1 THE INVASION

"Hey Mark, stop staring at the sky already! I know you like looking at clouds and all but I've been talking for a while now and you don't seem to be listening".

"Oh sorry, guess I got a little distracted. What were you talking about again?"

"Come on maaann… I've been talking for like five minutes and you haven't been listening!?"

"Sorry, I just spaced out a bit. We were talking about that new announcement about the objects approaching earth, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I was saying how much of a suspicious statement that was. Like objects are heading towards earth and we should all start preparing for TRANSFER? Like what does TRANSFER mean?"

"How should I know?"

"Why won't you know, You're you."

"What do you mean I'm me?"

"You know, you always know everything, Like your latest scoop, Aliens really?"

"I can't believe it myself, and I was there myself"

"I bet your recent story is what prompted this announcement, it probably has something to do with it at least."

"Whatever you say."

"Oh, come on."

"Hahaha"

My name is Mark, I'm a twenty-seven-year-old freelance reporter. I cover everything from corrupt government officials to the cat stuck up in a tree in your neighborhood, ha-ha. Over the years I started getting a lot of traction on my blog from talking about corruption and information the government was withholding from us so they can keep us in a programmed state. Basically, I was woke, but not woke woke If you get what I'm saying.

Eventually, I moved unto freelance journalism and exposed multiple scandals and schemes of some powerful people. So it's safe to say I've made some powerful enemies, really powerful enemies. This will come into context later.

Recently I've been covering the multiple U.F.O sightings across the globe and I've been getting even more traction than usual, especially since I actually came into contact with one of such spacecrafts and I got it on camera.

News outlets are going crazy and everyone is debating whether my video is real or whether It's just a masterful piece of CGI. The government of course is doing all in their power to cover it up, but this scoop is too huge to hide there's no way I'm being silenced.

Right now I'm talking to my friend Karl. He's a six-foot-tall blonde man with blue eyes. He's well-built and looks like he's ready for any physical encounter you throw at him. He's a good friend and I've known him for a long time now. He's always there to help me run interference when I'm in a sticky situation.

"So? How are you going to handle this situation?"

He's also always concerned about the situations I put myself in. I get myself in very hot water sometimes but nothing criminally illegal.

"Huh? What situation?"

"You know, this is your biggest story yet. I bet a lot of guys are not gonna be happy about this, I mean Aliens"

"Yeah, you're right. But I'll pull out like I always do"

"Haha. You always do. It's like you have a guardian angel or something"

"Not a guardian angel, just my quick wits"

"Really?"

"Really."

Then it happened. There was a thundering sound that enveloped the whole area and from nowhere spherical pods started falling down the sky like asteroids, I could count at least seven that landed close to where I was standing. There was a short silence. Everyone was puzzled by the fact the pods just lay silent encroached in the ground. Then someone approached one of the steaming hot pods.

"Karl?"

"Yeah."

"Run."

"Run."

Boom!!!! As everyone scrambled away from their seats, The ever so brave man that approached the pods were vaporized in the space of five seconds by the heat released once he got close enough to the pod.

Then it started. A small hatch of the pods opened up and the spherical pods suddenly became cylinders. Tubes extended out of the tubes and launched lasers in every direction. It would have been better if they stayed still and shot but instead they started spinning on the ground and moving forward at break neck speed.

"Karl!"

"Way ahead of you!"

While we were running for our lives, we found a counter in a small bar that had taken some shots from the laser. We ran inside as fast as we could and jumped behind the counter, making sure to take cover from any stray laser beams flying around. Both of us panting and scared out of our minds, Karl spotted something.

"Hey, what's that?"

"What's what?"

"That, by your hand."

"Oh, this looks like a hatch"

"Well open it!"

Just at that moment, amidst the distant screams of the civilians running for their lives, a sound echoed through the empty bar. A sound we had only heard for the first time moments before but were already very much accompanied with. The sound of the cylinder's wheels rotating. We tried to be as silent as possible but how possible is that when you're trying to open a hatch.

