Novia

Off to War

I never thought that I would be in a situation like this. I'm on the run from some alien militia and my family has been carted away to who knows where. "Who was that who saved me? Why me?" I said to myself. My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts.

Before I realized it, I was already deep in the city, which was already in chaos. The military had already been mobilized to fight the invading forces. From what I could see, we were losing badly. Buildings were reduced to rubble, and the streets looked as if an earthquake hit. Large billows of smoke rose from buildings in the distance. I could hear sirens accompanied by gunshots and explosions. The flames burned so intensely that it started to burn from several feet away. The light of the fires flickered and danced everywhere. The light from the burning city reflected off of the scattered clouds. It was almost as if the sky itself was on fire.

I watched as two soldiers carried off one of their men. He was bleeding profusely from his leg which had a piece of metal embedded in it. Another soldier noticed me and ran in my direction. His face was covered in ashes, dirt, and sweat. He seemed to be in his late twenties to early thirties. "What are you doing out here kid?! I need to get you evacuated right now!" he said while motioning for me to follow.

"They took my family!" I said frantically.

"I'm sorry, I truly am, but there's nothing I can do about that. I doubt your family would want you out here in all of this. I'm almost certain that they would want you somewhere safe." he replied. He was right. It would be foolish to put myself in danger, but I didn't want to leave my family. I followed the soldier down the street to a group of more soldiers and civilians.

Once everyone was rounded up a USMC truck pulled up to evacuate us. I was the last to get in the truck. Before we were about to depart I got the attention of the soldier that found me, "Thanks, and good luck." I said while saluting.

"You're welcome, and the same to you" he replied as he returned the salute. Then overhead I saw an F-16 get shot down in a fiery explosion. The flaming jet slammed into a nearby building causing yet another explosion. The soldier hit the side of the truck, signaling for it to go. Without hesitation, the truck drove off, turning the group of soldiers into a group of specs in the distance. All I saw was destruction as we drove through what was left of Memphis. We were lucky enough to avoid those alien soldiers the whole ride. We soon joined a convoy on the west bank of the Mississippi river.

As we drove through the country side, it seemed that the invaders only focused on the big cities, but small towns near the city were being evacuated as a precaution I assumed. The ride was silent except for the sound of someone's child crying. The drive lasted so long that we had to sleep in the back of the truck. I didn't want to sleep, but I couldn't ignore what my body was telling me.

When I woke up, the truck was pulling through a large gate into a walled off building. It looked like some type of refugee camp. There were soldiers guarding the entire perimeter. There was a large and sturdy looking building immediately ahead of us resembling a sports arena of some sort. I could see a large group of people being directed into that building. It seemed as if we were being processed.

Once led inside by soldiers, we were put in lines to have our information collected. As I was waiting in line I could see families and friends being happily reunited. I was hoping that I would see a familiar face very soon. Once I reached the front of the line, a man with a buzz cut and a hard expression was sitting at a table with pen in hand and a form to fill out. "Name?" he asked

"David Byrd."

"Age?"

"15 years old?"

"Occupation?"