It's Better This Way by Travis Hill

Author:Travis Hill [Hill, Travis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction - Alien Invasion
Publisher: Travis Hill
Published: 2013-11-14T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9 - Invasion Redux

“Thank you for gathering to hear us speak,” Colonel Hardaway said in a loud, clear voice from the platform on the south lawn.

I estimated at least four thousand bodies in the crowd, but it was dark and hard to see. We’d built large fires all around the area to illuminate both the platform and the main house.

“My name is Colonel Eric Hardaway. My fellow soldiers and I have traveled from the new Division headquarters at the Crater Lake complex.”

This got a grumble from the crowd. Everyone had heard of Crater Lake, but no one had suspected that it was where the remnants of the military branches had gathered to regroup.

“We’ve traveled to talk to you about a lot of things. For twenty three years, these aliens, these ‘bulls’ as we’ve come to call them, have been grinding up our major cities and digging massive holes in our earth. They’ve set up thousands of the giant towers and hundreds of massive factory complexes. They’ve used technology far beyond human understanding to wipe out our societies in one fell swoop, along with our ability to fight back. Before you hear why I’ve called for all of you to hear my words, I would first like to show you something.”

He gestured to Hackett, who in turn gestured to me and a couple of other councilors to rig up the screen. The projector screen was something almost out of science fiction. It was a paper-thin sheet of transparent material that felt like cloth, sounded like sandpaper when you unfolded it, and stretched to over a hundred times its initial size. Sergeant Waters and Corporal Hackett had helped us set two twenty foot poles in the ground near the platform. The poles stood twenty feet apart, and we stretched the projector screen across the entire expanse, locking it in place around the poles with what looked like bungee cords.

Once Hackett saw that we’d made sure the screen was ready to go, he took the projector out of the case and walked into the crowd about fifteen deep. The people parted for him like he was Moses. He set up the projector on a tripod and pointed it between the two poles. The whole thing looked to be about as big as the old digital cameras from before the invasion. Not much more than an old pack of smokes. That made me think about the last Camel I’d smoked. Twelve years ago maybe. My pulse still quickened at the thought of puffing on a fresh cigarette.

The crowd’s murmuring turned into a loud buzzing as Hackett set everything up. The instant he flipped the switch to the projector, there were a few seconds of oohs and aahs before everyone fell silent as Colonel Hardaway began to talk again.

“Twenty three years ago, the aliens destroyed all of our infrastructure, then all of our military assets,” he said as a shaky video of an object large enough to blot out the moon slid into view on a black sky.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.