18th July, 1951

"Look, Boo, I'm sorry! But face it - it was funny." Currently, I was situated in the corner of my room, facing the wall, pouting and talking to no-one. Hale had finished narrating his story long before the VTOL had arrived to take us back to command, so I had had nowhere to escape to. I'd even resorted to talking with Parker, trying to initiate a debriefing meeting, but she'd just grinned evilly and said it could wait until tomorrow. Everyone had found it hilarious that the brave and sadistic Chimeran experiment was afraid of heights, including my little brother. They almost died with laughter when he mentioned the whimpers I had let out during the crossing. My little brother most of all. Which was why he was apologising to me now, over and over again, trying to get me to speak to him, an action I'd refrained from doing since the 'amusing' episode. Sure, it may have been slightly unfair - everyone had laughed - but he was my brother! He should have resisted the urge!
"Boo Clearwater, if you do not answer me this very second, I will tell everyone and anyone your little secret."
"You know what? I think I can still hear a persistent whining, going on about something that doesn't exist."
"You know that it does," he countered, tone teasing and arrogant. "I'll tell everyone unless you talk to me directly. I'm sure Parker would love to hear about your little secret, and Hale too. Of course, Cartwright already knows, but perhaps the others need to be enlightened explicitly." Alright, that was it! I had had enough of the 'knowing' glances and the comments that just screamed 'I-know-something-you-don't-want-me-to'. Standing up straight, I stormed over to my sibling.
"What on Earth are you talking about?!" I shouted, grabbing the collar of his uniform and shaking. "Why do you insist on bringing up a so-called 'secret' that doesn't exist?! I'm not stupid, Hybrid! I'm not going to fall for that!"
"Stop trying to hide it. I can see right through you."
"There you go again! If I have a secret, how come I don't even know it myself?!" Instantaneously, his eye's widened to their maximum and his words came out in stutters.
"Y-you truly and h-honestly mean that? You don't k-know what we're talking about?" I snarled at him, a bolt of satisfaction racing through me as he attempted to move away, flinching slightly.
"If I knew, I wouldn't have said otherwise!" Unexpectedly, and completely all of a sudden, he started laughing, bent over double with the force of it. Startled, I jumped backwards, dropping his shirt and retreating rapidly. On and on, his laughter rang throughout the room, tears in his eyes when they died down.
"I can't believe this! I can't believe you! Cartwright was right - you really do lie to yourself! More than anyone I've ever met! You want answers? Fine. But I'm not giving them to you. You're intelligent. Figure it out, Boo. But remember what I said: I hadn't been talking about a friendship." With that less-than-obvious hint as his last words, Hybrid left, smirking all the time. I was too confused to obey irritation and chase down after him.

19th July, 1951

Someone was shouting at me, yelling again and again and again, but I couldn't seem to force my eyelids open, no matter how much I pulled at them. Groaning, I batted in the direction of the voice, rolling over in an attempt to get back to sleep.
"Boo! Get up!" I knew that voice. But . . . who . . . Finally, I managed to pry my eyelids apart, only to be blinded by the artificial light of a bulb. My vision swam, my pupils burned and I felt physically ill. But . . . I turned the light off . . . maybe Hale turned it on . . .
"Wha-what time 'sit?" I mumbled, yawning loudly. "What's goin' on?"
"Come on! Get up! Now!" Cartwright? What was he doing in our room? Slowly, I lifted my head from the pillow, grumbling as I read the clock. Glaring up at him, my eyes still blearing with sleep, I allowed my temper to take over.
"What the hell is so important that you are waking me up at quarter to two in the morning?!" Grunting in irritation, the lieutenant yanked me from my bed, hitting the back of my head with the palm of his hand.
"It's the convoy! The boys at Northern Command aren't responding! Get up, God damn it!" My eyes shot open as I pushed off of the ground, grabbed the nearest clothes and dashed into the bathroom, practically tearing my pyjamas in my haste. I was still doing up my shirt when I dashed out of the room, Cartwright hot on my heels as he grabbed the equipment I had forgotten.
"Where's Hale?" I shouted, sprinting down the hall, catching my radio as the red-headed soldier threw it in my direction.
"He'd been in Parker's office for debriefing at the time. He's waiting in the hanger." Liar. A debriefing meeting . . . in the middle of the night? No . . . the debriefing meeting was planned for today, at ten o'clock - Parker had said so yesterday. So why . . . A pang of emotion shot through my form, but I shook my head, ridding it of both speculations and feelings. There would be time to figure that out later, because at the moment, I had to try and fix what had to be the biggest mess-up in history.

