The sky had been strange for days. On the first night, all the stars vanished. The skies darkened, not like a typical storm, but like an emptiness that stretched for eternity. People were too afraid to speak of it, but everyone felt it. There was something wrong. Everyone knew.
A strange hum had begun to pulse, faint but constant. A vibration that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. It felt like something was moving, but no one could place what. The hum didn't go away. It never did.
It was Skylar who first saw them. He was out walking, trying to shake the feeling in his gut, when he glanced up. His breath caught in his chest. The outline of something massive moved across the sky. He stopped dead in his tracks, staring as something monstrous, a creature the size of a moon, passed by, its shape barely distinguishable from the vastness of space.
"Hey! Did you see that?" He turned quickly, hoping someone else had witnessed what he just had.
Lila, his neighbor, stepped out from her house, looking confused. "What?"
Skylar pointed up, his voice shaking. "There... above the clouds. What is that?"
She looked up, eyes squinting. But there was nothing. The sky was empty again. Just a deep black, as though it had swallowed everything.
"You're losing it, Sky," she said, but there was an edge to her voice, like she wasn't sure anymore.
"No… I swear… it's real. I saw something."
Lila didn't respond. She only stood there, gazing up at the dark sky, lost in thought. Skylar felt it then, a pull in his chest, an unease that threatened to swallow him whole. Something was coming. He could feel it now, creeping closer, like a predator hiding in plain sight. He backed up, taking a step away from Lila. He didn't know what it was, but the feeling was undeniable.
Skylar's phone buzzed in his pocket. A message. He fumbled for it, hands shaking. It was from his brother, Arlo.
"Get inside. They're coming."
Skylar didn't need to ask who "they" were. He looked at Lila, her eyes vacant and distant. "I need to go."
She didn't answer.
He ran, heart pounding in his chest, ignoring the growing feeling of dread creeping up his spine. He ran past neighbors, some of them standing still, staring at the sky as though they were hypnotized. The air felt colder now, colder than it had any right to be. His phone buzzed again. Another message from Arlo.
"NOW. They're closer than you think."
Skylar burst through the door of his home. Arlo was waiting for him, looking frantic. His brother had always been the calm one, but now his face was pale, eyes wide with terror.
"What the hell's going on?" Skylar demanded, his voice raw with fear.
Arlo didn't answer right away. He just stared at the screen of his own phone, his hands shaking. "The whales," he muttered, almost to himself. "They're coming."
Skylar frowned. "What whales?"
Arlo looked up at him, eyes bloodshot. "The space whales. They're coming for Earth."
Skylar blinked, unsure if he had heard correctly. "What? Whales? In space?"
Arlo didn't explain. He didn't have to. He just pointed at the screen of his phone. The news was everywhere. Satellite images. Videos from all across the world. And there they were. Enormous creatures, drifting through space, their massive bodies covered in what looked like shimmering scales, their enormous fins cutting through the void. They were coming toward Earth.
Skylar stared at the screen, barely able to comprehend what he was seeing. The images were too surreal, too impossible to believe. But the footage was clear. These creatures were real. And they were heading straight for Earth.
Arlo stepped back from the phone and grabbed Skylar's arm, pulling him towards the window. He pointed outside.
"They've already been spotted in the atmosphere," Arlo said, his voice thick with terror. "People are… disappearing. No one knows what they want, but they're getting closer."
Skylar's eyes followed Arlo's gesture. There, in the distance, just above the horizon, something large moved across the sky. Something that cast a shadow over the world. It looked like a whale, impossibly huge, its body suspended in the atmosphere like it belonged there. But it didn't belong. Nothing like this could.
Skylar's mouth went dry. "How… how is this happening?"
"Don't know," Arlo said, his voice breaking. "But we have to get out of here. They're coming for all of us."
Before Skylar could respond, the sound of the hum grew louder. A low, vibrating noise that seemed to shake the ground beneath their feet. Skylar looked around, panic rising in his chest. It was everywhere. The sound. The pressure. The weight. He could feel it.
Then the light outside changed. The sky darkened, not like night, but like the very sun had been blotted out. A wave of dread hit him, and for the first time, Skylar realized he could no longer hear anything but the hum.
"We need to go," Arlo repeated, his voice urgent now.
Skylar didn't argue. He grabbed his brother by the wrist, and they ran outside, the sound of their footsteps drowned out by the noise in the air. As they made their way through the streets, they saw others running too, their faces contorted with fear, their eyes wide as if they could already feel the inevitable doom coming for them. But no one knew where to go, where was safe.
"Sky, I can't… I can't…," Arlo muttered under his breath, his words faltering as he stumbled beside his brother. His fear was real, palpable.
"Come on, we need to keep moving."
They found themselves at the edge of town, surrounded by fields that stretched out endlessly. The hum was deafening now, the sky above them trembling as if something massive was moving across it. And then, just like that, it happened.
From the distance, a shape appeared in the sky. Slowly, it grew larger. Bigger. Impossible. The whales. They were descending.
Skylar could see them now. The scale was beyond comprehension. Their bodies stretched across the sky like monstrous leviathans, their glowing eyes peering down, unblinking. The first one landed in the field, shaking the earth beneath them. The force of its landing sent a shockwave through the air, knocking Skylar and Arlo to the ground.
Skylar gasped for air, his vision spinning. He tried to get up, but his body felt like it was made of lead. Everything hurt. The ground trembled violently, and the air was thick with the scent of something ancient, something wrong.
Arlo was struggling to his feet, his face twisted in fear. "We can't run. They're everywhere."
Skylar's eyes locked onto one of the whales. Its massive body loomed above them, its scales reflecting an eerie light, its mouth open wide, revealing a cavernous darkness that seemed to draw in the very light of the world.
Suddenly, a piercing screech filled the air. A sound that made Skylar's bones rattle, made his chest tighten with terror. He watched, helpless, as one of the creatures' massive tendrils reached out, curling toward them. Skylar's heart stopped in his chest.
Arlo screamed. "No! No!"
Skylar tried to move, but his body wouldn't cooperate. He was frozen, unable to tear his eyes away from the creature as it reached down with a single, colossal arm, its tendrils wrapping around Arlo.
"No!" Skylar shouted, but his voice was lost in the screeching chaos that surrounded them.
The whale's mouth opened wider, and with a terrifying crack, it crushed Arlo, his body folding under the pressure like a rag doll.
Skylar's scream caught in his throat, choking him as he staggered back. He could see his brother's body, twisted and broken. There was nothing left.
The whale turned its head toward Skylar, its glowing eyes locking onto him. For a moment, it seemed to study him, and then, with an eerie calmness, it reached out. Skylar felt the cold touch of its tendrils coil around him, lifting him off the ground.
And as the creature brought him closer, all he could think of was how everything, everyone, was lost. The world was dying, swallowed whole by things from the void.
And as the whale's jaws closed around him, Skylar was no more.