The insect hadn't moved all day. At first she figured that it was just asleep. People sleep so why not insects? She always liked insects. The other children hated them, playing games where they'd squash and stick them down the back of each others shirts. It was odd she thought. They were small creatures, kind and never meaning to hurt anyone. She much preffered them to the other kids. This insect in particular had been in the shelter since they'd arrived a week ago. And now it was gone. Maybe it had died of old age, maybe it had turned ill, maybe it had got sad and just gave up all together..

She sighed and looked of the window. She knew how it felt. The horizen was getting darker, as it had done for days now. She didn't know why it was doing that, but she knew what it meant. They'd have to move again. Could be today, could be tomorrow, either way they weren't staying.

But she needed to do somthing first.

She looked around the shelter. She was alone, a young daughter of a wheat grinder, left all alone in a cramped refugee hut while the adults where off doing important stuff. Just her and the dead insect. She closed her eyes tight, breathed in slowly, breathed out slower and opened them. Her vision had changed.

She could see noise, swirling and loud.

She could see motion, slow and fast.

She could see life, cold but still there.

Slowly and carefully she reached down and touched the insect, a small tickling sensation running down her arm. Then suddenly she snapped back, pulling her hand back and blinking repeatedly. Rubbing her eyes, she opened them to see the insect move. It's leg twitching, then another, then another and another until it flipped itself over.

Overjoyed she started clapping. The insect, somewhat disturbed by coming back from death, heard the clapping and scuttled off as fast as its legs would take it. Her face dropped. "No," she yelped. "Come back please!"

Too late. Her only friend had ran away from her.

The door opened and her father stepped in. She ran up and hugged him as she always did. "Hey sweetheart," He muttered quietly "I've got somthing to tell you."

She leaned back, but still kept her arms around his legs. "We're leaving aren't we."

He nodded. "Everyone's leaving, it isn't safe here. When we get to the capital we'll be safe."

"We weren't safe at home, we weren't safe at the Baron's camp, we aren't safe here and we won't be safe at the Capital either."

Her father tutted and harshly shoved his leg aside, esxaping her grip. "Well so what?" he asked bitterly "What would you rather do?"

"Let it kill us." She said calmly.

He stopped dead. Slowly he turned to look at her, kneeling down as he did so and resting his hands on her shoulders. "Conny, we are not going to die, I'm not going to die, you're not going to die, no one's going to die. We're going to go to the Capital, and when we get there the star people will protect us."

"And if they can't?"

"They will. They're more powerful than anything we've ever seen, they're... rewarding our faith in them by rescuing us. We only have to believe" He hugged her tightly. She slowly raised her arms around him. "Look, sometimes life's awful and you just want to give up... but we keep going, even when we don't think we can."

"Why?"

He struggled for words, but eventually found an answer with a smirk to go along with it. "Because you'll find out when we get there."

This only confused her more. "So... you're gong to tell me the answer when we get there?"

He got up dusted his legs off. "I promise. Now get your stuff ready we have to leave soon."

She counted 47 horses, all taken from some nobleman's land a few miles east of here. A young group of 3 teenagers had herded them all here, told everyone that the nobles 'sure won't be able to use them anymore'. There was only 34 refugees here she had counted. Most of them had their bags and sacks allready strapped onto their chosen horse.

The horses were much bigger than insects. As her father directed her to their horse she looked it straight in the eye and it mate her gaze back. For a split second they just stared into each others eyes, neither of them really doing anything. Then her father grabbed her around the waist and hoisted up up onto the horses saddle. "Allright just gotta..." he tightened the straps over her legs and then patted them a few times to make sure they were secure "good to go."

He was about to climb on himself but then a woman called out to him. Conny looked to the woman and saw her stride over, smiling. "So this must be who I've been hearing all about." She waved to conny and stood beside her father. She was slightly taller than him, tied back hair and expensive looking clothing.

He father scratched the back if his head nervously. "Hi. Err, Conny this Bethany."

Conny stared at the woman, not saying a thing. The woman shifted uncomfortably, but didn't stop smiling.

"What do we say Conny." Her father said.

"Hello Bethany." Conny muttered quietly,looking back down at her hands.

"It's nice to meet you Conny." Bethany nodded politely and turned to the now red faced man. "I've sorted it out with Nathaniel and we cam get everyone through the Barrowtown river pass, should cut days from our journey."

