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To scienceficfan24 – Thanks for your review! I'm glad you liked it! Hope you like this chapter!
AN – Hey everyone. I'm going out of town for the weekend for a friend's wedding, so I'm posting this chapter early. Hope you all like it. Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Hal leaned against one of the several trees by the road, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched waited, for either his family or for any sign that something had gone wrong. While staying behind on the attack had seemed like a good idea at the time, with each passing second he began to feel like it was a mistake. And, that he was being a coward. Even though his Dad had no problem with him wanting to stay back and nobody else in the group seemed upset or mad about it, Hal felt like he was being weak. He should be stronger than this. He should be able to fight and protect his family instead of hiding, scared of what all could go wrong.
"Hal? Are you alright?" Hal heard Lourdes's voice. He looked over his shoulder and saw her leaving the hidden Volm spaceship to come towards him.
He had broken away from his Dad, brothers, Weaver, and Maggie with Anne to come to this spot where the ship was. His Dad and Weaver decided that not only would they leave the vehicles in the town closest to the Espheni factory so they wouldn't be destroyed and break up into groups so that if one was found by the aliens, the others could still get to the factory and destroy it, they would also have a Volm spaceship nearby so that if anyone got injured, and they all knew there would be injuries, they could get them out of the danger zone and back to the 2nd Mass as quickly as possible. Anne had come because she the 2nd Mass's main doctor and Lourdes had decided to join her, thinking that she could also be of help.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Hal replied, turning back to stare ahead.
"No, you're not. And that's okay." Lourdes tried to comfort him, moving to stand right beside him, and put her hand on his shoulder.
"I just, feel useless. I want to help but," Hal broke off, not sure exactly how to explain without giving all the details.
"I know." Squeezing his shoulder tightly, Lourdes pulled him around so he was facing her before she continued, "But your Dad and your brothers are tough. They all know what they're doing. They'll be okay."
Hal nodded, knowing that Lourdes was right, but the tense feeling in his gut, the one telling him that something was wrong, refused to leave. He was struggling to find a way to explain that to the former med student, but before he could, a loud explosion filled the air. In the direction that he was staring down, the area where the factory was located, the air was filled with fiery smoke.
Without thinking twice, he grabbed his semi-automatic from the tree he had leaned it against and took off running towards the factory.
"Hal!" Lourdes shouted after him, but didn't follow and Hal didn't turn back. He might not be ready to get back into the fight, but he wasn't going to let anyone hurt his family.
Hal ran down the road until he could somewhat make out the burning warehouse/factory. Not wanting to be seen by the skitter, Mechs, or Overlords, he headed into the trees for some cover and circled around a little bit. Then, he moved closer though it was hard. The area was filled with brushes, trees, roots, and dead branches on the ground he had no idea how he didn't trip over them. He stopped focusing on that though when he saw the 2nd Mass fighters shooting at the attacked skitters.
Ducking down a little so he was out of sight, he looked around for his family and for Maggie, but it was so dark. The only light was from the flames and the lights from the Mechs. It reminded him of the night he escaped from the ghetto. He did his best to shove the memory down. He couldn't afford to have flashbacks and a panic attack right now. If he did, then there was a chance that this fight would end just like that night did. He couldn't let that happen.
Now that he was in hidden position, Hal aimed his gun at the aliens and started firing. Even though there was a fair amount of distance between him and the actual fight, most of his shots were hitting the skitters, but they didn't even notice because of the other 2nd Mass soldiers firing their own guns. As he continued to fire at the skitters, he soon saw why something in their plan had gone wrong. They knew that the place would be well guarded, but there was at least twice as many skitters, Mechs and Mega-Mechs than they thought.
Luckily, the building was on fire and in the process of destroying anything inside which is part of the plan. The only thing they had to worry about now, was killing the Espheni there and getting out alive. But more and more kept coming. It was almost like they knew that they could be attacked and had skitters and Mechs in hiding, waiting to strike. It was becoming clear that they were going to be overrun soon. Even if they just started running through the trees, they'd be hunted down easily.
Hal swore under his breath. He knew that he could do a lot more he could for the soldiers than just giving them some cover fire, but should he risk it? If the skitters and Mechs saw him and somehow told the Overlords, that would not end well. But, he couldn't just let the aliens hurt and kill more people. Quickly making up his mind, Hal slung his gun over his shoulder and stepped out of his hiding spot.
