Sci-Fi | Time Warp | Alien Invasion
First Day on the Job
If done correctly, the job of a home inspector is crucial to future homeowners, especially first-time homeowners. As a home inspector, my duty is to educate homeowners on how to properly maintain their homes. After completing my training, I founded my own home inspection business and shortly landed my first (and last) client.
“Okay, so here’s how the inspection is going to play out,” I said, commencing my inspection. “We’ll start by circling the exterior of the house a few times. Our first go-round, I’ll take a look at the foundation. The second time, the sidings. Finally, the roof. I want you to follow me so I can explain what we’re looking for, and any signs of concern that we might find.”
The inspection went well.
Near the end of the home inspection, I then checked to see if it was safe to enter the crawl space. Everything seemed fine. With my khaki-colored jumpsuit and hard hat on, I got down on all fours, ignited my flashlight, and entered the crawl space. Aside from signs of slight moisture exposure on the floor joists and oriented strand board, likely due to the lack of a moisture retarder covering the dirt, everything seemed fine.
“Everything looks good!” I called out to my client and their agent. “I only have a few notes,” I said.
I didn’t receive a response, which wasn’t a surprise because I wasn’t really expecting one. What was a surprise, however, is what I saw upon exiting the crawl space.
“Other than some…” I began but was interrupted by the sight before me.
I scanned the skies and noticed dark clouds in all directions blotting out the sun. Fire blazed across the city skyline in the distance. The houses in the neighborhood, including the one I was inspecting, were all ablaze.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked myself. I was utterly perplexed by the devastation around me.
A loud rumbling that pierced through the sky approached from some unknown direction. Instantly, military jets zipped overhead. I ducked and covered my ears as the sound of their loud engines clapped above me. They flew in an erratic formation as three flying saucers pursued them and emitted rays of light from their hulls.
So many thoughts ran through my mind. I thought maybe I had hit my head on a floor joist and passed out and was now dreaming of an alien apocalypse. I pinched myself, but that didn’t work. “If this is real,” I thought to myself, “how did it happen so suddenly? Where are my wife and kids? Is there a hole in my new sock?” The fabric of the sock pinching my big toe distracted me from the chaos around me, but only for a moment.
Just then a pickup truck decked out in post-apocalyptic armor and people similarly clad pulled up to the sidewalk.
“Are you okay?” one of the passengers who was riding in the bed of the truck asked as she exited and approached me.
When I opened my mouth to respond, all that would come out was a scream that lasted significantly longer than it should have.
Apparently, I had passed out.
Some time later, I awoke.
Black clouds rolled overhead.
I could not tell if it was day or night. It didn’t matter. What I could tell, is that this post-apocalyptic world was somehow my new reality.
A young woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties leaned over me and stared into my eyes. There was familiarity in those eyes, but I felt so groggy that I wasn’t sure of anything. I could see her lips moving, but I couldn’t hear anything. With her assistance, I sat up and propped myself against the tailgate. Slowly, my hearing was restored.
“Can you hear me?” the young woman asked.
“I can hear you,” I replied laboriously.
“Good. You’ve been out for minute.”
“I think I freaked out. What the hell’s going on?”
“Where have you been for all these years?” she asked me.
“What do you mean?”
“You went to work and never came back?”
All I could do was stare at her perplexedly. “Do I know you?” I asked.
“It’s me,” she replied. “It’s Dana…Dad.”
I suddenly realized why her eyes looked so familiar.
“You never came home,” she began. “We searched and searched for years and accepted the worst.” She somberly paused for a moment. “Shortly after you disappeared,” she continued, “aliens invaded. We had to stop searching for you so we could survive the invasion. I’ve been fighting ever since.”
“What about mom, what about…” I began but stopped suddenly after she hung her head and fought back tears.
I was speechless. I didn’t know what else to do but grab her and comfort her. I had to somehow figure out how to mourn my wife and son, grasp the fact that I had missed almost two decades of my daughter’s life, and survive this apocalypse.
All I could think to myself was, “Hell of a first day on the job.”
