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.

15. Old Promises

Happy Easter! So sorry it's been so longg! But this chapter is FIFTY DAMN PAGES LONG so hopefully it makes up for it;D Also the next chapter should be fairly long as well:D This has been the chapter I've been super excited to write and honestly I can't wait to see how you all react. On a completely different note, are any of you artistically talented? Because I really want to see if any of our lovely readers could draw Parker or Carter or anything!:D That would be super awesome!:DD Alyssa and I are doing our final project of the year so we may take awhile to get the nest chapter out, so I'm apologizing for that now;D -Parker

Hi you guys! So sorry it took long but yeah we had to make sure it was amazing! Happy Easter to those who celebrate! Enjoy-Carter

Also, as sad as it makes me to say this, I just want to remind you that not all stories end the way you want them to.

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Chapter 15-Old Promises

Kaylee's POV

I've been feeling sick a lot lately. Not physically sick but more of a mentally sick. I was losing sight of who I was, who I am now, and who I wanted to become. Things weren't clear for me anymore, and I had a permanent migraine from all of the figuring out I'd been trying to do all the time. Anne had even given me a check up and came up with two disturbing diagnosis.

She told me that migraines often cause sickness and visual disturbances, another thing that had been happening lately. For whatever reason, I kept seeing things that weren't there. Don't worry, not like serious things that could be there, like a skitter or other survivors or something. I was seeing things that I knew weren't there. Once when Ben, Jimmy, and I were out on a mission, I saw my mom walking towards us which is impossible because I know she's dead. I felt like an absolute lunatic.

The second thing was probably worse than the first. Anne said that she was fairly certain about this before she knew it for a fact, but she told me that I was a strange case of congenital insensitivity to pain. Luckily I wasn't a bad case of it, but it was still pretty serious. Basically, she told me that I don't feel physical pain. There are a lot of times that I do feel it, but also a lot of times that I don't. Anne said she had never seen anything like that before, so it had to be strange. Dr. Glass also said that she thinks that I have some kind of deep depression issues that could be causing it, but I could've told you that myself.

I haven't told anyone about my new found problems or how sick I've been feeling. Not Alyssa, not Jimmy, not Hal, not even Ben. Unless it somehow gets worse, I don't feel the need to tell them about it. I don't know what's wrong with me; suddenly I just don't want to be around anyone or talk to anybody. I'm unintentionally shutting them out and I can't help but do it. They deserve to know, but the less sympathy or babysitting in my life, the better.

It was getting a hell of a lot harder to hide though. I knew that Alyssa was aware that something new was up with me and I wasn't telling her about it. I just feel like I'm telling her the same story about the little girl whose parents were killed and how now she's drastically different than that little girl was. And it was continually changing me everyday. For once in Alyssa's life, things were starting to look up, and I didn't want to ruin that by telling her my growing amount of problems. She's as close as a therapist as I would get, and it bothered me that I couldn't tell her about what Anne found out.

A lot of things were bothering me lately and I couldn't pinpoint why. Things like people touching or hugging me, people talking to me for long periods of time, Ben asking me what was wrong, seeing things that weren't there, or even when Anne pulled me aside to ask how things were going. Ever been in one of those moods where you just hate everything and don't want to talk at all? That's basically what I feel every single day of my life, now more than ever. I don't know; I just hate myself more than usual I guess.

"Practicing operational silence? Because you two have hardly said a word all day."

Fast forward to now. Ben, Jimmy, Hal, Alyssa, Dai, Jamil, and I were all out on a scouting, trying to find a way to get the 2nd Mass over this damn river that we've been stranded on the other side of for days. After an hour of searching for ANYTHING that could get us across, we found an old bride. It wasn't the sturdiest thing out there, but hey, it was a bridge. Jimmy, Ben, and I were walking across to the end of it to make sure there weren't any holes or loose boards of wood, which leads you to the present moment of time.

I remained quiet, as did Ben. Ben turned around briefly to scope out what was on the opposite side of the bridge and then continued walking back towards the truck.

"You know it's not your fault," Jimmy said to Ben.

"That's what everyone keeps telling me," Ben replied in a way that made me want to slap him. He feels sorry for himself when his living father survived three months away from home and half that time spent on an alien spaceship. He needs to get the fuck over himself.

"Hey Ben, Jimmy, Kaylee!" Hal yelled across the bridge to us. "Let's go!"

Ben waved to him as his form of communication and Jimmy continued on with his conversation. "Who would've expected your dad to have been there after three months? It was dark, skitters were out, something moved. Anyone would've shot." If this is idea of a "guy talk" he was telling me about, it really sucked.

"It wasn't anyone. It was me." I rolled my eyes slightly and kept quiet. I was done trying to make Ben get over this whole shooting his dad on accident thing. He needed to get over it himself.

A deafening sound of an engine came roaring over our heads. An airship was coming our way and if we didn't sprint for our lives now, we were dead. "Don't stare at it dumbasses; RUN!" I yelled while pushing them forward and sprinting down the bridge. They eventually gained speed and we all raced to where Hal and Alyssa were standing with Dai. The three of us were well away from the start of the bridge, so when Dai shot that beamer down, it landed merely a foot behind us and went up in flames. We kept running until we hit the truck and smiled at how the remnants of the ship crashed into the forest. Sooner than I thought, I'd be running across the same bridge again, but for different purposes this time.

"Nice shot, Dai!" Ben said smiling at him. I think that's the first time I've seen geeky math-nerd Ben in a long, long time.

While the guys shortly talked about how the DShK machine gun we were using didn't have the usual ammunition, Alyssa and I assessed the problem we had on our hands. There was a jagged hole torn straight through the bridge. Our last shot of getting across this river was blown to pieces, just like the beamer Dai shot down.

"Well I guess we can't cross here," Alyssa said monotone. We should've gotten out of here earlier when we had the chance.

"No point in crying over it," Hal shrugged slightly. "We gotta get back to camp and report the intel." Alyssa and Hal got back onto their motorcycles and Ben, Jimmy, Dai, and Jamil got back into the truck. With my new found hallucinations, I didn't trust myself enough to ride on my bike.

Jimmy, Ben, and I piled into the back and basically sprawled out. Ben sat right next to the window, acting as Dai and Jamil's eyes in case more beamers came after us, Jimmy sat on the left of Ben playing around with the DShK and I sat next to the opening of the truck bed with my beloved Calico resting on my knees. I was just looking out at the trees that were passing us by when I saw a person standing in between them. We kept on driving of course, but every few trees there was the same person standing there, again and again. After the seventeenth tree we passed, I realized who that person was.

My brother. I was seeing things again. God, what the hell is going on with me?

I sighed slightly and closed my eyes, leaning my head on the rim of the truck. I kept trying to unsee my brother's face in my mind but no matter how hard I tried to forget it again it was now permanently back in my head. All I wanted was to go back to camp and just walk around to hopefully make sense of all of this, but since Tom was healthy enough to move around now, he most likely would want to come see the bridge for himself so we would all have to go back with him.

"You alright, KP?" Jimmy asked.

"Still unfunny and still a terrible nickname," I said with my eyes still shut. Ben and Jimmy thought that it was hilarious calling me by my initials since it reminded them of Kim Possible and how she was a fighter or something. I never watched the show but Alyssa's little sister did and she used to tell me about it all the time so I knew that her friend on the show called her by that too. Alyssa and Veronica tried to make it catch on with me too, but once I gave Alyssa a very violent talk, she stopped.

"You don't seem like yourself lately," Ben said, "and you're not the only one that's noticed."

"What?" I asked, my mind quickly considering that Anne could've told them about what's been going on. They are my best friends after all.

"Something's wrong with you and no matter how many times you claim that you're okay, we know you're not. Speak up, Parker," Jimmy clarified Ben's message.

"I have nothing to say," I replied, eyes now open and staring at the sky.

The rest of the way back to camp and back to the bridge was quiet between us, which was really weird considering when we were together we rarely shut up. Jimmy and Ben were either wondering what was up with me or plotting to find out and I was just…quiet. I wasn't thinking and I wasn't talking, just looking out around at things and listening to the wind blow.

"Do I actually hear silence back there?" Weaver slid open the window connecter of the truck and stared back at us.

"I'm surprised myself," I said looking back at my commanding officer.

He smiled. "You three are some of the 2nd Mass's best fighters but when I put you all together you talk and laugh so loud, I'm shocked the aliens haven't found us yet."

Ben, Jimmy, and I looked at each other and started smiling. It was true; we were the classic teenagers you would see at a burger joint or something that were talking so loud and probably disrupting everyone there but not caring about anyone's happiness but their own. We would be the ones to get kicked out of someplace for being too loud, or in our case, giving up the 2nd Mass's position when we're on a scout.

The truck pulled over to a stop and the new group piled out as well as the ones that came on their bikes. Pope, Anthony, and Tom had joined us and now we were showing them the damage of the bridge. "You can't even walk across this thing," Pope said stepping on the charred wood. "Dollars in donuts, the beamers would bomb the hell outta your work crew ten minutes after they started trying to rebuild it."

"Oh I didn't say I had everything worked out," Jamil told Pope. "I said this is our best chance."

"We may be better off probing for a weak point than fighting our way out," Weaver turned to Tom to see what his opinion was on the bridge. He's been back a week and Weaver's already having him out working with him.

"Yeah well, the mech and skitter columns I saw weren't carrying any weak points with them," Pope pointed out. Why can't we just settle on yes or no and save time?

"So far we managed to stay hidden," Hal started. "They're working hard and they're closing in fast. They're gonna be on us in two days. That's tops."

"Why don't they just nuke the whole damn city and be done with us?" Anthony asked with ever so much enthusiasm.

"Might not be worth it. We haven't seen them drop neutron bombs in months; not since Boston."

"They won't need a nuke if were trapped on this side of the river. What about that boat you liberated from the sporting goods store, Jamil?" Weaver was in one of his no-nonsense-unrelated-to-the-mission-moods. Again.

"It was rubber. Seats five, no motor. Best guess it'd take us forty minutes roundtrip across the river."

"That'd take way too long to get everybody across. And what about the vehicles, the heavy weapons? Wounded, supplies?" Thank you, Tom, for speeding things along.

"Yeah, not acceptable," Weaver looked along the bridge.

"Captain, it seems that our best and only option is to rebuild the bridge."

Jamil spoke up again. "We don't have to rebuild it, Captain. We can just patch it up. The supports look like hell but I think they'll hold. We can build decking, bridge it over these gaps and drive across. Doesn't have to last forever, right? Just one night." Maybe one of the only reasons why I hate being a young fighter is that we aren't really supposed to pitch in our opinions while Weaver and the adults talk it over, so I feel pretty much useless. I honestly don't know why they bring us along for this when we really aren't needed.

Weaver took a look at us and then back forward. "We don't have a choice. Start building the decking, Jamil." There was some conversation that went on after that my mind tuned out for a brief moment, and then in snapped back in when Dai made a good point.

"Once we get across, we have no idea what's in that forest. We could run smack into an ambush."

"That's why somebody's gotta go across for a looksie. Anybody up for a cold swim?" Weaver asked.

"I'll do it," Hal offered. "Alyssa and I will take the boat across and check it out."

Ben's attention was now focused on his older brother. "It'll take you too long to paddle across; I can swim it faster and not be seen." He looked over at our Captain, asking for permission to accept the mission.

"Really?" Tom asked his son, slightly surprised and concerned.

"In a way, Dad, this is what I do." Tom did not want to send one of his boys into uncharted territory, but he hasn't been here to see all the incredible things Ben has done while he was away.

"He's right, Tom. He's the best man for the job." Weaver's eyes moved to Jimmy and me awkwardly standing and waiting. "You take Jimmy and Kaylee with you to cover you at the riverbank tonight. Any questions?" When no one asked, all of us returned to camp.

As soon as the truck came to a stop in the 2nd Mass camp, I jumped out of the back and started walking away from everybody. I just needed a fucking break from reality for a little bit before I lost my mind completely. So I went inside our tent, picked up my guitar, and played. And played and played and played.

Music has always calmed me down. For as long as I can remember, music was my one way out; it was my reason for living. Every time I got into a fight, and believe me that was more than a couple of times, or got called into the principle's office, the first thing I did when I got home was go straight to my guitar or my piano and play for a few hours. I don't know why I needed it so much. It was one way that I stayed connected with my mom, so I suppose that was a reason to it. And it was also something that made me feel happy inside. Judging by how often I wasn't, this was life's way of putting some kind of emotion that didn't revolve around depression or anger or hate in my life.

The tent flap burst open and a semi-irritated looking Ben stood before me.

"Come on in," I said sarcastically and kept on playing chords without looking at him.

"What the hell is going on with you, Kaylee?" he asked. I could feel his gaze boring into my head. Ben's pissed at me now. Greeeaattt.

"Do you want me to write you a list?"

"I'm sick of pretending that I don't care enough to keep pushing you to answer me. It's also getting real damn annoying that every time I try to get you to open up, you only close even further. Why do you do that?"

"Because it's none of your concern."

"But I am concerned, Kaylee. Why can't you see that? You're not acting like yourself and it's starting to worry me."

I set my guitar down and got up. "You clearly don't know as much as you think you do about me."

Just as I was about to leave the tent, he grabbed my upper arm and forced me back. "You keep pushing people away, now more than I've seen you do before. But what you need to wrap around your head is that no matter how far you push me and Jimmy away from you, we'll always come right back. It's just a waste of energy for you when there's no point to it."

I shrugged out of his grasp and walked out of the tent, furious with myself and furious with the world. Why won't he just leave me alone? Is it really that hard to tell that I don't need people there for me 24/7?

"Don't fucking walk away from me," Ben grabbed my shoulders. Gee, haven't heard that one before. He needs to stop stealing my lines or I'll kill him.

"I really want to be alone right now."

"I don't give a damn. I'm not leaving your side until you tell me what's up. Your choice."

Well fuck.

"Every time I have a problem, why is it that you always take it on to fix it? Why can't you just let me deal with it myself?" I asked, starting to get angry. I absolutely hate it when people butt their way into my life and try to fix my problems. They're my problems for a reason so I need to be the one to take care of them.

"Because I'm your friend, Kaylee," Ben said aggravated. "I care about your well being and that you're okay. That's what friends do for each other."
"I wouldn't know." I walked off again, but Ben stopped in front of me and looked down at my eyes.

"Running away won't solve anything."
"Yeah, but maybe it'll get you off my back."

"Not happening." Damn he was worse than Alyssa. Alyssa usually stopped asking after I didn't say anything, but Ben was trying to pry me all the way open. I was not okay with that.

I looked up at him. Even by an inch, it still irritated me that he was taller. "I haven't been feeling well, alright?"

"Have you seen Dr. Glass?"

"Yeah and she told me that I had a severe case of a migraine. That's it," I said.

"But that's not all she told you, did she?"

"Yeah it is," I rolled my eyes. "All she told me to do was to take it a little easy. It's just a migraine, Ben. Calm down."

"You're lying to me," he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"No, I'm not. You asked what was wrong, I told you that I have a migraine, and that's that. Nothing more to it." Was it really that hard to comprehend?

"Parker! Mason! Start heading down to the riverbank. It's gonna get dark soon," Weaver called as he walked by us arguing. We gave him a thumbs up and started walking to find Jimmy who was right by the mess tent, so we moved along quickly to the bank. We walked there since we wanted to save fuel even though it was a ways away. Ben and Jimmy were talking to each other and I was just quiet again. Ben had made a good point earlier, about how friends are supposed to know everything that's wrong and to be there for you, but I just didn't want to spill my heart out. Ben still had a little bit of preserved happiness in him, and I hated the thought of making him sad. That was one of many reasons why I didn't like opening up to him about my problems or my past.

