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  “Sorry sir,” General Preston replied.

  “I don’t want you to be sorry; I want to know what is going on. Where did they come from? Why didn’t we know about it in advance? Who the hell are they?” he fumed.

  “Mr. President the last Marine group we sent out never returned.”

  “Yes, I’m aware of that General but we can’t stay down in this bunker with our heads stuck in the sand. We are the Government for Christ sakes. People need to know we at least look like we are doing something to help them. Sitting down here all safe and sound doesn’t exactly exude confidence.”

  “Yes sir,” the General replied.

  He knew at this point that further suggestions or arguing would only bring down the wrath of the President.

  “I want another group sent out. How many Marines are still down here?”

  “Forty-five, sir.”

  “Then send out a patrol of four men and have them make an assessment. I don’t want heroics, just information. They are not to engage these things. Is that clear?”

  “Yes sir. And if they are attacked?’

  “Then I doubt they will be back,” he said, sitting down for the first time since he was rushed out of the White House’s Oval Office and into the Strategic Situation Room some fifty feet underground.

  He had been watching television when the first report came on. Suddenly his security team along with a group of Marines came rushing in unannounced, literally pulling him from behind his desk and rushing him to the Situation Room.

  Once inside they told him what they knew so far which was nothing more than speculation. No one had any real evidence as to what was transpiring. They only thing they did know was that we were under attack and people were being decimated by the thousands.

  Sending out a team of Marines had only resulted in the speculation that they had been killed as well. They waited two hours but never heard from them again.

  President Coaler was becoming increasingly more agitated as time passed with no intelligence to help understand what they were facing. On top of that, his wife and daughter were expecting him at their ranch for a weekend vacation. He had no way of finding out if they were safe or not.

  **

  At sixty-two, President Coaler looked ten years younger and that had helped him to sweep into the White House. He had been considered an underdog until the last few months of the campaign. Not so much because of what he said but because the incumbent had a tendency to make off-color comments.

  Incumbent President Lloyds, while on a flight aboard Air Force One had said, “You can call them gays but they are still nothing more than fags and dikes.” From that point on his popularity started to drop. The real bombshell was when he mentioned that he didn’t want any black Marines standing guard outside his quarters when he wasn’t there.

  Coaler was swept into the White House despite the media’s and White House’s attempts to put a spin on what he had said. With the handwriting on the wall, even the media began to question Lloyd’s abilities.

  Right now, President Coaler did not look as young as when he first took office. A few more gray hairs were starting to show up. His six foot two frame seemed to be stooped over just a little more as if he were carrying the weight of the country on his shoulders. Even his bright blue eyes didn’t seem to sparkle as much.

  Sitting in the Presidential Chair in the Situation Room he looked tired and less assured of himself.

  “General. I want to know what you think. No punches pulled. Is this an attack from another country or something else?” the President asked.

  The General didn’t answer at first. He had been around far too long to just start speaking without thinking it through carefully.

  “Sir,” he said at last, “The weaponry is quite advanced. If another country developed it, it was the best kept secret since the atomic bomb. Could it have been done? Sure, I guess it is possible. Look at the things that have been developed by our country at Area 51. Looking at it from that standpoint, only a few countries are capable of developing such technology. China, Russia and maybe a combination of Middle Eastern countries although I doubt they could get along well enough to do such a thing. That really leaves China and Russia.”

  “And you think they could do such a thing?” the President asked.

  “Possibly, but I have to ask myself 'why?'? What would be the real point? If they kill everyone and destroy everything they don’t gain a damn thing really. What could they hope to achieve with a country that was nothing more than a massive smoldering pile of rubble?”

  “So?”

  “So, I guess I lean towards the possibility that these things are not from another country,” the General answered.

  “Meaning from space? Some other form of civilization?”

  “Sir, all I know is that it does not seem logical for another country to attack us in such a way that it destroys everything.”

  “Well, General. If that is true then this is about the survival of our country and we don’t even know who or what we are fighting.”

  “I would say that is correct. It could be even larger. We may be fighting for the future of the Earth. If the other countries are undergoing the same attacks, the planet is doomed unless we can find a way to combat the aggressor,” General Preston told him.

  The President just shook his head.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  By the fifth day after their appearance, the machines had met near the Mississippi River. Each giant Mothership had recalled the smaller ships and they were in the process of linking back up.

  Once rejoined, a different type of device would be sent down to the surface to eliminate any small pockets of resistance. Far more advanced than anything on Earth, they had microprocessors that could see temperature variations, hear sounds up to a quarter of a mile away, and sense movement at almost a half mile.

  The weaponry used a focused stream of plasma energy that would literally vaporize whatever it hit. They had the ability to float above the surface which prevented them from becoming tangled in the rubble. Since they were not sentient beings, they had no feelings and their only mission was to destroy and to follow the data stream of instructions fed from the Mothership.

