Hey, guys! I absolutely loved the reviews I got already! Thanks so much for them ^^ I'm glad you guys like this story. Here's chapter 2 =)
Disclaimer: I don't own Falling Skies, nor do I own the people in it... other than Alyssa =)
"God damn it!" I yelped, reaching out to punch Hal's bicep. He rubbed his arm with a small grimace, though it was amused.
"You're not doing it right." Hal said patiently.
"No shit, Sherlock! What ever gave you that idea!" I screeched at him and he struggled with the urge to grin.
"Well, the bump on your head, for one." He said, moving just in time to dodge another punch.
"You think you're so cute, don't you?" I asked scathingly, though some of my bite was disappearing.
"What? No!" Hal protested. "I think I'm freakin' adorable." He said playfully, and I jumped at him. Reacting with ease from our practicing, he instantly crouched and put his hands under my feet, shoving me up and behind him. I pushed off his hands as he shoved up, angling myself so I flipped and landed- and then rolled to my feet, turning to look at the spot I'd landed on with wide eyes.
"I did it…" I murmured, raising my eyes to meet Hal's, who was grinning at me. I couldn't help my grin in return, both of us raising our hands simultaneously and slapping them together in a high five. I felt like jumping up and down and squealing like a little girl, but instead settled for simply grinning at Hal. "What next?"
"Well, the next time you ever decide to jump over fences, you want to do what I just taught you…" He teased lightly and I glowered at him playfully.
"What next?" I repeated.
"Next we go for Ben." Hal said and I nodded silently. He seemed tense, and while I was still curious who this 'Ben' was, I didn't want to upset him by asking. It wasn't hard to figure out from his words that this 'Ben' was harnessed, and I figured from Hal's determination to save him that they knew one another well.
"Right. What's the plan?" I asked curiously.
"Not sure yet." Hal replied with a grin. "I don't really care, either, so long as it works." He said and I laughed weakly, making him look at me with a small frown. "You good?" He asked and I nodded.
"Yeah. I'd be better if someone didn't try to break my shoulder blades and neck, though." I added with a playful shove as we started to walk back into the school, and Hal chuckled.
"It's not my fault you're just terrible at martial arts." He teased and I barked out a laugh.
"Yeah, well, martial arts was more my brother's forte. I'm more of a soccer girl, if you recall." I said with a grin and Hal looked at me curiously.
"Brother?" He asked before frowning. "Don't answer that unless you want to." He added quickly but I just smiled at him to show it was okay.
"I had an older brother named Alex." I explained with a fond smile. "He was five years older than me, and I've gotten pretty much all my morals from him."
"Self-sacrificing type?" Hal questioned and I nodded.
"That's actually the way he went, not that it did much good." I said with a shrug.
"It must have, since you're still here." Hal pointed out, but I just smiled softly at him.
"That would imply that he was saving me when he died." I replied and saw the curiosity in Hal's eyes, but he just nodded silently, as though he didn't want to upset me. "You know, you kind of remind me of him."
"Oh, ouch." Hal winced with a smirk, putting a hand over his heart. "Way to shoot down a guy's hope, comparing him to your brother." He shook his head at me as I burst into laughter.
"Are you sure you were on the lacrosse team and not in the drama club?" I mocked and he scowled at me.
"First you wound my heart, now you wound my ego. Abusive!" He cried out and I laughed even harder, moving forward to open the door for him.
"After you, milady." I said with a bow and Hal glared half-heartedly at me before entering the building. I followed in, shaking with laughter. We made our way to the command post, but as I passed the doorway to the infirmary, Anne Glass called out to me.
"Alyssa, could you come in here for a moment?" She asked and I paused with a frown. Hal did as well, looking at me with a raised eyebrow in silent question, but I just shrugged in response.
"I'll catch up." I told him and he nodded, going on as I turned and walked into the infirmary. Anne was holding a piece of paper with an interested expression, holding it out to me when I approached. I took it curiously, looking at the crudely drawn picture and paling. "What is this?" I asked quietly as I took in the drawing.
"Cecilia drew this in class today." Anne explained, her eyes taking my reaction in. "I was hoping you could explain what all this is." She murmured.
"I can definitely understand why you'd want an explanation." I mused, eyeing the picture. "How is she after drawing this?"
"She begged to see you, and wouldn't tell me what this was about." Anne said simply and I nodded.
