Tamara had dreams that were stranger than anything she had experienced before. They felt so real that it was almost painful for her to close her eyes and give herself over to the thought of sleep. When she finally closed her eyes on that terrible day, she felt that her sleep was hunting for her, chasing her down in the waking world so that she could finally go to sleep and experience what was waiting for her. It was like being chased by a rabid dog that wouldn’t stop until it caught her.
So when she did finally go to sleep, her dreams were filled with fire and pain, death, and emptiness. She pictured weeping children in the darkness, calling for their mothers and their fathers while Tamara could see the bodies of their parents spread out across the gloom. They were torn apart, bloodied, a
