“Nice try, soldier,” I said sternly as my military patient, the handsome older man, tried to edge his way out of bed. “You are in recovery… from surgery... from picking a fight with your tractor… any of this ringing any bells?”

The military man chuckled and let me help him back into bed. I propped him up a bit, offered some water and began checking his vitals. His surgery had been a success and despite having a massive scar from his ankle wrapping up around his leg all the way to his groin, he really was going to be okay—a fact he had already reminded me of repeatedly.

“Told you I was going to be fine, Collins.”

“That’s Ms. Collins or Nurse Collins, to you, sir,” I raised an eyebrow with a slightly bemused smile.

The man completely ignored my request, “you know, Collins, I could really use someone like you on my team, ever thought of joining the military?”

“Once again,” I sighed, fake-annoyed at the sweet man, I couldn’t help but like him. “It’s Lizzy, Elizabeth, Ms. Collins or Nurse Collins, those are your only options. I may seem nice… but I can hurt you.”

Despite me speaking in a deadpan tone the clever military man saw right through me and burst out laughing, “okay, Collins,” he winked.

I smiled and continued, “and secondly, no sir, I haven’t thought of it. The truth is, I belong here. But I do thank you for your service to our country and—”

“Oh, save it, Collins,” he smiled again. “Thank you, but it’s not necessary. Just like you said, you belong here and I belong there. I need the military just as much as it needs me. But I’m being serious, a trauma nurse like you could find a real home with us out in the field. Have you ever thought of volunteering for a short mission? Just to see if you like it?”

Me?

In the military?

Can I bring my Louboutins?

It had never really occurred to me, to be honest. I had only ever worked at Mercy General and I loved it. I knew every inch of the hospital, every person, every protocol, every piece of gossip. It was my home. But standing there, in front of this inspiring soldier who was proposing the adventure of a lifetime, I had to admit it, I was intrigued.

For the next hour, the man explained the ins and outs of short-term volunteer missions for medical support staff. I was surprised by how much I felt myself wanting to go.

“So… it’s only for a short while? I don’t even know how that would work,” I said as I found myself sitting at the edge of the man’s bed, listening to him talk about life overseas in the danger zone.

Apparently, since The Fear Division had been gaining traction in so many different places all over the world, the military couldn’t rely solely on their own doctors and nurses, they had to look to volunteers and were willing to take civilians on a short term basis. By the time the man was finished I was sold.

“Where do I sign up?”

“Oh, you already have,” he laughed as he adjusted his leg and winced ever so slightly. “Collins, I knew I needed you on my team the moment I saw you. And, I knew you’d want to be on my team once you heard about it. I put the request in with your Chief of Staff the moment I got out of surgery. He loves the idea, said it will be a great experience that you can bring back here and pass a long to your fellow nurses, and you leave in two weeks. Your Chief of Staff tells me you have some sort of wedding that you’re attending? That’s fine. You leave the day after that.”

I was speechless, “Um, well, but where—”

“Collins, you might want to address your Commanding Officer with a bit more respect, we don’t do um and well and but in the military, thank you very much.”

I immediately felt my face reach a boiling point. I jumped up so fast I almost made myself dizzy, saluted the man, and in the process whacked my own head with my nurse’s clipboard.

“Ow!” I groaned unintentionally.

“That’s okay, Collins,” he doubled over in laughter, “you’ll get the hang of it. And you’re not in the military, no need to salute me. I was completely teasing you. But it was worth it! Consider it the easiest haze in military initiation history. Welcome aboard!”

“Right, sorry,” I tried to compose myself and was thankful that he seemed to be amused—and not annoyed—by my lack of knowledge of military protocol. Changing the subject, I asked, “I’d like to know where I’m being shipped off to, if that’s alright.”

“You ever heard of The Fields?” he asked.

The Fields!

Are you kidding me?

Of course, I had heard all about The Fields in the news.

The Fields were a wildly dangerous territory somewhere in the jungles of Northern Asia where The Fear Division practiced their weapons use.

Especially explosives.

It’s also where the rebels held people captive and trained their army of child soldiers. In short, it was pretty much hell on earth. the realization that I had just signed up to be plunked right int the middle of it all made a feeling of panic wwash over my entire body…

How could I get out of this?

I had to get out of this!

“Don’t panic, Collins,” said the military man. “We wouldn’t put you in harm’s way.”

Well that’s a relative term, I wanted to say, but the man explained that they needed a nurse to tend to soldiers with minor injuries.

“You’ll never see active combat, I guarantee it, we will keep you on the base the entire time. You’ll be wrapping up sprained ankles and administering Tetanus shots. You’re a perfect replacement for our previous nurse.”

“Why? Sir, what happened to the last nurse?”

Suddenly the man clutched his chest as cardiac arrest began to set in.