‘...They think they can simply invade our planet? Take our people? Well I think not! In fact I...’ the officer droned on.

I wasn’t listening. In fact, I was doing everything but listening. I was looking at that banner on the wall.

‘Vivat Hominum’

Long live humanity. Yeah, right. The officer droning on was from another IHSA base in America. He was still wearing a T-shirt and shorts. Here, in IHSA Kazakhstan, we didn’t have the luxury of warmth. On the Russian borders, we had minus 9 as a hot day. They said they were putting a base here for more spread-out approach at gathering support. But the real reason was because of Intel that the PER were stationed in Moscow. This is as close as we could get without arousing suspicion.

‘Psst, Hey Tyger’ Whispered Andy. Andy was the AI designer for all the security, and my best mate.

‘What?’ I replied

‘Wanna go throw something at the security drones later?’ Andy asked. He was famous for his crazy antics. He was also famous for designing ruthless killing machines with all kinds of weapons. As the facility’s resident Pyrotechnical Expert, a master of all things that burn you or go boom, We were naturally friends.

‘Of course, idiot.’ I said.

I continued to stare into space and wait for the talk to end. I looked over at some birds flying in formation from the north. Probably flying south for the winter. Don’t see many birds around this ti- those aren’t birds.

‘SHIT!’ I exclaimed, over the voice of the officer

‘What is it, man?’ asked Andy

‘PER! P.E.R. INSURGENTS TO THE NORTH! THEY’VE GOT BOMBS!’ I yelled

There was a stunned silence as everyone either stared at me, thinking me insane, or looked out the windows. It didn’t last. A wailing siren filled the air, three sharp notes, a pause, and repeat. The signal for an aerial attack.  There was a commotion as guns were loaded, heavy cannons aimed, and people evacuated. This one lasted. Suddenly, I was standing in a bunker, and the sound of AA fire behind me made my hair stand on end. I hadn’t really considered the implications of killing these creatures. We were a new facility, barely opened, and had no prisoners. And from the sounds of those cannons, I don’t think that we are going to.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

Has it stopped?

BOOM

Is it over?

AAAHHHHHGGG!!!

What, or who was that?

RATATATATATATATA

Personal weapons? Surely they haven’t gotten inside?

Hissssssss

What’s that noi- oh god. I watched in horror as someone towards the door collapsed, writhing in pain.

They’re gassing us. I thought. I ran.