The Little Scout
Chapter Three
Ben's POV
Ben lay awake in bed, not tried the slightest bit. He tossed a little in his cot and stared up at the tent's roof. The sound of Matt and Hal's snoring soothed him a little. A light passage opened up and someone walked into their tent. Ben grabbed a gun and kept it close to him. "Ben..." Someone whispered. They tripped over something and landed with a small bag. "Ow."
"Tessa?"
"Yes."
"What are you doing?"
"I couldn't sleep..."
"Oh, right."
"Do you mind?"
"No of course not." Ben told her, she stood up and wriggled in beside him. He clicked the safety on the gun and shoved it under his pillow. "How can't you sleep?"
"I get lonely..."
"Cute."
"Shut up." Ben wrapped his arms around Tessa and hugged her. "Why weren't you sleeping?"
"It keeps away the nightmares." Tessa looked up at him.
"The nightmares?"
"You don't have nightmares?" She shook her head. "Most of them are about the Skitter's coming to get Me."
"And the rest?"
"They're about my family getting taken too."
"But that won't happen."
"I know. Sometimes, I just think...that it will."
"Don't worry...your family's tough as old boots. I doubt anything will happen to them."
"Something did. My Dad was taken."
"Ben, I know. But he came back. I wish my family was like yours."
"Tough?" Ben asked. Tessa shook her head.
"Alive." She confirmed.
"I'm sorry..."
"No, it's okay. You win some you lose some. I had to lose some to find all of this. If my Dad hadn't thrown himself in front of my skinny butt that night, I'd be six feet under."
"He saved you." Tessa nodded.
"And if I'd died, I would've never met the 2nd Mass."
"Even the crazy ones you wished you'd never met."
"Even the crazy ones." Ben saw tears in her eyes.
"Don't cry, Tess."
"I'm not." She sobbed quietly. "I've got hay-fever."
"Near winter, Tess?"
"Shut up." She told him. He wrapped his arms around her and she did the same to him. Her little arms didn't quite reach. "Do you notice them?" She asked.
"The spikes?" She nodded. "Sometimes. But not all the time. Do you?"
"I don't have any..."
"I mean do my spikes bother you? I've seen the way you look at me sometimes, Tessa, like your scared."
"I guess you scare the hell out of me but your whole family does, even Matt."
"Do the spikes?" Ben repeated.
"They do. I'm not scared of them; I'm scared of the fact that they're there. That they can take you any second and there's nothing I can do."
"I'll never let that happen."
"It's not your choice."
"Tessa..."
"Don't feed me empty promises, Ben. I know better."
"I'm not. I won't let that happen."
"But you can't choose. You have to, if they get you Ben. There's no escaping them not with those on."
"Ben? Ben?" Matt stood a cot away. "Who are you talking to?"
"Tessa."
"Did we wake you up?" Tessa asked him.
"Yes."
"Sorry. We'll be quieter."
"You shouldn't be here."
"I'm going."
"She's got every right, just go back to sleep Matt." Matt did as his elder brother told him and slipped back into his cot.
"I think we should go to sleep."
"You'll keep away the nightmares?"
"I can't promise anything, I'm your own little nightmare." Ben smiled. "Your not so tough."
"I am so."
"Are not."
"Am."
"Not."
"SHUT UP!" Matt shouted.