AN: I don't own Mass Effect, the characters or the locations.
Branches heavy with wet leaves slapped her in face as she ran blindly. The overcast of the night sky glowed orange ahead of her. Her bare feet covered the wooded grounds in the long strides of a cross country runner. But this was no high school race.
Monsters were chasing her.
They had come in the middle of the night, waking her from a subtly pleasant dream about a girl at school. Confused by the noises coming from her living room, she'd crept out of her room and looked down from the second floor shadows to see her parents on their knees. Behind them, monsters in hard-suits were brandishing guns and yelling in a language she did not understand. Her father was shot in the back of the head, and she witnessed the spray of blood and wet, red globs that splattered the floor in front of him.
She heard screaming then, but was unsure if it was her mother or herself. The scream ended when her mother was shot through the back of the head as well. She had stood mute, still with shock as the bodies of her parents toppled one after the other, lifeless, to the floor.
One of the invaders pointed at the family portrait on the piano, and then picked up the sweet-sixteen photo that sat next to it. More talking in the language she didn't understand. And then one of them started for the stairs.
She moved. Back into her room. A glance at a dirty pair of jeans sitting atop the hamper, thoughts of getting dressed quickly discarded at the sound of heavy steps on the stairs. Her window was thrown open. Thoughts on survival, not modesty, as she climbed out the gabled window and onto the roof. She was cold, exposed to the early spring night, dressed only in a tank-top and panties. Fear chilled her further.
Barefoot, she had slipped around the roof, heading to the oak tree that loomed close to the Northern side of the house. Bark scratched at her thighs when she scrambled down. Her intent had been to head to the woods around the farm, then to run to town.
Pain in her mouth and her vision had gone white.
When she turned away the tree, one of the attackers slammed his armored fist hard into the left side of her mouth. She'd fallen to her knees, the coppery taste of hot blood filled her mouth. Her knees burned, scrapped on the gravely ground. More speaking, yelling, in that unknown language. When she looked up she saw four eyes glaring down at her. She had thrown gravel in the monster's face, blinding it and she ran.
Time was lost to her. Over the fence and into the woods, running from the shouts of monsters. After that first mad sprint, with trees between her and the house, she slowed slightly. Settling into her race pace, she tried to time her breathing. In, in, out, out, timed with her strides. The run from the house to the township was one she knew well. Ten kilometers that she could cover in about 35 minutes in her running shoes. Barefoot, she didn't know if she would make it five kilometers.
Her mouth was on fire, and she gingerly felt her lip as she ran. Blood covered her chin and was dripping onto her tank-top, she winced when she felt the tear in both her lips.
The shouts fell behind her and eventually stopped. She kept running. Her lungs on fire in the cold air.
She slowed as the trees thinned near town, and she stared. The town was an inferno. All of it that she could see was burning. Mouth on fire, feet numb, despair washed over her. Salvation was not to be found.
Tears finally broke through, and she fell to the ground. She crawled into some brambles and hugged her knees, sobbing until she passed out. Wishing her Pa was there to tell her it would all be okay.
Shivering, huddled deep among in the brambles, morning found her curled in a fetal ball. As the sun arced across the sky she shook in cold and terror. The Alliance search party found her fourteen long hours after the world she knew had been murdered by batarian slavers.