Alyssa's POV

It was great to have Tom back; Weaver seemed less stressed and a lot calmer. Tom and Weaver remind me of a yin and yang sign. They were total opposites but they needed each other. Now that Tom was up and moving, we needed to focus on the next task at hand: moving. After we had to run from the aliens, we trapped ourselves in between a rock and a hard place. We had two options: one) try and find a blind spot and go through alien forces, back the way we came or two) cross the river. But to cross a river you need a bridge and we didn't exactly have time to build a bridge. We found one, but it didn't look too stable. It was quite far from camp but we couldn't exactly be picky. That's how we ended up here today. Ben Kaylee and Jimmy were checking the bridge for holes.

"Hey Ben, Jimmy, Kaylee!" Hal called them in. "Let's go!" Ben waved his hand and they started walking back. Just then a large ass beamer appeared and was flying straight toward the bridge. Kaylee, Jimmy and Ben started running toward us. I just stood there, watching them run sprint over to us. Dai aimed the gun and shot the beamer. It hit the beamer perfectly. I swear Dai and Kaylee were related in another life because they both have amazing aim with guns. The beamer came crashing down on our bridge just as Ben, Kaylee, and Jimmy crossed over the on to solid ground.

"Nice shot, Dai!" Ben said smiling like the old Ben.

The guys started talking about guns and stuff, whenever they did that I tuned them out. Kaylee and I observed the damage

"Well I guess we can't cross here," I stated.

"No point in crying over it," Hal shrugged. "We gotta get back to camp and report the intel." Hal and I hopped back on our bikes and followed the truck back. I was watching Kaylee, something was up with her. There's something she isn't telling me and I didn't like it. She has been quite lately, like pre-invasion quite. Before the attack I was lucky if she said more than two words a day. Once we came to the 2nd Mass and she met Jimmy and became friends with Ben she got better. But now she's back to the way she was and I didn't like it. Something's up.

We road back to camp and got a few more people to help with the bridge situation and the road back to the bridge.

"You're quiet today," Hal said.

"Just thinking about stuff," I said still watching Kaylee.

"Okay. So what do you think our best shot is?"

"Honestly I think we should have left yesterday as soon as your dad woke up. But now I think we need to hurry the hell up and patch this bridge so we can get across."

"My thoughts exactly. Well looks like we just have to wait and see what Weaver wants to do."

"Yeah. I just hope we can get away in time. The aliens aren't stupid. They know we're stuck, I mean you saw how close they were yesterday."

"Yeah. That convoy wasn't just heading out. It was on a mission. Luckily it didn't have any skitters with it or we would have had some issues."

I changed the subject. "Have you noticed anything up with Kaylee lately? She has been really quiet all of the sudden."

Hal just looked at me. "Alyssa. Kaylee is quiet. She's Kaylee Parker for crying out loud."

"No like extra quiet. Like unusually quiet even for her." He just kept looking at me like that. "Don't look at me like that." More silence. "I am not crazy! She has been acting weird lately."

"I don't see it."

"That's because you didn't know pre-invasion Kaylee. Our conversations were usually "Hey." "Hey." "How was your day?" "Good and you?" "Good." "Cool." "Cool." That was it! Like usually it was me talking and her nodding. And then when she met Ben and Jimmy that changed. She actually has multiple sentence conversations and the sentences have more than one syllable words! Okay? And now she has changed."

"Maybe she's just stressed or tired. I don't think anything is wrong. Talk to her later. After we cross the bridge."

"It's just you know the feeling you get when you just feel like something bad is about to happen? I just can't shake that feeling."

"We'll be fine. We have a pretty bad ass army don't you think? We got this." We pulled up to the bridge and parked our bikes and walked over to the group. Hal stopped me real fast and kissed my head. "We'll be fine, don't worry."

I smiled as we joined the group. "Okay."

"You can't even walk across this thing," Pope said stepping on the charred wood. "Dollars in donuts, the beamers would bomb the hell outta your work crew ten minutes after they started trying to rebuild it."

"Oh I didn't say I had everything worked out. I said this is our best chance," Jamil responded.

"We may be better off probing for a weak point than fighting our way out," Weaver turned to Tom to get his opinion on the bridge.

"Yeah well, the mech and skitter columns I saw weren't carrying any weak points with them," Pope pointed out.

"So far we managed to stay hidden," Hal started. "They're working hard and they're closing in fast. They're gonna be on us in two days. That's tops."

"Yeah they're on to us," I added.

"Why don't they just nuke the whole damn city and be done with us?" Anthony asked. Way to stay positive.

"Might not be worth it. We haven't seen them drop neutron bombs in months; not since Boston." Hal replied. Why don't we just all put our heads down and vote?

"They won't need a nuke if were trapped on this side of the river. What about that boat you liberated from the sporting goods store, Jamil?" Weaver asked, bringing attention back to the problem at hand.

"It was rubber. Seats five, no motor. Best guess it'd take us forty minutes roundtrip across the river."

"That'd take way too long to get everybody across. And what about the vehicles, the heavy weapons? Wounded, supplies?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, not acceptable," Weaver concluded. Okay so boat's out of the question.

"Captain, it seems that our best and only option is to rebuild the bridge."

Jamil spoke up again. "We don't have to rebuild it, Captain. We can just patch it up. The supports look like hell but I think they'll hold. We can build decking, bridge it over these gaps and drive across. Doesn't have to last forever, right? Just one night."

Weaver looked around. "We don't have a choice. Start building the decking, Jamil." Now we are making progress.

"Once we get across, we have no idea what's in that forest. We could run smack into an ambush," Dai pointed out.

"That's why somebody's gotta go across for a looksie. Anybody up for a cold swim?" Weaver asked.

"I'll do it," Hal offered. "Alyssa and I will take the boat across and check it out."

Cool, something to do.

"It'll take you too long to paddle across; I can swim it faster and not be seen." Wow Ben thanks. I actually wanted to go.

"Really?" Tom asked Ben.

"In a way, Dad, this is what I do." Tom was at a dilemma. He didn't want Ben to go, but he knew Ben was a solider now and this was his responsibility.

"He's right, Tom. He's the best man for the job." He turned to Ben "You take Jimmy and Kaylee with you to cover you at the riverbank tonight. Any questions?" When no one asked, all of us returned to camp.

When we got back to camp I went with Hal and all of the fighters to Weavers tent.

"So here is the plan, we found a bridge and tomorrow morning we are going to cross. It's not the most stable and needs a little work but Jamil is going to fix that. We have a search team going across tonight to see what's on the other side-"

"What exactly do you mean? It needs a little work?"

"The bad guys blew a big ass hole through the middle," Pope said.

"And Jamil is gonna lay down some wood and get it ready to cross tomorrow then we will blow it up," I put in.

"We have a plan don't worry," Tom said.

"I want you all to get lots of rest tonight. Based on what our search teams finds tonight we will decide what to do, but if all goes as planned tomorrow morning we're leaving to cross the bridge. I need all of you at the top of your game. I can't have my best fighters tired or lazy," Weaver finished.

"So what happens if the team finds an ambush waiting on the other side?" Anthony asked.

"We'll go around them or move up the river. Something. But I promise you this, tomorrow at this time we'll be at a different location."

"Tomorrow morning meet back here for your official assignments," Weaver said. Everyone nodded and then left to go get some rest, that's what I was gonna do. We have a busy day tomorrow and Weaver's right. We need everyone totally alert and focused. I was headed to the tent when Tom stopped me.

"Alyssa, do you have a minute? I want to talk to Hal and you."

"Sure," I nodded and I followed Hal and Tom into their tent.

"Okay so I've been thinking. I don't know what those aliens did to me."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Dad Anne said you were fine. There is nothing wrong with you."

"We don't know that. Look I just want you two to watch me. If something happens I need to know I can count on you two stop me."

"Sure," I agreed.

Hal was a little hesitant. "Stop you…how?"

Tom looked at him and then looked at me "Whatever it takes."

"No. I'm sorry Tom, but no."

"Dad, what's wrong with you? YOU'RE FINE! I won't do it."

"Hal, listen to me. I don't remember half of what happened to me. I don't trust myself. I need to know that I count on you two to stop me."

"Tom I really don't think anyone, even aliens, could turn you against your boys. I don't think there is anything to worry about."

"Thank you Alyssa, for your trust in me. I'm glad someone does."

"Dad, no! You're talking crazy!" Hal said and stood.

Tom stood up as well. "I'm not safe Hal. Just trust me on this one. Listen to me!" He said, then he started yelling and freaking out and he fell to the floor.

"DR. GLASS! DR. GLASS COME QUICK! DR. GLASS!" I turned around and saw Matt yelling. Oh my God, how much of that did he hear? Dr. Glass came running over and with the help of a few citizens we carried Tom to the Med Bus. She laid him in on the table and entered doctor mode. We just sat there as she examined him. When she got to his eye she let out a little yelp and Lourdes ran over to see what was wrong. She looked at his eyes and looked like she was about to faint.

"There's something in there," Anne said, staring at his eye. What the fuck?

"Yank it out!" Tom said.

"Tom listen. You don't know what this involves. If I get this wrong you could lose sight in your left eye."

Weaver, Hal, Anthony and I had to hold him down while Anne and Lourdes pulled it out of his eye. It was so disgusting I had to look away. Suddenly Tom let out a scream and I turned around. What I saw almost made me puke. Anne had a pair of tweezers and she was pulling a worm looking bug out of Tom's eye. It was a large mother fucker, that's for sure. She shut it in one of her glass cases and put it on the shelf. Everyone just stared at it. I shuttered. I really don't like bugs. Like at all. I wouldn't go near them. That's part of the reason I was failing science in school because I refused to do that stupid bug project where we had to go out, find bugs, touch them, kill them and stick them on a poster. I was like hell no.

"Okay, okay its out, you're fine Tom," Anne said.

"Yeah, but who knows what else is inside me?"

"You're probably fine, Tom!"

"Yeah you said that this morning and look what was still in me. I could be a threat to the whole 2nd Mass."

"Dad, you're fine," Hal said, looking rather annoyed with his dad.

"I'm just saying I'd be careful with what you trust me with."

"Are you trying to tell me who I can and can't trust?" Weaver asked, in a serious tone.

"No. I'm asking you to restrain me," Tom said, matching Weavers tone. Shit is about to get serious.

"Fine," he growled. I totally expected Weaver to argue, but he turned around and grabbed something from the shelf and started tying Tom's wrists to a pole right there in the Med Bus. I looked behind me to the door way and remembered Matt, who had been standing there the whole time. Hal saw me and looked over at Matt too. Matt looked appalled at what just happened and the scene that just went on. He turned around to and left. Hal went to go after him but I stopped him.

"Let me." He tried to resist. "If you go talk to him it will be just another speech his bossy big brother is giving him. It will go in one ear and out the other. There's a better chance he will listen to me." Hal nodded and turned back to his dad. I ran after Matt, who was at the shooting range where Ben tried to teach him to shoot. He was sitting on a large rock. "What's up Matt?"

"Why is my dad tied up? Why did Weaver do that?"

"Your dad asked him to," I said.

"Why though?"

"Because your dad just wants to make sure he isn't a threat to anyone."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"When your dad was with the aliens, there are parts of that time he can't remember. And he doesn't know exactly what they did to him. He thinks they may be using him to get to the 2nd Mass and Ben. For what, we don't know; that's just what your dad thinks. Then we found that thing in his eye. And I don't think they turned your dad against us, nor are they using him to get information, at least with him knowing, but that thing in his eye. We don't know what is, nor do we have the tools to examine it. But don't worry, your dad is safe and in good hands. Do you trust Anne?"

He nodded "Yeah. But sometimes I wish I could be more help. I want to fight. I can't help my dad when I am stuck back at camp not doing anything because I can't shoot a gun."

"You don't need a gun to fight. I don't use a gun." Matt just pointed to my hand gun in my belt and the AK 47 behind my back.

"What are those?"

"I only carry them around because I'm forced to. I use a knife. If you want, I could show you how to throw a knife"

Matt immediately started smiling "Yeah!"

I laughed "Okay just don't tell your brother."

"Deal." We headed over to the targets and I started teaching him to throw a knife. He was pretty good. He had a strong arm and good aim. He wasn't anywhere close to perfect, but if he had to fight a skitter with just a knife, I'd give him about a 75% chance of survival. We practiced for another hour. He had the basic form down, I just had to remind him to loosen his arm, or hold the knife differently or widen his stance.

"You just need to practice your aim and you'll be good," I told him. He smiled. I reached into my belt pocket and pulled out a knife Kaylee made me, or part of one. The other day she made me two out of some scissors. They were identical. I handed one to him and showed him the other "Here. Now you have your own knife, a Kaylee Parker original with the blessings of Alyssa Carter." He held his up like a sword and I mimicked him. "By the power invested in me, I bless this knife. May it never fail you in battle." He smiled. I just laughed. He is so easily pleased. "So are you okay?"

"I guess. I just don't like that my dad has to be tied up."

"Matt, your dad did it to protect you. Just like he got on the ship to protect you guys. He loves you three so much; I don't think anything could make him hurt you. It's just an extra safety precaution, that's it."

"Okay." He seemed satisfied.

"Now come on, let's head back. It's late and we have a big day tomorrow. We are moving again. Let's head back." The two of us walked back to camp, talking and laughing. Matt reminded me of my sister. She got on my nerves a lot, but I loved her and if anyone tried to hurt her, they went through me. As we walked up, we passed Hal. He looked at Matt, all happy, and nodded in approval. He didn't think I could do it. I just smirked.

"Matt it's time for bed lets go." Hal said. "You too, Alyssa."

"'Kay, Mom," I said and he kissed me good night and they headed to their tent and I went to Kaylee and I's tent. Kaylee wasn't back yet so I just laid down and fell asleep.

Kaylee's POV

The three of us stopped and stared at the riverbank for a moment. There were times on missions that we were serious and collected because of the thought that one of us could possibly die out here. This was one of those times; Ben had no idea what was on the opposite side of the river, but he was a smart kid who was trained by Alyssa and I so he had to be okay.

We swapped gloves silently. Once we came back from missions we returned them and when we went out we switched them out again. Ben began testing his flash light. Ben, Jimmy and I had a code that we did so we knew that the other was safe using the beams of the flash light. Jimmy made us recite it back to him every time we went out.

"One long two short means it's me," Ben said from memory.

"All clear is two short one long," Jimmy continued.

"And if you got skitters following you?" I asked Ben.

"You get the first shot," Ben smiled slightly.

I nodded and gave him a quick hug. "I'm sorry about earlier."

"Me too," he whispered and let go. He was about to head into the water when Jimmy stopped him this time.

"Wait; you might need this," Jimmy slipped the compass Weaver had given him off from around his neck and gave it to Ben. Aw, my boys love each other. They were probably the greatest friends I've ever met.

"Weaver's compass?" Ben asked surprised.

"Yeah, just don't make me come after it," he said trying to die down the unmanliness that resulted from him giving Ben his compass. "That water's freezing."

Ben grinned. "It's invigorating." He began walking down into the river, Jimmy and I laughing behind him. "INVIGORATING!" He yelled back to us smiling like the old Ben. In that moment I knew what he meant by friendship, and just how great of friends we would always be.

"You two have gotten really close," I remarked, looking up at Jimmy's eyes.

He smiled. "Yeah, we have. We all have."

I nodded. "You guys are the most incredible friends that anyone could ever ask for."

Jimmy and I sat on the bank talking for the next half hour and reminiscing about the night we met. Time had flown by so quickly that it was nearly six months since then. Alyssa and I had been with the 2nd Mass for almost six months…wow. That went by so fast. Jimmy agreed with me that it had been way too long ago. Ben, Jimmy, and I had spent nearly all of that time together too, which was weird to me. I'm surprised that we aren't sick of each other yet. If we weren't now, then we probably never would.

Ben had come back an hour later to tell us what he found. There was an alien aircraft station in the woods along with several mechs standing guard around it. He said that he had also spotted the ship that Dai had shot down earlier and said that there was an alien-like creature that was controlling it, almost like a harness. It was really creepy how he described it, and also creepy that he could hear the transmission coming from it. We talked about it on the way to camp, and by the time we got the entire group of people into the meeting tent the sun was high in the sky. Weaver informed us of what happened to Tom while we were away on our mission. Apparently there was some kind of bug in Tom's eye that Anne had removed, but Tom was in the Med Bus in restraints for safety measures.

