13:22 hours
Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho
General Bradley McKnight began to pour himself his favourite alcoholic beverage - a Malt Whiskey. He had heard rumours of an emergency briefing, and emergency briefings boded trouble. A General for five years now, he knew that trouble implied excessive paperwork and involved headaches. He just prayed that it wasn't something involving Russian nukes, or ISIL terrorism or a combination thereof. Still deep in his thoughts he saw Lieutenant Jason Nedley, with his crisp uniform and his standard military haircut, approach him. Saluting, he said, "General McNight, Sir! I have been asked to alert you to an emergency briefing at 22:00 hours. There will be a lot of other base commanders in attendance too.”
General McNight gave his thanks to the man, and with a salute, the two parted ways. In just over nine hours the emergency briefing would start. "Great," General McNight said to himself. With the recent disturbing news, he decided to pour himself another shot of malt whiskey, as he thought, "If this is a get-together with other base commanders then this must be pretty bad. Thank God for this liquid courage." He looked up at the picture of his late wife Deborah, tipped his shot glass and said, "Cheers Deborah. Wish me luck because Heaven knows I'll need it."
22:00 hours
Emergency Briefing
The atmosphere in the room was like a dark cloud hovering over the gathering. Everyone present knew that there’d been something big going on and was getting antsy.
General Peter Davids began, "Thank you all once again for coming. At ten hundred hours yesterday, NASA gave a rather alarming report. There seems to be an extreme amount of extrasolar objects heading towards Earth. The exact number of these objects are within nine million to thirteen million." The news precipitated as much shock and fear on everyone's faces. General McKnight thought that at least one person in the room might have a heart attack. There was a pin drop silence for nearly three minutes, until General Peter Davids turned around to point his stick at the board, covered in pictures sourced from NASA satellites in orbit.
"As you can see," the general began. "These extrasolar objects are of alien origin, meaning that these objects are alien ships," the general continued. He pointed to one of the pictures on the board that contained a massive ship. The ship looked like some sort of an exotic stingray in the grainy photo. General McNight couldn't believe what he was hearing. There was an alien armada heading for Earth. But what could they possibly do? We the humankind has not yet even left the solar system in ships of our own. While, these aliens had potentially travelled millions of light-years to get to Earth.
If they had hostile intentions, it was certain that the battle would wound us more than it would wound them. What this general was saying meant that this was an extinction level event.
The loud voice of General Davids brought General McNight back to the briefing, "I know that this is hard to believe and to accept, but this is real, and we are in extreme danger." The General continued. "Our boys in area 51 are cooking up some tech that we can use against them. The technology came from the crashed alien ship recovered from Roswell in the 40s.”
“We were successful at reverse engineering the alien craft and its amazing technology. However, we have been unable to build a duplicate of this ship because the materials are quite literally not of this world." The general picked up an unusual looking rod with strange symbols on its sides. It had a strange glow to it, like a green light stick that you would frequently see in a late night rave party. "This rod here in my hand, we found on board the Roswell ship. From what we can tell it can connect with the person's mind through the simple touch of its surface. This device is capable of things that you would only seem realistic in a science fiction. It is capable of molecular reconstruction and has a GPS-like system. We have also found that, in addition it has a weapon system that allows it to fire energy projectiles powerful enough to blow a hole through a few aliens." General McKnight looked at the rod and jokingly said, "Speaking of blowing holes through aliens, does it by any chance come with the long green blade? Because that would complete the package!"
The whole room exploded with genuine laughter. The room needed a good chuckle, and General Davids was glad that someone had finally relieved the tension in the room. The General continued, "Unfortunately, this rod doesn’t project a blade, but it is, none the less, extremely powerful." The General held up the rod, and suddenly a shape formed on the table, and a coffee mug started to disappear and dissolve. In seconds there was a P90 submachine gun lying on the table.
There was a stunned silence, as everyone looked at the table where a P90 lay. "Our R&D team has made a large device as we have to reason to believe this device can be used as a powerful missile, especially when its energy projection systems are engaged." General Davids then moved towards the table and picked up a launching device that looked similar to an under barrel grenade launcher. The General continued, "This attachment will attach to practically any assault rifle that is capable of handling an under barrel grenade launcher." Then, pointing towards a nearby table on the far side of the room, General Davids said, "As you can see we have fifteen of these bad boys for each of you. I would suggest if you may have to use these, to use the rod first and if you need to, you could use the launcher at your discretion. There are only fifteen of these for you, so make them count. Do any of you have questions for me?"