"Great, suprised he would be willing to do that."

"He's a nice man once you get to know him. Moody, but he'd never let anyone in need go hungry." she reached around and opened her satchel. "Speaking of which, look what one of those houng men found." She pulled out two strange bars and handed them to him. "One for you and one for Conny, save it for now though, don't it it all now."

"What is it..."he said as he stared at the packaged object. The material was unlike anything he had ever seen. "This looks like noble food, Don't they get stuff like this delivered to them from the star people."

"No idea, we'll have to find out."

He handed one of the bars over to Conny. She looked over the packaging, trying to figure out what it was. It was unusual, clean and soft yet the material stretched and folded like fabric or paper. There was a picture on it of some doughy substance and writing. "Caramel bite..." she read aloud.

"Hey," her father said "what do we say to someone who gives us somthing?" Conny looked at him, then looked at the lady, still smiling. she looked back down at her hands. "Thank you." she said quietly.

"Ahh, don't worry about it. Anyway you coming up front Steve, we'll be heading out any minute now."

***

Several hours had passed since they'd left the refugee hut. Truth be told it hadn't been much of a refugee camp, only a few people had been there. Conny thought back to their home town. Of the 72 people who'd lived there as neighbours, Conny counted only two young brothers and a baby they'd found while escaping. When her father had tried to take them to the Barons land, they had only found one survivor. He said he was staying behind to warn others, make sure that no one goes anywhere other than to the capital. He had claimed that every other village within a hundred miles was gone. Father had saisd the man was wrong But Conny knew he wasn't.

Now they were with others. More than 30 people had taken refuge in a make shift refugee centre in an abandoned village called Dressdale.
A man in armour called Nathaniel had taken charge of the groul and was mow leading them to the Barrowtown river pass. She'd never seen it before but she knew what it was. A fort protecting a bridge that crossed the main river. They'd have tk cross it in order to make it to the capital.

She coughed a few times, her father looking around towards her. "Are you alright?" He asked. She nodded. He looked back towards the road, patting the side of the horses neck to make sure it hadn't been startled by the sudden noise. "How far we got?" he called out. They were at the front of the line, riding alongside Bethany and there was only man in front of them.

He leaned back around and pinted some along the road they were following, his armor making a noise as he moved. "Another few hours. This is the short way as well."

"Through the forest?" father asked.

"Mm,mm." the man in armor responed. "Keep an eye on everyone for me, make sure no one wanders off. I'm the toughest thing in this country, believe me, but I can't protect anyone who seperates from the herd." Conny didn't like him. His voice sounded mean and harsh, not like Bethany, who was now smiling less as the horse riding made her more uncomfortable by the second.

But, she knew that he was still a nice person. She could always sense if someone was a nice person or not. There was an aura about people with cruel intentions that only she could see. It wasn't like a mean person would glow and stand out from a crowd, but she could always see what sort of person someone was if she tried.

She looked back towards the horizen they were moving ever further away from. It had gotten smaller, but it was still there. It made her feel tired all of a sudden she rested her head against her father and closed her eyes.

***

Consciousness slowly fadded back to her. she hadn't slept well, shaking from the horse and leaning against her fathers back had been a poor choice of pillow.

There was a screaming sound, quiet and distant.

Followed by another, followed by another, followed by more.

They came out of nowhere, catching her off guard, distant noises and crys for help, mercy and fear.

"Are you awake?" father asked, noticng her stirring. there was somthing unusually firm about his voice, not anger but somthing else.

"yes" she said.

"Keep your eyes shut," he said "don't look."

But she didn't need to open her eyes to see. The image was clear in her head, she could see everything around her.

...

Bodies.

Bodies everywhere.

Not just bodies but bits of bodies, insides splayed out far from the person they originally belonged to, blood soaking the ground like grass, arms and legs littering the field like ashes.

She could see their souls, burning into the air. Like flames of a fire, licking upwards and screaming.

No! She couldn't take it anymore, it hurt to look at.

She opened her eyes and gasped. "I said don't open your eyes!" her father snapped.

They were passing through a field, countless dead people all around them. Large craters were visible now, smoke rising from them. Flies were everywhere and a few corpses were still twitching. She saw all sorts among them. People of different ages, race and clothing, but they all had one similarity.

