Emergence

II

The people in suits took Mr. Roland in their vehicle. They drove for an hour or so, until they were in the middle of nowhere.
"Is this it? What I've been looking for this whole time? Evidence that will prove alien life?"
"Well," the woman said, "that's one way of putting it."
"What do you-" He turned round. "Your eyes!"
The woman's eyes were glowing, but glowing yellow in a way that did not seem possible, could not possibly be real.
Yet it was.
Mr. Roland turned to run. Except he didn't. He could not move. He started talking but nothing came out. He was frozen, somehow.
And then, as if she had all the time in the world, the woman started to change. Her face dematerialized. The other two did the same, but changed differently. They slowly shifted into strange creatures. They were kind of humanoid, but they weren't. They had legs, but no feet. Arms without hands. Their limbs were stumps, with points on the end. And they were about 7 foot tall. They looked like they were wearing some strange unearthly metallic armour. But it wasn't armour. That was them. They had glowing veins running throughout them. But not like normal veins, more like the gold lines on a circuit board, but blue.

The woman, however (not that it looked like a woman), was very different. It did not have the 'armour' flesh thing, instead, it was a slightly smaller being (about 6 foot) of pure energy. That's what it seemed like. Like electricity mixed with a fire. Black energy. How is this possible? This being had no clear features, other than arms and legs, again made of pure energy. It was constantly changing shape, energy flaring off the body and disappearing... the eyes were the worst part. There was no mouth, but there were two horrible, yellow eyes. Amongst the black energy, these eyes glowed and stood out from everything. Mr. Roland could see that they had some sort of power. He felt vulnerable, and then pain shot through him. They were in his head. That's what they were doing. The eyes were looking into him, purging his mind, reading his thoughts. Finding out what he knew.

It was impossible, what was happening here. Impossible.
All Mr. Roland could do was take it all in. He was glad he finally knew he wasn't insane. He was right. They were wrong. They mocked him. Abused him. Laughed at him. Now who's laughing?
No one.
Not now.
This is the superior race. They defy reality. We cannot beat Them.
Life as we know it is over.
Mr. John Roland came to terms with this in the last moments of his life. He accepted his fate as he lifted into the air. Thoughts. They manipulate and communicate through thoughts. And then, a flicker of hope. He saw Andrew's truck in the distance, out of view of the aliens. A flicker of hope. He just needs to get out of there now, he's seen it, get out of there and tell the world.

All right, I'm ready.
The two metal menaces lifted their arms. The stumps started to glow, and beams of light shot out, and right into Mr. Roland. He started to glow. His flesh started to burn. He combusted.
This was it. He let out a scream of nothing. It was deafening for Andrew, yet it could not be heard. It was a fascinating light display.
Mr. Roland died there and then. His heart could not take it, he died. But he didn't. They wanted to hurt him so they kept his brain alive, kept him awake, despite his heart not beating. The strange light shot out of him from everywhere. Then, in one final blast, he disintegrated. Gone. Nothing left but a pile of charred bones.

Andrew did not know what to do.
He just watched his father die, in a horrible way. And at the hands of aliens. Nobody would believe him, and he had no idea what to do.
Well, it was clear that he needed to get out of there. And quickly; he did not know the extensive range of abilities that these creatures had.
So of course, he did not know that it was too late.
Mr. Roland worked out that They communicate through thoughts, and that They read his mind finding out what he knew. However, he did not connect the dots when he saw his son. And thought about him. Sad really, how his last thoughts, last moments, were built on false hope.
The truck wouldn't move. Not now, come on you piece of junk.
Then it started moving. But it wasn't his doing. There was a big rock in front of the truck and the truck was heading for it. The doors were locked, he couldn't get out. He kept trying, but the truck wouldn't listen to him. Please don't let it end this way.
The truck slammed into the rock, the windshield smashed and Andrew whacked his head. No airbags. Very old truck. But it was strong, Andrew was more or less okay. It moved back. And then lunged at the rock again. The truck's front was crushed. Andrew now had a deep gash on his head. Please. Stop.
The car stopped. Thank you.
Then the rock started to move. Andrew was in awe at the sheer power of Them. Oh heck. The rock loomed over him.

It came down with a horrible crunch as the truck was crushed. It wasn't a massive rock. The roof caved in, the truck was destroyed, and the fuel tank was quickly emptying, but Andrew was still alive. He let out a helpless wheeze. His head was covered in blood, his arm was crushed and his legs pinned. Ribs were broken and threatening to puncture internal organs. They came around him, looking down. He tried to breathe, to muster up some strength to speak. He was a firefighter, he had rescued people from worse. Now it was his turn.
But this time, there were aliens.
"Go on then," he managed to squeeze out, "you won't win. See, us humans, you know... we're a stubborn bunch; and darn well determined." He spat blood. And then smiled at himself, acting smug and cool like that. Then he gripped back on to reality.
And smelled something burning.
The car was encased in fire. It was getting really hot. It was licking through the shattered windows. This was it. The last witness.
Andrew finally broke, and died screaming. Baked alive. Ended up suffocating due to lack of oxygen. The fire burnt itself out eventually and the rock was moved back to position, as if to look like the car had crashed and ignited. Then They left, through some sort of portal.

This town of Arizona was the catalyst for the events that would transpire here. It's only significance; though nobody will know exactly what happened on this day, as there were no surviving witnesses.