Evolution/Episode 4

"All That Matters" is the fourth episode of season one and the fourth episode of Evolution overall. It was released on 6th April 2017.

Previously On...
(Enter different scenes of the previous episode to serve as flashbacks.)

Having decided upon a desperate plan in order to protect the President from Alien forces, General Edward put Dannisha in charge of leading all of the Hayes hotel's current fighting force to the nearest military base to save the President only for Dannisha and her forces to end up trapped in the base as well, one man being their only hope of escape. Meanwhile William and his two best friends Anthony and Logan went on a small hunting trip in order to find their missing family which led William on trips down memory lane until his reunion with the love of his life, Bella while three teenagers managed to sneak out of the hotel on a trip into Charleston, leaving Victoria and the remaining teenagers to head out after them.

Synopsis
With the Aliens having surrounded them, the soldier presence of Charleston's military base are pinned into a corner and have only one desperate chance to escape before it is too late as Victoria has to put the skills her parents have taught her to the test as she is not only charged with guiding her friends through a Alien infested city but also must find three who are missing. Meanwhile Edward runs into trouble while training the civilians.

Episode 4 - "All That Matters"
20th August 2049 - 19:35 - Charleston City, America

Charleston city was silent. There were no sounds being made, just completely dead silent which matched the fate of the unfortunate residents that had been unable to escape the initial invasion.

Although after a few short moments of that silence, it would be interrupted as the sounds of something in the dark alleys scurrying along quickly. However the sounds it made as it went across the pavement were only barely audible. Whatever it was couldn’t be too big.

That didn’t matter though, there was no one around to hear whatever it was as it continued along its way, keeping to the shadows and out of the light as it seemed to be heading in no certain direction. That was until it finally heard something, sounds that from this position wouldn’t be possible for a Human to hear but for this creature, it was as if he was right next to the action.

As soon as it picked up on these sounds, it got faster. Suddenly it was speeding forward with determination and as it got closer and closer to the sound’s source, the louder the sounds got but of course the creature couldn’t recognise what they were. It just knew that it meant something was in the vicinity.

It didn’t take long for the creature to arrive at the location it was looking for, however it was very uncomfortable and hard for the creature to get into the small building. There were too many flashing lights and not enough shadows for it to hide in. Eventually it did make its way in far enough to find the actual source of the noise it had been following.

“Fuck yeah. I knew i’d beat you!” Kyle proclaimed as his high score on the first person shooting arcade game, something called cool of booty, beat Zoey’s by a lot, Zoey herself just rolling her eyes and looking around the rest of the arcade since it was her turn to pick the next game.

“You only beat me ‘cause you’re a nerd. You probably played it all the time whereas someone like me actually has talent in more than one game” Zoey accused in retort with a smirk, earning a pained expression from Kyle but as he tried to argue, Zoey just moved onto the next game “how about a good old game of Tetris?”

“Tetris? What are you, 100 years old?” Kyle asked, eyeing the machine with a mocking smirk which quickly disappeared when he turned to look at Zoey who held a strong glare on his face, changing his mind as he quickly decided to give her a smile instead “that sounds like a great plan.”

“Good. I’ll start so when you’re desperately trying to beat my score I can enjoy watching you suffer” she told him, her eyes and smile friendly but her words sounding too evil for his liking, he didn’t protest though. Instead he just moved to lean on another nearby arcade machine to wait as she started up the game.

“You know” Kyle started after a few moments as Zoey went at the game, Kyle having had begun to play with a bouncy ball “if you’re so confident, how about a bet?” he said with a grin as he bounced the ball off the floor and into his hand “we play four games, take turns in picking and the winner gets to make the other do something. Like if I win, you have to kiss me... or something.”

“Sure” was Zoey’s casual reply, shrugging her shoulders as her eyes were glued to the screen, her mind at work to be successful at the game but it was the answer that caught Kyle off guard and sent his bouncey ball over to the other side of the room, into the shadows, out of sight.

“Wait, you mean that?” Kyle asked, not believing her answer but she was so focused on the game that she very likely didn’t even hear him ask that part of the question so instead he pushed himself off of the arcade machine and headed over to the shadows where his ball went.

Meanwhile, also in the shadows, the creature was currently investigating the strange object that had invaded its sanctuary in the darkness, crawling around it and even reaching up with one of its many legs to touch it. Its investigations didn’t go far however as soon it noticed the human was approaching and made its escape, scurrying away as quickly as it could and also making a lot of noise which left Kyle confused as he hadn’t seen what it was.

“What the hell was that?”

“What was what?” Zoey asked in retort as her attention was still solely on the arcade game.

“I don’t know. Something was in the shadows and it just ran away before I could see it. Didn’t you hear the noise?”

“It was probably a poor cat that you scared off with your ugly face.”

Kyle just shrugged at that, deciding not to worry too much about it anymore as it was clearly not a threat to them, and instead picked up his bouncey ball again, resuming bouncing it down against the floor as he returned over to Zoey.

Failing to notice as the creature hissed from a window before quickly leaving the area, keeping to the shadows as it headed to an unknown location. --- *Cue Theme Music*

*A Mix Of Sad, Dramatic But Inspiring*

*Enter scenes of the Series in the background while pictures of the main characters pop up on screen with the cast names*

The first scene appearing was a completely destroyed city, all of its buildings laying in rubble as a large UFO hovered above the city, looking menacingly, as down on the streets below, a battle of survival being fought between the Humans and Aliens.

Starring...Ryan Robbins, Emilia Clarke, Genesis Rodriguez...

The second scene appearing was heavy rain pouring down on the Hayes hotel's courtyard while a group of survivors stood together in a group around recent graves in the ground.

Danai Gurira, Dallas Roberts, Moon Bloodgood...

The third scene appearing was a group of survivors on a hill as they overlooked a city down the road, Aliens patrolling around the entrance as trucks drove past them and headed into the city.

Luke Neal, Lauren Cohan, Olivia Munn...

The fourth scene appearing was a battle between Humans and Aliens, the Aliens firing from the forest while the Human soldiers charged out of a military base while firing their rifles.

Stephen Lang, Devon Bostick, Eliza Taylor...

The fifth scene appearing was a group of survivors, in a underground train station, bundled together in a circle, back to back, as they aimed their weapons towards the darkness where unknown creatures were hidden.

John Boyega, Lindsey Morgan and Colin Cunningham...

The sixth and final scene appearing was the Hayes hotel as soldiers walked back and forth along its walls while on guard duty and refugees of the hotel grouped together in the courtyard, going about normal lives as the title "Evolution" appears above them. ---  20th August 2049  - 19:35 - Charleston Military Base, America

Emmett was nervous as he carried a box through the military base they were still in, weapons fire was coming from somewhere, probably everywhere, which was the one of the reasons behind his nervousness. However it wasn’t the main one.

No, the main problem was that, due to all the stress he was currently under, he had forgotten to check whether the tank could be driven while it had the additional weight of the shield.

No. No it couldn’t which they soon found out when he tried driving it previously.

So now Emmett was running down the base’s corridors, trying not to focus too much of his brain power on insulting himself for not having realized that fault sooner and instead on trying to work out a way to make it work, just as he arrived back to the garage, placing down the box and quickly going back to looking over his drawn up plans.

“Emmett, I hope you have some good news” came the President’s voice as she entered the room, surprising Emmett but not due to her sudden appearance, no it was due to him not having a working plan “we haven’t got much time. Is there any way to get the tank moving with the shield on?”

“N-not yet Ma’am, i’m sorry” Emmett told her as he frantically sorted through his equipment, not even looking for anything particular and instead just hoping something would jump out and yell at him the solution “i’m working on it as quickly as I can though, I assure you.”

“I know you are Emmett but as fast as you can isn’t quick enough” Jeanne tried to tell him gently as she approached him to get a closer look at what he was doing, although she knew her words would have a negative effect on him regardless. However as she opened her mouth to continue trying to reassure him, he interrupted her.

“How many of us have died while i’ve been trying to work this out?”

“No casualties at the moment” Jeanne tried to lie but when she saw the way he looked at her, she knew she hadn’t convinced him and sighed as she lowered her head “a handful at the moment. The Aliens are pushing in hard, trying to get ground inside the base again.”

This caused Emmett to sigh as he turned away from her again, trying to cool his frustration in himself as he leaned over his desk but his control didn’t last long as he ran his arm along the table, sending his work flying before he started walking back and forth, muttering “nothing works” over and over to himself.

Jeanne decided not to interrupt him, with his condition it would be best to let him go about his own and hope he recovered himself but as she went to pick up what he had knocked to the ground, she did find one of his drawn plans that called out to her, leading to her picking it up and looking it over “what is this?” she tried to ask him.

“What is what?” Vernon’s voice interrupted as he entered the room, earning the attention of both Jeanne and Emmett as he looked them both over “have we got our way out of here?”

“No”-“Yes” Emmett and Jeanne both respectively said at the same time, earning a confused look from Vernon and Emmett while Jeanne shook her head and turned to their resident brains of the operations “what do you mean no? You’re plans here say that doing it this way would work.”

Before Vernon could get a look at it himself, Emmett walked over and snatched the plans away from his President and shook his head, already knowing exactly what plans she had found “That one is unacceptable.”

“Unacceptable? Why? If it works then it’ll do” Vernon told Emmett as the latter walked over to his desk, putting the paper down on it as he sighed to what he was told, gathering himself for a moment before he turned to address them both.

“Because this plan has the shield only covering the tank in half the shield energy. It wouldn’t last as long as full shields.”

“We do not need a lot of time, only enough to get us into the trees which is only across the courtyard. So what is the problem?” Vernon demanded, Jeanne placing a hand on his chest in an attempt to keep him calm, knowing that becoming angry would only worsen the situation.

“The problem is the shields won't last even that long with the amount of Aliens that are out there right now. We’ll barely have left the garage before the shields break. If you just give me some more time, I can work out a way to make the shields last longer!”

“We do NOT have that time to GIVE!”

