'Control' : a Mars Attacks fanfiction
PROLOGUE: 'A Glimpse into the End'
Saturday, May 19th, 1962 - Somewhere around 11:30 AM
She ran; or rather, she continued to run. She had lost track of just how long she had been doing so, and at this point she didn't even know where she was anymore. Everything looked the same; the same destruction, the same horror, and the same carnage surrounded her no matter where she ran to. People were screaming, people were trying to get away from them, but to no avail. The girl ignored the cries of death and destruction as she tried to get to a better place; She knew doing just that would help her run faster, even if her stamina was drained to near empty.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed a nearby alley between two buildings that were somehow miraculously still somewhat standing despite the destruction. She decided she needed to rest for a moment, though she knew she didn't have much time. She darted into the darkened pathway and leaned against the rough brick wall behind her. Her breathing was laboured as she stared down at her own, bloodied and bare feet. She had abandoned her shoes long ago, knowing the heeled pumps would've just slowed her down or even worse, caused her another unneeded and avoidable injury. She didn't care much for high heels anyways. She assessed her current state, which included maybe a sprained ankle and maybe a few scratches and bruises here and there. Honestly, she knew it could be much worse. It was miracle she had even managed to get away in one piece.
Her stomach pooled at the recollection of her parents; the horror on their faces as a ray gun was pressed to their only daughter's temple. Her mother had sprung forward and tried to push them away out of raw maternal instinct, and she was shot on the spot by the creatures without second thought. The girl of course screamed out at the sight of her mother's flesh evaporating in front of her eyes as her mother wailed in pain. Everything else after that was a teary blur; the only thing she remembered was her father screaming at her to run.
That was the only word that echoed through her subconcious these past few hours.
RUN.
The creatures were preoccupied and more focused on her father, so she took the opportunity, squirming out of their clawed grasp and darting away into her home's kitchen and out of the backyard door. As she left, she heard the distant, though still awful, sound of a ray gun being fired.
The girl involuntarily began to sob, covering her mouth as tears ran down her bloody, dirt smeared face. She didn't need to see the 'evidence' and she needed no proof; She knew her parents were no more. They had become just another victim of the invasion added to the pile. The echo of her cries bounced off the walls of the backstreet she stood in, and she knew it would certainly alert someone or something of her presence. The girl did her best to bite her tongue to keep herself quiet. There wasn't time for tears; She needed to keep moving and she needed to do it quick.
As she began to walks towards the opposite end of the alleyway that lead to another backstreet, she froze in her spot. The familiar high, clicking, and downright horrifying language of the things that slaughtered her parents. The repetitive 'Ack, Ack' noises of their language were enough to make her burst into a fresh, new wave of tears that ran down her face in rivers. Memories of her parents' demise flooded her already broken mind.
Maybe there was a chance. Maybe her father was still out there? She knew he was a strong man; maybe he had managed t-
No. She needed to worry about her own survival right now. There would be time for mourning later. For now, she needed to run and she needed to do it quick.
For a moment, the girl waited where she stood, standing still, and listened for their footsteps to if they were nearby. It sounded like it was a lot of them, maybe five or six. They'd certainly tear her to shards in minutes, She knew that for a fact. Hearing that they were in fact getting closer to her, the girl stifled her cries and then took off in another exhausting sprint towards the alley's opening in front of her. Feeling her chest burn with overworked exhaustion, the girl nearly collapsed, but then remembered her father's last wish;
"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON'T LET THEM CATCH YOU, MERCY!"
CHAPTER ONE: 'The Warning Signs'
One week earlier...
Saturday, May 12th, 1962 - 6:38 PM
In a posh suburb located in central Washington, D.C., the small Whitemonde family were sitting in their dining room eating dinner as their only, teenaged daughter filled them on what had happened at school earlier today. The family was the spitting image of your average, upper-middle class family living the modern American dream.
The man of the household, Nathaniel Whitemonde, was a respectable family man who had a high ranking job as one of the mission overseers at the NASA headquarters a few minutes away from their suburban home. He was close friends with many of the engineers and scientists that oversaw the planning of space missions and all things having to do with the things up in the unknown. His position wasn't one of very much secrecy as you'd expect, but there were some things that just had to be kept away from the public. There had been whispers around the workplace of flying saucers being seen on radars, but Nathaniel assumed it was just a sick joke. Then again...you never could be too sure in this business. NASA had already chosen to inform the CIA and the central government, along with President Kennedy and his men, so at this point, nothing could be done until they had a second opinion from the higher-ups. Nathaniel chose not to ponder on the situation and looked to his daughter, Mercy.
