Part 1: The Crash Landing
Chapter 1: The Quiet Burial
The late-night air outside St. Jude’s Medical Centerwas thick with the promise of rain, mirroring the cold weight that settled on Avery Brooks’ shoulders. She punched out on the time clock, the harsh mechanical clack echoing the finality of her shift. Her exhaustion was a visible thing, a deep slump that her cheap, worn-out jacket couldn’t conceal. She didn’t look like a trauma expert; she looked like someone the world had forgotten.
“Just a mediocre nurse, as always.”
The snicker came from her colleague, a voice dripping with dismissive contempt. Avery pulled her jacket tighter, accustomed to the casual cruelty that masked the secret she guarded—her true identity. She was an Emergency Room nurse, twenty-nine years old, with a gentle, soft-spoken demeanor that she cultivated like camouflage. She avoided eye contact, kept her head down, and never volunteered for the high-profile cases her peers fought over.
