Chapter 17

Ethan - Day 6 of Landing

Day 7 of First Landing

Population of Thornhill - 21

It’s been nearly a week since I’ve been stuck “here”. Where “here" is. I’ve reached the point where I have accepted this is probably where I will spend the rest of my life and won’t wake up from whatever “this” happens to be.

My day-to-day, which had once started with lectures, now began with me walking a good distance to relieve myself and wash by the river. Lab sessions with cadavers and tests were replaced with chores like cleaning and drying sinew, tanning hides, and making wood ash and lye. My clinical rotations now involved patching up cuts from dungeon divers rather than dealing with the usual complications from a poor diet and lifestyle. Instead of studying biochemistry or physiology late into the night, I was studying the cards I had and the night sky.

Yesterday we had three newcomers as usual. Ruth and her son Bryden seemed like good folk overall. Ruth was the typical overbearing mother to her sixteen-year-old son, trying to keep him in camp and prevent him from wandering too far. She reminded me of Orion in that aspect, at least concerning Cass. The other newcomer was Gladys, our first flight attendant---an older lady with a motherly expression. Despite her calm demeanor, she was still shaken to the core by what had happened to her and her, well our, current situation. Gladys constantly wanted to know what was going on, how long we would be here, and where everyone else was.

Today, our newcomer was Cade Ellington, a young African American man who stood nearly six feet eight inches tall. He was in the police academy, working towards joining the force. Upon seeing the young man, Alex would quickly try to find in him a new dungeon party member. Sasha would join later, and by the time Aaliyah, another stewardess, arrived, Bianca had devised an idea to start a welcoming crew for new passengers, helping them adjust to their new situation. We tried to ease the newcomers in, but there was an expectation for them to work and pitch in around camp. We assigned simple tasks like fetching water, foraging for plants and materials for rope, and making salt. It was difficult to ask people who had been sitting on an airplane just yesterday to now live in the wilderness and start working in these conditions. We didn’t want to pressure them too much.

Among the headaches around the camp had been Alex trying to recruit every new ablebody to go through the dungeon with him, including myself. One of my great fears was rats so I had to pass on that when I heard about the giant ones on the first level.

Orion had been busy hunting muskrats and boars and made a small rendering area that stank up the camp out so we got him to move. Orion was trying to get as much lard and leather out of everything he hunted as possible. Anika and I had been helping to process the hides and sinew of the carcasses into usable material.

With prospects like Cade and even Bryden coming forward to volunteer themselves to join the dungeon expeditions, Bianca had serious issues with Alex taking all the able-bodied workers to the dungeon. Those issues would calm themselves as their first venture in the dungeon netted a copper hammer and copper axe which the party graciously donated to the camp for Slate to use. The axe was redundant as Slate had a sawmill ability, but it was useful for other people around the camp.

Slate and Marek were busy finishing up the second shelter. The Golem was gaining more experience every day. Slate was a walking crane and construction team on his own at this point. Marek who oversaw the operation was constantly berating the Golem who didn’t respond at all to the insults of “stupid facking rock” or “you idiota boulder”. Bianca didn’t appreciate Marek making fun of her golem which amused Marek and made the insults even worse.

Of course, between all this, I had my “duties” as a “doctor” to attend to.

Marek had a nicotine addiction he was fighting. I couldn’t exactly prescribe him Chantix since our island lacked a pharmacy. What we did have, however, was a Herbalist. Between making charcoal and lime, Anika was cataloging and drying various plants near the camp that had good medicinal properties. A mortar was always filled with some mysterious green or red concoction that she was experimenting with. At Anika’s suggestion, Bianca, our camp’s best potter, would create a teapot to brew some tea for Marek. Dried herbs and plants were spread all over Bianca's drying rack near Anika's station. When the earthenware teapot was fired, she blended firecracker berries—vibrant orange in the middle with red star-like points extending out from the center, growing in abundance around camp—with wort in her mortar and pestle and brewed them for Marek.

“It taste like dirt,” Marek said though still going in for more sips, his hard Slavic face scrunched.

“The wort will help with your mood swings and nicotine cravings and the firecracker berries will give you an energy boost,” Anika explained twirling a flower in her hands. “My skill lets me extract more of the compounds I want out of it. Usually, this berry is very mild but I increased the caffeine intake in it. Just try not to drink it four hours before bed.”

