After The End

by Jamie Campbell

  Unfortunately, there are at least two dozen people and aliens standing between his body and me. It may as well be an entire ocean for the good it will do me.

  My body is suddenly very tired, my mind weary. I don’t know how to keep going when it seems like everyone is dying around me. It can only be a matter of time before I will succumb too. Just a little bit longer before we’re all going to be lying on a pool of our own blood in the sand.

  Several more ships drift down to land on the beach in the distance. Aliens flood down the stairs and run head-first into the fray. Our numbers are miniscule in comparison to theirs.

  We’re all going to die.

  Chapter 20

  My instincts tell me to turn and run. To get as far away from this spot as possible. I know I’m going to die if I stay here. My gun and knife are nothing compared to the aliens’ guns and armor.

  My arms are so tired. They can barely hold onto my weapons, let alone use them to fight. My legs want to buckle at the knees and drop me to the ground. I weigh as much as the army tanks I saw back at the military base.

  I don’t know how to keep going.

  Garlind is probably dead. Colonel Hanson is definitely dead. What are we fighting for if they are going to kill us all anyway? Why did we think we could actually pull this off and take back our planet?

  Hanson made me think it was possible. From the very beginning of hearing our plan, he was thinking of ways to make it work. He wanted to take this planet away from the enemy so we could all have a future.

  A future free from fear.

  A planet that we brought back from the brink of extinction.

  A world where we prosper.

  Colonel Hanson wanted it not for himself, but for all the survivors. This war has been going on for the past seventeen years. This fight was supposed to be the end. It would bring in a new world of recovery and restoration.

  We weren’t supposed to let the aliens win.

  I have a choice now. I can keep fighting and probably die. Or I can run away and spend the rest of my life hating myself for doing do.

  Run or fight.

  Fight or run.

  Running would be easier. I could get away from here and find a cave to hide in for the rest of my life. Maybe I could find my way back to my parents’ bunker and learn to live on a diet of leaves and dirt. I can read the same books I’ve already read a dozen times and reassure myself that running was something I had to do. That my own sense of self-preservation was enough to justify my actions.

  Running would be easier. For now.

  But I know I’m not going to do that. So many people have lost their lives here today and running away would be cowardly. I led these people here. It is now my duty to fight until I have nothing left.

  I gather my strength and will my limbs to remain strong. This is our final stand and I am going to make it count with everything I have.

  Everything.

  I charge back into the crowd and ignore all those fallen on the sand. If we win, we’ll honor the dead later. We won’t forget them and I will personally make sure they receive a proper burial. I will show them the compassion that the aliens haven’t.

  For now, the dead can’t be my concern. Not while there is still the living to save.

  I shoot the first alien I come across. My bullet flies off his armor so I keep going. My ammunition is going to dry up soon. Until then I will keep shooting as many as I can.

  The heated metal slides into the alien’s armpit and catches him by surprise. If they have any kind of emotions in those hard exteriors, I’m sure I just saw a glimpse of shock. He leans forward and lands head-first into the bloodied sand.

  I take his gun.

  I have to sheath my own in my waistband before I can hold it up. It tingles in my hand. The handle is warm and made out of a material I don’t recognize. A mixture between plastic and metal—if that is at all possible.

  It doesn’t matter what the gun is made from, what matters is that it fires. I aim at the alien nearest and pull the trigger. The recoil kicks against my shoulder but bullets fly from the barrel. They hit the alien’s chest and pass right through their armor.

  The alien immediately drops.

  Their bullets can penetrate their armor.

  I feel like I just won the lottery.

  “Grab their guns!” I yell at the top of my voice. “Take them from the dead ones. The bullets can get through their armor!”

  I keep screaming the same words over and over again until people start listening to me. Some stop to search the piles of the dead bodies to find the alien weapons.

  The enemy have understood what I’m saying. They immediately react by taking the guns from their fallen comrades. They are trying to get them away from us.

  But they can’t get them all.

  I look around in the few seconds I have before another alien comes at me and see humans firing the alien weapons at the enemy. There is no stopping the bullets now. They pierce through the armor and take down every alien in their vicinity.

  Guns fire back at us, just as deadly on us as they are on them. More people from both sides drop as the blood covers the sand. I can’t even remember what color it was before. Surely this beach will never be the same again.

  The strange gun in my hands doesn’t seem to run out of bullets. It keeps going, firing gently whenever I pull the trigger. It’s so light, yet so powerful. Our own human-made guns seem like toys in comparison. No wonder why we have been losing so badly.

  We were never going to win with our inferior technology. They knew they had us at a supreme disadvantage this whole time. Little did they realize we wouldn’t accept the fate they chose for us.

  Movement in the sky catches my eye. The last of the remaining ships hover down toward the beach. I know they will contain thousands more of the creatures and they will be even angrier than before. They will be completely unrelenting.

  The humans around me turn in my direction for guidance. They’ve spotted the approaching ships too and are probably as terrified as I am right now.

