Queen of Mars

"GET OUT YOU SLEAZE!" Bret yelled as he slammed the door behind me. Ha, I knew this was going to happen. Sooner or later his little red headed beauty would finally show that she was more than he bargained for. That's me, Mars. Anyone could tell you that I'm more than just a pretty face. After two years living off the streets that killed many others, not much could trip me up anymore.

Bret I was expecting this from, he was a terrible fast food employee, giving pretty girls free food in hope they would be dumb enough to hook up with him. He was clueless that girls actually had brains, that's why he kept doing that. After a week of taking food from him and calling him what he was (a brainless moron) he finally escorted me out of the establishment.

I walked a couple blocks down whistling a tune that was spilling out of somebody's car yesterday, it was buzzing around my head like a fly and I just couldn't put my finger on it.

I also passed a red faced and greasy haired lady with two toddlers in her arms and pushing a stroller with one hand. Her face was covered in splatter and so was her shirt. The dark circles under her eyes was darker than the tar on the road. Her eyes I could tell used to be an emerald like green, now were worn down hazel. The little brats she was caring for couldn't care less though, as they were screaming and crying like someone had kicked them in the balls. I passed her with a pitied look on my face, because that was all I could give her.

Now, anyone could have guessed that I'm not the Queen of France, that's why I took Bret's crappy fast food. But at least I had something. Which I was approaching.

The tattoo parlor, which had been wonderfully graffitied with all sorts of designs and markings by the owner and a couple of her friends that were decent artists. In the middle, just above the doorway was a sparkling neon sign which spelled her name, Alice.

Now the way I relate to Alice is the interesting part.

Alice and I met three years ago. We were both seventeen and pretending to be older for our own reasons. After she had tattooed a wilting red rose to my shoulder, I payed her in crappy burgers. At first, she was pissed off, but after she had discovered I was a runaway as well as herself, she decided to help me out, for not everyone could catch a break like Alice could.

To explain Alice is a difficult task. She always gets what she wants, not really in a bratty way, more so of a sheer force way. She gets what she wants, rather than tell people she can't have it. She has a very short temper, which she manages to use to her advantage, isn't scared of much, (like me) and doesn't take crap from anyone. She will have your back though, that's something that is tested and true. She is loyal to her friends. How she looks is probably one of the most interesting things about her though, not to be superficial. She has short blue hair that's usually up, bright blue eyes, various piercings, tattoos (quite obviously), and always wears black. Nobody could be even near Alice crazy, and she prides herself on it.

"Heya Mars!" she called out to me as I entered the door.

"Hey Alice!" I said.

"Did Bret finally crack?" she asked.

"Obviously." I said, entering the parlor and started wiping down the clients' seats, because they were covered in sweat.

Anything else happen? You were gone for like twenty minutes." Alice asked, concerned.

"Nothing much, I just saw this woman who had three kids and looked like she had just been gargled by a black hole." I told her.

"That's one of the many reasons I will never have kids. The awful larvae of human kind." Alice said with disgust on her face.

"So judging by how much sweat is on the chairs today, I'm guessing you got some newbies?" I asked.

"Yes, one of them even peed their pants." Alice said, snickering.

"Haha, I wish I could've seen it." I said.

"Priceless." Alice said.

Then Alice's look hardened as two men in black suits were approaching the establishment. It's very clear that they didn't belong in a rundown neighborhood like ours, they looked like they belonged in D.C., not Chicago. They each looked identical to each other, had ink black hair, white skin that looked even more pale with all the black they were wearing, and sunglasses despite it being cloudy today.

"What are those guys doing here?" I asked. Alice shook her head, she had no idea, but it was very clear she did not like it, whatever it was.

"Whatever it is, they should get back to Washington before they get hurt." Alice said, bunching her hands into fists and spreading her feet apart like she was about to fight someone. After about a minute of them standing in front of the parlor, they knocked on the door. Alice walked over there slowly, calmly, as to prevent from showing weakness. She opened the door slightly, then said,

"Sorry, we're closed." in an annoyed tone. Before she could slam the glass door in their faces, one of them held it open and said,

"We're not here to stain our skin, we're here for you're friend." Alice's glare hardened more, and her mouth turned to a line.

"If you want Mars, you're going to have to go through me first goons." Alice said through her gritted teeth.

"If that's the way you want it." the goon replied. The goons burst through the door, one of them landing on Alice and one grabbing me by the stomach.

"LET ME GO!" I cried out. I flailed and swung at the goon, making him topple over, and I was on top of him, smacking him senselessly with a metal tray that had fallen down. Meanwhile the man on top of Alice was missing hit after hit and was eventually turned over and getting beaten by Alice.

