Another trauma victim was wheeled through the doors of Cook County General as Kerry rushed to treat the victim on the way to Trauma 1.

Mark was just about to take his lunch, when the radio on the admit desk crackled.

"ER," Randi answered.

"We've got a 5 car pileup on the 154 freeway!" shouted the paramedic at the other end, "5 majors, and 7 minors coming your way! And we need a ride-a-long on the Medivac chopper!"

"I'll take it," Mark volunteered.

"We're sending a doctor down there now," Randi replied, "but we can only take 3 majors."

"County," said the paramedic, "North side is already booked with another accident."

Mark grabbed his jacket before heading for the roof. Once on the roof, he discovered that it was pouring outside. Rain pelted down relentlessly. Mark pulled his jacket tighter around him as he boarded the awaiting chopper.

As Mark hopped off the helicopter, a horrific scene laid before his eyes.

"One car skidded out of control on the wet ground, when it happened," the driver of the helicopter had explained on the way to the scene, "then one thing led to another."

A small white compact car stood facing the side of the road. A mini-van had collided into the driver's seat. The small car was a crumpled heap of metal, and the mini-van's hood was damaged beyond repair. Just to the left of the mini-van, a car had swerved to the left, smashing into the guardrail. The truck behind it slammed into the back of the car. Behind the mini-van, a family car had crashed head-on into the back of the mini-van.

Mark headed for the compact car, where a little girl was trapped in the car seat.

"Mommie!" the girl screamed out, as Mark started to talk to her.

"Its okay," he soothed, as she turned her face towards him, "I'm Dr. Greene, and I'm here to help you."

"It hurts," the girl cried, tears streaming from her eyes, "where's my Mommie?"

Mark looked over to the driver's seat, where a badly injured woman met his sight. Paramedics were at her side, trying desperately to get her out with the Jaws of Life and treating her injuries from the other side of the car at the same time. The woman was not conscious.

"It's okay," Mark repeated, "you Mom has people helping her right now, and I'm going to help you. What's your name?" As he tried to comfort the child, Mark pulled on gloves and began to assess the girl's injuries.

"A-a-amy-y," the girl stammered.

After stabilizing the young girl, Mark took off his jacket and put it on the girl as she was put on a gurney and rolled into an ambulance.

Looking towards the mini-van, Mark spotted another victim. He raced across the freeway with just hospital scrubs and a thin shirt to protect him from the rain. Suddenly, an SUV roared to life and began barreling into the road of crumpled cars. One minute, the giant vehicle was sitting among the cars that were backed up behind the sectioned off accident scene, and the next, it tore down the highway. In the blink of an eye, everything changed for Mark Greene.

As Mark was running across the freeway, the SUV slammed into him. The man driving the SUV hesitated momentarily before stomping on the gas yet again, as Mark's body disappeared underneath the monstrous car. Seconds after the SUV hit Mark, it rolled over him. Mark's head snapped back, slamming onto the pavement. The SUV swerved left and right to avoid police whom had just witnessed a hit and run.

Mark felt pain unlike anything he had ever felt before. He felt as if knives were tearing into his side, stabbing so deep, that he could barely breathe. He could tell that his left arm was broken, because moving it just slightly forced merciless pain to arise. His chest had also taken the blunt force of the blow, and it was now soaked in blood. Mark laid face up on the pavement, unable to move, wincing from the agonizing pain. Rain soaked his entire body, making the wind beat his wounds with a sharp, stinging cold.

A paramedic rushed over to Mark. She cringed as she saw his beaten body. Mark's chest was covered in blood, right side of his face had a long bloody scar running down the side, his feet were twisted around each other in an unnatural way, and pools of blood had started to collect around his feet, ribs, and head.

"Doctor..," the paramedic paused, not knowing Mark's name.

Mark tried to answer, but as when he tried to speak, nothing came out. He panicked, trying to say his name, but still his voice would not come. Panicking, Mark breathed harder, but the pain in his lungs forced him to stop trying.

