Rescue

Archer

Clint

Clint woke up Thursday with a smile on his face. How could he not when he had a beautiful wife asleep next to him and three kids peacefully asleep in their rooms? Carefully, so as not to wake Laura up, Clint got out of bed and made his way downstairs to start on breakfast. He listed the various ingredients in his head as he gathered them: eggs, bacon, strawberries, pancake batter, bread, blueberries, etc.

Thirty minutes into making breakfast, Clint heard his wife wake up and make her way downstairs. He smiled and gave her a kiss good morning.

"Do you need any help?"

"Nah, the food's almost done; can you set the table, though? I'll wake up the kids once I'm finished here."

"Sure."

Laura set to work setting up the table just as Clint finished cutting up the strawberries. "All right, I'll go wake up the Munchkins."

Clint headed upstairs and called out towards Lila's and Cooper's rooms, "Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!"

Lila whined, "But, Daaaad, I told you, I'm a vegetarian, like Uncle Bruce."

"Fine then, wakey wakey, vegetables and sadness," he replied, smiling, while he picked Nathaniel up out of his crib.

Lila came out of her room with a pout on her face while Cooper just laughed at his sister's expression.

"I'll be right down for breakfast, I just need to use the restroom."

"All right, but don't take too long, Coop."

The trio—sans Cooper—made their way downstairs, Lila rushing to hug her mother: "Morning, Mom!"

"Good morning Lila, go wash your hands and sit at the table."

Lila speedily complied and the family sat at the table to wait for Cooper.

"Hey, Dad!" Cooper shouted uneasily from upstairs.

"What is it, Coop?"

"The perimeter sensors went off near the woods."

"It's probably just some deer; come down for breakfast, Junior."

"Fifty of them?" Clint froze at Cooper's words, before he rushed upstairs to the security room.

"Laura, get the kids in the bunker; Cooper what does the camera feed show?"

"It looks like some kind of soldiers, but they don't have any flags on their armor."

"Alright, get to the bunker; don't come out until I contact you on the radio. Go!"

Cooper ran downstairs toward the bunker as Clint grabbed his bow and quiver from their place on the wall and a walkie-talkie from the table. All right, let's see what we've got. Clint watched the soldiers emerge from the woods, and he expected them to start charging the house. But then they did the strangest thing: they started firing what looked like alien guns about twenty feet in front of them into the field. What the—?

Clint ran out of the house and toward the area where the soldiers were, noticing a small storm starting to form in area. What in the world is going on here?! He kept along the edge of the woods until he drew close to the scene. Once he could see the soldiers, he climbed a tree and notched an arrow on his bow, watching the soldiers. Only, there were no more soldiers; instead there was what looked like a young boy—maybe 15, 16—being held up by the neck by what looked like a gray-skinned alien. He didn't hesitate; Clint drew back the arrow and released it into the alien. It died, dropping the boy, who collapsed on the ground and didn't move.