Chapter 30
“Got one!” Denise declared victory over a strand of arcB DNA. She and Scully sat hunched over their microscopes in the infirmary searching through sample after sample of Scully’s blood. The sun had gone down a few hours ago and the two doctors had settled in for a long night of the biology version of Where’s Waldo. Scully had been given the arcB gene when she was abducted by the government under the guise of an alien abduction. She had been one of the chosen ones to receive the full gene pairing that would give her immunity against what was to come. She still didn't understand why. Why was she chosen over anyone else? She would probably never know. Mulder was also chosen to receive arcB and be saved from the aluminum-phosphide trigger that would effectively render humankind extinct. But he refused. Unlike Scully, he wasn't abducted and administered injections against his will. He was approached by the Smoking Man, Spender, or whatever his real name was. The gene was presented to him as an option. It was a chance to stand with the rest of the chosen ones at the end of the world and watch it all burn. He declined, of course. He wanted no part of that plan and he still held out hope that he could stop it at that time. He declined the arcB genome and he almost paid the ultimate price for it. Mulder killed Spender thinking that would stop the aluminum-phosphide gas from being released. But the gas was released anyway and within 24 hours Mulder’s immune system had shut down along with nearly everyone else in the world. Even though he was dying, Mulder was still on a mission to stop all of this. He thought there might be a way to reverse it if he could just get back to his office and do some more research. He nearly died in the car on the way there. Scully barely got to him in time. She had a theory about the arcA-arcB gene pairing. Mulder confirmed her theory when he shared what he had learned from the Smoking Man. She had arcB and he didn't. That's what it would take to save his life. He would have to accept the very thing he had refused one day earlier. Scully didn't give him a chance to argue. He was in no condition to do so anyway since he was sick and looked to be on the brink of death. She gave him an infusion of her blood right there on the freeway in the middle of what would become a permanently motionless traffic jam. Mulder recovered. He came back from near death. Now Scully’s blood ran through his veins, keeping him alive, enabling him to help others keep living. Enabling him to help people find a way out of this mess. The infusion method was very simple and effective for Mulder because they shared compatible blood types. But that wouldn't be an option for the Alexandrians. She didn't know any of their blood types and even if she did, the volume of blood she would have to give in order to give everyone in the community the arcB gene would drain her. So she and Denise had to go the more tedious route, plucking strands of DNA out of separated blood samples with a tiny syringe, one by one. They had been at it for several hours and still didn't even have half of what they needed. But Scully was confident they would have enough by morning. She was so focused she barely noticed when Mulder got out of his infirmary bed and walked up behind her. She jumped when he rested his hand gently on her shoulder. “Easy, quickdraw,” he teased as she whipped around to face him. “You’re supposed to be resting. What are you doing up?” He smiled at her, trying to ease her concern. “I’m feeling very well rested. I’m going to try to make myself useful now.” “Mulder you were shot and knocked unconscious. You should be resting until it's time to go.” “What, and miss out on all the excitement?” He was clearly thrilled to finally be heading out to the ARV. But he understood that Scully had good cause to be worried about him. “I'm feeling much better, really. I just want to help in some way. I promise I won't do any heavy lifting. Besides, the longer I stay here the more distracting I'll be to the two of you.” Scully glanced back at her microscope. She really did need to stay focused. “Fine, but don't strain yourself. If you feel dizzy or anything, you have someone bring you back here immediately, got it?” She was using her mom voice. It was involuntary on her part but Mulder found it endearing. “Scout’s honor,” he replied, holding three fingers in the air. “Immediately, Mulder!” She was insistent. “Okay, okay! I promise.” With his reassurance Scully turned back to her DNA extraction. Mulder carefully pulled on a T-shirt and made his way out of the infirmary. Out on the streets of Alexandria there was lots of activity. Even though it was the dead of night, people shuffled through the streets carrying everything they thought necessary to the fleet of vehicles lined up at the front gate. What do you pack when you're planning on leaving planet Earth, never to return? Apparently the answer is everything you can fit. People scurried about with more than just food and weapons and clothes. People were packing books, pictures, mementos of the existence they were leaving behind. It reminded him of the early days of the outbreak. People were fleeing their homes with photo albums and souvenirs and Grandma’s ashes. They still thought those things mattered. Sentimentality, that's all it was. He wasn't going to stop these people now from taking with them what they wanted. They might feel silly later, showing up on a foreign planet with a copy of War and Peace, but if it gave them some small measure of comfort for the journey, so be it. At least they were moving forward. At least they had a plan. Mulder stopped his wandering when he found himself at the foot of the East guard tower. He craned his neck up. Through the darkness he could just make out the pair of angel wings emblazoned on the back of Daryl's leather vest. He slowly and carefully climbed the tower. As he reached the platform on top Daryl greeted