When The Truth Comes Out

by Fishdog

Author's note: All rights to the Thunderbirds belong to its creator Gerry Anderson, and affiliated companies.

After my first story was so well recieved, I am happy to upload this much longer story for your devourment! I have been working on it for a while now and therefore have written about half of it already - only thing is the chapters I have written are generally all over the place... anyways, enjoy, and you can expect the next chapter within the week :)

Thank you to my awesome beta Emma (MistyToryRabiyah) ^_^

CHAPTER 1

The sound of birds pierced through Alan's dreamless sleep, but the pain was what truly woke him up a second later. He gritted his teeth as the small movement of trying to sit up brought on a wave of nausea, whilst every limb screamed its protest at any such movement. Alan stopped trying to move and instead looked around from his spot on the ground: he was in some type of forest, there were trees blanketing the sky and he couldn't tell if it was night or simply his position was overshadowed by the branches above. He didn't feel too cold even though he was lying on the ground, but boy, did he hurt. Looking around once more, Alan moved his head to the left then the right: no one was in sight, so he cast his mind back to how he must have arrived there.

It was a bit blurry, but Alan suddenly felt a jolt of panic run through his body, as the last thing he remembered was getting hit in the back of the head, and shoved in the trunk of a car. As his body became rigid, he felt it protest once more, but with this new information Alan felt the need to get up. 'What if I have escaped?' Alan thought, 'I've run away and then knocked myself out? If I get caught now it will all be for nothing.' It worried Alan that he couldn't remember much else after his capture but he pushed the thought aside as he tried to figure out how badly he was hurt.

After a short flexing session of various limbs, Alan could honesty say, that everywhere hurt, and so with a groan and eventually a short shout of pain, Alan got himself sitting up. He panicked as he realised how much effort that had been and that his breathing was now heavier than it once was. Not giving up, Alan checked his pockets and then the spot where he had been lying for a mobile, or his wrist-com or anything that would allow him to speak to his dad or brothers. With no luck, he realised that if he didn't keep moving then he would not be found.

With the searing hot pain of every appendage, Alan travelled on in a blur of anguish and a constant mantra of moving on one more step. He had seen light to one side and decided that it could indicate the end of the forest. Having no better leads, Alan followed his gut and simply hoped for the best.

An undetermined amount of time later, Alan made it out into the sunlight and paused to see a road stretching to the left and right of where he stood. No end was in sight in either direction and so he forced his, already weak limbs, to move to the left, once again following his gut and hoping for the best.

After what seemed like a whole day of walking, Alan had made it out of the forested area and was now trudging down the side of the road, in the scorching sun. He missed the shade of the trees but was pretty sure the sun was not that hot today either. He knew he was pushing himself dangerously, but Alan saw no other choice. He hadn't seen a single car the entire time he had been stumbling forwards, which meant that he would just have to go further. Eventually there would be a house, or a car, or just someone taking a walk. He hoped.

Alan was shaking, not just from the pain, but also the physical and mental exhaustion that seemed to plague his mind. He felt his body finally failing him, and he let out a frustrated moan, although he knew he couldn't be truly angry. He was quite honestly surprised that he had pushed himself this far. Even so, as Alan faltered in his step and fell to his knees, he felt like a failure. 'Dad's probably worried sick by now, it's been days, and if I really was kidnapped, I bet they wanted a ransom.' he thought. Although that did raise a sticky question: why was he left in the middle of a forest? Did he escape or did they (whoever 'they' were) dump him? 'Perhaps, Dad wouldn't pay the ransom and so they chucked me aside realising I was a lost cause.' Alan felt his chest squeeze at the thought and he quickly shoved it from his mind. 'Dad, Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon. They are all looking for me and I can't let them down by giving up now!' With one final push, he convinced each leg to do its job as he stumbled forwards once more.

Alan's renewed vigour was quickly rewarded and Alan felt his spirits lift considerably as headlights appeared in the distance. Still stumbling forwards, Alan lifted an arm and signalled to the car's driver long before the person could have possibly seen him, however he soon realised it to be a stupid idea. Waving so early just made the car's approach seem that much longer and soon he had used up the only energy he had left. Collapsing to his knees once more, Alan stayed determined as he continued to wave. The car was close enough now, so with one final exertion of energy, he lifted both arms and tried to yell out. His voice however (,) caught in his throat and he bent over double, coughing his guts up, and he realised that he had blown his luck. He cursed himself for not having realised how much his throat had hurt before. Sure he was hungry, and thirsty but, as he examined his throat with one hand he could feel bruises and... was that a rope burn? Alan shuddered to think what could have happened to him while he was in the grasp of the kidnappers. A memory came to mind at that point: Alan was lying on the ground, coughing painfully. He noticed blood fall from his lips, but he couldn't move to wipe it away. He wasn't bound or gagged anymore, but he was too weak to move and his captors must have known it. Alan tried to briefly push at the memory, but nothing else came to mind. 'That must have been when I escaped' Alan decided, the pain from that moment was so similar to his pain now, that it made sense. Lost in thought, the hand on his shoulder, made Alan panic and flinch away sharply, which only caused him more pain as he fell to the ground.

