Mindoir - 2170
Time passes around me, oblivious to the storm raging inside me. My emotions eat me alive, consuming me with their strength as I sob. I replay the images of my family dying again and again, unable to think of anything else.
Only when I start uncontrollably coughing does my mind stray. I crawl out of the log into a forest of fire. My face burns with the heat of the inferno as I turn to flee again. They're coming for me.
The forest grows dark again as I race from the fire, the batarians hot on my heels. I stumble over the uneven floor and trip over an edge I didn't see. I fall over the cliff, tumbling down and hitting rocks as I make my descent. My back slams onto the hard ground and a cry of pain escapes my mouth. I try to get up but the pain in my back is excruciating.
I don't even know why I bother running anymore, my family is dead, gone. Everyone I knew. Death seems like a paradise now. I can hear them getting closer, but I don't move. I'm as good as dead.
My brothers voice rings in my ears suddenly, urging me to get up. I look around, searching for the source but see nothing. Then I hear my mothers, my fathers, and my friends voices joining in. I open my eyes to blurred figures around me, each whispering encouraging words.
Don't let them win.
I do what they say, rolling onto my stomach and managing to stand without blacking out. The figures lead me through the woods as I limp, numbness settling in my legs.
I can hear a river up ahead, the water racing over the stones below and winding through the forest floor. They lead me to a fallen tree laying half in the water and help me onto it, before I can ask what they're doing they push me off into the water and I cling to the log. I glance back at the shore to find nothing and no one.
I drift for miles and eventually I can see the sun begin to peek over the horizon, light seeping through the leaves of the canopy. As the water pulls me farther away, my mind wanders into sleep, my body spent.