Alien Apocalypse (William Rienas)

Alien Apocalypse

William Rienas

            It was another typical weekend in Brooklyn, New York, if one exists. Over the bridge from my apartment, I could see the madness that is lower Manhattan on a Saturday night. The bright city lights created an eerie glow that surrounded the island, and I wondered how many people were roaming the streets ignorant of the events that transpired last weekend. In Denver, Colorado a man named Clyde Simmons disappeared. I was cooking pork chops on a Friday afternoon when I heard the news. A witness on screen claimed to have seen bright flashes coming from a triangular object directly above Clyde’s house. Just after, the house exploded, but there was no fire. Strangely, none of Clyde’s body was found. My roommates and I thought nothing of it, besides Kakashi. He has a sharp eye for strange events, and he was surprised by the lack of fire in the explosion.

            After hearing the news, we continued our night as if nothing had happened. Guy, who is my other roommate, was watching a show called Naruto with Kakashi. It was our favorite anime show, and they deeply enjoyed how two characters from the series have the same names as them. They watched one of the most iconic fight scenes, Might Guy verses the villain named Madara Uchiha. Might Guy nearly defeats Madara, but Naruto comes in later to save everyone. At the end of the battle, a news report appeared on screen.

            Another disappearance had occurred, this time in Vatican City, the city-state surrounded by Rome. A woman named Bonnie Summers had gone missing. I was surprised that this story was on American television, however, when I heard the story my shock vanished. Apparently bright lights from a triangular metal object shined above her apartment. The neighbors heard a scream from Ms. Summers, and immediately after the ship and all noise vanished. Bonnie’s body was not found. Due to the number of witnesses and publicity of the event, the Pope was forced to make a statement. He stated at a press conference that the incident was the work of God, and not to fear because the Lord has mercy for those who have faith. Although these events transpired last weekend, Kakashi, Guy, and I could not shake the feeling that something big was about to occur.

            That Saturday night passed just like any other, my roommates and I headed to our local bar, got back at 2am, and went to sleep. On Sunday morning, I woke up at 11am and made bacon and eggs. It was a very cold day, and I quickly shut the windows. There was an ominous feeling in the air. Kakashi stumbled downstairs as I ate the yolk of my first egg, he was obviously hungover, and Guy made his way downstairs shortly afterwards. “I bought extra eggs for you” I said to them as they searched the pantry for breakfast. Guy was delighted, he loves making eggs and claims that not even the Gods can beat his recipe. He cooked 6 eggs, three for Kakashi and 3 for himself. “Any news on that guy Clyde and woman Bonnie?” asked Kakashi. I replied, “Nope”, and the rest of that Sunday passed by regularly.

            The following Thursday as I was watching the news, a story appeared stating that Clyde and Bonnie had been found alive the previous night. They were scheduled to appear on screen for a live interview that evening. I grabbed my phone and texted Kakashi and Guy that the two people who went missing a while back had been found. We agreed to watch the live interview together later that night. I hustled home after work, and although it was cold, winter in New York City could be worse.

            The press conference was live from London, England, where Clyde and Bonnie were found. Since it was 6pm here, it was 11pm in London, and hosting an international press conference at this hour meant that it was important. Bonnie and Clyde first tried to make a joke out of what happened. They claimed to have gotten a free trip to outer space. The audience laughed uncomfortably in response. The interview quickly shifted to a darker tone. Clyde explained that they were abducted by extraterrestrial beings, and these aliens want to own the planet. Then Bonnie stated that the aliens feel that they can make a better world, and that the humans are ruining the current one. The aliens are smarter and have built worlds in the past. Furthermore, they know all about humanity through running brain and DNA scans on Bonnie and Clyde. Therefore, they are stronger and will be able to take over easily. The only way to survive is to obey to their requests. Clyde and Bonnie insisted that world leaders must meet up with the aliens soon to discuss the future. Kakashi, Guy and I could not believe what we heard. After the press conference we decided this was out of our control, and we should just continue living our lives normally.

