In The City

"No! Mom and Dad are in the city!" Jessica said to herself. She couldn't stop thinking about the horrifying phone call she received from her mom before her phone went dead. How could they be in the city? Jessica thought she had rescued her mom and dad. The young woman was riding in the car with her mom and dad before her car ran out of fuel. She thought she had gotten her parents out of the city. If her parents were still in the city, then who were the two people riding in the car with her and her little boy.

Jessica stopped breathing when she thought about her five-year-old son, Timothy. The young woman thought she was leaving her son with her parents. She took her bike out of the trunk of her SUV and she used her bike to see if she could make it to the nearest gas station. Jessica had a gas container in her backpack. She filled the container and she was about to leave the gas station when she got the horrifying phone call from her mom.

"We're still trapped in our apartment! Me and your dad barricaded the door! They were trying to come in! I saw one of them and it took on the form of your dad! Your father killed it before it could break into our apartment!" This is what Jessica's mom said to her over the phone. "Sweetie, listen to me! I want you and Timothy to get somewhere safe. Don't worry about me and your dad! Your dad called for help already and you know he has connections in the military. They're sending troops into the building and I'm confident that they're going to rescue us. You need to keep Timothy safe and protect yourself! Find an underground shelter and hide! I don't want them to kill you and Timothy! Whatever these things are, they can shape-shift! They can take on the form of a human and they can mirror our image! Get somewhere safe and protect Timothy. He's your baby and he's our grandchild! I love you, Sweetie!" Those were the last words Jessica heard from her mom before her phone died. Jessica had a full container of gasoline in her backpack and she also had a gun. 

Time was now Jessica's enemy. She knew that she had to save her son. Jessica didn't want to lose someone who she loved more than anything. The young woman thought about the fun moments she spent with her son and husband before the invasion. All Jessica could see was her husband, Bradley, playing with her son on the shoreline of the beach. Jessica wanted her normal life to come back. She wanted her husband back. Now a life changing event took her husband's life and it was about to take her son. 

The last thing Jessica remembered seeing was her husband lifting their son into the air and tossing him around. She remembered hearing her child's laughter. Jessica had the memories of watching her husband and son chasing each other along the beach. Why did a tragic turn of events have to ruin Jessica's memories? She wanted to know why her husband had to die. What were the men who killed her husband? Were they men at all? Jessica just found out from her mother that these men are creatures from another world with a shape-shifting ability. Jessica was at the beach with her husband and son when she first saw a group of strange men emerge from the ocean. They were shiny and metallic, like walking cars in the shape of men. Jessica remembered how their eyes burned like a fire from behind their armored helmets. She thought about how the ground shook when the army of monsters came out the ocean to greet horrified beach goers. In seconds the beach transformed into a battlefield. People were running for their lives. They were running from the strange metallic men who towered over them. Jessica was one of those people who ran with her son and husband.

 The young woman made it to her car, but her husband wasn't holding her hand. Jessica had her son in one arm and she was holding her husband's hand, but an energy blast caused Jessica to lose the grip on her husband's hand. It was a white explosion of fire that incinerated Jessica's husband. There was nothing left of Bradley. The explosion scorched Jessica's husband and it almost scorched Jessica and her son. Jessica still saw herself holding her son while running past burning dead bodies on the beach. Jessica's pretty face, her blonde hair, her pale skin and her red bikini became saturated with smoke from the explosions. The mother tried to shield her son from the explosions of white fire around her. Jessica could still smell the burning flesh. She could still hear the screams. She could still feel the hot sand beneath her feet. She could still see her son crying over the death of his father. 

Jessica had to deal with her tears and her husband's death. All she had left of her husband was his name tattooed on the back of her neck. It felt like a sci-fi movie or more like a nightmare for Jessica. Jessica wanted to wake up. She wanted to wake up when she drove into the city to see if she could rescue her parents. She wanted to wake up when she saw people running down the street on fire. Jessica wanted to wake up when she saw the rubble and the burning buildings. She saw the soldiers battling the strange armored men. She saw how the metallic men could destroy a human body just by shooting beams of fire out of their hands. The world was collapsing around Jessica. The woman lost her husband, but she still had her son, or so she thought. Jessica thought she had rescued her parents. She hugged her mother and father. She kissed them before urging them to get into her car. Jessica dealt with the horrifying truth. After the phone call from her mother, Jessica felt her heart beating in her throat. She couldn't believe that her mother and father were still trapped in the city. Jessica couldn't believe that she failed at rescuing her parents. She hugged who she thought was her mother. She embraced her father and kissed him. Jessica wasn't hugging her parents and that made her stomach tremble.

Now Jessica's son was in danger. The panicked mother unfroze from her state of shock. Jessica fell into shock after the phone call and she found herself sitting on her bike near the shore of the ocean, staring at the burning New York skyline. Jessica couldn't keep staring at the burning city. She couldn't keep worrying about her parents after what her mother told her. She realized that her son was in danger and that she had to get back to him.

"Please God, don't let them kill my baby. Don't let those fucking things kill my son. I thought those things were my parents." Jessica whispered to herself after pulling her gun out of her backpack and taking off on her bike. The young mother had to make her way back to her son. She kept thinking about how she left her son in a broken down car with two people. Two people who were not Jessica's parents.