A/N-This is my very first story that I've actually decided to pose! Be gentle!
This takes place a few weeks after Tom goes onto the alien ship in the first season, and will continue through the series. It's Ben/OC, and the OC's name is Erin Greene. She's not a Mary-Sue and will have a key role in the story. If at any point she seems too much like a Mary-Sue, let me know and I'll try to amend that.
This is rated T for the moment because I really don't intend for it to have M rated content, but that may change, I don't know.
Summary- In the midst of the chaos following Tom's absence, the harnessed Erin literally falls at the feet of the Second Massachusetts for reasons she claims not to know after the harness is removed. Both freaks among men, she and Ben take a liking to each other and it isn't long before simple friendship grows into something stronger. But as time goes on, Ben begins to question the nature of her arrival, as well as her loyalty to the Second Massachusetts when she claims that the Skitters need their help.
Story Disclaimer- I do not own "Falling Skies".
It was after midnight and rain was pounding the forest floor as seventeen-year-old Erin Greene stumbled aimlessly through the trees with no thought as to the discomfort she was feeling. Her shoes were soaked through with holes that allow for small rocks and twigs to get in and bite at her feet, but she hardly noticed. The frigid rain and cold night air stung sharply at her bare arms and face, but again, she hardly noticed.
Once upon a time, she'd have gone out of her way to avoid the cold. She preferred warm weather where she could swim and run without catching a cold but without overheating, such as the weather during spring time. But now she found that the cold didn't bother her quite as much as it used to. In fact, it didn't feel too cold at all.
Besides, her orders were a priority, and she didn't have the luxury of feeling cold.
Whatever he said, she did, that was how it had been for months. Unlike most, he was good to her, good to all like her though he was quick to act like he didn't so as to avoid his loyalty being questioned, and he'd promised that the harness would one day be removed so that she could further aid them and eventual return to being a free human.
"One day" turned into a couple of days, which turned into weeks, which turned into months. The conflict she felt was never voiced, but he felt it through the harness and assured her that when the time was right, she'd be free. In return, she would help them, not because she would need to repay the debt, but because she knew in her heart that it was right, though she could not voice her belief in his silent words.
Her foot caught on a root and she stumbled, falling to the ground with a hard thud.
For a moment she didn't move, only turned her head to the side so that her face wasn't submerged in mud and moss. She simply stared for a few seconds where she lay, her vision sideways as she looked at a tree before rising to her feet and continuing on her seemingly endless journey. It was such a change, going from residing on a ship to wandering the rain battered forest.
The rain started falling harder and faster, starting to turn to sleet, and the only indication she gave that it was absolutely freezing was her body reacting by shivering almost violently. Her expression remained entirely stoic and blank.
Her once nonexistent hearing now mended and enhanced, Erin could faintly hear some chatter in the distance and knew that she had found her destination. He had said that once she saw or heard signs of life, she would have accomplished her task.
Ignoring the biting cold and pouring rain that soaked her to the bone, Erin pressed on towards the camp, unable to stop until she came across a free human.
One thing Ben used to hate was the rain, but now he found that he almost went out of his way just to sit in it even if it was becoming mixed with sleet. He mostly did so for the privacy because everyone else avoided getting soaked at all costs unless it was warm out and they wanted to wash up. Being that privacy was a luxury few were welcome to anymore, he came to look forward to the rain, especially after his father went missing over nine weeks earlier.
He still couldn't understand why Tom had walked onto that ship of his own free will, and he half wanted to call Weaver a liar. It wasn't possible that Tom was stupid enough to do something like that, not with how careful he was all the time.
What possessed him to go with the fish-head?
That was something he had no answer to, and if Weaver knew he wasn't telling. In his gut, Ben felt like it had something to do with him because whenever he asked, Weaver would give him an almost pained expression before brushing him off and turning his attention elsewhere.
Had something been said about him to get Tom on that ship?
Did it have something to do with his spikes and the deformity that was slowly becoming more pronounced around them?
Ben wished he had answers for all of his questions, but realistically he doubted he'd ever learn the truth from anyone but his father – that is, if he ever saw his father again.
Footsteps sounded behind him, and Ben turned his head towards it, instantly on edge. It was too soft to belong to a Skitter or Mech, and judging from the direction it was coming from, he concluded that it was someone from camp.
Sure enough, a moment later Jimmy walked through the brush, rifle in hand.
Hood covering his head, reacting to the rain as if he'd melt, Jimmy asked, "What are you doing? Weaver put you on patrol too?"
Ben shook his head. "Nah, just wanted to get some air."
