*MATURE WARNING - CURSING PRESENT*

The general's fingers began to quake, drawing closer to the frazzled woman. "I don't want to hurt you... just put her down."

"You took Maddie from me..."

"Ma'am-"

"From my family!"

"That's not your-!"

BANG! The woman fired a shot upward, startling the general in one place. Rageful in the eyes, with only an arm to embrace her lost love and a gun to protect it, the mother screamed in fury: "You stay the fuck back! Stay back!"

He squeezed his eyes shut, growling at her insolence. "You let that thing out, you kill us all."

"This thing is my daughter!" she wept, starting to fall back. "My Maddie... my b-baby."

"You need to listen to me."

"H-How dare you h-hurt her this way..."

"She is not yours!"

The woman began to tremble, fighting her tears as the man took hold of the conversation. She was already at a loss for words, too heartbroken to speak, and too afraid to continue. So she let him take hold, just this one time.

"Maddie died... two weeks ago," the man muttered. "She drowned in the river, and she is not coming back. You know that."

"Mommy?"

"No," The general hissed over the whimpering child. "Do not listen to her, ma'am, just look at me."

The mother's grip tightened on her daughter. "F-Fuck off..."

"Listen to me."

"You won't take her from me a second time!"

"Listen!" the general barked, then exhaled through a miserable sigh. "Listen..."

And so she did. With a soft whine to add to it, of course.

"I know losing someone is a terrible thing," he began, wading toward the frightened mother and child. "A husband... a child. A home. But this is not grief, this is pain, and it's going to kill you if you take the easy way out."

"And how do you know?" she scowled. The general sighed, closing his eyes as his emotions broke free.

"I know."

The mother's eyes softened. Seeing that as an agreeable chance to move, the man took another step forward. Then a second. And a third.

"Just lower the gun..." he slowly reached for her hand. "We can talk about this... just us. But please-"

She pulled away, but not fast enough before his hand snagged her wrist. Yelping aloud, the mother wrung her arm back and forth as the man forced his play into control. They wrestled for ten seconds before-

BANG!

A gasp was all anyone could muster when the noise rocked the air. Groaning aloud, the general fumbled backward, feeling for his chest as a plume of red flowered across his camo jacket. For a brief moment his eyes were filled with tears, mouth opening and closing in confusion as he struggled for words. He staggered, wheezed, then whimpered.

Before striking the ground with a lifeless thud.

The mother didn't put any second to waste. She didn't seek guilt, or pleasure, or wonder in her actions. Just as it happened, she hightailed from the bunker with her little girl, fumbling up staircase after staircase toward the upper exit. Her face was lost in thought and feeling; no matter the blood that spoiled her shirt, she ignored it. All that mattered was Maddie now. That, and her safety.

The mother burst through the open doors, sprinting toward the treeline as fast as she could. Nobody seemed to notice her, let alone follow; that was a relief. Once far enough, at the edge of the woods, they shrunk into the undergrowth, crouching and waiting for an armada of soldiers.

Nothing showed. Nothing came.

"Okay... we're okay," she nodded shakily, brushing a hand against her daughter's hair. "We're okay."

"I'm... okay?"

"You're okay... you're safe," the woman smiled, lowering the girl to the ground. Now face to face, the mother began pushing back the hair from the little girl's speckled eyes. With a wavering exhale, the little girl turned to look upon the churning woods, welcoming her with open arms. She, too, began to smile, a relieving giggle slipping past her cracked lips.

"I'm safe."

The mother whimpered proudly, continuing to groom the little girl's hair as if it were the last chance she'd have to try. Once again, the girl giggled, her toothy front teeth parting behind a curtain of pride.

"I'm free..."

As she looked back, two little hands gradually lifted to each side of her mother's head, embracing her running tears and plump red cheeks like any mother would to a child. She felt the skin trembling, the warmth the woman gave, the joyful energy bursting from within. So much energy... so much life...

The woman's grin disappeared. She stiffened up as the girl's smile widened, quick to feel the nubs of her nails digging beneath the scalp. And it didn't cease – they dug until the skin cracked, until her voice of reason wavered into a wince, then a gasp.

"Maddie? Maddie, stop!"

She heard a noise next, a ringing echo almost similar to an endless wail.

Then she felt nothing but pain.

Her jaw gaped open, offering a scream so silent that the wind lightly pushed it away. The skin near the finger started to contort, slowly, as if squeezed into a vacuum and sucked dry. And what remained was the hollow socketless grayness that the world flavored the dead... and the dying.

"M-Maddie-" she gagged, trying to pull her away. It was no use. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. Her eyes bulged, thin red cracks bloating within the iris and out like tears. And, like worms to a puddle, tendrils from within began a mad dash to the little girl's fingers, filling them with life, youth, and purpose.

"Urk..."

It only took a few minutes. A few gurgles and grunts of agony, then a groan. And when the girl finally let go, the embezzled skeleton of her dear 'mother' slumped to the ground, with only a sizzle to carry its cry. The girl's eyes looked upon the dead, emotionless for all time. It felt just the same for the other creature whose name this mother referred to her as. But she was alive, freed at last. And she couldn't leave her savior without one last word of praise.

"I'm finally free..."