Falling Skies 1. Prologue

_This Is The End_

_Hold Your Breath And Count To Ten_

_Feel The Earth Move_

_I've Drowned And Dreamt This Moment _

_Swept Away I'm Stolen_

_Let The Sky Fall When It Crumbles_

_We Will Stand Tall_

_And Face It All Together_

Some people had plans. To graduate with honours and go to college, get a job and get married, have a few kids and a cute little house with a porch in the suburbs. Others dreamt big, wanting to head off to Hollywood and become huge star. If you had the right background, that future was very much possible, so I guess many of them had a lot to lose.

Then there were the screw ups, some by choice and others –again- by background, products of broken homes or no families. Bad neighbourhoods and influences that caused you a one way ticket to a Juvenile Detention Centre or the foster care system, never belonging to a real home. When you had nothing to lose a situation such as this seemed more like a gift, you had suddenly become above all those fortunate people in the food chain.

Me? I don't really know where I fell on that scale; I guess I had elements of both, typical kid with a troubled childhood and falling into foster care, only I seemed to luck out with the family I was put with. Of course not being separated from my younger brother was a bonus, since that was such a common thing, but safe to say the second half of my teenage life wasn't as traumatic as the first.

When _they _arrived it never felt right, almost too good to be true, something as impossible as that would never be that easy. Splurging bullshit about peace and learning from one another and we ate it all up. Because we want to believe that, because everything we had ever heard about extra-terrestrials and millions of other universes, stories of how we beat invasions or flew across a forest on a bike with one in the front basket, those were the types of stories that stayed with you. And they were true ... but not in the way we had hoped.

You'd think with movies like War of the Worlds or Skyline that the Military would have had some form of back-up, some sort of nuclear weapon to bring down as many as you possibly could. No, no instead the civilisation was practically wiped it, and it was done with ease, in fact you never would have even though we were capable of challenging them.

They had let their guard down and were actually stupid enough to completely believe that they meant no harm; these were _Aliens_ for fuck sake, completely advanced in technology and languages. What could we possibly have that they would want to learn from us?

Absolutely nothing.

Hell, from the looks of it, it didn't exactly seem like they were that independent. They took our kids to do their dirty work, recycled our metal, in fact it looked like the reason they came in the first place was to suck our planet dry of its resources.

For the longest time I had thought that my brother and I were the last people on earth, I hadn't at any point every come across even a sign of human life. Not that I had the chance to, you survived day by day in this world, in constant fear that your safety could be ripped away from beneath.

You clung to life, leeching on to anything that had the slightest sign of it, of another chance. You became bitter, hateful, and cynical. You couldn't remain the same person you once were in your old life when everything from it had been destroyed, when you had been destroyed, you had been beaten down and skinned.

It was kill or be killed, simple as that, if you thought there was any in-between then you were dead before you had ever started.

This was no longer our world, no longer our home, we were outsiders, and we were the intruders now. Needing to be exterminated like some vermin's, and they would never stop, not until we were their slaves or dead.

Alex hoped a lot, and it radiated off of him so much that I did too, but only sometimes. But he was only a kid, and despite all my beliefs I couldn't bring myself to tell him it was futile, that there was no saviour. If there was anyone in the world that I would hate to see that light leave their eyes, it was Alex, he deserved more than this. I just wish I could have been able to promise him it, to be able to hand him everything on a golden platter, and every day I felt like that light in him was dimming a little, yet he still smiled, still pressed on.

And that was why I hadn't given up, why I would never give up, because of that simple light in a child's eyes. When they looked at you it was like they were looking at a God, like you could never let them down, like you were always right. That light was why I kept fighting every day, hoping that there was a future for Alex's generation, that one day they would send that godforsaken species back to the hell in which they came from.

The battle for our world was over. We had lost.

But the battle for our future had only just begun.

* * *

**So yeah, a new story. I can't get it out of my head, Falling Skies has become my new obsession and I needed to get this out of my system! So this was the opening, I don't think Hal will be introduced for a few chapters, I want to go back into Thalia's past, just to show the build up to the invasion and for the sake of character development.**

**Let me know what you think! **


	2. Wednesday Aadams

"Why do you always watch this? It's a bunch of crap."

My feet rested on the coffee table in front of me, slouched in my seat on the couch as Michael sat up front, his nose practically resting on the TV screen, eyes glued to it. He turned briefly to shoot a glare at Raphael, green eyes narrowing slightly towards the dark skinned teen.

"Shut up, I like it."

Raphael merely smirked at his success of provoking Michael, a familiarity between them as they had spent the longest time together. With Michael being the younger of the two, barely reaching thirteen, he took the brunt of Raphael's taunts.

Michael turned back to the television, listening intently at an old re-run of Star Trek, which I was pretty sure he had already seen countless times before. I yawned, resting my elbow on the arm rest as I leaned my chin on my elbow, Raphael taking up the rest of the couch beside me as he sprawled out across it, knee's bent since I had taken a seat.

"Don't get touchy on me, Sheldon Cooper."

I snorted at Raphael's remark, a stupid satisfied smirk adorned his dark pink lips, and chuckled loudly as Michael's face reddened at the remark. Choosing to ignore him, pretending he hadn't heard, only the red tinge on his ears was proof that he had.

I quickly learned to not take Raphael seriously when I had arrived with Alex, Penelope had said it was simply the way he made friends with others, his way of 'breaking the ice' she reasoned. Apparently if he liked you the teasing stuck, so in that sense you could always tell just how much affection he held for Michael.

My stomach grumbled, reminding me that dinner was soon, and the sound of Penelope in the kitchen, bustling about as she readied dinner for us all.

Adam, of course, jumped on the chance for another insulting remark, his mouth opening as if he were about to relay an inspirational speech, for someone soon to be eighteen he was extremely childish when he wanted to be.

"Dinners coming, Wednesday Addams. Don't go eatin' a corpse."

Again another nickname that he had decided to stick with and I hated it with every fibre in my being, because he called me it at every opportunity he got. That included in public, at school or outings. Naturally, like all high school kids did when they found a nickname funny, it stuck and spread. The fact that my hair was such an alarmingly dark shade of brown, that most mistook it for black, didn't help either.

Apparently I barely smiled too, which gave him even more ammo to sing along the tune if I ever passed him in the hall, which I usually responded with a crude hand gesture.

I begged to differ in the smiling department, I wasn't exactly going to beam at you if you were referring to me as a member of the Aadam's family, but then I guess that was his way of welcoming me into this dysfunctional interracial family.

Penelope had begun fostering Raphael first, he had been here since he was eight, his father had been sent to jail for multiple armed robberies, and his mother had taken off without a care in the world. He had never let on to it ever affecting him, in fact he was by far the most positive person I had met, it was damn irritating sometimes.

To me it seemed as if he just used humour and offensive jokes as a way of dodging the subject of his corrupt childhood. Choosing to smile most of the time, eyes crease up in amusement, dark brown eyes and smooth brown skin.

Michael was another story, his mother being the only blood family member in the states, the rest scattered around Korea, had died of cancer. The poor kid refused to feel sorry for himself, simply shrugging his shoulders and stating she wasn't in any more pain, causing my heart to twist at someone so young having to watch someone they love so much pass.

Upon not receiving a reaction from me, Raphael nudged me with his foot, causing me to flinch away from him slightly. He retracted his foot just as fast, his face sobering slightly, and shuffled to sit up.

"Sorry Thalia." He muttered quickly, "I forgot."

I chose to ignore the entire thing, and offered a sickeningly sweet smile, tone sarcastic, "keep calling me that, and I will eventually punch you in the jugular." The amusement soon returned to his face, an eyebrow arched as he took in my expression, watching as the grin fell from my face, it felt beyond creepy smiling in such a way.

"Maybe you should stick to never smiling … it's scary as shit when you do."

Flipping him off I returned my gaze back to the screen, the credits rolling as Michael's show came to an end, he sat back slightly and begun to flick through other channels. Finding nothing of particular interest to him, eventually settling on the news, though hardly any of us paid attention.

"Dinner!"

Raphael was the first to spring up from his seat, standing to his full six foot frame, pumping his fist like a child purposefully. He took in a deep breathe, and closed his eyes as if in bliss as he breathed back out.

"I smell mashed potatoes, roast chicken, gravy…" he trailed off, as he began walking down out of the living room and down the hall towards the kitchen.

I stood shortly after, turning to Michael as I urged him to switch off the TV and make his way to the kitchen.

"In a minute," he rushed out, "something's going on." I turned away from him, leaving him to Penelope to deal with, since she seemed to be the only one who could ever drag the kid away from the television.

I walked into the exact scent's that Raphael had describe, wafting through the room and breathing it in through my nostrils, it made my mouth water uncontrollably sometimes. I had never had meals as good as this back home.

My eyes landed on Alex at the dining table, located in the centre of the kitchen, six chairs surrounding it, a small book in his hands as he quietly read. He liked to be in here when Penelope was cooking, I think he found it comforting somehow, and as he looked up at me I couldn't help return the small soft smile that adorned his face.

The both of us sharing the same startling blue eyes that we had inherited from our mother, though his held so much innocence, still so much wonder to everything around him, and I intended on keeping in that way for as long as I could.

Dark brown, almost black, hair fell into his eyes as I sat down beside him, and I ran a hand through it softly as I pushed it back.

"You finished?" I asked, making sure to be looking at him as I spoke, and watched as he nodding slightly, closing the book in his hands. Getting out of his seat and running into the hallway, most likely placing it back on the book shelf there.

Penelope patted his head softly as he sat back down, placing his utensils in front of him, handing me my own as Raphael went around the table putting plates in front of each chair, as he placed one on the sixth I raised a brow.

"Lena coming over?"

"Should be here any minute," he mumbled, looking up with a grin, "where the hells China?"

"Michael's Korean, that's racist."

"Who gives a shit?!"

He let out a little yelp as Penelope stood on her tip toes to slap him upside the head, greying blonde hair pulled up in a bun, her blue apron still wrapped around her, and gave Raphael a pointed look as he placed a hand on the back of his shaved head.

"Language! We have a child in here."

His mouth dropped open at her statement, waving his free hand around in the air, pointing at me accusingly.

"She swears _all_ the damn time!"

"Not in front of Alex." I replied, leaning back in my chair and smirking as he scoffed, waving his hand in Alex's direction.

"Seriously? He can't hear!"

My eyes narrowed at his remark, "he can lip read you cretin!" noticing my wounded tone, and realising he had overstepped the mark, Raphael let it go. Choosing to pick on Michael instead, who had still not turned up yet, face most likely still pressed up against the TV screen.

