After War

First Contact

I woke up squinting against the bright light. The room, covered in blinds, left a small slit of light through the window, which angled perfectly to hit both my eyes as the sun went up.

Perfect. This was not going to be a good day.

I stretched and yawned. The sun had fully risen up to its highest peak, and the room was the hottest it had ever been. Groggy, I yawned again and caught a whiff of my breath, the stink choking me for a bit, interrupting me mid-yawn. I scratched my arm and surveyed the room. Three sleeping bodies were on the floor, snoring side by side like pigs. Laptops, empty chip packets and half-empty soda bottles littered the room. I shook one of them. It was empty. Just my luck. I went over to where one of my friends were sleeping and shook him instead.

“Herv, hey, Herv. Wake up”

The body stirred. Hervey stopped snoring and snorted. “Huh? What? What’s up?”

“It’s Saturday. Help me make breakfast.” I said.

“Yuck. Your breath smells like a dead rat.”

I exhaled in front of him. He retched. “Yuck! Seriously, stop it.”

The others began to stir. “Ugh, what’s that smell.” Jeff complained.

“It’s Luke’s stanky ass morning breath.”

“That’s because I’m hungry. Help me make breakfast.”

“Only if you brush your teeth first.” Miguel said.

“Fine.”

I got out and went the kitchen and brushed my teeth. Hervey and Jeff began shuffling out of the room like zombies. I heated up the water and prepared three mugs.

“Coffee?” I asked the three of them.

“No, thank you, but I would like some hot chocolate.” Hervey answered.

“I’ll have coffee.” Jeff replied. “Do you still have some beans left?”

I opened up the jar and gave it a shake. “A few, but enough for today. I’ll refill later. Could you give me a ride to the supermarket when you go back to your house, Jeff?”

“Sure, why not.”

“You know, you could ride with me.” Miguel offered. “I brought my car.”

“Oh yeah… thanks, Migz.”

We had spent the entire night playing video games, playing all the way until 5am. It was already 12 noon. Jeff, who lived in his own home, had to go home to take care of his sister… but not without breakfast anyway. I set the table and opened up the fridge to look for what to make. We had a few hotdogs and sausages so that would be alright. The fridge was running low on food as well.

“Herv?” I asked.

“Yeah?”

“I think we may need to go shopping for food as well. We’re running out of food.”

“That’s alright. My dad just sent me money so yeah, let’s go do that.”

Weekend breakfasts were always enjoyable – because we had them during lunchtime. A simple but satisfying breakfast of eggs, fried tomato and beans, rice, and hotdogs, and we were all set for the day.

We cleaned up the apartment a little, and left for the mall.

“Nice. Dad gave me extra this month.” Hervey smiled when he checked his balance on the ATM machine. The four of us were all still college students still trying our best to pass and graduate. Hervey was a Civil Engineering student, while I was studying Mechanical Engineering. Jeff had shifted to Psychology on his second year in college and was doing just fine in his studies, as he had found his calling. Miguel was Political Science major, and he loved it. Despite our different courses, the spirit of video games and making fun of other online players bonded us overtime, making these three the best friends that I ever had. It was just an ordinary day, a special, ‘do nothing’ sort of weekend, and, since it was Saturday, we still had another night of intense online gaming to look forward to.

That was before the attack. I remember that that Saturday in particular was a completely silent Saturday. Although there were still a lot of people in the supermarket, it was less than the usual crowd (We usually could tell just by looking by the amount of people waiting in line in the cashier’s area. Today there were only three  to four customers per cashier so that wasn’t a lot of people, which was a good thing for us.)

Hervey was looking in his phone when snorted. “Look at this news: Mystery ship in Manila: The Palace made first contact! Ha ha! So fake.”

Jeff leaned over to take a better look. “You sure? Seems to me that the news comes from a legit source.” He pointed to a screen. It was from the national news agency.

Miguel grabbed the phone to get a closer look. “Is that a prank? Somebody probably just hacked their system.”

As if on cue, the world outside darkened, as if there was a large shadow over us, hiding the sun like an eclipse. The people outside became distracted… then agitated. Two cars crashed into each other, and both drivers got out of the accident, but they weren’t even going after each other’s throats. They were distracted by something above them. We went outside the mall to investigate.

