The Lambs: Part 3 (8/11)     
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.
 

Chapter 39 

December 22, 2012 
New Mexico 

Silent fireworks floated down. Showers of sparks hissed 
on a seething green sea. Embers came so close they 
might settle on his skin like fiery snowflakes. He 
should probably flick them away. The tip of his chin 
tickled as one touched. 

They weren't the only things falling. 

The ceiling was crumbling, slowly. Black panels 
plunged, knocking into the metal arms circling the 
room. 

Liam hung in arms, jostled by the movement of running. 
His head rolled sideways. He could see Doggett behind 
them, cradling a body even as he dodged dropping 
debris. Dr Scully's hair had escaped from a ponytail. 
Blood had trickled from her nose. She looked asleep 
against Doggett's chest ... or worse. 

*She shouldn't have come for me ...* 

Through dazed eyes, Liam watched the slow motion fall 
of a rod behind them, feeling no surprise when it 
struck the grill path and made his rescuer stumble. 

"Let me." Liam heard a woman's voice. She was gentle 
taking him from Mulder. "Follow me." 

Suddenly she and Liam were soaring as she leapt across 
a section of broken path. 

The translucent bodies below seemed to stare up in 
open-mouthed dead horror. 

"Shit," he heard behind them over the squeal of another 
rod crashing into the platform between Mulder and 
Doggett. "Jump, Mulder!" 

Liam lifted heavy eyelids to observe. 

With little room for a run up, Mulder threw himself 
across the broken causeway. His feet came down on the 
very lip of the outer ring. The woman shot out her hand 
before he could slip. Mulder was safe with Liam and the 
woman ... but the path had run out for Doggett. 

Already weakened, the metal grill started to buckle and 
tip, ejecting the supersoldier - the doctor still in 
his arms - into the green pool. He stayed upright, 
raising her over his head, keeping her from the splash. 

"Doggett!" 

The supersoldier waded through the substance, ignoring 
the smoke that poured off his thighs, tendons straining 
in his neck as he forced himself forward. 

How's he doing that? Liam's thought was idle and 
disengaged from feeling. That other woman, earlier, had 
survived her dip in the green. How long had she lasted? 
Long enough to pull herself out. 

"Come on, come on." Mulder fretted at the edge, 
reaching for Dr Scully even before Doggett was close 
enough to pass her to him. 

Doggett heaved himself onto the platform, his fatigues 
in slimy tatters. Wordlessly he took the doctor back 
from Mulder, rolling her over his shoulder. 

The platform at their feet dipped, bowing under their 
weight. The destruction in the chamber was 
destabilizing its supports. 

"Do we climb?" Mulder was frantic, testing for 
handholds. 

*What would be the point?* Liam thought with 
detachment. *The sides of the chamber are peeling 
away.* 

It was like the wall was having a bad case of 
blistering sunburn. 

"This way." The woman was facing the wall. 

Liam blinked. The tiny guide lights were back. Winking 
at him. Pointing for him. The woman seemed to be 
following them too. A wide portal flared into 
existence. The little lights blipped ahead of them on 
the downward path. The black tunnel ended in a tiny 
square of gray light. 

The shaking ship threw them sideways. Nothing was 
falling here, but the woman was struggling to stay 
upright. She copied Doggett and hoisted Liam over her 
shoulder. Doggett, carrying the doctor, and Mulder were 
scant steps behind. The green glow from the chamber 
disappeared as the portal cut out. 

The cold in the tunnel hit Liam with an involuntary 
shiver. 

The woman's legs got faster and faster as she found her 
feet against the shuddering, and the gray square got 
bigger and bigger. Suddenly the lights ran out. 

The woman came to a skidding halt. The steel caps of 
her boots poked out over empty space. Liam could see 
little but swirling smoke and dots of bright flame far 
below. The ship was hovering over a field of fire. Liam 
had no time to be afraid. 

She wrapped her arms against him. "Close your eyes." 

Air rushed against his face and his stomach dropped. 
She had leapt into the freezing night with him in her 
arms. 

She hit the ground in a crouch, her knees driven into 
the ground. Liam bit his cheeks; the force of the 
collision went through him. The pain was fleeting. A 
dark shape landed with a thump beside them. The doctor 
still lay across Doggett's arms, protected from the 
fall. 

Doggett set her down and staggered to his feet. Acid 
from the green goo had eaten into the flesh on his 
legs. He wobbled a moment or two, then staggered 
sideways. 