"Wow," said Jamil as he looked at the photos Ben had taken across the river. "How did you find this wreck?"

"Saw the beamer get hit and fly off, figured it was trying to regroup with its forces, so I followed the course it took. When I found the ship, I just kept going the way it was headed and found that," he looked down at the photos of the airbase.

"Good thinking, Ben," Weaver praised him.

"You know they're not using any kind of engine I've ever seen. It's some sort of organic biotechnology. Captain, we really should try and grab as much of this wreck as we can. We could learn a lot-"

"It's a bad time for a science project," Anthony interrupted.

"It's a bad time for everything but we need to know all we can about our enemy. Once we get over there you can take the truck and grab what you want," Weaver said. "And then we'll hightail it into the forest and away from that base."

"We're not going in there unless we figure out how to shut off the air power," Hal said looking at the photos. "Do you see anything in these pictures that can help us do that?" All of the fighters in the tent looked at the photos, trying to make sense of the base and anyway to penetrate it.

"No pilot," Weaver remarked.

"No seats, no controls. Ben did you see anything that looked like a radio? Did you hear anything?"

Ben looked up at Weaver and Jamil, darkness clouding his eyes. "No." He was getting pretty decent at lying, I'll give him that, but lying to Weaver was not a smart idea.

Weaver, Hal, and Anthony stared at the photos and started devising a plan on who would go with Hal to shut down the airpower and how they would do it. Ben and I were staring at the map that was laid out and had the 2nd Mass's position marked on it as well as where we were headed. We had a long way to go.

"Anthony. You, Pope, and the Berserkers will stay here and cover our asses. If you see those skitter and mech columns coming in, you kick 'em in the teeth and you run like hell 'cause once we get across we're gonna blow that bridge. Kaylee, I want you down there as well to help the civilians get across as well as cover them from the columns coming in. Ben, you'll be leading Hal and his group to the base alright?"

"Yes, sir." All of us dispersed out of the tent and began heading off to start getting loaded and ready to cross the river. I was going to head back to the tent to take it down and start helping other civilians with theirs, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. Ben.

"Be careful tonight, okay? I honestly can't handle anymore things happening you know?"

I smiled and opened my arms for a hug that I knew Ben and I both needed. "C'mon, don't worry about me. I'm a big girl and I'm gonna be fine. Those skitters and mechs won't even have a chance to take a step towards us before I blow them to hell. And you need to be careful too. You're heading straight at one of their bases."

I could feel him chuckling, and then his arms tightening around my shoulders. "I know you'll be fine. I just don't want to lose you."

I looked at him and stared up at his blue-green eyes. "I don't want to lose you either. You mean a lot to me, Ben. Probably more than almost anyone I've ever known."

He smiled until it reached his eyes. "Same here. So stay out of trouble alright?"

I grinned back. "Never."

He rolled his eyes and let me go. "Watch it, Parker."

"Since when do I take orders from you, Mason?" Ben laughed and shook his head and I turned around to walk over to where Alyssa and I's tent was but Alyssa had already taken it down and had my backpack slung over her shoulder.

"I can take that," I motioned to it and she smiled.

"It's about time lazy ass! Did it really take you that long to walk from Weaver's tent to ours?"

"I had to talk to someone," I said taking my sleeping bag in my hands.

"Who?" my nosy best friend asked me.

"Someone."

"Your boyfriend?" She raised her eyebrows and grinned.

She was most likely referring to Ben. "I don't like him. I don't like anyone."

"He likes you and you like him," she said as we walked gathered our stuff.

"You're crazy. You know I don't like anyone," I said to her, rolling my eyes.

"Don't fucking lie to me. We will talk about this." I threw on my backpack and picked up the tent that was now in its travel size. Weaver wanted all of the fighters to put their things in the "fighter tuck" so that all of it would be organized together as well as the civilians' stuff would be too. Alyssa and I walked over to the vehicle and tossed our backpacks and our tent into the bed of the truck. I was thinking about how this was the first time Alyssa and I had been separated on a major mission since Fitchburg, and that concerned me. But if she had Hal, Ben, and Dai with her then I knew she would be safe.

"Alright. Imma head over to the other side of the river with the others. See you on the other side." Alyssa gave me a swift hug and a bump on the arm and then was off to the rubber boat with the other three. I watched them talking at the bank most likely discussing the plan before they departed. I kind of wish I was going with them, but I was beat and Weaver put me where I was needed the most and that was with the civilians, so I was going to be honored by that. It takes a crap load of patience to be around them and even though I had none Weaver thought I did so that was a compliment to me.

Alyssa's POV

"Alyssa, get up. Alyssa, get up. Alyssa, get up. Alyssa, get up. Alyssa, get up."

"What do you want now?" I glared at Hal. It was too early for this.

"You are not a morning person are you?" Hal asked.

"No shit, Sherlock." I said as I stood up.

"The team is back there's a meeting."

"'Kay and your point is?"

"Do you want to go?"

"I'd rather not."

"Okay. Cool."

"How's Matt?" I asked.

"He was good, but earlier this morning he heard my dad and I talking and he is mad at my dad, but for what I don't know," Hal said.

"He's just frustrated and wants someone to be mad at and he knows your dad will forgive him," I said.

"I hope your right. By the way, thanks for giving him a knife."

"You know, he wasn't supposed to tell you," I smiled.

"He didn't, I found it when I was packing up his stuff this morning. Why?"

"He seemed stressed and he is really good at it too. Like if he only had a knife and had to go up against a skitter I'd give him about a 75% chance of living."

"Really?" he seemed surprised.

"Yeah. Now I'm going back to bed."

"Lazy ass," Hal said as he left. I just rolled my eyes and fell asleep again, only soon to be awaken by Matt.

"Alyssa wake up!" he said shaking me.

"What?"

"I need help packing up the tent. Hal said to ask you."

"Of course he did." I rolled my eyes. "Give me a second to change." He left and I quickly changed into my usual tee shirt, shorts and boots, then I grabbed all my weapons and headed out side. I followed Matt to their tent and helped him pack up. Then I went back to our tent and packed it all up. I even packed Kaylee's stuff. As I was going through my stuff I found a teddy bear I put in my bag the day Ben and Hal first found us. It was a stuffed bear with a soccer ball in its hand. I had completely forgotten about it. I don't think I even took it out once. I placed it back in the bag and zipped it up. I folded our sleeping bags and set them outside, then I took down are tent and sat down and waited for the meeting to finish.

"Someone is finally up," Hal said.

"Yeah thanks to your little brother." I nodded to Matt, who was wondering around. "So how did it go?"

"Good. We're officially crossing. You, me, Ben, and Dai are going to cross over to blow up a structure Ben found. We head out in a few minutes."

"Okay cool." He headed off to go talk to someone or do whatever. I really don't know. I sat back down and waited for Kaylee.

Eventually Kaylee came up. "I can take that," she said.

"It's about time lazy ass! Did it really take you that long to walk from Weaver's tent to ours?" I questioned.

"No, I had to talk to someone." We walked over and put are stuff in the truck.

"Who?"

"Someone."

"Your boyfriend?" I teased

"I don't like him. I don't like anyone." Okay so are we talking about Ben or Jimmy?

"He likes you and you like him."

"You're crazy." Then Hal walked up and motioned for me. Time to go. "I don't like anyone."

"Don't fucking lie to me. We will talk about this. Alright. Imma head over to the other side of the river with the others. See you on the other side." I quickly hugged her and jogged over to Hal and the four of us walked over to the bridge and Ben led us to the structure.

It was like a miniature version of the one in Boston. There was no cell tower or anything like that so Dai had to hit that thing perfectly. We sat there, trying to find a place to hit it and waiting for the perfect time. If we hit it too early, the aliens would become suspicious and attack early but if we hit it too late, well we would all die. And that's not good. Death isn't healthy. We just sat there waiting. As time went on nothing really happened. Then a bunch of beamers flew out of the space ship.

"I can't get a good shot," Dai said, then because he is Dai and he really doesn't give a fuck about safety he hoped down from the small hill we were on and ran closer to the alien building.

"What if he misses?" I asked.

"He won't." Then Dai launched the abnormally large gun thing toward the tower and it was too late to worry.

"Tick tick," I said.

"Boom," Hal finished. The rocket flew perfectly and hit a beamer that landed on a landing beak and slid out of control and crashed into the tower, causing the tower to blow up. We all started cheering.

"Nice shot Dai!" Ben smiled as Dai walked back up the hill. We looked up as all the beamers were flying back.

We all hi-fived one last time before we walked back over to the bridge. By the time we got back to the bridge, the skitters had found us and where hot on our tail. It looked like everyone was across except for a few cars. I looked around for Kaylee. And when I couldn't find her, I looked forward to see her running across the bridge next to Tom with skitters close behind. They were yelling for us to blow the bridge. Jamil was holding the detonator and looked like he really didn't want to blow it, but he knew he would have to. He was waiting for the last possible second. I watched Kaylee and noticed something was off about her running. She was running so slowly. I have seen Kaylee run enough to know when something is up, and something is defiantly up.

"RUN KAYLEE!" I screamed at her. "PICK UP YOUR LAZY ASS AND FUCKING RUN!"

"DO IT NOW!" Tom yelled.

"BLOW THE BRIDGE!" Kaylee screamed. Weaver was holding Jamil back. Then Pope, stupid ignorant self centered mother fucking bastard he is, took the detonator from Jamil and blew the bridge. We saw the bridge explode and the skitters fall, Tom and Kaylee with them.

I wanted to punch something, or more specifically, someone. I glared at Pope. "You mother fucking bastard!" I shrieked. As I said the Hal turned around a punched him in the face. Pope fell to the ground and Hal continually beat him until Weaver pulled him off. All the civilians and fighters moved the vehicles away from the water and found a place to stay for the night. Weaver, Hal, Ben, Matt, Jimmy, Anne and I stayed and waited.

"If they don't show up in the next few hours I'll send a team in to go and find them. For the time being we should head back to camp," Weaver said, but no one moved. We all just stood there staring at the water. I don't think if I had to see Pope I would be able to control myself. I would go after him and I don't think anyone would exactly rush to stop me. We all stood there waiting, even Weaver. Suddenly we heard some noises coming from the water. We all turned in unison. Ben had his gun up in an instant, just in case it was something not so friendly.

Kaylee's POV

"Excuse me?" A man asked me when I walked by him, looking around to see who else was on civilian duty.

"Yes?" I turned to the man and looked him in the eyes.

"Do you know where we're going after we cross the river?"

"Captain Weaver hasn't told us yet but I'm sure he will as soon as we make it across," I smiled.

"Thank you. Also where do the civilians put their things?"

"In the maroon truck over there," I pointed out to the truck next to the fighters' one.

"Thank you ma'am. Stay safe tonight."

"No problem. I promise," I smiled at how he called me 'ma'am' and not 'young lady' or 'Miss' like a lot of the others do. That was pretty cool. And also he seemed like he really cared about the well being of the fighters and didn't take us for granted. That made me really happy because it reminded me of who I'm fighting for apart from myself and my friends, which I needed a lot. The civilians were our upmost responsibility to take care of and protect and I would do anything to keep them safe. It was my job now, and I took it extremely seriously, as did we all.

I continued wandering through camp, helping civilians with random things like answering questions, asking how things were going, and helping move stuff. I liked talking with them because what's the point of being a fighter if you don't know the people you're fighting for? Plus they were a friendly group of people that loved striking up a conversation, especially with a younger fighter. On some occasions they made me want to rip my hair out, and aggravated a lot of the time, but the civilians were apart of me and defined my purpose in life. Now I see why Weaver wanted me to be here; he knew in some crazy way that I enjoyed being with them and thought I was a good fit for the job.

After an hour of doing odd jobs with the civilians, I came across a woman who was in her mid thirties and looked totally stressed out. "Do you need any help?" I asked her as she struggled to take down her tent.

She sighed in relief when she saw me. "Yes please! You have no idea how hard this is."
I laughed and began untangling the poles of her tent. "I'm glad my roommate took it down for me." Wow, she really had trouble with this. The actual tent was wrapped and looped around the tent poles (I had no idea how that even happened) and there were a few holes here and there that made the poles snare more.

"So what's your name?" I asked the woman while we worked at the knots.

"Hanna Collins. What's yours?"

"Kaylee Parker. Have you been with us the whole time?"

"No I haven't. I was one of the survivors the 2nd Mass found," she looked up at me for a moment and continued working on a stubborn entanglement.

"Me too. I was alone with my best friend for six months and then Tom Mason's sons found us and took us to the 2nd Mass. Pretty crazy story," I smiled a little.

Hanna smiled back. "Must be quite the tale."

"You have no idea," I chuckled and slipped a pole out of a hole and into the little pouch thing that you put unpitched tents in. We were quiet for a few minutes and then I continued on with the conversation.

"Do you have any kids?"

"I have a little boy, Blake."

"Is he here with you?"

"Thankfully, yes. He's friends with all of the younger children around here," she said. "Are your parents here?"

That question again. That God awful question that made my stomach churn and my heart dark. "No," I said in the most normal tone I could muster. "they died a long time ago."

"You don't have any siblings either?"

"I have an older brother but I have no idea where he could be," I shrugged and put more poles away.

"Do you miss them? Your family?" Hanna asked, momentarily giving up on the tent and folding up some blankets to put away in a duffle bag she had for her and Blake.

"I don't know, I mean, it's been four years since my parents died and I haven't really spoken to my brother since. You learn to deal with the pain of missing them after awhile, I guess."

Hanna looked over at me. "You've had a hard life," she said as a statement and not as a question.

"Yeah I have. Still do, but it's getting a little easier."

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"And your fighting in a war," she shook her head. "That's remarkable. I don't think I could ever be that brave; not in a thousand life times."

I folded her tent and began putting it in the box. "Sometimes it is a little hard going out into a battle field with the possibility of death, but honestly I wouldn't want it any other way. I love fighting, and it's people like you that keep me going on the field."
Hanna smiled widely. "Thank you."

"Absolutely." We kept up the mindless talk for another few minutes until the sun went officially down and the sky went dark.

"Parker!" Weaver called to me just as I finished helping Hanna with taking care of her possessions.

"Yes, Captain?" I stood up to face him.

"I need you and the other fighters over at the bridge to start getting everyone across and preparing for the alien columns, stat."

"Yes, sir. I'll be right there." Weaver nodded and then walked off to go find the other fighters that would be stationed with me.

"It was nice talking to you, Hanna. See you around," I smiled and waved goodbye.

I was a little reluctant to leave since I didn't really know any of the other fighters that would be there with me. I'd seen them at meetings and talked to them occasionally but I didn't know anything about them apart from the fact they were fighting. I didn't even know their names, which was really bad. Also I suck at starting conversations without making them extremely awkward so trying to be friends with the other fighters was not my best option. I wish that Ben or Jimmy was with me to help make it less awkward, but Ben was on heading to the air base and Jimmy was stationed on the other side of the bridge to make sure that nothing came from that end. I knew that he would be fine, but deep down I was worried about him and also myself. These skitters and mechs that were supposed to be coming in at us had been trailing us for weeks and had been trying to box us in to kill off the 2nd Mass. They were for sure to show up, and they were not going to let us leave without trying to kill us all first. But there's no way in hell that was going to happen, because the 2nd Mass has gotten stronger since Fitchburg and we were not going to let those damn aliens win. Never.

It was pitch black outside apart from the flashlights the fighters had and were using to help move everyone along. There were two school buses that had our food supplies, tents, and artillery as well as some other things that Weaver wanted all together. We had our other vehicles crossing including the Med Bus and everyone's bikes. Then we had the truck with our DShK machine gun loaded and aimed in the direction of possible incoming aliens.

I was standing by Weaver watching Jamil and a few men unloading the decking to lie over the bridge. It took them all of about two minutes to put it down and position it into place and then Jamil yelled to Weaver that we were ready to start crossing.