“Look!” Somebody shouted. We saw up in the bright blue sky a silhouette of a large ship, just as large as the moon, but menacing nonetheless. It looked exactly like the ship described in the news article.

As if a switch had been turned on, Jeff immediately asserted himself and took control of the situation. “Alright guys, we talked about this. This was a scenario that we thought would never happen, but thank heavens for video games right? Alright, so this may or may not be an alien invasion, but first thing we have to get is supplies. We don’t know if whether the aliens are hostile or not, but it’s better to assume that they are, as most movies always say they are. So, this is what we do: spend all our money into food. Herv, you Miguel bring your car over the front of the mall and wait for us there. Luke, call John and Clyde, tell them to pack clothes, essentials, and food. Especially the food. Have them go over to my house. After that, you can help me purchase all the food that we can buy. You brought your cards? Good. Give them to me.”

Miguel, Hervey and I gave up our ATM cards and told him the passwords for them. Afterwards we split into two groups. Jeff and Hervey went over to the ATMS and began withdrawing all the cash that we had in our cards while Miguel and I grabbed a shopping cart and began buying basic essentials like canned food, sausages, and other staples that we could store for a long time.

After buying everything that we could, we drove back, and Jeff called his little sister to open up the house and warn the neighborhood. I called John and Clyde to grab clothes from my dormitory and to go straight to Jeff’s house.

“If we’re lucky, we have at least three hours before they get here.” Jeff said.

Miguel moved quickly and went off with Hervey to fetch all our girlfriends. I must admit I felt pretty giddy and excited just thinking of the prospect of an alien invasion; despite it being scary, and the fact that we might die or suffer, it was not an everyday experience.

When we finished bringing all our supplies home, we went down to Jeff’s basement (It was a very large basement) and began setting up the rooms. We all called our parents, let them know what we were up to, and that we were going to be okay, and began calling our girlfriends as well to tell them to sit tight because Miguel and Hervey was on their way to get them.

It was an hour later that the girls arrived. Micah, a psychology student like Jeff, and Ching, a business student were near enough to get, but Cheska, my girlfriend, was at her home in a town called Dauin, which was a few kilometers away from the city. We had to get her. Luckily for us, Miguel’s car made driving to where she was and pulling her out of her own home an easy matter. Her parents didn’t know anything about the space ship’s silhouette yet, and since it was in a town, the news hadn’t arrived yet so they let her go easily enough.

We then spent the next afternoon dragging down the furniture, TV, the internet, and the beds and medical supplies down the basement. The generator was placed inside Jeff’s room on the second floor and Hervey cut holes on the side so that we could attach the exhaust and intake pipes for the generator. Barziboy, Jeff’s neighbor, helped us out by bringing gallons of gasoline to stock up with. We took sacks and filled them with sand and lined up the inner walls outside of Jeff’s house with the sandbags, and we boarded up the windows with whatever we could.

We were not completely finished preparing ourselves, but since the day was waning, and the house was secure and sound enough, we all went in. We covered the sandbags with heavy curtains and we went down to the basement. The basement already had its own air filtration system, so we just simply turned the air conditioning on and waited.

We treated the whole thing like it was a sleepover. We knew that if the aliens weren’t hostile, we’d have to clean up the mess that we made inside Jeff’s house and explain to our parents what happened. The girls had to send text messages to their frantic mothers lying about a field trip. We had prepared as well as we could though; we had adequate lighting, food, clean water, and comfort. Despite that, we were still scared. We tried to distract ourselves by playing video games while the girls played cards or watched movies.

It was midnight when the aliens began attacking. Jeff and I were in the middle of a game when the power shut down completely and the generator turned itself on. Jeff, Cheska, Micah and Hervey were in the middle of a conversation when the ground shook. I raised my hand and they quieted down.

“It’s began.”  I told them. Nodding, Hervey and Jeff took positions behind the stairs and sat down. This was going to be a long night.

The explosions went on for the most part of the night. They were far so eventually we learned to ignore them. We spent most of the evening playing cards, watching movies, some of us even tried sleeping, which was no use. Eventually the explosions gradually died down and we lulled ourselves to sleep.

