Chapter Text
It was the dead of night. I wasn’t quite sure what time it was, only that the moon was high in the sky over the near primeval forest I was currently fleeing through. I could hear panicked and pain filled screams rending the air far behind me, spurring me to readjust the heavy burden on my back and push myself harder than I ever had running with the cross country team in high school. I was determined to escape, determined to survive.
15 Hours Before
I wish I could start my story by saying that my day was just a normal day. That everything was as it should be. However, this was not the case. While it was true that it started out like any other; waking up to the alarm clock, getting dressed, going downstairs to share coffee with my roommates; it quickly became something out of a science fiction horror movie.
I had just stepped into the kitchen, still rubbing sleep from my eyes and mentally preparing for my day at work when I heard a strangled scream from the living room. Finding myself rather suddenly wide awake, I rushed into the room to find Kasey, the owner of the home we all shared passing out on the floor. The scene on the news broadcast explaining everything.
Anna Gully, the local breaking news anchor was reminding people to stay calm and indoors. Do not do anything rash. Avoid highways and interstates and please, don’t panic. The video footage was of what appeared to be a giant metal mountain floating over what looked like Chicago. Video footage flashed and showed similar crafts above San Francisco, Dallas, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow and several others. She was suddenly reminded of the news scenes from the movie, Independence Day.
We spent the day huddled together on the couch, staring in rapt attention at the television. All of us had long since figured that work would just have to do without us today. It seemed most of the world felt the same. Everyone was hiding in their homes, waiting for the all clear or for the terrifying structures to leave. Governments of the world had attempted communication, but so far all attempts had appeared to be ignored.
The repetitive chain of information was interrupted by the panicked voice of Ms. Gully announcing that reports were coming in from overseas that smaller vessels were leaving the larger structures and were seemingly kidnapping or killing every human in sight. Reports said they were struck by a blue light and they were gone. No ashes, not blood, just gone.
The four roommates looked to each other and as one jumped off the couch to grab their ready bags. While they had originally been prepared on the chance that Russia or North Korea attacked, they would service just as well now. We were ready to go in under ten minutes and out the door in just twelve. We each had our plans for this instance and immediately split off from each other with teary farewell hugs and best wishes. They had family to see to. I had just myself and immediately took off for wild parts unknown.
I had found a series of caves on one of my marathon conditioning runs. I had spent weeks cleaning it out and making it habitable. It was where I was headed now. It was about ten miles away and I had no idea how much time I had before those alien vessels made it to our corner of the world. I began the steady ground eating stride that I used when running my marathons. It would get me there quickly but still leave me with the energy to sprint should something happen.
I had run about five miles passed families, crying children and speeding cars all trying to escape the moderate city we lived in. While it was by no means a large town, there was one of the alien structures an hour away and all anyone knew was that the small ships moved FAST!
A low humming sound came from behind me, causing the very air to vibrate and all of the hair on my body to stand on end. Glancing behind myself I almost screamed and fainted. On the horizon, ever growing black dots appeared. As they grew closer, flashes of blue light could be seen. I swallowed my terror and turned to begin sprinting.
Two small children, seemingly twins were clutching each other tight in the middle of the street. They were crying and screaming at the terrifying sight of the ships quickly approaching. Without taking time to consider the possible problems of what I was about to do, I snatched both children up, one in each arm and sprinted for the tree cover behind the houses on the street I was running through.
They clung me to hard and fast. Terrified and still crying. I pushed myself as hard as I could to reach the cover of the forest, trying to escape the small trees of the entrance to the wooded area. When I finally broke into the deeper forest I took a moment to stop and examine the children.
A little boy and little girl stared at me in fright. Tears streaked though dirt on their tiny red faces. They couldn’t have been more than three or four. Thinking quickly I emptied my non essentials from my large hiking backpack. Most of what I need was at the cave. The backpack was in case I was caught in a situation where I couldn’t make it to my hideaway.
After emptying the bag and looked at the two children. They should be able to fit side by side. It would free my arms up and hopefully help me save some of my stamina. They were too shocked and scared to argue with me, and so climbed into the backpack without much fuss. They were able to peak out of the top and look around. While it was by no means the most comfortable way to be carried, it would only be for a short while and they should be fine.
