I'll have more comments down at the bottom!

Thanks to Mya the one and only. I'm so glad you're enjoying the story. You will definitely learn more about the girl and her story, including her Harness situation. Thanks so much for the review!

Thanks also to Guest. I will definitely continue since I know you guys are liking it! Thank you a ton for your review. It really makes me glad to know that you're enjoying the story so far!


"How's she doing?" asked Hal, standing next to the girl's table looking down at her.

Anne was on the other side, looking solemn. "The morphine should have given her the means of recovering. It's just not happening."

"What does that mean?" asked Hal, warily.

"It was just too late," replied Anne. "She needed it before her Harness was removed and again immediately after."

"Well what else can you do?" he pressed.

"I can try and give her a triple dose of morphine, but it's risky. It could act as a jumpstart but it could just as easily become an overdose."

"Well…" Hal looked at a loss for words. "What's going to happen to her?"

Anne shrugged helplessly. "She'll probably stay in this state. In an ordinary hospital, they could keep her alive with advanced drugs and machines. But here…I don't have those options."

"So you're just going to let her die?" demanded Hal.

"Of course not," said Anne, affronted. "I'm just saying there's only so much that I can do."

"There has to be something else."

"Hal, this is my last IV bag," said Anne, gesturing to the one hooked up to the girl. "You don't understand how low I am on supplies. I simply don't have the machinery I need. Unless she snaps out of it on her own, there's nothing I can do."

There was silence. Then Hal turned around and, as he walked out of the medical station, said, "Maybe she doesn't have to do it on her own."

He walked into the trailer he shared with his father and brothers.

"Hey Ben," he said, walking over to where a lone figure was sitting.

Ben looked up. "Hey," he said in return.

"Whatcha doin'?" asked Hal, sitting beside Ben on one of the cots and taking off his gun.

"Thinking," replied Ben, starting to sound annoyed at Hal's interference.

"I've been looking all over for you."

"Why?" asked Ben.

"Anne thinks the girl is going to die," said Hal abruptly. As Maggie had pointed out, no subtlety per usual.

Ben was caught off guard. "What?"

"Anne said she's running out of options and if the girl doesn't wake up soon, she's going to die."

But by now the shock had worn off and Ben said flatly, looking away, "So?"

"So I think you need to help her!" exclaimed Hal.

"What do you want me to do?" said Ben. "I can't help her any more than you can."

"That's not true and we both know it," said Hal, giving Ben a don't even pretend look. "Now I don't know exactly what is going on between you two, but you said you have a connection. She's already tapped into you, I think you can tap into her. Get her out of the state that she's in."

"How?" asked Ben, turning to his brother with a hard expression on his face.

"I don't know," said Hal, frustrated. "Talk to her, tell her to snap out of it. Go into her mind and drag her out of it if you have to."

"That's ridiculous," said Ben flatly. "There is no such thing as telepathy or spirit walking."

"Ben…"

Ben looked up at Hal and said evenly. "I don't know what you want me to do, Hal."

"I want you to help her!"

"Why?"

"Because she's like you, Ben!

There was silence. Hal looked like a little kid who had just blurted out a secret to the adults, and Ben was frozen once more.

"What do you mean?" he asked in a tight voice.

Hal sighed. "I mean…she was harnessed. Like you. Somehow she got it off and now she's dying."

"Did Anne give her morphine?"

Hal nodded. "Yeah. But she thinks it was too little, too late."

"She was harnessed. That's why I can feel her," realized Ben. "But it still doesn't make sense…"

He trailed off and Hal seemed confused.

"Why not? Can't you feel the others? The ones brought in with you?"

"Not like this," admitted Ben. "The other kids, they're background noise. They're really faint. I know they're here and I know who they are, but they're easy to ignore."

"And the girl?" prompted Hal.

"Her presence is so much stronger," he said, and as he spoke he took one hand and grasped his head. "Nothing is specific, but I know she's there. I can feel her, all the time in my head. It's like when you're in a dark room with other people and you can feel them standing beside you even though you can't see them."

Hal shivered slightly, not liking the sound of it. Ben noticed, and said, "But it's not a physical presence. It's all mental. It's all in here." He tapped the side of his head. Then he looked directly at Hal. "Do you think I'm going crazy?" he whispered.

Hal shook his head firmly, though the uncertainty about Ben's confession showed in his eyes. "No, Ben," he assured him. "You are not crazy. There is nothing wrong with you, I promise."

He grasped Ben's shoulder. "Listen to me. You can do things I can only dream about. You can see farther and hear better than anyone here." He looked at his brother seriously. "Those are gifts, Ben. Treat them like it."

"I don't want them," said Ben in a low voice. "Not if they're going to make me a freak."

