CHAPTER 1 - 12:45 A.M.
A roaring explosion erupted from Manhattan Island. That was the first sign that Corporal Alexander had spotted tonight, that things would obviously go wrong. He was 18, a Marine with the U.S. Department of Defense. He joined a year ago, his birthday would be tomorrow and he couldn't wait, but he had to.
The Corporal strapped on his gear--but he almost forgot about something. Alexander grabbed his helmet camera and equipped it to his helmet, pressing play he ran towards his squad. It was small, consisting of only three members including him. Private Johnson and his squad leader Sergeant Willis were waiting for him.
Alexander didn't know what was happening. Helicopters were in the air, tanks were moving out as well as many humvees. There was so much commotion going on, the Corporal thought that the worst had happened.
"Sir! Is there another Terrorist attack, sir?" Alexander asked.
The Sergeant replied, "We don't know yet Corporal. But we have orders from the government to move out onto Manhattan Island. We will receive more orders once we are there. Oorah?"
"Oorah!" replied the other two.
The squad moved into a Helicopter and the trio were lifted into the air as they headed towards Manhattan Island. One of the pilots turned to the Marines and said,
"More buildings have collapsed! And to make matters worse, the Statue of Liberty has been decapitated!"
The Marines gave each other a look. A look saying, "He's making shit up."
Alexander stopped the recording and turned off the camera.
2: 00 A.M. - Landing Zone - 3 Blocks Away from the Brooklyn Bridge
Corporal Alexander resumed recording again, and the rest of his squad got out of the helicopter. Then a man by the name of Colonel Jackson came up to the Sergeant.
"I want you and your men to follow the rest of them," he said pointing to his left as a wave of vehicles and soldiers moved through the city, "and try to take out whatever is causing all this damage."
The Sergeant agreed and they moved with the rest. The Sergeant was a man of action and not words. If it needed to be done, then do it. No one should be told to do so.
Then, everyone heard a splash in the water. A massive tail flew over the bridge where many people were being evacuated, then reality struck Alexander hard. The tail smashed the mid-section of the Brooklyn Bridge killing many people.
The bridge was falling apart fast, but helicopters in the air were attacking whatever hit the bridge. He couldn't see because it was covered by the building. The Corporal was scared now. They weren't up against any Terrorist or some kind of robot like in the movies. This was real.
The troops started to follow the terrible thing that had caused the damage.
2:40 A.M.
"Dude, did you see that? You got that on camera right?" asked Private Johnson.
The Corporal was too busy trying to think about what that thing was. Whatever it was, he didn't want to see it again. Luckily, more reinforcements were dealing with the monster and news reporters at the same time. So Alexander's squad, as well as everyone else went a different way to evacuate civilians.
"Dude?"
"I don't know man." was all Alexander could say.
"What do you mean you don't know?--"
"Hey, get focused you two!" the Sergeant broke in, "We have enough to worry about than what's on camera."
Corporal Alexander slowly moved up, away from his squad. Then he saw four people, he guessed they were in their late 20's, bickering over something. On also had a camera with him. Then out of nowhere-- a giant clawed foot came down before them. A rocket was launched and more chaos began. He and the other Maries as well as tanks and other vehicles moved up, using all their ammunition to annihilate the creature. The Corporal moved up next to a car, for some kind of cover. He heard screaming for someone named "Rob".
The man was obviously freaked out, just as much as Alexander. The thing roared. Then the four people moved towards the creature, as Marines from somewhere else ran away. Corporal Alexander tried to run and get them, but another footstep by this monster stopped him in his tracks as it roared in front of him. Alexander fell backwards and saw the remaining man fall into the subway tunnels, as Alexander threw blind grenades that almost fell into the subway.
He ran backwards into a car and got behind it and started shooting. Alexander wasn't sure if anyone else noticed, but all their missiles and ballistics were doing to the monster, was just annoying it.
"It's going to be a long fight." he sighed to himself.
CHAPTER 2 - 2:55 A.M. - Continuing Attack
All kinds of projectiles were being thrown at the monster. Corporal Alexander was still behind the car, the creature almost killed him. Or that's what it felt like to him.
"Alexander!"
His Sergeant called out to him, he ran to him, trying not to get shot by his own friendlies.
"What were you doing?! You almost got yourself killed!"
Alexander replied, "Sir! There were four civilians endangering themselves!"
"Look!" Sergeant Willis explained, "The sooner we take out this thing, the less civilians will be harmed! Now fire marine!"
He did as he was told. Tanks fired round after round while moving up, as well as missiles and bullets flew through the air, hitting their target.
