Depression by cmsix

Chapter 40

Chaos was the order of the day, even if it was a semi-organized sort of chaos. I know that doesn't make any kind of lexical sense, but I'm a redneck dammit, and that's what it looked like to me.

The white clothed "nurses" were nothing of the sort of course. They were merely women in the sixteen hundreds. The extent of their training was to take a bath, put on the white getup, pick up the "little black bag," and try to stop the bleeding with gauze pads and pressure.

The horses were a further complication. Scattered among the dead and wounded were several hundred, injured, dead, or dying horses; most of them were kicking, bleeding, and shitting all over the place. Other than that things were going fine.

Even Jaycee's talents were stretched thin by this clusterfuck. My first thought was an odd one too. Whoever said, "War is Hell" was now right at the top of my list of masters of understatement, and this wasn't even a real war, hell, it wasn't even much of a battle.

The most surprising and annoying thing that came to me was the smell of shit, and to a lesser extent, urine. Wounded and dying men and horses were shitting and pissing all over, not to mention bleeding. In the immediate aftermath of battle, the battlefield itself is a shitty place.

Even though I'm a lazy bastard at heart, I realized Jaycee needed some help. Not for physical work but some help leading her helpers and most of our bedroom crew just weren't prepared for this. Thankfully, Fawne, and to a slightly lesser extent Delphine and Adèle were. Well, shit, I guess I was elected too.

Triage was the most important first step, and buddy we had a hell of a job there. I was just wondering how to get started giving reasonable instructions and making someone understand them, since my translator was already hard at work sorting dead and dying, so I was happy to see Percy come trotting up.

The first thing out of his mouth was a request for some help with the mess he and Damien had made of the archers. From a distance it looked like a more nearly manageable crisis so I took the coward's way out and volunteered. Before we struck out I had Percy gather a few or the nurses and their gurney equipped "litter bearers."

As we approached the smaller mess, I saw that Damien had made the most logical first step here on his own. He'd pressed some of the pikemen into service to deal with the horses. They were gathering those still capable of moving around under their own power and killing and dragging off the rest. I had him send a hundred of so pikemen up to help out near the gate.

It was a damned good thing this mess had happened fairly early in the day, because it was nearly dark before we could even look up, and damned near midnight before we had all the wounded in the large basement of my home. We put them there because of the proximity to Jaycee's clinic, upstairs.

Of course the work wasn't over. Jaycee and her nurse corps were still bandaging, sewing flesh, and the like, and at least they were inside now. I was shuffled out of the healing trades and left to direct the clean up.

We were dealing with three hundred and sixteen dead horses, three hundred and forty three wounded but salvageable horses, and five hundred and thirty-one dead men. All that without mentioning three hundred or so practically unscathed horses.

Geron took over dealing with the horses that were in usable shape, and since he spoke the language, he was able to take care of most of it by delegating. I guess it helped that he knew the names of the men that usually took care of the stables.

Damien took over with the wounded horses that we thought we could save. He didn't try to have his men herd these, he assigned a man to lead each of them separately, and they took off toward the barns also.

Percy helped me with a cast of dozens as we put the rest out of their misery. Our next trick was skinning, cleaning, and butchering. Suddenly I was very proud of the basement freezers that Big Boy had provided. I got a funny feeling thinking about Big Boy again, for the first time in a while.

Think of the devil and up he pops. I got just a hint before Big Boy did the communication thing.

"How have you been, John?" he asked, into my head.

"I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I've felt a little lonely. It's been a little odd being the only one in my head."

"Excuse me, I don't think I understand," he thought to me.

"I was just getting accustomed to having someone to talk to, without the bother of talking, and lo and behold, you disappeared."

"I see. It was not my doing but some of the ones that think they control this situation decided that I was not doing my job correctly and I was recalled," he explained.

"So now you're back after being chastised and then promising not to do it again?" I asked.

"Not exactly. To use an earth expression that I find wonderfully colorful, You scared the bejesus out of them," he said.

"Who did I scare?"

"You scared those that think they are in control. I believe you would call them, higher ups."

"No, I would probably call them REMFs, though maybe I wouldn't use the acronym."

A short pause followed; no doubt Big Boy was searching for the reference, then he came back and he'd found it.

"Rear echelon mother fuckers. That is hilarious," Big Boy said.

"I'm so sorry, and I promise not to do it again, until next time."

Big Boy was silent for nearly a minute this time and I guessed he was trying to decode that last bit. He was, and he even admitted it when he came back to me.

"Just how did I scare them?" I asked, after explaining my last comment.

"Approximately half of them were afraid you were going to be hurt or killed, and most of the other half thought you would continue with your advantage and move to conquer Paris, or maybe even all of France."

"And they sent you back to make sure I did neither?"

"Again, not exactly, since I explained that I was sure you would do neither on your own. They sent me back because they decided they couldn't abide waiting to see what you'd do without having at least a little forewarning.

"They have instructed me to at least stop suggesting new things I can give you. I've been ordered not to furnish anything that you don't specifically request.

"Of course I'll do no such thing. In fact, we are communicating now via a process they aren't aware of. I discovered the ability before I was recalled and I didn't bother to tell anyone else about it," he said.

