War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1550 Those who stayed

In an unused office on the basement floor of Aka Hospital, Wei Ran sat in a fairly comfortable chair, holding Edelweiss, who was lying in his arms and habitually biting his collar as she fell asleep. He watched the second hand of the prisoner-of-war watch on his watch moving constantly, quietly waiting for the signal to escape.

"boom!"

Along with the faint sound of gunfire, Wei Ran's body trembled subconsciously, and his entire attention was focused on the dial of the prisoner of war watch on his wrist.

"What's wrong?" Edelweiss, who had been sleeping uneasily, woke up in panic.

"It's okay." Wei Ran paused, "Wake up, I'm afraid we'll have to leave soon."

Hearing this, Edelweiss's petite and slender body trembled, and she got off Wei Ran's legs in a panic.

"Hurry! Wake up!"

At this moment, Nurse Sophia shouted from outside the door, "The gas lamp hanging on the roof was blown up by a gun! Everyone, wake up quickly."

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Edelweiss was the first to run out of the room. At the same time, nurse Sofia switched to Arabic and loudly urged the refugees and children hiding here to get up quickly.

“Put this on.”

Cradle grabbed Edelweiss's arm, and before she could react, he had already put a bulletproof vest on her thin body.

Glancing at the strawberry marks on the neck of the cradle and the neck of the sewing machine not far away, Edelweiss's face, which was originally still terrified, showed a brilliant smile. She turned around and hugged Wei Ran like a swallow throwing herself into his arms, and sucked a strawberry mark on his neck a little clumsily. Then she changed to German that only Wei Ran could understand, "I'll wait for you at the Gaza Hospital."

"well"

Wei Ran had just agreed when Edelweiss had already taken off her heavy bulletproof vest and wanted to put it on Dalal.

“I don’t want to wear this”

Dalal quickly refused, "It's too heavy. I can't run in it."

"You wear it."

Cradle smiled and said, "I've asked about it, and it's really too heavy for the children to wear."

"What about you?" Edelweiss asked subconsciously.

"I also think it's too heavy," said Cradle, pointing to the helmet that had just been sewn on his head by the sewing machine, "This is enough for me."

"Don't waste time," the sewing machine urged, "Everyone hurry up!"

"Take this"

Finally, Wei Ran took out the portable wine flask that he had given to Edelweiss before. His last visit to the landlord's house, in addition to seeing if the hot air balloon was there, another purpose was to refill the wine flask that he "stole" from Edelweiss and his own water bottle with red wine.

After seeing Wei Ran's kettle, Edelweiss subconsciously touched the back pocket of her jeans, only then did she realize that this birthday gift had disappeared at some point.

"when will you."

“Drink a sip when you’re scared,” Wei Ran said with a smile.

Taking the wine flask, Edelweiss unscrewed the lid and took a big gulp, then wiped her mouth roughly, screwed the lid of the wine flask tightly, and stuffed it into the inner pocket of her shirt through the gap of her bulletproof vest.

"lets go"

Wei Ran said this, picked up the MP5 submachine gun, and pulled Edelweiss out of the basement.

As the sky gradually brightened, the sound of gunfire had become much less frequent. Wei Ran subconsciously glanced at the second floor of the building across the street, joined the refugees and children who had escaped earlier, and quickly ran towards the direction of the Gaza Hospital.

As he walked along, he also noticed that the children led by Rama and the medical workers around them were surrounded by the refugees around them, as well as the lightly injured people who were supported by the refugees, and were gathered in the middle of the crowd.

In this silent understanding, more and more refugees fled towards the Gaza Hospital. At the edge of the wall closest to the Gaza Hospital, two figures wrapped in headscarves each carried an RPG and hid in the shadow of the building, aiming at the wall that separated life and death, ready to open fire at any time.

"Don't stop, we're very close to the wall." Edelweiss encouraged Rama who was running out of breath.

"Boom! Boom!"

  Perhaps they noticed the fleeing crowd, the two figures guarding the wall in advance decisively pulled the trigger and each fired a precious RPG rocket!

Amid the violent explosion, the wall, which was not very strong to begin with, was successfully blown open to create a gap that was not too big but not too small.

Before the smoke dissipated, another group of people rushed out, waving any tools they could find at hand, trying to expand the exploded gap as quickly as possible.

"Da da da!"

  However, just when they were about to escape from the refugee camp, on the road that Wei Ran and others had to pass, a string of fire snakes suddenly emerged from the second floor of a window on the side of the road!

"careful!"

While Wei Ran was reminding loudly, he quickly raised his gun and fired back. At the same time, Edelweiss subconsciously protected Dalal, who was closest to him, in her arms.

Others who made the same subconscious move included using their body to protect Hanward's sewing machine, and crouching down to hold the landlord's two children in their arms.

However, compared to Wei Ran who opened fire and suppressed the enemy back into the window, and compared to Edelweiss and Sewing Machine, Rama let out a scream.

"Rama!"

Edelweiss uttered a cry of surprise, and she and Dalal, who was originally protected by her, stumbled to protect Rama.

"How is she doing?!"

