Chapter 3

Grace threw the planks of wood she had found onto the back of the truck. The old pieces of decking would serve as a good patch for the holes in the bridge over the Housatonic River. It was the last bridge within one hundred miles that the aliens hadn't destroyed. Jamil reckoned it was crossable with some repair work, hence why Grace was now foraging for materials that could be used for the job. Staying here wasn't an option. Skitters had them pinned on this side of the river and Weaver was adamant the Second Mass needed to make it across. They didn't want another Fitchburg.

As she dusted off her hands, she noticed her father coming towards her. They exchanged brief smiles.

"So, the gang's been filling me in on everything I've missed these past few months," he said, joining her at the back of the truck.

"It's been up and down," she replied, giving him a half-hearted smile. "Mostly down...It was difficult, you not being here."

Tom glanced down for a second, a fleeting look of guilt crossing his features. "Weaver told me how you kids stepped up in my absence."

"Hal and Ben stepped up," Grace sighed, adding another plank to the pile. "I've just been following orders."

"You've been looking out for them. Couldn't have been easy with everything Ben's been going through,"

"You can say that again," Grace said, stifling a sarcastic laugh.

"I heard how different he is now. All these...abilities."

"Yeah. It's like the spikes are keeping him connected to the aliens somehow. It's not all bad. It's made him into a tough fighter. Not that I don't still worry about him all the time."

Tom chuckled softly. "I know that feeling."

Grace's smile eased away and she held Tom's gaze with a serious look in her eye. "You know, for a long time, I looked for you. When everyone else gave up, I kept searching. Sometimes I even thought I saw you, in the woods, reaching out to me. Thought I was going crazy. But I knew you'd come back."

Her father touched her arm. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to go through that. I should never have stayed on that ship."

"I get it. You did it to save us. I don't know what Karen would've done to me if you hadn't shown up."

His expression turned more solemn. "Grace. I need you to do me a favour."

By his tone, she could tell this was important. "Anything."

"You saw what it was like on that ship, the technology they had. I think they might have done something to me."

Grace blinked, her brows pinching together curiously. "Like what?"

"I have chunks of time missing from my memory. I think maybe they did something to my mind."

"Your mind...like mind control?"

"I really don't know. Point is, I want you to keep an eye on me."

Grace scoffed. "In case you murder us in our sleep or something? Dad, you'd never hurt us."

"Grace, I'm serious!" he snapped, causing her to jolt back. "I don't want to hurt any of you, but I might." He grabbed her shoulders, digging his fingers into her skin. "This is an order, understand? If I'm a risk, if I try to hurt anyone, you gotta stop me."

Grace looked at him with wide eyes, his words instilling fear in her. "Stop you? How?"

"By any means necessary. I mean it, Grace!"

"Dad, I...what has Doctor Glass said?"

"She couldn't help me. You have to, please! You want to protect your brothers as much as I do, even if it means killing me."

Tears filled her eyes, his grip was beginning to sting. "Dad."

"Promise me."

There was a fire in his eyes that frightened her. He really meant this, and he trusted her to do what he asked, no matter how much she didn't want to.

"Promise me!" he barked, practically shaking her.

"Okay!" she cried. "I promise."

He released her, but immediately clutched his head, grunting. She watched as he stumbled back, his knees buckling as he cried out in apparent agony.

A small figure launched towards them. "Dad?" It was Matt. She didn't know how long he had been there, but the sight of Tom collapsing had clearly sent him into a panic.

Grace knelt down to help her father, realising with horror that his eye was weeping blood.

"Oh my God. Matt - get Doctor Glass!"

"It was like he wasn't himself," Grace explained to Hal from outside the med bus five minutes later. Anne, Lourdes and Weaver were in there examining him. What for, she didn't know. But what he told her left her shaken. That the aliens might have done something to him? That disturbed her for a myriad of reasons.

"He really thinks he could hurt us?" Hal asked, keeping his voice low so Matt couldn't overhear. "I mean it's Dad."

