I awoke from my bed when I heard it. A low, unusual rumbling in the far distance. Definitely not an earthquake that’s for sure. But it did felt like one, because the whole house shook with it’s every step. I heard it again, and again, and I knew then that it wasn’t normal. It sounded like a pattern of sorts, unlike an earthquake.
My parents came inside my room with worried looks on their faces. But my mom had a gentle smile, a smile saying “it’s going to be alright Anna.”
“Mom?” I said, my voice barely working from the lack of sleep. I stayed up very late last night watching my favorite TV series on my Alienware laptop. I think it was about one-thirty in the morning or something before I passed out on my bed. I checked the time with my blurry eyes and saw that it was at least a quarter-till-three in the morning.
“Wh-what’s happening?” I asked, my voice a bit raspy
“Nothing really important sweetie.” mom said “But you need to get dressed sweetheart and gather Zane as well.”
Zane was the name of my dog. A German Shepherd mixed with a Golden Retriever. I found him when he was but a puppy, about two months old, left alone, starving, scared of anyone who came near. But ever since then, we grew close to each other. He began to trust me after a couple of weeks when I brought him home and fed him properly yet secretly. I had to hide him from my parents for a little while, but since we’ve moved around a lot, I had to show them Zane so, I told them about him.
I got out of my bed and changed into my tomorrow’s clothing. Blue Jeans with big holes at knee level, a rugged t-shirt with cool looking symbols on it, and into my black Levi’s Standard Trucker jacket. The collar of the jacket goes above my neck and almost to my ears and the jacket just has a nice feel to it. I put my socks on, and my black boots and I grabbed my backpack.
I followed my parents downstairs into the basement winery cellar with Zane, and dad went to a barrel and moved it to the side. Behind the barrel was some kind of hand scanner. Like those I’ve seen in spy movies I like. He pressed his right hand on the scanner and a green light flowed from top to bottom. The scanner turned green, and a picture of dad showed up on the screen saying Welcome Lieutenant Winchester. A door opened right next to the hand scanner, and Dad gestured for Zane and I to get in.
I looked at both mom and dad with a confused look on my face.
“Mom?” I said worrying that my voice might crack “Dad? What’s going on?” I asked
“You need to go in here honey, where you’ll be safe.” Mom said sadly
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“Why?” I asked “Safe from what?”
Then I felt the house shook. Dust from the ceiling fell down on the four of us and I heard our front door being blown open and yelling.
“What’s going on?” I asked, nearing my panic zone
“Please, Anna, get inside now.” Dad said seriously with a very serious look as if I did something wrong
I rolled my eyes and I heard lots heavy footsteps right above us. I forced myself to go inside the dark room with Zane right behind me, and just as Zane and I entered, I heard the door slid close. I turned around, panicked, banging at the door yelling for mom and dad.
"You’ll be fine sweetie." I heard mom’s muffled voice from the other side "You have Zane with you. He will protect you."
"MOM! DAD!" I screamed
Zane came up between my legs and carried me back farther into the room. For a dog his age, he’s pretty strong and surprised even me and he’s two years old and I’m fifteen. I shrieked a little when he picked me up. When we went further into the room, fluorescent lights flickered on, and old computers started humming to life.
"The heck?" I said
"Voice authorization accepted" a voice said and I jumped. Outside, I heard fighting, people going oof and bodies dropping. Then I heard mechanical sounding voice through the solid door very loudly
"Hands up, you’re surrounded."
"Welcome Elizabeth Hannah Winchester," a female computer voice said and I flinched to my full name. "To the United Worldwide Forces. You have one message waiting."
On a wall in front of us, a plasma screen turned on with a video paused of dad’s face. He was in a military uniform, with a purple heart on his chest pocket, and a bronze medal next to it. He also had a lot of awards and rank awards. His face though, looked sad, as if he didn’t want me to hear whatever this video said.
Outside, I heard an explosion. This room only shook slightly. I felt a pang in my heart, and my legs gave out. I just heard my home bombed.
"Dad, what’s going on?" I asked the paused video
"Hello Hannah," my dad said on the screen and I looked at him with teary vision "If you’re hearing this, then it means that we’ve been captured, or killed."