"Boo! Oh, thank God you're here!" My brother clutched my arm, pulling at the clothes that covered it, a expression of pure fear on his face.
"How long has it been? Since they answered?" Shrugging sadly, he shook his head in defeat.
"Parker tried to radio them around five minutes ago with no answer, but no-one actually knows how long it has truly been since the Chimera invaded."
"Is t-that a definite?" I asked, shock overriding all else at both, the event and the captain's stupidity. Hybrid nodded, biting down on his bottom lip as he motioned to a soldier a few lines forward; a soldier I recognised well.
"Hale was looking for you." I pushed forwards without another word, barging into everyone and anyone in my way, ignoring the various complaints and threats I received from every angle. Eventually, I reached my destination, my fingers wrapping around his arm.
"Hale, Hybrid said you wanted to see me?"
"I needed to make sure you were coming along. We're going to need all the experience we can, and that is most certainly something you can provide."
"Right," I replied, not even considering a sarcastic comment. "I heard you were there when the call went unanswered, in Parker's office." As he confirmed my statement, my fright momentarily vanished, being replaced by a feeling of . . . wrongness and distaste. Whatever this feeling was, it was far from positive. Still, I had bigger problems at the moment.
"I hope she's happy," I growled. "I told her to kill that thing. Stupid, self-centered, optomistic moron!" It was at that moment that the woman in question made an appearance, shouting orders and motioning to the array of war planes. Not everyone was going, but there was enough of us to make a difference. Hale and I boarded the nearest one, taking the seats as close to the doors as possible. Hale's 'heroism' was probably acting up again. As for me, I told myself that I just didn't want to miss the action, but, truthfully, I was terrified, desperate to do all I could to preserve lives. I hadn't realised I cared so much until this moment. My form shook and my hands trembled as they played with the hem of the shirt I was wearing. A shirt Hale seemed to be staring intently at, his gaze never leaving the fabric, eyes narrowed in confusion. And this went on and on and on.
"Is there a problem here?" Slowly, he shook his head.
"Not exactly. It's just . . . isn't that mine?" His last words were emphasised by him pointing at the item of clothing, fingers latching on to the bottom of the cloth. Looking down, my cheeks flooded pink, the truth in his words embarrassing me more than I thought possible. Laughing under his breath, he smirked up at me.
"Any reason why you decided to wear my clothes? Or did you just miss my company that much?"
"I was rushing to get ready," I stated, glaring at him, even though my blushing face ruined the effect. "Besides, I don't think that's quite the issue here! We could all die because of Parker's refusal to listen to this thing called 'common sense'." Hale said nothing, choosing instead to turn his line of sight to the platform beneath us.
"Sorry," he replied at last, still refusing to look up. "I was only trying to relax you a little, I guess. You don't look too well."
"Nothing could relax me at the moment," I answered with a grimace. "But I appreciate the effort. It's nice to know someone cares - even if it is you." His half-smile caught my eye as our gazes locked, causing me to turn and smile back, the gesture one of my (exceedingly rare) true smiles. His eyes filled with uncertainty for a few moments, before they changed, appearing . . . softer than before. If that was even possible. I had never been one for eye contact, but I couldn't seem to look away, neither of us moving an inch as we stared, the corners of our lips raised gently. And that's how things stayed, until a voice came through the radio. My head swivelled and my eyes focused on the men sitting opposite, my mouth falling into a straight line, my face ablaze with determination. We had arrived.

