Midnight. I can't sleep. Elf's words keep running through my head. All praying does is give us false hope. It doesn't help at all. How do we know if there's a divine figure like God? Doesn't it seem like he's just a personification of fate and miracle? Look at the facts, Nate. There's nothing we can do anymore.

It's terrifying, but she does have a point. We really can't do anything. I was raised a Christian, and I always thought God was real, and that praying worked if He wanted to help. But now that Elf's said that, it makes me really question: Does He exist?

I roll over and look out the cracked window. There's no moon, or any stars out. The darkness makes me feel frightened. I was never one to be scared of the dark, but now, with the fight, it seems plausible that anything could be hiding.

I turn on the light and look at the ceiling, trying to convince myself that there's nothing hiding.

I hear a bang and I jump. But it's just the fighting outside. The building sways again, but it's leaning more on one side now. I don't like that. It makes me feel like we're going to fall.

Is that possible? I wonder. If the architecture can prevent it from falling when the entire base is gone, can it survive if one side is missing? How is that even possible?

As if to answer my question, the building begins to swing back the other way, throwing me off the bed. It tremors, then stills.

I pick myself off the floor slowly, afraid that any slight movement will set the building swaying again. You're being stupid, I tell myself. One movement isn't going to throw off an entire building. Especially one that's this tall.

I move slowly to the door, expecting to be thrown off my feet. I poke my head out the door. The hallway's empty.

The fighting outside is oddly silent. I pick my way to the stairwell and go down to Constance's room. I hesitate before knocking. I want to explore the trapdoor, but I'm afraid to.

My hand drops to my side. I back away from the door and go downstairs more. My leg, which I thought had fully healed, begins to throb. The building tremors again, throwing dust all over me. I stop and cough for a full minute before continuing down the stairs.

I know I've gone too far down when the building starts shaking violently nonstop. I make my way to the window and look out, and I suddenly wish I hadn't.

I'm close enough to the bottom to clearly see the Creatures in all their disgusting glory. They look like they spent time rotting at the bottom of a swamp. They're built the same way as humans, but you wouldn't think they were. The combination of their yellowish skin that clung to their skeletons, drooling, shark-like jaws, and open, bloody sores is enough to make me want to retch. But their rotting appearance isn't what sends shivers down my spine.

Out of the midst of fighting soldiers and Creatures comes a Creature dressed like a soldier. He holds a huge gun that he waves around as he yells orders. His voice is raspy and when he talks, there's a slight chattering noise. It's enough to make me want to run. And I do.

I tear my gaze from the window and make my way through the rubble before I'm spotted. I scrape up my legs but I don't care because all I care about is getting the hell upstairs. I'm up quite a few floors before I stop. I slowly sink to the floor, totally spent.  I can't go on, I have to go on...

This thought is what makes me get to my feet again. I continue climbing the stairs slowly, the only thought that's keeping me going is sleeping in my warm, soft bed. The same bed that's currently covered in dust and dirt.

My legs give out and I collapse on my bed, coughing as dust flies up. I feel dead. I feel sick and tired and ready to give up. Give up on this war, on trying to stay alive. Maybe Elf's right. Maybe it's pointless to pray. Maybe....

I fall asleep before another thought comes up, and I don't wake up until the next afternoon. When I do, Constance offers me a bowl of rice, but I only swallow a little before it comes back up. I'm coming down with something, but I don't know what.

Days pass. I stay in my bed, feeling weaker by the minute. I don't eat much, because it never stays down, but it only makes me feel worse. I feel like I'm dying. Like I'd never get out of bed.

I couldn't tell you how long I was sick or what happened, except that the Creatures blew down another level. There's not as much damage, but we're all shaken up. The rest is in a haze. I think at one point I started hallucinating and started seeing Creatures in my room (Turned out it was Constance and the doctor guy, Constance was scared at the time because apparently I was terrified, but she related the story to me with a note of laughter in her voice).

My fever breaks a couple days after the Creatures destroyed that level. I'm finally clearheaded enough to realize I'm completely damp.

Constance stands over me, holding a washcloth. "I'm so glad you're awake and not screaming that I'm a Creature," she says. "You've been sick for a few days. They destroyed another level."

"I know," I try to say, but it comes out so raspy I can't even make out what I said. Constance hands me a glass of water. "Don't gulp," she warns. "You've puked enough, and you haven't eaten anything for days."

I take a sip, then lower the glass. "Can I chug?" I can actually make out the words this time.

Constance sighs and buries her face in her hands. "I think you're a lost cause."

"Glad we came to that conclusion. Whatever makes you say so?"

"You could've died! You were so sick! We had to put you in a cold bath in an attempt to get your fever down-"

"Is that why I'm so wet?" I ask, looking down at myself.

"No, that's just sweat from your fever breaking, and, um, well, other things, but, that's not the point. The point is, you were so sick, and you recover, and you're back to cracking jokes as usual."

I don't ask what those "other things" are, because I don't want to know. And me, cracking jokes as usual? People told me I was sullen even before my house was bombed.

"Okay, okay. Do you have any food I can eat?"

Constance pulls out a small can of beans. "This is the best I can do," she says sadly. "We're seriously running low on supplies."

"Sacrifice a couple, then," I say, taking the can. "Or would that be considered treating the Creatures?"

Constance glares at me. "How dare you say that! Do you know what happened to my own father?"

I totally forgot. "Constance, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"I'm going to bed," she snaps. She looks livid.

"You do that," I mutter quietly as she leaves the room. I feel miserable. I still feel slightly weak, I've insulted and hurt one of my closest friends in this building. Before I can stop myself, my eyes tear up and I start crying. Silently, because it hurts to sob.

Sorry for the long, long update! I unpublished it because I needed to change things up (mainly add on more, and change my description about the Creatures, because it didn't match up with my previous description). Then I moved, and I rarely have Internet, but here's a nice, fairly long update for you guys! I hope you enjoy! And I will apologize in advance, there will be much longer periods between updating. I will try to finish this story, when I can't, I'll work on another story that I'm writing offline, so that should go smoother when I update.