His Army Doctor

“You’re buying a little more than your usual, doc. Having company?” asked the old lady at the farmers market in town.  Delilah shook her head. “No, I’m actually leaving today. Taking a boat to Thanatos Island this afternoon to keep looking.”  The elder looked up with a surprised expression as her eyes widened. “Thanatos Island? You know what “thanatos” means, right? It means ‘death’ and there is no better name for it. People go there to die.”  Delilah shrugged uncaringly as she packed up the fruit she just bought. “More importantly it is where soldiers go to die,” she replied.  “Even if you find him there, he will be dead or close enough to it. You could get killed over there or… worse.” said the concerned old lady. “Thanks for the warning,” Delilah muttered as she grabbed her bag and walked off into the street.  Truthfully, this wasn’t the first time she had heard this warning, but it didn’t matter. She would go wherever she needed to in order to find Daniel. She was so close. She could feel it. Of course, she was growing a little weary of this nomad lifestyle she had become absorbed in to find her brother, but it was worth it. He was the only family she had left. In the last few months, most of her leads to her brother, Daniel, had gone cold, but she was still able to hear a few whispers of his battalion. Supposedly, their ship had been ambushed a few miles off the coast. Many of them died, but a handful were able to swim to shore. That had given her some hope. Her brother was a strong swimmer. She and Daniel had grown up swimming in the river near their childhood home. They grew up poor and didn’t have much else to do. They would swim through the rapids just for fun. If anybody could have swam to the shore, it would be Daniel.  She couldn’t locate the exact city that the soldiers would have found refuge, but most of the townspeople here in Aradia claimed that all injured soldiers on the East coast were sent to Thanatos. Ever since the start of the revolution, most doctors had relocated out of the country to protect their families. Therefore, medical care was scarce. There were only a few military doctors left scattered in random cities and rural towns. Supposedly, Thanatos Island was one of the only military bases that could still offer medical care to soldiers.  Lack of medical doctors had actually been a blessing for Delilah. She was a doctor, afterall. She was young so most people didn’t believe it, but she had the skills to prove it. Fortunately, her medical expertise had given her a way to make money as she traveled town to town looking for Daniel. There was always someone needing medical care and willing to pay for it. Not that she always required payment of course. She provided medical care to anyone who needed it whether they could pay or not. As a result, many of her poorer patients would let her stay in their home and feed her while she was passing through. Delilah was disrupted from her thoughts after a loud voice announced “All aboard the ferry to Thanatos island! Leaving in 5 minutes. Last one of the season!”  Delilah hopped up from the cold stone walkway she had been resting on. She looked around and noticed there was not much of a line to board. In fact, the only onboarding passengers were herself and few older men in tattered fishermen clothing who more than likely lived on Thanatos island and had come to shore for Winter supplies. Delilah stepped on board the wooden ferry when a rough hand that reeked of fish guts stopped her from going any further. “Mam, this is for Thanatos island. The whale tours are in the next bay.” Delilah rolled her eyes. Men were so arrogant. Did he really think she didn’t know where this ferry’s destination was?  “Yes, I’m well aware of where it is going,” Delilah retorted.  She tried to keep walking, but his large hand stopped her again as he looked down with a concerned expression.  “Uh, mam. Thanatos Island isn’t really a safe vacation spot for a young woman like yourself. Especially not alone.”  Delilah was beginning to really fume. She knew all this. The blacksmith family she had been staying with in Acadia already warned her of the dangers of Thanatos and begged her not to go. Thanatos Island didn’t have a lot of female visitors other than the women that lived there with their husbands, which was still not many. Most families that lived on Thanatos left the minute it became an active military base. They wanted to get as far away from the violence of war as possible. Unfortunately, this left the island half deserted with battered old fisherman and soldiers. It was also rumored that Thanatos made an excellent port for drug haulers that would make exchanges there rather than on shore. This made it a breeding ground for crime. Even with a military base on the island, the crime was often overlooked during active war. So, there were rumors that women and young girls would be captured from the coast and brought to Thanatos to be sold for “entertainment” for the lonely fisherman, drug mules, and recovering soldiers. Other women who had lost their husbands in the revolution, had gone out to Thanatos to sell themselves in order to send money back to their children. It was a dark world to live in.  “I’m meeting my brother there. He has recently recovered from illness at the army camp. He will be accompanying me.” Delilah glanced up at the old captain to see if her lie had worked. He looked down on her questioningly but stepped to the side to let her on board. Delilah breathed a sigh of relief as she hurried to the front of the ferry to try and avoid any other questions. As the ferry began to move away from the coastline, Delilah’s heart began to race. This was it. She could feel it. She was so close to finding Daniel. Thanatos Island was her last hope.