So sorry it took so long to update, a lot has been happening in my life lately and I haven't had the time to write but just know that I am back and I have been able to find the time to sit down and write more, so hopefully that will mean that updates may come quicker but I am not promising anything. Thanks to all you loyal followers and all the reviews I have received so far, I would name you all but there are just too many, which is a great thing. Much love and enjoy!

-Doppelganger-

It had been walking nonstop for what had to have been hours now, night had fallen but it didn't stop to rest or drink, its sole focus was to locate the 2nd Mass. and wipe them out.

Coming upon a river it dropped its supplies and descended into the flowing water and started to wash the blood off itself, this wasn't because of the need to feel clean but rather to not cause panic and suspicion to fall on it the moment it entered the 2nd Mass.' new territory. It didn't want to alert them of its true intentions just yet.

The water turned a foggy red and to a human would be freezing but it was in control of the human body it possessed so the cold didn't register, just as the pain didn't.

When all the blood had been washed off it climbed out of the river and rung out what water it could then picked up its supplies and continued walking towards its destination. if it continued walking at this pace it was bound to make it to the airplane hangar by morning. That was if it didn't steer off track or get distracted by the lure of the kill.

It briefly wondered how Tom and Maggie were doing, with the damage it had wrought on Maggie it knew that she would drastically slow the pair down, maybe she would even die before they reached their destination, it smiled at the thought, too bad it wouldn't be there to witness it but it could certainly fantasize about the event.

One of its favorite scenarios was that she bled out, the stitches it had made would pop one by one and her life giving blood would ooze out of her body and there was nothing Tom Mason could do but watch as his companion was surrounded by her own blood and turning a chilling white.

Just the thought made a shiver of pleasure rush down its spine.

-Tom-

His body was trembling from the exertion, it felt like he could drop at any moment but he had to fight that urge, if he gave in both he and Maggie would die. His stitches had already snapped and he could feel the blood dripping down his leg.

Maggie was still unconscious, he didn't expect her to wake up any time soon, from what he could tell she was severely dehydrated, had lost a lot of blood and in her weakened state could succumb to infection and/or hypothermia.

Without his permission his body suddenly collapsed, he groaned in pain when his bad leg went down wrong and Maggie crumpled to the ground, not reacting to the sudden change in gravity.

Knowing that he couldn't waste anymore time he tried to stand up but his leg protested, sharp waves of pain went through him and his injured leg spazzed uncontrollably so he was forced to wait, the jerkiness of his limb making his pain 100x worse than its original level.

The spasms lasted for about three minutes before eventually settling down and leaving him exhausted. His leg still hurt but he fought against the pain and picked up the first aid kit that had been tossed aside when they had gone down.

Ripping the pant leg up to the wound he saw that blood was seeping out from the gauze dressings and his leg was painted in blood. Biting his lip he unwrapped the dressings and inspected the damage. As he had suspected quite a few of his stitches had snapped so he was going to have to re-stitch himself.

They were low on their supplies of thread and he didn't know when they would reach the mass. and if Maggie's stitches were to snap it was a sure thing that she would die from the blood loss. Making his decision he picked up a roll of gauze from the kit and diligently wrapped a generous amount around the wound then pinned it down and put the kit back together.

With his focus on the Maggie's prone figure it wasn't until the crunching of a boot met his ears that he was aware of another presence, before he could react a heavy object, maybe the butt of a gun, bashed into the back of his head and he was out.

The last thought that went through his mind was that his family had the worst luck ever.

-Hal-

Coming back to consciousness he had to shield his eyes from the intense light that surrounded him, after having been in the dark for so long the sudden onslaught of light was almost too much for his sensitive eyes to take.

But what truly astounded him was the fact that he felt absolutely no pain, it was as if he hadn't gone a-round with his doppelganger, in fact...feeling his neck his eyes widened in shock when his hand made contact with skin, no spikes!

Where was he?

A familiar voice rang through the air, one that he never thought he would hear again,

"Hal"

Turning around he gasped in shock and confusion when he met the eyes of his mother. She was wearing the same thing she had been wearing the day she had died, the only difference was that they weren't bloody and there wasn't a gaping hole in her chest.

"Mom..?" he stepped forward, as if in a trance walked towards her and didn't stop until he was standing right in front of her.

Her dark brown eyes glistened with tears and she wore a sad smile. She reached up and wiped the tear that had shed without his knowledge.

No longer able to hold himself back he wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her neck, breathing in her familiar scent of cinnamon and vanilla.

"It's okay sweetie, I'm here" she shushed him, rubbing his back in mindless circles.

Composing himself, but only the slightest, he pulled back from her embrace and took another moment to just drink her in. She was here! Standing in front of him, holding him and comforting him! Either he was dead and this was heaven or a very realistic dream or, and this one was the cruelest, a sick allusion the doppelganger had dreamed up.

Doubts began to cloud his mind, this was definitely something it would do, twist his heartstrings around then dangle the image of his mother in front of him and just as he a hole in his heart was beginning to be filled it would rip this away from him as well.