"Let's fire 'em up!" Weaver yelled to everyone to start the cars and start moving along the bridge. Then he glanced at me. "Don't be reckless tonight, Parker. You have civilians to protect first, and aliens to fight last. Understood?"

"Yes, Captain."

"And don't do anything stupid. I can't lose any more fighters and I certainly can't lose my weapons manufacturer as well as one of my best fighters out here. Alright?"

I smiled and saluted him, this time seriously. "Aye, Captain."

He smiled and patted my shoulder. "You're a good kid."

I laughed walked down the bridge to where four other fighters were at, making sure the vehicles got across as well as a few of the civilians that we were sending in groups. Weaver didn't want all of them going at once because it could slow down getting everyone across and it could cause injuries if they walked in front of the trucks or buses.

Everything was going according to plan. The vehicles were making progress across, me and the fighters here were helping set up dynamite along the bridge so we could blow it after everyone was across, and no one had gotten hurt or panicked at all. Which was pretty unusual for us since the civilians always come up with something to freak out about or somehow find a way to get hurt. The Med Bus with Tom, Anne, Lourdes, Matt, and the wounded were making its way to the patched up part of the bridge and was nearly across. After that, we only had a few more vehicles to make it across. But of course, something had to go wrong. The airbase sent two beamers over our way.

"EVERYBODY TAKE COVER!" Weaver shouted to all of us, and that sent all of the civilians in a frenzy to find somewhere safe to hide out. I whipped out my Calico and began firing at the ships along with my fellow fighters hoping that it would at least slow the ships down in time for the civilians to make it all across. I seriously hope that the airbase team took care of the-

And just like that, they were gone before they dropped a single bomb. Thank God. Everyone resumed with getting the vehicles going and getting more of the civilians across. For the next five minutes, everything was calm and easy for the 2nd Mass. Nearly everyone was across and nearly all of the vehicles were as well. Everything was going smoothly. That is, until Pope came riding in with his Berserkers and Anthony. They said that the skitters and mechs were moving in and fast, and they were bound to be here any second.

Weaver began shouting for everyone to run across the bridge on foot and to leave the vehicles. I was beginning to make my way across with the fighters when Hanna ran up to me and grabbed the collar of my hoodie.

"Kaylee! Oh thank God I found you!"

"Hanna, you gotta get going, right now. The skitters and mechs-"

"I can't find Blake!"

Oh shit. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. "What do you mean you can't find him?"

"He took cover a minute ago and now I can't find him anywhere!"

The loud sound of metal hitting wood made Hanna and I turn around to see what had happened. The Med Bus had hit a pothole and a wheel was stuck. Great. Just fucking great. And Weaver was helping Jamil and some fighters lift it out, so I couldn't bother him and ask what we should do. I had to take things into my own hands for the first time. I had to make my own decision as a fighter and come up with a plan.

"Hanna you need to cross the bridge, now. I'll look around for Blake and when I find him I'll send him your way," I said, pushing her lightly towards the bridge again and started looking around for the lost boy.

"But I can't leave my son!"

"Go!" I yelled at her and eventually she started jogging back across the bridge, looking back every few seconds. And then I remembered something. What about Tom? He was in restraints on that bus. This could not get any worse than it already was. Shit.

And then the first mech came stomping up the path. Okay, I stand corrected. It could get way worse than it already is. Damn it!

All of the fighters on this side of the bridge ran onto the "battlefield" and started shooting at the mech. I took cover behind a giant plank of wood we set up earlier to cover us from the bullets and began taking out the mech. A round of bullets was sent my way and I managed to duck straight in time before being punctured with at least twenty of them.

I stayed down for a moment, trying to catch my breath since I just literally looked death in the eyes and slapped it away from me. Holy shit that was kind of scary. When I looked to the side for a moment, a foot was sticking out from behind a table on the front porch of the coffee shop that was right by the bridge. I frowned slightly and then crouch-ran towards it, still trying not to get shot.

When I reached the table, a little kid looked up at me, practically in tears. This must be Hanna's kid. "Are you Blake?" I yelled over the gunshots.

He nodded, shaking and shivering. This poor kid.

"Come with me; you have to get over the bridge now."

"I want my mom!"

I extended my hand to him. "I'm going to take you to your mom, I promise. C'mon, let's go. I'll protect you."

Slowly Blake reached his hand up to mine and I pulled him up and stood in front of him, debating on what was the best thing to do. I looked over at the mech as it was firing to the left of us, and then I picked Blake up in my arms and sprinted as fast as I fucking could to the bridge. I grabbed a fighter's sleeve and handed him Blake.

"Take him back to his mom, Hanna. She's waiting on the other side for him." The fighter nodded and turned around running with me covering him from the front. I ran forward again to help shoot at the still standing mech, but honestly it was no use. None of us had any mech metal bullets. But the DShK did.

I hopped up onto the truck and began shooting down the mech. My body was shaking for some stupid reason and I couldn't breathe normally. What the fuck was happening to me? I took a deep breath and shook out my hands to start firing at the mech. Fighters were going down all around me, and I started getting really nervous for a split second, and then I started feeling brave and pride. I was fighting for the 2nd Mass, risking my life to save others. That made me feel really, really happy. And full of light.

There were several fighters that just flat out got up and ran, but I held my ground while fighting this thing. I had nearly killed this thing with the machine gun and then Tom hopped onto the truck. "What the hell are you doing shooting this thing?! You have nothing covering you!" He shouted moving me aside to take over for me. "Get covered and shoot from there, now!"

I smiled at him and then jumped off the truck and took cover behind the wood along with other fighters. I was taking my chances by standing up to shoot the mech with the last round of mech bullets I had on me and together with Tom, we were almost done with taking it out. Skitters were coming now too, and one even attacked Tom, but before I could shoot it in the head Matt shot it and killed it from the middle of the bridge. I taught him well. Tom smiled back approvingly and then motioned for him to run across the bridge. I started taking out skitters left and right, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw something shiny heading our way. Bullets.

I managed to duck down before they hit me, but just as I opened my mouth to yell at the fighters to cover, all four that were next to me fell back, dead. Blood splattered all over the place including on my cheek and my arm that was covering it, which was totally nasty. And then I realized something: Tom and I were the only two left.

I drew all of the courage inside of me and fueled it into my gloved hands and gripped my Calico a little tighter. It felt perfect in my hands, like it always had. This gun and I had fought a lot of battles together and I hoped that it wouldn't fail me now. We kept shooting until that mech had fallen and until we saw that the Med Bus was finally driving again. Weaver and the others with him ran alongside it, even pushing it as if it made it go faster. Tom and I grinned at each other for a job well done, but those smiles fell off our faces the second we heard more stomping and screeching. DO THEY EVER FUCKING STOP?!

"KAYLEE RUN NOW!" Tom yelled at me and began firing at the aliens.

"NO!" I shouted back and began weaving my way around the bodies and covers set up to get closer to Tom to help shoot these aliens.

"YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" He screamed at me, frustrated that I was disobeying an order.

"I can't!" I said back to him, while the aliens were advancing so he could hear. "I promised Ben that I'd look out for you and I will not just leave you out here by yourself."

He shook his head. "Stay covered!"

I rose from my covering and started shooting the skitters until they all began falling. My entire waist was out in the open, but I didn't care. I hadn't been shot yet, and I wouldn't be. And then over the shooting and the flames crackling around us, I heard Weaver screaming, "TOM! KAYLEE! GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE! WE'RE GONNA BLOW THE BRIDGE!"

"TOM WE GOTTA GO!" I yelled at him and after a few more shots, we crouched from the firing mechs and started running for our mother fucking lives. I heard Hal screaming out for his dad to run, and I heard a few other voices screaming out too. Would that be the last thing I'd hear?

The more Tom and I ran, the more tired I was getting and the more my lungs were burning. What the fuck? I've ran fifteen miles straight before; this was fucking nothing why was my lung burning? I looked up and saw how far ahead everyone was. This bridge is a hell of a lot longer than I remember it being.

My burning lungs were slowing down my stride and I started getting an excruciating pain in my side. Like the kind you get when you've been running a long time. Tom's still healing wound was slowing him down as well, so we were both running at the same speed. And then it dawned on me that there were skitters breathing down my neck because they were so close to us. Weaver had to blow the bridge. Right now.

"RUN KAYLEE!" Alyssa's voice screamed out, louder than I'd ever heard it before in my life. "PICK UP YOUR LAZY ASS AND FUCKING RUN!"

Tom and I exchanged glances that we both understood, and we yelled out in unison, "BLOW THE BRIDGE!"

"DO IT NOW!" Tom shouted when Weaver kept telling Jamil to hold it back.

"BLOW THE BRIDGE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, hearing the footsteps of the skitters behind Tom and I which were way too close for comfort.

"DO IT NOW!" Tom yelled even louder than before.

At that exact moment, I remember looking up and seeing all of the faces of the ones I loved. Alyssa, Ben, Jimmy, Hal, Matt, Weaver, and a ton of others around them had heart breaking looks upon their faces possibly the last time I'd see them again. And before I could call out anything to them, I saw Pope grab the detonator from Jamil and shove it down. And the next thing I knew, my feet were pulled out from underneath me and I was falling straight down into the Housatonic River.

There was about a thirty second time period of which I blacked out during that, but the next moment I found myself kicking up and taking a huge breath of air. I was alive. How the fuck did that happen? Nevertheless, I swam over to the bank to get out of this freezing river and to see where Tom had gone. I was in so, so much pain from hitting the water on my side that I was wheezing and coughing trying to get air into my lungs. I sounded like a dying walrus or something.

"Tom?" I tried yelling, but I coughed in the middle of it and had to take another few minutes trying to get my lungs to work again properly.

"Kaylee?! Are you out there?!" Tom came sloshing up the river with one of his boots in his hand.

"Here," I rasped waving my arm so he could see me because clearly I couldn't shout anymore. "What happened to your boot?"
"It fell off when we hit the water. Took me a minute to get it, but I did." Tom kneeled down to put it back on and lace it up and I started coughing again.

"Are you alright?" he asked, looking up at me in concern.

I nodded. "My lungs were burning from the running we were doing and the cold water didn't really help either. I'm fine though." I was panting at the moment because of how fucking cold I was and I couldn't seem to fully catch my breath. The more I tried breathing in, the less oxygen I felt like I was getting. What the hell?

Tom stood up. "We should try and see if we catch up with them. Do you think you'll be okay to get up there?"
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

Tom and I began walking up the bank of the river as quickly as we could. I mean, as of this moment, the 2nd Mass thought we were gone. Tom probably wanted to see his kids as soon as he could so that they wouldn't break down before they knew he was alive while I on the other hand, just wanted to get out of these clothes and put something warm on before I died of hypothermia. We talked a little walking up that river bank and Tom thanked me for sticking around with him out there and that I promised Ben something like that. He was such a great guy and an amazing father and I'm really glad that he's back now with us. We weren't the 2nd Mass without Tom Mason. We never were and we never would be, ever.

The two of us trudged up the hill of the bank in our sopping wet clothes and heard a gun click into place. It was one of the guns I made, I knew by the sound, so it had to be a friend of ours. "Who's there?!" Ben's voice called out. That was a relief. I thought they left without us.

"Don't shoot, Ben," Tom called to his son.

"Once is enough I think," I smirked a little as we walked through the grass to the hill.

Ben took a split second to realize that it was actually Tom, alive and not hurt, and he ran down to us and attacked his dad in a hug. And then he moved over to me and crushed me in his arms. He could feel me shaking and he knew that it wasn't just from the cold. I was actually scared from everything that had happened. That was probably the closest encounter I had with dying and I was terrified, even though it was over.

"It's okay," he whispered, hugging me even tighter if possible. "I'm here."

Those four words instantly soothed me and I calmed down a bit. He let me go so he could look at me and I gave him my best Kaylee Parker smile I could manage. He smiled back and then looked at his dad again and hugged him with Hal and Matt. Jimmy ran down the hill too and he gave me a bone-crushing hug as well and just held me like that for a moment before letting me go. "Are you alright?" he asked looking me over for any possible injuries.

"I'm fine, Mom," I teased him and walked up the hill with his arm around my back helping me up it. I didn't even realize I was doing that but I just couldn't seem to stand on my own at the moment. I felt really sick and I had no clue why.

Anne moved over to hug Tom and Hal and Matt hugged me too. And then of course, Alyssa came running up to me and she looked pissed as fucking hell. "What the fuck, Parker? What the hell were you doing on that side of the bridge?!"

I looked up at her and smirked. "My job. Calm the fuck down I'm fine."

"And what the hell was that shitty ass running you were doing?! I have never seen you run that slow in my life!"

I smiled and started laughing, but my laugh turned into a violent cough that wouldn't stop, and it made my side burn when I did. My cough got louder and I collapsed to the floor coughing and trying to get my airway clear so I could breathe. But when I coughed again, some kind of liquid came out of my mouth and onto the grass.

Blood. Lots of blood.

My heart was racing faster and faster and it only made it harder and harder for me to try and get a small breath in. My side felt like someone had lit it on fire and no matter how hard I tried to clench it to cease the pain it only made it hurt more. I was gasping and gasping for air that I couldn't take in and I felt like my head was going to explode. Someone pushed me from my crouched position over so that I was flat on the ground. I heard people screaming and shouting but I couldn't make sense of any of the voices yelling around me. All I could do was try and breathe but it was getting to the point of impossible.

"Kaylee! What's wrong?!" I heard Ben's voice yelling the loudest of them all. Alyssa was by my side and Anne was on the side next to Ben trying to figure out what the fuck was happening.

"My side," I rasped out so badly that I winced at the sound of how awful my voice sounded. "I can't breathe." Anne unzipped my hoodie and she said something out loud that I couldn't understand. All I could hear was the word "holes."

She rolled up my black V-neck shirt and I didn't have to even look that hard to see my stomach that was stained red. Anne looked up at all of the people and yelled at them all to move out of the way. "We have to get her on the Med Bus right now or she's not going to make it."

Ben picked me up in his arms and began running with me to the Med Bus, dodging his way in and out of people. "Stay with me, Kaylee. Don't close your eyes, okay? Just stay focused on me."
I nodded and coughed more, and this time when I covered my mouth to do it, more blood spewed onto my hands. The more I tried to breathe normally the harder I started wheezing and I couldn't stop. My eyes were begging me to just shut them, to do myself a favor and just die already. Ben was staring down at me at the moment and I knew then that I couldn't die. Not yet. There were people here that I cared about and civilians who needed me to protect them.

Ben laid me down on the operating table in the bus and started trying to apply pressure to my wounds. Ben's arms were red as well as his sleeves on his shirt and the bottom of his shirt. He was saying something to me, but I couldn't understand what. I think the lack of oxygen I was getting was seriously affecting my brain because I couldn't hear anything over the gasps I was making. The more blood that came out of my wounds, the more everything started fading in my eyes. Anne ran onto the bus with Alyssa, Hal, Jimmy, and Matt behind her and they were all shouting at Anne about something.

Ben grabbed my hands and took off both of my gloves before they were totally stained and ruined and then he grabbed my hand trying to get my attention. I looked up at him and kept wheezing and trying to pretend like I heard what he was saying. He then seemed to understand that I couldn't stay awake for much longer. Ben pointed at his eye and kept shaking my hand slightly so that I wouldn't go unconscious.

"I can't," I rasped out.

"You can," he said back. That was the last thing I heard.

Anne turned me on my side and all of the blood from my chest came running down onto my jeans. It was then I actually got a look at what happened to me.

There were four holes in my chest and one in my arm. My side was swelling purple and more and more blood was pouring out of my chest. I had been shot in five different places. Five.

More yelling came out and I looked up weakly to see Hal dragging a kicking and screaming bloody murder Alyssa out of the bus. Lourdes was trying to get Jimmy and Matt out but I wanted all of them to stay. I didn't want to be alone. Ben was about to get up to but I grabbed his hand tighter and I said, "don't go." At least I think I did because I couldn't hear anything. But Ben stayed and kept trying to keep me conscious.

