The Smokestack: Part 1

Beginning of a short story based on a dream I had recently.

I remember the day the militaries of the world all fell in unison. I didn't see any of it in person, living in that safe cozy town, but I saw it on the news. In a few minutes the invaders annihilated the military forces of all countries on earth. Soldiers, tanks, jets, and even nuclear warheads were all evaporated into nothing by beams of light from the sky. After the initial chaos of Earth's capitulation things went back to a weird normal. Everyone went back to work, back to school; everything was back to some uneasy version of normal life.
When I entered the grocery store, the sky looked typical. I spent only 10 minutes getting the few items I needed. As I made my way out I saw a few people outside staring up at the sky in horror. I left through the door and joined them all in looking up. There it was, the largest structure I had ever seen, a colossal tower of concrete held up by a tall pyramid of steel. A powerful blast of black smog was shooting out from the top and filling the sky, making the bright, early day look like a rainy sunset. The tower looked so far away, obscured by the distance and even had thin, natural clouds at the top, but you still had to look straight up to see the tip.
In that moment I felt the worst feeling I have ever felt. It was like a hopeless pain in my stomach. All I wanted to do was lay down and stare into nothingness. All I wanted to do was find some way for my brain to escape the world I was in. My world was going to be in ruins, and I couldn't do anything to stop it.

Author's Note

I apologize for any grammatical errors. I dont write in this way very often. This is the only part directly from my dream. It was slightly altered to be more coherent but the imagery and events are similar. I could expand on this story in the future.