Page 48 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

Scurrying out of the way, I find an isolated spot and wolf down some more of the food until my stomach is finally full.

My hunger assuaged, I am now brimming with new optimism.

The food was good. This is what will await me if I get the job. Nice, tender meat, fresh bread, and delicious cheese. What more can I ask for?

Well, to be hired.

I mutter a curse under my breath. I might no longer be starving, but I still haven’t solved the little issue ofnotknowing a thing about nursing. If only that girl had let me read some of her book…

I have a good memory. If I read something a couple of times, I can memorize it.

But how do I get my hands on a book to read?

As if the fates decided to give me a little grace, I spot the girl carrying the thick book. She crosses the field to go to one of the barracks.

I quickly follow.

She’s going to the restroom. Surely she won’t go inside with the book, right?

I enter the barrack and note there are two stalls, both in use. The book is lying flat on a counter.

It seems that today is all about perfecting my thieving abilities because I snatch it without a second thought and run out of the barracks, returning to that isolated nook where I plop myself on the ground to read.

I vaguely hear numbers being called, but it’s still in the single digits. That means I have some time to get acquainted with the book.

To my surprise, there are pictures as well depicting the art of nursing, and as I read, I slowly gain a new respect for the profession.

Nurses doeverything. They dress wounds, clean the patients, take their temperature, and observe their bodily functions as well as sometimes administer medication and anesthetics.

I bite my nails as it dawns on me that this is far from the easy job I imagined it to be. In fact, it might be the most grueling of them all. Whereas doctors only diagnose, prescribe treatment, and sometimes do surgeries, nurses do everything else.

It’s only one hundred and three days, Minerva. You can do it.

Think about food.

Yes, this is my only opportunity. I’ve already come this far. I might as well push through.

I memorize all the important elements, my confidence growing by the moment.

I’m on my third read-through when I hear voices.

Male voices.

They move closer until they’re just a few steps away from me. The only thing hiding me from sight is a big container next to the building.

I make myself smaller and clutch the book to my chest.

“You’re disciplining them for running away from rats? Come on, Vitry.”

“They’re barely eighteen and fresh off the boat. Cut them some slack,” another adds.

“Eighteen-year-olds are going to their deaths in this war every day,” a male adds.

I frown. It’s the same familiar voice from earlier. But where have I heard it before?

“Yes, but?—”

“They have it much better than others. They’re here, doing their duties away from the front lines. But that might not always be so. If tomorrow they get sent on the Continent, what are they going to do? The first sound of a bomb and they run away screaming? That won’t cut it. They’ll be shot down the moment they open their mouths.”

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