Search and Destroy by Lesley Whyte

We thought they'd come to save us. We hunkered down in the dark, in the cold cellars and dingy basements and the odd bunker, listening carefully. We couldn't see anything, so we listened. The roar of the engines was unmistakable - jets. They were coming, they were finally coming. The fuel had been the first thing to go in the attack, leaving everyone stuck, but the government must have had back-up resources hidden away somewhere. And now they were coming. They would save us from the ships that blocked out the sun.

A few people crawled out of the exit, the brave ones, or maybe those who had been most addled by their imprisonment underground. I admit it, I wanted to crawl out with them. I wanted to feel fresh air on my skin, taste the salt of the ocean on my tongue. But I couldn't. I had to stay with Jamie. It was only right. Those who went first called down to us, called us up to the surface. We stumbled out to watch the jets take down those awful ships. I held Jamie's hand tight as we pushed along through everyone else, the memory of leaving at the end of a concert coming back to me, and it wasn't long before we were outside again. For the first time in weeks. The air felt wonderful.

It was dusk, there was just enough light for us to see the stars and stripes painted on the door of each jet. There were four of them. We saluted the flag, some people recited the pledge of allegiance. I lifted Jamie up so he could see. And then something shifted. One of the jets plummeted from the sky. It started shooting. At us. And that's when we realised our mistake. That's when it occurred to us just how easy it was to paint a flag on the door of a jet.