Fiction: Breaking News
By Mason Yates
“Nights in White Satin” ended with an abrupt halt halfway through the song, replaced by a frightened female’s voice who shrieked from the radio speakers throughout the car. “Sorry to interrupt the music, but I have been alerted about a-”
And that’s how it started.
“-a mysterious phenomenon that has suddenly rocked the-” came a male’s voice from the local Florida radio station.
“-the world as we know it-” an older lady with a thick Asian accent screamed out.
“-although nothing is really-” a calm British woman’s voice said.
“-known at this time-” a man’s Indian accent spoke rapidly from the radio.
“-the government is not saying much-” a deep-voiced man muttered.
“-I don’t know whether my speculations are true, but-” someone growled.
“-it appears we are not alone in the-” a woman from some unknown part of the world said and her voice came through from the ham radio.
“-they are here, my fellow-” a fast-talking man spoke.
“-están aquí, mi amigos-” someone said in Spanish.
“-alieni-” said the Italian.
“-aliens came a crashin’ down on this-” the midwestern accent yelled.
“-it is not known whether they intended to crash, but they are here nonethe-”
“-fellow Americans, it is too early to tell what is happening here, but I assure you, the-” the President’s voice spoke with a distinct calmness over the radio.
“-this is an attack on our-”
“-I think this could be a false flag done by the elites to-” the conspiracy theorist added to the radio discussion.
“-it is possible that-”
“-whatever it is, my friends, it is sure to be a-”
“-the spaceships, saucer-like crafts that many will remember from science fiction comics from their youth, have-”
“-crashed onto this planet. Yes, they have crashed onto this planet-”
“-it remains a mystery as to why they have crashed and not landed without a hitch-” the British man said.
“- surely, you’d think that the aliens could have been more than capable of a-”
“-none of them have perfected a landing-”
“-how many in total? I can’t tell you, but the-”
“-we have just received that the seventy-second confirmed crash is in Evansdale, Ohio-”
“-come in, Rodger, there is no movement inside the spacecraft-” crackled the radio on the soldier’s hip. “-nothing as far as I can-”
“-the question is-” came the radio show host “-why crash and not gently land? I think-”
“-there are multiple confirmed crashes randomly dotted through the world-”
“-extraterrestre sont partout-” the excited Frenchman screeched.
“- as of currently, the United States has ten other known crashes-”
“-Arizona, Montana, Florida… the list goes on-”
“-livin’ in crazy times-”
“-not act like we don’t know what’s goin’ on here! It’s a fuckin’ invasion, and we’re-”
“-I’m telling you, and I’m not the only one who thinks this! This is not real, it’s a fake-”
“-reports of a mysterious yellow-”
“-thirty minutes after the crashes, there-”
“-Brazil and Russia have reported spotting-”
“-acidic fog, folks. I think there is more than meets the-”
“-fog eats every-”
“-thinkin’ these things come in peace! Hell, no! These are-”
“-the fog is creeping slowly but surely from the spacecr-”
“-General Gordon, we have a situ-” crackled a radio.
“-a yellow fog is emanating from the foreign craft, and it looks like-”
“-it’s killin’ the land surroundin’ it for-”
“-to be real with y’all, this looks more like an-”
“-it’s an extermination, folks-”
“-no doubt about it. I’m not going to feed you a bunch of bullshit about this being a peaceful contact or an accidental crash-”
“-looking out the window, I can see the yellow fog from my studio-”
“-like the doomsday preppers weren’t as crazy as we-”
“-this is gonna start a mass panic if this-”
“-Jesus loves you, my friends. He has saved us already fr-”
“-I say we all kiss our asses goodb-”
“-ya know how we hire people to come to our house and set poison out to kill the-”
“-it’s a gas-”
“-people have already been-”
“-Brazil is reporting a mass-”
“-certain religious groups are calling this-”
“-if anyone has gasmasks, now is the-”
“-Our Father who-”
“-this is a fuckin’ slaughter, and anyone who says otherwise is smokin’ dope or-”
“-guess all these environmental extremists who have been calling for mass suicides are finally getting what they wanted, because as far as I can tell-”
“-this is nothing but population control. How many times do I have to say-”
“-not listening to all these conspiracy guys. This is real. I’m not tryna start a panic-”
“-it’s killing everything-”
“-there are bodies lying in the streets of New York City right now, and we have-”
“-don’t panic-”
“-we have a phenomenon on our hands-”
“-was all planned from the-”
“-the yellow mist is engulfing everything-”
“-soon, it’ll all end. We’ll be dead, exterminated like ants by a higher civilization that-”
“-are we? An experiment or-”
“-goodbye to everything we have ever loved and cherished. Call your loved ones. Call someone you’ve been meaning to call and let them know that they’re not alone in this. Die as one. Die together in this-”
“-again, sorry to interrupt the music. It’s been a helluva ride being the DJ for the local radio station. I’ll get back to ‘Nights in White Satin.’ Here we go,” said the female over the car speakers. In the beginning, her voice had been shaking, but by the time she finished her speech, she sounded content in knowing the inevitable. Not even a second later, the song that been playing before the interruption returned. The Moody Blues finished “Nights in White Satin,” and by the end of the tune, the car was engulfed in a yellow, acidic fog.
Mason Yates is from a small town in the Midwest, but he currently lives in Arizona, where he graduated from Arizona State University. He has interned with the magazine Hayden’s Ferry Review and has served as the fiction editor for ASU’s undergraduate literary magazine Lux during the 2021-2022 school year. His works can be found in magazines/webzines such as Land Beyond the World, Scarlet Leaf Review, Fabula Argentea, Idle Ink, Pif Magazine, and others. To read more of his publications, go to https://linktr.ee/masonyatesauthor.
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