The Human Invasion

Connor stared at his laptop in shocked silence. The blood in his veins seemed to be replaced by ice water and he could feel all of the color drain from his face like in those cartoons he watched as a kid. Except this time he wasn't a kid and the scene he watched play out on the screen was not as cartoonish as one might be led to believe. His phone buzzed somewhere on the couch  beside him and his hand glided across the leathery surface, searching, as he could not unglue his eyes from what he was seeing. His fingers wrapped around his phone and he answered without looking.

“Yea”. 

“Con, are you watching the news?”  The words seem to come out all at once, using whatever little breath the person on the other line could muster. 

Connor’s mind was not present, though, and he barely registered the voice of the person who called, so he quickly stole a glance at his phone and saw that it was his brother, Matt. 

“Of course I am, who isn't?” Conner answered, voice completely devoid of any hint at having some actual interest in this conversation at the moment. Scrolling below the news anchor team in big white letters was the headline “Sources Confirm Alien Contact with Several World SuperPowers”. 

“So I guess that ramp up on UFO sightings the past two months wasn't all a hoax afterall…” Matt’s voice trailed off as the anchor team was replaced by a montage of UFO pictures and videos, all having been captured from all over the world in the last few months. It wasn't rare to see them anymore, the objects were out during all hours of the day, worldwide. 

“The president is set to hold a state of address in mere minutes…” the anchor woman's voice said in the background of a hand held video of what looked like a dozen UFO’s zipping across the sky at breathtaking speeds. 

“Oh great”, Matt groaned animatedly, “can't wait to hear what this shithead has to say about this”. 

For once, Connor agreed, but he was still too stunned to say anything and in truth, he was scared. He’d always believed in aliens, had even had several heated debates about the topic with friends and family, but he never thought he would see the day when they would actually arrive on Earth. His heart was beating faster than he ever felt, breaths coming in shorter and shorter bursts, and he was starting to feel dizzy. 

“Con! Are you there?”, Matt asked, irritated with Connor’s lack of response. 

“Sorry, Matt, I’m just not feeling well,” Connor said in between breaths, resting his elbow on his knee and head in hand, gripping the phone like his life depended on it. 

There was a short pause on the other end and then, “It’s ok, I get it, bro. This is fucking crazy…oh the president is coming on now!” 

Connor put Matt on speaker and placed the phone down on the coffee table in front of him, tapping the volume button on his laptop to put it up. It was still low by normal standards but it boomed in his ears as the president came on screen. Connor winced in pain and lowered the volume, settling into his couch, feeling more sick by the minute. President Cooper was a tall, handsome man in his early fifties, and his whole platform was built on his calm and collective manner. He looked anything but at this moment. 

“Great,” he could hear Matt mutter through the phone, “this guy”. 

“Good evening, My fellow Americans. By now, you have all been aware of the rapid increase in UFO sightings over the last two months and the mist-like substance that these vehicles have been dispersing among the population. Our intelligence agencies have been hard at work and in constant communication with other countries all over the world, trying to get answers and understand what exactly is going on. Up until yesterday we were unable to get answers, but then….we were contacted.”

He paused here, not for dramatic effect or because he was having a hard time reading the teleprompter. President Cooper was doing all he could to keep the tears that pooled at the bottom of his eyes from falling onto his face. If Connor had not felt like total crap at the moment, he would have felt sorry for him, but his head was killing him and his eyes were having a hard time focusing. He blinked furiously as the president composed himself and continued. 

“Yesterday, several world leaders were contacted by Extraterrestrial beings, in numbers larger than we could have imagined. After a few short hours it became quite clear that they have no intention nor are inclined to entertain any negotiations on behalf of any individual country or the planet. Now, as president of the United States, it is my sole responsibility to tell you, my fellow citizens, that we will fight this threat as we have all others and that there is no need to panic.`` 

President Cooper paused, and that calmness he was consistently praised for took control of his entire body.

“But the truth…the real truth is that it will all be in vain. The ETs have been spreading a deadly pathogen across the skies. If you or anyone you know has come into direct contact with that…”

Connor wasn’t listening anymore, it really didn’t matter. His eyes hurt so much he couldn’t keep them open and his body had gone completely numb. The only thing that seemed to work normally was his hearing, albeit at a much more sensitive level. 

“Connor!”, he could hear Matt calling his name as if he were sitting beside him, but Connor couldn’t move at all. “Con, you’re scaring me man, didn’t you say you weren’t feeling well?” 

Connor focused his hearing outside of the apartment. It was an odd sensation, like clogging one ear while you put the other to a door to hear through the other side. Except now, those sounds weren’t muffled. He could clearly hear his neighbors across the hall, Mike and his girlfriend Jess, packing frantically, moving around their apartment as if it was on fire. Jess was on the phone talking to her mother, trying to figure out a place to meet up and hunker down together. Mike was on the phone as well, whispering to his ex-fiancé about how badly he wanted to be with her. 

