It happened so fast, I was eating dinner, then suddenly, nothing. Like that moment right before you fall asleep. I awoke to a dark dusk sky, my vision blurry and the cold air stung my eyes. What remained of my apartment laid around me. I slowly lifted my body off the ground. There were bruises all over my body and my left ankle hurted, twisted more than likely. Other than that, I felt fine, weird seeing as how a whole building collapsed on top of me. I finally released what had happened as I looked to the east. A large cloud took up my entire vision. A nuclear explosion. I had only seen it in movies and TV, but there it was, a mushroom cloud, right there before me. I stared at the tower of smoke for what felt like hours. Possibilities running through my head. My fascination with the cloud made me blind to my surroundings.
"HEY!" shouted a voice near me.
I turned from the mushroom cloud to find where the voice was coming from. Walking towards me was a large balding man, with a ripped police uniform on and held a flashlight pointed towards me. His Westchester badge glistened in the orange sunlight. He was traversing the rubble of what was my apartment complex to get closer to me.
"Are you alright son?" questioned the officer, as he continued towards me.
"I think so…" I stammered as I looked back at the giant smoke pillar behind me.
"Thank god. Honestly, I have not found many survivors. Not a single building was left standing after whatever that was. Frankly, it's quite amazing anyone is still alive after that."
"How long ago did that happen?" I questioned.
"It was about two days ago, I started searching the town after that." said the officer "Since this building is the other side of town from the station, it's one of the last places I looked"
I'd been out for two days?! The adrenaline and shock was finally starting to wear off. I could feel how scratchy my throat was, how hungry I was. I nearly fell over.
"Are you sure you are ok?" Said the officer gesturing towards me, arms open preparing to catch me.
"Yeah, I am fine, just really thirsty and tired."
"Let's head back to the camp we made, just in town, or what's left of town anyway." The man said, "Oh, and I wouldn't look around too much, just follow me."
I started following him. I immediately started to look at my surroundings despise his advisory. The officer scoffed as he saw my head whirling around. I see what he had meant. Blood, bones, arms, and legs, laid scattered around the rubble of my old apartment building. My nostrils began to fill with a rotten metallic smell as I averted my eyes. They were remnants of my old neighbors, unrecognizable.
"Most of the town is like this, it really is amazing anyone lived through this. The name's Gary by the way." Gary said as the two walked through the rubble.
"I think I recognize you. You work at Fast Mart in town, behind the meat counter right." Gary yelled as he leaped from a broken wall to an upside-down couch "You've sold me a couple of good steaks before."
"Yeah that's me, I thought you looked familiar too. I'm Nolan. Hmph, small-town huh?" I said sheepishly.
"More like no town, am I right?" Said Gary smiling "Sorry I find humor to be the best way to make the situation seem... less scary. One of the survivors, Margaret, hates when I crack a joke."
"Don't be. I agree, humor is a good coping mechanism." I chuckled.
The two had reached a car that was riddled with scratches.
"Only car in town that isn't too damaged to drive, no hot rod, but it gets me from point A to B just fine." exclaimed Gary slapping the roof of the car.
Gary began to open the driver's door as I looked back at the mushroom cloud that laid behind us.
"Do we have any idea what happened, who did this?" I said with my head tilting upwards towards the cloud.
"Well kinda..." Said Gary quietly.
As he said that, a small dot seemingly emerged from the cloud. It become bigger and bigger and bigger. Then suddenly, it was above me. A huge black cube, thousands of feet in the air. It almost seemed like a large black Rubix cube. Parts on it shifted strangely and almost mechanically, as it whizzed over my head. A small gust of wind and loud hissing noise suddenly passed as it began to leave my sight. That was no jet, no airplane, it seemed like...
"Aliens," Said Gary with a stone-cold face. "We think Aliens did this."