I finished putting on my safety gear, making sure my breathing mask was in place before following the others from our living quarters. I was thankful the mask filtered most of the smoke smell from the air. Most but not all. At least it was enough to keep me from having another flashback.

We were met outside by Coordinator Galvin who was also wearing a breathing mask. "Morning. I hope your sleep was restful. You will need the energy. I will be escorting you to your assigned cleanup location and after that, you will be on your own until the end of your shift. Any questions? No? Then let's head out."

We were ushered onto a waiting transport vehicle and made the journey toward ground zero. I could feel my heart beating hard in my chest. My anxiety had been ramping up since I had woken. 

Mae gently took my hand and looked me in the eyes. "Everything will be okay, Xam. Your dream can't get you." 

I felt a wave of calm wash over me and I smiled at her. "Thank you, Mae. Your words always bring me comfort."

She ran her fingers along the back of my hand. "Your sleep seemed broken by dreams last night, so I figured you could use some reassuring." She placed a light kiss on my forehead.

I was surprised by how little damage had been done to most of the buildings we passed. It gave me momentary hope that my dream had been exaggerating. That the news had blown it out of proportion. That hope was dashed when we were cleared through the checkpoint. Things weren't actively on fire anymore but the masks and eye protection were having significantly less effect on the smell of smoke.

Coordinator Galvin walked us into a small makeshift outpost. "This is your base of operations for today. I will be back here before the sun goes down. If you need assistance, hit the emergency button on your tablet. Try not to need it. Your work order is in the tablet. Good luck, students." With that, Galvin returned to the transport which left in an understandable hurry.

I went through the tablet we had been given, opening a digital map of the disaster zone. "Looks like we're supposed to stick around the border, but we need to get into the air system. The access hatch is a pretty significant distance from us. Everyone still in for this?" I hoped I sounded half as brave as I was pretending to be. The others gave me solemn nods before we left our base.

The scenery became grimmer as we passed further into the wreckage of what had once been a residential area. I tried to ignore the phantom screams that rang through my head. My dream was becoming the most unpleasant reality I could have imagined. Buildings had been nearly burned to the ground. People's singed possessions were strewn across the ground.

“This is horrifying.” Anak was taking in our surroundings with a pained frown. “The sheer number of lost lives…”

Much of our journey was silent from that point as we all took in the reality of what had occurred.