"And catch pneumonia," his friend grumbled, adjusting the hood of his raincoat. "Aren't you freezing?"
"It's not that bad," Ben replied with a shrug, his sopping wet hair nearly blocking his vision. The next time he thought about it and had scissors within reach, he swore he was going to just cut his hair off. His shaggy dark blond hair made him feel younger than he was, and his spikes were bad enough without people treating him like a child.
On the bright side, Weaver had given him a gun and sent him on patrol with Jimmy a lot after he found a weak spot in the Skitters' attack back in Fitchburg where he helped punch through their defensive, giving the 2nd Mass. the opening they needed to get out with their skin. Pope constantly said he was the one who pulled their asses out of the fire, and he had helped immensely, happy to fire on the Skitters while they made their escape, but Ben knew they wouldn't have made it without his help. A lot of others knew that too and that at least had shut up some of the people who were more vocal in their dislike of him due to his spikes. Since then, Maggie had been teaching him to shoot while Hal kind of grumbled about it, though his brother couldn't exactly deny that it was high time that he learned.
As it was, he'd already learned everything Maggie had to teach him and then some, something about the spikes enhancing his learning capabilities exponentially. What would take weeks for someone else took only days for him, and that little fact along with his increase in stamina, agility, and strength unnerved Hall quite a bit, and his older brother constantly tried to keep him out of the field.
Hal could try to fill in for Tom, but he was being more annoying and angering than he was being helpful. At sixteen, Ben was expected to fight with the others and to do all he was capable of doing to aid the resistance, and for him that was fighting. Soon, Matt was going to have to learn how to shoot as well, though Hal would probably fight tooth and nail to keep that from happening.
"Not that bad, huh?" Jimmy snorted. "If you say so."
Ben just sighed.
Everyone else thought it was downright cold and nasty, being that it was already winter, but it really didn't bother him that much. He figured it had everything to do with his spikes and what the harness did to him.
Coming over to sit by his friend on some rocks where there was minimal cover from the rain, Jimmy set his rifle on his lap and looked around, his flashlight piercing the darkness. "Any sign of Skitters?"
Ben shook his head and replied, "Not since that patrol that passed through town two days ago."
"I don't get why they don't come after us," he commented. "We aren't exactly well hidden, you know. Won't be 'til we get to that church."
Jimmy had a point, and both of them had brought it up with Weaver once already. Given all the trouble the Skitters had given the 2nd Massachusetts, it was a shock that things had been quiet for even just a day when there were Skitters so close by. Something was going on, they just had no clue what it was, and Weaver was looking to move out as soon as they found their next location. Right now, all Weaver wanted them to do was keep up the patrols and send scouts out regularly until the time came to move out.
More needed to be done and Ben hated just sitting on his ass, hence why he'd taken up hunting Skitters. Doing so at least gave him some sense that he was doing something good while getting back at the monsters who made him a freak. No one knew about his late night hunting, not even Jimmy, and for now that's how he wanted it to be.
Needing to get the subject off the aliens for a little while, Ben asked, "You coming with me, Hal, and Maggie to look for food tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I asked Weaver before coming to find you. He said it was okay, but we've gotta try the police station before we get back. We're running low on ammo."
"You know the chances of anything being there are slim to none, right?" Ben pointed out, looking towards the woods when he heard a branch snap, figuring that it must have been an animal since it was too light a sound to belong to a Skitter or Mech. Shrugging, Ben asked, "Wanna check it out? Can't hurt."
"If there're Mechs there, yeah it will."
He snorted, laughing a little, but it died a second later.
Another twig snapped a second later, this time closer, and Ben frowned, rising to his feet. "You hear that?"
Straining his ears, Jimmy nodded. "Think it's an animal?"
Ben reached down and picked up a rock. Throwing it in the direction of the sound, he waited.
After a moment's silence, the source of the sound kept coming.
"If it were an animal it would've run away," Ben replied, retrieving his own rifle from the ground and training it in the direction of the sound. To Jimmy, he whispered, "C'mon."
"Shouldn't we go tell Weaver?"
"It doesn't sound like a Skitter," Ben reasoned, slowly proceeding deeper into the forest, his boots barely making a sound in the mud. "For all we know, it's just some survivor looking for food, maybe a raccoon that grew too brave for its own good. I don't see why we should bother him if we can handle it ourselves."
"And if it's a Mech?"
"We'd both know if it was a Mech, Jimmy. Just shut up and follow me," he said with no bite, only wanting his friend to be quite so as not to give away their position.
