After They Came

Chapter 1: The Day They Came

It had been three days since they came. Three days since they slaughtered my family and burned most of my town to the ground. I had been out somewhat deep in the woods behind my family's house for my morning run. I was a couple miles in, my hair was sweaty and sticking to my forehead when suddenly it became dark. I halted in my tracks and looked around trying to figure out what was going on. As quickly as the darkness came it went away. I had a bad feeling in my gut, so I turned in the opposite direction and headed back towards my home. That's when the explosions started. I wasn't close enough to see anything through the dense forest, but I could hear loud booms, crashing, and the general sound of destruction. My heart rate picked up and I tore off down the path. Branches sliced through the skin on my arms as a carelessly sprinted back to the house. Once the trees started thinning out, I could see the smoke and fire. I could see the massive shadows of large black ships hovering over the town. Before I could break out of the woods the ships let off a massive pulsing sound. I fell to my knees screaming as the sound burst through my head. I could feel blood slipping out of my ears as lost consciousness on the forest floor.

I had woken up there in the same spot as before. The blood had dried up around my ears. Who knows how long I had been knocked out but everything felt groggy as I struggled to remember what had happened. The burning smell captured my attention and I dragged myself up to get back to the house. Finally reaching the edge of the woods I was shocked at the sight in front of me. I could see our neighbors house about 400 yards away still burning as chunks fell to the ground. I looked towards the house I grew up in with fear in my eyes. It was no longer on fire, but smoke wafted around the holes that had been blown right through the living room. I pulled my shirt over my nose and mouth and bounded through the back door. "Mom! Dad! Will! Where are you guys" I shouted while trying not to choke on the remaining smoke. There was no response, just an eerie quietness. I turned the corner into the kitchen where I saw them. They were still in their chairs like they had just sat down for a typical breakfast. When I got closer, I could see they were all slumped back, not holding themselves up with a gaping hole in each of their chests. Their skin was pale, and their eyes were glossy. I sank to the floor tears bursting from my eyes and emptied my stomach all over the floor.

I don't know how long I sat there staring at their lifeless bodies. I ran out of tears a while ago and was just left feeling numb. Suddenly I heard noises from the front of the house. Scrambling, I crawled to the front window to peek out through the blinds. My hand slammed across my mouth when I saw them out in the streets. There were six of them stalking down the street. They had to be at least seven feet tall coved mostly in strange body armor. I could see some skin through the places the armor didn't cover, and it was an unearthly translucent white. Giant plates stuck through the armor on their backs looking similar to what could be seen on a dinosaur. The scariest part was the massive weapons each of them carried with ease, ready to shoot their prey at the ready. I watched in fear as they passed the house and continued on to the next street.

Once they were out of sight, I panicked knowing I needed to find somewhere to hide. My survival instincts began to kick in as I headed up the stairs I was filled with a little bit of relief when discovering my room had not been completely destroyed by the blasts. I dragged my hiking backpack out of my closest. It was usually reserved for overnight backpacking trips through the Appalachian trail, but it would have to do. My sleeping bag remained on the bottom of the bag and I shoved whatever clothes I could find on top of it. In an outer pocket I checked to make sure my first aid kit and safety knife were still in there. Satisfied with what I found I headed to the kitchen to get food and water. Being extra careful to not look towards the dinner table where I knew they still sat I headed towards the cabinets. I ruffled through taking out nonperishables. It was smartest to take the lightest products that wouldn't go bad. To fill the last remaining space in my pack I grabbed three water bottles from a shelf and filled them at the sink. Taking one last look at my family I sucked back the tears and headed out the back door.
I grasped my knife in my hand as I trekked back to the cover of the forest. Staying out of sight behind the tree line I continued to walk to a neighbor's house a couple doors down that I knew had a shed back here somewhere. I didn't bother checking on any of the neighbors because I knew these invaders didn't leave any survivors. The shed was small about twelve by twelve feet. It clearly hadn't been cleaned in years as it was riddled with spiders and other insects. My fear of these bugs suddenly became stupid after seeing those creatures walking the streets after murdering a whole town. I set up my sleeping bag and tried to force myself to sleep but ended up crying for hours.

