After The End

by Jamie Campbell

  I start shaking. My instinct is to run but it might bring unwanted attention to us. If we’re really still, perhaps they won’t notice we’re here. It’s not like we can outrun them anyway.

  The breeze carries their scent to my nostrils. I immediately want to gag with the stench. It’s the smell of rotting flesh and mold, all wrapped into one. I cover my nose with my shirt and try to block it out.

  Dozens of aliens leave the ship and wait outside on the field. They appear to be talking to one another, although not with any language we use. I haven’t seen this many of them together before. They seem quite social.

  The differences between us and them are very apparent. They wear suits that cover their whole body and look to be made from armor. They are so tall that no human could ever rival their height. The silver sheen to their skin is so different from ours—almost iridescent.

  Their long legs and broad shoulders are made for attacking. To take down one of these aliens would be a mammoth effort. I doubt human-made bullets would be able to pierce their armor or have any effect on their wellbeing.

  How are we supposed to fight them?

  We’re so vulnerable in comparison. Our skin bleeds easily, our hearts can stop beating with one blow, our bones break with a bit of pressure, and our minds can go without even being touched. It’s no wonder they chose Earth to invade. We never stood a chance against them.

  How many humans have they killed since they arrived? Did the planet look abandoned, is that why they took up residence here? Where did they come from? I know I’m not going to get any of these answers, but I can’t help but wonder.

  Last to leave the ship are smaller figures. Much smaller. I have to blink a few times to make sure my eyes aren’t deceiving me. Because it’s not aliens that are marched out last, but humans.

  They are tied together with a metallic rope and their skin is bloodied. There are five men and two women, all grown adults. Their clothes are just rags and complexions ashen. They all look terrified as they huddle together.

  The aliens lead them to the middle of the group and crowd around them. A horrible sense of dread pits in the bottom of my stomach.

  I want to do something to help them. My instincts are to fight for those humans because we have a common enemy. If I were in their place, I would hope somebody would do that for me.

  But rushing down there is guaranteed suicide. We would just add to their numbers and suffer the exact same fate—whatever it is. We’re powerless against those weapons.

  One of the aliens doesn’t hold a gun. His armor is different too, it has a stripe of red on the breastplate. He makes a very loud clicking sound and the humans cover their eyes as if in pain. Whatever the noise is that he’s making must be affecting them.

  Red Stripe quiets and the humans stand with their hands at their sides again. They all stare ahead, almost like soldiers standing at attention. They don’t look scared anymore, their expression is…glazed. Red Stripe has to be controlling them somehow.

  I want to see what the others think but I don’t dare speak. I don’t know how well the aliens can hear. Perhaps they will be able to detect us here if we speak. It seems unlikely but I’m not leaving anything to chance.

  The aliens spread out and leave the area, marching three wide. The humans follow along with the same pace. Nobody seems to be paying them much attention, not like before Red Stripe made his clicking noise.

  They march into the town we just left.

  When there is nobody remaining, we move. The pace we keep up is a fast one. We need to put as much distance between us and the aliens as possible. I don’t know what they’ve got planned for those humans but I can guarantee it won’t be good.

  It’s a long time before we dare speak.

  “What are they going to do with them?” Sara asks.

  Nobody answers her because we don’t know for sure. But I’m sure we’re all thinking the same thing. “I don’t know,” I eventually respond.

  Rhys shakes his head. “They were like zombies. They must have done something to them.”

  “They’ve got the humans under some kind of mind-control,” Garlind adds. “I bet they have no idea what they’re doing. Maybe that’s a good thing.”

  “We should help them,” I say. I know it sounds impossible but we have to try. It’s a war between the aliens and us. Surely there is something we can do, even if only small. “I’d want someone to do that for me if I were one of them.”

  “They’ll kill us,” Rhys replies.

  I can see Garlind thinking it over as his gaze gets faraway. He’s the one I need to target if I’m going to have a chance of helping. I aim my plan toward him. “If we can get close to them, maybe we can create a distraction. Those people might still be conscious enough to be able to run. The aliens never have to see us.”

  Garlind sighs. “It could work. It’s dangerous, though. We don’t really know much about the aliens.”

  “We know enough.”

  Rhys stops. “This is ridiculous. We can’t help them. They are a lost cause.”

  “We have to try,” I reply. Walking away and leaving them to their fate without doing anything seems incredibly wrong. The memory of seeing all those slaughtered humans a few weeks ago is still fresh in my mind.

  Too fresh.

  The world is a mess but I still have to live with myself. If we start acting like those aliens, then they’ve already won. We still have our humanity and it’s time we used it.

  “You don’t have to come along,” I say. “You’re still injured and we can catch up with you. Keep Sarah company and out of sight.”

  “I’m coming with you!” Sarah replies. She stands with her hands on her hips, determined not to be left behind. I wish she wasn’t so damn brave. That kid will give me a heart attack one day.

