Hate, Envy, Loss, Love

by Mrs.Mason2

Hate was easy, Envy was natural, Loss was hard to talk about, Love was nearly impossible. Welcome To H.E.L.L. On Earth. Follow the story of two girls as their broken worlds collide with those of the Second Massachusetts Militia Regiment. A Falling Skies Fanfiction.

7. Taking A Turn For The Worst Part 2

OH MY FLADOODLES IT'S BEEN TOO DAMN LONG! I ever so apologize for the gruesome wait, it's probably been eating you guys alive;D Just kiddddinnggg. Not really. So Alyssa and I have been so so so so so so so so so so sooooo busy but we just finished today. Part 2 is FOURTY FREAKING PAGES LONG so it should make up for the wait. I spent four hours editing all o' this, SO YOU BETTER ENJOY THIS! Please:) Anywhays, ON WITH THE STORY! (BTW a little fluff will be in this chapter involving Kaylee Parker and her love life;p teehee;p -Your very hyper (due to four painful hours of editing on the floor of her bedroom whilst hiding from tiny spiders) Parker:)

Sorry for the wait! Hope you enjoy this! We're working on more!-Carter

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Chapter 7-Taking A Turn For The Worst Part 2

Kaylee's POV

As everyone dispersed to go get their kids ready for departure, Hal, Ben, and Alyssa bombarded me once I was out in the hall.

"Are you okay?" Ben asked.

"What did you do?" Hal questioned.

"I thought I fucking told you to not do anything stupid," Alyssa stated. She was beyond pissed. Oops.

"My arm stings like hell, but I'm fine. Jimmy and I were down at South Point and a mech came. It blew the windows out of the bus we were in and there was a ton of glass everywhere. It hit the bus and I fell onto it. I didn't even notice I was bleeding until Jimmy pointed it out an hour ago," I explained.

"What about the skitter?" Alyssa crossed her arms and looked me dead on.

"The two of us got separated when it came and would've killed Jimmy if I hadn't been down in the basement already."

"What's the situation with your arm?" Hal nodded to it.

"I'm supposed to lay off the shooting for a few days. I guess Clayton's Sanctuary will give me some time to let it heal." After having Dr. Glass cutting and digging around in my arm, I wouldn't mind a break from using it.

"You not shooting for a couple of days? What has the world come to?" Hal teased. I rolled my eyes and socked him in the arm.

"OW! Dude!" Hal glared at me and held his forearm. I'm mad, okay?

"Have you even stopped bleeding?" Ben piped up. My bandage was pretty bloody still, but I wasn't sure if it was from earlier or if it actually was bleeding.

"No idea."

"I'm glad you're alright though," Hal said considerately.

"Guys, I'm fine. It really isn't this big of a deal," I said aggravated. I really, really hate having attention on me. Especially sympathetic attention. That is by far, the worst kind.

"Yeah, it is," Alyssa's voice harder then a rock, "this is my fault. If it wasn't for that bastard Hal would've been with you and gotten you out of there safely." She averted her eyes to the floor. I think that when my parents passed away, Alyssa took responsibility of me. She was usually over reactive like this as I was to her, but she really did treat me like a sister.

"No, don't go there." She was not going to take the blame for this. Ever. "Alyssa." Her eyes remained glued to the floor.

"Look at me," I spoke loud and firm. Alyssa knew this voice as my you-better-pay-attention-or-I'll-fucking-kick-your-ass tone. I've used it a lot. "This is not your fault," I said each word slowly and sternly as I looked her straight in the eyes. "We don't have time for this anyways. We need to get packed."

Hal and Ben were standing there not knowing whether to we wanted them to leave or what, but you could tell they felt pretty awkward.

"We'll see you guys in a bit," I mumbled and strode down the hall to the room.

"Later," they replied in unison.

I was frustrated with Alyssa; I'm tired of her taking the blame for things like this. My jaw set as I thrusted my hands into my pockets and gripped my knife. I was fuming, and I couldn't seem to calm myself down. I needed to punch a wall or something. Anger was the only emotion I had little control over since I rarely felt it, but when I did, it was nearly overriding. I saved it for battle so it felt wonderful when I killed an alien, like we were one step closer to getting the planet back.

I whipped my black Jansport backpack on my cot and shoved all of my weapons and ammunition into them. Ever since the day Karen tried snooping through my bag, I've been paranoid about people taking my stuff. It probably was logical to leave some here though, considering Clayton could easily take our weapons and such for "safety," but I didn't care. I could easily make more and easily get my weapons back. After all, my initials are carved on my guns and knives.

"Kaylee, say something," Alyssa said. She wants to talk this out.

"Is it just me or does Clayton seem a bit off?" I asked while moving to grab my hidden bag of mech bullets. I was running out, but since we killed that mech, I could hopefully make more.

"Seriously."

"I am serious. Something's up with him."

Alyssa folded her arms and was quiet. Hopefully she noticed it too. "Now that you mention it, it is a little weird that he showed up so out of the blue."

"Right? We gotta stay on our toes at the Sanctuary."

The room was quiet again, apart from the occasional scuffle from items being put in our bags or a zipper being zipped closed. My backpack was ready to go, everything I needed safely tucked inside. Alyssa was still silent, most likely scolding herself for getting Hal hurt.

"Listen," my voice was gentle, but still had the firmness in it. "I know you're upset about Hal getting hurt because the douche only wanted to hurt you, not him. And I know that you hate it when someone else gets hurt because of your mistakes. But this is not your fault. Hal willingly stepped in to help you. That's what teammates are for. And even if he was well enough to come with me on patrol, he couldn't have controlled the stability of my feet. I fell over because the mech slammed the bus. So quit blaming yourself, because you're not the reason a few fighters got hurt."

"You really should've been a psychologist if the aliens hadn't attacked."

I shook my head. She can make any situation humorous.

"But thank you. I really needed that." Alyssa gave me another hug; she needed to break down, but I knew she wouldn't ever find a good time for that.

"Kaylee!" Matt Mason ran into out room and straight towards me. "I heard you got hurt!"

I squatted next to him. "It's nothing I can't handle."
"Can I see?" My jacket sleeve had unintentionally been covering it, but I slid it up to show him what had happened. Matt gingerly touched the red bandage, and I did my best not to wince. It was still a fresh wound, and the burning sensation of the disinfectant had yet to subside.

"Sorry," Matt said seeing my arm tense.

"It's alright. C'mon, let's head out." I ruffled his curly hair and slung my bag over my shoulders. Alyssa did the same, and we made our way out of the room and out of the school. The sun was high in the sky and by the looks of it, it was already around three or four. I must be losing track of time. I thought it was like six in the morning.

Parents and children were scattered along the front lawn of John F. Kennedy High. It was almost heart-wrenching to see many parents give their kids a tearful goodbye, not knowing if they would see them again. They never really could be sure anymore. I couldn't imagine how hard it must be on the kids, too. And I guess I never really will.

Jimmy was giving Weaver a handshake as he was trying to get the kids moving along. Word was, Clayton's Sanctuary was a ways away, and it'd take us two hours or so to walk there. This would be fun.

"You stay frosty, solider." Weaver walked away and began gathering everyone to head off.

I raised my eyebrows and smirked. "Frosty?"

"I don't know." Jimmy laughed. "Better just go along with it." The rest of us were waiting for just a bit longer as Clayton instructed Tom how to reach us as soon as the attack was over. I looked around and saw Alyssa talking to Hal, Ben, and Matt a few feet from where I was. I still felt bad that she was taking the blame for my injury, so I decided to walk over to them.

"Well, I decided to come with you. Might as well hang on to it yourself, dumbass," Hal grinned at his brother. Ben was holding a photo that they were probably talking about.

"You're coming?" He asked happily.

"Yeah," Hal smiled back.

While they had their brotherly moment, Tom came up to say goodbye to his sons. Alyssa and I gave them some privacy and turned around a little. She was lacing up her boots as I was thinking of something to say. I knew what I wanted to say, but I didn't know how to say it.

I settled with: "No hard feelings about before?"

Alyssa sighed and stood up. "No hard feelings. But if you hurt yourself again I swear-"

"You won't let me live to see the age of fifteen. Got it." She rolled her eyes and slapped me on my shoulder for being a smartass.

"Rude."

"Shut up, Parker."

"Alright! On me!" Clayton yelled to everybody, signaling it was time to start making our way to the Sanctuary. I adjusted the position of my gun on my holster and began walking next to Jimmy. Both of us were silent, but we had enough common sense to know what was going on in the other's head. I kept thinking about what would have happened if I wasn't on patrol tonight, or if I had ran to the front of the school and not the basement instead. Jimmy could be harnessed now, or dead. All because I made a careless mistake.

"How many times are you going to keep blaming yourself for what happened?"

"How is it that you know exactly what I'm thinking about?"

Jimmy smiled. "The eyes are the window to the soul."

"And what do you see in my eyes?" I wondered.

He took a moment to genuinely make eye contact with me and search them, eyes moving back and forth to look at each one. "Sorrow. Anger. Self-remorse. Pain. The color silver."

I laughed at the last part. "All true. Since when did you become an expert on reading eyes?"

"Since I learned to fight. Sometimes enemies give hints away when you're fighting them with their eyes. A slight look to the left could mean they're going to strike left, or if they look at both of your arms their assessing your arm strength. Just little things like that I've picked up on."

Soon the school behind us was out of my sight as we started up the road. I saw Hal with Matt and Alyssa with Ben. Karen must've chosen to stay behind. I can't imagine why though, since she thinks Alyssa's trying to steal Hal from her or whatever. At least the two of us can get a day or two away from her bitchy self.

"Are you always this quiet?" Jimmy blurted.

"This is talkative for me."

Jimmy shook his head. "That's gotta change."

"Not even you're best friend yet and you already want to change me," I laughed playfully nudging him in the arm.

"Since when are we going to be best friends?" Jimmy was dead serious, but I knew he was kidding. Excellent judge of character remember?

"Since I decided to save your ass from a skitter," I replied with equal seriousness. He broke his character and seemed a little shocked at what I said.

"Dude, I'm kidding."

"You scared me there for a second," Jimmy chuckled.

"I actually decided that we were going to be best friends when you told me you were a fighter and liked guns."

He laughed. "That's all it takes to be your best friend?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Jimmy laughed again. "Well I feel special."

"You should. I saved your life remember?" I smirked at my retort. Jimmy opened his mouth, but closed it when he couldn't reply with a good enough comeback.

The group of us was walking on a small path through a ton of forestry and plants. There was a bunch of flowers and long grass at my feet. We had been going through a large plot of grass that went to my ankle for a fair amount of time, but it was already bothering. Some pointy parts of the grass were snagging on my jeans. There was a point where I got stuck on some fern thing and had to have Jimmy help get my jean leg off of it while the rest continued onwards. Ben and Alyssa were now directly in front of us talking about soccer.

"So you said you played for varsity, even as a freshman?" Ben asked Alyssa.

"Yeah. It was hard work though; I had to train my ass off four times a week with practices and two days of games. I loved playing a lot, even if I only had a day to take it easy." I was now beside Hal who was to the right of Alyssa carrying Matt and Ben on her left.

"No way," Ben said disbelievingly, "Six days of training a week?"

"Even ask Kaylee. She was at my games," Alyssa motioned to me.

I nodded. "Every one. And every game she managed to "accidentally" knock over a guy on the opposite team."

All the guys laughed while Alyssa gave me a look. "It was an accident!"

"Bullshit, dude."

Alyssa stared at me with a murderous look. I simply smirked back and cocked my head at her. If Matt and Ben weren't between us, she would've slapped me. She moved behind Ben and was about to, until I hid behind Jimmy.

"I feel loved," Jimmy said sarcastically.

"We're even now," I grinned. He rolled his eyes and continued walking along side of me.

We had now reached a stone wall that split the road into two different directions. Clayton pointed to a smaller path that went straight into the woods and instructed us to take it, even though he had told Tom and Weaver that we would be heading north. Hal noticed this, and questioned him on it. I continued walking as they stopped so it wouldn't seem like I was eavesdropping on them.
When we finally broke into a clearing, there were rolls and rolls of lavish greenery all around us. Healthy trees, grass, flowers, plants, even a garden were spread out among the land. A large wooden cabin stood before us and a few people were standing along the outside of the home. They must be what's left of the 7th Mass.

I noticed that there were two wooden soccer goals on each side of the huge front yard. I couldn't help but smile at how Alyssa's eyes lit up when she saw the two goal posts. She hasn't played an actual game since before the invasion. We kicked a ball around a few times before, but I knew Alyssa missed the thrill and competition of a real game.

