Everything was black. She hadn’t heard a sound in a long wile. How long she couldn’t know for sure. She was getting tired of hearing only her own breathing and heartbeat. Up here there were no warmth and she was getting cold. It was time to move. The risk that they were still around was a risk she had to take. She crawled to she trapdoor, opened it and jumped down in the room below. She had hid in the attic when they came. The trapdoor was inside a closet in her father’s office, very well hidden. She walked to the window but couldn’t see anything unusual outside. She had to be quick and get out of there, if they came back.
The conflict had started six month ago in France and quickly developed into a third world war. The dispute had reached Sweden about a month earlier and this was the first time in hundreds of years that the country had been in war. The military had a hard time defending the people. Östersund must have been attacked during the night she thought. They probably wanted smaller bases around the town as well, she guessed there would be some soldiers her in her village still, she couldn’t know for sure but it didn’t really matter.
Downstairs there was a mess. Furniture and things was all over the floor. She made her way over the things and into her room. She knew were the things she looked for was and found them pretty easily. She changed from her pyjamas and put on worm cotton pants and a yellow vest with a wool-padded sweater over. Then she braided her blond hair in two braids and put on a brown headband. Two years ago she had gotten a small knife from her mother at a travel. She found it in a drawer and put it in her sock so it would be fastened by her heel when she put her sneakers on. She had to be ready for what she was planning to do and went to the kitchen were she took the sharpest knife and fastened it by her wrist and then put on her jacket. It was black and thin, but held the wind out. She was ready to go and didn’t take time to think about it but left the house and ran down towards the rest of the village.
The way she jogged on was grey. It was the beginning of October and all leafs had already fallen of. It was very quiet and all sound was her shoes against the gravel road. She had taken the smaller road trough the village in hope of not being noticed. A smarter thing would have been to not take the road at all, but she didn’t care, she didn’t want to lose any time and she wanted to meet the enimy, hoping to meet a lonely soldier. She was 16 years old and would have been in school if this was a normal day, but nothing was normal anymore.
Then she saw someone move by a blue house in front of her. He disappeared behind the building quickly but she saw a gun in his right hand, one of them, she hoped she had her luck with her. She threw herself in the ditch by the road as a first instinct he sight. Then she sprinted with bent back towards the house, in the grass so she made as little sound as possible. She reached the house and with her back against the wall she rounded the house, never stoping to breath her heart beating hard in her chest. When she reached the gable were she had seen him disappear she loosened the knife at her wrist and glanced over to see were her enemy was. He was standing with his back against her, leaning over and fixing something on his gun. She didn't stop to think but turned the corner and run towards she soldier. He turn towards her when he heard the noise but didn't have time to point the gun at her before her knife pierced his chest. She pushed she blade though the clothes and skin with all her power. It smoothly went in between the ribs. He puffed surprised and stood death still. She panted, letting her breath out for the first time since she saw him and felt shaky loosing all power in her muscles. She pulled the knife out, dark blood was all over the blade and the dark blue fabric on the man's uniform was turning almost black around the wound. She stabbed him again, again and again. When he lied still on the ground she stooped. Blood was still streaming from him and she had blood splash on her. It was the first time for her and it had been messy. Her heard was beating hard as if afraid to stoop as well. She cleaned the knife on the uniform and then put it back in her sleeve. She had killed for the first time.
She picked up the gun and carefully inspected it, trying to learn its functions. Then she went for it and tried to fire. The gun fired several shots in a fast motion. The recoil was hard on her shoulder but she thought she would be able to handle it. The sound had been loud and echoed over the silent village. She quickly took what ammunition her dead soldier had and put it over her shoulder like a queens banner. Then she run of as fast as she could towards the forest before the other soldiers would come examine the sound and find the soldier. She run as fast as she could, holding her head low and the gun with both hands, ready at any motion.
Running trough the forest it didn't take long before she was on the grounds of her old school. Getting a hold of a gun was the first step in what small plan she had, after succeding with that it was time for the next step. The damp moss was soft to walk on but her sneakers were getting moist. She heard people moving and made her way closer, still hiding behind the three line she saw the football field and the playground beside it.. On the other side of the small field the small school was visible. It was a small red building with a courtyard in front. This hadn't been her school in several years, only the smallest children whent here. two guards stood outside the great entrance. It seemed they had made this there base, she wondered how many could be stationed here.
She sat down were she had a clear view and easily could aim. But still she was hidden behind a tree and a mossy stump that made her hard to see and hopfully, if she was seen it would hold some kind of shelter from their bullets. She leaned the gun on the stump and aimed on one of the guards. This was it time again to take a life, she pressed the trigger and hit the soldier with several bullets right in his chest and he fell to the ground. Before the other man could react she aimed at him instead and shot him in the head and he died instantly. It felt much less real to kill this way, like in a computergame at this distance. She heard calls from the others who she thought was inside the building but she couldn't be sure. Three men came running from the schools backdoor. She shot one of them in the leg before hitting his stomach he fell over in a cry of pain. Wile this happened the two others had time to locate from what direction the shots had came and fired at the three edge. She hid closer behind the tree when bullets were flying close to her head. Then she leaned back over the stump and aimed at the soldiers again, she took both of them down in the same fire arcade. A few more men tried to fight her back, but she found that she was a very good aimer. She found her targets quickly and hit vital points. One man she shot trough s window where only his head had been visible. When nine soldiers lied dead it was quiet again. She couldn't be sure that was all of them but even if there were more she couldn't stay there waiting, all her bullets was out. She ran over the football field and to the nearest body. They all had the same kind of gun as she had, it must be the standard edition. Her hands were shacking as she pulled the ammunition off him and reloaded her gun. When that was done she went inside to see if there was anyone left, or any information she would have use of. There was nothing but the body under the broken window and some food. The smell of blood was thicker in the air inside and made her nauseous so she didn't stay long and she really didn't feel like eating. Outside she quickly examined the area but there were no movement.
