Invasion
Chapter 6

Takashiand Olivia are both still recovering from their ordeal with the creatures. Hefloats back up to the roof and they both lie down to rest. “Whoo! That wasfun,” she says sarcastically, “so, what now?” “I don’t know,” he replies, stilltired. “As if things weren’t bad enough already, now we’ve got these creaturesto worry about.” “What were those things anyway?” she inquires. “Aliens?” heguesses. “What? How do you know?” “I DON’T know. They did come from space,” hehypothesizes, lying on the floor. “Great! Let’s add a side of huge, really hardto kill aliens to our secret military organization sandwich.” He laughs softly,“Story of our life.” She joins him in laughter, though it turns to tears, “I justwanna go home.” She then sits up all of a sudden, “What’s that??” “What’swhat?” The faint buzzing sound of a helicopter can then slowly be heard. Buzzing!“Helicopter coming!” “Oh, shit!” Takashi grabs Olivia and pulls her downthrough the hole. “Aaaaahhhhh!” she yells. But, just before they hit the floor,he levitates both of them a few inches above it. “Huh! What?” Olivia speaks,floating above the floor with her hair touching the cracked part. She looks athim and he looks at her. “Hi,” Takashi says in a soft voice. She smiles andchuckles, “Hi.”

Thehelicopter reports as it sweeps the city, “This is 3-6. Everything looks clear,sir,” says the pilot, “no creature in sight.” “Roger that, 3-6. What of thesubjects?” Edward replies. “No sign of them too, sir. Maybe those things got ‘em.”“Unlikely, lieutenant. They are not so easily killed. Do not underestimatetheir power. Keep an eye out.” “Yes, sir. Understood.” He turns off the radioand puts his hands against the table and lets out a sigh. He rubs his forehead;sweat still rolling down his cheek. This was supposed to be a simple harvestingmission—get in and get out quietly. Now, it seems to have turned into anall-out war with these creatures…and the subjects, whom they still have toreplace; they didn’t prepare for this. He leaves the table and approaches Julian. Heasks the doctor if he knows what those things were and how they can kill them. “Well,sir. They appear to be energy-based life forms. The energy concentration thatour instruments picked up wasn’t energy at all, they were picking up thosecreatures.” “Yes, all very interesting, doctor. But, how do we kill them?” “Well, they have very toughskin. I could even say it is armored naturally. I would recommendarmor-piercing rounds, but since we did not prepare that, I suggest usinghigh-grade explosives to breach their armor first, and then kill them withregular bullets. But, there is another thing.” Julian takes Edward to the monitorto watch a video of their encounter outside. “There! Did you see it?” Julianasks as he points to the creature’s shifting ability, “they appear to be ableto shift to a sort of energy form. I believe that, at this state, they areintangible and therefore invulnerable to physical attacks.” “Hmmm. We need toreplace a way to counteract this. But, for now...” he says as he picks up theradio, “attention! I am broadcasting this to all soldiers remaining! Make sureyou have your M32 Launchers loaded and ready! Also prepare other explosivessuch as RPGs and grenades, and any other explosives you may have! And make surethe tanks and helicopters are loaded and combat ready! Some of you may alreadyknow this, but I am repeating to clarify and make sure that everyone knows theprocedure. If you should sight a creature, attack them with explosives first tobreach their outer armor, then finish them off with your anti-personnel rounds.If they shift into their energy form, do not attack, I repeat, do not attack.They are invulnerable to physical attack at this form, so save your ammunition.Dr. Edwards is working on a way to bypass this, but that is all for now.”Julian then looks at him with a blank, or rather, surprised stare. How the hellis he supposed to figure that out without any data or examinations? “Staysharp, men,” Edward encourages his soldiers, “and stay alert. This is no longera simple harvesting mission. We are now fighting for the survival of the Earth.We will not fail!!” They listen—some sitting and some standing with theirweapons—and prepare themselves for this ultimate fight. They are afraid, of course,but they know that this is important. They are ready to fight and follow theirleader and the survival of the human race.