By now the sun was past setting, lighting up a small amount of the Sanctuary. All of us were exhausted from the long walk here, but Jimmy and I were exceptionally tired. We hadn't gotten any sleep due to our unfortunate events of the night prior, and from all the running I did, I needed a few hours of sleep. So I was thrilled when Clayton said, "Alright, good work. Let's get everybody to bed and we'll do a tour in the morning." The idea of rest never sounded more amazing than it did then.

Clayton opened the door for us and led the group of 2nd Mass kids up a long spiral staircase. There were about seven bedrooms up here, but since there was only a few of us here, we took two of the rooms. Alyssa, Matt, Hal, Jimmy, Ben, Rick, a few other kids and me were placed in one room while the rest were placed in the other. It was going to be a little awkward with all of us cramped so close together, but I wasn't in the mood to complain; I just wanted to sleep for awhile.

I was given a black (go figure) sleeping bag from Weaver to take with me because I didn't have one with me the day we moved in with the 2nd Mass. I laid mine out in the middle of the floor not caring who set up next to me. I was so damn tired I couldn't think straight. I slid off my shoes and took off a few weapons that I knew would bother me if I slept with them on me.

"You're not wasting any time," Jimmy remarked laying his sleeping bag on my right side.

"I'm too damn tired for your sarcastic remarks," I stated and collapsed onto the bag. My back molded with the inside of the bag and my bones relaxed at the feeling of rest. I slid out of my hoodie and used it as a pillow for my head. And the moment my eyes shut, I was out.

Alyssa's POV

As everyone left Hal, Ben and I attacked Kaylee; we wanted to know what happened. Ben asked what everyone was thinking. "Are you okay?"

"What did you do?" Hal asked.

"I thought I fucking told you not to do anything stupid." I glared at her. Hal was about to say something, but the look on my face made him think otherwise. That's the first smart thing he has done yet.

"My arm stings like hell, but I'm fine. Jimmy and I were down at south point and a Mech came. It blew the windows out of the bus we were in and there was a ton of glass everywhere. It hit the bus and I fell into it. I didn't even notice I was bleeding until Jimmy pointed it out." she said.

"And the skitter?" I questioned, dead serious.

"The two of us got separated when it came and I would have killed Jimmy if I hadn't been down in the basement already." Wow. They got lucky. Kaylee almost died, but then again, she has almost died a lot.

"What's the situation with your arm?" Hal asked, breaking the silence.

"I'm supposed to lay off shooting for a few days. I guess Clayton's Sanctuary will give me time to let it heal." Yeah right, Kaylee not shoot? I think I would see her wear pink first.

"You not shooting for a couple of days? What has the world come to?" She punched him. "OW! Dude!" Hal glared at her. He deserved it.

"Have you even stopped bleeding?" And then there was Ben, sweet Ben, ever so desperately trying to impress Kaylee. It's kinda amusing to watch.

"No idea," she said not even noticing.

"I'm glad you're alright though," Hal said. Wow, Kaylee has all the Mason boys' attention. This is new for her. Nothing like a little friendly competition to spice up a family.

"Guys, I'm fine. It really isn't that big of a deal." You could tell she was getting pissed.

"Yeah, it is." My voice was hard. I started shutting people out besides the Parker family at a young age. Where most people have a soft spot or a weakness, I don't. I never had loving parents. I shut out most emotion. "This is my fault. If it wasn't for that bastard, Hal would have been with you and gotten you guys out safely." I looked at the floor, silently praying Ben and Hal would leave. Normally I don't mind the spot light, but right now I wanted to be as far away from it as possible.

"No, don't go there." Kaylee was using her shut-the-fuck-up-and-listen-or-else voice. She only seemed to use that voice with me. "This is not your fault," she said slowly, like she was talking to a child. "We don't have time, we have to go pack." Always the logical one.

The boys looked like they wanted to leave but weren't sure what was going to happen, so they stayed for both of our safeties. "We'll see you guys later."

"Later," they mumbled in unison. Kaylee and I turned around and left. I don't think I have ever heard her silence this loud. She was pissed, that much was obvious. The moment we walked into our room, she started angrily shoving her things into her backpack. She didn't want to talk about it anymore, but I did.

"Kaylee say something," I begged.

"Is it just me or does Clayton seem a bit off?"

"Seriously." I was not in the mood for jokes. At least I thought she was kidding but one look at her face said otherwise.

"I am serious. Something's up with him."

I shut up and mulled it over in my head. "Now that you mention it, it is a little weird that he showed up so out of the blue."

I thought about this. He did seen a little jumpy and suspicious. But now a days, who doesn't? "Now that you mention it, it is a little weird how he just showed up out of the blue."

"Right? We gotta stay on our toes at the Sanctuary."

"Yeah." Glad to know that Kaylee and I are cool again. We almost never fought, but when we did, it's like World War III.

The room was quiet again; the only sound was when one of us zipped close our bags or when she put some more ammunition in her backpack.

"Listen, I know you're upset about Hal getting hurt because the douche only wanted to hurt you, not him. And I know that you hate it when someone else gets hurt because of your mistakes. But this is not your fault. Hal willingly stepped in to help you. That's what teammates are for. And even if he was well enough to come with me on patrol, he couldn't have controlled the stability of my feet. I fell over because the mech slammed the bus. So quit blaming yourself, because you're not the reason a few fighters got hurt."

"You really should've been a psychologist if the aliens hadn't attacked." I said. She smiled, just a little bit, but she still did smile…

"But thank you. I really needed that." I hugged her. I don't know why I did. It just felt right.

"Kaylee!" Matt Mason ran into out the room. He really did look up to Kaylee. "I heard you got hurt!"

She has such a way with kids. "It's nothing I can't handle."

"Can I see?" I like this kid. He's nice. Looks like he's just like Hal thought, since he held her arm and touched the bandage instantly. Kaylee flinched even at his gentle touch. "Sorry."

"It's alright. Come on, let's head out." Kaylee and I grabbed our bags and walked to the front of the school. All the kids were outside already. Kaylee went over to Jimmy and I headed over to talk to Ben. Then Hal walked over. I was about to turn around in the opposite direction when Ben saw me.

"Alyssa, over here." I reluctantly walked over. Ben and Hal were arguing over a picture when Kaylee came to join us.

"Why won't you just take it?" Ben asked, slightly mad.

"Well, I have decided to come with you. Might as well hang onto it yourself, dumbass."

When Hal said this, Bens face lit up. As much as they fight, you can tell the whole Mason family loves each other, no matter what happens.

"You're coming?!" Ben was smiling like an idiot.

"Yeah." Hal was trying not to smile, but eventually gave in when Matt gave him a big hug. Tom came up to say bye to his kids, so Kaylee and I gave them some privacy. I started lacing up my boots.

"No hard feelings about before?" Kaylee spoke out suddenly.

I sighed and stood up. "No hard feelings, but if you hurt yourself again I swear-"

"You won't let me live to see fifteen, I know." I rolled my eyes and slapped her in the arm. "Rude." Kaylee said.

"Shut up Parker." I said. She rolled her eyes.

"Alright, on me!" Clayton yelled. I headed off to walk with Ben, Hal, and Matt. I looked around and saw Karen wasn't with us. Thank God! Hal saw the look of relief on my face.

"What're you so happy about?"

"Oh nothing, just that your girlfriend isn't coming with us." I smirked.

"You know if you would make an effort to be nice, you two might actually get along."

"Well if she wasn't such an untrustworthy bitch, then maybe. But that's not very likely to ever happen." I replied. He glared harder and I glared back. Matt grabbed my hand as we walked and Ben stepped in between us.

"What makes her so untrustworthy?"

"She tried to go through Kaylee's stuff and I don't know about you but anyone who looks through other peoples' stuff without even meeting that person seems pretty untrustworthy." That shut him up. "What no smartass remark?"

He glared at me. Ha! I win. Matt looked up at me with big eyes. I picked him up. I may not be as great with kids as Kaylee, but I practically raised my sister. I know how kids worked, and they hate it when two people they like fight. I could see it in Matt's eyes then. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I don't like the fighting. I don't like it when you and Hal fight, or Ben and Kaylee or Dad and Hal or Dad and Ben or Ben and Hal or when anyone does." I looked at Matt and saw my little sister. She is the same age as him and he reminds me of her. She hated fighting and yelling. I hated fighting with my dad when she was around.

"You know what? Hal and I just have different opinions on things, that's all. When people fight they are just disagreeing about what to do. In this new world, we don't have people to tell us what to do. We need figure it out. And sometimes different people think we should do different things. Does that make sense?"

"Well why do they have to yell? Why can't they talk it out? My old teacher used to tell us we should calmly talk out our problems."

"I don't know why but how about I make a promise to you? I promise to try my hardest not to yell and to try and talk out my problems with your brother okay?" He smiled and nodded. I continued to carry him as we caught up with Ben and Hal. Kaylee and Jimmy had caught up with us, too.

"So, Alyssa do you play any sports? I know Kaylee ran track and cross country."

"Yes, actually, I do. I played soccer."

"Now the real question: Are you any good?" Hal asked. I wanted to say something, but Matt looked at me, waiting to see if I would keep my promise.

"So you said you played for varsity, even as a freshman?" Ben asked.

"Yeah. It was hard work though; I had to train my ass off four times a week with practices and two days of games. I loved playing a lot, even if I only had a day to take it easy."

"No way," Ben said. "Six days a week of training?"

"I'd like to see how good you are." Hal said. It wasn't a compliment; it was a challenge, from one athlete to another.

"Even ask Kaylee. She was at all my games." I pointed at Kaylee.

"Every one. And every one she managed to accidently knock over a guy on the other team." They all laughed. I glared at her. We have been over this before. I did not, do it on purpose!

"I was an accident!" Most of the time...

"Bullshit dude." I can lie to anyone and get away with it, except Kaylee. I put Matt down and move toward her and she ducked behind Jimmy to hide.

"I feel loved." Jimmy said. He was pretending to be all mad, but you could tell he was enjoying being around her.

"We're even now," Kaylee smiled at him. That's a smile I have yet to see from Kaylee Parker. I'll have to ask her about that sometime…

We headed on to a small path on the main road. I thought we were supposed to stay on the main road. Hal noticed this and pointed it out to Clayton. Clayton said something but I couldn't tell what. It seemed to satisfy Hal. Hal passed me and I turned around and noticed Clayton looking around nervously before following the group. Kaylee was right. We gotta be on our feet at all times here. I don't trust these people.

When we saw the house it looked like something from a movie. Lots of green plants and trees with a rather large two story cabin. And two soccer goals. OH MY GOD THEY HAVE A SOCCER FIELD HERE! Well Hal wanted to see how good I was, I'll show him!

Clayton herded us to the house and up a spiral stair case. He distributed sleeping bags. "Alright good work, let's get everyone in bed. We'll do a tour in the morning."

Kaylee was getting set up and I could tell she was tired. Jimmy was talking to her, or at least trying to. I glanced at Matt, who was laying his head on his brother, then back at Kaylee. She was already out cold. Kaylee and her sleep. I couldn't sleep, so I got up and headed down stairs. I figured I would look around a little.

I noticed Clayton and another man walking a kid outside. I crept up to the front window and watched them bring him into the forest. After a while they came back, but without the boy. They had his backpack. Clayton and they guy went into the old barn on the side of the house and when they came back out, they didn't have the backpack. What the hell? I got up and started looking for the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" It was a girl from the 7th Mass. She seemed scared and angry. I don't think she likes me.

"I'm looking for a bathroom," I said. She glared at me.

"There is one in your room. Next time don't come down here at night." What's this chick's problem?

"Sorry, I didn't know."

"Well now you do, so, don't make that mistake again."

"Whatever."

"Just go upstairs," she said quickly and steeped between me and the door just as the door opened. Then she actually pushed me forward, trying to speed me up.

Clayton and a man walked inside."Tessa? What are you doing? Oh, why, who are you?" the man asked.

"Oh hi, Dad. Umm, I don't believe I got your name," she said in a sweet voice. Two faced bitch.

"Alyssa Cater," I replied.

"Alyssa was looking for a bathroom," She told him all sweet.

"Well you two best be off to bed. You'll be tired tomorrow." I turned around and headed upstairs but stopped on the other side of the wall when I heard whispering.

"What does she know?" Clayton's voice asked Tessa

"Did she see anything?" Her dad questioned.

"I don't think so, but we should keep a close watch on her." Tessa said and they started walking so I hurried upstairs as quietly as possible. Now I definitely wasn't sleeping. I stayed up all night by the window watching the forest, but nothing happened. Around 4 A.M. I fell asleep on the window sill.