  I turn my attention to her. “Is there anything I can say that will make you stay here?” She shakes her head, exactly what I was expecting. There’s no point arguing with her. If I do leave her, she’s only going to follow anyway as soon as she thinks she can get away with it. “Fine. But you have to do everything I say. Otherwise, you can’t go.”

  “I will.” She won’t, and we both know it, but I can dream.

  Garlind looks at Rhys. “We’ll catch up with you in the next town. Just follow this road and keep an eye out for us.”

  “I’m not going alone.”

  “Nobody will think any less of you. You’re injured.”

  Rhys sighs. “I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t need to be,” I tell him. “Just make sure you look out for us so we don’t miss you. If everything goes to plan, we should be through in a couple of hours.”

  I give Rhys a hug before we turn back. I know it pains him not to come along, but I really meant it when I said he didn’t have to. His bullet wound will slow him down if we need to run and he needs to conserve all his energy for healing.

  We’ll catch up with him.

  We have to.

  Between the three of us, we devise a plan for distracting the aliens as we walk back toward the town we left. I’m dreading going anywhere near them, but we have to give the humans a chance to escape.

  Before we know it, we’re back on the hill overlooking the ship. It’s metallic sheen shines in the light as it sits with no supports to keep it upright. Considering it’s egg-shaped, it should fall over. Whatever technology they have is far more advanced than ours is.

  Garlind walks on further to reach the radio station building. He insisted he had to go alone as he needed us as a lookout. That was a lie but he wouldn’t accept any arguments. The only reason I let him go was because he said one person was more stealthy than one. He won based on logic alone.

  We have to wait until late afternoon before the aliens return with their human captives. I’m relieved to see them still alive, even if they are in zombie states of mind. They all march back toward the ship.

  Now is our chance.

  Sarah scrambles up the tree to sit on the highest
branch. She’s like a monkey as she pulls herself up every limb to perch at the top. I’d given her a small mirror from my pack to catch the last rays of today’s sun. I look straight up to see her angling it this way and that way until she shoots some blinding light toward town.

  Hopefully Garlind saw it.

  She does it until the sun dips low and runs out of opportunities. A few moments later, we hear a loud bang. Garlind got the message and exploded a few gas tanks we saw earlier.

  Smoke rises from the town in black wisps.

  I hold my breath as I watch for the aliens’ reaction. They might not care. It might not work. They might continue on their way and not worry about a human town and all its loud noises.

  Come on, move, I urge in my mind. Go have a look. See what the noise was.

  It wasn’t a brilliant plan but it was all we had. If it doesn’t work, the captive people are never going to have a chance to escape. We thought we were going to buy them some time. Give them an opportunity to run away.

  They move.

  It’s Red Stripe that looks first. He turns back toward the town and then points. He must order something as the aliens all start running back in that direction. Red Stripe stays with the humans. He’s the only one.

  Run!

  I’ve never tried to will something to happen more than I have at this moment. My mind goes crazy as I urge them to run away. The aliens are outnumbered. All the humans have to do is run away from Red Stripe and they’ll be free. If they scatter in different directions, they won’t be able to catch all of them again.

  They just stand there.

  Whatever kind of mind control they’re using is very effective. The people don’t even seem to be looking at anything. They just stand there, unblinking and unmoving.

  I hope they aren’t inside their own heads, seeing and hearing everything but unable to do anything about it. There would be nothing more heartbreaking than knowing you could get away but your body trapping you in place.

  Sarah climbs down the tree and stands next to me in silence. We watch as Red Stripe leads the humans back into the ship. Ten minutes later, the rest of the aliens return and board too.

  The door closes but the ship remains in place.

  We stare at it long enough for Garlind to return. When he does, I silently shake my head so he knows we failed. Perhaps if we’d thought up a better plan or had more time, more weapons, we could have done it differently.

  Disappointment crushes through me.

  I can’t stand being here and seeing this. I hate feeling so powerless and like such a failure. It’s times like this that I miss the bunker. At least I never felt this way inside those safe four steel walls.

  But perhaps there is something else I can do.

  Before I know it, I’m running toward the ship.

  Chapter 8

  Garlind and Sarah follow me. They might be trying to stop me, I’m not entirely sure. We still don’t speak in case the aliens hear us.

  I cross the field where the ship is parked and run right up to the metallic side. If I can find the door, I can bang on it. I can demand they release the humans and leave. I can make them see, make them understand that this is our planet and they need to leave.

  They need to go back to wherever they came from.

  The surface of the ship is so smooth that I can’t find the door. I saw it open, I know it has to be here. I run my hand along the metal and find it humming. It makes my hand feel weird from the vibrations.

  I do a complete circle around the entire massive thing and still find no gaps, no inconsistencies, no door or any other way in. The whole thing is a completely smooth structure. It makes no sense. I saw a door, I know it exists.

  And yet…nothing.

  Garlind starts to drag me away. We still haven’t said a word. I don’t want to leave. I want to scream and kick the damn ship until it opens up and I can face down the enemy. Frustration and anger is making my hands balls into fists. I want to ugly cry and make the aliens see what they’re doing to us.

  But I don’t. I let Garlind hold my arm and tug me away.

