Falling Skies Invasion Alone

Back on the Road

It was still cold. And yet the radiator of the truck had overheated. I never really understood the ins and outs of mechanics.

Pope and Hal were arguing over the open engine of the truck whilst Maggie and I stood watch. It had been a few days since we had taken off from the hospital, since I confessed to my abilities and since Ben had left.

It still hurt. Incredibly so.

After sobbing to Anne, I had fallen asleep again, curled up in the back of the bus. But since then I hadn't really slept. I had raged, I had been rude and stand offish to everyone. I didn't want to help in the med bus, I didn't want to be around a grieving Lourdes, I didn't want Anne's comfort.

So when Hal, Maggie and Pope got ready to go off on an advanced scouting trip, I practically tripped over myself to go with them. We had been out for about a day, swapping drivers. Pope's contribution was dropping empty beer cans to lead the way for the rest of the convoy, and of course emptying the aforementioned beer cans.

But then the radiator overheated, hence the standing around in the cold.

"Look, there's a river not far from here. Why don't you and Maggie head to the water, me and Little Miss Sunshine Cassidy will stay here, try and fix this up?" Pope suggested in his usual manner- roughly and dripping with sarcasm.

I went to shrug, agree but Maggie had other ideas. "No, I'll stay here with you, Cass can go with Hal."

She wasn't leaving me alone with Pope in the middle of nowhere. I rolled my eyes at her and headed out with Hal.

For the most part, we went in silence, but just after collecting the water, Hal turned to me. i ground my teeth in anticipation of his questions.

"You doing okay?" he asked me.

"I'm a little cold." I shrugged, pretending I didn't know what he was talking about.

"I meant with Ben being gone."

I couldn't see his expression in the dark, but I guessed it was a worried one. Oh, even the mention of Ben triggered searing pains through my chest.

"I'm fine." I kept looking ahead, hand poised on my gun.

"Yeah, you sure seemed it when you practically threw yourself on the truck to get out of the convoy. I get it, not wanting to be around people. But Ben-"

"Hal." I said softly and glanced back at him. "I really don't want to talk about this. I got away from the rest of them because I didn't want to talk about it."

Hal opened his mouth again. "But-"

"No. No buts. I am angry at him. And I'm angry at myself because I'm angry at him, because I know I have no right to be pissed. And I'm sad, and hurt and goddamn it you're making me talk about it." I scraped my fingers through my hair. The more I spoke, the more my voice got wobbly, the more I felt like I was getting stabbed in the chest. I couldn't bear it.

We finished our walk quietly, but I slapped a smile back on my face as we got nearer Maggie and Pope. "Get it working?" I called, jogging up to meet them.

"Jump in and see, sunshine." Pope looked up at me with a wink. I rolled my eyes and got in the driver's seat to start the engine. After a few stalls, it turned over thankfully. Maggie got into the passenger looking straight ahead, out the windscreen. I eyed her carefully before Hal grabbed my attention, telling me where to head, back out to the main road. The time we had stopped would have risked the convoy getting ahead of us.

We were on the road maybe ten minutes and Maggie hadn't said a word.

"You alright, Mags?" I glanced over to her, tightening my hands on the wheel. The only words I got from her were an 'mm hmm', accompanied by a nod. "Mmmm, try again."