The craft crashed the night before the invasion. No one heard anything. It started with a single person. At least, that's what I gathered. It was a test of some kind…to see if their method worked. They must have done it quickly after they landed.
When I woke up that morning, the streets had been abandoned. The invasion happened overnight. Their method of taking people was efficient but faulty. They didn’t realize I was immune to it.
I was born deaf. But it wasn't like in the movies. I still had ways to interact with the sounds of the world. In fact, I loved music. It'd piss my mom off when I'd blast The Prodigy in my room. I was partial to Invaders Must Die. The irony of my fascination still makes me laugh three years later.
I walked around my sleepy little town and found the first sign of life. A man wearing headphones was pumping gas into a can.
At first glance, that wasn't too far out of the ordinary. He could have been stranded on the highway, I thought. I approached him with caution regardless. But that was when I first saw the trance. The man's eyes were masked. I tried to shake him but nothing happened. I shook him again. I shook him a third time.
Finally I pulled the mask from his eyes and saw a blank stare. This was no thousand yard stare. It was a million yard stare. There was no life in that man's eyes. I pulled a headphone from his ear when he started to scream in agony. His face shrank and expanded the instant I pulled off the speaker. He began to convulse violently. Finally, I saw his head go. I don't want to talk about it anymore than that.
Then more people wearing headphones approached from the direction of the power plant. Their eyes were just as dead as the man I saw get killed. The visitors were piloting people remotely. They tried to swarm me. With no other choice, I did the unthinkable. I escaped through the sewer.
The stench was unbearable. I put my shirt over my nose and mouth and hid away from the drones that tried to chase me. They were my neighbors. These were people I grew up with. Suddenly they turned on me. It was a nightmare I couldn't wake up from.
The coast had cleared. The drones returned to the nest. As soon as the last one passed, a roach crawled on my shoulder. I flew out of my hiding spot and checked for more bugs. The last drone must have heard something because it turned back to me. I jumped back into the hiding spot before getting caught.
I looked around to see if the coast was clear. I saw the drone. But I also saw the fatal flaw. The drone’s headphones were wired. Mr. Jacobs, a well off but older gentleman, used wired headphones with his out-of-date smartphone. So I ran over to him and yanked the cord. Within seconds, Mr. Jacobs was brought back from his trance.
About a few miles out of town was the military base where my brother worked. If anyone would know what to do in a situation like this, it'd be him. Mr. Jacobs and I traveled through the sewer to get to the base. When we got there, it seemed like the place was overrun. Thankfully, one of the guards up front had wired headphones connected to his ears. Mr. Jacobs threw a rock to draw them away from the fence. While they were distracted, I pulled the cord. The soldier pulled one earbud from his buddy’s ear. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell him not to do that.
Mr. Jacobs explained to Sergeant Stiglitz what was happening. ]He snuck us onto the now enemy-infested base. We found one soldier with wireless earbuds in his ears. Stiglitz pulled both buds out the second time and that did the trick. We managed to find a scientist in a lab who we freed. He’d been working on the alien signal for months before we found him. He helped us free the base using the PA system to jam the link. By overpowering the controlling frequency, the aliens no longer had control of the hosts.
I managed to find my brother. I can't think of another moment that was as relieving as that. He was like a dad to me when our dad left. I signed to him everything that had happened. When the scientists on base found out how to create a mobile version of our signal jammer, they decided they’d sweep the town and free as many people as possible. I told my brother I had just the right song to use.
The troop transports were loaded with big speakers in the back. The soldiers were given ear protection in order to keep focus on the mission. And the title track of Invaders Must Die blared through the town as the ships began to attack. Thankfully, the attacking fighters didn't have shields. Ground troops managed to take down attacking vessels with a seemingly endless barrage of fifty caliber rounds in rapid succession.
The mothership was a different story. NORAD reported that it was in a low level orbit above the earth. It was clear that the ship wasn't powerful enough to take over the world by itself. The drones were using the city's resources to build amplifiers ;and broadcast the signal. So a strike team was sent to destroy the signal tower with the tried-and-true method of the RPG. Unfortunately, the tower was shielded which made bullets and rockets useless.
Then I got an idea. I told my brother to try using sound to penetrate the shield. I figured the weapon they used relied on sound to be effective. Perhaps their defensive capabilities relied on a similar technology. The transport blasted the song to no avail. They started to try different songs. It wasn't until they played a song which featured a Theremin that the shield started to waver. One rocket later and the tower was destroyed.
The song was then hailed to the mothership with an amplified RF signal. The shield dropped and NORAD fired an ICBM right into the bridge of the ship. The aliens that attempted to take over our planet were instantly vaporized.
All of the people were tallied and found. I just received word that the first man to be taken was found. It appears he tried to remove his headphones one by one. Every branch of the military was made fully aware of the situation and Earth's defenses were raised for future attacks.
As for me, my brother was honorably discharged and he, my mother and I were awarded with a new home. My room was sound proofed and I continue to feel the vibrations today. I even got to shake hands with the president! With everything said and done, all I can tell you is be careful what you listen to. You never know when it may possess you. In the meantime, I'll be listening to The Prodigy. I hear there's an anniversary album coming back to vinyl. I can't wait.