The Echoes Of Death

Paul's eyes blurred as he looked at the dead bodies all around him.

 The enormity of his error settled over him.

His heart pounded in his chest, a relentless drumbeat of remorse.

The bodies laid strewn around him, lifeless eyes staring vacantly into the distance, their deaths a tragic testament to his folly. 

Innocent humans caught up in the destruction.

He had been so certain, so convinced that Jeremy was in one of the structures.

In the heat of his rage and paranoia, he had acted with lethal precision without thinking it through. 

But now, as the adrenaline ebbed and the fog of anger dissipated, the awful truth clawed at his consciousness: They were just innocents, caught in the web of a cruel game played by the Hoarder.

Jeremy. The name hissed through Paul's mind like a venomous snake. Jeremy, with his twisted sense of humor, had orchestrated this, he was sure of it.