Thirty days.
The countdown has started, North America shivers under the shadow of a massive alien spacecraft, and humanity is hurtling toward an unknown future that lurks at the end of the timer. Somewhere, somehow, the heroes are making their plan...
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GREENWOOD, MISSISSIPPI, USA
August 6, 12:00 PM
I carried a box into the garage and frowned at the window. The spaceship filled the eastern sky in a fashion only a 2000-mile-wide object could. It hung in the exact same spot that it had for the past eleven days. The five cats on the windowsill ignored it, watching the traffic that streamed through the back alleys as a result of the main roads being clogged with abandoned vehicles.
I stepped over another cat that wound around my ankles, meowing around a tinfoil ball in its mouth. I set the box on the pile as a large white cargo van pulled into the driveway and honked the horn. I hit the garage door switch to let Nixon in; the noise had the cats fleeing through the doorway connecting the garage to the house. I closed the garage door as soon as the van was inside.
My husband got out and opened the side door, letting three cats jump out. "Rescue mission accomplished!" He gave two thumbs up. "I used the key Mrs. Anderson left us the last time we housesat and got her cats out safe and sound. She'll text us when she finds a place to stay."
The three cats looked at each other, at us, then sauntered into the house, side by side, with their tails in the air.
I glanced at Nixon. "Did you see that? The other cats have been acting rather odd lately."
"Yeah... Those three even got into the van without me having to catch them. Weird."
I shrugged it off. Cats would be cats, and each one had a different personality. The floor vibrated under my feet. I paused, tilting my head as I noted a distant sound. "What's that rumbling noise?"
"There are a couple of bulldozers coming down the street with the military behind them. They're pushing all those abandoned vehicles out of the way."
"Are they just clearing the roads or door-knocking?"
"Both. They aren't moving fast, but they'll be here soon enough."
I began passing him the boxes I'd packed during his absence. "Let's pack up the last few boxes and get out of here before they show up, the looters break in, or–"
"Or the crazies try to sacrifice the cats to the aliens?"
"Exactly! Aliens are not ancient Egyptian kings with a fetish for dead felines! Who came up with that theory anyway?"
Nixon shrugged. "Probably some 'history buff' on social media." With a smirk, he added, "I bet they had their tinfoil hat strapped on too tight."
"I doubt the aliens are trying to read their minds. We're in more danger if that spaceship drops out of the sky."
We stopped and looked out the window; we were just far enough west in Mississippi that it wouldn't hit us directly, but the wind gusts and pressure waves would probably flatten everything. We couldn't see the glowing blue countdown from here, but the pictures circulating on social media could only be described as ominous.
