It was an unusually warm afternoon for early October, almost uncomfortably warm. Around the neighborhood orange, yellow, and brown leaves fell slowly from the trees.

The alien creature descended from the sky. Its small wings would allow it to leap and glide long distances, but not truly fly. Its six legs all ended in sharp claws, and its powerful jaws were sideways. Its orange-brown body would have resembled a winged ant, if ants were the size of a cat and weighed ten pounds. Many of them were brown and yellow, or orange and yellow. Hundreds of others glided to the ground with it. They crawled across the park, intent on destruction. They would attack in waves, tearing pieces off their enemies until there was nothing left.

On the Space Soldier combat lander, Sarge told her troops, “Line up! Prepare for battle!”

A school bus stopped briefly, dropping off a small crowd of children near their homes.

The Space Soldiers ran from the transport as it touched down, pulling out their blasters as they readied to face the alien menace. Sarge yelled, “Follow me! Go! Go!”

They noisily clumped across the terrain in their heavy power armor, rapidly shooting creature after creature, eliminating dozens of them. The tallest and largest of the Space Soldiers, Chavez, yelled; “Sarge! Over there! See that big brown one!”

Sarge ran forward as she commanded, “Blasters won’t work on the big ones! Ready power swords and charge! Chavez go left! Get the right Joe! Everybody else, back them up!”

One of the squad started to panic, “There’s another big one! And two more over there! We’re surrounded!” Dozens of the smaller creatures kept descending from the sky.

Sarge shouted, “Don’t be a baby! If you want to get out of here alive, fight! Fight!” She jumped atop the long brown body of the dead alien, declaring, “This one’s finished! Go get the others! Over there!” She pointed at two more of the big brown aliens in the distance.

Watching her men fight the dangerous monsters, Sarge held a hand to her ear, yelling, “Where is Charlie Company! We need them over here!” She heard only static on the radio and shouted, “Joe, I have a dangerous mission for you. Go get Charlie company!”

Joe saluted, “Yes sir!”, and ran to get the reinforcements they needed badly.

Sarge was annoyed as he ran off, saying to herself, “How many times do I have to tell him? You only salute officers, and I’m a girl!”

Oblivious to the aliens, a young lady pushed her infant home from the store in a stroller, with groceries tucked in the back of it.

An elderly man happily set up Halloween decorations in his front yard. He smiled and chuckled, watching the group of kids hitting a log repeatedly with sticks, while another one held her finger and thumb in the shape of a pistol, saying, “Pew! Pew!” A boy unhooked a golden retriever from its doghouse and jogged back to the group, with the dog running circles around him.

A leaf with a couple of acorns attached fell toward a boy’s arm. Space Soldier Chavez yelled, “Ow! I’m hit! Medic!”

Sarge happily shouted, “Yes! Charlie company’s here! We’re saved!” The big dog jumped and knocked her down. She landed in a pile of leaves and Charlie licked her face. -