The sheer force of the blast threw me from my feet. Dazed, I could barely hear the screams of passerby ringing in my ears. As I gazed around I felt like I was living in a nightmare. All around me was a world of swirling dust so congested the sun couldn’t shine through. Slowly, I began to stagger forward, and after a few steps I stumbled over a pile of dust. I glanced down, realizing it wasn’t dust, but a grey corpse splattered with velvet blood. The pure sight of it me sink to the ground while dusty shadows streamed past. Even as I watched a dusty figure that stopped next to me, his hands desperately wiped at my face. I tried to pull away but a look relief began to spread through the man’s bloodied face and he yelled, “Will, I thought you were dead!”
Suddenly I realized who the figure was and murmured, “Jack, thank god it's you.” I could barely believe that this shadow was the same person I’d stood with outside the Empire State building moments ago. Jack offered me a hand and heaved me to my feet, but suddenly a look of horror spread over his face.
“Will, you need to get to an ambulance now!” he yelled over the chaos. Grudgingly, I followed his gaze to the expanding crimson stain on my chest. Throwing my arm over his shoulder, we began to limp towards the sound of the sirens. Everywhere I looked there were only two colors, the ashen gray of dust and the scarlet shades of blood. While we continued through the cloud of dust the sun slowly began to ease its way back into the world. As my eyes drifted shut, the final image I saw was the firefighters rushing towards us.