There was tension in the room after Emmett and Vernon had been yelling at eachother, Vernon clearly on the edge of losing his temper while Emmett was beginning to grow nervous again, shifting on his feet as he fiddled with his hands which left Jeanne to sigh as she stepped between the two “Emmett, can you get it working with only half the shield?”

After a defeated pause, he nodded.

“Then get it done” Vernon bluntly told him, going to make his way out of the room but Emmett’s question to him stopped him in his tracks.

“But what about the shields not lasting long enough?”

“Leave us soldiers to worry about that” Vernon told him coldly before then making his exit from the room as Emmett just sighed and turned to face his desk again, leaving Jeanne to look over him, trying to decide on how to comfort him. Eventually, however, she decided it was best to leave him alone so she too exited from the room with her own sigh. ---  20th August 2049  - 20:10 - Charleston Outskirts, America

“You sure we’ll catch up to them?”

“If they aren’t stupid and got themselves killed then yeah, Vicky will find them.”

“I mean...they were stupid enough to leave the hotel…”

Brian sighed at Reyna’s continued warning before he turned to face her and put his hand on her shoulder “they’re not stupid enough to go greet Aliens, Vicky will find them, we just have to make sure to keep up with her. She has a tendency to get too deep in thought and run off when hunting” Brian told Reyna, only slightly reassuring the latter as her fingers fiddled with the inhaler in her pocket, ready to grab it at a moment’s notice.

“That's a lie Bri. It wasn’t my fault you got yourself lost in the woods” Victoria spoke up from the front, currently with her head lowered so she could carefully look for a trail of slightly disturbed ground or broken sticks “they’re still moving forward for a while. I’m guessing they are heading into Charleston. Damn it.”

“We’re still going in after them right?” Nathan asked, looking worried but none the less determined to get the others back before something bad happened to them, earning a nod from Victoria but before she could get them moving towards the city, Alexandra spoke up.

“But what if you’re wrong and they headed deeper into the woods or something?”

“What would they go deeper into the woods to do though? This is already deep enough for anything to do with the woods” Nathan pointed out to Alexandra who shrugged and looked down to the leaves at the forest floor.

“I don’t know, make doubly sure they’re private enough for some...alone time?”

That offered answer brought a smirk to Brian’s lips as he walked over to give her shoulder a nudge “quite the process of thinking you have there. That’s your kink huh?” he teased of Alexandra, earning a smack on the arm from the latter and causing a yelp to escape from him while Victoria just sighed.

“She’s right. I might be wrong” Victoria said as she put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips while looking around, thinking for a moment before offering her solution “you lot should head into the city and i’ll search through the woods” which she thought would be a good idea but was immediately met with backlash from Nathan.

“On your own? No. You should have at least one other person with you.”

“I can take care of myself Nate.”

“Oh yeah? What you going to do when you run into a group of Aliens huh? Just going to “take care of it”?”

“I’m not stupid enough to run into a group of Aliens.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Alright you two, let's break it up” Brian said, interrupting Victoria’s next retort as he came up behind them and wrapped his arms around them both “Nate, Vicky’s made up her mind. She’ll be fine anyway, no Alien knows this forest better than her, she grew up here. Remember Tarzan? He’s got nothing on her.”

Victoria just rolled her eyes at his comment and gently pushed herself off of him before walking over to where she had left her father’s crossbow and picked it up “You heard Bri. I’ve made up my mind” she said to Nathan in challenge, Nathan looking like he would take up that challenge for a moment before he just sighed in defeat.

“Alright. We’ll see you back at the hotel” Nathan told her, using those as his last words before he walked forward, Alexandra and Reyna awkwardly following behind him which left just Victoria and Brian standing there, the latter grinning to his friend.

“If you die out here, I totally get to have your makeup right?”

“Fuck you Bri.”

“Oh I know you want too” Brian teased, giving her a salute before he moved quickly to catch up with the others, leaving Victoria alone now as she paused for a moment to look up at the moon in the sky before she slung her father’s crossbow over her shoulders.

“I’m going to haunt the shit outta you if I die out here Brian” she mumbled to herself as she walked the opposite way as the others, heading deeper into the forest, alone. ---  20th August 2049  - 20:15 - Henderson Family Farm, America

It was getting dark, barely any lights got through the curtains of the Henderson family’s farmhouse as William and Anthony sat at the main round table, opposite from each other while Bella sat by Will’s side and everybody else, excluding Maggie who was still up in her room and upset, were scattered around the room in different positions.

“Are you sure about this Ant?” William asked, being the first one to break the silence the family had been holding in the room for a while now, Anthony sighing as he leaned back in his chair and gave a nod.

“It’s dangerous and stupid, I know” Anthony said, his eyes down and looking at his fingers as they intertwined with each other, his marriage ring on one “but I have to find Annie and Alyssa. I’m not essential for the Hotel and I know how to take care of myself. Both of us do” Anthony added the last bit after a pause as he shared a glance with Logan, the big man having already convinced Anthony to allow him to come.

“At the first sign things are getting too bad, you’ll come to the Hotel, got it?” Bella asked him, a clear worried look on her face that they all shared for Anthony and Logan. They knew the two of them could take care of themselves but they were a family, there wasn’t a moment that went by they didn’t look out for each other.

“Is that an order Bells? I thought this family didn’t follow the rules?” Logan teased from his position of leaning against the wall, soft chuckles going around the room for a moment before they fell into silence again, leaving the big man to assure them all “we’ll be fine. We won’t attempt any suicide missions, don’t worry.”

William nodded at that, pausing for a moment before he took a stand from his seat, putting all attention on him as he looked around at them all “alright, let’s get packed and ready to go. I don’t like the idea of us being out in the open like this for too long, the Hotel will want us.”

And with those orders, activity around the farmhouse started to buzz as the family went to pack up belongings for the trip, leaving just William and Anthony in the room as the three men shared glances before William sighed “I wish I could come with you Ant, I feel selfish bu-”

“Don’t. The three of us came out together to look for all of our family and you have found yours and also have Vicky to take care of back home. I don’t want you blaming yourself Will. This is for me to do.”

William wasn’t sure how to reply to that at first as he watched Anthony take a stand from his seat but soon instinct took over and William drew him into a hug, the brothers holding each other close as William smiled “just don’t lose my truck.”

“I’ll try not too” Anthony replied with a chuckle.

Meanwhile, in another part of the house, Emily was making her way up the stairs in order to warn Maggie that they were departing when she briefly caught the sight of Maggie making her escape, having clearly been listening in on the conversation, causing Emily to call out to her which caused the teenager to stop in her tracks.

“Yes Em?”

“Were you listening in? You could’ve just joined us, Will, Ant and Logan would love to see you” Emily stated as she reached the top of the stairs and walked over to where Maggie was standing, laying a hand down on her shoulder “is everything alright?”

“Y-yeah. I’m just, I wanted to be alone” Maggie admitted to Emily, looking at her with a saddened look on her face before looking down and shrugging “I’ll make sure to meet with Ant and big man before they leave us, I want to do something in my room first though.”

“What’s that?” Emily asked curiously, only thinking that it might be too private to ask after she had asked the question but fortunately Maggie just shrugged again.

“I want to say goodnight and good luck to mother. I know it sounds stupid but it helps...ease the pain.”

Emily just nodded and gave a soft smile “It doesn’t sound stupid at all, take your time, we’ll wait” she told Maggie before making her way down the corridor to the room she had been using “and when you’re done, just go downstairs to Ant and big man, I’ll pack your stuff for you, alright?”

Maggie gave a nod of permission, sharing a smile with Emily before she watched the other woman disappear into her room, Maggie letting out a breath before she moved to return to her own room, looking down to the phone in her hand for a moment before entering the room and closing the door behind her. ---  20th August 2049  - 20:20 - Charleston City, America

It was an unusual trip into the city.

When Nico had decided to go into an Alien controlled city during the middle of the night, the last thing he had thought would happen was being able to casually walk down the street as if he was returning home to school.

It didn’t mean that he was being an idiot and shouting to the rooftops as if he was on a school trip though, his eyes were on every inch of the street he could see within his vision but he knew there couldn’t be any Aliens. There was literally no sign of anything having ever lived in the city, it was as if the Aliens had just bombed a deserted city before leaving it alone.

All the destroyed buildings, whether they were partly or fully destroyed, did make his walk creepy however.

Nico kept looking down to his watch, despite it being broken, it was a habit of his, he liked it when the days felt like they had only lasted an hour, meant it felt like he had gone through less pain that day.

He had debated running, or at least jogging, to his destination but he had decided that if there was something threatening still in the city, he’d want to save his energy for that.

He also came to think about the two traveling companions he had left behind but not much. If they were going to persist on making noise when in an area like this, he didn’t want to be anywhere near them, he’d gave them fair warning.

It was then that Nico reached a crossroads, all signs that told people the ways to go were destroyed but that didn’t matter to him, he knew where he was going and as he didn’t need to wait for traffic, he crossed the road.

He was close to where he was going, he just hoped that what he wanted was what he found. ---  20th August 2049  - 20:43 - Henderson Family Farm, America

“I mean it Ant. I better see my truck in one piece when you get back” William said to Anthony with a smirk, the two brothers taking hold of each other’s hands and pulling the other into a hug “and you be safe too” William told him once he had his brother in a hug.

“Don’t worry Will, Ant will have big man here for him to hide behind when he gets scared” Logan teased, patting the top of Anthony’s head before sharing a bro-hug with William himself, whispering “and remember what I said to you” as Anthony groaning out at the teasing before he moved over to share a goodbye with the others.

William just gave a acknowledging nod to what Logan said, William wasn’t finished with the debate but he wasn’t about to make a scene of it while they were sharing goodbyes, so instead the two men waited patiently as Anthony finished saying goodbyes to everyone before William smiled to them all “alright, let's get moving. Daylight is already burned away.”

That was when they parted ways, Anthony and Logan heading over to William’s truck in order to get in and start it up while William and the rest climbed into the RV, fortunate Emily had been using one on her latest trip around countries, with Jamie getting into the driver’s seat and starting it up as well.

The last interaction the separated family shared was the sounds of their horns as if wishing each other luck as they drove down the farmhouse’s driveway before the two vehicles went their different ways on the main road, William watching his truck as it retreated into the distance through the window in the back.

