Chapter 13: Silence dear*

The next chapter has mentions and suggestions of acts of violence and abuse. Read discreetly.

Seeing everything fall apart so quickly, Ana had a decision to make. The house had no other door than the one that pointed towards the group of trasgos that kept moving towards them, while setting fire to the other houses. That was not an option.  Without time to answer any of her daughter's questions, Ana took her by the hand and dragged her into her room.

Alice saw the seriousness on her mother's face, the only sounds she heard were the crackling of the fire and the screams. As the obedient child she was, Alice followed her mother without uttering a word. Although she didn't quite understand what was going on, it was painfully obvious that it could only be unpleasant. 

Ana dragged Alice to the window overlooking the back alley of her house and opened it, being very careful not to make noise. She helped her daughter out of the window, afraid of attracting the attention of the beasts ravaging her village, she didn't even consider arming herself or taking anything before escaping, she just didn't have time.

Due to the location of the house, there was not really a place to run, almost all the houses around had already been set on fire or would soon be. Once outside, she beckoned Alice to keep quiet and dragged her daughter around the back of the house, facing the open field, which was obviously a bad idea.

Without many options, they could only attempt to cross the village, avoiding the trasgos until they reached the forest, where Anne could hide with her daughter. Although the forest was not very large, they knew it well enough so that mother and daughter could hide and see from the side when the trasgos left the village or were hidden, afraid of dawn light.

Ana knew how challenging it would be to reach the forest unseen, but that was the only card she had left to play. Hiding in another house was nothing more than waiting for fate to kill them with the flames, and trying to cross the open field was even worse than painting a target on her back, so Ana made her decision.

Fearful that Alice's good heart might put the girl in danger, Ana warned her. "Alice, whatever you do, don't turn your eyes away from me, no matter what you hear, don't turn away from me, understand?" Alice could only nod obediently. 

Mother and daughter began to drive into the burning village. There Ana saw something worse than hell, the little children, which she cared for during the day for the parents to hunt, being beaten to death by the vicious creatures. At least they were embraced by death, although violent and uneasy, it was a better ending compared to the girls pleading while being abused and crushed or split in the process. Their hearts died a little for each of them. Overwhelmed by her own helplessness, she could do nothing but cling to her daughter and go on her way.

Alice's upbringing mixed with fear was what forced her not to look away from her mother's back. Alice was not paralyzed by fear, but she would rather trust her mother than worry or show up at what seemed like a catastrophe. The cries of pain and pleas still reached her ears. No matter how much she tried to concentrate on her mother and only let herself be dragged by her, feeling helpless was inevitable.

The tears had long since begun to fall. Alice felt the moisture run down her cheeks, but there was no time to dry them. There was also no time to stop and find out what was causing her so much pain.  For once, she let curiosity slip away. For the first time in her life, Alice felt deeply dirty, because of fear and her own survival instincts, she didn't even try to do anything. With every scream she ignored, some of the sparkle in her eyes died down.

At first glance, it seemed that fate was truly kind to Ana and Alice, almost miraculously they had managed to cross half of town without being seen. But fate is capricious, it was nobody's fault, but there was nothing they could do either. While both crossed an alley, just as they turned a corner, they found themselves face to face with a trasgo and there was nowhere to flee or hide.

Fate is indeed cruel.

Ana felt her heart skip a beat, but that was only the beginning of the chain of unfortunate events that fate was about to put in front of them. With a heart-rending shriek to his ears, the trasgo called his nearby companions, as he advanced waving his club towards them. 

It is difficult to know if it was a moment of desperation or a moment of sudden bravery, but Ana took a nearby tree's branch and burst the face of the trasgo. Throwing it to the ground, unable to react when attacked by what he considered a defenseless prey. With no time to think about anything, Ana quickly took her daughter's hand and resumed the trot towards the forest, surrounding the traits attracted by the squeal. 

Believing that they had fought the most threatening moment, before they could breathe a sigh of relief at the edge of the forest, fate was once again very cruel. 

As soon as she could see with the corner of her eye the shadow that was approaching directly towards them, she could hardly react to remove her daughter from the trajectory. Ana was hit in the head by one of those creatures. 

Due to the position of the blow and the force of impact, Ana fell on her daughter, hindering mobility, but at the same time preventing the access of the trasgo to Alice's body. 

It was here that Alice broke the silence "Mother!" She said in despair as a few drops of something warm and moist touched her face. The purest despair filled her heart little by little, as if the drops of blood turned into the misery that filled her. 

In desperation, Alice asked for a miracle, she wished with all fervor that the gods would send her a miracle... This was supposed to be the part of the story where a powerful hero must save everyone, right?