Inside the medical tent, Lilly sat on an empty cot, bedraggled, smeared with blood and exhausted. The day had been excruciatingly long. Over the last couple of hours, most of the sick men in cots had fallen asleep. She noted the large canine tooth still sitting on a tray. She rose from the cot and grabbed the tooth. She examined it with apprehension. There was still dried blood on it.
Dr. Reynolds entered the tent. “Miss Billings. You’re still here.”
“There is work to do.”
The doctor moved closer, but she stood her ground. She had a feeling that with this man, she should.
“A dedicated and faithful woman. A rare and beautiful thing. Have you eaten?”
“I will when I get to my cabin.”
He took another step closer, but she didn’t move and didn’t give a clue to her feelings.
“You should never be in here alone. Where is Dr. Jacobson?” he asked.
“He said he would return shortly.”
He fixated on the tooth she held. “The famous tooth. It's all around the prison that a dog killed the prisoner. Now everyone is afraid to escape. What a good deterrent.”
“It's horrible.”
“No worse than dying inside the prison.”
His statements disturbed her. “This is a wretched place.”
“Yet, it is a good place for a doctor to learn his skills. To discover things about human nature. To watch people and understand what makes them do the things they do, don't you agree?”
She slipped the tooth into a pocket in her dress.
Dr. Jacobson walked in and hesitated just inside the tent flap. His face composed into a watchful mask. “Everything all right here?”
Relieved the other doctor had returned, she said, “I’m going to my cabin.”
She stripped off her blood-splattered apron and started for the tent exit.
Dr. Reynolds walked toward her. “I should walk you to your cabin.”
She held one hand up. “No. Please don’t.”
She left in a rush, then stopped, hearing the two men continue talking. She listened.
“What did you do?” Dr. Jacobson asked Dr. Reynolds.
Dr. Reynolds snorted. “Do? She has the tooth. From the dog.”
“So?”
“I’d like to have it?”
“Why?”
“As a matter of scientific curiosity.”
“Then you'll have to ask her about it. But not tonight,” Dr. Jacobson said.
Dr. Reynolds snorted. “You trying to stake a claim on her?”
“Even if I did, it wouldn't matter. It's clear her heart belongs to Benjamin MacKenzie.”
Lilly felt her body go tense at the mention of Benjamin’s name. She rushed back to her cabin and went inside.
A man’s scream pierced the night.
Lilly stood at the door to her cabin, listening. Howls of a beast, perhaps a wolf, rendered the night. Then a man’s terrified scream. Shivering, she raced to the stick chair across the room and propped it under the door latch. She backed away, still staring at the door. It’s just animals. Nothing to fear. She extracted the tooth from her dress pocket and looked at it. Fear battled with all the common sense she had, and she didn’t know what to believe.
What in God’s name was all that noise?
BENJAMIN
Benjamin and Elijah dragged their cart down an avenue within the prison called Market Street which was close to the North Gate. Benjamin’s bones ached. Hell, his whole body ached, but at least he was a damn sight better than most.
Thunderclouds darkened the horizon, and a wind blew the clouds closer to the prison. Benjamin hoped to hell they’d finish their duties for the day before the rain came. If it came.
What does it matter? Life continues on, shitty as it is, every day.
Some days he could ignore this relentless fate. Days like today, not so much. Not when so much misery lived around him. Prisoners milled about within the enclosure. Some laid shivering on the cold ground, while some walked down the narrow avenues between lean-tos. Others sat staring at nothing. Lice crawled on the ground. Rats scurried. Prisoners pissed openly in the avenues between tents.
An emaciated dead man lay on the ground near the stream that bisected the prison. Flies buzzed around his open eyes and mouth. Green scum covered the surface of the water. Bile rose in Benjamin’s throat, but he fought it back.
Benjamin stopped pulling, and Elijah did the same. Elijah looked shaky.
“You don’t look so well,” Benjamin said.
Elijah glared. “Look around us. Do you see anyone who looks well?”
“That isn't what I mean. You think Lilly would be proud of you if she knew what you were doing?”
“Taking out bodies? Hell, no.”
Benjamin wouldn’t be sidetracked. “Taking out bodies to get food and water is surviving.”
“So is helping out the doc.”
Disgusted, Benjamin said, “Helping the doc is going to get you killed.”
For a moment Elijah’s ire seemed to diminish. He looked off into space. “What I wouldn't give to be at a desk working legal papers.”
