Back again… Sorry I keep wandering off for a long time without posting any new chapters. Real life has been a pain in the neck. I had an interview last week which I got so now I move to London tomorrow and I've just been really busy packing and trying to organise what to take with me on the train from Newcastle to London!

I really appreciate all of the reviews and I'm so sorry that I don't reply to them individually. You've taken the time to write to me what you think of the story and I am so rude to not give you the same courtesy. But I just want to make sure that you all know that I do really appreciate EVERY review and like I said last chap, everyone has been BRILLIANT with their reviews and they've really inspired and motivated me in writing this next chapter.

Also if there's anybody reading this whose story I was reading and reviewing, I do get emails when you've updated and posted the next chap and I will be reviewing when I can. Sorry for being so poop at ff life right now.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading and returning every chapter. I love writing for you all Enjoy the next, very long awaited, chapter.

I'll stop talking now and if you didn't already know, I don't own Falling Skies and neither am I in any way affiliated with it. This story is for fun not profit.

Lourdes jolted awake, her head shooting off the pillow with a cold sweat playing on her neck and forehead. Feeling wetness on her cheeks she wiped them clear with a shaking cold hand only to discover that her cheeks were soon dampened again. Then she realised, after a few dragged out seconds that she was crying. Small whimpers that filled the tent were her own. Not even trying to get back to sleep she heaved her aching and sad body from the cot in which she had lain and made herself ready to face the world outside the tent once more.

The whole night after Hal had left had been one where everyone had moved seemingly on autopilot. Nobody seemed able to process exactly what had happened. Lourdes had watched through constantly tear filled eyes as Matt and Ben had both broken down simply from watching their father fall to the ground with heart wrenching yells begging for his eldest to return.

She had watched as Anne had moved closer to Tom and the two remaining Mason boys and tried to comfort them, not much good was done when tears started to cascade from her eyes too.

Finally Lourdes had turned her vision to look at the others around them; Weaver who had managed to stay stoic and strong also looked frustrated and angry. He had begun to yell with anger at the fact that one of their own, one of the 2nd Mass had just been taken right in front of them by aliens and they hadn't been able to do a thing. Maggie had by this point managed to pull herself up off the hard soiled ground but her cheeks were flushed red and her eyes were bloodshot and teary. Lourdes had wanted to comfort her, the girl who loved Hal, the way that she had maybe once felt for him, but now they'd both perhaps never be able to do anything about it and for that, for all that she was worth, Lourdes struggled to reclaim any faith she had had before this had happened. No longer did she feel completely reassured by a deity watching over her, she so wished that there was indeed something more, they could all use that protection and safety.

Eventually the 2nd Mass had dissipated into their tents for what would be a restless night's sleep for all. Just as Lourdes was about to fall asleep she felt a presence beside her.

"Don't let go of the person you are, Lourdes. We all need you to keep your faith. It helps us through, we need that belief and confidence that only you got." Anthony whispered in the dark of the tent, his hand gently squeezing her own, before suddenly he turned and exited the tent. In fact Lourdes wasn't even sure, when she awoke in that cold sweat the next day whether the encounter had really happened or not.

As she left the tent the next day she was surprised to see the sun just starting to rise from behind the trees that shaded the campsite. People were already up and about, preparing themselves for tackling whatever was to happen on this day.

"Lourdes, there's breakfast ready, come and eat with us." Anne appeared from nowhere and took hold of the girls arm, dragging her compliant body along with her without waiting for an answer.

They arrived at the makeshift breakfast hall to find the Masons, Dai and Anthony already seated with bowls of porridge before them. Nobody was eating though, instead they were just either staring into space, oblivious to the warm food laid out before them, or they were swirling the mixture around aimlessly.

Soon enough Anne and Lourdes had joined the others and still neither of them ate until Anne had finally had enough and told everyone that they would need their strength if they were to get Hal back.

Everybody then ate in compete silence, only the occasional clink of a metal spoon hitting the side of a bowl could be heard.

They were interrupted by the arrival of hushed tense voices belonging to Weaver and Maggie.

"We sent some scouts out in the night to try and locate which way the aliens went. They've just arrived back now with news that they found them heading East. Anybody opposed to taking the fight to them for once?" Weaver asked the assembled group.

