Falling Skies 1. First Impressions

_Hello fellow Falling Skies lovers! My name is Kaylee and I co-own this account with my best friend and I will be typing in this font:] Alyssa and I both love Falling Skies so much that we decided to create a story out of it!:D So thanks for checking it out!:D I will admit, it is rather boring in the first few chapters, but don;t let that discourage you from continuing on in reading! I promise you it gets better and less repetitive:p Anyways, Enjoy!:D -Kaylee  
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Prologue: Kaylee's POV

We were alone the day they decided to attack us. Neither of us knew what to do or how to react. All we could do was wait to see what fate wanted to do with us. My best friend Alyssa and I were in her basement, watching a movie when all of the power went off and the bombs began raining down on us. Truthfully, I wasn't all that scared; I had lost my parents a few months back and I had no idea where my older brother was. I was used to living on my own so I didn't have anyone to worry about. I was in serious shock though. Who-or what-was here on Earth? And more importantly: What was going to happen to Alyssa and me?

Prologue: Alyssa's POV

I was scared when they attacked. I'll never admit it but I was. I didn't know what to do, except wait for it all to stop. When we went outside later to investigate, everyone was gone, dead. It was only Kaylee and me. Part of me was happy about that. With my dad gone, I could stop living in fear, no more working hard to keep my little sister and I alive. I was already practically living on my own. My dad was always gone and whenever he _was_ home, he was drunk. He worked, sometimes, but he never actually paid bills-I did. The thing I was scared about the most was having to learn to use weapons. I hate guns; those were always my brother Kenny's thing. He is, or was, in the Navy. He was killed in a bombing a year ago today. Kaylee, who went to see what happened, came back in with complete and utter fear on her face. Kaylee never shows emotion, she even kept a straight face through her parent's death, and didn't cry once. I think that is what scared me most. I gripped Kenny's dog tags; something I always wore. What was going to happen to two kids from a broken home?

First Impressions

Kaylee's POV

"Did you hear that?" I asked

"What?"

"That noise…it sounded like a door closing or something." Either I'm going insane or there's someone in our house. Probably insanity.

"Dude, chill. There is nothing there. You're being crazy." Alyssa said firmly, examining the barrel on one of her pistols.

"Yeah I guess you're right."

"I am always right," Alyssa stated. I rolled my eyes. "Plus we have been here for what? Six months? No one's going to be around."

"True."

I nodded and rubbed my eyes. I knew there was no way that anyone would be here right now but I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was in the house. Alyssa was going on about how it could be a hot boy who came to rescue us, but honestly I was only half listening. She fantasizes so often that I practically memorized anything she could possibly think of. I heard shallow breathing and footsteps, this time for sure. The next thing I knew, a cold barrel of a gun was pressed to my head, trigger sounding and everything. I glanced at Alyssa who gave me the slightest nod. We raised our hands, stood up slowly and turned around.

It was two guys about our age standing there. They seemed like they were expecting us to react that way, as if they had done this before. Only, their reality was about to be totally flipped. I wish I had a camera to capture the look on their faces when they saw what happened next. Alyssa reached to the side of her belt and wrapped her hands around her nunchucks, only the boys didn't see. She slid them out and flung the nunchucks across their loaded guns causing them to land across the dining room with a loud clatter. In the second it took them to realize what just happened, I had my Calico M960 and my revolver pointed at them.

"Now that that's out of the way," Alyssa said taking out her handgun and clicking the trigger into place, "start talking."

The elder of the two instantly spoke up, most likely scared shitless. "My name's Hal this is my brother, Ben, and we're from the Second Massachusetts Militia Regiment-"

"You're with the resistance?" Alyssa questioned.

"Yeah, we were hunting-"

"No shit."

"-Hunting for _provisions_ and saw you two-"

"And thought it would be nice to introduce your selves by putting a gun to our heads?" she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Hal glared at Alyssa.

"If you want us to keep talking you need to shut up."

"I'll do what I want-"

"You know what-" Alyssa and Hal started bickering and using profanity that was quite strong, even for me. I took this moment to really look at the two. If I'm being honest, they were pretty decent looking. Hal had black hair and brown eyes and Ben had blondish-brown hair and hazel eyes. They looked nothing alike, and if Hal hadn't said they were related I would've never guessed it. I noticed that Ben was watching me watching him. He seemed to be doing the same thing I was: analyzing the enemy. We were just staring at each other, zero emotion on our faces. I could tell he had a knife in his pocket since there was a small rounded point peeking out of it, not a smart move on his part. It had gotten really quiet, like dead silent. Hal was sending a murderous look at Alyssa and she was returning it right back. It was quite an amusing sight to see, what with Alyssa being nearly a foot shorter than Hal and giving him the most hate-filled glare I'd ever seen. Ben was looking back and forth between everyone with a nonchalant expression. This was probably normal behavior for his brother, and I knew this was definitely normal for Alyssa. She had the shortest temper in the world and a whole lot of attitude, and judging the way Hal immediately set himself up for a brutal argument, he was exactly the same way. Hal and Alyssa's voices began getting louder and louder and Ben was attempting to calm the two down. Like _that_ was going to get us somewhere.

"**HEY**!" I shouted loudly. They all looked taken aback, since it was the first time I spoke during all of this; even Alyssa looked a little surprised. She was usually the one who did all the talking. "I honestly don't give a damn about who you guys are and where you came from, so can you please just get to the point of your conversation and then leave us the hell alone?" People say I have a strong voice. I suppose I do, I rarely ever talk unless I want to (which isn't often) so my voice comes out stronger than it should when I speak.

Ben, being the first to recover from my outburst, spoke up. "Fine, but we need a minute to talk things over."

"Whatever," I said while knocking past his shoulder as I left the room. We grabbed their guns off the floor and went into the living room to give them some privacy.

"These guns are absolute crap," I said taking in the many scratches, dents, blood stains, and poor quality bullets. Alyssa smiled and shook her head at me as we patiently waited on the dusty couch.

A few minutes passed and they came back into the room. Ben started talking. "Well we were thinking that-"

"Awww how cute Hal had to send his wittle brother to do his talking, or is he not smart enough to think of anything and this was all your-" she gestured to Ben, "idea?" Again with the sarcasm. She never stops.

"Look girl-"

"It's Alyssa for your information."

Hal looked like he wanted to strangle Alyssa. "I don't believe in hitting girls, nor have I ever wanted to, but if I have to continue to talk to _you_ I'm pretty sure that I'll make an exception-"

"You. Don't. Scare. Me."

"Fine! You know, we were only trying to help you guys out but if you guys are doing just fine on your own-"

Alyssa was about to agree with that but I cut her off. We weren't doing too well in the food department and we both wanted more company around than we had, so the least we could do was hear them out. "Wait, wait, wait. Help us out? How?"

"You seem like you two are in the same situation all of us were in before we joined the 2nd Mass. Low supplies, few weapons, and no medical care. The 2nd Mass has food, water, ammunition, weapons, and even a doctor. And even though we didn't exactly start off on the right foot, you guys should come back with us," Ben's eyes looked from me to Alyssa, awaiting a response.

"Give us a minute," I said. Once the boys were in the kitchen, I turned to my best friend. She didn't look too happy. "I know you don't want to go, but we aren't going to survive if we keep living like this. Soon enough, more aliens will appear, take what's left of the resources, and we'll die. This is our best chance."

"I'm not going."

"Yes, you are. C'mon, if we hate living there then we'll just come back. There's no harm in trying."

Alyssa thought it over and sighed. "Alright. But the next time that douche insults me, we're leaving."

I smiled. "Okay."

We pushed open the door to the kitchen and stood briefly. "We'll go with you," Alyssa said. "We need to get some stuff from our house though."

"Okay. We'll ride over with you guys," Hal responded.

"Can we have our guns back? We can't really lose weapons like those." Ben told us.

Like I'd actually _wanted_ to keep them? They don't even qualify as moderately okay weapons, let alone a quality gun. Alyssa gave them- more like _shoved_- their guns and turned on her heels. I followed after her, and I could've sworn I heard Hal ask Ben if this was a good idea or not. Ben punched Hal in the arm and kept walking.

I rolled my eyes. This was going to be a looonngg day.

Alyssa and I walked side by side while the boys trailed behind us, walking their motorcycles to conserve as much fuel as possible. I was tired of holding my Calico, so I swung it around and let it sit on my back, entirely concealed by my black hoodie. I zipped it back up and slid my hands into the pockets. My mind was wandering to the previous night when I wondered if other people had survived or not. I knew about the 2nd Mass and the other Masses when a group of men dressed in camouflage had stopped by the house and talked about how they were splitting up what was left of Massachusetts into smaller groups to look for any survivors. Must be the reason why Hal and Ben wanted us to come with them.

My side bangs fell in my face as I looked around the neighborhood that was once spotless and well taken care of. Sometimes I'd wake up and think that everything was just the way it was, until I'd look to my side and see my guns on the dresser Alyssa and I shared.

"Pretty impressive what you guys did back there," Ben complimented, talking about our attack on them.

"Thanks," Alyssa replied.

"You guys caught us way off guard. It didn't even look like you had a gun on you, especially two." I realized Hal was talking to me. I gave him a small nod as my response. If he knew what was on me now, he'd probably shit himself.

"She's not a fan of weapons," Alyssa stated. She glanced at me when she said this, and I could tell she was trying not to crack a smile. I was straining myself to suppress a laugh at how big of a lie that was. In reality it was other way around; I forced Alyssa to carry her guns and a few small knives for protection. She was a better fist fighter and could knock someone out before they knew what had happened to them.

"What, do you eat for her, too?" Hal wondered sarcastically, referring to Alyssa answering for me.

She balled her hands into fists and turned around sharply. She had her arm raised and she was just about to sock Hal in the face, but my hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"Stop," I said softly. "Don't let him get to you." Alyssa muttered a few curse words and started walking again.

"She has way too short of a temper," Hal chuckled and shook his head.

"Yeah, like you," I retorted. Alyssa and I were highly defensive of each other; always had been always would be.

Ben started laughing at my remark which earned him a slap in the arm from Hal. I ran my fingers through my bangs to get them out of my face and caught up with Alyssa. We were just about to turn onto our street.

"You okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine, but Hal won't be." I smiled and put my elbow on her shoulder as we walked home.

"We're here," Alyssa called over her shoulder as we crossed the dead lawn. I opened the door and trudged up the stairs. On the side of the steps were many, many bullet holes from when I taught Alyssa to shoot her gun. It was the only place that the aliens wouldn't hear the shots and that would be relatively safe to shoot. We opened her beat up door and picked up the backpacks we had pre-packed in case we needed to get out of the house quickly. I had another pair of high tops, two pairs of black skinny jeans, Alyssa's track jacket that she let me have and my uncle's military jacket, and a few black tank tops. The rest of the bag was filled to the brim with basic necessities that I could possibly need later.

Alyssa was filling her bag with the little clothes she had left and packing some photos of her family. Silently, I helped her put some of her belongings into the bag and a few things the 2nd Mass would appreciate, such as some medicines, Band-Aids and wraps, hair brushes, etc. I scanned the bare room, thinking about how long I had lived here and all the memories that were made here.

"You gonna miss it too?" Alyssa asked.

"Absolutely." I had been living with Alyssa for a year and a half before the invasion began since my parents died and my brother was out living on his own. Even if I was looking forward to a better future, I was going to miss this place.

We took one last look at the bedroom and headed downstairs to the guys, backpacks slung across our backs.

"We never properly introduced ourselves," Ben said once we were out front, "I'm Ben Mason." He extended his hand towards Alyssa first.

"Alyssa Carter." They shook hands and then Ben turned to me expectantly.

I looked at his hand for a moment, then blinked and brought eyes back to his. "Kaylee Parker." He awkwardly pulled his hand back and went towards his brother.

"The 2nd Mass is at least twenty miles west from here, so you guys are going to have to hop on," Hal patted the back of his seat on his bike.

"That won't be necessary," I said. I made my way to the hand bar of the garage and lifted it up. Inside, we had a few gallons of fuel and our two motorcycles. Alyssa's was a huge Kawasaki bike that went up to 200 miles an hour and I had a jet-black Suzuki that also went to 200 miles an hour. Alyssa's cousin owned a bike shop that had only four motorcycles left, so we took the best two and all the fuel that was left.

Hal and Ben began gaping as we walked the bikes out of the garage as well as the fuel. Did they really think that we would actually be the damsels in distress of our own story? Hell no! We haven't needed someone to lookout for us since we were twelve!

I stomped on the starter and revved up the engine. I loved the sound of the engine roaring to life, the feel of wind ripping through my hair, and the way my gloved hands fit perfectly with the handlebars. It was the closest I felt to normal; the closest I'd _ever_ feel to normal, I guess.

Alyssa's POV

"Did you hear that?" Kaylee asked.

"What?"

"That noise, it sounded like a door closing or something."

"Dude, chill. There is nothing there. You're being crazy." I replied. She is so paranoid sometimes.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I'm always right," I replied with a smirk. She rolled her eyes. "Plus we have been here- what? Six months? No one's going to be around."

"True."

I started fantasizing about a prince coming to get us. It's nice just to think about that sometimes. Then I felt the cold hard barrel of a gun pressed to my head and I was brought out of my fantasy land. Kaylee glanced at me and I nodded. We raised our hands, stood up and turned around.

It was two boys standing there. The oldest couldn't have been that much older than me. They had blank looks on their face and were relaxed. Obviously they had done this before. They acted as though they were good at this. Well, I thought, let's see how good you really are. I slowly reached my hand to my nunchucks and in one fluid motion swung them across their guns, sending them flying across the room landing loudly. In the short while it took them to realize what happened, Kaylee had her two guns pointed at them.

"Now that's that out of the way," I said taking out my handgun and clicking the trigger in place, "start talking."

"My name's Hal and this is my brother, Ben, and we are from the Second Massachusetts Militia Regiment-"

"You're with the resistance?" I questioned. They must be fighters. Kaylee is going to get along with them real well. I will too, but Kaylee will more. She is the weapons girl; I'm more of a traditional fighter. They look like weapons people.

"Yeah, we were hunting-"

"No shit," I said in a DUHH kinda way.

"Hunting for _provisions_ and saw you two-"

"And thought it would be nice to introduce your selves by putting a gun to our heads?" I asked my voice sarcastic. Hal glared at me. I am really good a pissing people of.

"If you want us to keep talking you need to shut up."

"I'll do what I want-"

"You know what you need to just shut up and let me finish!"

"Oh, I need to let you finish? I don't need to do shit!"

Hal and I started arguing. Suddenly I stopped talking. I realized Kaylee was looking at the boys. They may think she has a blank expression, but I can see it in her eyes: she thinks they're attractive. OH GOD NOT THESE TWO!

"What the wittle girl can't think of a comeback?"

"Screw you!" I yelled. My mom always said that was not lady like to say. Well, if that's not lady like then I don't even wanna know what she would say about what I REALLY wanted to say, and was about to if Kaylee had not interrupted.

"**HEY**!" she shouted loudly. Everyone was taken aback, even me. I don't think I have ever heard her yell. She has a really commanding voice and never had the need to. "I honestly don't give a damn about who you guys are and where you came from, so can you please just get to the point of your conversation and then leave us the hell alone?"

Ben, at least I think that's his name, was the first to speak. "Fine, but we need a minute to talk things over."

"Whatever," Kaylee said, shoving past his shoulder. We grabbed their guns and left, giving them privacy.

"These guns are absolute crap," Kaylee said examining the guns, even I could tell they are in poor quality. That's bad because what usually looks good to me, Kaylee finds something wrong with. I smiled.

We could hear them talking-or more like fighting. Ben seemed to have an idea that Hal didn't like. After a little bit, they came in. Judging by the look on Hal's face, Ben won the argument. Ben started talking. "Well we were thinking that-"

"Awww how cute. Hal had to send his wittle brother to do his talking, or is he not smart enough to think of anything and this was all your-" I pointed to Ben "idea?" Hal glared. Wow this is fun. He gets SO mad so quickly.

"Look girl-"

"It's Alyssa for your information."

Hal look like he wanted to hurt me. That feeling was mutual. "I don't believe in hitting girls, nor have I ever wanted to, but if I have to continue to talk to you I'm pretty sure that I'll make an exception-"

"You. Don't. Scare. Me."

"Fine! You know, we were only trying to help you guys out but if you guys are doing just fine on your own-"

I was about agree and say get the hell out but Kaylee cut me off. "Wait, wait, wait. Help us out? How?"

"You seem like you two are in the same situation all of us were in before we joined the 2nd Mass. Low supplies, few weapons, and no medical care. The 2nd Mass has food, water, ammunition, weapons, and even a doctor. And even though we didn't exactly start off on the right foot, you guys should come back with us," Ben's eyes looked from Kaylee to me, awaiting a response.

"Give us a minute," Kaylee said. Once the boys left Kaylee turned to face me.

"I know you don't want to go, but we aren't going to survive if we keep living like this. Soon enough, more aliens will appear, take what's left of the resources, and we'll die. This is our best chance."

"I'm not going." Is she seriously considering this?!

"Yes, you are. C'mon, if we hate living there then we'll just come back. There's no harm in trying."

I wasn't going to win this argument. "Alright. But the next time that douche insults me, we're leaving."

She smiled. "Okay." Sometimes I think my temper amuses her.

We walked into the kitchen. "We'll go with you," I said. "We need to get some stuff from our house though."

"Okay. We'll ride over with you guys," Hal said.

"Can we have our guns back? We can't really lose weapons like those." Ben told us. I tossed them their weapons. If they are as bad Kaylee says, we don't want them.

Kaylee and I walked side by side in silence for a while, the boys behind us, pushing their bikes.

"Pretty impressive what you guys did back there," Ben complimented, to break the silence.

"Thanks," I replied.

"You guys caught us way off guard. It didn't even look like you had a gun on you, especially two." Hal was talking to Kaylee. Oh Hal, if only you knew exactly how many guns she _had_, and not to mention all the other weapons.

"She's not a fan of weapons," I stated and looked at Kaylee. It took everything in my power to stop from cracking. That was such a load of bull. Kaylee was the queen of weapons. Me on the other hand, not so much. I'm a way better fist fighter.

"What, do you eat for her, too?" Hal wondered sarcastically, referring to me answering for Kaylee. My fist balled up and I was just about to beat the living shit out of Hal when Kaylee grabbed my wrist.

"Stop," She said softly. "Don't let him get to you." Hal better be thanking his lucky stars Kaylee was here to stop me.

"Fuck him," I muttered just loud enough for him to hear too.

"She has way too short of a temper," Hal chuckled and shook his head.

"Yeah, like you," Kaylee shot back. She didn't talk much but I could always count on her to stand up for me, just like I always stand up for her. We just had this bond.

Ben started laughing at her comeback which got him a slap in the arm from Hal. Obviously Hals temper was a frequently discussed topic between the two.

"You okay?" Kaylee asked.

"I'm fine, but Hal won't be." Ha! I could kill him in an instant. Next time, when Kaylee isn't there to stop me, to put it lightly, he is screwed.

Kaylee put her elbow on my shoulder. I hate it when she does that. She has always been tall one between us and me always short, even though I was a year older than her. I think the only reason I let her do it is because I call her Kayls and she hates it.

"We're here," I called over my shoulder as we crossed the old dead lawn. Kaylee opened the door and we headed upstairs. On the side of the steps were many, many bullet holes from when Kaylee tried, and failed, to teach me to shoot. I just couldn't do it though. Guns were maybe the one thing that scared me. I hated them. We opened my beat up door and picked up the backpacks we had pre-packed in case we needed to get out of the house, fast. I had a spare pair of Vans, some extra tank tops, a leather jacket, and a few pairs of shorts and my other belt. I also added a few juice boxes, which got a laugh out of Kaylee. I loved juice boxes when I was little and I guess just never grew out of them. Whenever I was sad, Kaylee would bring me a box of juice boxes and that always cheered me up.

I filled my bag with the little clothes I had and put some photos of my family inside, before everything became complicated, before my mom was killed and my dad stated drinking, and Kenny left for the army. That was the family I loved and missed. Not the family I lost to the aliens. I hated that family. Silently, Kaylee helped me put some of my belongings into the bag and a few things for the 2nd Mass. Kaylee scanned the bare room and I could tell she was thinking about all our childhood memories.

"You gonna miss it too?" I asked. Kaylee and I had so many memories together. We had practically grown up together. And even though I always used to drea, about leaving here and leaving my dad and being free I never thought it would be this soon. Kaylee and I had our whole lives planned. We were going to go to New York University and become famous actresses. It used to be just a childish dream, to be famous, but Kaylee and I had gotten serious about it, taking acting classes and stuff whenever we could.

"Absolutely." We headed downstairs.

"We never properly introduced ourselves." That's an understatement, I thought. "I'm Ben Mason." He extended his hand towards me first.

"Alyssa Carter." I said flatly and shook his hand.

He held his hand out to shake Kaylee's but she just looked at him and said, "Kaylee Parker." He pulled his hand back awkwardly.

"The 2nd Mass is at least twenty miles west from here, so you guys are going to have to hop on," said Hal and patted the back of his bike. There is no way in hell I am riding with HIM. I'd rather shoot a thousand guns than get on his bike.

"That won't be necessary," Kaylee said and opened up the garage. Inside we kept our two most prized possessions: Our bikes. My cousin owned a bike shop in town, after the attack, me and Kaylee got the best two we could find plus some fuel and we travel on those. I had some family in California and we used to travel out there a lot and go riding with them. I have been able to ride dirt bike since I was 5 and I stated teaching Kaylee a couple years ago, and she is really good. I love my bike because it was custom made for me. Just before the attack, I found out it was supposed to be my brother's when he got back, but when he died, he left it to me in his will. My cousin went through it and customized it and was going to give it to me for my sixteenth birthday, which is coming up in about a month. The boys just stared in awe at the bikes.

Hal's POV

"That won't be necessary" Kaylee said. What is she talking about? They aren't walking back to the 2nd Mass! I won't let them, I don't care how annoying they are, that's messed up. Okay, I might let Alyssa walk back but Kaylee doesn't seem that bad. Kaylee opened up the garage door and there stood two of the most amazing bikes I have ever seen.

"Are those yours?" Ben asked in shock.

"Yep. What? Jealous?" Alyssa smirked.

"Wait, you guys know how to ride these, right? Because we don't have time for lessons. If we aren't back soon they are going to send out a search party for us. "

"Yes, we know how to ride. How do you think we got them here from the shop, smartass?"

I rolled my eyes. "Let's go," They started up their bikes and we were off. We rode most of the way in silence. Me and Ben in front and the girls behind us. Suddenly I realized something. Weaver had sent us out to find a possible food source and/or fighters and these girls didn't seem like the fighting type. I have to get them to my dad first. He'll tell Weaver about them, not me.

I had to tell Ben this, though chances are he already knows. I can't risk it and I have to make sure he knows we have to keep these girls out of Weaver's sight before we get to Dad. And Karen, I realized quickly. She will lose it if she sees me come back with two girls. She has some trust issues and this isn't going to help us out. I slammed on the brakes, hoping Ben would hear the brakes screech and stop. It worked, but I was too busy making sure Ben stopped and forgot about the girls behind me. Kaylee skidded to a stop just in time, but Alyssa's bike slammed into mine and she went flying over the handle bars and was about to land with a thud on the ground, and possibly break something. I grabbed her arm and tried to stop her from landing too hard to the ground. It would have worked too since she landed on her feet but she lost her balance and went sliding down the gravel road. Ben being more tolerant of her then me reached her first. He helped her up and she had road rash up covering the entire side of her leg.

"WHAT THE HELL?! Don't you know you're supposed slowly stop or at least try and tell me your stopping? !" Not the reaction I was expecting. I didn't see one tear in her eyes. As much as I hate her, she is strong. I dismounted my back to go and see if I could help her.

"I got it," Kaylee said getting a first aid kit from her bag. As she opened it, I caught a glimpse inside and it looked like there was some C4 in there but I couldn't be sure. Who puts C4 in a first aid kit?! She disinfected Alyssa's leg and wrapped it up. Alyssa was quite mad at me she stomped right by me and hopped on her bike. We all headed out again. OH CRAP! I forgot to talk to Ben. Ben's bike started slowing down and then it just stopped, battery dead.

"Stupid piece of shit bike!" Ben yelled. I stopped; it was always a crappy bike that was more work than it was worth. Maybe now Weaver would finally let us trash it.

"Ben, it was always a crappy bike, maybe now we can finally get rid of it." Ben kicked the bike and it went tumbling down a hill. So much for bringing it back for spare parts.

"That's great and all but how do you suppose he gets home?" Alyssa asked. Oh shoot I didn't think of that!

"Ummmm I don't know any ideas?"

Silence.

An idea struck my mind. "Ben you take Alyssa's bike-"

"WHAT?" I didn't even have to look around to see who was talking.

"When we get back, our leader, Weaver, is not going to be nearly as tolerable as me so maybe you should work on not interrupting people. Ben you take her bike, Alyssa, hop on the back of mine-"

"Hell no. I'll ride with Kaylee."

I sighed. She is so damn aggravating. "You two won't fit. That bike's made for one person, plus you both have bags, I don't." I knew I was right. Alyssa knew it too. From the look on her face, this didn't make her happy. Ha!

"Fine," she growled.

I looked at Alyssa and said, "You know I am just as happy about this as you are."

"Just go."

So the rest of the ride went really well, even though by the way Alyssa's hands were tensing she wanted to strangle me. I was starting to think things were maybe getting better. The Massachusetts air was cold and crisp, something that never changed, even after the attack. When we pulled up in front of the school, there was a very pissed off Weaver waiting for us. Shit! How long had we been gone? Then, to make things worse, I saw a scared looking Karen, but her fear turned to rage when she saw me and Alyssa. Crap! I think I'd rather deal with Weaver.

He looked at all of us. "You four in my office. NOW!" Weaver snapped, then turned around and left. Yes, I'd way rather deal with Weaver.

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_Thanks for reading! Go ahead and click that button to continue reading! The adventure continues...;D_


	2. Welcome To The Second Mass

_Hey guys! Thanks so much for continuing on! W Thank you and shoutout to JDMlvr1 for being the first person to review! Your name is forever written in my book of awesome:p Hahaha and I completely agree with you;] -Kaylee_

Hi guys! thanks for reading our story! hope you guys are liking it! Okay so there was a little mess up. Hal and Alyssa Carter's POVs for the ride home are supposed to be one separate chapter. So mine is in chapter two and Hals in chapter one. Just in case you got confused. it was a mistake on our part. And a special shout out to all of those who have reviewed. it means a lot! Here is chapter two! Enjoy ~Alyssa

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Kaylee's POV

A man with a blond ponytail and a green cap was standing in front of the high school Hal and Ben had led us to. The man was very, very angry when the four of us approached. I assumed he must be their leader, "Weaver," since he had a military jacket with '2nd Mass' stitched on the front. A crowd had started forming, curious to see who these strangers were and what Weaver was going to do to Hal and Ben.

Weaver, noticing the crowd, said, "You four in my office. NOW."  
I slid off my bike and walked it to the front doors of the school. Alyssa seemed a bit nervous, and I was too. I didn't want to cause any trouble or be a burden to these people. Another man with tall man with brown hair and a short beard gave me a soft smile once we got to the front doors. "I'll look out for your bike."

"Thanks," I said and smiled back. His eyes were kind and he gave off a fatherly vibe, so I didn't put up a fight with him. Alyssa and I were shoulder to shoulder as we followed the guys to wherever Weaver's office was. What was he going to say to us? What was going to happen?

Weaver's office was located in a history class. All of the desks were replaced with plastic chairs and the teacher's desk at the front. They must have their meetings here. Hal and Ben stood in front of the desk, so Alyssa and I copied them and stood next to each other.

I fiddled with one of the pocket knives I had in my hoodie's pocket. I was opening and closing the clasp, something I did when I was a little nervous.

Weaver slammed the door shut and stalked up to the desk. He hit the desk with his fist in anger, and then turned to Hal and Ben for an explanation. "I ask you to go out to look for food or possible fighters within two hours and you disobey my orders!"

"We checked every house for twenty miles and found nothing," Ben informed Weaver, "and since we hadn't seen any survivors, we thought we should just turn back, but then we saw them."

"Can they fight?" I liked how they were just talking about us as if we weren't in the room. I honestly don't see why Weaver made us come in here too.

"I don't know. I don't think so, but they were armed when we found them," Hal said in a low voice as if that made a difference in us hearing what he said.

Weaver finally turned to Alyssa and me and addressed us for the first time. "I'm gonna need you two to set down your weapons on this desk," he saw the bags on our backs and added, "and your bags."

I sighed and dropped my bag on the corner of the desk. Alyssa was smiling a little since she was probably dying to see the reactions on everybody's faces when I disarmed myself. Alyssa went first, putting her nunchucks, two pistols, pocketknives, and gun on the table. Weaver dumped some of her backpack contents on the desk, and her box of juice boxes came out with a thud.

I bit my lip to keep from smiling, but it was no use. I chuckled a little at Hal's expression. He just looked at Alyssa with "What the Fuck?" written all over his face.

"What?" She asked.

"Juice boxes?"

"Yeah, so?" She glared at him.

"I never pegged you for a juice box kind of girl."

"And I never pegged you for a total dou-"

"Enough," Weaver said firmly. His eyes shifted to me. "Your turn, Missy."

Missy? We were not going to get along well. I rolled my eyes at Alyssa's already grinning face.

I turned my Calico around and set it down, then my revolver and pistol, I had about three pocket knives in one pocket and two actual knives in the other one so I dropped them all down. Weaver was about to speak again, but I wasn't finished. I had a butcher knife strapped to my back, so I took the holster and put it down, then lifted my jean legs up and took the two other knives strapped to either of my legs and threw them on the counter. I unclipped my bullet belt and the ones on my shoulders and laid them on top of my guns. Weaver had an eyebrow raised at me and I just held up my first finger as I took my DMSP RFA3-3G1 Rifle from my sneaker and set that down as well. The desk was getting a little full. I lifted my tank top a little and detached the belt with many individual pouches that was constantly around my waist and set it on top of my pile.

Weaver leaned down and opened the pouches and looked at the all the knives in there, then looked at me.

I rubbed the back of my neck and looked away. Alyssa, no longer able to contain herself, busted up laughing. I looked over at Hal and Ben and they looked at me like I had two heads.

I smirked and chuckled to myself.

"I-I thought you said she didn't like weapons," Hal stuttered staring at the pile.

"I lied," Alyssa said simply.

"What do you do in your free time?" Ben asked in bewilderment.

"This," my hands extended over the pile.

"How many weapons do you have with you, Missy?"

I was going to stab him if he kept calling me that. "43 not including grenades, C4, dismembered guns, titanium bullets, and about several back up knives."

"Damn, girl," Weaver said. "Where's the rest of it?" I pointed to my backpack.

Weaver dumped everything onto the table to the point where you couldn't see any of Alyssa's things. If I was diligent with my ammunition, it would last about three or four years.

"Where'd you get all this?"

"I made it."

"All of it?" I bit my lip and nodded.

Weaver didn't know what to say, which was surprising for a leader. The room was uncomfortably quite.

"I can fight, too."

Weaver looked skeptically at me. "Can you?"

"Do you think I'd have all of this if I couldn't?"

That seemed to catch Weaver off guard. "You killed any of them skitters and mechs?"

I frowned. "What?"

"The aliens. We call the ones that have six legs skitters and the robot ones mechs," Ben clarified.

"Yeah I have. Plenty of skitters and a dozen of mechs," I said testing the new words. They seemed to fit the aliens.

"How'd you kill the mechs?" Weaver asked.

"Depends. C4, grenades, mainly bullets."

"We've tried bullets before and they failed," Weaver raised an eyebrow.

"Did you ever think to use the mechs' metal as bullets? It cut's right through them," I replied matter-of-factly.

Man, I really hate talking.

"How old are you, soldier?"

Now that, I liked. "Fourteen."

"No way," Hal said, "I thought you were older than me!"

I shook my head. Everyone mistook me for older due to my height and maturity. I was five foot ten and had always been the responsible one, whether it was my brother and I or Alyssa and me.

"You're a year older than our youngest fighter, so I'll consider you a possible fighting arm. What about you?" Weaver asked Alyssa.

"I'm a better fist fighter but I can shoot a gun well enough and I'm skilled with nunchucks."

Weaver nodded. "Alright then. Welcome to the Second Massachusetts. I'm Captain Dan Weaver."

"Alyssa Carter."

"Kaylee Parker," I said shaking his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you two. Ben, take Kaylee to the shooting range and then report back to me on her fighting ability," Weaver ordered.

Greaatttt. More awkward silences.

"Take your best weapon. We'll move you guys into a room and drop your stuff there."

I nodded and grabbed my Calico off the desk and slipped a few knives into my pocket when Weaver looked away briefly. Alyssa saw me and rolled her eyes. I nudged her and walked over to an awaiting Ben.

When he turned a corner, I noticed he had spikes sticking out of his back. The hell?

A few passerbyers glanced at Ben as we walked by, but Ben didn't seem to notice. Must be a usual thing for him.

"You're staring at my spikes," he said without making eye contact with me.

No point in lying. "Yeah. Do they hurt?" I wondered.

"No not really. Most of the time I forget they're even there, until I lean against a wall or get dressed, or until people stare at me oddly when I pass by."

"Did you have one of those things on your back?" I asked. I had seen a group of kids when Alyssa and I were getting food one day who had these glowing bug-like things attached to their backs. They seemed to be under control or something. Whatever it was, it scared the hell out of me.

"A harness? Yeah, I did. My friend and I were taken by the skitters when the invasion happened and they harnessed us. My dad and Hal came and rescued me a few weeks ago."

"That must've really sucked, working for the aliens and not being able to act on your free will."

"It did. But now it's off of me and I can think for myself again."

Ben held open the door to the back of the school where there were a few trees and bushes. There was a ton of bullet holes in the trees and the bushes leaves were practically missing since there was thousands of holes through all of them. I saw some cardboard cut outs of people and little holes of where knives had struck.

I tightened my gloves and slid out my Calico. This was going to be easy.

"So basically, just aim for a tree and try to shoot in the middle. Same with the leaves."

"Simple enough," I murmured. I added a few spare bullets into my gun, loaded, and glanced at a nearby tree, and shot. The bullet went through the exact middle of the tree within three seconds. I reloaded again, to show that it wasn't just a lucky shot. I locked onto a bush leaf that was hole-free and shot without even aiming. Center of the leaf. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my longest knife. I walked to the cut out and decided that I would just aim for the heart. Since guns and explosives were my specialty, I took a few more seconds to aim and with a swift motion, threw the knife straight into the chest of the cut out.

"Do I need to do it again?" I asked.

"Yeah, one more time."

I walked back to the tree and started loading again.

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" Ben questioned, completely astonished at my performance.

"My uncle was in the army and as a kid, I loved watching him blow stuff up and shoot things, so he taught me how to build my own guns and explosives and to shoot them. Guess I just picked up on it fast and it's stuck with me ever since."

"Were you going to be in the military, too?"

"Well," I grunted as I got a nasty kick from the Calico, signaling that it needs to be adjusted, "that was the plan, if my career of choice failed, which was exceedingly likely."

"What was that?" How many questions was he going to ask me in one day?

"That's a story for another day," I said blasting a leaf to smithereens.

"What about your family? Wouldn't they miss you too much to let you go?"

Ben hit a soft spot in my heart. I refused to talk to anyone about them, even Alyssa. Pain was the only emotion I seemed to feel anymore, so I tried to hold onto that as best as I could.

"You talk a lot," I remarked as I threw another knife into the cut out's head.

Ben smiled at that. "And you are the hardest person to figure out in the history of the world."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Alyssa's POV

The man standing there looked pissed. I guessed this is the man they called "Weaver". When Ben and Hal saw him they looked scared. Wimps, he's not that scary looking, just mad. I have dealt with worse, what with my dad being drunk all the time; I didn't get my fighting skills by taking classes that's for sure.

The man simply said "You four in my office. NOW!"

There was a man out there who promised to look after our bikes. Kaylee trusted him and she has a good judge of character, so I decided to trust him as well. I was kinda nervous going in there though. Don't know why, I just was. I can usually tell when something is not going to go in my favor and I just had a feeling something awful was going to happen.

The man seemed like he was a caring guy. That was something I was not used to. He glanced at Hal, then me, then the girl. He looked at Hal again then tilted his head as if waiting for an answer. Hal just shook his head and said "Noooooo…" the man nodded. He must be there dad.

Weaver's "office" was a history classroom that was rearranged so they could hold meetings and such.

I was hoping they made us show them our weapons. The look on their faces is going to be priceless! The four of us lined up in front of the desk. Weaver slammed the door and turned to the boys

"I ask you to go out to look for food or possible fighters within two hours and you disobey my orders!" He was pissed. This is fun, dinner and a show…minus dinner.

"We checked every house for twenty miles and found nothing," Ben said to him, "and since we hadn't seen any survivors, we thought we should just turn back, but then we saw them."

"Can they fight?"

They had better say yes, because if they don't, I won't mind demonstrating my skills, using then as dummies!

"I don't know. I don't think so, but they were armed when we found them," Hal said. WHAT?! Boys have too much pride. He is just mad I disarmed him. With nunchucks.

Weaver then turned to us. "I'm gonna need you two to set down your weapons on this desk," YES! "and your bags." This is going to be good!

Kaylee and I put are bags down and I couldn't help but smile. I went first. I put down my handgun, AK 47, two pocket knives, one reel knife from my boot, and my nunchucks. Then I dumped out my bag.

Kaylee started to laugh a bit at everyone's faces. Yeah, wait 'til they see what Kaylee has in _her_ bag.

"What?" I asked.

"Juice boxes?" Hal wondered.

"Yeah, so what?" I glared. They got a problem with it, they can take it up with me.

"I never pegged you for a juice box kind of girl."

"And I never pegged you for a total douc-"

"Enough," Weaver said, and turned to Kaylee. "Your turn, Missy."

Missy? I think I like that, even better than Kayls. I'll have to use that.

Kaylee started to unload all the weapons she had on her. Weaver kept trying to say something since he kept thinking she was done, but Kaylee kept unloading and unloading. I didn't even see my stuff anymore.

Weaver, Hal, and Ben just stood their gaping at her with the stupidest looks on their faces. Couldn't help it. I started busting up laughing.

"I-I thought you said she didn't like weapons," Hal stuttered.

"I lied," was my reply.

"What do you do in your free time?" Ben questioned, still in shock.

"This," was her answer, pointing to the pile.

"How many weapons do you have with you, Missy?"

Kaylee hates that name, I can tell. I definitely have to start calling her that. "43 not including grenades, C4, dismembered guns, titanium bullets, and about several back up knives."

"Damn, girl," Weaver said. "Where's the rest of it?"

Kaylee pointed at her backpack and Weaver dumped all of it on the table.

"Where'd you get all this?"

"I made it."

"All of it?"

Kaylee nodded. "I can fight, too."

Weaver looked at her. "Can you?"

"Do you think I'd have all of this if I couldn't?"

"You killed any of them skitters and mechs?"

"What?" Kaylee asked. What the hell?

"The aliens. We call the ones that have six legs skitters and the mechanical ones mechs," Ben said. Oh okay.

"Yeah I have. Plenty of skitters and a dozen of mechs," Kaylee said, which was true. She spent many nights trying to find a way to kill the mechs, because regular bullets don't work.

"How'd you kill the mechs?" Weaver asked.

"Depends. C4, grenades, mainly bullets."

"We've tried bullets before and they failed."

"Did you ever think to use the mechs' metal as bullets? It cut's right through them," Kaylee told them. So that's what she uses.

"How old are you, soldier?" Kaylee liked that, I could tell.

"Fourteen."

"No way," Hal said, "I thought you were older than me!"

Everyone always thought Kaylee was the older one, probably because she might be slightly more mature than me and have better control of her actions and emotions, plus she's at least eight inches taller than I am. I cannot control my emotions or keep a straight face. If I'm mad, you know it.

"You're a year older than our youngest fighter, so I'll consider you a possible fighting arm. What about you?" Weaver asked me.

"I'm a better fist fighter but I can shoot a gun well enough and I'm skilled with nunchucks."

Weaver nodded. "Alright then. Welcome to the 2nd Massachusetts. I'm Captain Dan Weaver."

"Alyssa Carter." I felt like I was in the military, just like my brother. People always said I would follow in his footsteps.

"Kaylee Parker."

"Pleasure to meet you two. Ben, take Kaylee to the shooting range and then report back to me on her fighting ability," Weaver ordered. "Take your best weapon. We'll move you guys into a room and drop your stuff there."

Kaylee nodded and grabbed one of her guns of the desk and slipped a few knives into her pocket as soon as Weaver's eyes left the desk. I saw this and rolled my eyes. She can't live without her weapons. When they left, Weaver turned to Hal, so I grabbed my knife from the desk and stuck it back in my boot.

Ben and Kaylee left. Damn it! Now I'm alone here with Hal. Oh joy!

"How old are you?" Weaver asked me.

"Fifteen, almost sixteen."

Hal started laughing "But your sooooooo short, you're like a midget!" he said in between laughs. That's it! I hate when people talk about my height. I grabbed my knife, kicked Hal somewhere no guy wants to be kicked, and when he doubled over, pulled his arms behind his back and held the knife to his throat. I had to stand on my tip toes, but I managed.

"Take. It. Back," I threatened.

"Or what?" he asked. Hal grabbed the knife out of my hand and flipped me over him and on the ground. I popped back up and ducked under the punch he threw my way. I placed a perfect kick to his head and he stumbled for a second. He was about to attack me again when Weaver interrupted us.

"ENOUGH!" He yelled for the third time today. He sighed. "Did you take any self-defense classes?" I shook my head. We never had money for stuff like that. As we walked back to his desk, I grabbed my brother's dog tags that always hung around my neck. Weaver saw this and asked, "Whose were they?"

"My brother's."

"Can I?" I took them off and handed them to him. "Karekin Carter. He was in the Navy? That's where you must get it from. I have never seen a girl your age fight like that with no lessons." This was the most talking I did about my brother, and I don't like to talk about him, even before the attack.

"That's a weird name," Hal commented

"It's the boy version of my mom's name, Karen. She loved that name." My mom said Karen meant pure and clean, and she wanted to name me that but my dad wouldn't let her. My mom was pure and clean until the day she died.

"If you never took classes and you didn't learn from your brother, how'd you learn to fight?" Weaver asked.

"When you grow up with the type of life I had, you learn to defend yourself."

"Oh, come on. All of us here have had the worst kind of life in the world, so stop pitying yourself-" Hal started to say but I cut him off.

"If the invasion is the worst thing that's ever happened to me then I have had a pretty good life, and if I were you I would shut up about your so-called hard life. You still have your family! Kaylee is all I have and I'm all she has." I could feel the anger boiling inside me. I loathed it when people tried to understand me or speak for me when they hardly knew me or my story.

"I don't have my mom."

"Well I don't have my mom either; she was shot and killed right before my own eyes when I was ten years old. My brother left when I was twelve to go to the Navy and I never saw him again. My dad didn't die until the attack but it would have been better for both of us if he had been dead. And you wanna know how I learned to fight? My dad was always drunk and wanted to fight with everyone, even his own daughter. I had to figure out had to defend myself some how. " I said, pushing up the sleeves of my jacket to reveal scars on my arms.

"I don't like her, she doesn't like me, so can we go and move on with this little meeting?" Hal asked Weaver.

"No. Soldiers need to learn to trust one another in the battlefield and the way you two act with each other is completely unacceptable. As much as the both of you don't like it, you need to spend time together so you can build a stable relationship. I'm adding Kaylee and Alyssa to your group with Ben and Karen. " There was a Karen here? "She and Kaylee are going to be in your group and you can switch off who has two people and who has three." He turned to me "We have scout groups of four here, two people take one way and two people head in the opposite direction. It gets things done quicker."

"Whatever. She can go with Ben and Kaylee and me and Karen will be the other group." Works for me, Ben doesn't seem _that _bad. "No. I want it to be Ben, Karen, and Kaylee, then you and Alyssa. You guys need to learn to fight _with_ each other, not _at _each other. Now take Alyssa and bring her to Karen's room. They will bunk with her until we can find them a separate room. I'll have Jimmy go inform Ben and Kaylee of the change in plans." And with that, we left. As we were leaving an eerie looking man walked in. He was tall with dark hair and had brown eyes, even though that's all I saw, I felt certain I had seen him before, like he was part of a memory that I wanted to forget. He looked at me for a second and I could tell he recognized me because a sort of terror flickered across his face, but it was gone so quickly I couldn't tell if it was real or I imagined it.

Hal's POV

"How old are you?" Weaver asked her.

"Fifteen, almost sixteen."

WHAT!? I started laughing. "But your sooooooo short, you're like a midget!" I said. That pissed her off. Score one for Hal! She took out a knife and kicked me and when I bent over in pain she grabbed me, pinned my arms behind my back, and put the knife to my throat.

"Take. It. Back" she spat.

"Or what?" I challenged. I grabbed the knife out of my hand and flipped her over my shoulder and pinned her on the ground. I popped back up and ducked under the punch I threw at her face. She placed a perfect kick to my head and I stumbled for a second. I was planning on strangling her when Weaver interrupted us.

"ENOUGH!" Weaver was really irritated with us, and I could tell that his irritation would only get worse. "Did you take self-defense classes?" She shook her head. She fiddled with the dog tags she had on. "Whose were they?"

"My brother's."

"Can?" I took them of and handed them to him. "Karekin Carter. He was in the Navy? That's where you must get it from. I have never seen a girl your age fight like that with no lessons."

"That's a weird name." I said.

"It's the boy version of my mom's name, Karen. She loved that name." Her mom's name is Karen? Small world…

"So if you never had lessons and you didn't learn from your brother, how'd you learn to fight?" Weaver asked.

"When you grow up with the type of life I had, you learn to defend yourself."

How naïve could she get? Did she really think we didn't have hard lives as well? My family has sacrificed so much and we had to grow up way too fast. "Oh, come on. All of us here have had the worst kind of life in the world, so stop pitying yourself-" then she cut me off! AGAIN! What is with that?

"If the invasion is the worst thing that's ever happened to me then I have had a pretty good life, and if I were you I would shut up about your so-called hard life. You still have your family! Kaylee is all I have and I'm all she has!" She yelled.

"I don't have my mom," was all I said

"Well I don't have my mom either; she was shot and killed right in front of my own eyes when I was ten years old. My brother left when I was twelve to go to the Navy and I never saw him again. My dad didn't die until the attack but it would have been better for both of us if he had been dead. And you wanna know how I learned to fight? My dad was always drunk and wanted to fight with everyone, even his own daughter. I had to figure out had to defend myself some how. " She said showing us scars on her arms. Oh my God, her dad abused her.

"I don't like her, she doesn't like me, so can we go and move on with this little meeting?" I asked, praying he said yes.

"No. Soldiers need to learn to trust one another in the battlefield and the way you two act with each other is completely unacceptable. As much as the both of you don't like it, you need to spend time together so you can build a stable relationship. I'm adding Kaylee and Alyssa to your group with Ben and Karen. " He turned to her to explain "We have scout groups of four here, two people take one way and two people head in the opposite direction. It gets things done quicker"

"Whatever. She can go with Ben and Kaylee and me and Karen will be the other group." I said. "No. I want it to be Ben, Karen, and Kaylee, then you and Alyssa. You guys need to learn to fight _with_ each other, not _at _each other. Now take Alyssa and bring her to Karen's room. They will bunk with her until we can find them a separate room. I'll have Jimmy go inform Ben and Kaylee of the change in plans." GREAT! I just had to let Ben talk me into letting them come.


	3. H Is For Hate

_Oh my gosh...200 views after four days?! You guys ROCK!:) Thank you so much for the consistent reviews and for the favorites! You guys have no idea how much this means to us! Thank you all! Anyways, you guys will get a little bit of a difference in our perspectives now, instead of reading the same thing basically:p haha Enjoyyyy!:D _

_-Kaylee_

Hope you guys like the story so far! Thank you for the support!:D Remember to leave a review!:) ~Alyssa

* * *

H is For Hate- Chapter 3

Alyssa's POV

We came up to a decent sized room.

"Karen, I need to talk to you," the girl from the front walked out and smiled at Hal. She came out and they just started kissing each other. Okay, this girl is clearly not clean or pure in anyway.

"Are you guys going to be a while? Because if you are, let me know, I'll go find something else to do." They both just glared at me.

"Who is she? And what is she doing here?"

"Karen meet Alyssa, Alyssa this is Karen-"

"No Hal I thought she was Sarah," What does he think I'm like five or something?

"And you two are going to be roommates, along with Kaylee, another girl that we found. Alyssa meet me outside in a half hour by the bikes and don't be late. Karen, you'll be with Ben and her friend Kaylee today for watch. Weaver said something about us having to build trust-"

"But I trust you Hal, why-"

"Not you idiot, Hal and ME need to build trust."

"Why?" She is actually confused.

"If we are all going to be on the same scout team then we need to trust each other don't we?"

Hal looked like he really didn't want to be here when a girl fight broke out. "And on that note, we are meeting outside the front of the school in twenty-five minutes. See you guys then." Then he left.

I was about to speak but Karen beat me to it. "Look, bitch, I don't know who you think you are but I'm only gonna say this once. Stay away from Hal, got it?"

"Honey, you can have him, because I wouldn't want him if he was the only one left on the planet." I already had an enemy and I'd only been here two hours. That's gotta be my personal best. Suddenly, a boy walked in with Kaylee's bag. He awkwardly looked between the two of us and set down Kaylee's backpack.

"Hey, you must be Alyssa, I'm Jimmy, I was told to bring your friends stuff here. Hey Karen," Jimmy turned and quickly left. Karen's eyes shifted to mine, then lurched out and grabbed Kaylee's bag, but I was faster.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Just trying to get to know my new roommate," she said all innocent like.

"Well if you really want to know her I'll tell you this: she ever catches you going through her stuff-"

"I'm good at snooping through stuff, she won't catch me" I noticed a shadow outside. Kaylee. She was listening to us.

"But if she does, and she will-"

Just then Kaylee walked in. "I will let Alyssa beat the fuck out of you, and I'll never look back. I'm Kaylee Parker, you must be Karen."

Karen was dumb struck. HA!

"Hal's very protective of me. You touch me and he'll hurt you."

"Even better, I've been looking forward for a chance to fight him and this seems like a perfect chance," I smirked

Kaylee walked over and unloaded a few of her guns, strapped them to herself then handed me some ammo and C4. I just stared at it. "It's C4. You'll need it if you run into any mechs."

"Where are you going?" I asked. We still had fifteen minuets left.

"Dinner, want to come with me?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry." Kaylee quietly walked out of the room, one of many guns in hand. Karen and I started getting ready to go; I loaded up my guns, ammo, and knives. I was trying to calm myself down, since Karen got me extremely riled up and I was this close to throwing something at her head. In no time our fifteen minutes was up and we walked silently to the front of the school. Weaver, the boys, and Kaylee were waiting for us. Hal and Ben's dad was behind us.

"Hello boys, Karen, Captain," he was greeted by from everyone with "hellos." I went to stand by Kaylee. "Hello girls. I didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier. I'm Tom Mason, second in command of the 2nd Mass and I'm Ben and Hal's dad." He seemed so friendly. How was he related to Hal?

"Hi I'm Alyssa and this is Kaylee, it's nice to meet you."

"Pleasure to meet you two as well," he said and shook both of our hands.

"I want you all to search the perimeter and be on the lookout. Look around, we need anything you can find. Ben, I want you in charge of your group."

After telling me to be safe, Kaylee and her group left. I hope she'll be okay with Karen…

"Hal, I want you two to work as a team, and if she has some ideas listen to her. I think she'll be a good fighter, but she doesn't like guns, so if she needs your help, help her out okay?" I hope they realize I can hear them.

"Yes sir."

"Now go, and please for the love of God do NOT do anything stupid or reckless!"

Hal and I headed out on foot in the opposite direction the others went.

"I didn't know you could be nice," Hal said.

"Yeah? Well when someone doesn'ttry and introduce themselves by putting a _gun to my head_, I tend to retaliate a lot kinder," I said. "Maybe you didn't know that, but I thought it was pretty common knowledge."

"Whatever."

"So, what are we doing tonight?"

"Just a basic perimeter search, but we go off in the area the cars and even bikes can't go." That makes sense.

"What, no attitude, or stupid come back?" I just ignored him until we started talking about guns and weapons, fighting techniques and other stuff.

"So, why does Kaylee have so many more weapons that you?" Hal asked.

"I don't like guns, I prefer to fight someone, and I only use my gun to shoot the aliens."

"Why?"

I kicked a rock. "I just don't like guns, okay?" Why is he so nosy?

"Fine, fine. So are you scared, right now?"

"What are we playing? Like 21 questions?"

"No, I'm following Captain Weavers orders: get to know you and trust you, and get you to trust me."

"Fine," I just can't wait for this night to be over; I was too drained to think right now. Hal and I walked in an awkward silence for awhile until I heard something.

"What did you say?" I asked to make sure that I didn't hear him correctly.

"Nothing, why?" Hal frowned.

The ground was shaking and the small pebbles on the floor were bouncing to my knee.

"Get down!" The aliens were close, too close for comfort. Judging by the size of the vibrations there was only one mech but we could hear a lot of screeches too, meaning there's a lot of skitters near by. They were coming our way. "We have to get rid of them, I have some C4 to take out the mech and a few skitters, and you can shoot down the rest."

"No, we're getting out of here, and three we run, quietly around them."

"No, we're fighting," Hal said sternly. Before I could protest, Hal grabbed his C4 and threw it at them. It killed the mech and two skitters, which left five more.

"What the hell?" Hal and I started blasting at the aliens. I took down one more skitter and he took down three. There was one more but it wasn't dead yet. I got out my knife and sent a perfect shot in its mouth and into his brain. The skitters don't have bone between their mouth and brain, so the knife killed it. When I sure it was dead, I got up and stuck my hand in and grabbed my knife. It was covered in skitter blood.

"Gross!" I yelled, then turned to Hal. "What happened to run on three?!" I was furious.

"I knew I had the shot so I took advantage of it."

"You almost got us killed!"

"No I didn't, we're fine. Let's just go, the quicker I get away from you the better." Nothing would be better then getting the hell away from this guy, except an even worse circumstance popped into my head. "Great, I get to go hang out with Karen! FUN!" You could here sarcasm in my voice a mile away.

"Lay off okay? She's had a rough life."

"Stop pitying her. We all have had hard lives here so I don't want to hear about poor little Karen." He glared at me. Take that Hal, how does it feel to have your own words used against you?

"Let's go, before I kill you," he said.

I turned around and started walking. I've hated a lot of people in my life, but I had _never_ hated someone this much. He was already at the top of my list, him then Karen. A few thoughts about murdering Hal later, we came across a lake. I stopped to look at it. Since it was dark out-something I hate-the lake was dark but clear; it was almost pretty, in a twisted sort of way. I turned around, but Hal wasn't there.

"Hal, where are you?"

No answer. "Seriously, this isn't funny, come out!"

I was starting to get freaked out. I hate the dark, and I can't stand being alone, especially without light. I turned around and looked the other way. Hal ran up behind me and pushed me forward lightly, but I lost my balance and fell into the lake! As I fell towards the water, I could see him laughing at his little joke. Once I hit the water, I started panicking, I can't swim. I gasped for air right before I went under. Then everything became dark and I couldn't open my eyes. My air was diminishing by the second, and it was getting harder and harder to breath. My lungs felt like they were going to burst. I accepted the fact I was going to die. Look on the bright side, at least Hal had my death on his hands. MURDERER! Suddenly two hands grabbed me and pulled me up. When I reached the surface, the air felt so heavenly. Then it just became _really _cold. It must be like 7:30 or 8:00pm by now.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!" I screamed as I caught my breath.

"Well when people usually go into water, they swim, and come back up! You know maybe you didn't know that, but I thought it was common sense." Hal said. How dare he use my own words against me! Only I can throw what he says back in his face!

"Well, if the person can't swim, it's kinda hard to do!" I coughed a little.

"You can't swim?" he asked. For a split second, I thought he was actually going to apologize, but he just started laughing! I stormed off. Did he not realize what he did wasn't funny? I almost _died_. "Ummmm, Alyssa, the school's the other way." He pointed the opposite direction. I turned and started walking again. "Hey, look, it was just supposed to be a joke!" he waited for me to reply, but I didn't. I was beyond pissed. "Oh the silent treatment, how mature." He smirked.

"Says the one who just pushed me in a lake! Not to mention at eight at night; its freezing!"

We walked home in silence after that. I got an occasional glance from Hal, every now and then, but I didn't make eye contact. I was furious with him and already plotting my revenge. Hal better sleep with one eye open.

When we got back to the school, Weaver was waiting for us. "What happened to you two?"

"That asshole pushed me into a lake!"

"Hey! I saved your ass so you should be thanking me!"

"Both of you go get dried off and get to bed, we'll discuss this in the morning. I can't have two of my scouts sick," Weaver said. I turned around and walked to my tent without another word to Hal. Earlier, I didn't like him. Now I hated him with a passion.

Kaylee's POV

I jammed my hands in my pockets as I walked past a few classrooms, attempting to find the one Alyssa and I would be in. My mind was running a mile a minute and I needed to do something to distract myself from my head. I suppose this is why I love weapons so much. I like being able to take my frustration and pain out on something or when my thoughts were getting the better of me. It calms me, I guess.

I heard Alyssa's voice from the end of a hall; who pissed her off now?

A boy with brown hair and blue eyes ran out of the room, looking a little scared.

"Everything okay in there?" I asked him.

"I don't think so, it didn't look too good in there," he said nervously looking behind me.

I casted my eyes over his shoulder and saw Alyssa and another girl, Karen I believe, talking to each other in a rather violent manner. They were talking about going through my things, at least Karen was, and Alyssa was telling her how angry I'd be.

"I better go do damage control," I said and smiled. He couldn't have been much younger than me, perhaps a few months or so. He had a Mossberg 500 in his hands, and he definitely kept it in a good condition. He must be the 2nd Mass's youngest fighter. I already knew we would become great friends. He smiled back at me and continued walking down the hall. I focused back on the conversation in front of me.

"Well if you really want to know her, I'll tell you this: If she ever catches you going through her stuff-"

"I'm good at snooping through things, she won't catch me." Alyssa saw me standing in the doorway, but Karen hadn't.

"But if she does, and she will-"

"-let Alyssa beat the fuck out of you and never look back. I'm Kaylee Parker, you must be Karen." I finished Alyssa's threat. And let's just say the look on Karen's face was well worth it. I can add "Make A Sixteen-Year-Old Afraid Of You" on my life accomplishments list now. I was still leaning on the doorframe, staring at her. She didn't know how to react to what I told her, so she took another shot at making Alyssa afraid of her. Good luck with that, sweetheart.

"Hal's very protective of me. You touch me he will hurt you."

"Even better, I have been looking forward for a chance to fight him; this seems like the perfect chance."

I walked over to my black backpack and checked that every single thing was back in there. It was, so I began rearming myself with guns, knives, ammunition, and explosives. I loaded an extra can of C4 in my sneaker and grabbed some for Alyssa. I tossed it to her (thank God she caught it) and she stared blankly at it.

"It's C4. You'll need it if you run into any mechs." I zipped my backpack back up and shoved it under a cot. If that bitch touches ANY of my things, I'll cut her fingers off in her sleep tonight.

I stood up and slid my Calico back around my shoulders and began walking back out. Ben told me I had around fifteen minutes before our watch began, so I decided I'd get out of here. No offense to Alyssa, but I didn't want to be here when she tore Karen's head to shreds.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Dinner. Want to come with me?" Sometimes I tried to keep her out of trouble.

"Nah, I'm not hungry."

I nodded and walked out of the room. I actually wasn't going to get food, I wanted to walk around the school and see what was going on around here.

Our room was right next to a giant bulletin board that had dozens and dozens of photos on it. They were pictures of missing kids, countless of missing kids. I took a step closer to the board and looked at the faces of everyone. It had to be torture for parents to walk by this everyday and not know where their children were or if they were even alive or not. One particular picture stuck out to me though. It was a picture of Ben. He looked pretty young, maybe twelve or barely thirteen. I wonder why the picture's still up here.

"Sad, isn't it?"

I turned my head to see a woman with long brown hair and a tired face. Her eyes were filled with sorrow and anger; two emotions that you rarely see together.

"Is your kid up there?" I asked tilting my head to the board.

"No. He's gone," she said wistfully.

"My family is gone too." I hoped by telling her that she would acknowledge that I felt similar to what she was feeling.

"This isn't the best way to introduce ourselves," she chuckled. "I'm Doctor Glass."

I smiled. "Kaylee Parker. My friend and I were just welcomed by Captain Weaver today."

"Oh really? Are you two fighters?"

"I am, but my friend is more skilled at fist fighting."

"Seems like the 2nd Mass is getting younger and younger fighters volunteering," Dr. Glass said shaking her head.

"Kaylee!" a voice called from the end of the hallway. I glanced over to see Ben geared up and ready to go on our scouting. "We gotta go!"

I sighed. "Speaking of fighting. I gotta go on patrol. It was really nice talking to you."

Dr. Glass smiled. "Stay safe, Kaylee."

I walked down the hall, passed Ben, and opened the glass doors. Hal and Weaver were outside waiting for us.

"You two and Karen will be split up from Alyssa and Hal for patrol tonight," Weaver announced. Great, I get stuck with _her_. Alyssa is probably ecstatic about spending her evening with Hal.

"Alright," Ben nodded.

"How's her fighting?" Weaver asked.

"Phenomenal. Perfect hit every time." I smiled a little at the compliment. I liked knowing that someone thought I was good at what I loved.

"Welcome to the 2nd Mass's army then, solider."

I saluted Captain Weaver and he laughed. "At ease."

Karen and Alyssa sauntered over to where we were standing. The man from earlier followed them and stood in front of our group. "Hello, boys, Karen, Captain," he said. "Hello girls. I didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier. I'm Tom Mason, second in command of the 2nd Mass and I'm Ben and Hal's dad." No wonder why he seemed so fatherly.

"Hi I'm Alyssa and this is Kaylee. It's nice to meet you," Alyssa said kindly. I had done enough talking today, so I was grateful for her introduction.

"Pleasure to meet you two as well," he said and shook both of our hands.

"I want you all to search the perimeter and be on the lookout. Look around, we need anything you can find. Ben, I want you in charge of your group."

I looked at Alyssa and mouthed 'Be Safe' and turned to follow Ben and Karen. It was a little weird, just walking down a road in total silence, but Karen started talking.

"So, Kaylee," she said my name with slight disgust, "what happened to your family?" Really? Of course she would be that inconsiderate to just straight out ask me. I felt my heart stir painfully. My hand clenched the knife in my pocket so tightly, it aroused anger that I hid deep inside of myself that I refused to calm. It's what kept me going in this war.

"I don't have a family. Simple as that," I said coldly. Ben flinched at how forcefully my words came out. Oops. I need to learn how to soften my voice a bit.

"Obviously. I just want to know what happened to them."

I didn't even bother to dignify her with a response. I was on the verge of shanking her with my knife, and I was attempting to control my temper. Remember how I said I never talk about my family? Alyssa knew that and extended me the courtesy of not asking unless I brought them up. That's one of the reasons why we became so close. We never talked about painful memories unless the other wanted to talk about it.

"Someone's moody."

"Someone's bitchy." Alyssa must be rubbing off on me. Oh well.

Karen was about to say something back to me, but Ben gave her a look and she shut her mouth. It's going to take all my self control not to injure her tonight.

Quietness washed over us, causing our atmosphere to become a little more peaceful. The sun was setting and the auburn leaves were blowing in the autumn breeze. We were nearing a giant plain of open space and tons of bushes and trees. The scenery looked like something that would be in a movie or on a picture. It was almost as if it was just an average day, with the seasons changing and the day getting later. But all good things come to an end, right?

I heard the all too familiar footsteps of a mech and the screeching of a skitter. Ben, Karen, and I dashed for the cover of the bushes and trees. More and more started coming, and I was beginning to get a little nervous. Ben and I were hiding behind a small bush and Karen was behind a large tree. As I looked through the shrub, I saw a group of harnessed kids carrying bits and pieces of metal following the aliens. It was the creepiest thing in the world; they were complete zombies. I glanced at Ben to see if he was watching this. He wasn't crouching low enough, his hair visible to anyone who was by.

"Get down, dumbass!" I whisper yelled. I grabbed his arm and yanked him down. His spikes were glowing a pale blue color, and he was trying to get up again. What was going on with him?! I set my elbow on his chest and pinned him to the ground. I would not be the one responsible for another missing kid, especially with a dad as kind as his.

An airship lit up the whole field as it landed on the ground. The skitters turned to the harnessed kids and screeched again. They must be communicating with them. A door opened and the skitters and kids walked inside of it. The four mechs stood outside to make sure all the kids climbed aboard. And as quickly as it came, the ship disappeared. I released a breath I didn't know I had been holding. I'd rather die then live under control of the people who destroyed my home.

Ben cleared his throat awkwardly. I got up off of him in an instant. He must've snapped out of it and I didn't even realize. His spikes weren't glowing anymore, but he looked scared.

"Sorry, you weren't getting down and so I had to force you," I told him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said quickly. He was lying, that much I knew but I didn't ask him about it. I didn't want him to feel any weirder then he did.

"We should get back and report to Weaver," Karen said, a little shaken.

"Yeah. Let's go."

"What about the mechs?" Ben asked looking at the still standing aliens.

"I'll take care of it," I said starting to get up.

"But-"

"Relax," I said to Ben. I took out my bottle of C4. "I got this."

I started to stand up again, but this time, I crept behind the trees until I got to a point where I was as close as possible. I clicked the timer button, and threw it straight towards them.

3, 2, 1,

BOOM! The bomb exploded and split the mechs into a million little pieces. I loved explosives so, so much.

"Let's head back!" I called to Ben and Karen. I needed to get some sleep.

On the way back, we were quiet again, but there was less awkwardness. I was lost in my head, as usual, but this time, I was thinking about Ben's spikes. Having them was one thing, but them glowing was another. It wasn't my business, but I needed to tell someone about it. Maybe I should tell Hal, he seems close with Ben.

The high school was in our sight within the next ten minutes, and Weaver was standing by. "How'd it go?" he asked.

"We saw an airship," Karen said. "A group of skitters took harnessed kids aboard and they had a ton of scrap metal with them. There were some mechs in the field, but Kaylee took them out with C4."

"Any supplies?"

"None," I said.

"That's alright. We'll send a party further in the week. Get some sleep, soldiers."

I walked swiftly into our room. Hopefully I'd get time to talk to Alyssa alone. The moment I stepped in the room, I saw a furious Alyssa who was sopping wet. I raised my eyebrows. "What happened to you?"

She whirled around. "Ugh! That son of a bitch shoved me into a lake!"

My eyes widened. "Are you okay now?" Alyssa couldn't swim, and Hal could've really hurt her.

"I'm going to kill him. I swear to God, he'll be dead by the end of this week!"

"Karen asked me about my family today," I said softly.

Alyssa was quiet instantly. "What did you say?"

"That I didn't have one. And she was totally inconsiderate about it and nearly pushed me over the edge."

Alyssa walked over to me and gave me a hug. A really, wet hug.

"Dude, you're so freaking wet!" I said laughing.

"Thank Hal for that."


	4. The Nightmare

_Thank you all for __reading this far!:D We won't be able to update because of school but I promise we will!:D Enjoy!-Kaylee_

* * *

Chapter 4- Nightmares

"_I told you not to say anything, but what do you do? You open your big mouth and blab!" exclaimed the man with the gun. It was strange weapon he had. It appeared to be a normal hand gun, but it was brown with and had intricate design. Though you couldn't tell what the design was because there's a claw scratch that covered the entire handle. He was standing in the shadows so he was hard to see, but he looked familiar. The woman he was talking to looked terrified. The man pulled the trigger and the women fell down to the ground, motionless. _

"_NOOOOOOO!" I looked around for the owner of the screaming voice, only to realize that person was me._

"Hey, what's-your-name! WAKE UP!" Karen shook me awake. "Awww is someone having a nightmare? Are you scared?" I looked around, confused. Praying it was all a dream. I groaned to myself. Everything that happened yesterday was in fact, real. Damn it!

"Yeah, I was having a nightmare, I had to live with _you_, oh wait that one is real…" not my best comeback, but it's early. I glanced at Kaylee. She was still sound asleep. She has mastered the art of sleeping through my restlessness, plus she takes her sleep very seriously. I looked at the wrist watch lying on the floor. It was three in the morning! I groaned and slammed my face on my pillow. I didn't give Karen the chance to speak; it was too early to deal with her. I lay wake for a couple hours, praying sleep would come and luckily I fell asleep a few hours later. I wanted to know what was going on in the dream and why it looked so familiar, but the dream didn't come back. What felt like seconds later, I was being shaken and yelled at by a voice I loathed. What did he want now?

"Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up," Hal continued like that until I grabbed my knife and lazily threw it in the general direction his voice was coming from. "Alyssa get- WHAT THE HELL!?" he yelled.

"Leave me alone or next time I won't miss and that my friend, is a promise." It was supposed to sound like a threat, but because I was sleepy it didn't, at all.

"Captains Weaver's orders, solider," he paused, "or are you not ready to be a solider?"

I groaned, "Can I have a minute to get ready? My clothes are still wet from last night." I was so tired, I feel asleep in my soaking wet clothes.

"You know, on a mission, you won't have 'a minute to get ready' and you deal with much worse than wet clothes," He smirked. What a freaking know-it-all.

"Well we aren't on a mission, nor are we under attack, smart ass. So get out, I'll fight with you later," I growled. It was too early.

"Is it too early for Alyssa to think of any comebacks?"

"YES! IT'S SEVEN IN THE MORNING!" I pushed him out-or tried to-but Karen walked in.

"Oh hey Hal! Are we still on for a scout trip this afternoon for _supplies_?" she put extra emphasis on that word. They both glanced at me and laughed a little.

"Actually, Hal was just leaving. I need to change, so maybe you two can go make rude comments about me somewhere else." I said all cheery like, but obviously sarcastic. Hal left and Karen went on doing whatever it is Karen does. I got dressed in my usual attire; I normally wear shorts, a tank top, and either my army jacket or my leather jacket and combat boots and a belt around my waist to hold a couple weapons. I realized Hal had had some weapons on him so grabbed my gun (an AK 47 assault rifle), slung it across my back, put my hand gun and nun chucks on either side of my belt, my pocket and Swiss army knives in my pocket and tuck my hunting knife in my boot. That's all I carried on me, not nearly as much as Kaylee. I was about to leave when I realize I didn't know what I was doing or where Kaylee was so I grabbed some extra ammo from her bag and put it in my belt.

I walked outside and immediately felt eyes on me. I found the man I saw last night. He was watching me, almost like waiting to see if I would see him and what I would do when I did. He looked so familiar, but not in a good way, like he is part of a horrible memory. I couldn't tell from where though. That is what was bothering me the most.

"CARTER!" I jumped a little. It was Weaver.

"She's tired, last nights trip was a lot to handle." I was about to say that is not why I was tired but Karen appeared from out of no were and beat me to it.

"Actually, Alyssa here didn't sleep last night because she was having a nightmare," Karen said.

"Do you need some time then? I could have Kaylee fill you in at what you miss at the meeting but I recommend that you don't skip it since it's a meeting welcoming you two to our forces."

"No, I'm fine just thinking about something."

"Let's go then." We started walking and Tom joined us along the way. The man was following us and staring at me. He had a gun hidden in his pocket, and after all this time with Kaylee, I could see it clearly, but no one else seemed to notice. As we were walking, Weaver motioned for a few people to come with us. They all look like they were part of the fighters. However, the man didn't. I could tell he was just a regular citizen of the 2nd Mass. We entered Weavers office and I saw Kaylee sitting next to Ben. That's new. I went to sit next to her only to realize that seat was taken by Karen. Kaylee looked at me and rolled her eyes. Hal sat next to Karen so I sat next to Ben. I wanted to be as far away from him as possible.

"Listen up. I wanna make this meeting short and sweet. We have two new fighters with us, courtesy of Ben and Hal." Weaver waved his hand up, wanting us to stand. "This is Alyssa Carter and Kaylee Parker." Kaylee waved. I did as well, and then we both sat down. "They'll be joining our forces, so give them a hand when they need it. Dismissed."

Kaylee and I walked out together. Hal, Karen and Ben were talking in front of us. I was totally not eavesdropping, Karen is just a really bad whisperer or just so clueless she didn't notice us right behind her.

"I really don't get why we had to go to that meeting. I mean we already know them, and-"

"Weaver said every fighter had to attend, and plus they don't know everyone else yet," Ben interrupted her.

"I know but, still they slept in my classroom and I had to scout with the tall one-"

"Kaylee." Ben corrected her. He must not like her much either.

"Whatever, and Hal had to scout with Alyssa. That must have really sucked."

"And I had to ride home with her on my bike," Hal pointed out. Karen didn't look happy about that. "But I did get a little laugh last night." They looked at him expectantly. "Why are you staring at me?"

"What did you do?" Karen asked.

"Well I went up ahead and was just planning on scaring her when she caught up, but we were up by that big lake and she was standing on the edge so when I tried to scare her she stumbled back and fell in the lake." Karen started laughing. "And that's not even the best part. Apparently big bad Alyssa can't swim so I had to jump in there and save her sorry ass."

I started to reach down to my boot were I kept my hunting knife when Kaylee grabbed my hand "Don't."

Hal, Ben and Karen turned around. "Look Alyssa needs her _younger _friend to help her out, because she doesn't have enough self control," Hal said, just daring me to fight him.

"Yep, I do lack self control, which is why you should be thankful Kaylee stopped me because I wouldn't have a second thought about killing you."

"Awww is someone still a little tired from her lack of sleep over a silly little nightmare?"

I glared at her. "You know what Karen? I don't care that you hate me, frankly I could care less. But before you start to judge me and make fun of me, try walking a mile in my shoes."

That made her shut up. Thank God.

"We're gonna get going," Kaylee didn't wait for a response from anybody, but she turned to Ben. "I'll see you at the shooting range later." She pulled me forward. Once we were far out of ear shot, Kaylee stopped me. "You had the dream again?"

"Yeah, but this time I saw two people, there was a man too. But I couldn't see him all that well, and he has a gun. He killed the woman."

Kaylee just nodded. "Last night I met the 2nd Mass's doctor, Dr. Glass, and this morning I went to talk to her again. She was telling me about how they do this art therapy with some of the kids so they can get their feelings out and express themselves. You should go see her and try it out."

"Let's go." I don't know why, but I can't help but feel that this man I keep seeing is related to the dream. I just don't know how or why. I have been having the same nightmare since I was ten years old. It was always dark and there was a woman. She would always get killed, but I couldn't tell who or what killed her, sometimes I would just see her dead body or hear a girl screaming. I sure hope this doctor can help me out.

Kaylee's POV

The second my eyes opened in the morning, reality struck my mind, only much quicker this time. Alyssa and I weren't at her house anymore, and we were no longer alone. That made me feel way better about pushing Alyssa to come here. Personally, I wasn't expecting there to be this many people here; I was guessing around one hundred plus people tops. And they actually had fighters! I think I was most excited about talking to people who actually understood what I was saying about weapons and explosives. I tried telling Alyssa the differences between some guns, but she threw a juice box at me and left the room after five minutes. After that, I stopped trying.

Alyssa's wristwatch read 5:45. I was the only one up right now and I was already bored, so I decided to just get up and leave. I wrapped my pouch around my waste and started tying my sneakers. I slid my military jacket on and filled the pockets with knives, ammunition, and hand guns. I put my PP-2000's holster around my neck and stuck my other gun in my shoe. I tugged down on my pant leg and tucked some C4 in my pocket.

I began wandering down the halls again, letting my feet carry me wherever they wanted. There were few people that were actually awake, Weaver being among them.

"You're up early," Weaver commented as I approached him.

I shrugged. "I have all the sleep I need. Is there anything I can do to help out right now?"

Weaver took a second to think about it. "Not that I know of. Dr. Glass might need some help though. Why don't you go ask her?"

"Alright, Captain."

As I started walking to the 2nd Mass's "infirmary" (only it was actually a chemistry lab), Weaver called out to me. "We're having a meeting to welcome you two officially to our forces. Be in my office at seven." I raised my arm and gave him a thumbs-up. The lab was a few doors down the left of the hall I was in now, so I was at Dr. Glass's in no time at all.

There was a group of kids in the room, about six or seven of them, and they were all drawing on a small table under the eye of Dr. Glass. I walked over to Dr. Glass quietly and looked at the kids' drawings. Some drew the aliens destroying homes, some drew people dying, and some drew their families. These poor kids…

"What's going on?" I whispered.

"Art therapy. It can help kids or teens express their feelings in a non-violent way or help them with what has happened." I nodded and continued to watch as the children talked a little amongst themselves. They seemed so peaceful on the outside, but considering their gruesome drawings, they must be tormented on the inside.

"Do you need any assistance with anything? Weaver sent me over."

"Not at the moment. Unless you want to talk to some of them and help them color," Dr. Glass said pointing to the kids.

"Sure, I'd love to." Alright, I'm going to be upfront with you: I absolutely adore little kids. I've never admitted that to anyone, not even Alyssa. She had a little sister before the invasion, and I was jealous. I was the youngest in my family and I always wanted a younger sibling.

"Really?" Dr. Glass asked skeptically.

"Just because I'm a fighter doesn't mean I don't love hanging out with kids," I said smiling. I walked to the table and sat between a boy with curly brown hair and a girl with tan skin. The boy was drawing a dead woman with some skitters behind her while the girl was drawing mechs blasting Boston.

"Did you say you were a fighter?" The boy asked me, eyes still glued to his paper.

"That's right."

"Then you probably know Hal and Ben, huh?"

This boy didn't know the half of it. "Yeah I do. Are they your friends?"

"No, they're my older brothers."

There was _another _Mason boy? You've got to be kidding me. Although he did look like a replica of his brothers, he looked nothing like Tom, so I assumed he took after his mother.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Matt. What's yours?" Matt looked up at me for the first time. He had the cutest smile in the world.

"Kaylee. It's nice to meet you, Matt. And don't tell your brothers, but so far, you're my favorite Mason." I winked at him and he laughed.

"I promise."

"No, no, no. You gotta pinky promise. That is the most official promise of all promises." I held out my pinky and Matt's smile got even bigger. We wrapped pinkies and laughed together. This kid is too cute.

"So tell me about yourself, Matt."

"Umm, well I really want to be a fighter like Hal and Ben, but my dad won't let me just yet. I like drawing and going to school. And I love my family," he said picking up his colored pencil and coloring the background of his picture.

He wants to be a fighter? I love this kid already. "How old are you?"

"I turned nine a couple of weeks ago."

"And you want to be a fighter this young? You're really brave."

Matt grinned at the compliment. I would kill to have him as my little brother. Dr. Glass was smiling at me. She was a really pretty lady, but exhaustion had creased around her eyes, making her appear older then she was.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your picture about?" He was almost done, he just needed to color in the skitters.

"It's my mom, when we found her. She went out to get food and never came back, so my dad went looking for her, and…" Matt trailed off. He didn't deserve a life like this; he deserved to be at a regular school, playing on a playground and not having a care in the world.

I don't care if I met him five minutes ago; I was giving this boy a hug. Matt put his head on my shoulder and hugged me back. He sniffled a little, but refused to cry. He was strong, and I could sense that he would be an excellent fighter when the time came, just like the rest of the Masons.

"You're going to be an amazing fighter when the time's right, Matt," I said into his ear, "and I promise you that everything will get better. Maybe not soon, but it will. I swear it."

Matt nodded, signaling he heard me. He hugged me for a few more seconds, until he pulled away suddenly. "Can I draw you?!"

I chuckled. "Absolutely."

Matt got another paper from Dr. Glass and started sketching right away. In the meantime, I tried talking to the little girl on my right, but she was extremely shy, so I left her be. She reminded me of how I was when I was little. I never wanted to talk to anyone when I was young since I was the shyest kid you'd ever meet. I'm not so much shy now, I just choose not to talk.

Matt looked up and down from his paper as he outlined my hair and face. He was very detailed in his drawing; he colored the red in my hair, used blue and grey on my eyes, and even drew the silver piercing I had on the helix of my ear correctly.

"Now hold up your gun," Matt instructed me. I laughed at how much he sounded like a professional artist. But, I did as he told me to, and I held my PP-2000 up. He drew it down and colored it all black, just like all of my clothes. He searched my attire for anything that wasn't black, but found nothing. "Why do you wear all black?"

"It camouflages me when we go fighting at night and it keeps me warmer in the daytime." There were a few other reasons why, but I didn't want to make him sad again.

"That's smart. Oh, here you go." Matt set the paper in my gloved hand. It looked exactly like me, not a detail out of place.

"I'll put this up by my cot when I go to sleep tonight."

"Really?!"

"Really," I smiled. "But I gotta get going. Captain Weaver wants all the fighters to meet in his office in a few minutes. I'll see you at lunch though!"

"Alright. Bye, Kaylee!" Matt gave me a huge hug.

"Bye, Matt. Make sure to keep my secret, okay?"

Matt laughed. "Okay!"

I stood up and walked over to a stunned Dr. Glass. "How- but you're a….what?"

I shrugged. "I really love little kids. Just tell me if you ever need help again and I'll be here."

It actually felt like I was back at high school again. Being surrounded by the lockers, classrooms, and even the still stapled posters nearly fooled my mind. I was reflecting on the past, something I did much too often, until I rounded the corner and saw civilians of the 2nd Mass walking the halls. I sighed and shook the memories from my head. It's not like I wanted to remember them anyways.

Once I set foot in Weaver's office, I nearly walked back out. The one person in the classroom, of all people in the 2nd Mass? Ben freaking Mason. The one person I _really_ did not want to deal with right now.

"Kaylee!" He said smiling, waved me to sit in the back next to him. What, were we friends now? I walked to the front row and sat down in the middle. I took out one of my knives and began opening and closing it to pass the time. Ben apparently did not get my completely strong hint that I was not going to sit down by him, since he walked up and sat next to me. Damn him.

I didn't say anything to him, only moving to open and close my knife. I wanted to get up and move, but he would most likely follow me and I wasn't that rude…most of the time.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

Ben sighed. "I'm a pretty lousy fighter, and I know everyone knows that. My dad and Hal never have time to help me improve, since they're out almost everyday with the rest of the others. And since you're skilled in the weapons area, I was wondering if you could teach me."

I finally looked over at him. "Let me see your gun."

He slid it out of his holster and handed it to me. It was a Heckler and Koch 636, one of the many guns that I owned, only the two Heckler and Koches I had were in way better condition. This thing was beat up, dented, scratched, it had a jammed trigger, and the barrel was starting to crack. He had a _lot _to learn.

"First off, you're weapon has to be the crappiest I've ever seen of its kind. This trigger could freeze while you were in battle and you'd be screwed after that. The barrel is cracking, and if you get a big enough kick, it'll break to pieces. A fighter is only as good as their weapon, so that's one reason why you aren't doing too well. I haven't seen you shoot before, but before I even help you out with that, you have got to get a better gun." I gave him back his poor excuse for a defense mechanism while he stared at me, awestruck I analyzed a problem that quickly. Guns are what I love most, so you gotta give me credit.

"Weaver won't let us exchange weapons, though. We don't have enough for everyone to pick what they like."

"I have the exact same gun in my room right now, except it would survive if I dropped it on the floor."

"You'd let me borrow it?"

"You can have it."

"Why are you helping me out? I thought I'd have to persuade you to."

"Because if I say no, your death will be on my conscious. And I have two of them anyways."

"Can you start teaching me how to shoot today, then?"

I nodded. "I'm telling you now, it's not going to be easy to pick up. It takes a fair amount of time to learn how to properly aim and shoot a gun. You're going to have to be patient with yourself."

"Thanks."

Luckily, fighters began pouring into the room, so I wouldn't have to keep talking. My day was starting to go downhill as it was, and talking wasn't going to make it better. And of all the seats in the room, the bitch sits next to me. Alyssa was behind her and sat next to Ben. She raised her eyebrow at me and looked at me then Ben. I closed my eyes and shook my head. Hell no. _Hell_ no.

Once everyone was settled, Weaver took his spot at the front of the room and put his hands on either side of the desk. "Listen up. I wanna make this meeting short and sweet. We have two new fighters with us, courtesy of Ben and Hal." Weaver waved his hand towards us, so I stood on my feet. "This is Alyssa Carter and Kaylee Parker." I gave a small wave to everyone and sat back down. I hated having attention brought to myself, whether it was on the battlefield or in a classroom. "They'll be joining our forces, so give them a hand when they need it. Dismissed."

Alyssa and I walked out of Weaver's office with Hal, Karen, and Ben in front of us. Karen was talking about us to the brothers, and I don't think she was even bothering to speak softly.

"I really don't get why we had to go to that meeting. I mean we already know them, and-"

"Weaver said every fighter had to attend, and plus they don't know everyone else yet." Ben pointed out.

"I know but, still they slept in my classroom and I had to scout with the tall one-"

"Kaylee." Ben corrected her. At least he cares about knowing my name.

"Whatever, and Hal had to scout with Alyssa. That must have really sucked."

"And I had to ride home with her on my bike," Hal joined in. Karen gave him a pissed off look. "But I did get a little laugh last night." They looked at him, waiting for Hal to continue. "Why are you staring at me?"

"What did you do?" Karen asked.

"I went up ahead and was just planning on scaring her when she caught up, but we were up by that big lake and she was standing on the edge so when I tried to scare her she stumbled back and fell in the lake." Karen started laughing. "And that's not even the best part. Apparently big bad Alyssa can't swim so I had to jump in there and save her sorry ass."

In the corner of my eye, I saw Alyssa reaching into her boot, going for her knife that I knew she kept in there. "Don't," I said and grabbed her arm. She let go of the knife, but her hand balled into a fist, twitching slightly.

Hal, Ben and Karen turned around. "Look Alyssa needs her _younger _friend to help her out, because she doesn't have enough self control," Hal said, taunting Alyssa's anger.

"Yep, I do lack self control, which is why you should be thankful Kaylee stopped me because I wouldn't have a second thought about killing you."

"Awww is someone still a little tired from her lack of sleep over a silly little nightmare?"

Alyssa's nightmare? Must've slept through it again. Alyssa gave Karen a cold look. "You know what Karen? I don't care that you hate me, frankly I could care less. But before you start to judge me and make fun of me, try walking a mile in my shoes."

Karen was taken aback, probably thinking she would get a sarcastic comeback but instead received a serious one.

"We're gonna get going," I said to prevent any more threats to be dropped. I wasn't in the mood for anymore Karen drama, so I didn't let them give me a response. "I'll see you at the shooting range," I told Ben, then dragged Alyssa away. I pulled her from any unwanted ears and asked, "You had the dream again?"

"Yeah, but this time I saw two people, there was a man too. But I couldn't see him all that well, and he has a gun. He killed the woman."

Alyssa's been having the same nightmare since she was ten and a half, but we could never figure it out or why she kept having it. I went back to my morning with Matt and thought of an idea. "Last night I met the 2nd Mass's doctor, Dr. Glass, and this morning I went to talk to her again. She was telling me about how they do this art therapy with some of the kids so they can get their feelings out and express themselves. You should go see her and try it out."

Alyssa nodded. "Let's go."

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_Make sure to click that review button!:D It makes Alyssa and I sooooo beyond happy!:]_

Hope you guys like it so far! The next chapter may take a bit because it's hard to write and something biiiiggggg is going to happen! o.0-Alyssa


	5. Discoveries

_*hides behind Ben* I'm sooooo sorry it took us this long to update!:o We've been busy with school and a project is coming up so we've been trying to write in every little spare moment we have. Seriously, Alyssa and I have been writing in our Spanish class just so we can update quicker! We're meeting up this weekend to discuss some stuff for the story and hopefully get a lot of writing done that way we can get the next chapter up ASAP. Thank you all for your support3 -Kaylee_

Hey everyone! Hope you enjoy our chapter...something interesting happens 0.o-Alyssa

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Chapter 5-Discoveries

Alyssa's POV

Kaylee and I walked in silence to the alleged "care center". "So this person can help me?" I asked, a little suspicious. What kind of help did she mean? Kaylee didn't think I was crazy, did she?

"Yeah, she's a doctor."

"What type of doctor?"

"Pediatrician."

"A what?"

"A kid's doctor," Kaylee explained.

"Oh, okay, got it."

"What did you think she was?"

"I don't know. I was just wondering." So she didn't think I was crazy. That's a relief. We came up to the makeshift "hospital." It was actually a chemistry lab, but it looked pretty hospitalish to me.

"Hi Kaylee!" exclaimed a little boy.

"Hey Matt," Kaylee smiled. The boy gave her a hug and she gave him one right back. I had no clue she liked little kids; that's probably why she got along so well with my little sister.

"You must be Alyssa, I'm Matt," the boy said. "My brothers told me about you."

"Your brothers?" I questioned him, fearing the answer.

"Hal and Ben," he smiled like he was proud to say he was related to them. "I'm only nine now, but soon I'm gonna be a fighter like them!" How many Mason children are there?!

"Hey Matt, where is Dr. Glass? I need to speak to her," Kaylee asked.

"Oh she isn't here but she'll be-"

"I heard my name." A women with long brown hair walked in. "Why, hello Kaylee." She looked at me, "you must be Alyssa."

"Does everyone here know me?" I asked.

"All the important people at least," she smiled. "What can I do for you guys?"

"Is Alyssa finally starting to realize she needs metal help? Hurray! We don't have the resources to help you here, maybe you should go. I'll even help you pack!" Hal turned the corner, Ben right behind him.

"Hal, Ben, I will be with you in a second. What did you need help with?" the doctor replied.

"You know the art therapy you were having the kids do this morning? I was wondering if you could help Alyssa with that." Kaylee motioned for me to explain my dreams.

"Ever since I was ten, I've had these nightmares. It's always the same one. It's nighttime and it's always at a gas station, focusing on a woman. But she dies before I can make out any detail or features. Sometimes I see a little girl in the car screaming, but last night I saw a man hidden in the shadows. But his gun is crystal clear. It's a brown hand gun with really intercut designs and a claw mark across the handle part." Dr. Glass nodded and was about to speak but Hal butted in, as usual.

"Miss Badass Alyssa isn't as tough as she pretends to be?" Hal taunted.

"You never know how strong you are until the only option you have is to be strong, and I've had to be pretty damn strong." I stood up and faced Hal. I was getting sick of him judging me before he knew what hell I had to live through.

"When people go through a traumatic experience, it helps to draw out what is in their head, so I want you to draw the gun." Dr. Glass said, trying to bring down the tension in the room.

The hell? "I am not an artist. AT ALL."

"When you are drawing things from memory, your picture will look more realistic than you think."

"No." There is NO WAY I'm doing this.

"Yes, you are. That is an order from the doctor regarding your health; therefore you must do it."

"Fine, whatever." I started to draw out the picture. It didn't look too bad. I drew a hand holding the gun, then a built shooting out of the gun. I didn't even realize it but I had drawn calluses on the hand. I realized that the man in my dream did in fact have rough spots on his hands.

"Those calluses are from consistently shooting a gun. Obviously this guy has been trained with them." Kaylee pointed out.

"You know a lot about guns," Ben said. Gee, no shit.

Kaylee extended her hand to show the many calluses on her fingers. "Everyone has their hobbies."

"Yeah, so what's yours Alyssa? Hanging out with Karen? I knew you two would get along great," Hal smirked.

"Aren't hobbies supposed to be fun?" That wiped that god-awful smirk of his face.

"Oh. Burrrn." Ben said. Everyone laughed, except Hal. He punched Ben.

"Don't fight the fights if you can't take a hit," Kaylee said. I started laughing. Kaylee always had the best come backs. She says everything so calm and collected. It's funny to watch her fight with someone because they get louder and louder and talk faster and faster as they get angrier and angrier. Kaylee sounds almost bored.

"Okay, children," Dr. Glass said, "Hal and Ben out. Kaylee, there will be some kids coming in soon. Would you like to go help them?" As she said that six kids walked in. "Alyssa, we are going to discuss this gun."

"Alright." I was getting really interested in the gun.

"Have you ever had a traumatic experience?"

"My mom died when I was ten," I said quietly.

"Isn't that when you said the dreams started?" she questioned.

"Yeah it was." I felt really awkward in here; it was deathly quiet and Kaylee had left with Matt.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did she die?"

"She was shot and killed."

"Oh, when you were ten?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know what happened that night?"

"Yes, actually I do. My mom and I were at a gas station late at night. I was sitting in the car when a man came up behind my mom with a gun. He cleared his throat and my mom turned around. As soon as she saw the man, she was terrified. The man clicked his trigger in place. I realized what was about to happen and plugged my ears. After a couple seconds when the gun didn't go off, I looked up and noticed he was talking to her, and then he shot her. I screamed and the man looked at me. He told me not to make the mistake my mother did, and disappeared. I sat in the car and cried all night, until someone found me in the morning." I winced. I hadn't told that story in a long, long time, and it was painful to relive.

Dr. Glass laid a hand on my shoulder. "That couldn't have been easy for a ten-year-old. You're probably having the dream over and over again because your subconscious hasn't managed to get through it. Could these dreams be a reminder of what happened that night?"

"I guess they could, I mean I did start having the dreams a couple months after it happened."

"Now the gun you are seeing is probably what stuck out in your mind. When a nightmare happens, a person tends to remember on specific detail and the rest seems fuzzy."

"So my mind's only remembering the gun, and that's why the dream is never really clear?"

"Exactly. Now try drawing the man as best you can."

My head was pounding from how much this was frustrating me. I knew I had seen this gun somewhere; it was too damn familiar. The man too. I began drawing the outline of the man at the gas station. He was shrouded in the shadows, but his gun was clear. The memory was tugging and tugging on my head, to the point where I just wanted to scream and throw the colored pencils at the wall. Where had I seen this picture? It was like I was hitting a wall trying to break it down, but it was impossible.

Oh. My. God.

The pencil in my hand dropped and rolled off the table. My eyes were glued to my paper; everything was crystal clear now. I stood up and sprinted out the door. I didn't know where I was going, but I didn't have to. I just needed to get out of that room, away from the picture, away from my past, and away from reality.

Hal's POV

"Does everyone here know me?" I heard the all too familiar voice of the ever so annoying Alyssa Carter.

"All the important people at least," Dr. Glass said, "what can I do for you guys?"

I took this opportunity to mess with Alyssa. "Is Alyssa finally starting to realize she needs metal help? Hurray! Well we don't have the resources to help you here, maybe you should go. I'll even help you pack." I came into view, Ben following me, staring at Kaylee. The guy needs to learn to be less obvious.

"Hal, Ben, I will be with you in a second. What did you need help with?" she said.

"You know the art therapy you were having the kids do this morning? I was wondering if you could help Alyssa with that," Kaylee said in a soft tone.

"Ever since I was ten, I've had these nightmares. It's always the same one. It's nighttime and it's always at a gas station, focusing on a woman. But she dies before I can make out any detail or features. Sometimes I see a little girl in the car screaming, but last night I saw a man hidden in the shadows. But his gun is crystal clear. It's a brown hand gun with really intercut designs and a claw mark across the handle part."

"Miss Badass Alyssa isn't as tough as she appears is she?" I asked her. Wimp.

"You never know how strong you are until the only option you have is to be strong, and I've had to be pretty damn strong." She said, not trying to be a smartass. She stood up and gave me a terrifying look.

"When people go through a traumatic experience, it helps to draw out what is in their head, so I want you to draw the gun," Dr. Glass said.

"I am not an artist. AT ALL.'"

"When people go through a traumatic experience, it helps to draw out what's going on in their mind, so I want you to draw the gun." Dr. Glass stated.

"When you are drawing things from memory, your picture will look more realistic than you think."

"No." Did she really just say no to Dr. Glass?

"Yes, you are. That is an order from the doctor regarding your health, therefore you must do it." Oh, pulling the 'head doctor, you listen to me' act on Alyssa. It will be good for her to learn some respect for authority.

"Fine, whatever." She started to draw.

"Those calluses are from consistently shooting a gun. Obviously this guy has been trained with them," Kaylee pointed out.

"You know a lot about guns," Ben said. He always acts stupid in front of girls he thinks are cute, and I can tell that he thinks she's cute.

"Everyone has their hobbies," Kaylee said simply showing us the calluses on her hands. This girl is pretty cool.

"Yeah, so what's yours Alyssa? Hanging out with Karen? I knew you two would get along great." I knew they got in a fight last night. Karen told me all about it this morning

"Aren't hobbies supposed to be fun?" I glared at her.

"Oh. Burrrn." Ben said. Who's side was he on?

"Don't fight the fights if you can't take a hit." Kaylee stared at me straight faced while Ben and Alyssa laughed. I take back what I said about her being cool.

"Okay children," Dr. Glass said, "Hal and Ben out. Kaylee, there will be some kids coming in soon. Would you like to go help them?" Ben and I went to leave but I stayed back while Ben left. I wanted to hear what they were talking about. "Alyssa, we are going to discuss this gun."

"Alright." I wonder what kind of gun this is…

"So, Alyssa have you ever experienced a traumatic experience?"

"My mom died when I was ten," Alyssa said, in a voice I never heard her use. It was almost scared and innocent.

"Isn't that when you said the dreams started?" Dr. Glass asked.

"Yeah it was."

"If you don't mind me asking, how did she die?"

"She was shot and killed."

"Oh, when you were ten?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know what happened that night?"

"Yes actually I do. My mom and I were at a gas station late at night. I was sitting in the car when a man came up behind my mom with a gun. He cleared his throat and my mom turned around. As soon as she saw the man, she was terrified. The man clicked his trigger in place. I realized what was about to happen and plugged my ears. After a couple seconds when the gun didn't go off, I looked up and noticed he was talking to her, and then he shot her. I screamed and the man looked at me. He told me not to make the mistake my mother did, and disappeared. I sat in the car and cried all night, until someone found me in the morning."

Holy shit. You know how they say there are some things you can't unhear, no matter how much you want to? This is one of those things. I will never look at Alyssa the same way again. I left, suddenly feeling like I was hearing something I wasn't ever supposed to.

Kaylee's POV

I trusted Dr. Glass with Alyssa and her situation, and Matt had only come by to pick up some extra paper, so I left the chemistry lab. I had nearly forgotten that I had to go and train Ben to fight. Why the hell did I agree to this? I'm losing my sanity.

Just as I rounded the corner, I rammed into a tall body. The force of running into them was so strong, it knocked me off my feet. If I had fallen quicker, I would've cracked my gun, but luckily I pushed it out of the way in time.

"You look happy," the person who made me fall said. I rolled my eyes. Hal Mason. Surprisingly, he was a gentleman; he extended his hand towards me.

"Are you alright? That was a pretty hard fall."

I took his hand and hoisted myself up. "Honestly I'm more concerned about my gun."

Hal chuckled. "How'd you get started on that anyway?"

I shrugged. "Dark times were messing with my head. I needed a way to distract myself, so I figured weapons were the best way to go."

It was the truth; I had told Ben a much lighter version of it. My uncle did indeed get me hooked on it, but he began teaching me when my parents died. And despite the irony of it, it was extremely therapeutic.

"You don't seem like the kind of girl who's gone through hell."

"You'd be surprised," I stated and looked at his near black eyes. It was so weird how much he looked like his dad, but nothing like his brothers.

I turned to head out to the shooting range, but Hal followed. Once he fell into step with me, he asked, "So where are you going?"

Since when does he give a shit about where I'm going? I hadn't even known him for a full day and he was already taking an older brother figure over me. "To teach your brother how to _properly _use a gun."

Hal laughed again. "He does need some help with that."

"Some?" I frowned. He needs all the help in what's left of this world.

Hal grinned and shook his head. "I like you. You're pretty cool to talk to." He nudged me on my shoulder.

"Thanks," I smiled. He doesn't seem that bad after all. "I'll see you around. I better get going before Ben shoots himself in the face or something."

"No kidding. See you soon."

My hands shoved open the glass doors and grabbed hold of my spare Heckler and Koch gun. I can't even begin to tell you how much I don't want to do this.

"Hey Kaylee!"

Please fucking kill me.

"Here," I said tossing him the H&K. "We have a lot to start going over, so talking should be a minimal."

Ben slid the holster around his neck and put the gun in his hands. Even though I told him we shouldn't be talking that much, he asked another question. "You carve your initials on all of your guns?"

He was eyeing the 'KP' etched into the gun he was holding, and the one that was in my hands. "Yeah," I said. "It's like when artists sign the corner of a painting, only I carve my initials into the stock of a gun. And I know if someone steals one."

"That's smart."

"Okay. I want you to come towards me and try to shoot me."

The blond frowned. "Are you crazy?"

"Just do it." I'm already losing my patience and it hasn't been a full minute. This was going to be just great.

Ben took the Heckler and Koch off safety (thank God he knew how to do that at least) and held it in both hands with a tight grip. Mistake number one. He slowly advanced to me, and I looked at his stance. Mistake number two. Ben ran at me but I simply took a step to the side and whirled around to him. We have a long way to go.

He tried again, this time adding a swing with the gun; however, I kicked the back of his knee and watched him tumble to the floor. The wind was knocked out of him, but he still tried to get up. I placed my sneaker on top of his chest and pointed my gun at his head.

Ben's hazel eyes were wide as they stared back at my pale ones. "How did I do?"

Is that even a valid question? "You gripped the gun too hard, your stance was poor, and you have no combat skills whatsoever. You need to spend some time with Alyssa before considering learning to fight from me."

"What do you mean?"

"I learned this from Alyssa," I motioned to my foot on his chest, "you need to develop decent combat skills before I'll teach you anything."

Politely, I lowered my hand to him and removed my sneaker off his stomach. He gladly took it and pulled himself up again. He held my hand closer to him as he looked at my gloves. Well this is going to become really awkward.

Ben's POV

I must be the weakest guy in the 2nd Mass. A girl just took me down without as much as a blink. That makes me feel really, really stupid.

As she helped me stand up from my brutal blow, I looked at her fingerless gloves. They were quality leather, that much I could tell, and they were solid black, like everything else she was wearing.

"U.S. Army?" I asked reading what the wrist of the gloves said.

"They were my uncle's," her soft blue eyes hardened a bit as she watched me examining her gloves.

"They're really cool," I remarked. What else am I supposed to say?

"Thanks," she said taking her hand out of mine and sliding it back into her hoodie pocket. "But seriously. You need to go and find Alyssa. You're worse than I thought you were."

I frowned at her bluntness. "Hey!"

"Would you rather me lie to you? Dude, you suck." She smirked at my facial expression and walked off.

"That's it then?" I called to her.

"Pretty much," she said back, not even turning back.

I sighed as I picked up Kaylee's Heckler and Koch that she gave me. It was identical to my old one, apart from her initials etched into it. Only this one was made by a fourteen-year-old girl who has passion for weapons. This war really has changed the lives of so many people.

I was about to open the doors of the school when Alyssa came bursting out of them. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were ablaze with anger.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked her.

"I'm fine," she replied sternly so I would stop asking questions.

"So Kaylee said I need to learn some fighting from you before she'll start teaching me. Can you help me out?"

"Are you really that bad?" Alyssa raised her eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes. "Will you help me or not?"

"Yeah, sure. Put down the gun and let's get started."

"Now?"

"No, when the aliens leave. Yes now!" I winced at her tone. It wasn't the sarcastic one she usually had, but a cold, hate filled one.

I set my gun down and faced her.

"Defense is key in combat. The more you block yourself, the less you're hit. The less you're hit, the less injured you are. Get it?"

I nodded. Alyssa raised her balled fists and blinked a few times. Something must've happened back at Dr. Glass's.

"This is a classic block. You want to keep your arms loose so you can move them to avoid hits and punches. I'm going to try to hit you, so block me."

Alyssa brought her arms towards my stomach, so I put my wrist in front of hers. She managed to fool me though, and struck my chest lightly. "Another thing. Don't underestimate the power of your opponent and always expect the unexpected."

Alyssa tried the same move on me, but I picked it up fast and shoved her fist out of my way. We practiced that for a little bit, but she didn't look happy. All she was doing was frowning and clenching her hands every now and then. Alyssa's eyes were not here where I was learning, but in a place much further from here.

"What's wrong?"

"I told you: I'm fine."

"You're not focusing. Your mind's on something else. Did something happen while you were with Dr. Glass?"

She angrily brushed her hair out of her face. "Yeah, something did."

"I know that you barely know me, but you can tell me anything. I'll never repeat it." And that's the first time I saw Alyssa Carter let down her walls.

"My mom was murdered when I was ten. The nightmares I've been having were about the night she was killed and I realized that the girl screaming was me. As I was drawing the man and his gun, I was trying to figure out where I had seen them before, besides the dream. Turns out, the man is here, in the 2nd Mass."

"What?"

Alyssa gritted her teeth. "My mother's killer is here, and I won't sleep until he's dead."

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_OHHHHHH snappppp!:o Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter we wrote in class when we were supposed to be doing work;] Just because we love you all:) Haha click that button and make this all worthwhile!:] _

_Peace, Love, Falling Skies. _

_-Parker and Carter_


	6. Taking A Turn For The Worst Part 1

_Hey everyone! So sorry for the long wait, school's been crazy and the two of us had to spend every bit of our spare time writing so we could get it up. Luckily, it's extra long to make up for it! We started our story approximately three weeks after the episode "Silent Kill" where the 2nd Mass rescues Ben and just before Sanctuary Part 1. We're following the storyline now, so it took us awhile to perfect it. Also we weren't sure how to split it, so we ended it a little early so it wouldn't be so freaking long;p Haha you guys get a little diversity of what happens in Parker and Carter's lives so it won't be repetitive too much. Enjoyyyyy!:] -Kaylee_

Hi guys! SOOOOOOOO sorry for the long wait. I haven't been able to write a lot lately. So if you have any questions about the story or are confused, review the story and ask your question. One of us will respond ENNJJJOOOYYYY and as always PLEASE REVIEW! we love your reviews! ~*Alyssa*~

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Taking A Turn For The Worst-Part 1

Alyssa's POV

Ben was actually a pretty good fighter and he learned really fast. First, I just showed him what the hell he was supposed to do because he had no clue, AT ALL. After that, it was pretty easy. I was actually starting to enjoy our daily fighting classes. Even if he was a good fighter, I could tell he's not so good with a gun. The look on Kaylee's face when she came back after their shooting lessons and the look on Bens face when I told him our fighting lessons were over and it was time to go to the shooting range told me that much. Ben and I were starting to become good friends. He was like my brother. We could tell each other anything. I guess that day when I found out about my mom and talked to him, I finally let my guard fully down and opened up.

"So, how do you like the 2nd Mass so far?" Ben asked randomly one morning during his lessons. He tried to flip me over but I ducked only to have him kick me in the gut. "I mean besides the part about the guy who killed your mom is here." I sent a punch at his face and he ducked.

"It's pretty good, I can't complain." He moved to attack me but I easily dodged. I grabbed his arms, spinning him around and pinning his arms behind him. I then disarmed him. Once I let go, he started laughing. "What's so funny?! I just disarmed you!"

"Do you really think taking my gun away is going to hurt me? I mean seriously." I couldn't help myself, I laughed too.

"Yeah, you do kinda suck. But what happens if your attacker uses your gun against you?" I challenged

"Okay, so I have to worry about that if I'm fighting anyone but you, because you kinda suck with a gun as well."

"Point taken," I raised my hands in defeat. We both started laughing again. Suddenly Hal walked in the room and both Ben and I stopped laughing immediately. I tried to hide my emotions from my face in front of Hal but I couldn't do it, I started laughing again, which caused Ben to start laughing at Hal's face when he saw me laugh.

"Look I don't even wanna know what the hell is going on here, I just came by to grab one of Kaylee's guns. We are going on patrol," Hal smirked at Ben.

"Why are you two going? Why don't you just go with Karen?" Ben asked, suddenly serious again.

"Well you know Kaylee and I have had a lot of time to talk on patrol. We're getting close. Did you know she invented her own explosive?" When Ben didn't reply Hal's smirk widened. "Didn't think so. You do know the reason she likes hanging out with me is because we can actually talk, and I don't blabber on and on like someone over here." Ben glared at him. "And we talk about weapons, how to make them, stuff you two wouldn't understand."

Okay, now I was starting to get pissed. I was angry and seriously confused. Why was Ben so mad about Hal and Kaylee hanging out together? "Why don't you just go? Why do you have to be such a jerk?" I said, back to my normal cold self.

"Isn't that what big brothers are for, messing with their little brothers when they get to this point in their lives?" Ben glared at him even more so than before. I was still confused.

"Just go, and take Karen with you. Get her out of our hair for awhile," I said before turning my back to him.

"I don't want to go on patrol. I want to stay here and bu- I mean watch you guys," Karen said on an obnoxious tone.

"There's no need to whine," I mimicked her tone, which earned me a glare from Karen and I pretty sure Hal as well.

"Listen. I'm done with your attitude okay? So if I were you I would lose the bitch act because people are going to start getting really fed up with it."

"Whatever, now If I were you I'd get going because Kaylee hates having to wait for people, especially when they have one her most prized possessions." Hal turned around and left, and Karen followed shortly after. Ben stayed for a little bit longer; we just talked about random stuff.

"So, do you play any sports?"

"I play soccer. You?"

"Sports were always Hal's thing. I was more of the math nerd," Ben said.

"Cool."

"Not really," He admitted.

"Why?"

"Because, no one wants to hang out with a geek. And Hal was the athlete in the family, so all his P.E. teachers loved him, and when I got all the same P.E. teachers he did, they hated me since they assumed I was just like my older brother."

"Well if it makes you feel better, I would've loved to have you at my school. I could have used a good math tutor," I said, hoping he would stop putting himself down.

"So what about you, soccer your only thing?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yep, I was the star soccer player on the varsity team since freshman year."

"That's awesome," Ben said, shocked.

"If you want, someday I'll teach you to play soccer."

"That sounds good. Hey look sorry to ditch you, but I'm gonna go work on my shot before Kaylee gets back."

"How are you doing in shooting lessons anyway?"

"Well, don't laugh but I'm getting closer to hitting the target." He exited the room and I got up and left a little while after that. I went to wonder around, after about an hour of wandering, I went and got some lunch and then I started roaming around some more. I was getting pretty familiar with the grounds. I wanted to know my way around just incase there was an attack by the aliens. After about another hour of wandering, I headed towards the hospital. Lourdes, Dr. Glass's assistant, was very nice. I like helping her out in the hospital. It was one way to fill my time. Dr. Glass was helping a family with a sick kid and Lourdes needed to go get some batteries from a supply room and since it was on the way to where I needed to go, I offered to walk with her. We walked in a comfortable silence. Soon we passed the room.

"Bye, Alyssa. Nice seeing you again."

"You too." I headed off to the room to find Kaylee.

I never really noticed it but our room was a way different side of the school from the hospital. I started walking to our room. Suddenly I noticed Hal walking out of the ammunition room and towards me. I immediately ducked into a small hallway before he saw me and was planning on waiting for him to pass before I started out on my way again. I was in a good mood and I didn't feel like having him ruin that. I was thinking of going to see Kaylee and go with her to Ben's shooting lessons when a man grabbed my arms with one hand and put one the other over my mouth. My first reaction was to fight back. I kicked him with my foot and elbowed him. My attacker turned me around to face him, and pinned me against the wall, with such force I couldn't move.

It was the man who killed my mom.

"That night, I told you never to make the some mistake your poor mother made. But you didn't listen to me, did you?" He said, in a rough voice. I stayed silent. "ANSWER ME YOU LITTLE HOE!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I spat at him. How dare he accuse my mom of _not listening to him_! Who does he think he is?! "You FUCKING ASS! I SWEAR I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!"

"Now, now Alyssa, your mom could have lived but she ran her little mouth. One night, about eight months before I killed your mom, I had some business to take care of with another man, Aaron. Aaron owed me money and he knew it so he hid from me. But I found him, and I asked him where my money was. He said he didn't know what I was talking about. He had the nerve to lie to me. So I killed him, because that's just how it worked in the gangs. You owe money, you pay or die. All went well; I disposed of everything, never to be caught, except your mom just happened to be at the drug store that night. She saw me do it and she screamed, just once; it was enough to let me know she was there. I approached her, I told her she was not to tell anyone what happened or she too would be dead. Everything seemed well but then one day I was listening to the news and I heard of someone being wanted for murder, the same night and the same place where I killed Aaron. I had to do something, so I went and killed your mom. And I guess you know what happened from there."

That stupid sick fucking jackass. I glared at him and kicked him someplace no man wants to be kicked. I grabbed my knife from my boot and stabbed him in the arm. He screamed out in pain. He stood up and pushed me to the floor. I hit my head and heard my arm snap. He walked over to me and kicked me in the gut.

"YOU SICK MURDERING BASTARD! I WILL KILL YOU! I PROMISE I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!" I yelled at him and I stood up.

"Hate to break it to you, but that won't work because I'm going to kill you, right here, right now. You told the police, your dad, and now that kid. I think I'll have to kill him as well. We can't have people in the 2nd Mass knowing that I killed your mom so I need to get rid of you."

"Sorry, but I don't think you can do that because if you kill her, I'll have to kill you." I have NEVER been so happy to hear the voice of Hal Mason in my life!

"What the fuck is going on?" I heard Kaylee ask in a confused voice. This whole situation did look pretty weird.

"Go get Weaver," Hal said sternly.

Kaylee started sprinting to get Weaver.

The man grabbed me and I screamed. Hal punched him in the face and they started fighting. I was in terrible pain and I couldn't move. My arm was most likely broken and my head was spinning. I almost just died and _Hal_ came to save me. I got the impression he wanted me dead and would be happier if I _was_ dead. He pushed Hal to the ground and from the look of things he was seriously hurt. I tried to get up to help Hal but that coward put his gun to my head.

"Don't move or I'll kill you both," he knew he could easily shoot me and then Hal. Hal was in no position to defend himself; he knew that yet he tried to stand any way.

"Don't hurt yourself anymore." I went to stand up but I couldn't. My stomach hurt; I felt like I was going to pass out.

"I will have the joy of killing you, the little girl who almost got me caught," The man had an evil grin on his face. Just then Kaylee ran in, followed by a very out of breath Weaver, Ben, and Tom.

"What do we do we have here?" Weaver asked. Thank God! They got here just in time.

"I want you out of here. You're no longer welcome in the 2nd Mass. If I find you're still here, I will personally kick your ass straight back to hell." Everyone focused their attention and Hal and I.

"Are you alright, Hal?" Tom asked his son.

Hal looked really bad. I felt worse than he looked; Hal got himself hurt over me. I hated when I was the reason people got hurt. It just wasn't fair. Other people shouldn't suffer for your mistakes. I learned that lesson a long time ago. I was stupid to hide in an unfamiliar place.

Kaylee helped me up. "You okay, Carter?" Unable to talk I shook my head and tried to stand up. I looked at Hal and saw _two _Hals. One is bad enough! Even though he just saved my life, I'm not sure I can handle two of him. Suddenly I realized there was two of everything. Wow, I hit my head hard.

"Parker, take Hal and Alyssa to Dr. Glass, stat. Terry Clayton of the 7th Mass is in my office waiting for us. Let's go, Tom," Weaver turned and left.

"I'll look out for him." These people need to shut up; all their talking is hurting my head. "I promise I'll bring you the news as soon as Dr. Glass takes a look at him."

Tom left and Kaylee started to help me and Hal to the hospital. Ben came up and started helping Hal. Kaylee rolled her eyes at him.

The walk back was long and quiet. I refused to let anyone help me and made them both help Hal. He was in worse condition than me. Ben and Kaylee helped him walk in an awkward kinda way that was very amusing. If I wasn't in pain and seeing double, I would have laughed. It took us awhile just to walk through the doors of the infirmary.

"What happened?!" Dr. Glass practically screamed.

"Great question." They all turned to look at me. Where do I begin?

"Well, umm…" I tried to move but it hurt too much. "Owwww," I moaned.

"Never mind, then. Put Hal on the bed there. Alyssa I want you to sit down. Ben, Kaylee, take Matt out of here, please."

Matt spoke for the first time. I didn't even know he was there. "Kaylee, what happened to Hal and Alyssa?"

"Kaylee and Ben take Matt out of here," Dr. Glass repeated. Dr. Glass went to work doing whatever it is she does. Matt didn't want to leave but Kaylee somehow talked him into it. The three of them left.

"I don't know how she does it," Hal said. He sounded like crap. His voice was all weird and groggy.

"Do what?" I was too tired and in too much pain to think.

"Get Matt to leave. He is extremely stubborn sometimes and lately he has been very protective of Ben and me, with all that's happened," Hal explained.

"Kaylee always did have a way with kids." Kaylee walked back over to me.

"Stay strong Carter." We hit our arms together. She left. I saw Ben walk up to her after and the look on her face looked like she wanted to kill him. That boy is seriously going to be the death of her, I don't get why she hates him so much though. He's not actually that bad. Once you get to know him, he's real fun to hang out with. I really enjoy our daily fighting lessons.

"OWWWW FUCK! That hurts!" Hal said. I looked at him. He was gripping the edge of the bed like his life depended on it.

"Hold still. You definitely have some bruised ribs and a concussion." She concluded after poking him a couple times and shining a light in his eyes. How in the hell did she do that? I mean I would have looked at him and said 'You're hurt, go rest' and that's about all I could do. She comes up with a bunch of stuff that's wrong with him. She is awesome! She moved to me and did the same thing she just did to Hal to me. Stupid light! It was really bright. I didn't like it at all.

"You have a sprained arm, a concussion and possibly bruised ribs. I don't have the resources here to be certain though. I'm going to wrap up your arm."

"Okay," was all I said. She wrapped my arm and it hurt really badly. My right hand is now immobile, but luckily I was ambidextrous. I can do everything with my right hand as well as my left. It's going to take some time to get used to though. After a while, I fell asleep. Suddenly something hit me in the leg.

"Owwww," I groaned. I looked up to see Hal smirking at me.

"Really, you had to throw something at me. You couldn't have just said 'Alyssa, get up'? That works just as good!"

"Last time I tried that you threw a knife at me, and I don't know about you, but I like having my head attached to my body!"

"Let me rephrase myself. Yon only need to say 'Alyssa get up' _once_! It works just as well."

"I was in a rush!"

"Whatever. Why did you wake me up? You just made all the pain come back again."

"I dunno, I was bored."

"I hate you." REALLY!?

"I know."

"So why did you wake me up?"

"Because I was bored, and you already hate me so I figured what the heck." He smiled.

"I hate you, jerk."

"Look who's working on her vocabulary."

"Fine. I hate you, jackass. Now leave me alone, I'm going back to sleep." I said and started to lay back down when Dr. Glass came in.

"Good, now that you're awake, I need to talk to you both," Dr. Glass said softly. Just when I was about to go back to sleep too! "Hal, let's start with you."

"I was heading back from patrol with Kaylee when I heard a scream, I turned the corner and saw that man pointing a gun at Alyssa. I heard him say 'And now I will kill you' and I couldn't just let him do that so I cut him off. Just then Kaylee came, so I told her to go get Weaver. That guy was pretty strong though. He punched me in the stomach before I could react, then he threw me to the floor. Alyssa was on the ground and attempting to move. She tried to stand up but couldn't. I just hoped Weaver got there soon, or he really was going to kill her, and me. Kaylee got there first, then Weaver then Ben. Weaver kicked him out of the 2nd Mass and had Kaylee and Ben brought us up here. That's it."

"Why did the man threaten you, Alyssa?"

"I think we are all wondering that same thing, at least I know I was." Ben walked in.

"Yeah, that I don't know." Hal said they all looked at me.

All eyes were on me. Now it's my turn to explain. "Dr. Glass, remember when I came in here the other day, when I first got here, about my dream?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well that man who tried to kill me-"

"Oh my god, Alyssa does this have to do with the man you told me about?" Ben interrupted.

"Yes, it does actually. That man I told you about and the man who attacked me are the same person."

"Oh my God," Ben and Dr. Glass said at the same time. That was weird.

"I am so fucking confused." Hal said. I forgot he was there. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Hal, what did you hear of my conversation with Dr. Glass the second day were hear?" I asked.

"I heard all the way up to the point where you explained how your mom died."

"Okay, well, the person who killed my mom and the man who attacked me is the same person. He was planning on killing me because I knew he killed my mom and he didn't want the people of the 2nd Mass finding out." Hal just stared at me.

"I don't even know what to say," Hal stated simply.

"Well, I think these two need to rest. We can't lose fighters. Everyone out." Ben and Dr. Glass left.

That's when things got awkward, like really awkward. We just sat there in silence. I know I should thank him, but I don't know how. I knew Kaylee would make me thank him anyway. I was never one for thank yous, so when I have to I suck at them. I'm still pissed at myself that he got hurt over me. What I didn't understand is _why_ he did it. I thought he wanted me dead. I'm so confused. He was brooding about something. I didn't want to interrupt his thought, but I wanted to ask him why he did it. I wish he would say something, so I would have something to retort back. I wish he would give me a hard time about not being a good fighter so I could say the same to him. I wanted him to snap out of whatever shock he was in and go back to being his normal Alyssa-hating cocky self.

"Why did you do it?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"What?" he asked.

"Save me, I mean you could have easily walked past. I thought you wanted me dead."

"I don't want you dead. I mean sure you get on my nerves but that's horrible to want you dead. You're part of my team. We look out for each other, and we need to trust each other. Remember what Weaver said on the first day?"

"Yeah. He said we need to build trust and watch each other's backs."

"Exactly. Plus you would do the same thing if the situation were reversed." More silence. I thought about that. He saved me, because he was being a good partner. He was right; I would do the same thing. No matter what.

"Take these," I heard Dr. Glass say. Good, she's sending someone in. No more awkward silences. Kaylee walked in. She had guns on her, more than usual.

"Are you on patrol tonight?" Shit, my voice sounded weird. That's not going to convince her I'm okay.

"Yeah. South Point. As of right now, I'm heading down alone."

"Are you going to be okay?" I forgot Hal was Kaylee's partner.

"Without your incredible fighting skills? I think I'll be just fine."

Hal laughed. "Damn it, Parker, don't make me laugh. It hurts like hell."

"Just doing my job. Your dad's really worried about you. Matt too," Kaylee said. I wanted to point out that even she can't cover how worried about us she is as well.

"I'm fine. It could've been worse; the guy could've shot me in the stomach or something. I'll be walking around by tomorrow, just you wait." I sat there. I can't believe he got injured so badly. I don't know what I would do.

"I'm glad you're okay," She sat next to me. I hugged her. I wanted to cry, but I held it together and settled for a hug. I finally accepted that what happened was not a dream but in fact reality. I realized then how much the whole incident scared me.

"It's going to be okay, Carter. We'll make it through this, together." I just sat there, like a scared little girl.

Too soon, Kaylee spoke again. "I gotta get going. I'll see you in the morning." Shit, she had patrol.

"If you do anything to yourself I swear to God, I'll make sure you don't live to see fifteen." I threatened. Hal laughed. I couldn't handle her getting hurt as well. Knowing that I was the reason she got hurt, because I am the reason Hal, her partner is not with her. "I'll be fine now that I don't have a dumbass slowing me down."

"_Me _slow _you_ down? You sure you're not getting your words twisted?"

"Says the guy with the concussion." With that she left.

"Oh, burn." I laughed, which inflicted pain.

"Shut up," Hal said laughing as well.

Just then Dr. Glass walked in. "You two seem to be getting along better. That's good because I want you to spend the night here." Hal and I groaned in unison. She laughed. "Go to sleep."

That actually sounded really nice at the moment. We did as we were told. Tonight was the first time in a long time where I actually slept with no nightmares to wake me up. Next thing I knew, I was being woken up by Hal. It was the middle of the night.

"Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up. Alyssa-"

"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT ONE TIME BEING ENOUGH?!" Hal laughed.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but-" Tom said, I didn't even notice him standing there.

Oh, no. My mind went to the worst situation possible. "Please tell me this doesn't have to do with Kaylee."

"I would like to, but I'm sorry. Dai went to relieve Kaylee and Jimmy twenty minutes ago and they weren't there." Hal and I both sat up immediately. We got up but Tom stopped us. "You two need to stay here."

"No, you don't understand. I need to go find her," I said.

"Alyssa you need to rest. We already sent out a search party."

"Dad, at least let us come wait with you. Please." Hal and I stared at him hopefully.

"You aren't going to back down are you?" Tom asked, realizing he already lost this fight.

"Nope," I said. Hal nodded.

"Number one thing they teach you in parenting school. Pick your battles. Let's go. By the way, you should really start paying attention to my parenting tips, you might need them soon," Tom said to his eldest son.

"Dad, really? Was that necessary?" I started laughing. "Shut up Alyssa."

"I got to go talk to Clayton. You two can wait at the front where the scouts will come in if we find them. They will be brought in through there," Tom left.

"I wish my dad was like that," I said.

"It gets embarrassing," I laughed, then Hal started laughing.

Out of no where, Weaver turned the corner, then Kaylee's friend Jimmy who Ben told me about today, then Kaylee herself. I noticed she was holding her arm. Not like she was hurt, but she was hiding something. Then I saw the blood running down her arm, and there was a lot of it.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!"

"What?" Hal asked with the most confused look on his face.

"No, not you, YOU!" I pointed to Kaylee.

Hal walked over to her and grabbed her arm to check out the cut. It started by her wrist and ran all the way down to the middle of her arm. And judging by the way her arm tensed when he grabbed it, it was bad.

"I'm fine, it's no big deal," she stated, then turned quickly to an impatient Weaver and a scared looking Jimmy. Dr. Glass ushered them inside and closed the doors.

"I'm going to kill her. She is so dead. I am going to let her get better, and then I'm going to kill her."

"Kill who?" Ben asked. I swear he can appear out of thin air. It's kinda creepy.

Ben looked inside then window and then snapped back to us. "What the hell happened to her?!"

"I don't know, but at least she's alive." Hal said relieved. He must really care about her.

"Yeah and that Jimmy kid. I don't know him, but Kaylee seems to really like him. She trusts him and is open with him, which isn't usual for her. She needs someone in her life like that," I said. Ben muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "I can be that person" but I don't know. I am going to have to talk to him about this at a later date.

Weaver walked out "Let's go you three. Meeting you're not gonna wanna miss." We all reluctantly followed Weaver. Just then Karen popped up and fell in sync with Hal and Ben and I slowed down.

"Ugghh."

"I know right."

"What? Oh shit, did I say that out loud?"

"Yeah you did." we both busted up laughing, but we shut up when we realized the gym was silent except us. As we walked in everyone started to stare. I hid behind Ben. "Gee, thanks," Ben said about me taking cover behind him.

"Welcome." We sat down. Karen got up to go somewhere and Ben went to find Matt. It was just me and Hal.

"So what is this meeting about?" I asked.

"A couple days ago, Terry Clayton from the 7th Mass showed up. 7th was wiped out and the people who survived believe the skitters are coming here next. He wants to send all the kids up head to a sanctuary they have hidden somewhere. His meeting is probably my dad telling us whether we are actually going or not."

"Oh, okay."

Tom, Weaver and Clayton took the stage. "I've decided to send Matt and Ben along with Lieutenant Clayton. It'll put our kids a few hours ahead of whatever else is coming and I think that that's a good thing."

Hal stood up, about to protest.

"And if everything goes as planned, we'll be reuniting with our kids by tomorrow night."

Some random guy spoke up. "We just got hit by a skitter. If they're still out there how are you gonna get through?"

"With a small group on foot. We'll be ahead of the main skitter force, way under their radar," Clayton clarified.

"And if you're not?" the man continued with the whole "worst case scenario thing."

"And they're gonna have a security detachment with them," Tom cut in. "O'Brian and Fuller!" He announced the fighters that were going with us.

"I'd like Mike to come too if that's alright. We go back," Clayton spoke up.

"Okay," Tom agreed. "We know the skitters aren't after the youngest ones. The rest'll go because our kids are our future and their safety has got to come first. So pack 'em up. They leave in an hour." Oh my God.

Hal and I walked over to Tom. "Alyssa, I'd like you and Kaylee to go with Ben and Matt." Hal had mixed emotions on his face, but he didn't say anything. There are just those time when you gotta trust your parent. You have to believe they know what's happening and they are making decisions that are in your best interest. I thought this was one of those times, we all did. Except we were all very wrong.

Kaylee's POV

The next few days were filled with patrols, patrols, and more patrols from Weaver. Since I told our captain that Alyssa was teaching Ben how to fight, he teamed up Hal and me for constant scouting of the perimeter together. Weaver wanted Karen to help around the kitchen since they were shorthanded, so I only had to see her at night. She learned to stay out of my way, and we rarely spoke the times we did have to see each other.

So that brings us to the present. Hal and I were both walking on the outside of the school, looking for any signs of the skitters or mechs. Luckily we hadn't seen them around in awhile, but they were bound to show up soon. They always did.

"What are you thinking about now, Miss Silence?" Hal smirked.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Sometimes I really just want to shoot you."

"But you'd miss me too much," he said nudging my shoulder. He had a habit of doing that a lot.

I smiled. "I wish I had you for a brother. Ben and Matt are extremely lucky to have you as an older sibling."

"Do you have any siblings?"

I kicked a rock with my sneaker. It landed in a pile of dust, causing a cloud of dirt to form. "A brother. He's your age actually."

"Small world. Did you guys hangout often?"

"We weren't close. The most we'd talk to each other would be a simple 'Hi' or 'How was your day' and pretend what we said mattered to the opposite."

"At least you didn't fight with him. Ben and I were always at each other's throats. My mom had to break us up countless times," Hal replied thoughtfully.

"I'd take fighting over silence any day. We would walk by each other in our house's hallway and not even acknowledge each other."

"Wow…"

I narrowed my eyes a bit as the sun's rays became apparent after passing a group of trees. "You remind me of him. The two of you have a ton in common."

"What would that be?" I could tell that he and I were becoming fast friends. Hal was a nice guy, and he seemed like he genuinely was curious about me. Like he wanted to get to know me because he cared.

"Both of you were jocks, headstrong, and ladies men," I winked at him.

Hal shook his head. "I played lacrosse. The football players got that kind of attention."

"Oh please. You were definitely a ladies man."

"How would you know?"

"You're cocky, arrogant, and have way too much pride. It's written all over your face."

Hal was shocked. "What? I am none of those things."

"Yeah, you are. That was one of the first things that I noticed about you: how cocky you were. Like you didn't think two girls could take you down when you first put guns to our skulls."

Hal was quiet for a moment, processing what I had just said. Yes, I did notice that the moment I turned around when we first met. I have a superior judge of character; instead of wasting my time talking, I spend my time analyzing people. You find out a ton of things about them that way, and it's amusing to catch them off guard by saying that.

"Is that what you do when you're quiet?"

"That or I'm drowning in my own thoughts."

A round of mech bullets basted loudly, interrupting our conversation. On instinct, we took cover below some shrubs. Déjà vu came to mind as I saw a group of kids with harnesses, mechs, and skitters. It was a gruesome sight; the mechs shot a few of deharnessed kids. Their spikes were the same eerie blue color that Ben's were the night we ran into the aircraft. Slowly, the lights went out as the each took in their last breath.

Why did they take the harnesses off those kids? Didn't they need them to collect the scrap metal or whatever? Things were not adding up. We continued to watch the group walk along the path north, to wherever they were stationed. I couldn't help but clutch my gun a little tighter. They ruined my life, killed my only family, and made my whole world come tumbling down. I wanted nothing more than to just kill them all right then and there, but we would blow our cover, and lead reinforcements straight to the 2nd Mass.

"Let's go," Hal whispered. I slid out and stood up, dusting my black jeans off.

We began the two mile walk back to the high school. We had completed our perimeter lookout and had to report the alien sighting to Weaver. I was thinking again, and Hal was doing God knows what as we started down the road.

"Have you noticed anything weird about Ben?" I asked randomly.

Hal frowned at the question. "Besides the fact he's got three inch spikes sticking out of his spine, I haven't. Why?"

"When we were on patrol the other night, Ben, Karen, and I, we ran into some mechs and skitters. His spikes were glowing the same color as those kids' were, and I had to force him to stay down since he was fighting to get back up."

Hal's frown deepened. "That's weird." I nodded in agreement. It was something bizarre, and something I hoped I wouldn't see again. It was downright creepy.

We were silent again, the only sound coming from the crunching of the gravel beneath our feet. My fingers found their way to my knife and began opening and closing it. Hal was clicking and unclicking his gun's safety, thinking about something. More and more landmarks looked familiar as we drew nearer to the school.

"So before the invasion, were you obsessed with making weapons this much or what?"

"Sort of. I ran cross country and I was normally out running whenever I had the chance. Or crafting some kind of gun."

"Ah, a jock and a nerd. Looks like you have some Mason in you after all."

I punched him in the shoulder. He rubbed it a little and gave me a scowl. I laughed as we finally walked up to the front of John F. Kennedy High School.

"I better go put my ammunition back in the armory. I'll see you at dinner."

"See you," I smiled as I turned into our room.

I collapsed onto my cot and just stared at the ceiling. I was fingering the necklace I wore around my neck, tracing the emblem. I was exhausted, and I was not in the mood to go and teach Ben more shooting. He's doing a little better since starting his lessons with Alyssa, but he was taking his damn time with learning. Guns were his weak point, and he wasn't going to make any major progress for a fair amount of time.

Even though I wanted to crash, I forced myself up before I could close my eyes. I got out a few rounds of bullets to take with me to Ben's lesson, since he probably didn't remember to reload his gun after yesterday. It was highly frustrating trying to teach him to shoot, since it was easy for me and my patience was very, very low.

Karen walked into the room as I was putting a few extra weapons on me.

"Haven't seen much of you lately," she remarked sitting on her bed.

"Thank God for that," I said and walked out of the room. I was _not_ in a good mood, and she irked me in ways that were unexplainable to even me.

The bulletin board outside our room was getting more and more stocked with pictures of kids. I have no idea how their parents could be holding up like this, knowing their kids were now slaves to the enemy.

One of the boys I saw just an hour ago was on the board. He was one of the deharnessed kids that had been shot at by the mechs. Should I tell Weaver? Or would it just be easier to let the parents think their kid was still alive out there? Everyone needed as much hope as they could get, and by telling them their kid was dead put out every ounce of hope they could possibly have.

"I knew that guy back in school."

My eyes shifted to the boy beside me. He was the youngest fighter that I had met my first day here. "I saw him earlier on patrol with some skitters and mechs. He didn't make it."

"It's a shame. He was a nice kid."

"I'm Kaylee Parker," I introduced myself. I was done talking about dead kids, at least for a bit.

"Jimmy Boland. I see you're a fighter," he looked at the gun at my waist.

"What about you? Aren't you the 2nd Mass's youngest fighter?"

"That's me. I only turned fourteen a few months ago."

"Wow. Do you know a thing or two about guns?"

Jimmy nodded. "I taught myself, but I'm pretty decent."

"We're going to be great friends then," I smiled.

He laughed. "Let's go on watch sometime. That way we can talk about guns and stuff."

"That'd be awesome. It's tiring listening to Hal all the time," I chuckled a little. Jimmy seemed like a down to earth, straight to the point kind of guy. And anyone who's got a thing for guns is definitely on my good side. I like this kid.

"What are the extra rounds for?" He nodded to the rounds in my hands.

"I'm teaching Ben how to fight. I figured he wouldn't have remembered to reload his gun so I'm bringing some extra."

"How'd you get stuck with a job like that?" Jimmy laughed.

I shook my head. "Honestly I don't even know why the hell I agreed to it. It's practically impossible."

"I feel you. I don't have the patience to teach people anything."

I shook my head. "Me either. That's why I hate it so much. It's hard trying to explain how to do something you love to other people and expecting them to understand it."

"Seriously. Finally someone who understands," Jimmy smiled.

"Finally," I agreed. "I gotta go though. Duty calls."

"See you on watch!" Jimmy called as I walked down the hallway.

There were screams echoing down the hallway, the sounds of guns loading along with them. I've known Alyssa since I was a few hours old, and we grew up with her abusive dad, so it didn't take me long to realize those screams belonged to her.

Hal had a gun pointed to a man who had a gun pointed to Alyssa. Shit, what did Alyssa get herself into now? I stopped and looked at the three people before me. "What the fuck is going on?"  
Hal turned. "Go get Weaver."

I frowned and began sprinting down the hall to Weaver's office which was on the opposite side of where Hal and Alyssa were. And to make matters worse, Ben stopped right in front of me as I was running.

"I can't talk, I need to get Weaver," I said moving around him.

"What's wrong?!"

I turned around while running backwards. "Just…stay," I put my hand out and kept running all the way to the history classroom. People were giving me bizarre looks as I shoved past them and ran in and out of them. I didn't care; I needed to get Alyssa and Hal help.

"WEAVER!" I yelled as I skidded into his office. Tom was in there too, as well as Dai and Anthony.

"Calm down, Parker. What's wrong?"

"Hal and Alyssa are in trouble. You gotta come with me," I said turning to run out the classroom door. I heard Weaver's heavy footsteps behind me and the scuffle of Tom's boots as we ran down the hallway. If something happens, I will never forgive myself.

"Slow down, solider!" Weaver called. My pace slowed considerably, but I was still running fast. That man looked entirely sketchy, and by the looks of it, he beat up Alyssa pretty bad. And even Hal couldn't fend off a man that big.

The moment we rounded the corner, Weaver saw what I meant by "trouble."

"What do we do we have here?" Weaver asked as he stared at the man. No one moved to say anything. Alyssa was in too much shock, Hal was focusing on the man's every move, and the man was still aiming for Alyssa.

Weaver approached the man and disarmed him in one fluid motion. "I want you out of here. You're no longer welcome in the 2nd Mass." The man didn't seem like he cared, which bothered me. He had black eyes that were so dark, you couldn't even see the pupils.

"If I find you're still here, I will personally kick your ass straight back to hell."

He stalked off, turning the hall, hopefully never to be seen again. My attention focused back to my terrified best friend and my almost brother. Hal was blinking profusely and clutching his rib cage. His other hand was on his temple, trying to soothe whatever was going on up in his head.

"Are you alright, Hal?" Tom asked his son.

In response, Hal's legs wobbled from underneath him. I ran to his side and helped him stand before he fell. Tom was next to me in an instant, trying to get Hal to open his eyes and talk to him.

I reached out to Alyssa. "You okay, Carter?" She shook her head and stood up.

"Parker, take Hal and Alyssa to Dr. Glass, stat. Terry Clayton of the 7th Mass is in my office waiting for us. Let's go, Tom," Weaver began the walk back to the classroom, however Tom was not following.

"I'll look out for him," I told Tom, repeating the words he said when we first talked to each other, "I promise I'll bring you the news as soon as Dr. Glass takes a look at him." Tom gave Hal a hug and smiled gratefully at me. With one last look, Tom turned to follow Weaver. I was about to start helping lug Hal back alone with Alyssa by my side, when someone grabbed the left side of Hal.

Take a fucking guess. I didn't even notice he had followed me back. I gotta start paying attention more often.

The four of us were quiet as we walked back to the infirmary. Alyssa told me the guy who killed her mom was here, but I wasn't expecting him to look like that. And to have Hal come and save her no less. I have to thank him for that as soon as he gets better.

"What happened?!" Dr. Glass exclaimed as we walked with Hal into the lab. Matt was here too, and he nearly freaked out at the sight of his brother. Dr. Glass had a cut on her lip that wasn't there when I saw her early this morning. She seemed like she was under a ton of stress as it was.

"Great question," I said looking at Alyssa waiting for her to explain.

"Well umm…" She moved around, but instead winced in pain. "Ow."

"Never mind, then. Put Hal on the bed there. Alyssa I want you to sit down. Ben, Kaylee, take Matt out of here, please."

"Kaylee, what happened to Hal and Alyssa?" Matt's big eyes widened larger.

"C'mon bud," I said and put my hand on Matt's back, gently leading him out of here.

"I don't want to!" Matt said turning to his injured brother. "I wanna stay with Hal!"

I kneeled down to his height. "Hey. That girl over there has been my best friend since I was born," I nodded my head to where Alyssa was sitting. "And as much as I want to stay here with her too, I can't, and I really hate that. But sometimes we gotta do things we don't like, no matter how much we don't want to."

Matt sighed and gave Hal one last look, then walked out the door. Before I left, I walked over to where Alyssa was sitting. "Stay strong, Carter."

Alyssa smiled faintly. "Always." We put our arms together, like fist pounding only with the side of our palms and balled up fists. We decided that handshakes were too mainstream, so we came up with that instead.

I took a deep breath as I set foot out of the infirmary. I need to kill something.

"So are we still doing a shooting lesson?"

Or someone.

"I'm not really up for it," I said honestly. "I'll give you two hours tomorrow to make up for lost time."

"That's understandable. I'm worried too, you know."

I could feel the frustration and worry building up inside me. Even though I couldn't have known that the guy would be there waiting for her, I was holding myself responsible. If I had made her come along on patrol with Hal and me, she wouldn't be in this mess. She'd be her regular, sarcastic, juice box-drinking, nunchuck-using, Hal-hating self. Just an average over protective best friend for you.

"You're blaming yourself," Ben stated, staring at me. His jade eyes were glimmering with sympathy, which made me want to slug him across the face.

"Seems to be something I do often."

"Well, don't. Stop living in the past, there's nothing worth going back for anyways. The future's a brighter place."

"You're way too positive sometimes," I remarked.

Ben laughed at my statement. "Which means you need to stop being so negative."

"Yeah, when aliens invade," I smiled and walked away. That was similar to when people say 'when pigs fly,' for those of you who failed Sarcasm 101. Alyssa and I passed with flying colors, if you haven't noticed already.

Weaver wanted me to report to his office to get my patrol assignment for the evening. I had been taking as many shifts as I could, just because I needed to get my mind off my past, like Ben said. Killing skitters sounded fairly nice right now, and I was in dire need to kill something. Especially now, what with Alyssa's incident and everything. I can't even explain to you how much she means to me; she's the only family I have.

Weaver's office was rearranged for the millionth time. The chairs were stacked in the corner and a table was placed in the middle. There was papers strewn all over; maps, notes, pictures coated the table. Captain noticed me a few seconds after I came in and said, "Parker, just in time! I need you at the South Post tonight. There's a school bus in the west parking lot that you'll be stationed at."

Terry Clayton was staring at the two guns at my side I hadn't bothered to conceal. He didn't look like the type of guy you would want to anger, so I ignored his gawking eyes.

"Alone?"

"We're short on the rotations without some scouts. If you don't want to be-"

"No it's fine. I need some time to think anyways," I said referring to earlier. Weaver got my subtle message and was about to continue speaking to Clayton, but was interrupted by the 7th Mass's leader.

"Who might you be? You're pretty brave for a young girl."

Ugh, stereotypical adults. "That there is Kaylee Parker. Fighter and weapons forger for the 2nd Mass," Weaver introduced me. He gave a thin smile. I raised the corner of my mouth in return. He may be my commanding officer, but I was starting to think of him as a father. He cared about a lot of the kids in the 2nd Mass, and he had taught me so much the past week I'd been here.

"Weapons forger?" Clayton repeated surprise thick in his voice. Not so much of a "lady" am I?

"That's me."

"Impressive," Clayton complimented.

I put my hands in the pockets of my jeans and shrugged. "My uncle was in the army so he taught me a thing or two."

"Go get some food, soldier. You need a good meal," Weaver ordered.

I nodded and briskly walked out of the office. Clayton creeped me out, and I hadn't eaten anything for awhile. Weaver must've been an awesome dad.

