'What is it?' Jonathan whispered. He was pressed against the wall of a collapsed house. Next to him, Korinne was peering around the edge of the wall.

'Couple of kids,' she replied. 'Some teenaged boy and a girl who kind of looks like my sister from here.' She sat back and sighed. 'They don't look like they have anything.'

'We should check it out,' Jonathan shrugged. 'They could have something useful. Do they have guns?'

'We're not taking their guns,' Korinne replied sternly. 'They're just kids. They need to be able to defend themselves.'

'Fine,' Jonathan sighed. 'They probably haven't heard us. We'll just let them pass. What are they doing now?'

Korinne leaned around the wall again. 'The boy's gone!' she whispered, alarmed. 'The girl's still there, but she's not looking over here.'

'Let's get out of here,' Jonathan whispered.

'Not so fast,' a voice said. 'Hands where I can see them.'

'Wait,' Jonathan said. He whipped his head around and gaped. 'Benji?'

'Jonny?' Ben replied, shocked.

'You know him, baby?' Korinne said, looking between the two.

'This is my younger brother, Benji,' Jonathan stammered. 'W-what are you doing here?'

'Surviving,' Ben replied, lowering his gun. 'Abby, come on. It's okay.'

'Abby?' Korinne whispered. A crunch on gravel alerted them to Abby's arrival. Korinne turned slowly. 'Abby!'

'Korie?' Abby's jaw dropped. 'What the hell? How are you even here?'

'No time,' Ben said suddenly. 'Abby, do you hear that?'

'Yeah,' she nodded. 'Mechs. That means skitters. We gotta go.'

'Take us with you!' Korinne pleaded.

'Please,' Jonathan added. 'We've been here alone for almost a year. Take us with you.'

Ben paused. 'Do you have a vehicle?'

'Yeah, a dirtbike,' Jonathan replied. 'Why?'

'Get it, and meet us at the gas station,' Ben replied. 'And hurry!'

'I was getting worried!' Hal called, smirking at Ben and Abby as they jogged into the gas station parking lot. 'What took you so long?'

'We're bringing some people back with us,' Ben replied.

'What?' Hal asked. 'Are you sure that's a good idea?'

'We can't just leave them here,' Ben shrugged. 'There's mechs incoming, probably skitters too.'

'Great,' Hal sighed. 'Just what I was hoping for. Where are these people? And how are we going to take them with us, anyways?'

They heard the roar of a dirtbike as Jonathan and Korinne tore into the station, braking next to the truck and shutting off the bike.

'Hal?' Jonathan gaped. 'Is that you?'

'Jon?' Hal replied. 'I don't believe it.'

'Believe it,' Ben interrupted. 'Jonathan, you and your girlfriend can ride with Hal. Abby and I will take the bike back.'

'It's my bike,' Jon replied. 'I'm not letting it out of my sight.'

'This isn't up for negotiation,' Ben shot back. 'We need to get moving. Get in the truck or we'll leave you here for the aliens.'

'Come on, Jonny,' Korinne said, tugging him towards the truck. 'Let's go.'

'Fine,' Jon grumbled. He climbed into the truck after Korinne.

'You two sure about this?' Hal asked.

'Yeah,' Ben replied. 'I've got the navigator. You can get back to camp on your own?'

'No problem,' Hal replied. 'You guys be careful.'

'Don't worry,' Ben grinned. 'We'll be fine. See you at camp.'

'Yep,' Hal nodded. He ducked back into the truck and started it.

'Wait, you can't just leave them here!' Korinne cried as Hal pulled away, leaving Ben and Abby standing next to the dirtbike in the gas station parking lot.

'They'll be fine,' Hal grunted as he turned the wheel hard, scraping the truck around a sharp turn out of the lot.

'Are you kidding!?' Jon sputtered. 'That's your sixteen-year-old brother back there!'

'Yeah, my sixteen-year-old brother who's stronger, faster, smarter, more capable, and generally better than me at everything, especially fighting skitters,' Hal smirked.
'He'll be fine. And Abby's just like him. The two of them will make a good team if they have to fight.'

'What do you mean?' Korinne asked. 'I know my sister. She's slow and wimpy. She may be smart, but the thing she's best at is writing. No way can she fight aliens for crap.'

'That's the old Abby,' Hal replied. 'Just like the old Ben. They're different people now. I'll explain later.'

'Why not explain now?' Jon demanded.

'Fine,' Hal replied. 'Have you seen the kids with the parasites on their backs?'

'Yeah,' Korinne replied. 'Are you saying that Abby and Ben were like those kids?'