Grace nodded gently. "He thought so." She still felt the pressure on her arms from where he'd grabbed her like that. He never laid a finger on any of them before; he seemed genuinely terrified. That's what worried her the most.

"Is Dad gonna be okay?" Matt asked from the infirmary 'waiting room', which was simply a couple of folding chairs outside the med bus.

Grace felt that familiar concern for Matt's innocence that she was used to feeling by now. But he was growing up, he wanted to get involved in the fight. She couldn't shield him from the horrors of this war forever. He was seeing every day what the enemy was capable of.

Grace offered him a comforting smile. "I'm sure they're doing all they can for him in there, Matty."

It didn't seem to help. "We just got him back," the youngest Mason sulked.

"We know, buddy," replied Hal.

"Would he really hurt us?" The poor boy looked frightened at the idea. What he saw must have really spooked him.

"There's no way," Hal assured him, taking up a seat beside him. "It's Dad. These old fish-heads couldn't change him if they tried."

Grace snorted slightly, and not just at the nickname many of the fighters had recently dubbed the tall, smooth-skinned aliens who appeared to govern the skitters. It was hard to imagine anything changing their dad. Even with everything he'd been through, he was still Tom Mason. The same man who snuggled up next to her when she had nightmares as a child, the man who grounded her for staying out past curfew, the man who put a gun in her hands and trusted her to fight in a revolution.

"He escaped from their ship didn't he?" Hal continued reassuringly. "Found his way back to us, despite everything they did to stop him, right?" He leaned closer to Matt, giving him a supportive smile. "Alright?"

Matt didn't reply, but he did force a small half-smile when Hal gave his hand a little squeeze.

Grace watched from the steps of the med bus, relieved that Hal had managed to calm him for now. But at the worst moment, a dreadful screaming erupted from inside.

It was Tom.

They all raised their heads, alarmed by the noise.

"Stay here," she told her brothers before running onto the bus. She found her dad on the table, being held down by Lourdes and Weaver. Tom was flailing, shrieking. She almost fell back with the shock, horrified to see her dad acting like a wild animal.

"Grace!" Anne spotted her. "Grab his legs!"

Her eyes were drawn to her father's legs, kicking out forcefully. She went to push them back down while Weaver held his head still and Lourdes held down his arms. It was like he was having a fit. Tom didn't even seem to realise she was there as he continued thrashing and kicking. She had to increase her weight on him until he became still enough for Anne to do whatever it was she had to do.

Grace looked over to see the doctor leaning over Tom's face with a pair of tweezers. She soon realised, with horror, that Anne was pulling something out of his eyeball. She felt sick as Anne slowly retracted a worm-like object from her father's eye. Tom instantly began to calm as soon as it was out, so she gently released her pressure from him. Lourdes fetched an empty jar and Anne promptly dropped the object inside. It wiggled about for a moment before rolling up into a hard ball, like some kind of insect.

"What the hell is that?" Grace asked, staring with disgust as Anne raised the jar for them all to see. Now it was still and rolled up like a pillbug protecting itself.

"It looks like a…" Anne paused, finding the perfect word for it. "Parasite."

"You say it just snapped shut?"

Jamil was now inspecting the alien bug, discussing its sudden appearance with Anne and Weaver as Tom sat behind them. Grace handed her dad a glass of water and watched as he drank it eagerly. His eye was bloodshot and the skin around it was slightly bruised, but he was recovered enough to know what they should do.

"You should destroy it," he said.

Captain Weaver nodded. "I agree. Could be a tracking device of some sort."

"Wouldn't the Beamers have found us by now if it was a tracker?" pointed out Grace, watching as Anne put the jar back on the counter.

"Or it could be like Tom said some kind of mind control device," suggested Weaver, putting a hand on his hip.

"Well, it's out now," Anne reminded them.

"That doesn't mean that's the end of it," said Tom, glancing over at them. "There could be others in me."

Weaver's eyes narrowed at him under the shadow of his cap. "What do you recommend, Tom?"

