<strong>Sam Cole -- Ambulance Bay 2 -- The agony of being (re)born</strong><br/><br/>Pain. Lots of it. Later, if Samantha was asked to describe what was going through her mind in the instant her hands touched the man's flesh, that would be her answer. It felt as if her entire body had been dipped in burning shards of broken glass, and it was only getting started. She could feel wounds opening in her skin, muscle and deep tissue splitting apart under the merciless caress of nonexistent razorblades. The scent of brimstone and burning flesh exploded in her nostrils, and her vision went cloudy as her brain dimly registered the sensation of flames climbing lazily all over her form. Hysterical sobs wracked Sam's body, and she wanted nothing on earth more than to curl up into a little ball and pray for the pain to end.<br/><br/>But she couldn't tear her hands away.<br/><br/>Tears fell free as rain, and her voice strained with horrific screams as the pain kept coming. Sam was certain she wouldn't, couldn't survive, that the weight of the agony would grind her into dust and leave her nothing but a memory. Flashes of light strobed in her vision, blues and reds and greens that danced and spun in sickly dizzying patterns. Were the ambulance's lights on? She could swear she heard heavy bootsteps. And gasoline, and melted rubber. And the smell-taste of copper, heavy and cloying. Out of a distant memory, she heard men's voices, mumbled shouts and tightly suppressed panic.<br/><br/>"<em>Hang on, Sam</em>!" "<em>We're losing her, she's got--</em>" Needles piercing skin, plastic on her lips. "<em>Get that spine board over here!</em>" "<em>Sam, can you hear me? You're--</em>" Jostled and bounced, hurts so much. "<em>She's not going to make it, her injuries are--</em>" "<em>Goddamned drunk driver, if he lives I'm gonna--</em>" "<em>She's crashing, get the cart!</em>" Jolt after jolt, heart feels so tired. "<em>We lost her. I'm calling it; 3:22..</em>."<br/><br/>The light continued to shine, brighter and warmer than before. The pain was still terrifying, a ferocious beast that raged and roared and gnashed its teeth, but now it was growing further and further away on the opposite side of an expanding gulf.<br/><br/>Knowledge flooded into Sam's thoughts. Memories. How her muscles had ached that night, how she'd strained to help lift an overweight man out of the wreckage of his car. How her partner had screamed for her to get out of the way, horror thickening his voice in inhuman ways. The feeling of steel and plastic slamming against her hip, the pain of the left side of her skeleton crumbling like a house of cards under a jackhammer. And the final, blessed cessation of pain that saw her slip into darkness as warm and safe as her mother's womb.<br/><br/>And then she woke up here, in this mock-place, and went on as if nothing happened. But it did. It had all happened, all the things she'd half-remembered, the lost memories so faint they were wisps and smoke. And now she knew, she knew everything her life her home her brother her death but oh God the pain had flown across the canyon and it was tearing into her again and--<br/><br/>'<em><strong>Samantha</strong></em>.'<br/><br/>What?<br/><br/>'<em><strong>Everything is going to be all right, Samantha</strong></em>.'<br/><br/>But it hurts, it hurts so much!<br/><br/>'<em><strong>I know, little one. I know. But I promise, Samantha. You are going to live through this</strong></em>.'<br/><br/>Why...who are you?<br/><br/>'<em><strong>You know who I am, my child. You have always known. You are simply hearing me for the first time</strong></em>.'<br/><br/>The light finally faded away, and Sam's palms released their preternatural grip on the man's nearly healed body. She fell back and collapsed onto the ambulance bench, her body jerking and spasming as the pain continued to roll over her. Through her tears, she saw the black-haired woman-<br/><br/>-<span class="bbc_u"><em>angel</em></span>-<br/><br/>and attempted to reach out to her, sobbing pitifully. Her voice was cracked and pathetically weak as she whimpered softly.<br/><br/>"<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 8pt;">...please...h-help me...</span>?"