Male. 16. Red hair. Brown eyes. Stab wound in the left leg, most likely nicked an artery based on the amount of blood saturating him and the ground. Deep bruising around the neck from an attempted strangulation. Lost consciousness about a minute before the hovercraft arrived at his location. He was the winner of this year’s Hunger Games, and according to his tracker, his vitals were shit. It played in a loop in Cinder’s mind as he waited for the patient to be airlifted into the hovercraft. As an attending, he was surprised but honored to be selected as one of the medics for this year’s Hunger Games. Now, he was about to see the results up close.
Cinder held his scissors steady, quickly cutting off the patient’s grimy shirt. The smooth expanse was paler than he had ever seen before, unnaturally so. Anise, a slight woman with a severe haircut, slapped the pads onto the teen’s body. One on the right hand side of his chest, the other below his heart.
“Everyone, clear!” she barked. The others stopped what they were doing, hovering over the body while the machine delivered a shock. Once their robotic voice gave an all-clear, they continued their work. Kandid set up fluids and a blood transfusion, Ronan worked on the stab wound, and Anise started chest compressions.
Cinder stabilized the neck in a brace while berating himself for not doing it sooner. That was one of the first things he learned– one should always stabilize the neck and spinal column first. Once they got a pulse, he was in charge of helping to intubate the Victor. His strangulation would lead to swollen vocal cords and difficulty breathing and swallowing.
“No pulse detected, stand by,” the robotic voice declared. Once again, everyone stopped touching the body while the device gave a shock.
Cinder took over chest compressions while Anise held the Victor’s right arm. “I have a pulse! she declared. “It’s a bit thready, but it’s there.”
“Cinder,” Ronan called, authoritative as ever despite retiring from the Peacekeepers over a decade ago, “prepare to intubate Mr. Weasley. Anise, keep an eye on his O2 levels.
“Yes, sir!” they both replied.
Cinder ran to the counter where all the supplies Ronan thought they would need was laid out. He grabbed the intubation kit and came back to the table, ripping it open. “You’ve done this before, right?” he asked Anise. “Because I’m going to need your help.”
“Yes, I have.”
“You hold the light, and I’ll guide the tube.”
“Got it.”
They both got into position, and within a minute, the Victor had a machine breathing for him.
“O2 stats are slightly improved, sir.” They hovered in the high 80s, and that was good enough for now.
Cinder glanced at the Victor’s vitals on the screen, and didn’t like what he saw. “Should we add an anti-inflammatory to the IV for the neck swelling? It can also help raise his blood pressure.”
“Yes, let’s do that,” Ronan, the lead doctor, agreed. “Cinder, add a NSAID to the drip. Kandid, help me stop the bleeding from this stab wound.”
Cinder and Kandid switched places. He searched in the medicine cabinet and pulled out the needed medication before adding it to an IV.
“Can’t we use the skin spray to stop the bleeding?” Kandid asked.
“Not for a severed vein. It needs to be stitched closed first. Then the liquid skin can be applied. Bring the operating tools over here. I’m going to need you to suction.”
Kandid did as he was asked, and Cinder took a step back. Before he could flounder like a fish out of water, Ronan directed him, “Get a transfusion prepped. He’s already lost too much blood.”
“On it!” Cinder made his way to the mini fridge and pulled out a bag of O negative before grabbing everything else he needed to start a transfusion. If they were smart, one of them would’ve prepared this beforehand. Alas, he did it now, connecting tubing and hanging the bag up next to the IV fluids. He then searched for a vein. Thankfully, with the Victor’s blood pressure rising, it was easier to find one than when he first arrived onto the hovercraft. Once the blood started moving, Cinder let out a sigh of relief. Things were beginning to look up.
Now that the Victor’s vitals were creeping towards stable, he didn’t know what else he could do. Anise watched the teen’s stats, and there certainly wasn’t enough room in their cramped area for him to watch Ronan and Kandid try and stop the patient from bleeding out.
As if sensing that Cinder was adrift, Ronan called out to him. “Find out when we’ll reach the hospital.”
“Yes, sir.” Cinder went over to the cockpit to find out more information. They were already passing over the outer reaches of the sprawling Capitol. He didn’t think it would be too much longer.
“Excuse me, how long until we reach the hospital?”
“ETA is two minutes. They’ll have a team waiting for us on the roof,” the one on the left replied.
“Thank you.” Cinder quickly went back to the group. “We should reach the hospital in two minutes. They have a trauma team waiting for us on the roof.”
“Wonderful. Anise, how are his vitals?” Ronan asked.
“Better than when he first arrived, but still not great. Is there anything we can do to raise his blood pressure?”
“The one end of the patient’s severed vein is very elusive. I haven’t been able to find it. Kandid, pack the wound so he doesn’t bleed out during the transfer. I refuse to have a Victor die on my watch.”
“Yes, Ronan.” Kandid began doing as Ronan asked.
“Cinder, I want you to make sure everything that needs to go with the patient is ready to go and can easily move with the bed.”
“Of course.” Cinder began scanning for what needed to be transferred with the Victor. Everything was already on or attached to the bed, so he took the time to really study the teen’s face. He hadn’t really paid attention to this year’s Games. Knowing he would be triaging the Victor, he didn’t want to know anything about them. He wanted to treat them like any other person, and knowing how many siblings they have or who they killed in the arena were unnecessary facts, in his opinion.
He felt the almost unnoticeable shift of the hovercraft. They were descending! Ronan felt it too. “Anise, watch the vitals. Kandid and Cinder, you push the bed and hand him off to the other doctors. I’ll give them a status update and explain what we’ve done.”
“Yes, sir!” they chorused.
The doors started opening before they completely landed on the roof. Ronan exited first, to explain what they did so far. Kandid and Cinder raced to greet the other doctors. And Anise brought up the rear, eyes glued to the teen’s vitals. They passed the Victor off to the other team like he was a baton in a relay. They quickly disappeared with the patient into the hospital, leaving the first medics on the roof.
“That was quite the end to this year’s Games,” Kandid said, wiping sweat off his brow with the back of his hand.
“I don’t think anyone will forget it in quite a long time,” Anise replied.
Ronan returned to the group. “Great job, everyone! You all did a wonderful job stabilizing Mr. Weasley.”
“Do you think he’ll make it?” Cinder heard himself ask.
“If he doesn't, at least it won’t be our fault.” Ronan blasély stated. The others appeared shocked, but were taken out of it when Ronan clapped his hands. “C’mon now, let’s head back to the Game Makers. We need to debrief.”