Kaylee's POV

Next thing I knew, a hand on my shoulder was gently shaking me awake. I grabbed the nearest gun, loaded and aimed before I even opened my eyes. Force of habit.

"Calm down. I just came to wake you up for breakfast." It was Jimmy.

"What time is it?" My voice was groggy.

"Like ten-thirty."

"Damn." I stood up and pulled my hoodie on, making sure to leave the sleeve pulled up on my left arm. It was difficult sleeping on that; I woke up at least three times in the middle of the night because it burned when I laid on the wound.

I quickly ran a brush through my hair and tugged on my sneakers. Jimmy stood idly in the doorway as I began the process of arming myself. He watched as I put two guns in my holsters, a few knives in both pockets, a gun in my sneaker, a butcher knife on my back, and C4 in my side belt.

"Isn't it hard to move around with all of that on you?" Jimmy questioned.

"Not really. It feels weird not having anything on me, actually." Once we made our way downstairs, the kids of the 2nd Mass were all seated at a table with a plate of food in front of them. Alyssa was sitting next to Ben and Matt and Hal was sitting next to a girl I'd never seen before. She must be part of the 7th Mass's survivors.

The two of us walked into the warm kitchen and began helping ourselves to breakfast. Since they had plenty of food and a small amount of people here, I took a little more food than I normally would have. I haven't had a decent sized meal in days. Jimmy skimmed his eyes over the piles of different foods. "It's crazy that they have this much."

"No kidding. If we had access to stuff like this we wouldn't have to scout out food for weeks."

Once in the dining room, Jimmy and I set our plates on the table. I sat next to Hal and across from Ben and Jimmy sat uncomfortably by Rick. He didn't like the preharnessed kids; it was obvious just by seeing the way he acted around Ben. He treated him like Ben was a threat, and he shouldn't even be allowed in the 2nd Mass. Of course I would never be sure if Ben could actually be a danger to us, but that doesn't mean he should be forced as an outsider nor judged unrightfully. I went through all of middle school and my few months of high school feeling like a freak and an outsider; it felt worse than the burning sensation in my arm, and no one ever needs to feel the way I did. No matter how much Ben irritates me, he doesn't deserve this kind of ridicule.

"So can we make up for the missed fighting lessons today? I don't want to start forgetting things." Speaking of the Mason boy.

"If Clayton will let us, then yeah. You're gonna start losing your touch." For some reason, Hal laughed at that. All of us sent puzzled looks in his direction.

"He never had a touch," Hal clarified. I smirked at his comment and watched everyone try to contain their laughter.

Ben rolled his eyes. "For your information, I'm getting better. Right?" He asked.

I looked up at him and let go of my lip which I was biting. I gotta stop doing that. "Define better." This time, everyone laughed. If you're going to learn how to fight from me, you gotta learn to take some teasing and hazing on my part. It's just how my teaching works. Ben rolled his eyes and shook his head at my remark and continued eating some of the fruit on his plate.

Everyone began talking amongst themselves. I was tuning out the chatter and focusing on the silence I had grown accustom to being. Sometimes, I didn't hear much at all; I'm freaking amazing at blocking out things. That skill came in handy when I began running track and cross country in elementary school. My mind automatically ignored the cheers of the crowd and heavy breathing of the runners beside me. Instead of listening to all the obnoxious sounds, I channeled that energy into my running, which helped my stamina loads. Other times it wasn't so great; I alienated a people after my parents died and learned to block out everything around me. I have no idea how Alyssa managed to get me to speak even a few sentences, because I never spoke under any circumstances back then. But I'm glad she did, since she was a lot less expensive than therapy.

I can't tell you how nice it is to rest my voice right now. After staying silent for so long, talking bothers my vocal chords for whatever reason. Just these few minutes of quietness feels heavenly. My fingers lightly grasped my silver necklace and traced the pendent. It's like it's etched into my head to do that whenever I'm brooding about something. For some reason I'm annoyed by that, a lot.

It took me a moment to notice I had nothing remaining on my plate, and since I served no further purpose of sitting there, I scooted my chair out and stood up. The rest of the people around me all turned their attention to my noisy action. They most likely almost forgot I was even in the room since I didn't make a sound or drastic movement in the past seven minutes so they were a bit startled. I didn't care, so I moved into the kitchen without bothering to question everyone's facial expressions.

Another glorious thing about Clayton's Sanctuary was the fact that it had a superb generator that allowed electricity and running water to become possible again. I washed my plate and fork quickly and stacked them back into the smooth cabinet. Things were beginning to feel normal almost. Just the consideration of that made me a bit happier, even if it was merely pretense. Once we went back to the 2nd Mass, these luxuries will be gone.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this quiet." I didn't have to turn around to know that the voice belonged to Hal Mason.

"You've only known me for two weeks; you don't even know my definition of quiet," I smirked at him.

"Oh really?" Hal asked in that tone of his that always makes me want to punch him after he uses it.

"You'd be surprised."

"Well aren't you just full of surprises then?" Another tone I've grown to loath.

"You have no idea, Hal Mason. You have no idea."

"Hey guys we're gonna go play some soccer outside. Wanna join?" Alyssa asked as she took care of her dishes. You could hear how excited she was. It made me smile a little to see my best friend so happy. After all the shit that was going on at home, her one escape was soccer; it was the one thing that made her happier than anything in the world. Well, apart from juice boxes.

"Sure." I wasn't too bad myself, and my running experience helped me a lot. Alyssa had taught me a lot before the invasion, but I was nowhere near as skilled as her. I just hope I don't do anything stupid like cut my other arm or something.

The three of us climbed down the stairs and out to the chilled air of Massachusetts. A mix of adults and teens from the Sanctuary was on one side of the field getting ready and the kids of the 2nd Mass on the opposite. I took off my jacket and set it down by Mike and Rick. I set my guns and knives inside of it and made it look a little neat. When I looked up, Rick was staring at my stitched arm. It made me feel a little uncomfortable since I was only wearing a tank top, even though I know he wasn't looking at me in that way. I get really weirded out when guys stare at me or "flirt" with me in any way shape or form. Personally, I'm not into the whole dating and relationship thing, so it creeps me out when guys overdo it. It happened a few times back in high school, and the only thing you need to know is that there were a few black eyes and broken noses involved.

"C'mon, Parker!" Alyssa called me over as she held the soccer ball in her hands.

I nodded to her and looked to Mike. "Can you watch my stuff for me?" I didn't trust any of the nearby Sanctuary guards near my things, whatsoever.

"Sure thing," he smiled warmly. I gave him my thanks and jogged to the 2nd Mass side.

Alyssa started to speak about a game plan we were going to use. She also explained some rules to the younger kids who didn't know how to play too well. While she was talking, I glanced behind her to observe a particular guard that was watching us all intently. Actually, they all were watching us intently. I get that they're guards and everything, but this was a new form of watching that didn't exactly make me feel calm. I swear, something is up here, and by the sickening feeling in my gut, it was not a good thing.

"Ready?" the girl Hal was sitting by, Tessa I think, called down to us.

"We're gonna kick your asses!" Alyssa shouted. I really don't understand how she's super serious one moment, and then super hyper the next. Must be the juice boxes.

The ball was placed in the middle of the field and all of us took our positions. Because we had no whistle, someone yelled go for us and we began playing. Alyssa stole the ball from Tessa and ran down the field, me a few yards from her. She weaved her way around the feet of Sanctuary members and when she was about to be caved in by Tessa, she kicked the ball to me. I ran with the ball as fast as I could with different people in my way. Alyssa was clear again, so I passed the ball to her and she scored. I grinned and ran to give her a high five.

"You haven't lost your touch have you?"

"Alyssa Carter never loses any of her touches."

I chuckled and ran back over to the mids with Alyssa. Tessa and her gang took the ball to our goal and would've made it too, if Alyssa hadn't kicked the ball out from their possession and passed it to me. I ran with it to the middle of the field and gave it to an open Jimmy. He jogged across the grass and looked around to see where the rest of the team was to pass to.

"Jimmy! I'm open! I'm open!" Ben called raising his hand. No one but our team was surrounding Ben; however, Jimmy ignored him and went straight into the pile of Sanctuary teens. Tessa stole the ball and scored into our goal.

"It's alright guys," Alyssa said to a group of disappointed kids, "we'll get the next one." Ben, Hal, Jimmy, Matt, Alyssa, and I were in the middle of the field when Matt yelled to Hal, "You weren't even trying!" I guess competiveness runs in the Mason blood.

"I wasn't trying?!" Hal asked bewildered. "You just showed up!"

I smiled and shook my head. When I looked up again, I saw Jimmy staring at Ben's spikes, frowning. He didn't notice, and backed up Hal on how Matt only joined a few minutes ago. Tessa came up to Hal and taunted that they were just letting us get ahead and they going to win. Alyssa and I backed up to defense and told the defenders to switch out with us.

Ben went up to Jimmy and asked him if he saw that he was open earlier, clearly not understanding that Jimmy neglected to pass him the ball for a reason. "Didn't you see me there? I was right there." Ben pointed behind.

"Yeah, yeah I saw you. Just stay away from me, okay?" Jimmy walked off to the left of defense. Ben's face fell once he processed Jimmy's words. His hand went to his neck as he touched his spikes and shook his head. Jimmy is my friend, but that was pretty harsh of him to say.

Ben looked up and noticed I was watching him. I gave him a soft look, not full of pity, but just concern. He smiled a little at my gesture, knowing that I was among the few that didn't see him as a freak. He turned back around as an offender.

We played more for a solid fifteen minutes, Alyssa scoring and blocking, me passing and scoring a few, and soon enough, we were up ten to six. We were about to score again, when Tessa's dad called her out. He glanced at Hal a little nervously and back to her, saying something. She was embarrassed, and he finally let her come back in to play. That was totally beyond weird…

Things were going rather smoothly for us, making goal after goal. But since this is my life, and nothing good stays that way in my world, things were bound to start going wrong. I was running down the field, just about ready to shoot when Tessa full force knocked me to the ground and scored on the opposite side.

And that's all it took, just one spark to ignite my bottle of anger. Once you piss me off when I'm in a crappy ass mood, I can't promise that you'll leave without something hurting. I wasn't so much pissed that I fell, but the fact her elbow went straight into my injured arm, causing it to feel bloody again. Damn that fucking bitch. She reminds me of the girls that used to pick on me in school.

All eyes were one me as I sat on the grass, one arm propping me up, the other in too much pain to move. I was getting angrier by the second; everything ticking me off. The sympathetic look in everyone's eyes. The smug grin plastered upon Tessa's face. The throbbing pain in my arm. Or maybe the reason that they were all frozen, waiting to see what I would do to her since everybody in the 2nd Mass knew to never, ever piss off Kaylee Parker.

But you know what I did? I picked myself up, walked over to my things, and untucked the bandages Anne gave me before we left out of my pocket. Right then and there, I took off the bloodied bandage, and let my eyes widen before me at the God-awful sight of my arm. Two of the stitches had come undone, the whole thing was jagged and disgusting, and was getting purple around the edges. It almost made me want to puke. I had to get this thing cleaned off before it gets infected or before I slaughtered that asshole. Anger is the one emotion I can't control one hundred percent, and if it got out of hand, things would get bad.

"You need help?" Tessa asked me, clearly wanting me to say no. When she saw how badly my arm was already damaged, her eyes were the size of plates.

My good arm tensed so badly from the need to slug her, it was shaking. I clenched the bandages in my hand. "Don't ever, ever talk to me again." She winced in fright from my words and I stormed into the house and slammed the door.

I made my way to the kitchen since I had no idea where else there was running water to wash off the dried blood and clean it. Clayton was there when I walked into the room, simply leaning on the counter lost in his thoughts. I paid him no attention, but once he saw the injury I had, he had to question me on it.

"How'd you get that?"

"On patrol," I said shortly while starting the water, letting it rinse out the wound. Most people are able to cool off once they're away from the scene that caused them to be mad. I, on the other hand, cannot calm down until I shoot something. A lot of times.

He handed me a cloth. "I'm no doctor, but I don't think the stitches should be pulled out…"

"Some damn bitch knocked me over and split it back open and made it bleed again."

Clayton finally got the idea that I was pissed as hell, so he stopped asking me the annoying questions. "Do you need to take your anger out on something?"

I gently wiped around the massive cut and cleaned off the blood seeping out of the split sides. "Do you have a shooting range out here, or a place that you guys practice shooting?"

