It had been two weeks since the alien invasion, and it had been quiet outside the bunker for nearly a week. They wanted to see what was out there. It was decided that they would go in teams.
"I will go first. I'll take one other with me," Zack said, looking over at his twin, Carrie. "You stay here with the girls." Zack then motioned for Nick to come with him. "Leave the bunker door unlocked. Guard it and watch for us to return. We may be running," he said, handing Nick an empty backpack. "If you see someone coming that isn't us, lock it."
Nick looked at him while accepting the backpack. "What's the backpack for?"
"In case we can get our hands on some supplies," Zack responded, putting on his own.
Carrie handed Nick a bulletproof vest, a leather belt filled with magazines, and a holstered weapon. "Don't waste the ammo. We may have a lot, but we don't know how much we will end up needing," she stated.
Nick just nodded, leaning in to kiss her. He hugged her briefly before following Zack out the door, who had just finished kissing and saying goodbye to Tammy, who was sobbing quietly.
Their biggest fear right now was heading out and not coming back.
Zack and Nick walked slowly down the tunnel to the hidden sliding door. It didn't look like it had been tampered with. They carefully opened it up, slid out the opening, and replaced the cover that hid the tunnel. They didn't want anyone finding the bunker while they were away.
The only thing left of the house was the stairs leading up from the basement to the first-floor level of the house. The walls, ceiling, and everything else were gone; everything had been completely incinerated.
Nick followed Zack up the stairs. They peered at the sky; there was no sign of the cigar-shaped ships. In the distance, you could see the explosions from the beams they were shooting out of their ships to destroy the buildings.
Carefully, they made their way out of the rubble of the house and down the street, using bushes and trees to hide. They didn't see anything living. Every building had been methodically destroyed. All buildings, including stores and warehouses, were gone. The entire town was flat. There was nothing left.
Following the street, they turned a corner, running right into one of the Aliens. It was a male dressed in a black armor body suit. He had a nose breather that clasped onto his wide nostrils. His very light, green-tinted skin darkened as they made eye contact.
The Alien stood around seven feet, two inches, with long, shiny horns growing from his temples, with red caps on the ends of his horns. The Male alien growled, showing his fangs, then immediately pulled a blaster out of his holster, aimed, and shot.
Zack shot only a hair of a second before the alien, shooting him in the face between his black horns; green blood dripped from the wound. The blaster had hit Nick in the shoulder, burning a hole and cauterizing it so it didn't bleed, which was a good thing.
Nick's hand shot to his shoulder, gritting his teeth in pain, trying not to scream. Zack ran up to the alien, grabbed his blaster, and re-shot the alien with the alien's own weapon just to make sure he was dead.
He turned to Nick, "We have to get out of here. Our guns are too loud; another one might have heard it."
Nick nodded, still holding his wound. Zack quickly inspected Nick's wound. "It's cauterized from the blaster. I think it will be fine. You at least won't bleed out."
Nick just nodded as they ran back the way they came, hoping that none of the other aliens spotted them.
On the way back to the bunker, they went around a large oak tree; there was another one, this one even taller. He was around 7 feet, six inches, with little black spiked horns all over his head as if they were his hair. They had dulled black caps affixed to each spike. The alien was also a male. Like the other, he had a nose breather and a black body armor suit with a blaster. His skin also had a light green tint to it. He did not see them coming. The alien was looking at a wrist com unit.
Zack raised the blaster, aiming for the alien's head, then shot. It burned a hole in the side of his head; a dark green fluid came out. Looking closely at it, Zack determined that it was brain matter. He walked up to the dead alien and shot again, just to make sure it was really dead, then took his blaster too.
Zack and Nick ran, trying to get back to the bunker, hoping they didn't run into any more of these green aliens.
As they continued to the bunker, Zack noticed that Nick was starting to look sick. They needed to get him back to the bunker to clean it out and patch him up.
Crouching behind a large bush, Zack handed Nick one of the blasters, silently explaining how he used it. "Shoot in the face if you can. I'm betting these blasters can't go through their body armor."
Nick just nodded, looking fearfully around. He didn't look so good, getting paler by the minute.
Just before they rose to make a break for the bunker, another alien stepped in their line of vision. The Alien pulled his blaster out, and he rapid-fired it toward them. All they could do was hide behind a tree.
He was fast, like a machine gun. Narrowly missing Zack and Nick, the tree they were behind, however, was rapidly losing its integrity.
Both Nick and Zack fired back. Nick missed most of his shots. He didn't know how to shoot. Zack made contact most of the time, but he was correct. Blaster fire did not do anything to the body armor.
Zack just kept firing, aiming for the alien's face; the alien moved quickly, making Zack miss his shots. It was a long, drawn-out shootout until finally, Zack hit the mark, getting the Alien in the neck, the blast hitting just right, taking off his head. It fell to the ground with a thud, rolling away from the body. There was no need to make sure the alien was dead. You can't live without a head, so he was definitely dead.
Zack ran up to the body, taking the blaster from its hands, then they both ran. They made it to the rubble of their house, then down the stairs to the hidden tunnel. They carefully opened the sliding door, stepped through, replaced it, and ran to the bunker at full speed, hoping they weren't followed.
Carrie was standing at the open bunker door watching them run; she stepped aside, letting them in, then slammed it shut, locking the heavy door behind them.
Just as the lock clicked shut, Nick fell to his knees, unconscious.