"Michael! I swear to god I'll eat your meal if you don't get in here."

"You guys have _got_ to come and see this," he distantly shouted in the hallway, his voice conveying one of excitement, "oh my god … holy _shit_!"

Penelope turned away from her position at the stove, both eyebrows raised in surprise, looking to us, mostly because Michael never swore. Ever.

Raphael was the first to bolt, practically flinging the last plate onto the table as he swiftly turned and headed out of the hall. I looked to Penelope then, the both of us sharing a look before she shook her head, green eyes holding the slightest bit of amusement, and a grin slowly spread across her face.

"Well, if I don't go and see what's got him riled up now he'll never eat. Damn boy."

I smiled softly at her remark as she sighed dramatically, I could not have been more grateful towards Penelope. She had saved me, in more ways than one, and was probably the closest thing to a mother I would ever be able to find.

I followed her as she exited the kitchen, Alex clinging onto the back of my tank top as we made our way to the living room; my eyes instantly moved to Raphael, hands both placed the back of his head, eyes wide as he stared at the TV.

"Fuck me …" was the only words I managed to hear from his lips, mostly since they were muttered so softly, and followed his gaze towards the television, the apparent breaking news seeming to stop everyone's heartbeats for a short moment.

My eyes widened at the bold italics that were plastered at the top and bottom of the screen, the reporters voice conveying a tone of excitement, his tone rushed as the wind whipped at his hair, microphone held tightly in his hand.

Michael bounced excitedly on the spot, being the one closest to the television as his hands waved about wildly, mostly looking back to Penelope, tone just as excited as the unknown reporter on the television.

"Didn't I tell you, Ma?! Didn't I?! I knew I was right! I always knew it!"

My hand automatically extended as I felt around for Alex behind me, face buried into the back of my shirt, and pulled him in front of me, my hands holding onto him firmly at the shoulders.

"Well I'll be damned," was the only words Penelope could seem to muster; the voice of the reporter on the television seemed to overlap all of our thoughts, reminding us of just how real this was.

"_NASA & the U.S Military are now in contact with an extra-terrestrial species. They are reportedly here in peace! Ladies and gentlemen we are witnessing History!"_

Aliens. Fucking aliens had landed on our planet. Admitting the sentence to myself made me feel even more ridiculous than I already did, yet there they were, blurred visions on the screen as the camera attempted to zoom in on them. Several other reporters from several other stations all being held back from a restricted zone, everyone fighting to get a closer look.

_Aliens._

The word continued to repeat itself in my mind, an uneasy settling in my stomach. A knock on the front door filtered all the way into the living, snapping each and everyone one of us out of our stupors, Raphael being the first to move.

"That'll be Lena," his voice sounded distant and somewhat astonished, in awe eve, as he made his way out of the living room, "I'll get it."

Penelope was the next to speak, her voice returning to normal, almost perky, her own eyes alight with excitement.

"I guess we'll be eating dinner in here tonight."

Michael nodded in excitement, his face beaming as every sci-fi scenario he had ever dreamed of was coming true, every star wars fanfiction he had invested his spare time in reading had come to life, like a damn fanfiction of it's own.

Suddenly, I was no longer hungry.

* * *

**Second chapter! Sorry for the wait, I had a hell of a busy week! But I plan on posting a second one tomorrow. This and the next chapter are basically just setting up Thalia's character, giving you a little insight to the dynamic of her 'family' and what life was like just before/during the arrival of our beloved skitters and fish heads! Anyway I hope you liked it, would be nice to hear your thoughts in reviews! Thanks for reading! **

**Oh, and I already dream cast Thalia, so if you were curious at all I completely imagined Kaya Scodelario as her! Except her hair is slightly darker, but yes! I made her the cover for the story, so take a look if you like! **


	3. Kittens

Chorus' of screaming children and laughter rang out across the park, bright yellow and red lights illuminating the entire grounds as the sun went down. A fair had come to our local park, and being the oldest Raphael and I were automatically forced into taking Alex and Michael for the day.

It hadn't been that bad, if you tuned out the annoying shrieking toddlers that didn't get as many turns on a ride as they wanted, or the kid that got scolded by their mom for getting candyfloss everywhere. But some of the rides had been pretty fun, and Alex seemed to have enjoyed himself, the large Alligator soft toy he barely held in his arms dwarfed his small frame.

Eyes such a startling bright blue it felt as if I were looking to the sky, he was beyond happy, and it was a relief to see that.

In a way I was glad he was deaf and as bad as that sounded, it would be the only reason I could ever find to justify my statement. Because he would go through life completely oblivious to the horrors of what our old life had been like, he would never hear the constant screaming I had in the middle of the night, he would never have to remember the sound of a large fist beating onto the fact of another person. He would never remember hearing that gunshot.

I watched as Michael ran ahead of us to a stand, dragging Lena behind him, her dirty blonde hair cascading down her shoulders. She laughed, her head tilted back slightly as she turned to look at Raphael, a soft smile on her plump pink lips as she mouthed the words 'five minutes' to him.

Raphael nodded as the slightest hints of a soft small smile on his own lips adorned his brown features, watching her with Michael. Throwing a large ball at a set of pins, intent on winning the large blown up Alien, apparently the top prize for that stand, which I wasn't surprised at seeing as literally everyone on the planet was talking about them.

Our guests.

"Wanna grab a hot dog?"

I looked out to the stand across from us, the line rather long and unappealing, but I was starving. I shrugged towards Raphael, indicating that I didn't mind, and with a tug on Alex's small hand, we headed to join the que.

Raphael cast one last glance back Lena, lingering a moment too long, before following after me.

"Seriously," I stated, "you might wanna stick your tongue back in."

He rolled his eyes at my comment, tucking his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, boots crunching the dry grass beneath us.

"Just 'cause you got a heart of stone, Wednesday, don't mean the rest of us do."

"Please, you're being ridiculously love sick … I'm just waiting for a basket of kittens to slide past any minute."

"Wow, that was a good one," he drawled out sarcastically, eyebrows raised in mock surprise, "did you think of that all by yourself? Clap!"

"Kill yourself," I replied monotonously, fighting the smile that attempted to reveal itself. "You know you woulda' jumped on the chance to tease me if it was the other way around."

"You? Wednesday Aadams? In a relationship? Please."

"I resent that," I shot back, rolling my eyes at him as we continued to lightly bicker, reaching the que and joining it, Alex remaining quite by my side.

A breeze picked up slightly, hinting that summer was drawing to a close, and as a shiver crawl up my skin I silently scolded myself for nothing bring a jacket, or a hoody at least. Simply choosing to come here in jeans and a polo shirt, but at the time it had been ridiculously hot, and it was only a few hours ago I resented the fact I hadn't stepped out in shorts.

My eyes drifted over the crowd, only just managing to see the back of Lena's head, disappearing every few seconds as someone walked passed and obscured my vision. She was a good shot, being captain of the girls basketball team and all, she'd most likely win the damn alien for Michael, and he'd hang it up with all his other sci-fi merchandise, room decorated with planets and posters as Avatar.

It had barely been a month since their arrival, and the buzz of it all didn't appear to be going away anytime soon, not that I expected it to, it was a scientific and historical discovery after all. Yet somehow, despite all the excitement and the speeches of learning from one another, it still made me feel uneasy. I guess it was due to knowing nothing about them, fear of the unknown and all that crap, I mean it had some sense to it. And I could apply it to this situation, no matter how ridiculously crazy it sounded that aliens had landed on our planet.

Every time I said that to myself it felt just as surreal as the last, in fact I felt pretty damn stupid, and it still didn't feel completely real. I had only seen them on a TV screen, and anything I saw through a TV screen always had a slightly fictitious feeling to it, because it wasn't actually there in front of me.

I hadn't even seen their 'ships' with my own eyes, apparently they were guarded off at every perimeter within a ten mile radius, wanting to see it up close was damn near impossible., unless you had a pair of binoculars on you.

"Earth to Wednesday!"

I snapped out of my reverie, blinking several times until my gaze readjusted back on Raphael, who was snapping his fingers in front of my face. An eyebrow arched in curiosity, before his hand returned to his side tone.

"You could at least pretend to be listening, like you usually do."

"I was listening." I defended, straightening up slightly, my eyes flickering down to Alex, the boy completely in his own world.

"Really?" he snorted out, rolling his eyes the slightest bit, "your lying is just as bad as your smiling."

"And your jokes are as bad as your … face."

I winced at my own words, realising how utterly pathetic that comeback was, and my scowl worsened as Raphael threw his head back, erupting into loud fits of laughter.

"You know how much that sucked right?" He choked out, and I narrowed my eyes at him as he choked out another laugh.

"I'm aware," I said, "you caught me off guard."

"Wednesday, you're comebacks have _always_ been shit … you're just not good at improv'."

I chose to not reply, simply sighing and tutting a little dramatically, causing an ear splitting grin to erupt from Raphael's face, making him more pleased with himself. We fought a lot, and he tended to be too over bearing, but that was just Raphael, he was the unintentional smothering kind. But for someone like me who had spent most of her childhood in neglect, having so much attention, and a full house was a vast change in environment.

It took me months to adjust, whereas Alex settled in perfectly, Penelope was everything our mother wasn't, warm and attentive. She offered him affection, tucked him in at night, little things like that was what really mattered.

It was too late for me to be able to stand any of that, the thought of it terrified me even, and Raphael's consistent teasing was the closest I could ever go to accepting affection. It worked for me, for the both of us I guess, both Raphael's escape goat and defence mechanism, and I found it worked far too much in my favour in avoiding my own problems to stop it.

I found I was finally feeling something I never thought I ever would, here with Penelope, Raphael, Michael and Alex, I was finally happy.

A blink.

An intake of breath.

A scream.

An explosion.

It all happened so fast, so quick in fact it felt as if it hadn't happened at all, except the thick smoke and bursting flames as the Ferris Wheel on the other side of the fair begun tumbling down, metal clashing on metal as bits broke apart. People moved in a blur, away from the growing flames, flocking to the opposite side causing several hundreds of people, children, to crash into us. I grip onto Alex tightly, my breath hitching in my throat as the flames light up the night sky.

I do something I would never normally have done, and grab onto Raphael's forearm, intent on not letting him go. Fear grips me like a vice, and smoke filters the air so quickly that I don't even realise I'm beginning to choke on it, feeling it clog up nasal passages.

