Chapter 12

December 21st, 2012

5:47 am

Caroline County, Virginia

Thick bloated storm clouds rolled swiftly overhead as Mulder, Jim and the rest of their ragtag group walked on foot through the Virginian countryside. It seemed that they had been walking forever – when in reality it had only been a few hours. The Costco truck they had used to escape the deathtrap of Richmond had run out of gas around three o'clock, stranding them in the middle of nowhere.

It had taken a little bit of convincing, but Mulder and Jim managed persuade the others to accompany them on foot to the Mount Weather complex in Bluemont. The 26 of them voted on it and in the end the decision was unanimous: Attack the Facility. Mulder had to admit that he was a little shocked by the outcome. As Bryce had mentioned earlier, none of "Costco Survivors" had any real combat training. And when Mulder had first brought up the idea, the enthusiasm was less than overwhelming.

But in the day since, their ideas began to change. They realized they really had nothing left to loose. Their jobs, homes, even their families and loved ones were gone. The world itself was a jumbled mess. The familiar protection of government was no longer there. Black Oil? Aliens?

There was no joy in living such a life.

And somewhere along the way, shortly after the truck gave out, Mulder told them the truth. He told them about the aliens had their plan to colonize the planet – an event that would take place in less than 24 hours if nothing was done to prevent it. And the strange thing was, nobody questioned it. Not one person laughed in his face and called him nuts. They just took him at face value. It made sense. Total worldwide destruction brought upon by a virus that turned those infected into mind-controlled zombies? That was real. That was happening right now. The idea of an alien invasion just naturally seemed to flow.

People used to call him "Spooky" back at the FBI. Good ol' Mulder. Always good for a laugh. But nobody was laughing anymore. That fact should have brought with it a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, but it didn't. Mulder took no joy in seeing the looks of fear and uncertainty on the faces around him. During the hike to Mount Weather, the group had passed by an old playground. It had once been cheerfully painted in bright colors – blues, reds, yellows. But now the paint was faded and flecking off. And Mulder noticed something else. Small bloody handprints running town the length of the big plastic slide. Child's handprints.

He had wanted the world to know the truth, but not like this. Never like this.

They passed the playground of death, continuing on in their pilgrimage. They were a strange sight indeed. Twenty-eight men and women, each carrying at least one gun (which they had stolen from gun shops all over Richmond prior to their escape). They were silent; a somber mood had overtaken them.

Actually, that wasn't entirely true. Elijah, the longhaired lad of 18, had been talking Mulder's ear off for the past three hours. He found it fascinating that he was in the presence of a real-live FBI agent. He asked a million questions. Was being in the FBI exciting? Had he ever killed anybody? Had he, Mulder, actually ever seen an honest-to-goodness alien like, up close and personal?

Elijah was a good kid, if just a little hyperactive. Mulder enjoyed talking with him usually, but now, as heat lightning alighted the sky overhead, his thoughts were elsewhere. He wondered what time it was and toyed with the idea of asking Jim (thanks to his Eagle Scout training, the man could simply lick his finger, stick it in the wind and point the way to Saudi Arabia). But he decided he didn't want to know. Time was running out and ignorance was truly bliss.

Mount Weather

7:02 am

When Scully didn't come back after five hours, it was decided that one person should stand watch while the other two slept. Everyone was very tired and standing around having nothing to do simply aggravated the situation. Marita was to have the first watch while Debbie and William rested. And then, after an unspecified amount of time, Debbie would watch over Marita. Neither one of the two adults ever considered putting William in charge of guard duty. He was a child and couldn't be relied upon. At least that's what they thought. He was annoyed by this, but accepted it. There were some fights you just couldn't win.

Sleep didn't come easily for William, though. It took him a good two hours to nod off. But when he finally did, his sleep was quite peaceful. He awoke some time later, completely refreshed. Beside him, Debbie was curled into a tight ball on the forest floor, sound asleep. Judging by her soft snoring, her sleep was peaceful as well.

William stretched and looked about for Marita. He found her leaning against a tree. Her arms were folded and her head was down. She was obviously tired, and William decided to offer to stand watch while she joined his mom in catching z's. She probably wouldn't agree to it but there was no harm in asking.