The second day was not too bad in itself. The neighborhood was still largely untouched by the war but it was quiet. Those who did not evacuate back to the southern part of the Philippines, where it was more heavily defended, had stayed in their homes unwilling to go out. It was quiet so come noontime I thought it was safe enough to climb out. Jeff and Hervey accompanied me amidst protest, but I had to know what was going on. I got out of the door and climbed up to the roof. The neighborhood was fine, but outside the walls (Jeff lived in a gated community) there was chaos. Rubble, debris and demolished houses could be seen all around. The houses in the community were deserted, and there were dead animals lying in lawns, on the streets, and even on the gutters, some of them grossly mutilated. I stared in shock of the c*****e that happened.

Hervey tapped me in the shoulder and pointed. To the north-east section of the community there was a crowd of people. I was about to call out of them when Herv and Jeff pulled me down and shushed me. They then pointed at the crowd again and we observed them. They were going into houses and smashing doors and windows, taking whatever they could. They also had guns with them.

“Looters.” Jeff whispered. We climbed back down and barred the doors. The windows had been boarded up and the walls were backed with sandbags so we were relatively secure should they come here, but they could still open up our door. We’ll have to get ready to fight.

We went down and told everyone the situation. Everyone was scared but despite that, we decided to get ready. Jeff’s place wasn’t the strongest fortress, but it was a safehouse. We needed to keep this place to survive.

We readied our weapons, makeshift weapons made out of poles, sticks, gardening tools and swords like the “Bolos” which were basically Filipino short swords made out of steel, and usually rusted and blunt, but they were heavy weapons which are still capable of killing someone, if swung right. These days we just use them to cut grass and weeds.

Anyway, Jeff and Miguel got a hold of the bolos while Hervey and I had spears made from duct tape and knives. Clyde had the fire axe and John got a fire extinguisher. We got up the door and prepared to fight the incoming intruders. The crowd had finished looting the houses on the other side of the neighborhood and were coming to ours. We readied ourselves to fight the incoming vandals.

Except we didn’t have to. The quiet neighborhood, disturbed only by the sounds of the vandals, suddenly became noisy. The air was suddenly filled with buzzing, chirping noises, and a rumble of thousands of feet running, as if a stampede was happening. And there it was: As we looked out on the gaps between the windows we saw the looters point at something on the street and begin to panic. Some took out their guns and started shooting at what was scaring us as the rumbling noise grew louder, and like an earthquake, the aliens’ monsters were upon them. Oh they were so fearsome to watch, six legs on a sleek dinosaur-shaped body, with two antennae hanging out from their heads, webbed gills producing the chirping sound we heard. Up close the monsters were loud, and scary. They rushed past through the shooters and started mauling them, ganging up on them like ants on a dead insect. Those who ran ahead didn’t even stand a chance. The monsters were at their backs and tearing up skin. It was a m******e. The horde soon passed through, without as much as leaving a fleck of skin among the looters. The streets was covered in blood and strewn with the bodies of the dead looters, and maybe a few of the aliens as well. I moved over to the door and began to unbar it.

“Luke!” Jeff hissed. “What are you doing?”

“I want to get some those weapons. We need them.”

“Did you even see those things? What if they’ll come back? They’ll shred you to pieces.”

“But they didn’t touch their guns. Look!” I pointed to one of the dead bodies. His flesh had completely been eaten away, leaving only a bloody skull, the exposed hands and his ripped up jeans were eaten through, leaving nothing but bones and few scraps. “We could get some of those and maybe defend ourselves if another set of looters come through.”

“And what if those creatures come again?” Jeff asked.

“They won’t come inside the house, not unless they saw us, and even if they did, we can make a bottleneck so that they wouldn’t be able to surround us.” I explained.

“I like Luke’s idea, Jeff.” Herv added, “At least we’d be armed if those things come again.”

“And we could use some of those guns.” Miguel added as well. He had just come down from the second floor with John and Clyde. “It’s better than holding these things. Those spears would break in half before we could even stab anybody.”

“Fine.” Jeff relented.

“Good. You and Miguel keep watch on the door. Hervey and I will go out and remove their guns. Bar the door on our way out.” I told them.

“Okay. Just try not to get killed.”

