In the Aftermath: Burning of the Dawn Page 40

  Anthony had to think for a moment. He remembered hearing reports on the radio about hundreds of spear-like alien ships crashing into the Earth for no discernable reason. He later learned that these strange ships were carrying the Sayona. “I think so,” he answered. “They were in spaceships that crash-landed all over the planet.”

  “That’s correct,” Mary grinned mockingly. “Wanna take a guess as to what I found lurking right underneath us?”

  “Wow.” No guesses were required on Anthony’s part. Although the idea of a Sayona ship lurking beneath him was a little unnerving, Anthony still felt an overwhelming relief. He was not crazy; there was something in the lake after all. His relief was brief, however, as the idea of him having some sort of psychic connection with the Sayona was not something he wanted or welcomed in any way. “One of those ships is below us?”

  “Yes it is… I swam right into the fucker.”

  “You’re sure it’s a Sayona ship?”

  “I am; I’ve seen one before.” Mary had seen a Sayona ship that had gone down in the Rocky Mountain Nation Park near Estes Park, Colorado. It had long been abandoned by the Sayona by the time Mary had made her way to see the disturbing, prison-like spacecraft. The vessel was nearly a mile in length, but only about the size of a standard house in terms of width. The metal casing of the hull was also extremely thick and the inside was narrow and full of odd debris. It could not have been a pleasant place for anything to inhabit, let alone hundreds of unruly Sayona.

  “I wonder if it was better or worse for the Sayona – crashing into the lake.” Anthony mused as he peered back into the water. It didn’t seem so intimidating anymore.

  “I don’t know, but there was somethin’ strange about this ship.” Mary mused as she retrieved her pants. “It was all kinds of fucked up. I mean, I didn’t see much of it, but what I did see wasn’t pretty. Something ripped that fucker apart.”

  “You don’t think it happened when it crashed?”

  “No, I’ve heard of these things crashing into buildings and plowing into mountains and barely taking a dent in the process. The one I saw in Colorado took out two miles of trees and set the place on fire, but still, the ship never broke.”

  “Maybe it was shot down.” Anthony remembered the downed alien bomber in the desert.

  “I thought of that, too,” Mary admitted. “Maybe somebody could’ve had the time to take a shot at it… I have no other theories at the moment. Whatever the reason, your instincts were right, little brother. There is something wicked in this lake.”

  No fish were caught on that day. Neither Anthony nor Mary had any desires to stay out in the lake any longer, so Mary brought them back to Emerald Bay. After reaching shore, they both set out together back up the trail leading to the highway. From there they followed the highway around to the street leading back to their temporary home in the hills. Twenty minutes later Serena returned as well. Mary (fully dressed again) and Anthony met her outside.

  Serena’s solo scavenging excursion netted her some new loot. Though not as large as last time, her haul was slightly more diverse on this occasion. Food was once again amongst the bounty, but this time Serena had also added bullets for the revolver and the rifle, as well as a new handgun for herself – a stainless steel Beretta M9 semi-automatic pistol. And as promised, she found Anthony a car-charger and used it to charge the tablet he had found back at the supermarket. A portable power supply was also amongst Serena’s collection of looted goods. The device could be used to charge most any electronic device, including car batteries.

  Anthony was happy to have the tablet back in his possession. He thanked his mother for returning the device fully charged and he then swiftly went to work at trying to get at whatever might be hiding within its contents. He retrieved an old backpack from the car and proceeded into the house. Mary and Serena remained outside.

  “I have something for you, too, Mary.” Serena spoke serenely. Mary could see and sense a change in Serena’s demeanor; the alone time had done her well. She was okay, her son was okay, and Mary was okay; the relief was palpable. Serena reached into her vehicle, retrieved Amy the Axe, and presented her to Mary. Amy was just the same as she was when Mary loaned her out to Serena, with one slight change: a small, red, lace ribbon was tied around the neck of the weapon.

  “Oh my God…” Mary gasped. “She’s beautiful again!” Mary took back Amy and hugged her very gently.