I picked up running again after drinking from my hip canteen. I figured that the children would be fine until we reached the cave and they could sit down and calm some of the terror in their hearts. My speed was not what it would have been if I did not have the children on my back, but I couldn’t bring myself to abandon them after having rather impulsively saved their lives.
Dark came quickly to the deep forest. I could still hear the screams of my neighbors behind me, though that could have been my imagination. I’m not sure that I would ever be able to escape those sounds in my dreams again. It pushed me harder and harder to get away. It wasn’t just me anymore. Failure meant the possible death of two small innocents on my back.
I recognized the landscape we were entering. We were close to the cave. It wasn’t much further and we could all rest and hopefully spend a safe night in hiding. I pushed myself to sprint the last five hundred meters or so and slowed to a walk about sixty feet from the cave. I listened closely for the sounds of the small vessels and heard nothing.
I did my best to hide the evidence of my passing to the cave and ducked inside. Safety, haven, home for now. It was all we had, but it would have to be enough. I traveled deeper into the cave system where I had found a gallery deep underground. It was far enough away from the entrance that no light escaped to give away my location, and large enough to prevent me from going stir crazy.
I took the back pack off and helped the children crawl out. The poor things looked exhausted. I showed them to a nest of sleeping bags and cushions on the ground in one of the back corners of the room. It didn’t take long before they were both sound asleep, the little boy sucking his thumb, both of them clutching each other like a lifeline. I settled into a camping chair and covered up with a spare blanket. It was going to be a long night.
Throughout the night I awoke to sounds of ships flying over the forest outside of the cave. It sounded like they were just flying over on their way to another city, but it kept me on edge for a long time after the sound faded each time. Thankfully, the kids did not wake up.
It was almost four in the morning and it had been over three hours since I had heard the last squad of ships fly overhead. I felt it was safe to try the radio I had brought down here a few months ago. It had taken time to find one that would work in the caves, so it was one of my newest additions to the living space.
After several tense moments scanning through static I finally heard a voice coming through with a small amount of static forcing me to listen carefully to make out what they were saying.
“…haven’t heard anything out of D.C. in hours. The small vessels retreated back to their mother ships and they have stood silent in their positions since. It has been hours since I have seen or heard another person. I hope whoever is left out there, whoever might be hearing this that you stay safe. Stay out of sight. Whatever you forgot isn’t worth going back for. They will find you. Just like they found my family.
“I can see one of the mother ships from my location and it looks like an ominous, impossibly floating mountain. It is hovering about a thousand feet above the highest building I can see. It is blocking out the rising sun and its shadow falls over the city, shrouding it in terrifying gloom. I-
“Hold on, it is doing something. It looks like it is falling over! It is turning upside down. It looks to be spinning now, speeding up slowly. Oh my God! It is becoming a monstrous drill! It’s headed for the surface! It-“
A loud crashing rumble sounded from the radio and then nothing but static. I became aware of what felt like vibrations in the ground. They slowly became stronger and more noticeable. It was like an earthquake. I jumped up and grabbed my secondary go bag and snatched up the children, sleeping bag and all. We had to get out of the cave. There was no telling what was fixing to happen and the whole ceiling could come down on us if this got much worse.
I made to escape the cave and leapt out of the entrance just as it began to collapse. The ground was shaking madly now, the sky above had begun to roil with dark, angry clouds that resembled the smoke clouds caused by the dry seasons fires she had seen sweep the west all her life. The air felt charged with electricity, it tasted sharp and metallic.
Just as the earthquake reached its crescendo, a flash of green light pulsed around us and I ducked, terrified before I remembered that the aliens used a blue light of some sort. This was something different.
I watched in awe as what appeared to be a rift from the Dragon Age game I used to play opened up in front of me. It looked like the game except it wasn’t fully open, almost like the one in the Fallow Mire. Electricity sparked in the air, causing my hair to stand on end and the children to begin panicking in my arms. The rift suddenly sprang open and an arm reached out.
“Hurry. Grab my hand,” a distorted voice from within shouted. Without giving myself time to think, I readjusted the children and grabbed the hand. A sharp tug pulled me into the rift, and darkness swallowed me up.