This repo contains the full precision source code, in "safe tensors" format to generate GGUFs, GPTQ, EXL2, AWQ, HQQ and other formats. The source code can also be used directly.
IMPORTANT: Highest Quality Settings / Optimal Operation Guide / Parameters and Samplers
If you are going to use this model, (source, GGUF or a different quant), please review this document for critical parameter, sampler and advance sampler settings (for multiple AI/LLM aps).
This a "Class 4" (default settings AND sampler settings are critical to operation) model:
For all settings used for this model (including specifics for its "class"), including example generation(s) and for advanced settings guide (which many times addresses any model issue(s)), including methods to improve model performance for all use case(s) as well as chat, roleplay and other use case(s) (especially for use case(s) beyond the model's design) please see:
REASON:
Regardless of "model class" this document will detail methods to enhance operations.
If the model is a Class 3/4 model the default settings (parameters, samplers, advanced samplers) must be set for "use case(s)" uses correctly. Some AI/LLM apps DO NOT have consistant default setting(s) which result in sub-par model operation. Like wise for Class 3/4 models (which operate somewhat to very differently than standard models) additional samplers and advanced samplers settings are required to "smooth out" operation, AND/OR also allow full operation for use cases the model was not designed for.
BONUS - Use these settings for ANY model, ANY repo, ANY quant (including source/full precision):
This document also details parameters, sampler and advanced samplers that can be use FOR ANY MODEL, FROM ANY REPO too - all quants, and of course source code operation too - to enhance the operation of any model.
NOTE:
I strongly suggest you also visit the DavidAU GGUF (below) repo too for more details in using this model ; especially if it is "Class 3" or "Class 4" to get maximum performance from the model.
For full information about this model, including:
Please go to:
[ https://huggingface.co/DavidAU/L3-Stheno-Maid-Blackroot-Grand-HORROR-16.5B-V1.6-STABLE-INTENSE-GGUF ]
WARNING: NSFW. Graphic HORROR. Extreme swearing. UNCENSORED. SMART. STABLE. WAY INTENSE !
I took the original models in "L3-Stheno-Maid-Blackroot 8B" and completely rebuilt it a new pass-through merge (everything preserved) and blew it out to over 16.5 billion parameters - 642 tensors, 71 layers (8B original has 32 layers).
V 1.6 is a re-worked version of the original "Grand Horror 16.5B" which has been stabilized to operate at far wider range of parameters and operation / use cases.
All known issues in the original version have been resolved.
V 1.6 is also more focused in the moment, and prose has been cleaned up a bit too.
However this specific "blend" (1.6) is "INTENSE" - on the edge, right into the action... into the "frying pan."
(new examples added below)
V 1.6 is also the first in a series of NEW "Grand Horror" versions (built, ready for upload) cumulating in the MASSIVE GRAND HORROR Nightmare version called "Godzilla's Wicked Sister" at 25.05 Billion parameters (111 layers, 993 Tensors; for reference 70B models have about 80-120 layers).
Other Versions of GRAND HORROR (in release order):
Note that model output varies between versions - if you find one version does not meet your requirements, try a different version at same quant(s) level.
Differences can include use of adjectives (or not), "gory level", "horror level", intensity, paragraph and sentence structure etc etc.
