Pd.+3+--+Group+1

Nate, Chris, Hank
[|overall message of the story] "Adrian, you feel like coming over to my place?"

It was Matt, Adrian's best friend since kindergarten calling out to him from across the school parking lot.

"I don't know, I'm kind of worried about the situation. Why would they dismiss us from school two hours into the day?"

School had just been let out because of some supposedly catastrophic event in the world. No one, not even the staff, at Appoquinimink High School knew what the event was. The staff was only told to dismiss the students from the school immediately. Adrian remembers his father telling him a about a familiar situation when terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Centers 35 years ago, so he couldn't help but feel a sense of dread as he drove his car home.

Adrian didn't even set foot inside his house when his mother swung the door open and cried, "Oh my god, I'm so glad you made it home alright! I'm freaking out right now, you don't even know!" Adrian took a look around. It was a perfect spring day. He could feel a cool breeze blowing the trees that carried the scent of fresh blooming flowers. How could anything go wrong on a day like this?

"What's going on?" "Come in, come in. It's on the news. Look!"

Adrian flopped himself down on the couch and turned the volume up on the tv. He was use to his mom panicking over the littlest problems.

"...earlier today when several large unidentified aircrafts landed in nations across the world, including one in the Washington DC area. No other information has been disclosed to the public yet, however we will keep you up to date on any information that we receive."

A news chopper showed the best view it could get of an aircraft surrounded by tons of government personnel, backing people away from the enormous structure. They were trying to prevent the media from getting views of what was going on. Adrian leaned to the edge of his seat to try and see what all the commotion was over.

"I can see why you would be distraught if it was some kind of hostile takeover, but I think you're freaking out over something that's just going to subside in a couple days, maybe a week." Although Adrian said this, that small news clip kept playing over and over in his head. Unlike his mother, he wasn't about to panic, but deep down Adrian felt that a situation out of humanity's control was dawning. It was strange how he suddenly felt this way.

Adrian flipped through all the news channel to make sure that that was the only reason everyone was sent home from school. He didn't think the administration would dismiss them just because of a suspicion. "Well, guess I might as well enjoy the rest of my day off. Game time!"

When Adrian turned on his Xbox 2060, a notification appeared on the screen. It was a video message from Matt. "Did you hear what happened? An estimated three million people were found dead on the streets of New York city. Think about it. New York city ALONE has that many people suddenly dead. What about the rest of the world?" Matt paused and gave a small worried laugh. Adrian could see the anxiety in Matt's eyes which he began to feel too. "People think it's the foreign aircrafts that's killing everyone. Dude, I can't sit back and watch my country die like this. I'm loading up my car for the road ahead. The news said that the closest landing site of one of the aircrafts is somewhere in Philly, it shouldn't be too hard to find." The message ended abruptly. Adrian checked the time that the message was recorded. 9:43, only 8 minutes ago.

"He's going to get himself killed." Matt was well known for being reckless. It got him into trouble just about everywhere he went. Adrian sprung up off the chair he had been sitting in and bolted out the door to his car. Time was of the essence; Adrian would have to be hasty if he was going to catch up with Matt. Even though Matt had a head start, Adrian was confident in himself that he was going to stop him before Matt did anything stupid.

After only 10 minutes, Adrian arrived at his destination; the metropolitan area of lower Philadelphia. The car screeched to a halt. What Adrian saw had caught him completely off guard. The air was perfectly still. Cars were crashed into the sides of buildings or piled up into giant steel heaps at intersections. Dead bodies scattered the streets. Adrian remained inside his car simply because he was too terrified to step foot out onto the streets of this desolate city. Only a couple hours ago, this city was bustling with busy people, echoing with the chatter of citizens and the beeping of horns. Adrian continued his trek through the city, being careful to navigate around the lifeless forms and other obstacles in his path.

After traveling a short distance, Adrian spotted a grouping of tents a few blocks down. They were set up in a crude looking campsite along the curbs of the streets. Adrian hesitated to step foot outside his car but decided that he wouldn't accomplish anything by staying inside it. The locking mechanism of his car triggered movement within the tent.

