---Mother---

I gasped in horror as the visage of the zombie-like things that Damian was fighting. Infested, was their name. Vile, hideous things that shook me to my core.

Not my boy though, he fought them with the people around him. He didn't flinch and even managed to keep one of those medical people from being killed. I became all the more proud when he kept that nasty temper he had developed in check when dealing with the tall thing he called 'Dark Protoss.'

That pride quickly became fury when the lunkhead gave me a heart attack by charging off into the enemies coming at him practically on his own. My heart almost burst when I saw him throw himself free from the speeding vehicle he had latched himself onto and at the ships while the mechanized monstrosity shot at him!

I swore then and there that I would bend him over my knee after I finished hugging and kissing him if he ever left that horrid game.

Managing to overcome my terror at the idea of losing him in this demented creation by the aliens was difficult enough without him adding to it by being a moron. I had all manner of cruel punishments in place for him; they helped me believe I would see my baby again. Primary among them was the guilt trip of a lifetime!

I turned off the T.V when the newest Player in the Pokemon game was being shown. I had no desire to see some mentally unstable rapist go about using creatures to get what they wanted.

I went into the kitchen, stopping myself from setting a place at the table for Damian and fighting back the tears that threatened to come at the action. I had to be strong as well. Taking a deep breath, I started preparing dinner. Chicken Marsala tonight. It was his favorite, and I felt like eating it, again.

While I cooked, I thought about the last few days. The aliens had begun showing highlight reels of Players during their 'off' time. I never paid much attention to them, but a few had stuck with me. The few that were decent people at least.

One of them had been the only other known survivor from that attempt at ending the alien threat. Decard was his name, and he had been thrown into a game called Warcraft. I hated to admit it, but he was a better leader than my boy right now. The reel showed him pull together multiple different races and secure safe passage through what had once been dangerous territory, I think.

The second one was a young woman stuck in a game Suikoden. The woman in question was around sixteen I believed and had shown incredible skill. She had a lot to learn still, as my Damian did, but at least she had the excuse of being a child.

I let out another little sigh and began prepping the clean chicken. I should have instilled more motivation in my boy. Sadly I had always lost to his adorable puppy dog eyes. I cost him now, but he was learning quickly. I felt that wiggle of pride again and started to hum a little song. One I use to sing to Damian as a child to help him sleep.

~I'm looking over, a four-leaf clover~

I placed the meal into the oven to cook while humming and trying to ignore the sharp ache I felt in my heart when I heard something. I wasn't sure what it was. It sounded musical and like it was coming from my front door. I went there slowly.

Finding nothing in my house, I checked outside through the peephole and gasped in horror. One of the aliens stood on my stoop, repeating the musical note. I placed my hand over my mouth, the other going over my heart and I could not fight back a sob.

Had the creature come to harm me? To tell me my boy had in fact perished? I doubted the second one but it was a very real fear. I slowly began backing away. I didn't want the thing to know I was home. That was when it spoke.

"I know you are there, Ms. Fern. I promise I come in good faith. Be so kind as to allow me entrance amicably into your residence and we may speak of things that could help your son remain among the living."