Back to the present
Joel Nier: 

The world shook beneath my feet, an unrelenting tremor that turned the ground into a shifting nightmare. The silence left by the emergency alert was replaced by the terrible noise of the building I was in beginning to fall apart all around me. Dust was filling the air, turning it thick and hard to breathe within as the visceral terror of my new reality filled me. 

I ran for the door and stumbled out of the bar just as the glass of the windows exploded behind me causing several pieces of glass to cut through my shirt and into my back. Tensing with a searing pain as my back began to bleed into my shirt, my heart pounded as I took in the scene outside. Dozens of people had also run into the street to escape the businesses and homes they had taken refuge in as they began to collapse all around us, some catching fire and others trapping people inside of them as I heard their screams. 

A massive shadow covered the sky, drawing my attention up and to my horror I saw a large planet above us where the sun had once been. An alien world filled with swirling red and black clouds, lightning streaking across its surface, had manifested perilously close to the Earth.  The air around me was thick with an electric tension and a sense of doom gripped me like a vise. 

Staring above me I watched as four massive beings of light descended from the planet and into the sky above. Their radiance and aura like a thousand small suns burning my vision, making my eyes water as I squinted in pain. 

Behind them I saw an army, millions strong, of humanoid creatures each clad in gleaming golden armor. Six black wings sprouted from their backs and in their hands they held obsidian spears and giant tower-like shields that shimmered with fire. I watched, stunned, as the army of invaders spread out and flew to the four corners of the earth. 

With dread I watched as thousands split off of one of the larger groups and descended towards us with an unimaginable speed. The people around me screamed and began to run, individuals, families, small groups broke into a terrified scramble trying to seek any shelter that they could. 

Jets roared above me as they broke the sound barrier in their mad dash to intercept the ascending force and sirens began to blare around the city.  Missiles streaked through the sky, the concussive shock waves of their explosions resounding through the air as they found their targets. Few of the angelic creatures fell as most were able to shield themselves from the hellfire that the airforce had unleashed against them. 

A dozen broke formation and gave chase after the jets as they performed large aerial maneuvers to reposition themselves for another approach. I watched as these beings with their powerful wings chased down one of the jets and with their obsidian spears cut deep into it causing it to explode and fall to the ground miles away from where I stood. 

Buildings around me continued to collapse and fires began to rage as the sky was filled with smoke, ash and the wails of the dying and injured.  The heat grew unbearable, and the air was thick with the acrid stench of burning flesh. 

A man ten feet away from me knelt over a woman who had a terrible head wound and lifeless eyes, his screams and tears falling onto her broken face. 

My thoughts turned to the only person left in my life who I still deeply cared about, my mother. She lived at the southern edge of the city and I had to get to her. I hoped she was with her friends Danielle and Carol, that she wasn’t alone, that someone was with her through all this chaos.  I needed to be there for her, to protect her, to keep her safe! 

Shaking myself into action I turned and sprinted at a full run to my truck near the back of the now collapsed bar. Breathing heavily, my hands shaking, I felt in my pockets for my keys and quickly pulled them out, fumbling with them for a precious moment. Unlocking the door I jumped in not bothering to even close it and started my old Ford Ranger hearing its engine roar to life like a battle cry to my ears. 

Putting the truck into reverse I stepped on the gas almost hitting the rubble of the building behind me before stopping to turn and pull forward. I floored it and sped out of the parking lot into the chaotic roadway, hell breaking out in front of me as I drove forward with reckless abandon. My military training took over to focus my thoughts and movements as I weaved through the madness. 

The streets were chaotic, filled with screaming people, burning cars, and debris from collapsing buildings. Spokane was unrecognizable. Buildings lay in ruins, their skeletal remains jutting into the sky. The choking smoke and fire revealed bodies of men, women and children as I went.  

I swerved around obstacles, narrowly avoiding collisions with other desperate drivers. The sky was filled with the sounds of gunfire and explosions, and the golden-armored invaders were everywhere, their dark spears flashing as they cut down anyone who was unfortunate enough to find themselves in their way. 

As I drove, I saw people fighting back against these heavenly demons with whatever they had—guns, makeshift weapons, even their bare hands. At a glance I could tell it was a losing battle. The invaders were too powerful, their numbers too great. I saw a group of soldiers, police and even firefighters making a stand at a barricade, their faces set in grim determination. But even as I watched, the invaders were overwhelming them, the blades of their spears cutting through flesh and bone. 

Gritting my teeth, I pushed down on the accelerator harder. I knew if I slowed down even for a moment my chances of reaching my mom would go down dramatically.  I couldn’t focus on the carnage around me,I couldn’t let the pain around me be a distraction. The only thing that mattered to me was reaching her before it was too late.  

I was flying through the city at a pace that meant a single wrong move or unlucky moment would likely kill me.  Yet, even at the speed I was going it felt like a lifetime before I reached the small neighborhood where my mom lived.

