Chapter 7
Jian Wan looked down at his desk, searching for dust or anything dirty for him to clean up. He wanted to have a spotless Chinese jewelry shop in order to attract more customers. The ringing of a bell alerted his attention, so he looked up to greet his first customer of the day.
"Welcome to Oriental Jewels. Can I help you?" He said in his best English.
"Have you seen a cat anywhere?" The woman responded. Jian did his best to understand her, but only made out the word 'cat'.
She wants cat?
"Cat? No cat meat; only Jewelry," He said, wishing she wouldn't leave.
"NO! My cat ran away. Have you seen him anywhere?" He realized that his response wasn't correct, and once again tried to interpret what she said.
"No, but I believe your cat run away," Mr. Wan responded in a Chinese accent. "Many animals run away from owner today I notice. Creatures have ability to sense danger, maybe cat got scared."
"Psh! What could happen; hurricane, earthquake, tornado? What would spook every animal in the city?"
Jian shrugged his shoulders, not because he didn't know the answer, but because he couldn't understand her Southern accent. The woman left the store, disappointing the owner.
Maybe another will come.
He looked around the shop, in case something had made her leave, but then realized that not many people appreciated Chinese jewelry. He was already in debt, as he rarely got a customer. He thought about the woman's missing cat. When he woke up, he didn't hear the annoying bark of his neighbor's pet dog.
*****
After about a half hour of waiting for the next costumer, something unexpected happened. The ground beneath the man started to shake and rumble. His feet were thrown from under him, and he grabbed onto the counter for support. He had studied martial arts, and his arms were strong enough to keep him off the ground for the duration of the earthquake. Almost without thinking, he looked around his small shop for any breakables that would need to be rescued. Finding none, he planted his feet on the ground and waited until the shaking had subsided.
Taking a deep breath, Mr. Wan saw that his store was mostly unharmed, but then realized a shocking truth.
Earthquakes? In New York?
Puzzled, he flipped open the door leading from behind the counter to the rest of the store, and cautiously walked through it. He pushed open the windowed door to the streets, only to hear a ground-rattling explosion. It quickly subsided, proving not to be an aftershock.
Jian flew out of the building, and saw that some cars outside had stopped, but most were speeding through the streets. Looking up, he quickly learned why. The sky was grey with clouds, but it wasn't raining. Bright blue lightning sparked across the sky, not favoring anything to strike; everything was vulnerable. A bolt sailed down from the sky, and struck a passing automobile. It exploded in flame, and tumbled through the street.
Oh boy.
He thought about what to do, and decided it was safest inside a building. The shop owner darted back inside the jewelry shop and waited for the apocalypse to end.
*****
Kurtiss looked through his window at the weather outside his apartment, concerned. He scratched his head, and paced back and forth.
I hope Josh got home okay.
He bit his fingernails on his left hand nervously, worried, and confused. Deciding what to do, he jogged over to the couch and leapt onto it. Picking up the remote, he turned on the television. He switched to the news channel, hoping for an explanation.
On it, a newscaster spoke into a microphone next to a large building. "Scientists cannot explain exactly what's happening here; they say it is far too advanced for any of them."
A deranged bystander walked around behind her, staring up at the sky. The camera shakily was lifted to view the disturbing event. A grey cloud shadowed everything, with sparks of energy coming out of it. The camera was remounted, and the newswoman continued speaking.
"A few of our most advanced physicists say that this must be a natural event because the technology required to create this worldwide event does not exist. If you feel safer, you should leave the city right now."
The screen switched to a fuzzy image of another building with a man standing in from of it.
"I am here live in St. Louis. We are experiencing similar events."
The camera shifted upward, and Kurtiss saw the same view of the sky. Then, something unexpected happened. A green spot formed, and bent light around it. Suddenly an unknown object sped out of it, from thin air. The camera shifted to keep up with it as it spun around, aiming at them. The image was fuzzy, but he could make out some grey blobs come out of it. The camera went black, and then switched back to the studio view.
"We seem to have lost them. Once again we urge you to—"
Kurtiss had seen enough. He shut off the TV, and got up.
Okay, okay.
He went over to the window again, and saw the streets jammed with cars; people pushing and shoving, cars smashing into each other, and police trying but failing to contain the event.
"What's happening?"
*****
Josh opened drawer after drawer, searching for a single item.
"It's got to be here somewhere."
