Disclaimer - Still own nothing. Enjoy chapter 3.

Chapter 3

Breaking Slowly

When Hal opened his eyes, he became aware of two things, one he was still in the jeep, two, he was upside down. Hal looked to the passenger side and saw Cochise completely out of it. Hal was wondering how long he was out, but when the sounds of gunfire started, he realized he couldn't have been out that long.

Realizing that he was of no help by being stuck in the vehicle, he lifted his elbow and slammed it against the window, breaking the glass. Hal managed to pull the seat-belt loose, but as he was about to slide out the window he felt a sharp pain in his right ankle.

Hal looked down, well, technically up, and saw his right foot twisted between the gas and brake. There was no way he was walking away without help. Slowly and painfully, Hal pulled his foot free and slide out the window, feeling the shards of glass rubbing against his clothes, and for the first time, feeling the blood running down his face and his left arm.

"Hal Mason!" Hal looked up when he heard his name, and saw Shak coming over, carrying his Volm gun.

"I'm fine, get Cochise." He told him as he pulled himself to sit against a tree that was beside the road. Shak looked and saw through the windows that Cochise was still in the jeep, he turned and went to the passenger side, while shouting something back to the other Volm in their language.

Hal turned his head to look the other way, where the blast had come from. He saw many skitters heading their way, and a few harnessed kids, firing massive guns at them. Hal pulled his handgun out of his belt and returned fire as Shak pulled Cochise out of the jeep.

"Hal Mason, we must leave!" Shak yelled over the noise, is arms around Cochise, while the rest of the Volm covered him. Hal knew that they were out of time.

"Just go! Get out of here." Hal yelled, going back to firing his gun at the still approaching skitters. Shak looked like he wanted to argue, but he too realized that if there was any hope of getting the weapon to Fayetteville, they would have to leave now. Shak pulled Cochise into the truck and then sped off down a back road out of sight, leaving Hal alone.

Hal continued firing until the inevitable happened, he was out of bullets. He didn't have anymore on him, and he couldn't run away. Soon, he was surrounded on all sides by skitters, all of them looking like they wanted to tear him apart, but instead held back. It didn't take long for Hal to realize why. An Overlord came forward with a harnessed boy, probably about 17, by his side, gun in his hand.

The harnessed kid bent down and asked, "What kind of weapon do the Volm have? Where are they taking it?" Hal just stared at passed the kid and to the fish-head, knowing it was his voice and not the kid's.

The kid spoke again, "If you do not tell us now, we will make you." Hal again said nothing, he just stared right into the Overlord's eyes.

The boy lifted his gun and fired, and everything turned black.

FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSF

"Finally! I thought we'd never stop walking!" Matt exclaimed, sitting down on the steps of one of the buildings as Tom, Anne and Maggie laughed Matt's enthusiasm.

"Did we actually beat Hal and Cochise here." Ben asked, coming to stand by beside his Dad and step-mother. Tom looked around for any sign of his oldest and his alien friend, spotting the transport truck beside the main building in the area where they had agreed to meet before they left Chinatown.

"No, the truck is right over there." Tom pointed out, walking towards it.

"But where's the jeep?" Maggie wondered, seeing no sign of it anywhere. Suddenly, the door to the building opened and out came Cochise, who had a large cut on his face. Everyone stopped and stared, before finally Tom asked the question that all were to scared to ask.

"Cochise, what happened?"

FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFS

Hal woke with a dull throbbing in his body, starting from his head down to his feet, mostly in his right foot. He opened his eyes and found himself in a small room that was pretty much empty besides a table at the other end, probably only 10, maybe 12 feet away from where Hal was.

When Hal tried to move around, he found he was sitting upright in a chair, his arms restrained down to the arms of the chair with cuffs around his wrists and felt a tight, leather strap around his neck and he started to struggle, trying to break free. After doing that for about five minutes, Hal gave up as he started to feel blood around his wrists as the cuffs cut into his skin. It was then, that he heard the door open.

"Wide awake I see." The harnessed boy said with a grin on his face, as he and his Overlord entered the room. The kid stopped right by the table as the alien came to stand right in front of Hal, and bent down so they were eye level.

"Are you ready now to tell me what I want to know?" The boy asked from his spot.

"You're wasting your time. I don't know anything about a weapon." Hal answered, staring right into the Overlord's big, evil eyes.

"Alright, we shall take the other route." The Overlord responded, walking around the as the harnessed kid turned his back to them to grab something off the table.

"What is that?" Hal asked, trying to hide his fear as the harnessed boy turned around to reveal the syringe in his hand. He tried to keep one eye on the boy and one on the Overlord, but the Overlord continued to walk around until he stopped right behind the chair that Hal was restrained to.

"Well, Hal Mason, it appears that your memory is lacking a little." The kid said as he approached Hal, "But don't worry, we can fix that."

The boy lifted the needle up and Hal started squirming around in the chair, but the cuffs around his wrists and the strap around his neck made it impossible to get away. The Overlord, seeing his captive struggle, placed his alien had on Hal's head, holding him steady as the kid injected the needle into Hal's neck, and Hal screamed.

Author's Note – What can I say, I like cliff hangers. Sorry. Chapter 4 will hopefully be up soon. Please review, I would love to know your thoughts.