John's Perspective
The silence in the room was deafening as we all sat there, staring at the monitor that displayed the moon in a haze of dust the aliens kicked up when they landed. I could feel the tension in the air, the moment's weight bearing down on me. It was as if we were all frozen, unable to process what was happening before our eyes.
Suddenly, someone found their voice and started reading out the information from their station. It was like a spark igniting a flame as the rest of the people in the room jolted into action. Papers were shuffled, keyboards were clacked, and voices were raised as we scrambled to gather as much data as we could.
As the non-eggheads in the room, the military personnel quickly realized that there was little we could do to contribute to the analysis of the situation. Looking around the table and nodding in agreement, we filed out of the room, leaving the general behind to observe the situation.
I walked into the bar, feeling the day's weight still heavy on my shoulders. The silence of the drive over had been deafening as I processed the day's events.
As I entered the dimly lit bar, I saw my buddy behind the counter wiping down glasses. He looked up and gave me a small smile, glad to see a friendly face amid all the chaos. I walked up to the bar and leaned on it heavily, feeling the excellent wood against my skin.
"Hey, Johnny," he said, "Long day?"
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak just yet. It had been a long day, filled with tension, fear, and uncertainty. I doubted he knew what just happened on the moon. So I filled him in. The fact that we were so powerless in the face of something so monumental was difficult to swallow. He looked at me and asked, "Is anyone else coming?" pulling 2 glasses out.
"Yeah, group, if you don't mind," I nodded.
My buddy chuckled. "Yeah, that makes sense. Need to discuss something away from the brass. I'll keep the doors open and the lights on for you guys. When is everyone showing up?"
As he spoke, my friend came in, and I motioned to a table in the middle of the room that looked big enough for us all.
As we sat down, I placed my gun on the table. My friend did the same.
My buddy cleared his throat and asked, "Is it going to be one of those nights?"
I shook my head. "I hope not. But you never know these days."
The others started to trickle in, one by one. We all settled around the table I chose.
As the last person sat down and pulled out their gun, placing it on the table, I took the lead and spoke up. "Are we all on the same page here?" I asked, looking around the table at my companions.
Everyone nodded, confirming that we were all on assignment from our countries to be the on-the-ground eyes and ears for the militarizes that sent us.
I then asked the group if there was any bad blood among us, hoping to clear the air before we got into the meat of the discussion. Everyone shook their heads no.
The two guys I had tried to kill before smirked at me and then at each other. One of them spoke up. "What's a little attempted murder among friends?" his words dripping with sarcasm, a low chuckle escaping their chests. The other nodded in agreement.
Smiling back, I replied, "Good. Then, how about we propose a truce and an open policy? We're all in this together, after all."
Another person at the table nodded in agreement, adding, "Yeah, and we're going to need every spare bullet we've got to fight off those aliens that are invading."