He pulled out another drawer full of underwear. The English teacher grabbed a handful, and threw it on his queen bed. With his other he did the same, until he got to the bottom. A glistening silver Desert Eagle laid on the bottom, no longer concealed by white underwear. Three clips were beside it, each holding seven bullets.
This might come in handy.
He picked up the weapon, not being surprised by the weight. Josh had been trained to use one, as he was employed at a high school for juvenile teenagers. He grabbed all the clips, putting them in his pocket. Then he heard the much too familiar sound of his phone ringing. Mr. Strumble fiddled around in his pocket for his cell phone, and flipped open the top.
"Hello?" He nervously asked.
"Josh!" A familiar voice responded on the other end. Looking at the caller ID, he realized it was his buddy Kurtiss.
"Kurt! Are you okay? What the devil is going on?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Have you been watching the news?"
"Yeah," Josh responded, looking over at his flat screen TV in his living room. "I've got to admit; this is even weirder than when I got that student that couldn't say T's, R's, or N's."
"Never mind that," Kurtiss quickly said, "but people are evacuating the cities. It's chaotic out there; you should bring that gun of yours."
Got it right here.
"Listen buddy, I'm going to come over by your place and pick you up. Wait outside so I can see you, and bring anything you might need!"
"Wait; Kurt—"
The phone line was interrupted with static. Pressing the redial button, Josh prayed he could get through to his buddy in time to tell him that Kurtiss should stay where he was and himself, having the only gun, would go pick him up. The other way around was suicide in this mayhem.
If this madness ever ends, you wouldn't want your car to be banged up,his selfish side thought.
This madness WON'T end, his pessimistic side responded.
Ignoring both ends, he looked down at the dreadful text on the screen; No Service. He flipped it shut again and put it back in his pocket. Knowing that Kurtiss was going to risk his life and come over to get him was inevitable; he tried to stay true to the plan.
Now for homework I want you all to write an essay on what to bring with on a journey into danger. I want it to be done by Monday, so you'll have the whole weekend to work on it.
Josh remembered the homework he had given the students the previous afternoon, and chuckled at the irony of it all. "If anyone finishes it I will give it an 'A', no matter what," he mumbled remembering in his previous years teaching, everyone had said things like a Playstation, or their life's savings.
Stupid kids…
Knowing that not one of them had taken it seriously, he knew that it wouldn't be any help. He regretted never attempting the assignment himself. Josh shoved the gun between his belt and pants, and walked over to his large kitchen. His face was illuminated by the refrigerator's light as he opened it, searching for water bottles. He took four, and then set them on the counter. He gently closed the large door thereafter.
Opening up a lower cabinet, he removed a small garbage bag, and plopped the water bottles in it. Hoping they wouldn't need any more supplies, he slung it over his shoulder and strode over to the front door. Outside of the house the door shifted, and then opened, allowing Josh to view the chaos outside. The sun was smothered out by the sea of grey clouds which sparked with electricity. It wasn't raining, but the wind was insane; threatening to tip over cars, break trees, and send anyone off their feet. A few of the small trees had already been broken; some completely uprooted.
Whoa
"Hey, look who's emerging from his den!"
Startled, the school teacher looked down the steps leading to his house at one of his students. He was holding a wooden baseball bat.
"I've waited far too long to get revenge on you, 'scumble'. Now that the world's ending, I get to be at the top. Hand over the keys to your car, NOW! And don't you dare correct my English."
Mr. Strumble chuckled, drawing the unloaded pistol from his belt. He placed his left hand on the bottom to hide the fact there wasn't a bullet in there.
Time to bluff.
"Same here," he replied, facially trying to hide the fact that his gun had no clip and that the kid could kill him at any moment.
Thankfully, the belligerent kid dropped the weapon, spun around, and sprinted from the scene. "Kidding!" He shouted from behind.
Stupid kid, he thought, thankful for once of the stupidity of the youth.
Josh put the weapon back in his belt, ready to draw it again if necessary, and waited for his friend to rescue him from this madness.
*****
Dr. Althea Sarris threw the back doors of the ambulance closed after the patient was safely inside. It drove off the sidewalk and into the street. Another cart came out of the hospital, holding an elderly patient. The doctor pushing it lifted the cart into another ambulance as Althea held the doors open.
A bolt of energy came down from the sky and struck a small tree across the street. It cracked, and slowly fell over. Then it combusted, setting alight. Next to the burning heap, Dr. Sarris saw a small frightened girl. She turned and ran across the street, careful to dodge the cars. Upon reaching the sidewalk, she jogged over to the girl and bent down.
