Heartbeat Away from Death

Chapter 1

All that was six months ago. Six months of hiding and scavenging, struggling to survive. If someone had told Grace a year ago that there was going to be an alien invasion, she would have laughed in their face. But it happened, and her normal life—her silly High School one where she dreamt of going to college and making her father proud—was over. College applications were the last thing on her mind now. The only thing she could think about was trying to get through the day.

Boom; the explosion of a nearby car sent Grace tumbling to the ground. She could almost feel the fire raging inside her, the rumble of the explosion rattling through her body. And it hurt. Two men emerged beside her and took an arm each. Tom, her father, and her brother, Hal, quickly helped her to her feet.

"Come on," Tom urged, leading them to an empty store. It was dark inside. Rolls of tatty fabrics hung from the walls. It smelt like ash and burning rubber. The three of them took cover under the counter, concealed in the shadows. Grace felt her heart pounding as a mech came stomping past. She saw other fighters, desperately scrambling along the road, crawling to escape, only to get zapped by mechs. She covered her hand with her mouth.

Needless to say, the scout for food had not gone well. They had just loaded up a cart when the aliens made an attack. The cart was now lying in the road somewhere, its contents sprawled out across the damp concrete. That food would have lasted them days. Now they would have to return to base empty-handed, leaving everyone with empty hopes as well as empty bellies.

It had taken a while for her father to accept his kids as fighters. For months all they had done was go from house to house, scavenging, trying to get their hands on whatever they could find to survive. That was probably the worst of it so far. Running, hiding, searching for scraps like scared little mice.

Then their mother died, and everything changed.

It still felt so raw in Grace's memory, but it was months ago now. It was before they joined the resistance, before Tom told them they had to leave their home.

It was still early. Grace was already up – she couldn't sleep so she was sat downstairs reading a book. Childhood's End, a science fiction classic. She realised the irony when she picked it up, but even more so when she learned of the fictitious aliens' interested in human children.

Her mother, Rebecca, wanted to go on a supply run for more food and Grace agreed to go with her. They enlisted the help of Doctor Harris, Tom's friend, who was also up and about. The three of them headed out to the closest abandoned grocery store and filled an entire bag. It took both Grace and Rebecca to carry it.

"Your father and brothers better appreciate this," her mother joked as they struggled with the supplies.

Grace smirked. "They will. Maybe too much. I bet they'd have eaten it all within a day."

Doctor Harris dragged his own bag beside them. "Food is precious now. We're going to have to ration this. Soon the food stores will be empty, and then what do we do?"

Grace paused a beat, her arm aching from the heavy bag, full of food that may have to last them weeks. "We'll find a way," she said. "It can't be like this forever."

Harris smiled. "If only I had your optimism, young lady."

Rebecca laughed and Grace raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"You're just like your father," she said, grinning and shaking her head as they walked. "Always looking on the bright side, even in an alien invasion."

Grace chuckled at that. People often compared her to her father. She quite liked hearing it.

She wanted to hold on to that moment, she and her mother laughing and smiling as if the world hadn't gone to hell. It almost felt like old times.

They let their guard down, just for a moment, and they suffered for it.