Chapter 1: Different Sides of the Same Coin

Zack had not even finished drinking his coffee when his phone started buzzing. When he read the message, it was from one of the Nurses from the hospital where he worked. It was a hospital-wide alert.

[Nurse Alessandra Oh]

"Multiple trauma victims inbound. Possible large-scale incident. All available personnel report to ER ASAP."

He is a resident trauma doctor, and he was used to seeing people with life-threatening injuries. Femurs shattered into fragments, bones pierced into the skin, third-degree burns, and many other more. His stomach tightened, a chill running down his spine. Despite all the cases he has handled, "large-scale incidents" was a phrase that always set him on edge.

He grabbed his keys, automatically checking his bag for his stethoscope and other essentials. The familiar mantra echoed in his mind: "Prepare for the worst and hope for the best." He quickly glanced at the morning news on the TV about unusual atmospheric disturbances. He turned the TV off, brushed it off, and bolted out the door. The hospital was only a few minutes from his apartment, but he knew every second counts in such situations.

Zack pressed harder on the gas pedal, weaving through the thinning morning traffic. The dim sky and the fleeing birds were unsettling, a scene from an apocalypse movie. He tried to rationalize it – maybe it was just a strange weather pattern, a localized phenomenon. But the image of the text message kept flashing in his mind: "Large-scale incident." That wasn't the weather. That was something far worse. He glanced at the rearview mirror. Even the cars behind him seemed to be moving with a newfound urgency, headlights blazing despite the dim daylight. A knot tightened in his stomach. This wasn't just a bad day; something was profoundly wrong.

He pulled into Northwood Medical Center's parking lot, tires screeching. He quickly grabbed his ID and ran to the ER. While putting on his PPE, he heard a siren, and three ambulances pulled over at the Emergency Department Entrance.

A middle-aged man with a metal pierced through his chest, blood soaking his shirt, was on a stretcher, wheeled in first.

A pregnant woman, unconscious, her face pale.

And finally, a child… Zack's heart sank. It reminded him of his brother.  

After seeing the child, he was stiff for a second. He forced the memory down. Not now. This child needed him.

He blinked it away, forcing himself back into the present. He pushed past the initial shock and moved toward the child, his professional instincts kicking in. The cries of the paramedics snapped him back to attention, "His BP is dropping; he lost a lot of blood!" while on top of the child doing the CPR.

"We need a crash cart!" Zack yelled. He pushed the gurney with the child in it and hurried up to the Resuscitating Room of the ER.

A nurse showed up pushing the crash cart while catching her breath.

"Nurse, switch with the paramedic and continue the CPR," he told the nurse, and she immediately did.

"How many cycles of CPR have you done? And how much epinephrine did you push?" He asked the paramedic while beginning bag-mask ventilation.

"This was the first cycle. He was fine when we found him, but he was already disoriented, and on the way here, his blood pressure started dropping, and he was not responding, so we started CPR," the paramedic said in between breaths.

The other nurse attached him to the defibrillator. "He is on V-fib," she said

"Stop CPR and charge to 60; everybody clear?" Zack yelled at the team.

"Clear!" everybody replied. The shock was given. The nurse checked for a heartbeat and looked at the monitor.

"We got a heartbeat!" the nurse exclaimed. A wave of relief washed over Zack, a brief respite in the storm. He quickly assessed the child, checking his pupils and breathing. "Good work, everyone. Let's get him stabilized." Keep monitoring his vitals. Please get me a pediatric surgeon, stat. And page the blood bank – we will need more O-negative."

He glanced around the crowded room, already overflowing with patients. Resources were stretched thin, and more were coming in every minute. He knew this was just the beginning of a long, grueling shift. The child's heartbeat was a victory but a fragile one. They still had a long way to go.

Even as they worked to secure the child's airway and insert an IV, another gurney was being wheeled into the resuscitating room. A young woman, covered in debris, her eyes wide with terror. "Doctor, she's got multiple lacerations and a possible head injury!" a paramedic shouted. Zack took a deep breath. The fight was far from over.

While Zack battled to save lives in the sterile chaos of the ER, another human was struggling and battling with her own.

—

Arya, cornered in her home, an online streamer known in the gaming community, lived in the world of pixels and codes. Her world revolved around playing games on her computer 24/7, even though she graduated in Software Engineering at the top of her class.

While sipping coffee on her cluttered desk, she tried playing the game she developed. It was her project, a fantasy RPG she had worked on for two years since graduating. Instead of finding a job that requires her to work 8-5, she decided to be her boss and create something worthwhile without pressure and answering anyone.

However, today, it was mocking her; there was a system bug she thought she had fixed months ago. The game's main character runs in circles, and whatever control she pushes, nothing is happening.

"Seriously?!" she muttered angrily, then threw her gaming console onto the bed. This was supposed to be her masterpiece, her big break, but it is a mess, and now, she is back to square one.

Arya lay on her bed and picked up her phone. She started scrolling on social media and stumbled upon an article about atmospheric disturbances about an asteroid supposedly about to impact Earth.

She rolled her eyes, "Another doomsday hoax," muttering to herself.

"Seriously? Who the hell fell for this kind of nonsense?" It was always the same: headlines like this, with blurred photos and tons of ads in the article. This spreads misinformation and unnecessary fear. She was more annoyed than worried.

She scrolled past it, hovering through the report button. This is another attempt to go viral and grab attention from the crowded online space.

The door creaked open, and Arya didn't need to look up to know who it was. Her brother's footsteps were heavy, deliberate, like he was preparing for another lecture.

"Arya," he began, his voice tinged with frustration. "You can't keep doing this. Two years, and what do you have to show for it? A game that doesn't even work?"

She clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms. "It's not just a game," she snapped, spinning her chair to face him. "It's my project. My career. And it's almost ready."

He crossed his arms, his expression a mix of concern and exasperation. "Almost ready? Arya, you've been saying that for months. When are you going to face reality?"

She turned back to her monitors, the lines of code blurring before her eyes. "Reality is what I'm building," she muttered. "You wouldn't understand."

Her brother sighed, the sound heavy with unspoken words. "I just don't want you to waste your life chasing a dream that might never happen."

—

Thousands of miles away from Northwood, there is another human, a soldier named Jake, fighting for his life.