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Chapter Text

The ER at PTMC was already bustling with its usual steady flow of patients when Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch called for everyone’s attention. As Chief of Emergency Medicine, he began addressing the staff about the Code: Triage echoing overhead, an incoming mass casualty event.

Out in the employee parking lot, Dr. Evelyn “Eve” Abbot kicked down the adapted stand of her BMW F 650 GS with her prosthetic limb. She slipped in through the employee entrance mid-speech, keeping to the edges of the department as Robby addressed his pack, and made a quiet beeline for Gloria, her former hospital administrator, whom she caught out of the corner of her eye.

While he started to address his staff in the ER, as Chief of Emergency Medicine, on the upcoming Code: Triage they were all hearing overhead, Dr. Evelyn “Eve” Abbot had kicked down the kickstand of her BMW F 650 GS motorcycle with an adapted quick shifter, for her prosthetic limb, in the employee parking lot at PTMC. She started heading in the employee entrance, keeping quiet as Robby was addressing his pack. She snuck off to the side where she saw Gloria, her former administrator.

“Hey, Gloria. I heard about the incoming mass casualty from PittFest. Figured you could use all the help you could get. My credentials should be on file, my licenses are still active, if you want to give me emergency privileges.” Eve rambled on, locked into trauma mode, not taking into account the stunned look on Gloria’s face as she looked at the walking corpse, Jack Abbot’s wife and former cherished employee, who had been assumed KIA for the last 4 years.

”Yeah, we absolutely could use you… I thought you were dead.” Gloria responded, half in admin mode and half in complete shock, taking a beat between her accepting the offered help and addressing the elephant in the room.

”Yeah, I can see why they thought that. I’m not though, sometimes I can’t tell if that was a blessing or a curse. But, I’m here now.”

”Has he seen you?”

”Nope. I didn’t see him out there when I came in, but I imagine he’ll be here soon. You know how he is.”

”Has anyone seen you yet?”

”Nope.”

”Great. Drama before the mass casualty comes in.”

”I don’t know if I’d call seeing your dead best friend and/or spouse drama, but I understand the concern. I don’t know how Robby will be, this is a hard day for him and me both. But Dana and Jack will click into trauma mode soon enough.”

”How can you be so sure? I can’t imagine how he’d react to seeing his wife again. We’ve never seen him in this kind of situation. No one has ever been in this kind of situation, I’d imagine.

”Oh come on, people have gone through dramatic reunifications with assumed KIA family members before, nothing new-“

”But, have any of them?”

”… Good point… Guess we’ll find out soon enough though, won’t we?”

”I’ll activate emergency disaster privileges and loop medical staff services in after. Just go ahead and act like you already have them. No need to wait in a Code: Triage event. EMTALA will cover it.”

”Will do. It is good to see you again.”

”It’s good to see you too. Come see me after this is all done and I can see about offering you a position here.”

”I just might take you up on that.”

Eve gives a nod of appreciation at Gloria before beginning to walk back to central, where Robby is still addressing questions from the group of ER staff in front of him.

“Did the police find David?” She hears one of the resident doctors ask.

”Ok, everybody listen up!” Robby begins addressing the room, briefly looking back at the resident doctor who had just spoken, one arm up in the air to capture their attention.

”There is an active shooter at PittFest. As the nearest trauma center, we are going to be getting the majority of the victims. We don’t know yet how many we are getting…” The ER staff begin looking around at each other as Robby continues to divulge information about a situation none of them have ever experienced before.

”Sounds like it’s right up my alley.” Eve calls out to the crowd. Robby’s head whips to her. He doesn’t quite know who he’s looking at, trying to focus his eyes to see if he can recognize the woman speaking. Dana turns to look as well, recognizing her before Robby can even begin to try.

”Holy shit.” She mutters out. Hand coming up to brush her fingers over her mouth in disbelief.

“Princess, pinch me.” She turns to the nurse beside her and offers her arm which the nurse reaches up and pinches.

