Revenge
By Josh
He awakes alone, half buried in the rubble that was once the place he called home. The smell of smoke lingers around the area, as if mocking crowd of bystanders watch the victim of a bully get up. Coughing and groaning he slowly and tentatively brings himself to his knees, then his feet. After testing them and making sure they are stable enough, he begins a slow limp over to the nearest pile of stone to rest on. Wood, dust and shards of glass fall from his ripped clothes and make delicate tinkling noises as they hit the rough, dirt ground. His head is spinning. Standing up is more than he can take. As the world spins, he feels like ground is an ocean. Waves of dirt and earth flow beneath him until he finds himself in the dirt once more. As he lies in the ground, he entertains the thought of staying there and being hopelessly alone forever. He does not know where these notions are coming from but upon a whim he looks up his eye catches something peculiar. A trail of smoke is coming from the other side of the rubble. Fresh smoke. A spark of hope is lit within him, followed by fear and uncertainty. As he rounds the makeshift road he finds the opposite of what he expected. It’s not a camp, it's a pile of bodies. A pile of burnt, broken bodies. “No” was all he could think. The sight was gruesome beyond anything he had ever seen. He fell to his knees in despair. This is his life, burned away.
“Who did this?” he managed to say. He racked his brain trying desperately to grasp the fleeting memories. His mind finally gets a foothold...
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“Tanner!” Sonya called. “Get up! Owen is missing!”
Tanner’s eyes flew open, finally awake. “What do you mean?” All he saw was the dark outline of his wife through the clay and wooden, deteriorating doorway.
“I heard a noise from his room that sounded like a gruff voice. When I got up to check on him he was gone!”
“We have to get a search party started. Now.” Tanner ordered.
Tanner and Sonya ran outside. When they opened their makeshift wooden plank door, they stopped. They were staring straight into destruction for as far as they could see.
“Oh my...” Sonya exclaimed in awe.
What they saw was more horrifying than anything they could imagine. Everyone was being rounded up and shot by a group of about twelve men. As they went to each house they dragged women and children out the the center of the town. One enemy saw him and his wife and began rushing towards them.
“Get inside now!” Tanner called to his wife, urgently turning back. As he turned, he was hit in the back of the head with a large rock, making his ears ring as he falls to the ground, unable to move. As his world is slowly fading into unconsciousness he manages to look up to see his wife get carried away, the roof of his house coming down at him and can hear the screams of his friends as his world is dripping into a dull black void.
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All of this came to him like a horror movie in fast forward. As he stands up, he has one thought: revenge. Tanner thinks of the supplies he would need. He would need a machete, food, clothing and anything else he could find in the rubble.While walking past his old home, Tanner stops dead in his tracks. He crouches low and holds still until he is sure of what he’s hearing. Men. Loudly talking, walking right through the village. Tanner scrambles behind cover and peeks out to see the same group of about a dozen men. They all carry machetes and other blades but only a few, the leaders Tanner suspects, have pistols. There is one man, the higher leader, who is larger and stronger than the rest. Tanner knows he is out matched. A plan starts to form in his head, but before he can finish, he is spotted by a hound dog.