"Jesus Christ, kid, what happened to you?"

Alan squinted up seeing a tall man with long black hair leaning down towards him. He noticed the car parked a little further behind him. Alan tried to ask him who he was but it came out as yet another coughing fit.

"Come on." Ordered the man, "I'll get you to a hospital"

He held out his hand and Alan shakily took it. The man, seemed friendly enough, and Alan saw no other option at this juncture. He never thought he would be so happy at the thought of getting to a hospital.

Alan was led to the passenger seat of the car, and then given a bottle of water. He gladly took it muttering a thank you and downed the whole thing in one go. He coughed a few more times, but it seemed to clear his throat and he turned his head to the man now getting in the driver's seat,

"Thank you" he rasped out in little more than a whisper,

The man turned and smiled at the boy and replied,

"My pleasure, now it's going to take 20 minutes to reach the nearest town and then I have to find the hospital, so do you think you can hold out that long?"

Alan nodded, "Yeah, I think so." then another thought occurred to him, "Hey, have you got a phone I could I borrow? I think my family might be worried by now" he chuckled dully at the understatement of the year.

"Sure" the man replied, sifting through his pockets and eventually giving a small mobile phone to Alan, and then started the car and began to drive off.

The phone rang hardly once before it was answered, but no voice replied on the other end. After a moment of silence, Alan began,

"H-hello?"

"Alan! Alan is that you?"

"Scott, hey, am I glad to hear your voice"

If he didn't know any better Alan could have sworn he heard Scott crying, but Scott never cried.

"Alan, what's happening? Are you ok? What do they want this time?"

Alan was confused at the last comment but was quick to reply,

"I'm not entirely sure what's happened, but right now I'm being driven to a hospital, I think I may have escaped. Or they dumped me, I'm not really sure."

Suddenly Scott's tone became a lot more stern,

"Who is driving you Alan?"

Alan cast a sideways glance at the man beside him, then directing his question to the man he asked,

"I never got your name"

"Kenny, Ken for short" he replied jovially, "and yours?"

"Wait don't!" Scott yelled, loud enough for both occupants of the car to hear,

"That's rather rude of you Scott," Alan replied, making Ken laugh,

"No Alan I'm serious" Scott said tensely, "let me talk to him"

Alan wasn't entirely sure whether it was safe to unleash Scott upon his saviour; even on the phone he could be a formidable enemy, but Scott sounded almost scared as he talked, and Alan knew that it would give him peace of mind if he were able to confirm Ken's intentions himself.

"Hey Ken, say hi to my big brother Scott" Alan said as he passed the phone over, as Ken took it Alan added, "Don't let him intimidate you."

"Hi Scott, this is Ken"

Alan couldn't hear the conversation but it seemed to sober Ken up considerably. Other than a few simple yes, no remarks, Ken replied quite heatedly to a question startling Alan out of his daze,

"Hey listen here, I found your little brother on the side of the road coughing up his lungs and so I came to the likely conclusion that he may need a hospital! That is the only reason he is in my car, you got that?"

For a while there was silence on both ends of the line, until Scott regained his voice and Alan heard the murmur of conversation commence once more. Ken told Scott where he was headed and Scott seemed to be giving Ken directions to the nearest hospital. Eventually the phone was passed back to Alan,

"Talk as long as you want kid," Ken announced "Your big brother said he was gonna foot all bills."

Alan chuckled at how much Ken didn't realise he would actually be paid for his services, but the thought also made him realise why Scott didn't want Alan to tell Ken his name – money could do awful things to a person.

The entire ride to the hospital, Alan kept awake by talking to Scott on the phone about generic things. Eventually the phone gave an angry beep and Ken mentioned that it was running out of battery, so Alan said goodbye and hung up. He continued to talk to Ken just to keep himself awake and eventually they could see the hospital. Ken drove up and into the car park, not entirely sure where to drive if he wasn't an ambulance but had an emergency case.

"Do you think you can walk?"

Alan thought for a moment, trying to move a leg, "No, sorry" he finally replied,

"Alright then, wait here. Try to stay awake and I will be back with the hospital staff soon."

Alan smiled his acknowledgement of the request but within seconds, he succumbed to the darkness which had been encroaching on his vision for the entire ride.

TO BE CONTINUED...

So are you all intrigued yet? I hope so :P

This story is rated M, but only because of the content of some later chapters - most of it should really be rated T.

I always love reviews btw