Silently following his lead, Jimmy followed him into the darkness, trusting that Ben would see where they were going.
As much as he hated his spikes, Ben couldn't deny that they gave him an advantage in just about every department. It was both a gift and a curse, though he leaned more towards it being a curse.
Spotting the slightest bit of movement, he whistled quietly to Jimmy and both boys took cover behind two large oak trees.
From what Ben could tell, the intruder was definitely human, their outline giving that much away, and were fairly small in stature, perhaps only 5'0 to 5'3 at the most. Multiple thoughts ran through his mind, starting with why the person was just wandering around without a flashlight and at a steady pace.
Taking a few deep breaths, Ben shifted the strap of his rifle around him and pulled his revolver from its holster along with his flashlight. In the scant light of the moon as it peeked out from behind the clouds, he gave Jimmy a nod and the other boy returned it.
With one last breath, Ben quickly stepped out from behind the tree and raised his gun while flicking on his flashlight in the newcomer's face.
To his utter astonishment, it wasn't just some short guy like he'd suspected, it was a teenage girl who looked to be around his age.
She was wearing a purple tank top and dark gray pajama bottoms that had seen better days, both torn in places and filthy. She was also soaked to the bone, her dark auburn hair plastered to her face and shoulders, and the shoes on her feet were drenched with holes worn into them. Despite how terrible she looked, she gave little indication that she was cold or uncomfortable. Besides the shivering, her light blue eyes were vacant of any emotion. She seemed more like an empty husk than a girl, and a dark pit settle in Ben's stomach.
"You okay?" Jimmy asked, frowning when she said nothing. To Ben, he asked, "What's wrong with her?"
Before Ben could answer, the girl swayed on her feet, blinking rapidly as her mouth formed soundless words while a look of confusion came to her face. When she started falling to the side, Ben dropped his gun into the mud and hurried over to grab her before she collapsed.
Despite her shivering, she was burning up, but that was hardly Ben's first concern as his assumptions were confirmed, and he adjusted her slightly to get a better look at the harness on her back.
Gaping, Jimmy stammered, "She's harnessed? What… why… where's the Skitter controlling her?"
Watching as the girl's eyes flutter as she teetered on the edge of unconsciousness after he adjusted her in his arms, he shook his head, more confused than he'd ever been. "I have no idea." Licking his dry lips, he added quickly, "Go tell Dr. Glass and have her get the bus set up now!"
"What if it's a trap?"
It was a valid question, but rather than answer him, he shouted, "Just go! I'll be right behind you!"
Jimmy had already taken off before he finished his sentence, to which Ben was grateful for.
Once Jimmy was out of earshot, Ben lowered the girl to the ground and grabbed her shoulders, giving her a rough shake. "Where are you?" he demanded, certain that this was some sort of trick being overseen by a Skitter, even though he didn't feel one nearby. When she remained silent, her head listing to the side a bit, he grabbed her jaw and forced her to look at him. "What do you want?"
The girl said nothing, neither of her own free will nor speaking for her Skitter. She merely stared at him for a few seconds before she fell unconscious, rain and sleet pelting her face and washing away the dirt.
He bit down on his lip, casting the beam of his flashlight all over the forest for any sign of a Skitter before looking down at her again. It made no sense, but apart from the static that was constantly in his head as a result of the effects of the harness, he didn't hear anything that made him believe there was a Skitter around, nor did he hear anything being said to her by any of them from a greater distance either. As he watched her condition worsen with each passing second, beginning to shake, he knew he didn't have a whole lot of time to waste on suspicions and interrogations.
After his group had been found, some of the harnessed kids started going downhill fast with signs similar to severe withdraw and seizures. It was like a fail-safe had been activated, and one boy died before his harness could be removed. Maybe it was caused by the Skitter controlling them being killed, maybe another Skitter tried to kill them through the harness to prevent the 2nd Mass. from saving them, maybe it was something else, he hadn't a clue.
What he knew for sure was that time wasn't something he could afford to waste.
Hooking his arms around the girl's back and under her knees, he lifted her unconscious body into his arms. Whatever the reason for her landing on their doorstep, he wasn't going to let her die because he'd been too slow in getting her to Anne because of his suspicions. Once she was secure in his arms, he took off running back to camp, hoping he didn't slip in the mud along the way and that Jimmy was already back and getting word to Anne.
Good start? Yes? No? Maybe so? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the first chapter!
I'm also working on a few other stories that I might post for "Fast and Furious", "Intelligence", "Beyond: Two Souls", and some other stuff. Not really sure about what I'll post or when, so keep an eye out for new stories if you like my writing!