The gym here was what could fool you the most into thinking aliens hadn't taken over the earth. There was the scratched up bleachers from angry parents kicking them when a point was scored on the opposite team, the many posters cheering on the various sports teams, and the beat up baskets hanging on the backboards. And that's when reality settled in. We had turned the gym into a makeshift cafeteria. There was still the loud chattering of the people sitting around, the long table of what foods we had, and of course, the agonizing long line that no one wanted to wait in, just like high school. I smiled at the thought; Alyssa and I had made a joke about that back when we were still in school and waiting in the cafeteria line. It felt like forever ago, when in actuality, it had been six months.

Since we had a minimal amount of food, the line went by much faster than it would have in high school. They had a rice cake type thing and juices lined up for us. I thanked the two women reloading the juices and took a bottle of water with a rice cake. I know that a fighter should probably have more to eat than that, but as a fighter, it was my job to look out for the civilians here. They need it more than I do, especially with the resources dwindling down.

It was only a matter of minutes before my "meal" was gone, and my water finished. I was sitting on the ground with Matt, who was unusually quiet. He was thinking about Hal, that much I knew, and by the frown lines on his forehead, he was worrying too.

"He's going to be okay, trust me," I murmured. "Hal is a strong guy."

Matt made eye contact with me. God, he looked so much like Ben and Hal. He had Ben's blond hair and Hal's dark eyes. He looked more like his brothers then he did his dad. The nine-year-old ambushed me in a hug, resting his head on my shoulder. I lightly kissed the top of his hair and rubbed his back. This kid has been through hell and still has a smile on his face at the end of the day. I don't know how he does it, but I sure admired it.

"I'm not standing in line with this _razorback_," A loud voice boomed throughout the gym. "Ones like him are the reason the skitters are coming!" My head snapped up to see an irritated Ben facing a man proclaiming he knew all about the preharnessed kids.

I swear, Ben is worse than Alyssa.  
"I'm going to check on your brother," I told Matt as I stood up.

"Which one?" He questioned.

"The one that's about to get his ass kicked," I muttered to myself.

I walked swiftly in between the man and Ben as he was about to punch the Mason boy. I shoved the man away from Ben and stared straight at him. I may be fourteen and this guy was most likely around forty, but I was eye level with him. And armed. He grumbled and shoved me back.

"You got a problem?" I asked frowning slightly.  
"No problem," he replied trying to sound like a know-it-all, "just glad we're not bringing these harnessed kids back to the 2nd Mass." He raised his hands every now and then, as if showing he was a badass or a tough guy. That only irritated me further.

"No one's stopped anything. As soon as we get the drugs Dr. Glass needs, we're going to rescue as many of them as we can." The man's face was getting flushed with anger as he saw how unphased I was by his threats and his size. Ben didn't deserve to hear this; he thinks he's a freak enough as it is, let alone having an adult telling it to his face. He tried punching me in the shoulder, but I grabbed his arm and bent it back, almost near breaking point. The only reason I didn't snap his arm was because Dr. Glass was helping out two of my greatest friends and I was not going to be the cause of more stress on her part. The man jerked away painfully, and despite all of the dignity he just lost by letting a freshman in high school put him in his place, he continued to embarrass himself shamefully.

"You're just inviting a skitter attack."

"And you're just trying to make an argument out of anything possible," the mass of people around us smirked at my choice of words. He must do this often. The guy's face turned darker red. "And if the skitters _do_ come," I loaded the Calico around my neck, letting the sound of the _chk_ bounce off the walls, "they'll answer to me."

I turned and walked out the door connecting the gym to the school's main hallway. I was downright sick of people, and I couldn't wait to go on patrol in a few hours. I just needed a break from the world.

I walked to the infirmary as quick as I could to go and check up on Hal and Alyssa. Tom was too busy preparing barricades with the other fighters of the 2nd Mass to see how Hal was doing, so I felt obligated to do it for him. The walk was a quick one, since the gym and the chem lab were just a few doors down.

"How are they?" I asked as I entered the room. Dr. Glass was organizing some medicine in the cabinet and Lourdes was attending to the other wounded.

"Hal and Alyssa both have a concussion and bruised bones, but their stable. My guess is they'll be up and about in a few hours tops." Dr. Glass locked the cabinet and set her hands on the desk. She must've had a long, long day.

"What did you do?" I motioned to her lip.

Her fingers moved to her lip. "A man and his family tried to steal all of our medicine this morning. I tried fighting back, and he hit me with his gun." I'm surprised that hadn't happened sooner. Dr. Glass was a very innocent, non violent type of woman and could easily be pushed over again like she was today.

I slid out a silver revolver I had and set it on her desk. "Keep it. You'll need it if something like this happens again."

"Oh no I-"

"You'll feel safer just knowing it's around. And if it interferes with some hypocritical oath, you can stitch up the bad guy after you blast him," I smiled. Dr. Glass smiled back and continued to look at the gun.

"If you need a lesson, I'm around. Otherwise it's basically point and shoot."

"Thank you, Kaylee." She picked the gun up and turned it to look at it some more.

"Can I see them?"

"Sure. Just be sure not to talk loud; they aren't in the best of moods. Actually can you take them these?" She raised a bottle of painkillers.

"Not a problem." I never spoke loudly as it was. I clutched the pill bottle and stopped in front of the two teens.

Hal was lying on a cot with a wrap going up his waist and Alyssa had a wrap type of splint for her arm. Both were utterly miserable, and you couldn't blame them.

"Take these," I told them and handed them each two tablets. Hal swallowed them immediately while Alyssa, still getting used to the whole one arm thing, took a little more time. She's going to really hate having her arm sprained.

"Are you on patrol tonight?" Alyssa asked softly, wincing at the sound of her own voice.

"Yeah. South Point. As of right now, I'm heading down alone."

"Are you going to be okay?" Hal asked. Even though he was the one with the bandaged side and throbbing head, he was concerned about my safety too.

"Without your incredible fighting skills? I think I'll be just fine," I smirked.

Hal laughed but stopped abruptly and groaned in pain. "Damn it, Parker, don't make me laugh. It hurts like hell."

"Just doing my job. Your dad's really worried about you. Matt too," I added, remembering the scene from earlier.

"I'm fine. It could've been worse; the guy could've shot me in the stomach or something. I'll be walking around by tomorrow, just you wait."

Alyssa was quiet, remorse practically shouting from her eyes. She was pissed that Hal had gotten hurt from the man who was intentionally trying to only injure her, no one else. She takes hits too hard sometime.

"I'm glad you're okay," I told her and sat next to her. She gave me a hug; that's when I knew she was dead scared. Alyssa isn't the touchy-feely type (another reason we got along great) and only hugged me when I needed it or when she did. She was petrified from the attack, which only made me feel worse about it. I wish I had been there for her. "It's going to be okay, Carter. We'll make it through this, together."

It was something we both had to convince ourselves of. The hope that we would live to tell the tale and the hope that one day we'd get our planet back.

I noticed Hal watching us. He was probably shocked to see Alyssa so open. She didn't have those moments much; this was one of those rare occasions. Maybe he'll stop ragging on her so much now. Hal's the best, but he could really lighten up when he was around Alyssa.

The light outside was getting darker and darker. The sun was nearly finished setting, and the moment it turned pitch black is when my "shift" started. I still had to pass along the news to Tom, and to load up on some extra ammunition. I always, always brought along spare ammo, even if I had at least two pounds on me now. You never know, that ammunition could save my life one day.

"I gotta get going. I'll see you in the morning," I told my Alyssa.

"If you do anything to yourself I swear to God, I'll make sure you don't live to see fifteen." There was my best friend again.

"I'll be fine now that I don't have a dumbass slowing me down," I looked at Hal.

"_Me_ slow _you_ down? You sure you're not getting your words twisted?"

"Says the guy with the concussion."

Tom was coming up the hallway when I was about to turn into my room. "Hey, Tom."

"How is he? Is he going to be alright?"

"He's fine. Dr. Glass told me he had a concussion and a few bruised bones but other than that he's stable. Hal will be up and around by tomorrow at the latest."

"Thank God. Thank you for checking in on him. You have no idea how much it means to me," he said thankfully. Tom must thank his lucky stars everyday for being able to be with all of his kids despite the circumstances.

"I'm on South Point tonight, so I'll see you in the morning," I smiled.

Tom nodded and replied, "Be safe. I'm going to go see Hal."

I grabbed a bag of titanium bullets out of the room and took out the gun in my sneaker. It had to be readjusted, so it was dead weight to me at the moment. I hid my two handguns and put an extra knife in my pocket. I was all set for a night alone in an abandoned school bus.

It was black outside, so naturally I camouflaged perfectly. I had to jump over a few barricades to get around to the parking lot that the bus was in. According to Clayton, a wave of skitters could be heading our way any day now, so there was a possibility I could be exterminating some aliens tonight. Clayton seemed a little off though, like there was something deep down that was wrong with him.

The back doors of the bus were pried open and waiting for me. The bus was relatively small, but it was better that way. If I had to make a run for it, a long aisle was going to be difficult to get out of. I swung myself into the vehicle and landed without a sound. The beauty of high top sneakers.

The front window was cracked open, leaving a jagged mess at the driver's seat and a ragged hole to see out of. I situated myself on the bigger seat and propped my feet up slightly. There was a chess board on my right from when the previous scouts were stationed here last. The pieces had been rearranged from their starting position since the fighters hadn't bothered to put them back. The night was peaceful and quiet. The stars were glowing and the moon gave off a beautiful silver essence. Despite all that the aliens had done to Earth, it still managed to pull of stunning scenery. I almost didn't want to run into skitters, but I still wanted to take my frustration out on something.

My admiration for the scenery in front of the bus was interrupted when clatters from behind caused me to whip around, load my gun, and aim for whatever had entered the bus. My feet were planted on the ground, ready to support me if I needed to take cover.

"Hey!" Jimmy said calmingly as he stepped onto the aisle way. "Take it easy, Parker it's just me." I released a breath and unclenched my hands on my gun.

"Damn it, Boland you scared me," I confessed and turned back around. I was actually glad I had someone here with me, especially if something like that happened with an alien.

"It's pretty creepy out here, huh?" Jimmy asked and sat down next to me, taking the holster off of his neck.

"Yeah. That's the feeling of skitters headed our way," I joked.

"No, I was talking about you." I raised my eyebrows at him and he grinned.

I playfully punched his shoulder and put my feet up on the plastic basket in front of me. "Did Weaver send you down here?"

"Yeah. He told me you were gonna be down here alone so I decided to keep you company."

I smiled. "Thanks. It's been a rough day."

Jimmy smiled back. "Of-"

The chessboard began to rattle. I frowned then looked up at Jimmy's deep blue eyes. And then the mechanical footsteps pounded against the ground and started getting louder by the minute. A bright light shone through the giant hole; a mech stood before us. Jimmy's eyes widened when the mech stopped in his tracks. Immediately, the mech started shooting at the bus. The ear splitting sound of breaking glass rang throughout the bus.

Jimmy and I ducked just in the nick of time, and tried to cover ourselves from the flying glass everywhere. The mech moaned loudly and stomped towards the bus. I opened my eyes to see Jimmy's terrified ones. The mech hit the bus and made us shift a bit. But that's when all hell broke loose.

I struggled to my feet and ducked while running down the aisle. "Jimmy, come on!" I yelled through the screeching of the roof of the bus being torn right from its hold. I heard Jimmy's footsteps behind me, so I kept running. The mech slammed the bus so forcefully, I lost footing and slammed into the side of the bus, hard. I pushed myself up again and jumped out the back of the bus, running into the school.

Now, I was scared. No one was around, and no one seemed to hear my frantic calls for help. "**MECH!**" I yelled through the corridors of the school. I was twisting down the three flights of stairs searching for Weaver. Where the hell was he?! Here I was, running down the halls for the second time today. Except I was in the basement of the school, and totally lost.

"We gotta find-" It was then I realized that Jimmy wasn't behind me like I thought he was. Oh shit. If I only I could find my way back to the stairs! I was running in circles and circles but just couldn't seem to find them. Damn it damn it damn it! He left his gun behind too! Fuck, I'm the worst patrol partner in the world. Everything seemed familiar one moment, then extremely different the next. I couldn't concentrate when I was frustrated, so I just got more and more lost. I angrily kicked a cardboard box and stopped running. This couldn't be happening. This _can't _be happening. I would not be responsible for someone's death, not tonight.

_Calm down, Parker. Breathe, think. Take in your surroundings, _I thought to myself.

"_**SKITTER!**_" A voice screamed. Gun shots blasted and the horrid screech of a skitter followed as if proving it was there. It was Jimmy!

"**JIMMY!**" I shouted and followed the sounds of where the bangs were coming from.

"_**SKITTER! HELP!"**_ He yelled as loud as he could. His volume was increasing, so I could only imagine I was getting closer.

Suddenly the gun shots stopped and the skitter screeched again. I rounded a corner with the Calico in my hands and froze. A skitter was advancing toward Jimmy while he was trying to shoot but he was out of bullets. What did I say about having extra ammo? Jimmy gave up and raised the gun to throw it at the alien's head.

I aimed at the skitter's brain and pulled my trigger as quick as possible. The invader fell to the floor, blood sputtered everywhere. I blinked back the puff of smoke that resulted in my shot, and looked at a petrified Jimmy. My gun was slung to my back as I stepped around the skitter mess and towards my patrolmate. He sat there, frozen with fear, trying to catch his breath. Must be his first near death experience.

"Jimmy?" I asked softly. His eyes were watering as he tried holding back his tears. He was taking in short breaths, still unable to move.

I lowered my hand to him. "Jimmy?" I was trying to get him to do something other than stay put. He put his gloved hand in mine as I pulled him up. His breaths were getting shallower as he tried harder not to cry. "Are you alright?"

Jimmy wrapped his arms around me and started put his head into my shoulder. That caught me totally off guard. I stood there for a second, not knowing how to react, but honestly, I was freaked too, and in dire need of a hug. I pulled him closer to me by putting my arms around his neck and set my chin on his shoulder. He was shaking violently, and clutching my hoodie. If you asked me how long we stood like that, just trying to calm each other down, I wouldn't have been able to answer, because truthfully, I don't know myself. They say that everyone needs a little touch by other people to feel loved, or accepted, and my guess is that Jimmy hadn't had that in a long time. Neither had I, at least in a way like this. I felt really warm inside, and I felt safe. Jimmy's shaking was beginning to subside, but I could feel the cold tears on my jacket.

"It's gonna be alright," I whispered to him, "it's gonna be alright."

This was another example of how kids have had to grow up too fast. We had to pretend to be fearless and brave, but deep down, we were so vulnerable and scared. C'mon, we were kids! We are supposed to be standing down and watching the adults win this, but even we knew that they couldn't do it alone. And as much as I love being a fighter, I wish I had the opportunity to be a regular teenager in a regular world.

"You two alright?" Weaver's voice made both of us jump; after what we had just gone through, I think we deserved a little leeway.

"You're arm's bleeding," Jimmy whispered to me.

"Really?" My attention focused on my left arm, bloody and cut. So that's why it felt wet…

"Let's get you two to Dr. Glass."

Jimmy and I, shoulder to shoulder, followed Weaver to the top level of the school in silence. My arm was starting to drip, which was looking really tacky on my part. I was cut on the inside of my arm where less skin was, so it was a deep gash. I had fallen onto that pile of glass and onto that arm, meaning I most likely had a few shards in my arm. However, I was more concerned about the boy next to me. Jimmy was still in shock of how close he came to death, and I wouldn't blame him. This whole fighting-at-fourteen thing wasn't easy.

Alyssa and Hal were outside the chem lab, talking. Without screaming or hitting each other. That's a first. I was attempting to hide my arm from Alyssa since she'd go ballistic, but she was the first to notice my bloody arm and Jimmy's facial expression.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!" she screamed.

"What?" Hal looked totally confused.

"No, not you, YOU!" Alyssa pointed at me.

Hal came next to me and grabbed my arm to see the damage. Okay, _that_ hurt. My arm tensed and I winced at the shot of pain went up and down my limb.

"I'm fine, it's no big deal," I muttered to Alyssa while turning away before she yelled at me for doing something stupid, like I promised not to do. I was hoping she wouldn't be here to see this since she was already having a crappy day, but she did, and she was pissed.

Jimmy was seated on the makeshift stretcher seat while Dr. Glass was starting to test his blood pressure. When I walked in, her jaw opened and her eyes widened.

"Kaylee?! What did you do?!" Dr. Glass ran over to me in a blink of an eye and started examining my arm.

"No, don't. Jimmy needs you more right now; go check on him."

"Kaylee-" I raised my eyebrows and waited patiently for Dr. Glass to walk back to Jimmy.

"So what happened exactly, Jimmy?"

"Kaylee and I were on the bus and the mech came and started shooting the windows. We made a break for it, but got separated. And I was running and i-it was right behind me so I ran inside-" Jimmy sputtered between short breaths.

"Steady," Dr. Glass warned. "Let me check your arm."

He swallowed and nodded before continuing. "And I knew I had to pull out the gun. So I-I pulled it out and fired _bang bang bang _and I was out of bullets. And then I-I got out…I can't stop talking. Am I in shock? I bet I'm in shock."

The medic took Jimmy's blood pressure as Weaver said, "If you were a little older we'd give you some whiskey." I smirked at how serious Weaver was. Jimmy took a breath before trying to get up quickly but Dr. Glass pushed him back down. She finished instantly and rushed me over next to Jimmy.

"What did you do?"

"I fell into some glass on the bus."

She sighed while going over to wash her hands and get a scalpel. Oh crap. "This is going to hurt a lot, but as soon as I pull the glass out, you'll stop bleeding. Okay?"

I nodded and waited for her to grab her disinfectant and a little bowl to put the glass in. She was bringing out an IV drip, but I stopped her. "Save it for someone who needs it," I said sternly.

"I'm the doctor, you're the patient. Let _me_ help _you_."

"Please. I'm sure there's going to be someone who needs it way more than I will."

Dr. Glass was about to protest, when more blood oozed down my arm. She gingerly grabbed it and toweled off as much of the excess blood she could, then started cutting further into my arm.

Fuck, this hurts more than I thought it would. My right hand was clenching the side of the chair as she started removing skin around embedded shards to be able to remove them. I couldn't stop wincing as my arm felt like it was burning and burning. My breaths gradually got shorter the more she dug into my wound. I was doing my best not to look over at her, but every once in awhile I'd look to see her progress. She slashed a little more forcefully once she hit a shard of glass. A large breath of pain filled my lungs and I concentrated on not screaming swear words. Holy fucking shit this _burns_!

A cold, pale hand slipped into my right one. Jimmy's eyes softened a ton as he looked back into mine. He rubbed the pad of his thumb across my first finger trying to distract me from the pain.

"Squeeze my hand when it hurts."

Dr. Glass pulled out the first bloodied shard and toweled off my arm again. It didn't do much of a difference, but it was nice not having an overload of blood dripping off my arm. She cut more skin again, and I squeezed Jimmy's hand a little. I didn't want to hurt his hand so it was a small squeeze.

"It's okay. You won't hurt me," he chuckled reading my mind.

She pulled out three small pieces of glass and dropped them in the little bowl. I hadn't realized how much glass she had put in there already. Did I really land in that much?

"This one is a really long one. It's going to burn really badly," she notified as she slowly pulled it out from my skin. I was probably crushing Jimmy's hand, but instead of trying to get me to lighten my grip, he gripped my hand just as hard. He was such a sweet guy.

"Shit," I cursed as she yanked out the red shard. She skimmed her gloved finger over the entire area below my wrist, feeling for any bumps. She found a few more, and moved to work. She took a pair of tweezers and ripped out several small pieces, making my whole arm wince in excruciating pain. Jimmy squeezed even firmer against my bone-crushing grip. What he was doing meant a lot to me; it did distract me from the blood covered pieces of glass coming out of my arm.

"Just one more and then I'm done."

I nodded and tensed my arm as she dug far into my skin with the tweezers. If there was ever a moment my cursing would be acceptable, now would be the appropriate time. It was taking every ounce of willpower in my soul not to scream out the word "fuck."

The shard slid out a lot easier then the previous ones, and Dr. Glass smiled triumphantly. "Now I just need to stitch up your arm and put some disinfectant on it and you'll be just fine."

I don't know where she got the materials to perform stitches, but I'm so damn grateful she had them since my arm would never heal properly if it wasn't patched up. And not to mention the disinfectant. As much as it stings like hell, it let me keep my left arm. Dr. Glass started sewing my arm back together carefully, and applied small amounts of disinfectant to the cut slowly. It felt like she was pouring lighter fluid on it.

"Damn," I breathed as she poured more in the deeper section of the wound. Jimmy held my hand tighter and continued to move his thumb along my wrist bone. We're going to be best friends, I just know it.

Finally, I looked at my arm to see a row of stitches and blood seeping out of little parts. It was completely gross to look at and_ very_ painful. This thing was going to leave a nasty scar. Dr. Glass held it out straight and took out her bandages.

"I want you to make sure you keep your jacket sleeve off of it because it'll irritate the cut and make it bleed again. Don't do any excessive work with it and I would lay off shooting for a few days." Oh hell no. That was not going to happen. She wrapped the bandage around my arm repeatedly then tied it off. Blood was already staining the white cloth, but it wasn't dripping off of it. I never ever _ever_ want to experience something like that again. So fucking painful.  
"You're good to go."

"Thank you, Dr. Glass," I said uneasily. I was still trying to catch my breath from the yanking and cutting and bleeding.

I hopped down off the stretcher along with Jimmy. "This has been an eventful day."

"Yeah, no kidding," Jimmy chuckled while shaking his head. "I'm glad you're okay though."

"I'm glad _you're_ okay. You were almost skitter bait because of my carelessness to look over my shoulder."  
"Do _not_ take the blame for that. It was completely my fault. If I had stayed closer it wouldn't have happened," Jimmy countered.

I sighed. I was not in the mood to argue. "You, my friend, need to carry extra ammunition where ever you go. Always."

Jimmy laughed again. "Tell me about it." And as randomly as before, Jimmy gave me another hug. I smiled to myself and hugged him back around his neck.

"Thank your saving my life back there. I thought for sure I was a goner."

"I got your back," I whispered back to him, "and thank you for holding my hand just now. That means a lot."

Just then, Weaver walked in the infirmary, and Jimmy and I jumped apart. "How are you, Parker?"

"I'll be fine."

Weaver was about to say something else, but Tom and Clayton walked in saying how lucky they were to take out that mech. Weaver joined in and asked if they had saw any more skitters or patrol ships around out there.

"We might've dodged the bullet on that one, at least long enough for the 3rd Mass to get to us."

"Same thing happened to 7th," Clayton added, "one skitter one mech. Scout patrol sniffing us out."

Captain sighed and contemplated what our next move was. "How long to the next wave?"

"As long as it takes for them to figure out that skitter's not coming back."

"Alright." He turned to look at Jimmy and me standing there awkwardly. We were eavesdropping yes, but if they wanted a private place to talk they would have gone to Weaver's office. He directed the conversation to Tom. "We need to reconsider Clayton's safe haven. This skitter attack ain't theoretical anymore."

I'd heard about that. Apparently Clayton wanted people under twenty to go with him to a safe little farm the survivors of the 7th were stationed and meet with the adults in a few days or so later. Tom had argued saying that he was not going to give up his boys, but he agreed with Weaver now.

That's when our second in command gathered the entire 2nd Mass inside the gymnasium to announce the new decision. I saw Alyssa and Hal sitting at a tiny table talking to each other. She clearly needs to catch me up to speed on what happened between the two of them. Jimmy and I were towards the back since we were the last ones to arrive, but nevertheless, Tom spoke loudly for everyone to hear.

"I've decided to send Matt and Ben along with Lieutenant Clayton. It'll put our kids a few hours ahead of whatever else is coming and I think that that's a good thing." I noticed Hal stand up at this, not liking the idea of being separated from his brothers.

"And if everything goes as planned, we'll be reuniting with our kids by tomorrow night."

A bald man spoke up. "We just got hit by a skitter," Wow, news travels fast. "If they're still out there how are you gonna get through?" he asked Clayton. I'm pretty sure we were all wondering the same thing too.

"With a small group on foot. We'll be ahead of the main skitter force, way under their radar."

"And if you're not?" the man protested.

"And they're gonna have a security detachment with them," Tom interrupted before a fight broke out. "O'Brian and Fuller!" The two fighters stepped forward a bit and nodded.

"I'd like Mike to come too if that's alright. We go back," Clayton spoke quietly.

"Okay," Tom agreed. "We know the skitter's aren't after the youngest ones. The rest'll go because our kids are our future and their safety has got to come first. So pack 'em up. They leave in an hour."

Only we didn't know how much of a screwed up place the Sanctuary was. Everything was about to take a massive turn for the worst, and in the most cunning way possible.

* * *

_Ohhhhh snapppp!:o Things just got serious. Like end of the world serious, oh wait. That already happened;D So if you guys dropped a review, it'd mean a lot to us since we worked our butts off trying to get this monster of a chapter written! It'd be amazing to know our work paid off:] Love you all! -Parker_

Weeeeeellllll, there were some MAJOR turn of events. What do you think? I really wanna know! ~*Carter*~


	7. Taking A Turn For The Worst Part 2

_OH MY FLADOODLES IT'S BEEN TOO DAMN LONG! I ever so apologize for the gruesome wait, it's probably been eating you guys alive;D Just kiddddinnggg. Not really. So Alyssa and I have been so so so so so so so so so so sooooo busy but we just finished today. Part 2 is FOURTY FREAKING PAGES LONG so it should make up for the wait. I spent four hours editing all o' this, SO YOU BETTER ENJOY THIS! Please:) Anywhays, ON WITH THE STORY! (BTW a little fluff will be in this chapter involving Kaylee Parker and her love life;p teehee;p -Your very hyper (due to four painful hours of editing on the floor of her bedroom whilst hiding from tiny spiders) Parker:)_

Sorry for the wait! Hope you enjoy this! We're working on more!-Carter

* * *

Chapter 7-Taking A Turn For The Worst Part 2

Kaylee's POV

As everyone dispersed to go get their kids ready for departure, Hal, Ben, and Alyssa bombarded me once I was out in the hall.

"Are you okay?" Ben asked.

"What did you do?" Hal questioned.

"I thought I fucking told you to not do anything stupid," Alyssa stated. She was beyond pissed. Oops.

"My arm stings like hell, but I'm fine. Jimmy and I were down at South Point and a mech came. It blew the windows out of the bus we were in and there was a ton of glass everywhere. It hit the bus and I fell onto it. I didn't even notice I was bleeding until Jimmy pointed it out an hour ago," I explained.

"What about the skitter?" Alyssa crossed her arms and looked me dead on.

"The two of us got separated when it came and would've killed Jimmy if I hadn't been down in the basement already."

"What's the situation with your arm?" Hal nodded to it.

"I'm supposed to lay off the shooting for a few days. I guess Clayton's Sanctuary will give me some time to let it heal." After having Dr. Glass cutting and digging around in my arm, I wouldn't mind a break from using it.

"You not shooting for a couple of days? What has the world come to?" Hal teased. I rolled my eyes and socked him in the arm.

"OW! Dude!" Hal glared at me and held his forearm. I'm mad, okay?

"Have you even stopped bleeding?" Ben piped up. My bandage was pretty bloody still, but I wasn't sure if it was from earlier or if it actually was bleeding.

"No idea."

"I'm glad you're alright though," Hal said considerately.

"Guys, I'm fine. It really isn't this big of a deal," I said aggravated. I really, really hate having attention on me. Especially sympathetic attention. That is by far, the worst kind.

"Yeah, it is," Alyssa's voice harder then a rock, "this is my fault. If it wasn't for that bastard Hal would've been with you and gotten you out of there safely." She averted her eyes to the floor. I think that when my parents passed away, Alyssa took responsibility of me. She was usually over reactive like this as I was to her, but she really did treat me like a sister.

"No, don't go there." She was not going to take the blame for this. Ever. "Alyssa." Her eyes remained glued to the floor.

"**Look at me**," I spoke loud and firm. Alyssa knew this voice as my you-better-pay-attention-or-I'll-fucking-kick-your-ass tone. I've used it a lot. "This is _not your fault_," I said each word slowly and sternly as I looked her straight in the eyes. "We don't have time for this anyways. We need to get packed."

Hal and Ben were standing there not knowing whether to we wanted them to leave or what, but you could tell they felt pretty awkward.

"We'll see you guys in a bit," I mumbled and strode down the hall to the room.

"Later," they replied in unison.

I was frustrated with Alyssa; I'm tired of her taking the blame for things like this. My jaw set as I thrusted my hands into my pockets and gripped my knife. I was fuming, and I couldn't seem to calm myself down. I needed to punch a wall or something. Anger was the only emotion I had little control over since I rarely felt it, but when I did, it was nearly overriding. I saved it for battle so it felt wonderful when I killed an alien, like we were one step closer to getting the planet back.

I whipped my black Jansport backpack on my cot and shoved all of my weapons and ammunition into them. Ever since the day Karen tried snooping through my bag, I've been paranoid about people taking my stuff. It probably was logical to leave some here though, considering Clayton could easily take our weapons and such for "safety," but I didn't care. I could easily make more and easily get my weapons back. After all, my initials are carved on my guns and knives.

"Kaylee, say something," Alyssa said. She wants to talk this out.

"Is it just me or does Clayton seem a bit off?" I asked while moving to grab my hidden bag of mech bullets. I was running out, but since we killed that mech, I could hopefully make more.

"Seriously."

"I _am_ serious. Something's up with him."

Alyssa folded her arms and was quiet. Hopefully she noticed it too. "Now that you mention it, it is a little weird that he showed up so out of the blue."

"Right? We gotta stay on our toes at the Sanctuary."

The room was quiet again, apart from the occasional scuffle from items being put in our bags or a zipper being zipped closed. My backpack was ready to go, everything I needed safely tucked inside. Alyssa was still silent, most likely scolding herself for getting Hal hurt.

"Listen," my voice was gentle, but still had the firmness in it. "I know you're upset about Hal getting hurt because the douche only wanted to hurt you, not him. And I know that you hate it when someone else gets hurt because of your mistakes. But this is not your fault. Hal _willingly_ stepped in to help you. That's what teammates are for. And even if he was well enough to come with me on patrol, he couldn't have controlled the stability of my feet. I fell over because the mech slammed the bus. So quit blaming yourself, because you're not the reason a few fighters got hurt."

"You really should've been a psychologist if the aliens hadn't attacked."

I shook my head. She can make any situation humorous.

"But thank you. I really needed that." Alyssa gave me another hug; she needed to break down, but I knew she wouldn't ever find a good time for that.

"Kaylee!" Matt Mason ran into out room and straight towards me. "I heard you got hurt!"

I squatted next to him. "It's nothing I can't handle."  
"Can I see?" My jacket sleeve had unintentionally been covering it, but I slid it up to show him what had happened. Matt gingerly touched the red bandage, and I did my best not to wince. It was still a fresh wound, and the burning sensation of the disinfectant had yet to subside.

"Sorry," Matt said seeing my arm tense.

"It's alright. C'mon, let's head out." I ruffled his curly hair and slung my bag over my shoulders. Alyssa did the same, and we made our way out of the room and out of the school. The sun was high in the sky and by the looks of it, it was already around three or four. I must be losing track of time. I thought it was like six in the morning.

Parents and children were scattered along the front lawn of John F. Kennedy High. It was almost heart-wrenching to see many parents give their kids a tearful goodbye, not knowing if they would see them again. They never really could be sure anymore. I couldn't imagine how hard it must be on the kids, too. And I guess I never really will.

Jimmy was giving Weaver a handshake as he was trying to get the kids moving along. Word was, Clayton's Sanctuary was a ways away, and it'd take us two hours or so to walk there. This would be fun.

"You stay frosty, solider." Weaver walked away and began gathering everyone to head off.

I raised my eyebrows and smirked. "Frosty?"

"I don't know." Jimmy laughed. "Better just go along with it." The rest of us were waiting for just a bit longer as Clayton instructed Tom how to reach us as soon as the attack was over. I looked around and saw Alyssa talking to Hal, Ben, and Matt a few feet from where I was. I still felt bad that she was taking the blame for my injury, so I decided to walk over to them.

"Well, I decided to come with you. Might as well hang on to it yourself, dumbass," Hal grinned at his brother. Ben was holding a photo that they were probably talking about.

"You're coming?" He asked happily.

"Yeah," Hal smiled back.

While they had their brotherly moment, Tom came up to say goodbye to his sons. Alyssa and I gave them some privacy and turned around a little. She was lacing up her boots as I was thinking of something to say. I knew what I wanted to say, but I didn't know _how _to say it.

I settled with: "No hard feelings about before?"

Alyssa sighed and stood up. "No hard feelings. But if you hurt yourself again I swear-"

"You won't let me live to see the age of fifteen. Got it." She rolled her eyes and slapped me on my shoulder for being a smartass.

"Rude."

"Shut up, Parker."

"Alright! On me!" Clayton yelled to everybody, signaling it was time to start making our way to the Sanctuary. I adjusted the position of my gun on my holster and began walking next to Jimmy. Both of us were silent, but we had enough common sense to know what was going on in the other's head. I kept thinking about what would have happened if I wasn't on patrol tonight, or if I had ran to the front of the school and not the basement instead. Jimmy could be harnessed now, or dead. All because I made a careless mistake.

"How many times are you going to keep blaming yourself for what happened?"

"How is it that you know exactly what I'm thinking about?"

Jimmy smiled. "The eyes are the window to the soul."

"And what do you see in my eyes?" I wondered.

He took a moment to genuinely make eye contact with me and search them, eyes moving back and forth to look at each one. "Sorrow. Anger. Self-remorse. Pain. The color silver."

I laughed at the last part. "All true. Since when did you become an expert on reading eyes?"

"Since I learned to fight. Sometimes enemies give hints away when you're fighting them with their eyes. A slight look to the left could mean they're going to strike left, or if they look at both of your arms their assessing your arm strength. Just little things like that I've picked up on."

Soon the school behind us was out of my sight as we started up the road. I saw Hal with Matt and Alyssa with Ben. Karen must've chosen to stay behind. I can't imagine why though, since she thinks Alyssa's trying to steal Hal from her or whatever. At least the two of us can get a day or two away from her bitchy self.

"Are you always this quiet?" Jimmy blurted.

"This is talkative for me."

Jimmy shook his head. "That's gotta change."

"Not even you're best friend yet and you already want to change me," I laughed playfully nudging him in the arm.

"Since when are we going to be best friends?" Jimmy was dead serious, but I knew he was kidding. Excellent judge of character remember?

"Since I decided to save your ass from a skitter," I replied with equal seriousness. He broke his character and seemed a little shocked at what I said.

"Dude, I'm kidding."

"You scared me there for a second," Jimmy chuckled.

"I actually decided that we were going to be best friends when you told me you were a fighter and liked guns."

He laughed. "That's all it takes to be your best friend?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Jimmy laughed again. "Well I feel special."

"You should. I saved your life remember?" I smirked at my retort. Jimmy opened his mouth, but closed it when he couldn't reply with a good enough comeback.

The group of us was walking on a small path through a ton of forestry and plants. There was a bunch of flowers and long grass at my feet. We had been going through a large plot of grass that went to my ankle for a fair amount of time, but it was already bothering. Some pointy parts of the grass were snagging on my jeans. There was a point where I got stuck on some fern thing and had to have Jimmy help get my jean leg off of it while the rest continued onwards. Ben and Alyssa were now directly in front of us talking about soccer.

"So you said you played for varsity, even as a freshman?" Ben asked Alyssa.

"Yeah. It was hard work though; I had to train my ass off four times a week with practices and two days of games. I loved playing a lot, even if I only had a day to take it easy." I was now beside Hal who was to the right of Alyssa carrying Matt and Ben on her left.

"No way," Ben said disbelievingly, "Six days of training a week?"

"Even ask Kaylee. She was at my games," Alyssa motioned to me.

I nodded. "Every one. And every game she managed to "accidentally" knock over a guy on the opposite team."

All the guys laughed while Alyssa gave me a look. "It _was _an accident!"

"Bullshit, dude."

Alyssa stared at me with a murderous look. I simply smirked back and cocked my head at her. If Matt and Ben weren't between us, she would've slapped me. She moved behind Ben and was about to, until I hid behind Jimmy.

"I feel loved," Jimmy said sarcastically.

"We're even now," I grinned. He rolled his eyes and continued walking along side of me.

We had now reached a stone wall that split the road into two different directions. Clayton pointed to a smaller path that went straight into the woods and instructed us to take it, even though he had told Tom and Weaver that we would be heading north. Hal noticed this, and questioned him on it. I continued walking as they stopped so it wouldn't seem like I was eavesdropping on them.  
When we finally broke into a clearing, there were rolls and rolls of lavish greenery all around us. Healthy trees, grass, flowers, plants, even a garden were spread out among the land. A large wooden cabin stood before us and a few people were standing along the outside of the home. They must be what's left of the 7th Mass.

I noticed that there were two wooden soccer goals on each side of the huge front yard. I couldn't help but smile at how Alyssa's eyes lit up when she saw the two goal posts. She hasn't played an actual game since before the invasion. We kicked a ball around a few times before, but I knew Alyssa missed the thrill and competition of a real game.

By now the sun was past setting, lighting up a small amount of the Sanctuary. All of us were exhausted from the long walk here, but Jimmy and I were exceptionally tired. We hadn't gotten any sleep due to our unfortunate events of the night prior, and from all the running I did, I needed a few hours of sleep. So I was thrilled when Clayton said, "Alright, good work. Let's get everybody to bed and we'll do a tour in the morning." The idea of rest never sounded more amazing than it did then.

Clayton opened the door for us and led the group of 2nd Mass kids up a long spiral staircase. There were about seven bedrooms up here, but since there was only a few of us here, we took two of the rooms. Alyssa, Matt, Hal, Jimmy, Ben, Rick, a few other kids and me were placed in one room while the rest were placed in the other. It was going to be a little awkward with all of us cramped so close together, but I wasn't in the mood to complain; I just wanted to sleep for awhile.

I was given a black (go figure) sleeping bag from Weaver to take with me because I didn't have one with me the day we moved in with the 2nd Mass. I laid mine out in the middle of the floor not caring who set up next to me. I was so damn tired I couldn't think straight. I slid off my shoes and took off a few weapons that I knew would bother me if I slept with them on me.

"You're not wasting any time," Jimmy remarked laying his sleeping bag on my right side.

"I'm too damn tired for your sarcastic remarks," I stated and collapsed onto the bag. My back molded with the inside of the bag and my bones relaxed at the feeling of rest. I slid out of my hoodie and used it as a pillow for my head. And the moment my eyes shut, I was out.

Alyssa's POV

As everyone left Hal, Ben and I attacked Kaylee; we wanted to know what happened. Ben asked what everyone was thinking. "Are you okay?"

"What did you do?" Hal asked.

"I thought I fucking told you not to do anything stupid." I glared at her. Hal was about to say something, but the look on my face made him think otherwise. That's the first smart thing he has done yet.

"My arm stings like hell, but I'm fine. Jimmy and I were down at south point and a Mech came. It blew the windows out of the bus we were in and there was a ton of glass everywhere. It hit the bus and I fell into it. I didn't even notice I was bleeding until Jimmy pointed it out." she said.

"And the skitter?" I questioned, dead serious.

"The two of us got separated when it came and I would have killed Jimmy if I hadn't been down in the basement already." Wow. They got lucky. Kaylee almost died, but then again, she has almost died a lot.

"What's the situation with your arm?" Hal asked, breaking the silence.

"I'm supposed to lay off shooting for a few days. I guess Clayton's Sanctuary will give me time to let it heal." Yeah right, Kaylee not shoot? I think I would see her wear pink first.

"You not shooting for a couple of days? What has the world come to?" She punched him. "OW! Dude!" Hal glared at her. He deserved it.

"Have you even stopped bleeding?" And then there was Ben, sweet Ben, ever so desperately trying to impress Kaylee. It's kinda amusing to watch.

"No idea," she said not even noticing.

"I'm glad you're alright though," Hal said. Wow, Kaylee has all the Mason boys' attention. This is new for her. Nothing like a little friendly competition to spice up a family.

"Guys, I'm fine. It really isn't that big of a deal." You could tell she was getting pissed.

"Yeah, it is." My voice was hard. I started shutting people out besides the Parker family at a young age. Where most people have a soft spot or a weakness, I don't. I never had loving parents. I shut out most emotion. "This is my fault. If it wasn't for that bastard, Hal would have been with you and gotten you guys out safely." I looked at the floor, silently praying Ben and Hal would leave. Normally I don't mind the spot light, but right now I wanted to be as far away from it as possible.

"No, don't go there." Kaylee was using her shut-the-fuck-up-and-listen-or-else voice. She only seemed to use that voice with me. "This is not your fault," she said slowly, like she was talking to a child. "We don't have time, we have to go pack." Always the logical one.

The boys looked like they wanted to leave but weren't sure what was going to happen, so they stayed for both of our safeties. "We'll see you guys later."

"Later," they mumbled in unison. Kaylee and I turned around and left. I don't think I have ever heard her silence this loud. She was pissed, that much was obvious. The moment we walked into our room, she started angrily shoving her things into her backpack. She didn't want to talk about it anymore, but I did.

"Kaylee say something," I begged.

"Is it just me or does Clayton seem a bit off?"

"Seriously." I was not in the mood for jokes. At least I thought she was kidding but one look at her face said otherwise.

"I _am_ serious. Something's up with him."

I shut up and mulled it over in my head. "Now that you mention it, it is a little weird that he showed up so out of the blue."

I thought about this. He did seen a little jumpy and suspicious. But now a days, who doesn't? "Now that you mention it, it is a little weird how he just showed up out of the blue."

"Right? We gotta stay on our toes at the Sanctuary."

"Yeah." Glad to know that Kaylee and I are cool again. We almost never fought, but when we did, it's like World War III.

The room was quiet again; the only sound was when one of us zipped close our bags or when she put some more ammunition in her backpack.

"Listen, I know you're upset about Hal getting hurt because the douche only wanted to hurt you, not him. And I know that you hate it when someone else gets hurt because of your mistakes. But this is not your fault. Hal _willingly_ stepped in to help you. That's what teammates are for. And even if he was well enough to come with me on patrol, he couldn't have controlled the stability of my feet. I fell over because the mech slammed the bus. So quit blaming yourself, because you're not the reason a few fighters got hurt."

"You really should've been a psychologist if the aliens hadn't attacked." I said. She smiled, just a little bit, but she still did smile…

"But thank you. I really needed that." I hugged her. I don't know why I did. It just felt right.

"Kaylee!" Matt Mason ran into out the room. He really did look up to Kaylee. "I heard you got hurt!"

She has such a way with kids. "It's nothing I can't handle."

"Can I see?" I like this kid. He's nice. Looks like he's just like Hal thought, since he held her arm and touched the bandage instantly. Kaylee flinched even at his gentle touch. "Sorry."

"It's alright. Come on, let's head out." Kaylee and I grabbed our bags and walked to the front of the school. All the kids were outside already. Kaylee went over to Jimmy and I headed over to talk to Ben. Then Hal walked over. I was about to turn around in the opposite direction when Ben saw me.

"Alyssa, over here." I reluctantly walked over. Ben and Hal were arguing over a picture when Kaylee came to join us.

"Why won't you just take it?" Ben asked, slightly mad.

"Well, I have decided to come with you. Might as well hang onto it yourself, dumbass."

When Hal said this, Bens face lit up. As much as they fight, you can tell the whole Mason family loves each other, no matter what happens.

"You're coming?!" Ben was smiling like an idiot.

"Yeah." Hal was trying not to smile, but eventually gave in when Matt gave him a big hug. Tom came up to say bye to his kids, so Kaylee and I gave them some privacy. I started lacing up my boots.

"No hard feelings about before?" Kaylee spoke out suddenly.

I sighed and stood up. "No hard feelings, but if you hurt yourself again I swear-"

"You won't let me live to see fifteen, I know." I rolled my eyes and slapped her in the arm. "Rude." Kaylee said.

"Shut up Parker." I said. She rolled her eyes.

"Alright, on me!" Clayton yelled. I headed off to walk with Ben, Hal, and Matt. I looked around and saw Karen wasn't with us. Thank God! Hal saw the look of relief on my face.

"What're you so happy about?"

"Oh nothing, just that your girlfriend isn't coming with us." I smirked.

"You know if you would make an effort to be nice, you two might actually get along."

"Well if she wasn't such an untrustworthy bitch, then maybe. But that's not very likely to ever happen." I replied. He glared harder and I glared back. Matt grabbed my hand as we walked and Ben stepped in between us.

"What makes her so untrustworthy?"

"She tried to go through Kaylee's stuff and I don't know about you but anyone who looks through other peoples' stuff without even meeting that person seems pretty untrustworthy." That shut him up. "What no smartass remark?"

He glared at me. Ha! I win. Matt looked up at me with big eyes. I picked him up. I may not be as great with kids as Kaylee, but I practically raised my sister. I know how kids worked, and they hate it when two people they like fight. I could see it in Matt's eyes then. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I don't like the fighting. I don't like it when you and Hal fight, or Ben and Kaylee or Dad and Hal or Dad and Ben or Ben and Hal or when anyone does." I looked at Matt and saw my little sister. She is the same age as him and he reminds me of her. She hated fighting and yelling. I hated fighting with my dad when she was around.

"You know what? Hal and I just have different opinions on things, that's all. When people fight they are just disagreeing about what to do. In this new world, we don't have people to tell us what to do. We need figure it out. And sometimes different people think we should do different things. Does that make sense?"

"Well why do they have to yell? Why can't they talk it out? My old teacher used to tell us we should calmly talk out our problems."

"I don't know why but how about I make a promise to you? I promise to try my hardest not to yell and to try and talk out my problems with your brother okay?" He smiled and nodded. I continued to carry him as we caught up with Ben and Hal. Kaylee and Jimmy had caught up with us, too.

"So, Alyssa do you play any sports? I know Kaylee ran track and cross country."

"Yes, actually, I do. I played soccer."

"Now the real question: Are you any good?" Hal asked. I wanted to say something, but Matt looked at me, waiting to see if I would keep my promise.

"So you said you played for varsity, even as a freshman?" Ben asked.

"Yeah. It was hard work though; I had to train my ass off four times a week with practices and two days of games. I loved playing a lot, even if I only had a day to take it easy."

"No way," Ben said. "Six days a week of training?"

"I'd like to see how good you are." Hal said. It wasn't a compliment; it was a challenge, from one athlete to another.

"Even ask Kaylee. She was at all my games." I pointed at Kaylee.

"Every one. And every one she managed to accidently knock over a guy on the other team." They all laughed. I glared at her. We have been over this before. I did not, do it on purpose!

"I was an accident!" Most of the time...

"Bullshit dude." I can lie to anyone and get away with it, except Kaylee. I put Matt down and move toward her and she ducked behind Jimmy to hide.

"I feel loved." Jimmy said. He was pretending to be all mad, but you could tell he was enjoying being around her.

"We're even now," Kaylee smiled at him. That's a smile I have yet to see from Kaylee Parker. I'll have to ask her about that sometime…

We headed on to a small path on the main road. I thought we were supposed to stay on the main road. Hal noticed this and pointed it out to Clayton. Clayton said something but I couldn't tell what. It seemed to satisfy Hal. Hal passed me and I turned around and noticed Clayton looking around nervously before following the group. Kaylee was right. We gotta be on our feet at all times here. I don't trust these people.

When we saw the house it looked like something from a movie. Lots of green plants and trees with a rather large two story cabin. And two soccer goals. OH MY GOD THEY HAVE A SOCCER FIELD HERE! Well Hal wanted to see how good I was, I'll show him!

Clayton herded us to the house and up a spiral stair case. He distributed sleeping bags. "Alright good work, let's get everyone in bed. We'll do a tour in the morning."

Kaylee was getting set up and I could tell she was tired. Jimmy was talking to her, or at least trying to. I glanced at Matt, who was laying his head on his brother, then back at Kaylee. She was already out cold. Kaylee and her sleep. I couldn't sleep, so I got up and headed down stairs. I figured I would look around a little.

I noticed Clayton and another man walking a kid outside. I crept up to the front window and watched them bring him into the forest. After a while they came back, but without the boy. They had his backpack. Clayton and they guy went into the old barn on the side of the house and when they came back out, they didn't have the backpack. What the hell? I got up and started looking for the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" It was a girl from the 7th Mass. She seemed scared and angry. I don't think she likes me.

"I'm looking for a bathroom," I said. She glared at me.

"There is one in your room. Next time don't come down here at night." What's this chick's problem?

"Sorry, I didn't know."

"Well now you do, so, don't make that mistake again."

"Whatever."

"Just go upstairs," she said quickly and steeped between me and the door just as the door opened. Then she actually pushed me forward, trying to speed me up.

Clayton and a man walked inside."Tessa? What are you doing? Oh, why, who are you?" the man asked.

"Oh hi, Dad. Umm, I don't believe I got your name," she said in a sweet voice. Two faced bitch.

"Alyssa Cater," I replied.

"Alyssa was looking for a bathroom," She told him all sweet.

"Well you two best be off to bed. You'll be tired tomorrow." I turned around and headed upstairs but stopped on the other side of the wall when I heard whispering.

"What does she know?" Clayton's voice asked Tessa

"Did she see anything?" Her dad questioned.

"I don't think so, but we should keep a close watch on her." Tessa said and they started walking so I hurried upstairs as quietly as possible. Now I definitely wasn't sleeping. I stayed up all night by the window watching the forest, but nothing happened. Around 4 A.M. I fell asleep on the window sill.

Kaylee's POV

Next thing I knew, a hand on my shoulder was gently shaking me awake. I grabbed the nearest gun, loaded and aimed before I even opened my eyes. Force of habit.

"Calm down. I just came to wake you up for breakfast." It was Jimmy.

"What time is it?" My voice was groggy.

"Like ten-thirty."

"Damn." I stood up and pulled my hoodie on, making sure to leave the sleeve pulled up on my left arm. It was difficult sleeping on that; I woke up at least three times in the middle of the night because it burned when I laid on the wound.

I quickly ran a brush through my hair and tugged on my sneakers. Jimmy stood idly in the doorway as I began the process of arming myself. He watched as I put two guns in my holsters, a few knives in both pockets, a gun in my sneaker, a butcher knife on my back, and C4 in my side belt.

"Isn't it hard to move around with all of that on you?" Jimmy questioned.

"Not really. It feels weird not having anything on me, actually." Once we made our way downstairs, the kids of the 2nd Mass were all seated at a table with a plate of food in front of them. Alyssa was sitting next to Ben and Matt and Hal was sitting next to a girl I'd never seen before. She must be part of the 7th Mass's survivors.

The two of us walked into the warm kitchen and began helping ourselves to breakfast. Since they had plenty of food and a small amount of people here, I took a little more food than I normally would have. I haven't had a decent sized meal in days. Jimmy skimmed his eyes over the piles of different foods. "It's crazy that they have this much."

"No kidding. If we had access to stuff like this we wouldn't have to scout out food for weeks."

Once in the dining room, Jimmy and I set our plates on the table. I sat next to Hal and across from Ben and Jimmy sat uncomfortably by Rick. He didn't like the preharnessed kids; it was obvious just by seeing the way he acted around Ben. He treated him like Ben was a threat, and he shouldn't even be allowed in the 2nd Mass. Of course I would never be sure if Ben could actually be a danger to us, but that doesn't mean he should be forced as an outsider nor judged unrightfully. I went through all of middle school and my few months of high school feeling like a freak and an outsider; it felt worse than the burning sensation in my arm, and no one _ever_ needs to feel the way I did. No matter how much Ben irritates me, he doesn't deserve this kind of ridicule.

"So can we make up for the missed fighting lessons today? I don't want to start forgetting things." Speaking of the Mason boy.

"If Clayton will let us, then yeah. You're gonna start losing your touch." For some reason, Hal laughed at that. All of us sent puzzled looks in his direction.

"He never had _a_ touch," Hal clarified. I smirked at his comment and watched everyone try to contain their laughter.

Ben rolled his eyes. "For your information, I'm getting better. Right?" He asked.

I looked up at him and let go of my lip which I was biting. I gotta stop doing that. "Define better." This time, everyone laughed. If you're going to learn how to fight from me, you gotta learn to take some teasing and hazing on my part. It's just how my teaching works. Ben rolled his eyes and shook his head at my remark and continued eating some of the fruit on his plate.

Everyone began talking amongst themselves. I was tuning out the chatter and focusing on the silence I had grown accustom to being. Sometimes, I didn't hear much at all; I'm freaking amazing at blocking out things. That skill came in handy when I began running track and cross country in elementary school. My mind automatically ignored the cheers of the crowd and heavy breathing of the runners beside me. Instead of listening to all the obnoxious sounds, I channeled that energy into my running, which helped my stamina loads. Other times it wasn't so great; I alienated a people after my parents died and learned to block out _everything_ around me. I have no idea how Alyssa managed to get me to speak even a few sentences, because I _never_ spoke under any circumstances back then. But I'm glad she did, since she was a lot less expensive than therapy.

I can't tell you how nice it is to rest my voice right now. After staying silent for so long, talking bothers my vocal chords for whatever reason. Just these few minutes of quietness feels heavenly. My fingers lightly grasped my silver necklace and traced the pendent. It's like it's etched into my head to do that whenever I'm brooding about something. For some reason I'm annoyed by that, a lot.

It took me a moment to notice I had nothing remaining on my plate, and since I served no further purpose of sitting there, I scooted my chair out and stood up. The rest of the people around me all turned their attention to my noisy action. They most likely almost forgot I was even in the room since I didn't make a sound or drastic movement in the past seven minutes so they were a bit startled. I didn't care, so I moved into the kitchen without bothering to question everyone's facial expressions.

Another glorious thing about Clayton's Sanctuary was the fact that it had a superb generator that allowed electricity and running water to become possible again. I washed my plate and fork quickly and stacked them back into the smooth cabinet. Things were beginning to feel normal almost. Just the consideration of that made me a bit happier, even if it was merely pretense. Once we went back to the 2nd Mass, these luxuries will be gone.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this quiet." I didn't have to turn around to know that the voice belonged to Hal Mason.

"You've only known me for two weeks; you don't even _know_ my definition of quiet," I smirked at him.

"Oh really?" Hal asked in that tone of his that always makes me want to punch him after he uses it.

"You'd be surprised."

"Well aren't you just full of surprises then?" Another tone I've grown to loath.

"You have no idea, Hal Mason. You have no idea."

"Hey guys we're gonna go play some soccer outside. Wanna join?" Alyssa asked as she took care of her dishes. You could _hear_ how excited she was. It made me smile a little to see my best friend so happy. After all the shit that was going on at home, her one escape was soccer; it was the one thing that made her happier than anything in the world. Well, apart from juice boxes.

"Sure." I wasn't too bad myself, and my running experience helped me a lot. Alyssa had taught me a lot before the invasion, but I was nowhere near as skilled as her. I just hope I don't do anything stupid like cut my other arm or something.

The three of us climbed down the stairs and out to the chilled air of Massachusetts. A mix of adults and teens from the Sanctuary was on one side of the field getting ready and the kids of the 2nd Mass on the opposite. I took off my jacket and set it down by Mike and Rick. I set my guns and knives inside of it and made it look a little neat. When I looked up, Rick was staring at my stitched arm. It made me feel a little uncomfortable since I was only wearing a tank top, even though I know he wasn't looking at me in that way. I get really weirded out when guys stare at me or "flirt" with me in any way shape or form. Personally, I'm not into the whole dating and relationship thing, so it creeps me out when guys overdo it. It happened a few times back in high school, and the only thing you need to know is that there were a few black eyes and broken noses involved.

"C'mon, Parker!" Alyssa called me over as she held the soccer ball in her hands.

I nodded to her and looked to Mike. "Can you watch my stuff for me?" I didn't trust any of the nearby Sanctuary guards near my things, whatsoever.

"Sure thing," he smiled warmly. I gave him my thanks and jogged to the 2nd Mass side.

Alyssa started to speak about a game plan we were going to use. She also explained some rules to the younger kids who didn't know how to play too well. While she was talking, I glanced behind her to observe a particular guard that was watching us all intently. Actually, they _all_ were watching us intently. I get that they're guards and everything, but this was a new form of watching that didn't exactly make me feel calm. I swear, something is up here, and by the sickening feeling in my gut, it was not a good thing.

"Ready?" the girl Hal was sitting by, Tessa I think, called down to us.

"We're gonna kick your asses!" Alyssa shouted. I really don't understand how she's super serious one moment, and then super hyper the next. Must be the juice boxes.

The ball was placed in the middle of the field and all of us took our positions. Because we had no whistle, someone yelled go for us and we began playing. Alyssa stole the ball from Tessa and ran down the field, me a few yards from her. She weaved her way around the feet of Sanctuary members and when she was about to be caved in by Tessa, she kicked the ball to me. I ran with the ball as fast as I could with different people in my way. Alyssa was clear again, so I passed the ball to her and she scored. I grinned and ran to give her a high five.

"You haven't lost your touch have you?"

"Alyssa Carter never loses any of her touches."

I chuckled and ran back over to the mids with Alyssa. Tessa and her gang took the ball to our goal and would've made it too, if Alyssa hadn't kicked the ball out from their possession and passed it to me. I ran with it to the middle of the field and gave it to an open Jimmy. He jogged across the grass and looked around to see where the rest of the team was to pass to.

"Jimmy! I'm open! I'm open!" Ben called raising his hand. No one but our team was surrounding Ben; however, Jimmy ignored him and went straight into the pile of Sanctuary teens. Tessa stole the ball and scored into our goal.

"It's alright guys," Alyssa said to a group of disappointed kids, "we'll get the next one." Ben, Hal, Jimmy, Matt, Alyssa, and I were in the middle of the field when Matt yelled to Hal, "You weren't even trying!" I guess competiveness runs in the Mason blood.

"I wasn't trying?!" Hal asked bewildered. "You just showed up!"

I smiled and shook my head. When I looked up again, I saw Jimmy staring at Ben's spikes, frowning. He didn't notice, and backed up Hal on how Matt only joined a few minutes ago. Tessa came up to Hal and taunted that they were just letting us get ahead and they going to win. Alyssa and I backed up to defense and told the defenders to switch out with us.

Ben went up to Jimmy and asked him if he saw that he was open earlier, clearly not understanding that Jimmy neglected to pass him the ball for a reason. "Didn't you see me there? I was right there." Ben pointed behind.

"Yeah, yeah I saw you. Just stay away from me, okay?" Jimmy walked off to the left of defense. Ben's face fell once he processed Jimmy's words. His hand went to his neck as he touched his spikes and shook his head. Jimmy is my friend, but that was pretty harsh of him to say.

Ben looked up and noticed I was watching him. I gave him a soft look, not full of pity, but just concern. He smiled a little at my gesture, knowing that I was among the few that didn't see him as a freak. He turned back around as an offender.

We played more for a solid fifteen minutes, Alyssa scoring and blocking, me passing and scoring a few, and soon enough, we were up ten to six. We were about to score again, when Tessa's dad called her out. He glanced at Hal a little nervously and back to her, saying something. She was embarrassed, and he finally let her come back in to play. That was totally beyond weird…

Things were going rather smoothly for us, making goal after goal. But since this is my life, and nothing good stays that way in my world, things were bound to start going wrong. I was running down the field, just about ready to shoot when Tessa full force knocked me to the ground and scored on the opposite side.

And that's all it took, just one spark to ignite my bottle of anger. Once you piss me off when I'm in a crappy ass mood, I can't promise that you'll leave without something hurting. I wasn't so much pissed that I fell, but the fact her elbow went straight into my injured arm, causing it to feel bloody again. Damn that fucking bitch. She reminds me of the girls that used to pick on me in school.

All eyes were one me as I sat on the grass, one arm propping me up, the other in too much pain to move. I was getting angrier by the second; everything ticking me off. The sympathetic look in everyone's eyes. The smug grin plastered upon Tessa's face. The throbbing pain in my arm. Or maybe the reason that they were all frozen, waiting to see what I would do to her since everybody in the 2nd Mass knew to never, _ever_ piss off Kaylee Parker.

But you know what I did? I picked myself up, walked over to my things, and untucked the bandages Anne gave me before we left out of my pocket. Right then and there, I took off the bloodied bandage, and let my eyes widen before me at the God-awful sight of my arm. Two of the stitches had come undone, the whole thing was jagged and disgusting, and was getting purple around the edges. It almost made me want to puke. I had to get this thing cleaned off before it gets infected or before I slaughtered that asshole. Anger is the one emotion I can't control one hundred percent, and if it got out of hand, things would get bad.

"You need help?" Tessa asked me, clearly wanting me to say no. When she saw how badly my arm was already damaged, her eyes were the size of plates.

My good arm tensed so badly from the need to slug her, it was shaking. I clenched the bandages in my hand. "Don't ever, _**ever **_talk to me again." She winced in fright from my words and I stormed into the house and slammed the door.

I made my way to the kitchen since I had no idea where else there was running water to wash off the dried blood and clean it. Clayton was there when I walked into the room, simply leaning on the counter lost in his thoughts. I paid him no attention, but once he saw the injury I had, he had to question me on it.

"How'd you get that?"

"On patrol," I said shortly while starting the water, letting it rinse out the wound. Most people are able to cool off once they're away from the scene that caused them to be mad. I, on the other hand, cannot calm down until I shoot something. A lot of times.

He handed me a cloth. "I'm no doctor, but I don't think the stitches should be pulled out…"

"Some damn bitch knocked me over and split it back open and made it bleed again."

Clayton finally got the idea that I was pissed as hell, so he stopped asking me the annoying questions. "Do you need to take your anger out on something?"

I gently wiped around the massive cut and cleaned off the blood seeping out of the split sides. "Do you have a shooting range out here, or a place that you guys practice shooting?"

"Right down the path over there," he pointed through the window, "big ring of trees. You can't miss it."

As quick as physically possible, I dried my arm, wrapped it tightly, grabbed my Calico off the counter and walked out the front door. It took me a second to notice it was dusk already, and that a guard mentioned dinner being in a half hour. They were no longer playing soccer; all of them were standing and glaring at Tessa, even Hal. Alyssa was in her face, yelling. None of this meant anything to me; all I wanted was to shoot something, now.

Alyssa's POV

"Alyssa wake up. Alyssa wake up. Alyssa wake up. Alyssa wake up. Alyssa wake up. Alyssa wake up. Alyssa wake-"

I looked up and saw Matt staring at us. "Hal, I swear I am going to drop you out of this window if you don't shut up right now," I said in a calm voice.

"Let's go, we gotta help with breakfast," I looked around I saw Kaylee was the only one asleep. Hal, Matt, and I left her since she had a rough night before.

When we got downstairs, Hal went to sit down next to Tessa. She seemed perfectly unbitchy with him, even seemed extra nice. This is the first and last time I will ever wish this, but I kinda wanted Karen here, just to see her get in Tessa's face. I sat down next to Ben and Matt sat next to me.

"Alyssa, if Hal ever does something like that, then you have my permission to slap him. He used to do that to me and Ben."

I smiled. "Okay, thank you Matt."

"What?" Ben asked.

"Hal went to wake up Alyssa, and he did what he used to do to us." Matt tried to mimmic his brother, "Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up."

"Oh, yeah. If he ever does that, just slap him hard," Ben agreed.

"You have my word."

Just then Clayton came in from the kitchen. "Okay everyone, come get your food." Jimmy went upstairs to get Kaylee. The food looked so good. I helped Matt get his breakfast, Ben behind me. We had eggs, water, bread, and apples. It tasted amazing.

Jimmy and Kaylee came walking down, disappeared into the kitchen, then came back to the table. Kaylee sat on Hal's other side and Jimmy sat next to her. Ben immediately started to talk to the newly awakened weapons enthusiast.

"So can we make up for the missed fighting lessons today? I don't want to start forgetting things." Ben looked like a little puppy, so cheerful and eager. Kaylee looked tired and dark. Hal looked like it was taking everything in him not to crack up. Jimmy was glaring at Ben. The 7th Mass people looked confused. I found the whole thing amusing, especially since Kaylee didn't even notice any of this going on.

"If Clayton will let us then yeah. You're going to start losing your touch." Hal, unable to contain his laughter any longer, started cracking up. Everyone looked at him, confused.

"He never had _a_ touch." Everyone looked like they wanted to laugh, but weren't sure if they should.

"For your information, I'm getting better. Right?" Ben asked hopefully.

"Define better." Kaylee said, dead serious. Finally, everyone busted up laughing. It was pretty funny.

Ben looked slightly offended. Well, he is just gonna have to deal with it because that's how Kaylee teaches.

"Hey if it makes you feel better, she was even more critical when she taught me to shoot. It's not just you," I whispered.

"Thanks." He seemed less offended knowing that he wasn't alone in that. By now all the adults had left to go do whatever it is they did. I really wanted to find out what was up last night.

I looked at Tessa then to Hal. They were laughing and she was flirting and he was flirting right back. What a player. I rolled my eyes. Tessa saw me and started glaring at me. I just smiled at her. She glared harder.

"Can I help you?" I asked her.

"What?" She looked confused.

Everyone stopped talking and stared at me. "You were staring at me. So I thought you needed something. Never mind, carry on desperately flirting with Hal, it is quite entertaining," I smirked.

"Shut up Alyssa," Hal said, and then looked at Tessa. "Ignore her."

"You at least told her you have a girlfriend right? Because if you didn't that seems a little unfair. I mean I think so," I told him. Everyone looked at Hal, who just about had steam coming out of his ears. "Or maybe you really are just that type of person."

"What type of person would that be?" Hal asked coldly.

"Oh you know, the guy who had three girlfriends. That type. I mean I don't like Karen but that seems a little messed up."

"Just drop it."

"Okay." He looked surprised at how quickly I gave up. "As soon as you admit you are a player and tell Tessa here, you have a girlfriend."

"Karen is not my girlfriend." Hal was pissed now.

"Well you better clear that up with her because she seems to have a different opinion on that subject." Suddenly Kaylee stood up, her chair scraping loudly. She didn't even acknowledge what just went on, which means she didn't hear what just happened because she was zoned out. Kaylee quickly walked to the kitchen and Hal followed. Smart choice.

"So," Ben said trying to break the tension you could practically see in the air, "I noticed you guys have a soccer field out there. Anyone up for a game?"

"Sure. How about the 7th Mass versus the 2nd Mass?" Tessa asked. Everyone nodded and cheered. "Okay then. But I should warn you, I played JV soccer in school as a freshman and sophomore."

"Well Alyssa-" Ben started but I cut him off.

"I played soccer some too," I said, winking at him. He nodded. Everyone ran outside. "Imma go tell Kaylee and Hal."

I walked in and Hal and Kaylee were talking. I quickly washed my dishes. "Hey guys we're gonna play soccer. Wanna join?" I wondered if I looked as happy as I felt. Kaylee smiled and Hal glared, but he agreed. Oh Imma show Tessa up. Pssshhh JV.

"So, you read to shine?" Ben came up and asked, smiling as always.

"Oh hell ya, show all ya'll up." I smiled. "Words cannot express how happy I am to get out on a field and start playing again."

"You don't need to say anything," Ben laughed.

"Why?"

"Because you kinda suck at hiding your emotions. You look like a kid in a candy shop," We both laughed.

"Yeah I guess." I looked for Kaylee and saw her putting her jacket down. I pushed back the thoughts of her now utterly exposed arm and focused on the fun that was about to happen.

"C'mon Parker!" I yelled. She put the rest of her stuff down and jogged over. I started telling the kids were to go, but they looked at me like I was psycho. Guess I gotta take this slow.

"Okay, I want you guys to defend. Your job is to keeping the Sanctuary kids from getting the ball in that net." I pointed to our goal. "Now, you guys are going to play offense. You guys are going to try and get the ball in that net, but remember the Sanctuary kids are going to try and stop you."

"Ready?" Tessa yelled.

"We are gonna kick your asses!" I replied.

I put the ball in the middle. Tessa yelled go and it was on. She tried, and failed, to get the ball around me. I ran down the field, easily dribbling around the other team. Just as Tessa was closing in on me, I passed to Kaylee. She took the ball the rest of the way then passed back to me and I scored.

Kaylee and I high fived. "You haven't lost your touch have you?" she asked.

"Alyssa Carter never loses any of her touches, I said matter-of-factly. We ran back over to the midfielders. Tessa and her gang took the ball to our goal and would've made it too, if I hadn't kicked the ball out from their possession and passed it to Kaylee. Some soccer player. She totally sucks. Kaylee ran the ball to the middle of the field and passed it to Jimmy. He jogged across the grass and looked around to see where the rest of the team was to pass to.

"Jimmy! I'm open! I'm open!" Ben called raising his hand. No one but the 2nd Mass was by Ben; only Jimmy ignored him and dribbled straight to some Sanctuary kids. Tessa stole the ball and scored.

"It's alright guys," I yelled, "we'll get the next one."

Hal, Jimmy, Ben, Matt, Kaylee, and I were in the middle of the field when Matt yelled to Hal, "You weren't even trying!" I laughed at how seriously Matt was taking this.

"Yeah Hal, you weren't even trying!" I taunted.

"I wasn't trying?!" Hal asked bewildered. "You just showed up!" He pointed to Matt.

I noticed Kaylee watching Ben and Jimmy intently. "Didn't you see me there? I was right there." Ben asked.  
"Yeah, yeah I saw you. Just stay away from me, okay?" Jimmy walked off.

Ben looked irritated as hell. He doesn't deserve to be treated like that. I went up to him to make sure he was okay. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," he said and was about to leave when I cut him off.

"That's a terrible lie, not very original by the way. Now tell me what's up." I think of Ben like my little brother, even thought he is taller than me. And once I start to become close to someone, I become very protective.

"Jimmy's been treating me weird because of my spikes. Actually, a lot of people have been. Kinda gets me down, you know?"

"When I was in school, girls called me a freak all the time. You know what I told them? 'Thanks'."

"Why?"

"Because I'd rather be called a freak and be different than be normal. Normal is boring."

He thought that over. "Thanks Alyssa."

"Welcome, now let's go win ourselves a soccer game." The game went really well. We ended up scoring a bunch more. The Sanctuary team only made one more goal and that's because Hal let Tessa get by him. The 2nd Mass got a kick, and since we were so far ahead, I didn't bother earning us more points. I kicked it Tessa's face.

"What the hell was that for?!" she yelled, as everyone else tried to stifle their laughter.

"You were in my way." In my defense, she _was _in front of the goal, but I could have easily kicked the ball around her. I chose not to. After a little while, we went in the help with dinner. Tessa was staring at me, no, _glaring_, so I took this wonderful opportunity to make her mad.

"Fun fact you don't know about me: I played Varsity soccer as a freshman in high school." She shot me the coldest, meanest, bitchyest look ever. "Close your mouth honey." I smiled and ran over to Kaylee. The game was going really well. But all good things come to an end right?

Kaylee had the ball and was dribbling up the field when Tessa ran up full force and knocked Kaylee on her ass at the same time she managed to elbow Kaylee in the arm and split two of her stitches open. Everyone became so silent; you could hear a pin drop.

Kaylee got up and walked over to her stuff and shoved a gun in her pocket and unwrapped her arm. Her arm was disgusting; I almost had to turn away. It was purple around the edges and if she didn't clean that thing quick, it was going to get infected. She stared at it with a scowl on her face, which deepened when Tessa walked over to her. Tessa actually had the nerve to come up go up to her and ask if she needed help.

Kaylee's good arm tensed up and I could tell it was taking everything in her power not to sock her. I really wanted her to just turn around and deck her, but once Kaylee gets pushed over the edge, she doesn't stop. She wouldn't be able to only punch her once; she would continue to beat her.

"Don't ever, _**ever**_ talk to me again." Kaylee said with so much force and venom, Tessa winced. She ripped open the front door and slammed it close to the point where I saw a few people flinch.

"Whoa, over dramatic much?" Tessa asked. The Sanctuary kids laughed. The 2nd Mass kids looked pissed, even Hal. I glance at Matt; he nodded, silently giving me permission to lose it on Tessa.

"If you think that was bad, YOU HAD BETTER THANK YOUR LUCKY FUCKING STARS SHE DIDN'T HAVE A GUN OR KNIFE WITH HER OR YOU WOULD BE A BLOODY ASS PULP ON THE GROUND RIGHT NOW, NOT BREATHING!"

"One thing you better learn pretty quickly Tessa is that no one pisses off Kaylee Parker on purpose. I repeat NO ONE!" Ben added.

"She is just a little teenage girl wimp who can't take a little shove."

"Shut up Tessa, just shut the _fuck_ up."

"What, little munchkin over here can't take the smack talk?"

"No, I can talk the talk all day, and I'm sure you could too, but can you fight the fight?" I challenged. "Because I don't think you can."

"Please, I'll take you any day short stuff." She smirked at me.

"Oh yeah, just like you can take me in soccer?" I asked. "How well did that work for you?"

"I could take you."

"Just warning you, I'm the 2nd Mass's best fist fighter."

"Okay, prove it." She smiled, obviously not expecting me to do just that. "I'm sure even Matt is a better fighter than you"

I clenched my fist and decked her in the face. That's gonna leave a bruise.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

"You said prove it, so I did."

She threw a lousy punch at me that I easily dodged. I threw punch after punch. Tessa punched and kicked. I hit her in the gut and almost knocked the wind outta her. It was pretty one sided fight and I obviously had the upper hand. She jumped at me and I dodged. She fell forward I landed on top of her and pulled her arm back. It was about to snap when I felt hands grab me by the waist and lift me through the air.

"Okay, I think she gets it," Ben said. Hal was holding me back from Tessa. They dragged me away while some kids from the Sanctuary came and helped Tessa limp inside.

"Nice job," Ben said, smiling, until he the look Hal was giving him, "I mean, uh, really Alyssa? We're guests here."

I gave Ben a "nice one" look then frowned towards Hal. "I was _not_ going to let her trash talk Kaylee. That little bitch needed to be put in her place. She said she could take me. She said and I quote, 'Prove it' So I did."

"Alyssa," Hal said.

"Yes?"

"You need to learn to control your anger better."

"I think I have demonstrated a lot of self-control, considering all the things you have said and done. I mean you're alive."

"I've saved your sorry ass countless of times. You think you'd be a little more grateful!"

"I never asked you to that! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE FUCKING DONE IT! OKAY?"

"Why?"

"Because that is just another debt to someone I can't pay back. YOU SAVED MY LIFE! That is a debt I can't afford to pay."

"You know what? Why don't we just-" Hal and I jumped a little as a loud gunshot blasted through the air. Looks like Kaylee found a way to take out her anger, safely. "-call it even?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I will not be even with you until I can pay it off." I turned around and went in the house to help with dinner. But in the dining room, Tessa was being fixed up. I ran up stairs and sat on a random sleeping bag that hadn't been folded up. Everyone was supposed to roll up the sleeping bags in the morning. This person didn't. I sat there and considered going to get Kaylee, but then again she had several guns on her and judging by the ear splitting sound of her gun shots blasting, I'm not risking by life to go do that. The shots were four seconds apart and had been four seconds apart since she took off down that road. Besides, she will calm down on her own.

Suddenly Ben came in. "For what it's worth, I think Tessa totally deserved that ass kicking you just gave her."

I smiled. "Thanks."

"Don't worry about Mr. Womanizer over there. He will drop it once we get back and he sees Karen."

"Dear God, don't remind me about her."

"BEN!" Hal yelled. Ben left downstairs in a hurry. I lay down and closed my eyes, getting some much needed rest.

Kaylee's POV

"Are you okay?!" Jimmy asked as soon as he saw me walk out the door.

"Yeah," I spoke through gritted teeth. I wasn't in the mood to talk to _anyone_, just in the mood to shoot. Ben came up and put a hand on my shoulder to stop me from walking, which only infuriated me more. I wretched my shoulder out from under him and stormed off down the road, getting angrier and angrier by the millisecond. I hate it when people touch me, hell I flat out hate affection in general. The only exception I make is when Alyssa is upset and needs a hug or needs to be cheered up.

That thought also made me wonder what my exception was on Jimmy, since I didn't feel awkward or irked by the hug we had or when he held my hand as my stitches were being sewn. What was with that? Of course, my subconscious came up with a few possible answers to that question, but I absolutely refused to even let them cross my mind completely. That was the last straw.

I completely blew up.

I ripped off my knife belt and handguns and slammed them onto the floor. The gun in my sneaker was tossed to the side violently and after that followed some C4 (don't worry, it's harmless until the trigger is pulled). I put two rounds into my Calico and loaded. The tree in front of me was the least worn of the rest of them, so I decided that this would be the one that I would shoot at. I blasted six bullets up and down the tree and started shooting in the middle. By the time I was done here, there was going to be multiple holes directly through the tree.

Anytime I considered taking a small break (I had blasted forty bullets about now), my mind went straight back to her ugly smirk. The way her eyes gleamed at the way I appeared to be defeated and helpless to her. How she triumphantly stood knowing she had knocked me over easily. The hardest thing out of all of it? I had no idea which things had just happened moments ago and what happened months ago. All I could think about was the countless times I was pushed around, thrown into some lockers, verbally abused, and made fun of because I was the freaky girl who was decked out in black and had no parents. Just repeating those memories in my mind over and over and over again made me continue on blasting that poor, poor tree.

I never really told Alyssa about those people that made school hell for me. Sure she caught some of them in the act, but I wouldn't talk about it with her. Back before the invasion, I had gotten a lot of detentions and office referrals for fighting back those kids. But the school never put those on my permanent record since I was the fourteen-year-old who had the screwed up family background. The administrators had said I didn't "know how to properly dispose" of my negative feelings nor did I have "the parental influence to enforce punishment on my wrong doings." And that's another way weapons and I found each other. My uncle said there was never a better feeling then taking a gun and blasting something to pieces when you were mad. And I'm here to tell you, he was right in every way possible. Nothing in this screwed up world made me feel better than shooting or killing something.

My ears were throbbing from how loud the bullets were going off. Not having plugs and doing this kind of target practice isn't the best idea for your ears, but I didn't care at this point. If I did this everyday, then it would be a problem.

The sky had darkened considerably, and the stars made themselves apparent. I looked up briefly while I was shooting and noticed that there was no aircrafts that passed, ever. Usually there was one or two that would pass by frequently; I hadn't seen this kind of "safety" before. I know Clayton said that we were off the skitter radar, but it almost seems careless that they have no one posted around here in case of an attack.

Despite the tiredness in my fingers, I loaded the seventh round of bullets and started shooting at the middle of the tree again. My anger was still blazing like mad, and to make matters worse, the only light I had was the flashlight on my gun. Low light causes my shots to be off by a millimeter, and to me, that's equivalent to a mile. I guess it's good for me to practice in the dark, and I have been, so hopefully I'd start getting better soon.

A snap of a twig echoed throughout the shooting range. I continued shooting, but also listened more intently. Something was behind me, and as of this moment, I wasn't sure what. I heard what sounded like a human footstep, but I could never be sure anymore. I shot another bullet at the tree, and then whirled around to the source of the noise. I made sure to reload my gun loudly.

God fucking damn it!

Ben stood before me with his hands raised, not wanting to be shot at. My finger tensed around the trigger, but I fought the extreme urge to pull it. One day, this kid isn't going to be so lucky with me. "Don't shoot."

"I wouldn't waste a bullet on you." I turned back to the tree and began to shoot back at it. Something about Ben Mason just pisses me the fuck off.

"That was harsh." He made his way by my side, watching me blast the bark off.

"Don't give a damn," I said, making my shots travel up the long trunk.

"Why are you so mad?"

"Did you come here to interrogate me or something?"

He winced at the loud _boom_ that sounded. "I just don't understand." I didn't reply to his statement, but focused my gun in the center again.

"Holy crap, you've almost gone straight through the tree." My light shined to the hole that was forming in the middle. After shooting in the same place for an hour and a half, you tend to leave some reasonable damage.

The second I reached over to grab another round, Ben took it right from my fingertips. "Do not fucking screw around with me. Give me it."

He put the round behind his back. "You gotta stop shooting."

"I'll do whatever the hell I want, give it back." His goal in life must be to anger me as often as possible, because I can name at minimum fifteen other occasions where his has pissed me off for no purpose whatsoever. He just stood there, watching me and waiting for me to give up. "Ben, I'm not playing. Give me it." He simply blinked in response, still holding my bullets.

I threw my head back and sighed. My gloved hand ran through my bangs and then made its way into my pocket. "Why _are_ you here? Shouldn't you be eating with the others?"

"I was, 'til Rick managed to make everything awkward."

"How so?"

"He asked me how I could eat 'their' food in front of the entire 2nd and 7th Mass. I had to get out of there, and I heard all this blasting. Figured it was you. And you're probably one of the few that really get how damn awful it feels to be out casted."

"Damn straight. It makes me mad to see people ragging on you because you were harnessed. It's not like you chose to be, and I know you wish that you weren't."

"Exactly. If I could back in time, I definitely would."

"Who knows? Maybe you got harnessed for a reason."

"Now you sound like me," Ben laughed, "always the optimist."

I smiled and shook my head. "'Cause you took my damn bullets! Now I _have_ to get over being pissed."

"Do you really need them to calm you down that badly?"

My smirk disappeared. "Yeah. There is no other way I can cool off. Believe me, I've tried."

Ben pondered that over a little, and then he remembered something. "Alyssa fought Tessa when you were over here. You should've seen how brutal they were.

"She can't help but fight my battles with me," I smirked. What would I do without her? I recollected my weapons and swiftly swiped the round from Ben's hands.

"Hey!"

"Didn't I teach you that before? To always expect the unexpected?"

"Yeah, but-"

"This is going to be even harder than I assumed," I groaned.

"You really do love to harass me, don't you?"

"If you don't like the way I teach, find yourself a new teacher."

Ben finally shut up, and we walked back down the road in quietness, nothing but the crunching gravel beneath our sneakers making sound. The Sanctuary really was quite beautiful at night, and so beyond peaceful. It also was a little eerie, with no aircrafts flying overhead and the "patrols" watching our every move here.

And I'll never admit this to anyone, but I was sorta glad Ben came down to talk to me. You have no idea how wrecked I had been feeling lately about my fucked up past, and it was awesome to talk to someone who got it. It felt good to actually make him feel better about himself too and to let him know that I understood what he was going through completely, not just telling him I got it.

"I seriously don't get how you can stay so quiet all the time."

"Guess I'm just used to it," I said earnestly. I didn't speak for weeks after that one dreaded day, and after loving the silence for so long, I just stayed that way. Talking was a useless activity to me. I'd much rather-

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

He rolled his eyes. "How come you know so much about feeling like a freak? I mean, what happened to make you feel that way?"

Well you know, my parents got killed and I started blacking out and seeing things. That might have something to do with it I suppose. "I really don't want to talk about this right now." I think Ben knew that now was not the time to push me any further or to piss me off again, so he dropped it. If he had pressed me, I would've slugged him, no doubt.

Shooting can tire you out if you do excessive amounts of it, so I wasn't surprised when out of no where I felt like I was going to pass out from exhaustion any second. When we walked up the first staircase, most of the 2nd Mass was still at the dinner table talking a little. I continued going up until I reached the room I was staying in. I unrolled my sleeping bag, slid out of my shoes and weapons, and fell asleep instantly.

"Kaylee, Ben, wake up! We gotta get out of here." Something about the urgency in Alyssa's voice made me a little uncomfortable. Even when she _is_ scared, Alyssa pretends she's fine, so something must really be up.

It took me a few moments to fully wake up, but when I finally opened my eyes, I practically puked at what I saw. Ben had his hand wrapped over my right hand. I tore my hand out of his grasp instantly and grabbed my sneakers. Thank God he wasn't totally awake to see that. Hal and Alyssa probably saw that though, and that's almost as worse. Alyssa is gonna give me so much shit about that now. Damn it.

I swiftly geared up and slung my backpack over my shoulders, all without looking up at anyone. I was totally mortified. Jimmy must've sensed that, since he gave me a questioning look. I ignored it and walked down the stairs with the rest of the 2nd Mass. Tessa however, was up and wasn't all that thrilled we were leaving for reasons still unknown to me.

"What are you doing?" She asked Hal.

"Clayton made a deal with the skitters? tell me you don't know about this," Hal seethed. A deal with the skitters? The fuck?

"I was gonna talk to them; make it so you could stay," Tessa said hopefully, as if that would change anything at all.

Hal shook his head and we all ran down the stairs, Tessa screaming to her father saying we were leaving.

As soon as all of us bursted from the door, the 7th Mass was running and shooting after us. Mike and Rick were nearly shot, but luckily they ducked behind an old car in the nick of time. A little kid made the mistake of looking back, so I grabbed him, tossed him onto my back, and continued to sprint through the woods.

We were a few miles away when the loudest gun shot rang out, causing all of us to stop and listen for anything else. I let go of the kid and took a huge breath. I did a head count of everyone here, but we were three short. Hal, Rick, and Mike were no where to be seen. But within seconds, Hal and Rick came running down the road, panting.  
Hal told us we had to cover as much distance as we could between us and them, so a few of us took the younger kids and began running down the empty road. Man, I can't tell you how wonderful it was to run again. I had done a little bit now and then, but nothing like I used to before the attack. And I could've kept going on for miles, but eventually everyone agreed to stop and rest at a nearby house for a few hours. Alyssa finally told me that Clayton had been trading kids to the skitters so the 7th Mass survivors had immunity from being harmed. What a rat bastard.

By now the sun was in the sky, and Mike still hadn't caught up with us. I think he was shot by Clayton… Poor Rick, he's gonna take that really hard.

When we walked into the large home, Lourdes took all the kids upstairs, except for Matt who claimed he was just fine and didn't want to sleep. I smiled at that; he was going to be a fighter soon, give or take. Rick, Matt, and Ben sat on a dusty couch, Jimmy sat in a corner by a backdoor, and Alyssa stood by the dining room table. Hal was looking around the house, which was set up for a kid's sixth birthday party. Six years old and the aliens invaded. That must've really sucked. I sighed and slid my hands into my pockets.

And that's when I saw it. Something I never thought I'd see again.

A piano. A grand piano.

As If I was in a trance, I moved toward it slowly, skimming my hand across its dust covered surface. It was similar to the one I had had in my home, only tan. I took my gun off from around me and set it on top of the piano, still admiring its presence.

"You play?" Hal's voice called from across the room.

"Yeah," I chuckled slightly as I spoke, "but it's been a really, _really_ long time."

I opened the fallboard and took a deep breath. Just the smell of the keys sent me into a world of flashbacks and memories. I thought back to the song I was teaching myself on the piano before the invasion, hoping I still remembered most of it.

My fingers didn't disappoint me; I played through the keys flawlessly, and I knew at that moment, my mom was smiling down on me from heaven. And it was the greatest feeling in the world. Matt slid next to me and watched me play for a bit until I stopped. He smiled at me.

"How long have you played?"

I thought back for a second, and then laughed slightly. "Since I could talk."

"Can you teach me?"

"Someday I will. I promise," I said locking pinkies with him.

"I should go ahead, try and get help," Ben's voice said to Hal. I got up and stood over by Alyssa.

"No," Hal shook his head firmly, "no. We're sticking together, getting a few hours of rest, then we're gonna head home."

"They're exhausted," Ben said softly, "_you're _exhausted. I can move faster on my own. Please let me do this." Hal shook his head, not wanting to let his little brother out alone.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Jimmy asked.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Ben asked, a slight edge apparent in his voice.

"What if you get lost? Or you just…keep going?"

"Keep going where?" Now he was playing dumb again, although this time I'm positive he knew that Jimmy didn't like him.

"Some place safer."

I really like Jimmy (however I'm still uncertain in which way exactly), but it was beginning to piss me off that he was being a dick to Ben. Which caused me to stupidly butt in and dig myself into a bigger hole.

"He won't," I say, "because I'll be going with him to make sure he doesn't."

Ben smiled gratefully at my input. But this also infuriated Alyssa.

"Hell no you're not," she said sternly. I'm pretty sure she knows, but won't admit to it, that that voice never has and never will work on me.

"Lighten up, Carter," I said smiling, "I'll be fine. Plus I could use a good run."

She crossed her arms at me and frowned, outweighing the pros and cons of the situation. Is it crazy that I can practically read her mind and actions no problem? I guess being best friends with someone for so long does that to you. "I don't want you getting hurt again."

But what she really meant was: "I don't want to lose the only family I have left." When you first meet Alyssa, she has a guarded look in her eyes that seems impossible to see over, but I see straight through it to the vulnerability she has deep down. And she didn't want anything happening to me; I don't blame her either. We're each other's only family as far as we know. Neither of us knows what became of our siblings, but we just assume they're dead.

"I'm going to be okay. You guys really need the help, and you know how fast I run and not to mention the explosives I have on me. There is no way in hell I can get hurt."

She sighed, but gave me a brief hug. "Please be careful," Alyssa whispered so only I could hear.

"Always am." She slapped me on the arm.

I laughed. "Promise." We did our signature fist hit, and then I turned to Ben, ready to run all the way back to John F. Kennedy High School.

The second we hit the end of the driveway, we broke out into a fast gait down the path. My head instantly started clearing of all the thoughts in it, something that occurred every time I did run. Thus being another reason I ran. I didn't have to worry about everything around me; all I had to do was focus on my stamina.

Not going to lie, it was slightly difficult for me to match Ben's pace the entire way, what with him being harnessed and having superior physical abilities to me and also the fact I hadn't ran a race since February (it was September now). But I did, and let me tell you, it was a really good work out. Despite how much it exhausts you, it feels so incredibly wonderful to run and run and run.

The cold air was another factor of difficulty for me. I hated running when it was really cold because it makes your body work twice as hard, keeping you warm and running. My coach made us practice extra time running in cool weather so we would have the best stamina possible, and it worked like hell. Sure we crashed as soon as we got home, but all of us appreciated it in the long run. Who knew running cross country and track in school would help me now in this situation? And I guess knowing all those math equations and shit really did end up being useful for me when I make explosives and guns. Wow…

Ben and I slowed our pace down to a jog when we stumbled upon a river flowing down, both in desperate need of some water. Just as we were about to drink a little, loud footsteps crunched on the gravel road.

Peaking through the bushes, Ben and me watched the end of the road to see who it was, already knowing the answer. Clayton and his band of bastards were traveling up the road, saying that there was no way we could've gone far since we had little kids with us. Shit. The 2nd Mass's kids were just a few miles ahead of Clayton and were bound to be discovered in two hours tops. I just hope Alyssa and Hal don't do something insanely stupid if Clayton finds them.

"I know we were going as fast as we could, but we _really _gotta step it up if we want to save their asses," I said concern lining my voice.

"Let's go," Ben replied. And we were off again.

Have you ever sprinted as fast as you possibly could just for fun once? That's _exactly_ what Ben and I were doing. We were sprinting, I mean _literally _sprinting, as fast as our legs could carry us down the road, turning from memory back to where the school was out. If we made one wrong turn, our friends are going to be in serious danger.

The trees around me were a blur; I was running so fast all the nature around me was totally hazy. Nothing but the road ahead of me was clear, and nothing but the sound of my heart beating sounded. We had to have run at least ten miles by now at least, and without water, I felt like I was going to pass out. But I just kept thinking of Alyssa, Matt, Hal, and Jimmy to keep pushing me forward. Their safety means more to me than anything.

We curved down a windy road I vaguely recall us taking to head to the Sanctuary when I spotted two motorcycles and their owners. It looked a lot like-

"BEN?"

"DAD!" Bingo.

Tom ran and met us half way shouting, "Where's Hal and Matt?"

"They're with the others but they don't know Clayton's coming!" Dude he doesn't know what the hell you're talking about…

"What about the Sanctuary?" Tom questioned, trying to calm him down.

"Mike said it wasn't safe so we left, and then they started shooting at us," I clarified, trying to catch my breath. Damn I was tired.

"Who was shooting at you? Clayton?"

I nodded, so beat I couldn't speak.

"Dad, I think Mike's dead…"

This news fazed Tom briefly before he asked, "Is anyone else hurt?"

"I don't know," Ben said worriedly.

He looked at our concerned faces, and went into a little father-mode type thing. "You guys are okay. Dai will take you both back but first you gotta tell me everything."

So we did. We started off with how there was never patrols, all the suspicious activity with the adults, the weird way the barn was always guarded and locked, all of it. We still didn't know all the details of Clayton's deal, but we told Tom all we knew. I was seriously about to faint, and I kept blacking out for a few seconds at a time.

I managed to catch myself before I fell over, and this caught the attention of Tom. "You alright?"

"Do you have any water?" I asked. My voice was way too scratchy, and my throat was burning with thirst.

"Yeah," Tom took the canteen of water at his side and gave it to me, "how many far did you guys run?"

I gratefully took the water and swallowed it down, instantly feeling better. "About ten and half miles."

"Without stopping?"

"We stopped at a river briefly, but then we saw Clayton and ran down here," Ben explained.

"Here," I said and gave him the canteen. He was probably as beat as I was, with or without the spikes.

"No it's fine-"

"Now's not the time to be chivalrous. Now's the time to get some damn fluids in you before you lose consciousness." Dai laughed at my remark and Tom smiled and shook his head.

Ben reluctantly took it and finished the canteen. We thanked Tom and he got back onto his motorcycle. "Make sure Weaver comes as fast as he can. I'll try and stall them, but I'm not guaranteeing anything." With that being said, Tom sped off up the road before any of us had a chance to think.

"He has to be the most impulsive guy I've ever met." Dai looked at the two of us. "Well? What are you waiting for? We got kids to save!"

Alyssa's POV

"Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up." I looked up to find Hal standing over me. I kicked him in the gut, or at least tried to but aimed a little too low. "Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up. Alyssa-FUCK! Damn it, what was that for? I thought you weren't allowed to hit or yell!"

"I got special permission from Matt to hit you if you ever did that again." I said triumphantly. I stood up. "Why do I need to get up?" I asked.

Hal was already walking down stairs when he said, "Dinner time." Then he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Why were you sleeping on my sleeping bag?"

Oh. My. God. That's really embarrassing. "Oh, so _you're_ the idiot who didn't put his sleeping bag away!"

We walked down stairs. Everyone was already seated. On one side of the table, Ben next Matt, who was across from Rick, Mike, and the Sanctuary group. At one end was Clayton and the other end of the table was Tessa's dad then Tessa and three open seats for Kaylee, Hal and I then at the other side was Jimmy. Hal sat in the middle. I had to either sit in between Hal and Jimmy or Hal and Tessa.

"I'm saving this seat for Kaylee, but you can sit there." Jimmy said. And that is how I ended up sitting next to Tessa. You could tell by looking at the adults that they were completely clueless to what happened earlier. I was across from Ben. I looked at him and mouthed 'help me' and he had to try not to laugh. Things were getting pretty uncomfortable. Not one person was talking.

"Well this is awkward," I said after the silence became too much. Ben started laughing slightly, and after Hal shot us the you-guys-are-so-immature look, both of us began laughing harder. You know that saying that everything is funnier when you're supposed to be silent? That's what it felt like right now.

"Do you guys know where Kaylee is?" Jimmy asked, breaking the awkwardness a bit more.

"Listen," I said holding up my finger. Ten loud gun shots rang through the air, making a few young kids jump in their seats.

"That's whose been shooting outside?" I nodded at Tessa. "Why does she love guns so much?"

Everyone looked at me, clearly wanting to know as well since I'm the only one who understood why my best friend was weapons crazed.

"That's her business. When it becomes your business, I'll let you know."

The adults watched us go back and forth, not even interrupting the little fight going on.

"So Kaylee likes guns-"

"No shit, Sherlock."

Tessa gave me a look but continued with her question. "What are you good at?" I hated how she emphasized 'good,' implying that there was nothing I could ever be good at. Wellllll who just kicked your ass at soccer? Little fucking bitch.

"I'm a fighter, but, you knew that."

"She's the best fist fighter in the 2nd Mass," Ben added.

Rick hit the table and looked up at Ben suddenly and watched him eat for a moment. "How can you eat their food?"

Now if you _really_ want to talk about quiet and awkward, that precise moment in time would have been the perfect example. Everyone and I mean _everyone_ was dead quiet. Ben frowned, confused as to what Rick even meant.

"Excuse me?" Ben caught on after a few seconds, then got up from the table.

"Awkward…"Matt mumbled. Hal kicked him under the table and I elbowed Hal.

"Be nice to your brother."

Mike angrily turned toward Rick. "We are guests here, Rick. I raised you better than that." Mike stood up, "Excuse my son's manners." Clayton nodded and continued eating without making eye contact with Mike.

On the other hand, Hal and I both got up to talk to Ben. I made it outside first, but Hal wouldn't back down. "Alyssa, stay here."

"No." I continued to run after Ben.

"He needs a family member right now."

"I'm more of a family member than you are to him sometimes!" Hal gave up while I went after the middle Mason boy. "Ben!"

"Go away, Alyssa." He was sitting next to the barn, looking at his surroundings.

I sat next to him. "You know, you're a terrible hider. Point of advice: don't yell out to the person trying to find you to go away. It never works."

"I'll keep that in mind."

I smiled. "But seriously, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

"Liar."

"It's Rick, okay?" Ben put his face in his hands, extremely frustrated. "He's acting so weird all the time. He keeps saying that the skitters are our family, not the humans. He's not acting like a normal kid, and since I have spikes too, people assume I'm the same as him. And they don't trust me."

"I know how you feel; people never used to trust me. You just have to gain it over time."

"What do you mean?"

"When I was in sixth grade, Kaylee and I got into some trouble and pretty much no one trusted us."

"If you were in sixth grade, then wasn't Kaylee in fifth?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"What did you do?"

"Well, um, we got in trouble for vandalism and physical assault while in possession of a deadly weapon."

"Okay, you can't just say that. You need to give a further explanation."

I put my hands up. "Alright. My brother was a freshman at the time, and he was the same age as Kaylee's brother. They both played football together and their high school and had a major rivalry with another school. Our brothers were planning on spray painting their school green and white, our colors. Kaylee and I were supposed to break into the office, trash it, then spray paint it, but the cops came and found our brothers and their friends. This asshole ratted us out for whatever reason."

"You took a fifth grader with you do go and vandalize?"

"Kaylee was the most badass stealthy fifth grader ever," I informed him.

Ben laughed. "I can see that. How did you guys get charged with the assault or whatever that was?"

"We found a kid on campus who told us to leave or would tell the school about us. So we beat the shit out of him. Kaylee was charged with possession of a deadly weapon because she had a gun on her."

"Of course she did. Why does that not surprise me?"

We were interrupted by a bunch of gunshots going off all at once. "Speaking of," I grinned.

Ben laughed at how ironic that was to happen. "So how does that pertain to my situation?"

"Word got out and no one trusted us. Rumors flared up and it was practically impossible to get people to even talk to us." Ben nodded, still not totally clear on my advice. That was always Kaylee's thing, but I did my best.

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

"I'm gonna go find Kaylee though, see what's up with her." Calllleeeed it.

"Do you _want _to die?"

"What?" He seemed a little more confused now.

"Kaylee Parker+guns+pissed=not good things."

He gave me a look that said he did not give a fuck, so he was going to risk his chances anyways. That kid is so fuckin' dead.

"Okay, whatever. Good luck and don't die." He left and I headed back inside.

Some of the 2nd was still at the table talking, but I went upstairs to find Mike, Hal, and Lourdes arguing about something.

"Something's up Mike," Lourdes said.

"No one's watching the sky or the road. It actually feels like they're more interested in watching us," Hal mentioned to him. Mike still looked disbelievingly at them.

"Last night I went downstairs and Tessa came out and was really jumpy about something." I told them the bizarreness that happened the night before.

"Well that explains a lot," Hal murmured thoughtfully.

"You have to admit something is really wrong here," Lourdes added.

"Or maybe not," said Mike. "Look, I've known Terry Clayton since a week after the attack. It's gonna take a lot more than a backpack and looks to convince me this is anything more than he says. Round up the others and get them to bed. I guarantee this will look better by morning. "

Mike went downstairs just as Kaylee came up. Without a word (like always) she took off a few guns and her high tops and went to sleep automatically. Ben came up a few seconds after.

"Hey guys. I'm so beat, that game was exhausting." He went to his sleeping bag, which was next to Kaylee's, and shut his eyes. Hal and Lourdes went downstairs to get the other kids up here to sleep. Once they came back up, Mike, Hal, and I stayed up to keep watch on everything.

I couldn't sleep. I have never been able to sleep anywhere but my own bed. Before the invasion, I had two beds I could sleep in: my bed at my house and my bed at Kaylee's house. I looked around and saw everyone was asleep. Kaylee was lying on her stomach. She was right next to Ben, who was also on his stomach. Her left hand was out to her side and something was on top oh her hand. It took my eyes a minute to adjust. It was a hand, connected to an arm. I followed the arm up, to see it who it was connected to.

Ben Mason.

"Please tell me you notice his desperate attempts to get the attention of your friend?"

"You mean the friend who is completely not interested in him?"

"Yeah, her," Hal replied.

"I find it amusing actually."

"What's her issue with him?"

"It's not him personally; it's his personality, I think. It could also have something to do with the fact that, aside from a select few, Kaylee hates people in general."

"I could see how that could be an issue since I'm guessing he isn't one of those select few."

"No, he is not. But she will warm up to him. I also think Jimmy here likes her and she likes Jimmy."

"And as someone who has been a teenage boy once, Ben sure is pissing Jimmy off. And Ben really doesn't like Jimmy because he likes Kaylee as well as Jimmy." Hal said.

"Exactly." I agreed. "Who would have thought in a world where aliens exist, one of the main issues in a teenage girl's life is a love triangle? I don't even think she notices it either. I find that funny."

"Yeah, that is. What did you mean that she'll warm up to him?"

"Your brother is hard to not like. And he cares for her. I can tell. She needs that."

"You sound jealous."

"Ben is like the little brother I never had. In a way I'm like Kaylee; I take a while to let people in, but once I do, I become very protective."

"I see."

"Plus your brother is too young for me."

After a while he said, "I wonder what I would be doing right now, had the aliens not come."

"I would be sitting in my basement with Kaylee watching a movie, icing my knee from soccer practice earlier in the day. Hell week was scheduled to be this time of year. And my knee would most likely be giving me issues."

"Your knee?"

"Yeah I hurt my knee a couple years ago in soccer. Every once in a while it flares up and starts hurting."

"Oh. I'm not sure what I would be doing." The two of us were quiet again, just staring out the window of the second floor. Then Mike started talking about Rick.

"I wish you two had known him before. Sick as he was, I never heard him complain…not once," Mike stroked a sleeping Rick's curly hair, "Lord, he'd make me laugh." He smiled at his son, but it faded as he reflected. "I hated it when he was taken. But I hate what they did to him even more." Mike stared straight at us, and his words were rock hard and serious. I think he suspects something's up too, but just doesn't want to admit it.

Mike grabbed his gun that was leaning on the small closet and started loading it.

"Mike, what's going on?" Hal asked calmly.

"Grab your weapon. Gather the others; we're leaving this place now. Clayton's made a deal with the skitters." Shit that was not what I was expecting to be wrong…

"Hal, Alyssa, what's going on?" Lourdes asked, now awake.

"Wake up the kids. Tell them to be quiet." Hal said.

"Kaylee, Ben, wake up! We gotta get outta here." Kaylee was the first to wake up, and when she saw her and Ben's hand, she moved faster than ever before to rip her hand from Ben's. Jimmy was giving Ben a look that almost topped Tessa's look from earlier, almost. I am never going to let her live that down. Ever.

We headed down the stairs, quiet loudly. At the bottom was a very nervous Tessa. "Hal? What are you doing?"

"Clayton made a deal with the skitters? Tell me you don't know about this," Hal said, harshly.

"I was going to talk to them, fix it so that you could stay."

He gave her the most hate-filled look I'd ever seen in Hal Mason's eyes, and believe me, I've seen them _all_. "Go," Hal told us, hatred clearer than crystal in his voice.

"They're never going to let you leave!" she exclaimed.

"Suck it up buttercup," I smirked.

"No, you won't get away with it!" she yelled, "DAD! DAD, WAKE UP! THEY'RE LEAVING! DAD!"

We ran as fast as we could out of the house. I grabbed Matt and picked him up. Lourdes, Kaylee, Ben and Hal grabbed a little kid and ran. We were almost out of the clearing when we heard the first gun shot. I looked around and saw another girl holding the kid Hal was holding, but Hal, Mike and Rick were nowhere to be seen. We kept running. Eventually Hal and Rick caught up, but Mike never did. We continued running, but eventually the little kids had to stop.

"We should rest," Lourdes said. "The kids are tired."

We stopped at a house and let ourselves in. The house was all set up for a birthday party. We went in and put all the little kids to sleep. Only Lourdes, Ben, Hal, Kaylee, Jimmy, Rick and I were awake. There was a piano in this house, and it definitely did not go unnoticed by Kaylee. She's been playing for as long as I've known her, and it totally surprised me that she still knew how to play perfectly despite not being able to practice for months. All of us listened to the beautiful music that drifted from the piano for awhile, until Ben spoke up.

"So does someone wanna explain why we just got up and left?" Ben asked.

"Clayton made a deal with the aliens. He was giving them kids to harness in return for immunity," Hal told his brother.

"We were going to be given to the skitters to be harnessed," I finished. "So we ran, and by the looks of it, I don't think those scouts are ever going to get back to camp."

"We are going to rest here for a few hours, and then head out again."

I zoned out for a bit, then when I tuned back in, Ben and Hal were quietly fighting. "They're exhausted," Ben said, "_you're _exhausted. I can move faster on my own. Please let me do this." Hal shook his head at him. Ben's probably talking about how he should go get Weaver and his dad.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Jimmy asked.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Ben asked, a little irritated that Jimmy was asking.

"What if you get lost? Or you just…keep going?"

"Keep going where?"

"Some place safer." This kid is so fucking mean to Ben, I swear.

"He won't," Kaylee says suddenly (frankly didn't even notice she was standing up at this point), "because I'll be going with him to make sure he doesn't."

"Hell no you're not," I said automatically. I've tried using this tone of voice on her to make her listen to what I say, but since she's had no parental guardianship for three years, she never does what I tell her.

"Lighten up, Carter," she nudged me, "I'll be fine. Plus I could use a good run."

I crossed my arms at her and frowned, thinking of what could possibly go wrong if she did leave. I finally managed to say, "I don't want you getting hurt again."

Kaylee knew what I really meant as I said that. She's the only person I've ever known to see right through my lies and my pretenses. Sometimes it really bothers me, other times I'm grateful I don't have to always say how I feel.

"I'm going to be okay. You guys really need the help, and you know how fast I run and not to mention the explosives I have on me. There is no way in hell I can get hurt."

I sighed, but I gave her a short hug. "Please be careful." I said that as soft as possible so Hal and Ben wouldn't hear.

"Always am." I slapped her for being a smart-ass and for what seemed like she was joking around with me.

She laughed at me. "Promise." With that Ben and Kaylee took off out the door. Lourdes was pacing up and down, Jimmy and Matt were playing a game, and Hal was sitting by the window staring outside, waiting.

"Um Hal, they left two minutes ago. There aren't gonna be back yet."

"No shit."

"Then why are you staring out the window?"

"Because."

"Because you're waiting for them to return?" I guessed.

"Just shut up Alyssa."

"Make me," I challenged. Kaylee and Ben are the only people that can keep me sane. And they both left me; now that I think about it, I should have gone with them.

"YOU CHEATED!" Matt yelled suddenly.

"HOW DID I CHEAT?!" Jimmy responded, confused.

"I DUNNO BUT I KNOW YOU DID! NO ONE CAN WIN THAT QUICK!"

I looked at them, they were playing Battle Ship. Jimmy looked utterly confused, Matt looked pissed, and Hal looked annoyed. They were fighting over a game of Battle Ship. And the funny part was, the thirteen year old was fighting back with the nine year old. Like how badly does he want to win?

"Really guys? It's a game." I smiled. Matt was about to respond when we heard voices from outside. How in the hell did they get back that fast?

Except it wasn't Ben and Kaylee.

It was Clayton and the 7th Mass's "army".

"GOOD MORNING!" Clayton yelled.

"They found us," Jimmy whispered.

"Stay down!" Hal whisper-yelled.

"C'mon out! We're taking you home!" he shouted to us.

Hal and I ran past a few windows and crouched in a corner with an open window. "Don't make me come in there for ya, Hal. Nobody wants to see anybody else get hurt!"

The two of us ran to the door, opened it a crack, and stared down the 7th.

"We know about your deal!" Hal said. "You need us alive!"

"Yeah, well there's a term in war: acceptable losses. One of your friends gets hurt or killed, I can live with that. And you?"

All the kids come down stairs and hid by the back door, prepared to leave. I looked at Matt and he nodded, giving me permission to say whatever the hell I wanted to say to Clayton.

"FUCK YOU CLAYTON!" I yelled. I motioned to Hal the guns I had on my belt and he nodded.

"GOT TO HELL!" Hal shouted and we both turned in front of the door and fired; we moved over to an open window to shoot more.

"Kids are armed, Clayton, not good!" someone yelled.

"You two have guns?" Clayton questioned in disbelief.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK?" Idiot.

"What are we gonna do now?" Lourdes asked frantic.

"We're gonna try to hold them off. You take them out the back," Hal said motioning towards the back door.

Just then gun fire came from behind the 7th Mass. A voice I hadn't heard before screamed out to us, "GET YOUR DAMN HEADS DOWN, KIDS!"

"Who the hell is that?" I asked Hal. There were a lot more gunshots after that, until Clayton yelled, "Given up, Pope?"

"Pope?"

"I'll tell you about him later," Hal breathed. We just sat there waiting. Hal was about to fire again when I stopped him. "Look," I pointed to who had emerged from the trees.

"It's dad!" Matt exclaimed, taking a few steps to try and see his father.

"Quiet!" Hal said. "Stay back!"

"You're offering yourself up as a hostage?"

Tom nodded, and Clayton asked why. "I don't want them to get hurt."

"Grab his weapon," Clayton instructed.

"What makes you think he's telling the truth?" Tessa's dad asked.

"Tom's smart enough to understand that if I even _suspect_ he's lying, I gonna take it out on his boys. Alright, Tom, you call 'em out."

"Hal, Matt, come on out it's all over!"

"And their little girlfriends, too." Hal and I each scooted away from each other a little when he said that.

"Hal, Matt, Alyssa, everybody, come on out!"

"Damn it," Hal hit the wall of the house and got up. The rest of us walked out the door with our hands up. Hal came up behind me a whispered, "My dad must have a plan. He had to have met up with Ben and Kaylee."

"Hey, weren't there two more kids?" a guy asked.

"Yeah, the silent emo guns girl and the kid with the spikes."

Everyone looked at me and Hal. "Oh uh, them. Yeah, well we kinda lost them along the way. They got tired and just ditched us. Ran off together into the sunset. They were desperately in love you know." I said and smiled. I almost started laughing right then and there, but I barely stopped myself.

No one knew how to reply to that. Clayton was the first to respond. "Search the house".

"I don't think they believe me," I said to Hal.

"No shit."

"I wonder why? It was a perfectly believable story!" I said.

Hal looked at me and I think he really wanted to slap me. "You go with that."

Soon the 7th Mass came out of the house. "No one's there, Clayton."

He nodded, and instructed orders. "I want the two of you stay here for awhile and make sure they don't come back, if they do disarm them and bring them back." At that pointed Hal, Matt, Jimmy, Lourdes and I all started cracking up. The thought of the trying to catch _and _disarm Kaylee and Ben was just hilarious. Even Tom laughed a little.

"What in God's name is so funny? They're two teens. What's so funny about us killing two teens?"

"To kill them, first you have to find them and catch them. Then you have to disarm Kaylee _and _that is funny because no one touches her weapons. Ever. If you try she will kill you with out even thinking twice about it." Hal said.

"I just think its funny how you actually believe you can try and hurt her or Ben and live to tell the tale."

"Just go," Clayton pointed forward. "Don't let them get away!" Clayton ordered to his two men.

"And try not to make your selves look like idiots doing it!" I yelled to them before Hal grabbed me and pushed me forward. "Let me go, Hal."

"No." He was holding my elbow and forcing me to walk. Tom was walking behind Clayton, who was in the lead, then there was a guard, the 2nd Mass kids, then some guards, Hal and I, and lastly two more guards.

"Why not?" I demanded.

"Because I don't trust you."

Well fuck you too. I kicked him in the leg and he kicked me back."Jerk." We bickered like this the whole way back.

"You know we might not have to kill these two. They'll kill each other for us," one guard in the back said to the other. They laughed; I rolled my eyes and glared at Hal. He glared back but we shut up after that. Clayton and Tom fell back behind the group.

"You know Tom, it's a shame we couldn't have come to a deal. I think you guys would be a great addition to the 7th Mass. That girl can help us make weapons and maybe under your guidance we could fight back. Your boys and the girl would be great in battle. What do you say Tom?"

"I think I speak for the whole 2nd Mass when I say-"

"Hell no and fuck you bastard," Hal and I finished at the same time.

We continued walking and quickly the Sanctuary can into view. It was way to0 quiet. It was creepy quiet. The kids were lead to the barn.

"No! I'm not going! DAD!" Tom moved to his son, when a gun was pointed at him and he froze immediately. Just then the 2nd Mass's best fighters came into view and they had the place surrounded.

Kaylee, Weaver, and Dai came out the front door. "Drop 'em!" Weaver ordered. A man aimed his gun at Weaver and Weaver shot him to the ground. "Okay! Who's next? Who's next?!" he yelled. The 7th Mass lowered their guns.

"What about me Dan? You gonna shoot me too?" Clayton was eyeing Hal. He was going to do something to him. I don't know if anyone else noticed. I slowly grabbed my knife from my boot, where I always kept it. Things were about to get interesting.

"Tom? So what's the next step in this plan of yours? 'Cause I was thinkin' maybe-" He reached for his gun to shoot Hal. I took out my knife, aimed straight for his head. At that exact second, Kaylee fired her gun.

Everyone looked at her and it seemed to take her a second for her to realize that she was the one that shot the gun. The rest of the guards went inside. Hal and Kaylee were talking (he was probably thanking her for saving his life) and Weaver and Tom were talking. I was looking around when Ben ran out.

"DAD!" He ran over and hugged Tom. I watched as Matt and Hal joined them. Suddenly Kaylee came over. She was supposed to send the fighters. NOT COME WITH THEM!

"No I'm-glad-you're-alive-and-thank-you-for-saving-my-ass hug?"

"One day, Imma punch you so hard you won't be able to shoot for months." But I hugged her anyway. Ben, Hal, and Matt joined us.

Hal looked at Kaylee "What no hug for the guy you are desperately in love with?" He looked at Ben. Matt, Hal, and I laughed at our little joke.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kaylee was dead fucking serious and saw absolutely no humor in this at all. She was about to hit Hal.

"Blame Alyssa, she is the one that thought of it," So she turned around and punched me in the arm, so damn hard, I'm positive that it's going to leave a bruise.

"THAT FUCKING HURT!" I yelled.

"I learned from the best."

"You bitch!" I said. Then I looked at her and Ben's faces. "You two look like sun burnt strawberries," I informed them, referring to how badly they were blushing. Kaylee most likely figured out I saw her and Ben's hands last night.

"What are you talking about?" Ben asked confused.

Jimmy came over to Kaylee so Hal, Matt and I explained what we meant to Ben. She looked entirely relieved that Jimmy had rescued her from this awkward conversation. Shit I think she really likes Jimmy…

"See when Clayton found us he asked where you to were so Alyssa said-" Matt cut him off.

"She said you two were desperately in love and ditched us and ran off into the sunset-" Matt broke into a fit of giggles.

"You did not." Ben said, blushing all over again.

"It was the first thing that came to my mind," I defended myself.

Tom gathered all the kids around. "Come on guys. Let's head home."

Kaylee's POV

After Dai, Ben, and I rushed back to the school and collected Weaver and the rest of the fighters, we turned right back around and quickly made our way back to the Sanctuary. Luckily for us, we beat the 2nd Mass's kids there and made an extremely surprise attack on the 7th Mass survivors. And it felt damn good to put Tessa back in her place.

I followed Weaver inside the house, not sure if anyone was inside at the moment. Actually, the remaining members of the 7th Mass were inside, all around the dining table. Some of them made an attempt to run out the back when they saw me and Weaver, but were forced back into the house since some of our fighters were out back.

"Stay put and I'll let you live," Weaver said authority strong in his tone.

Karma was so, so freaking great to me, because Tessa was sitting right next to where I was standing. Now that my gun was present, she looked terrified of me. She kept fidgeting in her seat and kept looking around for a place to make an escape.

"One more move and I'll blow your damn head off," I informed her. I had to hold back a laugh at the fear overpowering her eyes at that moment. She tried to make some sort of comeback at me, but all that came out was a stutter.

"Karma's a real bitch, isn't it?" Tessa frowned at me, clearly pissed but still afraid. I don't know what on earth was keeping me from putting a bullet through her head, but believe me, there was almost nothing that would make me happier.

Now all we had to do was wait. I'm not exactly the most patient person ever, so I was a little concerned when the 2nd Mass hadn't shown up yet. Was Alyssa okay? Was Clayton even taking them back here? Were Matt, Hal, and Jimmy holding up alright? What if Clayton takes them all directly towards the aliens? What if-

"You alright, solider?"

I looked over at Captain Weaver. "Keep letting my thoughts get the better of me."

"They'll be fine, don't worry."

"I'm not worried it's just that-" I cut myself off, sighing. Sometimes I need a pause button on life so I can calm myself down. "Alyssa's all I have you know? The only person keeping what little hope I have alive."

Weaver nodded. "I understand that. That's how I felt about my wife and daughters but now…" He didn't finish that sentence, probably at too much pain to continue with it.

"Don't worry, Captain. I'm sure they're still out there." He smiled, about to say something, when we heard voices coming from a little ways down the road. It was the 2nd Mass! Thank God.

"Alright! I want eight of you here watching them, two of you upstairs on the balcony, and the rest of you outside with me and Parker. Stay covered until I give the signal!" As Weaver barked out orders, I loaded a couple more bullets into my gun and stood by the old door. Weaver and I watched the kids nearing through the small windows on the door.

"I don't want you holding back on this, Parker. Do what you gotta do and don't regret it."

I gave one nod and turned back to the window. Tom was walking next to a guard with his hands in the air. Matt was a few steps ahead of him, but kept glancing over his shoulder to make sure his dad was okay. Hal was next to Tom, but two other guards were between them, watching their every move.

"No! I'm not going! DAD!" Matt screamed as a helpless Lourdes tried to keep him walking. Tom took three steps forward towards Matt and the guard raised his gun to him. Tom stopped instantly and put his hands up. Just as the guards finger was about to pull the trigger, Weaver yanked open the door and shot the man right in the back. We swiftly moved outside along with Dai and two other fighters.

"Drop 'em!" Weaver shouted as we stood in a straight line. A man cocked his gun at Weaver, and I would've shot at him, but the captain beat me to it by a fraction of a second. I need to get a lesson from Weaver as soon as possible.

"Okay, who's next?" he yelled and looked expectantly at the men with guns. "Who's next?"

Tessa's dad and Clayton looked around at the fighters from behind the Sanctuary, in front of, and on the balcony and decided to put their weapons on the ground. Smart decision.

"What about me, Dan?" Clayton being a kiss-ass asked. "You gonna shoot me too?" I got a little uncomfortable at the way he was eyeing Hal. This guy's gonna try and pull something. Weaver lowered his gun, but Tom raised his a little higher. He probably saw the way Clayton was looking at Hal.

"Tom?" Clayton looked at him. "So what's the next step in this plan of yours?" He whipped out a hand gun and aimed for Hal. "'Cause I was thinkin' maybe-"

A gunshot boomed through the quiet meadow, and it took me a couple seconds to realize that _I_ had pulled the trigger first. Clayton fell to the ground with a hole in his heart. Fuck yeah, bitches. _Fuck_ yeah. Don't you _ever_ screw with this fourteen-year-old.

Tom approached Clayton with his gun still pointed at him, just in case I had missed his heart and he wasn't quiet dead yet. Hal's head immediately turned back to look at me, bewilderment thick in his eyes. I lowered my gun to my side and walked over to my almost brother. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he said not breaking the eye contact. He's either shocked that I'd actually kill someone or he hasn't had too many near-death experiences. Or perhaps both.

Hal looked over at the dead Clayton, and then said "I'm okay." He had been holding his breath since he started gasping for air a few moments after that. I was just about to go ambush Alyssa when Hal engulfed me into a brotherly hug that I was not at all expecting. But, I gladly reciprocated and smiled jokingly at him. "Hal Mason was actually scared for once? What has the world come to?"

"Not funny," he said pointing at me with his finger, not approving of his words being used against him. Tom came and gave Hal a hug of relief.

"Did you know they were waiting for us?" Hal asked his father.

Tom just smiled. "I hoped." He patted Hal on the side and then walked over to Weaver. "Wasn't sure you were gonna show up."

Weaver glanced over at me, a little pride in his eyes, and replied with, "Almost didn't."

"Dad!" Ben exclaimed and ran down the winding steps from the balcony. I forgot he even came back with us…

I glanced to my left and saw Alyssa standing with the group of kids and Lourdes. I smirked and jogged over to her, noticing the pissed off expression she usually wore even more apparent on her face. "No I'm-glad-you're-alive-and-thank-you-for-saving-my-ass hug?"

"One day, I'm going to hit you so damn hard you won't be able to shoot for months." Nevertheless, she gave me a hug, and I could tell she was super relieved that I had made it back alive. And for the first time in forever, I was glad I was alive too.

Hal, Matt, and Ben joined Alyssa and I. Hal then looked at me. "No hug for the guy you're desperately in love with?" He said glancing at Ben. Matt, Hal, and Alyssa laughed at for some reason. What in the name of fuck were they talking-

Oh shit. Oh fucking shit. Alyssa saw our hands…

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I said so deadly serious, that it wiped the smirk off of Hal's face. I think at times he actually is afraid of me. I was about to slap him, power building in my arm when he stopped me.

"Blame Alyssa, she's the one that thought of it." So I turned around and punched her in the arm as hard as possibly could.

"THAT FUCKING HURT!" she screamed and grabbed her forearm.

"I learned from the best," I retorted.

"You bitch!" she said. She looked at our faces. "You two look like sun burnt strawberries."

Before I slugged her again, someone called out, "You've got some major guts, Parker." Jimmy.

"Why does everyone seem to call me Parker around here?" I asked. Jimmy grinned at me gave me a tight hug (the third one I had gotten in the past three minutes), and I don't know why, but I felt a lot more calm as he did. Like I didn't just shoot someone in the heart calm. He smiled at me and I returned the heart warming grin.

And as if I wasn't feeling calm and happy enough, Jimmy took a soccer ball and put it on Ben's chest. "Thanks for coming back for us. You did really good." That probably just made my freaking day.

And even though I had just killed somebody (and socked Alyssa in the arm), I felt on top of the world. My best friend was by my side, I had the brothers I always wanted, and I had Jimmy. Maybe later, something will happen between the two of us.

Maybe.

* * *

_Dawwwwwww wasn't that just sweet?;p So I'm expecting (more rather hoping) we'll get a few reviews for this chapter, because we've been working hard on it for the whole month, but, if you're mad at us for not posting for so long therefore do not feel we should be rewarded with a kind, generous review, then I'll understand:) BUT I'D REALLLLYYYYYY APPRECIATE IT!:)  
Keep the Resistance Strong, And Falling Skies On._

_-Parker_

What she said;D Stay badass. ~Carter


	8. What Hides Beneath

_Well hello Falling Skies Folk!:D YAY WE'RE GETTING BETTER AT UPDATING! Okay, so a lot happens in this chapter, so enjoy my readers! And also, if you would like to see what Kaylee Parker and Alyssa Carter look like, you are in luck!:D We have created a Facebook page called "Alyssa Carter & Kaylee Parker" and would ever so love it if you liked us!:D By the way, THANKS FOR 1,000+ HITS!:DDDDDDD We love you all too!:) Enjoy because I've been typing all of Alyssa's freaking POV since TWLEVE YESTERDAY and just finished at five today. My dad is mad at me because I've been in my room this whole freaking time and wouldn't come out until I finished. I'm not doing that again._ Ever._ So drop a review please! It makes me feel like some one cares about how hard we work!:D -Parker_

Hey guys! Hope you like it! I wrote this whole chapter in Kaylee and I's english class;D As always please review! And don't to like our Facebook page!:D -Carter

* * *

Chapter 8-What Hides Beneath

Kaylee's POV

I won't go into detail about the trip back home from the blasted Sanctuary, since I'm not exactly sure went on because I was zoned out the whole time, but I can't tell you how much I actually missed the school. I missed seeing the civilians, my cot, and the normalish feeling there was. The 2nd Mass was glad to have us back by the looks of it, and we returned the mutual feeling.

Weaver had been extremely short-handed with patrols while we were gone though (even if it was for two days). The only thing I paid attention to was Weaver informing me of the attack on the alien structure over Boston in five days.

"The 2nd Mass is in dire need of explosives and those mech bullets you have. Is there anyway you could make them for us?" He had asked.

"Yeah. I just need pieces of a mech and some materials for the explosives. Won't take me too long to do it all."

So that's when Weaver privileged me with the task of making a special bomb to blow up a leg of the structure and mech bullets. Which means that everything is stellar again, right?

Haha, no.

Let's skip a little forward, shall we?

* * *

"Kaylee, I want you, Ben, and Karen out in Boston tonight. I'm need you guys to see if you can find any mech parts to melt down for making bullets or any information you can gather about the structure. Alright?"

"C'mon, Captain. We don't even get a day off after all that's happened?" Ben groaned.

"I actually agree with Ben. We just got back two hours ago; can't we relax a little longer?" I asked.

"Two days was long enough. My other fighters are worn out for covering for your shifts. Consider yourselves lucky I didn't send you guys as soon as you came back." I sighed. We tried our best. At least we get to use our bikes. I haven't ridden mine in four weeks. I missed it a lot.

Like I said, we've been "home" for two hours, so I didn't have time to fully unload all of weapons and ammunition. As soon as we found Karen, the three of us got our bikes from the parking lot, and made our way over to Weaver, who was giving us a map.

"So keep following the main road and you'll see the street signs that'll lead you to Boston. It's about a twenty minute ride. Can you handle it?" he asked.

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Karen said while Ben and I nodded in agreement.

"Alright. Good luck."

I revved up my bike and took the lead of the three of us. I liked going fast in general, but I honestly just wanted to get back already and sleep. I was freaking tired and so damn jealous that Alyssa was already in our room sleeping right now. Lucky bitch.

Ben wasn't as horrible at weaponry anymore…well kinda. He can shoot decently, but he takes too long to aim properly. And if he kept it up, he'd get himself killed. Thank God he knows how to ride a bike already though.

"So how was the Sanctuary?" Karen called over the loud motors of our bikes.

"Good, if you're into the whole psycho-bastards-trying-to-hand-you-over-to-the skitters type thing."

She laughed. "Hal told me that you saved his life."

"Hell yeah I did!" I shouted. I have no idea why she's being so nice right now, but it's nice having a conversation with her and not want to stab her in the eyes you know?

"She shot a guy straight through the heart!" Ben told Karen as we sped through the end of Acton. We had about seventeen more miles to ride over before we hit Boston. I can't imagine why Weaver would send some of his youngest fighters out on this mission alone. He must really trust us then.

"Impressive," she said and glanced at me, then back at the road.

"Just keeping it real."

The icy wind of Massachusetts tugged at my loose hair as we drove down a concrete road. Frost was beginning to line houses all around the area, giving us another reminder about how winter was settling in quickly. My ears and fingers were numb from the cold, but I didn't mind. Being numb was a price I was willing to pay to be able to ride my motorcycle again. I felt…free. Free from all the hurt and pain. Free from the permanent sorrow scarred on my heart. Free from thoughts and past memories.

Free from a world filled with aliens.

A blinding light flashed before us, and then that horrid, horrid sound of a mech moaning resulted. My bike skidded on a patch of ice, and my foot jerked in an extremely uncomfortable way. Ben stopped successfully, while Karen had the exact opposite. Her bike's break wasn't working all too well, so she was at least fifteen yards ahead of us when it finally decided to stop. She was hurled off the bike, and slammed her head on the street as she whipped off. Oh, shit.

"KAREN!" I screamed, to see if she was still conscious or not. She only lay there, not moving a muscle. She's either unconscious, or…dead.

I tried to run over to her, but my foot slowed me down a bit. I hadn't sprained it or anything, it just was really sore from that jolt. Ben stayed back, and I don't blame him for it. After what happened last time, I need him to stay put for the sake of Karen.

However, instead of shooting her, the mech lowered its light a bit, and two harnessed kids came and began dragging her away. FUCK! There was no way I was shooting at kids, and even if I tried scaring them by doing it, I'd hurt Karen in the process or get shot by the mech. Fuck those things must be really smart.

The mech was facing my direction and had its gun pointed at me, almost as if it were daring me to make a move. I almost pulled the trigger on my gun at that moment, but I considered that there might be a skitter around controlling this thing. So if I did that I'd get Ben and I killed. I really can't win here, can I?

I watched helplessly as the kids pulled Karen down the road even farther. I felt so damn guilty, and I could only imagine what Hal-

Oh my God. Hal. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!

So what _do_ you do when your practically brother's girlfriend is being dragged away by two mind controlled kids while a robot alien is a hair away from shooting you with its three inch wide bullets? That's right,

You blow the damn alien straight to hell.

If I couldn't save Karen, I at least have to let Hal know I blew the mech into a thousand pieces. That much I could do. I reached into my holster that had C4 in it, and slowly slipped it out. Karen and the kids were far away enough so that they wouldn't get hurt if I released it. My thumb hit the countdown button, and I chucked it straight at the mech's head.

Tick, tick, BOOM.

And it was raining mech all over. But I didn't have time to admire what a great shot that was, because I could already hear a skitter screeching in the distance.

"KAYLEE LET'S GO!" Ben yelled.

I grabbed a piece of the mech, limp-ran to my bike, and gassed the thing as hard as I freaking could. Ben was right next to me as we rode as fast as our bikes could take us, which for me is 235 miles per hour. His bike lagged a little, but he was still going super fast.

"Can you hear anything?" I shouted over the engines roaring.

"Not anymore! I think we might have lost them!" He shouted back. We continued at the speed we were going at and I calmed down just a tad bit. This can't be happening! Just like that, we lost another fighter. Sure she was a bitch at first, but I think she was starting to grow out of that. Now she's going to be harnessed and Hal's going to be so beat up about this. I'm the worst person alive.

I repeated that sentence over and over in my head the entire way back to John F. Kennedy. Ben was silent for once; he seemed a little worried about his brother, too. But it was the look on Tom and Weaver's face that tore me apart as soon as we arrived back. It was just the two of them outside. It _was_ pretty late outside, maybe around twelve or one.

It was then Weaver asked the question that made me feel sick: "Where's Karen?"

I dismounted my bike-rather sloppily due to my awkward foot if I may add-and my eyes met Ben's. Neither of us wanted to retell what just happened a matter of minutes ago.

"Well?" Weaver asked impatiently.

I sighed and gripped the handle bar of my bike tighter. "When we were riding, a mech was in the middle of the road. It flashed its light in our eyes and made all of us skid. Karen flipped over her bike and got knocked unconscious. And-" Oh my God, Kaylee! Just fucking breathe!

I took a very short breath then exhaled it loudly, showing them I was trying to calm myself down. "And then, some harnessed kids came and took her away. I tried, I _really_ tried to get her back, I swear. But I couldn't-" Again with another short breath. It came out a little shakier than the last one.

"It's alright, Kaylee," Tom said and put a hand on my shoulder, urging me to continue.

"I couldn't shoot those kids. Harnessed or not, I cannot shoot innocent children. And the mech was in my way so I couldn't physically take her from them."

"We're sorry, Weaver. This is completely our faults," Ben finally spoke up.

"Parker, Mason, look at me." Slowly, I raised my down casted eyes to Weaver's. "I know you both feel like this was your mistake, but it wasn't. It was my mistake for letting two fourteen-year-olds and a sixteen-year-old out on this big of a mission without some backup. I don't want either of you bringing yourselves down about this. I'm just glad that the both of you made it back alive and not injured. That's all that matters to me right now. We're gonna have a meeting tomorrow about Porter's new orders, so I'll bring it up. Don't mention this to any of the civilians though okay?"

I nodded meekly. I was always going to take the fault for this, because it _is_ my fault. Weaver is just trying to be a good captain by making us feel better, but it's not working on me. If I had just ran to her faster, Karen could still be back with us.

Tom offered to take our bikes to the parking lot for us, which I accepted. After that, something inside me just snapped, and I became mad and guilty all over. I turned briskly and stormed inside. Jimmy was outside the infirmary and smiled at me as I passed him. But the moment our eyes locked, his smile disappeared instantaneously. Mr. Expert On Reading Eyes and shit.

"What's up?" he asked, matching my pace.

I replied with silence, just really wanting to be alone so I could scream at myself for being a totally dipshit. I was the biggest fucking screw up in the whole damn 2nd Mass, and I didn't exactly feel like sharing that.

I was going to turn into my room, when Jimmy grabbed my arm gently. "Walk with me, will you?"

Don't know why I didn't say no, but Jimmy clearly knew something was bothering me to an extent, and I didn't want him worrying about me. So we walked around the school a little, and eventually we went down to the basement. I think he knew I was about to blow up any second now, and it was best if I didn't wake up all of the 2nd Mass in the process.

I tensed slightly, but eventually I just let it all go. I angrily kicked the storage lockers and screamed, "DAMN IT!" My fingers clenched the sides of my head and then I paced slightly. I can't even describe what kind of emotion was going on inside of me, but it was painful and made me feel like crap. So I started throwing some items across the room and kicked some more stuff on the ground.

"Parker-"

The locker had a dent in it now.

"Parker, look at me."  
I slammed my fist into the metal door and just went even more ballistic in the head. Jimmy grabbed my hands and pinned them at my side and stared straight at me with his damn beautiful eyes. The rampage I just had subsided a little, but I was no where near okay.

He slowly let go of my hands, sensing I calmed down just a tad. "What happened?"

I didn't even refrain from telling him; I just flat out poured all of the shit I experienced the past few hours. He made eye contact with me the whole time and kept nodding at me to show he was listening. I told him how damn guilty I felt for all of this and how Hal was going to be so hard on himself after he found out. And after I finally took a breath, an actual breath, once everything had been told, Jimmy reached out and gave me a hug.

I rested my head on his shoulder and tightly hung on to his jacket. Don't worry, there's no way in hell I'm going to cry. Kaylee Parker never cries. He held me back just as tightly as I was holding on to him, and I couldn't stop thinking about how he was the sweetest guy I've ever met and how it was crazy that we became close after a skitter attack.

"It's not your fault, Kaylee. If it's anything's, it's Karen's bike's fault. It could've happened to any of you, honestly. Hal will move on in time, and I know that if you could, you'd go back and change things to help her. Don't take this all onto your plate; you did all you could and that's what counts. I'm just relieved you made it back okay."

And if that wasn't enough to make you all warm and fuzzy on the inside, he gently (so gently I keep questioning myself as to if it even happened) kissed me on my head. I'm going to let you know now, that I have never had a boyfriend in my life, so this feeling was something different. Way, way different.

"Last time we were here, I was the one giving you the reassuring hug. Now it's the other way around," I laughed slightly.

Jimmy chuckled a little. "Funny how things work like that."

Jimmy agreed to stay up with me that night. There was no way I could sleep now; my head was in too much of a rampage. I can't stop picturing Hal's face when he finds out about Karen being taken. Hal was the brother I wish I had, and we really did have that brother-sister relationship.

My brother was a pretty terrible brother, not gonna lie. We were best friends growing up, but as soon as he hit twelve, he just stopped interacting with me. Of course I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't have a decent conversation with me. I missed out on all the fights and the brotherly advice that eventually came out of it. And after our parents died, neither of us spoke to each other under any circumstances.

We rarely saw each other after that day. My mom and dad gave Alyssa's parents custody of us, but that never stopped him. He was always out with his friends, always spending the night at their houses, always too busy to check in on his little sis or to just stop by and say "hey." If we had talked all of this out, I wouldn't be such a wreck now. I guess I'll never get the chance to.

"What are you thinking about?" Jimmy asked softly.

The two of us were leaning against the rows of lockers in the hallway that lead to the basement. We went upstairs after I chilled out; both of us decided that the basement was still too creepy for us.  
I sighed and leaned my head back on the ice cold locker. "My brother."

"Is he dead?"

"Probably."

"My sister and parents are gone, too."

I gave him a half-smirk. "Looks like we both got family issues, huh?"

Jimmy chuckled a little. "Yeah, guess we do."

A moment of quietness hung over us. It was so peaceful when everyone else was asleep. "Were you and your sis close?"

"The closest. She was really annoying at times, but she always made me laugh."

"So you were the oldest?"

He nodded. "Were you?"

"Nah, I was the baby of the family," I said and played with some loose material of my jeans. "Really sucked though."

"It sucked being the oldest too, don't worry."

"At least you and your sister had a good relationship though. My brother and I never talked to each other for years."

Jimmy frowned. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. I'd take an annoying, fighting brother over a quiet one. I kinda wish I had that male role model in my life you know?"

"Well what about your dad?"

Ice spread over my heart. That seems to happen every time someone asks me about my parents. And it hurts even worse each time.

I looked down at the loose string on my skinny jeans and tugged at it a little more. "My parents died when I was eleven."

The quietness rushed back over us, and Jimmy only stared at me. That's all that I would say about my parents, nothing more. I just couldn't bring myself to open up about that. Not even to Alyssa. She still has no idea how mentally tormented I am after that.

"I'm sorry I-"

"No it's fine. You didn't know," I said quickly, needing to change the subject. "What were you doing the day of the attack?"

Jimmy cracked a smile. "I ditched school and saw a movie with my friends. We barely managed to find a safe place to hide while the aliens invaded Acton. Somehow we all got separated, and that's when Weaver found me in an abandoned grocery store. What about you?"

"Alyssa and I were watching a movie at her house. But luckily we were far away enough from the bombs to stay safe. And we were at a house getting food when Hal and Ben found us and took us back to the 2nd Mass." Seems like it was forever ago, that day Hal and Ben found us. But it's only been four weeks, nearly a month now. The 2nd Mass has been through such a crap load that we've all become close as if we've known each other for years.

"Do you think we can beat them?"

I thoroughly thought that through. "Sometimes it's a yes, other times it's a no. The Mass's seem to be diminishing faster and faster, but I think that there's a small chance we can pull through. What do you think?"

Jimmy nodded in agreement. "That's how I feel. But with you, I think the 2nd Mass is untouchable."

I laughed at that. "Thanks. I needed a laugh." I rested my head on his shoulder, actually feeling a little tired.

He gently put his head on top of mine, silently telling me he didn't mind me leaning on him. I was grateful for that; I really needed someone to lean on these days. I find it a little insane that I've been so open with him and actually trusting someone else in my life. It's really weird.

"Ugh, I don't want to go to that meeting," I groaned, remembering it.

"I'll sit next to you, if that make you feel any better," he offered.

"I'd really appreciate it."

And we just sat like that, talking for hours and hours. About what we hated and loved. Pet peeves (my list going on much longer than his). What we missed most about our regular lives (mine was music, his was actual food). Things we could change about ourselves. Things we want to do if we make it out of this war. What guns we liked using best. Practically everything two fourteen-year-olds could think of.

"What did you want to be when you were older?" Jimmy asked.

"Pass."

"What? You can't pass."

"Hell yeah I can. Ask me something else."

"Why won't you tell me?" he wondered.

"'Cause it's not important."

"Yeah it is. I want to know everything about you," Jimmy protested.

"That's either really sweet or super creepy."

"Oh my God. You just rarely talk about yourself or open up so I want to make the most of it."

I looked up at him. "You really should've started with that."

He looked back at me, "Shut up and just tell me."

"No."

"Please?"

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Kayleeeeee," Jimmy whined.

"Holy shit it's five," I pointed at the clock on the wall.

"I'm going to keep asking you until you tell me."

"And I'm going to ignore you until you stop." Jimmy, clearly not prepared for that comeback, paused briefly and tried to think of something to retort, but came up with nothing. I pretty much maxed out my talking, so I stayed silent the rest of the time we were sitting there. We had about an hour before everyone else got up. And I was so, so bored.

Once the 2nd Mass _was_ up, Jimmy and I got up and began walking around the school. The meeting wasn't until one, so we had a bunch of time to kill. I could shoot myself out of pure boredom, but an out of sorts Weaver found us walking and stopped us.

"Parker, you start bomb making today. I'll show you where everything is at. Jimmy, I need you out here helping the other fighters with building a defense ring in the front. Let's go!"

I told Jimmy I'd see him at the meeting, then followed Weaver back into John F. Kennedy High. He opened the door to a different history class, and there sat Kaylee Parker Heaven. State of the art bullet makers, top quality materials for explosive creating, shellings of all kinds of guns, _everything_.

"Can this get any better?" I grinned and made way into the glorious room. "I haven't seen one of these in years." My uncle had the same bullet manufacturer that sat before me, and it was the best of the best.

"You're by far the weirdest girl I've ever met," Weaver said shaking his head, "but without you, the 2nd Mass wouldn't be pulling through on this attack."

"Thanks, Weaver."

"Don't mention it. However, you might not like what I'm about to tell you."

I looked at him, puzzled as to what he meant.

Right then, a man of about forty walked (actually limping slightly) in here, escorted by two fighters. He had a ton of tats, long-ass hair, and a bandaged leg.

"Who's the little girl?" the man asked, motioning at me. Oh, hell no. Kaylee Parker is _**not**_ a little girl.

"This here is Kaylee Parker. She's the 2nd Mass's weapons manufacturer."

"Adorable," the man replied, sarcasm dripping in his tone.

"Who's the dude with the hippie hair?" I questioned Weaver, not so quietly. It pisses me off when adults call me "little" or "missy" and shit like that. They don't know what the hell I've been through.

Weaver was unfazed by the question which made it all the funnier. "That is John Pope, convict and former leader of an outlaw gang that stole from the 2nd Mass. Not much else to tell, other than he's going to be assisting you with making bullets and explosives. He'll be on guard at all times, but find me if you need anything."

Pope? Seems like a familiar name…I probably heard it from Dr. Glass or some other fighter or something.

"_You_ make weapons, sweetheart?" Pope inquired, moving over to me slightly.

I chuckled dryly, staring up at this guy. He was a couple inches taller than me, but not much. "Call me little girl or sweetheart again and I'll blast a hole in your other leg."

Pope raised his eyebrows at this. "Oh really?"

"Shot a man straight in the heart yesterday. I won't have problem shooting you too."

A flash of surprisement and a small amount of fear became present in Pope's eyes, but disappeared quickly. "Well aren't you just rainbows and sunshine?"

"Kaylee!" Matt ran into the room in the middle of Pope and I's "dispute."

I instantly softened; kids had that effect on me. "Hey, Matt. Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Don't worry, class is cancelled until the attack's over," Uncle Scott followed into the room. Great, more people.

"What's with the vitrolo?" Pope pointed at the big radio Scott had. Matt told me how he and Scott were trying to contact other resistance groups with and old transmitter.

"It's a radio transmitter," Scott told an uninterested Pope. "Scouts found it at a community college, and these types last forever."

"Grrreaaattt," he replied. "Maybe you can get MPR on that thing and we can bore the aliens to death."

"It's not supposed to kill them," Matt said matter-of-factly.

"Well I'm officially not interested. But somebody's got a death wish 'cause these bomb making formulas are a _**joke**_!"

I took the paper Pope was holding and read what was on it. "This is downright _awful_." Pope nodded, pointing at all the papers and the shitty formulas scribbled all over. Not even in my worst nightmares would I see this kind of stuff.

"The ratios are all wrong," I said disgustedly. No wonder Weaver needed help so much.

