Nine

"Are they still attached?" Skinner called over his shoulder as the ute he was driving along the bitumen road through the drizzle bounced over mud and potholes, avoiding as much overgrown vegetation and wildlife as possible. It was daytime but the sky was a dark grey, and the sound of the engine seemed to echo unnaturally through the rain.

"Yeah," Gibson answered from the front passenger seat of the ute without turning around. In the back seat, Sarah turned around even though she could not see. Behind them, tied to the towbar was the second of two vehicles they had stolen from La Paz, and after also locating several road maps they were doing their best to forge a getaway. They had made it west into Peru and were headed north-west to the coast via the well-signed tourist route, where they would follow the coastal cities further north until they reached Ecuador.

Both vehicles had been chosen because they had near-full or full tanks, and Skinner and John had quickly siphoned petrol from as many neighbouring cars as possible. Gas stations were a handy thing to come across, Gibson recalled with a happy smile. They never could have driven across the desert of the North, but driving through the South was a luxury and a necessary one. They never would have made it north fast enough on foot in the wet.

In the truck behind them, John was behind the wheel, and Monica and Nicky were belted into the back. Gibson knew everybody felt very safe and were extremely happy to be out of the rain. Everyone was aware that they would need to find more fuel along the way, and if they couldn't then they would need to resume walking, but none of them believed fuel would be a huge problem in what had been a populated, developing country that had seen a lot of traffic and tourism, as long as they stuck to the signed, asphalt roads. Getting to La Paz in the weather and with Monica below full strength had been hard. All Gibson wanted to do was get out, and fast.

"They've moved to Africa," he reported to Skinner and Sarah. "It took them longer than they thought to check that all the supersoldiers here had been treated and affected."

"Did it work?" Sarah asked curiously.

"They think so. Apparently they appeared to disintegrate; sort like a little bomb went off inside them. That's the best description I've been able to translate. But the supersoldiers are pretty strong. They needed to use a lot of their treatment. But there were also more here than they expected to find. I don't know what that means."

"Are they going to spread the same virus they spread in the North?" Skinner asked.

"I don't know," Gibson answered. "But the faster we get north the better."

"How far is it?" Sarah asked.

"Maybe fifteen hundred more miles to the equator," Gibson estimated, looking at the map in his hands. "In this weather and towing we're doing an average thirty miles an hour, pretty slow but steady. If we don't run into any landslides or obstacles or other 'problems' and we manage to find fuel along the way to top up what we're going to get through, it'll probably take us three days including the stops but without much sleep. As long as we don't run into problems. Getting down out of these mountains will be a lot slower, but we should speed up once we're on low ground, so...we're doing way less than thirty now but maybe tomorrow that will get better. We might make it in less than three days if we're lucky. Once we get down, if we find better vehicles or we're confident in being able to get more gas, if we can load up the trunk or something with it, then we could even just use the one car and get there faster. I'm happy to do that if you are. But for now, in case we blow a tyre getting down these mountains, then we need the backup."

"This was a fantastic idea Gibson," Sarah gushed. "Really, you have no idea how grateful I am. Walking around in darkness is one thing, but when it's raining-"

"No problem," he replied with a laugh, blushing at the compliment. "It's easy when I know what you're all thinking. John is the most grateful. He's really worried about Monica."

"Thought Monica would be more grateful," Skinner reasoned.

"Too sick to care," Gibson mumbled, stifling a chuckle. "So Sarah we're following the railroad at the moment and we're a bit over halfway between the border and the coast. You'll be okay with the drop in altitude coming up?"

"I think so," she replied thoughtfully. "You'll know if I'm not, but we packed coca so if anyone starts feeling ill we can use that."

"Nicky okay in the truck behind us?" Skinner asked.

"Yeah he's chomping on some boiled carrot," Gibson answered.

"Are there other human colonies here?" Sarah asked. "You know, you always said the supersoldiers were in Brazil, but what about this coast?"

"The sands here contain magnetite," Gibson told her. "I'm sure there'd be survivors in pueblos and up in the mountains, but we can't do much about them in the position we're in."

"It's been a couple of days," Skinner commented. "Our absence will have been noted. I wonder what they think happened to us?"

"No idea," Gibson mumbled. "To be honest I don't really care."

xxx

"How's he going hon?" John asked, glancing in the rearview mirror of the truck to see Monica with Nicky in her lap inside the seatbelt, urging him to munch on the soft carrots she had luckily had in her hospital room wrapped up for the next morning.

