When the ships first attacked, it was like something out of a science fiction movie; lasers coming from the skies, insect things running around kidnapping kids while an army of giant robots shoot and kill any who run from them. This all started in the cities, the kind of story you'd hear from some big college history professor's point of view. Our story however, starts in the small town of Raymond New Hampshire.
My name is Chris Wall, and I'm just your average duck footed 18 year old New Englander. I was born in Haverhill, Mass, but I moved to Raymond when I was about 13, so I've lived in Raymond for my whole teenage years. I'm about 5 feet and eleven inches tall and I have dirty blonde hair. I never thought something like this could actually happen, as much as I had hoped for a more exciting life.
When the first attack started, I was at work at Circle K/Irving, the local gas station. My friends Joe and Walker came to visit and we were standing around talking about the latest things in our lives. Joe was talking about a glitch he found in a video game and Chuck (that's what we call Walker, long story) told us about a drawing he was currently planning out; that's when the news interrupted the song we were listening to on the radio.
"We interrupt your song, folks, for a very important news bulletin," said Scorch, one of the many disc jockeys from Rock 101. "It seems as if Boston is being attacked by some unknown force. Lasers are falling from the sky; buildings are crumpling and people dying. This is bigger than even 9/11." There was an explosion over the microphone, and when Scorch spoke, his usual deep and calm voice was shaky. "It seems as if Boston isn't the only target, I don't know what is happening but… there's someone at the door." The sound of a door being bashed down and a series of clicking sounds caused Scorch to scream, the radio went dead and a monotone tone went over the radio.
"What the hell was that?" Joe asked, his pudgy face growing into a confused expression. I shrugged and walked over to the radio and started hitting the side.
"Maybe it's like that War of the Worlds scare?" Chuck asked hopefully.
"I don't think so," a customer said, pulling out his ear buds and unplugging them from his iPhone, he held the phone up so we could see the screen. It was a news casting from Boston, buildings really were crumpling, the screams and car horns were blocked out by the sounds of gun fire and the loud booms of buildings collapsing.
"Holy shit," Joe said, he looked at me and I looked at Chuck, who was staring at the phone.
"What are we going to do," I asked them, we all looked at each other as the customer ran out of the store. There was a loud bang from outside and we all looked in time to see a flaming car land just in front of the gas pumps. Someone who was pumping gas dropped the nozzle, and gas poured out of it, making a big puddle. We realized that the gas was inching toward the car and we hauled ass out of there. We ran through the back and through the back exit and ran toward the massive hill behind the store. We started up the hill just as the gas touched the flames; the gas station was engulfed by a huge explosion, whose force shoved up into the landscape and sprawling back down the hill again.
I got up gingerly, I twisted my ankle so standing was a pain and I walked over and lifted Chuck up and together we hoisted Joe up and we started to limp away. Just as we got to the road we saw these bug like aliens go running by us, they had six legs and tan skin. They made clicking noises, much like the sound we heard on the radio before it went dead. One saw us and started to charge us, we started to turn but just then a provider bus slammed into the thing, sending it flying forward. The door opened to reveal Joe's cousin, Richy.
"Get in!" He called and we hobbled to his bus just in time for the aliens to pick up their fallen comrade. Richy put the pedal to the metal and we were off, we decided to go to our friend Ashley's house, it was a more secluded area of the town where the aliens were less likely to attack. When we got there we saw that her family had barricaded the doors and windows. We knocked and hollered for Ashley to open up but either they weren't there, or they weren't buying that we were really human.
We finally gave up and started to head back to the bus, before we got off the porch, though, the bus exploded, sending us onto our rear ends. We looked up and saw a giant robot with a gun built into their right arm step in from the street. The bug like aliens scampered forward and started to make mad grabs at us. We weaved out of the way in time for them to run into the doors, we sprinted toward the pool behind Ashley's garage and ran up the stairs of onto the small deck.
The aliens climbed over the railings and made a grabbing leap at us, we jumped aside and they landed in the water and instantly they started to scream. They waved their arms in an attempt to stay afloat, but to no avail, the aliens drowned in the pool that was barely 5 feet tall. The robot made its way around the garage just as we ran around the other side. We looked in the garage for something, anything that could stop this thing. Then I saw it, the garden hose that was hanging from the wall.
"I have an idea," I said, running to the hose and disconnecting it from the wall. I gave one end to Richy and we both ran outside. The robot turned and faced us and me and Richy both ran forward, Richy running to the right side of the robot, me running to the left. We ran until we felt the tug of the hose on the robot's legs, then I swerved right, Richy left, and we wrapped up the alien's legs tightly, then together, we yanked the hose and the machine's legs jerked together and the thing fell forward with a loud crash.