'Yep,' Hal nodded. 'Their harnesses were cut off, but they still have parts of them buried in their spinal cords. The spikes give them a lot of amazing abilities. They're fast, strong, agile, and have incredible stamina and senses. They won't fall prey to the skitters easily.'

'I'll take your word for it,' Korinne grumbled.

'I just can't get over the fact that you two are alive,' Jon marveled. 'What about Mom? Dad? Little Matty?'

'Dad's fine and Matt's not so little,' Hal replied. 'You'll see them when we get to camp. Mom died a few months after the invasion.'

Jon shook his head. 'I'm sorry. I wish I could have been with you guys.'

'We thought you were dead.'

'I thought the same about you all,' Jon replied. 'Korie and I were trying to get to Boston, see if we could find out anything. We were in Harrisburg and found her parents' graves, so we started up here.'

'I assumed Abby and Nate, our brother, were dead,' Korinne whispered. 'Or that they had those things on their backs.'

'Abby did,' Hal replied. 'I don't know about your brother.'

'I wish I could find out something,' Korinne's eyes filled with tears. 'I just want to know.'

'The not-knowing is the worst,' Hal murmured.

'It is,' Jon nodded.

'What about you two?' Hal changed the subject.

'We're engaged,' Jon replied. 'We were travelling to meet each other's families, try to patch up relationships, before the invasion. When it happened, we just kept going, trying to get closure. We stopped here because there was food, and never really got around to leaving. What have you been up to?'

'We stayed in Boston for a while,' Hal replied. 'Grouped up with other refugees. We spent a few weeks at a school in Acton after leaving Boston, but eventually had to move out. We got stalled trying to get across a river, and decided to go to Charleston when we heard that refugees were congregating there to form a resistance. We spent almost a year there; Dad got remarried and they had a kid. We left to attack the Espheni in Boston. We were there a few weeks ago, but got kicked out by the Volm when they wanted to send us to Brazil.'

'Espheni?' Korinne repeated. 'Volm? Who are they?'

'The Espheni are the ones who control the skitters,' Hal explained. 'The Volm allied with us to fight them, and then decided they didn't want us around and tried to ship all human survivors off to Brazil to keep us out of their way.'

'Some allies,' Korinne scoffed.

'And did you say Dad got remarried?' Jon asked. 'And had a kid?'

'Oh, yeah, I should warn you about Lexie…' Hal sighed. 'Basically, Dad married Anne, the combat surgeon for the 2nd Mass—that was the group we left Boston with and are basically with now—and they had a daughter named Alexis about three months ago. But Lexie and Anne were captured by the Espheni. While they were there, the Espheni did something to Lexie. She looks like she's six years old, not three months. Also, she's a half-human, half-alien hybrid. We don't know why or how. She's weird. You'll get used to her. If you actually stick around this time.'

Jon groaned and rested his head on the back of the seat. 'Hal, please. Don't bring that up. I'm sorry for leaving you guys. But Mom and Dad and I just didn't see eye to eye. Things would have exploded and you guys probably would have gotten hurt worse than you did by me leaving.'

'I remember the fights,' Hal replied grimly. 'We all do. Even Matt.'

'Hal—' Jon started

'It's fine,' Hal replied. 'We'll talk about this later. Let's just get back for now.'

'Tom, look!' Anne called. The beat-up red pick-up pulled into the clearing, skidding to a halt in the new mud near the command tent. Hal leapt out from behind the wheel and sprinted inside the tent.

'That's not Ben and Abby,' Jimmy said. He stood to Anne's left in the Mason tent's doorway, and Tom stood on her right.

'What?' Anne demanded, alarmed.

'Who is it?' Tom asked.

'Some guy and girl,' Jimmy replied. 'I don't think I know them. Hard to tell with this rain.'

'I'm going to go see what's going on,' Tom said to Anne. He jogged over to the tent as the door of the truck opened and the two occupants tumbled out. 'Come on in,' he called, squinting at them through the downpour. 'Colonel Weaver will want to talk to you.'

'Dad?' Jon called.

Tom paused. 'Jonny?' he called back.

'Come on inside, Tom,' Weaver yelled. 'Bring those two from the truck.'

Tom held the flap open for Jonathan and Korinne. 'Hal, where are Ben and Abby?'

'I don't know,' Hal replied. 'I was hoping to find them back here. There were skitters and mechs closing in on us. They took a different route to lead them away from the camp.'

'In this weather?' Tom frowned up at one of the tent's plastic skylights. 'They might not make it until morning.'

'There's nothing we can do until morning,' Weaver scowled. 'I hate it as much as you do, Tom, but we can't risk going out. We just have to trust that those two are smart enough to handle themselves for the night. As for you two,' Weaver turned on Jon and Korinne. 'Who the hell are you?'

