First Song

We were both awakened by Nicole knocking on the door. She waited a few seconds, and then swung it open. Both Casey and I were startled at first, and barely had enough time to remember where we were before she walked in. She had an amused smile when she saw us snuggled together, but didn’t make mention of it to us.

“We’re going out in fifteen minutes, make sure you’re ready,” she told us, closing the door and leaving us to ourselves.

I groaned and pulled myself out of bed, my loose hair slipping around my shoulders. After running my fingers through it a couple of times, it all settled down into something approximating neatness. Casey was still resting on her side of the twin beds, watching me with tired eyes.

“You’re such a lucky bitch,” she complained, her expression slipping into a grin.

“Well, all you have to do is ask Hunter…”

“I asked and they said no,” she grumbled.

“Good, because I love your hair the way it is.”

Her pouting brought a smile to my face, so I leaned back down to peck her on the cheek, and caress her dark mess of hair. Her arms slithered up and around my waist as I drew close, and she pulled me down on top of her, our lips pressing together in slow, passionate kisses.

The sound of a door slamming shut outside echoed around the building, disturbing our make-out session. Reluctantly, I pulled away from her and reached for my jacket. After I’d slipped it on, I shouldered my rucksack, and waited for Casey to do the same.

Back in the main reception area there were a couple of new faces – both men. We exchanged smiles as we passed them, noticing the flags of Germany and the United Kingdom on their uniforms. They were introduced to us as Hans and Shawn, and they offered out their hands to shake.

They’d just returned from their own patrol into the projected impact zone, and they reported that there were still some on-going evacuation activities on the far side. Nicole and Jacques decided that it would be a good idea to see how things were getting on now, even though the trip there would take us about two and a half hours.

We loaded our rucksacks with a little more food and water, made sure that the SUV was fully prepared, and then we were on our way.

Jacques drove, chatting companionably with Nicole as we passed through several towns and villages. I got the feeling that he valued his friendship with her, and didn’t want to look foolish by mentioning alien invasions. I wasn’t certain exactly how their hierarchy worked, but she must have been his superior in some way.

Nicole also spent some time asking us questions about ourselves. She was especially intrigued by the fact that we were just university students, and not experts in our fields – although her eyes lit up as soon as she realised who Casey’s father was.

 

The further we travelled outside Stockholm, the more sparsely populated the land was becoming and the fewer bars of reception my phone was showing. Besides the odd town or village here and there, the terrain was flat, open plains and patches of dark, pine forest.

From time to time, Nicole would make radio reports on our progress, receiving confirmation and updates from someone that sounded like Shawn. He was reporting that a storm was predicted to move in later in the evening, limiting the time that we’d be allowed to patrol.

At about three thirty in the afternoon, we found the area where Hans and Shawn had reported the evacuation had taken place – it seems the local authorities had tried to evacuate the residents of a small hamlet. The homes were mostly colourful, rectangular structures with brown tiled roofs, although there were one or two larger homes dotted around as well. It was a fairly secluded community, more or less in the middle of nowhere, which I found intriguing.

As we neared the buildings, I saw that doors and windows had been left wide open, and a few household items left strewn around on the ground. Some pots and pans, an old mattress and pieces of expensive-looking furniture had all been left behind. There was even a discarded bed sheet that had started fluttering around in the increasingly gusty breeze. It didn’t surprise me that they’d fled without the larger and less valuable items – they only had so much time to leave.

We took a few minutes to make sure that everything had been abandoned before moving on.

I noticed the tiny shapes of military transport helicopters flying around near the horizon, just above the distant tree line, but it was too far to really see much more than that. At least some troops were arriving, even if they were wisely keeping their distance for now.

Our vehicle carried on until we began to pass down dimly lit, narrow roads that were hemmed in on both sides by pine trees. It was giving me the same anxiety I usually felt driving along country roads back in England, but I had faith in Jacques’s driving ability.

