Fate/stay night 1. DoW - Famine

**THE LIFE AND HARDSHIPS OF HISAU MAIYA.**

**Author Notes:**

Well, here's my first non-Puella Magi fan fiction, sort of…I just had a very bad day, and now someone will have to pay! Just kidding…or not…

Be warned, if you expect a Kiritsugu/Irisviel pairing or are a fan of their ship, stop reading right now as it might end up blown up and sunk in a Kiritsugu/ Maiya navy, I just feel more personality in Maiya (no! It's not a joke!) and feel she was a better match for Kiritsugu as they were in the same field (same thing happens with my Gwen Stacy / Peter Parker shipping, personal preference, nothing personal) so you've been warned.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

**Dogs of War Arc.**

**Chapter 1 – Famine.**

The sun was unbearably hot that day, or maybe it was only her body, which was on the verge of collapsing due to lack of food and sleep, it was the sixth night already that she tended to her six years old brother who was laying in a pile of straw while she cleaned the useless stump that had become his leg after he had stepped upon a hidden mine last week.

She had been collecting logs along with him in the nearby bushes when suddenly a loud explosion startled her and made her fall to the ground thinking they were being attacked again. The explosion had been so strong and so close that it had left her dizzy and with a beeping sound in her left ear. Feeling soft moisture on her ear, she probed it and found it intact, albeit with blood pouring out of it, which scared her, getting deaf would be the last thing she would want in the state they were, not noticing an attacker or a bomb going off could prove fatal.

For a moment she felt compelled to just stay there in the ground and rest her tired body, despite the unbearable hot of the sun over her, _just a little bit of rest…_, but the screams of pain of her brother startled her and forced her to move. Gathering her resolve, the girl crawled on the floor trying to locate her brother. She still wasn't sure they weren't attacked so she chose to do it as softly as possible; the soil was rough as it hadn't rained in weeks and the hard and broken ground left wounds and scratches in her elbows and knees, but nonetheless it was better than getting a bullet to a vital organ and dying an agonizing death, most of the time…

Resisting the pain the girl slowly made her way until she managed to get into contact with something soft, flesh, soft reddened and raw flesh which elicited a moan of pain upon contact. The girl felt the warm blood tainting her hands and she stared upon the prone figure of her brother that now had a missing leg, from his foot up to close to his waist. He was staring at her with tears in his eyes, pleading…"please, don't let me die…I'm scared…" between sobs, repeating the same phrase again and again, it was obvious he had been left in shock after the explosion. _So am I, very scared_, thought The girl upon listening to her brother's pleading, still it had only been a mine from what she saw, which was good for them as that meant they would survive for another day, just one more day of life…that was their luck. Taking her brother's small figure in her arms and raising him by the armpit, she lifted him with effort and carried him home. He was surprisingly light as he was mostly flesh without any meat nor muscle in his body, only bones, but to her, he felt almost as if she was trying to lift a ton. Somehow she managed to force her small and weak body to move forward carrying his brother's weight till she arrived home and collapsed from exhaustion. That night they wouldn't have fire with which to cook nor light their home, not that they had any food to cook, nor something they could call a real home…

Banishing those thoughts and coming back to reality, she opened the stained and dirty bandages on his brother's leg, she liked to call them bandages, but they were little more than a used piece of her pants, which she had shredded in order to stop the blood flow. After opening it, a strong smell surged from her brother's wound making her gag in reflex. She wanted to vomit at the sight of the rotten flesh and the worms slowly crawling out from his dark and putrescent flesh.

"I'm going to die, aren't I…?" whispered her brother staring at her with sad and hollow eyes. It was the only logical outcome, they had no food, let alone medicines and seeking a doctor was a dangerous 3 day voyage to the nearby town in order to find if he could make an appointment, let alone thinking of paying it. The girl wanted to tell her brother the cold truth, _yeah you're going to die_, but something inside of her felt that doing so would mean admitting he was beyond saving, so she instead said "no, you're going to be fine, I promise." while staring at his hopeful face and trying to not flinch while lying. She had become very good at keeping herself steady, then again, it might have been due to the responsibility of taking care of her 6 brothers, and pretty soon a toddler.

"Now, let me clean your wound" said the girl steadying herself and preparing for such an unpleasant task. She felt her legs quivering and her stomach trying to double over, either due to the strain of maintaining calm and not show repulsion at what she was about to do, or due to the hunger.

"No! Please! It's going to hurt!" answered her brother to that, pleading for her to not do it. The girl hated hurting her family, but what other option did she have? Let him be consumed by worms?

"Don't worry, I'll be careful this time" said the girl softly, trying to comfort him.

Taking away another piece of her pants which now were so ragged to have become closer to shorts, and dipping it in a mixture she had devised from a cactus, no easy task, as the marks in her hands due to the needles showed; but in the end it had been worth it, the plant's water would serve to help her brother's wound, even if only temporarily. And so, she proceeded to clean his leg, taking away the rotten flesh and the worms when she could, doing her best to ignore her little brother's screaming and pleads for her to stop. _It's for your own good, I have to do it_, she reminded herself while trying to hold back the tears.

When she was finished, she decided to rest among a pile of straw in the corner of the room. The house was mostly made from old wood which had eroded over time, built both by her and her mother's efforts. The entire structure felt as if it could collapse any moment and during rain, which was so scarce to almost be considered a miracle, it tended to flood and get everything wet. She stared at her mother.

Her mother was a strange figure to her, she earned their daily living by selling her body to the officers, but that also resulted in lots of pregnancies, which meant more mouths to feed. Her brothers were most half-brothers; she had been born from an unknown man that she never got to meet and abandoned, saving herself from abortion only due to a lack of medical personnel to perform it and ensure the patient lived afterwards…

Right now her mother was in a corner, staring at empty space, a piece of weed hanging on her limp hand, she had been smoking that crap again to stave off the hunger…not that it wasn't that uncommon in the town they lived in. She herself had tried it every once in a while in order to forget the pain and hunger. It never worked.

She breathed a little of the stale air in the room, a wind that smelled strongly of rot, sweat and excrement, product of the well they had excavated in the wall next to her where they tended to their primal urges.

That night her mother hadn't been able to find customers, given that she had been deteriorating quickly, her flesh having become sullen and wrinkled due to stress and lack of food, along with them not being able to bath for days due to lack of water, meant they wouldn't eat again that day…The girl closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh, she didn't know how long she would be able to endure that. Looking at the sleeping figures of her brothers, cuddled together in a corner was the only thing that kept her from taking the easy way out, they were all younger than her, she didn't know by how much as she had lost track of her age a long time ago, maybe she was eight, nine, possibly fourteen, she had no idea, for all she knew she felt like she was eighty years old, tired, very tired of it all…but all she knew, which wasn't a lot, was that they needed someone to take care of them.

