Falling Skies Invasion Alone

Adjustment

I was overwhelmed. I hadn't been in an enclosed area with so many people in years. Charleston was underground. They had this whole community thing going on, hundreds of people; army and civilians.

Once we had been picked up, we collided with the rest of the second Mass and were led away. The new USA was situated...in a shopping mall. There were escalators and everything. Our welcome was enthusiastic on the whole, but individually, there was definitely some frost going on.

I sat across from Matt as we ate the first good meal in what felt like centuries. We had eaten pretty well when we were at the hospital but it was nothing like the food given to us that night. Fresh fruit and vegetables and bread. It tasted other worldly.

"Do you think they'll let me have a gun still?" Matt asked me. Anne and Tom were sitting next to us too but his question was definitely aimed at me. I swallowed my mouthful and stopped my fork halfway up to my mouth.

"Well. I guess there'll be some sort of school you could go to, so I don't imagine you'd need a gun, Matty." I watched him. His eyes were roaming all over the canteen, seeing all these new people. Matt had been the only person who I hadn't snapped at since Ben had left. He was hurting even more than I was.

"That would be cool. Being with other kids." He shrugged. Kids running past caught his attention and he asked his dad if he could go and play.

"See ya." I smiled as he left. I pulled off my jacket and pushed my sleeves up. It was so much warmer inside the complex. That was something I was relishing in. It was only when my scar on my forearm came into view I started to panic.

"Hey, you're not going to tell anyone about me, right?" I said suddenly, turning to Tom and Anne. They both had their mouths full and looked at each other, caught off guard by my quiet outburst.

Nobody else had been told about my encounter with another type of alien; the only people who were in the know were those I had told, personally. Matt didn't know. It would have been too hard for him to deal with; trying to come to terms with it, and still get that I was the same me.

Tom finished swallowing and turned to me. "We're not going to tell anyone who doesn't need to know, Cassidy. And so far, the only people who need to know are those you've told yourself."

I relaxed a little. "Okay. Good. Thank you."

"But maybe this would be a good time to run some tests on you. I'll do it quietly. It'll just give me the chance to examine your blood, see if there's any idiosyncrasies." Anne offered, wary she would be shot down.

But I nodded. "Yeah. Just say when."

At that someone called Tom's name and we were introduced to Manchester, the apparent President of our new United States.

Soon after he had left us, we were ordered- and I mean ordered- to gather. They were trying to take our weapons and assign us beds all throughout the complex. Obviously there was uproar with the 2nd Mass. These were people who were basically a family, relied on each other and their weapons for their own survival.

"Shit's gonna go down." I muttered to Maggie who stood beside me.

"Yeah, I don't think a lot of these people have been without a weapon since the invasion hit." Maggie's voice was low as Tom tried to negotiate and Weaver appeared. "You giving yours up?" she asked.

"I'll keep the knives." I pulled my jacket closer to me and hiked my bag up on my bag. "They can take the guns."

Eventually we were all separated. I swiped a book on my way to the dorms I was assigned. Dracula. Nice. I climbed into the bunk I had been assigned, surrounded mostly by people I didn't know. There was no chance of me getting sleep alone in that bunk, so I set myself up in the corner of the mattress, propped up against the wall with Maggie's blanket wrapped around me and read Dracula. I was barely into the second chapter when a line stuck with me. 'There is a reason why all things are as they are.'