Benjamin couldn’t argue with fantasizing, at least for a moment. “What I wouldn't give to be in Michigan writing an article on this war.”
Elijah patted the right pocket of his torn pants. He retrieved a small, worn diary, then stuffed it back in his pocket. “Listen, Benjamin, you have got to promise me something.”
Benjamin waved his right hand. “I know, I know. If anything happens to you, give your diary to Lilly. I won't need to. You are going to make it out of here, just like me.”
Elijah glanced around at the human misery playing out around him. “How? How is anyone to survive this?”
“Well, I have to, don't I? Otherwise your diary will never get to Lilly. And I'm going home to her, no matter what.”
Elijah smiled. “You going to ask my sister to marry you when you leave here?’
“Yes. Hoping you'll be my best man, too.”
Elijah nodded. “Would be my honor. If we get out of here.”
“When. Not if.”
They trudged on and discovered another body. They threw it on the cart.
Thunder rumbled and the sky darkened.
Two men in a lean-to waved at Elijah and Benjamin and then scrambled out to greet them. Benjamin recognized the bone-thin man with blond hair as Archibald Shuler, and another older skinny man as Philbert Menzies.
Archibald tucked his hands into his pants pockets. “Hey there, did you hear?”
“Hear what?” Elijah asked.
Philbert leaned forward, as if ready to tell a secret. “About the bodies they found outside the prison?”
Benjamin rolled his gaze to the heavens for a minute. “There are always bodies somewhere. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a war on.”
Archibald snorted. “No, everyone's been talking about it. Escaped prisoners. Rebel prison guards, too. There's men gettin' their limbs torn off.”
Benjamin didn’t know how to respond.
“Maybe a bear or mountain lion,” Elijah said.
Archibald shook his head. “No, that ain’t it.”
Philbert smiled, as if he enjoyed a good, gory story. “Dontcha get it? It's more than that. It don't feel right. There's somethin' out there that feeds on the horrible things goin' on in here.”
Benjamin traded a skeptical look with Elijah.
“Feed?” Benjamin asked.
Archibald nodded. “Yeah. Like fear. They eat fear.”
Benjamin and Elijah laughed.
“Now you’re just talking nonsense,” Benjamin said.
Philbert threw him a hard, superior look. “My mammy...yeah I was born in the South even though I'm fightin' for the Union...my mammy told me about these things that live in the woods. Things that kill people, drag 'em off and no one sees them again.”
Elijah snorted. “You are crazier than a—”
A commotion started nearby.
When Benjamin saw why, his muscles tightened. Captain Robert Horn, Union Army, walked their way. The man was a brawny, balding 30-something with a swagger and attitude to match it. Ten other union soldier’s followed Horn. Benjamin’s muscles tightened, preparing for possible battle.
“Ah, hell,” Elijah said. “Look who is coming.”
Benjamin grabbed hold of the cart. “Just keep moving. We don't get these bodies outside soon, there will be hell to pay.”
Elijah took heed and they struggled to pull the cart which was already laden with six bodies.
Captain Horn and his gang blocked the road, and Benjamin and Elijah had to stop.
Horn wore an amazingly clean Union officer coat. Benjamin wondered how he’d kept it clean for so long. Probably wasn’t even his. The coat hung open. Horn hooked his fingers in his worn belt loops.
“So boys, I see you've got more bodies today,” Horn said. “There's one down by the stream. Best you get back there and get it before it stinks up the water.”
“Too late for that, Horn. You already stank it up,” Elijah said.
“Shut up, Elijah,” Benjamin said, his throat tight.
Horn and his soldiers laughed.
“Damn, boys. Seems like Benjamin here knows how to keep things in line. If I was you, Elijah, I'd listen to your friend. Keep your mouth shut and do as you're told,” Horn said.
Elijah tugged on the cart. “Get out of our way.”
Horn didn’t budge. “My boys tell me you're getting extra rations for taking out the dead. From now on, you'll be giving me half your rations.”
“Get out of our way,” Benjamin said. “We don't take the dead out, we don't get extra rations.”
Before Elijah and Benjamin could turn and head to the stream, Captain Horn's men surrounded the cart. Other prisoners watched from the sidelines.
Thunder rumbled overhead. Rain poured from the heavens.
Bang!
