Thanks for staying tune, and I hope that you will continue to do so even with the season over. I can't believe that it's already done! And that it's going to be an entire year until the next season! They should have tried to time the second season for December and January, would of made the wait more bearable.


Chapter 2 Manipulation is Such an Ugly Thing

"Let's go Michael!" My Dad yelled, struggling to get luggage onto the lawn in front of our house. My Mom was already outside, worry all over her face as she stared at the horizon, looking at the hundreds of tiny, drone space ships over Boston. The moved about like insects, gathering into huge groups and then dispersing into all directions, scanning everything below them.

I ran out the door and helped my Dad gather the last of our luggage into a pile. My Dad gazed at his watch in distress. "They should have been here five minutes ago!" he said angrily, staring down the street both ways.

"They have an RV, Daryl." My Mom said to comfort my Dad. "It takes a little longer."

"Which is why I told that ass James to leave earlier!" My Dad complained, "But he said not to worry about it and that he would get there here on time." He looked at his watch again, trying to hide his concern. My Mom wasn't doing as well, biting her finger nails, looking up at the ships in the sky.

"If he isn't here in the next five minutes, we are leaving on our own! We'll just have to leave some stuff behind!" He turned to my Mom, who was transfixed by the ships in the sky. My Dad looked at her confused. "Honey? What is it?"

"The… the ships! Look!" my Mom said, pointing to the sky. We all looked as the ships grew tighter together, seeming to light up brighter and brighter as they were brought closer together. After about ten seconds the light was so bright, it was as if we were staring at the sun itself.

"Turn away NOW!" my dad shouted, grabbing both of us by the shoulders and pulling us closer to him. There was a blast of sound and a loud ringing in my ears as I felt myself collapse.

"Michael?" I heard a voice call to me. "Michael you ok?" I blinked a couple of times and looked up at who was addressing me. It was that razor back and some other boy. Well, boy wouldn't be the right word. He looked more like a young adult, though he still had the facial features and soft skin of an early teenager. An almost baby face kid, I hate those types of kids. Probably just because they get the girls easier.

"You finally showed." I said, jumping to my feet to stand toe to toe with Ben while studying his friend out of the corner of my eye. "I see you took my offer and brought a friend."

"Actually this is my brother, Hal. Hal, this is Michael. Michael, Hal." Ben said, making quick introductions. Hal held out his hand to shake and I raised mine to shake his. I studied him with new found interest as he did me. If I had seen these two together from a distance I would never have guessed that they were related. They both had different body types, different hair color, and by the looks, a difference in the amount of physical activity they did. The only thing they had in common was the color of their eyes.

There was one thing bothering me about Hal though. "You look familiar. Have we met?" I asked. Hal shrugged.

"Don't know. I meet a lot of people and I don't remember all of them." He said nonchalantly. He smiled slightly; he was kind of cocky, but not overbearing. I think I could get use to him. "So, it was nice of you to invite my brother to this party." I raised an eyebrow at him, knowing exactly where this was going. Ben looked slightly uncomfortable as his brother continued, "you just hand out invitations to anybody?"

Scratch what I said earlier, this guy was overbearing. If I were Ben I wouldn't have invited him, he would screw up any chance of Ben developing any real friends. Somehow I think Ben had no choice in inviting him. Older brother privileges or something like that probably.

"Not to just anybody," I said, thinking of what best to say. Naturally I ignored that and thought of a better way to see what kind of person this Hal was. "But I thought having a razor back at the social gathering would be fun."

The air grew dead around us and Hal gave me a death glare. For a second I felt bad about what I said, and then mentally kicked myself. Ben's got his brother, doesn't matter what I say.

Finally Hal said something, "You hate people who have been returned to normal after being harnessed." I snorted at the question and responded easily.

"It's easier to say 'razor back'. And no, I'm not. But I won't lie; I want him here to annoy my son of a bitch cousin who does hate them. So I invited him to mess my cousin."