  “Thank you for looking after my son.” Serena added.

  “And here I thought he was lookin’ after me.”

  “That, too.” Serena could see that Mary’s hair was wet, as was some of her clothing, but she also noted that her son was completely dry. “Did you go to the lake? How was Anthony?”

  “All is well,” Mary answered while twirling Amy through her fingers. “We took a boat ride; our boy faced his fears; I went for a swim and ran into a sunken Sayona ship…”

  “What? A Sayona ship?”

  “Yep, the Sayona’s wicked ride into our world – your son found one.”

  “Anthony? He went into the lake?”

  “Nope, I did.”

  Serena was confused. How did her son find a sunken spaceship when he never went into the water? The ships were big, Serena knew that much. Perhaps it could be seen from the surface. “So, he saw it and you went in to… investigate?”

  “He sensed it.” Mary answered. Sensing Serena was tiring of her vague answers, Mary stopped playing with Amy and provided more details: “Our boy’s got somethin’ goin’ with the Sayona. It happens sometimes when people get close to them – Carson City, in his case.”

  “And do you have this sense?” Serena’s question reeked of skepticism. Her son was simply intimidated by the large lake, so she believed. While that was slightly out of character for Anthony, it still made more sense than Mary’s explanation.

  “I don’t and neither do you.” Mary answered. “Choose not to believe me if you like, Mama Bear, but big Anthony’s little gift could save our lives someday.”

  “Well, lucky for us then,” Serena saw no sense in arguing with Mary on this point, so she let it go. Besides, she needed Mary for something else. “Can you show me how to use this properly?” Serena handed Mary the M9 handgun.

  Mary was happy to help, and Serena was happy to have a handgun that could still be effective and economical without having a round chambered at all times. After a few minutes of instructions, Serena was confident enough to take charge of the loaded M9. The clip held seven bullets. One more could have been loaded into the chamber, but Serena opted for safety over the extra bullet. Despite her oddities, lunacies, and dismally lackadaisical outlook on life, Mary was still an exceptional teacher. Anything she knew, she could teach, and Mary was full of useful skills. After their brief foray into weapons training, Mary and Serena retired to the house and went about deciding what they were going to eat. Various canned goods were the eventual decisions. Anthony chose to remain inside while he ate so he could simultaneously tinker with his tablet; Mary and Serena retired to the deck out back. The deck was covered, so the now falling rain did not drench the two women. Not that Mary was against getting drenched. The feel of the cold, misty rain upon her skin had an odd comfort to it. Serena enjoyed the rain, too, mostly. The subtle storm added a gloomy beauty to the already serene view of Emerald Bay. These moments of transitory tranquility would not last forever. Serena was glad to be given the opportunity to enjoy this one.

  The tablet was locked via password and biometric thumbprint. It took a little time, but Anthony was able to get around them both. Hidden away in his backpack were remnants of the former world where technology reigned and computer science thrived. It only took weeks to nearly extinguish a hundred years of innovation and advancement. Of all the unique weapons that the alien aggressors had at their disposal, their most effective was a simple flip of a switch (flip of a switch meaning electromagnetic pulse attacks generated through high altitude nuclear explosions accompanied by less severe but m
ass distributed EMP bombing runs). A world moved by technology moves no more when the technology fails. Nevertheless, there were survivors of the technological holocaust, and there were those like Anthony who still carried along their knowledge from the world that use to be. In his backpack were the tools he needed: SIM cards, portable micro-SSDs, and flash drives (scannable and direct-connection).

  Anthony was pleased to find that the tablet was in fact a personal device and not the property of the supermarket. There were dozens of video files, hundreds of audio files, and thousands of text and image based files ranging from simple documents to personal messages. From his brief snooping, Anthony ascertained that the former owner of this device was named Andrew. Where are you now, Andrew? Anthony wondered. Please, leave me something useful. Andrew did not disappoint. Some of the video clips he had saved were personal, featuring him and his friends; a girlfriend seemed to be there as well – she was pretty, too. These were obviously taken before the war. There were a few others taken during the war. They were short clips primarily showing alien aircraft traversing the sky. Those were of little interest to Anthony, he had seen those ships himself many times. Only two videos remained: both taken after the war; both taken right here in scenic Lake Tahoe. Their content would prove to be extremely unsettling.