Wei Ran asked loudly, he was still holding his gun to suppress the enemy in the window, but he didn't dare to be distracted to take a look.

"I was shot in the thigh! The abdominal cavity may be injured!" Edelweiss shouted in panic.

"Sewing machine!"

While Wei Ran was shouting, he had already quickly run to the bottom of the house, took out a grenade and stepped on it, pulled out the safety pin with one hand, picked it up and waited for a second before throwing it hard into the room on the second floor.

Almost at the same time when the grenade fell from his hand, he quickly grasped the submachine gun he was holding with one hand and continued to fire to suppress the enemy!

"boom!"

Almost at the same time as the explosion, Wei Ran didn't care about anything else and shouted in Arabic, "Run! Run quickly! Take the wounded around and leave!"

After his shout, the refugees who had been lying on the ground subconsciously reacted and supported each other and ran towards the gap that they had worked so hard to open.

At the same time, Sewing Machine, who had hurriedly used a ball of gauze to help Rama apply pressure to stop the bleeding, handed the seriously injured girl to Edelweiss, urging her and the children to run while shouting, "She injured her artery! I used the method I learned from the veterinarian to temporarily close the artery with a hemostatic forceps! Next, you have to take her to Gaza Hospital for surgery as quickly as possible!"

"Okay, okay!" Edelweiss, with blood all over her hands, responded panicked and helplessly, hugged the little girl in her arms and started running.

"No need to ask the Yisheli army for help!"

Wei Ran emptied a submachine gun magazine and shouted in French, "They won't help, go to the hospital! Go to the hospital as quickly as possible!"

Edelweiss quickly glanced at Wei Ran who was changing the magazine swiftly, gritted her teeth and took a step forward, following the flow of refugees through the still expanding gap, facing the searchlights on the armored vehicles of the US army outside, while running, she loudly stated her identity as Doctors Without Borders in French and English alternately.

However, Edelweiss, who was running faster and faster while holding Rama, did not notice that in the rising dawn, the two girls, Hanward and Dalal, quietly left the team, hid at the intersections on both sides and took the initiative to take on the task of keeping watch - as if they had discussed it in advance.

In her panic, she did not notice that only Wei Ran, who was holding a gun and on guard, stayed. Sewing Machine and the cradle that had promised to take the refugees to Gaza Hospital also stopped a few dozen meters away from the cave entrance. Together with nurse Sophia, who seemed to be unwilling to leave, they directed the refugees to leave through the increasingly large cave entrance.

In just less than five minutes, all the refugees who ran here squeezed out of the gap that had expanded to two meters wide. At the same time, more refugees came running from afar.

"The Falange are coming! The Falange are coming!"

At this moment, Wei Ran also heard Hanwad shouting heart-wrenchingly in Arabic.

  Why didn't he go out!

Wei Ran didn't have time to think about this. When he looked in the direction the other party was shouting, he saw an armored vehicle driving in from outside and heading straight towards the gap!

He could even clearly see the cedar emblem on the front of the armored vehicle! And the rogue star emblems on the surrounding Israeli military armored vehicles!

"Boom boom boom!"

  Just as he was stunned, the twin 14.5mm machine guns installed on the armored vehicle began to roar, and the refugees who escaped last fell to the ground like wheat being cut, and were cut in half or even turned into a ball of blood!

"Run! Run!" Wei Ran shouted in Arabic at the top of his lungs, and at the same time, he let go of the submachine gun in his hand, took out the Nikon SP camera from the metal notebook as quickly as possible, hurriedly pressed the shutter button towards the gap that was more than two meters wide, then put away the camera and ran for his life in the direction he came from!

"Run! Run!"

While Wei Ran was shouting, he grabbed Dalal who was running from the side, and amid the little girl's screams, he threw her sideways into an alley on the side of the road!

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

Almost at the same time, the Soviet heavy machine gun on the armored vehicle also fired a deadly barrage of bullets, easily penetrating the wall and blasting away a large amount of broken bricks and stones!

At the entrance of the alley, Wei Ran, who had Dalal almost completely pinned under him, didn't care about anyone else at all. He dragged the girl, who was screaming in fear, and crawled deeper into the alley.

He didn't know that on the second floor of a three-story residential building less than 300 meters away from here, the hot air balloonist who had been chewing khat in his mouth had finally waited anxiously for the armored vehicle to drive close to him and into his shooting range.

"boom!"

Amid the clear sound of gunfire, his first shot accurately penetrated the escape gap, passed through the gap between the hand-welded machine gun shields, and hit the machine gunner's chest hard.

"I like Soviet weapons, I like semi-automatic sniper weapons."

While the hot air balloon was muttering neurotically, he quickly pointed the muzzle of the gun at the arrogant armored vehicle driver who had his upper body exposed, and decisively pulled the trigger for the second time.

"boom!"

Amid the particularly crisp sound of gunfire because the heavy machine gun stopped firing, the driver of the armored vehicle, after being shot in the nose, suddenly tilted his head back and hit the armored cover on the edge of the hatch hard, breaking his spine and making a dull knocking sound that made one's teeth ache.

