Troubie Rising
She trained her whole life for the deep end.
She just never expected it to become a war zone.
Lauren D'Alessandro is a teenage competitive swimmer chasing faster times, national cuts, and a future in college swimming. But when strange meteors begin falling along the California coast, the world she knows collapses almost overnight.
The meteors aren't meteors.
An alien force has arrived, and it's targeting Earth's water.
As California falls into chaos, Lauren is separated from her family and evacuated inland with her swim team. When she learns that someone she knows is trapped in Santa Monica, she makes the decision to turn around-back toward the invasion everyone else is fleeing.
Meanwhile, Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz and his Marine platoon are fighting their way through Los Angeles, trying to protect civilians while facing an enemy unlike anything they've ever encountered.
Their paths eventually cross.
Lauren isn't a soldier. She has no combat training.
But she knows endurance.
She knows how to control her breathing when fear takes over. She knows how to keep moving when her body is exhausted. And above all, she refuses to leave someone behind.
As Marines and civilians fight for survival, Lauren discovers that the skills she developed in the pool may be more important than she ever imagined.
The aliens have the technology.
The Marines have the weapons.
Lauren has the endurance.
And this time, the finish line is survival.
This is a fan-created story featuring characters and elements from Battle: Los Angeles. Original characters and story elements are the author's own.