Exodus

It all began on the Equinox. The weather was perfect; clear skies, a nice breeze, and sunlight that peeked through the leaves of the trees that dotted the park's landscape. To take advantage such an occasion, Johnathan Tremblay and his father, Jonas decided to go jogging around the park. They did this on rare occasion, for the lineup of such a circumstance was quite rare, itself.

Johnathan lifted his head to the sky, staring at the deep blue of the atmosphere, "Wow, there's not a single cloud in the sky today!"

Jonas picked his head up, meeting John's gaze, "Really? I hadn't noticed."

"I can't help but feel like you're saying that sarcastically."

Jonas couldn't help but let out a slight one-sided grin, "What ever do you mean?" Teasing of the sort was nothing new to John. He grew quite used to the frequent sarcastic humor. Some times, he could carry it on for hours.

John sighed, pointing to his father, "That right there is exactly what I meant."

"What's that, boy? Timmy's stuck in a well?" He continued playing dumb, knowing full well how much it annoyed John.

"Woof," John chuckled, playing along.

"Aw, well that's not the response I expected." He laughed it off, an expression of confusion spreading across his face.

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," John joined in on the laughter.

Jonas looked around the area before pointing at the mile marker on the trail they had been jogging down, "There's the landmark, want to take another lap or call it quits?"

John responded with a shrug, "Sure, why not?"

"You sure? You look like you're about to collapse," he teased once again.

"Oh, please," John scoffed and pretended to pull a phone from his pocket, "Mom just texted me. She said she can hear you gasping and wheezing from Moosonee."

Jonas simply shrugged the remark off like it never happened, "You know," he paused briefly, "I quite enjoy the feeling of physical exhaustion. Reminds me that I'm human."

John lifted an eyebrow at his father, taken aback by the unusual statement, "That's... not something I've ever heard you say."

"Huh? Oh… Anyways, let us continue!" He seemed a little too eager to change the subject, but John decided not to think too much of it.

They continued to jog for about an hour in silence before John pointed out what had grown obvious. The world began to grow dark, the sun no longer meeting their skin through the trees, "What time is it? Can't be night already, right?"

Jonas's face twisted into a puzzled expression, only just now noticing the change in sunlight, "It's the Fall Equinox... We should have another couple hours before it gets dark."

"Then, why is it... Cloudy? It was clear earlier," he turned his gaze upward to the once blue sky, "Uh, Dad?"

John called out to him, his voice shaking with fear.

"What?" He looked to his son by his side.

"What is that?" John pointed to the sky.

"That… That doesn't look good." The sky was dark, the sun being was blocked by a large, black aircraft. The sky was filled with dark, floating pillars, jetting into the sky higher than any of the numerous towers encompassing the streets of New York. As large as they were, the pillars were dwarfed in size by the aircraft which cast the foreboding shadow over the city. The details were indiscernible from the distance and darkness, but its shape was similar to the pillars, only much wider and horizontal, rather than vertical. The speakers that had been set up on the streetlights and telephone poles had cut on, sending a high-pitched feedback before fading into an electronic hum. Eventually, the sound of someone speaking could be discerned, "Attention citizens, please evacuate the city as fast as possible! This is a stage one emergency!" The message would then repeat itself.

John slowly turned to his father, his face flushed with terror, "Dad, what does that mean?"

"We have to get the hell out of here!" The two of them simultaneously broke out into a sprint, making a beeline towards the car Jonas had parked in the lot. John's legs moved faster than he could think, his lungs and heart screamed for him to stop, but his mind refused. Jonas was reaching into his pocket for the car keys before they even turned the corner into the parking lot, clicking the unlock button frantically before climbing into the car and heading eastbound towards the Brooklyn Bridge. No words were uttered between the two, but they knew what was happening. A sense of understanding between the two that they had an idea of what the other was planning before they acted upon it. Self-preservation is universal.

The streets were eerily empty and silent as the car sped down the highway until John saw someone walk in front of the car as he grabbed onto the door handle in a panic. His voice left his throat before he even thought of the words, "Dad! Look out!"

Jonas shouted back, his voice matching his son's panic, "Damn brakes won't work!"

"Why now?!" The figure grew nearer and John could make out more features. It wasn't even a human. It was in the shape of a human, but it was far too tall; nearly seven feet in height. But the most unnerving difference was that it was completely made of an strange jet black material with a crystalline texture and one unusual detail he couldn't get his eyes off of; a red orb about one foot in diameter at the center of what would be its chest. Right before they could hit it, it turned and slammed its foot into the engine of the car, stopping it instantly and activating the airbags. John felt his body leave the seat before the explosive force of the airbag caught his face and broke his nose.

Then there was darkness. John felt himself floating in an endless sea of pitch black emptiness. He attempted to speak, to call out to his father. Not a word, nor a sound could escape his lips. He floated there helplessly, nothing to occupy his mind but the stabbing pain he felt spreading through the side of his body with each breath. His face held an unyielding ache with each passing second. He felt as though he could move, but no efforts would show results. He could only lie there, unnaturally still. In this moment, he thought to himself, "It's Wednesday," A mundane and rather insignificant fact to consider at the moment. But the thought intruded his mind, nonetheless. It was the only thought that he could grasp at the moment. None of what was happening made sense.

From deep in the darkness, there was a white light. The light grew brighter, filling John's vision before there was nothing left in his view but the brightness of a collapsing star. Soon, even that brightness faded as John woke, finding himself outside of the car. His head throbbed, blood pouring out of his nose and down his face. He blinked slowly, as even that small movement caused him great pain. He tried to look around, taking in his surroundings before finding that he was being dragged away from the destroyed car by his father. He mustered all his strength, uttering the one word he could think of in this moment, "Dad?"