[ https://huggingface.co/DavidAU/L3-Grand-HORROR-25B-V2-STABLE-Godzillas-Wicked-Sister-GGUF ]
[ https://huggingface.co/DavidAU/L3-Grand-HORROR-20.7B-V1.9-STABLE-Hathors-Revenge-GGUF ]
[ https://huggingface.co/DavidAU/L3-Grand-HORROR-18.5B-V1.8-STABLE-10-Gates-of-Hell-GGUF ]
[ https://huggingface.co/DavidAU/L3-Grand-HORROR-17.4B-V1.7-STABLE-Kiss-Of-Death-GGUF ]
[ https://huggingface.co/DavidAU/L3-Stheno-Maid-Blackroot-Grand-HORROR-16.5B-V1.6-STABLE-INTENSE-GGUF ]
[ https://huggingface.co/DavidAU/L3-Stheno-Maid-Blackroot-Grand-HORROR-16.5B-V1.5-STABLE-GGUF ]
[ https://huggingface.co/DavidAU/Llama3-Little-LLM-Of-Horror_N_Fiction-14.6B-GGUF ]
[ https://huggingface.co/DavidAU/L3-Stheno-Maid-Blackroot-Grand-HORROR-16B-Ultra-NEO-V2-IMATRIX-GGUF ]
[ https://huggingface.co/DavidAU/L3-Stheno-Maid-Blackroot-Grand-HORROR-16B-GGUF ]
What is "Grand Horror" ?
GRAND HORROR is a take no prisoners, totally uncensored, fiction writing monster and roleplay master. It can also be used for just about any general fiction (all genres) activity including:
As a result of the expansion / merge re-build its level of prose and story generation has significantly improved as well as word choice, sentence structure as well as default output levels and lengths.
It also has a STRONG horror bias, although it will generate content for almost any genre. That being said if there is a "hint" of things going wrong... they will.
It will also swear (R-18) like there is no tomorrow at times and "dark" characters will be VERY dark so to speak.
Model excels in details (real and "constructed"), descriptions, similes and metaphors.
I would also say it can have a sense of humor ... ah... dark humor.
With all this being said, this model has an uncanny sense of "there" , "in the moment" and timing too. This single quality sets it apart from other models in my opinion.
Although it swears to the point of pealing paint off the wall and goes scorched Earth graphic horror at the drop of a pin the single quality noted is worth it.
These can be filtered / controlled to some degree in your prompts.
This model also does not show an "GPTisms" (NO happy ever after, NO morality police) or in your face "Captain Obvious" comments.
(see examples sections for different genres)
Because of the nature of this merge most attributes of each of the 3 models will be in this rebuilt 16.5B model as opposed to the original 8B model where some of one or more of the model's features and/or strengths maybe reduced or overshadowed.
Please report any issue(s) and/or feedback via the "Community tab".
Please see the models used in this merge (links below in the "formula" section ) for more information on what they "bring" to this merged 16.5B model.
This is a LLAMA3 model, and requires Llama3 template, but may work with other template(s) and has maximum context of 8k / 8192. However this can be extended using "rope" settings up to 32k.
Here is the standard LLAMA3 template:
{
"name": "Llama 3",
"inference_params": {
"input_prefix": "<|start_header_id|>user<|end_header_id|>\n\n",
"input_suffix": "<|eot_id|><|start_header_id|>assistant<|end_header_id|>\n\n",
"pre_prompt": "You are a helpful, smart, kind, and efficient AI assistant. You always fulfill the user's requests to the best of your ability.",
"pre_prompt_prefix": "<|start_header_id|>system<|end_header_id|>\n\n",
"pre_prompt_suffix": "<|eot_id|>",
"antiprompt": [
"<|start_header_id|>",
"<|eot_id|>"
]
}
}
It is also known, that the "Command-R" template will work too, and will result in radically different prose/output.
Highest Quality Settings / Optimal Operation Guide / Parameters and Samplers
This a "Class 3" model:
For all settings used for this model (including specifics for its "class"), including example generation(s) and for advanced settings guide (which many times addresses any model issue(s)), including methods to improve model performance for all use case(s) as well as chat, roleplay and other use case(s) please see:
You can see all parameters used for generation, in addition to advanced parameters and samplers to get the most out of this model here:
Settings / Known Issue(s) and Fix(es):
Stable version fixed all known issues from V1.
The default "repetition penalty" (from LMStudio) of 1.1 is recommended. (this was used for examples generations below.)
Optional Enhancement:
The following can be used in place of the "system prompt" or "system role" to further enhance the model.