'Jonathan Mason, sir,' Jon replied. 'And this is my fiancée, Korinne McAllister.'

'Mason?' Weaver raised an eyebrow, glancing between Tom, Hal, and Jon. 'Related to you, Tom?'

'My oldest,' Tom replied. 'He moved out four years before the invasion. We thought he was dead even before the skitters.'

'Huh,' Weaver nodded thoughtfully. 'Is there room for them with you? If there's not, I think they could stay with Jeanne and Lourdes.'

'Nah, we'll make it work,' Tom replied, resting one hand on Jon's shoulder. 'But first thing tomorrow, I'm going out to look for Ben and Abby.'

'Deal,' Weaver nodded. 'Take the berserkers with you, and anyone else you want.'

Tom nodded. 'Thanks, Dan.'

'Go on home,' Weaver sighed. 'Get some sleep. I know you'll be up bright and early tomorrow. Dismissed.'

Tom nodded and led his sons and Korinne out of the command tent. 'Hal, did you guys find fuel?'

'Yeah, we hit the jackpot,' Hal grinned. 'Filled up everything, and there's plenty more where it came from. It's on our way to Charleston, too. We could swing by and fill up everything we can spare.'

'Did you tell Weaver?' Tom asked. The four trudged through the rain and mud towards the Masons' tent, passing the truck on their way.

'First thing,' Hal replied. 'He's thrilled. Hopefully the skitters and mechs didn't destroy it.'

'Well, I think you would've noticed the explosion if they had blown up the gas station,' Tom grinned.

'True,' Hal laughed in reply. As they approached the tent, the flap moved aside to reveal Maggie and Anne standing there. The four climbed into the tent.

'Hey,' Maggie grinned, embracing Hal. 'You're wet.'

'Yeah, a little,' Hal laughed. 'I don't know if you noticed, but it's kind of raining out there.'

'No, I didn't notice,' Maggie teased.

'Jonny!?' Matt exclaimed. He was sitting on Tom and Anne's bed with Lexie and Colm. The small girls were sitting on their cots in the back, and the three older boys were sitting in a circle on Dallon and Harlem's side of the tent.

'Hey, Matty,' Jon grinned down at the boy. 'How are you?'

'What are you doing here?' Matt asked, looking troubled.

'I survived the alien apocalypse,' Jon smiled.

Matt smiled slightly, then turned back to Lexie and Colm.

'Uh, Jon, this is Anne,' Tom said. 'My wife.'

'Nice to meet you,' Jon said slowly, shaking Anne's hand.

'It's great to meet you too,' Anne smiled. 'I'm sorry about your mother.'

'Thanks,' Jon nodded. 'Oh, right. This is my fiancée, Korinne.'

'Hi,' Korinne smiled, shaking Anne's hand. 'It's nice to meet you.'

'This is Maggie,' Hal said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

'Right, and this is Lexie,' Tom added, gesturing to Alexis. 'That's Colm, Jimmy, Harlem, Dallon, Summer, Mariah, and Amanda. They're Abby's pack.'

'Pack?' Korinne repeated.

'Family,' Dallon said, glowering at the girl.

'Are you her sister?' Jimmy asked. 'She told us about you.'

'The good stuff, I hope,' Korinne forced a smile.

'Sure,' Jimmy replied.

'Where's Abby?' Colm asked, reaching over and tugging on Tom's jacket.

'Abby and Ben aren't back yet,' Tom replied. 'They're making sure skitters and mechs don't find us.'

'Where are they?' Colm whimpered. 'Where's Abby?'

'If they're not back by morning, I promise you that I will go and find them,' Tom said, crouching down to look Colm in the eye.

'We'll go with you,' Jimmy said. 'You could use some spike-backs.'

'Thank you,' Tom nodded.

'Me too!' cried Matt.

'Me and Hal, too,' Maggie added. 'We'll find them.'

Well! So I did forget about this... Not really, I was just procrastinating and being a bad college student by not doing anything I should do (including updating my fanfiction regularly...). You guys should all love my roommate, BrokenSky49, who is forcing me to update this INSTEAD OF FRICKING STUDYING FOR GERMAN WHICH I HAVE A MIDTERM IN TOMORROW MORNING! CURSES UPON YOU AND PUDGY, DUDE!

Anyway, responding to reviews:

Derekv: Thank you! I'm glad you like it (:

melsol: I'm glad you appreciate the cliffhangers! Here's another one for you *evil laugh* (sorry...)

Lea97: Thank you!

BrokenSky49: ...shut up... troll...