They say that you never forget the first life you save. Ever.

 

    It was straight-up chaos. There was no other way to describe the scene.

    Maybe it was a gas explosion, or maybe  a bomb. All she knew was that something blew a hole through the roof of the underground parking structure, nearly blew out her eardrum, and had hurt too many people to count.

    People were running, screaming, crying - it was hell. A chaotic, inescapable hell. And just to her luck, she was caught right in the middle of it all.

    Is it ironic that this would happen in the parking lot of a medical school? Imagine how many ambulances dispatch will send. Though every instinct she had, and every last one of her nerve endings were screaming at her to get out of there, she swallowed her fear, tied up her hair, and began to work.

    She worked on autopilot, the skills that were taught to her in the very school that was now partially reduced to rubble surfaced and directed her hands and feet in the familiar motions.

    She jogged over to the nearest man, who was leaning against a car, cradling his arm to his chest as a large splotch of blood spread on his t-shirt.

    “Hello sir, my name is Yoon Saeri, and I’m a third year student studying to become a emergency surgeon. Will you let me to help you?” She helped him down to the ground, assessing the degree of the injury while she did so.

    The man groaned in pain, “Please, please help me! I-I was walking to my car, and then the boom, and now my arm - I think some shrapnel or something hit me.”

    As he spoke, she moved his arms away from his abdomen, immediately noticing the laceration on his right forearm. The blood was oozing out slowly, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief. No arteries were hit, he’ll make it to a hospital. She checked if there was a wound on his abdomen, but all of the blood on his shirt seemed to have come from his arm.

    “Would it be okay if I used part of your shirt as a bandage? Usually I’d use some gauze but, you know…” She trailed off looking expectantly into the man’s eyes, realizing she didn’t even know his name.

    “Oh, of course, just please… will I live? I have a daughter and a son at home, and I didn’t even get a chance to tell them goodbye this morning.” Tears had begun to seep out of his eyes as Saeri began to rip the lower part of his shirt into strips that she could use to bandage his arm.

    “Don’t worry sir, I think that you’ll be just fine. Although it might be a bit late… what’s your name? And why don’t you tell me about your kids while I wrap you up?” She pressed cloth into the wound and began to tightly wind another strip around it, covering the full length of the cut.

    “I’m Donghae, Kim Donghae. My daughter, Minyoung, she’s 7. My son, Jaehyun, he’s 8. They both play soccer, and I help coach them, along with a bunch of the other fathers. Today they actually have practice, but it looks like I’m gonna have to miss it…” He trailed off, looking down at her, where she was tying off the bandage and beginning to check his pulse and other vital signs. He was stable, and the bleeding had stopped.

    “Unfortunately, you’re probably right… I don’t think you’re gonna make it to practice today… but I think that Minyoung and Jaehyun will play great, and then you guys will be able to talk all about it over some dinner. Is there anywhere else that’s sore? Do you think you can walk?” Saeri stood up and smiled at Donghae, noting that his skin color was alright, and not too pale. When he nodded, she smiled and slung his arm over her shoulder, “Well, let’s get you out of here so that you can get to a hospital and then meet with your kids.”

    Saeri and Donghae picked their way through the rubble and made it out of the parking lot. She sat him down near other patients who had managed to drag themselves out, and raised her voice, “ Help is on the way, stay here, and help each other out! It’s going to be okay!”

    Then, she promptly spun on her heel, and ran back into the rubble, towards the cries of other people.

 

    “Prodigy, you ready? We’ll be on scene in 2 minutes. And this one is not gonna be pretty.” Mark chuckled at the nickname, and nodded, slipping on a pair of gloves, and grabbing a trauma bag.

    “I’m always ready, hyung.” Taecyeon, the paramedic who was driving the ambulance, looked over at his young partner and grinned as he screeched to a stop near the rubble of the parking lot.

    They jumped out of the ambulance, and immediately began to tend to the patients on the ground as more than a dozen other ambulances pulled up near them. Taecyeon ran off to set up triage, while Mark knelt down next to a man who was holding his arm. “Hello sir, I’m Mark Tuan, and I’m a paramedic. What’s your name?” He grabbed the man’s arm gently, but was surprised to see a perfect bandage done on his arm.

    “My name is Donghae, and I had a gash on my arm, but this girl helped me out… but she ran back in!” Mark spun around, scanning the other patients, noticing that many of them had some form of crude yet fully functional bandages around their wounds. He raised his eyebrows, impressed, and turned back towards Donghae, just to check for further injuries and vitals.

    “Well, whoever she was, she did a great job. Now, Donghae, if you could, I’ll help you over to a rest spot. Take this green band, and stay in the zone with the green boundaries. We’ll get you further help as soon as possible.” Mark helped the man move a few feet into the green triage zone that Taecyeon had set up.

    “Oh, there she is!” Donghae exclaimed, looking over Mark’s shoulder, “That’s the girl!”

    Mark turned and saw a small figure with two people on either side, leaning heavily on her. He immediately ran over and took a patient from her, noticing just how tiny she was. She wiped sweat and dust off of her forehead before turning to Mark and smiling gratefully.

    “Thanks. I’m Yoon Saeri, a med student here. I’ve started some basic triage and first aid, all the people that I’ve brought out to this area are minor injuries, they’re all greens. I didn’t want to transport any of the yellows that I saw, but I stabilized them as best as possible. You’re gonna need a hell of a lot of backup… and a lot of backboards.” They had successfully moved the patients into the green zone where a few EMTs rushed over to treat them. She turned to Mark rubbing her wrist. “There was a huge explosion, origin unknown, and oh, do you think I could borrow some gloves and a trauma bag? I’ll help until more backup gets here. Thank you!”

    Mark stood there, looking at the girl in awe. She looked even younger than him, and incredibly fierce as she grabbed gloves and a trauma bag from a passing medic who protested. Mark shushed him and said, “No, let her. She’s certified.”

    In almost a trance-like daze, he watched her disappear back into the parking lot, before snapping out of it, and turning to Taecyeon. He gave his partner a quick rundown before hoisting the trauma bag further up his shoulder, and starting towards the collapsed parking lot.

    Remembering what the girl had said and the way she had spoken so confidently, he grabbed a backboard, and made his way in with a slight grin.

    “Damn, that was hot.”

    Half an hour later, the wailing of sirens continued to fill the air, and the amount of people in the triage zones increased exponentially. Saeri had extricated at least 15 victims, and was back in the destroyed parking structure looking for anyone else.

    Paramedics in pristine white uniforms rushed around, making sure that each patient was tended to. Noting that there were nearly a hundred medics in the rubble, Saeri began to pick her way towards the exit, rubbing her sore arms and legs, taking off her gloves, and wiping the grime from her face.

    With a deep sigh, she looked upwards, noting how the second story of the structure had a gaping hole in its center. She followed the cracks that webbed out from it, until her eyes fell on the place where a concrete pillar met the ceiling. The crack had already begun to make its way down the column, intersecting with cracks going in perpendicular directions. Her heart dropped when she saw the pillar begin to break and collapse.

    She traced the predicted arc of the fall with her eyes, and saw the paramedic from before tending to a little girl.

    “Watch out Hey! Move!” Saeri began to sprint over to where they were, screaming wildly to get their attention.

    Mark heard yelling, and turned to look, worried that a distraught patient was rushing towards him. To his surprise, he saw the girl from earlier gesturing madly and pointing behind him. He furrowed his brow and followed her finger, seeing part of a large concrete upright crumbling down towards them.

    He heard the cracking get louder, and hurriedly gathered the young girl he was tending to into his arms.

    “No!”

    Mark felt himself flying forw