He quickly moved the muzzle of the gun to aim at the weak armor plate on the side of the armored vehicle, and Hot Air Balloon pulled the trigger repeatedly until the remaining bullets in the magazine were emptied. Then he took out a new magazine, moved the muzzle of the gun, and hurriedly glanced at the body lying beside the hole.

Just by looking at the clothes and the RPG launcher next to the body, he could recognize that it was Lina, his middle school classmate and the wife of his wife's brother. He had introduced her to his wife's brother in order to win over his wife.

  What a happy family they were.

Hot Air Balloon swallowed the khat that had been chewed up long ago, quickly replaced the magazine, aimed at the hatch at the rear of the American armored vehicle that he had "knocked" open with bullets, and pulled the trigger again and again at the Falange militants who were trying to show up inside.

"How are you doing!" Wei Ran shouted loudly as the heavy machine gun stopped firing.

"Alive! We are still alive!"

Across the street, the sewing machine hiding in another alley shouted back, "The cradle and I are both alive! Hanward and Sophia are also alive!"

"Run! Run back!"

While Wei Ran was shouting, he had already pulled Dalal up and ran towards Aka Hospital under the cover of the hot air balloon.

The sewing machine was not stupid either. He had also realized that the hot air balloon hiding in the commanding heights might not be able to protect them for long.

Without caring about anything else, the four of them, three adults and one child, started running.

"We must leave this street! Find another way quickly!" Wei Ran shouted loudly in Arabic.

"Come with me! I know where to go!"

Hanward responded by shouting, quickening his pace and running to the front, and entering an alley at the same time as Dalal.

"Hurry up and follow me!" Wei Ran called out in French.

"When did you learn Arabic!" the sewing machine shouted.

"Now is not the time to be curious about these things!"

As Wei Ran shouted this, a bullet passed through the window of the house where the hot air balloon was hiding, and narrowly hit a TV less than ten centimeters away from his shoulder.

"boom!"

The hot air balloonist once again pulled the trigger at the armored vehicle belonging to the Falange Party outside the refugee camp wall, then he calmly pulled the pistol and crawled away.

"Boom boom boom boom!"

A moment later, the 14.5mm machine gun installed on the armored vehicle began to roar again, and this briefly opened escape route once again connected to the gate of hell.

Fortunately, Wei Ran and others had already come to another street under the leadership of Hanward. However, the sky was gradually getting brighter. If they wanted to escape back to Aka Hospital, they had to be more cautious and faster.

“Put this on!”

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already torn off a tattered gray robe from the window of a house on the roadside and threw it into the sewing machine. He also tore off an Arab robe and put it on himself.

"Where are you from"

"Let's not talk about this for now."

Wei Ran did not give the sewing machine a chance to satisfy its curiosity. He switched to Arabic and asked Hanward, who was also stealing clothes, "Why didn't you two leave just now?"

"I am a militiaman of the 8th Liberation Army," Hanward replied as a matter of course, "I must stay and fight. I have no reason to run away."

"you"

"Me too"

Dalal, who was only 14 years old, followed up and replied, "I have also joined the 8th Liberation Organization and I want to fight."

"When did you join Ba?"

"Last night," the boy and girl said in unison, giving a heart-pounding answer.

"I have also joined the 8th Liberation Army, and I am now a soldier." Nurse Sophia, who seemed to have some scratches on her face, also "made trouble" and expressed her attitude.

"What on earth are you discussing?" Cradle, who was also wearing a robe, asked blankly, "Is there no one who can translate for us?"

"Let's go back first," Wei Ran urged before Nurse Sophia could speak. They really didn't have much time left.

Without further delay, the six people who had changed their appearance were divided into two groups, led by nurse Sophia and Hanward respectively, and ran to the hospital from two different roads. Finally, before 5:46 in the morning, they ran into the side door of Aka Hospital safely.

"I don't know. Snow. Edelweiss. Did they go to the Gaza Hospital?"

As Cradle took off his robe, he said breathlessly, "Especially Rama, I don't know if she, she survived."

“They will definitely survive.”

Wei Ran paused and asked seriously, "What about you? Especially you, Mrs. Cradle, why did you want to stay?"

“I am also a doctor”

Cradle took a few deep breaths and said as a matter of course, "Besides, I am not only Mr. Celine Yaman's wife, but also Mr. Sewing Machine's partner. Regardless of my identity, I have to stay with him, help him, and be responsible for the injured we saved."

"It would be nice if there were more people like you in this dirty world."

Wei Ran sighed vaguely, then turned to look at Hanwad and Dalal seriously, and asked again in Arabic, "What about you two? Are you two staying here?"

"We are your helpers, aren't we?"

Hanward asked in return, "We have been helping you since Ed was still alive. Since you didn't leave, what right do we have to leave?"

"Don't argue about these meaningless things now."

Nurse Sophia took a deep breath and suggested, "Gentlemen, ladies, and helpers, should we start seeing patients now? I just saw that there are already quite a few injured people in the corridor on the first floor."

When she repeated it in Arabic, everyone looked at each other and gave a unified answer in both languages, "Of course!"

(End of this chapter)