"What's so bad about being a freak?" asked Hal.

Ben looked at him incredulously.

Hal lifted up his hands. "I mean, look. I'm not going to deny that you're a freak because I've called you that ever since you could talk."

"Which is not possible, because I started talking before you did," reminded Ben, waiting to get a reaction from his brother.

"Not true!" denied Hal, in a tone that suggested they'd had this argument many a time. Ben couldn't help but smile, before Hal continued seriously. "Maybe you should look at all this as a good thing. Especially out here, you never know. It could save your life one day. I'd give anything to be able to do what you can, Ben."

"Oh really?" challenged Ben. "Because it's not all superhero action man stuff. Do you think I don't notice, Hal? Because I do. I notice people leaving the room when I walk in. I notice parents pulling their children away from me when I walk by. When I'm around, aliens aren't the threat. It's me. So no, I don't want these 'gifts' as you call them. And I don't think you do either because, unfortunately, being popular doesn't come with the package. And I'm sure you can't even imagine what that's like."

Hal look at his brother. "Really? You're going to play that card right now?"

"Well why not?" retorted Ben.

"Because you don't even try to be social! You could have at least tried to talk to the other kids in your class. And at school, all you would do was hang out with your three geeky friends from middle school and read books all the time. I tried to get you to come to football games and dances, but you said you didn't want to go."

"I came to your lacrosse games."

"Only because Mom made you."

"Come on, Hal. You didn't want me at football games or dances anyways. Face it. It's not 'cool' to have your geeky younger brother tagging along. And that was fine with me. I never wanted to be popular like you. But sometimes I think you forget what life is like for everybody else."

"What are you even talking about?" asked Hal.

"You've had it so easy your entire life. You got everything, Hal. You did everything first and you got everybody's attention. You're the dumb jock that everybody loves."

"That's not fair and you know it," said Hal. It would have hurt more but it wasn't the first time Ben had called him that. In all honesty, Hal knew he'd probably called Ben something much worse at one time or another.

"Yeah, well, life isn't fair," replied Ben morosely.

"Exactly!" Hal pounced on his words. "Life isn't fair, so you might as well make the best of it. Who cares what other people think? You just said it yourself: you don't want to be popular. Dad and Matt and I love you for who you are. Anne is genuinely worried about you and doesn't see you as any different than any of her other patients. Even Lourdes and Maggie like you. If we were in school and a girl like that even said 'hi' to you? You were doing pretty good. Isn't that enough?"

"Maggie's never said 'hi' to me," said Ben, clearly trying to be difficult.

"She gave you a gun though," reminded Hal. "That's even better. And you were alone for 20 minutes in a dark van talking to Lourdes. That, my little brother, would have spread some serious rumours."

Ben rolled his eyes. He started to say, "Nothing happened" but then remembered that he had accidentally caused the girl's pressure to spike, so "Nothing happened" probably wasn't applicable. So instead, he settled on, "You're ridiculous, you know that?"

Hal laughed. "I'm just saying."

Ben was quiet. Hal stopped laughing and looked at Ben soberly.

"You're right," he finally admitted. "I don't know what it's like to be you. But if you really want a friend, she's going to know what it is to be different. What it's like to be in your shoes. And I would be grateful to somebody who saved my life, no matter who they were."

"Even if you didn't want your life to be saved?"

"Like I said, I don't know what it's like to be you," said Hal with a significant look. "But I'd be thankful they did, even if it took a little while to feel that way. Because I have a pretty good life, and so do you."

"Yeah," said Ben softly. "I guess I do."

"Come on," said Hal, standing up. "I want to check in on the girl before Anne tells Weaver and Dad that she was harnessed."

"They don't know yet?" asked Ben, getting up to follow Hal.

"I wanted to keep it a secret until she woke up. I figured she at least had the right to defend herself when Weaver decides what to do with her."

"So you don't think she's dangerous?"

"Nope. She had bad things happen to her but it doesn't make her a bad person. She deserves as much of a chance as you and I to prove herself."

Hal looked at his brother, hoping Ben understood what he was saying. He was rewarded when Ben finally smiled and said, "Thanks, Hal."


Sorry this one is a little shorter. It just seemed like a good place to stop.

I know there wasn't much action-y yelling going on. But I really love the family moments, especially between the brothers...but feel free to let me know if I'm overdoing them or if they seem way too out of character.

I know it's only been a day and Anne is already predicting the girl's death and while it seems extreme, I also think that in those conditions it wouldn't be unjustified. There are no means of sanitation, Anne has virtually no supplies or equipment, the girl wasn't in good shape to begin with, and they're dealing with an alien contraption so all bets are completely off. If you'd like to chime in, go for it!

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Let me know your thoughts!

~moviegal101~