Invasion

Everyone is asleep. Though they’re not sleeping in their beds. There are people sleeping inside their cars, on the streets and inside a telephone booth. It’s as if they suddenly went unconscious as they were doing their activities. We go to an unfamiliar hotel and through the window of one of the room’s bathroom. We see a beautiful young woman with long hair and clean face, without clothes, sleeping in the filled bathtub with only a hanged light swinging back and forth. Her veins glow bright blue leading up to her eyes, closed though they are. She then awakens suddenly in a shocked manner, as if from a nightmare, and screaming; she looks around and seems to be confused. Getting up, she tries to make sense of what’s going on. But, it’s just an ordinary bathroom; her clothes are laid and prepared in a chair. She goes to the mirror, but doesn’t seem to recognize herself. She puts on the clothes: a simple plain white t-shirt and a pale brown jacket and black jeans. As she does so, she steps out of the bathroom and looks around to remember what happened. But, she seems to have lost her memory and can’t remember anything, not even her name. “Who am I?” she asks herself. Dizzy and confused, she continues searching through the hotel room, hoping to find some clue to her identity and her current predicament. She notices a telephone and tries to call someone, but can’t because, as she sees, the line appears to have been cut rendering it useless. She notices that it’s 2:50 in the morning by looking at the clock hanged on the wall. “2:50. Huh,” she mumbles. Unable to find anything else, she decides to go outside to look around and perhaps remember something about the place. She puts on her shoes and steps outside into the hallway.

As she closes the door, she looks at her room number. “614,” she says in a soft voice, “614, 614.” She walks dizzily down the hallway, still confused, and notices that she doesn’t see or hear anyone. “Hello. Is anyone here?” she yells, still dizzy with her vision blurry. There seems to be no answer. She goes to the elevator to go down, but just as she is about to press the button, she stops and decides to take the stairs instead. As she walks down, she stops cause she sees someone who has fallen asleep on the stairs: a man. She stands there looking at him while becoming more confused. She thinks what to do and decides to wake the man to ask what’s going on. She crouches and tries to wake him. “Hey, wake up. Wake up. Come on, please, wake up,” she says in a quiet voice. Unfortunately, all her attempts at waking him seem to have failed. She lets out a sigh and gets up to continue her walk downstairs. She also notices a maid sleeping in one of the floor’s hallway. She reaches the end of the stairs, but doesn’t see anyone. She opens the door to the lobby and is surprised by a man who fell through. She realizes that everyone in the hotel is asleep. Before walking out the front, she decides to see the manager’s logbook to find her entry log and maybe find any information about her. She finds the manager asleep while still holding his half-smoked cigarette between his fingers. “It’s a wonder this place hasn’t burned down yet,” she says to herself. She finds the logbook. “Room number, room number.” she says, sifting through the pages. At last, she finds the pages containing the records for the hotel rooms. “What room number was I?” she asks herself. “Yes, ummm. 614,” she says as she scratches her head. “Ah! There it is.” Written beside it is her name. “Huh. Olivia. Olivia. Olivia, Olivia, Olivia. Olivia what?” She asks in bemusement while trying to remember her last name. Unfortunately, it isn’t written in the book. Below her name is another name. “Takashi?” She gets confused. “I was with someone? But, he’s not here.” His last name isn’t written too. “What kind of hotel doesn’t write your last name?!” she asks furiously. She becomes frustrated, but, nevertheless, continues her journey and walks out the front door to the streets.

It is still dark out, being it’s 2 in the morning, and there seems to be no power. Everything is dead. But she continues on. She is not getting any answers by just waiting around. As she starts to walk, she notices that the hotel suddenly lost its power. She also notices people asleep everywhere: in their cars, on the streets, while eating their foods, inside their newspaper stands. It’s as if the whole city had suddenly dropped at the same time. “What the hell?” she says in a perplexed voice as she realizes that the entire city is asleep. She begins to get more and more frightened as she walks through the darkness, alone. Her imagination begins to play with her mind and she starts to hear strange sounds and feel like there’s someone, or something, watching her. She reassures herself and just keeps walking, through what seems to be an endless road filled with nothing but darkness. She also starts to wonder why she could awake from whatever this is, but everyone else couldn’t. As her mind continues to play tricks on her, she gets more and more frightened and paranoid, and starts to walk faster, feeling a strange and ominous presence behind her. She braves herself and turns around to look, but there was nothing there. “Ok, get a grip on yourself. It’s just your imagination,” she says to calm herself down. She then turned around to continue forward. Eventually, as she begins to lose hope, she sees a bright light in the distance. But, unfortunately, her paranoia also increases; she feels the strange presence returning. Feeling frightened, she starts running towards the bright light. As she gets more and more distressed, she notices the streetlights and cars turn on in sequence one by one as she passes them. She gets closer and starts to see a building, but begins to panic. She feels the strange presence closing in and starts sprinting, scared out of her mind, before finally reaching the building, jumping to its safe haven of light. She breathes rapidly, trying to catch her breath, and then turns around to see nothing—all of the cars and streetlights suddenly turn off again. “Ha ha,” she laughs nervously, “there’s nothing. Just my imagination,” she says, still catching her breath. She regains her composure and turns back around to examine the building.

