A ball of orange flames shot with soot rose over the house, then the lip of the ravine as it soared into the air.

“So much for the cars,” Lia shouted to be heard. The noise of the alien ship and the destruction joined with the low roar of the fire consuming the wreckage to make hearing conversation a problem.

John saw Parker edging his way east while using shrubs for support on the steep slope. “Where are you going?” he shouted.

“There are cars parked next to the road,” the big man replied. “I’ll see if we can get to the gully from here.”

Nodding assent, John waved the man on and continued to watch the rim of the ravine. Where the hell were the rest of them? Casey had to have them all awake by now.

He shifted, raising his feet from the intensity of the fire, certain the soles of his boots were melting. What a god-awful mess. They would be lucky to get away from the house alive.

A hand touched his arm. John slipped, then regained his purchase on the slope. Looking at Lia, he saw her holding a hand near his arm, waiting for him to stop shifting before she placed her hand on his arm again.

Oddly, he felt embarrassed.

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He could hear her laughing. Now would be the right time for revenge. All it would take was a small push, and he would slide down the ravine to land next to the fire.

Instead, she held on to his arm with a steady grip, a slight tremble of laughter shaking her hand.

A hissing noise grew over the sound of the fire, gaining strength until it seemed a vast jet of air was closing on the house.

John looked up to see the UFO passing over the ravine on its way to the house, parting the smoke as it moved majestically out of sight.

Two thin lines of white vapor raced to the UFO.

Instinctively, John knew what he was seeing, but there was no time to warn Lia. He swung his hand up and grabbed Lia’s wrist while the sky above the Ravine ripped asunder in two explosions so close together they seemed one.

The shock wave hit them immediately, and the two actors slid toward the bottom of the ravine.

John saw Carol flattened against the dirt in a puff of dust, then she was holding onto a thick bush as he shifted his attention to the wall below his slide.

The fire subsided for a second, then flared to greater brilliance as it regained oxygen. The heat blasted at his face as John looked for a way to stop the descent.

A scream shot past John, following a dark form as it plummeted to land atop the melting aluminum skin of the wreaked helicopter.

Jim Lynch screamed from the pain as his clothes burst into flames. He pushed against the metal with his hands to stand and jump to the ravine wall only a few feet away. The last sight before his eyes closed forever was the image of his hands breaking to pieces as the flesh charred away.

Lia was screaming, but John would not let go of her wrist. He watched Jim collapse against the hot wreckage as he neared it with horrifying speed.