She hoped she would be able to someday take them out of their precarious lives, maybe when she was old and attractive enough to sell her body like her mother, she would be able to earn enough money to buy a trip somewhere, in a far away land. The girl constantly fantasized about living a better life, well fed, not having to worry about getting captured by "the enemy" or dying due to a mine like many of the people she had met. Such a thought gave her hope, it was the only thing she had.

She didn't know how long had it been since it all started, for all she knew her country had always been on war. They lived in a forgotten land in the middle of nowhere, with a very hot and deserted landscape, the only things there were cactus, the unbearable sun and small patches of greenery which appeared every once in a while. She still couldn't understand what the people were fighting for, maybe it had been a stupid misunderstanding, maybe it had been a matter of survival, all she knew was that they lived in a small community close enough to one of those green patches and under the protection of the Red Hands, a clan that managed and ruled over the whole place and demanded tributes and sacrifices from the people in exchange of their protection. Any person that disagreed was instantly killed, or if they felt like it, tortured for several days before finally being left in the middle of the desert, mad and broken, to die of thirst and hunger.

The girl usually had to hide whenever they came to her town as they also had a liking of taking over little girls they liked for their enjoyment until they ended dead, their carcasses as decoration in their caravans.

The other option was to flee the town and if by some miracle they managed to survive the hot desert, they'd end in the town of the Black Banner, an organization that constantly made war to the Red Hands and anyone associated with them, vicious criminals with lots of firepower that trafficked weed and other decadent luxuries across the towns in the dessert, feared and reviled due to their penchant of eating human flesh. It was even rumored there was a vampire among them that ruled the group with an iron fist.

Two sides of the same coin, either way they were royally screwed. Still, that was life for her, and she was willing to brave her way until she could find a better future for her and her brothers…

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

**End Notes / Rant:**

Guess I wasn't kidding after all…believe me, it was a really awful day…

This story will be mostly centered on the character of Hisau Maiya from Fate Zero as I always felt she had so much potential to expand upon and she was a very mysterious and interesting character. Will try to keep this mostly canon but will deviate a little, I already know how this will end.


	2. DoW - Recruitment

**THE LIFE AND HARDSHIPS OF HISAU MAIYA.**

**Author Notes:**

Chapter two, here we go! Honestly I have not many ideas to make this arc last much, can't wait to get to the exciting part, but oh well, development takes time.

**／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼**

**Dogs of War Arc.**

**Chapter 2**** – ****Recruitment.**

He was dead...her brother was dead and his cold carcass was decomposing quietly in the same straw bed she had tended to his wounds three nights ago, two days ago she had felt his body colder than usual, but tried to only hold back tears and not give it much thought, no point worrying about what she herself could do nothing, now, the odor inside the hut was unbearable.

Her mother had left with another man to collect some money for more weed and to stay away from the stunk of her child rotting inside. The girl tried not to worry too much about it, she had left them alone for weeks before, only to return drunk and broken to shout at them for not having food and taking away her frustrations by giving them a good beating. The girl usually tried to protect her younger siblings by attracting her mother's attention and becoming the target of her abuse, it wasn't that hard, one little slip of mouth here, one broken vase there...she still held the bruises in her back, arms and legs where her mother had hit her, some still fresh and bleeding due to infection.

For now, the girl had to content with excavating a hole in the ground with her bare hands while holding back the tears, _he is better off now_, she thought to herself wanting to stave off the sadness, _no use crying over the departed._

Meanwhile the rest of her brothers, now five remaining that depended wholly on her were outside, naked and scavenging for some water with which to replenish their 'reserves', little more than a cube that they used to drink and, if plentiful, bathe, an activity that was so uncommon in the town they lived that it might as well be madness. Somehow they seemed happy, as if the loss of their brother meant little, _more food for them, that's a plus_, thought the girl trying to be positive.

Once the 'tomb' was complete, if it could be called that way at all, the girl hardened herself for what she was about to do, emptying herself of emotion, unnecessary, she would deem them, and entered the hut with resolve. Flies were everywhere, attracted by the powerful smell inside. The girl's insides tried to turn out due to the powerful smell but she resisted, marching forward, to where she knew the husk that used to be her brother was located; there he was, his whole body covered in flies, his stomach bulging, _I better take care of him now, don't feel like cleaning the whole room afterwards_, she thought; worms coming out of his ears, nose, mouth, and one eye, the other glazed over and blank. She wasn't afraid, she had been in contact with death for so long that it had become a part of her life, as she did her best to avoid that inevitable end. _How long will I be able to do it?_Was a thought that crossed her mind.

Getting in front of him, the girl lowered herself and used her weak and skinny arms to grasp him by the waist as she had done before, and lifted him from the ground. His flesh felt spongy and she had to use a hand to take away the flies that tried to surround her, confusing her for another snack. Suddenly the girl felt a warm feeling in her back, and noticed that the corpse's bodily fluids were flowing from its mouth and drenching her. _Gross_, was all she could think and doubled over to vomit; nothing. Mustering her strength, she went out of the hut as quickly as she could and deposited her brother's corpse in the hole, almost throwing him due to the effort.

Once her ordeal was over, she finally allowed herself the freedom of vomiting freely, bile coming out of her mouth at the sight in front of her. She wiped her mouth and back as best as she could, and looked at the corpse one last time.

_Perhaps I should start excavating my own and my brother's before I don't have the strength to do so_...she thought as she dropped earth and rocks over the corpse.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

That night the girl and her brothers slept together outside the hut, all trying to use some straw they had borrowed to make some shielding from the scorching earth, _until it gets clean again_, thought the girl, hoping the stench would be gone soon, otherwise, they'd be easy prey to attacks and assaults from their neighbors. In order to prevent that, the girl always carried with herself her 'knife', little more than a particularly strong tree branch she had carefully and patiently sharpened; she always kept it hidden within her persona 'just in case'.

Still the physical and emotional extenuation due to the burial were too much, and the girl fell soundly asleep. That night she couldn't conceive a good sleep as she dreamed of herself, standing over a blasted crater, her brothers in front of her, happy smiles in their faces, the starry night sky above them along with a beautiful white full moon.

The girl stared at the scenery, knowing what she had to do, wanting to stop but unable to do so. Advancing forward, towards her smiling brothers; she raised a hand and one by one she threw them towards the crater. They fell soundlessly towards the abyss, the smile never leaving their faces. When she had done her task, the crater opened and as the mountain of earth closed upon her still living and breathing form, she saw herself laughing at being released from her suffering...

She awoke screaming, and quickly tried to compose herself to avoid startling her brothers, but still, no one would hear her because they were all focused in the explosion...

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\

That morning started with a powerful explosion that shook the earth itself, fragments of debris flying everywhere, dust and smoke covering the place.

