Chương 24: Overstretched and Buckling
As Alexander entered the large medical tent, his nose twitched uncontrollably as he was assaulted with the pungent smell of a mixture of blood, sweat, alcohol and medicinal herbs, and his ears were bombarded with shrill cries, hectic barks, and eternal low groanings.
The chaos here seemed to have reached its zenith as the most critically wounded were being treated here.
Various slaves and helpers swiveled around each other in the narrow spaces as they walked with determined intent to reach their destination.
Alexander could see that most of his own medical personnel were in here and hence the treatment being given here was significantly better.
At least the help here, however small, actually benefited the wounded.
But alas, this clinic was designed with the mind of handling the casualties of a small one thousand mercenary group. Not for ten thousand.
The clinic here was too small to house all the wounded rushing in and the single tent became a cage filled with the death throes of the dying.
As Alexander scanned the tent for the person he came for, he cursed internally, "They simply let anyone and everyone in. The idiots!"
He could clearly see the disorganized people trying and failing miserably at any type of coordination. This not only didn't help but it even obstructed those trying to help.
People would scream endlessly for something like bandages or medicine or stitches or even ask for assistance from somebody, only to be overridden by an even louder scream.
The people handing out supplies would also lose their way. Many lost track of the people they were supposed to find in the crowded space, many forgot the thing someone wanted because of all the noise, some simply misheard the request and some had their supplies snatched up by others on their way to their destination.
It seemed like a fish market rather than a clinic.
Alexander hence decided to do something about it.
But first, he had to find the person he came for.
After a bit of head swerving, off in the distance, Alexander spotted a small, slender shadowy figure slipping past the chaotic mass and trying to give medicines and orders to the medical staff.
Her face was flushed with sweat, her slender arms were slightly shaking and Alexander could hear her hoarse voice all the way across the tent.
There she was - Mean, the current de-facto leader of the clinic and Alexander's current person of interest.
"Mean, over here," Alexander called out, gesturing her to come towards him.
Hearing the familiar voice and seeing Alexander's silhouette, Mean's face lit up like a Christmas tree and her mouth subconsciously burst into a wide grin.
"Finally someone who can take over from me." Mean gleefully thought as she assumed both Alexander and her mistress were here to take the helm.
"Alexander, thank Gaia you're here. I am about to lose my mind here." Mean complained loudly as she briskly walked towards him, strongly shoving anyone in her way to the side.
"This place is a mess. Why did you let in some many wounds? We can't treat so many." Alexander pointed out.
"It's because that shit-eater came and took all our extra men. The helpers from the other groups are nowhere near as useful." Mean cursed.
Shit-eater was Mean's term of endearment for Pallidus.
He must have come here personally to force all the volunteers and lightly wounded of Nestoras's group to go into battle.
"Where's mistress by the way?" She then asked, after looking around and seeing no sign of Cambyses.
"I sent her to try and squeeze some more medicine from Theocles," Alexander answered half truthfully.
"Oh, that's good. We are running really low." Mean cheerfully replied.
"By the way, Alexander, what about your fight with Nestoras? Will you be alright?" Mean then asked, her question dripping with worry.
"*Smirk*, everything's fine." Alexander brushed off any worry as he curled up his lips and waved his hand like he was clearing the air.
"Besides you have already enormously helped me by spreading the rumor. It's already started working." He proclaimed
"Well, it was mostly Remus. The moment he heard it was from you, he turned into a canary. That boy is loyal to a fault."
"Mmm," Alexander nodded with a slight smile. Then he added, "We need to clear the tent. There are too many wounded and we have to prioritize. We will try to save the more lightly wounded first."
"I agree. We sometimes can't even get to a patient because the path is so congested. And in the back, there's little light coming due to the overcrowding. There's not even much space to light candles there and it will be dark soon." Mean pointed worriedly.
And then she asked, "But Alexander, how are we going to that? We don't have the men to forcefully throw most of them out."
"You're right. Hmmmmm….." Alexander put his hands on his chin and began to think.
Without muscle, it would be impossible to force many of the wounded to leave the clinic.
As he was brainstorming, suddenly a new, unfamiliar face began to surface inside his mind. It was shabby with an unclean stubble, droopy eyes and sunken cheeks -Melodias!
The Claws's mercenary leader had left a good impression on him and he thought it was worth a try to ask him for help.
"I might know someone who can help. Let me check it out." Alexander claimed. "But I got a job for you in the meantime. You know the trunk I keep in the clinic. I want you to get it for me. And some fresh beetroots."
Why did Alexander need these? Mean didn't see a need to ask.
"Okay, no problem. I am getting it now" Mean readily agreed and without wasting any more time, sped off into the tent.
Alexander too turned around to search for Melodias and soon found him in the same place.
As he approached him, he noticed that the patients Melodias was tending to seemed to have gained some new bandages and a few lucky ones even had thin blankets on them.
It looked like Alexander's command had worked.
Noticing Alexander's arrival, Melodias turned around and stood up in joy, exclaiming, "Alexander, haha, thank you, brother. You really helped our men this time."
"No no, we are all in this together. I only did what was right." Alexander humbly smiled.
And then continued, 'Listen Melodias, I came here to ask for a favor. The medical tent is getting too crowded and I was hoping to clear some space. Can your group help?"
Melodias instantly understood what he was implying. He wanted his help forcefully throwing out some of the wounded.
He certainly was not fond of this idea as some of his own men were there.
But Alexander did do him a favor and rejecting him to his face would be too rude. So he asked in a neutral voice, "What do you want us to do exactly?"
Alexander clearly sensed the careful, probing tone and decided to inform Melodias of the dire picture.
"Our tent is so crowded that we can't even properly move there. Our medicine is severely lacking and we don't have the men to take care of everyone. We are losing people we could have saved because we are being overwhelmed."
This revelation caught Melodias slightly off-guard. In hindsight, he was too busy taking care of his men to really think about the logistics of the medical camp.
"Oh, I had no idea things were so bad." He exclaimed. "Now that I think about it, I do remember seeing a large group leave just some time ago. Okay, let's go. Like you said, 'we are all in this together." Melodias declared.
Hearing the overcrowding was actually killing soldiers, Melodias-the ever pragmatic man decided to help Alexander.
"Boss, we have many brothers…" A concerned voice rang out from behind Melodias.
"Of course they can stay," Alexander interjected reassuringly.
"No, this is war. We will try to save those we are confident in saving." Melodias raised his sturdy hands and decisively shut down any protest.
This pleased Alexander very much. Because now they could lead by example.
"Please follow me." Alexander gestured.
"Androus, go and tell everyone to meet me in front of the medical camp. ASAP!" Melodias turned and shouted orders to a thin-faced man.
Then he faced Alexander and smiled, "Lead the way."
As the small group made their way towards the clinic, all of them distinctly felt the situation getting worse.
They came across more and more wounded left unattended and uncared for and more and more idlers.
They could hear considerably more grumbling and even saw some small groups crosswords with their commanders who came to recall them back to battle.
It seemed that further men were being pulled away for the new attack, while some started using the rumor as an excuse to not work but idle.
If something was not done soon, the treatment of the whole medical camp could soon stop.
Hence it seemed that Melodias's arrival was like timely coal in the winter.
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