Thehelicopter seems to have gone. Takashi and Olivia fly back up to the roof andthink of what to do next. “Okay. So what do we do now?” she asks him. “I don’tknow,” replies Takashi, “let’s just get out of here. I mean, we can just flyaway now. They’ve cleared the streets.” “We can’t do that, Takashi,” she tellshim. “Why not?” he asks. “We have to stop those, those things. If the soldiersfail, then we’re the only ones left to stop them. I mean if they destroy theplanet, it doesn’t matter where we go, does it? We’ll die. Everyone will die,” sheargues and then chuckles, “we were given these powers. Might as well use themto help.” He smiles, “Alright then.” “Alright.” She turns around and flies offthe roof. “What are you doing?” he asks. “I’m gonna get a better view of thecity.” As she flies off, she catches a glimpse of a man running from thestreets to the alleyway, wearing an unzipped jacket with a plain white t-shirt,cargo pants, gloves, and a bandana on his head. He stops for a moment and turnsaround to look at her. She sees his face, a scar running across it, but, cleanand has a tough look that suggests he has seen many terrible things. A necklacewas strung around his neck. He smiles and salutes her before continuing hisrun. “Liv. You ok?” he asks. “Yeah, I’m fine. Did you see that guy?” “Whatguy?” “I saw someone running into the alley. He wasn’t wearing militaryuniform, so I don’t think he’s a soldier. Come on, let’s replace him.” She fliesoff to where the man was headed. Takashi, confused, shrugs it off and flies offbehind her. They both reach the alleyway and lands, but don’t see the man. Takashinotices a half-open manhole cover; they approach it and he telekineticallypushes it away. “Ohhh,” he moves away back, “I am not going down there,” Takashisays, smelling the putrid stench. “Yeah, that’s just nasty,” concurs Olivia. Theyboth cover their nose and look at the murky, greenish water below. “Do wereally have to go down there?” he asks her. “Well, that seems to be where the guywent. We need to replace him and replace out who he is and how he’s not asleep likethe rest. Like you said, we need to stop this invasion or whatever, but wedon’t have a plan, we don’t know what we’re doing. Maybe this guy can help us.”“Or he could be leading us to a trap,” he contemplates. “He doesn’t seem to beworking with them, so it’s a risk we’re gonna have to take,” she tells him. He sighs, “Ah, shit. Ok, let’s go,” hereluctantly says, “but I’m not touching that water.”

Theyboth levitate down and hover just above the shallow water. The repelling stenchgrows stronger; they nearly puke at the smell of it. But nevertheless, theycontinue onwards. The sewer, big and square in shape, goes both ways. They’reunsure of which direction to go until they hear water splashes, and so theyhead in that direction. As they follow the path they see the shadow of the manand hurries to his location—though he seems to have disappeared. Click! Theyhear something closing nearby. They follow the sound, but reach a dead end. “Wheredid he go?” she asks. “I don’t know. Look around. Must be something we’remissing,” he says. She notices that one of the pipes on the wall seems to be alittle loose and goes to examine it. It feels strange as she touches it—itseems different to the others somehow. She inadvertently pushes it and the wallopens up, revealing a secret pathway. “Well, well. The plot thickens,” Takashispeaks. They look inside: it appears to be a rectangular tunnel, long and litonly with makeshift lights along the ceiling; they enter. Olivia lands on thedry floor while Takashi still refuses. After a long tread, the end is still nowherein sight. The sounds of dripping water echoes through in the quietness; anunpleasant smell reeks. The lights start to flicker randomly—turning on and offat various intervals. An uneasy feeling fills Olivia; she suggests they shouldgo back. But when they both look back, they notice that the door has gone. She noticeablybegins to worry as claustrophobia sets in and the walls feel like they’reclosing in on her. “Olivia, calm down. We’ll get there. We just gotta keepmoving,” he says to calm her, “this tunnel has to end somewhere.” Right,” shespeaks in a quiet voice, “right, le--let’s go.” With that, they continue on.After yet another long tread, they finally reach a ladder—that oh so sweetladder. “Oh, finally!” she yells out in relief, “let’s get out of this place.” Sheclimbs the ladder first while Takashi follows behind, ascending up. “Why areyou climbing?” he asks. Sighing, “I don’t know,” she replies forgotten that shecan just levitate up, tired. She levitates the manhole cover slightly and theyboth peek out. The tunnel seems to have led them to an old and abandoned partof the city. “The coast looks clear,” he says. Olivia quickly bursts out andflies up into the fresh air. Never has she been so happy to see the sky. Hesmiles and laughs as he slowly ascends from the hole. “Alright, let’s go.”“Hmph. You’re no fun. You need to be more free spirited,” she says, tapping hisnose. “I didn’t mean it like that. We have to replace this guy, right?” She smilesat him, “I like it when you smile like that.” She gives him a quick kiss andthey continue on their way.

