 Welcome to Microterrorz. Scary stories for kids. Where it's always the spooky season. Full of chills. Thrills. And spine-tingling spooks. Microterrorz are family-friendly frights for those ages 8 and up. And while our stories are for younger ears, we are still talking about things that go bump in the night. And some children may not be able to handle what others can. Parental consent is recommended. Now for tonight's Microterrorz. In the windows only moments earlier, she had seen the latest light show, the insane bursts of blue that almost blinded her before subsiding back into darkness. She didn't want to know what was going on outside. And now she regretted letting Peter rush out of the house like he did. What kind of mother am I, Barbara thought, disgusted by her decision. She needed to rise to the occasion like her son had, whatever the occasion was. She did believe what her son told her, something about zombies coming from the graveyard across the street. But at the same time, she didn't. Sure, something was wrong, that much was certain. The power going out all over town, the blue lightning and flashes from the sky. That darn cosmic pulse, Barbara thought, it's making everyone crazy. There had to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this. Barbara stood up from the kitchen table and walked through the house until she was at her front door. She grabbed a light jacket from the coat rack, tossed it on and opened the door. George startled her at the doorstep. He looked sick. He looked wrong. Barbara cocked her head and gawked at her husband. She wanted to say something but she couldn't find the words. His skin was dead and peeling. He had peculiar red smears all over himself. His eyes were unnatural shades of yellow and red and there was nothing behind them. No emotion, no feeling, no life. George was dead, but yet there he was standing before her. Before she could utter his name, he attacked Barbara with a snarling force. Her screams echoed throughout Holman, blending in with all the others. Peter couldn't remove his eyes from the thing in the sky. Not even the countless screams of men, women and children across Holman were enough to deter his focus. He'd seen this kind of thing before, however it was always in the movies. War of the Worlds, the man from Planet X, Planet 9 from outer space. Peter didn't even want to think of the implications of what he was seeing now. And on top of a zombie apocalypse? This wasn't going to go well. Sean rushed out of his house, joining Peter on the porch. He looked briefly at the shimmering blue wall that surrounded Holman, but then turned his attention to the sky, just like his friend. Just like everyone else was doing. Is that ahhh? Sean began, but couldn't bring himself to finish the question he never thought he'd have to ask. A flying saucer, Peter confirmed, still taken aback by the sight. The flying saucer that had entered the airspace over Holman was also the responsible source of the shimmering dome that now covered it. Peter's brain worked over time, trying to make sense of it all. If the saucer was responsible for the dome, it was a safe assumption that it was also responsible for the mysterious cosmic pulse that was tracked through space, as well as the strange bolts of lightning that reanimated the dead. Was this some sort of sick game, Peter thought? Raise the dead, let them wreak havoc and just watch all the carnage from above? Was this a form of alien entertainment? Then, out of nowhere, the ship silently lowered itself, landing and disappearing behind the fog-ridden cemetery. We're being invaded by aliens and zombies! Sean said, his pizza cutter rattling in his grip. Before Peter could respond, a deep voice called out from the street. Sean! Peter! Get down! The tall, brooding, mustachioed sheriff Eros was rushing towards them, his gun drawn. Peter and Sean didn't think twice. They both ducked to the ground as Holman's beefed-up sheriff opened fire. Two heavy thuds hit the ground behind the boys. Peter rolled over to see who sheriff Eros had dropped. He saw two individuals on the ground, a man and woman, both dead. Well, deader. Mom! Dad! Peter mumbled. He stood to his feet and looked down at his zombified parents. His mind went blank. He didn't know how to feel. He knew grief was there, but something was keeping it from surfacing. You boys have to come with me now, Sheriff Eros said, trying to hurry them along. But my parents, Peter said, shakily. They weren't your parents, Sheriff Eros expressed. They had been changed by the dead. Those things are everywhere. They're multiplying faster than I can eliminate them. Where's my dad? Sean asked the sheriff. I eliminated him, he matter-of-factly said. Sean's jaw dropped. But he came to get you. Eros laughed darkly. Oh yeah, he came to get me all right, get me with his teeth. He came at me looking for a meal, a Halloween night snack. I wasn't going to let my brain become that snack. Peter turned to the sheriff. We have a new problem, he said, motioning to the cemetery. Eros knew exactly what Peter was talking about. The aliens, he said. Yeah, that's definitely a problem. We'll just add it to the list of other nonsense. The screams around Holman continued, almost overshadowed by the snarling groans from the ever-growing number of undead ghouls. There's an old mineshaft off the main stretch about a quarter of a mile south of here, Eros said. They used it back in the day to transport materials when Holman was established. With that force field up all around us, I think the mineshaft is our only shot at getting out of here and getting help. Sean froze. That mineshaft is haunted. Eros scoffed. It's not haunted. I personally spread that rumor to keep the kids of Holman away from it. It's dangerous, but it's also possibly our only way out of here. What about Edgar, the miner? Sean asked. I made him up too. Edgar was my grandfather, Eros said. He was definitely a spook, but not a ghost. A cold breeze blew against the back of Peter's neck. He felt something was wrong. He felt another impending danger. Turning around, he saw the fog thickening before him. And within the fog, he saw shadows, shadows that belonged to the dead. They lurched from the fog and revealed themselves, ghoulish, dead, and hissing with malice. Peter turned and tried to run, but slipped on a pile of wet leaves in the grass. He smacked the ground, clunking his head against it. As he shook off the daze, he heard several muffled gunshots around him. Sheriff Eros was eliminating more zombies as he had so casually