Of the primary emotions fear is the one that bears most directly on survival. Children show fear. Adults try not to maybe because it's shameful or in some circumstances dangerous. The fear response is automatic though and your body runs through its reflexes whether you want it to or not.
With the help of a friend I got father into a wagon when the crowd had gone. I held his head in my lap during the ride home. I believed he was mortally wounded. He had been stabbed down through the kidneys leaving an ugly wound.