The X-Files: Emexus
Chapter One-The Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building
Fox Mulder's Office
"Scully? Skinner just gave us this new case today," said FBI agent Fox Mulder as he handed his partner a tan manila folder.
His partner, fellow FBI agent Dana Scully, took the folder from him and opened it up. She sat down in one of the leather seats in front of Mulder's desk and crossed her legs.
Mulder sat down as well behind his desk.
"Two young sister's were found murdered in West Virginia," Mulder said.
Scully raised an eyebrow at him.
"I can see that,"
Mulder broke into a grin.
"Gee…you're so perceptive,"
Scully just shook her head and continued to read the coroner's report. There were pictures of two young girls. One of them was badly mauled and her throat had been torn out. The second girl had her throat torn out as well, but there were several parts of her body missing. An arm and a piece of the left leg.
Scully knew there was a reason why he said, "Two young sister's were found murdered in West Virginia". She knew him too well.
Sighing, she closed the manila folder and looked at him.
"Okay, Mulder…what's your theory?" she asked.
Mulder got up and stood in front of his desk. He leaned against it and folded his arms over his chest. He was dressed in black slacks, shoes, a white long-sleeved shirt which, was under a matching black suit jacket and a tie. He has short, dark brown hair and blue eyes. His FBI photo ID was clipped to the jacket's lapel.
"Look at the second sister," he said, nodding toward the folder lying in Scully's lap.
Scully opened it up and looked at the girl with several parts missing.
"Her left radius is missing as well as part of her femur," Scully said.
"Right. What type of wild dog kills its victim's and eats part of it?" Mulder asked.
"A really hungry dog?" Scully offered.
Mulder smiled. "I was thinking more along the lines of territory,"
"Oh," Scully frowned in thought. "Well, I guess if an animal is starving, it would do what it has to do,"
Scully was dressed in a tan straight skirt, a white V necked shirt and a matching tan blazer over that. Her shin length light auburn hair was tucked behind one ear and she had small pearl earrings in her ears. Her FBI photo ID was clipped to the waistband of her skirt.
"You think that whatever killed these young sister's did it as a territory marking?" Scully asked, tilting her head.
"Absolutely," Mulder said nodding. "And for fun."
"For fun? No wild dog would kill for fun. Normally, the instinct is to kill for food,"
"I know…but I don't think we're dealing with a normal 'wild' dog," Mulder said as he walked over to one of the gray metal filing cabinets that were against the wall of his small basement office.
He opened the top drawer and pulled out a magnifying glass.
He then went over to Scully and handed her the magnifying glass.
"Take a look at the first girl. Look at the long marks across her chest,"
Scully held the glass over the picture. The image of the girl's blood stained chest was enlarged. But there were several long, deep scratches that ran diagonally from her shoulder to her right side over the ribs.
One of the scratches she was able to measure was at least two inches deep…almost to the bone.
"That scratch is almost two inches deep," she said, as she slowly looked up and lowered the magnifying glass.
"Exactly. That pooch that killed them would have to be at least 200 to 300 pounds to make that kind of a deep scratch," Mulder said, nodding. "Wolves don't even weigh that much."
"I don't think wolves are in West Virginia, Mulder," Scully said, as she put the magnifying glass onto Mulder's desk along with the manila folder.
"I didn't say it was a wolf," Mulder said.
Scully was used to Mulder's tactics, so she waited patiently.
"You think it was a UFO?"
Mulder shook his head.
"Nope…something much worse and we're going to investigate," he said, grinning as he reached onto his desk and picked up his car keys. "I told Skinner we'd drive to West Virginia to take a look. I hope you've packed. Before I make any final conclusions, I need more proof."
Sighing, Scully stood up and they headed out of his office.
Mulder waited outside in the car while Scully went into her house to pack some clothes for a weeklong investigation. As she was packing, her thoughts shifted to Mulder himself.
