the Value of a Minute

The aircraft in the sky that made the broadcast possible stopped emitting the multicolored light and the image slowly faded away. It seemed like it would take a little longer for the darkness that served as the background for the broadcast to disappear.

Just now, the most untouchable man living in the country had been brutally murdered, and the state of the capital resembled an apocalypse scenario. All of this was real. Panic should have dominated the streets, but there was still no one fleeing or screaming.

Perhaps people were too panicked to fully comprehend what was happening.

Suddenly, a cold feeling crept down my spine. I had noticed something. I looked around. The bus was still at the stop. The fat public transportation driver who took me to work every day had gotten off the bus. Like everyone else, he had watched what was happening with a look of terror on his face.

The beautiful office lady whose name I didn't know hadn't left after getting off the bus either.

"Ke ke kek. What are you going to do now, John? I'm dying to see."

I took out my phone and called Georgy.

Georgy answered his phone quickly, "Where are you, John? Did you see what happened?"

I spoke loudly, making my seriousness as evident as possible, "Gather everyone and get down here immediately! I'm in front of the agency. We don't have much time."

"We're about to get on the elevator. How's the traffic..." I hung up on Georgy. I had heard what I needed to hear.

I must admit, it felt somewhat satisfying. I thought that his nagging on the phone didn't bother me at all, but apparently it did.

"Mr. Chapman," I called out to the bus driver as I approached him. I remembered his name from his name tag.

He was a middle-aged, mustached, overweight man. Unlike the usual overweight men, he was also quite tall. However, the man was still staring at the sky without even blinking his eyes and trembling. Despite his size, he had a weak heart. He was one of the most fearful among the people here.

"Hey! Mr. Chapman." I called him again and took his chubby hand, "Could you come this way for a moment, please?"

The only thing the man could do was to look at me in terror. Without waiting for him to respond, I started pulling him towards the passenger entrance of the bus. After applying some force, Mr. Chapman followed me. My request was a bit absurd, but the man couldn't think straight.

I brought Mr. Chapman close enough to the passengers who got off the bus so that they could hear our conversation. Meanwhile, my colleagues had appeared at the entrance of our workplace building. They, along with the beautiful office lady, could hear us now.

I couldn't help everyone, but I could help them.

"Mr. Chapman, please look at me." I held him by the shoulders and looked into his eyes. I had to make sure he understood me. "This city will be under attack just like the capital in a little while!"

I spoke in a controlled voice. The last thing I wanted to do now was to fuel panic.

The facial expressions of the people my voice could reach suddenly changed, but I had also managed to draw their attention to me as I intended. Without giving them a chance to overthink and panic, I continued speaking, "This is an alien invasion. The military power of our opponent must be equivalent to that of an entire planet. What we saw in the broadcast was only a small part of their armies. If my guess is correct, this broadcast was made in all major cities, and they will all be hit simultaneously very soon."

"N-No way!"

"What are we going to do?"

There would inevitably be people panicking here and there.

"Try to stay calm! Panicking won't do anyone any good. The main reason they made this broadcast is to make us panic." It wasn't me who spoke. Our team leader, Karina Fox, had taken the words out of my mouth, but as usual, she was speaking loudly.

Wherever Karina was, she sought attention, but she didn't do it for a stupid reason. She hated losing control even for a moment. That's why, first of all, the eyes had to be on her. To ensure this, she always paid great attention to her appearance and movements. Her blonde hair, which reached down to her waist, always looked as if she had just come from the hairdresser without exception. There would never be a stain or wrinkle on her suit. Moreover, her makeup on her already beautiful face was always flawless.

The only problem with her appearance was that she looked at the people in front of her as if she would punch them in a moment. She had made it a habit to have a very serious facial expression.

Even in this situation, she didn't give up these questionable qualities of her personality.

Although I had planned to say the same things as her, they were not my real thoughts.

Considering the state of the capital, it seems unlikely that the only purpose of this alien broadcast was to cause panic among us.

She continued speaking, "Now what we need to do is go to our loved ones as soon as possible. Then, if there really is an attack, we should leave the city with them."

"No. We should leave the city now!" I don't know what got into me, but I started speaking. Normally, I would let her be the center of attention. "The attack will happen now. We don't have time. Otherwise, there would be no point in showing us the state of the capital!"

"How can you say that, John? How can you ask us to leave our loved ones behind?" This time, it was Georgy who spoke. Karina, Georgy, and my other colleagues were looking at me with angry expressions. Other people who heard us also seemed to agree with them.

I gritted my teeth.

What did I think I was?

Yes. This was my fault. Even though my colleagues had been looking at me as if I were worthless lately, they were good people. What they said was not wrong. The majority of the people here had loved ones and family members who needed to worry about.

They weren't like me.

My mistake was wasting a valuable minute trying to help them a little. I should have expected this outcome.

I gave up and didn't say anything else. I looked around. The lane of the road entering the city was filled with vehicles. Traffic was congested. Honking sounds were rising here and there. However, the lane of the road leaving the city was still largely empty. The people in the city center had done the same as we did here, getting out of their vehicles to watch what was happening, and naturally, they had congested the traffic on that side.

In the middle of the road, there were rain channels separating the right and left lanes, a one-meter sidewalk on both sides and a steel mesh.

That's why we needed the bus. A bus-sized vehicle could push aside the smaller vehicles by hitting them, and a steel wire fence couldn't stop a bus.

People were slowly coming to their senses and getting into their cars. For now, only a few people were doing this, but soon the traffic would be jammed in both lanes in a way that could never be resolved.

We had to move before that happened.

I was determined to drag Mr. Chapman onto the bus, but suddenly he made a move towards the still-open front passenger door of the bus. At the same time, screams started coming from everywhere.

I looked up at the sky. There was a spacecraft silently hovering over the city center, where the darkness once was. It was black, and I couldn't see anything that could make it stay in the air, and it was much bigger than what I had seen over the capital.

Was it always there or had it come over the city center during the precious minute I lost?

"Get on the bus right away!" I shouted and followed Mr. Chapman onto the bus.

I was acting out of my character again.

The crowd, hearing my voice, ran after me in panic, pushing each other and not thinking twice. There was a stampede. Some people fell to the ground and trampled under the feet of the crowd.

However, Mr. Chapman didn't care about any of it. He had already started the bus and stepped on the gas.

"Ah!"

"Where are you going?! Take us too!"

"You fat coward!"

Only the people near the passenger doors were able to get on the bus. Those left behind were either screaming in fear or cursing at the public transport driver.

Some people thought there was no need to get on the bus or that it was more reasonable to get away from here with their own cars. Now some of these people had become obstacles for Mr. Chapman to overcome, along with their cars.

Mr. Chapman drove the bus onto the cars without hesitation, without caring if there were people inside the cars. The people in these cars were now screaming in panic for a different reason.

Bang!

The bus engine was powerful enough to push the cars in front of it to the sides. When there were no more cars in front of it, the bus crossed to the opposite lane, crushing the steel mesh under its tires, and continued on its way.

I don't think anyone died as a result of Mr. Chapman's actions, but there were surely injured people.

This behavior cannot be applauded, it was something only a scum would do, but no one, including myself, said a word to Mr. Chapman.

The ugly side of human nature was slowly coming to the surface.