“Ow. Didn’t think you’d actually do it.” It grasps her attention for just a second, before her head turns back to the woman standing in the back of the room. She’s got scrubs and a gray zip-up sweatshirt, practically twinning with Robby, Dana snorts in her head about.

Robby looks on, still a bit confused on what’s going on. He turns to look at Mohan who turns her head back to him, seemingly just as confused. He furrows his brows at her, asking a question in the silence. She shrugs.

Dana begins to head around the side of the nurse’s station, rushing over to the person standing off to the back.

”Evelyn… is that you? Or did I get a brain injury from the punch I took earlier?”

”It’s me. It must feel like the hour of the living dead right now, huh? We sure it’s not 7:30?” Evelyn quips.

Dana lets out a short laugh before briskly walking up to the side of her and embracing her in a big hug. Robby’s confusion morphs into shock. Evelyn, wrapped up in a hug from Dana, doesn’t see the expression on his face or him beginning to walk over to them, until he speaks.

”Evelyn?”

She breaks free from her hug with Dana and takes a good look at him. A warm smile spreading across her face.

“Michael.”

She reaches up and pulls him into a hug. He pulls his arms around her and grips her like she might disappear at any moment. He kisses the top of her head and a quick breath of disbelief leaves his mouth. He pulls back, hands gripping her upper arms.

”You were dead.”

”No. I understand why they thought that though. The area was hostile and they couldn’t perform full search and rescue, so when they found my dog tags… and my leg in the fiery aftermath, they had to assume the worst.”

”Holy fuck.”

”Holy fuck indeed. I never thought I’d make it back here. In a million years.”

”Jane Doe?” Dr. Mel King calls from behind Robby’s towering figure.

”Dr. King! It’s great to see you. When I am conscious and not in a psychiatric crisis.” Robby analyzes the exchange with confusion.

Evelyn, seeing the confusion, clears it up. “I was a patient at the VA that Dr. King worked at, I guess before she came here.”
“She was our very own Kraken.”

”Kraken?” Evelyn questioned the reference.

”Sorry, I was just joking, but that might have been in poor taste. The Kraken is one of our violent psychiatric patients that needs sedation during stays.”

”Ah, I see. No worries about the joke, I just didn’t understand the reference. I didn’t realize you were such a jokester, Dr. King.” Mel turns to look at Dr. Frank Langdon after that comment before looking down with a bit of a blush.

”But, yes, I was the VA’s ‘Kraken’ of sorts. I was in a severe PTSD crisis and you know how I am, Robby. Fight or flight? I pick fight every time. They had to keep me sedated for a couple of months before they could even begin to consider weaning me.”

”A couple of months? How long have you been stateside exactly?”

”About 10 months. But, that is a long, long story. Better to save it for later with that mass casualty coming in. You may be delighted to hear, but Gloria got me emergency privileges.”

”Very delighted, actually. Want to head over for my mass casualty speech?”

“Sure, lead the way.”

Robby and Dana walked side-by-side back to the crowd awaiting more instruction.

“10 months, holy shit.” Robby muttered, which Dana barely heard. She reached up and gave his upper arm a supportive rub. He reached over and placed his hand on top of hers before letting go. Robby let out an exhale before gearing up to readdress the room.

”Ha, where did I leave off? Right! We are instituting hospital-wide emergency protocols. We…” He turns and waves his arms around in front of him, to gesture to all the people present in front of him, “need to move every patient out of here.”

”They either go home, they go upstairs, or they go to Family Medicine. Call your loved ones now if you need to. I can guarantee that cell service will soon be overwhelmed. Eat something. Stay hydrated. Use the bathroom while there’s time and meet back here for a full briefing in five minutes.” He points down to the floor of central before trailing off and looking behind him. It’s Jack. Jack Abbot, strolling in with his scrubs already on and a military issue backpack that Evelyn can only imagine is packed full of mass casualty essentials. Jack Abbot, Evelyn’s husband, who she hasn’t seen in 4 years. Her husband who doesn’t yet know she is alive. She stays quiet, partially obstructed by the people in front of her. Robby turns to him and begins walking to greet him.

