Childhood Reborn

Everyone that was on guard stopped when the whir of wheels could be heard. Within seconds out appeared a motorcycle and three trucks from the thick woods. Immediately people emerged from their hiding places to see the commotion.

"Yuta…why are you riding Miss Jacinda's motorcycle?" A man yelled approaching the person on the motorcycle. "She's not wounded is she!"

"No I'm not…but we do have wounded!" The woman named Jacinda yelled from the back of the truck as she jumped down. "It was indeed an OZ attack!"

She jumped down from the truck.

"Tell me there is a medical room ready in my house Sheva?" She asked one of the women who approached.

"Yes Ms. Jacinda along with rooms in surrounding houses." The stout woman said. "How many are hurt?"

"Just five, not any of us." She answered and she turned to her village. "Everyone gather all medical supplies you can and get my black bag from my bedroom! The rest of you help me get them into my house, they are gravely injured. Once we get them settled, I'll send for Dr. Ridge."

Jacinda jumped back onto the truck where the five pilots laid going in and out consciousness. With strict orders she sent for cots to carry two of the wounded into the house while the rest she had carried inside wanting to get them settled as soon as possible. She herself placed the blonde boy onto her back not wanting to wait for a cot. He was the most serious of her concerns as he had been the one whose Gundam had been attacked by gas bombs. By the sound of his breathing and the blood coming from the side of his mouth she feared internal injury.

"Hang in there baby." She whispered to him as she raced inside her house and up the stairs and into a large room in the house. "Get them out of their uniforms and check their injuries!"

Immediately she chose the first bed to place the blonde boy on. Jacinda opened her medical bag that was brought to her and pulled out some scissors. Immediately she cut the tight uniform off of the boy's body and removed the rest of his clothes he wore underneath swiftly revealing deep cuts. Grabbing her stethoscope she began checking his heart, it was weak and erratic.

"Damn." She uttered as she began checking his body for signs of internal injury.

"Miss Jacinda, come quickly!" A comrade yelled from across the room. Jacinda looked up and raced over to a bed where a boy with short, thick brown hair and looked to be of Asian decent lay unconscious, blood oozing from the side of his head.

Grabbing a small flashlight she opened the boy's eyes with her fingers.

"Pupils are sluggish but responsive." She said as she dug into the boy's hair to find the source of the wound. It was deep and she feared that it might have been a blow to the skull. Suddenly without warning the boy began to shake violently.

"He's seizing!" She yelled. "Quick give me some room. I need to hold his head down to prevent further injury!"

The boy continued to shake as the people stepped back and let the woman loosely hold his neck and head. She spoke soothingly to him as the shaking continued then subsided.

"Easy there sweetheart." She said gently stroking his hair as he started to come down. "It's alright, all over."

"Miss, the others, they aren't well at all!"

Jacinda stood up and gazed about the room. Indeed each boy was terribly hurt and suffering. She knew it couldn't wait.

"Get the people I trained to start IVs and sew some stitches on the boys." She said as she put her hand to her sweaty forehead. "Dr. Ridge was able to get us a few bags and silk rolls from his last barter. Disinfect and wrap any other wounds you can and keep them tight. Keep an eye on the blonde one, if he starts vomiting blood move him onto his side. If that boy has a seizure again just do what I did before and keep the rest as calm and comfortable as possible. I'm going for Dr. Ridge."

With that she raced out of the house like a lightening bolt and onto her motorcycle.

********************

Deep within the forest laid a small cabin. Inside, dead asleep next to a bottle of liquor lay a gray haired man. Obviously still in the throes of a late night binge the man had been oblivious to the attack that had occurred that day. Though all that was gonna change.

"DR. RIDGE!"

BANG BANG BANG

The man snorted.

"RIDGE…IT'S JACINDA OPEN THE DOOR!"

BANG BANG BANG

Just as the man started to stir he felt a gust of air as his front door was kicked open. The ferocity of the kick and the look of the panicked figure in the doorway sobered him up somewhat.

"Jacinda!"

Jacinda panted for a moment trying to catch her breath.

"I got wounded at my house!" She yelled. "Boys…five of them…all critical."

"What?" Ridge said scratching his head, the fog in his mind disappearing agonizing slow.

Jacinda growled and grabbed his arm.

"Just come with me!" She said. After quickly moving throughout his house to gather more supplies and equipment she practically threw the doctor onto the back of her motorcycle and sped off.

********************

When they reached the village and her house once more Jacinda once again took the confused doctor by the arm and dragged him up to the patients room.

"Status!" She yelled.

"Same!" A comrade yelled from the bedside of a braided boy. "Thankfully the little one didn't vomit nor did the boy have another seizure."

"Thank God for small miracles." Jacinda whispered. Meanwhile Dr. Ridge just looked on still confused and his heart tight.

"There was a battle." Jacinda said as she walked over to where to the bed where another Asian lad lay tossing restlessly. He had been bandaged up, but looked like he had taken on some broken bones. "OZ attacked them just five miles from the village."

"Boys?" Ridge said as he approached the bed of a young man whose hair swept over one eye. He was unconscious. "Who the…"

"It gets better…they were each piloting Gundams." Jacinda said as she began to examine the Asian boy. "God his leg is in bad shape. We may have to operate on him Ridge."

"I wouldn't be surprised if we had to on all of them!" Ridge exclaimed stupefied that these young men had control of the massive machines. "No doubt they will need exploratory surgery."

Jacinda shrugged.

"We've done it before when we have had previous attacks. We'll use the basement again…each boy one at a time. We may not have the equipment the hospitals today have, but they are still good enough."

She turned to the three men who had been watching over the boys in her absence.

"Yuta, Bard, and Siero go down to the basement and set it up. We are going to need ether, oxygen tanks, plaster, and the portable x-ray readers, heart monitors and crash units hooked up. As long as the skies stay clear we don't have to worry about losing power. Keep everyone away from that area of the house for now to prevent any distractions or delays except for Trea, Chadi, and Willa. Find them and brief them on the situation and get them down there ASAP. They will be assisting us."

She turned to Ridge.

"You and I will get the boys prepped."

Ridge only nodded.

"Alright everyone…hurry!" Jacinda yelled and immediately everyone set to work.

********************

Within an hour the first boy was being brought down the stairs on a cot carefully and into the dark basement where a makeshift operation theatre had been set up. Ridge was the head surgeon with Jacinda as his assistant. Trea, Chadi, and Willa would be monitoring the patient vitals.

As Jacinda went over to check on the first patient she saw that his eyelids fluttered and opened slightly. She smiled from within her surgical mask and let her tense eyes relax when saw a touch of fear flicker in his bright turquoise eyes.

"Don't worry…no one is going to hurt you." She whispered gently as she reached down and stroked his hair. "We are going to take care of you and your friends so just rest now bright eyes."

Though his vision was quite blurred the boy was comforted by the warmth of the hand that touched him and the soothing words that held no sign of malice. He felt himself once again slip into the world of the unconscious and into the hands of who he hoped were not going to hurt him or friends.