"I'm Wendy Ranks," she introduced herself while attending to Mark, "I'm from North Valley Presbyterian, but we're going to send you to County."

Wendy attached a C-collar to Mark's neck and immediately called for assistance.

"Fisher!" she called out, "I need some help here!"

Fisher, another EMT rushed over.

"He can't speak," Wendy explained.

Fisher looked at Mark's bloody chest.

"No wonder he can't," he commented, "look at the trauma to his chest."

As Mark stared up at the sky, he blinked against the pelting rain. Suddenly a sharp pain stabbed him in the side. Mark winced and screamed in pain, only a strangled gasp for air came out.

"He has some rib fractures," Wendy commented, talking to the paramedic whom she had just called.

"No kidding," Mark thought.

An umbrella was held over Mark's head as another paramedic rushed over with a backboard in hand. Mark struggled to ask the many questions in his head.

" What happened? Can someone get my glasses? Who's that holding the umbrella?" these questions swirled in Mark's mind, but soon, all he could think about was the pain. Mark tried to speak again, but his shaky, raspy breath made breathing unbearable. He began to panic, for the shallow, struggled breath augmented the pain in his side, feet, and head. All the while, paramedics were easing him onto the backboard.

"Dr. Greene," a paramedic suddenly came to view, looking into Mark's eyes, "we're going to get you into the Medivac chopper."

As Mark was lifted onto a gurney, he could hear several unfamiliar voices hovering about him.

" Alert County ," shouted one voice, "tell them we have another major on the way!"

As Mark was being rolled to the chopper, he lost consciousness.

"ER," Randi answered the radio's ring.

"County, we have another major coming your way."

"What?" Randi retorted, looking at the scene around her. Kerry was receiving the bullet of the last trauma patient being wheeled though the emergency doors. Carter was busy in Trauma 2 assessing a woman's injuries, Jing-Mei was helping Anspaugh rush a patient to surgery, Kovac was in Exam 2 attending to a child, and Malucci was giving a patient a hard time in the suture room.

"We can't take any more traumas!" she cried, "we're backed up here! We're closed to traumas!"

"You don't understand," the voice on the other end said in desperation, "it's…crackle...buzz"

Randi slapped the side of the radio as static loudly interrupted the voice. "What?" she said, almost shouting, "what did you say?" After several failed attempts to get a coherent sentence from the radio, Randi hung up the receiver.

She walked briskly down to the halls to where Kerry was criking a victim, announcing that another major was on it's way.

"Didn't you tell them 'no'?" Kerry cried, not taking her eyes off her patient.

"I did," Randi answered, "but they didn't listen."

"Yeah, well next time, make them listen!"

Randi sighed as she left the room in a huff.

As Benton was walking down the halls, his pager beeped, chirping its familiar tone. Taking a quick look at the number, he turned around and headed for the stairs leading to the roof. The Medivac chopper was coming in for a landing as Elizabeth and a nurse held onto a clean gurney. Benton nodded a hello towards Elizabeth as the two braced themselves against the pouring rain. Once Mark was lifted onto the gurney, Benton and Elizabeth recognized the bloody face right away.

"MARK?" both cried simultaneously.

"Mark, what happened," Benton cried, as he stared at his extensive injuries.

Tears began to well up in Elizabeth 's face the minute she saw her fiancee.

"Mark," she blurted out, craning her neck so that he could see her face, "Can you speak? Say something!" Elizabeth 's now shaky hands fumbled around as she clasped her hands around Mark's arm. Being careful not to move it, she stroked his arm and then his forehead, trying to ease at least some of the fear that was apparent in his eyes.

Mark struggled to speak, desperately trying to utter a mere sound, but the excruciating pain in his lungs forced yet another shallow breath to jump down his throat. Realizing they were standing still, Benton pulled the gurney alongside him as he screamed out,

"Let's move people!"