3:20 A.M. - Continuing Attack
Alexander was now out of ammunition for his M16. Many of the others had nothing left either. They were able to push the creature back until the Marines reached the footstep near the subway entrance. Then, the Monster charged at the Marines. The Corporal barley dodged the attack, jumping onto the subway stairs, with his legs brushing the monster's own. He fell on the concrete floor hard on his arm. He struggled back on to his feet. Next thing he knew, freaky looking insects were staring at him. They were the biggest bugs he had ever seen. The insects seemed to be the size of a full grown German Sheppard.
Alexander tried to fire at them with his M16 assault rifle, but nothing.
That's right! I'm out of ammo... He thought as he was slowly walking backwards, away from the insects.
They didn't get the message. They came closer.
Corporal Alexander jumped onto the tracks and ran. He ran as fast as his body could. The insects were jumping all around him making many strange noises. It sounded like a dying goose, high pitched dying goose. He put his hand on the record button to stop recording. Later, after running for what was like forever to him, a large white flash of light was behind him. He saw a station and jumped to the door. As Alexander turned around, he saw the metro train run over the dog-sized insects. But that wasn't what got his attention: The metro train was full of the same insects.
He turned around and opened the door and went through. It seemed like a rest area, there was a small mess of blood on the table, as well as some paper towels and water. The Corporal didn't want to investigate. He stopped recording and turned off his camera, and walked on.
He was walking through a mall. He saw an electronics store and went into it, hopefully finding some batteries for his camera, in which he did. He pressed the "record" button on his helmet camera and moved on.
CHAPTER 3 - 5: 07 A.M. - Inside Mall
Corporal Alexander walked through double doors, and walked through a small clothing store. There were many manikins just lying around everywhere in the store. There was a light still on, he still went towards it. Soon, as he walked more, he realized he was in a military base. The Corporal just walked in and looked around. Other soldiers, nurses, sick people and equipment were quickly being moved out into a different area. Even though he knew he shouldn't, Alexander sat down on a small chair. He felt like he needed it after being chased in the tunnels.
"Excuse me but, um, I need you to help me move these people." a quiet nurse asked.
Immediately, the Corporal stood up, but wished he hadn't. He was welcomed to the sight of many men and women who were missing their lower abdomen, most of them had their intestines still hanging out.
"What happened to him?" he asked quietly, never taking his eyes of the body.
"Weren't you here when it happened?" she asked looking at him.
"No ma'Am." replied Alexander finally taking his eyes off the body and at the nurse.
"But I thought that nobody was allowed to leave this base..." she said.
"Um, well, I'm not from this base, I was actually from," Alexander started pointing to the surface, "I kinda got lost... ma'am."
"Oh... Okay, well, you can still help. Can you get the man over there?" she asked, pointing to an ill man around a tent.
The Corporal went to him, and looked around, specifically, in the Quarantine tent. As he did look around, he saw a bloody mess on the floor, consisting of a woman who seemed to be in the same condition. He remembered this woman as being one of the four people on the street he tried to help a few hours ago. He shuddered and turned away as he moved the moaning man.
"Where do you guys want him?" he asked the nurse.
"Oh, just follow everyone else over there. They'll put them in helicopters and move them off the island." she answered.
As he moved the cart, two men in blue suits, emboli virus suits or something, moved passed him with some special gear. Alexander thought it was just to clean up the body. He stopped recording.
The Corporal moved outside as another solider helped him put the man in the humvee. Once that was done, he headed back inside. The soldiers and nurses had moved almost everything out, leaving just a few computers and blankets behind. He pressed the "record" button on his camera and continued recording. Then, the same nurse said to him,
"We're almost done, we just need to get that man into the--"
She was interrupted by a loud growl. Crunching, screeching was heard behind the Quarantine tent. Then suddenly someone cried out loud,
"Heeeelp!"
Then silence. Alexander raised his M16, and one of the same insects from the tunnel before, came out of the tent. The insect stared intently in the Corporal's eyes. Then more and more of the insects came slowly behind the other. Soon there were more than before, somewhere around 10 or 15 of them.
Then all of the sudden, Corporal Alexander and the nurse saw one of the men in the suits being thrown across the room. The Corporal turned back, now aiming though his rifle at the insects, he asked the nurse in a whisper,
"What are those things?" she replied back,
"They're parasites."
"From whe--" Alexander stopped.
A parasite, probably the size of a small one person sofa, had crawled behind the others. It had a small needle in it. Alexander spotted this, as well the fact it had yellow saliva coming out of its mouth.