"Raph_.."_

"Stay calm."

He shouts out, pushing closer to me, Alex sandwiched between both me and Raphael, as people continue to crash into us. I look up to the sky, bright lights, _moving _bright lights that seem to circle the entire fairground, a mechanical sound erupting from it. It fires once more, and this time it hits a lot closer, pieces of a carousel flying off and into the crowd.

Involuntarily I let out my own scream, ducking and encircling Alex within my arms. He clings to my shirt, fear constricting him for completely other reasons, for he saw completely chaos, but heard nothing and that, more than anything, was something that terrified Alex.

Raphael bent down in front of us, his stance firm despite the constant people running and crashing into one another, some tripping over and being trampled over as others rushed around in fear.

"Listen to me, Thalia, _listen!"_

My gaze flew back to him, fearful blue eyes clashing with determined brown ones, and my lip quivered the slightest bit, attempting to keep it together. I had to keep it together, now was not a time to panic, Alex needed me.

"I need to find Lena and Michael," He stated firmly, loudly so he could be heard amidst the screaming and constantly explosions, "Okay? I can't leave them on their own."

Bullets begun to ring out, but it wasn't coming from any police officers, in fact it wasn't even coming from another human. I couldn't find a way to describe it, my fear and completely boggled mind could only register the word 'robot', and it sounded even more ridiculous that every other thought to plague my mind.

"_THALIA!"_

"Okay!"

I shouted back, realising I had zoned out once more, ion a completely inappropriate time, I felt frozen, as if I didn't know how to even move anymore. I was back to my ten year old self, hiding in my room in the middle of the night, pretending I couldn't hear anything that was going on the other side of my door, constantly praying it wouldn't be forced open for another night.

"I want you to take Alex and run, you hear me? You run! You go home, and you wait there for me Thalia."

I couldn't seem to find the words to reply, it's as if the large lump in my throat as tripled in size, only just allowing me to breathe.

"I'll meet you there." He finished, before he begun to stand up.

I followed swiftly, one arm around Alex and the other flying out to Raphael's arm once more, this time startling him.

"You promise?"

I question, my grip on him tightening the slightest bit, my tone wavering, breaking, and I fought with myself as I blinked back the stinging in my eyes.

Raphael stared at me for what felt like several minutes, but must have been only seconds, before a cheesy slightly teasing grin spread across his lips, and I silently wondered how he managed to keep his cool together, it was something I had always admired him for.

"Takes the end of the world to let me lay a finger on you Wednesday?" He chuckled softly, easing out of my grip, "I _will_ see you at home. I promise."

I wish I had said more, I wish I had told him that despite not growing up with him, despite not being related by blood, that he would always _always_ be a brother to me. I wish that I had been more open with him about my life, I wish that I had trusted him, and Michael, and Penelope more. I wish I had told him that on my bad days, that when I didn't feel worth it, and that it all felt pointless, that a simple taunt from him reminded me that I had a family now.

I just wish I knew that that would be the last time I saw him.

* * *

**Hey there, don't really have much to say here, just now that the set up is over, the next chapter will be a time skin, with flashbacks most likely to fill in the spaces. Hal will most likely make an appearance, thank you all for the follows/favourites! **

**Let me know what you think in the reviews! **


	4. Dead Cats

Walking. Lots and lots of walking, in fact I think the main reason for my drastic loss of weight wasn't due to starvation, but due to walking. For in order to actually get any food you had to walk, look for somewhere, anywhere actually, that still had any scraps of food left. It seemed the first thing people did when trying to flee away from the city was hit the most obvious places and grab at as much food as they could, and I couldn't blame them.

With explosions flying left right and centre, you had to grab as much as you could and what you could, looking for specific places for organic or low fat foods was no longer a priority, and if it was I sincerely question that person's mental stability.

Winter was coming; the chill in the air was becoming thicker, my breath becoming visible as I breathed out short bursts of air. I found that if I kept a steady pace I wouldn't tire out as easily, and that way my battered converse wouldn't wear out as quickly, so I never ran. Plus, running was too obvious; they kept a look out for running mostly. I found if I walked slowly, steadily, no matter how many miles I walked for, I wouldn't be as loud. I would be able to hear them, and slip into the shadows.

Another reason why I scouted at night, they seemed to find it harder and take longer to find you if you slipped into the shadows.

There were no longer any roads clear of debris or rubble, burnt out or toppled over cars, they flooded each and every road. Even hidden back ones, people scrounged to escape Boston in whichever route they could.

Despite the chilly air, a sweat still broke out above my forehead, and I wiped at it with the back of my hand. My hair a tangled, matted mess was in a bun. I longed for a shower; in fact I was pretty sure I stunk, finding a place with running water was next to impossible.

The empty duffle slung around my shoulder remained that way for most of the night, I had found nothing, and the desperateness of how low Alex and I were on food was terrifying. He became thinner by the day; bags formed under his eyes, clothes became baggier and dirtier. I had found that whenever I did find clothes, I had to dress him in something that was made for children younger than him.

If those damn spiders didn't get us first, the starvation would.

The heat eventually became a little too much, and shrugged off my dark green parka jacket, not that it kept me warm in the first place, it was too thin for that. I had found it in the wardrobe of a house I had raided, thanking whatever God there was for the fact that the family that had lived there clearly had a daughter my age.

From the look of her clothing it seemed as if everything was more for show rather that comfort, and living a time where you spent your life on the move and constantly in a hurry a lot of her stuff I had to leave there.

Never, at any point in time, had I come across another human being. I felt completely and utterly alone, to the point where I wondered if I would even be bothered to keep going if it weren't for Alex. What was the point in fighting to live when there was no one else left? It was hard to come to terms with, thinking that everyone was dead, that Alex and I could possible the last people on earth.

There were the zombies of course, but they weren't exactly human anymore, which was why they adopted that very nickname.

Kids. Hundreds of them, a parasite latched onto their neck and walking around limply, eyes empty and distant, wandering around to do jobs for the spiders. They no longer were human, they no longer had a consciousness, and they were practically vegetables in that sense. Being used for manual labour, walking around in groups lifting shrapnel and incredibly large pieces of metal, both things that a normal child couldn't possibly lift.

I rubbed at my eyes tiredly, yawning as I did so, I couldn't even recall the last time I had gotten a decent sleep. It was impossible to, your body was constantly wound up, on edge and alert. The slightest sound could wake me up from my sleep, and if I wasn't out finding food or clothing, I kept Alex and I moving, attempting to stay as far away from the centre of the city as possible.

If I could find a car that was half damaged and had a decent amount of gas I would have driven out of her long ago, but we didn't, so we walked. Always walking. The soles of my feet constantly ached, and the blisters that formed were volatile.

One hand held the duffle over my shoulder, the other rested on the small hand gun, tucking into the belt of my jeans. I always seemed to be gripping it in some way, out of caution, not that I was very good at shooting. The few times I had fired a shot it had been at one of those Spiders, and I had to be in close proximity to actually get a shot. Practicing was out of the question, which would be wasting bullets I didn't have, I had gotten lucky with find it in the first place.

A chill ran up my arms, goose bumps rising from the cold breeze now that I no longer wore my jacket. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat, forcing myself to not cry, I couldn't cry, crying would be admitting defeat. I couldn't do that.

_Gone. Blown to smithereens and reduced to rubble and broken glass. It didn't even look like our home anymore, just one big mess, and several other houses in the neighbourhood looked the exact same._

_People ran around, screaming, bleeding, jumping into their cars or fighting over them, reducing themselves to animals as they attacked each other. That was what fear did to you; it changed you, and made you irrational. You did things you wouldn't normally do when scared. _

_My hand tightened around Alex's small one, and blinking away the welling tears in my eyes, I turned away from what was once our home. If Penelope or Raphael had been in here … there was no way they would have survived. We were on our own now. I lowered myself until I rested on my knees, facing Alex, his own small eyes showed nothing but fear, and rubbed at his upper arms as a term of comfort. _

"_Are you okay?" _

_I signed quickly, sloppily, my mind was running through so many different thoughts I couldn't concentrate on signing properly. _

_I received a fast nod from Alex, and watched as he took small steps closer towards me, burying his head into my shoulder, needing the comfort and reassurance. I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly, hair falling into my face as I bent my head down to lay atop of his. _

_Was this it? After the completely shitty, and fucked up life we had landed with, we got this? I'd never seen Raphael again, or Michael, or Lena. It was only this damn morning Penelope had been in the kitchen fucking baking when we left, and in the space of a couple of hours everything had been turned upside. _

_Everyone I knew was now and truly dead. _

_No, that wasn't fair, and I wasn't going to accept this. I had never given up before, no matter what was thrown at me, because all the way through it I had Alex, and I still did. This wasn't the end, I couldn't just give up like this, it wasn't and had never been me to do something like that. Giving up was easy, the short cut to anything you found too hard, and if I had been one for taking an easy way out I wouldn't be here today._

_Pulling away from Alex, I leant back, forcing him to look at me. His small hands moved off of my shoulders, the signs coming easily to him, practically the same as breathing. _

"_What do we do now?"_

_I was silent for a moment, looking at the chaos that surrounded me, toppled cars, alarms still firing off, screams and blood. The once peaceful and quite suburban neighbourhood had become a warzone; so much smoke polluted the night sky that the moon barely shined through. _

_I turned back to Alex, "we're going to run," my shoulders were no longer slumped in defeat, and instead were rigid, blue eyes now hard, "we're going to get through this, like we always do."_

I could almost sigh in relief, for the timing of that memory had seemed to bring me good luck, as it usually did. It reminded me why I fought so hard for our survival, the wide eyed look I received from Alex was what made me think of all our good memories, although rare the feeling I got from them was entirely worth the suffering we had endured.

Four hours. Four hours I had been walking, wandering around with just a tattered map that I could barely read. This time it looked as if my walking hadn't been for nothing, this time I was in luck, well I hoped I was.

A lot of people looked in obvious places for food or water, liquor stores or supermarkets, houses too. I looked elsewhere, like clothing stores, not for the clothes, I knew without a doubt those would be all gone. But there was bound to be staff room's in the back, stocked with food and juice cartons, mostly things like cereal or canned fruits, snacks or juice. That was what I mostly went for, because in this entire freak out nobody seemed to even try.

Right now, I stared down the street of what once so clearly was a wealthy neighbourhood, the apartment builds were all attached together, steps leading up to each entrance. The brick walls a rich red, and as I took more steps into the neighbourhood I realised that each one contained black metal stairs leading below the apartments, to one more apartment just below.