"Right down the path over there," he pointed through the window, "big ring of trees. You can't miss it."

As quick as physically possible, I dried my arm, wrapped it tightly, grabbed my Calico off the counter and walked out the front door. It took me a second to notice it was dusk already, and that a guard mentioned dinner being in a half hour. They were no longer playing soccer; all of them were standing and glaring at Tessa, even Hal. Alyssa was in her face, yelling. None of this meant anything to me; all I wanted was to shoot something, now.

Alyssa's POV

"Alyssa wake up. Alyssa wake up. Alyssa wake up. Alyssa wake up. Alyssa wake up. Alyssa wake up. Alyssa wake-"

I looked up and saw Matt staring at us. "Hal, I swear I am going to drop you out of this window if you don't shut up right now," I said in a calm voice.

"Let's go, we gotta help with breakfast," I looked around I saw Kaylee was the only one asleep. Hal, Matt, and I left her since she had a rough night before.

When we got downstairs, Hal went to sit down next to Tessa. She seemed perfectly unbitchy with him, even seemed extra nice. This is the first and last time I will ever wish this, but I kinda wanted Karen here, just to see her get in Tessa's face. I sat down next to Ben and Matt sat next to me.

"Alyssa, if Hal ever does something like that, then you have my permission to slap him. He used to do that to me and Ben."

I smiled. "Okay, thank you Matt."

"What?" Ben asked.

"Hal went to wake up Alyssa, and he did what he used to do to us." Matt tried to mimmic his brother, "Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up."

"Oh, yeah. If he ever does that, just slap him hard," Ben agreed.

"You have my word."

Just then Clayton came in from the kitchen. "Okay everyone, come get your food." Jimmy went upstairs to get Kaylee. The food looked so good. I helped Matt get his breakfast, Ben behind me. We had eggs, water, bread, and apples. It tasted amazing.

Jimmy and Kaylee came walking down, disappeared into the kitchen, then came back to the table. Kaylee sat on Hal's other side and Jimmy sat next to her. Ben immediately started to talk to the newly awakened weapons enthusiast.

"So can we make up for the missed fighting lessons today? I don't want to start forgetting things." Ben looked like a little puppy, so cheerful and eager. Kaylee looked tired and dark. Hal looked like it was taking everything in him not to crack up. Jimmy was glaring at Ben. The 7th Mass people looked confused. I found the whole thing amusing, especially since Kaylee didn't even notice any of this going on.

"If Clayton will let us then yeah. You're going to start losing your touch." Hal, unable to contain his laughter any longer, started cracking up. Everyone looked at him, confused.

"He never had a touch." Everyone looked like they wanted to laugh, but weren't sure if they should.

"For your information, I'm getting better. Right?" Ben asked hopefully.

"Define better." Kaylee said, dead serious. Finally, everyone busted up laughing. It was pretty funny.

Ben looked slightly offended. Well, he is just gonna have to deal with it because that's how Kaylee teaches.

"Hey if it makes you feel better, she was even more critical when she taught me to shoot. It's not just you," I whispered.

"Thanks." He seemed less offended knowing that he wasn't alone in that. By now all the adults had left to go do whatever it is they did. I really wanted to find out what was up last night.

I looked at Tessa then to Hal. They were laughing and she was flirting and he was flirting right back. What a player. I rolled my eyes. Tessa saw me and started glaring at me. I just smiled at her. She glared harder.

"Can I help you?" I asked her.

"What?" She looked confused.

Everyone stopped talking and stared at me. "You were staring at me. So I thought you needed something. Never mind, carry on desperately flirting with Hal, it is quite entertaining," I smirked.

"Shut up Alyssa," Hal said, and then looked at Tessa. "Ignore her."

"You at least told her you have a girlfriend right? Because if you didn't that seems a little unfair. I mean I think so," I told him. Everyone looked at Hal, who just about had steam coming out of his ears. "Or maybe you really are just that type of person."

"What type of person would that be?" Hal asked coldly.

"Oh you know, the guy who had three girlfriends. That type. I mean I don't like Karen but that seems a little messed up."

"Just drop it."

"Okay." He looked surprised at how quickly I gave up. "As soon as you admit you are a player and tell Tessa here, you have a girlfriend."

"Karen is not my girlfriend." Hal was pissed now.

"Well you better clear that up with her because she seems to have a different opinion on that subject." Suddenly Kaylee stood up, her chair scraping loudly. She didn't even acknowledge what just went on, which means she didn't hear what just happened because she was zoned out. Kaylee quickly walked to the kitchen and Hal followed. Smart choice.

"So," Ben said trying to break the tension you could practically see in the air, "I noticed you guys have a soccer field out there. Anyone up for a game?"

"Sure. How about the 7th Mass versus the 2nd Mass?" Tessa asked. Everyone nodded and cheered. "Okay then. But I should warn you, I played JV soccer in school as a freshman and sophomore."

"Well Alyssa-" Ben started but I cut him off.

"I played soccer some too," I said, winking at him. He nodded. Everyone ran outside. "Imma go tell Kaylee and Hal."

I walked in and Hal and Kaylee were talking. I quickly washed my dishes. "Hey guys we're gonna play soccer. Wanna join?" I wondered if I looked as happy as I felt. Kaylee smiled and Hal glared, but he agreed. Oh Imma show Tessa up. Pssshhh JV.

"So, you read to shine?" Ben came up and asked, smiling as always.

"Oh hell ya, show all ya'll up." I smiled. "Words cannot express how happy I am to get out on a field and start playing again."

"You don't need to say anything," Ben laughed.

"Why?"

"Because you kinda suck at hiding your emotions. You look like a kid in a candy shop," We both laughed.

"Yeah I guess." I looked for Kaylee and saw her putting her jacket down. I pushed back the thoughts of her now utterly exposed arm and focused on the fun that was about to happen.

"C'mon Parker!" I yelled. She put the rest of her stuff down and jogged over. I started telling the kids were to go, but they looked at me like I was psycho. Guess I gotta take this slow.

"Okay, I want you guys to defend. Your job is to keeping the Sanctuary kids from getting the ball in that net." I pointed to our goal. "Now, you guys are going to play offense. You guys are going to try and get the ball in that net, but remember the Sanctuary kids are going to try and stop you."

"Ready?" Tessa yelled.

"We are gonna kick your asses!" I replied.

I put the ball in the middle. Tessa yelled go and it was on. She tried, and failed, to get the ball around me. I ran down the field, easily dribbling around the other team. Just as Tessa was closing in on me, I passed to Kaylee. She took the ball the rest of the way then passed back to me and I scored.

Kaylee and I high fived. "You haven't lost your touch have you?" she asked.

"Alyssa Carter never loses any of her touches, I said matter-of-factly. We ran back over to the midfielders. Tessa and her gang took the ball to our goal and would've made it too, if I hadn't kicked the ball out from their possession and passed it to Kaylee. Some soccer player. She totally sucks. Kaylee ran the ball to the middle of the field and passed it to Jimmy. He jogged across the grass and looked around to see where the rest of the team was to pass to.

"Jimmy! I'm open! I'm open!" Ben called raising his hand. No one but the 2nd Mass was by Ben; only Jimmy ignored him and dribbled straight to some Sanctuary kids. Tessa stole the ball and scored.

"It's alright guys," I yelled, "we'll get the next one."

Hal, Jimmy, Ben, Matt, Kaylee, and I were in the middle of the field when Matt yelled to Hal, "You weren't even trying!" I laughed at how seriously Matt was taking this.

"Yeah Hal, you weren't even trying!" I taunted.

"I wasn't trying?!" Hal asked bewildered. "You just showed up!" He pointed to Matt.

I noticed Kaylee watching Ben and Jimmy intently. "Didn't you see me there? I was right there." Ben asked.
"Yeah, yeah I saw you. Just stay away from me, okay?" Jimmy walked off.

Ben looked irritated as hell. He doesn't deserve to be treated like that. I went up to him to make sure he was okay. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," he said and was about to leave when I cut him off.

"That's a terrible lie, not very original by the way. Now tell me what's up." I think of Ben like my little brother, even thought he is taller than me. And once I start to become close to someone, I become very protective.

"Jimmy's been treating me weird because of my spikes. Actually, a lot of people have been. Kinda gets me down, you know?"

"When I was in school, girls called me a freak all the time. You know what I told them? 'Thanks'."

"Why?"

"Because I'd rather be called a freak and be different than be normal. Normal is boring."

He thought that over. "Thanks Alyssa."

"Welcome, now let's go win ourselves a soccer game." The game went really well. We ended up scoring a bunch more. The Sanctuary team only made one more goal and that's because Hal let Tessa get by him. The 2nd Mass got a kick, and since we were so far ahead, I didn't bother earning us more points. I kicked it Tessa's face.

"What the hell was that for?!" she yelled, as everyone else tried to stifle their laughter.

"You were in my way." In my defense, she was in front of the goal, but I could have easily kicked the ball around her. I chose not to. After a little while, we went in the help with dinner. Tessa was staring at me, no, glaring, so I took this wonderful opportunity to make her mad.

"Fun fact you don't know about me: I played Varsity soccer as a freshman in high school." She shot me the coldest, meanest, bitchyest look ever. "Close your mouth honey." I smiled and ran over to Kaylee. The game was going really well. But all good things come to an end right?

Kaylee had the ball and was dribbling up the field when Tessa ran up full force and knocked Kaylee on her ass at the same time she managed to elbow Kaylee in the arm and split two of her stitches open. Everyone became so silent; you could hear a pin drop.

Kaylee got up and walked over to her stuff and shoved a gun in her pocket and unwrapped her arm. Her arm was disgusting; I almost had to turn away. It was purple around the edges and if she didn't clean that thing quick, it was going to get infected. She stared at it with a scowl on her face, which deepened when Tessa walked over to her. Tessa actually had the nerve to come up go up to her and ask if she needed help.

Kaylee's good arm tensed up and I could tell it was taking everything in her power not to sock her. I really wanted her to just turn around and deck her, but once Kaylee gets pushed over the edge, she doesn't stop. She wouldn't be able to only punch her once; she would continue to beat her.

"Don't ever, ever talk to me again." Kaylee said with so much force and venom, Tessa winced. She ripped open the front door and slammed it close to the point where I saw a few people flinch.

"Whoa, over dramatic much?" Tessa asked. The Sanctuary kids laughed. The 2nd Mass kids looked pissed, even Hal. I glance at Matt; he nodded, silently giving me permission to lose it on Tessa.

"If you think that was bad, YOU HAD BETTER THANK YOUR LUCKY FUCKING STARS SHE DIDN'T HAVE A GUN OR KNIFE WITH HER OR YOU WOULD BE A BLOODY ASS PULP ON THE GROUND RIGHT NOW, NOT BREATHING!"

"One thing you better learn pretty quickly Tessa is that no one pisses off Kaylee Parker on purpose. I repeat NO ONE!" Ben added.

"She is just a little teenage girl wimp who can't take a little shove."

"Shut up Tessa, just shut the fuck up."

"What, little munchkin over here can't take the smack talk?"

"No, I can talk the talk all day, and I'm sure you could too, but can you fight the fight?" I challenged. "Because I don't think you can."

"Please, I'll take you any day short stuff." She smirked at me.

"Oh yeah, just like you can take me in soccer?" I asked. "How well did that work for you?"

"I could take you."

"Just warning you, I'm the 2nd Mass's best fist fighter."

"Okay, prove it." She smiled, obviously not expecting me to do just that. "I'm sure even Matt is a better fighter than you"

I clenched my fist and decked her in the face. That's gonna leave a bruise.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

"You said prove it, so I did."

She threw a lousy punch at me that I easily dodged. I threw punch after punch. Tessa punched and kicked. I hit her in the gut and almost knocked the wind outta her. It was pretty one sided fight and I obviously had the upper hand. She jumped at me and I dodged. She fell forward I landed on top of her and pulled her arm back. It was about to snap when I felt hands grab me by the waist and lift me through the air.

"Okay, I think she gets it," Ben said. Hal was holding me back from Tessa. They dragged me away while some kids from the Sanctuary came and helped Tessa limp inside.

"Nice job," Ben said, smiling, until he the look Hal was giving him, "I mean, uh, really Alyssa? We're guests here."

I gave Ben a "nice one" look then frowned towards Hal. "I was not going to let her trash talk Kaylee. That little bitch needed to be put in her place. She said she could take me. She said and I quote, 'Prove it' So I did."

"Alyssa," Hal said.

"Yes?"

"You need to learn to control your anger better."

"I think I have demonstrated a lot of self-control, considering all the things you have said and done. I mean you're alive."

