Dark Fall

In the middle of winter, right on the beautiful night of Christmas Eve, a young man and his girlfriend were walking through New York City’s Central Park in the late evening. They were on a date, admiring the beautifully decorated and brightly lit trees of the park. “Alex isn’t this place beautiful!” The young lady exclaimed as she looked around with her arms wrapped intimately around her boyfriend. Alex smiled gently at his girlfriend and replied, “I know, Claire. I chose this place for our date after all.” Seeing a fountain up ahead, Claire quickly skipped forward and said, “Alex, let’s go to that fountain!” “Hey, don’t run off!” Alex was about to chase after Claire but suddenly, the sky lit up with an extremely bright light. It made the darkness of the night recede as if time had fast-forwarded and it was daytime already. Claire had to clench her eyes shut to stop the glaring light in the skies from hurting her pupils but Alex quickly came and shielded her in his arms as he felt something was wrong. This light was too bright for fireworks and it wasn’t like a helicopter or something was shining a beacon down on them. A foreboding feeling overcame Alex as a shiver ran down his spine. His instincts told him to run so he quickly grabbed his girlfriend’s hand and tried to pull her away. “Alex?!” “Run--” His words were immediately cut short as something landed right on top of the fountain just up ahead and caused a large explosion. The couple was thrown away by the shockwave and landed a few meters away from where they stood. Alex had the wind knocked out of him and he nearly lost consciousness though he fought it off and tried to get up despite his body hurting so much that he could feel his bones creaking in pain. “D-Dammit, Claire!” He managed to get his body upright and started to look around. His eyes had to refocus for a moment before he saw the blazing destruction in his surroundings. He couldn’t see Claire anywhere but when he looked down, he finally saw her. “C-Claire?” Right on his lower body, Alex saw his girlfriend who he was happily talking to only a few seconds ago, lying limp and unmoving. He couldn’t see what was wrong with her since his vision was still too blurry so he tried calling out to her. “Claire! Wake up! Wake up, Claire!” Luckily, he seemed to be relatively fine as he only experienced some bruises and cuts from being launched away earlier. He was an athlete and regularly worked out so his body was quite sturdy, though his back hurt and stung a lot, it was still bearable. However, he feared the worst for his girlfriend as she was the one who had selflessly taken the brunt of the explosion’s shockwave for him. When his vision was restored, he looked down in horror at the condition of his girlfriend’s body. The back of her body had been burnt to a crisp but luckily, the burn injury wasn’t enough to reveal her bones. The thick clothing she was wearing had taken a large brunt of the damage but even then, she was still this injured. It wasn’t only her back that was injured, but her legs as well. The only saving grace was that nothing appeared to be broken. His body had cushioned her fall but still, the nasty injury on her back was enough to make Alex panic. “s**t! s**t!” Alex gently placed her on the ground as he looked around to see if anyone could help him, only to see the once beautifully decorated trees burning and collapsing all around him with debris piled up everywhere. There was a large slab of concrete that had landed just next to him and Claire so they were quite lucky to not have immediately died from being hit by it. He could hear the pained cries and desperate shouts for help from other people in the surroundings but he had no time to worry about others right now since his girlfriend was so badly injured. “I have to get her to a hospital!” Alex took off his coat and wrapped his injured girlfriend in it. He didn’t know whether to be thankful or not as she wasn’t severely bleeding anywhere since her injuries had been cauterized. “Dammit, why did you have to do that?” Alex painfully said under his breath. It should have been him who protected her, not the other way around. He had even promised her that. After wrapping her up, Alex gently picked her up but was frozen in place when he turned his gaze towards the remnants of the fountain ahead. His eyes widened in horror as he saw something large emerge from the fire not far away. “W-What the hell is that?!” The figure that emerged from the fire wasn’t too large, it was probably around 3-4 meters in height but from the silhouette, it was most definitely not a human being. “H-Help, help me…” He saw it lumber towards a nearby person who was on the ground begging for help. The figure raised its arm and to Alex’s horror, the arm’s shape began to contort and change into what appeared to be a long grotesque blade. The figure then thrust it down and punctured the begging person’s chest, promptly ending their life as he saw blood spurt from the injury after the thing pulled its weapon back out. “...” Alex was horrified and shocked speechless but when the figure’s head turned towards him and he saw the ominous green eyes glaring at him, his brain began shouting at him to run away as his instincts kicked in. ‘Run, run!’ The primal fear that had suddenly emerged right as the monstrous being glared at him caused Alex to not even think anymore as he turned tail and began running in the opposite direction with Claire held tightly in his arms. Although his body was supposed to be hurting everywhere, adrenaline kicked in and caused the pain to disappear while his vision narrowed as everything in front of him cleared up. With his athletic capabilities, Alex weaved through the burning park, jumping, climbing, and sliding in between and under the debris that was blocking his path all while he was carrying Claire in his arms. Even though he needed to get Claire to a hospital immediately to get her wounds treated and to check his own condition, Alex couldn’t think about that anymore. All he thought about was getting as far away as he could from that monster. However, even if he did run, he felt like he wasn’t getting anywhere. He felt as if the monster was right behind him and when Alex turned around, his eyes narrowed and he quickly lunged to the side. A black object came crashing down on his previous spot, destroying the area where it had landed and kicking up debris. “W-What?” Before the dust even settled, Alex saw the object stand up and tower over him. He could only laugh in despair when he saw the monster appear before him as all his efforts had been for naught. It was now up close and he could say with certainty that it was definitely an alien monster. He didn’t know how to describe it other than the word terrifying. The monster’s head was shaped like a helmet as there was no mouth on it, only a pair of pale green scars located where its eyes were supposed to be. These were the ominous-looking eyes that had stared at Alex earlier which prompted him to immediately turn tail and run. The monster’s body seemed to be flowing and solidifying alternatively for some reason, it was like its skin and muscles were created by some kind of viscous liquid. It was also because of its body being like this that the monster was able to change its limbs into dangerous weapons. The one before Alex, after it had landed and turned around to face him, made its right limb transform into an ax as it began to stomp closer to him. “Acrh Mich Bahn!” Even though it didn’t have a mouth, Alex heard the monster say something to him but he didn’t register it in his mind. Adrenaline was pumping fast through his veins as his mind tried to find an escape route. He wasn’t going to die here, not like this. Alex honestly wished that this was just some kind of sick nightmare but he couldn’t dismiss his situation like this. If this was real and he resigned to his fate right now, he’d be killing himself and his girlfriend, Claire. They had already promised to marry each other right after college but if they died right now, that promise was only going to be a fairytale. “Dammit!” Alex couldn’t think anymore as his body instinctively moved to the side as he dodged the monster’s vertical ax chop that was aiming for his head. He saw the ax lodge into the ground so he tried to make a break for it and run past the monster. However, that was a bad idea since the monster just used its other arm to smack Alex on his back, sending him flying away onto the ground. He had turned his body to the side so the attack didn’t hit his girlfriend but he felt something in his body break. “s**t!” Even though he was launched away, Alex didn’t let go of Claire. He tried to get up again but his legs gave away as he crumpled onto the ground, not far away from the monster. “I-Is this how I’m going to die?” Alex saw a shadow tower over him and when he looked up, he saw the monster stand before him. “Mukh Bir Kahn!” He didn’t hear it say anything the first time, but he heard it loud and clear this time. “Please, just let this be a nightmare…” Those were his last words before he closed his eyes as the monster swung its blade down on him. Alex didn’t know why it had come to this. He was still young and wanted to do so much more with his life. He was only 18 years old and he hadn’t experienced all of the hardships and joy life had in store for him. He wanted to marry his girlfriend, start a family, and even grow old together with her. However, he wouldn’t be able to experience all of that joy and hardships since he was now about to die. Alex kept his eyes shut as he waited for the inevitable end. He thought that it would be painful but nothing ever came so when he opened his eyes again, he was quite surprised to see that the monstrous alien had stopped short of ending him with its claws. He didn’t know why until suddenly, a large explosion assaulted the alien and threw it away from him. “Kid, get outta there!” “Huh?” Alex turned to the person who shouted at him and noticed that he was dressed in a soldier’s attire and was holding up a grenade launcher. He was fully equipped from head to toe and from his appearance alone, Alex knew that he was a soldier and the military had finally arrived to save them all. He was still shocked from his