The Lambs: Part 1 (9/10) 
by Lamia (AKA so kiss me goodbye) 
     
Rating: PG-13 (violence, strong language)
Category: S                             
Spoilers: Seasons 1-9, Fight the Future 
Keywords: William; Colonization 
Summary: Liam van de Kamp's life changes the day two 
FBI agents kidnap him and his parents.

Author's Note: The Lambs is a three-part story (with prologue).
 

Chapter 9 

August 11, 2011 
Old Hachita 
New Mexico 

Liam blinked in darkness, unsure of his surroundings 
and fighting to remember how he had come to be here - 
wherever here was. 

He was warm - hot, even - but when he tried to move, he 
found his arms pinned at his sides. He resisted an urge 
to struggle. 

*Think, Liam. You* know *where you are.* 

The surface beneath him was firm but uncomfortable. His 
neck was stiff; the pillow was thicker than he was used 
to. 

*I have a pillow - that has to be a good sign.* 

Something had woken him: not a dream - something else, 
something unsettling. The tick, tick, tick of a clock 
cracked in the quiet - that and shallow breathing to 
his side. All else was silent and still. He shifted, 
wincing at the rustle of the silky fabric encasing him. 

Moonlight glowed under net curtains above him. His 
eyesight adjusted and he could make out the shape of a 
person lying across from him. He *did* recognize this 
place; he was still on the bus and he was cocooned in a 
sleeping bag he did not remember climbing into. 

The bus was no longer vibrating. He hoped they would 
stop long enough for his brain to catch up; it was 
never this sluggish. 

He could remembered his conversation with Shu and 
mathman, but that must have been hours ago; it had 
still been daylight then. 

It - everything - had almost been too much to take in. 
It was possible mathman had been exaggerating when he 
said the hacked FBI website was the most important site 
in the whole world. Only, he clearly believed it - and 
so did his companions, although they had a funny way of 
showing it, grinning over photos and posts on the site. 

Liam had screwed up his face as he listened to their 
joking. "If they know it's fake, why doesn't the FBI 
just ignore the website?" 

"They probably are," mathman said, "but then there's 
the hundreds of calls. The website includes advice on 
how to sound convincing when calling the 1-800 hot 
line. I don't think the website alone is going to fool 
anyone - but it *is* going to tie up their resources, 
and that gives us a much better chance of slipping 
under the radar." 

He was happy to answer Liam's questions, but he seemed 
to know no more than Mr. Mulder or Mr. de Rosier, and 
every question he answered came back to one thing: 
"War." Liam forced himself to stay expressionless so 
mathman wouldn't stop talking. 

"Everyone on this bus wants to contribute to the war 
effort, kiddo. We've all got something to offer. And, 
see, the kind of war we'll be fighting is called a 
takeover and every good takeover deserves an equally 
determined resistance. But to be effective our 
resistance needs organization - and every good 
organization needs a headquarters." 

"Like a secret hideout?" 

"Exactly." 

"Where's that?" 

"I can't tell you, my friend, because I don't know. But 
I'm certain of one thing." His eyes went large behind 
the frames of his glasses. "We'll find it at the end of 
this bus journey." 

They were passing through another dusty, dry valley. 
"Doesn't anyone know where we're going?" 

"Wherever it is, Liam, I can tell you now - it's not in 
Wyoming." 

"So how does the bus driver know where to go?" 

"He's just following the instructions sent to him." 

So they hadn't known either. How many hours ago was 
that conversation? 

His father wheezed in a gulp of air. Liam rolled in the 
sleeping bag as disappointed now as he had been then. 

Mathman had a name. He was Toby Smith and he, like Shu 
and Alan, was a student scientist. They were and they 
weren't quite what Liam expected from scientists. 
Unless he was talking (when he tended to throw his arms 
about and speak at a gallop), Toby's nose was stuck in 
the middle of a book. Alan had that amazing hair and 
dirty feet but he was the one organizing everybody. 
Even the bus driver wasn't just a bus driver. Alan said 
he was a professor, which Liam knew was a very 
important job. They seemed to think it was hilarious Dr. 
Scully and Mr. Mulder were on the FBI's most-wanted 
list. Their manner toward Dr. Scully, however, was never 
anything less than deferential and they were all eager 
to talk to her. 

Shu and Toby had gone to introduce themselves to the 
doctor, who was on a seat up by the driver, leaving 
Liam alone. His mother checked on him once but quickly 
returned to Liam's dad at the back of the bus. 

