Nathan blinked as the sudden change in light levels caused temporary blindness. He was just about to leave the hospital after performing two surgeries. The next he was standing on a dirt road.

He looked around and saw a sparse forest on both sides of where he was. Looking down as he patted himself he noticed a new wardrobe. He was wearing simple rough woven canvas clothing on his body. As if he was a peasant from the Dark Ages in Europe.

“The hell am I?” Nathan asked himself.

He started to think logically, he had no signs of dizziness, no discoloration of his skin that he could tell, and a quick check showed that his shaved face was still clean from the morning shave.

“Unless someone shaved me as well as reclothed me, I doubt I was drugged and taken into the middle of nowhere.” Nathan thought to himself.

The weather was also different. He was in the middle of a Chicago winter, just a week after a blizzard. Today was the third night he was able to sleep in his own bed now that the main roadways were cleared out.

He hated sleeping in the Doctor’s Room. It was always too cold. Dr. Cole kept it that way because he always slept in all his clothes plus three blankets. “I know the proper way to sleep! I have more Docterates than anyone else here, including you Dr. Shultz.” He would always say.

Nathan shook his head getting back to the problem at hand. “Alrighty, if this is some prank show my brother signed me up for, let's end this. I have patients that need me. I better not have been forced to miss Mr. Harris. He was a rare tumor removal case! I had to beg the board to let me have it.”

Nathan looked around for hidden cameras, or his brother Charles to walk out. Yet nothing happened.

He crossed his arms and tapped his foot. “Come on out, I am not playing these games. You must have transported me hours to the south just to get weather like this. Even with plane travel. Charles damn it, if this is you I am going to wring your neck! This is why mom loved me more!”

The continued silence and the fact he was still alone started to drone on him. “Anyone? Hello!” Nathan called out.

His only response was a crow that landed on a nearby tree branch. It gave a small caw at him.

Nathan sighed and rubbed his head. He was starting to think he was left out here alone by someone. Either a Drug Lord, for calling the cops on someone who had drugs inside their body. Or even a slew of crazy patients who blamed me for the death of a loved one when he did everything possible to save them. There was honestly nothing Nathan could do now if nobody came to him.

Looking down both directions of the road, he decided to go right. Since right was always right, right?

“Well I am going to go along this road here. I hope nothing bad happens to me!” Nathan dramatically said. “Be a shame if a bear or something horribly scary came at me. I might just pee my pants!”

Nathan was hoping that if he pretended to play whatever game was happening, he could get out of the situation faster. He continued down the road taking in the scenery. Sadly there wasn’t much to look at.

The occasional empty patch of grass, a few trees of various sizes, and the beautiful chirping of birds. Something that was odd to him was the quietness in the air. Chicago is one of those cities that was never quiet. He even had special noise cancelling speakers put in his bed room to help with his sleep problems.

Nathan assumed at the end of the road would be a town, more than likely a place he could get help if he wasn’t on a TV prank show. A simple phone call should clear things up. Luckily the Hospital has decent cameras by the front doors, whoever did this to him is on limited time till they go to jail for kidnapping.

After what seemed to be around an hour of foot travel, Nathan was slowly considering he was actually on his own in the middle of nowhere. A glance at the sky told him it was nearing midday, as the sun was still rising toward the center of the sky.

Based on that, Nathan determined he was heading in a north western direction. Nathan had no idea which was a better direction, but was determined to try and keep his bearings as he walked along the road.

The road rarely vered left or right, except to go around large trees or the occasional hill side ledge. Nathan did everything he could to keep an eye out for a sign of people. Smoke, the sound of an engine, even ruts in the road to show constant travel from cars or other wheeled vehicles. At least that would tell him people travel along the road.

Nathan smacked his lips and realized he was getting thirsty. If he doesn't find help soon, he is going to be in a very precarious situation. He could survive four days without water if he did absolutely nothing, including sweating. However, with his foot travel, and that the last thing he drank was half a thermos of coffee, he gave himself till tomorrow evening before he was in deep shit.

Food could come much later, if he had a constant supply of water, he was safe for weeks. Plus if the water source was big enough, that means animals. He would hate to kill animals, but if he needed to survive, he would do it.

Luckily, a half hour later, those worries were put to rest for Nathan. The forest he was walking through thinned out, and he came across farm land.

