The Fallen Angel

"Hello?" John answered his cell phone. "John, listen to me, this is David,"...

"David, what's going on little brother?" John asked.

"John, I don't have time to explain. Listen to me, something is about to happen. You have to get Katie and June out of there, now".

John tried to speak, but David talked over him with a stern, seriousness.

"You need to get in the car and head, north, to Willow Springs, Colorado. It's a two hour drive from your house. There is not much to the town, but there is a military installation on the west side of town. Find it. There is a bunker. Tell them my name and rank and tell them you have a password for you and your family. The password is Fallen Angel. Say it, John," David said.

"Fallen Angel. David, this sounds crazy, I can't just"...

"John, trust me, brother, you have to leave right now. There is about to be"...

The connection was lost. John tried to call the number back but there was no service. John stood at the barbeque grill with the phone in his hand in a state of shock, while four burger patties sizzled on the grill.

John's eight year old daughter, June, was in the living room watching cartoons and his wife, Katie was in the kitchen cutting lettuce for the burgers.

John walked inside the house and grabbed the remote and turned the television to a news channel.

"Daddy! I was watching that!" June protested. "One second sweetie."

On the television a news anchorman talked in an excited, and almost panicked voice about falling debris from the sky. The news cut to scenes of New York City, people running, screaming and buildings and cars burning. The debris falling from the sky didn't look like debris at all to John, it looked...orchestrated.

Katie walked into the room, "John, what is going on?"

Before he could answer, the power went out, shutting off the television and the lights. "We have to go, now," John said.

John grabbed June's pink backpack and dumped the books and school supplies out onto the table. He went into the kitchen and started filling the backpack with snacks, canned food, and bottled water. "John, what is going on? Please talk to me," Katie cried.

"I got a call from David a few minutes ago. He said that something is happening, and we need to get out of here and we are going to listen to him. I'll explain in the car," John said.

Katie carried June and June held tight to a stuffed teddy bear. John carried the backpack and grabbed the kitchen knife that Katie had been using from the counter.

Outside, the sky had grown darker as if a storm was upon them. Neighbors were starting to exit their homes and point to the sky.

 John helped Katie and June into the car and closed the door. He was about to open the driver's side door when a black craft flew low over John’s head at a high rate of speed. John climbed into the SUV and two more crafts flew over, heading east, in the direction of the nearest town.

 “John, what was that?” Katie asked. “I’m scared, Daddy,” June cried. He didn’t have an answer, he just cranked the vehicle, put it in gear, and stepped on the gas.

 A few minutes later the family was on the highway and heading north. The sky lit up to east and a in a brilliant white light, followed by a thunderous boom. John stepped on the gas and picked up speed.

 After a half hour of driving, John slowed the vehicle when he saw a man frantically waving his arms in the air. The man’s vehicle was on the shoulder of the road and apparently broke down or out of gas.

 “Should I stop?” John asked.

 “Well, we can’t just leave him…Can we?” Katie asked.

 When they were close, the man threw himself into the path of the SUV and John slammed on the brakes.

 “Stay put,” John said as he exited the SUV.

 “Thank you, sir for stopping, I’ve been stranded for hours,” The man said.

 Before he could open his mouth and say anything, the man pulled out a revolver and pointed it at John.

 “I’m taking the SUV. Tell your family to get out. Now,” The man yelled.

 June screamed and the man looked over at the SUV, and John grabbed the gun and put his weight into the man, and they went to the ground, hard.

 The two men struggled for the gun and rolled around on the graveled road shoulder. The man ended up on top of John and was trying to point the gun at John’s face. John was pushing back with everything he had. Suddenly, the man’s eyes went wide, and he grimaced, and rolled off John. Katie stood in shock with shaking and bloodied hands. The handle of the kitchen knife protruded from the center of the man’s back as he lay motionless.

 John picked up the gun and put his arm around his wife and led her back to the SUV and helped her in back.

 John was bleeding from a cut on his forehead and scratches and cuts on his arms and elbows. He gave June a pat on the head and a smile and told her it was all going to be okay.

 Katie didn’t say anything for twenty minutes. “Do you think he’s dead? Did I kill that man?” She finally asked.

 “I don’t know if he’s dead or not. You did what you had to do. You saved me. You saved us,” John said.

 John cursed when he looked at the fuel gauge; it was on one quarter of a tank and they had a ways to go, and the sun was going down.

 Katie and June seemed to be handling the situation better than John would have expected. They were on the backseat playing a game of rock, paper, scissors, when John saw an exit for a service station.