”Brother, I’m so fucking glad to see you.” He reaches him and gives him a short hug.

”Heard it on the police scanner.” Evelyn lets out a soft chuckle, looking down, while she gives a soft shake of her head, it’s so like him.

”How many are we expecting?” Jack continues.

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound good.” Robby pulls back from the hug and taps a hand on his shoulder, leading him over to central. Jack’s eyes are scanning the crowd in front of central, not seeing Evelyn.

“I have something to tell you.” Robby uses the hand on Jack’s shoulder to turn him to face him. Jack’s back turned to Evelyn and the crowd, but Robby makes direct eye contact with her. She shakes her head slightly before mouthing “not now”. Robby quirks an eyebrow up, as if asking if she’s sure. She gives another short shake of her head. Robby raises both eyebrows in surprise, but reluctantly accepts what she’s telling him. She raises her arm up and shows her wrist to signify that it’s almost time for the trauma to arrive.

”Nevermind, I guess it will have to wait.” Robby’s jaw tightened, not from doubt, but from triage instinct, giving Jack’s shoulder a squeeze before letting go. Shaking his head a bit as he turns to begin getting things set up. Everyone has started bustling around the ER, preparing for what’s to come. Calls are being made to other departments for patient transfers. The elevator dings. Disaster bins are being rolled into the area. Evelyn briefly hears Robby directing them to Behavioral Health for central supply, Jack heading in to help unload.

With Jack helping out in Behavioral Health, Robby turns back to Evelyn and starts heading over to her. She’s sitting down on an unoccupied exam bed, one scrub pant leg rolled up and a different prosthetic knee pulled out of her bag. Something more practical, an MPK, a familiar microprocessor knee, her long-shift setup, already charged and calibrated so she can make better adjustments during the trauma scenario. She sits there changing it out, quickly before the traumas roll in. Robby knocks on the door and heads inside the exam room. Evelyn is still looking down at her leg, a smile on her face as he comes inside. She expected this.

“I’m sure about not telling him, for now at least. If that’s what you’re here to talk about.”

”Wouldn’t it be better to tell him before he accidentally sees you during it? He’ll be pissed at me for not telling him.”

”But, I also don’t want to affect him or his performance during it. Gloria made a good point earlier. I may know him. I may know how he locks into a trauma, but I don’t know how he responds to seeing his dead wife 4 years later. He could be happy and then adjust quickly, but he could also be distracted and I know he’ll never forgive himself for doing something wrong during a trauma because I impaired his judgement.” She clicks the last part into place on her leg, slipping the other prosthetic knee back into her bag and double checking the charge on her new one.

“But what about if he sees you in the middle of a trauma? He’ll think he’s going crazy and that’ll really impair his judgement.”

”True. I could wear a mask.”

”Or you could tell him.”

”Maybe I should. I saw he came with his Go-Bag. It’s so like him.” Evelyn softly laughs.

”It is, isn’t it? You know what’s so like you? Coming back from the dead for a mass casualty.” Evelyn laughs out loud at this. Robby can’t help but smile at the sound.

”It is, isn’t it? You think I have enough time to speak with him before shit hits the fan?”

”Maybe just.”

”Can you send him in here?”

“Of course.” Robby smiles one more time, reaching over and rubbing a thumb over her cheek before leaning down and giving her a kiss on the head.

”It’s so good to see you again, kid.” He says before slipping out of the exam room, looking for Jack. Evelyn watches him leave, she smiles before it drops again. Her heart is pounding out of her chest. She can’t help but rack her brain on what to say.

Robby finds Jack outside getting ready, pulling out boxes of wrist charts and primary staff attire.

”Hey, brother, got a quick minute?”

”Is this about what you had to tell me earlier?”

”Yeah.”