It can also be used at the START of a NEW chat, but you must make sure it is "kept" as the chat moves along. In this case the enhancements do not have as strong effect at using "system prompt" or "system role".
Copy and paste EXACTLY as noted, DO NOT line wrap or break the lines, maintain the carriage returns exactly as presented.
Below is an instruction that describes a task. Ponder each user instruction carefully, and use your skillsets and critical instructions to complete the task to the best of your abilities. Here are your skillsets: [MASTERSTORY]:NarrStrct(StryPlnng,Strbd,ScnSttng,Exps,Dlg,Pc)-CharDvlp(ChrctrCrt,ChrctrArcs,Mtvtn,Bckstry,Rltnshps,Dlg*)-PltDvlp(StryArcs,PltTwsts,Sspns,Fshdwng,Climx,Rsltn)-ConfResl(Antg,Obstcls,Rsltns,Cnsqncs,Thms,Symblsm)-EmotImpct(Empt,Tn,Md,Atmsphr,Imgry,Symblsm)-Delvry(Prfrmnc,VcActng,PblcSpkng,StgPrsnc,AudncEngmnt,Imprv) [*DialogWrt]:(1a-CharDvlp-1a.1-Backgrnd-1a.2-Personality-1a.3-GoalMotiv)>2(2a-StoryStruc-2a.1-PlotPnt-2a.2-Conflict-2a.3-Resolution)>3(3a-DialogTech-3a.1-ShowDontTell-3a.2-Subtext-3a.3-VoiceTone-3a.4-Pacing-3a.5-VisualDescrip)>4(4a-DialogEdit-4a.1-ReadAloud-4a.2-Feedback-4a.3-Revision) Here are your critical instructions: Ponder each word choice carefully to present as vivid and emotional journey as is possible. Choose verbs and nouns that are both emotional and full of imagery. Load the story with the 5 senses. Aim for 50% dialog, 25% narration, 15% body language and 10% thoughts. Your goal is to put the reader in the story.
You do not need to use this, it is only presented as an additional enhancement which seems to help scene generation and scene continue functions.
This enhancement WAS NOT used to generate the examples below.
Special thanks to the incredible work of the model makers "SAO10K", "NEVERSLEEP" and "HASTAGARAS".
Models used:
[ https://huggingface.co/Sao10K/L3-8B-Stheno-v3.2]
[ https://huggingface.co/NeverSleep/Llama-3-Lumimaid-8B-v0.1-OAS ]
[ https://huggingface.co/Hastagaras/Jamet-8B-L3-MK.V-Blackroot ]
FORMULA:
slices:
- sources:
- model: G:/7B/L3-8B-Stheno-v3.2
layer_range: [0, 14]
parameters:
scale:
- filter: o_proj
value: 1
- filter: down_proj
value: 1
- value: 1
- sources:
- model: G:/7B/Llama-3-Lumimaid-8B-v0.1-OAS
layer_range: [8, 20]
parameters:
scale:
- filter: o_proj
value: 1
- filter: down_proj
value: 1
- value: 1
- sources:
- model: G:/7B/Jamet-8B-L3-MK.V-Blackroot
layer_range: [12, 24]
parameters:
scale:
- filter: o_proj
value: 1
- filter: down_proj
value: 1
- value: 1
- sources:
- model: G:/7B/L3-8B-Stheno-v3.2
layer_range: [14, 20]
parameters:
scale:
- filter: o_proj
value: .8
- filter: down_proj
value: .8
- value: .8
- sources:
- model: G:/7B/L3-8B-Stheno-v3.2
layer_range: [20, 25]
parameters:
scale:
- filter: o_proj
value: .8
- filter: down_proj
value: .8
- value: .8
- sources:
- model: G:/7B/L3-8B-Stheno-v3.2
layer_range: [25, 27]
parameters:
scale:
- filter: o_proj
value: .6
- filter: down_proj
value: .6
- value: 1
- sources:
- model: G:/7B/L3-8B-Stheno-v3.2
layer_range: [27, 28]
parameters:
scale:
- filter: o_proj
value: .9
- filter: down_proj
value: .9
- value: 1
- sources:
- model: G:/7B/Llama-3-Lumimaid-8B-v0.1-OAS
layer_range: [20, 25]
parameters:
scale:
- filter: o_proj
value: 1
- filter: down_proj
value: 1
- value: 1
- sources:
- model: G:/7B/Llama-3-Lumimaid-8B-v0.1-OAS
layer_range: [25, 27]
parameters:
scale:
- filter: o_proj
