4 years, 9 months, and 21 days. That is how long it’s been. Looking out to the great expanse of the city, all you could hear was silence. Littered through every street were hordes of abandoned cars all left behind in a panic. Nothing moving could be seen from my vantage point on an office building rooftop. I pulled out a radio and turned it on, hearing the static noise emanating from the device.

“This is Lieutenant David Stone, does anyone copy?” I said.

Again the static noise remained for a few minutes, before I decided to put away my radio. This is how it’s been day after day, waiting for something, anything to happen. Radios went silent many years ago. They either thought there was no point or they were all dead. There honestly wasn’t much of a difference at this point. I looked up to the stars, and started to think what kind of life they must be having up there.

I pulled out a small locket from under my shirt and opened it up. Inside was a picture of a pregnant woman smiling and holding her belly. I’m taken over by memories.

“Which one do you think will look better” she said.

My wife, Delilah was holding two sample paint cards in front of me. The two colors were yellow and pink, I pointed to the yellow one.

“I think our daughter will appreciate the yellow one more, at least that’s what I think. You should go ask her.” I said.

Bringing the two cards to her bulging stomach, she asked, “What color do you want?”

I hugged her, “I can’t believe we’re going to have a daughter in just a few months. We’re gonna be parents!”

She smiled so brightly. These were the happiest moments in our lives. For a while it felt like nothing could have gone wrong. For a while, everything felt right.

A news report was talking about a new threat and how a new rocket is the only way to save us. Delilah stormed into the room, stomach a little bit bigger, with a paper in hand.

“What do you mean, you have to stay!” Delilah said.

“Dear, I’m a soldier. It’s my duty to serve and protect us. I have direct orders, just like so many others.” I said.

“But what about if you die? You’re her father, you should at least be there for her when she’s born. What do you think she’ll say when she asks about you, and you’re not there? What if she grows up clueless and scared, not having you around in her life.” she said.

“I know that. Why do you think I’m staying here. I’m doing everything for her. This planet is our home, and her’s. Don’t you want her to actually grow up where her parents were born?” I said.

“I’d rather have her be born with both parents around” she said.

“I know why you’re angry. I would do everything to be with her, but it’s more important I be here, with my fellow soldiers defending our home. Besides, you won’t be up there for too long. Before you know it, you’ll be right back here, where you belong.”

“Just make sure you stay safe” she said.

“Always” I promised.

A few days later, I drove her to the new spacecraft, Exodus-1, one of many spacecrafts designed to hold and sustain a large number of people for quite a long time. Delilah was crying, belly still bulging.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Just say hi to her while I’m gone” I said, kissing her stomach.

“Okay. Be safe” she said choked up on tears.

She walked away, entering the craft. Me and many other soldiers watched as people boarded the spacecraft. The spacecraft fired off, every minute going higher and higher into the sky. I watched, clutching tightly to the locket with her inside. I could feel tears well up in my eyes as the spacecraft disappeared slowly into nothingness.

The day they were supposed to come back, was a year and 9 months ago. Soon after humanity fled the planet, it was quickly evident that fighting off the alien invasion of the planet was impossible. Me and my fellow soldiers would fight day after day, barely getting any sleep. As the days went by, more and more aliens flooded the streets, and more and more outposts would fall to the takeover. The horrors we had seen in just a few months was terrifying. It didn’t take long for command to tell us that they were abandoning Earth. Our families, our home, our lives, all of it was now forfeit. We were being forsaken and left to die, and the faces we all had that day was unforgettable. Eventually, all the rest of the soldiers died, till it was just me, me and the aliens.

4 years, 9 months, and 21 days. That was how long it’s been. I sat in silence for a while, clutching the locket to my heart, until a loud noise broke the silence. I ran towards my weapons on the other side of the roof when an alien ship flew overhead. I fired a rocket over to the ship. It crashed down, hitting a building in its wake. Rumbling and noise came from the city, but it wasn’t from the crash. I walked over to the edge, only to see thousands of aliens flooding the street, all headed in my direction. I sat down, pulling out the locket and kissing it, staring back into the sky.

This was just how it was, day after day.