"I figured… She still doesn't trust anyone else, not that I blame her." I shook my head with a sigh. "Look." I moved so I stood beside her, holding the picture between us. "I'd rather not get into the details, and frankly, Cecilia should tell you herself so you know her point of view, but I will." I said and Anne nodded.
"I agree. I just want to understand some of this… situation here." She said, motioning towards the drawing.
"I don't blame you." I snorted in distaste. "This happened shortly after the initial attack. Cecilia and I were taken by Skitters during the round ups." I explained, recalling how a group of Skitters and Mechs had come to my town and rounded up all the people left over. "They started killing all the adults and children. Cecilia's family was one of the first to go," I pointed at the group of three bodies drawn on the paper, one the size of an infant, "and they started to come after her. I tried to protect her."
I moved my finger to the bleeding body on the ground. "She drew way more blood." I mused offhandedly. "Anyways, they knocked me away and grabbed a harness, but my…" I paused, sighing. "My father stabbed the Skitter, distracting the whole group for a moment. Some of us got away." I concluded vaguely with a shrug.
"I see… Thank you for explaining it all to me." Anne said and I nodded, passing the drawing to her and turning to leave. I paused at the doorway to look at Anne with a frown.
"Thank you for helping her…"
"It's my pleasure, Alyssa." Anne said with a small smile and I grinned.
"You forgot the 'dis'." I teased lightly. "Creepy drawings. Little girls should draw about ponies and sparkles, not mass murder." I grumbled with a dramatic shudder and Anne laughed softly. "See you." I waved goodbye before making my way to the command post to prepare for this new adventure.
I pressed myself against the doorway as the mechanical steps got closer, cringing when the Mech walked right by the open door. I held my position, staying as close to the wall as I could. "It's gone." Hal said after a moment, the steps fading away, and I relaxed a bit.
"Blind bastard." I whispered and Hal's chest shook with silent laughter.
"I've still yet to understand how a walking mass of metal can see." He confessed in a murmur and I grinned lightly. I opened my mouth to speak when a massive explosion suddenly sounded, shaking the walls, and both Hal and I leapt to our feet. "They must have him." Hal said and I nodded. After all, it was according to plan that they would grab Ben, set off the explosion to thwart any attackers, and then we'd get out.
"Let's go." I said and Hal nodded, both of us rushing out of the building at the same time. We ran out and looked around until I raised my hand to point. "There! There's the truck!" I cried out, seeing Tom and Mike putting someone in the back of it. Hal and I both started running towards it just as Tom race away from it.
"What's he doing?" Hal asked, but a Mech suddenly appeared on the rooftop, firing at Tom. The resounding explosion sent Tom flying forward.
"Shit!" I cursed, raising my gun to aim at the Mech and firing at the same time Hal did. The Mech turned to us and began running across the rooftop towards us. "Hal!" I shouted in alarm, grabbing his collar and jerking him roughly into action. We rounded the building, but the Mech suddenly dropped down, landing right in front of us. My eyes widened in horror as it took aim at us, both of us too frozen to do anything.
Next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground, Hal unconscious a few feet away, and it was night. What the fuck? I wondered, my head pounding and my body feeling limper than a rag doll. I tried to move, but all I could manage was moving my head and fingers. Hal let out a quiet groan and I snapped my eyes to him, seeing him opening his own. "Alyssa?" He mumbled, struggling to move. He rolled onto his abdomen and moved towards me, but froze when a bright light shone on us.
I followed it, alarm pulsing through me, and the alarm skyrocketed when I saw it was a Mech. Hal struggled to his feet as five teenagers walked out of the hospital towards said Mech. I weakly threw one arm over my body, pressing both hands into the dirt and rolling onto my stomach. I struggled to my feet as the teens lined up in front of the Mech, but almost immediately fell to the ground, my eyesight spinning.
"Hal…" I groaned out, seeing a Skitter approaching. Hal spotted it, taking a step closer to me as the Skitter placed itself between the children and us. The Skitter pointed one claw at us, then pointed at the teenagers, making odd noises. The Skitter hissed loudly, and the Mech aimed his gun at the teens. "No!" I shouted, but Hal's own cry overpowered mine just as the Mech fired.
The teenagers all dropped to the ground, blood seeping into the earth as Hal and I watched, eyes wide. The Skitter let out another hiss, this time at us, and then moved into the building, the Mech simply standing there, the light going out. I laid on the ground, staring at the dead teenagers, frozen until I saw movement from the corner of my eye and realized that Hal's shoulder were shaking subtly.