It reminded me of the types of apartments you saw in British movies, all these squashed together cute homes still managed to look elegant. And tucked between some of them were small stores, some for ice cream, others were smashed in liquor stores, and amongst them was a veterinary. 'Back Bay Veterinary' it read, although the windows were dirt covered, with trash strewn across the pavement in front of it, it appeared to be untouched.

An audible sigh escaped my lips and I started back the way I came, heading around the corner and through the back alley, fire escapes came into vision as I begun walking down it, some a broken mess and now a heap on the floor.

Toppled over trash cans were scattered all over the place, and I as I made my way toward the veterinary I pulled the duffle off my shoulder, placing it on the ground beside my feet as I stood opposite the door. I did the obvious thing and first tried turning the door knob, some people left their homes unlocked in the rush to escape. I doubt finding a key was their biggest worry when aliens were exploding things all around them.

Locked. Not a complete surprise, it may have already been closed when all of this had started. I done the second most obvious thing and tried beneath the matt, Penelope had sometimes done that with the backdoor if none of us had a key.

My eyebrows arched in surprise, "I'll be damned," I muttered softly, "there's actually a key."

I unlocked the door swiftly, pushing it open and picking my bag up once more as I shuffled inside, the entire place engulfed in darkness. Shutting the door behind me I felt around for the flashlight in my bag, pulling it out and switching it on. I rarely used it, for batteries weren't available like they once were, and my eyes squinted slightly as the room light up just that little bit.

A hand instantly flew to my mouth and nose, shield it from the gagging sickening smell, something was dead in here. I walked down the narrow hallway, a few doors running down the both of them, had two sets of doors on either side, at the end of the hall I could see the door entrance and waiting room, a reception too.

I gagged as the smell worsened, knowing it was through one of these doors, opening the door only slightly I realized it was a holding room for overnight pets, hence the smell. I could only imagine how long cats or pet dogs had been kept in their cages when the apocalypse came, no way of being fed, and left to do. I only stuck my head around the door, the smell hitting me like an ocean wave, and I could just barely make out small figures in their cages.

I closed the door almost straight away, I'd rather not be put off eating with the image of decomposing animals, and the smell was nauseating enough.

I found the staff room easily, a small table and two chairs, counter and cupboards, simple enough. There wasn't much I could take, a half empty cereal box and a few candy bars, but it was better than nothing. I wasn't going to complain anytime soon. The only carton of juice I could find was one on the floor, it had long been spilt over, now empty, the floor sticky with the sweet substance.

I sighed, shoving what I had found into my bag, and left the small staff room, and begun taking a look in the surgery rooms. Finding little things, a first aid kit, gauze, bandages, all of which I was not about to take for granted. I found little things in desk drawers; painkillers, soothers, I didn't want to get too greedy and take anything that was for the animals. I didn't know the first thing about medicine, let alone anything specifically for animals, if I ended up giving Alex something that made him more sick than he already was then I was screwed.

Fevers were the most common illness, and for that I would mostly need anti-biotics, which was damn near impossible to acquire since pharmacies or hospitals had been picked clean. I'd have to stick to painkillers and keeping warm.

There were a few blankets, mostly for which I assumed was a dog or something bigger, most likely after a surgery. Adding that into my bag, it became heavier, it was perched up on the surgery table, zipped open as I dug through various other cupboards or drawers.

My breath hitched in my throat, my ears perking up at the sound of shattering glass, I stood there frozen for one moment. Not hearing voices, but definitely movement, a lot of movement. My blood ran cold, scenarios of the spiders following me and planning to trap me here, thoughts of Alex being left alone in that dark small house, wondering when I would be back. My brain went into overdrive, and I had no idea how many there would be.

It sounded as if they had come through the front entrance, probably breaking down the front door, and I silently thought of whether it was worth making all the racket of opening the door and making a break for the backdoor.

Fight or flight.

But there was only one hallway, they'd without a doubt see me, and with the multiple fucking legs they had I would have no chance of getting away in a confined space. I had to hide, and luckily for me this room was full of places to hide. Beneath the operating table was too obvious, so I went for the lockers at the end of the room, sneaking in as quite as I possibly could, my breathing ragged in fear as I squeezed into the thing space.

I guess this was a time where I could thank my starvation for making me so thin, and pulled the door shut as much as I could, leaving only a slither of light.

"Shit."

I seethed out; the damn flashlight was still on the table, beside my open duffle. And it was on, resting on its side, a beam of light flowing through to the wall on the opposite side. I debated for what felt like forever on whether I should move, knowing that the decision should have been quick, for I was wasting time.

If I left it they'd know for sure I was in here, with the slightest possibility of them thinking that maybe I had escaped, left it there as soon as I had heard them. The other was to make a grab for it, but the noise would be sure to attract them, and they could just as easily be coming through the door as I went for it.

By the time I had actually even decided, thinking it would save me a hell of a lot of trouble if I just went for it; the door had been kicked open, causing my entire body to go rigid.

More light filtered into the room, and I shielded my eyes, not used to so much light since I had adjusted to the darkness. I couldn't tell whether it was one of their machines, the light obstructed my vision too much to even make it out. I forced my breathing to calm down, taking deep quite breaths, calming myself, I could do this.

The light disappeared, as if it had been shut off, and what followed after sent me into a state of shock.

"We're clear!"

A deep voice yelled, but not loud enough to be heard further than five feet away, the thudding of booted footsteps echoed as it entered the room.

Humans. They were fucking humans.

* * *

**Hey there, thank you so much for the reviews to Ashtera, Alex Lunah, Livelovemusic96 & Scarlet Silvers! **

**I hope you all enjoyed this, there was a lot of thoughts in this one, hardly anything actually happened so I'm sorry if I bored you, but there will be more in the next chapter! Thank you for reading and I hope you review! **


	5. Sleaze Ball

I was in a state of shock and awe, completely perplexed by this entire turn of events. Humans. There was actual living, breathing, talking humans in the same building as me. Armed and addressing each other as if they were an organised team, working in formation as other small lights flitted past this room. I was conflicted, part of me overjoyed by the fact that I was no longer alone, the other half wary, and frightened even. People did abnormal things when they were afraid, behaved and treated others different when brought to the brink of starvation, fighting to stay alive. It was survival of the fittest.

"Nothing in this room," a voice murmured, and I watched as his dark shadowed disappeared once more, footsteps echoing as he returned to the front reception.

"Looks like someone left in a hurry." The other yelled out, just enough for the other occupant to hear him, voice slightly deeper, the second half of his sentence coming out slightly quitter, talking to himself, "They musta' thought we were skitters."

My eyebrows involuntarily furrow at the foreign word, but I can only guess they mean the aliens, or the robots. Since there's no other possible reason to run. He treads deeper into the room, picking up the flashlight, and placing his rifle next to my duffle on the operating table, his back to me. Switching it off, the room descends back into darkness; a slither of light still illuminated the room, due to the incredibly small flash light attached to his rifle.

His clothing was inconspicuous, dark colours, easy to meld into the shadows should one of _them_ come, a tall frame, dark hair. It was impossible to make out any distinct features in this room, with no light to help and with my looking through the crack in the locker.

He was mumbling to himself, words barely audible as he began sifting through the contents of my hands, merely stating what was what, his tone rising when coming across the first aid kit, insinuating his interest in it. I placed my hand on the handle of my gun, slowly pulling it out of its pouch around my belt, and flexed my fingers around it.

I had only used it a few times, each one just as much of a disaster as the last, but it had done the job it getting away from those spiders. I pushed the locker door open, surprised in the fact it made no creaking sounds as I do so, and quickly pulled the gun up to aim it at the back of the strangers head.

He had been in the process of turning around, his ears must have easily picked up on my footsteps, and at the last second, he became rigid, feeling my gun press into the back of his scalp.

"Don't move a muscle."

His hands fell away from the duffle, moving so that they were placed either side of him, palms spread. Attempting to convey that he meant no harm, surrendering you could say, but I knew better. He was simply trying get me to let my guard down, and would most likely knock the gun out of my hand when that was accomplished.

"Easy now," He said softly, calmly, "no one needs to get hurt."

"Put everything back in the bag … now."

He did as I said, breathing softly, shoulders tensed but not to the point that would show alarm or nervousness, in fact he seemed to remain rather relaxed. I questioned my methods, whether they were too full on or threatening, especially for someone who had made contact with another human for the first time in nearly a year.

"The flashlight too."

I added, and watched as he nodded slightly, reaching over to grab it, and placing it in the duffle. He zipped it up, lifting it up with one hand, the other raising once more with his palm spread, as he took a step back, causing me to do the same.

"Turn around," I ordered, my tone void of any emotion, "and hand me my bag, no funny business."

I watched him as he did exactly what I said, gun still raised in the air, towards his head. The room still so dark, making it hard to make out his features. But when he did, part of catching a glimpse of his small flashlight, my eyes caught on to tanned russet skin, high cheekbones and chapped lips. He was thin, but not alarmingly so that I thought he had been starving for days. It was easy to tell that he was well fed, hydrated, trained up and healthy.

"Look," he reasoned the duffle still in his hand, "I'm sure we can work something out."

But I wasn't listening, because now that he was facing me, dark eyes focused on my own face, talking, breathing, it felt that more surreal. I didn't know how to react, I had spent so long wishing there was other people alive, so long thinking that even I wouldn't make it to next week. Yet there he was, healthy and fit, most likely with an entire group of people, reforming their lives and talking so calmly towards me. As if an apocalypse had not descended on our world.

"You're … human."

A grim line formed on his lips, as if he pitied me, like he could tell this was the first human contact I had had in a long time. He took a step towards me, hesitantly, like it was his attempt at reaching out to me. His eyes did a once over on my form, my once fitted skinny jeans now loose white shirt , which was so dirty it looked more like a grey colour, it once adorned a witty joke but now the letters had scraped away. My coat was still deep inside the duffle.

I must have looked a pathetic sight; a young girl with a scrawny body, on the brink of starvation, pointing a gun to his head and demanding my bag back. It was obvious who had the upper hand here, because despite the gun in my hand I knew he could easily take me down, if he wanted to.

So why didn't he?

"I can help you." He stated, "I can give you food, I can give you a home, just put the gun dow-"

"Shut up!"

I interrupted, shaking the thoughts away from my head, my voice rising as a panic begun to settle into my chest.

"Just give me my fucking bag! Now!"