_Oh no, they're coming!_Thought the girl scared at the arrival of them, the Red Hand, the mercenary group that came every once in a while to collect their 'tribute' from the civilians in exchange of protection. She could hear a woman's screams along with several gunshots, a house was on fire in the distance, the screaming coming from inside.

_Those bastards!_, was all she could think of that action while anger flared inside. They sometimes liked to burn their victims inside their homes for fun, or to make an example of them. But still, no time to muse about it, as she had to protect her brothers.

As quickly as she could, she stood up and five pairs of black eyes stared at her, trembling. "Now, heed my instructions, run home, get inside the straw and DO NOT MOVE until..." she couldn't finish her phrase as they were surrounded by military trucks and men armed with crude assault rifles, the weapons archaic versions of rifles and other assorted guns, but in a land of poverty and scarcity, those weapons were enough to make these men gods among the population. Red banners with a black bleeding gauntlet adorning their trucks and uniforms. Most of them were shirtless, but some had bullet proof vests, those of higher rank. They started driving around, shooting aimlessly while people ran and got driven over or shot by the man, clouds of dust that made breathing difficult covering the whole place.

The girl and her brothers threw themselves to the floor trying to avoid the gunshots, focusing on staying conscious. _Shit! We're done for!_Thought the girl desperate. The Red Hand came to collect payment, and for those that didn't have it, it meant torture and death, usually they had their mother to get favors and spare them from the reaping, but not this time...

The girl tried to think of a quick escape route, but couldn't find any, about 5 vehicles driving everywhere, shooting, and she with five children, her being the oldest and low in stamina. _If we run, they'll shoot us or drive us over, we can't fight them either, maybe I can try to appeal to take me in and let my brothers go._..thought the girl desperate and scared, this might be the end for her after all. In front of her, a man with long black hairand an assault rifle stepped. He raised his gun towards her and motioned for them to go to the plaza.

When the group tired themselves and had most of the townspeople rounded, they gathered everybody around the main plaza, a barren circular stage where people usually gathered in the afternoons. There the people, some naked, some bleeding from several woulds product of the stray bullets, trembling like animals to the slaughterhouse, stood. In front of them, about 20 gunmen stared with amused smirks in their faces.

Their leader, a huge tanned muscular man with a Kevlar vest, dark rounded lenses, long black hair in rastas, grinning sickly and showing his golden teeth at the confused population. He walked in a military style in front of the scared peasants examining them through his dark lenses.

"Ekaraj" whispered the girl quietly, leader of this district's Red Hand, known for his penchant of killing people with his barehands, and his cruel methods.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? It's reaping time fuckers, now I want you to hand your possessions and money to me. Remember that it's for the greatest good." the man said in a powerful voice, his presence commanding the presence of the people.

"If you fail well..." he pointed his gun at a frail old man's head and shot. Blood flew as the man fell to the ground with a gasp and people screamed, throwing themselves to the ground. They wanted to run but the armed men were surrounding them and pointing their guns while leering, evidently they enjoyed their actions.

The girl was trembling, barely able to hold herself steady, clutching at her brother's and feeling a knot in her stomach as people started forming a line and taking out what little they had to give the man, anything to be spared from their fate. Those that failed to satisfy the gang's requirements, which were as changing as those men's wanted, were either shot in the spot or taken to recruitment, or at least that's what they called it when taking someone to be tortured and brainwashed as cannon fodder for their stupid war against the Black Banner. The girl didn't know what to prefer, while she was thinking of what to give them, they had nothing...

Three rows from now and the man in front of them was trembling, drops of sweat fell from his body as he approached with only some loafs of bread to offer. _Won't be enough_, thought the girl, and true to her word, that man fell in front of her, struck in the head by one of the armed men's gun, there, not wasting a moment they struck him repeatedly in the head with their weapons until his head cracked, blood and gray matter puring out in a gross fashion. One of the gang's slaves took out the body, a weak and old woman that looking at the floor got a hang of the corpse and threw it to the side.

It was their turn now...

The girl's brothers were all clutching her as if their life depended of it, and it did, was the girl's thoughts as she marched forward. No mother this time, even if she had to endure a painful death at their hands, she would do what it takes to save her brother's life.

"What do we have here, some fresh meat" spoke the man while looking down to meet the girl's gaze. His cold penetrating eyes making her shiver, saliva coming out of his mouth and landing in her face. "Well, hand the tribute whore, and return when you're older" said the man directly, unrestrained.

"I...I don't have anything...but me...in the name of my family, take me in as your slave" the girl said staring at the floor, clenching her hands trying to avoid showing how scared she was, still, her legs were trembling and her voice sounded very faint, she was surprised she could talk at all, her mouth was so dry...

"Ha! As if we could find any use for you, not even as a whore, you're so skinny and ugly, bitch, guess we'll have to kill ya then" said the man while laughing at the girl. The men raised their weapons prepared to hit the girl, she lowered herself and prepared for the hit, until one of her brother's stood in front of her, it was Naadir, her six years old brother, one of the youngest, "leave her!" he said as he approached the armed men.

The man laughed at the child, "ha, this one has guts", and with a powerful blow, struck her brother in the face. The child fell to the ground clutching his bleeding nose, and the man got closer, raising his weapon for another blow. "Stop it!" screamed the girl and faster than she could think, unleashed her wooden knife and swung it with all her might. The move was brusque, lacking in grace and power, but the weapon was sharp enough and carved a deep wound in the man's stomach.

He let out a scream of anger, clutching at his abdomen where the knife laid, a piece of if broken in his skin, the other half was in the girl's hand. Still, that wasn't enough as the man quickly recovered and slammed his gun fast and painfully against the girl's cheek. She fell to the side with the force of the impact but was grabbed from behind by two other man who bent her wrists painfully. She let out a scream as they bent them almost to the breaking point.

"Who do you think you are, bitch!" the man said, angry, slamming his gun against the girl's chest, she felt a powerful burning pain and the sound of what seemed to be her ribs. "hitting me like that!" he said and smacked another blow against the girl's head. She felt herself faint, blood flowing and clouding her vision. It was over, this was the end...

"Stop it." the man called Ekaraj, the leader, said calmly, raising a hand.

All of the men stared in disbelief, but didn't say a word, if they did, death would ensue...

"I like what I see, and killing them won't give us our tribute, so...we'll take them!" he said smiling at this girl's guts, _you don't find this everywhere, perhaps they'll be entertaining_, he thought, and commanded the man to grab the children. The men approached them and started grabbing them one by one. The children screamed and tried to escape but were quickly surrounded.

"No! Stop!" screamed the girl trying to free herself from the other men's grasp, but it wasn't enough, they were too strong and she couldn't do a thing about it. She tried to plead to the townspeople to help, but they were all looking at the ground in shame, unable and unwilling to do anything.