He stayed close to the treeline so that if needed, he could dive for cover, but other than that, was out in the open. Feeling the adrenaline flooding his body, he focused his attention on the skitters in front of him, seeing in his mind what he wanted them to do. Feeling something akin to a breeze brush past him, he saw the skitters start flying in the air backwards into the burning building. And he did it again and again until all the skitters around him were gone.
The sound of a Mech's gun firing up had Hal turning around to see three of the robots coming towards him. Focusing on them and what he wanted them to do, feeling his blood starting burn in his body, the Mech in front of the other two suddenly turned around and started to fire at the others. He kept control of it even when the other ones were destroyed, having it fire at the skitters that were now charging at him.
Finally, the burning in his veins had gotten too much. He couldn't keep up with controlling the Mech and lost his hold on it. Immediately, the robot turned back around and pointed its gun at Hal. Before it could fire at him though, someone shot it with one of the guns that had been modified with Volm technology. It was the only kind of weapon that could've taken down a Mech with only one shot.
As it fell to the ground, Hal saw his Dad standing behind it, his gun, one modified with Volm tech, having been pointed right at it. For a moment, Hal wondered if his Dad had seen everything he just did or if he just saw that he was about to be shot, but then his shaking legs decided they could no longer hold his weight and he fell to his knees.
"Hal!" He heard Maggie shout his name over the crackling sound of the fire as well as the guns still going off from the other soldiers still fighting. He couldn't raise his head though to see what was happening. His head felt heavy than a pile of bricks and he was so tired. He wanted to just lie down and go to sleep right there. A pair of hands landing on his shoulder and around his arm though forced him to look over to the side where he found Maggie on her knees beside him, staring at him worriedly.
"Are you okay?" Maggie asked in a rushed but worried tone. Hal slowly managed to nod, but didn't say anything.
"What just happened? What did you do?" Another voice, a louder and angrier one pulled both Hal's and Maggie's attention the direction in front of them where they saw both Pope and Tom coming over to them. Pope had stopped once he was a few feet away, but Tom, looking just as concerned as Maggie, came over to Hal's other side.
"There's no time for that. We've got to get back to the rendezvous point." Tom told him as he helped Maggie pull Hal to his feet. One he was standing, Maggie put his arm around her shoulders and her hand around his waist to hold him steady while his Dad pulled his gun off his shoulder so he could carry it for him. Hal barely noticed that however because at that moment, he saw his younger brothers and Weaver approaching them. One look at their faces was all he needed to know that they had also seen what he had done. They now knew the secret he had been keeping from them.
Hal did his best to walk alongside Maggie instead of letting her completely take his weight, but it was hard. His legs were shaking under him, threatening to collapse. It was taking all of his concentration and strength to put one foot in front of the other. He didn't even have the strength to lift his head up, so he just stared at the ground moving beneath him. It wasn't until he heard Anne's voice did he know that they had reached the spot where the Volm spaceship was.
"Are you guys alright? What happened?" Anne demanded as she rushed over to them, worried eyes looking them over before landing on Hal being supported by Maggie.
"Long story. I'll explain on the way to the trucks." Tom told her as he walked over to her, grabbed her hand and started to lead her back into the woods where they would have cover and could safely move back to where they had stashed the trucks miles away.
The spaceship was long gone, probably full of injured soldiers. He would've thought that Anne would've gone with them, but wasn't that surprised that she had stayed behind to wait for them. The next place to go was where they stashed the trucks. Once there, they would be able to get to Chinatown much faster. And once they were safe, maybe he could finally get some answers from Hal.
FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFS
"I think we're safe." Ben told the group after walking for over an hour in the thick trees. He hadn't felt any Espheni presence since the attack, but they all had wanted to get as far away as they possibly could and as fast as they could, just in case there were still other skitters or Mechs in the area. However, he was pretty sure they could stop now since he would've heard or felt them with his spikes.
"We weren't followed, were we?" Tom asked, glancing over his shoulder to see if there was any sign that the Espheni were behind them.
"Doesn't look like it." Weaver answered, looking around their surroundings while Maggie helped Hal sit down on the ground.
"Good, now that's taken care of, start talking kid. Now!" Pope demanded in a loud and threatening voice.
"Pope! Calm down." Tom immediately jumped to his son's defensive, coming to stand in between the former criminal and his oldest child.
