They are the enemy. Kill them for they killed your countrymen.
It was the eve of the Season fall when she entered the city bearing a rifle that was almost too big for her size. Around her, the wind swept hurling the dead autumn leaves into the streets. Some landed on the cemented street of the city while others landed on the backs of sprawled corpses around her.
She was a slender girl, maybe in her mid teens, with straight blonde hair covered by a green cap. She wore a tight green uniform along with her dappled pants held around by a large green belt with two holsters at each side.
She looked around her, glancing at the morbid corpses of men, women and children before her. Blood flowed from their sides as she walked pass each one, slowly nudging her rifle at them just to make sure if they were dead. Each one, she took a moment to look turning their bodies so that she could see their faces. Their lifeless eyes stared continuously at the heavens.
“This place…,” she stared upwards at the ruined buildings. “…, would have thrived.”
In the distance, she heard gunshots and tanks shots. The shouts of men and women echoed from afar before they were drowned from a large explosion behind the former parliament building. The orange explosion resembled that of a face raging out from the ground. Its loud sound sends off fury towards the sunlit sky.
For a moment, she was captivated by its appearance. She had seen similar things in the past during her training course on a country side of what was once known as Cornwall. However, this kind of explosion was coupled with the dying echoes of people within it. She shook her head forcefully before she made her into the ruins of the city.
“It is going to be rainy.” She whispered to herself, staring at the cloudless sky above her. “In a few hours, I hope.”
As she made her way to the centre of the city, she stopped before a school. Its windows were shattered. Its walls were cracked and covered with bullet holes. The roof had fallen down against the uppermost floor of the building. Before it, the wall was the bodies of militants being feasted by a flock of ravens. Inside, she saw a flicker of lights.
The girl gave a small smile as she made her way towards the building. She placed her rifle at her right hand to scatter the ravens away from the corpses before nudging them by their sides. Again, she turned them around to glance at their lifeless faces. Some of them were much younger than she was-thirteen or even ten-who were probably forced to fight.
She exhaled loudly while the words, “They are the enemy. Kill them…” entered her mind. When she tried to open the thick wooden doors, it was locked. She tried for a few times pulling it open before she saw a rusted old lock inside the doors.
She chuckled to herself taking out her pistol and firing a couple of shots before the lock broke and the doors were wide opened releasing a headless corpse falling towards her. She screamed as she fell down with the corpse.
“Get the bloody hell off of me!” she gasped pushing the corpse away from her. She stood up rapidly to glance at her uniform drenched in blood. She clenched her teeth breathing slowly while holding her chest as she pulled out her rifle and fire a dozen shots at the corpses’ back.
“You freakin’ idiot!” she snarled breathing in and out loudly through her mouth. Her fists were clenched tight, her eyes were wide opened. When she finally calmed down, she stomped the ground muttering various grunts and curses.
From that, she walked her way inside the school. The entrance hall was muck. Desks toppled, chairs ripped apart, floors cracked and the pungency of blood filled the air. A small flock of ravens entered the school ravaging on a number of bodies on the ground. She sighed as she fired a shot from her pistol sending the birds into frenzy as she made her way inside the building.
In almost every part of the school was the same. Only the library was different. Its books were still in tacked with the shelves but at the middle of it was a lone corpse lying on his back. Its head was twisted at the back while its arms were sprawled out. Its torso was cut open and inside the various internal organs was gone.
“They must have been trapped inside here and their only food resources were…” she said as she turned around to the exit. “…themselves.”
Reaching the second floor of the building, she peered out through a window. She took notice of the ruined buildings piling up against each other on the ground. Hundreds of survivors were rushing through the streets avoiding any soldier or militants by hiding through cracks and holes. By the distance at the far end of the city, the battle rages on. Sounds of gun fires echoed to her ears. Militants were hiding through the remaining standing buildings surrounded by a large number of soldiers that tried to force the militants out through the use of tanks and missiles. By the horizon were the shapes of two helicopters along with half a dozen fighter planes that streamed towards the buildings.
They are the enemy, the words returned to her mind; Kill them for they killed your countrymen.
“Retribution,” she murmured sadly before she heard a tiny cracked near her. The girl spun around to her left facing a small room was its door was opening and closing back and forth. She placed her rifle before her firing dozen of shots at the door.
“If there is anyone inside, come out now…!” She screamed. Her eyes were narrowed. Her lips were pressed against each other. She held her rifle tight. Her index finger at the rifle’s trigger was shaking.
She pushed the door opened wide with her legs and rushed in quickly looking around her tensely. Her eyes scanned the room as she brought the gun near her face. It was another room similar from the one she had previously seen. The windows were shattered, wall cracked and floors destroyed. She looked behind her to see a hand behind the door. The girl shot a few shots at it before confirming that the person behind the door was dead.
Underneath her boots, she felt something soft. She lifted her feet off the ground to spot a small teddy bear. It had a brown fur with a ribbon tied around the neck. The girl took hold of bear and brought it close to her face. One of its golden eyes was missing. Its nose was gone and one of its ears had a bullet hole. Slowly, a small smile appeared on her face. Her hands loosened against the pistol touching the tip of the bear’s nose.
“Chester,” she whispered while she giggled. With her free hand, she let her free hand touched its soft fur before she felt the thick feeling of blood at the bear’s stomach. When she lifted her hand off from it, her palm was covered with thick blood.
Her eyes partly widened as she shifted her gaze towards the doors. She nudged the door opened and looked upon the mangled body of a young boy lying on his chest. By his backs were half a dozen bullet holes that came from when she had fired shots at the door. She sighed before looking at the teddy she lifted its arm. Her eyes darted to its golden eyes when she heard a crack behind her.
Turning around with her rifle in both arms, she stared a boy in his pre teens. Black patches surrounded his eyes. His T-shirt dappled in dirt and various ornaments adorned his torso, arms and legs. He began to say wordless pleas not letting his stare away from her rifle.
“Ple…Please…Don’t…shoo…shoot.” He pleaded but the girl did not move brushing her index finger against the trigger. She clenched her teeth drawing her attention away from the morbid corpse of the child by the door.
They are the enemy. Her commander’s words echoed in her mind. Kill them for they killed your countrymen. Outside, she heard the large collapse of the building that the militants stayed along with the various bombing by the fighter planes across the city.
They are winning, she thought. They are winning. She gazed again at the boy before him with his trembling legs, his sweat drenched face slowly pleading for his life.
They killed your countrymen.
After a moment, which seemed like an hour, she forced herself a grin and stared eagerly to him.
“And…what is it…for…for…,” she widened her eyes and screamed, “…ME!” as she threw the bear beside him and fired a couple of shots through its head. When the bear thumped to the ground, the girl wrapped her body against her shoulder and lowering her head. For a moment, she stayed like that murmuring wordlessly to herself while the words of her commander echoed in her mind.
“Chester’s dead,” she said trying to face the young boy before her. “Chester’s long dead,”