Marek nodded and took the cup with him, sipping and wincing with each sip.

“Was any of that real or was that just a placebo?” I asked Anika with a smile.

“I think I’ll keep that to myself.” Anika winked and then handed some powder to me wrapped in a leaf. “This is for Ruth. I increased the berberine in it.”

I wouldn’t take credit for Anika’s handiwork but I had a Prescribe skill that would allow medicine I directly gave to my patients increased healing effects.

“Hopefully this works. Thank god it’s not type one.” I nodded at her appreciatively.

On my way to see Ruth, a young Cass came over with a closed-lidded clay jar, “Here’s a refill doctor!”

I checked the contents of the clay jar to see inside dozens of army ants surrounding a berry on top of freshly dug dirt.

“Cass you know you should be with Roza and the rest of her children. Orion will kill us if you get lost.” I patted the young boy on his head, ruffling his blond hair.

“I’m not a little kid. I know this area better than he does,” Cass crossed his arms looking annoyed.

“Thank you for the delivery though,” I said warmly. Despite how annoyed Orion was at his brother, Cass was extremely resourceful and bright for his age. “If you have time can you find me maggots by any chance?”

“Maggots? What for?”

“They eat necrotic tissue,” I said and was surprised when Cass didn’t grimace or say something like “gross” but just nodded as if he understood.

“That reminds me. Mrs. Roza said she wanted to talk to you about doctor stuff but has her hands full with the children,” Cass explained pointing in the direction where he thought Roza was which I suspected was the beach shelter.

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“I’ll do that after I talk to Ruth, anything else?” I asked.

“If you have time can you teach me math?” Cass asked.

“Wait where did this come from all of a sudden?” I wondered, the question seemed straight out of left field.

“I would ask Ani but she’s already teaching me about chemistry. We’re learning about chemical bonds but she said it’s hard to explain without paper.” Cass said excitedly.

“I can brush off a few things but I’m in medical school. I don’t know if I can teach you anything THAT advanced. I think I had forgotten most of my advanced calculus,” I explained to him.

“Can you teach me about the stuff you learn there then?” Cass asked.

“What’s with all this sudden desire for academics? I’d figure not going to school is one of the main perks of being here for you kids,” I asked.

“You and Anika are both really smart. If I learn how to be smart like you, hunt like Rye, fight like Alex, and build like Marek, I’ll be the most powerful person on the whole planet!” Cass exclaimed throwing his arms up into the sky.

I laughed and ruffled his hair again, “You know what? I’ll set aside an hour to teach you what I can. When I find you a better mathematician then you can graduate from me.”

Cass nodded and then brought out his sling he carried like a sash, placed a rock in it, and scampered away.

The kid had ambition that’s for sure.

Ruth was boiling salt near the first shelter and I came over to deliver her “meds”. Ruth was an overweight lady in her 40s suffering from either prediabetic conditions or type two diabetes. Sweat was dripping down her dyed neon-red hair and her hands were shaking as she sipped on some water from a red clay cup. I handed her the package of the herbs Anika foraged.

“This will help with your blood sugar, Ms. Schmidt-Campbell.” I smiled warmly and sat next to her watching the fire boil the earthenware of saltwater. “With this and the new forced restrictive diet out here, we can control your symptoms.”

“You’re a peach, Ethan. A peach. Why can’t the other kids be like you instead of running around playing swords and sandals?” Ruth said shaking her head in disappointment. She sprinkled the herbs in her water, sipped it, and winced. A mouthful of grass is what it probably tasted like.

“You know your son is at an age where whenever you tell him to do something he’ll naturally want to do the opposite,” I said.

“What can I do Ethan? I can’t take away his video games, I can’t take away his phone. I can’t do anything out here except this,” Ruth said, her grip tightening on her cup. “I’m so sick of this place and my boy is throwing his life away. You can talk to Bianca. Tell her to close the dungeon.”

“Bianca wants to but there is pressure from the others. Alex and Orion are both strong warriors and they could bring back useful stuff,” I said. My true opinion on it was mixed. It had both pros and cons. I could only see the cons in the form of wounds. I knew of video games and anime of course and whenever there was something like a dungeon and magic cards, it would mean young men and women would go off to find adventure.