Distrustful of the vision before him he took slow calculating steps back, looking at every detail with different eyes.

"How do I know this isn't a trick? It knows everything about me, this could all be some cruel joke to distract me" when she tried to step forward him held his hand up, making her stop.

She nodded her head in understanding and planted her feet.

"I understand your wariness, and I know that any memory I give you will be worthless, but no matter how cliché it may sound look into your heart and see if I'm of its creation" she begged him.

He wanted to believe her, even the thought that this was all a trick threatened to crush him but giving into his own desires could be a deadly mistake.

"I want to believe so badly that its really you, but I've learned to expect the worst and my heart is a little bias" his voice quivered, not coming out as strongly as he would have liked.

His heart was at war with his mind, and the victor was unclear.

-Tom-

When he woke up he found that instead of seeing the same night sky it was now morning and his head was killing him.

The difference between the last time he had been knocked out was that when he had come to he found himself strapped down, but this time he found that he wasn't restrained at all, in fact on closer inspection he discovered that he was resting on the ground.

A sudden noise put him on alert and he whipped up from the ground, moving too fast his vision swam and he almost toppled over but was caught by a pair of arms. The owner of the arms lowered him back down, his vision stopped swimming and he could see that the person hovering over him was an older man, maybe in his 50s, and had a rugged look to him.

"You need to take it easy, took quite a bump to the head there" the man calmed him, patting his shoulder.

"Where am I?" he asked, wondering who this stranger was and how far off the trail they had taken them...Maggie!

Beginning to struggle the man tried to keep him down as gently as possible, insisting that he stay still.

"It's alright, your safe here, no one is going to harm you" he assured him, removing his hands once Tom had settled down some.

"What have you done with the woman I was traveling with?" he demanded, not trusting them for a second, after all they had clonked him on the head and brought him god knows where.

A groan met his ears and he turned his head and was surprised to find that Maggie was awake, and from the looks of it she was being treated.

"Your friend is being well taken care of, I'm a doctor you see and I was able to train my fellow traveling companions in the arts of first aid, the more advanced version. I'm sorry about the bump to the head, Lisa is pretty skittish around strangers after what happened to her" he explained.

This was almost too good to be true, they had been in desperate need of medical attention and all of a sudden a doctor appears? Something had to give.

"Well thanks for your help but we really need to get going" resisting the man's help he got up from the ground and limped over to where Maggie was being cared for.

She was wrapped in a warm cotton blanket and was nursing a soothing cup of water, her bruises were becoming more prominent but luckily a bit of color was returning to her cheeks.

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up" she chuckled as she took another sip of water.

He smiled, "Could say the same about you" he retorted.

The two share a smile then Tom got down to business.

"How are you feeling? and I don't want any soldier bullshit" he asked, making eye contact with her.

The smile left her face and she looked down at the ground, "I'm still pretty tired and my whole body is worn out but I am feeling a hell of a lot better than I was earlier, these guys really know what they're doing" she looked over at the man and woman who were standing over by a tree, giving them some privacy.

They were silent for a few moments before Tom spoke again, "listen, I know that you're hurting but we really need to get a move on, I don't know how long we've been out but we need to get back on the road" he felt bad about hurrying her along, she clearly needed the rest time but as of now that was not something that they could afford.

She nodded and, with the help from Tom, pulled herself up from the ground and walked with Tom to where their supplies was. When they reached their stuff Tom found that their first aid kit had been rifled through, normally this would have annoyed him but he was betting that they had used some of the supplies to take care of Maggie so he wasn't too mad about it.

"Sorry about taking some of your supplies, we're running low and a lot of the stuff that was in there went towards healing your friend" Tom heard the man explain behind him.

"It's okay, and thank you for helping us, in fact, why don't you come with us? We're part of a resistance that is filled with people and we have food, weapons and medical supplies; we could always use another doctor and people with medical knowledge" he looked over at the two young adults behind the man, they couldn't have been more than 20.

The man turned to look at the pair behind him and at their pleading looks he turned back to Tom, "thank you, just let us gather what supplies we can't part with and we'll be ready to go"

They were wasting time, but Tom could understand the need to pack the sentimental things, he carried with him a small worn out picture of his family with him everywhere he went, along with Ben's Harry Potter book that he had carried with him until the day Ben was back with them, and when that day came he had handed the book over to Ben and as far as he knew his son still carried it with him.

Once they had packed what they needed they all headed out, going back on the trail that Tom and Maggie had originally been traveling. As it turned out, they had only been moved to a more grassy area that was only a few feet away from where Tom had collapsed.

A lot of time had been wasted and they would need to quicken their pace to catch up on the ground they had lost.

His greatest fear was that they would arrive too late and everything and everyone he loved would be dead, he prayed that he wasn't because he didn't know how much more heart break he could take.

A/N: I hoped you enjoyed the chapter, the next one will be longer and there will also be quick insert from Pope's POV. Please review! Also, I depend on reviews to continue writing, the next chapter is already written I'm just waiting for people to show me that they want me to continue.