The screaming. The blood. The panic. Everything goes white and my ears ring. Slowly, my vision returns and I can hear again. I stand up and begin to run away, but I don’t even know where “away” is, so I follow the others. Another flash, and I’m on the ground, debris covering my face. My tongue fumbles in my mouth, and I spit out a piece of my tooth. I regain my bearings, trying to ignore the gaping hole in my gums. I center myself before running towards the sturdiest-looking building. It has iron bars over the windows, the glass behind them intact. The door is broken open, probably by someone in a desperate attempt to escape the hell that is our home right now, but that doesn’t matter - as long as it’s safe.

Government vehicles are flipped on their sides, blocking my view of the door as I run. Helicopters still hover above me, waiting on orders to bomb - again. I get to the sidewalk, or what used to be a sidewalk, closest to the door when I hear a shrill scream come from behind me.

“What is that thing?!”

I hesitate. I’m almost there. I could reach out and grab the doorknob, open the door, and leave everything behind. I know it’s a temporary solution, but I could catch my breath and tend to my wounds before I have to find out what that ‘thing’ is.

My hesitation is short lived. I hear an awful squelching noise followed by a low growl. It’s close, but I can still make it inside. It isn’t until the same woman screams again that I decide to turn around and witness the horrifying sight. The woman is no longer there, and what took her place is the thing nightmares are made of.

All I can do is gasp before another flash takes over my sight and I’m on the ground again. This time, I stay there, wrapped in the fetal position. Either the bombs will take me or this creature will. I choose the bombs.

Two more explosions ring out, one so close to me that I can feel the heat melting my skin through my tattered clothes. I remain still and silent, hoping and praying that I won’t have to see that ‘thing’ again.

When I open my eyes, I’m facing the building I was heading to. I look around, examining the new craters in the cement from the most recent bombs. I still can’t hear - I stopped being able to after the second drop. I slowly reach down to touch my legs to make sure they’re still there, but I’m met with a searing, unbearable pain instead. I let out a scream, but I quickly quiet myself in hopes that I’ll remain unnoticed. I’m honestly not sure if I even made a sound - I can’t hear a thing. The pain remains, and I realize I have to move now before it takes over my body completely. I still have adrenaline coursing through me, but the longer I lay here, the less I’ll have to get me from point A to point B without collapsing.

I use my blackened arms to hoist myself out of the crater that was dug for me. I get to a surface resembling cement, and begin clawing my way out of the still-warm hole. All of the sudden, the earth quakes beneath me.

I turn to look at what caused it, thinking maybe a building collapsed, and my body betrays me. I completely freeze, unable to move. I can’t hear, but I’m assuming the squelching noise that I heard before is happening again, only closer. I can see, but I wish I couldn’t. The bombs didn’t take me, but I wish they had. All I can do is pray.