General McNight asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "How long do we have?" General Davids said with a deeply worried and sour look, "They will be here within two weeks."
Two weeks until the end of the world as we knew it. Everyone in that room knew that two weeks couldn't possibly be enough time. The end was near.
Moments later all of the generals in the room took their alien weapons from the table at the far side of the room, and departed, each with a look of fear and the grim determination in their eyes. The end was near approaching fast.
August 14th, 2016
Boise, Idaho
Apartment Eight
My eyes opened as the warm sunlight shown through the icy window. I looked to my side, but I saw that my wife Sarah wasn’t beside me. “Well,” I said, “Time to get up and put my clothes on, tidy up the bed, and make breakfast.” I shook my head and thanked God that this was one of my days off. I had such a bad hangover. “I really shouldn't have had that much tequila last night,” I thought to myself.
I got out of bed and walked over to my cluttered desk drawer. I put on a fresh new pair of jeans and my favourite red T-shirt. I heard the phone ringing, walking towards it just as I reached for it I heard Sarah’s voice, “Hey, Sexy-bear! I'm at Stacey's right now, so you know. She has to go back to that military base for some special training today, so I’ll be coming home soon. See you when I get back!" A memory played from the first time she had called me a Sexy-bear.
I had met her at an old bar called Disco Bob’s Tavern, back in the late nineties. She was by far the most attractive woman there, which meant that the other guy were too afraid to walk up and talk to her. But I was never one of 'those' guys. I’ve always been a confident guy. I had no problems with going up to that amazing woman and I casually walked over to her, and introduced myself, "Hi, I'm Tod!" She told me that her name was Sarah. She looked a bit sad, so I asked her what was wrong.
She told me that I was the first guy to come and talk to her. She felt alone, so I asked her if she wanted to follow me over to the dance floor. She smiled brightly. We danced, and we talked. It was so easy to talk to her and the conversation freely flowed between the both of us. I found out that we had a great deal in common. As the information flowed like the light beer on tap, I started to 'get' her, and I got the feeling that she could see and sense that too. I got us some more drinks, and soon we were both a bit intoxicated. Drunk, I asked her if I could give her a nickname and she told me that I could call her Juno. I thought that was kind of cute. In return, she asked if she could call me Sexy-Bear because evidently, she deemed me tall and sexy. At that time I had a lot of hair too. Thus the 'bear' at the end. Those beautiful and wonderful moments culminated in our beautiful marriage a couple of years later. These are my most warm memories that I would always cherish.
The phone ring disrupted my chain of thoughts as it phone rang once more. I looked at the caller ID and found that it was my buddy Miles. I immediately answered my phone and said "Hey Miles! Where are you guys at?" He told me that Danny and Mike are waiting for me at the Tavern at Bown Crossing. I have to tell him that I still have a hangover from last night, but since I got the day off, so I'll hang out with them. Miles laughed and said, "We're timing you, you know!" With a smile, I said, "Alright Miles I'm coming. Talk to you later." Within half an hour I was ready and on my way to the tavern. I tuned into my favourite radio station. As soon as I did that, I heard that NASA has discovered an unusual amount of comets entering the inner solar system and that they will update the information when they get it. The news seemed alarming.
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A few minutes later I arrived at the tavern and lo and behold, my buddies were there, waving me into the parking spot. They were using those aircraft marshalling wands of Danny's. I parked my red Mustang and got out and immediately felt the sting, the winter air had a bite to it. "Are you ready for a day full of booze, chicks, and fire trucks?" that was Danny. He loved the band 'Dope,' just as much as he loved giving those sly references to their songs. "Oh yeah! Those fire trucks will be all over this bar with us here!" I said sarcastically. So there we went, walking once again into the tavern.
Just as we went through the door, I got an intense, uneasy feeling in my gut. Something didn’t seem right. Something was way off. I must've had a look of unease on my face, as Mike said "Buddy, what's wrong? You look like you just stepped on your own grave." I stated with a grim expression, "Yeah, I just got a terrible feeling, like a bad storm is coming. Something feels off."
"Wow, I think you need a stiff drink!" exclaimed Danny, he felt that everything could be solved with a glass of drink. He might be right. "Then let's get this party started!" I said, trying desperately to mask the feeling. We walked nonchalantly over to the bar and ordered our first round of beers. And within a couple of minutes, we finished our first round. Danny, let out a giant, long and throaty belch that got us all laughing. Though just as fast as the laughing started, the bartender turned up the volume on the radio. Bob the bartender rarely ever did that so that immediately got everyone's attention. The tavern went silent as the man on the radio started to talk.
