1310 June 18th, 2020 CE

San Francisco, California

The riveting noise of the .50 cal machine guns firing reverberated through the air. The Lancefishes were collapsing by the dozens into pools of their own purple blood. The sound of the .50 cal was deafening. Since he didn’t have ear protection and the adrenaline from earlier was wearing off, the noise from the .50 cal was actually awful. Andrew was certain he was going to be suffering from tinnitus for the rest of his life. Other than the SWAT, none of his other coworkers wore ear protection so they were all pretty much guaranteed this fate as well. However, they had to keep firing in order to keep the monsters at bay. Even two .50 cal machine guns were not enough at holding back a tidal wave of monsters.

Washington Blvd, Irvington, California

Luke pulled Hayden to his feet. “You sure you can walk on your own?

“Yeah, just a little woozy. I’m fine.”

Amidst the commotion of everybody helping each other up and moving towards the door, one of the police officer’s voices was being drowned out. “EVERYONE SHUT UP!”

The building became dead silent. The policeman continued in a raised voice. “Listen. If you want to survive, you have to listen. We will be going from building to building until we get out of this area. The other officers are trying to hold the line until we get out. The only exit is through the front door. When you get out, go right immediately and get into the parking lot. Avoid the intersection. I don’t believe any of you will be dumb enough to run into the middle of a battle but I repeat DO NOT go left into the intersection. We will be ducking behind this building for cover so go fast. When you get into the parking lot, start moving towards the neighborhood behind this bank. Let’s go, no time to waste.”

1615 June 18th, 2020 CE (Washington D.C TIme)

Outside the White House

Ronell looked at the crowd of reporters gathered in front of him. “Good afternoon. This morning, as many of you already know, the city of San Francisco came under attack by creatures that we have never seen before.

Our understanding of these creatures are limited. We are not certain of their origin. We are not certain if they are intelligent or that we are capable of communicating with them. And we are not certain as to why they are attacking San Francisco. However, we are working tirelessly to understand the nature and origins of such creatures.

What we do know is that these creatures do not come in peace. They have attacked the city of San Francisco and its people unprovoked. The battle is still ongoing. Just a few minutes ago, I was in the Situation Room being updated on the situation.

Our first priority is to ensure the safety of the people of San Francisco.

Local law enforcement have held off the advance and civilians are being evacuated from the Bay Area. I have federalized the National Guards of California, Nevada, Oregon, and Arizona and I have directed them to repel the creatures invading San Francisco. The California National Guard have already begun arriving to assist. In addition, I have directed the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Irwin, California along with 2,200 Marines of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton, California to provide further support.

The current situation is still developing and we will provide further updates once more is known. Thank you. And may God bless the United States of America.”

Situation Room

Stephen gave his update to the President. “The Air Force has reassessed the situation and are switching their munitions to long range cruise missiles in order to take out the enemy anti-air and to bombard their landings on the beach. Direct bombing runs are no longer considered viable due to losses. The navy is also unable to be deployed in the Pacific due to the fact that there are still Lancefishes in the water.”

“Do we have any updates on the origins of these creatures?”

“None whatsoever. But rest assured, Mr. President, we will find something. The entire National Spatial-Intelligence Agency is working on it.”

“Well then. The only thing we can do at this point, gentlemen, is to hope for the best.”

“Should we inform other nations of the current situation?” Inquired the Secretary of State, Katerina. “I was planning to do so but I’m looking for your approval.”

Ronell shook his head. “Keep it under wraps for now. We don’t want them knowing something they can take advantage of. We can inform them later. If they start being attacked, then we will tell them.”

Ronell sighed and swiveled his head to look through all the screens in the Situation Room. Multiple news channels were in a frenzy over this. Some of the screens showed footage of the monsters in the streets of San Francisco. News anchors talking with almost any person they could get a hold of that was somehow related or could give an opinion on this. .

1325 June 18th, 2020 CE

Irvington, California

Luke looked around at the houses that lined both sides of the street they were on. Their large group made their way down the street. They could still hear gunshots since they had only traveled about three blocks away from the bank. Luke realized that his phone had been vibrating in his pocket for a while now. Looking at it, there were 20 missed calls from his mom. His mom came through the moment it connected. “Luke?! Why haven’t you picked up?”

Luke paused for a second at his mom’s hysterical shouting.

“Mom. Calm down. I’m fine.”

“Where are you right now? Are you alright? What happened? Why didn’t you pick up?”

“Calm down. I’m alive and safe. Perfectly fine… not a scratch. Don’t freak but our bus was… had engine problems. We had to travel onto the streets and I didn’t hear my phone.”

“Were you able to get on another bus?”

Usually, his mom would pick up on that pause. But she was probably either too panicked to notice that he was lying or that she was just taking it since she understood she probably didn’t want to hear the truth. And hey, he wasn’t technically lying, the engine of the bus is having problems. More so caused by the bus being flipped than the bus engine itself though. But hey, potayto, potahto, tomayto, tomahto.

“No, mom, we are currently on foot. We have police officers escorting us and I think we are trying to find a vehicle or something to get us to the evacuation point.”

San Francisco, California

A Guardsman tapped Andrew’s shoulder.

“We will take it over from here. Report to your commanding officer back there.”

An amalgamation of police forces all gathered in front of their supposed “commanding officer”.

“I’m Lieutenant Alan Beckingridge, in charge of all local law enforcement forces in this intersection. Gonna keep this short. There are people handing out MRES over there. Get some food and rest. You guys have 20 minutes. Then we gotta cycle you guys out so half of the soldiers can eat. Any questions?”

A city police officer raised his voice. “Why can’t we focus on just evacuations now that the National Guard is here?”

“There aren’t enough soldiers. What we have is just a Quick Response Force from the California National Guard spread out at some of the intersections. More soldiers are coming to reinforce us but they need some more time. So take your break, and get ready to come back. Be glad, you are even having a break.”

20 minutes later

Andrew was getting up from his break when loud shouting from the firing line caught his attention.

A Humvee was suddenly flung. It gained some air before skidding on the ground a few yards away from Andrew. A giant metallic spear-like log was punctured through what was left of the Humvee. The second Humvee started reversing, its .50 cal firing wildly. “Fall back! Fall back!”

“Ognu daria sugaaa!”

“What the hell are those!?”

The soldiers on the firing line quickly started backing up in an organized manner.

Irvington, California

Luke looked around at the houses that lined the sides of the deserted street. One of the police officers pushed past him and went to converse with Mr. Johnson. A few seconds later. The police officer shouted. “Alright, everybody stop. We have to hide in these houses. We may have monsters approaching soon.”

Then murmurs grew as people looked down the road. A sand colored Humvee appeared there. Luke could see that a soldier manned the machine gun on it. Behind the first Humvee, three more Humvees showed up followed by sand colored trucks. Everybody got onto the sidewalk in order to clear the road. A Humvee without a machine gun on top separated from the convoy and parked on the side of the road near them. The rest of the convoy continued. A soldier dressed in full sand colored combat gear and carrying a rifle walked out. “What are you guys doing out here? It's not safe here.”

A police officer went up to him. “I’m Officer Hills Cooper with the Fremont Police Department. We were escorting a convoy of school buses from Sundale High School to the evacuation point at Levi’s Stadium. However, one of the school buses was overturned by one of those monsters. These are the kids from that school bus and we are trying to find another vehicle to get us to the evac point.”

“Sergeant David Lumen of the California Army National Guard.” The sergeant looked around at everybody. “Hm. Lemme check with my commanding officer to see if they can offer any help.”