Literature / The Aftermath

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"The Aftermath" is a science fiction short story currently available to read on Archive of Our Own. It follows a group of six friends traveling across Europe after a failed Alien Invasion.

This work provides examples of:

• Abnormal Ammo: Imani keeps one of her shotgun’s two ammo tubes loaded with Dragon’s breath ammo, and the other main characters carry some incendiary ammunition for their respective weapons.
• Absolute Xenophobe: The Exterminators are a group of Humans determined to wipe out all the Voleks who were left behind, regardless of whether or not they’re still a threat.
• After-Action Healing Drama: After losing her right eye in the opening skirmish, Amari spends several weeks recovering both physically and psychologically.
• After the End: Downplayed. The story takes place in the aftermath of an alien invasion, but it was a failed invasion, so society is still at least partially intact.
• Alien Arts Are Appreciated: Alien architecture, but still. During a firefight, a Volek who has caught on fire has a strong enough grasp of Human architecture to recognize a fountain and know its purpose, so they run towards the fountain to put the fire out. The fountain turns out to be empty.
• Alien Invasion: The Voleks launched an all-out attack on Earth. It didn't work.
• Aliens Are Bastards: Played With. The Voleks attacked Earth unprovoked, but once thousands of them are left behind during the hasty retreat, many of those left behind surrender and even learn to coexist with Humans.
• Alternate History: Mild example, but the story takes places in a world where Infinity Blade either was never removed from the App Store or was added back at some point.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Volek skin colors include red, green, blue, yellow, orange, and brown.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: The Voleks are humanoid beings with heads shaped like flat cylinders and a heart located where a Human’s right lung is. Some have four arms, though most only have two. They are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning they can change their biological sex at will.
• Bling-Bling-BANG!: Gabby uses a gold-plated H&K VP9 as her sidearm.
• Boldly Coming: Celina is revealed to be in a sexual relationship with a four-armed Volek who surrendered.
• Break Out the Museum Piece: A group of Neo Nazis are seen using WWII-era weapons and vehicles, including a tank and a half track. Lampshaded in this exchange:
  Hiroyuki: What museum did they steal a half-track from? And where did they find the right fuel?
  Mariah: Awww, look, they're marching in their jackboots! They think they’re real soldiers!
  Ian: Holy shit, they're even armed like the Third Reich.
  Mariah: They are?
  Ian: Yeah, look at those guns. Five MP-40s, three MP-28s, six Kar98k's, and two Kar98k snipers. They even have an MG-42 on the vehicle.
  Mariah: Shit, you're right. Wait, no, look at their petty excuse for an officer. He's got an assault rifle.
  Ian: Yep. StG 44. World's first assault rifle.
  Mariah: How do you know all this?
  Ian: I was really into historical warfare in high school.
• Chekhov's Army: The Exterminators are mentioned before the start of the journey and show up in the climax.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The hole in the floor during the first battle allows Imani to flank a Volek.
  • Played With regarding Gabby’s gold-plated pistol. When Sarah mentions that boats crossing the Strait of Gibraltar are expensive, Gabby’s hand unconsciously drifts towards her pistol. Gabby doesn’t use the pistol to buy passage across the Strait, but that's because she already traded it for a left-handed weapon to replace Amari’s P90.
• Coupled Couples: The main emotional plot is the pairs of Ian and Imani & Gabby and Amari, all of whom are unaware that their feelings are requited.
• Disney Villain Death: Inverted when Mariah is killed after falling several stories and landing on a hard floor.
• Draw Aggro: An unintional example. During the initial invasion, when Volek reinforcements began arriving in North Korea, South Korea asked surrounding countries for help. Russia and China responded by leveling most of North Korea with non-nuclear ICBMs, and within a few hours, Volek reinforcements began arriving in both countries.
• Dual Wielding: Voleks have several one-handed weapons such as the energy-firing Repeater Pistols and punch dagger-like Knuckle Blades, and often wield two of either at once. Four-armed Voleks sometimes wield four at once.
• Easily Thwarted Alien Invasion: Averted. Humanity was never completely outmatched, and their victory was neither quick nor easy. By the time the Voleks fled Earth, an estimated 4.5-4.8 billion humans had died as a result of the invasion. According to Word of God, this aspect of the Voleks and their invasion was inspired by the aliens in Battle: Los Angeles.
• Energy Weapon: Volek energy weapons include Energy Rifles - long range, two-handed, semi-automatic weapons that can kill from up to half a mile away; Repeater Pistols - one-handed energy weapons with a high rate of fire that can fire blasts capable of stunning or killing anything they hit; and Concussion Guns - powerful weapons that fire concussive blasts but are somewhat inaccurate and prone to overheating.
• Erotic Dream: Ian has one about Imani in which he’s a wounded WWII soldier and she’s a nurse who gets intimate with him.
