The Surgeon

In Chapter 1, Turtle Island, we follow Doc Hanover as she answers a call for medical help that takes her farther west than she’s been -- away from the violence and anarchy she knew back east and away from her past. At the feet of South Dakota’s Black Hills, she finds a surprisingly prosperous and peaceful fort, where destiny has plans for her.

In Chapter 2, traveling westward, looking for work and running from her past, Dr. Jenny Hanover has arrived at the surprisingly prosperous fort of Turtle Island. Not exactly tricked (but perhaps taken advantage of) by the fort's manager, Ernie Martinez, Hanover agrees to train the fort's militia in close-combat swordsmanship -- a skill they lack. Hung over and grouchy on a blisteringly hot morning, Hanover is teamed up with Master-at-Arms Dave Rogers to scavenge steel for new militia blades. Far from home, the salvage squad is attacked by a brutal gang of robbers and chased overland back to Turtle Island. The salvagers have arrived at the gates to the fort, and as the gates close, Hanover and her faithful steed Old Paint have deliberately remained outside to settle a score. Here they come.

News doesn't travel as fast as it used to, but out in the South Dakota Black Hills, stories are starting to spread. Stories of the lonesome doctor on the painted Palomino, the healer whose skill with a saber is more legendary than her skill with the scalpel. Stories of the Hot Animal Machine death cult spreading west, into new territories that are unprepared for their savagery. Stories of the peaceful fort of Turtle Island, where the doctor came to work for a spell, and which the Hot Animals decided to attack. Last anybody heard, the Hot Animals had Turtle Island choked down under siege. That's not good news for anybody, because if Turtle Island can't stop them, nobody can. The good people of the fort are overwhelmed in numbers and by the insanity and violence that has arrived outside their walls. But nobody said Dr. Hanover was "good people." When things look bleak, heroes arise. And antiheroes sometimes do good despite themselves. Innocent lives hang in the balance. And to survive, they will need to shed some of their innocence.

When last we left Doctor Hanover at the fort of Turtle Island, she and Master Rogers had survived the night protecting the fort from the marauding Hot Animal Machines, becoming comrades in the process. Their numbers decimated, the invaders chose not to flee, but to make camp outside of rifle range and harass the fort, making it impossible to graze their livestock and impossible to leave. Eager to leave above any other motivation, Doctor Hanover reluctantly agreed to deliver poisoned opium to the Hot Animals as a decoy, a deadly "tribute." Unbeknownst to anyone, Master Rogers had begun to rely increasingly on medicinal opium for the pain of a wound he received in Chapter 1. In his shame, he secretly stole some of the poisoned opium and only came to understand his potentially fatal error as he is asked to protect Hanover on her delivery run. Now, we find ourselves staring down the barrel of Chapter 4: Heroic. The physician remains the killer. The warrior becomes her patient. And a new threat is found among the bones of the old. 22 pages plus an extra 9-page illustrated prose story

Doc has done everything she knows how to do to save Master Rogers’ life after his accidental poisoning. We’ll know by morning if she’s done enough. Meanwhile, in an effort to “do what the big guy would’ve done,” she goes to clear out the raiders’ camp. There, she meets Chief Chuck Long ... who wants to have a word with her ... On the frontier, favors are currency. Promises are law. Without them, what have we got? What have we got to lash out and rebel against ... ... when word is bond and your oath was to DO NO HARM?

When we last saw Doc Hanover, she was standing in her undies, chucking rocks at Little Bird. Her lover had stolen everything, including her weapons and Old Paint. Yes, to some extent, she is a victim in this situation, but if you look at the larger picture, what goes around has more or less come around. She arrived at this point after disappointing the people of Turtle Island, leaving the fort without a doctor when they needed one and asked her in no uncertain terms to stay. She also broke her word with the First Nations United, who were counting on her help to raid the Tunnel Rats and bust up a slave-trading operation. Instead, she decided to run off with Little Bird, very much enamored, and commit to a life of mean, wild, passionate banditry with no rhyme or reason and no eye to the future. Little Bird, however, was playing a long con, and set her up perfectly -- just to knock her down. As we begin Chapter 6, Painty is stolen, Little Bird is on the run, and Hanover is furious and alone, on the wrong side of a whole bunch of burned bridges. Without further ado, Chapter 6: Blood.