Left to himself, Liam had had time to grapple with the 
curious events of the last twenty-four hours of his 
life. It had been difficult to know where to start. 

After seeing the supersoldiers in action, Liam had no 
doubt the world he *thought* he knew no longer existed 
- but it didn't really change the world that much ... 
did it? 

Primed on any number of cartoons and movies about 
aliens, Liam found himself accepting his new world 
order. *And* he had a sense of belonging to a special 
club - a club which included everyone on the bus as 
well as Mr. de Rosier and his friends; a club, at the 
center of which, stood the two FBI agents who had 
walked into Liam's life and up-ended it. 

This didn't bother him; he absorbed the knowledge as 
quickly as he would that of a newly encountered symbol 
from the periodic table (Rb was currently his 
favorite). What he struggled to understand was his 
place in the club. He hadn't asked to be let in. He 
hadn't done anything special, hadn't gone looking for 
it. Why him? Why his parents? Why not Suzie Craddock? 
Or Jake the Snake? Or any of the other kids in his 
grade? 

Early on he had asked Toby why everyone was helping Dr. 
Scully; what he really meant was, "Why are you helping 
us?" 

The unanswered question tormented Liam as he lay in the 
sleeping bag. 

*Why am I here?* 

He recalled his shock as he had scrolled through the 
charges listed against the doctor and Mr. Mulder. 

"If Dr. Scully did all those things they say she did, 
why would anyone want to help her?" 

Toby had stared at him. "Come on, kiddo. You don't 
believe she did any of that stuff, do you?" 

"I don't know?" That was the truth - and it made him 
miserable. 

"She's a pretty special lady," Toby said. "She and 
Agent Mulder have devoted their lives to uncovering 
truths. Their work hasn't gone unnoticed. As more and 
more people start looking for real answers to explain 
what's happening in their world today, her name's going 
to become even more well known. That makes her a 
target. It also makes her something else - a beacon of 
hope. People are going to gravitate to her because of 
who she is and what she represents." 

"Is that why you rescued us?" 

"Sure thing!" 

Liam wanted to believe this was true. "But why you? Why 
*me*? Why Mom? Why Dad?" 

Counting the professor, there were ten scientists on 
the bus, and all were from the University of 
Washington. Liam forgot the names of the older ones. 
They weren't unfriendly but since they stayed up front, 
he hadn't talked to them. 

The bus was loaded with equipment and supplies to 
"build a secret headquarters" - which was where they 
were heading. 

"Ostensibly," Alan had said once he stopped fussing 
around and sat down with them, "this is an 
interdepartmental field trip, involving lecturers and 
research staff from the med school's Department of 
Immunology and the School of Genome Sciences ... but 
really we're responding to a call-of-arms!" 

He made it sound fun. 

He was open when Dr. Scully quizzed him on the subject 
of mysterious text messages. (Yes, they were following 
directions sent to his cellphone. No, he didn't 
personally know who was sending the messages, but a 
friend of a friend knew someone ...) 

The doctor had been making her way to see Mr. van de 
Kamp. Liam's mom had appeared and caught the tail end 
of Alan's explanation. 

"They're very zealous," she had said in an undertone to 
the doctor. Their heads went close together, and Liam 
couldn't hear what passed between them. His mother told 
him to stay seated while she and Dr. Scully slipped 
through the curtain. 

After the kidnapping, the house-breaking, the car chase 
and the escape over the mountain, time slowed on the 
bus. There was nothing much for Liam to do but brood so 
that, now, lying still in the darkness, he wondered if 
the whole adventure had been a dream and he was really 
lying at home in his own bed, waiting to wake up so he 
could go tadpole hunting tomorrow morning as he had 
planned. 

Only he wasn't in his own room, this wasn't his own 
bed, and if he closed his eyes and reopened them, he 
would still be staring overhead at the long, cracked 
bus ceiling. His father would still be whimpering in 
his sleep as his body struggled to repair itself. 

If he hadn't caught Jerry, if Stan hadn't driven by 
just at that moment, would that have somehow changed 
the entire day? Made Dr. Scully and Mr. Mulder and the 
supersoldiers just disappear? As if they had never 
existed? Or maybe they would have just gone to another 
farm. Taken another family. 