“You shouldn’t worry about them” Bella told him with a smile, one of her hands on one of his while her other had reached up to stroke his cheek, having sat herself very close to him “they can take care of themselves.”

“I’m not worried about them, i’m worried about my truck” William said with a smirk, earning a roll of the eyes from Bella as they both turned to sit properly on their seats, seeing Jamie and Emily at the front of the RV while Maggie was laying down on the bed, worrying the rest of them with how quiet she had been but they decided not to bug her, not yet, as she was likely thinking of her missing mother.

“So how has Vicky been?” Bella asked after a moment of silence had passed between them all “I assume she’s been a perfect angel like her mother and caused no trouble?” she continued with a sweet teasing smile, earning a look of doubt at the supposed angel trait his wife seemed to believe she had.

“She has been keeping outta trouble. In fact right now she’ll be making the other teenagers feel welcome.”

“That’s my girl.”

“Pfft. You know she’s more of a daddy’s girl.”

“Excuse you but she CLEARLY has gotten her beauty and badass traits from moi.”

“Beauty, maybe, but we both know i’m the more badass.”

Bella let out a mock gasp as she clutched at her chest “I take offense to that, i’ll have you know I can prove i’m much more badass.”

“Oh? Can you?”

“Mhm.”

At this point William and Bella were leaning close together, their eyes filled with determination to one up the other but smiles were on their lips that were close enough to kiss until Emily coughed from the front of the RV, awkwardly putting their attention on her “you said other teenagers. Are Bri and Nate there then?”

William gave a nod, leaning back to relax in the comfy RV seats again as he replied “those two as well as some other teenagers. On a mission into Charleston, I picked up-”

“A mission?” Bella asked, worry suddenly in her voice now which made William wince. He may have been separated from his wife for only a week but he had already forgotten that while Edward was persistent in not allowing him to go out on missions, Bella was much more dedicated to the cause.

“Love, i’ve been fine.”

“No more missions.”

“We’re at war with Aliens, i’m not going to sit on my ass all day.”

“You can be useful at the hotel. No more missions.”

“I’m sorry Bells but I can’t follow that order. Not as a superior officer” William told her, regretting pulling rank on his wife but he knew she wouldn’t stop otherwise. Her heart was in the right place but the mind needed to be on winning the war and if they were to win the war against technologically advanced Aliens, they needed as many soldiers as they could get.

From beside him, Bella just gave him a frustrated glare before she turned her attention away from him, instead looking out the window rather than at him while from the front of the RV, Emily and Jamie shared a questioning and worried look before Emily turned back to look at the couple “is everything alright?”

“Everything is fine Em” William told her, turning his attention away from his wife and sending Emily a smile, knowing his statement wasn’t convincing but it would be enough to tell her not to push the subject any further “as I was saying. While I was out on a mission, me and the squad wound up bringing back a group of refugees out of Charleston. There were a few teenagers among them without any parents present.”

“Well that is awfully nice of Vicky to help-” Emily started but before she could finish her statement, the radio on William’s belt began to static, earning the attention of everyone present, even Maggie who had not been paying any part in the previous conversation, as William lifted it up and pressed the button to start communicating through it.

“Hello?”

“Will? This is Edward and we have an emergency.”

“What kind of emergency?” William asked, sitting forwards on his seat now as everyone listened into the radio, worry becoming a shared look across their faces.

“Some of the kids that came from Charleston sneaked out of the hotel. Vicky and the rest of them went out after them a little bit ago.”

It was at that moment, Bella ranked the radio out of her husband’s hands and moved it to her own lips “and you’re just NOW telling Will?!” she demanded into the radio, worried looks passing around them all except for Bella, who had one of anger, and William who was wincing, knowing Edward would be grateful Bella learned this over the radio and not in person.

“I couldn’t get a message through. Something went wrong with our long range radio and we just now got it working.”

“And you couldn’t send any of your soldiers out to get them back?!”

“All of my soldiers are out right now trying to save the President and I can’t send untrained civilians out to rescue civilians who went out willingly.”

For a moment Bella, like the others present in the RV, had to take a moment to process the fact the President was currently still alive which was a moment William used as an opportunity to take the radio back from his wife “any idea where they are heading General?”

“My guesses would be Charleston.”

“Thanks General, i’ll keep you updated” William told him before pressing the button to close the communication “Jamie, get us to Charleston, please” he told the boy upfront, adding the last bit so he didn’t make Jamie feel like he was a chauffeur but he knew it wasn’t needed.

They were all family and right now some of them were out in the dangerous open.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Edward was in the generator room, putting the long range radio back in its place, letting out a short sigh before he turned to look at their resident mechanic as he packed away his tools “so what do you think Kee? What caused the damage?”

Keegan shrugged as he closed his bag of tools and sighed, wiping sweat off of his forehead “if I am honest? Not sure. Radios can shut down randomly but not usually to the extent of some things breaking inside though. I’ll need to keep a good eye on it and you should make sure you’re men keep a lookout for any spare ones in case.”

Edward gave the man a nod as he stood up from his chair, giving Keegan a pat on the shoulder before the old General made his exit from the room, going straight up the stairs to return to the main section of the hotel.

Completely failing to notice someone hiding in the shadows just outside of the generator room, out of sight from everybody, as they held the small but valuable missing parts from the radio in one hand, upset that the radio had been fixed already… ---  20th August 2049  - 20:50 - Charleston Military Base, America

The Aliens had stopped their attack for now.

It had been a few minutes of silence and as Dannisha stood there, overlooking the room she and the soldiers were in, seeing soldiers like Butterfield and Guzman going around and trying to keep people’s spirits up or Daniel making sure everyone had their weapons ready for a possible next wave, she didn’t like it one bit. It could only mean something bad was going to happen.

“Everything has gone silent then I see?” Vernon asked as he came to stand beside Dannisha, Dannisha too deep in thought to even jump at his sudden appearance as she just gave him a acknowledging nod.

“They stopped a few minutes ago. No more casualties since you were last down here so I presume the Aliens are finally pulling back...guess they might be going through that bombing soon....is Emmett nearly done?”

That caused Vernon to sigh as he looked over the soldiers, earning a raised eyebrow from Dannisha but he nodded “he’s nearly there. Although the plan isn’t as good as we were hoping” he told her, pausing before he took a hold of her arm and guided her out of earshot, just outside the room “the tank will hold five people and the shield will work but not as good as we hoped. If the tank goes out first and is what the Aliens target, it will barely get out the front door.”

“So what is our plan?”

“Soldiers have to go first. Draw the Alien fire before the tank can then come out.”

“Even if we dive for cover, we’re still going to get slaughtered.”

“I know that sergeant but protecting the president comes first, we both know that.”

Dannisha sighed at this but she nodded in acceptance, Vernon reaching to give her shoulder a sad rub before he walked back into the room where all the soldiers were, making sure to get himself in position to where everyone could see him before he coughed into his hand, turning all the attention to him.

“As you know” Vernon started once they had all gathered around to listen to him “we’ve been waiting here for a safe opportunity to get the President out comes into play. As you have also been told, that safe opportunity has turned out to be a generated shield on the tank to protect six people. However this comes at a price” he continued, looking to each and every one, feeling as if he was about to watch them all die, a feeling he didn’t like “if the tank goes first, it will barely last outside the exit before it's destroyed which means the obvious, we have to go first to draw the fire.”

Dannisha could see multiple reactions coming from the soldiers as she looked at them all. Some showed bravery, clearly ready to give their lives for their country while others were nervous, a feeling Dannisha herself shared. However one reaction she failed to notice was the angry look on Daniel’s face as his hands clenched tightly around his rifle, trying to hold back anger that was building.

“The soldiers will be the first to go out. Take cover where they can, take out as many Aliens as they can and make sure the fire is on them so the tank isn’t immediately shot at when it comes out” Vernon told them all, hating the plan himself but he knew the President had to come first, otherwise America didn’t have much hope of leadership during these troubled times “any questions?”

Charlie raised his hand from the back as he spoke out “who will be the six people sir? I mean the obvious are the President and the smart guy but that leaves four seats?”

“As you said, the President and Emmett will be two of the passengers. Three of the others will be myself, our resident tank gunner, Berny Grey, in case of an emergency in the shield not lasting and Dannisha” that statement from Vernon took Dannisha by surprise but she decided not to question, two much higher people on the command chain had made this decision for her and as a good soldier, she wouldn’t question it.

“The last seat is up to Dannisha, we felt it's only fair for her to choose one of her soldiers as they came to save us” Vernon finished answering the question, Dannisha now feeling even more guilty as she not only took one of the safe seats but also had to choose another to take with her but she kept this guilt hidden from her face as she tried to decide on who would be the logical person to choose as Vernon looked them all over again “any other questions?”

Silence was his answer and after a few minutes he nodded and gave them a salute, something that was returned to him by them all “good luck then, I’m proud of you all for braving this and doing your duty” was the Chief of Staff’s final words before he lowered his hand and made his exit, all the soldiers returning to their duty as Dannisha let out a breath she wasn’t sure she had been holding.

Now was the time she had to decide, so she made her way over to her soldiers who were all gathered together, helping make sure they were all ready. However once she came to stand with them, she didn’t even get a chance to begin the discussion when Daniel spoke up “you should take Charlie. He’s the most rookiest of us all. We all agreed on that.”

“Are you all sure about that?” Dannisha asked, earning agreeing nods from them all except for Charlie who just silently looked to the ground, clearly wanting no part in the discussion, something Dannisha didn’t blame him for “okay then. Charlie, come with me, i’ll take you to the tank” she told him gently, a nod coming from Charlie as he quickly stood and made his way over to the exit, unable to look any of them in the eye.

“Good luck to you all out there. When we get back, you’re all guaranteed drinks the rest of the night” Dannisha told them after a moment of silence, them all sending a salute with Dannisha, something she returned, before making her own exit from the group, joining Charlie at the door of the room before she walked down the corridor with him, taking him to the garage. ---  20th August 2049  - 20:56 - Hayes Hotel, America

Nancy Morales gave smiles to each person she walked past as she made her way down the hotel’s hallway, repeatedly looking down to her watch a few times to keep track of the time, to make sure she wasn’t late for the training that Edward had set up for any civilians interested.