“I’m starting to get a bit anxious now that it’s getting closer. How are you all staying so calm?” I laughed at everyone else, receiving smiles back. The conversation was just an excuse to talk, really, and take my mind off the worry that was gripping my stomach.

Casey smiled at me, taking my hand in hers.

“Takes far worse situations than this to get our nerves buzzing,” Jacques answered, checking the rear view mirror to look at me.

“Like an alien invasion?” Casey asked him, her head tilting to one side as she stared back.

He laughed awkwardly, trying to pass it off as humour, but his gaze shifted to her in the rear-view.

I could feel the tension in the vehicle ratchet up a notch, but Nicole had her eyebrows raised in question at the silence.

“Alien invasion?” she asked, turning back to look at us.

“It’s just a joke they’ve be-”, he began.

“It’s no joke,” I cut in. “The things falling tonight are not just balls of rocks, they’re the beginning of an alien invasion.”

Nicole blinked at me, then glanced to Casey, and back to me.

“It’s why they’re travelling so fast,” I continued, gesturing towards the sky with my hand. “It’s also why we didn’t see them until it was too late.”

I was hiding the fact that there was a larger object still to come. Exactly how large I hadn’t found out yet, but there was a tingle in my stomach that didn’t sit well with me.

The road here veered sharply to the right, the corner hidden by more trees, and we cruised on.

The older woman stared at me, lips pressing together tightly in disapproval. She was just about to say something when Jacques swore.

“Fok!”

In a single instant, I was thrown to the right as he yanked the wheel to the left, causing us to careen off the road and towards the densely packed trees. The antlered shape of a massive elk flashed past Casey’s window, and then everything felt like it was in slow motion.

Jacques tried to correct his mistake, turning the wheel back hard to the right. The SUV started swerving in the opposite direction, but the dirt and leaves were giving the tyres very little purchase.

With sickening inevitability, I watched the driver side door crumple against the solid trunk of a pine tree. The sudden deceleration caused my seatbelt to tighten across my chest and waist, while my head catapulted against the glass of the window next to me. There was no immediate pain, but I saw some cracks weave their way across the pane.

After what felt like way too long, the airbags in the front deployed. I had the sickening realisation that this would do nothing for Jacques as his head similarly slammed to the left. Blood was already spattered against the windscreen and the broken glass of his window. Nicole and Casey seemed to have come out of the situation far more intact than the two of us.

As the vehicle settled down, tucked up firmly against the tree, time returned to its normal rhythm and pace. With it came the shooting pain in my head, and I groaned from the agony. It had seeped into my consciousness before Muse had been able to filter it out.

“Shit,” Casey exclaimed, reaching to remove her seatbelt. “Erin, are you okay? Babe?”

Her voice was frantic as she looked at me, but I was feeling pretty okay, all things considered. The concern in her voice was wrenching my heart, though, making me smile.

“I’m alright,” I told her, gazing into her eyes. The concern there only intensified, but our driver was far worse off than I was. “How does Jacques look?”

Nicole was still stunned, cursing mildly in her native French, while struggling with her airbag. Once freed, but she wasted no time in pushing open her door.

“He does not look good. I need to get the first aid kit,” she called, her voice wavering.

Casey placed her hands against my cheeks, gently turning my face back towards her. I could feel something wet and sticky on her hands, but my brain couldn’t comprehend what it might be. I gave her another smile, though it didn’t placate her at all – she looked horrified.

I lifted a hand, placing it over the top of hers at my cheek, “I’m fine.”

My forehead was starting to tingle a little bit, though. That was weird.

She nodded after a few more seconds, then whispered, “Help Jacques.”

Where her hands had been, the warm, wet stickiness remained. Absentmindedly, I reached up a hand to brush it off with my sleeve. When I looked, my arm was covered in a patch of dark crimson.

Oh, I was bleeding. That makes sense.

