Yes, yes, this one is much shorter. I'm not sure if you'd consider that good or bad... but it is.

Abby stepped out of the med-bus and shivered, tugging her jacket tighter around her. It was cold, despite the fire flaming only a few yards away and the remnants of adrenaline continuing to pump through her system. She walked towards the fire and looked around for her pack.

'Hey,' a voice called. It belonged to a tall boy with dark hair seated next to a woman with long blonde waves. 'You looking for those other kids?'

'Yeah,' Abby nodded, moving towards the duo. 'Do you know where they went?'

'Come on, I'll show you,' he said, standing up. He led her across the fire circle to one of the larger tents. 'Captain Weaver?' he called, stopping at the closed entry.

'Yeah?' a gruff voice replied.

The boy opened the tent flap and held it aside for Abby. She nodded at him in thanks and stepped inside. In front of her stood Colonel Weaver and Tom on one side of a table, her pack across from them. She noticed Ben on her left but directed her attention towards Weaver and Tom.

'Sir,' she nodded to Weaver. He gestured to her pack and she moved to stand beside Dallon, careful not to get too close to or touch Ben. Once she was standing safely with her family, she looked at Tom. 'I'm sorry for hurting your son,' she said quickly, before turning to face Ben. 'I'm so sorry.'

'From what we understand, it's not your fault,' Tom replied.

'My spikes, my fault,' she shrugged. 'I may not have damaged them or caused the connection, but I'm still responsible.'

'It's fine,' Ben spoke up from the sideline. 'I'll get over it.'

Abby nodded and turned back to Weaver and Tom.

'We were just asking Jimmy how it is he's alive,' Weaver said. 'You have any ideas? Jimmy and Dallon said you were with the rebel skitters longer than anyone else here.'

'The red-eyed one brought him,' Abby replied, wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to warm up. 'It was… almost a year after everything started. He was barely breathing and had a pretty fresh wound in his stomach. I asked what was going on and they told me that the red-eyed one had injured Jimmy, but also accidently given him a parasite that made the humans think he was dead, but he didn't say why or how. They didn't want Jimmy to die, and they didn't have a lot of spike-backs at that point… so, they harnessed Jimmy.'

'The red-eyed one harnessed Jimmy!?' Ben interrupted, shocked.

'Not just Jimmy,' Abby frowned. 'They harnessed quite a few kids. Some, they rescued, if they had been abandoned or left for dead. But some they took. The red-eyed one didn't support it; he said it made them too much like the other skitters, but with Jimmy, he felt responsible.'

'I can't believe the skitter rebellion would harness kids,' Tom scowled.

'There's a dark side to the rebellion that you'll never know—that I hope you never see,' Abby looked ready to cry. 'Anyways, the kids they harnessed were kept… sedated, I guess you could say. That's why Jimmy doesn't remember anything. After a few months, they cut off the harness, woke him up, and he packed up with us—me, Colm, Amanda, Dallon, and Harlem—after that.'

Jimmy stared at Abby, open-mouthed. 'You never told me any of that!'

'The red-eyed one told me not to,' she shrugged. 'I assumed that he did and you didn't want to talk about it. No-one wants to talk about how they got harnessed.'

Jimmy sighed and looked at Weaver and Tom. 'Any other questions?'

'Dinner!' the cry sounded from outside.

'Abby, I'm hungry,' Colm stage whispered, tugging on the back of Abby's jacket.

'Shush,' Abby scolded, turning around and shooing him off of her jacket.

'No, he's right,' Tom said. 'You guys look like you're starving. Go ahead.' He turned to Ben. 'Ben, can you take them out for some food?'

'Yeah,' Ben nodded. He led the kids out of the tent and back over to the fire, where they lined up to get food. At the end of the line, Ben waited for everyone. 'Come on,' he said once Abby, the last of the group, had gone through. He led the seven kids over to where Matt and Alexis were eating. They settled down nearby, and were soon joined by Hal and Maggie.

Upon seeing Jimmy, Maggie grinned hugely and gave him a big, one-armed hug. 'Hey kid,' she grinned, settling down next to it.

'Hi, Maggie,' Jimmy grinned, wrapping his free arm around her shoulders.

'It's nice to see you,' Maggie smiled, releasing Jimmy. 'Who are your friends.'

'This is Mariah, Amanda, Summer, Colm, Abby, and Dallon,' Jimmy pointed to each in turn. 'Guys, this is Maggie. And those are Tom's sons, Hal, Matt, and Ben, who I guess you all haven't met officially yet.'

'And this is Alexis,' Matt grinned.

'She's our half-sister,' Ben added.

'So…' Jimmy looked at the girl. 'I'd guess your dad and Dr. Glass, but she looks too old for that.'

'It's a long story,' Ben shrugged. 'But yeah, Dr. Glass is her mom.'

'I was captured by aliens,' Alexis informed them, staring eerily at them. 'Also, I'm half human and half Espheni. They did something to me before I was born.'

'Wow,' Jimmy nodded slowly. 'That's a crazy story.'

'You're one special kid,' Abby smiled at Alexis.

'No more special than you,' Alexis replied, turning her stare on Abby. The smile and color drained from the older girl's face.

'Well, that was a little weird, but okay,' she said weakly. 'If you say so, sweetie.'

'I do,' Alexis replied.

Abby blinked and shook her head, as if to clear it, and returned to her food. The Mason boys grinned at her reaction.

'How old are you?' Colm asked, looking at Matt.

'I'm eleven,' Matt replied. 'How old are you?'

'I'm eight,' Colm replied proudly.

When she heard this, Maggie nearly choked on her food. 'You're eight!?" she repeated.

'Yeah,' Colm nodded, seeming confused by her reaction. 'Mariah's nine, Amanda's ten, and Summer's eleven. Harlem is fifteen, Jimmy's fifteen, Abby's seventeen, and Dallon's nineteen. Don't you believe me?'

'She's just surprised 'cos you're so young,' Jimmy said.

'So you were, what, six when the skitters came?' Maggie said, her voice hoarse.

'Yeah,' Colm nodded.

'How old were you when you were harnessed?'

'Six. I got harnessed after only a few days.' Colm replied, now plainly confused. 'Why?'

Maggie shook her head. She put down her bowl, stood up, and walked away. Hal sighed and followed her.

'What's wrong?' Colm whimpered, looking up at Abby.

'Nothing's wrong, buddy,' she soothed, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. 'It's hard for anyone to think of someone so young being taken by aliens and forced to be their slave.'

'But I'm fighting them now,' Colm said, looking around at the other kids. 'Doesn't that make it better?'

'No, buddy,' Abby sighed, pulling him into a hug. 'That just makes it worse.'

Well... Yeah. Please review? Or not. That's okay too, I guess...