Armageddon's Daughter

Prologue

The harsh winds crashed against the broken window frame, seeping through into the room and into the little girl's bones, but she did not feel the cold. She had devoted her full attention to the lady sitting on the end of the small bed the child inhabited, holding a candle to keep away the night. 

"But mummy, I don't understand why the wolf even wanted Little red riding hood, he only asked for some of the food in her basket,"

The lady leaned forward and tucked a lock of hair behind the girl's ear, she smiled for her daughter but her face appeared worn and tired. "I know dear, but Red riding hood only wanted to bring the food to her grandmother." The little girl's brow creasedand she pouted as if in deep though.

"But why did her grandma live out in the woods all alone? And couldn't someone of gone with Red riding hood?" Her mother leaned forward to kiss the girl's forehead and tucked her deeper under her covers to keep her warm.

"One day, you will be able to go out into the world and find all the answers you want, but for now you have to remember it's only a story."

"But you always say stories had to of come from somewhere!" The small girl was barely keeping her eyes open, slowly being consumed by sleep but she wanted an answer and was trying to hold on.

Her mother smiled, and just as she opened her mouth to speak, a small whup was heard by the girl and she saw her mother clenching at her chest, gasping but not taking in a single breath.

A small red flwer blossomed on her mother's chest in the exact place your heart would be. The little girl found herself wide awake as she watched it grow and develop until it was no longer a flower but more like a-

A wound. 

"Mummy?" She stood on her bed and cupped her mother's cheeks. Her mother's eyes met hers and the girl thought her mother was trying to say something, trying to form words, and she watched helplessly as her mother's eyes clouded over into a thick fog.

The girl wanted to scream, she wanted to wake her mum up, she wanted this all to be a bad dream and to wake up in her mother's loving arms. The girl wanted many things but no one was there to give her any of them. 

Tears ran down her face, her arms ached from holding her mother upright but she couldn't let go, letting go would mean her mother was gone forever. 

"Mummy.." she whispered, "mummy please, wake up." Her voice was pleading and now nasal due to her blocked nose and salty tears. "Mummy, I love you." 

She fell asleep in her dead mother's arms that night. Exhaustion claimed her after a while, but she was awake to feel the last of her mother's warmth leave her body.

"Alice? Alice are you in there?" 

The girl sat up groggily and rubbed at her eyes. She heard knocking on the door and someone calling out for her again. She stood up, not daring to look down, and walked uncertainly over to the door. She lifted an arm to the handle that was just above her head, screaming internally at her blood caked fingernails and arm but not being able to make a sound in reality. She twisted the handle, peeping through the small crack she made between the door and the frame.

She saw the lady from downstairs. There were many people down stairs, this facility was designed to house the poor and out of work. It had been the little girl's home for as long as she could remember but she was still scared of the other residents. 

"Alice, there you are! Your mother never turned up with you for morning assembly today, I thought I'd come find you before the authorities did. Where's your mother, then?" 

Alice stared up at the woman's sausage lips, she had greasy hair tucked under a scarf but it still managed to stick out in the wrong places. She was a little too plump considering that everyone else in the facility was starvingand her grey dress was similar to what everyone else wore except it looked newer, fresher- Alice doubted that the woman ever had to wear old clothes. This woman was the upper class in the facility, she wasn't the government but she begged for the scraps and rewards they were willing to give. 

Alice remained silent as she swung open the door, the woman's piggy eyes scouring the room until they landed on the bed. 

She screamed.