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When chaos hits Kyle Marks city, he fights to get home to the one he loves.

Kyle Marks was standing outside the recruiting office of the United Kallivag Coalition. He didn't even remember how he got here. One moment he is walking around thinking of all the people that he had once known that were now dead.

He remembered the day it all happened. He was at work in his office on the twentieth floor of a defense contractors building. His office was not spacious as some would think but it was enough for him to feel comfortable and get his job done. Directly in front of the door was his desk that easily took up half the space and was normally buried in projects. Behind the desk was a wall of windows with an impressive view of the city Tridia. To the left of the door was a bookcase with all his favorites, normally military tacticians and memoirs of Generals. To the right was the only space that had pictures. Along the wall were pictures of his fiance, Tracy and himself. Sitting in front of him was information for the new contracts set to help enable them to defend against invasions.

Five years earlier astrologists noticed anomalies in a quadrant of space previously empty of anything of concern. After further study, they were certain they were looking at numerous space ships with a projected trajectory straight for Kallivag. The governments at the time were not convinced of the reports and pushed them aside. Now the governments were pushing for any contractors able to work on and complete some kind of defense network around the world.

Kyle was thinking of all the paperwork he had to get done in order for the company to be able to start work on the projects and collect on the biggest payday they had ever seen. He set down some papers and put his head in his hands, thinking "this is going to be a long day". The company was pushing for him to complete all the contracts today and he felt the weight of that task as though it were crushing him.

He turned around in his chair and looked out the window, taking in the scene and feeling some sort of relief wash over him as took a couple minutes to gather his thoughts again. Just as he was getting ready to turn back to work he saw something in the distance falling from the sky. At first, he thought it was nothing and he was seeing things, but as he continued to look on he saw that the object was in fact there and was racing towards the ground. Kyle stood up and put his hands on either side of the window and thought, "what could be happening?" The team predicted they still had time before the ships reached them. He was still looking at the objects thinking that at any moment they would crash down, but they did not do as he expected. The objects leveled off and seemed to be standing still for a moment. Kyle was in a daze when he noticed that they were not standing still but were actually heading to the city.

All at once, he felt curious, and scared. He didn't know what to do or if he should call somebody and report what he was seeing. Instead, he reached behind to his desk and grabbed the phone and dialed home.  Tracy did not have to work today. After what felt like a long wait he heard the only voice that mattered to him at the moment. She was home, she answered, he felt a wave of relief wash over him. Just as she was about to talk, he cut her off and asked her if she was looking outside. "No, I was just listening to music. What's wrong Kyle?"

He couldn't talk fast enough, "Tracy, I need you to get downstairs in the basement and stay there! I can't explain it all right know but I need you to trust me!"

Kyle could hear the confusion and worry in her voice, "Kyle, I don't understand but I am heading down there now, talk to me, what's happening?"

He was about to explain the situation when he saw a huge cloud rise in the distance. He couldn't make out what was happening but knew that the city was under attack. The ships were fast and looked like black birds in the distance. Kyle forgot that he had the phone held against his ear until Tracy started yelling, "Kyle are you there! Talk to me, Hello! You are scaring me!"

Kyle was brought back and knew he had to get home. "Tracy, I need you to stay in the basement. I will get there as soon as I can. Please! Don't try to leave the house! I love you."

He could hear her saying something but couldn't bring himself to waste any more time. He had to get home and couldn't wait any longer.

He hoped that living outside the city was going to keep her safe. Kyle had just put the phone down when he heard a loud explosion in the distance. He turned and saw that the ships were just at the outskirts of the city and were destroying anything in their path. He could already hear the screams in the building coming from all the frightened people and the questions of how this could happen so soon.

Kyle was out of his office running toward the elevator bank down the hall, when he thought of the ships. He thought, what if the building lost power; he would be stuck inside the elevator and couldn't waste that time to get out of the building. He needed to get to Tracy!

Kyle turned down the hall and sprinted for the stairs. As he reached the door, he thought of all the stairs below him and knew he had to push to get out of the building fast. Just as he hit the first stair he felt the building shake and knew the ships were getting closer. Kyle stopped moving, frozen with realization that the attack was really happening. He knew he had to move but it felt like his legs didn't want to listen and he was stuck.