She was glad the General had taken her advice from earlier.

“Hey Nance, Wait up!” Nancy heard Zackery calling out to her which caused her to turn her head and watch as her cameraman jogged down the hallway before slowing down to a walk once he reached her “where are you heading too?”

“To the training thing the General has set up for us civilians.”

“Cool...mind if I tag along?”

“No…” she told him with a raised eyebrow, allowing an awkward silence to befall them as she eyed him up and down before rolling her eyes and turning her attention back to the path ahead of her “if you’re coming along to try and convince me to stick my nose in people’s business to make money after all this shit, it won’t work.”

“Of course not… I just want to spend time with my co-worker is all…” Zackery tried to reason which caused Nancy to sigh as she stopped walking, confusing him as he stopped too, the pair of them looking at each other as they stood alone in the hallway “everything o-”

“Stop” Nancy interrupted, holding up her hand as she failed to hold back the annoyed expression on her face “let me get a few things clear. One, we are not anything but colleagues, that one night we had meant nothing and might as well not exist” she told him bluntly, a hurt expression crossing Zackery’s face but she didn’t bother acknowledging it “two, if you want to keep your job, find yourself something useful to do and I will tell you if i’m attempting to get a news story, understood?”

Zackery gave a few nods in response near immediately before he offered a nervous smile and waved in another direction “you know, I think i’m going to cut this training session? I’m feeling a bit under the weather all of a sudden” he stammered, turning away from her and quickly leaving the area, leaving Nancy to let out a annoyed sigh and continue walking, noticing on her watch that she would now be running late.

Fortunately with just a little speed added to her walk, Nancy was around the next corner and joining the rest of the gathered civilians who were awaiting for training outside just as Edward himself came to join them outside as well, carrying a cart full of water guns behind him as well.

“Nice to see so many of you want to learn how to defend yourselves today” Edward commented with a smile on his face, although Nancy could tell he was faking said smile, he didn’t really like the idea of training civilians like she had suggested “unfortunately this won’t be a proper training session, lack of proper equipment and enough actual guns but the kind young children have allowed us to borrow their water guns for today.”

“Water guns?” Nina asked with an amused look on her face, earning chuckles all around from the other adults present as she grinned at the General “i’m pretty sure we can all handle a water gun sir.”

Edward himself was just as amused as her, grinning as he nodded “oh i’m sure but this is only the first session and we won't be out there too long, this session will be more of a, make sure you’re up to date on the basics session.”

“Out there?” Jeff asked the General, speaking out for the mixed confusion spreading around the gathered civilians “you mean we’re going out into the woods?”

“It would be the best place to train” Edward told them, noting some of them getting nervous at the idea “if anyone wants to back out now, you can. However I can tell you that when you’re in combat, you don’t want to be out in the open and anyway, if you can hit targets in the woods, you can hit them in the open” he paused for a moment to look them all over before offering a soft smile “any objections?”

There was none, at least none that were voiced so the General nodded before gesturing to the cart he had brought along “now, if someone can be kind to tug this along, all of you please follow me” was the last thing Edward told them before he walked forward, sliding the metal gate open with the help of Jeff before he lead them all out and towards the nearby woods, Han lagging a bit behind as he tugged the cart along with him. ---  20th August 2049  - 21:00 - Charleston City, America

“You know this isn’t the time to go shopping, Bri” Nathan told Brian after the latter had stopped for a third time to check some clothes in a store, this time a skirt had been the thing to catch his attention and Nathan telling him off caused him to turn and look at his friend with a pout.

“But it is both pratical AND stylish” Brian protested, pointing to the skirt as if he was a child who saw his newest favorite toy in the store which made Nathan feel like a parent as he rolled his eyes and briefly leaned his head back to look up at the sky as if silently cursing the Gods for making Brian his best friend.

“Its still not that important, we look for the others first and then we-” Nathan’s track of words fell silent once he had brought his gaze back down and saw only their two female companions giggling while Brian himself had moved into the store for the skirt “Bri!”

“It’s both pratical and stylish!” Brian continued to protest as he carefully stepped through the rubble in order to reach the showcase and grab the skirt, quickly taking his back pack off his back pack and stuffing the skirt inside before he then slung the back pack back over his shoulder and made his way down the rubble again to join them back outside “see? Didn’t take no time at all to get it!”

Nathan just sighed and shook his head, taking a moment to stop himself from ranting at him. He wasn’t really mad at Brian, he was mad at them all having put themselves in danger due to three of their own having run off.

“Maybe we should split up?” Reyna offered just as Nathan gained his composure again, looking between her three companions before she shrugged “we’ll cover more ground that way and it doesn’t look like any Aliens are home” she continued but Nathan shook his head in disagreement.

“Only because it doesn’t appear to be, doesn’t mean there are none.”

“Oh come on, if there was something here, it would’ve come for us already. We have been walking on the streets out in the open” Alexandra reasoned “and anyway, if there are Aliens, we’ll want to be in less numbers to avoid attention.”

Nathan let out another sigh but the girls did have reason and at this rate he was going to tear somebody’s head off with how tense he was so, after a moment, he gave a nod “alright. I’ll split off and head deeper into the city. You guys keep searching around the outercity streets, got it?”

Alexandra and Reyna gave nods and began walking again but Brian paused for a moment, looking at his friend with a questioning gaze so Nathan sent a reassuring nod and smile over to him, the former being something Brian returned before he jogged to catch up with the two girls, leaving Nathan to change paths and head in a different direction.

None of the four were really sure where they were going to search for their missing friends, not even having somewhere to start, and it was a large city with a lot of corners for something dangerous to hide behind and unknown to the group of teenagers, there wasn’t just something hiding in the darkness.

There were plenty of something. ---  20th August 2049  - 21:15 - Charleston Military Base, America

It was time and none of them were really ready.

President Jeanne Winters observed the soldiers as they ran back and forth to do different things, some were readying their weapons before they charged into fire, a few were praying and others were taking what might be the last piss break of their lives.

She didn’t like that these brave men and woman were about to throw their lives away to get her and other important personnel out. She didn’t even like being considered important above others but she had no choice. America, in its current time of need, needed her and the others who had been decided to be in the tank. Everyone knew that.

“We’re about to take the charge in 5 minutes. I repeat five minutes. Once you are ready for the charge, get yourself into your assigned position” her Chief of Staff yelled out to his soldiers, the soldiers gathered around quickly picking up their pace to get into positions, the bravest few moving to the front of the garage, prepared to take the brunt of the Alien force.

On the other side of the garage, Emmett couldn’t decide whether time seemed to be passing by quicker than it actually was or possible imminent death was making preparations to make their exit from the base feel like an entire year had passed. He tried not to dwell on it as he shoved the last of his equipment boxes into the tank, doing a quick count to make sure they were all inside.

“You sure you got all your equipment smarty pants?” Berney Grey, the resident tank driver, asked of Emmett as he walked by him, giving him a pat on the back which made Emmett feel awkward as he watched Berney climbed into the tank through the door on its side “‘cause we ain’t exactly going to be able to come back home anytime soon if you forget something” Berney teased with a grin as he sat down in the driver’s seat.

“I’m sure.”

“Good. Mind if we give your shields one final test?” Berney asked loud enough for a lot of the attention in the garage to be drawn onto Emmett’s position which quickly made the man feel the wish for the ground to swallow him up under all the pressure or run away. Instead he just gave a nod and grabbed the device off the table, pressing the button which caused the shield to power up and cover the tank “alright boys and girls, cross your fingers and hope this works!” Berney called out as he started the engine.

People around the room were already overwhelmed by the sight of an actual working shield so when Berney started up the tank’s engine, bringing it to life, and showed off that the tank could indeed move despite its additional shield, the gathered people were even more impressed, claps and cheers going around the room to celebrate that Emmett’s plan had indeed worked while Berney winked to the man himself “good work man.”

Emmett couldn’t help the sense of pride that went through him, it always felt like the greatest thing in the world to him when he managed a successful project and even though the tank wasn’t perfected, he, Emmett Bourne, had made a big advancement for Humanity. However this moment couldn’t last long as soon the Chief of Staff’s voice boomed through the room again “two minutes before charge. Everyone into your positions now!” was his command.

The soldiers quickly scrambled around now, grabbing everything they needed before they got into their positions along the walls, against the garage door, every little space in front of the tank to take the charge, Jeanne giving them one final look as Vernon came up and gently took her arm, trying to guide his President to the tank but she wanted to do something first.

“I wish you all luck, you all should be proud of yourselves for your service to the country. It is a brave thing you are about to do today” she told them, giving them all a salute before she turned away and walked to the tank, cursing at herself for waiting until the last minute to say something to them, they deserved more but the truth was, she didn’t know what she else she could give, as much as she wanted to give them her all.

“They appreciate it Ma’am” Vernon whispered to her, as if he was reading her thoughts, as he helped her climb into the tank, Dannisha, Emmett and Charlie having already taken their seats which left Vernon to be the last to enter, turning to acknowledge his soldiers first as he wished them luck before entering himself, closing the hatch behind him, giving Emmett a nod to start up the shield again as he took a seat on the tank’s gun.

The Chief of Staff let a few moments of silence pass as he held his radio up to his mouth, it feeling like centuries passed as they sat together in the tank until he broke it with his last command “CHARGE!” ---  16th August 2049  - 22:00 - Hayes Hotel, America

''Ashley let out a laugh as she watched her fellow soldiers, Butterfield and Guzman dancing around and singing in their drunken mess. It had been two days since the Aliens had completely decimated their cities and Ashley felt guilty for laughing at a time like this but their General had allowed them to have a little break, loosen their minds and relax. It’s what they needed.''

“Ohhhh, what do you do with a drunken soldier, oh what do you do with a drunken soldier!” Butterfield and Guzman began singing, earning a few light cheers and claps of excitement from the rest of them as they looked forward to the mess they made of this song, Ashley having to pause in her laughter for a moment before she lost control of herself, barely being able to breath through the laughs she was letting out.

