No one has ever seen him look like this.
Because this wasn't a pain.
This was the absence of everything that had made pain tolerable.
"Dr. Chen..." the attending started, but she was already at the gurney, already assessing with the quick practiced efficiency of someone who had spent twenty years learning to see past trauma to the body beneath.
Vitals first. Blood pressure was dangerously low. Heart rate elevated but not critical. Breathing shallow, laboured, likely the ribs. The laceration on his left side had bled through the field dressing. His core temperature was lower than it should be after the time in the water.
"Get me a full panel," she said, her voice steady and clinical. "Chest X-ray for the ribs, CT if there's any indication of internal bleeding. Start fluids, wide bore IV. And someone page surgical consult for this laceration."
The team moved with practiced coordination.
