Chapter One
"Our viewers on the East Coast should see the object passing overhead in approximately one hour," the newscaster said in her monotonous, boring voice. "Again, NASA reports that the object should burn up in the atmosphere, with the main core impacting harmlessly into the Atlantic Ocean. This will be a sight to remember. We already have pictures pouring in from our - "
Hailey turned off the TV and rolled her eyes. Sure, it was a fireball. From the tweets and videos already hitting YouTube, the thing made an impressive spectacle, but it would probably be over and forgotten in fifteen minutes. That was how these things went, although tips would be good while the tourists were in town, at least.
She grabbed a hoodie - it was just getting cold enough at night to need one - and her phone, then headed out, trying to forget that Miles still hadn't called. Her on-again off-again boyfriend was a flake. What he didn't realize was that this was his last chance. She was so done with his crap. If he didn't want to show, she wasn't going to let it stop her from going. Who knew, she might even meet a decent guy among the crowd of onlookers.
Like everyone else, she wanted to see this thing. Unlike so many, she was not convinced the world was ending. Naturally, from the moment the near-Earth object had been reported, that was what the crazies had said. Religious zealots crawled out from the woodwork proclaiming the apocalypse. As it got closer, a subtle paranoia gripped everyone. What if it didn't burn up? What if it caused a tidal wave that wiped out New York and Florida? What if...
Yeah, and what if nothing? Jogging down the stairs of her apartment, Hailey decided to walk to the overlook. It should be the best place to get a view over the ocean, and would probably have a lot fewer tourists than the beach. Since it wasn't marked on the travel maps, only locals would know to go there.
Creosote-soaked wood lined the dirt stairs and made a rough-hewn safety railing across the small ridge. To the south, the edge of the national park was marked with old trees growing unchecked. Beside her, brambles tangled around their bases and stray branches had gone unpruned. To the east, the beach was packed. Tourists had been streaming into town for days, staking out their claims. Haven was packed, hotels were sold out, and even the campgrounds were full. Some of these people had already been out there for hours just staring at the sky.
On one of the flat spots, a group of teenagers made the most of the darkness. Multiple couples made-out with the kind of enthusiasm only the young and carefree could accomplish. Poorly-concealed bottles of liquor were intended to make the event into a party these people probably wouldn't remember in the morning. It was just another reminder that she was spending the night alone - again.
She checked her phone for the time. Four more minutes, supposedly. Hailey climbed the long, low stairs to the next rise, then the one after that. Only a few people had made it this far off the beaten path. At the top, an older couple sat quietly on a blanket with a telescope set up beside them. A nerdy-looking man a few paces away had every recording device possible pointed out across the water. Hailey just had her phone. There would be enough proof of the event that she wouldn't need more than a picture or two - if that. The best part was that no one seemed to care whether she was there. Hell, none of them even seemed to notice.
Minutes ticked past in silence. Only the crickets proved that time hadn't stood still. A few more minutes passed, then another handful after that, but still no screaming fireball. A murmur began to swell from the beach below, loud enough to carry on the gentle breeze. Checking the time on her phone again, Hailey glanced in the direction this thing should be coming from. It was late. The asteroid - or whatever it was - should've been here seven minutes ago. If NASA was wrong about the time, what else were they wrong about?
Peering into the darkness, she looked for a strange star or anything that seemed to be moving. Just at the horizon, something glowed, but was it the fireball or simply the lights of town?
A bright light hit first, cresting the tree line, but it didn't take long for the sound to catch up as the object grew both closer and larger. It was loud! Roaring thunder, rhythmical and ear-shattering, thrummed above them, drowning out everything else. The glow of the object cast a deep red glare across the crowd. Dark shadows stretched toward the far side of the world, shrinking as it neared, and the thing seemed to pass directly overhead. The only problem? It wasn't streaking across the sky!
Pale blue jets of fire burst from the sides, and fear shivered down her spine. This was not an asteroid. This was not something normal. This thing was also really fucking close!
And it was slowing down.
The object careened over their heads near enough for her to see the patterns on the surface, large enough to block out the stars in the sky. It wasn't a rock. This was an entire city shuddering against the force of the atmosphere. Just as the ship - it had to be a ship - passed, the screams of the crowd took over. People began panicking, some running toward the parking lot, others toward the marsh islands further out, but most simply tried to get away from what could only be an alien spaceship.
Hailey just watched, shock and fascination rooting her feet to the ground. Before her eyes, the thing sailed gracefully toward the earth like a diver aiming for the sea - except it missed. With a flare of light, the leading point slammed into the ground, gouging a wound across the national park a few miles to the southeast. What looked like splinters had to be trees, and what looked like a scuff was probably a trench deep enough to drive a semi through.
She gasped and pressed a hand over her mouth, pushing forward for a better look, but she didn't make it. One pace before she reached the guard rail, the ground shook, heaving hard enough to make her stagger to one knee. Then the earth rumbled violently enough to tilt the axis of the world, or so it felt. Aftershocks boomed through the air, sounding like cannons in the distance. Glancing to her left, she saw the older couple clutching each other, their bottle of wine spilling across their quaint picnic blanket.
"Are you ok?" she yelled.
The white-haired woman looked at her blankly, but the man nodded, waving one finger toward the craft. "It's burning," was all he said.
She glanced at the nerd to her right. He seemed fine, rushing to focus his cameras on the spectacle. Then, on impulse, she grabbed the elderly couple's toy-store telescope. Turning it toward the crash site, Hailey tried to focus, spinning the knobs until the side of the vessel became row upon row of windows, divots turned into massive bays, and insanity became visible.
"Can you see?" the old man asked.
"Yeah." Hailey tore her eye away and looked at him, but he just pointed back at the ship.
"Go on, girl. Your eyes are better than mine. What is it?"
She didn't have to look to answer that. "It's a ship. It's a spaceship."
The woman gasped. "Aliens?"
"I don't know," Hailey admitted, her voice shaking. "But what else can it be?"
She looked again. In the distance, sirens were loud, audible even over the cacophony of the crowd. In the eyepiece of the telescope, something moved. Swiveling the device on the stand, she watched bodies pour from the hatches. Some staggered, some were carried, but all of them walked on two legs. Silhouetted against the flames of the crash, she could only make out basic forms, but she tried to relay everything to those around her.