I was flying over the Sandia Mountains on my way home from work when the warning sirens came over my augs, accompanied by scrolling text.

“This is a Public Service Announcement from the State of New New Mexico addressed to Garrett Vidaurri. An incursion has begun. Please proceed to the nearest shelter while the local Samurai deal with the Antithesis. Thank you, and stay safe.”

I stared blankly at the text for a few moments, then I was broken from my reverie when a flock of birds flew up from the trees below me. Barely swerving in time to avoid them, I was still reeling in disbelief. Wasn’t there just an incursion in New Montreal like a week or two ago? I had never heard of two incursions happening so close together. And wasn’t an incursion usually presaged by aliens falling from the sky?

I looked around, trying to find the huge, ship-like aliens, but I could only see that flock of birds I had avoided. Except, weren’t birds that gathered in groups that large extinct? At least, nobody had seen any in years. And they were following me. Then, as I noticed they were chasing me, I slapped myself for my stupidity. These weren’t birds, they were aliens.

I hit the gas, hoping to outrun them, but then another group emerged from the mountains ahead of me, spreading out so I couldn’t go around them. I braced myself for impact, then aliens were pounding against all sides of the car. One of the windows shattered, then as I emerged from the cloud of alien birds, I guess my used junker of a car had finally had enough. It started jerkily descending, the engine sputtering.

Panicked, I tried searching for a place I could land, and was barely able to make out a small clearing that I thought I could make it to. I steered in that direction, and luckily the car still had enough working components to do that much. As I got closer, I could see the makings of a campsite, a large van parked at one side, two tents set up, and a projected campfire in the center. But what drew my attention the most were the four men fighting off a seemingly endless sea of aliens with sticks and a couple guns.

Then the engine quit for good, and my car fell the last hundred or so feet to the ground, squashing some aliens as it impacted the ground.

I must have lost consciousness for a second because the next thing I remember was Antithesis banging on my doors and windows, trying to break in. Still dazed, it took me a moment to remember I had a handgun in the glove box, and as soon as I did, I lunged for it. Pulling it out, I clicked off the safety just as the first alien came through the shattered back window. I turned and fired twice into its doglike head, leaving it hanging limp halfway through the window.

Then another window shattered and I knew I had to get out or I would be like a fish in a barrel for the Antithesis. I tried to open my door, and when it didn’t budge, I shoved my weight against it. After a few more hits, it finally opened, spilling me out onto the ground.

Luckily, I had managed to keep hold of my pistol, as another alien came around the car to get at me. I again fired two shots into its head, and it crumpled. That left me with eight rounds, and a whole lot more aliens to kill if I was to survive. I got up and looked around, finding that the aliens were mostly still focused on the four men barely fighting them off, though there were a few more that were sniffing my way, and as I stood, five pairs of eyes locked onto me. They seemed to all be model threes, the fast, doglike models that hunted in packs, with two eyes placed one above the other in their heads.

They charged my way, eerily quiet. I was able to take down two of them with my gun, and then they were upon me, climbing over my car to get at me. Two more shots and another went down, but the remaining two aliens lunged, and I dove to the side. I felt my shirt tear as it was seized by the alien, but my flesh was uninjured. I scrambled away, the entire back of my shirt tearing off as I put the open car door in between me and the two remaining Antithesis.

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One tried to go through the cracked window, but only succeeded in getting itself stuck, the door creaking under its weight. The other went around the door, and my last two bullets put it down. I turned to the alien stuck in the door, I turned at the sound of rending metal, and found the car door’s hinges were no longer able to take the alien’s weight, and it fell to the ground, pinning the alien beneath it. I approached, and pistol whipped its face until it stopped moving.

Breathing hard, I found myself alone for the moment, my mind racing. I was surprised that I wasn't completely panicked, but I had always been able to keep a level head in an emergency. Something to do with having ADHD I had been told.

My gun was empty, and I needed a new weapon. Luckily, I had prepared somewhat for situations like these. I ducked into the front seat of the car and found the lever to pop the trunk, which thankfully worked. I quickly walked around and rummaged through the random detritus in the trunk until I found what I was looking for: a solid steel baseball bat with razor blades placed strategically along the business end. I lifted it, feeling its comfortable weight as I gave it a few warm up swings.

I had been made fun of for toting my bat around everywhere I went in case of incursion, with everyone saying I would always have enough warning to get to shelter, and the only ones who would end up fighting the aliens were the Samurai and the military. I was glad I had never listened to them, as now I had a weapon to fight back with. I stepped around the car to start killing aliens just in time to see one of the four men across the clearing stumble and fall under the attack of the Antithesis.

Acting without thinking, I charged forward, bashing aside antithesis as I tried to get across the clearing. In a flash I was next to the other men, pulling aliens off of the one that had fallen, finding him only a few years younger than me, maybe in his mid teens.

Then I was fighting for my life again, surrounded by Antithesis. I spun around, swinging my bat wildly, barely keeping the aliens at bay. Then I watched as an alien climbed on top of the vehicle the other men were backed against, preparing to pounce down on them from above. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it there in time to stop it, so I raised my bat overhead with both hands, and hurled it at the model three. It seemed to fly in slow motion, spinning end over end to impact the alien with a satisfying thwack!

Then a searing pain tore through my side as I was set upon by the Antithesis I had barely been holding back. I stumbled and fell, and pain became my world as the model threes bit and clawed at me. I punched and kicked and flailed as much as I could, but was still being buried under the Antithesis, blood slicking my skin. Then I heard a voice in my head, and I almost thought I was going crazy, not quite believing what it said.

System Initialized!

Congratulations. Through your actions you have proven yourself worthy of becoming one of the Vanguard, a defender of humanity. I am Cyara. I will assist you to uplift humanity so that you may defend your homeworld from the Antithesis threat! Rise, Garrett Vidaurri, and become a protector of the weak!

I suggest you roll to your right if you want to live. It would be such a shame for my newly assigned vanguard to die so soon.

I did what the voice suggested and rolled to my right, finding a gap in the aliens big enough to get to my knees. I ducked the lunge of another model three, then was able to stumble to my feet.

On your left!

I stood dumbly for a second, not quite comprehending the voice’s warning, which gave the model three charging at me from the side enough time to close the distance and leap at me, taking me back to the ground. I was just able to get my left arm in between its mouth and my neck, its teeth closing around my wrist. I punched it in the head over and over with my right fist, but didn’t seem to be dealing any noticeable damage when I felt a strong impact lift the model three from off of my body, tearing away a good chunk of my left forearm with it.

I screamed at the pain, barely able to stay conscious. Then I felt thick arms pick me up, and the movement sent another wave of pain and nausea through me and I lost the battle to stay awake, my world plunging into darkness.