The truck skidded and lurched as I navigated the debris-strewn streets leading up to her house. I kept glancing at the sky, half-expecting one of the golden warriors to descend upon me. But I was lucky—or maybe they were too preoccupied with the inner city. 

The fires were less intense here as the houses spread out from each other, the destruction not as complete yet.  I turned onto my mom’s street, my heart racing in my chest. The house was partially standing, one side had collapsed and the roof sagged dangerously. 

Hitting my brakes hard as I pulled up to her house, the truck came to a stop and I jumped out without bothering to check my surroundings, too focused on finding her. My heart was racing in my chest and I desperately called out to her, shouting her name at the top of my lungs.  

“Mom! Mom, where are you?” Even to my own ears I could hear my desperation, the pleading in my voice clear. 

I heard a faint, weak cry from beneath the rubble. “Joel… In here!”

Sprinting to where I heard her voice, I dove and began to tear at the debris with my bare hands, throwing aside chunks of concrete and wood. My fingers were bleeding, made raw by my efforts, but I didn’t care. I had to reach her. 

After several agonizing minutes I had finally uncovered her, she was trapped under a large beam and her face was pale, her hair matted with black blood. Her eyes looked up at me, filled with pain and fear. Still, she smiled gently at me in the way that she always did. 

“You found me, I knew you would.” She said so softly that I could barely hear her. 

“Mom, hold on” I said, my voice pained as I knew I may already be too late to save her. “I’m going to get you out, just hold still as I move this off of you.” 

Her smile faltered and she began to cough violently as her eyes closed. Struggling to catch her breath she said, “It’s okay, Joel, It’s okay…”

I knew I needed to free her, her airways were being constricted by the heavy beam that was trapping her where she lay. Wrapping my arms around it I began to try to lift it and let a long pained yell break from my body as I pushed with everything I had in me to move it. 

My muscles strained to the point that I felt several in my back begin to rip and pain shot through my entire body. I had managed to move the beam just enough for her to catch her breath but not enough to free her from under it. It was too heavy, and I was too weak. I felt a sob rise and catch in my throat. I couldn’t save her by myself and we were very alone. 

“Mom, hold on a bit longer, I am going to find a way to get you out.” I said as I began to frantically look around for anything I could find to help me leverage the beam off of her body.  

“Joel,” she said, her voice so tired. “I love you so much son, your dad and I, we are so proud of you. You need to survive. You need to keep fighting and live.”

Choking back tears, I nodded. “I love you too, mom. I’m so sorry.” I knelt down next to her, placing my arms around her broken body and began to weep.

“I’ll be with your dad in heaven, don’t worry he always took such good care of me.” she said so quietly I could barely hear her. Her breathing was very weak and her pulse was so slow. 

I held her like that until she took her last breath. A small smile on her lips. My heart broke.

The world around me was in chaos, but in those last moments, all I could think about was her, she had given me everything. She had always been there for me and now she was gone, and I was alone once again. 

I stayed with her for what felt like hours until the sun was low in the sky. The sound of gunfire and loud explosions were getting closer. Those demons caused this, they murdered her. Even if it wasn’t their hands directly it was their fault that she was dead. They took the only person that mattered to me in this world. 

An ember, somewhere deep in my soul, caught fire within me. Righteous anger blazed to life inside me, like I had never known before, hatred for the scum that had taken her from me overwhelmed my mind.

They were still out there destroying countless lives. I didn’t know if I could stop them but I would be damned if I didn’t do everything I could to make them feel the pain I was feeling now. The loss that had ripped open a void in my heart. 

I turned and walked back to my truck. My heart was heavy but my mind set on a single purpose. I wanted to kill. To burn them all. 

Somewhere deep in my rational mind I knew that at the moment I didn’t have any way to actually hurt these bastards. I needed a weapon, a gun, heck a shovel would work if I couldn’t find anything else. I knew I wasn’t thinking rationally but I just wanted to make them pay and it was difficult to focus on anything else. 

I remembered that in my apartment I kept a hunting rifle my dad had given me as a present a year before he died. It had been years since I had gone to the range or used it for anything but I was sure I still had a box of ammo in the closet.  

“Oh shit, Kip!” Horrified, I remembered that Kip was still in my apartment. The little guy had only been in my life for a short while but he was a companion to me, always helping to distract me from the deep depression that threatened to drown me on a daily basis. 

I got into my truck and took off down the road, driving as fast as I could in the encroaching darkness. Perhaps I could still make it to my apartment, get Kip and my gun and then put in some work against these bastards that had done so much harm to my world.

As I drove away from my mother’s house, the fires of Spokane began to light up the evening sky. I knew that the battle was far from over.  This was just the beginning and I was determined to see it through to the end. For my mom.