"Are you alone?"
The small girl sobbed, not being able to answer. It was then the pediatrician recognized her; it was Rachel.
"Rachel? Where's your mommy?"
She looked around, frightened. "I don't know."
"Where did you last see her?" She asked, trying to get some information out.
Struggling to answer, Rachel replied, "We were running, and then they got her!"
Confused, Dr. Sarris asked, "Who's they?"
To answer her question, a low pitched sound came from the sky above. Looking up, she saw a greenish tint surrounded by what looked like a heat wave. Then it closed in on itself, and something came out; something very big. From the bottom, Althea saw a metal structure, surrounded by a strange bluish field. From the looks of the anomaly, it was the size of eight football fields.
It tore right through the side of the hospital, sending debris raining down. Luckily, whatever it was stopped most of the wreckage from hitting them. The field flickered and disappeared. Next, multiple small sections came down from the hull, looking like cannons. At all angles they shot out grey blobs at fast speed. One hit a truck driving down the road, melting right through the roof. It exploded, and skid down the street in a molten heap.
Another car came driving down the road at a ridiculous speed, not taking note of any safety precautions. It smashed into the half melted car, merging with it, the heat making the gas tank combust and then explode. The two cars created a powerful explosion, sending red hot metal flying in all directions. Althea pulled Rachel in front of her, and guarded the youngling with her back.
After the debris had stopped coming down, she got up looked around for anyone who could care for Rachel, but realized it was up to her. She protectively grabbed the small girl's arm and yanked her down the sidewalk. Curiosity then got the best of both of both of them. They stopped and looked up at the colossal vessel, assumedly alien, and watched it rain destruction on the city. Another portal appeared under it, and a small ship flew out, no bigger than a semi truck. It flew close to the street and started attacking various objects, possessing similar weapons. With impossible maneuverability, it flipped around and dove at the two observers.
Althea took off with Rachel, running as fast as they could.
*****
Kurtiss violently turned his keys in the ignition, praying the truck would start. After four turns, the engine started, making him sigh with relief. The feeling quickly passed as the construction worker looked at the sky, seeing an enormous black object, firing deadly grey projectiles at things. He pulled his car out on to the street, lined with people, cars, and burning wreckage.
He swerved to the left to avoid a smoldering fire truck, which could explode at any second. Through his dirtied windshield, he could see the grey blobs raining down from the strange object in the sky. As the struck the pavement, the heat made it glow orange. Kurtiss carefully avoided them, and continued on towards Josh's home. He turned right, seeing the next street was the same.
"Oh boy," he worried. The entire city was a mess, but not thirty minutes ago it was perfectly normal.
From above, a lone military fighter flew through the air. It launched a missile, and continued onwards. The missile then engaged its thrusters, and locked on to the alien vessel. It curved upwards and struck the black under belly. The ship continued gracefully moving through the city, tearing into the sides of buildings like a hot knife through butter. It took no apparent damage itself.
Should I be amazed or worried?
When he returned his view to the street ahead, he found a man with a black sweatshirt standing in front of him. He was holding a golf club, ready to strike, while a crowd of people across the street were busy raiding a bank, taking advantage of the crisis.
"Get out of the car; NOW!" The insane person shouted in a foreign accent.
Kurtiss hesitated, wondering if the man was serious. To answer his question, he came running at his vehicle with the weapon. The driver immediately shifted the car into reverse to back up, but it was too late. The crazed man leapt onto the hood, and swung his weapon down upon the windshield. A large crack was formed, blocking his view. He swung it down again, shattering it. Kurtiss slammed on the gas pedal, sending the car flying backwards. He stopped it, and brushed glass from his face.
The man, now some distance away got up, and growled like some sort of wild animal.
End of the world syndrome?
Still holding the club, he raised it behind him, and hurtled it at Kurtiss' truck. Seeing the incoming object, he backed up and turned around to avoid it, and decided to take a different route to Josh.
*****
Sanchali huddled behind a green trash bin, waiting for the madness to end. Peeking over the top, she saw that the chaos had only increased. Worrying about the whereabouts of her cat, she remembered what the Chinese man had told her. The cat obviously knew this was coming, and had run away for this reason. Hopefully, it was safe.
However, Sanchali was far from that.
She fearfully looked up at the black figure moving across the sky. A hatch opened on the bottom, and a smaller ship sped out of it. It swooped down to street level, and launched strange grey blobs out of the front at a passing car. They melted through the front, disintegrating the driver, and setting the vehicle alight. The basket ball player ducked her head down to remain unseen.