Tom hopped to his feet and limped towards them. Grace followed worriedly. "I don't think we have a choice," he said, looking for something. He picked up some cable ties from the counter and held them out towards Anne and Weaver. "You'll have to put me in restraints, at least until we cross the river."

"No way!" Grace exclaimed. "Dad, that's crazy."

"I'm not asking," Tom snapped back.

"She's right, Tom," Anne agreed. "We removed it. You're probably fine."

"You said I was fine before," he reminded Anne before turning back to Weaver. "Come on. Put all personal feelings aside, now's not the time to take any chances."

Weaver stared at him for what seemed like ages as he considered the request, then he snatched the cables from Tom. "Give me your hands."

Once Weaver had tied Tom to the metal post in the centre of the bus, Grace sat beside her now restrained father. It was clear from her face that she was concerned for him.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked him.

Tom nodded. "The safety of you kids and everyone here is more important to me right now."

She frowned. "I wish I'd never been on that stupid ship. If I hadn't gotten myself taken by them, none of this would be happening."

"This isn't your fault, sweetheart. I did it for you all for you." He glanced down at his restraints. They already looked like they were causing him discomfort. "I should have known I was being played. They never intended to leave us alone. They wanted us to give in, live in their prison camps for the rest of our lives. There was this...overlord alien talking through Karen, like he was controlling her. He offered me the deal."

"I saw him too. Charming guy. I hope you told him where to shove it."

Tom chuckled. "I did. Then they let me go. Now I know why."

They both went quiet for a moment. Then Grace broke the silence with something that had been bothering her for some time now.

"Do you think...they did something to me too? I woke up in that cage. Hours had passed. They could've done anything to me."

The idea made her shiver. The last time she had considered something like this was in Fitchburg when her mind was playing tricks on her. Many of her fellow fighters had considered the possibility too, accusing her of revealing their location to the enemy. The thought was stomach-turning. That she could be responsible for what happened in Fitchburg, all that death and destruction? If that were true, she wouldn't be able to live with herself.

"I doubt it," replied Tom. "You've been back with the Second Mass for months. Have you noticed anything?"

"Not really." She forced a smile at him. "I'll get the boys. Maybe Ben's back from his scout across the river."

He smiled back at her gratefully. As she headed down the steps, she recognised Pope's grating voice outside. She could see Hal and Weaver arguing with him.

"He's unarmed and in restraints," the captain assured the former criminal. "The situation is under control."

"The hell it is," spat Pope. "He could still be wired to skitter central. He and Little Miss Mason here." He raised his head as he spotted Grace coming down the steps. She returned his words with a cold glare. "She was on that ship too, wasn't she? I held my tongue when Warrior Barbie came back and then Fitchburg happened. I ain't letting any more people die. You should've put a bullet in the professor's head the moment he stepped foot on that ship." He stepped forward. "Now I wanna see-"

Immediately, Hal and Weaver raised their guns at him. Pope lifted his gun too, unfazed by the sudden stand-off.

"Two against one, hardly fair," he said.

"Actually, it's three on one, Pope."

Anthony appeared behind him, cocking his gun. Grace couldn't help smirking a little. At least some people were still on their side.

Pope lowered his weapon, clearly pissed off. "Anthony, you're a disappointment. Thought I was having a positive influence on you."

Anthony had been rolling with Pope's new crew - dubbed the 'Berserkers' - ever since Fitchburg. Grace figured it had something to do with Pope saving Anthony's life back at the alien structure in Boston, but now she saw it was also probably to reign Pope in when he did crazy crap like this.

She watched Weaver take a step towards Pope. "There's nothing I'd like better than to truss you up and leave you here. Be thankful that we need you and your band of degenerates...for now. Get out of my sight."

Pope glared. "Don't kid yourself, cap. Sooner or later you're gonna have to deal with that human LoJack in there. Him and his whole freak family!" he scoffed, walking away.

Hal lowered his gun, turning back to Grace who was breathing calmly through her rage. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Where's Matt?"

"He ran off. Didn't wanna see Dad."

Grace sighed. At least he hadn't witnessed Pope's aggressive speech, but deep down, she had her fears. What if he was right?