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The only sound I could hear was the soft, damp echo of my footsteps, and the eerie silence that follows death as I made my way down the path before me. A narrow, school hallway lay before me. The bloodied and maimed bodies of what looked like students and teachers alike littered the classrooms as I again caught the smell of fire, blood, and smoke all around me. Light scarce, and the power of the building appeared to be fading, fast.

Once again, my visor began inexplicably flickering, the vitals and comm display on the fritz as a heavy feeling made me stop to check my surroundings. A terrifying thudding sound reverberated in my ears, causing me to tense and raise my gun, keeping at the ready, only to realize it was my heart throbbing, pounding as if trying to escape from my chest, and get away from that place.

Pressure seemed to come from all sides as I took a step. One, two, three, all clear. Four, five, six, a soft, voice like sound... Seven, eight, nine, and I could see what looked like a trick of the light. Ten, eleven, twelve... it looked like it was growing. Thirteen... and darkness. Swept off my feet with great force, I felt something dragging me backwards, from the direction I began.

A figure in front of me, a woman, standing completely nude, offered her hand. As I reached to take it, she looked at me, her hair sliding away from her face. A sense of familiarity and horror overcame me as I stared into the eye sockets of what appeared to be a living corpse. Then, all at once, she was gone, as was the force dragging me, the noise, light, everything. Gone.

Suddenly, I was laying on the floor, motionless, my breath heavy and my body screaming. As I rolled onto my back, I felt something sticky and warm. Blood. Sighing, I shook my hand as an attempt to get it off, to no avail. Standing again, I lifted my gun again, placing both hands on it. Something solid, something real, as I prepared to take my first step forward again.