A man too close to the deadline fell dead. Several men rushed the deadline near the stockade walls.
Utter pandemonium broke out all around Elijah and Benjamin.
“Stay put,” Benjamin said. “I can’t tell if I’m hearing thunder or gunfire.”
“I believe both, Benjamin,” Elijah said breathlessly.
Bang! Bang! Gunshots rang out repeatedly. Prisoners scattered as guards in the towers took potshots at random men. Elijah and Benjamin struggled with their cart as men ran by, knocking into them.
“Let’s get the hell outta here!” Elijah said.
They pulled the wagon to a standstill beyond lean-tos that offered visual coverage. The guards in the towers stopped shooting.
Benjamin looked around at the new dead men littering the ground and defeat made his eyes water. Frustration and anger grew, a hard lump in his hungry stomach. More bodies to collect.
LILLY
Lilly dashed through the rain toward the medic tent just as a high-pitched male scream ripped the air. Shocked, she stopped. Another scream, filled with undeniable agony, filled her ears. She ran into the tent and halted at the horrifying sight.
Dr. Reynolds sawed away at a prisoner’s leg while Chillingsworth and two solders held the man down. The prisoner thrashed, clearly in excruciating pain. Even from here she could see the man’s leg was already riddled with gangrene. Her breath caught.
Dr. Reynolds tossed a disgusted look at Chillingsworth. “Hold him down, damn it!”
Chillingsworth backed away, hands held up. “He's already half dead. Let him die in peace!”
Lilly rushed to the table. Dr. Reynolds made a last cut. Blood splattered her cape. She stepped back. Chillingsworth grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away.
The prisoner’s head lolled to the left and his dead eyes stared at her.
Chillingsworth released Lilly. “Told you he was almost dead—”
“Shut up Corporal. Get out of here and take her with you.”
Shock held Lilly mum. Chillingsworth took her arm and led her out of the tent. He kept his grip gentle but herded her toward the cabin.
Halfway there, she yanked away. “Let me go!”
Chillingsworth backed off, his look more concerned than confrontational.
“I'm sorry, ma'am. Call it my southern ways, but I don't like to see a lady harmed. I was afraid the Dr. would hurt you.”
Fear and anger burned in her stomach. “I’m a nurse, Corporal Chillingsworth. I am used to blood. But what Dr. Reynolds was doing in there was barbaric.”
Chillingsworth stared at the ground. “I know. No need to take off the leg and cause the man more pain.”
Something shocking occurred to her. “Surely, you're not saying he's doing it on purpose just to cause men unnecessary pain?”
Chillingsworth leaned in close and whispered, “I wouldn't be the first to hint that. Just keep your eyes open, is all. Don't give him a reason to turn on you.”
Disturbed, she nodded and headed back to the tent with Chillingsworth on her heels.
Dr. Reynolds stepped out the tent before she could enter. “I don't need you here for the rest of the day, Miss Billings.”
Anger started to boil in Lilly. “What?”
The doctor’s face remained wiped of all emotion. “Go to your cabin. You are not needed here for the rest of the day. Your behavior is not befitting a nurse.”
Lilly took a defiant step forward. “What on earth are you talking about?”
The doctor gestured at Chillingsworth. “Take her.”
“But I—” Lilly started.
“Best come along, ma’am,” Chillingsworth said. “It’ll all get sorted.”
Chillingsworth took her arm and paraded her toward her cabin. Once there, he released her.
The soldier stared at her for a long moment. “Ma'am, don't make this a might worse than it has to be.” He lowered his voice and looked around. “The man sent to tell Isaac we need more supplies...I found him dead near the woods. I hate to be indelicate about it, but his throat was torn out and right leg missing.”
Shocked, she took a step back. “Oh, my heavens.”
“Wasn't anything heavenly about it. I don't know what's happening hereabouts, Miss Billings. But whatever it is, it ain't right. I can feel it.” He pulled an extra pistol out of his belt and handed it to her. He also handed her a small bag of ammunition. “You know how to fire one of these?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Take this with you wherever you go, you hear? If it ain't men killing people, I don't know. Just don't go anywhere without it, you hear?”
Shaken, she nodded and retreated inside the cabin.
Later that night candlelight flickered across Lilly’s desk as she wrote a letter. Her hand shook as she tried to convey her concerns to Clara Barton.
