Oh my gosh...200 views after four days?! You guys ROCK!:) Thank you so much for the consistent reviews and for the favorites! You guys have no idea how much this means to us! Thank you all! Anyways, you guys will get a little bit of a difference in our perspectives now, instead of reading the same thing basically:p haha Enjoyyyy!:D

-Kaylee

Hope you guys like the story so far! Thank you for the support!:D Remember to leave a review!:) ~Alyssa

H is For Hate- Chapter 3

Alyssa's POV

We came up to a decent sized room.

"Karen, I need to talk to you," the girl from the front walked out and smiled at Hal. She came out and they just started kissing each other. Okay, this girl is clearly not clean or pure in anyway.

"Are you guys going to be a while? Because if you are, let me know, I'll go find something else to do." They both just glared at me.

"Who is she? And what is she doing here?"

"Karen meet Alyssa, Alyssa this is Karen-"

"No Hal I thought she was Sarah," What does he think I'm like five or something?

"And you two are going to be roommates, along with Kaylee, another girl that we found. Alyssa meet me outside in a half hour by the bikes and don't be late. Karen, you'll be with Ben and her friend Kaylee today for watch. Weaver said something about us having to build trust-"

"But I trust you Hal, why-"

"Not you idiot, Hal and ME need to build trust."

"Why?" She is actually confused.

"If we are all going to be on the same scout team then we need to trust each other don't we?"

Hal looked like he really didn't want to be here when a girl fight broke out. "And on that note, we are meeting outside the front of the school in twenty-five minutes. See you guys then." Then he left.

I was about to speak but Karen beat me to it. "Look, bitch, I don't know who you think you are but I'm only gonna say this once. Stay away from Hal, got it?"

"Honey, you can have him, because I wouldn't want him if he was the only one left on the planet." I already had an enemy and I'd only been here two hours. That's gotta be my personal best. Suddenly, a boy walked in with Kaylee's bag. He awkwardly looked between the two of us and set down Kaylee's backpack.

"Hey, you must be Alyssa, I'm Jimmy, I was told to bring your friends stuff here. Hey Karen," Jimmy turned and quickly left. Karen's eyes shifted to mine, then lurched out and grabbed Kaylee's bag, but I was faster.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Just trying to get to know my new roommate," she said all innocent like.

"Well if you really want to know her I'll tell you this: she ever catches you going through her stuff-"

"I'm good at snooping through stuff, she won't catch me" I noticed a shadow outside. Kaylee. She was listening to us.

"But if she does, and she will-"

Just then Kaylee walked in. "I will let Alyssa beat the fuck out of you, and I'll never look back. I'm Kaylee Parker, you must be Karen."

Karen was dumb struck. HA!

"Hal's very protective of me. You touch me and he'll hurt you."

"Even better, I've been looking forward for a chance to fight him and this seems like a perfect chance," I smirked

Kaylee walked over and unloaded a few of her guns, strapped them to herself then handed me some ammo and C4. I just stared at it. "It's C4. You'll need it if you run into any mechs."

"Where are you going?" I asked. We still had fifteen minuets left.

"Dinner, want to come with me?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry." Kaylee quietly walked out of the room, one of many guns in hand. Karen and I started getting ready to go; I loaded up my guns, ammo, and knives. I was trying to calm myself down, since Karen got me extremely riled up and I was this close to throwing something at her head. In no time our fifteen minutes was up and we walked silently to the front of the school. Weaver, the boys, and Kaylee were waiting for us. Hal and Ben's dad was behind us.

"Hello boys, Karen, Captain," he was greeted by from everyone with "hellos." I went to stand by Kaylee. "Hello girls. I didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier. I'm Tom Mason, second in command of the 2nd Mass and I'm Ben and Hal's dad." He seemed so friendly. How was he related to Hal?

"Hi I'm Alyssa and this is Kaylee, it's nice to meet you."

"Pleasure to meet you two as well," he said and shook both of our hands.

"I want you all to search the perimeter and be on the lookout. Look around, we need anything you can find. Ben, I want you in charge of your group."