The worst sheering pain I've ever felt in my entire life tore up my side and I'm pretty sure I screamed. I started blinking and shaking and coughing and I couldn't make sense of anything that was happening at all. But the next thing I knew, everything was dark. I couldn't hear, see, talk, or breathe. The only thing I understood was that Ben was holding my hand and shaking my arm as hard as possible.

I had to keep reminding myself that it was my duty to protect the civilians first and foremost, and I knew that they day I signed up to be a fighter. As much as I wanted to go and fight these aliens, the people I was fighting for's safety was something that had to come first, and I was going to make sure it was my priority to keep them safe. Even if that meant taking a bullet for them, I would do it. That's what being a fighter was about. And it was a privilege to be the civilian's courage and hope in this war.

It was then I remembered an old promise to myself, that I would take a bullet for the civilians and the 2nd Mass if necessary. I smiled to myself, knowing that even if I never woke up from this, at least I died with honor and courage.

That was the last thought that ran through my head before I blacked out, this time for real.

Ben's POV

It's been two hours. I can't move. I can't breathe. I can't take my eyes off of her. I'm afraid that if I do just for a second, she could slip away without me even realizing. Anne wouldn't tell me how bad the damage was; she was already upset that I refused to leave her here and that I'm in Anne's way. But I didn't care. All I could do was stare at my best friend's closed eyes, hoping and praying she would open them again soon. Or maybe even at all.

My clothes were stained with her blood. She had taken five mech bullets for the 2nd Mass without as much as a blink. I've always known she was brave, but I didn't know how much she truly cared for the 2nd Mass until she proved it on the battlefield a few hours ago. The one thing I was confused about was the fact she didn't realize she was injured until she was back with all of us, instead of the moment she was shot. I'm not exactly an expert on bullet wounds, but wouldn't you instantly feel it if you were shot? How could she not?

Anne and Lourdes were working as fast as they possibly could to get the bullets out of Kaylee and stitch up her wounds before she lost too much blood. I honestly couldn't take it in here much longer, knowing that there was an extremely high possibility that she could die, but I couldn't stand it outside either. Hal, Alyssa, Matt, and Jimmy were forced to stay outside, completely against their wills. Hal had to drag Alyssa out of here and there were tears running down her face while she screamed to make Hal put her down. I was going to leave too since Anne asked me to get out of the working space, but just as I was getting up to leave, her ice cold hand grabbed mine before I had let go and she whispered two words that meant something to me, something I couldn't pinpoint.

"Don't go," Kaylee had whispered with a raspy voice, clearly in too much pain to think straight. And despite Anne's constant shouting for me to get off the Med Bus, I stayed put. I took her hand back in mine and quietly said to her, "I promise." She was fading fast, no matter how hard I tried to keep her conscious. And after her screaming out and more blood coming out of the holes in her chest, she blacked out. I haven't calmed down since.

"Ben, you gotta go," Anne said softly and laid her hand on my shoulder, looking down at me with her tired eyes.

"I can't." I won't.

"Look at you," she motioned to my bloody shirt, arms, hands, and probably cheeks from accidentally swiping my hand on them. "You're a mess. Go get cleaned up and change and when you get back I'll determine the verdict. Believe me, it'll be easier for you and for me that you're not here to see this."

"Dr. Glass-"

"Ben," she snapped slightly and then returned to her usually calm self, "please. She's in good hands, I promise you." I didn't know what to do. Lourdes and Anne were just staring at me expectantly, waiting for me to get up and leave. And the longer they waited, the more Kaylee bled out.

I gently squeezed her hand and then walked out of the Med Bus. As soon as the cold air hit me, I realized that I was really choked up. Like I was nearly on the verge of crying, as pathetic and weak as that sounds. The more I inhaled to try and get rid of the ball in my throat, the bigger it seemed to get. And I was blinking a little more than I've ever done. All I knew was that if she went, I don't know what would happen to us, to me.

"How is she?" a shaky voice asked. I looked up to see Alyssa, eyes bloodshot and still teary. Hal had an arm wrapped around her shoulder and was trying to calm her down. Matt looked teary too, and Jimmy looked like he was trying to hold it together like I was for Alyssa and Matt's sake.

"I don't know," my voice cracked badly. I coughed slightly to try and lessen the lump in my throat. "Dr. Glass's still doing surgery."

"It's been two hours," Hal said exasperated from waiting to see the news. Kaylee was the little sister Hal had always wanted in replace for his little brother and he always reminded me of that until she came along and they became great friends. "How does it take that long?"

All of us were the quietest I've ever heard us been. I just didn't know what to do. I didn't know if there was anything I could do, except stand there with the others and silently comfort each other. Kaylee was close with each of us in different ways that honestly we all needed more than we recognized until this happened. What would we be like if we lost her?
No. I would not think like that. I wasn't going to give up on someone who has never given up on me. I'm fully aware that I have issues with that but I'm not giving up on her. She would be fine, I mean, she's Kaylee Parker. She had to be okay.

I silently turned and walked away from them. I can't stand the overwhelming quietness and practically hearing everyone's thoughts. They were hopeless. I needed to get out of these clothes before I started thinking like that too. So I walked into me and my brothers and my father's tent to swap my shirt out and to get some water to clean off the blood on my arms and what not. It took me around five minutes for each arm and my face to get it all off, but I needed a distraction. Any kind of distraction. This was absolute torture.

After I washed my face a little more thoroughly (I swear that it's taking literally every single shred of self-control inside of me not to let some tears fall), I walked back to the group of them, still waiting outside. "Has Dr. Glass come out yet?" When they all shook their heads, I stepped back into the bus and saw Dr. Glass and Lourdes standing there talking. Kaylee was completely bandaged around her chest and her arm. They had to know her diagnosis by now.

The two of them saw me and looked back at each other, and then back at me. "Bring the others inside too," Anne said in a tone that I couldn't read. I motioned for Hal, Alyssa, and Jimmy to come onto the bus and they came up slowly, as if they were really dreading the news they'd hear. I was too, but I just needed to know before I lost it.

Anne took in a breath and let it out before starting. "I'm going to just cut straight to it. She's in extremely bad shape. Apart from the fact that Lourdes and I had to remove five mech bullets from her body, she broke nearly all the ribs on her right side and some of them tore into her lung tissue which was causing her to cough up blood and her difficulty in breathing earlier. If I'm being one hundred percent honest with you all, I really don't think there's even a small chance that she'll pull through. But, everyone does heal differently so I'm not guaranteeing that she won't make it but it's completely unlikely that she will with the type of equipment we have and the type of injuries she has."

"There was about a fifteen minute gap of time before she actually realized she was injured. Why is that?" I whispered, heart turning painfully in my chest from what Anne had just said.

"You mean she didn't tell you? Any of you?" She looked around at all of us standing before the doctor and we all shook our heads.

"I thought she would've told you five considering how close you are. Kaylee came to see me a few weeks back and told me that she'd been having some serious migraines and after giving her a full check up, I discovered that she's been seeing things that aren't there due to her headaches and more importantly that she's an interesting case of congenital insensitivity."

"What's that?" Alyssa asked quietly.

"It's when you can't feel pain," Anne clarified. "On most occasions she can feel it, but on several other occasions she can't. And that's why she didn't feel the bullets; she only realized when she started coughing."

"I can't believe she didn't tell us…" I trailed off. She lied straight to my face when she said that Anne told her that she had migraines. And I believed it. How could I be so fucking stupid?

"Why would she keep something like that a secret?" Jimmy asked no one in particular.

"I have no idea," Anne shook her head. "I'd actually think that Kaylee would want to tell you so she could have you all looking out for her."

"She didn't want us worrying even more than we already were." Alyssa hit a home run with that, and I knew that as soon as she spoke it, it was true. Kaylee hated it when people were concerned about her and now that she didn't tell us what was up with her, she had all five of us believing that it was our faults. If I had only fought her harder, forced her to open up to me, maybe I could've protected her from this. Maybe I could've even saved her life.

"So now what?" Matt sniffled slightly.

"Now we play the waiting game. Lourdes and I have done everything we can and she's breathing which is all that counts as of this moment. I have no way of telling how long she could be out for but my assumption is that it won't be for a long while. It could be weeks."

Weeks without seeing those beautiful blue eyes. Or hearing that incredible laugh of hers. Not seeing that dazzling smile or even holding her in my arms. And the worst part was the fact that it could be much longer than weeks. It could be months, or even forever. Kaylee could die at any second, and there was nothing I could do about it. All I could do was sit here and hope and wish on every single star in the sky that she didn't. I wouldn't be anything close to who I am today without her and she's been the only person who I've told everything to, the one person who understood me more than anyone I've ever known.

And I don't think I could hold back the tears much longer.

I stepped down outside the bus, away from the sadness, away from my injured best friend, and away from all the thoughts of her possibly dying. I can't handle it. If I was going to maintain my composure I couldn't stay around Alyssa because seeing how affected by this she is just makes me realize that I feel the exact same way. I found someone who pulled me out from the dark reality that I had been leading, and when I was drowning again, she fell in too; but I was too late to pull her out. If I had just stopped thinking about myself and trying harder to break down her concrete walls, I could've made her come with us on our mission and she wouldn't have gotten hurt. I was desperately trying to stop thinking about her for at least ten minutes, but the more I tried the more I couldn't stop.

"DAMN IT!" I yelled angrily as my foot slammed into an overturned trash can and it went flying several yards. My mind was racing a mile a minute and I couldn't calm down the anger I was feeling along with the pain and the hurt. I was literally choking on my own tears and all the emotions I've tried so hard to bottle up.

After kicking several things over and screaming a few more curse words, I felt something on my cheek, and for a second I thought it was raining. But it wasn't.

I was crying.

The last time I cried was when I broke my arm in the first grade. And even though now that I was a "mature" teenager, I was crying again. I felt so incredibly weak. Her pain inscribed face was the only thing I could see when I closed my eyes and it was killing me. My mind was racing with thoughts of accusation that this was entirely my fault. I honestly didn't know what to blame it on, but all arrows were pointing towards me and that was something that I couldn't change.

I walked along the edge of the river with my hands in my pockets, trying to make sense of all the possibilities. My best friend, the girl I've liked since the first month she was here, was in a coma that could last for a minimum of a few weeks. She could die at the drop of a hat and I had no idea what would happen if she did. Alyssa can't live without her. Matt adores having her around. Hal loves having a little sister finally. Jimmy can't think straight without her. And me?

I needed her. I needed her. Kaylee kept me sane, balanced. She was the only person who could calm me down in a given moment and the only one who understood everything about me. She taught me so many things, like how to be a fighter, what a broken world is like, and that the entire world isn't all good like I thought it was. She's so much more different than anyone I've ever met in my life and I loved that about her. Kaylee and I never got tired of talking to each other and we always found new things to talk about or ask each other, and that was really special to me. And not to mention that I liked her, a lot. I've had crushes on girls before, but I have never felt the way I do when Kaylee's around and as cheesy as that sounds it couldn't be truer.

I sat down on the riverbank staring at the bridge that we blew up almost three hours ago. A tear slid, and before I could wipe it away, someone sat next to me and saw it.

"Talk to me, man." Jimmy put his hand on my shoulder and looked at me. I could see the tears in his eyes too and his voice didn't sound as confident as it usually did.

"About what?" I took my shirt sleeve and dried the water on my cheeks.

"About Kaylee, about what's going on inside your head right now, about anything you need to say."

I sighed trying to pull myself together. "She's the most incredible person I've ever met in my life and the closest friend I've ever had. I just don't know what to do." My voice kept cracking awfully and I felt like I was choking on the lump in my throat.

Jimmy let out a shaky sigh. He was trying not to cry. "I know, I know. I can't stop thinking or blaming myself and I'm driving myself crazy." He finally let loose and a teardrop fell from his eye. "We could lose our best friend, Ben."

Seeing Jimmy cry made me stop trying so hard not to. "What do we do, Jimmy?"

Jimmy pointed at Kaylee's glove on his right hand. "Wait for her to come back."

I looked down to her glove that was on my left hand and squeezed my hand into a fist. She would live. She would, and it won't be any other way.

Alyssa's POV

"Who's there?" Ben asked.

"Don't shoot, Ben," I heard Tom say.

"Once is enough I think," Kaylee joked. I stood back and watched everyone hugging each other. I wanted to know what Kaylee was doing and why she hadn't crossed the bridge. Ben then Jimmy, Hal Matt and Anne all hugged Kaylee and Tom one at a time and were talking to them.

I walked over to Kaylee and stood right in front of her. I was pissed. "What the fuck, Parker? What the hell were you doing on that side of the bridge?!" I asked.

"My job. Calm the fuck down I'm fine." She just smirked. Everyone else was trying not to laugh as well. I have been told it's quite a sight to watch Kaylee and I argue, or Hal and I. Just because of the height difference.

"And what the hell was that shitty ass running you were doing?! I have never seen you run that slow in my life!" She just laughed. This so not fucking funny! The she started coughing, and more coughing, until she doubled over and started coughing out red stuff. I looked more closely and realized it was blood. So, so much blood.

"YOU GUYS HELP!" I screamed. "SOMETHINGS WRONG WITH KAYLEE!" They all come running over.

"Kaylee! What's wrong?!" Ben asked. I just stood by her, not knowing what to do. Anne was looking at her trying to figure out what the fuck was going on and why she was coughing up blood.

"My side," Kaylee said. But it wasn't Kaylee, it was someone else in her body. I have never seen her look like that or sound like that. "I can't breathe." Anne looked at Kaylee's stomach and when she pulled up her shirt there was a bunch of holes.

"Bullet holes. We have to get her on the Med Bus right now or she's not going to make it," Anne said.

Ben picked her up and sprinted her to the Med Bus. We all went running after him. Kaylee was on the operating table and Lourdes and Anne were already working on her. Everyone was yelling and shouting. Anne took off her hoodie and rolled up her shirt. Too much blood came running out of the holes in her side. My eyes started to water. "ANNE WHAT'S GOING ON?!" I yelled. She just ignored me. "ANNE! LOURDES! SOMEONE ANSWER ME! WHAT IS GOING ON?!" I started yelling.

"Guys you need to leave," Lourdes said and pushed us out, but I wasn't planning on leavening Kaylee in possibly her last minutes on Earth. Hell no!

"No," Isaid.

"Alyssa come on-" Hal grabbed my hand but I just yanked it back.

"LOURDES COME HERE!" Then I heard Anne muttering, "Shit, shit, shit!"

"ANNE WHAT'S HAPPENING?! SOMEONE! WHAT'S WRONG WITH KAYLEE?! SOMEONE FUCKING AWNSER ME!" I started screaming and yelling. Hal had to pick me up and carry me out of the Med Bus. "HAL PUT ME DOWN! I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE HER!" I was kicking and screaming and fighting as hard as I could but Hal was bigger than me and easily over powered me. Once we got out of the bus, a big crowd had gathered so Tom and Weaver went to go take care of them.

"Alyssa," Hal said as he put me down and pulled me into a hug. Slowly I started to cry. And Hal just stood there, holding me, never letting go. My eyes hurt from crying so much. We stood outside the bus and waited. Jimmy and Matt sat down and didn't talk. No one did. The next two hours were possibly the worst in my life. Worse than when my mom died, or my brother, or Kaylee's parents. It was horrible. I just sat there, thinking about Kaylee and everything we had been through. I think I cried the most I have ever cried in my life. For two hours Hal never left go of me. He held me and I was thankful for that. It was horrible, the agony of sitting there and waiting. Not knowing if your best friend in the whole world, your other half, was going to live or die. Not knowing if I was ever going to hear her voice or see her shoot a gun or laugh or joke around again. The more I thought about it, the more I cried and the worse I felt; t I couldn't think of anything but Kaylee and her present state.

Then Ben walked out of the Med Bus. He had a straight face, trying to show no emotion. I pulled away from Hal slightly to see him, but Hal kept one arm wrapped around me.

