Author's Note: Hey everybody, thanks for the reviews! I'm feeling pretty confident that this story might be well accepted here and that makes me pretty excited. A few things I forgot to mention last time, this story might be slightly AU-ish, mainly because I couldn't find enough accurate information online to verify what I was writing, so there may be contradictions in my story as to what is canon in the show about a character. It's unintentional but also unavoidable. As far as Jimmy goes, there wasn't much information in the show anyhow, and I know there was this little blurb online when the first season was airing a "journal entry" written by the character where he mentions his family and, if you had read it, you would have learned that he ditched school to go to the movies the day of the invasion and that was how he survived and that he blames himself for his family dying, which is why he wants to be a fighter. So I sort of just took that little factoid and expanded on it to flesh out his background.

This is a really short chapter, so far the shortest I've written for this story, so I think I may update again either later tonight or tomorrow morning to make up for its brevity. These first two chapters are really slow, things pick up pretty swiftly in the next chapters, but for the most part it is a slow-ish story...but it's good...I think...I hope. So please bear with me. :)

Last, this story will be updated regularly on Mondays and Thursdays every week.


II.

It was a full two weeks before Jimmy was forced to spend any amount of time around Ben again following that first patrol. Frankie had recovered and returned to patrolling with Jimmy and for the most part, things returned to normal.

The 2nd Mass had moved to a new location over the course of the past few days, their third after leaving the school behind. They had taken refuge in an abandoned woodland resort, using a cluster of cabins, which had not too long ago been used to rent out to eager tourists looking to escape the city, as shelter.

There was a town not too far from the base camp and Weaver asked for a volunteer scout party to head out and search the nearby convenience stores for any supplies that may have escaped the attentions of looters. Without hesitance Jimmy offered up his services. He wasn't surprised to learn that Hal was leading the party but he was extremely annoyed to see Ben would be coming along.

Dai was there as well, he would be driving the red Chevrolet pick-up, their transport on the 'shopping' trip. A frizzy haired, middle-aged woman named Jamie and a gangly, pimple-faced teenaged boy named Ulrich were also part of the group.

Hal rode his bike, shooting ahead every so often to keep a watch on where they were headed, no surprises. Ulrich followed several yards behind on a bike of his own, guarding their rear. Jamie sat in the truck carriage with Dai.

Jimmy and Ben sat alone together in the truck bed.

They maintained a distance from one another. Ben sat near the front of the truck, leaning back against the carriage and watching the side of the road roll by. Jimmy pushed himself into the corner of the back of the truck bed, his knees pulled up, balancing his rifle across them. He watched Ben from the corner of his eye. Wind whipped around them, threatening to drown out any conversation, not that either boy was really interested in chatting.

At least, Jimmy wasn't, and he was certain from Ben's expression that the other boy felt the same.

It was a quiet midday. A hazy overcast blanketed the town and every so often bits of rain would drizzle down, causing a chill despite the summer heat. Ben seemed somber. His eyes bore down the horizon, gazing at something in the distance that only he could see. His hard cut jaw clenched and unclenched, a small muscle in his cheek twitching with the tension. From the angle he sat the metal rods that ran the length of his spine, protruding inelegantly out of his skin as the only remaining physical evidence he was ever harnessed, could not be seen. Rifle aside, in his faded gray t-shirt and weather worn blue jeans, chestnut hair tousling in the wind, he looked like any other average teenaged boy.

In the stark light of an instant, a burst of sunlight through the graying clouds, Jimmy flashed on his last conversation with Ben.

You just sounded like someone I could have been friends with. You know, before.

A strange ache yawned in Jimmy's chest. For whatever reason unexplainable, perhaps just born of a simple curiosity, he suddenly wished he'd known Ben before.

'He had to wear reading glasses and he hated them. He thought they made him look like a dork', Matt once told Jimmy in a quiet evening when Professor Mason and Hal were out on a mission and Jimmy volunteered to entertain the youngest Mason so as to give his babysitter, Dr. Anne Glass, a short break. Conspiratorially, Matt had whispered, 'They did. Hal used to make fun of him for them all the time. Ben liked to play chess, too. He was really good. He could almost beat dad, too. Well...he could beat dad, if he wanted to. He told me he always let dad win. Isn't that silly?"

Jimmy tried to imagine the Ben sitting across from him wearing glasses and playing chess. The AK-47 draped across his chest wasn't giving the partially conjured image any credence. He tried to picture Hal teasing Ben, calling him such menial insults as 'dork' or 'nerd', but, strangely, all he could hear was his own sister's soft, sweet voice as she sung her 'ABCs' and him shouting at her to 'shut-the-hell-up'. He tried to think of Ben and Professor Mason playing a game of chess and what would possess a boy to let his father win but all he could think was that the last thing his own father had said to him, yelled at him, was to take out the garbage and that he never did.

"Hey Jimmy, you okay?"

Jimmy blinked back to reality. The truck had stopped, Dai and Jamie were climbing out of the carriage to go meet with Hal and Ulrich. Ben leaned over Jimmy, propping himself up with the top edge of the tailgate, concern etched in his features.

"Yeah. Why?" Jimmy shot back, more sharply than he'd intended. He suddenly felt aware of every part, every limb, every follicle, right down to every blood cell of his own body.

Ben winced, darted his eyes away and pulled back slightly from the other boy.

"I...it's just...you're crying, is all," he pointed out, his voice so low Jimmy barely heard him.

Jimmy automatically reached a hand up to touch his face. It was true. His cheeks were damp with a few stray tears. He scowled and pushed himself to his feet, shoving Ben aside in the process.

"I'm not crying," he snapped, and then pathetically explained, "It was just...the wind...is all. Could you not stand so close to me? It creeps me out."

Jimmy jumped from the truck bed, leaving a painfully silent Ben staring stunned after him. He ignored the questioning looks from Hal and the others in the group as he approached.


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