They've worked together for almost nine years so far. She couldn't tell Mulder her true feelings toward him because A: it would or might ruin their friendship and B: she really didn't want to lose him as a partner or best friend. She'd rather have him as a best friend and partner than lose him completely.
And plus, she didn't know if he had felt the same way. That would be totally embarrassing.
Once she was packed and locked her front door, she headed down the first 3 steps and began walking to Mulder's dark blue 2003 Ford Crown Victoria.
She opened the back door behind the passenger seat and tossed her duffel bag onto the back seat where Mulder's luggage was. She checked to make sure she had her 9mm Smith and Wesson around her waist in its holster before sliding into the passenger seat and closing her door.
It was cold in DC and it was about 33 degrees. Scully wrapped her black overcoat around her body tighter. Mulder had his black overcoat draped over the back of the driver's seat.
He was driving in his suit jacket.
"Does this thing have heat?" she asked him, shivering.
"Oh sorry, Scully. I was wondering if you were like the Polar Bears…you know, diving into 20 degree water," Mulder said, teasingly as he reached forward and switched on the heat.
Immediately, Scully was hit with the heat from the vent.
"Right. I'd take you with me," Scully said.
Mulder grinned and put the car in drive. Mulder pulled away from the curb and they began driving to West Virginia.
A light snow had begun to fall and Mulder switched on the windshield wipers. Snowflakes were already starting to stick to the roof, hood and back trunk of the Crown Vic.
"Geeze. I hope it doesn't ice up," Scully said, wiping her window with a gloved hand.
"That wouldn't be good," Mulder said, slowly.
They had gotten onto the highway and were in the right lane near the shoulder of the highway.
Scully checked her watch. It was 8:00 PM. They had left DC around 6:34. They still had a bit to go before reaching Virginia.
Scully turned to Mulder.
"Are we going directly to the investigation, or sleeping then going in the morning?"
"We're going to meet up with the town sheriff in the morning. We're booked at a Holiday Inn inside the town," Mulder replied.
Scully reached forward and turned on the radio. Brittany Spears' Oops! I did it Again came on.
"Oh god! My ears! Turn it off!" Mulder cried.
Scully broke into a grin and turned up the volume.
"Scully! Are you trying to traumatize me here?" Mulder asked, turning to her with a big grin on his face.
"Sorry. I thought you liked this," she said, laughing.
"God!" Mulder shivered. "That's like stepping in a cats tail!"
Scully changed the radio station and Mariah Carey's All I want for Christmas (is you) came on next.
"How's that?" Scully asked, sitting back against the soft, leather seat.
"Much better,"
Scully felt herself smiling as she looked out her window.
There was a dark wooded area that lined the highway. A full moonlight hung in a dark blue night sky. She could see the moon filtering through the treetops. She listened intently to the words of the song.
Her thoughts began to shift back to Mulder again.
A few hours later, they reached Virginia. The highway changed to a single back road that led into Saden, Virginia. All along the road, on both sides were woods.
"It's really rural out here," Scully said, peering out the windshield.
The snow had gotten a little heavier and blankets were starting to stick to the ground and to the trunks of the trees and the branches.
"Yeah I know," Mulder replied as he gently turned the steering wheel to the right as they came around a sharp turn.
Just then, a dark shape was caught in the Crown Victoria's headlights like a spotlight.
"Mulder, look out!" Scully cried.
Mulder slammed on the brake. The back tires of the car skied over the ground. There was thin patch of ice on the road. Scully grabbed a hold of the door handle and gripped it tightly as the front of the car slammed into the dark object. It was thrown on top of the hood before sliding off. The Crown Victoria spun 180 degrees before the back of the car dipped down a small ditch and slammed into a tree.
Scully was thrown into Mulder.
Immediately, he put the car in park and turned to Scully.
"Are you alright?" he demanded worriedly.
He put a hand on her shoulder and was watching her worriedly.
She moaned and sat back against her seat.
"Are you alright?" he repeated.
"Yeah. Are you alright?" she asked, looking at him.
