'Damaged'

Intro

She crouched in the small, dark cabinet next to the boiler in the basement. She cried silently at every gunshot that sounded, knowing that someone went down with it. Her chest ached from the effort of trying to stay silent and hidden. She wished she could just cry out and collapse on the floor, screaming and shouting, so she would be found and shot with them, but then their deaths would mean nothing, so instead she whimpered and shook in the tiny space she was crammed in. She listened at as the fighting reached a crescendo getting loader and louder, until a bang sounded, and all went quiet.

She didn't know how much time had passed since then, it could have been minuets, it could have been hours, maybe even days. She just sat there, no longer shaking, no longer crying, on the surface she seemed fine-but inside she was breaking. Her heart screamed and it felt like she was being ripped apart. They had broken her, without even leaving a scratch. She sat there in silence no longer caring if she starved and died, too scared to venture upstairs and see the carnage that awaited her. It was then she heard the footsteps, clumping down the stairs. "It wasn't meant to do this much damage"...."We'll be lucky to find anything, thanks to you, this is the last house left". She heard them approach, open the door and check the room. She sat their silently, not daring to breathe. One of them opened up the cupboard, he stared at the 9 year old face inside, bloodshot eyes and shivering lip. She stared back, he had a nice face, with high eyebrows, wide eyes and a tiny nose. For a moment they just held each other's gaze, and then he shouted, "I found one!"

"No way." His partner replied. He came over to see if she was real and then he raised his slightly larger than average eyebrows when his gaze landed on her, "She's a bit young isn't she?" He said.

"Yeah, we'll she's the only one we've got, and you'll be the one talking to the boss if we fail."

He sighed and walked over to the girl. He suddenly pounced on her, grabbing her arms and forcing her to stand. She didn't try to fight, she knew it was over, they were twice the size of her, and probably a lot stronger. Together he and nice face dragged her up the stairs, and then, she saw it. Her beautiful village, nestled in the mountains was gone, and all that was left was a smouldering crater and rubble. Bodies where everywhere, bodies she knew and had grown up with. The baker, the postman the next-door neighbour and...

Her best friend.

His body was lifeless and limp, crushed under a mound of rubble. Blood was pouring out of his lips and his once cheery eyes still and glazed.

Something inside her snapped. She screamed and kicked and scratched. The two men shouted something, but she couldn't hear it over the inhuman screams coming out of her. A heavy hand pressed over her mouth, and she felt something dark and sticky enter her system. Her vision blurred and her movements became slow and heavy. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was the empty expression on her dead friend's face.

Thanks so much for reading this! It's my first story I've written. Its a bit dark for an intro but it won't all be like this, just a lot of it,from Es :)