Hours into the bus journey he had given up studying the 
highway markings; he didn't know what road they were 
on, what city they had just passed through, or what 
town they were heading to. To keep him entertained Shu 
had produced several Japanese comics, but although Liam 
had taken them, his inability to read Japanese or 
follow the story through the drawings frustrated him 
and he gave up. 

Worried there might be something wrong with his father 
(because neither Dr. Scully nor his mother had returned 
from the back), he snuck through the curtain. 

None of the adults looked happy at his entrance. His 
father was sitting on a bed looking mutinous. His 
mother was examining two pairs of pants from an open 
suitcase at her feet. 

"These might do for you - oh, sweetie," she said, 
seeing him, "I don't want you walking about while the 
bus is moving." 

Liam knew it wouldn't be wise to point out she moved 
about whenever she wanted. 

"You've got to stop doing that," Dr. Scully said to Mr. 
van de Kamp when his hand reached down to the bandage 
on his thigh. There was something comical about his 
dad, sitting in his butchered jeans, digging at the 
white strip tied about his leg. 

Mr. van de Kamp groaned, baring his teeth. 

"It's so damned scratchy," he said. "Hey, Liam. Come to 
watch your old man suffer?" 

"What's wrong?" 

"Nothing to worry about. Feels like Dr. Scully put 
itching powder on my leg is all." He said it with a 
grin so Dr. Scully wouldn't be offended. 

It struck Liam that she wasn't doing much doctoring; 
she'd already stitched and bandaged his dad's leg, and 
since he was awake and talking, Liam guessed there 
wasn't much else for her to do. He wondered why the 
doctor didn't return to the front of the bus where 
everyone was keen to fight for her attention. 

At a lull in the conversation he saw an opportunity to 
get it back to a topic he thought everyone could 
contribute to. But when he set the ball rolling by 
asking Dr. Scully if she had ever seen an alien and what 
they looked like, he found himself being herded from 
the compartment by his mother. 

"But Mom -" 

"Your father needs to rest, Lee," she said. 

She deposited him in his seat and stayed with him, 
playing car games (listing the states and then their 
capitals in alphabetical order, as well as Twenty 
Questions and Where Am I? among others). Shu asked to 
play, and Liam discovered he had an advantage over the 
scientist, whose geographical knowledge was limited. 
Toby and Alan joined in, and Liam's competitive streak 
was ignited when no one guessed Toby's twenty questions 
turn and Alan harrumphed and refused to play for ten 
minutes. 

"That's not fair, Smith. From now on no abstract 
concepts." Alan gave Toby a dirty look. 

"What do you mean it's not fair?" Toby said. "What's 
abstract about gravity? We'll throw you from plane at 
twelve thousand feet and see how abstract you think 
that is." 

This did little to placate Alan, who argued the answers 
should be within the grasp of all the game's 
participants. Liam saw the surreptitious nod in his 
direction; were it not for Alan's kindness (even if his 
sandwiches oozed escaping mayo) Liam might have decided 
to permanently dislike the man. On the other hand, his 
respect for Toby was growing exponentially. 

"What? You mean Liam? Kid was on the right track. He 
nearly had it when he asked if it was as old as the 
universe." 

Alan pulled on steel-toed boots and stomped up the 
aisle. 

"Don't worry about him." Toby waved off the theatrics. 
"He's just feeling sore because he should have been 
able to work it out." 

When Alan rejoined them, he came cradling bags of 
potato chips in his arms, and all was forgiven. 

Later, as the sun dipped behind a layer of cloud, Liam 
and his mother checked on Mr. van de Kamp, who was awake 
but not in a talkative mood. After a quick meal, Liam 
was sent back to his seat. He had thought the games 
would be over. And they were - until the professor 
turned on a radio and several of Liam's new companions 
started singing along. 

It was a comforting end to what had been the most 
eventful day of his life, but while the university crew 
seemed happy (even when discussing "the war"), Liam 
could not help remembering the reason why they were on 
the bus. 

As long as he could see where they were going, he had 
enjoyed the illusion of safety; as soon as the dark 
started to close in on them, his sense of being exposed 
grew. Danger could come at them from any angle. His 
discomfort lessened only a little when the professor 
advised them to put out most of the bus's reading 
lights. 

This was met with some mock whining from Toby, who 
claimed he had just got up to an interesting part in 
his textbook. 

Liam couldn't understand the scientists' lack of fear. 

"Why aren't you scared of the supersoldiers?" 

