Nine years earlier
Landing -1 hour
Joanne had expected something dramatic on this day. They were talking about ending a mans life after all. Her husband may not have been spectacular but he had been a good man who tried his best. Still that was the problem though wasn’t it? He had done the right thing got insurance, got a good job and then that bloody thug had beaten him near to death. Bloody typical. He couldn’t get the top job, he couldn’t get the best car the nicest house. He didn’t make enough for her to stop working. He couldn’t get any bloody thing right. Now the feckless bastard couldn’t even die properly. So here she was watching a group of people in silly robes who had taken wigs off arguing about the colour of paper in bundles. The issue appeared to revolve around that they should all be identical but someone had taken a ruler and measured finding the cream paper bundle was 1.5 cm bigger. The hospital barrister was arguing it was because they used better paper demanding a set of scales to weigh a sheet of each type of paper. The guilt at the thought about him not dying faded quickly, it was just a grim reality. She needed that insurance and they would not pay out death duties without, well, a death. So here they were the grieving not quite widow and the not quite orphan asking someone else to finally kill her husband and Annies father. There were other things going on in the world, that dreadful incident in Canada and reports being vigorously denied about someplace in China called Huangshan suffering something similar but really how could she care. This slow motion death was worse than she could imagine. With a cry of triumph drawing her attention she looked over at the tables once more seeing the hospital barrister wave her hand at a set of scales. Joanne started banging her head on the table and stopped when a hand came to rest on her shoulder. Annie was looking at her scared. She had to keep it together for her daughter. One of the ushers approached and she was chivvied out whilst her barrister this time argued about the appropriateness of a relief Lis Pendens hearing. This was important but she just could not stay here.
Landing
The ushers name was Gillian and she stayed with them claiming that as a court family liaison officer having a coffee with her was actually work. They had stayed off the subject of the case and the conversation was starting to wind down when the fire alarm went off. Joanne beckoned Annie who got her coat and they started to look for fire exits. Gillian was staring at a text on her phone, “follow me. Its some sort of air raid, we have bunkers from the second world war that were supposed to use just follow me” Following after her Joanne struggled to keep Annie calm despite feeling that some of her concerns were very well placed. I mean probably not the one about cursed tombs and lung rot but certainly air raid sirens? Eventually they reach some archaic doors where a man in a janitors uniform chivvied them inside. There are a lot of scared looking people around so discretion being the better part of valour the three of them just find a quiet place to sit down. They found a little cubbyhole to stay in and congratulated themselves on having a view of the door.
Landing +2 Hours
Shortly after the alarm horrible crashing noises started and the ground shook in time with each crash. Whoever had built these bunkers had done a brilliant job, while the ground shook so hard portly men wobbled like a blancmange the walls held, the doors stayed firm. All in all it gave a reassuring air of solidity. Though some overly pedantic people argued that it was making assumptions to call it a barrage the barrage lasted about twenty minutes. Even before the bombardment had commenced it had become obvious that there was no sort of Wi-Fi signal so it took not very long at all for people to get bored and irritated. At first fear had kept people in line together with ingrained deference to the ushers but eventually someone started to agitate for the doors to be opened. They wanted to leave and were ok with taking their chances outside before the all clear. It was soon taken up by a sizeable group, somewhere over 20 people Joanne guessed and listening to the urgency she wondered if any of them were claustrophobic. From their little cubby by the door the three women watched the mood turn ugly. Soon there was shoving and heated faces, the ramping up of aggression which leads to worse. Finally the usher stepped aside letting them to the door. It was opened and consternation spread. There was some sort of glowing barrier blocking the way out. It was translucent glowing orange harmless to touch but unmoved by the efforts of anyone who tried to shift or break it.
Landing +11 Hours
It had been a major problem with two people going absolutely berserk and needing to be restrained when the barrier was found. There was another exit but it was found to be similarly blocked. Eventually order had been restored, toilet visitations regulated and bottled water handed out. Joanne had idly wondered if the fact that the water had been handed out only after the toilets had been sorted was genius level planning or just dumb luck but no answer was forthcoming. Eventually people settled down and though there was some grumbles about rations the complete absence of any food made them stop. It was eight or nine hours later the noises outside started to become regular. Gillian was the first to notice the door barrier change colour to a yellow hue and her cry brought a rush of people who seemed to think that salvation was at hand. It stayed like that for a few minutes and then a bulge or maybe a bubble started to form on the inside pushing people out of the way. One particularly stubborn man got his leg trapped and started to scream but nobody seemed to be able to do much while the bulge was still growing. It disappeared and inside was the most bizarre thing that Joanne could ever recall, looking something like a lopsided starfish a creature was revealed. It was just over 5ft tall making it short in comparison to those surrounding but due its body shape it was she guessed probably much heavier than a person of the same height. With seven limbs it moved on three legs and had four arms arranged radially on the body. It had no obvious head but several bulges on its surface when they opened contained eyes and what looked like nostrils. His garb made Joanne think about denim dungarees with several dull metal pieces about three inches across attached to it. Ignoring everybody it headed into the bunker, when a small thin man with a Scottish accent tried to grab it he slid off his hand unable to get within an inch of its surface. Over the next ten minutes the futility of attacking it was demonstrated on multiple occasions to many people as it blithely ignored everyone and went into every room. After that it left through the barrier with no difficulties at all and no explanation offered.
