FREEFALLING

9

It turns out that the harnessed kid was sent by the rebel leader, which ultimately pissed me off. He just wouldn't leave me alone, would he? I learned later, since the rebel leader chose to speak through Ben, that there was an unmanned facility nearby, that they were planning to attack. Only humans could enter, since the rebels would be identified by their harnesses. Charleston, being their stubborn, self-centered selves, decided against it.

So, we were going anyway.

So the 2nd Mass decided to be rebellious for once, what's so wrong with that? As we stood around the trucks in the underground parking garage, I held my rifle firmly in hand. I stared down at my hands, which were oddly clean. I felt as if that shower I had first taken had taken something away from me, funny, right? Charleston was really off, and the 2nd Mass was officially back on the grid.

I climbed into a Jeep with Ben, his fingers interlocked with mine. It was a long, silent drive in the back seat of that Jeep. The rigid air made my fingers go numb, but Ben's stayed perfectly warm. 

By the end of the car ride, I was cuddled up into his chest, gathering looks from Hal and Maggie, but mostly Hal. Why was Hal looking at me like that? I quickly looked away from his piercing gaze, realizing that the lights switched off as we crept closer. We were still pretty far from the structure, whatever it was. With anything that the aliens built, it was hard to tell its purpose. It seemed to be some kind of extra-large laser beam of some sort. Well, that's the closest thing I can come up with anyhow.

I started walking on the road towards the thing, but stopped walking as I looked over to see Ben and the rest of the gang headed in the other direction. I slowly headed over to them, and Ben finally came up behind me as he whispered in my ear,

"We're heading in through the caves."

I nodded, and as we went underground, it was at least twenty minutes before we came to an opening. I was thankful that I wasn't claustrophobic, but I still had small scratches all over my hands from the cavern walls. As they set the C-4 up on the inner wall, we all ducked back as we waited for Dai to continue on with the explosion. Stepping back towards the wall, I hid my head in Ben's jacket as the loud noise ricocheted within the walls. The Skitters would be here in a matter of minutes

We slid in, and saw the usual steaming colors of orange and yellow that was emitted by the harness facilities. It pulsated up through a concentrated tube that released up into the sky. Why was it aimed at the sky? They had already wiped out the air force. Trying my best to concentrate on the mission, we continued inside, scanning the area. They started setting up explosives all around the place, and everything was going smoothly until the Skitters came. We frantically shot around, shooting this way and that way, but the Overlord and Karen arrived soon enough. Skitters had headlocked certain members, myself being one of them. I shot a terrified look over to Ben, who was keeping his cool. Then things got tangled up.

Literally. 

We were being hung from the black coils in the center of the facility, and as I craned my neck up, all I could see was black, and dots that I assumed to be the stars. I was flooding the words that Karen spoke out of my ears, because I couldn't stand her in all honesty.

"Don't listen to her, she's just trying to—" Ben started. Karen was taunting us, and a coil quickly wrapped around his mouth. I shrieked out, but that only gathered an evil grin from Karen.

"We've tried to be so patient with you, Tom." Karen sighed. "But he's finding you to be a constant nuisance."

"I'm glad to be of service." Tom shot back. My concentration was on Ben. I couldn't quite reach him, struggling to reach the floor. They had dangled me at a frustrating distance above the ground, and I couldn't get nearly as close to Ben as I would have liked. As I struggled and wriggled against the coils, a Skitter dug the barrel of his weapon into my back. I grunted, seeing Ben's eyes widen, and then laid limp, silent.