It appears to be a mall, four-stories high, huge and wide. It would seem that it is the only thing in the city that has power. She assumes that there must be people inside—it has power after all—that have awoken like her or maybe never fell asleep at all and have taken refuge inside. Surely they must have answers. So, after finally finding the first sign of hope since her awakening, she happily enters. Hoping to find people who are awake like her, to her shock, no one is inside. She kneels down in despair and lies down on the floor, succumbing to her desperate and bleak position. As she lies there thinking what to do, her desperation quickly turned back to hope, as she hears a door opening and closing somewhere, giving her the sense that someone IS awake besides her. She smiles and then quickly picks herself up and starts running towards the sound, which appears to be coming from the top floor. She runs up the flights of stairs and when she reaches the top, she begins to hear footsteps. But her happiness quickly turned to caution as the footsteps she heard belong to two armed men in militarized suits: soldiers. She hides behind the wall to avoid being seen. “Soldiers. What the hell’s the military doing here?” she asks herself, confused. Then she remembers back to her awakening, the prepared clothes, and the fact that everyone in the city is asleep but her. “Of course. It’s gotta be some sort of military secret project or experiment,” she says herself, assuming a conclusion, “and I’m the lab rat.” She peeks around the corner and sees them walking away. “They must be using the mall as their base,” she deduces. She decides to follow them, not noticing the camera behind her. Inside a room, another soldier is watching the video feeds. He notices Olivia in one of the cameras. “Uh, sir,” says the soldier, “it looks like someone is awake, sir.” Their general, a bit shocked, comes to the screen and watches as she follows the two men, although they couldn’t see her face. A brilliant, but eccentric man, he warns his men of her presence. “Men, be advised that someone is awake inside the building,” says the general. “But, that’s impossible sir,” replies the soldier nervously, ‘Everyone’s--“ “Oh, I’m sorry,” cuts the general, “I guess my eyes and the security camera are lying to me then.” “No, sir,” he looks around, “It’s just that no one is here.... um, sir.” “I see. Well then, I recommend that you, ummmm, I don’t know, search the premises and FIND HER!!!” “Yes, sir!” Olivia, still oblivious that her presence is known, continues to follow the two soldiers, but stops, as she appears to have lost them.

She stands there, bemused, trying to find them. Then to her shock, a voice called for her from behind. “Excuse me, mam. Uh, just relax. I’m sure you’re confused as to what’s going on, but I can assure--,” the soldier suddenly stops, in shock, as she turns around, “It’s her. SHE’S ALIVE!!” they both quickly open fire on her. Shocked, her body suddenly moves to dodge the bullets, jumps to the ceiling for a second, and then moves out of the way of the bullets behind a corner. She is surprised, more befuddled, I guess, but the soldiers open fire again, so she starts running for her life. “Attention all units, subject Delta is alive and awake. I repeat subject Delta is alive.” Shocked, the general widens his eyes in shock as he hears his soldier’s announcement. “Find her!! She must not leave this building!” he orders them. Olivia continues to run as more and more soldiers keep pouring out. After a while, she seems to have lost them and stops to catch her breath. One of the soldiers approaches her from behind and tries to grab her. She turns around in shock and swings her hand. To her surprise, the soldier is suddenly repelled back with great force. Standing in shock of what just happened, she looks at her hand in bemusement. Unfortunately, the other soldiers found her and start firing, again, giving her no time to think. She runs, but is cornered on all sides by the swarm of soldiers. Panicked, she runs without thinking and jumps out the window, realizing too late that she may have just made a jump to her death. “Oh, shit!” she yells as the ground closes in. She closes her eyes and prepares for the inevitable, but to both her and the soldiers’ surprise, she lands safely and unharmed. “What??” she asks, flabbergasted. Realizing in amazement that she is unharmed, the soldiers open fire again. She runs, and notices the streetlights and cars turning on one by one again as she passes them. But, she doesn’t think too much of it as she’s running for her life. But, instead of going straight, this time she turns left at the first intersection to lose them. She keeps running as the sound of the bullets and the soldiers starts to fade. She looks behind her to see and before she can turn back around, hits someone and they both fall.

