Rebecca is nearly run over by a truck filled with Afghan National Soldiers. They are in a rush because one of their buddies, Hamasa, has a dangerously high temperature and a nasty rash. Rebecca and Bobby manage to bring down the fever, but the skin rash has them baffled.
Hamasa's commanding officer is an American Special Ops soldier who can't reveal his name. Guys like him are dubbed "snake eaters," but Rebecca just calls him Joe. These two are obviously attracted to each other, but it's tough to make dates in a combat zone. That is, unless you're Dr. Simon Hill.
Simon has been romancing a nurse named Beverly who is scheduled to ship out. It's just the kind of "no strings" relationship he likes. Too bad Beverly has real feelings for him. When Will becomes aware of the situation, he warns Simon to stay away from his nurses. Yeah, that's not gonna happen. But Simon does apologize to Beverly for leading her on, which is nice.
While out on a clinic call with Grace, Rebecca treats an Afghan woman who will die without surgery. She sneaks the patient onto the base for a quickie operation. Unfortunately, she's not quick enough. Colonel Marks warns her not to pull another stunt like this or he'll personally escort her onto the next plane out of Afghanistan. At least Rebecca can take solace in the fact that the patient's father is very grateful for her bold actions.
When Hamasa's infection spreads to another patient, Marks calls in a specialist named Dr. Tarzi. Unfortunately, the second patient dies on Bobby's table before the doc can be tracked down. When Dr. Tarzi does arrive, he says Hamasa needs some old school polymyxin antibiotics. Troops are sent to the fetch the meds while the rest of staff works to sterilize the entire hospital. That means the top docs are on mop detail once again.
When more patients arrive from the field, Colonel Marks orders them to be treated in D-Fac (that's the dining facility). It's the best option considering the entire hospital may be contaminated. The infectious strain that's causing all the problems may lead to the shutdown of the entire medical center. That means the team would have to turn away its own injured soldiers.
In random news, Bobby lets Rebecca know that her blood tests came back normal. She's definitely not pregnant, but still wants to know why she missed her period. And Vans, the local interpreter, has been sneaking into restricted areas to use the computers. This doesn't sit well with the colonel. But Vans is a good guy which is why Marks surprises him with his own computer. Nice.
Rebecca's pal Joe enters Hamasa's ICU tent to let him know that his best chance for survival is to be put into a coma if the meds don't work right away. There's no guarantee he'll ever come out. Fortunately, the polymyxins kick in fast and Hamasa is out of the woods just as quickly.
There will always be a risk of the infectious strain returning as long as the hospital is located in Kandahar. Colonel Marks needs to balance concerns of future infections with the possibility of shutting down. There's no way he's about to turn away his own troops. That means the hospital will remain open for business. As for Joe, he'll need to take a rain check for a date with Rebecca. Duty calls.