Grabbing them all, they were thrown into a wooden prison in one of the trucks, the kind they used when torturing prisoners. The prison was pretty sturdy and was lined with blood and what looked like excrement, it stank heavily of vomit and piss. The children grasped the girl for dear life and she gasped in pain at the feeling against her now broken ribs. They were all crying so she held out the pain and stroked their heads, trying to comfort them. She herself felt like crying...

And so the reaping began, and they took them as bounty, marching against the setting sun...

**／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼**

**END OF CHAPTER**

**／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼**

**End Notes / Rant:**

Yada yada, things still boring, can't wait for some action!

What do you think? Is it good? Bad? Boring? I'm trying to improve this piece of...story, and I'm trying to make this into one of my most ambitious projects, so if you have any suggestions, any and all suggestions, thoughts or complaints are welcome.

Have I put Maiya through much? I've tried to keep this as realistic as possible, right this minute in some third world country a child may be going through a hell like this, gritty as it looks, I agree with Kiritsugu with the idea that 'War is hell on earth'.

Thanks and keep in touch for more!


	3. DoW - Conscription

**The life and hardships of Hisau Maiya.**

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

**Author Notes:**

Thanks to **Reader** for reviewing my story! Its great to know you find it enjoyable. I'm trying to be as detailed as possible about Maiya's life before all the chaos that was the **Grail War**; and yeah she is said to have forgotten her name in **Fate Zero** so giving her a name now would be to me like giving her an identity, but Maiya to me is more abstract here, she can be anyone, any children suffering from the horrors of war.

Any suggestion, complaint or idea is welcome to help round her character and themes. I'm trying to improve this story and make several more arcs; this is but the Introduction.

**／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼**

**Dogs of War Arc**

**Chapter 3 – Conscription**

The sun coming strongly between her half closed eyelids, the warm of it burning her skin, a soaring hot sun with no breeze to take away the heat. Surrounding her were five warm and sweaty bodies, all curled in a ball around her.

According to the amount of times the sun had come from the horizon, they must have spent two days in the back of the caravan, two hellish days trapped in a wooden prison without food nor water, to the girl it felt like it had been an eternity.

In order to stay alive, she chose to spend most of the day and night sleeping away her troubles, which helped her forget the hunger and dehydration; not that there was much more that she could do besides staring at the endless sand of the desert which sometimes blew in the occasional breeze and left her dry and cracked lips with the aftertaste of the desert's sand. She felt so weak, even waking up was a struggle on itself and her joints ached due to the lack of space and weakness, her body protesting due to the lack of food.

If she could, she would have loved to push her brothers to give her some space, but she couldn't will herself to do so; they were all so scared but for now they were, hopefully, sleeping around her.

The girl wondered where they would take them, she had heard rumors about a military camp on the outside of the city, in the only oasis to be found in the whole desert; but all foolish enough to venture there had never returned, either dead by the heat of the desert or killed by the marauders themselves. The Red Hand was known for giving torture and death to whoever ventured in their territories so the girl found it pointless to leave her village, willingly that is.

After several hours of traveling, the girl started to hear shouting and exclamations of joy, to which she tiredly and slowly raised her head. The men were raising their arms and shooting to the air in happiness; next to her in the horizon she could see several brown huts made of cloth and sticks; people coming out of them to greet the vandals return and reap the tributes that had been ransacked from the villages.

Among them, children, just like them, naked and running around or pushed, some chained to their masters and trailing along with their heads bowed.

"Slaves" whispered the girl softly, shivering at the idea of being bound like that. She clutched at her brother's bodies, _they will never separate us_, she thought bitterly.

The caravans and trucks stopped close to one of the biggest brown villages, lots of men and woman coming out and watching the caravan's contents curiously. The girl curled along her brothers trying to avoid the curious stares.

The leader of the pack, Ekaraj went over and embraced some other man, talking jovially about the travel and pointing at the girl; she felt scared about what they would do to her. Then, several men in tunics and robes approached the caravan where they resided, Ekaraj in tow, black cold eyes like labyrinths staring at her.

"So this is the merchandise" gestured one old man in a gray robe with red trimmings along it, tall and regal poise, engravings in his tunic denoting a great position among the group. Approaching them closer, he noticed the girl and smiling mischievously, not hiding his desires, he told Ejarak: "I'll give you 300 for the girl, she ain't worth more" spoke the old man still eying the girl from time to time.

"No deal old man, I have reserved them already for our cause" said Ekaraj while looking at the old man.

"What? I didn't know you had those tastes Ekaraj" spoke the old man, almost laughing at the leader, to which Ekaraj made a frown, not amused in the least.

"Unlike you, I find no joy ravaging young girls old man, not enough meat in them to enjoy it" spoke the leader simply, "no, this is something far more importante, if that was possible.

"Oh right" said the old man suddenly getting serious. "But to use children...are we that desperate?" he questioned, grabbing and pulling at his beard on impulse.

"If using children is what we must use to win, then so be it" answered Ekaraj plainly; then, staring at the children he shouted in his military voice, "Now worms, wake up already and move it!".

It was enough to startle the children who started waking up and moving with effort to stand up, wobbling at the sides from time to time. The girl herself had troubles stopping her legs from shaking with the effort of standing up; she stared at her body, ribs showing in her frail and thin frame, her arms falling limply at her sides, no meat left in her arms and legs.

Not feeling moved in the least by such display, Ekaraj opened the door and forcefully dragged the children outside, to which they fell to the floor with the sudden display of strength, and remained there, staring with fear at Ekaraj while struggling to stand up. Last he grabbed the girl and pulled her towards his face so that she was looking directly to those soulless eyes of his, and he spoke with an evil grin "now I hope you keep your worms in place or I'll squish them, understood?" He spoke the last part while spit came out of his mouth and landed in the girl's face, _disgusting_, was all she could think as she too was dragged and thrown to the floor with her brothers.

"Now, Pradosh! Come here and show our guests their rooms!" said Ekaraj with finality, and after one last evil smile at them, he went away, leaving them in the care of another smaller but also bulkier man, shaved head and small rounded eyes, he seemed like a brute and made the girl wonder about his role in the group. He opened his mouth and spoke in a grievous and deep voice towards them "now follow me and I'll show you your quarters" he said with the same plain face, as if he was used to do it a lot.

Trying to not make the men angry and get themselves killed by some stupidity, the girl quickly stood up and goaded her brothers to follow her. Slowly and almost without energy, they stood up and looked at her, not knowing what to do. "Lets go" the girl said, guiding them and following the men behind carefully as to not make any wrong move. In her mind, the girl was planning their next move, _first we need to ensure our survival and after that we need to regain our strength, then we can seek a way to escape...sounds like a plan_, she thought. No matter what she had to do, they had to escape and hopefully return to their village, or somewhere else, a better place...

They stopped in front of several ravaged huts, more dirty and smaller than the ones they had seen. _This must be where they keep the slaves_, thought the girl, recognizing several children that left everything they were doing and rushed quickly to where the man, Pradosh, stood. Standing before him, they all bowed their head and stared nervously at the newcomers.