Landing +22 Hours
Over the next few hours judging by clothing and arrangement of discs five more similar creatures arrived. Nobody was relaxed about it but the total indifference of them combined with the futility of trying to interact had made people simply get out of the way and carry on with what they were doing. Mostly what people were doing was looking for food. Joanne’s handbag had been emptied twice by suspicious groups who either hoped or believed she had food in it and the ugly expressions had made her acquiesce without protest. Having started to name the alien starfish by clothes this was red denim and grey cloth and they were carrying a box between them. Opening the box they approached a young man who had been a defendant in some sort of contract dispute and red denim grabbed him by the leg. Lifting his leg Grey cloth reached into the box holding out another of the discs. Red denim Calmly cut a deep wound between two and three inches long into a buttock which Grey cloth jammed the disc into. The man was immediately released and they moved onto the next person. Joanne screamed, she wasn’t the only one and it didn’t help.
Landing +30 Hours
As far as anyone could tell they had inserted one of these devices into everyone. It took a while but they seemed to have a accurate idea about how many people were here. Joannes had been inserted into her throat, somehow the cut though agonising had managed to avoid anything life threatening. The real problem occurred about half an hour after the task was over as suddenly everyone sprouted from the cut some sort of flat metal surface covered with a display of incomprehensible symbols. It wasn’t clear who first suggested it but it soon became the accepted wisdom. They had been tagged.
Landing +31 Hours
Red denim and dungarees both arrived via bulge carrying another box which they set down in the area near the exit. Annie stopped complaining about her tagged right arm being sore; if it was genuinely sore she was the only one who had that problem. Joanne just assumed she was a scared hungry teenage girl who clearly could not blame her mum about the aliens but she could moan about being in pain and why didn’t mum have some tablets. It was childish and irritating but if it made Annie feel better then it was a mothers burden to endure it. Besides she was far too wrung out to care enough to respond. While tuning out the complaints she looked at the two aliens nearby and idly wondered what was in this box. Perhaps it was food? If they were going to be pets you had to feed and groom your pets after all and at this point quite a few people were making fundamental reassessments about what they would do for a bite to eat. The box telescoped up into some sort of table with draws underneath. The two aliens stood around doing nothing until a new alien bulged in. Waving some sort of wand in his hand at the bunker the yellow smocked alien looked to dungarees who grabbed the nearest person and hauled them to the table. Once there the wand was waved over him Yellow smock gave a signal and he was hauled onto the table. Yellow smock somehow produced an enormous blade, way too big to have been hidden and sliced the man in half at the torso. Gillian retched, Annie went quiet and started to move behind her mother who was just starting to realise. Maybe not pets.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Landing +37 Hours
23 times. That was how many times the scene was repeated before people started to organise. Yellow smock stayed with the table whilst Dungaree or red denim collected somebody. They would then have the wand waved over them and then be brutally dismembered. Sometimes they appeared to be sedated and sometimes not. At least the screams stopped quickly. That was a small mercy. A plan was formed. Despite not being able to actually touch or harm them it was theorised we could still hurt them. The collector would be lured to the latrines. Once there he would be rushed and pushed into a room and locked up. There he would be held prisoner until all were released. The latrines would be emptied on him as a negotiating tactic. The plan was stupid dumb and desperate but it met with universal approval. Everybody; absolutely everybody wanted to do something. Show them we mattered.
The first part of the plan involved everyone drawing back to one point and leaving a goat out to be chased. Joanne got the job. She was one of the few who had not got a leg or arm damaged plus the disc in her throat meant she could not complain loudly anyway. The pre planned escape route worked quite well and red denim followed her as expected. The defendants in multiple cases may have been claiming to be strangers to violence but no jury who watched the fury of the charge would have had any trouble convicting. Even if it was a speeding ticket. Hard as it was to read these things red denim seemed surprised and whilst unharmed was pushed into the room which was immediately locked. Due to speed and disorganisation the two people leading the charge got locked in as well but that was ignored in the round of mutual back slapping whilst others piled items in front of the door. Suddenly the celebration stopped. Ghost like Red denim slid through the wall holding one of the two people who had been trapped with him. Once out he stopped and rotated looking at them all. After a few seconds he tapped one of his discs. Joanne saw everyone fall at the same time as her, her limbs like rubber. Red denim left them like that for a few seconds then performing a sliding motion on the same disc Joanne caught fire. Her skin crisped and her flesh was destroyed, the horrible terrible burning hot air ripped at her lungs causing unimaginable agony as her vision faded. Then she was fine, uninjured. Red Denim grabbed the guy he had been carrying and trotted off. The discs seemed to be more than just labels.