It was just then that she felt a tapping on her shoulders which caused her to tilt her head back and squint to try and make out who was behind her, seeing it was her own brother, Keegan, which made her let out a drunken giggle while holding out her arms to him “hey bro!!!”

Keegan just rolled his eyes playfully as he nodded behind him, towards the exit of the room “hey drunker, mind if I talk to you privately for a moment?” was his question, Ashley giving a nod that nearly rocked her brain about in her own head before she jumped up from her seat, locking her arm around his so he could guide her over to the exit, Ashley having to be a bit careful and watch her stepping.

''“What can I do for you?” Ashley asked with a squeaky voice, giggles joining her words as she drunkenly pressed her back to the wall. However the moment she looked to his face and saw some sadness masking it, a sober attitude pushed away all the attitude she had received from drinking, tilting her head curiously “You okay Kee?”''

''Keegan shifted on his feet, thinking for a moment before he just sighed and looked into her eyes, deciding to just go for it “I know this is a mood ruiner but...you’re a soldier and right now we’re in a war. It may not be classed as that yet but we know it is what it is...I’ve been worried that you won’t be coming back, when you all starting going out.”''

This brought a gentle smile to Ashley’s face, one of her hands reaching up to stroke along his cheek “oh Kee, you know i’m going to be fine” she tried to say to reassure him but Keegan just took her hands and held them as he kept his eyes pinned on her own, making her nervous underneath his gaze.

''“Promise me. Promise me you’ll come back after every mission. You know that the most important thing is family and it always will be. Surviving out there and coming back home to your family is all that matters. So promise me.”''

Ashley really wanted to promise him, she wanted nothing more than to assure him she would always return but as she opened her mouth repeatedly to tell him that, she knew that was a lie.

No soldier going out to do their duty could be sure that they would return. ---  20th August 2049  - 21:20 - Charleston Military Base, America

Back in the present, Ashley was barely keeping control of her breathing as she gripped her rifle tight to her chest. She was one of the soldiers that were against the wall and around her she could see her fellow soldiers, including the ones she had come to see as friends over the last few days, Some were much more ready than her to brave what was outside the garage, others were just as nervous as her.

She didn’t get any longer to think on the situation as it was then that the General’s orders came through the radios and as soon as those orders came through, the soldiers against the garage door slid it open so the first wave could charge forward, running out into the open with a roar of bravery, their rifles spraying their bullets in every direction before them, aiming to hit whatever Aliens were in their way.

Of course not all of the soldiers in the first wave managed to get far, some were immediately shot down as soon as the Aliens realized what was happening but more soldiers than any of them had predicted managed to make it to more safer spots to continue the assault on the Aliens, nothing but weapons fire from both sides being able to be heard.

That was until Vernon’s booming voice returned through their radios “second wave, charge!” was his command, leading to the second lot of soldiers charging out to join the fight, a little less than the first wave making it through the exit this time as the Aliens were prepared while the tank began to move closer to the exit.

This was it was what Ashley kept hearing in her head as she and the rest of the last wave waited for their commands, hearing the sounds of death and destruction from outside as Ashley could practically feel her heart attempting to pump out of her chest. At her side, Daniel reached and gently gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, giving her a nod to let her know they were in this together while on her other side, Butterfield and Guzman bumped fists. They weren't ready, they were likely to die but they would at least be doing this together.

“Final wave, GO, GO, GO” the Chief of Staff yelled out after too much time for thinking had passed but no more could any of them think, they could only do. Letting out one final breath, Ashley charged out along with the rest of her wave, time seeming to slow down around her as she ran out through the garage exit and saw the chaos before her, too many dead Humans to count laying on the ground and soon more were joining them from their recent charge.

Ashley found herself to be one of the fortunate ones to not get hit as she made her way to some cover. The cover of course wouldn’t block any lasers but it allowed her to be harder to hit as she fired upon the forest, this moment giving her enough time to take note that none of the Aliens were out in the open, they were all in the forest which was sadly blocking their path.

As they all had thought, they would have to push their way through.

Meanwhile the tank behind them continued to move forward, not being able to move as fast as the soldiers but it was moving as quick as it could, the tank’s occupants in no way comfortable inside of it while Vernon brought the gun around ready to fire it “Emmett, are you sure the gun can be fired while the shield is up?”

“Yes General. If you fire it too many times however you can only fire it once so you should make your shot count” Emmett told Vernon as he nervously fiddled with his fingers, all the combat going on outside making him shake and he decided that going into detail on why it could only be fired once might help him calm down a bit, however he didn’t get the opportunity as Berney spoke up from up front.

“We’re in the battlefield now!” Berney called out, putting all their attention on the front, one-sided, windows just as the tank made its own exit from the garage, the entire battle being showcased in front of them as if they were watching a movie but they all knew they weren’t. This was the real thing and the real thing was terrifying.

“Keep pushing forward to the forest, we’ll push through the forest to the other side before firing the tank, hopefully that will keep them from chasing us” Vernon roared into his radio before he put it down and got the tank’s gun ready to fire, watching through the window as his soldiers charged straight into death while doing their duty of protecting their president.

On the battlefield itself, the soldiers listened to their given orders and slowly moved forward from cover to cover, firing towards the forest in hopes of hitting the Aliens hiding within but they were clearly not making much impact as the Alien firing that was coming to them from the forest wasn’t letting up and quickly the Human side were losing more of their forces to the laser fire, the Aliens were even going to begin pushing forward out of the forest and towards the base, meeting the Humans in the middle.

The Alien’s numbers were too large.

“General” Daniel’s voice came through Vernon’s radio, Daniel himself having taken cover and currently in the middle of dodging any lasers being sent in his direction as he urgently tried to gain the attention of his superior “General, this is no use. There are too many of them, unless if you fire that goddamn gun, it's going to be game over!”

Vernon sighed as he grabbed hold of the radio again and raised it to his mouth “that’s a negative, we can only fire this gun once and we need it once we’ve gone into the forest.”

“We aren’t going to get into the forest if you don’t fire it!” Daniel yelled in anger, ducking his head down from another laser before he raised the radio to his mouth again “Sir, you need to fire that gun and give us an opportunity to move into the forest and it needs to be now!”

The chief of Staff didn’t answer immediately, instead he looked out the window and watched as soldier after soldier fell from Alien fire, thinking over the situation before he let out a aggravated sigh, slammed the radio down and pulled the tank’s gun around in order to fire at a section of the forest that looked the most populated with Alien forces.

The sound of the tank’s gun firing practically deafened the ears of everybody around while the round that it fired flew through the air and, within seconds, hit the forest, causing a massive explosion and making sure anything within the area was dead. Vernon watched the destruction he had brought for a moment before he grabbed the radio again “all soldiers, cover fire for the tank as we move into the forest!”

At this point the Aliens had turned their fire on the tank, probably having figured that it was the biggest threat, but fortunately the tank had made it a good deal towards the forest and when Jeanne looked at Emmett for confirmation on whether the shield would last or not, he gave her a nod, believing that it would.

Meanwhile, outside of the tank, the soldiers that were still living surrounded the tank, being careful not to walk in its path as they fired into all directions, some falling under the fire of Alien weaponry while others managed to stay alive, doing their best to take out ten times as many Aliens as Humans were dying.

The Aliens themselves seemed to be in a bit of a panic, unsure where to go or what to do other than fire upon their enemies, clearly having not expected that not only would the Humans have a working tank but that it would also be protected by a shield of sorts and now that the tank was beginning to enter into the forest, the Aliens seemed to hesitate, looking to their assigned Lieutenant who gave them confirmation before they then switched to firing at the Humans again, trying to take down as many of them as they could before they entered the forests.

Ashley could see she was getting closer to the forest, feeling sad for those who had fallen today but she also couldn’t deny that she just wanted to get out alive. She wanted to see her brother again. However just as she was reaching the forest edge, her hopes were cut short as she suddenly collapsed to the ground, letting out a scream of pain as a laser blast went straight through her leg.

Panic quickly filled her, immediately her mind was racing with thoughts about how she was about to die and when she looked down to her leg, seeing the hole that the laser had left behind through her leg, despite it being cauterized from the heat of the laser and not bleeding, only worsened her panic as she closed her eyes and prayed that good fortune would fall upon her brother, unlike her.

Just as she was making these prayers however she felt two people grab onto both of her arms which caused her to open her eyes again and see as Butterfield and Guzman had returned to drag her towards the forest, lasers and bullets were being traded back and forth as Daniel covered for them from the forest.

Ashley felt the urge to cry, despite the chaos and death around them, her friends whom she had only known for a week at the most had come back to save her. She was very grateful.

It was just at that moment that one fateful laser was shot and hit Guzman straight into his chest, going through his heart and killing him instantly, the grip he had on Ashley’s arm loosening as he became just another body on the ground, Daniel yelling “GUZZY!” from the forest, both anger and sadness in his voice as he fired a few more bullets towards the Aliens before he quickly moved forward and took Guzman’s place in dragging Ashley to the safety of the forest.

They were the last of the soldiers to make it into the forest and as she was dragged into safety, Ashley looked between Guzman’s body to the Aliens as their Lieutenant made them cease fire, the forest apparently stopping them from giving chase any further. That didn’t matter to Ashley long though, soon enough her head fell back and she went unconscious from all that her body had just went through.

Ashley was one of the lucky ones, but a lot of soldiers wouldn’t be getting to see their family or friends ever again. ---  20th August 2049  - 21:20 - Hayes Hotel Outskirts, America

“So now we have covered the basics” Edward said to all the civilians in the forest before him, having just put them all through the basics of the positions you do and don’t want to be in while fighting and other such basics, the General happy that for the most part they were getting along with training well “now, we come to the best ways for you to hold your gun while firing, of course since we’re only using water guns, there won’t be the kickback there is in real weapons.”

“Oh come on” Nina said as she walked up from behind the General and grabbed one of the water pistols “i’m sure we all know how to do this. It’s practically just like a camera” she continued, turning her hand in a gangsta style at the General “you just point and shoot” she finished before pulling its trigger, clearly disappointed that no water came out of it to hit the General in the face.

