The base was in a city conveniently located near a chemical company, a paper mill, and an explosive manufacturing plant. I arrived just before dusk, and was met by a troop of four guards. There were several others a bit farther behind as well providing cover. "State your name and business please, " he said.

"I am Carl Jones. I was told to come here to showcase this suit. I have the letter in my backpack, if you want to see it, " I responded as I deactivated the spring boots and stopped the recording.

"Show it to me, " he said. I set my backpack down and withdrew the letter and handed it to him. He scanned it and nodded once he was done. "Follow me, please. " I followed him and the three other guards into the base. I was led through several dark hallways to what was obviously the commander's quarters, or at least where somebody high up lived. He had me wait outside while he went inside to talk to the commander. A few minutes later he came back out and motioned me inside.

I entered and inside was the base commander. "Your Carl Jones? I'm Corporal Jenkins, base commander, " he said.

"That's me sir. This is the suit I told you about in my letter. "

"Does it still work? The EMP from yesterday wiped out the local power grid. "

"Thankfully, yes. I was transporting it inside of a faraday shield to prevent damages from an attack like that. "

"Can you replicate it, even after the EMP?"

"I don't think so. "

He nodded. "The soldiers outside the door will take you to a place where you can stay. Tomorrow, you will train Sergeant Ken to use that suit, and he will take it to use against the aliens. "

I responded instantly. "No. This prototype stays with me. PECS has been with me longer than anyone besides my family, he's the only thing I know I can trust here. "

"You offered us that suit, and we accepted. Now hand it over. "

"I offered duplications and upgrades, not the prototype. "

He paused for a moment, then nodded. "Fine. You can keep the suit if you fight for us. "

"I will fight with you, but I am not one of your soldiers at your every beck and call. "

"Good enough for me, " he said and stuck out his hand. I shook it.

Day 12

I have successfully been accepted into the base, but PECS is constantly running low on power. The power is very sporadic. I need an alternate power source. New priority is to find a new power source, then build the rocket.

Day 14

I found the materials to finish the Imminent Capture protocol. I also found a few items that might help with the power problem.

Day 15

Imminent Capture protocol is finished. The power problem is being solved.

Yesterday, I was wandering the base when I found an old storage closet. I looked around and found some radioactive materials, which I discovered by a geiger counter in the suit. They were surrounded by a lead casing, which made it difficult to locate, but I found them. The geiger counter said that they made quite a bit of radiation. Theoretically, if I could turn the radiation directly into electricity, I could power the suit indefinitely. Key word 'if'. I knew it's been done before, but the material required needed special equipment to be made, equipment that used electricity. Annoying that to make electricity, you need some. I acquired the equipment easily at dump sites and managed to repair their circuit boards, and during the sporadic bursts of power I slowly built the necessary components.

Day 20 Entry 1

The power solution is solved. I replaced the LiPo batteries with mini nuclear generators, which generate more than enough power to keep the suit operational. I made sure to limit the power made so I didn't overload any part of the suit.

With the suit power solved, I was ready for whatever I would have to do next. I expected my first mission to be a counterstrike on an alien landing site like I'd done on X-COM many times, but Corporal Jenkins had other ideas. He called a meeting later that day, and gave us the latest news on the attacks.

Day 20 Entry 2

ET tried to land today. Apparently, I was wrong. They never tried to land at all. The spacecraft I saw was just a steel rod, dropped from space on a fault line to cause an earthquake. I don't know what will happen next, but I hope I'm not in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe I will see what happens next tonight.

After the meeting ended, I was called into his office with four other soldiers. "You five are needed for search and rescue along the floodline. Find any military personnel and bring them here. Civilians are second priority. We can hold maybe thirty or so more survivors, so make as many of them soldiers as you can. Also, if you find a working boat and underwater gear, take a look at the White House. It's been submerged, but maybe the president is still alive inside. Do you understand the mission?", he said.

"Yes sir, " we answered. He dismissed the other four soldiers.

"Do you accept this mission? I know I can't make you go, but will you?"

"Yes sir. "

"Good. You'll leave tomorrow at 0630. Do you need anything?"

I thought for a moment. "Do you have any extra explosives?"