"State your name!" Adrian saw an unrecognizable figure aiming a large gun at him. "Adrian Praml!" The stranger lowered his gun. "I knew you would come after me." Adrian could recognize his best friend's voice just about anywhere. "What's going on out here? It's a wasteland of destruction and dead bodies." Now that Adrian had walked closer to Matt, he saw that he was dressed in full chemical gear, most likely provided by the military soldiers in the area. Military soldiers wouldn't normally just give top-notch equipment to any 17 year old. This made Adrian realize the severity of the dilemma. "It's the plague that's been spreading because of the alien ships. Here, put this stuff on. You'll need it to survive out here." Matt handed over a tactical vest, a gas mask, and a powerful assault rifle. "C'mon, we're supposed to be meeting up with a troop of soldiers. I hung out back at the camp in case more people showed up."

The duo decided that the quickest and safest way to get to the location of the soldiers was to take Matt's car. Unlike Adrian, Matt didn't bother to swerve around the corpses on the ground. Instead, he just ran over them. Eventually, the two caught up with the 40 or so soldiers who were waiting a safe distance away from the alien ship. This was the first time that Adrian was able to get an up close view of what the ship was really like. It wasn't as large as Adrian thought it would be; it was only slightly larger than an airplane. The ship had a long, flat, and slender body with two jet engines on each side. The outside of the ship was sleek and a pale blue color. It let out an ominous humming as it hung in the air, hovering gently above the ground.

"What's the plan?" Matt was eager to fight, but Adrian felt indifferent. "We're going to use this artillery unit to shoot this electromagnetic missile at the ship. Hopefully that should be enough to send the ship crashing and burning to the ground." Adrian expected more of an actual plan since they were up against unpredictable odds. "Here goes!" The soldier signaled the artillery unit with a remote to shoot the missile at the ship. The missile blasted off into the air and came soaring down directly on top of the ship. Upon impact, Adrian's ears were ringing with a deafening crack. The boisterous noise was accompanied by large red sparks shooting off in every direction. Fortunately, no one was injured in the explosion, including the ship.

A soldier called out, "What the hell was that?!" "Looks like there's a barrier protecting the ship from any projectiles! It'll give eventually, keep firing!" As the soldier said this, feelings of anger and hopelessness washed over Adrian. "Don't fire at the ship! You're going to anger the virus in the air!" Everyone turned to look at him. "How would you know? Are you one of them?" The soldier pointed his pistol at Adrian's face. But before anyone could make another movement, they all crumpled to the ground, like a wind blowing over a field of grass. Everyone fell except Adrian who was still standing, completely unaffected. Adrian didn't have the slightest clue of what just took place. "Adriaaan..." Matt was crawling across the ground holding his chest. "It's the plague, it's spreading rapidly through my body. Help me." Matt cried out in pain as the virus quickly rotted the inside of Matt's body and began working its way to his skin. "Shoot me, pleeease..." Adrian was shocked at what his companion had just asked him to do. "Please Adrian, the pain..." Adrian slowly raised his gun and pointed it at Matt's head. He couldn't bear to look as his finger pulled the trigger. With a thud, Adrian knew that his friend would be forever resting.

At that moment, Adrian felt another surge of an indescribable insight throughout his body. Although the words weren't definite, Adrian knew that he had to do: board the ship. Quivering, Adrian slowly approached what he thought was the front of the ship. To his surprise, a bridge lowered, inviting Adrian in. His footsteps clanked against the cold steel walkway to the bridge. As he entered the alien craft he stood in awe at the vast array of unfamiliar technology.

All around him were towering instruments and panels with the language of the strange race that was trying to save his people flashing and processing on them. The civilians looked helpless, but Adrian knew that they were safer here than out there. As Adrian walked into the center of the ship the aliens turned to look at him. They were tall, muscular, and grey. Adrian expected them to say something that he couldn’t understand. Strangely enough, he heard voices a moment later in his head. The voices were a English, but thickly accented. The aliens were communicating telepathically and they were telling Adrian to not be afraid.

After a moment of brief conversation Adrian was given quarters on the ship and the engines of the craft hummed with a discrete power as it lifted off the ground. Adrian gazed out of his quarters window to look upon Earth one final time. It had just been this morning when everything had been normal. He had lost his best friend and family, his people, and the only world he had ever known. Tears rolled down his face and he sped away leaving Earth to its grim fate. Although the plague had deeply scarred the place Adrian had once called home, he faced the cold truth that his planet's own ignorance led to this eminent doom.