James brushed his hands off on his jeans as he stood. The cows in the barn grumbled loudly. They were louder today than usual. Maybe they had some idea of what was happening in the world. The electricity, phones, TV, and Internet were down, and had been for the past twenty-four hours. The loss of power wasn’t completely unusual, given the location of the farm. It was in the middle of Nowhere, Georgia and storms had rolled through right before the outage. Thankfully, they had an old radio that was still picking up signals. He could hear the idle chitchat over it as he made a final sweep of the cows.

He pulled the fence shut and made sure it latched, then made his way through the barn. A voice spoke over the radio and he stopped to listen, staring intently at his niece, Emma. She lay across the hay, her chin on her hands watching the radio as if it were a TV.

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping me?” he asked. “The cows won’t milk themselves.”

Emma jumped at his voice and shot up so fast she tripped over her feet and fell to her knees. “It’s aliens, James.”

James chuckled and shook his head. “Aliens? I think you’ve found some nut job on there that is trying to start a panic. Turn that off.”

Aliens, ha. It sounded absurd. There was no such thing. It’d figure that Emma would find some crazy person.

“That’s what they said, James,” Emma protested, crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head. Her brown eyes widened. “They’re all over the place. LA, New York, Washington DC,” she paused and looked down at the wooden floor. “They say one’s heading to Atlanta.”

“I don’t know what you’re listening to Emma, but it’s a hoax. Time to get back to work.”

“It’s real, James.” She stomped her foot. “Just listen, will you?”

He didn’t have time for this. They had to go into town today too, to get more water. It wasn’t low yet, but without power and it being midsummer he didn’t want to take any risks.

“James, listen,” Emma said, pointing to the radio.

James sighed. It wasn’t like Emma to tell tall tales. She was a good kid and did what he asked. “Fine.” He took a few steps forward and turned the volume up on the radio.

“…evacuations are underway. If you live in a city affected by one of these alien crafts you’re urged to evacuate immediately. The aliens have attacked Washington. The military advises everyone to evacuate all affected locations. Drop everything and leave. Seek shelter in a safe location.”

“What do we do?” Emma asked. She tucked a lock of brown hair behind her ear and swallowed.

“It’s a hoax, Emma.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “Someone is playing a mean, cruel joke. Any loon can get on a radio like this. You can’t believe everything you hear.”

Emma shook her head. “I don’t think so. They wouldn’t do that. Not for something like this. People from all over are saying there are aliens attacking us. There was a guy from France earlier.”

James opened his mouth to argue, but stopped when the tornado sirens began to sound. His gaze went to the window. It was sunny outside with no clouds in sight. There was no reason for the sirens to be sounding unless…

“James,” Emma said, running to him and wrapping his arms around his waist. “I’m scared.”

It’d been a long time since Emma had clung to him like this. The twelve year-old was a tomboy who was quickly growing into a little, opinionated woman. He’d take back the preschooler who’d held his hand in the parking lot any day.

He smoothed a hand over her back like he’d done when she was a child. “It’s going to be okay.”

“What if it’s really happening? Grandma and Grandpa are in Atlanta. My mom’s in New York.”

“I’m sure they’re taking care of themselves,” he said. “Let’s get to the house and grab a few things for the cellar.” The sirens wouldn’t go off for no reason. They were being warned about something. But what? “Come on.”

He led Emma out of the barn and through the grass to the farmhouse. The blare of the sirens was louder now, and instead of stopping they cycled through only to pick back up again seconds later. Something was definitely going on, but an alien invasion? He didn’t think so.

The roar of an engine made him turn around. “What does he want?” he said under his breath as a red pickup truck sped down the gravel drive, sending rocks flying in its wake.

His neighbor Garret McGee made it his business to be in everyone else’s business. It was annoying as hell.

“Get your gun, boy,” McGee yelled out his window as he waved him over. “One of them alien things just landed in your field.”

Emma froze against him. “James.”

“You saw it?” James asked.

“Hell, I fired at it. There was some fiery bird thing in the air too. Looked like them was shooting at each other, or something.” McGee clapped his hand on the truck. “We better go make sure they are dead. Don’t want them out and about come nightfall.”

He didn’t know what was going on, and while McGee was a bit of a pest, he wasn’t a liar or one to make up stories. If he saw something, then he needed to check it out.

“Give me a second.” James led Emma inside the house. He turned her around and met her gaze. “Listen to me, I want you to get some supplies: canned food, water, blankets, flashlights. Gather it up and put it in the cellar. Then you’re going to lock yourself in and don’t open it up for anyone but me. Do you understand?”

Emma shook her head. “Don’t go out there, James.”

He hugged her and kissed the top of her head. “It’s going to be okay. Ex-Marine, remember?”

She sighed and nodded.

“Now go and do as I said. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Emma pulled back still looking hesitant, but after a minute, she turned on her heel and raced into the kitchen. He nodded to himself when he heard the pantry opening and the sound of cans being dropped into a crate.

James strode to the curio cabinet in the study where he kept his guns. He unlocked it and grabbed a handgun and his rifle. The handgun went into the back of his jeans and he slung the rifle around his torso.

He hurried out the door and got in the passenger seat of McGee’s truck. “What did you see?”

McGee put the truck in gear and sped off, spitting rocks toward the farmhouse when he peeled out. “It’s real, James. The news reports and the attacks are real. I have never seen nothing like it before. Their spaceships are black ovals. Then there was the other. It was on fire. It looked like some sort of bird and it shot fire out of its mouth. Took one of them ships out.”

