Epiphany Of The Weak

"Lunch's ready," a woman's voice echoed.

I turned my gaze from the book that I was reading to the foods served on the table.

There were potatoes. Hot, charred potatoes sat on the small wooden table as if they were proud to be the only delicacy our family had at that moment.

"Sorry honey, you must be tired of eating potatoes every day. I promise you next week we'll have some fresh bread," the woman tried to cheer me up.

I shook my head. "No, Mommy. I like it."

Mommy smiled upon hearing my words.

The front door creaked when a tall man approached both of us. He looked grim.

"Dear, what's wrong?" Mommy said to him with a nervous tone.

He bit his lip before answering. "There's something wrong. Johnny told me he saw. . . Tanks. Jets. Black military jets."

Mommy and I looked at each other.

"There were commotions. . . " He paused. "I think we need to make a run for it."

"But where do we go?"

"The edge of the town. At father's place. We should be okay for a while there."

My mind came up with a few questions. What are they talking about? Why are both of them whispering to each other? There was something I should not know?

Finally, Daddy came to me and said softly, "Ava, we're gonna be alright. We'll go to your grandfather's house and stayed there for a while. Okay?"

I was dumbfounded. They seemed to be so serious that I cannot help but nod.

We were on our way to grandpa's house with all sorts of people running in all directions. 'Why are they running?' I asked myself. My feet shuffled along the rocky path our family had taken as I observed my surroundings.

A group of people ran past us, screaming and shouting as if there were beasts running after them.

"Hmm, where are they going, Daddy?" I asked out of the blue.

Before he could reply, the ground vibrated and I dropped to my knee. Fires broke out in the buildings ahead of us. The tremor grew stronger for a few more times before it stopped.

My eyes caught sight of people pouring out in endless streams from the road to our left.

"What the. . . " Daddy mumbled.

Unknowingly, my body was carried along with the streams of frightened people. My hand slipped away from Daddy's, and I was forced to head back from where we came.

The people pushed me and some even hit my shoulder as they ran.

That was when a whistle sound hovered over me.

I looked up.

A flash of light blinded my sight instantly and I closed my eyes instinctively.

Everything after that was a blur. There were explosions, one after another. My flail body moved like I was bouncing on a trampoline back at my friend's house. I bounced and bounced before I fell flat. Then there was this sharp pain that I was feeling. Something just brushed over my leg, grinding it which caused a wet sensation around that area.

I gasped as the pain shot up, and I screamed. The air in my lungs, I forced all of it out. Tears touched my cheeks. I screamed for help that whole time before darkness embraced me.

|=======================================================|

I thought I had a nightmare. My head had this groggy feeling.

"Sir! She's just a kid!"

"She's just a kid, huh. Private Derrick Jones, I won't tolerate any sort of information leak to anyone other than the personnel that I have authorized myself."

"She. . . "

"Even if she's a kid. Remember your priorities, soldier. We have dirtied our hands enough by the higher-ups. The life of a single child means nothing to us anymore. Our utmost and crucial order is the extermination of this group living in the area. This place is the only ones left standing amidst the other places that we have come into contact with, so when this is over, you can go back to your family."

". . . I understand, Sir. I apologize for my rudeness."

"Good. Head back to your station."

Someone was carrying me when I heard the conversation. He or she started to move after receiving some form of order. The person was silent.

I could not open my eyes. They were too heavy. Maybe because I was dead. But I still heard the cl.i.c.k.i.n.g of boots surrounding me. So I am not dead?

The person stopped.

I heard the door opened. I was thrown into somewhere deep before I landed hard on a pile of bags. That was what came first into my mind, but they were not bags. I tried opening my eyes again. This time, wondering why it was a bit easier than the last time, I succeeded.

The sight of piles of bodies enveloped me.

"Erk!"

I jerked up. There were bodies lying around everywhere, as far as my eyes could see.

"No, no, no, no, no, no." I shook my head vigorously and covered my face. It was horrid. I didn't want to see it.

I found myself gasping for air, but as I took in more of it, I coughed. My nose felt like it was burning and I rubbed it hastily. I felt sick.

It was hard to get rid of that strong smell in the air. And before I could restrain myself, I vomited all the contents in my stomach. It was excruciatingly awful. The air smelled like meat but it was stronger, with a mix of cheese and a disturbingly sweet stench.

I tried to cover my nose with my white dress but it didn't help much. I noticed that my left leg didn't hurt anymore. Curious, I struggled to open the bandages and found nothing.

No wounds whatsoever left on my leg.

There was only cold, dried blood grasping it.

I blinked. "What is happening. . ."

I stood there for quite some time, having all kinds of thoughts about how and why it was the way it had been. But then, the awful smell brought me back to reality.