They lookaround to try and replace a trace of the mysterious man and where he went. Theyare in a quite open area, with a few abandoned buildings. Thunder roars and canbe heard from above; they look up and see the sky has become gray and bleak. Thundercloudshave formed and lightning flashes. As they decide to continue on, rain beginsto fall. “Oh, come on,” she says. “Relax, it’s just the rain,” he reassures her,“come on, let’s go.” Many old buildings surround the area, decrepit and boardedup. They walk through the rain as it gets heavier and heavier. They pull uptheir jackets to try and cover themselves, though it didn’t help very much. Thesound of the raindrops smashing into the ground and puddles of water recallssomething in his mind. He looks at her, soaking wet, water running down herhair and face…and he remembers the day they stood out in the rain and sharedtheir first kiss.

He hadjust agreed to “go out” with her. After her experience, he figured she coulduse a friend by her side. She left his room to go get ready. He stood there asshe left, a little confused. He contemplated a relationship with her, but hefelt that he doesn’t deserve a girl like her. Olivia is beautiful, smart, responsibleand independent, while he’s just a nobody who can’t talk to other people and doesn’teven know how to drive or cook. But, nevertheless, he decided to give it a try;he went and showered. He put on casual clothing; a blue t-shirt inscribed withmathematical equations and blue jeans with a dark blue vest. He put on hisglasses, grabbed his wallet, phone and key, and headed out. As he walked downthe hallway towards the elevator, she came up from behind and surprised him. “Boo!”she spoke. “Whoa! Oh, hey. Dammit.” “Sorry, did I scare you?” she asked. “No,it’s alright.” She was wearing a plain white t-shirt and black jeans with herhandbag beside her hip. He looked at her, “You look…nice. I mean—not in thatway—uhh—umm, I meant you look great.” She smiles and laughs, “Thank you.”“Let’s go.” As he continued towards the elevator, she ran up to him and heldhis hand. “Ok. Let’s go,” she said, smiling. They headed out through thebasement floor.

