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Lauren tossed fitfully in her sleep. In that limbo between dreams and wakefulness, she heard the sounds of an approaching thunderstorm. Normally, those sounds were better than a lullaby, but she had not been able to doze off for more than a few minutes at a time all night. She squinted as a flash brightened her whole room and sat up as a booming echo shook the walls around her. Disoriented, she climbed out of bed and shuffled to the front window. A gray haze hung over the compound; the sun had not yet breached the tall sand dunes to the east. She glanced at her watch and noticed it was not quite five o clock yet. Another loud explosion almost knocked her off her feet. It was not thunder. She saw the doors to the surrounding bungalows being thrown open and a rush of personnel streaming into the center quad. Galvanized and fully awake, she ran back into her room and threw on her khaki work pants and tank top. She was just reaching for her weapons belt when another blast shook the house, sending dust and debris down from the ceiling. She flung herself into the bathroom to protect herself. Ok, she thought, that was too close. It had to be another raid. The local militia was aware of their presence and took to annoying them with regular attacks in the hopes of driving them away. When the rumbling quieted, Lauren peered out of the bathroom door.

"Oh, great," she whispered. A huge beam had fallen in front of her door. Bracing her foot on the wall, she tugged with all her strength but the beam would not budge. She could hear machine guns in the distance, and they were steadily moving closer.

Abandoning the door, Lauren ran to the rear of the house where there was a large window. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that the entire kitchen area had caved in on itself after taking a direct hit. Trying not to think how close she had been to meeting her maker, she backed away and looked around for another way out. The guns were getting closer.

The bathroom window was the only option. The other two in the living area were too high to spend the time trying to reach them. Darting into the bathroom as another explosion shook the house, she stood on the toilet and began to remove the screen.

"Lauren!" she heard Nick's frantic voice calling and then banging noises coming from the door.

"Nick," she shouted back, "I'm alright, but there's a beam in front of the door. It won't budge! I'm trying to get out through the bathroom

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