8.14 PM

As we continued to stare out of the window, we watched as the skyline in the distance slowly morphed from being engulfed in a streak of orange to a cloud of grey. It seemed as if the damage from the attack was subsiding. However, I assumed that they were simply done attacking downtown, and were moving towards the suburbs, towards us, where the destruction caused would have been less easily visible.

And I was right.

The noises coming from fires being started and more severe explosions got closer to us, as we watched the unidentified spacecrafts fly toward us. What seemed like dots seconds ago quickly became huge UFOs that could be easily made out. Those things came and went so quickly that it wasn't easy to get a good look at them.

As they flew past the café, things only got worse. The building shook more violently than ever, as cups and plates threatened to fall off the tables they were on. The strong winds caused by the flyover were so strong that it seemed that the roof was about to almost fall off. Some customers even began ducking under the tables in fear of the roof collapsing on them. Meanwhile, the pressure from the air being compressed by the spacecrafts cracked the windows all over the café.

That wasn't the worst to happen, though. While the alien ships continued to zip above the café, electrical sockets sent sparks flying everywhere, setting some wooden furniture ablaze. Kitchen appliances went on fire, and even the cash register got toasted, making sure that all of the money inside wouldn't go "ka-ching" no more.

This intense mess forced everyone who was ducking under the tables out of their no-longer safe space. Initially, some terrified customers ran straight for the door the instant the electrical appliances went haywire. However, after seeing that the streetlights outside were also igniting and threatening to incinerate any unprepared passerby, they retreated back into the store.

At that time, we seemed to be in a save haven, a faraday cage where we were safe from the much more severe fire and electrical hazards outside. Safe from the intense winds of the alien ships that could easily blow us away. However, we still had some minor issues to deal with, such as extinguishing the mini fires from the electrical outlets and appliances.

For now, all we had to do was stay away from the affected electrical devices and we were safe. Furthermore, the café staff had already began rushing out with buckets of water to put out the fires that were starting to spread here and there. Eventually, the only dangers left would have come from the appliances that hadn't been affected yet.

As there was finally some time for me to chill out and relax, I took the time to get in deep with understanding what was happening to us. There was clearly some correlation between the speeding spacecrafts and the malfunctioning of electrical devices everywhere. I mean, the damn things were obvious enough for anyone to link them together. In my opinion. I thought that there was some kind of interference between—except that their technology had some sort of immunity to being damaged by it.

Things only started—or sounded a little worse when I began hearing some loud buzzing coming from a flickering the light fixture. The woman sitting directly under it began looking up at it, wondering what was going on as much as I was. The light continued blinking on and off rapidly, as if it was to short circuit at any moment.

Unexpectedly, the fuse did not work, and the bulb caught on fire instead. It began burning up instantly towards the wooden rod that connected the light fixture to the ceiling. Noticing that the woman wasn't moving, but instead, was simply staring up at the unstable light fixture like she was hypnotised. I rushed over to her. Just before the stand could burn through completely and cause the whole structure to collapse, I grabbed her down from her seat, dragging her down to the ground with me, away from the plunging light fixture.

As the fixture crashed down onto leather seat violently, the other female customer who had been accompanying the woman screamed in terror. The fire spread across the entire bench, prompting another staff member to bring over another water bucket, as if they had been doing it a gazillion times.

The woman, who was still in shock, kept her gaze on the newly-started fire, which was now being put out by the café staff. She stared blankly as gallons of water came pouring down onto the fire, drowning it almost immediately. She finally snapped out of it as she watched the fire transform into a pathetically tiny bit of smoke.

She turned back, looking back at me, before shrieking and crawling back from me. "My goodness! I'm so sorry about that," she panicked, probably astonished to see that I had just saved her. She parted her hair to the side, clearing her throat before speaking, "T-t-thank you for saving me from that. I can't imagine dying to a falling light bulb. That could have been so stupid."

"Geez, Jen! How can you be so unaffected after meeting a near-death experience?" the woman's accompanying acquaintance nagged. "This man just saved your ass, and here you are, all silly and giggling! You should be a little more serious, you know?" She then turned to look at me, before her expression completely changed to an awkward grin. She approached me, reaching out her hand to shake and introduced herself. "I'm Veronica, this stupid girl's bestie."

