Chapter 6. Triage

Syd woke up, not sure of where he was. He was lying on

a blanket out in the open and casualties were being left on

the ground beside him.

"Welcome back to the land of the living."

Syd sat up. He recognised the voice.

It was Harry Patch - one of the ambulance transport officers

who sometimes got tasked to come forward and retrieve the

wounded from the aid posts.

"How'd I get here Patch?"

"You don't remember?"

Syd tried, but couldn't.

"Do you know where you are Syd?"

The question bothered him. He asked wounded soldiers the

same sort of thing judge their level of consciousness.

Syd looked around. "Outside the casualty clearing center."

Harry nodded.

"You got a head wound Syd, and a fair old kicking as well.

You know how it goes, the Doctor will come and have a look

at you after he sees the worst of the other lads. That bullet parted

your hair quite nicely when it bounced off that thick

Yorkshire skull of yours."

A wave of tiredness washed over Syd and he lay back.

Harry put his hand on Syds' shoulder.

"It's not enough to get you a ticket home old son,

so get some rest while you can."

*

When Syd opened his eyes again, Harry was gone.

He was still lying on the ground outside of the casualty

clearing center. More wounded were being laid out near him.

Sheets now covered the faces of some of the men.

Syd started to remember what had happened.

He hadn't felt any pain when he was shot in the head.

He'd stumbled forward as if he'd been

unexpectedly pushed.

He'd been shot in the back. How was that possible?

The bullet had exited out of his chest and he'd felt the

breath pulled out of his body.

In a panic, Syd felt his chest. His uniform front was heavy

with crusted blood and a top pocket had been torn open,

but there was no wound - there was no soreness,

there was nothing.

His mind began to race. He'd seen this before.

The morphine that was given as pain relief sometimes

played tricks on a shocked soldiers' mind.

Syd lay back. He put his hands over his eyes and almost

at once, re-lived being shot in the side of the face.

It had felt like being splashed with boiling hot water.

Blind in one eye, he'd put a hand over the wound.

His fingers touched the exposed bone of his cheek

and eye socket.

Why did it seem so real if none of it was true?

Syd tried to calm his mind and remember details.

There had been someone there with him.

They'd been talking.

He suddenly knew who it was - Finn.

*

Authors Note.

This story is a work in progress. Chapter 7 will be along in

a week or so. Thank you for reading what I have written so

far.