Under the Broken Sky

Klaxons. Klaxons everywhere. Truly this was it.

The building convulsed. It wasn't supposed to be like this. We were supposed to fight back, to win against all odds. Where was the indomitable human spirit now? Running for their lives. Nothing had prepared them for this. I had watched as the calm, professional facade of hundreds of people broke at once, revealing a terrified herd who trampled anyone in a mad rush, their singular thought to get away at any cost. Any chance for organized retreat died in the face of fear inspired chaos.

Through the jagged maw of my broken window I saw part of the western sky splinter as if it were glass, lines of shimmering light frozen like trapped lightning. Another breach. This time far beyond the boundaries of the safe zone. Something like a cyclopean worm or perhaps the face of some alien god, ridged and winding, pushed through the widest crack. Bigger and wider than a C-17, it came through in spurts of writhing flesh, hundreds of feet at a time.

Gagging, I closed my eyes.