[Lauchenoiria]

The WOE member was hiding up a tree, hugging it in his sleep. Very in-character, an observer would have noted, had any been around. He was exhausted after having to swim to the edge of the Canal as the fire engulfed the tanker they’d attacked. Something had clearly gone wrong, as it wasn’t meant to get so bad so fast. Perhaps the people who sold them the grenades gave them extra-strong ones or something. He didn’t know, he wasn’t an expert in explosives.

What he didn’t realise as he slept, was that he’d scratched one of the wounds he’d gotten in the fight on the rough bark of the tree. And it had begun to bleed again; just a little, but enough for several drops of blood to make it down to the ground below. And that was how they found him.

It was Lauchenoirians who found him; part of the Canal Peacekeeping Force. It was both a blessing and a curse: better than Iskirami or Kerlians; or the Xiomerans from over the border. And a curse, because Lauchenoiria was not happy with the attack. So, the terrorist in the tree was treated adequately according to law… and not one bit better than that.

*

One of the others had been shot before leaping off the tanker. The bullet only grazed her, and so she managed to make it out of the Canal alive and run off into the woods. But lacking proper medical care, the wound on her arm quickly became infected. She had, to her great fear, ended up on the side of the Canal of Xiomera. In her panic, she hadn’t exactly been able to orient herself.

This meant she feared to seek any kind of medical attention. She cleaned and treated her wound as well as she could, but she didn’t know what she was doing. They found her, in the end. But too late. One more casualty to be added to the list.