The cold air bites at my entire body as I slosh through the drenched parking lot, the depressing dingy yellow- white color of the wal- mart neon sign reflecting in the glistening cement. As the door slide sluggishly open to reveal the maddening fluorescent lighting so harshly illuminating the grimy floors, I get a faint trace of a metallic taste in my mouth that intensifies with every step. Suddenly I sense something in the air is not quite right, a thickness I've only ever felt in the presence of some great terror. Quicker than I could process a wiry strung- out looking man revealed a glistening, harsh death. In a voice that can only be described as that of nails across a chalkboard this man demands all customers line up in two single file lines to the right of him. Suddenly a slightly aloof looking man in a camouflage vest lunges from a shadowy corner and is shot down at the peak of his flight, a sickening grin washes across the shooter's pallid face. For the first time in months I feel the cold waves of pure fear wash across my body and I lose myself in them, feel the fear rise and crash into every nerve in my being. The shooter, whose name is irrelevant, addressed his rows of soon- to- be victims, "rest assured you will all share the same fate as your fallen 'hero' here," at this many women and children began weeping, children screaming. "Let's see who should be my first choice kill.... Hmmmm....," he scans the room of hopeful sheep, all praying not to be the first slaughtered by the large wolf dressed in Hollister clothes. " I believe you'll do nicely," he breathes in my direction and I feel my heart rise to my throat and then fall to my feet. The smell of gun powder and the inexplicable sound of a bullet leaving the mans gun and tearing through the flesh of a persons body is the the next thing I remember and I thought that this must be what death is like, however when I opened my eyes I realized that I was not the first choice. A part of my brain was celebrating while the other part was coming back to reality and the fact that I was holding something rather heavy. I looked down and there in my arms was a limp lifeless form, upon greater focus I see that the person I'm holding is my cousin Mariah, her blood rushing into me from the gaping hole in her head. My heart was falling into a despair so quickly that my brain didnt have the speed to catch up to, this in fact, would save my life. For some reason unknown, the killer knows that my cousin is laying in my arms, he praises me for the lack of grieving I show. He calls me to the center of the room and I quickly follow directions in hopes of prolonging the next attack until authorities are alerted or salvation of some sort arrives. " now here, my friends, is an example of something I want you all to admit to yourselves. This young girl doesn't grieve her loved ones because she realizes that life is irrelevant. The only freedom in life is death. Therefore I will deliver you all." Clearly speaking only to me, he says," as for you I have bigger plans, you will become my apprentice and travel with me." With this announcement a wave of fear the size of a tsunami knocks me on my knees, in its wake I realized there was no fear left in me, only anger. I was angry, angry at this man for ending these lives, angry that he liked me. I promptly told him where he could shove that offer. The mans triumphant grin turned menacing and I, at once, regretted the outburst, he waved the gun and my eardrums shook with force of the noise. I smelled the gunpowder again, put this time I also smelled something else, something much fouler. I smelled blood. The blood of at least ten innocent people now laying lifeless on the floor because of me. A small terrified voice calls me back to reality. "Daddy, daddy! Awake! Nick awake! Daddy up! Daddy nick scared!" And when I looked over I saw my gorgeous baby brother surrounded by a pile of my dead friends and family with one body laying with a bloody hand out reached to nick. It was my dad, the life and kid- like fun gone from his kind eyes. At seeing this my heart broke into a million pieces and my eyes flowed tears in a nonstop channel down my face and onto the mans shoes. He slowly pointed the gun at nick, aiming, ready to steal his whole life, the life of the boy who I love as my own son. With every ounce of strength I had in me I lunged at nick, my body coiling around him as a if to shield him from all the evil in the world. I felt a hot stinging in my back and when I look at nick I see he's screaming but I can't hear, blood covers his body and a bullet hole is evident in his small chest, reflecting my own. His breathing is ragged as is mine, I curl his body into mine and hold him close as our final breaths enter the air and the darkness circles over me, lulling me into a deep, final, sleep