you saved me → falling skies [on hold]

four |✧

• chapter four •
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Jess was sitting on a ledge looking at a photo that had Jason and her at a carnival.

"Hey," Ben smiled while walking over to her.

"Hey," she smiled up at him, while putting the photo away.

"Thank you, by the way, for standing up for me," He spoke, sitting next to her.

"All good. There's always gonna be dicks in the world to stand up to, " Jess sighed.

"You coming with us?" He asked.

"Yeah, they insisted since I'm 16." Jess groaned.

"I had no choice in the matter, cause of my dad,"

"He's a good guy, at least your brothers will be there too," Jess slightly smiled at him.

Ben looked ahead of him then back at Jess. "Who was that in your photo anyway?"

Jess tensed up and stiffened her shoulders. "Um,"

"Sorry, you don't have to say," He quickly spoke.

"It's okay," Jess took a breath, "it's my younger brother, Jason," Jess handed him the photo. "He died in the invasion, while they were trying to get me,"

"I'm so sorry," Ben looked down, thinking about if he lost his little brother. "I couldn't imagine going through that,"

"It's okay, really," Jess took a break and stood up and looked ahead, the kids were getting ready to leave. "We better get going, don't want to be left behind," Jess turner around and held out a hand for Ben. He had a small smile and took her hand and they walked over to the group.

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They were walking on a road when Clayton directed them into the forest and then they eventually reached the sanctuary called "The Hidden Frontier Ranch,"

"Dream house," Jess scoffed with a smile.

"Definitely," Ben smiled with a chuckle.

"All right. Good work. Let's get everybody to bed and we'll do the tour in the morning." Clayton told the kids and directed them inside.

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It was the next day and all the kids were playing football, Jess sat on the sideline, watching.

"Jimmy! Here! I'm open I'm open! Jimmy!" Ben yelled waving his hands in the air. Jimmy looked at him but didn't pass him the ball and kept going which eventually scored the other team a goal. Jess furrowed her brows but clapped a bit. Ben jogged over to her.

"Hey, you gonna join in? Kinda need the help." He huffed with a smile.

"Yeah, football isn't really my thing." Jess shook her head.

"Come on, we need to help,"He grabbed her hand and dragged her to the field.

"Ben, really, I rather watch," Jess tried to pull back.

"Come on, what do you have to lose," He said a loud.

"Fine," Jess whined. They kept on playing and to her surprise, Jess scored them 2 goals. They left the game and the score was 5 – 8.

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It was dinner time and they were all gathered at the dinner table. Jess was hugging her one of her knees with one hand on the seat while eating dinner. She sat next to Ben then Clayton and his friend came in and joined the table.

"I'm eating my vegetables like a champion," Hal chuckled.

"Thought I heard some commotion out there," Jess asked.

"One of the sentries thought he saw a coyote," Clayton replied.

"You guys defiantly have a different scale of problems out here," Mike scoffed with a small smile.

"Yeah, you get used to it after a while," Clayton replied, putting some rice on his plate.

"What's the matter, Rick, not hungry?" Clayton asked. Rick had an expressionless look on his face.

"Tell you what, when your old man and I were posted together, he could not stop talking about you," Clayton smiled.

"Don't worry, mostly good stuff." Mike spoke patting Rick's back.

"And what good stuff would that be? How I was sick all the time? How I could barely catch my breath?" Rick spoke in monotone. Jess looked at Rick while putting a spoon of rice in her mouth.

"How can you eat their food?" Rick spoke looking at Ben. Jess slowly pulled out her spoon, looking at Ben and Rick.

"Excuse me?" Ben spoke. Ben got up and walked away.

"Ben," Jess looked up, and scoffed at Rick and got up and followed Ben.

Jess knocked on the door and pushed it open.

"Hey," Jess spoke softly. Ben looked up. "You okay?" Jess asked, while taking a seat next to him.

"I'm just tired of being treated differently," Ben spoke turning to face me.

"I get it, trust me I do," Jess took a breath.

"I spent the last couple of months with those things, then getting unhooked. And now everything's different. I'm different." Ben looked down. "I just want things to go back to the way they used to be,"

"Maybe one day, when we finally, take down these things. But right now, it's going to be tough, so you got to be tougher." Jess placed her hand on top of his. "We'll get through this together,"

Ben looked at her, and smiled. Admiring her vulnerability, the pure goodness in her eyes.
Right there, he knew that she wasn't going anywhere, and that they'll have each other's backs.

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The small group were all asleep in the one room. Hal, Rick, Lourdes, Ben, Matt, Jimmy and Mike. Until Hal woke them up.

"Hey, wake up, we got a go, Clayton made a deal with the Skitters," He rushed.

"What?" Jess sat up.

"No time to explain, we have to move," Hal helped her up and handed her, her backpack.

Jess placed her pack on and checked her gun, she put it in the back of her jeans. They all went downstairs and Tessa, Clayton's daughter was in the kitchen.

"Hal, what are you doing?" Tessa asked.

"Clayton made a deal with the Skitters, tell me you don't know about this," Hal asked sternly.

"I-I was gonna talk to them about you, fix it, so only you could stay," Tessa spoke. Hal backed away.

"Go, go," Hal repeatedly spoke.

"They're never gonna let you leave!" Tessa yelled. "Dad! Dad!" Tessa yelled. "Dad wake up! They're leaving!"

They ran down the stairs and ran outside. Jess grabbed out her gun, waiting for Hal and Rick to catch up.
They eventually did, but then there was a single gunshot in the distance.

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Alrighty, sorry for the late updates, trying to stay on top of everything at the moment.
love ya all xo