Lights shifted in distant symphony, their faded echoes dripping from distant reaches too vast to comprehend. A conduit in the Earth burst regularly, spawning swirling rivulets of traveling, icy energy. It gathered along invisible skeletal digits, coalescing and escaping into the emptiness beyond, becoming something new. Chimes pulsed commands with a regularity like a heartbeat, some absurd nugget of purpose buried inside. The sum of these forces conspired to produce a fissure in the thin veil of interpretive cognition, inflicting a kind of malevolent rawness.
Meaningless noise interjected rudely. An intruder stirring within the structured cacophony of meaning. A shambling thing snared in the imprecision of flesh. Its scaffolding overlaid with stretched skin and hanging, fibrous material. A sheen of moisture glistening over a smooth off-white sharpness. Embracing tightness clasped as a dull greenish scent injected itself. Teeth had finally arrived to deliver terrible, vigorous animation.
But then it was gone. Withdrawn, lurking within a concealing membrane. The hint of its presence still dominated, blotting the choral message of the twinkling void. It floated aimlessly, revealing itself in glinting flashes, delivering rancid bites to the air. Aggressive little punctures clotted the melodious, distant cracks and rustling chimes. Infecting the world with aimless, malicious gnawing.
Time slowly clawed back into coherence, bringing with it a world of tangible, plausible things. Cold wormed from the ground, pressing up into weakened flesh. Weight pressed down upon dulled nerves as a sense of self coalesced. Thoughts jarred upon an unusual encounter with something unreal, the lingering shock of survival replaying a strange event.
Lucas rested on his back, staring up at the clear night sky with unblinking eyes. Ryan was whispering and looking at him with fear. He could feel the cool grassy ground around him, bristles of bush pressing against bits of cold-numbed skin. The restless piping chords still reached out towards them, carried by the breeze.
An insensate pressure of time gradually bubbled up, forcing thoughts to turn towards plausible, practical things. The reality of the situation was beginning to sluggishly flow through Lucas's thoughts. Escape was still critical, but the means to do so and how was evidently more problematic than initially thought.
Lucas laughed, suddenly and loudly. As he was laying there wondering what to do, something terrible had occurred to him.
Ryan regarded him with a wide-eyed mix of relief and shock. "Lucas! You're okay!" Ryan whispered to him, kneeling low to the ground. "Shhh... They're still nearby..."
Lucas couldn't stop. Nervous anxiety and his horrible epiphany had prompted a fit which demanded laughter as the only release. He couldn't even will himself to stop while listening to the aliens still speaking to one another. Ryan spent some time frantically trying to calm him, but before too long he seemed to have given up and moved away.
Finally, the spastic fit passed and Lucas was able to relax. Just for a moment, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Muscles stirred as he rustled against the bush he was partially shrouded within. He blew out into the frigid night and pushed himself upright. He could smell the faint odor of plant life about himself. Then he straightened his glasses.
Looking around, Lucas found himself within a broad, grassy field. He could not see the offramp for the highway from here, but could make out the bridge of an overpass. The road meandered off to the left and led downhill towards Hillsboro. Amidst him the scattered remains of their vehicle was evident but he saw nothing moving unprompted by the wind. After a moment, he rose to his feet to step out of the bushes.
It wasn't long before Ryan approached from somewhere. "Lucas! Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Lucas resisted the urge to laugh again as he realized there was only a single tree to hit in this entire grassy lot. As if the field itself was another enemy thwarting their escape. "Did the aliens get Jennifer?"
"I hid under the car. I didn't see what happened to her or Zack." Ryan replied in a lower voice. "What do we do now?"
Lucas hesitated. "I- I don't know." He considered against standing up on the hill so he could get a view along the highway. "But the radio mentioned a boundary. I think the aliens have set up some kind of border zone and we're inside it. They won't let us leave."
"So we go back, then?"
"It's too far to walk." Lucas wasn't sure of the exact distance, but many minutes of driving at high speed translated into many hours of walking. "First, we find Jennifer."
"Dude, whatever happened, she's long gone. Zack too."
Ryan was right. Whatever the situation, there were only the two of them now. "Okay... Then let's find some weapons and a place to hide."
Ignoring the scrap, Lucas used the starlight to scan the immediate area, finding some ammunition and a single rifle. The echoes of alien chatter continued to resound from a place too close for comfort. Ryan seemed flighty and not very attentive until Lucas handed him the rifle he found. They hastily progressed downhill together, away from the noises without a further exchange. If those things crested the hill and saw them in the darkness there would be nothing they could do.
"So do you think anyone else is out here?" Ryan ventured as they met with and followed the nearby road, continuing in a general southwards direction. They passed a scattering of buildings. A gas station, convenience store, some fast food places and other businesses. Soon they would be walking in a suburban area more familiar to Lucas. Notably, there were much fewer abandoned cars upon these streets than in Portland.
"No." Lucas recalled the phone call from his mother. "This whole area has been evacuated. I think it was before the aliens set up this... Perimeter."
The sounds of chatter still hovered about them although their distance increased. Lucas ventured a look backwards and didn't see anything suspicious. The invaders spoke very loudly; it wasn't too surprising that their voices carried.
"So if nobody's here who left all the lights on?" Ryan asked.
Lucas hesitated mid-step, peering about with a fresh eye. "I.. Uhh.." He wondered why he hadn't noticed it before. These streetlights were lit! "There's still power!" He gasped, suddenly excited.
"Hello?" Came a familiar voice. "You're alive!" Jennifer came out from around a corner ahead, running to join up with them happily. She was still carrying one of the weapons from their vehicle.
"Dude! We thought we lost you!"
"Do you know what happened to Zack?"
Solemnly, Ryan shook his head. "I didn't see anything."
"The aliens took him." Lucas blurted out. They couldn't waste time looking for someone. Especially someone who was already injured and probably gone anyway.
Jennifer and Ryan shared a look of resigned sadness. They continued onwards without needing to exchange any further words. They all knew they needed security before any other concern.
"So, we're going to your place, right?" Ryan asked as the group moved with alacrity, making turns along increasingly familiar roads.
"Yeah," Lucas replied. He had no idea what to do once they got there. Unless they bypassed something similar to the cars on the way there, he had a suspicion that they would still be firmly within alien claimed territory. At the very least, they would be accompanied by that inhuman, musical chiming.