• Eye Scream: Amari loses her right eye to a Stinger Gun projectile, and later Gabby sees her stitched-up eye socket.
• Facial Horror: Amari believes her missing eye qualifies as this. Gabby disagrees and attempts to change Amari’s mind.
• Famous, Famous, Fictional: During a discussion about the merits of movie remakes compared to the originals, several real examples are mentioned, as well as a fictional remake of Alien (1979).
• Fantastic Firearms: The Voleks have a variety of energy- and projectile-based weapons at their disposal, none of which utilize gunpowder.
• Fire-Breathing Weapon: Imani’s primary weapon is a KSG25 pump-action shotgun, and she uses Dragon's breath ammunition in addition to standard 12 gauge ammo.
• Foreshadowing: Played With regarding Gabby’s gold-plated pistol. When Sarah mentions that boats crossing the Strait of Gibraltar are expensive, Gabby’s hand unconsciously drifts towards the pistol. Gabby doesn’t use the pistol to buy passage across the Strait because she’d already traded it for a left-handed weapon to replace Amari’s P90.
• Girls with Guns: Gabby, Amari, and Imani are all civilians who joined the fight against the Voleks and have learned to use various guns.
• Guns Akimbo: Some Voleks use two Repeater Pistols at once. Four-armed Voleks sometimes use four at once.
• Guns in Church: Ian, Gabby, Imani, and Amari come across a gun store located in a former church.
• Hard Light: Voleks sometimes use hardlight shields.
• Head-Tiltingly Kinky: Gabby has this reaction to seeing Celina having sex with a four-armed Volek.
• Heartfelt Apology: Amari gives one to Gabby after snapping at her for touching Amari’s eyepatch.
• Hope Spot: During the initial invasion, just as North Korea was beginning to turn the tide against the invaders, Volek reinforcements began arriving.
• Humanoid Aliens: Both variants of Voleks (two- and four-armed) have two legs.
• Incompatible Orientation: Played With. When Ian confesses his love for Imani, she is surprised by this and admits that, although she is sexually attracted to him and caress for him deeply, she is also aromantic.
• Inscrutable Aliens: Downplayed. Although not much is known about Volek culture, many of the Voleks who were left behind gave up fighting, and some have learned to live peacefully with Humans.
• Invaded States of America: The United States was one of the first countries invaded by the Voleks. It was hit hard early on, forcing much of its surviving population to flee to Canada and Mexico.
• Irony: During a firefight, a Volek who has caught on fire shows a surprisingly strong understanding of Human architecture when they recognize a fountain and run towards it to put the fire out. The fountain turns out to be empty.
• I Will Only Slow You Down: A badly injured Hiroyuki stays behind to slow down the Neo Nazis pursuing the others.
• Kill All Humans:
  • This is initially the Voleks’ M.O., but after most of them flee Earth in defeat, many of those left behind outright defy this, with some even learning to live peacefully with Humans.
  • Inverted with the Exterminators, an international group of Human survivors determined to wipe out every Volek on Earth, even those who have surrendered and taken to living among Humans.
• Kill It with Fire: A variant. The Voleks have an extremely high tolerance to cold, but they’re vulnerable against temperatures above 128 degrees F, so incendiary ammunition like tracers rounds and Dragon’s breath is the best way to kill them.
• Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: Played With. Although the Voleks use a variety of energy weapons, they also have a medium-range projectile weapon called the Stinger Gun, which fires seven 12-inch metal dart-like projectiles at once.
• Knee Fold Fall of Defeat: A non-fighting variant. After Gabby saves Amari from a Wraith, Imani rushes in to check on Amari, inadvertently preventing Gabby from doing the same and potentially having a romantic moment. Silently accepting the lost opportunity, Gabby heads outside, drops to her knees in front of a fountain, and screams with her face underwater to vent her frustration without being heard.
• Kryptonite Factor: Downplayed. The Voleks have an extremely high tolerance to cold, but they’re vulnerable against temperatures above 128 degrees F, so incendiary ammunition like tracer rounds and Dragon’s breath is the best way to kill them. In fact, it has become standard for those with access to tracer rounds to load their magazines so that every fifth round is a tracer, just like soldiers in real life do with certain weapons.
• Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Downplayed. The Voleks are vulnerable against temperatures above 128 degrees F, so incendiary ammunition like tracer rounds and Dragon’s breath is the best way to kill them. Although incendiary ammo is used worldwide, it’s less common and more expensive than standard ammo. It has become standard for those with access to tracer rounds to load their magazines so that every fifth round is a tracer, just like soldiers in real life do with certain weapons.
• Like Brother and Sister: Ian and Gabby’s friendship has shades of this.
• Mauve Shirt: Hiroyuki and Mariah both get a decent amount of characterization before they die.
