Odd One Out/Falling Skies fanfic

Chapter Four

I woke up. I was lying down and saw bright lights above me. I felt exhausted, but at least my head wasn't aching as much. The noises in my head had went quiet, but were still there. I was trying to wake up so hard. The lights were so bright!

I tried to get up. But I couldn't. And, it wasn't because I was weak. I looked down and saw that I was strapped to the bed. This reminded me of that time in the hospital … when I'd had the fit.

I fought to get out of the restraints, but couldn't. They were really tight. After about 30 tiresome seconds of tossing and turning, I stopped and looked around. There were blue curtains around me, surrounding me in a rectangle of curtains, and I realised I must have been in a hospital of some kind. Then, the curtain directly in front of my bed was pulled open. Colonel Weaver and another man walked inside. Directly behind them was Maggie.

“My name is Tom Mason” the man said. “I am the President of the New United States” he said and I just stared. I ironically pulled my hands up so the fact I was tied down was abundantly clear. I looked at him condescendingly, and didn't care about what repercussions the fact he was the President would have on me. They said they would bring me to safety and then tied me to a hospital bed. I had to at least rate them on hospitality. So far, not very good ratings...

“I think you know why you're restrained” he said and I just stared. For how long it was unclear; it may have been seconds or minutes, but neither of us gave up. At that point, Maggie popped in and decided to … assist my understanding of the situation, so to speak.

“You just got up and told the Skitters to go away and they did. They listened to you. And your eyes went neon blue. When they left, your nose started bleeding and you started speaking some gibberish. And then you passed out.” she said, and I didn't know what to do. What?

“You know, you people must be colour-blind” I said in my defence. “My eyes are brown. They have always been brown! And I just this moment woke up. I'd blacked out with Ben. I just got a shooting pain through my head.” I said and realised that they were actually listening very carefully … they just didn't believe me.

“You were willing to go with Karen” said Weaver. “Maybe Karen knew that we wouldn't give you up to her and just wanted to make sure you had established contact. And, if we did hand you over, you were going to be handed over to her anyway, so no harm done. Maybe you don't think that we saw you when you told them to go away. I don't know. But I know for a fact that you may be a danger to us.” he said and continued to look at me as though I was some alien.

“I'm telling you that I'm for real. Did you find Brandon? Did you go the rendezvous point? Was he there? I don't even care I'm ties up as long as he is OK.” I said and awaited a response.

“How do we even know Brandon existed?” said a voice in the background. All of a sudden, a woman appears. “I'm Marina Peralta. And, I'll come straight out and say I don't trust you.”

“Brandon is real!” I screamed to the top of my lungs. “You need to find him. He's my brother-”

“Whom no-one has yet seen. The only person who can actually verify his very existence is your brother since you had no companion. And, to be honest, that alone sounds fishy to me.” she continued. I didn't really know her, but she was getting on my nerves. Why would I lie? About my brother? Why would I.... THE FRUSTRATION!

“I can assure you that I have a brother. The fact you don't believe me really doesn't bother me. I don't know what you people think you saw, but it's not-” I said and crippled over, as much as I could in the restraints, as my head was just killing me. I could hear voices, people talking.

“Are you alright?” Maggie said as she approached the bed. At that point, Weaver held her back. And then … I heard something. But this wasn't in my head. At least I didn't think it was. I heard a familiar voice. 'There was a fight in the bar. It's not my fault, I was trying to stop it Lourdes. And of course, I became collateral damage. As always.' Who was it? I hadn't heard that voice in a while. I looked to the side where the voice was coming from, but instead of seeing who was speaking, I caught a glimpse of an unconscious Ben Mason. Tom looked to the direction I was looking and closed the curtain behind him.

“Is he not awake yet?” I asked, not paying to much attention to the voice I heard.

“No.” he answered bluntly, and I feared he may have blamed me for whatever happened to Ben.

“You know, he passed out the same moment I did. I got a shooting pain in my head and just went over. I can't remember anything you say I did after that. I promise you that much. But has he not woken up yet?” I said worried. The guy who had been so nice to me was unconscious. Was it my fault?

Tom looked to Weaver, probably for guidance. He then looked into my eyes; looked really deep, trying to figure out if I was saying the truth. After looking at me for a while I heard that man again. 'I guess that a person can't get some help around these parts unless you're a Mason' he said, and Tom looked to the direction where it was coming from. At this point I decided to ask.

“Who is that? I feel like I've heard that voice before.” I said to Tom, who looked back at me in surprise.

“Wait, what did you say your name was again?” he said, and something seemed to click in his head.

“Tanya.” I repeated.

“And you have a brother called Brandon?”

“Well, we haven't established that -” said Marina but was interrupted by Tom.

“And you come from Florida?” he asked again.

“Ye-e-e-s” I answered with a delay, trying to see where he was going with it.

“Are you by any chance related to John Pope?” he asked, and Maggie, Weaver and Marina looked at each other, Maggie looking shocked.

“Yes. How did you...” I said and the words just stopped. That was the person who was talking. My dad. John Pope, my own blood was alive. I hadn't spoken to him for years before the invasion, and the two years after. Would he even recognise me if he saw me.

Tom popped his head out of the curtain, and looked to his left, where the voice was coming from. He looked back at me, and pursed his lips.

“I'll be right back. Just one second, OK?” he asked and I just nodded, only then realising that I was tearing up.

“Pope...” I heard in the background. He was talking to my dad.