Chapter 2

Alice

A brilliant light filled the sky as a thunderous boom attacked my ears and the smell of burning invaded through my nose. I felt my mind tear open as a piercing shriek filled my head and seemed to penetrate my very being as it screamed for my submission. I resisted and struggled against it as the shriek intensified and I almost fell due to the stress the sound put on me. Soon, the shriek subsided and I regained my footing as the light began to disappear and thousands of smooth, disc-like aircraft filled the air, like leaves in a forest. My heart sunk like lead, watching on as we were slowly hemmed in by a net of ships, surrounding the city, and dreading what was to come.

The UFOs glowed with a sickly green light, which seemed to saturate the air, and gave off a resonant hum that seemed to reverberate around me. I looked over at the others and their nervous twitches and panicked expressions revealed that they were ready to run at the first sign of trouble. The UFOs hovered there, threateningly, layers upon layers of them, ready to pounce. And we, helplessly, waited. Everything was still, frozen, as if everyone in the city knew what would happen next; that this was the calm before the storm.

The uneasy silence was broken by a woman's shrill cry, that echoed through the otherwise silent city, that seemed to cause an explosion of activity as the eerie green colour intensified and everyone scattered, running for cover.

I hastily grabbed Hannah, the closest person to me, and began to run toward the nearest building, an ancient-looking shop that looked like it sold antiques. Kat seemed to catch on, grabbing a shocked Charlotte and running after me. As soon as we got in the shop, the entire sky outside flashed with green light and glowing orbs, the same shade as the light, seemed to rain from the sky, exploding all around, burning everything they touched. My heart was beating so fast that I thought it would burst out of my chest. I tried to look away from the entrance as we hid behind the counter, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the burning corpses and the screaming people. I watched on, powerless, as hundreds of people's lives violently ended and saw their as they were hit by the orbs and collapsed, screaming in agony.

I looked over at my roommates and saw they couldn't tear their eyes away either. I saw their terrified expressions as they watched the massacre outside, hoping that they wouldn't be next, wishing for it to end. I then noticed that Hannah wasn't looking and was focusing on drowning out the death and destruction outside. She had her eyes squeezed shut and had put earphones in and had music blaring through them as she attempted to block out the screams. I felt sorry for Hannah, the youngest here by almost a year, as she was much more vulnerable than the others and seemed much more upbeat. I put my arm around her, as we sat behind the counter waiting for the bombing to end, and she replied by resting her head on my shoulder and seemed to relax a bit, despite the horrors outside. My spirits lifted a bit at her reaction as she snuggled against me, like I used to with my sister, on cold winter nights. Hannah even offered to let me listen to her music with her, although I turned down her offer to give her the most protection against the sounds of the screams outside.

After what felt like hours trapped in the store, listening to the explosions and accompanying screams, the firing suddenly stopped and a deafening silence filled the air. Cautiously, the other people hiding in the store crept slowly toward the entrance, seeking relief from the cramped environment we were in.

As they reached the entrance, their faces contorted with pain as they were struck with emerald lasers and fell, burnt, to the ground. We quickly ducked behind the wooden counter as hulking, pink-skinned aliens landed on the ground, wearing bulky armour of a darker green colour, and began to search the store. We held our breath as they approached our hiding spots. We heard the screams of others as they were picked off by the aliens, one by one.

I heard the deep breaths of one of the aliens approaching me and my heart skipped a beat. My mind was sent spinning at the thought that this was the point I would die, that I would have no future, no children, no impact on the world at all. I tensed as the moment neared and prepared to try to fight, determined for one last chance, a chance to survive. Adrenaline shot through my veins as my fight or flight reactions kicked in, the aliens close enough to smell.

Just as I was about to fight, I heard a thundering sound, a cry from the alien standing right above me, and a thud as it slumped on the desk above me. I then realised that the sound was a shot and that the alien had been killed. This shot was followed by many identical shots, all prompting similar responses from the aliens.

