"4:32"
Taylor awoke from a dead sleep. She looked over to the alarm clock positioned on the nightstand. The red LED display showed 4:32am and Taylor turned over in her bed and looked away from it. She knew she'd have to be up in an hour and a half anyway to get ready for work, but that didn't seem to matter. Any amount of sleep would be welcomed at this point and she could allow herself a bit of procrastination. Taylor toyed with the thought of calling in and taking the day off, but it had hardly been two weeks since she'd started at Calhoun's as a server. The money was good enough and she'd already made a few friends on the lunch shift. She didn't want to jeopardize this opportunity, but her mind still fought with Procrastination. Her mind went several places as she laid on the twin bed.
Thirty minutes must have passed as Taylor McMahan tossed and turned in her sheets. Something didn't feel right, but she couldn't quite put her finger on exactly what that was. It was as good a time as ever to get up and step outside. She wearily pushed herself out of the warmth and comfort her bed provided and put a coat over her bra. No one would be up at this hour, but if they were she didn't mind too much to put on a show for whoever happened to be looking. After finally finding her pack of Marlboro Special Blend shorts, she headed out onto the porch of her two-bedroom condo. The air was crisp and nipped at her legs as she stepped out into the open porch and her hands started to shiver lightly. Quickly she fished out a cigarette and within moments she had taken her first few draws from her first one of the day. She let her mind drift to her parents and her sister that was only a few years younger than her.
"Collapse"
Chaos. The Christmas season truly brought out the worst in people, Taylor thought as she attempted to navigate the hordes of Knoxville, Tennessee traffic. The interstate would have proven to be a much faster alternative, but ever since she rear-ended that man on I-40, she'd never been too keen on driving it. It was a quarter past seven and she was sure she'd be late to work today. Traffic had slowed to a crawl on Kingston Pike, and Taylor's mind was wondering once again this morning. Robert, the shift manager and her boss, probably wouldn't take too kindly to her being late, but she was sure he'd understand with the insane amount of traffic that had amassed on the roads. Perhaps he'd even laugh at the joke Taylor had come up with, referring to the Christmas shoppers as moronic assholes with money in their pockets and shit in their skulls. What would she do if he took offense to the crude statement? Taylor looked down to the dashboard of her Honda Prelude. She still had ten minutes and only two miles to go, but if this traffic didn't move any faster she'd be late for sure.
A jolt rocked the car to a halt and caused Taylor gasp in panic. She'd rear-ended the white SUV in front of her. A number of curse words came to mind as she quickly threw the car into park and opened the car door. Oddly the man who's car she'd hit was already standing outside of the SUV. Looking up, the man appeared to be awe-struck like a deer in front of a fast approaching pair of headlights. Something wasn't right, Taylor's mind had concluded. She approached the man and apologized several times as she did so, but he didn't even spare a second to glance at her. His face looked as though the color had been drained from it and to Taylor it looked as though he'd been scared shitless. Taylor happened to glance around toward the other motorists, some of which had already stepped out of their own vehicles and looked upward. None paid any attention to Taylor or the man with the white SUV.
Confused and bewildered, Taylor finally looked up. The view inspired both awe and fear.
Thousands of otherworldly ships dotted the sky and were steadily flying out in all directions. The invasion known as the 7-Hour War had commenced without any warning. Taylor's world, as she knew it, came crashing down in a fiery blaze.