L'ENFANT PLAZA
WASHINGTON, D.C.
DECEMBER 24th, 2010
1900
The organization was fast and efficient. Teams were ordered back to the sporting goods store to get bottles of water, blankets, and more miscellaneous supplies. People were dispatched with flashlights to make sure everyone had one. Helmets and harnesses were secured, and Mulder led a team of two homeless men and one shelter volunteer in the rappelling effort.
Scully donned a helmet herself and convinced Tara to do the same and to allow Matt to join as they began hand-shoveling debris out of the way of the main entrance and digging out volunteers and homeless people.
Things moved so quickly that Mulder didn't get the chance to take Scully aside and explain their potential security risk. It was because he hadn't explained that part to anyone that when he landed on the ground level, unclipped his harness, and drew his gun, that the volunteer with him gave him a questioning look. "What are you doing?"
Mulder glanced at the wreckage. "I want you three to stand back. We don't know how this happened, and aside from it not being stable, there might be someone in there who caused this. I need to determine we're not in any immediate danger."
"Do you have reason to believe we are?" the man asked, but Mulder didn't answer him.
He climbed through a potted plant and around an overturned bench to get to steady ground where he believed he could stand and look inside one of the train cars. Balanced on a piece of marble and some wooden rod whose origin Mulder couldn't place, he stood on his tip-toes and looked in the broken windows. "Can anyone hear me in there?"
There was no answer. There was, however, a shift in his vision and for just a second, he thought he saw…
"No way," he whispered involuntarily. He was taken back to that basement where he had been trapped on New Years' Eve ten years ago. Or that mental hospital where the nurse had shut him into the room and smiled sweetly, her green/gray skin exposing her for what she really was.
"Agent Mulder? What do you need up there?" one of the homeless people called from below.
Mulder shook his head in amazement and found himself saying, "I think we're going to need some salt."
L'ENFANT PLAZA
WASHINGTON, D.C.
DECEMBER 24th, 2010
1930
"Matty, give me a hand with this," Tara said. She and Scully had tried to protect Matt from seeing too much gore. They had him rolling and pushing chunks of concrete off of the pile and away from the rubble. With the rest of the adults there also helping to dig people out, a twelve-year-old wasn't desperately needed.
But as they got further into the pile, it was getting impossible for anyone nearby not to see the bodies and smell the stench.
Tara was gripping a large piece of plastic that might have been the folding table. Scully was on the other end of the pile tending to someone still trapped inside but alive. "Grab the other end there. That's right," she told her son. "Make sure you've got a good grip, both hands."
They were wearing fleece gloves that came from the sporting goods store. They were already torn, but they were better than nothing.
"Pull out, not up. Okay? On three. One…two…three."
The table came out of the wreckage and a few chunks of concrete fell down to fill its place. Matt's eyes widened at what was revealed underneath. Almost unharmed and looking more like she was asleep than unconscious, was a little four- or five-year-old girl in a filthy pink snowsuit and knit cap.
He dropped to his knees next to her and began digging around her. Tara felt for a pulse and sighed in relief. "Dana!" she called.
Scully stood up from her squatting position next to a patient and walked over. Looking down, she immediately felt for a pulse and then lowered her head next to the girl's mouth to hear her breathing. She nodded. "Pulse is strong, breath sounds good. So far no obvious injuries…the table may have protected her."
"Like Mulder and me," Matt said as he dug.
"Careful, Matt. Look at what might shift before you take anything away from the pile," Scully warned.
He nodded.
She squatted next to him, one of her knees cracking at the movement. She smiled slightly when his head turned. "I'm fine, just getting old," she joked.
She supported the little girl's head and neck while Matt dug, and was prepared to pull her out by her armpits.
Matt and Tara were able to clear the debris on top of her and Scully quickly but carefully pulled her out and laid her down a few feet from the pile. She checked her pulse again and listened to her breathing. She then unzipped the snowsuit and began checking the little child's body, looking for fractures or signs of internal damage. Underneath the snowsuit was a dirty once-white turtleneck that was slightly small for her, and under that was a T-shirt. Her underwear were clean, and so were her socks.
"She's got some fresh bruises on her chest, and one on her forehead. No abrasions or broken bones," Scully reported. "My guess is it's a concussion and she'll be fine. We need to figure out whose she is, though…"
"Is she homeless, or does she belong to one of the volunteers who just came in?" Matt asked.
Scully shook her head. "I don't remember seeing her by the table…but then I don't remember if there was a child over there or not. I honestly don't know," she said. Eye-witness testimony was notoriously incorrect, and Scully wasn't about to guess as to whether she had seen the little girl by the table. It didn't matter anyway. Either way, her parents were not available to claim her.
"Someone will have to stay with her," Tara said. "Especially so they can give her water when she wakes up."
"And keep her warm," Scully said as she redressed the little girl. She adjusted the cap so it covered her small ears and then she snapped the top button on the snowsuit to give her the most warmth possible.