This was the moment they had all been waiting for but not quite expected it to actually happen. Matt dropped his spoon into his porridge bowl. It was surely too soon, it had all happened too quickly, Hal had only been taken the night before. He watched with wide eyes as all those around him agreed loudly to go and fight. There was soon movement with people going off to collect their weapons and pack up their belongings ready for the quickly approaching attack.

Hal's body moved on autopilot, not listening to the pleas of the human inside but instead to the commands from the bug inside of him. Human Hal had no control over his own limbs as they marched him along but he could still feel the sharp tug the movements made on his chest wound and he hated the overwhelming feeling of being powerless to do anything but watch in silence as he had walked away from the 2nd Mass. Hal and the skitters and mechs marched and marched until suddenly one of the mechs started shooting its weapon at an unseen target. The human side of Hal gasped in horror as out from the thicket, a little distance away from him, a man fell. Shot dead by the Mech fire. He didn't stand a chance against this army, Hal thought to himself from within the prison of his own body.

Silence ensued but the tension was thick in the air, encompassing all those who stood within it, aliens and human alike could feel the coming of the unknown.

A few moments passed in eerie calm until all of a sudden Skitters began to screech and mechs began to thudthudthud in their fast mechanical movements. Weapons fire rang out in the still air and more human yells could be heard in response. Hal didn't have a weapon to defend himself and this thought terrified the human side that was lurking within his mind, until he realised that nothing was shooting him. The human assailants in the attack must have thought he was a prisoner and so they weren't targeting him but the aliens knew that he was one of them and they had not fired upon yet either. This was a small comfort to the teenage boy inside the body of a human that was home to a glowing alien entity.

Very quickly the battle came to an end leaving a blood bath surrounding human bodies that were strewn around the area, the humans dead before they even touched the ground. Some Skitters had wounds but none of them were fatal. Hal thought to himself that these people couldn't belong to the 2nd Mass as they would have surely had the bullets that Pope had created which were able to take down Mechs if enough were used.

With blurred vision, it seemed that Hal was beginning to lose control of his own eyes to the alien that possessed him, he watched through narrowing lenses as his own body was propelled towards fallen bodies. With his heart in his throat he gulped back pure disgust and horror when he saw that there was a group of children, huddled close to where the first human weapon fire came from. He could do nothing but watch as the Skitters surrounded the children and mewled in their cat like voices. It was with terror quaking in his bones that he watched the children succumb to the spell of the Skitters and he fought to no avail when his body started to move along with the rest of the aliens. Together the pack, along with their newly acquired collection of human children moved across land towards some unknown destination, the whole way Hal felt himself become more and more lost within his own body.

As human Hal began to diminish into nothing more than a silent observer, the alien entity in his chest grew stronger. It acquired its own body (Hal's former one obviously) and it started to develop its own state of mind. Its own sense of what it must feel like to be alive.

The 'eye' was not so much an eye as it was a machine. It had been specially designed by the Overlords as a way of fully observing and monitoring the way in which humans act and behave, in their own environment, as well as when they were amongst aliens. The eye weapon was directly linked through some sort of communication system with the Overlords themselves. The Overlords had designed it as one of their more advanced types of weapons. When the eye was shot from the pellet gun from where it came, it would propel through the air and had the power to penetrate many things; including human flesh. Once the eye was within its new home, it released many tentacles which flooded the human body and entered the organs within a human body. Once the tentacles were attached to the organs they released a chemical. Not one that would kill but one that would just allow the host body to weaken. After a while the host would be so weak that the eye was in full control. The more tentacles it had, the stronger it became and the better it could protect itself from the human immune system that tried to fight it so valiantly. The Overlords had however not accounted for the fact that human bodies, when they were shot and now had a gaping wound in their chest, would try and heal the open sore. The eye which was telepathically linked to the Overlord became angry when skin began to start to scab over and invade its vision.

The 2nd Mass moved stealthily through the overgrowth, they had left camp a few hours before and had covered a fair amount of ground. Pope and some Berserkers had gone ahead to scout out the approaching area as the rest of the 2nd Mass ploughed on, tugging with them their belongings and weapons. Weaver was wary of what they were potentially walking into with this attack and he tightened his grip on his gun. Tom was walking a little distance away, Matt and Ben just beside him a little behind. Weaver smiled knowingly, he knew the feeling that a father felt to protect his children. However the weak smile soon slipped from his face when the thought of his daughter, missing, possibly dead, entered his mind. This horrific thought may have saddened him but it also resolved him in his determination to kill every last alien that walked their Earth. This was their land, their world, and they weren't about to let it go without a damn good fight.