"John? Are you okay!?" Jonas's voice echoed and pounded at the inside of John's skull.

John reached up and touched his nose, wincing at the pain it brought him. He licked his lips out of instinct, immediately tasting the warm, metallic taste of his own blood. It was the only thing he had done since waking up that didn't cause him pain. He forced himself to groan out two more words, "How long?"

Unsure what John meant by those words, Jonas responded with he assumption that he was asking how long he had been unconscious, "Not too long."

John looked left and right, only seeing smoke and broken glass with the occasional pile of rubble, "Where?" He mumbled out.

"Not sure. A lot of the city's landmarks are gone. I can tell is that I am heading west," Jonas assured, holding both truth and optimism in his words.

"West?" John queried weakly. They had been heading east earlier, trying to reach the bridge, "But... Bridge..."

"The bridge is destroyed. They announced an evac zone to the west at Pier 25 near the boathouse," Jonas looked down at his son, "Can you stand? You're getting a little heavy," he chuckled weakly, trying to lighten up the situation. It looked far too grim for his taste.

"Right," John tried to force himself to stand, but his legs immediately gave trembled and gave out, feeling like he was wearing multiple weighted vests. He found himself growing to regret taking that second lap. John looked around seeing that, where tall towers of metal and concrete once stood, there were only towers of smoke, and mounds of rubble. John slowly looked up at Jonas, seeing his face was just as bloodied as his own, "Think you can help me up?"

Jonas nodded and put an arm around John, slowly lifting him to his feet. They both shared an labored grunt of agony as John gained his balance. They continued making a slow pace to the western evacuation zone, the situation beginning to look more grim with each passing street and decimated building. They limped down the street, the silence begging to grow more unbearable, a sense of foreboding coming down upon them. As they turned the next corner, they noticed the street was torn to shreds, matching the rubble that became of the buildings. Walls of surrounding structures were scratched up as if a semi truck had driven along the side of it.

Farther along, about four blocks down the street, another creature turned the corner onto the street. This one was different from the one Jonas had struck with his car. It was not humanoid at all. It was giant and worm-like, almost double the size of the tour buses that would frequent the streets of Manhattan. The surface of the creature was also much more metallic, with spikes riddling the length of its serpentine body. It had the same red orb, but this one was three meters wide in its "mouth," protected by rows and rows of blade-like teeth.

"John! Run!" John's father screamed to him. He had never heard such fear in Jonas's voice. They both broke out in painful sprints in attempts to flee from the creature to no avail, for it caught up with them in a matter of seconds, slithering and worming its way through the street, the blades on its body tearing through the streets and ripping through the walls of the buildings. Jonas and John quickly cut a corner onto another street. The creature tried to match the sharpness of their turn, but its velocity got the better of it, sending it skidding into another building. John turned his head to see the building collapse on top of it. John whooped and cheered in celebration, assuming the creature would have been crushed by the weight of the building.

Jonas grabbed John's shoulder and pulled him away, demanding that he kept running. He did as suggested and followed Jonas into an alleyway where the creature burst through the wall, cutting off their path. "That didn't kill it?!" John shouted in surprise, the adrenaline numbing the pain he would have normally felt from shouting at such a volume. Jonas pulled John again, turning him around and trying to run back to where they entered the alley, only to be blocked by five more creatures. The humanoid ones from before. There was one more that was different from the rest, much larger with more detail in its structure; defined eyes which were much like the red orbs they each had in the center of their chests, as well as more armor-like plating around the chest and shoulders. Perhaps more aesthetic than functional, seeing as they were seemingly invincible to begin with.

The largest of the group pointed at John, immediately losing all sense of time and reality. He did not even notice his father screaming at him. Everything began to grow still and silent. The next thing he knew, the creature shot a bolt of the same material it was made out of, making a direct beeline for John's head. It was coming toward him faster than sound, yet, it felt like an hour to him. In an instant, Jonas stepped in front of him, taking the speeding projectile in his chest. John blinked, his father's blood being sprayed over his clothes and face. He looked at Jonas's back, the black bolt pierced through his shirt, coated in the deep red liquid. "Damn it, John, how many times do I have to tell you to run before you listen to me?" John stood frozen in place, afraid to even breathe. Blood dripped from the end of the bolt, pooling onto the ground at John's feet. Jonas lifted his chin up, blood dripping from his chin, "Please, kid… Do me a favor and run like you're running from hell itself," he coughed up a mouthful of blood, splattering on the ground as he exhaled deeply, falling face-first onto the ground.

John still stared at his father, waiting for him to take another inhale. But he never did. Instead of running like his father had demanded, he just stood there, frozen. The creature pointed at him again, triggering John's instincts to run, but his body could no longer follow. His legs gave out and he tripped, causing the creature to miss its shot, hitting him in the shoulder. This time, instead of shooting a bolt, the creature shot a line, still attached to its arm. It resembled the look of someone bow fishing. It sank deeply into his right shoulder, keeping him from falling to the ground. His weight stretched and tore the wound open larger, causing pain enough pain for John to want to scream in agony, but he couldn't. Neither his body nor his mind could continue. He stood still, feeling the blood pour from the wound and down his arm, dripping onto the asphalt.

John lay limp, being held up only by the line. Just when he felt as though this was the end, just when he felt like he no longer had to run, a military Humvee drove into the creatures. John watched as the red orbs shattered and the strange material just fell. Just exploded like shattered glass. And just like those creatures, the line which had kept John on his feet fell limp. And so did he. He hit the ground painfully, lying there and watching as a man in military fatigues jumped out of the vehicle and ran to him. He lifted John up and looked at his eyes, then turning to shout something at the van. His words were indiscernible to John. The man carried John into the Humvee and it drove off.