"Hey!"
She gasped and turned around. To her relief, he wasn't trying to kill her. The man, no older than twenty five, was reaching out his hand to help her up. She took it, and then stood to her full height, which was higher than his.
"I'm Rick Burcin. Come on; we have to get out of here," he advised, already looking around for a safe escape point. Finding the other end of the ally away from the recently destroyed car suitable, he started running towards that direction. Miss Palkia followed, anxious to leave the city.
As they reached the end, a man with a black outfit jumped in their path. Holding a golf club, he appeared quite hostile. He raised it to swing, and then stopped, seeing Rick.
"Rick? I've been looking everywhere for you," he said as if he was on drugs. His shirt had a large while skull on it, suggesting that he was gothic. He had a tight grip on the golf club he held, ready to take anyone's head off that get in his way.
Sanchali's new friend was about to respond, but then saw her scared expression. "Oh, this is my buddy Scott. Scott, this is, um—"
"Sanchali Palkia. You know; I play basket ball," she greeted, extending her arm.
"Pleasure to meet you," he said in a Russian accent, roughly shaking her hand. "Sorry for the scare; people are going crazy. Surprised I'm still sane!"
Yeah, sure, she thought. Her sarcasm quickly died away as she started to worry about her own safety.
"Let's get going," the sane man said, leading the way. The three continued on their journey through the city, as the strange alien ship behind them continued in its path of destruction.
*****
Peaking and eye over his counter, Jian slowly scanned the store for any hostiles. Even in the chaos, he wasn't even being robbed.
Are these jewels that bad?
He stood up, and carefully made his way around the counter. After reaching the front door, he opened it. The soft ringing of the bell was overcome by the noise outside. Looking up, Mr. Wan saw the same gigantic metal object float through the sky. It was destroying the city with ease, and nothing was getting in its way.
Where is our military?
Suddenly, Jian heard the roaring of an engine. He ducked out of the way as a smaller ship nearly took his head off. The ship went from a few hundred miles an hour to zero in a second, stopping a few meters away. It glided down to the street level, which was swarming with citizens. They were screaming and shouting, pushing each other out of the way; frantic to leave the city. Not afraid but curious, the shop owner inched over to the parked vessel.
Its shape wasn't geometrical, (or at least to a human's eyes it wasn't,) however Mr. Wan could easily locate a 'back end', if you could call it that. A section of the hull, sporting a chrome metal plate, started to vibrate. The entire surface jiggled, and turned into a liquid like material, still keeping its shape. A bump was formed, and then another. Another section started bending outward below the two. Then a creature burst out of the ship, coming right through the 'solid' section. It turned back into a sheet of metal, sealing the ship.
What is that?
The alien beast was an impressive creature; standing six feet tall, it had thick greenish skin. Its arms had openings on the ends, and its legs were long and quite powerful. The head had two orange eyes, no pupils, sweeping the area of screaming people. The alien made a few clicking noises with its throat, and the ship began to rise into the air. It angled downward, and shot two projectiles at a crowd of people. They were incinerated, or they combusted, adding to the chaos of the event.
Moving slowly, the vessel continued attacking the hapless citizens and the creature walked over to Jian. The others were running as fast as they could away from the obviously aggressive alien, but Mr. Wan wasn't.
Instead of being trained to use a hand gun like his paranoid neighbors, he had been trained in martial arts and fencing for self defense. He took a deep breath, and assumed a fighting stance, ready to take on the invader. The creature stopped, and scanned the man's position as if it were a computer. After it had analyzed every weakness in the position Mr. Wan had assumed, it took a step closer; the two now only being a few meters away.
In Chinese, the man challenged, "I am waiting."
The creature understood, and twitched its arms. From the openings, a large grey blade of a material similar to bone slid out, and completed its arms. The alien took a giant leap towards him, and swung its arm.
He narrowly ducked out of the way, avoiding decapitation, but the alien was faster. It brought its leg upwards, nailing him it the stomach. Jian was hurtled into the air, and crashed against the door to his humble jewelry shop.
He jumped back onto his feet, only bruised, and narrowed his eyes.
"I'm not easily defeated!" He shouted in his native language. The creature casually walked over to the confident man, and made more clicking sounds. Then it jabbed its long, sharp, arm at Jian, but he was quick to react. He brought his arm up to block the attack, attempting to shove the arm out of the way. To his dismay, his strength compared to the alien was like a fly against a newspaper. Realizing his mistake, he leapt out of the way to his right. The alien was quicker, although, and with its left arm, the grey section separated into finger like appendages. It caught Mr. Wan's leg, and lifted him up until their faces met.