him. “Hey. I thought you were supposed to be sleeping.” “I think you're supposed to stay awake after a concussion. I thought you were supposed to have two people in each tower. Wasn't that Rick’s order?” “Carol was here. I sent her home. She didn't sleep at all last night. She needs to rest up for the trip in the morning.” Mulder remembered that Daryl hadn't slept the night before either, but he didn't bring it up. “Mind if I join you?” Daryl scooted over and offered Mulder a place to lean against the rail of the tower. “You take the radio. I’ve got the binoculars.” Mulder fingered the buttons of the radio and then gazed out over the vast expanse of darkness stretching out all around them. Binoculars wouldn't do much good. He looked up at the stars and observed there was only a sliver of a moon. He thought of all the stories of ghosts and boogie men people liked to tell. They always liked to talk about the full moon. They should really talk about a night with no moon. It's much more frightening. Still, the stars were beautiful. Mulder interrupted the silence that had settled around them. “A wise man once said, ‘If people looked at the stars each night, they'd live a lot differently. When you look into infinity, you realize there are more important things than what people do all day.’” Daryl trained his gaze up toward the sky and thought about the quote. “Who said that?” “Bill Watterson.” “Who?” “Doesn't matter. The point is most people never took the time to look at the stars. Now we have all the time in the world. And as you can see people have definitely changed the things they do all day.” Mulder’s thoughtful mood made Daryl a little uncomfortable. In a way it was easier to deal with him when they were yelling at eachother. When Mulder got that far away look Daryl was never quite sure what to say. Lucky for him that didn't matter much for Mulder. He just went right on talking. “It’s like my entire life I've been looking up, always searching the sky, always sure that there was something else out there. Like if we could just get rid of all the noise we’d be able to hear someone in some far away galaxy calling out, wondering if there’s life out there. And now the noise is gone. It seems strange to see the sky so quiet. When’s the last time you saw an airplane?” Daryl considered it for a moment and replied. “I can't remember. I guess I never thought about it. I never paid much attention to the sky. I feel like I spent my whole life looking at the ground.” “Is that because you're a tracker?” It was hard for Mulder to imagine a life without wonderment of the great beyond. “That was part of it. Also I just always knew to keep my head down. Growing up I learned real quick that whoever was the most invisible was the least likely to get the belt. Just became a way of life I guess.” They shared a long pause in which both Daryl and Mulder reflected on how different their lives had been before the outbreak. A future where their paths might have crossed would have seemed impossible. Yet here they were with their paths now intertwined. Finally Daryl finished his thought. “But I'm looking up now.” Mulder turned away from the darkness and stole a small glance at Daryl. With the hint of a smile he said, “And all it took was the end of the world.” Daryl had half a mind to lean in for a kiss when something caught his attention in the distance. “The hell is that?” he wondered out loud. A small flicker of light danced in the darkness. He peered at it through his binoculars. Way out where the road to Alexandria disappeared into the tree line was a pair of headlights. Even through the binoculars they were little more than tiny white dots. The surrounding darkness made it impossible to tell what type of vehicle it was or how many people it carried. The only thing that was clear was that it was not approaching. It had pulled just barely into view and then stopped. “Radio Rick. Tell him we’ve got company.” Mulder held the radio to his mouth and pressed the talk button. “Hey, Rick. We’re in the East tower and we’ve got eyes on a parked vehicle sitting out on the road.” Rick’s voice came over the radio. “Just parked? Not approaching?” Mulder responded. “Just parked. Like maybe they don't even know we’re here.” Daryl muttered under his breath. “Or like they know we’re here and they want us to see them.” Rick began barking orders to his troops through the radio. He wanted every guard tower ready to fire. He wanted reinforcement at the gates. He wanted his whole town armed and ready. Daryl could hear scurrying among the town behind him as everyone prepared for battle. Then, just as quickly as it had arrived, the vehicle in the distance turned and left. Tail lights trailed off into the tree line and disappeared. Daryl grabbed the radio from Mulder. “They're gone, Rick.” “What do you mean gone?” “I mean they turned around and left.” There was a long pause. Then Rick’s voice came back. “Why would they leave? That doesn't make sense. Maybe we should send a team to check it out.” “You sure about that?” Daryl didn't think it was a good idea. “What if it's a trap? What if they're trying to lure us out, separate us?” Again there was a long pause. Rick was mulling over his options. Daryl set out to convince him further. “Think about it. They came just into view with their headlights on. They could have rolled up in the dark, lights out. They wanted us to see them. They've got some type of a plan. We’ve got one too. Let's stick to our plan.” After a little more hesitation Rick said, “Okay. Okay, we stick to the plan. Two guards in every tower. Radio check-ins every 20 minutes. No one leaves until sun up.” All the guards chimed in one by one over the radio, confirming their understanding. Daryl turned to Mulder. “I never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait to lay eyes on this space ship of yours.” Mulder’s smirk was barely visible in the dim light from the sliver of a moon. “I knew you'd come around.”
