Resistance 2.0
The saga continues.

Peggy's Story

Resistance 2.04: Siblings

Will was frowning.  I was trying to concentrate, but he got up and started pacing the floor. 

"This won't work.  There are too many of them.  I can't separate their thoughts," he whined at me. 

"Just think of one person.  Picture them in your head," I tried to explain.  "Think of Daddy." 

Will stopped and wiggled up his face.  After a minute he shook his head.  "Not a good idea.  He's wondering why Mom got up so early." 

Oops.  Wrong person.  "OK, concentrate on Gibson," I suggested.  Meanwhile, when he was quiet, I was trying to concentrate on Mom.  I could read her thoughts easier than anybody. 

"Gibson just told me to butt out, he'll let us know what's going on when it's time," Will said and threw himself on the bed in frustration.  "Peggy, they're not going to let us know what they're doing because they think we're just little kids.  And in your case, they're right!" 

I glared at him.  I almost had Mom in my head and he had to interrupt me to say something stupid.  I looked at him and thought hard.  'Spoiled brat!' 

His eyes grew huge and he sat straight up.  'Takes one to know one -- brat!' 

"Shut up!" I yelled.  "I'm trying to listen!" 

"Fine!" he yelled back.  "Go ahead, listen!  I'm going to my . . . the other bedroom!" 

He was hurt now, and angry.  Just like Daddy sometimes.  "Will, I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have thought that," I said as he stomped out of my room. 

"Look, I'm not like you," he said, standing in the hallway, hands on his hips.  "I can't just read other people's minds.  It gives me the creeps!  And this whole deal about everybody in the world dying.  Don't you get it -- we're gonna die, too, if we don't do something to stop them!" 

"What do you suggest?" I shot back.  "Go after a virus with a machine gun?"  

His eyes narrowed and I knew I'd done something bad.  As Daddy would say, I'd just crossed the line.  Before I could say I was sorry, Will turned on his heel and stomped into his room.  Before he slammed the door in my face I could hear his thoughts.  'Stay the hell out of my head, Brat!' 

I didn't try to talk to him or even send thoughts to him.  I'm pretty sure he hated me right then and I didn't want to hear his thoughts about me.  I went back to my room and tried not to cry.  

Outside, it was starting to snow.  It was already dark and it was only a little after two in the afternoon.  I walked over to Tribble and got her out of her cage.  I wondered if hamsters were able to get the alien virus.  I didn't want Tribble to die, even though Daddy told me when we got her in the summer that she would only live about 3 years.  I sat down on the floor next to my bed and cried. 

I heard a noise and looked up to see Will standing in my doorway.  "Can I come in?" he asked. 

"I didn't kick you out the last time, you left," I told him.  I was still sort of mad because he got so mad.  Besides, he called me a little kid.  I had every right to be mad at him. 

"Peggy, you gotta understand, this is all new to me.  My whole life has been turned upside down in just a few weeks." 

I gave him the meanest look I could.  "Oh, yeah, my life hasn't changed at all.  My Daddy almost dies, I get a brother I thought was in my imagination, I have to leave my school and my home to go somewhere so cold that I need fur-lined underwear -- " 

He started to giggle and I guess I couldn't help myself, I started to giggle, too.  

"Fur-lined underwear?" he asked and we both started laughing.  We were laughing so hard, I couldn't catch my breath.  Tribble got scared.  She slipped out of my hands and ran under the bed. 

"Will!  Tribble!" I shouted as I saw her little tail disappear under the edge of the bedspread.  

"I'll get her," he promised and as fast as that he was crawling under the bed. 

"Can you see her?  Don't squish her trying to get her out -- oh, and Will, be careful because when she's scared -- " 

"Ouch!" Will yelped and there was a thump and another "ouch!"  

"Will, are you OK?" I asked. 

"Read my mind, genius," he shot back.  But he was wiggling his legs and bottom and soon he came out with Tribble firmly in his hand.  "Your monster bit me!" 

"She's a hamster, not a monster," I told him, taking Tribble from him.  "Sorry, Tribble.  Did my mean brother hurt you?" 

"Not as much as she hurt me," he said, sticking his finger in his mouth.  

Once I had Tribble back in her cage, I took his finger and looked at it.  "Did she break the skin?" 

"No.  But it's sore.  And I hit my head under there."  He leaned over to show me.  I rubbed his head, but couldn't feel a bump. 

"Mommy says Mulders have hard heads," I told him.  I looked up at him and realized that I really didn't want to be mad at him.  So I put my arms around his neck and hugged him tight.  "I'm sorry I called you a spoiled brat," I said.  Darn it all, I started to cry again. 

He patted my back.  I felt little drops on my neck.  He was crying too.  It would have been easy to peek in and read his thoughts, but I knew he wouldn't want that.  I just held him while he cried on my shoulder and I cried on his chest.  After a long time, I think he got tired.  He sat down on the bed and had me sit beside him. 

"When Dad was in the hospital, he was dreaming.  He knew they were coming.  He knew it.  But he thought we'd lose.  That's why he wouldn't wake up from the coma.  I met him on this beach -- maybe it was a dream.  I told him we have to fight them.  Peggy, back in El Paso, I thought -- I thought we had a chance.  I thought they would come in big ships and we'd shoot them down out of the sky like in the movies.  I never expected -- " 

"I know," I said.  "I didn't think they'd just make everybody sick, either.  But Will, I don't think you were wrong.  I think we can win.  I think we can beat them." 