"Hey, hey, hey! You may have sold the colonel, but I am not buying any of this so-"

And that's the point where I began tuning them out. I'm here to make weapons, not fights. So I grabbed an eraser, wiped the entire stack of papers clean, and started writing out the correct ratios and formulas.

You could say I was a bit of a math person. Probably was one of the few classes I paid attention in because that's what I used to make guns and explosives. And one of the punishments for the ungodly amount of detentions I had was being a math tutor. There's no way in hell I'd ever be a teacher after that experience.

I perked back up when Scott accidentally pushed a button on a mech's arm piece and blasted a hole in the wall. Matt totally freaked at that and ran out the room. I was about to go after him, but it didn't feel right to me. The mech terrified Matt, but I wasn't afraid of it, so there was nothing I could really say to make him feel better. Actually, nothing scares me anymore. I think it's because I'd be okay with dying. I have no one left in the world, apart from Alyssa. She's in good hands though, so I think in time, she'd move on if I did die. Sad that I've thought this stuff through, right?

"We've got some hard stuff to play around with," Pope groaned as Scott exited the room with his transmitter.

"No kidding. You went to college right?"

"That hard to believe?"

"No, I just need you to look over these." I handed him the newly improved ratios.

Pope's eyes scanned the several things I wrote out. "Flawless."

"Thanks."

"You really know your stuff, kid."

"Is that a compliment?" I asked in sarcastic disbelief.

"Don't make me regret giving it. Let's get to work."

So although the both of us started out wrong, our knowledge of explosives and weapon crafting seriously made us great partners. Pope's probably the first person I've talked to that understands a huge side of me that no one gets. Even though he was an ex-con in pre-invasion time, he gave out pretty great advice. And he didn't take forever to make about a point; he straight out cut to the chase. I really appreciated stuff like that.

"U.S. Army?" he read my gloves.

"Yeah," I nodded while finishing a new ratio, "they belonged to my uncle."

"He the one who taught you how to do all this?"

I nodded again while Pope started to inspect the mech's armor again. "I wonder what makes these things so damn impenetrable."

"Their armor is made of chromium and steel, so it seems almost impossible to shoot."

Pope stared at me strangely. "How'd you find that out?"

"From taking apart mechs I destroyed."

"How'd you take them out?"

"C4 sometimes, mainly bullets."

"But-"

"Did you ever think about using their own metal to kill them?"

Pope's eyes were confused, but out of nowhere, something clicked and he understood. "Because that's the only thing that can penetrate their metal."

"Exactly."

He sat on a metal stool, dumbfounded and surprised. "Well I'll be damned. A fourteen-year-old knows more about guns and bullets than I do."

"What did you major in anyways?"

"Culinary Arts." The fuck…

"So you're a chef?"

"Was. Cooked for prison blocks for awhile. If they didn't like my food, I lost body parts. "

I smiled. This guy had one hell of a story.

"What'd you want to be? An army recruit or something?"

"Yeah," I lied. "Kind of my only option."

Pope glanced at me as he ripped apart a sliver of the mech to examine. "Everyone's got plenty of options, kid. You can do whatever you want; don't let people stop you."

"That's not what's stopping me. Besides, that's my past. I'd rather focus on surviving this war than pretending my dreams can come true and shit like that." I don't know why I responded so coldly. Maybe because I was still in a bad mood from the whole Karen thing. Damn the meeting was getting closer and closer. And I still haven't prepared my "I'm Sorry" speech for Hal.

"You've gotta be the first kid I've met that acts twice your age."

I shrugged, scribbling down some final notes and diagrams. "Had to grow up fast."

"Parent issues?"

"Something like that."

Pope dropped the subject and worked his way over to a stack of papers I hadn't gotten to correcting yet. "Unbelievable," he muttered reading the absolute suckage, "Where's the sense of style? Stagecraft?" Seriously, how bad can one guy fail at this?

Matt reentered the room, slightly hesitant. Pope stared him down a moment, before asking, "What do you want?"

"Um, I-I left my backpack," he pointed at the corner where his red backpack laid. He stool looked pretty spooked about before.

Pope, paper still in hand, motioned to the backpack, allowing Matt to retrieve it. Matt walked over to his backpack, but didn't pick it up. He made eye contact with both of us and stopped. "How do you guys know so much about bombs, anyway? Did you go to school?"

"Yeah, I did the four year program at Cochran Correctional." That explains a lot. "You know if your old man finds out you're hanging with me, your life will discover the true meaning of the word 'corporal punishment' after he shoots me."

"I know," Matt responded all innocent like, "he told me to stay away." The youngest Mason walked a little bit more toward his pack, but paused and stared at the sheet concealing a mech body. Pope was watching him, and decided to call him on it.

"Don't worry, kid," he limped over to the table and whisked the sheet off. "Old Sparky here is as dead as dead gets." I couldn't help but notice how much Matt backed up against a table, fear screaming in his eyes.

"It still scares me…" he admitted to us. Of all the times in the world I've wanted to give him a big hug, now topped the list.

"Yeah? Why?" Pope asked half-interested with that tone of voice that said he clearly he had better things to do than listen to a nine-year-old talk about his fears.

"Because they kill people," Matt said in a 'duh dude' way.

"Kid, a lot of things kill people." He was twisting some mech piece that I couldn't identify.

"Not like this. I still have nightmares about them. Taking away Ben, or hurting Mom. I wanna be brave! Like Dad and Hal. Like you and Kaylee." Pop finally made eye contact with Matt, surprised at the compliment. "But I'm scared all the time." There was a newfound anger in Matt's voice as he said this, very frustrated with being afraid of the aliens.

"It ain't the Boogie Man, kid." I think it's like the third time he's called him kid. But he calls everyone who isn't his age 'kid' anyways so I can't really call him out on that. "He's just a pile of rock-em-sock-em junk. Look," he picked up another scrap, "they've got gears, bearings, servos. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a 'Made in Japan' sticker in there."

Pope showed Matt a 44 Cal. mech bullet that was recycled from U.S. bullets. It makes me so freaking pissed that the mechs took all the shells from bullets that were in the U.S. Army dumps and turned them into their own. I mean, where's the originality in that? They can make fucking aircrafts, build huge-ass motherships over every major damn city in the world, create mind-controlling harnesses, and make their own robots, but they can't make their own bullets?

But, as I always do retrace my thoughts, I'd be dishonest if I told you I wasn't thankful that they _did_ make their own bullets from old shellings. Otherwise, I would never have discovered how to make mech bullets. And according to Weaver, the entire 2nd Mass was relying on them. Also, I wouldn't have learned what kind of metal the mech's were since their armor metal came up neutral on my self tests of it. The bullet itself actually had the traces of chromium and steel in it. Alyssa found me downstairs in her basement countless nights trying to figure this out, and I'm glad as fuck I did.

"I have to go help Uncle Scott with the transmitter, but I'll see you guys later!" Matt ran out the door with a wide smile on his face.

I frowned and turned my head toward the ex con. "'See you guys later?'"

"I told the kid that he could come back and help us out if we needed it."

I shook my head disapprovingly. "Tom's gonna have your ass when he finds about that."

Pope shrugged. "Whoops. So are we getting started or what?"

I gave a curt nod, then started up the burner underneath a giant pot. Our plan was to save the batteries on the bullet machines for when we used actual bullets, and to use the pot to melt mech metal for mech bullets. We had a million reloaders (and I really wanted to know where the 2nd Mass got all of them) and Pope and I started getting to work.

And from there on, we spent the next four hours making mech bullets. We had around 2,000 finished, but that wouldn't last nearly long enough for all the fighters we had. Pope and I have our work cut out for us. At this rate, there's no way we'll finish in time. Perhaps Weaver could loan us some fighters and we can speed things up a bit.

When my eyes glanced at the clock in the classroom, I groaned internally. It was 12:50. I had ten minutes to think of something I could tell Hal so I wouldn't feel like a total ass.  
"Hate to leave you here all by yourself, but I gotta go to a meeting," I tell Pope as he takes some more of the mech metal to dissemble.

"You're a fighter?" No, I just happen to like making things to kill aliens for fun.

"Did you think any different?" I moved passed the guards at the door and down the hallways. All the vile feelings from yesterday raced back into my heart once I remembered again what the meeting was about.

That thirty second walk down the halls of John F. Kennedy high school was one of the hardest things I've had to do in my life. The only thing my eyes permitted me to see was the tiled flooring of the hallways, blurred around the edges from the focus I had in the ground. I felt sick; guilt stirred uncomfortably in my stomach. To make the matter worse, Hal's smiling face was waiting at the end of the hall outside Weaver's office.

"Hey, Parker."

I dragged my eyes from the ground and casted them to Hal's. _I'm sorry_, I thought to him, _I'm so, so sorry_. Before I couldn't stand to look at him any longer, Hal's smile faded. "What's up?" Guilt put my eyes back on the floor as I walked inside. I can't be around Hal right now. Hell, I can't do anything but _wait_ right now.

Jimmy was sitting in the classroom already, an open seat next to him. I sunk into the chair so silently, Jimmy jumped when he turned and saw me sitting there.

"That's freaky."

I groaned and put my face in my hands while resting my elbows on my knees. "I feel like a total bitch."

I could hear Jimmy lean forward too. "You're not," he said quiet yet firm, "just don't look at Hal when Weaver makes the announcement."

More people filed in and sat around the classroom. Alyssa sat in the row behind me next to Ben and Hal was in the third row of chairs, looking for a person who would never show up. Tim was up front with Weaver and this new guy Danner or something. When I took a closer look at Weaver's face, it didn't appear to be the "ex-army man" face he usually had on. Irritation creased his brows and anxiety lined his eyes. This is way out of his character.

"Listen up," his voice echoed around the room, "I have some good news and I have some bad news. Good news is that bullet production and bomb making are now underway. We're making good progress, and by the time we head for the structure we'll be ready." I breathed in the silence of the room before Weaver continued on with what I'd been dreading for the past thirteen hours.

"Now it hurts me to say this, but last night, we lost one of our fighters on a scouting mission. She wasn't killed luckily, but she's probably harnessed by now. We have got to be more careful now, more than ever. We're dwindling enough as it is; I can't lose anymore fighters. We've lost enough."

That's when I made the mistake of turning my head after pushing my bangs out of my face. Hal's eyes automatically locked with mine and my heart dropped all the way to hell. He made the connection between my odd behavior moments ago and Weaver's words now. And I think I might have seen tears in his eyes.

Hal got up slowly, and walked out of the room, but judging by how hard he slammed the door, he was not okay. The room was thrust into an extremely awkward quietness. I knew Hal needed time to cool off or to go hit something, but the overwhelming amount of guilt and gut-wrenching regret was something I couldn't stand down from. Unable to take it a second longer, I rose from my chair and glided out the door.

There, down the hall from Weaver's office, was Hal Mason punching and kicking lockers. I guess we're more alike than I thought. He didn't even notice me slowly approaching him until I set my hand on his tense shoulder. "Stop," I said softly, "it hurts like hell in the morning.

The eldest Mason stared back at me, broken eyes more apparent than they were a minute ago. And they seared straight into my tattered heart.

"What happened?" Hal's regular strong, brotherly voice cracking with weakness he no longer could control. I couldn't think; I was too stunned by how vulnerable Hal was being right now.

"What HAPPENED?!" Hal slammed the locker door next to me.

I blinked and stared up into his green-brown eyes, courage building into my dark soul. "Weaver sent Ben, Karen, and I on a mission to Boston. We ran into trouble on the way there; a mech was in the road. Ben and I stopped in time, but Karen's bike break wasn't working, and when it did she flipped over and hit her head on the street."

"And you didn't try and help her?! I know you hated her but is it too much to fucking ask to save the girl I love-"

"I FUCKING TRIED!" I screamed over him. All of that bottled up frustration poured out. Hal flinched a little. The only time he had heard me yell before was when we first met, and when I first spoke to him and Ben.

"I tried," I whispered irate. "There were two harnessed kids taking her away. Hal, I wanted to save her, believe me-"

"But you couldn't," Hal murmured, understanding it now.

"The mech was in my way and I had to make a choice between saving your girlfriend or saving your brother. So I made a decision and got Ben and myself out safely, no matter how much I wanted to help her out. I need you to know that I tried everything to rescue Karen but-"

Hal put his hands behind my shoulders and pulled me into a much needed hug. I held him back, patting his back slightly. This warm, homey feeling spread across my body. It was the feeling of family: being there for someone and having someone there for you.

This is what it must be like to have an actual brother. Somebody who's there to let you lean on them. The person you go to for advice and they come to you in the same way. I've never had that in my life, but I really liked having a brother figure in my life. And I think Hal liked having a sister in his.

Hal wiped his eyes furiously, as if being mad he was crying in the first place. Must be a guy pride thing.

"I wanna give you something." I reached into my hoodie pocket and pulled out the mech piece that was still in there.

"What is that?"

Gloved hand to gloved hand, I set the mech piece down. "It was from the mech that took Karen. I figured that if I couldn't save her, the least I could do was blast the alien that took her straight to hell."

Hal laughed a little at that. He examined the piece for a brief moment, and stuck it in his pocket. "Thanks, Kaylee. That really means a lot to me."

I shrugged. "Anything for my brother."

Hal chuckled and nudged me in the side. "You know I always wanted a little sister."

"Now you have one. I'm just not little."

Hal smiled widely. "You can make anyone laugh at anytime, you know that?"

I bowed cheesily. "One of my many natural talents."

"Cocky bitch."

"Arrogant bastard."

The two of us stared each other down momentarily, but ended up cracking up and high fiving each other for the excellent comebacks.

"I guess you really are my brother after all."

Hall shook his head. "I can't believe we got this close so fast. Especially since we started out wrong."

I scoffed. "Yeah, no shit. If you'll excuse me, my arrogant bastard of a brother, I have bombs to make and you have a fight to prepare for." I saluted him and turned down the hall, heaving a huge sigh of relief. Thank God he's not pissed with me. That honestly went better than I thought it would've.

So despite the awful circumstances, I gained a much needed brother after years of following my own path without someone to look up to. And no brother could be more perfect than Hal Mason.

* * *

Alyssa's POV

"Alyssa get up, Alyssa get up, Alyssa get up, Alyssa get up." I grabbed my knife from right by my sleeping bag and through it at him.

"Ow! What the fuck?" I opened my eyes and it was like looking into the sun. God, everything was so bright! I looked at Hal to see he was looking at his arm which had a minor cut on it and was bleeding.

"Did I do that?"

"YEAH!"

"Sweet. I have better aim than I though for this early-"

"Early? Its noon."

"Okay, so what? We got back around 4 A.M. this morning. That's not that much sleep considering how much I lost."

"No we got back at 4 A.M. _yesterday. _You've been asleep for over 24 hours."

"And I was perfectly fine sleeping for another 24 hours. Why did you wake me up?"

"Because we are having a meeting in thirty minutes."

"Okay so why did _you _wake me up?"

"I drew the shortest stick." I laughed at him. "Shut up and get dressed."

I stood up and pointed to the door. "Leave and I will."

He walked out and I grabbed my clothes. I was so tired when we got back I took off my weapons and shoes and fell asleep immediately. Everyone that was on that little trip did. I threw on my usual shorts, long-sleeved shirt, and looked out the window. It didn't look too cold out; I decided I didn't need my jacket so I put on my vest and some socks. My vest was one that belonged to my mom. She loved it and it had been through a lot. It was loose on me and denim. In the corner there were three stars, two silver, and one gold. My mom bought the vest at a thrift store and sewed on the stars because she said the vest was too plain.

Hal knocked on the door. "Can I come in?" he asked.

"No."

"Are you dressed?"

"Yes."

He walked in. I ran over to the door to grab my boots. He looked at my socks with his eyebrows raised. "Are those My Little Pony socks?"

"They were my little sister's!"

"I don't what's worse: the fact that you, Alyssa Carter, are wearing My Little Pony socks or that you fit into your little sister's socks." He laughed loudly.

"Just shut the hell up."

"Jeeze. Not enough beauty sleep?" he asked sarcastically.

"You just woke me up. Did you expect me to be happy? 'Cause you are sadly mistaken!"

"Calm down. Meeting's at one; don't be late."

I ran my fingers through my fingers. I really needed a shower, so I went to the girls' locker room here. Some civilians had brought water from a close by river to be used for showers since we didn't get running water. When the aliens bombed, it screwed up underground pipe lines. I took a speedy cleansing, towel drying my hair after words. It felt amazing to be clean again. I even found lotion in an open locker and used that. Once I walked back to the room to get my weapons, Kaylee wasn't there. Where the hell was she? I haven't seen her since the walk back to the school and I didn't hear her come in when I was asleep. Whatever. I'd see her at the meeting anyways.

I brushed out my hair since it was the majority of the way dry. It was five 'til one, so I headed put of the room and to Weaver's office. As I was walking out, I grabbed my belt that I kept my gun and nunchucks on. It had been my favorite belt before the attack and now it was the most convenient way to carry my weapons. I slipped my knife into my boot.

On my way to the meeting, Ben found me. "Hey, Alyssa."

"Hey, Ben."

"Here," he tossed me a gun. "It's an AK-47 assault rifle."

I looked at it and tossed it right back to him. "That's amazing, but it's of no use to me."

"And you think it's of good use for me?"  
"You're right, give it to me. You'll probably end up shooting yourself."

"Hey! I'm getting better!" Ben defended himself.

"I'll have to ask Kaylee."

"Weaver wants you to keep the gun, so don't try and "accidentally" destroy it." Damn it.

"I would never!"

"Right. I know you hate guns. Weaver wants all fighters to have at least two good guns on them."  
"Fine!"

We bickered a bit more, than walked into the meeting and sat down behind Kaylee and Jimmy. Something was up with her; she seemed even quieter than usual. And she almost always talks with Jimmy. The two were just sitting there; Kaylee had her face in her hands and Jimmy looked sympathetically at her. What was _up_?

"Have you talked to Kaylee at all today?" I whispered as quiet as possible. Thankfully my black-dressed friend didn't hear me. Now I knew something was wrong. She can always hear me, anywhere.

"Nope."

"She's quieter than normal."

"No she's not."

I rolled my eyes. "Well at least she is to me! She talks to me."

Hal sat down behind us. "Have either of you seen Karen?"

"Maybe she isn't a fighter any more because she isn't strong enough. It was probably too hard on poor little Karen."

"Shut up, Alyssa," Hal glared.

"I'm simply stating the possibilities," I smiled.

"Listen up," Weaver interrupted us, "I have some good news and I have some bad news. Good news is that bullet production and bomb making are now underway. We're making good progress, and by the time we head for the structure we'll be ready." I wonder what the bad news was. Maybe Kaylee knows about it? I know she was on a mission last night.

Weaver continued on with the news. "Now it hurts me to say this, but last night, we lost one of our fighters on a scouting mission. She wasn't killed luckily, but she's probably harnessed by now. We have got to be more careful now, more than ever. We're dwindling enough as it is; I can't lose anymore fighters. We've lost enough."

"Karen…" Hal whispered. Kaylee turned and she and Hal's eyes connected. Hal got up and left the room, slamming the door in the process. Everyone sat in silence, awkwardness running around. I was just about to ask Kaylee what the fuck happened, when she stood up and ran out after Hal. Shit, it must've something really bad.

"Dismissed," Weaver said after a couple of seconds. He seemed like he was here physically but not all the way mentally. He left abruptly after a few moments, not saying a word to anyone.

"Poor Hal," Ben said. When I didn't respond, he frowned. "I know you didn't like Karen, but come on, no one deserves that."

"I know," I said a little sharply. I took a sigh. "As much as I hate her and he annoys me, nobody deserves to lose someone they care about."

"Yeah. I feel bad not telling him myself, but Kaylee and I didn't have the guts to tell him so Weaver said he would."

"Wait. You and Kaylee were there?" He nodded. "Wow, I missed a lot. What happened?"

"We were on a scouting mission to go to Boston last night. A mech was waiting for us on the main road and Karen flipped off her bike and got knocked unconscious. Kaylee and I barely made it out alive."

I cocked my head slightly. "You like Kaylee don't you?"

"No," he answered quickly.

"I'm calling bullshit on that, bro."

He sighed. "How can you tell?"

"Gee I don't know. DUDE! You're so freaking obvious. I'm glad you admitted it though. I thought you were gonna be all like 'noooo I don't like her.' So I would have to prove I'm right and yeah. It's better you just admit it."

Ben was quiet for a second. "Am I really that obvious?"

"Hell yeah!" I laughed. "Even your brother knows. We talked about it at the Sanctuary."

"Hal?"

"No, Matt. Who do you think stupid?"

"How does he know?"

"Like I said, you weren't all that subtle about it. I'd be surprised if Matt didn't know."

"Know what?" Matt asked as he walked into the room, most likely looking for Tom or Ben. I started to speak but Ben put his hand over my mouth. I licked his hand instantly.

"Eww, gross!" he exclaimed and wiped his hand on his jeans. Matt and I laughed at him.

"Your brother likes Kaylee," I smiled at Matt.

"I KNEW IT!" Matt yelled triumphantly. Ben got an embarrassed look on his face and I began laughing.

"What are you gonna do about it, Ben?"

"I don't know. I'm pretty sure she likes Jimmy."

"Yeah, Jimmy knows you like her too. That's probably why he doesn't like you."

"DOES EVERYONE KNOW I LIKE HER?"

"Basically. Well, everyone but her. She is completely, one hundred percent oblivious," I explained.

"Great. She doesn't even know. And she likes _him_. That's just perfect."

"If it makes you feel better, I'd rather her be with you than him."

"Why?" Ben asked.

"You're nicer and more talkative. I don't think I have had a full conversation with Jimmy yet. You would make her talk about problems and he lets her sulk in her own silence."

"I'm glad I have your blessing," Ben smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. We've got watch with Hal in a bit, let's get going."

"Whoa, wait a second. We're on a scouting duty? Why was I not informed of this?" I wondered.

"We've gotta go find mech parts for Kaylee. She's building bullets that kill them with Pope."  
"Oh, good. She needs something to keep her mind occupied. She blames herself. You both do."

"That's why we have so much to do today."

"You said Pope is helping Kaylee? Isn't he like a total lazy-ass?" I hadn't heard the best of things about him.

"Weaver ordered him to."

"That makes sense."

"Come on. We leave in a half an hour. Let's go find Hal." Ben got up and Matt and I followed him out.

"Guess what, Alyssa? I get to help Pope!" he whispered the last part.

"Why are we whispering?" I asked, confused.

"Because my dad can't know. He said I'm not aloud to be near Pope."

"Okay. Your secret's safe with me." Matt smiled and ran.

I caught up with Ben. "Hey, you want to go to the shooting range? I gotta new gun to test out before we leave."

"Sure," he laughed. "I could always use more practice."

I laughed back. "Why _do_ we have to carry an extra weapon?"

"Well, when Kaylee and Jimmy were on that watch, Jimmy almost died because his gun ran out of bullets. Kaylee had extra ammo, killed the skitter, saved Jimmy, and started their friendship, which God knows what will be later on."

"Stop moping, bro. She never had a boyfriend before the attack, and isn't interested in a relationship. She was never really one for needing someone; she's very independent."

"Well thanks. That gives me hope," Ben replied sarcastically.

"Okay, just chill. Give it time." I realized we were at the shooting range now. "We have some mechs to kill tonight and we have to be one hundred percent focused."

"You don't need to tell me twice." We began shooting, and I was kinda surprised that Ben could actually shoot a target now.

My shooting was cut short when an angry Hal came running up. "Where the hell have you two fucking been? We leave _now_!" When people lose someone they love, one of two things happen. They either become depressed, sad, emotional, or mope, or they become pissed and angry. Hal is obviously the latter. Ben and I ran over to him before he got more upset.

"So what's our job today?" I asked.

"We need to find mech parts and supplies. Any supplies," Ben informed as we walked to our bikes.

"Okay, sounds like a plan." We headed out. The three of us were quiet, not knowing what to say. I knew we were low on supplies, but I didn't know we were desperate enough to send us out adultless after what happened to Karen.

Hal stopped his bike. "We're heading out toward where we found you and Kaylee. Do you know any place we could find supplies?"

"There was this old man that lived a couple streets down from me. He was really paranoid, so they stalked up for like three years."

"Great," Ben, the optimist, said happily.

"Do you know where it is?" Hal, the skeptic, asked.

"Yeah. Kaylee and I went in there once. Tons of canned stuff and water in the basement."

"Let's go check it out," Ben encouraged.

So we hopped on our bikes and eventually things started to look familiar in my eyes. Once we got into town, memories hit me harder than a brick. I spent all my childhood here. It was so bare and empty, so still and quiet. It made me sad to see it like it is now. I gassed my bike and got ahead of the boys. After all, I knew where we were going and they did not. I took us to the house and stopped. We got off our bikes and walked inside. I led them to the basement.

"Holy shit," Ben and Hal said at the same time. I laughed.

"Yeah. I told you there is a lot of food." The old guy stock piled this stuff.

"We might want to go get a truck and come back. I don't think we have enough space to bring this back on our bikes," Ben stated.

"Any other useful places, Alyssa?" Ben and Hal just starred at me.

"Well gimme a second. I need to think." Kaylee and I raided most of the places around here, or the aliens did. Suddenly, I thought of something. "Do we need fuel or bike parts?"

"Yeah," Hal said impatiently.

"Okay, follow me. I know two places."

"Let's go," Ben said, like his total cheery self. The three of us left. It was a five minute walk from where we were. On the bikes it was practically a few seconds.

"Follow me and watch your step." I lead them through the entrance and into the shop. There wasn't much here, but the back had more things. However the door was locked. I went into the drawer on the side of the door and searched for the keys. I remembered that he took the keys with him everywhere. I pulled a bobby pin out of my hair and unlocked the door with it. Hal raised his eyebrows at that.

"It's not that much, but there is some valuable stuff around. And if you go back through the hall," I motioned to the left, "there is the most expensive stuff." I walked over to a cabinet and opened it. Behind the files inside was a secret safe. I twisted the dial and cracked opened the safe. There was money, which was useless now, and some small important bike parts.

"How did you know that was there?" Hal asked when I opened the safe with ease.

"I have my ways."

"Thief," Hal coughed.

"I wasn't a criminal…...yet," I turned away.

"Yet?"

"Yeah. I'm only fifteen. I had a long life ahead of me and my uncle told me I had the talent."

"You had a clean record?" Hal questioned.

"Yes. Is it that hard to believe?"

"Kinda."

"Really, Alyssa? A _clean_ record?" Ben asked disbelievingly, referring to the night at the Sanctuary when I told him about Kaylee and I's little mishap with vandalism.

"Shut up, Ben." I said and he smiled.

"What?" Hal asked confused as to what Ben knew and he didn't.

"None of your business. That's what," I told him.

"Whatever. This place has some nice stuff. What's the other place?"

"It's a supplier to this store. Really nice stuff there."

"How do you know all this?!"

"Well you kinda need to know the place you work at."

"Worked? But how did you know about the safe? People don't usually tell their fifteen-year-old employee about that stuff," Hal protested.

"They do when that employee is their niece."

"So your uncle owned this shop? The one who thought you'd be a good criminal?"

"Yup. I have a pretty twisted family."

"Uh, well on that note, let's go check out the other store," Ben said.

So we did. The ride was relatively short. I used to make the drive all the time, either by car or bike. Making that drive like I did so many other times was the first thing I'd done that felt natural. Almost, anyway. We pulled up to the store and went inside. There, the walls were stocked high with anything and everything you could need for cars, ATVs, or bikes.

"Wow," the Mason brothers said at once as they walked around looking at everything. Ben disappeared into the other room, checking out all there was.

Hal and I waited by some shelves and counters. On the shelves they had key chains and little things to put on your bike. I sat on the counter as Hal looked at the key chains.

"She would've liked this," he said it so quiet, I'm still not completely sure he did say it. He was fingering a pink diamond key chain with a motorcycle on it. I looked at him, and he seemed so frail and fragile. Like if you touched him, he would break.

"We'll get her back, Hal," I said softly. "Don't worry." As much as I hate her, no one deserves having a harness on their back.

And I have no idea what the hell compelled me to do what I did next, but I hopped down off the counter and gave Hal Mason a hug. I, Alyssa Jane Carter, was hugging the boy that annoyed the crap out of me. On my own will. What the fuck has gotten into me?

Hal tensed up for a second, absolutely not expecting this, but then he hugged me back. I felt so freaking short next to him. My head only reached his chest. I was waiting for Hal to pull back, since he needed the hug, but he didn't. We just stood there, holding each other. I don't think I've ever been another person's shoulder to lean on except for very occasionally Kaylee, so it was definitely a new experience for me.

"Okay, guys. Ready to-oh. Umm, I'm sorry." Ben had run in, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Hal and me.

Once we broke apart, I looked up at him to see if he was okay. And when I did, I noticed something that I never noticed before. Hal had stunning eyes. Like, seriously stunning eyes. Hal walked out though, and Ben just stopped and stared, waiting for an explanation.

"Shh. Just…shhhh." I said. "I need to talk to Kaylee or Lourdes or even Anne. But I need to talk to a _girl_."

Ben put his hands up. "You know what? I don't wanna know."

The three of us mounted our bikes and left, preparing for the twenty mile ride back. Everything was going great. This ride was so much different from last time. Before, I was pretty sure I was going to kill Hal within a week or staying there. Now, I don't know how I feel about him. I mean, that hug meant nothing, right? Fuck, I really need girl advice. Fast.

I was in deep thought when a blinding light flashed in our faces and the unmistakable sound of a skitter filled the air.

"Get down!" Hal yelled. At that exact moment, my bike lost control and fell over onto me.

"Alyssa!" Hal and Ben exclaimed.

I tried to get up but my bike was on top of me, or what was my bike. I shoved the dissembling bike off of me and stood up. I grabbed the stick of C4 Kaylee gave me before our first scout and yelled at Ben and Hal to back up. Once they were out of the way, I launched the ticking C4 into the air.

3,2,1…

BOOM! Mech parts were raining down on us. The skitter shrieked as it saw it's alien pal blown to bits and shrieked again when it was being shot at by Ben.

For the first time, I realized the extreme pain in my knee. Hal and a Ben came running over to me.

"Ow, ow, OW! Oh shit," I said and winced.

"Are you okay?" Hal asked.

"Does she _look_ okay?" Ben retorted.

Hal ignored his brother. "Where's your bike?"

"In a heap of metal over there," I pointed at it. "At least it's not mine. Dai and another fighter had to use Kaylee and I's bikes for a mission."

"Alright, can you walk at all?"

"I can try." I took two steps forward and collapsed. My knee had given out on me. "Nope, no I can't."

Hal reached down, picked me up bridal style, and carried me over to the bikes. This was extremely embarrassing, especially with what I had been considering earlier. Ben picked up Hal's bike and Hal set me on it carefully. Hal slid in front of me and Ben got onto his bike. And we were off.

"Okay, we are never taking this road again. Last time we were on it, Alyssa crashed and we lost a bike. It's a cursed road," Ben proclaimed.

"Good point," Hal said and I laughed. I thought about my last crash on this road. The rash I had gotten was gone, but a wicked scar took its place.

Ben sped up his bike and passed Hal. Hal did the same, and when he did, I gripped him tighter.

"Scared?" Hal chuckled.

"No, I just don't want to die. Or crash…again."

"You're safe with me. Promise." What the fucking hell? If it were a week ago, Hal would have totally taken that opportunity to throw some insult at me. Instead, he was being really sweet. Oh my God I need to talk to someone NOW!

Hal and Ben continued racing all the way to the school. When we got back, they parked the bikes and Hal carried me to Dr. Glass's.

"Oh my gosh. What happened?" Dr. Glass asked once we set foot in the infirmary.

"I crashed my bike when we were riding from a mech and it hurt my knee. I've had knee issues in the past though, so it's nothing new really. I couldn't walk."

"So that's why I saw Hal carrying you down the hall?" Lourdes walked in.

"Yeah," I smiled, but Lourdes didn't look happy or even return the smile. She looked sad. Anne did too.

"Alyssa, I want you to rest here and ice your knee. I have some pain meds that'll help you sleep."

"Okay." Lourdes helped me lay down on a cot, and Anne brought me two pills and some water. Once I drank it down, I was totally out. Riding and fighting is really tiring.

When I was sleeping, I saw a couple of people in my dreams, but only one stuck out to me. Hal Mason.

His eyes kept getting to me. They were a gorgeous hazel that never made up their mind about being green or brown. I still can't believe I hadn't noticed how beautiful they are.

Kaylee's POV

I was at the shooting ranges, taking a break from bullet making (I can't stand to stay in one place for really long periods of time), practicing for the upcoming fight when Ben had come running up to me, very out of breath.

"What's up with you?" I asked, not pausing to talk.

"Alyssa's in Dr. Glass's."

I stopped blasting. "_What_?"

"We got ambushed by a mech and a skitter on our way home from a scout and she crashed her bike. Now she can't walk very well-"

That's when I decided to stop listening to Ben and head to Dr. Glass's. That damn bitch thinks she can tell me to be careful and then she goes and fucking crashes a bike. I sprinted inside and walked into the room.

"Hey, Kaylee."

"Hey, Lourdes." I saw Alyssa sleeping on one of the cots, a bag of ice on her knee. I know she's had knee problems, but she should know not to push it. I'm going to kick her ass when she wakes up. I pulled up a plastic chair and sat down, leaning back and crossing my arms. "How long has she been asleep?"

"About three or four hours. She'll probably wake up soon."

"Alright, cool."

Lourdes continued organizing medicine in the cabinet, and eventually Dr. Glass walked in with a bunch of random cans of food in her hand. They must be for the sick people in here or something. She was really startled that I was in here, because she dropped all of the stuff.

"Shoot!" Dr. Glass said. I turned around when I heard rustling in front of me. Alyssa is going to seriously regret waking up. I laid my sneakered foot onto my knee and leaned back more. Her eyes opened, but she didn't realize just who was sitting in front of her. But when her eyes finally focused, Alyssa looked absolutely terrified.

"Morning, sunshine," I said with no emotion whatsoever.

"DR. GLASS!" Alyssa screamed. "LOURDES!" That's right, bitch. Be very, _very _afraid.

Dr. Glass walked over to where we were, alarmed at the screaming. "Yes? Is your knee bothering you?" It fucking will in a minute.

"Don't leave! Kaylee is gonna hurt me!" Damn straight.

Dr. Glass raised her eyebrows, knowing how close we were and thinking that there was no way I'd hurt her. Ha ha, how cute. "I don't think she will."

"Oh, I have plenty of bruises to prove you wrong." Don't forget scars, my friend.

Dr. Glass, to make Alyssa settle down, said, "Kaylee, don't touch her."

I smiled at her. "I promise to be as calm as possible."

Dr. Glass nodded. "Good. I'll see you two later. I have to go check on one of my patients with Lourdes." When she left with Lourdes, I turned back to Alyssa.

"OH SHIT!" Alyssa yelled. I was killing her with my eyes so I wouldn't accidentally do it with my gun.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?" I yelled back and slapped her between each word.

"OWW!" I think it's pure genius using my best friend's knowledge of fist fighting against her. Makes me feel accomplished.

"You damn well knew that I wasn't going to be happy with this. You brought that upon yourself." I raised my hand to slap her again, and she raised her arms to protect herself. I knew she was afraid of me when I'm pissed. Hell, everyone is.

"Calm the fuck down! My knee gave; nothing new! Damn that hurt." She rubbed her arm that was pretty red at the moment. I hope she gets a bruise from that.

"How the hell did your knee give? You were on a fucking bike, idiot."

"My bike lost control and when I stood after crashing, it gave out."

I watched her and how freaked out she was. Most of the time I don't have explosions on her like this, but she knew that if she made me mad I didn't hold back on taking it out on her. Alyssa can't see past much in my eyes, but she can see enough that I was not going to let her off easy for this.

"If you do it again, you're not living to see sixteen."

"My birthday is in a few weeks."

"And I'll have no problem shooting you before your birthday."

Alyssa's eyes widened. I'm not screwing around. If I lose her, I'll have to bring her back to life and kill her again. "But on the bright side, I got to use my C4!"

"The one I gave you a month ago?"

"Well, yeah-" I stood up out of the chair and headed out of the room.

"No, 'I'm glad you're okay' speech?"

I raised my middle finger at her above my head and continued down the hall back to the weapons forging room. Pope had made about a hundred more bullets since I'd been gone, which was pretty impressive with a recovering leg since we have to move around to fill the molds and put the metal in.

"Wow. Nice job."

"Trying to make up for your laziness," Pope replied while filling the reloader.

"Shut up," I said and took a seat next to him and started sorting the freshly made bullets into different piles for different guns. I didn't have to look at them; I just had to feel the bullets to know where they belonged.

"You got crazy talent, kid." Pope eyed me just fingering the bullets and staring into space.

"Enough for you to call me by my name?"

"Not that much."

"That's what I thought," I chuckled. Pope was a pretty cool guy, even with his criminal record and what not. In a weird way, he kind of reminded me of my uncle. They both were into making bombs and weapons. They had the same sense of humor. And they had similar tattoos. It's weird how things turn up like that. I mean, I thought I should be dead when the aliens bombed. But if I was, then the 2nd Mass wouldn't have these valuable bullets and weaponry they needed to take out the aliens and the structure. Knowing that made me feel pretty useful, like I actually had a purpose in life.

And that's the beauty of all of this: I have the chance to be what I want to be, not what others label me as. I didn't have to be the weird emo girl that sat in the corner of the cafeteria with only one friend at school. I didn't have to be the rebellious teenager my teachers thought I was. I didn't have to be the girl without a family. Most importantly, I didn't have to be the person my mom wanted me to be, practically forced me to become. Now, I could just be Kaylee Parker. The girl who loves black, sleeping, music, and blowing things up. That's what I love about having the aliens invade. They gave me the chance to start over, and somehow I'll always be grateful for that.

And that's what led me to what I was about to ask Pope. "Pope?"

"Yeah?"

"If you could go back in time and prevent the aliens from coming, would you?"

Pope poured steaming mech metal into the molds. "Hell no. This is the best thing that's ever happened to me. There's nothing better than killing Cooties."

I smirked at his term for the skitters. He really was quite a character in this war, and I hope his name is written down in when someone writes out what happened during this period of time. He smiled a little at his response, proud of his answer.

"What about you, kid? Or did you have some secret boyfriend that died and now you're avenging his death?"

I laughed. "Oh fuck no. Guys were a waste of time. My past ain't pretty, and I love fighting the…Cooties." Pope grinned when I used the name. I smiled back at my answer. I don't think I've ever really admitted that to anyone, but it's true. Putting my combat into actual use was something that I loved and will never get tired of. I did want it to be normal again; however I'd be lying if I denied enjoying this experience.

"You know, I think we have a little bit of bullets to spare to show the 2nd Mass and the fighters how these babies work," Pope said.

"Awesome. If you can move some mech pieces outside, I'll give a demonstration."

"Will do." Pope was about to take a section of the mech out, but a blonde girl stopped him from doing so.

"KAYLEE! We need to talk!" Alyssa barged into the room, not even acknowledging Pope's presence. Looks like her knee was fine. It was pretty bipolar at times; one minute it was fine and the next it would give her some problems.

She finally saw that Pope was standing there, giving her a questioning look. "Who the hell are you?"

"Nice to meet you too, sweetheart."

"Just answer the fucking question."

"Name's Pope. Who the hell are you?"

"Carter. What's with the girl hair?" Alyssa asked bluntly. I stifled a laugh.

"Why do you guys hate my hair so much?" Pope asked the two of us.

"'Cause it's stupid," I inform him. "And it makes you look like a hippie. Alyssa what's up?"

She turned and glared at Pope. "Get out, I gotta talk to Kaylee."

Pope shook his head. "I have orders to stick to. And between you and me, I'd rather have my all four of my limbs."

"My best friend is a fourteen-year-old that can make a bomb in fifteen minutes-"

"Ten," I corrected her.

She rolled her eyes. "Ten. I've killed skitters with just a knife. Do I need to continue?"

"Yeah, whatever. We all had to learn stuff we didn't know before the attack," Pope said, not intrigued.

"No, no. She's been able to build a bomb since she was nine."

I continued sketching the bomb we were making for the structure attack. They were a set of blue prints, and I was fairly proud of it. I'm not much of an artist; guns and bombs are my specialty. "True story," I confirmed without looking up.

"Damn."

"Yeah. Now get the hell out of here!"

Pope made no move to leave. He was a stubborn guy. "I'm not afraid of you, little girl. So you can give up the tough chick act."

"Listen to me. I will beat the shit out of you, and then Kaylee will blast a bullet through your head if you don't leave." I was about to point out that I kinda needed Pope if we wanted to keep up the pace of production, but Alyssa seemed really distressed. Something was really bothering her.

"Whatever," Pope gave in and exited the room.

Alyssa turned to me. "Okay, I have a major problem!"

"What?" I asked, still paying full attention to my drawing.

"I…I think I like Hal," Alyssa said practically ashamed.

"It's about damn time you admit it," I say, still not making eye contact.

"Admit what?"

Oh my God. I picked up my eyes and looked at my horribly confused best friend. "You and Hal. I freaking called it the day they found us."

"How?!"

"Dude, I've known you since I was born. You two have the exact same characteristics and same personalities. Since you and him are both really headstrong, you didn't get along at first. But I knew you would after all the patrols you guys had to go on."

"Oh," she said simply, not thinking that I would know. Please. "Did you notice how off Weaver seems?

"Yeah. He doesn't seem all the way here."

Pope randomly walked back in, laughing his ass off. "You like the Mason boy?" He continued laughing harder.

Alyssa, infuriated that Pope overheard us, blew up. "Like I said earlier, I'll beat the shit out of you and then she will blast your mother fucking head off."

"What else did you hear?" I asked Pope, fearing that he heard about Weaver.

"That's it. I was laughing too hard to hear anything else." He looked at the two of us and probably saw how we were thankful we were that he hadn't heard us talking earlier. He frowned. "What? You guys share any more deep dark girl secrets? Wait let me guess, you like the other Mason kid right?" Pope guessed.

"Oh _**hell**_ no!" I socked him in the arm as hard as I could to get the thought out of his mind. _**HELL**_ no.

"Fuck! You can pack a punch," Pope said rubbing his arm.

"And I can punch harder," Alyssa affirmed.

"Oh really?" Ooh, mistake. Alyssa slugged him in the other arm to prove that she too could hit hard.

"Alright! Stop fucking hitting me!"

And if things couldn't get funnier, Hal ran in the room. "Hey guys, my dad needs to talk to us."

"Okay," Alyssa said, and Pope started laughing. They walked out of the production room together. I told Pope to move the stuff to the front of the school and I'd be back as soon as we were done talking. When I caught up with them, Alyssa was talking to Hal about how much she hated Pope, and it amused me on how they were bonding over hatred. That's what started their relationship, right?

Hal lead us to the room where he, his brothers, and his dad were staying. Tom was the only one waiting for us. He looked concerned.

"Kaylee, Alyssa. I'm going to cut straight to it: something is wrong with Weaver. I don't know what's up, but we need to watch out for him. He could be dangerous. I want you two to keep your eyes on him, for the civilians. They need faith in their captain." Alyssa and I nodded, and Hal asked what Tom was going to do about it.

"I don't know. I'm going to keep my eye on him and maybe something will come up. For now, just stay alerted."

"Alright. Follow me, I wanna show you guys something," I smiled.

I hurried outside to the front of the school where the entire 2nd Mass made a horse shoe around the mech display. Pope was making sure that everyone was here, and probably irritating everyone. I ran over to Pope and climbed on top of the wooden boxes he set up so everyone could see us. I was really excited to see the fighters' reactions.

"The score of the aliens is one, and humans zero!" Pope began the presentation. "Hell, humans aren't even on the board! So why are we losing this war? Because the bad guys have us outgunned! It takes an entire magazine just to put a dent in them tin soldiers!" Pope limped off the boxes and I joined him on the ground. I don't really do the whole public speaking thing. Acting is one thing, talking to crowds is another.

"Kaylee?" He signaled.

I took out my Colt M1911A1 handgun and pointed at the mech's armor. I shot at the mech several times, and watched the bullets bounce off.

"So that's how it's been," Pope projected. "But," he raised one of my mech bullets, "there's a new sheriff in town. It's a standard bullet, only it's got a mech metal slug." Pope gave me the bullet, and I put it in my gun. I took aim for the center of the mech, and fired. A huge hole was now in the mech head.

The 2nd Mass up roared at the news. I grinned and high fived Pope. This was fantastic that they were so thrilled, and I couldn't wait for the fighters to try them out.

"WE'RE TAKIN' THIS FIGHT TO THEM!" Weaver shouted. The crowd cheered in excitement, and I swear, I've never seen so many smiles in my life.

And to know that I was the cause of those smile made my heart soar.

Alyssa's POV

I heard a loud crash and instantly woke up.

"Shoot!" I heard Anne say.

Once my eyes adjusted, I saw a figure. And then I realized who it was exactly. It was a person you NEVER want to be in a room with when she's mad. And she was extremely pissed. Shit!

"Morning, sunshine," Kaylee said, completely monotone.

"DR. GLASS!" LOURDES!" I yelled.

Dr. Glass walked over to where I was. "Yes? Is your knee bothering you?"

"Don't leave! Kaylee is gonna hurt me!"

"I don't think she will."

"Oh, I have plenty of bruises to prove you wrong."

"Kaylee, don't touch her," Anne said.

Kaylee gave her a smile, the kind that everyone believed except me. She wouldn't teach me how to do it either. "I promise to be as calm as possible."

"Good. I'll see you two later. I have to go check on one of my patients with Lourdes." And Anne left. Kaylee turned back around.

"OH SHIT!" I yelled. Kaylee had the most murderous look on her face. I was seriously scared for my life.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?" She slapped me a ton of times, and it hurt like hell!

"OWW!"

"You damn well knew that I wasn't going to be happy with this. You brought that upon yourself." She put up her hand to slap me again, but I put my arms up so she wouldn't.

"Calm the fuck down! My knee gave; nothing new! Damn that hurt." My arm was fucking stinging.

"How the hell did your knee give? You were on a fucking bike, idiot."

"My bike lost control and when I stood after crashing, it gave out."

Kaylee stared at me, making me really scared. If she hits me again, I'm going to scream bloody murder. "If you do it again, you're not living to see sixteen."

"My birthday is in a few weeks," I pointed out.

"And I'll have no problem shooting you before your birthday."

Holy shit, she's pissed. Better change the subject. "But on the bright side, I got to use my C4!"

"The one I gave you a month ago?" Kaylee asked.

"Well, yeah-" She stood up made her way out of the room.

"No, 'I'm glad you're okay' speech?" I wondered. Kaylee flipped me off and left. Sometimes I question if she really loves me or not.

Anne reentered the room. "You're free to leave now. Come back of it starts acting up again."

"Thanks, Dr. Glass." I got up and out of the room to find Weaver or Tom so I could find out what the situation was with the attack or what I could do to help. I circled the school for at least twenty minutes, trying to find either of the 2nd Mass's commanding officers, but I couldn't. Oh well, I needed to think anyways. About how I felt about Hal. But I'm one for asking advice, not figuring it out for myself (the opposite of my tall friend). I need to find Kaylee. She's helped me with all of my problems, so I sought out to find her.

Kaylee. Where would she be? I thought for a second. Shooting ranges. My knee was feeling way better, so I ran to the ranges, but she wasn't there. Okay, next. Umm… My mind went blank. Oh! She's working on bombs and stuff. I turned around and sprinted over to the room she was working in.

"KAYLEE! We need to talk!" I slid into the room. Then I noticed that a dude was standing there. I glared at him. "Who the hell are you?"

"Nice to meet you too, sweetheart."

"Just answer the fucking question," I decided to ignore the whole sweetheart thing because I needed to talk to Kaylee so damn bad.

"Name's Pope. Who the hell are you?"

"Carter. What's with the girl hair?" I questioned. What man does that?

"Why do you guys hate my hair so much?"

"'Cause it's stupid," Kaylee told him. "And it makes you look like a hippie. Alyssa what's up?"

"Get out, I gotta talk to Kaylee," I said to Pope.

Pope shook his head. "I have orders to stick to. And between you and me, I'd rather have my all four of my limbs."

"My best friend is a fourteen-year-old that can make a bomb in fifteen minutes-"

"Ten," Kaylee said, eyes on a drawing she was making.

I rolled her eyes. "Ten. I've killed skitters with just a knife. Do I need to continue?"

"Yeah, whatever. We all had to learn stuff we didn't know before the attack," Pope said uninterested.

"No, no. She's been able to build a bomb since she was nine," I clarified.

"True story," Kaylee added.

"Damn."

"Yeah. Now get the hell out of here!"

"I'm not afraid of you, little girl. So you can give up the tough chick act."

Oh, fuck no. "Listen to me. I will beat the shit out of you, and then Kaylee will blast a bullet through your head if you don't leave."

"Whatever," Pope finally left.

I looked at my best friend. "Okay, I have a major problem!"

"What?"

"I…I think I like Hal," I told her, really embarrassed about it.

"It's about damn time you admit it." She made no move to even look at me.

"Admit what?"

She glanced up at me. "You and Hal. I freaking called it the day they found us."

"How?!" And she didn't fucking tell me?!

"Dude, I've known you since I was born. You two have the exact same characteristics and same personalities. Since you and him are both really headstrong, you didn't get along at first. But I knew you would after all the patrols you guys had to go on."

"Oh," was all I said. "Did you notice how off Weaver seems?" I don't know why I said that randomly. Kaylee played along and answered me

"Yeah. He doesn't seem all the way here."

Pope walked back in, laughing hystercially. "You like the Mason boy?" He cracked up. Fucking shit, I thought he would've left.

"Like I said earlier, I'll beat the shit out of you and then she will blast your mother fucking head off."

"What else did you hear?" Kaylee questioned.

"That's it. I was laughing too hard to hear anything else." He noticed our relieved faces. "What? You guys share any more deep dark girl secrets? Wait let me guess, you like the other Mason kid right?" Pope pointed at Kaylee.

"Oh _**hell**_ no!" Kaylee punched him in the arm as hard as she slapped me earlier.

"Fuck! You can pack a punch," Pope said, pain in his tone.

"And I can punch harder." I really hate this guy.

"Oh really?" I shrugged and then socked him in the other arm.

"Alright! Stop fucking hitting me!" Pope exclaimed.

Suddenly Hal ran in the room. "Hey guys, my dad needs to talk to us."

"Okay," I said, which made Pope start to chuckle.

I followed Hal. "I really don't like him."

"I don't either," he said, smiling slightly at me.

We walked into the room the Mason's were staying at. Tom was waiting for us.

"Kaylee, Alyssa. I'm going to cut straight to it: something is wrong with Weaver. I don't know what's up, but we need to watch out for him. He could be dangerous. I want you two to keep your eyes on him, for the civilians. They need faith in their captain." Kaylee and I nodded. Hal asked, "So what are you gonna do?"

"I don't know. I'm going to keep my eye on him and maybe something will come up. For now, just stay alerted."

"Alright," Kaylee grinned, "Follow me, I wanna show you guys something." We walked with Kaylee to the front of the school. Pope had set a mech head in the center of the circle. A large crowd had gathered around to see what was about to happen. Kaylee sprinted forward to Pope.

"What the hell?" Hal asked.

"No clue."

"The score of the aliens is one, and humans zero!" Pope yelled over the crowd. "Hell, humans aren't even on the board! So why are we losing this war? Because the bad guys have us outgunned! It takes an entire magazine just to put a dent in them tin soldiers!" Pope got off he box he was standing on and Kaylee came down with him.

"Kaylee?"

She took out a handgun and aimed at the mech's armor. She shot her regular bullets at it to show how they don't do anything.

"So that's how it's been," Pope continued. "But," he raised a bullet, "there's a new sheriff in town. It's a standard bullet, only it's got a mech metal slug." Pope handed Kaylee the bullet. She took aim for the center of the mech, and fired. The mech bullet went straight through the metal.

The 2nd Mass up screamed with happiness. Kaylee was ecstatic, her smile spreading as she saw the faces of everyone.

"WE'RE TAKIN' THIS FIGHT TO THEM!" Weaver shouted.

And after a long-ass day that ended perfectly, I went back to my room to sleep more.

* * *

_It's done! Now I can go socialize with my family;D Hahaha have a great Thanksgiving guys! And make sure to review and like us on Facebook!:D_

_~Kaylee Parker_


	9. E Is For Envy

_What what whaaattttt?! Two updates in one week?! That's right: we love you guys!3 And Alyssa and I had no lives over our break so we decided to put our useless selves to some writing for our lovely readers! And I'm dedicating my POV of this chapter to our reviewer Kalou for giving me the idea of adding some more Kaylee/Ben stuff;) YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED!;p Just for random notice, I've already started writing Chapter 10:D Season One of H.E.L.L. is almost over guys!:O So yeah, leave a review, possibly suggest something you'd like to see, and who knows, maybe it'll happen;D Stay classy my viewers. -Parker_

Hey guys enjoy the chapter! Don't forget to review!:)-Carter

* * *

Chapter 9-E is for Envy

Alyssa's POV

I had a scouting mission.

Again.

As the attack got closer, the busier we fighters got. Hal and I were constantly paired up. Weaver said something about our personalities working together. I just nodded and acted like I understood. Kaylee and Jimmy were another pair that was always put together. The only difference is they actually could stand each other for more than a couple minutes. I mean, sure Hal is quite attractive, but he still annoyed the shit out of me. Today it was Hal and I, of course, but also Tom and Weaver.

"Well this is boring," Hal said. He is not wrong.

"Yeah but it's important," Tom replied.

"We've got to make sure everything is still okay. Gotta be as prepared as possible for the attack," Weaver said. Tom and Weaver were a few paces up head of us, talking about the attack. Hal stood next to me. He looked confused, like he was debating something.

"Alyssa." He looked at me.

"Hal," I replied.

"You confuse me."

"Most people don't understand me. And when I say most, I mean everyone but Kaylee. The main reason she really gets me is because she seriously understands what I have been through."

"How do you deal with it? Like when your mom died? How did you handle it?"

"After she died, my dad just zoned out, didn't come home for three weeks. I didn't go to school for a week either. I became harsh and bitter. But the school didn't know what happened since my dad didn't call. After a week they called Kaylee's parents, who came and found me and took me to school. I was depressed but I wouldn't talk about it."

"And for good reason," Hal pitched in, showing he understood.

"So that landed me in therapy for the rest of my life. And we just talked. I told my therapist about everything that was going on. And it helped. It was a non-violent way to express my feelings. Find someone who you trust or who can relate and talk to them. Don't keep your feelings bottled up. "

"Thanks Alyssa."

"Another way is to write down your feelings. That's a little of what Kaylee did. When her parents died, I tried to get her to talk, but Kaylee was never much of a talker. Especially when it comes to feelings."

"No shit." Hal and I laughed.

"So I made her write everything down and every night I read them, so I could try and understand her thoughts. Used to scare the living shit outta me, how violent her thoughts were."

"Wow guys. I'm proud," Tom turned around and said. "What? Is this like your second actual conversation without screaming and yelling and wanting to kill each other?" Tom and Weaver laughed.

"I think we might have some young love on our hands," Weaver teased and Tom laughed.

"Shut up Weaver," Hal said.

The two of them walked away, with Weaver muttering something about "more Sarahs". What the hell? Isn't Sarah that pregnant chick? Why would he be comparing me and Hal's 'relationship' to a pregnant chick? I thought about it…..why….oh….I get it now…my face turned bright red. From the look on Hal's equally red face, I could tell he figured it out too.

"What was that?" Tom asked and pointed towards some apartments. I didn't see anything. Until we walked down the alley to where Tom saw something and suddenly three gun shots rang out, one just barely missing my head.

"Get out of here before I blow your damn heads off!" A woman's voice warned us. What the hell?

"We're not gonna hurt you!" Tom stood up, his hands in the air. Sometimes I question his sanity. I seriously do.

"Yeah, well that's what they all say," the lady replied. "How do I know you're not with them?"

"Dad! Get down!" Hal whispered sharply.

"Hold on Hal," He turned his attention back to the window.

"Do we look liked skitters?" Weaver yelled to her.

"Yeah, it's not spacemen that bother me, it's the human trash. They're tearing up this city, stealing everything that's not nailed down!"

"We're with the resistance!" Tom came out of hiding and put his weapons in front of him to show he meant no harm. "We can help you!"

The owner of the voice turned out to be an older woman with red hair and a ton of layers on. "Nice, old lady with a gun," I whispered.

Hal laughed. "That's awesome."

"Help I don't need. You wanna talk? Let's talk."

We both walked slowly forward with Tom. The three of us slowly stood up and faced to lady. We walked over to her door. "I'm Tom Mason," he introduced, "this is my son Hal, our commanding officer Weaver, and one of our fighters Alyssa."

"Sonya, Sonya Reagon." She still had her gun pointed at us.

"This would go a whole lot smoother if you lowered your weapon," Weaver said to her.

She reluctantly lowered her weapon. "Well, I have to admit, you don't seem like those others."

"How long you been out here?" Weaver interrogated.

"I never left. You can come in if you like." This lady is seriously creepy.

Tom and Weaver turned to each other, considering the option. "We don't have time for this."

"If it's spacemen you want, I've been keeping my eye on them too." Sonya told us where her house was and began to lead us over there.

The three of us debated whether or not this could be a trap or a useful opportunity. Tom said that since she'd been living next to the structure for months, she might have some intelligence on it. Weaver thought it was a trap. Hal and I thought the woman was just plain crazy.

Nevertheless, Weaver allowed us to go while he told us he'd stand watch. So we went to Sonya's apartment. It was pretty nicely decorated, considering the entire city of Boston was bombed a couple of months ago. She poured us all tea and started going on and on about what the people of the complex used to do. I couldn't put my finger, but she seemed lost, off.

Then she said something that startled me. "Then they took me away. Just for a bit."

"The aliens?" Tom asked.

"Yes. They took me to a camp, very far from here. There were so many of us there at first, then only a few," she explained.

"How did you get away?"

"Oh I didn't. They let me go. They don't care about someone like me." We were all seriously interested now.

"Did you talk to them?"

"Just a little, through the children with the monsters on their necks."

"The harnessed kids," Hal said.

"Did they say why they're here? What they want from us?"

"No they wouldn't talk to us about that but after what they happened to us at the camp I know that they don't want us here. Not any of us," she said.

I looked out the window and saw something moving. "Guys. What the hell is that?"

"Is that Weaver?" Hal asked. We looked closer. It was Weaver. He ditched us. The three of us turned around and sprinted outside.

I glanced at our bikes. "He pulled the spark plugs"

"Where's he going?" Hal asked. Then he looked at me. "What?"

"The spark plugs. He took them so we can't follow him."

"Yeah, I heard that part. How do you know?"

"Kaylee loves guns, I love bikes."

Tom was thinking and looking around and muttering to himself about something.

"We can't catch him. And he knows it," Tom said looking at our bikes to see if there was anything we could do to make them work again. I fixed up my bike no problem, and listened to Tom talking.

"He did say he had family in Austin."

"I thought he lost them back in the attack?" Hal wondered out loud.

"And not knowing can be a strong incentive" I said.

"Exactly. What did he say? Across the river on Royal Street? Is that where he said he lived before the attack?"

"Are you leaving?" We turned around and saw the old lady standing there staring at us.

"We're gonna go look for our friend," Tom said.

"You'll be coming back though, won't you?"

"Just as soon as we can," By that time I had gotten the bikes fixed up and ready. We took off in the direction Weaver had gone. The three of us road around and found Royal Street rather quickly.

"This is Royal Street," Hal yelled over the engines.

"And that's his bike" I pointed.

We pulled up and slid off our bikes. "Hal, Alyssa stay outside and guard." Hal didn't want to, so of course he had to argue. They argued for a minute, but in the end Tom won.

"We're staying out here on watch."

"I figured that much," I said.

"'Kay smart ass, are you this mean to everyone? Or is it just me?"

"Actually I can be quite nice, you just really piss me off."

"Okay so it is just me."

"Yep," I nodded. I went over and sat on the curb. Hal followed and sat next to me.

"I feel like I don't know you very well. And I think we should get to know each other a little. If we are going to be paired up for missions, we should really get to know each other," Hal said.

"What do you suggest then?" I asked.

"Ever heard of 21 questions?"

"Yeah," I had heard of it. The game seemed pretty simple.

"Okay. Let's see, Favorite color? Mine's green," He started.

"Blue. Favorite sport? Mine's soccer."

"Lacrosse. How tall are you? I'm 5'11"

"5'1, what is-"

"Whoa whoa whoa wait! You're 5'1?" He started cracking up.

"You are so mean to me!" I hit his arm, but not that hard, and pretended to be offended.

"Look, I'm sorry," he said, but still laughing.

"You better be. Remember I can take you in a fight any day," I said proudly.

"Yeah, but if I have a weapon you're screwed."

"Unless it's a knife. I can dodge a knife and punches all day long," I stated.

"Okay, you believe that."

"Thank you, I will."

"I have a question," He looked at me.

"You always have questions," I reminded him.

"How did Kaylee learn to build bombs? Like I know she was into guns but when they attacked, how did she teach herself? Just expand on her previous knowledge?"

"She knew all this before the attack. Her uncle taught her how to build a basic bomb when she was 11."

Hal chuckled and shook his head slightly. "You two are the weirdest girls I have ever met."

"I'm going to assume that's a compliment and not beat your ass."

"Thanks, and it was. You guys are different. I like that." Oh my god! My inside just exploded. It took everything bit of self-control in me not to break out into a smile.

"Okay next question" I said, spitting out words to get myself to not smile.

"It is your turn remember."

"Oh yeah. What was your favorite subject? Mine was Drama or P.E. I had sports P.E."

"Umm probably P.E. I had sports P.E. too. What's your favorite sport to watch? Mine's football," he said

"To watch on T.V., football, to actually go to a game and watch, soccer. What's your favorite memory before the attack? Mine is when I was a freshman, Varsity soccer won state, both boys and girls. I was the only freshman on the team. My boyfriend was the only freshman on the boys' team. It was pretty cool. I still have my shirt we got. It's back at camp."

"_Boyfriend?_ Well my family was pretty busy all the time, but this one time we took a vacation to California and went to Six Flags Magic Mountain. That was really fun because for one the whole family was there. It was pretty cool. What's your favorite memory after the attack? Mine is Karen, and all the time we spent together."

"Oh. Mine is probably been our time here at the 2nd Mass. I mean _almost_," I looked at him,"everyone has been really nice. What's the best thing that has ever happened to you? Mine is Kaylee. She has helped me so much throughout my life, I don't know what my life would look like without her."

"Pass. What is-"

"Wait no! You can't have a pass!"

"Yeah I can! Everyone gets one pass."

"Fine but only one."

"Okay now as I was saying, state two random facts about yourself. Mine are that I tried-and failed-at being a vegetarian for a day, and Ben had to help me do my Math homework."

"Umm I don't drink soda, I stopped when I was twelve and I sing. Oh and about the homework thing, don't worry. Kaylee always had to help me with my Spanish homework and Math and English and Science. She was in almost all advanced classes."

"So she was in the same level you were?"

"Yep, she was a freshman I was a sophomore and we were in the same classes."

"Well now I don't feel so bad about it. Next question?"

"I can't think of one."

"Sing something; do your write your own songs?" Is he joking?

"Yes, I write my own songs and no I'm not going to sing," I said stubbornly.

"Please," he said "with a cherry on top."

"Fine but just this once," I cleared my throat quietly and begun.

"You're an angel with a shotgun, shotgun, shotgun

Angel with a shotgun, shotgun, shotgun

Get out your guns, the battles begun. You would die with your heart on a trigger.

They say before you start a war, you better know what you're fighting for

If love is what they need, a solider you will be

You're an angel with a shotgun fighting 'til the wars won

You don't care if Heaven won't take you back," I looked at him, waiting to see his reaction.

"That was about Kaylee wasn't it?"

"Yeah it was," I admitted. I wrote that song not too long ago actually.

"Alyssa that was amazing." I'm glad it was dark out so he could not see how much I was blushing. "Sing something else," he asked.

I really don't know why I did, but I did.

"What would you do if I told you that I la la la la loved you?

Do if I said it tonight. What you do if I told you I la la la la love you?

'Cause you know that I la la la lie. You're like a song a beautiful symphony

To my eyes. I'm not like the other girls, 'cause with you I got no choice

You make me wanna lose my voice," l finished the chorus.

"Wow. You're really good. Who is that about?"

"I'm not gonna tell you."

"Why?"

Because it's about you, I thought. "It's not about anyone you know," I lied.

It was kinda cold tonight. I shivered a little. "Cold? Or are you getting sick?"

"I don't know; it is kinda cold tonight. What's talking them so long?" A big gust of wind blew and I shivered again. Wow, it was a cold night. And I didn't have a jacket on, only a tee shirt. We weren't supposed to be gone this long. I was starting to get really cold. Hal put his hand up to my forehead. His hand was freezing!

"Alyssa, you have a fever," Hal said, "Here. Wear this." Hal draped his jacket over my shoulders.

"Thanks." By now my teeth were chattering. Did I really have a fever? That meant I was getting sick. Shit.

In the distance, I heard the faint sound of a mech coming our way. "Do you here that? The mech? "

"Yeah, it's coming our way." Right as he said that the mech turned the corner and headed down the street straight to the house. "Come on," Hal whispered. The two of us ran over to a playground up the street and hid under the slide. "That mech wasn't on a regular search. It was sent. Did you see how it went straight to the house?"

"Yeah, I noticed that. Do you have any C4? I don't."

"No, but my dad does."

"Let's hope they can get away. Maybe we should go in for them, help them?"

"I think they have things under control; they are our leaders anyway. You don't need to make yourself sicker. They can handle themselves, if not I'll go in and get them." Sure enough, there was an explosion and they came running outside.

"Hal?! Alyssa?!" Tom yelled.

"Over here! Dad that was no regular patrol. That mech was headed straight to the house. It knew."

"The only person who knew we were here was that lady," I pointed out.

"We then let's go talk to her," Weaver said.

We hopped on our bikes and headed out. On the motorcycle, even with Hal's jacket, I was so much colder than I had been seconds before. My teeth started chattering. We pulled up to the lady's apartment and knocked.

"Who is it?"

"It's the people from earlier." Tom said.

"Oh, come in."

"We need to talk," Weaver said. He doesn't beet around the bush.

"Aright, please, sit down."

A knock on the door interrupted us before Sonya could start. She looked through the little hole on her door. "Oh um it is you," Oh my God this lady is a horrible actor. She would never make it in the industry.

"We brought more food. Do you have anything to tell us?" She looked at Tom and he was shaking his head, mouthing to her what she was supposed to say.

"Uh no. I haven't seen anyone since those people earlier today." Why did that persons voice outside sound so familiar? I was trying to figure out who it was when Hal ran over to Tom

"Dad," Hal pushed his way and looked through the whole at the person.

"We couldn't get them. Do you know where they've gone?"

"No," the old lady replied. Tom and Weaver both were holding Hal back.

"Dad, it's Karen!" Hal whispered. That's who it is!

"We can't help her right now!" Tom whispered back.

"We can't leave her here!"

I stood up and walked over to him. "Hal, listen to me. What if Karen isn't the only one out there? Do you really want to risk all of us?"

"She has been coming here the last few days. She has a very pretty face. Do you know her?" the lady inquired.

"That's my son's girlfriend," Tom said. "The aliens took her three days ago."

"Hal," I said quietly trying to calm him down, "We can get her back. You guys got your brother and Rick and all those kids back. We can do it. Now is just not the time." He stopped fighting.

Tom walked over to the door and looked out there. He looked back at us and he looked scared. "There was something else out there. One of the things we saw earlier at the base. Those tall things"

Weaver walked over to the lady and kneeled down. "You told them about us didn't you? You gave us up to those things?"

She looked nervous. "They promised me they wouldn't hurt you," Sonya tried to defend herself.

"And you believed them after what they did to you?"

"The girl said that they would bring you back. And then I would have company again, the way it used to be before, and-and they always promised to bring them back," she recalled. I almost felt bad; she was just a lonely old lady that wanted to be with people again.

"Who knows how many people she's given up to them," Hal shook his head.

"That's why they let her go," Weaver said. Tom and Weaver started talking to each other. They were whispering about something. Probably whether we are going to take her with us or not.

"It's gonna be getting late soon. We gotta go; you're welcome to come along with us," Tom said.

"Oh, I don't think so. I should be here when Amy and Joel come back home." Yup, she is definitely crazy.

I had an idea "If you change your mind we're heading," Hal looked at me and shook his head so I gave him the I-got-this-bro-calm-down look, "North, we heard that Gloucester is clear"

"Gloucester? I heard that it's quite lovely," she smiled.

We smiled at her and then walked outside to hop on our bikes and head back.

"Gloucester? Since when are we heading to Gloucester?" Hal looked at us, very confused.

"We're not gonna be there but that's where the aliens will be looking," I smiled, proud of my idea.

"So can we go home now?" I asked after awhile of silence, praying the answer was yes.

"Yes we can. I think we have enough intel for one day," Weaver said.

"Oh yes we do," Tom said and we took off on the ride home. The ride was short and quiet. Soon the school was in site. We pulled up and I headed to my room but Hal stopped me.

"Alyssa, you should go see Dr Glass."

"I would say no but I'm pretty sure you would find a way to make me and I'm way too tired to fight you. Let me go to my room and change first because I'm freezing."

"Okay." Hal walked with me to my room and waited right outside while I changed. I grabbed a pair of Kaylee's track sweats and loosened the waist to fit me because she is so damn skinny since she's a runner. There wasn't much I could do about the length though. Kaylee had extremely long legs and I, well, didn't. I slipped on my one pair of Converse I had. I walked outside and handed Hal his jacket, he looked at my pants and tried to laugh.

"Laugh all you want, they're Kaylee's, but they are really comfy," I said, tripping over and fell right into Hal. "They're also kinda big."

"_Kinda_? Come here." Hal picked me up. "It's hazardous for everyone to let you walk. You are klutzy enough as it is, and you're sick, in too big of pants. That's an accident waiting to happen." He smiled as I tried-and failed-to get down. We walked into Dr. Glass's office and Hal set me down on her examination table thingy. "Dr Glass? Lourdes?"

"Dr. Glass isn't here at the moment," Lourdes looked at us; her hands were covered in blood. "Let me go wash my hands off real quick." She came back in a blink of an eye. "What do you need?"

"I think Alyssa's sick, we were on a mission and-"

"Okay mom," I cut him off. "I can speak for myself." I looked at him. "We were on a mission and I got the chills. Hal says I had a fever so he made me come see you."

"I'll check you out and make sure everything is okay. Hal, thanks for bring her here."

Hal nodded. "I'll see you around Alyssa." I waved.

As soon as he was out of the room and the door was shut, Lourdes started smiling. "You like Hal!" she yelled.

"Could you be any louder?! He just left!"

"Oh sorry. You like Hal," she whispered.

"NO!" I said. "Just his eyes." I looked at her, hoping she wouldn't see through my lie.

"LIAR!" Well fuck.

"Lourdes!" At that moment Kaylee walked in.

"Damn Lourdes you're loud. Don't let her talk you out of it; she likes him," Kaylee said, smirking at me.

"Have you told him? Who else knows?"

"No I haven't told him and Kaylee knows." I thought about it. "Oh, Pope knows."

"You told POPE, but not me?"

"Trust me I didn't want to but he has a habit of eavesdropping," I said.

"Okay. But still; you like him! That's awesome. I never would have guessed!"

Then, to make the situation even more perfect, Anne walked in. "Who likes who and Alyssa what did you do this time?"

"Alyssa likes Hal and Alyssa's sick," Lourdes said, summarizing what just happened.

"Whoa hold on a second. Alyssa, you like my brother?" Ben walked over from the other part of the office where Anne had been. Wonderful. Just fucking wonderful.

"Okay who else is in here? Because I wanna know before I continue talking!"

"It's just us," Anne said.

"So tell us everything!" Lourdes said excitedly. I just looked at Ben.

"Okay, I'm leaving. But don't think this is the end of this. You bugged me about," he looked at Kaylee, who was switching one of her pocket knives open and closed, not noticing Ben, "someone, now its my turn." Then he left. Just great I get to look forward to talking to Ben about how I like Hal. FUN!(Not).

So, I told them everything that had happened while on the mission, all the way up to the current point.

"Why are you wearing my track pants? Don't you have some soccer ones?" Kaylee frowned slightly and stared at her pants.

"Yeah but I found yours first" I said. She rolled her eyes.

"Alyssa and Hal. I could see you two as a couple. It works. I mean you being so short and him being tall and you're both athletes." Lourdes said and Anne nodded. I think Lourdes is more interested in this than I am.

"I missed a very important part of that conversation." We all turned around to see none other than Tom standing there staring at us.

"Just a bit," Lourdes said.

"Girls stuff," Anne explained.

"You don't wanna know," Kaylee added. Believe me he didn't.

"Alright. Anne, I need to talk to you. Alyssa…I approve." I don't think it was possible for my face to turn any brighter than it was now.

"Well Alyssa, you do have the flu, luckily it's minor. But be careful," Lourdes said. "You can have Hal take care of you."

I left followed by Kaylee. I went to go sleep but was intercepted by Ben. As soon as Ben appeared by my side, Kaylee disappeared. Weird how that always happens.

"Okay we need to talk, I was cooperative with you. Now you gotta cooperate with me," Ben said.

"Can't I just go sleep? Please?"

"No."

Hal's POV

I left Alyssa to be cared for by Lourdes. I really needed to think. I was starting to feel things I had never felt before, and I only seemed to feel those things around Alyssa. And I needed to know why.

_Why? I know why idiot, it's because you like her. That's why!_

_I don't like her!_

_Yes you do! You're happier when you're with her. Even happier than when you were with Karen. Plus, she _is_ really pretty and she is fun to be around._ _Yeah, but you might as well get over her, she doesn't like you stupid._

_Whatever, just shut up._

Jeeze! What was with me? I was arguing with myself about Alyssa. She really has a way of wedging herself into my thoughts. I mean she is pretty cute. Its not really that thought that scared me, it's the fact that _Karen is the one for me_ wasn't my immediate answer. I had to actually think about it. Everything was a question to me now: Did I even like Karen as much as I thought I did? What did I really see in her? She's gone now, so obviously we aren't together now… I'm so confused. But why? I mean there's no way Alyssa could like me in the first place. But…there should be no 'but'. Except there is.

But what if we get Karen back? But if I pick Alyssa then I shouldn't care about Karen, right? Damn, I've never been this confused about girls. I mean, I couldn't stand Alyssa at all. I was about ready to kill Ben the day he invited her to come back with us. I didn't understand how Kaylee put up with her then I heard her talking to Dr. Glass about her dad and my thoughts about her changed. I've began to understand her more and more. Recently I have started to consider her a friend. I get what people mean when they say you can't judge a book by its cover. So fucking true.

I was so lost in thought I ran right in to Uncle Scott. "Hey, Hal ready for the attack?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering. You seemed worried that's all."

"Oh yeah I'm cool. It's not the attack. It's something else."

"Oh, well, if you want to talk, you know where to find me."

"Thanks," I smiled, he continued walking. "Uncle Scott?"

"Yes, Hal?"

"What do you do if there are two girls and you can't make up your mind about either of them? How do you choose one or the other, and how do you know you made the right choice?" I asked. I hope he got that.

"Well son, just think about this. If you really love the first one, you wouldn't have noticed the second one," He nodded and walked off. Did he just quote Johnny Depp? It made sense though. I'd have to think about this some more, later. Right now I need to get ready for this attack.

"Hal!"

"Dr. Glass, what's up?"

"I need to talk to you, but first go find Alyssa. I need her too. Oh and Kaylee and Jimmy!"

"Okay, I'll go get them."

"Thanks," she turned and left. I headed off to go find Alyssa, Kaylee, and Jimmy. I started to head back to her office, and I heard Ben bugging Alyssa. He wanted to talk to her about something, I don't know what though. She seemed aggravated. I sighed, and filed away everything I was thinking into a folder in the back of my head, considering never taking it out to look at it again.

Alyssa's POV

"Ben leave her alone. I need Alyssa right now."

Ben looked at me. "We will talk about this."

"Whatever." As he left, I looked at Hal. "Thanks, I really wanna go sleep." I turned to leave but Hal caught my arm.

"We gotta go. Anne wants to talk to my dad and us."

"About what?"

"No clue, let's go." Hal pulled me away and we headed over to where the Mason family was staying, and in there was Tom, Anne, Kaylee, and Jimmy.

"Lourdes told us that Weaver came to her for some meds to help him sleep and wake up which, according to Anne, is a classic addictive cycle. If he's been abusing those drugs, he could lose it again like he did in Boston today," Tom told us all. "I'm going to see what I can do about this, and I'll keep you all in the loop. Meeting adjourned."

I left and went straight to my room, hoping and praying not to run into Ben. He was absolutely determined to talk to me about Hal. I mean I guess I can see why; I did bug him about Kaylee. I'll just have to hope luck is on my side and avoid him.

"Hey, Alyssa."

Luck is so **not** on my side. Ugh.

"Hi Ben." Kill me now.

"So you still owe me an explanation. That's all I want. I just wanna know when and why. I could let it accidentally slip-"

"Okay, okay. Well I think I first noticed when we were looking for supplies. You, me, and him. Why? Well I honestly don't know," I admitted.

"Okay. Now I feel better that I have something to give you shit about. We're even."

"I'll shoot you if you try."

"We both know you have about a good a chance at actually hitting something with a gun as a fish does living out of water."

"I'll do something to make you regret it. Now excuse me I must go sleep."

"You sleep a lot," Ben noted.

"Doctors orders." I turned on my heels and headed of to go sleep. I was exhausted and cold and just plain felt like fucking shit. I felt like I was going to puke and die.

I walked in to find the room empty. Thank the Lord. I really didn't want to be social right now, even though if Kaylee was here she wouldn't be talking. My stomach was starting to hurt. I slipped into my sleeping bag and pulled my blankets up and feel asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

* * *

"Alyssa, wake up," I looked around trying to see who it was, but I couldn't.

"No."

"Come on. Dr. Glass sent me to wake you up. She said you have to eat."

"No." I really did not wanna get up.

"You don't wanna make me go talk to Hal about some things you know, a certain conversation I heard between you Lourdes and, well Kaylee didn't really say much but she was there."

"I'm up." I sat up really fast.

"Good girl."

"Fuck you, Ben."

"Nice to see you too."

"Why am I up again?" I looked outside. "And what time is it?"

"You fell asleep and it's dinner time now. Let's go. If you don't eat something, I'm gonna get in trouble."

"I hate you."

"Why are you so grumpy?"

"I feel like shit, I feel like Imma puke, my head hurts, and yeah I just feel like shit."

"Okay well if you puke, don't do it on me."

"Whatever. Let's go eat."

"After dinner we're having movie night. Uncle Scott found some old movie and I don't really know what he did but we're having movie night."

"Okay." The two of us walked over to the gym and got dinner, courtesy of Pope. It was a pre-attack dinner. I only felt like some water, but Ben made me eat a roll too. We sat down at a table with Hal and Matt. The three brothers immediately started talking and messing around. We were the only ones there.

"Hey you alright Alyssa? You don't look too good."

"I feel like shit. I must have gotten a bug. It is flu season after all." They laughed.

"You know, I got the feeling in a post-apocalyptic world we wouldn't have a flu season. Apparently I was wrong," Hal said.

"Yeah, I just hope it doesn't affect my fighting tomorrow. We're gonna need all hands on deck and we all need to be on top of our game," I said.

"You're still gonna fight?" he asked.

"Like Weaver would let me do anything else."

"She has a point," Ben said. "He has been acting kinda weird."

"I wish I could fight," Matt said, sadly.

"Your time will come, don't worry Matt."

"I want my time to be now!"

"Why do you wanna be a fighter so bad?" I asked him.

"Because Hal and Ben are. And my Dad. And you and Kaylee; everyone is fighters and I don't get to do anything but sit here and hope you guys come back," He looked so sad, it broke my heart.

"We'll come back Matt. I don't care what it takes. We'll all come back tomorrow. With your Dad leading us, and Weaver, and I think Kaylee is leading a group, too. All the fighters are in good hands." I didn't want to promise anything, because I couldn't ensure I could keep that promise. And if I promised him that, and anyone didn't come back I would feel terrible.

"Okay, I'll be here waiting."

"I know you will" I smiled. I don't know what it is about Matt but I feel the need to protect him. "Now I believe we have a movie to go see don't we?"

"Yeah!"

"Well then, let's go."

The four of us got up and headed over there. By the time we got there it was about to start and so the only seats were sitting on the floor in the front. There were some rows of chairs set up and a few blankets in the front. Ben found Jimmy, who had saved him a seat. I followed Matt and sat down next to him, Hal sat next to me. Once we sat down Uncle Sam started the movie. It was some old kiddy movie I remember seeing when I was as young as Matt. Everyone was laughing and having a good time; it was a well deserved break. I looked around at all the faces of the 2nd Mass and thought about how we were like a family, a dysfunctional one, but still a family. They only people who weren't here were Weaver, Danner, Kaylee, Tom, and Dai. Dai was out on a mission and the others were making battle plans. About half way through the movie I looked back and saw Tom run over to Dr. Glass. He seemed panicked. I nudged Hal and pointed that way. He saw what I was pointing at then looked at me, I nodded.

"Matt when the movie is over go straight to the room and wait for us," Hal said and then the two of us turned and walked out. As soon as we left the room, we started sprinting in the direction they had gone. It took me all of about two seconds to figure out they were going to the medical room. We arrived there seconds after they did.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I was told Dai is back and he is injured." Oh shit.

"How in the hell are you not out of breath?" Hal asked, in between breaths. I shrugged.

"Will one of you go get Lourdes?"

"On it," I turned around and sprinted away. I ran as fast as I possibly could. Dai couldn't die, not now. I was about half way to where Lourdes stays when I ran into her. I didn't say anything, I just grabbed her hand, turned, and started running again.

When we got back, Dai was laying on the table. He looked injured pretty bad. There was blood everywhere. Dr. Glass was sewing his leg back together. I looked around and didn't see Kaylee; she doesn't like to be around stuff like this, not since her arm. All the blood was making me nauseated, my head was starting to hurt and I felt like I was gonna puke-for multiple reasons.

"Guys I appreciate you wanting to be here for Dai and all but you can always visit in the morning," Tom said. Anne needed some space to work, so Hal and I left. Now I was seriously starting to get feel sick. My head hurt so fucking bad it wasn't even funny. I had a headache earlier, add all that blood. Not a good combination.

"Why so quiet?" Hal asked.

"I don't feel too great that's all"

"That blood didn't help did it?"

"Not one bit."

"You know, some fresh air might help clear your head. Wanna come with me on a walk?" Oh. My. God.

"Sure why not."

The two of us headed outside through the back way, not wanting anyone to see us. If we were caught, we would be in trouble and neither of us would be allowed to fight. We started walking and pretty soon I realized where we were going.

"Remember this place?"

"How could I forget? This is the place we went on our first scouting trip."

"Yeah and I scared the shit outta you" as he said that, the lake came into view. It looked the same as it did last time. We had been with the 2nd Mass for a while now; my life was so different. Everything had changed, but that lake hadn't changed a bit. It was still dark and creepy looking, but it was also very pretty. Almost mystical. We were right on the water's edge now.

"Boo!" Hal came up to me and pushed me into the water, but he grabbed me before I fell in.

I screamed, "HAL MASON DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!"

"Relax, I wasn't going to let you fall. I got you."

"Jack ass." It was hard to sound mad because I was laughing.

"See? It's funny."

"No, its not!" I said.

"Yeah it kinda is."

"I will get you back Hal Mason. I promise." We were both laughing now.

"I have a question for you."

"Do you ever not have questions?"

"Did you and Kaylee ever play like Halo or Black Ops or Fear or anything like that?"

"Kaylee played, I watched. I'd like to hope that if I did, I would have better aim."

"I would expect you to have good aim anyway, I mean your best friend's Kaylee. I like to think she would have taught you something."

"She tried. It did not work at all."

"How hard can it be? I mean come on she taught Ben to shoot! I didn't think that was possible!"

"Hahaha, well Ben is eager to learn. I was a bit harder to teach."

"I could totally see that. You know I'm pretty decent shooter, I could teach you."

"Really?" I questioned him.

"Sure, why not? I even have a gun with me now. Here," he tossed me the gun, it looked just like the one I had. "So show me what you can do." I held the gun and aimed for a rather large tree buy the lake and shoot. The bullet hit the tree, which is good.

"You were aiming for that tree right?"

"Yeah," I smiled. It was a lone tree. All the other trees were in the forest about fifty yards to the right.

For another hour, we practiced shooting. Hal showed me how to use the little thing to aim with. I was actually getting good. I would need to practice every day though if I wanted to get even better. "You know, I am much better with a knife. That is my best weapon."

"Okay, prove it," I turned around to face the forest. The trees were the ones where you could chip the bark off in little pieces. I walked over to a tree about eighty yards away, picked a piece of bark and carved a little hole in the trunk.

"I'm gonna hit that little circle," I said.

"No way." I lifted my knife up and threw it with ease. It hit right in the dead center of my circle.

"Bulls eye," I smiled proudly.

"Oh shit! Alyssa it's 1:30 in the morning, we should get home. Go grab your knife. "I ran over grabbed it and ran back. "I'm going on the mission tomorrow and you need to be ready to help pack and stuff so when we get back, we can leave."

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm going on the mission tomorrow too!"

"No. You're sick. You should stay back."

"And let you have all the fun. Hell no. I'm going. You won't change my mind." What the fuck is he thinking?!

"You're sick and could get worse."  
"Did Dr. Glass say I couldn't go? Nope. Unless she says I'm not fit to go, I'm going."

"Alyssa, you gotta rest up. There's gonna be other battles."

"God, you're worst than Kaylee. You know if she's in the room when I get there, then I am dead?"

"Sorry."

"It's cool; she'll just yell and threaten me. And when I hurt my knee, she came to see me. First thing she did was slap me to death. But it's cool,'cause I slap her all the time."

"You two have the weirdest relationship, you know that?"

"Yeah." The school was in sight, so we had to be quiet so we wouldn't get caught. We snuck in and walked straight to our rooms. When we came up to my room I said good night to Hal and went in, praying Kaylee wasn't awake. "Are you awake?"

"No," Shit, "I just coincidently sleep talk at the same time you ask me questions."

I rolled my eyes. "Well what _are_ you doing?"

"Thinking."

"About what?" I really didn't want to know. Sometimes her thoughts scared me. I just thought it was good to ask if she wanted to talk; it took the subject away from Hal and I.

"Where have you been young lady? I believe its past your bed time."

"I am a year older than you," I smirked.

"But I'm ten inches taller than you," I was about to punch her, but she dodged it by a millimeter.

"Were you out with Hal?"

"No," I lied automatically.

"I am calling bullshit on that. Why else would you be out?" She was getting her high tops on to go out again.

"Where are you going?" I asked to change the subject.

"Gonna go see what I missed at the night meeting with the squad leaders. Weaver made me get some sleep first." Of course she was.

"Okay cool."

"We will finish this later" then she left. I really was not looking forward to later. I was too hyper to sleep, so I just sat there thinking. But then I got bored, so I started walking around my room. That wasn't very entertaining though, so I'd decided to go for a run. I changed into my running shorts I brought and my converse. I was going to do a short run. I always liked running. I wasn't the track star like Kaylee but I could usually keep up with her when she ran. I had to be in pretty good shape for soccer.

Whenever I ran I just shut my mind down. No thoughts, nothing. I just looked at the scenery and ran. I ran through the forest, not too far from camp. It was nice, I ran back over to where Hal and I had been moments ago. I looked at the trees, noticed all the details of them and I watched the lake. For some reason that lake just mesmerized me and I don't know why. I was heading back to camp when I heard gun shots. Then voices I heard voices; the familiar voices of Ben and Kaylee. I ran up and sat behind a tree and watched them. It was a shooting lesson. I watched Ben shoot and I realized he was actually getting pretty good. I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but I could tell they were talking. After a couple minutes I got up and snuck back to the school. Once in our room, I changed into my one pair of pajamas and lay down in the cot. I started counting sheep and fell asleep at 220 sheep.

Kaylee's POV

It was only one day until the attack. The 2nd Mass was frenzied with excitement about the upcoming destruction of the aliens, especially myself. I've gotten so many pats on the back and high fives from civilians and fighters, I lost track after thirty. Of course, that made me smile inside and out knowing that these people appreciated four months of frustrating research. Finding out what those mechs were made of was not an easy task to put it lightly. But this was something that had the 2nd Mass amped up, so it made it all worth every second.  
Uncle Scott had gathered all civilians and fingers in the gym to watch an old movie he had found in JFKHS's library. He had set up a projector and a screen and by the laughter blaring down the hall, they were all enjoying themselves. I had hung back from going since Weaver wanted Danner and me to stay in his office to go over the plans he had for the attack. Was I mad about that? Not in the least. I had seen enough movies to last me a lifetime, and this was the perfect time to watch Weaver. Now that the destruction of the structure was only twenty-four hours away, he seemed more paranoid about everything.  
"You're late," Weaver scolded me when I entered his office.  
I frowned, glanced at the clock, then looked back at my captain. "It's 8:02."  
"And I said to be here at 8:00."  
I put up my hands in surrender. I did not want to get on his bad side when he was this stressed. Danner wasn't one to irritate either. He was brain washed by Weaver; he did whatever the captain said and believed everything he said was right. Danner was one of those "I was in the army and saw so much combat even though I'm twenty-five" kinds of guys, which was one of many things that piss me off. He honestly just needed to shut the fuck up.  
"This board has our road plans on it," Weaver pointed to a clear board that had roads drawn and a structure drawn at the top right hand corner. We had several other optional routes in case the others were blocked. But Weaver's first choice wasn't the best. "We're gonna ride up on Second Street and go down the main road until we reach the West Leg. Clear?"  
"You're just gonna ride up in plain sight and hope the aliens don't see you?" I asked. Okay, maybe that was a little rude, but come on. Zero common sense was put into this.  
"You got a better idea?" Danner raised his eyebrows, clearly not thinking a young fighter who wasn't nearly as experienced as him could possibly think of a good plan. Douche.  
"Well yeah. I lived in Boston my whole life; there's a safer way you could go through to get to the leg."  
"West Leg," Danner corrected.  
"Do you _want_ to be shot in your sleep tonight?" I was losing my patience with this guy. Thankfully, Danner shut up before I punched his face in, and allowed me to continue.  
"There's a back lot that's by the structure that is pretty well hidden from view. If you go down Route 29 and make a left, you'll get there safely."  
Weaver was pleased that I knew this, while Danner looked infuriated. Kids know a lot too, dipshit. "Alright. Thank you, solider," he told me and turned back to the board to show us the new plan. "We don't want anyone caught up in here, this is a high spot right here. I'm very clear of this being the one way-"

"Dan." Tom Mason interjected politely. I didn't even hear him open the door. Must be the laughter coming from the gymnasium.

"Sounds like Scott's throwing one hell of a party," Weaver said to Tom.

"Well, we've been working them pretty hard. It's a good way to blow off a little steam."

Weaver continued to stare at the board. "Don't let it go on too long; I need these people sharp as razors by tomorrow."

Tom nodded, reading the diagram. "They'll be ready. No word yet from Dai?"

Dai had left to check in with Porter that the 2nd Mass was still a go for the bombing of the West (happy Danner?) Leg. Porter's HQ was a few miles south of Boston, and Dai had left around two hours ago. He should be back by now; it doesn't take nearly that long to get there and back, especially now that traffic is a factor of the past.

"He should be back from Porter's headquarters anytime."

Tom gave Weaver a look. Weaver was short-answering all of Tom's questions and not really giving him the chance to have a real discussion with him. Danner and I glanced at each other awkwardly, not really knowing what to do in this situation.

"Any last minute changes I'd like to run past the squad leaders tonight?" Tom tried one last time to be helpful.

"Lieutenant Danner and Parker are already on it." Well that's news to us.

"Told them to expect adjustments. After the word we'll be good to go," Danner informed Weaver. Okay, maybe it's just me then.

"Get to duty you two. I wanna go over the field assignments one more time."

I set my gun of the day down on the small circular table aways away from Weaver and Tom, focusing on the little maps we had. Danner and I began to study the routes because it was most likely that we would be among the few that would lead the troops into Boston. Tom was aggravating Weaver, and from what I could hear Weaver really wanted no part of him as of right now. The Captain brushed past Tom and rejoined Danner and me.

"There's a problem here," Danner pointed at wrongly marked route.

"See, I'm not too sure about these alleyways here. Did you see them before you left?" Weaver asked me.

I took a closer look. Alyssa and I used to walk by those alleys to get to school everyday. After the bombings, we made a few trips down there to see what the local supermarkets had left. "As of six weeks ago, they were still cleared and no alien activity was around. They could be safe but I'm not guaranteeing anything."

"Did you see any skitters or mechs around after Boston was attacked?" Danner glanced at me again.

"Not when I walked by them. My friend and I only went by every so often."

"Captain!" Anthony rushed in, concern all throughout his tone. "Dai's back! Sir, he's wounded really bad. Please come!" Always so formal.

As we rushed down the halls, Weaver ordered Tom and me to go get Dr. Glass to wait in the infirmary so they could get Dai fixed up as soon as he was in there. I hope he's not hurt too badly; Dai's one of the coolest fighters we have here. It would really suck to have lost someone with his skill and bravery.

I passed on being in the room with Anne sewing Dai's bloody leg back together and decided to wait outside the infirmary. After the incident with my arm, I'd rather not have to live through that pain again by seeing the stitches sewn in. Dr. Glass had taken the stitches out of my arm a few days ago, and it was already scarring despite the monstrous scab that covered it. Nasty right?

I propped my foot on the wall and crossed my arms, leaning on the wall. The laughter was still loud; it made me smile though, knowing that the civilians I was fighting for were enjoying themselves and relaxing. I hoped they felt closer to normal, because I had been lately. I guess that this, fighting and making bombs and stuff, was _becoming _my new normal. And I didn't mind it at all, I loved it. This new life I have is by far better than the one I had before, and I'm going to live each second of it to the fullest.

"Solider?"

My eyes snapped up to Weaver standing before me. "Sir."

"Why don't you turn in for the night? I'll debrief you in the morning what we talk about tonight."

I shook my head. "I'm fine. How's Dai?"  
"We're not sure yet. But I'm not kidding. You need to get some rest before this attack," Weaver ordered sternly. It's crazy to see how different Weaver is with civilians and then fighters. Especially Jimmy and I. I really think we've grown on him, the way he's grown on us. In an unnoticeable way to others, Weaver had a fatherly instinct in him. Jimmy and I agreed that he was like our father figure now.

"Captain-"

"That's an order. I can't have my best weapons forger exhausted, especially with a bombing coming up in twenty-four hours. Now go!"

I smiled and rolled my eyes. "Sir, yes, sir," I said jokingly and saluted him with two fingers. Weaver rolled his eyes back at me, since I saluted him all the time. I don't know why, but it amuses me to see his reaction when I do it.

I pushed myself off the wall and went down the hall to the room. It was weird how much spacey-er it seemed without Karen here anymore. Someone even took her small bag away too. What used to be Karen's corner was now just a plain cot. I still feel responsible for what happened to her, and I don't think I would ever feel better about it.

But, I pushed the thoughts from my head while I slipped out of my sneakers and put some guns down. Now that I thought about it, I hadn't slept all that much since we were at the Sanctuary. I think the most sleep I've gotten after that was maybe an hour? An hour and a half? I don't know I just wasn't tired as much as I used to be, probably since I was adjusted to this lifestyle now. Alyssa and I had totally swapped; she slept all the time now and I rarely slept. And now I had to have Weaver reminding me to do stuff, like eating and sleeping. See, Weaver was definitely a father figure to me. I knew that his youngest daughter died and he isn't sure about his ex-wife and older daughter, but I sorta feel like I'm taking on the daughter figure to him and Jimmy was taking on the son Weaver always wanted figure. We had talked about it on one of the patrols we went on in the past few days. It was cool to see how an officer cares about his people.

I probably got down two hours of sleep tops. I lay awake and alone in the room, just thinking about everything. About Weaver and his drug problem we learned about a few hours ago. About making bombs and bullets in the morning. About Jimmy. About the attack. About the 2nd Mass. About whether or not we could kick these damn aliens off our planet. About my family. And lastly, about Ben.

Chill out, not like that. I was thinking about his spikes glowing on the first scouting I'd been on. The way he fought me to get up and go after the other harnessed kids still confused me. He was there one moment and gone the next. But he seemed fine now, nothing like he was that first week. And that's what startled me the most.

The door of our room opened. Alyssa had finally come back from the movie, which should've ended like an hour and a half ago.

"Are you awake?" Alyssa asked and turned the lantern we had on.

"No, I just coincidentally sleep talk the same time you ask me questions."

Alyssa rolled her eyes but ignored what I said. "Well what _are _you doing?"

"Thinking."

She sat on her cot and looked at me. "About what?"

"Where have you been young lady?" I turned the tables on her. "I believe it's past your bedtime."

"I'm a year older than you," she reminded me.

"But I'm ten inches taller than you," I riposted. Alyssa was about to punch me, but I stood up swiftly and dodged it by a millimeter.

"Were you out with Hal?" I slid back into my sneakers and geared back up. I was going to go see what I had missed for my two hours of sleep.

"No."

"I'm calling bullshit on that. Why else would you be out?" Even in the dim fluorescent light, I could see Alyssa blushing. Gotcha.

"Where are you going now? It's like two in the morning." Smooth way to change the subject.

"Gonna go see what I missed at the night meeting with the squad leaders. Weaver made me get some sleep first," I played with the doorknob while I waited for Alyssa's response.

"Okay, cool."

"We're finishing this later," I smirked and closed the door. There's no way in hell she ever got out of anything with me.

So I padded through the halls until I reached Weaver's office. Danner was outside, with a bunch of cases of my mech bullets. He looked totally and utterly confused. And when I saw him open a case and reach to look what kind of bullets they were, I shut the lid close before he could touch one.

"What the hell are you doing?" Danner asked.

"Making sure my bullets aren't ruined by a stuck up asshole. What the hell are you doing with them?"

Danner's face reddened at my insult. "Weaver wanted us to distribute them but since you were taking a beauty nap and being a lazy ass like most of the fighters, I decided to get a jump start."

I grabbed the collar of his uniform and shoved him against the wall. "Look, I really don't like you. And I really am beginning to despise how much you look down on us fighters. But I'm willing to endure my growing hate for you if you stop treating me like a girly girl and start treating me like a fighter."

Danner looked like he was going to piss himself. I took that opportunity to let go of his collar and to stop being a bitch. "I'll take care of all the bullets. I know who has what gun and the bullets they need."

He nodded slightly, still shaken up. Bad thing was, I didn't feel bad about that at all. Adults need to be stood up to every once and awhile, especially ones like Danner. I'm sick of people like him pushing me around. A small selection of the fighters treated me like that. I think it's because I'm young and they believe that I'll do whatever the adults tell me. More like the opposite.

Danner left to probably tell Weaver about what a juvenile delinquent I am (no new news there) and I scooped up all the cases he had taken out of the weapons room to take back to where Alyssa and I were staying. On my way there, I bumped into a lone figure.

"Sorry," I said softly and recognized who was out right now. "What are you doing up so late?"

Ben Mason shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. You?"

"Same reason."

He looked at all the cases stacked in my hands. "Do you need help with those?"

"Yeah, that'd be awesome," I admitted and let him take two of the four cases in my arms. Normally I would've said no, but Ben is one of those over-gentlemanly kinds of guys so he would've irritated me until I said yes.

All of the classes are so close together that it took us a few seconds to drop the load at Alyssa (who was of course sleeping) and I's classroom. When I shut the door again, pure boredom hit me immediately. What was I supposed to do for another three and a half hours?

I also realized at that point that I haven't given Ben a lesson in awhile. "Do you want to go practice at the range?"

Ben raised his eyebrows. "At two thirty in the morning?"

"We're gonna be doing missions in the dark anyways. It's probably better to learn to shoot when the sky is black than when it's light."

"Okay," he agreed. I loaned him my Heckler and Koch so he wouldn't have to go back to his room and possibly wake up his family getting his own. We were quiet walking outside. It was a little of awkwardness and a little of not really knowing what to say type of quiet. I guess we were going to have to work on that too.

"So where are you going to be for the attack?" I asked, coughing slightly to ease the unbearable awkwardness. I genuinely didn't know, since Ben was kind of a mixture between a fighter and a civilian.

"I'm staying here at the school. I'm going to be more of a helper than a fighter though."

"So like delivering more bullets and stuff to the other fighters?"

"Yeah I suppose so. My dad wasn't really all that specific about it." We both laughed a little. "Where are you heading?"

"To the structure. I'm making the bomb we're using so it'd probably be best if they knew how to make it blow," I smiled slimly.

"Aren't you scared? It's gonna be tough to make it back."

"Nothing scares me anymore," I said sincerely.

Ben pushed open the doors for us and we approached the ranges. "You're lying. Everyone is scared of something, especially girls." Sexist much?

I smirked and aimed for a target. "I'm not like most girls, Ben Mason." As I shot, Ben smirked back.

"I think you've made that obvious."

"Good to know. Now shoot," I instructed.

Ben slid the strap over his shoulder and rather rapidly aimed for the target I shot at and almost hit the bullseye.

"Impressive," I observed.

"Really?"

"No." I tried not to laugh at how obvious Ben's face fell. "Dude, I'm kidding. Have you been practicing?"

He nodded. "As often as I can. If I want to be good, I need to practice everyday."

I smiled. "Words of a fighter right there."

Ben returned the smile and kept shooting at the targets around us. I couldn't believe my eyes honestly. Ben Mason…_not_ horribly failing at shooting? Add that to my lists of accomplishments. I was proud that he really wanted to get better at this and he was making the effort to go out and practice everyday when he didn't have to. That's a sign of dedication.

I studied him as he targeted a tree instantly and shot. The way he was aiming and firing was something recognizable, but I wasn't sure why. I tilted my head sideways a bit to see his eyes analyze the tree and shoot it directly in the middle. He was pinpointing particular degrees on the tree to aim at. And the bullet indentations were all in an arch shape. Then I understood why what he was doing looked so familiar.

"You were a math kid before the attack, weren't you?"

Ben laughed. "How'd you guess?"

"You're shooting on the degrees of a protractor," I pointed at the arch he was creating.

"How did you notice something like that?" Ben asked lowering the gun.

I grinned. "It's an old tactic I did when my uncle was teaching me to shoot. You just aim for the degrees on an imaginary protractor and then fill in the other degrees to make an arch. You're doing the exact same thing I used to do."

"It's nice to know I'm not the only math geek around."

I laughed. "Likewise. Keep going, it looks cool."

Ben continued filling in the spaces, shooting at ninety degrees, eighty-one, and seventy-six. "I never pegged you for a math person."

"Just because I wear black and love blowing things up doesn't mean I'm not into math," I told him.

"Why _do_ you wear all black?"

Probably one of the most asked questions of my life. "Lots of reasons."

"Such as?"

"Loosen your elbow."

"How do I loosen my elbow?" Ben looked awkwardly at his right elbow.

I sighed, grabbed his hand, and fixed it on his elbow. "Feel how tense it is? It'll eventually throw off your aim and hurt like hell after practicing. Just take a breath and relax every muscle in your body."

Ben inhaled and closed his eyes momentarily and I felt his elbow calm down from the tightness it was in. "Good. Take your shot." He pulled the trigger and it made it straight into the heart of the tree. His face lit up when he saw the dead on shot he just made.

"When you're in combat, it's important to make sure you're relaxed as much as possible. Soon enough you'll learn how to do it in five seconds or less," I notified him. "And congrats on the flawless shot."

Ben smiled. "I think that deserved an answer from you."

"What do you want to know?" I asked. It dawned on me that I really haven't told him much.

"What's something that no one knows about you, not even Alyssa?" Ben looked directly into my eyes.

I paused briefly. "I like guns."

Ben gave me the are-you-fucking-serious look. "Try again."

"There's a reason no one knows," I brushed my bangs out of my eyes.

"So many secrets for one person," Ben said, staring at my eyes as if that's where I stored them all.

I shrugged.

"How come you're so quiet?"

I sighed and put my hands in my pockets. "After my parents died, I lost the reason to use my voice." Gospel truth.

Ben's expression softened. "When did your parents pass away?"

"When I was eleven." My insides clenched uncomfortably. I don't like talking about my past with other people. It made me sick to my stomach.

"Wh-"

"I really don't want to talk about it," I cut him off.

"Talking it out might make it better," he lightly pushed.

"Yeah, I don't do the talking thing very well," I smile slightly, hopping he'd just drop it before I had another random outburst of anger like I did earlier.

Thankfully he did, and he began to shoot again. I gave him pointers every now and then throughout the whole time we stood there. The sun did in time come up, and the school buzzed with life of the 2nd Mass. I told Ben that I had to distribute all of those rounds, and that I'd see him around later on. So I sprinted back inside to grab the cases to drop off to different fighters. I started with Anthony and his group of friends, then moved my way to a collection of fighters in the gym, and then stopped at the Mason room.

When I knocked on the door, Hal called out, "Who is it?"

"The pizza man," I called back.

Hal opened the door smiling at my idiotic joke. "Mech bullets?"

"Yup," I set a case down and unloaded a couple of rounds for Tom since he wasn't here. I remembered my unfinished conversation with Alyssa earlier this morning, and thought this would be the perfect time to see if I could get any information out of it.

"How was the movie last night?" I asked him.

"You know, just an old kiddy movie. It was nice to see a movie again, I have to admit."

I nudged him in the side, giving him payback for doing it to me all the freaking time. "Oh please. You totally loved it."

Hal cracked another smile. "Shut up. Where were you? I didn't see you anywhere."

"Weaver wanted me to be in his office so Danner and I could pass along the plans to the squad leaders," I said. "Anyways, do you know where Alyssa was earlier this morning? She came into our room at like two and didn't tell me where she was."

"Oh yeah, we were talking after the movie. She wasn't feeling well so we went for a walk outside to get some fresh air." Whoa, hold up. Did I just see a blush on Hal's face?! I narrowed my eyes slightly and looked at Hal's eyes. Holy fuck. They were lit up brighter than a thousand Christmas trees.

"You like Alyssa don't you?" I grinned.

Hal shushed me and then shut their door. He sighed and ran his hand over his hair. "I don't know, but I think I might."

My smile must've gotten bigger, because Hal chuckled. "What?"

"You like my best friend. How else am I supposed to act?"

"You _cannot_ tell her. I'm still trying to sort it all out. We saw Karen on our scouting yesterday, and that's why I'm not sure yet. And I don't want to distract her from the attack later. Okay?"

"Dude you're blushing."

Hal's hands felt his cheeks. "Am not."

"I'm the one that can see your face, bro. And unless you got sunburned by the clouds yesterday, you're blushing," I smirked. "I won't tell her though. You have my word. If you ever need advice, feel free to ask."

He let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks. I'll see you later."

I gave a short wave and walked back to the weapons room since I was out of the bullets. As soon as I entered, I was shocked at the huge group of fighters waiting inside, helping out and making hundreds of bullets by the minute. Did Weaver do this? Or was Pope cooler than I thought?

"Look who decided to show up," spoke Pope. He smirked at me, because I was grinning at how awesome this was.

"Did you get all of them here?"

"Sure did. Even Mason over there wanted to help," he pointed toward Matt sitting at a table cleaning the bullets.

"We'll get this done in no time then," I said, still taking in how incredible it was to see everyone working together.

"We just have a few hundred more to make and then we'll be done," Pope confirmed, "but we just gotta get the bomb finished."

I stepped over to where Anthony was working. He was piecing together the bomb, but failing at doing so. He didn't crimp the inside of the explosive, so if they tried to use it at the structure, it would fall out and possibly explode on them. I was going to speak up and tell him that, but Pope beat me to it.

"Two arms, two legs, no brains. Welcome to the Second Massachusetts."

Anthony stood from his seat and stared down Pope. "You want to try that again, convict?"

Pope stared back at him, taking the wire and dangling it in his face. "You didn't crimp it." He gave it a shake and the started work fell onto the desk. "Gravity, Newton, apple tree, do it again." Pope watched Matt shining the bullets and told him that quantity, not quality, was what mattered. While they talked, I took a load of the bullets Matt was cleaning and filled a case full of them. And when I came back, Matt was yelling at Pope.

"So what's it like," Pope asked, "walking around with that sweet Mason brand?"

"What's it like, having hair like a girl?" Matt countered.

"Told you," I said to Pope and high fived Matt.

Pope looked at him menacingly and Matt cowered slightly, thinking that Pope would hurt him. Pope only laughed. "We're gonna have to work on your insults kid."

"No worries, Matt. I can help you with that," I smiled and patted him on the shoulder. He smiled back up at me.

"Twelve hours!" Pope shouted. "Which is half a day!"

One of Weaver's messengers poked his head through the door. "Parker, Weaver wants you in his office." Oh fuck, I'm in trouble.

I let Pope know I had to go to the captain's office and that I'd see him later on today. I picked up the case that had Weaver and Danner's rounds in it and walked to the office in remorse. Danner probably told Weaver about our little "incident" this morning and I was most likely in deep shit right now. But I reminded myself that Weaver needed me just as much as he needed Danner, so nothing that bad could be happening, right?

So I was beyond surprised when I went inside and Jimmy was there too. I guess I wasn't in trouble after all. I slid my M16A4 gun to my back and stood next to Jimmy in front of the clear board. Danner was standing there as well, and he was telling Jimmy some stuff to write down. Jimmy handed me a notepad and a pen so I could start writing stuff down too. Weaver was sitting on his little couch, staring at a piece of paper.

"I need sixteen soldiers advancing at the South Leg. Then we're going to rendezvous with the 4th here," he made an "x" on the diagram, "and if there's no contact from the 3rd or 4th, we fall back to Plan B," Danner circled the fallback plan. "At southwest-"

"Captain? I'd like a word in private." Tom Mason said over Danner's voice. Jimmy and I looked at each other then at Tom. Was he going to confront Weaver about his drug problem?

"I thought I told you to set up an OP at the five mile line. What are you doing here?" Oh shit, he was pissed.

"I sent Hal and Alyssa," Tom said softly and non-threateningly. "They can get it done."

"That's not your call! I give you an order, I expect it to be followed out!" Weaver stood up, anger building by the second.

"Captain, I'd like a word in private," Tom said again, this time more firmly.

Danner, Jimmy, and I looked at Weaver and he motioned for us to step outside. All of us walked out of the room and stood outside. I put the notepad in my hoodie pocket and stepped a little away from Danner.

"You think he's gonna talk to him?" I whispered to Jimmy. Yesterday, Tom and Anne pulled us, Hal, and Alyssa into a room to tell us that Weaver had been abusing drugs he was taking to fall asleep and wake up. One of the possible side effects were paranoia, and Weaver seemed completely paranoid when Tom told him he wanted to speak with him in private.

"I think so. I just hope Weaver doesn't blow up on him," Jimmy whispered back. A few more moments of uneasiness dragged by, until we heard Weaver's voice getting louder and louder from the inside of his office.

"Fuck," I muttered.

"Danner, Jimmy, and Kaylee!" Weaver called.

The three of us stepped back in and Tom had a hand raised. "I'm asking you. Consider the lives of your fighters."

"That's all I am considering," Weaver glanced at Jimmy. "Jimmy, get the door."

Jimmy closed it, and looked back at me, fear present in his eyes.

"Parker, secure Tom's weapons."

I looked at Tom then at Weaver. "Captain-"

"Kaylee," Weaver raised his voice warningly.

Tom hesitated, and Danner took out one of my guns from my side belt and pointed it at Tom. What the hell, Danner? "Put 'em on the deck, please."

Danner took my gun off safety and aimed it at Tom's neck. Now probably wasn't the best time to remember that I had forgotten to take out the mech bullets I had in there for when I was practicing on mech pieces for the attack…

"Don't do this," Tom said.

Weaver stared at his rifle and his handgun and then looked at the floor, waiting for Tom to put them on the ground. "Hold him in the boiler room, until I tell you otherwise," the captain ordered.

"Yes, sir," Danner said, not moving my gun from Tom's throat.

Tom finally set his guns on the floor, slowly sinking down weighing his options in his mind at the same time. "It's a mistake," he said and stood back up.

"The only mistake I can see is not removing you from duty sooner," Weaver snarled back at him.

"You're making a mistake; these people are depending on you." Danner grabbed Tom's caller and pressed the barrel of my gun further into Tom's neck. What a fucking ass. He thrust open the door and dragged Tom out of the room, one of my favorite handguns in his hand.

Jimmy and I exchanged looks of "how the hell are we gonna fix this?" Then our attention turned back to our captain. Jimmy had more bravery than I did at the current moment, for he took some steps toward Weaver. "Captain?"

Weaver's expression went from angry to fatherly. "I don't like it, Jimmy. But we can't let Mason poison the ranks, not when we're hours away from a major offensive."

I stepped forward too, and Jimmy gave me a grateful glance and continued to make eye contact with Weaver. He had a look of defiance in his light eyes, and he simply stood there, staring at our leader. I hoped Weaver felt a little guilty for what he did, at least in front of us. Because both of us had no idea what the hell we were gonna do as soon as we stepped out of this office, or more importantly, who to tell. Hal and Alyssa were gone (and I took this moment to not be concerned that Alyssa was out working while she was sick), Anne was busy with Dai, Pope didn't give a fuck about anything unless it was killing skitters, Uncle Scott was busy with his transmitter or whatever, and all of the fighters would be on Weaver's side. We had hit a major road block.

"I hope I can count on you two," Weaver replied to our silence.

I nodded, looking straight into Weaver's eyes. He looked like he was instantly sorry for what he did, but I don't know if it was because his youngest fighters were in the room or if he genuinely meant it.

He sighed, and looked at me. "Kaylee, I want you to stay here for the attack. We've got enough fighters going and I-"

"What?!" I interrupted. "Why?! That's my bomb you're taking with you. My blueprints, my design, my materials. I know the layout of around the structure almost as well as I know how to make a gun. I'm not afraid of dying either, Captain."

"I know, I know. It's not safe for you, either of you. I need you to stay here and be ready to protect my civilians because they're what matter most. You are the future of this war, and I want to make sure you're here to rebuild this nation."

I was furious with this decision, but I refrained from arguing more. The last thing I wanted was to be cooped up here helping frantic people leave the school. This was just perfect. "Aye, Captain. If you'll excuse me, I have to deliver the last of the rounds to the fighters."

Weaver nodded. "Dismissed." Of course, I saluted him, which made him smile this time, and Jimmy and I left.

"At least we'll be fighting together now," Jimmy said to try and perk me up.

I smiled at the attempt. "True. But what are we going to do about Tom?"

"I think the only thing we can do is wait until Hal gets back to tell him. I'll wait by the lot where the bikes are for them, and once you're done with the bullets, come find me," he devised.

I gave a curt nod and then retrieved the last of the cases, and began handing extra out to others. I knew I had given all of the fighters at least ten rounds, and now I was giving out more just in case. There was one person I knew that had nothing, no protection whatsoever, so I passed by groups of people to make it to his working room.

I knocked on the open door with my middle finger's knuckle. "Scott?" He was working on his transmitter and Ben was in the room with him. Ben looked super scared, like something really really bad had just happened.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to drop off some mech bullets for you," I said and set the last case down. It had only two rounds in it, but Scott wasn't the type to go on a skitter shooting frenzy.

"I don't have a gun, though," Scott said while I slipped out the two rounds.

I pulled my Beretta 92FS handgun out of my pocket and set it on the desk next to him. "Now you do."

Scott picked it up and examined it. "Well, thank you, Kaylee." I quickly demonstrated how to take it off safety and how to shoot before loading the first round into the gun. Scott seemed to understand enough of what I said to know how to defend himself, so I deemed that good enough and started to head out the door.

"Kaylee?"

I turned once I was outside. "Yeah?"

"We're sorta like friends, right?" Ben's eyes went back and forth between my own. I learned that this was what he did when he was freaked about something.

I turned my head slightly. "Yeah…" I looked at his hand that was clenched then back at him. "What's up?"

He paused, debating if he should continue or not. "Would you keep a secret…if I asked you, would you?"

"Ben what's wrong?"

He looked around then out of no where grabbed my arm and we ran. "Okay and we're running," I said a little taken aback at the randomness of it. We finally stopped at a remote area outside where no one was. It must be pretty serious if he's afraid of people overhearing. Or it must be related to him and his harness effects.

"Scott got his radio to work just a few moments ago. He was going through frequencies on the thing and…" Ben sighed and put his face on his hand.

"And what?" I pressed.

He stared up at me over his hand, and let it drop back to his side. "I heard it."

What. The. Fuck. Is this kid screwing with me right now? "You_ heard_ it?" I clarified to make sure I wasn't hearing things.

Ben nodded. "I know how weird that sounds, and you must think that I'm such a freak-"

"I don't think you're a freak," I cut him off. "And I never want to hear you call yourself one either. We need to focus on what's important, and that's figuring out what you heard and how it can help us. Didn't you say that skitters communicate through frequencies? Well find the right one, jam their system, and freak them out."

Ben looked at me in disbelief, like he couldn't process that I was on his side, not against him. Maybe he just thought I was crazy. "Having supersonic hearing like you do isn't a curse, Ben. It's a gift."

"You really believe that?" he asked skeptic.

"I really do," I said confidently. "And I think that you being harnessed is a huge benefit to the 2nd Mass. You're like our wild card or something," I chuckled a little.

He smiled at that. "Thanks, Kaylee. For listening."

"Anytime. And I hate to be rude, but I gotta go see if your brother's back. Something happened and I need to run it by him."

"Everything okay?"

As of right now, hell no. "Yeah, everything's fine," I lied. "See you later." I sprinted to the side of the school where people were preparing the vehicles for departure in a couple of hours. Jimmy was standing idly by, waiting for Alyssa and Hal. Weaver was camouflaging one of the school buses, Pope was loading the bomb onto a truck, Anthony was loading ammunition onto another, and basically everyone was doing something but Jimmy and I. Luckily no one noticed our lack of help, so we just continued to stand awkwardly and wait.

Jimmy was playing with Nemo when I first approached. I'd always wanted a dog, but my parents never wanted a pet and Alyssa could never keep a goldfish alive for more than two days, so I didn't have a pet growing up. I kneeled down to the golden retriever and petted his head, earning a lick on my hand in return. I laughed slightly and looked up at a smiling Jimmy. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing. It's just cute that Nemo likes you already."

I grinned, but before I could respond, the sound of motorcycles rang out. Hal and Alyssa came riding up to report the news to Weaver. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but it didn't seem like good news. Weaver waved them off and Hal and Alyssa just looked at each other, confused and concerned. Hal came storming by us, and that's when we stopped him.

"Hal," I said. Both Alyssa and Hal stopped and turned to us.

"Wait up," Jimmy told him. "We gotta talk to you guys and Dr. Glass. Something happened while you guys were out. Let's go." The four of us dashed inside to Dr. Glass's to tell her what went on when Jimmy and I were in Weaver's office. We explained everything in a rush, since we were losing time by the second, and Anne got everything we said.

"I don't believe this. Weaver's holding Tom in custody?"

"Danner's watching him in the boiler room. Tom was asking about the drugs he was taking and he lost it," Jimmy explained.

"I'm not surprised," Anne shook her head. Hal was super pissed about this, and he looked like he wanted to punch something.

"I don't think Weaver wants to hurt your dad. I don't know why he's doing this, but he's a good man."

"Good man or not, he's endangering the lives of everyone here," Alyssa pointed out.

"We gotta get my dad out," Hal finally said.

"Maybe I could help," Jimmy offered.

"Dr. Glass?" Lourdes called to her. Dai was shifting on the bed, so I hoped that he was waking up and would recover quickly.

"Okay. Hal, when you get Tom bring him here," Anne instructed and went to go help Lourdes with Dai.

Jimmy's plan was crazy; however it had the slight chance that it might actually work. Hal and Jimmy were going to go get food from the kitchen to be a decoy so Jimmy could get into the boiler room. When Danner opened the "cell," Jimmy would drop the food, allowing Tom to escape and then get Hal from outside to help pin down Danner. Alyssa and I were going to stay at the infirmary in case Dai came round so we could find out what his report was and pass it on if he went unconscious again. Alyssa was in deep thought about something (I'd bet my life that it was Hal) and I was thinking about this crazy plan, hoping that it was working and that maybe Weaver would come to his senses and realize what could happen to his fighters if we go through on this.

I slipped out a sigh of relief when I saw them walk through the doors with Tom moments later. Dai was awake, and Anne said that he would pull through. Thank God.

As I turned to see what Dai was going to say, I felt a cold tap on my shoulder. I looked and Jimmy was smiling at me, with my gun in his hand!

"How'd you get it back?" I smiled excitedly. I think this was the second gun I'd ever made.

"We tied down Danner and I took it back," he grinned, a spark of mischievous in his eyes.

I gave him a one armed hug. "Thank you, it means a lot."

"No problem," he hugged me back and then turned his attention to Dai.

"After I reached Porter's post, skitters and mechs hit. Porter was pinned down, probably dead by now," Dai winced a little from the pain in his leg.

"Dead?" Jimmy asked bewildered. The man who brought the entire Massachusetts Regiments together was…dead?

"Dai this is important. What were Porter's orders?" Tom asked.

"The other Regiments, they never reported in. Others went out, never came back. Porter said that without confirmation the 4th and 5th were alive, the attack should be aborted." Holy shit. Weaver is fucking up bigggg time.

"You told that to Captain Weaver?"

"All of it. This mission is no good." Dai closed his eyes, and began resting again.

"So were in this alone?" Alyssa questioned. "Weaver sure doesn't have a problem with tall odds."

"It's not like him to disobey an order from Porter," Anne said. "What is he thinking?"

"He's thinking he's gonna go ahead with the mission, facts on the ground be damned," Tom shook his head.

"So how do we stop him?" Hal cut to the real question. "He's got all the fighters and all the weapons."

"Most of them," his dad replied, "not all."

I'm really not in the mood for another crazy plan right now. Why can't we all just talk to Weaver about it and not do all this other shit to make it complicated and crap?

Despite my wanting of a normal situation, Tom told all of us to wait here. He was going to go talk to Pope about Weaver to see if he had told my bullet making partner any news about the attack or anything involving the weapons. Alyssa, Hal, Jimmy, and I were all taking cover in case Weaver popped by and asked Anne about Tom's escape because he's bound to have found Danner tied up in the boiler room by now. Next stop he'll make is here because Dai's been coming in and out of consciousness and would know that Tom would come to see what the actual report was.

So the four of us were hiding behind the back tables and walls, planning on what we would say to Weaver once he came. I had nothing at all, but I figured that since I didn't know what to say to Hal when Karen was taken and it went well, that I could wing it and make it out okay. We planned to talk some sense into him for sure, but also tell him how much we needed him and how we wanted him to lead us to a new world.

"That makes sense then," I randomly said to Jimmy, "why Weaver wanted me to stay here with the civilians. He knew that it was practically suicidal to go to attack the structure and didn't want me going." I wish I had figured that out sooner.

"I'm glad he made you stay though," Jimmy said back, "because if you had died, who else would be my patrol partner?"

I smiled. "I'm sure someone would pitch in."

"But I'd be bored all the time."

"Glad to know I'm an entertaining person," I laughed.

"Captain Weaver," Anne's voice said a little concerned. Tom wasn't back yet, and as far as I knew, he was supposed to be here for the plan.

"Dr. Glass, I hear that Tom has been to see you. I need to know where he is."  
I guess we were going to have to start our plan early. All of us got onto our knees and we were going to have to secure Weaver until Tom came.

"He told me what you've been going through. I'd feel a lot more comfortable if you put that gun down." And that's when I, Hal, and Alyssa got up. Jimmy was going to be the real wake up call for Weaver, since we all knew that no one had a bigger soft spot for Jimmy than the captain himself.

Hal and I had our guns pointed, and Alyssa had her hand on hers. I could tell she was not going to like this at all, since she hates guns more than anything. Weaver aimed back at us, and that's when Tom popped out and pointed _his_ gun at Weaver. Poor Alyssa, man.

"Don't," Tom warned. Hal walked up and took Weaver's shotgun and handed it to me, then took the captain's handgun to put in his pocket.

"What're you gonna do? Shoot me?" Weaver asked Tom. Hal and I put Weaver's weapons on an unused bed and then pointed our guns back at him. I could see Alyssa's hand tensing out of the corner of my eye. I wanted to just yell at the top of my lungs how ridiculous this was and that we should all just get our asses together and not waste our ammo on each other, for Alyssa's sake. She doesn't need to relieve her biggest nightmare again does she?

"I'm the optimist remember? I'm still hoping you're gonna listen to reason," Tom stated. "Now what's the operational plan? The real one?"

"Rendezvous with the 4th and 5th and launch a coordination for the attack!" Weaver yelled over Tom

"I talked to Dai! Your orders were to stand down!" Tom yelled over Weaver. This was getting no fucking where.

"That's not the way I heard it!" Weaver said sternly. "The mission's still a go unless the-" And they began yelling over each other to the point where you couldn't really understand what the other was saying; it just sounded like a giant jumble of words to me, until Weaver screamed, "DAMN IT! The aliens have to know we're not gonna lie down!"

"You think I don't want to fight 'em?! Move," Tom ordered and pointed to the caged area in the room with the gun. "This has to be done the right way. That means all cards on the table, with a commanding officer who's judgment hasn't been compromised." Hal, Alyssa, and I followed Tom, with two of us still aiming for Weaver's back.

"How far are you gonna go with this?" Weaver asked, voice lowered to a murmur.

"Pretty far. I had Pope diffuse the bombs. And if you don't back off I'm going to be forced to relieve you of your command." If he wasn't pissed as it was, that made him all the angrier. And I knew Pope just a bit better than everyone in this room, since we spent so much time making weapons, to know that there was no way in hell he would've diffused those bombs. Pope was a skitter killing degenerate who hated Tom Mason. I mean come on, was it that hard to put two and two together?

I turned once I heard his footsteps and the sound of his gun reloading. Pope had come by Weaver's order, or maybe he was outside waiting in case Weaver needed backup. But he was there, and he was loaded with a heavy duty shotgun.

"You're fast, Kaylee, but you're not that fast." Pope looked at everyone now facing him. I stepped a little more in front of Alyssa, by my force of protectiveness, and stared back at him. "Sorry," he said, "but you may want to reconsider that, Professor."

"Dad, what's he doing? I thought you talked to him," Hal said.  
"I did." Tom realized his mistake in not thinking that Pope wouldn't have diffused the bombs under any circumstance. He gave his guns to the captain and Weaver took Hal's. I refused to hand over my guns, and Weaver didn't seem to mind. He thinks that I won't shoot my commanding officer. I lowered my M16A4, but kept a firm grip on it.

"My apologies, Cambridge. I couldn't bring myself to diffuse those charges. I figured I had the option of sitting around or killing Cooties and Cooties win. Every time. But you'll be happy to know that those bombs are beauts. They're gonna cause a lot of damage." Yeah, because I fucking _designed_ them.

"No they won't," Tom replied. Uh, yeah they will. I used like ten pounds of RDX in there. "'Cause when Pope came to warn you, I took the blasting fuses. Bombs are out of commission." So that's where Tom was this whole time…

"Where are they?" Weaver demanded to know.

"The aliens can't kill us fast enough?" Anne asked. "We have to do it _for_ them?"

Weaver loaded Tom's gun. "Where the damn fuses?" Just when I thought we could _talk_ this out instead of blowing each other to pieces.

"Alright, you said that the only way this is gonna work, is if people have faith in their commanding officer. That works both ways; you have to have faith in them," Tom began.

"I'm doing this for them," Weaver glared him down. "For all of us."

"Alright, then tell them the truth! Tell them; Porter's gone! And this attack, whether we live or die, isn't gonna be just a command decision," Tom's rifle clattered to the ground. "We don't have enough people _left_ for a suicide mission!" The barrel of Tom's gun was pressed to his chest by Weaver. "Go ahead and do it. Go ahead. If shooting me keeps the 2nd Mass together, go ahead and do it. I'm not going to be the one that pulls it apart. There's another way."

Weaver seemed to actually be listening now. "What?"

"You can trust our people the way they trust you," Tom said.

And going in for the kill, Jimmy stepped out. "Captain?"

That totally blew up all of Weaver's intentions in point two seconds. "Jimmy?"

"We wanna follow you," I contributed to this. "All of us." Weaver glanced at all of our faces and thought about that. "You just have to let us," I finished softly. That's when Captain Dan Weaver understood the love he had from the fighters of the 2nd Mass. It was true; we couldn't have had a more perfect officer to lead us. And I'm glad that Weaver knew that now.

"Put down your weapon," he ordered Pope.

"What the hell are you doing?" Pope asked.

"Lower your weapon," Weaver commanded warningly. Surprisingly, Pope did as he was told and put the gun to his side.

He then turned to his second in command. "I'm not saying you're right. But they deserve to know the facts of the mission."

"Call for volunteers," Tom told him. "They gotta hear both sides."

"And they will," he gave Tom his gun back, "'cause you'll be right there beside me. Jimmy, gather everyone in the gym. Ten minutes."

"Yes, sir," he replied, then ran out the door to get everyone. The rest of us followed to the gym, and I made sure to stick by Alyssa.

"You alright, Carter?" I asked.

She nodded. "It's still hard to be around, but it's getting a little easier to manage." I held up my arm and she hit it back and smiled at me. I had the most amazing friend in the world. I can't believe how lucky I am to have someone like her in my life.

I tuned out everything that Weaver and Tom said in the meeting. I knew what they were saying and how the mission had changed, but it still hadn't changed the fact that Weaver wanted me to stay here and not go with them. I had to keep reminding myself that it was my duty to protect the civilians first and foremost, and I knew that they day I signed up to be a fighter. As much as I wanted to go and fight these aliens, the people I was fighting for's safety was something that had to come first, and I was going to make sure it was my priority to keep them safe. Even if that meant taking a bullet for them, I would do it. That's what being a fighter was about. And it was a privilege to be the civilian's courage and hope in this war.

Once the meeting was dismissed, Alyssa and I went outside to go help with the ammunition and the loading of the vehicles. Tom was staying behind with us, however, his eldest son was not. I saw them hugging for a moment, and after Tom wished Hal good luck, I walked up to him.

"Be safe, big bro," I said and gave him a hug good bye. "Kill some aliens for me while you're at it too."

Hal laughed at the irony of my words. "Will do little sis." His eyes then moved to Alyssa and cocked his head at her. "What are you looking at?"

"Not looking, just thinking about how your ass is going to be blown to bits without me there," Alyssa smirked. "Good luck though, Hal." Hal leaned down to hug her goodbye (which was super adorable) and Alyssa hugged him right back. I could tell they both really liked each other, and I really hoped that things would work out for them because they were cute as hell together. Oh fuck, I need to get away from the sappiness they were infecting the air with before I lose my sanity.

They finally pulled apart and when Alyssa turned to look at me, she had a big ass smile on her face.

"Now would be the perfect time to finish that conversation," I smirked.

Alyssa's POV

I woke up this morning at descent hour, for once. I looked around and realized that today was it: the day we had been preparing for months now. I quickly changed into my usual shorts, tee-shirt, hoodie, and boots. I grabbed my belt that held all my weapons and threw my AK-47 rifle over my shoulder and headed out to go see what I could do. As I was walking out of our room, Tom caught me "Alyssa, I need to talk to you."

"About?"

"Weaver has me going to the five mile line to set up an Operation Post with Hal; right now I have other things to do but would you go with him, in place of me? Last night we got conformation," He looked around to make sure no one would here, "that Weaver is on drugs; and has been for a while now. Remember his melt down the other day? There's a possibility that could happen again."

"Sure, I'll do it."

"Thanks. Now come with me I'm going to go talk to Hal." The two of us walk over to find Hal. Once we spotted him, I stepped aside.

"I'll let you two have your talk. Just call me when you need me." I was far enough back where I couldn't hear what they were saying and Hal couldn't see me, but I could tell what was going on. As Tom and Hal started talking, I followed them.

I heard Hal agree. "All right fine. You stay here I'll go on this mission, but I need another rider. You got anyone in mind?" Tom looked at me and I stepped forward.

"He asked, I volunteered. No questions asked," I said.

"And you're sure about this?"

"I don't see any other way," Tom said. The two of us headed out to get our bikes. I really had no clue what we were doing, so I hoped Hal did. We hopped on our bikes and headed out. We were heading down Route 2. Suddenly Hal stopped. What the hell? It hasn't even been three miles! What was he doing? I stopped my bike and hoped off as well. "Hal? What's wrong?"

"Look. Over there, in the mud."

"Are those skitter tracks?"

"And mechs, yeah they are. I was out here just the other day and they weren't here."

"They weren't here last night, either," I said.

"What do you mean?"

"Last night, I couldn't sleep so I went for a run because it clears my head. I ran out to the five mile line and back, up this exact path. I didn't see those. See those foot prints? That was me. And I'm positive I would have saw them."

"You went on a run in the middle of the night? Alyssa, do you realize how stupid that was of you? Do you understand what could have happened?"

"Yes, I'm completely, 100% aware, mom. I was fine. When I run, I don't make a sound."

"Just don't ever do that again. At least tell someone first so we know where you are. We can't bear to lose you, like we lost Karen." Like Karen? There he goes again. He still has yet to get over her. And the other day, in Boston when we saw her, well that didn't help. She is a traitor who wanted to kill us. That little bitch! If you think about it, they use the harnessed kids to collect scrap metal and shit. So why use her to be a little servant of the tall freaky thing? What did she tell them about us?

"Fine, I won't. Now let's go back. Tell Weaver what we discovered." We hopped on our bikes and left.

"Alyssa."

"Yes?"

"I don't want you to go on the mission today. I'm saying this in complete sincerity. Don't go. If something happened to you, I don't know what I would do. And think about Kaylee. What it would do to her, too."

"She's going too; she most likely won't let me do anything. Just have me sit back and watch or be a runner so if anything goes wrong. I can go tell someone back at the school."

"Alyssa, Kaylee isn't going."

"What do you mean?"

"Weaver said she has to stay here and protect the civilians." I'm glad I wasn't there for that conversation.

"I'm still going. I want to fight Hal, and I'm going to today."

"Is there anything I can say to make you stay?"

"No."

"Please just consider it." As he said that we pulled up to the school. We stopped our bikes and ran to find Weaver. He was by a bus doing something. "Captain Weaver!"

"What are you doing back so soon?"

"We saw fresh signs of skitters and mechs. All down 1-19 and Route 2," Hal told him.

"They have redeployed. In that case we will just have to punch through."

"A convoys a tempting target, especially on an open road," I frowned.

"We'll take back roads or we'll crawl through the brush. You're dismissed." Then he turned back to whatever he was doing before. They two of us left and headed inside.

"Well this just keep getting better and better," I said.

"I've gotta go find my dad," Hal said looking around. We were about to go do just that when Jimmy and Kaylee stopped us.

"Hal," Kaylee said.

"Wait up," Jimmy told us. "We gotta talk to you guys and Dr. Glass. Something happened while you guys were out. Let's go." We ran to the infirmary.

They started talking and I couldn't figure out what was so important. Then I heard Kaylee say "he secured his weapons and relieved him of duty." Oh my God.

"I don't believe this. Weaver's holding Tom in custody?"

"Danner's watching him in the boiler room. Tom was asking about the drugs he was taking and he lost it," Jimmy explained.

"I'm not surprised," I looked at Hal. He looked like he was going to punch something, or someone. I took two small steps away from him.

"I don't think Weaver wants to hurt your dad. I don't know why he's doing this, but he's a good man." Jimmy said. He can't be serious?

"Good man or not, he's endangering the lives of everyone here," I said.

"We gotta get my dad out," Hal stated.

"Maybe I could help," Jimmy offered.

"Dr. Glass?" Lourdes called to her.

"Okay. Hal, when you get Tom bring him here." She ran over to help Dai.

The plan was actually pretty simple, but crazy. I just wish I could go help. Of course Hal wouldn't let me. Jimmy and Hal were going to go get Tom and bring him back. Kaylee and I were to wait. Kaylee looked slightly mad about that part. She hated missing an opportunity to possibly fight Danner, or just fight in general. Hal's reason we had to stay is because we needed to be here if Dai wakes up so we can get any information we could from him. I don't see why Anne and Lourdes can't do that. I was thinking about last night's little walk. What did that mean? Did he like me? It seemed like it, but then today, he was talking about Karen. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I might be a little envious of Karen. _Karen_. I don't know. I'm so confused. Hal was a confusing person.

The doors opened and Hal, Tom, and Jimmy walked through. The plan was a success. Anne told us that Dai was awake and going to pull through. We headed over to see him.

"Hey," I turned around to see Hal.

"Hey."

"So what did you guys do with Danner?"

"We tied him up."

"Nice." We focused our attention back to Dai.

"After I reached Porter's post, skitters and mechs hit. Porter was pinned down, probably dead by now," Dai winced.

"Dead?" Jimmy asked astonished.

"Dai this is important. What were Porter's orders?" Tom asked.

"The other Regiments, they never reported in. Others went out, never came back. Porter said that without confirmation the 4thand 5thwere alive, the attack should be aborted." Oh shit. Well that's not exactly what Weaver told us.

"You told that to Captain Weaver?"

"All of it. This mission is no good." Dai closed his eyes and fell asleep again.

"So were in this alone?" I asked. "Weaver sure doesn't have a problem with tall odds."

"It's not like him to disobey an order from Porter," Anne said. "What is he thinking?"

"He's thinking he's gonna go ahead with the mission, facts on the ground be damned," Tom said.

"So how do we stop him?" Hal asked what we were all thinking. "He's got all the fighters and all the weapons." When no one responded, Hal thought it over and got an idea.

"Okay I have a plan," Hal said. "Dad, you go talk to Pope, get him to defuse the bombs. Alyssa, Kaylee, Jimmy, and I will stay here and wait." Really? What is with Hal and making me do all the fucking waiting? "When Weaver finds out you're gone, he'll come straight here. And we'll be here waiting for him to talk some sense into him. Jimmy, you won't come out until later, if things start getting bad. Weaver has a soft spot for you and we all know it."

"Okay. I like it," Tom said. The four of us ducked behind tables and hid. It was a good plan and all, but I was trying to figure out how they planned to make Weaver stay and listen. What was stopping him from just leaving? I looked around and saw the others getting their guns out. That's when I suddenly understood. They were going to force him to stay and listen. I really didn't like this idea of holding Weaver at gun point. We were waiting and waiting and waiting. I was starting to get frustrated. Why wasn't Tom back yet? Had something gone wrong?

"Captain Weaver," Anne said.

"Dr. Glass, I hear that Tom has been to see you. I need to know where he is." Where is Tom? HE was supposed to be here. I looked at Hal and Kaylee; they were getting ready to come out, so I did too.

"He told me what you've been going through. I'd feel a lot more comfortable if you put that gun down." Then the three of us popped up; Hal and Kaylee pointed there guns at Weaver, and I had my hand on my gun, ready to pull it out if it came to that. Then, Tom appeared with his gun pointed at Weaver too.

"Don't," Tom warned. Hal walked up and took Weaver's shotgun and handed it to Kaylee and put the other one in his pocket.

"What're you gonna do? Shoot me?" Weaver asked Tom. Hal and Kaylee put the guns on an unused bed and pointed their guns back at Weaver.

"I'm the optimist remember? I'm still hoping you're gonna listen to reason," Tom stated. "Now what's the operational plan? The real one?"

"Rendezvous with the 4th and 5thand launch a coordination for the attack!" Weaver yelled.

"I talked to Dai! Your orders were to stand down!" Tom yelled even louder.

"That's not the way I heard it!" Weaver said sternly. "The mission's still a go unless the-" Then they started yelling at each other. And Hal started in on the fight as well. "DAMN IT! The aliens have to know we're not gonna lie down!" Weaver screamed, and everyone shut up.

"You think I don't want to fight 'em?! Move," Tom ordered and motioned to the caged section in the room. "This has to be done the right way. That means all cards on the table, with a commanding officer whose judgment hasn't been compromised." We followed Tom.

"How far are you gonna go with this?" Weaver asked.

"Pretty far. I had Pope defuse the bombs. And if you don't back off I'm going to be forced to relieve you of your command."

"You're fast, Kaylee, but you're not that fast." Pope looked around. Kaylee stepped in front of me. "Sorry," he said, "but you may want to reconsider that, Professor."

"Dad, what's he doing? I thought you talked to him," Hal said.

"I did." Tom gave his guns to the captain and Weaver took Hal's. Kaylee wouldn't hand over her gun but she lowered it.

"My apologies, Cambridge. I couldn't bring myself to defuse those charges. I figured I had the option of sitting around or killing Cooties and Cooties win. Every time. But you'll be happy to know that those bombs are beauts. They're gonna cause a lot of damage."

"No they won't," Tom replied. "'Cause when Pope came to warn you, I took the blasting fuses. Bombs are out of commission." So that is what took him so long. Good idea.

"Where are they?" Weaver demanded.

"The aliens can't kill us fast enough?" Anne asked. "We have to do it _for_ them?"

Weaver loaded Tom's gun. "Where the damn fuses?"

"Alright, you said that the only way this is gonna work, is if people have faith in their commanding officer. That works both ways; you have to have faith in them," Tom began.

"I'm doing this for them, for all of us."

"Alright, then tell them the truth! Tell them; Porter's gone! And this attack, whether we live or die, isn't gonna be just a command decision," Tom's let go of his gun. "We don't have enough people _left _for a suicide mission!" Then Weaver pointed his gun at Tom, aimed it right at his chest. "Go ahead and do it. Go ahead. If shooting me keeps the 2nd Mass together, go ahead and do it. I'm not going to be the one that pulls it apart. There's another way." No!

"What?" Weaver took Tom by surprise.

"You can trust our people the way they trust you," Tom said.

Then Jimmy stepped out. "Captain?"

You could practically see Weaver's heart soften up when he saw him. "Jimmy?"

"We wanna follow you," Kaylee added. "All of us. You just have to let us," Kaylee said. I could tell how much she looked up to Weaver and how genuine she felt about this.

"Put down your weapon," he ordered Pope.

"What the hell are you doing?" Pope asked.

"Lower your weapon," Weaver commanded warningly. Pope put down his weapon.

He then turned to Tom. "I'm not saying you're right. But they deserve to know the facts of the mission."

"Call for volunteers," Tom told him. "They gotta hear both sides."

"And they will, 'cause you'll be right there beside me. Jimmy, gather everyone in the gym. Ten minutes." Weaver handed Tom his gun back.

"Yes, sir." We all walked to the gym. Kaylee walked next to me.

"You alright, Carter?"

She nodded. "It's still hard to be around, but it's getting a little easier to manage." We did our little hand shake. It was nice, to be with Kaylee again, just her. We haven't really talked, just the two of us, since we got here.

I looked at Kaylee and realized she was tuning out what Tom and Weaver were saying. I was looking around for Hal. Once I found him, I slipped over next to him.

Weaver was telling everyone that if they still want to go on the mission, to head out to the front of the school. Slowly people did. Hal looked at me. I stayed right where I was. "So you're not going after all?"

"Nope. I'm going to stay right here and wait. There will be other fights."

"Thanks. It is good to know you'll be here, safe."

I slipped back over to Kaylee before she noticed I was gone and we walked outside to help load up. Tom was staying back with us. Hal gave his dad a hug and they talked a bit. The Hal came over to us.

"Be safe, big bro," Kaylee said. "Kill some aliens for me while you're at it too."

Hal laughed . "Will do little sis." Then he looked at me looking at him. "What are you looking at?"