As theywalked outside on the brick pathway, he looked up to the sky, as was his usualcontemplation. It was getting gray; rainfall was imminent. He doesn’t talk much,not because he’s shy, but cause it’s what he’s used to. Unless he’s gotsomething really important or useful to say, he usually keeps to himself. Thisusually gives the impression to other people that he’s not very bright or very smart,but he’s actually quite so. He enjoys reading a lot and likes to listen togather knowledge. He’s an observer and doesn’t really care if other peoplenotices him or know that he’s smart or talented. “So, what you’ve been up to?”she asked. “Hmmm. Oh, well, umm, studying, I guess,” he answered, “well, Ifinished most of my exams and assignments, so that’s good. Just a little bit left.”“Oh, that’s good. Wait, you’re studying psychology, right?” “Yeah, I am. Why?” “Really??Me too!” “Are you serious?” “Yeah. God, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you inclass though.” “That makes two of us. Well, I usually try to be alone, stick tomyself. I’m weird, I know.” She laughs, “Haha, no, you’re not.” “Thank you forthat.” “No problem. So, do you like it? I mean do you enjoy it?” “Well, yeah, Iguess. It’s interesting, cause I get to learn about people. Why they are theway they are. And I get to learn about myself as well. ” “Well, you seem reallypassionate about it.” “I am. I just…really wanna understand myself. I wannareplace an answer to all these questions that I have,” he chuckles, “I don’t knowif I’ll ever replace it, but... Yeah.” The sky got darker as they went on andthunder roared above. They walk past one of the apartments and she said “hi” toone of her friends. He just kept walking beside her with his head forward. Hefeels strange in these encounters, mostly because of his past experiences. Hedoesn’t know what to do. They don’t seem to care anyway; they never talk to himor even look at him. It’s like he doesn’t exist. “Was that your friend?” heasks. “Yeah. Well, we’re not really close friends, but we’re friends,” shereplies. He chuckles, “Okay.” “What’s wrong?” “Nothing.” “Hey. It’s ok. I knowyou’re a bit shy. But, there’s nothing wrong with that. Ok?” “If you say so,”he replied quietly. She smiled, “Okay then. Man, we have to do lots of readingsand essays, don’t we? It’s frustrating sometimes,” she sighed. “Not really, I kindalike it. I like reading…and writing.” She laughs, “Well it’s good that you’redoing it then.” “Yeah, I’m very fascinated with the mind and its power over thebody. But I actually… Psychology wasn’t my first choice for study.” “Oh really?”“Yeah. I actually did physics for one session. But I didn’t like it very much.The theories are very interesting though.” “Okay. That’s nice.” “After that, Ididn’t know what to do, so I decided to do some philosophy subjects. I still hadanother semester and I had to do something, so… It was very interesting and Iliked it a lot, but there aren’t really many things to do with it. And then Irealized that psychology is similar to it, in a way. I mean, it did come fromphilosophy, plus I would also get a chance to learn about the mind and peopleand myself, so I gave it a shot. And I don’t regret that choice.” “That’sgreat. I’m happy for you. I think you’ll be very good in it. So what year areyou in?” “Uhhhmm... Third year, this is my final year. You?” “Nice. Same here.”“Haha, awesome.”

Theycrossed the bridge that connects the accommodation with the university. Itoverlooks a big, wide calm lake with the water reflecting the blue sky. Theyboth stopped for a moment to look at and appreciate the tranquil scene; a flockof ducks swam across the surface of the lake, rippling the calm water, andscurried in the fields. Lizards could also be seen running through the grasslandsin the area; the trees were flailing about in the wind, some old and big, somestill young. The university is located within a seaside town and surrounded bya range of mountains on the other side, the biggest being Mt. Gray. Bothstudents and non-students would climb the mountain, mostly in the morning toview the sunrise when they reach the top—though sometimes they don’t make it intime. Nevertheless, the view from the top is breathtaking. You could see theocean that stretches for miles; you could see the city too, so small from thatheight; and you could feel the cool air and wind brushing against your face asthe sun rises on the horizon, if you were lucky enough to witness it. It’sdefinitely worth the exhausting hike. Anyway, they finally crossed the bridgeand headed for the bus stop. “Oh, please bus, be here. Be here. Dammit!” heexclaimed as the bus drove away. “Relax. We’ll catch the next one,” she toldhim. “But that’s like, hours away.” She laughed at his statement, “No, it’snot. Come on.” They went to the waiting area; it was covered with a sort ofcanopy to protect from the sun, and there were benches for sitting. Grime anddirt sat on all corners and spider webs hung from the benches. She sat downwhile he refused to sit at such a disgusting place. After some convincing fromher, he reluctantly sat down. A couple was sitting next to them to their left.He observed them as they were kissing each other. Again he experienced astrange feeling; he didn’t quite understand love. And again he got into acontemplation, as he usually spent most of his time doing. People are interesting, he thought to himself, especially young people or teenagers: they experience lust as love.They engage in sexual intercourse to experience dopamine release in theirbrains. Or is it endorphins? I forget sometimes. This is what constitutes asthe ‘social norm.’ Most people don’t really know or understand why they do whatthey do. Sometimes they do things merely because other people do it. Though sometimesthey do realize this, some don’t. It’s been ingrained into their minds. Ormaybe they just don’t care? How the world shapes life enhances this feeling; theyprobably want to change or be different, but, I guess, somewhere along the way theyjust stopped caring. Wow, I’m doing it again. It’s amazing how one thing canmake you contemplate to different subjects. But, then again, it’s really not,is it?