I grimaced as I forced myself back to my feet, damn near losing my balance again and barely remaining upright. "Hal…" I groaned, my head pounding. My vision darkened for a moment, and I lost my balance, about to fall when an arm wrapped around my waist and held me upright. I was limp in Hal's grasp for several moments as the darkness clouding my vision slowly faded.
"Alyssa?" Hal murmured and I realized for the first time that I was trembling rather badly.
"Hal, I need your help." I said, my voice sounding odd to me. "I think I have a concussion…" I struggled to regain my balance, well aware that I was practically a rag doll in Hal's arms.
"Me too." Hal said, his voice shaky. I looked up at him to see he had tears running down his face, which made me realize that I did too. "Come on. Wrap your arm around me. We can steady one another." He said and I shakily laughed.
"Oh, this is going to end badly." I said as I wrapped my arm around his waist as well, and we began to slowly and unsteadily walk away, the Mech not even twitching.
"They left us." Hal said after several minutes of stumbling.
"Yeah." I murmured, having drawn the same conclusion.
"My own father left us there." Hal's voice was empty, and I nudged him lightly.
"Stop it, Hal. I'm sure there's an explanation." I said tiredly, my eyes slipping shut. My arm fell from Hal's waist and my legs gave out, his arm being the only thing stopping me from hitting the ground.
"Alyssa? Alyssa!" Hal hissed urgently and I forced my eyes open, confusion instantly filling me. I was lying on the pavement of a road, and Hal was leaning over me.
"Hal?" I murmured. "What happened?"
"You passed out… Come on." Hal slid his arm around my waist and I did the same to him. He helped me stand up and I mumbled an apology. "Not your fault." Hal said simply and we continued down the road. I don't know how long we went before I saw someone coming towards us.
"Hal." I whispered and he tightened his grip on my waist.
"Who's there?" The figure asked sharply, and I recognized the voice to be Tom.
"Dad?" Hal questioned weakly, clearly drawing the same conclusion.
"Hal?" Tom's voice was alarmed as he suddenly ran forward. He reached us just as Hal's legs finally gave out, and we both crumpled to the ground. Tom hooked his arms under our chests, pushing us back so we were sitting on the pavement with our backs against a car. "What happened?" Tom asked urgently.
"You drove away." Hal said, out of breath and sounding… hurt. "And… the Mech stunned us… and… when we woke up…" Hal explained weakly and out of breath.
"What?" Tom asked, urging him to continue.
"You left." Hal accused instead.
"No, no, no." Tom shook his head. "Rick was there, Mike's son. Mike saw him and just grabbed him, and I went back to get Ben and the explosion… it knocked me out, and Dai drove away without you guys. I wouldn't have left." Tom explained, shaking his head. Hal's shoulders shook as he let out a quiet sob.
"I'm just glad you came back." Hal said and hugged Tom tightly. Hal buried his face in Tom's shoulder, breathing rapidly with tears, and I'd never felt more like an intruder in my life.
"I'm just glad you're alive." Tom murmured and Hal let out a soft cry.
"Dad… They killed those kids." Hal said, his voice breaking, and more tears slid down my face. I stared up at the sky and the stars, focusing my exhausted mind on them. I counted them, struggling to stay conscious.
"Wait a minute, what kids?" Tom asked urgently, breaking the hug to look at Hal intently. "Ben?"
"No, no, no." Hal said quickly, shaking his head. "Not Ben… the rest of the group."
"The group Rick was with?" Tom asked quickly.
"Yeah… I don't know why. A Skitter made the Mech kill them… and then let us go." Hal explained and Tom looked at me, a disturbed expression on his face.
"They let you go?" Tom asked Hal, who nodded.
"It was like they wanted us to see it." Hal explained and Tom closed his eyes for a moment before standing up, taking Hal with him and swinging Hal's arm over his shoulders. Tom held his free hand out to me and I weakly raised my hand to take his. Tom paused for a moment when he saw how badly I was trembling, but took my hand and lifted me up. He wrapped his arm around my waist, steadying Hal and I on either of his sides.
"The Nazi's sometimes did that with prisoners of war to send a message. Take one and we kill the rest." Tom explained as he began to lead us down the road. "It's why they left you alive. You're the messengers."
"That means we can't just take Ben…"
"I know. We'll come back, and we'll take them all."
Well, there you have it.
Do me a favor, everyone, and point out any mistakes made in grammar, please, and I'll go back and fix any mistakes made xD I often type the wrong word and don't realize it, so it'd really help =)