"How is she?" I asked, scared to here the answer that might come.

"I don't know," Ben tried to maintain a straight face but his voice cracked and his eyes were watering, which only made my eyes water some more. "Dr. Glass's still doing surgery."

"It's been two hours," Hal sighed "How does it take that long?"

No one said anything. It was so quiet around here you could hear a pin drop. Slowly Ben walked away. He left and didn't come back for thirty minutes. He had such a sad look in his eyes. He's so big and strong, just seeing his eyes water and hearing his voice crack made me start crying even more. I leaned back into Hal and he squeezed me tightly, I rested my chin on his chest and tried to think positive, but to be honest it was really hard.

Ben walked back up, with a new shirt, all cleaned up. "Has Dr. Glass come out yet?" Hal shook his head. Ben walked in and a few seconds later he called us inside. Jimmy went in first then Matt. Poor Matt. He looked like if he tried to speak he would completely loose it, so he just stayed silent. Hal and I walked in and we all waited for Anne to tell us what the fuck was going on. Anne looked sad, like she had just lost a major battle.

"I'm going to just cut straight to it. She's in extremely bad shape. Apart from the fact that Lourdes and I had to remove five bullets from her body, she broke nearly all the ribs on her right side and some of them tore into her lung tissue which was causing her to cough up blood and her difficulty in breathing earlier. If I'm being one hundred percent honest with you all, I really don't think there's even a small chance that she'll pull through. But, everyone does heal differently so I'm not guaranteeing that she won't make it but it's completely unlikely that she will with the type of equipment we have and the type of injuries she has. Like I said, not many people do and that's with better equipment." I suddenly became thankful for Hal because if he wasn't holding me I might have fainted right then and there from pure shock.

"There was about a fifteen minute gap of time before she actually realized she was injured. Why is that?" Ben asked.

"You mean she didn't tell you? Any of you?" What?

"I thought she would've told you five considering how close you are. Kaylee came to see me a few weeks back and told me that she'd been having some serious migraines and after giving her a full check up, I discovered that she's been seeing things that aren't there due to her headaches and more importantly that she's an interesting case of congenital insensitivity."

"What's that?" I asked.

"It's when you can't feel pain," Anne clarified. "On most occasions she can feel it, but on several other occasions she can't. And that's why she didn't feel the bullets; she only realized when she started coughing." Oh shit!

"I can't believe she didn't tell us…" Ben trailed off. I am honestly not surprised. I knew something was up with her, I just never would have guessed it was this big.

"Why would she keep something like that a secret?" Jimmy asked.

"I have no idea, I'd actually think that Kaylee would want to tell you so she could have you all looking out for her." Anne looked at all of us.

"She didn't want us worrying even more than we already were," I said. As I said it I knew I was right. Kaylee hates compassion or having people worry about her or care for her. She likes being independent. She knew we would worry and she knew she wouldn't have been allowed to fight. That's why Ben went and sat next to her and we followed. I sat down and I don't think I moved for another two or three hours. I remember people were coming and leaving. At one point Tom and Weaver came in to see what was up. Hal left and come back and tried to get me to eat, but I didn't. The only other person who didn't leave was Ben. He sat there and held her hand. We both just watched her, too afraid that if we looked away we would lose her. I just sat there, eventually I fell asleep and it all felt like a crazy realistic nightmare. I had had nightmares like this before. Ones where I lost Kaylee and recently I would lose Hal too. Right now I was having issues separating dreams from reality. I couldn't tell what was real and what my mind had dreamed up. Kaylee was dead, dream (hopefully). Kaylee was shot, real (sadly). Kaylee killed herself, dream. Kaylee is never coming back, dream (hopefully). Everything was a mix of dream and reality and I didn't know what I was supposed to do, what to think. Kaylee was my rock and the person who kept me sane and who calmed me down, the one who smacked (literally and figuratively) sense into me when I needed it. The last think I remember that I am completely sure was real was Ben saying "She will pull through," as he looked at me, then Hal came and picked me up and carried me to my tent. He laid me down and then he laid down next to me and I fell asleep completely and for real this time, my head laying on his chest while he help me tried to comfort me.

Kaylee's POV

"Kaylee, sweetie, the principal needs to see you," my fifth grade teacher Miss Loretti told me after she hung up the phone with who I assumed was the principal himself. All the kids in my class "oohed" at me and pointed as if I was in trouble, only I didn't recall doing anything bad. So if I wasn't in trouble, why did the principal need to see me?

At the time, I would have never guessed that that walk down the hallway to the office would change my life for all of eternity. But of course I wouldn't know that; I was eleven for crying out loud. All I was concerned about was deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up: a singer or in the army. Back then I had no idea what the real world was about or what problems happened everyday. Everything in eleven-year-old Kaylee Parker's life was just perfect at the time. Everything. But the second I opened that door to the principal of the elementary school, I knew something was very, very wrong.

Cory was here. Sitting in the Mrs. Henderson's office. Cory was in the seventh grade, on an entirely different campus than I was, so why was he here?

"What are you doing here?" I asked my thirteen-year-old brother.

"I don't know," he shrugged. Clearly he was as confused as I was about all of this.

"We wanted to tell you two at the same time," Mrs. Henderson said leaning forward in her chair and resting her elbows on her desk. She then got very serious and it started to really scare me.

"Tell us what?" Cory asked, always the more vocal one compared to me.

The principal sighed. "We received a phone call from the hospital an hour ago. You two are moving correct?"

"Yeah, to Dorchester in a few days. Why?" Cory frowned at her. A phone call from the hospital?

"It seems that your parents were taking the last bit of your personal items to your new home and they collided with another car."

My heart dropped in my chest. "They're okay, right?"

Mrs. Henderson's sorrowful eyes looked down on me. "The collision was head on to the car. The other driver hit your parents' car so forcefully that it caught on fire."

I looked at Cory to see what he was thinking about all of this. He was frozen in his seat until he looked back at me, eyes wet and glossy. No, he couldn't believe it too. He couldn't.

"The force was so great that it jammed the lock in the car and your mother and father couldn't make it out in time," she brushed some hair from her face, trying to hold it in, "and they passed away moments later."

My eyes widened slightly and then I let out a breath. No. They couldn't be…dead…could they? They couldn't possibly have collided with a car; my mom and dad were much too careful of drivers.

"They were taken to the hospital to identify who they were and to see if they could still survive, but it was too late. I'm so sorry you two. I'm so, so sorry." Mrs. Henderson took a tissue from the box on the corner of her desk and wiped the tears falling from her cheeks. She gave one to Cory and me too, as if to compensate for what had just happened.

All I could do was stare into my lap at the tissue in my hand. My parents were dead. Just like that. I would never see them again, never talk to them again, never hear them laugh again. I wouldn't be able to ever tell them about the things that happened at school or what I had learned that day. And I know how many kids get annoyed that their parents ask them about things all the time, but now that was stripped from my life. I didn't even get a choice. They were gone. Of all the people that this could've happened to, it happened to my brother and me. Just two unlucky orphaned kids whose lives were changed forever, just by a five minute talk with the principal of an elementary school.

"Where are we going to live?" Cory asked, voice barely audible and barely stable. I knew he was trying to hold it together for me, but I didn't care if he cried or not.

"In your parents' will, they left you two to Jay Carter."

"Alyssa's dad?" I asked, my voice was quiet too, but I wasn't on the verge of tears. I was still trying to let this all sink in.

"Yes. You can move in with the Carters today if you'd like."

"Can we go back to our classes now?" my brother questioned, in dire need to get out of the room.

"Will you two be alright?"

I don't think either of us were the same again, ever. I remember walking back to my classroom, slower than I had ever walked before. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't believe that they were…gone. Forever. I could never talk with my mom about music anymore. That was probably one of the biggest things in my life, and definitely one of the things I cared about more than anything in the world.

I grabbed onto the necklace around my neck. It was my mother's. Was. I had started using the past tense already. How terrible was that? But I was lucky that my mom had given this to me to wear today otherwise it would've burned. It was a black rope-like material necklace with a small silver pendant. Inscribed on it was a Chinese character that meant 'Music.' To anybody, music was just a word and the character was just a decoration on a necklace. But to my mom and I, it was the most beautiful thing in the world. My mom was fluent in Mandarin ("It's important to learn the most common languages in the world, Kaylee. You have no idea how many times I've used it.") and that was what the character was in. And my mom was fascinated by all music from every era and every instrument, so she was teaching me to learn.

When I walked back into class, all eyes were on me. My legs gave out from under me once I sat down, now unable to focus on the history lesson we were learning that day. I wasn't able to focus on anything anymore.

"What'd the principal want?" the boy sitting in the desk next to mine asked, smug that I was in trouble.

"Nothing," I said staring into space. "Absolutely nothing."

Ben's POV

I spent the whole night with her in the Med Bus, holding her ice cold hand. When I asked Anne if we could get her more blankets, she said it was better to keep her cool so the bacteria in her wounds would slowly die out, rather than become infected. But she felt like a block of ice, and all I wanted to do was hold her close until she was warm again.

That night was hard. I was alone in the Med Bus, leaning on a stool with a single light on. My thoughts were darker than dark, and I couldn't feel anything except the excruciating pain in my heart. Being helpless is the worse damn thing anyone can be, and it was slowly eating me alive. Losing her meant losing half of what I live for. Kaylee Nicole Parker isn't just a friend to me. She is a lifesaver. She is more than a best friend to me, and means more to me than almost anyone. If I lost her, I don't think I could manage.

Apart from pain and grief, I was utterly beyond furious. If she died, I would have to live with the constant regret of not telling her how I felt about her. Even though I know she doesn't feel that way about me, I would regret not telling her every day of my life. Every single damn day. Jimmy was a mess, just like me. His girl was near death, and they never even got the chance to try being in a relationship. But at least she knows about how much Jimmy cares about her.

What made me realize this wasn't all just an awful nightmare was how terrible Kaylee looked. Her skin was whiter than paper, the dark circles under her eyes were literally the color black, her red-gold hair was tangled and matted, and she was so much skinnier than she's been. I honestly don't think she's been eating properly for a long, long time, because she's getting pretty thin but still maintaining her figure. I remember her telling me something about how it was her job to protect and provide for the civilians, so I know she's not eating right because of any insecurity, but because she's trying to pass along a little more portions of food to the civilians. I know my duty is to the civilians and that I'm willingly risking my life to save them, but fighters really deserved as much food as we could get. With all the running and fighting we do, we burn off our calories twice as fast and get hungrier twice as quickly. I just wish she would have realized that before she fell into a coma.

The deathly silence was driving me crazy. I couldn't even try to sleep which would be able to take my mind off of all of this for at least an hour or so which I badly needed, I couldn't leave for a little while because she could pass the moment I was gone, and I had promised her that I would stay. And I was going to keep that promise, no matter how badly it killed me.

I can't take it anymore. I know it was totally crazy talking to people who can't hear you, but if I'm quiet any longer I'm going to go ballistic.

So I stared talking to my unconscious best friend, hoping that she could somehow sense my voice. "You sure have driven all of us here insane," I chuckled half-heartedly. "I wish you could've seen how loudly Alyssa was screaming earlier. I'm pretty sure the aliens in California heard her." I laughed a little, and then it turned into tears. Why couldn't I pull myself together? I gripped her hand a little tighter. "I'm fucking losing it without you," a tear fell onto her hand and I gently wiped it away. "I can't go more than five seconds without blaming myself for all of this. But why the hell didn't you tell us about what Anne diagnosed you with? If you had told us you would've been safe; you would've been walking around with me right now, talking about something pointless and useless. We could have just continued our lives as if everything was perfectly fine, and aliens hadn't attacked." I wiped under my eye and tried to take deep breaths. This was just flat out ridiculous. I hated crying more than anything. I was such an emotional wreck, and I hated it.

"This is all my fault," I whispered, listening to how badly my voice was shaking. "I could've gotten you to come with us. I could've protected you. This is all my fucking fault." I sat there silent for the rest of the night, just crying and shaking slightly from how badly I was hurting, how much I wish I was on that table instead of her. No one understood why I was so hung up about this, and no one understood how much she meant to me in the way she did. And here I was, alone in a bus, just wishing for the impossible. Wishing for a miracle.

The next morning, Anne and Lourdes came into the bus, looking absolutely exhausted and like they didn't sleep much at all.

"Ben did you stay in here all night long?" Anne asked, concerned.

I nodded. If I talked much, my voice would crack from how sore it was from crying.

"Can you help us out a little?" she asked, laying a hand on my shoulder.

"I won't leave her," I said as firmly as I could.

"You won't have to. Lourdes and I just need help taking care of her, that's all."

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, slightly eased that I wouldn't be forced out of here again.

"Just check her pulse regularly and make sure her water bag is constantly filled as well as her nutrient bag. And if I'm out getting a meal or out getting air, you'll come and get me if anything happens, like if her pulse gets slow or if she starts having seizures. Also make sure she stays cool but not cold. Are you up for it?"

"Absolutely." Anne and Lourdes showed me how to check her pulse and where the clean water was and where the nutrient things were. They pointed out to where the blankets were and to where the bandages were in case she started bleeding again, in which I needed to find Anne. Anne actually told me that she was positive that she would start bleeding again because with five bullet wounds to fix, there was no way she could've gotten all of the bullet fragments out. It was actually scaring me to talk about how she could bleed out at any second.

"But if you want some good news," Lourdes told me, "it's very rare that someone took that many bullets at once, went fifteen minutes with bleeding and torn lung tissue and no medical attention, and didn't die over night. That's practically impossible, and Kaylee's still breathing. Just keep thinking positive Ben."

"Focus on the good things in a bad situation and maybe something will come out of it," I heard her melodious voice float through my mind. It was something she had told me when I had shot my dad and was so torn up about it and had no hope that he would make it out alive. Thanks to Kaylee, I started thinking more positive and every thing started working out better. If I did the same with her, maybe something good would come out of it.

After looking over her other patients and checking all of Kaylee's bandages, Anne stepped outside for some air. Hal and Alyssa came in for all of two seconds, and then when Alyssa took off running, Hal following her. Hal came back in a few moments later, and pulled up a seat next to me.

"How's she doing?" he asked me, looking from me to her.

"Don't know," I said, not looking back at him. I didn't understand how he could be so calm and collected during all of this, but considering how none of us were, I guess Hal was being strong for all of us. "But if she survived through the night, I'd say she's doing pretty okay."

Hal sighed, then turned his attention to me again. "You don't have to me so strong, man. It's okay to break down."

I shook my head, not wanting to cry in front of my brother. If I cried anymore I'd throw myself off a building or something. I felt so fucking pathetic when I did, it disgusted me. "I'm sick of breaking down. I just…have no idea what to do with myself. I can't sleep, I'm never hungry, I can't go more than a few seconds without thinking about all of this, and I don't know what to do."

Hal nodded slightly, letting my words sink in before he came up with a response. "I know how much you care about her. And you have to know that all of us care about her just as much, even if you like her more in a certain way. But you have to accept the fact that crying and being upset is part of the process. No matter how many times you do, you don't have to feel stupid or pathetic, Ben. I'd be crying too if it was Alyssa. I think the reason you're taking it harder than all of us because of how strongly you feel about her, and how great of a friend she is to you."

"I can't stop thinking that it's completely and totally my fault, I mean, if I had just hassled her harder about what was up with her, I would've known about her problems and could've made her come with us or something. I knew something was wrong too, but I didn't want her to get angry with me if I pressed her too hard," I shook my head and ran my fingers through my messy hair. Now I kind of see why Kaylee hates opening up to people; it's a hell of a lot harder than it seems.

"You think you're the only one who feels like it's their fault? Weaver is even quieter than usual and angrier. He thinks that if he had assigned her to our mission she'd be fine now. Alyssa, Jimmy, and I are in the same boat with you about talking to her about her issues. Even Dad is pissed about the whole thing. Dad told me that he should've physically moved her across the bridge or yelled for Weaver to get her away."