"Fredricks will take you to our explosives cache. Don't take too much though. "

"Thank you. " The soldier named Fredricks led me to the explosives, and I upgraded the warheads on my rockets and finished the Iminent Capture protocol. Fredricks was going with me to look for survivors as well, and he knew the others so he told me about them. "Jones is our best shooter. Could hit a fly a hundred yards away. Henderson is our demolitions expert, he could take down almost anything given enough time. I'm the pilot, but I'm also handy with a rifle. Not much stuff to pilot now. Then there's Sanders, the squad leader. Best soldier I've seen, pretty much does it all, except for giving up. Always knows what to do and when to do it and where to be. If anybody's gonna send ET home, it'll be him. "

Day 21

We left today, a bit late, but we're on our way. I've started trying to hack into the satellites, since they seem to be working, but even with nobody countering my attacks, the firewall is really tough.

Day 24 Entry 1

We've arrived at the east coast, which is a lot closer than it used to be. I managed to get into a StarLink satellite yesterday so now I have sporadic wifi, but my real target is the military satellites, the ones with the huge cameras for spying from orbit.

Day 24 Entry 2

I've started noticing that as the day goes on, more and more of the people we meet seem to be sick. Not a lot of them, but enough to make me wary. I think It may be the next attack.

Day 25

I saw the next attack. It is a virus delivered by bird poop. It doesn't have a name yet, but it was best described as Edgar Allen Poe's Red Death. I hope that I do not catch it, but it is extremely contagious.

We had found our thirty survivors, but only four of them were soldiers, so we decided to keep looking a few days before heading back. The night we made that decision, two of our survivors died of the Red Death. We panicked for a few minutes, then waited to see who else had it. Almost everyone had it, except for me, a survivor, and Jones, who seemed to be immune.

A week later, we were still in the same spot, and most of the survivors had died. Sanders miraculously recovered, but the rest of the squad besides Jones wasn't so lucky. The survivor that was immune was named Ben, and wasn't really good with a rifle. We waited a few more days to see if we could find a working boat and scuba equipment, but failed. After the sixth day, Ben turned on us..

It was like a switch was thrown, one moment he was drinking water, and the next he was pointing a gun at us. He had thrown the water over me and my suit, which I had waterproofed in the first version, seeing that flaw, and had a .35 pistol pointed at Sanders, who hadn't quite realised what was going on. Jones was starting to stand up and bring his gun to aim. I knew he wouldn't make it in time, so I slowed down time.

Ben pulled the trigger and the bullet exited the barrel while I was three yards away. I made it in time to stop the bullet on my right arm, but he had just fired another and I was in the way. The bullet was headed for my left elbow, which was unprotected. I managed to twist my arm so that it hit the upper arm instead, but it was an awkward angle that made me lose concentration, and time sped back up to normal. Before Ben could fire a third shot, Jone hit him with his own right in the chest. I was falling to the ground when the bullet hit him.

I got up and kicked the gun away from him as he tried to grab it for a second try. Despite being injured, he got right back up and swung his fist at me. I had to slow time to block it with my left arm and the impact sent pain shooting up my arm. While he was distracted there, I jabbed the right capacitor into his side, which barely slowed him down. He swung again with his other fist, this time with a knife. I retracted the capacitor and blocked the knife on my right arm, and then stabbed my left knife into his side.

Despite the two wounds, he was still standing when Sanders shot him from right over my shoulder. The gunshot surprised me and time went back to normal. He had been hit in the head, definitely dead.

"Good work there Carl. I'd be dead if it weren't for you, " Sanders said. Jones was thinking through the attack and I could tell he was wondering how I got over there so fast, but decided it wasn't important.

"Thanks, " I said. I was wondering why Ben attacked us. I switched through various cameras, and was surprised by what came up with the thermal images. The wounds had started to be cauterized and the projectiles pushed out almost immediately after impact which was evident by the high heat traces around the wounds. Also, in a small point in his chest, there was a place where the heat was staying longer than normal. I sent the image to a small monitor on the belt and showed it to the others. "This is a thermal image of the body after Ben died, " I said.

"It looks like a living human, except that it's got holes in it, " Jones replied

"Look here, " I said, pointing to the wounds and the small in his chest. "The wounds were beginning to cauterize right after impact, and that big heat point isn't normal. I don't think this guy was entirely human. "

"You mean that they're in human bodies?"

"Yes. "

"Uh-Oh, " they both said.