After telling me to be safe, Kaylee and her group left. I hope she'll be okay with Karen…

"Hal, I want you two to work as a team, and if she has some ideas listen to her. I think she'll be a good fighter, but she doesn't like guns, so if she needs your help, help her out okay?" I hope they realize I can hear them.

"Yes sir."

"Now go, and please for the love of God do NOT do anything stupid or reckless!"

Hal and I headed out on foot in the opposite direction the others went.

"I didn't know you could be nice," Hal said.

"Yeah? Well when someone doesn'ttry and introduce themselves by putting a gun to my head, I tend to retaliate a lot kinder," I said. "Maybe you didn't know that, but I thought it was pretty common knowledge."

"Whatever."

"So, what are we doing tonight?"

"Just a basic perimeter search, but we go off in the area the cars and even bikes can't go." That makes sense.

"What, no attitude, or stupid come back?" I just ignored him until we started talking about guns and weapons, fighting techniques and other stuff.

"So, why does Kaylee have so many more weapons that you?" Hal asked.

"I don't like guns, I prefer to fight someone, and I only use my gun to shoot the aliens."

"Why?"

I kicked a rock. "I just don't like guns, okay?" Why is he so nosy?

"Fine, fine. So are you scared, right now?"

"What are we playing? Like 21 questions?"

"No, I'm following Captain Weavers orders: get to know you and trust you, and get you to trust me."

"Fine," I just can't wait for this night to be over; I was too drained to think right now. Hal and I walked in an awkward silence for awhile until I heard something.

"What did you say?" I asked to make sure that I didn't hear him correctly.

"Nothing, why?" Hal frowned.

The ground was shaking and the small pebbles on the floor were bouncing to my knee.

"Get down!" The aliens were close, too close for comfort. Judging by the size of the vibrations there was only one mech but we could hear a lot of screeches too, meaning there's a lot of skitters near by. They were coming our way. "We have to get rid of them, I have some C4 to take out the mech and a few skitters, and you can shoot down the rest."

"No, we're getting out of here, and three we run, quietly around them."

"No, we're fighting," Hal said sternly. Before I could protest, Hal grabbed his C4 and threw it at them. It killed the mech and two skitters, which left five more.

"What the hell?" Hal and I started blasting at the aliens. I took down one more skitter and he took down three. There was one more but it wasn't dead yet. I got out my knife and sent a perfect shot in its mouth and into his brain. The skitters don't have bone between their mouth and brain, so the knife killed it. When I sure it was dead, I got up and stuck my hand in and grabbed my knife. It was covered in skitter blood.

"Gross!" I yelled, then turned to Hal. "What happened to run on three?!" I was furious.

"I knew I had the shot so I took advantage of it."

"You almost got us killed!"

"No I didn't, we're fine. Let's just go, the quicker I get away from you the better." Nothing would be better then getting the hell away from this guy, except an even worse circumstance popped into my head. "Great, I get to go hang out with Karen! FUN!" You could here sarcasm in my voice a mile away.

"Lay off okay? She's had a rough life."

"Stop pitying her. We all have had hard lives here so I don't want to hear about poor little Karen." He glared at me. Take that Hal, how does it feel to have your own words used against you?

"Let's go, before I kill you," he said.

I turned around and started walking. I've hated a lot of people in my life, but I had never hated someone this much. He was already at the top of my list, him then Karen. A few thoughts about murdering Hal later, we came across a lake. I stopped to look at it. Since it was dark out-something I hate-the lake was dark but clear; it was almost pretty, in a twisted sort of way. I turned around, but Hal wasn't there.

"Hal, where are you?"

No answer. "Seriously, this isn't funny, come out!"

I was starting to get freaked out. I hate the dark, and I can't stand being alone, especially without light. I turned around and looked the other way. Hal ran up behind me and pushed me forward lightly, but I lost my balance and fell into the lake! As I fell towards the water, I could see him laughing at his little joke. Once I hit the water, I started panicking, I can't swim. I gasped for air right before I went under. Then everything became dark and I couldn't open my eyes. My air was diminishing by the second, and it was getting harder and harder to breath. My lungs felt like they were going to burst. I accepted the fact I was going to die. Look on the bright side, at least Hal had my death on his hands. MURDERER! Suddenly two hands grabbed me and pulled me up. When I reached the surface, the air felt so heavenly. Then it just became really cold. It must be like 7:30 or 8:00pm by now.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!" I screamed as I caught my breath.