He extended his arm out, face still infuriatingly calm as he did so, and I snatched the bag out of his hand with my own free one. With my gun still raised, I took another step back, watching as he remained where he was, slinging the shoulder over my back once more as I took more steps. The only audible sound in the room being my laboured nervous breaths, my skin now feeling like ice, more loose strands of hair falling from my bun.

"Come on, kid. I can help you."

I didn't answer, and simply widened the space between us both, before I reached the door, lowering the gun and swiftly turning. Running down the hall towards the backdoor, his comrades most likely at the front, if a vehicle if they were lucky enough. I ran as fast I could, already hearing the boys own footsteps as he most likely begun running after me.

I flung the door open, the icy air attacking my skin, and as I felt like I had finally been set free from the confined spaces of the Veterinary, the small halls and narrow hallway, I had the wind knocked out of me. A toned and hard chest smacking into my own, and knocking me swiftly onto my back, hitting the concrete blown ground hard, and disorientating me for the slightest of moments.

I could barely register the fact that someone had knocked me down, nor the soft voice that was speaking calmly, knocking the gun out of my hand. All I could think of was hands, everywhere, on my skin, touching me and strangling me. I knew it was just my fear, but it didn't make it any less real, especially when memories invaded my head.

I was suddenly back to my ten year old self, feeling the full force of beating fists upon me, bruising me, volatile words spat out, making me feel worthless. I felt suffocated, overwhelmed, as if my air supply was being cut off. Nobody had touched in in years, no one in their right mind would ever dare, and as I begun thrashing about I fought against my restraints.

"Get off of me!"

I screamed out, using my elbow to lash out, feeling something solid connect with it, and soon after a dull ache spread through my elbow.

"Don't touch me!" I lashed out once more, finally feeling the heavy weight and hands lift from me, a groan and yells of profanity coming from beside me. I rolled onto my side, breathing in large gulps of air and ignoring the form beside me, grabbing onto my duffle once more and pushing myself up, taking off down the alley.

I had lost my gun, and there was no use in looking for it now, especially as I heard yells from behind me from the same guy I had cornered in the Veterinary.

"Wait! Stop!"

I ignored him, pushing on to the end of the alley, my body slowly warming as I continued to run, goose bumps spreading across my skin out of fear. The adrenaline kicking hard, and my thoughts a mess as I simply thought of getting to the end of the alley and out onto the several streets of this neighbourhood. I had become an expert at running, it took me longer to tire out now, when you spent every waking moment running or either on the verge of it, it was impossible not become accustomed to it.

"We don't wanna hurt you! Just wait!"

He wouldn't run after me for long, surely, there was no point in it. Like hell he would wanna help, in a world where supplies were already short I would just be another mouth to feed, he would give up, and all I had to do was keep running. Run for as long as I could, and get to the end of this damn alley.

Upon reaching the end, I practically skid to a stop, bright lights flooding my vision as a vehicle rounded the corner of the alley, falling onto my backside. The driver swerved the slightest bit, as only now realising I was there, the engine loud and echoing through the entire alley. It was too loud. Loud enough for them to hear, and I was regrettably trapped, on the floor, weapon-less.

My head darted back to the figure, now slowing down as he neared me, someone trailing behind him, the guy I had elbowed. I shuffled away from both, my head moving back and forth from the vehicle to the nearing guy. The engine of the car was switched off, the lights dimming and I heard the door slam shut as someone stepped out of the truck.

"Well, well, well … what do we have here?"

I looked up to the source of the voice, stood at the hood of the car, brown hair reaching to his shoulders, greasy and unkempt. His face dirty with a slightly outgrown goatee, and he spit his saliva out of the corner of his mouth, grinning in a way that would make a female move a few seats away on public transport. A rifle was slung over his shoulder, leather jacket and laced boots; it was easy to tell he had previously been the biker type.

"Found her in the veterinary, she put a gun to my head."

I looked back to my left, my vision now fully clear as the stars lit up the night sky. He was only slightly out of breathe, as if it had been a walk in the park, eyebrows arched in what appeared to be amusement as he looked back to me.

"Well your fast, that counts for something."

"She's also pretty damn violent," mumbled another voice, and I leaned back the slightest bit to see who was stood behind the boy, a hand softly touching his nose as blood leaked out of his nostrils, "that fucking hurt."

He didn't seem angry, or even the slightest bit annoyed, not anymore anyway. In fact he withdrew his hand, wrinkling his nose and wincing only the slightest bit, as if it were already healing. His chocolate skin was slick with sweat, dark brown eyes fixing on me as his other hand waving about the object in his hand somewhat teasingly.

"You dropped this."

It was my gun, and he held it as if it were a harmless toy, as if he found it hilarious that I even had one on me. Like I couldn't use it. It offended me, sure I was a terrible shot, but they didn't know that. He didn't seem the least bit threatened, none of them did, in fact they made it look as if they were having a normal conversation. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion at him, eyes flickering between the gun and him as I sat there, shoulders tense.

"It's okay," the other guy interjected, his voice as calm as it had been in the operating room, "I said we don't wanna hurt you."

He took another step closer, pushing the black kids hand down as he did so, and as I shuffled away from him his steps slowed down. He bent slightly, offering his hand for me to take, and I stared at it for a brief moment in disdain. I pushed myself up, dusting off my jeans as if they weren't already filthy, and ignored the awkward silence as he withdrew his hand, bending to pick up my duffle. Holding it to my chest.

"Names Hal," he said before motioning with his hand to the black kid, "the one you socked in the face; that's Anthony."

Anthony nodded in greeting, and my eyes lingered on him for the briefest moment before looking back to who I now knew as Hal, his rifle was on his shoulder once more.

"Are you alone?" He asked, and I remained silent as he looked at me expectantly, seeming to become impatient with me and his eyes flickered to the sleaze in annoyance as he spoke up.

"Ain't ya gonna introduce me?"

"No."

He scoffed at Hal's reply, seeming to hold back a snigger, his thumbs hooked into the front pocket of his jeans.

"Pope, John Pope."

I could almost snort, finding the irony in his name, only right now was no laughing matter, and I shifted the bag in grip, before letting my gaze roam around all three men, looking to see if there was any form of an escape route. Pope grunted at my lack of communication, his eyes roaming my form for a moment before his eyes met mine once more. Tone condescending and sneering the slightest bit.

"I don't know how long you've gone without human contact kid, but the general protocol is to respond with your own name."

"Who are you people?" I forced out, surprised by how confident my voice sounded, despite how low it was.

My throat felt raw, as if I had been crying for several hours and had gone without water for the longest time. The latter was true, seeing as I survived on juice boxes and soda most of the time, and as my blue eyes connected with Hal's, my breath hitched in my throat at his next words.

"We're the Second Mass; the resistance."

* * *

**I'm sorry this wasn't out sooner; I planned on posting it on the weekend, then Monday, then Tuesday. But my shifts at work are such long hours I ended up coming home, working on it a little and falling asleep! You won't believe how many revisions the ending of this chapter went through, it just never felt good enough. And to be honest, it still doesn't! So I really would love to have your feedback on what you think, especially on how I introduced Hal to Thalia, I was really nervous and knew it had to be a certain way! So please review, and tell me how I did! **

**Special thanks to AlexLunaaah and Alissiel for reviewing! **


	6. Promises

"What?" I whispered out, my eyes widening as I gripped onto tighter to my duffle, "that's impossible … the army were wiped out."

"You better believe it, sweet cheeks … we're taking back our planet."

The boy, Hal, spoke over Pope, his brows furrowed in irritation at the man.

"There's more of us, some are survivors from the military and some are recruits, the rest are civilians. We're organised."

I searched his face for any indication that he was making this up, any tell he may possibly have that would clue me to the fact that was all a bunch of crap to lure me in, but there was none. His face was blank, tone matter of fact and it was eerily silent as he and his companions awaited my reply, only I couldn't form one. It seemed almost too good to be true, and truth be told I was terrified to believe it, terrified to give myself false hope and have it ripped out from beneath me.

"How many?" I muttered, feeling a lump in my throat form.

Whether I wanted to cry in happiness or fear was unclear to me, but I became so overwhelmed with emotions that I bit down on my lip to stop myself from looking like a depressed little mess in front of these men.

"Couple of hundred."

Wasn't this what I had been waiting for? A sign of not only life, but of hope and a chance at taking back what was ours? I eyed Hal as he took another step closer; seeming to be the leader of this group, tone gentle but still contained enough firmness to convey is authority.

"There's a few more of us in the next street, we're scouting. You can join us."

"I can't," I blurted, "I have to go, I've been walking for hours. " I looked to my left, staring at my weapon in Anthony's hand, "I need my gun."

"Afraid we can't do that, sweet cheeks … for all we know you could run back to your own little group and tell 'em where we are."

I glared at the grease ball, my fists clenching as I held my bag and snarled at him, "how do I know you're not gonna jump me the second I agree to tag along, asshole?! I want my gun."

"How about this, we give you a ride to wherever you're going? And when we get there you can get your gun back?"

"No."

Hal let out an impatient sigh, my failure to co-operate clearly starting to grate on him. Like hell I would lead them back to Alex, they must have been stupid to even think I would agree to their terms. Anthony shifted on the spot, not seeming to care for this debate, while the grease ball, Pope, smirked in the most infuriating way a person could ever find. Clearly smug with himself, because he knew I was cornered, I had no way out of this, and for all my big talk it was painfully obvious who had the upper hand.

But I'd rather be shot in the head than let a bunch of strangers know where I'm hiding out.

"Look kid, we're just trying to help you and I'm sure I don't need to tell you that you don't have much of a choice." His expression softened, as if only just realising that that wouldn't help, "we don't have the luxury of turning on each other, especially if we wanna beat these guys."

I was stumped, and he made a fair point. He didn't look much older than I, yet he towered my five foot six height, and the frown lines forming at his forehead indicated that he may have taken on a lot in the past few months. I gazed at all three men separately, before turning to look at the grease ball's vehicle, and cleared my throat before I spoke.

"I'm sitting in the truck."

I now wore my jacket once more, but that didn't stop the cold from freezing my skin, especially since I had persisted in sitting the truck, crates of supplies beside me as I stared up at the night sky. Pope and Another had taken the front seats, most likely warm and comfortable as I sat with my back aching against the metal. I couldn't exactly complain, I had picked it for the sole reason that if I needed to, I could simply jump out and make a run for it.