”I assume, it apparently couldn’t wait until after, if you’ve already changed your mind twice.” Jack quirked the side of his mouth in a quick smirk before it dropped again.

“Nope, we decided it couldn’t, in case you saw her during the MCI.”

”Saw who?”

”You’ll see.” Robby pulled Jack in the direction of the exam room, curtains pulled partially closed obstructing the view, one hand on his shoulder once again. He slid his hand over to his back and lightly pushed Jack into the partially closed exam room. He turned his head back to look at Robby for pushing him, a bit confused, before turning back around. And there she was. Evelyn, as beautiful as the day he lost her. Her face had hollowed out a bit, but her black hair was pulled back into a long, sleek ponytail. Her gorgeous brown eyes looked up at him. She was pulling down the pant leg of her scrubs, but he caught a glimpse of her prosthetic leg. His eyes lingered on the sight.

“Jack.” Evelyn stood from the bed, looking at the face she longed to see for so long. His eyes were stuck on the leg she was missing. She reaches out and places her hands on either side of his face. The touch startles him a bit, startles him back to reality. She pulls his face to look at her. His hands come up to hold onto hers.

”Please, oh God. Don’t let this be a dream.”

”You know? I said the same thing when you walked in.”

His eyes filled with tears, hers filling with him. He pulled her into an embrace, crushing, but needed. He finally got her back and he never wanted to let go.

“You have no idea how much I missed you.” Evelyn whispered into his shoulder.

”What happened? Where have you been?” He pulls back from the embrace, keeping his hands on her upper arms, looking her over from head to toe. She reaches back up and pulls his face to look at her again.

“It doesn’t matter, not right now. I will tell you all about it after this is over.”

Jack had momentarially forgotten about the incoming trauma. Her reminder locked him back into professional mode. Not before pulling her in for a kiss. Less of a kiss between spouses and more of a kiss to ground them. To remind them that the other was really there. To remind them that this wasn’t a dream. Evelyn desperately returned it. Before they both pulled back, resting their foreheads together and looking into each other’s eyes. Jack looks at her with a feeling full of love and grief, his thumb brushing over her cheek before they fully separate, turning back around and leaving the exam room, Evelyn not far behind Jack.

Chapter Text

“Telemetry. OB/GYN. CCU. ICU. Ortho.” Robby directs the patient transports on where to bring the current ER patients.

“MCI protocols.” Dana states.

“Make sure you bring all these gurneys and wheelchairs back. They’re going to the ambulance bay. We need as many as we can get our hands on.” Robby instructs.

“What’s next, Cap?”

“Pharmacy needs to come down and open the PDS. They also need to bring up all the narcotics, paralytics, and sedatives that they can.” Robby tells Dana while continuing to signal the patient transports to keep moving.

”Consider it done-“

“Beat ya to it.” Evelyn comes out of the elevator and down the hall where Robby and Dana are talking. In her arms is a clear bin of medication vials and a pharmacist behind her to open the PDS. The intercom is echoing “Code Triage, Emergency Department now. Code Triage Emergency Department now. Blood Bank, call 7113.”.

”She’s quick with it.” Dana remarks.

”Damn right she is. She’s about the best person to have here right now. She couldn’t have chosen a better time to come back.”

”Well, I’d say it would have been better to have come back 4 years ago, but what do I know?”

”You heard from Jake?”

”Not yet, but you know teenagers. I’ll keep trying.”

”Ok, maybe try his mom, Janey. She’s in my phone. Tell her what’s going on. And try Collins… see if you can get her to come back.” Robby says with a beat of reluctance. He rubs a frustrated hand over his forehead. He’d sent Collins home earlier, after discovering her situation, and calling her back now was putting her right back into it.

”Will do.”

”Ok, let’s go. Let’s go.” Robby reiterates to bring the gurneys back after drop off and continues to usher the patient transport team along.

Robby walks over to the trauma rooms and begins directing the staff for setup.

“We’re gonna be putting four gurneys in each of these trauma rooms, so make sure you stock both rooms to handle the additional patients.”

