by Luigi Robles
“OK, OK,” Dad said as he accelerated a bit more. “There, are you happy now?”
“Really, Henry, that’s all?” Mom said. “It really didn’t cha—”
Just as Mom was saying that, a pedestrian threw a trashcan at their hover car, causing Dad to swerve wildly across the highway. Luckily, Dad was able to get the hover car under control.
“Please help us,” the same pedestrian yelled from afar. “Please stop the car, please.” The voice trailed off.
“Do you see now, Ella? Do you see?” Henry said.
Mom crossed her arms and turned the other way. “We still need to get out of here as fast as we can.”
“Yeah,” Dad said. “But I’d much rather get out of here inside the hover car.”
“Don’t push it, Henry,” Mom said.
August looked out the window of the hover car until he couldn’t stand it anymore. There were just too many people asking for help. The thought of even leaving one person behind made his throat choke.
I really wish there was something we could do, August thought. But what can we do? There are just so many of them, and there’s only room for maybe two more people inside the hover car. What would happen to the other forty or fifty people that we’ve come across? How can we choose who to help, and if we were in their shoes, would they help us? Probably not. A tug of war would ensue for sure, and we would all end up going nowhere, or being hurt, or even worse, killed. But maybe we can snap some sense into them. Maybe we don’t have to stop to help.
“Dad, is there any way we can help these people?” August asked as Dad carefully swerved to avoid the people and other hazards. “They look lost. Can we just tell them where to go?”
“August… I think these people are beyond help,” Dad said in a calm manner. “Even if we tried, they would probably end up taking the hover car from us and crashing it just up ahead. Something snapped inside these people’s head. Something we cannot fix.”
“What will happen to them?” August asked.
Before Dad was able to respond, the radio came back on.
“It is clear now that they did not come in peace,” the radio host said. “In fact, quite the opposite. They came armed, and they are destroying everything in their path. There are several ongoing military attempts to stop them, but none of their weapons seem to work on the alien craft. The aliens are steadily advancing towards the ocean.”
“Crap,” Dad said.
“They have been broadcasting some kind of message,” the radio host said. “But so far, no one has been able to figure it out. According to what I hear, they have some high-level linguists working on it.”
“That’s enough of that,” Dad said as he turned off the radio. “Right now, we just have to focus on getting out of here.”
“Henry, slow down,” Mom yelled.
“I thought you wanted me to speed up,” Dad said. “Now you want me to slow down? What’s the matter with you?”
“I said slow down,” Mom said. “Look up ahead—there’s something over there.” She pointed to the road.
There was a huge pileup ahead on the road, right where it curved. It looked like hover cars had kept on crashing in the same place, one after another. The pileup was so large that it blocked most of the road, leaving only a narrow path on the edge of the highway, near the cliffs that led to the ocean.
“What the heck is that?” Dad asked.
“It looks like a wall of hover cars,” Mom said.
“Why would they keep crashing in the same place?” Dad asked.
“The road curves up ahead,” August said. “Maybe they were going too fast to turn, or maybe they weren’t looking or paying attention.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Dad said. “But that seems a little excessive.”
As they neared the wreckage wall, two silhouettes formed near the narrow open path. They were just standing there, unmoving, and by the looks of it, they weren’t planning to move.”
“And who the heck are they?” Dad asked as he honked insistently.
As they got even closer, August was able to distinguish a bit more of them: it was a man and a woman.
“They are the ones that caused that mess,” Mom said. “I’m sure of it.”
“You can’t say things like that, Mom,” August said. “You don’t know that for sure. You didn’t see what happened here.”
“Whoever they are and whatever they did,” Dad said as he kept honking and flashing his lights, “they better move, and they better move fast, because I have no intention of stopping.”
“What? No, you can’t do that, Dad,” August said. “They might not be able to move. Maybe they are not themselves.”
“Well, we are not stopping. I am giving them every chance to move,” Dad said. “And if they don’t move, it is because they don’t want to.”
“But Dad,” August pleaded. “You can’t run over someone. You might kill them.”
“August,” Dad said in a softer voice. “If I stop for them, it would be them killing us. They had their chance to escape. And now they are robbing us of ours. It’s unfair. I’m not stopping. I am sorry, son.” Dad accelerated the hover car.
“You don’t know that,” August said, covering his head and closing his eyes. “Give them a chance.”
August felt the car decelerate and come to a stop. When he opened his eyes, he saw Mom holding Dad’s arm. Dad kept honking and flashing his lights, but still the people blocking the path wouldn’t move; they weren’t even reacting.
“Move, get out of the way,” Dad yelled and gestured for them to move out of the way.
“They can’t hear you with the windows closed, Henry,” Mom said.
But Dad was hesitant to open the windows.
“August, hand me the big Maglite from one of the backpacks,” Dad said.
“You mean this one, Dad?” August asked as he pulled out the large metal flashlight.
“That’s the one,” Dad said as he took it.
Dad crept closer to the people and the narrow path, and still they did not react.
