Al

oiii.

 iii.

"Is that everything?" Al threw in the last box behind him. Missy glanced over the supplies then ran over and tossed another plate of food into the front seat.

"Did you get my pictures?" Grandma Myra ran after them and placed a small Polaroid picture in the corner of the passenger mirror. She took Missy in her lap and smiled at their reflection, "Do you see that? Now you'll always know we look just alike."

As the two chatted, Granddad Henry took a step over to Al, "Hey son, why don't you grab this for me?"

He handed over a box, but this one was unlike the others. This box was a shoe box, one that was bigger than most. Al's eyes shined, "This is your skating box Granddad, I can't take it.'

His grandfather chuckled and pushed the box closer, "I didn't walk over here for nothing, you'd better take this box."

A small smile grew on Al's face before he sighed heavily, "You love these skates, we used to ride them together before Dad passed away. It'd be too much to take these from you.

Granddad placed a strong grip on Al's shoulder, squeezing tightly for a brief moment, "I wasn't able to give these to my son in time."

He patted his shoulder twice more before turning away and walking inside the house. Al sat there, stunned, as he rubbed his shoulder, wincing a little at the pain that lingered. Just then, Missy called him over. Grandma Myra walked over and gave her goodbyes, sending air kisses their way and Al placed the shoes on the passenger side seat. They were gold and white, the laces tainted with a pink tint from the fruit punch he once got on them. The gleam of the charm on the back of the shoe reminded Al of his father, who once broke his ankle trying to perform a trick.

Tears brimmed his eyes. He looked towards his grandparents again. It was so important they'd been here to see them, otherwise he would've been out of his mind and so very lonely. He stared at his grandmother again, "I promise."

Grandma Myra only waved sadly as Al revved the engine. Missy jumped into the front seat, "See ya Momma Myra! Tell granddaddy I said see ya later!"

She offered a toothy grin just as Granddad Henry returned back outside, "I'd never leave without saying goodbye, see you later princess."

Missy climbed back into the back seat, giggling and making faces out the window as Al pulled off. He adjusted his mirror before watching his grandparents grow smaller in the distance for the last time.

He turned on the radio. Static. He turned it to his usual music station, nothing. This trip would take forever if he had nothing to drive to. He sighed and flipped through anything that would play.

"No island would be safe, no plane would fly, and half of the United States was already overtaken. The world has gone under complete chaos."

It was a podcast; Al looked in the back to see if Missy was awake. She was tucked into her seat, back turned away from him and soft snores filling the air around her. He turned up the volume just a little. "The attack should've been something anticipated though. Hear me out, an unusual object was spotted within the orbit of Venus. How does that sound?"

It sounded like two men on the stream arguing about what happened. "And it's trajectory was headed towards Saturn! No one could've guessed it was aliens, we've never seen such a thing before!"

"But listen to yourself, even if we didn't know what it was, we should've treated it like it was aliens. Oh no, there's something in the sky. Must be the wind." The two guys chuckled for a second.

"Okay, okay. I see where you are coming from, but still how do we prepare for such a thing? It's something that no one even knew about and how in the hell do you even prepare for an alien attack? It's bizarre man." He was right. No one even knew what they looked like before they landed. Hell, Al didn't even know what he was running from; he'd only heard about their attacks and ran from the aftermaths of bombs and the what ifs but he doesn't even know if they had legs or not.