Remembering Jacques’s injuries, I reached for the door handle. The door wouldn’t budge at all at first but, despite squeals of metallic protest, I was able to force it wide on the second attempt. My broken window finally shattered with the motion, the glass shards tumbling to the ground.

Nicole was swearing quietly under her breath while she rummaged around in the boot.

With shaking knees, I stepped out of the car, pushing down the urge to vomit. What I did notice was that I was starting to noticeably recover, despite the short time since our accident.

‘We need to remain conscious. I am working as quickly as I can, Erin,’ Muse whispered to me.

Trying to pull Jacques out through his door was going to be impossible without some heavy lifting equipment. Even then, I wouldn’t want to risk doing any more damage to him. Casey was beckoning me around to the passenger side, waiting to assist me into what had been Nicole’s seat just a few moments before.

“I don’t think we need to worry about an explosion,” she told me in a soft voice. “We do need to send for help, though. You look after him and I’ll help her.”

“We need an air-evac for Jacques,” Nicole called out, but I was already reaching for his hands.

He looked to be in a precarious state. His neck was at an awkward angle, while his face and short hair were a mess of congealing blood. The stare in his eyes was giving me shivers, and I wasn’t certain if he was still breathing.

Gradually, I started to feel the now-familiar tugging sensation pulling me towards him. The bridge between us was taking form within myself, so I channelled some energy through it as I had done with Sabina.

A shimmering, golden hue crept over his skin, spreading up his arm and across his body. The whites of his eyes turned a radiant yellow a few seconds afterwards.

“Okay, please let me get to him,” Nicole pleaded, “I need to look at his injuries.”

She was moving towards the passenger door behind me, but Casey was blocking the way.

“Give her a little bit, she’s working her magic,” Casey told her, refusing to budge. “How long will you need, Erin?”

‘This will take approximately fifteen minutes to bring him back to a state of consciousness,’ I was told.

“Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes,” I called back, increasing the flow of energy from myself to him a little more. Even though I couldn’t feel it, I could tell that my head injury was still making this more difficult than it otherwise would be.

I couldn’t see her, but I could hear Nicole’s incredulous reaction.

“What are you doing?” she asked, tension in her voice. “The first few minutes are the most important, get out of the way.”

The first few minutes may be the most important, but that’s why I was here and not her.

“How about we radio for that chopper instead?” Casey suggested, her tone calm and reassuring.

“What is she doing to him?” I heard Nicole ask, instead.

I turned my head to look towards her, and saw that she had ducked down to get a better look through the door.

“Is he glowing? And your eyes!”

She was staring at me, gaping. We locked gazes for a few more seconds, and I felt something in Jacques’s body twitch ever-so-slightly.

“He’ll be fine, just please do as Casey asks,” I replied, giving her my most confident smile. The blood that had been dripping down the side of my face likely looked worse than it was, but I had no way of knowing right now.

I wasn’t knowledgeable enough in first aid to tell if Nicole was falling into shock herself, but I suggested to Casey that she help her.

Over the course of the next fifteen minutes, Casey was able to assist Nicole with radioing for an emergency medical evacuation while I continued to help Muse with Jacques. The stiff, gusting breeze from earlier had also started to strengthen, and the trees around us were swaying noisily in the wind.

From time to time, Muse would ask me to adjust the angle or positioning of his body, but otherwise it was a fairly uneventful task. She was the medical expert, while I was just a pair of hands.

‘I could not do this without you, Erin. You’re a critical part of this,’ she gently chided me in that distant voice.

Jacques fluttered his eyes open around the time that she’d predicted, and I let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“What… happened?” he managed to croak, then broke into a pained coughing fit. I kept a firm hold of his hands as he winced, trying to wipe at his mouth with his sleeve.

“We had an accident, but you’re going to be fine,” I told him softly.

He turned his neck slightly to look at me, squinting as his eyes worked hard to focus, “Shit. Your eyes.”

