AUTHOR: Dana Hale
RATING: K
SPOILERS: Post "The Truth"
SUMMARY: Mulder and Scully run into trouble at the Mexican border.
DISCLAIMER: The X-Files television show and characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and the Fox Corporation.
The headlights in his rearview mirror pierced the silent darkness with a loud bright awakening. Mulder had thought that if they left Roswell before dawn no one would be able to track them. He hoped that he was just being his usual paranoid self and that the ever-closer approaching car behind them was nobody in particular. He hated to wake Scully who was still sleeping next to him in their borrowed SUV, but he didn't want her to be startled should he have to start using evasive maneuvers.
He took a second to look at her and peeled his right hand off of the steering wheel to lightly brush her cheek. "Hey, Scully."
Scully stirred and leaned in to his hand. Before opening her eyes, she stretched her arms above her head and let out a yawn. Mulder wished he wasn't driving at the moment so that he could fully watch and appreciate Scully's intricate way of waking up. Why she left her home and family behind without question and was here with him now, he couldn't comprehend. But he couldn't imagine continuing on without her. She was all he had, and he had already been apart from her for far too long.
In her sleep she was at peace and innocent of the uncertain and long road that lay ahead of them. But then her eyes opened and their situation came flooding back into her mind. Mulder put his hand back on the steering wheel. She sat up a little further in the seat.
"It's still dark. Where are we?"
"Sorry to wake you. We're near the Mexican border."
"Mulder..."
It wasn't easy for him to hear the anxiety in her voice. Just a few hours ago, she was the one giving him the pep talk. "It's going to be okay, Scully," he said, although his voice betrayed him as well. He took another nervous glance in the rearview mirror.
"Then why is that car behind us just about on our bumper?"
"Oh, you noticed that too, did you? Hang on."
Mulder abruptly made a left hand turn down a dirt road and floored the gas pedal. The car behind them followed.
Scully looked out the back window. "Mulder, what are we going to do?"
Just as she finished asking that question, Mulder hit the brakes hard. Scully was jerked forward and then back by her seat belt. When the SUV came to a complete stop, they were inches away from six other parked cars staring right back at them, surrounding them in a road block. The car from behind them also came to a stop. No one moved. It was all too eerily quiet.
Scully looked at Mulder in a panic. They were trapped. This was it. So this is how it would all come down. No backup and all alone in the middle of nowhere.
"Listen to me, Scully. They want me, not you. You have to promise me that when we get out of this car that you'll let them take me. They won't hurt you if you don't resist and they'll let you go."
"No Mulder." Scully tried to hide the tears in her eyes.
Mulder grabbed Scully's hands. "Please, Scully. You have to. I need to know that you're going to stay alive."
"Mulder, I'm not letting you go."
"Scully...I..."
The men in front of them got out of their cars. They were all soldiers and all too happy to display their machine guns. They rapidly approached the SUV and yanked open the doors. Mulder swallowed hard and took one last desperate glance at Scully. She thought that she saw him silently mouth the words "I love you," but she wasn't certain with all the commotion.
"Salir del coche! Poner tus manos para arriba!" (Get out of the car! Put your hands up!)
Three men pulled Mulder out of the driver's side while Scully was also jerked out of the car by three other men. They forced Mulder and Scully to the ground, making them land hard in the rocky dirt on their knees.
The man who had been following them now stood before them. He seemed to be the leader of the group. "Mirar lo que tenemos aqui. Americanos." (Look what we have here. Americans.)
"Si. Y bastante, tambien.? (Yes. And pretty, too.)
One of the men caressed Scully's face and the rest of them laughed. Scully turned her face away and was able to stay collected, but their attention on her made Mulder nervous.
"What do you want with us?" Mulder asked quickly, trying to divert their attention to him.
The leader pointed to one of the soldiers. "Lo tomas." (You take him). Then he pointed to the soldier closest to Scully, the one who had caressed her face. "Tomas a muchacha." (You take the girl). "Vayamos!" (Let's go!)
Mulder was harshly pulled up and separated from Scully. He watched as the other man grabbed Scully and callously started to shove her in one of the cars. She tried to resist but was no match for the soldier's sheer size and strength.
"SCULLY!" Mulder screamed at the top of his lungs. He was being dragged to another car. He tried to kick and worm his way out of the hands of his captor to get back to Scully, but more soldiers surrounded him and sedated him with hard punches to his stomach. He fell to the ground. They picked up his limp body and threw him in the car.
"MULDER!" Scully cried out as the car she was in sped away.