It was a quiet morning in the ER, and the only other person in the room seemed to be in a calm and mellow mood. My shift was drawing to a close, and I ached to grab a latte as soon as possible. Listening to the clock tick it's calming repetition, I jotted down some patient notes regarding a GSW from later last night. The patient had been unstable all throughout the surgery, and it seemed a miracle when the vitals finally regulated. After finishing up the paperwork, I set the light brown clipboard back on the nursing station, and grabbed a file from behind the desk.

Slipping from my hand, the folder fell and dumped its contents onto the floor.
"Damn." I cursed, staring at the scattered papers below me. Crouching down with a sigh, my muscles seemed to cry for me to get some rest. My feet ached with a painful fire, and my eyelids were quite heavy. My surgical scrubs were still covered in blood, and I smelled of iron.

"Sir, you can't be in here with that." I heard the nurse say in alarm from the other side of the desk. "Sir!" Her voice rose into a piercing shriek as a wet slicing noise filled the room. My heart rate increased drastically, and I whipped my head around the nurse's station to examine the situation. My ponytail smacked my face with a sharp sting, and I spit out my dark brown hair and cleared my vision of the strands.

I met the scared eyes of Alexandra, the injured nurse, and as I looked downward, I saw a deep laceration right above the left side of her pelvic bone. It looked extremely bad, appearing jagged through her scrubs, her hands were covered in blood as she clutched her abdomen. Her mouth was frozen in a scream. Stumbling to my feet, I rose with shaky legs to face the attacker.

"Hey," I said, looking at his solemn face. I looked for any grief or regret, but all I noticed was his stone cold stare.

"I'm an intern Surgeon and my name is Hannah, please hear me out," My voice sounded weak, but I cleared my throat and continued anyways. "she needs immediate medical attention or else we risk infection of the wound." I choked out, eyeing the sharp and quite unsanitary blade in his hand. I approached slowly, with my arms spread and visible, reaching for the nurse slowly.

"Here she is!" He suddenly laughed, thrusting her directly at me. Startled, I collided with the bleeding victim, the momentum carrying me off of my feet and into Trauma Room 2. My head hit the linoleum floor with a thud, and I yelped in pain. There was a sharp stab in my rib as I rolled the nurse off of me as gently as I could manage. I turned in horror as the Knife wielder stomped through the doors and headed towards the hospital lobby.

Wheezing, I pulled myself from the floor and snatched my phone from my pocket. My fingers fumbled with it, and it fell to the floor. Unsteadily, I got down on my knees and dialed the main desk

"Call a code white!" I gasped, clutching the phone with my shaky hands. "There's a visitor with a knife, headed from the ER."

"Ma'am are you alright?" The nurse spoke through the phone, panic in her voice.

"I'm fine! Call the code!" I yelled, bringing the phone down.

I stood up and stumbled right into the wall, trying again, I ran over to grab hand sanitizer. Rubbing my hands fiercely, I turned to the trauma cart and grabbed a roll of bandages. Sliding over to where the nurse still lay, I wrapped the bandage around her snuggly, and applied pressure.

There were screams from behind the doors, the attacker had clearly revealed himself. One by one, the shrieks stopped sharply, and I felt my breath catch in my throat.

Seconds later, there were heavy footsteps and a slam of the ER door. I backpedalled into the wall, and looked up to see a bloody knife and hand in front of me. "Surgeon, follow me." He hissed, snatching my hair. As he dragged me across the Emergency Room, I kicked and screamed in terror. "No, no, no!" I wailed, clawing at his hands. We went through the door, and down the hallway.

We emerged into the main Hospital lobby, the floor covered in pools of blood and still bodies. He tossed me in a puddle of warm blood, my head slamming against the ground once again.
"You can't save everyone, Doctor!" He yelled at me, raising the hand with his knife in it.

"Hey!" A familiar voice shouted. "Leave her alone!" Across the lobby, two of my fellow surgeons approached, scalpels in hand. The one who spoke, Kaleb, the surgeon I've had the hots for since arriving here, and the other wearing the fierce scowl was Aydin, a friend I've known since college. "Put the knife down buddy!" Aydin yelled.

My attacker laughed before plunging the knife right into my chest, piercing my lung. I screamed in agony before breaking into a cough, struggling to catch my breath.

"Hannah!" Aydin yelled, he and Kaleb breaking into a run towards us. I was struggling to remain conscious and get oxygen to my lungs. My chest convulsed as I wheezed, black invading my vision. I watched Aydin tackle the hostile man, pinning him down and throwing the knife away.

The next thing I saw was Kaleb's face leaning over me as he examined the wound. "Stay with us!" He said, voice sounding distant. "Someone grab a gurney!" It sounded like I was underwater, and I felt like I was drowning. I felt a pressure above the knife entrance . It was his hand stopping the bleeding.

Then, it felt like I was rising, my arms and legs going limp as I moved upwards. I felt heat on my side, and hands grabbing my legs and shoulders. My world started to fade as my head lolled to the side.

-

The first time I woke up, I was being rushed down the hallways on a gurney. I opened my eyes to see Kaleb above me, applying pressure to my still bleeding chest gape. My entourage of angels kept looking at me as they ran, pushing the cart. I passed out again.

-

I looked up to see a blinding light, and people in blue rushing around me. I was slow to realize I wasn't dead, and even slower to notice the needle pumping anesthesia into me. It didn't make much difference, I blacked out anyway.

-

The next time I woke up, I was in a patient room. I noticed the monitors beeping, letting everyone, myself included, know I was in fact, still alive. "What the hell happened?" I murmured tiredly.

"You had a collapsed lung, but we were able to repair it." Kaleb said, standing up from his chair. He smiled down at me.

"Everything's going to be alright."