I broke into a quiet laugh, nodding, “We’re uniquely qualified, remember?”

---

Nicole was amazed and over-the-moon to see Jacques awake. She’d begun to tell herself that his injuries must have looked worse than they were, but Casey and I looked at each other with tight, frustrated smiles.

By the time I heard the thud-thud-thud of rotors cutting through the strengthening wind, Jacques was able to pull himself from the wreckage and stand without assistance. The effort of keeping the energy channelled that long had taken its toll on me – I was feeling like I needed a meal and a nap.

The helicopter had to fly past, unable to find space to land nearby, but we heard it settle further down the road. We gathered our belongings from the SUV while we waited for their arrival. I took the opportunity to pull out some biscuits and a bottle of water, scoffing it all quite unceremoniously. Proper nutrition – and good manners – would have to come later.

Three soldiers came running towards us from the direction that we’d heard the air-evac land. As I watched them a little longer I noticed that it seemed to be a woman flanked by two men. We started towards them, but I felt the light-headedness again, which made me sway on my feet.

I took another mouthful of water, feeling Casey slip her arm around my waist in support. We leaned into each other, and I relished the close contact.

“Where’s the casualty?” the woman barked at us as she neared.

We all looked at each other awkwardly before Jacques stepped forward.

She squinted at him, cleaned up his injuries and then stared in disbelief. There was general confusion about the minor extent of his wounds compared to the sheer quantity of blood, but he wasn’t able to explain it. Naturally.

The medic lady moved onto me next, and she was shocked to find absolutely no sign of injury on me at all. She cleaned all the blood off me while looking utterly perplexed.

“Where did you get all of the blood from?” she asked in an accent that made me think she might be Dutch. She led us back to the helicopter while waiting for an answer, but even Nicole was struggling to rationalise what had happened.

“Do you believe us yet, Jacques?” I asked him quietly, before the cacophony of the rotors made it impossible not to shout.

He muttered a few words of Afrikaans that I didn’t understand, and burst out into laughter. I wasn’t sure what he’d said, but he seemed to be coming around.

 

The chopper was struggling to lift off once we were all aboard – the wind was gusting by now, and threatening to tip the aircraft over sideways. Our pilot knew what they were doing, though, and timed the lift-off for a lull in the wind speed.

We bumped and juddered our way back eastwards, fighting against a headwind as we crossed the impact zone towards the Swedish capital. I’d found the phone signal out in the middle-of-nowhere to be spotty at best, and I desperately wanted to contact someone to see what was happening.

Our flightpath took us close to a tower and I was able to get reception long enough for a few missed call indications and a whole bunch of text messages to ping onto my screen.

There were a lot of them from Rish, but the most recent ones had my pulse quickening.

Rish: Come on Erin where are you?

Rish: Your object’s been speeding up and changing course

There was half an hour’s break in the timestamps before the next messages.

Rish: Now its started to break up

Rish: Wherever you are you need to take shelter

The blood in my veins ran cold as I read those messages. What does he mean? Where can we go?

I tapped Casey on the shoulder to get her attention, then held up the display for her to read.

Her eyes flitted from side to side as she read, and then towards me.

“Shit,” she mouthed, and I nodded grimly.

It was vital that we know how long it would be before they arrived, so I tapped the question in my own message. This whole situation had been what I’d been trying to avoid, damn it. Why hadn’t I thought of some better form of communication with the people at the TDE?

Several frustrating minutes passed before I picked up some signal again – we were flying low over a recently emptied town. My text was sent, and a new one arrived before I lost contact again.

Rish: Still accelerating but approx. 1 hour and 20 minutes

I swallowed hard, and tried to steady myself as we rattled through more turbulent air. Surely the pilot must be hearing this news, too? Should we tell them?

‘This is not a tactic I have heard them use before,’ Muse told me, cutting through my anxiety. ‘Something is different.’

Of course it was. What else could go wrong?