This is my first story for Falling Skies. I love everything about this show and hope that it sticks around and gets to live a good and decent TV show life! I know that I have plenty of other fiction to be writing and finishing and like I've said time and time again I intend to finish each of my stories. I just get so many ideas in my head that I go insane if I don't write any of them down. So please read and review and let me know what you think of this new story. I always love to hear people's opinions. Thanks
This story takes place at the end of the first season, I don't get the channel FX to watch Falling Skies but I have read a few spoilers and I may incorporate some of that into the story so be warned that you may read a few spoilers if you're not that far into the show.
Last but most importantly I don't own Falling Skies and I am in no way affiliated to it, this story is not for monetary profit but simply because I love the show and love writing Enjoy
Weaver watched with dismay and disbelief as Tom took Karen's hand and walked through the ship door, lost in the mist and the overbearing presence of the humanoid that followed. As the door shut Weaver shook himself from the statue trance he found himself to be in. Holding his gun closer to him, subconsciously relying on it more than ever as a form of defence, he started to move out, back the way they had come. Shivering with something akin fear he walked quickly scouting the area to check that there was nothing that would attack. Weaver knew what fear felt like, he may be the 2nd Mass' leader but he was still a man, a man who used to have a family, a man who may still have a family but the fear of their death consumed him every now and then. It wasn't often that he felt fear on this type of scale however, but because Tom, a man who was not only his second in command and had made some decisions that had undoubtedly saved the whole camp several times, a man who had a family who he would do anything to keep them safe, was now a man who had contentedly gone with the very aliens that were intent on destroying their whole world.
Matt walked with the other children until they were all exhausted. Nobody was sure where they were walking to, what they were walking to. Uncertainty was a sure presence every second of every day for the people of the 2nd Mass. Matt worried about his family, his father and his brothers, they were all he had. He knew that the three of them would fight until the end and although he admired them for that he also hated them for the same thing. He hated that they were the fighters, that they were the ones that did the missions, that they were the ones that volunteered for every stupid reckless attack on the countless mechs and skitters that littered the surrounding world. A tear slid down Matt's grubby cheek but he quickly wiped it away with his shaking hand hoping that his moment of weakness would be missed by those walking with him.
Lourdes walked along side of Matt, her eyes darting to him every few seconds, noting the way his shoulders sagged almost in defeat, the way he sniffed occasionally as if he were holding back sobs. She couldn't ignore Matt wiping the tear away that ran its way down his face. Without thinking of what she was doing she put her arm around the small boy and hugged him close to her side.
"Matt, your father and brothers will do all they can to get back to you and I know in my heart that they'll all make it back to you. But you need to believe in them. The moment you start doubting them is the moment that we should all lose faith. We need to be ready for their return and whatever comes with them. It's okay to be scared about all of it but don't you dare keep it to yourself. There's a lot of people that care for you, me included." Lourdes spoke quietly, continuing to hug the child to her side, her caring nature instinctively trying to protect him from the harsh dangers of the world that they now lived in.
Elsewhere, a couple of miles away Hal and Ben continued their journey with the rest of their group: each one of them continuously on the watch for any movement in the surrounding area in case of a mech or skitter appearing. The group were walking through a deserted town when they decided to rest for a few hours until daylight. Hal, Ben and Maggie walked into an empty house and made camp in the living room after raiding some blankets and pillows from the upstairs of the house. Quietness fell as the travelling group got some sleep, three men patrolled and kept watch. After a few hours had passed Hal was woken to take over watch for one of the men while they had their rest and it was with weary, sleep filled eyes that Hal dragged himself from the warm confines of his homemade bed. He checked his weapons, making sure they were clean and loaded in case of attack and then walked out of the house into the cool summer's night air.
The surrounding area was quiet and Hal could not prevent his eyes from drooping with tiredness, his head would fall but then he'd catch himself, admonishing the weakness of his body and shake himself awake. After this had happened repeatedly Hal was even more exhausted. He needed sleep as he was now running on empty, it was at night, times like these where he had no adrenaline that exhaustion took a hold of him. Then he heard the noise he feared above all else, the noise of the mechs approaching. With renewed fear and desperation with little adrenaline he ran as quickly as he could to the house, shaking awake the occupants and ordering them to get their weapons. The mechs were getting closer and the group was not altogether. Hal sped around trying to focus everyone and get them in a big group when the house was fired at. They all ducked, trying to shelter themselves from the shattering glass and flying debris. Hal managed to fire off a few shots to the mechs but he had no idea if he had hit his target. As the mech continued its attack on the occupants of the house Hal led them, in a crawl, through to the back of the house, hoping against hope that there would be nothing else out there waiting for them. In the turmoil and chaos Hal did not even flinch when he was hit by flying debris.
Ben and Maggie followed Hal and the rest of the group out the back porch of the house and once outside the group sprinted down the road, not caring that they were going back the same way that they had come from earlier but simply wanting to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the mechs.
