Somewhat the Beginning (A Falling Skies Fanfiction)

The Bridge

I woke up on the edge of my cot. I was laying on my side and I heard someone's soft snoring behind me. I turned on my back and looked over at Ben, whose arm was wrapped around my waist. He stirred because of my movement then woke up.

"Oh hey." He said. It took him a second to take in his surroundings. "What happened?"

"We fell asleep." I looked towards the empty cots. "Where's Matt and Hal?"

"Matt and the rest of his class had a sleepover and Hal was assigned to patrol all night."

I turned and hugged his warm chest. "What time is it?"

He held me closer "I have no idea, maybe..."

I heard someone come into the tent. "What the Hell?" Hal asked with a confused and painful look on his face. Ben and I sat up and Tom limped in.

"Whoa, what's going on here?" Tom asked bewildered.

I swung my legs onto the floor and stood up, embarrassed. "Nothing's going on here, Tom."

"That's not what it looks like." Hal said gesturing to Ben, still sitting on my cot. Ben got up and we both stood there awkwardly.

"Hal it's not what it looks like." I said, walking up to him.

"Oh yea? Then what is it?"

"After our fight I came to the tent and he was here." I gestured to Ben. "And we were talking all night and we fell asleep. That's it."

"That's it?" Tom asked.

"Like hell it is! Your arm was around her!" Hal was getting angry. "Are you trying to get back at me for yesterday?"

"What happened yesterday?" Tom asked.

"Ashley and I got in a fight. But that's not important; Ben stole her heart from me!" Hal answered. Tom looked at me.

Ben stepped in between us and I stepped back, "Just calm down bro, no need to get angry." He said.

"Who are you calling bro?" Hal got in Ben's face. "Brothers don't take each others girls!" Hal pushed Ben back.

Ben regained his footing and looked coldly at Hal and I walked over to Tom. I looked up at him, and he seemed just as worried as me.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Hal." Ben said in a monotonic voice.

Hal huffed and was starting to turn around, then he lunged at Ben. Ben caught his wrists and twisted them back, making Hal fall to the floor in pain.

"I'm not the same math geek you used to push around." Ben dropped Hal's hand and got down on his level. "Deal with it." He snarled, took me by the arm, and left the tent.

We walked out of the camp and I yanked my arm back. "Ben where are we going?"

He turned around and I saw the anger had left his face. "To get away for a bit." He slid his hand in mine and we kept walking. "I'm on patrol later today, so we won't be able to stay long."

"Stay where?" I asked.

"You'll see. It's where I go when I need to get away and think. I used to go there a lot, then you came back. I've wanted to take you here for a few weeks now." He smiled down at me and I blushed and kept looking forward.

After we were about a mile away from camp we entered a meadow. "Wow." I said quietly. The meadow was covered in green grass, with dandelions, purple honeysuckle, and various unrecognizable flowers spread across it. We walked up to a huge oak tree and I placed a hand on its trunk. "How?" I asked him.

Even though my question was vague, he knew exactly what I was asking. "It seems that even though the aliens want to get rid of mankind, they want to keep nature alive."

I ran my hand across the tree bark "It's so beautiful, everything here is." I turned around and Ben was a few inches away from me. He smiled then leaned in and kissed me. I put my arms over his shoulders and my fingers went through his hair. I broke away from his lips.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Gotta come up for air." I laughed, then I sat with my back against the tree. He sat next to me and took my hand in his. "I've been thinking..." He started, I haven't seen him this nervous before. He took a deep breath "I been thinking that since we've been getting so close, we could get more serious. In a boyfriend-girlfriend type of way. So what do you say?" He smiled a bit.

I smiled too and kissed him again. "Of course." I said after we separated. We stayed under the tree looking at the clouds and enjoying the cool wind.

"Do you hear that?" Ben asked calmly.

"What?" I couldn't hear anything but the low rustle of the leaves.

"I'm surprised you can't hear it. Did you know an advantage of being de-harnessed is the 'Superhuman powers'."

"Like what?"

"Like the strength of a man on steroids..."

I bet that's why I was able to push Hal down so easily... I thought.

"And the ability to see and hear things you couldn't before." He looked at me "Close your eyes and focus on the farthest sound you can hear, and focus on which direction it's coming from."

I did as he said and at first I heard nothing, then the sounds overwhelmed me. I heard the sway of the flowers, the crunching of leaves from ants on the tree, and I heard people at camp. Footsteps, motorcycles, even laughter.

"Wow." I said opening my eyes.

"What did you hear?"