His head had hit the window and there was a small gash on his temple that was bleeding.
"Yeah," he replied.
"Mulder, you're hurt," Scully said as she gently reached over and touched the gash.
He cringed.
"Sorry," she said.
"What the heck was that?" Mulder asked, peering out the windshield.
"I don't know," Scully said.
"I'm going to find out," Mulder said, as he reached under his jacket and pulled out his gun. He clicked back the hammer and groped for the door handle.
"Be careful," Scully said watching him anxiously.
"You know me," Mulder said as he pushed open his door and climbed out. He left the door open and began walking up the ditch.
SCULLY.
I watched Mulder walk up the ditch where the dark object was. I was worried about him and I had hoped he wouldn't do anything rash.
I saw his shape leaning over something. The radio was still playing softly. This time, it was Lee Ann Rimes' Can't fight the Moonlight.
Then, the dark object looked like it had bitten him.
"MULDER!" I yelled.
Mulder came hurrying down the ditch. He leaped into the driver's seat and slammed his door. He was clutching his hand. Four puncture wounds were on his right hand.
"Jesus…what the hell was that?" I demanded.
"Some kind of dog," Mulder cringed.
I reached into the glove compartment and found a white handkerchief. I wrapped it around his hand tightly.
Then, something rammed the car on my side. I jumped and leaned away from the door.
Something rammed my door again. I scooted away from the door and was almost onto Mulder's lap.
"Scully, I'm not burping you," Mulder said dryly.
"Don't you hear that? Something's ramming the car!" I said, looking at him.
Again, something rammed my door. This time, shattering the glass in my window.
I stared in fear as something reared up on its hind legs and put its front paws on the windowpane. It looked like a dog, but yet it didn't.
It snarled and went to climb into the car, but Mulder reached over my shoulder, aiming the gun at the dog's forehead. I heard the 'pop' go off.
I heard a thud as it fell backward.
"You okay now?" Mulder asked as I slowly climbed off his lap and settled back into the passenger seat.
"Yeah…God, that didn't look like a normal dog!" I cried, cautiously peering out the window.
"I know it didn't," Mulder replied. "Let's go."
Mulder turned the key into the ignition and luckily, the engine started. We pulled out of the ditch and continued down the road.
We reached Saden and found the Holiday Inn. Mulder had booked two rooms, conjoining.
"You'd better not sleepwalk," I teased him.
He looked at me innocently.
"Who? Me?"
I just shook my head.
We pulled into a diagonal parking spot in front of the rooms and Mulder shut off the engine. We pushed open our doors and climbed out. We pulled our luggage out of the back seat and then walked toward the rooms. I was in room 33 and Mulder was in 34.
I looked over at him.
He was fumbling with the key because of his injured hand.
"Tomorrow, you're getting a Tetanus shot," I said. "And Rabies."
"If I start foaming, then you'll know," Mulder said, dryly.
I shook my head and sighed.
I was really worried about him, especially since that animal bit him. It didn't look normal and I was worried that it had some kind of disease or something.
"Good-night, Scully," Mulder said, smiling at me.
I smiled back.
"'Night Mulder,"
He opened his door and stepped into the room, the door closing behind him and locking.
I entered my room and closed and locked the door behind me. I showered and changed into a pair of pajamas. I crawled into bed and laid on my back, staring up at the ceiling, deep in thought.
That dog certainly had strange characteristics. It just didn't sit right with me. Something about it was totally wrong…like the appearance. The fur was rough looking and there long fur on the tips of the ears. The eyes were jaundice. It looked liked it weighed 200 pounds.
But that's impossible. No dog or known wolf weighs that much. Besides, there were no wolves here in Virginia. So what was that thing? It certainly seemed strong because from the force of it ramming the door, it broke the glass on my window.
And could that have been the thing that killed those two poor young sisters? It certainly fit the criteria.
But what about the scratches? They were two inches deep.
Sighing again, I rolled onto my side and fell asleep.