Better safe, than sorry! (Five minutes freewrite)

They were among the lucky ones - Sallie and Bill, although she'd almost dismissed the warning when it came up in her feed. Just one of those silly things that go viral, she thought seeing the pixelated image of that weird round thing. Acting on a hunch, she turned on the local news - just in time to realize it was true. All residents were strongly advised to get to safety before the aliens landed and their intentions became clear. 'Better safe, than sorry'.
The college campus worked great as an emergency shelter as the sprawling complex vaunted a strong stone fence, which in the following weeks was reinforced with the barbed wire the military had miraculously managed to secure during one of their supplies raids.
The random newscasts from a rebel group based somewhere in the mountains painted a dramatic situation - gangs of alien invaders patrolling nearby towns, hunting for the unlucky ones, those that chose to hide in their basements. Desperate mothers foraging in the their neighbors' gardens for something to feed their children, liquefied on the spot with one beam of the weapons the aliens carried. Nobody knew exactly what that beam was, but at least it wouldn't go through stone. As long as the perimeter was not breached they were safe.

The big question on everybody's mind was whether they had other weapons. Sally had trouble sleeping, so she lay awake in the dorm worrying about Bill, who as a fit 30 year old male had been selected to assist the military with night guards. It was clear they were very active at night, judging by the noise of distant gunfire. They were not immune to ordinary bullets, as amazing footage obtained by the heroic news-crews proved. The images of the alien monster, half of its head blown away by bullets, were met with cheers around the mess hall, where the refugees huddled every night.
After a few months, it became clear the aliens were there to mine for some minerals and many were inclined to believe that, once they were done, they'd leave as swiftly as they had arrived. In the meantime, they all needed to adjust to the new reality of their life.
Bill was among the few who favored action. Some came up with crazy ideas, saying that the gunfire they heard most nights was just a tape. 'It's always the same if you listen closely!' And the grainy images of aliens, how could you be sure who was in those dark protective suits? 'Could be anybody, really!' Sally was terrified when she heard him saying stuff like that. Their arguments become too frequent and too violent, until they decided they couldn't be together anymore. She sometimes saw him talking to his crazy friends, always apart from the others.
And then one day she saw his body, dead on the fence. He had managed to climb up, but his trousers got tangled in the barbed wire, there was a wide gash in his calf. The military had to shot him. 'His groans might've attracted the aliens', the colonel said and they all nodded in agreement.
After the tragic incident, no one dared to question reality anymore.

Image: Pixabay

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