"How?  Everybody will be dead but us.  And what happens when the virus comes here?  Peggy, how do we even know we won't die, too?" 

"You won't."  Gibson stood in my doorway.  "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude.  I told them I was going to the restroom.  Are you guys OK?" 

I shook my head no.  Will did, too.  "You heard us?" I asked. 

He smiled at us.  "You were kinda loud," he said. 

"Did Mom and Daddy hear us?" I asked. 

"They thought you were playing," he said.  Gibson took the chair from the corner of the room and sat it by the bed.  He sat down and smiled at us.  "I don't have a lot of time, but I can tell you a little bit about what's going on.  You won't die of the virus.  You can't die.  That's why the aliens and the people working with them were trying to get you, Will.  They knew you were immune -- both of you.  So are your parents." 

"How can Mom and Dad -- " 

"Exposure.  Your parents have both been exposed to the alien virus, a couple of times.  And that exposure happened before either of you were conceived.  So you carry that immunity, too.  It's in your DNA." 

Will looked over at me.  "That means it's -- " 

"I know what DNA means," I told him.  He really did think of me as a kid! 

"Anyway," Gibson continued, "you aren't the only ones with immunity.  There are others who have been exposed.  And there are people who just haven't gotten the virus, a natural immunity for whatever reason.  But I can tell you this, we have to contact as many of the survivors as possible before we can launch the counter attack." 

"How do we do that?  Do we just make phone calls and hope somebody picks up?" Will asked.  He could be as sarcastic as Daddy when he wanted to. 

Gibson shook his head and then tapped Will on the forehead.  "The survivors, whether they know it or not, are connected up here.  All we have to do is find them and use the connection." 

"You mean us," I said. 

"The three of us, yes -- at first.  As we make other connections, we can get them to help us.  But we need to work fast.  It's going to take time and we don't have long.  As soon as they think the virus has eliminated most of the population, they'll begin the second phase." 

"Which will be -- what?" Will asked. 

"Reforming the planet.  They intend to use the survivors as slaves.  Those infected with the virus will act as incubators for their offspring.  They aren't coming in big ships.  They're already here.  They'll build their army from their young." 

I know I made a sick face.  "Yuck!  That's gross." 

"It almost happened to Mom," Will said.  

Gibson looked at him, surprised.  "I never told you that." 

"You didn't have to.  Dad still has nightmares.  I've seen his dreams.  She was in a spaceship, someplace cold.  In his dream, the alien -- "  He stopped and looked at me and then turned back to Gibson.  "Well, you know."  

"So how do we stop them?"  I still wanted to know. 

"We have to work hard and fast.  We've laid the groundwork already.  We have a vaccine.  It kills the alien fetuses.  But up till now, it had to be injected.  We need a better way of administering it over a large area.  And it won't be easy.  There will be some that hatch early, the vanguards.  We'll have to kill them first." 

"How much time do we have before they start to hatch?" Will asked. 

"Not much -- about four or five months.  The rest of their population will take closer to a year to gestate." 

"How do you know all this, Gibson?" I asked.  I was being good, I wasn't cheating and reading his thoughts. 

"I was held hostage with one once, in a nuclear reactor.  I was about your age, Peggy.  I read its mind." 

Will whistled.  "What happened?  Why didn't it just kill you?" 

He shrugged.  "It tried.  It was transforming into its most dangerous form when it just -- died.  I was thinking how scared I was and hoping someone would find me.  I could see your father, he was trying to get into the room where I was being held, so I hid, thinking I could hold out.  And then I got mad, because I was sick and tired of being treated like a lab rat.  I hated that alien so much.  I couldn't stop thinking of how much I hated it.  When I finally stood face to face with it, I just thought about how much I wanted to tear it limb from limb and . . . it just collapsed and died right there.  I started to run, tried to get out and somehow I hit my head.  When I woke up, I was in a school for deaf kids in the desert." 

We didn't know what to say to that.  Everything we'd been through was nothing compared to what had happened to Gibson.  He was right, he was too old for me.  He would probably always be too old for me. 

"So, what can we do?" Will asked finally. 

"Tomorrow, I'll start working with you both.  With a little practice, you should be able to reach out, connect with the survivors.  It will take time, but I think we can get started right away -- if your parents are willing." 

"Do they know about this?  That we would be helping?" I asked.  I could already hear Daddy's objections.  I knew Mom would blow a gasket at the thought of us 'mind reading' across the planet. 

"Let me handle your parents.  I've known your Mom and Dad a long time.  I think I can get them to agree to this.  But in the meantime, it's still Christmas.  We're about finished downstairs.  We're going over to the community center and have leftovers from last night.  You can meet some of the others.  There are even some kids about your ages."  He patted Will's shoulder and put his hand on my head.  "I know what it's like to be different.  But I want you to always remember -- you're still kids.  Don't let anybody take that away from you." 

"So, we're just gonna let this go, go eat and have another party?" Will asked.  He wasn't real happy right then, and what Gibson had said had really made him uncomfortable.  I wasn't reading his mind, I could just tell by the look on his face and the way his arms were hugging his chest. 

Gibson smiled at him.  "You have so much of your father in you," he said.  "Take the time to enjoy life while you can.  It will give you strength to get through the rough parts." 

That satisfied Will, as least for a while.  "OK, then.  Let's go meet everyone else in town."

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