"I've saved your sorry ass countless of times. You think you'd be a little more grateful!"

"I never asked you to that! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE FUCKING DONE IT! OKAY?"

"Why?"

"Because that is just another debt to someone I can't pay back. YOU SAVED MY LIFE! That is a debt I can't afford to pay."

"You know what? Why don't we just-" Hal and I jumped a little as a loud gunshot blasted through the air. Looks like Kaylee found a way to take out her anger, safely. "-call it even?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I will not be even with you until I can pay it off." I turned around and went in the house to help with dinner. But in the dining room, Tessa was being fixed up. I ran up stairs and sat on a random sleeping bag that hadn't been folded up. Everyone was supposed to roll up the sleeping bags in the morning. This person didn't. I sat there and considered going to get Kaylee, but then again she had several guns on her and judging by the ear splitting sound of her gun shots blasting, I'm not risking by life to go do that. The shots were four seconds apart and had been four seconds apart since she took off down that road. Besides, she will calm down on her own.

Suddenly Ben came in. "For what it's worth, I think Tessa totally deserved that ass kicking you just gave her."

I smiled. "Thanks."

"Don't worry about Mr. Womanizer over there. He will drop it once we get back and he sees Karen."

"Dear God, don't remind me about her."

"BEN!" Hal yelled. Ben left downstairs in a hurry. I lay down and closed my eyes, getting some much needed rest.

Kaylee's POV

"Are you okay?!" Jimmy asked as soon as he saw me walk out the door.

"Yeah," I spoke through gritted teeth. I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, just in the mood to shoot. Ben came up and put a hand on my shoulder to stop me from walking, which only infuriated me more. I wretched my shoulder out from under him and stormed off down the road, getting angrier and angrier by the millisecond. I hate it when people touch me, hell I flat out hate affection in general. The only exception I make is when Alyssa is upset and needs a hug or needs to be cheered up.

That thought also made me wonder what my exception was on Jimmy, since I didn't feel awkward or irked by the hug we had or when he held my hand as my stitches were being sewn. What was with that? Of course, my subconscious came up with a few possible answers to that question, but I absolutely refused to even let them cross my mind completely. That was the last straw.

I completely blew up.

I ripped off my knife belt and handguns and slammed them onto the floor. The gun in my sneaker was tossed to the side violently and after that followed some C4 (don't worry, it's harmless until the trigger is pulled). I put two rounds into my Calico and loaded. The tree in front of me was the least worn of the rest of them, so I decided that this would be the one that I would shoot at. I blasted six bullets up and down the tree and started shooting in the middle. By the time I was done here, there was going to be multiple holes directly through the tree.

Anytime I considered taking a small break (I had blasted forty bullets about now), my mind went straight back to her ugly smirk. The way her eyes gleamed at the way I appeared to be defeated and helpless to her. How she triumphantly stood knowing she had knocked me over easily. The hardest thing out of all of it? I had no idea which things had just happened moments ago and what happened months ago. All I could think about was the countless times I was pushed around, thrown into some lockers, verbally abused, and made fun of because I was the freaky girl who was decked out in black and had no parents. Just repeating those memories in my mind over and over and over again made me continue on blasting that poor, poor tree.

I never really told Alyssa about those people that made school hell for me. Sure she caught some of them in the act, but I wouldn't talk about it with her. Back before the invasion, I had gotten a lot of detentions and office referrals for fighting back those kids. But the school never put those on my permanent record since I was the fourteen-year-old who had the screwed up family background. The administrators had said I didn't "know how to properly dispose" of my negative feelings nor did I have "the parental influence to enforce punishment on my wrong doings." And that's another way weapons and I found each other. My uncle said there was never a better feeling then taking a gun and blasting something to pieces when you were mad. And I'm here to tell you, he was right in every way possible. Nothing in this screwed up world made me feel better than shooting or killing something.

My ears were throbbing from how loud the bullets were going off. Not having plugs and doing this kind of target practice isn't the best idea for your ears, but I didn't care at this point. If I did this everyday, then it would be a problem.

The sky had darkened considerably, and the stars made themselves apparent. I looked up briefly while I was shooting and noticed that there was no aircrafts that passed, ever. Usually there was one or two that would pass by frequently; I hadn't seen this kind of "safety" before. I know Clayton said that we were off the skitter radar, but it almost seems careless that they have no one posted around here in case of an attack.

Despite the tiredness in my fingers, I loaded the seventh round of bullets and started shooting at the middle of the tree again. My anger was still blazing like mad, and to make matters worse, the only light I had was the flashlight on my gun. Low light causes my shots to be off by a millimeter, and to me, that's equivalent to a mile. I guess it's good for me to practice in the dark, and I have been, so hopefully I'd start getting better soon.

A snap of a twig echoed throughout the shooting range. I continued shooting, but also listened more intently. Something was behind me, and as of this moment, I wasn't sure what. I heard what sounded like a human footstep, but I could never be sure anymore. I shot another bullet at the tree, and then whirled around to the source of the noise. I made sure to reload my gun loudly.

God fucking damn it!

Ben stood before me with his hands raised, not wanting to be shot at. My finger tensed around the trigger, but I fought the extreme urge to pull it. One day, this kid isn't going to be so lucky with me. "Don't shoot."

"I wouldn't waste a bullet on you." I turned back to the tree and began to shoot back at it. Something about Ben Mason just pisses me the fuck off.

"That was harsh." He made his way by my side, watching me blast the bark off.

"Don't give a damn," I said, making my shots travel up the long trunk.

"Why are you so mad?"

"Did you come here to interrogate me or something?"

He winced at the loud boom that sounded. "I just don't understand." I didn't reply to his statement, but focused my gun in the center again.

"Holy crap, you've almost gone straight through the tree." My light shined to the hole that was forming in the middle. After shooting in the same place for an hour and a half, you tend to leave some reasonable damage.

The second I reached over to grab another round, Ben took it right from my fingertips. "Do not fucking screw around with me. Give me it."

He put the round behind his back. "You gotta stop shooting."

"I'll do whatever the hell I want, give it back." His goal in life must be to anger me as often as possible, because I can name at minimum fifteen other occasions where his has pissed me off for no purpose whatsoever. He just stood there, watching me and waiting for me to give up. "Ben, I'm not playing. Give me it." He simply blinked in response, still holding my bullets.

I threw my head back and sighed. My gloved hand ran through my bangs and then made its way into my pocket. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be eating with the others?"

"I was, 'til Rick managed to make everything awkward."

"How so?"

"He asked me how I could eat 'their' food in front of the entire 2nd and 7th Mass. I had to get out of there, and I heard all this blasting. Figured it was you. And you're probably one of the few that really get how damn awful it feels to be out casted."

"Damn straight. It makes me mad to see people ragging on you because you were harnessed. It's not like you chose to be, and I know you wish that you weren't."

"Exactly. If I could back in time, I definitely would."

"Who knows? Maybe you got harnessed for a reason."

"Now you sound like me," Ben laughed, "always the optimist."

I smiled and shook my head. "'Cause you took my damn bullets! Now I have to get over being pissed."

"Do you really need them to calm you down that badly?"

My smirk disappeared. "Yeah. There is no other way I can cool off. Believe me, I've tried."

Ben pondered that over a little, and then he remembered something. "Alyssa fought Tessa when you were over here. You should've seen how brutal they were.

"She can't help but fight my battles with me," I smirked. What would I do without her? I recollected my weapons and swiftly swiped the round from Ben's hands.

"Hey!"

"Didn't I teach you that before? To always expect the unexpected?"

"Yeah, but-"

"This is going to be even harder than I assumed," I groaned.

"You really do love to harass me, don't you?"

"If you don't like the way I teach, find yourself a new teacher."

Ben finally shut up, and we walked back down the road in quietness, nothing but the crunching gravel beneath our sneakers making sound. The Sanctuary really was quite beautiful at night, and so beyond peaceful. It also was a little eerie, with no aircrafts flying overhead and the "patrols" watching our every move here.

And I'll never admit this to anyone, but I was sorta glad Ben came down to talk to me. You have no idea how wrecked I had been feeling lately about my fucked up past, and it was awesome to talk to someone who got it. It felt good to actually make him feel better about himself too and to let him know that I understood what he was going through completely, not just telling him I got it.

"I seriously don't get how you can stay so quiet all the time."

"Guess I'm just used to it," I said earnestly. I didn't speak for weeks after that one dreaded day, and after loving the silence for so long, I just stayed that way. Talking was a useless activity to me. I'd much rather-

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

He rolled his eyes. "How come you know so much about feeling like a freak? I mean, what happened to make you feel that way?"

Well you know, my parents got killed and I started blacking out and seeing things. That might have something to do with it I suppose. "I really don't want to talk about this right now." I think Ben knew that now was not the time to push me any further or to piss me off again, so he dropped it. If he had pressed me, I would've slugged him, no doubt.

Shooting can tire you out if you do excessive amounts of it, so I wasn't surprised when out of no where I felt like I was going to pass out from exhaustion any second. When we walked up the first staircase, most of the 2nd Mass was still at the dinner table talking a little. I continued going up until I reached the room I was staying in. I unrolled my sleeping bag, slid out of my shoes and weapons, and fell asleep instantly.

"Kaylee, Ben, wake up! We gotta get out of here." Something about the urgency in Alyssa's voice made me a little uncomfortable. Even when she is scared, Alyssa pretends she's fine, so something must really be up.

It took me a few moments to fully wake up, but when I finally opened my eyes, I practically puked at what I saw. Ben had his hand wrapped over my right hand. I tore my hand out of his grasp instantly and grabbed my sneakers. Thank God he wasn't totally awake to see that. Hal and Alyssa probably saw that though, and that's almost as worse. Alyssa is gonna give me so much shit about that now. Damn it.

I swiftly geared up and slung my backpack over my shoulders, all without looking up at anyone. I was totally mortified. Jimmy must've sensed that, since he gave me a questioning look. I ignored it and walked down the stairs with the rest of the 2nd Mass. Tessa however, was up and wasn't all that thrilled we were leaving for reasons still unknown to me.

"What are you doing?" She asked Hal.

"Clayton made a deal with the skitters? tell me you don't know about this," Hal seethed. A deal with the skitters? The fuck?

"I was gonna talk to them; make it so you could stay," Tessa said hopefully, as if that would change anything at all.

Hal shook his head and we all ran down the stairs, Tessa screaming to her father saying we were leaving.

As soon as all of us bursted from the door, the 7th Mass was running and shooting after us. Mike and Rick were nearly shot, but luckily they ducked behind an old car in the nick of time. A little kid made the mistake of looking back, so I grabbed him, tossed him onto my back, and continued to sprint through the woods.

We were a few miles away when the loudest gun shot rang out, causing all of us to stop and listen for anything else. I let go of the kid and took a huge breath. I did a head count of everyone here, but we were three short. Hal, Rick, and Mike were no where to be seen. But within seconds, Hal and Rick came running down the road, panting.
Hal told us we had to cover as much distance as we could between us and them, so a few of us took the younger kids and began running down the empty road. Man, I can't tell you how wonderful it was to run again. I had done a little bit now and then, but nothing like I used to before the attack. And I could've kept going on for miles, but eventually everyone agreed to stop and rest at a nearby house for a few hours. Alyssa finally told me that Clayton had been trading kids to the skitters so the 7th Mass survivors had immunity from being harmed. What a rat bastard.

By now the sun was in the sky, and Mike still hadn't caught up with us. I think he was shot by Clayton… Poor Rick, he's gonna take that really hard.

When we walked into the large home, Lourdes took all the kids upstairs, except for Matt who claimed he was just fine and didn't want to sleep. I smiled at that; he was going to be a fighter soon, give or take. Rick, Matt, and Ben sat on a dusty couch, Jimmy sat in a corner by a backdoor, and Alyssa stood by the dining room table. Hal was looking around the house, which was set up for a kid's sixth birthday party. Six years old and the aliens invaded. That must've really sucked. I sighed and slid my hands into my pockets.

And that's when I saw it. Something I never thought I'd see again.

A piano. A grand piano.

As If I was in a trance, I moved toward it slowly, skimming my hand across its dust covered surface. It was similar to the one I had had in my home, only tan. I took my gun off from around me and set it on top of the piano, still admiring its presence.

"You play?" Hal's voice called from across the room.

"Yeah," I chuckled slightly as I spoke, "but it's been a really, really long time."

I opened the fallboard and took a deep breath. Just the smell of the keys sent me into a world of flashbacks and memories. I thought back to the song I was teaching myself on the piano before the invasion, hoping I still remembered most of it.