The three men had looked at each other. 

"Dr. Scully told us about this morning," Toby said. 
"When your mom made her call she alerted the military. 
They were in the right area because they already knew 
approximately where Dr. Scully was." 

"How?" 

"We can't be entirely certain, Liam," Alan said. "It 
doesn't matter. The point is those soldiers aren't 
looking for us, and they don't know Dr. Scully is 
getting some outside help. We don't think they know 
where she is now, so we think you're pretty safe on 
this bus." 

"But what if -" 

"They find us somehow?" 

Liam nodded. 

"We're doing everything we can to make sure that 
doesn't happen." Alan was full of confidence. "Maybe 
you haven't noticed, but everyone on this bus has been 
keeping watch, and we've got some outside help too. 
There's nothing over the next hill that the Prof 
doesn't already know about. If something looks 
suspicious, he'll know." 

With the hum of the engine in his ears and the sickly 
odor of diesel turning his stomach, Liam's eyelids had 
grown heavy. When he came to with a jerk, he was 
slumped against the windowsill and had a crick in his 
neck. 

"What's happening, Mom?" 

Mrs. van de Kamp was leaning over him with a rug. "I 
think we just got a message telling us where to go." 

She was right. Bracing himself against an overhead 
handrail, Alan stood to make his announcement. 

"Good news first, people. We've been given a 
destination. Prof's going to take us to the outskirts 
of a place called Old Hachita in New Mexico." 

No one reacted to the name. 

"Bad news is while the bus'll be stopping, we won't. 
We'll rendezvous with four guides who'll be taking us 
to the camp. It'll be a five-hour walk in. There's a 
fair load of equipment to transport, but Dr. Scully says 
Harry van de Kamp will need assistance, so we're going 
to have to think carefully about what comes with us." 

He let the news sink in, then he grinned. "Now might be 
a good time to remind the person who packed the 
autoclave - you want it, you carry it." 

Liam had tried to keep his eyes open, but as Alan went 
on outlining logistical details, he had lost the battle 
to stay awake. He had dim memories of resisting when 
arms picked him up and zipped him into the sleeping 
bag. 

He had been wondering about Old Hachita as he drifted 
off to sleep. That was the last thing he remembered. 

His dad rolled over, muttering in his sleep. If the bus 
had stopped, where was everyone else? Alan had said 
they would have to carry their own supplies. They 
wouldn't just leave Liam and his dad behind, wouldn't 
they? Did that explain the silence in the bus? Was that 
why he had come to with a jolt? 

"Dad?" he whispered. 

All he heard was short, raspy breaths. 

"Dad?!" 

He got nothing. 

A sudden snap made him seize up. 

"It'll be daylight soon. The guides can't be too far 
away." It was the doctor, sounding serious (as usual) 
but untroubled. 

Liam was worrying for nothing. A weight lifted from his 
chest. Alan, Toby and the others must be outside in the 
dark unloading the bus. 

*How long was I asleep?* 

"When will it be safe for Harry to move?" "We'll work 
that out when the guides get here, Marie." 

"Maybe we should wait and let the others go on?" 

This seemed to anger the doctor. 

"I didn't bring you this far to abandon you - I'm not 
leaving anyone behind," she said. "We will work 
something out." 

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" 

That caught the doctor off guard. 

"I'm sorry?" 

"No, *I'm* sorry. Maybe I shouldn't bring it up. 
Naturally you'd be worried about him - it just seems, 
well, you've scarcely mentioned him since yesterday 
morning. You've been partners for how long? I don't 
believe you're really as calm as you appear." 

The doctor choked as if she had swallowed a mouthful of 
dirt. 

*Way to go, Mom.* 

"I don't see any rings. You never married?" His mother 
had a way of kindly cutting to the heart of a matter. 

There was a long pause. "No, we're not - we just - it 
just wasn't as important as ... other things." "I'm 
sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable with these 
questions." 

This was met with a genuine laugh. "You don't sound 
very sorry." 

Liam's mother unbundled some of her exasperation with a 
snort. 

"I'm talking to a wanted felon, on the run from God 
knows what kind of science fiction horror, and feeling 
surprisingly mellow about the experience. Yesterday the 
most important task I had planned for the day was 
putting the finishing touches on a quilt in time for my 
next sewing circle date. Anyone with an ounce of 
compassion would understand if I said I *wasn't* sure 
about anything - but I'm still deadly certain of some 
things." 

