Light/house

Alien invasion horror story

Characters: Catalina (mother, engineer, scientist) and Avi (young adult, skateboarder, parkour expert, hiker)

Catalina needed time to think. Leaving her career as an engineer and astronomer, working on some of NASA’s and the Air Forces secret projects, she takes a job as a light house attendant to escape people and civilization. Years ago, she was involved in a shooting in a busy shopping center where 3 gunmen were randomly killing people. Because of her training as a young girl by her Special Forces father, she was able to kill all 3 shooters in a matter of minutes. But the publicity and events gave her nightmares, so she felt the need to escape. She felt like she had to make amends somehow, so she just disappeared, trying to figure it out. Although she saved many lives, the killing of three men haunts her. And her career history had become difficult also. One of her projects was the Dark Pyramid in Alaska, rumored to be an alien base for energy generation. She and her team were finding out some things they weren’t supposed to, and they were worried about knowing secrets. Little did she know, her little lighthouse gig would turn into the most fearful event in human history.

At the lighthouse, she keeps up her “shit hits the fan” training and survival and shooting skills, mostly just for something to do and out of habit. She hides caches of ammo and other items in the surrounding area. She runs and trains, often running up the lighthouse stairs at the end of her workout. She shoots bow and firearms at targets. She is also a knife thrower. Sometimes she will hunt small animals in the woods for food. She is estranged from her daughter Bella. and her father and mother are dead. She is not lonely but is a loner.

Avi Neon is a traveler and sometimes a vagrant. A despondent and a loner. But he wasn’t the depressed type, being on the road made him happy. His favorite song was Wherever I May Roam by Metallica. The road was his home. Mix in a little wilderness for good measure, abandoned fire stands and hunting cabins, sometimes a lighthouse or two. Whatever or wherever he could stay warm for no cash. He was half Israeli on his mother’s side, his dad American. Plenty of money and opportunity in his family. He loved his parents but loved life on his own terms as well.

He found parkour in college and dropped out of med school. He was also a champion skateboarder and track star. Parkour rounded out those talents. He had also taken some gymnastics classes and was gifted in it. But wandering around the wilderness gave him few opportunities to practice, so he had to hit a city occasionally. He had just spent a few months in New York City and was on his way to the coast. He was ready to see some big waves before winter rolled in.

Catalina is enjoying a cool morning doing some gardening around the lighthouse. Avi thought her lighthouse would be cool to check out, so he plots out a path and rides on his motorbike to give it a look. It’s a beautiful morning to sightsee. He sees Catalina outside, and rides up to greet her. They have a little lighthearted conversation about the scenery and Avi asks if he can work for some space for the night, to actually sleep in this cool place. She hesitatingly allows him to take a break from the wild at her lighthouse for a couple nights.

Avi takes a quick shower while Catalina cooks some brunch. She is glad for a little company, and Avi is the same age as Bella. They are fast friends, sharing about their pasts and hobbies. Catalina shares about her astronomy days, and Avi is pretty well fascinated. He has always enjoyed looking at the night sky, just never knew exactly what was up there, names of stars, types of galaxies. He decides to go run on the beach while Catalina cleans up. They are both having a great day, and Catalina has a break from her memories for a little while. She decides to make a really great dinner and break out some good liquor and have a small celebration. Avi is happy for the big spread of Italian food she made, he doesn’t eat this good on the road! Catalina invites him up to the top of the lighthouse to look through her telescope. She knows she is making up for lost time with her own kid, but she genuinely likes Avi and wants him to have a good time at the lighthouse near the beach.

When Avi goes up to the lantern room, Catalina is already set up. She explains to him how she gets the scope out early to let it acclimate to the outdoor temperature. It’s a clear dry night, good for stargazing.

“Wow this is pretty sweet!” Avi says.

“Yes it is a pretty expensive set up, being an astronomer I did not get to actually ever look at stars, mostly I did alot of math! So I made up for that with this rig!” Catalina replies.

“So what is that in Orion, the fuzzy star?” Avi asks.

“Actually, that is a nebula where stars are created. There is another one in the Pleiades”. She moves her scope and lets him see the Seven Sisters.

They talk about stars and life and enjoy the night. As they go to descend the stairs, he does parkour all the way down to show off.

“Whoa!” Catalina exclaims, “I am so impressed!”

The next night, he goes up to see her again, and they watch the stars come out and the ships go by, another perfect night for both of them. She wants to tell him about Bella, but decides not to, she still feels so much regret. He tells her he is packed up and will leave in the morning. They are about to go inside for the night, but…

…as they look up at the sky, they see some strange lights. Catalina looks alarmed, and watches for a few minutes, while Avi looks at her, expecting an explanation. She had just explained the night before how to spot planets, stars, meteors and satellites, and these are not moving like meteors or manmade objects but zipping and zagging at great speed. Catalina, calming herself down, picks up her sat phone and calls one of her old contacts from her days working as a NASA contractor. As Avi listens in, he is shocked by the conversation. They are witnessing UFO’s, and the military is sending up fighter planes and surveillance.

Ships and submarines are putting to sea. Washington is in chaos, and the government is moving thousands of men and women and machines to defend cities. Something is going on in the ocean, lights are falling everywhere. People are being told to go inside and lock their doors. Avi can hear explosions through the phone. As the frantic conversation continues, she asks him to go get her daughter, and as soon as she gets that plea out, they are cut off. They see several military jets fly over that explode and crash into the ocean.

Catalina looks out into the ocean. The lights are dropping into the water, lighting it up with many colors. As they continue to look, something is making its way to the shore. She watches it for a few minutes through binoculars as the movement closes into the shoreline, and asks Avi to look too. They don’t know what they are seeing, but the both feel that whatever the government is afraid of, it has landed right in front of him. Catalina grabs Avi’s arm and tells him to follow her quickly. He is her responsibility now. They go downstairs fast, and she opens a closet and grabs some pistols and rifles. She gives Avi a heavy backpack and grabs one herself. She has always prepped for an emergency, but this is something it will take all their wits and skills to handle. They run quickly away from the light house and into the woods, hoping they were not seen by anything. .

Catalina and Avi make it to one of her shelters in the woods. She has multiple places she has made in the area. She is hoping this one is hidden enough that whatever is in the water cannot see them. They crawl into the small space and watch the shoreline while loading their weapons. Catalina, now realizing they are in the middle of an alien attack, doesn't even know if her firearms will protect them. She has multiple automatic weapons her dad gave her and some small explosives, some of the best defense weaponry a soldier can carry. She even has some stockpiles buried in a few places. Waiting and controlling their breathing, they watch the creatures make it to shore.

Horrified, they see the aliens. They are monsters. Iridescent, dark, and as big as a camel, they are scanning the area for living things. Instinctively, Catalina and Avi know they are malevolent. They don’t look intelligent enough to have flown lightyears to Earth, maybe the host aliens sent them to kill existing life ahead of the real landing. They crouch down, hiding as best they can. Dozens more come out of the water. Pretty soon about 4 dozen are on the beach, creeping around and scanning the area with some device in their claws. Overhead, four or five more jets are approaching and they are hoping the pilots see the creatures so they can kill them. Again, the jets explode and crash into the ocean. The pilots had no chance to do anything, and were not able to escape, it all happened so fast. Catalina and Avi don’t think they have much of a chance, and don’t know what else to do, so they decide to fight. They pull out their automatic rifles, and start shooting at anything that moves.