He approached her nervously. There was something about the woman that intimidated him. She just seemed so with it. She had perfect posture. When she moved, she moved deliberately, going from one place to another with no stops in between. And when she talked, she spoke slow and clearly. She hardly ever used thought gathering words like "um" or "like". She already had everything planned out before she opened her mouth.

It was embarrassing to admit, but he had a slight crush on her.

"Marita?" William moved next to her. "You should get some sleep. I'll watch over you if-"

He stopped. Marita was already asleep. She had fallen asleep standing up. But that wasn't surprising. The woman had been awake for over 48 hours. She was bound to drop sometime.

William's blue eyes moved from Marita to his mom. Both were sleeping soundly. And it didn't look like they were going to wake up anytime soon. As he watched the two adults, an idea began to form inside his head. This was his chance to go looking for Ms. Dana! With both Marita and Debbie out of the picture, there was nobody to stop him!

With his face set in a serious expression that was almost comical, he marched over to the small brick hut that was supposedly a secret passage to the facility and pulled on its door. It opened with a sharp creak. After a look over his shoulder to reassure him that the adults were still asleep, William entered the tiny structure and quietly shut the door behind him.

There was hardly enough room in the shack to move around. The inside was made even smaller by the fact that there an opening smack dab in the center of the floor with a ladder hooked on it leading underground. William descended this ladder without a second thought. He had to find and rescue Ms. Dana. The grown-ups sure weren't going to. And it didn't look like reinforcements were going to arrive anytime soon. So what choice did he have?

The ladder led down into a tunnel that had been carved out of rock below ground. It was dank and smelled of mold. The only source of illumination came from fluorescent lights suspended from the ceiling in chains. And at the end of the short tunnel was a door. It was made of metal and looked as if it could withstand a nuclear blast. It had no doorknob of any sort, which meant that it was electronically operated. Mounted on the rocky wall next to it was a bright blue LCD screen with a series of flashing buttons underneath. This was obviously where you had your thumb/eye/voice scanned to gain entry.

A dead end. Or was it? William had a feeling he could break down the door with his mind, but that would undoubtedly make a lot of noise and alert guards. But he knew that Ms. Dana was on the other side of that door. She needed help. She was in danger.

William stiffened and reached out with to mind to make contact with the door. Even with his eyes shut, he could make out every detail. It was shiny metal. A good four inches thick. Written in red MASH type font on the front were the words "NO UNATHORIZED ENTRY".

Oops, William thought. Sorry in advance.

The nuclear-proof door twisted out of the frame, shrieking in protest. It buckled in the middle, folded in two like a sandwich, and was tossed out of the way to the side.

No alarms were going off. That was good.

The area beyond the door stood in stark contrast to the gloomy dark cavern. The world beyond was stark white. Sterile. The walls looked as smooth as crystal and the tile floor was so shiny that you could see your reflection.

The way was set. The only question was: should he go ahead with it? William absentmindedly touched the small cross around his neck. Yes. Yes, of course he would.

He bolted into the white expanse, not once looking back. He had to find Ms. Dana. She was there somewhere, but William couldn't pinpoint her precise location. Her "psychic trail", the way in which William was able to find Mount Weather in the first place, had gone cold. Was… Was she already dead? No, that didn't seem right somehow. She was probably just incapacitated.

William reached a fork in the road. He wasn't getting a strong feeling either way, so he blindly chose left. Then came a turn. And another. Then another. Another fork. Right, this time.

As he ran through the maze of corridors like a blind mouse looking for a piece of cheese, he began to wonder just where everyone was. Where were the Army personnel? Where were the guards? He didn't want to question his good luck, but something was feeling off.

Another corner. He took it and-

The rest of the hallway was cut off by a barricade of men dressed in combat fatigues. Some were kneeling some were standing. Fifteen men in all. They all had their eyes trained on William. And that wasn't all they had in common. Each had a gun pointed right in his face.

William felt all the air in his lungs whoosh out in one surprised sigh and he instantly threw both his hands into the air above his head. Wasn't that a sign of peace? They couldn't shoot him of he had his hands in the air, could they? Wasn't that some kind of a rule? That was the way it went on TV.

But this wasn't TV. It was real life. For a brief moment, William weighed the fact that he was just a kid against the fact that he was looking down the barrels of fifteen machine guns. They wouldn't fire on an unarmed boy, would they?

