World War IV: Empires Read Online Free PDF Page A

had been chipped along with the connecting humerus. Some of the tendons had been sliced through, but a few remained attached. “I’ll have to put the arm back into place before we start.”
    “Dr. Mars, do you thi—”
    “I think you should help keep him down.” Kemena snapped then turned to the soldier. “I can’t promise you that this will work, and even if you heal properly, there’s no telling how useful the arm will be. There’s been a lot of nerve damage.”
    “Do it.” The soldier answered without hesitation or fear.
    Kemena grabbed a wooden bite stick and placed it in his mouth. “Bite down hard.” She lifted the man’s arm, and his entire body shook along with his scream. With all of her strength, she twisted the arm back and up until she heard the loud pop of the joint sliding back into the socket.
    The bite stick fell from the man’s mouth as he blacked out, the rush of pain too much for his mind to handle. Kemena prodded the exposed meat and flesh with her fingers, getting a grasp for the amount of thread needed. “I’ll need a longer needle, and bring me some sterilizing alcohol.” Her better judgment told her just to hack the arm off now that the soldier was asleep. The likelihood of infection with a wound of this size was almost certain. It would be the silent killer that used the shoulder to creep into his heart and lungs, shutting him down. But she stubbornly took the needle and thread from the nurse’s hands and went to work.
    Sporadic crisscross lines formed a semicircle over the bloodstained flesh, and bits of skin protruded through the threading. Kemena rinsed the wound with water and had one of the nurses wrap it. “Any other emergencies?”
    “No, Doctor. Only those with a few minor afflictions now. The rest died from their injuries.” The nurse said it so matter-of-factly that Kemena could only nod in answer.
    The fight with Rodion had been less like a battle and more akin to a massacre. The entire capital was evacuated, and what remained of their army helped keep watch for any of Rodion’s men that may have followed, although she was told by their scouts that more than likely his forces would stay in the capital to strategize their next move.
    General Monaghan waited for her outside the tent, and she was surprised to see him. “Governess, I need to have a word with you in private.”
    “Of course.” Whatever the general planned on telling her couldn’t be positive news. His face looked just as pale and defeated as those of the men she’d treated on the operating table. It was an expression that had run rampant like a plague through the entire camp. Fear and doubt had firmly gripped everyone’s minds and caused everyone to walk with a hunch or a limp. It was at least a three-minute walk to her quarters, and in that time she didn’t see one citizen cast their eyes up from the dirt.
    Once beyond the range of the ears of the people, General Monaghan gestured for her to sit. “Kemena, we don’t have enough men or supplies to fend off another assault from Rodion’s army. We need to migrate everyone east and wait for Dean and Jason to return.”
    “General, over half of our population is wounded,” Kemena replied. “Anyone who isn’t healthy will die before we reach the wastelands, and that’s if they survive the journey through the mountains.”
    “I understand the difficult nature of this decision, but you have to hear me when I say that if we stay, it is the end. The wasteland clans are nowhere to be seen, and without a fresh supply of men and more weapons, there isn’t anything we can do.”
    Kemena knew why the general was so hard pressed for her to stamp this decision with her blessing. With Lance now gone, she and her nephews were the only surviving Mars family left. And while she was neither a military genius nor the elected governor of the region, her word carried weight. The people would move if she told them to, and they would stay if she did. “Where is