It was quiet, deathly quiet. Fitting as a body lay in front of us, face shoved against the ground, bullets holes in the back of the uniform. One of our own. Hale and I stepped forwards, Parker following suit, her movements hesitant. Ha. Being afraid of the field was a side-effect of sitting back and allowing everyone to do everything for you. Still, she had her gun fully-loaded and pointing at the tunnel entrance. We all did. We knew they were here. I knew it, Hale knew it and, most importantly, Parker knew it, knew I had been right. I motioned to the body with my foot, my gun never dropping an inch.
"Happy now, Parker? Got the result you wanted, did you? Glad you didn't listen to me?" Her eyes flickered to my own as the barrel of her gun twitched, moving in my direction before retaining its original position. That's when it all happened. The walls, the floor, the very Earth - it all began to shake, gradually at first, but soon it was hard to even stay balanced. Dust fell from the ceiling faster than I could have imagined, tainting the air, thickening it, causing us all to cough and choke as it blocked the passage to our lungs. The rumbling was ten times worse now, loud enough to block out everything. I couldn't even hear myself think. Yet I heard Hale.
"Look out!" His shout seemed to be a signal, a force slamming me sideways seconds after the words. Something wrapped around my waist, pulling me towards something else, almost as though it was trying to protect me from the inevitable fall that it had caused. My spine collided with the ground and my neck jolted, but that was all. I landed safely . . . somehow . . . but it wasn't over yet. Everything juddered, blurred out of focus. I couldn't tell up from down. I couldn't see and I didn't risk moving, lest something else happen, something worse. So there I lay, curled up and disgustingly helpless as the world tumbled down around me. It seemed like an age had passed when the air finally cleared. I forced my eyelids open, desperate to see the devastation, and regretted my choice of action immediately. The heroic force had been nothing other than Nathan Hale himself, an action I was thankful for. It wasn't everyday someone risked their life to rescue you, risked getting killed to ensure you were alive. That thought alone was enough to make a small smile appear. But the redness that tinted my cheeks materialised for a different reason entirely. The selfless act of his had resulted in him lying on top of me, my face inches from his, his arms still tangled around my abdomen. The close proximity was bothering me massively. My arms pushed at his chest, my body doing its best to squirm out of the hold, but he was, whether I wanted to admit it or not, a lot stronger than I was and could probably ever hope to be. I was thinking up a new plan when he began to wake up. Groaning, he shook his head from side to side groggily, his eyes opening slowly, fixing on my form.
"Clearwater, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine thanks to you." I waited for a moment, but nothing changed.
"Uh . . . you can, uh, let go of me now," I stated, colour rising to my face once again, my cheeks no doubt glowing in the dim light.
"Oh, right." Internally, I sighed as he let go and clamoured to his feet, helping me up as he did so. But . . . it hadn't been the sigh of relief I had been expecting, far from it. It had been a sigh of . . . disappointment. It looked like whatever was happening to me had decided to make itself known again. Perhaps I needed to see a doctor. Maybe I had hit my head. Hard. Shouting was coming from the other side of a rocky wall that hadn't been there a minute ago. I guess that was where all the noise had come from. That made sense, I suppose, but what didn't was the fact that a command center would never have been built unstable. People were due to walk in and out all the time, so no man that worked with construction would have allowed anything like this to happen. However, everything fell into place when I heard what they were saying.
"Go! Go!"
"Here they come!"
"Hold fast, lads!" A trap. The whole thing . . . a set-up, a plan devised to ensure we had no entry point to the base. So now it was just Hale and I; Hale and I against hoard after hoard of Chimera. They had better be prepared to be beaten into the ground. This thought had barely registered in my mind when bullets whistled past my left ear, sparking a grin. Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear.