            Two days later Bonnie and Clyde were placed in a psychiatric center. They were diagnosed with a mental illness. Multiple world leaders claimed that those two were insane, and everyone should continue their lives normally. The Pope agreed, and again stated that God will save those who are good. Most people continued living their lives as if nothing had happened, however, I noticed more people on the streets claiming the apocalypse is near. These people were saying that Bonnie and Clyde are prophets and we ought to listen. It was a strange time, but events like these are usually forgotten after a while.

            A week passed by and we entered February. I have always found February to be a neutral month. March is typically worst month of the year for me, since it has no big holidays, lasts a while, and has bad weather. At this point, Bonnie and Clyde were still known, but the topic was rarely discussed. Most people thought it was a made up story for attention. People thought, “How could something so ridiculous possibly be true? And if it were true, how could our scientists not detect an alien ship in the atmosphere?”. Kakashi, Guy, and I were cooking dinner together that night. We decided to make lobster and steak. Kakashi cooked the lobster, while I grilled the steaks. Guy was in charge of the side dishes, which were mac and cheese and brussels sprouts. I was excited for this meal, and I could see clearly that Kakashi and Guy were eager too. Our favorite show, Naruto, played in the background as we ate the meal. It seemed that nothing would come out of the Bonnie and Clyde event. No government wanted to take any action, and there appeared to be no reason to do anything. Halfway through the show, all electronic devices were overridden by an alien broadcast. The aliens had learned English, likely from Bonnie and Clyde.

The television screen featured a light blue screen and audio from an extraterrestrial. The alien said, “Hello humans. We come from the galaxy you know as Messier 63. We have come to your planet to create a new and better one. You humans have treated the Earth poorly. Your science is not advanced enough, and you waste many materials on this planet. Our goal is to recreate your planet so that it can be healthy for billions of years. We are more intelligent and more fit to rule than you are. This should be clear based off our technology that you will see in the upcoming weeks. However, it should currently be clear that we are better since we traveled such a long way while you cannot even leave your solar system. We demand that you hold a meeting between your world’s leaders and four of our kind to discuss the future of this planet. The date and time of the meeting will be this Wednesday, February 7^th at 5pm EST. Please pick a location and let us know by dropping a letter into the metallic box that is now on the White House lawn in the United States. If you do not agree to meet, we will take over on February 8^th. We look forward to your response and cooperation”.

            “So it is just as Clyde and Bonnie had foretold”, said Guy. “Yeah, this is crazy. What should we do?” I asked. Kakashi and Guy looked just as confused and afraid as me. We wondered if this was a legitimate alien species, or if this was some terrorist organization that hacked our satellites. Either way, we decided both are a huge risk to anyone living in New York City. New York City is one of the most well-known places in the world, and will surely be a major target for any threat. However, it seemed that the aliens wanted to speak with our leaders before making any changes. Kakashi, Guy, and I decided that we have a few days before this meeting between our world leaders and the aliens was happening, and we could not just skip work Monday and Tuesday. The plan was to stay in New York until Wednesday, and then drive to upstate New York to stay in Kakashi’s second house until we know the results of the press conference.

            On Wednesday, February 7^th our bosses decided to give everyone off, since no work was going to be done that day anyway. My mother called me the night before and stressed that I should not be in New York City during and after the meeting. Since we had off from work, we left at 9am using Guy’s rental car. Guy decided to rent a Ferrari, with his logic being that if the world was going to end, money will not matter. I had no objections since it was nice to have a stylish car and Guy claimed this one is good at traveling during the winter. The traffic out of New York City was unlike anything I had ever seen before. “I guess everyone has the same idea” Kakashi remarked. “Yeah, I’ve never seen this much traffic in the city” I replied. Guy is a local though, so he took us on the side roads to avoid the traffic. We made it to Westchester County, where there was less traffic, in an hour. The rest of the trip was much easier. The Ferrari moved down the highway at what must have been at least 100 miles per hour. “I know this car is flashy, but I got a camouflage cover so no one will be able to see us at the house” said Guy.