One look into their bloodthirsty eyes suggested otherwise.

He felt as if he was one second away from messing his pants when a voice spoke up from behind the wall of camouflage.

"What have you got?" A female voice.

"An intruder, ma'am," said one of the guards.

The sea of Army men parted and a woman stepped through. She had wavy black hair, dark chocolate eyes and a perfect heart-shaped face. She would've been beautiful had her features not been twisted so cruelly. She…

She was the woman in his vision.

William's mouth dropped open. His legs were rubber.

"A child," the woman said.

"Yes, ma'am."

Then William noticed the other two people standing next to her. His attention had been so focused on her; he had failed to see them. On the woman's right stood a young man dressed in a suit. He was shorter than the average male his age and his face was fuzzy with something that could just barely be called a beard. Nothing special about him, but the person on the left –

"Ms. Dana!"

William rushed forward to embrace his biological mother, but was stopped when a machine gun was shoved against his forehead. He backed up and took another look at Ms. Dana. Yes, it was really her. She was wearing different clothes than the last time he had seen her, but… Yes! He had found her!

"Ms. Dana! It's me! Are you okay? Are you hurt or anything? Ms. Dana? What's wrong?"

Something was wrong, that was for sure. Ms. Dana's blue eyes were staring out above William's head and she made no indication that she had even heard him yell out her name. She and the young man were standing still as statues.

"Oh, so you two know each other, do you?" Asked the woman, looking back and forth from Ms. Dana to William.

"He is her son," said the young man in a chilling robotic voice.

That seemed to grab the woman's attention. Her brown eyes grew wide and her mouth opened with astonishment. "This is William Scully? This boy in front of me. Are you sure?"

The young man nodded slowly.

"Unbelievable. After all these years of searching for him… To have him delivered right to us." She paused and stroked her chin. "Gibson?"

The young man snapped to attention.

"See what you can do with him. The rest of you boys can go now. Let my bodyguards handle this."

The Army men lowered their weapons and left without a word. The dark-haired woman smiled sweetly at William and waved goodbye. "I'll see you soon. Very soon." And off she went around a corner.

With that woman gone, William rushed toward Ms. Dana, his arms outstretched. "Are you okay? Don't you recognize me? It's William! It's-"

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

A shrill shrieking ripped through the soft tissue of his brain with such force that he was driven to his knees in pain. Where was it coming from? What was going on?! Through watering eyes, William could make out that the young man – Gibson – had taken a step forward. His empty eyes were focused on the flailing boy on the floor. It was this man, this Gibson, who was attacking him. William was sure of it.

But he wasn't going down without a fight. Not when he had come this far.

William bit down hard on his lip and fired back at Gibson with his own mind. The suited young man frowned; the first sign of emotion displayed by him, and took a step back. The relentless telepathic squeal died off a little. It was working! It was-

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

The noise was back and louder than ever. William felt as if his brain were going to split in half. He tried to call out to Ms. Dana for help, but was horrified to learn he no longer remembered how to work with mouth to form words.

Forget about that, he told himself. Just concentrate on the counter-attack!

William stood, braced himself against a wall and hurled a mental sledgehammer at Gibson. The piercing uproar was totally silenced this time and Gibson himself appeared to be in pain.

But there was no time to celebrate. True, William had the upper hand but if he lost his concentration for even one second, Gibson would be able to move in and take control. He could feel the young man's mind on top of his on, trying to suffocate it. But he was fighting back. The two telepaths were playing a psychic game of tug-of-war, each pulling (or pushing) as hard as they could. Even taking a breath was out of the question. To take a deep breath required thought and they couldn't afford to waste thought energies.

It seemed hopeless. Gibson had had his whole life to work on strengthening his powers and William had only discovered his a matter of days ago. But even still, the boy knew that he had more than enough power to defeat the man opposite him. The trouble was, if he pushed any harder it might mean death for Gibson and it was becoming more and more obvious that the young man wasn't in control of his own actions.

But Ms. Dana… She needed help! She needed help right now!

William lowered his head. "I'm…. I'm s-s-sorry." And he unleashed his full power.

The top of Gibson's head exploded with a disgusting SPLISH sound and bits of skull and brain matter flew everywhere. The rest of his body collapsed like a string-less puppet onto the floor.

