Invasion

-Karen-

"Lizette! Hold on!" I yelled after my closest friend. The sky, calm and clear moments ago as we walked through the quiet town of Mazifik, suddenly transformed. Humongous metal rocks fell from the sky, pelting everything from the palace to the town's buildings. The townsfolk's screams grew loud and sharp, leading to a crescendo as the rocks struck the ground and burst into smaller, jagged pieces, causing fires to erupt. I chased Lizette as quickly as I could, aiming to reach her before we got injured.

"Wait! I can't protect you if you run too fast!" I shouted as loudly as I could after her. Panic began to set in as the rocks continued to explode around me. All I wanted was to escape quickly and in one piece.

She couldn't hear me over the loud crashing noises that echoed through the town. The jagged rock shards sprayed around each newly formed crater in the street, making navigation challenging while trying to avoid injury. I watched her fall to the rocky ground as she lost her balance, tripping over the edge of a fresh crater. Lizette cried out in pain, and I noticed her right ankle bent the wrong way. I caught up to her, falling to my knees, fumbling to grab the stone that bounced on my chain.

"No, Karen! Just keep running. I'm only going to slow you down!" Lizette shouted as another rock fell close by. I opened my violet robes to shield her from the rocks that showered on us. Stubbornly, I snatched the stone, breaking the chain to heal her injured ankle just enough so I could help her hobble away from the danger. My palms were clammy from the extreme pressure of the situation, making the stone hard to hold on to. I tried to hurry and ease her pain as she clutched her leg and cried.

"Heal!" I whispered beneath my breath. I touched the stone to her ankle and watched as her injury was primarily healed in just a few seconds. I accidentally dropped my stone as I pulled her to her feet. She caught the stone in mid-fall and jammed it into her right pocket. We ran toward a collapsed building and waited for a few moments, watching the sky nervously. We noticed that the exploding rocks had started to slow down after twenty minutes of bombarding the town.

"I've never seen anything like this, Lizette," I remarked, shaking my head in disbelief.

"Me either! I don't think we've ever been attacked in recent history," Lizette replied, huddling closer to me. "I'm so scared, Kay. What do you think will happen to us?" Her dark blue eyes stared into mine as she wrapped her long black hair around her fingers. Dressed in a now dirty blue gown with matching dirty blue slippers, I could feel her shiver in terror. She heaved a heavy sigh, trying not to let the situation get to her.

As we waited, for what felt like an eternity, we could hear several men shouting in the near distance now that the metal rocks from the sky had stopped falling. I realized right away that we needed to hide. "Come on! We need to move quickly," I commanded, dragging Lizette behind me—time crawled by as we hurriedly tried to find a safe hiding spot. I found a large boulder that would work. It had fallen debris surrounding it, but the rock wasn't big enough for us, so I hid Lizette and added debris to help disguise her location. "Run, Kay! Go hide!" She hissed at me, huddling down and pressing herself against the rock. As I looked around for a place to hide, the voices became louder, and time was running out. I felt myself starting to panic again.

I scurried toward the edge of town and found a spot I thought would work, about twenty feet from where I hid Lizette. A large part of a roof had slipped off a house, which was now tilted against the semi-demolished building. I quickly hid between the gaps that were left, and my violet and black robes caught onto a jagged piece of wood that jutted out towards the street. "Come on!" I hissed as I struggled with the fabric while the men's voices grew louder. "Come on!" I hissed, feeling my heart pound.

My heart raced faster as the fabric finally gave way after several terrifying moments, ripping and allowing me to hide as close to the center of the gap as possible. I slowed my breathing as much as possible, hearing footsteps drawing closer to my hiding spot. Please don't find me. I closed my eyes and bowed my head, shivering silently. My heart pounded harder in my chest, and I could hear it in my ears as the steps grew closer. I covered my face with my hands as I listened to the footsteps stop. Please keep going- Please keep going!

 

A firm yet warm hand wrapped around my right wrist, and in a moment, my heart stopped in my chest. I didn't dare open my eyes as I hoped. It was just my mind giving me a good scare. I realized it was no dream as the hand quietly pulled me back to the broken street from where I tried to hide. I opened my eyes to see a young man pulling me to my feet. I backed away from him, only half a step, as the concrete wall met my back. I trembled, thinking this was the end for me. I'm done for! Please don't find Lizette!

The tall man in black stood there, looking over me. He raised my chin to get a better look at me. "You aren't dressed like the others," he remarked, giving me a stern look as he narrowed his cold gray eyes. I felt like my heart was going to explode. "Hm. What to do?" He mused rather silently. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat but just closed my eyes and waited.

"Look at me, girl." He snapped. My eyes shot open, and I waited with bated breath. He pursed his lips for a moment, then nodded, more to himself than to me. He looked around, took off his black cloak, and wrapped it tightly around me. I felt perplexed by this gesture.

"If you wish to live, remain silent no matter what happens or what you hear," he whispered in my left ear as he pulled the hood over my head and stuffed me back into the small crevice. I heard his boots click against the cobbles as he returned to where I had hidden Lizette. The men's voices from earlier returned, now louder, as they drew closer. They were laughing and bantering back and forth. I shivered again from the extreme tension. What do I do if they find me?