War For The World

CHAPTER FIVE

Alice stood there, her blood ran cold and her knees felt like jelly. She fell to the floor and sat there, listening to the radio report as it repeated what it had similarly reported just moments ago

'To repeat. We have been receiving reports that multiple German vessels have landed across the United States. Casualties of these attacks include the White House and the Pentagon. Some few reports suggest movement from the pods but as of late these claims aren't concrete'

Yosemite Square was alive with activity. A small group of employees including Alice had huddled around one of the consumer grade radio's and were listening with bated breath to what the radio had to say.

The rest of Yosemite Square consisted of soldiers running in and out and scientists attending to their workbenches. Without warning a new Martian craft landed violently across the road from Yosemite Square, creating a shockwave that blasted the revolving door of Yosemite square off its hinges. Shards of glass spewed forth into the lobby, one of the old men hurrying past with science notes losing his eyes to a few rouge pieces. He crumpled to the ground and began to moan. Alice couldn't help but suspect the Martians had in fact missed their intended target.

Alice got up, moving away from the small crowd of people and walking backwards towards the hallways of the building. Glass crunched beneath her feet and the cold morning air was beginning to seep in through the large gaps in the entrance, Alice noticing this through her own foggy breath.

Her walk turned into a panicked jog and before long she was running down the hall scanning each room for a sign of Marcus.
At one point she took too long peering through a door window and crashed into a woman going the opposite direction. A pounding headache erupted within Alice's skull and as she stood up she came face to face with an old woman. Tears ran down her face, ruining her makeup and she clutched her small purse against her breasts as if it were her lifeline.
The two shared a fleeting moment of panic together, staring into each other's eyes both in total panic mode before the entire base shut down and the lights went out.
The hallway descended into darkness and her senses came back to Alice. Her legs were beginning to ache and she could feel a warm trickle down the front of her face which could only be blood. She felt something brush past her and heard the trailing sob of the old lady flee back the way Alice had come, right into the jaws of the Martians.
Alice pushed herself to the left, searching for a landmark. She found the wall quicker than she expected and let out a small groan as her shoulder collided with the brick wall. At the very least though, she was now a bit more orientated somewhat. She pressed on, the light from the entrance sinking away further and further. Alice rounded a corner and was met with pitch black.
The screaming had quietened down, a fact that made Alice's very core shudder. Was this because of a successful evacuation by Yosemite or a successful hunt by the Martians.
She began to call out Marcus's name in the dark for a while, stumbling over boxes and chairs left in a hurry. Up ahead someone had dropped a torch, and the item helped illuminate Alice's path.
The illumination the torch provided painted that of a military base abandoned in a hurry. Glass was smashed, papers were strewn along the floor and in some instances radio's still left on.
It was a maddening site, just yesterday Yosemite Square had been a hive of activity focused solely on winning the war with a type of patriotic confidence often seen as unbreakable.
Alice didn't remember when but somewhere along the line she had become numb. It was as if she were acting purely on instinct now, her strategic mind taking a back seat to those primal thoughts. Find others. Survive.
Rubble began to rain down from the ceiling like confetti as the entirety of Yosemite Square began to shudder and shake. This far down into the building it was unheard of to hear from the outside world, but the soft hum of a loud mechanical roar reverberated and echoed throughout the building. Alice felt her spine tingle as the guttural war cry of the Martians returned, continuing to haunt the hallways of the military research base. She dared not turn around, afraid of the horrors lurking somewhere behind her. Instead she continued to call out Marcus' name in amidst the chaos. Marcus should be here. She knew he had been in working today, and Alice had not seen him leave the building during the attack. She felt the attempt somewhat futile but she knew if she were to stop herself for even a second she would drown in her own emotions as the entirety of today's events caught up to her.
She perked up, her eyes had adjusted somewhat to the darkness and she was able to make out some sort of movement. She called out once more
"Hello?! Marcus!"