July 2, 2008
The peaceful town of Taos, New Mexico is going along fine. A soldier returns to visit, a young couple confess their love for each other, while another couple becomes engaged. All is well. But nobody can forget the tremors the day before. The tremors that killed more than ten people. The blinding light, that seemed to signal the stars.

July 3, 2008
They have come.

Excerpt:

Chapter 1



July 1, 2008. Taos, New Mexico

Private Jonathan Howard walked up to the front door of his parents’ house. He walked up the weathered stone steps that he had fallen down many times as a young kid, and up to the oak door that he had slammed shut in anger the day he left to the military, leaving his disapproving parents behind him.
He came here for forgiveness, and maybe for some respect.
As he stepped up to the door in his beige army uniform, he took a deep breath. He wondered if his family would still accept him into the family.
He put his finger on the doorbell, hesitated a moment, then pressed it.
The familiar three note tone sounded inside and he heard his father call out:
“Sue, get the door!’
“Why can’t you?” he heard his mom call.
“’Cause I got a game to watch.”
“Oh for crying out loud!’
The door opened and there stood his mom in a blue, flowered dress with a white apron tied around her waist.
“Hi, Mom!” Jon said smiling.
His mother stood there staring at him, mouth opened.
“Who is it?” Jon’s father said, coming up the stairs from the family room,” Sue, who- oh damn…”
“Hi, Dad,” Jon said, forgetting the first thing his dad had just said to him.
“What the hell are you doing here, boy?” his father asked.
“I- I came to visit you guys,” Jon said,” I just got done with my service and arrived from Iraq today.”
Jon’s father shook his head and looked down.
“Well, come in I guess,” he finally said and went back to watching his game.
Jon walked in , past his still staring mother, and set his bags down on the foot of the staircase leading to the second floor. He turned to his mom and hugged her.
“I missed you,” he said and let go.
She didn’t say anything, but a tear rolled down her cheek.
Jon didn’t know if it was a tear of joy, or a tear of pain.
He walked into the familiar kitchen and the smell of baking bread filled his nose.
His mom let out a sort of squeak and came bustling into the kitchen.
“Oh Jon!” she said and came up and slapped him,” how dare you come back here? You left me worried sick and broken-hearted, now you want back in just as if nothing happened? No! Get out!”
“What?” Jon asked exasperated.
“Get out!” she said firmly and pointed back to the door,” get out of this house! You left it behind you when you left us behind. Now, GET OUT!”
Jon looked to his father, who was focused on the television and didn’t respond at all.
Jon slowly picked up his bags again and walked out the door, tears forming in his eyes.
His mom came and was about to shut the door, when he said to her:
“I love you.”
She slammed it in his face.
He stood there, tears falling from his face, onto the hot cement steps.
He sat down and looked into the sky.
His parents disowned him. They wanted nothing to do with him.
He stood up and walked to the street curb. He looked down both ways, picked his bags up, and began walking towards the town.


He arrived at the old town diner and sat down in the booth he had always sat in as a kid. He looked out the window and tried to figure out what to do.
The waitress came up to him.
“What can I get ya?” she asked. She was a pretty, young blonde girl, probably about seventeen or eighteen years old, by Jon’s calculations.
“Just a cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke,” he told her and she walked off to get his order.
He saw a young couple come through the door. Both were teenagers and they had their hands held.
He smiled as he remembered his old girlfriend from high school, Janice Walters. Everyone thought they were going to be married, until he had left for the military.
That’s when the vibrations began.
They started out as a faint rumble. People thought they were just some sort of train going by, but then they grew in intensity.
A block of cement fell from the ceiling and hit a man in the head.
He fell to the ground as blood came pouring out of his head.
People screamed and the tremors grew.
Soon, Jon fell out of his booth and narrowly avoided another block of cement that fell where he had been seconds before.
A huge crash came from behind the counter.
Jon’s military training kicked in, and he hopped over the counter to see what was wrong?
In the back, he saw a huge piece of steel had fallen through the ceiling, impaling the blond girl who had served Jon.
Her face was pale and blood was trickling from her motionless mouth.
He ran back out to the front.
“Everyone outside, now!” he yelled and directed all the others out onto the street.
When all were there, he looked down the street and saw that a huge crack was forming up the middle.
“Holy sh-“a man began to say, but was cut short when a radio antennae toppled over and crushed him.
More screams erupted and the diner exploded into a mountain of flames.
What the hell is going on? Jon thought and watched as a car swerved off the road and smashed a group of pedestrians into a wall.
He ran to check if there were any survivors and saw that the young couple from the diner was following him.
“What are you doing?” he asked them.
“We know those people,” the boy said and an ahead of Jon.
But they didn’t make it as the spot where the crashed car had been exploded inward and a huge hole began to form in the ground.
“Holy crap!” the boy yelled, grabbed the girl, and ran back.
Jon stood on the edge and stepped back as more and more fell down into the black hole below.
Finally the hole stopped spreading and it was silent.
Jon stared into the blackness and was about to turn away, when a huge light erupted from within.
He was blinded and fell backwards onto the ground.
The light flashed five times and subsided.
When Jon’s vision cleared, he got up and walked to the Diner Group.
“What the hell was that?” a man asked as he kicked at the dead hand of the crushed man under the radio antennae.
“I have no clue,” Jon said.
“Was it an attack on the U.S.?” a woman asked,” like terrorists or something?”
“No,” a man told her,” no terrorists could attack from UNDERGROUND!”
“It wasn’t an attack,” Jon said.
“Then what was it?” the man asked him.
“If it was anything,” Jon said and looked to the cloudless sky,” it was a signal.”