"Wish me luck." "It's gonna be okay." "We'll see each other again." "I promise." "I promise." " How long till we get there?" "It's hard to say." "Maybe about 300 more miles." "How long will that take?" "Maybe 12 hours, depending on the road conditions." "And if we have to take any more detours" "Any more detours, and we'll run out of fuel." "We should think about scrounging up some more." "Nope, no more side trips." "Not with the aliens riding on our tail." "The sooner we get to Charleston, the sooner we'll be safe." "Dad, I want you to keep this for me." "Why would you write out a will, Matt?" "Well, everyone's saying we're not gonna make it to Charleston." "And if I die, I want" "You're not gonna die." "And we're gonna make it to Charleston." "It's not a question of "if," it's a question of "when."" "I want you to write that in your journal." "Okay." " Okay?" "Yeah." "You need me to spell you?" " Nope." "I'm good to go, boss." "You call me "boss" one more time, I'll slap you myself." "Hey, I'm sorry if I get on your nerves." "Tell the truth, I'm surprised you picked me to be your driver." "Are you?" "Why's that?" "I ain't exactly the spit-and-polish type." "Just what type are you, Tector?" "That's what I'm trying to figure out." "Oh, yeah?" "Well, me too." "Hey, you let me know if you come up with any good theories there, captain." "How's it going, kids?" "Damn it, Pope." "Next time you do that, I'm gonna pop you in the nose." "Yeah, well, then it'll just be like old times, Margaret." "What do you want?" "Yeah, sometime soon, uh, if we can make a pit stop." "All this beer duty is starting to take its toll on me." "We only stop when the tank's empty." "That's the rule." "You know that." "What part of being an advance scout don't you understand?" "Well, fine." "I guess I'll just have to manage on the fly." "No peeking." "Two days of this, I'm gonna kill him." "I truly am." "Give me the word." "I got your back." "Right." "What?" "You wouldn't even." "Kill Pope?" "I nearly have before on a few occasions." "But you didn't." "What?" "You don't think I have it in me?" "No." "You don't have enough dark in your soul." "What does that mean?" "I can go dark." " Yeah?" "Yeah." "What's the darkest thing you've ever done?" "Well...." "Just as I suspected." "I...." "Keep him hydrated." "I can't." " No." "Son of a bitch." " You okay?" "I got a blister." "It's just annoying." "Want to see if I can get this thing out, but it's in there pretty good." "When Uncle Scott built something, he built it to last." "I think these bolts are rusted." "Just leave it." "The weight of one gurney's not gonna make a difference." "Let me look at it." "No, it's fine." "I'm good." "We still have a long way to go." "You sound worried." "You're not?" "No." "Rough stuff's all behind us." "It's all downhill from here." "Slow down a little." "Okay, chief." "Oh, what?" "I can't call you "chief"?" ""Boss." "Chief."" "Why not "sir"?" "I'm not sure I follow." "You work double time to come off like a good old country boy but you handled that sniper rifle like a soldier who trained with the best on an M24, maybe." "Oh, yeah." "So you were military." "What I don't get is why are you trying to hide it?" "Maybe you just want to kick up your heels with the Berserkers." "Is that it?" "You want to have the rest of us do the heavy lifting, is that it?" "What does it matter?" "I'll tell you how it matters, soldier." "You're serving under me, and I need to know that I can trust you." "And right now, I don't." "I" " Whoa, what was that?" "A deer?" "I'm not sure." "It's a kid." "A harnessed kid." "She's unconscious, but she seems to be coming to." "Aside from that, I think her harness might be internally damaged." "It isn't glowing." "We can't leave her." "I wanna help her, Tom, but it's too big a risk." "After Karen, we cannot afford another enemy agent." "You got that right, captain." "Where am I?" "And why does my body hurt?" "You were in an accident, but you're okay." "I'm Dr. Glass." "Where's Tyler?" "Who's Tyler?" "My brother." "I want my brother." "I'm sorry." "We don't know where he is." "Ow, it hurts." "All right." "Just...." "Anthony, would you please secure her in the back?" "We've gotta keep moving." " Seriously?" "Just do it." "I've been thinking." " If we get to Charleston" " When." "When we get to Charleston, what then?" "I'm just hoping against hope that Ben shows up there." "I didn't understand what he was going through." "I guess I still don't know, but it'd just be nice to talk to him." "It's not too late to make that all good." "Ben's coming back to us." "I can feel it." "Yeah, well, I wish I could believe that but I just don't see how." "Sometimes you have to trust that fate will throw you a favor every once in a while." "I know because it happened to me." "Really?" "Yeah, I never thought I'd recover from the life I had before." "There was nothing good there." "And then came you." "Uh-oh." "We got a