I was silent, just listening to Hal's words.

"But when it all comes down to the line, she stepped in front of those mechs on her own will, knowing damn well that she could get killed. She sucked up the fear she was feeling and slowed down the fleet for us. Kaylee did it for all of us; for me, for Alyssa, for Jimmy, for Matt, for Dad and Weaver, for the civilians, and for you, bro. Think of it as her way of showing us that she cares about us just as much as we care about her."

Kaylee's POV

"Take your pick, Niece." I lifted the corner of my mouth and looked up at my Uncle Brett. He'd been what you could call my therapist since that horrific day, and he was also helping me develop better fighting skills. Uncle Brett had taught me how to build several different types of bombs the past two years and also showed me how to use guns when I was eight and now he was teaching me how to make them and shoot better.

My eyes glanced at all the guns he had laid out on the table before me. Uncle Brett told me that the gun chooses you, you don't choose the gun. Each gun was a machine, rifle, or sniper rifle and each one was beautiful. There were so many to choose from and I had no idea what would suit me since I had never stuck with one set gun before, but he told me that there should always be one gun that you're extremely comfortable with using.

And that's when I saw the gun that I wanted.

It was a glossy jet-black color with a medium size optic (perfect for seeing long and short distances), a perfect sized barrel which would be easy to maneuver, and a not too long or too short magazine that wouldn't get in the way but would still hold enough rounds that I wouldn't have to reload a countless number of times.

I picked up the submachine gun and placed the butt of it on the front of my shoulder and looked through the optic at my target. It was perfect for my tall height and perfect length for my arms. Absolutely perfect.

"Ah, the Calico M960. Wise choice, youngling."

"Youngling?" I raised my eyebrows. "Just because I'm only eleven and a half does not mean I'm a 'youngling.'"

"Yes it does," Uncle Brett patted my head and then slid the gun out of my hands to show me all that it could do.

"You picked a good one. The Calico's optic can see up to two miles away, the magazine is perfect length, and it seems to fit you really well. It's a Kaylee Parker kind of gun," Uncle Brett grinned and then returned it back to me. I noticed something that I didn't see before in the corner of the stock of his gun.

"BP?" I asked reading the letters on it. What was BP?

"Brett Parker," he said like I should know. "It's like my own personal touch to all of my guns and that way if it's stolen I would know. Plus it just looks totally badass." Brett Parker was my dad's younger brother all right. He was the goofiest guy you'd ever meet and really brave for a man of twenty-three. My dad and my uncle were twelve years apart, so there was a pretty big time gap between them and my uncle became my uncle when he was twelve which was really, really weird. But despite the age difference, they were nearly identical. Family dinners were the best because we never had a moment without laughter between my dad and Uncle Brett.

"Try it out; see how it shoots."

I loaded the magazine with the bullets Uncle Brett laid out on the table and cocked the Calico. I looked through the optic and focused on the red and white target painted on one of the trees in Uncle Brett's back yard. And then I fired.

I think I may have closed my eyes because I was afraid that I would miss since this was a type of gun I had never used before, because I don't remember what had happened in the five second time interval. But when I did open my eyes, there was a bullet hole in the center of the target.

Uncle Brett was stunned. When I turned my attention over to him, his jaw was dropped. He just looked from me, to the Calico, to the target, and back again. He's seen me shoot, why was he so surprised?

"What?"

"I've never taught you how to use a Calico before, right?"

"No."

"Holy shit." Uncle Brett went over to the tree to make certain that I had indeed hit the middle of the target and to make sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him.

"You really did blow straight into the bark, Kaylee. You were born to be in the army, kid."

I smiled the first actual smile since that day. "Really?"

"Hold on one second," Uncle Brett jogged inside of his house and then came running back out with something in his hands. "You still like those fingerless gloves I showed you awhile back?"

"Yeah," I nodded wondering where he was going with this.

"I want you to have these," Uncle Brett dropped a pair of black fingerless gloves in my hands. They were his from when he did his time in the army.

"You really don't have to give these to me. I know how much they mean to you," I said extending my hands to him so he could take his gloves back.

"No, no, no keep them. You need a pair anyways. All good shooters do. And besides, I want you to have them. I've got plenty of other pairs that I can wear. Plus they suit the whole black thing you've got going on with you and your gun."

I laughed a little and then slipped on the gloves. They were a little big on me, but I'm sure once I grew more they'd fit better. I picked up the Calico and gave it another shot. The bullet hit in the exact same spot as the one before.

"Looks like you found your gun, Kaylee," Uncle Brett smiled down at me. "Keep it, it's yours now."

I smiled at him and then at the gun too. For the first time in six months, I felt somewhat close to happy. At least as close as I'd get in my eleven-year-old life. Shooting let me forget everything else for awhile. It let me be a normal kid with no deep mental issues or problems for a few hours. That was all I could ask for, all I needed to keep me from just ending everything altogether.

Ben's POV

Hal spent about two hours in the Med Bus with me. Being truthful, it was slightly awkward but I still appreciated that he would hang back with me. He was taking my mind off of everything and we were just talking about the past and how much things have changed for us Masons. Just seven months ago we would be arguing about whom got the remote to watch TV and now we were arguing battle strategies in a war with aliens. Not to mention we both went from two high school students to two soldiers in a resistance group. How does that even happen? Our own dad, history professor at a college, was second in command of a resistance group and now our nine-year-old brother wanted to be a fighter too. Everything has changed so much. I guess the old way of life had changed a lot too, perhaps so much that it was going to be impossible to go back to even if we win this war. I wasn't so sure if we'd make it anymore these days. No one was safe, not even indestructible Kaylee Parker.

"So where are we headed next?" I asked once the room got quiet again.

"To an airport hanger. It's safe enough until we can find a new place to set up camp, and plus there's no alien activity around so all will hopefully be well for awhile, at least until she's back on her feet again," Hal motioned towards Kaylee, who looked like she was just sleeping now instead of in a coma. Maybe she was getting better after all.

Hal left after that, saying he needed to find Alyssa since she had run off somewhere and was really worried about her. Hal had always been great with words and talking to people, especially Matt and I. But he was also one of the most controlling people I've ever met, and that's what always made me angry around him. Yes, he was my brother and I loved him, but other times he made me so infuriated I didn't want to be within miles of him. I was pretty conflicted about all of this, and I know that if I had asked Kaylee about it, she would've told me to suck it up and get over it because I had a living brother who cared about me here. Maybe being friends with her has got me thinking better and less self-concerned.

No, I know it has. Before the attack and before I met her, I admit that I didn't put others ahead of me as much as I should, nor did I realize how great of a life I had in a deeper context. When I was with my entire family, I had those brief moments of how grateful I was, but never fully understood how blessed I was. Kaylee had basically clapped her hands in front of my face and gave me a wakeup call to the real world, which had been hid from me for the longest time. When she woke up, I would thank her for that; I would thank her for making me realize all the things I never knew until I met her.

Kaylee's POV

"So first day of eighth grade. How do you feel?" Alyssa tried to make conversation with thirteen-year-old Kaylee Parker which was a pretty fucking stupid idea if you ask me. You'd think that after two years she'd realize that I don't want to talk at all. But yet she makes a point to try to make me speak sentences longer than three words.

I looked down at the black jacket, jeans, and high top Supras that I was wearing until I reached the deck of my skateboard. My clothing had changed rather drastically the past two years. Once everything started fading for me, colors did too, so I trashed all of my other clothes and stuck to wearing black jeans, t-shirts, hoodies and jackets, and high tops. I didn't care what I looked like, but I had a feeling that no matter how much I tried to ignore the world, the world wouldn't ignore me. Just like Alyssa.

"Like going back to sleep," I said and continued rolling slowly along the sidewalk with Alyssa walking next to me. She was fourteen turning fifteen in two months and was a freshman in the high school that was literally right next to the middle school I was going to. All that separated the two was a gate.

"Can you at least try and act happy for once?" she asked staring at me as I skated next to her.

"No." Our walks to school everyday, not in summer of course, were pretty awkward sometimes but I didn't really care. Alyssa was the only friend I had and now that she was on a different campus than I was, it would be even worse for me to control myself around the kids who gave me a tough time. She usually pulled me aside before I threw a punch at someone, but there were always the cases where she wasn't around last year and I ended up shoving somebody. I swear I was turning into a monster.

"Kaylee, what's going on with you inside? I know you're still upset about your parents but consider this. My mom died four years ago but look at me. Am I wearing all black? No. Am I hating the world and blaming everyone and everything that she's dead? No. Do I keep my feelings bottled up and refuse to talk to anyone? No. So why is it that you're doing that? I just seriously don't understand why-"

At that moment, I pulled my black headphones out of my pocket and put them in my ears while Alyssa continued talking, thinking that I was listening to every word she was saying. I was sick of hearing her tell me the same thing everyday, sick of her trying to fix it, sick of her trying to make me feel better. It was kind of her yes, but it wasn't helping. It was just making it worse. I didn't want to talk about it, I didn't want to go to my counselor's office everyday for three hours (after my fifth fight with someone last year, the principal decided that I needed some kind of therapy for my "emotional problems" and forced me to go into the counselor's office everyday), I didn't want to try and sort out my feelings. I just wanted to be ignored. To be alone. To just be silent. That's all.

"KAYLEE NICOLE PARKER!" Alyssa shouted at me shoving my shoulder. I took an earphone out and looked at her expectantly.

"You really need to stop doing that."

I glanced ahead and saw the middle school and the high school. "See you back at home."

"Please stay out of trouble," she said slightly worried about me.

Yeah. Right. Like that was going to happen.

After going through four dreadful periods of idiots and dumbasses who didn't know anything about what we were learning, it was lunch. I had taken my skateboard out of my backpack and was actually riding it in the halls since no teachers were around and the hall was pretty clear. Just as I was at the end of the hall to go out to a secluded area I sat at by myself, even last year, someone shoved me off my skateboard and watched me skid across the linoleum, laughing.

"Some skater you are." It was him. That fucking ass that I despised with everything inside my soul. He was the one kid that lived to make my life miserable and lived to make me want to die. And I fucking hated him. I hated him so damn much.

Please stay out of trouble, Alyssa's one request ran through my mind. I stood up, grabbed my board, and dusted my jeans off before continuing out the door. You have no idea how much I'd rather go back and take that guy's neck and slam it against some lockers.

"Hey! Did I say you could walk away from me?" the douche asked and grabbed my shoulder, daring me to fight him.

"Since when do I take orders from an asshole that can't come up with good threats?" I looked at him, bored written all over my face.

"You're a fucking whore, Parker."

"Great comeback. I'm genuinely offended," I said so sarcastically that it took him a few seconds to understand that I wasn't serious. Dipshit. "I've got better things to do than listen to a dumbass try and think of something intelligent to retort at me. If you'll excuse me."

I passed him and walked on down the hall until his obnoxious voice called down to me.

"At least I'm not an emo loser with no parents."

I froze in my tracks. I hadn't told anyone about that except for Alyssa. Unless my brother did and it somehow got around to the whole school. I couldn't move forward and let him bash me like that, but I couldn't go back and beat the shit out of him either. Alyssa would kill me if I got into another fight, especially on my first day back. But it was him. AJ Rivera. The biggest ass known to mankind. He deserved to be put in his place.

"That a good enough comeback for you, bitch? That's what you are, a useless, unwanted bitch. No one's ever going to love you, no one's ever going to want to be your friend, and no one's going to feel sorry for you when you kill yourself. So why not just end it all now?"

I was gripping my skateboard so hard that my knuckles were whiter than snow. Useless. Unwanted. Unloved.

"I bet your parents didn't even love you."

I slowly turned around and set my skateboard on the ground. I walked up to AJ and stared him straight in the eyes. He looked back at me, with a smug grin plastered to his hideous face and he thought that I was going to break down crying and beg him to stop bullying me and to stop hurting me. What was this? Some stupid teen story you'd find in one of those magazines or on writing websites that Alyssa tells me about? He was sadly mistaken.

I smirked and looked to the side for a moment. AJ followed my gaze and in that moment, I slammed my fist into his right eye. And then into his mouth and into his side.

Again and again and again.

He tried shoving me away from him but I grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the lockers. "GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME!" he shouted. I was just about to throw another punch into his other eye when, with my luck, the principal came and ripped me off of AJ.

"You two, come with me to my office, NOW." I grabbed my skateboard and backpack and followed Mr. Morris down to his office. AJ pretended that he was more hurt than he was and when we both sat down in the two chairs Mr. Morris had in front of his desk, AJ started clutching his eye.

"What happened?!" he asked angrily and exasperated. Mr. Morris knew how many times I've gotten into fights and more often then not he just threw me into detention or added another hour to my counseling sessions.

"She just threw me into the lockers and started punching me!" AJ exclaimed and pointed at me as if I was some fiend.

"Is this true, Miss Parker?" Ugh, again with that. I hated it when he called me that.

"He pissed me off, I tried to ignore it, then he provoked me and I retaliated negatively. So yeah, it's true."

"How many times do you have to learn your lesson, young lady?" Man I fucking hated all these awful names.

"As many times as it takes to drill through his head," I pointed at AJ while still making eye contact with the principal, "that I'm not just some girl he can walk all over." Of course, it wasn't just AJ I had fought with. There had been girls and other guys from his little group before. But this was the first time I had taken on the leader of the assholes and I guarantee you it won't be the last.

"Say you're sorry, Kaylee."

"No."

Mr. Morris raised his eyebrows. "I'll just have to add another hour to your after school time, unless you apologize."

"See you after school, Mr. Morris." I stood up without being excused and took my belongings with me.

"So did you really punch AJ first or did he shove you to make you angry?" My counselor, Mr. Gregory, asked me. He'd been my counselor the past three years and still he always asked the same question: did you start it or did someone else start it? It's been an hour and we've gotten no where. I was going to punch myself at the rate we were going.

"I punched him first."

"Why?"

I looked at him, bored and sick of this. "Because I hate him."

"Hate is a powerful emotion, Kaylee."

"Which is exactly why I used it to describe the emotion I feel towards AJ Rivera."

Mr. Gregory sighed and rubbed his temples. Sometimes I think he questions if I do this without thinking or I just really like making this difficult for him. "You're almost fourteen, Kaylee. When are you going to start acting like it?"

I rolled my eyes. "Can we pick this up tomorrow? You can yell at me all you want then, I promise."

"Mr. Morris said-"

"Awesome, thanks. See you tomorrow Mr. Gregory."

"Take one more step and you're done with running for your entire school career."

I stopped in my tracks. Could they really take that one thing away from me? Running was everything I had right now; without it I would start fights instead of engaging in them. "No. You cannot take that away from me," I looked at him, eyes hard and cold.

"Sit down." As if someone was physically pulling me, I reluctantly sat back into the wooden chair.

"Now what's causing you to feel so angry at AJ? What's causing you to hate him?"

"Well for one, he constantly bullies me for no apparent reason, brings up how my parents never loved me and that no one would ever want to be my friend, and not to mention shoves me and trips me whenever he gets the chance. I'm no psychologist but those things tend to anger people."

Mr. Gregory shook his head and let out the seventh exasperated breath in the past ten minutes. "Go home. I need a night to figure out what to ask you and you need a night to try and channel your anger towards something else."

Thank God. I stood up and walked out of school. Luckily my sessions ended before Alyssa got out of school unless they were added to and if they were, she knew I was in trouble for something. Except I aggravated Mr. Gregory to the point where he just let me leave early. And let me tell you, that wasn't the first time.

I skated down the street to where the two of us meet after school gets out. She was waiting for me.

"Hey. How was school?" Alyssa asked.

Useless. Unwanted. Unloved. Alone. Silent. Angry. Whore. Bitch. Hours in the counselor's office. Hours in the principal's office. Punching someone I hate. Class with idiots that don't know anything. Pissing off my counselor by trying to ditch counseling. More hours tomorrow. Almost getting expelled from the team. Getting called on in class and not answering when the teacher had repeated my name. Over and over and over. Trying to concentrate on not wanting to kill myself or think about that day. Trying to work on not getting into another fight. Or another or another or another.