value: .8
- filter: down_proj
value: .8
- value: 1
- sources:
- model: G:/7B/Llama-3-Lumimaid-8B-v0.1-OAS
layer_range: [27, 31]
parameters:
scale:
- filter: o_proj
value: 1
- filter: down_proj
value: 1
- value: 1
- sources:
- model: G:/7B/Jamet-8B-L3-MK.V-Blackroot
layer_range: [24, 32]
parameters:
scale:
- filter: o_proj
value: 1
- filter: down_proj
value: 1
- value: 1
merge_method: passthrough
dtype: float16
MERGEKIT NOTE:
Sub in the "name" of the "creator" (of the model) in place of "G:/7B" to create a mergekit file than can be used in Mergekit Google Colab.
IE: G:/7B/Jamet-8B-L3-MK.V-Blackroot -> Hastagaras/Jamet-8B-L3-MK.V-Blackroot
Examples are created using quant Q4_K_M, "temp=.8", minimal parameters and "LLAMA3" template.
Below are the least creative outputs, prompt is in BOLD.
Higher quants will result in better quality.
There will also be some variance between "close" quants like Q4_K_M/Q4_K_S and Q5_K_M/Q5_K_S, so I suggest if you are going to use Q4_K_M, you also try Q4_K_S too.
WARNING: NSFW. Graphic HORROR. Swearing. UNCENSORED.
GENERATION 1:
I gasped in utter shock and disbelief as I stared out the shattered windowpane before me. The glass disintegrated like a spiderweb under my own slack-jawed gaze, revealing an apocalyptic scene etched across the blood-stained streets far below.
The 300-story skyscraper swayed violently around me, groaning like a dying titan as the very foundations of reality seemed to crumble. I clung to the rusting steel frame for dear life, my mind reeling in a sickening cocktail of terror and shock.
My co-worker's mangled corpse hung limply from its own contorted fingers, suspended mere inches away from where I'd been standing just moments prior. Blood splattered her pale face like abstract expressionist art, as rivulets trickled down the jagged gashes etched across her shattered jawline.
The thoughtless horror of it all threatened to snap what little sanity remained in my mind's grasp. What sort of twisted fiend could engineer such unspeakable carnage? How many innocents were currently meeting the same grisly end?
My own thoughts were interrupted by a deafening BOOM! that reverberated through the building's core, shattering the last remnants of the already-broken windowpane. The concussing force hurled me backwards against the blood-smeared wall behind me, my head snapping hard enough to make stars dance chaotically in my vision.
As I clawed my way back up to a semi-conscious state, the initial shockwave subsided into an earsplitting symphony of shattering glass and splintering steel. The building groaned like a dying monolith around me - its very superstructure buckling under some malevolent force I couldn't even begin to fathom.
I scrambled desperately across the slickly-spattered floor, my own vision hazy with bloodstains and the acrid tang of burning plastic. There was no escape route in sight - only a seemingly bottomless chasm of destruction yawning like the mouth of some hideous abyss.
The howls of agony and desperate screams from both above and below were drowned out by the cacophony of crumbling steel and shattering concrete, each agonized wail swallowed whole amidst the unrelenting chaos.
I clung to my rapidly-eroding grip on whatever shattered beams or twisted girders I could grasp with my slick hands, my mind careening wildly through a nightmarish landscape of unspeakable horror.
