"I can't hear anything," Morgan said quietly, looking to the door that was firmly closed. His eyes wandered to Bo, standing with her back to the wall, clutching her glass of water, then to Merrill, who flicked on a switch, lighting the basement.

"Lucky we got this all rewired. After last time, I figured we should... you know," Merrill let his eyes sink to the floor for a moment as his mind raced with a thousand questions. A million scenarios playing over and over. And every single one he envisioned lead to nothing good. Merrill was a simple man with not a lot of expectations, but his imagination always got the better of him... or at least, it had since that night... when the signs started to emerge.

Bo walked to her uncle, tugging at his hand. "I dreamed this."

"Dreamed what, Bo?" Morgan asked, coming closer to her.

At first she was hesitant, as if unsure if she should disclose such information that she had kept so private, but this was her family, and they needed to know her dream. "Last night, I had a dream... we were all in the kitchen and then... the baby monitor was clicking and there were shadows and then..."

"... and what?" Morgan demanded, edging closer and closer.

"And then there was Daddy... alone... but not alone..." Bo revealed, her calm but disturbed voice echoed through the basement, through their minds. "Do you think he's okay?"

"I don't know," Morgan said, because that was all he could say. He couldn't assure his younger sister that everything was going to be all right, because he didn't know that. He read so much, saw everything about the invasion on the television, but yet, he was like everybody else: clueless. "I don't understand. They're not supposed to come back yet. The book said at least forty years."

Merrill shook his head. "It's just a book, Morgan. Just because one man writes it, doesn't mean that's the way it's going to play out. Nobody can predict the future."

Morgan paused, then, "Bo can."

"Bo --?" he turned to see she was edging further back into the shadows of the basement where the light couldn't reach. As Merrill was about to speak --

SMASH! THUMP!

All three of them shot their attention to the ceiling where the loud noises had come from. They knew exactly what it could be. They knew exactly how it could have happened. And they knew the thump could have been Graham's body falling to the floor, motionless, still... dead.

"I should go up there. Morgan... protect your sister," Merrill said, reaching for the door knob.

"Wait!" Bo called, passing Merrill the glass of water. "Look in the mirror."

Merrill cocked his head, unsure of what the youngest child was saying to him, but like everything nowadays, he took it without question. He opened the door and crept out. Morgan was quick to close the door behind him, holding he weight against it, hoping it would be enough to stop anything getting in. But as the two of them waited their in silence, they were only growing more fearful of what could happen. Would they die? Would they live? Would they be enslaved? As children, they should have been thinking about their favourite television shows, or what they had done at school that day... or even making lists for their birthdays... but the world had changed. Children didn't have the luxury of thinking about that anymore. Now, in school, they were taught about the aliens -- their rumoured culture, their weaknesses -- and on television, all that was ever scheduled was warnings of alien sightings, programs on survival techniques. As for birthdays, there was hardly enough money to live on. The country was still reeling from the devestation of the invasion, and none of their crops grew anymore due to the crop circles -- nothing new would grow where they had made their signs.

Then, from out of nowhere, Bo burst into tears. Morgan quickly wrapped his arms around her, trying to lend his comfort. "Bo, it's okay. It's okay. Nothing bad's gonna happen."

"But last time it did. Last time you nearly died," Bo replied through her cries.

Morgan shook his head. "We're prepared this time, Bo. We know what hurts them, we know the safest places to hide... we'll be all right."

Bo lifted her head, wiping the tears from her eyes, looked him in the face, and with a blank expression, gently touched his cheek. "That's not what Mommy said..."