“Sweetheart, they don’t bring back anything but wounds. I see you tending to them last night. I know what’s going on,” Ruth wiped at her eyes. “I want to go home, Ethan. I want my son to go home, he should be in school. I told him to be a doctor, Ethan. Like you.”

“I wasn’t a doctor back home... I was just in med school.”

“At least you got there,” Ruth gritted her teeth and sniffled, “My poor boy isn’t going to graduate high school if we don’t get back.”

“I’m so sorry Ms. Schmidt-Campbell... it’s a really difficult situation for all of us.” I said putting my hand on her shoulder. Is this it? My go-to patient move? “I have to go see Ms. Zajac now. Tell me if you experience any nausea or abdominal pain okay, Ms. Schmidt-Campbell?”

Ruth just kept shaking her head in frustration and confusion. Unsure of what to do, where to go, and who to speak with.

You and me both.

It was difficult. You study and study, but it can't prepare you for real patients. It was easy to get caught up in the magical system we all had. When they came to me with their medical problems, I couldn’t wave a magical wand and just heal them---their bodies or their hearts.

I tried to look at the positives. The strength of the “medicine” I gave Ruth will be increased because of the skill cards I had, while the negative side effects will decrease. The sutures I performed on the dungeon divers will heal faster than can be explained medically. It would be considered a medical miracle on Earth, the things I did. Like everyone else, I had to level up too so I could be that healing magician they expected out of me.

Hopefully, my next patient doesn't have a horrible condition. Roza was a full-figured woman but I didn't think she had a weight issue like Ruth.

Please don't let it be something bad.

Roza, Marek’s wife was outside the first shelter on the cleared green flats, littered with tree stumps, placing flax bundles against the sun to dry. Her children were playing nearby in viewing distance making sand forts and catching crabs on the beach ahead. When Roza spotted me coming, she halted her work and greeted me.

“You wanted to see me, Ms. Zajac?” I asked.

“Please call me Roza, Ethan.” Roza smiled warmly. Her face bent into a frown after her greeting. She looked around suspiciously before sighing. “I have been getting morning sickness lately... I think I may be pregnant.”

“Any other symptoms Ms... I mean Roza?” I asked. I was nervous on the inside. Not a pregnancy. Not right now. We needed Roza's seamstress abilities.

“I also missed my period,” Roza said, her face downcast.

“Hmm... I see... I’ll take a look,” I said.

When I pulled out my Diagnose skill card, Roza was startled for a bit but calmed down as I threw the card at her. The card stayed in place and did a scan over her body, a quick flash of blue from heel to head. At level 3 it gave me a quick reading of her blood test. I didn’t have medical equipment or access to lab results here, but I did have this magic spell.

What I would give for this back on Earth.

A new information card appeared. It wouldn’t tell me exactly what was wrong with her, but just present to me her blood panel and vitals like a lab result.

“Your intuition is correct. Your hCG levels and progesterone levels are higher than normal. Congratulations Roza.” I said smiling slightly though worry for my readiness to deal with a pregnancy was shrouding the back of my mind.

“But... I can not have a baby here...” Roza cried wiping away her tears.

“Hmm... I’m sure we can figure out other options if you wish not to have the baby,” I suggested.

“No... no. Marek and I are Catholic. We can not... but it will be dangerous... No? Without hospital?” Roza asked.

“Babies have been born long before ultrasound and modern hospitals, Roza. I am not an expert in prenatal care but Anika and I will figure out how to help you manage the pain through the delivery. I can check on you every week to see how you are doing.”

“But what kind of life... this baby can have,” Roza put her hands into her face sobbing. “My children. They don’t deserve this.”

I came over to pat Roza’s shoulder, gently caressing it, and said, “Roza, in nine eight months who knows what this place will become? Your husband and Bianca are doing what they can to build a place where we can all thrive. Your child will be born not wanting any luxury that Earth has to offer because your child will be the first one of us born here.”

More sobbing continued but she nodded, accepting the answer.

“Thank you, Doctor,” Roza cried as she wrapped me in a hug which startled me. I reached behind her and patted her on the back gently in response. I didn’t want to ruin the moment by correcting her that I was not a real doctor. Not yet.

I’ll deliver your child into this world healthy and strong, Roza. Then you can call me a doctor.