Then she heard a muffled scream from a shed close by an her left. She approached the old shed carefully, it was a big building were the school stored things like old furniture and winter toys, madrasses and sledges. Then heard other scared voices from inside.
“Hallo.” She called and waited.
“Who's there?” A small women’s voice answered. She recognized her as the mother of the three small boys who lived in the blue house were she had met the first soldier.
“It's me ***** I'm getting you out of there. Just be calm.” She heard surprised panting from the inside as she walked around the shed and to the door. A padlock held the door locked. She aimed at the lock and the big noise echoed loudly. The people inside the shed screamed in terror. She kicked the brooken lock of the door, not touching the worm metal and opened the door. Inside was four women, three men and about ten children. She recognized all of them, though some of them were from the close by villages and not from this one. All of them looked worn out, tired and scared. They looked at her as tough they didn’t believe she had saved them. She woundered were all the other village people had gone. Not letting her thoughts go to her own family.
“Hurry up. You must go into the forest and hide. Take what you need with you but do it fast.” She walked away before they had answered,they were in shock but they weren’t her responsibility to take care of. They would have to do this themselves.
“What about you?” Katharine, the one they had talked to before asked. “Were are you going?”
“I’m going into town.” That was all she answered whitout looking back or stop walking. She walked fast toward one of the cars she guessed the soldiers had had with them. It was a cross country in black and without a roof. She didn’t have her driving licence yet, she was only 16, but she had had some driving training and knew enough to make the car move. The people had followed her, the children keeping close to the adults. She slammed the door closed and found the key was inside. The engine growled to a start and she pulled out from the parking.
“Take care *****” Katharine said and they didn't try to stop her.
She drove down the road. Not expecting to return.
This time she took the big road trough the village. The scene that met her here was a bit different from the smaller one. And continued to look as horrible all the way into town. Dead bodies lay beside the road. People who had been trying to escape but been shot down, crashed cars and abanoned ones. She didn’t look to close because she didn’t want to recognize anyone. And so she drove faster. It was about thirteen kilometres to town. She drove faster than ever before but driving seemed like nothing today. there were bodies and crashed cars in the way so it took about a half hour anyway. Some people were alive and walking in the ditches ore wounded lying on the road. There wasn’t much the others could do for them. As she came closer to town the road was getting harder to pass on. It made her happy to see some people at all, the goastly feeling was strenuous. She could see smoke rising from buildings all over Östersund, it seemed it was burning in several places. It was likely bombs and mines was the cause. It was hard to see the town looking like this. She left the car on the outskirts of the town, there were several cars had been parked to make an obstacle that blocked the road. She jumped out without turning the engine off and run, the enemy could be anywhere. She run with her senses on edge, the numbers of bodies lying here was unbelievable, to think this was people she had met, and known. She hadn’t even seen one dead person before this day.
Then someone moved, but it wasn’t a soldier, it was a man in his twenties. He had brown hair and was dressed in blue jeans and a sweatshirt with bloodstains on. He had a small pistol in his hand and run across the road about two hundred meters in front of her. Of course she wasn’t the only one who would fight back, even when they didn’t have a chance everyone who could would do what they could to protect the ones they loved.
Then a car just as the one she had driven came sliding around the corner in a high speed. In it was one driver with a hat on and another soldier who stood up aiming a big gun that seemed to be attached to the car at the man. The man shot at the car with the small pistol that looked like a joke next to the big machine gun. The soldier shot him down and laughed wickedly.
All this time she had stood still watching from a distance but now it was her turn. She aimed from a standing position and held the gun with both hands. The car was moving in her direction and was getting closer. When it was close enough for her to shot she shot the driver in the head. Even with a moving target she didn't have much problem aiming. The car lost control and turned sharply to the right and crashed. The soldier who had been standing was thrown from the car and hit the building wall with a smash. He hadn't even seen her before it was to late.
She ran away from the street instantly, she had to keep moving to have a chance and she couldn’t stop anywhere. After a few blocks she heard firing from a distance but kept on the road she was going. She turned a corner and felt a surprising pain in her right arm and thundering noise in her ears. She stopped and panted, it was hard to focus on anything but the pain but she glanced up and saw a dark blue dressed soldier glaring back. She grimaced angrily and with an effort lifted her left arm and shot at him while gliding to the side when another shot missed her. Her bullet met its goal and with a grunt she saw him fell and then she headed back, capitulating behind the corner and found a small allay were she was more hidden.
She laid the gun on the ground and examined her arm. Warm blood oozed from a wound on her upper arm. She tried moving her hand and lifted her arm, she could do it although her arm screamed in dislike. With her left arm she lifted the ammunition from her shoulder and took the jacket off. She pulled the sweater down from her right arm and took the knife from her shoe, she used the knife to tear the bottom of her vest off. She used the yellow fabric as a bandage around her arm and tied it pulling one of the sides with her teeth. The blood soaked through the fabric almost instantly. She pulled the sweater back up and put the jacked back on. When she was ready she moved out again. She ignored the pain, if she didn’t die before long she was destined to get wonted a lot more and she had to handle it. She didn’t really care if she died, she didn't think about that ether. The world was being destroyed and all she could do was to try to make some of the responsible pay and save what could be saved.