"Not looking, just thinking about how your ass is going to be blown to bits without me there," I teased. "Good luck though, Hal." Hal leaned down and hugged me. I felt so small next to him. Hal and I pulled apart and he left.

"Now would be the perfect time to finish that conversation," Kaylee smirked at me. Oh fuck.

"Well I started to get sick at the sight of the blood. We were with Dai, so Hal suggested we go out and get some air. Now I have a question for you." Her turn to explain.

She raised her eyebrows.

"After that I went out for a run, and I ran by the shooting range and I saw two people who looked a lot like you and Ben. What were you doing out so late?"

She shrugged. "I couldn't sleep and neither could he, so I asked if he wanted to have another lesson since I haven't given him one in a while."

"Hal was giving me a shooting lesson," I countered.

"Was that the original purpose of you walk?" Her smirk grew bigger.

Fuck she had me there. "Well-"

"Didn't think so."

"That's all that happened when we were out there though! You tried to give me a shooting lesson but that didn't work."

"How could I forget that? I'm still traumatized by the bullet that when right by my face."

"I've told you a thousand times! I didn't know the safety was off!" She will never let me live that down. But I guess that's another reason why she's my best friend.

* * *

_For the record, I am actually pretty good at Halo;D I've killed Alyssa enough times to prove it;3 I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter, and trust me, all of this is only the beginning of what we have lined up. Alyssa and I keep talking about how pumped we are to write Season Two! We have sooooooooooooooo many good ideas for it, stuff that'll keep you guys on the edge of your seats;p Or wanting to throw things at us for what we put down;p By the way, the two songs we used in this chapter were Angel With A Shotgun By: The Cab and La La By: The Cab. I highly recommend looking them up; they're worth the listen. SOOOOOOOOOO like us on Facebook and click that review button!:D_

_Keep The Resist Strong And Falling Skies On.-Parker_

Soooo what do you think? Dose Hal like Alyssa or Karen? PLEASE REVIEW AND GIVE US YOUR OPINON! What do you think of Hal and Alyssa's moments?:O

Let The Skies Fall. -Carter


	10. Eight Hours

_Thank the Lord! This is the last chapter of Season One of H.E.L.L. guys!:O Time went by so fast!:OOO Never fear though; H.E.L.L. is only just begun! We've only seen half of the title, so don't panic;D Alyssa and I are so so so so freaking excited to start writing the second season and to write the middle part that we never saw!:D So yay! BTW, there is quite a bit of fluff in this chapter for Parker...I'M SORRY I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF!-Parker_

_And since Alyssa refused to reply to my spamming of 33 texts messages, she does not get to have an author's note. ;3_

**okay I'm here now! I was showering, but I'm here! ENJOY THE CHAPTER. So just a note we are going to do a few more chapter in between this one and Season 2. Just so you know, it 'sour version of what happened! oh and PLEASE REVIEW WE LOVE REVIEWS. For the person who reviewed last time and asked for pictures, check out our facebook page, Alyssa Carter and Kaylee Parker. There are pictures! so yeah I hope you like it! I am gonna go hunt down a juice box now! **

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Chapter 10-Eight Hours

Kaylee's POV

The hardest part of the protecting the civilians duty I had committed to was the waiting process. Nothing had been happening the past four hours, and I was bored out of my mind. All I was doing was sitting out in the front of the school behind the barricade, waiting. For Weaver to get back, for something to entertain me to come, for some alien activity so I could use my gun, hell I'd be excited if a fucking butterfly flew by us. I'm probably the most impatient person in the world, and to be bored for four hours is not a good thing. Pretty soon I'm going to go insane if I have to wait longer.

What bothered me was that everyone was mellow. The remaining fighters were completely cool with laying low and just relaxing for a bit, while as I couldn't stand it. I wanted to be in battle, see some combat. But I was blessed with the glorious job of sitting on my ass waiting for something interesting to happen. Hal was so damn lucky. I'd give anything to be with that group right now. I know I should be appreciative of Weaver wanting me to stay safe and to be here for the civilians, but I don't care about being safe. I was young and I was reckless, and I didn't care if I came back or not from battle. As long as I die serving what's left of my world, I'd be fine with doing so.

"He's trying to warn the skitters! Don't let him get away!"

I snapped up from the ground and saw Rick running as fast as he could from a chasing Ben. Finally, something interesting. There was no way I could catch up to Rick, because of his improved stamina with the harness, but I was going to try and catch up to Ben to see what had happened. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the asshole who called Ben a razorback run after Ben, gun in hand. Oh my God, do I have to save everybody's ass on a regular basis? I jumped onto a flipped car and slid off it easily and charged after the man.

"Damn coat racks are gonna give us up!" he shouted, taking his aim at Ben's back. I grabbed his gun and pointed it towards the sky right as the bullet escaped from the barrel. If I had been a few seconds late, Ben could be dead right now. The ass of a man tried taking his gun back, but I only tightened my hold on it, giving him the darkest look my pale eyes could muster. It must've worked, since he looked about ready to shit himself.

"Don't you ever raise a gun to my son!" Tom yelled at him and ripped the gun out of his hands. Tom ran after a now escaping Rick and towards Ben who was staying at the corner, turned around in case someone tried to shoot at him again.

"Aliens figure out we're here, we're dead!" he exclaimed at me, hating that I saved my friend's life.

"Why don't you save your ammo for them and not these kids?" I spat at him. I'd love nothing more than to put a bullet through his brain, but we needed our fighters alive in case something happens and we have to protect our civilians. So I walked away from my anger and went to Tom to see what our new plan was.

"You going after Rick?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'll try to bring him back," Tom looked over his shoulder, then back at me. "You got this?" he asked, giving me the man's rifle.

I took it. "Just make sure you come back." Tom nodded and turned back to run after Rick, and I turned back to the fighters all watching me. I needed to find Ben to see what just went down, and if Rick really was going to warn the skitters about where we were and our plans. At least something interesting happened I guess. I bursted through the doors of the school, scanning my eyes over all the people in the halls. Ben wasn't here, and I had no idea where he _would_ be. But it gave me something to do before I shot myself out of boredom.

"Kaylee I thought you were with Hal and Weaver!" Matt was looking up at me, confused at my presence.

"I was supposed to be but there was a change of plans. Have you seen your brother?" I tried to ebb the distress in my voice, but I could still hear it loud and clear.

"He's in Dr. Glass's."

"Thanks, Matt," I ruffled his hair and then ran down the halls and skidded into a person running the opposite direction. I always seem to be at the wrong place doing the wrong thing. My feet stumbled in the failed attempt to try and stop before running into the person, but of course I'm not nearly that lucky. I crashed into him with my arms eye level to soften the pain and then we collided. That threw us into an awkward position where his arms were around me so neither of us would fall and my arms were crushed against his chest. And to top it all off, I had collided into Ben Mason.

So, _**so**_ damn awkward.

I pulled away from him the same time he released me. Just so I didn't die of the awkwardness choking the situation, I cut straight to my question and ignored what just went on. "Ben what happened out there?"

His cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. "I don't want to talk about it." Trying to use one of my classic excuses.

"Considering I just saved your life, I think I deserve an explanation at the least. A 'thanks' might be cool too."

Ben sighed, knowing I was right. Man, I love that feeling. "Rick was trying to get me to go with him, to go back to the skitters. He told me he wanted the harness back and expected me to feel the same way, but I never want to be apart of that life again. So he stole Uncle Scott's radio transmitter to stop us from jamming their frequencies and took off."

"And that's when I saw you two running outside," I finished. "You think he'll come back?"

"I doubt it. He was pretty set on returning and I couldn't convince him to stay."

At that precise moment, I had a total _duh_ moment. "We gotta get the civilians evacuated. Rick's going to tell the skitters everything and the first place they'll come is here." Shit, why didn't this process in my head earlier?

"Hold on," Ben grabbed my hoodie sleeve just as I was about to go get Alyssa to tell her we had to get a head start on evacuating the civilians. "We don't know if he'll make it to them anyways, since my dad went after him. We're just going to have to wait."  
"Ugh!" I groaned. "Wait" was seriously becoming a venomous word I hated hearing. "That's all we've been fucking doing today!"

Ben laughed for reasons unknown to me. Most likely due to the fact of how easily bored I get. Whatever the case, it made me want to sock him in the gut.

"So after saving your ass for the third time now, I still don't get a 'thank you'?"

"It has _not_ been three times," Ben frowned, thinking I was over exaggerating.

"Uh, yeah it has. Our first scouting with Karen, when you were in line for food and almost got your ass kicked, and now today. Damn Ben, you're worse than Alyssa," I remarked.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Saving my life."

"How many times?" I asked like I didn't know.

Ben playfully shoved me. "Shut up. Thank you for saving my life three times. Happy?"

"Damn right."

Rick must not have gone far, because Tom came around the corner with him right then. It had maybe been ten or fifteen minutes since he ran off to get him. By the look on Tom's face, Rick had told them about us, and we were going to have to move out the civilians in order to protect them. Tom told us that there was going to be a meeting in Weaver's office now, and we followed after him. Jimmy was in the front of the room so Ben and I went to stand next to him. It really surprised me how the two of them were becoming pretty good friends, and it also made me happy that both of them had a guy friend around their own age to talk to.

"Okay, we don't have a lot of time so I'm just gonna lay it out. The skitters know where we are, and there's a good chance they're gonna attack," Tom informed the small amount of fighters that were still here. There were probably fifteen or twenty of us left, not a number that made me comfortable when there was probably going to be an attack. "We all hoped we could make it 'til the strike team came back; that's too risky now. So I decided to evacuate the civilians. We're gonna walk them out through the tunnel behind the auditorium. Once through, they'll move west away from the city."

"The skitters have the scent they'll be crawling all over this area. It's not gonna be easy to get around them," my best friend spoke up. Alyssa's cheeks were slightly red, which meant she was pissed, embarrassed, or thinking about Hal and by the stiffness of her body, she was mad about something.

Tom nodded. "That's why I'm going to stay behind with a small group of volunteers." Oh hell yeah. I know I made a promise to take care of the civilians to myself, but this was protecting them. I was going to be fighting for them to buy them time to escape safely, hopefully with Jimmy and Alyssa at my side. Ben was going to be with Scott to jam the skitter communications, otherwise I wouldn't have minded having him fight with us too.

"If the aliens attack, we'll draw their fire, keep them focused on us, maybe open up a window for the civilians to escape."

"But how are we gonna hold off the skitters and mechs? Our best soldiers are with Weaver," Jimmy said softly. It was true; the people with the most fighting experience and wisdom had gone with Weaver to attack the structure, and we were kind of the bottom of the fighter chain, as much as I hate to admit it. I still had a lot to learn about combat and battle, but bravery and weaponry knowledge I had down.

"I know how it sounds," Tom said understandingly. "But I want you to think about where we are. Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought not too far from here. Small force of colonists against the entire might of the British Empire. Nobody gave them much of a change either. Patrick Henry called it, 'the battle is not for the strong alone. It is to the vigilant, the active, and the brave.' A small disciplined militia cannot only hold out against a larger force, but drive it back. Because they're fighting for what rightfully belongs to them. This is our home, our world. So remember that if the come." Despite Tom's lesson in history he gave us (like so many other times he has done), it gave me a little hope. Something I hadn't had during this war. I didn't think we could pull out of this war before and the only thing fueling me was my anger and my hate. But after hearing that, a little burst of hope flowed throughout me, and I was ready to take on these aliens.

"So let's do this," Tom's tone full of confidence and of hope, something we needed now more than ever.

All fifteen or so of us gathered to the barricade, adding what other little things we could find on top of it and picking our battle positions. Jimmy and I were next to each other, and Dai was on my left. Alyssa was somewhere inside, possibly escorting the civilians or something. I don't know if she was going to come out here, since it was going to be a shootout and not a physical contact fight, but wherever she was, I hoped my best friend was safe. Jimmy saw how tense I was, and he took my hand so I'd look at him.

"She'll be fine. She's honestly more safe inside then she is out, so don't worry about her."

I smiled. "How do you always know what I'm thinking?"

Jimmy smiled back and tapped right below his eye. Of course, his eye reading ability. How could I forget?

"This should be a cake walk after taking on a skitter," I told him, grinning slightly.

"Yeah, and if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here right now," Jimmy pointed out.

"Then let's make a pact. You watch my back, I'll watch yours. Deal?"

"Deal." We were told that a scout had seen mechs outside within a mile of where we were at, so Jimmy and I crouched right after that. I slid out of my hoodie and tied it around my waist so I could move my arms more freely. This was my first official and intentional attack, so I wanted to be sure that my aim was absolutely spot on.

"Alright! When they come, nobody shoot until I give the order! You got thirty rounds of mech ammunition each. Let's make every shot count," Tom yelled out to all of us. "Hopefully our families have made it through the tunnel by now."  
The iron footsteps grew louder and louder and the voice of what was probably the scout shouted out: "MECH! IT'S COMING!" Well no shit. I loaded my Colt M4A1 Carbine with my mech rounds and braced myself. This was going to get chaotic.

"Everybody down!" Tom yelled and all of the fighters crouched lower.

Jimmy seemed really nervous about this, all of us were, but as far as I knew, this was also his first intentional attack. "There guns spin up before they shoot," I whispered to him. "Like taking a breath. Listen for it."

Jimmy nodded, appreciating the helpful tip. "Okay."

Those next few moments were the most anticipating moments I'd ever been in my fourteen years. Just waiting for that mech to come and get close enough to shoot it was aggravating. I wanted to shoot the damn thing to pieces, but of course I wanted to save my ammo as much as possible. Then I saw Ben in the window next to us, watching the mech. Was the jamming idea not working? I knew we could easily take this one out, but what if more came? Thirty rounds were not going to cut it.

"Easy!" Tom called. "Wait 'til it gets closer!"  
The mech stopped, maybe four yards away from us. Tom deemed that close enough, and shouted "Load up and fire!"

So we all stood up and shot the hunk of metal. I kept shooting one after the other at the head of the mech, and ducked when it started firing back. Some damn idiot put packages of garden soil above the school's sign, and dirt was flying everywhere. My hair was probably full of it and I'm positive a ton of it went in my sneakers. And then, the mech shot one of its exploding missiles in the middle of the barricade, and set the grass on fire momentarily. All of us were fine, and we kept blasting at the thing until it fell over, covered with holes.

The fighters cheered. I think this was the ultimate test to see if my bullets really did work on mechs, not just mech pieces. I was thrilled that I had passed, but our moment of happiness ended when the clattering of mech footsteps rang out. By the sound of it, there were at least over five headed our way. Oh, fuck.

"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" Tom ordered. Jimmy and I ducked. My stomach was turning with nervousness. We had all wasted our bullets on that one mech, and I only had enough extra ammo to kill maybe three of the nine mechs.

"Call out your ammo!" Tom shouted.

"I got two!" Jimmy yelled.

"Three shots left!" I called.

"Four," Dai said to him.

"We're just gonna have to draw fire until we're out of ammo," Tom said.

The churning in my stomach got worse as the seconds flew by. My heart beat grew a little faster, and my mind was giving me thoughts that didn't belong in my head at the moment. Like how if I was going to die, I didn't even say goodbye to Alyssa or give her a hug or something. That I never really got to live out my purpose. How my life really was too short. That I wanted more time to figure things out with Jimmy. I would never know if Weaver's mission was successful. I'd never see Hal, Matt, or even Ben again. I'd never get to play piano again, or any of the instruments I played. And I'd never get to live out the life I wanted.

"You scared too?" Jimmy asked me.

I took a breath. I didn't want him to know that I was considering the fact I might be scared for once, but I really just wanted to get the waiting over with. If I was going to die, I was going to die. And if I was going to live, I was going to live. That's all I wanted to find out. "Stay down until I give you the word. Watch my back."

The window was opened and I heard the groans from Ben. He was carrying some kind of clip while running to the flag pole, and cringing every step he took. That radio must seriously be hurting his head right now. What he was doing now though was going to mess up his head for life; he was practically headed straight into the open.

"Ben! What are you doing?! Get back!" his dad yelled at him.

"Dad, we have a signal, we just have to make it stronger!" Ben replied to his father who was now by his side. How the hell were the mechs not shooting at them? I had to have jinxed that, because as soon as the thought ran across my brain, they began closing in on the Masons.

I closed my eyes and let out a soft sigh. _Do it for what's left of this world_.

As crazy as I felt, I stood up and fired at the mechs, distracting them from Tom and Ben. Everyone followed after me, and we took out two of them. I was going to reach for the bullets around my belt to try and take out some more, but Tom hooked the clip to the flag pole and the signal spread out through the air. My hand froze when my eyes fully understood what they were seeing.

"Hey, Jimmy," he looked at me, "wanna see something beautiful?" I smiled.

He returned it, and I reached my hand down from the box I was standing on to help him get on top of it too.  
All of those mechs were retreating. Retreatingfrom _us_.

"The mechs are running away from _us_?!"

"That's right!" Tom shouted. "And this is just the start! WE BEAT 'EM ONCE WE CAN BEAT 'EM AGAIN!"

"YEAH!" The entire group of us shouted, Jimmy and me the loudest. We beat them, we actually beat them. I put my arm around Jimmy, whom I've never seen more excited than now, and we cheered together. Hey, it's not every day two fourteen-year-olds kick ass in a fight and live to tell about it. Now after I really processed death, I wanted to live every second I'm here as if it were my last.

Alyssa's POV

Waiting is possibly the hardest thing on the fucking planet, and that is coming from a person who fights aliens for a living. I had NOTHING to do and it was driving me insane. I hate waiting. I absolutely positively fucking hate it. I am the most impatient person ever.

I was sitting in an old room I found that was a supply closet at one time. In the closet was a window where I could perfectly see the front of the school. I was sitting on an old box labeled 'Mrs. Peters 201' and watching absolutely nothing. Kaylee was sitting at the front of the school, just as bored as me. I was thinking about the attack. Where were they? Was everything okay? Was he okay? Did they see any aliens? Is Weaver doing alright? Did everything go as planned? I couldn't help myself; I was worried. What if they didn't come back?

"He's trying to warn the skitters! Don't let him get away! Damn coat racks are gonna give us up!" I looked up and saw Rick running from Ben and a man chasing Ben with a gun. What the hell?

Kaylee grabbed the man's gun and pointed it to the sky just as he pulled the trigger. "Don't you ever raise a gun to my son!" Tom yelled. That did _not_ just happen.

I got up and sprinted outside to see what was happening. As I ran outside I passed by Ben, who was quickly followed by Kaylee. They were both so focused I don't think either one noticed me. That fucking jackass was going to hear it from me, that's for sure. Who the hell points a gun at a fourteen-year-old? I don't care what the fuck is happening, you just don't do that. When I got outside, I realized this was the ass hole that pitched a fit about not wanting to let their kids go to the Sanctuary and made a scene about not wanting to wait in line for food with Ben because he had spikes.

"HEY YOU!" I yelled and he turned around.

"Who me?"

"Yes you! Who the fuck else?" I said. We were the only two people out here.

"Listen little girl-"

"No you shut the fuck up and listen to me! Why the hell did you point a gun at a fourteen-year-old?"

"He was gonna tell the aliens about us!"

"NO HE WASN'T! I don't give a fuck what is happening on our planet. You don't point a gun at a kid! GOT THAT?"

"He was going to-"

"NO HE WAS NOT! HE WAS TRYING TO STOP THE OTHER KID! BEN IS ON OUR SIDE! BEN WOULD NEVER EVER DO THAT! HE HATES THE ALIENS MORE THAN ANYTHING! HE HATES WHAT THEY DID TO HIM AND HE WANTS THEM GONE! OKAY?! BEN IS LOYAL TO THE SECOND MASS! DO YOU EVEN KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIM? NO YOU DO NOT! SO NEXT TIME BEFORE YOU GO AND BE A FUCKING JACK ASS AND MAKE SUCH A DRASTIC DECISION, LEARN THE WHOLE STORY! YOU ARE AN ADULT! ISN'T IT SUPOSSED TO BE THE OTHER WAY AROUND?! YOU TELLING THE KIDS THE PROPER WAY TO ACT! NEVER THOUGHT I'D LIVE TO SEE THEY DAY WHEN A FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD HAD TO TEACH A FUCKING ADULT HOW TO ACT! YOU'RE NOT EVEN A FIGHTER! YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN HAVE A GUN! YOU HAVE A KID RIGHT? PUT YOUR SELF IN THAT SITUATION!"

"The only reason the kid is here is because his dad messed up on a mission. Lost all control and took him as well so-"

"His dad's name was Mike. THE ONLY REASON YOUR KID, AND ALL THE OTHERS WHO WENT TO THE SANCTUARY, ARE ALIVE IS BECAUSE HE GAVE UP HIS LIFE FOR THEM GOD DAMN IT! SO NEXT TIME THINK BEFORE YOU FUCKING ACT! Now go inside, sit down and don't do shit. And don't think this won't get back to Weaver."

"Whatever," he said and started to walk away. It took every ounce of strength in me not to turn around and beat that mother fucker to a pulp.

"Oh and if you think my reaction was bad. Just wait until Bens older brother finds out about this. You're in trouble now, but you deserve it you sick bastard!" Just as he walked away, Tom and Rick came walking up. Tom looked part worried part frustrated and Rick looked just plain pissed.

"Thank you, Alyssa, for sticking up for Ben," Tom said.

"Anytime," I replied and walked back to the school. I was heading back to my little closet to do more waiting. _Fun_. I notice Ben, Kaylee, Tom, Dai, Jimmy and a few other fighters walking to Weaver's office, so I followed them.

"Okay, we don't have a lot of time so I'm just gonna lay it out. The skitters know where we are, and there's a good chance they're gonna attack. We all hoped we could make it 'til the strike team came back; that's too risky now. So I decided to evacuate the civilians. We're gonna walk them out through the tunnel behind the auditorium. Once through, they'll move west away from the city."

"The skitters have the scent they'll be crawling all over this area. It's not gonna be easy to get around them," I said.

"That's why I'm going to stay behind with a small group of volunteers." I want to fight, but I don't. I was in a serious dilemma. It was the second fight I was missing today, but guns weren't really my thing and there are more risks than benefits to put me in a shootout.

"If the aliens attack, we'll draw their fire, keep them focused on us, maybe open up a window for the civilians to escape."

"But how are we gonna hold off the skitters and mechs? Our best soldiers are with Weaver." True.

"I know how it sounds," Tom said knowingly. "But I want you to think about where we are. Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought not too far from here. Small force of colonists against the entire might of the British Empire. Nobody gave them much of a change either. Patrick Henry called it, 'the battle is not for the strong alone. It is to the vigilant, the active, and the brave.' A small disciplined militia cannot only hold out against a larger force, but drive it back. Because they're fighting for what rightfully belongs to them. This is our home, our world. So remember that if the come." Another history lesson. "So let's do this," Tom said with confidence. I decided to help the citizens evacuate. I was heading to go find Dr. Glass and talk to her.

"Alyssa." I turned around to see Tom, Anne and Lourdes standing there. Well that was easy.

"Yes?"

"I'm going to put you three in charge of evacuating the citizens. Go through the tunnel under the auditorium and head west. I have the other fighters getting ready for the attack. Head about a mile and wait and in about an hour send Alyssa back to see what happened. Alyssa," he turned to face me "If you can't find anyone when you get back, or we don't make it, you are to go directly back to the civilians and continue heading west until you find somewhere safe. That's an order."

"Yes sir," I said. Tom turned around and ran back to the front of the school to help the fighters. "OKAY LISTEN UP! WE NEED TO EVACUATE! EVERYONE GO GET THE CARS, EVERYTHING! WE ARE LEAVING THROUGH THE TUNNEL UNDER THE ADITORIUM!" I screamed. All the civilians started rushing around getting ready. Ten minutes later we were under the tunnel, heading west. After about a mile, we stopped. And we waited and waited and waited. It took us about thirty minutes to get out here; with some people driving food trucks and stuff, others sitting in back of cars. Some on bikes like me, and some walking. We had to drive slowly, very slowly. I still had a half hour to wait before I could head back. Soon we could hear the sound of mechs attacking, and our fighter fighting back. After about twenty minutes we heard an ear splitting scream, it was a happy scream. It was the scream of our fighters, victorious in the battle against the mechs. "Anne! I'm gonna go back!" I hoped on my bike and drove as fast as physically possible. Soon I was at the school and I started looking for Kaylee. I ran to our room. She wasn't there but her stuff was. She still wasn't packed, typical of my fourteen-year-old best friend. I was in the room for all of about five seconds when she walked in.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey. Where were you?" she asked, shoving stuff in her black backpack.

"I helped escort the civilians and I came back to pack up. How'd it go?"

"Pretty fun, little mind opening too."

Weirdo. "You seriously haven't changed a bit."

"Neither have you. Except maybe you're more klutzy than you were before."

"No, I'm pretty sure I've always been this klutzy," I smiled.

"Do you want to go hangout here for a bit? Just until the fighters are all ready to go. We haven't had a good conversation in a really long time."

"I'd really like that." I really wanna talk to Kaylee. We haven't talked in a while. "I can't believe I'm actually gonna miss this place." I never thought I'd say that about here of all places.

"It was our home away from home. But I guess it's time we found a new home, a better one." Yeah I guess she was right, like usual.

We walked over to the shooting ranges. We were just gonna talk about stuff. Anything we wanted to talk about. Hang out just the two of us, like before the attack.

"Alyssa, what if we never came to the 2nd Mass? What if we didn't go back with Hal and Ben?" she wondered.

"I can't even picture what our lives would be like. We've met so many great people that we've bonded with so fast and I wouldn't give that up for the world." It was probably one of the stupidest things I have ever done, but it was completely worth it.

"I'm so damn glad I made you come." I hated Hal at the time. Amazing how some things change.

"Shut the fuck up," I said, though I was glad too and Kaylee knew it.

"Come on, you know you love me for it. And it looks like you found your prince charming or whatever the hell you were talking about before they came." I shoved her and she fell into the grass.

"What are you two doing?" a voice called.

"Speaking of," she whispered and I slapped her.

Hal and Ben had walked to where we were sitting and looked down at us. "We were just talking about what our lives would've been like if we hadn't came here with you guys," Kaylee said.

Hal sat down with us as did Ben. "Well, I'm glad you guys did. You've seriously brightened a ton of people here at the 2nd Mass. Weaver, our dad, us, Anne, Matt, Lourdes, and dozens of the civilians."

"What did you guys even do those months before we came?" Ben asked.

Kaylee and I looked each other, and it's like we shared a whole conversation, just through that look. Tons of memories came back to us.

"Generally, we just scouted for food and weapon materials. Occasionally we'd go to my old house or to random places and do stupid things," Kaylee smiled at the memories.

"You don't want to know," I said before Hal could ask us the kind of things we did. Some things are better unsaid. "What did you guys do?"

"We were alone for a month or so, and then that's when Porter found us and recruited us all to the Massachusetts Militia Regiments. And a few months later, we were put into the 2nd Mass. My dad and I spent most of our time trying to find Ben, and after we did, we found you guys," Hal spoke.

"Where _is _your dad?" she asked.

Hal sighed. "He went to the structure to go help Weaver."

Wait what? "Why'd Weaver send you back?" Kaylee asked what we were both thinking.

"The 4th and 5th never came in, and I think he knew there was a slim chance of us making it back, so he sent me to the school. That's when I told my dad about them being alone." Oh no. that's not good

"I hope they make it back alright."

"They will. They always do," Hal pointed out. Our fighters were on a stupid, dangerous, suicidal mission. But then again stupid, dangerous, suicidal missions are what the 2nd Mass does best. For a while later we just asked each other questions about themselves.

"First time you ever kissed a guy," Hal asked me.

"Ummm…I think it was in like fourth grade and some guy dared me to kiss him and I don't back down from dares. First time you failed a test," I looked at Ben.

"Never."

"I don't find that hard to believe," I laughed.

"First time you made a gun," Ben looked at Kaylee.

"Six."

"Six?!" Hal and Ben said at the same time.

"I learned to make and load one at six, learned to shoot one at seven."

"That's pretty damn young," Hal murmured.

"I built my first bomb when I was nine," she shrugged nonchalantly. Their faces were priceless.

"First fight you've been in," Kaylee asked Hal.

"Why do you assume that I've been in fights?" he asked, pretending to be offended.

"'Cause you act like a douche sometimes," I said. Kaylee and Ben nodded.

Hal rolled his eyes. "I'm feeling the love guys. But I got into a fight with this guy who was picking on a nerdy girl with no friends and I got suspended for a week." That's so sweet!

"We're going guys." A fighter ran up to us and said. Time to head back. The four of us got up and started walking back to the school. We hopped on our bikes and headed out to where the rest of the 2nd Mass was waiting.

Kaylee's POV

The group of us spent the rest of the sunlit day congratulating each other and cheering over our success. I still hadn't seen Alyssa, but I really hoped she hadn't gone with the civilians. I hoped she was still inside someplace so we could hangout and talk because I haven't really gotten to spend time with her the way we used to since we came here to the 2nd Mass. We had a ton of catching up to do.

"Did you see them turn and run?!" Jimmy asked excitedly as we walked down the dimly lit halls of the school. "Maybe we don't have to leave now!"

"The mechs didn't know what hit them," I said, "but they'll be back. You did great out there today," I smiled.

"Thanks," Jimmy said, "so did you. I can't believe you just got up and started firing. That took guts."

"I blame adrenaline. It was a little hard to stand up but I just did it."

I stopped walking when I saw my second commanding officer. "Everyone's just about out," I informed. "How's Ben?"  
"As long as Scott's jamming the transmission, he's hurting but he's hanging in there. Thanks for what you did today," Tom patted my shoulder gratefully and started down the hall to go talk to Anne.

Jimmy and I continued down the hall in silence until he asked me a question.

"Were you actually scared today?"

"Not so much scared," I walked slowly, "more like 'if I die now, what am I going to regret not doing and what are the things I'm never gonna see or do again?'"

"Like what?" He glanced at my eyes and then looked forward again.

"I had never said goodbye to Alyssa, I would never play piano again, I wouldn't know if Weaver came back, and I wouldn't be able to figure out how I feel about you." Oh fucking hell, did that just come out of my mouth right now? Remind me to stab myself in the throat later.

Jimmy's mouth spread into a shyish smile. "Feel about me?"

I smiled softly and pushed him lightly. "You know I like you. I'm just not sure how. I've never had a boyfriend-"

"Never?"

"I wasn't exactly the likeable type," I chuckled.

Jimmy stopped walking and stared at me. "Did you ever try and let people in, instead of pushing them away?"

"I always had a difficulty with that. That's something that keeps me from figuring this out. Jimmy, I've lost everything and everyone I've ever cared about, and I don't think I can lose someone like you, too. It's a weakness that I can't afford to have in this war, and if something were to happen to you-"

Jimmy pulled me into one of his famous hugs, wrapping his arms tightly around my shoulders. "I'm not going anywhere," he whispered. "I'm staying here, and nothing's going to happen to me, I promise. And when you figure it all out, I'll be waiting." My insides got all warm again, like they do when he hugs me like this, and he gently kissed my head. What the hell does that mean?! Ah, fuck it, I'll just ask Alyssa or something. I'm pretty sure I was blushing slightly as well. Fantastic.

"I'm going to go take a victory bath."

"What? Kaylee Parker go and do something girly? God forbid!" Jimmy gasped. He was such a fucking dork sometimes, I swear.

I shook my head. "Not girly. I'm just a fan of hygiene." I pointed at the gardening dirt in my hair and saluted him cheesily. "Catch you later."

"See you, Parker."

Holy shit I had a lot to think about on the way to the girls' locker room. I had no idea what I was feeling. I was fourteen for crying out loud; how the hell was I supposed to know if I liked someone? I never had crushes back at school, and no matter how many times Alyssa introduced me to people, I never wanted anything to do with them. I guess that's the thing about this kind of thing: you can't really expect it to happen or force it; it just comes when it comes. What could possibly be my first crush just happened to come seven months after aliens invaded the planet. Fanfuckingtastic. As if I don't have a ton of things on my mind lately, I have another thing added to the list. Ugh, all I wanted was to be a fighter, now I'm stuck with the possibility of being a lover. That word alone made me cringe inside. Love. Love had destroyed my life as a kid, tore my heart out and sewn it sloppily back together, and left scars up and down. What was my heart was a tattered thing that didn't have the strength to love, and I didn't know if I could ever muster enough strength to do it again.

But what if it's different than how I remember it? What if it's something that could heal the holes and erase the scars? Love is what has kept everyone going in this war right, or so they say? Is that why everyone has had more hope than I could ever think of? I can't believe I'm thinking about all of this right now. I need to bang my head on something hard to make these thoughts go away.

Once I entered the girls' locker room, someone had left a bucket of water on the side of the showers. I've never been happier in my life. I took off my gloves and hoodie, dunked my hair into the bucket, and washed my hair out with the shampoo lying around. It felt so great to get all that dirt out of it and for it to feel so clean. I washed my face and the dirt off of my arms and I felt so much better. Regular showers were a close second to things I missed in the world, but music would always come first. Always.

After somewhat drying my hair with a towel, I shook out my hair and walked out of the room. I had to pack up my stuff in Alyssa and I's room; we were leaving in a bit, so I wanted to get everything together and spend dome time with her before we go. Four hours to pack and I didn't even bother. Oh well.

"Hey," Alyssa said once I walked inside.

"Hey," I stopped in the doorframe. "Where were you?"

"I helped escort the civilians and I came back to pack up. How'd it go?"

I moved to my cot and started folding some of my clothes and putting them in my backpack along with my weapons. "Pretty fun, little mind opening too."

Alyssa smiled and shook her head. "You seriously haven't changed a bit."

I crossed my arms. "Neither have you. Except maybe you're more klutzy than you were before."

"No, I'm pretty sure I've always been this klutzy."

I laughed, slinging my backpack over my shoulder. "Do you want to go hangout here for a bit? Just until the fighters are all ready to go. We haven't had a good conversation in a really long time."

She nodded. "I'd really like that." She then turned to look at our room, now as bare as ever. "I can't believe I'm actually gonna miss this place."

"It was our home away from home," I added, looking around the English class we had lived in for the past month. Time sure flew by, and I couldn't imagine living in a better with place with better people. "But I guess it's time we found a new home, a better one."

With one last look at Room 903, Alyssa and I left for the outdoors. We planned to catch up at the shooting ranges, sitting and talking, and that way we would be in plain sight for the people moving the vehicles to come and get us. It was crazy to me that just seven months ago, this school used to be a dreaded place no one ever wanted to go to, and now it was a refuge that survivors appreciated more than anything. Sure I didn't really want to move, but I was glad we'd get a change of scene. We'd be safer and hopefully we'd see more combat (you never heard that from me). The two of us sat down and stared up at the starry night above us. It was beautiful and always had been, and it was something the aliens could never destroy.

"Alyssa, what if we never came to the 2nd Mass? What if we didn't go back with Hal and Ben?" I asked, looking at her for her answer.

"I can't even picture what our lives would be like. We've met so many great people that we've bonded with so fast and I wouldn't give that up for the world."

"I'm so damn glad I made you come," I laughed at the memory. Alyssa despised Hal with all her heart then, and now she liked him. And I hated Ben, but now we were friends. It was so weird how things change so quickly. Alyssa and I were on our own for six months, and then we simply got on our bikes and rode into "civilization" with two people we couldn't stand. Now we were fighters in a resistance force and we had made friends with them.

"Shut the fuck up."

I smiled. "Come on, you know you love me for it. And it looks like you found your prince charming or whatever the hell you were talking about before they came." Alyssa shoved me and I fell onto my back on the grass. I laughed at how she didn't deny that.

"What are you two doing?" a voice called, humor filled in the tone.

"Speaking of," I whispered to her. That remark earned me another slap to my collection of abuse from Alyssa.

Hal and Ben had walked to where we were sitting and looked down at us. "We were just talking about what our lives would've been like if we hadn't came here with you guys," I told them.

Hal sat down with us as did Ben. "Well, I'm glad you guys did. You've seriously brightened a ton of people here at the 2nd Mass. Weaver, our dad, us, Anne, Matt, Lourdes, and dozens of the civilians."

"What did you guys even do those months before we came?" Ben wondered.

Alyssa and I looked at each other, throwing flashbacks into one another's eyes. I hadn't thought about it in the longest time. It never was entirely that interesting, but it brought us even closer together than I could imagine.

"Generally, we just scouted for food and weapon materials. Occasionally we'd go to my old house or to random places and do stupid things," I grinned at my best friend.

"You don't want to know," Alyssa said before Hal could ask us the kind of things we did. "What did you guys do?"

"We were alone for a month or so, and then that's when Porter found us and recruited us all to the Massachusetts Militia Regiments. And a few months later, we were put into the 2nd Mass. My dad and I spent most of our time trying to find Ben, and after we did, we found you guys," Hal spoke.

"Where _is _your dad?" I asked.

Hal sighed. He looked like he didn't want to repeat something awful. "He went to the structure to go help Weaver."

My eyebrows rose. "Why'd Weaver send you back?"

"The 4th and 5th never came in, and I think he knew there was a slim chance of us making it back, so he sent me to the school. That's when I told my dad about them being alone."

"I hope they make it back alright."

"They will. They always do," Hal pointed out. The mission our fighters were on was completely reckless, and maybe a little stupid, so I really hoped that all of them were being safe. Hal, Ben, and Matt need a father, especially now of all times. And I knew how damn hard it was growing up with out parents to guide you or be there for you, and I prayed that none of them would go through what I had. It left me emotionless, full of anger and hatred, and dark. I couldn't even begin to describe what hell my parents' death put me in. I wouldn't want that for anyone.

So the four of us sat under the stars for thirty minutes of more, talking about life. We shared stories about our old lives (well, most of us), crazy things we've done, best food we've ever tasted, and first time doing specific things.

"First time you ever kissed a guy," Hal shot at Alyssa. Oh God.

"Ummm…I think it was in like fourth grade and some guy dared me to kiss him and I don't back down from dares. First time you failed a test," Alyssa directed toward Ben.

Hal scoffed as Ben answered, "Never."

"I don't find that hard to believe," Alyssa laughed.

"First time you made a gun," Ben looked at me.

I bit my lip and frowned, trying to think. It was such a long time ago; I had to have been at least six? Seven? Six, yeah I remember it now. "Six."

"Six?!" Hal and Ben chorused. It was really weird how they always do that.

"I learned to make and load one at six, learned to shoot one at seven."

"That's pretty damn young," Hal muttered.

"I built my first bomb when I was nine," I shrugged. Alyssa and I started laughing when we saw the looks on their faces. So freaking hilarious.

Since I knew everything about Alyssa, I went to Hal. "First fight you've been in."

"Why do you assume that I've been in fights?"

"'Cause you act like a douche sometimes," Alyssa stated. I nodded in agreement and I'm pretty sure I saw Ben nodding too.

Hal rolled his eyes. "I'm feeling the love guys. But I got into a fight with this guy who was picking on a nerdy girl with no friends and I got suspended for a week."

Alyssa was about to continue talking when a group of fighters came to get us. "We're going guys."

We got up and started walking to the parking lot with our bikes. I revved up my engine and got on, taking a last look at John F. Kennedy High School. I was gonna miss this place, more than I would admit. But I was gonna have to get used to moving around a lot and to not get to comfortable in a new place. Once food stores around where we were staying at got low or if the aliens found us, we would have to move. I've always wanted to travel, and traveling while fighting has got to be the best way to do it.

Alyssa, Hal, Ben, and I took up the back of the civilians as they walked. I still had no idea how far we were going out, except that we were going west and away from Boston. I think that Anne was leading everyone out, or maybe it was a fighter who knew of a good place to move the 2nd Mass until Weaver got back with the other group. I was pretty bored on my bike, since we were going at like five miles an hour behind the civilians, and I didn't really feel like talking. Everything around me was a blur at the moment, and I just started thinking about random things that came to mind.

It had been a long time since I genuinely let the thoughts in my head flow freely. For some reason, I kept thinking about the life I could've had if the aliens hadn't invaded. I had made a personal decision to get a GED during sophomore year in school and when I turned seventeen, I was going to enlist in the U.S. Army. Personally, I saw no future ahead of me, so I decided that I should actually so something good in my life and serve my country. My uncle had even signed for permission to join when I was thirteen, and I've had that paper in my pocket every since. Come to think of it, the paper was in my backpack at the moment. I have no idea why I kept it, but I guess it's just something of my past that I could hold on to with ease.

My uncle could go on for hours about why he joined the army and why he loved it so much. I used to listen to his stories all the time and I never getting tired of hearing them, even if he told me the same story three times before. My mom thought her brother was crazy for telling an eleven-year-old about killing and weapons and stuff like that, but I didn't care. I was not your Barbie doll playing, pigtail-wearing, pink-loving kid. I was the girl who grew up playing Halo and Legos with her older brother. I was the girl who always wore jeans and a t shirt. I was the girl who was into the rock bands and into the screamo, even at the youngest of ages. I was still that girl, except I was no longer the somewhat happy person I used to be.

After both of my parents passed away, something inside of me broke. I don't know what it was, but since then, feelings began to fade away. Noises began to sound less loud. Everything became less noticeable to my eyes. My clothes changed from normal tomboy colors to pure black. I started having uncontrollable nightmares and occasional hallucinations. I got in fights, and Alyssa constantly tried to pull me out of them. I was suspended numerous times and thrown in detention everyday. I never spoke, not even if I was called on in class. And then the day before I had to go to the principal's office for a "serious" discussion about my behavior (he finally had the smarts to expel me), aliens invaded.

So you can imagine how much I hoped Tom would come back. I could not stand to see the sight of any of the Mason boys turn into me, a broken soul. And I would do everything I could to prevent that process from happening, and if I couldn't, I would be there for them to talk to about it. Tom had to come back. He _needed_ to come back. It was going to burn all of their hope to ashes if Tom didn't make it. I don't even want to think about how Matt's face is going to look if he knows his only parent left died.

This is also why I'm afraid of liking Jimmy. Because no one is guaranteed safety in this world. If I had admitted to liking him and he died, I would revert right back to that phase. It's been seven months since I've done something drastic, like shoving a kid who was mocking me into some lockers, and I want to keep it that way. But our life spans were decreasing rapidly, so I know I would regret it if I never confessed that I did like him. My God, this was too confusing to think about. But it was also nagging me in the back of my brain, because once there's a problem in my life, I can't stop thinking about it until it's figured it out. Which I absolutely hate. But I appreciated Jimmy's patience and how he wouldn't push the subject until I brought it up. That made this whole thing a lot more bearable.

Remember how I told him that I wasn't the likeable type? It wasn't exactly a lie, and it wasn't entirely the truth. Around school, people saw me as the badass who couldn't wait to get the fuck out of high school. For whatever reason, that attracted a few guys who tried and failed to talk to me. Eventually an over persistent guy got his ass kicked (Detention Number 32) by me and that caused everyone to lie off of me. Alyssa was extremely proud to say in the least.

"Just another mile and we're gonna park for the night!" A fighter yelled out to all of the 2ndMass. How long had we been riding? Must've been zoning out again…

That mile went by fast and soon enough we had pulled over to a park to station us for the night. A group of us worked on camouflaging some of our vehicles under the billions of trees, others set up tents I didn't know we had, and a lot of us just anxiously waited around for the group that was at the structure to return.

I didn't know we had, and a lot of us just anxiously waited around for the group that was at the structure to return.

A few agonizing hours passed before we saw the headlights of a truck flash into the park, along with the fighters who had stayed behind. Pope had stumbled out of the vehicle along with an unconscious Anthony, who was wounded fairly badly. Some of the physically stronger fighters came to take Anthony to Dr. Glass's tent and I ambushed Pope. His eye was swollen and he had a few minor cuts here and there, but he was in good shape.

"What happened?" I asked.

"The Cooties came and wiped us out. The Professor sent me back with Anthony; he's planning on blowing the structure still."

"What about Weaver?"

Pope shrugged. "Don't know what happened to him."

"Tom's gonna get himself killed," I shook my head. Things were looking worse and worse the more the night dragged on, and I don't think that Tom was going to make it back. I certainly hoped he would, but the chances were slimmer than they were an hour ago. I could tell it was driving the Mason boys insane. Hal was pacing, Ben was trying to distract himself by talking to Alyssa, and Matt kept asking if his dad was back.

"Kaylee," Matt looked up at me, "do you think they're gonna make it here?" His eyes looked hopeless, broken as my life. He didn't really care about my answer, he just needed to be distracted from the large possibility that his father might not come back home.

I crouched down to him, sighing in the process. "Truthfully, I don't know if they will. But I do know that your father loves you and your brothers more than anything in the world, and I know he'll stop at nothing to be with the three of you again. The only thing we can do right now is hope that they'll come back and have faith that they will."

Matt gave me a tight hug, and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. I knew he wanted to cry, but I think he was trying to be strong. Matt was an incredible boy who could brighten a room by simply smiling; he was the sweetest kid you'd ever meet. He deserved a future with a dad leading him down the right path, not a future full of guessing and wrong turns. Believe me, it's the most damn awful thing that could happen to a young kid. Matt was two years younger than I was when I lost my parents, and if it was absolutely hell for an eleven-year-old, I couldn't imagine what it would be like on a nine-year-old. I kissed Matt's curly hair and then ruffled it. I stood up again and then walked over to Jimmy, who was leaning on a tree waiting like the rest of us.

"How're you holding up?" Jimmy stared at my eyes.

"I just want this day to be over. It's been too damn stressful."

Jimmy opened his right arm, offering the warmth of his body heat (it had to be thirty degrees out right now) and the comfort of his heart. I gladly leaned my head on his shoulder and let him place his arm around me. How the fuck was he so warm?! It would probably snow soon since winter was approaching, and he was radiating like a heater.

"You're so cold," Jimmy chuckled quietly.

"No, you're just warmer than hell."

He laughed again, and rubbed my jacket covered arm to make it warmer. "It's just because I'm next to you right now."

I looked up at him then punched him in the arm. "Nice try."

"You're blushing, so I think it worked."

I punched him harder. "Shut up." I could feel my cheeks hot, so there was no point in denying it. I hated blushing; I also hated showing my emotions unless it was voluntary but this was the one thing I couldn't control. And it pissed me off.

"Did you ever have a girlfriend before the attack?" I asked randomly.

"I was thirteen when they attacked, which was a little young, but I was thinking about asking this one girl out. Then the aliens attacked and I never got the chance. But what sucks about this war is that my memories of the past are starting to slip away. I don't even remember her name or why I liked her in the first place…"

"I'm having a hard time remembering classmates and the names of my teachers. Or even what my house looked like. I hate that not only they're trying to take Earth from us, but now they're trying to take away my memories too. Sure I'd like to forget my past, but it's all the good things I'm forgetting, not the bad."

Jimmy skimmed his thumb back and forth on my shoulder, looking around the tented park. "We're just going to have to make new ones then. And being here with you, for however long we do survive, is a memory I'll never forget."

"We're going to make it through this Jimmy. And we're gonna be down in the history books."

He smiled down at me, and then looked around us again. Being here, right now in this moment was a memory within itself. Talking with Jimmy always made me feel calmer and less angry with the world. Something about his outlook on life and his personality makes me think of my future and forget the dark days behind me. I don't know; when I'm with him I feel…different. Less silent, less mad, and more of who I used to be.

So we stood there, me leaning on his shoulder with his arm wrapped around me, in the ice cold weather of Massachusetts for the longest time. We didn't move, didn't speak; we just stood while we watched a memory create in front of us. Eventually I fell asleep on his warm shoulder, but before I was fully sleeping I remember him pushing my bangs behind my ear and kissing the side of my head softly, making my body as warm as he was now.

My eyes opened to the sound of a truck engine rumbling and the headlights that shined like the moon above us. Jimmy and I were still against the tree, and I wondered how long I had been asleep on his shoulder.

"How long was I asleep?"

"About an hour and a half. Maybe two, I wasn't paying attention to time."

"You could've woken me up," I said feeling bad for having him stay in an uncomfortable position for so long.

"You were tired and I wanted you to sleep for a bit. I needed a little time to think anyways," Jimmy said, turning to look at who had come back.

The entire 2nd Mass had crowded around the beat up truck to see if we had any more survivors. I was praying that a few of them had at least made it back together, since we needed as many fighters as possible. We couldn't afford casualties now. This war had just begun, and if we lost fighters as early as we were now, things would be bad later.

My heart sank when only Weaver came out of the truck, alarmed and scared. And it sank even farther when I realized something:

Tom Mason was no where to be found.

Alyssa's POV

Hal, Ben, Kaylee, and I road to where we had evacuated the 2nd Mass. Tom, Weaver, and a few others still had not returned. We waited a little, and then Dai and a couple more fighters took the lead of the group of civilians and we started our journey west, away from the aliens and the structure over Boston. We were going away from Kaylee and I's home since birth. When I looked at her, she was frowning slightly, something she did when she was lost in thought. I was surprised that she didn't crash. Hal and Ben were on their bikes a bit ahead of us. Matt was sitting on the back of the food truck. We drove and drove until the work around us started to become totally unfamiliar. I had never been up this way in my life.

It had been close to an hour when I started to get worried. What if something really bad happened? What if they couldn't find us?

"Just another mile and we're gonna park for the night!" yelled a fighter. I looked up at the sky and realized how late it was. It took us about thirty minutes to make that last mile, but when we did, we stopped at a park. People started setting up tents and stuff. Kaylee was standing there watching everyone. Hal was pacing back and forth, and Ben was fidgeting as he stood next to me impatiently, and Matt didn't know what to do. He watched his brothers and could tell something was wrong. Then Matt and Kaylee started talking. He was talking to her because his older brothers weren't responding.

"Alyssa?"

I turned to Ben. "Hey, Ben." He was extremely worried.

"Where do you think they are?"

"I don't know. But they're going to come back. It could be three minutes or three hours, or it could be three weeks or three months. But I know that they will come back. Your dad would go travel to the ends of the earth to get back to you three."

"Us five," Ben smiled.

"What?"

"He considers you and Kaylee the two daughters he never had. He thinks of you guys as family; we all do."

"Thanks, Ben," I smiled back. "That means more than you'll ever know." I looked around at the people of the 2nd Mass. We were just two bitchy, loud (well only one of us is loud), smart ass teenage girls who walked up one day to these peoples' home. They let us become part of their family. And this whole family thing was a new feeling for Kaylee and me, since it had always been just us two. But it was something I could definitely get used to.

* * *

_And this henceforth concludes Season One of Hate, Envy, Loss, Love guys! Alyssa and I are making Season Two the other half of H.E.L.L. and Season Three will be a new title!:D Thank you all for making it this far with us and that are going to continue on with us! I think we might take a shortish break, simply because we are having a Season One and Two marathon with a few of our friends who want to see it:D We have a lot of plans already for the next season, but we want to watch all the episodes together before we start writing it all down:D So don't freak if we're a little inactive for a bit, we're just making our story as great as it can be for you all! Until I see you next,_

_Keep The Resistance Strong, And Falling Skies On. _

_-Parker_

**What did you think of the little Carter/Ben brother sister moment there at the end? just wait until these next few chapters come up. We have AMAZING ideas, and those ideas may include a few birthday parties and some possible Ben/Kaylee bonding and more Alyssa/Hal stuff!**

**~Carter**


	11. For Better Or For Worse

_Remember how I said we were going to take a break? Yeah that didn't happen;D We're just so excited to write the second season so we wrote this all;D Enjoy th Battle of Fitchburg my viewers!:D (BTW I'm working on Chapter 12 right now;D Little surprise: Ben is going to have his POV in the next chapter!:DD YAY) Oh! Shoutout to ElySnow for being freaking awesome! -Parker_

HI AGAIN! HOW IS LIFE? Well here is another chappter! So if you wanna know where we are getting these ideas, go to the falling skies website and look at the comic! It's the Battle of Fitchburg, which happend between Seasons 1 and 2! So yeah! check it out! Oh and I wanna give a special shout out to ElySnow for being an amazingly awesome fan! You're awesome! -Carter

* * *

Chapter 11-For Better Or For Worse

Kaylee's POV

Weaver was devastated. Hell, we all were. I was more surprised that Tom Mason, second in command of an alien resistance group, would _willingly_ step onto an alien spaceship without once questioning it. Once he announced that, the entire 2nd Mass simply stood in our places. None of us moved or spoke for a good five minutes, and I know that something right then changed within each of the Mason boys.

But the one who took it the hardest was Ben.

He was standing next to me as Weaver told the crowd what Tom had done, and when I looked at his eyes, I saw the same thing that was in my own when I found out that my parents had died: brokenness. Complete and utter brokenness. Like all hope in the world had disappeared and nothing could bring it back. The hatred and anger was slowly building in his green-blue eyes, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Ben Mason was turning into Kaylee Parker. And I was not okay with that.

He was the first of the three to storm off, but was soon followed to their own tent by Hal and Matt. We agreed to let them cool off together, however the uneasiness in my stomach was growing by the millisecond. What was going to happen to the three happy Mason brothers? The people everyone in the 2nd Mass knew had an extraordinary light that radiated off of them because they had so much hope. But now that their dad was gone, would that light start to dim?

The following day, the usual happy talkative Mason brothers were silent at breakfast. The air around them seemed to be dark, and the aura around Ben was even darker. I had no idea how to approach them. I was the quiet one, so going over there to strike up a conversation was out of my abilities. When my parents died, all I wanted was to be left alone, so I decided to go that route and give Hal, Ben, and Matt some space. Alyssa and I had eaten a few tables away from them with Jimmy and Weaver.

"What are we going to do now?" I had asked Weaver.

"We gotta take the main road and move farther south," he told me, "just as soon as we move out of Fitchburg. The fighters are running low on ammunition and guns and there's an army base down there that could have weapons. We're gonna need to stock up on supplies and continue to clean these bastards off our planet."

And four weeks later, that's exactly where the 2nd Mass was. But we were in rough shape. We made it to Fitchburg just fine, but by the looks of it, not all of us were going to make it back out. The 2nd Mass was miles away from the army base and we had tons of mechs watching the streets for us. Skitters lined every building around here too. No matter how many we seemed to kill, ten more replaced the alien while we ran lower and lower on ammunition and good guns. I had shared all of what I had left with the fighters, so I couldn't even supply us with more. Of course I had my own stash, but it wouldn't help trying to distribute them all to the fighters. I had been using my knives as much as possible in order to ration what I had left. My grenades were gone, as was my C4. I had saved as much as I could of the mech bullets Pope and I made a month ago and was surprisingly loaded with a lot of them. Weaver told me to use my bullets as a defense and not as an attack because I was the only fighter with more than twenty rounds of ammunition left.

I was exhausted to say the least. The entire 2nd Mass was afraid of what could happen to us, and I was afraid that if I had to keep calming down hysteric people I would explode. Since Tom had been taken, the 2nd Mass was frantic with fear. This was going to be a tough battle, and I still could never be sure if we could make it out of this. Even Weaver was skeptic about the 2nd Mass's chance for survival. Anne was short on everything, food was diminishing, and more and more people weren't making it back from missions. The 2nd Mass was slowly starting to fall apart, although none of us wanted to admit it.

Alyssa's POV

So much for that happy family. A few hours after we were all set up and ready for the night, Weaver showed up. But only Weaver. Where the hell is Tom? Instantly I thought of the worst possible scenarios in my head. Worst one, he was killed, second worse he was taken by the aliens. Now that the little bastards have Karen, they know exactly how the 2nd Mass works. They'll know how important Tom is to holding the 2nd Mass together. Without him the 2nd Mass would be nothing. And what better way to permanently tear something apart than eliminate the glue that holds it together? One look at Weaver's face and I knew he had no good news.

He gathered us around and told us what happened. Tom and Weaver were walking back to camp and a ship came and stopped them. Basically the aliens said Tom was to go with them or they'll continue to let the transformation on Ben continue. And Tom did the only thing he thought possible: he went with them. Just hopped on their ship and flew away.

I looked at Hal, who was so tensed up. His fists were balled up and completely white and his mouth was in a line. He was more that pissed, he looked frightening. Matt didn't know what to do. The news hit him hard. I looked at Ben and instantly I saw Kaylee. He had that same look she got when she lost her parents. The three of them turned around and silently walked over to their tent to calm down.

Part of me wanted to go over to them and help them and tell them everything was gonna be okay. But the logical side of me didn't want to. I couldn't promise it was gonna be okay. I didn't know if it would all work out or not. I also knew that if I was in their position I wouldn't want anyone to talk to me. I would want to be left alone. So that's what I did.

"Hey Weaver," I said.

"What do you want Carter?" He looked lost, like he was trying to wake himself up from a horrible dream.

"Just wondering if I have permission to go on a little ride. Just to cool off. I'll be back, well I don't know when. Just tell Kaylee I'm on a scouting mission."

"Yeah, go ahead." I ran over to the tent Kaylee and I shared, grabbed my hoodie and hopped on my bike. It was almost dark now. I took off in the direction of the school. I don't know what exactly I planned on doing, but I was going to do something. It was a bad habit I had picked up when I was five or six. Whenever things were bad at home, I'd hop on my bike and run away. I thing the longest I was away was a week. I used to scare the shit out of my mom. She would immediately call Kaylee's mom and see if I was over there and most of the time I was. But sometimes when I really didn't want to talk, I would go somewhere no one could find me. I would hide. I don't thing I realized it at first but I was going there again. I was running away and hiding when times got hard. My spot was a lake my mom took me to when I was little once. It was about twenty miles from my house. It was a really pretty lake, not too far from here; I could see it in my head. I was almost there, and things started to look more and more familiar. Not familiar as in I remember it from a long time ago, but I as in I had seen it recently, after the attack. Then it hit me. That lake was the same one Hal pushed me into on our first scouting mission, the same lake we hung out at just a few nights ago. That's why I love that lake so much. I was so fascinated by it because it calmed me, just like when I was younger.

I sat down next to the river and closed my eyes and let my mind wander. As I sat there, it was all most like this was a bad dream. That I was gonna wake up soon, in our room back at the school with Kaylee sitting there. I just sat there most of the night. Then around four in the morning I got up and headed back. Out of habit I started heading back to the school. It still felt like a dream and when I rode up to JFKHS. Tom would be there and Weaver would have another mission for Hal and me. The school came into view and I stopped and stared at it. I looked at the school, our home, just sitting there. It was eerie and quiet, empty. That is when reality finally hit me. I realized this wasn't some nightmare my mind dreamed up, this was real life. I headed back to camp, the sound of my bike splitting through the air. I arrived back at camp around five. I slept for about an hour and was back up at six a.m. for breakfast.

The Mason boys were usually the highlight of every meal. Their brotherly bickering entertained everyone. Today they sat isolated and silent. No one knew what to say or how to comfort them, so we all just let them be. I sat with Kaylee, Weaver, and Jimmy a few tables away.

"What are we going to do now?" Kaylee asked.

"We gotta take the main road and move farther south," Weaver said, "just as soon as we move out of Fitchburg. The fighters are running low on ammunition and guns and there's an army base down there that could have weapons. We're gonna need to stock up on supplies and continue to clean these bastards off our planet." Hell yeah! I'm all for that last part!

That was a great plan to dream about, but when you actually put it into action, not so good. Four weeks later and the 2nd Mass was not at our best, to say the least. The fighters, the few we had left, had barely any ammunition. We made it to Fitchburg but we were having a hard time resisting. There were so fucking many of the little bastards. It was crazy, it was like if you killed off one, twenty or more appeared in its place. We were losing fighters on a daily basis, and Hal and I were right in the middle of all the action. And that brought us to present day time.

I saw some commotion off to the side, by where Kaylee Jimmy and Ben were. Hal and I ran over to see what exactly was going on.

"What happened?" Weaver asked a hunched over Dai. "Where's the rest of your patrol?"

"Nobody else," he took a breath, "made it back…"

Oh my fucking God. TEN FUCKING PEOPLE WENT WITH HIM!

"The whole western approach is crawling with skitters and mechs. Way too many of them."

"Too many for your patrol?" Weaver asked.

"Too many for the 2nd Mass." So this could be the end. I tried to not think like that, I mean we made it one month right? All we needed was a few more days to make an escape. The 2nd Mass seemed indestructible. We had to have enough fight left in us to make it a few more days.

"There's a hundred mechs out there," Dai said, "maybe more."  
"Did you have any contact with the other patrols out there?" I asked

"Some, but we lost them. They're still out there, too. I know they had similar sightings of skitters and mechs all along the north and south." Oh…not exactly the answer I wanted to hear.

Weaver frowned and it was obviously not the response he wanted either. "So the 2nd Mass is being hemmed in." Weaver turned to the 2nd Mass, taking his rightful position at the head of everyone. "Everybody listen up!"

Any little muttering ceased at once. "We need to go to ground. Stay out of sight. Hide in buildings. Don't go outside unless it's absolutely necessary. We can't be spotted. Most of you know we've been heading through Fitchburg in order to reach an army base that…we think _might _have an untouched cache of weaponry. That mission is aborted until we can find a way out of this mess. Everyone who's able, help move the sick. We need to keep them safe. So get the wounded and as many important supplies under cover."

Weaver wanted the most experienced fighters out there only. He looked around and I waited for him to pick Kaylee. Instead he picked me. Kaylee and were both equally surprised about this. Kaylee has just as much experience as me, and more experience with guns that I do.

"You alright, Parker?" Kaylee wasn't even bothering to hide how pissed she was.

"Just fucking sick of waiting around to die. I want to come with you so I know you're okay."

I hugged her. "Please be safe," she told me.

"I will be, I swear." I walked over to Hal and Griffin who were on the bikes. "Give me like five seconds to run to my tent." I turned around and ran over.

"One Mississippi. Two Mississippi." Hal yelled.

"Shut up Hal," I yelled back. He laughed. I ran into our tent and started looking through my bag. It was getting cold lately and I didn't wanna get sick like last time I was out late. Ben opened up the tent.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "Aren't you going on a mission?"

"Yeah, but I need to change my shirt, I want a long sleeved one." By then I had given up all hope of finding a shirt in my bag and started rummaging through Kaylee's bag.

"You're a fifteen nearly sixteen-year-old fighter in a post apocalyptic world, getting ready to go on a mission, and you're worried about what shirt you have on. Some things never change. Typical girl."

"I am not!"

"What then? Trying to impress your boyfriend?" he smirked

"No. And you're one to talk Mr. I-am-in-love-with-Kaylee-and-want-to-impress-her-so-I-started-wearing-black-too."That wiped the smirk off his face.

"I'll be back." He was back in a few minutes, holding a grey old long-sleeve Metal Militia shirt. "Here, it was Hal's. Matt made him keep it, because since we're the Second Massachusetts MilitiaRegiment and it's a MetalMilitia shirt."

"Oh I get it." I threw it on over my tank top. It was way too big though, so I had to take a rubber band and tie it up in the back. The sleeves went way past my arms. It was very warm though. I had that and my usual dark denim shorts and boots on.

"Hey what's taking you so long?" Hal popped his head in. "Is that my shirt?"

"I let her borrow it," Ben said.

"Why?" He was confused.

"Because apparently neither Kaylee nor I have long a long sleeve shirt and I needed one."

"You should just borrow one of Matt's, it might fit you better," he said, laughing at his own joke.

"Ha ha," I said sarcastically.

"Okay, let's go." I grabbed my knives and we headed out. It was just us three, Griffin, Hal and I. I grabbed my knives. But when I was walking over to the bikes, I slipped on some wet grass and fell on my ass.

"Did you just fall?" Hal laughed.

"No. I attacked the floor."

"Backwards?" he questioned.

"I'm just that fucking awesome."

"Sure okay. You believe that."

"You're just jealous," I smirked.

"Come on you two! Let's go!" Griffin yelled. We jogged over to him and headed out. We didn't see any activity for the first few blocks and then things got bad, really fast. One block there was nothing, and then the next there were hundreds of them. We had to abandon our bikes and proceed on foot. It was almost scary; we had to be extremely quiet. I had my gun out and ready to shoot. I also had a knife in my hand. About thirty blocks from camp, we had our first encounter.

"Griffin!" Hal yelled "BEAMER IN THE AIR!"

"TAKE COVER!" We ducked into a building as fast as possible. "This is bad. They called in air cover." Thank you Captain Obvious. We went back out and continued to walk around.

"There is a building up the block, did anyone else notice it?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's covered with skitters, all sides, even on the top. I wonder what's up with it," Hal thought out loud.

"And we are located too damn close to it," I said.

"Thank you Captain Weaver for sending us into another skitter fest. Like they don't get enough target practice as it is," Griffin muttered hopelessly.

"Enough Griffin. Let's just finish this and get back to camp," Hal said.

"Look, we've made it too far to quit now," I said. The three of us ducked onto an old open building as another beamer came over head. We were on the side of the building facing a dead end ally. There was one way in and one way out. Probably not the smartest decision on our part. Once we were sure the beamer was gone, Hal popped his head out.

"See anything?" Griffin asked.

"A stack of girly magazines-maybe we should grab them for Kaylee-and a nice acoustic guitar."

"If you bring her those magazines, she'll use them for target practice, but she would like the guitar though. She was pretty good at it," I remembered.

"I meant did you see anything alien related?" Griffin sounded slightly annoyed.

"Oh, no I don't see any." The three of us stepped out of the building. As soon as we did, we heard the unmistakable sound of skitters. As if on cue, we all looked up. They were everywhere, on top of the buildings, on the fire escapes.

"Really now? No skitters out here?" Griffin asked.

"Shut up and don't move. Our best bet is to try and make it out to the other end of the ally and run as fast as fucking humanly possible." As I said that, a mech came around the corner, blocking our only exit. "Okay, new plan. Shoot those little bastards and don't die. One, two, three, FIRE!"

I took out my gun, and tried to remember everything Kaylee had ever told me and I let loose. I had killed about three skitters when I was empty. SHIT! I quickly pulled out my knives and started killing them that way. I had one shot with each skitter, because if I hit them anywhere but the top of their mouth, it would just piss them off. Soon I was out of knives as well. I took my out other gun and started shooting, I only had about a half a round in there to start. In seconds, I had nothing. For the first time I looked around; what I saw was something I never wanted to see again. Griffin was lying on the floor, with a big hole in the middle of his stomach. Hal was literally in the hands of a skitter with his gun was lying on the floor. Hal was about to die and there was nothing I could do to help him. I frantically looked around for something, anything I could use to help him. I saw a skitter I had killed with my knife hanging out of its mouth. I needed to get to it, the only problem was the skitter holding Hal was standing over it. I looked around for another skitter that had a knife in its mouth, but I couldn't tell. I glanced at the terrified face of Hal and decided what to do. I sprinted over to it and laid a perfectly placed kicked to the side of its head. In shock and pain it dropped Hal and turned to face me, but that's exactly what I needed. I ran towards it and right as it tried to grab me, I ducked under it and come out behind it, at the same time grabbed the knife from the other skitter. It barely had enough time to turn around and face me when I sent the knife straight into its mouth.

"Holy shit," I looked at where Hal was facing. The mech was aiming its fire straight at me. "ALYSSA GET DOWN NOW!" Just as it fired, I ducked out of the way, missing the bullets by a fraction of a millimeter.

"Hal we have to move, fast!" Between us three we managed to kill all the skitters, but there was still the mech. We hid in the building again.

"Do you notice how the mechs take time before they shot? The need a still target."

"Okay so we don't give them one. We keep moving," I told him.

"Exactly." We started sprinting. Hal went one way I went the other, we made it around the mech but there wasn't much time to celebrate because the mech was following us. Suddenly the mech exploded, just exploded.

"Where is Griffin?" I have never been so happy to hear Weaver's voice. We turned around and saw him and Dai behind us.

"He's dead," I said.

"And your bikes?"

"Just over there." You could see our bikes from where we were standing. We hadn't made it that far before encountering skitters and the mech. Hal and I ran over to our bikes and the four of us headed back to camp. Camp was supposed to be a safe heaven. Once you made it back to camp you were safe. Everyone felt safer at camp. That's just how it was. Yeah well, not today. We had been back at camp for a total of maybe two minutes when it hit. The skies were empty one moment then the next there were balls of fire falling on us. Before the fire hit the ground, the 2nd Mass was up and running. Getting things together, packing up tents and loading cars. We couldn't go far, but we managed to get the civilians in a big building far enough away. For a while we thought we were safe, apart from the fire. About an hour later we had the cars outside and I was sitting at a table with Weaver, Dai, Hal, and a few other fighters. We lost a bunch of cars and other stuff but all the people made it out alive which was good.

Kaylee's POV

"Is my aim alright?" Ben's voice dragged me out of my head to present time.

Ben had asked me and Jimmy to give him lessons everyday ever since his dad was taken. Four weeks of both our combined knowledge of weaponry had fused together and was etched into Ben's head. He was improving every single moment we worked with him and he seemed to remember everything Jimmy and I told him. Ben realized how serious this was now; no one was guaranteed safety and not everyone was going to make it out alive. That's why he was so determined to become the best fighter he could be, and I couldn't blame him for it either. He wasn't just doing this for his dad or for himself. Ben was doing this for the civilians, like I was. He was stepping up to be a fighter and to start helping others instead of needing help himself. I think he was also trying to prove to the people who still doubted whether he was trustworthy or not that he was against the aliens as much as they were.

So Ben Mason knew how to use C4 properly, launch grenades with his eyes closed, and was doing okay with shooting. Jimmy and I noticed he still had a lot of work he needed to do on his firing skills, but we were really impressed that he had everything else down perfectly. Four weeks was a short time to learn so much, let alone be a master at it all.

Jimmy, Ben, and I were on top of a house where some members of the 2nd Mass were staying. The house's roof was flat and made of wood; another section of it was raised a few inches and then had an actual slanted roof. I was sitting against the raised part of the roof with my knees propped up and my head leaning against the roof. My wrists were resting on my knees and my gun was lying next to me.

I glanced at where he was pointing to. "Yeah you're good. Loosen your grip a little."

Ben's now gloved hands relaxed a little, so little that the average person would not have noticed. I don't even think Ben noticed either, but his posture was perfect now. Jimmy showed him some different ways to position himself and to find what was comfortable for him. Comfort lead to ease, and when you felt eased you had a better aim.

I rubbed my eyes with my fingertips and pushed my bangs from my eyes tiredly. The last time I had gotten more than thirty minutes of sleep was the night Tom had stepped on the airship, when I was asleep on Jimmy's shoulder. Weaver had me on patrol every day and almost every time I was on century duty. I was up until five in the morning or longer everyday and if I was lucky I got forty or fifty minutes of sleep until six. Anne was dying with more exhaustion than every fighter in the Second Massachusetts combined, so I offered to help Lourdes out in the mornings so Dr. Glass could sleep a little. Weaver was peeved that I was spending time with the wounded when I should be out watching the skies or watching Fitchburg, but I didn't care. Anne _needed_ extra help and so did Lourdes. They were working harder than all of us by keeping what was left of our fighters alive. And I knew that it was the right thing to do to help them out (if you're wondering about my arm, it's completely healed now, although the scar left over suggests otherwise. It doesn't bother me anymore, since I had plenty of other scars to match it that I got from the cuts in battle. Nothing too serious; I guess I just easily scar or something).

After I was done helping out Lourdes and Anne, Jimmy and I trained Ben on the patrols we went on the rest of the day, minus the breaks we got for food. Alyssa and I rarely saw each other anymore, since her and Hal were still always paired for patrols and for the more "dangerous" missions than Jimmy, Ben, and I were. Weaver thought that since the three of us were nearly two years younger than Alyssa and Hal (Alyssa's birthday was next week), we needed to stay here with the 2nd Mass to be safe. That kind of pissed me off, but I wasn't going to call out my captain on that. He was engulfed with stress, and I certainly didn't want to add on to it.

"Hey-there's smoke over there," Ben pointed down at the city.

"Where?" Jimmy asked. I looked around the whole area and didn't see a thing. It must be his improved vision or something. He told me that he was starting to hear every whisper someone muttered and see for miles. It was something to do with his spikes.

"And someone's coming on a motorcycle. Shit, guys it's Dai!"

Jimmy looked through the telescope we had up here. "Yeah I see him! He looks hurt, and the rest of his squad isn't with him. He's not alone."

"Damn it," I groaned and stood up. I dusted off my black jeans, picked up my gun, and searched for Dai until I found where he was coming from. Two skitters were hot on his tail.

Jimmy loaded his gun and started aiming. "Ben, can you get a shot on the other one?"

"I think so," he said unconvincingly.

"Take the shot Ben," I commanded uneasily. The skitters were closing in on Dai and Ben still wasn't firing at them.

He still wasn't shooting. "Ben, take it!"

Ben's hands tensed tighter on the Heckler and Koch I had given him and he aimed. He was afraid of hitting Dai. Fucking damn it.

I loaded my IMI Galil MAR Carbine and instantly took out the skitter that was just about to attack Dai. Jimmy shot the other one as soon as the bullet I shot hit the first skitter. "What the hell happened, Ben? Why didn't you shoot?" I asked.

"I-I couldn't get a clean shot," he remarked ashamed. That fragileness that Ben had always had was still there. It was dissipating quickly, but there were moments when it came back. "Don't worry; I'll do better next time-"

"Save it for later. We gotta go see what's up with Dai," I cut him off. Dai was more important than a mistake, and we knew that. I hurried down the ladder that was propped up on the side of the house, followed by Jimmy. Ben jumped off the roof and was the first to reach Dai.

"Dai?" Dai pulled himself off of his bike and practically collapsed onto me. It took both Ben and me to hold him up. Fighters and civilians were gathering around to see what had happened and soon someone got Weaver.

"What happened?" Weaver asked. "Where's the rest of your patrol?"

"Nobody else," he panted slightly, "made it back…"

What?! Ten people went with Dai on patrol and no one made it back? Holy _shit_ there are more skitters and mechs here than I thought.

"The whole western approach is crawling with skitters and mechs," he explained. "Way too many of them."

"Too many for your patrol?" Weaver asked.

"Too many for the 2nd Mass." A chill went down my spine. This could be it for us. This time…we might not make it out. At all.

"There's a hundred mechs out there," Dai continued, "maybe more."  
"Did you have any contact with the other patrols out there?" I took this moment to be damn grateful that Alyssa was next to me now and was not off on one of those patrols. Thank God.

"Some, but we lost them. They're still out there, too. I know they had similar sightings of skitters and mechs all along the north and south."

Weaver's eyebrows creased. "So the 2nd Mass is being hemmed in." He looked at the crowd of civilians and fighters he was in charge of and closed his eyes briefly. He needed Tom now more than ever. Weaver opened his eyes and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Everybody listen up!"

Once he had our attention, the captain continued. "We need to go to ground. Stay out of sight. Hide in buildings. Don't go outside unless it's absolutely necessary. We can't be spotted. Most of you know we've been heading through Fitchburg in order to reach an army base that…we think _might _have an untouched cache of weaponry. That mission is aborted until we can find a way out of this mess. Everyone who's able, help move the sick. We need to keep them safe. So get the wounded and as many important supplies under cover."

Weaver assigned one of the experienced fighters, Griffin, to go out on a patrol with him. Alyssa and Hal were going with him, and I didn't like it at all. When Ben offered to go too, Weaver shot him down and told him that he wanted more experienced men in the field which pissed me off. Alyssa had seen just as much battle as I had, so why couldn't I go too?

"You alright, Parker?" Alyssa asked me once she saw the scowl on my face.

I nodded. "Just fucking sick of waiting around to die. I want to come with you so I know you're okay."

Alyssa hugged me tightly, and I seriously hoped this wouldn't be the last time I saw her. "Please be safe," I said softly.

"I will be, I swear." Alyssa waved slightly and walked over to Hal and Griffin over to the bikes.

Jimmy, Ben, and I moved inside where it was "safe" to be and looked out the windows. Fitchburg was one of the cities that was near a place that was bombed, so there was a lot of patches of nothing around. Nothing but ruins of the city and destroyed houses. There were a lot of buildings still standing too, but the city was wrecked up to the point where if we did survive this, Fitchburg would be a city that was nearly impossible to fix.

"Why couldn't you shoot? When the skitter almost had Dai?" I head Jimmy ask.

"I've never killed anything before. It's harder than it looks," Ben protested.

"Did you not see me shoot Clayton at the Sanctuary?" I questioned, reflecting on the past. It had been so long ago, two months to be precise. "It was easier than it looked."

Ben rolled his eyes. "Well you've gotten used to it by now. I'm still learning this. 'To know your enemy, you must become your enemy.' My dad used to say that. It's Sun Tzu, I think. " What the fuck was he talking about?

"You want to _know_ them? We're in a war here, Ben! Those things want us all dead-"

Ben interrupted Jimmy. "You don't get it. I _do_ know them. I know they killed my mom, I know they took my dad, and I know what they did to me. I know them better than anyone. I _**hate**_them. I hate them more than you could possibly know. And I'm going to kill every last one of them." The hate was growing inside Ben. The anger, the wanting to kill everything and everyone, even the silence was sprouting in his heart. The exact damn way it did with mine. Soon he was going to be engulfed with it, and it only made me hope that Tom would come back before it was too late.

The three of us stood there looking out the window for a few seconds, allowing the hatred in the air to settle down, and then Jimmy asked, "Do you guys ever wonder what we'd be doing if we were still in school before the attack?"

"I'd be studying for a math test that was weeks away," Ben chuckled to himself.

"I would be trying to get extra credit in a class I was failing," Jimmy answered his own question.

Oh yeah, I'd be expelled.

I was leaning against the corner of the window opening when I felt both of their eyes looking at me, waiting expectantly for my answer. I glanced at them, and then looked back out the window. "I try not to think about it."

"Why?" Ben questioned immediately.

"It's my past now. And that's a place I never want to think about again." I moved from the windows and walked away. My patrol started in a few minutes, and if I was late for the fifth time Weaver would have my ass. Then I realized that Weaver had gone with the others to their scouting mission to see if there was a skitter wall as big as Dai said there was. So I just waited outside, thinking about the past four weeks.

Let me tell you, a shitload can happen in a small amount of time. Especially when you live in a post-apocalyptic world where you have no chance of surviving the aliens that destroyed your planet. We had lost a lot of great fighters, and a few civilians as well. Danner died at the structure, and as much as I hated him he was one of the best fighters we've had. Same with Gibson; he died when Weaver and his group got bombed. Uncle Scott had a raging fever, and he was only getting worse. A ton of the 2nd Mass was coming down with sickness. It was a total nightmare.

On the other hand, Jimmy, Ben, and I had become pretty close friends. More than that, we were practically like the Three Musketeers. We were on patrol everyday with each other and we had really bonded too. We spent the long hours swapping stories and learning new things about the other. I actually did enjoy spending nearly all of my time with the two fourteen-year-olds, and for different reasons.

With Ben, there was rarely a moment when he didn't make you smile. Even though he's changing, he has this dry sense of humor and stupid jokes that make you laugh. And when you want to talk serious with him, you can talk serious with him. He's also a great listener. If either Jimmy or I was talking about whatever, Ben always made sure that we knew that he was paying attention. And of course, he always had our backs.

And with Jimmy, everything felt…normal. He was a caring guy who I loved being around. Jimmy also understood when I didn't feel like talking or opening up and I appreciated that more than anything. He respected that there was a lot of things in my life that I wanted to keep private and if I ever felt like talking about that he was there for me. He was sweet, funny, occasionally romantic, and loved guns. And he had a terrible sense of direction, which amused me for whatever reason. A week or two back, he had gotten lost and it took us two days to find him. Weaver had to give Jimmy his old compass so he would be able to find his way back to us. And you know what?

I think I liked him.

Kaylee Nicole Parker had a crush on James Michael Boland. And as much as I want to change that, I can't. Because I can never be sure that we'll both make it out okay, and I can't have a weakness. Neither can Jimmy.

I looked up at the sight of Hal, Weaver, and Alyssa running two of our men to Dr. Glass's. They were wounded badly, and by the looks of it, it would be a miracle if they recovered.

"What happened?" a voice asked from behind me.

Holy fuck Jimmy scared me. "Same thing that usually happens. We send fighters out, they return injured or don't make it back."

Jimmy's gaze that occasionally I had trouble reading stared at me. "You're losing hope, aren't you?"

I sighed. Not even Alyssa could pinpoint my thoughts so perfectly. Sometimes I appreciated him knowing what I was thinking or feeling so I wouldn't have to say it, other times (such as now) it annoyed the hell out of me. "I'm nearly fifteen, Jimmy. Hope doesn't come easily like it used to."

"Just because you're a couple months older than me doesn't mean you have to be more mature," he teased.

"I lost all immaturity when my parents died," I said, not in the mood for light heartedness. "Hope isn't something I'm all that familiar with."

Before Jimmy could respond to that, Ben and Rick came running out of the designated clinic the 2nd Mass had made. Weaver was behind them yelling, "Keep your heads low and do _not_ engage the enemy! If you see anything, report back to me immediately!"

Oh _**hell**_ no. Weaver's letting _Ben_ and _Rick_ go on a mission, but won't let Jimmy and I go on one?! Hell fucking no.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Jimmy asked, slightly mischievous.

"Let's go," I nodded. Technically we weren't disobeying orders; even though we didn't ask to go, Weaver never said we couldn't go. Besides, Ben and Rick would get themselves killed if they were alone. If Ben couldn't shoot a single skitter from a safe distance away, he certainly couldn't kill tons of them that were merely inches away. What Jimmy and I were doing was completely stupid and foolish, but I knew Ben would be grateful that we decided to come along with him.

It was a piece of cake keeping up with their gait for me, but I couldn't say the same for Jimmy. He told Ben and me that he played basketball at school, and no matter how much they conditioned you with other sports, it wasn't the same as track and cross country. Runners only had to focus on their breathing pattern and increasing their stamina while running, so that it's easier to go long distances without stopping. But when you play sports like baseball and basketball or some others, you're focusing on the game and the skills needed in order to be successful. With running, all you had to do was put one foot in front of the other and make sure the person behind you stayed behind you. Intricacy with simplicity, my brother said when I had described it to him at eleven years old. He said that the many reasons I loved running had woven itself into an art that was simple. I never forgot that, and it still goes through my mind every time I'm running.

"Something's following us," I heard Ben say when Jimmy and I were around the corner of a building. It was really eerie out here in the ruins of Fitchburg, especially at this time of night.

"That would be us," I clarified stepping out into view with Jimmy.

"What are you guys doing here?!" Ben asked, slightly irritated and slightly relieved.

"What do you think? Making sure you two don't get into trouble," Jimmy stated.

Ben was about to go off on us, despite the apparent gratefulness in his eyes, when Rick sharply turned around and asked Ben, "Are you hearing this?"

He put his right hand onto his temple and closed his eyes, frowning. "I'm not sure. Feels like more of that low-level buzz-"

"They're coming this way," Rick spoke out. "We need to take cover. Over there, in that pharmacy."

Alyssa's POV

"What's the plan, Captain?" Hal asked.

"We have no way around these things. I think our only choice is to stay here and wait for the scouting team to get back and hope and pray they have some good news."

"Wait who's on the scouting team?" I asked. I didn't seen Kaylee when I got back but she wasn't supposed to be out tonight.

"Well it was supposed to be Rick and Ben but Kaylee and Jimmy followed them out so I sent Jamil to go watch them."

"Why am I not surprised? Of course she would go with them." I groaned. Did she not realize how stupid it was to go out there?

"So we just wait here?" Dai asked.

"Looks like it," Weaver confirmed.

"I can go out and look for them," I volunteered.

"No," was all Weaver said.

"What if I go with her?" Hal asked. "We could go find them and get back."

"No. I need you guys here."

"We aren't doing anything good here!" I said. "We are useless here! We should be out helping."

"I agree with Alyssa. That's my little brother out there. I already lost my dad. I need to protect them. It's my duty."

"I agree with the kids," Dai said.

"No. I want you here. They will attack. It's an old military tactic, surprise the enemy, and round them in to-"

"Attack again, yeah I know. I have heard my dad say that. So we stay," Hal gave up.

"SKITTER!" I looked over to see Matt sitting by the window. The fighters got up and grabbed their guns and anything else we could use to kill skitters and ran outside. Our camp was still on fire but it was starting to die down. There was at least fifty or sixty skitters. All the fighters loaded their guns and opened fire. Some of the fighters were trying to get the civilians out of the building and on the road. As I watched I saw a girl about the age of ten walk out. She looked so much like my sister it was crazy. She had blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. She was just as tall as me, like my sister. She stepped out of the building and before she had time to react the girl was hit by a mech. I saw that little innocent girl die and I lost it. I opened fire on any skitter I saw. After about an hour of that the skitters retreated. I stood there looking around at all the dead bodies. We went back inside and waited some more. This looked like it was it. We were going to die here and now, maybe not today or tomorrow but the 2nd Mass couldn't hang on for much longer. We seemed so indestructible, like we could do anything. But not now. We sat for another agonizingly long hour before the second round of attacks came. We all got up and started fighting. I think everyone realized we were done and it was all about to end. But we were the 2nd Mass and we don't go down without a fight. These aliens were going to keep attacking us until we were all gone.

Hal came up and stood behind me. "Hey."

"What's up?" I asked.

"You know we're going to die right?"

"Yeah. But we're going to die fighting."

"Yeah. So before we go out there, I uh, I've um wanted to do this for like a while but I didn't know if well you would like well if you would feel the same way, and uh-"

"What?" I was really confused.

"It's kinda hard to explain. Here let me show you." Then he leaned down and kissed me, on the lips. It was quick, like he was nervous. I looked at him, his face bright red. Hal Mason gets nervous?

I stared at him, completely shocked. "What was that for?"

"Good luck. I had to tell you."

"Why so quick?" I teased then I leaned him down and kissed him back. I was standing on my tip toes and he still had bend down a little so I could reach. His lips were warm and soft. It was the best kiss I've ever had. After I second I pulled back and looked at him. "And why did you wait until now to tell me?"

"I wasn't sure if you liked me or not and I couldn't die right now without telling you. I had to let you know/"

"Well I like you too. In case you didn't figure it out," I smiled. The skitters were advancing again and we had to go out and fight some more. Hal gave me a hug and we just sat there for a minute, wrapped in each other's arms. Then we heard laughing. I pulled back and looked to see Matt.

"How long have you been standing there?" Hal asked his youngest brother.

"Long enough to see you two kiss." He was still laughing at us.

"I want you to go and sit with Lourdes, stay safe and no matter what stay inside unless someone says. Okay?" Hal instructed.

"Okay." He ran off to go find Lourdes.

"Hal! Carter! Come here!" We ran over to where Weaver was standing, the he lead us up to a balcony. "They're advancing, quickly. And they're coming from all sides."

"Any word from the scouts?"

"None." Just then the manhole on the ground started moving. I pointed it out to Weaver. We all watched as Ben, Kaylee, Rick, Jimmy and Jamil got out. The three of us sprinted down there.

"Ben!" The two brothers hugged.

I ran and practically knocked Kaylee down when I hugged her. "Thank God you're okay," she said softly.

"I swear I'm going to kill you before you can even turn fifteen. You need to stop giving me fucking heart attacks," I replied as I slapped her.

"I could use some good news, guys," Weaver said as he walked up.

"We found a way out," Jimmy said.

We all walked back up to the balcony. "We can get out through the sewers. They're old, so they're big. It takes six turns, about twenty minutes, to clear the mech perimeter."

"But it's easy to get confused down there so we'll have to move in small groups. Ten, fifteen at most."

"We're going to have to hurry," Ben said quietly.

"What do you see?" Hal questioned worriedly.

"The mechs are coming." Fuck! We just kicked the first sets ass! Why more?! I mean we were doing well, but we were going to die if the mechs came! Weaver started screaming at everyone he saw. Hal and I ran in and started getting the civilians ready, sending them in groups to Kaylee, Ben, Rick, and Jimmy who lead them to safety. After all the civilians were out of the city safely, Hal, Weaver, Dai, and I headed back. We met with the others outside of the city, away from the mechs and skitters. I was standing next to Hal, he was looking at me. I grabbed his hand and we just stood there. We were safe, for now. Everyone was silent. Just by glancing at us you could tell we lost a lot of people.

"So how many did we lose?" Anne asked Weaver.

"Over a hundred." Oh. My. God. That's crazy. No one really knew what to do so we all stood there in silence waiting for Weaver to continue. He pulled off the hat he wore. "For those we lost, this is their funeral pyre. We honor their sacrifice. We did the impossible today, because of them. For them we do it again tomorrow, and the day after that. Until we damn finish what they started." Weaver put his hat back on and looked out at us. "We fight on." I looked at Hal and then over at Kaylee, Ben, Jimmy and Rick and I said a silent prayer. I was incredibly thankful that I still had people in my life that cared about me and I realized then how lucky I was to have these people. I looked at the grieving people of the 2nd Mass, who still had the strength to continue to fight, and who never gave up. Maybe we weren't completely indestructible, but we were pretty damn close.

Kaylee's POV

Okay, I'm not going to lie. It was really awkward hiding in an abandoned pharmacy with three other guys my age. Not because we were waiting for the skitters to pass by and had no idea what to talk about, but because we were all hiding under a counter in the pharmacy. And let me tell you, it was not spacious underneath that counter whatsoever. Rick and Ben had told Jimmy and me that a group of aliens were patrolling the area and could see us in the pharmacy window, so we all ducked under the counter and stayed absolutely silent. My shoulder was pressed into the counter wall and the other was pressed against Ben's. I was going to shoot myself in the face if we had to wait any longer.

And then the door of the pharmacy opened.

The four of us were even quieter, to the point where none of us were breathing normally. I gripped my gun a little tighter, and found myself in the same position I was in four weeks ago when I risked my life by shooting at the mech that had come to the school. Except this time I wasn't scared. I was ready, and I was going to do it again.

I slowly inched myself out of the hiding place, getting whispers of 'what the hell are you doing?!' thrown at me. Ben put a hand on my shoulder to try and pull me back, but I simply shrugged it off. If we're gonna die, I don't want my last feeling to be fear. I want it to be pride, pride that I had given my life for the 2nd Mass.

I crouched a little, since there was still a little section that connected to the cash register to hide behind. When I rose up, I stuck the muzzle of my gun between the register and a little sign that was next to it. The moving had stopped, and I still couldn't tell where the skitter was because it was so dark. I couldn't turn my gun light on because that would give away my position, and if I fired just randomly it would do the same thing. Damn it.

_Just make this easy for me. Either make another sound so I can kill you, or find me and kill me. _

A loud thud echoed the pharmacy, followed by the crashing of items. The fuck? I turned on my gun's light and aimed it where the crash sounded.

"Jamil?!"

"Kaylee?"

"What the hell are you doing here?!" I moved around the counter and helped up one of the new people we had found after we left the school. He was a dreadlocked mechanic who seemed to have a thing for Lourdes.

"Weaver thought you and Jimmy would've gone after Ben and Rick, so he sent me to find you four. He thought it was a little stupid sending four teenagers alone on a dangerous mission without having someone look out for them."

Jimmy, Ben, and Rick were all by my side now. "Next time you should make a human sound or something," I said, "I nearly shot you."

Jamil chuckled a little. "Let's just get out of here and go back to camp."

"We haven't found a hole yet. I'm not going back until we find one," Ben replied soldierly.

"That makes two of us," I gave him a nod. Ben sent me a thankful glance.

"I'm staying," Jimmy said.

"Me too," Rick agreed.

Jamil put his hands up in defeat. "Alright, alright. Then what are we standing here for? Let's go!"

The group of us stayed quiet as we walked along the sidewalks of Fitchburg. Jamil, Jimmy, and I followed the two preharnessed boys to where they thought might be a place where the aliens couldn't find the 2nd Mass. It was strangely quieter than usual outside. There were no airships, no skitters, and no mechs. Which was really weird since there was about twenty minutes ago. What happened?

As if to answer my question, a giant ball of fire came down from the sky, and landed a mile or so from the alley we were by. Since it was so close to us, we felt the heat and the wind that resulted from the explosive that had been dropped on us. It was loud as hell too, and if we had been any closer it would've busted one of my ears.

Flames swallowed the area that had been bombed, and it took me all of two milliseconds to realize that that was where the 2nd Mass was stationed at.

No. No, this was not happening to me. Not fucking again.

"Was that-was that the 2nd Mass?" Rick breathed.

"Are they…" Jimmy trailed off, not wanting to speak everyone's thoughts out loud. That would make the situation too real, too possible, and none of us wanted that.

"I had a feeling this would happen," Jamil whispered.

All I could do was stare at the huge fire, wondering if all the people I had come to love were truly dead. I pushed previous memories that were trying to surface away from my eyes, and kept on staring. My decision was that they weren't dead unless I had proof that they were. And I hoped that I wouldn't find any.

A few moments slipped by until Ben couldn't take it anymore. "C'mon, we have to go."

"Go where? They're all dead!" Jimmy exclaimed angrily.

"Hal's gone, Matt's gone, they're all dead," Rick said bitterly.

Ben grabbed Rick by his collar. "Hal is _not _dead. Neither is Matt, Weaver, Anne, Uncle Scott-Weaver gave us a job to do and we're going to do it. The 2nd Mass needs an escape route and we're going to find one." How could he be so positive?

"Ben, I'm sorry, but we're too late. We can't help them now," Jamil spoke. I was a little surprised that the adult wasn't even trying to raise our spirits or convince us that there is a possibility that the 2nd Mass was still alive.

Ben led us out of the alley and down the deserted street. "When I was harnessed, I was as good as dead. The 2nd Mass didn't give up on me and I am _not_ giving up on them."

The next three hours were filled with countless thought about Alyssa and the rest of the 2nd Mass. I never spoke about that chunk of time, and I try my best not to remember it. The agonizing pain of loss in my stomach was the only thing I couldn't push away from my memories; that was something I had everyday. Except this time it was worse because the pain burned more than it has in four years. But I won't talk much about those moments, because they are irrelevant now.

"Ben, it's been hours. We haven't heard any gunfire, seen any signs of life. The 2nd Mass is gone." Ben kept walking and refused to listen to Jamil. "Look around. This is what's left. And if you don't face it, you're going to get Jimmy, Rick, and Kaylee killed for nothing."

The scuffling and stopping of footsteps made all of us turn and look at Rick. He had a hand cupped around his ear and his eyes shut. He was hearing something.

"It's skitters, isn't it?" Jimmy said knowingly. "Where?"

"They're close, dead ahead."

I looked down at my feet and then I saw something gleam in the light of the moon. It was a manhole cover. I nudged Jimmy and pointed at the lid. We ran to it and lifted it to see if the underground was still intact. The lid moved over and revealed the steps down into the sewers. This was it. This was our way out.

"Try and stop me," Ben shoved Jamil (quite far actually) off of him.

"We don't have to go through them, Ben," I called to him. Ben walked over to see what I was talking about.

"We can go under them," Jimmy motioned to the hole, our only hope left.

Jamil, Jimmy, Rick, Ben, and I made our way down into the sewers. I'm not a prissy girly-girl, and nor have I ever been, but it was pretty damn nasty walking down there. It was dark, damp, and musty as hell. I had expected it to be disgusting, what with it being a sewer and all, but none of the waste had been filtered in seven months. So you can imagine how putrid the stench was in a rotting sewer. I just hope it's worth it because this is so fucking sick.

Ben and Rick were turning left and right and after the sixth tunnel we turned, they stopped abruptly in front of a rusty metal ladder on the sewer wall led up to another manhole cover. On my way up the ladder rungs, I heard the all familiar sounds of gunshots and motorcycle engines from above. The 2nd Mass was alright! Thank God they had managed to cover in time before the airship dropped the bomb. Ben helped me out of the hole and looked over at the building where the fighters were hiding in from the skitters. Judging by all the dead skitters and mechs, the 2nd Mass kicked alien ass. At least for now.

"Ben!" Hal called out to his younger sibling. I was watching the two hugged for a moment until I was ambushed in a hug by Alyssa.

"Thank God you're okay," I breathed a sigh of relief.

"I swear I'm going to kill you before you can even turn fifteen. You need to stop giving me fucking heart attacks," she said, followed by a slap to my arm.

"I could use some good news, guys," Weaver called out to us.

"We found a way out," Jimmy announced.

Weaver led us up to the balcony of the crumbling building while Ben explained on the way. "We can get out through the sewers. They're old, so they're big. It takes six turns, about twenty minutes, to clear the mech perimeter."

"But it's easy to get confused down there," I made clear, "so we'll have to move in small groups. Ten, fifteen at most."

"We're going to have to hurry," Ben said softly while staring out in the distance of Fitchburg. Shit this can't be good.

"What do you see?" Hal asked worriedly.

"The mechs are coming." Fuck. Pope was driving on his motorcycle blasting more and more skitters that popped up and we rushed back down to the lower ground, Weaver throwing out commands to every person he saw.

"Rick, take the first group! We'll lay cover fire!" he shouted. Jimmy and I got in a window and began firing at the advancing skitters with the other fighters. Where the hell were all these things coming from anyway?

The pads on my thumbs had been blistering badly since I've had to make myself new knives and use my gun twice as frequently as I used to, which was really bad considering how much time I spend shooting. So it was semi irritating having the blisters rub against the coarseness of my gun as I shot. I took out a skitter with a head shot and glanced to my right to see if Rick had taken the group of civilians away yet. The last of the group was going down to the sewers, and was about to get attacked by a skitter until Jimmy and I took it out.

"Nice job," I high fived him.

"Jimmy, your group! Go, go, go!" Weaver shouted. Jimmy and I jumped through the window and ran over to the hesitant civilians. They were literally running through a battlefield, and I don't blame them for not wanting to run to their deaths. But if two of the youngest fighters can do it, they can do it too.

"I got your back," I reminded Jimmy.

He smiled at me. "I got yours too." Both of us took a breath, and then we all ran like hell.

Most of the other fighters were preoccupying the skitters that were trying to attack, so for the most part we didn't have to worry about getting killed. But I did kill a few skitters here and there while the civilians were climbing down the hole. Jimmy went down to start escorting them out of here and I stayed above ground to help buy time for the others to escape. We had three more rounds of civilians to bring down, and we were running shorter and shorter on time.

Rick's second group came sprinting from the building and I made sure to shoot the nearing aliens away as they descended into the sewer. Anne, Jamil, Matt, Uncle Scott, and two civilians that I didn't know came running down. Matt and Jamil made it safely down inside, but a mech came stomping in the fighting square and aimed in on the two civilians. Uncle Scott blocked the kid and the mech fired on him.

That's something that I'll never, ever be able to erase from my mind.

And then of course, Ben being the dipshit that he is doesn't move when the mech turns around and starts aiming the laser pointers they have to stun him.

"Ben, run!" I yelled, racing over to his nonmoving figure. I swear to God, this kid _wants_ to die.

Just as the mech was about to open fire, I tackled Ben out of the way and we both hit the ground a lot harder then planned. And then Hal set off a missile gun and took out the mech, causing a giant explosion to burn to life around us. I dragged my sore self off the ground and pulled up Ben instantly. Another explosion erupted, and Hal was knocked to the ground. His gun skidded a few ways away from him, just as a skitter came forward to him.

At first I didn't know who had shot that skitter, since all of the different fighters shooting at the same time made the shooter hard to find, but it shocked me when I saw the small puff of smoke coming from Ben's gun. If he could just do that during target practice he would be totally fine.

"Go down into the sewers with Jimmy and the civilians. I have to get two more groups down and then I'll meet you guys at the other side," Ben instructed me.

"Since when do I take orders from you?" I teased him.

"Since you became one of my best friends. Now go," he pointed to the manhole. I rolled my eyes at him and then ran to the hole to climb down the ladder. Jimmy ran over as soon as he saw me and gave me a huge hug. He even did that stupid cliché twirl thing, which made me want to punch him for doing it. It was really cute though I have to admit.

"You're happy to see me," I noted, unable to contain my smile.

"I was worried that you were gonna get yourself shot or something."

"Please," I scoffed, "Kaylee Parker never gets shot."

Jimmy chuckled and shook his head. "God forbid the day that happens. Are you alright, though? You're pretty scraped up."

"Had to knock Ben out of the way of a mech," I explained.

Jimmy cracked another smile. "When will he ever learn?"

The last of the civilians began to climb down the ladder. According to Ben, the other fighters were going to set Fitchburg on fire so that they could escape while killing the aliens in the process. It was a stupid plan, but as long as they made it out okay it didn't matter.

Our plan was to rendezvous with the other fighters at the outskirts of the city. Ben and Rick took the front crowd of the civilians and Jimmy and I stayed at the back to make sure no one got lost. I kept thinking about how alike the army and the 2nd Mass were. Both fought to protect people, both had young and old fighters, both had experienced and inexperienced fighters, and both were close with the other members. In a way, I had gotten what I had always wanted. And I'd rather be killing aliens than killing other people who may have families of their own. I didn't mind killing Clayton, since he had no family, but I think I would mind if I had to kill someone with loved ones and people who love them. I know what it's like to have the people you care most about ripped from your lives and I wouldn't wish that on anyone, not even someone as horrible as Clayton.

The survivors were gathered outside of Fitchburg. The other team had made it through the fire, and the remaining civilians were unharmed. Alyssa and Hal were standing by each other, and Jimmy, Ben and I were next to each other. To break the silence, someone had asked Weaver how many people we lost in the dreadful city.

"Over a hundred."

I was absolutely stunned. One hundred more innocent people the aliens have killed. I had no idea whether to feel better that I had managed not to get myself killed, or worse that the majority of that number was civilians, the people I was protecting. Damn, one hundred fucking people.

Weaver pulled off the hat he always wore. "For those we lost, this is their funeral pyre. We honor their sacrifice. We did the impossible today, because of them. For them we do it again tomorrow, and the day after that. Until we damn finish what they started."

Weaver placed his cap back on his head, and looked across the brave survivors. "We fight on."

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SSOOO WHAT DID YOU THINK!? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THERE LITTLE KISS?! PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW! MORE TO COME SOON! -Carter

_Until I see you next, Keep The Resistance Strong And Falling Skies On. -Parker _


	12. Celebrations and Confessions Part 1

_Hello my readers! For the BenxKaylee people, you're going to enjoy this chapter;D Also, happy birthday to our wonderful fan ElySnow!:D As I type this right now, we're watching Falling Skies with our friends!:D Hahahaha yayyyyy! So I'm going to go explain more things to our friends:D To Alyssa,-Parker_

**HHHHIIIIIII GUYYYYYYSSSS! Im so hyper right now! We are having a Falling Skies saeson one and two marathon. and im like freaking me out! we are bringing three new people into the fandom! AAAHHHHH AND I HAVE JUICE BOXES! oh and Happy Birthday ElySnow! This is for you! "Happy Birthday to you Happy Birtday to you! Happy Birthday deard ElySnow! Happpyyyyy Birthdayyyy to youuuu" :) So enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 12-Celebrations and Confessions Part 1

Ben's POV

She was perfect. She'd always been perfect, and she'd always be perfect. She of course begged to differ, but I had my own opinion of her since the day we met.

Something about Kaylee Parker intrigued me. The way her red-gold bangs slightly covered her left eye and made her appear more mysterious than she already was. They way her silver-blue eyes never had a spec of emotion, which made it impossible to know what she was feeling or thinking in a given moment. How when she smiled, the rare occurrence confused you because you didn't know she actually _could_ smile. How she was so silent all the time, you wouldn't even know if she was there or not. Or when she did speak, her voice sounded melodious to all that listened. She was something I could never figure out, a mystery that no matter how badly you wanted to solve, never unraveled.

She told me and Jimmy that her past was dark. She said that it was a place she never wanted to see again, and she often wished she could forget about it. I never understood why she hated what lay behind her, because the past was what built everyone's future. But no matter how many times Jimmy or I asked her questions involving her life before the war, we ended up with nothing but more curiosities than we started with.

Jimmy was lucky though. He managed to break down one of her walls before I could, and now he had access to her heart. It bothered me a little, knowing they had a different bond than Kaylee and I did. Jimmy had told me before that she wasn't exactly up for a relationship considering the war going on and the possibility of losing him. It was a smart choice, but I knew that soon the two would end up together.

I did have something with her that Jimmy didn't, and that was understanding. Kaylee, even though she would never tell me how, knew what it's like to be an outcast and to have everyone dislike you. She understood the whole thing with my dad and how painful it was to go through. I knew both of her parents died when she was young, but she didn't go into specifics with it. Alyssa wouldn't either, so I assumed it was serious. All I knew was that Kaylee Parker understood a whole other side to me that no one else did. That was all it took for me to start having feelings for her that I shouldn't.

The constant missions, patrols, and scouting with her didn't help either. The three of us talked about the interests we had, and I learned that Kaylee and I had a lot more in common than I thought. Math was her favorite subject, she wasn't really much of a sports person besides running, she was an outcast at school, and she loved music, perhaps more than she loved anything else.

Ever since I was a little kid, I loved listening to different types of music from different eras. My mom used to take me to free concerts by local bands all the time, and I enjoyed every second I was there. Music was a hidden passion of mine that no one knew about, and it was the same for Kaylee. She told us that she never talked about it because it reminded her too much of the past and how much it sucked to live without it. And then she told us that her birthday was in a month and that she was surprised she had survived this long. So I was going to make it my personal mission to find her a guitar or something because she missed playing more than anything.

Our birthdays were four days from each other, mine being December 16th and hers being December 20th. She asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I had shrugged. I told her that I wanted to live to see next year and she agreed with me. It was weird talking about becoming another year older because both of us felt way, way older than we were turning. The damn war had taken our sense of youth from us, as it was taking everything else. I felt like I was at least twenty on the inside, but on the outside I was a month away from being fifteen.

Often when I was quiet or not talking when Jimmy and Kaylee were openly discussing something, I would catch her looking at me. Maybe she was expecting me to say something or add something to the conversation, or maybe she was just trying to see why I was being quiet. Nevertheless, her pale eyes were unbelievably impossible for me to read, but she had no problem knowing what I was thinking. It was extremely frustrating; most people around me were open books. When Hal's angry, the whole fucking world knows. When Kaylee's angry, you couldn't guess unless she made it obvious. And I absolutely hated that. But the question still crossed my mind every time I made eye contact with her. Why did she keep looking at me like that?

"If you keep frowning so hard, you're gonna get major frown lines, dude." Kaylee and I were out on patrol at the moment, but we were sitting outside of camp. We were both doing target practice; I needed it badly while she just wanted to shoot some cans and give me a lesson.

I rolled my eyes and looked through the sight on the Heckler and Koch gun Kaylee had given me three months ago. It still worked flawlessly despite all it's gone through. Once I pulled the trigger, the bullet landed in the windshield of a car underneath the wall where we put the cans. "Damn it," I cursed. I have everything else down but shooting.

I looked at my mentor, hopeless. She was scrutinizing my every move and taking time to examine my position. She frowned vaguely, thinking. "Show me how you hold your gun again."

I grabbed the Heckler and Koch again and aimed at the cans. I don't know why-

"That's your problem," she pinpointed, motioning at my hands.

"What is?" What was she talking about?

"Give me your hand."

"Why?"  
She rolled her eyes at my question. "Just do it."

I stuck out my hand. She spread out my fingers and filled the spaces with hers. Before I could react, she started squeezing my hand insanely hard.

"Feel that?"

How the hell could I not? She was crushing my hand!

"That's what you're doing to your gun and that's what's screwing up your shot. But if you just do this," she released her grip while still holding my hand firmly, "you'll start aiming better." Kaylee slipped her gloved hand out of mine and handed me my gun. "Now try it."

I shook my hand slightly to get the tingling feeling out of it and took it. I pointed it at the cans and my mind forced my right hand to relax. I aimed and fired.

It tore a hole straight in the middle of the can.

I faced her again with bewilderment inscribed on my face. She looked the same way she did five minutes ago. "How did you notice something as little as that?"

Kaylee shrugged, not impressed like I was. "Natural talent."

Another thing I liked about her was her quick comebacks that were always witty to some extent. I had no idea how she thought of them so fast; add that to the list of things I didn't know about her. Sadly, that list outweighed the one that held the things I knew about her.

"What's your worst fear?" I asked her out of the blue. If you saw this girl in combat, you would think she was as fearless as a lion.

She was taken aback by the question. I didn't even know why I asked it, but it was one of the things I always wondered when I saw her fighting. "My anger," she said finally. "And my hatred."

"Really?" I frowned a little. That has got to be the most peculiar response ever.

"Yeah. It's gotten way out of control the past two years."

"How so?"

She paused, as if debating whether or not she should continue. "When I get angry I have to lash out on something, otherwise I lash out on someone."

I stared at her eyes, trying to find _some_ kind of emotion hidden beneath the silver. But I came up short, as usual. "So…you've beaten people up before?" Her eyes looked away from mine, and she gave the slightest nod. If I didn't have super vision, I wouldn't have seen it.

Wow. Kaylee Parker beat up people in the past. She was a tough girl, yes, but I never imagined she hurt others.

"And that's not even the start of the things I did. I'm not proud of my past, Ben. And not matter how much I wish I could change that, I can't. One of the reasons I don't like spending time talking or thinking about it is because I'm ashamed and don't want to be reminded of what I've done. But it does make me want to change my future more than anything. So I guess it all happened for a reason."

That answer left me now with thousands of more questions than I had. I guess Kaylee Parker was something I'd never figure out.

Kaylee's POV

Ben stared back at me, hundreds of questions reeling through his head that he knew I wouldn't answer if he asked. Sometimes I wondered why he wanted to know so much about my past because it didn't matter anymore, but the way I short answered almost question someone asks me made me understand his curiosity.

So I changed the subject. "Alyssa's birthday is tomorrow."

"So your birthdays are a month apart from each other?"

I nodded "Weird right? And as her practically-brother, you need to get her something awesome."

Ben chuckled. "What does she like?"

"Everything. If you got her a water bottle, she would be excited as fuck. She could spend hours playing with it."

He laughed. "She is easily amused."

"You have no damn idea," I smiled back.  
"Mason! Parker! Shift's over, get some rest!" Weaver shouted from camp.

The two of us stood up. I nearly fell back down because I was so exhausted. Fitchburg left the entire 2nd Mass more paranoid than we were before, even if we had gotten away safely and the battle happened five days ago. Dark circles were just about tattooed under my eyes. Jimmy told me it contrasted nicely with my light eyes, but he was concerned about the lack of sleep I'd been getting. Ben was too.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

Ben searched my eyes for anything that could give away the possibility that I was lying. "You almost fell over."

Did I really? Shit, I must be more tired than I thought.

"How long has it been since you got a decent amount of sleep?" Ben asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," I muttered back, slinging my Calico over my shoulder and staring him down.

I was just as worried about Ben as he and Jimmy were worried about me. Ben and I had gotten really close these couple of days. With the whole thing about my parents, Ben knew that I truly got what he was going through and how much it hurt. He opened up to me about a lot of stuff, like how he hasn't slept since he got his harness off. Ben got it off weeks before we first met, which was at least four months ago. And he hadn't slept at all since.

We talked about nightmares a lot. I didn't tell him this, or anyone for that matter, but that was the reason I tried to stay awake. An hour of sleep I could handle, but more than that killed me. About the same times my parents died, I started getting nightmares. I never told Alyssa about them; even my counselor at school didn't know and I was in his office everyday. Now that I think about it, I haven't had a regular dream since I was eleven. Four years of nightmares is a long time to go without much sleep, but Ben didn't sleep whatsoever. I was jealous of him, since he wouldn't be all too tired because of his harness effects. I would kill to not have to sleep anymore.

He said that being harnessed was the worst thing imaginable. He told me in detail about how painful it was, and how he can still hear the screaming in the facility. Ben told me that after it wasn't really as bad as everyone thought. The skitters were apparently kind to the harnessed kids and it seemed they enjoyed being with them.

"Kaylee?"

"Yeah?"

"I really think you should get some sleep."

"Ben, I'm fine. Quit worrying so damn much."

Ben rolled his eyes. "You and Jimmy are my two best friends. How can I _not _worry?"

Now I rolled my eyes. "You're such a sap."

"Tell me you don't think about me and Jimmy's safety at least once everyday."

"That's not fair," I shook my head.

He shrugged. "My point has been made. Go get some sleep."

"Not tired," I replied. Bull shit.

But Ben bought it. "You're seriously not exhausted from al the work you've been doing? Especially after Fitchburg?" He sounded skeptic, and I knew that he was certain that I was tired as hell. But I didn't care. I'd go to sleep when I was to the point where I couldn't stay awake. Until then, I wouldn't sleep.

"A fighter never rests. I'm just doing my job," I said.

"C'mon," Ben groaned. "How do I argue with that?"

"I'm a world champion at it. Years of practice, my friend."

Ben rolled his eyes again. "Sometimes I question why I'm friends with you."

"Because you're life would be boring without me," I smirked.

He laughed and shook his head. "Can I ask you something?" he suddenly turned serious.

I shrugged. "Doesn't mean I'll answer."

"How-"

"KAYLEE!" Matt yelled running up to me at lightning speed. Ben and I have been interrupted so many times, it's beginning to piss me off.

"Kaylee, Kaylee, Kaylee!" Matt crashed into me.

"Whoa," I said holding him steady. "What's up kid?"

"Alyssa and Hal! They, they…" he panted, attempting to get his breath back. How the hell does he have so much energy? Even Alyssa wasn't nearly this energetic when she was a kid.

I kneeled down to him. "Alyssa and Hal what?"

"They kissed!"

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

I stood back up to my height and looked at Ben. He had the same WTF expression on his face that I did. "When?" he asked his little brother.

"At Fitchburg, they were just talking and then Hal kissed Alyssa and then she kissed him back! I'm not supposed to tell you though." Well that makes it batter.

"_Fitchburg_?" I raised my eyebrows. Fitchburg was five days ago.

AND SHE DIDN'T FUCKING TELL ME?!

Ben and I's eyes met at the same time. We had a telepathic moment; the two of us ran back into camp to find the two "lovebirds." I was going to sock Alyssa in the face.

We searched around for a bit, until I saw the two talking in front of our tent and Hal was starting to leave. One brief eye contact with each other and Alyssa knew that I knew about her and Hal's kiss.

"HAL!" Alyssa screamed. "SHE'S GONNA HURT ME!"

Hal put his arm in front of Alyssa and tried to calm the situation down. "Whoa…what's got you worked up, Parker?"

"Hal, I love you, but if you continue to stand in front of her I will resort to killing you and not Alyssa."

Hal looked at me and then Alyssa. "I'm out." He raised his hands and started off towards the Mason tent along with Ben.

"Wow, shows how much you care about me," Alyssa yelled to him.

"I'm scared of very few things, and Kaylee's one of them. Especially when she's pissed, like now. Just calm down and don't kill each other."

"Matt, you are horrible at keeping secrets," Alyssa shook her head.

"You said I couldn't tell her about you two dating, not about the kiss." I raised my eyebrows and looked at Matt. "Oh, oops. Sorry about that. I'm just gonna go now." He left as quickly as he came, and Hal was about to as well, but he assumed I was talking to him when I asked Alyssa the next question and stayed.

"Oh so you're dating now?" I gave her the "you're so fucking dead" look.

"As of like five seconds ago," Hal put it.

"Hal, saying this with the utmost politeness, get the fuck out of our tent," I pointed to the door of the tent and Hal ran out." Why the hell didn't you tell me?!"

She rubbed the back of her neck. "Well…uh, you see, we've both been so busy-"

"Fitchburg was five days ago. All I've been doing is sitting on patrol and I know damn well that's all you've been doing too," I punched her arm.

"Fuck!" She rubbed her arm. "Damn, I really shouldn't have taught you fist fighting."

I pushed on. "So _Matt_ knew before I did? Your best friend for fourteen nearly fifteen years? That's harsh."

"Well…he saw us. We didn't tell him"

I bit my lip to try and keep from laughing, but the more Alyssa stared at me because she was waiting to see what I'd do made me lose my control. I cracked up laughing. "That's gotta be really awkward."

"No shit Sherlock. Aren't you supposed to be the accelerated one?"

I rolled my eyes. I was a freshman yes, but I was in sophomore classes because I was "extremely intelligent" or some shit the principal said. I tuned him out when he was talking to my uncle about moving me up in my classes. "He would've found out eventually. But still, why the hell didn't you tell me?!"

"I don't know," she mumbled.

"Now if I have my first kiss, I'm not going to tell you," I folded my arms.

Alyssa did the same; this was our usual stance when we fought. "Oh, I'll find out."

"No you won't."

"Ben's terrible at keeping secrets," Alyssa pointed out.

…Did I hear her right? "What?" I frowned.

"Nothing," she short answered me. She was about to turn and leave our tent when I grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did you say _Ben_?"

She paused and looked directly at me. "Nooooooooo. Ppppssssshhhhhhh what are you talking about? I said Jimmy."

She was lying straight to my face. One, she was doing a crap job at covering it up, and two, I've been friends with her for so long that I can tell when she's hiding something from me by her physical motions. When Alyssa's not telling me something, she fidgets with her pockets and when she's lying and her eyes dart back and forth. She was doing both.

"Riiiiight…okay well…I'm gonna go."

What the fuck did she mean by that? Did Alyssa think that Ben would be my first kiss? 'Cause there's no way in hell that's going to happen. _Ever._ I didn't even want to kiss Jimmy. And plus, Ben was just one of my best friends. It would be way too weird to think of him like that. Right? What? Was I actually considering that?

I shook my head slightly to get the awkward thoughts out of my head. I have better things to focus on.

Ben came out of his and his brothers' tent and saw me standing awkwardly away from my tent. The two of us walked back to where we were sitting earlier. "Did you find out anything?"

I shook my head. "Just that she was 'too busy' to tell me. You?"

"That's what Hal said. But apparently he's liked her for awhile now."

"Alyssa too."

"Seriously?" Ben asked. "I don't even know what happened that transitioned them from hating each other. They couldn't stand each other one day, and now their practically in love."

I laughed a little. "Kind of like us. Except for the whole 'liking-each-other' thing."

Ben nodded. "Yeah." Something about the way he said that made me wonder what he was thinking about. Occasionally, he'll say something with a half-hearted tone or a thoughtful one that makes you want to know what was going on in his mind. But I respected his privacy since I hate it when people ask me what I'm thinking about.

"Hey guys!"

I smiled when I saw who was coming. "Hey, Jimmy."

"Hey, Jimmy," Ben said.

"What's up?"

"Trying to get to the bottom of Hal and Alyssa's complicated relationship," Ben chuckled.

"Relationship?" Jimmy asked. "What relationship?"

"Apparently they kissed in Fitchburg," I reported. "And we were thinking about how weird it was that they hated each other one day and the now they're a thing."

"Wow we missed a lot," Jimmy remarked.

"Seriously. She didn't even tell me!"

"I will never understand their relationship," Ben gave up.

Jimmy and I chuckled. I think it's hilarious that my two best guy friends and I are talking about relationships and they aren't trying to change the subject or anything.

And out of absolutely no where, Jimmy started poking underneath my eye, like he was trying to wipe something off my face.

I pulled back. "What are you doing?"

He frowned at me. "I thought there was dirt on your face. You have _got _to get some sleep." Guess the circles under my eyes were getting darker. If Jimmy could see them easily at one in the morning, anyone would be able to spot them in the daylight.

"Guys, I'm _fine_. Stop worrying about me."

"No. You look like you're about to pass out every time we see you. You're going to faint it combat or something if you don't sleep," Ben said.

"Eventually your body's gonna give out on you. And you don't want to get sick, now of all times," Jimmy added.

I opened my mouth to argue, but Ben and Jimmy were giving me disapproving glares. They were daring me to argue with them. Damn it.

"I don't think it's fair that you guys are ganging up one me."

"Just get some rest for us. You'll make Jimmy and I feel way better," Ben said soft and serious.

"Please," Jimmy threw me his beggy face, which made all possibilities of refusing to sleep disappear instantly.

I sighed then threw my hands up. "Fine."

Ben and Jimmy high-fived each other. They were so stupid sometimes.

But I still smiled at their dorkiness. "Night, Jimmy."

He pulled me in for a hug. "Night. If I find out that you're up, I'll burn all of your guns."

"I can make new ones," I smirked.

"Shut up and go to bed."

I laughed and turned to Ben. "Night, Ben."

"Night, Kaylee."

Ben gave me a tight hug. He was probably as fantastic as Jimmy at giving hugs. Ben wasn't like those guys that simply draped their arms around you; he made a point of hugging you tightly back to show how much he cared. Every time I walked away from one of his hugs, I felt all sappy inside because of how much I cared about him as a friend and knowing how much he cared about me. Alyssa was my only friend before the attack and having two others now means more to me than they'll ever know.

Ben released me from his kick-ass hug and I walked over to my tent. When I reached the flap of it, I turned around and looked back. The two were smiled at me and waved.

I smiled back and waved softly back. _I have the most amazing friends in the world. _

Alyssa's POV

I think we were all a little on edge. Five days after the attack and the flames were still showing, they were far away but they were still there. A constant reminder of what happened, all those innocent lives lost. It was hard to carry on but the 2nd Mass had this little thing both Kaylee and I lost a long time ago: hope. Of course Kaylee and I had people we believed in, who we trusted, besides each other. It just so happened that the person I believed in, kissed me five days ago for good luck, in a battle that we weren't supposed to survive! When that happens, you don't live to see the person again. But we did. And because of that, thinks were a little awkward between us. Like I tried to avoid being alone with him at all costs because it would be so awkward. I also hadn't told Kaylee yet, and I was scared as hell for the day she found out.

"Hey Carter." Oh my God he's here. My first thought was to run and hide.

"Hey Hal," I said as I walked up and gave him a quick hug.

"So Alyssa, I've wanted to ask you this but we've both been busy and I haven't been alone with you at all really." There is a reason for that. "And I just I need to know. At Fitchburg, you asked me why I waited until then to kiss you. Would you have been okay if I kissed you earlier?"

"Well if you had, it would've helped clear out a lot of confusion in my head."

"Confusion about what?"

"Whether or not I like you and you like me."

"So you like me?"

"I kissed you didn't I?"

"Point taken. So I've liked you for a while now and um I'm really bad at this stuff, just so you know. But will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes." We were both quiet. Wow thinks can get awkward very fast.

"So are you gonna kiss her or what?" We both looked at Matt.

"Shut up Matt, you're so nosy. Jeeze, can't two people get any privacy?" Hal asked.

"Nope," was his only reply. I smiled.

"Where are you off to?" I asked.

"I don't know, go help out different people."

"Okay Matt whatever you do you can't tell Kaylee, about this. I'm going to tell her because if she finds out about it from anyone but me, she will kill me."

"Okay." He nodded and ran away going where ever Matt goes in his free time.

"So how have you been?" I asked.

"Good, tired but good."

"That's nice. I haven't been sleeping well either. So do you know what the plan is? Like what's our next move?"

"Don't die."

"Simple but effective."

"Pretty much, well I gotta go. Scouting in a bit."

"Okay." As Hal walked away, I turned around to see Kaylee walking towards me. And the look in her eye said she knew all about the kiss. Oh shit! "HAL! SHE'S GONNA HURT ME!"

Hal ran forward and stepped between us. "Whoa…what's got you worked up, Parker?"

"Hal, I love you, but if you continue to stand in front of her I will resort to killing you and not Alyssa."

"I'm out."

"Wow, shows how much you care about me," I said.

"I'm scared of very few things, and Kaylee is one of them. Especially when she's pissed, like now. Just calm down and don't kill each other. I'm gonna go get ready for scouting."

"Matt, you are horrible at keeping secrets."

"You said I couldn't tell her about you two dating, not about the kiss." I just stared at him. "Oh, oops. Sorry about that. I'm just gonna go now." He turned around and left.

"Oh so you're dating now?"

"As of like five seconds ago."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?!"

"Well…uh, you see, we've both been so busy-"

" Fitchburg was five days ago. All I've been doing is sitting on patrol and I know damn well that's all you've been doing too," She punched me, hard.

"Fuck! Damn, I really shouldn't have taught you fist fighting."

"So _Matt _knew before I did? Your best friend for fourteen nearly fifteen years? That's harsh."

"Well…he saw us. We didn't tell him."

"That's gotta be really awkward." She was cracking up now. Well at least she wasn't gonna shoot me.

"You think?!"

"He would've found out eventually. But still, why the hell didn't you tell me?!"

"I don't know," I muttered.

"Now if I have my first kiss, I'm not going to tell you," she crossed her arms and I mimicked her.

"Oh, I'll find out."

"No you won't."

"Ben's terrible at keeping secrets."

"What?" Oh shit, did I say that out loud? Shit shit shit! Ben is gonna kill me!

"Nothing," I tried to escape but she grabbed me.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did you say _Ben_?"

"Nooooooooo. Ppppssssshhhhhhh what are you talking about? I said Jimmy." She totally knew I was lying…oh well.

"Riiiiight…okay well…I'm gonna go." She went outside of our tent to wherever.

I went outside and speed walked away. I saw Ben and Jimmy talking to Kaylee. It looked like they were arguing. Then Kaylee smiled and walked over to our tent. Ben came over to me.

"So you're dating Hal?" Ben asked.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Okay so Ben, you consider me as a friend, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"And friends forgive each other for making mistakes?" I asked.

"Oh my God, what did you do?"

"Well let's say hypothetically I maybe accidently indirectly told Kaylee you like her. Hypothetically of course, what would you do?"

"You did not." He looked so pissed off at me.

"Well, see she told me that if she gets her first kiss, she's not gonna tell me. And I said I will find out because, no offense, you're horrible at keeping secrets."

"Okay, I'm not that bad and WHAT DID SHE SAY?"

"Well, I don't think she figured it out because she really has no guy experience so yeah should be good."

"Don't do that again."

I started to walk away. "You got it. Now Imma go to bed. Its late and I wanna be fully rested for tomorrow."

"What's tomorrow? What are we doing tomorrow?"

"Oh nothing. It's just a big day for me that's all."

"What is it?"

"It's my sixteenth birthday. Did you know the day you found us, Kaylee and I were talking about our birthdays and what we wanted to do for them."

"Really? Cool, well go to sleep. I gonna go find you a birthday present."

"Birthday present? For who?" Hal walked up.

"I see you magically reappear after Kaylee leaves."

"Yeah she can be kinda scary when she's pissed. So what were you two talking about a birthday?"

"Tomorrow is Alyssa's birthday," Ben said.

"Well we have to do something special. The 2nd Mass needs a good reason to celebrate. What do you wanna do?"

"Surprise me," I said. "Now I'm gonna go sleep. See you in the morning." I went into our tent and lay down. Kaylee was actually a sleep for once. I fell asleep thinking about how much my life changed in one year. I mean people say that a lot changes in one year, but I never thought so much would happen. I mean practically we kinda, in a way, discovered two whole new species. And they rule our planet.

Kaylee's POV

_There was a house in the middle of a street. And there were flames. The blood curdling screams of those trapped inside were getting louder and louder every passing moment. I was a helpless soul standing in front of the house, not moving. My legs were trying to move forward to try and save the people, but I kept hitting a force field in front of the house. All I could do was stare at the shattered windows with fire bursting from the depths of the home. It was absolutely heart wrenching to watch this, powerless to watch. I fought and fought to run towards the door, but I couldn't move forward. _

_ A child banged on a still intact window on the second floor of the house and pressed his palms to the window, staring at me. He was covered in third and fourth degree burns, and it made me sick to see his charred face. His hands were black from the burns and his face was turning hideous colors from the constant exposure to the flames. The boy let out a scream and the fire swallowed him, setting his hair and clothes on fire. _

_ His screams got louder and louder to the point where it sounded like he was standing next to me shrieking in my ear. I pushed the palms of my hands against my ears due to the growing pain that resulted from the deafening screams, but that only seemed to amplify the noise even louder. _

_ "Kaylee," voices whispered around me. "Kaylee, why aren't you saving them?"_

_ Louder and louder and louder. I couldn't hear my own thoughts any longer. The voices kept asking me why I wasn't helping the poor child and the rest of the people in the building, and their eerie tones got more and more creepy. _

_ "You're a useless being!" They shouted along with the screams. My hands pressed as hard as they could against my ears to block the sound, but it was no use. _

_ "Your heart is as black as that boy's face," it hissed. "You're going to die alone just like him, and when you scream out for help, no one will rescue you. Kaylee Parker, you are an unwanted person of the world, and I can promise you your death will be as painful as possible." _

_ I collapsed onto my knees and I shut my eyes tighter and pressed harder. Those voices were continually telling me how I deserved to be the one being burned to death and not the innocent little boy and his family. I started shaking; I couldn't block out their talking and accusing me of how awful my soul was._

_ "A dark soul," it said. "The light you've been seeking is gone, gone forever. It's too late for you; you've succumbed to the darkness in your heart, as you shall forever do. Light isn't in your nature, and it never will be Kaylee Parker. It's too late."_

_ Too late for a dark heart and a dark soul. _

I gasped for air and forced my eyes open. My heart was beating a billion miles an hour and I had to blink a few times to get those horrible images from my eyesight. The soft breathing pattern I usually had was replaced with a loud, shaky one that I was unfamiliar with. Cold sweat was beaded on the back of my neck and the hairs on my arms were sticking up. I looked at Alyssa who was sleeping soundly on the cot next to me, even smiling a tiny bit. I envied the peacefulness she had now, wishing I could feel that again. She was so fucking lucky.

_"The light you've been seeking is gone, gone forever."_

The voices circled around my head, haunting me. I pushed myself off my cot and slid into my sneakers. I couldn't stay in here a second longer. Subconsciously, I threw on my jacket and kept thinking about what those voices were saying. Did I really have no chance to turn to the light? That's all I wanted, but according to my nightmare, I wouldn't be getting that any time soon. But was I really going to believe voices from a dream? Didn't dreams have some deep psychological meaning or something?

_Too late for a dark heart and a dark soul. _

I tossed the flap open and walked swiftly outside, away from the madness, away from the broken dream, and away from something that could be true for my future. I had no idea where I was going, but I just needed to get out. My feet picked up the pace I was going and I couldn't help but think of a song I've loved for ages.

I walk a lonely road  
The only one that I have ever known  
Don't know where it goes  
But it's home to me and I walk alone  
I walk this empty street  
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams  
When the city sleeps  
And I'm the only one and I walk alone  
My shadow's the only one that walks beside me  
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating  
Sometimes I wish someone up there will find me  
'til then I walk alone

Green Day was always a favorite band of mine and that song couldn't have described me more perfectly than it did. I've walked the only road I've know, alone, and I have no clue where it goes. The only one that's walked with me is my shadow, and occasionally I wanted someone to pull me out of the lonely road, but until that happened, I would stay alone.

Of course I wasn't paying attention and I smacked right into someone who was standing in my path. My breath caught in my throat and I calmed down just a bit when I looked up to see who it was.

"What are you doing up?" Ben asked me, frowning. I didn't say anything; I just stood there trying to calm myself down.

"You're shaking…" he said staring at my arms. "Are you alright?"

I pushed my bangs from my eyes. My hand was shaking too. "If I tell you something, will you promise me that you won't tell anyone, not even Jimmy or Alyssa?"

"Of course," he nodded.

I sighed. "I've been having these…nightmares. I can't sleep for more than an hour at a time. That's why I try not to sleep at all."

Ben blinked and watched my eyes. He was probably surprised that I was opening up to him and showing some kind of emotion. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I didn't want you to worry more than you already do."

"How bad was it?" His eyes were still fixated on my own.

I looked away from his intense gaze and let my bangs fall in my face. "Bad."

"What was it about?"

I let out another shaky breath and tried to put my nightmare to words. But nothing came to my mind, except the terror that ran through my body when I was in the dream. "I…I can't…." I shook my head, just wanting to disappear. I felt like a total wuss right now.

"Hey," he said in the softest voice I'd ever heard him use. "Look at me." I looked up at Ben. He wasn't giving me a pitiful look, which made me feel a little better.

"You're gonna get through this. And I'm going to be here for you every step of the way, I promise." His eyes smiled, something only Ben Mason was capable of doing.

I smiled at him, still not able to believe I had a friend like him in my life. "I could really use one of your kick ass hugs right now."

Ben grinned at that. "They are really awesome, aren't they?"

"Hell yeah."

He laughed and then opened his arms for me. I walked forward and he pulled me into his safe embrace. When I hugged him back, I felt so at ease, like I didn't just have one of the worst nightmares ever. The voices left my head, the shakiness stopped, and my breathing felt normal again. I felt him put his chin on my shoulder and hold me a little tighter. I never thought that anyone could care about me as much as Alyssa did, but Ben proved that wrong. He was someone who had my back and I had his, and that would never change. He had the kindest heart and the lightest soul, and I don't think even the darkest of darks could change that. Ben was perfect the way he was; and I hoped with every single bit of light still in me that he wouldn't let Tom's situation change that. Ben was Ben, and that was something I never wanted changed.

That night, he took me to a secluded field that looked like it wasn't even touched by the aliens. It was beautiful to say lightly, and the sight was even prettier. The stars were shining so brightly, you would think that they were just a few feet above you rather than thousands of miles away. You could see Boston in the distance and you could see the remnants of Fitchburg. The only thing that kept me from thinking this was all dream was the big ass mother ship over Boston.

"This is where I come at night, when I need to get away from everything. Something about the atmosphere makes me feel at peace with myself you know?"

I nodded. "I used to have one of those places back home too. Except it wasn't nearly as nice as this." There was a big oak tree that concealed the field that we laid down under a few moments later. The two of us talked about life while we looked above at the stars. I asked him some questions about stuff I didn't know about him and he asked a few about me and I actually answered them.

"What's something no one knows about you, not even Alyssa?"

My eyes remained focused on the sky, but my head was focused on the conversation. "I almost pulled the trigger on myself awhile back. Probably would've gone through with it had I not thought it out."

Ben turned his head and looked at me. I mean, _really_ looked at me. "I was not expecting that kind of answer."

I smirked. "I'm not the kind of girl you used to go to school with, Ben."

He kept staring at me, to the point where I wanted to slap him so he'd stop. "You seriously almost killed yourself?"

_A useless being._

I closed my eyes for a second, trying to think of who had told me that. I'm pretty sure it was one of those bitches in school that use to give me shit all the time. "Yeah. I was damn close to doing it too. But I couldn't leave Alyssa and her little sis alone with her psychotic dad, so I put down the gun and sucked it up."

"Wow," Ben looked back up to the sky. "When you tell me about all the crap that you've gone through and all the things that happened where you lived really makes me think about how sheltered I've been this whole time. I didn't even think about how our old world was bad before the attack."

"You were one of the lucky ones. The kid with the great parents, great siblings, great grades, and a great life. I was one of the unlucky ones. No parents, crap sibling, didn't give a shit about school, and a messed up life. But I guess that's what makes us really good friends. We're showing each other our worlds through each other's eyes, and showing them what it's like. I mean," I looked at Ben, "I've never seen someone love anyone as much as your dad loves you. Do you know how incredible that is? And I know it doesn't strike you as much, but to an orphan and to someone with an abusive dad, that's above and beyond amazing." I looked back at the stars, silently envying Ben's perfect life. "That's what I see through my eyes."

Ben was quiet, letting my words sink into his mind. "I wish I thought about that before he stepped on that ship. I'll never be able to tell him how much I appreciated him."

"Don't say that."

"It's true," he said serious. "There's no way in hell he'd still be alive."

I frowned as I made eye contact with middle Mason boy. "In Fitchburg, I knew there was no way in hell the 2nd Mass survived that bomb. I thought for a fact that everyone I loved had been killed. But you," I shook my head, "_you_ kept us going because you knew that there was still a possibility they could be out there. I didn't know what to think, so I just decided that when I had proof that they were gone, I'd believe it. And in the end, they were just fine. So don't lose hope so fast, Ben. Wait until you have proof that your dad is actually gone."

"Do you always know the most perfect thing to say at the most perfect time?" Ben asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Sap."

Ben playfully shoved my shoulder. "Shut up."

I thought that we'd have a few quiet moments before we continued talking again, but Ben went straight to the next question on his list.

"You never did tell me what you wanted to do for a living."

"Ugh," I put my face in my hands. Do we have to talk about this now?"

"You've kept me waiting long enough, Miss Parker."

I slapped his arm. "That's what the principal called me at school. Do it again and I'll kill you."

"Whatever, tell me."

I let out an aggravated sigh. Did I really want to tell him about it? Hell no. But he would bug the shit out of me until I did tell him, and I'd rather not be annoyed to death. My eyes went back to the stars, simply because I didn't want to see the look on his face when I admitted one of my most well kept things about me.

"Well?" Deep breath. Here goes nothing. Fuck, I'm going to regret this later. Like extremely regret this later.

"I wanted to sing," I admitted, almost shamefully actually.

When Ben didn't reply to me, I forced myself to see what he was thinking. Shock rendered on his face. Pure and utter shock.

"Are you screwing with me right now?"

I shook my head. "No I'm serious."

"Sing something for me." Okay, I was wrong. I regret saying it _now_.

"Hell no."

"Why? No one else is around," Ben motioned to the empty field.

"That's not the problem," I said. "I just don't want to sing in front of you."  
"Please." Ben said it with such a genuine voice, that I almost gave in.

"No."

"C'mon, you must be amazing if you actually wanted to be a professional singer."

"Ben, I really don't feel comfortable-"

"Don't be a pain in the ass. Just do it." I think that since Ben has been spending so much time with me, he's starting to pick up on the amount of cussing I do and the abrasiveness I sometimes have. Okay, maybe always have.

"Sometimes I really hate you," I muttered.

"I'm waiting."

Fuck my life. I cleared my throat and took a few minutes to do a breathing exercise to help warm up your voice so you didn't have to do the obnoxious vocal ones that scare people when you do them. Then I started thinking about what song I should sing. The second I wondered it, the perfect one flowed into my mind and out of my mouth.

"We'll do it all

Everything

On our own

We don't need

Anything

Or anyone

If I lay here,

If I just lay here

Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

I don't quite know

How to say

How I feel

Those three words

Are said too much

But not enough

If I lay here,

If I just lay here

Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told

Before we get too old

Show me a garden that's bursting into life

Let's waist time,

Chasing cars

Around our heads

I need your grace

To remind me

To fine my own

If I lay here,

If I just lay here

Would you lie with me and just forget the world?"

Damn, I haven't sung that song in a really long time. But the look on Ben's face told me that I had sung it like I practiced everyday.  
"Holy shit, Kaylee. I had no idea you had pipes like that!"  
I smiled widely. "I'm glad I didn't make your ears bleed."

"Sing me something else."

"I think one's enough for the night." Ben started giving me a puppy dog face, an all too familiar one. "Has Jimmy been teaching you to make that face?"

"What? No."

"Yeah, bull shit." I began to get up, but Ben pushed me back down. "Rude."

"C'mon. Sing me another one." I had no idea that he would like my voice so much, I mean it was weird you know?

"I still have to make Alyssa's present, dude!"

"Ugh, I forgot," Ben groaned, "I have to go get her a water bottle and something else. What else should I get her?"

"Dig deep and be creative or something. I'll see you in a bit; it's gonna take me awhile before I'm done," I got up and started heading back to camp. Ben ran over to me and matched my pace.

"For the record, I've never heard someone sing as beautifully as you."

That's gotta be the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me. "If you continue to be that freaking sweet, you're going to make me blush."

"So if I told you that you were beautiful, you'd blush?"

I raised my eyebrows and smirked. "Now you're just being a kiss ass."

Ben chuckled and shook his head. "I'll see you in a few hours."

"See you." I went by our tent to where I had stashed all of the gifts I was going to give Alyssa. I had found a varsity type jacket in a store that was black and white and had 'AC' on the sleeve so I had took it to give to her. I also was going to make her a new knife since the one she used was absolute shit now. It was duller than dull, the handle was barely in tact, and the blade was almost dislodged from the handle. So I had taken the high carbon and stainless steel material (which is the best knife material you can get) I had with me and a turquoise rock handle I had taken from a jewelry shop and was going to combine them together. My uncle gave me a laser knife for my fourteenth birthday last year, and let me tell you it was the best thing to use for making weapons. I used this thing every time I was crafting something.

I also was writing Alyssa a song, which was something we did with each other. It wasn't always on our birthdays; usually we would write each other songs randomly and gave them to the other. Like the song Angel With a Shotgun she wrote for me was totally out of no where. But since this was her sixteenth, I was going to write a really heartfelt song. While I make her a death weapon.

Once I was far enough away from the tent, I set the items down and sat. I took the turquoise and began shaping it with the laser knife. The grip was perfect, and now I had to make the whole down the middle of the handle to put the blade in. The kind of blade I was dealing with was probably the sharpest out there, so I could easily cut myself. High carbon and stainless steel didn't rust and it took a really long time to become dull, so this was definitely the best choice for Alyssa because she uses her knife more than anything. I cut out the knife shape in the material and slid it into the handle carefully. If I really wanted to make sure that the blade and the handle were secure, I would have to work insanely quickly so that I would finish while the blade was still hot from being cut.  
I raised up the handle a little and took my laser knife to start welding the two together. The laser knife melted all four sides into the handle and then I started to clean it up a little so the knife piece and the handle would be even. I blew on the steaming blade and examined the now knife. It was probably my best work since I was more careful with making the knife than I usually was. However, it was missing a personalization.  
My thumb switched the laser to a smaller setting. I pressed the button and began burning Alyssa's initials into the bottom left of the handle. And soon enough, a black "AC" was at the bottom of her brand new knife. Now I just had to finish the song and I'd be done with her gifts.

Two hours later, I had an amazing song ready and two gifts for my best friend for her sixteenth birthday. Looking back on the years we've had together made me smile at all the memories I shared with just one person. She was the first person I had a sleepover with, she was the one I went to when I had fights with my mom, dad, or brother, she was the first one to give me a hug when I found out my parents died, she was the one who was there for me through all the broken bones I got, she was the one who constantly pulled my ass out of fights at school and even took the blame for me on some occasions so I wouldn't get expelled, and she was the one who's stuck by my side despite all the shit we've dealt with all of our years. Not to mention she was the only one who knew how to make me smile in an instant. I couldn't have asked for a better friend than her. And I couldn't thank her enough for staying in my life because without her, I wouldn't have made it this long.

Maybe I was one of the lucky ones, but just in a different way. Sure my life sucked, but I had someone like Alyssa in it. That made it bearable, which was all I needed to keep going. I'm glad I realized that now, because if something happened to her I want her to know how important she is to me.

"Alyssa get up, Alyssa get up." Hal continued. It was like a joke now. Ben said we bickered about that like an old married couple.

"That's not gonna work. You gotta use force." Then Kaylee hit my arm. "Get up lazy ass it's like ten already." I glared at her. "Oh yeah, Happy Birthday."

"So how does it feel to finally be sixteen?" Hal asked.

"I really don't feel any different," I said. I never felt older on my birthdays. I don't get how people are like in less than a day, I'm so much older and more mature. I'm just like bitch shut up it's just another day in your life. You don't automatically become this old wise person. It's stupid. "So what's the plan for today?" I asked Hal.

"Well it's just like a regular day, except a little surprise tonight," Ben said, then Matt started laughing and Ben smiled like they were hiding something from me. Hal just rolled his eyes, Kaylee looked the same. I shooed them out so I could get dressed. I put on my boots, shorts and my old soccer shirt. It was the tee shirt we got when we won state the year before. I put on my belt and started loading up with knives and my two guns. I went to grab my AK-47 Assault Rifle, but o couldn't find it. Where could my gun have gone? I'll just get another one from Kaylee.

I walked outside and the whole 2nd fucking Mass was standing there staring at me. "NOW," Matt yelled. What the hell?

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ALYSSA! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" I think they were supposed to be singing but it sounded more like a dying whale. I was smiling and laughing. Then Hal came up and hugged me.

"Happy Birthday!" Then he kissed me. "That's one present, you get the rest tonight."

I laughed harder. "Okay." Everyone clapped then went about their business. Weaver walked over, followed by Kaylee, Jimmy, Ben and Matt.

"Happy Birthday Carter." Weaver said. "I don't think your birthday could have come at a better time. The people needed something fun to do. And that was it."