“Henry,” Mom said as she looked in the side mirror. “Whatever you are going to do, you better do it quick. There are a lot of people coming this way.”
They all turned around at once. There was a mob of people running towards the stopped car.
“Hey, move out of the way,” Dad said, sticking his head out the window and pointing the flashlight at the people blocking the way. “Dammit, if you don’t, I will run you over. I don’t care.”
Did I screw this up? August thought as his heart pounded. Was giving them a chance not the right thing to do?
Then the two people blocking the path ran towards the car, but one of them, the man, veered towards the rolled-down window. The man tried to make his way inside the car while the lady hopped on the hood. Dad and Mom were both struggling with the man until Mom took the flashlight from Dad and swung it at the man’s face with what seemed to be full force. The man recoiled and stepped away.
“Step on it,” Mom yelled.
Dad accelerated, and the woman slid off the hood. As he drove through the narrow pathway, it seemed like the hover car wouldn’t fit. Debris from the other wreckages were already scratching the left side, and the right two engines were compensating heavily for the lack of ground.
“Henry, they are coming again,” Mom said, paying attention to her side mirror.
“I’m going as fast as I can without falling off the damn cliff,” Dad said, with both hands on the wheel.
“Mom, lean towards the side,” August said as he scooted over to the left.
The hover car, not having to compensate as much to stay level, was able to move forward faster through the narrow pathway. Soon they were in the clear, leaving the two zombie-like people behind.
“Step on it,” Mom said as she shifted back into her seat.
“Oh, you don’t have to tell me twice,” Dad said as he accelerated. “August, you did good back there, even when you made me stop. Because if I had
n’t stopped, my heart would be filled with regret. Now at least I know that we tried to do something.”
“I don’t know that,” August said. “I don’t know what’s happening.”
“Neither do we, son,” Dad said. “Only time will tell.”
Soon it was dark, and they had left the city behind them. They were on the open road to the next city over, along with many other drivers. But it was hard to forget the city they had left behind, as the constant flashes and reddening of the sky reminded them that there was a war back there.
4
Base
Fain and his family were racing through the city towards the coast. Fain’s dad was trying to take every shortcut that he could to reach the coast before the aliens got there. It was a dangerous thing to do. Fain knew that hover cars weren’t designed for any off-roading, or even heavy driving. They were just an affordable, eco-friendly commute tool; they didn’t hold a candle to the vehicles of the past.
“Dad,” Fain said from the back seat of the car. “The hover cars weren’t designed to go off-road, or even to go this fast.”
“Don’t worry,” Dad said, keeping his eyes on the road ahead. “It will hold, at least until we get where we are going.”
“And where is that, Ignace?” Mom asked, frustrated at Dad’s continued secrecy.
“You’re right,” Dad said, nodding his head once. “I should tell you some of what I know, at least as much as I can without putting us in danger.
“We are going to my work. There will be a large military presence there, and if the people I know are at the gates, they should let us in.”
“But Dad,” Fain said. “Won’t you get in trouble?”
“Oh yeah, big trouble,” Dad said. “They might court-martial me, recover my clearance, and who knows what else. But as long as I don’t tell you the more sensitive details, we should be fine.”
“I don’t like this,” Mom said. “You are risking too much.”
“That’s the only place I can think of that we will be remotely safe,” Dad said. “There’s too much city all around us, and too many traffic jams to try to get somewhere else. This is all we’ve got.”
“Why is there a military presence at your work?” Mom asked with clear discomfort.
“I work in a research and development plant called Clearer Waters,” Dad said.
“Hey, I’ve heard of that place,” Fain said. “Don’t they come up with different ways of keeping the ocean clean?”
“So far, you aren’t wrong,” Dad said. “But they have a different definition of the word clean.”
“What do you mean?” Mom asked keenly.
“What we do there,” Dad said, “or at least what I do there, is develop technology that doesn’t belong on this planet. For the majority of the time I’ve been working there, I’ve been working on an advanced type of pilot seat.”
“You mean,” Fain said, “that a—”
“Yes,” Dad interrupted. “But it’s better if you don’t say it.”
“How could you do this to us,” Mom asked angrily. “What? You never thought about what it would mean for us? You didn’t think it would affect us if you were out there playing with some alien crap? What a piece of work you really are. Selfish!”
“Faith,” Dad said. “Wait, don’t jump to that conclusion.”
“Oh really? What other conclusion would you like me to jump to?” Mom said, with tears in her eyes. “For how long, Ignace? How long have you been working there? Since before I met you? After we got married? After Fain was born, when you started leaving for longer and longer periods?”
Dad slowed down the car, giving the situation all the attention that it deserved. Fain couldn’t remember the last time he had seen Mom this upset. He couldn’t even remember if he had seen her upset at all. They were nearing the edge of the city; the coast was visible by now.
Fain looked at his phone; it had no signal, and nearly fifty minutes had passed since they left home. If the aliens were going to make landfall, it would be at any minute.