The man who attacked me managed to crawl out, much to my dismay, and took out a gun which he shot Alice with in the neck.

"NO!" I cried. Alice slumped over the man, unmoving. Blood trickled down her neck, collecting on the cold, hard floor. The man slid out from under her. One of them took her up by the stomach and carried her over his back like a sack of potatoes.

The other one then walked over to me slowly, spitting out a bloody tooth due to Alice beating his face in, and glared at me in disgust when he finally shot me.

***

I woke up with a start in a fetal position sitting with ropes tied around my legs and middle, my wrists tied together with rope, and my mouth being covered with duct tape. Wait, I thought I had been shot, that I was dead! I was startled, and started to move around, desperate to get rid of the ropes. Then I looked to my left and Alice was sitting next to me, her eyes closed.

If I woke up after being shot, maybe she will too! Though I didn't quite know, because they did say they were here for me, so why would they let Alice live? I nudged my body towards Alice, desperate for her to wake up.

"Unn..." Alice said through the rope. Then her eyes went wide.

"Uhn! Uhn!" she said, looking at a pointy silver thing near a crate. I flopped to my knees, turned myself around, and grabbed it with my feet. Alice's eyes lit up, nodding for me to cut the rope that was tying up her hands. I moved my feet to her hands and set it in between them, slowly sawing down the rope until it finally snapped. Alice then took the knife from my feet and used it to free my hands. I ripped the duct tape off of my mouth and said,

"Why were we tied up in this strange place?" I asked. Alice ripped the tape off her mouth, it taking most of the lipstick with it. We finished cutting the rope from ourselves, wondering where we were and what had happened.

"We may be on a truck somewhere, I can feel us moving." Alice said, touching the floor.

"Maybe.." I said.

"Mars, what are we going to do?" Alice asked me. I shrugged, letting my neon red hair fall in front of my face. Alice's look grew hard again, her staring at the metal door that locked us in here.

"Alice, you can't, you saw what weapons they had. They could make you pass out in seconds and kill you while you're unconscious." I said, not wanting her to risk her life picking a fight.

"Well I'm not going to sit here and take it Mars, I'm going to go get answers." Alice said, ending the discussion with her firm tone. She walked over to the metal door and began to bang on it loudly.

"LET US OUT OF HERE YOU MANIACS!" she screamed. A single man opened the door and closed it firmly behind him.

"What are you two doing out of your ropes?" he asked, pointing his gun at Alice.

"Getting answers." she answered back. Then Alice kicked him in the balls unexpectedly, making him let go of his gun, which Alice properly caught.

"B-" he started, but Alice then shot him in the shoulder.

"Get up." she told me. I got up and followed her out the door. Alice stood in the doorway, staring at three men, two of which were the ones that captured her, and their background being Mars surrounded by stars.

This was a lot to process in just one gloomy afternoon.

"HEY!" one of the men who captured us yelled. The one other man had shaved green hair, green eyes, and was wearing black pants with a million pockets and a simple black muscle shirt.

"GET BACK IN THE CARGO ROOM!" the two goons yelled, pointing their guns at us. Alice held her gun at them, her teeth clenched so hard they looked as if they were about to break.

"Get the short one, his aim is off by about an inch, it should take him two if not three shots to hit you." Alice muttered to me. I sprung into action, running for the slightly shorter goon and tackling him, taking his gun from him. I held him under me, making sure to keep the gun just out of his reach while Alice had gunned down the taller one. The man who was operating the ship stared at us in surprise.

"Now I know why they put you with the cargo." he said. I took my gun off the short goon and put it on the man.

"Why are we here?" I asked.

"You don't have to put that gun on me, I'll gladly tell you everything you want to know. I was against them shooting you and tying you up in the first place." he said.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Danx Hui, ma'am. Your former companion in war." he said.

"Wait what?" I asked.

"Oh, right you had your memory wiped before you were sent to Earth.." he said, trailing off.

"What?!" I asked.

"Oh boy this is going to be a lot to explain." he said.

"Hey smart guy, mind telling them to get off of us?" the short goon said.

"Guys you can't shoot a bag of gunpowder and expect it not to explode. Mars is a known fighter, and you can guarantee she would befriend people like her and the way you respond to it is treating them like slaves? Do you people even know how to spell history?" Danx asked them. They simply glared at him, I got off of him, knowing that he wasn't going to shoot me. Alice reluctantly followed.

"Sorry about them your majesty, they're new to the job and I think it's gone to their heads." he said.

"Your majesty?" I asked. Danx chuckled.

"We're almost to Mars, Jeph will tell you what's happened for the last twenty years." he said, returning to his control panel, and leaving my questions and curiosities to buzz around my mind like that song I was whistling.