June 1, 7.30 PM

Dunkin' Donuts, 3201 W Cermak Rd, Chicago, IL

I shuffled around unnervingly in my seat, stirring my coffee shakily. I stared out at that dark night sky, clouds hovering around above the city and obstructing my view of any incoming alien ships in the air. Awaiting the arrival of those unseen extraterrestrial creatures, I tapped my feet rapidly against the ground as I continued looking out of the window.

It felt so unreal that some hostile beings would be landing near or in the city in a matter of an hour or less. I paused and began observing the other customers in the café. Seeing their elated smiles and emotional expressions made the expected attack of the incoming aliens so surreal. It was impossible to see all of these mirthful faces turn into pained ones, where they be crying out loud when the hostiles attack us.

It was also impossible not to feel guilty that I had to withhold all of this information from everyone else around me. I couldn't tell my family. I couldn't tell my friends. I couldn't even tell the very person that was about to meet me: Enrique Vasquez. I knew better than ever that if he didn't deserve to know about the attack, then no one else should. He helped me to adjust to moving to Little Village after getting out of juvie. It was around the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that that happened, while there was much tension between the Latinos and us Blacks. Thanks to him, though, the bridge between the different ethnic groups in the neighbourhood was rebuilt after starting an effective campaign to bring down racism and build up harmony. But that should be a story for another time.

At the point of time, the only thing I could think of was how to shamelessly lie to his face and pretend that I didn't know nothing when I did. There was no way in hell that I was going to be able to portray myself calmly while hiding my knowledge of the imminent alien attack in front of him. He would instantly notice that something was off, and probably ask me about it.

"Hola, amigo!" Enrique's voice rang in my head in the middle the war of conflicting and confused thoughts going on in my mind. I shook my head vigorously, wondering why I was imagining him greeting me out of nowhere. After doing so, everything in my mind went quiet. Only then did I realise that Enrique's voice wasn't exactly in my head.

"Sorry, I know I'm late," he said as he placed his jacket on his chair. "Got caught in a jam at one of the junctions nearby. Some lunatics were pointing rifles at everyone's cars while one of them screamed something like 'Judgement Day has come! They're coming for us!' Something along the lines of that. Then some riot started, and I had to wait to turn back and take a detour to get here."

I laughed nervously in response to his recount of the chaotic event. "That sounds c-crazy! Ha-ha!" I continued to chuckle, stuttering as I spoke. I couldn't help but quickly wipe the smile off my face, as sweat droplets rolled down my cheeks rapidly.

Enrique instantly noticed that I was pretty off, just as I had expected. "You okay? You seem really anxious," he questioned, moving his head to get a closer look at the perspiration dripping from my forehead down to my chin.

I attempted to get out of my worried state, wiping the sweat off my forehead and cheeks, before smearing it onto a napkin that I had brought up from the table. I dumped it back in my pocket, before waving my hands in denial. "It's nothing. Just a little tense for... no reason actually," I responded with a terrible answer.

Enrique raised his eyebrows, nodding as I assumed that he somewhat accepted my reply, although it was obvious that he still had some doubts about me. "Alright... I'll just get something to eat first then," he said as he got up from his chair and walked over to the counter to order some food.

After waiting to order halfway, however, he suddenly stepped out of the queue, gesturing to me to come over. He then pointed to the television that was suspended from the ceiling near the counter, which I focused on. "Yo, check this shit out! CNN documenting on some sort of UFOs, live? Unbelievable!" he exclaimed excitedly over the news programme that was playing.

I got a look at the programme myself, watching it carefully as the newscaster spoke. "This is CNN breaking news. This has just come in from NASA, which has been observing a large unidentified spacecraft that has just began an orbit around Earth, hovering near the International Space Station. However, it has been confirmed that the spacecraft does not belong to the United States, and that seeing the size of it and the amount of radiation it has been emitting, it is unlikely to be owned by other nations. Now playing will be live footage captured by NASA."

As such, a low-resolution video began playing. Despite this, I was still able to make out what the spacecraft was in the video, since it was indeed massive, just as the newscaster and Mr. Cornwall from Valour had informed. The spacecraft remained parked above the Earth, and I could vaguely identify the International Space Station sitting behind it.

I stopped focusing on the screen for a moment, as I took some time to observe the other café-goers. They all seemed to be as hypnotised by the screen as I was, keeping their eyes on the footage within looking away. Thus, I looked back at the screen, which finally seemed to play some sort of a more dynamic video. The footage depicted the spacecraft releasing smaller ones that were barely visible, but soon were, after they were zoomed into.

The camera angle began to change as these smaller spacecrafts moved down towards the Earth, making their way away from their proportionally bigger mothership. The footage went on showing what almost felt like a loop of the spacecrafts' descent, until flares appeared on them, as they entered Earth's atmosphere.