Ben's face visible fell and Hal looked like he would hit me. I'm pretty sure he would have if a young boy hadn't come running up and stepped in between the three of us. He had messy blonde hair and looked to be about ten years old. He tugged on Hal's coat to get his attention.

"Hal, Dad said I could come if I hung out with the younger kids." He turned to me now, "You do have younger people at this party?" I stared at this kid in confusion, stuff coming together in my mind. 'Another brother? What is this?'

"Yes, we have a kids section for people your age." I answered, now staring at all the brothers. Suddenly it came to me, I heard about these three from all the gossip filled people in the lunch room and at school. Now I knew why Hal had looked familiar! And now I understood the razors or pins in Ben's back.

"Holy Shit!" I exclaimed shocked, though my face my not of shown it. "Your Tom Mason's kids aren't you?" They all nodded as my mouth dropped open in shock.

"Language!" The youngest Mason brother said, pointing at me. I gave him a glare and he tucked his finger away in his pocket. I turned to Ben, angry. "When we were talking about our last names, would it have killed you to say what your last name was?" Ben looked at me, also angry.

"You didn't give me your last name!" I groaned in anger.

"That's because my last name doesn't mean anything! 'Mason' is a last name that everybody knows and respects!"

"So you'll respect my brother just enough because he has 'Mason' for his last name?" Hal said angrily. I groaned, not at Hal, but at myself. I had really dug myself a hole with those stupid comments about "razor backs". I even told Ben they looked like pins, not razors!

An idea came to me, an idea that was infinitely better than the one I had about just annoying that brat Terry. But I would need time to develop it. Right now, I needed to at least recover some ground with the Mason boys.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm just… I'm just like this. My attitude I mean." I tried to explain without giving to much away. "I'm sorry about insulting you, and I completely respect what your father does and I guess what you do Hal. Now, if you still want to come to the party you can. You don't even have to hang out with me." The boys were looking at me and then back at each other. Damn sibling telepathy.

I nodded at each of them and then walked away, trying to seem like I didn't care what they thought. Ben called out to me though before I disappeared completely, "I thought it was a social gathering, not a party." I turned towards him and looked him over again. He had a small smile on his face.

"It can be whatever you want it to be." I responded simply before turning around and entering the party.

Later

'The party really isn't much,' I reflected, sitting in a seat on the edge of the teen party. With no real music, punch, or even alcohol, people were reduced with standing around and talking. There were some snacks, true, but nothing that was that great. Canned beans should never be a snack item at a party.

Still, it didn't look like people were too badly affected by having to talk to one another instead of getting high or drunk. There was plenty to gossip about at John F. Kennedy High School. People talked about serious stuff such as food supplies, education, what was happening with the skitters, who they were before the invasion. And of course, people talked about ridiculous things, such as what the new clothing trends were, how they could organize a sports team or a debate team, and of course, who was dating who.

Just because the world ended, didn't mean that crazy, stupid, teen love had to end as well.

I noticed that my cousin Terry seemed to be quite knowledgeable in the art of seduction. Already he had girls fawning over him, seemingly ready to bend to his every whim. I pang of jealously rose through my body, but I quickly buried them down. I had other things to worry about.

Tired of being the outcast of the party, I got up to leave. That meant wading through the throng of teens, but I thought I could move quickly enough through that I didn't have to deal with anybody, especially Terry. Before I could make it to the other side of the room, I heard two words that caught my attention.

Razor Back.

I stopped in my tracks and moved closer to the group of people talking about them. I wasn't surprised to hear my cousin's voice. It would be him who would be talking bad about things that he didn't fully understand.

"I'm just saying, why are they allowed to walk around in the open? Where was the thinking in that? I say, if they still have the spikes in them, they should be locked up until the spikes disappear or, you know, just keep them there." I scoffed, no doubt that was good ol' Uncle James speaking through his son. It was scary how much crap Terry could swallow.

I heard some people protesting that train of thought, but they wouldn't get anywhere. Terry was a lot of things, and one of those things was charismatic. He would have them eating out of his hand by the end of the night. I just hope Hal isn't around, probably kill Terry. Then again, maybe that isn't so bad.