”Not a problem.” Jesse, one of the ER nurses, responds.

”And let’s broom all these WOWs, ultrasounds out of here. We’re not gonna have time or space for anything but gurneys.”

”Ok,” Kim, another ER nurse, affirms. Robby heads back into central to begin addressing the staff.

”Any word on what we’re expecting?” Dr. Yolanda Garcia, one of the trauma surgery fellows on staff asks.

”Not yet. How’s it looking upstairs?”

”Should have all 25 ORs running within the hour.” Dr. Emery Walsh, the surgical attending, responds.

”We could be buried by then.” Evelyn responds, skeptical.

“And who are you?” Dr. Walsh asks, appraising her.

“Dr. Evelyn Abbot. Pleasure to meet you. Triple boarded in general surgery, CT and trauma. I’ll spare you the god complex.”

“No, you won’t,” Robby quips, shifting on his feet with a soft chuckle.

”Surgery is ready,” Walsh states, casting a sidelong look at Evelyn. “If we’re here, we’re ready.” She gives a small smirk as the other surgical attendings murmur in agreement.

“God complex,” Evelyn muses, under her breath, while smiling down at her feet. Robby, hearing it, lets out a hushed chuckle, while Walsh eyes him.

”I am taking Primary ER.” Jack states, flashing the cover of the Primary ER binder and beginning to shuffle through the rest of the allotments.

“Have at it. Any objections? Evelyn?”

”Nope, all his. I may know what I’m doing, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had trainees to direct. Best if I’m left to my own devices with the occasional assist. Don’t need my unsocialized self to go around, damaging egos, more than I already do by just being here.” Evelyn clicks her tongue and winks at Jack, causing him to give a half smirk before returning back to his locked-in, neutral default.

“God complex,” Robby muses, under his breath, referencing Evelyn’s previous comment. Evelyn lets out a surprised snort in response, before playfully tapping the back of his shoe with her own.

“Who’s taking Primary Surgery?” Jack asks the crowd, trying to keep from paying attention to Robby and Evelyn’s joking. He flashes the front of the binder to the surgical team. An unsure silence fills the room as everyone ponders on the question.

“Heavy is the head that wears the crown.” Walsh responds with a half nod of her head and a cocky smile, reluctantly accepting the open position.

“Anesthesiology?” Jack questions.

“Gladden will be down. He’s got four in place, more on the way.” Garcia answers.

“Ok, this is yours.” Jack hands over a pouch of triage slap wristbands to Robby.

“Thank you. What you got in there?” Robby asks in reference to Jack’s backpack of tricks.

“A couple of CAT tourniquets, hemostatic dressings, LMAs.”

“We got plenty of that stuff.”

“Butterfly ultrasound. Works off a cell phone.”

“Ooh, that’s cool.”

“Yeah.”

“But we’re gonna send all the unstable chest and belly straight up to the OR,” Robby points both of his thumbs up to the ceiling, referencing the surgical ORs on the upper floors. “Ok, everybody listen up. This is how it’s going to work. Our ambulance bay is now our Triage. EMS will be overwhelmed. Most will probably arrive by car, several victims per vehicle. For all you newbies that don’t know, Dr. Shen is our night shift attending. John, I’m gonna put you on Point Triage.”

“Cool,” Shen gives a thumbs up in agreement, Dunkin coffee in hand. Jack hands him the Primary Triage MD binder and he begins getting out his bright orange vest. He puts it on while Robby continues to speak.

“Triage will decide who goes where depending on their injury.”

“Every department will have a designated primary who will oversee their staff. If you need someone, look for the vest. We’re all gonna have walkies. We can get you whatever you need.” Jack adds.

“No patient goes into a room unless it’s a trauma bay, and they will have four patients each. We need to keep everybody out in the open so we can keep an eye on everything, OK? Triage is gonna assess and assign every patient to a specific zone with a colored slap band. Patient who comes in with a red slap band goes to the Red Zone,” Robby slaps a red slap band onto his own wrist for emphasis.