These spacecrafts came diving down faster than ever as the camera nearly failed to keep up with the change of angle it had to make to focus on them. Eventually, however, the spacecrafts slowed rapidly, as the flares faded away, causing the footage to become clearer than before. The spacecrafts gradually reduced their tilt, as they approached the Earth's troposphere, before descending below the clouds.

The footage then switched to that of a completely different camera and angle, showing a high-resolution video of the spacecrafts reappearing below the clouds in the air. The spacecrafts moved slower than they did before, and slowed their descent as well. They rearranged themselves in a complex formation that I couldn't quite understand. There wasn't a fixed pattern to it. However, it was clear to me that they weren't trying to symbolise peace by doing what they were doing. The still-unrecognisable spacecrafts descended slower than ever, before ceasing their drop in altitude and continuing their flight above a highly recognisable skyline.

Just as the footage was about to go on to show something much more alarming, the Emergency Warning System cut in, taking over the news broadcast. It flashed onto the television abruptly, sending many of the other customers in the café into a frightful panic. This was accompanied by the sounding of the tornado sirens in the city, which were clearly audible even in the café.

Everyone turned their focus to the television, where the Emergency Warning System message started playing. It began with the standard beeping and ringing noises, which caught every single person's attention. There was a short pause, before the announcement finally played.

"The following message is transmitted at the request of the government of Illinois. At 8.03 pm Central Daylight Time, numerous flash fires and explosions were detected at multiple locations in Chicago. The community areas where the events have been reported to be taking place in are centred in but not limited to: Lake View, Lincoln Park, Near North Side, Near West Side, The Loop, Near South Side, Douglas, Grand Boulevard and Hyde Park. Evacuation efforts are currently under way. Residents in Chicago are urged to leave and stay away from all buildings and structures which may pose fire hazards at this time. Tune in to media outlets for updates on the situation," the broadcast announced.

Finally, the broadcast ended with the standard rapid beeps. It then switched back to the preceding CNN news report, where the newscaster reintroduced the situation. "To the viewers in Illinois, I'm sorry for that interruption," the newscaster apologised. "We've just gotten reports that there have been fires and explosions in Chicago, alongside the unidentified spacecrafts flying across the city. Now, back to the live footage by NASA." Thus, the footage that had been cut off previously resumed. It was hard to link back the video I had been looking at before and the one that was playing now. This new camera showed the spacecrafts flying over the city, and also caught what seemed to be orange flashes across the skyline. However, it was hard to inspect them closely as the cameras were focused on the swiftly moving spacecrafts, not the skyscrapers surrounding it.

Nevertheless, the customers crowding around the café television gasped. Even I did, because I had my doubts about the alien attack until the news report wiped them away.

However, there was no need to even look at the news report anymore. Heading back to my seat beside the window, I looked out of the glass panel, staring at the spacecrafts zooming through the bright orange skyline. Seconds after the lights flashing across the sky came the deafening sounds of blasts, scaring the wits out of the many customers in the café. Thus, the glass windows rattled as the building vibrated lightly.

The most panicky customers instantly got up from their seats and made their way out of the café. Soon, there were cars reversing and driving off everywhere, the squeaking of tires being easily heard everywhere. Most cafegoers, however, remained in the Dunkin' outlet, too appalled by the situation to move.

"Holy crap," Enrique exclaimed as he moved away from the counter and approached me. "Did you hear that? They said Near West Side is one of the areas where those explosions are going off," he asked me, before joining me to look out of the window and stare at the nearby skyline.

"Seems about right," I reckoned, watching the colour of orange continue to paint the sky. Fortunately for us, the attack hadn't exactly hit us yet. All that we could feel was the occasional rattling of the café, which was the result of the nearby explosions. The inundation was close to us, but not enough to hurt us yet. Of course, we couldn't have been sitting ducks and wait out the invasion. Then again, no one really knew that it was an alien invasion, not even Enrique. Hence, there was no way that I could simply tell him that we had to leave, as at that point of time, it seemed safer to just camp in the café instead of leaving our only shelter and out into the danger zone of fiery explosions and blasts.

Looking back at the television, I watched as the news report flashed a diagram onto the screen. It detailed the locations where the fires had been starting up at. Thankfully, it did not include Little Village in it, yet. Below the diagram was a dramatic caption stating, "America Under Attack", which was the first time I had seen such a relevant breaking news caption that was accurate while being sensational.

"We shouldn't follow the rest of those people out of the café, right?" he made another question, quickly turning this tense conversation into what felt like an interrogation. "I mean, people are literally getting burned out there. It's probably safer to stay in here for now until we know more, right?"

I shrugged once more, unsure on how to answer him. Even if I were to confess to him that I had known about the attack beforehand, I wouldn't know what to tell him. The information that Valour had given me was limited enough, and that information was also all that they knew. Thus, there was somehow nothing more for me to actually know about.

I looked back at the television, seeing as the diagram changed. The highlighted red areas spread outwards gradually, indicating that the number of zones where the incidents of flash fires being reported was increasing. And it wasn't looking quite too good for us. The highlighted area moved north and south, but most critically, west.

Towards us.