"Come on, Puddy!" Jerry cried out as the two rushed down the steps wearing backpacks and carrying a duffel bag in each hand, all of which were filled with whatever they were able to carry on ridiculously short notice. "We're sitting ducks with that gigantic ray gun running amok in California!"
He briefly tripped at the bottom of the steps on the second floor, but Puddy was able to pick him up. Jerry shook himself off before the two continued down the stairwell and then burst through the front door.
The street was filled with pandemonium.
Dozens of cars clogged the street, full of drivers furiously honking.
People were running in different directions carrying either numerous bags like them or nothing but the clothes on their backs.
The sound of dogs barking and police sirens echoed.
Jerry flinched at the sound of what he thought was a gunshot.
The smell of smoke in the distance wafted into the air.
He scanned the area. Most people were heading in the direction of Central Park. Without a word, the two men followed.
They reached Columbus Avenue, where 81st Street widened into a four-lane two-way road. They dashed across the diagonal to the Museum of Natural History on the other side, just barely avoiding getting hit by a car speeding down only to crash into another car that emerged from 80th Street. They stopped briefly to register it before they continued.
When they arrived at the entrance of the subway station, dozens of people were flooding down the stairwell. They joined the crowd, carrying their duffel bags for dear life, and landed at the fare control area. People were climbing over the turnstiles or going through the emergency exit door that had opened up. The two went through the door and they traversed down to the downtown platform.
As they did, the two took in the sight of the artwork depicting the numerous animals that have existed on planet Earth. Jerry had gone through the station so many times, but he never bothered to actually look at the artwork. To think how, with the world ending, he never stopped to realize that he had ended up living quite close to the Museum of Natural History.
The two found a spot in front of the wall depicting an elephant, dropped their bags, and sat down in relief. They watched the other people coming in and filling up the platform.
"Man," Jerry said, "if I knew the planet was gonna be plundered by aliens for our resources, I should have taken the time to get to know this place better."
"What do you mean?" Puddy asked.
"Well, I never really thought about this place much, you know? About the animals and the wildlife? I tell you, if we get out of this alive, I'm going on a safari. I'm gonna be in the Serengeti, driving a jeep and watching zebras running along the savanna."
"I'd like to go on a jungle cruise in the Amazon. Sounds very nice from what I heard."
"Oh, yeah, that would be fun."
At that moment, a train stopped at the station in front of them. It didn't open the doors immediately as it should have. Instead, an announcement came out from the PA system on board: "Ladies and gentlemen, due to security concerns, all further non-essential travel into Manhattan has been suspended on the orders of the Mayor. Only essential personnel will be allowed to continue travel onward. All others must disembark. Evacuation trains and buses heading out of Manhattan will continue to run to pick up those who wish to leave. Thank you."
The doors opened and the confused and distressed passengers spilled out of the cars.
"Well," Jerry said as he took out his phone while the crowd grew inside the platform, "wanna see what's going on with Anne?"
At the travel plaza, the crowds grew restless. CNN was showing the devastation at the site where the invaders had hit Anne hard enough to be launched into the ground.
"Jesus Christ in a handbasket," someone cried out, "we're going to die!"
"No!" Kramer cried out. "We mustn't lose faith!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" she questioned. "Apparently, even a girl with superpowers can't beat an entire alien armada hell-bent on destroying us!"
As if on cue, the TVs showed a fireball erupting from the site where Anne had fallen. She had launched herself up into the air and flung herself against the giant robot. It launched itself to counter her in the same trajectory. Their contact sent shockwaves across the city, causing the helicopter filming them to shake.
"Well, how do you like them apples?" Kramer retorted confidently. Unfortunately, that confidence was short-lived, because the robot doubled back and landed another punch against Anne, launching her into the sky; the robot went after her.
"Goddammit," he said in disappointment.
The cameras tracked them until they went above the clouds, where they disappeared for a few seconds with only the low booming voice from the mastermind controlling the robot distorted by distance echoing before they came back down closer to ground level.
The robot swung its tail at her, causing her to leave a gash on the glass façade of one of the skyscrapers. She was able to break off from the trail of destruction the villain was making and launched herself back into the air. She floated for a bit before doubling back toward the robot with both fists extended outwards. She landed a hit, pushing the robot back.
"Yes!" Kramer cried out. "We're back in the game!"
The robot stabilized itself, then glowed before launching a bunch of serpentine-shaped laser-like things at Anne.
She extended her right arm toward the ground, and after a few seconds, she raised the arm to catch a sword that had flown into her. She traced its blade with two fingers on her left hand making it glow before launching it toward the glowing serpents, leaving them sliced followed by a series of explosions. The robot dodged its head to avoid the sword as it returned to her like a boomerang.
Anne continued to float in the air after she caught the sword. For a while, things were looking up for her.
She was saying something that couldn't be picked up by the cameras, but enraged the villain to scream, "Enough!" and lunge at her, landing a blow to send her flying down to the building that she had arrived in. There was a huge explosion when she hit the rooftop.