CHAPTER 4 - 5: 28 - Inside Secret Military Base
Corporal Alexander had been face-to-face with the parasites before. But there were not as many. He was still aiming through the iron sight of his M16. The nurse backed up by a few centimeters, hoping to slowly get away. The parasites started coming to them. Then, more marines came in to help move the remaining ill people. But they stopped dead in their tracks, and dropped whatever was in their hands, whether it was a syringe or their gun. They couldn't believe how many of these things were near them. The parasites kept coming close and closer. The marines and nurse slowly moved backwards. They had all seen,
(except for the Corporal) what happens if any of these things bit people, so they didn't want to take that chance. One of the Sergeants named Sergeant Pryce came in and was going to ask what was holding up everyone, but the words that came out of his mouth were,
"What the..?" he said under his breath as he slowly raised his gun.
One of the marines behind Alexander quickly pulled out a pistol and started firing. This caused the parasites to jump around and start attacking. Alexander grabbed the nurse by the arm turned around and started running. Alexander kept yelling to move and get out of the way. No matter what rank they were, he wasn't going to let another person die. The giant monster was doing enough damage as it is, it didn't need help from the parasites. The rest of the marines were firing at the parasites, but many were attacked, and some just couldn't hit them, they were too quick.
"Here!" The Corporal said to another marine taking cover, "Take my grenades and pistol magazines!"
Alexander handed the marine, all of his ammunition. He was sure he wasn't going to need it as much as the others fighting the parasites. He and the nurse ran outside, but too much surprise, the helicopters and humvees were already leaving. Alexander thought it was probably because of the parasite outbreak.
"I don't understand!" he said to himself.
"What?" asked the nurse.
"How they even got passed the subway station! I could've sworn that I closed the doors completely!"
Then he looked at the nurse who was staring blankly at the base, wide eyed at what was happening inside. Then he asked the nurse,
"Are there any more doctors, nurses or anyone else besides other soldiers?"
"No I'm left." she said under her breath, but loud enough for the Corporal to hear it.
Alexander didn't know what to do next. He radioed in to Sergeant Willis, hoping he was still alive. The Corporal looked hard at the ground, just hoping someone would answer. It was nothing but just static. Then more marines were coming out of the base, still firing and getting killed.
"Stay here!" he told the nurse as he ran off to one of the marines. He felt a bit bad, considering he just ordered a woman, who was in her late 20's. He ignored that and quickly looked at the marine's rank- a sergeant.
"Excuse me sir!" he said.
"What is it!" the sergeant responded still firing at the oncoming parasites.
"Is there any other extraction point around here, sir? We still have another nurse that needs to get off this island!"
"There is one near the Grand Central Terminal, you better go now! The Hammerdown Protocol will start probably 10 minutes after 0600 hours. At 0600 the last choppers leave the island, go now!"
He nodded and ran to the nurse.
"Okay, we're going to get you out of here, just come on."
The nurse said to him, "Okay." and Alexander started running,
"Come on, it's not too far away!"
She started running too.
Corporal Alexander and the nurse heard the noises of the last marines being taken down by the parasites. Then, they heard a very deep and loud screech from one of them. He had an idea of which one it was.
CHAPTER 5 - 5:40 A.M. - On Park Avenue
Corporal Alexander and the nurse were running to an aerial extraction site a couple of blocks ahead of the Grand Central Terminal. Then, the two heard a loud and deep growl - with many legs.
"Come on, behind that building to our left! We'll lose there!" Alexander yelled pointing to a small grocery market ahead of them.
The Corporal was more worried about getting to the extraction site on time, he figured if the parasite still followed them; the other marines could deal with it. They ran behind the grocery market as Alexander tossed old garbage cans at the overgrown parasite, trying to slow it down. But the measly garbage cans didn't stop the parasite from leaping over them. He quickly turned around and ran. The nurse was in front of him, and he could barely see the extraction zone not too far away. But the parasite wasn't too far away either, as the Corporal could hear the scattering legs and snapping jaws right behind him.
Those made him run a little bit faster, almost catching up to the nurse. Alexander also heard big "booms" coming close to him to. This made the Corporal panic, it could've easily been other tanks and missiles, or the monster that was attacking the city in the first place.
Either way, it wasn't good. Then the parasite attacked Alexander by leaping on him. The Corporal immediately used his ammo-less M16 to pound the giant parasite, it was so big he couldn't help but grunt loudly. He put the M16 in between its jaws, now the parasite's mouth was stuck open, since the M16 was holding it. Then the parasite started scrambling around trying to remove the M16.