            After 7 hours, we made it to Kakashi’s house. There were no other signs of human life anywhere. The last three turns were down 3 dirt roads, and the last road was 10 miles long. “The only way someone finds us here is if he knows the address. No one is accidently arriving at this place” Kakashi said. The house was small and located in a forest. Due to the snowfall, the driveway was not visible, and there was no way to know where the house was from the street unless you had been there before. Kakashi told Guy to stop when we were there, and he got out of the car to remove the mailbox. “If we want to be truly hidden, we might as well get rid of this” Kakashi said as he removed it. There was a garage where the car could be parked, so there was no need for Guy’s cover. We got out of the car and looked inside the house. Thankfully, we packed enough food for 2 weeks, and the house was filled with items to eat. If we had to, we could survive from the all food we had for a year. By the time we finished examining the rooms, it was 5:30, and the meeting between the aliens and world leaders was going on. Kakashi turned on the TV and we all sat in the living room to watch.

            The news showed four aliens approaching the United Nations building in New York City. “Thank God we aren’t there” Kakashi said. The four aliens all looked unique. The first had a large head with grey skin. The second had a body that resembled a bowling pin and was bright red. The third was short and had blue skin, and the fourth had purple skin with very large arms. All of the aliens had two legs and two arms, but were different than humans because their skin resembled a reptile, their eyes were larger, and they had 6 fingers on each hand. By the time it was 5:45, the meeting had ended and the details of the event were given to reporters. The big takeaway was that all humans that wish to live must move to Antarctica within the next two weeks. This was because the aliens cannot use this land, and living on that continent will incentivize people to not contribute to the melting of the ice caps. If anyone does not move, the aliens would kill them. The humans had demonstrated to the extraterrestrials that they are incapable of using the planet properly, and the aliens can easily make it better. The alien with the large head did most of the speaking, and he explained that his kind were the strategists. The bright red aliens were the strong ones who fight in war. The short aliens were the fastest, and could search the entire planet for life. Finally, the aliens with long arms were the ones who can build everything they need.

            “What do we do?” asked Guy. “I think we stay here, this house is not near anything, and we cannot realistically get to Antarctica and survive in two weeks. Make your last calls to anyone you care about, and then we will turn off all electronics to be safe” replied Kakashi. Guy and I agreed with Kakashi’s statement, and we decided to make one call a month in a location 5 miles away from the house. Traveling to the location had to be done without a car. I decided to call my parents, luckily there were both in the same place. I explained what we were doing and invited them to join us in the house if they moved quick. They did not want to come because they had another location that was in the west. She said she loves me, and is proud to have me as her child. My father agreed with my mother on going to their hideout in the west, and we decided to call each other once a month. We said our goodbyes, and then we were on our own.

            A month had passed without any sign of commotion. I made the long walk to the point where I could call my parents. I turned on my phone and dialed my mom’s cell. She answered and was excited to speak. She had been keeping up with the news, and told me about a virus that was planted on every continent besides Antarctica. It killed whoever was infected in 3 days, and it was easy to tell when one was infected since their skin turned blue instantly. This was the aliens’ way of killing all humans who refused to go to Antarctica. I was thankful that I knew this threat, but the news was terrible. My parents were doing just fine, and the call ended after speaking for 20 minutes. I looked around where I was in case the call had been tracked, and I saw no sign of danger. Therefore, I made my way back to Kakashi’s house. Although March is my least favorite month, this one was not too bad since my parents were still alive.

