Chapter 15
She had never jumped on the back of a truck so fast in her life. All sorts of scenarios were running through her head. Matt could be dead already. Or harnessed. Or running for his life. And one simple word echoed in her mind: Why? Why would Zoe do this? She trusted her. Zoe was her friend. Was being the operative word. Grace wasn't sure what she was anymore. A true friend wouldn't have put her brother's life at risk.
As soon as they pulled up, they could see mechs surrounding the factory, their chilling groans reverberating off the tin walls. Their fears were confirmed. This had to be a harnessing facility. The security was far too tight.
The group took cover behind a concrete wall whilst Tom peered through his sight at the robotic enemy. As the mech stomped by, she thought she could just about see a small red cap being crushed underneath the mech's thunderous footstep. She felt a chill run up her spine.
"That's Matt's hat," her father confirmed, to her dread.
"You think the cockroaches got him?" Weaver muttered beside him.
"Only one way to find out."
As soon as the coast was clear, they ran. Maggie, Dai and Tector took the back exit while the rest of them took the front. Grace was surprised to see Tector on the mission after the stunt he pulled with Matt earlier, but she didn't have time to argue. Her dad obviously thought he would be helpful and for once she actually hoped he was. She hoped Casey was right, that the guy had good intentions and he was smarter than he looked. They needed it right now.
Grace covered Weaver, her father and her brothers as they dodged past an overturned car, sprinting for the factory door. She felt her heartbeat sky-rocket. They had no idea what they were walking into, how many enemies they were up against. It wasn't like them to jump in blind like this, but they had been given no choice. Matt's life was at stake.
Inside was dark and humid. Grace couldn't see much, but she could smell the strange damp-like odour in the air. An eerie orange light lit up the dim hallways, leading to a larger room. That's where the kid's cries were coming from.
Grace held back a terrified sob. "Matty."
Weaver put his hand out to stop her before placing a finger over his lips. He motioned for them to approach slowly. Grace held her rifle close, preparing herself. She wasn't sure what she was about to see, but it sounded like a nightmare. There was a brief mechanical noise coming from the room ahead followed by a high-pitched chirping sound. And then a boy's voice.
"Get it off! Get it off!"
Then screaming.
Grace looked back at her father, wide-eyed. They all charged down the corridor towards the screaming, guns raised. They had almost reached the room when the screaming suddenly stopped. They paused.
"What happened?" Grace whispered.
The room was thick with steam. For a moment, they couldn't see anything, and then things started to get clearer. The orange glow was emanating from a large tank at one side of the room. Every few seconds, a blast of steam would erupt from the tank, making her jolt. She could see it was connected to a number of chutes. As she looked around, she soon realised why.
The boys were all laid out on gurneys, placed underneath these chutes. A quick glance back at the tank and she realised with terror that there were live harnesses swimming about in there. The chutes were dispensing the harnesses onto the kids' spines so they could attach themselves.
She breathed hard as Weaver led the way further into the room. She looked around for Matt, but she heard him before she could see him:
"No! Let me go! Dad, help!"
The steam cleared and she could see the skitter leering over her brother, the harness crawling onto his back like a hungry insect about to feed on its prey.
"MATT!" she screamed, firing at the skitter. It screeched and backed up into the centre of the room where the whole group opened fire, piercing holes into the alien's tough flesh and spattering its blood into the air. It made a pathetic attempt to shield itself with its long, spider-like legs before sinking to the floor. Tom finished it off with a shotgun blow to the face.
Grace immediately peeled the wriggling harness from her brother's back. Gooey and soft to the touch, she threw the thing on the floor where Hal shot at it. It wiggled around like a fish out of water before being blown to soggy pieces.
Tom and Grace attempted to release Matt from the gurney, Grace's fingers struggling to unbuckle his bonds in her panic.
"It's okay, Matty! We're here!"
In the background, she was vaguely aware of Jeanne who was strapped to her own gurney, calling out to her father. Weaver immediately ran to her aid before another one of those harnesses could slide down and attach to her.
"Grace."
She heard a sob across the room. Glancing round, she realised it was Zoe. She was face-down on her own table, her arms and legs bound. Weakly, she raised her head from the table to call to her friend, tears streaming down her face.
"Grace, I'm sorry," she cried. "I'm sorry."
"Go, help her. I've got Matt," Tom told her, still desperately trying to untie him.
