Fallen

Chapter One

I was late. So, so late.

"Dad?" I yelled down the hallway of our new apartment, not sure where he was. No answer. "Dad!"

"What?" Dad called from his office. His computer chair squeaked as he pushed himself away from the desk. I rolled my eyes, of course he was there. He lived there most days.

"Where's my hat?" It had to be somewhere but I couldn't find it. Rarely was I ordered to wear my Alliance uniform. When I packed it, I remember putting it in the particular box that was in front of me in case I needed to wear it.

"Well if you actually unpacked," Dad yelled back.

I rolled my eyes again.

Three weeks passed since Ben and I returned from our quest where we trekked through the Wasteland to reach Vegas.

For a week, we stayed in Chicago because of Ben's twenty-two hour surgery to fix his lung from Liam's bullet. After the surgery, Ben had slept most days and nights due to the drugs. When he did wake, he was loopy and didn't comprehend what was going on around him. It took a while before he finally woke and was coherent.

When Ben was at last able to fly, he was moved to the York Military Hospital. Though Dad got this apartment, I had slept in the hospital the first few nights after returning to the city.

I didn't stay at the hospital entirely for Ben. My own injuries had forced me into full body work-up with Dr. Hunt. He had checked my nose and cleaned my fingernail that was ripped off by my new friend Murphy. It took hours for Dr. Hunt to check every injury I received dating back to when I injured my knee during the Mountain Simulation.

Dad's steps thudded down the hallway toward the kitchen where I was kneeling over a box.

"Since Ben is home and doing better, I will be coming here more often," I said looking at Dad.

Dad raised an eyebrow. He knew full well that I had a bedroom in the Palace that was across Ben's. I had slept there the past few nights after Ben was able to, at last, come home.

"I will believe that when I see it." Dad walked around me and the large dining table to the door. "Hurry up, we are going to be late."

"But my hat!" I continued to look through the box. Despite Dad living here for two weeks, he had not unpacked either. But he was like me, his time was spent elsewhere. Much of his time spent in his new office at the York Alliance Headquarters.

Dad stood by the open door, he watched me as he tapped his watch.

Glaring at him, I flipped the box over, the contents inside littered the floor. There it was! I grabbed the hat that was hidden underneath the rest of my clothes. "Okay, okay. I'm ready." I pulled on the hat and walked around the mess I had made.

"A skirt? You really decided to go with a skirt?" Dad questioned me as I closed the door behind us.

"I couldn't find my uniformed pants," I explain, walking the few steps to the elevator door.

"They should be in the box of clothes where your hat was." Dad clicked the elevator down button. He turned to me with an eyebrow raised to quietly judge me. I didn't like the skirts and Dad knew that. Skirts didn't look professional, I looked like an old world flight attendant.

The elevator door opened with a ding. "Hey, don't judge," I snapped, we entered the elevator.

Another man stood inside. He wore a work suit and a frown. His face said enough, he was upset the elevator dared to stop to pick us up.

But I wasn't surprised to see him with a frown. The apartment complex was a tall skyscraper where most of the residences are wealthy businessmen, politicians, and other high ranked military officers. The building was located close to the Palace and Military headquarters for convenience. If the woman who had birthed me wasn't a two-faced bitch, and hadn't stranded Dad and I in the Lake Region, the apartment we now occupied is a place I imagined we would have lived in.