Cassie DePeckel

She doesn't know how much longer she can handle this kind of stress.

And this new doctor isn't making things any easier.

Nurse Dorothy Still descends the staircase of the infirmary at Los Baños, heading toward the basement.

She grips the railing, feeling a bit woozy.

The only food they regularly get here is rice and sweet potatoes.

There's very little protein or vegetables, and it leaves Dorothy feeling wobbly.

Dr. Dana Nance keeps a small office in the basement.

He glances up when Dorothy arrives.

She wants to alert him to a few things before the night shift.

There are three patients with erratic heartbeats, but malnutrition might be the real problem.

Nance nods.

It's January 1944, four months after Nance first arrived, and two years since the Japanese took control of the Philippines.

After the appendix incident, Dorothy and Nance have grown to tolerate each other.

He's a talented doctor, even if he can be brash.

Dorothy is just about finished updating Nance when she hears someone shout her name.

Nurse Dorothy, what the hell's going on?

Dorothy turns to find her fellow Navy nurse, Helen Gorzelansky, hurrying down the staircase.

She looks livid.

She's holding something orange and mushy, and she stomps over and drops it in Dorothy's hands.

Do you know what this is?