Emily looked at the boy I need you to get water Not for her For me I need to clean my hands Stay close If you hear anyone run to Hart right away Do not run away alone

The boy nodded wiped his face and ran to the edge of the slow creek

Emily breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth slow She pressed her cleanest cloth to the wound again and whispered to the woman You are not done Stay here You do not get to go yet I am not letting you Go ahead and be mad at me later but you are staying now

Her mind raced through every head trauma protocol she had ever followed Head elevate Spine straight Pressure gentle Monitor airway Keep her breathing Keep her conscious if possible If she fades wake her If you cannot wake her prepare to breathe for her She could do some of that She could not do all of that

Keep her alive long enough to move her back That was the whole job

We are taking her back Emily said Hart you can lift her

Yes Hart said Not asking how He just waited for orders

Okay You are going to carry her like this She showed him Arm under her shoulders Hand supporting her head forearm flat along her spine Keep her angled a little up Do not drop her head Keep her airway open If she stops breathing you tell me right away

Hart nodded Good

The boy came back with water Emily scrubbed her hands quick and wiped them on her skirt She hated it It was not sterile but it was less dirt than before Less dirt is better than full dirt She would take it She wrapped a cloth strip around the wound loose to hold the dressing then gave Hart a tight look Ready

He lifted the woman slow and careful like she weighed nothing Emily saw his jaw clench from effort and knew she was heavy He held steady anyway The boy grabbed his mother’s hand and walked close at his side

They moved

The climb back up the ridge felt like it took years Emily’s legs burned by the halfway point Her lungs hurt Her bag bounced and slammed into her hip with every uneven step She kept one hand near the woman’s face checking breath every few beats Still there Still shallow Stay Stay Stay

Halfway up the woman started to slip away Her breaths went ragged then paused almost stopped

No Emily said loud and sharp No You are not leaving me Not here Not now

She leaned in close and spoke right in her ear Wake up Do you hear me Wake up I need you to breathe Breathe You have a son Do not you dare leave him here Do you hear me Breathe now

The woman made a weak sound Not words Just a broken noise of effort Her chest rose again

Good girl Emily whispered Good girl Stay

When they finally saw the edge of the village lights Emily almost collapsed from relief Hart did not slow His arms were shaking now his breath rough but he kept moving The boy was crying openly now gasping with each step but still walking

The square came alive before they even reached it People ran from houses Lights swung high Voices called Lila burst from the clinic doorway with fear in her face and a pot already boiling behind her

Table Emily gasped Table now Clear it Move

Lila scrambled inside pulling blankets and buckets off the main table She slapped her hand on the wood Done

Hart lowered the woman as gently as anyone could lower a body after carrying her that long Emily guided her head into her own hands and kept the neck straight She did not care that her knees hit the floor hard and sent pain up her legs This was more important

The crowd pushed in around them heat and noise and panic Emily felt it like pressure She snapped without looking up Back Everyone back I need air for her If you love her you back up now

They obeyed

She checked breathing again Still shallow but still present She checked pulse Still fast Still there She checked pupil response again The bad side was still blown huge The other still small Still unequal No better No worse Still dangerous

She swallowed and said calm so the boy would hear She is alive

The boy let out a sob so hard his whole body shook

Lila hovered at Emily’s shoulder eyes huge Do you fix her

Emily let herself tell the truth I do not know

It felt like a stone in her throat

Lila nodded once jaw tight like she accepted that answer and would still help That almost broke Emily

She turned to the boy Your job now is to talk to her Keep her here Tell her story Tell her name Keep her awake if you can When she closes her eyes you wake her You shake her You shout You tell her You have to work You do not get to sleep yet You tell her she is not allowed to stop

The boy nodded through tears leaned close to his mother’s face and began to whisper fast Mama Mama You hear me You have to wake up Mama I am here I am here Do not go Mama Please Mama wake up please

Emily stood up slow and felt her legs wobble Hart was still breathing heavy near the doorway His face had gone pale with effort Sweat ran down his neck

You good she asked him

He gave one short nod Yes

She believed him because Hart did not waste words and he would have said no if he could not stand

She looked around the room at the faces watching There was fear yes but it was not the same fear as before This was not Is she cursed This was Can she save another Will she pull one more back

She realized something important in that moment

This was the first night since she arrived that the village had to face the truth that she might not win

Not because she was weak Not because she did not try But because sometimes the body breaks in a way no one can stop

It was a lesson everyone in emergency medicine learned The world does not care how hard you work Sometimes you do everything right and still lose the patient You go wash your hands and start on the next one because there is always a next one

But this village did not know that yet

They had seen her stop fever stop bleeding fix a break keep children alive fight off official law stand down thieves They had started to believe she could do anything They had started to breathe easy because she existed

Tonight they were learning something harsher

Even miracles bleed out sometimes

Emily felt that weight on her chest like stone because she had caused it by being good She had given them hope Now she had to teach them how to live with limits without letting that hope die

She turned to the crowd and spoke steady If she lives it is because we kept her breathing and we did not let her choke If she dies it is not because we failed It is because her body was hit too hard even for us You understand me

They stared at her

Say it she said louder Say it now so the boy can hear you it is not his fault it is not our fault

Hart was the first to speak He said Not our fault

Then others repeated it like a prayer Not our fault Not our fault Not our fault

The boy heard it and choked on a sob but his shoulders lifted a little as if the sound itself was holding him up

Emily let out a slow breath She pressed her fingers to the woman’s wrist one more time and whispered Keep breathing for me Keep staying here Keep staying

Then she looked at Lila You know what to do Watch her Airway first Always Airway first Wake her when she fades If she stops breathing you yell for me I will be right here on the floor I am not sleeping far I am not leaving you

Lila nodded hard

Hart leaned his staff against the door and sat on the ground with his back to the frame He looked like a guard statue A tired one but unmovable

Emily slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor beside the table close enough to grab the woman’s jaw if she stopped breathing She folded her legs under her and rested her head back against the post

Her whole body shook from exhaustion Her hands were sticky with half dried blood Her clothes were torn at the knees Her heart felt like it had been stretched too far and left humming like a wire

She closed her eyes for just a moment just long enough to breathe

The clinic buzzed with low whispers The lantern light flickered against the walls The boy kept talking to his mother pleading with her to stay Lila watched the woman’s chest rise and fall with the focus of someone guarding a fire in winter Hart kept silent watch over the door and the doorway and the square beyond

Emily sat in the middle of all of it not asleep not awake held in place by duty and fear and something else that felt almost like love

This was the first night the clinic had to run like a true clinic

Not because she was there to fix it

But because she might not be able to

For a long time she listened to the breathing on the table and the whisper of the boy’s voice and the crackle of low fire in the corner Then she whispered to herself so quiet no one else heard I will not leave you

She was not sure if she was saying it to the injured woman to the boy to the village or to herself

Maybe all of them