 John took the exit ramp and could see the gas station. There were cars backed up for hundreds of feet down the highway, some had been abandoned, he would not be getting any fuel here.

 John slowly drove past the gas station. There were armed men yelling and pointing their guns at the SUV. Katie covered June’s eyes as John swerved to keep from running over a dead body in the road. One of the armed men began to yell at John to stop and he put his foot on the gas and sped away. A shot rang out and the back glass shattered. “Get down!” John yelled as another shot fired taking out the right tail-light.

 John slowed a little to take the ramp back onto the main highway and almost rolled the SUV. He reached speeds up to 100mph on the empty highway until the vehicle ran out of gas.

 “What are we going to do?” Katie asked. “Let me think…” John said. He checked his phone, no service. John pounded the steering wheel in frustration.

 Headlights suddenly filled the SUV and illuminated the inside. “Take June over to those pines. Stay hidden and let me talk to them,” John said. Katie shook her head grabbed June and ran for the pine trees.

 The headlights began to close in and John stuffed the revolver in his waistband and stepped out of the car. The headlights were blinding as the truck approached him.

 The truck pulled right up the John and stopped and the passenger window came down. John was ready to pull the gun but there was a little old lady sitting in the passenger’s side, smiling at him.

 “Hello, dear. Do you and your family need a lift? We’re headed north,” The lady said.

 “My family…” John said. “I wouldn’t have stopped if it was only you here, son. We saw your family run for the trees,” The driver said. “My name is Dan,” The man said. “And I’m Carol,” The lady said.

 John called for Katie and June and they made introductions to the older couple and then climbed into the backseat of the truck.

 “We’re headed up to Wyoming. We have some family there. How about you folks?” Dan asked.

 “We’re just going to Willow Springs. We have family there,” John lied.

 “Looks like your back glass and tail-light was missing. Did you folks run into trouble?” Dan asked.

 “Yes. We took the gas exit a few miles back. There were men with guns. Tried to make us stop and shot at us when I didn’t,” John said.

 “You did the right thing, son. There is no telling what those maniacs would have done to you and your family. The true monsters come out when there is anarchy like this,” Dan said.

 “Do you have any idea what is going on?” Katie asked.

 Dan and Carol shared a look. “We don’t really know. Something about extra-terrestrials or some mumbo jumbo. We are going to hunker down with our boys and wait it out,” Carol said.

 “Not good,” Dan said under his breath. John glanced over his shoulder and could see what he was concerned about. Ahead, there was what appeared to be a burning car and headlights. It looked a roadblock of some sort.

 “John, do you have a weapon on you?” Dan asked.

 “Uh…yes. A revolver,” John said.

 “You need to get it ready, because I am not stopping for this death trap ahead,” Dan said.

 Dan stopped the truck and pulled a pistol out and placed it in his lap. Carol pulled up a shotgun that had been at her side the entire time. John reached across Katie and June and pulled the seatbelt over both of them and clicked it into place, and then buckled himself in.

 Dan stepped on the gas and gunshots started firing from the roadblock. Dan fired his pistol through the windshield at the men firing at them.

 There was a jolt and a loud thud as Dan’s truck plowed through the two small cars that were placed to block the traffic. John was pretty sure that Dan ran over one man just past the cars but put the thought out of his mind, as the men were still firing at them.

 Carol screamed and grabbed the wheel as Dan slumped over. She put her foot over the in the driver’s compartment and stopped the vehicle.

 Carol climbed out of the truck with her shotgun and John got out of the back. He opened the driver’s side door and checked on Dan. Dan had gunshot wounds to his chest and neck and he was very dead.

 “Carol! Dan is gone. We have to go, now!” John shouted.

 Carol didn’t answer and started walking back toward the road-block and firing the shotgun. A bullet struck her in the torso and John saw her go down. He pulled Dan’s body out of the truck and jumped into the driver’s seat and sped away.

 John and his family finally made it to the town of Willow Springs. It was a small, dark, and quiet place. John maneuvered the truck to the west side of town and found the small military building with a basic fence and with razor wire at the top. The place appeared to be dead and abandoned. He approached an unmanned gate with a security camera and speaker, not expecting anyone to say anything.

 John pressed the intercom button and spoke, “Hello.”

 “State your name,” A muffled voice on the speaker said.

 “John Hunt. I have with me, Katie and June Hunt.”

 There was silence for a few moments. “Are you the brother to Major David Hunt?”

 “Yes,” John answered.

 “Do you have the password?” The muffled voice said.

 “Fallen Angel.” John said as the gate began to slide open