"He's fine," she promised, grinning and praising her son as he ate. "Remember to brake," she added as they began another descent. John nodded. He was keeping a careful eye on the distance between their car and Skinner's, but Skinner was driving very cautiously downhill and giving them plenty of warning. John was just glad the roads were in relatively good condition. It was not a North American interstate, but it was safe enough. It was certainly safer than the road they had walked in the wet.

"Looks like we're doing what Gibson suggested before we left," John commentated. "Head for the coast in a northerly direction and then just gun it north. Reckon that's a rail line beside us too." Monica glanced out her window and nodded. "If you need to throw up-"

"Gibson will know," she promised with a soft laugh. "But I'm okay for now. I uh, wouldn't mind a sleep but I think I'll hold off until we're on flatter ground and I'm less nervous."

"Don't worry," he assured her. "I won't get us killed. You gonna try to eat what he doesn't?"

"I tried carrot the other day," she reminded him. "Didn't go down well. I just really miss my crackers."

"Soon as we stop in the next town we'll go hunting for, I dunno, taco shells or somethin'," he teased sincerely. She laughed.

"Count me in," she agreed. "I would love some corn chips right about now."

"Oh hang on," John mumbled. "Message comin' through." Monica leant forward to see out the front windscreen as Gibson stuck his upper body out in the drizzle. He was motioning for them to wind down a window and John did the honours. Gibson's faraway but strong voice cut through the rain, muffled by the sounds of the engine but still audible.

"Gonna stop in Arequipa!" he shouted. "Huge city. Lots of shops and gas! We'll load up and then head for the coast. Even with the break we'll be at the coast by nightfall, and then we just have to go. Get you drivers some caffeine! Get ready to stop!"

John laughed as Gibson slid back into his seat, both men winding up their windows to stop them getting any wetter.

"I dunno if I should be having caffeine," John admitted. "How long has it been now?"

"Could be dangerous," Monica teased. "But I am looking forward to the preserved food considering we were not allowed to spend enough time in La Paz to actually get any."

"I don't know what we're meant to do when we get to the equator though," John reasoned. "If we make it, that is. I mean, how are we gonna survive with no renewable resources?"

"Gibson knows something," Monica pointed out. "Otherwise he wouldn't have moved us. He must not be sure of the specifics, so he prefers not to say anything until he gets another sign or close enough to listen in. But he wouldn't have taken us out of that colony unless he knew something about why we were going back north when the whole time since the invasion he was the one telling us to go south."

"Yeah, bit crazy," John agreed. "So you're not worried?"

"No more worried than I am about anything else right now," she admitted with a gentle smile. Monica was not sure whether it was the motion of the car, the rumble of the engine, or the fact that they were moving and on their way to retrieve food she thought she might be able to eat and not throw up, but she was suddenly feeling much better, and she could only hope that they got to the equator before the aliens came back to strip the south. Hopefully they would start in the east and work their way west. If they did that, she was almost certain they would make it.

Almost.

xxx

"What's this for?" Monica asked when John and Skinner returned to where they had parked their cars that afternoon in the deserted city. John had handed her a pistol and told her it was loaded, and he had that serious look in his eyes that reminded her of their time with the FBI.

"Signs of looting," he stated evenly, handing another gun to Gibson. "Here's yours. You guard this with your life. You might be...hell, how old are you?"

"Twenty-two maybe, twenty-three. It's been two years you know."

"Oh God don't tell me that!" Sarah groaned from out the open backseat window between Gibson and Monica. Nicky was beside her in the car playing with a little toy truck and chatting to himself. "What does that make me? Twenty-seven? Jesus!"

"I think John and Skinner don't want to play 'guess how old I am now'," Monica teased, grinning at her older husband and his friend as they silently holstered their weapons. John had definitely bridged the gap over fifty at some point since the invasion, and Skinner had to be near or over the halfway mark. There were not that many years separating the two men. "I suppose," she continued jokingly. "As the only woman here in my thirties-"

"Well, look who cheered up since we got a car!" John laughed, shutting her down mid-sentence and reaching into the cloth bag he was carrying to reveal a packet of Doritos. Monica's mouth dropped open with shock and her eyes darkened with a desire that was usually reserved for him. He grinned sweetly. "Would you like these? If you're confident enough with the weapon Mon, and you can give Gibson a demo, Skinner and I are gonna go back and try and collect as much as we can. Maybe get another canister of fuel as well."

"If we're just taking one car from here," Sarah commented. "You might want to strip the one we're not taking, throw a few tyres in the back and a battery and some oil and water too."