  “What do we do?” a male soldier yells at me. He’s holding his alien gun and half his face is covered in red blood. “There’s too many of them.”

  My gaze sweeps the beach and takes in all the destruction. So many people are looking at me for an answer. Colonel Hanson is gone, Garlind is nowhere in sight. That only leaves me left standing right now.

  I never really wanted to be their leader. I wanted to inspire people to do great things but I am far from well-equipped in the middle of this battlefield. As hard as I’ve tried to learn everything in the past few months, I’ve only touched the surface of everything Hanson knew from his lifelong career.

  Fight or flight?

  It’s not just my decision anymore. I need to consider everyone still standing on this beach. What is our future like if we flee? How much longer will we last here if we continue to fight?

  An image of everyone around me lying dead on the beach fills my head. My fears are trying to convince me this is the future if we hold our ground.

  But my fears are wrong. Running away will result in our deaths too. It will just be more prolonged and painful.

  My decision is not easy but I truly believe it is the right one.

  “Keep shooting!” I scream as if my battle cry will be enough to save us all.

  Nobody questions me. Colonel Hanson’s—my—army are loyal to the core. We came here to fight and we are not leaving until there is a clear winner.

  We surge forward to meet the aliens pouring from the ships on their own ground. Our cries all merged together in a unified scream that I hope makes them shake behind their hardened armor.

  This is our planet and we are taking it back.

  All of it.

  The frontline start shooting at the alien army. Bullets whizz through the air like they are made out of feathers. The bursts of light from the barrel of the guns illuminate the evening sky like fireworks.

  We spread out and s
urround them.

  The aliens have made a grave mistake by landing on the beach. There is nowhere for them to retreat to. Their options are to face us or dive into the ocean. We have the land advantage, which is exactly what Hanson had planned on.

  The last few missiles in our arsenal shoot over our heads to find their target in the ships. One after the other, they tumble into the ocean with a great roar, followed by a tidal wave in all directions.

  My feet get wet this time. There is no way to avoid the surging seawater as it tries to claim the beach and drag the sand into the ocean. Every step afterwards is met with a squelch inside my shoes but I don’t let it slow me down.

  Nothing will stop us.

  I’m certain this time. I am going to make this entire fight count. For the dead and for the living. For all the people that knew the old world and died in the new one. Every human is being avenged right now and I am right in the thick of it all.

  A bullet sails past my shoulder and catches the edge of my arm. Pain blooms from my wound as blood starts trickling down my left arm. It will probably hurt much more later, when the adrenalin wears off. For now, I know the wound won’t kill me and that’s all that matters.

  I hold my ground with my troops standing beside me. We clutch the enemy’s guns and fire relentlessly. I wonder if this will ever end, that we might have to fight into infinity until we see the last of the aliens.

  It already feels like we’ve been doing this for too long.

  “Keep going!” I yell. I can’t have anyone back off now. We need to see this through.

  To the end.

  At all costs.

  I watch helplessly as more of my comrades drop to the ground. Our casualties of this war are not light. So many have given their lives in this fight and every one of them means something to me. They were all important in this battle. Integral in their own way.

  “Never stop!” I cry.

  My gun is lit up as bullets fly into the enemy and more aliens die. Under any other circumstance, I wouldn’t be condemning killing anything. But I have looked into the faces of these aliens and I have seen pure evil there.

  It’s us or them and I will always choose us. Especially when I have seen what they have done to humans. I can never get those brutal scenes out of my head.

  Only one ship remains still hovering in the sky. No more missiles come from the hill behind us. We must be out of ammunition. We always knew we wouldn’t have enough. I’m surprised they lasted this long. The soldiers on missile duty should be commended for all the successful strikes they managed under such terrible conditions.

  The moon sits high in the sky now. No clouds are covering the light so it shines on our shore. The reflection on the ocean would be beautiful under any other circumstance.

  A very high pitched noise almost deafens me as it vibrates through the air. It takes everything I have not to drop the gun and cover my ears with my hands. I wince as my ears start to ring from the brutal sound.

  I hold steadfast as some of the soldiers loosen one hand on their weapons to try to block out the noise assaulting their ears. I know exactly where it is coming from, I just don’t know what it means. The aliens seem to communicate with these kinds of sounds—along with the clicking noises. They are having a private conversation that we are not privy to.

  Then it happens.

  There is probably only about a couple of hundred aliens left standing on the beach. When they all turn and run toward the remaining ship, I can barely believe my eyes.

  I don’t want to get too excited. They could just be repositioning or rallying their numbers so they can launch a greater strike against us.

  Their fleeing could just be an act.

  They might come back even stronger.

  “Hold your fire,” I call out. There is no one left to shoot now. They’ve all retreated to their ship and left the dead on the sandy shore.

  We stand here in the moonlight, bloodied and exhausted, as we watch the ship rise from the beach. It shoots directly upwards, moving so fast it’s just a blur.

  In mere seconds, they are gone.

  They are really gone.