problem." "What's the story?" "We're overheating." "The radiator is low on water." "I better pull over." "No." "No." "Don't." "Just keep on going." "There's a river not too far from here." "The Smith River." "Fill it up there." "How do you know that?" "I used to take this route to visit my kids." "Just keep going." "He's kidding, right?" "Nope." "Pope has kids." "That's a scary thought." "Got you something." "Good for hydration." "Oh, thank you." "Mm." "How's the girl doing?" "Quiet." "She seems so lost." "I don't think she poses any danger." "Maybe." "How many more of them are out there, huh?" "Thousands?" "Millions?" "Even if we kick the aliens off the planet, which I know we will of course we will." "What do we do with all of them?" "Even if we cut their harnesses off they're never gonna be normal kids again." "Maybe not, but they'll adjust somehow, find their way." "What are you staring at?" "Nothing." "Um, I just wanted to see if, uh, you want something to eat." "They're pears so, uh, if you're not hungry, you don't have to eat them." "Been so long since I've eaten anything." "My brother, uh, got hungry again after they took his harness off." "Yours is damaged, so maybe that's why." "Your brother was joined?" "Where is he?" "He's away." "You think I could have those too?" "Sure." "Sorry." "I haven't done that in a while." "It's okay." "My name's Matt, by the way." "Jenny." "Damn it." "Can't believe this." "Ha, ha." "Relax, young Mason." "The river's within walking distance." "I hope so, we're off course, we're supposed to be marking a safe route." "Could be driving straight to an ambush." "Let's see." "Eureka!" "The radiator hose has a hole." "Tell you what, I'll patch it up if somebody goes to get some water." "All right." "Don't worry." "I can handle him." "Well, well." "Here we are at last, Maggie May." "Get over yourself, Pope." "How far you plan on bringing that boy down the primrose path, huh?" "As usual, I have no idea what you're talking about." "What's gonna happen when he finds out the truth about you?" "Hm?" "The who and what you really are?" "What then?" "We've been on a rough road now for about 20 hours." "The constant vibration must have cracked it." "Water tank's about a third empty, and Anne's got a dehydrated patient." "Should have kept my eye on that." "That was a stupid mistake." "Worried about Hal?" "I'm sure he'll be fine." "He's done advance scouting before." "Aah!" "Son of a bitch!" "I'm sorry." "Let's see if we can empty this into whatever canteens we've got left." "You finished with this?" "Yeah." "Jamil's tools." "So what?" "You two thinking about settling down in Chucktown?" "Maybe, uh, pumping out a few Masonettes?" "You ask me, I think you'd be bored out of your skull..." "...but that's just one man's opinion." "Cut to the chase, Pope." "People like us, Maggie, we don't belong in a place like Charleston." "Clips our wings." "Is that a pitch?" "I don't know what you're plotting but I'd rather swallow glass than be a part of it." "Okay, I'm nothing like you." "You disgust me." "Well, there was a time..." "...when you felt differently." "No." "There was a time when I lied about it." "At least you're consistent." "Nothing good will come from telling him about my past." "Nothing." "He's bound to find out, you know." "I mean, it's not gonna come from me." "My lips are sealed." "Cross my heart, hope to die." "But, uh, if he does, then what?" "Look, if you love this kid like you say you do" "I never said that." "If you really care for him, you might wanna sack up tell that boy the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth." "I've been saving this for almost a month." "Want to split it?" "So, uh, what's it like being all, you know....?" "I'm used to it." "My brother Tyler's the same way." "Your brother's harnessed too?" "Mm, he's not my real brother." "He and a couple kids became my siblings after we got joined to the same guardian." "You mean skitter." "Yes." "If that's what you call them." "So, what happened?" "My guardian and my other siblings were killed by humans." "You're a human, Jenny." "I loved my guardian." "She took care of me, made me feel like I belonged to a family the first real one I ever had." "We can be your family too." "Everyone in the 2nd Mass is really great." "And just wait until we get to Charleston." "It's gonna be awesome." "What's in Charleston?" "You'll see." "Hold on a second." "Let me show you something." "So, what were you?" "A Ranger?" "Had to be." "Yeah, why you say that?" "I've seen you handle a Barrett rifle." "A jarhead could never make shots like those." "Like hell, you say." "So you were a Marine." "I thought so." "What rank?" "Gunnery sergeant." "Where'd you serve?" "Iraq and Afghanistan, two tours." "I'm gonna talk to whoever's in command." "We're gonna need people like you with leadership abilities." "Truth be told, my plan is to get you safely to Charleston and push on from there." "To