“So there are two different aliens?” James asked. “And they’re fighting each other?”

“Seems like it,” McGee said.

Had some alien war found its way to Earth, or was something else going on? McGee detoured off the gravel drive and cut through the field. James put his hand on the roof to keep from getting jostled too much.

He leaned forward when black smoke came into view. A black oval had rammed one of his trees, nearly cracking it in two. He cocked his head to the side as he took in the sleek, black metal. It was unlike anything he’d seen before and he’d seen quite a lot of weapons in the Marines.

Despite scratches and dents, it still looked to be in semi decent shape. A few tiny fires had broken out in one of the exposed compartments, but it was still in mostly one piece.

“Don’t park us too close to it,” he said. “We don’t know if they’re dead or not.” He gripped his rifle tighter, not wanting to be taken off guard.

“If it ain’t dead yet, it will be soon.” McGee pulled his truck to a stop and climbed out before James could say anything. He grabbed his rifle out of the bed and took off running.

“Wait!” James said. He opened his door and grumbled under his breath. It’d be stupid to run after McGee, he had no idea what he was walking into, but he didn’t want McGee to get hurt either. At least the old man had left the truck on in case they needed to make a hasty retreat.

James climbed out and surveyed the area. There was nowhere to hide in the open field. It was all flat land except for the tree that the spacecraft had hit. The Beech tree got in the way when he did planting and harvesting, but it had history with the property and his parents and grandparents had refused to get rid of the thing.

He stayed behind the car, searching for signs of movement.

“Holy shit, James. There’s a woman over here. Come on, she’s hurt,” McGee said. He sprinted and dropped to his knees in the grass.

James shifted on his feet. He turned in a slow circle. There was nothing in sight, and there was no movement from the fallen ship. He trotted forward, hating they were so exposed.

Apprehension pitted in his stomach and he scanned the area again. Something wasn’t right.

There was a hiss. The door to the craft slid open. A yellow-skinned creature with piercing red eyes stepped out. It took one look at McGee and lunged. McGee shot to his feet, fumbling for his rifle.

James grasped his gun, aimed, and fired. The creature – alien sprinted forward, leaping at McGee. James fired again, and then again when it didn’t deter the thing.

The yellowed alien put its hands on McGee. McGee shrieked. James unloaded the rest of his bullets and still nothing. He dropped his rifle, letting it hang around his chest and went for his handgun.

He paused with it midair. McGee began to flake away. His body turned to ashes, and they blew away with the wind until he was completely gone.

What the hell?

In all his years in the Marines, he’d never seen anything like that before.

James readied his gun and fired. The alien swung around, it’s gleaming eyes falling on him. James aimed for the spot between its eyes and squeezed the trigger.

The alien’s red eyes flared as the bullet hit its mark. It stumbled forward, gurgled, and then fell face first onto the ground.

James drew in a breath and fired into the alien’s head two more times for good measure. He waited long, excruciating seconds. When it didn’t move he took a few steps forward to where McGee had stood. A pile of grey and white ashes lay on the ground. McGee was gone – dead. The creature had killed him in mere seconds – sucked his life away. How many of these things were there? He needed to get more weapons – a lot more. Would that even be enough? It was just him and Emma. Sweet Emma who’d never fired a gun in her life.

McGee had more guns. The old man lived alone on his property. He could get some from there.

A groan drew him from his thoughts. James snapped his attention to the woman who lay on the ground. Another whimper escaped her lips. Blonde hair covered her face. She was petite but muscular. The black jumpsuit she had on hugged her figure, showing off her natural curves.

Her arm was mangled. Ice covered it from the tips of her fingers to her elbow. Her breathing was labored and soft moans blew out in time to her breathing. She wasn’t moving. If she was conscious it was barely.

James went to her side and knelt next to her. He pushed the hair out of her face, and stared. She was gorgeous with thin, pink lips, a round face, and small nose.

Her sapphire eyes flicked open. They were brighter than any eyes he’d ever seen, almost shining. She mumbled something but it wasn’t in English.

“It’s okay,” he said.

The woman’s eyes fluttered shut.

“Hey,” he said, putting his hand on her neck to find her pulse.

A slow but steady thrum met his fingers. He let out a breath and looked around. It’d be risky to move her, but he couldn’t just leave her while he found help – assuming he could find it at all.

He wasn’t a field medic, but he’d seen enough carnage to know she looked stable. Hopefully there was no internal bleeding. He scooped her up and carried her to the truck that still sat idling in the field.

James opened the passenger door and set her in the seat, doing his best not to jostle her. He closed the door and hurried to the driver’s side, hopping in, and putting it in gear as he closed the door.

The truck lurched forward when he stomped on the gas. He sped back toward the gravel drive undecided on whether he should get her to the cellar for care or go for McGee’s guns.

If he couldn’t protect her, it would be pointless to save her. He turned the wheel and stomped on the gas. He hoped McGee’s guns would be easy to find. He needed to get the woman help and get back to Emma.

James fished his cell out of his pocket and skimmed through the contacts until he found the home phone. He hit send and put the phone to his ear. Nothing. He looked at the phone and cursed. Still no service. Shit.

He blew out a breath and revved the truck. What the hell was going on? An alien invasion, he told himself. It made him laugh out loud. Nothing about this was funny except for how absurd it all was. He had an old radio at home. He’d get the guns, get the woman back to the house, and then snatch that damn radio from the barn to see if he could find out what the hell was going on.