When the doctor spoke, she was wary. "I never wanted to 
involve you or your family like this, Marie. If there 
had been any other way ..." 

From her volume, she had stopped just under the window. 

"Dr. Scully - Dana, what's going to happen when we reach 
this camp?" 

By changing the topic, Liam thought she was trying to 
tell the doctor that her unspoken apology was accepted. 

"I don't know." 

"I look at the people on this bus and I see a group of 
intelligent, idealistic, *young* men caught in a 
fervor. I don't see an army. I see boys not that much 
older than my son who think they're off to some war 
games summer camp. It's hard to take them seriously - 
certainly not as soldiers." 

"This will be no ordinary battle, Marie. It could well 
and truly be won in a lab somewhere," Dr. Scully said. 

His mother pushed on. "I realize I know very little 
about things you all seem to take for granted, but 
experience has to count for something. You keep telling 
me people don't survive encounters with supersoldiers, 
but thanks to you I survived. My husband survived. My 
son survived. 

"For all their knowledge, is it strange for me to feel 
as though I'm - I don't know - more connected to this 
than them?" She paused, perhaps to summon her thoughts. 
"I don't mean to be dramatic. I can't articulate how I 
feel. Will there be other people like us? Men and women 
protecting themselves from supersoldiers - from 
becoming supersoldiers? Families seeking safety?" 

"I don't know what to expect, Marie." 

"I feel so on edge. Part of me still thinks coming with 
you was insane. Another part - the selfish part - says 
I'm glad I'm not alone in this mess. Maybe that's why I 
wondered about your partner. At least I have someone. 
What about your family, Dana? Where are they? If you 
know these terrible things are happening in the world, 
surely you would protect them the way you've protected 
us?" 

It took a beat for the doctor to reply. "My family is 
fine. They'll be fine." 

Was she trying to convince herself? Liam wished his 
mother would get more from her. Who was her family? Did 
she have brothers and sisters? Was Mr. Mulder in her 
family? He hadn't given it much thought but he supposed 
Mr. Mulder was her boyfriend. 

At the mention of his own name, his ears pricked again. 

"Liam -" the doctor said as though she was grasping for 
a way to redirect their conversation. "That's an Irish 
name, isn't it?" 

When she wanted to, the doctor made conversation hard. 
When they'd first set out, she hadn't spoken for hours, 
leaving all the talking to Mr. Mulder. It was almost a 
shock to hear her broach a topic without prompting. 

"I believe so," his mother said. "Not that either Harry 
or I have any Irish blood that we know of. But then, 
Liam's name wasn't really my choice ..." 

"No?" 

Mrs. van de Kamp chuckled. "No, no, it was all Liam's 
doing." 

Liam straightened. He never tired of hearing this 
story. 

"Maybe I should explain, Dr. Scully." They weren't 
prickly about discussing his adoption, but it wasn't 
something they often talked about with strangers. 

Unlike the doctor, who deflected prying questions by 
ignoring them, his mother didn't back away from the 
sensitive subject. 

"We adopted Liam. He was eight months old when they put 
him in my arms for the first time - he was eight months 
old and he was gorgeous." 

Liam waited to hear what the doctor would say; when she 
didn't reply he worried they had walked away. Moments 
later his mother went on. "His records were sealed and 
will be until he's eighteen and even then, under DC 
law, there may be limits to what he can ever learn - if 
he wants to find out. 

"But, although we know very little about the first 
eight months of his life, we were told his name was 
William. We had discussed renaming him - giving him a 
fresh start - but once he set his beautiful, solemn 
eyes on us, we couldn't imagine it. Only, we started to 
doubt the story the adoption agency gave us - oh -" 

Did she pause in response to some expression Dr. Scully 
gave? 

"There were no problems with the legalities, and the 
agency had an outstanding reputation - but when we 
tried talking to him, he never reacted. 

"We tried everything: William, Will, Willy, Billy - 
he'd just look at us with these big, gorgeous baby 
eyes. He was so comical. You could almost read his mind 
- he was saying, 'Nearly ... you've nearly got it 
right.' Finally, despairing, I remember looking at him 
and saying, "Liam? What about Liam?" It was such a 
relief! He turned his head like he was saying, 'Yes? 
Well?'" She breathed in deeply. "It's been his name 
ever since. I'm sorry, Dr. Scully. I must be boring you 
with this." 

