He opened his eyes, or were his eyes already opened?  He was looking down, lying atop the body of the soldier that had just shot him, that had just killed him?  He was amid shards of broken glass, remnants of the doorway into the dormitories.  The soldier’s body was mauled; dark blood was already seeping into the carpet.  Sam couldn’t move his head to look down at the rest of the corpse beneath him.  If he did, he would have seen the gaping wound that was the man’s stomach.

What was this sensation?  He could not physically move his head; he couldn’t even look down at his own body, he felt… detached, but he began to realize a burning pain.  He wanted to scream, but it wouldn’t come.

***
If he could have stood up, and looked down the exposed hallway, he might have noticed the green eyes staring back.  Behind those glowing eyes loomed the gasmask of a black uniformed soldier.  As he was surveying the scene, another soldier moved up next to him.  The first one flicked of his night vision goggles and said, “God damnit, Jenkins is dead.”

The other soldier responded, the gas mask made his voice sound almost robotic, “He was careless.”  He shook his armored head.  “Well, we know how do finish this, tell Roberts to bring those incendiaries up.”

***
Back amid the gored body, Sam stirred, he was standing up, but he didn’t feel it, only the constant searing agony, what was this?  He yelled, “Help me!” but all that came out this time was a small gurgle.

***
The soldiers down at the hallway's end had been joined by the one they called Roberts.  He carried a larger weapon that was capable of launching incendiary grenades, explosives that would ignite the target.  He looked at the creature standing atop the mutilated body of his fallen comrade.

That thing, that monster, was indescribable in words.  The extremities had shrunk, exposing white bone that jutted at odd angles through the grayed, worn skin.  Its stomach had torn open to expose the rib cage.  A throbbing red membrane was partially extended through the lower bones.  The tattered remains of clothing clung loosely around the neck area, where its once human head now lay limply to the side, its eyes frozen in their sockets.  The jaw was partially open, seeping gray liquid that mixed in with the blood below.

Then it screamed, that noise that chilled every man watching it.

***
Sam had noticed the soldiers’ watching him, he was screaming for them to help, to end this torture, yet he heard that noise those monsters made; only this time, he took comfort in it.  It felt… right.  It was only when the sound was complete that Sam could see his reflection in the remaining part of the glass door.

***
Again, that monstrosity wailed!  Roberts had enough, his ears were already throbbing.  Slowly, he raised the grenade launcher and pulled the trigger sending a grenade flying down the hallway to answer the monster’s screams.

***
Sam saw the object, but his body wouldn’t react, all that he felt was that- the grenade found its target, sending the entirety of the room up in flames.