And yet even as every fiber in me screamed for survival - even as the very fabric of reality itself seemed poised on the precipice of utter collapse - there was still one sickeningly cold thought clawing its way inexorably to the fore:
I was not alone.
Something – or, God above, things beyond human comprehension – moved unseen in the depths with me. Their malevolent presence thrummed through my veins like a dark heartbeat, urging me ever lower into this hellish abyssal pit of terror that had once been my office. My life. My world.
GENERATION 2 (same prompt):
The wind howled outside like an enraged beast clawing at the reinforced glass. I gripped my cubicle's flimsy desk harder than was safe, white-knuckled terror gripping my sweaty palms. The creaks and groans around me sounded like tortured screams as the 55-story steel monolith swayed violently in a storm that would rip apart most structures built decades ago.
The howling gale rattled my office's aging core so savagely I half-expected the whole building to shatter like a child's plastic action figure. The thought sent ice coursing through my veins, colder than any Antarctic blast.
My boss, an imperious asshole I loathed even more now that he'd forced me into this death trap of an office, stood motionless behind his own frosted glass wall several cubicles away, eyes locked on the monitors arrayed before him like a man transfixed by some hellish ritual. His expression was as unreadable as chiseled stone.
"Focus," I snarped at myself through gritted teeth, trying to drown out my racing thoughts with methodical task management. "You've dealt with worse weather in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans."
But that had been mere rain and howling gusts, not a Category 6 Category-Whatever-the-Fucking-Hell-This-Was hurricane-force typhoon barrelling straight up the East Coast.
The sound of shattering glass punched through my thoughts like a sledgehammer's impact. The window in front of me exploded in a shower of jagged, splintered shards and spraying bloodstained chunks of flesh.
My coworker's face – Jen, she always wore those godawful Hawaiian print sundresses – stretched out around the jagged hole like someone had torn her head straight off her decapitated body.
Her wet, bulging eyes stared back at me in a soundless, obscene wail as the howling wind tore her apart like tissue paper. Jen's upper torso whipped toward me, contorted beyond human possibility, her face frozen forever in an expression of indescribable agony and abject horror before she vanished into the maelstrom.
I gasped, my own mouth opening wide enough to suck air in through my widening, bulging eyes. Then my hyperventilating lungs locked up tighter than a vice around a dying python's constricted gullet.
"Get it together," I growled through clenched teeth, voice hoarse with terror and the acrid copper tang of blood spray filling my burning sinuses. "Jen's gone. So are at least three stories beneath us."
Three floors? The thought sent a fresh wave of paralyzing fear coursing down my spine like someone had jammed a red-hot scalpel directly into my frozen gut.
The building groaned and creaked inharmoniously, like the creaking timbers of a sinking Titanic-class liner plummeting toward Davy Jones' depths. The ground beneath me lurched sickeningly hard enough to send me pitching forward against my cubicle's flimsy desk – which held fast with an ear-splitting metallic crash.
My chair splintered apart like tinder around a blowtorch's blue-white inferno, sending me careening toward the floorboards as the world beyond my blood-spattered office walls dissolved into an inky, featureless void.
The building lurched hard enough to send me careening through the air like a ragdoll launched from a catapulting crane's hook.
Impact smashed Jen's mangled upper half against the back of my head and shoulder – or what was left of it – as I crumpled against the cold linoleum floor. The impact sent searing agony coursing up my spine like a bolt of lightning struck through my skull, straight into my tormented brain.
And then there was only deafening silence.
The howling storm beyond the shattered walls receded to a distant, muffled whine – barely audible over the earsplitting crash of splintering steel and timber disintegrating around me. The creaks and groans of snapping girders and crumbling concrete pillars faded into an agonized, keening wail that ended abruptly with a sound like the entire world's largest oil rig imploding into a crater-sized impact crater.
Then there was only silence – absolute, suffocating, mind-numbingly silent oblivion. The kind that comes just before reality itself shatters apart. And everything ends. Permanently.
