Chapter 1

I followed Daniel Weaver quietly with a few of the other fighters of the Second Mass. We were sent to gather food, from anywhere that was left. Someone apparently was seen or something, and the skitters were on to us. We were fighting when Daniel grabbed my arm; I turned to him.

"Zada, we're falling back," he said.

I nodded and shouted for everyone to fall back. As we were running back, we ran into Tom Mason and his son, Hal. He told us that the barricade was lost.

Hal and I locked eyes, and he nodded at me. I was on good terms with Hal; I guess you could call us friends. I nodded back at him.

"We're falling back," Weaver told them. "Backbay is lost."

"But, if they take Backbay, they take the city," Tom argued.

"No kidding. Porter's calling us in."

Suddenly, one of the aliens' airships shot what looked like a bomb. When it blew, it looked like when you put food coloring into water; only white and in the sky. There was a lot of wind that blew out from the explosion. Enough wind that I had to close my eyes, and my braided hair to flow behind me. We all ran after someone came running to us.

When we got within the limits of the hideout, we slowed down to a walk. One of the youngest fighters in the Second Mass, Jimmy, asked some questions and Hal was the one who answered him.

"Steven Jameson, Jared's cousin, and a bunch of guys I didn't know," he answered.

I walked between Dan and Tom, then over to where Karen was. She smiled at me and I returned it. We were good friends and she was one of the few who I trust with my secret.

"Say, could you listen in on the meeting?" Karen asked. "Come on, you know you want to."

I laughed at her, but nodded my head anyway. I was curious, so I focused on finding Porter's voice. When I found him, he was acknowledging Tom into the meeting. "Gents! The city's lost, so we're on the move," he announced. "We're going to split up, go underground where we can hide and scavenge."

"We can't leave the city," Tom objected. "They have prisoners, what about the harnessed kids."

"Tom, you're not the only guy with a kid that's MIA," Porter said. "We're all in this together, and you've got two other sons to worry about."

"Okay, well, I have to agree with him there," Weaver interjected. "We can't leave the city."

"We've got no choice. We've picked this area clean of weapons and food, and these skitter areal sensors are beginning to pick up units of 5- 6 hundred humans."

"Well, I'll tell you what we need to do: We need to stay here and we need to fight," Weaver argued.

"Listen to me Weaver," Porter ordered. "We are splitting up into units of three hundred; one hundred fighters, two hundred civilians each. I've already sent out nine of these units; you're the last three.

"Anderson, I want you to take the Tenth Mass North along the shore till you get to Marblehead. Sam, you've got Jefferies as your second-in-command. You'll move northwest along route three till you get to Reverie. Weaver, I'm giving you the Second Mass to replace Jameson. I'm also giving you Tom as your second-in-command. You move west and go underground somewhere around Acton."

Then Weaver began to argue with Porter about staying in the city. I just sighed; typical Dan. I stopped listening there when I saw Hal walking over to us. I greeted him with a smile as he sat down, and he returned it.

We began to talk about scouting missions and the bikes we use. I could feel eyes on me, and looked over to find Dan starring at me. I quickly excused myself and went over to him.

"Hey," I greeted.

All he did was nod at me. "Porter gave me the 2nd Mass, and Tom Mason as my second," he said, looking past me at Hal, who was no doubt watching us. Dan looked at me and saw that I wasn't surprised.

"What have I told you about listening in?" he scolded. "You should be more careful, someone could figure it out."

"No one is going to figure it out," I snapped back in a semi whisper. "No one even believes we exist."

"Aliens are invading, and you don't think that people won't believe in you," he snapped back, then sighed. "Just be more careful. Get some rest; we're going out in the morning."

I nodded as he walked away, and I went off to find my younger cousin, Tama. When I found her, she was helping Anne Glass, the 2nd Mass' doctor, and Lourdes Delgado, her assistant, with the stretcher cases. I stood off observing her as she worked.

Tama had always wanted to be a doctor, and had even begun to teach herself at age 9. Even though she was just 14, Tama was a quick study and learned fast from Dr. Glass. Just being 14, she was very pretty; though, I think more than me. Tama was 5'5" and had a narrow build. She had short, chin length, dark brown hair, soft light brown eyes, and olive skin. Surprisingly, her weight still was average for her age; even with the food shortage.

I on the other hand, was 5'8" and had a somewhat broad build. My thick black hair was usually braided and reached my waist, with bangs framing my face. I had clear gray-green eyes and fair skin, which was lightly tanned. Of course, more of my weight was focused in muscle, since I was a fighter.

Tama looked up and met my gaze and smiled. I watched as she finished up with her patient, and came over to me. She gave me a hug and squeezed once before releasing.

"I'm glad you made it back in one piece," she joked.

I only smiled at her. "Weaver is the new captain of the 2nd with Tom as his second. We move out in the morning; you should get some rest before then."

She nodded and walked over to Anne to give her the news.

The next morning, I woke up and got dressed in a green camouflage crop top, dark green camouflage cargo pants, and black lace up combat boots. I pulled on my hooded leather jacket then strapped on my shoulder and thigh holsters, and loaded my guns in. Loading up my knives, I looked over at Tama.