William's heart hammered in his tiny ribcage and his eyes remained glued to the puddle of blood that Gibson's lifeless body was lying in. He had done that. He had killed a man. He had murdered another human being. Was that even possible? Did an eleven-year-old child even have the capacity to kill? He knew it had been necessary, but that didn't make it easier.

Ms. Dana was temporarily forgotten as William made his way over to the corpse. He felt as if he should do something. Say a little prayer perhaps. Yes. That would help ease his troubled conscience. And he was set to do just that when he noticed something moving inside Gibson's hollowed-out skull.

The brain was re-forming. And not just the brain. The skull was repairing itself. A finger twitched.

Oh. Crap. Thought William.

He dashed over to Ms. Dana and took her hand in his. "Come on! We've got to get out of here! Mom and Marita's outside! Come on!!"

But she did not budge.

"What's wrong with you –ark!"

Ms. Dana's right hand sprung out like a cobra and seized William around the neck. With her eyes still staring at something far off down the hall, she began to squeeze. The boy was lifted off the tile floor, his Nike-clad feet swaying a good six inches in the air.

William tried to speak, but couldn't. The grip around his neck was too tight. His vision began to shimmer around the edges and he knew he was in danger of losing consciousness. He couldn't let that happen. Ms. Dana was being controlled! If he could only help her…

Weakly, he raised his left arm just before the world around him went dark, he touched Ms. Dana's forehead with one of his fingers.

Instantly, the white walls and floors of Mount Weather vanished and William felt himself falling. Deeper and deeper. Down into a murky black oblivion. He was inside Ms. Dana's mind. He knew that at once. But where was she? She had to be here somewhere!

The sickening falling sensation came to a gentle stop and William looked around. Blackness in every direction. Up, down, to the right, to the-

There she was! He had found her! Ms. Dana was bound in chains, rusty chains that extended infinitely in all directions. Her head was tilted to one side and her eyes were open but were seeing nothing.

"Ms. Dana! Ms. Dana!" William tugged on the horrible chains, but they gave no slack. That wasn't surprising. The chains were Gibson's chains of mind-control and only he or Ms. Dana had the power to break them.

William touched her face. It was cold. "Ms. Dana, wake up! Please! We don't have much time left!"

Nothing. She wasn't responding! Why?! Time could be felt slipping away like water. In the real world, Gibson was healing fast and if he healed up before William had a chance to free Ms. Dana… Well, it was over.

"MS. DANA!"

Even screaming into her face did nothing. What else could be done? What else could he do? Unless… Maybe he was going about things the wrong way.

William looked into Dana Scully's unresponsive eyes and felt a rush of gratitude for the woman. She was so brave. So strong. She had made the brave and unselfish choice to give him up for adoption even when she wanted nothing more than to keep him for herself. She had protected him. How could he ever repay her back? Well, he was sure going to try. He was going to protect her now.

He reached out and touched her face. "Mom?"

One of Ms. Dana's eyes rolled around franticly. Her lips moved ever so slightly. Slowly, her eyes shut and reopened. Shut and reopened.

It was working.

"Mom," whispered William. "It's time to go."

Ms. Dana raised her head in full alertness. "What… What did you call me?"

"I think you heard me, Mom," William gently teased.

Ms. Dana smiled the biggest smile of her life as she let the word wash over her. Her eyes glistened. "I've waited for that moment my whole life. It was worth it." A pause. "I love you, William."

"And I love you, too. But right now we have to get out of here. Come on, get up."

"I.. I can't. These chains… I can't break free."

"You can. They're your chains and you have the power to free yourself."

"No. I can't."

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes. With my life."

"Then do it," William ordered. "Get UP!"

Ms. Dana threw back her head and screamed a savage battle cry. She flexed her arms high up into the air and stretched her legs further and further apart. "Arrrggghh!!!"

The links of the chain stretched like silly putty. The tension was unbearable.

"Arrrggghh!!!"

Ping!

The chain restraining her left arm broke in two.

Ping!

And another.

Ping, ping!

And another and another.

Soon, Ms. Dana was completely free. The broken and useless chains lay in a jumbled heap behind her.

"William?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"Let's get out of here, what do you say?"

He grinned. "Sounds good to me."

