Las Vegas (CNN) Christine Caria was in a grocery store buying chocolate-covered strawberries for her husband on Valentine's Day when it happened.

A news alert popped up on her phone.

There was another mass shooting, this one at a school called Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida.

More than 2,000 miles away, Caria panicked.

She ran to the store bathroom and locked herself inside.

"I started vomiting. I was on the floor in a fetal position for two hours," Caria says.

It is a response that has happened more times than she wishes.

Christine Caria was trampled in the Las Vegas massacre, and feels crushed with every new attack.

Caria survived the Las Vegas massacre of October 1, the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

And while fear and memories can crush her, she has also found a voice and a purpose, much like the Parkland students have since their tragedy two weeks ago.

"After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Pulse, I didn't get involved," Caria said. "When you see someone shot in the head right in front of you, you get involved."

Caria stepped up to become president of the Las Vegas chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

So does Heather Gooze, a bartender at the country music festival that was targeted. Gooze got a call from her mother about the shooting in Parkland. She turned on the news, and what she saw was gut-wrenching. Another mass shooting, yet another one.

"I was numb and sad. I knew exactly what they were going through. You never think it's gonna happen to you ... the mental and emotional wounds last a lifetime."

Turning trauma into fuel

Neither woman would call herself a victim. Each styles herself as a warrior who turns trauma into fuel. And while they come from different places, they look to find common ground in stopping gun attacks. That includes banning bump stocks -- the accessory that essentially turns a semi-automatic into an automatic weapon. It's what the Las Vegas shooter used to hit the maximum number of people in the shortest amount of time.

It extends to looking at taking assault-style rifles out of the civilian world, though Gooze, who spoke in front of Congress after the attack, says she is not in favor of just taking guns away.

Heather Gooze, a survivor of the Las Vegas massacre, struggles to marry her support for the Second Amendment with finding a way to stop gun violence.

"I'm very pro-Second Amendment, I love guns, I have no problems with shooting them," she says.

A man with guns caused the carnage that left her sitting on the ground one Sunday night, covered in the blood of strangers. But it was never a simple solution to her to just ban guns.

Trying to find a way forward is still so complex for her that it drives her to tears.

For now, she holds to the idea that when guns are used as killing machines, something has to change.

Gooze and Caria are inspired by the teens who survived the latest massacre and believe they can be a flashpoint for change. But as they give a little advice, they also know the psychological trap doors that lie ahead.

"Don't be afraid to speak your truth whether people like it or not," Gooze offers to the Parkland students. "There's going to be bad days. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. Don't let people tell you to get over it. Don't let people tell you that they're tired of hearing you talk about it."

She knows that comes with a price. She's lost a long-time friend over her stance on gun violence prevention. She has also been "destroyed" online for expressing her views.

Carnage, on repeat

As the students who feel able go back to school on Wednesday, Caria and Gooze will be suiting up themselves for the daily battle they face just to keep going. All the while knowing they could be sent back to the worst night of their lives by a text or news alert.

"Parkland flattened me for a couple of days," Caria says. "It was bad."

Hearing how students and teachers were attacked took her back to the Route 91 music festival when bullets rained down.

Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival Debris is scattered on the ground Monday, October 2, at the site of a country music festival held this past weekend in Las Vegas. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds were injured Sunday when a gunman opened fire on the crowd. Police said the gunman fired from the Mandalay Bay hotel, several hundred feet southwest of the concert grounds. It is the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. Hide Caption 1 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival Broken windows of the Mandalay Bay are seen early in Las Vegas on Monday. Police said the gunman fired on the crowd from the 32nd floor of the hotel. Hide Caption 2 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival People cross a street near the Las Vegas Strip just after sunrise on Monday. Thousands were attending the music festival, Route 91 Harvest, when the shooting started. Hide Caption 3 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival People embrace outside the Thomas & Mack Center after the shooting. Hide Caption 4 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival Police arrive at the Sands Corporation plane hangar where some people ran to safety after the shooting. Hide Caption 5 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival A woman cries while hiding inside the Sands Corporation plane hangar. Hide Caption 6 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival Concertgoers dive over a fence to take cover from gunfire on Sunday night. Hide Caption 7 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival Police take position outside the Mandalay Bay. Hide Caption 8 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival A man lays on top of a woman as others flee the festival grounds. The woman reportedly got up from the scene. Hide Caption 9 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival Hide Caption 10 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival People are seen on the ground after the gunman opened fire. Hide Caption 11 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival People run from the festival grounds. Hide Caption 12 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival A woman is moved outside the Las Vegas Tropicana resort. Multiple victims were being transported to hospitals in the aftermath of the shooting. Hide Caption 13 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival People are searched by police at the Tropicana. Hide Caption 14 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival An ambulance leaves the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. Hide Caption 15 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival A man in a wheelchair is evacuated from the festival after gunfire was heard. Hide Caption 16 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival Victims of the shooting are tended to in the street. Hide Caption 17 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival Concertgoers help an injured person at the scene. Hide Caption 18 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival People gather around a victim outside the festival grounds. Hide Caption 19 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival A couple huddles after shots rang out at the festival. Hide Caption 20 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival An injured woman is helped at the Tropicana. Hide Caption 21 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival Police and emergency responders gather at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. Hide Caption 22 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival A police officer takes position behind a truck. Hide Caption 23 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival A crowd takes cover at the festival grounds. Hide Caption 24 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival Police officers advise people to take cover in the wake of the shooting. Hide Caption 25 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival People tend to a victim at the festival grounds. Hide Caption 26 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival Police stand at the scene of the shooting. Hide Caption 27 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival A woman sits on a curb at the scene of the shooting. Hide Caption 28 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival Police are deployed to the scene. Hide Caption 29 of 30 Photos: Mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival A man makes a phone call as people run from the festival grounds. Hide Caption 30 of 30

