Earthfall by Mark Walden Read Free Book Online

were covered in pinpricks of the same green light that illuminated the dishes on the underside. There was only one word that Sam could think of that could possibly be used to describe it . . . alien .
    ‘Twitter just exploded!’ Jess said breathlessly as she dashed into Sam’s room. ‘Everyone’s going on about something really weird happening in London.’
    Sam didn’t reply – he just pointed at the TV.
    ‘As you can see,’ the reporter continued, ‘at its widest point, it stretches from Hyde Park to Waterloo station, a distance of, I would say, at least three kilometres. There has been no sign of activity anywhere on the disc and, as yet, no official word on the government’s response to this developing situation.’
    ‘What on earth is that?’ Jess asked, her eyes wide with surprise.
    ‘There’s nothing on Earth like it,’ Sam replied. ‘I think that’s the point.’
    ‘We’ve just been informed that the prime minister is currently meeting the COBRA emergency response committee at an undisclosed location,’ the newsreader continued. The newsroom, visible through the glass behind her, was frantic with activity. ‘We’re also hearing that similar discs are appearing in the skies all over the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. It is unclear, as yet, if these . . .’
    Suddenly, the image of the disc on the screen flared with light as the central spire on the top of the vessel lit up with an intense white light and a single beam of energy streaked upwards into the sky. Moments later the dishes on the object’s underside lit up, the dim green glow replaced with an intense, bright green light. Sam winced as his skull was filled with a pulsing, high-frequency whine. He shook his head as the volume of the sound increased and he started to feel a strange pressure building inside his head. He clapped his hands over his ears, but it made no difference. He gasped in pain as the screech got louder and louder. Then, just as it felt like his head would burst under the pressure, the sound stopped as abruptly as it had started.
    Sam removed his hands from his ears warily and watched on the television as the lights around the dishes on the bottom of the disc faded back to their previous dim level. Suddenly, Sam noticed something odd about what he was seeing on the screen. The newsreader had fallen silent and was now simply staring at the camera with a glassy-eyed vacant expression. Behind her the previously bustling newsroom had fallen silent, and the men and women who had been dashing frantically around just a few moments earlier now stood immobile, like statues.
    ‘Did you hear that?’ Sam said, turning to Jess. His sister didn’t reply. She was staring at a point on the wall, no sign of any emotion on her face, just the same trance-like expression as the silent woman on the television.
    ‘Jess!’ Sam snapped. ‘What’s wrong?’ He grabbed her shoulder and shook her gently but she did not respond, an occasional slow blink the only sign that she was even awake. He waved his hand in front of her eyes, but her focus never shifted. Sam ran out of his room and down the stairs, two at a time.
    ‘Mum! There’s something wrong with Jess!’ he shouted as he ran into the kitchen. His mum was on the sofa at the far end of the room, staring at the television, and as Sam approached he felt the first fluttering twinge of panic in his stomach. She wasn’t, he realised, watching the television at all; she was staring at it, her face frozen and emotionless too. Sam knelt down in front of his mum, put a hand on each of her shoulders and shook her gently. His mother’s head rocked backwards and forwards, but there was still no flicker of awareness in her eyes.
    Sam stood up, fear replacing panic. He took the phone out of its cradle on the countertop and quickly punched in his father’s mobile number, but the call wouldn’t connect. He didn’t even get his dad’s voicemail. He hung up and dialled Aunt Carol’s