Gunshots echoed loudly from somewhere outside the window, but for Connor that bullet might as well have lodged itself in the back of his skull because his head felt like it split in half with pain. He fell to his knees, squeezing his head in between his hands, crying out with every ounce of his body it hurt. His blood now ran boiling hot like lava scorching its way through his body and destroying everything it touched. His heart beat so hard he swore he could see it hitting his chest when he tore off his shirt and looked down. His eyes burned and tears streamed down his face freely like an overflowing sink. 

Then it stopped. 

The episode was over as quickly as it began and Connor laid out on his floor panting and more afraid than he had ever felt in his life. His body calmed quickly, however, and he was able to sit up with relative ease and surprise at how well he was feeling. He had overturned his table during his spurt of madness, so he crawled over to find his phone and laptop. 

“Matt?”Connor said, “you there?”. 

“Uh..yea Con. What the fuck was that?” He sounded scared and Connor couldn't blame him, but he was better now. Wasn't he?

“I don't know, but it's over now, I feel fine. Listen, the world is going to go to shit. I can hear it already outside my window. Am I going to you or you coming to me?”

“Were you exposed to the UFO mist, Con?” Matt asked, a seriousness in his voice that Connor had rarely heard. 

Connor hesitated to answer the question and he wasn't sure why. He trusted his brother, knew he would never rat him out. If he was asking it had to be for good reason. 

“Yea, I was, a few nights ago on my way back from your place. They were all over the sky, Matt, coming down really low too. At first I just thought it was raining, but now, thinking back on it, it had to be the stuff coming from the UFOs.” 

It wasn't until he said it out loud that the magnitude of the situation began to make sense in his mind and the implications hit him like a runaway train. 

“Get back on your laptop, Con, now.”

Connor grabbed his laptop and opened it up, refreshing the news channel it was on. The president was still on. In fact, Connor was stunned to realize that only a few minutes had gone by since his whole thing had started. He zoned his hearing to focus solely on the laptop, unsure of when he had figured that out. 

“We have identified the mist as a biological weapon that the ET’s have told us will change the biology of those it has affected to the detriment of the major population. Anyone who has been affected, please, stay inside and call the number down below, and if anyone knows or sees anyone-”

The screen went black.

Connor could hear as the world around him gasped in surprise or screamed out in fear. His laptop was completely dead, which made no sense as the charger was plugged in. He checked his phone and it was dead also. His hearing pierced the walls of his apartment and he could hear the entire building coming alive as all the tenants scrambled in panic, wanting to get out. 

Connor was unsure what his next move should be. He was affected by the bio weapon the aliens had spread, of that he was sure. The president had specifically detailed that people like him should stay inside, not only for their safety but the rest of the population as well. They also had a number that he had not recognized nor was he stupid enough to call it and turn himself in. Anyone with a brain could determine what would happen if you called that number. 

Connor stood from the couch feeling stronger than he ever had before, an energy coursing through his entire body begging to be released. His ears detected a sound by his door, like someone was tugging at the door knob. 

God, he thought, the world is ending and people immediately start becoming assholes. He took long powerful strides to the door and reached it just as it exploded inward, just inches from slamming into his body. The first thing he saw was the gun, right in his face, and he somehow was able to hyperfocus on the finger starting to squeeze the trigger.

Connor casually dipped his head away from the gun just as the bullet came flying out. His left hand shot out to grab the invaders gun, ripping it out his hands, and his right hand shot out into the man’s face. He dropped cold into the hallway, leaving Connor standing in the doorway holding a gun for the first time in his entire life. He studied it and had this overwhelming feeling that he didn't need it, that it would be wrong to use. He tossed it back onto his couch and stepped out into the hallway. He couldn't stay home, no matter what the president had ordered, he wouldn't be a sitting duck. Besides, he felt completely fine. 

As he moved down the hall to the stairway he could hear people rushing down the steps, making their way slowly down. It was then he realized that there were no lights on in the entire building. He looked up at the ceiling and down the hall. He could see the fixtures but no illumination and it did nothing to deter his vision. 

What in the hell, he thought to himself, shaking his head and pushing himself into the stairway with the humans who were struggling to make it down without hurting themselves. 

Humans. That was a weird thing to call them. Aren't I human?

As he moved around the people his body began to throb, not painfully, but knowingly. It was alerting Connor that there was something he was supposed to be doing. It wasn't until he exited the building and entered into a world of chaos of apocalyptic proportions that he understood. People were running everywhere and others were chasing them, moving insanely fast and not like humans at all. Buildings and cars were burning all around them, a person ran by completely engulfed in flames, his screams making Connor cringe like someone scratching a chalkboard. 

The screaming, the fighting, the dying, it was all too much for him. It was enough to drive a person…but he wasn't a person now. He could feel it right now, in the midst of all of this, he could feel himself removed from it all. He was not afraid, nor did he shy away from all the destruction. His body felt stronger because of it, excited by the revelation that he was no longer human. 

“Con!” The voice sounded familiar, even the name seemed to hold some kind of meaning. 

“Matt”, came the response, quiet and emotionless as if the word meant nothing. But the being that now stood in Connor’s body did not care to try to unravel the sudden mystery of what this encounter meant. He did, however, wish to satisfy his need to destroy the human race.