Landing +41 Hours
Several people agitated for more action .Its not like the argument about having nothing to lose was not obviously right, just until there was a better plan there seemed nothing to gain either. One of the ushers had decided to try and make a mark on the universe. He had taken everybody’s name and a picture of the tag which he promised to hide. Three others had started to write a log that they were going to hide with his list. Annie had gone listless while Gillian had loudly found god. Joanne had been thinking about Morgan, she no longer had the heart to blame him for her being here. The poor bumbling fool had always tried. He probably would have been enthusiastic about the latrine plan as well. Dungarees came out and grabbed Graham, a mechanic who had been trying to evade jury duty due to solvency fears for his garage. By this point not even he fought and he was led away and everyone waited for the screaming. It never came. After a moment the break in the monotony attracted Joanne, Gillian and a few others to look in the slaughter room. The barrier was open and some grim faced men in army fatigues were pointing weapons inwards.
The soldiers were ignored instead Graham was picked up by both Dungarees and pink Sash (red denim seemed to have gone off shift) and bodily hurled through the open portal. It immediately closed behind him. Pink Sash grabbed Lesley ignoring her moans and scanned her. She was passed to smock and yet again the screams were mercifully brief.
Landing +46 Hours
The excitement of someone leaving and seeing soldiers outside had buoyed spirits for a while but the slaughter continued. Every 20 to 30 minutes someone would be grabbed scanned and slaughtered. Fight? Paralysis and fire. Hide? Sure some had done that but if the inserted discs could cause pain surely they could track as well. Suicide? It seemed the only actual option, control when and how you go. Someone, a now dismembered someone had made DIY knives out of broom handles and tin lids. The level of craftsmanship was for the circumstances impressive and the edge scarily sharp for improvised materials. Joanne had taken one. Even now she was not sure if it was for her or yellow smock but she had it.
Landing +59 Hours
Lethargy depression and starvation affected everyone still alive. Joanne was listlessly staring round. The latest person was grabbed right next to her and she just didn’t react. She watched the woman go floppy and just allow herself to be dragged in. Too tired, too drained she did not look away as the wand was waved by green smock – yellow smock had left eventually – but then the wand beeped. Odd. It was waved over her again. It beeped again. Green Smock and Black Wrap picked her up fiddling with a disc. The barrier opened, still soldiers behind it, presumably different ones and the woman was just thrown through hitting a crash mat presumably placed there by the army. The Barrier closed once more. Joanne tried to be excited that someone else had got out. She tried to think of ways to trick Green smock into opening the barrier. Instead she just kept thinking of the woman’s calf holding the inserted disc. Something about it bothered her.
Landing +63 Hours
Joanne sat and watched the hospital barrister being dragged into green smock. It was too much. Nobody responded or cared. Gillian was asleep. Annie had about an hour ago just stopped responding. She sat mumbling something about twitch feeds and ignored everything around her. The disc in her right arm sparkled orange unlike the black of the two had been thrown out. Wait what? Joanne struggled to think, was she right? Had she seen other black chips? Pulling out a vanity mirror hers was orange, Annies was green and Gillians. Gillians was black. It was BLACK. Calmly she had a quick look round. Gillians was the only one she could see with that colour. Think. She had to think.
Landing +64 Hours
Joanne found movement difficult. Finding a brick had been easy. Getting it had been a herculean effort but when she got back things were as she had left them. Gillian was asleep. Annie was rocking quietly.
Joanne fell to her knees next to Gillian whose breathing seemed shallow. The brick to the skull stopped it altogether. Taking the knife she sliced quickly at the corpse. It had to be a corpse – fresh corpses still twitched didn’t they? The disc was easy to find due to the surface extrusion and was quickly removed. In this slaughter a little more blood barely mattered and would not be noticed. Annie rocked and ignored her mother grabbing her arm. She did not ignore being stabbed in the arm. The fight was frankly pathetic, neither had the strength to actually fight and Joanne soon had cut a great gobbet of flesh out of Annies arm. Importantly it contained the disc and now it was time to gamble. Gillians disc was jammed into the open wound and with a will she had not known she possessed Annie was dragged by her to the table. Only able to grunt due to the disc in her throat she could not explain why she was doing this, why she was making her watch another slaughter. Instead she pushed her at Red Denim who paused before grabbing her. Instead of passing her to green smock he walked over and looked at Joanne. It might have been years but was probably seconds until it turned and pushed Annie at Green smock. The wand beeped. It was waved again and beeped again. Annie found the strength to struggle as she was thrown through the open barrier. The last thing she saw of her mother was her covered in blood, knife in hand, smiling crazily while behind green smock scanned her.
Landing +70 Hours.
Only one other person was thrown out a few hours later. The aliens worked at their own pace unmolested despite the efforts of those outside the barrier encompassing most of the building. Eventually they left. Of Course journalists claiming that though it had taken time they had been driven off by the actions of our brave blah blah blah. Garbage, utter garbage. They had done whatever they came to do. They had done it at their own pace and in their own time. And then they left. The slaughter would take months to catalogue never mind clean. The old bailey that great bastion through the centuries was rubble. And a young girl in an ambulance was refusing to answer questions. The medics had told her she might lose the arm. The soldiers had asked for descriptions of weapons and numbers. The journalists had asked if some gormless celebrity called PL had finished his divorce before dying or had there been reconciliation. She sat there through it all silent.