"Wow," Richy said, smiling. "Great idea, Chris!"
"Thanks," I said, walking over to the robot. "I got it from Star Wars." I approached the machine and tapped it with my foot and the robot started to move again. I screamed and jumped back; I looked around and found a sledge hammer. I grabbed it and walked back to the robot and slammed the top with the hammer. I didn't even dent it.
"Here, let me try," Richy said. He was far larger than any of us, taller and wider. He took the hammer and brought it up over his head, and with a large cry he brought the hammer down on the robot, leaving a very big dent. The force of the slam caused the robot to jolt and short out, it stopped moving shortly after the hit.
"Nice hit," Joe said, walking over to the robot.
"Thanks," Richy said, slinging the hammer over his shoulder.
"What is it?" Chuck asked, standing a little farther back than the rest of us.
"Well, obviously it's some kind of robot." I said, crouching down and running my hand across the cool smooth metal. "I don't feel or see any seams, or a door or anything. So it isn't a mechanical suit or anything. It must be some kind of drone, you know?"
Just then the door to Ashley's house opened and we all looked up to see her father, Mark, in the doorway. He was a shorter man with graying hair; he smiled at us and said, "Damn, great job boys. Come on in, we're just starting dinner."
"We saw the whole thing," Ashley's mom, Justine, said as we were all sitting down for a surprisingly delicious looking meal. "At least we know those things can't swim."
"Yeah," I said, pushing my food around with my fork. "I don't think it'll be that easy to kill any more of them though. They aren't stupid, they're moving in units, like an army. This isn't just some attack. This is a full scaled invasion, we're at war."
"A useless war to fight in," Mark said. "They're far more advanced than us; I saw clips on the news of our military trying to shoot through those machines. They didn't even scratch the metal."
"But we do know that these things can die," Joe said.
"Yeah," Chuck said. "Look at those aliens, the, uh… the Scamperers. Richy hit one with a bus and a bunch of others drowned."
I smiled, "Scamperers, I like that. But why don't we drop an "er"?"
"Scampers," everyone said at once, they all nodded.
"Listen," Richy said, "there's no reason we need to give up. We can fight back, get some guns, some survivors, we can find a place to go to be safe."
"We could go west," Ashley said. "It gets a lot less urban there and we can find a gated community or something to hole up in."
"Yeah," I said. "We could get our families and get a bus or something and just go!" My cell phone began to ring, which surprised me; they hadn't knocked out communications yet. It was my mom. "Excuse me," I said, getting up from the table.
I flipped open my phone and said, "Mom, hey, are you guys alright?"
"Chris," my mom said between sobs. "One of those… things took… they took your brother." My face fell harder than the machine. "I don't know what they're doing, but… oh god they took so many kids."
"Ma, don't worry," I said, keeping my voice steady. "I… I'll find him."
"No, don't you dare I can't lose…" She started but I didn't let her finish.
"I love you, mom," I said and hung up on her. Of course I felt bad, she was distressed, but if I was going to get my brother back I couldn't have her yelling at me not to get involved. He's my brother for God's sake.
"Well, the white picket fence and apple pie life is going to have to wait for me," I said, walking back into the dining room. "That was my mom, these things took my brother."
"So, what?" Joe said. "You're just going to walk up to a Scamper and ask them for your brother back?"
"Well," I said, sitting, "actually I planned on following the Scampers to their destination and try to find a way to take out whatever headquarters they've got."
"Chris," Mark said, smirking at my stupidity, "this isn't Call of Duty, this isn't a game, this isn't even some TV show. This is real, if you go after your brother, you will die."
"At least I'll die trying," I said. I looked around at the people around me and sighed. "Listen, you guys can all go west, pick up my family and go. I'm going after my brother. They're attacking bigger cities so I'm going to try Manchester. If they aren't there I'll try Concord."
"Chris," Richy said, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed. "I've see how you hit with a sledge hammer, you aren't going to survive out there alone. I'll go with you."
"If Richy is going I'm going," Joe said.
"Same here," Chuck said.
"Me too," Ashley said, smiling.
"Oh hell no you aren't," Justine said, glaring at her in a way only a mother could. "If they want to go on a suicide mission they can go for it, but you are coming with us, we're going west like you suggested."
"Mom," Ashley groaned.
"No," Justine said, closing the conversation. She looked at us guys and said, "You're welcome to stay the night and leave in the morning. I just hope you'll reconsider."
"Yeah, I'm a guy," I said, "once my mind is set, there's no changing it."