Hal seemed to be two steps ahead of me though, anticipating my decision as he decidedly sat opposite me, in silence, eyes glancing over the destroyed scenery and debris. We remained silent for most of the drive; the vehicle behind us housing their other members had been silent upon meeting too. Not that I attempted to pay much attention to who had been there, it had consisted of an oriental guy, a sour looking male brunette, and a kid. A kid who barely looked over the age of fifteen, and who held a rifle to him as if he had been using one for years, it only then occurred how wrong this all was to me.

A fifteen year old boy should have been playing soccer at Junior High, not learning how to use weaponry to fight an Alien race in a war we had practically lost.

I had remained silent for most of the ride, and we already seemed to be nearing my hideout, the area becoming familiar as I took in certain semi-intact houses and stores, and pulled my jacket tighter around me to keep out the cold.

"So," Hal drawled out, and I turned to look up at him, "I never got your name."

I stared at him, watching as he shook his head in what appeared to be amusement slightly, before pulling his knees up, his forearms resting against them as his shoulders relaxed. It still baffled me how unbelievably calm he could be, as if he had no fear, when he should have had a million.

"No? Okay, how about how old you are? Gonna gimme that?"

"Seventeen." I replied curtly, turning away from him as I'd rather miss the smug look that he most likely had now, he wouldn't let up until I'd give him answers anyway.

"You alone?"

"No."

"Who're you with?"

He rolled his eyes at my unwillingness, answering his own question.

"Okay, so clearly you have a brother or sister. How old are they?"

"None of your damn business!"

I snapped, glaring at him as he stared blankly back at me, "we're not friends, we're not acquaintances, and I'm sure as hell not joining your cult-"

"cult?"

"-the only reason I even agreed to this is because you outnumbered me, and used that against me. So leave me the fuck alone."

He chuckled softly, as if he hadn't heard a single word I had said, only picking out one certain word. Repeating the world 'cult' in amusement several times under his breath, no longer attempting to probe me with questions. Not that he would have had the chance anyway, the vehicle jerked to a halt, causing me to bump into the crate beside me painfully, with Hal yelling out to Pope at the front.

"What the fuck, Pope?!"

"You might wanna take a look up ahead!"

Fire. Growing rapidly, orange and red flames forging together and licking at the small suburban houses, and spreading. In the last hour this place has been hit, and as the flames grew in size, spreading, I felt my stomach drop. Alex was in one of these houses.

Smoke had risen into the sky at a rapid speed, but I knew that wasn't what made me feel like I couldn't breathe, it was the overwhelming fear that gripped at my throat, constricting me of air as a lump rose. I panicked, and reacted in a way that someone would only react with their basic instincts. Maternal instincts.

I shot up a little too quickly, wavering and stumbling as I hopped out of the truck, almost tripping as I landed. My duffle bag forgotten, I took of down towards the street, ignoring the yells behind me, my feet pounding the broken pavement as I ran.

"Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay."

Despite his disability Alex wasn't stupid, he would have gotten out if a fire had begun, and he would have gone somewhere safe, somewhere I would have found him. Somewhere familiar and not far, but the fear was still at its peak, still consumed me and I would never fully me okay until I knew for sure he wasn't stuck somewhere in one of these.

And I wasn't stupid; I knew something must have started this fire, something big and mechanical, something that would have been accompanied by creatures with multiple limbs. I felt sick, my breathing laboured as I struggled for breath, I knew the chances of them finding Alex. I knew the chances of leaving him alone full stop, but I still did it, because the chances of coming across the exact same dangers with me.

I took a right, darting down the back alleys of the small suburban neighbourhood, fenced gardens on either side of me as I ran down the narrow shortcut, towards the empty house I had found merely weeks ago. The smoke was thicker here, and as the fire spread I knew I would barely have enough time to get in and search the entire house. Shoving my shoulder against the wooden entrance, I stumbled into the garden, the fence door swinging open as I fell to my knees on the grass.

I pushed myself back up, coughing heavily as I reached the back door, flinging it open, and surprised to not feel hot flames already consuming the building. It seemed to be beginning on the porch at the front of the house, and as fast as I could, and as I hunched over and continuously coughing I used my hands to climb up the stairs. The entire house was a shambled mess, the furniture turned over, and ornaments smashed, the curtains ripped apart and hanging off the walls.

The carpet was worn down, and becoming a darker shade than its original maroon, I sat at the top of the stairs for a moment as I attempted to catch my breath, the smoke choking me as I did so, and I continued to crawl along the floor. Remaining as low as I could while the smoke filtered to the top, I could hear more than see the flames as it most likely begun eating away at the front door, reminding me of how quick I needed to be.

I pulled myself up by the doorframe, my eyes stinging and watering from both my fear and the smoke as I did so, and I blinked several times as I attempted to see into the room, relatively large as it was the main. The one Alex and I had shared; we tucked ourselves in the corner, besides one of the large mahogany wardrobes, and huddled together away from any prying eyes that could possibly find us. He wasn't in here, but the paranoia inside me caused me to lurch forward, stumbling through the strewn clothes and broken shards of glass towards the wardrobe.

The urge to call out Alex's name was too great, and despite me very well knowing he wouldn't hear I did it anyway, my trembling and coughing distorting it as I did so.

"Alex! Are yo- you –in here?!"

I delved further into the dark room, feeling as if the smoke was a hundred times thicker in here, bending to look beneath the bed, and using the moment to cough into the sleeve of my jacket violently. Crawling across I made my way to the large wardrobe, my eyes only just making out the small pile of sheets and dirty pillows beside it in the corner; empty. I pulled at the doors to the wardrobe frantically, fingers fumbling as I did so, opening to reveal nothing.

I let out something unrecognizable, my raw and dry throat releasing what was a poor attempt to a sob, shuffling back against the foot of the bed as I took in large gulps of air, only to regret it, my lungs now desperate for oxygen.

Everything happened in a blur then, as if it were waiting for me, and I let out a broken scream as the Spider came crashing into the room, attached to the ceiling and jumping down. It barrelled in, and I scrambled backwards in fear and disgust, knowing now where Alex was, because they had him. I yanked on the door of the wardrobe with as much force as I possibly could, and watched as it lurched forward and tumbled down with a crash that resonated. The spider flew right into it, as if not anticipating the wardrobe obstructing it's path, and I only seemed to anger it as it hesitated for a moment as it broke into the wood, it's several limbs stumbling through it for a moment.

I backed into the corner of feeling the rough sheets beneath my palms as they shuffled back, my eyes wide as I thought about how differently this night had panned out, how I didn't even know whether Alex was okay, or whether he'd gotten away.

Small bursts of light filtered into the room at a quick speed, almost as if I had imagined them, but the sound of gunshots that followed them definitely wasn't. I couldn't help the violent coughing fit now as I watched the spider go down after several shots, barely even able to scream anymore, and I knew if I was stuck here any longer I would die.

"COME ON!"

The male voice was urgent, panicked and impatient, and as I recognised to belong to the boys, Hal's, I felt around the floor, feeling for the wardrobe as I pulled myself up. My other hand came across a familiar material, the small straps beneath my fingertips as I didn't even think twice on grabbing onto, lifting it as my weak knee's barely held me up, and climbed over the broken wardrobe on all fours, ignoring the jolt of pain in my hand as I most likely got a splinter.

"HURRY!"

I scrambled to door, yanking away from Hal as his hand caught onto my jacket on my shoulder, and we hovered there for a brief moment, his face dirty and smeared with soot, and I imagined mine only looked worse, and sent me a morbid look as he could only assume I couldn't find my brother. He nudged his head back towards the staircase, and I darted after him as he we ran down the hall and to the stairs.

The entire front door at the bottom had caught fire, and was spreading rapidly onto the carpet, making the end the staircase a no-go zone. I watched as Hal easily changed course mid-way on the stairs, simply jumping over the frame and landing on the ground a few feet away from the fire itself, stumbling away from it. He looked to me expectantly, as if I would have done it as thoughtlessly as him, and despite the adrenaline and fear for my life in that moment, I hesitated, for I had never done something like that before.

His screams for me to hurry were drowned out by the flames, and I felt the sweat break out on my skin as the heat intensified, feeling as if it were burning right in front of me. My hand gripped onto Alex's small backpack, while the other held onto the banister, and taking a deep breathe of poisonous air I leapt over, landing far less gracefully than Hal had, and it took me several moments to realise he had caught onto my wrist, steadying me.

He immediately let go as I braced myself to pull away, my irrational fear making its way onto my dirty and sweat dripping face as he held his hand up in surrender, turning away quickly as he headed for the door. I followed after, the sleeve of my jacket pressed against my mouth as I coughed into it some more.

Feeling the cold air hit my skin as I pushed through the backdoor had never felt more like a blessing, and I only made it a few more steps before I collapsed on the grass. No longer hold back on the continuous coughing, feeling my raw throat ache as I attempted to take in deep breaths of air at the same time.

"What were you thinking?!"

I didn't answer Hal, and merely continued to cough, pushing myself up into a sitting position, clutching the bag to my chest. I must have look a completely pathetic sight, my hair falling out of its bun and strewn, soot covering my entire face, skin dirtier than it already was, and a kids 'Ben 10' encased within my arms.

"You jumped into something that coulda' gotten you killed, as well as me!"

I wanted to yell at him, I wanted to tell him I hadn't asked him to follow me, nor that I asked him to save me, but only the shock that they had actually taken Alex was just starting to set in, hitting me at full force as my chest begun to ache for a completely different reason. The lump in my throat forming now not being caused by the smoke and lack of air, and my eyes no longer stung because of that very same thing. Instead I felt the loss, another one, worse than Raphael, worse than the end of the world, because Alex was my world.

I wasn't crying, and I couldn't understand why, when I had fearfully imagined this worst case scenario it always included uncontrollable sobbing, but I didn't. I simply stared at the backpack, the object solidifying my fears, because that was Alex's thing, his sign to let me know he was okay; he never ever left this bag behind. Yet there it was, on the floor, and flung there, as if he had dropped it while trying to _run_. I had long since tuned out Hal's lectures, despite him not even having a right to, though I supposed for an army guy it was drilled in, but still I didn't notice he had quietened down as he realised what I was staring at.

"They got him."

The way he said it made me feel as if he were confirming something, yet at the same time was still questioning me, as if he were doing it for _my _benefit. I wasn't stupid, I knew you were a goner as soon as they set their eyes on you, let alone capture you, but it didn't mean I was letting go of Alex. He was my only family. This was my fault, and I needed to fix it.

"We'll find him," Hal said, his voice firmer this time, and as I finally looked up I caught the understanding in his dark eyes, "we'll get him back."