“Hey,what are you doing?” she asked him, curious. “Hmm? Oh, I’m just thinking. Contemplating,”he answered. “What are you contemplating about?” “Oh, just...people, I guess. Andlife.” She laughed in appreciation. “Do you do this often?” she inquired. “Uh,well... Yeah, sort of, I guess. I, uh, don’t usually hang out with many people.I’m sorry if I seem a little weird.” “There’s nothing wrong with that,” shesmiles. “Really?” “Of course,” she whispered to him, “I sometimes do that too.”“Thank you.” “For what?” “For saying that…and for understanding. Most peopledon’t.” She grabbed hold of his hand, “You’re welcome,” she said. At long last,the bus finally arrived. As usual, there weren’t a lot of people inside, sothey were free to sit wherever they wanted. As the bus moved, he asked herwhere they’re going and she told him, “It’s a surprise.” He looked out thewindow and looked out towards the sky, or observing the hustle and bustle ofpeople as they went about their daily lives. He was trying to understand them:through their movements and body language, through how they speak and how theysit. What do they do when they’re sitting alone? What do they do when they’resitting with other people, strangers? And what do they do when they’re sittingwith friends? There were so many questions. “Sometimes you just have to not thinkabout it too much,” she suddenly spoke. “Hmm. Sorry, what?” he asked. “You liketo think about things, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But, sometimes youjust have to think about your own life. Through that you can start to understandother people too. You study psychology, you should know that.” “I guess Ishould, haha. But it’s too late now, isn’t it?” She smiled again, “It’s nevertoo late. We’re still young.” “But you’re right. I do contemplate a lot. I dorealize this and I’m trying not to do it so much.” She moved closer to him, “Thereis nothing wrong with you. It’s alright. We’re almost there.” She could see abit of tears coming out of his eyes; she then held his hand the whole way. Theyfinally arrive at their stop.

Theystep out, though he didn’t seem to see it anywhere. She laughed and told himthat they still have to walk a few—the bus route doesn’t pass in front of it.And so, began the journey, the walking. They had to walk past the city hospitalto get there; busy as always, with nurses and doctors coming in and out, sometaking their break and getting lunch. Some of them gathered under a tree tohide from the scorching heat of the sun, smoking cigarettes and conversingabout life matters, I suppose. The wind blew some of the smoke their way—they coveredtheir noses and he tried to fan it away. “Wow. You think seeing sick peopleeveryday, they would quit smoking,” he said, bemused at the sight. She chuckled,“You would think? But, that’s not really how the human mind works,” sheexplained. “How does it work?” She only smiled and said, “Come on, it’s thisway.” After a bit of a long tread, they finally reached the place, a smallchicken eatery/restaurant…I guess you could call it that. “This is it?” heasked. “I know it doesn’t look much, but they make the best roasted chickens inthe city for a cheap price,” she explained to him. “Okay, if you say so.” “Ifyou don’t like chicken, they do sell other foods too like fish and chips orburgers and whatnot. But, they won’t be as good as the chicken, just saying.”He laughed, “No, it’s alright. I love chicken. Let’s go. I’m starving.” Theline inside wasn’t too long when they entered; it’s quite a popular place. Shewas very excited. It’s a medium, rectangular shop with the cashier directly infront of the entrance. That and the kitchen take up most of the space. At thecashier, she ordered the quarter chicken with fries and a drink while he gotconfused over the wide variety of menus. “He’ll just have the same thing,” she saidto the cashier, “we’ll have it to eat here. Thank you.” “Wait. What are youhaving, again?” he asked her. “Relax. You’ll love it,” she assured him. “Okay,I trust you.” They paid for the food and found a place to sit—not many choicessince it’s a small place. People usually have their food to go. They sat downat the left end of the shop, near the windows.