Introducing The Unlikely Hero
-October 15th, Year A.A. (After Arrival)
“No, no, no…not today. Not me.”
Alex was repeating that mantra under his breath while sprinting through the nearly abandoned small town of what had been Springville, Connecticut. Now, more aptly, the place could have been named Shittown Burrough for all the difference it would have made.
Sweat slicked down his spine despite the frosted pre-snow temperatures. Alex’s eyes were pinned with the start of adrenaline-laced panic, and all he could think?
Fuck all this.
He had a moment of full-bodied pause, eyes rounding with terror hearing the low whomping sound of alien tech in the distance begin in earnest before just as swiftly going quiet once again.
It was a sound that could reverberate through a man's bones and made you know you were screwed as soon as you heard it break through the sound barrier.
A smattering of sounds fired off in the close distance before Alex kicked his ass into gear and made a run for a tight alleyway.
He all but threw himself in the gap between an old furniture store and some half-caved-in, brick monstrosity with a scorched sign dangling from an eave that read: Bernie’s Antiques.
He scanned the narrow street he was suddenly on, trying to think about his next move, seconds before he straightened like a shot seeing the shadow of motion in the alley across from him. Fucking God help him, but when other people broke from their own hiding spots, he wanted to desperately call out and yell at their dumbasses to hit the dirt and go back into hiding where they had come from.
He cursed under his breath watching two men unfurling from dark spots between buildings, darting out from behind a dumpster into the impending chaos.
They had a look of rough mountain dudes, and both wore an expression of suicidal vengeance while they locked and loaded two ARs. It seemed they were intent on giving out their own dose of hell and brimstone, or at least, Alex assumed that was the plan.
Alex slammed into the brick, chest heaving, his Glock shaking in his hands as the two idiots bolted down the street past him. When he dared to peep out, the sight that came into view made his stomach drop with instant terror.
He sucked in a shaky breath and flattened the second those two dip shits opened up their artillery on an incoming wave of silver-cloaked bodies coming in hot in their direction.
It did bode well.
Alex got his balls together enough to peek around the collapsed wall again and saw at least twenty of the alien bastards fanning out in the street, tearing up the broken sidewalk like they had the hounds of hell on their ass.
At the very least they were distant, migrating from a destination choked down with crumbled debris, overturned cars, and a lot of collapsed buildings that were sending them flitting in and out of his line of sight.
Alex stopped hesitating.
Not today. He wasn’t about to go out like this. Not him.
He heaved three breaths, used the two men’s distraction provided to gather himself, and ran low and fast for a large semi that had definitely seen better days. It was close, blocked him from sight, and was hobbled on flat tires in the intersection.
The sudden blasts of blue and pure white bolts of energy shot overhead and scared the living shit out of him when he thought they had spotted him anyway, and were opening fire at him.
Two of those energy blasts struck into a building to the far left of him and the immediate destruction and inward collapse of the already tattered facade was not just alarming; it was a clear demonstration that if he got hit it would just go right ahead and ruin his damn day.
The air choked with immediate dust and a rain of concrete, the sound of brick and mortar exploding and hitting the street deafening and jarring both. He had to wonder what the fuck these sons of bitches were even firing at.
That question was answered not even a second after he thought it.
He realized almost too late that he just hadn’t seen the flash of red-gold armor incoming from a street on his left.
Now he fucking saw them, weaving in and out from behind abandoned cars, bleeding out from between alleys in the narrow two-lane rutted road like a red-covered wave of death heading his way.
Frankly, Alex wasn’t sure what was worse: the aliens in red-gold or their opposing faction of equally alien assholes wearing silver.
He dived and hit the ground in a roll under the semi’s undercarriage, almost ate pavement in his scramble to tear himself upwards off the ground, and wrapped up into the greasy blackened framework with a new desperation to be unseen.
He turned his face in time to watch the two other human men, now caught between the two opposing companies, scrambled to turn in another direction and get the hell out of dodge.