She was wrapped up in an old blanket that we found in a house; before we joined the 2nd Mass. Tama looked so small and sweet. I sighed as I finished braiding my hair, then bent down next to her. I shook her shoulder slightly, trying to wake her up. She groaned and buried her head deeper in the blanket.

"Tama," I called softly. "T it's time to get up."

The brunette girl slowly opened her tired eyes and looked at me. She nodded slightly, before slowly sitting up. Tama yawned as she got dressed. While she got her stuff together, I was putting on my black gloves and packet up my own things.

"Go help Anne with the rest of the patients," I told her. "I'm going to find Dan."

After leaving our room, she went off to find Anne, and I went to find some food; before going to look for Dan. I found him standing off to the side after I had gotten food. I walked up to him and he nodded in acknowledgement of my presence.

"I want you to make sure that the scouts have their bikes ready by the time we leave," he ordered. I nodded as I chewed on my food. Dan was never one for small talk.

My eyes searched the crowd for Karen and Hal as I took a few bites. When I found them, I waved to Dan and walked over to them. As I finished my food, I put my dish in one of the bins as I walked by.

"Hey guys," I greeted, and sat down next to Karen. They both greeted me in turn, and smiled at me. "Weaver wants the scout bikes to be ready by the time we leave."

Karen and Hal both nodded to me, but Hal looked at me with a strange expression, like he was trying to figure something out.

"What?" I asked. Hal seemed to be at a loss for words with both me and Karen staring at him.

"Well, it's just… you always follow Weaver's orders," he admitted. "You do it without question, even before he became captain of the 2nd. I'm just wondering: Why?"

I just stared at him with no emotion. I could feel Karen look at me worriedly; she once asked that same question, and my anger got the better of me. Taking a deep breath through my nose, I gave Hal a leveled look and answered with mostly the truth. "I respect him and trust his judgment," I almost snapped. "Maybe you should try doing the same."

I got up and stormed off to my room to grab my things. We would be leaving soon, and I still had to get my own bike ready. While cleaning my bike, I felt Dan's presence come up behind me. I turned around as he got closer.

"How are we doing?" he asked.

"Everyone should be done soon," I replied. I could tell by the way the army Colonel raised an eyebrow, that he could hear the edge in my voice. I was still fuming a little over what Hal had said. Shaking my head, I was silently telling him that it was nothing to worry about. He nodded in turn, and walked away.

When we finally took off, I felt saddened by this. The only reason that Tama and I even came up to Boston was to find the rest of my family. My father, Jack, my older brother, Jayden, and twin brother, Jared, were supposed to meet us there. We lost Tama's parents, Denver and Jessica, and my mother, Amy, along the way to a mech attack. Tama and I had been looking all over Boston before we were found by a small group of fighters, which was being led by Weaver.

The 2nd Mass reached a small food store in Belmont, and stopped for a break. I was leaning up against my bike as I watched Dan and Tom discuss what they were going to do next. It was fairly easy to listen in at this distance.

Tom suggested that some of the fighters go back to one of the food shops. Dan agreed, but was only going to give him the pickup truck and six fighters; plus keeping all the heavy stuff. After Dan announced that we were going to wait at the Littleton Bridge, Karen walked up to me. "So, you going to come?" she asked.

I was about to answer, when Dan walked by and answered, "No, I need her here."

I just shook my head and looked back at Karen. "Sorry," I apologized, to which she just shook her head at me. "Why don't you ask Jimmy? He's a good fighter, and it'll be good for him."

She nodded and walked away to find him, while I went off to find Dai. When I found him, Karen was just walking away from him. "Hey," I greeted.

"Hey," he said with a smile.

"I'm guessing that you're going with Tom?" I asked and he nodded. I pulled out a stick of C4, and handed it to him. "Don't tell anyone I gave this to you, okay?"

He gave me a smirk and nodded, before walking off to find Tom.

When we left, and made it to the Littleton Bridge, we made camp and waited the night for Tom and his team to come back. The next day, I was sitting with Dan around the maps, planning where we would go to make camp in Acton. Tom walked in with Hal, Dai, Anthony, Jimmy, and Karen. Tom was carrying a large pack of bottled water, and he held it over the table before just letting it drop. Dan managed to keep the astonished look off his face.

"Well, what took you so long?" he countered. Tom laughed at this. "So, how much did you get?"

"A truck load, enough for a few days," Tom answered. He then turned to the others. "Hal, stay here; everyone else, wait outside." Turning back to Dan as everyone cleared out, Tom turned serious. "My son, Ben, is alive."

"What?"

"Hal saw him," Tom explained. "After we take the Acton Armory, I'm going to be weaponing up to go get him."

"So am I," Hal declared.

"Are you?" Dan countered. "Well, I'm your commanding officer, and I say you're not going back. We're not going back."

Tom stepped forward, around the table. "What would you do to get your kids back?"

I could see Dan's mask falter at the mention of his kids. It was a sore subject for him; he won't even talk about it with me.

"You'll never kill enough of them, to get him back," he whispered.

"They die just like us," Tom replied. "You just have to get close." Then he left with Hal, to have a small thing for his youngest, Matt.

The small moment of peace and normalcy, we had to leave again. We were headed for a small meadow about a few hours away. As I got on my bike, I silently wondered what we would find there.

A/N: I was unsure about how to end it, so I am sorry about the strange ending. Please tell me what you think about it! Reviews are welcome!