"Calm down? Your kid just used some sort of freaky magic and destroyed a bunch of Mechs as well as killing a whole horde of skitters! Did you even know your kid could do that?" Pope questioned as loudly as he possibly could. Tom was about to fire back but realized that he didn't have a good defense. So instead, he looked back over at his son.
"Hal, what happened? How did you do that?" Tom asked with a much calmer voice than the one he had used when he was talking with Pope, but Hal could still hear the fear and concern in it though.
"It's a long story." Hal replied as he looked down at the ground.
"Well, we've got all night." Pope chimed in, looking like he was about to do something stupid if the oldest Mason son didn't start talking. A quick glare from Weaver though kept him in place.
"Look, I promise, I will tell, but can we talk about it later. Right now, I really just wanna sleep for a couple of hours, or days." Hal replied, his voice extremely quiet and a little out of it. Maggie, who was still sitting beside him, saw the sweat on his forehead and how flushed his face was and placed the back of her hand against his forehead.
"Whoa Hal, you're burning up." Maggie revealed as she lowered her hand. Hearing that, Anne, Ben, Matt and Tom immediately came over to the young man. Anne crouched down by Hal's side and placed her own hand on his forehead to see for herself if Maggie was right while the rest of the Masons stood around them. Soon, she lowered it and nodded to Tom, telling him that Maggie was correct in her observation. Hal had a fever.
"I'm fine, I just need to sleep it off." Hal insisted as Tom knelt down in front of him.
"Not until you answer some questions kid." Pope responded with a harsh tone. Tom immediately turned to glare at Pope, as did everyone else except for Hal, who was already starting to succumb to his exhaustion.
"Shut up Pope!" Tom yelled, causing his oldest to flinch due to the loudness.
"Dad," Hal waited until his father turned back to face him before he continued, "I promise, I will tell you everything, I just need some sleep."
His son's exhaustion was plain as day on Hal's face. Tom knew that even if he demanded that Hal tell him everything, he would probably pass out in the middle of it, so he nodded and said, "Alright, get some rest."
Hal didn't need to be told twice. Even though everyone was still staring at him, he was to tired to care. He just laid down on the ground and closed his eyes. He heard somebody moving close by before he felt a hand lift up his head before lowering it onto something that was a little softer than the hard ground he was lying on. He didn't have to strength to stay awake and figure out what it was or who had done it. He just stayed still and let his exhaustion claim him.
FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFS
Once the Mason patriarch finished placing his coat underneath Hal's head, letting him use it as a pillow, he sat back and watched his son. Hal had fallen asleep within seconds of lying down on the grass and didn't look like he was planning to move at all for a long time. The father reached over and brushed some of his eldest's hair off his forehead, his brow furrowing a little when he felt how warm Hal's skin was, then dropped his hand with a sigh.
While Tom had no idea what had happened to Hal, or what was going on with him, he was not expecting it to be anything like he just witnessed. He never thought that somehow, the young man would have powers, and that they were apparently strong enough to take down a bunch of Mechs and skitters. He did however, somewhat understand why he didn't want to fight. Hal clearly didn't want anyone to know he had these abilities, whatever they were, and the father had no idea why. Maybe it was because he was worried that the members of the 2nd Mass would claim he was too dangerous or something.
"Tom," Weaver broke the silence the group had fallen into, but Tom quickly cut him off, saying, "Don't. I know. I can't let him pretend that nothing happened during those four months. Not anymore."
"Well if you know that, why didn't you push him?" Pope questioned, still sounding a bit angry that he was stopped from getting answers from Tom Mason's oldest son.
"Because Pope, I also know that what ever happened was bad. Anyone and everyone could see that." Tom answered as he turned to glare at the former criminal. Pope lowered his head a little, backing down slightly. Tom then turned his attention back to his sleeping son as he quietly added, "I wanted to give him time."
No one said anything for a moment, all of their eyes on Tom and Hal. Anne lifted her hand and placed it on Tom's shoulder as Maggie ran her fingers through Hal's dark hair. Ben and Pope stayed in their spots, but both Weaver and Matt walked over to the group huddled around the sleeping young man. Matt went over to sit down beside Maggie while Weaver crouched down by Tom.
"I know you don't want to force him to remember whatever happened Tom, no one does," Weaver paused, and glanced over at Pope in time to see that he was about to protest, but before he could, Weaver turned his head back to look at Tom and continued, "except for Pope and I know that you know you have to. But you're going to be treading on very thin ice. Be careful."