I stayed in this shed for two more days before deciding that I couldn't stay in here forever. I would soon run out of food and water or they would catch me hiding and I would be a sitting duck. While hiding in the shed I watched what the creatures did over the past two days. Since the original attack they only seemed to come out at night doing what looked like some sort of patrol. Most of the ships had moved on only a couple remained in sight so I figured there couldn't be a full army of them left here.  I figured the cities would be crawling with the most aliens so going west towards the farmland was the best plan. I had some friends living out there, so I was hoping that maybe they didn't hit the sparsely populated countryside. However, I knew it wasn't smart to get my hopes up. During the short time in the shed I was able to find a couple useful things. A flashlight and pair of gloved were able to be shoved into my pack and I slung an old rifle over my shoulder. I had only shot a gun once in my life, but I thought I should take my chances with the gun instead of a knife against the massive aliens.

I woke up first thing in the morning ready to head out when the creatures wouldn't be out on the prowl.  I snuck out the door heading to the edge of town. The morning dew on the grass began to stick to my hiking boots. I passed house after house carefully watching my surroundings. As I got closer to the town line the houses began to lessen and turn into stores and businesses. My target was the highway where I could follow it directly west and walk under the cover of the trees along the side of the road. As I was passing the police station, I heard a scuffing noise coming from inside. I was immediately on high alert and crouched behind a car parked outside. The noise continued every couple of seconds, but no gunman came out to attack. Hope began to fill my chest. Maybe there was someone alive inside and maybe it was a police officer who could help me.

Slowly I crept into the building staying close to the ground scanning the area in front of me. There was not a cop in sight but that would make sense if they all left the building to help during the attack. The noise got louder as I got closer to the back of the building. I could tell the source of the noise was right around the corner, so I pulled the rifle off my shoulder and held it up in front of me. Hoping win with the element of surprise I jumped from behind the wall and froze to discover a man trying to break through the bars of a small cell.

He jumped back in surprise at the sight of me and held his arms up. He kept backing away as far as he could go in his cell. "woah hey please there's no need to shoot me" he spoke evenly from behind the bars. I lowered the gun down and narrowed my eyes at the familiar man in front of me. "Max is that you?" He took one step forward and questioned me "Who are you and how do you know my name?". I scoffed that he didn't remember who I was. "I'ts me Charlie". When he still didn't clue in, I continued. "Charlie King... We went to school together for like twelve years". With that I could see the recognition forming in his eyes. "Shit Charlie  its been like four years since high school I didn't recognize you. Did you get shorter?" I just rolled my eyes at his typical behavior. Being behind bars in the midst of an alien invasion would not stop him from being an ass.

"Just as charming as you were in high school Max" I retorted while fishing through my pack for some food and water. He grinned and thanked me as I passed him a water bottle and a granola bar through the bars. I eyed the lock as he guzzled down the water. There was no way I was going to be able to open it without a key, so I started to look around the room for it. While searching through the desk next to the cell I asked the question that I was dying to know. "So what did you do to get yourself locked up in here?" He just shrugged and finished chewing on the granola before responding. "Just got caught with some weed no biggie". "And they put you behind bars for that?" I questioned. "Well it might have been a repeat offense and I might have been...making a scene". I quickly cut him off "You know what I don't wanna know." Max just stood there smirking.  "Look Max the key isn't in here anywhere so I'm gonna head down the street to some stores to try and find some bolt cutters okay?". For the first time since I entered the room Max's face got serious. "You'll come back right?" "Ya Max I promise I'll come right back. Here take another granola bar you must be hungry" He smiled at me gratefully but like he still doubted I would come back. I grabbed the gun and headed towards the front of the station. "Be careful". He called out from behind me. I just turned and nodded before looking out the front window.

I quickly jumped back when I saw the aliens in the street. It wasn't quite dark yet, but they must have started their rounds early. I quickly backtracked away from the windows and back towards the back room and Max's cell. "Change of plans Max we're stuck here for the night".