It was quiet but for the wind in the leaves. I cowered in the tree branches, stifling my sobs as I gazes at the scene below me. My mind couldn't take it in. There was too much red where there was supposed to be brown and green. I couldn't accept what I was seeing. Churned dirt and leaves. Sliced bark. Glints of metal in the underbrush. Bits of clothing. Blood everywhere.
I blacked out. When I came to, there were concerned faces above mine. I was slumped over on a tree bough. Why am I here Where is here? What's wrong? I looked around. Shinobi surrounded me. For a moment I felt panic. Then I recognized them. They were part of the guard party for the caravan my Team had been protecting. Where was my Team? Then it came to me, my memory of what had happened, why I was alone and huddled on this tree branch. My stomach convulsed. I leaned over the side of the bough to retch as the Shinobi reached out to stop me.
And looked right into my Sensei's eyes. They were glazed over and staring, the veins popped and bleeding. A pool of blood spread out from the gaping wound in her neck. One of her arms looked to be broken, and her right leg seemed completely shattered. Her body was limp and twisted, like a rag doll thrown off to the side. The twins weren't far from her outstretched fingers. Aiden and Kaiden were on their stomachs as if they'd been struck from behind while rushing to Lori-Sensei's side. Stab wounds glared up at me from their backs. It looked like they were floating in blood.
That alone was horrible enough. But it didn't end there. Lori-Sensei's mouth had been slit from ear to ear in a gruesome grin. Aiden's ears had been torn off and his eyes were just gaping holes that seemed to stare right at me. Kaidens nostrils had been sawed into gaping slits with Aiden's ears poking out of them. Kaiden's fingers were gone as well, sticking out of his own mouth. Their faces all portrayed terror and agony, but someone had painted smiles on their faces with their own blood. It only made the scene more ghastly.
I opened my mouth, and instead of my lunch coming up I felt a scream tear itself from my throat, from my very soul. Everything except my Team and I disappeared. There was nothing but them, myself, and my scream echoing through the woods.