near-death experience so he could only stay frozen in place. The soldier quickly rushed over to him as a few others appeared on the scene and began attacking the alien that was trying to get up. “Kid, snap out of it!” The soldier yelled as he shook Alex out of his shock. The noise in the surroundings returned to him as Alex immediately began thanking the person who had just saved his life. “T-Thank you! Thank you!” “Enough with the thanks, I need you to get it together, kid! Can you do that for me?!” “Y-Yeah!” “Ok good, now get a move on, kid! We’re under attack by aliens and all civilians have been given the order to evacuate from all the red zones!” “O-Okay!” “Either you head towards one of the evac sites or get out of the city yourselves! The sites are marked on this map... I wish you luck, kid.” Alex held tightly onto Claire as he began to run once again. His body was in immense pain but he didn’t feel it thanks to the adrenaline pumping in his blood. Once he got away, he set his girlfriend carefully on a bench before checking the map. “F-f**k!” He fumbled a few times trying to open the map since his hands were shaking. The thought that he had almost died was haunting his mind but he did eventually open up the map and quickly began scanning it. “Th-There’s that field hospital in the park. I can go there!” He was close to the Burnett Fountain and it was only north of the field hospital. He needed to go to a hospital and lucky for him, the hospital was also one of those evacuation sites marked on the map. With an objective in mind, Alex picked up Claire from the bench and started running again as he recalled the monster that had nearly killed him earlier. “The soldier said it was an alien...what the hell...” The thought that they weren’t alone in the universe was still sinking into Alex’s mind but unfortunately, the way the aliens came to visit them wasn’t exactly an ideal scenario for them as a species. The aliens had come from the sky and were attacking everything in their path. Ordinary people like him would have no chance at all but thankfully, the weapons they have appeared to work. Alex remembered how the alien who was chasing after him had been blasted away by that soldier’s grenade. “Heh, this is so bullshit. It’s like I’m in a film or something.” He tried to laugh it off but make no mistake, Alex was frightened out of his mind right now. The aliens in the universe weren’t friendly at all like the show E.T. made them out to be. Instead, they were ferocious, bloodthirsty, and frightening invaders that killed anything alive without mercy. He still couldn’t shake the image of the person from earlier who had been pleading for help, only to get stabbed in the chest by the alien. What happens if that was him or Claire instead? If it was Claire...Alex couldn’t stomach the fact that he wouldn’t have been able to do anything at all as he would just be rushing to his death instead. However, it wasn’t only him. There were many people out there who were in similar situations. They had to watch as the aliens killed the people around them without being able to do anything about it. Rushing over recklessly to help was suicide as they didn’t have any weapons and the only thing that seemed to be working were grenades and explosives. Alex had noticed earlier that the army soldiers that had rescued them only had grenade launchers equipped and no other firearms. They didn’t use an assault rifle or a gun. He kept this in mind and continued running before suddenly, Claire began stirring awake in his arms. “Claire?” She didn’t completely wake up but she was slowly regaining consciousness. Alex quickly set her down on a nearby bench before looking around to see that everywhere in the distance was on fire. Claire slowly opened her eyes and noticed Alex kneeling next to her so she called out to him. “Alex?” “Claire, you’re awake!” Alex exclaimed before grabbing her hand. Claire noticed that his other arm was bleeding and seemed to be broken and said, “...You’re hurt.” “I-I’m fine...it doesn’t hurt too much. Anyway, we should get going. The park’s hospital should be able to patch us up.” “...Alri─!!!” Claire smiled and was about to answer him but she noticed something falling from the sky. She quickly reacted and pushed Alex away with as much force as she could just before the object fell on top of them. Claire gave Alex one final smile as she looked at him. “I’m sor─” “NOOOO!!!” ******** Deep in the Appalachian Mountains, in a hidden facility that was monitoring the current apocalyptic situation happening all across the Earth, a man was rubbing his chin while humming to himself. “...It looks like it’s begun. I guess our efforts for the past decade have finally borne fruit and we’ve led those bastards here. Now, it is time for the games to begin!” “Sir, the preparations have been completed. We can start releasing the drones and collect samples, but what about our fellow humans?” “Our fellow humans, huh? Well, we’ve done all we can already. Now, it’ll just be a survival game for them. A few of the more compatible ones should start ‘awakening’ soon so humanity would at least have a chance now.”