A cold wind whipped through the waste land strewed with death. Bleeding and broken bodies littered the earth like rubbish after a funfair, such that the soil was permanently discoloured a rusty red.  

A girl with fiery red hair and pale chalky skin was dragged out of the back of a van by a pair of soldiers.

“Here you go miss, your freedom,” one of them said, with a cruel sneer on his face, pulling off her blind fold.

The child’s dark eyes swept across the landscape and she lurched at the sight before her. Her stomach churned. She felt faint.

“Get going girl!” The second soldier growled as he cut her hands free from the ropes which bound her.

He kicked her in the back. She fell over. Her garments, torn and stained with her own blood did little to protect her raw, insect bitten skin from the rough surface of the earth.

“Go on girl,” the other soldier said.

The girl stood up.

Slowly, she began to move, one step at a time.

“Silent.”

The girl looked to the side and found that something was walking beside her; a strange creature made of butterflies and the wind.

“Silent, you are going to die. These soldiers are going to kill you,” it said.

“I know”, the girl replied, looking ahead.  She didn’t know how she was replying to this thing because she had not yet taken off the gag. She was trying to; it was very tight. There seemed to be some kind of metal piece holding it firmly in place. The creature nodded as if it heard and understood.

“Would you like to pay them back for the pain they have put you through? Would you like to pay all these human back for what they have done to your kind? Would you like to free your kind from the stupidity of this race?” The creature asked her.

The girl nodded, looking at the creature.

“Then give me your body. I will be able to save you and save this world, from the inhumanity of humans. We, together, will be able to save the world, from itself. We’ll make a new world. Trust me.”

The girl looked at the creature, which looked back at her. She could begin to see the creature as a person, a sort of feminine creation, with a heart beating in the form of crushed leaves and flowers.

“Free me,” the girl begged and stopped walking, tugging at her gag.

The creature smiled gently and reached for it.

“Good Riddance” The first soldier sneered to himself as they opened fire.

A rain of bullets was fired just as the creature released the girl from the gag.

“Scream” The creature smiled and touched the girl’s lips.

The girl opened her mouth and she screamed, but not a sound was heard.

A bird squawked, but its voice was non-existent. A carriage in the distance seemed to be caught in a silent film and the voices of a bevvy of ladies were cut off; only the movement of the mouth existed.

And then the sound came back, rushing at full force and everything exploded.

As the explosion died down, you could hear the faint chime of a grandfather clock in the distance.  

The girl slumped forward and then fell onto the ground, all the energy drained from her body. As she lay there the creature sunk into her body, a green hue glowing about her skin before it too soaked into her flesh, disappearing into the depth of the girl-child.