"Fine."

Alyssa's POV

I woke up the next morning and looked around, praying it was all a dream. What I saw told me it wasn't. Hal was next to me, watching me, as if I might break any second and Kaylee was nowhere to be seen. I sat up.

"Hey," Hal said, "How are you?"

"I don't really know, to be honest" I replied.

"Do you want to go see Kaylee?" I nodded. Hal went over to his tent to get dressed and I quickly changed. I was still wearing the clothes I had on yesterday, even my boots. I met Hal outside my tent and we walked over to the tent. "Are you gonna be okay?" Hal asked as he grabbed my hand.

"Yeah," I said. I was wrong. As soon as I laid eyes on Kaylee's still, lifeless body my eyes started watering and I couldn't keep it together. I turned around and walked out. Once I was outside of the bus I started sprinting. I wasn't exactly sure where I was going but I was leaving. I couldn't be in there, not with her lifeless, color-drained body just sitting there and everyone's sympathetic looks and people trying to help me. I thought I was strong enough to at least be with her while she laid on her death bed. I couldn't keep it together long enough and I refused to let them see me cry. Yesterday was the one exception. I don't like it when people see me cry. Crying is a weakness. It tells people you are weak and they can hurt you. I heard my father's voice in my head as tears fell down my cheek, slowly at first then faster and faster until I was crying harder then I ever thought possible. Stop crying Alyssa. Stop now. My father's voice got louder and louder in my head. I stopped running and looked around. I was at the bridge, or what used to be the bridge. I looked around and saw Kaylee's blood stained on the ground. More tears rushed down my face. I picked up a rock and threw it as hard as I could.

"WHY HER?! WHY ME?! WHY US?! WHAT THE FUCK?!" I YELLED. No one was around so I could yell and scream as loud as I wanted to. "WHAT DID SHE EVER DO TO DESERVE THIS?!" I grabbed my knife and threw it at a tree. I threw it really hard. I walked over to pull it out but it was struck. Like really stuck. "FFFFFUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKK!" I pulled as hard as I could I started punching the tree. I punched it until my knuckles were bleeding, then I continued to punch it. I punched harder and harder until my fingers were numb. The tree was stained with my blood. I sat down and leaned against the tree and buried my face in my hands and cried. Hours passed and I didn't care. I just zoned out, not really thinking about anything. It stared to get cold so I curled up into a ball and fell asleep. I woke up when I felt movement. I looked around and saw a figure looking at me. It was Hal. He didn't say anything, just continued walking, me in his arms. I fell back asleep.

It's been four days since Kaylee's accident. Ben and Jimmy never leave her side. It's really sweet. I don't understand how they do it though. The longest I have been able to be in there is maybe ten or fifteen minutes before I break down. Once I felt tears coming, I don't try and stop them. I just walk away and locked myself in our tent. That's what Anne says. She told me it would help the heeling process if I didn't try and hold it in. Everyone just let me be. I still carried a weapon and walked around camp but weaver wouldn't send me out so scouts and civilians avoided asking me for help. Weaver and the fighters were looking for a new place to stay, now that Kaylee was semi-stable. Hal told me they found an airport that was a possibility. I sat outside the Med Bus, waiting for Ben to leave. Jimmy and Ben left maybe twice a day, but never at the same time. I wanted to talk to Jimmy. Ben hasn't left since last night. He has to leave eventually. I heard movement coming from the bus.

"Hey Alyssa," he looked at me.

"Hey," I nodded the walked past him into the bus. I sat across from Jimmy. "Hi Jimmy," he looked surprised.

"Hey, how are you?"

"I'm coping. So I just wanted to say that when I first met you, I didn't like you," I stated.

"I think that was obvious," Jimmy said, smiling a little.

"But I decided you're not horrible."

"Thanks," He laughed slightly, even though he wasn't sure if I was insulting him or complimenting him.

"I'm sorry, I'm really bad at this," I said "But I wanted to say you're a good kid."

"Thank you. I'm glad I have your approval." He was dead serious.

"You helped Kaylee. A lot. And I'm grateful."

"No problem," he said. I stood up and left. I went back to our tent and picked up my notebook and a pen and started writing.

Ben's POV

It's been a week and three days, exactly. An entire week and three whole days. I've been in the Med Bus this entire time, taking care of her and watching as Anne tried to figure out if something was prohibiting her from waking up or if it was just how bad her injuries were. Alyssa, Hal, and Jimmy have been in and out since, and occasionally my dad would try to come in and talk with me for a little bit since he rarely saw me. Even Weaver came by a few times to see how Kaylee was and how I was; neither of us had made any progress.

I haven't seriously eaten since we crossed the bridge. Or even shut my eyes once. I never leave the Med Bus, only once maybe twice a day just for some sunlight or because Anne forces me out while she re-bandages Kaylee's wounds and keeps disinfecting them all. Even Anne yelling at me to get out and to get some food won't make me leave to eat. I don't really feel hungry anymore. All I've been feeling is a painful numbness that's been in both my heart and my stomach. Jimmy's been bringing me food and staying hours upon hours with me in here each day, but he told me that it's just too damn painful to stay in here for as long as I do and spend the night in the bus waiting.

Alyssa's been a total wreck, too. She has barely spoken and hasn't smiled once since it happened. When she comes in, Jimmy and I stay quiet unless she wants to talk, and sometimes she does, but most times she doesn't. I know for a fact that Alyssa's not a crier, but I've never seen someone cry as much as she has been now. She keeps on trying to hide it, but Jimmy, Hal and I know that it's all she can do to ease the pain. I knew that Kaylee and Alyssa were closer than close, but this really shows how much she truly cares about her. It showed me how strong of a friendship they have, and no matter what kind of hell they get dragged into, they always have each other to rely on.

I really appreciate Jimmy being here as often as he can. It feels a lot less lonely with him around and a lot less painful to have someone to talk to about it. He's the only other person on this planet who understands what I'm feeling because he's feeling the exact same thing, too. Both of us started out on the wrong foot, but I think now we have the bond that Alyssa and Kaylee do. I never had a really, really good friend back in school, but now I had Jimmy and I had hope.

Jimmy brought a deck of cards and that's all we did to pass the time now. We'd been playing so much, that I practically had each card memorized by the way it feels. Hal would come and play with us too and sometimes even Alyssa did just because none of us had much to do now. Weaver had given us a break from duty since none of us really had the heart to fight, although all of us were completely aware of how mad Kaylee would be at us when she found out that we were skipping out on serving because she was out. But we couldn't, no matter the fact that Weaver was just a little short-handed. He said that he'd rather be short-handed than have fighters whose hearts weren't in the battle and whose minds weren't focused. And all of us appreciated it more than anything.

"Hey, man," Jimmy said with a rough voice and sat down next to me, having just come back from the mess center (since we were in an airport hanger we had enough room for a center and not a tent anymore) and food. I took the bowl of whatever and picked at it a little before putting it aside. Jimmy and I talked mindlessly and talked about the things we had been trying to avoid talking about. The 'What If's.

"What do you think will happen if…she goes?" Jimmy asked me, staring at her bandages.

I shook my head. "She won't. Kaylee's not gonna give up on us, and we can't give up on her either, Jimmy."

"But what if, Ben? I know for a fact that you've at least considered it and it's all I can think about now. It's been over a week; shouldn't she have made some kind of progress by now? Like moving a little or something?"

"I don't know," I said quietly. "But I do know that thinking like that won't get us anywhere." I slid my hands into my pockets and felt something crinkle a little under my fingers. What? I grabbed the paper in my pocket and slipped it out, wondering what it could be. It's not that often that you come across paper in your pocket anymore.

It was the picture. It was our picture. I had no idea that it was in my pants pocket, but I guess I forgot to take it out and it's been there since Kaylee's birthday. I nudged Jimmy and showed him, smiling, actually smiling for the first time in a week. Both of us forgot about this picture; we knew we had it, but we hadn't looked at it much since we took it. Even now, I couldn't get over the fact about how happy we looked, or how stunning Kaylee was when she smiled. I had forgotten what that smile looked like, and how blue those eyes were. Hell, I had started forgetting what she sounded like. All I can distinctly hear is her beautiful voice singing, and that's about it.

Jimmy frowned a little. "Turn it over really quick." I saw something faint on the back of it through the light in the bus. There were seven words penciled on the back of the photo.

love you guys. Stay strong for me.

-KP 1/26

And I swear both of us nearly lost it again right then and there. Jimmy and I probably stared at her handwriting for at least thirty minutes before we even looked at each other again. "January 26th?" I asked, trying to remember when that was.

Jimmy then looked me dead in the eyes. "That was two days before the bridge."

"Check yours, maybe she wrote something on it too!" I said almost excitedly. I don't know, it felt like I was talking to her again in a strange way. Jimmy had his in his pocket too, and he slipped it out quickly and flipped it over. I was right, she had written on both of our photos.

We're gonna be in history books. "Dorky Best Friends Survive an Alien Invasion" they'll call us. Benjamin Andrew Mason, James Michael Boland, Kaylee Nicole Parker. Friends Forever, I promise. I

We looked at each other confused. Had she just stopped writing or did she mistakenly put and 'I' there on accident? But then I put the back of my picture next to Jimmy's, and it all made sense. She connected the end of Jimmy's and the start of mine, which explained the not capitalized 'L' on mine and the random 'I' on Jimmy's. How she managed to get both of our pictures without us noticing was a mystery to me, but it only made me even more amazed at her mysteriousness than I was.

"She wrote this in case anything happened to her, because of her inability to feel pain…"Jimmy trailed off, still staring at her handwriting. Another thing that was different about Kaylee was she didn't have the typical bubbly, girly handwriting that nearly every single girl had. She had free handwriting: writing that was neither neat nor messy, which symbolized her exactly. Her 'Y's didn't have hooks, the line on top of her 'J' didn't extend on both sides but only from the left until it stopped at the rest of the 'J,' and it was just not the typical handwriting that you would see.

I smiled staring down at the picture for awhile longer. After a bit, I set it down next to Jimmy and did the usual routine with Kaylee, fill water and nutrient bags, check bandages and feel pulse. I know I should feel happy about finding the writing on our photos, but something didn't feel right.

Something felt very, very wrong.

Alyssa's POV

"Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel

Like you're less than, less than perfect

Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel

Like you're nothing you are perfect to me."

I leaned over my notebook to write that down. Kaylee has been out for a week and a half now. People are losing hope. A couple days ago I got an idea for a song and I have been working on it whenever I can.

"That was really good," Hal walked into the tent and sat next to me. "I want to here the whole thing."

"Made a wrong turn, once or twice

Dug my way out, blood and fire

Bad decisions, that's alrightWelcome to my silly life
Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood

Miss, no way it's all good, it didn't slow me downMistaken, always second guessingUnderestimated, look, I'm still around
Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feelLike you're less than, less than perfectPretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feelLike you're nothing you are perfect to me
You're so mean when you talk

About yourself, you are wrong

Change the voices in your headMake them like you instead
So complicated, look how big you'll make itFilled with so much hatred, such a tired gameIt's enough, I've done all I can think ofChased down all my demons, see you do the same
Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel

Like you're less than, less than perfect

Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel

Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me
The whole world stares while I swallow the fear

The only thing I should be drinking is an ice cold beer So cool in lying and we tried, tried, tried But we try too hard, it's a waste of my time
Done looking for the critics 'cause they're everywhere

They don't like my jeans, they don't get my hair

Strange ourselves and we do it all the time Why do we do that? Why do I do that? Why do I do that?
Ooh, pretty, pretty, pretty

Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel Like you're less than, less than perfect Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me You are perfect to me
You're perfect, you're perfect to me

Pretty, pretty please if you ever, ever feel Like you're less than, less than perfect

Pretty, pretty please if you ever, ever feel Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me."

"Alyssa that's amazing."

"Thanks." We sat in silence together for a while. Whenever we actually get to spend time together, we usually don't talk, just sit there and enjoy each other's company. It's better that way. There isn't really much to talk about. Hal grabbed my waist and lifted me up so I was sitting on his lap like a little child. I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"So how are you really doing?" Hal asked. "You tell Anne you're fine and you act fine, in public at least but come on Alyssa. I'm not stupid. How are you really doing with all this?"

"I don't know. How am I supposed to feel? My best friend in the whole fucking world since birth, my other half, is lying on her death bed and has been for a week and a half now. I don't know what to do. Weaver won't let me leave camp, I can't be in there with her. I know that makes me a horrible friend, but I can't keep it together long enough to stay with her. Something about hospitals and seeing Kaylee, this strong, independent, tough as nails, person who doesn't take shit from anyone who seems so indestructible laying there so frail and week. I just can't do it"

Hal was about to respond when we were interrupted by yelling form outside. "DR GLASS! DR GLASS! HAS ANYONE SEEN DR GLASS?!" It was Ben. Oh shit! Hal and I quickly stood up and rushed outside.

Dr. Glass's POV

In my twelve years of being a pediatrician as well as seven months of being the 2nd Mass's field medic, I've never felt as stressed out as much as I do now. So many people depend on me to keep the wounded alive as well as important fighters, and ever since Kaylee became injured I've felt more pressured than before. She has so many people that care about her, including myself, and if she died I would never forgive myself. Ben has been even worse than he was before now that his best friend is in a coma, and Alyssa is absolutely depressed and so upset. I don't even want to talk to anyone or see anybody until she's back and around. It feels like everything around camp is so serious and so tight now that the younger fighters are quiet. They're the group that livens the place up and makes all of us relax when the adults are all wound up about everything. That all changed though, and honestly I don't think it'll ever go back to the way it was.

Kaylee's been the most unique patient I've ever had, considering I have my doctorate in pediatrics. But I've never had a solider here that's had more than two bullets and survived, let alone stay breathing for more than a few hours. Even if Kaylee made it through, she wouldn't be able to get up and around for a long, long time, and her lung will definitely give her some problems in the future. But that was if she made it through, and I didn't think there was much hope for her survival.

I refused to tell the kids this, but if she didn't wake up within the next few days or so, then I highly doubt she would wake up at all. From what I can remember from med school, if a person in a coma doesn't regain consciousness within the first few weeks, then they'll either be unconscious for a long while or would die within moments. Kaylee was definitely one of the toughest fighters here, so I knew that deep down right now she was fighting as hard as she could to heal, but the severe damage in her stomach and lungs was nearly impossible to live through.

I took a breath of the chilly air and exhaled, rubbing my temples slightly. I'd been outside in a secluded corner of the airport away from everyone. I just needed a lot of time to myself to sort this all out and to figure out what I could do to make everything better again. There wasn't much.

The very least of my concerns about Kaylee was the fact that one of her wounds was bound to get infected, and infection in her condition could kill her instantly. Then there was her lung problem. If that started bleeding again, then her airway could get filled with blood and she could suffocate if she didn't cough it out in time. Or if she bled in large amounts. Considering all of the blood she lost, I don't think a week of water and basic nutrients would be enough to help replace all of it. I sighed again. This was too stressful, and I was over thinking this all. I also felt so horrible not telling them this, but I knew it was for the best.

I began making my way towards the Med Bus. I needed to check up on the other wounded as well as Kaylee in a few minutes since I did that every hour and also I needed to check in on Ben. He was in pretty rough shape too, and I was honestly concerned the most about him. He never leaves Kaylee's side, he never eats, he never sleeps, and he rarely talks, at least when I'm around.

Yelling and shouting rung out through the airport and I assumed that a fight may have broken out, but I started getting a little worried when I heard my name being screamed at by someone. "DR. GLASS! HAS ANYONE SEEN DR. GLASS?!"

And when I saw Ben sprinting towards me, my heart dropped.

"Ben?! What's wrong?" Ben grabbed my arm and starting rushing me to the Med Bus, leaving me utterly confused.

"BEN! What's wrong?!" I repeated, making him look at me this time.

"Kaylee's not breathing."