In the ER, most of the chaos had finally calmed down.

"Randi," Kerry called, "I need to talk to you."

Randi rolled her eyes before following Kerry down the hall. She could feel another lecture coming on.

"Dr. Weaver," she pleaded, "I told them we were booked, but they didn't listen. Plus, there was static…"

"You need to tell them to take the traumas up to Mercy if North Western is busy!" Kerry interrupted, "We can't have major trauma patients waiting in line in triage, but that's what'll happen if you don't tell them that we are closed to traumas."

"So, what? You want the patients to wait, bleeding in the streets, until a hospital is ready or want to take them?!"

"Kerry!" shouted Benton .

"Not now," Kerry admonished, not looking in his direction.

"What the hell do you mean 'not now'? Come to Trauma 2! Mark's been hit!"

Benton and Elizabeth sped past the two, shoving them aside.

Kerry and Randi stared in shock at the victim on the gurney. Blood was everywhere, soaking the gurney, but it was the familiar face that made Kerry and Randi stare at each other in shock. Running as fast as she could, Kerry rushed to Trauma 2.

A paramedic ran the bullet by Kerry, Benton, and Elizabeth. "Hit and run by an SUV. Multiple rib fractures on the left side…"

"An SUV?" repeated Benton incredulously.

"No breath sounds on the left! And we have to intubate!" shouted Elizabeth , grabbing the intubation tray.

"… loss of consciousness, fractured ankle, fractures of the left arm and possible concussion… "

Elizabeth intubated Mark and began bagging him. All the while, she struggled not to blink out the tears that were stinging her eyes.

As the paramedic left the room, Carter entered.

"What've we got?"

"MARK?" Carter cried out recognizing the figure on the gurney. Carter put on his stethoscope and listened to Mark's breathing.

"Breath sounds absent on the left."

"We know that, Carter!" shouted Benton .

"We need a chest tube," Kerry said.

"BP's 70 over 50. Get a CBC, type and cross 4 units, and dip a urine," Carter called out quickly.

As Carter helped Kerry insert a chest tube though Mark's chest, Yosh burst into the room.

"I heard what happened," he explained, his usually calm voice now shaky, "anything I can do to help?"

"Yes," Kerry said not looking up, "get 4 units of … "

"A positive," Elizabeth finished.

"I… I think we should type and cross," Kery said gently, "just to make sure."

Elizabeth gave a slight nod.

After Benton type and crossed Mark's blood, confirming his A positive blood, Yosh raced out of the room to retrieve the untis. Kerry looked straight into Mark's unresponsive eyes with the help of a small light.

"Pupils are round and sluggish, possibly hyphema! Get a cross-table c-spine, chest and pelvis."

"Carter, call CT!" Kerry commanded Carter as they finished inserting the chest tube.

Carter grabbed the hospital receiver, dialed, and shouted into the phone:

"Clear CT right now, please! We have a docto… I mean, trauma patient on his way."

Benton was surveying the severity of the blow to Mark's ribs and ankle while Elizabeth was applying pressure to Mark's head to try and stop the bleeding.

Yosh returned to the Trauma room armed with 5 units of blood. The entryway was blocked by doctors, nurses and staff peering into the room. Yosh shoved his way through.

"Out of the way, please!"

Once in the room, Yosh began administering the blood to Mark.

Suddenly, the portable heart monitor Mark was hooked onto, screeched in alarm. The slow, shaky beeps sped up, and in a split second, the monitor howled out a long, successive tone. Mark's eyes rolled to the back of his head.

"Oh, God!" Benton cried out, "He's crashing!"

Benton grabbed the paddles off the crash cart.

"Charge to 200!"

Haleh charged the paddles as Elizabeth stared down at Mark, hands shaking. Carter, Kerry, Elizabeth and Yosh held their hands up as Benton placed the paddles on Mark's chest.

"CLEAR!"