"Well when people usually go into water, they swim, and come back up! You know maybe you didn't know that, but I thought it was common sense." Hal said. How dare he use my own words against me! Only I can throw what he says back in his face!

"Well, if the person can't swim, it's kinda hard to do!" I coughed a little.

"You can't swim?" he asked. For a split second, I thought he was actually going to apologize, but he just started laughing! I stormed off. Did he not realize what he did wasn't funny? I almost died. "Ummmm, Alyssa, the school's the other way." He pointed the opposite direction. I turned and started walking again. "Hey, look, it was just supposed to be a joke!" he waited for me to reply, but I didn't. I was beyond pissed. "Oh the silent treatment, how mature." He smirked.

"Says the one who just pushed me in a lake! Not to mention at eight at night; its freezing!"

We walked home in silence after that. I got an occasional glance from Hal, every now and then, but I didn't make eye contact. I was furious with him and already plotting my revenge. Hal better sleep with one eye open.

When we got back to the school, Weaver was waiting for us. "What happened to you two?"

"That asshole pushed me into a lake!"

"Hey! I saved your ass so you should be thanking me!"

"Both of you go get dried off and get to bed, we'll discuss this in the morning. I can't have two of my scouts sick," Weaver said. I turned around and walked to my tent without another word to Hal. Earlier, I didn't like him. Now I hated him with a passion.

Kaylee's POV

I jammed my hands in my pockets as I walked past a few classrooms, attempting to find the one Alyssa and I would be in. My mind was running a mile a minute and I needed to do something to distract myself from my head. I suppose this is why I love weapons so much. I like being able to take my frustration and pain out on something or when my thoughts were getting the better of me. It calms me, I guess.

I heard Alyssa's voice from the end of a hall; who pissed her off now?

A boy with brown hair and blue eyes ran out of the room, looking a little scared.

"Everything okay in there?" I asked him.

"I don't think so, it didn't look too good in there," he said nervously looking behind me.

I casted my eyes over his shoulder and saw Alyssa and another girl, Karen I believe, talking to each other in a rather violent manner. They were talking about going through my things, at least Karen was, and Alyssa was telling her how angry I'd be.

"I better go do damage control," I said and smiled. He couldn't have been much younger than me, perhaps a few months or so. He had a Mossberg 500 in his hands, and he definitely kept it in a good condition. He must be the 2nd Mass's youngest fighter. I already knew we would become great friends. He smiled back at me and continued walking down the hall. I focused back on the conversation in front of me.

"Well if you really want to know her, I'll tell you this: If she ever catches you going through her stuff-"

"I'm good at snooping through things, she won't catch me." Alyssa saw me standing in the doorway, but Karen hadn't.

"But if she does, and she will-"

"-let Alyssa beat the fuck out of you and never look back. I'm Kaylee Parker, you must be Karen." I finished Alyssa's threat. And let's just say the look on Karen's face was well worth it. I can add "Make A Sixteen-Year-Old Afraid Of You" on my life accomplishments list now. I was still leaning on the doorframe, staring at her. She didn't know how to react to what I told her, so she took another shot at making Alyssa afraid of her. Good luck with that, sweetheart.

"Hal's very protective of me. You touch me he will hurt you."

"Even better, I have been looking forward for a chance to fight him; this seems like the perfect chance."

I walked over to my black backpack and checked that every single thing was back in there. It was, so I began rearming myself with guns, knives, ammunition, and explosives. I loaded an extra can of C4 in my sneaker and grabbed some for Alyssa. I tossed it to her (thank God she caught it) and she stared blankly at it.

"It's C4. You'll need it if you run into any mechs." I zipped my backpack back up and shoved it under a cot. If that bitch touches ANY of my things, I'll cut her fingers off in her sleep tonight.