"We have ourselves a news break. Britney Spears has lost her mind again. There was another Big Foot sighting at the mall. And now on a serious note, NASA has apparently detected four million objects of varying sizes approaching the earth’s atmosphere, from car-size to eight kilometres big. Scary stuff! They are monitoring the path of these rocks, and will keep us apprised of the situation." The bar was still silent as everyone was taking the news in. Shock and worry sunk in, as I found a confirmation to my feeling of unease. Danny was staring at me, "You psychic or something? Because this news mixed with your unease is freaking me out!" Mike uneasily turned to me and asked, "Do you still feel that...feeling?" I shared with them that I was still uneasy. The bar atmosphere was getting heavy and so was our conversation, so I tried to joke about things to relieve the tension in the room. "Jesus, Big Foot and a psychic walk into a bar..."
Suddenly everyone froze as a giant explosion reverberated throughout the bar. Being raised by a couple of ex-military sergeants, I was able to identify and distinguish between the various sounds of different types of detonations. From grenades to C-4. TNT to ANFO. But this explosion was different, it felt more raw and powerful. It was far too powerful to be from the Mountain Home Air Force Base. Hell, nobody in Idaho could own such a powerful explosive device. Before everyone could recoup from the previous explosion, another explosion shook the bar. But this time, the explosion was closer to the tavern. "Everybody! Get to your vehicles!" Bob the bartender cried. That was it and hearing this everyone jumped up from their tables running for the door. As soon as I got to my mustang, Danny said to me in a panic that the other two don't have a ride. Seconds later, he hadn’t even finished saying when Danny's Hummer blew up! Shrapnel shot everywhere. Suddenly I felt cold and looked down to see that some shrapnel had hit me.
I was rattled to see blood oozing from my abdomen. Mike, however, was beside the Hummer at the time of the explosion and his broken, charred body lay torn in half. That was the last thing I saw before slipping into unconsciousness.
I opened my eyes and in a haze, I saw Miles and Sarah. It was hard to hear what they were saying. The fog had muffled the sound. I heard a high-pitched sound, and I realized that my ears were ringing. Somehow I was in my mustang. I was lying down on Sarah's lap and there was a lot of fear and worry in her eyes.
Suddenly I felt a burst of energy and started to convulse. I felt this odd sparking feeling where the shrapnel had hit me. "Oh my God, Tod!" Sarah cried, "Hang in there buddy! We're almost at the hospital!" I decided to leave it to Miles and Sarah to get me out of the jam.
As I was slipping in and out of consciousness, I suddenly heard Sarah scream, "Oh my God! No! No no no no no!" I realized that another explosion had destroyed the hospital and bodies lay everywhere. The explosion impacted destruction of man and material. Cars were crushed and ripped apart, like a giant had grabbed them with two hands and proceeded to squeeze, and rip them apart. Mangled and twisted bodies lay in those cars. The scene was devastating.
"What are we going to do?!" Miles shouted horrified. "Boise is gone! Wait! Isn't there a military base forty miles out?" Sarah cried, she was trying to be calm in midst of the shock waves. Like me, Sarah had grown up in a military family.
"Yeah, that would be Mountain Home Air Force Base! We should be able to make it!" Miles shouted excitedly. And then there was yet another explosion. We all heard a deafening shriek. It didn’t sound human, it was more like a dinosaur of some sort. "Go!" Sarah yelled. Just like that, Miles stomped the gas pedal and we ripped across the road, using its V-8, 435 horsepower engine to escape the horrific scene. Suddenly remembering my wound, I looked down and realized that I am no longer bleeding. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! There was a glowing yellow thing where the shrapnel was supposed to be! Sarah also followed my gaze and was alarmed to see the unusual condition. She cried out to Miles, “Miles! Tod's gut is glowing! And he's not bleeding either! What the Hell is going on?"
Miles was both terrified and baffled with the sudden developments. He replied, "Sarah, I have no clue whatsoever what is going on! But hopefully, when we get to the base, they'll know. They are the military after all. And considering what we've seen, they damn well better know! They better. Damn it, Danny! Why did you leave?"
