Chapter 9 – M25
"Can we pull in here?" Aaron asked, as the jeep drew closer to a small gas station by the side of the motorway. "We really need to stock up, and this one doesn't seem looted yet."
"Good shout" Josh agreed, pulling in on the side and driving slowly up to the glass doors of the station. Aaron opened the door and stepped out. Will was still fast asleep in the back of the car. He was awake at night and asleep during the day.
"Nocturnal Will can stay in the car, I'll go by myself." Aaron said, knowing Josh wanted to stay with his new favourite toy, the car.
"I'll come help." Said Dan, patting the dozing woman on the arm and hopping out of the back. "Carry more things"
"Thanks man." answered Aaron, a smile on his face.
The two moved closer t the shop and opened the doors, and listened in. They didn't hear anyone, so they walked inside. Dan went for the sandwiches, the large packets of Walkers crisps, and the large bottle of water. Clearly he wanted to be helpful to those who were helping him out so much. Aaron went right to the chocolate and sweet section. He grabbed four packets of large marshmallows, a few packets of gummy-bears, and as many Yorkie bars as he could fit in his pockets. He looked over and saw what Dan was carrying, and walked to the counter, taking some of the plastic bags and loading them with food, before going back to grab more useful things.
Outside, Josh was patting the steering wheel impatiently, humming to himself and looking straight ahead. A large flock of birds flew overhead, and one of them dropped a massive white shit onto the windscreen of the jeep, directly in front of Josh.
"For fucks sake" Josh said out loud, looking upwards. "Go and shit somewhere else, like in Hell!" Grumpy, he looked at the mess on the windscreen and frowned miserably. Will and the woman in the back seat began to wake up from Josh's voice being raised, but neither in a rush.
Dan met up with Aaron round the back section of the store, as Aaron was putting some bottles of Vodka into the shopping bags. He was even trying to be stealthy about it, hunching over and looking nervous. Dan grinned and walked over to him, leaning down and grabbing the shop's last six-pack of cider.
"Bulmer's, what a score." He said, dropping the pack on top of the sandwiches. "You a Vodka man then?"
"Not really, but in case things get really shit, I want to be able to get really drunk, really fast." He said with a light chuckle, dropping his fourth bottle of Smirnoff into the bag.
"I'm more of a Cider man myself, but if this place has any generic Cola I'll certainly drink with you when things go to shit." He picked up a bottle and opened it, taking a small swig and passing it to Aaron. "Cheers"
Aaron took the bottle, grinning. He tipped it back and took a large swig, before screwing his eyes shut and lowering the bottle. He coughed a little and handed it back to Dan. "Yea... Cheers."
Dan laughed; putting the top back on and placing it back on the stand. As Aaron looked for some more high quality Alcohol, he went to find some Cola.
Josh turned his head to the side, hearing a sound like a twig breaking. He couldn't see anyone around, so assumed it was nothing. But the sound came again, louder now. He peered around, wondering what it was. The sound came again, and he fixed his eyes on the nearby trees, which were extremely tall. He raised an eyebrow and leaned out, staring at them. The sound of breaking twigs was coming from there, he was sure of it. Then he saw something that made his heart drop. The sound of breaking twigs was the sound of trees being pushed apart, and out to the dense woodland a large red creature was walking towards them, pushing its way through the branches. Josh immediately turned and yelled into the store.
"Aaron dude! We have to go, like right now!" He said, his voice coming out a little higher than he would have liked.
Aaron and Dan came jogging out of the store and saw the alien approaching, only a few meters of trees stood between it and the other side of the motorway. Dan jumped in the back, bringing his three bags bulging full of supplies with him, which Aaron dived into the front seat with his sweets and booze. Just as he slammed the door of the jeep, the alien managed to push its way to the edge of the road. Its large red eye fixed upon the tight cluster of humans in the vehicle in front of it, and it stood for a moment, inspecting the strange huddle.
Josh stared back at the great creature, unable to move his feet or hands. Aaron didn't know what to do either; he just stared shocked at the giant red monstrosity. It was Will who took action, slapping Josh's arm with the butt of his pistol.
"Drive you moron!" he yelled at Josh.
"Shit shit shit, alright!" Josh answered, slamming his foot down and beginning to drive the jeep out towards the main road.
The alien saw them moving, and began to raise up its hand slowly in their direction, keeping its eye fixed on the jeep. The red glow began to appear from its palm.
