X.
After nearly twenty minutes hard running, snow coming down in fast and furious now, the boy finally fell back a few paces and demanded, "Where are we going?"
Jimmy didn't slow in his step, and sure as hell wasn't stopping for those two.
"I got a safe location almost a mile away," Jimmy called over his shoulder, continuing forward. The girl made an exasperated sound at her friend.
"Let's just get there, Chris, and we can talk then," she said.
The boy started moving again, but they all halted at the cry of a Mech on the wind. Jimmy set his bow at the ready and scoured the horizon, looking for movement, heart pounding at a dizzying rate in his chest. He felt woozy, if he'd been able to keep his breakfast down that morning it would have come back up right then. He couldn't see straight, either, fever splotching black over his eyes.
"Mechs back the way we came," Jimmy said, "Cavalry probably just stumbled on their dead friends. We need to pick up the pace. We're walking right into a storm, and we want to be at the safe spot before it hits."
"How do you know all of that?" the boy said. Apparently his name was Chris. He was older than both Jimmy and the girl, probably seventeen or eighteen. He wore a black leather jacket over tattered jeans and a green shirt. His hair done up in spikes with gel, Jimmy noticed, the middle of an apocalypse and this douchebag still found time to fix his hair. He was injured, the source of that earlier pain-filled cry. He was favoring his right shoulder, blood wet down his side but not enough to leave a trail behind them.
Girl may have been thirteen, and was skinnier than a twig. The look in her eyes was half-starved. She had powder blue leggings and a flannel pullover. Her eyes were so large they took up nearly half her face, and her thin black hair splayed stringy and haphazard across her shoulders. She was trembling uncontrollably. Neither were dressed for the cold weather, but her less so. Fresh scars, maybe a day old, cut across her neck and chest.
"Listen. Everything's gone quiet behind us," Jimmy explained, "Look, clouds in the distance, maybe three, four miles away. You can see them getting closer though, and we're not moving. Feel the wind? Blowing right in our faces, strong, too. Pushing those clouds our way. Storm is coming. Aliens are coming. We need to move."
He didn't wait for their response, sprinting best he could through the snow. He didn't bother checking over his shoulder to see if they were following. If they were smart, they would. If they weren't, they would die, and he had no plans to join them.
Over the weeks, Jimmy had found and set up safe spots all around his base camp. Places he could use while hunting, in case a storm hit suddenly or he was surprised by Skitters. The nearest one to their location was less than a mile away, and they made good time, all things considered. The snow was falling in thick clumps when they reached it, and they were nearly blind. He had trouble finding the entry at first, it had been a lucky discovery when he was out hunting and found it last week in clear weather, but he located his markers on the door, tossed it open and ushered the two others down, following them and slamming the door shut behind him.
"Don't touch anything. Don't move around too much," Jimmy commanded, feeling his way around the tiny enclosure, making sure the blinds he set up were secure over all the windows to the outside before lighting up the lantern.
Jimmy hadn't been entirely sure what the place was used for before the war. It had a small crawl space that barely fit him alone, like a trench with a ceiling, and it was way too snug with the three of them. There were slits overhead to the outside world, large enough to peek through, fit and maneuver a rifle barrel through, but they couldn't exactly be called windows. He'd thought it a good hiding place for himself and had stashed a few survival items in it in case. He dug out the fleece blanket he'd stored there, shoved it at his two companions.
"Use this to get warm," he told them, slumping down in the back and digging through the supplies he had shoved in the back. There wasn't a whole lot, just the blanket, a few rounds of ammo – Jimmy always carried his gun even if he was reluctant to use it, some extra arrows, a small steak knife, and a packet of matches. He'd been in the process of setting it up as a safe spot, bringing things he could spare there when he had the time.
The boy slung the blanket over his shoulders, drawing the girl to him, but she was watching Jimmy.
"What about you? Aren't you cold?" she asked. Jimmy gave her a distant glance.
"I'm dressed for the weather. You aren't. Don't worry about me," he said. He found what he was looking for, a bottle of whiskey that had been left there by the crawl space's previous owner, and tossed it to the boy.
"I'm not really a drinker," the boy said.
"For your shoulder," Jimmy replied, "Clean it out. Infections kill. You got something on under that flannel?"
The girl stared blankly at Jimmy, color tinging her cheeks. Her friend startled at the words, narrowed his eyes in threat at Jimmy, and Jimmy rolled his eyes.
"We can use the fabric for bandages. You can use my jacket," Jimmy told her.
"Oh, okay, sure," she said, and started unbuttoning her flannel.