It was clear they had the same thought of “Holy fuck” strike the second they recognized the sudden shitstorm they had fallen into.
They hit the wall of Red on their turnaround and their shouts of panic made Alex's heart squeeze with anxiety.
He watched with huge eyes when they slid to a stop with immediate intention to backtrack but got hit with those pulsating blasts before they could begin to get out of the crossfire.
Parts of their bodies instantly evaporated on contact from those blue energy bursts. One died instantly while the other went down screaming, half his face and one entire arm consumed in an ignition of blue light. A light that ate away at his flesh like some kind of acid wash of nightmares and hellfire while he shrieked in agony the entire time.
Alex hurriedly shut his eyes against the sight, breathing high and tight with the beginnings of panic, and was officially stranded.
He pulled himself up higher, limbs shaking under the exertion of it, and froze in place hearing the passage of feet pounding his way.
Everything in him screamed that this was it; that they had spotted him; that they would reach under the semi and rip him out kicking and screaming to go into that dark night.
It was one of the most heart-dropping, anxious moments of his recent life while he waited for that hammer to drop.
He held on for dear life amidst the thrumming whomping sound of blasts going off, the shouts and alien voices screaming at each other in a foreign language before the sounds began to push back, tapering off into the distance.
Jesus fucking God help him today.
When he was sure they had left that section of the street, he dropped, rolled the other way, scrambled over the ground low and fast to his feet, and barely did more than glance at one of the unfortunate men half-sprawled in the intersection.
The poor bastard was now in full seizure, eyes melting back into his head but Alex kept going. There was nothing he could do for him short of putting a bullet in his head, and that would only alert the new locals that they had company in the area. It was the new price you paid for thinking you had any shot of fighting against these assholes.
In Alex’s head, this shit had nothing to do with him, and the factions of humanity that were getting involved with this so-called "war of good versus evil" were beyond idiocy.
It was nothing but pure religious fanaticism cropping up; some desperate bid to understand what was going on in the world around them. That or insanity while people tried to wrap their heads around the fact that these alien people didn’t give a shit about them.
It stood that not once had Alex ever sat down over a glass of wine, mused about what he could offer this advanced group of dickbags, and actually believe that anything he had would be needed or wanted, mainly because he wasn’t a dumbass.
He had seen both these sides in action, and not a single one of these fucking people seemed particularly great or Godly.
They definitely didn’t need humanity's help killing each other, and sure as hell didn’t like Alex's people as a whole. Alex was pretty sure that where they were concerned, human beings may as well have been ants trying to offer an anteater help uprooting their nest. In other words, human involvement was suicidal madness on every level.
Alex just kept it moving away from the distant sound of weapons firing, foreign shouting, his backpack housing his days catch jingling with every step, and didn’t bother to keep his gun out.
If he got caught out in the open, as those two unfortunate dudes had just found out, he’d be dead either way.
Finally, after what felt like an goddamn eon, he peered around the last building into the very open road looking for any betraying signs of motion.
Thankfully, Alex saw nothing but the rolling hills for long abandoned cattle herds ahead, just a wide open prairie of deep untended ice-frosted grasses. Beyond that was the thick line of forest and that’s where he wanted to be.
Fuck. It was a long run.
He sucked in a breath, crouched low, and made a break for it, hoping to God above they were all moving in the other direction.
God knew these people were fast, could jump fifteen feet in the fucking air and forward more than that. He had seen them drop in front of people from building tops, and once he had seen one tear a man’s head from his shoulders with his bare hands.
At this point, Alex had seen a lot. A lot of things that made him want a whole lot of nothing from anyone at this point in the game. He sure as shit was done gambling on anyone remaining concepts of good natures or moral compasses that was for sure.
So with that thought riding his ass, Alex ran for his fucking life across the grass, heart hammering, and went for the last safe haven he knew he could reach.
It was probably going to be the last time he braved Springville that Winter.
With that promise to himself, Alex hit the treeline unscathed, and let the world burn as it would behind him.
