Unexplained Invasion (part two)

Without wasting more time, she sprinted back to her room, an icy finger of fear trailing her spine. She shimmied into her denim shorts and slipped a navy-blue T-shirt over her head, then settled on the bed to tie her ankle-high black tennis shoes. She snagged a light jacket from off its hanger, darted out of her room, and hot-footed out the front door. When she stepped outside, she stopped dead in her tracks, unable to move by what she saw. Charred cars, houses leveled and smoldering, clusters of trees were on fire, and red-orange flames licked the sky. A few buildings nearby were in rubble. Heavy gray smoke permeated the air. Her shoulders jerked as she coughed uncontrollably, her throat burning, her eyes stinging. With the palms of her hands, she rubbed her eyes, blinked several times as if she was daydreaming, but the same horrifying scene remained. Where were all the people? The streets were vacant.

“Hello!” she screamed repeatedly. “Can anyone hear me? Please, if you can hear me, answer me!” Frantic now, she began running down the middle of the street. Everywhere she looked, she saw the wreckage and utter destruction. Tears gathered in her eyes, her entire world shattered in the blink of an eye.

Sacramento had always been a beautiful city, encircled by Valley Oaks draped with Spanish moss, Fermont Cottonwood trees, and October Glory Maples, amongst so many other varieties. With the Sacramento River winding through the city, no one could miss its natural beauty. To look at it now …

As Mel’s gaze swept across the dark landscape, her heart shattered. She could hardly breathe. No one. No cars, no animals, no people. What the hell? After a quarter of a mile, the only thing she spotted was a striped gray cat dashing across the road.

“Here kitty!” She took after it. “Kitty, come here.”

Finally, after hurtling a hedgerow, she discovered the young cat hiding in a recessed area near what appeared to be the remains of the hardware store and hunkered down under a board leaning against the blackened siding. On hands and knees, she reached back in and caught hold of it, relieved to at least find another living creature. Drawing it close to her, she tried to calm it down, its eyes as wide as her own. She climbed the stairs to the store to see if anyone might be there. She pounded on the door as the cat squirmed in her arms, but she refused to let it go. As far as she could make out, they were the only living things in the neighborhood … at least, that’s what it appeared.

Mel couldn’t hold back the tears. Her shoulders jerked as she sank into a fetal position on the steps. Nothing made sense. Where could all the people have gone? Where were her mother, father, and brother? Why would they have left her? If forced to go to a shelter, wouldn’t they have at least included her? Her head swirled with questions.

“Well, kitty,” she said hoarsely. “You’re going to need food.” With nowhere to go, she turned to head back down the deserted street to her house. Only a second passed before she stopped in her tracks. Her face drained of color. Hovering in the blackened sky, there was a gigantic metallic wheel with multiple spokes fitted into a rounded bubble at the center. On the underside of the wheel were hazy bluish-white lights, and embedded in the length of the spokes were smaller amber-colored lights. It was an invasion! But why would her family leave and neglect to take her with them?

“Holy shit!” she gasped, frightened beyond measure. She could not tear her gaze away. Mel drew the cat tightly to her chest and took off at a dead run. Her heart thumped wildly and felt as if it would tear free of her chest. She scrambled up the front steps at her house, dashed inside, and slammed the door tight. Frantic, she fastened the deadbolt, then rushed through the rooms, drawing the blinds.

Part 3 coming next week!