Her fingers were shaking, either from the cold or her embarrassment, Jimmy wasn't certain. He turned around, hoped it made her feel more comfortable, and dug through his pockets. She handed over the shirt, and he exchanged it for a packet of rabbit meat he'd dried using a smoking technique he'd found in one of the hunter's books. The meat was from his first batch, they tasted like ash and were hard, but it was food. He unsheathed his knife, worked at cutting strips from the flannel.
Meanwhile, the boy removed his jacket, peeled away his green shirt, and revealed the shoulder. Jimmy frowned, it looked worse than he'd originally thought. The boy poured some of the whiskey over it, and cried out, as blood gushed down his arm and back with the liquor.
"Shhh, quiet, Chris, they'll hear you," the girl fretted.
"We're fine. Aliens aren't moving in this weather. Swap places with me," Jimmy said gently. He slid off his jacket, and handed it over. She only had a tank top on now, and happily took the offered garment, buried herself in it. She squeezed by Jimmy. Jimmy took up a stance beside the boy, turned him slightly with a hand on his arm to get a better look at the injury. There was a gash, nearly three inches long, an inch wide. Some of the blood had crusted dry around the edges, but it was still oozing more.
"We were holed up in a gas station down by the highway. Aliens snuck in on us, one grabbed me, must not have realized Jade was there or didn't think she'd do anything. She tossed oil on it, lit it up, and we bolted," the boy explained.
Jimmy took the whiskey bottle, dumped some of the alcohol over the strips he'd cut from the girl's shirt.
"This probably won't do much to stop the bleeding but it should help some," he said, working on wrapping the makeshift bandages up and around the boy's shoulder while trying to keep the fluster from his features.
It had been five weeks since Jimmy had been around other people, and it didn't help that the boy had a smooth chest, soft, warm skin, a nice smell. Ben was God-knew-where, and it ached more painfully through Jimmy in that moment than it had in the entirety of the month.
Once finished, the bandages looked like shit, Jimmy had never been very good at playing doctor, but they would hold. He switched places with the girl again, eager to put distance between himself and the boy. She sank into the blanket, against her friend. They all settled in best they could considering their cramped accommodations. Jimmy shuddered, tried to downplay how cold he actually was, and the fact he was having trouble keeping his eyes open, keeping his head up.
"I'm Jade, by the way, and this is Chris," the girl said.
Jimmy nodded, remained silent. He kept his hand on the knife at his hip, his bow on the other side of himself.
"Clever use of a hunting trench," Chris commented.
Jimmy wrinkled his brow, tried to school the confusion and surprise from his features. So that's what this place was, a hunting trench. Now what the hell was a hunting trench?
"You use it before the aliens," Chris asked, he nodded to the bow and arrows, "You're a hunter, right?"
"Right," Jimmy said, shifted to give himself a better maneuvering position.
"Who's Ben?" Jade asked, and it caught Jimmy off guard. He gaped at her, speechless, heart drilling at his ribcage. She smiled at him, "We heard you shouting, when the spider-men were…back there. You were calling for 'Ben'."
Jimmy swallowed back his emotions, forced a small smile, "Right. Ben is my father."
"Your father," Chris repeated, sounding dubious.
"Yeah," Jimmy said, clearing his throat and warming into the lie, "My father. You were right, this is our hunting trench. We have a cabin up in the woods, my family. We came out here to do some hunting before the aliens invaded. We've been holed up out here ever since, waiting out the invasion, surviving off the land."
"You call your father by his name," Chris said. Jimmy faltered, lowered his eyes and shrugged, sheepish.
"Stepfather," he amended, "Real dad died when I was a kid. Mom married Ben a few years back. He's the only father I've ever really known but I don't feel right calling him 'dad', you know."
The two teens stared at Jimmy, scrutinizing him, and Jimmy returned the look, tried to focus on keeping his breathing normal and his expression light.
"Yeah. I know exactly what you mean. My stepdad was a tool about it, too. Always insisted I call him 'dad' when he wanted to lord it over my head that he was the man of the house. Cool of your stepdad to take you hunting and shit, though, most my stepdad did for me was let me fetch him beers," Chris said, leaning back and looking up to the ceiling. Jimmy took a deep breath, relaxed.
"So, your stepfather is out there somewhere," Jade asked, motioning to the storm outside.
"Yeah," Jimmy lied, "But he'll be okay. He's military trained, kind of like a super soldier. Knows a lot about surviving, taught me things."
"We wait out the storm here, what happens after?" Chris said.
"We stay here a day and a night to be sure the aliens don't come back," Jimmy answered, "I have more jerky, clean water, so we should be fine."
"What about Chris's shoulder?" Jade asked.
Jimmy frowned, he'd thought about it but he had no answers. The bleeding needed to be stopped, and it needed to be closed up to keep it from getting infected. There were supplies at the houses for it, but nothing in that trench.