While catching her breath, she looks at whom she hit, realizing that he is awake like her. A young man with short hair, wearing glasses, a gray shirt with a dark green jacket and dark jeans. He regains consciousness, sits up, and looks at her. “You’re awake,” he says, smiling, but still a bit dizzy. “Yeah. You’re awake too,” she replies, happy to finally find someone awake. “Ha,” he lets out a chuckle, “What’s--“ “Oops! No time now! We have to hide,” she cuts him, remembering that she’s being chased. She grabs his arm and runs fast. But, realizing that the soldiers may already be catching up while they were talking, she leads him to a nearby building, which appears to be an apartment building, opens the door and hides inside. She can relax for a bit now as she watches outside through the window. The man, confused, asks her what’s going on. “Hey, what are we doing?” he asks.

“Hiding,” she replied in a quiet voice.

“From what?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Okay. What’s your name?”

“Olivia.”

“Hi, Olivia. I’m Takashi…I think. Uhhm, nice to meet you.” Her face turns to shock as she remembers that that was the name below hers back in the hotel. “Takashi?” she asks in shock. “Yeah, well, I think,” he replies.

“You think??”

“It’s difficult to explain. So, you don’t have a last name?”

“I uh, don’t remember. I, umm, I lost my memory.”

“Really? Well, that makes two of us then.”

She turns to him in surprise. “You lost your memory too?” He nods his head to answer, “Yeah, hence the ‘I think’.”

“Ok. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Not much. Actually, I don’t remember anything before I woke up.”

“Where did you wake up?”

“In a restaurant. I was…eating, I guess. I was dizzy and confused. Everyone was asleep.” “Yeah, me too. Not the restaurant thing, the other part.” “I tried to remember something, anything, but couldn’t.” “So how did you remember your name?” “Well, I looked around and there was a napkin on the table with “Takashi” on it. I had a pen in my pocket, so I figured I wrote it.”

“Ok,” she says.

“But, other than that I don’t remember anything.”

She sighs, “Hey, listen. I uh, think we came here together.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well--“ Interrupted by a passing helicopter, she stops and they both move away from the door. “What the hell is that??” he asks, confused. “That’s who we’re hiding from: the military, apparently.” “What?! Th--the military?!” Shocked, he asks, “What the fuck are the military doing here?!” “I uh, think they’re looking for us,” she replies, looking confused and scared. “Why?” “Well-- arrgghh!“ suddenly, a headache appears to stop her and the building starts to light up. “Hey, look at that,” says one of the soldiers in the helicopter, “I thought we shut down the entire city, sir?” “We did. That’s her,” says their captain. “Attention all units, they’re inside the apartments building.” “Uhh, which one, sir?” asks one of the soldiers. “Which on--?! The one that’s LIT UP!!! Idiot!!” “Oh, shit! They found us. Come on, I’ll explain later,” says Olivia. As they run up the stairs, the soldiers break through the door. “There she is. Let’s get her.” They open fire. “Shit!” she yells. “Just keep running!” screams Takashi. “She’s not alone, sir, there’s someone else with her,” reports one of the soldiers. “Come on, follow her!” “Hey, wait. The fire escape, come on” he says as they run through the third floor stairs. They open it and head out. Though the soldiers quickly catch up to them and open fire again. Surprised, Takashi falls over the railing and falls to the ground. “Noooo!!!” she yells. She hastily runs down the fire escape and jumps off to the ground beside him. “Ohhhh…” he moans. Catching her breath, “you’re alive,” she says, smiling, though surprised. “Yeah.” The gunfire then continues. “Shit, come on!” “Whaat?” still dizzy from the fall. She helps him up and they run through the alleyway back to the streets where, unfortunately, the rest of the soldiers from the helicopter are already waiting for them. Guns cocked and pointed at them, “Hold it right there,“ speaks the captain. “Oh, shit.” They throw their arms up. “Who’s that with her, sir?” asks one of his men. The captain looks through his scope to find out. “Ohhh, shit.” He has a face that says “tough and ruthless military man”; he has seen much action throughout his career in the army.