"But he'll be…"

I couldn't bring myself to finish the sentence, I didn't even know what the correct term for it was, they'd always just been zombies to me. I'd set them apart from us, they were the in-betweens, not humans but not alien's either, and now Alex was going to be one of them, could be one of them by now.

"We can get them back, we can change them and take the harnesses off."

"What do you mean?" I questioned, my forehead creasing at the unfamiliar word, but I could only imagine he meant the parasites on the back of their necks, "how is that even possible?"

"We learnt to," he added, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, "we doctors, good ones. They can get them off. We'll get your brother back."

"When?" I asked, pushing myself up clumsily, and taking a step closer to him, "How can we even find him?!"

"I can explain this all better … later, just come join us and we can get him back. As a team. I promise."

And for once, for the first time in my pathetic excuse for a life, I believed someone's promise.

* * *

**This is slightttlllyyyy long overdue, but I honestly have an excuse, I've had a crazzzyy week of work and I attended the London comic con during the weekend for my OTHER job as press, and because I did, guess who I got to meet? Yes, DREW ROY! Gahhhhh he was lovely, and I met Jessy Schram and Sahra Carter too, they were all lovely, and it was an awesome weekend. **

**If you want to see the photo of me and drew I uploaded it on my twitter at runnersmaze just go through the photo's and you'll find it! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, would be great if any of you reviewed! **


	7. Camp

I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this, and as I followed Hal I kept my gaze to the back of his head, ignoring the hushed whispers and curios eyes cast in my direction. Did these people not get newcomers often?

I imagined rows upon rows of dark green tents, military put up at posts, in short I imagined it to be more organised than this. Which I really should be ashamed about, I wasn't grateful enough, these people had more or less saved my life, from starvation, from myself. They seemed to be tight as a unit though, as if everyone were family, they all seemed close, soldiers and civilians alike. It was nice to know that humanity and basic human bonds hadn't been thrown out the window as soon as a superior race almost obliterated us.

"This way," Hal said tiredly, as he turned a corner and headed towards a beaten bus, "we make sure you're healthy and all that crap, all the newcomers do it."

His mood had dampened considerably, and it was clear why. The first thing he had done when we arrived was take me to his leader, or captain, or whatever the hell they liked to call him. He just insisted on being addressed as Weaver, a gruff man with greying hair, stubble that he was either too lazy to clean up or simply had no time to. His frown lines had etched into his skin, smudged and dirtied just like the rest of us, and eyes that held a lot of years of crap behind them.

I wasn't stupid, I could tell he thought picking me up was a waste of time, if I took a good look at me then I would probably agree. Hal thought I had potential, if I trained up well enough then I could become a soldier, and he seemed to gather all this from the fact I had elbowed his friend in the face, and jumped head first into a house on fire. That wasn't me being a hardass, that was me being extremely terrified and going into a fight or flight mode.

Hal did most of the talking for me, in fact he did all of it, and for a guy I didn't even know he seemed pretty determined on bringing me into his damn group. It pissed me off, because I knew he was doing it all out of pity, I could see it every time he looked at me, took in my malnourished form, thought of my reaction when my brother had been taken. He felt bad for this puny little girl that had no one left. I was the orphaned child that nobody would take in, and somehow he felt like he had no choice but to.

I could have let my pride take over, in fact it was very difficult not to, I could have told him I didn't need him or his band of misfits that had the audacity to call themselves soldiers, that I didn't need their fancy rifles, that I could make it on my own. But it would all be a lie, because I did need them, I needed them to get my brother back, I needed them to get that parasite off of my brother, I needed them to scout and find out where they were … harnessing … them.

The word still seemed too unfamiliar on my tongue, I had always just referred to it as kids being 'zombiefied', it was simple and impossible not to understand, but then I guess they had done their research. Enough to know how to take them off at least.

Anne was nice, well as nice as a convoy's doctor could be; she spoke gently and was attentive with all her patients. I watched from beside Hal as she smiled softly towards the younger children, seeming to be more in her comfort zone. Her medic bus was a busy place, and as she apologised quickly, claiming that she was up to her neck with patients, she kindly suggested for Hal to wait for another.

She introduced herself as Lourdes, a petite thing, tanned skin and long flowing brown hair, and I never in my life thought I would meet a girl shorter than me. I was surprised to learn than she had been pre-med, while I had barely finished high school, but the girl was so damn small I thought she had been the same age as me. She was talkative, enough for the both of us, and as Hal leant against the window opposite me, I quietly answered all of Lourdes' routine questions. How old I was, if I had any allergies, whether I had any illnesses, and I started to relax.

Lourdes had this extremely calming presence, it emanated from her like a bright light, her features soft and pretty. She was beautiful.

"So … Thalia … have you been alone this entire time?"

My eyes flickered to Hal's, jaw tightening; I don't know why I looked to him for help. Alex was something I intended to not talk about unless it was to figure out where he could be, and Hal being the only other person who knew of Alex led me to automatically look in his direction.

"Hey Lourdes, do you think she's gonna be any longer?" He interrupted hastily, and I settled my gaze to the floor as she shook her head, not noticing the deliberate change in subject.

"Not really, I just need to check your blood pressure and-"

I cut her off, her hand reaching for me with one hand, the other holding the old monitor, and by reflex whacked her hand away. Her startled expression was like a deer caught in headlights, and I almost felt bad for how I so rudely cut her off.

"I don't think it's necessary, I'm perfectly healthy."

"I'm- I'm sorry, that's fine," Lourdes seemed to take a moment to reign in her expression and plastered a smile on her face, as if nothing had just happened, "you're free to go now, I'm sure you wanna change into a fresh pair of clothes."

I stood and nodded in thanks to her as Hal motioned for me to go ahead of him, most likely so he could apologise for my reaction to Lourdes, I sneaked a glance back towards them. Lourdes looked at him with a small smile, nodding understandingly towards him, before he begun making his way to me. I descended the small steps, my dirty converse making contact with the gravelly road, and released a breath I hadn't even realise I had been holding in. The air tasted of ash, which no longer surprised me, finding a fire nearby due to the spiders blowing something up wasn't unheard off, and rubble was all that was mostly left of any city or town.

"So, Thalia … that's a nice name."

For some reason, I failed to find anything genuine in Hal's statement, in fact when I peered at him through the corner of my eye I found that he was fighting a smirk. What he found amusing about my name I did not know, but what I did know is that he apparently knew how easily it was to irritate me.

And god, did he irritate me.

"Thanks." I muttered, blindly following him in whatever direction of tents he was taking us.

"Apparently your mom thought so to?"

Where was he even going with this? Were his social skills so incredibly poor that he forced himself to make conversation over names? Or did he simply know that speaking without needing to pissed me off?

"Your point?"

"There is no point, just trying to know more about you."

"By asking me whether my mom liked my name?"

"Yeah."

I turned away from him, pursing my lips in annoyance, and heard his soft chuckle, for a boy in his late teens he seemed incredibly pleased with himself for being so irritating. He took up a little speed so that he was just in front of me, and no longer by my side, leading the way into a dark green tent. He stopped in the middle, and I allowed my eyes to roam the small space for a moment as I did so, four bunks were crammed into it, all in a singular row, and only one of them was neatly done. Untouched, and so obviously belonged to no one.

"Maggie, Lee and Tector crash in here, you've only met Maggie but the other two are okay. Just don't let anything they say actually get to you, they like to horse around a lot."

I nodded, watching as he pointed to the empty bunk, "the last one there can be yours … and," he clicked his fingers and looked around slightly, as if he were looking for something, "these are for you, Maggie doesn't mind you wearing them."

He handed me a folded pair of dark jeans, and plain grey shirt, I took them from him, staring at them for moment, before speaking quietly.

"Thank you."

"That's as clean as we can get you … actually it's as clean as any of us can get."

He said it as if I hadn't spent the last few months barely having a shower, and I knew for a fact I probably reeked of sweat and whatever nasty things I had come across.

"When can we start looking for him?"

He knew who I spoke of, he must have been wondering when I would bring it up even, and patience was not in my nature, even I knew that we didn't have forever to find Alex and change him back. Hal hesitated and took a deep breath, pressing his lips together, his eyes flickering back and forth to the tents exit and me. As if he didn't want to answer, and it only made me stare more intensely at him.

"I don't know," he said honestly, "but we will. We need to train you up a bit, get you used to using a gun, and the guys need to get their strength their back up, we were out on that raid for a week. We'll start as soon as possible. I made a promise."

Hal offered a friendly smile before moving past me, heading for the exit, I stood there for a second, hesitant, before turning to him.

"She hated it," I called out, watching as he turned around with his brows furrowed in slight confusion, "my mom." I confirmed. "She hated my name; it was my dad who liked it."

A small smile spread across his face then, a soft short chuckle escaping his lips.

"I'll meet you outside when you're done changing."

The shirt was too baggy, when I had first met her Maggie had more bust than me, which in turn made me look as flat chested as I already was in her clothes. The jeans were okay, faded black but a little too long, since she towered over me I expected it, and I had no choice but to fold them at the ankles. I had a feeling I'd need to replace my converse soon, they had worn down completely, and blistered my feet. I pulled my jacket on once more as I left the tent, trying to remember the route to it for later.

I walked up behind Hal, who stood talking to another boy, one that I recognised from the group that had been with him. Dark blonde hair, soft features and pale skin, I remembered the slight shock when Hal had mentioned that was his brother. They seemed to be in a tense conversation, his brother holding his rifle tightly in one hand, while Hal's fists were balled, and both their jaws were set and they spoke in low voices.

"You have the nerve to call me reckless, when you jumped into a house on fire for a girl we don't even know."

Fully aware that I hadn't meant to hear that, I deliberately made my steps heavier as I reached them, causing Hal to turn around to look at me slightly startled, while his brother merely stared, face unchanged.

"You remember my brother Ben, right?"

Hal's tone was edgy, as if he were still shaking off the anger he held toward his brother, his words coming out false. I pretended I didn't notice, and simply waved half-heartedly toward his brother, earning a stiff nod in reply.

"Her names Thalia," Hal added on, fighting the look of distaste that was fighting its way back onto his face as he turned back to Ben, "she's joined us now."

They stared at each other for another tense moment, neither of them intending on stepping down, and I silently wondered just for how long this resentment between the two brothers had been building up for. It would eventually result in a scuffle or two, though I wasn't sure who would come out the victor in that. It was as if the entire world were silent to the both of them, the loud bustling of the camp and chatter of people seemed to drown out between them, and each second that went by the more tension that filled the air.