  We’re only ten feet from the ship when the humming vibrates my ribcage. I’m not even touching it anymore and it’s making my whole body rattle with the vibrations.

  “Run!” Garlind yells.

  It’s jarring to hear his voice after being quiet for so long. He pulls me along. Sarah is in front of us, running as fast as her stick-thin legs can take her.

  A second later and I understand the urgency. The ship is about to take off. The engine is warming up, getting ready for propulsion. We probably shouldn’t be this close to it when it does.

  We run.

  It doesn’t matter in what direction, as long as it’s away from the ship. I see nothing around us as the tall grass blurs together. I urge myself to go faster, get the hell out of here.

  It feels like I’m running in quicksand. The grass all looks the same and the ship doesn’t seem to be getting any further away. I will myself forward but I can’t possibly move as fast as I need to.

  The vibrations reach a crescendo before pushing us to the ground. I land face down amongst the mud and don’t have the strength to get up again. Garlind is beside me, Sarah next to him. The pressure keeps us pinned down.

  Heat burns at my back. I feel like I’m on fire. I can’t move my head off the ground to turn around and see. It’s all too much. The force pushes us hard, like it’s trying to bury us in the ground alive.

  And then…it stops.

  The vibration and the heat vanish along with the ship. When I can move my head, I look up just in time to see it as a distant silver speck in the sky. It glints among the stars until it disappears completely.

  All those people…they don’t stand a chance.

  Garlind gets up first and paces around in a circle. I lay still for a few moments more, wallowing in my failure. Fellow human beings needed our help and we let them down. I let them down.

  Sarah pushes up to stand and just stares at the sky. She shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t have let her tag along when there was a very good chance the aliens would capture us. I can’t do anything right today.

  I know I can’t stay here and we need to get moving so we can find a place to sleep for the night. Just once, I’d love to be allowed to just be. Not have to get somewhere. Not have to hide. Not have to find supplies. I can feel the pressure of the whole world pressing in on me.

  We don’t have time to wallow. Because we do need to find shelter and we do need to eat.

  I stand with the others. “They’re not coming back. We should go.”

  Neither of them protest and we start the journey to catch up with Rhys. It feels like an eternity since we left him. If something has happened to him in our absence, I will never forgive myself.

  We walk in silence for a long time. It’s dark and we have minimum light from the moon to guide our way. The only part of the road that is visible is the very center. So we use the white markings on the tarmac to guide us.

  It concerns me that Garlind hasn’t said a word since we left the field. It’s not like him. He’s the optimistic one. I rely on him to tell me that everything is okay and will be all right. I’m not used to this wall of silence.

  “Are you okay, Garlind?” I ask. I’m hesitant to hear the reply but I need it too.

  “No, I’m not,” he replies tersely. In just those three words he’s managed to fit anger and hurt into them.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He stops and reels around to face me. “How could you do that?”

  “Do what?” I’m genuinely confused by the question. There are plenty of things I’ve done wrong, but I didn’t think any of them were against him.

  “You just ran after that ship! You didn’t even stop and assess the danger. You ran at it when you knew it was filled with aliens that would kill you. How could you do that?” His chest heaves heavily, like talking took all his energy.

  I stumble to find the right words. �
��I…I just reacted. I wanted to help those people and I didn’t know what else to do. The distraction didn’t work. I thought…”

  “You thought what? That they’d just hand them over if you knocked on their door?”

  It takes me a moment to realize he’s waiting for an answer. It wasn’t a rhetorical question. “No, of course I didn’t. I didn’t really know what to expect. I was running on adrenalin.”

  “And that’s the problem, Maisy.” He pauses, glaring at me. I can’t understand his anger. “You didn’t think at all. It didn’t matter what you were leaving behind or how your actions could impact us. You just ran and put yourself in the most dangerous situation without thinking.”

  “Yeah, I guess I did. I didn’t ask you to come with me. It was my decision,” I say defensively. I wasn’t forcing anyone to follow me. It would have been better if they hadn’t. The last thing I wanted to do was put anyone else in danger.

  I was only trying to help.

  Garlind’s arms cross over his chest. “It’s not about that.”

  “Then what is it about? I’m not sure what the problem is.”

  His arms unravel to hang loosely at his side. The anger dissolves into something else. “You didn’t think how much it would hurt me if something happened to you.”

  Realization starts to dawn on me. I put myself in his position and imagine how I would feel. If the situation were reversed, I would have been terrified for his safety.

  I get it now. “I didn’t. And I’m very sorry for that. I was caught up in the moment. To be honest, I’m not sure how you would feel. I never know what you think about me.

  He sighs and his body sags. “For the record, I would have felt like my whole world ceased to exist.”

  Garlind turns around and keeps walking down the white center line of the road. I exchange a glance with Sarah. She shrugs and starts walking again.

  What. The. Hell.

  I’m so confused by what he said and our argument that I feel like throwing questions at him with everything I’ve got. But I don’t have the strength to do it right now. The whole day has been too difficult. I didn’t need to fight with my best friend as well.