“Yes!” Nathan cheered, and almost doubled his walking pace into a jog. He looked for signs of a farmhouse and soon saw a large wooden structure.

The tilled land had small green sprouts, which was another oddity. It was winter in America, how are people already getting plants this far along in growth. Even Texas or Florida couldn’t harvest at this time of year.

Fear that he was perhaps in another country seeped into Nathan’s mind. He knew some broken spanish and a few phrases in French, German, and Japanese. Hopefully that would be enough to get him by if they didn’t know English.

Nathan walked up to the farm house and knocked on the door. The place was rickety, and poorly built. Nathan heard a few shouts of children from inside and a set of footsteps coming to the front door.

A woman opened the door, she held a baby in her arms, breastfeeding it with no shame. “Hello, uh what can I do for you?”

“Thank god she speaks english! Although I can’t place that accent.”

Nathan cleared his throat. “Yes hello. My name is Dr. Shultz. This is going to be hard to believe but let me explain. I woke up on the road about an hour away from here along the road that way.” Nathan pointed in the direction he came from.

“I was hoping I could borrow your phone. Call for help and maybe you could let me inside. I have money, I am a Doctor.” Nathan put his hands together in a prayer. “Please, I know it sounds odd, like I am a cracked out mental person, but I promise I am being honest.”

The woman gave Nathan an odd look as if he was a cracked out mental person. “You don’t look like a doctor.”

“Again, I woke up with the bare clothes I have on here.” Nathan saw she was wearing a yellow dress. Giving him Amish vibes. Still, she was in better clothing than he was.

“Well, I don’t know what a phone is. But if you look at my husbands arm, and if you can help him, then I suppose that is proof enough of your supposed Doctor title.” She stepped to the side and Nathan saw she was holding a long dagger in the arm that was hidden behind the door.

“No funny business ya?” She said. The unsaid threat didn’t bother Nathan. He has been held at gunpoint, knife point, and on one funny occasion, bedpan point.

“I promise ma’am, I will do all I can to help. Where is he at?”

She pointed to the fields to his right. “Out with my two boys. He hurt his arm when our mule kicked him into the old shed. Sent him flying through the wall. We don’t think it’s broken, but the gash is starting to look bad. You have any magic, or one of those snake oil doctors?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Nathan nodded but was startled by her last question. “I don’t have magic. Nor snake oil. I have a real license in the state of Illinois. Speaking of which, where are we? Still in America?”

She shook her head. “Never heard of Illinois or America. You are in Ostguard, King Matrol’s land. May The Heavens watch over him.”

Nathan did his best to not show a judgemental look on his face.

“Anyways, if you don’t have magic, then I don’t know what you will be able to do. Rather have false potions than nothing. At least give us a bit of hope he can continue working, we are behind on taxes after our most recent little one.” She said smiling down at the babe clutched at her bare breast.

Nathan smiled. “Do You have any alcohol in the house? The higher proof the better. Also any clean water and rags. If he has a gash, we will need to clean it most likely. If you have bandages, get those as well.”

“Why do you need a drink?” She asked, getting a look on her face that told Nathan he needed to hurry and explain.

“It kills germs and disease. If it’s from an old shed, he might have cut himself on a rusty nail. I won’t know real details until I look at his arm.”

She shrugged and walked in. “Go find him, I’ll send Zizi out with what you asked for.”

Nathan headed out into the fields and saw two men and a teen moving wooden planks. The oldest of them holding his arm in a sling.

“Hello there sir! I am Dr. Nathan, your wife told me you injured your arm.”

“A Doctor? Thank The Heavens. We don’t have much in coins, but if you can heal me, we will be in debt for a long time.” The man was bigger than Nathan. His beard was all the way down to his chest. He was wearing a simple white tunic and brown pants like his own.

The two boys looked at Nathan with weird looks, but neither said anything. “I don’t need your money, I live to help people like yourself. Let me see your arm, Zizi, I assume your daughter, will be here with some supplies to help. If your wife actually sends her.”

“Names Peter by the way. Boys are Marcilio and Nadiel.” Both the boys gave small nods when their names were said.

“Well Peter, let me look at that arm.” Nathan went to put his glasses on and realized he didn’t have them. He was startled because he could see perfectly fine, even up close!

