War For The World

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Not even a single cricket seemed brave enough to chirp. The household of Amelia Weber was silent, the only noise coming from Alex as he continued to rummage through their supplies.

"Alright alright we need to get going quickly. They may very well return if they saw any of us. This place is busted"

He was a flurry, transporting rations from the house cupboard into their packs.

"Joan, hand me that satchel will you?"

The figure, stooped over the dining table grabbed the satchel beside her and thrust it his way. He quickly swiped It from her as the soldier continued to pack.

Joan had not said a word since the two had returned back inside. She'd simply found the nearest seat and sat there, staring out into the dark of the night.
She'd done this. This was her fault. These two thoughts swum around her mind and began burrowing themselves deep down like a cancer.
Her mind kept replaying that moment. The kiss, how right it had felt at the time. Her heart now ached at the thought, a stupid moment of weakness on her part that had now cost her her only child. She should have never have kissed him. She'd always known deep down that Louis was not ready to learn the truth about his father, and this moment now had only proved how right she'd been.

Louis. Her poor, innocent boy. Joan could barely function, imagining all the terrible things the beings must have been doing to her handsome young Louis up there in that tripod. Images too horrible to think of were conjured up and she sought any sort of distraction to tear her up from her realizations of the inevitability of it all.

"Joan. Did you hear me?"

She looked up, suddenly realising where she was.
"hm?"

"I said, if we get back on the road soon and move fast we might be able to reach Mittleberg by tomorrow night... give or take"

Joan felt some white-hot anger begin to build up from within her very core. This man, this soldier who had rudely dropped into her life and aided in scaring off her son into the clutches of the aliens was now expecting her to forget about Louis and continue on their trek to the underground resistance.

She couldn't do this though. Not here, not now. She had neither the energy nor the time to argue.

"Ok" she muttered, choosing not to move from her position at the head of the table.

Joan could hear the rummaging behind her stop as Alex appeared in front of her, sitting down at the table.

"I'm sorry Joan. I truly am, but there's still time to save him. If we get"-

"If we get where Alex" she spat back. It came as a surprise to Joan as well as Alex, she had planned to be calmer than this.

Alex recoiled.

"Joan. Im trying to do what's best for the boy. If we stick to our mission and get to Mittleberg we can find the resistance. They've had two weeks to develop some sort of attack, with their connections to the United States and wider world im confident they'll have some sort of plan or weapon up their sleeve"

She shook her head. He didn't understand the time restraints they were on.
"No Alex. We need to follow that tripod. Somehow get inside and get my boy back before..."

She choked up for a second, stifling back a tear.
"...before its too late"

Alex sighed. He broke his gaze on her to look down at his feet, a moment between them passed where nether one dared to speak. Both were attempting to choose their next words wisely.

"We can't save him. Not like that anyway. The resistance is our only shot now"

She stared at him with a look she'd given Louis many times before; a look that garnered the response of Im sorry mum but the vase came out of nowhere.