The invasion. Day 1

The Walmart store was full of screams now. ''Terrorists!'', someone shouted. The second bomb went right at the plaza, some cars blew up in the air. Lily felt cold somewhere near the stomach. ''Can it be this man was right?'', she thought and rushed outside but got grabbed by the sweatshirt hood. It was that tall man. ''Wanna go outside?! Are you insane?!'', he screamed as several more explosions were heard closer. People were running all around, someone grabbing more goods and trying to leave, someone got on the floor. The shaggy man grabbed Lily and the old lady by the sleeves and started pulling them inside the store. Lily hit him on the arm, trying to break out. ''You're nuts! Let me go, I need to run!''

''Me too, girlie, I have a family waiting for me! Do you wanna get your ass fried in there?! We need to hide for a while!", the tall dude kept on carrying the women inside the aisles. The old woman seemed so shocked she didn't even try to resist. Finally they ran into the kitchen or the preparation area, whatever it was. The man looked around and ran to the huge metal tables. He started opening the doors, probably checking if there was enough room inside. Lily still had her basket in her hands. The man looked at it and suddenly opened his eyes really wide, as if realizing something. ''You ladies go inside those tables, I'll be right back!'', he exclaimed and ran out.

The old lady looked at Lily, ''Do you think we should listen to him?''. Lily turned to her, about to reply when they heard that sound. It was not similar to anything else. It gave them the goose bumps. The women looked at each other and rushed to the table. The old lady gave quite an agile jump on the left and got inside of one table. Lily got the right one, spacious enough to fit two or three people. She suddenly thought they might spend some time there and dragged the basket inside with her. A minute later, the shaggy man ran into and closed the door. He had some bottled water and bread in his arms. Without saying anything, ran to the old lady's hideout, handed her some water and bread and shut the table door close. Meanwhile, Lily discovered a crack between the table and its door and started to observe. The man got inside her table,

''Move over, girlie, I gotta save my ass,too. I got us some water, hell knows how long we'll be hanging out in here''. He sat in front of her, bending his long legs so they nearly touch his chin. Than he saw Lily trying to call on the cell phone and pulled it from her, ''What if there is still some connection and they hear the ringtone?!'' Lily bit on her lower lip, ''Sorry, you got a point. I was just gonna try to call my mom and uncle''. The young woman turned the phone off. The man did the same.

''Hon, everyone got a family, now we have to sit and wait a little''. He was also scared, Lily could hear his teeth chattering. She pointed at the crack and whispered, ''Wanna see, too?'' Suddenly the kitchen entrance door opened, and a screaming man ran inside. Then Lily and the man saw the creature of six legs, a bit shorter as an average human, its yellowish skin looking rough. The creature quickly jumped on the man and hit him, slitting the throat. Lily was about to scream but her hideout neighbor shut her mouth with his palm. His eyes were full of tears. They could hear the old woman screaming. Lily's heart froze when the creature crawled to the table, chirred and opened the hideout door. The old lady shrieked, and the shriek suddenly stopped. Lily nearly jumped but the man grabbed her by the shoulders, still holding her mouth. Both of them had tears streaming down faces but they had to realize that making a sound equals death.

Meanwhile the creature passed by the table trying to catch more sound. Lily only hoped they cannot hear their hearts rushing, as it seemed as loud as canon shots to her. The alien chirred and left the kitchen. There still were explosions and screams outside, and the man gave Lily the ''hush'' signal. Right, she thought, they might still be there. She thought of her mom probably hiding at home or in a supermarket now, and of her uncle still locked inside the university building. Suddenly she remembered one day when uncle Roger brought a telescope he borrowed from a coworker.

...She was about six years old but her uncle told her the basic things about the Solar system and stars. Little Lily ran to the box with the telescope and asked, ''Are we going to see the aliens, unkie?'' Roger laughed, he had to explain to his niece that it was hard to see many things with a regular telescope, so if there were the aliens, they would be too far away. Lily gave out a sad look, ''well, I hope if they visit us I can ask them many things! Like... if they also have families or they don't even know whose child is where like with some animals you've told me about.'' Lily's mother Kate looked at her brother in rage, ''Roger! Aren't there enough things to tell the children about?!'' The young scientist grinned, ''well, yes, things like how to choose a proper boyfriend so he doesn't leave you pregnant, right?''...

The new explosion returned Lily to reality. The man in front of her probably had his legs sleeping, as he tried to move them. Lily pulled his sleeve and whispered, ''We gotta get out soon, we cannot sit here forever''. The man wiped some sweat from his face and nodded. ''I got a cabin for my family not far from Charleston. Come with us if ya wanna". She looked at him as if he said he just arrived from Mars. ''It's more than 150 miles away I guess. How are we gonna cover the road?!''. The man shrugged, ''Any other option? I got there many things for survival, like small stove, water filter, fishing roads and guns to hunt. Better than nothin', huh?''. He stretched his hand for shake, ''I'm Russel by the way. Russel Donovan''. ''Lilith Kadar, just Lily'', she replied and waited for the reaction to her full name many people have been showed over years. Russel chuckled and shook his head, ''Damnit, girlie, like the demon, right? Who was so smart to name you that?'' Lily just sighed, ''will tell you later if we survive''. Russel nodded and got quiet for a while thinking about something. He looked at her, ''If my son survives all this shit he's gonna meet us there at the cabin, there is enough of room for three or four people. He's 19, just like you maybe''. ''I'm 25'', shrugged Lily and got one more surprised chuckle.

They have spent some time sitting quietly and trying not to move. Lily was all shaking of fear. The explosions were heard further now, no screams were heard. As if reading her mind, Russel looked at her, ''ready to check the way out?''