My fingers didn't disappoint me; I played through the keys flawlessly, and I knew at that moment, my mom was smiling down on me from heaven. And it was the greatest feeling in the world. Matt slid next to me and watched me play for a bit until I stopped. He smiled at me.

"How long have you played?"

I thought back for a second, and then laughed slightly. "Since I could talk."

"Can you teach me?"

"Someday I will. I promise," I said locking pinkies with him.

"I should go ahead, try and get help," Ben's voice said to Hal. I got up and stood over by Alyssa.

"No," Hal shook his head firmly, "no. We're sticking together, getting a few hours of rest, then we're gonna head home."

"They're exhausted," Ben said softly, "you're exhausted. I can move faster on my own. Please let me do this." Hal shook his head, not wanting to let his little brother out alone.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Jimmy asked.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Ben asked, a slight edge apparent in his voice.

"What if you get lost? Or you just…keep going?"

"Keep going where?" Now he was playing dumb again, although this time I'm positive he knew that Jimmy didn't like him.

"Some place safer."

I really like Jimmy (however I'm still uncertain in which way exactly), but it was beginning to piss me off that he was being a dick to Ben. Which caused me to stupidly butt in and dig myself into a bigger hole.

"He won't," I say, "because I'll be going with him to make sure he doesn't."

Ben smiled gratefully at my input. But this also infuriated Alyssa.

"Hell no you're not," she said sternly. I'm pretty sure she knows, but won't admit to it, that that voice never has and never will work on me.

"Lighten up, Carter," I said smiling, "I'll be fine. Plus I could use a good run."

She crossed her arms at me and frowned, outweighing the pros and cons of the situation. Is it crazy that I can practically read her mind and actions no problem? I guess being best friends with someone for so long does that to you. "I don't want you getting hurt again."

But what she really meant was: "I don't want to lose the only family I have left." When you first meet Alyssa, she has a guarded look in her eyes that seems impossible to see over, but I see straight through it to the vulnerability she has deep down. And she didn't want anything happening to me; I don't blame her either. We're each other's only family as far as we know. Neither of us knows what became of our siblings, but we just assume they're dead.

"I'm going to be okay. You guys really need the help, and you know how fast I run and not to mention the explosives I have on me. There is no way in hell I can get hurt."

She sighed, but gave me a brief hug. "Please be careful," Alyssa whispered so only I could hear.

"Always am." She slapped me on the arm.

I laughed. "Promise." We did our signature fist hit, and then I turned to Ben, ready to run all the way back to John F. Kennedy High School.

The second we hit the end of the driveway, we broke out into a fast gait down the path. My head instantly started clearing of all the thoughts in it, something that occurred every time I did run. Thus being another reason I ran. I didn't have to worry about everything around me; all I had to do was focus on my stamina.

Not going to lie, it was slightly difficult for me to match Ben's pace the entire way, what with him being harnessed and having superior physical abilities to me and also the fact I hadn't ran a race since February (it was September now). But I did, and let me tell you, it was a really good work out. Despite how much it exhausts you, it feels so incredibly wonderful to run and run and run.

The cold air was another factor of difficulty for me. I hated running when it was really cold because it makes your body work twice as hard, keeping you warm and running. My coach made us practice extra time running in cool weather so we would have the best stamina possible, and it worked like hell. Sure we crashed as soon as we got home, but all of us appreciated it in the long run. Who knew running cross country and track in school would help me now in this situation? And I guess knowing all those math equations and shit really did end up being useful for me when I make explosives and guns. Wow…

Ben and I slowed our pace down to a jog when we stumbled upon a river flowing down, both in desperate need of some water. Just as we were about to drink a little, loud footsteps crunched on the gravel road.

Peaking through the bushes, Ben and me watched the end of the road to see who it was, already knowing the answer. Clayton and his band of bastards were traveling up the road, saying that there was no way we could've gone far since we had little kids with us. Shit. The 2nd Mass's kids were just a few miles ahead of Clayton and were bound to be discovered in two hours tops. I just hope Alyssa and Hal don't do something insanely stupid if Clayton finds them.

"I know we were going as fast as we could, but we really gotta step it up if we want to save their asses," I said concern lining my voice.

"Let's go," Ben replied. And we were off again.

Have you ever sprinted as fast as you possibly could just for fun once? That's exactly what Ben and I were doing. We were sprinting, I mean literally sprinting, as fast as our legs could carry us down the road, turning from memory back to where the school was out. If we made one wrong turn, our friends are going to be in serious danger.

The trees around me were a blur; I was running so fast all the nature around me was totally hazy. Nothing but the road ahead of me was clear, and nothing but the sound of my heart beating sounded. We had to have run at least ten miles by now at least, and without water, I felt like I was going to pass out. But I just kept thinking of Alyssa, Matt, Hal, and Jimmy to keep pushing me forward. Their safety means more to me than anything.

We curved down a windy road I vaguely recall us taking to head to the Sanctuary when I spotted two motorcycles and their owners. It looked a lot like-

"BEN?"

"DAD!" Bingo.

Tom ran and met us half way shouting, "Where's Hal and Matt?"

"They're with the others but they don't know Clayton's coming!" Dude he doesn't know what the hell you're talking about…

"What about the Sanctuary?" Tom questioned, trying to calm him down.

"Mike said it wasn't safe so we left, and then they started shooting at us," I clarified, trying to catch my breath. Damn I was tired.

"Who was shooting at you? Clayton?"

I nodded, so beat I couldn't speak.

"Dad, I think Mike's dead…"

This news fazed Tom briefly before he asked, "Is anyone else hurt?"

"I don't know," Ben said worriedly.

He looked at our concerned faces, and went into a little father-mode type thing. "You guys are okay. Dai will take you both back but first you gotta tell me everything."

So we did. We started off with how there was never patrols, all the suspicious activity with the adults, the weird way the barn was always guarded and locked, all of it. We still didn't know all the details of Clayton's deal, but we told Tom all we knew. I was seriously about to faint, and I kept blacking out for a few seconds at a time.

I managed to catch myself before I fell over, and this caught the attention of Tom. "You alright?"

"Do you have any water?" I asked. My voice was way too scratchy, and my throat was burning with thirst.

"Yeah," Tom took the canteen of water at his side and gave it to me, "how many far did you guys run?"

I gratefully took the water and swallowed it down, instantly feeling better. "About ten and half miles."

"Without stopping?"

"We stopped at a river briefly, but then we saw Clayton and ran down here," Ben explained.

"Here," I said and gave him the canteen. He was probably as beat as I was, with or without the spikes.

"No it's fine-"

"Now's not the time to be chivalrous. Now's the time to get some damn fluids in you before you lose consciousness." Dai laughed at my remark and Tom smiled and shook his head.

Ben reluctantly took it and finished the canteen. We thanked Tom and he got back onto his motorcycle. "Make sure Weaver comes as fast as he can. I'll try and stall them, but I'm not guaranteeing anything." With that being said, Tom sped off up the road before any of us had a chance to think.

"He has to be the most impulsive guy I've ever met." Dai looked at the two of us. "Well? What are you waiting for? We got kids to save!"

Alyssa's POV

"Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up." I looked up to find Hal standing over me. I kicked him in the gut, or at least tried to but aimed a little too low. "Alyssa get up. Alyssa get up. Alyssa-FUCK! Damn it, what was that for? I thought you weren't allowed to hit or yell!"

"I got special permission from Matt to hit you if you ever did that again." I said triumphantly. I stood up. "Why do I need to get up?" I asked.

Hal was already walking down stairs when he said, "Dinner time." Then he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Why were you sleeping on my sleeping bag?"

Oh. My. God. That's really embarrassing. "Oh, so you're the idiot who didn't put his sleeping bag away!"

We walked down stairs. Everyone was already seated. On one side of the table, Ben next Matt, who was across from Rick, Mike, and the Sanctuary group. At one end was Clayton and the other end of the table was Tessa's dad then Tessa and three open seats for Kaylee, Hal and I then at the other side was Jimmy. Hal sat in the middle. I had to either sit in between Hal and Jimmy or Hal and Tessa.

"I'm saving this seat for Kaylee, but you can sit there." Jimmy said. And that is how I ended up sitting next to Tessa. You could tell by looking at the adults that they were completely clueless to what happened earlier. I was across from Ben. I looked at him and mouthed 'help me' and he had to try not to laugh. Things were getting pretty uncomfortable. Not one person was talking.

"Well this is awkward," I said after the silence became too much. Ben started laughing slightly, and after Hal shot us the you-guys-are-so-immature look, both of us began laughing harder. You know that saying that everything is funnier when you're supposed to be silent? That's what it felt like right now.

"Do you guys know where Kaylee is?" Jimmy asked, breaking the awkwardness a bit more.

"Listen," I said holding up my finger. Ten loud gun shots rang through the air, making a few young kids jump in their seats.

"That's whose been shooting outside?" I nodded at Tessa. "Why does she love guns so much?"

Everyone looked at me, clearly wanting to know as well since I'm the only one who understood why my best friend was weapons crazed.

"That's her business. When it becomes your business, I'll let you know."

The adults watched us go back and forth, not even interrupting the little fight going on.

"So Kaylee likes guns-"

"No shit, Sherlock."

Tessa gave me a look but continued with her question. "What are you good at?" I hated how she emphasized 'good,' implying that there was nothing I could ever be good at. Wellllll who just kicked your ass at soccer? Little fucking bitch.

"I'm a fighter, but, you knew that."

"She's the best fist fighter in the 2nd Mass," Ben added.

Rick hit the table and looked up at Ben suddenly and watched him eat for a moment. "How can you eat their food?"

Now if you really want to talk about quiet and awkward, that precise moment in time would have been the perfect example. Everyone and I mean everyone was dead quiet. Ben frowned, confused as to what Rick even meant.

"Excuse me?" Ben caught on after a few seconds, then got up from the table.

"Awkward…"Matt mumbled. Hal kicked him under the table and I elbowed Hal.

"Be nice to your brother."

Mike angrily turned toward Rick. "We are guests here, Rick. I raised you better than that." Mike stood up, "Excuse my son's manners." Clayton nodded and continued eating without making eye contact with Mike.

On the other hand, Hal and I both got up to talk to Ben. I made it outside first, but Hal wouldn't back down. "Alyssa, stay here."

"No." I continued to run after Ben.

"He needs a family member right now."

"I'm more of a family member than you are to him sometimes!" Hal gave up while I went after the middle Mason boy. "Ben!"

"Go away, Alyssa." He was sitting next to the barn, looking at his surroundings.

I sat next to him. "You know, you're a terrible hider. Point of advice: don't yell out to the person trying to find you to go away. It never works."

"I'll keep that in mind."

I smiled. "But seriously, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

"Liar."

"It's Rick, okay?" Ben put his face in his hands, extremely frustrated. "He's acting so weird all the time. He keeps saying that the skitters are our family, not the humans. He's not acting like a normal kid, and since I have spikes too, people assume I'm the same as him. And they don't trust me."

"I know how you feel; people never used to trust me. You just have to gain it over time."

"What do you mean?"

"When I was in sixth grade, Kaylee and I got into some trouble and pretty much no one trusted us."

"If you were in sixth grade, then wasn't Kaylee in fifth?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"What did you do?"

"Well, um, we got in trouble for vandalism and physical assault while in possession of a deadly weapon."

"Okay, you can't just say that. You need to give a further explanation."

I put my hands up. "Alright. My brother was a freshman at the time, and he was the same age as Kaylee's brother. They both played football together and their high school and had a major rivalry with another school. Our brothers were planning on spray painting their school green and white, our colors. Kaylee and I were supposed to break into the office, trash it, then spray paint it, but the cops came and found our brothers and their friends. This asshole ratted us out for whatever reason."

"You took a fifth grader with you do go and vandalize?"

"Kaylee was the most badass stealthy fifth grader ever," I informed him.

Ben laughed. "I can see that. How did you guys get charged with the assault or whatever that was?"

"We found a kid on campus who told us to leave or would tell the school about us. So we beat the shit out of him. Kaylee was charged with possession of a deadly weapon because she had a gun on her."

"Of course she did. Why does that not surprise me?"

We were interrupted by a bunch of gunshots going off all at once. "Speaking of," I grinned.

Ben laughed at how ironic that was to happen. "So how does that pertain to my situation?"

"Word got out and no one trusted us. Rumors flared up and it was practically impossible to get people to even talk to us." Ben nodded, still not totally clear on my advice. That was always Kaylee's thing, but I did my best.