A blast overhead made the ground throb. 

They looked up. 

The sky was split in two. A great black circle above 
them was swallowing the moon and stars. Smoke curled at 
its edges. The sky was shot with starlight. But the 
underside of the saucer devoured light like a black 
hole. Against its side, through the wisps, moonlight 
struck a tiny shape wriggling on the edge. 

"Mulder! Let go!" Doggett shouted. 

Liam felt himself be laid against the chilled earth 
beside the doctor as the supersoldiers rose. "Let go." 

Mulder fell with a yell. 

Liam couldn't watch. He heard the soldiers grunt. He 
opened his eyes to see Mulder in a sprawled heap 
between them. He was alive. 

Liam rolled to his side to check the doctor. Blood 
rolled from her nose and forehead. Her hand lay next to 
her cheek and he reached out to touch it. 

Smoke got in his nostrils and Liam began to cough. 

"We have to move." The woman was up already. She 
gathered Liam into her arms again. "Hold your breath." 

He could hear rather than see the fire. Bushes crackled 
in the wildfire blaze. The body carrying him started to 
pant. 

"Run," Doggett yelled from behind them. 

Liam looked up. 

The ship was wobbling in the sky. Dense thick clouds 
poured from it, and in its center, a bubble of green 
light was swelling. 

He knew what was going to happen. Their only way to 
outrun the destruction of the ship was to run through 
the flames - or find cover and hope for the best. 

The soldiers carried them precious yards into a hollow 
where they put Dr Scully and Liam down. Doggett reached 
out and pulled Mulder in. 

"Curl up. As small as you can," he said while he and 
the woman stood over them. 

The ground was a maze of flames, but even if they could 
escape, there was no getting away from the ship. The 
expanding bubble looked ready to burst. 

"Get down!" the woman said, as she and Doggett made a 
futile attempt to shield the humans. Liam wasn't afraid 
for himself. It wouldn't hurt him, but Mulder and 
Scully would never survive this - even under the 
shelter of the supersoldiers. He grabbed their hands, 
squeezed his eyes shut and prayed his grasp would be 
enough. 

He hadn't been able to save Gibson or the Grays, he 
reminded himself, even as he sought the empty space the 
pie-room had taught him. Perhaps he could use it to 
create a physical barrier around them? He pushed the 
void out, imagining it enveloping them. 

That was all the time he had to think. 

The ship exploded in a pulse, its percussion blowing 
Doggett and the woman away. Liam felt it go through 
him, felt it batter his focus. But he held on and he 
held tight, and the worst of it seemed to pass right 
over him. 

When the noise subsided, he checked the sky. It was 
clear - no sign of the saucer at all. Liam shifted to 
check Dr Scully. Her eyes were glassy and unseeing. 

He scrambled to his knees. 

"Dr Scully? Dr Scully?! Scully!" 

He shook her shoulder. 

She was still. 

"No no NO!" 

He let the nothingness fill him - and he didn't hold 
back. He smashed through the skin of the cocoon. A 
furious wind screamed in his head as he was flooded 
with a thousand minds. The invasion was ten times worse 
than before. It took all his strength to brace himself 
against the onslaught. 

A dog barked, getting closer. Then came cries, far 
away. 

He heard Mulder's voice outside, felt weak tugging on 
his arm. Mulder was trying to rise, trying to scoop 
Scully up but was stuck in the dirt. Liam could do 
nothing to help him. He couldn't fight on both fronts. 

He had to find a way to control the thoughts, had to 
make them obey. Frustration made him yell into the 
void. "Silence!" 

They stopped. Instantly. Each thought like a tiny 
bubble suspended in the air. Waiting for his command. 
If he told them to dance, they would. 

A cold nose pressed against his neck and Sal's raspy 
tongue left a cool slick on his nose. Beyond him a 
powerful voice called out. 

"Over here. Sal's found more. Quick - the fire -" 

Arms went around him, lifting him. 

No, Dad. He couldn't get the words out. He struggled to 
be put down. 

"Liam, it's me -" 

"No!" 

Liam dropped from his father's grasp. He heard a 
scuffle and turned to see Doggett restraining his 
father. 

Harry van de Kamp growled. "What are you do -?" 

"I'm sorry," Doggett said. "He's commanding me. I can't 
break free. Liam -" 

Harry was caught in an iron grip. 

Liam turned away, clutching at Scully, squeezing her 
hand. He found the void, and the hole he'd punched. The 
thought bubbles hadn't moved. They were waiting for 
him. He dived in, reaching out for her -sensing his way 
in darkness. 

