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Invasion

A Cliff-Hangers Story

By Anna-Roisin Ullman-SmithPublished 5 years ago 10 min read
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Author Anna-Roisin reads short story Invasion. 

This is a work of fiction. All copyright held by Anna-Roisin Ullman-Smith. The wind lashed around the opening into the small alcove. She sat nestled inside the gap of the stone walls, kneeling near the opening and looking out at the world below her. The weather of late had been weird and wonderful, strong head winds blew across the landscape in such a rage that the trees bent their heads to allow the angry winds faster passage. The lakes swelled with the rain water that ran from the mountains, and the water in an endless race to reach its mother ocean.

She had loved watching it: The world raging against itself, the rush of its waters tearing away the strength of the land, and the beat of the wind flattening all in its path.

Many in her town believed the world was coming to an end, that their peaceful haven was lost, that the powers of nature were going to tear the world apart. Other’s believed that the weather from the west had changed its mind and turned around to attack them in the east. Though there were a few, like Sasha, who just enjoyed watching it.

If the world was tearing itself apart, it would take a while for it to do so. Why panic? If the weather from the west had turned about to rage with them in the east, then the west must be rejoicing. Either way, as far as Sasha was concerned, it was quiet amazing.

The change in their normally calm and settled atmosphere had come suddenly, only a couple of days before. The sky cracked open and rain, the likes of which the east had never seen before, poured down upon them—and then the wind came, fierce and angry and hot. It raged over their land and tore at all in its path. There had not been a break since it started; there had not been a single dip in the wind, or pause in the rain. As strong and as heavy as it had begun, it continued.

Sasha sighed, rocking back and forth on her tip toes at the edge of the alcove's opening. She felt mystical all the way up here, watching the destruction below. Rocking back she sat down, tucking her knees up to her chest and looked up into the sky. The perfect green she had grown up with was gone, replaced by a thick dense wall of grey cloud.

Suddenly, movement caught her eye, something cutting through the perfect sheet of grey; a large black shape moved fast and furious, plummeting out from the thick cover of clouds, running head first towards the ground, towards the barren lands of the woods. Frozen with shock, surprise, and curiosity, Sasha gazed in awe as the thing burst through the clouds, seeming to tear them to shreds as it came, and throwing them about in the air as if they were feathers plucked from a bird. The thing seemed to fall faster then. Out of the grip of the clouds, it plummeted towards the earth with such force the air shook with it.

Sasha sat frozen with her curiosity, fear tingling in the depths of her tummy, but not yet there. She noted how large the thing was. With its nose pointed downwards, it took up most of the space between the clouds and the land, consuming it, filling it. As the tail end escaped the last of the cloud cover, the nose finally reached the earth, the quake it made as it collided with the ground running like a wave to all sides and shaking Sasha in her alcove, the very rock of the mountain seeming to creak beneath her with the pure force of the crash.

For a moment everything stilled, no sounds escaping the animals of the land. The thing stood still: Nose stuck fast into the ground, and its body balanced above it.

Sasha released the breath she did not realise she had been holding, and as if it were her held breath that blew it over, the thing’s body crashed down to land, pulling the nose back up, tearing apart the ground. The landscapes that Sasha had thrived in deteriorated in front of her. Even the sky was broken; the horizon that had spread out far and beautiful now consumed by plumes of smoke and the body of this black beast.

Still fear failed to reach Sasha. Curiosity, gripping her tight, kept her in her alcove with her eyes glued to the thing.

As Sasha watched there was a loud bang and a series of crashes as small sections broke away from the main body, releasing a swarm of creatures that looked much like herself. She could tell from her vantage point that the creatures wore heavy black clothing, making them look like small versions of the vessel they were breaking out of, and she could see they were carrying small leg-like things, also black like the vessel. With the strength of the wind blowing in her direction, she could faintly hear their shouts to one another, their screams of fear and the harder clearer voices of those in command. More and more poured from the thing. More creatures than Sasha had ever seen in her life spilled from its body, consuming the landscape until there was very little empty land left visible.

As she watched groups of these creatures started to run off from the ship. One group to the north, another to the east, another west, and a large group to the south where Sasha was. Now fear gripped her, her stomach painfully twisting, and bile rising in her throat. Goosebumps had bloomed up her pale blue arms.

Reacting fast, Sasha’s hands moved swiftly through the air around her, drawing on the powers of the earth, drawing on the rock walls that surrounded her. She pulled at the threads of matter, of the real and unreal, drawing them in, shaping them, as she had been taught to all her life, working to craft an image of what could be, but is not. The energy swarmed around her, forming a ball that she could feel pulsing to the same quick terrified beat of her own heart. Grasping the idea of this bubble, she carefully constructed the impression of a wall, the front face of the rock forming in her mind’s eye—but not there physically—becoming something that anyone who approached would believe to be real, something they will believe they can touch. Sasha chanted to herself to focus, trying to avoid the thoughts of how quickly the creatures could move, of how soon they would be upon her.