Samuel Matthews first met Edward Leichthammer when they were both still soldiers fighting on the battlefield. Edward came off as a bit crazy and eccentric—a brilliant physicist with a master’s degree and a doctorate joining the army does seem a little strange. Okay, very strange. But as the days went on and they fought side by side, Samuel began to respect Edward. He was determined, confident, a brilliant strategist and tactician, and is an adept fighter. He quickly rose through the ranks, leaving Samuel behind. He became captain within a year of serving and a year later became colonel. In the end, he became a general and was leading his own army with Samuel as his most trusted captain. He is loyal to Edward to the end and will follow him always.

“Don’t move! Don’t try to run now,” he spoke while moving towards them, “just relax, we’re not going to hurt you.” He signals to the rest of the squad to get ready. Looking nervous and unsure of what to do, he orders to his men to fire. As they do, Takashi puts his hand in front of him and suddenly, some kind of pulse wave appears from his hand blocking or repelling the bullets and knocking out the soldiers. Still reeling in, they both become bemused by what just happened. She asks him, “how did you that??” “I have no idea,” he replies, having no clue at all. They both stare at the soldiers as they start to regain consciousness. “Hey, come on. Let’s go while they’re down,” says Olivia. And they run. The captain stands up, catching his breath with a grim expression on his face. He contacts the general, “General Leichthammer, sir. I’m afraid we lost them.”

He scoffs, “That’s fine, captain. Just return to base to regroup.”

“Um, I’m afraid I have some more bad news, sir.”

“Give it to me captain,” replies the general.

He sighs, “Subject Alpha is alive sir, and awake.” The general becomes shocked by the realization that they’re both still alive.

“What?”

“You heard me, sir. Subjects Alpha and Delta are alive, sir. They were together when we found her…and before we lost them.” The general, still shocked, stares blankly into space. “Sir?” “They survived,” says the general quietly with a smile, “incredible. They’re more powerful than I thought.” “Sir?” “Uh, yes, most intriguing captain,” replies the general as he snaps out of it, “just return to base.” “Yes, sir. Ok, let’s pack it up! We’re returning to base.” “Hmmm, most intriguing indeed,” he spoke as he sits back on his chair with a curious smile.

After a while, they both are still running, noticeably beginning to get tired. She looks back and notices that the soldiers are not following them anymore. “Hey, they’re gone.” They both look back to see. “Yeah. Alright then, let’s stop here,” he saysin a tired voice. They both stop at the riverfront, very tired and out of breath. They sit down and try to talk about what the hell’s going on while they rest. “Hey, what time is it?” she asks him. “Oh, it’s a, half past invisible.” “Hahaha,” they both laugh. “I don’t know, haha,” he tells her. “You still haven’t told me why they’re after us.” “Well, it’s kind of obvious isn’t it? I mean, we both saw what you did back there.” “Yeah,” he says looking at his hand. “So, they’re after both of us, right? Does that mean…you can do things too?” “Well, like I said it’s long story.“ He looks around, “Well seeing as there’s nobody around and nobody trying to kill us, I think now’s the perfect time to tell it.” And so, she tells him everything about her awakening.

“Anyways, I lost the two guys, and then one of them called me from behind. As he was talking I turned around and he was shocked. He then started shooting at me and I ran, of course. While I was hiding, one of the soldiers snuck up on me. I turned around and uh, he, he uh, he was repelled or something. Whoosh.” “Whoa.” “Yeah. So, I was just standing there, you know, I was like, ‘What the hell?’ But, the other soldiers came, so I didn’t have time to think and I ran. But, they cornered me.” “So how did you escape?” “I’m getting to that. I panicked and I jumped out the window.”

“You did what??!”

“Well, they cornered me!”

“How are you still alive?”

“I don’t know. All I know, is that I jumped, and next thing I know I’m standing on the ground, unharmed. It didn’t even hurt.” He laughs, “Wow.” “Seriously! I thought I was gonna die.” “Yeah, but you didn’t.” “Anyway, I ran and the streetlights were flashing, cars were ringing… I didn’t think too much of it since I was running for my life. And that’s when I ran into you.”

“Hmm, Ok.” He chuckles, “Maybe you’re invulnerable or something.”

“What? I can’t get hurt?” she chuckles back.

“Yeah, it’s kind of cool actually.”