After running for what felt like an age the group stopped taking a chance to recover from the night's dramas. It was in this time that Ben looked at his brother for the first time since the recent attack.
Hal's eyes were glassy and unfocused, the boy was breathing in and out with a weez that seemed to hurt Ben as it looked so painful. Hal was clutching his gun to his side and sluggishly but determinedly moving his heavy head around trying to listen out for the sounds of the mechs hunting them. Hal did not realise that listening was in fact futile, he did not acknowledge that his ears were buzzing until his gaze fell on his younger brother whose lips were moving but no sound could be heard.
"Hal, Hal are you okay?" Ben panicked, anxious that his brother was severely wounded.
The sound of Ben's fearful voice grabbed Maggie's attention and she followed his eyes to the sight of Hal whose appearance shocked her. She knew that every occupant in the camp looked rough and grubby but Hal had never looked this bad in the time she'd known him. Without a second's thought she gently but firmly took Hal by the shoulders, gripping him even tighter when he tried to shake her off, and pulled him to the ground where he landed haphazardly onto his haunches.
Maggie knew instantly that Hal had been hit; the blood pool on his top was a sure sign of that. With growing trepidation she pulled at the garment, dragging it slowly upwards, dreading what it may reveal.
Ben gasped as Hal's wound was revealed, there was a hole in his eldest brother's torso that glistened with leaking blood, the skin around the area all mangled was majorly inflamed, an angry red colour oozing with rich red blood. Ben felt tears spring to his eyes, he could not bear to lose his brother, not after everything that Hal had made it through so far to get them to this point. They all owed so much to Hal and Ben would be damned if he let his brother die.
"I'll find Anne," without waiting to hear a response from Maggie, Ben sprinted to and fro, calling as loud as he dared for the camp's doctor. Never had he felt so glad for anything in his entire life than the moment his eyes fell upon her frame. She was staring at him, anxious, aware that if Ben was this wound up there had to be a good reason and it was a reason she feared. She despised the role that she played in camp, she hated that people relied on her so much, lives seemed to depend on her and Anne did not believe she was good enough of a doctor to save people. Not caring to waste precious time asking what Ben wanted, she grabbed her medical kit and followed the almost hysteric boy. Behind her Dai and other fighters followed too, worried that Ben may be trying to tell them that they were under attack, the Second Massachusetts were determined to be prepared for anything at anytime.
A horrifying sight met their eyes when the group Ben had brought set their eyes upon the eldest Mason son. His face was ghostly white, his lips quivering as if whispering silent words into the air, his body shaking quickly. Anne was hovered over him, seemingly checking his airway and breathing, she looked up in greeting at the arriving of the group.
"This is no bullet wound I've ever seen." Her words were spoken and silence automatically fell over everyone present.
"You think it was mech fire?" Ben asked, moving swiftly to his brother's side.
"Whatever it is, it isn't just shrapnel or debris. It's definitely weapon's fire." Anne was now cleaning the wound with what Ben presumed was alcohol wipes to help reduce any chance of the wound becoming infected.
"We need to set up a tent for him, I don't want him exposed like this, and we need to get a stretcher too." Anne ordered instructions carefully and as soon as her requests were heard the surrounding group of people sprung into action.
Quickly and efficiently Hal was moved to a stretcher in a tent and Anne began to work on investigating the wound. Time passed at a pace nobody cared for until Anne voiced that because she didn't know what he had been wounded with she had patched him up as well as she could and they would have to wait it out.
Weaver trampled his way as quietly as he could through the thicket until he arrived at a road he was partly familiar with from having investigated the map in so much detail. He remembered the way that the other groups would have taken but it all depended on him guessing the right direction now: which way was the way back to the school and which way was the one the others had taken? He didn't have long to decide as he soon heard the alien moo like noise that the mechs make. With fresh adrenaline coursing through his veins Weaver ran with renewed energy. Soon enough he lost the sound of the mechanical alien creatures but he kept a speedy pace going, he thanked his lucky stars that he had picked the right direction and even better – he had picked up on a trail of a mass amount of human footprints. He knew they couldn't be that far ahead. Even when dusk fell, Weaver kept moving and soon enough he began to hear the faint drum of voices wafting through the airwaves.
Ben was sat by his eldest brother's side, watching in a trance as Maggie paced by the tent opening and Anne continued to bathe his brother's face with cool water. His brother who he had feebly held hands with for just a moment, before the heat of Hal burned through him. Anne had told him that they needed to keep the temperature down and that it was already dangerously high: any increase and they would have to take action immediately.
Ben was awoken from his daydream by the sound of loud voices and watched as Maggie swiftly moved away from the tent following the increase in voices. He lifted his head and met Anne's eyes, they were both anxious that they were going to be under attack and neither was sure about what would happen to Hal if that happened.
