It was a completely silent night. It was summer, but I was shivering. We were walking through the vineyard, the car long since abandoned. We tried to pretend that we weren’t afraid, as the night grew colder and darker. After an eternity we reached the end. In our path lay a river and I almost cried with relief. We would have to turn back. The leader of our company told us to follow the river, hoping to find a way to cross. My footsteps were mechanical. I was dreading the fate that lay ahead of us. As if things weren’t bad enough, we found a way across. I was the last to penetrate the iron-gate. Then, we found the road. The animals were all watching us, somehow knowing, knowing what we were planning. The trees surrounded us like sentries. As one, my company headed for higher ground. We tore through the
trees, not knowing how many of us we would lose. Finally we made it to the hills, and we were all accounted for. Slowly we walked along, stopping at every sound. At last it was time to once again descend into the trees. Quickly we ran, hopping over barbed wire, avoiding the traps, and then, we saw it. We were all prepared to see our mission to the end, but then I saw them. My companions looked as if they were the undead. Their eyes were sunken in and their skin stretched tightly over their bones. I continued onward. We each fell to the ground silently and stealthily crept up to the abandoned building, gathering photographic evidence along the way. 
The building was in ruin, but it seethed evil. We slowly explored every inch, gathering information. The roof had holes, and I almost fell into one of them. There were signs of war and evil painted on the walls. I wanted to leave, to run as fast as I could, but I had a mission, and I was going to see it to the end. We were on the second floor and I heard something move behind me. My companion and I were in the rear, and we both heard it. We looked back into the main hall, there was nothing, but the rocks continued to move. We hurried onward, but one of our companions was missing. We had left her in one of the rooms! Frantically I raced back to find her. Despite all of my training, I was in tears. If we lost her, no, we were not going to lose her. We found her walking along, white with fear. Nothing had prepared us for this, but we continued our search, documenting all that we saw. Finally, we found it, the place where he was killed. I saw the blood on the stones below. We were almost done, only a few more rooms to go. The top floor was in total disrepair. One of us even searched a closet, gathering evidence. At last, after investigating the elevator, we descended to the boiler room. More pictures were taken. The rubble was so thick that we could not enter; we could only observe it from the outside. After much pleading we raced out of that terrible place, after Emily grabbed a tangible item of evidence. We all had something. I had a piece of the wall. We ran for the cover of the trees, silently walking along the road. We had escaped the concentration camp. We had seen the place of many murders, and had proof. We laughed, I cried, and finally we reached the silent highway. The car was a hundred feet to our left. After hopping the cast Iron gate we left the Byron Hot Springs Hotel. The tires of our armored vehicle squealed on the asphalt and we left with the firm knowledge that we would return, but this time we will not only have better protection, we will have the master, our mentor, the first of our company to enter the cursed building, leading the way.
Whitney Julia Alise Nielsen
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