"This is where you'll live" said Pradosh gesturing to the huts, "tomorrow morning you will begin your training, but for now, we'll give you something to eat" he said, as several more skinny and dirty men and women approached the group carrying sacks and plates of a strange brown substance. Opening the sacks they emptied them along with the plates over several kennels, of the kind used to feed animals, seeds and what looked like leftovers from the other camps made the food.

Suddenly all the children went towards the kennels and started tearing away at the food and eating what they could. The girl and her brothers could only stare in horror at the spectacle, there were too little kennels from which to eat and the children started fighting and hitting each other for the chance to get their part. _Most probably, that's the plan_, thought the girl suddenly feeling her stomach grumbling.

"You better hurry or you won't get to eat" said Pradosh while laughing at the spectacle, oh how he enjoyed looking at those battles. He laughed higher when he saw one children strangling another smaller one for a piece of rotten meat from the camp, the two rolling on the floor while screaming.

The girl and her brothers had no option, and with the hunger winning over, they went over and fought for their chance at food. The battle was hard as they tried to make space and get their ration; the girl found herself trampled by two other children that tried to take her away from their precious food but she had the advantage of her brothers, who along with her, slowly but steadily made their way to the food. Taking a rock, the girl smashed it in a boy's head, knocking him with the force of the impact and quickly took her rations of food, passing some to her brothers as quickly as she could, struggling to stay in place and enduring the elbows and strikes to her persona.

When she was sure all of her brothers had a ration, she quickly made her way out with her own and started eating desperate. Despite being a mix of seeds and rotten food, it was the best she had taken in weeks and couldn't stop eating until her ration was finished. Licking her fingers, the girl stared as the kennel was left empty, longing for another taste.

She felt sleepy after feeling the food in her stomach, her body responding to the rare presence by expending her energy in digestion. Wondering where they would sleep, she approached a small dark skinned boy that seemed to be placidly eating his own ration. He looked no more than six years old, dressed in gray trousers and little more.

"Hey, um...where do we sleep?" asked the girl, afraid of what she knew would be the answer.

The boy lifted his head scared and taking his ration as far away from the girl as he could, he said scared "Certainly not in my hut, you'll have to take over one if you want to sleep, but I warn you, I'm armed" he said taking what looked like a nail from his trousers.

The girl backed up quickly, raising her hands to show no hostile intentions. "That...won't be necessary" she said. It was obvious this strategy was to keep them one against the other and prevent an uprising. Still, they had to survive at any cost so she decided they would sleep in the outside for now...

**／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼**

The next morning, with the sun barely on the horizon, they woke up abruptly and cold from sleeping all night next to the fire trying to prevent themselves from freezing over by Pradosh's whistling at everybody to come to where he stood. The children quickly made their way towards the fat man and the girl with her brothers followed suit.

Standing in front, he gave the orders "Now lowly worms, lets start with something light, 20 rounds across the encampment, NOW!" he shouted and suddenly all children started running as fast as they could. The girl and her brothers followed suit, trying to adapt to this change in their usual routine.

Two hours later, sweaty and with their muscles hurting beyond belief, they started doing their last command, push-pulls. Sweaty and tired, the girl tried to comply to the best of her ability with the order, but her body failed to obey and she trembled as she did her best to raise from the ground, the sand burning against her face while the sun blinded her, searing her skin.

"Another one, soldier!" yelled Pradosh while standing above her, shouting at her to finish her exercise. The girl struggled, but her muscles yielded and she fell to the floor. Pradosh went over to her and shouted once again "I said, another!" and kicked her in the stomach. The girl rolled and groaned in pain as she felt the injuries she had received hurting again.

"Again, soldier!" Pradosh yelled again and before he could kick her, she had once again stood and repeated her exercise, straining her muscles which bent under the effort as she completed the pull he had commanded. Pradosh smiled in glee and continued the exercise.

That night her muscles felt like they were on fire...

**／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼**

Two weeks had passed, and they were beginning to feel themselves stronger due to the food and all the physical conditioning they had gone through, still, the girl tried to not move too much, lest the wounds in her chest open again, something was sure to had broken to which she only could swallow the pain and perform to the best of her ability.

That day they had finished their physical conditioning earlier than expected, which had surprised the girl given the routine she was now beginning to get used to, when Pradosh came carrying a large and dirty brown bag that made a metallic sound as it moved. Curious, the girl got closer to watch.

Pradosh came with an eerie grin in his face and emptied the bag.

**Clanck**

Was the sound as the knives fell to the floor, rusty and old army knives that glowed lethally against the searing hot sun.

"Now we're going for a real military practice" said Pradosh with malice, "every one of you take one" he said while gesturing to the knives in the floor. The children nervous approached carefully and took the knives from the floor.

"Now, I'll group you in pairs" he said unable to contain his happiness. Something was off and scared the girl a lot, but couldn't point what was it, so she just stared. When he came to where she stood, he took her with force and put her next to a black haired and thin boy she had met just a week ago, his name is...Kaalap? Or was it Kaalash? She thought trying to remember. He just stood there, staring at here with determination in his eyes, as if he knew what was about to happen.

"And now, your opponent is in front of you, only one survives, begin!" Pradosh said ecstatically as he stood apart, rifle in hard to watch the massacre; his stupid smile never leaving his face.

"Wh...what?" said the girl but couldn't get the chance to process it as she suddenly found a knife closing against her neck which she barely avoided by moving backwards, the cold steel scraping against her soft skin and leaving a small trail of blood. The boy had launched himself against her, oblivious of anything else, the rest of the children having done likewise and screamed as they attacked, stabbed, and rolled on the floor. The girl pushed him away trying to get a hold of the situation, _to kill, I don't want to kill!_ She thought, but to no avail as the boy used the distance to swing his knife against her unprotected chest, to which the girl could only block with her left arm.

She screamed as the knife made a deep cut against her arm, the steel drawing forth more of her blood in the process, _but if I die here...my brothers_...she felt the adrenaline rushing within her brain and made her first offensive move by swinging her own knife against the boy's stomach. He tried to avoid by stepping sideways but he wasn't fast enough as the girl's knife made a deep cut against his stomach.

The boy groaned in pain but not stopped by the attack, grabbed the girl by the neck and tried to choke her, using his other arm to plunge his knife against the girl's chest.

She countered by stopping his right hand, the one with the knife with her own left hand, but she felt herself going to the floor, feeling the air leaving her as he increased his choke hold on her. She couldn't breath, and he was stronger than her...the knife getting closer to her chest, where it would take away her life...

