I had nothing better to do, so I decided to update again! I hope you're happy ;). I've been getting some really good ideas lately and decided to write while I don't have writers block. I had some interesting discussions with Whisper Maw and ended with talking about human Skitter babies O_O … Okay so here's chapter 3…

Mari's POV:

"Jimmy, it'd be nice if you chose now to get yourself over here," I muttered under my breath.

From somewhere behind me I heard Lucy stumbling around trying to burrow herself deeper into the alley.

"Uh, nice Skitter, no need to harness anyone now," I said in a soothing voice knowing it wasn't going to work. That's when I noticed it was the red eyed Skitter from the night of my accident.

I thought about charging it, but remembered what had happened last time. Not to mention that there was a good chance I'd rip the gouge back open if I tried.

I felt so helpless, just sitting in a corner waiting for the Skitter to take me away. Fully expecting the alien to grab me, I was shocked when the red eyed beast scrambled right past, heading straight towards Lucy?

Does this Skitter have, like, personal beef with me or something; going after my weaknesses, my friends?

"Lucy, RUN!" I shouted at her hoping she would follow my order. I dared to peek behind the dumpster and saw her frozen there. She was scared, and when she got scared her body shut down.

"Lucy, snap out of it!" She blinked a couple times until her brain processed the situation, then turned and crashed into a trash can, scraping her knees.

I wanted to buy her more time, but I didn't want to get myself killed in the process. I know I sound really selfish, but my own instinct to survive trumped my desire to save my friend.

I couldn't believe the amount of times Jimmy did it for me. He had made it look so much easier than it actually is.

Keeping anybody alive now is far from easy.

I knew Lucy wasn't the fastest runner thanks to all of her baby fat, so outrunning it wasn't an option. I'd felt like it was my job to keep her safe, so I took action.

"Yo Skitter," I yelled and threw a piece of concrete from the crumbling building on the right side of the alley.

The Skitter interpreted my move and hit the rock away without, what seemed like, any effort at all. "What are you super skitter?" I asked myself.

Lucy was still having trouble getting around everything and I was starting to get really worried.

My eyes soon caught a glimpse of something towards, what looked like, the end of the alley. Little metal circles connecting to poles… I wondered what the structure could be. Taking off at a sprint towards it, I half hoped that the Skitter would take its attention away from Lucy and come after me.

As the metal form came into focus, I realized it was fence. By the time I realized that the Skitter hadn't taken the bait, I was halfway over it.

"Oh no," I finished the climb no problem, but Lucy wasn't in nearly as good of shape as I was, even after I'd gotten hurt.

The girl had always been more of a civilian just trying to keep her head down and survive. She'd never gone through the Fighter's basic training.

I must've been friend of the year standing on the other side of a chain link fence, watching my best friend struggle to get away from a creature she had no chance in defending herself from.

That's when it hit me. Camp isn't too far away, I could call for help. Somebody was bound to hear me.

"SKITTER! Somebody help! SKITTER!" I screamed as loud as I could without my words being unintelligible.

Red Eye turned and looked at me with such hatred that I felt my heart skip a beat and I gasped.

The thing definitely had some serious issues with the 2nd Mass.

He continued after Lucy who had finally made it the rest of the way down the alley to the fence, though she was having a problem finding a foot hold in the chain links.

There wasn't enough time now; Lucy was within Red Eye's spidery leg distance.

I forced my eyes shut as I listened to the young girl's desperate screams, wishing I could help her.

Taking a peak between my eye lids I noticed that, unusually, there was no Mech to be seen or heard near-by. Red Eye had come out all alone.

As awful as it was, I was somewhat curious to see how the Skitter would take her away.

Lucy's hazel eyes narrowed with hurt and fear as she stared at me through the holes in the fence.

It killed me to hear her whimper in pain. I knew its plan. Make me come to it, catching two kids to bring home to momma. I wasn't going to fall for its trap, but I hated to see Lucy in such agony.

I heard the rhythmic thumps of a Mech coming around the far corner. 'Ole Red Eye hadn't come in alone after all.

Just before it shot I spoke. "I will come for you Lucy," There was a pop and a ray of bluish light, followed by the thud of Lucy's unconscious form hitting the hard ground.

