Glassed Memories

Saffron Nadira Velásquez felt like she was flying although she didn’t know why. The last thing she could remember was entering her boyfriend's house after walking from school together. She tried to open her eyes, but they felt heavier than normal.
“Did I pass out? I know I was tired from walking from school but I’m not normally this tired” She thought. 
She continued to think, trying to jar her memory when she finally remembered something else.
“Wait why did I see a flash of green li-” mid-thought she felt the wind knocked out of her chest.
She tried to scream but could not. The body of the 10-year-old girl hit the ground hard and fast; her eyes flailed open but all she saw was darkness still. Saffron tried to get up assuming she was punched in the back of the head, only to find herself stuck underneath something. In shock, she laid in the darkness for several seconds before she realized what had happened. With the thought looming in her mind, she caught the distinctive smell of something cold, metallic, and yet so sweet that it made her sick... 
Death, she smelt death. Her breath felt constricted by the rubble tomb with each second, panic sinking deeper into her mind, she screamed for help.
With every scream she made she kept thinking to herself, “If I keep screaming for help maybe one of the neighbors will hear me and call emergency lines. Isn’t that they tell us what to do if we get caught in a sinkhole?”
Despite her thoughts, her gut ached with the suspicion that she was not caught in a sinkhole, her thoughts raced trying to understand what was happening, one thought kept coming back. One that made her whole-body hurl in fear and despair.
She heard what sounded like voices above the rubble, hope returning to her mind and soul, “HEY I’M HERE! HELP ME”
Her voice rolled through the stone in front of her. She watched as the rock on top of her started to shudder and move; her scream of hope floating from her mouth as if they were swan songs, then lodged itself in her throat, being replaced by the whimpering of a child. That one thought came to reveal its ugly furry face. Her body hurled internally as she watched the rock move fully. The one thing she feared the most was here. She laid in front a of a towering beast, one she knew as a Brute, plated in yellow armor. The Covenant was here.... 
She watched the alien throw the rubble away as if it were nothing. She then saw a smaller creature walk up beside the brute. It was small and skinny like a bird, but uglier, and it had something in its hand. She recognized it as a jackal. She then saw the Jackal say something to the brute, not anything she could understand, as the brute nodded his head.
The brute then said something with a smile that only the devil could make.... something that made Saffron want to crawl into her skin and hide from it... “Yes Koth, this human would make a fine appetizer.”
Saffron tried to get up and run but felt weak; she looked around trying to escape. Only finding a warm liquid coming from her head and body, it was then that she realized that she was bleeding, a lot. The Jackal named Koth laughed at her confusion as she squirmed on the ground if she was a worm in the rain.
She knew deep down in her heart that she was going to die here; yet all she felt was anger. Not towards the Covenant, but the UNSC, where were they? Aren’t they meant to protect them? Save them?
The Kig-Yar ignited a blue dagger, an energy cutlass, and began to charge at her. She screamed, closing her eyes, covering herself, waiting to be impaled when she heard the crack of gunfire. 
She opened her eyes to see the Kig-Yar's body jerk with each impact of a bullet; eventually falling limp and lifeless. The Brute turns behind him to see the assailants, 15 soldiers, and charges towards them. Saffron watched the men and women fire at the hulking beast, although it seemed that it did nothing to the beast but make it madder, it brought something up from its waist shooting its yellow shards at the soldiers.
The Brute hit one soldier in the head as the shard pierced her head melting as she fell, then hit another soldier in his chest twice the yellow shards sending the soldier flying backwards. As the Brute shot and charged at them the soldier kept shooting, causing the beast to stumble slightly, but not completely stopping it from charging. The Brute finally reached the soldiers; it grabbed one by the head and crushed the human skull with ease, then decapitated another with the weapon it had, before crushing another person with its fist. The remaining continued to fire at the Brute, finally seeming to slow it down, before it collapsed. 
One of the soldiers ran to check on her immediately freezing, seeing the amount of blood around and on her. The soldier called out someone's name; although Saffron didn’t hear a word. Her eyes got heavy, and she felt tired. She blacked out... she only heard their voices fading in and out of her consciousness. 
“HOLY S- THATS A LOT OF BLOOD FOR A LITTLE GIRL” 
“Shes’ breathing” 
"It isn't her blood... I think?" 
“Found out where the majority of the blood came from” 
“Dang... how are we going to break it to her” 
“Pick her up and get her on the SUV”
Saffron finds herself sitting in a car seat. She groaned as she looked around trying to snap out of her groggy state.
“Hey? You are feeling, ok?” a female voice said
Saffron shook her head confused by her surroundings, “Y-ye-yes" her voice shaky and shallow.