• Misdirected Outburst: Defied. After Gabby saves Amari from a Wraith, Imani rushes in to check on Amari, inadvertently preventing Gabby from doing the same. Gabby is frustrated, but she understands that Imani is simply worried about her sister. Rather than berating Imani for ruining her chances of having a romantic moment with Amari, Gabby goes outside, drops to her knees in front of a fountain, and screams with her face underwater to vent her frustration without being heard.
• Moe Greene Special: Amari is shot in the right eye by a Stinger Gun projectile. She survives, but she loses the eye.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Some Voleks have a second set of arms.
• Multinational Team:
  • The main characters consist of Ian Barrett (American), Gabriela Velazquez (Puerto Rican), Imani and Amari Parker (African American by way of Morocco), Hiroyuki Higashi (Japanese), and Mariah Patterson (American).
  • During the first skirmish, their team also includes Celina Ostrowski (Polish), Vladimir Semenov (Russian), Dieter Hoffman (German), and Mariko Takeda (Japanese).
• No Biochemical Barriers: The Voleks and Wraiths are perfectly capable of surviving on Earth.
• No One Gets Left Behind: Averted. When the Voleks left Earth in retreat, between 100 and 300 million were estimated to have been left behind.
• Noodle Incident: Following the discussion below in Sure, Let's Go with That, Gabby never elaborates on her own sexual exploits.
• Otherworldly and Sexually Ambiguous: Voleks are sequential hermaphrodites, meaning they can change their biological sex at will.
• Overheating: The Voleks’ Concussion Guns are prone to this when enough shots are fired in quick succession.
• Point of View: This story follows a small group of Humans as they walk across post-invasion Europe. We get bits and pieces of what else is happening in the world, but the story is merely concerned with this specific group.
• Pretty Little Headshots: Justified with the Stinger Guns, which fire 12-inch metal dart-like projectiles rather than bullets and thus only cause penetrating injuries. Averted with Human firearms.
• Promotion to Parent: Downplayed, but Imani definitely acts parental towards Amari at times.
• Sacrificial Lion: Hiroyuki and Mariah are both capable fighters who die during the journey.
• Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Thoroughly averted. An estimated 1.6 billion Voleks landed on Earth, and during their hasty retreat, between 100 and 300 million were left behind.
• Secondary Fire: Volek Repeater Pistols can either kill or stun their targets.
• Short-Range Shotgun: Averted. Imani’s shotgun is portrayed as having a realistic range.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: Imani’s primary weapon is a KSG25 pump-action shotgun.
• Shout-Out: Vladimir tells Gabby that the four-armed Voleks remind him of a four-armed Predator from the comics.
• Sibling Team: Amari and Imani Parker regularly fight side-by-side.
• Sniper Rifle: Mariah Patterson is the group’s sniper and uses a CheyTac M200 sniper rifle. Ian uses an M39 Enhanced Marksman Rifle.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: This exchange between Gabby and Celina:
  Celina: Have you ever had your ass and tits groped at the same time? Or had your arms pinned above your head while you were also being groped?
  Gabby: My answer to both of those questions is, “Not by the same person.”
  Celina: Oh.
  Gabby: Hey, don’t judge me. I’m not the one who’s fucking an alien.
  Celina: No, no judgment. I had fun in college too.
  Gabby: Right. College.
• The One Guy: Of the four protagonists, Ian is the only man.
• 'Tis Only a Bullet in the Brain: Gabby survives getting shot in the head. Justified, since she was just beyond the effective range of the gun that shot her.
• Token White: Of the four protagonists, Ian is the only one who is white.
• Understanding Boyfriend: A lesbian variant. Amari believes her missing eye qualifies as Facial Horror and that Gabby is less likely to find her attractive as a result. Gabby assures Amari that her scars don’t make her any less desirable. Downplayed, since they aren't a couple at that point in the story.
• Unfriendly Fire: During the first battle, a Volek with a Concussion Gun misses so badly that they accidentally vaporize one of their injured comrades.
• Waking Up Elsewhere: After hitting her head and losing consciousness during the first skirmish, Gabby wakes up in a makeshift hospital 27 hours later with her head wound stitched.
• Wall of Weapons: Present in the church-turned-gun store.
• Weak to Fire: A Downplayed variant. The Voleks have an extremely high tolerance to cold, but they’re vulnerable against temperatures above 128 degrees F, so incendiary ammunition is the best way to kill them.
• Weapon of X-Slaying: Downplayed. The Voleks have an extremely high tolerance to cold, but they’re vulnerable against temperatures above 128 degrees F, so incendiary ammunition is the best way to kill them, but standard bullets are still capable of doing the job.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Vlad, Mariko, and Dieter are killed off by the end of the first chapter.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The Exterminators are a group of Humans determined to wipe out all the Voleks who were left behind, regardless of whether or not they’re still a threat.