"Not at all. Do you know anything about his birth 
parents? Anything that explains why he liked Liam?" 

"Very little," his mother replied. "Initially, I had 
some concerns. What had happened to him in those first 
eight months? And why would someone just give up their 
baby like that? The adoption agency said his birth 
mother was a young, single, working woman - that 
conjures all sorts of images. And as for his biological 
father ... I presume he's dead." 

Liam felt a small tingle of shock. They had never 
discussed it - Liam had never put it into words - but 
he had always had a feeling his biological father was 
dead. Interesting that his mother thought the same 
thing. 

"Did the agency tell you why he was given up?" Dr. 
Scully's voice had dropped so low, Liam struggled to 
hear her. 

"His mother wanted to give him a better life - a life 
she couldn't provide," his mother said. "I like to 
think we've given him that life. There's not a day goes 
by I don't thank the Lord for that opportunity. Do you 
know, Dr. Scully" - his mother sounded wistful - "I've 
heard a child never forgets the sound of his mother's 
voice. You're a pediatrician, aren't you? Is there any 
truth to that, do you think?" 

Liam never heard Dr. Scully's reply. 

A fire had exploded in his thigh. Like his sleeping bag 
was suddenly flooded with thousands of furious, fiery 
ants. 

He yelped as he jumped up and patted his leg. A whimper 
sounded from the other bed. 

*Dad*! Sleeping bag and imaginary ants forgotten, Liam 
spun around. 

His father's breathing was labored and short. Heat 
radiated off his skin. Liam put a hand on his father's 
forehead. It sizzled with slick, sticky sweat. 

At last he understood what had woken him. 

"Mom! Dr. Scully!" Liam fell to his knees hurtling off 
the bus. Hands emerged from the darkness to help him. 

"Liam, what is it?" His mother pulled him up. 

"It's Dad. He's really sick." 

Dr. Scully was already flying up the steps. A light 
flicked on and seconds later he heard her swear. 

"He's running a fever. Probably infection." 

Popping open a first aid kit, she grabbed scissors and 
a thermometer, then she hacked at the bandage around 
his leg. Feathery red lines streaked from the wound. 

Mrs. van de Kamp squeezed Liam's hand. "You can treat 
him, right?" 

Dr. Scully leaned over to open a cupboard door. "I'll do 
everything I can -" She was cut short when one of the 
scientists called to her. 

"Dr. Scully, we've got a problem - " 

"Not now - I've got bigger things to worry about." 

Cooking utensils and foodstuffs mounted around her. She 
was on her knees, ransacking the bus's small 
kitchenette, pulling items out or pushing them aside. 

"I'm sorry." Alan poked his head up the stairwell. "I 
think you need to hear this. The guides have arrived. 
They've got some disturbing news." 

The doctor paused, her hand on a bag of sugar. Liam 
watched her compose herself. 

"What?" 

Alan moved toward them. "Dr. Scully, they say it's not 
safe here. They say we have to move out as soon as 
possible. They don't even want to wait for daylight." 

Alan's gaze fell on Mr. van de Kamp. Liam's dad hadn't 
woken. He was muttering and his skin burned red. For 
the first time Liam saw a sensible emotion flash over 
the student's face: fear. "We were never gonna just 
leave the bus here," he said. "The Prof was planning on 
taking it back - it's not like the UDub won't notice is 
missing. Shu's ripped off the husky sticker, so it 
won't be as easy to identify. What if you and Harry 
stay on the bus, get treatment and try again when he's 
well enough to walk?" 

"Can we do that?" Liam's mother sounded hopeful. 

"You get Harry to a clinic and we'll take Liam and 
Marie to the camp." Alan looked to Dr. Scully for an 
answer. 

The proposal hit Liam's mother. "If Harry's not going, 
I won't go." 

The doctor considered Alan's suggestion, then shook her 
head. 

"I can't take that risk," she said to him. "We've had 
too many close calls as far as it is." 

"But -" 

"The longer it takes us to get to that camp, the harder 
it becomes. If they know we're in this area, they could 
have every main route under surveillance. I can't even 
risk going to the smallest medical center." 

"But moving Harry -" 

"This changes nothing. We knew we'd need to stretcher 
him. We all move out. Together. And the sooner we get 
going, the better it'll be for everyone." 

Still kneeling, she was tiny, but her face was marble. 
Liam knew no one would argue with her.