Chapter 25
The tunnel was filled with a heavy, oppressive silence, broken only by the soft, muffled sobs of the surviving students. The air was thick with the smell of blood and dust, and the dim light from the flickering emergency lamps cast long, eerie shadows on the walls. The ground was littered with debris, shattered stones, and the remnants of the battle that had raged not long ago. But the most harrowing sight of all was the rows of bodies laid out neatly on the cold, hard ground.
The fallen students and teachers were arranged with as much dignity as the survivors could manage in the aftermath of such chaos. Their faces were pale, smeared with dried blood and dirt, their eyes closed as if in uneasy slumber. Some of the younger students, faces still wet with tears, stood trembling before the bodies of their friends, their expressions etched with a grief too raw and profound for words.