The dining room erupted into chaos.

My hearing muted with the deafening shock of gunfire. On instinct, I threw myself to the floor, tears welling in my eyes as I scrambled to make sense of what was happening.

More shots fired, so loud in the confined space, it felt like I'd stuck my head inside a drum.

The gurney tipped over as a rush of legs funneled through the door and into the hallway. My gaze zipped right, toward Josh pushing Ellison into the safety of ...