"I can keep an eye on her while I move the chunks of rocks and stuff," Matt volunteered. "When she wakes up I'll keep her company."
Tara nodded. "That's an excellent idea, Matt. I'll carry her over there where it's safer and you can look every time you walk by," his mother told him, and he nodded in agreement.
"Agent Scully!" Someone called and waved her over. Scully gave Tara a departing smile and moved over to where the man was stooped over another person trapped underneath the pile.
As Tara carried the little girl over to a safer area, she reflected that this child was not much smaller than little Claire. Matt was probably seeing his sister in this child who was at best a volunteer's unconscious little girl, possibly homeless, and at worst a new orphan.
As she put the child down in an alcove next to a water fountain, she noticed someone out of the corner of her eye and spun around, blocking the child and ready to defend herself. Who she saw, however, was Mulder coming over the railing.
She rushed over to help him clamber over the railing after he had climbed up the escalator and some rubble while belayed by a homeless man below. "Sorry, Tara, did I scare you?" he asked after both his feet were on the floor.
"I guess I'm a little jumpy," she apologized. "What did you find down there?"
"No one inside the cars is moving. We need Scully down there to determine if they're dead or just unconscious. I opened all the train car windows to vent them," he said, but didn't give her much detail.
She simply nodded and after he had unclipped himself they began to walk back toward the triage area.
"How many dead so far?" he asked.
Tara sighed. "Twelve…I think."
"How's Matt?"
"He's working hard. He's so brave…"
Mulder smiled and placed a comforting hand on Tara's shoulder. "He's a real trooper. If he gets tired, maybe he can work with Dana and do some first aid."
"That's a really good idea."
"How are you doing?"
"I'm okay," she said, and took a glove off to run her hand through her hair and get it away from her now-sweaty face. "I can't believe this happened…"
Mulder nodded. "They're going to eventually send Rescue in and then we'll get the chance to rest. Thanks for helping out."
She chuckled ironically. "I'd look like a fool sitting on the sidelines."
They reached the triage area, where people were laying on blankets, coats, and mats and were organized according to severity of their injuries.
Scully looked up and saw Mulder, and held up one finger before turning back to a man's hand, which she was carefully splinting.
Just then an argument that had previously been lost in the background noise of the rescue effort rose above the current sound level when a homeless man screamed, "YOU'RE A MOTHER-FUCKIN' SHITHEAD, MAN!"
Mulder's head turned just in time to catch the sight of one man tackle another to the dusty ground and begin wailing on him. He shook his head and muttered, "It was only a matter of time," before he ran over to the two who were now rolling all over the dust and were in danger of going over the ledge.
"HEY!" He screamed, and grabbed one of the men. "HEY! STOP! Knock it off! Come on, knock it off! I mean it!" Another homeless man stepped in and pulled the other man away, and Mulder and he then stood to get the men even further from each other.
"He's an asshole!" Mulder's detainee declared, his expression one of intense hatred.
The other man simply spit blood and stood there with an angry expression on his face.
"What's this about? You first," Mulder added quickly, to make sure another shouting match didn't ensue.
"This asshole took my kid's water bottle, man. He ain't been helpin'. He been sittin' on his ass, and ain't nothin' wrong with him. He ain't hurt."
Mulder turned to the other man. "Did you take this man's water bottle?"
"I ain't steal nothin' wasn't already mine," the accused man promised.
Mulder shook his head. "I'll get your kid another water bottle, okay?" he said to the man, and when he nodded he was about to release the man, but the accused man yelled, "Yeah, that's right, 'n if you come after me again, I gonna woop yo' ass." This resulted in Mulder having to tighten his grip on his detainee as he led him away from the loudmouth.
"Listen," he told the man in a low tone, "I believe that other man is on drugs. You need to stay away from him. Okay?" Psychology told him that a calm tone and rational thought would deflect most people's anger.
He released the man and he nodded, his expression still angry.
"There are more water bottles in that sporting goods store. Go get one for you and your kid. Can I trust you to do that?"
The homeless man shook his head. "Naw, man, ain't nothin' left in there. It's been empty for a minute now."
Mulder sighed. He looked around. "Go to the McDonald's. If they're out, then come find me and I'll pick the lock on another restaurant so we can get more water."
The man nodded and said, "I just tryin' to defend my kid."
"I understand. Just leave the law enforcement to us, okay?"
Again, the homeless man nodded and walked away. Mulder sighed and saw that the man who had detained the loudmouth was still holding him, awaiting Mulder's return. He walked back over to the two and asked, "Is it true that you haven't been helping?"
"Ain't gonna do nothin' if I don't get paid," the man slurred.
He knew it was irrational, especially since it seemed this man didn't have use of all his faculties. But what he said really angered Mulder. He got close enough to smell the stench of alcohol and body odor, and said, "Look around, Buddy. You think any of us are getting paid?"
He shook his head before he got an answer, and turned to the man holding him. "Let him go."
