As the sky morphed into a vibrant crimson and the sun was about to retire for the day, the sky changed abruptly. The Earth was being invaded by alien ships, thousands of enormous bronze ships with alien patterns engraved on them. They hadn’t attacked yet, only descended at an eerily slow speed. That didn’t stop people in the invaded areas from turning into a panicked frenzy. The city of Johannesburg was the worst.

“Get out of the buildings and try to find safe shelter!” people with unsettling composure were screaming at the masses. Some obeyed whilst others were finding their own paths in this time of peril.

Theodore stood in a trance. He stared at the ships intruding into the great red sky. He wanted to run but his body wouldn’t let him. He stood there waiting for a stimulus to lend him the power to move.

It was supposed to be a normal day. He’d finally decided to get out of the house after his friends had been pestered him to get his life in order again. He had been dumped by his girlfriend four months ago and spent all those months sitting in his room playing videogames and slowly killing his social life. His friends forced him to take a bath and put on his white shirt and chinos, All Stars and even a tie. But now he only stood there, roses in his right hand and a mortified look on his face.

As the ships came to a halt, pressured air shot from the sky and descended violently towards the ground. The buildings in the City of Gold started collapsing. As debris started dropping onto the streets of Joburg, Theodore still stood there, stuck. His mind was begging his body to move but there was no luck.

All of a sudden he felt his body being pulled out of the way: his legs went with the momentum as he was pulled away from the danger zone. His eyes were finally able to move and he narrowed them on his rescuer’s back. She was a petite young woman, by the looks of it she had been heading to the office.

Theodore was dazed. He shook his head trying hard to regain balance. The world was ending and he was stuck in a trance.

“Are you trying to die?” the woman yelled as they took refuge in a nearby church. “Let’s hope this holds, we’ll stay in the hallway for a quick escape if this plan goes sour.”

Theodore just stared at her, still stuck.

She started using sign language:

“Are you hurt?”

Theodore understood her: his mother had forced him to take classes (“to challenge your mind,” as she would say).

“No, I’m not.” He finally mustered a few words, some coming out in a squeak.

“Oh, you can talk, great,” she said, relieved. “I’m Anna, short for Annabelle.”

Theodore couldn’t talk again. He was even more baffled that she could find even a shred of humour in these troubled times.

“The…Theodore,” he said in a cracked voice.

“Are okay, dude? You seem distraught,” she said, peeking outside.

“Are you serious? So you don’t see the sky being burrowed by a thousand ships?” he said, surprised at his sudden recovery.

“Ah dude, it’s not that bad, they haven’t attacked yet so it could be a diplomatic visit for all we know.” She leant back and rested her head.

“Doesn’t seem like it, soon they might attack.”

“Death is inevitable, my guy,” she said with a smirk.

“You are one psycho chick, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told,” she giggled. “There’s one good thing about this day though.”

“What is it?” he asked, sliding down and hitting the ground softly.

“I don’t have to go to work today.”

She sat as well. Theodore started laughing. It was weird that this girl could make him laugh at a time like this. Suddenly sounds of tires screeching and heavy vehicles approaching filled the outside environment. His attention was swindled away from Anna. He got up and swung open the door.

The parking lot was filled with police officers, a SWAT team, and a military Jeep with a team of six dispersing from it.

“Sir, there’s civilians in there!” a police officer yelled, holding his guard firm.

“Tell them to get out of there,” a police sergeant yelled back.

As Theodore and Anna tried to run outside, they both felt a force being exerted on them: it was as if their bodies were bound by chains. The force started to pull and Theodore saw blue light surrounding his body as he ascended. He used the inertia of his body to build a swerving motion and turned to see what was abducting them. He saw an entrance to a ship much bigger than the others. He looked around and saw others that were hiding in the church being abducted as well. He saw Anna freaking out, which was surprising considering she was so cool about the whole thing a few minutes before. As he approached the light he felt his consciousness escape him; he heard the soldiers yelling as he was passing out.

“Theo!” yelled Anna, weak as well.

He blinked and when he opened his eyes, Anna was out of it and he was close to losing consciousness as well. The doors opened in a mechanical spiral motion and he passed out as they were sucked in.

Tell us: What do you think will happen next?