Disclaimer: Falling Skies is not mine. Mass 'boo' right here. Yo, Steven, sell it to me! What do you mean 'spare $16 million'?
Better The Devil You Know
Karen Nadler
It might be the end of time, but no one told Karen Nadler… from invasion day to a puppet of the aliens, this is the story of how Karen went from Winthrop High's only survivor to narrator of the end of the world…
…
Part2:
Up Above It All
"14:23 hours," Karen grinned as she held the iPhone above her head, looking up at it. "This is Karen Nadler reporting from the Winthrop water tower." She turned the phone up so it pointed up the ladder next to her. "I've just broken in and now it's time to climb." She gave the camera a thumbs-up. "Wish me luck." She ceased recording and tucked the phone into her pocket, tightening her backpack around her shoulders. Then, taking a deep breath, she started up the tower.
Things like skipping school, talking back at teachers and climbing water towers weren't a rare occurrence for Karen. It had only been a week since Karen had last skipped class, determined at that time to head up to a rally in Boston discussing the 'alien issue' as it had been then, but she'd been caught on her way to the train station by truant officers expecting Winthrop's seniors to find the rally an excuse to skip class. For many caught sneaking out that day it had been that, but not for Karen, she was actually determined to find some more information on this alien problem. From the day the creatures turned up above her home city Karen had been alarmed. Though she acted like a brat, your typical troublemaker, Karen was a smart girl. Her father seemed sure that her rebel streak came simply from the fact that she knew too much of the world, was disenfranchised by society, but it wasn't society that Karen hated, she just wanted more than Winthrop, Boston and suburban life. What that was she was unsure. Aside from books, soccer and video games, Karen had few things in life she liked. She lacked aim, and as a high school senior that was never a good thing, but when it came to priorities the future was always second. Right now the thing that had plagued her thoughts for the last two weeks hung in the sky above her.
As she reached the top of the tower she pulled the backpack off and sat down, pulling out the phone again as she caught her breath, and she started recording again. "So here we are: Flynn Street water tower. That was a fun climb." She chuckled breathlessly. "Anyway, I promised you aliens so," she pushed herself to her feet and moved around the water tower, holding the phone above her head. The shape of the alien ship had been the first thing anyone had noticed when it moved into town – not round and spinning like in the movies or faked videos on Youtube, the ship had more of a kite shape with a front like a normal passenger airplane. It seemed so… human. Maybe that was what had spooked everyone the most. It was like an oversized fighter jet. And there were the lights, soft red and blue lights that flashed at night, though they were quiet during the day. Right now as Karen looked up at the ship they were just like that, the ship dark… silent.
She moved around the water tower and saw the darkened outlines of what seemed to be a ramp of some sort, something like the back of a cargo plane, and Karen frowned at it. "Some sort of door by the looks of it." She turned the camera to face her. "I wonder if they're delivering alien pizza. I'll have pep…" she stopped as the phone buzzed and she stopped the recording to answer it. "Hey Karen!" She said with a laugh at the name on the screen.
"'Sup bitch." Amie laughed. "How's the little green men?"
"Avoiding me I think. I don't know what I did to upset them. Guess they heard my rabble-rousing and I've hurt their feelings." She looked back at the ship. "I wish I could get closer."
Amie laughed. "If only you could fly mole. So, when am I getting my phone back?"
"This your way of asking me when I'm coming down?" Amie murmured something like a 'yes'. "Soon. One more rotation and I'll come back to the land of the living. Don't miss me too much bi…" But Karen's sentence was punctuated when the alien ship above her whirred into life. The lights flickered on and a soft hum sounded. She frowned. "I think we woke them up."
"They're coming to get you so they can probe you."
"Oh yeah, that's just what I wanted to he…" but once again Karen's sentence was lost, this time by a bright blue and white light that shot down from the ship. She lowered the phone wordlessly as she watched it. The light flew towards the city then, about a half mile above the ground, it exploded in a flash of white. Karen averted her eyes, momentarily blinded and then lifted her head, blinking. She expected to see buildings crumbled, like a shockwave, but everything looked the same. She raised the phone to her ear but as it got closer she heard its pained whistle and she glanced down at the phone as it gave one last flicker then died. Giving it a soft shake she frowned. "What a piece of crap." Pushing it back into her pocket she walked to the edge of the water tower and looked down. Flynn Street was quiet beneath her, the suburban dead end street a decent enough distance from the heart of Winthrop, the school and shopping center. Nothing moved down there, it was silent and empty, though as Karen looked back towards Boston she saw a few differences to the city. The lights of the baseball stadium, which were on even during the day, were silent. A flashing billboard on the freeway was black. And, as Karen squinted she saw – the freeway was no longer moving. Moving back to her backpack Karen rummaged inside and withdrew her father's binoculars, pressing them to her eyes and assessing the city before her, watching as people on a main road a short distance away stepped out of their cars, their vehicles no longer moving. That was when Karen guessed what the white light was – it had disabled all power to the city. But why?
Turning to put the binoculars away she heard the sound of metal grating and Karen turned quickly, spotting the movement coming from above her, and she raised her eyes slowly to the sky, watching the door she'd been looking at earlier start to open. It was slow and Karen stood transfixed, as it seemed did many people below her, and a hush fell over the city of Boston. Now the power was out, the sound was off, everyone had come outside into the sunlight on the street. A cool, sunny March Tuesday. A beautiful Spring day. And the whole of Boston stood outside watching an alien ship open.
That was why the aliens had done what they did, Karen would realise later, they had lured the people of Boston out and to their deaths.
Out of the door came a burst of blue light and Karen's eyes followed it, but it faded in the clear sky, though like Karen many people's eyes had been trained on it. It distracted them as the smaller ships emerged from the hanger, like troops off a troop carrier, and they swarmed out into the sky like bees. Down on the ground some ran in fear for cover, others stood transfixed as the ships dropped low, emitting a soft cool white light. Karen shivered and then her knees gave away and she dropped to the metal grate beneath her, eyes fixed on the ships, fearing something was about to happen.
Then the alien ship above her gave a low, metallic roar, a hiss of jets and steam. Karen wouldn't hear that noise again for two more days, until she stood alone in the destruction of her family home, and the sound screamed in her ears. She raised her hands to her head and closed her eyes, opening them slowly as the sound stopped, but by then it had started – the end of the world had begun and Karen pushed herself to her feet as a bright blue ball flew from one of the ships nearby and crashed into the Winthrop Mall. It didn't explode like a bomb, nothing burned, it just seemed to explode in a burst of light, like a flasher, and then the Mall was gone.
Karen couldn't speak, couldn't scream, she just sat there shaking, tears running down her face as the ships spread far and wide. They headed from the high school, Karen's own street, the heart of Winthrop. One brought down the freeway nearby, cars and bodies tumbling to the ground, and Karen could only watch.
The end of the world had started and stranded, high above it all, there was nothing Karen Nadler could do…