I stood up and slid my Calico back around my shoulders and began walking back out. Ben told me I had around fifteen minutes before our watch began, so I decided I'd get out of here. No offense to Alyssa, but I didn't want to be here when she tore Karen's head to shreds.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Dinner. Want to come with me?" Sometimes I tried to keep her out of trouble.

"Nah, I'm not hungry."

I nodded and walked out of the room. I actually wasn't going to get food, I wanted to walk around the school and see what was going on around here.

Our room was right next to a giant bulletin board that had dozens and dozens of photos on it. They were pictures of missing kids, countless of missing kids. I took a step closer to the board and looked at the faces of everyone. It had to be torture for parents to walk by this everyday and not know where their children were or if they were even alive or not. One particular picture stuck out to me though. It was a picture of Ben. He looked pretty young, maybe twelve or barely thirteen. I wonder why the picture's still up here.

"Sad, isn't it?"

I turned my head to see a woman with long brown hair and a tired face. Her eyes were filled with sorrow and anger; two emotions that you rarely see together.

"Is your kid up there?" I asked tilting my head to the board.

"No. He's gone," she said wistfully.

"My family is gone too." I hoped by telling her that she would acknowledge that I felt similar to what she was feeling.

"This isn't the best way to introduce ourselves," she chuckled. "I'm Doctor Glass."

I smiled. "Kaylee Parker. My friend and I were just welcomed by Captain Weaver today."

"Oh really? Are you two fighters?"

"I am, but my friend is more skilled at fist fighting."

"Seems like the 2nd Mass is getting younger and younger fighters volunteering," Dr. Glass said shaking her head.

"Kaylee!" a voice called from the end of the hallway. I glanced over to see Ben geared up and ready to go on our scouting. "We gotta go!"

I sighed. "Speaking of fighting. I gotta go on patrol. It was really nice talking to you."

Dr. Glass smiled. "Stay safe, Kaylee."

I walked down the hall, passed Ben, and opened the glass doors. Hal and Weaver were outside waiting for us.

"You two and Karen will be split up from Alyssa and Hal for patrol tonight," Weaver announced. Great, I get stuck with her. Alyssa is probably ecstatic about spending her evening with Hal.

"Alright," Ben nodded.

"How's her fighting?" Weaver asked.

"Phenomenal. Perfect hit every time." I smiled a little at the compliment. I liked knowing that someone thought I was good at what I loved.

"Welcome to the 2nd Mass's army then, solider."

I saluted Captain Weaver and he laughed. "At ease."

Karen and Alyssa sauntered over to where we were standing. The man from earlier followed them and stood in front of our group. "Hello, boys, Karen, Captain," he said. "Hello girls. I didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier. I'm Tom Mason, second in command of the 2nd Mass and I'm Ben and Hal's dad." No wonder why he seemed so fatherly.

"Hi I'm Alyssa and this is Kaylee. It's nice to meet you," Alyssa said kindly. I had done enough talking today, so I was grateful for her introduction.

"Pleasure to meet you two as well," he said and shook both of our hands.

"I want you all to search the perimeter and be on the lookout. Look around, we need anything you can find. Ben, I want you in charge of your group."

I looked at Alyssa and mouthed 'Be Safe' and turned to follow Ben and Karen. It was a little weird, just walking down a road in total silence, but Karen started talking.

"So, Kaylee," she said my name with slight disgust, "what happened to your family?" Really? Of course she would be that inconsiderate to just straight out ask me. I felt my heart stir painfully. My hand clenched the knife in my pocket so tightly, it aroused anger that I hid deep inside of myself that I refused to calm. It's what kept me going in this war.

"I don't have a family. Simple as that," I said coldly. Ben flinched at how forcefully my words came out. Oops. I need to learn how to soften my voice a bit.

"Obviously. I just want to know what happened to them."

I didn't even bother to dignify her with a response. I was on the verge of shanking her with my knife, and I was attempting to control my temper. Remember how I said I never talk about my family? Alyssa knew that and extended me the courtesy of not asking unless I brought them up. That's one of the reasons why we became so close. We never talked about painful memories unless the other wanted to talk about it.

"Someone's moody."

"Someone's bitchy." Alyssa must be rubbing off on me. Oh well.