  Serena and Mary had spent nearly an hour on the deck watching the rain and cordially conversing with one another. The conversation was, uniquely enough, carried mostly by Serena. She told Mary about her life before and during the war, spoke of Anthony’s father, and also conversed briefly about her own childhood. Mary was genuinely interested in her new friend’s life and provided her own distinctive brand of commentary where she deemed it necessary. Serena’s adoration of Mary had blossomed; she was truly happy to have a friend again. Bonding time between the two women was brought to an end when Anthony joined them on the rain-soaked deck with his tablet in hand. His bleak expression was not reassuring.

  “Everything all right?” Serena asked her son; his demeanor clearly answered for him.

  Mary did not bother to ask. He had found something on that device and whatever he had found was not going to be pleasant. She held out her hand towards the tablet and asked, “Whatcha got, hon’?”

  Anthony handed her the tablet and pointed her to the two most recent video clips. Serena joined Mary; Anthony proceeded back into the house. He had no desires of seeing those images ever again. Both videos were dated February 15th of 2037 – the day after V–Day; the day the Sayona arrived in force. Mary started the first clip.

  The video was filmed with the same device it was currently playing on. The individual filming, Andrew, was atop a building—one of the large hotels near Stateline—with a large group of other observers all looking towards the sky. Andrew targeted the object being observed by the crowd: a Sayona ship was circling Lake Tahoe. The ship was high in the sky, but gradually descending. It was narrow and extremely long. On the front tip of the arrow-shaped ship was a strobing laser with alternating colors of purple, blue, and green. The noise from the ship was very faint; a low hum and little else. The ship was piloting itself automatically and searching the surrounding terrain in an effort to find a decent place to gently crash-land. The areas in which the ships were sent were predetermined; the exact location where they were suppose to land was left to the onboard computer. The ship being filmed was targeting the Truckee wetlands south of Lake Tahoe. It was soon much lower to the ground as it circled around widely, directly over the lake itself, and proceeded on in its slow run towards its final destination.

  The entranced crowd around Andrew then began to stir as a loud, violent, burning sound emanated from somewhere. Andrew and his fellow observers spotted the perpetrator. Far in the distance, a mile-long fireball tore through the sky. As the tablet’s camera focused in, the object became more apparent – it was another Sayona ship. This one had entered Earth’s atmosphere with much less grace than most of its counterparts; its speed and piloting controls were nonexistent. The distance was soon not-so-distant as the rogue ship rocketed its way directly towards Tahoe. Many of Andrew’s fellow observers were soon running for cover inside of the building they had been standing on. Andrew held his ground. Inside or on top, if that ship hit the building no one was going to survive. The fiery ship ended up missing Andrew’s building as it soared past the city and proceeded out over Lake Tahoe. The video then picked up a deep, amalgamated gasp. Andrew along with the few people who remained with him on the rooftop bared witness to a brutal yet spectacular sight as the rogue Sayona ship collided with the other Sayona ship targeting the nearby marshlands. The rogue ship crashed into the hull of its sister ship just beyond the midway point, ripping it apart in the process. The back section was carried away with the rogue ship further out into the deeper sections of Lake Tahoe, where they both went down with an extraordinary crash that rocked the entire lake. What remained of the front half of the remaining Sayona ship no longer targeted the marshlands, but instead took a direct nosedive into the lake not far from Emerald Bay. The ships and their debris swiftly sank below the surface; leaving only smoke and raging waters. The video then ended.

  “That… was fucking awesome!” cheered Mary. “Wow, I’ve always wondered why the fuck there were so many goddamn Sayona around these parts. Now I know! Two ships crashing in one spot – imagine those odds! Ha!”