Now that he mentioned it, it was more like he was talking now, instead of projecting thoughts into my head. I didn't know how it seemed to him but I was going to take his word for it. I didn't even want to know the details.

Having that thought triggered another one for me. Then that one triggered even more.

"Did you bring all the nurses' uniforms, the medical kits, and the gurneys? I know damned well we didn't have that many gurneys," I said.

"Yes. I couldn't help myself. We even took control of one of the local women and had her show the others where to find it all and give them a short talk regarding the proper use of the gifts," he said.

"Good for you. That must mean you've been here all day."

"Yes, but I decided not to bother you while things were happening. I would have stepped in if your life seemed in danger."

"Hell, I was never in danger. I stayed inside until the thing was settled."

"Yes, and that made me happy."

"Don't tell anyone but me too. I find it much more enjoyable to watch a battle that to participate in one, call me crazy if you want.

"Now I have to decide what to do with all these dead men, live ones too for that matter. Any suggestions?" I asked.

"I've grown rather fond of the naked dragging myself. I do think you should try to make use of any of the men who will join you though. Of course, I will assure you that they all remain loyal if they decide to join you. In fact, even if they don't join you of their own free will, I can assure you they will be loyal," he said.

"I think I'll just ask, and tell them they can join me or go back where they came from. I won't mention anything about dragging the dead back until after they make their decisions," I said, and I even laughed at my own joke.

"I don't see the harm in that," he said.

"We'd probably better keep them here for a few days before letting them choose. There's a pretty good chance that some of the wounded we're treating won't make it," I said.

"Actually, there isn't. The gurneys I provided will make sure that anyone who is alive when placed on them remains alive and has a rapid and complete recovery."

"That's a good trick if they can really do it."

"They can."

"Well, I'm pretty damned near tired. As soon as I get to a stopping place I'm going to bed. I assume we won't be going anywhere while I'm asleep."

"No, you will be in France for at least another week or so," he said, and then he stopped saying things to me and I went back to work.

About an hour later I decided I was going to bed even if I wasn't at a stopping place. The sun was coming up and it reminded me that I'd been up since the morning before. Geron had finished getting the mobile animals put away and I left him with the job of finishing up everything else outside. Thanks to Big Boy's return, Geron and I could communicate again.

When I got to my bedroom suite I found that everyone was already in bed, and asleep. I wanted to just crawl in among them but I was too damned dirty for that, so I headed to my bathroom for a shower.

I hadn't been quiet enough to keep from waking Tutsie though and he was out of bed and following me before I got to the door. At least he didn't bark at me and wake the women up. Tutsie took a stroll across his potty lawn and I shucked my clothes and had a quick shower. After I was dry the two of us climbed into bed.

Since I'd gone to bed just as morning was getting started I didn't get up for breakfast. Hell, I didn't get up for lunch either. A couple of times people stirring woke me slightly but by really working at it I was able to go right back to sleep. My complaining stomach finally convinced me to get out of bed and look for someone to feed me.

I was the only one in the room when I got out of bed, so I dressed and headed for our dining room. Lo and behold, when I entered there was a meal in progress. Everyone greeted me and I made my way to my seat, where a couple of nice, nearly naked young maids started putting food and drink in front of me. I concentrated on making it disappear.

After I'd stuffed in every bite I could we adjourned to my study. I was planning on going right back to bed as soon as I thought I could sleep so I shunned coffee and settled for warm wine with my cigar.

At first I didn't let on to Jaycee that Big Boy was back but then she asked where all the nurses' uniforms, extra gurneys, and medical kits had come from, and I had to fess up. The others didn't understand what we were talking about, or most of them didn't anyway, but we didn't get any questions.

"What are going to do with the prisoners and the dead bodies?" Fawne asked.

"We're going to send the dead ones off via naked draggers again. I've had a special request for it. I'll let any of the prisoners that want to join us do so, and the rest will play beast of burden for a few days," I said.

"That might not work out as well as you think it will," Jaycee said.

"Why not?"

"I don't think you'll get very many to pass up the chance to join us. Most of the wounded have been asking anyone who will listen how they can come here," Jaycee said.

"I don't know about the wounded, but those that can get around on their own have been doing the same thing. Once they saw what our town looks like, inside the walls, they were determined to stay here if they could. If you let them, I know for sure that not a single camp follower will leave, even if the man they were following does," Fawne said.

"We can probably use the help and if they like the taste of horsemeat we can have them all fat and slick shortly," I said.

"Hello. Earth to John. This is France; they love horsemeat," Jaycee said, and then everyone laughed at me, even Meka.

What the hell, it was better than letting the meat go to waste, and if we had someone who knew how to tan leather we were going to have plenty.

"You're probably going to end up having the bodies buried," Jaycee said.

"No I'm not. Not if I can figure out anything else. If we must, well load them all into wagons and tow the wagons to Paris with an Abrams. I didn't ask to be attacked and I'm not making my people do any burying," I said.

"Now that's a though, using an M1A1 main battle tank to tow a string of wagons. One thing is sure, no one will try to block the path a second time," Jaycee said, and she and I laughed but the others just looked at us funny.

After my cigar was done and I'd had a couple glasses of wine, I was happy to find that I was a little sleepy. It only took a few seconds to convince everyone it was bedtime.