"Kreeeeeeee!!!"

"Shit!"

"Vrooooooouuuuuuuu!"

The wheels of the machine screeched as it started accelerating to the direction where the sound came from.

"Quick Karl, Get in!"

Karl opened the hatch and jumped in like he was jumping into a pool. I scrambled as fast as I could to get into the hatch and I barely made it in before the cylinder got to our location.

"Vrruu, Vroo, vrouuu."

We heard the mechanical sounds coming from just above the hatch and could only assume the cylinder was looking for the source of the sound. Karl and I were as silent as we could possibly be so as to avoid detection. It was so silent you couldn't even hear use breathe. As we held our breaths waiting for the cylinder to leave, we looked around and realized there was someone else taking refuge in this small underground shelter.

"Vrii, Vroouu."

The wheels of the cylinder slowly stopped applying pressure on the hatch entrance, and the mechanical noises slowly faded away. We could finally breathe. I took a deep breath and said.

"I think it's gone."

"Yeah, me too. Hi there."

Karl reached out to the third person in the room with us and tried to start a conversation.

"What's your name."

"My… my name is Carlos…. I'm the bar owner."

"Carlos huh? That's cool. I'm Karl, and my friend here is Mark"

Carlos was a Mexican man of average height, he was particularly hairy, having visible hair on his arms and a noticeable beard but he was well groomed. He was slightly chubby or should I say he had flesh on his arms. His look was intimidating but if it came to it, I'm sure Karl could take him down if need be.

"Mark Alexander. I know you, I read your articles all the time. Big fan."

"Thank… Thank you."

Still trying to process the events that just occurred, Carlos's fan like reaction to my presence didn't really correlate with the current situation. While I was lost in thought as to the current situation, Karl and Carlos were conversing over their different experiences and how they ended up here.

"And that's how we got here."

"Wow, You guys are really lucky. I saw some other's running that weren't so lucky. It was just another day in the bar and next thing I know I start hearing screams. Next thing the front glass is broken, red lights flashing and bodies dropping. I see those cylinder things vaporize someone right before my eyes. It doesn't take up to a second more for me to come down this emergency hatch."

They seemed to be enjoying their conversation. This was just a brief moment of respite before we would need to climb back to the outside world arises. Because we can't stay here forever, there were no food or water supplies, it was just an empty room that is only supposed to be used in situations like this.

We would eventually need to come out to survey the area before the room became extremely choked due to lack of ventilation, but would the invaders still be in the area when we need to leave the room? Seeing as there was nothing to do and just thinking about our current situation wasn't going to do any good, I decided to take a nap and leave the discussion to Karl and Carlos.

"We Have here, what appears to be an extra-terrestrial spaceship. Will this lead us to answers about the recent sightings of extra-terrestrial aircraft all over the world. We have here what seems to be lever lodged at the side of this craft. Maybe this will open the pod so we can see the contents of the spacecraft."

Kreeeee!!

Beep!! beep!! beep!! beep!! beep!!

"The spacecraft seems to be making some kind of noise. Could this be a signal to other craft or is this a defence mechanism."

"Mark…. Mark, wake up!"

"Huh… What"

"Mark, there hasn't been any noise outside for a good while now. Carlos and I thought it would be a good time to check outside"

"Oh... Okay, Good idea, lets head out, the place has gotten really stuffy anyway"

We made our way out through the hatch and then carefully proceeded out of the bar as quietly as we could. We made our way onto the road and we were greeted to a truly heinous sight. Bodies everywhere, some even on top of each other. Cars crashed into each other, buildings looking like caricatures of what they once were, fires in said buildings, roads painted with blood, It was an atrocious sight to behold.

"It's…. it's horrible." Carlos said.

"Yup, looks like a fricking warzone." Karl said.

"It's started"

"Huh? What's started?"

"The INVASION."