Very nice yet gory!
Not for the faint of heart, this one. The author did hold true to their promise of writing a dark and gritty story. Even I, who can handle a bit of gore and horror, had to swallow sometimes.
Anyhoo, on with the story in general. It is a dark and gritty story with the first few paragraphs setting the tone of darkness, death , trauma and a whole slew of other gory things. But it presented in a good way, without leaving parts out of it. You have a pretty direct way of writing things and while that is very good, I'd advice against using too graphical descriptions. I would opt for a lighter approach to describing things, to give your readers' mind the option of making the whole scene even grizzlier as they read on.
Your writing style is also very nice. Quite eloquent, in fact. I didn't spot many writing mistakes and your punctuation is... Well, on point. However, if I may give you a slight tip... Don't use words that are linked with speaking after a spoken sentence. Like ("It was just a dream." She said.). Your readers know that someone speaks just by seeing the double quotation marks. I'd advise using that small part after spoken sentences for descriptions and/or actions. Like this: ("It was just a dream." She wiped his brow with a damp cloth, her eyes filled with worry and care.)
As for the rest, keep going! You are doing brilliantly!
Read the story now