"Good thinking," John complimented, nodding as Skinner scribbled her ideas down on a tiny notebook and lead pencil they had found which they were using to create a shopping list.

"Yeah leave it to the blind girl to help you with your automobile problems," Gibson teased.

"Hey," John shot back. "Skinner and I have changed plenty of oil in our time. We'll be right. Now, any requests? Mon – vitamins. Start listing 'em."

Monica groaned but couldn't help her smile. Suddenly they were looting again and even though it was wrong, it was fun, and reminded them of older times when maybe they each hadn't felt so alone. Even though they'd always been kept together and had each other, in the colony it was less communal than she had expected, as residents struggled to merge their very individualistic ideas about living into a new structure. The locals had carried on as normal, and though very kind and helpful, all the outsiders had found it difficult to assimilate.

"Has it really been two years?" Sarah asked once John and Skinner had left again. Gibson was observing his weapon and Monica took the ammunition out of hers, holding it out for Sarah's hand.

"Yes," she answered. "Take this."

"Uh...no thank you," she laughed when she realised what it was. "I can't see where I'm pointing it or whether it's loaded or-"

"I just unloaded it. You can check by doing this." Monica settled the firearm in Sarah's hands and helped move her fingers over where she would need to put them. Gibson watched on closely as Monica gave her clear and simple instructions about how to use the gun if she had to. "Hold it for a little while," she concluded. "Practice, get comfortable with it. Gibson if I'm going to need that back anytime soon give me some warning." He nodded.

"I've never held a gun before," Sarah admitted.

"And you probably won't have to again," Monica replied kindly. "But we want you to be familiar with it in case something goes wrong, and you need to defend yourself. Also, if something happened to me or John then Nicky might need the two of you."

"We'd never let anything happen to him, best we could," Gibson promised hurriedly. Monica smiled at him, nodding. It made her sad thinking about that possibility but it was a real chance and she wanted everyone in the team to be prepared.

"Gibson where are we going once we get to Ecuador?" Monica asked. "Is it just to wait out this resource stripping you said is going to be repeated in the south?"

"Shannon told me," he mumbled, blushing. "In her head before she left the last time."

"Are there other human survivors? John and Skinner said there had been looting."

"Here I think the supersoldiers attacked them. With bombs. I don't think they had a chance of fighting the aliens because they had used all the weapons they could still power and deploy on the humans. There are survivors, but I can't hear any right now. They might be in hiding in the mountains. That's the most likely. I heard some up there as we were driving, and they heard us but they were too afraid to come out."

"That's surprising," Sarah commented, half-teasing. "I would have thought a few territorial jungle drug lords would have jumped out at us by now." Gibson chuckled.

"Indiana Jones?" he asked. She laughed, handing the gun back to Monica and turning her attention to Nicky who had clambered onto her lap. Monica took the weapon back and loaded it, casting an eye towards her son. After fleeing the FBI they had always kept a gun, until she had become pregnant and then they had gotten rid of them, and she was not sure how she felt about now having four guns in the presence of her very curious and innocent little boy. They would have to be extremely careful.

She shoved the barrel into the back of her jeans and reached for the corn chips John had thrown on the front passenger seat before leaving. They were original flavour, and Monica's mouth watered as she opened the air-tight bag and inhaled the gentle, salty smell she loved so much. They would be stale, past their use-by date despite their packaging, but she was not sure she cared.

"Glad you like them," Gibson mentioned casually. "Cos John just grabbed another five off the shelf. At this rate, with us minding the cars, they're gonna have to make ten trips back and forth."

"Are they tired?" Sarah asked. "Should we rest the night somewhere?"

"I'd rather not," Gibson replied, suddenly serious as he shook his head and glanced up at her, sitting hi in the seat above him as he stood on the ground. "I don't know how fast they're going to move."

"Hey Gibson," Monica whispered, touching his shoulder with one hand and holding her bag of chips in the other. "I don't know if I want us to be the last people left, you know? I'm not sure you understand how hard that would be to really live that way, and I don't know how long we could survive. I don't want to die of starvation or dehydration, and that's not how I want my son to die. Not in pain like that."

"I know," Gibson promised, taking the hand on her shoulder and squeezing it tightly as they stared into each other's eyes, Monica looking down to meet his. "We're not the last ones left. When we get closer, I'll know more."

"When you said they're going to strip the south," Sarah began, drifting off uncertainly.

"Ask it," Gibson told her, already hearing the rest of the question she was suddenly too afraid to finish.