where?" "Wherever." "I have my reasons." "And with all due respect, captain that's all I'm gonna say about that." ""My dad says Charleston will be great for many reasons." "We'll have lots of food, water, and medicine." "Dad says we'll also have more time for school, learning, reading."" "See?" "You like reading." ""And there will be more kids my age that I can play with." "I'll make more friends, which is really great because...."" ""Because I miss not having any friends, especially since Ben went away."" "Anyway, I wouldn't put it in the journal if it wasn't true." "I'd like to come with you, Matt but you saw the way the others looked at me." "Even you looked at me like that at first." "Yeah." "And I was wrong." "The others will come around." "I'll make them." "Will you please come with us?" "Please, please, please?" "Yes." "What's wrong?" "Tyler's here." "I can feel him." " Dad, help!" " What is it, Matt?" "Don't shoot!" " Stop the bus!" "You okay?" " Yeah." "Whatever it was is gone now." "Yeah, the girl claims that "it" is her brother and he's just trying to get her back." "We can't believe a thing she says." "We need to keep moving." "We don't have enough ammo to defend the convoy." "I'm gonna go tell Weaver." "Back in business." "We've lost about an hour and the convoy's probably ahead of us." "No telling what route they took." "I hope they're all right." "They're good, honest people." "I'm sure they're fine." "I wanna get back on the main road." "Keep dropping those cans." "Hopefully we'll find them." "I'd offer to drive but I know you two lovebirds have got a lot to talk about." "You okay?" "Yeah, I'm good." "You sure?" "Yup." "Pope say something?" "No." "He must have, you're starting to act weird..." "...all of the sudden." "Nothing he says matters." "So he did say something." "No." "What?" "I'll stop this truck and kick his teeth in if he said something to get you upset." "What?" "It's nothing." "Okay, cool, whatever." "Hal" "I said it's cool." "Well, obviously, it's not." "If there's something with you and Pope that I should know, tell me." "Pope?" "No." "No." "Well, then what is it?" "After I got out of the hospital everything just looked so fake, plastic." "Everyone's smiling, asking me if I'm okay and, you know, not knowing what to say about my shaved head and my scars." "I just got to the point where I had to get away from everyone, just everything." "So suddenly I found myself at 18, living with this guy in some hole sleeping on a dirty mattress and slamming whatever junk we could afford into our veins." "Eventually, we started breaking into houses and stealing whatever we could find." "But we got caught and, uh, I ended up at the Framingham Correctional Facility for Women." "I found out I was three months' pregnant." "So I had my boy in Framingham." "These beautiful eyes." "That's all I can remember before they took him away." "So that's my story." "That's all of it." "Mile 21 7." "What did we lose?" " GTO." " GTO?" "Broken axle." "Sorry, captain." "She served us well." "Okay." "We haven't seen any sign from Hal, Maggie or Pope." "It's been 250 miles." "I know, I know." "When we get to Charleston, we'll circle back and find them." "Yeah?" "Hal's a good kid." "He's a smart kid, Tom." "He'll be fine." "Both roads lead to Charleston, captain, but we don't know if either are safe." "So you want to pick one?" "Fifty-two." "Let's mount up!" "Homestretch." " Next stop, Charleston!" "Let's go!" "Back in the vehicles!" " You smell that, Tector?" "What's that, captain?" "The sea." "The sea." "Looks like the deuce started up." "They must have picked a route to Charleston." "Charleston, here we come!" "Don't worry." "I'll protect you." "It's okay." "I need to go." "No." "He's my brother." "I have to go." "I won't let you!" "Hey!" "Hey, Matt." "Matt." "Hey there, buddy." "Ow." "What happened to Jenny?" "I'm guessing that she went back with her brother." "Do you think Ben loves the rebel skitters more than us?" "Ben doesn't love the rebel skitters." "He just needs to fight with them to protect us, to protect you." "But what if when he's there, he realizes that he likes them more?" "He won't." "What if he does?" "What if he doesn't come back?" "Then we'll go find him." "What if he dies?" "He's not gonna die." "You promise?" "I promise." "Hey, Dad, do you know where my journal is?" "Feel better, okay?" "Okay." " He's awake." " Good." "He's all right." "I'll go check on him." "You can't help him anymore." "He's gone." "That's what you said about Jamil." "Find a new line." "That one's getting old." "Lourdes" "Hey, don't touch" " Stop it." "We should be catching up to them soon, right?" "Yeah." "Looks like it's getting warmer." "It's still pretty chilly out." "Okay." "Stop it." "What?" "Aren't you gonna say anything?" "Like?" "Like what?" "Like anything." "That's a lot to take in, Maggie." "You think that was easy telling you?" "Living it?" "Surviving it?" "No." "Absolutely