I was outside the party area when I saw somebody sitting down outside the school. I recognized the clothing as Ben's. Slowly I began to approach him, not wanting to startle him. He turned around and saw me coming, however, and gave a sad smile.

"Hey." He said simply. I gave a small smile and said 'hey' back, before sitting down next to him. It was silent for a little bit as neither of us knew what to say. God, I wish I was better with interacting with people. Too late now though.

"Did you enjoy the party?" I said weakly, Ben looked away from the stars in the sky and looked at me. He bit his lower lip, clearly trying not to offend me. "The truth, please Ben."

He sighed, leaning back a little bit. "It was ok." He said, looking as if he wanted to add more. He didn't however, deciding to stay silent.

"Until you heard people talking about 'razor backs'." I supplemented. Ben looked at me and then slowly nodded his head. I sighed dramatically, "Well I hope Hal isn't still in there." Ben laughed a little at that. "No. He, uh, he went to bring Matt back to our room. Jimmy doesn't quite count in the 'kid group', ya know?"

"I don't know I'm afraid." I said, "He's one of the fighters, isn't he?" Ben nodded his head. "Lucky him." I muttered.

"You want to fight?" Ben asked, a bit shocked. I laughed at that.

"Do I not look like the fighter type?" I asked, with sarcasm in my voice. Ben was polite and didn't respond, probably out of fear of saying something wrong. This maybe the longest conversation he's had with someone other than his family since the invasion began. "Don't worry about it. I know what I look like."

It was true, I wasn't exactly fighting material. I was skinner than Ben, though a bit taller, and had a few red marks on my face from pimples that had begun to disappear. Everything about me suggested Anti-Fighter, though I wanted nothing more than to fight. I didn't care about my life, and I couldn't think about anybody who would if I died. My aunt and uncle would only be sad because they failed to keep their word, which they would get over in about an hour.

"I didn't mean it like that." Ben said, trying to reconcile himself. I held up a hand.

"It's fine." I insisted. Ben was quiet after that, and another awkward silence ensued. "Do you want to fight?" I asked. It came out before I had any time to really consider what I was asking. Why did he need to fight? Two of his family members were fighting, one of them second in command of the 2nd Massachusetts. His father probably wouldn't even let him fight.

Ben was seriously considering the question though, and responded after a minute with a pretty neutral answer. "I don't know, if I have to I will. But I don't know if my dad will allow it." I nodded my head in understanding, "So you really want to fight?" He asked me again.

"Yes." I responded confidently.

"If you want, I can get you to meet with my dad. Maybe he can get you into the fight." Ben said, his voice rising with eagerness.

"You think you could do that?" I asked, shocked. Ben nodded his head.

"Ya, my dad is the kind of guy who will listen to whatever people have to say. I'm sure he'll give you the time of day to speak your mind. If Jimmy can fight, why can't you?"

"That sounds great!" I said, with equal eagerness.

"Great!" Ben said. "I'll ask him if you two can meet, and then I can get back to you! Alright?"

"Ya thanks." My watch began to beep, symbolizing my alarm going off. "I should get going, my aunt and uncle will be wondering where I am. You want to tag along?"

"Nah, I'm going to sit here for a while I think." Ben said. I got up and began to walk away when I turned back around to say one last thing. "Hey Ben!" I said, he turned around to look at me, "I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I… I don't know why I did that. I've just been dealing with some stuff."

Ben looked at me for a little and nodded his head, "It's ok. I… maybe we could hang out some other time. Just to do something fun."

I smiled and nodded, "That sounds great Ben. Talk later then?" Ben nodded and I turned to walk around, my footsteps echoing down the corridor as I walked. As I rounded the corner I smiled to myself.

"And that's how you manipulate someone." I said, giggling to myself as I entered my family's room.


Hope you enjoyed, I plan to pick up the action pretty soon so things will get more intense.

Yes, Michael is a bit of a jerk, but Ben balances him out and his tragic past has also transformed him into this cold, closed off person.

Thanks for reading! and please REVIEW!