As he got closer to her, with the same look of determination in his eyes, void of any warmth, the girl took the chance by bending her head and biting the boy's ear with her own teeth. She felt the warmth of blood and a metallic flavor in her mouth as the boy screamed, trying to take her away, which prompted him to reflexively leave her chest. He punched her in the face, hard, drawing blood, but the girl didn't relent and bit harder, taking off his ear.

He screamed in pain and the girl spat what was left of his ear in his face, to which he lowered his guard. Taking up her chance, all or nothing, the girl plunged her knife deep into the boy's stomach, feeling the warm blood flowing through her hand.

She felt horrorized as the boy fell to the floor, screaming, _but still alive_, was the thought that registered in her mind...she knew what she had to do...and so, she moved her hand upwards, as quickly as she could, running the knife across his stomach and up to his chest, trying to make deaf ears to the screams and pleading; her other hand keeping his knife away from her.

Still alive, she thought, and taking the boy's knife, she plunged it in his eye while stabbing her other knife in his chest, one, two, three times; he twitched in the floor, convulsing, and after several seconds of struggle, fell limp. Blood flowing from his eye and the huge wound in his chest, drenching the girl's clothing. She stared in horror at what she had done, but not for much as she started frantically looking for her brothers.

_I killed a person, I killed a boy_, repeated her mind over and over, but her brothers were priority, she had to find them. The struggle had lifted a cloud of dust that enveloped the whole place and so, she as quickly as she could, crawled on the floor trying to locate her brothers among the screams and fighting. To her left, two boys rolled on the floor, numerous wounds on their bodies as they tried to slit each other's throats; to her right, she saw several ganging up on a much bigger boy; but she had to keep going, and so, she kept crawling until she found one of her brothers, Udit, in the floor, staring with numerous wounds across his chest as his assailant, a brown haired and tall boy prepared to deliver the killing blow. Standing up, the girl prepared her two knives and as quickly and silently as she could, launched herself towards him, stabbing his back several times, to which the boy fell after giving out a small gasp. She kept stabbing until she was sure he was dead and approached her brother; too late...as he just stared without seeing...dead...tears fell from her eyes as she hardened herself and closed her brother's eyes, _he was so young_, she thought, but she couldn't break down, she had to save the rest. As soon as she was about to continue her quest, several gunshots were heard and the battle stopped.

Pradosh came, smoking rifle in hand, to watch the results of the massacre, laughing with gusto at the sight of the corpses and blood around them.

"Good job, those that have survived are ready for our battle, sleep well, for tomorrow we all go to hell!" he said laughing out loud.

The girl finally saw them standing...only two...that was the result of this battle. The boys came to her, eyes hollow and scared, not believing what they had just done, trembling, they all embraced and sobbed over their lost brethren.

**／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼**

Be ready, and do it was we planned said the girl to the two boys that advanced quickly towards the tents. It had taken them several hours to tend to their wounds and prepare for what they were about to do.

_No more hesitation, no more doubts, we have to survive_, the girl told herself as she readied the rusty army knife she had carefully hidden after their last brutal "training". She still couldn't believe what had happened, three of her brothers, killed, just to satisfy a brute's desire for bloodshed. Everything felt so far away to her, as if it was all a nightmare she was having and nothing of it happened for real. She would wake up, at home, and all her brothers would be alive and well, eating what they could salvage.

Brushing off the thoughts, she focused on what was about to happen as they got close to a run down hut where two figures were sleeping placidly, one a boy of 7 or 8 years old that snored without a care in the world, his chubby frame and several wounds in his arms and legs, black short hair along with a distinctive scar in his forehead. The other, a 13 or 14 years old boy, thin but strong frame, also black haired, that slept shirtless and rolled from time to time.

The girl quickly opened the hut and made her way inside, clasping the knife and motioning for her brothers to enter as quietly as they could. She ordered them to guard and spring to action as soon as the younger boy moved while she approached the older one with her knife, raising it, and taking a deep breath to give her the strength to do it, she quickly lowered her knife to the boy's neck, catching him by surprise. He struggled to stand up as he felt the knife cutting at his flesh but the girl used her hand to clasp his mouth and her own weight to keep him in the floor. He kicked at her and gasped but it was to no avail, the girl cut his trachea and stabbed his chest like she had done so much that day to ensure his death when she felt a sharp object in her back.

"Do not move" said the younger boy threatening, her brother's watching scared at what had just happened. The boy pressed the knife against the girl's back until blood started flowing and she suppressed a scream, they were caught, and she had to do something.

"Now you two, come here" the young boy gestured for the girl's brothers that scared at the threat of their sister dying, complied. "You, give me your knife" the boy gestured for the girl to do it, _if I give the knife we'll be defenseless, if I don't, he'll kill me_. The girl was evaluating her alternatives but no idea came to her mind. Slowly, as to not startle the boy with a sudden movement, the girl started handing the knife which the boy grasped in his hand, and then, she violently moved it, cutting at the boy's hand in the process and startling him long enough for her to turn around, avoiding his knife and plunging hers in his neck.

Apparently she had cut a vein as the boy widened his eyes and a torrent of blood came non-stop from his wound. Not losing her chance, the girl pushed the boy to the ground and took a hold of his knife with one hand while she clasped his mouth with the other, muffling his screams of pain.

Her brothers only watched in pain and horror as that boy's life extinguished forever.

"Now, lets go to sleep, I'll take guard for today" said the girl to her brothers,coldly, as she sat in a corner of the hut while looking at the entrance. Her brothers too scared to argue complied and rolled in the covers.

_I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway_, thought the girl grimly as she stared at her stained knife and even more bloodstained hands, trying her best to forget that day's happenings...

**／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼**

***********************END OF CHAPTER*********************

**／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼**

**End Notes / Rant:**

Phew not easy to write in Linux and then back to Windows. Anyway, I hope I've avoided most clichés and made Maiya more realistic, or as realistic as you can get in one of these situations, any mistake could cost their life.

What do you think? Too crude? Good enough?


	4. DoW - Carnage

**The life and hardships of Hisau Maiya.**

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

**Author Notes:**

Thanks to **Reader** for the recommendations, I'm trying to improve the grammar and orthography as English is not my main language so if you spot any glaring error, I'll be glad to correct it.

Also thanks to **Kiri0952** for favoriting my story! If you have any complaints, suggestions or ideas I'll be glad to consider them.

**／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼**

**Dogs of War Arc**

**Chapter 4 – Carnage**

The morning sun came into the tent making the girl put a hand in front of her tired eyes to shield herself from the pain of the sunlight filtering inside; her eyes reddened and with dark circles due to the lack of sleep. She stared at her brothers huddled together in a corner of the tent with some dirty blankets covering their bodies and sighed a heavy breath while rubbing her sides with her hands.

The deserted night was very cold and unforgiving, leaving her feeling stiff as she made her best effort in keeping her warmth while covering herself with a thin and dusty jacket she had '_borrowed_' from the boy's corpses they had left in the other corner of the tent.