Dear Miss Barton. I cannot list everything I am seeing here without describing the most horrific and deplorable conditions in a most indelicate way. I am striving to help as many prisoners as I can. There are two doctors, Dr. Oscar Reynolds and Dr. Hal Jacobson. Dr. Jacobson is a good and kind man. Dr. Reynolds is not so kind nor so good. There are too many things to explain and this letter would go on for far too long. I have not been allowed inside the main prison itself, and have therefore not found my brother or my dear Benjamin yet. I do not know how long I shall be here, but I will write as often as possible. Most respectfully, Lillian Billings.
Once she finished the short letter, she sat back in her chair. The small cabin suffocated her. She stood and went to the door. All she needed was a little air, no matter how cold or putrid. She opened the door and breathed in the night air.
She closed her eyes and took in the sounds of the woods. Crickets. Rustling treetops. The awful cries of men from the prison here and there, causing her to awaken from her momentary reverie. She shivered under the sound and the chill of the cool air and quickly closed the door and fastened the latch. Once more she put a chair under the door latch. She headed for the window connected to the exterior stockade wall. She opened it and looked outside.
Something moved near the tree line.
She squinted and saw a man running into the woods away from the prison.
Curiosity and concern filled her, but what could she do? She tamped down her curiosity and closed the window. A screamed echoed in the distance near the woods. A woman? She stiffened as dread filled her stomach. She couldn’t leave a woman in distress out there alone. She was a nurse and was bound by duty to help those in need.
She fetched her pistol and loaded bullets. She stuffed the remaining bullets in one of the pockets in her dress and left her cabin. She moved swiftly to the first stockade gate where the guard stood.
“What are you doing out here?” the guard snapped.
“I must go outside. I thought I heard a woman screaming.”
“Ma'am, that isn't a good idea.”
“Please. You would not leave a woman in distress out there, would you?” Lilly asked.
The guard still hesitated. “I can’t let you leave, ma’am.”
She reached into her pocket and drew out money. She handed it to him.
He stared at the coin and finally nodded. He opened the gate.
As she stepped into the world unprotected by anything but her weapon, fear took up residence. A cold breeze teased her face, like the touch of spectral fingers. She tried to ignore the stab of anxiety and walked cautiously toward the trees. A chorus of crickets chirped in the night. Thankful for the full moon, she scanned the area.
The crickets stopped. So did she.
Dead quiet. It felt uncanny. Wrong.
A new trickle of fear danced along her skin. She moved behind a tree trunk, conscious it was probably too thin to hide her.
Ahead, in the woods, two tiny red glowing lights moved in unison.
Eyes.
Lilly watched in horror as more pairs of red eyes appeared in the darkness. Something growled, low and guttural, and way too close for comfort.
Seconds later footsteps came from behind her. She leaned into the tree as fear crawled up her throat and lodged there, threatening to shut off her breath.
A man came into view a few yards ahead of her. He didn’t see her, his attention fixed on something up ahead. He carried a rifle. When he turned his head slightly she recognized him.
Dr. Reynolds.
He moved toward the red pairs of eyes as the sound of growling and howling filled the air. Lilly stifled a cry with her hand as Dr. Reynolds fired his rifle into the trees. Fear broke her. She dashed full speed back toward the prison. She hoped against hope Dr. Reynolds wouldn’t shoot her by mistake. Just as she reached the first stockade gate, she smacked straight into Chillingsworth. He grabbed her arms to keep her from falling.
Chillingsworth’s eyes glittered with surprise and anger. “What on earth are you doing out here? You could be killed! I heard shots fired.”
She breathed hard, gasping for air. “I heard...I saw...a man going into the woods...thought he might be a prisoner escaping...then I heard a woman scream. I thought she might need my help.”
Chillingsworth looked from Lilly to the woods. “Was he a prisoner? Uniform?”
She lied. ‘I couldn't see his face...but he shot at something. A wolf maybe. I heard the growls.”
“Why didn't you tell someone in case it was an escaped prisoner?”
“Why do you think I'd tell anyone if a prisoner was escaping?”
Chillingsworth sighed. “I don't suppose you would. But you cannot go anywhere alone, do you understand? I don't care what you hear or see. This is not a safe place. Not inside the prison, not outside the prison.”
She looked over her shoulder as Dr. Reynolds emerged from the woods, slinked out into the shadows and rushed toward the prison's opposite end. Corporal Chillingsworth didn’t see him.