In the end though, despite all these worries, their professional instincts prevailed over their fears and they headed to the people—especially the old doctor—who had been hurt by the attack.
However, before they could do anything to help, various things like bottles or whatever small item was around were thrown at them instead.
Clack!
Bang!
Clank!
"AH!"
"Ouch!"
Rip and a few others looked badly at the nurses who now had additional bruises, one of whom even had blood dripping down his forehead. "Don’t you dare treat them before me!"
The old nurse, Liana, turned to glare at them with teary eyes, her hands trying to support her husband. "But we really don’t have medicine!"
"THEN GO FIND THEM!!"
"T-They’re mostly available outside the territory —"
"Do I look like I care?"
The doctors and the nurses paled. This meant that they would have to get out of the territory and find the plants themselves!
Rip pointed at the male nurses. "You, you, and you. Go."
"What?"
"No, I—"
"It’s final," Rip said, looking at their reactions. He liked the terror on their faces and his eyes stopped at the Doctor who was being held up by his wife.
Rip pointed at him. "Let him join."
"What?"
Liana let go of her husband and stood in front of him. "No! He’s injured!"
Rip glared at her, "Shut up, old hag! If you don’t want to be thrown to the monster’s mouth like the pig that you are, then keep your mouth shut!"
More than the woman, the Doctor was more angry. "YOU—!"
"No, don’t!" Liana yelled as she held on to her husband. "It’s not worth it," she said. "Just get out."
Volohov froze. He knew his wife well.
Liana was implying that he should just take this chance and escape. But how could he really do it?
Rip looked at the couple and then at the nurses. "Until you get the medicine, the rest of these people will be at our mercy. Be careful, we might get impatient! You know how horny we can get!"
The men clenched their fists and gritted their teeth, while the women shivered at the threats.
"As long as you get them within an hour, they’re safe. So hurry up! Time starts now!"
At this, several doctors had no choice but to get out to the streets where scuffles would abound, with one of the male nurses helping Volohov move. They knew time was of the essence though, so Volohov pushed himself harder no matter how much pain he was in.
Volohov almost fell down at one point, held up by the male nurse Raffy. The other two nurses flinched as well, prepared to catch him.
"I’m alright," he said, "We have to hurry, there’s no time…"
They continued moving forward. They considered leaving the old doctor somewhere safe, but he was the one who knew the plants best. Besides, it was war, how safe could anywhere be?
Though they were surprised at how… peaceful things seemed to be, considering the injured in the clinic, they weren’t naive to think they wouldn’t encounter one.
Would they even be able to get out the gates?
But then, as they travelled they got pulled back. Their hearts dropped for a moment but then they looked at the kids with sly smiles on their faces.
The doctor’s eyebrows rose high. "Tacky?"
…
Seeing them like this, to be honest, the old doctor just thought they finally lost their minds.
It wasn’t the first time someone lost it.
Volohov looked at the young men, filled with pity.
Tacky Trio: "..."
Raffy looked at them worriedly, before turning to Juan who was walking beside him. "No, we have to go—" frёeωebɳovel.com
"They went through a lot, not just physically, but also psychologically," Tacky said, particularly concerned about his sister. "What we had suffered so far was nothing compared to what they experienced in the past few days. Dr. Wais has her work cut out for her."
Volohov and the nurses looked at each other, hearts frozen.
Just yesterday, their psychologist, Dr. Wais, who had been focused on helping the victimized girls, had also been pulled to become one of them.
They couldn’t bear to tell them this and only nodded.
Unaware that his sister’s future psychologist would probably need therapy herself, Tacky continued with his orientation.
"Actually, they were even worse before."
"What?"
"The Alterans lent us their potions. It’s diluted, but I could see that it strengthened their bodies somehow. They were literally at the end of the line before."
This made the newcomers flinch and stare at them. "Alterans? Our ENEMIES?"
The doctor and the nurses were completely confused, even aghast. They felt pity for the slaves, but they didn’t want to join them!!
Tacky and the others expected this reaction.
They quickly summarized some of the events so far. It was only then that the doctors realized—it wasn’t that the civilians’ injuries were ignored, but there were few civilian patients at all!
They didn’t even join the war and hid, how could they get injured?
"The enemy is good! We have observed them for some time. They don’t keep slaves!"
"Do you trust them so much?" Volohov asked, naturally dubious about it. "And don’t tell me they don’t keep slaves because you don’t see them! This could just be their first war, so of course they wouldn’t have slaves yet!"
Tacky shook his head. "How they interacted in life-and-death situations can’t be faked. Besides, don’t you think Victor and his team’s disappearances—wherever they area—are weird?"
"You mean they’re—"
"I think so."
The doctor looked at the other male nurses, who seemed just as conflicted. But then they remembered the people inside the clinic and knew they simply didn’t have the time to be indecisive.
After heaving a deep breath, the old doctor looked at Tacky. "What do we need to do?"
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