Welcome to Milton

11

It was a quiet morning in the clinic. The streets, on the other hand, were busy. With all of the mills being searched, the workers didn't return home. After the each mill was deemed safe, the workers were allowed in. It worried Alexandria, truthfully. Who knows what one of the workers could do while there or carrying something in.

Yet, it the quietness of her day did gave her time to work in the lab and Annabelle made up the kits for different treatments. One thing Alex could honestly say, she missed music while she did busy work. Pausing what she was doing, Alex washed up in order to make a cup of tea.

"Annabelle?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"I'm taking a break, would you like some tea?"

"No, but thank you for the offer."

The two women chatted amicably for a little while when something loud shook the small clinic. Running outside, the plume of smoke was easily seen.

"Oh god." Running back in, Alex grabbed the large traveling bag that she used to make house calls. Propriety be damned, she ran towards the smoke. It seemed to take forever to get to where the smoke was coming from. Hugh Gentry was a new mill master. He had purchased the mill just a couple of years ago from a distant cousin. While new to Milton, Gentry wasn't new to the cotton mill. His father owned two in Manchester, he had grown up working alongside his father. The smoke was coming from the Gentry mill.

Having to push through the crowd, Alex grew angry. She was losing precious time. The building was in flames. Six men had gone into the building earlier, two came staggering out. There was no way anyone could have survived if they were still in there.

"DOCTOR ALEX!"

Turning, she ran to the area the voice came from. The man was unrecognizable. There was no chance of survival. Even in her own time there wouldn't have been, he was just too far gone. Another man lay prone several yards away. She ran there next.

The fact there was blood surprised her. Feeling around his neck and throat, Alex made sure the best she could that there wasn't an obvious break in his neck. Turning him over, she felt ill. It was John Thornton.

She felt for a pulse and found none. Alexandria, with shaking hands, began to give him CPR.

Muttering to herself, tears formed in her eyes. "Not now John Thornton. You are not leaving me now. I can out stubborn you!"

Something hit her in the chest, knocking the wind out of her. It was one of the other mill masters.

"You won't desecrate him like such!"

Teeth bared, she looked like a wild animal. "I'm trying to save his life you fool!!" The man backed off immediately. Which was probably a good thing. She might have killed him. Her own chest aching, Alex went back to work. Finally, she found a pulse.

Calling out to some of the men to grab a door, she needed to get him back to the clinic. Two of the larger men in the crowd helped her.

"He gunna live Doc?"

"He bloody well better."

In the clinic, they lifted John onto a bed in one of the private rooms she used as a trauma room. She cut the clothing off of him quickly. A few first degree burns and contusions were the majority of the injuries on his torso. The cause of the blood loss was much more minor than she thought, it was a simple cut to the head. While it bled quite a bit, it didn't even require stitching. Positive that a couple of ribs were broken, she ignored all of that for the time being.