"Well I'm glad I could help," I smiled.

The day went by quick. I got to kill a bunch of skitters and I even killed a mech, by myself, which was pretty cool. We were out all morning doing that. The 2nd Mass's tactic is to surprise attack in small groups. We do a kind of hit and run. Basically we need to be such a big pain in their alien asses that it's not worth it to be here on Earth. The day was fun, but the night was the best part. At dinner, Hal walked up with a big bowl and he put it in front of me. It looked like cake batter.

"We managed to make the batter but we didn't have anything to cool it with so here is your birthday cake." We all took spoons and started eating. Ben, Hal, Kaylee, Matt, and I all sat in Kaylee and my tent. They had a few gifts for me.

"Okay my gift first," Matt said. He pulled out a new looking soccer ball with a bow made of string.

"Matt I love it!"

"Now here is mine," Hal handed me my gun and his grey Metal Militia shirt. "You seemed to like the shirt and the gun, because you need a gun."

"But it's my gun." I was very confused.

"Yeah I gave you a gun! You need more," he said in a duh kinda way.

"Oh my God. I like the shirt though."

"Cool," he was laughing. I will never fully understand what goes on in his head. I seriously wonder about him.

"Here is mine." Ben handed me a water bottle filled with water.

"A water bottle? I thought my gift was bad." Hal said looking at his brother.  
"Kaylee said she would like it," I looked at Kaylee, and suddenly I remembered a partially boring day in science. I ran out of paper and couldn't take notes, so I just kinda zoned out. I picked my bottle of water up and started spinning it. If you held it upside down and spun it real fast, a tornado was made inside. It fascinated me. Kaylee saw me and just laughed. That was last year, and for my birthday and Christmas last year, she gave me a water bottle with her present. I started spinning it around.

"This is so cool! Thanks Ben!" Ben looked surprised, Hal looked confused, Kaylee had a look of knowing on her face, and Matt looked entertained by the tornado.

"Oh my God you are so easily entertained, it's sad," Hal said, shaking his head and laughing.

"Shut up," I said.

"Mines a three part one" Kaylee said. She handed me a letterman style jacket. It was black and white and on the sleeve said "AC".

"This is AMAZING! Thanks Kaylee! This is awesome!"

"And here's the second part" She handed me something wrapped in paper and taped shut. I am horrible at opening presents. This time I was actually doing pretty good, then something really sharp cut my finger.

"OOOWWWW! Shit that hurt! Kaylee what is it? It's sharp!"

"It's a knife dumb ass."

"Oh." I fully opened it and looked at the knife. It was really nice and strong. It was made of high carbon stainless steel metal, which is the best way to make a knife. It even had my initials on the bottom, carved in black. Of course there black I mean it wouldn't be a gift from Kaylee without something being black. And it was my all time favorite color too! "It's really nice! Thanks Kaylee, I needed a new one."

"Yeah your old one was crap," she said.

"Thank you captain obvious."

"I'll give you the third part later." She winked at me. I was suddenly very nervous.

"We should be going. I have grave yard shift with Ben and Matt needs to get to bed." The three Masons left and I lay down in my bed. That's when Kaylee decided to give me my last gift. "So, I wrote a song for you this morning…" she grinned at me. Oh God.

"You did?" I asked. Kaylee and I sometimes wrote each other songs when we were bored.

"Yeah. Don't laugh but," she pulled out a harmonica, "it involves the harmonica."

She's had that since she was a little girl. I laughed at her, "Okay, sing it."

Kaylee started playing the harmonica, and I was trying really hard not to laugh at how Kaylee Badass Parker was playing the harmonica and doing it well.

"And I never thought I'd feel this way  
And as far as I'm concerned  
I'm glad I got the chance to say  
That I do believe I love you  
And if I should ever go away  
Well then close your eyes and try to feel the way we do today  
And if you can't remember

Keep smiling, keep shining  
Knowing you can always count on me  
For sure  
That's what friends are for  
For good times, and bad times,  
I'll be on your side forevermore-  
That's what friends are for

Well, you came and opened me,  
And now there's so much more I see  
And so by the way I thank you  
And then for the times when we're apart,  
Well, then close your eyes and know  
These words are coming from my heart  
And if you can't remember," Holy shit she was making me cry! I knew Kaylee wasn't all that big on showing emotion, but this was totally pulled from the bottom of her heart. And if something were to ever happen to her, I'd have this song to remind me of the good times we've had.

"Keep smiling, keep shining  
Knowing you can always count on me  
For sure  
That's what friends are for  
For good times, and bad times,  
I'll be on your side forevermore-  
That's what friends are for

I never thought I'd feel this way before  
But I'm glad I got the chance to say I love you,  
I love you -  
That's what friends are for -

Keep smiling, keep shining  
Knowing you can always count on me  
For sure  
That's what friends are for  
For good times, and bad times,  
I'll be on your side forevermore-  
That's what friends are for."

Her voice ended, and she smiled at me. "What do you think?"

I tackled her in a huge hug. "I think you're the bestest friend ever."

"Well, duh," she said being the fucking smart ass she is. I slapped her for it.

She just laughed at me and held up her arm. "Friends Forever?"

I didn't even have to think; I instantly bumped her arm. "Always."

"Happy Birthday, Alyssa," she smiled.

"Thanks, Kaylee." I lay down on my cot, thinking about how sweet Kaylee could be if she actually tried. Kaylee did too, but I knew she wasn't going to sleep. She was going to wait until I fell asleep then leave. After a couple minutes of thinking, I was fast asleep.

Kaylee's POV

I re-hid all of Alyssa's presents and then walked into our tent to get her up since it was like ten already. Hal, Matt, and Ben were standing outside their tent. I motioned them over and we all entered Alyssa and I's tent.

"Alyssa get up, Alyssa get up," Hal began saying loudly next to her.

"That's not gonna work," I told him, "You gotta use force." I slapped Alyssa's arm. "Get up lazy ass it's like ten already."

Alyssa opened her eyes and gave her first murderous glare as a sixteen-year-old. There would be plenty more that followed that. "Oh yeah, Happy Birthday."

"How does it feel to finally be sixteen?"

"I really don't feel any different. What's the plan for the day?" she asked her boyfriend.

"It's just going to be a regular day, except there's gonna be a little surprise tonight," Ben said. Matt began laughing and Ben smiled because we all knew something Alyssa didn't. Hal and I weren't amused by the two younger Masons, so we just rolled our eyes at them. Alyssa made us get out so she could get dressed, and we had the entire 2nd Mass gathered around the tent so we could all sing to her. The moment she set foot outside, Matt yelled, "NOW!" and all of us sang 'Happy Birthday' to her.

Hal went up to her first and gave her a kiss, which was really adorable. And then Weaver, Jimmy, me, Ben, and Matt all went up to her.

"Happy Birthday, Carter," Captain Weaver said, smiling a little. "I don't think your birthday could have come at a better time. The civilians needed something fun to do. And that was it."

"Well I'm glad I could help," she smiled at him. After that, we took the birthday girl out to go and kill some aliens. I mean, what better way to celebrate your birthday than with wasting some skitters and mechs? Alyssa was really pumped to go out; she killed at least seven skitters and Hal, Ben, and I let her destroy a mech on her own and she was thrilled. She was going to be even more excited when she got her presents from me tonight.

The sun was beginning to go down in the sky, so we took Alyssa back to camp where we had a "cake" waiting for her there. I left briefly to get the hidden gifts as did everyone else. Then we dragged her back to the tent to give her presents. Hal set the bowl of batter we made a few hours ago in front of her.

"We managed to make the batter but we didn't have anything to cool it with so here is your birthday cake," Hal laughed a little. All of us took some spoons Hal brought us back from the food tent and ate the batter.

Matt initiated the gift giving. "Okay my gift first," he said. Matt managed to find a fairly new soccer ball and gave it to my soccer crazed friend as her present.

"Matt I love it!" Alyssa took it and spun it on her fingers then put it next to her as Hal gave her the next one.

"Now here is mine," Hal, being the absolute dipshit he is, gave her the assault rifle I made her awhile back (he really didn't understand the idea of creativity) and his Metal Militia shirt. "You seemed to like the shirt and you need a gun."

"But it's my gun," Alyssa pointed out.

"Yeah I gave you a gun! You need more," Hal said, still pretending he didn't steal her gun and give it to her as a present. Dumbass.

"Oh my God," Alyssa rolled her eyes (great choice for a boyfriend, Alyssa), "I like the shirt though."

"Cool," Hal laughed.

"Here is mine," Ben went through with my suggestion on giving her a water bottle.

"A water bottle? I thought my gift was bad." Hal raised his eyebrows at his younger brother.  
"Kaylee said she would like it," Ben protested.

Alyssa looked at me and the two of us started laughing. During science class a few months ago, Alyssa was really bored and unprepared, like always, and so she started playing with her water bottle and I've given her crap about it since.

"This is so cool! Thanks Ben!" Ben was surprised that I wasn't lying to him when I told him that she would like it.

"Oh my God. You're so easily entertained, it's sad," Hal said laughing at how stupid Alyssa was being.

"Shut up," she said and set the water bottle down.

"Mine's a three part one," I smiled, sliding the jacket to her first.

"This is AMAZING! Thanks Kaylee! This is awesome!" Alyssa smiled and put it on.

"And here's the second part." I had taken paper and wrapped it around the knife, so that way she'd be surprised when she did open it. I picked up the wrapped knife by the blade and handed her the handle side so she'd open that part and not cut herself.

"OOOWWWW! Shit that hurt! Kaylee what is it? It's sharp!" Dumbshit opened the blade side first. Why do I even try?

"It's a knife dumb ass," I shook my head at how clueless she could be sometimes.

"Oh." She tore it open more carefully. It was her favorite color, so of course, she got really pumped. "It's awesome! Thanks Kaylee, I needed a new one."

"Yeah your old one was crap," I pointed out.

"Thank you captain obvious."

"I'll give you the third part later," I smiled.

"Well we should be going. I have grave yard shift with Ben and Matt needs to get to bed." The Mason boys left.

"So, I wrote a song for you this morning…" I started, and grinned at my friend who was lying down already.

"You did?"

"Yeah. Don't laugh but," I pulled out a harmonica that I had since I was a kid, "but it involves the harmonica."

Alyssa laughed. "Okay, sing it."

I started the intro with the harmonica (despite Alyssa's awful attempt at trying not to laugh), and began to sing the song that took me forever to perfect.

"And I never thought I'd feel this way  
And as far as I'm concerned  
I'm glad I got the chance to say  
That I do believe I love you  
And if I should ever go away  
Well then close your eyes and try to feel the way we do today  
And if you can't remember

Keep smiling, keep shining  
Knowing you can always count on me  
For sure  
That's what friends are for  
For good times, and bad times,  
I'll be on your side forevermore-  
That's what friends are for

Well, you came and opened me,  
And now there's so much more I see  
And so by the way I thank you  
And then for the times when we're apart,  
Well, then close your eyes and know  
These words are coming from my heart  
And if you can't remember," I actually think Alyssa was tearing up at this point. But that made me want to keep on singing.

"Keep smiling, keep shining  
Knowing you can always count on me  
For sure  
That's what friends are for  
For good times, and bad times,  
I'll be on your side forevermore-  
That's what friends are for

I never thought I'd feel this way before  
But I'm glad I got the chance to say I love you,  
I love you -  
That's what friends are for -

Keep smiling, keep shining  
Knowing you can always count on me  
For sure  
That's what friends are for  
For good times, and bad times,  
I'll be on your side forevermore-  
That's what friends are for."

I stopped and looked up at her. "What do you think?"

She bear-hugged me and I silently thanked the world for giving me Alyssa Jane Carter to live my life with me. "I think you're the bestest friend ever."

"Well, duh."

Alyssa slapped me for being a smart ass and ruining the cute moment. I laughed and held up my arm to be bumped. "Friends Forever?"

She immediately bumped me back. "Always."

"Happy Birthday, Alyssa."

"Thanks, Kaylee." I lay down on my cot next to Alyssa and waited for her to fall asleep so I could get out of the tent. I needed some alone time and call me crazy, but I had a really good idea for a song I wanted to start working on. I don't know why, but writing songs makes me forget life for a little while, and I treasure that time more than anything.

Alyssa was already out, so I got up and opened the flap of the tent and started walking somewhere. I wanted to get out of camp for awhile, just pretend that I was on my own for a little, like I used to be. I sat down outside a little shop and pulled out a black composition book that I had with me when we joined the 2nd Mass and a pen. I stared at the moon, thinking about how much my life has changed in such little time. In a month, I'd be fifteen, and God knows what I'll be doing then.

Alyssa's POV

"_I warned you not to say anything, but what did you do? You ran your mouth," said the man with the gun. It was a weird hand gun; it was brown with and intricate design. Though you couldn't tell what design it is because there's a claw scratch that covered the entire handle. He was standing in the dark so he was hard to see but he looked familiar. The woman he was talking to looked scared. The man pulled the trigger and the women fell down to the ground, motionless. _

I woke myself up. I haven't had that dream in months. Not since our first night with the second mass. That seemed like so long ago. I looked around and didn't see Kaylee. She probably was out and about walking around doing something. She never slept anymore. I put my shoes on and left the tent. We were in the middle of the city, with a fire set up and tents around that, in a big circle. I started walking and I didn't really notice where I was going, until I looked up and realized I was out of the camp. I turned the corner and ran straight into a hard body.

"What are you doing up?" I looked at Hal.

"I couldn't sleep," I hope he couldn't see through my lie, the real reason I wasn't asleep.

"Nice try. What's the real reason?" Damn it.

"Remember when we first came here, how I had a nightmare and that man and all that? I had the dream again, that's all. It's nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I just couldn't fall back asleep. Kaylee isn't in there and it's creepy. So I figured id take a walk, and go find Kaylee. Why are you up?"

"Just getting off scouting duty."

"Oh okay."

"Come on, take a walk with me." We started walking, until we found an old park bench. Then we sat down. He wrapped his arm around me and I laid my head on his shoulder. We just sat there, in silence.

"Well, well, well, look at the little couple." We turned around to see a man staring at us. It was the man who was with the 2nd Mass when we first got there, the man who killed my mom and tried to kill me and Hal and Anne and Ben and Kaylee. I stood up and glared at him.

"What the fuck do you want?" I said my voice hard.

"To finish what I started. To kill you and your little boyfriend. But first I'm going to finish my story first. See, I don't think you ever heard the whole thing. And I want to at least make sure you know the real reason I killed your mom. I told you it was because she told on me, reported my murder. That's not why. Did you know your dad was a drug dealer? I was his supplier and he messed up. Did you know your mom didn't make that much money? She couldn't support you. She knew your dad was a drug dealer. Your grandfather and her made a deal. They acted like all the money was coming from her. That's when your dad messed up and he had to be killed. He said I could kill your mom instead, because he knew she couldn't support you with her money. So I did. He continued to make money, but legally he didn't have a job, so he got money from the government. He had you to care for, so he got more money, and then when Kaylee became legally under his care that was more money. And when your grandma wanted custody of you and Kaylee, he had her killed, and he got more money from her will. Since the money went to you, but legally you couldn't take it, he got it. Your dad was a smart man; he knew how to make money. And only with the loss of two people, that's not that bad considering the money he got. Well, two lives lost and two messed up children. That's not that bad, considering how many people are on this earth. And I taught him all of it. I taught him how to make money."

"You sick mother fucking bastard." I said. "That was my fucking mom you had killed! You _**ruined**_ my best friend and I's childhood! I thought my dad was worthless, but he is _nothing_ compared to you. Bastard, I swear to God I'm going to blow your brains out!" I reached for my gun but he was quicker.

"I don't think so," he held the gun to my chest "You make one move I kill her." He said to Hal. I forgot he was even here. I looked at him. He kept looking down at my nunchucks. He was trying to tell me something. Suddenly I remembered when we first met, how Hal and Ben had there guns pointed at us, I surprised them and disarmed them. Slowly I reached for my nunchucks. I quickly whipped them out and hit his gun, sending it flying. Hal ran over to it and picked it up and aimed it at him.

"I don't believe in killing people with a gun. I think it's a cowardly way to go. If you want to kill someone, fight them. Fists, knives, nunchucks. Not guns." I picked up my arm and socked him in the face.

"You little bitch!" He went to hit me but Hal clicked the gun in place and he froze. The man quickly lifted his hand and smacked the gun out of Hal's and he pushed Hal to the ground. I pulled my knife from my boot and sent it straight at him. It hit him right below the heart. Perfect. He isn't going to die instantly, but he can't be saved now. He will sit here in pain and suffer, suffer the way I did when he killed my mom. I stared at his almost lifeless body. He was just about dead, but he wasn't quite there yet. I started to walk away and Hal followed me.

"Alyssa. Alyssa stop!" Hal grabbed me and tried to make me face him but I didn't want to. I didn't want him to see me cry. He held my face in his hands. "Alyssa, it's going to be okay." When he said that, I broke down crying. I have cried once in my life, when my mom died. I guess I should be happy right now that the man is dead. That's what I wanted, I wasn't crying because I was sad he was dead. I don't know why I was crying actually. It was all too much. Hal pulled me in and hugged me tight and I wanted to stay here in this moment forever. "Come on, let's head back. If Kaylee still isn't in your guys' tent, you can stay with us." We walked back to camp, but Hal still didn't let go of me. I peeked in our tent, but it was empty. We walked back to their tent. Ben was gone but Matt was sound asleep. We climbed in, Hal laid down and l laid down next to him. I laid my head on his chest. I fell asleep to his rhythmic breathing.

"Hal, wake- what the hell are you doing Alyssa?" I woke up and glanced at Ben. Hal was just waking up to. Ben leaned back and yelled, "KAYLEE I FOUND HER!" He looked back in here. "Prepare to die Alyssa. Kaylee has been worried as shit. She came in this morning and you weren't there. I was coming to get Hal to go help find you. " I stood up and left, Hal followed me. Matt slept through all of this.

"So how pissed do you think she is?" Hal asked.

"ALYSSA JANE FUCKING CARTER GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE NOW!" "I'd say she is pretty pissed" I said and he laughed. We walked over to Kaylee, who practically had steam coming out of her ears.

"WHY THE WEREN'T YOU IN OUR TENT?!" She slapped me, the looked at Hal. "WHY HELL WERE YOU TWO IN YOUR TENT?" Then she punched him. Ben walked up.

"What's going on?" Hal explained everything to them, because I couldn't.

"And you killed him? Why didn't you use our tent?" Kaylee asked.

"I didn't wanna be in there alone. And I didn't know where you were, so I stayed in their tent."

"Whatever. Just as long as you guys used protection," Kaylee rolled her eyes.

"Shut up Kaylee, just shut up. Fuck you," I said.

"Chill out Kaylee. We slept together. Calm down," Hal stated.

"Oh." Ben said looking between us.

"No, oh no. Like we literarily _slept_ together. Like with our eyes shut and-"

"Hal was even snoring," I cut in.

"Yeah I know how sleeping works Hal," she smirked.

"Plus we couldn't do anything, Matt was there," Hal defended us.

"What's all the yelling about?" Matt walked out, his hair all messy. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Nothing," Ben said.

"Mhmmm sure," Matt said. We all laughed and headed off to go get breakfast.

Kaylee's POV

I got back to camp at seven in the morning and no one seemed to notice the direction I came in from when I entered camp, which was good. But when I went to go check on Alyssa, she was no where to be found. I frowned and exited the Parker-Carter tent and walked around camp until I spotted Ben by the food tent. "Hey Ben," I started while I walked in front of him, "have you seen Alyssa around?"

"No, I haven't seen her anywhere. Why?"

"When I left last night she was asleep in our tent but when I came back this morning she was gone..." I trailed off when I saw something next to a park bench that was a few yards away from camp. "Do you see that?" I pointed to it.

Ben's eyes widened a little. "It's a dead body."

"Let's go check it out," I motioned him and we ran over to it. When I examined it more closely, I recognized the face. "That's the guy that killed Alyssa's mom." A familiar black handle to a knife jutted out of his chest.

"And that's her old knife," Ben pointed to it.

"If she got hurt I swear to God I'm going to make this the worst birthday she's ever had in her life," I tossed my bangs out of my face, getting seriously worried, This guy was seriously messed up in the head, and if Alyssa had managed to actually kill him, he had to have fought back.

"I'm sure she's fine. C'mon, let's go ask around if anyone's seen her." Ben and I asked a ton of the civilians and some of the fighters if they had seen Alyssa anywhere, but the same answer came up: No. I was really starting to get worried.

"I'm gonna go ask Hal really quick," Ben sprinted off to his tent while I sprinted to Jimmy.

"Jimmy have you seen Alyssa anywhere?"

He shook his head. "How long has she been gone?"

"Like five hours or so," I sighed. "No one has seen her anywhere."

Jimmy was about to reply, when Ben shouted to me, "KAYLEE, I FOUND HER!"

I'm going to fucking kill her. "I'll see you in a little bit," I waved and ran over to the Mason tent. Ben was standing out there already.

"ALYSSA JANE FUCKING CARTER GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE NOW!" I shouted to her. I was pissed as hell that she gave me such a huge heart attack. Hal and Alyssa came out of the tent and she actually cowered when she saw how pissed I was. "WHY THE HELL WEREN'T YOU IN OUR TENT?" I slapped her as hard as I could muster. And then it dawned on me that Alyssa was in the Mason boys' tent…with _Hal_.

"WHY THE HELL WERE YOU TWO IN YOUR TENT?!" When he didn't reply, I punched Hal in the arm even harder than I punched Alyssa because I knew Hal could take a semi-hard punch.

"Damn it," Hal rubbed his arm vigorously. "Do you punch harder every time you hit me?"

Um, DUH.

"What _happened_?" Ben asked, annoyed that we still didn't know what went on.

Hal said that Alyssa had her nightmare again and so she ran into Hal looking for me so they took a walk to shake off the dream. Then they were sitting at the bench and the man came over to them and tried to kill Alyssa but she beat him to it.

"Why didn't you just stay in our tent?" I asked Alyssa, who was being quiet for the first time in her life.

"I didn't wanna be in there alone. And I didn't know where you were, so I stayed in their tent," she explained.

"Whatever. Just as long as you guys used protection," I rolled my eyes. Ben started laughing so hard while I stood and smirked at the beet red couple. Alyssa looked like she wanted to murder me.

"Shut up Kaylee, just shut up. Fuck you," Alyssa said.

"Chill out Kaylee. We slept together. Calm down," Hal stated.

"Oh." Ben said looking between Hal and Alyssa.

"No, oh no. Like we literarily _slept_ together. Like with our eyes shut and-"

"Hal was even snoring," Alyssa added.

"Yeah I know how sleeping works Hal," I smirked.

"Plus we couldn't do anything, Matt was there,"

Hal defended them. Alyssa was just about to kill me, when Matt came outside.

"What's all the yelling about?" Matt's hair was a total mess; his curls were flying all over the place.

"Nothing," Ben said as he ruffled Matt's hair, making it even messier.

"Mhmmm sure," Matt rolled his eyes. The five of us laughed and went to the food tent to start the new day.

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_:3333333333333 Review and tell me what you thought!:DDDDD Until I see you next,_

_Keep The Resistance Strong And Falling Skies On. -Parker_

**AAAHHHHHH! SO what did you guys think of the AlyssxHal action?! PLEASE TELL ME! Review, PM whatever you have to do to tell me!**


	13. Celebrations and Confessions Part 2

_Hey there viewers!:D We're having a Season 2 marathon at the moment:3 It's exciting;D Except we're watching Compass right now and I'm already tearing up D; Uggghhh. But anyways, NEXT CHAPTER STARTS SEASON 2:DDDDDDDDDD I hope you enjoyyyyyy:3 -Parker_

**HEEYYYY GUUUYYYYS! How are you? I hope you enjoy the chapther! The song Alyssa sings its the song Photograpgh by Nickelback. I took out to parts and changed a few words but yeah thats it! Anyway i am really hyper right now and very energetic! MWAHAHAHAHA! FEER THE ENERGYOF ALYSS CARTER!(espically when i have drank a whole lot of juice boxes!) So yeah i am going to stop talking now(or typing) and let you read! -Carter**

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Chapter 13-Celebrations and Confessions Part 2

Kaylee's POV

November came and went, and soon enough the 2nd Mass was well into December. I kept forgetting that my birthday was coming up in a few days, but I didn't really care. My birthday wasn't something I wanted people to make a big deal about. All I was going to be was another year older. Nothing special. Alyssa was way too excited about it, probably because she knew that it annoyed me when people made a big deal of my birthday and she liked to irritate me, and kept on talking about it to me. Honestly my friends were more excited about it than I was.

Ben and Jimmy kept asking me what I wanted and I told them I didn't want anything. I had an amazing group of friends and the entire 2nd Mass; what more could I ask for? I think the only thing I wanted personally was to be proud of myself and do something that contradicted the nightmare I had four weeks ago. That also happened to be the only time I slept in the past four weeks. Was I dying of debilitation? Absolutely. But I would do anything it took to stay awake. I was on the verge of passing out, frankly I have no clue how I've gone this long without it and haven't died or anything, and Ben and Jimmy seemed to notice, like always.

So to make them calm down, I went into Alyssa and I's tent and stayed in there the whole night every night. All I did was thought or make guns or write songs while I waited for the sun to come back up. I knew I'd be pissed at myself for not sleeping and wrecking my body soon, but I didn't care now. Things had gotten to the point where I wasn't sure if I was dreaming or if it was reality. That was enough to start making me feel like I was insane.

Ben's birthday passed, and Jimmy and I got to go on a late scouting with him so we could all hang out together for the last bit of his birthday. I didn't know what to get him, but when I asked he told me that all he wanted was for me to sing him another song. I asked him what his favorite song was and Ben just gave me a look and said to surprise him. I sung him 'Vienna' by Billy Joel and he freaked out. I genuinely wondered how my voice could be enjoyed so much by just one person; it shocked me actually. Why did Ben like it so much?

"Kaylee," Jimmy clapped his hands in front of my face.

I blinked a few times and focused on the world in front of me. I have a really hard time doing that sometimes. "What?"

"You almost fell asleep," Ben said giving me a 'what's up with you?' look.

"Sorry, guys," I rubbed my eyes with my fingertips to try and wake myself up. I seriously think that I'm going to pass out soon.

"Sleeping still hard?" Jimmy asked. I told him about the nightmares a couple days after Alyssa's birthday since he knew that something was up with me that I wasn't telling him about.

"Impossible," I moaned and ran my fingers through my hair.

"Are they any thing like Alyssa's?" Ben asked me, trying to get to the bottom of this whole catastrophe.

I picked up a stick off the ground we were all sitting on to scout the perimeter of camp. My fingers grabbed one of my knives and I started peeling the wood to occupy myself from falling asleep. "Meaning?"

"Like level of scariness."

"Hers are fucking Barney and Friends compared to what's been going on inside of my head."

Jimmy frowned. "Can you describe it to us?"

I shook my head. "It's just…" There I went again, trailing off in the middle of my sentence because I can't explain the nightmares.

"Too difficult to explain?" Ben finished.

"Exactly."

Jimmy stared at my eyes like Ben did occasionally. They were becoming so much alike, I was probably going to call one of them by the wrong name in the future. "Have you looked at your eyes lately, Parker?"

"Is it worse?" I stripped another piece of wood off the little branch. I didn't even have to take a guess at what Jimmy was talking about; I knew the dark circles were blacker than all of the black clothes I owned combined, and he was really concerned.

He gingerly touched below my left eye. "They're not gonna go away all that easily."

"Fantastic," I said sarcastically.

"On the bright side, your birthday's tomorrow," Ben smiled. Just like his father, Ben was always the optimist.

"Is it already the 19th?" I asked surprised. Three days had gone by and I didn't even notice. Shit, that's really bad.

"That's it," Ben let his handgun I made him drop out of his hand and onto the ground, "we're going to force you to sleep, even if we have to just sit there and wait for you to."

"Why?"

"If you can't even remember that your birthday is tomorrow, than you're more sleep deprived than we thought," Ben stared me down.

"First thing, my birthday is not something to get worked up about. It's just the day that I was born on and nothing more. And for someone who's not excited about it like everyone else seems to be, it's not in the front of my mind right now," I protested to Ben's idea of me being over the top exhausted.

"How are you not excited for your birthday?!" Jimmy exclaimed.

I shrugged. "I don't know, I'm just not. I don't want any gifts or anything special; I just want it to be a regular day where the three of us just go on patrols all the time like we do everyday."

Jimmy and Ben shook their heads at the same time. "You're gonna get something special," Jimmy stated.

I rolled my eyes. "Can we not talk about this until tomorrow? Please."

"Fine, we'll give you a break," Ben chuckled.

The 2nd Mass had gradually moved from the outskirts of the outskirts of Fitchburg and was now making our way down into Connecticut. The state was just as deserted as Massachusetts was, but in a more peaceful way you could say. A lot of the nature around Connecticut was still there and undamaged. But there was a structure over what I assumed to be Hartford and it creeped me out because you could see the structure over Boston faded in the background.

I had done a lot of thinking these past nights, and I've been thinking about how if something were to happen to either me, Ben, or Jimmy, we wouldn't have anything of each others or a picture to remember them by. And there was no way in hell I'd let myself forget either of them. "Guys, what if something happens to one of us? Like what would we have to remember each other by?"

That got the two boys to thinking. "I haven't even thought about that…" Jimmy said thoughtfully.

"We won't have anything of each others," Ben frowned a little.

I looked down at my folded hands and continued thinking about what we could do. What was something that we could do? My eyes flashed up a bit and that's when I looked at Jimmy's gloved hands, and then at Ben's. "What if," I tore the Velcro strap off my glove to take out my blackened hand, "we traded one glove with each other? That way we've always got something of each other's and that way when we're fighting, we can be reminded of what we're fighting for."

"And you call me the sap," Ben rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Mason," I slipped off the other glove and traded one with Jimmy and Ben. I slid both of them on, and yeah it looked really tacky with mismatching gloves, but it made me feel better about all of this. Now I had something of Ben and Jimmy's to keep with me if they were to run into trouble.

"I'm just saying now, if either of you _do_ get into trouble and don't make it back, I will be so pissed off because these were my uncle's gloves and if I don't end up getting them back, I'll have to bring you from the dead and kill you again." Ben and Jimmy started laughing at me, but they knew I was dead fucking serious.

The night carried on peacefully, to the point where I was literally falling asleep because it was so calm right now. I was on somebody's shoulder, but I couldn't even remember who I had crashed on. Whoever it was, they had their arm around me tightly and were super warm at the moment. I felt super safe with Ben and Jimmy, but I felt even safer now asleep on whoever's shoulder I was drifting off on.

Ben's POV

"Dude I think she's asleep," I said to Jimmy.

"Yeah she's out," Jimmy looked at Kaylee who was sleeping on my shoulder.

I put my hand on her shoulder and shook it lightly. "Kaylee, you gotta get up," I spoke softly.

Jimmy and I laughed quietly when she didn't do anything at all, but just shift slightly on my shoulder. My arm was around her to try and warm her up a little since she was freezing like she always was. Kaylee was always on her guard when she was awake and never let anyone even try to guess what she was thinking. She looked so much different while she slept. She wasn't blocking out anything or trying to keep her walls up; she was just being the easy-going Kaylee Parker that she once was before. I really wished that I could've met that girl that used to be full of life and happiness, like she described to me.

"I'll carry her back to her tent," Jimmy said and began standing up.

"No, I'll do it," I replied. I noticed through my improved sight that Jimmy tensed just the slightest. Kaylee was a touchy subject for him and he was extremely protective over her. At certain times, I thought he knew that I liked her too, but other times I think he was just as clueless as Kaylee was. "Camp is five miles away. You're going to get tired, believe me it's not easy carrying someone long distances without stopping. It'll be easier this way, trust me."

He nodded. "Alright. She would've wanted me to carry her gun anyways." We laughed and Jimmy slung Kaylee's Calico gun over his shoulder while I lifted Kaylee's head off my shoulder and picked her up into my arms. She weighed a whole lot lighter than I thought she would be since girls her height are usually a little heavier than Kaylee was because of the longer bones and muscles in her legs. Looks like Jimmy and I have our next task to take care of.

She leaned her head onto my chest, one hand resting by her head and the other resting on the other arm. Jimmy kept looking over at me and Kaylee in my arms and I couldn't process what could be going through his head. He couldn't be jealous because he knew that Kaylee liked him and he couldn't be upset that I told him I would take her the five miles back. I had no idea what it could be. Kaylee looked completely adorable and beautiful at the moment, something I was clueless as to how she achieved. She was practically nestled into my chest, which was insanely cute, and she was just…beautiful. Her hair was gorgeous, her height was incredible, her eyes were like two blue topazes and diamonds mixed together, and her smile was perfectly straight. But what I thought made her absolutely stunning was her beautiful heart. When she laughed or smiled, it was 100 percent contagious and you couldn't help but smile or laugh along with her. And the way she talked about music made you hope that one day you too could be as passionate about something as she was. Even though it could be difficult sometimes, she never needed anyone to look out for her or needed someone to be her foundation. She was her own foundation and she isn't like any of the heroines in any stories or movies you've ever seen before because she isn't needy and dependent like they all are. She could stand on her own two feet without help getting there and she didn't need anybody to keep her going on.

"What the hell?"

Alyssa's POV

"So what did you get Kaylee for her birthday?" I looked up at Hal. "I hope it's better than my gift. That was possibly the worst attempt at regifting I have ever seen." I laughed.

He laughed too "In my defense, I got you a better gun later."

"Okay, I'll give you that much. You did get me a pretty nice gun." I looked down at it. It was solid black 9mm hand gun. Like the one you see in spy movies, the really cool looking ones.

Hal pointed to some people heading toward camp in the opposite direction. "Who is that?" I looked over at the people. It was two boys, caring someone. "It's Ben and Jimmy."

"And they're carrying Kaylee." The two of us ran over. "What the hell?"

"She's just asleep." Jimmy said. He rolled his eyes. Why is he so grumpy?

"We were on guard. I was talking to her, and when she wasn't responding, I realized she had fallen asleep. I'm carrying her since it was a five mile walk." Jimmy clenched his fist. Now I get it, Jimmy is mad because Ben is caring her, and he is jealous. I smiled a little.

"You two are lucky she isn't hurt; if she was, you two would have been so dead."

"Why am I not surprised?" Ben laughed as we headed back to camp.

"So its Kaylee's birthday tomorrow and I was thinking-"

"She doesn't want anyone to make a big deal out of it," Jimmy cut me off.

"I know. But I still am going to," I smiled. "We are gonna go wake her up and I, me and me only, am going on a scouting mission with her. I haven't got to hang out with her in forever. Then Jimmy and Ben, you can have her. But I get to hang out with her first."

"She said she wants it to be like a regular day, going on missions with me and Ben." Jimmy protested.

"She probably did say that, but I'm not going to listen to her."

"I agree with Alyssa, she should be able to hang out with Kaylee," Ben said. Jimmy glared at him, and Ben glared back.

"Easy boys, save the fighting for another time." I smiled and stepped between them. By now we were back at camp. Jimmy went straight over to his tent and Ben laid Kaylee down in our tent. "You liked that," I teased Ben.

He turned bright red. "Shut up Alyssa," he smiled.

"See you tomorrow", I waved, then I walked over and hugged Hal. "Night."

"Night." Then they left and headed back to their tent.

I went into our tent and quietly started looking through my bag, until I found what I was looking for. It was an old picture of Kaylee, her mom, my mom, and I. We were at the mall, shopping for new school clothes and both of us are smiling so big. We loved it when the four of us went out and did stuff. Kaylee had on grey jeans and a grey shirt with stripes and grey vans. I had on blue shorts and a pink shirt and white vans. We both looked so happy that day. Then I found the next picture, it was from the same day. It was from one of those photo booths. There were four pictures; one of all four of us, one of just Kaylee and her mom, one of my mom and I and one of just me and Kaylee. In the one of Kaylee and me, we had in matching blue flower head bands. My mom loved them and insisted on buying them for us. So just to make her happy, we wore them. This picture was taken three hours before my mom died. It was the last time we were ever truly happy. The two of us had never experienced anything bad then; we were innocent kids. Kaylee didn't know I had this. I found it the day we went to the 2nd Mass and I put it in my bag. A couple days ago I found a craft store that had picture frames, so I took one that would fit these two pictures. I wrapped it in black paper, courtesy of the craft store. I put the present safely back in my bag. Next I took out my mom's and Kaylee's moms old friendship necklaces. They were lockets in the shape of a heart, one was black one was blue. I took them apart at the hinges, and switched them around. So the front of my mom's had the back of Kaylee's moms and vice versa. I put them back on their chains and wrapped one in paper. After I finished Kaylee's gift, I fell asleep.

That morning I woke up around 9:30. I looked over at Kaylee and found her still fast asleep. I got up, and went and had breakfast.

"So are we gonna go wake up Kaylee?" Matt asked.

"Yup," I smiled. "I have a plan."

"Should we be scared?" Hal asked.

"No."  
"Should Kaylee be scared," Ben asked.

"Yes."

"Now the big one. Should you be scared when Kaylee wakes up?"

I had to think about that one. "Probably." They all laughed and we finished up breakfast. "Hey Jimmy come with us to wake up Kaylee," I said. "Matt I want you to go get everyone ready to sing happy birthday when she comes out, like you did on my birthday."

"But I want to be there when she wakes up!"

"And I wish you could but there's going to be a lot of adult language that you really don't need to hear, so go get everyone ready." Everyone laughed and Matt ran around getting everyone ready. We snuck into our tent really quietly and I snuck right up next to Kaylee.

"She's gonna kill you," Jimmy shook his head smiling. I ignored him.

"KAYLEE GET UP! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!" I screamed and jumped on top of her.

"No." she said with her eyes still closed.

"GET UP!" Everyone all followed my lead and started trying to get Kaylee up, by shaking her.

"Alyssa if you don't fucking get out of here right now I will kill you and make it look like an accident. And you know I can, I've done it before," she said with closed eyes. Everyone else took a step back.

"Kaylee, we have guests."

"If you guys don't get out of here in the next five seconds I will rip your dicks off and strangle you with them in your sleep," Kaylee said sternly. Someone wasn't a happy camper today.

"Ben, help me," I motioned for him to come over. "Grab her." He picked her up and we all walked outside where Ben put her down, she glared at him.

"Now!" Matt said and everyone sang the happy birthday song to Kaylee. She tried to leave but Hal, Ben, and I blocked her. She stood there in her pajamas, glaring at us.

"All I wanted was to sleep in on my birthday. Was that so fucking much to ask?" She shook her head and went into our tent.

"I think it went well," Hal said.

"Are you serious?" Jimmy asked. Still pissed about last night.

"Yeah, no one died right?" I smiled.

Kaylee walked out of the tent in her jeans and sneakers. "Yet."

We all headed into the tent. Kaylee was talking to Dr. Glass.

"So remember the plan, Jimmy and Ben bring her to us later tonight. Do not forget and don't let her bail. Or else."

"Yes ma'am," Ben said. I smirked.

Kaylee's POV

I forgot what sleep felt like. And it was completely and utterly wonderful. I still have no idea how I fell asleep; my guess was that I just passed out because of exhaustion or because I felt safe with Ben and Jimmy. That night was peaceful, nightmareless. A full night of rest was absolutely amazing, until I woke up to Alyssa jumping on me and yelling.

"KAYLEE GET UP! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!"

Damn I forgot. "No." Maybe if I kept my eyes shut she'd go away since it's my birthday. But this is Alyssa I'm talking about.

"GET UP!" She shook me a bunch of times.

"Alyssa if you don't fucking get out of here right now I will kill you and make it look like an accident. And you know I can, I've done it before."

There was a quiet silence, and then Alyssa said, "Kaylee, we have guests."

You are fucking kidding me right now. "If you guys don't get out of here in the next five seconds I will rip your dicks off and strangle you with them in your sleep." I wasn't so much pissed at them for being her, but being woken up when they know I haven't been sleeping well. I didn't know if I would have another peaceful night to sleep, so I wanted to get as much rest as I could.

"Ben, help me. Grab her," Alyssa instructed. Oh, fuck.

Next thing I knew, I was being ripped out from under the sheets on my cot, carried outside, and set down in front of the whole 2nd Mass in my black flannel pajama pants and my black tank top. It was at least twenty degrees out side and I was freezing my ass off considering I had no shoes on and was in a tank top.

And they all started singing to me while I felt like throwing myself off a cliff in embarrassment. I turned to try and go back into the tent but Hal and Ben blocked my way and Alyssa stood there with a smug grin on her face that I almost slapped off had the 2nd Mass not been behind me.

After ten more seconds of being thoroughly mortified, they finished and I looked at Jimmy, Hal, Ben, and Alyssa. Words cannot describe the loathing despisement I felt towards them at this moment. "All I wanted was to sleep in on my birthday. Was that so fucking much to ask?" I shook my head and entered my bitch of a best friend and I's tent. I tugged on my jeans, slid into my black hoodie, and slipped into my sneakers. I quickly pulled a brush through my hair which I have neglected to comb in the past three days and put my IMI Galil SAR Carbine gun across my back and then exited the tent.

"Yeah, no one died, right?" Alyssa asked all cheery.

"Yet," I put in darkly. I kept on walking without them until I reached the food tent.

"Happy Birthday, Kaylee!" Dr. Glass smiled when I opened the mess tent to see her.

"Ugh, don't remind me," I shook my head at the thought of the singing thing again.

"How old are you today?" she asked.

"Fifteen," I said softly.

"That's hardly an age to worry about being old or anything," she teased me.

I smiled the smallest bit, "I'm not worried about being old. I just hate that everyone's making a big deal about it."

"It's something to celebrate though. You made it another year despite the fact aliens invaded the earth. That's something to celebrate."

I grabbed a granola bar and a bottle of water. "Yeah, but it doesn't matter to me. I just want to get through the day."

Dr. Glass shook her head at me now. "You should be proud, Kaylee."

Yeah, well I don't. "I know. Thanks anyways Dr. Glass."

I sat down at an empty table to eat alone. I was in one of those moods where you hate everybody for no reason and want to be left alone. I was usually like that, but being a fighter changed that for me. When I was drinking some water, I saw Ben, Hal, Alyssa, and Jimmy walking into the tent. They saw me sitting alone and sat down around the table, simply staring at me.

I looked around at every single one of them. "Give me one valid reason as to why I should not murder you all right here, right now."

"I'm your brother," Hal stated.

"Not really," I countered.

"You love me too much," Alyssa said.

"Do I?"

"I'm one of your best friends," Ben answered.

"Invalid."

"I like guns," Jimmy smiled stupidly.

I looked at him. "Nice try. Can we just agree to make this a normal day?"

"Nope," Alyssa grinned deviously.

"You are seriously asking for it," I told her. I got up to throw away my trash and to walk outside.

Alyssa followed me outside. "We have a patrol together in a few minutes."

I sighed. "If you piss me off further I will return to camp alone."

We kept walking down the road until we were out of camp and were entering a little forest area that served as our south post for scouts. Alyssa and I sent the scouts that were there back to camp and we sat down on the grass. I was quiet and she was quiet, but so much was going through our minds at the moment. I was thinking about all of the time we'd spent together and all the memories that were between the two of us.

Alyssa was too, and then she voiced our thoughts. "Man, time flies. I remember the day when you were born."

I frowned and smiled a little. "You were there?"

"Yeah! I don't remember much cause I was just one, but I do remember my mom putting you on my lap and me 'holding' you."

"I think that was the only time you were taller than me," I smirked.

"Shut up. Just because you're fifteen now doesn't mean you can be even more of a smart ass."

"Just following in your footsteps," I shrugged.

"I was not that bad!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah you were," I nodded.

"If you keep being a bitch to me I'm not going to give you your present."

"I don't want any presents."

"Well that is too damn bad. You're getting presents whether you fucking want them or not," she folded her arms.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

"Fifteen-year-olds," Alyssa scoffed and reached into her right pocket.

"You were fifteen a month ago, so shut up." She rolled her eyes at me.

Alyssa pulled out something wrapped in black tissue paper and handed it to me. "This is the first one and I'll give you the other two later on." I took it from her hand and peeled off the tissue paper.

I practically dropped it when I saw what it was. "Is this…"

"Yeah," she smiled, "and I have the other one." She took out the other necklace to show me.

They were our moms' friendship necklaces when they were our age. They always promised to pass them down to us when we were both the same age as them, but they died before they got the chance. It was crazy that the two of them were both as close as Alyssa and I are. My mom's necklace was black and Alyssa's mom's was blue, which were our favorite colors. I always thought that my mom was wearing hers when she died, and Alyssa's mom too, but I guess I was wrong.

"I can't believe you've had these this whole time." I kept staring at it in disbelief. I picked up the locket and opened it. A picture of Alyssa's mom and my mom was still in there, when they were both sixteen. "Wow, your mom looked just like you."

"You have your mom's hair," Alyssa said. "But you have your dad's eyes."

"You look nothing like your dad," I laughed a little.

"Thank God for that," Alyssa shook her head and laughed too.

"This is amazing, Alyssa. Thanks." I took the neck lace and wrapped it a few times, then I put it on my wrist. Yeah, I know it's a necklace and shit, but I already had a necklace on that meant more to me than anything I owned. Alyssa put hers on her wrist too, and we bumped our arms.

"I still can't believe that little Kaylee Parker is fifteen now," she sighed.

"Dude, I'm not, nor have I ever been little." I hit five feet when I was ten years old, and two years later I was 5'8. Then I reached 5'10 when I was thirteen and at fourteen I grew another inch and have stayed at 5'11. I didn't really want to be any taller, since six feet for a girl was kind of weird. But you know, whatever works.

"I think we've established that," Alyssa said looking up at me. Even sitting down, she was short. When we were both standing up, she barely reached my shoulder. It was hilarious when she fought with me or with Hal because both of us were so much taller than her but she just kept fighting anyways. I still gave her crap about her height all the time though.

"I think we should establish the fact that Matt is almost taller than you."

"Fuck you and your height. You are this close to be slapped so damn hard on your birthday," Alyssa pinched her fingers together.

I put my hands up. "I'm done for the day."

Alyssa rolled her eyes. "You suck."

"I know." An hour of us talking and reminiscing about the old times passed, and the two of us headed back to camp. Alyssa said that Ben and Jimmy were waiting to go hang out with me later so I was going to go find them when I saw a mildly pissed off looking Jimmy walk by us without seeing me. "I'm gonna go see what's up with him," I told her and I jogged after Jimmy.

Alyssa's POV

"I still can't find Kaylee's gift," Hal said. I knew we had found her a guitar but he lost it. We walked back out to find Kaylee. She was sitting alone at a table so we all surrounded her. She looked up at us a second later.

"Give me one valid reason as to why I should not murder you all right here, right now." Hal, not understanding the concept 'rhetorical question' answered her.

"I'm your brother," Hal stated. Not going to work. I wonder what she would say to me?

"Not really."

"You love me too much," I smiled.

"Do I?"

"I'm one of your best friends," Ben answered.

"Invalid." Hahaha.

"I like guns," Jimmy smiled stupidly. Really? Is that the best he can come up with? If that's all it takes, why aren't Kaylee and Pope best friends?

"Nice try. Can we just agree to make this a normal day?"

"Nope," I smirked.

"You are seriously asking for it." She stood and I followed her.

"We have a patrol together in a few minutes."

"If you piss me off further I will return to camp alone." We walked over to the south post watch spot for scouts. It was a little grassy patch of land. We were both thinking. Since Kaylee isn't much for conversation, I had to start it.

"Man, time flies. I remember the day when you were born."

"You were there?"

"Yeah! I don't remember much cause I was just one, but I do remember my mom putting you on my lap and me 'holding' you." I held her for like two seconds before I almost dropped her and my mom took her back.

"I think that was the only time you were taller than me." Always a height joke.

"Shut up. Just because you're fifteen now doesn't mean you can be even more of a smart ass."

"Just following in your footsteps." Oh really now?

"I was not that bad!"

"Yeah you were." Okay, so maybe a little.

"If you keep being a bitch to me I'm not going to give you your present."

"I don't want any presents."

"Well that is too damn bad. You're getting presents whether you fucking want them or not," I crossed my arms.

"Whatever." Ha! I win!

"Fifteen-year-olds," I rolled my eyes.

"You were fifteen a month ago, so shut up."

I pulled out the locket. "This is the first one and I'll give you the other two later on."

"Is this…"

"Yeah, and I have the other one." I showed her.

"I can't believe you've had these this whole time." She looked inside. "Wow, your mom looked just like you."

"You have your mom's hair," I smiled. "But you have your dad's eyes."

"You look nothing like your dad."

"Thank God for that," I shook my head. I had my mom's height, look everything. I would hate to look like my dad.

"This is amazing, Alyssa. Thanks." She wrapped it a few times, and then put it on her wrist and I did the same.

"I still can't believe that little Kaylee Parker is fifteen now."

"Dude, I'm not, nor have I ever been little."

"I think we've established that,"

"I think we should establish the fact that Matt is almost taller than you." Wow. She would go there.

"Fuck you and your height. You are this close to be slapped so damn hard on your birthday," I help me fingers up less than an inch to emphasize my point.

She put her hands up. "I'm done for the day." Oh for the day?

"You suck."

"I know."

As we headed back to camp, Jimmy walked past us. Kaylee noticed something was up so she went over to him. I walked over to the Mason brothers and sat down.

"How did it go?" Hal asked.

"Good."

"Nice to see you're still alive, obviously you didn't piss her off that much," Ben said and they all laughed.

"Shut up," I smiled, knowing it was true.

"So where did she go?"

"She went off to go consol Jimmy." I made a face and they laughed. "He walked past us and looked all pissed off. They went that way." I pointed to where they went.

"Okay cool. I'm gonna go find them. I think we have scouting together."

"Of course you do," Hal said. Ben rolled his eyes and ran off to go find them. Hal noticed the necklace wrapped around my wrist. He grabbed my wrist and looked at it. "What's this?"

"Part of Kaylee birthday present."

"Why is the bottom black and the top blue?"

"It's two different lockets. Kaylee's is black on top and blue on the bottom. They were our mom's. My mom's was blue and her mom's was black."

"That's cool," Matt said. Just then Ben came walking back. He was gonna go straight to their tent but Hal stopped him.

"I thought you had scouting with Jimmy and Kaylee."

"They can do it just them two. They're perfectly fine without me." Oh God, what happened now?

"Kaylee likes Jimmy and Jimmy likes Kaylee and they're just gonna be one big happy fucking family."

"I'll be right back." I ran over to where Kaylee and Jimmy were sitting, talking.

"Hey Alyssa, where's Ben?" Jimmy asked.

"Not here, obviously. Weaver needs you Jimmy. So you should like go find him. I am supposed to take over for you"

"What?" He asked.

"Leave. Now." I glared at him. He stood up and jogged back.

"What do you want Alyssa?" Kaylee asked.

"Are you happy with yourself? Hurting Ben like that?"

"What?"

"Ben just heard your whole little talk with Jimmy and he is pissed. He really likes you."

"Yeah, usually when you're friends with someone you tend to like them a lot." "You honestly don't see it? How can you be so fucking blind?"

"Why the hell does everyone keep saying that?! Its starting to get real damn annoying."

"Maybe because it's true dumb ass. Try and consider how he feels sometimes."

"Hey, Alyssa! Weaver didn't need me." Jimmy came walking up. He didn't look too happy with me.

"I know. I just needed to talk to Kaylee." I looked back at Kaylee. "Just think about what I said." I stood up and walked back to camp. Wow Jimmy just manages to piss me off. I really don't know how. Just like the cheerleaders back in high school. They were so fucking peppy and happy it made me sick. Some of them were okay but most of them I hated. They just annoyed me for no reason. That's kinda how I feel about Jimmy. The only reason I tolerated him is because Kaylee's friends with him. But after learning what I did today, he wants to be more than just friends and that will not be tolerated. I walked over to Ben and Hal and Matt. "Wow. Kaylee is so fucking oblivious. She doesn't get it. Either that or she is in denial."

"Wait, you didn't tell her did you?" Ben asked.

"No I didn't say it, but I tried to hint and she didn't get it. She said you don't like her and you two are just good friends and she just doesn't get it."

"Oh you are forever friend zoned dude," Hal laughed. "But hey don't feel bad. I was in a worse place than friend zone and look at us now." We all started laughing and Ben even smiled.

"See it can still work," I said

"Hal! Carter! Come here!" Weaver yelled. Hal and I jogged over to Weaver's tent. It served as a place to work on battle plans and have meetings.

"What's up, Captain?" Hal asked.

"We're having a meeting and I want you two here. Hal, I'm real impressed how you have stepped up and helped out. Until your dad gets back, you're in a way taking his place. Alyssa, you and Hal will be a team with whatever two Berserkers I find for scouting. It's your team, Hal. Therefore I want you at all meetings from now on. Alyssa, you too."

"Yes sir," Hal said.

"You got it, Captain," I nodded. We followed Captain over to the tent. "So in a way, I'm your second in command?"

"Yeah pretty much," He said as we sat down in the tent.

"Okay. We have a new battle strategy: attack and run. We need to attack them, not let them attack us and fight them. If we don't attack them on our terms, they will run all over us. We can't let that happen so we start tomorrow. We have about an eight minute time period between attacking and retreating. We have no room for mistakes people, know that now. This is just until we receive new orders. Remember the big plan. Make it so it's just too much to live here. That the price of living is too much," Weaver said. "Any questions?" No one said anything. "Okay good. We won't have special groups anymore. It will be whoever I see first. I think we have all gotten to know each other well enough to do that. To not kill each other, we're better friends than that now." He looked at Hal and me.

"Yeah and some of us are more than friends," someone yelled. Now they were all staring at us.

"Don't try and hide it. We all see you two kissing." Someone else said, everyone laughed.

"Okay, okay, calm down," Weaver said, but he was laughing too. "We start this new plan tomorrow. Meeting dismissed."

"Okay, come on let's go!" I grabbed Hal's hand and started pulling him. "Come on, come on, let's go." We ran past their tent "Matt, let's go!" He ran out with his present for Kaylee, next I grabbed my gift from our tent then we walked up to the little grassy place Ben thought of for Kaylee's 'party'. Earlier in the week we had set up a few logs in a circle with a small fire pit inside. Hal started the fire as Matt and I sat down and waited. The plan was for Ben and Jimmy to bring Kaylee up here and surprise her.

Kaylee's POV

"What's up, Boland?"

"Nothing. What's up with you, birthday girl?" Something was off with him. He was mad but he was trying to cover it up.

I gave him a 'don't-say-that-again-or-I'll-hurt-you' look and then proceeded to ask him what his deal was. "Something's up. What's wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it here."

"Then we'll go on a walk and talk about it. Come on," I motioned and started walking back outside of camp. He reluctantly went with me and we walked silently for at least five minutes. Jimmy was a pretty happy-go-lucky guy, so I was kind of concerned as to why he was pissed. While I waited for him to think of what to say, I thought about how complicated our relationship must've looked to others. We weren't _in_ a relationship, we were best friends, but we both knew that we liked each other. Well, Jimmy knew I was figuring it out, but I knew that I actually did like him. If I didn't tell him soon enough, I was going to regret it. But I had no fucking clue how I was supposed to start. Guys generally weren't my area of expertise, unless it involved slugging them because they wouldn't leave you alone or gave you a ton of crap at school.

"I know it's stupid, like really stupid," Jimmy started off, "but I think that Ben likes you."

Was this seriously going to come up again? "Why do you think that?"

"No, I know Ben likes you. He wouldn't let me carry you back to camp last night and by the way he looks at you everyday I can tell he feels more than friendship towards you." So it was Ben who carried me back last night…

"Jimmy, you're being ridiculous. We were five miles away from camp last night and I know you would've gotten tired anyway. If I was in your shoes I would've had Ben carry me. Ben doesn't like me like that; we're just best friends."

"You seriously don't see it." Jimmy shook his head. "I don't like that Ben likes you, and I know that sounds like I'm being a total dramatic bitch but I can't help it. That's my problem."

I shook my head. "It doesn't matter. Even if Ben did like me, it wouldn't change the way I feel. I don't like him like that," I bit my lip trying to hold back the words that I couldn't just spit out. Damn it Kaylee, just fucking say it. I took a deep breath and looked away from Jimmy. "I like _you_, not Ben." Holy shit. I wasn't sure if I really was ready to admit that to him, but I couldn't take it back now.

Jimmy stared back at me, stunned and not sure how to reply to that.

"I've spent a shitload of time thinking about how I should tell you or _if_ I should tell you and I guess it just came out."

What started out as a small smile spread into a huge grin across his face. "You figured it out?"

I nodded. "Took me awhile, but I did."

"And you had me worried that you were falling in love with our best friend."

"Love isn't my thing," I shook my head.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. "I know you don't want to be in a relationship, and honestly I don't either with where the 2nd Mass is at, so…"

"I say that we wait until we're in the clearing. If we make it out alive, we'll reconsider it."

He smiled. "Sounds good."

"Thanks for understanding," I thanked him and gave him a hug. He gave me one of his amazing embraces back, and for the second time today, I was happy on my birthday. I was with someone I loved being around and someone who could make me smile more than I ever have within a few seconds.

"You're so short," Jimmy laughed. Okay, fucking Jimmy and Ben have been growing like crazy the past months and it was pissing me off because they were giving me shit about being 'short' all the damn time.

"Just because you're an inch taller than me doesn't mean you can give me crap about being short."

Jimmy laughed. "Yeah it does."

"It's getting really annoying having you two gang up on me all the time."

"Bro Code."

I rolled my eyes. "You guys are also really stupid sometimes."

He grinned. "But you love us anyways."

"No not really."

Just then Alyssa stormed over to Jimmy and I. She looked really pissed and had that 'I'm-going-to-give-you-a-huge-ass-lecture" face on. What the hell did I do now?

"Hey Alyssa, where's Ben?" Jimmy asked in case she saw him. We were all going to hang out on another scouting together and I hadn't seen Ben around at all.

"Not here, obviously. Weaver needs you, Jimmy. So you should like go find him. I'm supposed to take over for you," Alyssa folded her arms. Yeah, bull shit.

"What?" Weaver knew that we were going to be out, so Jimmy was confused. And he was totally just about to catch Alyssa in her white ass lie.

"Leave. Now." Jimmy put his hands up and then jogged back to camp.

"What's your deal?" I frowned.

"Are you happy with yourself? Hurting Ben like that?" she questioned, pissed as hell.

"What?" What the hell was she fucking talking about?

"Ben just heard your whole little talk with Jimmy and he's pissed. He really likes you."

Why the fuck would he be mad? "Yeah, usually when you're friends with someone you tend to like them a lot."

"You honestly don't see it? How can you be so fucking blind?"

"Why the hell does everyone keep saying that?! It's starting to get real damn annoying," I stared at her with the hardest expression on my face. This was getting fucking old.

"Maybe because it's true, dumbass. Try and consider how he feels sometimes."

"Hey, Alyssa!" Jimmy called to her. "Weaver didn't need me." Jimmy gave her a questioning glance. I was trying to calm myself down before I went crazy thinking about what the hell she meant.

"I know. I just needed to talk to Kaylee," Alyssa said, then turned to me. "Just think about what I said." Believe me, I would. It was irritating the fuck out of me.

She left the two of us standing there and headed the few feet back to camp. I was confused as ever and slightly pissed. Why did people keep shoving that in my face?

"What was that about?" Jimmy raised an eyebrow.

"I have no fucking clue."

What the hell? How was that hurting Ben? Was Alyssa just saying that because she didn't like Jimmy and wanted me to feel bad? I had no idea what the hell I was supposed to believe or what the hell she was trying to imply, but it was annoying me.

"Don't let it ruin your birthday," Jimmy set his hand on my shoulder. "Just let it go for now."

I smiled gratefully at him and we walked back into camp to get Ben. Matt and Ben were standing there talking alone. Alyssa and Hal must've gone off somewhere. Even though I still felt pissed about what Alyssa said, I stayed smiling for Ben's sake.

"Ready?" I asked.

He nodded and smiled back. "Let's go."

My two best guy friends and I set out to our favorite patrol spot to hang out until the sky went dark. We sat right by a small creek and under the winter changed trees, quiet for a few minutes. My life a year ago was no where near as fantastic as it is now. I was going to keep moving on with whatever came at me, no matter how hard it was. That was a promise I was making today, even if it was the hardest thing I would have to do. I think that everything happens for a reason and that tough situations in life make you grow as a person and make you stronger. As hard as it is to admit, my parents' death made me a stronger person and helped me grow into who I am today.

But I still hadn't thought of a reason why they died. And I wonder about that everyday but have yet to discover a factor that benefited me in any way from losing two of the people I cared about the most in my life.

"You've got the weight of the world in your eyes," Jimmy stated looking at my eyes.

"What's on your mind, Parker?" Ben wondered.

I shook my head slightly. "Just thinking about how different my life is now."

"Better or worse?"

"Better," I nodded. "I mean, I have you guys now. I've never had any friends apart from Alyssa, and you two mean the world to me."

"Really?" Jimmy smiled. Ben's eyes lit up.

"Absolutely. You guys are the best friends I could ever have." I was speaking from the bottom of my heart and I don't think I loved anyone else more than I loved them. Alyssa, Hal, and Matt included in that.

"I can't believe Kaylee Parker is getting all soft on us," Ben said to Jimmy.

"You're one to talk," I smirked at Ben. He rolled his eyes but smiled.

"Before I forget, I want to give you your present," Jimmy said and stuck his hand in his pocket.

"I thought I told you guys I didn't want any presents."

"We didn't listen," Ben smirked. Asshole was stealing my move. "I'm giving you mine later."

"I take back what I said. I hate you both."

"You're going to like your presents though," Jimmy grinned and pulled whatever he had out of his pocket. He gave me what appeared to be a cardstock type square. I took the square and realized it was a card Jimmy made. I smiled up at him and then I looked back at the card.

"You can read it later, but there's something inside."

When I opened the card, a picture fell to the floor. "A picture?" I picked it up and my eyes went wide. How the hell did he get this?

About a week ago, the three of us were patrolling outside and had taken some cameras along. We did actually work hard and got some good pictures for Weaver, but when we took a break, we sat down and took at least ten pictures of us sitting down. We had a picture taking war and whoever got the best picture of someone else without the person noticing would get that person's dinner. The boys decided to gang up on me (of course) so they had gotten seventeen of me just sitting looking out at the scenery. They said they were taking pictures of the aircrafts and I knew that they weren't, but I was really tired and didn't feel like hurting them so I just let them do it. We deleted them afterword, but then we started taking pictures of all three of us in the same shot. We pulled stupid faces, serious faces, and Jimmy insisted we took dramatic shots. Ben and Jimmy were going to delete them all and go back to camp, but I told them that we should take an actual photo of us smiling. We took a few, until Ben made some stupid remark and we all started laughing really hard. Jimmy's finger accidentally took the picture and it was by far the best one we took. I said we shouldn't delete that and ask Weaver to print it for us, but we forgot on our way back to camp and I just remembered now as I look at the picture in front of me.

"How did you print this?"

"I snuck into Weaver's tent when he wasn't there and printed it," Jimmy grinned. "Ben and I have one too." Both of them held their pictures up and I smiled even wider.

"I love this photo," I said and looked at how happy all three of us were. This photo was something I appreciated a shitload because I wanted a picture of all us for the longest time so I would have a memory that I couldn't ever forget. More importantly, I would have a piece of Ben and Jimmy with me always.

I tucked the picture in the inside pocket in my hoodie along with Jimmy's card which I would read later. It took me forever to get my mind to wrap grasp the fact that I had a picture of them now. A picture for me, a picture for my memory, and a picture for the history book that we would be written in when we all survived the war.

"I think it's amazing that we caught you genuinely smiling on camera," Ben laughed and continued looking at the picture.

"Agreed," Jimmy nodded staring at his too.

"You guys live to annoy me, don't you?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"You know you love us," Jimmy looked over at me. "We're the best friends you can't live without."

Damn straight I couldn't. They were giving me motivation to fight; they were giving me hope. I needed that more than I needed the anger and hate to push me on. Their friendship was one of my greatest possessions, my mom's necklace that was around my neck being the other. I must've been fingering it again, because Jimmy called me out on it.

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?" I asked.

"Play with your necklace," he pointed at my fingers.

"I guess I do that when I'm thinking about something important," I shrugged.

"Why?" Ben questioned. Why do they ask me so many questions?

"This necklace is important to me, so I guess I play with it when I'm thinking about something important."

"Why is it important to you?" Jimmy asked.

"Why are you guys asking me so many questions?"

"Because you never answer them," Ben pointed out.

"Then what's the point in asking?"

"The small possibility you actually will answer."

I shook my head. "It sounds like you two have me down to science."

"We're trying," Jimmy laughed. Again, they are so stupid sometimes. But they were my best guy friends so I guess I'd just have to deal with it.

"It's getting dark. We should head back to camp," Ben said out of no where.

"Yeah, let's go!" Jimmy pulled me up really quickly and Ben pushed me forward.

What the hell? "Something you guys want to tell me?"

"No." The two of them just kept pushing me faster as the sky got darker. Once I was forced into camp, I turned to go to my tent. But they had a different idea.

"Where are you going?" Ben asked grabbing my arm so I wouldn't leave.

"To my tent…" I looked back and forth between the two boys. Both of them had questionable faces.

"Take a walk with us," Jimmy said as he motioned away from the tent.

"If I don't come with you guys, how badly will Alyssa hurt you two?"

"A hell of a lot worse than that guy she killed, so come on," Ben pushed me again and I continued walking with them. Oh God, what did Alyssa have planned now?

Jimmy and Ben brought me to the little field Ben took me to a month ago. Except now, there was a fire pit going a few feet from the tree and Hal, Alyssa, and Matt were sitting around it waiting for me to get there. Alyssa would.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked as I walked up the small hill to where they were all sitting.

"We're just going to hang out and then give you some presents," Hal smiled.

I groaned. "I really don't want presents, guys."

"Suck it up, bitch," Alyssa said, grinning.

I rolled my eyes and sat down next to Alyssa with Matt on my other side. Hal was next to Alyssa, Ben was across the fire from me, and Jimmy was next to Matt.

"I'm going first!" Matt exclaimed and handed me a small box with a bow made of shoe laces. Where does he come up with this stuff?

_I hate this so much_, I thought as I smiled and took his present. I pulled the bow and opened the box. Inside were two earrings for the piercing I had on the helix of my ear. One was a small black hoop and the other was a silver hoop to replace the one I had in now. "Thanks, Matt! I needed some new ones," I gave him a one armed hug and put the box in my pocket. I wonder where he found these since I don't recall passing any kind of store that would sell these. I was grateful I had more now since I lost my other earring I had bought at the place I got it pierced.

"Here's the rest of mine," Alyssa smiled and handed me two more things covered in black paper. She knew me so well.

Alyssa set them in my hand and I unwrapped the first one. It was a picture frame with a very, very old photo inside. My eyes were glued to the shot.

It was one with my mom in it.

I had forgotten what she looked like, what she sounded like, and what she _was_ like, and that picture made me remember again. Alyssa and I were in front of our moms while they were standing behind us smiling. That was the day Alyssa's mom was killed because I remember her calling me on the phone in tears asking to spend the night at my house because she didn't want to be home. I also remember that was the day when were both smiling kids with no problems in the world. I thought this photo was…gone.

"Oh my God," I breathed, still staring at the photo. I felt like if I looked away for a millisecond, it would disappear as a figment of my imagination. "How do you have this?"

"I found it when we were packing up to go to the 2nd Mass. I didn't even know I had it."

"Can we see it?" Hal asked.

Alyssa and I looked at each other. Neither of us wanted them to see it since we looked so much different than we did back then, but I didn't want to risk an outburst of tug of war and have the picture damaged so I passed it over to Hal.

"Is this you guys?" Hal questioned, clearly surprised.

"Five years ago," I answered.

"So _that's_ what you look like without black on," Ben said thoughtfully as he stared at the photo.

"What?!" Jimmy and Matt exclaimed at the same time. They ran over to Hal and Ben and looked down at the photo.

Hal started laughing. "I didn't think you would be much of a pink person," he looked at his girlfriend.

Alyssa raised her eyebrows. "You want to try that again?"

He raised his hands up and kept looking at the picture. "So Kaylee was taller than you back then, too?"

"Yeah," I laughed. Alyssa socked Hal in the arm.

"Damn," he cursed and rubbed his arm.

"Your hair was so short," Jimmy pointed out. When I was ten, my hair barely passed my shoulders and I had bangs that went across my forehead. Now, my hair was a little bit past where a shirt sleeve ends. And my bangs were now to the left side of my face.

"My mom forced me to get my hair cut to here," I motioned to below my chin, "in kindergarten and I've been growing it out since."

"Are they your moms?" Matt asked us.

I smiled and nodded. "Renee Parker and Karen Carter."

Alyssa motioned for me to open the next one while the guys were distracted, so I tore off the tissue paper and was shocked all over again. It was a picture from the same day and had dragged our moms into a photo booth to take pictures. There was a picture of my mom and me, Alyssa's mom and her, one of all of us, and then one of just Alyssa and me. And we were wearing those stupid flower headbands that Karen begged us to get so we wore them in the picture. Oh my God I looked so stupid.

"Those headbands," I put my hand in my face.

Alyssa laughed. "I think I still have mine."

I shook my head. "That's one thing I'm glad I don't have. I can't believe you've had these pictures this whole time."

"I didn't even know until we were packing up to leave. That's when I found them on my dresser."

I stared down at Alyssa and I's grinning faces. That was our last day of being happy together. Even when Karen was killed, I wasn't ever happy because my best friend wasn't and my second mom wasn't around anymore. And things basically went downhill from there.

Hal took the picture from my lap and passed it to everyone to look at. "Flower head bands? On the two baddest ass people of the 2nd Mass?"

"My mom made us wear them," Alyssa stated.

"I never wore mine again," I shook my head.

"Bull shit," Ben coughed ever so subtly.

"True shit," I coughed ever so subtly back. Everybody laughed and soon enough the guys were done making fun of us for what we looked like in the past.

Hal looked around randomly and then looked at me. "I _had_ a gift for you, but I have no idea where it went."

"Good, I didn't want one anyway," I smiled at him.

"I wasn't done," Alyssa said, "Kaylee you gave me a song on my birthday and as your best friend it is my job to one up you so here.

Look at this photograph

Every time I do it makes me laugh

How did are faces get so red

What the hell is on Kaylee's head?

And this is where I grew up

I think the present owner fixed it up

I never knew we'd ever went without

The second floor is hard for sneaking out

And this is where I went to school

Most of the time I had better things to do

Criminal record says I broke in twice

Must have done it half a dozen times

Every memory of lookin' out the back door

I have my photo album spread out on my bedroom floor

It's hard to say it

Time to say it

Good bye, good bye

Every memory of walkin out that front door

I found the photo of the friend I was lookin for

It's hard to say it

Time to say it

Good bye good bye good bye

Remember the old arcade?

Blew every dollar we ever made

Cops hated us hangin around

They said someone went and burnt it down

We use to listen to the radio

And sing along with every song we know

We said someday we'd find out how it feels  
To sing to more than just the steering wheel

Oh, oh, oh  
Oh, God, I  
Every memory of looking out the back door  
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor  
It's hard to say it, time to say it  
Goodbye, goodbye.  
Every memory of walking out the front door  
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for  
It's hard to say it, time to say it  
Goodbye, goodbye.  
I miss that town  
I miss the faces  
You can't erase  
You can't replace it  
I miss it now  
I can't believe it  
So hard to stay  
Too hard to leave it  
If I could I relive those days  
I know the one thing that would never change  
Every memory of looking out the back door  
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor  
It's hard to say it, time to say it  
Goodbye, goodbye.  
Every memory of walking out the front door  
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for  
It's hard to say it, time to say it  
Goodbye, goodbye.  
Look at this photograph  
Every time I do it makes me laugh  
Every time I do it makes me..."

"That was amazing. I love it." I grinned at Alyssa and she gave me a big hug.

Ben stood up with something behind his back. "I couldn't really wrap this, so I kind of just have to give it to you like this."

And then Ben Mason handed me a classical steel string acoustic guitar.

I was absolutely, completely, and totally stunned. I haven't seen a guitar in eight months. I haven't played one in an even longer time. "Where the hell did you find one?"

"You took the guitar?!" Hal looked at his brother.

"I saw it in a shop and I took it," he shrugged.

"That's where I hid it, dumbass!"

They started arguing but I didn't care. I had a _guitar_ in my hands. Something that made music. I missed playing instruments more than I missed anything in the universe. Music was my only ally in my battle with the anger and the hatred, and I tried to grasp anything I had left of it.

I began to strum a little to tune it since it sounded like hell at the moment. I didn't hear anyone's voice or the leaves rustling; all I heard was the guitar and its sound. _I have a guitar again. I actually have something to play music on._

"Do you like it?" Ben asked.

"It's actually perfect since I just finished writing a song yesterday that I really wanted to play guitar with," I beamed at him.

"Sing it for us," Matt said excitedly.

"You guys gotta sing it with me though," I said. They nodded and I began strumming the song that was my favorite I've ever written.

"If today's the day I die  
Lay me down under the lights  
Let me fall in love  
Let me save a life

And let me lose my voice  
Singing all my favorite songs  
Let me stare up at the stars  
'Cause it's where we all belong

My heart like a firework in my chest  
My only regret is having regrets  
Travelled the world  
I loved every step

And all I know is:  
No one, no one lives forever  
We will be remembered  
For what we do right now

And baby I'm living louder  
And dreaming longer, tonight  
(We're living louder, we're living louder)  
And baby I'm fighting harder  
And loving stronger tonight  
(We're loving stronger, we're loving stronger)

'Cause we're all just kids  
Who grew up way too fast  
Yeah the good die young  
But the great will always last  
We're growing older  
But we're all soldiers tonight

If today's the day I go  
Gonna drink with all my friends  
Gonna laugh until we cry  
As we talk and reminisce

And let me kiss a stranger  
And rob the local bank  
Let me become real rich  
So I can give it all away

'Cause no one, no one lives forever  
But we will be remembered  
For what we do right now

And baby I'm living louder  
And dreaming longer, tonight  
(We're living louder, we're living louder)," Alyssa sang with me on that part, and then the guys joined in as well.  
"And baby I'm fighting harder  
And loving stronger tonight  
(We're loving stronger, we're loving stronger)

'Cause we're all just kids  
Who grew up way too fast  
Yeah the good die young  
But the great will always last

We're growing older  
But we're all soldiers tonight

When you've got your breath inside your head  
Every day's a second chance  
If I wake up with a beating heart  
Will I stand or will I fall?

I'm living louder  
Dreaming longer tonight  
Baby I'm fighting harder  
And loving stronger tonight

And baby I'm living louder  
And dreaming longer tonight  
(We're living louder, we're living louder)  
And baby I'm fighting harder  
And loving stronger tonight  
(We're loving stronger, we're loving stronger)

'Cause we're all just kids  
Who grew up way too fast  
Yeah the good die young  
But the great will always last  
We're growing older  
But we're all soldiers tonight."

We were all kids that grew up way too fast, and from this day on, I was going to live louder, dream longer, love stronger, and fight harder until I died.

Alyssa's POV

"Hey guys do you want to here Kaylee's gift?" They stared at me. "It's a song I wrote her. I want to know if it's good."

"I wanna hear!" Matt said.

"Okay here goes

Look at this photograph

Every time I do it makes me laugh

How did are faces get so red

What the hell is on Kaylee's head?

And this is where I grew up

I think the present owner fixed it up

I never knew we'd ever went without," I was going to keep going, but we heard the footsteps of Ben Kaylee and Jimmy approaching.

"What are you guys doing?" Kaylee asked us, suspiciously

"We're just going to hang out and then give you some presents," Hal smiled.

"I really don't want presents, guys."

"Suck it up, bitch," I smiled.

They all sat down. I was next to Kaylee and Matt was next to her Jimmy was next to him. Ben sat across from Kaylee and Hal was next to me. "I'm going first!" Matt yelled as he pulled out Kaylee's gift.

Kaylee looked like she might be actually enjoying herself. Matt had given her two earrings. "Thanks, Matt! I needed some new ones."

"Here's the rest of mine," I handed her the pictures.

Kaylee just stared at them, unable to look up. She was utterly shocked and completely caught off guard. Not something that happens much. I was kinda proud of myself for that.

"Oh my God," she said, still never looking up. "How do you have this?"

"I found it when we were packing up to go to the 2nd Mass. I didn't even know I had it."

"Can we see it?" Hal asked.

I looked at her. I really didn't want her to let him see, and I could tell she didn't either. She handed it to him anyway.

"Is this you guys?" Hal questioned, clearly surprised.

"Five years ago," Kaylee said.

"So _that's_ what you look like without black on," Ben said. That got their attention.

"What?!" Jimmy and Matt exclaimed at the same time. They ran over to Hal and Ben and looked down at the photo.

Hal started laughing. "I didn't think you would be much of a pink person," he looked at me.

I just looked back at him. "You want to try that again?"

He raised his hands in defeat. "So Kaylee was taller than you back then, too?"

"Yeah," she said smiling. That's it. He was asking for it. I punched him in the arm.

"Damn." I smirked at his pain.

"Your hair was so short."

"My mom forced me to get my hair cut to here, in kindergarten and I've been growing it out since."

"Are they your moms?" Matt asked us.

"Renee Parker and Karen Carter." Kaylee answered.

I motioned for her to open the next gift. She laughed a little when she saw it "Those headbands."

"I think I still have mine."

"That's one thing I'm glad I don't have. I can't believe you've had these pictures this whole time."

"I didn't even know until we were packing up to leave. That's when I found them on my dresser."

"Flower head bands? On the two baddest ass people of the 2ndMass?" Hal looked at us.

"My mom made us wear them," I said.

"I never wore mine again," Kaylee shook her head.

"Bull shit," Ben coughed.

"True shit," Kaylee replied.

"I _had_ a gift for you, but I have no idea where it went."

"Good, I didn't want one anyway,"

"I wasn't done. Kaylee you gave me a song on my birthday and as your best friend it is my job to one up you so here.

Look at this photograph

Every time I do it makes me laugh

How did are faces get so red

What the hell is on Kaylee's head?

And this is where I grew up

I think the present owner fixed it up

I never knew we'd ever went without

The second floor is hard for sneaking out

And this is where I went to school

Most of the time I had better things to do

Criminal record says I broke in twice

Must have done it half a dozen times

Every memory of lookin' out the back door

I have my photo album spread out on my bedroom floor

It's hard to say it

Time to say it

Good bye, good bye

Every memory of walkin out that front door

I found the photo of the friend I was lookin for

It's hard to say it

Time to say it

Good bye good bye good bye

Remember the old arcade?

Blew every dollar we ever made

Cops hated us hangin around

They said someone went and burnt it down

We use to listen to the radio

And sing along with every song we know

We said someday we'd find out how it feels  
To sing to more than just the steering wheel

Oh, oh, oh  
Oh, God, I  
Every memory of looking out the back door  
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor  
It's hard to say it, time to say it  
Goodbye, goodbye.  
Every memory of walking out the front door  
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for  
It's hard to say it, time to say it  
Goodbye, goodbye.  
I miss that town  
I miss the faces  
You can't erase  
You can't replace it  
I miss it now  
I can't believe it  
So hard to stay  
Too hard to leave it  
If I could I relive those days  
I know the one thing that would never change  
Every memory of looking out the back door  
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor  
It's hard to say it, time to say it  
Goodbye, goodbye.  
Every memory of walking out the front door  
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for  
It's hard to say it, time to say it  
Goodbye, goodbye.  
Look at this photograph  
Every time I do it makes me laugh  
Every time I do it makes me..."

"That was amazing. I love it." I smiled and gave Kaylee a big hug.

Ben stood up and walked to the birthday girl. "I couldn't really wrap this, so I kind of just have to give it to you like this."

Kaylee's eyes lit up when she saw it. "Where the hell did you find one?"

"You took the guitar?!" I looked at Hal. I knew he was planning on getting Kaylee a guitar but he lost it.

"I saw it in a shop and I took it," Ben shrugged.

"That's where I hid it, dumbass!" Hal was shooting daggers at his brother. I just smiled and grabbed his hand.

"Calm down. Kaylee's happy and you're now her favorite because you don't have a gift," I said.

"Do you like it?" Ben asked.

"It's actually perfect since I just finished writing a song yesterday that I really wanted to play guitar with," Kaylee grinned at him.

"Sing it for us," Matt said all excited.

"You guys gotta sing it with me though," Kaylee said and she started to sing.

"If today's the day I die  
Lay me down under the lights  
Let me fall in love  
Let me save a life

And let me lose my voice  
Singing all my favorite songs  
Let me stare up at the stars  
'Cause it's where we all belong

My heart like a firework in my chest  
My only regret is having regrets  
Travelled the world  
I loved every step

And all I know is:  
No one, no one lives forever  
We will be remembered  
For what we do right now

And baby I'm living louder  
And dreaming longer, tonight  
(We're living louder, we're living louder)  
And baby I'm fighting harder  
And loving stronger tonight  
(We're loving stronger, we're loving stronger)

'Cause we're all just kids  
Who grew up way too fast  
Yeah the good die young  
But the great will always last  
We're growing older  
But we're all soldiers tonight

If today's the day I go  
Gonna drink with all my friends  
Gonna laugh until we cry  
As we talk and reminisce

And let me kiss a stranger  
And rob the local bank  
Let me become real rich  
So I can give it all away

'Cause no one, no one lives forever  
But we will be remembered  
For what we do right now

And baby I'm living louder  
And dreaming longer, tonight  
(We're living louder, we're living louder)," I joined in and the boys followed my lead.  
"And baby I'm fighting harder  
And loving stronger tonight  
(We're loving stronger, we're loving stronger)

'Cause we're all just kids  
Who grew up way too fast  
Yeah the good die young  
But the great will always last

We're growing older  
But we're all soldiers tonight

When you've got your breath inside your head  
Every day's a second chance  
If I wake up with a beating heart  
Will I stand or will I fall?

I'm living louder  
Dreaming longer tonight  
Baby I'm fighting harder  
And loving stronger tonight

And baby I'm living louder  
And dreaming longer tonight  
(We're living louder, we're living louder)  
And baby I'm fighting harder  
And loving stronger tonight  
(We're loving stronger, we're loving stronger)

'Cause we're all just kids  
Who grew up way too fast  
Yeah the good die young  
But the great will always last  
We're growing older  
But we're all soldiers tonight." I smiled. The six of us sat there talking and laughing for the rest of the night.

* * *

_I'm crying like an idiot now-_- Ughhhhh. Anyways, we will work on the next chapter soon!:D PS The song Kaylee sings is Living Louder by The Cab:) I also want to give a huge shoutout to finnicksgirl72 and say that we totally LOVE hearing from you and we love you too!:D You're one of our favorite fans;D3 Stay classy Shan._

_Keep The Resistance Strong And Falling Skies On. -Parker_


	14. Reunited

_OMG WE'VE ONLY UPDATED ONCE THIS YEAR! Sorry that was bad. Anyways, Oh my gosh guys we are SO SO SO SO sorry for such the long wait! Alyssa and I's projects for school have been crazy! We were at our City Hall doing a presentation for Universal Studios (not lying, we really did) back in January and I was literally sitting underneath a chalkboard in my fancy pencil skirt and blouse with my notebook in my hand writing! And it honestly did take us the whole month to make this chapter perfect since it starts off Season Two of H.E.L.L.! Plus Alyssa had her soccer season so she never had time to write but she did in our school's computer lab when we were supposed to be working;DD On the bright side, we both have a lot more time on our hands now and I'm half way done with Chapter 15!:D You guys are going to flip when you read that O.O Anyways, I've kept you long enough. Enjoy! -Parker_

Hi guys! So so so so so sorry it took so long! But now it's here! Ahhh I can't wait for you guys to read it! As always, don't forget to review to tell us what you thought! Also I just want to point our something for those of you who have seen Warm Bodies. Did you notice that it was like Falling Skies?! Like there was Ben (Jewl), and Red Eye (R), and the skitter rebellion (zombies) Overloards/bad skitters/mechs (bonies), Weaver/Tom/Manchester (Jewl's dad) fighters (army), Charleston (city inside big wall) and Hal/Matt (Jewl's friend)! I was like INCEPTION! Ahhh! Also Kaylee's phone is harnessed because she has the Falling Skies harness case and the aliens are about to come and her phone is helping them! And finally at our school we found a living Kaylee Parker! She dresses just like KP and even wears Supras like her! (Except we don't know if her parents are alive or not) Ahhhh! We have yet to find a living Carter because...wellll...see...eeerrrrrr...Carter is an interesting person. Yeah. NOW GO READ AND REVIEW! Enjoy!:D -Carter

Chapter 14-Reunited

Kaylee's POV

It's sometime in January. Anne was keeping track of the days for us, but I was never around to here what day it was. Honestly I didn't want to know either. Time was slipping out of my grasp more quickly than it used to, and I didn't want to think about that.

We all looked a little different now. Ben and Jimmy were taller (of course), more in shape from all the training we've been doing, and both of them had cut their hair. Jimmy's was slightly shorter but also a little longer around his eyes. Ben had totally cut off his long-wavy hair into a short style that a lot of guys had before the attack. He had slight bangs unless he used the hair gel Anne gave him after she cut his hair.

Anne cut my hair, too. Instead of my long bangs that mixed with my actual hair, they were cut to the point where they rested on my left eyebrow and stopped an inch below. It was way easier aiming and not needing to use my hand to brush my bangs out of my eyes every five seconds. My hair length was still the same, just a little longer.

Alyssa's hair was a tad longer and she looked a little more mature to me. I had no idea why, since she was still a midget of a sixteen-year-old, but she seemed calmer than she did before. Just a little.

Weaver was on edge lately. He kept constantly questioning if he was doing the right thing for the 2nd Mass or doing what he wanted for the planet. Recently he's been taking Alyssa, Hal, Jimmy, Ben, Pope and his new recruits (they called themselves 'The Berserkers'), Anthony, Dai, and me on missions to go out to kill skitters and mechs. Our captain said that it was the fighters' job to make sure all of these damn things left our planet because it was too difficult to live somewhere with humans murdering their kind. But after Fitchburg, Weaver was always wondering if he was doing the right thing. The military man inside him said yes, however the leader in him disagreed. That's why all of us had become Captain Weaver's 'advisors.' It was mandatory for us to be at meetings so Weaver had a group of people to speak the things others were afraid to or forgot to.

That also meant that we were consistently sent out. And being the youngest fighters of the 2nd Mass, Weaver put us in "training" with one of Pope's Berserkers, Tector. Ben, Jimmy, and I really liked him since he wasn't one of those stuck up asses that all of us hated. Tector was a funny twenty-sixish country man who was skilled with a sniper rifle and always had something witty to say. He didn't treat us like we were little kids as many fighters and civilians did, but treated us like soldiers. That meant a lot to me because I hated it when adults treated me differently because I'm young. I may be a kid, but that doesn't define my maturity.

But when I wasn't out on the battlefield, I was around camp playing the guitar Ben and Hal got me for my birthday. As a matter of fact, you could hardly catch me without it. Hell, I practically _slept_ with it. That's how important this guitar was to me. Music was my life and soul before the aliens invaded and it still was at heart. To be able to have something as incredible as a guitar made me happy, which was an emotion I was not familiar with. Ben was pretty proud of "his" gift and how much I loved it. When I was playing around camp, I would catch him looking over at me and smiling. I guess seeing me happy was uplifting for him too. And that almost made me believe that he was alright, like he desperately wished everyone else would believe.

In reality, Ben Mason was a total disaster. He was a killing machine, full of wrath and hatred. His heart was no longer glowing with his cheerful spirit the way it was before his dad left. Now, Ben's heart was black and full of the darkness I was ever so hoping he wouldn't let in. He stopped wearing his regular light jeans and a college tee and replaced it with plain dark shirts and darker jeans. Personally I thought what I went through was my own way of handling it, but Ben proved me wrong. Either it's like this for most people or Ben and I are more alike than I thought.

Nevertheless, the process was at the point where it was unchangeable. Even if Tom came back, it was too late. Ben was broken beyond repair. He shut out Hal ever since Hal stepped up to Tom's position, he spent less time with Matt, he was nearly as quiet as I was, and he always go off on his own without telling anyone where he was heading. What was worse to me was that no one seemed to notice how much he changed, not even Jimmy. Hal only noticed that his little brother wouldn't talk to him or even be near him, Alyssa said she thought he was going to be fine, and Matt was still too naïve to completely understand what was going on with Ben. As someone who walked the same road Ben was walking on now, I suppose I would be the only one to notice. I was still and forever would be walking down this path, but I was far enough along that I had managed to learn a few things. For one, Ben had two siblings that were here and _willing_ to talk. He had them two people that were going through the exact same thing he was, and he wouldn't even acknowledge them about it. Loss was easier to deal with if you had someone who understood to talk with about it. It was more painful than hell to deal with it alone, so I didn't understand why he was choosing to ignore the opportunity. I had no choice. He has two brothers in the same tent he can talk to and he's won't. That was something I didn't get.

He was covering it up damn well though. Ben kept pretending that he was fine and nothing was bothering him, but I knew it was just a mask he wore. But he was aware that I knew he was trying to cover up the pain and the change that was going on in his heart.

On the other hand, my sleeping situation had gone somewhat back to normal. Well, as normal as it was gonna get for me. I still had nightmares every night, but they were the bearable kind. Also, I didn't stay asleep for more than four hours, so naturally I was walking around after I woke up. Ben would find me and scold me about waking up so early and not getting proper rest, but eventually he just gave up and we walked around together. That's when I realized how badly Tom's disappearance had affected Ben. Despite what he thought, Ben's secrets were on display in his eyes. I knew this because there were many similarities in our eyes when we were both going through something tough. The major difference was that I was able to conceal it in my eyes, but Ben couldn't. It was something he couldn't hide from me and he finally accepted that.

So we both agreed to be as open as possible with each other. Now I looked forward to our late night walks on the moonlit streets of Connecticut. He was among the four people I could tell anything to and talk about everything with. And we never ran out of things to talk about either.

Weaver had Ben, Jimmy, and I working on moving the civilians along at the moment. The 2nd Mass was moving farter south of the aliens that have been tailing us lately. So as of right now, the 2nd Mass was on the move down. We were getting fairly close to Richmond, our next stop, from what Weaver showed us at meetings. Except moving the civilians is not as great or easy as one might think. You had to have a lot of patience (something I've never had in my fifteen years), good people skills (never had that either), and excellent speaking abilities (something I wasn't even remotely close to at all). So you could imagine how incredibly frustrating it was for me to be assigned to work with them. The adults were disrespectful asses almost all the time and some of the kids needed a simple sentence repeated three times before they understood me.

The captain had put me on civilian duty do I could gain the skills I lacked with these people and make them learn to trust me as one of their fighters, that much I knew. But I didn't understand why he's been waiting so long to take us off. We had successfully moved the entire 2nd Mass to a remote location in another deserted city in Connecticut, so why did we have to stay watching the civilians?

That's what Ben and Jimmy are doing at the present moment. The two of them were in Weaver's tent trying to convince him to let us go out on the mission tonight. They wanted me to come with them, but I was waiting outside because I was not getting my ass whipped by our captain. I told them it was a stupid idea, but like always, they didn't listen.

"We did it!" Ben exclaimed as Jimmy and he stumbled out of Weaver's tent.

"Are you serious?" I asked the two idiotic best friends of mine.

"Yeah!" Jimmy said. "Weaver told us that we are back to our original posts of regular fighters."

"Yes," I said relieved to not be on civilian duty any longer.

"Told you that you should've come with us," Ben smirked.

"Excuse me for not wanting to get put on the sanitation crew," I rolled my eyes. "When are we leaving for the mission?"

"In like five minutes."

"See you in five," I saluted them cheesily and headed over to Alyssa and I's tent to get geared up. Weaver said it probably wasn't the best idea to have a ton of visible weapons around the people of the 2nd Mass, whether I was a fighter or not. I kinda understood why; a fifteen-year-old with three guns and a ton of C4 _visible_ was a little freaky. So I had to make more trips to the Carter-Parker tent before I could go out on missions.

I entered the tent and pulled out my hidden guns as well as C4. The explosives went into my side belt and pocket, and my guns went into my side holsters and onto my back. I slipped a bullet belt on and an extra one in my jacket pocket to be safe. You really can't ever have too much ammunition.

"Nothing like a late night Cootie killing spree, eh?" Pope smirked at me as I headed over to the vehicles. Pope and I hadn't talked a great deal since we were at the school, but he was always there when I needed someone to listen or had a problem. He actually offered that to me, believe it or not. John Pope was occasionally a cool guy, at least when he wanted to be.

"Got that right," I smiled.

Pope assembled his Berserkers on to their bikes while I hopped onto a truck with a waiting Ben and Jimmy.

"What took you so long?" Jimmy teased.

"She was putting on makeup before we head out," Ben joined in on the hazing.

"I take three minutes to get my guns and I'm harassed to death by you two. Damn, I can never please you guys can I?" I sat down at the only available spot, which was between Ben and Jimmy. Faaantastic.

And because they live to irritate me, both of them poked me throughout the entire ride to the location where we were going to blast some aliens. After the 23rd poke (yeah, I counted), I looked at both of them. "I swear to God, Alyssa's eleven-year-old sister is more mature than both of you combined." Jimmy and Ben only laughed and high-fived each other. Dipshits.

Alyssa, who was riding in the truck with Hal and Weaver, turned around in her seat to slide open the window separating the front from the back. She must've heard our conversation because she began poking my back multiple times.

"Kaaaaaaaaayyyyyyylllllleeee," she said in the voice she used to talk to little kids.

Does the whole fucking world want me to be annoyed today? "Alyssa, stop," I said calmly. She ignored me and continued on with her poking spree.

And since I am a completely calm and rational person with a controlled temper and high patience level, I decided to deal with the annoyance in the most tranquil way possible. So I pulled out my black handgun, cocked it, and whirled around to aim it at Alyssa.

"Holy fucking shit! Calm down!"

"Stop fucking poking me and I'll calm down."

"Geez. Someone's on her period," Alyssa mumbled and slid the window closed again. Thanks God a beamer dropped a bomb at that exact moment and Ben and Jimmy didn't hear what she said. If they see an opportunity to give me shit, they'll do it without a blink of an eye. One can only take so much of their crap without retaliating negatively.

Weaver slammed on the breaks and flung open the truck door. The captain whipped around and began shouting out orders to all of us. He was interrupted by Pope, of course. "It feels different," he said, "not having the whole team." Was Pope talking about Tom? I never thought I'd live to see the day that John Pope would actually care about someone other than himself. "I kinda like it." Guess that day wouldn't be today.

"I feel like Tom should be here to give us another U.S. History speech. Something about Paul Revere or George Washington or some other person no one but Tom and Spikey here," he glanced at Ben, "care about." Pope continued. Pope was of course being a dick by mentioning Tom in front of the Masons. All of us had subconsciously agreed not to bring him up unless the brothers did because they all looked really upset at the mention of Tom's name.

"Don't worry guys. We'll get your dad back," Alyssa put her hand on Hal's shoulder. "And don't listen to Pope."

"Your dad would walk to the ends of the Earth just to be with you guys again," I added. "He's coming back."

"Alright soldiers, remember the plan," Weaver cut in. "One blink if they're coming from the west and two if they're sending in air assaults. It's just like the Revolutionary War. The Americans were the weaker side, and they still won the war." Weaver handed some stuff out to all of us.

"Geez, Captain you're starting to sound like Tom, with all your 'stick to the plan' and 'remember the codes' stuff. What's next, an actual quote from the history books? One if by land. Two if by sea," Pope joked. He needs to be punched in the face sometime soon.

Alyssa glanced at all of us. "One if by land, two if by sea, three if by sky. To Tom!"

"To Tom!" We echoed and raised our 'glasses.' I just hope we find Tom soon enough to tell him about this day.

Alyssa's POV

Time went on and we did exactly what Weaver said. We tracked the aliens and attacked them. Attack and run. That was the plan and it was working well. Usually large groups would go out and a few people waited on the ground and some up in buildings. I was usually up in the buildings. The 2nd Mass moved often. Every time we moved, the citizens became panicked and every time we left places I was glad I wasn't Kaylee. She was stuck on citizen duty with Ben and Jimmy.

Ben and Jimmy were changing' Ben a lot. He cut his hair and became very strong and muscular. He started dressing like Kaylee and acting like her too. He developed an interest in guns; basically he was Kaylee Parker 2.0 except a guy version. Jimmy didn't change too drastically. He just grew up a little, hit puberty. Matt was getting older as well. He was going out on scouts as a runner. It made me sad to think he had to grow up in a world like this with no dad. He was acting too old for his age. Ben too, and even Jimmy. None of them deserved it. Kaylee didn't either but I have long since accepted that Kaylee was going to act mature for her age, even before the attack. Ben and Jimmy and Matt all had nice happy lives before and the stupid aliens had to come a take it away from them and fuck up their childhood. That pissed me off. Hal as well, he was a sixteen-year-old kid in high school with a family and a future and now he was fighting in a war.

Today we had another attack. Weaver, Dai, Hal, Anthony, Pope, the Berserkers, Kaylee, and I were heading out. As soon as we got back, we were going to look for a new camp. We only had one problem: we had to cross a river and we had no bridge. And well you need a bridge to cross a cold river. I asked why couldn't we just swim across and then everyone just stared at me and it took me five minutes to realize we couldn't take any vehicles or food across and that it was just an all around stupid idea. Hal still gives me crap about it. Then Weaver ended the meeting say we were all tired and obviously needed sleep for the next day's mission.

"So, did you hear?" Hal walked up and helped me finish loading up supplies in the truck.

"Hear what?"

"That Ben, Kaylee and Jimmy are coming with us on this mission."

"No I didn't."

"Oh well now you know." We walked over to the table and started loading up our guns with ammo. We both reached into the bin at the same time. Hal pulled his hand out. "Oh sorry you go first."

"Wow, what a gentleman. What's next? His and Her grenade launchers?" I smirked.

"Who knows, maybe I'll do something crazy like open a door for you." I just laughed and jogged over to my tent to grab a spare knife and a hoodie.

I walked back over and saw Kaylee talking to the boys. She walked over to our tent. Hal and I were about to hop in the truck when Ben and Kaylee walked over to us.

"Hey guys guess what?" Ben asked.

"What?" I said, knowing what they were going to say.

"We get to go with you guys!" Ben said, not even trying to control his excitement.

"More importantly we are off citizen duty," Jimmy added.

"Hey guys, you two should mess with Kaylee on the ride over there," Hal suggested.

"Yeah that's what she gets for being late." I added. "We were supposed to meet at 7:00pm and look at her walking up at 7:01pm." They all laughed. Hal and I got in the front seat and I got stuck in between Hal and Weaver because I was the smallest. Kaylee came over and the three musketeers got in the back of the truck. . I looked back and saw Jimmy and Ben glance at each other and nod right before Kaylee sat down. Whatever they had planned, it was going to be hilarious.

Weaver started to drive away. Hal and I looked back and started laughing. Ben and Jimmy were repeatedly poking Kaylee in the side, back and forth, Ben then Jimmy, Ben then Jimmy. It was awesome.

"What are you two laughing at?" Weaver asked.

"Jimmy and Ben wanted to mess with Kaylee so they are poking her repeatedly," Hal laughed while watching them.

"It's great." All three of us laughed.

"This is why I like having you kids around. You bring a little comedy to every situation," Weaver complimented.

"Thank you," Hal and I both said.

"I think he meant me," Hal smirked.

"No, he meant me."

"Believe what you want. You meant me didn't you Captain?" Hal asked confidently.

"Can I choose not to answer that?" Weaver smiled.

"Ooooohhhhh! What now?! I'm the favorite." I laughed.

"You wanna go short stuff?" Hal smiled.

"Now that's messed up," Weaver said, "bringing up her height."

"Yeah Hal." I stuck my tongue out at him. "Are they still poking her?" I turned around.

"Surprised she hasn't flipped out yet," Hal said.

"Oh she will."

"I don't know, Kaylee has a very long temper." Weaver said.

"Just wait," I smiled.

"I swear to God, Alyssa's eleven-year-old sister is more mature than both of you combined," Kaylee snapped. Hal and Weaver laughed.

"That wasn't even that bad," Hal said.

"Watch this," I smirked and I turned around. ""Kaaaaaaaaayyyyyyylllllleeee," I said in the voice I used for little children and I poked her a bunch of times.

"Alyssa, stop," Kaylee said. But when have I ever been known to for listening to people? When I didn't stop, Kaylee turned around and pointed her gun at me and clicked it in place.

"Holy fucking shit! Calm down!" I yelled.

"There she goes," I heard Hal say.

"Stop fucking poking me and I'll calm down."  
"Geez someone is on her period," I muttered.

At that moment, a beamer dropped a bomb. We all hopped out of the trucks and began getting set up, Weaver giving orders, telling people where to go and what weapons to use. This is the biggest group of fighters we have taken out since Fitchburg.

"It feels different," Pope said, "not having the whole team." Did Pope just say he _missed _Tom? That might be the nicest thing Pope has ever said, not just about Tom but about anyone. "I kinda like it." Moment ruined.

"I feel like Tom should be here to give us another U.S. History speech. Something about Paul Revere or George Washington or some other person no one but Tom and Spikey over here," he looked at Ben, "care about," Pope said. I looked at the Mason brothers. They looked sad at the mention of their dad. It was kind of an unspoken agreement to not mention Tom. Pope obviously didn't get the hint.

"Don't worry guys. We'll get your dad back," I rested my hand on Hal's shoulder. "And don't listen to Pope."

"Your dad would walk to the ends of the Earth just to be with you guys again," Kaylee said. "He's coming back."

"Alright soldiers, remember the plan," Weaver cut in. "One blink if they're coming from the west and two if they're sending in air assaults. It's just like the Revolutionary War. The Americans were the weaker side, and they still won the war." He handed Ben a flash light.

"Geez, Captain you're starting to sound like Tom, with all your 'stick to the plan' and 'remember the codes' stuff. What's next, an actual quote from the history books? One if by land. Two if by sea," Pope said. I wanted to slap some sense into him. He was an emotionless self-absorbed jackass.

I looked at Kaylee, Jimmy Hal, and Ben. "One if by land, two if by sea, three if by sky. To Tom!"

"To Tom!" They echoed in unison and we all mimicked the motion of cheering glasses.

"Here's how it's gonna go!" Weaver shouted to all of us. "Pope, the Berserkers, Dai, Anthony, and I will draw them in a short perimeter. Hal, Alyssa, Jimmy, Ben, and Kaylee will take cover in that building up there and be our backup for when the mechs hit. Clear?" We nodded and he continued, "Then move it! Go, go, go!"

We ran in search of a building to use. Then we found an old two story building. It took us a bit to find a way in but eventually we did. Kaylee went up first, and then the rest of us followed.

There were three main windows in the building, so Jimmy and Hal were on the left one, I was at the middle one, and Ben and Kaylee were on the right one. They all started getting out there guns and loading up with ammo. I pulled out my knives and then I just stood there. No one every usually does talk at this time. We were all mentally preparing ourselves. It was like the calm before the storm. Plus we were all waiting for the signal.

"OPEN FIRE!" Weaver shouted. Everything was going according to plan. The Berserkers drove the aliens right into our trap. I was taking out skitters right and left. They had no idea what hit them. I looked at Kaylee, who was looking at Ben. FOCUS KAYLEE! A mech had just entered the perimeter and she is the only one that can take it out, since she has the high tech gun.

"WHERE THE HELL IS THAT BACKUP?" Apparently I'm not the only one who noticed the mech. We went back to shooting skitters when the mech was dead after Kaylee shot at it. I got quite a few head shots in.

"Cease fire!" Weaver yelled out. "Save your ammo!"

Someone was still shooting.

"SIEZE FIRE!" Hal screamed at him, "BEN STOP SHOOTING!"

But since it goes against every law in the universe for a little sibling to listen to their sibling, Ben kept shooting. Kaylee had to stop him.

"Captain! We look good down here!"

"Get the hell outta there! We got eight minutes tops before those beamers respond! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" We all turned around to leave. I was too busy concentrating on not falling down the steps (they were steep and dangerous) to notice that Hal and Ben were not with us. We got to the truck and started loading up. I hopped in the front seat of the truck to wait. Everyone was super excited about the victory. I was starting to get a little worried about the boys. Just then a beamer flew in and dropped a bomb where we had been standing only moments ago. That wasn't even close to eight minutes.

"Where the hell is Hal and Ben?!" Weaver shouted.

"It wasn't eight minutes!" Dai exclaimed. Thank you Captain Obvious.

"Looks like the bad guys are growing a brain," I said. I mean our tactic isn't that complex at all.

"CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN, HOLD ON!" I looked up when I heard Hal's voice. He and Ben were carrying someone. I jumped out of the car to see who it was. When I saw the face I froze. It was Tom. What? The? Fuck?

Jimmy and Kaylee made room for Tom and I helped Ben and Hal put him in the back of truck. Then Hal and I got in the truck again. The door wasn't even fully shut and Weaver slammed on the gas. I looked at Hal and he looked pissed. Shouldn't he be happy his dad is back? Maybe a little scared because he was shot but not pissed. We were back at the camp. As soon as the truck stopped moving we all hopped out and lifted Tom and raced to the Med Bus. Instantly people started crowding around.

"MAKE A PATH! MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" Kaylee yelled. I was in front, leading the group and making a path.

"DR. GLASS!" Hal shouted. "DR. GLASS!" Dr. Glass came running up to see what the situation was. "Tom?!" He face said what everyone was thinking: Wtf?!

"He was shot. Lost a lot of blood," Weaver said.

"Was it a mech?" Dr. Glass asked, trying to figure out the exact damage of the wound.

"No, Ben. It wasn't his fault; it was an accident. Friendly fire," Weaver said. Oh my God.

That explains the look on Hal's face. Then it all really sunk in. _Ben shot Tom._ Oh my mother fucking God.

Ben ran up and grabbed Anne, "I didn't mean it! It was dark and-" he stuttered, desperate to explain himself.

"Ben, I gotta go!" Anne said and ran inside. I was standing on the platform of the bus. Ben ran by me.

"Ben, it's okay," I tried to calm him down, but he just ignored me. I wanted to go after him and comfort him. Even though he was like three times my size now, he was still the awkward young kid we met when we first got here. That's how I saw him. I wanted to make sure he was okay but I didn't. After being with Kaylee for years, I know that sometimes being alone is all a person wants. So I just stood there.

Hal, Matt, Ben all went to go see Tom. I just stood out here and waited with Kaylee for them since I didn't really like going into the med bus. Blood freaked me out and that smell. It looked and smelled like a hospital. Bad memories. Eventually they came back out and waited where I was standing. Ben tried to see inside but eventually gave up and left. As he left, he had a dark and scary look in his eye. It was a look I have only seen one time on one other person. That's when it finally hit me. Ben was becoming like Kaylee. He was turning dark and it was too late to stop. The way he has changed is just like what happened to Kaylee when her parents died. The only reason I didn't see it sooner was because with Kaylee it took time. About a five months. It took Ben less than two. The Ben I knew and loved left a long time ago he isn't coming back. That made me sad.

Jimmy started walking to go catch up with him, but Kaylee stopped him. "Let me go and talk to him."

"Why? He needs a guy talk," Jimmy smiled slightly. For some reason that kid just pissed me off.

"What he needs is someone who can listen to him and not comfort him, which I think you are incapable of doing because of your sweetness," I wanted to be sick. But then again, I can't really complain. Hal and I were pretty bad; something Kaylee, Jimmy, and Ben loved to point out.

I just stood there and zoned out. OF COURSE! How come I didn't see it earlier?! Ben was becoming Kaylee, except in dude form. His interest in guns, dressing in all black, cutting his hair, becoming all strong and buff. And I for one did not like it. Everything was changing around here. Not just Ben but everyone one, Hal, Matt, Jimmy, even Kaylee. It bugged me. I guess somewhere deep down I knew that life was just a little too perfect, and something was going to happen to screw it all up. I mean Tom coming back is good and I'm glad he is back and we need him. But why did it happen like that? The last thing Ben needed was one more thing to darken his heart, to push him over the edge and to the point of no return. If things had happened maybe just a little different, the outcome would have been so much better and maybe we could have saved Ben. Wow. Life is seriously fucked up. Ben is the last possible person that deserved this.

Kaylee's POV

"Here's how it's gonna go!" Weaver shouted to all of us. "Pope, the Berserkers, Dai, Anthony, and I will draw them in a short perimeter. Hal, Alyssa, Jimmy, Ben, and Kaylee will take cover in that building up there and be our backup for when the mechs hit. Clear?" When all of us nodded, Weaver yelled, "Then move it! Go, go, go!"

The five of us took off sprinting for a really old building that was two stories high and tilted on its side. It was hard finding an entrance, but after a few seconds of searching we found one in the back of the building. I went up the rickety stairs first to scope out the place before we all got inside and it was clear. Dai gave me the M72 LAW which yours truly was in charge of to use against the mechs. Was I excited? Oh hell yeah. Using explosives was super cool, especially on aliens.

Since there was three major windows in the building we were stationed in, we all split up on each side. Jimmy and Hal were on the left one, Alyssa was at the middle one, and Ben and I were on the right one. The five of us started loading our guns, with the exception of Alyssa who was getting her set of knives out to use on skitters, and prepping for the incoming aliens. None of us said anything in these moments; we never did actually. It was like we all had this bond that spoke through the silence and was only present when we were quiet. I also think that the calmness before the battle soothed everyone's nerves a bit too. I used this time to start focusing and imagining where targets would be and what strategy I would use to take them out.

"OPEN FIRE!" Weaver shouted above the noise of mech fire and the screeching of skitters. Pope and the Berserkers had led them to our closed off perimeter and now all of us were hiding behind objects and shooting simultaneously.

I cocked my trusty Calico and began firing at skitters that swamped the area. I even tried Pope's method: arms, legs, then the head. It worked fairly well, but I just preferred the regular head shots I made. Another mech came into view and the group of us up here began firing at it. We didn't have mech bullets anymore, but I discovered that titanium bullets work as well, only they have a slower affect.

As we were firing, I glanced over at Ben. He was concentrating harder than I've ever seen him concentrate before. He was now a flawless soldier who excelled in every field of fighting. Ben improved a lot during Jimmy and I's lessons and that really showed when we were on the battlefield. He never lost focus when he was firing and he remembered every tactic I taught him when we were practicing. Honestly I was surprised that he did, because I told him a lot of different ones that were pretty complex. But he continued to surprise me almost everyday with everything he did, so I guess I was used to that.

"WHERE THE HELL IS THAT BACKUP?"

Speaking of losing focus. I loaded the M72 LAW, aimed at a new mech that had entered the perimeter, and fired. The mech exploded in flames and collapsed to the ground within seconds. Some girls like diamonds, I like explosives. I smirked a little at that thought.

Hal shouted something I couldn't really hear because of all the shooting and blasting going on, but all of us went back to the windows to continue killing the left over skitters. Ben and I teamed up to kill one skitter; he shot the legs of it while I went for the head. Alyssa even got a couple of headshots with her knives, which was really impressive considering we were two stories up and at least ninety yards away. And with the whole entire fleet of us, the aliens were all dead.

"Cease fire!" Weaver yelled out to those of us who were still shooting to make sure that they truly were dead. "Save your ammo!" I slung the Calico on my back and put the M72 LAW on my shoulder. That mission went by really fast.

The sound of a gun continuing to shoot echoed in the small enclosure of the group of buildings. It was Ben.

"SEIZE FIRE!" Hal screamed over the sound of Ben's Heckler and Koch firing, "BEN STOP SHOOTING!"

Of course Ben wouldn't listen to his older brother, so he kept firing. I gently set my hand on his gun and lowered it slightly. Ben turned to look at me with a mixed expression. He looked like he didn't even notice that he was still shooting, but he also looked like he wanted to keep on making blows at the skitters.

After an angry look at Ben, Hal called down to Weaver. "Captain! We look good down here!"

"Get the hell outta there! We got eight minutes tops before those beamers respond! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" I turned around and headed out the building followed by Jimmy and Alyssa. When I briefly glanced over my shoulder, I realized that Hal and Ben weren't behind us. Hopefully they're not killing each other or something. They've been at each others throats lately.

We all reached the truck again and started loading everything up. Everyone was spastic as they tried to get ready to move out as fast as humanly possible. Anthony and Dai were racing to load some of their weapons on the motorcycles or into the truck, Pope and the Berserkers were taking their sweet time loading up, and Jimmy and I were waiting for Ben and Hal to get back. What was taking them so long? If they ran into trouble with the alien reinforcements they're screwed.

We figured we would be okay for a few minutes, since we had an eight minute escape window, but a beamer flew over and dropped a bomb by where we were originally attacking. It's only been two minutes. Shit. "Where the hell is Hal and Ben?!" Weaver shouted.

"It wasn't eight minutes!" Dai exclaimed.

"Looks like the bad guys are growing a brain," Alyssa muttered from the front seat.

"CAPTAIN!" I heard Hal's voice screaming out. "CAPTAIN HOLD ON!" When I looked up, Hal and Ben were speed walking while holding up a man who looked somewhat injured. And when I recognized the face, I did a double take.

Tom Mason. Holy hell.

Instantly Jimmy and I made room for Tom in the back of the truck and we propped the back down. Ben, Hal, and Alyssa who had gotten out of the truck as soon as she saw Tom, helped Tom into the back. Jimmy and I slid him back until his back rested on the wall of the truck. He was hurt pretty bad.

Tom had been shot on the left side of his stomach. I took off my hoodie and pressed it against his side to try and slow down the bleeding. He winced even at the slightest touch on the wound, so I knew it was really bad. Just as I was starting to wonder what had happened to him in the first place, Ben's facial expression became apparent to me. Ben was pissed. He was apologizing with his eyes while was staring at his father, who was drifting in and out of consciousness. It was then I connected the dots and understood that Ben had accidentally shot at Tom, and now he's furious with himself.

Weaver had floored the truck as fast as it could possibly go; thank God that speed limits no longer existed. Ben had joined me in applying pressure to Tom's wound since the bleeding seemed to become greater. The landmarks became familiar again and the next thing I knew, we had swerved back into camp.

As soon as the truck had stopped, I sprang up and opened the latch to get the back down again. Hal and Ben grabbed hold of their dad as well as Weaver, Dai, and Anthony. Civilians began to gather around to see what the commotion was, which made the matter worse.

"MAKE A PATH!" I shouted. "MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!"

The civilians instantly made a path way and all of us started running Tom down to the Med Bus, Dr. Glass's own bus were should could work on patients privately and keep the sick and wounded all in one place.

"DR. GLASS!" Hal shouted. "DR. GLASS!" I kept pushing aside more and more people that were crowding to see who was injured. Jimmy was doing the same thing on the other side and Alyssa was moving the 2nd Mass from the front of the crowd. Dr. Glass came running up to see what the situation was and her professional medic expression turned into shock and concern when she realized it was Tom Mason that was here. "Tom?!"

"He was shot. Lost a lot of blood," Weaver said as we helped carry Tom into camp and in the direction of the Med Bus.

"Was it a mech?" Dr. Glass asked frantically.

"No, Ben. It wasn't his fault; it was an accident. Friendly fire," Weaver turned and carried Tom into the bus with the other fighters from the mission.

Jimmy and I stood in our places watching as Tom was set on the "operating table" in the bus. Ben ran forward to Dr. Glass and grabbed her by the back of the shirt. "I didn't mean it! It was dark and-"

"Ben, I gotta go!" Anne said taking his hand off her shirt and running into the bus to start on Tom. Ben took a few steps back and went around to the front view of the bus. Alyssa was standing on the platform that rose to the opening of the Med Bus. "Ben, it's okay," she said trying to get him to calm down.

Instead he ignored her and ran around the other side of the bus to the door. Jimmy and I walked around too so we could see just how bad Tom's wound was. A blur of curly hair rushed by me and I saw Matt run in the bus, along with his two other brothers watching as Lourdes and Dr. Glass began an IV for Tom and to stop the bleeding. Soon enough, Weaver made the Mason brothers leave the bus and they all came out with traumatized looks in their eyes.

Hal and Matt leaned against the bus, not saying a word to each other but trying to make sense of all that happened in the last fifteen minutes. Ben stood staring through the windows trying to see what was happening, but eventually he couldn't take it anymore. He shook his head and walked away from the bus. This is just what he needed. Another thing to darken his heart even further.

Jimmy started walking to go catch up with him, but I put my hand on his shoulder. "Let me go and talk to him."

"Why? He needs a guy talk," Jimmy smiled slightly, silently telling me that he was teasing.

"What he needs is someone who can listen to him and not comfort him, which I think you are incapable of doing because of your sweetness," I smiled back and shoved him playfully. Jimmy rolled his eyes and motioned for me to go to Ben. I jogged in the direction that Ben was headed and attempted to find him in the dark. I knew that Ben wanted to be alone (that's what he wanted a lot recently), but I didn't care because I made a promise to myself that I would do everything that I could to slow the darkening process down before it swallowed his heart entirely.

"Ben?" I called out. I was in an isolated part of camp that Ben came to a lot, although he didn't know that I knew that, and it was a place where we practiced shooting. Not a lot of people came here since it was just a little ways from camp and the other fighters wanted to be more by camp in case of any surprise attacks from our alien friends. We had another place where we shot at, but Ben, Jimmy, and I preferred this place to the other one because we liked having time to ourselves.

"Why are you here?" a quiet voice asked. Ben was sitting down by a small wall behind some plants, completely concealed. Pretty stellar hiding place if you ask me.

I walked over to where he was and slowly sat down next to him. "Because you're my best friend and you're upset."  
"The last thing I want right now is sympathy," he looked away from my eyes.

"I didn't come here to comfort you," I stated, earning his eyes back. "I came here to listen, because I know that you need to speak your thoughts and have someone help you sort through them. I'm not going to give you a long-ass speech about how it wasn't your fault and how you shouldn't be upset, because you have every right to be. Now speak your mind, Mason."

Ben smiled just the smallest bit. "It really amazes me that you have me figured out so easily; you know where I would be at, exactly what to say, and what I needed. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of things you keep secret."

"Irrelevant. Now talk."

Ben sighed staring out at the dark scenery. It took him a little while before he started talking, but once he started he didn't stop until he was finished. "I just feel like shit. One moment I'm firing at a skitter, the next I see my dad fall to the floor with a hole in his stomach. My dad, the man who willingly got onto an alien spaceship and just returned home after three months, is _alive_. And I shot him. I shot one of the people I care about most and now he could die because of me. I already lost my mom, and now I could lose my dad for the second time." He took a breath in to calm himself, but that only fueled his anger more. "This has been my fault now for the second time. _I'm _the reason he got on that damn airship, _I'm_ the reason Matt's had to live without a father, _I'm_ the reason he's been gone for three months, and _now_ I'm the reason he's in that bus being operated on with a small chance of him making it out."

He looked at me, eyes fragile and the weight of the world on his shoulders. "I just feel like it's all my fault," his voice cracked slightly. Not because he was going to cry or something, but because he was under so much emotional stress he couldn't keep a strong voice. "And there's no way I can fix it."

I cocked my head at him looking at all the vulnerability in his green-blue eyes. "Your dad's been gone for three months. You thought that he wouldn't come back, but he found his way home to you. You thought that he was dead and had no chance of ever coming home to the 2nd Mass again, but he did it. Now you think that he could leave again, except this time for good. But he's not. Dr. Glass is in that bus with him right now fixing him up and healing his wound as we speak. There's no way that he's going to give up on you or your brothers. I mean, he made it back here after three whole months right? No force greater than Tom Mason's love for his kids could ever break him down. He's home, Ben. He's home alive. Wounded, yes, but alive. He came back to the 2nd Mass, to Dr. Glass, and to you, Hal, and Matt, although you guys thought that he couldn't make it back."

"What's your point?"

"Focus on the good things in a bad situation and maybe something will come out of it. Your dad's home, Ben. Don't give up on someone who hasn't given up on you."

Ben looked away and gave me a slight nod. I took it that he wanted to be alone to think about what I had said, so I stood up and started to walk back to camp.

"Thanks, Kaylee," his voice stopped me. He was now standing too. "I really needed that."

"I'm always here for you, Ben. Whenever you need someone to talk to or someone to listen I'll be there," I turned to tell him. Just as I was about to take another step forward, Ben's voice called out to me again.

"Always?"

I smiled to myself and this time, I turned around and walked back to him. I have no idea what led me to do this, but I found myself giving Ben Mason a tight hug. He was slightly confused at first since he knows I'm not really the touchy-feely type, but he wound his arms around me after a few seconds. I could feel him rest his chin on my shoulder and somehow I knew that he was thanking me for being here for him no matter how much he's changed. Ben needed a hug, perhaps more than anything else. A hug is a simple thing that can change one's thoughts and feelings instantaneously. And Ben needed one as much as I did.

"Always," I promised.

* * *

The next night, the same team went out on another mission to kill some more aliens. I didn't really want to go again since the mission would be short and small, so I told Ben that I'd stay at camp and keep an eye on Tom for him. Dr. Glass got the bullet out and patched him up, so now it was simply up to Tom.

I was in the Med Bus for a few hours helping Anne and Lourdes out so that they could spend a little more time relaxing or looking after Tom. It was actually pretty cool being a medic, as it was also extremely disgusting. Blood and needles I can handle, but that's about it. Anne and Lourdes knew that I wasn't really at the point where I could handle some of the stuff they did, but they let me do everything else that I could. Even if I did little things, like organizing the med cabinet, keeping Tom hydrated, or rewrapping a patient's wound, I knew that it helped significantly. Dr. Glass and Lourdes were the two hardest workers in all of the 2nd Mass and they deserved to have a little down time.

Lourdes even talked to me about Jamil on a couple of occasions. She was kind of like an older sister to me and I thought that it was totally cool. She would ask me my opinion on him and talk about how she was glad that she managed to find someone special at a time like this. Both of us got to know each other on a deeper level the few hours I spent there and I really enjoyed talking to her. She was full of so much hope and light that it could make you smile uncontrollably at any given time. When I asked her how she could be so happy and hopeful, she replied to me that her faith is what kept her going. I used to go to church with my family when I was young and I actually enjoyed it, but my parents' work schedules got crazy and they couldn't take us anymore. And then when they died, I never went again. I thought that it was really impressive that someone could stay that close to their faith at a time like this and manage to keep such a positive attitude and hopeful spirit.

When the mission team got back, they were on foot which was weird considering they left on vehicles. As Alyssa and I were getting ready for bed in our tent, she told me that a beamer had dropped several bombs on their vehicles repeatedly until they were blown to bits, rather than aiming at them. The team had discovered that the beamers can pick up the heat that radiates off the engines and that had become their new target. We stayed up and talked a little more that night, and then we both fell asleep.

I woke up three hours later from another awful dream, so I just looked up at the ceiling of our tent and thought about whatever came to mind. After that, I quietly played my guitar for two hours and wrote a song or two. It was a really calming process and I loved spending time with my guitar. It was helped me forget about everything for a little while and just focus on music.

Alyssa's POV

"Alyssa? Did you hear me?"

"What?" I looked around to see who was talking to me. Hal was staring at me, waiting for a response. "Did you say something?"

"Yeah. I did. Have you noticed anything wrong with Ben lately? He's been acting kinda weird. Please tell me I'm not the only one who see's this." Actually I did notice it and I was about to say something when Weaver walked up.

"Carter, Hal in my tent. Now." Then he left so Hal and I followed him to his tent to see what he wanted. As we walked into his tent I noticed things looked different. There were maps up and things just looked a little scattered and cluttered. It looked like a place that would make an OCD person go crazy. "We're in trouble. The aliens are closing in on us and fast."

"What do we do?" I asked.

"We need to find a way around them, or find a bridge. But whatever we do, we need to do it fast. It's only a matter of time before those bastards realize they have us surrounded then they will attack."

"So the river isn't an option?" Hal asked.

Weaver started pointing to places on the map. "They have us surrounded. They have convoys here, here, here and here. They blew up bridges here, here, here, here and here. Are scouts have been out fifty miles down this way," He motioned to the map again. "Soon I'll have more scouts heading out the opposite direction for bridges. One thing I'm worried about is Tom. I don't know when he will be able move but I need him to be ready when it's time. That is my main concern." I nodded. "If either of you think of something, I'd love to hear it."

"Okay," Hal said and then he left.

I was about to leave but Weaver called me back. "Carter, wait."

"Yeah Captain? What's up?"

"I want you to talk to Hal and Ben. Something is up with them. Ben especially. But Hal too. I noticed Hal seemed a little off just now, and that may be because of his dad but Ben has been acting weird lately and it's starting to worry me. I would ask Kaylee to talk to him but I get the impression she is like Ben. I also get the impression this isn't the first time you have seen this."

"Well your right. When her parents died she became all dark and it scared me. She talks in her sleep you know. When we were younger I never slept and she slept like there was no tomorrow." I laughed a little. Funny how we switched sleeping ways. "She used to scare the living shit out of me with some of the stuff she said, at the age of eleven."

"So you'll talk to them. You seem like the most experienced at the most qualified for this job."

"Okay, will do." I left and headed back to our tent, thinking about well, everything.

The next night we went out again, except Kaylee didn't go. Which was kinda weird but I didn't question it. I hopped in back of the truck with Hal and a few other fighters. We didn't drive that far before we saw the alien beamer fly ahead and we heard the sound of a mech, which was kinda scary. They were getting closer and closer.

"Everybody out of the vehicles! Now!" What the fuck? Everyone evacuated and ran away from the vehicles, and not a moment to soon. Just where we were seconds ago a beamer dropped a bomb on our truck and another on the bikes. It was totally silent as we all just stared at the cars up in flames and then Pope flipped.

"THAT WAS A HARLEY!" Yes. That is exactly what he said. We were just seconds away from death and he is pissed that the aliens blew up his Harley.

"Calm the fuck down," I said.

"Yeah be lucky it was just your Harley and not you as well," Ben said all darkly. I really don't think it takes a genius to figure out, by the way Ben said that, he _**really **_wished Pope _was_ on the bike. Then to make our evening worse, mechs come around the corner and open fire. We all scattered and ducked behind whatever we could find. As we all ran, I fell down and scraped up my knees and elbows. I couldn't get up, my foot was stuck in some rope wrapped around the tire, and I was in plain mech fire range. JUST FUCKING GREAT!

"ALYSSA!" Hal yelled and he tried to run over to me, but Ben pulled him down.

"Wait."

"LET GO OF ME BEN!" Hal screamed but Ben wouldn't let go, he could sense something was going on. The mechs were firing and I ducked my head. HOLY FUCKING SHIT I AM ABOUT TO DIE! I covered my head like they teach you to do in an earthquake in elementary school. I was kicking at struggling to get my foot undone but it wouldn't come out. I tried to reach for my knife but I couldn't sit up in fear of being shot. Suddenly the shooting stopped and the mechs walked away. I looked up and the first thing I saw was our truck and bikes, or what used to be them. They were just pieces of rubbish now. Hal ran over to me and helped me get out of the rope, and then we all walked back to camp, silently. I was really confused. That mech could have taken me out, should have. I should be dead, a bloody pulp on the ground. But it didn't shoot me, it shot our cars. Why? Something was up; the aliens knew something and had a plan. That scared me.

We walk up to camp and everyone just stared at us, probably wondering where exactly all the vehicles were. Weaver started explaining to people what happened and answering questions. I didn't really feel like sticking around to hear the story so I just left and headed to Kaylee and my tent. She must have noticed and followed me. We started getting ready for bed.

"They shot our vehicles," I said.

"I guessed that much," she said. "I'm just glad no one was hurt. From what I heard, it sounded pretty close. Like you guys almost didn't make it out."

"Almost, but we did. It was really weird even though we were out of the vehicles the continued to shoot them. Almost like the vehicles were the targets, not us. It kinda freaks me out. Like I should be dead right now but that mech ignored me." Kaylee just looked at me. Oh crap.

"What do you mean you should be dead?" She looked at me. "And does it have any thing to do with the blood running down your left knee and elbow?" I looked down. Wow that looks bad.

"Yes and I'm fine. A mech came around the corner and we all took cover. I went to duck behind a car and I tripped. My foot got stuck in some rope and I couldn't move. I was right in mech fire, but it ignored me it was literally standing right in front of me, shooting over me at the cars. That's all, no biggy."

She raised her eyebrows at me. "I swear to God you deserve a record for Most Near Death Experiences."

I rolled my eyes and then laughed, happy she wasn't pissed with me. Both of us laid down and then fell asleep for the night.

Kaylee's POV

At seven, I found Ben with Matt at the secluded range, and Ben was teaching Matt how to shoot. Oh hell no. I would not accept Ben, the person _I_ had to teach, teaching his brother. Without my help. Hell to the no.

"Widen your stance," Ben smiled as Matt did so. Matt had an intense aim on a tree and was holding the gun almost flawlessly.

"Lean forward," I instructed walking up to the brothers.

"What are doing here?" Ben laughed as he said it.

"If you thought that I'd let you teach your brother without any assistance from me, you are sadly mistaken." Matt laughed.

I took hold of Matt's shoulders and twisted them a small amount. "Now lower the gun just a little." Matt did so and waited patiently for the next instruction.

"Anything else, teacher?" Ben raised his eyebrows.

I looked over the youngest Mason's stance. "You and your brother have something in common."  
"What?" They asked simultaneously.

"Well for one, you both do that all the time which is really weird," I grinned and then grabbed Matt's elbow. "But neither of you can loosen up at your elbow."

"I fixed it!" Ben protested.

"Yeah like once!" I exclaimed.

"Hey, Ben!" Hal called, rounding the corner of trees with Alyssa by his side. When Hal saw that Matt had a rifle in his hand, he looked pissed. "What's Matt doing with a gun?"

"Ben and Kaylee are teaching me how to shoot," Matt said plainly. Oh fuck, we're screwed.

"Figured it was time he learned how to defend himself," Ben said, not backing down from his brother. Alyssa and I exchanged glances; this wasn't going to look good.

"So you just gave him a rifle without asking me."

Ben stared at his brother, not intimidated by his threatening voice. "I might have to follow your orders on missions, but not here."

Hal gave Ben an angry glare before moving over to Matt. He took the rifle out of his hand and took out the round. "Hal, wait!" Matt said frustrated. As soon as Hal saw that the round had bullets in it, he lost it.

"Go back to camp, Matt." He stood there for a minute, and then Hal repeated with more force, "Go back to camp."

Hal looked back at his brother who was now just as tall as him. "You know, maybe he's ready, maybe he's not. But we both know dad didn't want that for him."

"Three months ago. How do you know what he'd say now?"

"I don't know what he'd say right now and neither do you, okay? So how 'bout we wait and let dad make that decision."

Ben was getting angry, but he was bottling it up and letting it fuel. "The only way we win this war is by killing every skitter we see. If Matt's old enough to load a gun, he's old enough to shoot it."

"After what happened with dad, you think you're the best one to be giving lessons?" That was really, really harsh. Ben already feels shitty about it enough, and having it dumped on by none other than his older brother was certainly going to make things worse.

"That's why I'm here," I pitched in this Mason fight, knowing I'd probably regret it.

Hal's eyes moved to me. "And I can't believe that _you_ didn't think it was a bad idea. I mean, really Kaylee? How do you not see that?"

"I learned younger than he is. And it's not like we're sending him out alone to fend for himself. Ben and I were teaching Matt how to shoot so he can know how to defend himself when the time comes. I honestly don't see why that's so bad."

Hal was about to say something back when Ben intervened again. "I just don't want him to be taken away the way they took me." The eldest Mason gave a curt nod and went back to Alyssa, deciding to walk away from the fight before it got worse. Except for the fact that Ben was evidently not finished. "Or your girlfriend, Karen."

Holy shit, Ben had just crossed the line.

Hal ran towards Ben to try and punch him or shove him, but Ben grabbed his wrists in his iron grip and began forcing him down to the floor, despite Hal's obvious struggle. Alyssa and I just looked at each other, not having a clue as to what we should be doing. Ben kept forcing Hal down until he was thrown to the ground. "I'm not the geek you used to push around. Deal with it." Ben shoved Hal until he hit the floor head on. And that was when I knew that Ben was not savable from the darkness. It was too late.

Hal and Alyssa looked up at me, shocked that Ben had done that and shocked that I wasn't shocked. I glanced between both of them and sighed. I then turned around and headed after Ben to go and calm him down before he killed someone or destroyed something. Sometimes I seriously don't understand why Hal doesn't comprehend how much he affects Ben. Hal was acting too fatherly towards his younger brother and Ben wasn't okay with that, and Hal had also started ordering him around a lot. I'm not just saying that because I'm on Ben's side, but because it was true. Hal had become an even stronger leader the last few weeks, but he wasn't aware of how much it irritated Ben. Personally I think it was because that Ben really missed his dad and having Hal act just like him made the pain worse.

"Ben, wait up," I said catching up to him.

"Just leave me alone, Kaylee," he shook his head and kept on walking.

I grabbed his shoulder and made him look me in the eyes. "Don't try to fucking walk off on me."

"I don't want to hear it," Ben looked at me darkly. Hal _really_ pissed off Ben.

An idea popped into my mind the second he had spoken. "Come with me." I took his shirt by the shoulder and began walking him.

"Where-"

"Just shut up and follow me." The two of us wove in and out of the 2nd Mass crowds and around a lot of building debris and random objects that happened to be lying around the campsite. I pushed Ben inside the shooting range inside of camp.

Ben raised his eyebrows and looked at me. "What the hell, Parker?"

I folded my arms. "Go ahead, take some shots."

"Why?"

"You're pissed off, right? I want you to take your anger out using your gun, and imagine that the tree right there is Hal's face. Trust me, it'll help a lot."

Ben slowly slid out his gun while looking at me strangely. He took his stance, breathed in, and then fired away at a tree that was to the right of where he was standing. First he started out slow, and then he gradually gained speed and more of a violent shot. It dawned on me again on how far he's come, from being the dorky math kid who couldn't fend off a girl to now the strong solider he was now. He still wanted Jimmy or me to give him lessons everyday so that he could continue improving until there was nothing more he could learn. But Ben was an exceptional fighter now, and I really don't think there was much for him to learn now.

"I can see why you do this when you're mad," Ben said smiling a tiny bit while shooting at the tree.

"I told you, it's really therapeutic," I shrugged.

He laughed and slowed down his shots until he was finished attacking the tree. He looked like his usual happy self; like the Ben Jimmy and I knew before his dad left. Maybe taking his anger out really was the way to release some darkness that he kept bottled up. "Thanks for that. I feel a lot less angry now."

"Anytime. We should probably head back now, see if anything's changed with your dad."

"Let's go." Ben and I made our way through the mobs of people until we arrived at the Med Bus to check on Tom. As soon as Ben made it down to where his dad was laying, I knew something was up. Tom looked sickly pale; not the sort of pale you get when you're unconscious, but the kind of pale that was alarming. He was talking in his sleep and he did not look like he was getting better, more rather the opposite.

"He's bleeding," Ben said frantically. "He's not supposed to be bleeding Doctor Glass took the bullet out!" Tom's bandage was beginning to turn red and his rambling got a little louder. This can't be good.

"Lourdes!" I called out. She was in the front of the bus tending to another patient.

"Yes?" The moment her eyes set on Tom's wound, she panicked too. "Ben, go get Dr. Glass stat! Kaylee, I need you to apply pressure to his wound until she gets here while I start getting the tools she needs. There's still a bullet fragment inside."

Ben ran off the bus at lightning speed to go get the doctor and I took off Ben and Jimmy's gloves that were on my hands and got a cloth to press against Tom's wound. Lourdes flew around the cabinets quicker than I have ever seen her before. She pulled together a selection of disinfectants and surgical tools that I didn't know the name of. Lourdes knew how much Tom meant to Anne, the Mason brothers, Weaver, hell to the whole 2nd Mass. She knew that if he was to die, a piece of this resistance would die along with him.

Soon enough, Ben came running back into the bus with a somewhat panicked and somewhat calm Dr. Glass. "I don't know what happened. He just started bleeding again," Lourdes informed Anne as she ran over to a sleep talking Tom.

"Must've missed a fragment," Anne sighed. She put his hand to his forehead. "He feels feverish too." She began shining her small flashlight into Tom's eyes and tried inspecting him.

"We still have a few bottles of IV and antibiotic," Lourdes said.

Anne gave her the okay on getting the medical supplies. I looked over at Ben and he had that dark look in his eyes as well as the fragile look he had before going through all of this. If they had found Tom sooner, maybe Ben would've made it out okay, and wouldn't have this huge burden on his shoulders.

"I'm sorry Ben," Lourdes pulled the curtain in front of us and turned the lights on in the bus.

Ben rubbed his hand over his right eye and turned to leave out the bus. I followed after him and the two of us stood in the lively camp, not saying anything but comforting each other with the sound of our silence. It was weird how that worked, but we both knew that it was better not talking and just accepting what was what and remaining quiet. Another reason why we had gotten really close.

The whole camp was getting ready to move out of the small city we were at so all of the civilians were packing up their stuff as quickly as possible and the fighters were too. My stuff was ready to go and so was Alyssa's, but I had no idea where she was. I hadn't seen her since earlier today at the shooting ranges.

"CAPTAIN!" The voice of Hal Mason rang throughout the small enclosure we had taken safety in. "CAPTAIN!" Hal came running in with Alyssa and the skidded to a stop asking Pope and Anthony where Weaver was. Shit this can't be good.

Weaver walked up to them and Hal began talking. "Captain, we got a mech convoy about a mile away. They're straight east, coming this way."

"We move that Med Bus, Tom's not gonna make it," Weaver remarked and looked at the bus Tom was in. Weaver took a second to think over a plan, and then started calling out orders. "Convoy goes, medical stays with Dr. Glass until she can stabilize Tom. I need four volunteers to stay with the bus in case the skitters show."  
"I'm I," Hal said.

"Sounds good," Alyssa told the captain.

"Make that three," I pitched in and stepped forward to the group.

"Four," Ben said after me.

Weaver nodded. "Gather all the ammo you can carry. Hal's got the map; we'll wait for you twenty miles south. Stay safe," he said sternly.

The four of us piled onto the bus and watched as the 2nd Mass safely evacuated the campsite and left it as deserted looking as we found it. We did literally nothing but sit on the Med Bus floor and wait for the mechs to come by and hope that Dr. Glass and Lourdes found the bullet fragment before they came. But a mech moaned out in a matter of minutes after the 2nd Mass moved out and Hal took action.

"Alright guys, we got incoming. We're gonna go dark," Hal turned off the bus lights while Alyssa, Hal, Ben, and I got out of the bus and gathered behind some walls.

"We're gonna lay low until the mechs pass us by," Hal instructed us. "Don't shoot unless I give the order, okay?" All of us nodded except for Ben who was looking in the direction of the incoming mechs. "Hey," Hal called to his brother. "Okay?" Ben gave a semi nod and looked away again. Things were still awkward between them and judging by the look Alyssa exchanged with Hal, she had to have a talk with him too. The four of us split up; Hal and Alyssa were back on the bus with Anne and Lourdes and Ben and I were outside on two different sides of a wall.

The mechs' stomping got louder and louder and I leaned my head against the wall as the attempt of "taking cover." Ben did the same and I saw Hal take cover in the bus with Anne and Lourdes. I was breathing even quieter than normal (as if the mechs could hear breathing anyways) and had one hand on my C4 ready to take action if necessary. However their footsteps started fading and then they were gone as quickly as they came.

I looked out over the corner of the wall I was behind and when I saw that it was all clear, I walked over to the bus's entrance and Ben got up after me. The four of us fighters regrouped outside again. Hal started laughing a little, earning him questioning looks from all of us. "I think that was our lucky day, right?" He laughed more. "C'mon, let's go." We got onto the bus in silence and were like that the entire twenty miles to the new station. I'm pretty sure I even dozed off on Ben's shoulder again for at least fifteen minutes of the ride there and woke up when Anne stopped the bus at our new camp.

Alyssa and I didn't say anything to each other when we got off the bus and into the camp. Some kind civilians had set up our tent and cots for us so we threw off our shoes and got some sleep after the long day.

Alyssa's POV

"Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up. ALYSSA GET YOUR LAZY ASS UP!" I looked up at Hal staring at me, smiling.

"Geez calm yourself." I stood up "What's up?"

"I can't find Matt or Ben. And I was wondering if Kaylee knew where they are, but I came in here and couldn't find her so I woke you up."

"Hold on let me get dressed and we'll find them. They are probably at the shooting range-"

"Shooting range? With Matt? I'm gonna kill him."

"Ben and Kaylee never sleep more than three hours a day so it's not unusual. Matt could be just watching."

"Just hurry up and get dressed so we can find them." I quickly put on shorts and an old soccer shirt and grabbed my knives and slipped on my boots. I ran a brush through my hair and popped a piece of stale gum in my mouth. We past an old liquor store a while back and I grabbed a bunch of minty gum. I also grabbed and stick for Hal and walked out.

"Okay, let's go."

"Gum?"

"Here." I handed him a piece of gum and we headed over to the shooting range.

"How did you know I was gonna ask?"

"I just did. Plus I know you and the fact that you have an obsession with mint gum."

"How? I never told you that."

"I know everything."

"Mhmm, okay sure you do."

"I DO! And Matt was with me when I got the gum, he told me to keep it from you because you love gum and you would take it all from me."

"Well Matt wasn't lying; I do love it." I just laughed and we walked up to the range, we could hear Kaylee and Ben talking.

"Hey Ben." They all froze, Matt was holding a gun. I wasn't touching Hal but I could feel him tense up. He was pissed. "What's Matt doing with a gun?"

"Ben and Kaylee are teaching me to how to shoot." Way to be blunt about it. Hal stopped at the three of them. It looked like Hal and Ben were about to kill each other and Kaylee and I had to referee the fight. Fanfuckingtastic.

"Figured it was time he learned to defend himself," Ben said. I looked at Kaylee and I could tell she was silently saying _oh shit this isn't going to end well._ Shit is about to go down and honestly, if I had to pick a winner of the fight I would say Ben. I mean I personally trained Ben in hand to hand combat when we first go here.

"So you just gave him a gun without asking me?"

"I might have to take orders from you on missions, but not here," Ben's voice was threatening and it scared me a little. Hal just glared at Ben, walked over to Matt and grabbed his gun.

"Hal, wait!" Mat said, trying to take his gun back. Hal ignored him, and examined the gun. As son as he saw the round of bullets he flipped out.

"Go back to camp Matt," Hal said trying to contain himself long enough for the youngest Mason to leave. But Matt wasn't leaving without a fight. "Go back to camp," Hal said with even more force and Matt ran away.

"You know, maybe he's ready, maybe he's not. But we both know Dad didn't want that for him."

"Three months ago. How do you know what he'd say now?" Ben countered.

"I don't know what he would say now and neither do you, okay? So how 'bout we wait and let Dad make that decision." They were both getting angry and quickly.

"The only way we win this war is by killing every skitter we see. If Matt is old enough to load a gun, he's old enough to shoot it."

"After what happened with Dad, you really think you are the best one to be giving lessons?" Okay that was really harsh.

"That's why I'm here," Kaylee spoke up. Bad move, Kaylee. I'm staying quiet because I really don't want to get involved and I don't want to take sides.

"And I can't believe that _you_ didn't think this was a bad idea. I mean really, Kaylee? How could you not see that?"

"I learned younger than he is. And it's not like we're sending him out alone to fend for himself. Ben and I were teaching Matt how to shoot so he can know how to defend himself when the time comes. I honestly don't see why that's so bad."