Silently, we went out to the streets crouching. Jeff left the door open up a c***k and Hervey and I started gathering the guns. The neighborhood was now completely silent.

“Ugh, look at this.” Hervey called over. He was staring at a whitened skull, from one of the bodies of the looters.

“They ate through everything inside the skull, even licked the brain clean.”

As Hervey and I started stripping the guns and weapons off of the corpses, John ventured out to come help us.

“Take a look at this!” He called out. He kicked a dead alien body that was lying on the street. It was already sizzling away, oozing some form of clear liquid tinged with green. He bent over to examine it.

“Don’t touch that!” Hervey shouted. John drew back in surprise.

“That’s their bile. Looks like that stuff’s strong enough to melt your skin away.” Hervey commented. He scooped it up with his shoe. The liquid melted part of the sole. He drew is feet back quickly.

“Well that was a waste of a good shoe.” John said

“Better that than you lose a finger.” Hervey said.

“Heh. Right.”

We carried on gathering the weapons, careful to avoid the dead alien monsters this time. After gathering up the guns and ammo, we split up and searched the other homes. John gathered up the looters’ packs, which were filled with food and medical supplies. The sun was beginning to set when we finished. Jeff barred the door again and lit up candles around the house.

“The horde’s back!” Clyde announced from the top, running back down in fear. “They have minotaurs with them.”

“Minotaurs? Like the bull people from greek stories?” I asked him.

“Well if you don’t believe me go take a look!” He handed me the binoculars to look and gathered up the supplies we got and began bringing them to the basement.

“Let’s hide underground.” Clyde said as he got back up from the basement, “If they’re anything like the greek stories, then I’d rather stay down where they can’t hear us at all... or smell, or sense for that matter.” He went down. I went up to see what he was talking about and what I saw awed me. A two legged creature, nearly ten feet tall, was herding the dinoes, as we had come to calling the 6-legged creatures that had devoured the looters. Two angry red eyes and what looked like a bull’s face adorned its head. Its hair was 6 feet long and braided, ending in a golden band glowing blue. It was naked, save for its golden belt and bracers, which also had blue lights on. I ran down as well, too scared to speak. Hervey and Jeff looked at each other and followed behind. Miguel was the last to come inside. He was pale when we inside. We quieted everyone down. I surveyed the room. The girls had been making themselves useful. The room was properly lighted and cleaned. A kitchen had been set up inside the basement, beside the stairs, and the sleeping area had been made comfortable. The video games and laptops were gathered up and arranged neatly in a table on the far end of the basement, away from the door. I went to Cheska, who was sewing up clothes that had been torn through. She kissed me on the cheek.

“Is everything alright?” She asked.

“To be honest, no. There’s a huge army coming this way. It’s too many to fight, not to mention those huge monsters. That’s pretty freaking unfair!” I held her hand, scared. She was scared too, she was shaking all over, but she didn’t show it, at least she tried hiding it. Everyone was trying to do their best to hide their fear as the column marched over our heads. All around we could feel the rumble of the marching army on our heads. It continued well until the late of the night. I didn’t know what happened next, but the next day, I woke up. I had fallen asleep. I felt myself over to see if I was fine. Cheska was dozing beside me, her head resting on my shoulder. Everyone else was asleep as well. I got up and roused Hervey, Jeff and Miguel. Together we went up the stairs.

The top part of the house had sustained damage. Large holes where probably the big ugly had punched through dotted some parts of the house. The roof was intact, which meant that our solar panels were safe. But the kitchen was completely demolished. Jeff Miguel and I scouted the top floor while Hervey, John, and Clyde checked out the ground floor. So far it was safe. Miguel looked out the window and spotted movement. He called me over and pointed, shouting for the others to come.

“Hey! There’s movement on the north side!” I grabbed the binoculars and looked closer. A couple was running across the field towards our direction. The man was wearing a pilot’s uniform and was being helped by the woman. They were being chased by six or seven of the dino-aliens. Without a word Hervey ran towards them and began fighting the aliens.

“The damned i***t!” Miguel cursed and ran after him. Jeff grabbed the two swords and ran after him. I grabbed the axe.

“You two, cover our backs, but go to another building. We don’t want anybody watching to know that we’re using this house as a base. Hurry!” and I ran out.