The nurse overheard the commotion and came running back to the fallen marine, then grabbed him by the arms and tried to drag him away from the parasite.
"What time is it?" he asked quietly.
"The nurse checked her watch, "Its 5: 47." she replied, trying to check for any signs of a bite, which thankfully there wasn't any.
"Then just go! You need to get to the extraction zone or they'll leave you if you don't get there before 0600."
Then the parasite stopped thrashing its head around, and turned its frustration on the nurse and marine. It came charging towards them like a raging bull. It was about to leap onto them until-
BOOM
- it was stepped on. Alexander and the nurse looked up in horror as they looked at the monster.
"Run! Just go! Come on!" the Corporal yelled at the nurse as he struggled to get up.
"GO!" he told the nurse again as she ran.
Corporal Alexander got up, and as he looked up, he was eye-to-eye and face to face with the monster. It looked at the marine closer, and it snarled. It remembered him alright.
CHAPTER 6 - 5:48 A.M. - Near Grand Central Station
The two different beings looked at each other hard. The monster studied Corporal Alexander deep and hard. The Corporal wondered if it even understood what was going on. It was, or so he thought, just an animal. A really, really big animal.
Alexander started to make a run for it, until he was all of a sudden being lifted off the ground by the monster's teeth, into the monster's mouth. It all happened so fast. He was tumbling around for a few seconds, screaming and cursing at the monster. But then he heard an explosion so close to him. Next thing he knew, he was on the ground again, scrambling for his life. The monster roared as the Corporal sprinted away. As he did, he checked the camera, it was covered in so much saliva as it could've, and the screen could've been seriously damaged.
The Corporal ran passed a single tank that continued firing. Up ahead he saw the nurse out of breath and slowing down. The Corporal barley caught up, only a few feet behind. He forced himself and his cramped lungs and legs to move on.
"Come on! You're so close!" he said to her.
They finally got to the site, and the nurse got in as The Corporal slammed the helicopter shut. He could barely hear her behind the door, he looked as she said
"Thank you!" with her hands pressed against the glass.
Alexander waved his hands, and pulled down his balaclava and smiled as she flew over him. Then, he pulled it back up, and looked forward as other people rushed towards the evacuation site. Then he saw the monster rip through the Grand Central Terminal and pushed its head into another building as other military forces fired. He took off his helmet
camera and zoomed in on them. It was a few of the same people with another woman.
'Hey! Corporal! You're getting off the island!" yelled other Sergeant.
He turned around and he went into a helicopter. Another marine got in next to him.
"Dude, you smell like rotten fish!" he said as he moved across and away from him.
Then one of the same people Alexander had seen throughout the night, sat right was put right next to him by another army official. Her friends were saying things to her as her hands were pressed up against the window.
Then they started up into the air.
CHAPTER 7 - 6: 00 - Flying Over Manhattan Island
Corporal Alexander, another marine and a woman were in a helicopter together finally getting off the island. The Corporal looked over outside his window, and he witnessed an attack by the monster while the last helicopter had left. It had thrown a humvee and the military forces started attacking while a few drove off for their own evacuation. He looked back at the helicopters occupants. The woman looked worried as she looked out the window; the pilots were discussing the HAMMERDOWN protocol. It made Alexander a bit uncomfortable, overhearing that they were going to destroy the whole island if they could destroy the monster in the process – and hopefully the little parasites too. Those scared him to death, making him panic and feel helpless since there were so many.
Then he looked to the marine and asked,
"How was your night out?" a bit calmly and quietly.
"Its been going. That thing scared the shit outta me though." The marine replied casually.
"Which thing?" joked Alexander.
"The only thing, dumbass." The marine said seriously, "Its like Godzilla down there."
The Corporal couldn't reply negatively, he was, without looking at his vest until now, talking to a sergeant.
"But there were smaller little bugs, which the Army officials refer to them as "Parasites". Didn't you ever see them?" questioned Alexander.
Then the marine turned his head from the window, looked at the Corporal in the eyes as he leaned forward and asked,
"Are you on drugs?"
Surprised by his question, he quickly answered back, "No, sir."
"I really hope so dude."
The sergeant looked to be in his early twenties, making both of the marines younger then the woman next to Alexander. The Alexander stopped recording and said,
"Sir, I would appreciate it, if I can show you what I'm talking about."
"No need, soldier. Maybe there's a lot more to this thing that we know." He said as he leaned back.
The Corporal was about to say something when another person did,
"He's right you know."
He turned to his right to see the woman looking at the sergeant and to at Alexander.