Weaver was greeted by a crowd of confused civilians who immediately questioned the whereabouts of Tom Mason, their second in command. Weaver managed to escape their light interrogations with the arrival of Maggie, someone whose appearance he was not always completely grateful but he would happily let her save him from conversations he was not ready to have just yet. Just as he was about to ask her why they had set up camp in such an open area he caught the quick look of unbridled fear that shone in her eyes before it was quickly masked by defiance once again.
Following the young girl without question he was led to a tent and the sight within shocked and saddened him.
"What the hell happened?" Weaver asked starting to pull the weapons off that weighed down his shoulders.
"We were fired at and we fled but none of us realised Hal was injured, never mind this badly, we only noticed when he collapsed." Anne answered with a voice that was calm but everyone present could hear the fear and trembles that were only barely concealed.
Complete silence then fell over the occupants of the tent until Hal's body started shaking violently.
"His temperature's risen, we need to do something now or he won't survive the night, Ben get his legs." Anne jumped into action, a plan had sprung into her mind and they needed to act now or else they would just have to hope the fever broke on its own and the doctor within her knew that the chances of that were miniscule.
Ben did as he was asked and took the quivering legs of his brother as Anne took his brother's shoulders, he followed her lead when she raised them from the cot, and together they carried him outside. From there he walked as quickly as Anne did without risking dropping Hal's dead weight and he soon cottoned on to what the doctor was planning when he saw that they were approaching the stream that ran through the grass at the edge of the camp.
Together they lowered the sick teenager into the water, ensuring that his mouth never went underwater but the back of his neck was exposed to the trickling coolness of the water that surrounded him. After several minutes, and Anne instructing Maggie to get towels and fresh clothes ready for Hal in the tent, they carefully lifted Hal from the water. He was no longer shaking so much but had yet to awake.
Some time later and Hall was back on the stretcher cot, forehead covered with a cool bandage, dressed in fresh clothes, thanks to Maggie, Anne and Ben – (something that none of them wanted the eldest Mason son to find out for fear of death.) The three fell asleep in uncomfortable positions within the tent surrounding their friend – a boy who was family to one but considered as family to all of them.
Hours later, not long after the first sign of dawn, a soft coughing noise awoke Anne who was instantly at Hal's side.
"Hal, come on, come on, open those eyes. I know you can do it. Wake up Hal." Anne whispered softly trying to ease the boy from his deep sleep.
Hal's head felt heavy as he awoke and started coughing, not used to being awake, he was startled by the aching feeling that ran through his body. He heard a gentle voice but he could not for the life of him work out who it belonged to. With a monumental effort he wrenched his eyes open only to close them again straight away when the faint shine of daylight assaulted his vision. Trying a second time he was able to see the outline of a woman by his bedside.
"Mom? Mom what are you doing here?" Hal's voice was croaky and quiet but Anne heard every word and she gulped back a tear when she heard the youth in the teenager's voice, the teenager who should have his mom, the teenager that should only be worried about girls and lacrosse, instead he was a teenager who had been morphed into a man who fought aliens and mechanical creatures every day and was able to wield a gun but not legally consume alcohol. She didn't realise that Hal's voice had also woken Maggie and Ben.
"Mom, are you okay? We've missed you. But you're okay. You're okay. Dad will be glad too." Hal's emotion filled voice got quieter and gruffer by the end of what he was saying, his body and brain already becoming weary even though he had just awoken from a long sleep.
Anne did not have the heart to correct the confused and sleep addled boy, instead choosing to lean a little closer and envelope his hand within hers and raise it to her lips, sealing it with a slightly salty tear coated kiss. Using her other hand to gently rub some hair from his forehead, Anne smiled and told him to get some more rest.
Once Hal had fallen back into a slumber she raised her eyes to meet those of Ben. Ben's eyes were red rimmed with tears that had not been allowed to fall.
"He probably won't remember waking up then and it would have been crueller to take away the illusion of him having his mother by his side. He needs her now more than ever and if his subconscious wants him to have it, maybe this will help him heal." Anne wasn't sure how much Ben bought what she was saying and to be quite honest she wasn't sure the extent to which she believed it either. Yet she was happy with how she had justified what had just happened.
Enjoy? Should I post more? I've loved writing this story I will probably update but I daren't make promises that I'll update by certain dates because I never stick to them. Like all of the stories that I've started on here I do have every intention of finishing them. I just have a silly muse who likes to jump from one idea to the next and I like to get them written down as I soon forget what I think I should write next. Then I love posting on here because I have a love for reviews. Reviews are wonderful things that not only make me feel very happy, they're also extremely rewarding when somebody comments in some level of detail to something that I have written. That's an amazing feeling- knowing that some stranger out there is reading something that I've written and I really hope that you enjoy it, so maybe let me know what you think? Good is brilliant but I obviously don't mind at all if you haven't enjoyed it, even though I would like to know how I could improve things so that you could share this story's journey with me Thanks for reading, lsaf x