The Invasion

I was at work, sifting through emails, when I heard the crash. It was a window at the opposite end of the corridor from my office, so by the time myself and other confused staff got there whatever had strewn glass and left a viscous looking trail of slime was gone. Those nearest began to panic, so I turned and made for the stairs.

I'm noted for my calm under pressure but sprinting down four flights of stairs to the sound of what can only be described as utter chaos from my floor and the outside world marked a point where my nerves were severely tested. The scene outside pushed me a little closer to the edge.

There were people and vehicles everywhere, as though a hurricane had visited! Those that could stand were mostly staring in the direction of the city centre, wide eyed and open mouthed.

It appears the a series of what were thought to be small rocks, possibly meteorites,  had landed. We were soon to discover they were some sort of pod from which some sort of creatures had emerged, before racing en masse to the centre of the city. But I digress.....

My, indeed our, initial reaction was to race into the city centre, using what transport was still available. That was one of the reasons, the other being the people travelling in terror from the centre, that caused an even more panicked gridlock. There were injured too, some still able to move around but most unable. The injuries they carried were horrific!

A certain order began to rise out of our chaos; first, we needed to get those injured some medical help, aided by makeshift 'hospitals' which were little more than tents at the sides of the road. The military had arrived and cordoned off the central area, and were planning their response. Oh, but that sound though!

It was part shriek, part howl and we jumped every time these fell creatures did so. It wasn't spoken aloud for the most part, but we suspected  those extraterrestrials were communicating in some way. What scared us more was that the tortured pleas of those who were left gradually waned before disappearing!

At some point, perhaps a few weeks or even months, our resistance began to really take effect. By then we were woefully short on manpower, as those who weren't dead or seriously injured had been captured by the alien invaders, who by now were our masters. At least they thought so, for by now we had a plan, one which we were sure would help us. It would take no little skill to ensure it worked.

Which is how I found myself delivering the reciever which would knock out the aliens method of communication. For by then we'd realized that they communicated via a certain frequency. Those random shrieks actually had meaning according to the scientific in our midst. It acted as a sense of direction and distance between each of the creatures and The Hive, which was their lair. If The Hive fell, the beasts lost all purpose and were ours.

It was my notable calm throughout, although I certainly didn't feel comfortable at all, that helped with the decision. That and my early experience with our captors gave me a smidgen more precious knowledge than others, who hadn't seen the initial invasion.

The Lair was actually the stations of London Underground, those tunnels which snake through my city. At over forty metres Bank Station wasn't the deepest of the stations but the most central and certainly the most ironic, for a symbol of the financial sector was now to become our saviour. Providing it worked of course.

Those foul alien beasts almost resembled a large and bloated angry wasp, if such a comparison could be made. They were more like repugnant cockroaches, these destroyers of worlds. In one significant respect they were weak; their sight was non existent.

We found that they could only make their way around by communication, at a pitch and frequency which gave them their location in relation to the mothership. The same ship which now ruled us humans. Destroy that and the war would end, for they were useless once alone. It was a hive mind that kept them strong in their destructive traits.

I had to tread a lot more carefully than I thought at first, for there was debris everywhere and I risked arousing suspicion. It was slow and arduous but eventually I found myself at the stations platform. It resembled a London Underground station in name only, for this was now an organic and living entity shot through with concrete, wires and old advertising displays. The creatures mainly dwelt in the dark of the train tunnels, but I didn't need the infared images to tell me that now. The tunnels hummed, with a stench and the sounds of our captors. Taking a deep sigh I entered.

It was cloying with the heat and moisture down here. I had breathing apparatus on, for no human lungs could have breathed these toxic and rank fumes. I was desperate now to keep my presence unknown, for the evidence of what our tormentors were capable of was strewn all round me. I had a flashlight, but I often relied on looking through half closed eyes. 

Once I was in range of their communication hub, I pulled out the laptop and began the signal transfer. We had no internet access by then but we did have hackers who had broken into the alien technology. This signal, once broadcast, would permanently disable the fiends!

It took three eternal minutes but finally the laptop showed success. I put it back in my shoulder bag and started for the way out, when I realized it was silent. With a sigh, I sped up towards freedom.

I had got about halfway up the escalator when it struck me. Did they just die, or did loss of communication do something else. Then I realized why I'd thought that.

For the quiet, low rumbling from the stations tunnels was not the approach of a train. No, because as its noise became more frantically organized was that of an inhuman army who were temporarily beaten and seeking venegance on their prey.

As I turned to look down the stairs I became engulfed.