They were all gone. Forever.

She hugged father tightly, he rested his hand on hers. "Don't worry." he said quietly. "It's okay. I'm still here, your safe with me."

There was a loud moan all of a sudden. Bethany's horse rearing suddenly, father cursing as he tried to control his own horse. A woman's voice called out. "O-Ol-Oliva!"

The group stopped an Bethany climbed of her horse, runnig for ahead of the group to someone on the side of the path, lying on the ground. Nathamiel rode his horse closer, a few of the others hopped off their horses and ran up to help, but father kept back, trying to shiled her from
seeing what was going on. Conny could see though.

The woman was dying. She was missing her entire body below her upper torso and the rest of her was nowhere to be seen. Bethany tried giving her some wter but she couldn't drink it. Some others started crying a few more walked back to their horses, unable to watch. "Don't worry." Bethany said. "You're going to a better place now. I'll protect her." her voice cracked slightly but she maintained herself.

The woman spat dark red blood over the ground. "Olivia... she managed to say. "Find her..."

"Is she your daughter?" Bethany asked.

...

There was no response.

Conny watched her soul start to burn up. She knew only she could see it. She could feel the womans life fill the air for a second, then vanish.

No one said a word. They all quietly returned to their horses, Bethany firmly clambering atop her now much calmer ride.

"You okay.?" father asked.

"I'm fine," she said, suddenly smiling "and I'm going to find her daughter, Olivia."

Nathaniel scoffed. "If she's on the main road. Come on, we ain't got far left."

And with that, they continued on their way.

They couldn't quite believe it when they first saw it. Gone. the fort that had long protected the bridge to cross the river had gone, washed away in the river. The walls were crumbled and the buildings inside visible, all burnt out and collapsed. Dead guards servants were all around, some wlwithin the fort, others looked like they'd been running away towards the forest as they'd been cut down. This time there were more craters littering the landscape, no smoke rising but pools of some unrecognisable liquid.

"Don't suppose horses can swim can they?" Bethany joked, failing to hide the depression in her voice.

"I wouldn't know..." Nathaniel grunted, finnally tired from the cursing he'd been doing since they'd found the fort like this.

Conny's father pointed down the river. "Next bridge is East, we'll head there and see if we can cross, if not then we'll see if the horses can swim."

This announcement was met with anger from the other 30 or so members of the group, all voicing their concerns loudly.

"Quiet!" Nathaniel boomed above them all, "Anyone who wishes to stay and wait for death, or wants to see if they might be the first person not to get dragged under the currents can do so. But our only option to get across alive lies East."

"That'll take days!" cried a voice.

Conny had already tunned out of the conversation, she didn't care for listening to their argument. she knew what the outcome was anyway. They'd argue, shout and cirse, but they'd do what Nathaniel would say. Not because they thought he was right but because he was bigger than them. They feared him, which meant he made them fear safe, because he was protecting them. She knew this because father had told her so. He'd done so when she'd asked him why he was in charge. "People want life to be easier," he said "especially when it gets tough."

"3 days or so." Bethany said, then made a weird gesture with her hand. "Give or take."

"Right, well no time to waste then." Father said. And with that the group reluctantly set off East, following the river as they did so.

***

Conny looked at the horizen for possibly the millionth time. 5 days had passed since they'd set out from the destroyed fort. 5 days of horse riding and camping. The further east they got the worse the weather got. In the daytime the wind would pick up and rain would drench them, wet mud slowing them down considerably. In the night bitterness and damp would take hold of them. 8 of them had died suddenly on the third night. From then on Nathaniel had made them all have sleeping buddies in order to stay warm.

In those 5 days the darkness on the horizen had gotten ever closer. She could make out clouds, as black as the night sky without stars and ever so slight green lines that sometimes etched itself momentarilly towards the earth. This would usually be followed by a low boom moments later.

She felt a knot tighten in her stomach. Her father may try to hide the truth from her but she knew it all too well.

Her father let out a sudden gutteral noise. It startled her and made her jump. Her father was slumped forwards and made another noise, slightly more nassaly this time. She heard Bethany giggle from the right side of the path and she leaned over closer to them. "He's fell asleep." she wispered, smirking as she did so.