  As much damage as the larger ships had done, this now became the real threat to the few remaining survivors. If some way to fight them could not be devised, the entire human race would soon be eradicated.

  **

  Oh crap, now what? JD Canon thought when he saw the first of the pods starting to appear. He was standing on a hill, looking through a pair of beat up binoculars that he had stumbled across.

  He could see thousands of these pod like devices coming down from the sky. They would drop out of the sky, open up and float a few feet above the surface. The focus ring on the binoculars was damaged so what he could see was fuzzy but it appeared that every once in a while a bright stream of energy would shoot out and an explosion would take place.

  After watching for a while he realized the pods were mopping up the remaining inhabitants that had escaped the initial attack. He knew he didn’t have much time. The pods were darting about, shooting out their deadly energy stream almost nonstop.

  He had been fortunate when the first attack occurred. He was working on a switching gear deep under the 191 Street subway tunnel. Even there he had felt the ground shake and the lights had gone out. Using his helmet light he had finally made his way back up to the station platform. Part of the entrance had been blocked by debris and it took him over an hour to finally dig his way out.

  When he did emerge he was stunned at what he saw. His first thought was that a nuclear bomb of some sort had been detonated. He soon realized that simply couldn’t have been the case. He considered the possibility of a terrorist attack but the devastation was too widespread to accept that conclusion.

  Everywhere he looked buildings had been literally blown apart. A few human parts were in evidence but not one single living person was apparent. He could see flashes of light off in t
he distance. If it was a storm, it had to have been the most destructive in history he surmised.

  When he finally felt it was safe he climbed up on a pile of rubble. He could see thousands of lightning strikes taking place in the distance. He watched, fascinated as the sky glowed from huge spots higher in the atmosphere.

  Oh my God, he suddenly thought. His family. Had they been spared? How far did this go? He looked around but there was no transportation left that was serviceable. Now what? He needed to find out if his wife and kids were safe.

  He saw several pods come dropping down from the sky not far from where he stood. He knew if he stayed there they would find him and he would end up like the rest of the population. He ran back to the subway station, climbed through the rubble and headed back down the tunnel.

  Once he got there he found an opening in the side of the tunnel and wedged himself in it. He had no way of knowing if he was safe or not, but this was the only thing he could think of to do at the moment. He stood motionless for what seemed for hours, afraid to move from the spot. Finally, tired of standing, he slowly slid down the wall and sat down.

  JD awoke, startled. He thought he could hear scraping noises but he was determined not to move. He sat, listening intently and heard the noise again. It was closer this time and he was pretty sure it was moving toward him.

  He was petrified; knowing that if he attempted to run the pod would probably kill him instantly. He slowly pushed himself back up and crouched in the small opening. If it was one of those damn things, he would at least try to pounce on it and...and what? Fight with it? Smash it? No matter what, it would be better than dying sitting on his butt.

  He heard it again. It was directly in front of him. It’s now or never JD he said to himself and sprang out of the opening. He made contact with something and knocked it into the side of the tunnel. He threw it on the ground and immediately tried to stomp on it.

  “Son of a bitch,” a voice in the dark said, halting JD’s attack.

  “Who the hell is there?” he asked.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  “What are you doing down here,” JD demanded.

  “I live here. What the hell are you doing? This is my place.”

  “You live here?” JD asked.

  “Yeah, what’s it to you?” the voice challenged back.

  “I’m with the MTA and was working on the switch. You aren’t supposed to be down here,” JD told him.

  “Maybe not but I’ve lived here for four years and you’re the first person I’ve ever run into down here,” the voice said.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Fingers”

  “Fingers? Is that your real name?”

  “It is now,” he replied.

  “I mean your real name?” JD asked.

  “Wallace Keller.”

  “And you have lived here for four years?”

  “More or less. I don’t keep time much. You still didn’t tell me your name”

  “JD Canon.”

  “JD? You must not like your real name so much,” Fingers said.

  “Probably no more than you like yours,” JD replied.

  “Touché.”

  “Any idea what the hell is going on up there?”

  “I was down here when the ground started shaking. I thought maybe there was a subway accident at first. Then I realized it was more than that. I waited until it got quiet again before I went to see what was going on. Man, whatever it was, it sure made a mess of the city and the people.”

  “Did you see all the lightning strikes?” JD asked.

  “I don’t think it’s lightening. Something is causing it. Something not from this world,” Fingers said.

  “And you know this how?”

  “I don’t but do you have a better explanation? Ninety percent of the time, the simplest explanation is the right one. You can come up with all kinds of theories but I’ll bet you it boils down to an invasion from some other part of space we don’t even know about,” Fingers replied.

  “Did you see the pods they dropped?”