Hervey grabbed the pilot and ran to the house, shooting at them all the while. Miguel called out to him.

“Herv! Stop firing! You’ll just miss. Concentrate on getting them to where John and Clyde are! We’ll cover your backs!”

Hervey nodded, not saying a word. His face was grim but determined. Together he and the girl hoisted the pilot on their shoulders and carried him. Miguel dropped down to one knee and started firing, he killed two but the monsters were too close, and there was no time to reload. He began to fall backwards, immediately realizing what he had done. One of the creatures got close and tried to hack at him with its claws. Miguel crawled backwards, barely dodging the hit. He was about to strike again when bullets peppered its face, bursting a part of its skull.

I reloaded my gun. My shots had saved Migz and killed one more of them but there were still four of them left. Jeff shot one down as it pounced at him, then grabbed his bolo and hit the next one on its head, the blunt sword was buried in its skull and it shrieked in pain. He got the other bolo and drove it deep into its belly, creating a long incision The creature screamed as blood and bile spilled out of its body.

Three left. Jeff dragged Miguel backwards and started running back, scared. The remaining monsters gave chase, I emptied my clip into two more, shredding them into pieces but there was still one left. Jeff had passed me. I knew that if we ran, we’d be slaughtered. I grabbed my axe and charged at the last one. I swung the axe at it but it dodged, hissing and chirping. It opened its mouth and let out the loudest shriek in the world, temporarily stunning me. I dropped to the ground, my head ringing from the shriek. It screeched again, lifting two spindly arms to end me, but gunfire began ringing around us, hitting the street, sending small rocks tumbling. Rounds peppered its face, killing the creature. A bullet hit my leg.

“OOW! You shot me!” I shouted.

John and Clyde looked at each other.  The creature was dead though so I tried to stand up. The pain was blinding, and I dropped back down again. Jeff came back and helped me up. “What happened?”

“One of them shot me!” John and Clyde were running in our direction. The pilot had already been carried off to the basement, and so they helped me back in.

“Sorry. It was an accident. At least you aren’t dead.” John grinned sheepishly. I looked at Clyde accusingly. He just grinned and shrugged.

“Hey we haven’t handled guns before, and you were especially far out. I think we did well considering.”

“Considering. Just get me back.” Held by Jeff and John, we limped back to the basement. When we got in, the pilot was already on the floor, being treated by Ching.

“Oh my God! What happened to you?” Cheska gasped when she saw me. Blood was dripping from my pants leg.

“I think we better mop up the floor soon.” I told them. “They might trace the blood back here. Better yet, Clyde, since you’re the one who shot me, you wipe the blood.” I grinned at him, despite the pain.

Clyde got up and did as I asked quietly. He must’ve felt guilty about shooting me. I’d better let him know that I was more grateful than angry.

The night passed again. It was more peaceful this time. We made dinner, and talked to the girl we just saved. After a while we had settled down back into a lul. I looked at Clyde. I figured it was time thank him.

“Hey Clyde?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks for shooting me, I mean, saving me.” I said. Clyde grinned.

“No worries man.”

I fell asleep soon after. When I woke up I saw the girl we rescued thank Hervey for coming to save us. Then at Miguel, and then Jeff, and then finally me. She was older than us, probably in her late twenties. I asked her where she came from.

“I’m a student in this city. I studied Agriculture.” She said. “My parents are from a different place, but I currently live here alone. I saved him from a wreck, but we got discovered by the aliens when I dragged him out.”

“A wreck?” I asked. Nowadays fighter pilots don’t survive from their wrecks, if they crashed with the plane, they’d be burning in the plane.

“Yeah you won’t believe it. The guy was in a plane with propellers, dammit. That’s what our country was fighting them in. Antiques.” She said. I nodded my head in understanding. The Philippines was not one of those better armed countries. We were relatively weak when it came to fighting with machines. The most we got were ground troops. They were armed with the latest weapons but still, fighting mechanized armies with small arms fire was like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

“I wasn’t fighting them. I was scouting their positions.” The pilot spoke up. He had lost a lot of blood from his leg, and he was pale, but he was conscious. Ching tried to calm him down, but he sat up.