"Father." she said, shoving him slightly on his back.

Bethany grabbed onto the horse straps and held it straight, pulling up closer besides them so that the horses were almost touching. "Let him sleep, we'll mess with hik when he wakes up." she said. Conny thought on that for a second. Why would they mess with him? Bethany seemed to act a little strange though, always talking in a weird... joking way, too nice and...

False. Conny had known it from the start. She had an aura about her that stuck to her body like some sort of cloak. Conny could see it every time she focused. The Bethany she saw under the cloak was small, scryin and wrapped up in a ball... but father seemd to like her. they would always chat and talk, sometimes at night father would leave with her for a short time, thinking that Conny was asleep and wouldn't notice
it, then soon after. What where they doing? Conny had no idea, but she knew that they were friends. Father had always seems lonely, only ever really friends with people because he worked with them. He spent most of his time with her, looking after whenever her panic attacks would kick in.

For now Conny would keep how she felt to herself, as long as father was happy she was happy.

***

Day 6.

They were nearing the bridge now, Nathaniel had been sure of it. They'd crossed down onto a seemingly endless span of hills covered in tall grass, so tall it almost reached the horses head. Conny was amazed, jaw hanging open in amazement. she'd never seen anything like this in her entire life, it was like a whole new world had opened up in front of her. "Want a better look?" father asked, looking back at her with a grin. She nodded, not quite sure what he meant. "Beth could you-" he started, before she agreed and grabbed Conny by the waist, lifting her up and onto her fathers shoulders.

She gazed at the surrounding world, beutiful long grass, green as can be, made a sea of waves in the breeze for as far as she could make out. She laughed, She was above it all, like a bird. she opened her arms out like wings. all bad thoughts left her, the fear, the death, even the ever closer darkness in the sky all seemed to dissipate as she flew above the green ocean.

In the far distance she could see a bridge along the river, and how the path they was following lead to it. She could make out shapes
amongst the field. What looked like people and a large moving box. 'what's that?' she though, about to ask father about it.

Several sudden flashes of red light came from the big box.

It hit one of riders near the front of the group.

Boiling crimson steam filled the air and both horse and rider fell to the ground in pieces, insides spilling out onto the ground like steaming soup.

Silence.

Then panic. Before anyone could scream the horses went berserk, rearing up and throwing off their riders.

More red flashes, followed by sharp cracks and hisses as blood boiled and body parts fell to the floor around them.

Father quickly took her off his shoulders and made a motion with the horses reigns. "Let's go, come on!!!" He yelled, galloping off into the tall grass as Bethany followed.

Conny clung to him tight as everything went by fast. Others galloped past them on their faster horses. They thught that they were safe going this way, right up until several men stood up among the grass ahead of them and opened fire, bursts of red light stripping them apart in a mess. Father pulled the horse to a stop, ready to change direction. "FETH IT ALL!!!" He screamed.

"This way!" Bethany called out to him, starting towards the trees in the distance. "We can get away-"

A bright red flash hit in the side of her head.

Father didn't move. Conny felt her throat close up as she watched the horse slow down and the corpse slide off, dissapearing into the grass.

He didn't move, didn't react, it was as he couldn't.

"Father." she wispered, feeling her body start to shake.

"Hey, you!" Shouted a voice very close by. Conny turned her head to see a man sprint right up to them. He was wearing a yellow tunic of some sort, above that thick rounded green plates covering his upper torso and shoulders. On the mans' helmet was an emblazened white eagle. and in his hands he pointed a rectangualr box a them. "Get off!" He finished, sneering as he butted her in the face with it.

Conny fell to the floor and smacked her head.

THUD!

Everything went white.

The last thing that she could hear as her world turned dark was the victory cries of strangers from the stars.

The last thing she saw was Bethany burning.

Rumbling.

That was the only thing she could think of as she regained consciousness. There was a low rumbling that wasn’t stopping. There was a painful stinging in the back of her skull and the rumbling was making it worse. She came to the conclusion that she’s have to wake up properly to stop it.

Groggily she opened her eyes. Darkness. A near total darkness, broken only by a small red flash above her that span around endlessly.

Red flash...

It all came back to her suddenly. The grass, the men who’d fired at them, the people around the exploding and falling to pieces. She sat up suddenly and fast, wincing as the pain in the back of her neck was made ten times worse. She instinctively to raise her arms up and grab the back of her head but couldn’t. She tried to question this but couldn’t.

