probably late, but

Pleasant dreams always end badly, because they always end. So it is for us all, and so it was for Seb. She blinked, trying to remember what fleeting, ethereal joy had vanished, looking around the dark room as if she might grab it back. Then she was struck by an acrid smell that jolted her upright in the bed. The lock. Someone was burning through the lock.

She knew that it was little use screaming or calling for help. Screams were a common enough in the labor pits that they were routinely ignored. If they weren’t, how could you get any sleep? And help would not be swift in arriving. Grimacing, she keyed her wrist and sent the incident flag. By the time the AdSec officer arrived, whatever was about to happen would be over.

Seb stood on the bed with her back against the wall, scanning. There was nothing she could use as a weapon in this tiny room. The bedframe was steel--unbreakable--and the next-hardest object in the room was a shoe. Reluctantly, she picked up the shoe. Pressed against this wall, the intruder might not see her for a moment when the door blew open. Perhaps she could hit him in the face with the heel and run past him. If she could make it to the hallway, there was a window on the far end, and then a fire escape, and then freedom.

The explosion she expected never came. There was a hum, a hiss, a gray puff of smoke, and then a click as her lock disengaged. The door pushed inward a little, and then a little more. She pressed herself against the wall, waiting. A crack appeared between the door and the wall and slowly widened. Through it, in the dull red glow of the hallway lights, she saw a man. More precisely, she saw a shadow; the light was above and behind him, silhouetting him against the grimy walls of the hallway. But she had seen plenty of shadows in the dark, and she knew that this one was a man and that he meant to hurt her.

He stepped into the room, brushing aside her shoe as he entered. Through the slit window, the moon caught his face and for a quiet moment they looked at each other. He was tall and built thick, but he had a thin, ghoulish face that seemed out of place on his sturdy frame. He was holding a blade, staring at her dead-eyed like a shark.

Seb kept her eyes on his, waiting for him to lift the knife. Instead, he moved forward and grabbed her throat with his other arm. Seb choked for a moment as he lifted her off the bed.

FWIW this is first draft, I haven't even proofread it yet, so it's probably complete shit. Still curious to hear responses tho.