LEWISTON (WGME) -- More than a dozen people are alive today after being shot by a gunman the night of October 25, 2023.

Ben Dyer was shot multiple times. He lost a lot of blood, and doctors fought to save him in the days that followed.

It was a night of terror that still haunts many of the 140 survivors of the brutal attacks on Schemengees Bar and Grill and Just-In-Time Recreation.

"We were just having a normal night at cornhole," Dyer said.

Dyer was setting up a game with friends Ron Morin and Billy Brackett when gunfire erupted. Morin and Brackett were killed; but Dyer survived.

"I looked him in the face when I lost my finger. He saw me pick my head up and went to shoot me in the head. And I put my hands and ducked," Dyer said. "I was fortunate that I survived. I really shouldn't have. For some unknown reason, I'm still here."

"How many friends did you lose that night?" CBS13 reporter Brad Rogers asked.

"Everyone in the cornhole community was a friend of mine," Dyer said.

Dyer was shot five times. One bullet tore his index finger off, two hit his arm and shoulder, and two hit his legs.

His now fiancée, Keela Smith, was at work in Ellsworth when she learned what happened.

"By the time I left, he was in surgery. And I didn't know what I was driving to," Smith said. "I didn't know if Ben was going to be OK. I didn't know any answers."

A year later, he's come a long way. But he's still waiting for a nerve graft in his arm to hopefully connect with his hand so he can feel his fingers and use them again.

"I might never get full use of my hand back," Dyer said.

And he's learned to reuse his arm after his right biceps and triceps were destroyed.

"This is actually the lat muscle from my back. They pulled it from my back, folded it through my armpit, and connected it just to fill the space," Dyer said.

"It's heartbreaking sometimes to see him struggle. And I have learned and I'm learning myself to just kind of let him figure it out. And if he needs me, he'll ask. And he has learned to ask, too," Smith said.

Smith says she and ben are learning to live this new version of their lives together.

"We protected, actually, our simple life. And this blew it all out of the water. This changed everything for so many that night, obviously, but it did change. Nothing is simple anymore," Smith said.

Dyer and Smith say they are angry that the Army and Army Reserve failed to act after the gunman went to a psychiatric ward and doctors told them he should not have weapons.

"That night, he was a villain. He was trying to cause as much carnage as he could. And his mind just wasn't working," Dyer said. "The man was mentally unstable. And they did nothing to help."

"He was a risk. And he was a danger to the public. And nobody did anything to stop that. That's what makes me angry," Smith said.

They also feel strongly about improving the state's mental health system.

"They need to find ways to do things better, get people the help they need," Dyer said.

On Friday, Dyer and Smith are honoring their friends who died but, on this day, next year, they plan to get married. They say they want to take back October 25th for themselves and all the victims.

"We're moving forward. That's part of us being engaged and everything else. You know, we've been through hell. But we've made it. And let's move forward," Dyer said.