She looks towards the voice to see blue piercing behind a clear visor. Saffron didn't recognize her and started to panic; she started to try and leave her seat before the lady beside her grabbed her,
“HEY, don't do that you're going hurt yourself”
A male voice came from beside the blue-eyed women next to Saffron, “I mean you don’t have anywhere to go since your family got crushed by rocks.”
Saffron froze at what he said, processing it, not understanding what he meant by family.
The blue-eyed woman swung her hand around smacking the man in the head knocking off his helmet.
The hit caused the man to yelp in pain, “WHAT THE HELL COLETTE THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR!”
“Shalom... Shes a fuckin child! Not one of your soldiers... she just lost her family, and you just throw it at her? Be fucking considerate for once” 
Another man laughed, Saffron noticed that he was standing in the middle of the suv halfway through a hole in its ceiling, “She got you their bro.”
Saffron spoke up finally understanding what they meant by family, “They were my Boyfriend’s family....”
The whole SUV went quiet until the man named Shalom spoke up again, “So it wasn't your family so... it's not as bad.”
Shalom brother then screamed, “COME ON BRO” as the lady named Colette smacked Shalom again.
“Alright my fault” yelped again from the pain.
The man in the middle of the SUV knelled down looking towards Saffron, “Sorry about my brother, he's not exactly a people person. Anyways, my name is Ronen and my brother is Shalom; that beast of a lady is Colette. The man behind me is Perun if you hadn’t seen him. He’s the quiet one. Fortunately, we aren't the UNSC. We are actually a part of a group called the S.I.C.” 
"My....name... is... Saffron” with each word Saffron spoke reality began to set in, she broke down in a crying mess.
Colette held Saffron as if she was her own child, “It’s.... going to be hard to move past this... I can’t say that it’s ok... but I’m sorry you're going through this...”
An older man’s voice came from the driver seat, “I never thought you’d be the loving mother type... it fits you...”
Colette then looks towards the driver, “Says the father.”
Saffron still crying looked at all of them, “where my parents.... I want my parents... take me to my parents....”
The driver spoke softly and slightly conflicted, “I.... I don’t think that’s going to be possible... I’m so-”
Saffron screamed at the top of her lungs, “I DONT CARE IF YOU THINK IT’S POSSIBLE, I WANT MY PARENTS AND I WANT TO KNOW IF THEY ARE OK!” 
Once again, the SUV went silent. Saffron strangled every bone and muscle in her body to keep her from continuing to scream, cry, and vomiting; “Please......” 
The man continued to drive silently before speaking, “DAMN IT..... alright... what is your address...” Saffron told him the address as he radioed someone else.
Shalom warily asked the driver, “You sure this is a good idea Karel?”
“Nope, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t do it.” the driver responded.
“I’ll put it in the GPS-” Shalom said before being cut off by the sound of a machine gun.
“We got company!” Ronen screamed.
Saffron curled into a ball covering her ears to block the sound of the machine gun and the piercing hum of something alien.
“Banshee 8 o’clock high and moving fast” someone said through the radio.
That's when she heard the thunk of the Banshee shooting plasma at them. Saffron closed her eyes, trying to wake up from this living nightmare, but her body and mind were already overstimulated and exhausted. The stress and panic of the situation got to her; the sounds getting fainter as she passed out again.
When Saffron woke up, she realized that the SUV had stopped. She could hear the soldiers talking; she immediately jumped out of the SUV to see a horrific scene. She saw the disembodied and dismantled bodies of her parents.
Saffron couldn’t believe it... they were dead; she screamed in agony and distress from the sight. She didn’t know what else to do, that's all she could do, other than scream and cry.
Colette and Karel turned around and ran to her aid. Karel unexpectedly picked up Saffron and turned around to block her vision of her dead parents. The entire moment lasted at least 5 minutes, the only sound that filled the air was the cries of loss pouring from Saffron’s mouth.
The moment of silence was then broken by the voice of Ronen, “OK BOSS WE GOTTA MOVE”
Everyone looked towards the sky where Ronen was looking to see a Covenant Light Cruiser entering the atmosphere.
The group of soldiers scrambled to the SUV’s and immediately started driving.
Colette hugged and held onto Saffron trying to comfort her, “We’ll take care of you... I’m sorry that you had to go through this... it’s... not fair...”
Saffron didn’t know where they were going, but she didn’t care. The only thing she knew was that her entire life, world, passion, and happiness was gone... destroyed... burnt and buried... her memories were now buried underneath the ghosts and ashes of the glassed planet.