Karen was about to say something back to me, but Ben gave her a look and she shut her mouth. It's going to take all my self control not to injure her tonight.

Quietness washed over us, causing our atmosphere to become a little more peaceful. The sun was setting and the auburn leaves were blowing in the autumn breeze. We were nearing a giant plain of open space and tons of bushes and trees. The scenery looked like something that would be in a movie or on a picture. It was almost as if it was just an average day, with the seasons changing and the day getting later. But all good things come to an end, right?

I heard the all too familiar footsteps of a mech and the screeching of a skitter. Ben, Karen, and I dashed for the cover of the bushes and trees. More and more started coming, and I was beginning to get a little nervous. Ben and I were hiding behind a small bush and Karen was behind a large tree. As I looked through the shrub, I saw a group of harnessed kids carrying bits and pieces of metal following the aliens. It was the creepiest thing in the world; they were complete zombies. I glanced at Ben to see if he was watching this. He wasn't crouching low enough, his hair visible to anyone who was by.

"Get down, dumbass!" I whisper yelled. I grabbed his arm and yanked him down. His spikes were glowing a pale blue color, and he was trying to get up again. What was going on with him?! I set my elbow on his chest and pinned him to the ground. I would not be the one responsible for another missing kid, especially with a dad as kind as his.

An airship lit up the whole field as it landed on the ground. The skitters turned to the harnessed kids and screeched again. They must be communicating with them. A door opened and the skitters and kids walked inside of it. The four mechs stood outside to make sure all the kids climbed aboard. And as quickly as it came, the ship disappeared. I released a breath I didn't know I had been holding. I'd rather die then live under control of the people who destroyed my home.

Ben cleared his throat awkwardly. I got up off of him in an instant. He must've snapped out of it and I didn't even realize. His spikes weren't glowing anymore, but he looked scared.

"Sorry, you weren't getting down and so I had to force you," I told him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said quickly. He was lying, that much I knew but I didn't ask him about it. I didn't want him to feel any weirder then he did.

"We should get back and report to Weaver," Karen said, a little shaken.

"Yeah. Let's go."

"What about the mechs?" Ben asked looking at the still standing aliens.

"I'll take care of it," I said starting to get up.

"But-"

"Relax," I said to Ben. I took out my bottle of C4. "I got this."

I started to stand up again, but this time, I crept behind the trees until I got to a point where I was as close as possible. I clicked the timer button, and threw it straight towards them.

3, 2, 1,

BOOM! The bomb exploded and split the mechs into a million little pieces. I loved explosives so, so much.

"Let's head back!" I called to Ben and Karen. I needed to get some sleep.

On the way back, we were quiet again, but there was less awkwardness. I was lost in my head, as usual, but this time, I was thinking about Ben's spikes. Having them was one thing, but them glowing was another. It wasn't my business, but I needed to tell someone about it. Maybe I should tell Hal, he seems close with Ben.

The high school was in our sight within the next ten minutes, and Weaver was standing by. "How'd it go?" he asked.

"We saw an airship," Karen said. "A group of skitters took harnessed kids aboard and they had a ton of scrap metal with them. There were some mechs in the field, but Kaylee took them out with C4."

"Any supplies?"

"None," I said.

"That's alright. We'll send a party further in the week. Get some sleep, soldiers."

I walked swiftly into our room. Hopefully I'd get time to talk to Alyssa alone. The moment I stepped in the room, I saw a furious Alyssa who was sopping wet. I raised my eyebrows. "What happened to you?"

She whirled around. "Ugh! That son of a bitch shoved me into a lake!"

My eyes widened. "Are you okay now?" Alyssa couldn't swim, and Hal could've really hurt her.

"I'm going to kill him. I swear to God, he'll be dead by the end of this week!"

"Karen asked me about my family today," I said softly.

Alyssa was quiet instantly. "What did you say?"

"That I didn't have one. And she was totally inconsiderate about it and nearly pushed me over the edge."

Alyssa walked over to me and gave me a hug. A really, wet hug.

"Dude, you're so freaking wet!" I said laughing.

"Thank Hal for that."