  All of us look around at the faces of those still standing. We don’t know if the aliens will return but it feels like something big has happened here right now.

  We won.

  We really did it.

  Chapter 21

  The beach erupts in cheering and laughter. Not because we’re happy but because we’re tired and grieving and the only other option is to cry.

  We will take this win and celebrate in the only way we know how.

  It takes me a moment to realize everyone is looking at me. “We did it,” I say, trying to hide my disbelief. I’m sure a leader isn’t supposed to have any doubt about the outcome of a battle. They are supposed to be confident at all times.

  I’m definitely not leadership material, then.

  “We really did it,” I repeat.

  All my aches, pains, and mourning catch up to me. They rush through my body all at once and bring me to my knees. I drop the gun I’ve been holding tightly with white knuckles and then collapse onto the sand.

  There is blood and bodies everywhere. Red mixes with black until there is no way to tell which side it once belonged to. Everyone here fought for what they believed in. There had to be a winning side and a losing side. Unfortunately, seeing all the dead, it doesn’t feel like much of a win.

  Yes, we’ve accomplished what we set out to do. But the cost has been so very high.

  I’m numb as I sit on the sand. There are so many emotions running through my brain right now that I can’t seem to process any of them. I can’t feel a thing and I know it’s going to hurt so very badly when the numbness stops.

  I try not to look at the faces on the bodies. I’m so scared I’ll see Garlind that it freezes me in place. I haven’t seen him since we first stormed the beach and that can really only mean one thing.

  I wish it didn’t.

  Our numbers are so diminished that I would have seen him again by now if he was still alive. I can see all of the remaining army and their tired, triumphant faces. None of them wear that of my best friend and greatest love.

  Perhaps I’ll stay this numb forever. That would be nice. I know when the tears start, I will never be able to stop them. They will forever flow down my cheeks and remind me of what I’ve lost here today.

  Garlind was supposed to be my future. We were supposed to plan the rest of our lives together. He promised me we’d live by the beach and have a home all to ourselves. We were going to have a vegetable garden and maybe even children one day.

  It’s all gone.

  We may have earned our future here on the beach tonight but not the one I thought we’d have. I know I’ve lived without Garlind before but that was more than six months ago. We weren’t are close as we are now. We hadn’t given ourselves to one another in every conceivable way.

  My eyes are dry, probably because of the numbness that covers my body. I’ll cry soon, perhaps. Right now I can barely string two cohesive thoughts together.

  Everything happens around me on the blood-soaked beach. I know people are looking at me for orders. For an idea about what happens now. I should have the answers for them. Colonel Hanson and I have discussed the plans, of course. He knew exactly how we could rebuild this world. He should be here to implement the strategy. He deserves to see the plans come to fruition.

  A part of me feels like a charlatan. I’ve somehow convinced everyone I am worthy of following, but I’m not. I can’t even get up from the sand and charge on to the next stage.

  My head lolls backwards so I can see into the night sky. I’m searching for ships, waiting for the aliens to come back and finish us off. Yet all I see are twinkling stars and a moon that refuses to change for anything.

  The universe is vast. The aliens might return. But right now I feel so very small in comparison to it all.

  So very, very teeny tiny.

  Maybe I’
ll sit here forever.

  It might take that long to recover from the last few hours. Perhaps even the last few weeks. Ever since I left the bunker, my life has been unrecognizable. I don’t regret it. Even if I have to live with this painful feeling in my chest, I’m so glad to have known so many good people.

  I’ll need to find his body.

  The thought occurs to me like a stabbing ache in my side. If Garlind is one of the many fallen, I’m going to have to find him and give him a proper burial. He would do the same for me. Perhaps if I have a grave to visit, I won’t feel so alone without him here. Eventually, anyway.

  There are so many things I need to do right now but I still can’t find it in myself to stand up. I can only sit and stare, waiting for the numbness to give away to pain.

  Everything is going to hurt soon.

  I could still be sitting here on the sand when it happens. Perhaps I’ll just lie down and let the hurt take hold of me. The tide will eventually claim me and wash away all the blood. The wound on my shoulder will be cleansed by the saltwater.

  That sounds like a good plan, really.

  It means I don’t have to do anything. So I like the sound of it very much. Surely no one can deny me some rest after what we just went through. All my soldiers can take a break and recover as we prepare for the future.

  “Maisy.”

  My name drifts in with the breeze as I try to make myself respond. I know I should but I’m just so tired. I don’t have any answers for anyone if they ask me questions. I just need to sit here for a while. Then…

  “Maisy!” They are more urgent this time. Something bad is probably happening and it needs to be dealt with. I have to make myself stand. I have to do it but my body thinks otherwise. My mind is not strong enough right now.

  “Maisy! Where are you?”

  More words this time. They spark something in my brain. A memory. A notion of something I definitely should care about. I need to hear it again so I can remember through this fog.

  “Maiseeeeeee!”

  It can’t be real. I have to be hearing things. This is not really happening.