"You know, I'm gonna need to learn my way around here."

I stated, letting my words sink in as the boys finally broke eye contact, Ben clearing his throat finally spoke with a deep voice.

"Yeah, you should probably show her around camp … nice meeting you Thalia."

This time I nodded as he stalked away, leaving both me in a silence for a moment, he continued to stare at the back of Ben's head until he completely disappeared. Taking a deep breath, he fully turned around so that he was face me, a smile plastered on his face once more, and begun walking backwards.

"Come on, then, I'll show you around The Resort that is the Second Mass."

"Resort?" I countered, "more like a concentration camp."

This time, when Hal smiled, it reached his eyes.

* * *

**Hey hey hey! Bit of a boring chapter, but I'm hoping to get on the way again and get it going! I'm gonna have a few weeks worth of my own stuff in the time frame of FS, as it takes place just under a month before Season 2. After that I'll have to rewatch alllll the episodes again so I can get things right, but yes I hope it wasn't too dreadful of a chapter. **

**Thanks to LucyRide, SoNotYourAverageGirl, Rainbow Dash, xxDreamWalker, Sam0287 (Alex is ten btw) and ItBelongsInAMuseum (how have you been girl?! Long time no speak, message me we should catch up! And meh the season premiere was okay, the latest episode was probably the best, but even then I expect the Ishfeni attack to be a little bigger, but the Alexis arc is really interesting! Drew's acting is really standing out in this one too!) **


	8. Firearms

"Where are you going?!"

I sped up to a power walk, attempting to reach Hal at the front of a group, his brother not far from him. A hard look adorned his face as he turned at the sound of my voice, so clearly untrusting of me, for reasons I had no idea on yet didn't care for. I'd be a hypocrite if I let myself become irritated by it, seeing as I held no trust for these people myself. Hal halted, the members in the group walking past him and heading for the vehicles and bikes.

Hal's expression was soft; he was neither irate, like his brother, or overly friendly. It was neutral.

"We're going on a quick run. We're low on meds."

"But you said the next time you went out we'd go looking for my brother."

The accusation in my voice was clear, brows furrowed in confusion, blue eyes staring intently at Hal. He let out a deep sigh, as if chastising a child, and reached out to place a hand on my shoulder, I took a step back instinctively, out of his reach. He realised what he was doing soon enough, drawing his arm back.

"This wasn't a planned run, and we're not going that far out. When we go on real runs, that's when we keep a look out for harnessed kids."

I visibly winced at his use of words, causing Hal's expression to become apologetic. Pitying. I knew the reality of the situation, I knew that he was right, that Alex was most likely taken by them and ... harnessed. However it still didn't stop it from hurting like hell when I imagined what Alex was going through right now, unable to do anything, unable to save him. I'd seen the back of Hal's brothers neck, I knew what could happen if you were like that for too long. I didn't want to take that chance; I wanted my little brother back, in my protection and as normal as possible.

"I wanna go with you." I said firmly, and when Hal raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose I knew that he saw this coming.

As if this conversation was what he had been trying to avoid with me, you didn't need to know me well to know that I was stubborn as hell. So I didn't plan on backing down unless Hal had a good enough reason for me not to go.

"You don't know how to use a gun; you can't protect yourself or anyone else in the group. You'd be a liability."

That had come from Ben, who stood a little away from the both of us, expressionless and tone hard. It wasn't hostile or rude; he was simply stating a fact, not having time for sugar coating had become a regular thing post apocalypse. I respected that much about Ben. He was upfront about everything.

"There are a dozen other people at this camp that have kids missing just like you, some of them since the beginning of this mess. You're newbie, you don't get special treatment. We're doing the best that we can."

I stared at Ben then, digesting his words, and as much as I hated to admit it he was right. I didn't really have any right to demand this from them, but my desperation and desire to have Alex back pushed all rationality away. My eyes flickered to Hal, who was glaring intently at Ben, though he didn't disagree with him. He knew he was right, yet seemed to be mentally scolding Ben as if he should watch his mouth.

I turned back to Ben, my shoulders sagging a little from being so tense, dark hair pulled back as it always was, and dirt lining my cheeks. Nodding towards him in understanding, I spoke softly, taking him off guard.

"You're right," he blinked several times, as if needing to hear me say that again, before he offered a tight smile and turned to join the rest of the group, just as Hal was turning to look back at me, "and I want you to start teaching me how to shoot as soon as you get back."

"Gotcha'."

With a reassuring grin, Hal swiftly turned; rifle slung across his back and made his way towards his small group of scouts.

"Stay outta trouble!"

Hell yelled over his shoulder, not bothering to turn and gauge my reaction, and if he had he would have seen my eyes roll in amusement.

I tested out the weight of the firearm in my small hand, the clunk of metal was rather heavy, running around with this would make my hand tire out no doubt. I stared at it for a long moment, lips pressed together as if the answer on how to shoot it would magically appear. I was pretty much the most impatient person you would even come across, especially when it came to the safety of my family.

I held it up with one hand, the feel of it unnatural in my grasp; I wasn't made for violence or war. I was the type of person, who locked herself up her room and felt no shame in having poor social skills or friends, I was the type of person to sit back and watch everything unfold. I couldn't do that anymore, no one could, hiding away and attempting to stay invisible was what got me into this predicament in the first. If I wanted any chance of finding – and saving – Alex, I had to be prepared to fight.

"Do you even know the name of that firearm?"

I turned to the clearing up ahead, Hal approaching with his even present playful grin; I was beginning to think there was never a time when he wasn't annoyingly cheerful. The polar opposite of his brother, Ben, I'd met Matt once and seen him across the camp a few times; despite not being much of a talker he was polite. It was Lourdes who had informed me that the Mason's had just lost their father, abducted and disappeared, which was why I now understood Ben's cold demeanour.

I mean, if I really thought about it, we weren't all that different; we boxed ourselves in and decided to hate everything and everyone because our losses, only Ben had lost much more, he had lost apart of himself, and clearly blamed himself for his dad's disappearance. At least he was actually fighting back; I still had yet to be any good at that.

"It's a revolver."

I stated, watching as he came to a halt a few feet away from me, his expression was one of mild acknowledgement.

"And this?" he quizzed again, using the arm he was holding his gun in and raised it slightly.

"Rifle?" he nodded in confirmation for me, grin still playing across his lips.

That was something that perplexed me about Hal, against everything, losing his mom and dad, and even Ben for a period of time hadn't deterred him from keeping on. He was grinning half the time and the other half was spent co-ordination runs or search parties. He at least managed to appear held together, Maggie seemed to kelp him with that too, and they were close. That much I could tell.

"So you know a little bit."

"From what I can remember when playing Time Splitters," I mumbled softly as I looked back to the small poorly put together targets across the yard, startled slightly at Hal's burst of laughter, shaking his head at me as if he found my statement ridiculous, "I was being serious."

"I know," he laughed out, brown eyes alight with amusement, it was strangely pleasant to look at, "that's why it's so funny."

He continued to chuckle softly, and I found myself unable to be annoyed, because it was refreshing. I couldn't remember the last time I had heard myself laugh, I couldn't remember the last time I had heard laughter at all for that matter. How he managed to maintain some of that childish playfulness that so many of us had lost was a wonder to me, and even a little bit admirable, I couldn't call him a fool because he was prepared to die whenever need be. He could have very well died that day he jumped into the flaming house after me, for someone he didn't even know.

Yes, Hal Mason was unbelievably annoying, and slightly arrogant at points, but definitely a born leader.

"Okay, first you gotta push the small release button on the left of the gun, that'll release the cylinder," his voice was monotonous, informative, his leader persona emerging, and as I did exactly what he said he nodded in encouragement.

"Good, you got the ammo?" I nodded; pulling out the five rounds he had given me not too long ago, and listened as he told me to load it, spinning it clockwise until I heard a faint click. A ghost of a smile formed on my lips then, excitement starting to bubble within me at the thought of actually shooting something. "Now get a firm grip on it, with both hands, and hold your arms out straight, elbows locked."

It seemed pretty straight forward and I took in a deep breath as I faced the line of targets in front of me, a substantial amount of metres away.

"Aim," he commanded, and by instinct I closed one of my eyes, looking towards the targets, white paintings on cans, "and pull the trigger."

I did exactly that, the sound of the bullet exploding from the gun resonating through the clearing and into the camp. The recoil hit me full force, and I jerked back, miraculously managing to keep my balance. I missed my target, though that didn't come as a surprise to me; I doubt I'd be able to do that for a while.

I didn't bother throwing a glare towards Hal as he erupted into fits of laughter once more, this time not as loudly, and managed to push out his words between it, "believe me, if your elbows hadn't have been locked it would have been a lot worse. You'll get used to the recoil."

I made no comment, and raised my arms once more, solely focusing on the sudden rush of adrenaline at the last shot, flowing through my veins and that barely present smile to reveal itself once more. I fired again, this time not as disastrous as the recoil caused me to stagger back again, the action driving me to want to do it again.

"The first time I see you smile and it's when firing a gun, do you see anything wrong with this?"

"There's usually nothing to smile about," I said quietly, the gun hanging limply at my side as Hal adorned that look again, the look where you found someone so absolutely pathetic that all you felt was pity, nothing else, "but you do it enough for the entire fucking camp, still wondering how you manage that."

"How I managed what? To smile despite being on the losing side of an Alien invasion? It'd be a damn crime to not enjoy the few good moments we actually do have."

"I think it's a good thing, I mean, the people here look up to you, they listen to you … and Weaver, but I don't see him smile much … you keep the good spirits going."

I didn't have to look at him to know that a shit eating grin would form on his face, and avoid it I turned back to the target, arms raised once more and elbows locked. I paused as he took in a breath, most likely debating on how to approach my statement, either sincerely or with a joke. He went with the latter.

"Wow, Thalia gives a smile and a compliment within less than an hour … I'm on a roll here."

"Don't get ahead of yourself," I replied flatly, closing an eye as my shoulders tensed, "you're still an annoying little shit." And pulled the trigger.

* * *

**So sorry for the delay in this, University is starting soon and amongst preparing for that and work my life is an absolute mess … but I realllyyyy wanted to get another chapter out … things are going slow but I'm only a few chapters in, and I wanted to squeeze in some "bonding" moments between Hal and Thalia before I go into season 2 and I have loads of my own scenes planned out for that … anyway I thank everyone who reviewed/follow/favourited! It's lovely to hear your thoughts on things! Until next time! **


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