~YULIA

I could not breathe as I watched.

Was this how my mother died? Bloody and alone with no one to help her?

“No,” I croaked as tears welled up my eyes.

Issa said nothing as he followed Mom into the house. I watched with a broken heart as she limped with agony written all over her bloody cut up face. She held onto her left wrist where the hand had been cut off as she struggled.

Who could have done this?

A rustle of leaves took our attention away and we saw figures clad in hooded ...