Their Darkest Hour by Christopher Nuttall

happen with an alien invasion force in the heart of the city?  She breathed a silent prayer as the sound of gunshots echoed out in the distance, followed by a faint humming that seemed to echo in the back of her head.  One of the doctors walked over to the classroom door and peered down the corridor.  He jumped back, his face white as a sheet.
     
    “They’re coming,” he said.  His legs buckled and he collapsed on the floor.  “They’re coming!”
     
    Fatima braced herself as the first of the aliens came into view.  It was clear that the alien – she couldn’t tell if it was male or female – seemed to be having trouble in corridors designed for humans.  The weapon it carried in one hand looked too large to be carried by a human, although she had to admit that she knew almost nothing about weapons.  Dark eyes, seemingly without any colours at all, peered around the room.  Fatima met them for a second and was struck by just how alien the alien seemed to be.  It turned and headed onwards, followed by a small number of other aliens.  Fatima realised, as she felt her own legs give way, that they were expanding outwards.  God alone knew what they’d do when they ran into resistance...
     
    And, despite herself, she hoped that they would place the makeshift hospital under guard.  If London really did dissolve into chaos, the hospitals and chemists would be among the first places targeted for drugs.  Who knew how the aliens would react to rioters?
     
    ***
    Building by building, the advancing assault unit swept through the human city.  Outside their government centre, it seemed that there had been no time to rig traps or other surprises, although Tra’tro The’Stig knew better than to take anything for granted.  His superiors had noted his achievement in the first battles by granting him a lead role in the expansion, along with reinforcements that had been dispatched from orbit.  It was a honour he would happily have foregone.  The oddly misshapen humans seemed either curious or terrified of his patrol; he watched in amusement as some ran away, while others just stared at them as if they’d never seen a non-human before.  He shifted his weapon towards one of the humans who was paying too much attention to them in hopes of scaring the little creature away.  The human emitted a high-pitched whine and fled.
     
    The humans had abandoned many of their vehicles in positions that made it harder for the tankers to advance in support of the ground troops.  Two of the tanks had already started pushing human vehicles to one side, but the remainder were holding back, nervous about the consequences of meddling with alien technology.  Besides, the humans had shown a flair for creating traps and no tanker wished to lose his vehicle to a mere improvised bomb.  The’Stig cursed them under his breath, even as he saw another group of humans ahead of him.  They were staring at his patrol as if they couldn’t believe their eyes…
     
    A human voice yelled a command and the first projectiles crashed down around them.  The’Stig’s first thought was that they were under attack by human soldiers, but they were throwing glass bottles and stones rather than grenades and bullets.  A moment later, one of the bottles crashed down on top of a trooper’s head, sending him sprawling down onto the road.  The humans might not be soldiers, but they could harm his troopers.  Their defiance could not be tolerated. 
     
    He snarled as he pulled down on the firing trigger and sprayed bullets over the humans within eyesight.  They fell to the ground in bloody heaps, their comrades suddenly running back as if they’d realised that it wasn't a good idea to challenge the occupation force.  The’Stig refused to let them go easily; he lunged forward, firing burst after burst as he moved.  The attack ended almost as quickly as it had begun, with a number of humans dead and two of his troopers mildly injured.  He silently