TITLE: Primal Fear

RATING: PG-13 (Disturbing thematics; language; some sexual tension). Mostly Harmless.

SPOILERS: Uhhh, I'm actually not too sure. This would take place somewhere mid-series, but it doesn't really matter exactly whe n.

KEYWORDS: MSR, UST, drama, mystery

CATEGORY: Mystery/Romance

DISCLAIMER: Let's be logical here: If I owned anything at all about this enterprise besides the computer I'm writing on, would I really be posting it online? As if that weren't enough, I know I'm not going to be making any money, as this was created purely for entertainment purposes. So there. I'm legally covered. I hope.

ARCHIVE: Ask me first. I'm , and will probably write you back. As for flames, I think t hey're hilarious. Send them if you like.

SUMMARY: Mulder and Scully are sent to investigate a town in which the inhabitants seem to be all dying of fright. Why? And will the agents themselves make it through the ghost town alive? (Cue Ominous M usic.)

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This one was hard to categorize. A bunch of different elements are in here--mystery, romance, psychodrama, humor (well, I tried, at least), you could even call it "general" since all those things usually show up in any given real X-Files episode . . . .

1) Culture of Fear

HERD CROSSING, WYOMING

ABOUT MIDDAY

The woman sat huddled in the corner of her freezing bedroom, shaking violently. "Jerry?"

There was no response.

"Jerry," sh e cried out again, more desperately this time. There was a scratchy, almost feral sound in the back of her voice, and her uneven nails dug into the skin of her shoulders. "Jerry!"

Jerry, whomever that might have been, did not respond.

The woma n's ears registered a slow, deliberate creak from the staircase next to the room. Bloodshot eyes darted there and back, finally focusing on an empty point on the wall opposite her. The dirty wall. It didn't look as if anyone had been taking care to kee p the room tidy--in fact, the whole house was a decrepit mess. Including the pajama-clad woman, who hadn't left her room for--God knows how long. Her lips drew back from her teeth.

Her exhalation came out in a stutter. Did she hear the respir atio n of another creature slightly after each of her own breaths? And where was it coming from? The woman tried to stifle back a low moan and failed. She pressed her eyes shut and tried to squeeze herself farther into the space where the two walls met. Oh, God, what if the thing were already in the room with her? Or, worse, what if it planned to approach her in minute increments, one barely audible step at a time? Jerry, where are you?! her mind screamed, throat too tightly clenched with hor ror t o utter a sound.

Another three heavy footsteps came from the staircase, in quick succession this time. The woman opened her mouth to the ceiling and let out an animal shriek as a manic-eyed Jerry charged the rest of the way up the stairs, acr oss th e hallway, through the study next to the bedroom the woman was in, and straight out through a second-story window.

Fainting in terror, the woman didn't even hear him land in the snow outside.

Author's Endnotes

Sorry the prologue is so de pressing and disjointed. There are going to be some dark parts in 'Primal Fear,' as only makes sense from the title, but it's definitely not going to be a complete downer. At least not once our favorite agents show up, I hope. :)

'Primal F ear' is my first attempt at X-Files fanfiction. If you have any thoughts on the way it's developing--though you might want to wait for a few more chapters before deciding to let me know that everything I write sux0rz $$, if only for the sake of my own self-esteem--then I would love it if you'd let me know. And, just for the record, I plan on incorporating Mulder/Scully Romance and maybe some good ol' UST. Things continue and you don't like the rating at PG-13, tell me and I'll change it for you. (Up to R, that is. Not down to PG. Don't even talk to me about G.)

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