FRACTURED OATH

ictim came in

shift ended. Four more hours. Then I could go home, shower off the smell of antiseptic and

's voice cut through the noise of th

ed every bit of it when a patient is bleeding o

and blood. Two bullet holes in his chest, one in his shoulder

I asked, already

crashing. Lost a lot of blood en route." Gina handed me

eone page the blood bank. He's go

. Dark. Glazed with p

." His voice was

t. But you have to stay

od. He was a fight

ying his mask. "Jesus,

," I said. "H

g, vitals dropping then rising then dropping again. Patel was good, calm under pressure, but I was better at the small things. Finding v

is shirt. Black ink. A wolf. No - a pack of wolves, running

, I w

the tension in the room shift. Sta

rubs had fresh splatters across the front

e down his throat - but his gaze held mine. It wasn't gratitude. I

apped my shoulder. "Go clea

ady. They always were during the crisis. The shaking came later, in the break roo

ine and a microwave that hasn't been cleaned since I started h

ls different. Softer. Here, in Manhattan, the lights never really go out. They just flick

buzzed. M

alk. It's

twice. Leo's "important" always meant m

other's nursing hom

iday. Please c

d figure it out. I a

ead in. "He's as

ho

e woke up, pulled out his tube, and ask

t quite. Awareness. The way a deer lifts its

m I'm of

e said he

I needed to change. I needed to sleep. I needed to

I said, and walked

with me. Dark. Wat

know his

family. I didn't know that saving his lif

ob. Another life pulled back from the edge. Another stranger who would

s wr

dn't

me for me, I would understand that some live

amily always coll