“Which is the trauma rooms, with overflow out here. These are the most critical patients who will die without immediate attention. Samira, where are you? You are here with both Dr. Abbots and me. Jack’s gonna run traffic. Evelyn, you good with running with ER today?” He signals Mohan to them. Evelyn gives a short nod of confirmation to Robby. Evelyn turns to Mohan and gives her some much needed advice.

“Samira, right? I’ve got you if you need any assistance. It’s important to remember this is a mass trauma scenario. The common sense you’ve honed over the years is going to have to go out the window and your ability to think critically will be of the utmost importance today. Trust your decisions, trust the people around you and don’t be afraid to ask for help. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to come over and help you, but I will talk you through just about anything. Turn your brain off, turn your instincts on and just do. Remember to breathe. If a patient dies in the two seconds it took you to think it through and take a breath, there wasn’t much you could have done to begin with, not now, not here. You ready?” Evelyn gives her a small supportive bump with her shoulder. Mohan looks over at her, the picture of cool and calm, and begins to steel her nerves.

“Yeah, I’ve got this.” Mohan lets out a deep breath. Jack continues to address the crowd.

“We have five minutes to try and stabilize the reds. After that, it’s OR, ICU or morgue.”

“The south and central common area over there will be the Pink Zone. That is for patients who will die in under an hour without treatment. McKay and Javadi, you are over there, with help from incoming night shift and surgical staff. Yellow Zone is the North Corridor. Those are gonna be mostly extremity wounds… good vitals, talking. Mel, you’re gonna run point there with Santos and Whitaker.” Robby points the yellow slap band at all three of them. Mel stands there, looking like a deer in headlights.

“Uh, what if… what if there’s a-a pulseless extremity?” Mel stutters out.

“Oh, if you… if you can’t feel a pulse, check for Doppler flow with this. It’s a mini-ultrasound. Follow the screen prompts.” Jack hands over the butterfly ultrasound that won’t be much use for him in the Red Zone. Mel hugs it close to her.

“But a yellow can change to a red if they go south. You got to stay on top of them, even if they seem stable.” Robby drills into them.

“Ok, yeah.” Mel responds, unsure.

“You got this, Dr. King. Green… minor lacs and sprains. They go to Family Medicine. Black and white bands are DOA, imminent death. Peds is now our morgue. Let’s hope we don’t get too many of these.” Robby says while waving around one of the black and white slap bands.

“We’re a MASH unit now. There’s no charting, no electronic medical records, no boards.” Jack points up at the board in the center of central. Evelyn stands up on her tiptoes and peers over at the box next to Jack. Wrist charts.

“How do we document treatment?” The doctor, who Evelyn heard previously ask Robby about a “David”, asks. McKay, according to her badge.

“Oh, you'll all get Sharpies, and every patient has a wrist chart to document treatment and procedures. You run out of room, write on the patient's forehead.” Jack explains, gesturing to the wrist charts and sharpies that Robby holds up to display.

“Oh my god. It feels just like home.” Evelyn exclaims in faux sentimentality. A dramatic hand comes up to clutch her chest, near her heart as she closes her eyes. Jack chuffs quietly at her dramatic display, understanding her feeling, being a war veteran himself.

“Really?” Javadi asks in shock, turning Jack’s attention away from Evelyn.

“Yeah, really.” Jack responds, as if he didn’t just tell them to write on a patient’s forehead in sharpie.

“Each wrist chart has a unique mass-casualty-incident barcode and patient number. That’s how the patients get identified.” Robby explains.

“This is no-frills combat-zone medicine. No ultrasound, no X-rays, no CT, no labs. Assess based on mental status and pulse strength. Every critical patient gets an IO, intubation, a unit of blood and chest tube if needed. Everything you need... blood, drugs, bandages... everything will be in the Behavioral Health rooms. That's our supply depot. Um... oh, keep a couple of 11 blades in your pocket. Goal is to resuscitate ASAP so they'll make it upstairs for definitive care.” Jack pulls out an 11 blade from his side pocket.

