Invaded (IN NEED OF REVISING)

Chapter III

Jackson

Music: Underground from Gradius III Arcade

As I started to feel the return of consciousness, I realized how bad my entire body ached. I got up slowly, wincing from the pain. It affected me everywhere, but most prominently in my back, as if I had been slammed down hard on the concrete road.

Then it all came back to me. That is, the flood. It was also then that I realized that none of my friends were anywhere to be found.

"Hello?" I called out, hoping for answers. "Heath? Sam? Eghosa? Anybody still around here?"

"Jack!" a voice called out from afar. I knew immediately that it was Sam, and a sense of relief rushed through my body as I ran to his voice. He was with Heath, Eghosa, Mackenzie, and Elle, the latter of which was on the ground, panting while Eghosa and Mackenzie were rubbing her legs.

"Thank god you all are alright," I heaved, breathing a sigh of relief. Then I took a brief glimpse at Elle and asked, "What's up with her?"

"Lactic acid buildup in her muscles from trying to swim in that storm of water," Eghosa answered as she kept rubbing. "Her legs gave out almost as soon as we saw her."

"Oh," I muttered. From there, it was silence (aside from Elle's occasional whimpering of pain, and the soft hushing from either Eghosa or Mackenzie) until another figure appeared in the distance. The figure ran towards us swiftly, and soon revealed herself to be Julianna.

"Guys!" she exclaimed, wrapping each of us (except for Elle) in a hug. Tears were streaking down her face. I myself had to admit I don't think I've ever been as happy to see a group of people as I was now.

At that moment, Elle rose slowly, grimacing. "I think I can walk now, guys. Let's look around for help."

So we took her advice (although just to be safe, either Sam or Mackenzie was always at her side, holding onto her for support) and took a trip around town. The results of the flood in our town were mixed. We were currently downtown, which wasn't horribly affected by the flood. But as we ventured away from downtown, into an area pretty much claimed by neighborhoods, it was quite obvious that the flood was indeed powerful. Many houses were damaged or even demolished entirely, and I'm pretty sure I saw several families walking around helplessly.

I had to force myself to look away and focus on what was ahead as we continued walking. It was pretty bad.

When we passed by a street that would've led us to our school, we took notice of several people walking down the street. It was quite obvious no one was driving, considering how wet (and thus, slippery) the roads were. However, it seemed like everyone was heading that way, and for unknown reasons.

"Any idea what's going on there?" Mackenzie asked after a few seconds of just standing there.

"Looks like mind control," Sam chuckled. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"I say we check it out," Heath suggested. The decision was unanimous, which was a bit surprising. All seven of us managed to blend in with the crowd until finally, we arrived in front of our high school's storage shed. And immediately, we took notice of the several military vehicles sitting outside of the shed.

Sam

Music: Cemetery from Gradius Gaiden

"Why is the army here?" Julianna asked as we crept around one of the windows. Heath pried it open, and we all leaned in closer to listen. A man, presumably a general, was talking to a group of people.

"Citizens, it has come to our attention that there is a threat among us. From space," he started to say.

Some rude guy was like, "That's a bunch of bull."

The general glared at him and growled, "Believe what you want to believe, but those ships could've only come from one location." Then he cleared his throat. "We have reason to believe the culprits of today's events are the St. David's Tribe, an evil tribe well-known for causing chaos throughout the galaxies. It's quite clear they're onto Earth now."

This caused commotion in the room. Heath muttered, "That's weird. St. David's is the smallest town in Britain."

"They could just have that name from the government or something," I shrugged.

An officer pounded his fists on the podium to shut everyone up, and ordered, "QUIET!" All hassles stopped there. The general began talking again. "In a few days, we'll be organizing an expedition to go into space, find their planet, and take them all out. Citizens of ages 18 or older are allowed. We need all the manpower we can get."

"Well, darn. We're too young," Mackenzie said jokingly. We were a couple of years under that age limit.

"How many people are you accepting?" one woman asked, to which the general replied, "Several other states are participating in this expedition, as well as several other countries. We'll ask for no more than a hundred."

"Maybe we should sneak on as they're leaving," I laughed.

Music: Crisis 4th Movement from Parodius Da! PC-Engine

Then a scream erupted, and all seven of us froze instantly. We quickly glanced inside of the shed again, and what we saw was chaos.

A new group of people had arrived and were now attacking the citizens inside the shed. The army people (and several of the defenseless citizens) tried to fight back, but the oncoming force was too strong for them. Many people were knocked dead almost instantly.

"This must be the tribe," Eghosa gasped, a hand to her mouth.

"This is awful," Julianna added. "We should probably get out of here."

Taking Julianna's suggestion, we quickly ran away from the shed, hiding behind everything we could in order to not be spotted. Finally, we found a quiet spot by the football field, and each of us collapsed, panting from exhaustion.

Heath

Music: Bowser's Galaxy Generator (Yoshi) from Super Mario Galaxy 2

It took a few seconds for us to finally regain a steady composure. After that, we spent another few seconds glancing around to make sure we weren't being watched.

Finally, I spoke first. "There is no way we're going to be safe here anymore. We need to get out of here."

"And go where?" Eghosa rhetorically asked me, hands on her hips.

"Yeah, it's not like there's anywhere safe to go anymore. If their plans are world domination, there's nowhere for us to go. Any possible location for us to travel to would just put us in just as much, if not more, danger," Sam explained.

Following that was silence for a few seconds. Then Mackenzie said, "Well... they did mention the space expedition..."

"Face it, Mackenzie. We're too young for that, and space is way too dangerous for us to go to," Elle fired back.

"Y'know, maybe it's not that unrealistic," I mused as I considered the thought. "I mean, chances are the shuttle, or whatever they'll be using, will provide what we need to survive."

"And breathing?" Julianna asked me.

"I'm sure they'd make sure you could breath in there," Jack sighed.

"So... how about it? Do you think we should all sneak on and see if we can help in the fight against the tribe?" Sam asked everyone.

For the next few seconds, we all stared at each other in various ways. Eventually, we all looked back at Sam and said one word as an answer:

"Yes."

*insert thoughts here I don't have time for much else rn lol*