"The flowers, ants, and people in camp; laughter."

Ben smiled. "Isn't it cool?"

"Definitely."

But it was a short-lived paradise; Ben had to scout the bridge. We got up and walked back to camp, hand in hand. Hal and Maggie were talking when we passed them; Maggie smiled at us but Hal scowled. Ben walked me to the tent and kissed me goodbye.

"See you later." I said and he left to group up with the rest of the scouts.

...

It was dark outside and it's been a day and a half since the scouts found the bridge and shot down a Beemer, which unfortunately crashed into the bridge, making it impassable. Good thing for Jamil and his quick thinking, he and a few volunteers made temporary platforms and put them into place a few minutes before we were ready to cross. Ben, Hal, Maggie, and Dai had just came back from blowing up a Beemer antenna that was across the river. Ben and I crossed the bridge and helped put fiber glass on the truck hoods to keep the heat from radiating. Pope and the Berserkers encountered a group of Mechs and skitters, it's only a matter of time until they caught up...

We heard gun shots from the other end of the bridge. "They're here" Ben said gripping his gun. We walked to the middle of the bridge.

"All non-essential personnel get across the bridge!" Weaver ordered.

We helped people across and led the trucks. There was an explosion and Tom came running out of the bus a few seconds later.

"Isn't he supposed to be restrained?" I asked. Yesterday Tom was freaking out, thinking the aliens did something to his mind while he was captive, like he was a sleeper agent. Anne found a parasite in his eye and pulled it out and put it into a jar. Tom didn't trust himself, so he made Weaver put him into restraints.

"We've got a bigger problem right now, we got to get these people safe." Ben said while helping a couple across.

I looked at Tom jump into a truck that was on fire, and he used the mounted gun to try to shoot down the incoming mech. Matt came of the bus with a gun.

"Matt!" I yelled, running to him. A skitter jumped on the truck with Tom and Matt shot him down. Tom smiled at him and gestured for him to run away. I caught up to Matt and ran back with him. We passed Ben, Weaver, and three other men were lifting the med bus from a hole in the bridge. They caught up with us and we waited for any stragglers. We ushered the civilians to the side of the road so the vehicles can line up again. We heard machine gun shots coming from the front of the bridge. There was confused chatter within the group.

"My dad's back there!" Matt yelled. He was about to go running to him, but Hal held him back.

Weaver stepped forward and yelled "Tom get the hell outa there we're gonna blow the bridge!" The gunshots slowed then ceased. Everyone stood there nervously until we saw Tom running towards us with skitters close behind. We called out for hum to hurry up while Weaver was telling Jamil to wait for his signal to press the detonator. Tom was halfway through the bridge then it blew. We looked at Jamil but he wasn't him who pressed the detonator button, it was John Pope.

...

I helped put a fiberglass cover on a truck then I walked to Ben who was doing the same thing I was on the other side of the road.

"Hey." I said.

"Hey." he sighed. It had only been about 10 minutes since the bridge blew and Tom was...lost. It was hard to accept.

"We're going to look for him, Weaver said so."

He nodded and continued working.

I went over to Hal who was talking to Matt.

I kneeled to his level "Hey Matty. You ready? We gotta get moving soon."

He nodded and I stood and faced Hal. "Look about everything earlier I am so sorry for everything that happened between us. We may not have much time alive, and I don't want to die still mad at you, and vice versa."

He nodded, "You're right. I really do love you Ashley and I don't want to lose you, and I definitely don't want you to be mad at me. So I'll forgive you on one condition: you have to forgive me first."

I agreed and we hugged. When we parted Pope walked up to Hal.

Hal looked pissed, and Pope said, "Uh listen about your old man I just wanted to...you know what he did on the bridge back there. I gotta admit he had some pretty hard bark on him."

Hal nodded then punched Pope on the side of his face. Hal was going to lunge at him, but Dai held him back while he yelled, "You saw a chance to frag him and you took it. You son of a bitch!" People were starting to gather around us.

I went to Hal "Not now, Hal, not here." Hal calmed down and Dai let him go.

I heard Ben, on the other side of the street, point his pistol towards the river and ask, "Who's there?"

Everyone quietly moved toward the river and I heard water sloshing. Then I heard Tom's voice say "Don't shoot Ben. I think once is enough." Ben and I rushed to the edge of the river to help him out. Everyone was cheering until Weaver told us to quiet down. Anne was making sure Tom was ok when Maggie and Anthony rode up. Maggie said they found an airport void of alien activity. Weaver gave the order and we left, leaving the bridge and all the pain behind.