He went beyond. 

He looked for, and found, molecules. In the air, in the 
ground, and finally, in her. It was her weariness he 
found. Tired cells refusing to give in, unaware she had 
already fallen. It didn't take long to find the cause 
of her illness. A noxious growth pressed into her brain 
- he was so close he could see the serial number of a 
manufactured evil. 

But unless he could speed up the crawling blood in her 
veins, she wouldn't survive long enough for him to 
attack it. 

He wanted to cry when he reached her heart. It beat - 
just - in spite of itself. It flailed and fought a 
battle it had no hope of winning. He circled it, 
studying it for the problem. 

When he found it, he froze. He felt his own heart 
break. Right through Dr Scully's heart a hairline crack 
ran. Its edges were so sharp it had to be an old wound, 
yet it still looked raw. All the nanobots and all his 
medic cells could not restore this to what it had been. 

He threw himself into soothing it. The fracture would 
never heal completely, but if he could ease the pain 
... 

His best wasn't good enough. The heart slowed. 

He could command the universe if he wanted for all the 
good it would do. This wasn't a physical wound. This 
was something else. Molecules would never heal it. 

*What can I do?* 

Images popped into his mind. Flashlight turning in his 
hands; Ellie's face close to his as they read from 
Ender's Game; Dr Scully rocking on the sofa in that 
house in Wamsutter; catching a tiny tadpole on a 
perfect summer day ... 

The answer hit Liam like lightning. 

*Memories. You need memories. Here - take mine!* 

He'd had a lot of time to think about the past these 
past few days. And there was still that unsettling 
feeling someone else had been going through them too. 
He couldn't worry about that now. He needed good 
memories; his first day of school, Christmas mornings; 
winning a race at school; hitting a homerun; stalking 
his mother around the garden with a wooden horse and a 
water pistol; 'helping' Stan roundup steers; building a 
home for Jerry with Mulder. He summoned memories of 
feelings and gave them all to her. 

Her heart was still. 

It had nothing left to give. 

He was too late. 

He had been too late for Jerry, and now - again - he 
was too late. 

Rage exploded in him. He turned back to the cancer. 

*You did this.* 

Savage, he tore it apart molecule by molecule. 
Banishing each one. When the ugly mass had been 
obliterated Liam draw himself back to the surface. To 
scream or vent or somehow rid himself of feelings 
threatening to overwhelm him. 

Mulder was sitting across from him, bowed over Scully. 

"Mulder." 

Mulder lifted his blank face but didn't struggle when 
Liam took his hand. 

They had given him life, these two people. They had 
wrapped his life in care and protection from afar. They 
had done so much - had been beaten and bruised but 
still fought on. 

*Let me fight for you.* 

One more time Liam dived into the void. Molecules all 
around him seemed to shiver and dance. The rage wasn't 
in him - he was in it. Energy flowed through him. He 
used it. He sent his fist into the rage like it was an 
inferno and he had no fear. 

And suddenly the sound of a heartbeat rang in his head. 
He had to shield himself from a flash of light as 
bright as the ship exploding. 

He came to with a shock. 

He was staring into Scully's eyes. 

She was smiling. 

He heard his name again. 

"Liam," Marie said as she pulled him into a ferocious 
hug, "We have to go." 

The walls of flame licked around them. 

"Liam," Doggett said, a note of pleading in his voice. 
The supersoldier still had Harry pinned. The void was 
still open in Liam. He couldn't leave without taking 
care of the tiny thoughts hovering around him. 

"Be free," he whispered as he willed the void to close. 

He tried to ignore a flicker of guilt. When he had 
closed the void, it had erupted into chaos. He felt it. 

Each one of those tiny bubbles cried out at being cut 
off. 

"Can't get rid of me that easily." Doggett pulled Liam 
to his feet. His parents were helping Mulder and 
Scully. 

"Can you stand?" 

"Think so." His body felt weighted down, while his head 
was floating away. He needed a moment to find his legs, 
but they couldn't stay here. Not with the fire. 

"Good. Get moving." 

His mother made Scully lean on her as Sal led them 
through the burning maze. When a narrow gap opened up, 
she used her hand to brush aside a burning branch to 
widen it. 

"'*Parents who would walk through fire' -*" 

"What?" 

"Something Gibson said. Doggett?" A wave of fatigue hit 
Liam before he sank one more time into oblivion. 

*I've got to stop -*