World On Fire

April Fool's!

Detroit, Michigan

Things were very wrong. With the new arrivals of the Druidth reinforcements things had changed for the worst. Taking St. Louis was no picnic but this was a massacre. Over half of the 33rd lay dead on the streets, scattered between buildings and burning war machines. Duane and his entire squad were already killed, taken out by a massive blast from an orbital strike carried out by the new ships. If reports were to be believed the Threshold, humanity's first actual starship, lay in a crater somewhere in Africa.

This war was now believed by all to be unwinnable.

James was ready to leave, to just quit and desert this lost army and hope to be spared the coming execution that all who were captured by the Druidth faced. But Nick was still there, and he was not about to leave the only family he had left behind.

Nick popped up and fired two shots at a pair of Druidth that were slowly encroaching on the burned out bank in which they hid. "Fuck," He breathed when he was back behind cover. "One kill, one miss."

Swearing on his own, James popped up in his own window on the second floor of the Michigan Savings Bank, and lined up the sights of his M-1. Just as Nick had reported, a Druidth Medic was dragging away a limp and lifeless body, a trail of dark blood staining the concrete. He shot the Medic in the back, who fell across the first dead, and scanned for more targets. He did not see anymore and ducked back down.

"It's gonna' get dark soon," He said. "We need to make a break for it."

"Right," James agreed. "Logan, any luck with that radio?"

Behind them in the vault, on a bed of scattered currency, Logan and Ryan frantically worked on their radio. Stray shrapnel had struck it and pierced the thin skin so they used wiring from the phones to make makeshift repairs. It was a little unnerving to be in the vault as in the corner one of Nick's squad members lay dead with a jacket thrown over her.

"Let's find out," Ryan breathed. He reached down and flicked on the switch, praying it would not short out this time. When the display lit up and no sparks flew out he shouted with joy. An officers voice came through the speakers with bursts of static. "We got radio! Short transmit range though!"

The Druidth had returned enforce and were plastering the side of the bank with enough plasma to cause large drops of molten brink to drip down. James and Nick fired back as carefully as they dared without getting hit, trying to conserve as much ammunition as possible. It was running dangerously low.

"Find me a fucking rendezvous point!" Logan worked on the radio for a few minutes before he waved James over. Taking the tapped together handset James listened. "Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is J Squad and K Squad, what's left of us. We are cut off. Need immediate assistance!"

"Sergeant, Captain Hardedge here. I'm afraid to say there's nothing we can do for you, son." Gunfire and screams could be heard across the line. "Our lines are stretched too thin as is."

"Sir, interrogative. What's happening?"

"What remains of the Thirty-Third and the Third Armored are going to stay behind and hold the Druidth back for as long as possible. Hopefully long enough for Cobalt to come into effect." Hardedge reported with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"What's Cobalt?"

"Fuck it, they're already in flight and I don't have it in me to lie to my troopers. Son, as we speak there are six high yield ICBM's coming to Alien Alley. The goal is to create a barrier of devastation to prevent the Druidth, what's left of them, to cross into Free America."

James looked around the bank vault at his friends. They were dirty, covered in grime, dust, and blood. And they had heard everything. Sadness crossed some of their faces. And some simply showed resolve. He knew what was on his.

"How long do we have?"

"Less than three minutes."

"Understood. J Squad Out." James tossed the handset aside and leaned back against the cold metal. He took off his helmet and tossed it aside as well before reaching into his breast pocket and pulled out half a chocolate bar. He broke off a piece before handing the rest to the others.

A peaceful silence settled over them.

"Well, this is—"

...

...

...

Outside it was snowing when sixteen-year-old Bruce Oaken opened his eyes. The alarm had been going off for just a few seconds but he knew he had to get up and get dressed for school. He slapped the snooze button and switched it to the radio to listen to see if his school, PS 118, was closed due to heavy snowfall.

It was the first heavy snow of 1988 and he was praying for the day off.

Bruce rubbed his eyes and tried to remember his dream.

...something about aliens and.... He shrugged, the fog of sleep had already clouded too much. Still... it was a very weird dream.

The End

So to everyone who read this chapter... April Fools!
Many of you had already figured it out but it was still very funny and caused me to cackle maniacally all night. The REAL Chapter Five will be posted sometime this week.

Thanks for all of your steady support! -Sean