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Ashes fell from the blackened sky. Sulfur scarred the lining of his nostrils as he struggled to breathe the inhospitable air. Falling to his knees his gaze fell upon a locket, he reached out. Fingers writhing in pain. As he neared the locket, he noticed its heart shape glowing a faint red, almost beating. Reaching closer toward the locket he watched as his flesh peeled from his bones evaporating into ashes as his muscles touched the locket he was enveloped in a bright, hot whiteness.

And silence.

A haunting scream threatened to rupture the man’s eardrums. Face down in a pile of an off-white powder the man gasped for breath. Ash lined his mouth, he coughed hoarsely and struggled to catch his breath.

Where am I? The man thought to himself.

Consuming his thoughts was the haunting scream, much closer this time. Looking up, the man saw a large figure running toward him carrying a twisted piece of rebar. Pressing his hands onto the ground he felt the shape of the locket, gripping tight and trying to push himself to his feet he felt a sharp strike to his ribs. Flipping to his right from the kick he saw the silhouette of the mad man carrying the rebar. He closed his eyes awaiting the sweet embrace of death, the locket gripped tight in his hand.

A gunshot.

A warm wetness blanketed his face, he opened his eyes to see the man dropping the rebar and falling over lifeless.

“Allen!” the man heard a familiar voice call out, “Allen!”

Allen. He thought. That’s me.

Standing to his feet Allen grabbed the bottom of his shirt and wiped off the blood. He spit, trying to get any remaining blood or ash out of his mouth.

Looking up he saw his wife, the reason he came to the downtown district at all. She was different than he remembered her yesterday, she was younger and filthy.

“Nicole, what? Where are we?”

“I’m on a run.” Nicole paused, “You should be back at the commune.”

They exchanged confused glances.

Allen walked toward Nicole, she raised her rifle and cocked the bolt, “Stop! What kind of mind game is this!”

Allen stopped dead in his tracks, his gaze fixed on the barrel of the gun his wife was holding.

“I was coming here to bring you lunch, you were working a full shift at the office. I remember a bright, hot light and then this.” His arms stretched out as he spun in a circle, the chain from the locket hanging toward the ground. “Whatever this is.”

“That chain, is that the locket I gave to you when our son was –

A ringing sound came from Nicole’s pocket, she grabbed for it lowering the rifle. Looking down at the display of the phone she saw her husband’s name, Allen.

“Hello?” she answered the phone.

“I’m not good.” She replied, “Are you still at home?”

“Okay, I have just one question. Tell me how this can happen. I’m going to send you a picture.”

She hung up the phone, held it up toward Allen and snapped a picture. She sent the picture.

Nicole answered the phone as it rang, “You tell me how this happened?”

Allen looked around at his surroundings, off in the distance he noticed the Maryland State Building. He raised his hand at the horizon, Nicole turned to look at what Allen was pointing toward.

“The old state building?” she responded.

“I’m home? What year is it?”

“Nineteen eighty-four.”

Allen dropped to his knees, “That’s not possible, it was just twenty twenty-one.”

Nicole lowered the phone from her ear, “That is impossible. We need to get back to the commune, my gunshot will lure them here.”

“Lure who here.”

“There’s no time, were only a few miles away. I have a dirt bike on the outskirts follow me.”

Nicole led the way; they ran at a good pace down the red brick road. Downtown was a different place than Allen remembered though the roadways were the same. As they got off Main Street Nicole signaled to her dirt bike parked against a pillar at the Annapolis City Dock.

As she straddled her ride, a piercing sound broke the silence. An air raid siren pierced through the skies deafening Allen and Nicole. Allen fell to his knees, screaming at the top of his lungs. Nicole tackled him putting her hands over his mouth.

Within a second the sound stopped and the once lit skies of Annapolis succumbed to darkness, darker than any night Allen can remember.

“Dammit!” Nicole cried pulling Allen to his feet.

She jumped onto her dirt bike and Allen clumsily stumbled on, he grabbed her waist and she twisted the throttle. At the end of Dock Street, the dirt bike came to a complete stop. Nicole looked to both sides.

“MD 450 or MD 70? If we go through down town we head straight at them, it might catch them by surprise and confuse their targeting system. If we go down the highway, we have a couple detours that will make us take longer.” Her tone panicked, “They already know we are here, if we’re not found in five minutes it breaks their system and returns back to normal, right now you’re tagged.”

“You’re not making sense. Who is after us?”

Nicole sighed, “I’ll explain later, or you’ll soon find out. Either one will happen. We need to make this decision fast and it has to be your decision, you are the one who has been tagged.”

“Downtown?” Allen said hesitantly.

Without hesitation Nicole peeled out to her right down Randall Street, at the intersection of Prince George Street the road was blocked except the northwest. As they turned the corner heading toward St. John’s College Allen began to feel a very slight rumble underneath his skin.

“Hey!” Allen shouted, “What is happening to me, I feel almost as if I’m vibrating.”

