Walter Skinner had been preoccupied with FBI business and addressing the nationwide panic that had long since spread when he initially heard about Mulder's disappearance. When they located Agent Mulder's whereabouts, he sent Agent Miller to go looking for him while Agent Einstein helped Scully create the lifesaving vaccine. Normally, he put his own ass on the line to save Mulder, but he couldn't this time. Too many lives were at stake; he had to stay and deal with the widespread panic and help develop a course of action.
Feeling sick himself, he immediately went to Our Lady of Sorrows as quickly as he could, due to the mass turmoil. Word had gotten around that Scully was able to create a lifesaving vaccine before infrastructures had fallen. When he arrived at the hospital, however, he was greeted by Agent Einstein who was overwhelmed with treating patients. She was also instructing the few nurses who had been treated to administer the IV to as many civilians as possible.
"Where is Agent Scully?!" He asked urgently, between deep, labored breaths.
The flustered younger redhead shook her head. "Sir," she looked relieved to see him. "Agent Miller found Agent Mulder, but he was in bad shape. She went to find them on a freeway overpass not far from here, so she can treat them both."
Skinner sighed. Of course, she would. Even though she and Mulder had their problems, he knew Scully would go to the end of the Earth if she had to in order to save Mulder.
"Sir," Einstein started, taking note of the beads of sweet and labored breathing of her boss. "You don't look too good yourself."
"I need to find them, Einstein," he gasped. The responsibility of those three Agents rested heavily on his shoulders. "Can you be quick?"
She nodded. "You see the way it is around here, I've got to be."
After Einstein administered him the IV, Skinner waited what seemed like an eternity before he headed towards the coordinates Einstein had given him. He reached into his pocket to grab his phone, only to realize he had lost cell service some time ago due to the fallen infrastructures. "Shit!" The amount of traffic and cars on the road blocking streets and intersections made him even more frustrated by the minute. It was times like this that he regretted FBI vehicles being so damned big. How was he going to find them like this? For a moment, he imagined Scully breaking all the rules of the road in order to get to Mulder. It was a very Scully-like thing to do whenever it came to saving Mulder. After blaring the horn and several close calls, he pulled up into the sidewalk and flew by the line of cars on the road. After flipping the bird to a few cars and muttering a few curse words, he finally made it onto the freeway ramp. However, all he saw in front of him was a sea of cars and people fleeing their parked cars in mass panic. The minutes ticked on and the SUV barely budged. "Dammit!" He was going to have to get out of the car. He charged forward and as he did, each dead body he saw on the side of the road hit him like a pile of bricks. He hoped Scully had gotten to them on time.
However, he wasn't prepared for what he saw next . Up a few yards ahead, there was a flash of light and a distinguishable sound that he would never regret. He stopped, frozen in place and looked up to see what appeared to be a large spaceship hovering above them. He looked on in horror as he recalled the day Mulder was taken and the day that his life was changed forever.
Civilians were awestruck and frozen in place. And that was when he saw her. Scully was standing in a beam of light with that same look of awe in her face as she looked up towards the craft. He held his hand above his face to ward off the blinding light, but that's when he realized that this bean of light was only on her. The sound the ship made was deafening, but he had to get to her. He plunged forward. "SCULLY! DANA!" He screamed as loud as he could. She didn't seem to hear him; the sound was deafening. As he got closer, Agent Miller also came into view. He was just as dumbfounded and in awe as she was. "Agent Miller!"
He stopped as he realized that he was frozen in place. He couldn't move. "SCULLY!" He tried once more to no avail. He felt a sense of deja vu come over him before the light and ship disappeared into the darkness. No! How could he have let this happen again? He looked around to see Miller still frozen in place, but Scully was gone. It seemed like an eternity before his legs felt mobile again and he could see crowds of people nearby looking dazed and confused. He had to force himself to remain calm as he reached Agent Miller. "Agent Miller," he said breathlessly as he grabbed onto the young man's shoulders. "Are you with me?"
He looked as he were stuck in a trance as Skinner shook him lightly. "Sir? What happened? What are you doing here?"
Skinner wasn't sure what to say, but then blurted out "Agent Miller, you went to find Agent Mulder, where is he?"
Miller looked at him steadily, still in somewhat of a daze. "In the car, he isn't doing so well," he coughed. He was sick. He felt his foot step on something and he looked down to see an IV bag. It was the vaccine, Scully must have brought it. He picked it up and went to look in the car, but no one was there.
"Miller, Mulder isn't in here," he said slowly. He was immediately overwhelmed with dread when he realized it. They had taken Mulder too, but why? Miller looked confused. "But, Agent Scully came and...wait, where is Agent Scully?"
Skinner frowned and retreated to him. "Miller, take your jacket off. Now, I'm no doctor, but I used to help treat wounded soldiers when I was in the Marines. You'll have to trust me if you want to make it."
Miller nodded as he let Skinner feel around for the vein in his arm and quickly inserted the needle. "Hold this. Now, do you have a fair amount of gas in this thing?" He asked looking towards the car.
"I just filled up about an hour ago...was afraid we were almost out by the time I got to Agent Mulder."
Skinner nodded. He looked inside to see the keys were still in the ignition.
"Sir, but what about Agent Scully and Mulder? Where did they go? Mulder was dying and couldn't have run off anywhere."
Skinner sighed. "I've seen a lot of unexplainable things over the years, Agent Miller. I think they were abducted, but I don't have time to explain right now. We're losing time. Get into the car."
Miller nodded and did as A.D. Skinner asked. Once they were in the car, Skinner looked over at him. "First tell me, where did you find Mulder?"
Notes: The next few chapters will be about what's happening while everyone else is on the ship.
To be continued...