"What about Antarctica?" she asked. "Potentially that continent is very rich in resources. Within the ice...it was covered in research stations of every large country. There was a lot of science there. And there is a lot of water there. They couldn't have melted the ice because otherwise we would already 'be' at the coast, but um...what have they done there?"

"You want to know about Mulder and Scully," he stated. Sarah nodded, staring in his direction with a concerned frown. Monica also looked on. She had to admit she had asked herself that question as well. Gibson would have known. She supposed they all had.

"I don't know what happened to them," he conceded. "Like I said, I think they had something to do with whatever they used to try to kill the supersoldiers. I think whatever they did do, worked. They haven't melted the ice, but that doesn't mean something hasn't been done to it...the world's ecosystem has been changed forever. I don't know what that will mean for any of us, but I know there are people still alive who do know, and that's where we're going. To find out."

xxx

"All right Gibson, where are we going?" John asked for what seemed like the thousandth time as they drove slowly through the Ecuadorian streets in the last few hours of daylight amidst a light, muggy drizzle. He was tired, and had been driving for the past several hours after relieving Skinner, and he wanted a break. He wanted to cuddle and play with his son, but that would also have to wait, he supposed.

"Towards the equator," he replied obviously. "Just keep heading straight no...right I think."

"Where are you getting these directions from?" Skinner asked curiously from the backseat, his voice soft so as not to wake the two sleeping women and Nicky, all of whom had nodded off hours previously. Gibson tapped the side of his head.

"You'll see," he teased. "We're going to the monument."

"Which one?" John pressed. "There are monuments probably all along the line in this place."

"That way," Gibson ordered from the front passenger seat, pointing for him to take a left. "Honestly, I have never heard grownups whinge so much in my whole life! You may as well all just start chirping 'are we there yet?' and be done with it!"

"We haven't been that bad," Skinner mumbled, blushing.

"Hah!" Gibson laughed. "Monica's concern I understand. The woman threw up for two hours this morning out the side of a car, truly undignified, but she stopped asking where we were going days ago. Keep going straight now John. I just think you two are funny. You didn't ask this many questions the first time."

"We got to where we were going the first time," John reasoned. "Now we're going back and you're tellin' us it's because these aliens are gonna destroy the rest of the planet for their own purposes or just to have some fun and we don't really know what's going to happen to us. It feels like we're going in circles."

"I know," Gibson assured them both. "To be honest I don't know what's going to happen, but I didn't think you would want to have stayed if they do go ahead and strip the south, and I know that wasn't what Shannon wanted. I'm just trying to keep everyone happy. It's pretty hard, if you haven't noticed."

"We notice," John promised, reaching over and patting Gibson's knee through his jeans. "The girls notice too." Gibson nodded. That he knew.

"You can park anywhere here," he mumbled. "Skinner I expect a big thank you in about ten minutes."

"Why?" Skinner asked.

"Cos I figure it'll take at least that long to pry you away from her." He pointed through the windscreen and John flicked on his headlights to help them see through the rain at dusk. "Welcome to the Northern Hemisphere," he added as the woman he had been able to hear for the last few kilometres stepped forward into the dim beam of the truck's lights.

She was undisturbed by the rain, her hands were shoved into the pockets of her long pants and her long, black hair was pulled behind her, probably in a ponytail. Gibson waited for the moment when Skinner realised they could all see the female supersoldier standing in front of them. She was bravely waiting as though she knew it was them, when in reality she could not possibly have known for sure.

If she had any doubts, Skinner cleared those up when he exclaimed her name in shock and bolted out of the back seat, leaving the door open for rain to invade.

"Shannon!" he repeated as he jogged up to her. He had done his best not to miss her, not to think about her, for what seemed like forever. He had never been sure whether they would see each other again. He had tried to forget her saying she loved him, or her tears, or all her jokes, but he had never really succeeding in blocking her from his mind. She had always been there. Finally she really was there, in person.

Shannon grinned widely and wrapped her arms around his back as he encased her waist and pulled her tightly against him. They laughed with a mixture of nervousness and relief, neither willing to let go first.

"I can't believe you're alive!" she told him happily, resting one of her hands against the back of his bald head as he rocked her happily from side to side.

"Me?" he huffed. "Hell. I was so worried about you."

"I haven't lost my strength," she assured him. "As long as I didn't let myself feel, I couldn't."

"How did you know we were coming?"

"Gibson knew the plan before I left. I assume he never told you?" Skinner pulled his head from her shoulder and shook his head, finally looking into her blue eyes. Her lashes fluttered against the rain and she reached up to brush the water off her face, grinning. "Well I took a gamble that he would remember and hear and be able to make it. The Peruvian coast isn't good for me so this is as far as I could go. We have transport organised."