҉

Our ship had crashed. We’d been trapped in this planet's upper atmosphere for days now, the bulk of our ship being thrown around on some ungodly wind.

And then finally we’d crashed. We’d all been expecting it so no one had got injured, and it was more of a relief than anything else to finally find ourselves on solid land. Although we may not know what land this is, it is still a land of sorts and still a land that we can use. The air here tastes sweeter than the air of the ship, or even the air of home, but it’s still breathable.

I grab a gun from a man next to me, and snatch ammo from the pile that’s being placed on the ground. Loading the gun, I hold it fast in my hand, not able to shake the feeling that we’re going to be attacked. The rain lashes down upon us, turning the torn up ground from our crash into a heavy and foul mud.

Everyone around me is shouting: Orders ringing out across the plain, all virtually drowned out by people's screams of terror as they look at the damage and realise the impossibility of being able to repair it; as it dawns on them that we may not get home.

It only takes a little while for the commanders to start sending us off in regiments, a group to each side to set up a perimeter and a safety zone. Then further secondary groups once the perimeter has been set to find sources of food and fresh water. Followed by a final group of scientists who will check that the atmosphere, ground, water, and food are all compatible to our bodies; if not, there will be more screams as the men realise that they're already dead.

I join the group headed south, it’s the largest regiment, and the area needs to be checked the most due to the mountain range. We move swiftly across the land, covering a lot of ground quickly. As we approach the hillside I note an alcove in the rock above, and for a moment I think I see someone there. I don’t bother alerting any of the others, and move swiftly towards where I saw the opening. Yet, once I’m above where the opening should be I see that the hillside is solid. There’s not even a dip in the rock face where I thought I saw the alcove. Shaking my head in confusion, I continue to scan the perimeter.

The land here seems to absorb the rain, almost as if it is unused to it. Like a sponge it sucks up the water that pours from the clouds. The rain bounces off my armour with soft twang noises. It irritates me, and I can feel the frustration building, the want to jump into a ship and fly away from this wet crumpled world.

I’ve walked the edge of the perimeter, and seen nothing, no animals, no form of population. If it wasn’t for the scans we’d managed to complete before the crash I would believe that there was no life here at all. But the scans showed otherwise, the body heat scan alone showed vast areas of red; the whole world is meant to be covered in life, it should be thriving with animals big and small; in all honesty I am amazed that we haven’t been attacked already.

I stop, the regiment’s completed the sweep and a secondary team has started to swell out. In a large circular radius they pin out small plugs, which are invisible in the ground and somehow hold place even though there’s only mud and water to hold them, each pin is then strung with a cable, too thin to be seen by the blind eye, but if tripped over will trigger an alarm to each man and woman’s helmet throughout every regiment, those closets will then go in and ensure the rest of our safety.

The system is simple and effective. I watch as the first of the second sweep start to lay out the line, ensuring that it doesn’t snag on any of the surrounding wildlife as they go. I note that they haven’t started on the mountain side and decide to take another sweep of that area. I could have been certain earlier that there was a gap up in the rock face. Maybe I’d walked the wrong way up, and missed it completely? But I have to check. Anything could be hiding in such a hole.

I set off at a fast paced jog, managing to make good progress across the land and soon find myself halfway up the hillside. In my haste I have failed to take note of where I am actually running too, and have somehow managed to find myself slightly further to the left of the mountain side than I wanted. I carefully scamper over towards my right, trying to avoid slipping down on the wet surface.

If the rain continues to get heavier this hillside will become a full-fledged waterfall, I note, with some distain.

Foolishly I look out at the outpost, checking to make sure it isn’t likely to flood, forgetting to pay attention to my feet. I slip, my heavy armour stopping me from being able to catch myself and I feel the world spin. I notice that I am falling further downwards then I should be, that I should have hit into the solid stone of the hillside by now; I feel panic surge through me and I try move my arms forward to catch myself, but my body refuses. My head hits solid stone as I finally strike ground and I feel my visor crack, some of it splintering into my helmet. I feel shards slice my cheek, and the flow of hot blood running down my neck and into the body of my suit.

As my thoughts fight to gather in my jarred brain I notice that it’s no longer raining. Before my world turns black.

science fiction
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About the Creator

Anna-Roisin Ullman-Smith

I am a trained Journalist with a passion for writing. Check out my book of short stories on amazon titled Cliff-Hangers: Extra or follow me on Twitter @ullmansmith432

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