“That’s the tagging system attempting to send out its frequency to its handler. It means they’re real close. When you see them don’t panic, and most importantly don’t make a single noise.”

It was hard for Allen to hear everything Nicole had said but he heard the last part and he knew to keep quiet.”

Nicole banked to the left and got onto the sidewalk just as a great chasm opened in the road, Allen watched as Prince George Street sank making a narrow ravine in the city. The vibration grew with every passing second, then just as the sensation was about to make Allen scream it faded.

Red flares dotted the sky in a strange formation, little balls of red gas which seemed to be getting closer. They mimicked the vehicles every motion, as it bumped and weaved through the city sidewalk. Allen looked on ahead of them, he saw the Higgins Dining Hall in the distance.

A shrill beep filled his ears as the balls of red gas neared them, one narrowly missed Allen’s shoulder. Turning to look at the ball he watched as it imbedded itself into a brick wall then exploded. Nicole swerved left and right avoiding the explosives, up ahead was a trailer that had been abandoned.

“Hold on!” Nicole shouted.

Allen grabbed her waist tight and she brought the motorcycle on its back wheel and ramped off the trailer. As the motorcycle cleared the gap in the road Allen looked forward seeing Higgins Dining Hall in the distance. Behind him the remaining red balls of gas exploded into the great chasm on Prince George Street.

Below them the ground began to buckle, Nicole fought tirelessly to remain in control of the staggering motorcycle. A sound like a large explosion rippled through the air, before them as they approached College Ave a large armored arthropod broke through the ground. Branded on the side of the beast as well as engraved onto the sides of the metal plating was the seal of the Soviet Union. Rubble was strewn over Nicole and Allen and they banked left onto College Ave. A sparkling white bell tower smashed into the road directly behind them.

Bullets rained down from atop the great beast, “There is a pistol in the bag next to you, shoot back at them.”

Allen fumbled through the bag and found the pistol, a blackened steel Colt 1911. Allen had extensive training during the Vietnam War. Allen loaded the sidearm and began firing at the assailants.

Approaching the state house Allen could hear the crack and whine of several rockets streaming toward them. Allen caught a glimpse of one of the soldiers atop the state house. Standing almost seven feet tall Allen knew they weren’t normal. The tall figure had human features but looked less human than anything Allen had seen before.

Behind them the arthropod began following attempting to gain ground on the puny motorbike. Powerlines and whole houses were crushed under the weight of the gargantuan exoskeleton. Automatic gunfire filled the air, bullets surrounded Allen and Nicole as they banked right onto Bladen Street. Nearing the bridge Nicole knew they were going to make it, but they had to lose the lock on Allen.

Nicole grabbed a device out of a pocket on her chest and handed it to Allen, “Put this in your pocket, do not lose it.”

She grabbed a walkie talkie from her shoulder, shouting orders into it.

“Rhodesia to Quincy. We have Charlies inbound to MD70 hot on our tail, pursuing passage across college.”

In seconds a response came.

“Rhodesia, dispatched nightingale Rowe will be hot, get off the bridge our sensors pick up an arthropod. We’re dropping the lightning.”

“As I thought.” Nicole stopped the motorcycle, the arthropod was nearing the bridge, “He’ll come, the Russians have been waiting a long time to get rid of this bridge. The marine corps should be coming down from the navy memorial stadium.”

“The stadium! The Summer Olympics was supposed to be held here this year.”

“We’ve been at war since the fifties, there hasn’t been an Olympics in over forty –

A sound broke from the dense forest to the north, six attack helicopters veered toward the bridge.

“Here goes nothing! When we jump off the bridge keep swimming until you reach that building. You should lose the tag signal once you are in the water for a couple minutes. Remember,” Nicole pointed toward a church on the other side of the river, “meet me there. You have to see yourself.”

Nicole twisted the throttle. The empty bridge was a nice change from the ruined downtown district that Allen had left and then woken into. It all seemed surreal, Allen grabbed ahold the heart-shaped locket tight in his grip. Any moment Nicole would yell for them to jump and they’ll plunge into the depths of College Creek. Before them at the north point of the bridge the squadron of helicopters began to unload their miniguns and fire missiles toward the raging arthropod.

“JUMP!”

Allen and Nicole jumped off the speeding motorbike as two missiles streaked passed. A crack, then an explosion ensued as the arthropod put its weight onto the bridge. It began to collapse starting at the southern end. Section by section the bridge plunged into the water. Dust billowed into the air.

Both missiles became shrouded by dust, moments later they impacted into the armor of the beast. Allen turned to watch the battle the explosion ripped a hole in the head of the arthropod which bucked sending several of the super soldier flying off the edge into the woods. One of the Russian soldiers made an inhuman feat as he leaped from the bucking arthropod and landed on the window of the cockpit. As Allen impacted with the water, he watched the Russian soldier unload his rifle into the unsuspecting pilot of the helicopter, he lost control and the helicopter swirled toward Allen’s position.