Snarling, I clutched at my hair, trying to block out the voices in my head, calling to me, singing words laced with temptation. It had all been going so well, until now.
"Get out of my head! I will never be one of you!" Slowly, one by one, the whispered pleas disappeared, fading away into the emptiness that was the realm of the non-existent. I guess Hale's bullets must have found their targets - Slipskulls. These were the origins of my abilities, their strong legs powering them across rooms, the pads on their hands and feet allowing them to grip a wall and hang there like a bug. They were small, quick and infuriating. And the only Chimeran strain that could get in my head, cause me pain, mutter words of promise in an attempt to make me rejoin them. Yeah, like that was going to happen. Glancing up, I saw Hale extend his hand, an invitation I took gratefully. He released my fingers, but slowly, hesitantly, brushed his own against my cheek, his hand resting there. It felt . . . strange, but I didn't make a move to take them away. It was nice, in a way.
"Are you sure you can do this? You can go back if you want, if this gets to be too much." I placed a hand on his raised arm, gently shaking my head as my eyes met his.
"I'm going through with this. I can't let them control me. Besides, you can handle a few Slipskulls, right?" He paused a moment, gold orbs searching my own, palm still leaning comfortingly against the side of my face.
"Yeah," he said finally. "But, you have to promise that, if it gets too much, you'll tell me." I stared at him curiously.
"Why do you seem to care so much? It can't be that you don't want me dead - we both know it'll take more than that to kill me - so why?" His reply was quiet, so much so that I had to strain to hear it.
"I'm not sure why. I just know I care."

The platform was raised and circled the whole of the room, the metal clanking beneath our feet, echoing throughout the destination lie below us, but we didn't dare venture down the stairs. There was a single issue that set off sirens in my head, their noise screaming in my mind.
"It's too quiet here. Something isn't right." Hale murmured in agreement, eyes locking with mine as he nodded. As silently as possible, I raised my Carbine, pulling the trigger, firing rapidly at the floor below. Nothing. No movement, no bullets - everything was as disturbingly hushed as before. Sighing, I strapped my gun back into place, motioning to the floor below us.
"I'm going to check it out. If something happens, I have a better chance of escaping than you do." Slowly, almost reluctantly, his head bobbed in affirmation, a hand stretching out to hesitantly close around my wrist.
"Be careful."
"Why, Hale," I replied, the grin I was wearing more playful than patronising. "I didn't realise you cared." Smiling at my response, the re-use of his words yesterday. That was all I needed. I leapt from the metal mezzanine, somersaulting in midair, landing perfectly in a crouched position. I didn't bother extracting any weapons, instead choosing to cautiously step into the open, hands by my sides. That was mistake number one. As the growls reached my ears, the floor shuddering, I made mistake number two, grabbing at my weapon before leaping aside. Before I knew it, the Howler was on top of me, snarls ripping from the thick throat, fangs clashing together inches from skin. Only my gun, held horizontally sideways in my trembling hands, prevented it from tearing my face apart with its jaws. But my strength wouldn't last forever. I could hear gunshots, hear someone shouting my name, but still the beast fought against my arms, exerting all its force against my weakening form. Tears streamed down my face, my fear erasing all other thoughts from my mind. I couldn't seem to stop screaming. I'd never been this close to death. Being torn to pieces . . . it had, for as long as I could remember, been my worst nightmare. Now it was due to become reality. As my arms bent more and more, I could almost smell it - the gun residue and fresh blood. I couldn't fight anymore. The Chimera had won this battle. All resistance ceased as I gave in, the creature collapsing to my chest, unmoving and still. I had barely registered the bullet holes in the back of it's bleeding skull when the carcass was wrenched off of my terror-ridden form.
"Boo! God, are you okay?!" I tried to answer, wanted to laugh it off, but the words wouldn't come out. All I could do was shudder softly as I gradually climbed to my feet, my legs almost giving out beneath me.
"I-I was s-s-so scared, Hale. I t-thought . . . I was s-so sure . . ." I didn't finish. I couldn't. Shock commandeered my system and my shoulders shook as sobbed, wet trails staining my cheeks once again, the dangerous face I put up fading away in the fright. It was pathetic. Then something unexpected happened. Warmth enveloped me as arms wrapped around me and a single hand gently stroked the back of my hair.
"Oh, Boo, it's okay now. You're okay, you're okay - please, don't cry. I wouldn't let you die like that, not ever." I nodded, but still the cries tore through my body as my arms raised, gripping onto the front of Hale's uniform, pulling him closer as my tears dripped onto the collar of his shirt. I knew in my head that I should move away, that this wasn't right, not with the dislike between us, but I ignored the calling voices, staying exactly where I was - safely wrapped in Nathan Hale's arms.