5Saving Ben
Chapter One
A/N: This story is set in the second season just after they start making their way to Charleston. The only differences are that Jimmy didn't die and Pope and Anthony never left the 2nd Mass.
The information that the map was providing was clear but Tom Mason continued to scour the paper looking for any possible alternatives. Despite the fact that he had seen his son Ben going out on these sorts of scouting missions before he still hated the feeling of powerlessness he experienced when he let his little boy leave without him.
It was different with Ben than with his other sons because he had already lost him once and the fear that he would loose him again was escalating every day, especially with the hard skin on his back spreading endlessly.
"There are no other options Tom." Captain Weaver stated from somewhere near the back of the tent and Tom let his eyes close briefly as he realised the Captain was right.
"He won't be going on his own." It was a statement but Weaver chose to see it as a question.
"Of course not. We'll send Jimmy with him...Lord knows the boys work well together." Weaver answered, rubbing his face as the two men finally turned to face each other.
"Alright I'll tell them to be ready to leave at nightfall." Tom agreed with only a little reluctance as he made his way out of the command tent and into the bright sunlight of midday.
The bustle of the 2nd Mass always managed to make him smile because it reminded him that humanity was still hanging on and so he was a little happier when he got to the tent he shared with his three boys.
He walked inside to see that the tent was occupied by only one of his sons but not the son he was looking for. Hal was asleep in his bunk as he had just came back from a scouting mission in which he and Maggie had found the only way through the looming mountains blocked. That passage was the only major route through for miles and it would delay the 2nd Mass by about a week on their journey to Charleston if they couldn't find a way through which Weaver claimed was unacceptable.
Tom turned to walk back out when a sleepy voice behind him called out, "Dad? What's wrong?"
The Professor turned to see his older son half out of bed ready to face whatever emergency his father would present him with and it made Tom quite proud to know how capable all of his sons were.
"Nothings wrong, I'm just looking for Ben." Tom explained, lowering the flap to the tent back down and Hal rubbed his eyes as he processed what his dad had said.
"I think he's supposed to be helping Jamil. Now things have quietened down a bit they have started working on that frequency thing again." Hal explained and Tom nodded his understanding.
"OK thanks Hal, you go back to sleep." Tom was out of the tent as soon as he finished speaking without giving Hal any time to respond, not that the boy wanted to as, as soon as his father was out of sight he collapsed back onto his bed and was asleep instantly.
"What about now?"
"Sorry, nothing." Ben answered apologetically despite the fact that it wasn't his fault they were having no success.
Jamil nodded his head wearily and fiddled with the dials on the small radio in front of them. After a few moments he looked expectantly at the younger boy who simply shook his head and Jamil let out a deep sigh.
"How's it going?" Tom queried as he walked into the tent where they were working. If Ben was startled by the sudden appearance he didn't show it whereas Jamil nearly fell off his stool but tried to pass it off as him meaning to leave to give the two family members some privacy. It fooled neither of the Mason men but they kindly let him walk out with his pride intact by not mentioning it.
"What are you doing here Dad?" Ben asked with a small smile.
Tom returned the smile as he pulled out a stool next to his son, sat down and explained, "Weaver wants you and Jimmy to take a trip out to the mountains to the south at nightfall tonight for a little scouting."
Ben instantly hardened his face as he started to try and think like a soldier. "What are we scouting for?"
Tom tried to keep the proud glint out of his eyes at his son's obvious efforts and replied, "You need to try to find a way through the mountains for the whole 2nd Mass. Hal told us that the main route on the map has been blocked by a landslide and we want to see if there are any other routes not mapped out."
Ben nodded as he thought through his mission, already making some plans as to what he and Jimmy would do when they got out there. "Can you do that?" Tom asked when Ben seemed to be lost in thought for a while.
"Yes Sir." Ben responded with a grin that his father matched.
"Ben I'm not sure we should be around here, Hal and Maggie already reported that this is blocked off so aren't we wasting our time?" Jimmy asked his partner as he carefully scanned the surrounding area for any signs of movement in the dark.
"This will save us time if I could get this route clear. We can't even guarantee that we will will find another passage large enough for the 2nd Mass to pass through but we know this one is." Ben explained to the younger boy as he looked at the valley between the two mountains that Weaver had been expecting to pass through.
It was easily 100 metres wide but had piles of dry rock piled almost 3 metres high in some areas. There was no way to travel through via the surrounding mountains as they were too steep to allow any of the vehicles to get through.
"OK, well...lets at least get a closer look at this thing so we can see if they are too heavy even for you super boy." Jimmy asked with just a hint of teasing tacked on at the end.
Ben smiled as he nodded and moved forward to lead them both down to the edge of the blockage. They both remained alert until they got close enough to the rock, at which point Ben gave his gun to Jimmy who continually scanned the area whilst Ben worked on the rock.
He picked a smallish rock to start with, because he didn't want it to be too heavy even for him and then he would end up throwing his back out. He would never hear an end to the old man jokes from Hal. To his delight he found that he had no more trouble picking up the rock than anyone would have picking up an empty cardboard box. It was bulky but not heavy.
He dropped the rock off to the side and then went back but this time he chose one of the heaviest looking ones to make sure he could in fact clear the whole thing. It was far heavier than the last and Ben found he had to exert himself far more but he was able to move that rock off to the side with relatively little difficulty as well.
Jimmy took the opportunity to look back at the older boy and they shared a smile knowing how happy this was going to make everyone back at the 2nd Mass.
By the time the sun started to rise, the boys had been out for several hours and Jimmy was getting jumpy to say the least. It started getting worse as the rising sun cast shadows on everything making even the mundane things look like a vicious Skitter.