"Not today" Will said, as he began to fire shots off at the alien. The first few did nothing, but after five shots, the creature slumped back a little, its other hand reaching for its eye. The energy charged in its hand shot out in front of the jeep, creating a large crater in the tarmac. The jeep handled it well, only bumping lightly as it passed it. The alien was regaining its footing, and it turned around to see the jeep starting to speed off, and raised up its hand again. Will tried shooting at it, but it was no good. The red energy began to charge up, and everyone began to pray to his or her respective deities, or just begin to curve violently. As the red energy discharged from its palm, Aaron's eyes lit up, as the beam headed straight for them, the deep red reflecting in his desperate eyes.
However, the next thing Aaron's eyes felt was a stinging sensation, and a great wetness on is clothes. Having all been fixed on the alien, they hadn't noticed that Dan had picked up the bag full of Cola and Vodka, and thrown it into the air. The red beam had collided with the bag and caused it to spray cheap soft drinks and expensive Vodka all over the car. Aaron clutched at his eyes in pain and swore violently. The alien was getting further away now, as they began to round a corner, heading towards the M25, the large road surrounding London. Will patted Dan on the shoulder, and the woman gave him a passionate kiss on the lips, which he returned, but blushed a little, seeing the other three look at him.
"Nice one dude." Josh said, grinning widely, then elbowing Aaron in the arm. "This is why glasses come in handy, no drinks in my eyes!"
Aaron was still rubbing his eyes, but was grinning none the less. "We're actually fucking alive, haha! We fucking lived!" he said joyfully, sitting in cheer disbelief.
Will was chuckling at this point, looking at Aaron trying to regain vision. Josh was grinning smugly in at the four people traveling with him, and Dan was shaking his head, trying to brush off the compliment. It was the woman who sat up in her chair, looking ahead of the car.
"Oh shit... Guys?" She said in a quiet and shaky voice. She raised up her hand ahead of her, extending one of her small fingers. "Maybe we should avoid that."
Everyone's heads turned along the path of her finger, and they saw why her face looked so afraid. The city of London was burning. The shard was gone, blown out of the sky. Many of the tall office buildings were on fire, or had large holes blown in the side of them. Above all of this was a giant spacecraft, miles in diameter, hovering over the centre of the city, pulsing green lights coming from points all around it. Now Josh could see why Fluke sounded so afraid, it looked very bad.
As they got onto the M25 and turned around a corner towards the slip road, they were met by to large aliens, who spotted them right away. Both fixed their eyes on the jeep and began to turn towards them.
"FUCK" Josh yelled out, suddenly changing course and going back towards where they'd come from. But it wasn't safe there either. The alien from the gas station could be seen in the distance, and another was coming through the trees, clearly drawn to the sound of its comrade's attacks. The car turned again, going east, the longer way around London. They made it almost 100 meters before another red creature stepped out into their path, noticing them right away.
Josh spun the wheel as hard as he could, as a bolt of red energy shot past them from one of the aliens behind. The jeep did a U-turn and began to head back the way it had come from, but still in the M25. The aliens were approaching now, and one was coming up on their side. All 3 paths were guarded, and on the other side was nothing but a large embankment, leading down into a small stream and then some fields. Aaron cursed loudly, pointing to the side.
"Josh, they're coming from everywhere!"
Josh didn't reply, too focused on getting the jeep to safety. Another bolt of red energy missed them by inches, almost hitting the back of the jeep. As Josh moved as far away from the aliens as he could, a bolt hit the front of the car and the front tyre. The car jolted sideways and smashed through the metal barrier. The jeep hurtled down the grassy embankment and hit another barrier, this one stone.
The force of the car meeting the immovable stone barrier caused all five passengers to go flying out of their seats, hurtling through the air, the supplies going with them. The jeep stayed where it was, its front slammed into the wall. Everything that wasn't firmly attached to the car soared up high, and then splashed down into the stream. Everyone began to resurface one at a time, and Josh spotted some of the supplies had landed on the opposite side of the stream, as the rest sank to the bottom.
As they clambered towards the shoreline, Aaron noticed that the aliens were approaching the broken metal barrier, and it wouldn't be long until they were in range of a death ray. However, his concentration was broken by a scream of pain. Someone was on the side of the bank furthest from the aliens, bent over and clutching at their leg, screaming out in pain. As the aliens began to approach from behind, the terrible realisation hit the four people splashing towards the bank.
Will had broken his legs.