Invasion

Don’t Pick Things up from Other Dimensions – Part One

/ Ben Van Dongen / 6 Comments

By Ben V

A red light mounted on the wall flashed as an announcement warned the guards that the door would be opening in fifteen minutes.  It reminded them to double check their gear before the nightly orientation.

The room was simple.  A large door took up an entire wall and separated the bureau, and the outside world, from zone five.  Two rows of benches lined up facing the door where the guards sat and waited for their shift to start.  A single door led off to the locker rooms.  It was the only way into the staging area and the huge blast door was the only way into the fifth zone.  The afternoon shift was ending and the night guards were preparing to take over, some of them for the first time.  Six guards sat quietly waiting for the trainer to give the final announcement.  Continue reading →

Beyond Termination – Part Six (Conclusion)

/ Alanna / 4 Comments

Alice bolted down the corridors towards the Hangar.  She whipped around a corner, almost knocking over a receptionist and a military guard.  With no time to stop, she didn’t even shout an apology.  She was too focused with getting back to her operative.

“Map?”  Alice huffed, speaking into the com-link after jacking in to the rig and taking back control from Tripp.

“Yeah.”

The interference was still distorting the connection, “Just checking in.  Ready?”

The reply was static. Continue reading →

Beyond Termination – Part 5

/ Alanna / 2 Comments

“Damn it!”  Alice hit the rig with her fists, frustration still coursing through her.

A few of the technicians in the Hangar ducked their heads and avoided looking directly at Alice.  They had been chewed out too many times to count.  She still couldn’t figure out why the satellites weren’t picking up all of the creatures.

The Hangar was quickly becoming a mess; piles of wires and open panels littered the floor.  Alice was waist deep in them, her head ducking into the terminal and popping back out to keep an eye on the displays.

Her com-link crackled to life.  “Any updates?” Map inquired. Continue reading →

Behind the Writing – For Them and Not

/ Ben Van Dongen / 4 Comments

***May Contain Spoilers***

Wow, that got out of hand.  I started writing For Them and Not in April and here we are in December finally getting to the end.  I hope the wait was worth it.  For me, I’m mostly just excited that I was able to write that much for one story.  If you talk to the rest of the group they will probably tell you how many times I said it was only going to be five parts, no six, I mean seven.  I don’t think I actually said how long it would be after part seven was written.  I just waved it off with an “It’s almost done, I swear.”  Now it is done and I have a few things I’d like to say about it. Continue reading →

For Them and Not – Conclusion

/ Ben Van Dongen / 2 Comments

Part 9

Map found the stairwell and feeling like he had nothing left to lose he ran back up to the roof.  He hoped that if he was fast enough he would have the best chance at the only attack he could come up with.

He sprinted across the damaged roof draining his last reservoir of strength and ignored the pain the best he could.  As he approached the edge of the building he heard the crash of the creature trying to get into the apartment he escaped through moments earlier.  Before he reached the end of the roof Map jumped as high as he could, readying his axe.  He swung up at the apex and came down on the creature with as much force as he could.  The axe sunk deep into the thing’s head as the jolt of impact spread through Map. Continue reading →

For Them and Not (Part 8)

/ Ben Van Dongen / 2 Comments

Alice strode down the ornate hallway to the Administrator’s office.  She had walked past the security station and ignored the clerk at the desk.  She knew how risky it was to leave Map to a backup station but he needed answers.  Map was injured and up against too many uncertainties.  She reached the outer door to the Administrator’s office and heard the clerk coming down the hall after her.  She ignored him again and hurried into the room.  She pushed past the secretary without a look and barged into the office.  There was a bank of monitors on one wall and the Administrator was talking to the people who Alice could see on the screens. Continue reading →

Beyond Termination

/ Alanna / Leave a comment

The news hit her hard.  The asset she had kept alive all these years was being made obsolete; younger ones were there to take over.  With the expiration of their property would come her own, and she knew it.  Liaisons only worked with one operative.  Once the operative’s usefulness in the field was over, their liaison’s time with the project was as well. Continue reading →

For Them and Not (Part Seven)

/ Ben Van Dongen / 2 Comments

Ben V.

At the top of the stairs Map turned and dropped a grenade.  He only carried two preferring more precise combat, but Map felt there were times when a big bang came in handy – even when it cuts off your only escape route.

Map ducked into a bedroom leaving the grenade to sort itself out.  He reloaded and checked his ammo.  He’d used close to half of what he brought and felt sloppy for it.  The fire had spread to the house and left Map with few options for escape.  Map found himself in a room with a balcony.  He went out onto it to look for a way to lower himself down.  He considered jumping but didn’t want to risk turning and ankle or worse.  He moved to the bed and stripped it intending to tie the sheets together but the sound of hands and feet scrambling up the space where the stairs had been told him he wouldn’t have time.  Instead Map carried the mattress to the balcony and dropped it.  He was gauging the jump when one of the huge hands appeared at the door. Continue reading →

11:11

/ Justin Cantelo / 2 Comments

“I lost my friend this mornin’, woke up screamin her name, She meant so much to me, I’m scared I won’t be the same” ~~ Big K.R.I.T. “The Vent”

The water runs, cold and hot together to create the perfect mixture. I can feel the tensions seize my body, the aches wreck my soul, this day has never been an easy one, it has always brought me back to that moment, the one single moment when time stopped, the lights dulled, and memories became a silent killer stalking me in my waking dreams.