She quickly realised several things at once. Her legs and arms were tied to something, there was a sticky fabric over her mouth stopping her from moving her lips, she was in a cramped dark room, sitting on a small seat and there were others in the room.

The red flash on the ceiling wasn’t dangerous, not like the lights from earlier. Instead it span and shone a strong, red light in opposite directions, illuminating the outlines and features of others around her. They were the same people from the field of long grass, the soldiers who’d attacked them.

“Bloody hell!” cried one that was sitting next to her. Conny had been leaning on this man and her movement had made him jump. “This one’s alive after all!”

Two soldiers directly across from them started laughing, each one’s voice harsh, young sand full of mocking. She noticed they wore the same uniforms and armour as the one who’d hit her.

“Hey Mathews, your girlfriends awake!” One sneered, punching the soldier next to him in the shoulder.

“Feth off, at that age she’s more your type!” the man that must have been called Mathews responded.

The one next to her turned to face her. “What are you kid, about 5? 6? 7?”

‘8 and three quarters,’ she thought to herself ‘but I’m not telling you that.’ The soldiers were large and wearing thick fabrics, along with rounded armour that covered the top half of their torso and shoulders, yet even under this they were visibly strong, powerful and aggressive. She didn’t want to be in here with them. “What’s the matter, you not her type?” one of them jeered when she didn’t respond. They started laughing and arguing with each other.

She started looking around for a way to escape, a way out of this room. She noticed two doors immediately on either end. She realised that the room must have been the box at the field that she’d seen. It was a rectangular box and across both long ends sat a large number of seats. She also noticed others who weren’t soldiers.

The first was an old woman, sat with her head down towards the floor. Conny recognised her from the group they had been travelling with from the refugee camp. She had always been with an old man, Conny had assumed it was her husband. He wasn’t here. She felt something turn in her stomach. She hoped that he hadn’t been killed at the field, the old woman looked so sad.

The old man wasn’t in the box though. The next person she saw was a teenager, he looked uncomfortable and She could see why. Sitting right next him was a solider without a helmet. She was clearly at least a decade older than him and she was pressing herself close against him, her left hand around his neck and her right hand gripping his inner thigh. She was whispering something to him while he tried everything he could to lean away from her.

The next person she recognised though. Nathaniel. He was tied up with more straps than the others and had been practically hogtied to his seat, his armour nowhere to be seen. His face was soaked in dark blood and the bandage that had been applied over his eyes failed to cover the liquid that poured from his right eye had been not long ago. He was struggling against his restraints, panting loudly. The soldier next to him was leaning away slightly.

She looked left and right. There were two soldiers on both sides of her, the one on the left was the one who’d jumped, he seemed young, as young as an adult could be anyway. His face still had spots. The man on her right was older and tougher looking. He was sitting there quietly, eyes towards the smaller door further to her right.

There was a grunting sound, followed by movement. It came from the beyond the man to her left. She tired making a noise in response but because of the thing over her mouth it came out as a high pitched whine instead.

“Hey, shut it mate.” One of the soldiers said, but the man continued grunting, getting louder and more aggressive. She recognised the grunting sound.

Father.

He was calling out o her. She leaned out and looked for him, seeing him do the same. “Father!” She tried to yell. He tried yelling something to her, a look of fear and relief on his blood soaked face.

“Hey! What are you two doing!” another soldier shouted while still having not calmed down from the laughing. “Get back in your seats!” said another. She didn’t stop and neither did her father. “Come on you’re being annoying!” a soldier laughed. “Yeah come on, stop it now, that’s enough.”

She didn’t stop though. She wouldn’t stop, she wouldn’t keep doing it until they let her go. She started screaming for her father in defiance. She realised that she was crying, tears rolling down her face as her screams turned to wails. Father started to angrily struggle from his restraints in response, trying to get up.

The man to her right slammed his fist against the wall, a loud THUD echoing around the room, silencing everyone. He must have been the leader, he clearly commanded respect from them. “Mathews and Benedict if you two giggling fething idiots don’t make him shut the feth up, I swear I’ll scalp the fething two of you!”

