Chapter 111 - Escape From Moruguri
Chapter 111 – Escape From Moruguri
Del bought an oxygen tank alongside an oxygen mask for Alina. They put the oxygen tank in the back of the MRAP which half of the seats had been removed. Even from the start, Del had suspected that Alina was having trouble breathing. Anna was currently driving the car, Del just told her to drive slowly and hit the gas pedal gently. Del didn't trust her driving, but he didn't trust her medical attention either. The NBC system in that car had pumped all of the mustard gas out, but Del and Anna didn't take off their MOPP suit yet.
They needed to wash off the MOPP suit with decontamination solution first before they could take it off. However, to decontaminate themselves, they needed to get out of the yellow cloud for now. For now, the first priority was to take care of Alina first. There was one problem though, the gloves.
The gloves must have been heavily contaminated with mustard gas. The solution was to wash the gloves off using a decontamination solution to take the mustard gas off his gloves. Del washed his gloves alongside the cuffs of his suit before taking care of Alina. Alina was still weak while sitting down on the back of the MRAP.
After washing his hand from the mustard gas, Del laid Alina on the floor of the MRAP to make sure that none of the mustard gas fell from her own hair, into her eyes, it would be troubling. Del took off the gas mask slowly and replaced it with the oxygen mask. He then opened the valve of the oxygen tank slowly.
"Ok, she should be safe for now. Did they use something other than mustard though?"
Del suspected that the imperial military was not only using mustard gas. The effect of the mustard gas wasn't that instantaneously, but other gas such as Chlorine gas had a much more instantaneous effect. Well, for now, the airway would be the top priority. The others could wait.
If Alina didn't breathe, they might need a more aggressive method to treat the oxygen deficiency. The gas tank inside of the car should last for around ten hours, but Del doubted that Alina needed more than one hour of oxygen. She was just weak with the uncontrollable breath, it wouldn't take too long until she became fully aware again.
Del sat down on the seat on the back of the MRAP as he waited for Anna to drive out of the contaminated area. He kept his eyes and his ears to Alina's condition. One wrong move and he would risk losing her.
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They got out of the contaminated area. Anna parked the car in a safe place near a river around forty kilometers east of Moruguri. First and foremost, Del and Anna laid Alina down on a tarp to wash her from the mustard gas.
Del took off all of her clothing, underwear included while making sure that Alina's oxygen mask was still on. Alina was weakly resisting by struggling herself at first, but Del used force to take off all of her clothing. The girl might not know what she had gotten herself into.
Del removed the clothing under the assumption that every single cloth was contaminated by the mustard gas and every single part of her skin must have been contaminated. It must be washed with saline water combined with 0,1% NaClO to neutralize the mustard gas.
"Sorry for the unfortunate measurement, but you have been poisoned by a mustard gas," Del said as he wiped Alina's skin with a wet sponge and saline irrigation. "Long story short, the imperial has used gas on Moruguri and poisoned everyone."
Alina just nodded weakly. She was pretty much defenseless. But well, in a medical situation, anything that needed to be done must be done. Del washed all of the parts of the body before complications started in her body. Mustard gas took two hours at the very least before the complication started.
Chlorine gas, on the other hand, worked pretty much instantaneously.
That might be the main reason why Alina's breathing was pretty much compromised by the Chlorine gas. Anna was standing guard while looking at the surrounding grassland.
"I don't know what happened in Moruguri. However, I would be happy to know." Del opened another bottle of saline water mixed with 0,1% NaClO. He then continued pouring it down the skin since there was no visible wound in Alina's skin. Sure, pouring down bleach into the skin was not always a good idea, but this was a special circumstance.
Del continued cleaning Alina's body then he wrapped Alina in a heat retention blanket. In the meantime, it would be a good opportunity to decontaminate the MOPP suit. They could use the lake water to clean the clothing. They also could use a decontamination solution to clean the suit.
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One hour later, Del and Anna finished cleaning up the MOPP suit and they put it into a sterilized container to be used later. Alina had been put inside of the MRAP and she had stabilized for now. At least, she didn't need as much oxygen as before for now. However, her ability to conversate was still questionable. She only can say a few short words which meant that it was up to Del and his judgment to decide what Alina was talking about.
Alina and Del had a basic knowledge of medicine. For now, the temporary treatment was antibiotic, painkiller, and anti-inflammatory drug. It should be enough to deter any unwanted side effects for now. However, right now, Del wanted to extract as much information as he could from Alina.
"So, Alina, what happened? Are you feeling a little bit better now?" Del asked.
"Yes." Alina nodded.
"If that's the case, can you tell me what happened in Moruguri? You can use the note if you want to," Del offered his notebook.
"Yeah, I think I can." Alina grabbed the note book and she started writing what had happened at Moruguri.
The town was bombarded with artillery shells at Dawn. Alina was still helping the patient when the bombardment happened. The first bombardment made the air stink. However, there was no blister or anything. The sickly started having problems breathing, and the doctors thought that it was a sudden shock.
It didn't take them too long to realize that the gas was poisonous. Some of them immediately suffocated. She realized that she needed to hold her breath and find a place to take shelter. The tents in Moruguri weren't airtight so the gas could easily enter from the flaps and the gaps.
She told that she wanted to run away but the gas spread across the entire town very rapidly and the shells were scattered into multiple different locations. At first, Alina ran towards the command center, but the people from the command center were also running outside.
In that desperate moment, Alina found a cellar and she immediately jumped down to the cellar and closed the hatch. She thought that it was safe at first before she realized that the gas could seep through too, albeit at a much slower rate.
At first, it was still bearable. The symptom was rather mild at first. It only consisted of mild coughing and a smell that stank like a needle into the top of your nose. However, she described that it got worse over time.
At first, it took a lot of effort to breathe, but it immediately transform into an absolute hell just to breathe. She was desperate for help. She banged the door for someone to help her, but nobody answered. She cried and she shouted, but nobody answered. Eventually, she succumbed to her fate before she heard an engine sound.
In conclusion, the desperate attempt saved her from sudden death. However, it didn't explain too much about what was going on inside of Moruguri. Was the general got caught by surprise, or was it just because the federal troops weren't equipped with a gas mask?
It kept raising questions on Del's mind.
"Del, relax, let Alina take a deep breath, ok? For now, let's just assume that the rest of MSVI are dead or missing, that way, we can say that we are not responsible for all of these things. We are doing our job, but the gas attack suddenly killed them all, what do you say?" Anna asked.
"I agree with that plan. Sorry, Alina, but I can't waste any time finding your friend, it's just too risky for me to go back into that town to find your friends. We did search for them, but the yellow cloud is simply too thick," Del said.
Alina nodded. She understood the circumstances, "I see, well, if that's the case. I really can't do anything about that. You two have done your best. It's just disheartening, you know? I meant, my seniors and my teacher are laying on the ground as far as I'm concerned." She then sighed.. "What should I tell Mrs. Gable about her husband?"