Falling Skies Invasion Alone

Bonfire

"Shot. Again." I groaned through gritted teeth.

Anne's fingers were currently inside my shoulder, fetching out a bullet put inside me by a harnessed kid so progressed that I couldn't tell if it was a little boy or girl. They were more zombie like than human.

As far as I had experienced, I could heal but not when there was something foreign in me. I had to remove it before I could heal up.

I was the last to be seen that night. I was non emergency, but there were others, like Lars, who were on their deathbeds. I didn't mind waiting.

"You gotta stop blocking bullets with your body." Ben sighed when he saw me. "You never hear of a crouch function?"

"Oh, if only real life was like a video game." I sighed, putting my head back on the pillow. Anne pulled out the bullet from my flesh and started wiping away by dripping blood.

"I am getting concerned about how many times you're lying in this hospital bed." Anne muttered under her breath, applying pressure on the gaping wound. I shrugged as best I could with one shoulder.

"I'm not here for any length of time, Anne." I sighed. "And I'm healing faster and smoother."

"I don't think the saying 'practise makes perfect' works in this case, Cass." Ben folded his arms and looked at me.

"I'm alive. And so is Doctor Kadar. That's what my job was." I could feel the bleeding stop, so I gently pushed Anne's hands away. She dropped onto one hip and stared into the wound glumly. "I'm fine."

My words took her attention up to my eyes and she nodded gently. My hand reached out for Ben and he helped me up from the bed; one hand in mine and the other on my back, supporting me as I stood.

"Your hands are freezing." Ben told me. He clutched my hand in between his two palms and tried to heat me up, whilst looking at Anne in concern.

She shrugged her shoulders, tiredly. "All her body's work and energy is going to the wound."

"Basically, I'm an old woman and have poor circulation." I explained to him. "Come on, they're waiting for us."

With a glance back to our doctor, who was staring off into space with wide eyes, we left the cubicle and headed outside. Our plan to have a miniature bonfire with our friends was still in action. Denny had stopped in to see me before Anne had a chance to pull the bullet out to tell us that they would get us in one of the abandoned houses we had begun frequenting, trying to help fix up. Obviously not the one Matt and his little friends had blown up.

"Go slow, Cassie." Ben tugged at my good arm. "They'll still be sitting there even if it takes us an extra few minutes. Watch your arm."

I rolled my eyes at his concern, but I loved it really. I loved that he cared, that he was concerned. I ignored the slight jolt of pain that shot through my shoulder when I leaned towards Ben and pressed my cheek against his shoulder. "I'm kind of worried." I admitted.

His dark eyebrows tensed for a second when he looked down at me. "What about?"

"Anne. Lexi." His silence prompted me to go on. "Anne's so far away just now. I spoke to her yesterday afternoon and I just thought she was tired, being vague about the baby. But today, she was just fuzzy."

Though we kept walking, he was studying me intently as I spoke. "What are you thinking?"

I shook my head and stood up away from him. "I don't know. Maybe she's just tired. I think it's kind of a curse being a mom and a doctor." With his quizzical look I replied. "She's so aware of every little thing that could go wrong. I would hate it."