Happily the smoke hid my face, which must have been distraught with panic.

The seconds seemed endless.

I prayed that unconsciousness would come.

I prayed for death, I prayed for respite.

I was mad with the furious madness of a tortured animal, and the immortal soul had fled from me and left only a husk of pitiful and shrinking flesh.
Suddenly there came a lull.