When Skinner contacted them with information about William's whereabouts, Mulder was scared shitless. If Skinner could find him, who else already had?
"Mulder, I wouldn't have risked contacting you like this if I wasn't certain that he's okay," their former boss' voice crackled over the bad phone connection. Most of the cellular towers had been destroyed soon after colonization began; it was rare to find someone that even had a working cell phone. Skinner had been lucky enough to be away from populated areas when the virus hit, visiting a relative in rural Nevada. Since then he had been slowly making his way East.
"Sir," Mulder said, involuntarily using his former boss' title yet again. If Skinner found it odd, he didn't let on. Mulder cleared his throat and lowered his voice so Scully couldn't hear the conversation. "How do you know it's him?"
"There's a young boy living in a camp in Gilman, Colorado, a mining town abandoned almost thirty years ago. I've been here for a month observing him. He goes by Will, and he's not with anyone. No one knows how he got here. Not only is he by far the youngest person here, but several others witnessed him being stung by infected bees. They had no effect on him."
Mulder swallowed hard. To find a surviving child was a feat in itself-they were slower, smaller, and surrendered to the virus more quickly than adults. To find William would be a miracle. "Are you sure it's him?"
Static partially obscured the voice on the other end, but Mulder could have sworn Skinner said "He has her eyes."