  “You bet. That’s why I came back down here. They were moving this way at a pretty good clip,” he told JD.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t talk and just sit it out for a while.”

  “That sounds like a plan to me,” Fingers replied.

  They sat back down and simply waited.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  For the last three days Alice had tried to get fluids and food into Jeb but he was unresponsive. She knew he couldn’t last much longer without nourishment.

  They still had plenty of water and food but all of that wouldn’t matter if she didn’t get him medical help and soon. She decided she was going to have to risk looking outside to see what was going on.

  She had last looked out two days ago and saw that everything they once had was gone. Nothing but the slab where the house once stood was left.

  Alice had been raised in the country and was pretty self-sufficient but this was different. She was dealing with something that she had never seen before. Watching the thousands of lightning strikes made her realize that whatever was going on, it was not man made.

  She had spent hours listening to the hand cranked radio, hoping to lean something useful. Instead all she had gotten was static.

  Jeb was going to die if she didn’t get help. As frightened as she was, she decided it was time to leave the bunker and see what she could find. She put on her gas mask just in case something had been left behind by the machines.

  She checked to see that the 12 gauge shotgun was loaded and took a deep breath. She slowly climbed the stairs and cautiously unleashed the blast door. She pushed it open only a fraction of an inch, trying to see out.

  There was nothing that she could see. Slowly she pushed it open a few inches at a time, scanning for anything that appeared threatening. She saw nothing. Finally she opened it all the way and took a step up so that her head was totally out of the bunker. Scanning the horizon she found nothing.

  Taking another deep breath she climbed on out and gently let the door close. With her shotgun held at her hip she walked over where the house had been.

  “Are you real?” a voice said and she spun around almost pulling the trigger.

  “What?”

  “Hold it. Hold it. Don’t shoot,” the man said, holding up his hands.

  “Who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing sneaking up on me like that?”

  “Hang on. Could you lower that thing just a bit?”

  “No, I certainly will not until you tell me why you are on my property snooping around,” she said angrily.

  “Please. I was looking for food. I have to scavenge for food and water. The towns are pretty much wiped out but some of the smaller farms and such seemed to have survived a little better. I found some peanut butter and a can of fruit cocktail,” he said holding them up.

  “Are you armed?” Alice asked, suddenly raising her gun to point at his chest.

  “I have a .45 in my back waistband,” he told her.

  “Take it out and toss it over there,” she said pointing with the shotgun.

  “Okay, but please don’t shoot.”

  “Just do it,” she told him.

  He slowly removed the gun and tossed it where she had indicated.

  “Now will you lower the gun?”

  “Let’s talk first. How did you survive?” she asked.

  “I don’t really know. I saw them coming, killing everything in sight. I just stood there waiting to die and the thing just passed me over. I still don’t understand it. I thought I was a goner for sure. It took me some time to realize I wasn’t dead. Why? I can’t tell you. Maybe because I didn’t move. Maybe they sense movement or have a particular visual acuity. Honestly, that’s the only thing that I can think of,” he told her.

  Alice lowered the shotgun slightly, still keeping her finger near the trigger.

  “How did you survive?”

  “My husband and I ran out
to the bunker when he figured out what was going on. We just made it before the house exploded,” she told him.

  At this point she wasn’t about to mention what condition her husband was in. The guy looked okay but still, she didn’t know him from a hill of beans. If he tried to take over the bunker she would be forced to shoot him and she was really hoping it wouldn’t come to that.

  “Have you been down there all this time?”

  “For the most part. We have come up to get some fresh air from time to time. The bunker wasn’t very well stocked so we ran out of food this morning,” she lied.

  “Water?”

  “Gone. Jeb, my husband, is doing much the same as you. Looking for food and water.”

  “I can tell you right now, there isn’t much. I looked for an entire day before I found water. Even the lakes are gone. Dried up. Water and food are scarce.”

  “Jeb said it was going to be bad. I expect him back at any time,” Alice told him.

  “Well this peanut butter and fruit cocktail were on your property. It belongs to you. I’ll just set it down and go my own way if that is okay with you,” he said.

  “What about your gun?”

  “I’m not sure it would do me much good. I doubt I can kill one of those things with it. It was more to make me feel safe than to do much damage,” he replied.

  “What’s your name?” Alice asked.

  “James. James Flynn.”

  “Alright James. My name is Alice. Alice Foster.”

  “Nice to meet you Mrs. Foster,” James said.

  “Alice will do. I doubt it will make much difference about being formal after all of this,” she said, lowering the shotgun completely.

  “I’m afraid we are in for a lot of changes. Have you seen the new pods that are dropping?’

  “Pods?"

  “That's what I call them. They drop these things out of the sky and the float along. I think they are killing anything that survived the first attack,” he told her.

  “As if it wasn’t already bad enough.”