Chapter 10

The Major set up a group to go into a nearby town to figure out what was happening. The rest were to stay at the base and watch over the meteor for anything strange. I don't know if the Major was expecting an alien to jump out of the rock or what but I didn't want to stick around if that did happen.

I was part of the group who will go with her into town. The Major instructed me and Derrick to take care of Soprano on the way there. I'm guessing she wanted to drop her off with a sitter while we were there.

We traveled on a dirt road meant for cargo and cars to go through. We walked for a two days and eventually came across the main road. We followed this road until we stumbled upon a car that crashed into a tree on the side of the road. When we checked if anyone was inside, we found a guy who was unconscious.

We pulled the car from the tree and found that his foot was stuck from the impact. As we were getting him free, he woke up.

"Gahhhh!!" He yelled. He swung his arms around and managed to knock the Major in the mouth, who was calming him down.

After he settled down, he explained to us that his car shut down in the middle of the road.

"I mean, I was looking up at the asteroid but other than that I don't know what could have caused it. It actually shut down after a few minutes the asteroid hit the ground." The man said

"That's around the time when the walkie talkie stopped working." Major mumbled

She's right. What if this happened all over the world but it would have to take a few minutes for everything to shut down? If that's what happened, we're all in trouble.

Major sent a few soldiers to take the man back to our base. The man said that a few hours from here was a small town so the rest of us continued.

Soprano sighed. "I'm tired! Carry me!" She held her arm open and landed on my back.

I shoved her off but it's like she was a sloth and wouldn't move. I eventually gave in and gave her a piggyback ride.

Derrick groaned and said "Me too!"

He fell backwards on to me but I sidestepped him. "Walk yourself"

Soprano jumped off and said "He's all yours!"

Derrick jumped on.

"Oof!" He weighed a ton!

"Get off!"

"Nope!"

"You two boyfriends better shut up! We're here!" Major yelled

The town was empty with a few people walking around. We found a public phone but it didn't work. We asked the people around but they said that the whole town had no power. Some of the residents went out of town on horseback to figure out what was happening in the more populated cities where they have family.

"They should be back this afternoon" one of the residents said "You guys can wait here."

The guy showed us to a shelter where we stayed at where most of the residents were.

The town was old fashioned and didn't rely on technology as much as bigger cities but they did use it to keep in touch with families outside of the town. Other than that, they grew their own food and used cattle for food and transportation.

Hours pass and we hear clomping outside. We all run out to see horses carrying a wagon full of people.

"What happened? Who are these people?" A residential woman asked

"On our way to the airport, we passed by a hospital. They didn't have any electricity and most of their patients passed away. They were already short staffed but without the electricity, they didn't have any way to keep the temperature cool, operate surgery, or anything. These are the ones who didn't need as much help. We decided to take care of them." One of the men from the horses said

The woman sighed then smiled "You and your kind heart"

A man behind her asked "What about the airport? Is it working?"

"No. They said the power and the generator shut down. But before that, they said that they lost connection with the pilots and even lost track of the airplanes. I'm sorry Jer"

Jer sunk to the ground and whispered "She's okay. She's okay. She needs to be okay."

"Are you saying that before they lost power, they were having issues with the planes?" Major asked

"Yes. Why is the military here? Aren't you guys supposed to be further from here?" The guy on the horse asked

"We lost power and connection with the outside world." Major explained "I think it's safe to assume that no one has electricity, at least in our area. But it's odd that even the cars won't work either."

"I think we should head back to base. If the electricity comes back, we will need to be there." one of the soldiers said

"Yes. I think that's the only thing we can do for now" Major turned towards Soprano. "You should stay here. They have food and shelter. It's better than being in the middle of the forest."

I knew she wanted to drop her off here!

Soprano shook her head. "I think we should crack into the meteor. This all happened after it dropped down. I'm also the only one more knowledgeable on this type of stuff."

Did she just call us dumb?

Major scratched her head, deep in thought. After a few moments, she agreed.

"I guess we can look into the meteor. But if the electricity comes back and I get in trouble, your going down with me" she said

Soprano laughed but I'm pretty sure Major meant every word she said.

We went back to base and after another to days we made it back to the base where we found everyone gathered around the meteor.

Major pushed past everyone. "What's going on? What happened?"

"We're not sure! The meteor was normal the entire time you were gone until it lit up a few minutes ago." The soldier in charge explained

The rock had a white hue surrounding it and inside the cracks was where the light shone the brightest.

Major turned towards Soprano "I'm guessing this isn't normal?"

She shook her head

Major turned back towards the meteor "We'll break into it tomorrow. For now, get some rest"

"Wait. What?!" Someone yelled

"What if that thing is toxic?" Another yelled

"I'm not getting eaten by aliens"

Everyone complained but the Major yelled "And here I thought you joined the military ready to fight!"

"Yeah! But not to fight aliens!" Someone yelled

Hey! Who said that?

Major glared in my direction. Whoops.

"If you don't want to break that damn rock then be my guest and sit on your asses, sucking your thumbs. But if you're willing to help out, then get some sleep and be ready to wake up early in the morning to start." Major said and turned back to her tent.

Everyone went to their own tents. We all had partners that we shared a tent with. Mine just happened to be with Derrick.

We got settled in our bags but I couldn't go to sleep. Especially since there was a glowing rock right outside.

"Hey. Are you asleep yet?" Derrick whispered

"Nope"

We layed in silence before he turned towards me.

"Do you want me to stay up while you sleep?" He asked

I shook my head. "It wouldn't feel right for you to stay awake all night while I sleep"

"I can wake you up halfway through" he said

"Deal"

"Wow. You didn't need much persuasion" he laughed

I covered my eyes with my arm to block out the light and went to sleep.