"I just don't want to him to be taken away they way they took me," Ben said before Hal could yell at Kaylee. Hal turned around and walked toward me. I think we narrowly avoided a fight. "Or your girlfriend, Karen." I spoke too soon. I was fully for helping Ben out and calming Hal down, but Ben just crossed a line. Hal turned around and was about to punch Ben, but Ben grabbed him by the wrists and forced him down until Hal was almost laying on the floor. "I'm not the math geek you used to push around. Deal with it." Then Ben walked away. Hal and I just stood there, looking at Kaylee and not believing that she was siding with him. Kaylee sighed at us and then went after Ben to calm him down.

"It's like I don't even know him anymore," Hal said.

"Hal, you're seeing the same change I saw Kaylee go through when her parents died. He's becoming dark and I really don't know any other way to describe it but terrifying. It's a phase that she went through too; Kaylee got a little better but not by much."

"So this is what it was like when Kaylee's parents died?"

"Yeah."

"But our dad isn't dead. He's sitting in the Med Bus. Unconscious maybe but at least he's breathing. And why didn't that happen when our mom died?"

"Well Ben wasn't there when that happened and at the time he was probably sad but the happiness of seeing you and Matt and your dad and being away from them overpowered his sadness and now he has a growing hatred toward the aliens for forcing your dad to go with them. Before your dad was taken he was this happy-go-lucky care free kid. Yeah, he had some issues with his spikes but he overcame it and was almost always smiling. He wasn't a fighter at all and now look at him. He is Mr. Fighter-Gun Lover. When Tom was taken something clicked in him. He blames himself for it, you know. He is also blaming himself for shooting your dad."

"It is his fault."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"You're siding with him. You're defending him?"

"Just hear me out Hal. Your dad was fighting a skitter when Ben shot him, and he also shot that skitter. If Ben hadn't stayed to finish shooting because he heard something, we all would have left and those skitters and the beamers and mechs- that even though we didn't see them, you know they were on their way- would have killed your dad. If Ben hadn't disobeyed your orders your dad would be dead, Hal, and we wouldn't even know it. His body would be sitting less than two miles from camp, dead, and we wouldn't even know it. Think about that. In a way Ben saved his life."

"My dad can fend for himself, trust me."

"I know he can, with the right weapons. What did he have with him?"

"He had a hand gun."

"That's it. The only way he could have survived those skitters was if it was full of bullets. If it wasn't they would have killed him, and even if he did kill them the beamers and mechs would have taken him out."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," He said, giving up the fight.

"I am always right," I smiled.

"Okay, now you're pushing it." And we walked back to camp to see what if we were needed.

"Alyssa! Hal!" We jogged over to the Captain. "Are you two packed and ready?"

"Yes sir," Hal said.

"We were supposed to pack our stuff?" Since when? They both just stared at me. "I'm gonna take that as a yes. So I'm gonna go pack my stuff and yeah I'll be back." I headed over to the tent Kaylee and I shared. Kaylee was already packed; of course she was. I stared packing up my stuff. I threw all my clothes in a duffle bag I had, along with a brush and my packs of gum. In my backpack, I put all my knives, a small first aid kit, and a few other miscellaneous thinks like my notebook, a pen, and a few other things. I grabbed the first aid kit and sat down and started to clean out my cuts on my leg and elbow from the other night. I found a disinfectant wipe and so I cleaned it out with that. OUCH! SHIT THAT HURT!

"Fuck," I muttered. I heard laughter so I turned around and saw Hal watching me. "Can I help you?"

"I was just thinking about the night Ben and I found you and Kaylee. When I stopped and you crashed and cut your leg."

"Cut my leg? You make it sound like some little cut from a twig. I got fucking road rash up my whole leg thanks to you."

"Whatever. I just remember thinking damn this girl is tough, annoying as hell, but tough."

"Yeah you don't want to know what I thought of you." Hal just laughed. I continued cleaning my wounds. I was having issues though. It's hard to clean your own elbow. Hal walked over and sat down.

"Let me do it." He took the wipe from my hand and started cleaning my arm, then he wrapped it up and cleaned out my leg and wrapped it with a bandage. "Okay now that you're all bandaged up, want help packing?"

"No thanks I'm okay, I just have to pack my sleeping bag." I grabbed my sleeping bag and rolled it up. Now it looks perfectly easy to pack a sleeping bag, but let me tell you, it's not. I was having issues getting the little strappy things on the sleeping bag. Throughout the next five minutes I managed to hit myself in the head three times with my own hand and twice with the strap.

"Give me that," Hal took my sleeping bag and rolled it up with ease. I just rolled my eyes. "Now that that's done we have a job. Weaver wants us to do a quick perimeter patrol."

"Why?"

"Just to make sure everything is okay I guess."

"Okay let's go." I walked over to our bikes but Hal stopped me.

"We are going on foot, until the can figure out this engine thing, we're on foot."

"Makes sense." The two of us set off walking out of camp. We were going to do a basic patrol, just make sure no aliens were heading are way. We had traveled about ten minutes when I saw something run out from a hole in the street toward us. "SPIDER! HOLY SHIT! SPIDER! HAL, KILL IT!" Hal stepped on it and killed it, and then he looked at me and started laughing. "What?"

"You're scared of spiders? Really? Spiders?"

"Bugs in general I don't like, but especially spiders."

He just laughed. "You're this super tough bad ass chick who fights in hand to hand combat with only a knife against an alien but you won't kill a spider?"

"Exactly." I nodded and kept walking.

"You're crazy Alyssa," he followed me. We had been walking for no more than two minutes when we heard the all too familiar noise of mechs, heading our way.

"Hal they are heading towards us," I said

"Yeah and toward camp."

"Shit."

"My thoughts exactly. Lets go." We started running-no sprinting-to camp since we didn't have much time. We got to camp pretty quick and both of us were out of breath.

"CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN!" Hal yelled before we were even fully in camp.

Weaver ran over to us. "Captain, we got a mech convoy about a mile away. They're straight east, coming this way."

"We move that Med Bus, Tom's not gonna make it," Weaver was thinking. "Convoy goes medical stays with Dr. Glass until she can stabilize Tom. I need four volunteers to stay with the bus in case the skitters show."  
"I'm I," Hal said.

"Sounds good," I said.

"Make that three," Kaylee stepped forward.

"Four," called Ben.

Weaver nodded. "Gather all the ammo you can carry. Hal's got the map; we'll wait for you twenty miles south. Stay safe," he said.

The four of us headed on the Med Bus and sat on the floor waiting. Anne and Lourdes worked swiftly, trying to find the bullet fragment inside Tom. The 2nd Mass packed up and left. The place looked kinda creepy. Within minutes we could hear the sound of mechs.

"Alright guys, we got incoming. We're gonna go dark," Hal turned off the bus lights and we all headed off the bus and ducked behind a wall.

"We're gonna lay low until the mechs pass us by," Hal instructed us. "Don't shoot unless I give the order, okay?" Everyone nodded except Ben, who seemed lost. He was staring in the direction of the incoming mech. "Hey," Hal called to his brother. "Okay?" Ben gave a pretty pathetic excuse for a nod and looked away. Hal looked at me and I mouthed _drop it. Wait until later_. Hal and I walked back on the bus; Hal stood at the back and I stood at the front, and Ben and Kaylee stayed outside. We all took cover as the mech came closer and closer. The mechs light shined over what used to be camp and when it came over the bus I'm pretty sure everyone stopped breathing. As soon as the mech came, it disappeared again into the darkness.

Once it was gone we all stood up and Ben and Kaylee came back inside. We all regrouped and Hal laughed. We all looked at him like he was crazy

"I think that was our lucky day, right?" He laughed more. "C'mon, let's go." We all sat down and didn't say anything as Anne drove us to the new camp. Kaylee fell asleep on Ben's shoulder for most of the ride, and I noticed Ben didn't exactly protest. I nudged Hal and he noticed it too. We hopped off the bus and I hugged Hal good night then Kaylee and I walked over to our tent that someone nice enough to set up. I laid down and fell asleep instantly.

Kaylee's POV

I woke up three hours later with an extreme migraine. I slid on my sneakers and went outside to get some fresh air to hopefully make this excruciating headache go away. Of course it didn't, but I did find Ben out at the edge of camp and approached him.

"Hey."

Ben flinched a little. "Even with this kind of hearing I can't hear you walking up behind me."

I smiled. "Good. Now at least one person around here can keep you on your toes."

"That person has always been you," Ben shook his head laughing. "And despite how close we are I still feel like there's a lot I don't know about you."

"Those would be called 'Things I'd Rather Not Talk About,' my friend," I patted his shoulder.

"Are they really that bad?" he asked with sincerity and concern. "You don't strike me as the kind of person who would do terrible things."

"Like I said before, I'm ashamed of them, Ben. They're painful to talk about and horrible to remember. I wasn't always the person I am now. That took a long time to achieve. But my past isn't my present and I don't like spending time reflecting on it."

Ben looked down at me intently. "Don't you trust me?"

I shook my head, not believing that he didn't know the answer to that. "I trust you with my life. I'm just afraid that you'll see me differently-" I looked away for a moment, unable to hold his gaze. "-a lot differently if I told you about my life before the attack." Oh my God did I just say that? I sound like a fucking little insecure teenager. Why the hell does this always happen to me?

Ben just kept on looking at my eyes and kept trying to make sense of what I was telling him. "You think that I wouldn't treat you the same because of how you were before?"

I let out a sigh. "Yeah."

"Nothing you did in the past matters to me, Kaylee. Why won't you understand that? All I care about is how you are now. And you said it yourself that you aren't the person you were before. So why is it a big deal to you that you keep what's behind you bottled up inside?"

I feel like I'm at a therapist or some shit. And my headache got even worse talking about this. Faaantastic. I stayed silent since I honestly had no idea what to say to him.

"Now you're ignoring me."

"I'm not ignoring you," I told him. "I just don't know how to respond to that." Before he could press further, I changed the subject. "Have you checked on your dad at all this morning?"

"No. I'm afraid of what he'll say when he wakes up."

I laughed a little. "Ben, what do you think he'd say? He's been on foot for three months trying to find his way back home to us and you think that he's going to be mad at you and not overjoyed to see his son again. Man up and go see your dad."

Ben rolled his eyes. "Gee I wonder what you're like when you're mean."

"Hopefully you'll never have to find out. Let's go." Ben and I walked to the Med Bus and Alyssa was waiting outside by herself. I waved Ben in and stood out there with my best friend.

"How long have you been out here?" I asked her.

"I walked Hal and Matt over here about thirty minutes ago. Anne said that Tom should be up any minute now since she got the bullet out. How's Ben doing?"

I leaned against the bus. "He could be better. He thinks that Tom's going to be upset with him when he wakes up."

Alyssa raised her eyebrows. "Seriously? Tom Mason, the world's kindest guy who loves his kids more than anything in the world, mad at his son for an accident that happened?"

"I know," I shrugged. "He takes things too hard."

"Kind of like someone else I know," Alyssa looked at me.

I shoved her lightly. "Shut up."

All of the sudden, Anne opened the curtain-door of the bus and out stepped a conscious but weak Tom along with Ben, Matt, and Hal. Everyone swarmed over to the platform he was standing on and yelled things like "It's Tom Mason!" and "He's alive!" and things like that. Weaver went up to talk to him and to shake his hand and soon everyone was doing that too.

I walked up to Tom and smiled. "Great to have you back, Tom," I shook his outreached hand.

"It's great to be back," he smiled and I moved out of the way so others could talk with him too.

So Tom was back after three months of thinking that there was no chance of him coming back or even surviving on the ship. Hal, Ben, and Matt were extremely relieved that their father was home as were the civilians and especially Captain Weaver. Tom was going to be back with Weaver to help balance what was good for the military in us and the civilians too. It felt like a missing hole in the 2nd Mass was finally pieced together again. And having a reunited family was something that was incredible, truly, truly incredible.

Alyssa's POV

I woke up and, surprise surprise, Kaylee was gone. I changed my clothes, geared up and walked outside. I found Hal and Matt eating breakfast so I got some water and joined them.

"You guys gonna go see your dad?"

"Yeah! You should come," Matt said. We stood up and walked over to the bus.

They headed up, but Hal noticed I wasn't coming. "You okay?"

"I don't really like the Med Bus, it reminds me of a hospital and I have bad memories associated with them. That was a partially dark time in my life. Go. I'll wait right here."

After about five minutes Matt came running out "Alyssa guess what! Anne said my dad should be up any time! You sure you don't want to come in?"

I smiled. "I'm fine. Go see your dad." Matt ran back inside.

Fifteen minutes later Kaylee and Ben walked up. Kaylee pushed Ben inside then walked over to me.

"How long have you been out here?" she asked.

"I walked Hal and Matt over here about thirty minutes ago. Anne said that Tom should be up any minute now since she got the bullet out. How's Ben doing?"

"He could be better. He thinks that Tom's going to be upset with him when he wakes up."

"Seriously? Tom Mason, the world's kindest guy who loves his kids more than anything in the world, mad at his son for an accident that happened?"

"I know. He takes things too hard."

"Kind of like someone else I know," I stared at Kaylee.

"Shut up." She pushed me lightly.

Just then the curtain thing opened and Tom walked out, supported by Hal, Matt and Ben; he was weak but at least he was alive. Citizens and fighters rushed over, cheering for him. Kaylee went up to him. "Great to have you back, Tom."

"It's great to be back," he smiled and Kaylee and I moved back so others could see him. The look the Mason boys' faces were pure joy and happiness, even Ben looked extremely happy to see his dad up and moving again. Tom Mason had done the unthinkable. He willingly stepped on an alien spaceship to save his sons, and then traveled three months to return to them. Why couldn't I have gotten Tom as a dad? Maybe then I wouldn't have been such a screwed up kid. But then again, I wouldn't be here if my life hadn't been like that. I guess maybe everything does happen for a reason.

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_YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY YYY! The next chapter is my favorite one to write!:D Hahaha but not for the reason you would think;D Hahaha anyways what do you guys think?! Review and let us know!:DDD And Chapter 15 (Called Old Promises) will be up ASAP! Thanks for sticking with us! We love you all:3  
_

_-Keep Calm and Resist On._


	15. Old Promises

_Happy Easter! So sorry it's been so longg! But this chapter is FIFTY DAMN PAGES LONG so hopefully it makes up for it;D Also the next chapter should be fairly long as well:D This has been the chapter I've been super excited to write and honestly I can't wait to see how you all react. On a completely different note, are any of you artistically talented? Because I really want to see if any of our lovely readers could draw Parker or Carter or anything!:D That would be super awesome!:DD Alyssa and I are doing our final project of the year so we may take awhile to get the nest chapter out, so I'm apologizing for that now;D -Parker_

Hi you guys! So sorry it took long but yeah we had to make sure it was amazing! Happy Easter to those who celebrate! Enjoy-Carter

_Also, as sad as it makes me to say this, I just want to remind you that not all stories end the way you want them to._

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Chapter 15-Old Promises

Kaylee's POV

I've been feeling sick a lot lately. Not physically sick but more of a mentally sick. I was losing sight of who I was, who I am now, and who I wanted to become. Things weren't clear for me anymore, and I had a permanent migraine from all of the figuring out I'd been trying to do all the time. Anne had even given me a check up and came up with two disturbing diagnosis.

She told me that migraines often cause sickness and visual disturbances, another thing that had been happening lately. For whatever reason, I kept seeing things that weren't there. Don't worry, not like serious things that _could_ be there, like a skitter or other survivors or something. I was seeing things that I knew weren't there. Once when Ben, Jimmy, and I were out on a mission, I saw my mom walking towards us which is impossible because I know she's dead. I felt like an absolute lunatic.

The second thing was probably worse than the first. Anne said that she was fairly certain about this before she knew it for a fact, but she told me that I was a strange case of congenital insensitivity to pain. Luckily I wasn't a bad case of it, but it was still pretty serious. Basically, she told me that I don't feel physical pain. There are a lot of times that I do feel it, but also a lot of times that I don't. Anne said she had never seen anything like that before, so it had to be strange. Dr. Glass also said that she thinks that I have some kind of deep depression issues that could be causing it, but I could've told you that myself.

I haven't told anyone about my new found problems or how sick I've been feeling. Not Alyssa, not Jimmy, not Hal, not even Ben. Unless it somehow gets worse, I don't feel the need to tell them about it. I don't know what's wrong with me; suddenly I just don't want to be around anyone or talk to anybody. I'm unintentionally shutting them out and I can't help but do it. They deserve to know, but the less sympathy or babysitting in my life, the better.

It was getting a hell of a lot harder to hide though. I knew that Alyssa was aware that something new was up with me and I wasn't telling her about it. I just feel like I'm telling her the same story about the little girl whose parents were killed and how now she's drastically different than that little girl was. And it was continually changing me everyday. For once in Alyssa's life, things were starting to look up, and I didn't want to ruin that by telling her my growing amount of problems. She's as close as a therapist as I would get, and it bothered me that I couldn't tell her about what Anne found out.

A lot of things were bothering me lately and I couldn't pinpoint why. Things like people touching or hugging me, people talking to me for long periods of time, Ben asking me what was wrong, seeing things that weren't there, or even when Anne pulled me aside to ask how things were going. Ever been in one of those moods where you just hate everything and don't want to talk at all? That's basically what I feel every single day of my life, now more than ever. I don't know; I just hate myself more than usual I guess.

"Practicing operational silence? Because you two have hardly said a word all day."

Fast forward to now. Ben, Jimmy, Hal, Alyssa, Dai, Jamil, and I were all out on a scouting, trying to find a way to get the 2nd Mass over this damn river that we've been stranded on the other side of for days. After an hour of searching for ANYTHING that could get us across, we found an old bride. It wasn't the sturdiest thing out there, but hey, it was a bridge. Jimmy, Ben, and I were walking across to the end of it to make sure there weren't any holes or loose boards of wood, which leads you to the present moment of time.

I remained quiet, as did Ben. Ben turned around briefly to scope out what was on the opposite side of the bridge and then continued walking back towards the truck.

"You know it's not your fault," Jimmy said to Ben.

"That's what everyone keeps telling me," Ben replied in a way that made me want to slap him. He feels sorry for himself when his living father survived three months away from home and half that time spent on an alien spaceship. He needs to get the fuck over himself.

"Hey Ben, Jimmy, Kaylee!" Hal yelled across the bridge to us. "Let's go!"

Ben waved to him as his form of communication and Jimmy continued on with his conversation. "Who would've expected your dad to have been there after three months? It was dark, skitters were out, something moved. Anyone would've shot." If this is idea of a "guy talk" he was telling me about, it really sucked.

"It wasn't anyone. It was me." I rolled my eyes slightly and kept quiet. I was done trying to make Ben get over this whole shooting his dad on accident thing. He needed to get over it himself.

A deafening sound of an engine came roaring over our heads. An airship was coming our way and if we didn't sprint for our lives now, we were dead. "Don't stare at it dumbasses; RUN!" I yelled while pushing them forward and sprinting down the bridge. They eventually gained speed and we all raced to where Hal and Alyssa were standing with Dai. The three of us were well away from the start of the bridge, so when Dai shot that beamer down, it landed merely a foot behind us and went up in flames. We kept running until we hit the truck and smiled at how the remnants of the ship crashed into the forest. Sooner than I thought, I'd be running across the same bridge again, but for different purposes this time.

"Nice shot, Dai!" Ben said smiling at him. I think that's the first time I've seen geeky math-nerd Ben in a long, long time.

While the guys shortly talked about how the DShK machine gun we were using didn't have the usual ammunition, Alyssa and I assessed the problem we had on our hands. There was a jagged hole torn straight through the bridge. Our last shot of getting across this river was blown to pieces, just like the beamer Dai shot down.

"Well I guess we can't cross here," Alyssa said monotone. We should've gotten out of here earlier when we had the chance.

"No point in crying over it," Hal shrugged slightly. "We gotta get back to camp and report the intel." Alyssa and Hal got back onto their motorcycles and Ben, Jimmy, Dai, and Jamil got back into the truck. With my new found hallucinations, I didn't trust myself enough to ride on my bike.

Jimmy, Ben, and I piled into the back and basically sprawled out. Ben sat right next to the window, acting as Dai and Jamil's eyes in case more beamers came after us, Jimmy sat on the left of Ben playing around with the DShK and I sat next to the opening of the truck bed with my beloved Calico resting on my knees. I was just looking out at the trees that were passing us by when I saw a person standing in between them. We kept on driving of course, but every few trees there was the same person standing there, again and again. After the seventeenth tree we passed, I realized who that person was.

My brother. I was seeing things again. God, what the hell is going on with me?

I sighed slightly and closed my eyes, leaning my head on the rim of the truck. I kept trying to unsee my brother's face in my mind but no matter how hard I tried to forget it again it was now permanently back in my head. All I wanted was to go back to camp and just walk around to hopefully make sense of all of this, but since Tom was healthy enough to move around now, he most likely would want to come see the bridge for himself so we would all have to go back with him.

"You alright, KP?" Jimmy asked.

"Still unfunny and still a terrible nickname," I said with my eyes still shut. Ben and Jimmy thought that it was hilarious calling me by my initials since it reminded them of Kim Possible and how she was a fighter or something. I never watched the show but Alyssa's little sister did and she used to tell me about it all the time so I knew that her friend on the show called her by that too. Alyssa and Veronica tried to make it catch on with me too, but once I gave Alyssa a very violent talk, she stopped.

"You don't seem like yourself lately," Ben said, "and you're not the only one that's noticed."

"What?" I asked, my mind quickly considering that Anne could've told them about what's been going on. They are my best friends after all.

"Something's wrong with you and no matter how many times you claim that you're okay, we know you're not. Speak up, Parker," Jimmy clarified Ben's message.

"I have nothing to say," I replied, eyes now open and staring at the sky.

The rest of the way back to camp and back to the bridge was quiet between us, which was really weird considering when we were together we rarely shut up. Jimmy and Ben were either wondering what was up with me or plotting to find out and I was just…quiet. I wasn't thinking and I wasn't talking, just looking out around at things and listening to the wind blow.

"Do I actually hear silence back there?" Weaver slid open the window connecter of the truck and stared back at us.

"I'm surprised myself," I said looking back at my commanding officer.

He smiled. "You three are some of the 2nd Mass's best fighters but when I put you all together you talk and laugh so loud, I'm shocked the aliens haven't found us yet."

Ben, Jimmy, and I looked at each other and started smiling. It was true; we were the classic teenagers you would see at a burger joint or something that were talking so loud and probably disrupting everyone there but not caring about anyone's happiness but their own. We would be the ones to get kicked out of someplace for being too loud, or in our case, giving up the 2nd Mass's position when we're on a scout.

The truck pulled over to a stop and the new group piled out as well as the ones that came on their bikes. Pope, Anthony, and Tom had joined us and now we were showing them the damage of the bridge. "You can't even walk across this thing," Pope said stepping on the charred wood. "Dollars in donuts, the beamers would bomb the hell outta your work crew ten minutes after they started trying to rebuild it."

"Oh I didn't say I had everything worked out," Jamil told Pope. "I said this is our best chance."

"We may be better off probing for a weak point than fighting our way out," Weaver turned to Tom to see what his opinion was on the bridge. He's been back a week and Weaver's already having him out working with him.

"Yeah well, the mech and skitter columns I saw weren't carrying any weak points with them," Pope pointed out. Why can't we just settle on yes or no and save time?

"So far we managed to stay hidden," Hal started. "They're working hard and they're closing in fast. They're gonna be on us in two days. That's tops."

"Why don't they just nuke the whole damn city and be done with us?" Anthony asked with ever so much enthusiasm.

"Might not be worth it. We haven't seen them drop neutron bombs in months; not since Boston."

"They won't need a nuke if were trapped on this side of the river. What about that boat you liberated from the sporting goods store, Jamil?" Weaver was in one of his no-nonsense-unrelated-to-the-mission-moods. Again.

"It was rubber. Seats five, no motor. Best guess it'd take us forty minutes roundtrip across the river."

"That'd take way too long to get everybody across. And what about the vehicles, the heavy weapons? Wounded, supplies?" Thank you, Tom, for speeding things along.

"Yeah, not acceptable," Weaver looked along the bridge.

"Captain, it seems that our best and only option is to rebuild the bridge."

Jamil spoke up again. "We don't have to rebuild it, Captain. We can just patch it up. The supports look like hell but I think they'll hold. We can build decking, bridge it over these gaps and drive across. Doesn't have to last forever, right? Just one night." Maybe one of the only reasons why I hate being a young fighter is that we aren't really supposed to pitch in our opinions while Weaver and the adults talk it over, so I feel pretty much useless. I honestly don't know why they bring us along for this when we really aren't needed.

Weaver took a look at us and then back forward. "We don't have a choice. Start building the decking, Jamil." There was some conversation that went on after that my mind tuned out for a brief moment, and then in snapped back in when Dai made a good point.

"Once we get across, we have no idea what's in that forest. We could run smack into an ambush."

"That's why somebody's gotta go across for a looksie. Anybody up for a cold swim?" Weaver asked.

"I'll do it," Hal offered. "Alyssa and I will take the boat across and check it out."

Ben's attention was now focused on his older brother. "It'll take you too long to paddle across; I can swim it faster and not be seen." He looked over at our Captain, asking for permission to accept the mission.

"Really?" Tom asked his son, slightly surprised and concerned.

"In a way, Dad, this is what I do." Tom did not want to send one of his boys into uncharted territory, but he hasn't been here to see all the incredible things Ben has done while he was away.

"He's right, Tom. He's the best man for the job." Weaver's eyes moved to Jimmy and me awkwardly standing and waiting. "You take Jimmy and Kaylee with you to cover you at the riverbank tonight. Any questions?" When no one asked, all of us returned to camp.

As soon as the truck came to a stop in the 2nd Mass camp, I jumped out of the back and started walking away from everybody. I just needed a fucking break from reality for a little bit before I lost my mind completely. So I went inside our tent, picked up my guitar, and played. And played and played and played.

Music has always calmed me down. For as long as I can remember, music was my one way out; it was my reason for living. Every time I got into a fight, and believe me that was more than a couple of times, or got called into the principle's office, the first thing I did when I got home was go straight to my guitar or my piano and play for a few hours. I don't know why I needed it so much. It was one way that I stayed connected with my mom, so I suppose that was a reason to it. And it was also something that made me feel happy inside. Judging by how often I wasn't, this was life's way of putting some kind of emotion that didn't revolve around depression or anger or hate in my life.

The tent flap burst open and a semi-irritated looking Ben stood before me.

"Come on in," I said sarcastically and kept on playing chords without looking at him.

"What the hell is going on with you, Kaylee?" he asked. I could feel his gaze boring into my head. Ben's pissed at me now. Greeeaattt.

"Do you want me to write you a list?"

"I'm sick of pretending that I don't care enough to keep pushing you to answer me. It's also getting real damn annoying that every time I try to get you to open up, you only close even further. Why do you do that?"

"Because it's none of your concern."

"But I _am_ concerned, Kaylee. Why can't you see that? You're not acting like yourself and it's starting to worry me."

I set my guitar down and got up. "You clearly don't know as much as you think you do about me."

Just as I was about to leave the tent, he grabbed my upper arm and forced me back. "You keep pushing people away, now more than I've seen you do before. But what you need to wrap around your head is that no matter how far you push me and Jimmy away from you, we'll always come right back. It's just a waste of energy for you when there's no point to it."

I shrugged out of his grasp and walked out of the tent, furious with myself and furious with the world. Why won't he just leave me alone? Is it really that hard to tell that I don't need people there for me 24/7?

"Don't fucking walk away from me," Ben grabbed my shoulders. Gee, haven't heard that one before. He needs to stop stealing my lines or I'll kill him.

"I really want to be alone right now."

"I don't give a damn. I'm not leaving your side until you tell me what's up. Your choice."

Well fuck.

"Every time I have a problem, why is it that you always take it on to fix it? Why can't you just let me deal with it myself?" I asked, starting to get angry. I absolutely _hate_ it when people butt their way into my life and try to fix my problems. They're _my _problems for a reason so _I_ need to be the one to take care of them.

"Because I'm your friend, Kaylee," Ben said aggravated. "I care about your well being and that you're okay. That's what friends do for each other."  
"I wouldn't know." I walked off again, but Ben stopped in front of me and looked down at my eyes.

"Running away won't solve anything."  
"Yeah, but maybe it'll get you off my back."

"Not happening." Damn he was worse than Alyssa. Alyssa usually stopped asking after I didn't say anything, but Ben was trying to pry me all the way open. I was not okay with that.

I looked up at him. Even by an inch, it still irritated me that he was taller. "I haven't been feeling well, alright?"

"Have you seen Dr. Glass?"

"Yeah and she told me that I had a severe case of a migraine. That's it," I said.

"But that's not all she told you, did she?"

"Yeah it is," I rolled my eyes. "All she told me to do was to take it a little easy. It's just a migraine, Ben. Calm down."

"You're lying to me," he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"No, I'm not. You asked what was wrong, I told you that I have a migraine, and that's that. Nothing more to it." Was it really that hard to comprehend?

"Parker! Mason! Start heading down to the riverbank. It's gonna get dark soon," Weaver called as he walked by us arguing. We gave him a thumbs up and started walking to find Jimmy who was right by the mess tent, so we moved along quickly to the bank. We walked there since we wanted to save fuel even though it was a ways away. Ben and Jimmy were talking to each other and I was just quiet again. Ben had made a good point earlier, about how friends are supposed to know everything that's wrong and to be there for you, but I just didn't want to spill my heart out. Ben still had a little bit of preserved happiness in him, and I hated the thought of making him sad. That was one of many reasons why I didn't like opening up to him about my problems or my past.

Alyssa's POV

It was great to have Tom back; Weaver seemed less stressed and a lot calmer. Tom and Weaver remind me of a yin and yang sign. They were total opposites but they needed each other. Now that Tom was up and moving, we needed to focus on the next task at hand: moving. After we had to run from the aliens, we trapped ourselves in between a rock and a hard place. We had two options: one) try and find a blind spot and go through alien forces, back the way we came or two) cross the river. But to cross a river you need a bridge and we didn't exactly have time to build a bridge. We found one, but it didn't look too stable. It was quite far from camp but we couldn't exactly be picky. That's how we ended up here today. Ben Kaylee and Jimmy were checking the bridge for holes.

"Hey Ben, Jimmy, Kaylee!" Hal called them in. "Let's go!" Ben waved his hand and they started walking back. Just then a large ass beamer appeared and was flying straight toward the bridge. Kaylee, Jimmy and Ben started running toward us. I just stood there, watching them run sprint over to us. Dai aimed the gun and shot the beamer. It hit the beamer perfectly. I swear Dai and Kaylee were related in another life because they both have amazing aim with guns. The beamer came crashing down on our bridge just as Ben, Kaylee, and Jimmy crossed over the on to solid ground.

"Nice shot, Dai!" Ben said smiling like the old Ben.

The guys started talking about guns and stuff, whenever they did that I tuned them out. Kaylee and I observed the damage

"Well I guess we can't cross here," I stated.

"No point in crying over it," Hal shrugged. "We gotta get back to camp and report the intel." Hal and I hopped back on our bikes and followed the truck back. I was watching Kaylee, something was up with her. There's something she isn't telling me and I didn't like it. She has been quite lately, like pre-invasion quite. Before the attack I was lucky if she said more than two words a day. Once we came to the 2nd Mass and she met Jimmy and became friends with Ben she got better. But now she's back to the way she was and I didn't like it. Something's up.

We road back to camp and got a few more people to help with the bridge situation and the road back to the bridge.

"You're quiet today," Hal said.

"Just thinking about stuff," I said still watching Kaylee.

"Okay. So what do you think our best shot is?"

"Honestly I think we should have left yesterday as soon as your dad woke up. But now I think we need to hurry the hell up and patch this bridge so we can get across."

"My thoughts exactly. Well looks like we just have to wait and see what Weaver wants to do."

"Yeah. I just hope we can get away in time. The aliens aren't stupid. They know we're stuck, I mean you saw how close they were yesterday."

"Yeah. That convoy wasn't just heading out. It was on a mission. Luckily it didn't have any skitters with it or we would have had some issues."

I changed the subject. "Have you noticed anything up with Kaylee lately? She has been really quiet all of the sudden."

Hal just looked at me. "Alyssa. Kaylee is quiet. She's Kaylee Parker for crying out loud."

"No like extra quiet. Like unusually quiet even for her." He just kept looking at me like that. "Don't look at me like that." More silence. "I am not crazy! She has been acting weird lately."

"I don't see it."

"That's because you didn't know pre-invasion Kaylee. Our conversations were usually "Hey." "Hey." "How was your day?" "Good and you?" "Good." "Cool." "Cool." That was it! Like usually it was me talking and her nodding. And then when she met Ben and Jimmy that changed. She actually has multiple sentence conversations and the sentences have more than one syllable words! Okay? And now she has changed."

"Maybe she's just stressed or tired. I don't think anything is wrong. Talk to her later. After we cross the bridge."

"It's just you know the feeling you get when you just feel like something bad is about to happen? I just can't shake that feeling."

"We'll be fine. We have a pretty bad ass army don't you think? We got this." We pulled up to the bridge and parked our bikes and walked over to the group. Hal stopped me real fast and kissed my head. "We'll be fine, don't worry."

I smiled as we joined the group. "Okay."

"You can't even walk across this thing," Pope said stepping on the charred wood. "Dollars in donuts, the beamers would bomb the hell outta your work crew ten minutes after they started trying to rebuild it."

"Oh I didn't say I had everything worked out. I said this is our best chance," Jamil responded.

"We may be better off probing for a weak point than fighting our way out," Weaver turned to Tom to get his opinion on the bridge.

"Yeah well, the mech and skitter columns I saw weren't carrying any weak points with them," Pope pointed out.

"So far we managed to stay hidden," Hal started. "They're working hard and they're closing in fast. They're gonna be on us in two days. That's tops."

"Yeah they're on to us," I added.

"Why don't they just nuke the whole damn city and be done with us?" Anthony asked. Way to stay positive.

"Might not be worth it. We haven't seen them drop neutron bombs in months; not since Boston." Hal replied. Why don't we just all put our heads down and vote?

"They won't need a nuke if were trapped on this side of the river. What about that boat you liberated from the sporting goods store, Jamil?" Weaver asked, bringing attention back to the problem at hand.

"It was rubber. Seats five, no motor. Best guess it'd take us forty minutes roundtrip across the river."

"That'd take way too long to get everybody across. And what about the vehicles, the heavy weapons? Wounded, supplies?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, not acceptable," Weaver concluded. Okay so boat's out of the question.

"Captain, it seems that our best and only option is to rebuild the bridge."

Jamil spoke up again. "We don't have to rebuild it, Captain. We can just patch it up. The supports look like hell but I think they'll hold. We can build decking, bridge it over these gaps and drive across. Doesn't have to last forever, right? Just one night."

Weaver looked around. "We don't have a choice. Start building the decking, Jamil." Now we are making progress.

"Once we get across, we have no idea what's in that forest. We could run smack into an ambush," Dai pointed out.

"That's why somebody's gotta go across for a looksie. Anybody up for a cold swim?" Weaver asked.

"I'll do it," Hal offered. "Alyssa and I will take the boat across and check it out."

Cool, something to do.

"It'll take you too long to paddle across; I can swim it faster and not be seen." Wow Ben thanks. I actually wanted to go.

"Really?" Tom asked Ben.

"In a way, Dad, this is what I do." Tom was at a dilemma. He didn't want Ben to go, but he knew Ben was a solider now and this was his responsibility.

"He's right, Tom. He's the best man for the job." He turned to Ben "You take Jimmy and Kaylee with you to cover you at the riverbank tonight. Any questions?" When no one asked, all of us returned to camp.

When we got back to camp I went with Hal and all of the fighters to Weavers tent.

"So here is the plan, we found a bridge and tomorrow morning we are going to cross. It's not the most stable and needs a little work but Jamil is going to fix that. We have a search team going across tonight to see what's on the other side-"

"What exactly do you mean? It needs a little work?"

"The bad guys blew a big ass hole through the middle," Pope said.

"And Jamil is gonna lay down some wood and get it ready to cross tomorrow then we will blow it up," I put in.

"We have a plan don't worry," Tom said.

"I want you all to get lots of rest tonight. Based on what our search teams finds tonight we will decide what to do, but if all goes as planned tomorrow morning we're leaving to cross the bridge. I need all of you at the top of your game. I can't have my best fighters tired or lazy," Weaver finished.

"So what happens if the team finds an ambush waiting on the other side?" Anthony asked.

"We'll go around them or move up the river. Something. But I promise you this, tomorrow at this time we'll be at a different location."

"Tomorrow morning meet back here for your official assignments," Weaver said. Everyone nodded and then left to go get some rest, that's what I was gonna do. We have a busy day tomorrow and Weaver's right. We need everyone totally alert and focused. I was headed to the tent when Tom stopped me.

"Alyssa, do you have a minute? I want to talk to Hal and you."

"Sure," I nodded and I followed Hal and Tom into their tent.

"Okay so I've been thinking. I don't know what those aliens did to me."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Dad Anne said you were fine. There is nothing wrong with you."

"We don't know that. Look I just want you two to watch me. If something happens I need to know I can count on you two stop me."

"Sure," I agreed.

Hal was a little hesitant. "Stop you…how?"

Tom looked at him and then looked at me "Whatever it takes."

"No. I'm sorry Tom, but no."

"Dad, what's wrong with you? YOU'RE FINE! I won't do it."

"Hal, listen to me. I don't remember half of what happened to me. I don't trust myself. I need to know that I count on you two to stop me."

"Tom I really don't think anyone, even aliens, could turn you against your boys. I don't think there is anything to worry about."

"Thank you Alyssa, for your trust in me. I'm glad someone does."

"Dad, no! You're talking crazy!" Hal said and stood.

Tom stood up as well. "I'm not safe Hal. Just trust me on this one. Listen to me!" He said, then he started yelling and freaking out and he fell to the floor.

"DR. GLASS! DR. GLASS COME QUICK! DR. GLASS!" I turned around and saw Matt yelling. Oh my God, how much of that did he hear? Dr. Glass came running over and with the help of a few citizens we carried Tom to the Med Bus. She laid him in on the table and entered doctor mode. We just sat there as she examined him. When she got to his eye she let out a little yelp and Lourdes ran over to see what was wrong. She looked at his eyes and looked like she was about to faint.

"There's something in there," Anne said, staring at his eye. What the fuck?

"Yank it out!" Tom said.

"Tom listen. You don't know what this involves. If I get this wrong you could lose sight in your left eye."

Weaver, Hal, Anthony and I had to hold him down while Anne and Lourdes pulled it out of his eye. It was so disgusting I had to look away. Suddenly Tom let out a scream and I turned around. What I saw almost made me puke. Anne had a pair of tweezers and she was pulling a worm looking bug out of Tom's eye. It was a large mother fucker, that's for sure. She shut it in one of her glass cases and put it on the shelf. Everyone just stared at it. I shuttered. I _really _don't like bugs. Like at all. I wouldn't go near them. That's part of the reason I was failing science in school because I refused to do that stupid bug project where we had to go out, find bugs, _touch them_, kill them and stick them on a poster. I was like hell no.

"Okay, okay its out, you're fine Tom," Anne said.

"Yeah, but who knows what else is inside me?"

"You're probably fine, Tom!"

"Yeah you said that this morning and look what was still in me. I could be a threat to the whole 2nd Mass."

"Dad, you're fine," Hal said, looking rather annoyed with his dad.

"I'm just saying I'd be careful with what you trust me with."

"Are you trying to tell me who I can and can't trust?" Weaver asked, in a serious tone.

"No. I'm asking you to restrain me," Tom said, matching Weavers tone. Shit is about to get serious.

"Fine," he growled. I totally expected Weaver to argue, but he turned around and grabbed something from the shelf and started tying Tom's wrists to a pole right there in the Med Bus. I looked behind me to the door way and remembered Matt, who had been standing there the whole time. Hal saw me and looked over at Matt too. Matt looked appalled at what just happened and the scene that just went on. He turned around to and left. Hal went to go after him but I stopped him.

"Let me." He tried to resist. "If you go talk to him it will be just another speech his bossy big brother is giving him. It will go in one ear and out the other. There's a better chance he will listen to me." Hal nodded and turned back to his dad. I ran after Matt, who was at the shooting range where Ben tried to teach him to shoot. He was sitting on a large rock. "What's up Matt?"

"Why is my dad tied up? Why did Weaver do that?"

"Your dad asked him to," I said.

"Why though?"

"Because your dad just wants to make sure he isn't a threat to anyone."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"When your dad was with the aliens, there are parts of that time he can't remember. And he doesn't know exactly what they did to him. He thinks they may be using him to get to the 2nd Mass and Ben. For what, we don't know; that's just what your dad thinks. Then we found that thing in his eye. And I don't think they turned your dad against us, nor are they using him to get information, at least with him knowing, but that thing in his eye. We don't know what is, nor do we have the tools to examine it. But don't worry, your dad is safe and in good hands. Do you trust Anne?"

He nodded "Yeah. But sometimes I wish I could be more help. I want to fight. I can't help my dad when I am stuck back at camp not doing anything because I can't shoot a gun."

"You don't need a gun to fight. I don't use a gun." Matt just pointed to my hand gun in my belt and the AK 47 behind my back.

"What are those?"

"I only carry them around because I'm forced to. I use a knife. If you want, I could show you how to throw a knife"

Matt immediately started smiling "Yeah!"

I laughed "Okay just don't tell your brother."

"Deal." We headed over to the targets and I started teaching him to throw a knife. He was pretty good. He had a strong arm and good aim. He wasn't anywhere close to perfect, but if he had to fight a skitter with just a knife, I'd give him about a 75% chance of survival. We practiced for another hour. He had the basic form down, I just had to remind him to loosen his arm, or hold the knife differently or widen his stance.

"You just need to practice your aim and you'll be good," I told him. He smiled. I reached into my belt pocket and pulled out a knife Kaylee made me, or part of one. The other day she made me two out of some scissors. They were identical. I handed one to him and showed him the other "Here. Now you have your own knife, a Kaylee Parker original with the blessings of Alyssa Carter." He held his up like a sword and I mimicked him. "By the power invested in me, I bless this knife. May it never fail you in battle." He smiled. I just laughed. He is so easily pleased. "So are you okay?"

"I guess. I just don't like that my dad has to be tied up."

"Matt, your dad did it to protect you. Just like he got on the ship to protect you guys. He loves you three so much; I don't think anything could make him hurt you. It's just an extra safety precaution, that's it."

"Okay." He seemed satisfied.

"Now come on, let's head back. It's late and we have a big day tomorrow. We are moving again. Let's head back." The two of us walked back to camp, talking and laughing. Matt reminded me of my sister. She got on my nerves a lot, but I loved her and if anyone tried to hurt her, they went through me. As we walked up, we passed Hal. He looked at Matt, all happy, and nodded in approval. He didn't think I could do it. I just smirked.

"Matt it's time for bed lets go." Hal said. "You too, Alyssa."

"'Kay, Mom," I said and he kissed me good night and they headed to their tent and I went to Kaylee and I's tent. Kaylee wasn't back yet so I just laid down and fell asleep.

Kaylee's POV

The three of us stopped and stared at the riverbank for a moment. There were times on missions that we were serious and collected because of the thought that one of us could possibly die out here. This was one of those times; Ben had no idea what was on the opposite side of the river, but he was a smart kid who was trained by Alyssa and I so he had to be okay.

We swapped gloves silently. Once we came back from missions we returned them and when we went out we switched them out again. Ben began testing his flash light. Ben, Jimmy and I had a code that we did so we knew that the other was safe using the beams of the flash light. Jimmy made us recite it back to him every time we went out.

"One long two short means it's me," Ben said from memory.

"All clear is two short one long," Jimmy continued.

"And if you got skitters following you?" I asked Ben.

"You get the first shot," Ben smiled slightly.

I nodded and gave him a quick hug. "I'm sorry about earlier."

"Me too," he whispered and let go. He was about to head into the water when Jimmy stopped him this time.

"Wait; you might need this," Jimmy slipped the compass Weaver had given him off from around his neck and gave it to Ben. Aw, my boys love each other. They were probably the greatest friends I've ever met.

"Weaver's compass?" Ben asked surprised.

"Yeah, just don't make me come after it," he said trying to die down the unmanliness that resulted from him giving Ben his compass. "That water's freezing."

Ben grinned. "It's invigorating." He began walking down into the river, Jimmy and I laughing behind him. "INVIGORATING!" He yelled back to us smiling like the old Ben. In that moment I knew what he meant by friendship, and just how great of friends we would always be.

"You two have gotten really close," I remarked, looking up at Jimmy's eyes.

He smiled. "Yeah, we have. We all have."

I nodded. "You guys are the most incredible friends that anyone could ever ask for."

Jimmy and I sat on the bank talking for the next half hour and reminiscing about the night we met. Time had flown by so quickly that it was nearly six months since then. Alyssa and I had been with the 2nd Mass for almost six months…wow. That went by so fast. Jimmy agreed with me that it had been way too long ago. Ben, Jimmy, and I had spent nearly all of that time together too, which was weird to me. I'm surprised that we aren't sick of each other yet. If we weren't now, then we probably never would.

Ben had come back an hour later to tell us what he found. There was an alien aircraft station in the woods along with several mechs standing guard around it. He said that he had also spotted the ship that Dai had shot down earlier and said that there was an alien-like creature that was controlling it, almost like a harness. It was really creepy how he described it, and also creepy that he could hear the transmission coming from it. We talked about it on the way to camp, and by the time we got the entire group of people into the meeting tent the sun was high in the sky. Weaver informed us of what happened to Tom while we were away on our mission. Apparently there was some kind of bug in Tom's eye that Anne had removed, but Tom was in the Med Bus in restraints for safety measures.

"Wow," said Jamil as he looked at the photos Ben had taken across the river. "How did you find this wreck?"

"Saw the beamer get hit and fly off, figured it was trying to regroup with its forces, so I followed the course it took. When I found the ship, I just kept going the way it was headed and found that," he looked down at the photos of the airbase.

"Good thinking, Ben," Weaver praised him.

"You know they're not using any kind of engine I've ever seen. It's some sort of organic biotechnology. Captain, we really should try and grab as much of this wreck as we can. We could learn a lot-"

"It's a bad time for a science project," Anthony interrupted.

"It's a bad time for everything but we need to know all we can about our enemy. Once we get over there you can take the truck and grab what you want," Weaver said. "And then we'll hightail it into the forest and away from that base."

"We're not going in there unless we figure out how to shut off the air power," Hal said looking at the photos. "Do you see anything in these pictures that can help us do that?" All of the fighters in the tent looked at the photos, trying to make sense of the base and anyway to penetrate it.

"No pilot," Weaver remarked.

"No seats, no controls. Ben did you see anything that looked like a radio? Did you hear anything?"

Ben looked up at Weaver and Jamil, darkness clouding his eyes. "No." He was getting pretty decent at lying, I'll give him that, but lying to Weaver was not a smart idea.

Weaver, Hal, and Anthony stared at the photos and started devising a plan on who would go with Hal to shut down the airpower and how they would do it. Ben and I were staring at the map that was laid out and had the 2nd Mass's position marked on it as well as where we were headed. We had a long way to go.

"Anthony. You, Pope, and the Berserkers will stay here and cover our asses. If you see those skitter and mech columns coming in, you kick 'em in the teeth and you run like hell 'cause once we get across we're gonna blow that bridge. Kaylee, I want you down there as well to help the civilians get across as well as cover them from the columns coming in. Ben, you'll be leading Hal and his group to the base alright?"

"Yes, sir." All of us dispersed out of the tent and began heading off to start getting loaded and ready to cross the river. I was going to head back to the tent to take it down and start helping other civilians with theirs, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. Ben.

"Be careful tonight, okay? I honestly can't handle anymore things happening you know?"

I smiled and opened my arms for a hug that I knew Ben and I both needed. "C'mon, don't worry about me. I'm a big girl and I'm gonna be fine. Those skitters and mechs won't even have a chance to take a step towards us before I blow them to hell. And you need to be careful too. You're heading straight at one of their bases."

I could feel him chuckling, and then his arms tightening around my shoulders. "I know you'll be fine. I just don't want to lose you."

I looked at him and stared up at his blue-green eyes. "I don't want to lose you either. You mean a lot to me, Ben. Probably more than almost anyone I've ever known."

He smiled until it reached his eyes. "Same here. So stay out of trouble alright?"

I grinned back. "Never."

He rolled his eyes and let me go. "Watch it, Parker."

"Since when do I take orders from you, Mason?" Ben laughed and shook his head and I turned around to walk over to where Alyssa and I's tent was but Alyssa had already taken it down and had my backpack slung over her shoulder.

"I can take that," I motioned to it and she smiled.

"It's about time lazy ass! Did it really take you that long to walk from Weaver's tent to ours?"

"I had to talk to someone," I said taking my sleeping bag in my hands.

"Who?" my nosy best friend asked me.

"Someone."

"Your boyfriend?" She raised her eyebrows and grinned.

She was most likely referring to Ben. "I don't like him. I don't like anyone."

"He likes you and you like him," she said as we walked gathered our stuff.

"You're crazy. You know I don't like anyone," I said to her, rolling my eyes.

"Don't fucking lie to me. We will talk about this." I threw on my backpack and picked up the tent that was now in its travel size. Weaver wanted all of the fighters to put their things in the "fighter tuck" so that all of it would be organized together as well as the civilians' stuff would be too. Alyssa and I walked over to the vehicle and tossed our backpacks and our tent into the bed of the truck. I was thinking about how this was the first time Alyssa and I had been separated on a major mission since Fitchburg, and that concerned me. But if she had Hal, Ben, and Dai with her then I knew she would be safe.

"Alright. Imma head over to the other side of the river with the others. See you on the other side." Alyssa gave me a swift hug and a bump on the arm and then was off to the rubber boat with the other three. I watched them talking at the bank most likely discussing the plan before they departed. I kind of wish I was going with them, but I was beat and Weaver put me where I was needed the most and that was with the civilians, so I was going to be honored by that. It takes a crap load of patience to be around them and even though I had none Weaver thought I did so that was a compliment to me.

Alyssa's POV

"Alyssa, get up. Alyssa, get up. Alyssa, get up. Alyssa, get up. Alyssa, get up."

"What do you want now?" I glared at Hal. It was too early for this.

"You are not a morning person are you?" Hal asked.

"No shit, Sherlock." I said as I stood up.

"The team is back there's a meeting."

"'Kay and your point is?"

"Do you want to go?"

"I'd rather not."

"Okay. Cool."

"How's Matt?" I asked.

"He was good, but earlier this morning he heard my dad and I talking and he is mad at my dad, but for what I don't know," Hal said.

"He's just frustrated and wants someone to be mad at and he knows your dad will forgive him," I said.

"I hope your right. By the way, thanks for giving him a knife."

"You know, he wasn't supposed to tell you," I smiled.

"He didn't, I found it when I was packing up his stuff this morning. Why?"

"He seemed stressed and he is really good at it too. Like if he only had a knife and had to go up against a skitter I'd give him about a 75% chance of living."

"Really?" he seemed surprised.

"Yeah. Now I'm going back to bed."

"Lazy ass," Hal said as he left. I just rolled my eyes and fell asleep again, only soon to be awaken by Matt.

"Alyssa wake up!" he said shaking me.

"What?"

"I need help packing up the tent. Hal said to ask you."

"Of course he did." I rolled my eyes. "Give me a second to change." He left and I quickly changed into my usual tee shirt, shorts and boots, then I grabbed all my weapons and headed out side. I followed Matt to their tent and helped him pack up. Then I went back to our tent and packed it all up. I even packed Kaylee's stuff. As I was going through my stuff I found a teddy bear I put in my bag the day Ben and Hal first found us. It was a stuffed bear with a soccer ball in its hand. I had completely forgotten about it. I don't think I even took it out once. I placed it back in the bag and zipped it up. I folded our sleeping bags and set them outside, then I took down are tent and sat down and waited for the meeting to finish.

"Someone is finally up," Hal said.

"Yeah thanks to your little brother." I nodded to Matt, who was wondering around. "So how did it go?"

"Good. We're officially crossing. You, me, Ben, and Dai are going to cross over to blow up a structure Ben found. We head out in a few minutes."

"Okay cool." He headed off to go talk to someone or do whatever. I really don't know. I sat back down and waited for Kaylee.

Eventually Kaylee came up. "I can take that," she said.

"It's about time lazy ass! Did it really take you that long to walk from Weaver's tent to ours?" I questioned.

"No, I had to talk to someone." We walked over and put are stuff in the truck.

"Who?"

"Someone."

"Your boyfriend?" I teased

"I don't like him. I don't like anyone." Okay so are we talking about Ben or Jimmy?

"He likes you and you like him."

"You're crazy." Then Hal walked up and motioned for me. Time to go. "I don't like anyone."

"Don't fucking lie to me. We will talk about this. Alright. Imma head over to the other side of the river with the others. See you on the other side." I quickly hugged her and jogged over to Hal and the four of us walked over to the bridge and Ben led us to the structure.

It was like a miniature version of the one in Boston. There was no cell tower or anything like that so Dai had to hit that thing perfectly. We sat there, trying to find a place to hit it and waiting for the perfect time. If we hit it too early, the aliens would become suspicious and attack early but if we hit it too late, well we would all die. And that's not good. Death isn't healthy. We just sat there waiting. As time went on nothing really happened. Then a bunch of beamers flew out of the space ship.

"I can't get a good shot," Dai said, then because he is Dai and he really doesn't give a fuck about safety he hoped down from the small hill we were on and ran closer to the alien building.

"What if he misses?" I asked.

"He won't." Then Dai launched the abnormally large gun thing toward the tower and it was too late to worry.

"Tick tick," I said.

"Boom," Hal finished. The rocket flew perfectly and hit a beamer that landed on a landing beak and slid out of control and crashed into the tower, causing the tower to blow up. We all started cheering.

"Nice shot Dai!" Ben smiled as Dai walked back up the hill. We looked up as all the beamers were flying back.

We all hi-fived one last time before we walked back over to the bridge. By the time we got back to the bridge, the skitters had found us and where hot on our tail. It looked like everyone was across except for a few cars. I looked around for Kaylee. And when I couldn't find her, I looked forward to see her running across the bridge next to Tom with skitters close behind. They were yelling for us to blow the bridge. Jamil was holding the detonator and looked like he really didn't want to blow it, but he knew he would have to. He was waiting for the last possible second. I watched Kaylee and noticed something was off about her running. She was running so slowly. I have seen Kaylee run enough to know when something is up, and something is defiantly up.

"RUN KAYLEE!" I screamed at her. "PICK UP YOUR LAZY ASS AND FUCKING RUN!"

"DO IT NOW!" Tom yelled.

"BLOW THE BRIDGE!" Kaylee screamed. Weaver was holding Jamil back. Then Pope, stupid ignorant self centered mother fucking bastard he is, took the detonator from Jamil and blew the bridge. We saw the bridge explode and the skitters fall, Tom and Kaylee with them.

I wanted to punch something, or more specifically, someone. I glared at Pope. "You mother fucking bastard!" I shrieked. As I said the Hal turned around a punched him in the face. Pope fell to the ground and Hal continually beat him until Weaver pulled him off. All the civilians and fighters moved the vehicles away from the water and found a place to stay for the night. Weaver, Hal, Ben, Matt, Jimmy, Anne and I stayed and waited.

"If they don't show up in the next few hours I'll send a team in to go and find them. For the time being we should head back to camp," Weaver said, but no one moved. We all just stood there staring at the water. I don't think if I had to see Pope I would be able to control myself. I would go after him and I don't think anyone would exactly rush to stop me. We all stood there waiting, even Weaver. Suddenly we heard some noises coming from the water. We all turned in unison. Ben had his gun up in an instant, just in case it was something not so friendly.

Kaylee's POV

"Excuse me?" A man asked me when I walked by him, looking around to see who else was on civilian duty.

"Yes?" I turned to the man and looked him in the eyes.

"Do you know where we're going after we cross the river?"

"Captain Weaver hasn't told us yet but I'm sure he will as soon as we make it across," I smiled.

"Thank you. Also where do the civilians put their things?"

"In the maroon truck over there," I pointed out to the truck next to the fighters' one.

"Thank you ma'am. Stay safe tonight."

"No problem. I promise," I smiled at how he called me 'ma'am' and not 'young lady' or 'Miss' like a lot of the others do. That was pretty cool. And also he seemed like he really cared about the well being of the fighters and didn't take us for granted. That made me really happy because it reminded me of who I'm fighting for apart from myself and my friends, which I needed a lot. The civilians were our upmost responsibility to take care of and protect and I would do anything to keep them safe. It was my job now, and I took it extremely seriously, as did we all.

I continued wandering through camp, helping civilians with random things like answering questions, asking how things were going, and helping move stuff. I liked talking with them because what's the point of being a fighter if you don't know the people you're fighting for? Plus they were a friendly group of people that loved striking up a conversation, especially with a younger fighter. On some occasions they made me want to rip my hair out, and aggravated a lot of the time, but the civilians were apart of me and defined my purpose in life. Now I see why Weaver wanted me to be here; he knew in some crazy way that I enjoyed being with them and thought I was a good fit for the job.

After an hour of doing odd jobs with the civilians, I came across a woman who was in her mid thirties and looked totally stressed out. "Do you need any help?" I asked her as she struggled to take down her tent.

She sighed in relief when she saw me. "Yes please! You have no idea how hard this is."  
I laughed and began untangling the poles of her tent. "I'm glad my roommate took it down for me." Wow, she _really_ had trouble with this. The actual tent was wrapped and looped around the tent poles (I had no idea how that even happened) and there were a few holes here and there that made the poles snare more.

"So what's your name?" I asked the woman while we worked at the knots.

"Hanna Collins. What's yours?"

"Kaylee Parker. Have you been with us the whole time?"

"No I haven't. I was one of the survivors the 2nd Mass found," she looked up at me for a moment and continued working on a stubborn entanglement.

"Me too. I was alone with my best friend for six months and then Tom Mason's sons found us and took us to the 2nd Mass. Pretty crazy story," I smiled a little.

Hanna smiled back. "Must be quite the tale."

"You have no idea," I chuckled and slipped a pole out of a hole and into the little pouch thing that you put unpitched tents in. We were quiet for a few minutes and then I continued on with the conversation.

"Do you have any kids?"

"I have a little boy, Blake."

"Is he here with you?"

"Thankfully, yes. He's friends with all of the younger children around here," she said. "Are your parents here?"

That question again. That God awful question that made my stomach churn and my heart dark. "No," I said in the most normal tone I could muster. "they died a long time ago."

"You don't have any siblings either?"

"I have an older brother but I have no idea where he could be," I shrugged and put more poles away.

"Do you miss them? Your family?" Hanna asked, momentarily giving up on the tent and folding up some blankets to put away in a duffle bag she had for her and Blake.

"I don't know, I mean, it's been four years since my parents died and I haven't really spoken to my brother since. You learn to deal with the pain of missing them after awhile, I guess."

Hanna looked over at me. "You've had a hard life," she said as a statement and not as a question.

"Yeah I have. Still do, but it's getting a little easier."

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"And your fighting in a war," she shook her head. "That's remarkable. I don't think I could ever be that brave; not in a thousand life times."

I folded her tent and began putting it in the box. "Sometimes it is a little hard going out into a battle field with the possibility of death, but honestly I wouldn't want it any other way. I love fighting, and it's people like you that keep me going on the field."  
Hanna smiled widely. "Thank you."

"Absolutely." We kept up the mindless talk for another few minutes until the sun went officially down and the sky went dark.

"Parker!" Weaver called to me just as I finished helping Hanna with taking care of her possessions.

"Yes, Captain?" I stood up to face him.

"I need you and the other fighters over at the bridge to start getting everyone across and preparing for the alien columns, stat."

"Yes, sir. I'll be right there." Weaver nodded and then walked off to go find the other fighters that would be stationed with me.

"It was nice talking to you, Hanna. See you around," I smiled and waved goodbye.

I was a little reluctant to leave since I didn't really know any of the other fighters that would be there with me. I'd seen them at meetings and talked to them occasionally but I didn't know anything about them apart from the fact they were fighting. I didn't even know their names, which was really bad. Also I suck at starting conversations without making them extremely awkward so trying to be friends with the other fighters was not my best option. I wish that Ben or Jimmy was with me to help make it less awkward, but Ben was on heading to the air base and Jimmy was stationed on the other side of the bridge to make sure that nothing came from that end. I knew that he would be fine, but deep down I was worried about him and also myself. These skitters and mechs that were supposed to be coming in at us had been trailing us for weeks and had been trying to box us in to kill off the 2nd Mass. They were for sure to show up, and they were not going to let us leave without trying to kill us all first. But there's no way in hell that was going to happen, because the 2nd Mass has gotten stronger since Fitchburg and we were not going to let those damn aliens win. Never.

It was pitch black outside apart from the flashlights the fighters had and were using to help move everyone along. There were two school buses that had our food supplies, tents, and artillery as well as some other things that Weaver wanted all together. We had our other vehicles crossing including the Med Bus and everyone's bikes. Then we had the truck with our DShK machine gun loaded and aimed in the direction of possible incoming aliens.

I was standing by Weaver watching Jamil and a few men unloading the decking to lie over the bridge. It took them all of about two minutes to put it down and position it into place and then Jamil yelled to Weaver that we were ready to start crossing.

"Let's fire 'em up!" Weaver yelled to everyone to start the cars and start moving along the bridge. Then he glanced at me. "Don't be reckless tonight, Parker. You have civilians to protect first, and aliens to fight last. Understood?"

"Yes, Captain."

"And don't do anything stupid. I can't lose any more fighters and I certainly can't lose my weapons manufacturer as well as one of my best fighters out here. Alright?"

I smiled and saluted him, this time seriously. "Aye, Captain."

He smiled and patted my shoulder. "You're a good kid."

I laughed walked down the bridge to where four other fighters were at, making sure the vehicles got across as well as a few of the civilians that we were sending in groups. Weaver didn't want all of them going at once because it could slow down getting everyone across and it could cause injuries if they walked in front of the trucks or buses.

Everything was going according to plan. The vehicles were making progress across, me and the fighters here were helping set up dynamite along the bridge so we could blow it after everyone was across, and no one had gotten hurt or panicked at all. Which was pretty unusual for us since the civilians always come up with something to freak out about or somehow find a way to get hurt. The Med Bus with Tom, Anne, Lourdes, Matt, and the wounded were making its way to the patched up part of the bridge and was nearly across. After that, we only had a few more vehicles to make it across. But of course, something had to go wrong. The airbase sent two beamers over our way.

"EVERYBODY TAKE COVER!" Weaver shouted to all of us, and that sent all of the civilians in a frenzy to find somewhere safe to hide out. I whipped out my Calico and began firing at the ships along with my fellow fighters hoping that it would at least slow the ships down in time for the civilians to make it all across. I seriously hope that the airbase team took care of the-

And just like that, they were gone before they dropped a single bomb. Thank God. Everyone resumed with getting the vehicles going and getting more of the civilians across. For the next five minutes, everything was calm and easy for the 2nd Mass. Nearly everyone was across and nearly all of the vehicles were as well. Everything was going smoothly. That is, until Pope came riding in with his Berserkers and Anthony. They said that the skitters and mechs were moving in and fast, and they were bound to be here any second.

Weaver began shouting for everyone to run across the bridge on foot and to leave the vehicles. I was beginning to make my way across with the fighters when Hanna ran up to me and grabbed the collar of my hoodie.

"Kaylee! Oh thank God I found you!"

"Hanna, you gotta get going, right now. The skitters and mechs-"

"I can't find Blake!"

Oh shit. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. "What do you mean you can't find him?"

"He took cover a minute ago and now I can't find him anywhere!"

The loud sound of metal hitting wood made Hanna and I turn around to see what had happened. The Med Bus had hit a pothole and a wheel was stuck. Great. Just fucking great. And Weaver was helping Jamil and some fighters lift it out, so I couldn't bother him and ask what we should do. I had to take things into my own hands for the first time. I had to make my own decision as a fighter and come up with a plan.

"Hanna you need to cross the bridge, _now_. I'll look around for Blake and when I find him I'll send him your way," I said, pushing her lightly towards the bridge again and started looking around for the lost boy.

"But I can't leave my son!"

"Go!" I yelled at her and eventually she started jogging back across the bridge, looking back every few seconds. And then I remembered something. What about Tom? He was in restraints on that bus. This could not get any worse than it already was. Shit.

And then the first mech came stomping up the path. Okay, I stand corrected. It could get way worse than it already is. Damn it!

All of the fighters on this side of the bridge ran onto the "battlefield" and started shooting at the mech. I took cover behind a giant plank of wood we set up earlier to cover us from the bullets and began taking out the mech. A round of bullets was sent my way and I managed to duck straight in time before being punctured with at least twenty of them.

I stayed down for a moment, trying to catch my breath since I just literally looked death in the eyes and slapped it away from me. Holy shit that was kind of scary. When I looked to the side for a moment, a foot was sticking out from behind a table on the front porch of the coffee shop that was right by the bridge. I frowned slightly and then crouch-ran towards it, still trying not to get shot.

When I reached the table, a little kid looked up at me, practically in tears. This must be Hanna's kid. "Are you Blake?" I yelled over the gunshots.

He nodded, shaking and shivering. This poor kid.

"Come with me; you have to get over the bridge now."

"I want my mom!"

I extended my hand to him. "I'm going to take you to your mom, I promise. C'mon, let's go. I'll protect you."

Slowly Blake reached his hand up to mine and I pulled him up and stood in front of him, debating on what was the best thing to do. I looked over at the mech as it was firing to the left of us, and then I picked Blake up in my arms and sprinted as fast as I fucking could to the bridge. I grabbed a fighter's sleeve and handed him Blake.

"Take him back to his mom, Hanna. She's waiting on the other side for him." The fighter nodded and turned around running with me covering him from the front. I ran forward again to help shoot at the still standing mech, but honestly it was no use. None of us had any mech metal bullets. But the DShK did.

I hopped up onto the truck and began shooting down the mech. My body was shaking for some stupid reason and I couldn't breathe normally. What the fuck was happening to me? I took a deep breath and shook out my hands to start firing at the mech. Fighters were going down all around me, and I started getting really nervous for a split second, and then I started feeling brave and pride. I was fighting for the 2nd Mass, risking my life to save others. That made me feel really, really happy. And full of light.

There were several fighters that just flat out got up and ran, but I held my ground while fighting this thing. I had nearly killed this thing with the machine gun and then Tom hopped onto the truck. "What the hell are you doing shooting this thing?! You have nothing covering you!" He shouted moving me aside to take over for me. "Get covered and shoot from there, now!"

I smiled at him and then jumped off the truck and took cover behind the wood along with other fighters. I was taking my chances by standing up to shoot the mech with the last round of mech bullets I had on me and together with Tom, we were almost done with taking it out. Skitters were coming now too, and one even attacked Tom, but before I could shoot it in the head Matt shot it and killed it from the middle of the bridge. I taught him well. Tom smiled back approvingly and then motioned for him to run across the bridge. I started taking out skitters left and right, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw something shiny heading our way. Bullets.

I managed to duck down before they hit me, but just as I opened my mouth to yell at the fighters to cover, all four that were next to me fell back, dead. Blood splattered all over the place including on my cheek and my arm that was covering it, which was totally nasty. And then I realized something: Tom and I were the only two left.

I drew all of the courage inside of me and fueled it into my gloved hands and gripped my Calico a little tighter. It felt perfect in my hands, like it always had. This gun and I had fought a lot of battles together and I hoped that it wouldn't fail me now. We kept shooting until that mech had fallen and until we saw that the Med Bus was finally driving again. Weaver and the others with him ran alongside it, even pushing it as if it made it go faster. Tom and I grinned at each other for a job well done, but those smiles fell off our faces the second we heard more stomping and screeching. DO THEY EVER FUCKING STOP?!

"KAYLEE RUN NOW!" Tom yelled at me and began firing at the aliens.

"NO!" I shouted back and began weaving my way around the bodies and covers set up to get closer to Tom to help shoot these aliens.

"YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" He screamed at me, frustrated that I was disobeying an order.

"I can't!" I said back to him, while the aliens were advancing so he could hear. "I promised Ben that I'd look out for you and I will _not_ just leave you out here by yourself."

He shook his head. "Stay covered!"

I rose from my covering and started shooting the skitters until they all began falling. My entire waist was out in the open, but I didn't care. I hadn't been shot yet, and I wouldn't be. And then over the shooting and the flames crackling around us, I heard Weaver screaming, "TOM! KAYLEE! GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE! WE'RE GONNA BLOW THE BRIDGE!"

"TOM WE GOTTA GO!" I yelled at him and after a few more shots, we crouched from the firing mechs and started running for our mother fucking lives. I heard Hal screaming out for his dad to run, and I heard a few other voices screaming out too. Would that be the last thing I'd hear?

The more Tom and I ran, the more tired I was getting and the more my lungs were burning. What the fuck? I've ran fifteen miles straight before; this was fucking nothing why was my lung burning? I looked up and saw how far ahead everyone was. This bridge is a hell of a lot longer than I remember it being.

My burning lungs were slowing down my stride and I started getting an excruciating pain in my side. Like the kind you get when you've been running a long time. Tom's still healing wound was slowing him down as well, so we were both running at the same speed. And then it dawned on me that there were skitters breathing down my neck because they were so close to us. Weaver had to blow the bridge. Right now.

"RUN KAYLEE!" Alyssa's voice screamed out, louder than I'd ever heard it before in my life. "PICK UP YOUR LAZY ASS AND FUCKING RUN!"

Tom and I exchanged glances that we both understood, and we yelled out in unison, "BLOW THE BRIDGE!"

"DO IT NOW!" Tom shouted when Weaver kept telling Jamil to hold it back.

"BLOW THE BRIDGE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, hearing the footsteps of the skitters behind Tom and I which were way too close for comfort.

"DO IT NOW!" Tom yelled even louder than before.

At that exact moment, I remember looking up and seeing all of the faces of the ones I loved. Alyssa, Ben, Jimmy, Hal, Matt, Weaver, and a ton of others around them had heart breaking looks upon their faces possibly the last time I'd see them again. And before I could call out anything to them, I saw Pope grab the detonator from Jamil and shove it down. And the next thing I knew, my feet were pulled out from underneath me and I was falling straight down into the Housatonic River.

There was about a thirty second time period of which I blacked out during that, but the next moment I found myself kicking up and taking a huge breath of air. I was alive. How the fuck did that happen? Nevertheless, I swam over to the bank to get out of this freezing river and to see where Tom had gone. I was in so, so much pain from hitting the water on my side that I was wheezing and coughing trying to get air into my lungs. I sounded like a dying walrus or something.

"Tom?" I tried yelling, but I coughed in the middle of it and had to take another few minutes trying to get my lungs to work again properly.

"Kaylee?! Are you out there?!" Tom came sloshing up the river with one of his boots in his hand.

"Here," I rasped waving my arm so he could see me because clearly I couldn't shout anymore. "What happened to your boot?"  
"It fell off when we hit the water. Took me a minute to get it, but I did." Tom kneeled down to put it back on and lace it up and I started coughing again.

"Are you alright?" he asked, looking up at me in concern.

I nodded. "My lungs were burning from the running we were doing and the cold water didn't really help either. I'm fine though." I was panting at the moment because of how fucking cold I was and I couldn't seem to fully catch my breath. The more I tried breathing in, the less oxygen I felt like I was getting. What the hell?

Tom stood up. "We should try and see if we catch up with them. Do you think you'll be okay to get up there?"  
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

Tom and I began walking up the bank of the river as quickly as we could. I mean, as of this moment, the 2nd Mass thought we were gone. Tom probably wanted to see his kids as soon as he could so that they wouldn't break down before they knew he was alive while I on the other hand, just wanted to get out of these clothes and put something warm on before I died of hypothermia. We talked a little walking up that river bank and Tom thanked me for sticking around with him out there and that I promised Ben something like that. He was such a great guy and an amazing father and I'm really glad that he's back now with us. We weren't the 2nd Mass without Tom Mason. We never were and we never would be, ever.

The two of us trudged up the hill of the bank in our sopping wet clothes and heard a gun click into place. It was one of the guns I made, I knew by the sound, so it had to be a friend of ours. "Who's there?!" Ben's voice called out. That was a relief. I thought they left without us.

"Don't shoot, Ben," Tom called to his son.

"Once is enough I think," I smirked a little as we walked through the grass to the hill.

Ben took a split second to realize that it was actually Tom, alive and not hurt, and he ran down to us and attacked his dad in a hug. And then he moved over to me and crushed me in his arms. He could feel me shaking and he knew that it wasn't just from the cold. I was actually scared from everything that had happened. That was probably the closest encounter I had with dying and I was terrified, even though it was over.

"It's okay," he whispered, hugging me even tighter if possible. "I'm here."

Those four words instantly soothed me and I calmed down a bit. He let me go so he could look at me and I gave him my best Kaylee Parker smile I could manage. He smiled back and then looked at his dad again and hugged him with Hal and Matt. Jimmy ran down the hill too and he gave me a bone-crushing hug as well and just held me like that for a moment before letting me go. "Are you alright?" he asked looking me over for any possible injuries.

"I'm fine, Mom," I teased him and walked up the hill with his arm around my back helping me up it. I didn't even realize I was doing that but I just couldn't seem to stand on my own at the moment. I felt really sick and I had no clue why.

Anne moved over to hug Tom and Hal and Matt hugged me too. And then of course, Alyssa came running up to me and she looked pissed as fucking hell. "What the fuck, Parker? What the hell were you doing on that side of the bridge?!"

I looked up at her and smirked. "My job. Calm the fuck down I'm fine."

"And what the hell was that shitty ass running you were doing?! I have _never_ seen you run that slow in my life!"

I smiled and started laughing, but my laugh turned into a violent cough that wouldn't stop, and it made my side burn when I did. My cough got louder and I collapsed to the floor coughing and trying to get my airway clear so I could breathe. But when I coughed again, some kind of liquid came out of my mouth and onto the grass.

Blood. Lots of blood.

My heart was racing faster and faster and it only made it harder and harder for me to try and get a small breath in. My side felt like someone had lit it on fire and no matter how hard I tried to clench it to cease the pain it only made it hurt more. I was gasping and gasping for air that I couldn't take in and I felt like my head was going to explode. Someone pushed me from my crouched position over so that I was flat on the ground. I heard people screaming and shouting but I couldn't make sense of any of the voices yelling around me. All I could do was try and breathe but it was getting to the point of impossible.

"Kaylee! What's wrong?!" I heard Ben's voice yelling the loudest of them all. Alyssa was by my side and Anne was on the side next to Ben trying to figure out what the fuck was happening.

"My side," I rasped out so badly that I winced at the sound of how awful my voice sounded. "I can't breathe." Anne unzipped my hoodie and she said something out loud that I couldn't understand. All I could hear was the word "holes."

She rolled up my black V-neck shirt and I didn't have to even look that hard to see my stomach that was stained red. Anne looked up at all of the people and yelled at them all to move out of the way. "We have to get her on the Med Bus right now or she's not going to make it."

Ben picked me up in his arms and began running with me to the Med Bus, dodging his way in and out of people. "Stay with me, Kaylee. Don't close your eyes, okay? Just stay focused on me."  
I nodded and coughed more, and this time when I covered my mouth to do it, more blood spewed onto my hands. The more I tried to breathe normally the harder I started wheezing and I couldn't stop. My eyes were begging me to just shut them, to do myself a favor and just die already. Ben was staring down at me at the moment and I knew then that I couldn't die. Not yet. There were people here that I cared about and civilians who needed me to protect them.

Ben laid me down on the operating table in the bus and started trying to apply pressure to my wounds. Ben's arms were red as well as his sleeves on his shirt and the bottom of his shirt. He was saying something to me, but I couldn't understand what. I think the lack of oxygen I was getting was seriously affecting my brain because I couldn't hear anything over the gasps I was making. The more blood that came out of my wounds, the more everything started fading in my eyes. Anne ran onto the bus with Alyssa, Hal, Jimmy, and Matt behind her and they were all shouting at Anne about something.

Ben grabbed my hands and took off both of my gloves before they were totally stained and ruined and then he grabbed my hand trying to get my attention. I looked up at him and kept wheezing and trying to pretend like I heard what he was saying. He then seemed to understand that I couldn't stay awake for much longer. Ben pointed at his eye and kept shaking my hand slightly so that I wouldn't go unconscious.

"I can't," I rasped out.

"You can," he said back. That was the last thing I heard.

Anne turned me on my side and all of the blood from my chest came running down onto my jeans. It was then I actually got a look at what happened to me.

There were four holes in my chest and one in my arm. My side was swelling purple and more and more blood was pouring out of my chest. I had been shot in five different places. Five.

More yelling came out and I looked up weakly to see Hal dragging a kicking and screaming bloody murder Alyssa out of the bus. Lourdes was trying to get Jimmy and Matt out but I wanted all of them to stay. I didn't want to be alone. Ben was about to get up to but I grabbed his hand tighter and I said, "don't go." At least I think I did because I couldn't hear anything. But Ben stayed and kept trying to keep me conscious.

The worst sheering pain I've ever felt in my entire life tore up my side and I'm pretty sure I screamed. I started blinking and shaking and coughing and I couldn't make sense of anything that was happening at all. But the next thing I knew, everything was dark. I couldn't hear, see, talk, or breathe. The only thing I understood was that Ben was holding my hand and shaking my arm as hard as possible.

_I had to keep reminding myself that it was my duty to protect the civilians first and foremost, and I knew that they day I signed up to be a fighter. As much as I wanted to go and fight these aliens, the people I was fighting for's safety was something that had to come first, and I was going to make sure it was my priority to keep them safe. Even if that meant taking a bullet for them, I would do it. That's what being a fighter was about. And it was a privilege to be the civilian's courage and hope in this war. _

It was then I remembered an old promise to myself, that I would take a bullet for the civilians and the 2nd Mass if necessary. I smiled to myself, knowing that even if I never woke up from this, at least I died with honor and courage.

That was the last thought that ran through my head before I blacked out, this time for real.

Ben's POV

It's been two hours. I can't move. I can't breathe. I can't take my eyes off of her. I'm afraid that if I do just for a second, she could slip away without me even realizing. Anne wouldn't tell me how bad the damage was; she was already upset that I refused to leave her here and that I'm in Anne's way. But I didn't care. All I could do was stare at my best friend's closed eyes, hoping and praying she would open them again soon. Or maybe even at all.

My clothes were stained with her blood. She had taken five mech bullets for the 2nd Mass without as much as a blink. I've always known she was brave, but I didn't know how much she truly cared for the 2nd Mass until she proved it on the battlefield a few hours ago. The one thing I was confused about was the fact she didn't realize she was injured until she was back with all of us, instead of the moment she was shot. I'm not exactly an expert on bullet wounds, but wouldn't you instantly feel it if you were shot? How could she not?

Anne and Lourdes were working as fast as they possibly could to get the bullets out of Kaylee and stitch up her wounds before she lost too much blood. I honestly couldn't take it in here much longer, knowing that there was an extremely high possibility that she could die, but I couldn't stand it outside either. Hal, Alyssa, Matt, and Jimmy were forced to stay outside, completely against their wills. Hal had to drag Alyssa out of here and there were tears running down her face while she screamed to make Hal put her down. I was going to leave too since Anne asked me to get out of the working space, but just as I was getting up to leave, her ice cold hand grabbed mine before I had let go and she whispered two words that meant something to me, something I couldn't pinpoint.

"Don't go," Kaylee had whispered with a raspy voice, clearly in too much pain to think straight. And despite Anne's constant shouting for me to get off the Med Bus, I stayed put. I took her hand back in mine and quietly said to her, "I promise." She was fading fast, no matter how hard I tried to keep her conscious. And after her screaming out and more blood coming out of the holes in her chest, she blacked out. I haven't calmed down since.

"Ben, you gotta go," Anne said softly and laid her hand on my shoulder, looking down at me with her tired eyes.

"I can't." I won't.

"Look at you," she motioned to my bloody shirt, arms, hands, and probably cheeks from accidentally swiping my hand on them. "You're a mess. Go get cleaned up and change and when you get back I'll determine the verdict. Believe me, it'll be easier for you and for me that you're not here to see this."

"Dr. Glass-"

"Ben," she snapped slightly and then returned to her usually calm self, "please. She's in good hands, I promise you." I didn't know what to do. Lourdes and Anne were just staring at me expectantly, waiting for me to get up and leave. And the longer they waited, the more Kaylee bled out.

I gently squeezed her hand and then walked out of the Med Bus. As soon as the cold air hit me, I realized that I was really choked up. Like I was nearly on the verge of crying, as pathetic and weak as that sounds. The more I inhaled to try and get rid of the ball in my throat, the bigger it seemed to get. And I was blinking a little more than I've ever done. All I knew was that if she went, I don't know what would happen to us, to me.

"How is she?" a shaky voice asked. I looked up to see Alyssa, eyes bloodshot and still teary. Hal had an arm wrapped around her shoulder and was trying to calm her down. Matt looked teary too, and Jimmy looked like he was trying to hold it together like I was for Alyssa and Matt's sake.

"I don't know," my voice cracked badly. I coughed slightly to try and lessen the lump in my throat. "Dr. Glass's still doing surgery."

"It's been two hours," Hal said exasperated from waiting to see the news. Kaylee was the little sister Hal had always wanted in replace for his little brother and he always reminded me of that until she came along and they became great friends. "How does it take that long?"

All of us were the quietest I've ever heard us been. I just didn't know what to do. I didn't know if there was anything I _could_ do, except stand there with the others and silently comfort each other. Kaylee was close with each of us in different ways that honestly we all needed more than we recognized until this happened. What would we be like if we lost her?  
No. I would not think like that. I wasn't going to give up on someone who has never given up on me. I'm fully aware that I have issues with that but I'm not giving up on her. She would be fine, I mean, she's Kaylee Parker. She _had_ to be okay.

I silently turned and walked away from them. I can't stand the overwhelming quietness and practically hearing everyone's thoughts. They were hopeless. I needed to get out of these clothes before I started thinking like that too. So I walked into me and my brothers and my father's tent to swap my shirt out and to get some water to clean off the blood on my arms and what not. It took me around five minutes for each arm and my face to get it all off, but I needed a distraction. Any kind of distraction. This was absolute torture.

After I washed my face a little more thoroughly (I swear that it's taking literally every single shred of self-control inside of me not to let some tears fall), I walked back to the group of them, still waiting outside. "Has Dr. Glass come out yet?" When they all shook their heads, I stepped back into the bus and saw Dr. Glass and Lourdes standing there talking. Kaylee was completely bandaged around her chest and her arm. They had to know her diagnosis by now.

The two of them saw me and looked back at each other, and then back at me. "Bring the others inside too," Anne said in a tone that I couldn't read. I motioned for Hal, Alyssa, and Jimmy to come onto the bus and they came up slowly, as if they were really dreading the news they'd hear. I was too, but I just needed to know before I lost it.

Anne took in a breath and let it out before starting. "I'm going to just cut straight to it. She's in extremely bad shape. Apart from the fact that Lourdes and I had to remove five mech bullets from her body, she broke nearly all the ribs on her right side and some of them tore into her lung tissue which was causing her to cough up blood and her difficulty in breathing earlier. If I'm being one hundred percent honest with you all, I really don't think there's even a small chance that she'll pull through. But, everyone does heal differently so I'm not guaranteeing that she won't make it but it's completely unlikely that she will with the type of equipment we have and the type of injuries she has."

"There was about a fifteen minute gap of time before she actually realized she was injured. Why is that?" I whispered, heart turning painfully in my chest from what Anne had just said.

"You mean she didn't tell you? Any of you?" She looked around at all of us standing before the doctor and we all shook our heads.

"I thought she would've told you five considering how close you are. Kaylee came to see me a few weeks back and told me that she'd been having some serious migraines and after giving her a full check up, I discovered that she's been seeing things that aren't there due to her headaches and more importantly that she's an interesting case of congenital insensitivity."

"What's that?" Alyssa asked quietly.

"It's when you can't feel pain," Anne clarified. "On most occasions she can feel it, but on several other occasions she can't. And that's why she didn't feel the bullets; she only realized when she started coughing."

"I can't believe she didn't tell us…" I trailed off. She lied straight to my face when she said that Anne told her that she had migraines. And I believed it. How could I be so fucking stupid?

"Why would she keep something like that a secret?" Jimmy asked no one in particular.

"I have no idea," Anne shook her head. "I'd actually think that Kaylee would want to tell you so she could have you all looking out for her."

"She didn't want us worrying even more than we already were." Alyssa hit a home run with that, and I knew that as soon as she spoke it, it was true. Kaylee hated it when people were concerned about her and now that she didn't tell us what was up with her, she had all five of us believing that it was our faults. If I had only fought her harder, forced her to open up to me, maybe I could've protected her from this. Maybe I could've even saved her life.

"So now what?" Matt sniffled slightly.

"Now we play the waiting game. Lourdes and I have done everything we can and she's breathing which is all that counts as of this moment. I have no way of telling how long she could be out for but my assumption is that it won't be for a long while. It could be weeks."

Weeks without seeing those beautiful blue eyes. Or hearing that incredible laugh of hers. Not seeing that dazzling smile or even holding her in my arms. And the worst part was the fact that it could be much longer than weeks. It could be months, or even forever. Kaylee could die at any second, and there was nothing I could do about it. All I could do was sit here and hope and wish on every single star in the sky that she didn't. I wouldn't be anything close to who I am today without her and she's been the only person who I've told everything to, the one person who understood me more than anyone I've ever known.

And I don't think I could hold back the tears much longer.

I stepped down outside the bus, away from the sadness, away from my injured best friend, and away from all the thoughts of her possibly dying. I can't handle it. If I was going to maintain my composure I couldn't stay around Alyssa because seeing how affected by this she is just makes me realize that I feel the exact same way. I found someone who pulled me out from the dark reality that I had been leading, and when I was drowning again, she fell in too; but I was too late to pull her out. If I had just stopped thinking about myself and trying harder to break down her concrete walls, I could've made her come with us on our mission and she wouldn't have gotten hurt. I was desperately trying to stop thinking about her for at least ten minutes, but the more I tried the more I couldn't stop.

"DAMN IT!" I yelled angrily as my foot slammed into an overturned trash can and it went flying several yards. My mind was racing a mile a minute and I couldn't calm down the anger I was feeling along with the pain and the hurt. I was literally choking on my own tears and all the emotions I've tried so hard to bottle up.

After kicking several things over and screaming a few more curse words, I felt something on my cheek, and for a second I thought it was raining. But it wasn't.

I was crying.

The last time I cried was when I broke my arm in the first grade. And even though now that I was a "mature" teenager, I was crying again. I felt so incredibly weak. Her pain inscribed face was the only thing I could see when I closed my eyes and it was _killing_ me. My mind was racing with thoughts of accusation that this was entirely my fault. I honestly didn't know what to blame it on, but all arrows were pointing towards me and that was something that I couldn't change.

I walked along the edge of the river with my hands in my pockets, trying to make sense of all the possibilities. My best friend, the girl I've liked since the first month she was here, was in a coma that could last for a minimum of a few weeks. She could die at the drop of a hat and I had no idea what would happen if she did. Alyssa can't live without her. Matt adores having her around. Hal loves having a little sister finally. Jimmy can't think straight without her. And me?

I needed her. I _needed_ her. Kaylee kept me sane, balanced. She was the only person who could calm me down in a given moment and the only one who understood everything about me. She taught me so many things, like how to be a fighter, what a broken world is like, and that the entire world isn't all good like I thought it was. She's so much more different than anyone I've ever met in my life and I loved that about her. Kaylee and I never got tired of talking to each other and we always found new things to talk about or ask each other, and that was really special to me. And not to mention that I liked her, a lot. I've had crushes on girls before, but I have never felt the way I do when Kaylee's around and as cheesy as that sounds it couldn't be truer.

I sat down on the riverbank staring at the bridge that we blew up almost three hours ago. A tear slid, and before I could wipe it away, someone sat next to me and saw it.

"Talk to me, man." Jimmy put his hand on my shoulder and looked at me. I could see the tears in his eyes too and his voice didn't sound as confident as it usually did.

"About what?" I took my shirt sleeve and dried the water on my cheeks.

"About Kaylee, about what's going on inside your head right now, about anything you need to say."

I sighed trying to pull myself together. "She's the most incredible person I've ever met in my life and the closest friend I've ever had. I just don't know what to do." My voice kept cracking awfully and I felt like I was choking on the lump in my throat.

Jimmy let out a shaky sigh. He was trying not to cry. "I know, I know. I can't stop thinking or blaming myself and I'm driving myself crazy." He finally let loose and a teardrop fell from his eye. "We could lose our best friend, Ben."

Seeing Jimmy cry made me stop trying so hard not to. "What do we do, Jimmy?"

Jimmy pointed at Kaylee's glove on his right hand. "Wait for her to come back."

I looked down to her glove that was on my left hand and squeezed my hand into a fist. She would live. She _would_, and it won't be any other way.

Alyssa's POV

"Who's there?" Ben asked.

"Don't shoot, Ben," I heard Tom say.

"Once is enough I think," Kaylee joked. I stood back and watched everyone hugging each other. I wanted to know what Kaylee was doing and why she hadn't crossed the bridge. Ben then Jimmy, Hal Matt and Anne all hugged Kaylee and Tom one at a time and were talking to them.

I walked over to Kaylee and stood right in front of her. I was pissed. "What the fuck, Parker? What the hell were you doing on that side of the bridge?!" I asked.

"My job. Calm the fuck down I'm fine." She just smirked. Everyone else was trying not to laugh as well. I have been told it's quite a sight to watch Kaylee and I argue, or Hal and I. Just because of the height difference.

"And what the hell was that shitty ass running you were doing?! I have _never_ seen you run that slow in my life!" She just laughed. This so not fucking funny! The she started coughing, and more coughing, until she doubled over and started coughing out red stuff. I looked more closely and realized it was blood. So, so much blood.

"YOU GUYS HELP!" I screamed. "SOMETHINGS WRONG WITH KAYLEE!" They all come running over.

"Kaylee! What's wrong?!" Ben asked. I just stood by her, not knowing what to do. Anne was looking at her trying to figure out what the fuck was going on and why she was coughing up blood.

"My side," Kaylee said. But it wasn't Kaylee, it was someone else in her body. I have never seen her look like that or sound like that. "I can't breathe." Anne looked at Kaylee's stomach and when she pulled up her shirt there was a bunch of holes.

"Bullet holes. We have to get her on the Med Bus right now or she's not going to make it," Anne said.

Ben picked her up and sprinted her to the Med Bus. We all went running after him. Kaylee was on the operating table and Lourdes and Anne were already working on her. Everyone was yelling and shouting. Anne took off her hoodie and rolled up her shirt. Too much blood came running out of the holes in her side. My eyes started to water. "ANNE WHAT'S GOING ON?!" I yelled. She just ignored me. "ANNE! LOURDES! SOMEONE ANSWER ME! WHAT IS GOING ON?!" I started yelling.

"Guys you need to leave," Lourdes said and pushed us out, but I wasn't planning on leavening Kaylee in possibly her last minutes on Earth. Hell no!

"No," Isaid.

"Alyssa come on-" Hal grabbed my hand but I just yanked it back.

"LOURDES COME HERE!" Then I heard Anne muttering, "Shit, shit, shit!"

"ANNE WHAT'S HAPPENING?! SOMEONE! WHAT'S WRONG WITH KAYLEE?! SOMEONE FUCKING AWNSER ME!" I started screaming and yelling. Hal had to pick me up and carry me out of the Med Bus. "HAL PUT ME DOWN! I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE HER!" I was kicking and screaming and fighting as hard as I could but Hal was bigger than me and easily over powered me. Once we got out of the bus, a big crowd had gathered so Tom and Weaver went to go take care of them.

"Alyssa," Hal said as he put me down and pulled me into a hug. Slowly I started to cry. And Hal just stood there, holding me, never letting go. My eyes hurt from crying so much. We stood outside the bus and waited. Jimmy and Matt sat down and didn't talk. No one did. The next two hours were possibly the worst in my life. Worse than when my mom died, or my brother, or Kaylee's parents. It was horrible. I just sat there, thinking about Kaylee and everything we had been through. I think I cried the most I have ever cried in my life. For two hours Hal never left go of me. He held me and I was thankful for that. It was horrible, the agony of sitting there and waiting. Not knowing if your best friend in the whole world, your other half, was going to live or die. Not knowing if I was ever going to hear her voice or see her shoot a gun or laugh or joke around again. The more I thought about it, the more I cried and the worse I felt; t I couldn't think of anything but Kaylee and her present state.

Then Ben walked out of the Med Bus. He had a straight face, trying to show no emotion. I pulled away from Hal slightly to see him, but Hal kept one arm wrapped around me.

"How is she?" I asked, scared to here the answer that might come.

"I don't know," Ben tried to maintain a straight face but his voice cracked and his eyes were watering, which only made my eyes water some more. "Dr. Glass's still doing surgery."

"It's been two hours," Hal sighed "How does it take that long?"

No one said anything. It was so quiet around here you could hear a pin drop. Slowly Ben walked away. He left and didn't come back for thirty minutes. He had such a sad look in his eyes. He's so big and strong, just seeing his eyes water and hearing his voice crack made me start crying even more. I leaned back into Hal and he squeezed me tightly, I rested my chin on his chest and tried to think positive, but to be honest it was really hard.

Ben walked back up, with a new shirt, all cleaned up. "Has Dr. Glass come out yet?" Hal shook his head. Ben walked in and a few seconds later he called us inside. Jimmy went in first then Matt. Poor Matt. He looked like if he tried to speak he would completely loose it, so he just stayed silent. Hal and I walked in and we all waited for Anne to tell us what the fuck was going on. Anne looked sad, like she had just lost a major battle.

"I'm going to just cut straight to it. She's in extremely bad shape. Apart from the fact that Lourdes and I had to remove five bullets from her body, she broke nearly all the ribs on her right side and some of them tore into her lung tissue which was causing her to cough up blood and her difficulty in breathing earlier. If I'm being one hundred percent honest with you all, I really don't think there's even a small chance that she'll pull through. But, everyone does heal differently so I'm not guaranteeing that she won't make it but it's completely unlikely that she will with the type of equipment we have and the type of injuries she has. Like I said, not many people do and that's with better equipment." I suddenly became thankful for Hal because if he wasn't holding me I might have fainted right then and there from pure shock.

"There was about a fifteen minute gap of time before she actually realized she was injured. Why is that?" Ben asked.

"You mean she didn't tell you? Any of you?" What?

"I thought she would've told you five considering how close you are. Kaylee came to see me a few weeks back and told me that she'd been having some serious migraines and after giving her a full check up, I discovered that she's been seeing things that aren't there due to her headaches and more importantly that she's an interesting case of congenital insensitivity."

"What's that?" I asked.

"It's when you can't feel pain," Anne clarified. "On most occasions she can feel it, but on several other occasions she can't. And that's why she didn't feel the bullets; she only realized when she started coughing." Oh shit!

"I can't believe she didn't tell us…" Ben trailed off. I am honestly not surprised. I knew something was up with her, I just never would have guessed it was this big.

"Why would she keep something like that a secret?" Jimmy asked.

"I have no idea, I'd actually think that Kaylee would want to tell you so she could have you all looking out for her." Anne looked at all of us.

"She didn't want us worrying even more than we already were," I said. As I said it I knew I was right. Kaylee hates compassion or having people worry about her or care for her. She likes being independent. She knew we would worry and she knew she wouldn't have been allowed to fight. That's why Ben went and sat next to her and we followed. I sat down and I don't think I moved for another two or three hours. I remember people were coming and leaving. At one point Tom and Weaver came in to see what was up. Hal left and come back and tried to get me to eat, but I didn't. The only other person who didn't leave was Ben. He sat there and held her hand. We both just watched her, too afraid that if we looked away we would lose her. I just sat there, eventually I fell asleep and it all felt like a crazy realistic nightmare. I had had nightmares like this before. Ones where I lost Kaylee and recently I would lose Hal too. Right now I was having issues separating dreams from reality. I couldn't tell what was real and what my mind had dreamed up. Kaylee was dead, dream (hopefully). Kaylee was shot, real (sadly). Kaylee killed herself, dream. Kaylee is never coming back, dream (hopefully). Everything was a mix of dream and reality and I didn't know what I was supposed to do, what to think. Kaylee was my rock and the person who kept me sane and who calmed me down, the one who smacked (literally and figuratively) sense into me when I needed it. The last think I remember that I am completely sure was real was Ben saying "She will pull through," as he looked at me, then Hal came and picked me up and carried me to my tent. He laid me down and then he laid down next to me and I fell asleep completely and for real this time, my head laying on his chest while he help me tried to comfort me.

_Kaylee's POV_

"_Kaylee, sweetie, the principal needs to see you," my fifth grade teacher Miss Loretti told me after she hung up the phone with who I assumed was the principal himself. All the kids in my class "oohed" at me and pointed as if I was in trouble, only I didn't recall doing anything bad. So if I wasn't in trouble, why did the principal need to see me? _

_At the time, I would have never guessed that that walk down the hallway to the office would change my life for all of eternity. But of course I wouldn't know that; I was eleven for crying out loud. All I was concerned about was deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up: a singer or in the army. Back then I had no idea what the real world was about or what problems happened everyday. Everything in eleven-year-old Kaylee Parker's life was just perfect at the time. Everything. But the second I opened that door to the principal of the elementary school, I knew something was very, very wrong._

_ Cory was here. Sitting in the Mrs. Henderson's office. Cory was in the seventh grade, on an entirely different campus than I was, so why was he here?_

_ "What are you doing here?" I asked my thirteen-year-old brother._

_ "I don't know," he shrugged. Clearly he was as confused as I was about all of this._

_ "We wanted to tell you two at the same time," Mrs. Henderson said leaning forward in her chair and resting her elbows on her desk. She then got very serious and it started to really scare me._

_ "Tell us what?" Cory asked, always the more vocal one compared to me._

_ The principal sighed. "We received a phone call from the hospital an hour ago. You two are moving correct?"_

_ "Yeah, to Dorchester in a few days. Why?" Cory frowned at her. A phone call from the hospital?_

_ "It seems that your parents were taking the last bit of your personal items to your new home and they collided with another car."_

_ My heart dropped in my chest. "They're okay, right?"_

_ Mrs. Henderson's sorrowful eyes looked down on me. "The collision was head on to the car. The other driver hit your parents' car so forcefully that it caught on fire."_

_ I looked at Cory to see what he was thinking about all of this. He was frozen in his seat until he looked back at me, eyes wet and glossy. No, he couldn't believe it too. He couldn't._

_ "The force was so great that it jammed the lock in the car and your mother and father couldn't make it out in time," she brushed some hair from her face, trying to hold it in, "and they passed away moments later."_

_ My eyes widened slightly and then I let out a breath. No. They couldn't be…dead…could they? They couldn't possibly have collided with a car; my mom and dad were much too careful of drivers._

_ "They were taken to the hospital to identify who they were and to see if they could still survive, but it was too late. I'm so sorry you two. I'm so, so sorry." Mrs. Henderson took a tissue from the box on the corner of her desk and wiped the tears falling from her cheeks. She gave one to Cory and me too, as if to compensate for what had just happened. _

_ All I could do was stare into my lap at the tissue in my hand. My parents were dead. Just like that. I would never see them again, never talk to them again, never hear them laugh again. I wouldn't be able to ever tell them about the things that happened at school or what I had learned that day. And I know how many kids get annoyed that their parents ask them about things all the time, but now that was stripped from my life. I didn't even get a choice. They were gone. Of all the people that this could've happened to, it happened to my brother and me. Just two unlucky orphaned kids whose lives were changed forever, just by a five minute talk with the principal of an elementary school._

_ "Where are we going to live?" Cory asked, voice barely audible and barely stable. I knew he was trying to hold it together for me, but I didn't care if he cried or not. _

_ "In your parents' will, they left you two to Jay Carter."_

_ "Alyssa's dad?" I asked, my voice was quiet too, but I wasn't on the verge of tears. I was still trying to let this all sink in. _

_ "Yes. You can move in with the Carters today if you'd like."_

_ "Can we go back to our classes now?" my brother questioned, in dire need to get out of the room._

_ "Will you two be alright?"_

_ I don't think either of us were the same again, ever. I remember walking back to my classroom, slower than I had ever walked before. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't believe that they were…gone. Forever. I could never talk with my mom about music anymore. That was probably one of the biggest things in my life, and definitely one of the things I cared about more than anything in the world._

_ I grabbed onto the necklace around my neck. It was my mother's. _Was. _I had started using the past tense already. How terrible was that? But I was lucky that my mom had given this to me to wear today otherwise it would've burned. It was a black rope-like material necklace with a small silver pendant. Inscribed on it was a Chinese character that meant 'Music.' To anybody, music was just a word and the character was just a decoration on a necklace. But to my mom and I, it was the most beautiful thing in the world. My mom was fluent in Mandarin ("It's important to learn the most common languages in the world, Kaylee. You have no idea how many times I've used it.") and that was what the character was in. And my mom was fascinated by all music from every era and every instrument, so she was teaching me to learn._

_ When I walked back into class, all eyes were on me. My legs gave out from under me once I sat down, now unable to focus on the history lesson we were learning that day. I wasn't able to focus on anything anymore._

_ "What'd the principal want?" the boy sitting in the desk next to mine asked, smug that I was in trouble._

_ "Nothing," I said staring into space. "Absolutely nothing."_

Ben's POV

I spent the whole night with her in the Med Bus, holding her ice cold hand. When I asked Anne if we could get her more blankets, she said it was better to keep her cool so the bacteria in her wounds would slowly die out, rather than become infected. But she felt like a block of ice, and all I wanted to do was hold her close until she was warm again.

That night was hard. I was alone in the Med Bus, leaning on a stool with a single light on. My thoughts were darker than dark, and I couldn't feel anything except the excruciating pain in my heart. Being helpless is the worse damn thing anyone can be, and it was slowly eating me alive. Losing her meant losing half of what I live for. Kaylee Nicole Parker isn't just a friend to me. She is a _lifesaver_. She is more than a best friend to me, and means more to me than almost anyone. If I lost her, I don't think I could manage.

Apart from pain and grief, I was utterly beyond furious. If she died, I would have to live with the constant regret of not telling her how I felt about her. Even though I know she doesn't feel that way about me, I would regret not telling her every day of my life. Every single damn day. Jimmy was a mess, just like me. His girl was near death, and they never even got the chance to try being in a relationship. But at least she knows about how much Jimmy cares about her.

What made me realize this wasn't all just an awful nightmare was how terrible Kaylee looked. Her skin was whiter than paper, the dark circles under her eyes were literally the color black, her red-gold hair was tangled and matted, and she was so much skinnier than she's been. I honestly don't think she's been eating properly for a long, long time, because she's getting pretty thin but still maintaining her figure. I remember her telling me something about how it was her job to protect and provide for the civilians, so I know she's not eating right because of any insecurity, but because she's trying to pass along a little more portions of food to the civilians. I know my duty is to the civilians and that I'm willingly risking my life to save them, but fighters really deserved as much food as we could get. With all the running and fighting we do, we burn off our calories twice as fast and get hungrier twice as quickly. I just wish she would have realized that before she fell into a coma.

The deathly silence was driving me crazy. I couldn't even try to sleep which would be able to take my mind off of all of this for at least an hour or so which I badly needed, I couldn't leave for a little while because she could pass the moment I was gone, and I had promised her that I would stay. And I was going to keep that promise, no matter how badly it killed me.

I can't take it anymore. I know it was totally crazy talking to people who can't hear you, but if I'm quiet any longer I'm going to go ballistic.

So I stared talking to my unconscious best friend, hoping that she could somehow sense my voice. "You sure have driven all of us here insane," I chuckled half-heartedly. "I wish you could've seen how loudly Alyssa was screaming earlier. I'm pretty sure the aliens in California heard her." I laughed a little, and then it turned into tears. Why couldn't I pull myself together? I gripped her hand a little tighter. "I'm fucking losing it without you," a tear fell onto her hand and I gently wiped it away. "I can't go more than five seconds without blaming myself for all of this. But why the hell didn't you tell us about what Anne diagnosed you with? If you had told us you would've been safe; you would've been walking around with me right now, talking about something pointless and useless. We could have just continued our lives as if everything was perfectly fine, and aliens hadn't attacked." I wiped under my eye and tried to take deep breaths. This was just flat out ridiculous. I hated crying more than anything. I was such an emotional wreck, and I _hated_ it.

"This is all my fault," I whispered, listening to how badly my voice was shaking. "I could've gotten you to come with us. I could've protected you. This is all my _fucking fault_." I sat there silent for the rest of the night, just crying and shaking slightly from how badly I was hurting, how much I wish I was on that table instead of her. No one understood why I was so hung up about this, and no one understood how much she meant to me in the way she did. And here I was, alone in a bus, just wishing for the impossible. Wishing for a miracle.

The next morning, Anne and Lourdes came into the bus, looking absolutely exhausted and like they didn't sleep much at all.

"Ben did you stay in here all night long?" Anne asked, concerned.

I nodded. If I talked much, my voice would crack from how sore it was from crying.

"Can you help us out a little?" she asked, laying a hand on my shoulder.

"I won't leave her," I said as firmly as I could.

"You won't have to. Lourdes and I just need help taking care of her, that's all."

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, slightly eased that I wouldn't be forced out of here again.

"Just check her pulse regularly and make sure her water bag is constantly filled as well as her nutrient bag. And if I'm out getting a meal or out getting air, you'll come and get me if anything happens, like if her pulse gets slow or if she starts having seizures. Also make sure she stays cool but not cold. Are you up for it?"

"Absolutely." Anne and Lourdes showed me how to check her pulse and where the clean water was and where the nutrient things were. They pointed out to where the blankets were and to where the bandages were in case she started bleeding again, in which I needed to find Anne. Anne actually told me that she was positive that she would start bleeding again because with five bullet wounds to fix, there was no way she could've gotten all of the bullet fragments out. It was actually scaring me to talk about how she could bleed out at any second.

"But if you want some good news," Lourdes told me, "it's very rare that someone took that many bullets at once, went fifteen minutes with bleeding and torn lung tissue and no medical attention, and didn't die over night. That's practically impossible, and Kaylee's still breathing. Just keep thinking positive Ben."

"_Focus on the good things in a bad situation and maybe something will come out of it,_" I heard her melodious voice float through my mind. It was something she had told me when I had shot my dad and was so torn up about it and had no hope that he would make it out alive. Thanks to Kaylee, I started thinking more positive and every thing started working out better. If I did the same with her, maybe something good would come out of it.

After looking over her other patients and checking all of Kaylee's bandages, Anne stepped outside for some air. Hal and Alyssa came in for all of two seconds, and then when Alyssa took off running, Hal following her. Hal came back in a few moments later, and pulled up a seat next to me.

"How's she doing?" he asked me, looking from me to her.

"Don't know," I said, not looking back at him. I didn't understand how he could be so calm and collected during all of this, but considering how none of us were, I guess Hal was being strong for all of us. "But if she survived through the night, I'd say she's doing pretty okay."

Hal sighed, then turned his attention to me again. "You don't have to me so strong, man. It's okay to break down."

I shook my head, not wanting to cry in front of my brother. If I cried anymore I'd throw myself off a building or something. I felt so fucking pathetic when I did, it disgusted me. "I'm sick of breaking down. I just…have no idea what to do with myself. I can't sleep, I'm never hungry, I can't go more than a few seconds without thinking about all of this, and I don't know what to do."

Hal nodded slightly, letting my words sink in before he came up with a response. "I know how much you care about her. And you have to know that all of us care about her just as much, even if you like her more in a certain way. But you have to accept the fact that crying and being upset is part of the process. No matter how many times you do, you don't have to feel stupid or pathetic, Ben. I'd be crying too if it was Alyssa. I think the reason you're taking it harder than all of us because of how strongly you feel about her, and how great of a friend she is to you."

"I can't stop thinking that it's completely and totally my fault, I mean, if I had just hassled her harder about what was up with her, I would've known about her problems and could've made her come with us or something. I knew something was wrong too, but I didn't want her to get angry with me if I pressed her too hard," I shook my head and ran my fingers through my messy hair. Now I kind of see why Kaylee hates opening up to people; it's a hell of a lot harder than it seems.

"You think you're the only one who feels like it's their fault? Weaver is even quieter than usual and angrier. He thinks that if he had assigned her to our mission she'd be fine now. Alyssa, Jimmy, and I are in the same boat with you about talking to her about her issues. Even Dad is pissed about the whole thing. Dad told me that he should've physically moved her across the bridge or yelled for Weaver to get her away."

I was silent, just listening to Hal's words.

"But when it all comes down to the line, she stepped in front of those mechs on her _own_ will, knowing damn well that she could get killed. She sucked up the fear she was feeling and slowed down the fleet for us. Kaylee did it for all of us; for me, for Alyssa, for Jimmy, for Matt, for Dad and Weaver, for the civilians, and for you, bro. Think of it as her way of showing us that she cares about us just as much as we care about her."

_Kaylee's POV_

_ "Take your pick, Niece." I lifted the corner of my mouth and looked up at my Uncle Brett. He'd been what you could call my therapist since that horrific day, and he was also helping me develop better fighting skills. Uncle Brett had taught me how to build several different types of bombs the past two years and also showed me how to use guns when I was eight and now he was teaching me how to make them and shoot better._

_ My eyes glanced at all the guns he had laid out on the table before me. Uncle Brett told me that the gun chooses you, you don't choose the gun. Each gun was a machine, rifle, or sniper rifle and each one was beautiful. There were so many to choose from and I had no idea what would suit me since I had never stuck with one set gun before, but he told me that there should always be one gun that you're extremely comfortable with using. _

_ And that's when I saw the gun that I wanted. _

_ It was a glossy jet-black color with a medium size optic (perfect for seeing long and short distances), a perfect sized barrel which would be easy to maneuver, and a not too long or too short magazine that wouldn't get in the way but would still hold enough rounds that I wouldn't have to reload a countless number of times. _

_I picked up the submachine gun and placed the butt of it on the front of my shoulder and looked through the optic at my target. It was perfect for my tall height and perfect length for my arms. Absolutely perfect._

"_Ah, the Calico M960. Wise choice, youngling." _

"_Youngling?" I raised my eyebrows. "Just because I'm only eleven and a half does not mean I'm a 'youngling.'"_

"_Yes it does," Uncle Brett patted my head and then slid the gun out of my hands to show me all that it could do. _

"_You picked a good one. The Calico's optic can see up to two miles away, the magazine is perfect length, and it seems to fit you really well. It's a Kaylee Parker kind of gun," Uncle Brett grinned and then returned it back to me. I noticed something that I didn't see before in the corner of the stock of his gun._

"_BP?" I asked reading the letters on it. What was BP?_

"_Brett Parker," he said like I should know. "It's like my own personal touch to all of my guns and that way if it's stolen I would know. Plus it just looks totally badass." Brett Parker was my mom's younger brother all right. He was the goofiest guy you'd ever meet and really brave for a man of twenty-three. My mom and my uncle were twelve years apart, so there was a pretty big time gap between them and my uncle _became_ my uncle when he was twelve which was really, really weird. But he was the complete opposite of my mom which I loved. My mom was serious almost always and pretty uptight while Brett never seemed to stop cracking jokes or laughing._

"_Try it out; see how it shoots."_

_I loaded the magazine with the bullets Uncle Brett laid out on the table and cocked the Calico. I looked through the optic and focused on the red and white target painted on one of the trees in Uncle Brett's back yard. And then I fired._

_I think I may have closed my eyes because I was afraid that I would miss since this was a type of gun I had never used before, because I don't remember what had happened in the five second time interval. But when I did open my eyes, there was a bullet hole in the center of the target. _

_Uncle Brett was stunned. When I turned my attention over to him, his jaw was dropped. He just looked from me, to the Calico, to the target, and back again. He's seen me shoot, why was he so surprised?_

"_What?"_

"_I've never taught you how to use a Calico before, right?" _

"_No."_

"_Holy shit." Uncle Brett went over to the tree to make certain that I had indeed hit the middle of the target and to make sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him._

"_You really did blow straight into the bark, Kaylee. You were born to be in the army, kid."_

_I smiled the first actual smile since that day. "Really?"_

"_Hold on one second," Uncle Brett jogged inside of his house and then came running back out with something in his hands. "You still like those fingerless gloves I showed you awhile back?"_

"_Yeah," I nodded wondering where he was going with this._

"_I want you to have these," Uncle Brett dropped a pair of black fingerless gloves in my hands. They were his from when he did his time in the army._

"_You really don't have to give these to me. I know how much they mean to you," I said extending my hands to him so he could take his gloves back._

"_No, no, no keep them. You need a pair anyways. All good shooters do. And besides, I _want_ you to have them. I've got plenty of other pairs that I can wear. Plus they suit the whole black thing you've got going on with you and your gun."_

_I laughed a little and then slipped on the gloves. They were a little big on me, but I'm sure once I grew more they'd fit better. I picked up the Calico and gave it another shot. The bullet hit in the exact same spot as the one before._

"_Looks like you found your gun, Kaylee," Uncle Brett smiled down at me. "Keep it, it's yours now."_

_I smiled at him and then at the gun too. For the first time in six months, I felt somewhat close to happy. At least as close as I'd get in my eleven-year-old life. Shooting let me forget everything else for awhile. It let me be a normal kid with no deep mental issues or problems for a few hours. That was all I could ask for, all I needed to keep me from just ending everything altogether. _

Ben's POV

Hal spent about two hours in the Med Bus with me. Being truthful, it was slightly awkward but I still appreciated that he would hang back with me. He was taking my mind off of everything and we were just talking about the past and how much things have changed for us Masons. Just seven months ago we would be arguing about whom got the remote to watch TV and now we were arguing battle strategies in a war with aliens. Not to mention we both went from two high school students to two soldiers in a resistance group. How does that even happen? Our own dad, history professor at a college, was second in command of a resistance group and now our nine-year-old brother wanted to be a fighter too. Everything has changed so much. I guess the old way of life had changed a lot too, perhaps so much that it was going to be impossible to go back to even if we win this war. I wasn't so sure if we'd make it anymore these days. No one was safe, not even indestructible Kaylee Parker.

"So where are we headed next?" I asked once the room got quiet again.

"To an airport hanger. It's safe enough until we can find a new place to set up camp, and plus there's no alien activity around so all will hopefully be well for awhile, at least until she's back on her feet again," Hal motioned towards Kaylee, who looked like she was just sleeping now instead of in a coma. Maybe she was getting better after all.

Hal left after that, saying he needed to find Alyssa since she had run off somewhere and was really worried about her. Hal had always been great with words and talking to people, especially Matt and I. But he was also one of the most controlling people I've ever met, and that's what always made me angry around him. Yes, he was my brother and I loved him, but other times he made me so infuriated I didn't want to be within miles of him. I was pretty conflicted about all of this, and I know that if I had asked Kaylee about it, she would've told me to suck it up and get over it because I had a living brother who cared about me here. Maybe being friends with her has got me thinking better and less self-concerned.

No, I _know_ it has. Before the attack and before I met her, I admit that I didn't put others ahead of me as much as I should, nor did I realize how great of a life I had in a deeper context. When I was with my entire family, I had those brief moments of how grateful I was, but never fully understood how blessed I was. Kaylee had basically clapped her hands in front of my face and gave me a wakeup call to the real world, which had been hid from me for the longest time. When she woke up, I would thank her for that; I would thank her for making me realize all the things I never knew until I met her.

_Kaylee's POV_

"_So first day of eighth grade. How do you feel?" Alyssa tried to make conversation with thirteen-year-old Kaylee Parker which was a pretty fucking stupid idea if you ask me. You'd think that after two years she'd realize that I don't want to talk at all. But yet she makes a point to try to make me speak sentences longer than three words._

_I looked down at the black jacket, jeans, and high top Supras that I was wearing until I reached the deck of my skateboard. My clothing had changed rather drastically the past two years. Once everything started fading for me, colors did too, so I trashed all of my other clothes and stuck to wearing black jeans, t-shirts, hoodies and jackets, and high tops. I didn't care what I looked like, but I had a feeling that no matter how much I tried to ignore the world, the world wouldn't ignore me. Just like Alyssa. _

"_Like going back to sleep," I said and continued rolling slowly along the sidewalk with Alyssa walking next to me. She was fourteen turning fifteen in two months and was a freshman in the high school that was literally right next to the middle school I was going to. All that separated the two was a gate._

"_Can you at least _try_ and act happy for once?" she asked staring at me as I skated next to her._

"_No." Our walks to school everyday, not in summer of course, were pretty awkward sometimes but I didn't really care. Alyssa was the only friend I had and now that she was on a different campus than I was, it would be even worse for me to control myself around the kids who gave me a tough time. She usually pulled me aside before I threw a punch at someone, but there were always the cases where she wasn't around last year and I ended up shoving somebody. I swear I was turning into a monster._

"_Kaylee, what's going on with you inside? I know you're still upset about your parents but consider this. My mom died four years ago but look at me. Am I wearing all black? No. Am I hating the world and blaming everyone and everything that she's dead? No. Do I keep my feelings bottled up and refuse to talk to anyone? No. So why is it that you're doing that? I just seriously don't understand why-"_

_At that moment, I pulled my black headphones out of my pocket and put them in my ears while Alyssa continued talking, thinking that I was listening to every word she was saying. I was sick of hearing her tell me the same thing everyday, sick of her trying to fix it, sick of her trying to make me feel better. It was kind of her yes, but it wasn't helping. It was just making it worse. I didn't want to talk about it, I didn't want to go to my counselor's office everyday for three hours (after my fifth fight with someone last year, the principal decided that I needed some kind of therapy for my "emotional problems" and forced me to go into the counselor's office everyday), I didn't want to try and sort out my feelings. I just wanted to be ignored. To be alone. To just be silent. That's all._

"_KAYLEE NICOLE PARKER!" Alyssa shouted at me shoving my shoulder. I took an earphone out and looked at her expectantly._

"_You really need to stop doing that."_

_I glanced ahead and saw the middle school and the high school. "See you back at home."_

"_Please stay out of trouble," she said slightly worried about me. _

_Yeah. Right. Like that was going to happen._

_ After going through four dreadful periods of idiots and dumbasses who didn't know anything about what we were learning, it was lunch. I had taken my skateboard out of my backpack and was actually riding it in the halls since no teachers were around and the hall was pretty clear. Just as I was at the end of the hall to go out to a secluded area I sat at by myself, even last year, someone shoved me off my skateboard and watched me skid across the linoleum, laughing. _

_ "Some skater you are." It was him. That fucking ass that I despised with everything inside my soul. He was the one kid that lived to make my life miserable and lived to make me want to die. And I fucking hated him. I hated him so damn much._

Please stay out of trouble, _Alyssa's one request ran through my mind. I stood up, grabbed my board, and dusted my jeans off before continuing out the door. You have no idea how much I'd rather go back and take that guy's neck and slam it against some lockers._

_ "Hey! Did I say you could walk away from me?" the douche asked and grabbed my shoulder, daring me to fight him._

_ "Since when do I take orders from an asshole that can't come up with good threats?" I looked at him, bored written all over my face._

_ "You're a fucking whore, Parker."_

_ "Great comeback. I'm genuinely offended," I said so sarcastically that it took him a few seconds to understand that I wasn't serious. Dipshit. "I've got better things to do than listen to a dumbass try and think of something intelligent to retort at me. If you'll excuse me."_

_ I passed him and walked on down the hall until his obnoxious voice called down to me._

_ "At least I'm not an emo loser with no parents."_

_ I froze in my tracks. I hadn't told anyone about that except for Alyssa. Unless my brother did and it somehow got around to the whole school. I couldn't move forward and let him bash me like that, but I couldn't go back and beat the shit out of him either. Alyssa would kill me if I got into another fight, especially on my first day back. But it was _him_. AJ Rivera. The biggest ass known to mankind. He deserved to be put in his place._

_ "That a good enough comeback for you, bitch? That's what you are, a useless, unwanted bitch. No one's ever going to love you, no one's ever going to want to be your friend, and no one's going to feel sorry for you when you kill yourself. So why not just end it all now?"_

_ I was gripping my skateboard so hard that my knuckles were whiter than snow. Useless. Unwanted. Unloved. _

_ "I bet your parents didn't even love you."_

_ I slowly turned around and set my skateboard on the ground. I walked up to AJ and stared him straight in the eyes. He looked back at me, with a smug grin plastered to his hideous face and he thought that I was going to break down crying and beg him to stop bullying me and to stop hurting me. What was this? Some stupid teen story you'd find in one of those magazines or on writing websites that Alyssa tells me about? He was sadly mistaken._

_ I smirked and looked to the side for a moment. AJ followed my gaze and in that moment, I slammed my fist into his right eye. And then into his mouth and into his side._

_ Again and again and again._

_ He tried shoving me away from him but I grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the lockers. "GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME!" he shouted. I was just about to throw another punch into his other eye when, with my luck, the principal came and ripped me off of AJ._

_ "You two, come with me to my office, NOW." I grabbed my skateboard and backpack and followed Mr. Morris down to his office. AJ pretended that he was more hurt than he was and when we both sat down in the two chairs Mr. Morris had in front of his desk, AJ started clutching his eye._

_ "What happened?!" he asked angrily and exasperated. Mr. Morris knew how many times I've gotten into fights and more often then not he just threw me into detention or added another hour to my counseling sessions._

_ "She just threw me into the lockers and started punching me!" AJ exclaimed and pointed at me as if I was some fiend._

_ "Is this true, Miss Parker?" Ugh, again with that. I hated it when he called me that._

_ "He pissed me off, I tried to ignore it, then he provoked me and I retaliated negatively. So yeah, it's true."_

_ "How many times do you have to learn your lesson, young lady?" Man I fucking hated all these awful names._

_ "As many times as it takes to drill through his head," I pointed at AJ while still making eye contact with the principal, "that I'm not just some girl he can walk all over." Of course, it wasn't just AJ I had fought with. There had been girls and other guys from his little group before. But this was the first time I had taken on the leader of the assholes and I guarantee you it won't be the last._

_ "Say you're sorry, Kaylee."_

_ "No."_

_ Mr. Morris raised his eyebrows. "I'll just have to add another hour to your after school time, unless you apologize."_

_ "See you after school, Mr. Morris." I stood up without being excused and took my belongings with me._

_ "So did you really punch AJ first or did he shove you to make you angry?" My counselor, Mr. Gregory, asked me. He'd been my counselor the past three years and still he always asked the same question: did you start it or did someone else start it? It's been an hour and we've gotten no where. I was going to punch myself at the rate we were going._

_ "I punched him first."_

_ "Why?"_

_ I looked at him, bored and sick of this. "Because I hate him."_

_ "Hate is a powerful emotion, Kaylee."_

_ "Which is exactly why I used it to describe the emotion I feel towards AJ Rivera."_

_ Mr. Gregory sighed and rubbed his temples. Sometimes I think he questions if I do this without thinking or I just really like making this difficult for him. "You're almost fourteen, Kaylee. When are you going to start acting like it?"_

_ I rolled my eyes. "Can we pick this up tomorrow? You can yell at me all you want then, I promise."_

_ "Mr. Morris said-"_

_ "Awesome, thanks. See you tomorrow Mr. Gregory." _

"_Take one more step and you're done with running for your entire school career."_

_I stopped in my tracks. Could they really take that one thing away from me? Running was everything I had right now; without it I would _start_ fights instead of engaging in them. "No. You cannot take that away from me," I looked at him, eyes hard and cold. _

"_Sit down." As if someone was physically pulling me, I reluctantly sat back into the wooden chair. _

"_Now what's causing you to feel so angry at AJ? What's causing you to hate him?"_

"_Well for one, he constantly bullies me for no apparent reason, brings up how my parents never loved me and that no one would ever want to be my friend, and not to mention shoves me and trips me whenever he gets the chance. I'm no psychologist but those things tend to anger people."_

_Mr. Gregory shook his head and let out the seventh exasperated breath in the past ten minutes. "Go home. I need a night to figure out what to ask you and you need a night to try and channel your anger towards something else."_

_Thank God. I stood up and walked out of school. Luckily my sessions ended before Alyssa got out of school unless they were added to and if they were, she knew I was in trouble for something. Except I aggravated Mr. Gregory to the point where he just let me leave early. And let me tell you, that wasn't the first time._

_ I skated down the street to where the two of us meet after school gets out. She was waiting for me. _

_ "Hey. How was school?" Alyssa asked._

_ Useless. Unwanted. Unloved. Alone. Silent. Angry. Whore. Bitch. Hours in the counselor's office. Hours in the principal's office. Punching someone I hate. Class with idiots that don't know anything. Pissing off my counselor by trying to ditch counseling. More hours tomorrow. Almost getting expelled from the team. Getting called on in class and not answering when the teacher had repeated my name. Over and over and over. Trying to concentrate on not wanting to kill myself or think about that day. Trying to work on not getting into another fight. Or another or another or another._

_ "Fine."_

Alyssa's POV

I woke up the next morning and looked around, praying it was all a dream. What I saw told me it wasn't. Hal was next to me, watching me, as if I might break any second and Kaylee was nowhere to be seen. I sat up.

"Hey," Hal said, "How are you?"

"I don't really know, to be honest" I replied.

"Do you want to go see Kaylee?" I nodded. Hal went over to his tent to get dressed and I quickly changed. I was still wearing the clothes I had on yesterday, even my boots. I met Hal outside my tent and we walked over to the tent. "Are you gonna be okay?" Hal asked as he grabbed my hand.

"Yeah," I said. I was wrong. As soon as I laid eyes on Kaylee's still, lifeless body my eyes started watering and I couldn't keep it together. I turned around and walked out. Once I was outside of the bus I started sprinting. I wasn't exactly sure where I was going but I was leaving. I couldn't be in there, not with her lifeless, color-drained body just sitting there and everyone's sympathetic looks and people trying to help me. I thought I was strong enough to at least be with her while she laid on her death bed. I couldn't keep it together long enough and I refused to let them see me cry. Yesterday was the one exception. I don't like it when people see me cry. _Crying is a weakness. It tells people you are weak and they can hurt you. _I heard my father's voice in my head as tears fell down my cheek, slowly at first then faster and faster until I was crying harder then I ever thought possible. _Stop crying Alyssa. Stop now. _My father's voice got louder and louder in my head. I stopped running and looked around. I was at the bridge, or what used to be the bridge. I looked around and saw Kaylee's blood stained on the ground. More tears rushed down my face. I picked up a rock and threw it as hard as I could.

"WHY HER?! WHY ME?! WHY US?! WHAT THE FUCK?!" I YELLED. No one was around so I could yell and scream as loud as I wanted to. "WHAT DID SHE EVER DO TO DESERVE THIS?!" I grabbed my knife and threw it at a tree. I threw it really hard. I walked over to pull it out but it was struck. Like really stuck. "FFFFFUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKK!" I pulled as hard as I could I started punching the tree. I punched it until my knuckles were bleeding, then I continued to punch it. I punched harder and harder until my fingers were numb. The tree was stained with my blood. I sat down and leaned against the tree and buried my face in my hands and cried. Hours passed and I didn't care. I just zoned out, not really thinking about anything. It stared to get cold so I curled up into a ball and fell asleep. I woke up when I felt movement. I looked around and saw a figure looking at me. It was Hal. He didn't say anything, just continued walking, me in his arms. I fell back asleep.

It's been four days since Kaylee's accident. Ben and Jimmy never leave her side. It's really sweet. I don't understand how they do it though. The longest I have been able to be in there is maybe ten or fifteen minutes before I break down. Once I felt tears coming, I don't try and stop them. I just walk away and locked myself in our tent. That's what Anne says. She told me it would help the heeling process if I didn't try and hold it in. Everyone just let me be. I still carried a weapon and walked around camp but weaver wouldn't send me out so scouts and civilians avoided asking me for help. Weaver and the fighters were looking for a new place to stay, now that Kaylee was semi-stable. Hal told me they found an airport that was a possibility. I sat outside the Med Bus, waiting for Ben to leave. Jimmy and Ben left maybe twice a day, but never at the same time. I wanted to talk to Jimmy. Ben hasn't left since last night. He has to leave eventually. I heard movement coming from the bus.

"Hey Alyssa," he looked at me.

"Hey," I nodded the walked past him into the bus. I sat across from Jimmy. "Hi Jimmy," he looked surprised.

"Hey, how are you?"

"I'm coping. So I just wanted to say that when I first met you, I didn't like you," I stated.

"I think that was obvious," Jimmy said, smiling a little.

"But I decided you're not horrible."

"Thanks," He laughed slightly, even though he wasn't sure if I was insulting him or complimenting him.

"I'm sorry, I'm really bad at this," I said "But I wanted to say you're a good kid."

"Thank you. I'm glad I have your approval." He was dead serious.

"You helped Kaylee. A lot. And I'm grateful."

"No problem," he said. I stood up and left. I went back to our tent and picked up my notebook and a pen and started writing.

Ben's POV

It's been a week and three days, exactly. An entire week and three whole days. I've been in the Med Bus this entire time, taking care of her and watching as Anne tried to figure out if something was prohibiting her from waking up or if it was just how bad her injuries were. Alyssa, Hal, and Jimmy have been in and out since, and occasionally my dad would try to come in and talk with me for a little bit since he rarely saw me. Even Weaver came by a few times to see how Kaylee was and how I was; neither of us had made any progress.

I haven't seriously eaten since we crossed the bridge. Or even shut my eyes once. I never leave the Med Bus, only once maybe twice a day just for some sunlight or because Anne forces me out while she re-bandages Kaylee's wounds and keeps disinfecting them all. Even Anne yelling at me to get out and to get some food won't make me leave to eat. I don't really feel hungry anymore. All I've been feeling is a painful numbness that's been in both my heart and my stomach. Jimmy's been bringing me food and staying hours upon hours with me in here each day, but he told me that it's just too damn painful to stay in here for as long as I do and spend the night in the bus waiting.

Alyssa's been a total wreck, too. She has barely spoken and hasn't smiled once since it happened. When she comes in, Jimmy and I stay quiet unless she wants to talk, and sometimes she does, but most times she doesn't. I know for a fact that Alyssa's not a crier, but I've never seen someone cry as much as she has been now. She keeps on trying to hide it, but Jimmy, Hal and I know that it's all she can do to ease the pain. I knew that Kaylee and Alyssa were closer than close, but this really shows how much she truly cares about her. It showed me how strong of a friendship they have, and no matter what kind of hell they get dragged into, they always have each other to rely on.

I really appreciate Jimmy being here as often as he can. It feels a lot less lonely with him around and a lot less painful to have someone to talk to about it. He's the only other person on this planet who understands what I'm feeling because he's feeling the exact same thing, too. Both of us started out on the wrong foot, but I think now we have the bond that Alyssa and Kaylee do. I never had a really, really good friend back in school, but now I had Jimmy and I had hope.

Jimmy brought a deck of cards and that's all we did to pass the time now. We'd been playing so much, that I practically had each card memorized by the way it feels. Hal would come and play with us too and sometimes even Alyssa did just because none of us had much to do now. Weaver had given us a break from duty since none of us really had the heart to fight, although all of us were completely aware of how mad Kaylee would be at us when she found out that we were skipping out on serving because she was out. But we couldn't, no matter the fact that Weaver was just a little short-handed. He said that he'd rather be short-handed than have fighters whose hearts weren't in the battle and whose minds weren't focused. And all of us appreciated it more than anything.

"Hey, man," Jimmy said with a rough voice and sat down next to me, having just come back from the mess center (since we were in an airport hanger we had enough room for a center and not a tent anymore) and food. I took the bowl of whatever and picked at it a little before putting it aside. Jimmy and I talked mindlessly and talked about the things we had been trying to avoid talking about. The 'What If's.

"What do you think will happen if…she goes?" Jimmy asked me, staring at her bandages.

I shook my head. "She won't. Kaylee's not gonna give up on us, and we can't give up on her either, Jimmy."

"But what _if_, Ben? I know for a fact that you've at least considered it and it's all I can think about now. It's been over a week; shouldn't she have made some kind of progress by now? Like moving a little or _something_?"

"I don't know," I said quietly. "But I do know that thinking like that won't get us anywhere." I slid my hands into my pockets and felt something crinkle a little under my fingers. What? I grabbed the paper in my pocket and slipped it out, wondering what it could be. It's not that often that you come across paper in your pocket anymore.

It was the picture. It was _our_ picture. I had no idea that it was in my pants pocket, but I guess I forgot to take it out and it's been there since Kaylee's birthday. I nudged Jimmy and showed him, smiling, actually smiling for the first time in a week. Both of us forgot about this picture; we knew we had it, but we hadn't looked at it much since we took it. Even now, I couldn't get over the fact about how happy we looked, or how stunning Kaylee was when she smiled. I had forgotten what that smile looked like, and how blue those eyes were. Hell, I had started forgetting what she sounded like. All I can distinctly hear is her beautiful voice singing, and that's about it.

Jimmy frowned a little. "Turn it over really quick." I saw something faint on the back of it through the light in the bus. There were seven words penciled on the back of the photo.

_love you guys. Stay strong for me. _

_ -KP 1/26_

And I swear both of us nearly lost it again right then and there. Jimmy and I probably stared at her handwriting for at least thirty minutes before we even looked at each other again. "January 26th?" I asked, trying to remember when that was.

Jimmy then looked me dead in the eyes. "That was two days before the bridge."

"Check yours, maybe she wrote something on it too!" I said almost excitedly. I don't know, it felt like I was talking to her again in a strange way. Jimmy had his in his pocket too, and he slipped it out quickly and flipped it over. I was right, she had written on both of our photos.

_We're gonna be in history books. "Dorky Best Friends Survive an Alien Invasion" they'll call us. Benjamin Andrew Mason, James Michael Boland, Kaylee Nicole Parker. Friends Forever, I promise. I_

We looked at each other confused. Had she just stopped writing or did she mistakenly put and 'I' there on accident? But then I put the back of my picture next to Jimmy's, and it all made sense. She connected the end of Jimmy's and the start of mine, which explained the not capitalized 'L' on mine and the random 'I' on Jimmy's. How she managed to get both of our pictures without us noticing was a mystery to me, but it only made me even more amazed at her mysteriousness than I was.

"She wrote this in case anything happened to her, because of her inability to feel pain…"Jimmy trailed off, still staring at her handwriting. Another thing that was different about Kaylee was she didn't have the typical bubbly, girly handwriting that nearly every single girl had. She had free handwriting: writing that was neither neat nor messy, which symbolized her exactly. Her 'Y's didn't have hooks, the line on top of her 'J' didn't extend on both sides but only from the left until it stopped at the rest of the 'J,' and it was just not the typical handwriting that you would see.

I smiled staring down at the picture for awhile longer. After a bit, I set it down next to Jimmy and did the usual routine with Kaylee, fill water and nutrient bags, check bandages and feel pulse. I know I should feel happy about finding the writing on our photos, but something didn't feel right.

Something felt very, very wrong.

Alyssa's POV

_"__Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel_

_Like you're less than, less than perfect_

_Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel_

_Like you're nothing you are perfect to me."_

I leaned over my notebook to write that down. Kaylee has been out for a week and a half now. People are losing hope. A couple days ago I got an idea for a song and I have been working on it whenever I can.

"That was really good," Hal walked into the tent and sat next to me. "I want to here the whole thing."

_"__Made a wrong turn, once or twice_

_Dug my way out, blood and fire_

_Bad decisions, that's alright__Welcome to my silly life__  
__Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood_

_Miss, no way it's all good, it didn't slow me down__Mistaken, always second guessing__Underestimated, look, I'm still around__  
__Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel__Like you're less than, less than perfect__Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel__Like you're nothing you are perfect to me__  
__You're so mean when you talk_

_About yourself, you are wrong_

_Change the voices in your head__Make them like you instead__  
__So complicated, look how big you'll make it__Filled with so much hatred, such a tired game__It's enough, I've done all I can think of__Chased down all my demons, see you do the same__  
_Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel

Like you're less than, less than perfect

Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel

Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me  
The whole world stares while I swallow the fear

The only thing I should be drinking is an ice cold beer So cool in lying and we tried, tried, tried But we try too hard, it's a waste of my time  
_Done looking for the critics 'cause they're everywhere_

_They don't like my jeans, they don't get my hair_

Strange ourselves and we do it all the time Why do we do that? Why do I do that? Why do I do that?  
Ooh, pretty, pretty, pretty

Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel Like you're less than, less than perfect Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me You are perfect to me  
You're perfect, you're perfect to me

Pretty, pretty please if you ever, ever feel Like you're less than, less than perfect

Pretty, pretty please if you ever, ever feel Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me."

"Alyssa that's amazing."

"Thanks." We sat in silence together for a while. Whenever we actually get to spend time together, we usually don't talk, just sit there and enjoy each other's company. It's better that way. There isn't really much to talk about. Hal grabbed my waist and lifted me up so I was sitting on his lap like a little child. I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"So how are you really doing?" Hal asked. "You tell Anne you're fine and you act fine, in public at least but come on Alyssa. I'm not stupid. How are you really doing with all this?"

"I don't know. How am I supposed to feel? My best friend in the whole fucking world since birth, my other half, is lying on her death bed and has been for a week and a half now. I don't know what to do. Weaver won't let me leave camp, I can't be in there with her. I know that makes me a horrible friend, but I can't keep it together long enough to stay with her. Something about hospitals and seeing Kaylee, this strong, independent, tough as nails, person who doesn't take shit from anyone who seems so indestructible laying there so frail and week. I just can't do it"

Hal was about to respond when we were interrupted by yelling form outside. "DR GLASS! DR GLASS! HAS ANYONE SEEN DR GLASS?!" It was Ben. Oh shit! Hal and I quickly stood up and rushed outside.

Dr. Glass's POV

In my twelve years of being a pediatrician as well as seven months of being the 2nd Mass's field medic, I've never felt as stressed out as much as I do now. So many people depend on me to keep the wounded alive as well as important fighters, and ever since Kaylee became injured I've felt more pressured than before. She has so many people that care about her, including myself, and if she died I would never forgive myself. Ben has been even worse than he was before now that his best friend is in a coma, and Alyssa is absolutely depressed and so upset. I don't even want to talk to anyone or see anybody until she's back and around. It feels like everything around camp is so serious and so tight now that the younger fighters are quiet. They're the group that livens the place up and makes all of us relax when the adults are all wound up about everything. That all changed though, and honestly I don't think it'll ever go back to the way it was.

Kaylee's been the most unique patient I've ever had, considering I have my doctorate in pediatrics. But I've never had a solider here that's had more than two bullets and survived, let alone stay breathing for more than a few hours. Even if Kaylee made it through, she wouldn't be able to get up and around for a long, long time, and her lung will definitely give her some problems in the future. But that was _if_ she made it through, and I didn't think there was much hope for her survival.

I refused to tell the kids this, but if she didn't wake up within the next few days or so, then I highly doubt she would wake up at all. From what I can remember from med school, if a person in a coma doesn't regain consciousness within the first few weeks, then they'll either be unconscious for a long while or would die within moments. Kaylee was definitely one of the toughest fighters here, so I knew that deep down right now she was fighting as hard as she could to heal, but the severe damage in her stomach and lungs was nearly impossible to live through.

I took a breath of the chilly air and exhaled, rubbing my temples slightly. I'd been outside in a secluded corner of the airport away from everyone. I just needed a lot of time to myself to sort this all out and to figure out what I could do to make everything better again. There wasn't much.

The very least of my concerns about Kaylee was the fact that one of her wounds was bound to get infected, and infection in her condition could kill her instantly. Then there was her lung problem. If that started bleeding again, then her airway could get filled with blood and she could suffocate if she didn't cough it out in time. Or if she bled in large amounts. Considering all of the blood she lost, I don't think a week of water and basic nutrients would be enough to help replace all of it. I sighed again. This was too stressful, and I was over thinking this all. I also felt so horrible not telling them this, but I knew it was for the best.

I began making my way towards the Med Bus. I needed to check up on the other wounded as well as Kaylee in a few minutes since I did that every hour and also I needed to check in on Ben. He was in pretty rough shape too, and I was honestly concerned the most about him. He never leaves Kaylee's side, he never eats, he never sleeps, and he rarely talks, at least when I'm around.

Yelling and shouting rung out through the airport and I assumed that a fight may have broken out, but I started getting a little worried when I heard my name being screamed at by someone. "DR. GLASS! HAS ANYONE SEEN DR. GLASS?!"

And when I saw Ben sprinting towards me, my heart dropped.

"Ben?! What's wrong?" Ben grabbed my arm and starting rushing me to the Med Bus, leaving me utterly confused.

"BEN! What's wrong?!" I repeated, making him look at me this time.

"Kaylee's not breathing."


	16. L is for Loss

Chapter 16-L is for Loss

_Kaylee's POV_

_ "Kaylee! Kaylee, wake up!"_

_ My eyes cracked open to little Veronica Carter, Alyssa's younger sister, shaking me awake. Then I remembered that it was Christmas Day, and the poor kid had probably been waiting three hours until I woke up so she could open presents._

_ "Give me a sec, Vee." She ran out of the room Alyssa and I shared and I laid there a few seconds longer, just wanting to go back to sleep. But for Vee's sake, I would haul my tired self out of bed. I got up and somewhat brushed out my hair and readjusted the black tank top I was sleeping in and the black track pants I had on so I didn't look like I had walked through a tornado or something. Alyssa gives me shit about anything these days._

_ I walked out of the room and down the stairs to the little Christmas tree that we had gotten. Jay had gone out the night before with his "buddies" and probably wouldn't be back until tonight so it was just Alyssa, Vee, and I. Alyssa was in the kitchen most likely making us breakfast and Veronica was sitting on the couch in front of the tree trying to wait as patiently as possible. I smiled at her. "You're being really patient. Just a couple more minutes; I need something to wake me up so I can see your reactions better."_

_ Vee grinned and I dragged my feet into the kitchen and sat down on the barstool where Alyssa was making pancakes and muffins. She didn't ever admit it, but she was a pretty good cook on occasions. Other occasions she blew up the microwave, but hey, that's what I was here for. _

_ She slid over a coffee mug to me over the counter and then when back to making pancakes. "How'd you sleep?"_

_ "Not much." I wrapped a hand around the mug to warm me up. I felt like shit and was tired as fuck. _

_ "You look exhausted. Did you have a bad dream or anything?"_

_ And it came circling back to me with the images appearing in my eyes again. Fire. Lots and lots fire everywhere. There was no escape and all of the people I loved were burning inside of it. That's about as much as I could remember before Vee woke me up._

_ "No," I shook my head and took a sip of the coffee. It was black, and ironically I liked it better than sweetened coffee. "Just staying up too late, I guess."_

_ "You need to start going to bed earlier."_

_ "Thanks for the tip, Mom," I rolled my eyes and took another drink before standing up again. "I think that if we make Vee wait any longer she'll have an anxiety attack."_

_ Alyssa laughed. "I'll be right there." I walked back into the living room and told Vee to pick out a few presents to start with. Alyssa and I had been saving for awhile to get her some well deserved gifts and we had enough money to buy her a couple of really good ones._

_ "What did Santa bring you, Kaylee?" I almost smirked at that. _

_ "I told Santa that all I wanted for Christmas was for you to have everything you wanted," I smiled and sat down next to the eleven-year-old. I had just turned fourteen five days earlier so I didn't expect or want anything for Christmas. That's what kind of sucked about my birthday being so close to the holiday. Almost all of the time Alyssa smothered me with affection both days and even though she was my best friend of all time, it made me sick to have to go with it every year._

_ "Okay Vee," Alyssa came into the room and sat next to me. "Go for it."_

_Vee opened all of her presents in a matter of twenty minutes and screamed at every one she got. Vee didn't think that we could afford all of the things we got her so she was really excited that we managed to get almost everything she wanted. Seeing her smile made it all worth it._

_ Watching her made me curious as to how she was such a happy kid. Her mom was killed when she was six and she has a pathetic excuse for a father, although Jay was always easier on Vee than he was on Alyssa. I guess she was too young to have established as many memories as Alyssa did with her mom and she was still extremely naïve about her father being a drunk and abusive guy. Vee was an inspiration for sure, and I had learned a lot from her._

_ "I got you guys something too," Vee smiled and ran into her room and dashing back out with two small presents sloppily wrapped in hot pink paper and ribbons. It took all of my self-control not to vomit at the color._

_ Alyssa opened her little box and a small bracelet that said "Sisters" on it was in the box and Vee held up her wrist to show that she had one too. "Now we can have matching stuff! Kaylee, open yours!"_

_ I tore off the paper and opened the box and a gold necklace with two crossed revolvers was neatly tucked inside. "Wow, Vee. Thanks, I love it!" I put it on and looked over at Alyssa who was proudly wearing her sister bracelet._

_ I smiled at the two of them and how much they had helped me out through my life. I mean, Alyssa gave up having her own room that she had only had for a few months after Kenny went away and then my parents died and she welcomed me right into her room. She even gave up sharing her queen-sized bed with me since Jay couldn't afford a mattress and all of my personal belongings had burned or were sold. Vee was always thrilled to have me around, even before I moved in with the Carters. And I never heard them complain once about me being here. _

_ "Is Cory going to come over for a little bit today?" Vee asked me, playing around with some of her new dolls. _

_ Cory. Hadn't heard his name in a long while. He's been living with one of his friends, although our parents wanted both of us to live with the Carters and stay together. I never saw him anymore; I only got occasional glances of him through the gate when he was visiting his friends since he didn't go to our high school. He never called me, or checked up on me, or even visited. I know we aren't close, even before our parents' death, but why wouldn't you bother to talk with your sister for just a few minutes? "I don't think so, Vee. He's been really busy with school and hanging out with his friends that he doesn't have too much time on his hands nowadays."_

_ "But you never see him anymore. Don't you miss him?"_

_ "A little. But I'm sure he's doing fine." I think that one of the reasons why he didn't want to move with me was because he and Kenny were really good friends until he died. Cory probably didn't want to be reminded of him here. _

_ "When was the last time you've seen him?" Alyssa whispered to me as Vee took her gifts to her room upstairs. _

_ "The day our uncle dropped us off here," I said quietly. "That was the last time I've genuinely seen him."_

_ "Do you think you'll see him again?"_

_ I shrugged carelessly. It was almost like he wasn't even part of my life anymore. "I don't know. I really hope so."_

Ben's POV

Something felt very, very wrong.

