Agitators

The Invasion

'The day they arrived, the sky was full of thunder. The world was roaring of fear like it knew what was coming for us. Like it tried to give us our last warning.'

Planet Earth was once one of the most beautiful planets in the galaxy. It had tropical rainforests, large oceans, high mountains and endless deserts. But more importantly it was the home for over a thousand species. The human race had the most control on this planet. They built cities and villages, homes and palaces to rule from. Humans wanted power over life and their planet. This led to their fall. They became greedy for more and more. The planet gave them the most beautiful things, but in return they hurt the planet. They asked too much and slowly killed the planet. For their awful deeds the planet punished them with nature's disasters. Volcano eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and more. But the human race would not back away and they would keep on hurting their own home and the home of others. 

This is what 'The Saviors' told the world when they arrived on our planet. They broadcasted it throughout the entire world for every human eye to see. Their motives were right. We were and still are hurting the planet, but they went too far. They had no right to do what they had done. 

The day of their broadcast was on my  birthday. I had just turned nine and was celebrating it with my family in a little village in Greece called Veria. It was a beautiful old town between the mountains. My family was very proud of their hometown and lived here for centuries. I loved how we celebrated our Jewish heritage and especially Pasach. The day the Jews were freed from slavery and regained their freedom. I always was known as a free child. Most of the village elders thought me and my father were odd ones. My father raised me on his own and he always taught me to embrace our world around us. He knew so much of nature and the animals around us. He worked as a forest ranger in the area. I remember that for my birthday he promised me that we would go to the forest the next day and he would let me help as his personal assistant. Unfortunately, that day never came. When me and my family saw the broadcast most went to the synagogue to pray. But my father kept me close to his side and told them we would stay at home. If he had not I would probably never have been able to retell the story. In the following hours 'The Saviors' invaded every single part of the world. My father and I fled to the forest where he used one of the ranger's helicopters to get us away as far as possible. We left everything behind. Our family, our home, our live and we flew to the western desert of Egypt. It was so abandoned that nobody and no alien could find us there. We were lucky in our escape, but most were less fortunate. The large cities were the first victims. Many agreed with the aliens and embraced them with open arms and wanted to be reeducated. Some were hunted down and captured like animals. I never knew what became of my family, whether they fought or surrendered. 'The Saviors' quickly had reeducations camps all over the world. When they were done with the cities and towns they started targeting survivors. People like us who fled in fear. We soon got a name: 'Agitators'. 

The night we arrived in the dessert there was a heavy storm and my dad and I crashed. The helicopter was mostly destroyed and I got a bar of steel against my back which left some ribs broken and a bloody scar across my spine. It was a wonder we survived. My dad took care of me and we lived in the wreckage of the helicopter for the first few weeks. We lived of the emergency water and food supply stored by the rangers. But we could not live from it for more than a month. My dad went out everyday to search for other agitators who could help us. He even created a makeshift weapon from the helicopter scratch to defend himself. At the end of the month, when we were almost dying of thirst and hunger they found us. The agitators that found us were from all over the world and had built a community in a hidden city in the dessert. It was a historical city underground which they made home. They called it 'Akhet', an Egyptian hieroglyph for a place where the sun rises and sets. It symbolized a new start for the human race.

They got by by hunting animals and collecting fruits and vegetables in the oasis and near the river. The community there became my family and they taught me everything I needed to know to survive. My father also got to teach the community about the environment and even helped them with harvesting the right plants in the oasis. I was trained by an ex-military how to fight and he told me to choose the weapon that feels like it was a part of my body. I began to love the bow and arrow. My bow and arrow was different from everyone else's. It was small and curved in the form of a C, but when you shoot it an immense pressure comes free and it roars with great power. When I shoot it, I feel focussed and at peace like I'm a hawk soaring above everything else.