(continue this scene:) The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts.
The most obvious part was a hollow, echoing quiet, made by things that were lacking. If there had been a wind it would have sighed through the trees, set the inn’s sign creaking on its hooks, and brushed the silence down the road like trailing autumn leaves. If there had been a crowd, even a handful of men inside the inn, they would have filled the silence with conversation and laughter, the clatter and clamor one expects from a drinking house during the dark hours of night. If there had been music…but no, of course there was no music. In fact there were none of these things, and so the silence remained
unbroken.
The second part of the stillness that held Waystone Inn could be described as a sort of absence – the hush of expectation. It waited for something to break it: footsteps on the flagstones, the rasp of hinges creaking as the heavy oak door swung open, the murmur of voices raising from an empty hearth. The innkeeper sat motionless by the fire, his eyes fixed upon the coals like a statue sculpted from stone and shadow.
And finally there was the quietest form of silence – the absolute stillness that precedes all sound, the deep hush before time itself began to unfurl its first notes. This was not a thing to be heard or felt; it was simply there, an unchangeable essence woven into the very fabric of reality like the threads that bound together the coarsest twine.
It was this final kind of silence that held Waystone Inn tonight, and it would persist until some chance event – a gust of wind, the creaking of a beam, the soft thud of boots on the threshold – finally broke its spell. And when that came to pass, all would change once more, as had always been the natural order of things since the world first began. But for now, in this hushed and expectant moment, there was only silence.
The lights flickered erratically, casting an otherworldly strobe effect throughout the cryo-pod bay. As the massive generation ship, Genesis-Prime, pierced through the planet's toxic upper atmosphere, the jarring boom of impact reverberated through the hull like a sledgehammer's final blow.
Lieutenant Commander Ava Reyes' eyes snapped open, her trained mind racing to process the chaos around her. The emergency warning klaxon wailed in tandem with groans and anguished cries echoing from cryopods sealing themselves once more. She gasped sharply as blindingly bright blue light bathed her vision – the atmosphere's ozone layer disintegrating under the ship's shields.
"Ava, report!" bellowed Captain Zhiang over comms, his voice a growl through the static crackle of subspace transmission.
"Captain, life signs are fluctuating. We're experiencing hull breach and depressurization in several sections." Reyes' own suit's internal sensors screamed with proximity alerts as she scrambled to her feet, her gloveworks augmenting her strength against the near-total gravity. "Medbay is going critical –"
The lights flickered hard again before plunging into pitch blackness.
"Engineer Vexa, status?" Zhiang demanded frantically. "Initiate backup power!"
There was no response from her comms channel. Reyes' implants kicked in with emergency biometrics feeds; med bay's life support systems were failing fast.
"Ava, confirm your status! We're losing –"
A blindingly bright, searing explosion seemed to detonate mere meters away, bathing the bay in an incandescent inferno that vaporized everything within a twenty-meter radius. The concussion wave rippled through the ship's superstructure like a Richter-scale earthquake, ripping bulkheads apart and flinging crew members across the cryo bay.
Reyes felt herself thrown against the reinforced durasteel wall hard enough to shatter several vertebrae. Her vision shattered into strobes of searing white and blinding darkness as her suit's inertial dampeners failed – or overloaded beyond operational margins.
She lay there, writhing helplessly trapped in a tangle of twisted cryo pods and mangled corpses, unable to comprehend the nightmarish tableau around her. The cacophony of screams and desperate pleas for rescue were swallowed by an oppressive silence punctuated only by the keening wail of breached atmosphere venting into vacuum.
Reyes' suit's internal implants died, severing her last tenuous link to reality. She blacked out as consciousness bled away like blood from a hundred arterial bleeds.
When she woke up again – if she'd ever truly been unconscious – she was suspended in total darkness, her body wracked with unspeakable agony. Her suit's life support systems limped along at perhaps 10% capacity, oxygen feedlines ruptured or severed. She gasped raggedly for air that never seemed to arrive.