She stared at them still unable to grasp the fact that she was responsible of their deaths, '_but it was necessary, it was their death or ours…'_ she told herself, trying to reaffirm that it had been a necessary sacrifice but still unable to fully believe it herself.

"It's all because of this stupid war…" she whispered with anger as she stared at the rising sun in the horizon. "And all over a useless patch of land, barely enough to sustain us…" she kept talking, mostly to prevent herself from going mad, for she couldn't grasp why all the infighting over a piece of land that barely generated something worthwhile; all those lives lost to satisfy the greed of these people…

She kept staring at the rising sun while trying to come up with ways to survive the oncoming onslaught; even though her country had been on war even before she was born; the girl had never been in the frontlines before and the only strategy the villagers and her family knew for when the soldiers started attacking the village was hide and pray that they didn't find them. '_Maybe that can work in this kind of battle too…'_ she mused while playing with the bloodstained knife in her hands and hoping that they would be able to survive whatever came their way.

A gunshot was heard in the horizon, the signal for them to stand up and reunite with the rest of the 'troops', if a bunch of malnourished and badly trained children could be considered so, as she tried to stand up, finding her legs trembling by the effort after having spend all night without sleep. Doing her best effort, the girl walked up to her brothers and gently nudged them awake while whispering.

"Deo, wake up, we have to go now" she said softly while her brothers only squirmed further together. Deo was 4 years younger than her, or so she remembered; with dark black hair that was typical of the family and small rounded eyes. He was usually calm at home and helped the girl doing the chores at home like collecting water and wood but had quite a temper; the girl and him had fought from time to time over little things like who got to take care of their ill brothers and he wasn't above violence to get his way. '_Guess that's why he survived_', thought the girl grimly. Her other brother, Jagannath was younger by two years or so than Deo and was easily scared of everything, even his own shadow; he had bigger almond shaped eyes and longer hair, also he used to be a really fast runner able to easily distance himself from the rest and hide whenever their mother got angry at them to the point of sometimes even disappearing and not getting out until their mother was finally too drunk or drugged to punish him for whatever had crossed her mind. '_That speed will come handy on this' _thought the girl evaluating their strengths; she wished she had something useful like that but the truth is that she was mostly average, she wasn't the fastest nor the strongest in their household; but her versatility and age meant that she could always do her part in helping at home.

Sighing, she nudged her brothers harder prompting them to wake up prompting them to stand up, a hand in their half-closed eyes as they tried to focus on her frame at their side.

"Common, we have to get moving now" she said, trying to convince herself more than her brothers to do something she was very much afraid of.

As they exited the tent, she felt a strong pounding in her head, product of the lack of sleep that was quickly catching up to her. '_If I stay like this my reflexes will be slower, maybe I can recover some sleep on the way to wherever it is we're going…' _she thought while stifling a yawn.

**／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼**

"Congratulations worms! You have just graduated!" said Pradosh, the bulky man was shirtless as he walked happily among the crowd of children already in place, his rifle in hand as he surveyed everybody. When looking at him, the girl felt nauseous as a flare of anger ignited in her chest. '_I'll make you pay for what you did to my brothers…' _she thought darkly while wondering how easily it would be to have him 'accidentally' killed from 'friendly fire'.

He gestured for everyone to get closer and motioned for them to get aboard their jeeps. The black vehicles covered in dirt were soon filled with sweaty bodies in a space too small to be comfortable. The girl struggled to fit along with her brothers in the vehicles, at least 20 children were on each of the vehicles and she could count at least and 3 vehicles destined to carry slaves along with 6 other that carried different things like tanks with gasoline, water and seeds, and weapons. She could spot from the corner of her vision that several assault rifles and other dust covered weapons were in the vehicle Ekaraj used; '_if only I could get a change at using them' _the girl mused while thinking of ways they could possibly escape but her train of thought was interrupted when Pradosh came into the vehicle, now sporting what looked like a heavy bulletproof vest in his clothing and dark glasses that covered his eyes, a small trail of sweat across his brow he cleaned with his hand as he got inside.

The engines roared to life as all the men got aboard the vehicles with Ekaraj being the last one to get in; they waited for 10 minutes making preparations and then one by one the men tapped the side of the vehicle as a signal that they were ready to leave. Suddenly the girl found herself glancing at the dunes passing her by at great speeds while the man roared in laughter and played music to pass the time.

They drove like that in a straight direction for almost 4 or 5 hours non-stop, now the sun was directly above them and it shined uncomfortably against the almost unbearably hot vehicles while the girl felt a huge thirst. She stared at the vehicle two rows in front of her that carried the huge jugs of water and gasoline, enticing her with a taste of it as she felt her lips dry like parchment as she wondered when they would get to drink some. Her brothers huddled against her and she saw their eyes where fear was visibly shown in her eyes, distracting her momentarily from her desires and she patted them in the head trying to keep them calm.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine" she whispered to them while trying to convince herself about it and looking at the rest of the children, packed like tuna against the vehicle, all with the same look of fear in them.

**／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼**

Somewhere on the way towards the destination, she fell asleep; dozing off due to the heat and the closeness to everybody, the girl found herself woken up by the sounds of gunshots as she opened her eyes startled and cleaning a trail of drool she hadn't noticed coming from her mouth with her bare hand. Her brothers trembled as they heard the powerful sounds of explosions that made the earth tremble. The music was no longer playing, and their captors were no longer talking in joy; everyone sported an ominous expression as they got closer to the battleground.

Grabbing onto her brother's shoulders and taking care to not fall off the fast moving vehicle, the girl raised her body to look at the battleground they would be facing. In the distance she spotted several vehicles that moved fast while flashes of what she recognized as gunshots appeared continuously, and small figures she could recognize as people as they approached the battleground ran from place to place, some hiding among the desert dunes while others shot in the distance. Black smoke came from several spots when loud explosions rattled the air product of grenades thrown between the fighters. She shivered at the thought of facing something of that caliber.

The vehicles stopped halfway from the battleground in the back of a dune where they wouldn't be spotted by the enemy. Screams and shots could be heard in the distance, along with several small explosions from time to time. The men started unloading the weapons from the back of the truck while Pradosh motioned for the children to get out and stand in a group in front of him.

Ekaraj walked calmly in front of them sporting black glasses and a bigger bulletproof vest than Pradosh, a long brown cigar in his mouth which he smoked calmly. He opened his mouth to speak to the group of children "Now worms this is how we play, we'll give you a weapon now and you must run towards the other side; anything that moves…shoot it until it is a red smear in the floor, got it? If anyone tries to run we'll shoot him dead on the spot. If anyone tries to revolt, we'll shoot him dead on the spot. If anyone tries to hide, we'll shoot him dead on the spot. Understood?" he said to which some children only nodded. He raised his rifle to the air and shot, making everybody cover their ears and flinch. "I said…UNDERSTOOD?!" he raised his voice to get their attention and everybody nodded vigorously, too scared to complain.