As soon as the shooting was over, I got out from under the desk and saw our rescuers. The group were all wearing professional, black army uniform and all had matching Union Jacks on their left shoulders, with a skull and crossbones on the other. I looked over at Hannah to check on her and was greeted by her slim figure, asleep, where I had left her, head rolled to one side. I woke her up with a gentle nudge and she, adorably, yawned, took out her earphones and her face brightened as she noticed our rescuers. The soldier who seemed in charge walked up to us and explained that they were taking civilians to an evacuation centre further into the city and that we could escape from there.

As the group prepared to leave, we separated from the soldiers and I asked the group "How are you all doing?"

Kat, dismissively, replied "A bit shaken up but, otherwise, fine."

Charlotte, quietly, replied "With all that's going on, I'm okay. But, I can't stop thinking about what happened outside, those poor people..."

With that, Hannah looked toward the entrance and her face darkened. For that brief moment, all her childhood innocence was lost and, in it's place was anger, as she saw the destruction outside. Then, suddenly, she reverted back to her usual, childlike self. "Why would anyone want to do this?" she asked, rhetorically.

With that in mind, we helped prepare the soldiers to leave, in silence.

Before we left the store, the leader told us his name, Major Harris, "So you girls have something to call me, besides 'sir'.", which I thought was appreciative of him. We then exited the shop and closely followed Harris, shocked at the devastation caused by the aliens and their bombardment. We had to climb over the charred corpses and the stench of death surrounded us, choking the air around us. I glanced at the others and saw Charlotte and Hannah talking to Harris with grim faces, probably learning the extent of the alien's attack. And, then, I saw Kat, green- faced, trying to skirt around the bodies and pinching her nose, trying to block out the smell.

As we turned into a side street, a soldier appeared to spot something up ahead and the other soldiers went forward to investigate, leaving us with Harris and a couple of soldiers to keep watch. After a few minutes of the soldiers crowding around the source of interest, leaving me only glimpses, I got a look at what was catching the attention of all the soldiers; it was a hexagonal canister that was glowing a warm orange colour. The glow seemed to be caused by a dense, gooey liquid that made me feel safe and secure, despite my surroundings. I thought I heard something scurrying about as I stared at the canister and wondered how the object had gotten there. It was then that I realised.

"It's a trap, get away!" I shouted, just before a blinding flash of green vaporised the soldiers standing closest to the object and green lasers erupted from in front of and behind us. Many if the soldiers were killed by the sudden attack and we were forced down a narrow alley that was filled with large bins and old, ruined cars. Blocked in by the aliens, we sprinted to the end of the alley and the soldiers, realising that it was a dead end, hunkered down, preparing to fight. I silently cursed at our luck and tried to think of ways to survive. My mind went into overdrive as the adrenaline kicked in, flooding my mind with ideas. I took cover behind one of the bins to escape the lasers and the continually weaker stream of gunfire.

Realising that I was going to die, I decided that at least I'd die defending my friends. I grabbed a rifle of the corpse of one of the soldiers, slumped over, surrounded by a pool of blood, and started wildly firing at the source of one of the beams. The other girls followed my example, including Hannah, surprisingly, and started firing back at the attackers. Several satisfying screams responded to our hail of gunfire and became more frequent as time went on. As the remaining soldiers fell around us, we continued to fight back and, soon, it was only us four left against the swarm of aliens. Surprisingly, our ambushers where not the ones from the store but new grey, child sized aliens that could control that looked like purple wisps of energy in the air.

Soon, the aliens had pushed to just a few metres from where we were shooting from and, just as we were about to get overrun, a sleek-looking aircraft, labelled Firebrand, dropped off four heavily armoured soldiers that started shooting the aliens in the back. They made short work of the aliens, who seemed surprised by the attack, and approached us with grim faces. I looked at our attackers' bodies and saw that the soldiers were definitely skilled, having killed at least fifteen aliens. I looked back down the alley and saw the soldiers' bodies strewn across the alley, the smell of burning flesh filling the air.