Mercy was a rather tall, though petite and slender young girl of around five-foot-six. Her hair was long and a dark, warm shade of brown and it fell over her chest in curly waves. A plain, black satin headband rested on her head just behind her bangs, which framed her pale and lightly freckled face.
"How're your classes going, Mercy?" He asked as he continued to eat his food. His daughter glanced up from her plate and shrugged, smiling a bit.
"Fine as always, I guess. I've been having trouble with science though." Mercy said, poking her food around with her fork. She knew it sounded quite ironic, being a NASA agent's daughter and having trouble with the exact subject she was raised around. "I might decide to stay for extra tutoring after school sometime next week or so. Would that be alright?" Mercy asked with a smile, looking to her father.
Nathaniel smiled back, nodding. "I think that'd be wonderful, honey; Isabel, would you be okay with it?"
Mercy's mother, Isabel, sat adjacent to her husband at the dinner table; keeping quietly to herself as she looked up from the rim of her now almost emptied wine glass with a small smile. Isabel, a rather attractive woman of Latina descent, was the epitome of a housewife's dream. She was dressed in a fine, ivory satin cocktail dress; her dark hair sprayed vigorously with large amounts of Aqua Net to keep it's up-done shape, and she had various sizes and shaped of golden, bejeweled jewelry on her wrists and around her neck- along with a nicely sized diamond ring on her right hand. Isabel Rivera was a truly beautiful woman and Nathaniel Whitemonde was a truly lucky man. Mercy had truthfully always admired her mothers sense of style and taste, and though she had always offered to style her hair, Mercy always politely declined.
Before responding to her husband's question, Isabel paused a bit, glancing to her daughter as she swallowed the remaining alcohol from her glass. "I suppose that'd be alright, but, Mercy, weren't you supposed to be going to the headquarters sometime this week too?"
"Oh, yes, that's right...Mercy, they'd still love to see you come up for the fundraising event on Thursday evening. Do you still want to come?"
Mercy let out a breathy laugh at his question. "I'd love to, but..." She paused, setting her fork down and nervously tucking a curled strand of her cocoa coloured hair behind one of her ears. "Well, its just...Matthew asked me to prom at lunch today and I know that's on Friday, so I'd really hate to interfere with that. I'd like to be well rested, of course."
"He really asked you?!" Isabel cried out, nearly dropping her crystalline wine glass onto the stained hardwood beneath them. "When did he ask you- Wait, did you even say yes?"
Mercy's cheeks grew flushed at her parents' curiosity about her social life; Didn't they have more adult things to care about? She chose not to ask that directly and instead decided to play along with her parents. "Of course I did." She laughed. "But don't worry; he said he'd pick me up Friday night around six-thirty...You wouldn't have to worry about anything. I just need a dress is al-"
"Oh, You could wear mine! I bet it'll fit you; At least, better than it does me." Isabel chuckled before rather quickly finishing what was left of the food on her plate. "I should probably go dig it out of the closet if it's even in there still..." She trailed off, looking back towards her and Nathaniel's bedroom in the back of the house. Isabel then turned back to Mercy. "If I could find it tonight, would you want to try it on? Just to be sure; incase we do need to get you your own?"
Mercy's face lit up at the offer, but she tried her best to contain her excitement. "Mother, please don't pressure yourself with finding it if it's too much trouble. Matt could take me to get a dress sometime this week; I have my savings still, and I'm sure he'd help me if need be."
"Nonsense!" Isabel gasped, standing from their dining table and grabbing her dishes before walking towards the kitchen across the hall. "Mercy, I am your mother and I'll be damned if I'm not involved with helping you get your dress for prom!" She half heartedly waved her index finger at her daughter with a grin. "Come to my bedroom after you've finished your supper!" She then called from the kitchen, leaving Mercy alone with her father for a moment.
There was a brief silence as they continued to eat, but Mercy decided to change it. "What on Earth will you do while she's rummaging though your room?" She asked with a laugh, looking towards her father from across the table.
"Oh dear, I don't know. Maybe I'll sit in the family room and watch the news or something..." He took a sip from his wine glass. "It'll be nice for you two to have some bonding time by yourselves. You know, 'girl talk' and all that."
Mercy nodded to him, smiling a bit until she looked back down to the remaining food on her plate. She was about to finish it off, but before she could, her father spoke up again.
"So..." Nathaniel began, setting down his fork and looking at Mercy dead in the eyes. "Matthew, right? Have I met him?"
Fatherly instincts; Mercy knew her father was a protective man of both his wife and only child. She had to hold back a tiny laugh before speaking. "He's wonderful, Dad. You're going to love him."
Nathaniel smiled, nodding. "I guess we'll see on Friday, won't we, Mercy?"
