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The second figure
walked toward Mulder. Scully placed herself between him and the figure.
“Run, Mulder!” she cried. The figure kept coming closer. He stood motionless.
“Mulder, go!” The figure tried to step around her, but she would not let
it. She kicked it in the chest as hard as she could. It lost its balance
for a moment, steadied itself, and immediately tripped her. Scully fell
flat on her back, wincing slightly. Determined not to allow the figure
to reach Mulder, she kicked what she thought to be the figure’s shin with
all her might, sending the figure toppling over. “Mulder, move!”
All of a sudden,
the figure doubled over in pain, screeching at the top of its lungs. It
grasped its head in agony. Samantha’s face tightened too, Scully noticed.
“Fox,” Samantha breathed. “Do as Dana says. Please.”
Mulder awakened
from his reverie. He shook his head as if to clear it, then shot off in
a seemingly random direction. He ran toward the first figure and rammed
the figure into a wall Scully did not even know was there.
“Dana,” Samantha’s
voice called in her head. “Follow this man.” An image of the blond young
man appeared in her head. “He will show you the way to the controls of
the ship. We have not left the Earth’s atmosphere yet. There’s still time.
Hurry. While they are still distracted.”
Scully leapt
to her feet. She ran after the blond man and kept as close to him as she
could. Even though she was confused as hell, she didn’t have time to argue.
She looked behind her and saw just faint shadows. Looking forwards, she
increased her speed. They seemed to be running aimlessly. Scully wondered
if even the blond man knew where he was going. Everything seemed to look
the same: white and glowing.
They eventually
reached what looked to be a control room. There were blinking lights and
switches everywhere. “What do I do?” she thought aloud.
“Here,” a man’s
voice told her. “I’ll tell you how to help me with it. We’re going to try
to transport ourselves off the ship then make it explode.”
Despite the absurdity
of it all, she followed his instructions as best she could. Why he didn’t
just talk to her, she did not know. And how he could communicate with her
without saying a word, right now, she did not care. And did not want to
know.
“Alright,” the
man’s voice said. “Here goes.” With that, he pressed a large button.
She began to
feel the peculiar numbness again. The flashing lights soon changed to the
lightening sky of early morning and the glowing white floor turned to grass.
She blinked, then looked around. The blond-haired man, Samantha, Mulder,
and the other white-robed people stood around her. She looked up. There
was the bright object in the sky. It flickered and exploded. Everyone flinched.
The object disappeared. She sighed in relief. It was over.
Scully walked
over to Mulder, who was sitting on the grass. “Mulder? Are you okay?”
He looked up.
“Yeah. I think so… Where’s Samantha?”
“Right here.”
Samantha walked over to Mulder and hugged him. They smiled as she helped
him to his feet.
Scully looked
around. Where were all these people going to stay? She heard some of them
speak languages that were definitely not English. Some of them probably
weren’t even American. Where would they go? “Um… Mulder…”
“Yeah?” he answered.
“Where are we
going to put all these people? We only have two motel rooms.”
“We’ll rent some
more. All expenses paid, courtesy of the Bureau, remember?” He grinned.
Scully sighed. Skinner’s gonna
love this, she thought.
Scully ended up
sharing her room with Samantha and lending Samantha a few of her clothes.
An uncomfortable
silence settled in the room. Finally, Samantha spoke up. “So, you’re Fox’s
partner.”
“For about 4
years now.”
“And after 4
years, you still call each other by your last names?”
Scully smiled.
“He prefers Mulder to Fox.”
“And you?”
“I don’t know.
I haven’t really thought about it.”
Silence resumed.
“How are my parents?”
Samantha asked hopefully.
“Your mother’s
okay. She just recently had a stroke, but she’ll be fine.”
“And my father?”
Scully frowned.
“I hate to be the one who tells you this, but…” She hesitated. “Your father’s
dead.”
Samantha gasped.
“How?”
Scully sat on
the bed beside her. “He was murdered. By a man named Krycek.” Samantha
looked down at her hands. “I’m so sorry, Samantha.” Scully put an arm around
her shoulders.
Samantha smiled
faintly. “I’m alright. It’s just a little shocking, that’s all.”
Scully frowned
slightly. That wasn’t exactly the response she anticipated.
The room was
silent once again. Samantha yawned.
“You can take
the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor,” Scully insisted. Samantha only nodded.
The lights were
turned off and they went to bed. It must have been nearly 6. The sun was
rising.
Moments later,
Samantha piped up again. “Dana?”
“Yes?”
“I think you
and Fox would make a cute couple.” Scully could imagine Samantha smiling
the identical mischievous grin Mulder sometimes wore.