The woman who I had just saved followed along and spoke in the same format as her friend, Veronica, had. "I'm Jennifer. I usually limit it to family members and besties to calling me Jen, but since you saved my life, I'll allow you to call me that too!"

"Besties? I thought I was your only one! I feel highly betrayed right now!" Veronica retorted.

A moment later, Enrique came stumbling over, somewhat shaken, just like everyone else, by the wild turn on events that had occurred earlier. He started pointing at the two ladies, which I already knew that it meant be was about to make a controversial comment. "Those girls drunk or something? Our city's getting rampaged by aliens in UFOs and they're just giggling innocently? I think it's time that we start praying," he criticised, sighing in dismay.

"Hungover, not drunk," Veronica corrected. "Had one too many drinks last night. Plus, with this confusing alien invasion stuff going on the news right now, we're both too flustered to think straight anymore. Aren't you both?"

Enrique and I both shook our heads in disagreement.

"Y'all just weird," Jennifer dismissed our response. "Anyway, what are we going to do now? Wait for some sort of evacuation procedure or secret military protocol to help to survive this hell of an alien attack?" she then elaborated on our next steps.

However, our conversation was quickly interrupted by something. Some smell, to be more specific. It was a sharp one that hit my nose instantaneously. As I looked around me, it was clear that the others had also noticed it, seeing how their faces displayed much disgust and discomfort in their frowns.

"Who farted?" Jennifer asked in a joking manner.

"Oh, obviously you. You're just trying to make yourself look innocent. How predictable!" Veronica ridiculed her friend.

However, I had already sensed that something was off. Of course, that smell wasn't a fart. But that could only have meant that it was something else, something much more hazardous. "Girls, this ain't no time to be joking," I warned them. "Doesn't this smell like a—"

"Gas leak! There's a gas leak!" the manager of the café came dashing out of the kitchen like a headless chicken. "All customers and staff, please evacuate immediately! The building is at risk of being engulfed in a major fire if the gas ignites!"

At that very instant, customers were sent panicking even more than ever. Some were sent into a state of mindless movement, such that one even went crashing through the cracked glass doors before falling onto the road outside. Despite her severe bleeding, no one stopped to help her. Instead, everyone ran for their lives, stampeding over he until she was definitely dead.

For once, the ladies became serious. Veronica began screaming uncontrollable, while Jennifer stepped back in fear, gasping quietly as she covered her mouth with her hand. The woman's body was barely a disturbance to those who had just ran over it without even noticing, but was a great deal of distress who the few who remained in the café for the time being, including us.

"I think we should really get the hell out of here before this place blows up," I warned the others as I watched the kitchen, which wasn't on fire yet at that point of time. "There's no way we'll know when them gas pipes gonna catch on fire like the other electrical devices had done so."

"Good idea," Enrique said as he abruptly grabbed onto my hand and dragged me towards the entrance, ignoring the body on the ground. "You girls coming?" he questioned, looking back at the two ladies, who for some reason were still waiting in the café to be blasted to bits.

"Well, no shit," Veronica snorted as she and Jennifer ran behind us. "You guys got an escape plan or something, though?"

"Well, I've got a car, so that should be enough," I continuing sprinting down the street with the rest, heading towards my car. "It should get us anywhere that we need to be."

As I looked behind, I watched as Enrique and the ladies stayed close to me as we rushed away from the building. They sure had some stamina for hungover girls who weren't able to think that straight previously. Then again, the two attributes weren't exactly linked.

Before I got a chance to turn back, I caught a glimpse of the very last customers and staff members sprinting out if the café far behind us. After that, a blinding light flashed before my eyes, causing me to look away as a reflex action. An ear-piercing noise of the blast followed, as the sound of the explosion reached us. I squatted down, covering my ears as the shockwave went past me, blowing my hair forward messily.

As the effects of the explosion passed, I got back up into a standing position, looking behind me. All I could see now was a dark cloud of smoke where the café had initially lay at. Engulfed by the smoke were some more bodies of the other customers who tragically didn't make it far enough from the café in time.

Tragic deaths that we had nearly encountered.