"What happened here?" asked one of the soldiers, trying to keep professional surrounded by the bloodshed.

"We were traveling to an evacuation. centre with some of the military and were ambushed while they investigated a strange, glowing orange canister and, well, they all died and you saved us." Kat replied, trying to copy the soldier's professional demeanour but her voice wavering due to the shock of the ambush and the amount of adrenaline pumping through our veins.

I then noticed that one of the soldiers had sat down, obviously in pain, and tried, shakily, to patch himself up, although obviously incapable of doing it. I ran over, leaving the others to talk with the soldiers and tried to tend to the soldier's wound. I looked, first, what the soldier was trying to grab, a backpack just out of his reach. I opened the bag and found several magazines of ammunition and medical supplies. Using improvised first aid skills, based off my basic training required for design technology, I managed to get the soldier back on his feet. Luckily, as the aliens used lasers, the wound had been cauterised and so didn't bleed, which would have made the wound fatal.

As I got back to the others, they had finished fully recounting the last few hours. The soldiers, all looking sympathetic, turned to privately converse with each other and, after a few minutes, turned back to us and the leading soldier, the first one to speak with us, asked us, almost rhetorically, if we wanted to wait for them in the 'Skyranger'. An instant, unanimous "yes" resounded from our mouths and we clambered into the well-lit seating area of the 'Skyranger'.

As soon as we were strapped into the seats that lined the edges of the aircraft, the floor seemed to lurch as we rapidly rose up, my ears popping as we ascended.

As I settled in, a voice from the intercom made me jump in surprise when it said "Hello, this is your captain speaking. Thank you for flying Blue Sky Airlines, with your captain, Blue Sky. Make yourselves comfortable; we will be here for a few hours before returning to base."

After 30 seconds of silence, Hannah seemed to grow uncomfortable and started fidgeting. She played with what she could of her hair, twirling it between her fingers and constantly brushing her fringe out of her eyes, and tapping, rather annoyingly, on the side of her chair. It really got on my nerves, having been relishing in the silence, but I let her continue, understanding that it was probably just her trying to de-stress after what all that had happened today. She, soon, rested her head on my shoulder and I could hear her soft breathing. Her slow, deep breaths, oddly, calmed me and gave me the sort of comfort I've only really ever felt with my sister. The feeling made me remember a night with my sister, around a year ago.

I was in my bed, unable to sleep, waiting for morning to come. I, then, heard a small whisper. "pssst!" I heard it say and I looked toward the source of the noise and saw my sister's colourful, fun-loving face, the golden flecks in her emerald eyes shining in the darkness. She motioned me to follow her and snuck out the room. I, curious, followed and found that I was led to the roof.

When I got on the roof, I saw Beth lying on her back, staring, longingly, at the stars. I joined her, trying to not to interrupt her thoughts. The night sky was surreal. The stars glittered and sparkled like glitter on a canvas; the usually black night sky was set ablaze with shades of fiery red with sunset orange with shades of lilac and blue bled in. Absorbed in the picturesque view, we lay together for what seemed like hours, in a silence, comforted by each other's company. The silence seemed to create a calm, freeing atmosphere that made me feel warm and fuzzy relaxing me as I shared this beautiful moment with Beth, side by side, wishing this moment would never end.

A hushed "Alice," jogged me out of the pleasant memory. I saw that it was Charlotte that said it.

Careful to not wake Hannah, who now had her head on my lap, I whispered back "Yeah?"

"What do you think is going to happen now?" she asked, almost inaudibly.

Truthfully, I answered "I don't know. I guess we'll just have to wait." She didn't seem to like the answer but it also seemed to be the answer she'd expected.

I, then, shifted, as much as I could with Hannah's head on my lap, into a more comfortable position and willed myself to fall asleep and, miraculously, I did.