After, what felt like hours but was in fact only a few moments, he got past the horror of the moment and pushed himself down the stairs. He kept pumping his legs as fast as they would go, taking the stairs two or three at a time and at times jumping half the flight down in an attempt to get out of the building before it was hit.

Kyle had just passed the door to the tenth floor when he heard screams and the scrambling of people below him in the stairwell. He couldn't tell exactly what floor they were on, he hoped they would be out of the way before he reached the bottom. He kept running as fast as he could, pushing past the burn in his lungs and legs, thinking only of Tracy and getting home to her. Just as he passed the sixth floor he came to a complete stop as everybody was crammed together in front of him. He could hear people screaming and yelling but could not make out what they were saying.

He was about to try another way out when he looked over the railing and got an idea. He could jump from level to level and make it down to the bottom if he didn't miss any of the railing. As he looked down, he saw that the crowd was pulsing from fear of being trapped and on the edge of surging forward regardless of what had them stopped.

Kyle knew he had to get out of the building, so he stepped up onto the railing and swung his leg over. As he placed his feet down on the other side, he felt a hand clamp onto his shoulder.

Kyle turned around and saw a man standing there with a look of pure fright on his face. The man leaned towards Kyle and yelled over the people, "What are you doing?"

Kyle, knowing he had no time to waste said, "I am getting out of here." Kyle turned around and readied himself for the drop to the next level. He could feel the ache in his legs and lungs and wasn't sure he could make it all the way down without slipping and falling. He looked down and saw the people crammed together and knew he was going to be dropping on peoples hands.

Readying himself, he placed his foot on the other side of the opening, took a deep breath and released himself into the drop.

As the next floor came up beneath him he braced his legs and shot them out of the ledge as he readied his arms to catch the railing. As his feet touched the ledges, he instantly knew, he wasn't prepared as one foot slipped causing him to start dropping again. As he started to drop, he shot his arms out and felt the instant pain of the rails digging into his muscles. Looking up he saw that the man that had stopped him, was now standing just above him looking down expectantly. Kyle understood the look and composed himself for the drops ahead. As he dropped to the bottom and his feet touched the ground, he crumbled under his own weight and pulled himself to the side. He was just pulling himself up when the man following him dropped down.

Kyle looked towards the door and saw what appeared to be a couple of men from the building security holding the people back.

He turned towards the man and said "I need your help getting out; I can't get past them without you.!"

The man nodded at Kyle and turned towards the door. Kyle prepared himself and as he yelled, they both lunged for the door and started pushing the men out of the way.

Just as they got through he door, he pushed the the man he was holding to the side and started running for the doors. He heard yelling behind him and knew without turning that the people were now surging out of the stairwell and were heading the same way he was. Breathing hard, legs feeling as though they were about to give out and lungs burning from exertion, Kyle pushed on praying that he wasn't too late.

Bursting out of the doors, he was engulfed in chaos as the streets were filled with people screaming and running trying to get away from the ships. As he looked around, he realized he would never be able to get to his car and started running.

He had run a few blocks, when he felt explosions getting closer. He felt a sense of failure knowing he wouldn't make it out of the city before they got to him. Passing a garage, he saw an entrance for the tunnels and realized he could take them all they way out of the city. As he neared the stairs, he was hit by a wave from a nearby explosion and was sent flying down the stairs.

Kyle opened his eyes and couldn't remember what happened or where he was. His body felt pummeled and his head pounding. He couldn't hear anything, then he started to hear someone yelling at him. As he turned his head towards the voice, he saw the man from the stairwell and remembered that he was trying to get home to Tracy and the city was under attack. Sitting up, he looked at the man again and asked "What happened? Where are we?"

The man replied, "After we left the stairwell, I followed you outside and when you started running for the tunnels, I stayed behind you. Then, we were thrown down here."

Author's Note

I am hoping this will turn into a book written by my brother. It is still unfinished but this is what I have been given. I am ready for more. I hope you enjoy!