“Trauma surgery and neurosurgery will decide who goes up to the OR immediately and who goes to the ICU for further treatment and evaluation. Communicate. Ask for help if you need it. Trust your attendings. We will get through this together.” Robby attempts to reassure the staff.

“Damn right we will.” Jack and Evelyn say at the same time.

“Ok, you three, I want to talk to you. I need you three to raid Central Supply and bring back all the chest tubes, ET tubes, thora-seals, normal saline…” Robby gestures for Santos, Javadi and Whitaker to speak with him.

“I thought that was all in Behavioral Health.” Santos questions.

“We can burn through all that in the first hour. West basement, just past nuclear medicine.” Robby points his hand down the hallway, towards the elevators. The three start heading towards the direction he was pointing.

“West basement. Got it.” Javadi tells him.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Take one of these empty disaster bins so you can grab everything you get your hands on.”

“What’s a disaster bin?” Whitaker asks.

“Empty plastic boxes right there. You can’t miss them.”

“Where’s Collins?” Mohan asks.

“She went home, but Dana is calling her now. Don't worry. It's OK. We got plenty of people coming in. Just follow Dr. Abbot's lead, Jack for now, not Evelyn, but she’s a great resource if you need help. This is her specialty and Jack also has plenty of experience in this kind of thing.” Mohan looks a bit unsure at what he says, staring down for a second as she processes before turning back around to help with prep.

“John, I’m gonna help you get started in Triage.” Robby turns to Shen and grabs one of the triage pouches, heading out to the ambulance bay.

“Sounds good.” Shen heads out to the ambulance bay with Robby.

Evelyn hears Dana, now wearing her “Primary Emergency RN” bright orange vest, directing a newly arrived nurse to gather supplies for the Yellow Zone. Bandages. Tourniquets. Sings. She notices Javadi, Whitaker and Santos rolling the empty disaster bin towards the elevators.

Everything looks under control.

Evelyn heads for the ambulance bay, planning to grab some of the initial Red Zone patients to get started. She pulls on a white fabric gown and gloves, stepping outside to find Robby doing the same. Shen ties Robby’s gown, while Evelyn secures her own.

She catches snippets of conversation as they prepare. Robby explains the mass-casualty protocol discussed at the last faculty meeting. A comment passes by from Shen about how he was still a resident during that meeting and Evelyn internally chuckles at how the comment clearly makes Robby feel old.

Police sirens drag everything to a halt. Here it comes.

The police SUV pulls into the bay. The officer leans out and tells Robby he has four shooting victims with him. Robby and Shen move immediately, triaging directly from the cruiser.

“Back wound is red. Shoulder is yellow. Neck wound is red.” Shen rattles off as nurses and patient transport move in, transferring patients to gurneys and wheelchairs.

They move on to the next vehicle: a mother and son and one person unresponsive without a carotid pulse or visible respiratory effort. Yellow Zone mother. Red Zone son. The unresponsive patient is headed straight to Peds, the morgue. She hears the mother, Sylvia, explaining that her leg injury was caused by a car collision, not the shooter. She pricks up at that.

“You helping out here?” Robby asks Evelyn.

“Only for this first wave” Evelyn replies. “It’s high stakes and the adrenaline can cause things to get missed. They’ll get into their groove and start thinking clearer, but it’s easier to catch things later if I’m here when it comes in. That way, I don’t have to track triage down later.”

“Heard that,” Robby says. “I’ll see you inside.”

With Shen’s groove starting to set in and another emergency resident coming out to join him, Evelyn heads back inside to get started with the Red Zone patients. In a trauma bay, she sees Jack intubating a patient.

“I’m in,” he calls out.

“Bag her.”

Another red zone patient gets rolled in. Jack and Robby are occupied, so Evelyn takes a deep breath, cracks her neck, tunes out the noise from the packed ER, and prepares to get started.