The Mech picked up her motionless body and carried her away with Red Eye scampering close on its tail.

"What's going on?" I heard the voice that belonged to none other than Tom Mason. My face heated with anger.

"What's going on? I scream Skitter and you want to know what's going on? Lucy was just taken! You did nothing! You did nothing!" My voice was filled with hate and disgust as I put emphasis on the word nothing.

My thoughts were going a mile a minute and I wasn't quite sure what else I had said after that, but the next thing I knew Hal was next to Tom with a gun pointed at my head.

"Go ahead, shoot me. I'm not scared to die. You think I wanted this? Huh Hal? You think I don't wish I were in her place?" I knew I sounded insane but I could tell by the look in the older teen's eyes that he felt a little sympathy.

In my heart I couldn't help but feel that if I'd really wanted to be in her place I would've gone back over the fence for her. What kind of friend was I?

"Mari, it's going to be okay. We'll get Lucy back." Hal spoke in a calming voice, but nothing would change what was going on at the very moment or what I had done.

"False hope and lies," I murmured.

Ben came around the corner to check out what all the shouting had been about to find his brother with a gun aimed directly at my face.

If only Matt had shown up, then the whole happy Mason bunch would be here.

"Mari, what's going on? I glared at him not wanting to explain what had happened again.

Hal leaned over and whispered something into Ben's ear. This only made my anger grow.

If anybody should find out about this, it should be from me!

Ben's face slowly fell as Hal told of the ordeal. While they were all discussing what to do with me, I decided for them.

Turning around, I scouted the vicinity of the block, looking for any sign that the Mech or the Skitter would have left behind.

I don't know why I thought I could see anything, but hope was all I had for Lucy right then.

I walked back down the alley and pushed in between Hal and Tom, bumping into both of them on the way.

I needed to go find Jimmy, and when I did he was going to be in a whole lot of pain.

I looked in the direction of the tent he walked into and stormed toward it. What could he possibly be doing?

I threw beside the cloth covering up the sides of his cot to find him folding a pile of t shirts.

"Jimmy what the hell is your problem?" He glanced up at me, turned away, then continued to roll up his favorite navy blue shirt.

"Look at me Jimmy!" I started screaming and before he could react I'd slapped him across the face.

His hand went to his cheek which had begun to grow red from the blow.

"Why? Of all the times you've come around when I needed you, why didn't you this time." He stared at me trying to make it look like he didn't know what I was talking about and maintained his stony silence.

"Ever since you found me, you've saved me." My voice was calmer now and I think Jimmy finally thought I was ready to listen, or at least, not slap him again.

"When I found you in that building, I felt like you were my responsibility." I could tell he really didn't want to talk about it, that he thought maybe what he'd said was good enough. On the other hand, I wasn't ready to let it go that easily.

"So that's all I am to you? Just a child to watch over?" My anger came bubbling back to the surface like boiling water.

"Mari, the way you're acting is childlike. I'm not your keeper. That's not even what you're here for, I can tell. So, what is it that you want?" he asked, getting annoyed.

"I told you why. Why weren't you there? Lucy, they took…" I couldn't even finish the sentence; I couldn't admit to myself that she was gone.

"You're gonna blame me for the fact you can't save your own friends?" Jimmy knew he was striking a nerve in me but he didn't stop there. "I think it's time you take care of yourself." Jimmy yet again walked away from me, but this time he had something to show for it; a swelling, red handprint on his face that matched the size of my palm like a glove.

I sat on his cot and tucked myself under the linen sheets.

What if Weaver asked what happened? What if…if Lucy— No, I couldn't say that. They couldn't have gotten the harness on her yet.

I couldn't sleep knowing I was in Jimmy's bed. There was something awkward and wrong about it, especially with the way he'd been treating me. He had really started getting on my nerves a lot lately.

I crawled out of his cot and started walking for the med bus. Maybe he was right though…maybe I did need to start fending for myself. I was going to get Lucy back no matter who was going to help me, even if I had to do it completely alone.

Okay, that's the end of chapter 3. I hope you all like it. Don't forget get to press the review button! ;)