"All we can do is wait, and hope it doesn't get worse," Jimmy said.
"If it does get worse, though?" Jade persisted.
Jimmy gave her a meaningful look, and said, "Hope it doesn't get worse."
They didn't chat much after that, and eventually the two teens fell into a sound sleep. Jimmy passed out for an hour or so, but he drifted in and out of sleep and finally woke up fully when he noticed Jade staring at him. He sat up, looked sheepishly away.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing. We didn't thank you. It was brave what you did," she said in a low voice.
Jimmy shrugged, dug out his canteen, drank some of the water in it and handed it over to her.
"Small sips. We need it to last," he recommended. She nodded, took a short drink and passed it back.
"Your mom is out here too?" Jade asked.
"No. Mom died in the invasion," Jimmy answered, and then admitted, "Ben is the only family I have in the world."
"It's nice to still have family," Jade said, stretching and relaxing back against slumbering Chris, "My parents died long before the invasion. I got passed around to different foster homes, was on my seventh one when the aliens dropped down from the skies. I thought it was the best day of my life. I could run away, start over, no police to chase after me and drag me back this time."
"Didn't turn out how you expected, though, huh?"
"I fell in with a bunch of street kids that were trying to survive the invasion also. Chris was one of them. We fled the city first chance we got, seemed the safest thing to do. That's where everyone seemed to be dying anyway," Jade said, tears streaming down her cheeks as she recalled the friends she'd started out with, "Aliens kept coming at us, though, picking us off one by one until just me and Chris were left. He'll be okay, right? His shoulder looks so bad. If I lose him…"
"I don't know. I'm going to do what I can for him, I am, but I don't know," Jimmy said, placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
"How long have you been alone out here?" Jade asked.
"I'm not alone," Jimmy reminded her, nervously taking his hand back, "My stepfather is with me."
"Yeah. But other than him, you're alone?"
"I guess," Jimmy said.
"Maybe Chris and I can stay at the cabin then," Jade suggested, "With you. And your stepfather. We've been running for so long."
"I don't know," Jimmy said, fidgeting with the sleeves of his shirt, and running one hand along the hilt of his knife, as he lied, "My stepfather might not like it. He'll be so mad if he finds out I brought you both here."
"Please, please," Jade whispered, voice breaking with a sob, "You don't understand what it's like to be out there. Always running, never, ever being able to stop, to rest."
"I'm sorry but I can't…"
"We can be helpful, too. I know how to sew, and Chris, he's really smart. He knows a lot of things, like how to start a fire without a match. He was a boy scout," Jade said.
Jimmy closed his eyes, took a steadying breath, "I'll think about it. You should try to sleep some more. "
"I can't. I know that we're safe right now, because of the storm, but I know they're out there somewhere. Those spider-men," Jade said. She drew her knees up to her chest, buried her face in them, sobbing.
Jimmy sighed, rested back against the wall of the trench and let his mind drift as he listened to her cry. He knew very well what it was to be out there, running, nonstop, but taking them back home was a bad idea. It wouldn't take long for them to figure out the stepfather story was a lie and that he was alone out there. They couldn't find out he was alone, they'd piece together pretty fast from there that they had the upper hand, and that kind of situation never boded well for the underdog.
Chris's injured shoulder was a problem though. It needed to be closed up. There was needle and thread back at the houses, they could attempt stitching it. Afterwards, though, it would need to be cared for and given time to heal. Being on the run wasn't going to help. The stitches would tear pretty quickly, and then it was a matter of time before infection set in and he died. Without Chris, Jade wouldn't last long.
Jimmy bit at his cheek in frustration, curling his fingers round the bullet at his neck. Why did he save them in the first place? He knew he couldn't take them home when he did it, but not taking them home meant certain death for them. He wouldn't have rescued them, he would've just prolonged the inevitable. It was like he was back in the sewers of Dorchester, making the same stupid choices. He could sit and watch them die, or he could play a hand in getting them killed.
What would Weaver do, Jimmy wondered, searching inside of himself, digging his hand into his pocket for the compass that never left his side. What would Anthony do? Or Dai? Maggie? Weaver would never abandon the two, neither would Anthony, and they might've even compromised themselves to do it, deciding that if the two betrayed them, they'd figure out how to cross that bridge when they got to it. Dai would figure out a clever work around to helping them without bringing them home and exposing himself in the first place. And Maggie, Jimmy bit back his tears, Maggie would be disappointed in Jimmy if he didn't find some way to help them.
"Okay," Jimmy said, took a steadying breath, and Jade paused, looked up at him with her tear stained eyes, "I can help you. But I can't take you guys back to the cabin. My stepfather would be pissed, and I don't know what he'd do to you both."