The two soldiers across from her undid their belts and got up immediately, moving over towards her father. The one she knew was Mathews rested his hand on her fathers’ shoulder. “All right mate.” He said. “You need to calm down now, alright. Father looked at the man and let his guard down for a moment. The man Conny figured must have been Benedict suddenly punched her father in the stomach. As he reeled from his Mathews moved his hands up to his head and slammed him into the wall, a painful BANG as he hit the metal.

She screamed, a loud high pitched wail. The two soldiers continued to force her father against the metal, beating and mocking him. She tried struggling now, desperate to try to help him, any way she could.

“You.” Said an angry low voice to her right. She turned her head as the leader grabbed her by the throat, forcing her to look into his eyes. “You little bitch.” He muttered, squeezing his thumb and index finger on each side of her jaw. A painful stng lit up the bottom half of her face. “You need to fething shut up or else.” He said slowly. His eyes were filled with hatred and disgust.

She tried to stop, tried to stop crying but she couldn’t. A large gulp filled her throat and she let out an uncontrollable sob.

“NO!” he spat, taking his hand off her and slapping her hard.

She couldn’t see it but the other soldiers were taking notice, the one between her and her father tensing up. “Sergeant, she’s just a kid we don’t-“

“Shut up Trooper.” He said calmly, his eyes never leaving her. The red flashing light lit him up like a monster. He grabbed her jaw again and squeezed harder. “Now let’s try it again. Can you be quiet?”

She couldn’t...

He stood up, sighing angrily. “Well I gave you a chance.” He said as he pulled out a jagged knife.

Everything got louder all of a sudden. Her father and Nathaniel started violently struggling against their restraints, the soldiers started yelling at the Sargent to stop, the man on Conny’s left that had tried to defend her got up and stuck his hand between the Sargent and her. “Sir, this is too far!”

“Move out the way, trooper!”

The soldier wavered. Conny thought he was about to lower his hand and let the Sargent do it before the rumbling stopped.

The room became still and one of the doors at the end opened. A man in a brown cap leant out, an angry look on his face. “We’re here, journeys over, if you’re gonna start something you get the hell out of my Chimera and do it outside!”

The Sargent turned to face the man. “You took your time didn’t you!”

”I did, and now we’re here! Now get out Sargent Grayson. If you want to kill another child you do it outside of my vehicle!”

“If you don’t like watching our enemies bleed then you’re in the wrong line of work!” the Sargent argued back, determined not to be spoken back to by someone he clearly had no power over. As they continued arguing the soldiers started undoing their prisoners. One got up and unlocked the bigger door, opening it to a blindingly bright light.

The man who’d tried to defend her kneeled down in front of her and undid the straps ting her hands to the seat. “You alright?” he asked in a voice that sounded like genuine concern. She didn’t say anything, just kept on sobbing. “Here.” He said, reaching into his pocket and handing her a small cloth of fabric. He slowly pulled the tape off her mouth and she gasped, breathing in the fresh air that burst from the blinding light. She then held the cloth to her face, wiping away tears and covering her mouth with it to muffle her crying.

“Let’s go.” He said, helping her up and out the door. She saw that eh two men who had her father had already dragged him outside, three more soldiers were struggling to control the tied up and grunting Nathaniel.

The light burned her eyes at first and she had to close them, listening to the sound of the awful man disappear as they walked away from the box. Now more noise filled her ears, the noise of voices, many voices, all shouting, crying, screaming and wailing.

She slowly opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the light.

They where at the bridge, but it was like nothing she’d ever seen.

There was large walls everywhere, giant and metal, large white eagle symbols all over them. Those walls wrapped around the an entire town that was around the bridge, a sort of make shift fort. Countless soldiers walked across walkways atop the walls, each one carrying the strange boxes that had shot out the red flashing light.

And below them, sat hundreds of people. More than she’d ever seen before. Men, women, children, old and young, poor and rich, all gathered like animals in a pen and all trying to get across the bridge. Why though? The soldiers at the bridge were forcing them back, shouting at them to stop and take it in turns, strange objects held up to their mouths making them far louder than the crowd.

“That’s strange.” Remarked the soldier who had guiding her. “Why are they doing that?”

The sound of thunder filled the air and she looked off towards the south. The darkness was almost on them, the sky black as night and roaring with green thunder. “It’s almost here.” She said.