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

"I'm gonna go find Kaylee though, see what's up with her." Calllleeeed it.

"Do you want to die?"

"What?" He seemed a little more confused now.

"Kaylee Parker+guns+pissed=not good things."

He gave me a look that said he did not give a fuck, so he was going to risk his chances anyways. That kid is so fuckin' dead.

"Okay, whatever. Good luck and don't die." He left and I headed back inside.

Some of the 2nd was still at the table talking, but I went upstairs to find Mike, Hal, and Lourdes arguing about something.

"Something's up Mike," Lourdes said.

"No one's watching the sky or the road. It actually feels like they're more interested in watching us," Hal mentioned to him. Mike still looked disbelievingly at them.

"Last night I went downstairs and Tessa came out and was really jumpy about something." I told them the bizarreness that happened the night before.

"Well that explains a lot," Hal murmured thoughtfully.

"You have to admit something is really wrong here," Lourdes added.

"Or maybe not," said Mike. "Look, I've known Terry Clayton since a week after the attack. It's gonna take a lot more than a backpack and looks to convince me this is anything more than he says. Round up the others and get them to bed. I guarantee this will look better by morning. "

Mike went downstairs just as Kaylee came up. Without a word (like always) she took off a few guns and her high tops and went to sleep automatically. Ben came up a few seconds after.

"Hey guys. I'm so beat, that game was exhausting." He went to his sleeping bag, which was next to Kaylee's, and shut his eyes. Hal and Lourdes went downstairs to get the other kids up here to sleep. Once they came back up, Mike, Hal, and I stayed up to keep watch on everything.

I couldn't sleep. I have never been able to sleep anywhere but my own bed. Before the invasion, I had two beds I could sleep in: my bed at my house and my bed at Kaylee's house. I looked around and saw everyone was asleep. Kaylee was lying on her stomach. She was right next to Ben, who was also on his stomach. Her left hand was out to her side and something was on top oh her hand. It took my eyes a minute to adjust. It was a hand, connected to an arm. I followed the arm up, to see it who it was connected to.

Ben Mason.

"Please tell me you notice his desperate attempts to get the attention of your friend?"

"You mean the friend who is completely not interested in him?"

"Yeah, her," Hal replied.

"I find it amusing actually."

"What's her issue with him?"

"It's not him personally; it's his personality, I think. It could also have something to do with the fact that, aside from a select few, Kaylee hates people in general."

"I could see how that could be an issue since I'm guessing he isn't one of those select few."

"No, he is not. But she will warm up to him. I also think Jimmy here likes her and she likes Jimmy."

"And as someone who has been a teenage boy once, Ben sure is pissing Jimmy off. And Ben really doesn't like Jimmy because he likes Kaylee as well as Jimmy." Hal said.

"Exactly." I agreed. "Who would have thought in a world where aliens exist, one of the main issues in a teenage girl's life is a love triangle? I don't even think she notices it either. I find that funny."

"Yeah, that is. What did you mean that she'll warm up to him?"

"Your brother is hard to not like. And he cares for her. I can tell. She needs that."

"You sound jealous."

"Ben is like the little brother I never had. In a way I'm like Kaylee; I take a while to let people in, but once I do, I become very protective."

"I see."

"Plus your brother is too young for me."

After a while he said, "I wonder what I would be doing right now, had the aliens not come."

"I would be sitting in my basement with Kaylee watching a movie, icing my knee from soccer practice earlier in the day. Hell week was scheduled to be this time of year. And my knee would most likely be giving me issues."

"Your knee?"

"Yeah I hurt my knee a couple years ago in soccer. Every once in a while it flares up and starts hurting."

"Oh. I'm not sure what I would be doing." The two of us were quiet again, just staring out the window of the second floor. Then Mike started talking about Rick.

"I wish you two had known him before. Sick as he was, I never heard him complain…not once," Mike stroked a sleeping Rick's curly hair, "Lord, he'd make me laugh." He smiled at his son, but it faded as he reflected. "I hated it when he was taken. But I hate what they did to him even more." Mike stared straight at us, and his words were rock hard and serious. I think he suspects something's up too, but just doesn't want to admit it.

Mike grabbed his gun that was leaning on the small closet and started loading it.

"Mike, what's going on?" Hal asked calmly.

"Grab your weapon. Gather the others; we're leaving this place now. Clayton's made a deal with the skitters." Shit that was not what I was expecting to be wrong…

"Hal, Alyssa, what's going on?" Lourdes asked, now awake.

"Wake up the kids. Tell them to be quiet." Hal said.

"Kaylee, Ben, wake up! We gotta get outta here." Kaylee was the first to wake up, and when she saw her and Ben's hand, she moved faster than ever before to rip her hand from Ben's. Jimmy was giving Ben a look that almost topped Tessa's look from earlier, almost. I am never going to let her live that down. Ever.

We headed down the stairs, quiet loudly. At the bottom was a very nervous Tessa. "Hal? What are you doing?"

"Clayton made a deal with the skitters? Tell me you don't know about this," Hal said, harshly.

"I was going to talk to them, fix it so that you could stay."

He gave her the most hate-filled look I'd ever seen in Hal Mason's eyes, and believe me, I've seen them all. "Go," Hal told us, hatred clearer than crystal in his voice.

"They're never going to let you leave!" she exclaimed.

"Suck it up buttercup," I smirked.

"No, you won't get away with it!" she yelled, "DAD! DAD, WAKE UP! THEY'RE LEAVING! DAD!"

We ran as fast as we could out of the house. I grabbed Matt and picked him up. Lourdes, Kaylee, Ben and Hal grabbed a little kid and ran. We were almost out of the clearing when we heard the first gun shot. I looked around and saw another girl holding the kid Hal was holding, but Hal, Mike and Rick were nowhere to be seen. We kept running. Eventually Hal and Rick caught up, but Mike never did. We continued running, but eventually the little kids had to stop.

"We should rest," Lourdes said. "The kids are tired."

We stopped at a house and let ourselves in. The house was all set up for a birthday party. We went in and put all the little kids to sleep. Only Lourdes, Ben, Hal, Kaylee, Jimmy, Rick and I were awake. There was a piano in this house, and it definitely did not go unnoticed by Kaylee. She's been playing for as long as I've known her, and it totally surprised me that she still knew how to play perfectly despite not being able to practice for months. All of us listened to the beautiful music that drifted from the piano for awhile, until Ben spoke up.

"So does someone wanna explain why we just got up and left?" Ben asked.

"Clayton made a deal with the aliens. He was giving them kids to harness in return for immunity," Hal told his brother.

"We were going to be given to the skitters to be harnessed," I finished. "So we ran, and by the looks of it, I don't think those scouts are ever going to get back to camp."

"We are going to rest here for a few hours, and then head out again."

I zoned out for a bit, then when I tuned back in, Ben and Hal were quietly fighting. "They're exhausted," Ben said, "you're exhausted. I can move faster on my own. Please let me do this." Hal shook his head at him. Ben's probably talking about how he should go get Weaver and his dad.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Jimmy asked.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Ben asked, a little irritated that Jimmy was asking.

"What if you get lost? Or you just…keep going?"

"Keep going where?"

"Some place safer." This kid is so fucking mean to Ben, I swear.

"He won't," Kaylee says suddenly (frankly didn't even notice she was standing up at this point), "because I'll be going with him to make sure he doesn't."

"Hell no you're not," I said automatically. I've tried using this tone of voice on her to make her listen to what I say, but since she's had no parental guardianship for three years, she never does what I tell her.

"Lighten up, Carter," she nudged me, "I'll be fine. Plus I could use a good run."

I crossed my arms at her and frowned, thinking of what could possibly go wrong if she did leave. I finally managed to say, "I don't want you getting hurt again."

Kaylee knew what I really meant as I said that. She's the only person I've ever known to see right through my lies and my pretenses. Sometimes it really bothers me, other times I'm grateful I don't have to always say how I feel.

"I'm going to be okay. You guys really need the help, and you know how fast I run and not to mention the explosives I have on me. There is no way in hell I can get hurt."

I sighed, but I gave her a short hug. "Please be careful." I said that as soft as possible so Hal and Ben wouldn't hear.

"Always am." I slapped her for being a smart-ass and for what seemed like she was joking around with me.

She laughed at me. "Promise." With that Ben and Kaylee took off out the door. Lourdes was pacing up and down, Jimmy and Matt were playing a game, and Hal was sitting by the window staring outside, waiting.

"Um Hal, they left two minutes ago. There aren't gonna be back yet."

"No shit."

"Then why are you staring out the window?"

"Because."

"Because you're waiting for them to return?" I guessed.

"Just shut up Alyssa."

"Make me," I challenged. Kaylee and Ben are the only people that can keep me sane. And they both left me; now that I think about it, I should have gone with them.

"YOU CHEATED!" Matt yelled suddenly.

"HOW DID I CHEAT?!" Jimmy responded, confused.

"I DUNNO BUT I KNOW YOU DID! NO ONE CAN WIN THAT QUICK!"

I looked at them, they were playing Battle Ship. Jimmy looked utterly confused, Matt looked pissed, and Hal looked annoyed. They were fighting over a game of Battle Ship. And the funny part was, the thirteen year old was fighting back with the nine year old. Like how badly does he want to win?

"Really guys? It's a game." I smiled. Matt was about to respond when we heard voices from outside. How in the hell did they get back that fast?

Except it wasn't Ben and Kaylee.

It was Clayton and the 7th Mass's "army".

"GOOD MORNING!" Clayton yelled.

"They found us," Jimmy whispered.

"Stay down!" Hal whisper-yelled.

"C'mon out! We're taking you home!" he shouted to us.

Hal and I ran past a few windows and crouched in a corner with an open window. "Don't make me come in there for ya, Hal. Nobody wants to see anybody else get hurt!"

The two of us ran to the door, opened it a crack, and stared down the 7th.

"We know about your deal!" Hal said. "You need us alive!"

"Yeah, well there's a term in war: acceptable losses. One of your friends gets hurt or killed, I can live with that. And you?"

All the kids come down stairs and hid by the back door, prepared to leave. I looked at Matt and he nodded, giving me permission to say whatever the hell I wanted to say to Clayton.

"FUCK YOU CLAYTON!" I yelled. I motioned to Hal the guns I had on my belt and he nodded.

"GOT TO HELL!" Hal shouted and we both turned in front of the door and fired; we moved over to an open window to shoot more.

"Kids are armed, Clayton, not good!" someone yelled.

"You two have guns?" Clayton questioned in disbelief.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK?" Idiot.

"What are we gonna do now?" Lourdes asked frantic.

"We're gonna try to hold them off. You take them out the back," Hal said motioning towards the back door.

Just then gun fire came from behind the 7th Mass. A voice I hadn't heard before screamed out to us, "GET YOUR DAMN HEADS DOWN, KIDS!"

"Who the hell is that?" I asked Hal. There were a lot more gunshots after that, until Clayton yelled, "Given up, Pope?"

"Pope?"

"I'll tell you about him later," Hal breathed. We just sat there waiting. Hal was about to fire again when I stopped him. "Look," I pointed to who had emerged from the trees.

"It's dad!" Matt exclaimed, taking a few steps to try and see his father.

"Quiet!" Hal said. "Stay back!"

"You're offering yourself up as a hostage?"

Tom nodded, and Clayton asked why. "I don't want them to get hurt."

"Grab his weapon," Clayton instructed.

"What makes you think he's telling the truth?" Tessa's dad asked.

"Tom's smart enough to understand that if I even suspect he's lying, I gonna take it out on his boys. Alright, Tom, you call 'em out."

"Hal, Matt, come on out it's all over!"

"And their little girlfriends, too." Hal and I each scooted away from each other a little when he said that.

"Hal, Matt, Alyssa, everybody, come on out!"

"Damn it," Hal hit the wall of the house and got up. The rest of us walked out the door with our hands up. Hal came up behind me a whispered, "My dad must have a plan. He had to have met up with Ben and Kaylee."

"Hey, weren't there two more kids?" a guy asked.

"Yeah, the silent emo guns girl and the kid with the spikes."

Everyone looked at me and Hal. "Oh uh, them. Yeah, well we kinda lost them along the way. They got tired and just ditched us. Ran off together into the sunset. They were desperately in love you know." I said and smiled. I almost started laughing right then and there, but I barely stopped myself.

No one knew how to reply to that. Clayton was the first to respond. "Search the house".

"I don't think they believe me," I said to Hal.

"No shit."

"I wonder why? It was a perfectly believable story!" I said.

Hal looked at me and I think he really wanted to slap me. "You go with that."

