General's Hospital

CHAPTER 1 - WHERE IT ALL STARTED

He stood there, looking at the tall building in front of him. It was just as he remembered it. Eight stories high and made of brick with tinted windows for each office. The building had once housed a conglomerate of insurance and banking offices, but they had moved on to individual sites now, so only the basic building remained.

The two-lane highway that ran down the front of the building was starting to show signs of wear also. Lines were faded on the pavement and the cars were sparse now. This had once been a bustling town, fueled by people moving back and forth on the border between the United States of America and Mexico.

A pandemic had hit the world and most of the travel from country to country was now banned. Fears of more pandemics with unknown consequences spread at twice the rate of the actual viruses that caused this melee in the first place. Thus, the world had seemingly closed its borders with other countries thinking that the spread of any new variants could be prevented.

It had been 8 years since the beginning of the pandemic, and it seemed no closer to the end than it was in the beginning. The people of Morrowville were trying to give the town a makeover that would bring the economy back to a more flourishing status. There were grants from the government that were being used to spruce up the buildings downtown as well as improve some of the infrastructure.

General O’Calla, or Cal as he liked to be called by his friends, stood there trying to figure out what his next move should be. He wanted to return the favor for what this town had done for him some years ago, and a new hospital would be just the way to do that.

Morrowville only had a clinic with doctors and the basic of testing equipment when he had come here about 8 years earlier.

Cal was on a mission to track what was happening at the border. Generally, he never went near the front lines, but the chaos that was ensuing presented several challenges that he thought needed to be handled in person.

People from all over South America were traveling on foot, many of them with children, to try to gain entry into the United States. Economies were collapsing at a very fast pace and families were traveling hundreds of miles for the chance to be able to survive by any means that would be better than what they were facing now.

But with the people who were trying to migrate northward came the problems that the General and his men had been charged in dealing with. Drugs were also rampant in South America and there were many people called mules who brought the illegal substances on their person to try and get them through customs. Sometimes the drugs were ingested and then excreted once they had reached their destination, other times they were hidden in private parts. A few people had even had their bellies cut open and the larger packages inserted and sewed back up until a doctor removed them at their new residence. The practices were dangerous and very unsanitary in the least.

The cartels were also hoping to move their members across the border to establish more safe havens for their mules as well as widen their distribution networks. By sending them northward with their families, or at least with papers that made it seem like they were family, they were hoping the opening of the border would one day make their journey easier.

It was General O’Calla’ s mission to make sure that did not happen. He was to use his troops with their drug detection devices and dogs to keep these people out of the US and stop the flow of drugs and cartel entry.

But the thousands of people that were showing up at the border daily made that an almost impossible task. There were simply too many people to monitor now, especially at night when the efforts of the cartels became more active to move the mules across the border under the cover of darkness.

It was the summer of 2020 that he had suffered the biggest blow to his mission. There had been a large caravan that had been monitored by those disguised in the aid stations along the way. Several known cartel members were a part of this caravan and so they were watched a little more closely than normal.

It was at the border encampment that his men realized that a load of trouble was setting up. There were larger duffle bags that could carry more than would be allowed through customs spotted being shuffled between tents.

One night as darkness fell and the clouds moved in overhead, several tents were emptied, and the duffle bags were carried across the desert floor and down to the riverbanks to prepare to cross. The previous administration had started to build a wall that would make it harder for any illegal crossings to occur, but the area here where this encampment set up near had no such protection.

The colonel moved his men to align them in preparing to capture the illegals once they crossed, as they had no authority in Mexico and did not want to openly show their presence there. Just after midnight, the movement was started, and the crossing was underway. The duffle bags were kept high and out of the water by a man on each end carrying them. Unbeknownst to the colonel and his men, there were snipers positioned behind the shrubs and bushes to make sure that the duffel bags made it across the river and safely on to their destinations. The cartel had arranged for several ambulances to be stationed near the crossing on the US side where the bags could be loaded and carried without suspicion to the safe houses the cartel had established.

Colonel Abney had noticed the ambulances sitting there but thought nothing of it. He was actually glad that they were nearby in case a firefight broke out and his men sustained injuries. Besides, the paramedics seemed to be eating their meals and talking, so no threat was perceived.

General O’Calla had wanted to surprise the men and watch them in action, so he had set himself up near the ridge where he could observe what was happening without going near the actual chaos that would surely ensue.

What no one suspected was that a couple of men with rocket launchers had already located the position and, as the men with the bags made their way across the water, they stood up and fired the rockets. Because they had to get them off so quickly, a perfect aim was not possible. That worked in the general’s favor as the rockets landed about 10 meters away from him. There was a large rock just in front of where one rocket landed and most of the shrapnel was absorbed in the crevices of the rock. Several pieces made their way past it and landed on General O’Calla and almost shredded his right leg.

Two other rockets were fired at the men who were poised to capture the duffle bag carriers. Three casualties and four more injuries were sustained.

Colonel Abney’s men returned fire and hit several of the men who were firing from the riverbanks, but they also hit some civilians who were trying to cross the river as they tried to stop the men that were carrying the duffel bags. Most of the wounded were taken back to the Mexican side of the border, but because of the onslaught of the sniper fire, the men carrying the duffel bags made it all the way to the banks and up to the awaiting ambulances.

Only 2 men made it out of there without incident. Needless to say, nothing was stopped, and the ambulances left the scene without a single shot being fired in their direction.

Colonel Abney was one casualty along with two sergeants who were highly decorated. No one had expected to ever come near this sort of catastrophe and General O’Calla knew that heads were going to roll in the aftermath.

In the end, he was asked to retire and there were several more demotions among the ranks involved in the planning of the mission.

Sergeant Springer was one of the lucky ones who escaped with no injuries and had taken General O’Calla back to the medical clinic to have his wounds seen about. Although their resources were limited, they had patched him up successfully and he was transported to the nearest hospital so that he could receive the detailed care that he would need.

Here he was eight years later and ready to thank the town for saving his and the others lives. He had made some substantial investments during his service to his country, and he had the seed money to make sure that the town received better medical care than the small practice to offer.

He also used his pull in Washington to get some federal funds to boost the building of the hospital facility to the point that half of it was paid for before the remodeling was ever started.

The town secured a ten-million-dollar bond by a referendum that was voted upon during the general election and so the project could begin. Cal was excited for the future of the town, and he hoped that by bringing the medical offerings up to current needs it would afford the town a possibility of bringing back its livelihood also.