Soldiers

The chirping of little birds flying between trees woke Nova. Sunshine streamed down from the sky drowning the surroundings in an ethereal light.

Nova stretched her sleepiness away. She began climbing down the tree but she stopped. Something seemed all too familiar.

The smell.

The burning of flesh and wood. The ashy air and difficult breathing. The bloodstained floor and the blistering pain of burning alive.

The memories of that day resurfaced and she almost puked. The fear and sorrow that accompanied it washed away all sensibility from Nova's mind.

She relaxed her grip on the tree and fell a few feet. Thankfully she had already climbed a portion of the tree down and the tree wasn't very high.

Slowly but surely she regained control of her body. The damage was already done however and she was sobbing quietly.

[Wh-y th-this smell.. i-is]

She stumbled closer to the smell. Nova wasn't thinking she rushed clumsily to the location of the fire.

After about an hour of running non-stop due to adrenalin, she had reached a clearing in the woods. The source of the smell terrified her.

Feeling something wet touch her foot she yelped and looked down. A bloody hand weakly fell on her and a low groan could be heard.

"Heelppp m-mee"

The voice shuttered and fell silent. The smell of burning flesh became stronger and various animals gathered at the border of the clearing, staying far away from the raging fire.

The clearing was full of burning bodies. Someone had dumped lamp oil on each one and they burned, the agonizing screams became silent whimpers and eventually, no living soul could be seen.

Except for the perpetrators of course.