I suddenly realized that Danny was not with us. I sat up, holding my stomach. "What happened to Danny while I was out?" Sarah replied, "When you had collapsed, I was just coming up to the tavern. I couldn't find you at home, so I knew you'd be with Danny, Miles, and Mike. Danny ran up to me and told me to get you and Miles out of there. He ran back inside. I don't know why. He never came back. I'm sure he's alive, but...” she trailed off, worried.
I was perplexed and thought to myself, “Why did he leave? What could have been so important to run back into the tavern?” My thoughts came back to the here and now, with the concerned voice of Miles, “Wow. Sarah, have you ever seen this base so empty of jets? Hell, where are all the air force personnel?" He panicked.
"Tod.” Sarah's voice was shaky and subdued with despair, as she looked on at the empty base. I was as surprised as Sarah and explained, "This Air Force Base shouldn't be barren. Something bad must've happened here."
I told them that we needed to find a radio or something that we can use to find out what's going on. Whatever this is, we are not ready for it. We were rapidly running out of time. Soon it will be time to lock and load. Surely, the military base would still have some P90's or even Glock's, which would do well enough. I sort of flashbacked to when I was little. I had learned how to shoot firearms when I was seven. Practicing every day, I had the highest marksmanship scores in the city by the time I was twenty-three. I could hit a target from two and a half miles with deadly accuracy. Coming back to the present time, I realized that soon, I will have to put these skills to the test, as our very lives hang in the balance.
Slowly driving up, we come up to an aircraft hangar that wasn’t too damaged. The lights inside were out. Then, like a flash, I saw from the corner of my eye, a dark form run across the dark entrance. Even Sarah hasn’t missed it. Alarmed, "What in the frickin' hell was that!" she screamed.
I was determined, though, "I don't know, but I'm going in. We need to look for weapons, ammo and anything we can use to protect us. We are still in the dark and don't know what's happening. But if there's anything that can help us survive, we have to look for it. Even if it's in a dark hangar."
Both Miles and Sarah look at me with shock and amazement. "Tod! That was one hell of a speech!" said Miles. I could sense that he believed in me. "Are you with me?" I asked the two, it was essential they acknowledge the need to stay together and fight it out. Although, they both nodded in affirmation, but I could tell that they were both terrified. I simply couldn’t take my mind off that flashing figure, what was that, the dark form that I saw?
We started to walk through the entrance when I heard a loud, terrified scream. We stopped mid-way in our tracks, and stood still cautiously. I could hear rapid footsteps coming our way. Sarah looked at me with extreme fear in her eyes. She stepped back and clasped my hand, as I told her that it's going to be okay. Looking down I saw that suddenly the strange shrapnel had started to glow even brighter. It was all happening too fast and just in time we saw the dark form of a skinny woman emerge. I recognized those features, it was Stacy! I could comprehend that she was in attack mode and just as I started to yell out, "Stacey it's us!" a blade shot towards me through the darkness, into my abdomen, and hit me right under the glowing shrapnel. As I fell to the ground, I heard Miles yell, "Stacey! What have you done!" turning towards her. I crashed on the floor, as Sarah screamed while using her combat training to deliver a powerful blow to the side of Stacey's head. The entire scene was gruesome, with the machete sticking out of my gut. It was excruciatingly painful and as I lay there, flashes of my life shot through my mind. I was dying.
Suddenly the glowing piece of shrapnel emerged on its own from my abdomen and shot into the sky about twenty feet in the air. Then, it landed beside my leg with a soft thud. Sarah and Miles were stunned and shaken, Miles started to say, "What the..." when he trailed off as I grabbed the shrapnel.
My eyes widened suddenly and violently, as images shot through my mind. It was like I was awakening to a new realization and I could believe it. It was like a movie running in my mind on fast forward. The knowledge was as incredible as it was terrifying. We the earthlings are not alone in the universe and earth is not the only planet with intelligent life on it! But this tactic was not a friendly approach, rather it was an invasion. The alien race had announced itself so violently, that it was clear it had never intended to make friends. Their intentions were mirrored in all the destruction that surrounded us. They clearly meant for us, the human race, to die. Our steps and actions from here on out will define and translate to either the survival or the destruction of our species.
The object in my hand, gradually morphed into something different as Sarah and Miles looked on with surprise. "What is that?" asked Sarah. Now, that I knew about the object, calmly, I said with a smile, "It's going to help us on our journey."
Miles was still in a shock from the recent developments and looking at me with uncertainty, he asked, "What Journey? Where are we going?" I now knew what they didn’t and I just looked at them and smiled. Because what happens next will be the ride of a lifetime. Time to move.