Nancy wished Zackery could just do that sometimes, point and shoot while doing nothing else.

Edward just smirked at her attempt to squirt him on the face, reaching down to grab one of the rifles “very true but as I said, the kickback of a real gun can be a heavy pain if you don’t hold it right. Also, if you plan on firing like that, you aren’t going to hit much” he said, nodding to how she was holding the pistol before he raised the rifle and pulled the trigger, squirting water straight onto Nina’s face and taking her by surprise, bringing out chuckles from the rest of the group.

“We aren’t holding actual guns right now though, are we General? Perhaps for this session we could just let our hairs down and fight, deal with the kickback stuff when we have real weapons?” Nancy suggested after the amusement died down, Edward thinking about it for a moment, still watching with amusement as Nina wiped down her face before he gave a nod.

“Alright, if you kids want to go off and have a playtime in the woods, go ahead. Just try to pratice what you’ve learned” he told them all, watching as the majority of them near immediately grabbed a water gun and ran into the woods to have some fun, leaving Edward and Jeff to share a smirk with each other before Jeff joined them all, Edward now standing alone as he shook his head “feels like i’m about to fight a war with a bunch of kids.”

“Looks like it too” came Victoria’s comment from behind him, making the older man jump as he turned to watch as she exited from the bushes, smirking at the General before she turned her attention to the forest around them, just waiting for the sounds of the “adults” starting their fighting “I split up with the others to search the forest while they searched the city.”

Edward figured by now that he should stop being caught off guard when her or her family answered his question before he asked it before he just nodded “and I assume you haven’t found anything?” he asked, Victoria shaking her head as she sighed.

“Nah. I was going to make make my way to the city to help them search there when I ran into you guys.”

“And I assume you are still going?”

A smirk came to Victoria’s lips again at that suggestion “of course I am General. Has my father been in contact with you yet?”

While Edward started to explain what had happened, as far as he knew, to Victoria, Nina was creeping through the forest, making her way into the perfect spot to get her revenge and fire at the General. However just as she was aiming it to the old man, she felt something crawling along her arm that made her instinctively shiver as she pushed it off “oh god, I hate you insec-”

Nina’s words were brought to a dead halt when she turned to look at what had touched her, her eyes landing on something that shouldn’t exist. As best as she could tell it was a spider but it as big as a German Shepherd. However they weren't completely Spider as they had two large eyes, across the sides of their face, with three smaller eyes in each eye and on top of that, rather than only two fangs, they had five along their mouth area as well as a arched claw for each of their eight legs. It looked like it belonged in the age of Dinosaurs.

Only a few moments passed before Nina screamed louder than she ever had, repeatedly kicking at it before it could get a moment to attack before she got up and ran into the clearing, escaping from its deadly clutches while a surprised Victoria and Edward turned their attention to look at her running at them “Miss Simms, I know you can get caught by surprise but I must-”

Edward didn’t get to finish his statement as screams from the other civilians soon filled their ears, it quickly becoming clear that something wrong was going on, something that was soon confirmed when the monster that had taken Nina by surprise came out into the clearing itself, hissing at the three of them.

“What the fuck is that?!” Nina screeched out, the monster about to make a jump at the three of them but the moment Edward flashed the light of his flashlight at it so they could get a better look at it, it hissed again and retreated into the darkness, the rest of the civilians soon coming out of the darkness themselves and into the clearing with the other three, Jeff being the last one to come out as he whacked away a different monster with the water rifle he had grabbed previously “what the fuck are we going to do?!”

“Doesn’t look like they like light much, keep your lights on them” Victoria said before Edward could even get a chance to give commands, the civilians not really caring to notice who was giving the orders and instead just taking it as a tip and pointing their own flashlights towards the darkness, hisses being heard from within the bushes while the General handed Victoria his flashlight so he could grab the radio on his belt.

“Kee? Are you there?” Edward called into his radio, the group of them slowly being pushed back into the middle of the clearing as the monsters got a bit daring and moved toward them despite the light “Kee, if you can hear me, get all of the hotel’s lights on, NOW!” he demanded but the voice that came through soon after was a different voice than Keegan’s. It was William’s.

“What’s going on General?”

“Will? We need you at the forests just outside of the hotel. We have some pack of weird creatures that are hostile. As far as we can see they don’t like the lights but they are getting daring” Edward told him and just as the General finished the last bit of his statement, one of the monsters attempted to jump at Nina, Han barely being able to smack it with his water rifle hard in time to save her, the group of them watching as it slammed dead into the tree while the rest of the monsters let out angry hisses.

“Just keep them off you as long as you can Eddie, we’ll see if the RV’s headlights will do anything to scare them off but you’re going to have to give us a signal.”

Edward tried to think of what could be done to signal them to their location but there wasn’t anything, fortunately Victoria seemed to be thinking ahead as she reached into her pockets and grabbed a matchbox, using one of the matches inside to light it before she threw it into the darkness, it only taking a few moments to begin lighting up the surrounding grass.

“Everyone, keep them off you until Will gets here” Edward ordered, the group of them moving to make sure they had their backs to each other while they handled both the flashlights and the water guns to keep them at bay.

It was at that moment the monsters decided they had enough and began jumping at the group which left them to bat or kick at the right moment to keep the monsters off them but the more they did it, the more monsters seemed to be coming out of the forest to get them, the group holding strong for a few minutes as they resisted but Victoria soon decided that they wouldn’t be able to hold them all off soon enough so she took out another match and lit it up.

“Ya’ll need to keep close together. It’s about to get lit” she told the rest of the group she was with before dropping the match to the grass nearby, watching as it quickly set the grass in flames before she lit a few more, continuing to throw each onto the grass near them, far enough way so they wouldn’t immediately be in danger but close enough to keep the monsters from jumping at them.

“Come on dad, get here soon” Victoria whispered to herself, closing her eyes briefly, praying that he would be around the corner and just as she hoped, the headlights of the RV soon lit up the surrounding area from the nearby road, revealing just how many monsters there was crawling around their fire but just as quickly as they had appeared they were gone, sprinting away like a flood of spiders in an attempt to escape from the light, leaving the group to quickly use their water guns on the growing fire around them to put it out before it got any worse.

At first it didn’t seem like the fire would go down but with the help of William and the rest of the occupants of the RV who had gotten out and were now using any form of water they had in the vehicle to douse the flames, the fire soon died down to the point where they could then stomp it out, leaving the group to relax and let out breaths they had been holding for longer than they should’ve.

“So, I don’t see my daughter for over a week and the first thing I see her doing is lighting the forest on fire?” Bella teased after the group had gained their breath, mother and daughter having quickly met in the middle and were now holding each other tight, big smiles on their faces as William joined his wife and daughter in their hug “and to think Will told me you were staying out of trouble.”

Victoria chuckled at that, soon separating from her parents so she could share hugs with Jamie, Emily and Maggie as they too came to reunite with her “in my defense I was staying out of trouble. You just got me at a bad time” she tried to say, Bella giving her daughter a doubtful look but the smile they all had showed that, despite the bad situation, they were just grateful to be together again.

“Thanks for coming to our aid Will” Edward spoke out, breaking the moment, shaking William’s hand before sighing as he nodded to the dead spider creature that was currently still at the base of the tree it had been slammed against “whatever they are gives me a bad feeling. We should get back to the hotel, make sure lights are on and keep our eyes out.”

“That sounds like a good idea for you to do Eddie but there are still teenagers in Charleston, i’m taking the RV and going with them” William told him, both Bella and Victoria hooking their arms around him to show they would be going to while William turned his attention to Jamie, Emily and Maggie, nodding at them “you three go back to the hotel with Eddie, help out there.”

“You sure you’ll be fine without us?” Jamie asked which caused all three Hayes family members to smirk at him, the answer already being clear to Jamie before they even gave it to him.

“Of course we will be, we’re the Hayes family.” ---  20th August 2049  - 21:28 - Charleston City, America

Nathan had to keep whistling to fill the missing sounds, he didn’t like how eerily quiet the city was as he walked down the next street in his search so he preferred to fill the silence with his own sounds instead. Made walking down the near pitch black street easier, even if only a little bit.

“I swear, if I wasn’t okay with violence, the things i’d do when I have my hands on your neck” Nathan whispered to himself as if the three missing friends he was searching for could hear him, it was moments like this where he realized he was cursed for caring too much about people, otherwise he could’ve easily just headed back to the safety of the hotel.

In some messed up fortune, Nathan was lucky that most of the buildings were destroyed, it made it easier for him to just look into and see if anyone or anything was present before he moved on but that easiness just made him feel sad for the sad fate of whoever owned the buildings that were probably once beautiful than now lied in ruins.

It was also in that moment Nathan noticed something strange as he turned his attention to the ground around him. There were no bodies. He was sure that there would be a lot buried underneath rubble but the street should be littered with them.

Most people would find a sense of comfort from this, that maybe most of the city’s occupants escaped but Nathan only got a bad feeling about it.

Suddenly the sound of a piece of furniture being thrown to the ground broke the silence which caused Nathan to quickly go on alert as he ducked to hide around a corner, being sure of himself that the sound came from the building he had just reached which he noted was one of the city’s orphanages.

“There you are” Nathan heard someone mutter under his breath, the voice he quickly recognised to belong to Nico, leading to Nathan letting out a breath as he moved out from behind the corner and entered the building, finding that it was indeed Nico who was currently in the process of rummaging around different pieces of furniture.

“I hate to stick my nose in people’s business Nic but, what are you doing here?” Nathan asked, making the other teenager jump as he immediately stashed the item he had found in his pocket, earning a curious look from Nathan as Nico himself just let out a relaxed sigh when he realized who it was that was talking to him.

“Nate” Nico noted out loud, thinking about sending the same question back at Nathan but then he decided for himself that he had probably came looking for him as well as Zoey and Kyle so instead he just shrugged as he leaned on the drawers he had been looking through “Zoey and Kyle wanted to head into the city for some fun, I decided I would tag along so I could come back…” Nico paused, not wanting to say the word but he eventually forced it out “home.”