Scully blinked and once again she was in the stark halls of Mount Weather. And not only her, but also her son, William.

"The exit's over there," he said as he took hold of her hand.

She nodded and followed him as they both ran through the white labyrinth. Scully looked over her shoulder only once and saw Gibson, fully intact now, rising up groggily to his feet.

The exit came into view. They were going to make it! Just a little bit more!

BAM!

A gunshot fired somewhere behind them and a split second later, Scully felt the back of her head burst open as a bullet entered. She fell to the floor, bleeding heavily.

"MOM!!!!" William screamed and bent down to her. His entire body was shaking as he took hold of one of her hands.

"I'm okay," Scully mumbled. She felt the back of her head. Damp with blood, but otherwise okay. The wound had healed in record time. She was starting to get the hang of this immortality thing. "Keep moving!"

"Stay where you are!"

They turned and saw Dona Lola approaching. In one hand, she was carrying a large silver tube, kind of like a thermos. In the other, she held a gun, which was aimed at both of them. Gibson, newly rejuvenated, joined her.

Dona Lola handed the tube to Gibson and darted forward. She snatched up William by the arm and pressed him to her. "Your powers are truly remarkable," she said. "You've managed to defeat Mr. Praise, and I thought he was the best at what he did. I'm very impressed."

Scully jumped to her feet and ran toward them, but was stopped by Gibson. He moved in between her and Dona Lola with the speed of a jaguar.

"You're a very special little boy, did you know that?" Asked Dona. "And you're going to join us. One way or the other."

William's eyes widened with horror.

"No!" Scully pounded on Gibson's chest, but he would not move an inch. "If you hurt him, I'll kill you! Do you hear me?!" She swore at Dona Lola, hurling it with a scream. "IF YOU TOUCH HIM, I'LL KILL YOU!!!!!!"

Dona Lola pressed the barrel of her gun against William's temple. "And if you say ONE MORE WORD, I'll blow his head off, I swear!!! Now SHUT UP!!!"

With that final threat, Scully's mouth clamped shut. She was helpless. She played with the idea of rushing Dona Lola, but the gun was too close to William. She couldn't die, but he could. And would, if she so much as breathed the wrong way.

With a nod of her head, Dona Lola summoned Gibson to her side. The boy screwed off the top of the thermos-like object and presented it to her. William, still being held hostage, looked as if he were about to cry. His chin was moving up and down, his eyes were twinkling with tears, but he refused to actually cry.

It was then that Scully knew she had been mistaken. Age made no difference at all. All that mattered was heart. And she knew that her son truly had a soldier's heart.

Dona Lola handed over her gun to Gibson and dipped her free hand into the tube. She smiled devilishly and withdrew it after a few seconds. It was covered in the Black Oil.

Scully was about to scream, but caught herself. All she could do was watch in horror as the black goo began to converge and form maggot-like wisps that slithered up and down the woman's arm. Next to her, William began to whimper just slightly.

"Come now," Dona Lola grinned. "It's not going to hurt. At least, I don't think it will." She laughed. "I guess I don't know for sure."

Suddenly, she reached out with her non-Oiled hand and tugged down on William's mouth.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Screeched Scully; all too aware of what was about to happen. She kicked, punched and even bit Gibson as she tried to reach her son, but it was no use. He would not be moved.

Dona Lola pried open William's mouth with brute force. Tiny, choked breaths rushed out of the boy's lungs as she rammed her Oily hand into his mouth. She laughed manically as the black maggots slid beneath his skin, making their way to his brain.

She was still laughing as she released him. William collapsed upon the floor, hitting his head with a nauseating thump.

"You can have him now," Dona Lola giggled. She motioned to the boy, who was shaking and jerking on the floor.

Scully pushed Gibson out of the way and kneeled down next to her son. She gently rolled his face over. Her breath caught when she saw the dreaded black mist swirling over his blue eyes.

"You're free to take him," Dona Lola said. "But the real question is, do you want to? He's infected now. If you take him, it'll only be a matter of time before he infects the rest of your little party. Then again, if you leave him here, what kind of mommy would you be?" She crossed her arms. "Tough choice, ain't it, sugarplum?"

Scully scooped up William's limp body in her arms and brushed past Gibson once again, saying not a word.