He turned back to the detainee as he stumbled forward. "You sit down and shut up. If you don't want to help, you don't get to move around," he ordered forcefully, and 'helped' the man sit down against the wall. "Stay there." He walked away, taking a deep breath and trying to clear his head.
Scully intercepted him halfway back to the triage area. "What was that all about?"
"A bottle of water. How are we doing on supplies?"
"The sporting goods store is almost empty," she said. "I've used everything I can get my hands on to fix people up…I even performed some minor surgery on one of our volunteers to extract a piece of glass from an artery. But I don't want to use too much of what's in those first aid kits, because once they're gone, there's probably not another sporting goods store in this mall."
"At least not one we can get to," Mulder stated. He glanced back at the pit where the trains were still. "I need to talk to you in private."
She snorted. "Good luck. We've got about a hundred people in here, Mulder, and space is an issue."
"We need to find a place to speak," he reiterated. "Sooner rather than later."
Seeing that he was serious, she nodded and looked around. "Let's pick the lock on that Gymboree and go in the fitting room." He smirked, and she rolled her eyes. "Oh, stop," was all she said to him as she led the way to the children's clothing store.
Once they were inside, Mulder pulled out Matt's phone and his own. "There's no reception anymore."
"I know, it must be the train's emergency broadcast that's blocking it out."
"That's a possibility," Mulder agreed. "But the other possibility is that someone sabotaged that train and that they're jamming our signals." The signature elevated eyebrow told Mulder that he was going to have to explain. "Just before I lost the signal, I got through to 911. It was over an hour ago now, and they still haven't gotten personnel in here. Has anyone gone to the back entrance to see if it's open?"
She shook her head. "It collapsed. The structural integrity of this mall is definitely questionable, Mulder. I'm a little leery of anyone rappelling down to the trains a second time…they may not be able to get back up, and I'm actually surprised you were able to."
He sighed.
"But you didn't tell me you got through to 911. What did they say?"
"They said there were three 911 calls on the train about a suspicious-looking man in a subway maintenance uniform. And there were some…strange…observations about his skin color."
"What, was he Arabic?" Scully asked.
"No. I think he was a zombie."
Mulder was always good at monotone comedy, but it didn't appear to Scully that he was kidding. She stared at him, reflecting that even at a time like this, his mind never stopped thinking about the fantastic, and then formulated a response. "What in his skin color suggested that he may be among the living dead?" she managed to ask with just a slight twitch of her lip.
"Gray, green, and blue were the colors cited. And none of those fit on the normal skin color wheel. Now, provided the lighting in the train car was bad, and the man was drunk or ill, that would explain it. But that doesn't explain what I saw."
"You saw the zombie?"
"For just a second, yes."
She shook her head. "Mulder, we haven't tested the air quality down there. If you had just opened a window, you could have been breathing in fumes. And the lighting is terrible. And you're high on adrenaline. And—"
"And I know exactly what I saw. He jumped up from the train car floor when everyone else was either unconscious or dead. And then he managed to get out of my sight and into the next train car, but we can't reach it because it's buried under the floor."
"Doctor Scully!" a voice beckoned from outside the store. "We need you quick! There's a guy with his head cut open real bad!"
She sighed, and stood up. "What did you see down there other than the zombie?"
"Unconscious or dead passengers. We can get them out, but it's going to take some doing."
She shook her head. "We have people we can definitely save up here—plenty of them. And the structural integrity of the building—"
"I agree, now that you bring up that point. No one goes back down. Especially not with a zombie down there. I'm pretty sure they don't climb…"
Rolling her eyes, she exited the fitting room and rushed out to survey the situation. There was a homeless man across the food court, on the ground with a head abrasion. People were gathered around him but not getting too close.
She ran over, and Mulder followed closely behind. "Oh, God…I know that guy. That was the loudmouth guy that took some kid's water bottle and started the fight."
Scully looked behind for just a moment and frowned before she stopped in front of the man and stooped down, examining the damage. "The skull is fractured…torn open. Everybody get back!" She yelled. "Twenty feet at least! Jeremy," she spoke to the volunteer closest to her, "Go find some tape or something and tape this area off."
"You got it," the man answered and ran away.
Scully turned back to Mulder. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
"It looks like an animal attack," he commented in a low tone and squatted next to the man's head. "I take it he's dead?"
She just glanced at him, as if to say 'what do you think?' There was brain matter at the front of his scalp.
"Whatever was used to do this must have left a mess. But everyone's walked all over the crime scene," she said in annoyance.
Mulder looked around for the blood trail. "Right here. This way. I'll follow it."
"I'll get Tara to guard this area while I treat the live patients. Be careful, Mulder. Take someone with you."
He grabbed two spectators in the crowd who looked like they could handle backing him up and told them to follow him, and he drew his gun as he followed the blood trail.
Only moments later he came to a dead end, though. The blood trail seemed to end on the crevice of the drop that led to the train, and there was no body at the bottom.