"Mommy. . . Daddy. . . Where are you? Why did you leave me here?"

I cried, but my eyes refused to shed tears. My c.h.e.s.t hurt so much. I dropped to my knees and slowly, I hugged myself. It hit me at last, that I was truly alone in that place. No one was there to help me. There were no Mommy or Daddy or Grandpa. My friends were not there either.

I didn't understand anything that happened so far. Those soldiers came out of nowhere, and after that, everyone started to disappear bit by bit. They left me.

I sobbed. "Maybe they will come to me if I wait. . ."

"I suggest you start moving," said a faint, monotone voice.

I got up quickly and turned around, but there was no sign of another person talking.

The place was a bit dark, and the only area that was visible to me were those bodies.

I scratched my head and found out that it was wet.

"Eeek!"

It was a dried patch of blood. But I remembered being attacked somewhat by those soldiers. When that happened back then, I fell down to the floor from something.

"This. . ."

Carefully, I poked at the spot where it felt painful before, and sure enough, there was no wound. Confusion struck me.

"What is happening?" I said between my sobs.

A moment later, images of my parents slapped me into focus.

". . . Start moving," that voice repeated itself in my mind. Along with it came a foreign sense of courage as Mommy and Daddy's images flickered in my vision.

"I have to find them," I finally said to myself. Their happy faces helped me to calm myself down. However, I still gagged at the smell.

"It hurts. I don't like this. But. . . They might be looking for me—"

Start moving.

Those two words plastered itself at the forefront of my mind.

Start moving.

I trotted over the bodies trying to look for my parents. Though, each of the faces of the dead and their smell made it hard to think.

Anguish, grief, sadness, were welling up inside me.

'Their families must be worried about them,' I thought. And if they knew what happened, they would also felt sad.

"Mommy . . ." Again, my eyes refused to shed tears despite my overwhelming emotions.

A single bulb hung loose lighted up the dimly lit room. I could barely saw the faces of the people there as I went on.

"Mommy?"

A strange light flowing from a rectangle line at the end of the room caught my attention. 'It must be a door', I thought.

S—tart mov—ing.

I walked to it, carefully moving my legs over the bodies as I crossed them.

"It's locked. Mommy must be out there!"

Just imagining her face waiting for me behind the door was enough to quell my fears. After all, she was just there.

The knob on the door refused to budge. I pushed harder and even slammed my fists at the door as hard as I could, but it was to no avail.

"Wait, someone's on the door," a voice on the other side stopped my heart for a second.

There were people behind that door, but it was a man's voice.

I was pulled forward when the door opened abruptly.

"What the hell? There's a kid here. ALIVE," said a tall, muscular man in a black jacket. There was another guy behind him.

All of a sudden, I hugged the tall man at his waist and I cried. I didn't know why I did that, but it was something I had to do. The change from that awful sight from before to that new bright, white corridor left me with a little trace of happiness inside. There was no Mommy or Daddy, but even so, I was grateful.

I then realized both of them didn't look like they were in the military. Their clothes were not soldier-like. Both of them wore T-shirts and jeans.

"Damn. What do we about her, Nick? We need to get this to the boss," said the muscular man. He pulled out a disk and showed it to the other man, Nick.

"We gotta do what we gotta do, George. We need to get that info to the group. She'll just slow us down," replied Nick.

"Yeah, I suppose so." George looked at me sympathetically. "Sorry kid." He pushed my body away from him gently and turned forward to the corridor when suddenly, he jumped backward. His figure crashed into a pile of dead bodies in that previous room.

"Put your hands in the air!" shouted someone.

And yet, I saw no one else other than Nick, and it was not his voice.

I shook my head and opened my eyes again. It was still the same.

"They're here already?!" muttered Nick in surprise. He tried to make a run for it but his body shook violently before he too crashed to the ground. Blood poured from his c.h.e.s.t.

I recognized the holes in his body. They were gunshot wounds.

"Kill the kid too," a voice echoed throughout the corridor.

Knowing what would happen, I shielded my face. I knew I was going to die back then. Even so, I didn't want to.

'My parents, what had become of them?'

I wanted to find them.

'Mommy,'

'Daddy,'

'I want to see them!'

Those thoughts surrounded my mind as a sudden pain popped up, coming from my back.

Suddenly, a red object sprouted out of nowhere and a moment later, the corridor was filled with red color as if they were blood.

Three to four soldiers were caught in that mess, where objects that looked like large, red shrapnel had pierced their bodies. They didn't move one bit.

From how I saw it, there were spikes sprouting forth from the soldiers. And the spikes appeared to be connected to my back.

I was breathing heavily as I took in the scenery. It didn't make any sense.

However, I knew instantly what would happen.

From that day, it was apparent that I was stuck in a nightmare.

And waking up from it was never an option.