Dust Devils
Mulder climbed into the driver's seat and turned the key in the ignition. The engine rumbled into life and Mulder sped them down the dirt track. Soon the track ended and Mulder stopped the car at a dead end. Blocking their way was a huge cliff of rock, with cliffs on either side. They were in a valley. Scully groaned and rolled her eyes. Mulder switched off the engine and looked at his watch.
"Well, we've got about four hours of daylight left. What do you say to a bit of a nature hike?"
After packing the rest of the provisions, water and other equipment, Mulder hitched the backpack onto his back and they set off through a narrow gap in the valley wall. It led them out of the shade and into the glaring sunlight of a desert plain. Mulder pulled out his favourite sunglasses, pulled up the collar of his polo shirt and did his best Elvis impression, curling his lip and looking at Scully. "Uh-huh huh!"
"Good one Mulder." She smiled; glad the mood had lightened.
"Thank you very much." He said, Elvis-style, as he watched her put on her own sunglasses.
They carried on across the desert, keeping as close to the shade of the cliffs as possible. Mulder glanced around every few minutes, checking for any sign of the creature they were looking for.
He rummaged in the pockets of the backpack and pulled out the binoculars and the map. He handed the latter to Scully who unfolded it and looked for their current position. After about an hour, they came across an outcrop of rock on top of which were perched several buzzards. Mulder began to scramble up to the top, setting the birds off as he went. They flew high, deftly using the thermals to lift them lazily into the sky. Scully stood at the bottom and admired them soaring through the milky-blue sky and heat haze. She sat down on a small ledge and waited, not really feeling like scaling another cliff after the incident of a few hours ago.
"Mulder, can I have some water?" She called up to him. She expected him to throw a bottle down to her, but instead he appeared at her side, carrying a large rock.
"Look at this, Scully." He said, crouching down in front of her and placing the stone on the ground.
On the rock was an old Navajo painting depicting a sandstorm, a dust devil. "That's what we are after!" Mulder said triumphantly. "The report said that the ranger had seen what looked like a large dog running towards him, but then it disappeared just as a dust devil started. The dust devil surrounded the creature and then it was gone!" He was getting excited now, his eyes shining. "The Navajo believe in the chindi and this is what I think the ranger saw!"
"The chindi?" Scully asked, her sceptical eyebrow rising.
"Yeah. A chindi. The ghost believed to be released by a dying breath! The chindi is almost always considered to be an evil force, avenging the person who released it at their death. Dust devils are one of the signs of the chindi. They say clockwise dust devils are good spirits and counter-clockwise are bad."
Scully stared at him.
"And how do you explain the creature? What was that then?"
Mulder smiled, "Let's find out!"
Scully led the way further into the desert, Mulder following her and talking incessantly about the Navajo. Scully switched off after a few minutes. Eventually she stopped and turned around, but Mulder was no longer behind her.
"Mulder?" She called back along the trail they had walked. No answer. She followed her set of footprints back for a few minutes and found where Mulder's had ended. In the cliff face was a small fissure, only just big enough for a person to fit through. Obviously Mulder had gone through it. "Mulder?" She called again. From some distance away his voice called back.
"Come in here Scully!"
Scully glanced behind her apprehensively before slipping easily through the small gap in the rock.
She didn't notice that high on the cliff above them, a gust of wind had begun to whip up a dust devil.
A large black shaped began to crawl down the rock face towards the fissure, leaving a trail of drips of blood in its wake.