The fire spread everywhere as more and more rubble fell from the half-destroyed building. Invisible hands held her and took her she didn’t know where. She tilted her face in pain and she could see remains of mutilated bodies and blood, a lot of blood, flooding everything. She wanted to scream, she wanted to vomit, but she couldn’t move. They had put a kind of mask on her and she felt powerless. Exhausted, nullified, destroyed to the depths of her soul. Only the sound of shouts and orders, cries and lamentations, managed from time to time to break through the great wall of dullness that surrounded her entire mind.

She was put into a vehicle while she thought she heard kind and comforting words, but she was unable to see who was saying them. In her eyes there was only a frozen image. That of the people who until a moment ago had been next to her, alive with her and now, now were nothing more than a vague memory desolated by a terror that she was unable to understand. Her eyes were closing, she couldn’t help it. She resigned herself to her, it was also time for her to fade away…

It wasn’t like that, when she opened her eyes she was intubated and lying on a stretcher in a kind of huge tent or carp. Around her she could sense the presence of many people, she could hear their sorrowful voices. It didn’t take long for her eyelids to become heavy again and plunge her into darkness.

Soft hands touched her arm, pulling her back from the whirlwind of terrible images and nightmares she had been engulfed in for the past two days.

‘Come on Marta, it’s time to take your first walk. It’s enough to be lazy. Your wounds are better now and we need you to get well soon so you can return home and finish recovering,’ she heard a cheerful female voice tell her.

She slowly opened her eyes, still unable to speak a word. She hadn’t done it in all the time she had been there. She tried to gesture affirmatively and allowed herself to be helped up by the nurse. She was a woman of about sixty years old, who wore her brown and gray hair tied up with a rubber band. Her face was kind, although she looked somewhat haggard. She got up from her and let her guide her through the rows of wounded. There must have been about thirty people in that store next to her. Some were sleeping or unconscious, others were crying out for help to alleviate their pain. There were many who had suffered the loss of a limb. She couldn’t help but shudder at the memories they brought back to her. She wanted to look down so she wouldn’t see anything else.

‘You are a lucky girl, soon your wounds will heal and you will be able to get your life back. Come on, let’s go outside, I want you to see the sun. Today, despite the smoke and ash, it’s going to be a great day. You’ll see how it encourages you,’ the woman pulled her.

Marta did not understand how she could have that spirit, that mood. So many people suffering around her and her smile never faded. The most surprising thing was that she was not the only one. The men and women who were treating the convalescents couldn’t stop smiling and saying words of encouragement to the patients. How could they do it after the monstrous tragedy they had all experienced. When she went outside she could see how her tent was just one of many. She could see many people going from one place to another through the alleys of that improvised city. She believed that she was on the esplanade where the April Fair of Seville normally took place, between the neighborhoods of Los Remedios and Tablada. In the sky she could see planes flying and helicopters of all types flying around the city.

‘I know, this has nothing to do with the streets decorated with lanterns and all the booths at the Fair, but there is life, Marta. Let’s walk a little, you’ll see how you start to feel stronger.’ The nurse encouraged her again.

She followed her slowly, her legs still hurting from the various injuries she had received in Los Viajeros explosion. She had been one of the luckiest, only minor scratches and a fairly large cut on her back. She had lost a lot of blood but they were able to catch her in time. Apart from that, no organs or body joints had been affected. She had been told that as soon as she got better, a psychologist would visit her, but she just wanted to go home and hide in the deepest corner she could find.

She saw people active, working non-stop, trying to encourage others and she could only feel ashamed. The words she had said to Luis and the others still hammered in her head. How could she have said something so horrible right before most of them died. The reality was that she had no idea what had happened to them. She hadn’t even been able to see her parents yet, although they had told her that they had been notified of her location and status. Instead, she saw that nurse helping her, all the people around her working hard day and night without sleeping. And all this knowing that most of them were volunteers.

She stopped, pulling on the nurse’s hand. They were near the beginning of the Puente de las Delicias. Dozens of soldiers and engineers were busily working with machines to remove debris and place a new temporary bridge over the ruins of the old one. The nurse looked at her questioningly.

‘Why do you do this?’ The words came out of Marta’s mouth without her realizing it.
‘Why do we do what?’ She responded without understanding.
‘How can you be here helping us without losing your smile, your strength, your desire to fight?’ Tears began to slide down her cheeks.

The nurse looked at her compassionately and hugged her.

‘Oh girl, that’s human nature. It is our way of facing what has happened and hoping that we can all recover as soon as possible.’
‘But you don’t prefer to be with your family, I’m sure you had a bad time too.’
‘My little girl would want me to be here, doing exactly what I’m doing. She was also a nurse, she wanted to follow in my footsteps. You remind me a lot of her,’ she said, visibly emotional.
‘What happened?’ She asked trembling, fearing the answer.
‘She… She passed away. The same night you were hurt. While she did what she knew how to do best and the happiest it made her. Serve people who needed it.’
‘And despite loosing her, you are able to continue working, helping others. You are capable of smiling and encouraging others…’ Marta whispered almost to herself.
‘That’s how it is. It’s the only way I can keep my girl alive. Come on, let’s continue, I’m sure these army guys are going to raise a lot of dust now.’ She reacted resolutely, resuming her pace while she pulled Marta’s hand.

A military excavator began to drag a pile of rubble while a huge bridge-extending truck began to roll out next to another that had already been placed over the river. Marta meekly followed the nurse while she did not stop thinking about the conversation they had had. She couldn’t understand it but suddenly, she felt that something inside her had just changed. A sensation like she had never experienced before. It was pure admiration.

She looked at the nurse and, for the first time, managed a shy smile. She returned one of her own and began to joke with her as they continued touring the extensive perimeter of the field hospital area.