Jim Thorn - Invasion

The tremors dragged on for what felt like hours, and then stopped. Reno waited for a moment before raising his head. John had sprawled onto the ground beside him, and lifted his head at almost the same time. He turned to Reno.

“What the hell was that?”

Reno climbed to his feet and hobbled to the door.

“Hey, hold up,” John said.

Ignoring the cop, Reno opened the door.

People in the street had stopped and were staring in the same direction. Reno walked into the middle of the street and followed their gazes.

His jaw dropped.

Fire exploded into the sky less than a mile away. The blackened silhouette of the obelisk stood out against the backdrop of violent reds and oranges. But Reno noticed something else immediately—the top had broken off and the tower listed to one side. Clouds of flame billowed out from beneath it, most likely scorching whatever had remained of the Parthenon.

Swarms of aliens flew overhead, all streaking toward the point in the sky where the mothership had been docked at the top of the obelisk. The ship hovered in place and appeared to be unscathed by whatever had occurred on the ground, but judging by the fact that the aliens had given up their hunt, something had happened that they hadn’t anticipated.

John appeared next to Reno and looked at the fiery explosion. “Holy shit. That’s over Centennial Park, where that big obelisk was. You think that—”

“Someone blew it up?”

John looked at Reno. “Who? And how could they have done that? It has to be something else.”

“Only one way to find out.” Reno started limping down the street toward Centennial Park as others standing in the street did the same.

“Whoa, hang on.” John ran to catch up to Reno, grabbing his shoulder. “You’re not gonna make it all the way over there on that ankle. It’s at least three miles away.”

“Whatever happened there might be our only shot at taking these things down. We’ve gotta check it out.”

John smiled. “Yeah, but we ain’t walkin’. Come on, I’ve got another idea.”

John honked the horn again, waving at people to get out of the way. He kept his foot on the gas, shaking his head.

“Man, get the fuck out of the way!”

Reno looked around at the destruction. He hadn’t been in the downtown area since the dome had first come down. Fires raged throughout the city. Buildings he’d passed daily had vanished and dust filled the air. People ran in every direction, trying to find some sanctuary amongst the chaos. Most people were fleeing from whatever had happened at Centennial Park, but Reno and John were heading right for it.

Yet, the destruction had transformed the city so violently that Reno struggled to contextualize where they were and where they were going. Landmarks he’d used to navigate the city for years had disappeared completely. Fires kept the streets illuminated in an unholy glow and he was grateful not to be able to see the full destruction brought upon them by the alien invaders.

“I don’t know how close we’re going to get, but we’re almost there.”

Reno took John’s word for it, still unable to tell exactly where they were in Nashville.

They drove around one building that had somehow remained upright, and Reno saw the obelisk again. The structure still stood, but had cracked like a tooth after a punch to the mouth. Flames leapt from its ragged top. Seeing the structure again, Reno re-oriented his internal compass.

We should be near Midtown.

He looked out the window, craning his neck to look skyward.

Nothing.

He saw the familiar sign directing visitors to the hospital, but the structure itself was gone, nothing but ash and smoke where the building should have been.

Once the car moved a little further, the smoke cleared enough for Reno to see what remained of St. Thomas Midtown Hospital. Only a quarter of the building still stood, and fires engulfed what was left. Reno could see the rooms inside of the building, the exterior wall having been blown off.

“Jesus Christ,” he said.

“It’s hard to fathom, I know.”

“I was just there a couple of days ago when all this happened. The place was filled with injured people. You think they got out?”

John tilted his head to the side and then shook it, keeping his eyes on the road.

Leaning back in his seat, Reno shook his head.

“It would’ve been impossible to save all those people,” John said. “From what I understand, those alien bastards blew it to pieces.”

Reno felt a numbness move through his body. He closed his eyes, picturing the thousands of people who’d been in that hospital, many of whom would have been children. Unable to fathom the horror of it, he opened his eyes again. John pulled over, slamming on the brakes.

“This is as close as we’re gonna get. How’s that ankle?”

“It’ll be fine.” His ankle felt insignificant compared to what they’d just seen.

All those people…

John got out and walked around to the front of the car, and then called back so that Reno could hear him through the open window, even over the flames. “Come on, buddy. I see some other cops up ahead. Maybe whatever happened knocked those flying fuckers back to Mars.”

Reno opened his door and stepped out of the car, putting his good foot out first to compensate for his injured ankle. He glanced at the hospital, but quickly turned away. He shook his head and hobbled along behind John, thankful that the ibuprofen had kicked in and taken the edge off of his pain.

A half-dozen cops stood on the sidewalk, and a few turned to acknowledge John.

“What the hell happened here, Woods?” John asked one of the officers, beat patrol with a saggy middle and retirement less than three months away.

“Fucking explosion, that’s what happened,” one of the other officers replied.

“No shit.”

“We don’t know how it happened.” Woods shook his head and turned to stare at what was left of the obelisk. “I was a couple of blocks away when it went off. Felt like a damn earthquake. I found cover and ran over here as soon as it was over.”

“You guys seen anyone come out of there?” John asked.

The men shook their heads.

John grimaced, but seemed unsurprised. “Shit. Well, we need to get over there and check it out.” John turned around. “My man Reno is an EMT. If there are any survivors, he’ll be able to help them out.”

“Most people have been avoiding the park,” another officer said.

John sighed. “Yeah, well, I got a feeling it wasn’t the aliens who triggered that explosion. Why would they blow up their own tower?”

The other officers stared at John, nobody having any answer worth sharing.

“What if the only survivors we find are more of those monsters?” an officer asked.

“I haven’t seen any near here since it blew.” Woods used his chin to gesture at the hovering mothership almost directly above them. “They all flew back into that thing and now it’s just sitting there.”

“It’s a risk we have to take, gentlemen,” John said.

As the officers spread out, John turned to Reno. He reached to his belt and pulled off a Maglite and a pistol. He handed Reno the flashlight right away, but held the pistol by the barrel with the grip extended.

“You know how to use one of these?”

Reno nodded.

John handed it to him. “There’s no safety. Just point and shoot. But you be damn sure of what you’re firing at before you pull that trigger.”

Reno looked at the gun before stuffing it into the back of his waistband and clicking on the flashlight.

John stepped up on the curb to address the others. “We’ll spread out, then meet back here in forty.”