"What would you have done if it hadn't been us just now?"

"I would have run off into the darkness, or if they started shooting and missed me I might have fought back. Not sure. I was hoping it was you. I haven't seen any other vehicles operating since all this. Speaking of vehicles, how many did you bring?"

"Six and a half including me," he replied. Shannon smirked.

"Nicky?" she guessed.

"No, he's number six," Skinner chuckled. "Monica's pregnant again, and not very well."

"Oh," Shannon whispered, concerned. "Does she need medical treatment or-" Skinner shook his head, cutting her off.

"Rest and fluids and nutrients I think. I know they told us she was sick with Nicky, but this is extreme. She's been in the hospital at the colony the past two months. Because of that we're all confident she's disease-free, but she seems malnourished. She's lucid and then not."

"Well we can deal with that," Shannon assured him. "Good work on the cars too."

"We've been stealing gas all up the west coast, among other things," he teased. "Are you alone here?" Shannon nodded. "Where are we going?"

"I'll explain. Will I fit in there? Since you have a ute we've got a drive on our hands. It'll be much easier to keep going this way with it all packed up. So everyone is well besides Mon? Nobody is hurt or suffering from any disease or injury?"

"Cuts and bruises from the walk out of the colony," Skinner admitted. "Before we left cholera was starting to get its teeth into people and we were really concerned about the mosquitoes bringing Yellow Fever and Malaria in because of the rain, but we've kept everything as sterile as possible. Since we got there, we've only had to really deal with altitude sickness and a couple of tummy bugs. The biggest complaint has probably been a lack of food or an unbalanced diet. We've all lost weight."

"That's fixable," Shannon grinned. "You have no idea how worried I was about you not getting the right vaccines or the vaccines not working. And little Nicky-"

"He got his vaccines, the ones he could have when he was one, but he's not so little anymore!" Skinner teased, grabbing her arm and leading her back to the car. The engine was still running and the wipers were giving Gibson and John a good view from the front seat. When she found their eyes behind the tinted windscreen they were waving and smiling. "Do you want to drive?" Skinner asked. "We are buggered!"

"Oh sure!" she agreed with a loud laugh. "That's all I'm good for isn't it?"

"Pretty much," he taunted, opening John's front door and urging him out and into the back. It was going to be a tight fit because the ute only sat five adults, and Nicky had fallen asleep in Sarah's lap. Gibson climbed through the back as well, giving the front seat to the car's two largest occupants, Skinner and Shannon. Monica was only half-awake and let John climb over her so that she kept her window seat in case she needed to throw up. She curled up against his chest and fell back asleep, allowing him to sit her almost on his lap so that Sarah and Gibson were not forced to sit any closer than a close thigh-to-thigh. Sarah was beside John with Nicky, who was fast asleep, and Gibson was at the other window seat.

"Shannon is it really you?" Sarah asked once Shannon backed the car up and began driving.

"Sure is," she answered happily.

"Where have you been?" she asked. "What have you been doing?"

"It's a long story," Shannon admitted. "I've been all over. And I am going to try to keep you lot alive until a little bit of in-fighting is sorted. I am not impressed by this turn of events, but I'm just a supersoldier right? What do I know?"

"What's going on?" John asked, one arm wrapped around Monica and the other brushing through Nicky's long hair. Shannon risked a glance over her shoulder at them and grinned.

"I'll explain once everyone's caught up on some sleep," she promised. "I'll take us through the night no worries. John, Walter tells me the reason Monica hasn't even acknowledged me yet is because she's suffering from some rather severe morning sickness? Congratulations."

"I don't think you can restrict it to mornings only," he teased. "And 'rather severe' might be an understatement. But thank you. I'm happy, but she's not as healthy as she was last time. You might get a 'pull over' order at any moment."

"I'm always prepared," she stated with a firm nod. She returned her attention to the front. "Well it's nice to see you all managed to stay together without any major setbacks," she told them all. "Are you armed?"

"We are now," Skinner answered. "Me, John, Monica and Gibson. You?"

"No," she conceded. "A gun wouldn't have survived my swim."

"You can have mine if we need to start shooting," Gibson called, grimacing. "I haven't even taken a pot shot with it yet."

"Chicken," Sarah whispered under her breath. He smirked and nudged her in the ribs as she giggled and reached for his hand.

"So where to?" Skinner asked, reaching across the console and resting his hand on Shannon's damp thigh.

"Settle in for a drive because I'm taking you up to Panama," she answered. "We've got a boat to intercept."