Just as I had finished replacing one of her bandages, I placed two fingers to her neck to feel how strong her pulse was.

Only there was no pulse.

I pressed harder to her neck to see if I just couldn't feel it or if everything I've feared of happening was about to become reality. Luckily I felt something after a minute of panicking, but it was the faintest pulse; I could hardly feel it.

And that's when I realized that she her breathing was actually stopping.

"SHE'S NOT BREATHING," I screamed to Jimmy and ran out the bus, yelling for Dr. Glass and shouting at people to find out where she could be.

Kaylee was dying. Right here, right now, and this time it was legitimately dying.

Dr. Glass was making her way to the commotion I was making and I ran to her and started dragging her to the Med Bus. Every second was a second closer to never seeing her again, and that was not something that was going to happen. "Ben! What's wrong?!"

I turned to her, quickly. "Kaylee's not breathing." I didn't even look at her reaction because I had shoved her up the steps and she began shouting orders to Lourdes who must've ran in when I wasn't looking. Jimmy was holding her left hand with her glove on his right hand, and he looked up at me when I walked in, tears gently falling down his face. I sat down in the seat I'd been sitting in the past week and took her frozen hand in my gloved left hand. And soon enough I was crying again too.

Alyssa ran in moments later as well as Hal and Matt, although I really wish Matt wasn't here to see this. Matt was unbelievably close to Kaylee (come to think of it he was the first of us Mason brothers to befriend her) and I knew he'd be messed up if she died. But I just didn't want him to see her go, because honestly I didn't want to be here to see it either. I knew though, that this is where I was supposed to be. If she dies, all of us will be here as she goes.

Anne was pumping her hands over Kaylee's heart while Lourdes was giving her oxygen with the little contraption they had that all you had to do was squeeze it to give puffs of air to the patient. I could somewhat hear Alyssa screaming and shouting at them, but I couldn't hear the words. My hearing was gone and my vision was blurred except for on Kaylee's pale face. She couldn't die. She was Kaylee Parker, and Kaylee Parker doesn't die, at least without fighting her hardest before going down.

This could be it. My last few minutes with her. I couldn't wrap my mind around how short yet long of a time I had with her. It's been nearly six months since she's been with us and I can't believe that I never spilled my guts to her about how much I liked her. And in those minutes, I swore to myself that if she lived and if I found the right moment, I would tell her everything. And I would live with no regrets.

My hands tightened around hers as hard as I could, trying to physically signal to her that we needed help on our end. This was a two way street; she had to fight from within as we fought on the outside.

I'm not sure if it happened or if I absolutely imagined it, but I felt the slightest, slightest squeeze back from her hand. That's the first time she's moved in a week and five days. I looked up at Anne, hoping that all was well again and that it wasn't my imagination that felt her squeeze my hand back. And once I made eye contact with Anne, I smiled.

"She's breathing. Slowly, but it should get better in a couple hours. Ben, if you were a second later, she would've died. You saved her life." That was a first. Usually she was saving my ass but now I finally saved hers. I'd say that we're even now.

"So how long do you think she'll be out?" Alyssa asked, calming down from the panic attack all of us just had.

Anne sighed, meaning that there was bad news about to be told. "I know that she just recuperated her breathing, but it doesn't change the fact of how brutally injured she is. This could just be one of many times that her heart will stop for a few minutes. Or if she continues to be as lucky as she is, she could wake up in a few days, but I'm not guaranteeing either option. She hasn't made any movements which is a weak sign coming from our end. A simple finger twitch, flutter of the eyelashes, or even a small shift in position is a good sign that she might come-to soon. But since she hasn't made any of those, I don't know if she's healing as quickly as we want."

"So even that she just stopped breathing for a few minutes and lived, she could still die?" Jimmy asked, staring disbelievingly at Anne.

"Yes. There's no promise that she will pull through, and there's no promise that she won't either. I just want you guys to be prepared for both."

I let out a breath I didn't even know I had been holding. Losing her…losing her meant losing everything. The 2nd Mass would lose their weapons manufacturer, one of their best fighters, and one of the friendliest fighters too. Jimmy, Hal, Matt, and Alyssa would lose a best friend, someone worth fighting for, and another reason to smile. I would lose the girl who means everything to me, the girl who has saved my ass countless amounts of times, the only person who even gave a damn about me when something bad happened, and most importantly, I would lose the girl I love.

Okay, I said it. I loved her. I love the way she smiles, her bravery, the way her attitude changes when Matt or any other kid is around, her voice, how she cares about everyone, the way she talks about music, and the way she holds herself, like no other opinion matters to her but her own. I love her eyes and the way they never let you guess what she's thinking, I love her laugh, I love how she never hesitates to help others, I love how she's not a girly-girl, and I loved how she speaks her mind and doesn't sugarcoat anything. I just loved her, and everything about her.

I can't believe I just admitted that.

"So what now?" Jimmy sighed, angry and sick of waiting, just like the rest of us.

"I guess we have to wait," I murmured.

"I don't want to fucking wait anymore," Jimmy muttered under his breath considering Matt was in the room and we all usually tried to veto our language a little around him.

"None of us do. But it's all we can do," I whispered back. I hated this just as much as he did, and honestly I couldn't handle much more of it.

* * *

_There was a dark forest. Jimmy and I were by each other's sides, looking for skitters to kill near camp. The two of us had been out here for a few hours and hadn't seen any activity, and it was starting to get a little suspicious. We've had a skitter column tailing us for days, and they still haven't found us. The weird thing was that the 2__nd__ Mass hadn't set up camp too far from the trail we were on, so why hadn't the skitters found us yet?_

"_Is it just me, or is it really creepy that they haven't shown up yet?" I asked Jimmy as we walked slowly through the woods._

"_Really, really creepy," he replied moving aside some branches with his gun. "I don't understand why they-"_

_And as if to answer our question, a chorus of ear splitting screams rang throughout the air. The skitters invaded camp. _

"_JIMMY WE GOTTA GO," I yelled and we began sprinting back to camp, hoping that there wasn't any damage done to camp, or any lives lost._

_Once inside camp, the two of us ran straight into a battle, a battle that was not going well. There had to be over fifty skitters from where I could see, but I did see that there had to be fifty more coming our way. When I turned to see Jimmy's face, he was lying on the floor, bleeding and gasping for air. When I heard another scream, I turned to see a skitter killing Anne and a skitter killing Lourdes. Everyone was dying; Dad, Weaver, Hal, Matt, Alyssa, Anthony, Pope, Dai, the Berserkers, and the civilians. _

_I raised my guns to kill the skitters around me, trying to find someone, _anyone_ that was still alive and hiding. And that's when I heard her voice, screaming out to me._

"_BEN, RUN!" Kaylee shouted to me. A skitter had her arms pinned behind her back and I knew that meant one of two things: it was going to take her to get harnessed or to the Overlords to torture information out of. As long as I was breathing, that was _not_ going to happen. _

_I dodged skitters leaping into my way in attempt to get to the other side of camp to where the skitter was dragging an unarmed Kaylee Parker to an airship._

"_BEN WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! GET OUT OF HERE!" She yelled and tried to get out of the skitter's grasp._

"_I'M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT YOU!" I yelled back to her, and continued to run to her. But something pulled my arms back just as I was within three feet of her. My eyes looked up to see none other than Karen._

_Harnessed._

_She said nothing, but held me back. I heard another skitter behind me and then I heard something that still gave me nightmares to this day. The horrid squirming of a harness, and the occasional screech that it made. They were going to harness me again._

_Karen grabbed the black handgun Kaylee had made me awhile back that was in my side holster. "Nice gun," she smiled and then shot it forward._

_Straight into Kaylee's heart._

_Just as she collapsed to the ground, my screaming stopped when I felt the needles of the harness reconnect with the spikes in my back and all of my thoughts stopped working. Everything was cloudy and fuzzy, and I started forgetting everything and who every dead body was on this ground._

_Except for the girl with blond hair that was lying a few feet from me. I didn't know why, but it bothered me seeing her like that, and I yelled out at her, only to be shocked with a stick by Karen and tumble to the ground, everything I loved dead and gone, including my hope._

"Ben," a hand on my shoulder made me jump awake. Weaver stood before me, alive and breathing as well as an unconscious Kaylee Parker on the Med Bus table. I silently breathed a sigh of relief that the horrible nightmare was just a dream and hadn't actually happened. Then it occurred to me that I had actually slept, which explained the nightmare.

"Sir," I said, trying to regain my composure.

"Are you alright, son?" he sat next to me, looking genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What are you doing here, Captain?"

"Came to visit," Weaver motioned to Kaylee. "How's she doing?"

How long had it been since she nearly died? A few hours? A day? "What day is it today?"

"The thirteenth."

Four days. "She's been pretty stiff still. No movement in the past four days."

"But she moved four days ago?" Weaver peered at me from under his hat.

I shrugged. "I don't know, sir. She stopped breathing four days ago and has been out for two weeks and two days now. She hasn't moved at all since."

Weaver sighed and rubbed his tired face. "She's a daughter to me." Then Weaver looked at me. "As you and Jimmy are the sons I never had."

I smiled faintly at Weaver. "How do you do it, Captain? How do you face each day without losing hope?"

Weaver thought that over for a few seconds, then replied with, "I just take one look outside of my tent at all the kids, the fighters, and the civilians that depend on me to get them out of this mess, and I tell myself that I can't. A leader without any hope doesn't make sense, and neither does a fighter without any hope."

I nodded and then looked back at my best friend. I know that I've practically told you a thousand times about how much it kills me to see her like this, but I don't think you can seriously comprehend this. She was thinner than I've ever seen her, paler than paper, deathly still, and I couldn't even see her stomach since it was completely wrapped in bandages. But I could see the dark violet bruises underneath them, reminding me that she broke all of her ribs from the impact of falling into the water.

There's absolutely nothing worse in the world than seeing your closest friend, as well as the girl you love, lying on an operating table, nearly dead. My heart feels like it's been ripped out of my chest and sloppily returned back inside. And I just couldn't take waiting anymore. All I wanted to do was to scream and shout and yell at the unfairness of this and punch or kill something to calm myself down somehow. But I just couldn't do it. If she died, there would be time for all of that later. She's still breathing though, and that means that she could still make it through. I refused to be away for that if she did wake up, and I wanted to be beside her in her possible final moments.

Weaver had gotten up to leave since he was most likely needed for some kind of plan as to where we were headed after the airport hanger, and then I realized that Alyssa was here, helping other patients with Anne. I didn't even know that she had spent the night here.

The picture was still in my hand, and I took another look at our happy faces, wishing I could go back to that day and reverse all of this. I sighed quietly to myself and leaned my head against the bus's wall and closed my eyes. After that dream, there was no way in hell I'd try and sleep again, but resting was the closest thing to sleep I'd get to, so I just sat and tried to relax for awhile. But ever since I got my harness off, relaxing is the hardest thing in the world for me to try and do. I can hear every little sound in here; Kaylee's heart beating, patients breathing, the civilians talking a couple yards away from the Med Bus, Weaver talking in his tent to some fighters, and even the quiet footsteps of Alyssa's feet, which were headed in my direction. I felt her slip the picture out of my hand and I heard her pick up Jimmy's picture that he'd left here a few hours ago. He said he needed to just think for awhile, so he left to take a walk and set his picture down.

I opened my eyes and saw her puzzled face trying to figure out why the two notes had grammar mistakes on both. "If you put them together, they connect."

Alyssa looked up at me and then back at the pictures. She placed them side by side and then smiled a little. "She really cares about you guys."

"Yeah," I said smiling a little bit too. I just wish Jimmy and I could tell her how much we cared about her too. When I looked back at Alyssa, she was staring down at Kaylee probably wishing she could tell her how much she cared about her like us. "Don't worry about her, Alyssa. She's gonna make it. She's pretty damn strong, anyways."  
"Yeah, she is," Alyssa smiled and then looked back at the pictures again. Dr. Glass came in and talked with Alyssa for a bit before she went to go to sleep. With the way that Anne's been working these days, I don't blame her. If I could sleep I would, because maybe then time would pass and Kaylee would be up and about again.

Alyssa's POV

"She isn't breathing," Ben said and Anne ran into the Med Bus, shouting orders at everyone. Hal and I arrived moments later with Matt right behind us.

"Anne what's going on?! DR. GLASS! ANNE!" No response. "LOURDES WHAT'S HAPPENING?! IS SHE OKAY?!" Nothing. "SOMEONE! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" I started to panic. Kaylee isn't breathing. That's what Ben said. That's bad. You have to breathe to survive. If you aren't breathing, conscious or not, you die in minutes. Oh my God. I tried to run over to Kaylee but Hal stopped me.

"Alyssa, give them a second. They need space."

"God damn it Hal! Let me go! I want to be with Kaylee," I said as calmly as I could, but he is stronger than me and he held me back. Tears started running down my face as I watched Anne give her CPR and Lourdes giving her air through a tube. Lourdes slowed down and she looked at Anne.

"Anne…" Lourdes started slowly.

"Lourdes, keep working," Anne said in a scary voice. Lourdes was about to protest but she didn't. Kaylee was turning a scary level of pale. I walked over to her and this time Hal didn't stop me. Kaylee was ice cold. Everything was deathly silent. Everything stopped. No one made any noise, even the people outside were quite. Anne and Lourdes started slowing down. It looked like this might be Kaylee's last few seconds. Then her chest moved; it was so small I was sure I imagined it, but Anne pushed on her stomach one last time and I felt a pulse return to her wrist. Anne must have seen her stomach move as well.

Ben looked up, his eyes watery. I looked around and I could see everyone let out a breath we had all been holding in. Anne and Lourdes looked relieved.

"She's breathing. Slowly, but it should get better in a couple hours," Anne announced. Then she looked at Ben. "Ben, if you were a second later, she would've died. You saved her life."

"So how long do you think she'll be out?" I asked.

"I know that she just recuperated her breathing, but it doesn't change the fact of how brutally injured she is. This could just be one of many times that her heart will stop for a few minutes. Or if she continues to be as lucky as she is, she could wake up in a few days, but I'm not guaranteeing either option. She hasn't made any movements which is a weak sign coming from our end. A simple finger twitch, flutter of the eyelashes, or even a small shift in position is a good sign that they might come-to soon. But since she hasn't made any of those, I don't know if she's healing as quickly as we want." So basically everything is the same as it was, still up to her.

"So even that she just stopped breathing for a few minutes and lived, she could still die?" Jimmy asked. That's what it sounds like. Leave it to Kaylee to put herself in that kind of situation.

"Yes. There's no promise that she will pull through, and there's no promise that she won't either. I just want you guys to be prepared for both," Anne said. Hal and I were about to leave but I stopped. He looked at me.

"I think I'm going to stay here tonight."

"Okay," Hal nodded. "I'm going to go help my dad and Weaver." I nodded and went and sat down in the driver seat of the Med Bus. Hal went over to talk to Anne then left and Jimmy and Ben were by Kaylee, talking about something. I leaned my head against the window and just sat there. Kaylee almost dying just now, reality hit me. Both of us had been in situations where we should be dead but aren't, and we were always okay. But neither of us had been this close to death. But now it's different. Anne said it herself that people don't usually survive the injuries she has even before the attack. Bu now with limited supplies and resources her chances are less. I guess all those times Kaylee or I were in situations where we should be dead, I took it for granted. They were, in a way, in our control. But now, everything is completely out of everyone's control and that scares me. I think I fully realized that today, just now. I wanted to spend more time by Kaylee because if this happens again, we may not be so lucky. I mean I always knew the circumstances were different but this is the first time I actually saw that. I mean Kaylee just fucking died and came back to life.

"Hey Anne do you need any help? I mean since I am gonna stay I might as well help," I pointed out.

Anne smiled, grateful for the help. "Sure. Would you go around and check everyone's pulse and give them water?" She quickly showed me how to fix their little bag of water things (I don't know the technical term) and I went to work. Anne has other patients besides my best friend, so I helped her with them for the rest of the day. Ben was constantly with Kaylee so I didn't need to worry about her. I helped with the other patients. That night I slept in the driver's seat of the bus.

_Five minutes? Damn that seems like a long time to microwave microwaveable Chinese food. Meh, whatever, that's what it says. I looked at the instructions one last time. Unwrap packaging. There was another instruction that I couldn't read because of the wrapping but it was only like two words so it can't be that important. Next, microwave for five minutes. I put the food in the microwave and waited. After about four minutes it started to smell really good. I ran to my room to grab my phone. I was gone for like ten seconds. Ten fucking seconds_

"_ALYSSA! GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!" Kaylee yelled. I ran into the kitchen and it was filled with smoke. _

"_What the fuck?"_

"_What the hell were you making?" Kaylee asked me. _

"_Microwaveable Chinese food," I said. She opened the microwave and more smoke rushed out. The inside was completely orange and the glass plate you put the food on was cracked in half. Kaylee picked up the food and looked at it. It was all burnt. And the house smelled like burnt orange chicken._

"_What did you do?" _

"_I unwrapped it and put it in the microwave like the packaging said!"_

"_Alyssa." Kaylee looked at the food and then directly at me._

"_Yes?"_

"_Did you add water?" Water?_

"_No. The instructions never…..oh shit." Okay so maybe the two words I couldn't see where a little more important than I thought. "Okay I didn't see that part."_

"_How is it that you can cook a steak with zero problems but when you try to use the fucking microwave you end up nearly setting the house on fire?"_

_We both started cracking up. It was pretty funny. Suddenly my sister walked in and we both stopped laughing. It was Wednesday so she had to come in at five because our dad was gonna be home at six and we needed to make dinner and shower before he got home so we could hide in our rooms when he did. _

"_Are we having Chinese food?" my sister asked and looked at us. Kaylee and I just started laughing again. Veronica walked into the kitchen. "Oh my God what happened?"_

"_No time to explain; we need to get this cleaned up," I grabbed my iPod and blasted music and we all danced around, laughing and cleaning the kitchen. It was a good time. _

_Kaylee's POV_

_ "Time," I said panting slightly._

_ "5:02. Damn, Parker, three more seconds faster and you would've made a four minute mile," Alyssa crossed her arms with the stop watch in her hand._

_ I shook my head frustrated. "Shit. I'm gonna go again. I'm getting that four today." _

_Just as I was about to take off running our high school's track again, Alyssa grabbed my shoulder. "Dude you've ran six miles in the past half an hour. I think you should take a break before you faint or something."_

_I shook my head again. "If I'm going to make the cross country team next month or the track team, I have to train myself. That means running. A lot of running." I tightened my hair band and stood by the starting point where Alyssa was timing me._

_She sighed and probably rolled her eyes too. "C'mon, Kaylee. It's summer! We're supposed to be relaxing, going to the beach, hanging out, you know,_ summer_? Sound familiar? And you've dragged me down to the track everyday this week! You're really going to waste your last month of freedom before becoming a freshman and realizing how fucking awful high school is?"_

"_Yeah, pretty much. C'mon, the sooner you stop complaining the faster I run this thing and we can go home."_

"_You're buying me food after this."_

"_Just fucking time me."_

"_Ready, set, go."_

_I began sprinting as fast as my somewhat tired legs would carry me and soon enough I rounded the first corner of the track. Surprisingly, no one was down here. I mean usually you'd see the cool moms that would come walking to exercise or the awesome old ladies that actually came out jogging and gossiping with their friends. But no one was here apart from Alyssa and me. It was one of the hottest days (at least as hot as Massachusetts got) of the summer, but that didn't stop me from running. I would have just came down here by myself but carrying a stopwatch while running messed up my vibe and just made me anxious to keep looking at the time. _

_I realized I had passed Alyssa at least thirty seconds ago and I was already a lap and a half in to my mile. This was faster than I've ever pushed myself. _

_I still picked up my feet and widened my stride to go as fast as humanly possible. Being 5'11 had major advantages as well as disadvantages. For example, I had a great future in running because of my height and long legs to carry me further in distance. My middle school track coach told me that one of my strides was two or three of someone else's and that shaved a ton of seconds off my times which makes a world of a difference in running. But it also had its disadvantages as well. I weighed more than other short runners because of the muscles and longer bones that I had, so I seriously had to keep a strict diet and had to train longer and harder than everyone else. It's harder to keep running when you're weighed down and it even hurts your heart, especially at the speed I was going. _

"_Lap Three, Parker! Keep it up!" Alyssa yelled as I passed her again, dashing as fast as I could go. I _**needed**_ that four minute mile. I've been working for it for the longest fucking time and I was sick of making early fives. I was going to get that four._

_And that's when the most incredible thing happens to me. My ears silence every sound. All I can hear is my heart beating and my lungs breathing heavily from the running I'd been doing today. My eyes become unfocused. The only thing clear in the fuzzy vision I had was the track in front of me and my black running shoes running faster than they've ever been pushed. My whole body becomes numb. I feel nothing except the exhilaration of the air blowing in my face. I felt like I was flying because I've never ran like this. My mind forgets except for how to breathe. That's all I focused on, and that's all I could focus on since it's all I knew how to do in the moment._

_Alyssa calls something to me, but I can't hear her. The only sound I was focusing on was the beat of my heart in sync with the beat of my feet. I ran another lap faster than the last and skidded to a stop as Alyssa clicked the stopwatch._

_I bent over and rested my hands on my knees trying to catch my breath. Then I looked up at her, fearing the worst. Her face looked sad and slightly disappointed, so I assumed that I had gotten another 5:00. Fuck. Fucking hell._

"_4:52," she grinned at me._

_I just ran a four minute mile. Four minutes. "No way."_

"_Congrats, Parker!" Alyssa high-fived me and I smiled widely. After four years of training, I finally got a four minute mile. _**Finally**_. _

"_Congratulations, Kaylee." _

_My smile started fading and I looked to where the source of the voice was coming from and saw someone I wasn't particularly fond of, Alyssa's boyfriend. "Thanks, Zack." I walked a little away from them and went to get my water to drink. But I went back over to them since I just really hated it when Zack was around and kind of felt protective of Alyssa when he was near her._

"_What are you doing here?" Alyssa asked and smiled up at him. _

"_Training for soccer, like you should be doing." Zack showed the soccer ball tucked under his arm and motioned to the goal on the turf in the middle of our track. "You should join me; I need a keeper, if you think you're good enough to block my shots."_

"_Like you could ever score a goal while I'm in the net."_

_And after that I stopped listening to their vomit worthy soccer couple talk and just started walking away to go home since my grandparents would be picking me up in a half an hour so I could spend the weekend with them. I took my head phones out of my track bag, slipped it over my shoulder, and began to run home. _

_Zack and Alyssa had been dating for nearly a year now. They met each other on the day of soccer tryouts since boys and girls tryout together, and it took her all of about two weeks to fall for his "brooding green eyes" and "tousled blond hair." And don't get me wrong, Zack was a pretty nice kid, but he was also going to be a senior in the fall. More importantly, I didn't trust him whatsoever. He's the kind of guy that gets what ever he wants, when ever he wants, and can schmooze his way through anything. Zack and Alyssa were both keepers and defenders for our high school's teams, so they spent a lot of time practicing together since we only had the one turf field for the soccer players. _

_Just the way he looks at her pisses me off. Zack thinks that if he snaps his finger, Alyssa will come running to him and do whatever he wants, and now I'm starting to think that he's worn her down enough so that she just might. Which terrifies me because if she makes a huge mistake, her entire soccer career and everything she's every worked for would be ruined. I don't know, I guess I'll just never figure out what kind of guys she's into since it's always the opposite personality of the previous guy she dated. _

_And Zack was trying to get me to be his friend or to actually tolerate him, since he knows that I don't like him. It's like he knows that if I'm on his side, he can do what ever he wants with Alyssa._

_I outwardly sighed and realized I was home. So I took a speed shower and by the time I was dressed in my regular black jeans and t-shirt, my grandparents had arrived. I had got into the car, saying hello to both of them, and then slipped my iPhone (which I pay for myself if you're wondering) out of my pocket to text Alyssa:_

I'm with my grandparents this weekend. Please don't do anything stupid.

_I just really hoped she'd listen to me this time._

Alyssa's POV

I woke up and looked at the hand clock on the wall. It was six a.m. I started smiling. That was a fun night. We had tried to get the smoke out, and sorta managed but the whole house smelled for weeks. We had to literally sprint to the nearest Panda Express and buy a ton of Chinese food to explain to my dad about the smell and we had to keep him from going into the microwave until we could get a new one. I looked at Kaylee, then looked away. I wanted to remember the happy Kaylee, the one in my dream, not the one lying over there. I stood up and walked around. I checked on all the patients for Anne, who was taking a break. I filled their water things and checked the pulses. Everyone was going good, even Kaylee. I looked at Ben, who looked like he was sleeping but I knew better. He had something in his hand. I picked them up. They were two identical pictures. In the picture were Jimmy, Ben, and Kaylee. It was from not that long ago. They were all smiling and laughing. I put them back, next to Ben and one flipped over. I noticed writing on the back. I was curious so I picked them back up. They both had writing.

_love you guys. Stay strong for me. _

_-KP 1/26 _

That was two days before the bridge. I looked at the other one.

_We're gonna be in history books. "Dorky Best Friends Survive an Alien Invasion" they'll call us. Benjamin Andrew Mason, James Michael Boland, Kaylee Nicole Parker. Friends Forever, I promise. I_

That is so sweet. Kaylee knew something was going to happen to her. She has always had a sense for that stuff. She can sense danger. It's weird. I wonder why there is a random 'I' there. Kaylee isn't one for grammar mistakes; she was a total grammar Nazi.

"If you put them together the notes connect." I turned around to see Ben. I put them together. _We're gonna be in the history books. "Dorky Best Friends Survive an Alien Invasion" they'll call us. Benjamin Andrew Mason, James Michael Boland, Kaylee Nicole Parker. Friends Forever, I promise. I love you guys. Stay strong for me._

–_KP 1/26_

"She really cares about you guys," I said.

"Yeah." I didn't say anything, just looked at her.

"Don't worry about her, Alyssa. She is gonna make it. She is pretty damn strong."

I smiled. "Yeah she is." Anne walked back in. "I checked on all the patients for you. Everything is normal."

Anne smiled and looked relieved. "Thank you Alyssa." I smiled and nodded.

"You go to sleep Anne, I'll watch everything."

"Are you sure?"

"You need the rest, besides I'm not going back to sleep anytime soon." She nodded and sat down in a chair and was asleep instantly. I went and sat down on a spare chair and waited for everyone to wake up.

I think people are starting to lose hope. Nothing has happened with Kaylee, except when she scared the shit out of us and stopped breathing for a bit, but other than that nothing. I have started helping Anne and Lourdes in the Med Bus. It's getting cold again and the 2nd Mass is getting sick. Sometimes I sleep in the Med Bus, and luckily I never get sick. I remember once, everyone in our house got the flu, twice, and I avoided it both times. I guess I have a great immune system, which helps because I'm able to help the sick patients without getting sick, even Lourdes was sick for a day. I like helping Anne out a lot because it gives me something to do and distracts me. Today, I finished checking on the patients and Anne said I could take a break. I went outside and walked just a little out of camp and sat down on a rock.

"Alyssa," I turned around to see Matt standing there.

"Hey Matt," I smiled and patted the spot next to the rock I was sitting on, "care to join me?"

"Sure." he smiled and walked over and sat down. He looked troubled, like he had something to say but didn't know how to say it.

"What's on your mind?" I asked helping start the conversation.

"How's Kaylee doing?"

"Um, she's doing okay," my voice cracked. "She's still breathing, so that's good."

"Have you talked to Dr. Glass?"

"Yeah. She said it's normal for these types of things to take a long time. She said it could months before Kaylee wakes up."

"Oh," he sounded disappointed. We were quiet again. "Alyssa, I don't want Kaylee to die."

"I don't want her to either," I said. "Plus she can't die. She loves you guys too much to die."

"What if she does though?" Matt asked. He looked like he was about to cry.

"It's important we don't give up hope. If we think positive, positive things will happen but if we think negative, negative things will happen."

Matt smiled "You sound like Lourdes."

"Guess what? Lourdes told me that," I laughed a little. It felt good to laugh.

He became serious again. "It's hard to be positive sometimes," he said.

"Just think of this. It could be worse" I said.

"How?"

"Kaylee could be dead. She is still breathing isn't she?" I said. He smiled. I wrapped my arm around him and hugged him. I hate to see Matt going through this type of pain. It's not right. Matt thinks of Kaylee as a sister. She helps him like an older sister would. Matt already lost the one girl in his life that he looked up to. He doesn't deserve to lose this one either. Kaylee is the figure in his life that he looks up to, and I can't stand to see him lose that again.

_Kaylee's POV_

_ "So as you can see class, the data analysis of this graph is really quite simple once you know the rules. Here is the first data set…" _

_ Not even math made me want to pay attention anymore. I just sat in my desk that was placed in the very front row, since my psychotic teacher felt it was necessary to keep an eye on me at all times, and tuned out every word. I knew all of this stuff like the back of my hand, and I was bored of just listening to Ms. Jameson going on about how to calculate the most basic problem ever. This was like Gunnery For Dummies class or something. _

_ And I couldn't concentrate on anything but a dream I had last night. I was trapped in a burning building and no one could hear me screaming out a window for help. The worst part was it was so real; I woke up coughing and hot, which was really weird. I swear I thought it had actually happened to me. I've felt warm all day today and I haven't been able to focus, at least more than usual._

_ Alyssa was right about high school: it absolutely sucked. Everybody here knows about my parents since my brother's good friends with a lot of kids here, however I'm the freak of the family, so all of the hatred was bestowed upon me. Not that I care, I hate everybody here too. It's just getting a little annoying being called the emo nerd orphan with no friends, even though that's exactly what I was. Except for the emo part. I hated my life but I didn't cut. Four (they moved me up another hour in high school, another reason I hated this place) hours of counseling a day was enough, I seriously didn't need anymore. _

_ Not to mention AJ was on my case every fucking day now. Our classes were all near each other since freshmen and sophomore classes were in the same hallway, so he loved to shove me around or trip me or just insult me. But don't worry; I haven't gotten in a fight with him since at least Monday last week, so it's getting gradually better. I just can't stand people who can't stand up for themselves. I hate people that cry, too. Like I've seen AJ push down this other girl (I can't believe it either; he actually bullies someone besides me) the other day and all she did was sob and beg him to leave her alone. I actually felt no pity towards her. I mean, who fucking cries when someone pushes them down? You just don't do that. You get off your ass and just keep walking. Or you can shove them against some lockers and punch them a couple times, but I don't want to suggest that you take the violent route unless you have no other choice. I prefer just handling it violently, but I usually end up in the principal's office and get three Saturday Schools or detentions. But it gets people to leave you alone a lot faster. _

_ At least Alyssa and I were on the same campus now so I actually had someone to hangout with. But I also sat outside alone sometimes so she could spend time with her other friends too and so I wouldn't be a liability to her. And she was there to yank my ass out of fights before the principal came so I wouldn't have another detention. _

_ "Kaylee Parker!" I perked up a bit when I realized that Ms. Jameson had been calling my name the past few minutes. I ignored her, and kept sketching in my notebook. I had an idea for a gun my uncle had told me about and I wanted to make it after school. _

_ "What's the answer?" she asked most likely pointing at the board that I wasn't looking at. More silence. I'm sure the entire class, including Alyssa, were giving me WTF expressions, but I didn't care. I don't talk in classes, and that includes answering questions. Why? Because I do not give a single fuck._

_ "I know very well that you can hear me, Miss Parker." Ms. Jameson got really pissed off then, and grabbed my notebook and slammed it back down onto my desk to get my attention. I simply slid it back to my position and began drawing again, and the entire class laughed. _

_ "Get out of my class, Parker. Go to the office, I'm sick of dealing with you myself." I cheesily saluted her, getting more laughter and an angrier Ms. Jameson for that, and tossed everything into my backpack before heading out the door. I saw Alyssa waving at me through the window trying to get my attention, but I just kept my eyes forward on the familiar path to the principal's office. I did this walk everyday, occasionally with the actual principal. But I just didn't care anymore. I wanted to get the hell out of high school, and as quickly as possible._

_ I opened the door and made an instant left and then another left into Mr. Villanueva's office, our principal. He didn't look surprised to see me. "Miss Parker," he greeted as I sat down, "Which teacher sent you?"_

_ "Jameson," I said, trying not to roll my eyes. I dropped my backpack to the floor and took my usual seat in front of his desk._

_ "What did you do to upset Ms. Jameson?" Mr. Villanueva was doing paperwork and sounded pretty bored until I explained my "crime."_

_ "I wasn't paying attention in her class."_

_ The principal looked up. "Kaylee," he said disappointedly, "why weren't you paying attention?"_

_ I shrugged._

_ "You're a much brighter kid than you give yourself credit for. You're a freshman in almost all sophomore classes. But if you keep ignoring lectures, you're going to have to be moved back to freshmen studies because you'll be failing your classes."_

_ "I have an A+ in Algebra II, Mr. V. And trust me, I've been ignoring her lectures all year. And so what if I was failing all of my classes? I'm not going to college anyways."_

_ "And why's that?" Mr. V was staring at me disapprovingly._

_ "Haven't we been over this? I'm getting my GED after I'm seventeen and then I'm joining the army."_

_ He stared at me blankly._

_ "Maybe I told Mr. Gregory (remember him? Yeah, they sent him to high school with me sine he's the only one who really knows how to work with me) about it."_

_ "You can't just quit high school! You have an amazing future ahead of you, Kaylee! Why would you ever want to quit?"_

_ "Because I feel like I'm in elementary school again. The classes are way too easy, way too many bullies, and I just don't know who I am anymore, Mr. Villanueva. I figured I'd just do something useful with my life and serve in the army. Sounds like a pretty great future to me," I shrugged again._

_ "But-but," Mr. V was blanking, and he had no idea what to say to me, "aren't you afraid of dying or getting injured?"_

_ "No."_

_ He sighed and shook his head, scribbling a detention slip for me. "Just go back to class. I have nothing further to speak with you about."_

_ I picked up the slip and turned out of his office. Thank God the bell rang and Ms. Jameson's was over, otherwise I'm sure she would've slaughtered me. But, Alyssa came running up to me seconds later and snatched the slip out of my hand._

_ "Three hours? What the fucking hell?" she stared at the time of three to six Mr. Villanueva had written on it. "Kaylee, why the hell were you ignoring Ms. Jameson? It's like you're trying to get into trouble as much as you can nowadays."_

_ I took the slip back and slid it into my pocket. "See you at home." I turned around and walked away to a secluded hill no one came to and put on my headphones for lunch. _

_So what if I was getting in trouble a lot? It's not like it matters anymore anyways._

Alyssa's POV

It's almost three weeks. It will be three weeks exactly in two days. I was sitting in the Med Bus watching everything. Anne and Lourdes were outside talking. Anne told Lourdes Kaylee was getting worse. I walked over to Kaylee. Ben and Jimmy were both actually asleep, at the same time.

"Hey Kaylee, how are you doing? I don't know if you can hear me or not but I want to ask you something. Please wake up. Everyone really misses you, especially Ben and Jimmy. I do too. And Matt, he really does. It's been hard without you. Do you remember that one time I almost blew up the microwave? I was thinking about that the other night. That was a fun night. I need you to wake up Kaylee, we all do. Please? I sound crazy, talking to you. I don't even think you can hear me, but if you can, could you get better? Anne and Lourdes think your getting worse so if you could like help yourself and get better that would be nice. I'm going to go now. The people of the 2nd Mass already think I'm crazy, don't need to give them anymore reason. So yeah. Bye Kaylee. Get better."

Hal's POV

It's been three weeks exactly. Alyssa and I left the Med Bus and sat down on the table outside. I wanted to talk to her. We hadn't had any time together since she showed me Kaylee's song because we were both busy. We left camp and walked into the forest. I grabbed her hand.

"So now you're working in the Med Bus?" I asked.

"Yeah. It's fun. It's a way to be with Kaylee but keep my mind occupied so I don't have a mental breakdown. I like being by Kaylee," she said.

"That's good. So are you like Lourdes 2.0?" I asked

"Yeah. I have some experience with that stuff and Anne needs all the help she can get, with everyone getting sick now."

"How do you have experience?" I looked at her.

"Well with my dad and all. Plus, my sister always managed to hurt herself and I had to wrap whatever she sprained or broke. And Kaylee and I both played sports and I was the oldest. I had to know how to deal with that stuff." That makes sense.

"So how are you doing? Anne's worried about you and so am I," I looked at her. I saw sadness in her eyes I have never seen before.

"I'm fine Hal."

I stopped. "No you are not so don't lie. What's up? Like besides the obvious."

"I'm worried about Kaylee. Hal, it's been three weeks. It happened January 28th and its February 18th okay. Plus I'm just a little tense right now. I'm worried. I heard Anne talking to Lourdes and she said Kaylee is getting worse. Her breathing is getting heavier and it's harder for her to breathe now. I'm really worried, Hal. Anne said she didn't want to say anything but she told Lourdes to keep an eye out. She said her pulse is quickening then it will slow down and it hasn't been normal for about three days." Oh my God. Why hadn't Anne told us about this? "Plus, February is a month of death in my family. Everyone but my brother died in February."

"Alyssa. I want to tell you everything is going to be okay. I really do but I can't. I'm not going to lie so I am going to say this: No matter what happens I'm here for you. If something's wrong, come talk to me and I'll listen. I'm not going to lie and say I know how you feel because no one has a relationship with her like you do. I'm here for you I promise." I leaned down and kissed her, on the lips. I zoned out the world and focused on her and her only. I have kissed a few girls in my time, but kissing her is different. I get a feeling in my stomach I never have felt before. Soon we were interrupted by Anne.

"Hey you two might want to come see this" Anne said, she looked like she was trying to suppress a smile.

_ Kaylee's POV_

_ AJ's been giving me problems again. This time I can't handle it anymore. It's literally causing me emotional pain to not be able to hurt him. I can't keep this up any longer. He's been filling my head with all of these thoughts and now I can't help but believing them. It's either I punch him and not let the truth dawn on me, or resist from killing him and letting the truth sink in. I was losing my mind, and more often than not I was thinking about how easy it was. Just one pull, and I was done with al of this pain and emptiness I felt everyday._

_ Just one pull._

_ "WHERE THE HELL IS THAT BITCH?!" I heard AJ's obnoxious voice (you'd think that puberty would've changed that, but it actually made it worse) shout down the hall. Just him being the drama queen he is. Like always._

_ I was walking when I felt someone yank me back by my backpack and then throw it across the hall. Take one fucking guess, I dare you._

_ "That was pretty rude," I said nonchalantly, walking over to where my backpack was, only to be stopped by The Royal Douche. _

_ "YOU FUCKING RECKED MY BASEBALL BAG YOU ASSHOLE!"AJ shouted in my face. What the hell was he talking about?_

_ "I haven't touched your damn baseball bag. You know, I'm one of many people who hate you. Ever think of checking with any of them before assuming it's me?"_

_ AJ slammed my back against some lockers and practically got nose to nose with me. I was going to vomit on him if he got any closer. "I _**know**_ it was you, Parker. You're the only one willing to stand up to me, so you're the only one willing to ruin my bag. I didn't think you'd be such a fucking emo about it. Spray painting it black was reallllyy smart for a freshman in sophomore classes. You think you're so fucking cool don't you?"_

_ "Not really, no. Now, please, get the fuck out of my way." I shoved past him, trying not to fight him this time. If I snapped, there's no telling if I'd be able to stop. _

_ But his voice stopped me. "You know what? This just isn't about my problem with my bag anymore. It's about my problem with you, Parker. You are such an ass wrapped around your own world and your own problems. No one loves you, no one will EVER love you. I'm sure your own parents didn't love you. You think that you're soooo cool because the whole world misunderstands you and because you wear all black and skate to school everyday. NOBODY CARES. Do you get it? No one cares about you! Even Alyssa doesn't care about you either! She told me about how you're just a useless piece of shit that night she got knocked up by Zack. And I believe it, 100 percent."_

_ My palms were burning from how hard my nails were clenched into fists. This was a new low for him, and I could feel how badly my anger was spinning out of control. He was dragging my life into why he hates me and trying to get me to fight him so I'll get suspended or something._

_ He wasn't finished though. "You can't even throw a comeback at me! Is this the first time where you're not actually going to stand up to me and do the right thing by walking away? I knew you were all talk. You can't even try to be brave to throw a punch my way again. You're too afraid of getting in trouble, since you're a fucking priss now. No wonder your brother doesn't even talk to you, or even live with you anymore. I mean, if I was him, I'd be embarrassed to say I was related to you, too."_

_ I turned and frowned at him. "I'm sorry, did I ask for my life story?" He just rolled his eyes, so I thought he was done with his pathetic monologue. _

_ But he wasn't._

_ "So tell me, how did your parents die? Overdose? Driving drunk? Or did you kill them yourself?" _

_ No. He was NOT going there. This was stepping over the line. _

_ "I bet you did. There are so many things wrong with you that killing your own parents doesn't really shock me. But what kind of a freak does that? You've practically invented your own brand of freak, Parker. What, did you have mommy and daddy issues? Is that why you think you're too cool for anything and don't need friends? They probably deserved to die. Obviously they weren't fit to raise children. I mean look at you. You're a fucking mess! Maybe it's better that they're dead. _

_ Maybe it's better that _**you're**_ dead. Nobody wants you here, so _what _is holding you back? What is keeping you from just ending all of this now? Or is killing your parents too much killing you can do in one life time?"_

_ And then I lost it._

_ I totally and completely _**lost it**_. _

_ I ran towards him and shoved him against the lockers with my entire body weight and threw punch after punch at his chest. He elbowed my eye and shoved me away from him, but that only angered me even more. I yanked him downwards and put a knee on top of him and kept punching and punching his face, breaking his dumbass Raybans and making his lip swell and bleed. I was so furious I could feel some kind of moisture in my eyes. Killing my own parents? What kind of sick bastard makes that up?_

_ People were shouting at me, but I didn't hear what they were saying. All I could do was beat him senseless, so senseless that he would never, EVER screw with me again. I was sick of the constant misery, the constant bruises, and the constant lies he was giving me. Every thing he's ever said to me was running through my mind and every punch I was hurling onto him was one protest against all of the lies. _

_ AJ was unconscious, but I couldn't stop. He'd pushed me too far, and my anger was so out of control, more than it has ever been, and I couldn't seal it back into its bottle. I was so fucking SICK of him calling me emo and unloved and a freak. I was SICK of believing his shit and thinking that I should just pull the damn trigger on myself. I was SICK of him making me lose my anger and make me hate myself. _

_ I was just sick of everything. _

_ "GET OFF HIM! YOU'RE GOING TO KILL HIM!" someone shouted out and that only made me slow down before a policeman dragged me off of AJ. Yeah, our high school had police loitering around on occasion to make sure there are no drugs or violence and stuff. _

_ I remember struggling in his grasp and trying to get out of it so I could continue to beat AJ's ass until he couldn't feel anymore, and then I remember seeing Alyssa's face in the crowd. I couldn't read her expression at all; she was extremely stone-faced and looking in AJ's direction, who was being taken on a stretcher to the hospital._

_ I, Kaylee Parker, beat up someone so badly that they had to go to the hospital. _

_ I could've killed him. I _**would've**_killed him had the policeman not pulled me off. _

_ I don't remember much after that, but I do remember being thrown into Mr. V's office. The air was so silent, it made me want to scream just so it wasn't so awkward in here. Mr. V motioned for the police to leave the room and was filling out paper work for the incident. No doubt about it this would make the Boston News tonight. _

_ I just sat there, thinking about how ashamed my parents would be, thinking how ashamed Alyssa is, thinking how even Vee would be ashamed, and my brother would be so embarrassed when he heard. Anyone who knew about this would be ashamed. _**I**_ was ashamed in myself. I couldn't even fathom how badly I injured him and how much of an idiot I was for not walking away when I had the chance. I let my anger get the better of me (again), and now it wasn't going to be okay this time._

_ My hands were folded in my lap and my head was hung down slightly. I didn't have the dignity to look at Mr. V's face, because I know it would break what little piece of heart I have left. I just wanted to know what was going to happen next._

_ "You almost killed him, Kaylee," Mr. V said softly, so softly it was barely a whisper. "You have no idea how upset I am in you. I honestly thought you were getting better at controlling your anger, that you were starting to get over your parents' death. But you let him get to you. I got a call from the hospital and they told me that he's in extremely bad shape and there's a small chance he'll even play baseball or football again. And his family decided to press full charges against you, which means that if your court date goes poorly, you're going to juvenile hall. Not to mention having more police come to the school embarrasses me to points that you'll never understand. You're a good kid, Kaylee, and I know that you have good in you somewhere, but I don't think that you'll be able to attend East Boston High School anymore."_

_ I finally looked up at him. "So you're expelling me?"_

_ "Not yet. I'm going to meet with the board tonight and tomorrow we'll have a verdict on whether you stay or go. I'll see you tomorrow, Miss Parker."_

_ Miss Parker? Oh yeah, I was totally expelled. _

_ A few hours later, I was with Alyssa on her couch watching a movie. I wasn't paying attention, even though nothing was distracting me. Vee was at a friend's so she wasn't asking either of us about things she didn't understand in the movie, and Jay wasn't here, so there shouldn't be anything distracting me from watching._

_ But I couldn't stop thinking about being expelled. _

_ Of course they'd expel me. I mean, I nearly killed someone. And it would be so much easier for all of the teachers I had and my counselor if I was gone. So I knew for a fact that there was no way in hell that I'd still be going to school anymore. My only question was what was I going to do until I turned seventeen? What _**could**_ I do with this on my record? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. _

_ "Hey did you hear that?" Alyssa asked, frowning slightly. _

_ "Hear what?" _

_ She blinked a few times and frowned, listening for whatever she had heard. Alyssa shook her head slightly and then resumed watching the movie. And then she grabbed the remote suddenly and turned the TV down. "That!" _

_ I concentrated for a minute, trying to hear what she was hearing. It sounded like fireworks or something. I got up off the couch and pulled two blinds apart to see what the commotion was. _

_ What I saw was giant spaceships in the heart of Boston, and the entire city on fire._

_ What. The. Fuck._

_ "Uh, Alyssa you gotta see this," I called to her, and she came next to me to see something that would change our lives forever._

Kaylee's POV

Ugh, damn what the hell? My head felt like someone had beat it with a baseball bat, my entire side hurt like a bitch, and my arm felt like it was on fire. What the fuck?

Oh right. I got blown off a bridge, shot five times, and coughed up like seventy gallons of blood all in the same night.

And lived.

I should be in a world record book or something.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, and nearly shut them again. It was fucking BRIGHT. My eyes had a total spasm and I had to blink six times to get them to refocus. Having extremely light blue eyes means that sun hurts them a lot more than people with darker ones. And that's when I looked at my stomach which was completely covered in white bandages. But there was this dark purple stuff underneath them. Did I break a rib? I must have since I hit the water pretty hard.

Then I realized that someone was holding my hand, but didn't realize that I was awake. I looked up to the owner of the hand holding mine to see none other than Ben Mason. How long has he been here? His eyes were closed and his face was positioned towards the ceiling, but I knew for a fact he wasn't sleeping. He was just "resting" or whatever the hell he calls it.

"Ben?" My voice sounded like I smoked ten packs day and like I've never drank water in my life. I coughed to try and clear it, but that took me about thirty seconds before it stopped. Ben still didn't respond. Was he actually sleeping?

"Ben." I tugged on his hand hoping that I wouldn't actually have to slap him for him to get up.

His eyes finally opened and he looked at me looking back at him. "Kaylee?"

"Hey," I smiled, glad to finally hear his voice.

Ben pulled me up swiftly and engulfed me in the biggest, tightest hug I've ever gotten from him, ever. My side burned and I nearly yelled at how badly it hurt, but I didn't care. I was home, home with the 2nd Mass and that's all that mattered to me. We sat there for what felt like an hour, but was only about ten or fifteen minutes. And Ben never loosened his grip for a millisecond.

"Are you crying?" I asked finally pulling away from him and looking into his misty eyes. They were a little red, like this wasn't the first time he had been.

"You have no idea how worried I've been. How worried we've all been."

"How long was I out?" I frowned. "Like four or five days?"

Ben just stared at me and then shook his head. "Three weeks."

I raised my eyebrows. "Weeks? Fuck." My brain then made a point to myself that if Ben was the only one here right now, it must be pretty late out. "How long have _you_ been here?"

Ben smiled at me, just taking me all in as if I would pass out again at any second. Truthfully I was feeling really lightheaded so I wouldn't be surprised if I did. "I didn't leave."

It all came back to me then. How he ran me to the Med Bus after I fell to the floor, how he used his shirt sleeves to apply pressure to the blood, and how I asked him not to leave because everyone else had except for him. Oh my God.

I hugged him again, just as tightly as he hugged me. "Thank you," I whispered. "I can't tell you how much that means to me."

"Why didn't you tell us about all of the stuff going on before the bridge?"

I sighed, remembering how most of this started. "I didn't want you guys to worry, and I didn't want to be suspended from fighting."

"You should have told us," he said, holding me tighter if humanly possibly. "We've all been complete wrecks. You stopped breathing a week and a half ago for at least three or four minutes, and I saved your sorry ass from that I'll have you know, so we're even now."

I laughed and then started coughing again. Ben stared at me with a trying-not-to-be-obvious worried face and I rolled my eyes. "Calm down."

"Last time you did that you blacked out for three weeks; I have a right to be worried about you."

I rolled my eyes again. "You're such a sap."

Ben turned to a little counter in here and grabbed two pieces of what I think was paper. "You're the one who wrote this." He handed me two pictures, Ben, Jimmy, and I's picture. A little bit before we crossed the bridge, I wrote a little message on both of their pictures, just incase something happened to me so they would have a little message with them wherever they went.

"So what exactly happened after I blacked out?" I asked, setting the photos back in his hands and looking up at Ben expectantly.

"After two or so hours Anne and Lourdes told us about your inability to feel pain and what was going on with you before it happened, and then they told us that you broke all the ribs on your right side and some of your bones tore into your lung, which is why you had trouble breathing. And then a week and a half later you stopped breathing, I saved your life, your heartbeat would quicken all of the sudden and slow down for at least three days, and then you woke up. That's basically it."

I broke _all_ of my ribs on my right side? Holy fuck. And I tore my lung. Damn. "Holy shit."

"Yeah, now you see why we were all so worried?" Ben laughed a little and I did too.

"I don't remember anything after blacking out, but I know that I felt your hand the whole time. Were you holding it the whole time?" I asked him, not sure if my mind made that up or if it was true.

"Yeah, I was," Ben said embarrassed slightly. "I was trying to hold onto you so you wouldn't leave us." I smiled and then looked down for a moment. Ben did too, and he noticed something that I was hoping he hadn't noticed already.

"How'd you get this?" he asked as he tapped my right hand's index and middle finger. I had a dark scar that went from the bottom of my middle finger to the knuckle of my index finger. Yeah, the scar literally connected itself in a jagged mess across two of my fingers. The reason why he had never noticed it before was because it was hidden underneath my gloves, and I never really wanted to mention it.

"You really don't want to know," I shook my head. One of the worst memories I have.

"Kaylee," Ben said making me look at him. "I'm not letting you push me away anymore. That nearly cost you you're life, and that's never happening again. I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not going to judge you on what happened in your life before the attack. Just tell me," he said softly and looked at me with his tired eyes.

Ben was right. I had to stop hiding everything from him and from everyone. Even if he couldn't keep his promise on the not judging me part, he deserved to know.

I coughed again and then cleared my throat. "After my parents died, I had a lot of…problems you could say. Even after three years, I was still beaten up about it. And there was this kid, this guy that never left me alone. He did what ever he could to get inside my head or to make me as miserable as I could, and I was in the principal's office more times than you could count for fighting him." I awkwardly ran my hand through my messy hair and then continued, not wanting to look at Ben's face. "So one day, he pushed me over the edge and, um…" I trailed off softly, realizing how quiet my voice had gotten. I was still pretty touchy on the whole subject. "I lost control of my anger. And I had thrown him to the floor and punched the sunglasses off of his face, which is how I got this," I held up my scar.

"What happened?" Ben asked, his voice quiet too.

"A policeman dragged me off of him before I killed him. The principal told me that the kid I had nearly killed probably wouldn't ever be a normal kid again and that the parents were pressing charges against me. And then he told me that I most likely wouldn't be able to go to my high school anymore."

"You got expelled?"

"I would've, had aliens not attacked that night," I said, almost smiling at that.

Ben was dead silent, and I still didn't want to look up at him. "So back in Fitchburg, when Jimmy, me, and you were all talking about what we would be doing if the aliens hadn't attacked and you didn't answer it was because…"

"Because I would've been expelled," I finished for him. Ben stared at my eyes, trying to figure out if I was lying to him. Who the fuck would make up a lie like that?

"That was probably the darkest moment of my life, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't regret it. That's why I've been so ashamed to tell you about my past, because it's not pretty and-"

"Kaylee," Ben interrupted me, probably sick of me rambling. "Do you think I care about all of that stuff?"

Uh, well yeah.

"That's all behind you. You told me that when the aliens attacked, you got a chance to start over and be the person you wanted to become. And I know you did. Yeah, I'm a little shocked that you beat someone up to that point and nearly got expelled, but that's because we grew up in two totally different environments. All that matters to me is how you are right now, and you're one of the greatest people I've ever known."

Man, I loved having a best friend.

Dr. Glass walked into the Med Bus and dropped all of the blankets she was carrying. "Kaylee?!"

I smiled. "Hey, Dr. Glass."

She ran out the door to probably go get Alyssa, Jimmy, and Hal. Ben and I started cracking up.

"KAYLEE!" Alyssa screamed and tackled me in a hug.

"Fuck," I said as my side throbbed painfully. "Damn, Carter, you must've really missed me."

"It's good to have you back, sis," Hal grinned and gave me a hug too, which I accidentally flinched in the middle of. "Sorry."

I grinned back. "It's fine, bro."

"Kaylee Nicole Parker, you're so lucky that you're injured because if you weren't I would beat your ass," Alyssa crossed her arms at me, and tried to look all mad but I knew that she was happier than ever.

"Why?" I asked, smiling a tiny bit.

"For scaring the living shit out of all of us, multiple times. Are you aware that you stopped breathing for a couple minutes?"

"Yeah, Kaylee, how about you don't do that again," Jimmy said and gave me a really tight hug. I missed them all so much, more than I realized until they all hugged me now.

As I was sliding myself off the operating table when Anne pushed me back. "Whoa, Kaylee you need to take it easy for at least a few days before even thinking about getting up."

I just stared up at Anne. "Dr. Glass, I've taken it easy for three weeks. I think it's about time I got up and started gaining my strength back." Before she could protest, I slid off the table. And almost fell back down had it not been for Ben and Jimmy.

"Thanks guys," I smiled as they were on either of my sides supporting me. Deciding to walk on your legs for the first time in three weeks was a lot harder than it sounded. Not to mention half of my ribs were broken and now I had some kind of lung problem along with four different sets of stitches in my chest. That tends to change the easiness of walking for some people.

Despite the fact that every time I took a step I felt like screaming out curses, I was really happy to be out of the Med Bus and back into camp. I missed seeing the civilians and fighters and I missed the openness of the 2nd Mass's campsite. Quite a few of the civilians stopped me and talked for a few moments with me because they were relieved that I was up and walking around. It feels like it's been ages sine I've seen everyone's faces.

"Kaylee?!" Hanna's voice called in astonishment as Ben, Jimmy, and I continued walking.

"Hey, Hanna," I smiled as she gave me a brief, painful hug. Blake was by her side too and he gave me a little hug as well.

"I can't believe you're alive!"

"Me either," I laughed a little as did Ben and Jimmy. I don't know how someone survives all of those injuries, especially during an alien invasion and little medical supplies.

"I didn't think I'd be able to tell you how grateful I am for what you did out there. Thank you," she said softly and hugged me again.

"It's my job," I said back to her and then smiled. "I'll see you around, Hanna."

And then Ben and Jimmy proceeded to bomb me with questions. "Who is that?" Jimmy asked me and looked over at Hanna and Blake walking away.

"Hanna Collins. She was found by the 2nd Mass awhile back and that little kid is her son, Blake."

"What did you do for her 'out there'?" Ben questioned me. Oh God, here comes another lecture.

I coughed a little at how cold the air was out here. My lung was killing me. "Back on the bridge, these beamers came flying over us so Weaver told everyone to run across on foot. I was about to cross when Hanna grabbed me and said that she couldn't find Blake so I stayed behind and found him when the mech and skitter columns came. And now that I think about it, I probably took a few shots while protecting the kid."

"Damn," Ben said shaking his head. "You're the bravest person I know."

"Seriously," Jimmy agreed and we continued walking around.

The three of us caught up on everything I had missed in the past few weeks. Apparently the 2nd Mass had moved into an airport hanger and were about to move out again, up into the mountains for the winter. Ben and Jimmy told me that none of them had really done much in the weeks that I was out since they just didn't have it in them. I for one thought that was a bull shit excuse to not fight, but I tried putting myself in their position and I could see where they were coming from. I had really missed the two of them. They were the closest friends (apart from Alyssa and Hal) that I had ever known.

"Kaylee? Is that you?" Weaver's commanding voice called me over as he and Tom were walking by us.

"Yes, sir," I grinned and gave him my classic cheesy salute and Weaver actually gave me a hug, which was totally weird since Weaver is not the touchy-feely type whatsoever. But Weaver was like a second dad to me and I could imagine that I was like another daughter to him, too.

"Thank God you're okay! You had everybody so worried."

"It's good to see you up again," Tom smiled and nodded at me.

"Believe me, they told me all about it," I motioned to Ben and Jimmy and looked back at Tom. "Thanks, Tom."

"Are you alright?" Weaver asked me. "That was a pretty fast wake up you had."

I leaned a little on Ben and Jimmy and shrugged. "Half of my ribs are broken, I have five different sets of stitches, I'm positive my breathing will never be the same again, and Ben and Jimmy have to help me walk. But I'm alive, and I'm up, so I guess I'm doing pretty okay."

"We need to have a celebration," Weaver stated with Tom, Ben, and Jimmy nodding in agreement.

"No we really do-"

"Don't be ridiculous. We nearly lost one of the most important fighters that keep this regiment alive. We're celebrating. C'mon, let's go!"

Ben and Jimmy dragged me over to a wide area that had a bunch of crates and people hanging around, including Hal and Alyssa, who were sitting a little too close for me. I know they're in a relationship and what not, but lately Hal had been reminding me of one the boyfriends Alyssa had before the attack. I know that Hal could never compare to that asshole, but the intimacy between the two of them was a lot stronger than it was when they first going out and even a few months after. I just can't stand to see her broken again.

Jimmy and Ben set me down on a crate next to Alyssa and then they both pulled up one on the other side of me. The Berserkers were here, as well as a number of the civilians and fighters. Pope, being the total drunk ass he is, brought beer and other alcoholic beverages that I couldn't tell you the name of, even though I grew up with Alyssa's dad.

Lyle started passing around beers to everyone and even offered one to Hal. "Here you go, kid." Just as Hal reached to take it, Tom intervened.

"He's a little young to be having beer," Tom said raising his eyebrows at Lyle.

"Aw, c'mon, Tom! He's done a good job in the field lately and deserves a drink! He's old enough to handle it," Boon protested.

Tom sighed and looked at Hal. "Just this once."

Tector then looked at me and handed me one too. "Here you go, Parker."

"Pass," I said pushing the beer away from me.

"C'mon, it's not that bad!"

"I'm fifteen," I said looking at Tector as if he was an absolute dumbass.

"So?" I laughed at that and shook my head. Tector was a total dipshit. Either that or he had started drinking before I had walked over here. "Fine, Carter you'll take one right? You're a big girl. Look, even your boyfriend's having one." Hal rose up his beer and took another drink.

"Sure why not?" Alyssa took the beer from Tector and I instantly took it back and gave it to Tector.

"Oh hell no. Not after last time."

"What happened last time?" Hal asked, looking back and forth between us.

Alyssa and I both got a little more serious when he asked that. "Nothing." That was Alyssa's story to tell, not mine.

"What? Just tell me."

"No. Just drop it," Alyssa said aggravated.

* * *

The last few days have been absolute hell for me. Anne's been having me do this kind of "physical therapy" type thing, even though I wasn't an athlete with some kind of hurt joint or recovering from a surgery, well kind of. But after the first few hours of that, I told her that the only way of me getting strong again was to go out on the battlefield and fight, even though she totally disagreed. And since she's the doctor and everything, I had to listen to her.

Then the next day, she had to rip out all of my stitches and sew them back up again because of how much damage the mech bullets left and she didn't want to take them out when I was unconscious since there's no telling what could happen with me knocked out. And let me tell you, that has got to be on my top ten of most painful experiences I've ever had in my life, getting shot five times and breaking all of my right ribs being the first. I'm positive that all of camp heard me cursing from the bus, and Ben and Jimmy were freaking out when I walked out. I've managed to walk by myself now, but it's at a slightly slower pace than I used to walk at.

I've pretty much gone back to not sleeping almost ever. Sometimes I get about an hour of sleep, but mostly it's just a half an hour to forty-five minutes. If I even tilt my side in the slightest, my whole entire torso is on fire. So if I do sleep, it's in the most uncomfortable way imaginable. I wasn't really all that concerned about being really sleep deprived, since Weaver wouldn't let me back on missions either because I was in pretty bad shape still. And I guess after some thought I could see where Dr. Glass and Weaver were coming from. If I was to get even slightly injured in the field, my body could just give out instantly or I could die on the spot. But that didn't change the fact of how much I hated waiting around and not fighting.

But on the bright side, Ben, Jimmy, and I have gotten to hang out a lot more often now. Weaver said he wanted the younger fighters to take a little break from the war and just have time to be kids again, and all of us appreciated that. I know I didn't know that it had been three weeks since I had spoken to both Ben and Jimmy, but it was like my subconscious knew that and something inside of me missed them. They were the dorkiest, most annoying, cocky, and flat out fucking stupid people in the entire world, and most importantly they were my best friends.

Day five of me being awake was the day Ben, Jimmy, and I finally wore Weaver down enough to where he let us go on a perimeter patrol which was not as easy as I thought it would be. But he gave in eventually, and now here we were, on patrol at ten at night.

"See anything?" Ben's voice whispered to us as we trekked through the woods. We were a bit away from the perimeter of camp, and honestly I knew that if Weaver found out we'd be in a shitload of trouble, but Ben said he had heard some skitters and decided to take us out farther than we were supposed to go.

"Nope," Jimmy sighed. He was a little aggravated too.

"Keep looking," Ben instructed.

Jimmy looked at his compass and then back at Ben. "We're only supposed to be patrolling two bits from the perimeter."

"Don't worry; I know my way back to camp," Ben said to make us feel reassured, only it didn't work in the least. Then suddenly the three of us saw a skitter out in the open. "See that?" Ben ran forward to a hiding spot where we could still see them and Jimmy and I followed after.

I took my Calico and started aiming through the block of wood at the skitter's head, waiting for the right moment. It stopped moving for about three seconds, and all I needed was one to blow a bullet straight into its head. I smirked. "Three weeks out and I still got it."

"Nice shot," Ben said, genuinely impressed. The three of us walked over to it to check it out.

Jimmy poked the skitter with his gun and then took a step back. "Ugh, that's nasty!"

"Dumbass," I laughed as Ben pointed out that the bullet I had used would do that to it. And then the skitter rose up and nearly attacked Jimmy had Ben not grabbed it by its neck and shoved a knife up into its mouth.

"I thought it was dead," Jimmy said a little breathless.

Ben smirked. "It is now."

On our way back to camp, I was silent. I really hoped that Ben wouldn't lead us out that far again, since I really wanted to stay on duty and I did not want to start any issues with the three of us if I backed out of going with them. Plus I didn't really like the idea of being alone, because if I got ambushed by some skitters or mechs, there's no way in hell I could out run them or survive if they attacked me. Ben needed to cool it with the idea of going out of bounds to kill skitters, even if I wanted to kill them just as much as he did.

I mean, they nearly took away my life. I know that I never really cared about it that much in the past, but now it's all I had left. Now I had a purpose in life and now I had people that cared about me. Before the attack I used to sit in a basement making unneeded weapons for my collection, and now I was making them for a resistance regiment in an all-out war against aliens. How many people get to say that?

And randomly my ears picked up some kind of sound close by. "Do you guys hear that?" It sounded like Pope's voice…and was that Tom's? We all peered through the trees and saw Pope talking to Tom who had his hands tied behind his back as well as the Berserkers surrounding the two.

"What the hell did he get himself into now?" I muttered to them. "Here's the deal. Jimmy, stay back here and shoot towards the group to freak them out a little. Ben and I will go and take down Pope." The three of us nodded at the plan and then waited for something to happen. Pope grabbed Tom by the collar and shoved him when Jimmy pulled his trigger and shot near Pope's head.

"WHAT THE HELL?" He yelled out and Ben and I ran in. I grabbed Pope and stuck one of knives to his throat and Ben pointed a gun at his head.

"Drop your weapons!" Ben yelled to the Berserkers who had all of their guns pointed on us. "I said, drop them," his voice reinforced, this time a lot more threatening.

Jimmy shot some more bullets over our way and they all freaked out a little more. "He won't miss next time," I said plainly. Pope rose up his hands in surrender and his crew slowly dropped their weapons.

"Hey, Mr. Mason!" Jimmy said grinning at Tom for a split second and then turning his attention back to the group. And who ever thought that a group of three teenagers couldn't take down a group of killing-crazed adults?

"Jimmy?" Tom asked questioningly. Oh fuck. "What're you doing out here?"

"On our way back from patrol," Ben clarified.

"You are a long way from the outer perimeter," Pope pointed out, and he sounded pretty pissed off about it too. Maybe it was a good thing that we had gone far out. Tom came over and punched Pope to the ground, and then Jimmy took Pope's rifle.

"What're we gonna do about them?" Ben asked his father.

"That's for Captain Weaver to decide." My revolver dug farther into the convict's back, and Ben dragged him from the ground and back to camp, where Weaver decided that the punishment of Pope and his Berserkers would be to rot in a school bus for the night, which seemed pretty suitable to me.

Alyssa's POV

OH MY GOD ITS KAYLEE! AND SHE'S AWAKE! AND SITTING UP! It took me a couple seconds to process what was happening. That Kaylee was awake and not dead.

"KAYLEE!" I ran over and ambushed her in a hug.

"Fuck," Kaylee said raspily, "Damn, Carter, you must've really missed me."

"It's good to have you back, sis," Hal grinned and hugged her. She flinched. "Sorry."

Kaylee smiled. "It's fine, bro."

"Kaylee Nicole Parker, you're so lucky that you're injured because if you weren't I would beat your ass," I was trying (and failing miserably) to be serious.

"Why?"

"For scaring the living shit out of all of us, multiple times. Are you aware that you stopped breathing for a couple minutes?" I said. She smiled.

"Yeah, Kaylee, how about you don't do that again," Jimmy said and we all hugged her again. Then she tried to get up.

"Whoa, Kaylee you need to take it easy for at least a few days before even thinking about getting up."

"Dr. Glass, I've taken it easy for three weeks. I think it's about time I got up and started gaining my strength back." Then she stood up and nearly died. Ben and Jimmy had to catch her before she fell down and killed herself.

"Thanks guys," The three of them left. I started smiling.

"I can't believe she is awake!"

"I know." Hal said. "It's crazy right?"

"Okay everyone out. I need a break," Anne smiled so Hal and I left. Hal grabbed my hand and we walked around. I saw Jimmy, Ben and Kaylee talking to Tom and Weaver. We followed them over to spot with a bunch of crates and sat down. Pope brought out a bunch of beer and passed it around. I haven't had good experiences with beer in the past but hey, everything's different now. Might as well try.

Lyle offered one to Hal. "Here you go, kid." Hal was gonna take it but Tom had other ideas.

"He's a little young to be having beer," Tom said.

"Aw, c'mon, Tom! He's done a good job in the field lately and deserves a drink! He's old enough to handle it," Boon pitched in.

"Just this once."

Tector offered one to Kaylee. "Here you go, Parker."

"Pass," Fine then Kaylee be the responsible one.

"C'mon, it's not that bad!"

"I'm fifteen," Kaylee said.

"So?" Everyone laughed. "Fine, Carter you'll take one right? You're a big girl. Look, even your boyfriend having one" Hal raised his up.

"Sure why not?" I smiled and accepted the beer.

Kaylee took the beer from my hand and handed it back to Tector. "Oh hell no. Not after last time," Kaylee joked.

"What happened last time?" Hal asked

Kaylee and I became serious. "Nothing," we both said. It was a rather dark time.

"What? Just tell me," Hal insisted.

"No. Just drop it." I said, serious. Hal must have taken the hint because he gave up and went back to his beer.

Kaylee has been recovering okay. It would have been better but she doesn't allow herself to get better. She is so fucking impatient it's not even funny. She's already up on scout missions and perimeter patrols and stuff. I kinda feel bad for Jimmy; he looks so tired. Ben and Kaylee don't sleep and they always go out on night perimeter patrols and Jimmy wants to go with them so he very rarely sleeps. The exact opposite of Hal and me. We mostly sleep and hang out around camp. We don't go out much. As we speak, Hal's asleep. He has been all day and we are going out for supplies tonight. He needs to get up. I jogged over to the Mason family tent and started shaking Hal.

"Hal get up. Hal get up. Hal get up. Hal get up. Hal get up. Hal get up," I laughed. "Hal get up. Hal get up."

"Alyssa. Go. Away."

"NO! This is what you get!" I yelled while laughing and he smiled.

"I'm not getting up."

I went back to shaking him "Hal get up. Hal get up." He rolled over and faced the other way. "Oh so you want to play like that?" He laughed. I grabbed his arm and pulled him off of his cot and he fell to the ground. "Get your lazy ass up. Now!" I stood over him and smiled. His face was priceless. Part terror part surprise.

"Damn you're strong, for a short person." He stood up and picked me up "But I'm stronger." He started tickling my stomach (I am very ticklish) and laughed and screamed. Hal put me down on his cot and grabbed a shirt from his bag. The he took off the one he was wearing and before he could put it back on, Tom walked in.

"Hey Hal." He put his gun down, and then noticed me. "Hello Alyssa." He looked between Hal, who still didn't have a shirt on, and me. "Am I interrupting something?"

"What? Oh no!" Hal said.

"Are you sure?" Tom asked awkwardly.

"Yes Dad! I'm sure!" Hal said, frustrated. Tom just watched us both. No one said anything. After a few minutes of the most awkward silence I hopped off the cot and left.

"Well I guess I'll meet you out front," I said to Hal. "By Tom!" I jogged back to our tent. I started looking through my gun for some ammo. I finally used all of the stuff Kaylee gave me when we first arrived at the 2nd Mass. I couldn't find any in my bag but I found my old nunchucks. I hadn't used them since the day we first met Hal and Ben. I placed them on my bag and started looking through Kaylee's bag. I found the bullets and other fancy stuff I had no clue what it was or how to use. After staring at the stuff for like five minutes I finally found some normal bullets I recognized. I loaded my hand gun and my AK 47 assault rifle and grabbed a few extra rounds and strapped it all to my belt, with my rifle on my back. I grabbed a hoodie and left. Hal was waiting outside by a truck along with Dai and Anthony in another truck and Weaver and Tom beside the trucks.

"We are low on everything so grab whatever you can find." The guys left. "And you two, no messing around. Be quick." With that, I hopped in the passenger seat and we drove off.

"So why do I get the feeling your dad told Weaver about earlier?"

Hal laughed. "Yeah that was awkward. Sorry about that."

"So do you have any ideas were we might find stuff?" I asked.

"No clue."

"Great. Neither do I. Let's see what happens."

"Well okay then," Hal said. We kept driving for about twenty minutes and I got an idea.

"The highways! Find a highway and we should find stuff." He looked at me "We are staying at an airport right? So there should be hotels and food stores and stuff around here. We just have to find a highway."

"Alright." It took us about fifteen minutes to find the highway and we drove for a few minutes and soon we found old restaurants and food stores, pharmacies, hotels, and gas stations. And the best part of it is it wasn't picked through yet. First we went to a gas station and filled up a few things of oil and gas; we could only find enough to fill two of each. Then we ran into a food store and grabbed tons of canned food, still good fruit, vegetables, beans, and lots of other stuff. We filled six shopping carts with food, plus cases of water. It was a pretty small store and even though aliens haven't been here, people had been. Then we drove over to a hotel and ran through rooms, grabbing blankets and towels and packets of tooth brushes and at the pharmacy we got medicine and first aid kits and wraps.

"Hey, why don't we go by the other gas station and see if we can find more gas?" Hal suggested.

"Okay sure," I said and we drove the car over and pulled it under the shelter where you would normally get gas. We searched around the place but only found one gas can so we filled it up and put it in the back. The back of the truck was filled so we got some rope and tied it down. Then all of the sudden it started raining, pouring rain. And since we couldn't get the stuff in the back wet and we had to wait there at the gas station until it stopped. It rained for three hours and when I thought it had almost stopped it picked back up again. It was around one in the morning and it was freezing.

"Hey you wanna help me start a fire? I found some wood inside." There was a little shop where you could buy like cigarettes and Gatorade and crap.

"Sure," I grabbed a lighter and he set up the wood and we had a fire going. We sat down, really close to each other, trying to keep warm and defrosted our hands and feet. I started shivering. It was so damn cold. Hal took off his jacket and put it over me then he wrapped his arm around my waste and pulled me in. I laid my head down on his chest.

"Thanks," I said.

"Anytime." His jacket was really warm and fuzzy. Three more hours passed and it was still raining. "I wonder if it's raining at camp," Hal asked aloud.

"I don't think so. We are about forty five minutes from camp and there are so many trees. Plus it wasn't nearly this cloudy when we left."

"True. So tell me something about yourself no one knows," Hal said randomly.

"Well, Kaylee knows everything about me so no one but her knows that I have an obsession with stuffed animals. I love them and had like fifty before the attack." He laughed. "Your turn."

"I did drugs once. Marijuana."

"You're not the only one who did bad things in school," I said.

"What did you do?"

"Well let's just say I have had some drinking issues in the past."

"Your sixteen years old! How have you had a drinking problem? !"

"I have drunk before. Got drunk once, got in trouble, and made some mistakes. I don't drink anymore."

"What happened? Was it really bad?"

"You know those kids you see in school that just don't care, don't try, and are failing? The ones you look at and think 'Wow you're such a fuck up.' The ones who get in trouble for cussing out teachers. I was one of those kids. I hung out with bad people. My boyfriend's friends did drugs and smoked. Like I said, bad people. Not the type you hung with."

"But what did you do that was so bad?"

"Besides the fact that I've got wasted at fifteen years old? Lots of stuff," I said harshly. He picked up from my tone that I didn't want to talk about it so he dropped it. I was glad he did. He reached into a bag by him and pulled out a can of fruit, two Gatorades, and two forks.

"Dinner time," he smiled. We sat there in silence and ate our fruit and drank our Gatorade. It was amazing. We talked about stuff, mostly our lives before the attack.

"Okay my turn. One subject I was horrible at, easy, Spanish" he laughed. "Do I look like I am supposed to speak Spanish?" I'm the whitest person. "Most people tan over the summer, I burn or I look like a saltine cracker. All white with a little light brown spots." He just starts cracking up.

"My worst subject was probably Math." I laughed. We just sat there. It was about four o'clock. It rained for another hour then stopped. Hal and I jumped up and ran to the truck and drove back to camp as fast as the truck would let us. We didn't want to get stuck in another rain storm. It took us forty five minutes to get back. When we pulled up, Tom and Weaver were waiting for us, and they looked pissed.

"WHERE HAVE YOU TWO BEEN?!" Weaver yelled.

"Did it rain over here?" I asked.

"DON'T AVOID MY- wait what? Did it rain? No, why?"

"We got stuck in a rain storm. It poured rain for at least five or six hours straight. We were waiting it out under a gas station," Hal said.

"Wait so you found supplies?" Tom asked.

"Oh yeah we did. We filled the truck up and had to put some up front with us. Plus there is still more stuff we just couldn't fit it all in the truck. We wanted to come back but it's too late now. We'll go back tomorrow night," I said.

"Right now we want to sleep."

"Oh, no you don't. We need help around camp. Citizens will be waking up soon and we need you two helping out," Weaver said.

"But first you two can unload this stuff," Tom added. So we went and unloaded everything, we filled up vehicles with gas and stored the rest. We stocked the Med Bus with all the stuff. Anne and Lourdes were both asleep and there were no patients. They are gonna wake up and find all this stuff. Next we refilled all the food and random supplies we got. By then it was around seven a.m. and the citizens were up.

It was a very long day. We had to sit through this horrible long meeting and I didn't hear a thing they said. And we had to head back and collect more food. Anne and Lourdes were incredibly great full for the medical supplies. Finally it was around nine o'clock and we were allowed to go sleep. Hal and I headed to our different tents and I put on some sweats and fuzzy socks and instantly fell asleep. About an hour later I heard the tent door opening up, I looked up to see Hal walk in.

"Our tent is right by Weaver's and the meeting tent and they are all being loud as fuck." He groaned. Then he walked over to my sleeping bag, slid in next to me and wrapped his arms around me. The two of us fell asleep like that, in each other's arms.

Kaylee's POV

So about an hour or so later, I was taking the ammunition I had made for the week to the meeting tent when Ben ran up to me and pushed me from behind. "WHAT THE FUCK?!" I yelled, dropping practically all of the boxes. "You just gave me a fucking heart attack you asshole!" I slapped his shoulder and he just grinned at me. Bastard.

"I'm just trying to get even with all the times you sneak up on me."

"At least do it when I'm not carrying something!" I slapped him again, this time hard.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry, geez. Let me help you with those." Ben reached over and picked up a few of the boxes, and I took all of them and stacked them into his hands. "Okay, really?" he looked at me from around the boxes.

"Yeah, really. That's what you fucking get for making me drop them all!" I rolled my eyes and we walked to the meeting tent basically cursing at each other the whole way there. Sometimes I really question why I curse so much, but then I realize that I've had no parental guidance for the last five years and then I understand why. It's pretty bad, I mean Ben never used to cuss back then and after we became friends he started doing it and I kinda feel responsible, but whatever. Jimmy did too so I guess it's both of our faults.

Once we dropped the ammunition off, we started our evening walk around the airport hanger. It was really nice, since there were only about twenty fighters up right now watching the skies and the roads and no one was bothering us or being really loud. I really missed this. And then I remembered something I had been meaning to bring up since we had gotten back from the mission. "Hey, Ben can I talk to you about something?"

"Anything," Ben said glancing at me and then looking forward again.

We were walking by the mess area and I had to stop and lean on a table because I was coughing. I had probably gotten the cold (I seriously have the worst immune system ever) that was going around camp and with my lung and my ribs it burned like hell to cough and I couldn't stand by myself to do it either. I learned that when I was coughing in my tent and fell over onto the ground because my ribs hurt so bad to cough and stand.

"Are you okay?" Ben asked and immediately was at my side.

"Calm down I'm just coughing." I rolled my eyes and coughed again, this time harder. Holy fuck why was I coughing so much?

"Why are you leaning on the table?"

"Because if I don't I'll fall over," I said while leaning on it a little longer before deciding that I would be okay for a little while. Then Ben and I started walking along again.

"So what's up?"he wondered and this time looked at me for my answer.

I sighed a little, knowing that this conversation wasn't going to end well. "Ben, we can't keep going so far out from the perimeter of camp."

As soon as his eyes hardened, I knew that this was probably going to be a pretty bad fight. "Why?"

"Because tonight, that skitter could've easily killed Jimmy, or even me or you. More importantly, we're disobeying orders and you know how much that pisses off Weaver and your dad."

His cold eyes were just about searing mine. "But it didn't kill any of us and the more skitters we kill, the quicker the aliens get off the planet."

"But you're missing the point, Ben. It's stupid and it's reckless; two things that get people killed," I stated. If I hadn't been so stupid and reckless on the bridge than I wouldn't be in a hell of a lot of pain and have a bad lung.

"No, _you're_ missing the point," his tone of voice got angrier and louder, "Kaylee these aliens took my mom away from me. They took my dad away and nearly killed him too. And they took my _normalcy_ away. Everyone here at camp treats me differently because I have spikes in my back and because they think that I'm still wired to them somehow. The skitters are out there right now taking the same things away from tons of other kids and robbing them of their freedom to live how they want to. You don't understand how much this means to me when we kill more and more of them. You had that shot of being normal and are lucky enough to still be normal…" Ben trailed off.

I just looked at him. "Normal? You think I'm _normal_?! I'm a fifteen-year-old solider fighting in a war with aliens, not to mention making weapons for a militia regiment! _That is not normal_."

"And you thing that having spikes sticking out of your neck and having crusty skin on your back is?!" Ben shouted right back into my face.

I let out an aggravated breath. I can't let this fight get out of hand. "No. My point is that when everything fell to the aliens, normal went along with it. We don't have a fucking clue about what 'normal' is anymore. And I honestly couldn't care less about that. This is our new normal now. Fighting in a war at the age of fifteen, having spikes in your back, people getting killed, never seeing loved ones again; that's what's normal now. It's just about time that we accepted it and moved on."

Ben sighed at me, and I wasn't really sure if he was pissed because I was right or pissed because he hadn't finished making his point. "It's not normal to me. It's not normal to anyone, and the way I see it, the only way for the world to be normal again is to kill every last skitter we see."

I was silent for a moment, debating in my head what to say. So I unzipped my hoodie, grabbed my tank top, and pulled it up so Ben could see my stomach. The bruises were a hell of a lot more visible now that the bandages were off, and the stitches were already scarring around my skin and even bruising. "Believe me, there is nothing I would like more than to kill every single one of those bastards for doing this to me. But I have to consider the safety of my patrol mates, and I can't do that if I'm outside of the perimeter shooting skitters."

Ben stared at every stitch, every bruise, and every scar. He didn't say anything at all, and finally I let my shirt fall and zipped up my hoodie again. My best friend just stared at me, trying to figure out some sort of way to argue with me because I knew he had nothing. One look at my stomach would make a surgeon want to throw up.

"So we can't keep going far okay?" I raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to okay me back.

"I can't promise that. But I promise that I'll be more careful," Ben promised me, and for that moment I believed him.

The next night, the three of us went on patrol again to the same area we went to the night before. We had been stationed there for a few hours, and hadn't seen skitters for most of the night, but when they came out, we were prepared for them. Awhile back, Pope taught me how to make a "Dragon's Breath" round for guns. It was basically some chemicals mixed together that when you pulled the trigger, fire came out instead of bullets. The rounds were pretty efficient for getting rid of skitters, but you had to be fast and smart about where you aimed the fire. I had shown Ben and Jimmy earlier, and we were going to use it now.

"What're they doing?" Jimmy wondered as he looked though his classic Mossberg 500 shotgun (he's been using it since the day I met him) trying to get a clear shot.

"I don't know," Ben said in a voice that was either intrigued or disgusted. "I see no mechs with them."

"That's weird," I remarked. Mechs were always around skitters…so why weren't there any here?

"The one with the red eye creeps me out," Ben looked revolted at the sight of it. I clicked my round into place and handed Ben and Jimmy one too. I was a little nervous to be out again, but Ben, Jimmy, and I were smart and loaded, so we would be alright.

Ben stared at the round I had handed him. "Is that one of the Berserkers' Dragon Breath rounds?"

I nodded. "Pope showed me how to make them. Figured it'd be worth a shot to see how they work. Total flamethrower. I got two of them and I gave you guys one. Use it wisely."

"Let's toast some cockroaches," Ben smiled, as did Jimmy and I. And then my fucking cold started giving my lung a hard time breathing and I started coughing really loudly. SHIT! The skitters made a weird screeching sound and turned our direction. The three of us ducked and I tried my hardest not to curse out loud. I just totally blew our cover.

They began heading over to the log we were hiding behind. Jimmy was about to get ready to pull his trigger when I put my hand on his gun. "Wait for it…" I whispered with my eyes glued to the skitters' nearing positions. "Wait for it," Ben echoed to Jimmy who was getting uneasy by how close they were getting to us. And then when they were inches away from the log, Ben yelled, "NOW!"

Jimmy and I jumped up and began spraying the skitters with the fire rounds we had. I torched one and Jimmy torched the other and they instantly dropped down until the one with the red eye was left standing back. Ben ran forward and tried to stab it with his butcher knife, but the skitter flipped him onto his back and knocked the wind out of him. I came after it next, shooting at it only to have it dodge my shots. So I tried taking Ben's tactic from a different angle with one of my knives, but the skitter shoved me out of its way, so forcefully that I collided on the ground and skid a ways away. And to make matters worse, I had what Anne told me was an asthma attack of some sort, and I couldn't fucking breathe or move from my spot on the ground. Also I hit a rock and tore open some of my stitches so I was bleeding again.

Ben was yelling at me something that I couldn't hear over my loud gasps for air, and Jimmy was shooting at the extremely intelligent skitter who knew how to dodge these bullets and our knives. Jimmy must've ran out of ammunition (you'd think he had learned his lesson after last time) and he decided that taking his gun and running full speed at it might knock the hideous thing out, but it didn't.

And the next thing I knew, my best friend was flying in the air and hit a tree with so much force, I don't know how he didn't die right then and there.

Then I saw a bloody branch sticking out of his chest.

"JIMMY!" Ben shouted and got up from his winded position. I still couldn't move; my lung was throbbing and my side was burning. I had to get up. Jimmy was in serious trouble.

The red-eye skitter turned to Ben and when he tried to stab it, the skitter raised its hand and Ben literally froze where he was standing and dropped his knife to the floor. Then his spikes started to glow. "BEN!" WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON?!

After several moments of fighting to get up, I forced myself to my feet and run over to Ben and the skitter. When I shoved the skitter, it shoved me right back and I collided into Ben who surprisingly caught me and we didn't both fall to the floor. His spikes weren't glowing any longer and the skitter was walking away, like nothing had even happened. "Are you okay?" We both asked each other at the same time, since either of us had just gone through something pretty awful.

I ran over to Jimmy as soon as Ben let go of me. "Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I yelled as Ben was by my side in a blink of an eye. Jimmy was impaled on this tree, still conscious. "Jimmy, you're gonna be okay," I said, getting a knife from one of the holsters I had and began cutting the branch from behind him. Oh my God, this was bad. Really, really fucking bad. Ben held Jimmy up on the tree and I did too as we both worked to cut this branch from the tree so we could get him to Dr. Glass. Jimmy was wheezing and doing the same thing I was when I passed out from the bullets, not to mention how badly he was already bleeding.

It felt like hours before we cut through, but we did eventually, and the moment he was free we started sprinting, faster than either of us had _ever_ sprinted in our lives. Ben and I were soaked in his blood, and as we were sprinting I realized that we were both badly cut as well. Ben had a bleeding gash on the side of his forehead and I felt a gash on my cheek that was bleeding too. But not a single amount of the pain I was feeling and how awful my lung was feeling mattered in the least to me. Jimmy was dying in my arms right now, and I had to get him to camp before he went.

The two of us instantly started a commotion when we ran into the airport hanger. Weaver and Tom started cursing at us when they saw Jimmy wounded and then ran over to us to help get Jimmy into the Med Bus as quickly as possible. My heart was racing, and it wasn't from how far we had run, but from how terrified I was. Jimmy can't die. He _won't_ die. He…he just couldn't.

"It's a good thing you guys left the branch still in place. He would've lost a lot more blood otherwise," Lourdes told us as we set Jimmy on the table.

"Give me the tray! And a lot more gauze!" Anne yelled to Lourdes. "Scissors?!"

Ben and I were standing right next to each other, frantically watching as Anne tore Jimmy's shirt open with the scissors to start getting the branch out. This couldn't be happening. This _wasn't_ happening. _This isn't happening_, I thought to myself, _this is just another nightmare. It has to be._

"Let's get out of here, you two. They need to work," Weaver murmured to us.

"I'm not leaving him," we said in unison as we clutched the side of the table he was on. There was no way in hell I was leaving my best friend.

"We need to talk!" Weaver grabbed both of us and yanked us out of the bus. Hal and Alyssa had run up to Tom, Weaver, Ben, and I knew this wasn't going to be good. "What in the _hell_ were you three doing out there, Ben?" Weaver spoke so angrily that I nearly flinched.

Ben looked at Hal and then back at me, silently asking me if he should lie. I closed my eyes briefly and shook my head and then Ben returned his attention to Weaver and his dad. "H-hunting skitters."

"_Hunting_?!" Hal butted in and Ben and I looked at him. "Is that what you were doing when you found Dad last night?!" Way to be an asshole, Hal. Way to be an asshole.

"What were you, Jimmy, and Kaylee doing hunting skitters, Ben?" I felt really bad that Ben was getting all of the lashing for this when it was my fault too, but I think that since I had just started my healing process I was let off the hook a little, when I really shouldn't be.

"They put spikes in my back, they killed Mom, they killed everybody! I need a reason?!"

"Like we don't see enough combat; you have to go looking for it?" Weaver stared straight at him, and I had to turn my eyes away because I was so ashamed in myself.

"'til every last one of those things is dead, then yes," Ben murmured the last part."

Tom started exchanging looks with Weaver, Hal, and Alyssa, and then said, "Hal, take your brother back to the tent. Get him cleaned up. Alyssa, take Kaylee too."

"No, I'm going back to the Med Bus," Ben said softly.

"You can't go around camp looking like that!" Tom yelled sternly. "Go change first." Hal grabbed Ben's arm and pulled him towards the Mason tent and Alyssa grabbed my arm and pulled me towards ours.

"Don't touch me," I yanked out of her grasp and walked ahead of her to our tent. I pushed the flap open angrily and grabbed my backpack and took a black Three Days Grace t-shirt from it. Alyssa was inside the tent too, and when I took off my hoodie and my tank top, she turned her eyes away from my bleeding stomach. "You need to see Dr. Glass." I ignored her and threw on the shirt and my jacket and then walked out of the tent again. "Kaylee!" she shouted at me and then grabbed my shoulder, which I jerked out of.

"Just don't," I slapped her hand away and then turned around to go find Ben. He was by where the 2nd Mass got our water and had taken a bucket and a sponge to clean the blood off of his arms and face. I sat down next to him and he handed me another sponge quietly and we both sat in silence washing blood off of our arms and hands.

"_I knew that guy back in school."_

_ My eyes shifted to the boy beside me. He was the youngest fighter that I had met my first day here. "I saw him earlier on patrol with some skitters and mechs. He didn't make it."_

_"It's a shame. He was a nice kid."_

_ "I'm Kaylee Parker," I introduced myself. I was done talking about dead kids, at least for a bit._

_ "Jimmy Boland. I see you're a fighter," he looked at the gun at my waist._

_ "What about you? Aren't you the 2__nd__ Mass's youngest fighter?" _

_ "That's me. I only turned fourteen a few months ago."_

_ "Wow. Do you know a thing or two about guns?" _

_ Jimmy nodded. "I taught myself, but I'm pretty decent."_

_ "We're going to be great friends then," I smiled._

_ He laughed. "Let's go on watch sometime. That way we can talk about guns and stuff."_

_ "That'd be awesome. It's tiring listening to Hal all the time," I chuckled a little. Jimmy seemed like a down to earth, straight to the point kind of guy. And anyone who's got a thing for guns is definitely on my good side. I like this kid. _

_ "What are the extra rounds for?" He nodded to the rounds in my hands._

_ "I'm teaching Ben how to fight. I figured he wouldn't have remembered to reload his gun so I'm bringing some extra."_

_ "How'd you get stuck with a job like that?" Jimmy laughed. _

_ I shook my head. "Honestly I don't even know why the hell I agreed to it. It's practically impossible."_

_ "I feel you. I don't have the patience to teach people anything."_

_ I shook my head. "Me either. That's why I hate it so much. It's hard trying to explain how to do something you love to other people and expecting them to understand it." _

_ "Seriously. Finally someone who understands," Jimmy smiled. _

_ "Finally," I agreed. "I gotta go though. Duty calls."_

_ "See you on watch!" Jimmy called as I walked down the hallway. _

I almost smiled to myself as I remembered the first time I talked to Jimmy at the school, back when I hated Ben and the day Jimmy and I went on patrol alone and he nearly died. My heart felt like it was dissolving; I've lost enough people in my life to shred my heart to pieces, and now it felt like it was just disappearing altogether.

I was trying to get the gash on my cheek cleaned, but it was on my right side which was the side with my bad arm and my left arm was in pain from carrying Jimmy (I'm a runner, therefore I have zero upper body strength) and I couldn't even reach it to my cheek to clean it.

Ben looked over at me and then moved to sit closer to me. "Let me." Even though I felt extremely childish with Ben cleaning my cheek, I really had no other choice. He gently swiped the sponge across my cut, and even though I barely felt the soft surface, I winced at the contact. Yeah, that was going to leave a scar. As if I didn't have enough already.

"You'd think I'd be used to this by now," Ben said quietly. He soaked the sponge and kept cleaning my cut.

"To what?" I asked, my tone matching his.

"Cleaning blood off of me," he replied and then looked down at the bucket with now bloody water.

"You had to…" I trailed off, not having the heart to finish that sentence. He had to do the same thing with me.

"Yeah," he whispered. Both of us were quiet again, and I seriously couldn't handle being strong anymore. I laid my head on his shoulder and he put his arm around my waist comfortingly and leaned his head on mine too. We sat there for hours, just leaning on each other and silently praying that our best friend, our third musketeer, would be alright.

We moved to the tables that were set up by the Med Bus and sat there just as silently, just waiting and waiting for the news on Jimmy. Every minute that passed by felt like another bullet into my chest. Was this what it felt like for everyone when I was lying on that table, not even a week ago? I didn't even have the voice to ask. The only thing I could do was just wait, something I'd never been particularly fond of.

"_Why_ are you staring at me like that?" Ben spoke suddenly, and I took my eyes off of the Med Bus and looked at him. Ben was staring at his older brother and Hal was staring him down too.

He raised his hands, trying not to start anything. "I'm not staring."

"Yeah. You are. You got something to say?" Ben's voice was aggravated and annoyed, something that didn't mix well with him especially.

"Yeah, I do," Hal said after a few seconds. Hal was like my brother, but he was being such an asshole that if he didn't cool it I was going to walk over to him and punch his daylights out. You don't fucking talk to someone who's dealing with a friend dying like that. You just don't fucking do that.

"Easy now boys," Weaver cautioned them to try and cool down the tension. They both shot glares at each other and then Hal got up to go and get coffee, Alyssa getting up with him to talk to him. Maybe she'll smack some sense into Hal for me. I could tell that Ben was listening to their conversation and I just really hoped that Alyssa wasn't saying anything stupid to piss him off.

Right then Tom walked into the hanger and up to Hal and Alyssa, asking if there was any news on Jimmy. He had just came back from going out to the site where Ben, Jimmy, and I were at with the Berserkers to see if there were any skitters trying to track us or anymore of them lurking about. I guess there was nothing to worry about since Tom was calm as were the Berserkers who were getting warmed up at the mess area.

"Hey," Tom said to Ben and I. He took something out of his pocket and handed it to me. "The compass. Give it to Jimmy when he wakes up." I wrapped my fingers around it and nodded to Tom. This compass was probably one of Jimmy's most prized possessions.

Anne came walking out of the Med Bus over to the group of us with an expression on her face that made my heart drop. Weaver was the first to ask how Jimmy was doing. "I've done everything I can," her usual lighthearted tone now melancholy spoke. "It's up to Jimmy now." Everything went silent in my ears after that. Anne didn't give us a diagnosis of any kind, and that was never a good sign. I got up and walked away, away from this grief, away from everyone, and just away from reality. I put Jimmy's compass in my pocket and just slowly walked away.

The day my parent's died was…awful. And I've never been the same since, nor would I ever be. It felt like someone had taken a knife and sliced out the places my parents had in my heart. And every time someone was ripped from my life or some kind of terrible thing happened to me, a new slice was made. My heart was barely beating anymore, and I honestly don't know how I've managed to deal with all of this pain.

But losing Jimmy…losing Jimmy was something unfathomable. He was my first real friend here in the 2nd Mass. There isn't a single day I can think of where I didn't smile at least once because of him. His smile lit up a room once he walked into it, and his smile made me smile. He was one of the best fighters I've ever known, and one of the closest guy friends I've had in my entire life. Jimmy and Ben. It was always the two of them and always would be the two of them. They were my everything, and one of few reasons I lived my life to the fullest. The three of us had been close since before Fitchburg, which was over five months ago. And if Jimmy did, half of my heart would be gone forever.

Eventually I made my way back to camp; I honestly didn't know where I had gone or how far I had gone out, but I just needed time to be alone. For those of you who don't pay attention, Jimmy meant more to me then feelings would allow. He was the first person I let into my life, right after Alyssa, and I can't picture my time here with the 2nd Mass without him in it. I can't picture my future time here with the 2nd Mass _without_ him here. He meant too much, and is such a huge part of my life that I don't think I can be who I am now without him here.

"Hey," Ben spoke. Somehow I had managed to enter the Med Bus and sat next to Ben in front of the table with my best friend on it.

I didn't say anything; for that moment I forgot how to use my voice. I honestly can't tell you how fucking awful this is for me. Never have I ever been good at dealing with death or people fatally injured in my lifetime. I can't cry, hell I _don't_ cry nor have I ever, I feel like my soul has been ripped out of my body, and if I speak at all, my voice will make people think I'm about to cry because of how broken it sounds. It's basically like forcing all of the depressing emotions you've ever felt in your lifetime into one small bottle and closing the cap and refusing to look back on it.

"C'mon, Parker," Ben chuckled half-heartedly. "Cheer up a bit."

"It's not funny, Ben," I murmured, looking up at him with sad eyes.

Ben moved closer to me and put an arm around me, even though I didn't want to be touched at all. I hated people trying to be affectionate with me when I was in a mood like the one I was in now. "All I'm saying is that you can't just go straight into grieving. Jimmy's not even dead and you're acting as if he is. You can't just give up on him before he's even gone."

I forced myself to get over the whole hating affection thing and leaned my head onto Ben's shoulder like I had earlier. "I just can't handle doing that. Because the second I start believing that, that second everything starts going wrong," I whispered.

"That's exactly what I thought every second I was here when you were in front of me. But I just kept telling myself that I needed to focus on the good things in a bad situation and maybe something would come out of it. You know who told me that?"

"I did," I said softly, recognizing my own words spoken by Ben. I didn't even know that he remembered that.

"You did," he repeated. "And it took me awhile before I started believing it, but I did. And here you are now, alive and breathing. So don't give up yet, KP. Jimmy needs someone else to fight with him, like I fought with you."

I swear I think something moved me when Ben said that. But it just turned out to be a really long cough. "How are you handling all of this so well?"

I felt Ben sigh. "I had to do all of this with you. Cleaning blood off of me, running off and screaming at how unfair it all was, and sitting in the Med Bus all day for three weeks. The second time is just a little bit easier to handle. Just a little," he whispered and leaned is head gently on top of mine.

"I can't imagine what you went through," I tried picturing Ben doing everything he had just said he did.

"Watching you there, practically lifeless and barely breathing was the hardest thing I've ever had to do," he said, looking down at me and then looking away again, trying to force away the memories.

And then this unexplainable warmth spread through me like a forest fire. It hit me right then and there, that I would never find someone like Ben in a million lifetimes. I had never felt this kind of thing ever, and even though I couldn't explain it to you if I tried, it felt great to be warm on such a cold occasion such as now. Ben had always made me feel like that, warm and happy when I was cold and broken. And even though our best friend was unconscious and had almost died, he made me feel happier than I was the past few hours. "How do you do it?" I shook my head and put my arms around my propped up legs.

"What?" Ben asked, looking back down at me.

"Make me smile when I never want to smile again."

Ben laughed a little. "I just hate seeing you upset."

"I hate seeing you upset. And I hate it when you think you have to be strong when you're hurting inside," I glanced at him and then forward again.

"What makes you think that?"

"You're life has been absolute hell the past six months, not even including the six months before I met you. How could you not be hurting inside?"

"I don't know, it's like you said about how you don't want to make people sad or they just don't understand." Our voices had stayed below the humming of the lights in the Med Bus, which was really, really quiet.

"But you know that you can tell me everything. You don't have to be so strong all the time, Ben."

"Believe me, I'm not," Ben shook his head. "I don't think I've ever broken down as hard as I did when you nearly died. I know I keep bringing that up, but I don't think you fully understand how much of a wreck I was that entire time. I guess I just don't ever want to be like that again, and someone's got to be the strong one when something awful has happened."

"If anyone's going to be the strong one, it's me, not you, Mason. Not you. You've had to be too strong for too long."

"If anyone's been too strong for too long, it's you. I've seen every single person in this camp cry except for you. You didn't cry when you were shot five times or broke all of your right ribs, you didn't cry when you had to go through surgery for your arm back at the school, and you're not even crying now. And that's the only the time I've known you. You've got to learn how to lean on other people, Kaylee. You can't just live your life without having people to help you through the pain."

I sighed. "Every time I lean on someone long enough, they end up dead or out of my life. That's why I push people away or refuse to open up. And that's why I don't tell you or Alyssa a lot of things because I can't lose her or you. I can't lose Jimmy either."

Ben was soundless as he let that in, and then took a breath and said, "Kaylee, I promise you that you'll never lose me, and I'll never walk out on you. The harder you push me away only brings me back closer to you. You need to realize how much I care about you and that you aren't going to get rid of me that fast. Jimmy too. We're not going to lose him, and you're not going to lose Alyssa or me either." Ben held me just a little tighter as he said that, as if I was just going to disappear at any second.

"Don't make me that promise, Ben," I said that so softly that he instantly turned to look at me as if thinking I was going to lose it. "Don't promise me something you and I both know you can't keep." That was my last attempt at keeping my walls up and protecting what was left of my pathetic-ass heart.

"No, I _will_ make that promise because I know that I'm not gonna break it. You just have to get over the fact that someone cares enough about you to make that promise," Ben stated, staring directly at my eyes and directly into my soul.

That's when I just pulled Ben into a tight hug, and he reciprocated just as tightly back. No one has ever made it so apparent that they care so much about me or make that kind of promise to me. Maybe this time it would be different. This time I had someone to go through this all with me, and someone who was in just as much pain I was in. Ben got it, he got it in a way no one had in my life.

Ben's POV

We sat there for a really, really long time, and before I knew it she had fallen asleep on my shoulder, with my arm wrapped around her and her head resting on my chest. This has probably been the eighth time she's fallen asleep on me, but I didn't mind. She rarely gets sleep and for whatever reason Kaylee always dozes off on me.

I sighed outwardly, so, so grateful that she had survived her accident. Because if she hadn't, then I would've lost both her and Jimmy. They were the greatest people in my life; if I lost either of them I don't think I could handle it.

"Where'd you go?" I looked up to see my dad standing next to me, rifle slung over his back and concern in his eyes.

"No where. Just walking around, staring at Jimmy's compass." Then I remembered that my dad wasn't around to witness how Jimmy got it. "A few months back, he got separated from the 2nd Mass. Took two days to find him again so Weaver gave him his compass so he could always find his way home."

"Don't blame yourself over this," he shook his head.

"Everyone else does," I said softly.

"That's not true."

"I've seen the way everyone looks at me. Hal, Matt, even you," I blinked and looked at my father. I had been thinking about this for the past hour and it seriously dawned on me about how much this was my fault.

"No."

"Yes."

"No," My dad said more forcefully, as if that would actually make me believe him.

"Fine, whatever, but you think I wouldn't rather be lying there instead of him?" My voice was barely above a whisper now. Jimmy was my right-hand man and the only person who was brave enough to annoy Kaylee with me.

"I'm sure that you would," Dad's voice dropped quietly too. "Just like there isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish and pray that your mother was still alive. And it um…sucks. It really sucks. And sometimes you think that you can't even go on, except you don't have a choice but to go on. And the good news is we've got each other to get through a lousy situation," he started his famous quote, "but the bad news is-"

"It's a lousy situation," we said at the same time.

"Besides, Ben, you've got her," Dad motioned to Kaylee who was still sleeping. "She knows better than anyone in this entire camp what you're going through right now, better than me, better than Hal, and better than anyone. I know how badly you were torn up when she was lying on that table not too long ago, and how you thought that she wasn't going make it through. So have a little more hope, son. Jimmy's bound to wake up soon."

Dad left me then, and I felt like I was going to break at any second. Jimmy was the only person who knew exactly how I felt when Kaylee was there instead of him. He was my best guy friend, and related to me in so many ways. My life without Jimmy was nearly like a life without Kaylee: worthless and miserable.

And unexpectedly Jimmy started rustling a little and breathing really raspy.

Kaylee's POV

"Kaylee, wake up," Ben shook me gently but had an alert to his tone.

"What?" I asked groggily. Had I actually been sleeping?

"I think Jimmy's getting up." My eyes shot open and I sat straight up to see if Jimmy was starting to become conscious again. He was moving around a little and his breathing was getting heavier.

"Jimmy?" I whispered, laying a hand on his bare arm. Right as I did that his piercing eyes shot open and he took in a rugged breath of air.

"Jimmy!" Ben exclaimed and rushed to the other side of him.

One look at his eyes and I knew that these were going to be his last few moments with Ben and I.

"Jimmy, say something!" Ben exclaimed softly.

"Please," I whispered.

"Hey, guys," Jimmy gave his best smile, although I knew that he was faking it.

I gave him a small hug and he tightly wrapped his arms around me too. "How bad is it?"

"Pretty bad," he coughed again and I grabbed his hand, thinking that if I held onto him hard enough he wouldn't leave.

"You're a trooper man," Ben smiled and bro-hugged Jimmy and then did his signature handshake with him. I had seen that so many times that I thought nothing of it, but now it was probably going to be the last time I'd see it.

"Not for much longer," Jimmy rasped and then started coughing, so hard blood started coming out.

Ben got up to go get Dr. Glass, but was stopped by Jimmy's voice, "Don't go, Ben. I need to tell you guys something."

"But if I stay you'll…"

"I know," he nodded. "I know." My heart was cracking every time he took a breath in and spoke. I was never going to hear his voice again. I was never going to hold his hand or hug him ever again.

Jimmy took Ben's hand too and then looked at both of us, happiness in his hurting eyes. "I've never had a pair of friends like you two before and you guys have changed my life in so many ways that you'll never know. You two have been there for me since the beginning and I know you'll both go on to live through this war. I love you guys, so, so much," Jimmy's voice cracked and tears started falling from his eyes. I looked over at Ben and his eyes were tearing, just like mine almost were.

"You're gonna be fine, Jimmy," I said holding his hand tighter.

Jimmy cast his eyes back up at mine. "I love you, Kaylee. I love your kind-heart and your smile, and I'm so glad that I got to know you and your beautiful spirit," he put a hand to my cheek and then looked over at Ben. "I love you, man. I'm never going to forget how much I hated you at first and how close we've grown since then. Never lose sight of who you are, either of you guys." Ben started crying and I sat frozen with my heart giving out by the millisecond.

"Take care of her, Ben," Jimmy said, with utter seriousness on his weak face. Promise me you'll keep her safe. For me."

"I promise," a tear from Ben fell onto Jimmy's hand and I saw them hold each other's tighter.

"And make sure that picture is in the history books," Jimmy motioned to his picture on the table next to him. Ben, Jimmy, and I laughed at that, a true, whole-hearted laugh that made us all more teary after we finished.

"Don't go, Jimmy," I whispered, holding his hand even tighter. "Please," I shook my head. "I can't live without you. I can't…"

Jimmy let more tears slip out. "Yes you can. You're the strongest person I've ever met in the world; you can do anything." He rubbed his thumb back and forth on my hand. Then he started coughing and wheezing really badly, and Ben and I got on our knees to be as close to our best friend as we could be in his final moments.

"Squeeze my hand when it hurts," I said so softly, I didn't think he heard me. But the smile on his face told me otherwise.

"Can you do me one last favor?" Jimmy asked, coughing in the process.

"Anything," I promised.

"Can you sing me a song? Just one last time," he whispered, voice fading and hand squeezing mine tight.

I cleared the lump in my throat it as fast as I could and started singing the first song that came to my mind.

"Come stop your crying  
It will be alright  
Just take my hand  
Hold it tight

I will protect you  
From all around you  
I will be here  
Don't you cry

For one so small,  
You seem so strong  
My arms will hold you,  
Keep you safe and warm  
This bond between us  
Can't be broken  
I will be here  
Don't you cry

'Cause you'll be in my heart  
Yes, you'll be in my heart  
From this day on  
Now and forever more

You'll be in my heart  
No matter what they say  
You'll be here in my heart, always

When destiny calls you  
You must be strong  
I may not be with you  
But you've got to hold on  
They'll see in time  
I know  
We'll show them together

Oh, you'll be in my heart  
No matter what they say  
You'll be here in my heart, always  
Always  
I'll be with you  
I'll be there for you always  
Always and always  
Just look over your shoulder  
Just look over your shoulder  
Just look over your shoulder  
I'll be there always."

Jimmy gave our hands one last squeeze and then smiled faintly, breaths getting slower and slower. "I love you guys. I'll be with you both, I promise." Then slowly he closed his eyes and I could see his breaths gradually shortening.

"JIMMY!" I screamed out. "JIMMY!"

Ben ran out and a second later Dr. Glass ran back in with Lourdes and then started giving Jimmy CPR. "Kaylee you need to move," Dr. Glass said frantically as she ran around me.

"No," I shook my head, holding onto his hand which was loosening its grip on mine slowly.

"Kaylee-"

"NO!" I shouted at them and stayed exactly where I was until Ben wrapped his arms around me and stared pulling me. "NO! BEN, GET OFF OF ME!" I shrieked at him and my hand slipped out of Jimmy's and I fought with my life to get out of Ben's grasp. "LET ME GO!" I screamed and thrashed to get free.

"It's okay, Kaylee, it's okay," Ben said softly in my ear to calm me down.

"STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT!" I yelled and punched him so hard he had no choice but to let me go. I ran back over to Jimmy's side and grabbed his hand again, and gave it a squeeze. I felt the slightest one back and then that's when I saw Dr. Glass slow down with the CPR.

"WHY ARE YOU STOPPING?!" Ben shouted at Anne. "No, NO! KEEP GOING! KEEP DOING IT!"

"I'm sorry," Anne whispered softly. "He's gone."

Everything went dark. Everything went silent. Every movement was in slow motion. My heart stopped beating right in my chest, and I stared paralyzed at my now dead best friend, my hand still in his. If someone had stabbed my heart with a dagger and dragged it along my insides, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference from what I was feeling now and the feeling that would bring. I have never felt pain like this before; not when my parents died, not when I nearly killed AJ, and not even when I was shot and broke my ribs. All of that was the equivalent to the pain of a scratch. This was equivalent to having every single knife in the world stabbed into your body, over and over and over again.

Next thing I know, I'm not on the Med Bus anymore. I'm walking, speed-walking, through camp. Desperate to wake up from this nightmare, desperate to stop feeling this way, desperate to run straight from the fact that would change my life forever:

Jimmy was dead.

Just. Like. That.

"KAYLEE!" I heard Alyssa's voice yell out to me. I didn't know where it was coming from, and I didn't care. I had to get away. I had to.

A firm hand pulled my arm back and I recognized it to be Hal, as well as Alyssa by his side. "Hold on," Hal said sternly.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" I yanked out of his grasp and began to walk faster.

"KAYLEE NICOLE PARKER!" Alyssa shouted at me, running next to my side. She grabbed both of my arms and forced me to look at her.

"**LEAVE ME ALONE**!" I screamed at the top of my lungs; so loud that the piecing shrill of my scream echoed through the airport hanger and every single head turned in my direction. I dug my nails into Alyssa's hands and shoved her out of my way and just took off running.

I went for a really long run that night. I don't think I stopped for twenty miles or more, but I must've stopped eventually because the next thing I remember was collapsing to my knees with my elbows on my thighs and my hands over my ears. Maybe if I had my hands blocking the sound long enough the voices would go away, maybe even stay away. Maybe if I kept them over my ears I would wake up. Maybe if I just stayed in this little ball long enough Jimmy would wake up again like I did. Maybe if I sat here for another hour I could go back in time to stop this from even happening in the first place.

This was my fault, this time for sure it was. If I had fought Ben harder and even told Jimmy about how dangerous it was he wouldn't be dead. If I had told Weaver about this he would've removed us from duty and everything would be the way it was. If I had just pulled my head out of my fucking ass, Jimmy wouldn't have paid the price. I should be the one dead. I should be the one that this happened to. Not Jimmy. Never Jimmy.

And then I screamed. I screamed and shouted and yelled at the loudest my voice could. I screamed at the unbearable pain my heart, I shouted at how this was all my fault, and I yelled because I had lost my best friend and the only guy I've ever liked in my life. Just because of one stupid mistake.

One damn stupid mistake.

I screamed until I lost my voice. I screamed until I couldn't handle the sound of my own voice any longer. I screamed until I just gave out. I felt like I was going to die then and there too. For those of you who hear the stories about people dying from a broken heart, I'm here to tell you that I thought they were absolute bullshit too. That is, until this very moment, curled up into a ball and yelling from how bad the pain burned.

My breathing got heavy and raspy again and I had a cough attack. Breaths were getting shorter and harder to manage. Good; maybe this was karma throwing all of this in my face again. I deserved this, and this wasn't even a decent punishment for any of this. Death is what I deserved, and death is what I should get for this. It's not like my life matters anyway.

My hands gripped the dirt and leaves until my breathing slowly went back to normal. And since I had been coughing so hard and loud, I hadn't heard the footsteps that were standing next to me right now. "C'mon, let's go back to camp."

I simply stayed put. "Get out of here, Ben."

"Not without you," he extended his hand to me which I didn't even acknowledge.

"Get out of here, Ben," I said slower and firmer. This time Ben didn't even argue with me; he simply pulled me off the ground and picked me up. I writhed in his arms and started screaming at him to put me down and leave me alone, but he just pretended like he couldn't hear me. I felt like a five-year-old throwing a tantrum, kicking, screaming, and hitting Ben so he would let go of me. But he just kept his eyes forward on the trail in front of us, and the new trail we would have walk down without Jimmy beside us.

Alyssa's POV

We woke up and it was the next morning. We slept for a good ten hours and I was still tired but we had to get up eventually. I looked over at Hal who smiled at me. "Morning sleepy head," he laughed and kissed my forehead.

I smiled, "Morning." We heard some commotion outside and I could have swore I heard Kaylee yelling. We decided to go see what was going on. I quickly changed and jogged outside. As we walked out Weaver was yelling at Ben and Kaylee. What the hell did they do and where was Jimmy?

"What in the _hell_ were you three doing out there, Ben?" Weaver was pissed. Like seriously pissed. I have never seen him so mad, ever.

"H-hunting skitters," Ben said.

"_Hunting_?!" Hal asked. How does he know what is going on? He must have been paying more attention at that meeting than me. "Is that what you were doing when you found Dad last night?!" Found Dad? What the hell did I miss? What happened to Tom? I really should have paid attention.

"What were you, Jimmy, and Kaylee doing hunting skitters, Ben?"

"They put spikes in my back, they killed Mom, they killed everybody! I need a reason?!" Ben yelled and I really didn't know who to side with. What Ben, Kaylee and Jimmy did was wrong but they had a good reason.

"Like we don't see enough combat; you have to go looking for it?" Weaver asked.

"'til every last one of those things is dead, then yes."

I looked at Tom and Weaver then to Hal. Tom gave the orders, "Hal, take your brother back to the tent. Get him cleaned up. Alyssa, take Kaylee too."

"No, I'm going back to the Med Bus," Ben said softly.

"You can't go around camp looking like that!" Tom said sternly. "Go change first."

I grabbed Kaylee's arm and started to the tent. "Don't touch me," She yanked her hand away and I followed her to the tent. She took off her shirt and I noticed some gashes on her stomach. They were so bad, I had to look away.

"You need to see Dr. Glass." She ignored me and left. "Kaylee!" I yelled but she ran away.

"Just don't," and with that she sprinted away. I didn't even try to catch up with her. After a couple minutes Hal walked up.

"So I am really confused. I completely zoned out during the meeting. What happened? Why are they all bloody and extra pissed off and what happened to your dad? I'm so lost!"

"When we were out, Ben, Kaylee, and Jimmy went out on patrol and went way out of the perimeter and found Pope about to kill my dad; he had a gun to his head and they stopped him. Then last night while we were asleep they went out again, way out of the perimeter and had a run in with some skitters. Jimmy was attacked, thrown onto a tree and a branch went through his body. He is in about the same condition Kaylee was in before. What you just witnessed was Kaylee and Ben getting in trouble for that."

"I really should start paying more attention at the meetings." Hal just laughed.

We walked into the Med Bus to check on him. Lourdes made us leave though. He wasn't doing to great and Anne was in the zone, working on him. We wandered over to the food tables and got some food that actually tastes like stuff, not just oatmeal. We had some fruit, soup, and coffee. Eventually Ben and Kaylee walked over and sat down at a table across from us.

"_Why_ are you staring at me like that?" Ben asked.

Hal looked away. "I'm not staring."

"Yeah. You are. You got something to say?" Ben was getting frustrated and looked like he was gonna punch Hal, and Hal had the same look on his face.

"Yeah, I do," Hal said.

I leaned in a whispered in his ear, "Don't start anything." He just blew me off

"Easy now boys," Weaver cautioned them.

Hal got up to go get more coffee so I followed him, hoping to calm him down. "You okay?"

"Me? I'm fine. It's Ben I don't get. He put the entire 2nd Mass at risk."

"Hal, cut him some slack."

"Oh so now you are siding with him?" He asked

"No. Of course not. All I'm saying is Ben is going through a world of pain right now and you mad-dogging him like that isn't helping anyone. He needs your support. And Kaylee, they both do. Keep in mind, in less than two months, this is the second time Ben has gone through this," I said.

Tom and the Berserkers walked in and Tom headed over to us. "Any news?"

"Nope," Hal said. Tom walked over to Kaylee and Ben. A few minutes after, Anne walked out and we all ran over.

"I've done everything I can," That's it?! Kaylee and Ben left. Hal and I went back to our food.

"So what do you think of all this?" Hal asked. "I never heard your thoughts."

"Well I think you both have fair points. Ben has a strong hate for them, one of the strongest here at camp and Kaylee wants them dead and Jimmy too, they of all people have the most right to be doing this but I also agree with you guys. It was completely unsafe and reckless. Look at what happened, plus they put the whole camp in danger. So I don't think they should have done it but I also think they had good reason to do it."

"So when did we enter a parallel universe?"

"What?"

"Now you are the logical one. What happened?" I laughed.

"Plus if they hadn't done it, they would not have been able to save your dad. Think of that. And in the situation he was in, four or five to one, not even Kaylee could get out of that, when they all had guns and he didn't. Just remember that." He didn't respond, which meant he knew I was right.

Hal and I were hanging out in our tent. We were off duty for a bit. Weaver wanted us to watch over Kaylee and Ben but they were in the Med Bus and they were they only two besides Anne and Lourdes who were allowed in there. We had the flap open so we could watch the bus. We were talking and messing around. It was fun being with Hal, though after Tom found out we slept in my sleeping bag, we weren't allowed to go places by our selves, which is the other reason the tent flap is open.

"WHY ARE YOU STOPPING?! NO KEEP GOING! KEEP DOING IT!" Damn it! Hal and I ran out of the tent as Kaylee ran out of the bus. What happened? Kaylee looked so confused and lost and angry and hurt and breathless and just like dead and emotionless, all at once.

"KAYLEE!" I yelled but she didn't stop. She just started walking faster.

"Hold on," Hal said sternly, grabbing her arm, trying to calm her down.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

"KAYLEE NICOLE PARKER!" I ran next to her and forced her to look at me.

"**LEAVE ME ALONE**!" she flipped out and ran as hard and as fast as I have ever seen her run. I've never heard her yell like that before. Ever.

"Ben, what happened?" I turned around to see Hal talking to Ben, who was still pissed at him.

"Go see for yourself."

"Ben-" I started.

"WHAT?!" he yelled back and Hal was about to step in but I stopped him.

"Please, just go find Kaylee. You are the only one she will listen to. Go make sure she is okay. She needs you and you need her right now. You are the only one she will listen to. Please."

"Okay." And he left.

Hal and I walked into the bus to see Jimmy. Anne was sitting there and so was Lourdes. They had covered his body with a cloth. We left a few minutes later and walked around camp. All I could think about was Kaylee and Ben. I always felt protective of Kaylee and Ben too. I have a little sister and Ben became my unofficial little brother. I was protective of him. They were absolutely heartbroken.

"What are you thinking about?" Hal asked.

"I want to make sure they are okay. I feel like I am the oldest and it's my job to make sure they are okay. That's always been my job, protect my little sister and Kaylee and now I can't. I feel useless, just like when Kaylee's parents died."

"You said it yourself. They need each other. They'll help each other get through this. Just let them calm down," Hal said.

"Yeah I guess you're right," I said. I was really sad Jimmy died. Once I got passed how annoying I thought he was, I guess he was a pretty cool kid. And even if I still hated him, I would never in a million years wish him dead. He was way too young to die. Fourteen. He was fucking fourteen years old and dead, from fighting in a fucking war at the age of fourteen. He was a child. All of the sudden a random plane came flying across the sky. Everyone just looked up and then went to grab their guns because they all assume aliens. Then the plane lands and everyone is like 'What the fuck is going on?' It's a fucking plane. That's not fucking normal during an alien attack and its weird and everyone's freaking out! I looked at Hal and he had the same 'What the fuck?' look on his face. And so did the whole 2nd Mass. Oh and it gets better. This lady hops out of the plane.

"Who do we have here?"

"Captain Dan Weaver, Second Massachusetts. And who may I ask are you?"

"Avery Churchill. I've been looking for you." That freaked us all even more. I looked over and saw this guy; he was examining her back, looking for spikes. Or a harness. Or something. "And Tom Mason. I have heard a lot about you," she said. Hal took a small step forward.

"What have you heard?"

"Well not many people walk on to an alien spaceship, and live to tell about it. Safe and unharnessed even." Tom was about to respond when she looked at me and her jaw dropped. "Carter? What are you doing here? How did you get here? Does Manchester know you are here?"

"Okay first of all I don't know you, second of all who is this Manchester dude and third, how do you know my name?" I snapped. This lady is on something.

"What's she talking about?" Weaver asked. Everyone was staring at me.

"I honestly have no clue!"

"How did you get here? Last I saw you, you were helping me fix my plane. I think it was two nights ago."

"No. Two nights ago, Alyssa was with me. We were stranded in the rain. Trust me." Hal said, coming to my rescue and defending me. Thank God. This lady was creepy. She knew my fucking last name!

"Wait did you call her Alyssa?" She was utterly confused.

"Yeah. That's my name. Alyssa Carter. Why?"

"So you're the famous Alyssa. I have heard so much about you. You and your friend Kaylee, Kaylee Parker. They way she talks about you two, Carter and Parker, the fearless twins."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Yeah munchkin over here and Parker are far from twins," Pope added.

"Veronica Carter. Your sister. I'm sorry; I got you confused with her. You two look so much alike."

"Wait. You know Veronica?! How is she? Is she okay? How? Is she okay? Please tell me she is okay! Was she with anyone? Where? Was she harnessed? Has she gotten hurt?"

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down. She's fine and no we found her by herself. She has been with us since the beginning and no she hasn't been harnessed."

"Alyssa, what's going on?" Tom asked.

"She knows my sister, Veronica. My little sister is okay and alive." Everyone started talking and Weaver and Tom were talking with the lady. I wasn't listening. I was too happy that my sister was alive and well. I was freaking out! I want to see her, I need to see her!

"Hal and Alyssa, you two will show her around."

"Okay. Come this way," Hal said and she followed as we gave her a tour. Weaver was making her stay until we left camp because she would be a safety threat if she was caught by the aliens.

"So where are you from?" I asked.

"Charleston, South Carolina. The capital of the new United States. After the attack we started to form a city, a union. Instead of fighting back we hid and worked on rebuilding. If we don't bug them, they don't bug us. That's what the president, Manchester, says and it has seemed to work so far. Your sister helps me with my plane."

"She always loved planes."

"Yup. She helped me fix it and even helped me build it. We found her about a month after the initial attack. She was all bruised and cut up and starving. She wouldn't talk about it but she is healthy now. I personally fixed her up."

"Thank you so much."

Kaylee's POV

I didn't sleep at all that night, and if you asked me what I did do I couldn't tell you because honestly I don't remember the slightest. The only thing I do remember was the excruciating throbbing in my chest and wanting to kill myself to be put out of this misery. Ben or Alyssa was around me 24/7 so that wouldn't happen unfortunately, but believe me I wanted to. Almost more than I've ever wanted to, actually.

Weaver had found a playground a little ways away from the airport hanger that we all agreed to bury Jimmy at. He was there now and Ben and I were in the Med Bus getting Jimmy ready for the funeral. It was absolutely silent between the two of us now; nothing but the sound of Ben buttoning up his shirt making noise. Ben and I decided to keep Jimmy's gloves because honestly neither of us could bear to let them go. And of course, we had his compass too. But it would never be enough.

I found myself holding his ice cold hand time and time again. He just didn't seem dead to me, even though he was colder than winter and paper white. My mind wouldn't grasp the fact that he was…gone.

"What happened to his field vest?" I asked softly, squeezing his hand and placing it back onto his chest. This is the only time I've ever seen Jimmy without it on.

"Couldn't get the blood out," Ben replied, straightening his pant legs, "didn't think it was right."

I nodded in agreement. "He looks fine the way he is."

Ben and I stood staring at our best friend for a few moments before Ben turned to the corner of the Med Bus that had random things stockpiled. He was looking for something that wasn't there, and the more thorough he searched and couldn't find it, the more panicked he became. "What's up?" I asked and looked at him worried.

"Jimmy's compass is gone."

"Gone? What do you mean gone?!"

"I put it over here and now it's not there anymore!" Ben said raising his voice along with mine. That compass meant more to the both of us than we could both put into words. It was like fully ripping Jimmy out of our lives, with nothing but a bloody field vest and a pair of gloves to remember him by.

And as if a red flag was waved in front of my eyes, I remembered something. Ben and I came into the Med Bus after he dragged me away from the forest and he left momentarily to go and get something. I was sitting opposite the corner staring into space and I think someone had came onto the bus and took something from the corner, but my mind shorted out when I tried to think of what the person looked like.

Then it all came rushing back to me like a tsunami.

I walked out of the Med Bus and outside, heading for one particular location that I knew that asshole would be. He was on the decking along with his gang of "outlaws," drinking no less. I stepped up the stairs and looked down for a moment, trying to contain the fury that was sweeping through me. But it only got stronger and stronger and I couldn't stop it any longer.

"Hey Little Miss Shoot!" Tector greeted me with one of many nicknames he called me, but I didn't even look in his direction. Once my eyes settled on Pope, I didn't see anything else.

"Well if it isn't Kaylee Parker here to grace us with her presence," Pope smirked and sank lower into his chair. "This isn't your neck of the woods; to what do we owe this honor?"

"Shouldn't you be packing up like the others?" I tried to distract myself by changing the subject. If he didn't have it with him, there was no point in making a scene.

"Nah, it's cocktail hour," Pope said and threw me a beer to which I let fall to the floor and crushed it under my sneaker.

"What the hell was that for?" he asked angrily. "That was a perfectly good beer!"

"I'd rather be a lame sober than a drunk asshole."

All of the Berserkers "oh-ed" at my remark and Pope stood up and looked at me.  
"You want to run that by me again?"

"I'm positive you heard me loud and clear," I stared back at him, trying not to flinch at the ungodly stench of alcohol.

"You know, while you're at it at the poor boy's memorial, you can pat your spikey friend on the back and tell him that it was good thing that you both did, taking one for the skitter team." My hands curled into fists and just as I was about to take a breath and calm myself down, I saw the compass around Pope's neck.

"Where'd you get that?"

"Finders keepers," Pope said and smirked again.

"Take it off," I said as calmly as I could, despite the rage that was burning in my soul and the need to kill Pope right then and there begging me to do it.

"No," Pope shook his head.

"I said take it off," I repeated, a little quieter due to how beyond pissed off I was getting. I had pretty much lost my voice from yesterday and again, I didn't want to start a scene.

Pope then took a few steps towards me and got right into my face. "Why? It's not like Jimmy's gonna need it."

And that's all it took to jam my fist into Pope's eye. All of the Berserkers were yelling and laughing at Pope as he stood back to full height and looked me in the eye again. "You know I have no problem hitting a little girl."

My full anger was totally unleashed and I began full on decking Pope as he punched me back. He grabbed my neck into a head lock and slammed my head into the wood walling and punched my broken rib side and shoved me to the ground of the decking. I pushed myself to my feet and Pope ran full force to me and both of us fell through the decking, onto a car's windshield and shattering the glass, and then I forced Pope off of me and he fell to the ground first with me following after. Pope and I both struggled to our feet and I screamed, "TAKE IT OFF!"

"You want it, sweetheart?" Pope glared at me. "Come and get it."

And then I stopped holding back and sprinted straight towards the guy who's made the 2nd Mass's lives hell since the start. He threw me into the car and I remembered a tactic that Alyssa had shown me when she was teaching me fist-fighting, fake an injury to make a blow at the enemy. So I fell to my knees and grasped my bleeding temple and pretended like I was seriously in pain. Pope walked over to me to see if I was okay and then I knocked his feet out from under him and placed both of my knees on his stomach to pin him down and let loose.

Then it was like a flashback: me pinning down someone and punching them unconscious until they were bleeding from just about everywhere on their face. Pope's face was starting to move with my punches, which was a bad sign, and I yanked the compass from his neck at the same time Tector grabbed me off of Pope as did Lyle. I yelled at them to let me go and fought to get out of their iron grip but gave up and stopped after I realized that if I couldn't get out of Ben's grasp, there was no way in hell I could get out of Lyle or Tector's.

Pope slowly got up and spat out a ton of blood. I yanked out of the two Berserker's hands and did what I probably should have done in the first place: walked away. I just walked slowly away as if it didn't happen, although Pope's crazy laughing made it hard to pretend that it hadn't.

"PARKER!" he screamed. "YOU FUCKING BITCH! THIS ISN'T OVER!"

I was done fighting. I was done hurting people. I was done letting my emotions get the better of me. And I was done with caring about others.

Ben, who had been looking for me apparently, ran into me on my way back to camp. "What the hell happened to you?!"

"What?" I asked, looking up from Jimmy's compass in my hands. His cold hand gently touched the gash on my temple which made me wince. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Not to mention the sleeve of my hoodie was cut up from landing on the glass.

"C'mon, you need to see Anne," Ben put an arm around me since I was breathing kind of hard due to that fight, and I shouted a lot of vulgar curses and fell to the floor.

I guess when Pope punched my broken ribs and shoved me through decking it did a lot more damage than I thought. Ben picked me up and walked on my other side so he could support me without making me curse in pain. When we stepped on to the Med Bus, Anne practically had a heart attack when she saw me. "My God, what happened?"

"Are you okay?!" Anne asked me, meaning emotionally.

"Aside from the fact that I almost killed Pope, I think I did something to my ribs," I said quietly.

"What?" Ben questioned.

"Pope took Jimmy's compass. And I lost it," I looked down at my bruised hand.

Anne and Ben were quiet until she said, "let me look at you." Anne shone her little flashlight in my eyes, cleaned my gash and put one of those white Band-Aids on it, and then looked at my ribs which were darker again. She gently pressed her finger on it and I yelled at how painful it felt. "I think you re-broke two of your ribs," Anne looked up at me and then checked to see how my lung was doing. "Looks like you got hurt pretty badly."

I looked up slightly and saw a broken girl staring back at me through the mirror in the Med Bus. I had a black eye, cut face, and I just looked like a downright mess. Then I saw Ben staring at me, and I had to look away because I was so upset with myself for losing my anger again and just seeing his eyes made me feel ashamed. Pope, even though I knew he absolutely deserved that, was just one of those unfortunate people who were around at the wrong time.

I expected a lecture from Ben about how stupid that was and how I should learn from the mistakes I've made in the past, but all I got was silence. "We should get going," I whispered softly. Ben nodded and extended his hand to me and helped me off the table.

The two of us were silent and distant as we walked to the playground. A few of the adult fighters that Jimmy had admired as much as we did had covered him in a red cloth and were carrying him to his memorial. Ben and I were behind them along with Hal and Alyssa behind us. Weaver was in front with Tom and Anne, and the rest of the civilians were behind us all. Everything was still in slow motion, including the moment my best friend was laid into his grave.

Until that moment, I had been somewhat strong. My breath caught in my throat when the fighters rose back up to ground level with us all, and I felt like my heart was going to give out. It's like it finally dawned on me that he wasn't coming back; I was never going to see him smile, hear him laugh, or see those deep blue eyes of his that I loved so much. I was never going to lean on his shoulder when I was tired or sad again, nor was I going to be able to be in his arms again or hug him when he needed it. He was gone, and no matter how much I needed him to stay with me, I had to accept that he wasn't going to.

Weaver took off his hat and slowly made his way to the front of the 2nd Mass. My breaths were getting shorter and harder to manage, and I couldn't take my eyes away from Jimmy's figure. I felt like I was hyperventilating and I probably would've started screaming again, had Ben not slipped his hand into mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. I was holding Jimmy's compass in my hand, and now it was between both of our hands. My eyes shot up to his and he gave me a sad smile before looking forward again, and I followed his gaze and stared at Weaver, waiting for him to start speaking.

"How do you measure somebody? How do you define their worth? A year ago, Jimmy was just a boy. Just a little boy. And that all changed. When the world fell apart, he had to step up and leave that little boy behind; he had to become a solider; he had to learn how to fight. And he did. And he is now defined by those of us who owe him our lives," Weaver scanned his sight across the crowd. I could see tears in our captain's eyes, and that only made me want to scream even louder. "He's measured by his bravery. This day came too soon. He died too young. But he died a hero to me, and I am _proud_ to have served with him. Jimmy, we'll remember." Weaver leaned down to the pile of dirt grabbed a handful, and held it tightly in his hand. "May the next world be kinder to Jimmy, than this one ever was."

Tom tapped my shoulder. "Would you like to say a few words?"

I nodded. "Absolutely." Ben took his compass and I made my way next to Jimmy.

"For those of you that don't know, Jimmy was…my best friend. He was more than just that. He was the first friend I made here at the 2nd Mass and the first friend I've ever made in my life. He was the bravest, kindest, and most patient kid I've ever met. And as Captain Weaver said, he was just a kid who had to grow up way too fast, like the rest of us. Jimmy has always had my back since the first day we met, I'm sure you all remember that," the crowd laughed a little, remembering the day we were alone on that patrol when that mech and skitter came, "and he never hesitated once when I asked for help. He's been here for me, for Ben, and for the entire 2nd Mass whenever we needed him." My throat starting closing up and the lump there was weighing down the strength my voice had started out with. "He was just a kid. A fourteen-year-old kid who has been the most incredible friend that anyone could ever be to me. And I promise you that there won't be a single day that I won't wish that I was lying in that grave instead of him, but that doesn't change the fact that I'll never stop fighting the aliens responsible. My determination and my strength is driven by those who've given up their lives for us, and for those who survived it all and passed down the stories from generation to generation, and it'll be for Jimmy. There's no one better that I could have ever asked for to be by my side through everyday until this war is won. Jimmy's spirit now thrives in my heart, and he will forever be remembered as a fearless solider who gave his life to the people he loves." Ben and I moved toward the dirt pile and took some of the earth.

_I'll never forget you, and I'll never stop missing you_.

I dropped my dirt into the grave as did Ben, and we stepped aside and waited for everyone else to drop theirs as well. I leaned my head on Ben's shoulder and he wrapped his arm around my waist tightly. I put my arm around his waist too and I felt him put his chin on my head too. "We'll get through this, together," Ben murmured in my ear, and I couldn't help but hold him tighter. I felt him gently kiss my forehead and hold me just as tight, and I just wanted to burst. I've never been good with handling death.

We stood there for the twenty minutes it took for everyone to cover Jimmy's body. Weaver took a cross he made out of wood and pushed it just above the grave, and stood there as everyone returned to camp. Ben and I decided to leave him alone with Jimmy for a few moments, and that we'd come back later. Besides, I still had one last thing I needed to do.

I went into what was Jimmy's bare tent and took his backpack of miscellaneous things. His picture of the three of us was in his front pocket and he had a piece of paper as well as an old pen. I walked out of his tent with his Mossberg slung around my shoulder and his backpack in my hands as well as the picture. I set the gun and the backpack in Alyssa and I's tent, and then began walking back to the playground.

I was alone out here while the sun was beginning to set. Once I was in front of Jimmy's grave, I fell to my knees and sat staring at the dirt, trying to picture Jimmy's peaceful face. My eyes felt misty and I blinked profusely until they didn't feel like it any longer. "I don't know if you can hear me," I whispered, "but I just have to tell you how much I love you, Jimmy. You've been the greatest of friends, and if I could switch places with you, I'd do it in a heartbeat." I let out a shaky breath and took out his picture and reread the back of it again. "I brought the picture with me. I know how much you love this photo, so I felt like I should leave it with you so you can keep it safe."

I folded the picture so it showed Jimmy only and then tucked it in the elastic holding the cross together. I gingerly touched it and my heart snapped. "Why did I let this happen?" I hung my head and swiped my bangs out of my face. "I'm so sorry, Jimmy. I'm so, so sorry." I took the paper and pen and began writing in the neatest writing I could manage.

In Loving Memory of James Michael Boland. Dear Friend, Amazing Son, and Fearless Solider. Love you, Jimmy, and no matter what, we'll always be the dorky best friends that survived an alien invasion.

RIP James "Jimmy" Boland

Second Massachusetts Militia Regiment

January 17th 1998-February 27th 2012

KP, BM, JB, Friends Forever, I promise.

I tucked that in the elastic too, and made sure that it wouldn't blow away. When I stood up again, Ben was beside me, and reading what I had put down. "You sure we should leave our picture here?"

I nodded. "He would want that."

Ben handed me the compass. "I know would've wanted you to have this."

I took it and looked it over, remembering when he first got this from Weaver. "I can still remember the day he got lost, and how scared Weaver was."

Ben smiled. "It sure came in handy for him."

"Yeah no kidding. He was a great solider but had no sense of direction."

Ben and I started laughing, remembering all of the times we head the words 'Wait, which way is camp again?' out of Jimmy's mouth. Thank God for this compass. "No he didn't." Our smiles faded as our eyes settled back onto the grave of our best friend. He was gone before he even had a chance to live.

"I wouldn't have wanted anyone else by my side," Ben's voice cracked, and when I looked at him he looked from the grave to me. "I'm sorry," his voice sounded so brittle. And I knew he was on the verge of losing every sense of being strong.

I glanced back up at him and I saw tears falling from his eyes. "Hey," I said softly and took two steps toward him, "we're going to be fine." Ben grabbed the collar of my hoodie and collapsed onto my shoulder, completely crying and not even bothering to hide it anymore. "Ben? Ben!"

"I'm sorry," he breathed and held onto my collar tighter, "I'm sorry."

I put my arms around him tightly and pulled him in close. "We're going to be fine," I whispered and held him tighter. I blinked back the mist again and just stood there while Ben apologized over and over for what had happened, and I told him I was sorry too, because this was both of our faults, and with this we took both of the blame.

Both of us stood there, engulfed in each others comforting embrace, until the sun went down and it was dark. I finally let go of Ben and realized he had stopped crying. "Do you want to say something, before we go?" I asked quietly.

He nodded and then turned toward the cross. "I'm gonna miss you, man. You've been the most amazing friend a guy could ever have, and I promise," Ben took my hand, "that I'm going to look after her. And as soon as the wars over and everything settles down, we'll come back."

"And we're going to make sure everyone knows about our third musketeer. And how much you were apart of our lives."

"Love you," we said at the same time, and then Ben did his and Jimmy's handshake. A few more moments passed and then Ben squeezed my hand, telling me that we should go back now before the 2nd Mass left without us. Right as we turned, I practically fell to the ground again at what had been standing there for a long time.

That skitter. That skitter with the red eye who killed Jimmy.

It screeched and walked towards Ben who fell down too, and he kept backing up until the skitter cocked his head and made Ben's spikes glow again. This time I sat frozen and watched what was happening. I had no explanations for what could possibly be going on, but as long as this skitter didn't touch Ben then I wouldn't touch it either. I heard the sound of Alyssa's motorcycle and someone else's nearing us, and the skitter broke its gaze from Ben and his spikes faded and he breathed again. And for the second time, it walked away like nothing happened.

"You okay?" I asked him and pulled him off the ground. Ben nodded and then looked around, making sure that we actually were alone even though it was pitch black out.

"What happened?" I whispered.

"I can't tell you here," Ben said, right as Hal and Alyssa pulled up on their motorcycles.

Ben and Hal exchanged looks for a moment, before Hal asked, "You alright?"

"I'm fine," he said, "let's go." He got on the back of his brother's bike and I got on the back of Alyssa's.

"What about you?" she asked me as she revved up her bike again.

"Where are we headed to?" I asked her, not wanting to talk about Jimmy anymore and wanting to know where the 2nd Mass's journey lead to next.

She turned around and put her bike back into gear. "Charleston, South Carolina." And then we sped off into the night.