Dona Lola laughed. "You really are an idiot!"

Just before she exited into the rocky tunnel, Scully turned around and glared at her. "Enjoy your life while you can. When next we meet, you have my word that I will kill you."

Dona Lola smiled sweetly. "I'm so scared," she said as she flipped Scully the bird.

The North American Birthing Center

14 Miles Outside Kansas City

It was time for the noon meal. The birthers filled into mess hall without much enthusiasm. The meals were the same from day to day. Heck, life was the same day to day living in the pit they were in. Nothing changed.

Monica joined the rest of the women as they sat down on hard wooden benches to eat. There were no tables. And there were no utensils. Those were luxuries. Another reason there were no knives or forks had to do with the fact that they could be made into weapons. Not that anyone would dream of overpowering the Oiler-guards. No, they dreamt of suicide. Monica had learned this during her one day stay. She had also learned other things.

It turned out that they alien babies being birthed were not true aliens. In other words, they were not recognized by the Colonists as "pure". The alien babies had had human mothers, and were thus to be used as a slave rave. Once the human raced had been wiped out, the lower-class aliens were to be used for labor.

"Honey, at least try to eat," Rosa pleaded.

Monica frowned and took a bite of some moldy bread. It was absolutely repugnant, but she managed to swallow it anyway.

Have to stay healthy for my baby, she thought sarcastically. She looked down and noted that her belly looked like that of a woman 8-months along. Well of course it did. She had had two more radiation treatments.

"Not so bad, is it?" Rosa asked.

Monica glared at her.

An alarm blared and everyone put down their "meals" and began to file out of the dingy mess hall. Time to get on with the treatments. That was what the day revolved around. No joy, no laughter. Nothing but the treatments. How could any of them stand it, knowing that eventually they would be executed because they would have outlived their usefulness?

Just as Monica was about to exit the room, her eye caught upon something shiny upon a nearby desk. It was a paperclip, holding a bunch of important looking documents together.

She couldn't believe her good luck. Her hand sprang out and snatched the clip from the papers and she hid it within her palm all the way to the barracks. Once she was certain that there were no Oilers around, she tapped Rosa on the shoulder and showed her the paperclip.

"We can use this to remove the chips in our necks!" Monica exclaimed, barely able to contain her glee. The metal chips in all the birthers' necks were the only things keeping them away from the outside world. Monica had found that out the hard way. One escape attempt, and the chip merely paralyzed you for a while. A second try, and you were dead.

Rosa looked at the paperclip as if she had never seen one before in her life. "Where did you get that?!"

"I stole it. Now come on, I'll get yours out first and then you can do me."

"No. We can't do this. We-"

Monica was already straightening it out. "This is our last chance! We won't have another!"

Rosa shook her head. "Wait. Just wait!" She clasped her hands over Monica's. "If you remove the chip, you'll get sick."

"Huh? How do you mean?"

"I dunno. Just sick. It's a precautionary measure they use."

Was she serious? So what if Monica got sick? If she stayed at the Center, she'd be as good as dead sooner or later. What did it matter if she caught some kind of cold from taking the chip out?

"Well, I'm doing it." Monica handed the straightened paperclip to Rosa. "Take it out."

The malnourished black woman smiled understandably. "Let's just calm down okay? Let's just relax and-"

"JUST DO IT!" Monica spat.

Rosa put a shaking hand to her mouth. Her eyes began to water and a tear slid down her cheek. But she nodded and moved close to Monica. Pretty soon, she felt the dull end of the clip jab the nape of her neck. Over and over again like a tattoo artist's needle.

From behind her, Monica heard Rosa sob.

What have I become? She asked herself. She got no answer. She had no right to scream at Rosa like that. Yelling at an innocent woman… What was she becoming? She was doing this for John and yet….

Fifteen minutes later, after countless pokes with the paperclip, Rosa pressed Monica's chip into her hand. It was covered in blood. And what really struck her was the size of the thing. It was only a little larger than the head of a pin. It was unreal that such a small thing could cause so much anguish.

Monica turned to thank Rosa for helping her. Well, that and apologize for yelling at her, but the other woman was gone. That was a shame. Monica had wanted to talk to her one last time before she left and now she would probably never see her again.

Oh, well. It couldn't be helped.