Upside down, Jian saw that the alien was not exerting any effort to constrain him. The creature clicked and clucked in victory, when he saw his chance. He drew his fist back, and thrust it into the alien's face with as much strength he had left. The alien stopped making sounds.
Shakily, he removed his hand, and looked at its face. Unfortunately, it was unharmed. The creature made a rhythmic high pitched sound that Jian knew could only mean one thing; it was laughing.
The Chinese man looked at his aching hand; swollen as if it had punched concrete. The alien swung the unfortunate human behind its back, and threw him into his own store. He sailed through the glass, knocking over a display rack, and crashed into the wall behind. He tried getting up, but couldn't. Through his blurred vision, and a pile of broken glass, display cases, and jewelry he saw the alien stop laughing, and bow slightly towards him.
Jian uttered a particularly nasty Chinese curse word just before blacking out.
*****
As the small truck slowed, Kurtiss' eyes scanned the chaos of screaming people, burning wreckage, and alien ships zipping through the air for his friend. He was at his house, but Josh was nowhere to be seen.
As if he could hear his voice, Kurtiss shouted, "Hey! Josh, get in the car!"
Even if Josh heard, he was nowhere in sight. He started to open the driver's door and step out, but quickly retracted his leg back into the car, slamming the door shut simultaneously. He felt a false security in the truck for some reason, despite the fragile windshield being shattered.
Abruptly, he heard a tapping on the window. Kurtiss lurched upward out of his seat, only to realize it was his friend. He relaxed slightly, and rolled down the manual window.
"Josh! Get in the other side," he hastily told him. Then, and explosion thundered through the city, rattling the ground.
"Kurt," he replied, "I want to drive; I've been in this city longer than you have."
Not taking the effort or time to argue, the construction worker shifted over into the passenger seat, throwing the driver's door open. Josh stepped into the vehicle, and closed the rusted door after him.
The truck lurched forward as Josh slammed on the gas pedal. Not taking his eyes off the cluttered road, he reached over and handed his side arm to his friend. "Kurt; take this. Don't use it unless you have to."
Kurtiss' eyes went wide as he eyed the powerful weapon. Josh then handed him a clip, which Kurtiss slowly loaded. Picking up the weapon, he tilted it, lining up the sights. "Boom," he whispered.
Seeing his friend foolishly play around with it, Josh warned, "Careful, careful! Watch the recoil; it packs quite a punch."
In return, he rolled his eyes, assuring himself he knew what he was doing.
That boy's going to blow his head off, Josh thought.
Rapidly, more silver projectile filled the streets in front of them, destroying anything they got near. Trees burned just from being close to them, and the asphalt that was struck melted into a sticky, glowing viscous liquid. Josh accelerated, hoping to avoid the fire raining down from the object in the sky.
"Josh, why are we going into the havoc?"
Nervously, he replied, "We'll be fine."
Then, Kurtiss saw that they were exiting the city. After thinking for a moment, he boldly said, "Turn around."
"What? Are you crazy?"
"Listen, Josh. We need to get Wilbert. He is probably really confused right now."
"He can take care of himself," Josh said, trying to focus on driving.
"Josh, think. He was dropped off at our table not an hour ago with no memory at all, and now all this is happening?"
The driver waited, to see where he was going.
"You think he was captured by the aliens?"
"Ugh, NO! Kurtiss, I know you like doing nice things, but we can't just go back for him."
"No, really!" he argued. "I have a feeling he has something to do with this."
Josh turned a hard right U-turn around, going the opposite way on a street. Not that it mattered now. "Alright, Kurt, have it your way. But this is the last person we are going out of our way to help."
"Thanks Josh. You know, we might—"
Suddenly, the city went nearly black. Josh slammed on the brakes, bringing the truck to a halt. The electricity was out, so the only light came from the fires spread through the city. From out of the broken windshield the two fearfully looked upwards at the black figure blocking out the sun.
*****
The alien commander's ship was flung out of travel and into the atmosphere of the human's planet. Its fingers traveled over the controls, sending faster-than-light signals to the thousands of turrets that dotted the ship. The rear right section of the ship fired on a large human gambling complex in a desert, while the middle left section destroyed a city by a large freshwater lake.
