Where the Sun meets the Star

3. Between Duty and Emotion

Chapter 3: Between Duty and Emotion

Dr. Amara Velasco’s POV

The second tremor hit before I could even catch my breath. The ground under my feet shuddered, sending a jolt of adrenaline through me. Instinctively, I grabbed onto the nearest solid surface—an old piece of concrete still standing after the first landslide. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic drumbeat that mirrored the growing unease in my gut. This wasn't just a disaster zone anymore; it was a ticking time bomb, and we were all trapped in its shadow.

“Amara!” Dr. Manuel Ferrara’s voice snapped me out of my daze. He was standing with Nurse Marsha, his face grim, his eyes reflecting the same fear that was gnawing at me. “We need to move now.”

He was right. We couldn’t stay here much longer. My medical team was already fraying at the edges from exhaustion, and the tremors weren’t giving us any time to recover. The thought of losing more patients, of failing to protect those who desperately needed our help, sent a wave of icy dread through me.

“Nurse Janine, Nurse Chanyeol!” I called, and they both turned toward me, their faces etched with a mixture of concern and determination. “Prepare for evacuation. Get the patients ready to move, now!”

Without hesitation, they rushed to follow my orders, their years of experience in crisis zones showing in the way they worked together, their movements fluid and practiced. Nurse Marsha, ever the professional despite her personal history with Dr. Ferrara, didn’t miss a beat as she joined them.

I couldn’t think about their complicated past right now. All that mattered was getting these people to safety. But as the earth shifted beneath us, I realized something horrifying—the main road was blocked by the landslide. We had no clear route to evacuate. Panic threatened to claw its way to the surface, but I pushed it down, forcing myself to focus.

“Sir, Santiago!” I shouted over the noise, my eyes locking onto the Captain, who was barking orders to his team. He turned toward me, his expression grim but focused, his gaze unwavering.

“We can’t go back the way we came!” I yelled. “The road’s blocked!”

Kalix’s jaw clenched, and he quickly scanned the surroundings, his mind clearly racing through possibilities. I could see him calculating the risks, the tension in his posture rising as the tremors continued.

Before I could say anything more, Kalix’s team was already on the move. The soldiers moved like a well-oiled machine—each one knowing exactly what needed to be done without being told twice. It was a stark contrast to the chaotic scene around us, and for a moment, I envied their unwavering discipline.

“We’ll clear a new route,” Kalix said, his voice steady despite the chaos. “Get your team ready to move. We don’t have much time.”

I nodded and turned back to my team, my heart pounding in my chest.

“Dr. Manuel, Marsha, Janine, Chanyeol—get the critical patients out first. We’re following the soldiers. Keep the group together, no one gets left behind.”

Dr. Ferrara nodded, his usual calm demeanor unwavering even in the face of disaster. He and Marsha exchanged a glance—brief but heavy with unspoken history—before they set to work. Janine and Chanyeol moved swiftly to assist, their close-knit bond evident in the way they coordinated with just a few words. The other nurses, their faces drawn with worry, assisted the other minor patients injured.

As Kalix’s soldiers worked to clear a new path, I stayed close to the patients, helping Nurse Janine lift an injured man onto a makeshift stretcher. The man groaned in pain, and my chest tightened. We had to get him to a proper hospital, but there was no time to dwell on the limitations of our field resources.