put it. But then, the gunshots ceased to exist. He heard a scream in place of them, a manly yet devastating and defeated scream. Peter struggled to get to his feet, swaying from one side to the other. In his foggy days, he saw a blurry and distorted event play out before him. Several figures, several zombies attacked Sheriff Eros from behind. His weapon was dry and had no way of fighting back. Peter's vision began to clear up. The zombies overpowered Holman's sheriff, taking him down to the ground and smothering him until his screams were abruptly canceled. Sean lunged at the pile of zombies on top of the sheriff, slicing and dicing his pizza cutter at them like he was serving up an extra-large pepperoni and sausage. But then, the circular blade got wedged between one of the zombies' shoulder blades and neck. Sean couldn't get it to come back out. He struggled, he pulled, he yanked, but it was all to no avail. He had to abandon his weaponized utensil. Sean stepped back, bumping into Peter who was now fully recovered. The boys stood side by side, slowly backing away from the zombies. As all of the undead monsters rose to their feet and staggered in their direction, Sheriff Eros also rose up, dead and gray with glowing eyes. He snarled at the boys, joining in the morbid chorus of the dead. Wet snarls and inhuman screeches erupted behind the boys. They spun around to see another horde of zombies closing in on them. They were trapped, sandwiched between two different hordes who wanted nothing more than to eat them and turn them into their ghoulish clones. It was dice-dowing you, Sean cried out. Peter was overwhelmed. He heard Sean but couldn't bring himself to respond. In just a moment, once the first bite happened, it wouldn't matter anyway. Peter decided to just close his eyes and wish for a quick death. Maybe it won't be so bad, he thought. They all seem to work together pretty well. That's something that even living humans can't do. Seeing nothing but the darkness under his eyelids, Peter made peace with his horrific fate. He squeezed his eyes shut even tighter. But then something happened. There was a loud sound, a blast. It reminded him of a laser gun blast from the hundreds of science fiction movies he'd seen and video games he'd played. The blast was followed up by a sizzling sound and then a pop. Oh my God! Peter heard Sean say in complete disbelief. Peter opened his eyes just as the blasts continued. They were lasers. Piercing electric green blasts hit the zombies. They sizzled from the legs up until they were charred like the burnt drippings at the bottom of an oven. Then pop. They burst into a cloud of ashes. Blast after blast, each zombie that surrounded Peter and Sean met the same exact fate until there were none left. Within the wet leaves and grass around them now lay a fine layer of black ash. There were still screams and gunshots echoing in the distance but within their space Peter and Sean were met with unnerving silence. They breathed heavily, their hearts pounding with the ferocity of a thousand tribal drums. Then, through the fog, another figure appeared. This one was much taller than the zombies. It walked upright like a human and was more brooding and wider in the shoulders like it wore enormous shoulder pads. Its head was rounded like a dome and in one of its hands was a weapon. The laser gun perhaps? Still on the side of caution, Peter and Sean slowly backed up as this new entity split the fog in half finally revealing itself in full to them. It was nearly seven feet tall and wore some kind of armor plated suit with strange markings all over it. The suit shined unlike any material the boys had ever seen before. The weapon in its grip was cannon-like. Colors swirled around the barrel as it hummed with life. The armor suit it wore was larger near the shoulders and atop of it was a helmet, a glass dome. But it was what was beneath the helmet. That was terrifying. Being inside the suit looked human enough but its face was all wrong. Its features were sharp, angled strangely and in some areas seemed to droop while in others seemed more pronounced. It looked like it was made from clay. Even its mouth was just a long slit that looked like it didn't belong like it was an afterthought. Its eyes were small and beady and its head was bald but with grooves reaching from the front to the sides where ears should have been. Peter had come to a well educated conclusion that this being, this heavily armored alien life form was the reason Holman had fallen under such a horrible spell. He and Sean froze. They had been able to somehow fend off the zombies but now seeing this hulking beast from another world standing before them and wielding it out of this world weapon that proved capable of vaporizing someone in an instant their hope to elude death quickly faded. This is it! Sean said, accepting their impending fate. As Peter and Sean braced themselves for imminent vaporization something happened, a sharp crackle like feedback from a microphone and then a short burst of static emitted from a speaker system somewhere on the alien's suit. When the fuzzy static cleared, the being spoke but it was in a language the boys had never heard before a very alien language. As they tried to communicate with them Peter and Sean shot each other a quick glance. The alien grunted in frustration and then reached up to a small speaker box centered on its chest plate. It pressed a button and then spoke again. Its voice sounded like it was being strained through a radio but it was now at least in a language the boys understood. Do not be afraid. The alien said, I have not come to hurt you. The fear that Peter and Sean had felt began to melt away. The alien continued. This is all one giant misunderstanding. It said, I am going to be in so much trouble. Tune in next week for the finale of our four week Micro Terror's Halloween event. Halloween Night of the Living Dead. Thank you for listening to Micro Terror's. Join us each Saturday for another scary story. For more fun visit our website at microterrors.com where we will also have spooky games you can print out and play like wicked word searches, mysterious mazes and more. MicroTerrors.com is also where you can find us on your favorite social media and even send in your own scary story for us to tell. Plus, you'll learn more about our author Scott Donnelly who has other horrors for both young and old. I hope you'll join me again soon from MicroTerrors. Scary stories for kids. If you want to listen to the podcast you can find it at weirddarkness.com.