Thirty days.
The countdown has started, North America shivers under the shadow of a massive alien spacecraft, and humanity is hurtling toward an unknown future that lurks at the end of the timer. Somewhere, somehow, the heroes are making their plan...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
VILLAGE OF WINNEBAGO, ILLINOIS, USA
August 18, 8:57 AM
If there was one thing I hated to do more than anything, it was asking for help from a neighbor I hadn't spoken to in three years.
Kade Sterling, the neighbor, had ruined my marriage.
But now was not the time to wallow in sadness. The world had turned to shit, and there was no guarantee that we would survive this. I was preparing to go outside for the first time since the alien ship had arrived. If I could, I would have kept hiding behind my sealed doors and windows like I had been for the past two weeks. But I needed my damn portable generator to work. There might be electricity now, but for how long?
I took my dark-colored hoodie and stuffed a paring knife inside my pocket for my protection. Despite the low crime rate in this area, looters had gone rampant. An alien race ambushing us didn't scare me as much as people who thought killing each other was the only way to save themselves. It was the most vile scenario in which I might die. I shivered at the thought.
After locking my door, I scanned to see if anyone was out being suspicious. The stretch of houses on my street seemed quiet for now. The skies were no longer visible; however, low light still passed through during the day, giving us a small amount of visibility. We were situated in the Twilight zone directly under the gigantic alien craft that hovered thousands of feet overhead. I looked up to see it in its actual size. Peeping through my sealed windows hadn't really materialized the weight of the situation.
Like I said, the sky was gone. The ship had replaced the sky.
"Fuck." I whispered in dejection.
I hurriedly trudged to my lawn to get to the other side of my neighbor's house. His motorcycle was nowhere to be seen, but I knew he was home. I had heard him loudly grunt at night, hoping to the heavens he wasn't doing what I think he was doing.
I got to his door and checked to see if anyone had appeared nearby. Today was the day I would not get jumped by someone I knew in this village. With a deep breath, I raised my hand and knocked on the door. There was no answer after a few tries, so I started banging a little aggressively. I almost started to wonder if he had died inside when the door opened abruptly.
"What?" he grunted in anger.
Although he had fury in his eyes, we both knew we couldn't raise our voices in order to avoid others from discovering that the houses were occupied. Most people who had enough money to evacuate had already left; those who had stayed were getting desperate and dangerous.
"Hey, neighbor!" I whisper-yelled, sounding chipper.
"You have avoided me like the plague for the last few years, Ember. Drop the act. You need something?"