“I can’t remember a time when you told me about your job,” Mom said. “You always told me not to worry. You always told me that your job was special and that one day you would surprise me. Is this us not worrying? Is this what you meant by special? Is this my big surprise?”
“Faith,” Dad said. “Thing are not like that.”
Dad was interrupted by jet planes flying overhead towards the city.
“What is it like, Ignace?” Mom asked, yelling over the roar of the jets.
“I did it because I cared about you, and because I cared about Fain,” Dad said as the noise from the jets died down. “I have always been working on a secret project, ever since I graduated and before I met you. Soon after Fain was born, they offered me a top-secret position at Clearer Waters; they told me that I could change the world. They told me that I would make a difference and that my contributions would be vital to the survival of the human race. So, I went for it. Not because I was selfish, not because I wouldn’t miss you, or Fain. But because I didn’t want to leave the lives of my family in someone else’s hands. I wanted to be absolutely certain that whatever was needed to ensure humans would survive, it would be the best it could be. There was only one way.”
Everyone in the hover car fell silent, with only Mom sobbing and fighting back the tears. A few minutes later, Dad was turning onto PCH, finally making it out of the city.
“You could have told me,” Mom said after a little while. “I wouldn’t have said anything to anyone.”
“I know you wouldn’t have,” Dad said. “But I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Worrying or not,” Mom said, “was a decision for me to make. Not for you to make for me.”
“I’m sorry,” Dad said with a soft voice.
Mom didn’t say anything else; instead, her hand reached over to his.
“The facility is just up ahead,” Dad said. “We’ll get through this.”
Fain had seen the facility that they were heading to before, but back then, he never thought anything much of it, except for its size. It was a large cuboid shape, its walls had very few windows, and more than half of the building was in the ocean. The name stamped on the side of the building, Clearer Waters, glowed neon blue. The front of the building showed a lot of movement. Military trucks stood at the gates, along with several soldiers on foot.
Then air raid sirens began to sound loudly all over the city. Soon after, loud explosions followed, and the sky began to flash red.
“Dad, are you sure they will let us in?” Fain asked.
“I’m not sure,” Fain’s dad said. “But that building runs ten levels down, and it’s probably one of the safest places in the city.”
“I hope you know what you are doing,” Mom said.
“Yeah, I hope so too,” Dad said.
As Dad pulled up to the Clearer Waters gate, the military personnel began gesturing at Dad to keep going on the road. When Dad approached a bit more, they pointed their rifles at the hover car.
“Stop right there,” the soldier yelled. “This area is off limits. Turn back around immediately.”
Dad put his hands up right away, and in his left hand, he was holding some sort of badge.
“Roll down the window,” Dad said under his breath.
Mom rolled down his window using the controls on the console. As the window rolled down, Dad put the hand that was carrying the badge out the window. When the soldiers saw it, they lowered their rifles, and one of them approached Dad. Once Dad saw that there were no rifles pointed at them any longer, he lowered his hands.
“I’m sorry, sir, this area is off limits even for you,” the soldier said outside Dad’s window. His ID badge read Remo. “We have orders not to let anyone into the facility. Not even those with clearance. Let alone civilians.” Remo looked towards Mom and Fain.
“This is my family,” Dad said. “And this place is the only chance we have of surviving what’s coming.” Dad pointed to
the large facility.
“I can’t disobey my orders, sir,” Remo said.
“Is Lieutenant Colonel Green around?” Dad asked. “Let me talk to him. He may be able to get us inside.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Remo said. “Lieutenant Colonel Green left for command some time ago. As of now, we are having trouble with radio. I’m afraid contacting him will be next to impossible.”
“Can you please try?” Dad asked.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Remo said as he walked back towards his post and pulled out the radio.
“Dammit,” Dad said as he exhaled, and he punched the steering wheel.
“Calm down,” Mom said. “They are calling him now.”
“I should have thought of something else,” Dad said.
Meanwhile, things were getting really loud in the city, More and more explosions were occurring, small and large. The light poles in front of them were shaking, which meant that there were severe tremors happening.
“Shit,” Dad said when he noticed the poles shaking. “Get ready to run; hands on the door handles.”
Fain turned around to see what was happening, and it was then that he saw it: one of the alien spaceships was upon them. The alien spaceship was breaking its way through the buildings in front of it as if they were made of sand.
The alien spaceship looked larger in real life than what Fain had seen on the news. Up close, it looked like an elongated octahedron shape with four limbs sticking out. The limbs were wide open, with what looked like weapons coming out of them.
“Get inside,” Remo yelled and gestured for them to get out of the car. “Get inside.”
The soldiers aboard the truck began to fire at the alien ship, but to no avail; the ship didn’t even move.
“Let’s go,” Dad yelled. “Let’s go.”
Dad was first out of the car, then Mom, and lastly Fain. Fain had struggled with the door due to his nerves getting out of control. Dad made sure to go get Fain, and then they all ran towards the big building. But as they got halfway to the building, the alien spaceship opened fire. A downpour of super-heated plasma shots began to fall from the sky, destroying and killing everything in sight.