"He's hard on you," Jade said, "Has he ever…does he hurt you?"
Jimmy lowered his eyes, mind flashing on those violent moments when Ben lost control, remembering those times when his father, before the war, would lose his temper, the pain of those memories, that old dark fear washing over him. He wasn't supposed to feel that way, think those things when it came to Ben, yet there they were, fresh at the front of his mind. He started at Jade's soft touch to his hand, met her eyes.
"It's okay. I understand. If you help us, I promise, he'll never know we're there."
"I know of another place I can take you. Somewhere you can stay to keep warm, out of sight of the aliens, and I can sneak you some provisions from our stores," Jimmy said.
One of the houses in the area was farther on the fringe of the woods, a little outside of Jimmy's base camp perimeter, and visibility range. Jimmy had long ago emptied it of all useful supplies. He could set Chris and Jade up there, bring them a few things to wait out the winter with, share some of his meat on occasion, and maybe even teach them some survival tricks. As long as they never figured out where his camp was, and that his abusive, controlling stepfather was really his lost, hopeless romantic boyfriend wandering somewhere out in the far flung world, then everything would be fine. It was only for the winter, how hard could it be to keep secret?
Chris shifted a bit in his sleep, murmured something inaudible, and Jade smiled warmly up at Jimmy. It might be nice to have the company, Jimmy realized, he was pretty close to the point of hand painting his own version of Wilson on the snowboard back home.
"You're a good person," Jade said, curling her fingers around Jimmy's hand, "Like our own guardian angel."
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AN: I start my new job tomorrow. Kind of excited, super nervous. I need to drive three/four hours to get there in the early, early, ridiculously early morning. Wish me luck.
Thank you for reading, let me know thoughts and stuff.
Thank you for the reviews!
Reviewers: Everto Tenshi, I kind of had a hunch school starting was going to kill my review board a little. It happens. I'm just happy to hear that you're having a much better time of it now, and glad you were able to find a moment to read and review! Yes, the Capital is a bizarre place that should be sending tingles up your spidey-sense. Ben is definitely in a bad place, and your right, few of the people around him actually realize how bad it is, and those who might be able to realize it are in just as bad a place. My Ben and canon-Ben are very different people, to start, my Ben is gay, and I guess it's been pretty well established by now (much to this Jimmy/Ben shippers dismay) that canon-Ben is straight. Predictable as ever, Rodat. Oh well. I've noticed school tends to eat away at memory. I have answered all of your questions in the past, as it so happens, and fortunately they all have the same answer: just keep reading. :D Yeah, I need to fit cute Jimmy/Ben moments in here somewhere during their separation, or everyone (including me) will get cabin fever. My week was great, thanks! I hope you have a good one! Sassysavanna190, I'm glad you're fing pumped for this story, cuz so am I! Yes Ryan is *finally* here. You'll have to just wait and see how his storyline unfolds. And yes, that Skitter was acting bizarre with Jimmy. It knows...something. That doctor is far from being the creepiest character that will appear in this story, though, just as a warning. He's pretty tame, actually. I'm aiming to break your heart, and it only gets worse/more angsty in coming chapters for Ben. I'm going to pummel him, I won't even lie. I'm going to crush him, heart and soul. It's what I do. LuckyDreamer91, thank you, thank you. I didn't feel the chapter was emotional enough, personally, I'm hoping next chapter remedies that. I'm excited for Ryan's character to unfold in the story, too. I kind of really love writing Jimmy's friends, because they're mine and I can do anything I want with them. Dee, once again, kudos to you for being (maybe) the first person to realize Jimmy died in that warehouse! Holy simoleans, I'm a little disappointed in myself that no one seemed to put that together, although people definitely knew the warehouse had a connection to going-ons in this story (since I think I made that glaringly obvious, right down to actually having Jimmy say it). Oh well. Yep, the Capital be crazy. It reeks of evil. But eventually, everything will kind of come out as to what's really going on there, for better or worse. Glad you noticed the Ben/Maggie exchange. You will get a glimpse into Maggie's psyche soon, don't worry about that. You are totally fine to laugh at Ben and Ryan's interaction. Ryan cracks me up, too. And, you're right he is not thrilled at all to be playing teacher to the new black list member of their work group, but you are also correct in noting that him and Gary aren't conventional guys when it comes to following mainstream attitudes. Jimmy is a badass, of course, because I love him and I say so. And yes, again, I killed him in that warehouse, and I will kill him again, and again, and maybe again, because I'm a cruel, horrible, mean writer that is obsessed with picking on the characters I love, and I love no other character in Falling Skies more than Jimmy. Good ramble. It's always good to ramble your way into a eureka moment. engel17white, mucho gracias. I'm glad that you're still reading!
See you all next weekend!