58 people were killed and 1,273 were hurt by gunfire, falling or being crushed and other injuries.

Caria saw someone in front of her shot in the head. She tried to run but ended on the ground, trampled in the chaos.

That night, Gooze used her finger to try to stop blood coming from one man's head wound as he was rushed out of the carnage. She sat holding another man's hand as his life slipped away, staying with him for hours so he would not be nameless or alone.

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In the five months since the massacre, they've been driven back to the horror too often.

Before Parkland, it was Sutherland Springs, Texas.

Caria remembers she was getting ready to go to church herself when she learned how a gunman attacked a congregation in Sutherland Springs, killing 25 people and an unborn child.

"The one place I get to go to for comfort at a church, I'm not safe," Caria remembers thinking. "So I'm in bed after Sutherland Springs. I'm in bed for two weeks. Two weeks was my response to that."

Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting Investigators work at the scene of a mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, November 5. A man opened fire inside the small community church, killing at least 26 people. Hide Caption 1 of 15 Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting People comfort each other at a community center near the scene of the deadly shooting. Hide Caption 2 of 15 Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting Investigators work at the scene. Victims range in age from 17 months to 77 years old.

Hide Caption 3 of 15 Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting Enrique and Gabby Garcia watch investigators at the scene. Hide Caption 4 of 15 Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting Law enforcement officials gather near the First Baptist Church. The shooter was killed after a brief chase north into neighboring Guadalupe County, according Guadalupe County Sheriff's Office spokesman Robert Murphy. Hide Caption 5 of 15 Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting A man wipes his eyes after the shooting. Hide Caption 6 of 15 Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting Flags are lowered to half staff at First Baptist Church following the shooting. Hide Caption 7 of 15 Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting Law enforcement officials and forensic experts gather at the scene. Hide Caption 8 of 15 Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting Emergency personnel seal off the scene of the mass shooting. Hide Caption 9 of 15 Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting Law enforcement officers man a barricade near the church. Hide Caption 10 of 15 Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting Carrie Matula embraces a woman after the shooting. Matula said she heard the shooting from the gas station where she works across the street. Hide Caption 11 of 15 Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting Law enforcement officials work the shooting scene. Hide Caption 12 of 15 Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting A woman prays with a man after the shooting. Hide Caption 13 of 15 Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting The FBI responded to the scene of the shooting, according to Michelle Lee, spokeswoman for the FBI's San Antonio field office. Hide Caption 14 of 15 Photos: Sutherland Springs church shooting "My heart is broken," said Wilson County Commissioner Albert Gamez Jr. "We never think where it can happen, and it does happen. It doesn't matter where you're at. In a small community, real quiet and everything, and look at this, what can happen." Hide Caption 15 of 15

The trauma stalks Gooze, Caria and thousands of survivors in every aspect of their life. When they can't get out of bed. When friends stop calling. When it feels like the word "survivor" is stamped on their heads and all anyone sees. When the sun has to rise in order to fall asleep. When even a husband can't bear to hear the story told again.

That is their life now.

Caria also sees a new "normal" in America, and it's one that disgusts her.

"We're not going to get better by finding blame in this. We need to come up with solutions. We all don't want to see babies die. We don't want to go to a concert or a church and feel like we're going to get killed. We can do better than this as a nation," Caria says. "We're supposed to be the best nation in the world. Let's prove it."

When another shooting knocks her down, Caria fights hard to remind herself of a cuff bracelet she wears that says, "I will live for those who died," stamped with the date of the massacre.

Survivors of the Las Vegas massacre gather nearly five months later to support each other and throw a baby shower. They say they understand each other in ways even their families cannot.

It's hard sometimes, as it will be hard for the Parkland students. But they are not alone.

"We're here for you, we get it," Gooze says. "We understand."