move everyone that had an operation or a serious, life-threatening injury back to the actual hospital for a proper recovery. The wolf that was unconscious wasn’t stable enough to move in a truck yet. Fortunately, there were only a few others that were too unstable to move. Serena checked on them next, making sure they weren’t getting any infections. It was a double-edged situation. The ones who were too badly injured to move were also the ones that should have been in the real hospital. All the wolves in the most intensive situations were all from Moonshine. Serena knew that Adriana would keep the nurses and doctors in the hospital in line when treating the patients. Serena updated notes on her clipboard and did another set of rounds. She went to see how Santino was doing with his broken leg. Her father and Logan were still holding a trial for Damon and Moonshine. Serena would have preferred Damon to be in the hospital with her so she could keep an eye on him. She had made Logan promise her Damon would be brought in when the trial was over. His back was still pretty shredded, and she’d only been able to give him enough care to keep him lucid and out of pain for the trial. “How’s it going, sister?” Santino asked. She checked his cast and the other bumps and bruises he had gotten in his fight. “Don’t talk to me,” she said snippily.
Santino laughed. “What did I do this time?” he asked her. Serena rolled her eyes. She lifted his leg and gently shifted it back and forth. “Does that hurt?” she asked. When Santino didn’t answer, she looked up at him. “You told me not to talk to you,” he pointed out. Serena rolled her eyes again and growled. Santino laughed. “Does this hurt?” she asked again. “No, it doesn’t,” he said. “Alright, I’m going to remove the cast and bandage it up. You’ll have a little more mobility, but you aren’t completely healed yet. You can’t do anything crazy and you
Tending the Wounded can’t put too much direct weight on your leg yet,” she said. “Got it,” Santino said. Serena got her little cast saw and started to cut the hardened material away. “So, why don’t you want to talk to me?” “You were an idiot to get yourself injured,” Serena said. “You should have been smarter, watched your enemy better.”
Santino sighed and rolled his eyes. He winced when Serena began pulling the separated sides of the cast off. Underneath, his leg was dirty and a little thinner than the other leg.
Serena gently massaged his leg, returning a more vigorous blood flow to the area. “I can take risks,” Santino said. “My sister is a great doctor.” Serena rolled her eyes again. “That is no excuse to get sloppy,” Serena said. “I might not always be there and…” she sighed, trailing off. “Serena, I’m fine,” Santino said. Serena got a wet cloth and began washing his leg. There was still some blood residue and lots of sweat from when she’d first put his cast on.
“Yea, but it could have been a lot worse. If Logan wasn’t there, you might not have been so lucky,” she said. Santino sighed, grabbing Serena’s hand. “Look, Logan had my back. I knew he had my back and I knew you had my back,” he said. “We were covered.”
“Just…let yourself heal properly and don’t push yourself,” she instructed. She tossed the cloth into a bowl for dirty laundry and got the pressure bandage wrap. As she wrapped his leg, she probed it too, making sure that the bones were setting right and that they were healed enough to walk on. “That should do it,” she said. “You can walk without crutches, but maybe you should have a cane or
something in the meantime. No running, no jumping, no standing long-term, no hopping, no putting your full weight on that broken leg, and no goofing off!”
Santino chuckled, holding his hands up in fake surrender. “I get it,” he said. “I’ll be good. I don’t want to end up back here getting berated by you again.” He stuck his tongue out at his sister. Serena scoffed, but she smiled at him. “I’ve got other patients to check,” she said. Serena touched his shoulder and then headed back into the hospital. She checked on a couple of the Moonshine patients that were healing quickly from minor injuries. “When there are Moonshine wolves that are patched up and ready to be discharged, update their clipboards and bring them to the town square,” Serena told a nearby
“Should we tie them back up again?” she asked.
“No.” Serena said with a firm head shake. “They’ve been fed and tended to, so they aren’t going to go far. They should all be a part of the trial, if they are able.”
“Okay, I’ll start taking care of that,” the nurse said. “Thank you,” Serena said. She went to the tent next door to check on the supplies and rations. Carson was getting more food rations for the Moonshine pack members. “Can we get some more food rations brought in?” he asked her. “I’ll send a truck to pick some up,” Serena said. “Those Moonshine wolves are very underfed,” he said shaking his head. “Any that have required a saline drip or IV, I’ve plumped up with nutrient supplements too,” Serena said. “Damon did a number on his pack. How is the trial going?” “So far so good,” Carson said. “Logan even unbound all the Moonshine wolves and is now laying out Damon’s crimes.” Serena smiled. “I wish I could step away for a minute and watch” she said. “You do what you do best, and Logan will do what he does best,” Carson said. Serena nodded.
“I’ll let you know when more rations are delivered,” she said. “Thanks,” he said. “How are you holding up?” Serena wasn’t sure if Logan had told Carson about their past. She didn’t know if Logan considered Carson immediate family. His question was innocent enough, though, given the
circumstances. “I’m good” Serena said. “Busy, and still lots to do, but I’m good.” Carson nodded, winking at her before leaving. Serena sighed, grabbing the medical supplies she needed and headed back to the hospital.