Alyssa's POV

So today is Jimmy's funeral. It's been a really sad day over all. Kaylee and Ben look like they are about to break. Just fall apart and die. It's sad. I want to consol them and help them through this time but I can't. They're helping each other. Kaylee will just have these moments where she freaks out and Ben will grab her and hold her and they just stand there, holding each other almost crying but not quite. It's the cutest, saddest thing I have ever seen. We had all gathered around where Jimmy was to be buried. It was an old playground.

Everyone stood there and Weaver stepped forward to give his speech about Jimmy. "How do you measure somebody? How do you define their worth? A year ago, Jimmy was just a boy. Just a little boy. And that all changed. When the world fell apart, he had to step up and leave that little boy behind; he had to become a solider; he had to learn how to fight. And he did. And he is now defined by those of us who owe him our lives. He's measured by his bravery. This day came too soon. He died too young. But he died a hero to me, and I am _proud_ to have served with him. Jimmy, we'll remember." Weaver leaned down to the pile of dirt grabbed a handful, and held it tightly in his hand. "May the next world be kinder to Jimmy, than this one ever was."

Then Kaylee and Ben stepped forward. "For those of you that don't know, Jimmy was…my best friend. He was more than just that. He was the first friend I made here at the 2nd Mass and the first friend I've ever made in my life. He was the bravest, kindest, and most patient kid I've ever met. And as Captain Weaver said, he was just a kid who had to grow up way too fast, like the rest of us. Jimmy has always had my back since the first day we met, I'm sure you all remember that," everyone laugh a little, "and he never hesitated once when I asked for help. He's been here for me, for Ben, and for the entire 2nd Mass whenever we needed him. He was just a kid. A fourteen-year-old kid who has been the most incredible friend that anyone could ever be to me. And I promise you that there won't be a single day that I won't wish that I was lying in that grave instead of him, but that doesn't change the fact that I'll never stop fighting the aliens responsible. My determination and my strength is driven by those who've given up their lives for us, and for those who survived it all and passed down the stories from generation to generation, and it'll be for Jimmy. There's no one better that I could have ever asked for to be by my side through everyday until this war is won. Jimmy's spirit now thrives in my heart, and he will forever be remembered as a fearless solider who gave his life to the people he loves." Oh my God I'm going to cry. That was the sweetest thing Kaylee has ever said in her life. I grabbed Hal's hand. Ben and Kaylee reached down and threw some dirt over him then Kaylee leaned her head on Ben and he grabbed her waist and held her and she did the same. Tom and Matt stepped forward and threw dirt, then Anne and Lourdes then Hal and I. Slowly but steadily, in groups of two, the people of the 2nd Mass threw some dirt over him until he was completely covered. Then we all left, everyone except Ben and Kaylee.

We all left to go pack up our stuff and load up the trucks. Hal and I had to help the civilians pack their stuff and fold their sleeping bags and tents and load it all up, and then we helped with loading up supplies. After that was put away Hal helped me put our tent away since Tom and Matt had already packed up all the Mason's things. I noticed Jimmy's stuff was by Kaylee's. When I packed them up I tied the two bags together with rope and made sure they wouldn't get separated. After everything was packed up and the camp looked empty Hal and I hopped on our bikes and road over to Tom and Weaver

"So are we going to Charleston?"

Weaver sighed. "Yes we are."

"So am I free to go?" Avery asked.

"Yes you are." Weaver said.

"Tell my sister I will see her soon," I called to her as she got into her plane and flew away.

"Will you two go find Ben and Kaylee?" Tom asked.

"Sure," Hal said and we road back to the playground. They were both sitting on the ground, looking very shocked and confused. Hal looked at Ben. "You alright?"

"I'm fine, let's go." Ben hopped on the back of Hal's bike and Kaylee hopped on mine.

"What about you?" I asked her as we rode away.

"Where are we going?" she was avoiding the question.

"Charleston, South Carolina," I said as we left the playground, and Jimmy, behind us.

* * *

_YOU CAN ALL BREATHE NOW I'M NOT DEAD!-Parker_

So sorry we haven't updated. We have been very busy lately with school and stuff. And please review! We love reviews! Oh and go on our profile and look at our polls we have! Okay so I know this is a horrible thing to say, and the fandom gods are cursing me now but admit it, all you benxkaylee shippers are cheering right now going "YES FINALY HE IS GONE! Now on with the benxkaylee romance!" Admit it you were. I was. After I cried reading what she wrote I became happy because I ship benxkaylee so sit lie to yourself. You know you thought it! -Carter

_You thought that the L is for Loss meant Kaylee, didn't you?;3 This is only the beginning my dear fans. BUT HAVE ANY OF YOU SEEN THE NEW SEASON THREE STUFF?! LIKE OMGWQEDGTFHNGFSEDWAFDGHNMASDFGHJKL; I'M DYING OVER HERE. _

_Anyways, I genuinely thought that the Falling Skies writers didn't really make Jimmy's death that big of a deal, when it totally was because Jimmy was Ben's only friend. So I wrote how I wished they would've ended it. I actually want you guys to know that I cried writing this, and in my six years of writing I have never cried over any of my characters before, even though Jimmy wasn't 'my' character persay. And then my dad walked in on me sobbing and he was like "O.O uhh you okay?" and I just looked at him "OF COURSE NOT WHY WOULD YOU THINK I'M OKAY?!" And then he left:3 But yeah, Jimmy didn't deserve to die. I love you Dylan Authors and you should still be on Falling Skies. _

_So yeh. Hope we destroyed your feels and made you want to throw a brick at me;D It just escalates from here guys. So review, check out our polls, yell at us to update faster, you know, the usual jazz;D _

_-Parker_


	17. A Brave New World

_I hate updating so late-_- But um..._

_HOLY SHIT DID YOU GUYS SEE SEASON 3 ASDFGHJKL; I CAN'T...OH MY GOD._

_Alyssa and I had a premiere party with our friends we had a marathon with;D I can't wait for Sunday:3 Also, side note, Alyssa and I agreed that we won't be writing anything for the third season until it's over. We still have to finish H.E.L.L. and also we don't want to have a bunch of ideas for something and have a character needed get killed off or something. Plus, we'll have something to do for the long wait for a possible Season 4;) Haha but yeah! This is a cute chapter:) It's sort of a filler, i suppose, but that's only because Alyssa and I have been planning the next chapter for quite some time;))) Enjoy my fellow Falling Skies lovers! And, if you ever need someone to fangirl with, don't hesitate to PM us. We seriously need more Falling Skies friends._

_PS We'll try to update more often but both of us have summer school until mid July but after then we will have a lot of time!:D YAY! -Kaylee_

* * *

Chapter 17-A Brave New World

Kaylee's POV

"So tell me, what the hell is in Charleston?" I asked Alyssa while setting up our new camp in Bronx, New York. It was fifty miles from the airport hanger and took us about forty-five minutes to get here. We've been in this little city for about two days and were going to keep moving along fairly soon. Honestly it was pointless to even be setting up a camp, but that was Captain Weaver's call.

"Well," she said moving a table into place with my help, "there's apparently a huge group of survivors that are running their own government or something."

"How do you know that?"

"This lady came flying in an airplane-"

"An airplane?" I raised my eyebrows disbelievingly.

"Yeah! Ask Weaver and Tom!"

"Whatever, just keep going."

"And she showed us this document stating that Charleston was the new capital of the United States and stuff and started telling us stories about what they have there and all the people."

"When was this?" We walked back to grab another table and pushed it towards the mess area.

"About four days ago," she said kinda lightly. What she meant was the day Jimmy got impaled, but of course she wanted to spare my feelings.

To be upfront, Ben and I aren't recovering well, which is why Alyssa said four days ago instead of the day of Jimmy's accident. Weaver tried to make Ben and I sit out of missions, but I wouldn't allow that. If anything, I needed to be kept as busy as possible, that way I wouldn't have as much time to think about it. I've written a few songs about all of this, which has helped a lot more than I thought it would, but it hasn't change the agonizing pain in my heart.

My black eye had faded, but I still had a darkish circle around my eye. My right side was still in pretty bad shape, but I didn't mind it. Physical pain helped me forget about the emotional pain. And apparently, Pope had left the 2nd Mass after our fight, and Anthony had gone with him to make sure nothing happened to us from Pope's end. It was weird that he just got up and left, especially with his Berserkers behind, and I felt almost bad for him. And then I remember what a dick he was about Jimmy's compass and I feel no pity towards him.

"And guess what?"

"What?" my voice asked quietly.

"Vee's there!"

"Vee's alive?!"

"Yeah! So Charleston has to exist!"

"How the fuck did Veronica get to South Carolina?" I wondered aloud. Vee had been out with a friend the night that all of this went down, so we hadn't seen her since that morning and thought she was either dead or harnessed. She was basically my little sister and I couldn't believe that she actually made it out alive. She really is a Carter.

"No damn idea, but she's alive and that's all that I care about." Alyssa continued talking and I honestly just stopped listening. I had done the maximum amount of talking I wanted to do for awhile. Weaver thought that he perceived that I was hanging in alright, but it was the exact opposite. Four years of counseling got me absolutely no where. Wasn't counseling supposed to make me feel better, or at the very least make me not want to kill myself a little less than I normally wanted to? I guess that that was my fault though, since I never attempted to make an effort to try and talk stuff out. That just wasn't me though. In almost all cases, I can't speak through words but through actions or music. That was what had kept me from shooting myself two days ago.

Music. This little acoustic guitar had been saving my life more often than not. I had my own black Fender dreadnought back at my grandparents' house, but I hadn't seen it since the last time I visited them, which was about two weeks before the attack. That guitar was almost like a family heirloom; it had been passed from my great grandparents down to my mom and then me. I never brought it to the Carter household because I was always terrified that Jay would go on one of his drunken rampages and destroy it, which was one of my worst fears. It probably was destroyed now though, but there's this small ray of hope inside of me that it somehow survived the nukes on Boston. My grandparents' apartment complex was still standing, but I never looked inside. I didn't need to know what it looked like.

Veronica used to love it when I played the piano for her or the guitar. Alyssa and Vee came with me sometimes to my grandparents' apartment and would stay the night. They had both a piano and a guitar there which I never stopped playing while I was there because that's all the time I got with the instruments before having to go back with Alyssa and Vee. That's the only thing I miss about my old life. Everything else I wanted to forget.

Ben and I have been inseparable the past forty-eight hours. Literally, we were by each other's side every single second that passed, and every single hour that dragged on. He and Hal were helping put tables together too, and I think Weaver purposefully did that because he somehow knew that if Ben and I went longer than a few minutes without being relatively near to one another we would both lose it. Neither of us knew why, but that's just how it was. The two of us would found some kind of isolated place and stay there for the night leaning on each other and keeping completely silent. Ben was just like me; words were difficult but we expressed through actions. So just a simple hug meant so much more than either of us could tell each other.

However, as of right now, I really wanted to be alone. I had been working on a new song for Jimmy, and I liked being by myself when I was working on music. He would sit inside my tent while I wrote in my small black notebook where I write everything important down in, and I didn't want to sing when he was around. At least not yet. I still hadn't gotten the strength to sing without stopping to calm myself.

So I walked off to the tent and slipped out my notebook from the bottom of my backpack. This song I had been working on had been keeping me as busy as possible. Every spare moment of time I had was spent working on this song. I was also a perfectionist (at least when it came to weaponry and music) so it was taking longer than I intended.

The moment I heard the gentle falling of rain hitting the tent, my eyes shot up from the notebook to the open flap of the tent that was flapping slightly. I could see everyone in camp was rushing to get to their tents to be shielded from the rain and see Weaver yelling at some fighters to get the important items covered before the rain got stronger. Just about everyone in this camp felt that rain was an annoyance to the cycle of things.

I, on the other hand, saw it as an opportunity.

I pushed myself to my feet as quickly as my injured ribs would allow me and tucked my notebook into the covering I had found for my guitar. My hands slipped some ammunition in my pockets in case of emergency and an extra handgun in my sneaker. The ice cold zipper of my hoodie reminded me of how cold it actually was before I shed it off of me as well as the two long sleeve shirts I had onto my cot, which left me in a tank top the color of midnight. I slung the strap of the case onto my bare shoulder and pushed the flap open and stepped outside.

The light drizzle that had started all of a few moments ago began to start coming down harder, which made it all the more better. I slowly walked forward, looking up to the dark clouds and smiling a little. Thunder shook the ground as I took my next few steps forward. The rhythm of the rain beat harder on the dirt ground and my blond hair turned to brown as the rain grew heavier. All of these little things I noticed as the water came falling from the skies, and the more things I noticed the happier my mood seemed to be.

I continued walking in the now torrential downpour until I had found a small concrete slab in the middle of outside where I could sit without getting my jeans muddy. My guitar fell to the ground softly as I sat with it, pulling out my notebook swiftly and stashing it inside the case where I could write in it if necessary without getting it soaked. The guitar slid out of the case and into my slick hands which grasped it just a bit firmer since it was now slippery.

And then I closed my eyes.

The feeling of the rain hitting my face and arms was the dominant thing I was aware of, as well as the soothing that entered the course of my soul. The numbness in my fingers made me smile as well as the prickly feeling of the rain tapping on my exposed skin. There was a very small wind out here too, which made the scent of the rain more apparent. That dark, wet scent drifted around the 2nd Mass's campsite and overruled all other smells around here with the cleanliness of the aroma.

After taking that all in, I allowed my fingers to strum what I had been working on the past few days. I didn't sing; I just played. It was difficult to do for a few moments, since I had steel strings that were wet, but my fingers adapted immediately afterwards. The guitar sounded beautiful with the rain in the background, even thought it was pouring like someone had ripped open a cloud and dumped the inside out.

My hair stuck to my neck and my bangs were plastered to the temple of my forehead while I played. The material in my jeans clung to my legs tighter the wetter they became and then logical side of my mind tugged at the artistic side. I was sitting in the middle of a rainstorm, with nothing but jeans and a tank top on.

And I didn't care in the least.

"What the hell do you think you're doing out here?!" Ben's hand shook my shoulder and caused me to open my eyes.

"I like the rain," I said looking up at him softly and then returned my gaze to the guitar.

"You need to get inside right now." He reached down to pick me up, but I grabbed his wrist and held it firmly.

"I'm not leaving." He stared down at me for a good two minutes before sitting down next to me. "You don't have to sit here with me."

"That may be true, but that doesn't change the fact that I _want_ to sit here with you."

I turned my head when I saw him unzipping his jacket. "No."

"You're going to get pneumonia out here," he slid an arm out and offered me the other. I shook my head and turned back to my guitar. "So you want to get sick, is that right?"

"It's nice to feel something when you're empty," I said quietly.

Ben's slight bangs had fallen to his forehead and were dripping water onto his face. He gently draped his jacket arm over my shoulder and looked at me patiently until I reluctantly gave in and slid my arm through it. We were shoulder to shoulder now, with one of my arms through his jacket sleeve and his arm in the other. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer, and I started feeling so unbelievably warm as soon as his arm touched my waist.

"Dude you're really warm," I said leaning into him a little bit. Maybe I was finally getting my feeling back.

"Kaylee, I'm freezing."

"No you're not." Ben put his left hand to my cheek and I flinched. They were colder than ice. I took his left wrist and pressed it to my cheek as well, and it was just as icy as his hand was.

If Ben was freezing cold…then why did I feel like I was warm within seconds? I had an insensitivity to pain and sometimes emotions, not to warmth and coldness.

"What are you working on?" he asked and leaned his head on mine while looking down at the guitar in my hand.

"A song for Jimmy."

"Can I hear it?" Our eyes met at the same time and both of us saw straight into each other's hidden sadness. I had lowered my guard around Ben a lot more than I used to, but with him, I saw no point in keeping what I was feeling a secret from him, at least sometimes.

I nodded and placed the guitar on my knee and strummed it a little to get a little more feeing into my fingers again. "I haven't finished it yet, but it's getting there." Ben stared down at the guitar and I started playing the intro which lead into the first verse.

"Your Life dreams are shattered,  
Now you're gone away.  
We've cried here for hours,  
And the hours turn to days.  
We know you regret this,  
Leaving us here,  
With portraits and memories  
That we've held so dear.

When I hear your name, it's not the same.  
No matter what they say, I'm not okay.

And we started at zero, and went different ways.  
Now we're all out here wasting away.  
And if we started at zero, then how did things change?  
It seems like just yesterday we were the same.

It's been three days since you left us.  
So far nothing's been the same.  
And my question without answer is:  
Am I the one to blame?

He was such a good description of a favored future man.  
He spoke well of other people, and they said the same for him.

When I hear your name, it's not the same.  
No matter what they say, I'm not okay.

And we started at zero, and went different ways.  
Now we're all out here wasting away.  
And if we started at zero, then how did things change?  
It seems like just yesterday we were the same, we were the same."

I was quiet for a few more seconds, just letting the rain slide down my face. "That's as far as I've gotten."

"What's the song's name?"

"Zero. Because the three of us started with zero relationship to each other and became the closest of people anyone could be."

"And then we went different ways…" Ben said, reciting what I had just sung.

I nodded my head "Yeah."

"It's perfect," he smiled at me in approval, and another round of warmth spread through me again.

"Thank you." The thunder clapped loudly and shook the ground even harder than before, and that's when Ben pulled me up.

"C'mon, we need to get inside. We're going to freeze to death if we don't." Ben picked up my guitar case with the instrument inside of it and we walked to Alyssa and I's tent, which was empty, of course. Alyssa must be in the Mason tent with Hal, as usual.

"I'll let you change," Ben said, setting the guitar down and stepping back out into the rain momentarily.

I grabbed a dry tank top (I swear I have at least ten of them in my backpack) from my backpack and a pair of dry jeans to swap for my soaking ones. I quickly changed into my dry clothes and put on my extra layers as well as my hoodie and then let Ben back into the tent. Ben had ran over to his tent, which was about three down from ours, and had changed in the same time that I had and ran back down. A lot of the times I kept forgetting about how fast he was, and then he would remind me on a random occasion such as now.

Ben stayed with me for as long as I was awake, and then he would wander the campgrounds alone until I woke back up again. As weird as it was to other people, he started getting the general gist of when I wake up after falling asleep, and nine times out of ten I would walk out of my tent with him waiting outside of it. Yeah, pretty much everyone thought that was really creepy and weird, but I didn't mind it at all. Walking around trying to find Ben at one in the morning when it was pitch black was creepy as creepy got, so having him there instead of me having to look around for him saved me a solid ten to fifteen minutes of paranoia.

"So do you want to tell me about what happened with that skitter back at the playground?"

Alyssa's POV

"So tell me, what the hell is in Charleston?" Kaylee asked as we set up camp in the Bronx. I was so excited we were in New York you have no idea. It wasn't NYC but it was close. I wanted to camp in Brooklyn but Weaver said no. I always loved Brooklyn. My mom was born and raised there. When she died, I promised myself I would come back for her.

"Well, apparently a huge group of survivors that are running their own government or something." It sounds crazy when you say it out loud.

"How do you know that?"

"This lady came flying in an airplane-" She gave me this look like _dude you have finally gone completely insane_.

"An airplane?"

"Yeah! Ask Weaver and Tom!"

"Whatever, just keep going."

"And she showed us this document stating that Charleston was the new capital of the United States and stuff and started telling us stories about what they have there and all the people."

"When was this?"

"About four days ago," I said as we continued moving tables around. It sounded stupid and unlikely but I didn't care. The lady knew my sister and that meant she was alive. That was good enough for me. "And guess what?!" I practically screamed.

"What?" she said, monotone like always.

"Vee's there!"

"Vee's alive?!" That got her attention.

"Yeah! So Charleston has to exist!" There was so little information and evidence to put so much hope on but I didn't care. I wanted to see my sister so badly. Just knowing the fact that she was safe and being fed and had a place to sleep made me happy. I thought for sure she was harnessed.

"How the fuck did Veronica get to South Carolina?"

"No damn idea but she's alive and that's all I care about. I'm so happy she's alive. Do you realize how happy she will be to see us? I can't wait. All we have to do is convince Weaver to take us there." Kaylee just walked away and I'm pretty sure she wasn't even listening to me. She walked over to our tent so I went to help Hal and Ben because as soon as Ben saw Kaylee was gone he would be too.

"Hey Alyssa," Hal smiled. Ben just looked up and slightly nodded. That's about as much of a response as you're gonna get out of him nowadays. Literally two seconds after I Ben looked at me, he looked around for Kaylee then when he couldn't find her he left. I was helping Hal unload a box when it started pouring rain. All the civilians ran around trying to find shelter and to get to their tents. I was going to do the same, but no. Weaver was running around ordering the fighters to cover the supplies and help people. I was walking over to the Med Bus when I heard crying. At first I thought I was imagining it but I looked around just in case. I saw a little boy around three hiding under a table, crying. I walked up to him and picked him up.

"Hey little guy. What's your name?"

"Devin," he said between sniffs.

"That's a cool name. My name is Alyssa. Where are your parents?" He shrugged. "You don't know?"

"No."

I heard laughter coming from behind me "He's cute." I turned around to see Hal.

"I know right. Can we keep him?"

"You sound like a five-year-old who really wants to keep the lost puppy."

"Pleasssseeeee?"

"Fine, Lets go get him some dry clothing." We walked to the back of one of the supplies trucks that had a tarp up and I found him some clean clothes so I changed him. I even got him a little beanie. I told Hal to watch him while I went and changed. The rain had started to slow. I ran to our tent and changed and came back. Kaylee wasn't there, as usual. Next Hal went to change. We sat in the back of the truck where it was dry. He was the cutest little boy. He had bright blue eyes and dark black hair and pale skin and a big smile. He sat on my lap as they three of us hung out.

"Sing?" Devin asked as he rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Okay. Let me think of a song.

"When the days are cold

And the cards all fold

And the saints we see

Are all made of gold

When your dreams all fail

And the ones we hail

Are the worst of all

And the blood's run stale

I want to hide the truth

I want to shelter you

But with the beast inside

There's nowhere we can hide

No matter what we breed

We still are made of greed

This is my kingdom come

This is my kingdom come

When you feel my heat

Look into my eyes

It's where my demons hide

It's where my demons hide

Don't get too close

It's dark inside

It's where my demons hide

It's where my demons hide."

I looked at him, and he was fast asleep. I smiled. "He is so cute. I love him."

"He is really cute. He likes you. He kept looking at you and smiling. I thought I was gonna have to warn him to stay away from my woman," he joked

"You've got some competition." I laughed "Can you handle it?"

"I think so. You are really good with kids. You would make a really good mom." Suddenly my stomach hurt and I needed to leave. I didn't say anything. His smile faded. "What? Did I say anything?"

"No. Just drop it. It stopped raining. Do you want to help me find his parents?"

"Sure. Here, I'll take him from you so can hop down they I'll give him back and get out," Hal said.

"Cool." Once we were out of the back of the truck we began looking around camp. This lady walked up to us with a frantic look in her eye.

"MY SON! You found my son! Oh thank you so much!"

I smiled. "You're welcome. He is really cute." I handed him over.

"I think she found her new best friend," Hal added.

"Thank you again," she smiled and walked off. Hal wrapped his arm around me and kissed me.

"You know, maybe one day we could have a kid of our own."

"Maybe one day, but not today." He started to say something. "Or tonight."

"Okay. I still think you would be a good mom."

"I have had lots of practice, between Kaylee and my sister."

"Let's go get food."

"Sounds good to me. I like food. Food is a great thing," I said nodding.

"Yeah it is. And I think I may have seen a few juice boxes with your name on it," he smiled

"REALLY!?" He just laughed as we walked over to get dinner, his arm around me.

Kaylee's POV

"_Ashley? Ah, no está aquí. Tristán, ¿Das una fiesta en tu casa?"_

"_Uh…yeah?" _

"_Español por favor."_

"_No." Spanish is also another class I don't really pay attention in, since it came naturally to me the way math did. I had this class with Alyssa too, and it was my only class that I had with people my age since Spanish 1 was usually taken by freshmen, even though upperclassmen took it too. I didn't really try in this class, since I really don't like speaking verbally and what not, but I really did enjoy the language. Alyssa on the other hand, not so much. _

"_What the hell is she saying?!" Alyssa whispered to me under her breath._

"_You have the words in front of you!" I whispered back and motioned to the vocabulary sheet Alyssa had on her desk in a way that Mrs. Martinez couldn't see it. We were supposed to be speaking based off our own knowledge, but I'm pretty sure two-thirds of the class had theirs out too. _

"_She speaks way too fast!" We both looked at our teacher who was talking faster than most of us could ever understand, even if we were native Spanish speakers. _

"_Yeah but-"_

"_Kaylee, ¿Vas a traer decoraciones a la fiesta de Tristán?" _

"_I don't know," I spoke instantly, despite the fact that I knew what she was asking me. I didn't even know we had a Tristan in this class. _

"_En español." _

"_Use your brain, dumbass," that annoying as hell voice called to me across class. Can you take a guess? This is the one class I hated simply because I was breathing the same air as AJ Rivera. _

_The whole class was silent and staring at me, awaiting a response. I looked at his murky green eyes from three rows over and stared at him so intently that I saw fear cross his eyes for a moment. "I will when you will."_

_Everyone up roared with laughter and "oh"'s while Mrs. Martinez stood in front of my row and crossed her arms at me. "Get out of my class."_

_I frowned and gave her a confused look. "What?" Had I misunderstood her?_

"_You heard me. Get out of my class and go see Mr. Villanueva. Now." _

_Silence. I threw my arms out. _"Why?"

"_That was a harsh comment to your classmate, and the fact that you never answer questions is becoming childish," she replied with her thick Hispanic accent._ _She stared at me with her cold black eyes until I opened my mouth again._

"_Did you seriously not hear him call me a dumbass _five _seconds ago?" I raised my eyebrows expectantly. How the fuck did he always get the free pass in this class?_

"_GET OUT!" Mrs. Martinez shouted at me and I shook my head. I stood up, threw my binder in my backpack, and then slung it over my shoulder. But just before I went out the door, I thought of something. Eh, I was already going to the principal's office. Might as well make it for a good reason. _

_So I got right into her face and said, "No, no voy a traer decoraciones a la fiesta de Tristán. __La clase de español es stupida y tú eres una maestra aburrida." __And then I went out with all of the students who understood me laughing loudly. _

"Hey, you alright?"

I blinked once and then my eyes rescanned the current scene in front of me. Hal, Ben, and I were at an old factory on a scouting mission. Where's Alyssa? Weaver thought that it would be a great idea to switch up our partners, at least for a few if not more missions since all of us trusted who we were paired with. So Alyssa was out with Tector, Boon, and Matt who had persuaded Tom into letting him be a messenger to start proving his capability of being a fighter. Weaver didn't want Ben and me to be separated just yet, so both of us were put with Hal, since I hadn't been with him on a two person mission since we were at the school and Ben hadn't been on a mission with him since the day they found us.

So here we were. The three of us had taken our bikes down to this factory that has been on super tight guard by mechs, all day and all night. Ben and I had been silent this whole time and Hal was trying to coax a few words out of us, even though he knew that we just wanted to be left alone.

I nodded at Hal's question then looked back at the patrolling mechs, trying to think of a logical explanation as to what could be so important that the skitters needed to keep this factory so heavily protected.

"See that steam?" Hal looked back over to the building as did Ben and I. "And the lights on? Building's got power." Sure enough, puffs of steam were coming out pipes on the rooftop and some concealed lights were on inside. Hal glanced at Ben and I who were still fixated on the building and then he went back to the little political map he carried with him. "Well, what ever they're up to in there, it's none of our concern." He started scribbling something down on the map. The eldest Mason said something that I had tuned out, and then louder he said, "You two have been quiet lately."

"Got nothing to say," Ben replied, not looking at his brother.

"You both eat with only each other, barely sleep, won't talk to anyone else. It's like your both two different people," his eyes went from both me to Ben.

"I don't want to talk about it," Ben glanced at Hal and then back at the factory.

"We all miss Jimmy," Hal said, eyes lingering in mine perhaps longer than Ben's. "But you both gotta find a way to put that behind you guys." Ben and I both gave Hal a deserved glare, and that's when we heard our bike engines rev up and all three of us whirled around to see three people riding off on our bikes.

"HEY!" Hal yelled, and even tried to run and throw a rock at them. I just stood in the spot where our bikes were and ran a hand through my bangs and messy hair. Just what we needed.

"Can you believe that? Where the hell did they come from?" Brief silence. "We're not going back to camp without those bikes." Hal ran over to get his bag and just as he was coming back, Ben closed his eyes and knit his eyebrows together slightly, as if concentrating.

"What're you doing?" Hal asked, aggravation clearly present in his tone.

"Trying something," Ben put his hand out and forced Hal to stop. Ben took a few more seconds, then opened his eyes and smiled the smallest bit. "They're headed east."

"How do _you_ know?" Hal frowned skeptically at his younger sibling.

Ben smirked. "I can hear their engines."

Watching Ben finding the people steal our bikes was kind of like watching a dog following a scent it catches. Every few moments, he would stop and close his eyes, then start running and Hal and I would run after him. And since he didn't want to lose the sound of their engines, Ben was running pretty damn fast, even for me. So Hal and I were busting our asses off and sprinting after Ben as he tracked the thieves.

After what felt like forever of running and changing direction, Ben stopped in front of this old warehouse that was actually really close to the factory that we were just at. The three of us pulled our gun of choice to the front of us and slowly walked forward with our guns pointed at the entrance to the warehouse. They had a really shitty guard system, since no one was outside in the two alley ways or at the front door, and not to mention you could hear kids yelling from several yards away.

Kids. And by the sound of it, a lot of them. Hal motioned for Ben to go the other way in, while he and I would walk in the front entrance to try and negotiate. But knowing Hal, he probably was going to seriously screw this up and get us both killed by these kids.

"Let me do the talking, alright?" I whispered to him as we approached the open door quietly.

"No way!" He shook his head.

"Look, I know a thing or two about living without adults okay? Let me talk to them."

"How do you know there are no adults in there?"

I gave him a look. "Adults ruin everything for kids, so why would they have them around?" We got to the entrance, to the point where I could see in but none of the fifteen or so kids bothered to look out at the two strangers invading their home. I knocked on the doorframe and within three seconds, Hal and I had fifteen or more guns pointing at us.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Hal said raising his hands.

I on the other hand, stood still and started straight into the conversation. "I just want to talk about the bikes."

A Hispanic boy, most likely around sixteen or seventeen who I assumed was their leader, stepped forward with his gun pointed at me from across the room. "Fifteen to one? There's nothing to talk about."

He spoke a familiar Spanish term to me that my Spanish teacher often yelled at me and that was "Get the hell out."

"I'd back off if I were you," I said, hands in my pocket, completely nonchalant about this.

"Yeah?" the boy cocked his head and raised his eyebrows at me.

Ben's Heckler and Koch clicked into place from above. "Yeah."

"Now if you don't stand down in five seconds, _you_ die." Hal lowered his arms. "One," he started.

"Two," Hal said louder. The boy and a girl around his age started speaking quickly in Spanish.

"Three."

"Diego," the girl lowered her weapon and put a hand on the Hispanic boy's shoulder to make him stop.

"Four," Hal's voice got louder, and that's when the boy, apparently named Diego, yelled to his group to stand down.

"Put your guns down, all of you. Put your guns on the ground." While the fifteen kids set down their guns, I got a better look at the two leaders. There was Diego, and then there was the girl, who was extremely pale and had a pair of familiar blue eyes that I couldn't put my finger on. I had definitely seen them somewhere before.

Hal and I walked face to face to the two leaders and I heard Ben's footsteps behind us. "Diego, is that your name?" Hal got straight into his face and was being the annoying douche bag he occasionally could be. "Well I'm Hal, and that's my brother, Ben."

"Hal also has a problem of realizing when he's being an asshole or not, so I apologize for that," I said bluntly and pretty much all the kids in the room laughed, apart from the girl. I ignored Hal's glare.

"Just take the bikes and go," she said, trying to be tough but in reality sounded terrified.

I stayed in my place and Hal went to Ben to get his gun. Hal took in the kids that surrounded the room and then asked the question I already knew the answer to, "Is it just you guys here? No adults?"

"We don't need them," a young boy around Matt's age told us.

"Adults get us killed," another boy stated.

"We lookout for each other," the girl spoke. Her voice was still shaky.

I glanced around at the kids, who ranged from nine or ten to fifteen or sixteen. "Our people are camped out not far from here. We might be able to spare some extra bike parts, the very least food and water."

"You all look like you could use a good meal," Hal looked around. "No offense."

"Say yes," the girl murmured to Diego.

"Hillary, Shawn, Julen, and Rob come with us to check it out. The rest of you, hold down the fort," Diego yelled out to his crew. "We'll be back as soon as possible." The kids picked up their weapons again and Diego looked me in the eyes. "Thanks."

Diego and his gang got onto their own bikes that were meant to seat two or three people and Hal, Ben, and I got on ours. It took us about ten minutes to get back to our new campsite with the rest of them behind us, and when we did, a crowd of civilians were waiting for us. The civilians always want to be in the know of everything, especially when strangers arrive without them knowing.

"Who do we have here?" Weaver asked us once we pulled to a stop.

"Found them in a warehouse, half starved, no adults," Hal said sitting up straight on his bike. "Figured we could help him out."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the girl hop off the bike she was on with Diego and pushing past people to get to the front of the crowd where Weaver, Tom, Hal, Ben, and I were at. What the hell?

But as soon as she and Weaver's eyes met, it all clicked for me.

This girl was Weaver's oldest daughter, Jean. They had the exact same set of eyes, which was why they seemed so familiar to me.

"Jean?" Weaver asked in disbelief.

"Dad." She threw her arms around her father as did Weaver.

"Jeanie?!" Weaver looked at his daughter again and then pulled her back in for another hug. Ben and I both looked at each other and then smiled.

Weaver and Jean went into Weaver's tent away for privacy purposes and eventually the crowd dispersed. Ben, Hal, and I walked our bikes to the "parking lot" we had stationed here and when we got there Alyssa was waiting for us. Hal put his kickstand down and ran over to Alyssa, whom he hadn't seen for five or six hours, and kissed her.

Ben and I glanced at each other awkwardly for a few moments and then moved away from our bikes. "He seriously can't go more than a few hours without seeing her," Ben whispered to me as we walked a little more ways away from where Alyssa and Hal were practically making out. I swear I nearly puked.

"It's kind of starting to worry me," I said softly back. Zach was just like this with Alyssa. He always had to see her every minute he could and pushed the PDA to the absolute max he could. "I need to talk to her about it." Ben nodded, understanding. I had told Ben about Zach, not a lot of details but general things about how much he hurt Alyssa and how I was getting uneasy seeing Hal and Alyssa like that.

So, me being the awkward freak that I am, I walked up to the still kissing couple and put my hand on Alyssa's shoulder to pull her away. "I really need to talk to you."

"Could you not wait?" She frowned at me as I continued to pull her along, far enough away from Hal's hearing range.

"I waited for five minutes." Alyssa socked me in the arm and her face got all red, which made me smirk.

"It was _not_ five minutes. What do you want, Parker?"

I sighed, looking at Hal and Ben talking and then back at her. "Don't you think you should take it a little…slower with Hal?"

"We _are_ taking it slow," she folded her arms and looked at me expectantly.

"Slow enough though? I hate to say it, but Hal's a lot like Zach," I said quieter.

"Hal is _nothing_ like _him_," Alyssa said forcibly and her eyebrows creased into a tight frown.

"Really? Because I remember Zach always needing to be around you and always needing to shove his tongue down your throat whenever you two were in public," I said flatly. Better to cut to the chase than beat around the bush. Alyssa stayed quiet. "Look, I'm not saying they're the same person, because they definitely aren't. Zach was a total douche that didn't treat you like you deserve and Hal's the opposite. And I'm not telling you to do anything, because I know you won't do it anyway. I just don't want to see you get hurt like that again. I really don't want to see what happened with you and Zach happen to you and Hal, okay?"

Alyssa's face got really hard. "It won't happen because Hal is nothing like Zach. Zach was an asshole who just wanted sex. Hal and I haven't done it yet. Now when my relationship with Hal becomes your business I'll let you know. Until then, butt out."

"I never said your relationship was my business, because frankly it's not and I honestly don't give a rat's ass about what you two do. I'm just concerned because according to Ben and Matt, Hal was the Zach of his school, and I don't want to see you break again." I turned abruptly and left.

Ben was waiting for me when I walked back over to the bikes. Hal had walked over to Alyssa and they went off to God knows where and Ben and I walked for a little while. "So how'd it go?"

"Can't really say," I said scanning camp. I think it was this new fighter thing that I had programmed into my head or something. I keep doing 180s of camp or wherever I'm at all the time. Weaver told me that knowing every small detail of your surroundings can make the difference between living and dying. "She's never been one for listening to my advice unless she asks for it herself."

"Relax," Ben said smiling and shaking my shoulder a little. "You tell me that I worry too much about everything and now you can't stop about Alyssa."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up."

"It's about time you get a taste of your own medicine, Kaylee Parker."

I gave him a weird look. "Whatever, Benjamin Mason."

Ben winced at his full name. "Ugh, don't call me that."

"If it makes you cringe then I'll have to start calling you that more often."

He rolled his eyes. "You seriously piss me off sometimes."

"Yet you call me your best friend," I smiled cheesily at him and he laughed. Ben and I stopped walking at Alyssa and I's tent. He pulled me into his arms and held me tightly and I reciprocated his grip.

Standing here hugging Ben made me think of how incredibly lucky I was to have him in my life, and how I probably wouldn't have made it if he wasn't here for me throughout all of this. I don't know, he gets me. He understands my flaws and things that piss me off, and he makes me work through them and makes me step out of my comfort zone. He understands that he doesn't have to talk to me to comfort me or talk to me so things don't get awkward, and more importantly he knows when he's overstepping his boundaries.

And then there are all of those times that I feel warm around him. When he held my hand at Jimmy's funeral, every time he looked my directly in the eyes, that day in the rain, and right now, as well as plenty of other times when he hugged me this tightly. I still hadn't figured out what this meant, and honestly I don't think I ever would. It made no sense to me whatsoever, and the more I had spent trying to figure out what the hell it meant, the more confused I got. Usually I would ask Alyssa, because I finally got over knowing how stupid it would sound out loud, but each time that I tried to start explaining, I couldn't think of how to start it.

Ben pulled away from me a little and stared down at my eyes for a moment before kissing my right cheek softly.

And I swear I had a heart attack in that moment. "What was that?" I looked up at him, with a smile on my face that I didn't even realize was there until his eyes lit up at it.

He smirked at me and shrugged. "Night." And then he walked off.

What. The. Fuck.

I went into the tent and sat on my cot, staring into space. My cold fingers skimmed my cheek, which was totally warm, and when I thought about what had just happened started making my heart beat faster and made me feel sick. My God, what the fuck was happening? There seriously is no logical explanation for this.

"_It kinda feels like someone poured hot coffee inside your body," _Alyssa had told me one day when I asked her what it was like being with someone. _"And every time you're with them you're happier than you've ever been before and you don't know why, but you just are."_

"Why's your face all red?" I looked up and saw that Alyssa had apparently entered the tent.

"It's hot in here, that's all," I said softly and took off my hoodie and getting into my flannel pants.

She stood there standing and frowning at me for thirty seconds before getting into her pajamas too. "It's like thirty degrees in here."

I shrugged. "Maybe I'm getting the cold that's going around." I slid under the fleece blanket I had on my cot, turned away from Alyssa, and turned off the lantern we had. I laid there for at least twenty minutes wide-eyed and unmoving, hearing her words run laps in my mind.

"_And every time you're with them you're happier than you've ever been before and you don't know why, but you just are."_

Alyssa's POV

So Weaver decides the fighters need to learn to trust each other and get to know other people than just our normal partners. That means Hal and I are separated. But because Kaylee and Ben can't go even minutes without each other, they get to stay together. So it's Hal, Ben, and Kaylee (I'm still trying to figure out how that was a good idea) and then I got stuck with Tector and Boon and then Matt is our messenger. Weaver decided I needed to learn to rely on my gun more so I was stuck with them. Tector has a great aim and Boon is pretty good. I asked why I couldn't just learn from Kaylee but Kaylee, being the great friend she is, said, and I quote, "If you wanted to learn from me, you would've learned over the past two years I've tried to teach you. I feel bad for Tector and Boon." I slapped her then got in trouble so I just went with it. It wasn't fun let me tell you that.

Tector and Boon were making me go through target practice, teaching me about guns and how they work and how to shoot.

"So Tector, how do you know so much about guns?" I asked. He acts like he doesn't know much or have any experience with guns but he is too good. He has too much precision and focus. He is so clean cut when he shoots. Just the way he acts with a gun and how comfortable he is with one, he obviously has prior experience.

"I picked up a few things here and there, my dad used to hunt," he said quickly.

"Bullshit." I looked at him.

"It's true," he argued.

"Don't fucking lie to me. Now tell me what branch. I know you weren't with the army. I'm gonna say either Marine Corps or Navy, not a seal but still in the Navy maybe? Which one?" He just kinda stared at me. "It's the Marines right?"

"I was a Gunnery Sergeant. How did you know?"

"You act like a soldier. You act like my brother; he was in the Marines and died in action. Where did you serve?" It made me sad to talk about my brother.

"I served two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan."

"Oh my brother served in Iraq for a year. Maybe you knew him?" I took off his dog tags from around my neck and tossed them to Tector. He looked at them then his face went blank. He looked like he saw a ghost. "Tector? Are you okay?"

"I knew your brother. He served under me. I was with him the night he died. He was a good kid. You know what his last words were? 'Tell Alyssa and Veronica it'll all be okay.' I was at his side as he died. We were ambushed. The first two were shot and killed instantly, but he made it until backup arrived and we got him on a helicopter. He died on the ride to the base. Looks like now I get to fulfill his last wishes."

"Thanks. Now let's go hunt some skitters."

"Yeah!" Matt, Boon and Tector all cheered.

"Look, there are some skitters now," I pointed out a skitter walking around, it was alone.

"Okay here is the plan, Mason and Carter are going to get the skitters attention and lead it back here, then Boon and I will take it out, see how many you can get to follow you okay? Boon and I aren't supposed to leave our post, so we'll have to bring the skitter to us."

"See? Solider. You don't disobey orders or break rules."

He just laughed. "Old habits die hard."

"Now what I'm wondering is how in the hell do you get along with Pope? The solider and the convict. Not a likely set of friends."

"Shut up and go get us some skitters to kill".

Matt and I road off on some scoters we found at a house. I could see the skitter out of the corner of my eye. It started to follow us so we road into an ally way that was blocked off. It was a dead end. We just stood there waiting for Boon and Tector. I stepped in front of Matt and shielded him with my body. Where were they and why weren't they shooting?! There was another skitter that had been sleeping in the ally way. We had woken it up and they way it was sitting I don't think Boon and Tector could have hit it. I grabbed the knives from my boot and held them up. Just then the skitter closet to us head blew off. "Shoot Boon!" I heard Tector yell.

"It's not in aim! I could hit the kids!" Boon yelled back. The skitter was advancing on us and quickly. I threw both my knives at it and killed it. Tector and Boon started cheering. Matt and I were covered in blood. "What was that? 27 and 28?"

"28 and 29!" Tector corrected "Tick, tick,"

"Boom!" They fist bumped.

"So how was it?"

"Pretty cool," I smiled.

Matt looked paler than a ghost and scared shitless "THAT. WAS. AWESOME!" He yelled. Well okay then. We all started cheering and headed back to camp. Matt and I went to clean up then we joined the rest of the Berserkers around the camp fire.

"Alright, alright check it out." Boon started beat boxing. "Yo! Our home boy, Matt, Went down the alley and was like 'Oh snap! We gonna put the skitters in the trap!' Make 'em feel like they gon' mad then we hit 'em in the back with the tick tick boom and those skitters went splat!"

Boon offered Matt and me a beer. I accepted and Matt was about to when Tom walked up. "Hey, hey!"

"Yo what gives, Mason?" Boon asked.

"He's nine years old. Beer? Use your head." Tom said then looked at me "Really?" I nodded.

"The little man is just on cup holder duty. We're celebratin,'" Boon said. Boon is so stupid sometimes.

"Two more kills this morning, Boss," Tector announced.

"Really?" Tom asked.

"Yeah," I confirmed.

"Dad! It was SO awesome! I led two skitters all by myself into Tector's field-" Matt started.

"What do you mean 'led'? He was just supposed to be a runner." Tom asked. No one sad anything. "Report back to camp _if_ you saw any activity."

"We saw an opportunity," Boon shrugged "Seized the initiative."

Tom was pissed now. "You used my son as skitter bait?!"

"Tom, Matt was safe. I was with him and was ready to kill them if they missed. Matt was fine, I was shielding him so he was protected from any weapons-whether it be accidental friendly fire or the aliens."

"We were boxed in, man. It was fish in a barrel!" Boon exclaimed.

"Dad, dad i-it's not a big-" Matt tried.

"MATTHEW!" Matt stopped talking. He just glared at his dad.

"I'm not that irresponsible that I would put Matt's life at risk. I know how to protect someone like that." I used to do it all the time with my sister.

"Look, Tec and I have killed more skitters than anybody else!" Boon needs to shut up or we will all end up in way more trouble than we are already in.

"Shut up, Boon! Man's right; we screwed up."

"No we didn't! A screw-up was if we'd missed!"

"What if you'd missed?"

"Our job is _not _to miss." Boon wasn't going to let this go.

Tom pushed Boon. "Hey, you're twenty years old. You were selling cell phones a _year_ ago. WHAT IF YOU HAD MISSED?"

"We don't mi -" I'd had enough of him.

"BOON!" I yelled. "Shut up!"

"My orders were clear. Man an observation post. NOT PAINT A TARGET ON MY NINE-YEAR-OLD'S BACK!" He looked at Tector "You can take the barrel rifle and give it to the second team. You're off sniper duty. And you can both go join the sanitation crew until further notice. Dismissed!" He looked at Matt "You're gonna sit out the next couple missions, Matt."

"Great. You ruined EVERYTHING." And he ran off.

He looked at "Now you." He was giving me this look, it made me feel so guilty. It's a look only a parent can use. "You're smarter than that Alyssa. You're lucky I'm not putting you on sanitation like them. We can't afford to lose more fighters. What were you thinking?"

"I know it wasn't smart. It was really stupid. They were so set on it, the only thing I could do was go with Matt. I didn't want to leave. God knows what they would have done if I left. I tried to get Matt to go back and have just me be the bait but he was having none of it. I also really wanted to kill a few skitters."

"Next time, be smart."

"I will." I said just as Weaver came up to talk to Tom. As I walked back to camp

Hal, Ben, and Kaylee showed up but they had a bunch of others with them. Hal walked up to me. "Hey, who are they?"

"Some survivors we found. They needed help."

"Cool." I wasn't really interested. I was just glad I was back with Hal. He leaned in and kissed me. I didn't want to stop kissing Hal but Kaylee had other ideas. She walked over and grabbed my shoulder and pulled us apart. Remind me to kill her.

"I really need to talk to you," she said. I fucking hate her right now.

"Could you not wait?" I asked as she pulled me away from Hal.

"I waited for five minutes." I punched her.

"It wasn't five minutes. Now what do you want, Parker?"

She sighed. "Don't you think you should take it a little…slower with Hal?" Where did this come from?

"We _are_ taking it slow."

"Slow enough though? I hate to say it, but Hal's a lot like Zach," She did not just say that.

"Hal is _nothing_ like _him_," I said.

"Really? Because I remember Zach always needing to be around you and always needing to shove his tongue down your throat whenever you two were in public." God way to be a bitch about it. "Look, I'm not saying they're the same person, because they definitely aren't. Zach was a total douche that didn't treat you like you deserve and Hal's the opposite. And I'm not telling you to do anything, because I know you won't do it anyway. I just don't want to see you get hurt like that again. I really don't want to see what happened with you and Zach happens to you and Hal, okay?"

"It won't happen because Hal is nothing like Zach. Zack was an asshole who just wanted sex. Hal and I haven't done it yet. Now when my relationship with Hal becomes your business I'll let you know. Until then, butt out."

"I never said your relationship was my business, because frankly it's not and I honestly don't give a rat's ass about what you two do. I'm just concerned because according to Ben and Matt, Hal was the Zach of his school, and I don't want to see you break again."

She then walked away. She's crazy! Zach is nothing like Hal. Hal saw me walk away from Kaylee so he came over to me. "Hey what was that about?"

"Kaylee is being paranoid. I don't really know. Nothing important."

"Okay." We just walked around camp for a little. He took me to meet the people they found. Then we walked around some more until I started to yawn. Hal walked me to my tent then went to go talk to Ben about something.

"Why's your face all red?" That was the first thing I noticed when I saw Kaylee sitting in our tent…

"It's hot in here, that's all," she said.

I put on my pajamas and gave her a look. "It's like thirty degrees in here."

"Maybe I'm getting the cold that's going around." Then she turned around on her cot and put the light out. I stood there deciding whether I should interrogate Kaylee or Ben. I decided Ben because Kaylee wasn't going to say anything. I threw some shoes and a hoodie over my tank top and ran outside to find Ben. He was talking with Hal.

"What that hell did you do to Kaylee?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything."

"Don't fucking lie to me. Her face was all red and when I asked her why she said it was because she was hot. It's fucking thirty degrees outside. She's not hot."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshit. Tell me."

"I honestly don't know. I kissed her on the cheek but other than that-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa hold up. You kissed her?"

"Nice job," Hal said. I forgot he was standing there.

"Finally!" I smiled and gave him a high five.

"Now I see why she didn't tell you. I'm going to go sleep." He started to walk away and Hal followed him so I walked back to our tent.

I tried to sleep but I couldn't. Kaylee's words kept coming back to me. _Slow enough though? I hate to say it, but Hal's a lot like Zach. _How are they alike? They both play sports, but other than that, well they were both popular and always had a girlfriend. Nothing else though. Well except that they both like to show PDA. Oh my God they are alike. Kinda. I sat up for another hour thinking about that before I finally fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I planned on talking to Hal. "Hey Alyssa." He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. He tried to kiss me but I dodged it.

"I need to talk to you," I said.

"Am I in trouble?"

"No. I just want to talk."

"Okay, shoot."

"So I was thinking maybe we should slow down a little bit. You know? Like calm down a little. I'm not saying break up. Don't get me wrong. Just a little less PDA. Kaylee brought up a something yesterday and it got me thinking. I've rushed things before and they have ended up badly. Very badly."

"Okay."

"You're not mad are you?"

"No just a little confused as to where this came from but okay. If you want to we can." I smiled. "Now I gotta go. My dad wants to talk about something with me. I don't know what. I'll catch you later." He leaned down and I thought he was going to kiss me, but he didn't. He hugged me. I smiled.

Kaylee's POV

"How does that feel?" Dr. Glass asked poking the set of ribs that I re-broke when I got into that fight with Pope.

"Like if you continue to poke them I might scream some very vulgar words," I said glancing at the few kids in the Med Bus that were here to see Anne.

"And now?" Anne looked up at me as she touched my other ribs that broke during the night the bridge blew up.

"Same," I groaned as the pain sent my stomach into knots.

"They're not healing right." She set whatever the hell she was poking me with on the counter and crossed her arms at me. "What exactly have you been doing since you woke up?"

"Fighting," I answered.

"You're supposed to be taking it easy, Kaylee! Your ribs aren't going to heal if you push them the way you have been. I might have to do surgery on you again and I can't do that with the supplies we have," Anne mumbled the last part and continued talking to herself about how low on medical supplies the 2nd Mass was.

"Whoa, wait. Surgery, _again_?" I folded my arms and frowned.

"I told you to take it easy," Anne said in her doctor voice and then shook her head. "After I took out all of the bullets and fixed those holes, I had to cut open your side and put pins between the broken pieces to the ribs still in place."

Excuse me while I go vomit my insides out.

"You broke them that badly. A few you broke in three or four places. And the amount of work you've been doing on them is no where near the amount they can handle. That's why they've been hurting so badly."

When I woke up at two, I walked myself to the Med Bus because my ribs were throbbing painfully and I felt really sick. So that was the problem with my ribs, and I was about to find out if I was sick or not.

Anne took my temperature with some super high-tech thermometer thing. Her eyebrows rose. "That's it. You're on medical rest until I say so." She showed me my temperature reading. 102 degrees.

Fuck.

"Anne-"

"I don't want to hear it, Kaylee. You need a break. Ben?" She called once she opened the curtain all the way. Ben stood up and looked expectantly from me to her.

"Don't let her anywhere near Weaver's tent and make _sure_ she gets rest. Okay?" Anne instructed him and then took her next patient in." I irritably pushed my bangs out of my face and walked off the Med Bus into the cold night. Fever or not, I was freezing.

"What _happened_?" Ben asked concerned.

"Apparently my ribs aren't healing right and she's probably going to have to do surgery on them again. And I have a 102 fever which I somehow got overnight," I crossed my arms again, but instead of doing it because I was aggravated, I was trying to warm up my body.

"You told me you were fine!" Ben whisper-yelled at me (it's two in the morning, remember?)

"I thought I was!"

"Why are you shaking?" Ben stared at my shivering arms. I had just walked out in a thin long sleeve shirt and my jeans but that wasn't cutting it for me.

"I'm freezing," I said quietly, trying to avoid looking him directly in the eyes. He was mad at me since I had somewhat lied to him saying that I was fine when I had actually been in a lot of pain the last few days. "Can we just walk around or something?"

"Whatever," Ben said irritated at me. We began walking down the road camp had been stationed on all throughout the entire road, and a few seconds passed when Ben put his arm around me.

"What're you doing?"

"Keeping your dumbass warm," he replied and put his extra jacket around my shoulders and pulling me closer to him.

"What about my fever? Isn't this making it worse?" I asked. Honestly this felt fantastic, since my body felt super warms and my arms heated up instantly. I was just trying to make an excuse to get him to let me go.

"It's twenty degrees outside." He glanced down at my eyes then looked forward again. "Besides, I can just get you a wet cloth or something to help cool you down a little." His hand went up and down my right arm to help warm me up faster. That sick feeling I got in my stomach came back, except this time it was a lot worse than it was earlier.

I realized that we were going to this place that we found and went to whenever we didn't have a mission or sometimes at night. It was a small, small park that only had a hedge and two trees, but Ben and I thought it was a great place to talk about whatever we wanted to without being bothered.

Ben lightly put both of his arms around my side and helped me sit down, despite my curses at him to just stay standing. He wrapped his jacket around me tighter and held me as close to him as he physically could to try and keep me as warm as he could. I collapsed my head onto his shoulder and shut my eyes. I was feeling hot and cold at the same time, my head started hammering, my ribs were throbbing, and I all around just felt like absolute shit. "If death had a feeling I'm pretty sure this would be it," I groaned and tried to think of something to soothe my awful headache.

Ben pressed the back of his hand against my forehead. "You're seriously burning up."

"Don't move your hand," I grabbed his hand just as he was about to move it away. His hand was freezing and it felt amazing against my forehead.

"How did you get this sick in one night?" He chuckled at my refusal to allow him to move his hand.

"You don't want to know," I muttered and gritted my teeth at the unbearable ringing in my head.

Ben kept his arm around me and began tracing shapes on the right temple of my forehead. I don't know what the hell he was doing, but whatever it was, it was making my headache calm down a little bit. The more I focused on Ben's shapes, the more the pain lessened in my head. His touch was so light that it gave me chills that weirdly cooled me down. It's like he knew exactly how to make me feel better.

"Why are you so perfect?" I asked randomly.

Ben laughed. "How bad does your head hurt?"

"I'm being serious. How is it that you know exactly how I work and think?"

"I don't know how you think. I mean, there's still a huge part of your life that I don't know about," his voice was as soft as the gentle touch that was skimming my cheek.

"Ask me anything you want to know."

Ben was quiet while he thought of something. He took such a long time that I was about to fall asleep when his voice yanked me out of sleep. "You never told me how your parents died."

Of course, going right in for the kill. "They were incinerated. Next question?"

"You gotta give me more than that," his voice dropped to a barely audible tone.

"Drunk driver hit them, engine caught on fire, door lock was jammed, they were incinerated."

"How old were you again?"

"Barely eleven."

His grip tightened. "How did you cope?"

"I didn't," I said earnestly. "But I did make excuses of what I thought was coping."

I pushed up the sleeve of my shirt and his jacket to my forearm. "Remember when I said we grew up in two totally separate environments?"

"Yeah, and?" I finally opened my eyes and saw him sending me a confused look. "What am I looking at?"

"Look closer."

He took my arm and stared at it and when his eyes widened a little, I felt like I was going to be sick all over again. Ben pushed up my sleeve a little farther and then looked over at me. "You…"

"Did heroin? Yeah, I did. And let me tell you it was the best damn thing I did to cope. Definitely wasn't the smartest or even a remotely okay decision, but it made the pain go away and that's all I cared about."

Ben was still trying to process the two things that I just told him, which were actually the two things I never spoke about. "Alyssa doesn't know," I said quiet again.

"You did that when you were eleven?" Ben's voice was on the borderline of freaked out and angry.

I shook my head. "Thirteen. I stopped a few months into high school."

"Did you get help?"

"No. I quit on my own, and I've been straightedge since."  
"What made you quit?"

I sighed. "I realized that drugs weren't gonna solve my problems; they were simply helping me run away from them. And plus I had to be clean for cross country and track."

Ben chuckled at the last part and then became serious again. "You're the strongest person I've ever met, you know that?"

"I actually can't really carry anything above fifty pounds."

He laughed again. "I mean emotionally strong. You've gone through that kind of loss, heroin addiction, near death experiences, and basically hell and back. How do you do it?"

I looked out at the abandoned buildings and the trees blowing in the cold breeze. "Sometimes I try to look at the positive side of things. For the past four years I've wondered what good could have possibly come out of my parents' dying. But the other day I realized that if they hadn't died, then I would have moved to our new house and farther away from Alyssa. A few weeks before you and Hal found us, I went back to the new house and it was completely and totally obliterated."

Ben looked down at me and I continued staring forward. "I would've been ash. I would've never come to the 2nd Mass, I wouldn't have been a fighter, I wouldn't have met Weaver, Anne, Tom, Jimmy, Hal, or you," I met his eyes then. "I wouldn't be with you, right here and right now, and I would never have known you. And this life, here at the 2nd Mass and with you, is better than any other life I could have gotten had my parents survived. I wouldn't change it for the world."

Ben pulled me in for a hug and I hugged back tighter. "You're the best thing I've got right now, Ben," I said quietly, and I instantly wished I could shove those words back into my mouth the moment I said them.

"And you're the best thing I've got right now, Kaylee. I can't picture my life without you in it." And then he kissed my forehead softly and I swear I almost threw up from how much it sent my stomach into knots.

This was getting very, very bad.

Alyssa's POV

The next morning Hal, Kaylee, and Diego where going over plans and stuff, mapping out places not to go on our drive to Charleston. I was playing a game of soccer with some of the kids. Matt and I were killing them. It was really fun.

"You guys wanna see something cool?" I asked. They all nodded. "Watch this." and I put the ball down on the ground and lined it up. I launched the ball in the air and it hit Hal perfectly in the back of the head. All the kids started laughing but Matt laughed the hardest. I jogged over to where they were and grabbed the ball. Hal looked at me. "My bad," I said and I jogged away. He said something but I didn't hear; I was too busy laughing. We continued playing soccer for a little bit longer until Diego call his kids back. He said it all in Spanish. I didn't understand one word of it. Almost two years of trying to use my one year of Spanish and all I can say is food, water, bathroom, and sleep. Everyone loaded up on their bikes and Hal and I hopped in the front of a truck with Kaylee, Ben, and two other kids in the back. When we got there you could tell something had happened. There was fire and smoke and the place was destroyed.

"Somebody ripped up our place," Jean said. Thank you Captain Fucking Obvious. There were no kids in sight. Ben found a bloody jacket and Diego said it was one of the kids.

"Somebody help!" a cry came from another room. Everyone ran over to the noise. It was a kid, maybe eleven years old. He was crying his eyes out.

"Johnny, are you alright?" Diego asked him.

"The chinchas. They took everybody." Holy fuck.

"Hey buddy, how long ago was this?" Hal asked him.

"I don't know," he said in between cries.

"They're gonna be harnessed," Ben said. This is not good. We all raced to the cars and drove back to camp as fast as humanly possible. One good thing about the attack: no speed limits. We all jumped out and ran into Weaver's tent and Hal started to explain what happened then we worked on a rescue plan.

"That factory right here, that's where we've seen a lot of harnessed kids." Diego pointed to the map.

"And that's the building we saw on the scouting unit yesterday," Hal stated. "That building has power."

"And mechs guarding it," Ben added.

"Maybe they turned the factory into a harnessing facility," Kaylee said.

"That explains the security," I said.

"Okay. Ben, what do you remember about the place you were harnessed?" Weaver asked Ben.

"Um, not much, just…fragments."

"Anything you can remember would be helpful," Tom asked. We really needed whatever information Ben had.

"First they kept us in a holding room." I could tell Ben didn't like talking about it.

"How long?" Diego asked.

"I don't know."

"What else?" Tom continued to pick his brain.

"Then they took us to a harnessing chamber."

"What was the distance between the holding room and the harness chamber?" Weaver questioned. Who the hell knows that?

"I-I'm sorry, I don't remember," Ben shook his head and I could tell he was done talking about it.

"Alright, look, we're wasting time. We know they're in there in there, let's go," Diego said, ready to go.

"Not so fast, we need a plan. Improvising gets people killed."

"Yeah? While you're sitting around making plans they're harnessing our friends."

"I'm not gonna put people's lives at risk so that you can go off half-cocked."

"Fine," Diego muttered. "Stay here with your maps. I'm going in."

"I said _no_." Weaver didn't yell, he said it quietly, but firm. That made it like five times scarier.

"I don't take orders from anyone especially a man who couldn't save his own family." What an asshole! I guess Weaver felt the same way because he reached over and grabbed Diego by the shoulder.

"HEY! You listen to me boy! You do not talk to me about my family, you here me?"

"STOP!" Jean yelled and she stepped between them.

"I told you he hasn't changed," Diego said as he walked away. Yeah, he is definitely a total asshole.

"Jeanie, I am sorry-"

"If you were sorry you'd try to be different. You wouldn't be the same angry control freak. This is _exactly_ why Mom kicked you out." What a bitch. How is she related to Weaver? They are nothing a like.

"Jeanie!" Weaver yelled after her. He came back inside and was pissed. "Grab your weapons and gear up! We move out in five!"

I left the tent and was by Kaylee and Dai. Dai hopped in the front of the truck with Tom and Kaylee got in the back with Ben. I walked over to Hal. "Have you seen Matt?" Hal asked .

"No why?"

"I can't find him." He continued to look. "Matt!" Hal yelled out looking around. Ben and I stood up in the back to see what exactly Weaver was staring at and Hal approached him.

"What's wrong?" Tom asked from inside the truck that had just pulled up.

"I can't find Matt," Hal said. "He's not in our tent or in the mess tent. I don't know where he is."

"He's gone," Weaver told us. "Jean too. All the bikes are gone."

"They went without us," Tom said disbelievingly.

"C'mon!" Weaver yelled and we were off and driving again. We drove at easily 100 mile per hour, if not more. I nearly fell out of the back of the truck at least three times and I am about 99% positive I'm going to have at least two or three nice sized bruises from when my side slammed into the side of the truck every fucking time we turned. When we pulled up, the truck hadn't even come to a full stop yet and we were all jumping out ready to go. Tom pointed out Matt's baseball hat laying in the mud right by the door. We got the right place at least.

"Alyssa, Dai, Tector, you go in the back, we'll go in the front," Tom said and we were off. Dai was in the front then me and Tector was in the back. We walked slowly and carefully, listening for any sounds we would give us a hint as to where they were being held. After walking through quite a few doors and turning back around a lot we found a room with a bunch of kids. There was no skitter in sight. This must have been the holding room Ben mentioned.

In the room we found Diego and a few kids but not Matt or Jean. I seriously hope they're okay. I don't really like Jean and it's mostly Matt I'm worried about, Jean just a little bit. I remember that night months ago when Hal, Weaver, Tom and I went out scouting. It was the first time Hal and I ever actually had a civilized conversation. That night Weaver lost it. Almost didn't come back to the 2nd Mass with us. He thought Jean was dead and it was his fault. I hoped for his sake she is okay. I would hate to see him like that now. The 2nd Mass needs him now more than ever.

A child's scream ran through the air. "We have to help them. I'm going to help them." Diego stood up and tried to leave but I pushed him down.

"Oh no you don't. You had your shot and look what happened." Diego push me out of the way and walked passed but Tector stopped him.

"Why don't you leave this up to the experts?" Tector said Diego tried to resist but Tector interrupted him. "We have a team heading in now to rescue them." He spoke with a sense of finality in his voice. Diego didn't try and argue. He knew the conversation was over. It was the first time I had ever heard Tector speak like that. He sounded like a soldier. It was weird.

"Let's go, if the skitters don't know we are here by now, they will soon," I said, as if to prove my point the unmistakable screech of skitters came; they were heading our way. We hurried and untied the kids and we rushed out of the room. We had to be really quiet and it took us twice as long to get out of there. When we got out, the others were already there. As soon as we hopped in the truck we left. Somehow Diego and Weaver got stuck next to each other. Neither of them were very happy about that. It was kinda amusing to watch.

We pulled into camp about thirty minutes later. I knew Hal had century duty with Ben so I headed over to our tent. Someone came up behind me and wrapped there hands around me. "Hey Alyssa."

"What's up? Don't you have century duty with Ben?"

"Yeah but that doesn't start for another five minutes. Plus Ben doesn't look too interested in duty. He is busy with other things." Hal motioned to where Ben and Kaylee were standing. "I wish he would either grow a pair and make a move or learn to cover up his feelings a little better. He is horrible at it." I laughed.

"Yeah well lucky for him, Kaylee sucks at realizing when people care about her. She has no clue Ben likes her. Plus its kinda fun to watch him try and Kaylee be so oblivious."

"Kinda funny? It's hilarious." I bent my head back and looked at him. He leaned down and kissed me. Then he jogged off to go meet Ben and headed over to our tent. I fell asleep almost instantly.

Kaylee's POV

When morning came, I was back in camp with Hal and Diego. Hal wanted me with him when we got some intel from Diego since he knew that I would ask questions that he wouldn't have even thought of to ask and vice versa. Personally the intel wasn't the only thing I cared about; I really wanted to get to talk to Diego. The 2nd Mass never ran into survivors and meeting new people was something that was becoming lost to this world. Plus, it never hurts to have some allies later on in this war.

Behind the three of us was a soccer game going on. Alyssa was playing with a group of Diego's gang and a group of the 2nd Mass kids and was teaching them how soccer works. As a fighter, I spent 99 percent of my time fighting or doing missions and the other one percent I spent with Ben, so I was never really bored. As a civilian, and especially as a kid, I couldn't even imagine how bored they get if they don't have a job to do or something to keep them active.

"How far along the east coast have you been?" I asked Diego and Hal got out his map to write stuff down.

"Not far. The farthest I've been is Philadelphia and that was a few months back when I was looking for my family. The roads are clear up to that point, but that could've changed." Hal scribbled that note down in the margin of his map. "Did you spot the factory on Renoir and High Street?"

"Yeah, we saw that one," Hal replied.

"That's where you stole our bikes," I smirked at him and Diego laughed.

"Lots of battles bots there. Kids with those parasites on their backs and chinchas too."

"Chinchas?" Hal and I both asked at the same time and looked at Diego.

"The big bugs," he clarified. I guess everyone had their own terms for the aliens. Battle Bots and Chinchas.

"Ah, we call 'em skitters," Hal said smiling and writing the info down on the map.

"Oh-" Just then Alyssa kicked the soccer ball she was playing with at Hal's head. He whirled around to see who it was.

"My bad," Alyssa said calmly and kicked the ball away and laughed.

Hal grinned and shook his head. "I'm gonna get you back."

"Like hell you will," I said laughing.

"Are you always this sarcastic or is it just with me?" Hal asked and shook his head at me again.

"Is that your girlfriend?" Diego asked and motioned towards Alyssa.

"Yeah," Hal smiled wider and kept writing stuff down.

"He's got it pretty bad," I told Diego and he laughed.

Before Hal could come up with some kind of comeback, Tom walked by. "Hey, Tom!" I called so Hal wouldn't kill me. "Diego just gave us some great intel on our way down to Charleston."

"Good," he said nodding.

"What's in Charleston, anyway?" he asked the three of us.

"Rumors of survivors organizing a pretty substantial force against the invasion. Your group's welcome to join us, if you want."

"We'll think about it," Diego said, seeming relatively interested in coming along with us.

"Truck's ready if you want to start loading your supplies," Tom told him. "Jamil scrounged up some bike parts you might be able to fix yours with. Sorry we can't give you more but we're pretty thin as it is."

"It's more than alright," Diego said gratefully. He got up and yelled 'let's go kids' in Spanish and the rest I couldn't understand since he spoke it too fast, but all of his group got it and ran to the truck we had filled up to help take back. Ben gave me a hand up and we took things from other fighters to help load up the supplies on the bed of the truck. Two of Diego's kids hopped in the back with us and then we were on our way back to the warehouse.

The four of us were silent the whole ride there, me being exhausted and still getting over feeling like crap. Ben was thinking about something deeply and the other two kids were probably awkward around strangers. I didn't bother trying to make a conversation because that would just make it even more awkward and plus I really just wanted some silence for awhile.

It was dark out when we arrived back at the warehouse, and we were greeted by fires all around it. Ben helped me out of the truck and all of us cautiously entered the warehouse. It was eerie in here without light coming in and I had that feeling in the pit of my stomach that you get when you're watching a scary movie and you know something's about to jump out at you.

"Somebody ripped up our place," Jean said borderline upset and scared.

We all had our gun lights on and were scanning the room to see if anyone was still around to explain what had happened. Ben found a bloody jacket that Diego recognized and the rest of us came up short. Something had happened to the rest of the kids.

"Somebody help!" a cry came from a room conjoining with the main one. Everyone ran into the room to see an eleven-year-old kid crying against the wall.

"Johnny, are you alright?" Diego asked him.

"The chinchas," he sobbed and turned away from our bright gun lights. "They took everybody." Shit.

"Hey buddy, how long ago was this?" Hal leaned down towards him thinking that the poor kid would know the answer at a time like this.

"I don't know," he let out another sob and it practically broke my heart to see this kid so upset. I looked at Ben and read his thoughts from how somber his eyes looked.

"They're gonna be harnessed."

The ride back to camp was the fastest ride I've ever experienced in my life. It took us about twenty minutes to get to the warehouse from camp and we drove there in eight. I spent the entire ride talking to Johnny to try and calm him down and it worked. The moment we pulled to a stop, every single one of us jumped out and ran into Weaver's tent. We let Hal explain the situation because we knew he'd do best and then we all started devising a rescue plan.

"That factory right here," Diego pointed to it on Weaver's blown up map of the east coast, "that's where we've seen a lot of harnessed kids."

"And that's the building we saw on the scouting unit yesterday," Hal stated. "That building has power."

"And mechs guarding it," Ben added.

"Maybe they turned the factory into a harnessing facility," I pointed out and a few heads nodded in agreement.

"That explains the security," Alyssa said and Tom nodded at that.

"Okay. Ben, what do you remember about the place you were

harnessed?" Weaver asked and I'm positive I was the only one in the room who saw him tense. I knew what he had told me and it was the worst thing I've ever heard and I knew why he hated talking about it to others.

"Um, not much, just…fragments."

"Anything you can remember would be helpful," Tom encouraged and

Ben thought about it.

"First they kept us in a holding room," he said with an edge in his voice that I had never heard before.

"How long?" Diego asked.

"I don't know."

"What else?" Tom wondered.

"Then they took us to a harnessing chamber."

"What was the distance between the holding room and the harness chamber?" Weaver questioned.

Ben took in a breath of air and shook his head. "I-I'm sorry, I don't remember."

"Alright, look, we're wasting time. We know they're in there in there, let's go," Diego piped up and slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Not so fast," Weaver sent a hard look his way. "We need a plan. Improvising gets people killed."

"Yeah? While you're sitting around making plans they're harnessing our friends." He's going to seriously regret talking to Weaver like that.

"I'm not gonna put people's lives at risk so that you can go off half-cocked."

"Fine," Diego muttered. "Stay here with your maps. I'm going in."

"I said _no_," Weaver stated firmly.

"I don't take orders from anyone especially a man who couldn't save his own family," Diego said harshly and I swear everyone flinched when Weaver grabbed his shoulder from across the table.

"HEY!" he shouted in Diego's face, "you listen to me boy, you do not talk to me about my family, you here me?"

"STOP!" Jean screamed and pulled her dad and Diego apart.

"I told you he hasn't changed," Diego said and walked out of the tent.

"Jeanie, I am sorry-"

"If you were sorry you'd try to be different. You wouldn't be the same angry control freak. This is _exactly_ why Mom kicked you out." And then she stormed out of the tent too.

"Jeanie!" Weaver called after her and the rest of us awkwardly stood there, not knowing what to do or say. Weaver just walked out of the tent and yelled, "Grab your weapons and gear up! We move out in five!"

I was walking with Dai and Alyssa and trying to slow my stride down in order for Ben to catch up, but Tom pulled him aside and said something that I noticed pissed off Ben. When he hopped into the back of the truck with me, I just turned away from him and looked out. If I asked him he'd just get more aggravated and I respected his privacy.

"Matt!" Hal yelled out looking for his youngest brother. Dai, who was driving, pulled the truck up all the way up to where Captain Weaver was standing. Ben and I stood up in the back to see what exactly Weaver was staring at and Hal approached him.

"What's wrong?" Tom asked from inside the truck.

"I can't find Matt," Hal said. "He's not in our tent or in the mess tent. I don't know where he is."

"He's gone," Weaver spoke. "Jean too. All the bikes are gone."

"They went without us," Tom said disbelievingly.

"C'mon!" Weaver motioned stiffly to get into the truck and Alyssa and Hal joined us in the back. I just hoped for the safety of Matt that we got there in time. Ben would find some kind of way to blame himself for this if Matt got harnessed and honestly I might too. Matt was the younger sibling I had always wanted, and to lose that would make me lose apart of myself too.

We drove at least one hundred miles an hour, if not faster. If we still had speed limits, Dai would have gone to prison for how fast he was going. He screeched to a stop and all of us, Dai, Tom, Weaver, Hal, Alyssa, Ben, and me, got out of the car so fast and took cover just in case the patrolling mechs heard the screech of the car. We waited a few moments, and then moved forward to scope out the front of the factory to see if we could find a way in.

Weaver and Tom pointed out that Matt's hat was right by the entrance and my heart dropped a little. Oh shit. "Alyssa, Dai, Tector you go in the back, we'll go in the front."

Hal, Ben, Tom, Weaver and I started sprinting around the corner. Hal covered our backs as we went inside and then he shut the door closed behind us. I turned my gun lights on as did the rest of the guys and we scanned the room. I had no idea where we were at because it just looked like a random room to me. The only thing that made this different from a regular factory was the screams I could hear coming from another room.

And let me tell you those screams would be something I would never, ever forget the sound of.

Ben started running. "Follow me." The screams were getting louder and Ben turned this way and that down the factory hallways trying to find the actual harnessing chamber before it was too late. He shoved open the door and there was a harness, live and everything, crawling on Matt's back.

"HEY!" Tom yelled. I shot the skitter that was in the room in the head a few times and Tom grabbed the harness off Matt's back. Weaver and I aimed and fired at it until it was blown to pieces and then we heard the shrill sound of air being released from a pipe and a harness coming down the chute to its next victim, Jean.

"JEAN!"

"DADDY!" Weaver ran over to where Jean was tied down and shot the harness and began getting her out of the binds that held her down to the table.

I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye and that was Ben slowly making his way over to the giant tank in the corner that had all of the living harnesses swimming in it.

"Ben," I said so only he could hear me, but he ignored me and kept walking towards it. He touched his hand to the glass and moments later a harness swam up to it and stopped right in front of his hand through the glass.

Then his spikes lit up and the harness hit against the glass next to his hand.

Ben stepped back quickly and threw up his gun and held down the trigger. The glass shattered and the water came pouring out along with twenty harnesses. I whipped my Calico back to my front and started shooting harnesses left and right and anywhere I saw something moving. From the screeching the harnesses made when they were shot and the actual gun shots themselves, I probably lost about ten percent of my hearing in five minutes. I took a few deep breaths to slow my heart rate down and lowered my gun back down. Poor Matt had his hands pressed against his ears and his eyes shut and Jean looked all around terrified. How was she frightened so easily when her father served in the military?

I heard a thud and turned around to see Weaver on the floor with a harness on his leg. I was about to run over and stab the thing but Jean ripped it off of him and Weaver hit it with his gun. It's about damn time Jean stopped being such a girl.

I looked over at Ben who was still frozen in place, eyes filled with anger and terror. I remember all the way back to my very first mission with the 2nd Mass, with Ben and Karen, and how Ben's spikes lit up then too. Except he doesn't remember that; I asked him if he remembered that mission and he told me a little but not distinctly and I know when Ben's lying. So he was basically experiencing this for the first time. "Ben?" I said softly, watching everyone start leaving the room. Skitter reinforcements were bound to show up at any moment.

He stood in his place still, so I grabbed his hand and tugged on it a little. "C'mon, we gotta get out of here before backup arrives."

Ben nodded and he looked like he was out of it, but by the way his hand was crushing mine he was completely alert right now. I had no idea what was going on in his head, but it was something really, really bad since I've never seen Ben so freaked about anything. Apart from the day that skitter made his spikes glow and Ben heard it talking to him. And when Ben told me what it had said, I thought it was bullshit.

_"That's what it told me. I mean, if it weren't true, why would the skitter even bother to let you and I live?" he stared down at me with his eyebrows raised. He had a point._

_ "It's really hard to believe though. A skitter rebellion? And that was the leader of it?"_

_ "I'll take you to meet him someday, when I know you'll be safe. I need you on my side more than anything, especially since they'll listen to me if I have an ally on my side."_

Maybe the skitter had told him something he didn't want to mention to me and that's why he was freaking out twice as much as I normally expected of him. Or maybe he felt the same way he did when he actually had a harness and felt tormented again. Whatever the reason, I was a little freaked out too. How was this going to affect everyone else? Hal would be a total ass about it, as expected, Matt would freak out and think something would happen to his older brother, Tom would want to try and fix it, and Weaver might even make him leave the 2nd Mass if it came down to that. Not to mention the crusty skin on his neck was spreading. It wasn't even remotely noticeable when I first met him, and now I could spot it from a distance. I had no idea how that was affecting him or what it could do, but I was worried about Ben. Really, really worried.

I was about to head to my tent to try and get some sleep, at least an hour, but Ben stopped me. "Will you come with me on century duty? I could really use the company."

I nodded. "Sure. Just let me get my guitar and I'll be right there." Ben headed off for the West Post, which was where the entrance of camp was near and had a roof that was perfect for watching both the road and the skies. I hadn't had a watch in a long while, and I bet that Ben specifically asked Weaver for something to do tonight since he needed to keep his mind occupied. And he might want to talk about it or something otherwise he would've wanted to be alone.

I quickly grabbed my guitar by the case strap and slung it over my shoulder, and then I headed over to the West Post. I jogged up the stairs and was about to step out when I heard Hal talking to Ben.

"C'mon, Ben. In the harnessing facility, I saw your spikes glow."

There was a pause from Ben's end. "You're mistaken."

"Really? Is that how you're gonna play this? You're just gonna lie about it? Hope it goes away instead of getting worse?" I'm seriously going to punch him very, very hard very, very soon.

"Yes," Ben let out an angry sigh. "That's _exactly_ what I'm gonna do. Who here is gonna understand glowing spikes? Half of these people still think I killed Jimmy. You can rat me out, if you want, but I am not signing my own death warrant."

"And I am your brother," Hal said trying to calm him down. "And all I'm trying to do is help." And what a fabulous job you're doing Hal.

"I know," he said softly, "but you need to back off."

I backed down the stairs quickly and when Hal entered the stairway I acted as if I were just coming up. "Hey," I nodded at him and kept walking up.

"How do you do it?" Hal asked just as I was about to set foot on the rooftop.

"What?"

"Get him to open up to you? He doesn't even talk to me anymore."

"It's not something that you can go straight into, Hal. You have to slowly dip your foot in the water before taking the dive," I said and turned around to enter the fighters' post. I set my guitar down next to Ben and sat next to him on the edge of the roof.

"You heard all of that," Ben stated and continued gazing over camp.

"Most, not all. Just enough to know your brother's concerned about you and you keep brushing him off every time he tries to talk to you." I unzipped the case covering and slid out my guitar and propped it on my lap. I played some chords and random notes to warm up my fingers.

"He thinks he's my dad still. And he thinks that he's in charge of everything I do," he said and looked at my fingers playing by themselves as I looked him in the eyes. I remembered this song my mom had taught me, when I first started learning how to play guitar, and suddenly my fingers were playing the soft chords that filled all of camp. I hadn't heard this song since I was at least six or seven, and it made me somewhat happy inside to play it again. It was almost like reliving a moment from my past.

"Clair de Lune," Ben said calmly, recognizing the tune. The music was already making him calm down. I nodded and continued playing the song and people from the ground would look up and smile at me and I would smile down at them too. I didn't think so many people would be familiar with Debussy's work.

Once I had finished the last note, I did a shuffle in my head of the songs I knew and was about to play a new one when Ben put his hand on the neck of the guitar and lowered it. I looked up at him expectantly and he just had his eyes on the guitar and wouldn't meet mine. "What's up?" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair and then just looked back at the sky. "Is it bothering you? I mean I'll stop-"

"No," he shook his head, "it's not that. Keep playing."

I set my guitar back in its case and then stared at Ben. "What's up with you?"

"I don't know."

"Did you…hear something?" I asked quietly.

Ben looked at me, confusion and vulnerability in his eyes. "I don't know," he said hopelessly.

I put my hands behind his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. He held me back tighter than ever and put his face down on my shoulder. He was shaking from fear and confusion, and I just wished I could take some of that away. It was ripping my insides apart to see Ben like this. I put my arms around his neck and held him as close as I could. He didn't even flinch when my hand accidentally brushed against one of the spikes he had and he just sat there holding me as tight as I was holding him.

I rested my head on his shoulders and looked straight up into the starry sky. _"Thank you," _I mouthed to whatever was out there, _"Thank you for _him._"_

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_Wasn't that just adorable:3 Haha so let me know how I'm doing in the whole Benlee department...I could really use some feedback. Until we update next,  
_

_Keep The Resistance Strong and Falling Skies On. (Oh yeah! I don't know about you guys, but I'm not loving this Denny chick. AT ALL.) _

_-Kaylee Parker_

_Alyssa refused to reply to my test messages so therefore she has no author's note. :3_

Song Credits:

Zero-Hawk Nelson

Demons-Imagine Dragons


	18. L Is For Love(And Other Acts Of Courage)

_Wait..what?! Two updates in a row (kinda)?! Yes indeed, friends. Honestly it would have been up sooner had I gotten off my lazy ass to write;D Alyssa was the one yelling at me to write instead of the other way around for a change...;p In my defense, I have rehearsals on the weekends and summer school during the week (and uh, I kinda got addicted to Pretty Little Liars in the process...) so yeah. I hope you enjoy the chapter;3 PS DEAR FALLING SKIES WRITERS, PLEASE KILL DENNY SO I WON'T HAVE TO. LOVE, KAYLEE. -Parker_

HEYY GUYS WHATS UP! So i know what your thinking, yeah we are updating pretty fast. i actually wrote this chapter in two days! I was REALLY excited to write this one! Hahaha! So lets discuss Falling Skies shall we! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD! um so much to say. Denny is stupid (_DAMN STRAIGHT_), baby lexi is creep as f*ck, THE REAL PRESIDENT IS STILL ALIVE, um CRAZY LEE! oh my god i cried my eyes out so hard, and pope. He isn't allowed in Disneyland because he got in a fight with Goofy. wow. typical pope. okay so don't forget to read and review! i want to know your thoughts one everything! -Carter

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Chapter 18-L is for Love (and Other Acts of Courage)

Kaylee's POV

It's been nearly a full week. And it's getting a lot worse.

I swear to God I must be losing my mind. I mean, Ben Mason? The dorky annoying kid that found me and my best friend pretty much a year ago? The kid I used to dread seeing around because I never wanted to talk to him? And the worst shooter in the world, as well as fist fighter? Not to mention how much I hated him, especially the fact that the two of us were paired up as patrol partners.

I honestly don't know how that all changed. Maybe when we were at the Sanctuary and Jimmy started talking to him. Maybe seeing Jimmy accept Ben made me get over that annoying kid that would pester me to death. Maybe the three of us becoming friends played a bigger part in my story than I ever would've thought. Nevertheless, things had changed.

A lot.

I found myself feeling uneasy around him, my best friend. Who gets nervous around their best friend? Whenever he made eye contact with me I felt sick. I felt like my stomach was churning every time he hugged me or laughed at something I said. And when he had kissed my cheek, my heart felt weak.

Weak. How fucking stupid does that sound?

A lot of stuff made sense to me now. Why I was always extremely happy to go on patrols. Why I felt warm around Ben. How I always felt safe and relaxed when he was around. Why I could easily fall asleep on his shoulder but couldn't sleep when he wasn't around. Why I couldn't stop thinking after he called me beautiful that one time and when he shrugged carelessly after kissing my cheek. All of those questions I never had answers to seemed to finally become clear. And the reason why I had yet to figure this all out was because I wouldn't admit it to myself, and honestly I really couldn't either.

I liked Ben.

I liked Ben a lot more than I realized.

And I was freaking the fucking fuck out.

I've never had experience with guys whatsoever. Jimmy didn't count because we were never an official thing and I realized that I really didn't like him as much as I thought I did. The only interaction I had with a guy was pounding AJ's face in or punching some other guy for asking me out. That was it.

I, Kaylee Nicole Parker, have never liked a guy in my fifteen years of existence.

Until now.

And this time, it was for real.

Except for the fact that I had no fucking idea what to do about it. There was no way in hell that I was going to talk to him about it. No way in _hell_. I couldn't ask Alyssa what to do because she would just rub it in my face about how right she was and I really can't handle that right now. I felt awkward even considering asking anyone else, even Anne or Lourdes, so I was stuck with just swallowing the feelings until they went away.

But with my luck, they would only get worse. Being around him all the time wasn't helping so much either.

Trying to make the feelings go away wasn't pleasant, or more like pretending they weren't even there in the first place wasn't. I'm just so, so confused and I honestly have no idea what the hell I should even do about it. Holding something like this in was eating away my sanity, and I'm pretty sure a ton of people have noticed that something's off with me. I just ignored them all anyways. Until I can figure this out, I really don't want to be around people.

So basically, my only solution to this was shutting myself away in the tent, which was now in Richmond, Virginia, and playing my guitar. My fingers and especially my thumbs were getting blisters from playing so much. I honestly can't do anything else. If I set my guitar down for even a minute I start having an anxiety attack or feel like I'm going to throw up. And I can't sleep at all. The usual hour I got was far too much now. Dreaming only made me even sicker to my stomach or made me have an asthma attack.

I refused to leave the tent unless I absolutely had to. I only came out to shower and get some kind of food to eat. And then I go right back into Alyssa and I's tent and continue playing, whether it be going over every single chord one hundred times each or strumming each string a thousand. Then I would keep tuning it even though I knew that it was tuned perfectly fine. At least I was on "leave" from fighting so I wouldn't feel like an asshole to Weaver. He's been trying to get me to take a break for a really long time. Also he's been keeping to himself since Jean decided to leave with Diego the night we came home from the harnessing facility.

The worst part about this is that Ben's noticed, too. He keeps trying to talk to me when I actually do step outside and I can't even meet his eyes because I'm too afraid to look at them. He asks me what's going on or why I don't come out at night anymore or even glance in his direction. But he ends up with the same exact silence I gave him when we first met. I felt like a total bitch just flat out ignoring him but I can't help it. I was doing what I did best: stay in a world of silence while pushing away the people I cared about most. You can't blame me; it's not like I knew any better.

So I was pretty taken aback when Ben ripped open the flap of our tent and stood right in front of me with his arms crossed. "Alright, what the hell is your deal?!"

I continued watching my fingers play chords. "Nothing," my voice came off nonchalant.

Ben tore the guitar out of my hands and held it above his head in one hand with the other one pointing at me. "No. Don't even bother lying to me. Something is bothering the hell out of you and you're not telling me what. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's fucking wrong!"

"Stop trying to pull shit with me!" he shouted so loudly I felt myself flinch a little. I've never heard Ben yell, ever. At least with the tone of voice he used. "You won't talk to me, you won't hang out with me, you won't even fucking _look_ me. You need to tell me what's up or so help me I'll smash this right now and force you to talk." He raised the guitar even farther and I shot to my feet to try and grab it. It wasn't like those classic movies where the bully was holding something out of a kid's reach; I could reach just fine, except Ben had his free hand locked around my shoulder so I couldn't move to get it.

"Put it down, Ben," I said warningly.

"Tell me what's up and I will."

"Put it down," my hand balled up into a fist.

"Talk to me."

I swiftly pulled my black Beretta 92FS handgun and held the barrel against my skull. "You know what? Go right ahead. Smash it. That guitar is the only reason why I haven't lost my mind and if you end my sanity I'll end myself. So I'll say it again," I loaded the Beretta, "Put. It. Down."

Ben instantly put it in my hands and I grabbed it and took three steps back to zip it up in its case. "Why would you go there?"

"I told you," I pulled the zipper, "If I have nothing to keep myself occupied I'll shoot myself."

"Occupied from _what_?" Ben said, venom stinging his words.

"Don't worry about it," I said harshly back and stepped out of the tent. I really wished that the tent flap was a door so I could slam it.

I jammed my hands in my pockets and walked away. I just walked away. Maybe a walk would give me time to at least try and sort things out or at least keep me from putting a gun to my head again. That was probably something I should avoid doing as much as possible.

So I just walked. I walked and walked and walked. I had no idea where the hell I ended up, but I was in this greenery area with tons of trees and bushes and plants. It wasn't a forest or anything; it was just an opening that was really peaceful and seemed like the best place for me to just sit and think awhile, without any noises or distractions. I let my eyes close and felt the breeze gently hit my face while I let any thoughts wander in my mind. A voice echoed in my head, a voice that I thought I had forgotten.

_Useless. Unwanted. Unloved. Alone. Silent. Angry. _

Of course it would go straight to that.

_No one loves you, no one will EVER love you. I'm sure your own parents didn't love you. Do you get it? No one gives a rat's ass about you! _

He was probably right. As a matter of fact I'm positive he was right.

_Maybe its better that _**you're**_ dead. Nobody wants you here, so _what _is holding you back? What is keeping you from just ending all of this now? _

Ben. Alyssa. Hal. Matt. The 2nd Mass. I was needed now, wasn't I? Back then, I had zero reason to stay breathing. I had a purpose now, and maybe I needed to start thinking about that more. The only great thing about those memories was the hope they gave me that AJ was rotting in the deepest level of hell or about to somewhere. Yeah, I know, that's a new level of harsh for me. In my defense, I gave him several chances for us to coexist without murdering each other, but apparently he didn't want that. I take full responsibilities for my actions towards him, but it's a two way street. If he thought that I was as useless and worthless as he said he did, he would just leave me alone and act as if I didn't exist. Maybe things would've been a lot less awful if that had happened.

He was right about a few things thought. I was alone, silent, angry, and unloved. When it came down to it, those were my choices. I _chose_ to be alone. I _chose_ to be silent. I _chose_ to let my anger reach the heights it did.

And I _chose_ to stay unloved.

I didn't want to be anyone's liability. I didn't want to have weaknesses, even in a world without aliens and war and death in the blink of an eye. I didn't want to have distractions from a boy or from friends. Alyssa was all I wanted in my life. She was my family and my friend, and that's all I wanted. I couldn't stand depending on someone or needing to have someone around all of the time. I wanted to be alone, and live my life alone because being alone was all I knew and alone was all I had.

But maybe being alone wasn't what I needed. Maybe I needed someone else in my life that could be there for me in a way that no one else could be. Maybe if I stopped pushing people away I'd realize the reasons that held me back from killing myself. Perhaps if I just stopped separating myself from everything I would understand what it was like to have great people in your life.

Maybe I needed Ben a lot more than I would allow myself to admit.

But the thought of depending on someone else made me sick. I'm not exaggerating in the least, either. I've always been so extremely independent. I loved being home alone, going places one my own, living in a huge city like Boston, and solving my own problems by myself. Independence was basically a synonym of my name. I was happy with no friends. I was happy with being on my own. I was happy with the little I had. The point being I was fine with how my life has been.

And then Ben had to come in and change all of that and how I've been thinking.

The question that came back to my mind every single time was if accepting this was actually worth it. If I lost Ben, my life would be over, if I didn't lose my mind first. I did _not_ want to be over the top attached to Ben. I knew that we were both extremely close, but I didn't want to become obsessed (like that would happen anyways).

And who the hell am I kidding? I didn't even know if Ben liked _me_ in the first place. I was just thinking way, way ahead of the situation then it was at.

By the time I was finished with thinking, the sun had well began sinking in the sky. The horizons were dyed with oranges and pinks that lit my way back to camp. The only thing I liked about Virginia was the insanely clear skies. I could see the clarity in the sunsets and sunrises and the stars shining brighter than they've shone before. Every time I looked up I felt like I was looking at a picture from a postcard or something. It was stunningly breathtaking. It also got me out of my mind and out in the real world.

"Where've you been?" Ben asked, arms crossed and leaning across what I presumed used to be a telephone pole that marked the entrance of camp.

"Out," I said walking past him.

He grabbed my forearm and forced me to look him in the eyes, and as soon as I made contact with them it felt like I had a heart failure. His eyes could be green one day, blue the next, or a mixture of both if they wanted to be. But what struck me most was they were sad and almost lifeless. "Look, I'm sorry for that outburst earlier. You've made me extremely concerned about you and I was just fed up with you ignoring me and brushing me off. I guess I couldn't take it anymore and dealt with it harsher than I meant to."

I sighed and shook my head. "I should be the one apologizing. You had every right to have an outburst like that. I've just been dealing with some stuff that I needed to handle away from everyone else and I didn't realize that I was alienating you in the process."

His eyes brightened. "You know you can always talk to me if you need to right?"

I smiled. "I know."

He smiled back. "Good. Not to be changing the subject at the drop of a hat, but I need you to come with me to downtown Richmond."

I gave him a look. "Why?"

"I want you to meet someone."

Alyssa's POV

I sat on the cliff type thing over looking what used to be a city. It still was pretty, but everything looked a little more dead and depressing. I found this place right after we moved camp from the Bronx to, well, I don't really know where we are. A little closer to Charleston, that's all I know. It was nice sitting up here. I can't stand to be around Kaylee much anymore. She needs to admit to herself that she likes Ben and he likes her and move on. She has been really stand-offish and moody lately. Plus, Ben keeps coming to me asking what's up with her. As if she actually tells me what's up. It's nice up here, a nice place to think.

"I can here you, you know," I smiled and turned to face Hal, who was walking up behind me.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he smiled and sat down next to me.

"You scrape your heels when you walk."

"My mom said the same thing," He grinned, thinking about his mom.

"She was right."

"Somehow, I don't think she was giving me pointers on how to survive an alien invasion." I laughed.

"Maybe not but as your partner-and girlfriend-I'm asking you-"

"To pick up my feet. Yes ma'am."

"How did you know I was here anyway?"

"Because you weren't at your tent and this is where you have been coming almost every morning," he stated.

"What? Are you _spying_ on me or something?" I laughed.

"Not exactly spying, just-"

"Spying," I finished.

"No. Just keeping an eye on my partner- and girlfriend."

"Whatever you say, Hal Mason. Whatever you say. So what's up?"

"Weaver wants us to scout pharmacies and hospitals. Dr. Glass is running low on a lot of things." Great. Hospitals. I really don't like hospitals.

"Cool. We have been here for a week; I'm going still crazy." I stood up and grabbed my gun and was about to leave when a bomb when off somewhere in the distance. Shit. Hal and I both looked over to see fire shooting up from behind some buildings. We started running back to camp. As we got there we found Tom and Weaver. Everyone was freaking out.

"Centuries spotted mech fire about a click out, other than that we don't know what's going on," Weaver filled us in.

"Headed our way?" I asked no one in particular.

"No sign yet, but we don't want to get caught with our pants down. I want all units on advanced defensive perimeter. Tom, get your Berserkers on point and recon the situation."

"Okay, question," Tom said.

"Make it quick"

"Someone's getting hit and they are getting hit hard. If that's another resistance group we should send another unit to assist. We would want them to do the same for us." Yeah but the 2nd Mass is too good. We would never get caught like that. But still, he makes a point.

"Take your Berserkers; I'll go with Hal and his unit. We will flank the area and search it out but we aren't doing anything to jeopardize the location of the 2nd Mass." I was really excited that we get to go on another mission. Maybe now we don't have to go to the hospitals. That would be nice.

"Yes sir, understood," Tom said.

"We move out in ten," Weaver said.

"Okay," Tom nodded. Hal and I went to go get Crazy Lee and Tector, who were the rest of our unit. "Hey! Where's Ben?" Tom asked Hal.

"I thought he was with you?"

Tom looked freaked out. He looked at Matt. "You up to guarding the Med Bus?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, stay at your post. Keep Dr. Glass safe. If Ben shows up tell him I said to stay put." And he ran off.

"Yes sir. Dad." He ran over to the bus and stood there, trying to look tough, but really looking all adorable. I jogged over to Hal.

"I wonder where Ben is," he looked around worriedly.

"He is probably fine, hanging out somewhere with Kaylee. Sitting around."

We met up with the rest of the Berserkers and Weaver and spilt up and headed over to the where we saw the explosion. It was Hal, Weaver, Lyle, and I then Tom, Crazy Lee, Boon, and Tector who beat us over there. When we got there, they we already looking around. There was a bunch of mech and skitter bodies lying around but no bullet casing or shells or whatever they're called. Obviously, no humans had been involved. Weaver whistled to get Toms attention and let him know we were here. We all walked around, guns ready, surveying the area.

"No skitters. No resistance. It's like a ghost town out here." Weaver and Tom were leading everyone else.

"I agree," Tom said.

"Let's investigate this mess." It was really creepy. I was pretty skeptical about what's going on. I don't like it. "Check for humans. See if there is anything we can salvage."

"These are all mech hits." Tom was looking at one of the mech heads with a giant ass whole in its head.

"There are no shell casings anywhere," I observed.

"No human involved in this all is what it looks like," Dai pointed out.

"So now these bastards are shooting themselves," Weaver stated.

"That's good right?" I asked.

"It'd be different" Tom answered. So they are killing each other. That's good. They are helping us defeat themselves. That's really good. Hal was walking around looking for something-or someone to be specific. I think he thinks Ben's involved. I started looking around. Wherever there is Ben, Kaylee can't be far behind.

"DAD! Over here!" Hal yelled and we all ran over to him. He was pushing a skitter off a person with spikes. It wasn't Ben. It was too tan to be Ben.

"It's Rick." We rushed to get him sitting up. He was unconscious, so we had to carry him back to camp since we didn't bring trucks or bikes. And let me tell you, he is not light. By the time we got him back to camp my arms hurt. We laid him down on Anne's table.

Hal, Crazy Lee, Tector, and I all hopped on our bikes and to go look around for Ben. We checked all back roads, searched the whole camp place we found Rick, everywhere. We were gone for at least an hour before we came back. As we road in we found Tom. "Any sign of Ben?"

"No, we checked everywhere."

"Hal, tell your dad what you told me the other night, about Ben," I said.

"The other night, at the harnessing facility, Ben's spikes where glowing. Like he was in contact with one of the harnesses."

"And you didn't think it would be important to tell me this?!" Tom looked angry.

"I promised him I wouldn't. He was scared people would freak out and stuff. I'm sorry. I should have told you."

"Yeah you should have. We are heading back to the place to look-"

"Dad, Weavers orders were for us to go out and search hospitals and-"

"Okay, well get going. I'll meet you back here in a little bit." We turned our bikes around, Crazy Lee and Tector following us as we road off. "AND KEEP YOUR EYES OUT FOR BEN!" Tom yelled after us.

We drove around for two or three hours before we actually found a pharmacy and it was already picked clean. Almost a year into the invasion, not much isn't picked over. It was dark out, and we hadn't found anything. "Hal, we should head back. We have been out here half the day and haven't found anything."

"No, we still have one more place we were told to look, it's a hospital just a few miles from here. If we're lucky, it could be our new camp." That is exactly what I was trying to avoid. I really don't like hospitals. At all, I spent too much time in there for really bad things and I try to avoid them at all cost. Tector was about to say something but he was interrupted by the sound to mechs.

"Shit," Crazy Lee said. "They are headed our way."

"Get down!" Hal whisper-yelled. The two of us ducked into an old car and lay down, hiding ourselves. I was right on top of Hal. Like directly on top of him. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him. "Stay calm," he whispered into my ear.

"I'm calm. I'm perfectly calm. Are you calm? Because I'm calm." The mech light flashed over the car but it kept moving. Thank God it couldn't see us. It just kept moving. All we could hear was mech noises. There was at least five or six of them. "You're so damn bony."

"Well you don't exactly have a lot of meat on your bones either." I elbowed him and he flinched. "See, you're pretty bony." Another light flashed over us and we froze. "You know my first car was a civic, like this one. Had 21,200 miles on it. Nobody understood why I wanted it. But I had just started dating this girl, Rita. And there weren't too many places we could go so-"

"It was like your bachelor pad?"

"It gave us the privacy we needed." I laughed. "What?"

"Rita. It sounds like an old lady name."

"Okay, what did you say your middle name was? Jane." We both laughed. He had a point. "She was no old lady. She was a dancer. She would do these dances for school. She wore these, like dance pants. Like-"

"A leotard?" I helped

"No, like jazz pants. The first time I saw her, I was in love."

"In love with jazz pants." We both laughed. He smiled and I could practically feel his lips on my cheek. Another mech light came. My God how many of them are there? "You know, I have never met anyone that talks like you."

"Not even Rita?"

"There were not many words between us."

"I get it. I used to date this guy, Zach. He was a junior and I was a freshman. We both were the starting keepers for varsity soccer. He had this old car, it was his dad's. He wasn't allowed a new one until that one broke down completely. He could never take it anywhere because whenever he would go out with friends they would barely get out of the city limits and it would break down-"

"Kinda defeats the propose of a car, don't you think?"

"Not if you don't plan on driving it. He would pick me up and we would go out somewhere and well like you said, not a lot of words. We never told anyone. But I think our friends caught on since it couldn't go very far, they figured there was no way it could make it into the city and back like we said. Like I said, it was a crappy as fuck car."

He laughed "And like I said, I have never met anyone that talks like you, not even Rita."

"What about Karen?"

His face hardened. "I never got a chance to find out."

"I'm sorry-" He looked really sad.

"No. It's okay. I think we're safe to get out now." We both sat up and he got out. Well way to be a bitch about it. I got out to go talk to him.

"Look, I'm sorry. My problem is I don't know when to stop myself from going too far."

"It's no big deal," he tried to brush it off.

"It has to be. I was a jerk for going there and I'm sorry. I should stick to trashing Rita," he laughed. "We cool?"

"Always," he hugged me and we went to go find Tector and Crazy Lee.

"Guys, ever notice how you never hear crickets in the air anymore? Or traffic, or jets in the air? Or-"

Tector cut her off. "Mr. Omanskie's TV next door, Rangers game blaring away. Bottom of the ninth, bases loaded. And the sweet crack of the bat, CRACK! The crowd goes wild." We all looked at him. "Sorry, I just miss that stuff.f"

"Well maybe they have baseball in Charleston" Crazy Lee added.

"I don't know how much I miss baseball, but I do miss baseball boys. And pants, baseball pants were one of the greatest things ever invented."

Crazy smiled. "Amen to that" Tector and Hal just rolled their eyes. We all hopped on our bikes and left. We still had to go to the damn hospital. I volunteered to stand guard outside.

"Really?" Hal asked. Usually I put up a fight about standing guard, I usually hate it but I really don't want to go it that hospital. I just sat on the steps. I was out there for about ten minutes before Hal came back. "Hey, we found some supplies, Crazy and Tector are packing up some stuff then we are gonna sleep for a bit, you sure you don't want to come in?"

"No. You go sleep. I'll stand guard. Someone has to." I could tell he didn't want me to but he knew he wasn't going to win this argument so he agreed and went inside. I stayed out on the steps, there was a tree of in the distance. It tried counting its leaves. Somewhere between 200 and 300 I fell asleep.

Kaylee's POV

"So can you tell me who exactly this person is?" I asked as we snuck around buildings to dodge the patrolling mechs around Richmond.

"Can't you just trust me on this?" he smirked at me in a mischievous way. He was proud that he knew something I didn't, and he was one step ahead of Kaylee Parker for once.

"I trust you," I said ducking under a beam and following Ben through this endless maze, "I just want to know what I'm getting myself into."

"As long as you stick with me, you'll be safe," Ben stated as he peered around a corner.

"Not all that reassuring," I said teasingly and he punched me playfully and began running again.

"We're almost there," he said as we walked down this alley way type thing and went through a few more doors until we were in this factory of some sort.

Then Ben's spikes lit up and he kept looking around until he found what he was looking for.

"Holy shit," I breathed and my hand grasped my hand gun but didn't pull it out. It was the skitter that Ben and I saw after Jimmy's funeral. The one with the red eye.

"Come here," Ben chuckled at my expression. "He won't hurt you."

I hesitantly walked over to Ben and the skitter and tried to take a deep breath. I've never been this close to one. "This is so weird." The skitter seemed to be laughing at me with his eyes. They were pulled up like the way humans eyes did when we smiled at someone.

Ben grinned. "He's the leader of the rebellion."

I did a cheesy curtsy. "It's an honor to meet you." The skitter turned his head to Ben and I could've sworn his face got a little red. "What did he say?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it."

I laughed at Ben's sudden shyness and raised my hand to the skitter for a high five for making him feel uncomfortable. Only it just stared at me. "It's called a high-five," I explained, "you're supposed to hit my hand back." The skitter cocked its head at me and then slowly raised its hand to mine and gently tapped it. Its skin was rough and cold.

I just high-fived an alien. Weird. "It's so weird that they can understand us, but we can't understand them," I said while looking from Ben to the skitter.

"Do you want to talk to him?" Ben asked raising an eyebrow and smirking.

"Sure."

Ben looked at the skitter and nodded. "So you're the famous Kaylee Parker I've heard so much about," he spoke with a calmer and more mature tone of voice.

Was the skitter actually talking through Ben? "He's talked about me?" I laughed a little.

"Quite a lot. I suppose he sees you in a special light."

I bit my lip slightly to conceal a smile. "So you're the leader of the rebellion."

"Indeed I am," he nodded once.

"How? I mean, you have a harness too, right?"

"Yes, I do, as well as the rest of my kind. However more of us have been able to resist the effects of the chemlock after having them on for this long amount of time. The fight has only just begun, Miss Parker. And I fear the Espheni intend to continue it until every last one of you has been eliminated."

"The Espheni? Are they the ones in the ships?" Weaver had photos of the long, skinny aliens. Back at camp, they were called the Overlords, and more popularly among the fighters, 'fish heads.'

"Yes. They invaded our planet hundreds of years ago and put the chemlocks on us and our children the same way they have done to the human race. I have spent a great deal of time gathering other rebels and children that were previously enslaved. I heard a large amount about Professor Mason's own child having a chemlock and decided that I needed someone like him to join the rebellion," the skitter glanced at Ben.

"You picked a good fit. He's very headstrong and decides his own opinions on things without needing anyone else's."

"I also need fighters in this rebellion, not just previously enslaved children. That's why I asked Ben to bring you here. He tells me you're one of the best fighters in your regiment," the skitter motioned to my guns on me.

I smiled. "I'm alright."

"Th-"

An explosion from outside rattled the building. Ben 'woke up' and yelled over another explosion, "What was that?!"

"I don't know!" I shouted back and started to run out to alley way which had a small crack between buildings to see without being seen. Mechs were here as well as skitters that I assumed were with the rebellion. The skitter with the red eye started crawling out to them too and Ben shouted for him to stay back. Then these mechs started shooting at other mechs and I just got all around confused.

"Mechs are in on the rebellion too?" I shouted over the shooting and explosions.

"News to me!" Ben yelled back and we rounded the corner behind a dumpster trying to see if we could get some shots on the evil mechs to help out. And then I saw a familiar head of curly hair and I raised my eyebrows. "Rick?!"

"He was coming to meet us here!" Ben called and aimed. I handed him two rounds of mech bullets. Going through my backpack I found the "recipe" for the bullets I had before Pope and I made them the way we did, and made a few rounds of them. I aimed and fired, but the mech moved out of the way before the bullet made its way into the alien. Shit.

"We gotta move!" I yelled as a round of fire was aimed our way. We went the opposite way that the skitter had went and tried to back up Rick and the rebels. I got some great shots and somehow the rebels were controlling the mechs to shoot each other. The mechs that weren't under control must've found out and began firing explosives and bullets at the rebel skitters.

I got some great shots in, but I made the dumbest mistake in the book: I forgot to watch all of my angles.

And then all of the sudden I was pushed and fell onto Ben and when I looked up, the skitter with the red eye had gotten blown back and was shot in what may have been his chest. I was up on my feet instantly and blocked the wounded leader while Ben tried to get him out of firing range.

"Shit!" Ben cursed. Rick was wide out in the open with the last rebel standing, and a two mechs left. And it all sort of happened in a blur. The under control mech launched an explosive at a regular mech, right as the regular one shot one at Rick and the rebel. The rebel jumped into Rick's way and took the explosion full on. Rick was knocked unconscious underneath the charred skitter and the mech was taken out. Unfortunately there was that last mech standing and it was now under its own control. I fired at the mech until it collapsed to the floor, and continued firing until I was out of my mech bullets.

I turned and ran to Ben who had made it a mere two feet away with the wounded leader. He was trying to quickly get the skitter concealed without moving him so fast that he would bleed out faster. Speaking from experience, he had about two hours or so, depending on how far the bullet had gone and if it had injured any vitals. He was still moving and speaking to Ben, so that was a sign that he was hanging in strong. But I had no way of knowing how long he could hold on without dying.

I can't believe that a skitter, something of the same species that murdered ninety percent of my world's population, just took a bullet for me. And he probably saved my life too, because if that bullet hit the place it hit the skitter, my healing bullet wounds wouldn't have been able to withstand it.

"We have to get help," Ben stated as we finally got the skitter inside. He stood up on his own, but he was clutching his side tightly.

"How? I don't know my way back to camp and if you leave I won't be able to tell if another wave of mechs are headed our way."

Ben hit his head back on the wall we were leaning against. "If he dies, the rebellion dies too."

"So what do we do?" I asked softly.

"I don't know," he said just as soft.

A long silence passed, with nothing but the sound of the poor skitter wheezing and holding his side painfully. I laid my hand on my own wound, and winced slightly at the painful memory. "I can't believe he took a bullet for me," I whispered quietly, staring at the skitter.

Ben's eyes looked over at mine. "He knows how important you are to me. And the rebels are pretty protective of their allies."

"Just like the rebel that ran in front of Rick to block he explosion from him."

"Just like that," Ben nodded and looked back at the leader. "He says you're as brave as I told him you were."

I smiled. "He's a fearless leader himself."

A quiet hour passed us and the blood coming from the leader started turning into a small puddle. If we didn't do something soon, this skitter wasn't going to make it. I couldn't let that happen, especially since he saved my life without hesitation.

Suddenly, Ben perked up and stood behind the square pillar of cement we were behind. The skitter dragged itself behind some trashcans and Ben dragged me up with him. He pulled out his Heckler and Koch and grasped it tightly. "What's going on?" I whispered as quietly as possible.

"Someone's here," he whispered back. As soon as he said that, the door creaked open and the footsteps of not one but several people sounded.

"BEN?! It's Dad! Are you hurt?!" Tom's voice called out.

"Oh shit," Ben hissed. He took a quick look around the corner to see how many people were with him. "Dad?! Just-just go away!" Ben's breathing got quicker and more panicked.

"Ben, it's me, Rick. I brought them here," Rick motioned to Ben who had somewhat came out from behind the pillar.

Ben's eyes widened and looked at Rick in disbelief. "Why would you do that?"

"Because he needs their help. Otherwise he'll die and everything that he worked for will be lost."

Ben squeezed his eyes shut and then whipped out from the hiding spot. "I'm not gonna let you hurt him!" I looked around from the hiding sport and saw Ben with his gun raised at Weaver, Tom, Boon, Dai, and Lyle.

"Hurt who Ben?" Tom asked.

He looked back and the skitter crawled out from behind the trash cans. As soon as I heard the loading of their guns and Tom's yelling, I ran out from the pillar and put one arm protectively in front of him and the other pointed at my captain and second in command.

"Kaylee?" Weaver asked taken aback.

"NO! IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" Tom yelled at the same time and came closer to the skitter.

"NO!" Ben shouted back and put his hand out to keep his hand from coming closer.

"Lower your weapon, Professor," Rick said, letting the leader speak through him,

"I know this skitter! He was on the ship with me; he tried to kill me!" Tom shouted. The skitter let out a painful screech and Ben looked back at him to make sure he was still okay.

"I saved you, Professor," Rick's voice became earnest. "I saved you from death. You know this to be true. We must talk. It is urgent you understand. So put down your weapon."

"Dad," Ben breathed, "if we don't help him, he's dead. He's dead."

"I know it is difficult to understand but we are fighting the same enemy. Anger, hate. These I feel too. But until we defeat the Overlords, we cannot hope to live-"

"STOP!" Tom cried. "STOP TALKING!"

"Many lives have been sacrificed, Tom Mason. And many more will-" And then the skitter fell to the floor behind me as did Rick. I dropped to my knees to try and figure out what was happening and Ben joined me instantly.

"Move outta the way, you two," Weaver said sternly.

"Dad!" Ben looked helplessly at his father. Both of us stayed right where we were.

"Dai, get Rick, take him out of here. Time to send this cockroach back to the hell it came from."

"No argument here, Captain," Lyle put in. I had four guns pointed in my direction. One more and I would be reliving an oh-so-pleasant memory again.

"Please! PLEASE!" Ben screamed, trying to get them to listen. Weaver advanced as well as Boon.

"No no no no wait wait!" Tom yelled and lowered his rifle somewhat.

"What?!" Weaver asked impatiently.

"We need him, as a prisoner," Tom told them.

"No way!" Lyle yelled firmly.

"The only good skitter's a dead skitter!" Boon agreed and continued to aim his gun at Ben and me.

"He was there when I was interrogated," Tom explained to Weaver, "They trusted him. He might know something…he might know everything. I think the military in Charleston would be interested to know what we could get out of him."

Weaver looked at Tom and then back at the skitter. "And if it doesn't talk?"

"Then it's of no use to us. We dispatch it to hell just the like you said."

Weaver nodded and then approached us. "Step back." Ben and I looked at each other and then back at Weaver and Tom. Tom looked utterly furious with Ben and Weaver looked annoyed with this situation. But both of us slowly got up and stayed as close to the skitter as we could.

With the help of Dai, Lyle, Boon, Weaver, and Tom, we got the skitter safely into the truck and all of us piled in and sped off to camp, which was very, very close by apparently. Ben and Rick were communicating with the skitter and I just sat next to him holding his hand. There wasn't anything I could do, really, but when I was injured, having Ben hold my hand made me feel a lot better and safer, so that's exactly what I did. I also wanted to make sure that he knew that I was going to protect him the same way he had protected me.

And of course, when we drove up to camp, all of the citizens crowded again, since they wanted to know if they had found another resistance group, but saw a skitter instead. The truck pulled to a stop and Ben, Rick, and I stayed by the bed of the truck and guarded the leader. Anne came running up to us moments later.

Ben put a hand on her forearm. "He needs your help."

"Please, Anne," I added.

Her mouth fell open at us and her eyes stared at us with confusion and shock. "I don't even have enough supplies for us right now but even if I did why would I help him?! Why would either of you?!" she asked exasperated!

"You need to trust me," Ben said calmly.

"I wish I could!"

"WHY won't anyone _listen_ to me?!" Ben shouted angrily.

"Ben!" Tom interrupted. "Ben! Calm down. Anne, we just got to keep him alive long enough to question him."

Anne nodded. "Alright, I'll try."

"Lyle! Boon! You two keep an eye on Rick! Don't let him out of your sight. Come see me when the skitter starts talking."

"Ben, I want to talk to you," Tom grabbed Ben and forced him in the direction of the Mason tent.

I needed to get away from all of these people. So many things had happened in the last two hours that I needed time to slow my mind down. So I wandered around camp for a bit with my hood up and hands in my pockets. By nature I ended up in the new shooting range, which had a few wooden tables that you could set your stuff down and either admire the scenery or practice shooting. There were two trees at the end of the grassy field with targets on them that someone had painted on and on the right side of the field was a knife throwing target practice, which we hadn't set up since we were at the school.

I tossed all of my guns I had on me, which was eight, onto one of the tables and grabbed a handgun. I'm so used to using my actual guns that I was afraid I might start losing my edge with handguns. I grabbed one of my rounds and stuck it in the gun to load it. I cocked it, and without aiming shot at the target of the left tree. Bull's-eye. Maybe I hadn't lost my touch as much as I thought I had. Then I moved to the ten pocket knives I kept in my pockets and began practicing throwing those. I tried to use them as much as possible, but I always had a good enough supply of ammo that I never really had to worry. But I wanted to preserve it for as long as I possibly could.

I was pretty decent at the knife throwing. I was no Alyssa, but if I was ambushed by skitters at this moment with all my guns on the table, I would survive without getting injured in the process. Never the less I kept practicing, sometimes changing my angle or how hard I threw one. Practice makes habits, so I had to practice as if I really was about to get attacked by some aliens so that I would do the same thing I did then as I was doing know. That continued for a really long time; I even practiced up close to get the full vibe and to be able to strike the skitter's mouth and kill it instantly. I hadn't practiced any of my work in a really long time, and it felt great to move the way I was right now. Surprisingly my muscles remembered every micro movement I had programmed into my memory at the young age that I did.

Night had fully rolled in and stars were scattered amongst the dark night sky. It was crazy how far stars are away from us, yet they shine so brightly. But before I could fully take in the beauty of the Virginia sky, footsteps crunched softly into the shooting range.

"I knew you'd be here," Ben chuckled and shook his head.

I smiled. "What happened with your dad?"

He let out a breath he had been holding in and slid his hands into his pockets. "Can we just…forget about everything? The rebellion, Charleston, aliens, the war, everything? At least for a little bit?"

"I'd really like that," I said somberly.

So we forgot. We forgot about everything. We forgot about this insane skitter rebellion, the probability of Charleston being real, that the 2nd Mass was getting smaller, and the fact that we were two teenagers fighting in a war against aliens from another planet. For those moments I spent with him, I felt normal. I was Kaylee Parker, not Kaylee Parker the Weapons Manufacturer and Weapon Enthusiast of the 2nd Mass. I was just a normal teenager spending time with her best friend. And it was absolutely incredible. We talked about silly things that we had somehow never asked each other before despite the amount of time we spent talking to each other and laughed like we had never heard jokes before.

"So-so," Ben forced out between laughing fits we had (we looked like we had drunken all of the caffeine in camp, and there was a _lot_ of that), "what would happen if you were blinded? How would you be able to know what gun you're shooting?" He had asked me this question because I asked him what he would do if he became deaf and couldn't hear with his super-hearing since apparently he said it's really useful now.

"I can tell each one apart by their sound. Each one has a different sound pattern."

"You are such a liar," he scoffed.

"I'm serious!"

"Prove it then!"

"Sorry, I don't carry blindfolds with me around camp," I gave him a 'you're-an-idiot' look. Ben pulled out a dark cloth out of his pocket and smiled cheesily at me. "What the hell is that?"

"In case someone's injured on the field so we can tie off the wound, duh. Now get up, Parker. Time to test your lies." He stood up and walked over to the mark that fighters stood behind to shoot.

I pushed myself off and dusted off my jeans. "I'm not lying." I grabbed the blindfold, but Ben yanked it right back out of my hands. "I think I know how to tie a blindfold on myself, Ben."

He rolled his eyes at my sarcasm and then walked to the back of me. "This way I'll know you're not cheating." Ben put the cloth in front of my eyes and his cold fingers grazed my forehead. I was thankful that my hoodie sleeves were pushed down so he wouldn't see the goose bumps that resulted. I felt the cloth tighten and he tied it in a really tight knot. I heard his footsteps move to the front of me and assumed he was making sure I couldn't see. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Seventeen," I rolled my eyes, even though I knew he couldn't see them.

"Smart ass," he muttered and then started spinning me around.

"Why the fuck are you spinning me? I thought I was just supposed to be telling you which gun was which by the sound."

"Humor me. Tell me what gun it is and try to hit the tree," Ben stated and walked over to the table that still had all of my guns on it. Dumbass. He had spun me around but had my back facing the range, and I knew the table with my guns was right next to the mark. I turned two paces around and walked forward a few steps. I kicked my sneaker around until it made contact with the rock that I had put out earlier to make sure I stayed behind it and not move forward at all. Then Ben put the first gun in my hand.

It was a handgun since it was lighter and I had felt the outline of it with my fingers. Then I loaded it, "aimed," and pulled the trigger. "You seriously gave me the handgun I use everyday first?" It felt like I was just talking to no one, since I wasn't looking in Ben's direction.

"What gun is it?" his voice came from maybe three steps to my right, when I thought he was on my left.

"A Beretta 92FS handgun, black." Ben ripped the gun out of my hand and went over the table to get me a new one. The gun he dropped in my hands was heavier and obviously longer. Maybe it was a carbine.

I felt around for the magazine of the gun and realized it was a carbine. I planted my feet down and aimed in the direction I thought the tree was and pulled the trigger. "Colt M4A1 Carbine."

"You're just getting lucky," Ben told me, sounding annoyed.

"Let's see. I've survived bombings from aliens, the Sanctuary, mechs invading the school, Fitchburg, getting shot five times, blown off a bridge, breaking my right ribs and then re-breaking them again later. I think I've been lucky for quite some time, Ben," I smirked and I could just imagine Ben rolling his eyes at me and shaking his head. He threw the next gun in my hand.

"It's my Calico. I don't even have to shoot it to know which one it is."

"Good," Ben put a new gun down. And we went on like that for awhile. He would give me a new gun, which I would shoot and tell him what it was and get it right every time. Once we had finished my guns, I reached to take the blindfold off.

"Nope," his hand took mine and pushed it down. I subtly tried to get the feeling back into it. "One last one." He paused for a little and then finally handed me a bulky feeling gun. I knew what one it was just by the weight and feel. I had spent months perfecting this one. Months. I had lost the other one I had made of it but I think its part of the 2nd Mass armory now. But I left it there, in case something happened to the original one I had made. "It's your gun," I smiled slightly.

"How'd you know?" his voice asked curiously.

"I spent the longest time making this. I was in Alyssa's basement for two months just working on the prints of the gun."

"Really?" I could _hear_ the grin in his voice.

"I'm surprised it still works."

"Why?" He took it back and slung it onto his back again. "Everything you do is perfect."

I felt myself freeze. Ben Mason had actually caught me off guard, and I had literally no words to say to that. My God, could he see the faint blush I knew was there in the light of the moon? I really, really hoped not. I got that sick feeling in my stomach, which had been here the whole night except it was much more apparent now, and I felt like I was going to have a heart attack.

_Just tell him_.

"Uh, Ben?" I forced out, barely saving myself from an embarrassing stutter.

"Yeah?" he asked, quietly. I wished I could see what his eyes looked like.

"I um…" Oh my God I can't do it. I cannot do it. I let an aggravated breath out of my lungs. "Never mind. It's nothing important."

"No," his calm voice sounded closer than it did two seconds ago, "tell me."

"It's fine; don't worry about it. It was stupid," I shook my head.

There was a pause, an extremely long pause, coming from Ben's end. I was almost afraid to take off the cloth because I was afraid of seeing an upset Ben or finding he simply left the ranges. But I heard his very, very soft footsteps, and my heart started beating faster the closer they came. I was shaking slightly and basically felt like I was about to pass out.

His footsteps stopped straight in front of me. He was so close that I could feel the heat radiating off of him. I couldn't move and was at a complete loss for words, and he was simply standing there. It was like someone had pressed pause and there was no movement, no sounds, nothing. Just complete silence from both of us.

I felt Ben's fingers tucking the hair on my right side behind my ear. My breath caught in my throat and my heart started beating even faster than it was already going. His hand lingered by my ear for several moments and then it slid down my jaw bone just below my cheekbone. Part of me wanted to push him away and run for my life, but that part was disappearing due to the other part of me refusing to move. His thumb skimmed my cheek lightly, and with his curled index finger on his other hand, he tilted my chin up delicately, as if I was fragile.

My eyes widened and I desperately wanted to be able to see his eyes. Reading people's eyes was like my sixth sense, and not being able to use it was killing me. Could he hear my heart racing right now? Did he realize how weak I was feeling? Did he understand that this kind of a joke wasn't going to be funny? I don't think I can take this.

When Ben took another step towards me, my shoulders touching his collarbone, it hit me like the fire that was running through my veins the moment he touched my cheek. There wasn't going to be anyone else. There never would be. Ben was it. I was never going to find anyone more perfect than him and I was never going to find a better person to balance me out on this entire planet. He made me feel safe and he made me feel…like I meant something. Whenever I had a nightmare he could calm me right down and I would fall asleep on him without waking up once. Whenever I felt like there was no reason for me to be here anymore, he would give me one of his hugs and he gave me a million. He made me step out of my comfort zone and made me talk about things I didn't want to talk about. He cared enough to climb over the walls I kept putting in front of him_. _Now I understood why I had finally lowered the last one.

Benjamin Andrew Mason was my soul mate.

_ Tough it out, _I silently commanded myself, trying not to freak out and book it. I was terrified right now, absolutely terrified, and all I wanted to do was run and never look back.

But everything I realized I felt about Ben held me down on my spot and wouldn't allow me to move.

Ben lightly pressed his forehead to mine and his face was so close to mine I could see how he looked right now in my head. His hand on my cheek and his finger under my chin were burning my skin from how warm it was making me feel, and my heart felt like it was beating three million miles a second. I felt lightheaded, and if this continued for a longer time I was going to pass out. I didn't feel strong enough to stand on my own two feet anymore, literally and figuratively. What was he doing to me?

But then, I felt him tilt his head, and in the gentlest, softest way possible, Ben Mason kissed me.

And let me tell you, I forgot how to breathe for about ten seconds.

As soon as he felt me kiss back, I felt his lips curve up and his hands move to the small of my back. He pulled me into his tight embrace and I was glad he did because I thought I was going to fall to the floor. I put my arm around his neck and pulled him as close to me as I could and gently pressed my hand to his cheek. He tilted his head again and made every nerve in my body short out. My heart was racing, my stomach was turning, and my head was spinning, and I never wanted this feeling to go away. I felt complete, like everything in the world was finally set right.

If there was an earthquake right now, or hell another bombing, I would've never known. The way I was feeling was stronger than both of those things combined. It's everything you read about in books: the fireworks, the butterflies, the bombs, the warm fuzzy feeling. But with the person you love, it was a million times stronger.

Yeah. Love. The second his lips met mine, I realized that this couldn't be some kind of crush. There's no way in hell it could be. It felt like someone had knocked the wind out of me and at the same time removed any pain or sorrow from my heart and replaced it with blissful elation and love, two things I've never felt up until now, kissing Ben. I loved the way he had a somewhat crooked smile despite his straight teeth. I loved the way he grinned whenever he was happy. I loved the way his smile reached all the ways to his eyes. I loved his laugh and his kind heart. I loved how great of a listener he was and how great of an advice giver he was. I loved how much he could make me laugh without even trying and his gentle spirit. I loved his hugs and the amazing talks we've had. I loved how respectful he was and I loved the way he was kissing me right now.

I just loved him. That was that.

And I couldn't help but smile like an idiot at that thought. My smile only grew wider when I felt him smile too, even after we parted. "You know, I'm not quite sure which gun that was."

I heard the joyfulness in his voice. "Perhaps I should try it again."

"Perhaps you should."

Ben put both of his hands at my cheeks and tenderly pressed his lips against my own again. It was so gentle and light that I could barely feel his touch, but the explosions in my chest told me otherwise. I put my head at my normal height again and took off my blindfold. Ben's green-blue eyes were sparkling like a diamond in the sun, and I smiled widely again. "You're cute when you blush," I laughed quietly.

Ben chuckled too. "Unlike you, I'm not embarrassed by that." He pulled me back into his tight hug and kissed my forehead softly. He tucked my hair behind my ear again and then rested his chin on my head. I leaned into his chest and listened to his heart beating, just as fast as mine was.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to do that," he whispered and held me tighter.

My heart tingled. "So why didn't you?" I asked softly back.

He ran his fingers through my hair gently. "I was afraid. Afraid of ruining our friendship, afraid you'd never speak to me again, and afraid of rejection. I can't tell you how hard it was though, debating about telling you how I felt about you or choosing to swallow it. Remember that night when you came up to be on century duty with me and you were playing your guitar?" I nodded into his chest and he continued. "I almost kissed you then. But I talked myself out of it at the last second."

"Earlier, when I was about to tell you something, I talked myself out of saying it."

"What was that?  
"That I had feelings for you. This whole week, I thought avoiding you would make them go away. Then I realized that they were there all along." I looked up at him when I said this and the biggest smile I've ever seen on Ben came across.

"So," he said seriously, with a smile in his eyes and a small one on his lips, "would you do me the greatest honor in the world by being my girlfriend?"

"Well…" Ben's face dropped. "Yes," I grinned and his smile returned instantly, bigger than before. He picked me up and spun me around, me laughing happily and he smiling so big he couldn't get a word out.

And that, my friends, is the story of how Ben and I came to be.

Alyssa's POV

"_GET BACK HERE!" my dad yelled as I ran down the stairs as fast as I could._

"_NO! You're just gonna hurt me!" I screamed once I hit the bottom of the stairs, I ran into the kitchen and grabbed the first knife my hand grabbed and threw it, hoping to stop him long enough for me to get out the door but it didn't work. My arm hurt too much so my aim was off. I went for another one but there were no more. So I went for Plan B, I tried to jump out of our kitchen window but he was_ _too fast. I was almost out the window when I felt his iron grip around my hand and I was yanked back and thrown to the floor. I hit a glass plate in the sink on the way down and I reached to feel my head where the plate hit. When I pulled my fingers back, they were soaked in blood._

"_GOD FUCKING DAMN IT ALYSSA YOU ARE BLEEDING ON MY FLOOR! THIS HAD BETTER GET CLEANED UP!" My dad screamed._

_I stood up. "Yeah because YOU FUCKING MADE ME! ASSHOLE! YOU PULLED ME DOWN! IT'S YOUR FAULT! There is no way in hell I'm cleaning this up." I could feel the blood on my neck now._

"_You ungrateful little bitch! I am trying to help you and this is how you repay me?! By screaming at me?"_

"_HELP ME?! YOU MEAN GET YOU MORE MONEY? YOU ARE A HORRIBLE FATHER! YOU DON'T DESERVE KIDS. FUCK YOU!"_

_He slapped me across the face. _"_how dare you talk to me like that._" _Then he punched my stomach and I doubled over in pain, "Get up!" he grabbed my shoulder and threw me up. "All I'm asking you to do is get a jo.," _

"_THAT IS SICK! YOU SICK BASTARD!" He grabbed my hair and threw me down and I tried to get up but I couldn't, my whole body ached and my head was spinning. I was starting to see stars from loss of blood._

"_I fail to see how you think this is sick, you have sex with Zach all the time, why not just charge money?" I found a dirty knife on the floor, so I used up the last bit of strength I had and threw at him. It struck his knee and he yelled out in pain. He picked up the knife and threw it at me, I moved out of the way and avoided getting hit but the knife still hit my stomach, I screamed. "Don't cry," he raised his foot but I didn't cry. I wouldn't, not in front of him. "Now, when you come to your senses, come talk to me and we will get you your job."_

"_Fuck you," I said, but my voice was so low I don't think he heard me. He slammed the door shut and left. I laid there on the floor, too weak to move and waited for someone to come home, praying it wasn't Veronica that would find me like this. Luckily it was Zach. He came to pick me up and when I didn't come to the door he came in and found me. He took me to the hospital. That was the third time the past two monts. I was there for a week. I had one broken rib, a broken arm, bruised bones, a concussion and needed surgery to get all the glass out of my head._

"Alyssa, Alyssa, wake up." I looked around and realized it was all just a dream. Hal was standing over me. "Are you okay? You were moving around and I was getting worried." I looked around, I was lying in a hospital bed.

"I'm fine," I said as I tried to leave but Hal stopped me.

"No you're not. Now what is it about a hospital that has you so freaked out?"

I sat down on the bed and he sat next to me. I grabbed his hand and brought it up to my head, where the hole was from the glass. "Feel that? That's where I had to have my head opened up and glass taken out of my head because when I got in a fight with my dad, he pulled me down and I hit a glass plate. That was the third time in two months I had been taken to the hospital and worked on. I have broken so many bones, there is too many too count. I have hurt myself in every way possible. I have bad experiences with hospitals. I remember that time, I was hoping they would say I was gonna die. Just so I wouldn't have to go through it again. I was so disappointed when I woke up after surgery."

"I'm glad you woke up."

"I guess it was pretty selfish of me, I still had Kaylee and Veronica to care for so, I don't know. After so many times you just kinda lose your will to live. There is no coming back from it."

"But you still came back, you lived."

"Not completely." Hal leaned in and kissed me, but it wasn't like he had ever kissed me before. It was more forceful. He leaned over and I fell back against the bed. I knew I should be stopping him, but I didn't want to. That was the problem. I felt his hands on my stomach. "Hal," he looked at me. "Stop."

"What?"

"Stop," I pushed him off me and I left, I ran out of the hospital and to my bike, I sat there and waited for them to come out. Eventually they all came out. I walked over to Hal and grabbed a bag from his hand and went back to my bike.

"Alyssa-"

"Just stop Hal. Just don't say anything."

"Look I'm sorry it's just-"

"No Hal, listen. I am your partner and your girlfriend and I care about you. And you have my back and I have yours. Always. But this," I motioned between us, "this whole physical stuff, there is nothing between us. Not yet. Nothing physical."

"I want there to be," he stepped closer.

"Yeah, well we all want things we can't have." He tried to say something but I revved up my bike, cutting him off. He hopped on his bike and we left. We were almost back to camp when the first mech bullet came flying and hit me, sending my flying off my bike into the air. I slammed into the ground on my side and heard a crack. I felt a fiery pain up my side and I couldn't move. My side burned and all I could think is, that thing Kaylee has, where she can't feel pain? I definitely don't have that because I can completely and 100% feel this. And it didn't feel nice, that's for sure. I could hear the others riding away, meaning they were getting to safety. Another round of bullets came. What the fuck is with all these mechs?

"ALYSSA!" I heard Hal.

"NO! Hal go back!" I yelled but he wouldn't listen.

"Come on, grab my hand." I reached out and he pulled me on to the bike. Mother fucking shit it hurts to move. My God! "Hang in there Alyssa we are almost there." I tried to respond but I couldn't. I felt Hal's grip on my arm tighten as I slipped out of consciousness and everything went black.

Alyssa's POV

I woke up to bright lights and Hal's voice. "Can I go see her?"

"Yes," Lourdes said. I tilted my head slightly, as Hal walked over to me. He stood over the bed I was laying in.

"Why did you come back?"

"What type of question is that?"

"You could have died, Hal. People count on you. They need you."

"People need you too," I rolled my eyes. "I need you."

"Will you do me a favor?"

"Anything," he said.

"Sit down," I said and he did. "Stay here with me, until I fall asleep," I smiled sheepishly, I felt so stupid asking that, but I didn't want him to leave.

"Of course I will," he sat there and a looked at him. He looked stressed.

"What's up? You look stressed"

"I am. I have been worried about you."

"Really?"

"Yes really." He grabbed my hand and we sat there like that until I fell asleep, his hand in mine.

Kaylee's POV

"CAPTAIN!" I shouted into the building where Weaver and Tom were keeping the skitter with the red eye for questioning. "WE GOTTA GET MOVING!" Mechs had stormed onto the campgrounds, everyone was in a frantic mess, and what bothered me the most was the fact that everyone inside the building was ignoring me. Uh, hey, we're being AMBUSHED BY FUCKING ALIENS RIGHT NOW. Care to pay a little more attention?

"This isn't as exciting as it used to be," I muttered to myself and ran onto the battlefield with a few other fighters, but instead of helping take down the mechs, I was getting the civilians that were hiding with the fighters to safety. Apparently Hal and Alyssa's mission that I heard about a few hours ago to a nearby hospital was a success and now we were moving our camp there. Kinda creeps me out, but at least we'll have more medical supplies I guess.

So basically I was grabbing anyone without a gun and zigzagging them around debris and fighters to the vehicles waiting to move to the other side. I picked up little kids, I grabbed adults, and I shoved around anyone I could find into the direction of the vehicles so we could move out of this place without suffering any casualties. I was damn tired of people dying or getting hurt, as was everyone in the 2nd Mass.

"Parker!" Tector screamed at me as I was about to take off to get into a vehicle. "We need backup!"

"Damn it," I swore and ran to his side along with Crazy Lee. I loaded my gun faster than I have in awhile and started firing at the mechs that were searching and firing. Not going to lie, Tector and I are a great team, and he honestly reminded me of my uncle. They were both around the same age, and they had almost identical personalities. The only major difference was that Tector served with the Marine Corps and my uncle served with the Army. Tector told me about it because the moment I saw him holding his sniper I knew he had served in some branch of the U.S. Military. It's funny how you notice those little things.

Both of us took down one mech together with the mech bullets I had left, which was nothing over four rounds, and left a significant amount of damage on another one to cut and run to the vehicles. I just hoped that everyone made it out alive and hopefully uninjured. We've lost so many people that we wouldn't be a regiment much longer if we continued losing people at the rate we were.

Tector, Crazy Lee, and I sprinted all the way to the truck waiting for us and it started to drive. "That was crazy," I said a little breathless. This whole asthma thing was still pretty hard to get used to.

Crazy Lee smirked. "Just the way we like it. You're a pretty good fighter kid."

"Good? Try great!" Tector exclaimed and propped his arms on the edge of the truck's rail he as leaning against.

"My uncle served in the army for five years before the aliens attacked and he taught me a lot," I said nonchalantly.

"What branch?" Tector asked, interested.

"Army. He was considering going into the Marines too," I winked at Tec and he shook his head at me, trying to shrug it off as nothing. What I didn't understand is why he would ever want to hide something as honorable as serving with the Military. Protecting our country and earning our freedom is something to be beyond proud about, not something to forget about. But maybe he went through a rough spot; my uncle used to tell me stories about the soldiers that never made it back, a few of his closest friends among them. Maybe it was just a painful memory for a post gunnery sergeant.

"Explains a lot about you," Crazy Lee nodded and I smiled. These were probably the two Berserkers I knew best, and the two I really liked. Pope was cool when he wasn't being an ass (which was about ninety percent of the time), Lyle and I have said about five words to each other, and Boon didn't know when to shut up or how to follow orders.

"We could use a person like you on our team," Tec said and Lee nodded.

"You mean like join the Berserkers?" I asked surprised.

"Only if you're crazy enough."

I smiled. "I'll think about it."

"We don't have time for thinking, kid," Lee stated. "Either you're in or out."

I glanced between the two Berserkers and weighed the pros and cons. Nothing too bad seemed to come to mind. And I still had my free will no matter what group I joined. "Alright. I'm in."

"Welcome to the Berserkers," Lee smiled and patted me on the back.

Tec passed me a beer. "No," I shook my head.

"Right of passage. Take it." I grabbed the beer and tossed it off of the truck. Tector flipped out. "Why the hell would you do that?!"

"You told me to take it. Now I'm officially a Berserker," I smirked.

Crazy Lee laughed. "Kid's got edge. Perfect fit."

The truck slowed to a stop in front of the hospital and everyone got out and rushed inside excitedly. Once I pushed pass the doors, I winced at the sterile air that someone still smelled the same. _Bad memories here_, I shook my head and tried to resist the urge to run back outside. Come to think of it, both Alyssa and I had some pretty awful memories in a hospital.

I felt a hand take mine and pull me into a hallway that no one was near and when I looked up I got flutters in my chest. "Hey, what happened back there?"

Ben sighed. "Pretty messy. I managed to get the skitter out of their alive and Weaver and my dad seemed to accept what he said."

"Where's Rick?" I asked.

"Didn't make it," he said quietly.

"What do you mean he didn't make it?"

"Boon shot at the skitter and Rick took a bullet for him."

"Of course Boon did," I shook my head. "I'm sorry about that. I know Rick was a pretty good friend of yours."

Ben let out a breath of air and wrapped his arms around my waist gently. "I'm just glad it wasn't you."

"Oh, so we're one of those touchy-feely couples now?" I raised my eyebrows and placed my hands on his shoulders.

"Oh hell yeah." Ben grinned and I laughed. "I need to get some fresh air for a few minutes. I'll come find you when I come back down." Ben kissed me softly and then turned to head up to the roof of the hospital. I smiled to myself and when I turned around, my eyes connected with none other than Hal Mason.

Oh fuck.

"Hey Hal," I greeted him, awkwardly rubbing the back of my neck.

He was frozen in astonishment. "Uh, you wanna tell me what the hell I just saw?"

I frowned. "I don't know what you're referring to. Have you seen Alyssa?"

"She's in room 306. She got injured on the field today, but she's doing fine now," Hal informed me, still giving me a freaked out look. "Don't try to change-"

"Thanks," I smiled and walked down the hall to find room 306. It took me awhile considering I've never been in this hospital before now and had no idea how the room placement was, but eventually I stumbled across Alyssa's room.

"What the hell did you do now?" I asked as I flung open her door and closed it.

She looked up from some magazine that had been on the side table next to her, dating back to 2010. "How the fuck did you not feel yourself get shot? It is the most God damn painful thing I've ever felt in my life."

I sat down in a chair next to her bed. "You got shot?"

"Yeah. And it fucking hurt."

"Yeah, it's not fun," I nodded and crossed my arms over my chest and stared at her. "On the bright side, there really isn't anymore ways you can injure yourself now."

Alyssa rolled her eyes. "Whatever. At least I didn't get fatally wounded and get into a coma for three weeks."

I chuckled and shook my head. "I'm glad we've had each other through all of this," I said randomly and motioned around.

She smiled. "Me too."

"Because you so would've died had I not lived to save your ass countless times," I added.

"Not even! You are such a-"

And I can imagine you can think of the hurdle of insults she sent my way after that.

* * *

_Uh like so um yeah._

_..._

_WASN'T THAT JUST SO ADORABLE YOUR FEELS WERE LIKE "BOOOOOOOOOOM" ?! Truthfully, I've had that kiss scene planned out before Alyssa and I had even written Chapter One of H.E.L.L., back when we were in the creative processes of le story. Nothing like a blindfolded kiss;) Anywhays. Please tell me your thoughts, fellow Benlee shippers. I would very much like to know if this was fulfilling to your needs:) _

_Until next time, _

_Keep The Resistance Strong (except where Denny is concerned), and Falling Skies On._

_-Parker_

So, WHAT DID YOU THINK! Please tell me i wasn't the only one freaking out about all the BenxKayleeness! Now, just wait until Carter finds out...mwahahaha...be scared Kaylee Parker...be scared... oh and what did you think of Hal and Carter and their relationship issues? Please review. we want to know!

until next time, have fun, drink juice boxes and resist on!

~Carter


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Falling Skies, Romance, Sci-Fi