X Files: The Legend of the Melon Heads
One evening, a teenaged boy got off a coach under the dark night sky. He angrily yanked the bus door open and stomped off the bus. His name was Thomas Womar, and he was still seething over a fight he'd had with his mom and dad. They said he was grounded for staying out too late with his friends, which was the last straw for Thomas. He packed his bag and left home while they were sleeping.
He then got on the first coach out of Nevada and travelled to Ohio, which was where he was now. As he watched the bus rumble by, he started to hitchike. He had run out of money for the bus fare which was why he had to get off the bus.
As he waited for a car to stop, Thomas heard something rustle in the trees behind him. He looked around, curious. He knew there were tales in this area, about the Melon Heads. But he didn't believe folk lore. He didn't have time to believe in things like that. He needed to go to Ohio and stay with his friend, Jerry Thomson.
He then carried on waiting for a car, and yelled angrily at a car that didn't stop to pick him up, with the driver laughing at him. Shaking his head, Thomas looked at his watch. 9.30pm. He hoped he could find someone to take him the rest of the way to Ohio. Jerry's family was poor, and they couldn't afford a car to pick him up.
Something rustled in the trees and bushses behind him again, and he turned to look but the trees fell silent once more. Feeling spooked, like something was watching him, Thomas made sure he stayed by the road and not in the woods, just in case there was a wild animal hunting him. He wasn't far wrong in his guess.
Just as he was about to give up hitchhiking and decided to walk, there was an inhuman shriek. He spun round and to his horror, saw two strange men, with heads that were big, round and looked as though they were big balloons on their necks. Thomas knew it was the Melon Heads. The Melon Heads grabbed a club and before Thomas could retaliate, the Melon Head whacked him across the head with it, before dragging his unconscious body towards the trees behind them. "Whose hungry?" one of them asked the other in a distorted voice. The three Melon Heads laughed and the trees rustled and moved as they began to ate the body.
OHIO, Road 20
10:20
Special Agent Fox Mulder looked down on the ground at the skeleton, while his partner, Special Agent Dana Scully, made notes in her notepad. "Looks like he was hit over the head with a heavy object, then he was eaten," Mulder observed. Scully raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting our murder suspects are cannibals?" she asked. Mulder shrugged. "Not exactly. Are you aware of the history of this area, Scully?" He asked thoughtfully. "Yeah, it's the spot where legend has it, the Melon Heads live," she said, with heavy sarcasm in her voice.
Mulder nodded. "Yeah. They come durinng the night, attacking people. They were children, children who were experimented on by an evil scientist. They murdered the doctor though and burnt down the orphange where this doctor's tests on them was carried out, so now they wonder around the woods here, looking deformed, with heads like balloons," Mulder explained to Scully in a matter of fact tone. He handed Scully a picture of a Melon Head and Scully raised an eyebrow at it.
"How do you suggest we go and look for this thing then?" she asked her partner. Mulder rubbed his neck. "I'm not sure, Scully," he admitted. "But I know they are around here somewhere," he said. Just then, someone joined them. "Agents Mulder and Scully?" a female voice asked. Mulder turned to see a sherriff coming up to him. "Yes, that's us," he said, and the sheriff shook hands with them both. "I'm Sheriff Lowdry," she said with a smile. "So, we're surprised that you got called to this. We think it's a simple hitch hiking attack. What brings you guys out here?" she asked.
Scully gave Mulder a look, wanting him to explain the answer to that question. "We're here because the victim's mother asked us. Also, the victim's father is an FBI IT specialist. The mother said that she's heard of local legends here and was scared the victim was eaten by one of these so called creatures," Mulder explained. "What creatures? You mean the Melon Heads?" Lowdry asked, raising an eyebrow. Mulder nodded as the Sheriff sighed and looked around her as the police officers took photos of the crime scene.
"To be honest, your guess is the best guess. The body's skin was taken away, and some of the organs were removed, too. We can't rule out the possibility of foul play, but by who or what, we don't know," Sheriff Lowdry said."Do you have many people dying on this stretch of road lately Sheriff?" Scully asked.
Lowdry shook her head. "No, not in a long time. The last victim we found here was twenty years ago, and it involved a hitch hiker being attacked too, but that was before my time in the force," she said.
"Can we see the file?" Mulder asked her. She shrugged. "Sure. But I don't think it'll help explain this murder. The murder was so long ago. Why would they stop and start again?" she asked.
Scully nodded. "She has a point, Mulder," she said. "I'm going to go to the local morgue, I'll do the autopsy on this victim for you," she said, as police officers zipped the body into a body bag on a gurney and into the back of a private ambulance van. "OK, I'll go to the local police station and check out that file if that's all right with you, Sheriff Lowdry?" Mulder asked. "Sure. Whatever we can do to help," Lowdry replied.