not." "I just...." "I just need time." "For what?" "To think." "Fine." "Take all the time in the world." "Come and get it!" "It's because of what happened to Boon, isn't it?" "The reason that you're running away." "Must have been tough." "You were like an older brother to that kid." "You taught him to be a soldier." "A dead soldier." "I'm not fit to teach anyone anything." "That's a pretty big leap, Tector." "It's not just Boon." "In Afghanistan, I was ordered to take a patrol into an area we'd never been." "I led them straight into an ambush." "I should have known better." "The topography was perfect." "I was tired." "I hadn't slept in days." "I know that's no excuse." "Man, they hit us from all sides." "Machine guns, RPGs." "It was chaos." "I look around, and I see three of my men just lying there all dead." "Because of you." "You killed them the same way you did Boon." "What the hell, man?" "I was there." "I saw it." "Hold on one minute." "You murdered him." "No!" "That is not true!" "Coward." "That is not true!" "Hey." "That is not true!" "Hey, Tector, of course it's not true." "You didn't kill those men." "You didn't kill Boon." "The enemy did." "Yeah." "Oh, my friend you think you're the only one that's made mistakes?" "I lie awake in my cot every night thinking about the ones I made and the people that might still be alive if I'd made different choices." "Right after Fitchburg, when we lost so many, I loaded up a pack." "I was gonna take off in the middle of the night." "I was gonna try and hide, run away." "But I never made it past the tent flap." "What stopped you?" "The thought of all those people asleep in their cots all confident that I would be there to lead them in the morning." "And I felt for the first time what that responsibility was." "I knew that they needed me, Tector." "And they need you too." "Whoa!" "What is it?" "I don't know." "Everyone just stopped." "Anne, hey, um I'm sorry." "I'm just still mad that...." "I know." "Hey, I think we're here." "Charleston?" "Really?" "Yeah." "Oh, wow." "It's hard to believe we actually made it." "I know." "What's going on?" "I don't know." "Talk to me, Tom." "I was so sure that Charleston was real." "I wanted it to be true." "For you, for Matt, for everyone." "For me." "Just to have a chance to rebuild our lives just to make some sense out of everything that's happened to Ben." "And there's nothing." "There's nothing." "It's not nothing." "I don't know where Hal is and I don't think I'm ever gonna see Ben again." "And my 9-year-old just made out his will." "We're all just a heartbeat away from death." "We always have been." "We always will be." "That's not a reason to lose hope." "We're not dead yet." "Yeah." "They're, uh, waiting for you, captain." "Not now, Tector." "They need you now more than ever." "I don't know what to say to them." "I respectfully suggest you make something up sir." "Gather around." "So Charleston was a bust." "We thought we were gonna have paradise on Earth delivered to us right here on a silver platter." "We should have known better." "I should have known better." "It doesn't mean that the dream was bad." "It just means that we are gonna have to work harder to make it happen." "Now, the choice is simple." "You can lie down and quit curse God at the unfairness of it all or you can come with me find another place to live, a place where we can build the community that we hoped to find here." "So here's what we're gonna do." "We're gonna get back in those vehicles!" " Yeah." "And we're gonna go on!" " Yeah!" "Even if it means we have to carry the damn things on our backs!" "Who goes there?" " Identify yourself." " Hold your fire." "Colonel Porter, First Continental Army." "Hello, Dan." "Jim?" "Heard the shot, and then I spotted your outfit." "How you doing, buddy?" "Whoa." "Good to see you." "What the heck took so long?" "Well, we had to stop by some gift shops and some diners on the way, you know?" "We can do better than diners." "Let me have some of that." "Try that on for size." "Strawberries." "Hey, Tom." "You've been busy." "What do you mean?" "Little legend building around you, Tom Mason." "Where'd all this come from?" "Those came from the new capital of the United States of America Charleston, South Carolina." "We were just there." "There was nothing there." "Well, looks can be deceiving, as you people from the 2nd Mass are about to find out." "Let's get them mustered." "I wanna get everybody settled before nightfall." "Yes, sir." "See you, Tom." "Let's go." "Oh, you had me worried." "Porter's patrol found us." "He wanted to bring us back with him." "I said, "2nd Mass is out there."" " Hal!" " Hey, there he is." "The only one missing is Ben." "I got a strong feeling we're gonna see Ben again." " Really?" "Of course." "I figured out sometimes fate throws you a favor." "We just got to make sure that we're around to catch it." "Oh, you're getting big." "Let's go to Charleston."