“You decided to risk your life in a Alien controlled city just to go home?” Nathan asked with an unbelieving expression, clearing having not picked up on Nico’s pause “whatever you just stashed in your pocket must be very important.”

“It is. It is also very private.”

Nathan was about to push the subject a bit further but it was then that he noticed all the blood on the floor, multiple blood splatters as if there had been a bloodbath in the room “what the? Alien weaponry is so hot it cauterizes wounds. Why is there so much blood here?”

Nico looked around the room as well, although unlike the grimace Nathan had on his face, Nico’s own face turned up in anger as he stared at the blood piles before he shrugged and hid away his emotions again just as Nathan looked to him “I don’t know. Whatever happened to them though, they deserved it.”

That answer took Nathan off guard as he looked confused to Nico “Why would they deserve it?”

“Because they were bad people.”

“Bad enough to warrant whatever bloodbath happened here?”

“They deserve worse” Nico coldly told Nathan, only making the latter even more confused as he looked back to the blood splatters, wanting to push the subject further and learn why but in the end he just sighed and decided to drop the subject.

“Alright, well if you’re done here, we should be heading back to the hotel. Hopefully the others managed to find Zoey and Kyle” Nathan told Nico, giving him one final look before he made his exit from the building, Nico waiting a moment to continue looking around the room, his hand enclosed to make a fist as he tried to control his anger before he eventually let out a sigh and dropped his emotions, making his own exit from the building to follow Nathan back to the hotel. ---  20th August 2049  - 21:28 - Charleston City, America

“Ha! I told you I would win!” Kyle proclaimed as he beat Zoey’s high score in their latest arcade game, Pac-Man, and was now dancing around in celebration as he had won their bet. Zoey just watching him with an amused look, allowing him his moment of celebration as it made him look like a total idiot.

“Yeah, yeah, you only beat me by one game more” she teased, smirking when he stopped his celebrations and gave her a pout to her having interrupted his celebrations before she just shrugged and moved her way past him to look for another game to play “it’s not like we made any actual bets.”

That made Kyle pause as he watched her looking through the rest of the games, realizing that she must have forgotten the bet she agreed to which made him nervously fiddle with his fingers “actually we did kinda make a bet…”

“Oh?” she asked, her eyes locked on the next game that had caught her interest, not even bothering to turn and look at him as he shifted forward to stand next to her “what bet did we make?”

“Well...we bet that the loser would have to do something that the winner wanted and for me...I wanted a kiss.”

Zoey watched him out of the corner of her eye, a small and missable smirk on her lips while she paid attention to the game she started to play, allowing him to awkwardly stand there and begin to regret what he had said to her until she purposely got herself killed by the next barrel that Donkey Kong had thrown in the game so she could then turn her attention to him.

“Well, a bet is a bet” she said with a shrug, reaching to take a hold of his hand so she could bring it up to her lips and kiss it, winking at him before she let his hand go and returned her attention back to the game “you know, this was fun. We should do it more often.”

Kyle was a bit lost for words to give her a reply but it soon turned out he wouldn’t need to when Brian answered for him as he, along with Alexandra and Reyna, entered the arcade “perhaps it might be better if you wait until we’re not in the middle of an Alien invasion for you to run off and play arcade games?”

“Bri?” Zoey asked with a shocked expression, spinning around to watch as the three entered the arcade, feeling like a little child who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, as the three friends looked at the two troublemakers with a mix of amused and annoyed expressions, Brian being the only one with the former expression “we...just wanted to let loose for a while.”

“And you couldn’t do that back at the hotel? You do realize that there are plenty of entertainment at the hotel?” Reyna asked with a sigh, taking a moment to close her eyes and remind herself not to get aggravated as her fingers wrapped around the inhaler in her pocket.

“I know but..”

“It’s not as fun as risking your life as well as everyone else that comes looking for you, is it?!” Alexandra said accusingly as she moved towards Zoey, the latter putting up her hands defensively while offering a soft friendly smile.

“We weren’t planning to be out so long, promise. We was hoping we’d be back before anyone noticed we were gone” Zoey said, slightly nervous as she got the feeling Alexandra was about to beat her up in some way as punishment while Kyle sneaked out of view as the others focused on her.

“Look, I get that you want to have fun and I hate being one of the strict ones but what you did was risky” Brian said as he came to stand beside Alexandra, giving Zoey a look “it may suck being cooped up with a hotel all day but it's for our own benefit. Do you understand?”

Zoey sighed and nodded before she lowered her head to look at the ground “you’re right. I got selfish and wanted to take my mind off things, stop thinking about my mom being missing for a little while and I ended up dragging you all out in danger with me. I’m sorry.”

Alexandra and Reyna just sighed sadly while Brian brought his arms up and drew Zoey into a hug, pressing a kiss to her forehead “I get you and you’re forgiven, its best we get back to the hotel before anything happens though” he told her, something they all agreed upon but then it was at that moment as they looked around and came to a single realization “where did Kyle go?”

Meanwhile, Kyle had sneaked around a few corners, hearing their discussion this entire time as he attempted to escape from the complaints, even if it was only briefly, reaching to bring out his bouncy ball again so he could distract himself.

Although as he walked around the next arcade game machine, his walk came to a dead stop and his ball, that had been mid bounce, wasn’t caught in his hand, instead bouncing along the floor and into darkness. Nothing else moved, not Kyle or the large spider looking monster that was currently in front of him, a look of hunger in its face.

It didn’t take too long for Kyle to start screaming as he quickly turned around to start running back to his friends while the monster gave chase, taking care to avoid the light of the arcade game machines while its friends, an entire pack of monsters gave chase as well, the monsters swarming into the building through the windows like a flood of water. ---  20th August 2049  - 21:33 - Charleston City, America

The Hayes trio didn’t like the sight that was in front of them as William drove the RV through the eerie streets of Charleston. All three of them keeping their eyes out ahead of them and looking around to try and see any signs of where the missing teenagers were before Bella turned to look at her daughter “any idea where they would’ve gone Vicky?”

“Not really, you know I didn’t go into the city much, do you two have any ideas where people my age could go?” she asked, Bella shaking her head but William kept driving, suddenly seemingly getting an idea as he turned the RV around a corner “you got an idea daddy?”

“You just narrowed it down for us. I bet you and your friends have been trying to think about all the types of places they could be but you’ve made me realize we shouldn’t be. Instead we should be looking where your age group would go specifically” he said, annoyed at himself for how obvious it should be as he sped the RV up “a arcade just up the street here opened up not too long before the invasion. I bet you they ar-”

William didn’t get to finish his statement before a scream could be heard, clearly close by which caused William to bring the RV to a sudden halt “that sounded like a girl screaming” Bella commented as Victoria quickly got ready to use her father’s crossbow but her father himself reached up and lowered the crossbow back down, earning a confused look from both females.

“Look” William said as he pointed to the distance, all three looking and watching as multiple spider monsters swarmed into the arcade building like a small flood, William letting out a sigh as he quickly got up from his seat and moved to rummage through all the personal belongings the others had put into the RV “my old crossbow ain’t going to do much and neither are guns.”

“So what are you thinking babe?” Bella asked, keeping her head turned to watch the monsters, making sure that none of them were heading their way “if weapons aren’t going to work, what makes you think any of our belongings are going to do anything?”

William just smirked at that for a moment, finding Maggie’s belongings and going through them in search of a particular set of things before he found them “I think they’ll work because Maggs has a certain talent for art” he told his wife as he took out two aerosol sprays from one of Maggie’s bags, giving both his wife and daughter a wild look as he handed one to the former “Vicky, I need you to be ready with the RV to drive us to safety, understand?”

Victoria nodded and shared kisses on the cheeks with both parents before they both made their exit from the vehicle, both lovers taking out lighters from their pockets as they ran towards the arcade, leaving Victoria to get into the RV’s driving seat and begin moving it towards the arcade behind them.

“This is so dangerous and can backfire on us so badly” Bella commented to her husband as they ran along, a smirk crossing along her lips which soon also was an expression shared by William when she finished her statement “it's good to be back in action.”

“You got that right love” William told them before the two of them came to a stop in front of the arcade, the sight ahead of them, despite its danger, not taking away their smirks as they saw the teenagers they were looking for had been backed into a circle, currently being kept safe from the monsters by the arcade machine lights around them but they couldn’t wait too long, otherwise the monsters would get daring for their prey.

“Hey Bri!” Bella called out to Brian, pulling the attention of all the present teenagers as they looked up to see William and Bella entering the arcade, pointing the sprays towards the monsters and pushing down on its initiator just as they flicked on their lighters, sending flames towards the monsters who yelped out in response and quickly ran from the flames “how’s it shaking?”

Brian grinned in a mix of happiness to being saved and joy to who it was that was saving him as he gave them both a salute “hey Mrs Hayes, good to see you alive and well. Had to make a big entrance huh?” he joked, earning chuckles from the two adults as they made sure to keep their flames pointed in the direction of the monsters, sending the swarms away into the darkness, a few of the monsters hissing and attempting to hit at the flames, only to get burned which caused them to screech and sprint away.

“Enough with the jokes man, let's get outta here!” Kyle urged, waiting until William and Bella had made a safe path for them to run to the RV that came parked in front of the building, Victoria using the headlights to make the path even safer and keep the monsters away long enough, before he became the first to make a run for it, sprinting for the RV and practically diving into its open door while Victoria grinned and honked its horn.

“Get in losers, we’re going shopping” she called out to them, the other teenagers not needing to be told any more times before they also made a run for the RV, leaving William and Bella to cover for them with their flames as they slowly backed up, being confident enough to even taunt the monsters before they turned and jogged the rest of the short distance to the RV, getting in and closing the door behind them so Victoria could then start the RV again and drive them away, the monsters not being brave enough to give chase to them as they instead hissed at the retreating vehicle.

“Well, that was one way to spend the first night as a family together again” William said with a chuckle, earning similar chuckles from both his wife and daughter, the former moving close to hug him as the teenagers just sat together in the back, recovering from the close to death experience they had just had, Brian pausing for a moment before he looked up to the couple, rubbing at his hands nervously before he spoke up.

