Outback Exodus Read Online Free Page B

and stare at what was once a thriving township in the dust filled outback of Australia.
    The children start to stir and we prepare breakfast for them, feed the five dogs and get ready to start the day. Sandra will care for the children today while Rhys, Paul and Raymond join the pitifully small group of searchers who are going house to house looking for survivors while Krystal and I will go to the hospital to assist with those who have survived and are injured. Krystal’s older son Thomas asks permission to go with the men to help look for others and after some discussion Krystal and Raymond decide that he can go as long as he is with one of the men in our group. The children have been exposed to so much death that there is no longer any point in sheltering them from it. Sandy will stay and help Sandra with the younger children though, at 12 years old he will be a good assistant for Sandra and a playmate for the younger ones. With these plans made we all hug one another and move off to face our day.
    Walking into the hospital Krystal and I are greeted by the exhausted staff who have worked through the night and after a handover of the patients who will be in our care for the next few hours we start work, dressing wounds, many of which have now become infected, checking drips and bathing those who are unable to wash themselves. Clean linen is now becoming scarce as are medications to treat the infections and relieve the pain and we can only give painkillers to those whose need is highest. We fear that there will be no resupply at all for some considerable time, if ever. The uncertainty means that we must preserve our stocks for the people who have the greatest need or for those who it will help the most. Need is now taking over want in this disaster, the lack of communication with the rest of the world is making decisions for us we would never make under normal circumstances.
    I have at least three patients who will not make it through the day and all we can do is make them as comfortable as possible, wash them down with cool water and hope that their suffering is not too much. Infection is rampant throughout their bodies and there are few drugs left to fight major infections as much of the drug stocks have been depleted due to the high infection rates. Sadly I minister to these patients knowing that we cannot help them. It is up to their bodies to fight this last battle, but it is a battle they will probably lose and all I can do is to sooth them when they cry out and try to make sure that during their last moments they have the sound of a caring human voice and the touch of gentle hands. Some patients, however, will survive their injuries and those are the ones we must work hardest to make sure that they do. They are young, strong and have plenty of fight in them. The trauma of what has happened has not destroyed their will to live, nor have their injuries or the depravation of what now amounts to a third world hospital situation. They will heal and will go forward to make new lives in this world. This gives much pleasure to all of us who are caring for them, in this area of the hospital there is laughter, smiles and through the pain there is the joy of survival, the joy only known to the young. Those of us who have faced the situation outside know that there is much work to be done and many lives lost. We have to rebuild now and scatter from the townships because of the unburied dead who are now so numerous that the survivors are unable to give them the attention that they deserve. Disease is now a big worry and we are on constant watch for it amongst those that have survived, in particular the injured, the very young and the very old, all of whom are vulnerable to infections. 
    Lunchtime brings food and conversation as those who are able cook for those who cannot. We feed those who cannot feed themselves and then eat ourselves. So many things are running out in the township now that food is becoming an issue and some of