Monica tossed the hateful computer chip to the side and fled the barracks. She ran out of the squalid shack and out into the courtyard area. It was empty for the most part. Most birthers preferred to get a little sleep after the midday meal. However, one or two Oilers milled about listlessly. And there, parked against the walls of the courtyard, was what she had been looking for.

It was the black truck that had delivered the new set of birthers to the Center yesterday. It was empty for now; the driver was more than likely off somewhere getting information on new potentials.

Monica wasted no time. She darted across the muddy expanse of the courtyard and plastered herself up against the truck's side. Nobody had noticed her. Yet, anyway. She prayed that trend would continue.

Quietly, she opened the truck's door and hoisted herself up, using the bottom of the doorframe as a step. She then climbed on top of the roof, a difficult act thanks to her "8-month belly". With one hand, she judged the distance between her and the wall. Not too far. She could make it.

She was just about to hall herself up over the barbed wire top of the wall when a there came commotion behind her. She didn't need to look back to know that she had been spotted. But it didn't matter. With her chip gone, they could do nothing about it.

The barbed wire was sharp, of course, and it ripped and tore her "potato-sack" dress into pieces. But nevertheless, she managed to crawl over the top of the wall, bloody and cut in so many places, but still alive. She dropped to the ground, sailing through the sky for an eternity before finally slamming to the ground. All the air was knocked out of her lungs and she instinctively worried what kind of impact the fall had had on her unborn baby. Then she caught herself. What did she care if the wretched thing growing inside her was injured?

From inside the Center, pandemonium had broken out. Monica laughed bitterly as she pictured the Oilers inside a dark control room, hitting a button labeled "Monica's Self Destruct". She then imagined their shocked faces when they realized things weren't working out just the way they were supposed to.

Ha.

But she couldn't get lazy now. Sure, the chip was gone, but the Oilers could still catch her and drag her back to the Center. And it was almost a sure bet that they would kill her once inside.

So Monica ran. She ran through the woods. She ran as fast as her feet would carry her. Over the rough forest floor, covered in sharp, broken twigs, across a freezing pond – she ran. For John.

At first, William thought that he had gone blind. He blinked his eyes, but no matter which position they were in, opened or closed, all he saw was an inky blackness. This was different than the dark void of Ms. Dana's mind-controlled brain. This was downright oppressive. Evil, somehow.

He tried to move, but couldn't. Something was crawling all over his body. Something wet, slimy and cold. And the more he thought about it, the more he was aware of a sensation he was feeling – it was like bobbing up and down in water. Was he floating out in the ocean? No. It was too quiet to be the ocean. There were no breaking waves, no squawking seagulls. The sounds of life were absent in this horrible place.

Just. . .blackness.

"Is he alive?"

William's body jumped slightly as the silence was broken. A voice? Yes. It sounded like a young girl's voice. And it was close. It sounded like it had come from right next to his ear.

"He's alive," confirmed another voice. Still female, but older.

"Can he hear us?" Asked the younger girl to her counterpart.

"I can hear you," William acknowledged. His voice was soft and weak and seemed so far away that it might have belonged to another person, but he was surprised he could talk at all.

"We're here to watch over you, Will," said the older woman. Her voice was so soothing and so gentle. William could just close his eyes forever and listen to that silky voice.

"Yeah," said the girl, "but we're also here to motivate you into action. Now come on, get up!"

William opened his eyes and saw two vague female shapes silhouetted against the murky blackness. One was short and had long, following hair. The other was taller, had medium-length hair, and something was glistening around her neck. But it was too much effort to keep his eyes open for so long. With a defeated sigh, he let them close once more.

"What's he doing?" Exclaimed the young form. "Why is he closing his eyes?"

The older female sighed. "He feels he can't go on. He's tired."

"What? You've got to be kidding me. Look, kid. I've come a long way to be here with you now, so I'd appreciate it if you'd fight just a little. If you don't fight, they win! Get it? And you can't let them win because they're evil. Just plain evil. I can testify to that firsthand."

"We both can," corrected the older woman.

What did they want? What were they asking him to do? Fight? He couldn't! He could barely keep his eyes open! They didn't understand. It was easy to stand off on the sidelines, shouting tips at the players, but it was a totally different thing to actually play the game yourself.