  “You think the Sayona actually survived that?” Serena questioned. One ship was on fire and the other one was violently torn apart; it did not seem rational that anything could survive that.

  “I told ya, darlin’,” Mary replayed the ending of the video to watch it again. “Those bitches can’t be killed.”

  Mary’s answer sent a shrill chill through Serena. Still, she could not see why her son would be so distraught by that video. Mary was right; it was a pretty amazing sight to see the two massive ships collide over Lake Tahoe. And it also gave more credence to Anthony’s aversion to the lake. There was, however, still the second video he wanted them to see. As soon as Mary was finished rewatching the first video for a third and fourth time, she then started up the second.

  In this video, Andrew was no longer on the rooftop. He was now at the nearby shore of Lake Tahoe with a huge crowd of people lining the beach and staring out into the roaring lake. Andrew’s camera work was shaky as he made his way through the crowd. His voice was finally heard as he asked aloud, “Where is it?!”

  “It’s here,” an older woman answered. “On the beach.” She was crying as she spoke. Andrew continued through the crowd until he made his way onto the beach. He stumbled out onto the sand. Most people were keeping their distance, but a few braver souls had ventured out closer to the water. Two of those men were talking nearby.

  “Is that them?!” One of the men asked angrily. “Is that what those fuckers look like?!”

  “No…” The other man answered. “That’s not them.”

  “Then what the hell is that thing?!”

  “I don’t know… I don’t know what that is.”

  Andrew focused his camera down the beach. Just off of the shore standing still in the raging waves was a Sayona. The dark creature’s head was down and her face was covered by the hair-like tentacles upon her head. When wet, the tentacles elongated: appearing longer, thinner, and darker with a slight purplish glow which was difficult to detect in the daylight. Andrew moved closer to the Sayona. Soon enough, he spotted another one fifty feet down shore from her sister; this one was further out into the lake. The closer of the two Sayona raised her head and one of her hands. The tentacles fell from her face as she attempted to open her eyes – but the light of day would not allow it.

  “That’s them…” Serena spoke. “That’s what they look like.”

  “Smaller than I expected,” Mary commented. “Kinda pretty though… in a horrible sorta way.” Other than obscure pictures and vague drawings, this was the first time that either woman had seen a Sayona.

  Both Sayona began to make sounds: the well-known
and macabrely mythical purring, along with a few small chirps. They were communicating to one another. The crowd began to speak and stir behind Andrew as they spotted strange movements in the lake. Andrew panned the camera along the shore and saw what was causing the commotion. The tails of around a dozen or so more Sayona were emerging and submerging in and out of the water. Two more Sayona had also come to shore. The lead Sayona walked from the water and into the sand. She then looked to the sky above with her eyes still sealed and bellowed a short but loud scream that echoed across the lake. Most of the onlookers backed away; Andrew did so as well. Some people had had enough and left the scene completely. The noisy Sayona then turned her head into the direction of her nearest sister and made a similar sound followed by an elongated purr. The sister Sayona turned back towards the deep lake and put her face close to the water. Her tentacles began acting strangely – slowly standing upright in an ominously grotesque display. She then abruptly produced a loud, otherworldly sound that sent a rippling, sonic shockwave through both land and water and even caused a momentary malfunction in Andrew’s camera. This act sent another handful of onlookers running to the safety of the city. Yet many still remained, mesmerized by the monsters. With his camera, Andrew followed the rippling wave made by the Sayona’s strange scream far out into Lake Tahoe until it vanished completely. A moment later the entire lake appeared to vanish completely as two-thousand Sayona emerged from the water in unison. Mary and Serena had neither words nor breaths.

  Andrew still had his words: “Oh my God!” He screamed as he turned and ran from the shore. “Holy shit!” The spectating crowd shared Andrew’s sentiments as they all began to run. Little could be seen on Andrew’s camera at the point, but he stopped for just a moment to pan back to the lake to see the giant surge of Sayona rapidly making their way onto the beach. Andrew then turned to run again as the sounds of gunshots began to rage against the purrs and screams of the advancing Sayona.