“Those things that were chasing us weren’t the ground force. That was just cannon fodder. They can whip up those things like as if you were baking cookies. No, no, the main force is hidden in a mountain somewhere up north, and I got the pictures to prove it.”

“They could always search for it by using satellite surveillance you know.” Hervey said.

“That’s right, but how could you do that when they have a cloaking field large enough to camouflage their base? I was able to get in because, well I don’t really know how I was able to get in, but they shot me down as soon as I did and I was lucky enough to land in this part of the city.” He took out a small piece of paper on his shirt pocket. In it were coordinates. “In there you’d see aliens in golden power armor, bright and clear as day, in contrast to the dark green of the forest. They were unloading those creatures there and sending them straight to us. I suppose if we could destroy that area, we’d be seeing the last of those monsters.” He handed me the paper.

I took a look at it. “9°50'06.9"N and 122°56'57.7"E. I searched it up on an online map site. It showed me pictures of a nearby mountain.

“Alright then, you’ve got me convinced. Now what do you propose we should do?” I asked. I knew the answer before he was going to say it. He’s going to have to ask us to escort him to the nearest base and give the location to the army, probably killing us in the process.

“We need to stay put right now. Do you have a radio?” He asked. “I’ll try to contact base right now and have them come to us.”

“Heh. That’s funny. Nobody’s here right now, and for all we know, that base is gone.” Miguel said, showing us his phone. In it were news articles talking about destroyed bases and military bases under attack. “If it was still alive, it’s under attack or dying.”

The pilot became quiet. “Well, I don’t like this one bit, but the situation is calling for it.” He said. “Right now, I see myself with two choices: Stay with you here, and probably die, or risk going to the south and still probably die. The way I see it, I want to risk going south right now and end the war.”

“The way I see it,” I countered “Is that you are more likely to die doing that than staying here. Out there, if your stories are true, there are probably alien patrols in the water, shooting down and killing anything mechanical that’s moving. In this base, nobody knows we’re here, and those that did are already dead. I say we wait a few months and see if there are reinforcements coming in. Those aliens may be strong, but I don’t think we’re going to lose.”

“And what makes you say that?” He asked.

“Well, for one thing, the aliens in power suits didn’t come down here at all. That means they’re shoring up defenses and building a base. If they were so confident in taking us down at all, they would’ve just simply marched up to the capitol, killed everyone in the way, and then set up base in a day. Well, at least that’s what I would do.”

“Hmm. I think maybe you’re right. Right now… what’s that?” He stopped. The ground was shaking again. A distant rumble from far away. Doors were slammed upstairs and running footsteps heralded the panicked entry of the John and Clyde.

“They’re back.” They said. “The minotaurs too.”

“Who’s back?” The pilot asked. I quieted him. The rumbling had gotten louder, and the shaking became stronger.

“It’s a horde of those creatures. The minotaurs are herding them, I think, acting as an overlord. They’re the ones giving orders.”

The rumbling had slowed itself down and stopped. Steps were heard. And then another loud rumble, like a house being demolished.

“Uh-oh. They must’ve seen the seven new dead bodies.” Miguel said.

We reached for our guns. We only had so much ammo. There was too many. We were going to die here if we were discovered.

Gradually though, the rumbling of broken house got smaller and smaller. They were breaking down houses far from where we were. We still kept quiet though, as the horde’s main body was standing just right above us. We couldn’t risk getting seen. Eventually the sounds of houses being demolished stopped and the rumbling resumed. They had given up looking for us.

“They’ll be back.” I told them. They nodded their heads in agreement. “We have a new protocol now: We stay here as much as we can, only going out when needed. Those guys keep passing by this place so I think we’re on a patrol route. We have to stay in. Hervey, John, Clyde. You guys keep watch up top. Ching, Micah, Cheska, you guys take care of supplies. You… uh.. what’s your name?”

“Jackie.” The girl answered. “My name is Jackie.”

“Yeah, you, Uh… Jackie. You take care of our pilot there. He’s still wounded, and since you brought him here, you get to be in charge of that.”

She nodded in assent quietly.

“Alright. We’ll keep at this and maybe somehow we’ll survive.”

It was six weeks later that help finally arrived.