Soon the 7th Mass came out of the house. "No one's there, Clayton."

He nodded, and instructed orders. "I want the two of you stay here for awhile and make sure they don't come back, if they do disarm them and bring them back." At that pointed Hal, Matt, Jimmy, Lourdes and I all started cracking up. The thought of the trying to catch and disarm Kaylee and Ben was just hilarious. Even Tom laughed a little.

"What in God's name is so funny? They're two teens. What's so funny about us killing two teens?"

"To kill them, first you have to find them and catch them. Then you have to disarm Kaylee and that is funny because no one touches her weapons. Ever. If you try she will kill you with out even thinking twice about it." Hal said.

"I just think its funny how you actually believe you can try and hurt her or Ben and live to tell the tale."

"Just go," Clayton pointed forward. "Don't let them get away!" Clayton ordered to his two men.

"And try not to make your selves look like idiots doing it!" I yelled to them before Hal grabbed me and pushed me forward. "Let me go, Hal."

"No." He was holding my elbow and forcing me to walk. Tom was walking behind Clayton, who was in the lead, then there was a guard, the 2nd Mass kids, then some guards, Hal and I, and lastly two more guards.

"Why not?" I demanded.

"Because I don't trust you."

Well fuck you too. I kicked him in the leg and he kicked me back."Jerk." We bickered like this the whole way back.

"You know we might not have to kill these two. They'll kill each other for us," one guard in the back said to the other. They laughed; I rolled my eyes and glared at Hal. He glared back but we shut up after that. Clayton and Tom fell back behind the group.

"You know Tom, it's a shame we couldn't have come to a deal. I think you guys would be a great addition to the 7th Mass. That girl can help us make weapons and maybe under your guidance we could fight back. Your boys and the girl would be great in battle. What do you say Tom?"

"I think I speak for the whole 2nd Mass when I say-"

"Hell no and fuck you bastard," Hal and I finished at the same time.

We continued walking and quickly the Sanctuary can into view. It was way to0 quiet. It was creepy quiet. The kids were lead to the barn.

"No! I'm not going! DAD!" Tom moved to his son, when a gun was pointed at him and he froze immediately. Just then the 2nd Mass's best fighters came into view and they had the place surrounded.

Kaylee, Weaver, and Dai came out the front door. "Drop 'em!" Weaver ordered. A man aimed his gun at Weaver and Weaver shot him to the ground. "Okay! Who's next? Who's next?!" he yelled. The 7th Mass lowered their guns.

"What about me Dan? You gonna shoot me too?" Clayton was eyeing Hal. He was going to do something to him. I don't know if anyone else noticed. I slowly grabbed my knife from my boot, where I always kept it. Things were about to get interesting.

"Tom? So what's the next step in this plan of yours? 'Cause I was thinkin' maybe-" He reached for his gun to shoot Hal. I took out my knife, aimed straight for his head. At that exact second, Kaylee fired her gun.

Everyone looked at her and it seemed to take her a second for her to realize that she was the one that shot the gun. The rest of the guards went inside. Hal and Kaylee were talking (he was probably thanking her for saving his life) and Weaver and Tom were talking. I was looking around when Ben ran out.

"DAD!" He ran over and hugged Tom. I watched as Matt and Hal joined them. Suddenly Kaylee came over. She was supposed to send the fighters. NOT COME WITH THEM!

"No I'm-glad-you're-alive-and-thank-you-for-saving-my-ass hug?"

"One day, Imma punch you so hard you won't be able to shoot for months." But I hugged her anyway. Ben, Hal, and Matt joined us.

Hal looked at Kaylee "What no hug for the guy you are desperately in love with?" He looked at Ben. Matt, Hal, and I laughed at our little joke.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kaylee was dead fucking serious and saw absolutely no humor in this at all. She was about to hit Hal.

"Blame Alyssa, she is the one that thought of it," So she turned around and punched me in the arm, so damn hard, I'm positive that it's going to leave a bruise.

"THAT FUCKING HURT!" I yelled.

"I learned from the best."

"You bitch!" I said. Then I looked at her and Ben's faces. "You two look like sun burnt strawberries," I informed them, referring to how badly they were blushing. Kaylee most likely figured out I saw her and Ben's hands last night.

"What are you talking about?" Ben asked confused.

Jimmy came over to Kaylee so Hal, Matt and I explained what we meant to Ben. She looked entirely relieved that Jimmy had rescued her from this awkward conversation. Shit I think she really likes Jimmy…

"See when Clayton found us he asked where you to were so Alyssa said-" Matt cut him off.

"She said you two were desperately in love and ditched us and ran off into the sunset-" Matt broke into a fit of giggles.

"You did not." Ben said, blushing all over again.

"It was the first thing that came to my mind," I defended myself.

Tom gathered all the kids around. "Come on guys. Let's head home."

Kaylee's POV

After Dai, Ben, and I rushed back to the school and collected Weaver and the rest of the fighters, we turned right back around and quickly made our way back to the Sanctuary. Luckily for us, we beat the 2nd Mass's kids there and made an extremely surprise attack on the 7th Mass survivors. And it felt damn good to put Tessa back in her place.

I followed Weaver inside the house, not sure if anyone was inside at the moment. Actually, the remaining members of the 7th Mass were inside, all around the dining table. Some of them made an attempt to run out the back when they saw me and Weaver, but were forced back into the house since some of our fighters were out back.

"Stay put and I'll let you live," Weaver said authority strong in his tone.

Karma was so, so freaking great to me, because Tessa was sitting right next to where I was standing. Now that my gun was present, she looked terrified of me. She kept fidgeting in her seat and kept looking around for a place to make an escape.

"One more move and I'll blow your damn head off," I informed her. I had to hold back a laugh at the fear overpowering her eyes at that moment. She tried to make some sort of comeback at me, but all that came out was a stutter.

"Karma's a real bitch, isn't it?" Tessa frowned at me, clearly pissed but still afraid. I don't know what on earth was keeping me from putting a bullet through her head, but believe me, there was almost nothing that would make me happier.

Now all we had to do was wait. I'm not exactly the most patient person ever, so I was a little concerned when the 2nd Mass hadn't shown up yet. Was Alyssa okay? Was Clayton even taking them back here? Were Matt, Hal, and Jimmy holding up alright? What if Clayton takes them all directly towards the aliens? What if-

"You alright, solider?"

I looked over at Captain Weaver. "Keep letting my thoughts get the better of me."

"They'll be fine, don't worry."

"I'm not worried it's just that-" I cut myself off, sighing. Sometimes I need a pause button on life so I can calm myself down. "Alyssa's all I have you know? The only person keeping what little hope I have alive."

Weaver nodded. "I understand that. That's how I felt about my wife and daughters but now…" He didn't finish that sentence, probably at too much pain to continue with it.

"Don't worry, Captain. I'm sure they're still out there." He smiled, about to say something, when we heard voices coming from a little ways down the road. It was the 2nd Mass! Thank God.

"Alright! I want eight of you here watching them, two of you upstairs on the balcony, and the rest of you outside with me and Parker. Stay covered until I give the signal!" As Weaver barked out orders, I loaded a couple more bullets into my gun and stood by the old door. Weaver and I watched the kids nearing through the small windows on the door.

"I don't want you holding back on this, Parker. Do what you gotta do and don't regret it."

I gave one nod and turned back to the window. Tom was walking next to a guard with his hands in the air. Matt was a few steps ahead of him, but kept glancing over his shoulder to make sure his dad was okay. Hal was next to Tom, but two other guards were between them, watching their every move.

"No! I'm not going! DAD!" Matt screamed as a helpless Lourdes tried to keep him walking. Tom took three steps forward towards Matt and the guard raised his gun to him. Tom stopped instantly and put his hands up. Just as the guards finger was about to pull the trigger, Weaver yanked open the door and shot the man right in the back. We swiftly moved outside along with Dai and two other fighters.

"Drop 'em!" Weaver shouted as we stood in a straight line. A man cocked his gun at Weaver, and I would've shot at him, but the captain beat me to it by a fraction of a second. I need to get a lesson from Weaver as soon as possible.

"Okay, who's next?" he yelled and looked expectantly at the men with guns. "Who's next?"

Tessa's dad and Clayton looked around at the fighters from behind the Sanctuary, in front of, and on the balcony and decided to put their weapons on the ground. Smart decision.

"What about me, Dan?" Clayton being a kiss-ass asked. "You gonna shoot me too?" I got a little uncomfortable at the way he was eyeing Hal. This guy's gonna try and pull something. Weaver lowered his gun, but Tom raised his a little higher. He probably saw the way Clayton was looking at Hal.

"Tom?" Clayton looked at him. "So what's the next step in this plan of yours?" He whipped out a hand gun and aimed for Hal. "'Cause I was thinkin' maybe-"

A gunshot boomed through the quiet meadow, and it took me a couple seconds to realize that I had pulled the trigger first. Clayton fell to the ground with a hole in his heart. Fuck yeah, bitches. Fuck yeah. Don't you ever screw with this fourteen-year-old.

Tom approached Clayton with his gun still pointed at him, just in case I had missed his heart and he wasn't quiet dead yet. Hal's head immediately turned back to look at me, bewilderment thick in his eyes. I lowered my gun to my side and walked over to my almost brother. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he said not breaking the eye contact. He's either shocked that I'd actually kill someone or he hasn't had too many near-death experiences. Or perhaps both.

Hal looked over at the dead Clayton, and then said "I'm okay." He had been holding his breath since he started gasping for air a few moments after that. I was just about to go ambush Alyssa when Hal engulfed me into a brotherly hug that I was not at all expecting. But, I gladly reciprocated and smiled jokingly at him. "Hal Mason was actually scared for once? What has the world come to?"

"Not funny," he said pointing at me with his finger, not approving of his words being used against him. Tom came and gave Hal a hug of relief.

"Did you know they were waiting for us?" Hal asked his father.

Tom just smiled. "I hoped." He patted Hal on the side and then walked over to Weaver. "Wasn't sure you were gonna show up."

Weaver glanced over at me, a little pride in his eyes, and replied with, "Almost didn't."

"Dad!" Ben exclaimed and ran down the winding steps from the balcony. I forgot he even came back with us…

I glanced to my left and saw Alyssa standing with the group of kids and Lourdes. I smirked and jogged over to her, noticing the pissed off expression she usually wore even more apparent on her face. "No I'm-glad-you're-alive-and-thank-you-for-saving-my-ass hug?"

"One day, I'm going to hit you so damn hard you won't be able to shoot for months." Nevertheless, she gave me a hug, and I could tell she was super relieved that I had made it back alive. And for the first time in forever, I was glad I was alive too.

Hal, Matt, and Ben joined Alyssa and I. Hal then looked at me. "No hug for the guy you're desperately in love with?" He said glancing at Ben. Matt, Hal, and Alyssa laughed at for some reason. What in the name of fuck were they talking-

Oh shit. Oh fucking shit. Alyssa saw our hands…

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I said so deadly serious, that it wiped the smirk off of Hal's face. I think at times he actually is afraid of me. I was about to slap him, power building in my arm when he stopped me.

"Blame Alyssa, she's the one that thought of it." So I turned around and punched her in the arm as hard as possibly could.

"THAT FUCKING HURT!" she screamed and grabbed her forearm.

"I learned from the best," I retorted.

"You bitch!" she said. She looked at our faces. "You two look like sun burnt strawberries."

Before I slugged her again, someone called out, "You've got some major guts, Parker." Jimmy.

"Why does everyone seem to call me Parker around here?" I asked. Jimmy grinned at me gave me a tight hug (the third one I had gotten in the past three minutes), and I don't know why, but I felt a lot more calm as he did. Like I didn't just shoot someone in the heart calm. He smiled at me and I returned the heart warming grin.

And as if I wasn't feeling calm and happy enough, Jimmy took a soccer ball and put it on Ben's chest. "Thanks for coming back for us. You did really good." That probably just made my freaking day.

And even though I had just killed somebody (and socked Alyssa in the arm), I felt on top of the world. My best friend was by my side, I had the brothers I always wanted, and I had Jimmy. Maybe later, something will happen between the two of us.

Maybe.

---

Dawwwwwww wasn't that just sweet?;p So I'm expecting (more rather hoping) we'll get a few reviews for this chapter, because we've been working hard on it for the whole month, but, if you're mad at us for not posting for so long therefore do not feel we should be rewarded with a kind, generous review, then I'll understand:) BUT I'D REALLLLYYYYYY APPRECIATE IT!:)
Keep the Resistance Strong, And Falling Skies On.

-Parker

What she said;D Stay badass. ~Carter