            The next month I made the same trek in the woods and called my mom. There was no answer. Then I dialed my father, but he also did not answer. I was stunned, and I waited 10 minutes for a call back. They knew that I would be calling on this day at this time, therefore they must be dead or captured. I assumed the worst, let out a tear, and made the long walk back to the cabin. Upon returning, I noticed that Guy’s skin had turned blue. “I saw one of the small aliens” he explained. At that point, we knew that our days were numbered. One hour after seeing Guy, both Kakashi and I had blue skin. I thought to myself, “I suppose I will be with my family and friends soon”. We knew we had 3 days left, and decided to make the most of it. The first day, we went sledding down the massive hill in the back, barely avoiding the trees. This was a thrill I had not experienced in years, and I thought about the time my father taught me how to sleigh ride when I was a child. The next day, I called my mother and father again, only to receive no answer. Then I dialed my brother, who I had not spoken to in years. He answered, and we made amends for all of our conflicts in the past. After that day, I was ready to die. On the last day, Kakashi, Guy, and I cooked our last meal. Guy made eggs, I grilled steaks, and Kakashi cooked the lobster he froze a while ago. We sat down, ate a little of everything, and joked like old friends. Guy was right about his eggs. All that a God could do in a cooking competition was tie Guy if they were making eggs. We spoke about how we had a similar meal back when this whole apocalypse first started. Then we turned on some Naruto and sat on the couch until our deaths. The last episode we watched was Might Guy verses Madara Uchiha, and I thought that our situation was similar if one considered this disease to be the villain and us to be the good guys. “If only Naruto was here to save us now” I jokingly say to Kakashi and Guy. They chuckled in response, and then Kakashi said “I believe there’s someone like him on the other side for us, and I will see you all there”. I then shut my eyes for my final rest and thought, “maybe the aliens will make this planet a better place after all”.

Alien Apocalypse Reflection

            The five motifs and references I decided to incorporate into my short apocalyptic story are as follows. To start, I incorporated two prophets. This is similar to the Simpsons episode, “Thank God, It’s Doomsday”, that we watched earlier in the semester. Homer Simpson was a prophet who warned people that an apocalypse is coming soon. In my short story, Clyde Simmons and Bonnie Summers were prophets since they were abducted and sent back to warn humanity about the future. The next reference I use is in relation to the songs “The Great Atomic Power” and “Jesus Hits Like an Atomic Bomb”. In my short story, I mention that the Pope states that God will protect those who are faithful. Furthermore, when one of the main characters, Kakashi, is dying, he puts his faith in God by saying “I believe there’s someone like him on the other side for us”. In the songs, the idea that those who are faithful will be okay is stressed. Next, a motif that I incorporate into my short story is catastrophic millennialism. The aliens believe that they can change the planet and make it better, but they need to get rid of human influence before doing so. By making all the humans move to Antarctica or die, they are causing an apocalyptic event, however, in the end it will lead to a better planet. The fourth reference in my short story is to the reading “The History of the Peloponnesian War” where there is a disease present that is killing many people. In my essay, this disease was sent by the aliens to kill the humans. What is similar between the reading and my essay is that there is no foreseeable cure to this disease. Furthermore, in the reading, the plague occurred right after an invasion, and in my story the disease was a result of a disagreement between the aliens and humans. This is similar to a war, but does not have actual fighting. There was no need to fight because the aliens were much more advanced.

            The fifth reference I incorporated into my short story is to the Apocalypse of John. In my story, I mention how there were four aliens sent to earth to speak to the world’s leaders. This is similar to The Four Horsemen from the Apocalypse of John. Each of The Four Horsemen from the Apocalypse of John represent something different. One is conquering, one is war, one is famine, and one is death. In my story, the four Aliens are all unique because one is a strategist, one is strong, one is good at searching, and the last is a builder. An idea I decided to leave out of this essay was artificial intelligence. By using aliens instead, I was able to dismiss artificial intelligence as a cause of human downfall. In my story, the treat of self-destruction by technology is minuscule since the aliens have much more advanced technology and they had not been destroyed by artificial intelligence yet. Therefore, humanity still has a long way to go before artificial intelligence is a threat. Another idea I decided to keep out was having zombies as a result of the disease. I decided not to do this because the aliens wanted the humans only in Antarctica, and by making zombies, the humans would still be present elsewhere. Although many apocalyptic pieces that feature a disease also have zombies (such as “I Am Legend” from class), I felt that it was a stronger message to not allow any trace of human life on land other than Antarctica. This is because humans have been treating the planet poorly, so they now need to live on Antarctica and prevent it from melting further. Otherwise, they will lose land.