All the children started grouping at the vehicle as Pradosh handed everyone their weapons while the rest of the men pointed at them with rifles to prevent any undesirable move against them. '_So just like food we must compete for it…' _she thought as the girl and her brothers nudged their way to the vehicle trying to secure a good weapon for themselves. Jagannath got his hand upon a small handgun while Deo managed to procure an assault rifle from the rest of the children; meanwhile she managed to procure a small handgun that had she been more knowledgeable in guns, she would have recognized as a Walter P38. The gun was heavy and rusty, '_probably not seen much use recently' _she mused while handling it and praying that it still worked.

"Now, on my mark you start running!" Ekaraj said while raising his rifle in the air. "Now!" he shouted while shooting another round to the air and suddenly she felt pulled to the battle ground as the children started running and she tried to keep up to avoid being trampled down.

**／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼**

"Deo! Jagannath! Stay behind me!" shouted the girl trying to make herself be heard amongst the screaming and explosions, bullets flying everywhere. Her brothers thankfully complied and got by her sides, Jagannath squeezing her hand with fear in his face while Deo embraced the rifle close to his chest as they started slowing their pace. '_All according to plan'_ thought the girl as she threw herself to the ground just in time while feeling something warm and wet in her cheek. Putting a hand in her cheek she winced at the pain where a stray bullet had graced her. Her brothers by her side in the ground, they slowly crawled among the battlefield while looking at the massacre before them.

The rest of the children ran; weapons in hand as they tried to raise their weapons preparing to shoot…only to be gunned down by enemy fire before they were even able to take aim, the sand jumping at their feet like water droplets of doom. The second line managed to prepare their weapons and started shooting wildly at the air without aim; soon enough they started falling, one by one as they were overpowered by the opposition and another group of children that had come from another of their vehicles exploded to bits in what she assumed was a grenade's results. The girl couldn't even discern where their enemies were shooting from and she could only embrace her brothers and stay down until they were, hopefully, left alone.

Glancing backwards, she spotted their captors shooting brief but precise blows at their enemy, while shouting angrily at the children for being gunned down that easily. '_And what did they expect if they didn't even teach us how to use a gun' _thought the girl darkly while covering lowering her head again and staying still when she heard an explosion too close to their current position for her comfort. The explosion raised a cloud of sand and rocks and she heard a scream of pain as she noticed a children crawling slowly among the debris the explosion left while clutching at his now non-existent legs as he moaned in pain and left a red smear on the sand.

'_They're getting closer!' _she realized with horror as she saw the gunshots getting dangerously close to where they were, still in the floor and she spotted a group of dark figures that ran inhumanly fast across the desert while jeeps rolled behind them.

"Sister they're coming! They're coming!" shouted Jagannath scared as he started standing from the ground while she did her best to keep him from becoming another target for this group. She was extremely scared as the figures got closer and closer, only a small group of children, no more than 5 were left from the attack group they had come from as they tried in vain to retreat and were promptly gunned down by the approaching attackers. She glanced at their captors that were shooting the children that retreated scared. '_If we go forwards, they'll kill us and if we try to retreat, we're dead, only way is around' _she thought as she grabbed her brother's arms and lifted them from the ground forcibly.

"This way! Run!" she shouted at her brothers and they made a mad sprint doing their best to avoid the gun shots and explosions that shook the ground while the desert sand blistered at their naked feet. '_Come on, come on' _she thought desperate after looking at their enemies that were approaching them with preternatural speed, somehow managing to stand despite receiving bullet wounds across their bodies, '_somehow not dying when killed…' _she wondered how was that possible, trying to deny her own conclusions.

She stared at them, a look of mad hunger in their faces as they got closer and closer. The girl prepared her own weapon, ready to shoot and preparing for the inevitable confrontation they were about to face and face the certainty of her own death.

She heard gunshots at her back, approaching along with the sound of the jeeps moving towards them. One of the members of the opposing group, a man dressed all in black and ragged, with Hispanic features and a very thin frame started lunging towards them, a look of mad hunger in his face as he approached them too fast for her to outrun them. The girl readied her gun, not fast enough to shoot and bracing herself for impact, but to her surprise the man received a bullet wound straight between the eyes. He fell back without even a hint of recognition, dead.

"Retreat now! On the trucks if you want to live!" shouted Pradosh and for once she felt relieved at hearing his voice. Making haste, the girl grabbed her brothers by the arms and used all the strength in her body to flee the enemy. She felt the muscles in her legs tearing as she rushed as fast as she could, almost lifting her own brothers while she rushed towards the jeeps. Her lungs felt on fire as she closed the distance in a blink with the enemy gaining ground towards them every second.

She practically flew towards the truck, hitting it with a thud and she groaned from the impact. She felt a sudden thug in her arm and before she could even realize what was happening felt her brother Jaganneth scream as he grabbed to her sides for dear life as the man she had seen shot down by Pradosh clawed at his leg and bit him while trying to take him off the vehicle. Jaganneth kicked at the man with his other leg as they started speeding away, but the man stubbornly refused to leave him as he lunged at him and slowly started taking him out of the vehicle. The girl kicked at the man but to no avail as she felt her brother slowly escaping her grasp.

"Someone! Help me!" she shouted but no one paid her attention as she saw the remaining children getting aboard whatever vehicle they could get a hold of while the men quickly caught up to them; surrounding those that they had caught and attacking with their hands and teeth. On their jeep only three children remained and they seemed too scared at what they were seeing to help; her brother was almost halfway from the vehicle and she was getting desperate.

A powerful explosion left her momentarily dazed and when she looked again she saw the man had now half of his face blown off, bone and muscle showing from where his right eye had once been. The figure finally let go of her brother and slumped towards the sand, finally dead, a small patch of black as they drove away from the battleground as quickly as they could. The girl stared at Deo who now held a smoking rifle in his arms with a surprised look in his face at how far backwards the recoil of his weapon had sent him.

She embraced both of her brothers in her arms and cried in joy at having survived their first battle.

**／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼**

***********************END OF CHAPTER*********************

**／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼／人◕‿‿◕人＼**

**End Notes / Rant:**

Somehow this was harder to write than expected, mostly because I don't feel anything for the characters…hope the ones that survive can get rounded more to make this more interesting. What do you think?

I had some troubles thinking how a general would give weapons to forced conscripts and not have them revolt the moment they got their hands on them; guess fear helps a lot in that, but I'm not so sure about that part and have no real world data on it of course.

You know, I actually made research on child soldiers and I'm impressed (and sad) to see that everything is (more or less) like in real life, yeah, it's that cruel…and only one thing that is lacking but we're getting closer to it and I don't wanna write it but the saddest part is that unlike everything I've written so far, its canon so not many ways around it…


End file.
