First Rule: Survival → Falling Skies

Chapter 2: Live and Learn or Lose and Die

The 2nd Massachusetts stops by at a pick-stop store. The people scavenge for anything they could find; food, water, and gas. David and Ericka stand on top of an abandoned foot mart while everyone else is looking for something.

David adjusted his scope while Ericka read a book. Her leg hangs onto the ledge. "Since when did we have Twenty Thousand Leagues?" David asked Ericka.

"I just got this before we left Boston," Ericka replied. 

David continues to watch over the fields and the areas that are seen through his scope. "Hey Ericka," he calls back her attention again. "Remember the time when Mom and Dad took us to Orlando on your sixteenth birthday and that when you wanted to go for the rides..."

"Yes...yes..." Ericka sighed. "I remember. I distinctively remember every single ride that got me sick and I wasn't feeling so well." Ericka looks at the sky and thinks back to the day when she and her family went to Orlando to enjoy the beaches and the rides. "I couldn't believe that my stomach wasn't enough."

David gives a short snort of amusement. Ericka puts a smile on her face. "Those were really good times," he said.

"Like the time when I was getting ready for prom and when I was invited by my friends to attend the Senior year after-prom party, you couldn't stop looking and flirting with all the girls there," Ericka recalled. "I swear, you were hitting on my best friend so much that she told me to make you stay away."

"I couldn't help it," David whined. "This was the beginning of my high school, and I wanted to get even." David gives her a smug look that shows how coquettish he is to the woman now that he's hit puberty. "And I'm sure that you would be interested to know that I'm starting to see the beauty inside Lourdes." Ericka couldn't help but smile so currishly at her brother's desire.

"You know Lourdes is feeling more for Hal than you, right?"

"Screw Hal," David added, shaking his head. "That son of a bitch is lucky. Almost every chick in the 2nd Mass falls for him, but he has Karen and she is a cheerleader. I mean, c'mon, why don't I ever get the woman around?"

Ericka holds two fingers in the air to prove her brother some pointer tips. "One: you're a womanizing scumbag. Two; you're still the same immature little brother I had who is just about to turn sixteen." Ericka reminded.

Like Ericka, David holds a finger to defend himself. "Okay, first of all, I am not a womanizing scumbag," David argued. "I just happen to enjoy the presence of the opposite sex, that is all." He held a second finger. "Second of all, I've already hit puberty and that is where boys at my age like me start to see the wonders of adulthood."

Ericka rolls her eyes in disbelief. "You have no idea how hard adulthood is," she muttered under her breath.

While he and Ericka both sat up there talking about some things that are personal, a female voice calls them from down below. "Hey, you two!" David and Ericka both look down and see a gorgeously beautiful blonde teenage girl looking up at them. "Shouldn't you be looking out for enemy patrol?"

"Hey, Karen," David said with a smug look on his face. "How's it hanging down there?"

"How's it hanging up there?" Karen countered.

"I've got this," David complied. "I've got visual of over 300 yards of our area and obviously, I can see nothing."

"I just need a break, Karen," Ericka added. "I'll get back on it in five minutes, what do you need?"

"Well, once we're done here, Tom needs one more volunteer to find some more food," Karen informs them. "Would any of you like to come with us?"

David pulls his bipod back up and straps on his rifle. "Yeah, I'm on it," David complied before he walked to the ladder to get off the roof. Ericka was sure that David was resembling their dad. "Ericka, I'm heading out again, so be a dear and watch the babies until I return." he teased. Ericka couldn't help but snort at her brother and turn toward him.