“Dr. Shultz, are you okay?” Peter asked.

“Yes yes of course. Just uh, oh nevermind. Roll up that sleeve of yours.” Nathan ignored his perfect eyesight while an injured man was in front of him. Something minor he can figure out later.

Along the outside of the forearm was a gash that looked infected to Nathan. “You know what you cut this on? A rusty nail perhaps?”

“Nope, thankfully not that. It was one of the stone arrows we had in the shed on the shelf.”

“Fever? Any trouble swallowing? How has your breathing been the last day?”

“All fine, uh, why don’t you just cast a spell? Unless this is something worse than you can handle.”

Nathan shook his head. “Not a magician or a miracle worker. I am a Doctor, I use science and modern medicine to treat patients.” Nathan gave the man a smile. “Just like yourself.”

“Ahh snake oils then.” He chuckled and started to put his arm down but winced.

“Not snake oils either, your wife said the same thing.” Nathan poked his arm in a few places. “Does it hurt here? Here? I’m going to give it a squeeze, tell me when it hurts.”

The squeeze did it for Peter and he grunted in pain. “Good news and bad. Not broken, more than likely fractured. That wound will need a good clean and your arm should be back to proper use in a couple weeks. Once I get that cleaned, we can drive to a nearby hospital or clinic.”

“The closest would be a Temple half a day's travel away Doc. That’s even if we had old Sneezy pull us.”

Nathan raised an eyebrow. “Who is sneezy? You don’t have a car?”

“Don’t know what that is, and Sneezy is our mule. Nadiel named him”

Nathan expected farm people to have a car or truck. How else did they transport their goods? “How do you move your produce then?”

“There is a town about an half an hour on foot further north. We sell there. We asked for a Doctor there, but either it cost too much, or the public one wouldn’t see us for another month.”

Nathan shook his head in disappointment. “I thought you said the temple was half a day away?”

“For supplies ya. They have blessed waters, and the best priests there, I thought that was what you were referring to?”

“Don’t need a church for medical treatments Peter. Does the nearby town have a drugs store? Some place we can buy medicine? Also, the Doctor there, how does he treat his patients?”

“He’s a Priest, but prefers being called Doctor anyways.”

Nathan pursed his lips. “Really then? Well, I will take care of you with a temporary fix and head into town myself and get what you need. Would they have a phone in town by any chance?”

Peter shrugged. “Don't know what that is. Also, I hope you have some money, because we don’t have any to spend on myself.”

Nathan heard someone running behind him. “I got the stuff for you Doctor Man!” A young girl, probably nine or ten came running to Nathan.

“Oh and there is my special assistant. I believe you are Zizi, yes?”

“Yup! That’s me. Mom said to bring you this stuff, along with muttering that she is going to kill you if you don’t help Dad out.”

Nathan tried to hide the worry on his face, but Peter saw it. “Don’t worry about El. She is an ex-adventurer and doesn't like strangers too much.

“I see.” Nathan lied. He took the supplies from Zizi taking a look at the alcohol, along with Peter.

“Uh, why did you need our only bottle of dwarven ale? You plan on stealing from us?” Peter said with a hint of a threat.

“Not at all, it’s for you actually.” Nathan coated one of the rags with it and started to wipe off Peter’s arm.

“Fucking shit!” Peter howled in pain and jumped back away from Nathan. “What are you doing to me?!”

Nathan held up a hand in defence, already imagining the dagger wielding wife was on her way. “It’s to clean the wound. Alcohol kills germs. If we don’t clean that wound, the infection is going to get worse, and eventually you will get sick and most likely die. I give you two weeks at most.”

Peter seemed to believe Nathan’s words. “How?”

“How does it kill germs? Science. I could go into the details, but I don’t think you would know enough basic biology. And I don’t mean to offend you, but I rather get that wound cleaned before your wife comes at me because you screamed bloody murder.”

Peter’s eyes went wide and nodded in agreement. He seemed to fear his wife almost as much as Nathan did.”

Now a bit more prepared for the pain, Peter held back his screams for grunts instead. “Good. This is going to hurt a bit more, I need to open the scab and clean it all out. If you need me to stop, know you will be dragging it on longer. Sooner we get it over with, sooner the pain stops. Got it?”

Peter took a deep breath and nodded.