Bless the Wicked (on pause)

From the Ashes

The townsfolk prayed to god that they were all dead, every single last one of them. Black smoke rose up colliding with the gray as they held their hands to the skies.

"Pretty Martha, may God in heaven forgive her, and her bastard children!" They chanted as the braver men collected their guns to set out and see the land that was now would be nothing but ashes.

"Woe to her sick soul, Lucifer will make her his bitch!" Said one as he clipped on his gun holster.

"If a child is alive, its mine!" Another with a torch roared, "They will be sent to hell today no matter what, along side the devil woman!"

A few women dried their tears for the children; in their eyes the children were innocent. Though in aln era such as this there were no ifs or buts, their God was the ultimate power, and one must surrender to him; Martha never had once attended church or baptized her kids. Yes, in the world's eyes, they were damned.

"Please, have mercy on those little ones, Hue." Said the woman patting her eyes dry with her blouse, guilty to always go for Martha for favors. "Pretty Martha deserves a bit of thanks from this town. Least we can do is spare the babies."

Hue finished loading his gun then faced her with a scowl, "Allyson, they are probably not even human. Who knows, " he cocked his chin, "they could be them demons, hiding in a child's body. Hell, they all were probaly demons!"

The smoke was dying out from beyond the woods and that seemed to be the signal to start walking. Hue led the group of twenty-four past the bare trees, and Beware of Witch signs that they placed to keep the youngsters safe, they went past all till something flew through the air, and hit Hue right on the temple.

"Shi- who did that!" He rubbed away the dirt ball, and swore again for his panicked movements. Quickly pointing carelessly his gun at the hills, he ordered for the attacker to walk down.

"I'll kill ya! I swear I will!" He yelled again.

Above, Fredy gave his sisters an ineffective look then said, "And he wants us to walk down?"

"He sounds like an idiot," Alma pointed out coldy while Frida stared preparing the ammo; nice, sharp stones the size of apples.

"Go up there, Henry." Hue kept his aim at the hills on their left. The boots he wore hid just how bad his toes squirmed at the thought of it being Pretty Martha up there, and not the brats. Oh, how bad he was praying it to be the brats, and not the witch.

"God, if it's her,...help meh." He mumbled under his breath, he turned to make sure the others didn't hear his plea, then again ordered Henry to get his ass up there.

"I am only 18 summers old, come on, Hue! I ain't even a finger close to being of age yet!" Henry's fickle little body shook as he spat out all the nerves he had left. Clearly, he wasn't expecting to be called out to actually do something; he just wanted to follow the men along as a way to satisfy his curiosity.

"Get up there, boy!" Another pushed him towards Hue.

"I-I don't even have ah-" Henry paused to grab with a clumsy hand the gun thrown at him.

"Now ya do. Go. We will be guarding your back."

Henry cursed out as his fingers managed to slip the gun, and he fell on one knee juggling it from falling onto the ground. His timid blue eyes dashed around trying to keep one view of the gun, and the other on his fellow neighbors.

"He can't even keep his hands on a gun." Frida peeked through the roots of the tree they were using to shield their bodies from view. Again, Henry started to hold the gun upright, and Frida giggled as his face began to turn bright red.