The End

I awoke with the sound of automatic gunfire still ringing loudly in my ears from the night before. I sit up and yawn widely, trying not to disturb any of the sleeping bodies that lay in the floor all around me. The door to the basement is open and fresh morning sunlight is pouring in through it like an old welcoming friend.

I look around and see Ray Dobbs siting at the table in the corner, smoking a cigarette and drinking Jack Daniels straight from the bottle. Other than Ray, it appears I am the only other one awake yet. I get up off the floor and slowly make my way to the table, trying not to step on any fingers or toes. I pull myself a chair from the table and just plop down in it. "Mind if I get one of those" I say motioning at the pack of camels laying on the table.

"Help your self" Ray says, offering me the Jack Daniels bottle as well.

No thanks, it's a little too early for me to start drinking" I say, lighting my cigarette.

"It's never too early for a drink of the good stuff" Ray shoots back.

I just smile and nod as I take a long deep drag off my cigarette and then nearly hack up a lung, the habit is still new to me, and I am still not fully used to the harshness of the cigarette smoke. Ray takes another swig of whiskey and just looks at me with judgmental eyes. Ray Dobbs was a small man in stature. He wore cheap wire rim glasses and a ball cap to cover up his male pattern baldness. He had been a high school history teacher before The Arrival. Just another sheep, trudging lazily through his ordinary mundane life. But that was the old Ray Dobbs, now he was man on a mission, a bad dude with an attitude, the kind of man you wanted beside you when the shit hit the fan.

"Sun's been up nearly an hour, we gonna have to get moving soon if we want to make any progress today" he says, looking across the room at all the sleeping bodies.

I nod and take another long drag off my cigarette.

Suddenly Ray lost all expression on his face as he looked at me and said "Did you see what those bastards did to Scooter last night???"

I shut my eyes and slowly shake my head, "Yea I saw, I am sorry Ray, I know the two of you were close." Hell we all saw what happened. Those things had tore him apart and devoured the man in a matter of minutes. Scooter Jenkings had been the only one in the group with any kind of military training, he had been a decorated Navy Seal during Desert Storm. He didn't talk about it much, but just the way he carried himself told you all you needed to know about the man. Him and Ray had been childhood friends.

"He saved our lives Ray, if Scooter hadn't done what he did, we would have all probably been slaughtered last night, the Benson twins would surely have been torn apart. Scooter died a hero." I say, hoping he will see the truth in my words.

"I know, but he didn't deserve to go out like that, it wasn't right." he says, looking down at the table. Both of us just sit there in silence for another moment. Finally Ray gets to his feet and starts clapping loudly.

" Rise and shine people, we gotta get this shit show on the road, gotta put some miles behind us before those goddamn green lights make their nightly appearance, let's go, let's go" Ray yells out to the group of sleeping bodies.

The Aliens arrived three weeks ago with out any warning. One night the sky had just started glowing with a fluorescent green light, and there they were, horrific bug looking creatures, with a taste for human flesh. Like Vampires, the creatures sleep in their giant spaceships by day, and then hunt us down like scared little rabbits during the night. Once that green light appears in the night sky, it is time to hide. Our group had come from a small farming town in upper Ohio. There had been nearly two hundred of us to begin with, now only forty people from our original group remained.

We had received a shortwave radio transmission about a week ago, urging all survivors to come to Dobbins Air Force base in Georgia. What was left of our military was regrouping there. There was plenty of food and underground bunkers to shelter in as well, a safe place.

We have already traveled six hundred miles, with another eight to go. God, I hope we make it.