"Good pace everyone. We'll keep it up for a couple more clicks then we can stop and rest it out a bit. Then cover some more ground before we're out of light." His voice rang commandingly over the 2nd Mass assembled around him and everyone murmured their consent.

Matt's legs had started to feel achy and numb only a short time after they had set off but a few hours into the trek they were weakening greatly. It was such an effort to pick up his feet and plod on with the rest of the group. He didn't have the energy to continue the conversation that Ben and himself had been having and he ignored his brother's low mumblings about him being rude.

Ben watched out of the corner of his eye as Matt trudged along beside him, his pace becoming increasingly slower but Ben slowed himself down too to stay belong side his younger sibling. Just as Matt's legs finally gave out Ben swooped in with his super speed reflexes and lifted him into his arms before his body had hit the floor. Quietly shaking off his father's concern he moved Matt into an easier position for carrying and rejoined the others.

Anne and Tom resumed walking when they were sure that Matt was safe in Ben's arms. The pair had their hands by their sides but occasionally, depending on their footsteps, their hands would briefly wave passed each other. When it had happened several times, Anne bit back a smile and tugged Tom's hand into her own, interlocking their fingers, turning her eyes to meet his own.

"He'll be okay Tom. We'll find a way to help him. We won't lose him after everything he's been through." Anne spoke, her voice confident, not betraying her to the uncertainty that she held in within her.

Together the 2nd Mass covered a lot of ground and were just about to stop for a break when Pope appeared from a tree shaded path just in front of them.

"We found 'em. They're two clicks north of here: bedded down for the night in their fucking creepy ass bat beds. Some Mechs are patrolling but there's a lot less than earlier. Don't know where them freaking machines are but I sent some of the boys on to go check it out. They're gonna report back when they find out and I told 'em not to engage with the bastards."

"Was Hal with them?" Maggie's voice rang out from further back in the group. Her voice was dry and rough from the tears that she'd had to swallow down. Everybody was silent as they waited on the response from Pope.

"I couldn't see for the position the Skitters were in but if he's gonna be anywhere, I'd say that would be the place I'd bet on." The reply didn't relieve Tom as much as he thought it would to know that his son was nearby, instead it made him afraid, afraid of what was to come in a very short space of time. Would they have any chance of rescuing his eldest or would it all end, for them, in one more final battle.

Hal watched through pin prick blurry eyes as the Skitters and Mechs slowed to a stop and he felt himself collapse in on himself as a Skitter came along to 'collect' him. The spider like creature picked his limp body up and proceeded towards the bridge where the other Skitters had already started to hang from to sleep.

The Skitter dropped him unceremoniously to the ground but luckily it wasn't from much of a height and Hal wasn't really able to feel pain anymore. The Skitter then proceeded to mewl and hiss in its crackling voice as it raised one of its tentacles to softly stroke the human body laid before it. Some part of Hal, a small part deep within him that he had no control over, found the mewling a soothing noise and he soon found himself drifting off into a state of unconsciousness.

Time continued at a pace that the aliens were truly unaware of and a sort of calm had fallen over them despite the terror and devastation they were responsible for inflicting upon the humans who inhabited the world in which they had invaded.

The 2nd Mass watched from their vantage point just south of the bridge where the Skitters were hanging having their bedtime nap. They'd all been shocked at how easily they'd been able to approach the aliens when they'd expected to attract attention with the sound of their footsteps however quiet they tried to be.

With silent commands to those fighters who surrounded him Weaver instructed the group of what the plan was and once everyone had nodded their understanding and consent, they all turned to observe the alien creatures as they waited for their perfect moment to attack.

So yeah, now we know a bit more about this 'eye' that's not so pleasantly stuck in Hal's chest. Ouchy. It made me feel funny just writing about it. Well I really hope this chapter was worth waiting for. Thanks for reading

PS. As I mentioned at the start of the chapter I'm moving down South tomorrow so the next chapter may not be up for sometime and I'm really sorry about this. I'll try my best to upload it sometime soon!