“Yeah, sure. Why not? You still haven’t told me your story,” she inquires. “Yeah, well mine’s not too long. Like I said, I woke up in a restaurant, everyone was asleep, I was confused and very dizzy. I couldn’t remember anything, so I looked around and I saw the name on the napkin.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, and then I went out. I just kept walking, it was dark and I was alone. I was freaked out.” “Tell me about it.” “While I was walking I started to hear gunshot. And then, I saw the streetlights flickering on and off, one by one. So, I figured somebody must be awake and I ran towards it. As I was running, I noticed the lights were coming closer towards me. Haha, I kept looking at it while I was running, so I didn’t see what was in front of me, and that’s when we hit each other.” “Haha. Right. Um, the restaurant you were in, was it out of power or not?” “Uh, yeah, I think so. No wait, um, it had power, but when I left, it shut down for some reason.” “Me too. The hotel I was in was like that, but it shut down when I left too.” “Hmmm. Maybe…” “Maybe what?” “Well, remember I can sort of shoot out some kind of pulse wave or energy wave.”

“Yeah, what’s your point?”

“Maybe we both have the same power or whatever.”

“I’m not following.”

“Have you ever heard of telekinesis?” “Uhh, I don’t think so. Then again, I did lose my memory.” He chuckles, “Right. Uhm, Telekinesis. Argh!” He screams as he suddenly gets a headache. “Hey, you ok?” He hears a voice, distorted. “People today are so ignorant and complacent. Disregarding the scientific wonders of the universe. Telekinesis, telepathy, teleportation, regeneration, they are all within our reach. Through science.”

“Argh!!” “Takashi, what’s wrong?” asks Olivia in worry. “Urgh, I don’t know. I think I remember something.” “Really?? What??” “Hold on-- Argh!”

“Telekinesis. What do you know of it, Dr. Edwards?” asks the general, “you are a physicist, yes?” “Uh, yes, sir. An Astrophysicist. Well, it’s uhh, the ability to move objects with one’s mind, sir,” replies the doctor. “I see. And just like the pathetic population of this planet, you have very narrow views, doctor. Telekinesis is so much more than moving objects with the mind.” “Sir?” “Telekinesis,” the general explains, “is the ability to influence matter, which essentially is also energy, with the mind. One can influence the vibrations of atoms, creating fire or freeze objects, turn intangible, generate energy fields, and even control the electromagnetic spectrum!!” the general screams in awe of this power, lifting his hands in the air. The doctor, only able to stand still, looks at him, swallowing and tapping his fingers against the clipboard he is holding. “Ummm...” he mumbles. “And, of course,” the general says, returning to his normal voice, clutching his fist, “heal oneself and others,” he turns to the doctor, “and fly.” He approaches him, “Have I widened your gaze, doctor? It’s all quantum mechanics after all, no?” “Uh, yes, sir,” replies the doctor. He chuckles, “Prepare the device, doctor.” “Yes, sir.”

“Argh!!!” he moans.

“Hey. Hey!”

“Urgh… I’m, I’m fine.”

“So what do you remember?”

“Well, it’s all a bit blurry. I could…hear two people talking about telekinesis and psychic powers and some sort of device.” “When was this?” “I don’t know. Can’t remember.” “Ah, it’s alright.” “It makes sense though.” Confused, she asks, “What does?” “Telekinesis. The ability for the mind to move and influence physical objects.” “You’re saying that’s what we can do?” “Well, maybe. With telekinesis you can influence and control matter, which also means energy. I think that’s why the hotel and restaurant had power when we were in it, respectively. We were passively keeping it on. And that’s why it turned off when we left.” “Ok. Supernatural powers. Wow.” “Well, it’s not really supernatural. It’s all just science really. Well, parts of it, I think,” he was still rubbing his forehead. That memory really gave him a headache. He doesn’t really understand himself what this all means, he was just repeating what he heard.

She sighs, “Ok, well, that still doesn’t explain how I...we made all those things turn on.” “Well, from what I remember, with telekinesis you can also create energy fields or force fields or something like that. And you can heal yourself too and others and…you can control the electromagnetic spectrum?! or something like that. I don’t really understand it myself, haha,” he laughed a tired laugh, “I think it’s like influencing electricity and electrical devices like TVs, lamps, streetlights, computers, things like that,” he tries to explain. “Ok. But, when I walked out from the hotel and into the streets, I passed lots of cars and streetlights and none of them turned on.“ He rubs his forehead again, “Well, sometimes these things activate by themselves like when you’re stressed out or in danger or something as a way of self-defense. Like you said, the cars and lights started turning on when you started panicking. Also, like when we were hiding. You got a headache.” “Yeah. Ok. That actually makes sense. So, now what?” “I don’t know. We could just rest here for a while. I am soo tired.” Sighing, “Right.” She then chuckles. “What?” “This is kind of cool.” “Isn’t it?” Both of them let out a chuckle showing their enthusiasm for this power, and to relax as they finally can after being chased and shot at by the soldiers.