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against the jamb with a thunk. I may as well have shoved a pencil between my ears as much as it stings. I ignore it.
    How on earth did I let myself get into that situation?
    With a groan, I heave myself from the jamb and into the bathroom. I look like shit's uglier step-sister.
    A cold water face washing, a mouth scrubbing accompanied with an entire bottle of water, use of the facilities, and I almost feel human.
    I duck into the cafeteria, grab a croissant and some coffee, and then duck back out. My paranoia is misplaced; the dining hall is pretty much a ghost town.
    The coffee barely touches my headache and the croissant does little to soothe my unhappy stomach. I spend the rest of the morning flip-flopping between chiding myself for my irresponsibility and feeling sorry for my predicament.
    A shower and lunch make me feel even more human and by mid-afternoon the confinement of my sterile room is beginning to drive me blasé. Grabbing a hat and sunglasses, I decide it's high time I explore the compound.
    I avoid all the locations I think I might meet someone unexpectedly: the volleyball and basketball courts, the pool, and obviously…the rec room.
    My door faces the grass "quad", so I immediately round the housing building and head for the fenceline behind me. Made of mud and grass, the three-foot fence is a massive tan wall before me. During the initial security debriefing, I think I remember Trey saying something about earth absorbing bullets and shrapnel and can be easily repaired. I try not to think about how many times it's needed repair. Beyond the dirt wall, a ten-foot, razor wire topped chain link fence looms. It truly feels like a prison.
    It's hot out but not suffocating. The lack of moisture makes the hundred degree temperature tolerable. I can literally feel the water being sucked from my skin as I walk the fenceline toward the back of the compound, but it's preferable to the smothering humidity I left behind in Kansas.
    Still, by the time I reach the back fence I'm sweating like crazy. I hope I'm sweating out the last of the Pakistani poison.
    The barn is back here—a tiny concrete building with a wide breezeway and chicken wire pens housing a donkey, a couple goats, and at least a dozen chickens. I make my way for it, hoping to find shade and maybe scrounge up something to feed the horses. Or the donkey. He looks pretty cute too.
    It feels at least twenty degrees cooler in the barn. Both horses poke their heads from their stalls. One nickers and the other echoes him. Their large dark eyes watch me expectantly, like they know my treat intentions.
    I scan the dirt floor for food scraps. Scatterings of hay litter the floor. I gather up a handful and feed it to the closest horse, his soft lips eagerly snatching up every morsel. The other horse pins his ears and tosses his head up and down in protest.
    Grabbing another handful of hay, I feed the second horse. "See," I say, scratching its face. "No need to get impatient. I didn't forget you."
    I scratch behind its eyesocket and it rubs vigorously against my fingernails, sending tiny hairs sailing into the air.
    "Found an itchy spot, eh?"
    It doesn't take long before I'm covered in horse hair, the light gray strands a bold contrast against my dark tanktop. "Okay, okay." I pat the horse's cheek. "You've had enough."
    I turn to leave and stop abruptly. A gruesome looking black and white dog blocks my path. Missing both ears and an eye, scars cover his body, some small like scratches, others huge and gory looking, injuries that obviously should have had stitches but judging by their ragged lines, probably didn't. Huge and muscled, he looks like the type of dog bred to fight lions.
    Broad chested, front legs wide, he stares me down. He hasn't growled, but his tail isn't wagging either.
    Oh God. What do I do? I've never been scared of dogs, but I've also never had a giant, evil looking beast give me the skunk eye either.
    I stare at him and he stares back. I take a step