The crowd at Sloatsburg gasped at the sight. When the smoke began to clear, there was a crater on the roof, and Anne, with her hair now back to what seemed to be normal, lying in it.
Right then and there, there was pandemonium as everyone rushed to the exits.
"Wait!" Kramer cried out. "What are you doing?"
He was yanked by Newman. "It's every man for himself, Kramer!" he cried to him as they rushed outside to their van. When they exited, numerous vehicles were driving out of the parking lot onto the Thruway.
To their shock, they saw their Ford van among them.
They watched as it merged into the northbound lanes and into what was basically the oblivion that was the Interstate Highway System. After a few seconds of silence, Kramer asked, "S'pose we can make it to Lake Placid on foot?"
"Good Lord," Newman said. He took out his phone and opened the TV app on it, tuning it to CNN.
Suddenly, it was playing music. A distorted voice that sounded somewhat like that drag queen RuPaul came out filtered from the speakers in both Los Angeles and the phone saying, "Hey, Anne, looks like you could use a little mood music. And a little birdie told me this was your jam."
Kramer looked at it. The feed was showing an aerial view of the giant screens in downtown L.A. and it saw them change their feed from CNN into a shot of an Asian man and woman wearing some sort of futuristic armor; a pink robot holding a strange purple orb with a bow, a face, a tail, arms, and legs on its right hand; a pink humanoid creature with an aviator's hat and goggles; and an old, frail, orange humanoid wearing a tweed jacket and an ascot.
"Kick his butt!" they all called out.
"We love you!" the woman cheered.
"You got this, girl!" the orb creature added.
"We believe in you!" the man followed.
Suddenly, the sound of people shouting Anne's name was echoing through the city as the song, which one anchor recognized as Blackpink's "As If It's Your Last", began to reach its chorus.
"I don't believe it," the voice of an anchor said. "Are they playing…K-pop?"
The camera panned back to Anne, who was stirring on the roof. Suddenly, there was a flash, and she once again glowed blue. She launched herself up again toward the robot, landing numerous blows against the enemy.
"Kramer," Newman said, "I must admit, I have no idea what the hell am I watching."
"You heard that effeminate voice!" Kramer bellowed. "It's a sign that we have to start walking!"
"Oh, for God's sake!" Newman replied as Kramer went ahead towards the entrance ramp to the Thruway. "I know I don't always live by the creed of the Postal Service, but this is ridiculous! I don't even like hiking!"
"Don't worry! We've got Blackpink to entertain us on the way!"
Along 8th Avenue, Elaine was still walking north, halfway towards 81st Street, when she passed by an electronics shop. She doubled back to look at the sight.
The TVs on display were showing Anne Boonchuy fighting a giant robot to the sound of Blackpink's "As If It's Your Last", that K-pop song she would sometimes hear on the radio.
"Wow, Anne," Elaine said softly. "You go, girl."
Behind her, a taxi stopped by on the curbside, blaring the same song on the radio.
"Hey, ma'am!" the driver said. She turned around to look at the driver. "You still need a ride out of the city?"
"No," she replied, "but I wouldn't mind if you could take me to the subway station at the Museum of Natural History."
"Alright, then." She went inside the cab and they drove off. As they traversed the increasingly desolate streets, he asked, "What do you need to go to the museum for? There's a ton of stations to go in if you wanna take a train out of Manhattan."
"I'm meeting someone there."
"Ah, a lover?"
"Former lover. Well, lovers. Not at the same time, though. But we're good friends with each other, though." She paused as the song continued. "What do you think about K-pop?"
"Eh," the driver said, "it's alright. It's usually just stuff like BTS."
"I like BTS."
"Yeah, they're alright. I don't always get the lyrics, but who cares? They're catchy."
"Yep. Very catchy. You think Anne Boonchuy would defeat the invaders?"
"I sure hope so. I'm trying to make a living here!"
At a tailor over at 23rd Street, a tired and somewhat delirious George arrived to find someone rolling the shutters down on the entrance.
"Hey!" he cried out at the man closing up shop. "What are you doing?"
"Uh, we're closed, sir," the man said. "There's talk of evacuating the city!"
"Screw that! I'm here to buy a suit! I've been keeping an eye on it for a while now, and you're quitting?"
"Depends. Are we still gonna be free men?"
"Look, it's been a long day. I've been pushed around by crowds, I broke my phone, I'm thirsty, and I'm here to buy that nice-looking suit, the gray one with the silk pockets. So why don't you just open this place back up and we could do some business, huh? I'll pay you."
"What?"
"Come on, I just need to borrow your phone."
"You want to call someone? Because I can do that."
"I have crypto! I just need to download the app onto your phone so I can send the money to your account. You do have a crypto wallet, right?"
Confused, the man backed away from George.
"Hello?" George called out. "Sir? You're not just leaving me here?"
"You know what?" the man called out as he threw down the keys to the shop. "Take whatever you like. It's on the house. Just…get the hell away from me, man." He turned around and walked briskly away.
George approached the keys, picked them up, then went back to the shop to open the shutters. "Well, well, well," he said. "Things are looking up again today!"