Grace approached her friend, putting aside her anger. She freed Zoe as quickly as she could. Zoe held her sore wrists, sitting up on the gurney, the tears still dribbling down her cheeks. She looked over at the table behind her own before covering her mouth and sobbing loudly.
Grace followed her gaze to the poor boy behind her. Jonny. He wasn't moving. They stared at the object fused to his spine, now perfectly still and glowing.
She turned back to her friend, her heart breaking for her. Zoe buried her head into Grace's shoulder and Grace held her.
"It's okay," Grace reassured her. "We can get it off him. He'll be okay."
They were both interrupted by sudden gunfire, their heads snapping towards the source of the deafening barrage of bullets - Ben had opened fire on the tank, smashing the glass and sending the liquid - and the tank's inhabitants - flowing onto the floor.
Grace swung her rifle from her shoulder and started firing on the harnesses flapping about in the water. God, they were like slimy jellyfish, not the hard shell-like object she had seen fused to her brother months previously. They exploded into fleshy pieces as the fighters shot round after round until each harness ceased moving.
When it seemed like all alien life had been discarded in a wet, sloppy pile on the floor, Grace finally took a breath and helped Zoe up. Poor Matt had his now-free hands over his ears as Tom went back to check on him. He was shaken, but at least he was safe. Jeanne was standing with her father, wiping the dirt and tears from her face as the gang attempted to free the remainder of the boys. There weren't many of them here, luckily, which meant most of them must still be in the holding room. Grace and Zoe got to work on freeing Jonny when Weaver walked past them.
"We got to wag it and shag it," their captain declared, heading over to check the exits. "We're gonna have beaucoup Skitters coming any second! AGH!"
Grace's head snapped up to see Weaver collapse to the floor, crying out in agony. One of the harness creatures had latched on to his leg.
"Captain?" Grace called. But Jeanne had already yanked the creature off of him. Weaver promptly took the butt of his weapon and struck the thing repeatedly, causing it to shriek at a deafening volume until it eventually stopped moving.
Jeanne and Tom helped him to his feet.
"I'm alright. I'm okay. I'm okay," he insisted, hobbling to the exit. "Let's go."
They met Maggie, Dai, Tector and the rest of the boys on the way out. Diego found his way straight into Jeanne's arms as Grace and Zoe helped a zombified Jonny outside. Grace clocked Zoe's expression as the two embraced, crying and holding each other's faces: part relief, part envy? Despite her vow of friendship, she was clearly somewhat disappointed that she wasn't the one in Diego's embrace right now. Most of all, she looked exhausted and shaken. They needed to get everyone back to camp as soon as possible. Particularly Jonny and Captain Weaver who were in need of urgent medical attention.
They piled onto the vehicles, making a quick exit before any more skitters could get on their tail.
Later, Grace sat outside of her tent, cleaning out her rifle barrel and avoiding the inevitable confrontation with Zoe. She was still hurt, angry, confused. She wasn't sure what to think, what to say to her. Matt could have easily ended up harnessed, or dead. His last moments filled with fear and pain. That thought alone chilled her to her core.
She sensed footsteps approaching, fearing it was Zoe, but it was just her dad. She smiled at him, relieved, and he took up a spot beside her.
"Matt's finally asleep," he said. "I don't think he'll be running off any time soon."
"How's Captain Weaver?" she asked him. "That bite looked pretty nasty."
"Doctor Glass gave him some painkillers and antibiotics. Jeanne is with him now."
Grace nodded slowly, continuing to clean out her rifle with the cleaning rod. By now, the thing was probably spotless, but she couldn't seem to put it down.
Tom leant a little closer to her. "You know, earlier, he asked me how we do it."
"Do what?"
"Our relationship. The father, daughter thing. He told me everything Jeanne said was true, about him being a bad father. He said you and I seem to have it figured out."
Grace scoffed a little louder than she intended. "We aren't perfect."
"That's what I said. It wasn't always this way." He looked over at her. "Truth is, when I found out we were having a girl, I was worried."
Grace put down her rifle. "You were?"
Tom nodded. "Princesses and tea parties...that wasn't my thing. And to be honest, I had such a hard time growing up, I was pretty scared I'd screw you kids up too."
She frowned. "I had no idea."