"Oh, I give up," the girl grumbled. "The boy's hopeless."

"William, you helped save Dana. She was in the same situation you're in right now. Now it's your time to fight. She did it and you can do it too. Prove to us that you're Dana's son!"

"That was different!" William exclaimed. "I can't fight this stuff. It's all over me. I can't. I'm too tired. Just leave me alone."

"This is the savior of the world?" The girl scoffed. "Puh-lease. If that's the case, they're in big trouble now."

"Hey now," Now came the older woman's more relaxing voice. "You can fight this. You just need to believe in yourself. Your aura's still strong and-"

"Oh, great," the girl sighed. "Here we go again with the harmonic convergence."

William frowned. He didn't like the idea of the girl picking on the other one. "You know," he said. "Just because it's positive and good, doesn't make it silly or trite."

The woman clapped. "Exactly! Thank you! It's nice to know somebody understand me."

"Whatever." The girl was starting to get huffy. "I'm going in, like, two seconds. So I suggest you get in gear and give us your hands so we can pull you up."

"I don't know if I can."

"Give us your hands, butt-munch!"

Smiling a little to himself, he lifted his arms up into the air. It was so hard to do. Gravity had gone crazy. Each arm felt as if they weighed over two hundred pounds. And the blackness was everywhere. It-

Two strong hands clasped around William's left elbow and another set clammed the other. And he was lifted up into the air. Up, up, up! The blackness was instantly gone. In its place was a glittering golden sky. Like a supernova. Down below, that's where the black sea was. William watched it as he flew higher and higher. It was churning and pitching violently. Black waves were crashing upon one another in a mad frenzy. And then, the color of the water changed. In an instant, they changed from pitch black to a gleaming white color.

"Purity," William whispered as he crashed through the center of the sparking golden sky above.

"He's waking up! Hurry! Hurry! William, can you hear me?"

William opened his eyes. He was back in the woods surrounding the Mount Weather compound. Ms. Dana was hovering over him, her red hair cascading over her face as she bent down and hugged him. "You're awake! You're awake! Everyone, he's awake!"

Ms. Dana was then joined by others. It was no longer just Marita and Debbie. A crowd of nearly 30 people, people he had never seen before, gathered around him in a tight circle. Lightning flashed high above, and the faces of Jim and Mulder could be made out among the crowd. It reminded William of that scene in The Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy wakes up back in her own room after her journey to the magic land. She sees her family and friends all around her and realizes she's back home.

William understood just how she had felt.

"Baby!" A familiar voice rose up amongst the crowd and there was Debbie. Her dark hair a mess and her cheeks wet with tears. She outstretched her arms and suffocated William in a massive hug. Jim soon followed suit. Off to the side, Mulder was rubbing Ms. Dana's back.

"That was a stupid, stupid, stupid thing you did!" Debbie exclaimed as she covered her son's face with kisses. "You could have gotten yourself killed! What were you thinking?!" She paused. And then, almost like an afterthought: "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" She lifted up William's shirt to inspect for any scars or cuts.

"Mom!" William pulled his shirt back down, his eyes darting over to Marita. "I'm fine. I'm okay. There's no place like home." He turned to Jim and wrapped his arms around the man's neck. "You're here!"

"Yes, I am. And I'm so glad to see you again."

William smiled and ran over to Mulder. "And I'm happy to see you again, too."

"Well, thank you," Mulder nodded. "That's awfully nice."

"They arrived here just a few hours ago," Ms. Dana said as she ruffled up William's long unkempt hair.

Hours? Did she just say hours? "How long was I out?"

"Almost the entire day," Marita said.

And then came another thought. "What… What time is it?"

Everyone exchanged looks. They knew what he meant.

"We aren't sure," Mulder said.

But William had an idea he knew. He was just afraid to say it out loud.

The group of survivors outside might not have known the hour, but the clocks in Mount Weather were in perfect synch and keep flawless time. And they each read: 11:58 pm. It was still December 21st, 2012.

It was approaching. With each second that was ticked off, it was coming.

11:59 pm. Still December 21st.

The date of the human race's execution was neigh. But there would be no last minute pardons. There was no time for last-minute confessions to be heard. For it was already-

The clocks chimed midnight simultaneously.

It was now December 22nd, of the year 2012.

The future was now.