Invasion

It’s morning. They both wake up, and are surprised that they were cuddling each other while sleeping. “Uhhh, did we sleep like this all night?” asks Olivia. “I think so,” he replies. She holds him closer, “Hmmph. I like that,” she tells him. “Uhhm, ok.”

“What? You don’t like it.”

“No, it’s just... I don’t know you and you don’t know me.”

“So, what?”

“Nothing,” he gently pushes her aside, “it’s just...” She sits up and looks at him, “Huh. Fine, be that way.” “No, wait. I didn’t mean... huh?” He stops as he hears something coming from outside. “What is it?” “I don’t know. Come on.” They get up and exit the store. They walk slowly to the window and look outside. “Oh, crap.” he says. “What?” “It’s them,” he answers with worry. Olivia leans to look out. “Oh, man. There are hundreds of them.” “Yeah. They’re scouring the city, looking for us.” He manages to catch a glimpse of a crest on one of the soldiers, an upright arm reaching for a glowing bluish-white orb above, nearly grasping it. “Who are these people?” he asks, befuddled. “What are you talking about? They’re the military,” she replies. “Maybe not. Look at the symbol on the soldiers. Have you ever seen a symbol like that?” “No, not really. But then again, we did lose our memories.” “Yeah, but even so, I know that the military doesn’t use a symbol like that.” “Maybe they’re like a secret branch of the military,” she makes an assumption, “you know they have dozens of those.” “Or maybe they’re not military at all. Wait. What’s that rumbling?” “Uh, Takashi,” she says pointing at something, looking deathly worried. “What? Oh, crap.” he says as a tank slowly drives by. “Holy crap. They brought a freaking tank?!” she asks, bemused. “Wow. Whoever they are, we must’ve done something to really piss them off,” Takashi concludes. “Or maybe we have something they want,” she throws in another theory. “Get down!” Takashi says, suddenly pulling her down as a soldier looks at the window. “Whoa. That was close,” he says, “yeah, sorry about that.” “It’s alright,” she tells him, “look, they’re gone. Let’s get out of here before they come back.” “Right. Let’s go.” They both head for the backdoor exit as there seems to be less activity there. “Ok. Let’s fly out of here,” she suggests. “Wait! I don’t think we should fly.”

“Why not??”

“It’s too bright and there are soldiers everywhere. They’ll see us.”

“So? We can just blast them away.”

“Maybe so, but we don’t understand everything about our powers yet. And besides, there’s an army out there and I don’t really want to fight all of them, you know. Our chances of not being spotted are better if we go on foot.” She sighs, “Yeah. I guess you’re right.” “Ok, let’s go.”

They run as fast as they can while trying to stay hidden. Though it seems they have escaped from them for the while. They eventually reach a park in front of the river. The sights of the city are beautiful from here with the buildings in the background, the shining sun, the flowing river glimmering with a pearlescent glow, and the trees flailing about in the wind. They both try to take a moment to appreciate the scenery as they run. It would all be even more beautiful if not for the bodies everywhere. “Takashi, wait. Can we stop for a minute??” she asks him. “No, we’ve gotta keep moving. What if they catch us?” “We haven’t seen or heard from them for over an hour now. Can’t we just rest for a minute?”

“Well, I guess, but...”

“Look around, Takashi. There’s no one around except you, all these sleeping people, and me. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take a moment to relax and enjoy the scenery.” “Well...alright, I guess.” “Where are we even going? Do we even have a plan?” she asks him. He smiles and chuckles, “Yeah, ok, you’re right. A rest would be nice.” They both then sit down at one of the benches available. “You know, it’s actually kind of nice here,” she comments. “Yeah, it is,” he concurs. “I mean, we lost our memories and ever since we woke up, our lives seem to be going downhill. Waking up alone while everybody’s asleep, not knowing who you are or rather what you are and a bunch of secret military guys are trying to capture and/or kill you,” she continues. “I know. I was there,” he tells her jokingly. She laughs, “What I’m trying to say is: it’s nice to relax and enjoy a beautiful scenery while we can, so I can have at least some good memories. You know, in case I don’t get my old ones back. Do you understand what I mean?” “Yeah, I think I do,” he says, looking at her with a smile as the light from the sun shines upon her beautiful face and the wind blowing on her hair slightly. “Uh, yeah,” he suddenly speaks. She chuckles. “What?” he asks. “Nothing. It’s just... This is the kind of stuff that you see in movies. It just feels weird that it’s actually happening,” she explains. “Haha. Yeah, I guess it is,” he replies, “it’s kind of cool though. I mean, our powers. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not enjoying the people trying to kill us. But, what we can do is pretty amazing.” “Yeah, I don’t disagree with you on that. Wow, everything looks beautiful.” Looking at her, “Yeah, they are. Ummm, yes...they sure are.”

As they sit under the shining sun, enjoying the moment, wind on their faces, a sniper sets his eyes on them. He looks through the scope of his Ballista sniper, nervously with sweat rolling down his cheek. He aims for Olivia’s head, but then switches to Takashi’s. “There you are,” he says. He readies himself, tightening his muscles and swallowing his spit, and prepares to fire. “The general’s going to promote me for this,” he says to himself. Fortunately, Takashi sees a pebble lying on the ground below. “Hey, look,” he says. “What?” He reaches down to grab it. Bang! The sniper shoots. “What the--?? Get down!” he yells. “Shit!” the sniper exclaims as he misses and prepares to fire again. “What was that???” she asks, shocked. “I don’t know.” Bang! “Shit! Go! Go!” he shouts to her and they start running. “Fuck!” the sniper says trying to get a bead on them. “This is Bravo 2-11. I have located the subjects and am in pursuit. Request immediate backup at my coordinates now!” “Don’t look back, Liv!” “I told you not to call me that!” “Really??! Now?!” The sniper takes aim again. But before he could do some real damage, Takashi turns around and telekinetically lifts and throws a bench at the sniper. Bang! The sniper misses his shot again having been thrown off by the bench. “Screw this! Let’s fly!” Olivia screams. “Good idea!” She stops running, looks to the sky, and takes off. Takashi, following behind, was about to join her when a helicopter appears and shoots one missile towards Olivia. “Nooooo!!!! Olivia, look out!!!” he screams to her. She’s able to dodge it, barely escaping its path, but falls back down to the ground hard. “Argh!” she exclaims in pain. Quickly, she turns around and points her hand towards the helicopter. She focuses her mind to stop the helicopter’s wings and it does so, crashing and hurtling towards the river, exploding in a fiery wave. She looks while catching her breath and lets out a nervous and tired chuckle.

But it is short-lived, however, as dozens of soldiers quickly arrive in their jeeps and APCs. They approach a tired Olivia on the ground, but Takashi hurriedly runs to her and swings his hands inwards releasing a pulse wave towards the soldiers, sending them and their vehicles helplessly flying back. “Leave us alone!!!!” he screams as he telekinetically repels a group of soldiers coming from his left. He then falls to the ground, exhausted. He lies there next to Olivia as the sun shines on his eyes and the wind rushes about. He takes a good look at the soldiers getting back up and turns to Olivia. With the energy he has left, he gets up, fighting all the tiredness, and rushes towards Olivia. He picks her up and flies away with enough force that it cracks the ground. The soldiers rush and start shooting at them, but it is hopeless as they are already too high and too far away.