The Morning After
Disclaimer: The story of Signs and all characters from it do not belong to me.
Synopsis: This story takes place at the same time as the final scenes from the movie Signs, as two brothers, living in Las Vegas, attempt to stay alive and protect as many people as possible from the alien threat.
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Bright lights penetrated the thick drapes of Scotty and Mark's hotel room. They were staying at Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas with most of the other seniors from North Ridge High. It was June, their last year of high school was finished, the air was hot and dry, and it was the perfect atmosphere for the seniors' pre-college celebration.
The two brothers had finally crashed after being awake for 36 hours straight, when the light passed outside. A hole in the heavy hotel room drapes cast a perfect circle of light into Scotty's eye. He woke up just in time to see the light fall out of view.
"Damn fireworks" he grunted as he pulled his pillow over his head.
A few minutes passed then the unmistakable sound of helicopters was heard only slightly muffled by the hotels thick soundproof window.
"What the hell?" said Scotty rolling out of bed. By now his brother Mark had sat up and was rubbing his eyes.
"What's up man?" he asked.
Scotty threw open the blinds and saw that outside it was pitch black. He assumed that what ever the light had been had now dissipated. He was halfway back to bed when it dawned on him.
"Whoa!" Scotty raced back to the window and threw open the blinds once more. The blackness hadn't fazed him before, as he was used to dark nights back home. But Vegas? The whole city was black. Now straining his eyes Scotty focused on the street, from the 26th floor all he could see were faint traces of light scrambling round in chaos. Further down the street he could barely make out the repeating lights of the LVPD. Scotty felt a hand rest on his shoulder and looked up to see the poorly lit face of his brother.
"Let's go!" said Mark pulling on his pants from the previous day.
"What are you talking about?" inquired Scotty.
"I wanna see what's up!"
Scotty flipped the light switch, and when nothing happened he proceded to flick it more rapidly.
"I guess the whole city's out" said Mark.
"I dunno man, you think we should go out there? I mean it's gonna be pitch black out there and we'd have to take the stairs, and there might be looters. I mean c'mon."
"Aww grow up man, aren't you the least bit curious about how a town known for its lights was suddenly thrown into darkness? C'mon they don't even have emergency lights on. Something bad happened"
"My point exactly"
"C'mon lets go"
Mark knew that it was going to be dark out in the hallway but he had no idea just how dark a hallway with no lights and no windows could be. At least in their room they had the soft glow of the moonlight. Just as Scotty was trying to think of a way to light up the hall he felt a vibration in his pocket. When Scotty flipped open his phone he was temporarily blinded by its light.
He pulled his head back and put his hand between his eyes and the phone, as his vision adjusted he noticed the picture of the incoming caller.
"Its Suze" he said.
Suzy, or Suze as she was known to almost everyone, was Scotty's best friend. They had known each other for only about three years but they were really close. There had never been anything romantic between them and neither one had ever really pursued it.
"Hey are you alright?" he said holding the phone to his ear.
"Scott oh my god what's going on? Where are you!"
"Hey, me and Bill were just heading down to see what was going on. We're right outside our room. Do you guys have power?"
"NO!" its so scary get down here right now we're freaked out!"
"Who else is there?"
"Gah, me and Amber shared a room remember? Just get down here!"
Amber was another of Suzy's good friends but they had grown really close over the last year so they decided to share a room.
"Fak that's right, ok what room again?"
"1541. Hurry up!"
Scotty hung up his phone and pointed its screen down the hall.
"She's really freaked out, she wants us down there."
Mark looked concerned.
"Is Amber with her?" he asked.
"Heh yah they're in 1541, that's ten floors down. We need to find the stairs"
The light from the cell phone made walking down the stairs much easier and after a while they reached a door with the number 15 on it.
The 15th floor was eerily quiet compared to the clanking of feet in the stairwell.
"31, 33, 35, almost there, 39, and here we are, 41"
Mark knocked on the door. Nothing happened. Just as he was about to knock again he heard the latch on the other side unlocking. The door opened and they were pulled inside.
As Scotty crossed the threshold into the room the light from the phone shot down the hall. A tall slender figure stood at the end of the hall and when the light reached its face it reflected off bright yellow eyes. The door slammed shut.
"What took you so long to let us in?" asked Mark.
"You know how hard it is to use a peep hole in total darkness? Anyways its good to see you Mark"
"You too Amber"
Suzy turned to Scotty.
"Scotty what's the matter?"
"Out there, down the hall there was something like, a person, but, I dunno."
"There's some weird crap going on outside didn't you see?"
"Nah we were up too high"
Suzy walked over to the window and pulled back the blinds. Scotty walked up next to her and peered out the window. What he saw could only be described as frightening.