“Did you...is my mother with you?”

This brought pause between William and Bella as they both shared a look, Victoria looking at them through the rearview mirror before Bella sighed and shook her head, looking at Brian directly “I’m sorry Bri but we haven’t seen Maria yet. Em, Jamie and Maggs are back at the hotel though. Ant and Logan are still going to be out looking for Maria, Anne and Alyssa. We’ll find them though, we always do.”

Brian just nodded, thinking for a moment before he shifted to lay on the bed he had sat on, deciding to give himself a small rest while a sad silence now filled the RV, nothing but the sounds of Alexandra giving aid to Reyna in using her inhaler being provided to them along their trip back to the hotel. ---  20th August 2049  - 24:00 - Hayes Hotel, America

Bella sighed in relaxation as she looked outside of the hotel room she now shared with her husband, the hotel’s courtyard completely lit up now to stop any of those monsters from the city coming to attack either the hotel or its occupants.

Despite the danger, Bella felt relaxed. She may still be missing some of her family but she was at least reunited with her husband and daughter and on top of that was once again enjoying the luxuries of her family hotel. Despite the Alien threat around them, she felt better.

At that moment, the room’s door opened and when Bella turned she saw it was William who had entered into the room, closing the door behind him before he sent a smile her way as she questioned him “how are things going then?”

“Edward has got everyone updated on those spider things, I doubt a lot of people are going to get any sleep tonight” William told her as he took off his jacket, Bella giving a nod of agreement as he continued “Nadia is seeing to the teenagers, obviously they are a bit shaken up. She also wants to have a look at that dead spider thing Han managed to kill earlier, that’ll be in the morning though.”

“I bet that’s going to be fun. The things give me the creeps now we aren’t in a rush of adrenaline” was Bella’s comment to that, William giving her a nod of agreement before the two fell into a brief silence, looking at each other in deep thought before William sighed and turned his head to look down at the ground.

“I’m sorry...i’m sorry for pulling rank on you earlier. I didn’t like doing it but…” William paused again, reaching up to run one of his hands through his hair before he looked back up to her and shook his head “you know I need to fight. I can’t just sit on the sidelines and watch people fight Aliens.”

Bella too sighed as she walked away from the window she had been looking out through, making her way over to him instead so she could reach up to stroke his cheek “I know love, but your heart can’t put up with too much stress and I dread to think what would happen if you have a heart attack in the midst of a battle, not only for you but for the people with you as well...have you at least got yourself some medication from this Nadia?”

The pause William gave before he answered her already told her what she wanted to know before he spoke “no. If I request some then it’ll be clear i’m not fit for duty and I won’t just steal it.”

“Will, you need the medication at least if you are to still be out there fighting, never mind should only be going on one mission every several days.”

“I can’t. I NEED to be out there” William said with a little bit more of a raised voice, he didn’t intend to seem angry as he wasn’t, he was just determined to do his duty, something Bella recognized as she reached to gently place her hand on his chest, silently telling him to calm down while she leaned up on her tiptoes to press her forehead against his own.

“Tomorrow i’ll go down to the doctor and get the medication, i’ll make it up that i’m the one with the heart condition” she whispered to him after a moment, the two of them looking into each other’s eyes before William let out a breath and nodded, reaching up with one hand to cup her chin before he pressed his lips against hers, the pair of them muttering “I love you” into their kiss.

At first the kiss started off slow but quickly it became more heated and passionate, both tension from their disagreements and hunger for the other after their separation taking over them as William quickly backed up his wife against the wall, their hands trailing along the other’s body before William moved his lips from hers to begin kissing along her neck, chuckling to himself as he whispered in her ear “you realize i’m physically in my 60’s at this point Bells, we can’t keep doing this too much.”

Bella smirked at his comment, tilting her head so he could kiss her neck while her hands moved down to his belt, trying to make quick work of it while moving her lips to his ear “we both know that's a lie. You’re better built than the men who are half your age” she told him, starting to get aggravated with his belt so she let out a growl “now get your damn pants off.”

William just chuckled against her neck “yes ma’am” he teasingly whispered as he reached down to unbuckle the belt himself, Bella quickly making work of her own clothes before they returned to kissing each other, their bodies gaining a mind of their own now as they moved towards the bed before collapsing down onto the sheets to make up for lost time.

Meanwhile, in another room of the hotel, Brian was just getting ready to sleep, undressing himself and having gotten down to be about to take off his pants when there was a knock on the door, Brian turning his head to look at it curiously before he shrugged and walked over to open it just enough so he could poke his head out, being greeted by the sight of Victoria “Hey Vicky, what can I do-”

Brian couldn’t finish his sentence before Victoria pushed her way into the room, leaning against the door to push it closed behind her while her eyes stared into his own eyes and it was at that moment Brian just grinned, knowing he wouldn’t need to cover himself up which was a reaction that made Victoria roll her eyes before she pushed her way past him, quickly beginning to get undressed in front of the bed “wipe that stupid grin off your face Bri.”

“I knew you wanted to” was his comment as he happily watched her undress, continuing to grin like an idiot which made his woman companion let out a growl as she unclasped her bra and allowed it to drop to the floor, walking back over to him in order to reach up and grab his hair, using it to pull him closer to the bed.

“Shut up” was the last statement shared between them before she pressed her lips to his while she turned them around and pushed him down onto the bed, making her moves to unleash what he held down below. Their kiss wasn’t passionate but it was needy. Victoria had built up a lot of tension throughout the day, tension she planned to release as she climbed on top of him. ---  20th August 2049  - 24:00 - Charleston Military Base, America

The Alien General let out a sigh of annoyance as it looked over the ruined forest that it was in front of it. The Charleston military base behind it as its face went from neutral to angry so quickly as it surveyed the damage that had been dealt to the precious nature.

“I-I’m sorry General. The majority of the damage to nature was dealt by the Humans and they retreated into the forests so we couldn’t chase them” the Lieutenant stuttered from beside it’s General, on its knees as it looked up to it’s General, filled with fear.

“...The majority?”

The Lieutenant paused before it answered its General, it's fear growing very quickly “we may have done some damage to the nature...sir.”

The General’s look of anger grew even heavier as it stared upon the damage to nature, letting out heated breaths before it suddenly, without any warning, turned to face it’s Lieutenant and grabbed onto it’s neck, using the grip to repeatedly slam the Lieutenant’s face against the ground, putting harsh powers behind his slamming motion which caused the Lieutenant’s head to be turned into a messy puddle by the time the General was done murdering it’s Lieutenant.

After it had finished the failure off, the General turned to address the soldiers that had all been forced to their knees, the soldiers having been the survivors of the Lieutenant’s conflict with the Humans. It only took a silent nod from the General for all of the soldiers to be executed as it turned and walked away, leaving the scene. Giving no prayers or wishes to the recently departed.

Failures didn’t deserve such graces.

Significant Events Summary

 * An undisclosed resident of the Hayes hotel sabotaged the group's long range radio but it was fixed with no suspicion to it having been purposely sabotaged.
 * The President as well as other occupants of the Charleston military base manage to make their escape but with a large amount of casualties being suffered.

Cast

 * Allison Miller as Zoey Bailey
 * Frank Dillane as Kyle Hawkins
 * Dallas Roberts as Emmett Bourne
 * Olivia Munn as Jeanne Winters
 * Stephen Lang as Vernon Paxton
 * Lindsey Morgan as Reyna Bullard
 * Devon Bostick as Brian Henderson
 * Emilia Clarke as Victoria Hayes
 * John Boyega as Nathan Sinclair
 * Eliza Taylor as Alexandra Ryder
 * Ryan Robbins as William Hayes
 * Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as Anthony Alexander
 * Genesis Rodriguez as Bella Hayes
 * Brad Kelly as Logan Goodman
 * Connor Jessup as Jamie Henderson
 * Amber Heard as Emily Henderson
 * Jessy Schram as Maggie Harlan


 * Richard Harmon as Nico
 * Dale Dye as Edward Grey
 * Mpho Koaho as Keegan Porter
 * Danai Gurira as Dannisha Sinclair
 * Jon Johnson as Jon Butterfield
 * Matt Scully as Guzman
 * Luke Neal as Daniel Pratt
 * Sean Murray as Charlie Jenkins
 * Megan Danso as Ashley Porter
 * Lauren Cohan as Nancy Morales
 * Elias Edraki as Zackery Jenkins
 * Jeananne Goossen as Nina Simms
 * Peter Shinkoda as Jeff
 * Steven Yeun as Han Seong
 * Kirk Acevedo as Berny Grey
 * Doug Jones as Alien Lieutenant 1
 * Doug Jones as Alien General 1

Deaths

 * Guzman
 * Alien Lieutenant 1
 * Numerous Counts Of Unnamed Members Of The Hayes Hotel Refugees Group (Both Onscreen And Offscreen)
 * Numerous Counts Of Unnamed Members of The President's Military (Both Onscreen And Offscreen)
 * Numerous Counts Of Unnamed Aliens (Both Onscreen And Offscreen)

Trivia

 * The "episode representing image" for this episode would be William, Bella and Anthony at the round table as the others were scattered around the room just before William asked Anthony if he was sure.
 * The title of this episode being "All That Matters" and the previous episode being titled "Our Missing Family" is a represent the known saying "Family Is All That Matters".
 * The saying being separated into two titles is due to both episodes in a way acting as two parts together due to their main storyline elements crossing between the two episodes rather than in a single episode.
 * Despite having been mentioned previously, this episode is the first episode to call Alyssa, the daughter of Anthony and Annie, by name.
 * This is due to the author wanting Adrien to be the creator of her character, as he created Annie for The Dead World, and Alyssa's name only being decided upon just after the release of episode three.
 * Originally the problem with the tank was going to be solved with changing the shield so it would only cover half the tank, resulting in only three rather than six people being protected, but the author decided that making the shields weaker would be an easier solution to write for the scenes.
 * Originally the reveal of there being a traitor among the hotel refugees wasn't going to happen until a later episode but the author needed a reason for Edward taking so long to radio William so they decided to make the traitor briefly sabotage the long range radio to fit the plot together.