Dream of the Annihilation Girl

Prelude

'How could this happen?' the man thought to himself as he dragged his tired body through the wet mud.

The man's army fatigues as well as his entire body were completely covered in unpleasant sludge. Even the symbol of his country's military was hidden behind the layer of brown dirt. He has been slowly crawling through the ooze for hours. Slowly and methodically moving to reduce fatigue and lower the chance of detection.

The downpour continues, the wind howls, and the moon was completely covered by the thunder clouds. The only flashes of light are lightning which flickers, revealing the story of this battlefield. The soldier paid the surroundings no heed. Just calling this a place of battle was a disgrace to all of those who have fallen.

He just had to ignore the background and keep calm.

Ignore the remains of the tanks, that lost any resemblance to the war machines they were meant to be. Turrets that were dislodged from their chassis and armor that was ripped apart. Few of these machines remain untouched, but only due to the crews trying to escape. Attempting to avoid meeting the same fate as the tanks, but even that was in vain. Now they were monuments to a one-sided battle, against something beyond comprehension.

The soldiers who have fallen barely resembled corpses. Some were mangled but resembling the forms of a human. Some were missing limbs. Some were ripped into many pieces. Some were pulverized beyond any logical reason, and now barely any traces of flesh remain.

Only an elite company of superhumans could destroy an entire military division to this extent. But a superhuman is still a human, they did not shred tanks with their bare hands, they use weapons. They do not rip people into pieces but leave bodies filled with bullet holes and missing body parts. Even if their abilities are much more beyond a normal human being - they still can bleed and die.

There is logic to actions and violence of superhumans. They can still be taken down by lesser people. Yes, their flesh would withstand a rain of bullets but without taking proper actions they would die. Yes, they could easily crush human bone and organs, but not turn them into small pieces of flesh.

This sort of annihilation which happened here was beyond that.

A sudden thunder strike stops the soldier's movements.

An outline of a human figure catches his attention for a moment as the night reminds of itself.

A fragile silhouette was visible a distance away. That was all the soldier could gather. Except for one other detail. The figure carried something. It seemed that the object was long. Maybe even longer than the figure itself. A weapon was most likely. The silhouette was without a doubt closing in. Even if unseen in the darkness of the night it was drawing closer.

Either instinct or logic, one thing was obvious to the soldier. He realized that this figure is what caused all the carnage here. If he does not avoid or escape it, death was certain. But at the same time, the soldier knew that it was not wandering aimlessly. It is coming after him specifically. The soldier quickly stood up to his feet and ran. Ran away from whatever was approaching him. Hoping that the night will be his shield and protect him from the pursuer's sight. The heavy rain still did not let up. The soldier could hear how his boots collided with the mud. Other than that heavy rain and thunder were making their presence known, the soldier continued to run.

After running for a couple of minutes he just stopped. He wanted to run but he just could not move. Because he had a feeling. A feeling he wanted to ignore but just could not.

'You had a good run, but there's no point in struggling against the inevitable.' He looked back over his shoulder. Praying for his own escape and hoping that his intuition was based on nothing.