"What do you mean, what's ya name?"
She replied, "I'm Lily, and I know what he's talking about. My friends and I saw them in the subway!"
"Now how do you know it wasn't just a big spider?"
Corporal Alexander just about had it; he was about to turn on his camera until he heard that they were starting the "Bomb Run".
"Hold on a sec guys I'm going to record this." He said quietly.
"You remind me of someone." Lily said.
"Yeah, I think I saw him too, when you guys did a suicidal run into the subway." Alexander said, taking his eyes off the camera and on Lily.
"You were there?"
"I've been unknowingly following your guys trail into the military base."
It was silent. He hoped that Lily didn't think that he was a stalker or anything, it just happened. He looked back on the camera as a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber hit the monster directly. Alexander saw the monster fall, as well as the other helicopter near it.
Everyone in the helicopters and on the ground cheered during the brief moment the monster was down. Because the monster attacked the helicopter and it was still alive.
"DAMN IT!" screamed Alexander. He pressed his hands on the window dropping the camera on the seat.
"What will kill it?!" he blurted while staring outside the window.
The island had taken a beating. The monster was a ruthless force that just walked all over the island. Leaving giant footprints in its wake. It came up to more tanks and humvees as they were merely stepped on. Just as Alexander thought things couldn't get any worse, it did, and it was just his luck. As the monster stepped on many missile launchers attached to trucks, on flew off and hit the side of the helicopter, specifically, Lily's.
"Hang on!" the sergeant told them.
The helicopter crashed.
6: 10 A .M. – Bayside of 145th Street
Alexander's camera was in such a position, that the "off" button was turned off. Alexander woke up and looked around. There were many abandoned military humvees and destroyed tanks. Lily and the sergeant woke up now. The Corporal checked the pilots, and knew they were dead. He grabbed his helmet camera and took a close inspection of it. He turned it on and it was miracle it still worked.
"What do we do now?" Lily asked Alexander.
For once, the Corporal felt important for once, like he was the one people wanted to find so he could solve their problems. Of course, he snapped out of it, and scanned around. They were near a bay as well as a dock full of boats.
"We grab a boat and head off the island." He declared.
"Sounds good to me, I'll get the boat runnin'." The sergeant said as he quickly ran off to the nearest boat.
Lily started to cry, "I can't believe they were all on it!"
She continued sobbing, "Rob, Beth and Hud, are now all gone!"
Alexander didn't know what to do. HAMMERDOWN was about to start, and he was supposed to be off the island. So he went over to Lily and tried his personal best to calm her down. He didn't say anything, for he saw the crash. Then the two heard a loud screech.
"Not them again…" Alexander sighed.
This time, hundreds of parasites were coming to Alexander and Lily.
"Get on the boat! Tell me when its ready to go! Move!" He rushed Lily as she went ran
towards the boat.
Alexander spotted a humvee still intact, so he ran on top and started firing. Screaming with rage he was determined to destroy all of them No matter what. That's when the first bomb went off. The monster definitely took a beating, because Alexander heard it.
"COME ON!" Lily shouted.
Alexander still fired. Still screaming.
'"COME ON!" She yelled again.
Another bomb went off. The monster roared again. Alexander finally ran out of ammunition. It took him a second to just realize what was going on. He jumped off and ran for the boat. Another bomb went off, as well another roar.
"Start going!" he shouted.
Then a parasite jumped behind the Corporal and screeched the all-too annoying sound. He turned around only to find it shot in mid-air. He turned back around to see the sergeant with his own M16 aiming through his scope. Alexander looked at the boat; it had been unattached from the dock. It was time to roll. Another bomb went off, as well as the monster's roar. The sergeant got back in the boat as it started to go. The parasites were all scattering behind Alexander as he was almost there to the boat. There was a bit of water between him and the boat.
"Jump for it!" yelled the sergeant.
He did, and he barley grabbed the rail, as many parasites were still on the land. Only one came up to the Corporal, but he was easily swatted by Alexander's leg. As he got in on the boat, another explosion went off—but it wasn't for the monster. Alexander, Lily and the
sergeant looked as the parasites that were chasing them were killed in the bomb explosion.
The sergeant quickly left to steer the boat. While Corporal Alexander fell flat on his rear, just thinking all that he went through last night and now. He even had the camera to prove it all. He figured he'd make a copy and give to CNN or something.
Lily came up to him, still looking at the destroyed Island.
"All that happened here, it was just," she took a breath, "Just-"
"Unreal." Corporal Alexander finished. The only word that would describe his whole night.
