Christopher Nuttall - Their Darkest Hour

“They know to keep them in reserve,” the Brigadier said, flatly. “Overall, most of our deployed submarines — the attack submarines as well — seem to have survived. They may be usable in the future, but for the moment we have no firm plans.”

He stood up. “We’ll make a stand when they come west and give them a bloody nose, then fall back to prepared positions,” he concluded. “And then most of the lads will go underground and carry on the fight. The aliens have ordered all military and police personnel to surrender themselves — they’ve clearly started putting the police to work, but no one thinks they intend to make use of the soldiers! It seems that they’re already establishing detention camps near the cities. Most of the lads would sooner die than go into one of them.”

“People of Britain,” Gabriel said, twenty minutes later. It didn’t sound good. Normally, back in Ten Downing Street, he would have had a speechwriter, a make-up artist and a careful briefing on who was expected to be in the media crowd and what questions they might ask. He’d spent so much time preparing for speeches that it had often struck him that he’d done little else in his brief time as Prime Minister. And now… half the population would probably curse him as a man who’d fled, leaving them to face the aliens. “Our nation has been invaded.”

He took a breath. “I won’t lie to you,” he continued. He’d wanted to be honest in his speeches, but the crowd of advisers had warned that too much blunt speaking could backfire. The public seemed to believe that politicians were always liars, yet they elected men who made them feel good about themselves — instead of telling them the truth. At least now he could go with his instincts. “The situation is dire. Many of our cities have been invaded directly; others have lost power and water supplies. Anarchy is threatening to grip our streets.

“Many of you will be frightened. Many of you will wonder if we can resist the aliens, or even if we should resist the aliens. Others will seek to take advantage of the chaos for their own benefit. I know that many of you will be looking to safeguard your families and friends, rather than thinking about the welfare of the country. I cannot blame you for worrying about your own lives, or those of your friends and families. The entire country has suffered a devastating blow. Our world has been turned upside down.

“But Britain has a long and proud history of resisting tyranny. It was us who stood alone against Nazi Germany, though we were bombed and half-starved and suffered defeat after defeat. We played a full part in the containment of Communist Russia, preventing general war from engulfing Europe for the third time. We stood firm against Napoleon when he threatened to invade our shores. The situation is dire, but it is not hopeless. We can fight back against the latest invaders.

“The British Government has survived and it will carry on the fight as long as possible,” he concluded. “I will not order you to resist — I want you to decide for yourselves. If you wish to stand up and fight for Britain, for the freedom of our island nation, join us in resisting the enemy. Take care of yourselves, plan carefully — and hit them as hard as you can. There will be many dark days ahead, days where we can assume nothing, but blood, toil, tears and sweat, but there will come a day when we live freely in our own land once again.”

He tapped the switch, ending the recording. “Very good, Prime Minister,” Linux said. “I’ll have it online tonight, once this bunker has been evacuated. The entire world will hear your speech…”

Gabriel frowned. “But the aliens will try to wipe it from the internet,” he pointed out. Their jamming had certainly prevented any attempt to reclaim the airwaves. “How can we stop them purging it before it reaches its intended audience?”

“Leave that to me,” Linux said. “There are thousands of people on the internet who devised all kinds of programs to share files — despite the best that governments and big corporations could do to stop it. We’ll get your message to the world — after that, it’s all up to them.”

“Thank you,” Gabriel said. He wanted to ask what would happen to the young soldier, but the words wouldn’t form in his mouth. How could he ask anyone to fight for Britain when he was going to run away and hide?

Butcher cleared his throat. “Prime Minister?” He said. “It’s time to go.”

“Understood,” Gabriel said. He hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. “Let’s go.”

The climb back up into the open air made him feel oddly claustrophobic. It was a relief when they finally reached the surface and emerged in the midst of a small group of armed soldiers. Butcher spoke to them briefly, and then led the way northwards through the woods. Gabriel could hear the sound of birds chirping in the distance, ignoring the presence of human soldiers in their habitats. Their lives would go on regardless of who ruled the planet. He looked up into the bright blue sky and shivered. There was something impossibly surreal about the whole scene.

“The scouts reported refugees gathering to the north,” Butcher said, as they reached a civilian car that had obviously been commandeered by the military. “We’ll try to give them a wide berth. The aliens don’t seem to care about civilian vehicles, but I think that will change once they realise that we’ve been using them to ship men around under their noses.”

Gabriel opened his mouth to ask why they were using a civilian car, before realising that there was no other choice. He couldn’t have made it to the north on foot. The SAS men were used to walking for miles in a single day, but he’d just slow them down. They had to rely on the car and hope that the aliens didn’t start blasting vehicles at random.

He glanced over towards the east. No plumes of smoke marred the sky, but he knew that the aliens were present — and planning their offensive. He wondered how many people still didn’t realise what had happened, or what was going on — there had to be entire communities that hadn’t had any contact with the aliens. No matter how advanced they were, he couldn’t see how they intended to occupy every last town and village on the planet. If he was in their shoes, how would he do it? Target America, Europe, Russia and China… and let the rest of the world collapse into chaos?

And how long could Gabriel accept his people suffering while he hid from their new masters?

Long Stratton

United Kingdom, Day 2

For a moment, Alex was half-convinced that she’d been having a nightmare. She lay in a comfortable bed, so comfortable that she wanted to return to slumber. Instead, she opened her eyes and beheld an unfamiliar room. It reminded her of the room she’d shared with her boyfriend back when they’d gone on vacation together, right down to the sunlight streaming in through the window. The presence of her pistol where she’d left it within easy reach brought her back to reality. Her country had been invaded and it was her duty to report in to superior authority — or carry on the fight alone, if possible.

The scent of frying bacon from downstairs made her stomach rumble and she pulled herself out of bed. Smith had brought her back to the farm and convinced her to remain for a day or two, just to see what happened. Who knew — perhaps someone would succeed in finding a way to drive the invaders away from Earth. Alex, who knew that such things only happened in bad movies, was much less optimistic. The farmland surrounding her seemed too mundane to be touched by the aliens, but the fireworks in the sky told her that the world had changed. God alone knew what was going to happen next.