He had said several times over the last hour that they should go back and that Ben could finish the job the following night but Ben kept reminding him how long the 2nd Mass had been camping under the latest overpass. They had been there too long already and they needed to get moving as soon as possible meaning the pass had to be clear as soon as possible.
Jimmy relented to his best friend's judgement but he still felt uneasy when the sun had fully risen as Ben was working on hauling the final rocks from their position.
In the daylight it was now easy to see what had caused the landslide and it was obvious that it had been intentional. The side of one of the mountains had scorch marks across it and great empty areas where the rocks had fallen from. It just made Jimmy more uncomfortable to know that the aliens had probably blocked the route for the very reason of trapping humans behind those mountains.
"Nearly done Ben?" Jimmy called out as quietly as possible, still not taking his weary eyes of the landscape.
"Ben?" When the other teenager didn't answer, Jimmy turned around to see Ben stood next to the final rocks, stock still and staring into the distance. The younger boy moved towards him a few steps before he heard something he had realised he had missed in his exhaustion.
Mech roars.
Jimmy felt a second of indecision as he queried over whether to run to his best friend or to look around for the threat. Before he could decide, Ben turned to him and his eyes widened in fear at something that was over Jimmy's shoulder. The brunette boy didn't even have a chance to raise his weapon before he felt a sharp shooting pain in the back of his head and everything went dark.
Jimmy woke up alone and he scrambled to find his gun which was exactly where he had dropped it. The sun was significantly higher in the sky now, telling him that he had been knocked out for a while and it was immediately obvious that Ben was nowhere nearby. He tried to dampen down his panic as he searched the vicinity of the rubble but soon he realised exactly what had happened.
Ben had been taken by the skitters. Again.
He ran. Flat out as fast as he could, all the way back to camp and arrived there fifteen minutes later, panting and out of breathe. The sentries immediately let him through as they were all aware that the two boys had been out on a mission and hadn't come home at the designated time.
Jimmy ran straight to the command post and into what looked like the preparation for a search team. Weaver, Tom, Hal, Maggie and Dai were stood around a map with Weaver clearly in the middle of issuing orders but he stopped the second he saw the young boy.
"Jimmy, where the hell have you been?" Weaver asked with real concern for the boy.
"Where's Ben?" Tom asked with the fear in his eyes that he had seen in the eyes of many parents since the invasion.
"Taken...Skitters!" Jimmy managed to pant out before falling against the side of the tent and sitting down on the ground, desperately trying to regain his breath.
Almost as soon as his butt hit the ground, Hal had hauled him back up onto his feet and practically growled into his face, "What happened?"
"Calm down Hal." Tom ordered, laying a calming hand on the shoulder of his oldest son. The boy did but only slightly though he did release his hold on Jimmy.
"Ben was clearing away the landslide...he was trying to get it done in one night so that we could move out sooner...we stayed out too long and..." Jimmy had been struggling to catch his breath but he paused at the end because he was feeling guilty.
"And what Jimmy?" Weaver questioned in a calm voice.
Jimmy couldn't take his eyes off his own feet as he murmured, "And we got sloppy."
The anger in the room was practically tangible and Jimmy felt his remorse escalate. He was surprised however when he felt a hand on his own shoulder and looked up into the warm brown eyes of Tom Mason.
"We'll get him back." Tom asserted with certainty that nobody else in the room felt.
"We don't know where they took him Tom, it could be a number of places. We don't have time to search everywhere for him." Weaver tried to explain in a gentle voice that was very unusual for him.
Tom looked around desperately for a few moments as he tried to come up with a way to not leave his son behind again. An idea seemed to come upon him in an instant.
"We'll go back to the landslide area and follow the valley through then see if we can pick up tracks on the other side. They can't have come back towards us without our guard spotting them because the area is too narrow." Tom proposed excitedly. It sounded like a good plan in theory but even something as small as not finding any tracks could stop them from finding Ben.
Weaver calculated the situation in his mind but soon realised that there was nothing he could do or say that would stop Tom from trying to find his son so he needed to support the man.
"Tom take these three with you and report back when you find where ever it is these things have taken him." Weaver ordered and Tom and the others quickly agreed all except for Jimmy.
"Wait I don't get to go with them?" Jimmy asked astounded.
"You're exhausted soldier and you've just come back from a mission, not to mention the wound on the back of you're head that is currently ruining my floor." Weaver replied in a firm tone that left no room for argument.
Jimmy gingerly touched the back of his head and found that his wound was dripping blood and so he had no choice but to nodded dejectedly and follow the rest of the fighters out of the command post. Instead of going towards the weaponry however, he made his way to find Dr Glass to get his head stitched up.
"Have to admit he did a damn good job." Hal huffed out as he and Dai hauled the final rock away to the side of the pass.
"Yeah this block was nearly 3 metres high yesterday." Maggie added as she inspected the surrounding area for any alien activity.
"The pass is cleared but at what cost?" The professor asked rhetorically as they all mounted their bikes again and set off through the valley. By the time they started to see signs that they were almost at the other side, they got off their bikes and started to walk so that the noise didn't attract any unwelcome guests.
When the mountains opened up in front of them, Hal immediately looked towards the ground for any sign of Skitter or Mech tracks but before he got a chance Maggie put her hand on his arm and said, "Look up Hal."
The four fighters stood with their mouths wide open at the sight before them and each immediately comprehended the difficulty of the task before them.
"We are on the other side of the mountains now so the map would say that that city is Wilmington right?" Dai asked of nobody in particular.
"Yes, I would think so. They did say that they put one of those things up over every major city." Tom answered and nobody could take their eyes off the massive four legged alien structure in front of them, looming over the city of Wilmington like a dangerous predator.
Nobody had any doubt as to where they had taken Ben.