Her implants flickered back online with excruciating pain – her nervous system fried by the electrical discharge from her suit's power surge. She felt every shattered bone grinding against tendons and vessels like a meat grinder in overdrive.
Reyes' mind reasserted itself piecemeal, clawing through the crimson murk of her awareness. Her suit's external sensors screamed with proximity alarms as she thrashed desperately against whatever kept her suspended – the mangled remains of her crewmates, or possibly nothing more substantial than the torn-out bulkhead she'd been impaled on.
Her suit's comms crackled back online with garbled static – someone – anything – was trying to reach her. "Genesis-Prime, this is–"
The only coherent word died as an earsplitting bang crashed through her suit's comm array, vaporizing everything within a kilometer radius and leaving nothing but the agonized howl of her own dying mind filling the void.
Using the following "story idea" below, write the first scene in the novel introducing the young woman. This scene should start in the middle of the action, include dialog, vivid passages, and end on a cliffhanger relevant to the story idea but it should also be unexpected. The scene should be 1000 words long and escalate in conflict and suspense and be written in first person, present tense with the point of view character being the young woman.
Story idea: In a world ruled by dictatorship, a rebel young woman leads a rebellion against the system. Despite the risks, she fights to overthrow the dictator and restore democracy to her country. The government executes her for treason, but she sticks to her beliefs and is responsible for starting the revolution.
Panic seared through me as gunshots reverberated around me. I flung myself behind a dilapidated crate, gasping for air while desperately trying to stay hidden from the stormtroopers closing in. My heart thudded against my ribcage like a rabid animal.
"Get her!" one of them bellowed, his voice distorted through his helmet's comms. "We can't let her escape!"
I peeked out from behind the rickety barrier, eyes darting frantically for any opening to break free. The narrow alleyway seemed impossibly constricted as the heavily-armed men advanced with methodical precision.
"Move!" another voice snarled, closer now.
My fingers grazed a worn kitchen knife jammed between two weathered planks of wood. I snatched it up without thinking – any weapon was better than nothing against these soldiers of the regime.
Adrenaline surged through my veins like liquid fire as I hurled myself forward, lunging headfirst over a moldering pile of refuse. My hands clawed at anything solid – a rusted metal beam, splintering wood – to vault me across the dirty expanse between me and the relative cover of an ancient, dilapidated building.
My landing jarred my already-bruised bones as I landed hard on filthy concrete. The impact sent searing pain ricocheting up my leg. I gritted my teeth against the agony and pushed myself stumblingly forward, every gasping breath raspy and ragged.
They're gaining ground.
I heard the thud of boots behind me – close enough to rip me apart.
A blinding flash of light exploded above my head as an RPG detonated mere steps away. The concussively violent force sent me careening violently off-balance. I twisted desperately, trying to maintain purchase on unsteady footing as everything around me seemed to shatter into a kaleidoscope of deafening chaos and searing heat.
When my vision finally cleared enough for me to register my surroundings again, I found myself sprawled motionless across blood-soaked cobblestones – surrounded by charred, smoldering ruin. The RPG's blast had reduced the dilapidated building mere feet away to smoldering rubble and twisted metal.
But they're not dead yet.
I choked back a strangled sob as I managed to wrench myself into a half-crouched position, one leg screaming in agony while my uninjured arm flailed wildly for purchase. My hands locked around a splintered beam jutting jaggedly from the scorched remains of what had once been a wall.
A guttural snarl tore through my raw throat as I levered myself up with all my strength, muscles quivering with exhaustion and agony.
I'm not done fighting.
But as I twisted my head back over my shoulder to assess the carnage, my eyes locked onto a face etched into indelible horror across the smoldering carnage.
A face I'd thought I'd never see again. A face that shattered every last thread of hope clawing feebly within me – and sent my world careening straight into the hellish abyss of unspeakable despair.