I reach down and push the faucets in watching the last few drops trickle, as I slowly remove the robe that covers my body, I look down upon the gentle reminders that blanket my legs, arms, chest and each one marks a release, a memory, each one a memory of ‘Time Lost’. I lower myself into the water letting out a small yet audible moan, as I lean back drifting deeper and deeper in until my ears are submerged with the water and everything disappears, the water was there for me than as it is here for me know as the memories steal me away.

The water was my sanctuary in that moment, it was my retreat from the business I had set in motion, she was coming down, she was going to be here with me, finally a Christmas with my family. I remember the water washing over me, the goosebumps of this pending moment, I can still feel them. I tried so hard to scrub them out of my soul, but they never fade, they are just there.

I slowly pulled myself away from the safety of the water, the water never judged me, never rejected me, it was calm and there for me whenever I needed it, as I pull myself out of the tub, I don’t bother to dry off as I embark into the coldness that continued to haunt me, it wasn’t the winter crisp, it was the memories.

My skin is naked much like how I feel, as I pass through the house entering the kitchen as I am swept away once again by another sensation as my nose is filled with the smells of that fateful day, my eyes sting as I try so hard to pull myself away but to no avail my feet are planted and I am swept to yet another moment I cannot seem to outrun.

***
Remembering the water on that day, it was early, it was going to be special, and it was going to be forever. I wanted to loosen up as I could feel the butterflies in my stomach so overcoming with their need to spring out and just celebrate with me, I was going to do it, I was finally going to do it, what better day than Christmas Eve to pop the question, what better present could I give my beautiful ‘Tristan’ then the gift of my love for all of time.There was so much to do, I had to finish preparing dinner, and as my friends know I can’t cook at all.

I can smell the turkey it is so rich with its sweetness, as I sit there listening to the mundane Christmas music but in this moment it was beautiful, everything was beautiful, that annoying phone call from that telecommunication person was beautiful, there was nothing on earth that could steal this moment from me, the phone rang and when I saw the caller ID the smile that crossed my face… oh that smile, I can still feel it, I think it was the last smile that crossed my face.

“Hello”

“Why hello Beautiful,” never had that word held so much meaning then when it came from her lips, from there it was like I was a masterpiece to be looked upon with some kind of admiration, that word was so rich coming from her lips.

“T… ummm…”

“What’s the matter?” she had called out.

“Oh… it’s just that no one has ever made me feel as beautiful as you do,” I paused, I wasn’t’ going to blow it so early, she would be here in a short time and then I could let go.

“You are Beauty in all shades of Red to me Mitchell,” at this I looked over towards the dining area which was covered in the red aura of Roses.

“Thank you T… I don’t know where I would be without you”

“Well Babe we’ll be together soon,” she tells me, “love you Mitch.”

I worked my way through the kitchen, slicing the turkey, making the gravy, mashing the potatoes, checking on the pumpkin pie.

Oh how my ‘T’ loved pumpkin pie. I open the oven and lean in the aroma of Cinnamon mixing with the pumpkin sends me into a tailspin.

I moved towards the dining room, looking up towards the clock, she should be here shortly, I light the candles two candles signifying our union, two candles signifying our love, they blur and bend as time passes.  My mind wandered until I heard the whistle of the kettle go as I look through the steam that poured out, “Where are you ‘T’?” My vision blurs as I stared straight towards the clock, ’11:11’ I looked over towards the window to see that the sun was long gone, the darkness consumed the light, the reds were drowned in the blacks and my heart skipped.
***

“I love you Tristan,” Those would be the last words we spoke to one another. Those were the last words before the attack, before they came and took everything away from me.  It’s funny how one can become so consumed with something so mundane like preparing dinner that they don’t even realize the world outside is being destroyed.

It was at that time when the invaders set upon the earth carving death and destruction upon every corner of this tiny planet and yet I was clueless.  I was lost in my thoughts, in my love as the world outside was set on fire.

11:11, Those numbers will always be etched within my soul, those numbers, that time, this day will always consume me. Maybe that is a good thing, maybe I deserve this.  What good can come from love when a simple set of numbers can destroy you.

I continue to move through the house of a thousand memories, of pain and torment, of tragedy and sorrow, then it hits me, two beading lights penetrate my eyes as flashes of metal and chaos surrounds me, to find out that way left me barren without emotions, to turn on the TV only to see flashing red lights, chaos and destruction, and there she was my beautiful ‘T’ lifeless, alone, gone.

I didn’t see the world, I didn’t see the lives lost.  All I saw in that moment was my beautiful ‘T’.  The world had been set on fire and for me I selfishly only saw the person I loved. Why that memory is so pronounced will haunt me forever, my heart skips at the mere thought of my beautiful flawless angel shattered, broken. Red of Blood, lifeless.  They pronounced her death at 11:11 PM.  The moment, the exact moment my world was consumed by darkness. The exact moment my life ended.

I come back to this place every year at this time to remember why I became what I’ve become.  A Warrior, whose only destiny in life is to kill all those that took her away from me.  I kneel here in this garden of memories allowing the tears to surrender to the cool night air, I grieve for her, my beautiful ‘Tristan’,

I grieve for the secrets yet to be revealed, she carried our unborn child, and I carried the proposal, the tears seem to stop, frozen by the brisk air of night. Then I feel it’s gentle kisses from the sky as I looked up and see the stars fall and I can hear her whisper to me, “I love you,” as the snow starts to fall, and it is Christmas, the day I almost had my family.

***
(Special Thank You to Dorrie for sharing the song that inspired me while writing this story)