"But then you arrived, this perfect little thing." He smiled, the wrinkles deepening around his eyes. "You would stare up at me and I would be besotted." He chuckled, giving his beard a quick scratch. "Your mother seemed to know exactly what to do with you, but me…I was clueless. I just followed her lead. And you know, the princesses and tea parties weren't so bad." He looked up to see her respond with a small chuckle, which made his contented smile grow. "I admit on one too many occasions I let things slip, I got too consumed with my work, and I neglected all of you. So for that I'm sorry. If this war has taught me anything it's that nothing is more important than the ones you love. Without that, there's nothing worth fighting for."
She smiled sympathetically at him. She agreed with his conclusion, and it reminded her of something.
"Dad...I'm cool with you and Doctor Glass, just so you know…"
He looked at her, raising his thick brows in surprise. "You are?"
She nodded. "I found it weird at first. Still do, I guess. It's weird to think about you being with someone that isn't Mom. But you care about each other, right? You make each other happy?"
Tom nodded softly.
"Then that's pretty special. That's worth fighting for."
He smiled appreciatively at her. She smiled back at him before noticing a figure standing awkwardly behind him. Zoe.
Tom noticed her presence. "I'll leave you to it," he said, patting Grace on the leg before pulling himself up. He offered Zoe a brief smile before making a prompt exit.
Zoe gently stepped forward, a sheepish look on her pretty face. "Hey."
Grace barely looked at her. "Hey...How's Jonny doing?"
"He's doing good...Doctor Glass was amazing. You were right. She took the harness right off. Thank god you came when you did. Otherwise... I don't know what would have happened."
Grace nodded, returning her attention back onto her rifle. A beat of silence passed before Zoe gained the courage to come closer.
"I'm sorry about your brother. Diego asked him to come, and he insisted. He really wanted to fight."
"Look how that turned out," Grace murmured, a stern frown cemented on her face.
"I'm sorry. It happened so fast. I just wanted to get the boys back."
"I thought I could trust you," Grace snapped, her tough facade breaking. "You were my friend. We had each other's backs. Until now." She sniffed. "You have other friends now. Other alliances. It's obvious you'd do anything to protect them."
Zoe nodded solemnly. "You know, since I saw you, I think I've been trying to be something I'm just not anymore. To tell the truth, it felt wrong. Things are different now. We aren't in high school anymore. We aren't…"
"Best friends?" Grace finished for her. "I think I'm getting that now. I've changed too. I'm not that girl anymore. We've grown up...I guess I've been pretending a little too. When I saw you, I saw a chance to get a friend back. I mean after losing Jimmy, I really needed a friend. But I can see now that Jeanne and Diego and the boys are your friends now. They're your family. Like the Second Mass is my family." She sighed deeply. "And that's why you're leaving. Aren't you?"
Zoe wiped a tear from her eye and nodded. "Yeah."
Grace got to her feet, taking in the familiar features of her friend's face one last time. "Look after yourself, Zo."
A small sob escaped Zoe's lips as she took Grace into a firm hug. "You too, girl," she whispered. "Keep fighting this war for us."
Grace closed her eyes, holding her tightly.
"Ahem."
Breaking away, they could see Jeanne standing there giving them an awkward smile.
"You ready?" she asked Zoe.
"You're leaving too?" Grace asked her.
"I can't stay," Jeanne admitted, her blue eyes gleaming with moisture. "I've decided. My family needs me."
"This will kill him," Grace almost hissed, glancing back at the medical tent where Weaver was being treated. "You must know that. He just got you back."
"He'll get over it," Jeanne sniffed as Zoe placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "He's too good a leader to leave this all behind. You all need him more than I do, and he needs you too."
Grace shook her head, still in disbelief, but as Jeanne turned to leave she called out to her.
"Wait."
Jeanne halted and stared at her, while Grace disappeared to grab something from her tent. When she re-emerged she had Weaver's old compass in her hand.
"Your dad gave me this, but he would want you to have it."
She held the compass out to Jeanne, who let a smile creep up on her lips as she recognised the antique. She took a step forward to take it from Grace, then hesitated.
"You keep it," she told her.
"What?"
"He wanted you to have it for a reason. I'm sure by now it means more to you than it does to me."
Jeanne gave her one last smile before Zoe linked arms with her and they headed off to their bikes.
Grace watched them leave, closing her palm around the compass, feeling the cold metal against her skin again. The girls joined Diego and the Lost Boys before riding off into the distance, and then they were gone.