Mulder and Scully walked through the door to the smell of bleach. That's what hit them first. They looked around, but they could barely see anything. What they could see when looking through the door with the light shining through, was the rising damp. The wallpaper was curling off the walls from the skirting boards. Mulder went to turn on the light switch but to no avail. Scully got her flashlight out of her pocket and held it in her left hand. Mulder looked at Scully and he did the same but in his right hand, so both side of the room were lit. The room was dingy and dark as they walked through the foyer into a small-sized living room, with a dirty, brown sofa sitting in the middle of the room, and a small old-fashioned box tv in front of it. Scully walked over to the metal place and put her fingers on the top and ran her fingers along the top. She then shone the light to her hand and there was no dust.
Mulder left Scully to investigate on her own as he walked through the small kitchen. Too small, he thought, for such a large building. Mulder started from left to right, flashing his light in all directions. Inside the room, was a small, round, wooden table and two open back wood chairs with small black cushions. Mulder walked over to the table, looking carefully at it. He noted that it was quite a new table, the newest thing in the room, and it had quite a few scratches on it where it looked like people had drinks or been playing cards, passing time. He moved from the table to the kitchen cupboards; there were dark-mustard coloured and stained wood counter tops. He went rooting through the cupboards, there no dust but also no food. There was also no plates or cutlery. He carried on until he stood in front if a huge metal door.
"Scully, I think you should come over here and take a look at this" Mulder shouted to Scully as his voice echoed through the rooms.
"Okay, I'm coming" Scully shouted back.
Scully walked through the living room and again through the kitchen till coming across Mulder and this metal door.
"Did you find anything?"
"No, Mulder, I didn't. Did you?"
"Me neither, but something that definitely got my curiosity is why the foyer, living room, and kitchen are so small"
Scully sighed and looked upon the metal door "What I would like to know, Mulder, is what is behind this door,"
Mulder tried the handle, but it was quite stiff. Then he noticed the lock so he proceeded to crouch down, get his lock pick set out of his back pocket, and started to try picking the lock.
Couple of minutes passed and Scully asked, "Are you okay there, Mulder?" she said in a sarcastic way, with a little smile on her face.
"Yes, Scully, I'm fine." He tried and continued to pick the lock. He let out a large grunt and clenched his fist and slowly punched the ground.
"No, you're not. Now please, let me try"
Mulder moved out of the way to let Scully have a go, passing her the lock pic. Scully felt a little silly but tried the handle and it open. It was quite heavy as she opened it with a huge squeak like a navy bulk head door.
Both Mulder and Scully laughed
"I loosened it of for you."
"Yes, Sure, Fine whatever" she said sarcastically.
Scully got her gun out of the hostler and placed it in her right hand and crossed the torch underneath in her left hand.
Mulder looked at Scully and did the same, he got his gun out of it hostler and placed it into his right hand and crossed the torch underneath in his left hand. The only difference was, Mulder's finger was gently caressing the trigger.
Mulder walked first into the room; it was large, dark and concrete everywhere, with small holes for oxygen. No windows to let the sun in and an overwhelming smell of bleach and disinfectant. Scully shone her light to the left as Mulder shone his to the right, to come across metal rings, bolted to the wall on either side. There was quite a lot of them. Mulder went to inspect the rings, placing his gun back in the holster, and shone the light to the object, placing his fingers around the ring. It was quite heavy and quite scratched. He then inspected the metal bolts; they were holding the ring there. He noted that even though the metalwork was quite old, the bolts themselves were brand new, but he felt around and realized they were not the first bolts to be placed there, as there were indentations from previous bolts. And slight rust around the edges.
Scully looked at each individual ring on the other side of the room and came to the same conclusion that Mulder had. Mulder came across something strange; small indentation in the floor and the wall of the last ring.
"Scully, can you come here? I need your opinion here, please," Mulder said with a small hint of sorrow and concern in his voice.
Scully left what she was doing and walked over to Mulder.
"What is the matter, Mulder?" Scully said with a little bit a fright in her voice. Looking at her partner, Sully could read his facial expression like a book, knowing that what he had found was not a good sign.
"Can you please have a look at these scratches and tell me what you think," Mulder shone the light where he wanted Scully to look.
Scully bent down to meet his gaze and then turned to face what Mulder was pointing at.
She ran her finger along the small indentations of the concrete and across the wall, it was then she suddenly realized she knew exactly what they were. Her heart pounded in her chest and the blood rose to her head as her eyes became glazed, like she was going to cry. But she kept herself together and was acting professional.
Mulder coughed a little and spoke, his voice a little broken "Are they what I think they are, Scully"
"Yes." was the only answer she could give.
"Are you sure, Scully? Could they not be animal scratches?"
Scully took a deep breath and exhaled before speaking, "No, Mulder, they are not animal scratches. They're too big to be animal scratches, but too small to be adult scratches." Scully took another long pause before saying her next words as she knew they would break her and make her think about William. Cases like this with children, either missing or hurt, or worse, dead, always brought back sad memories. "They're children scratches, Mulder, and to make them so indented like this, they would have had to scratch with some force."
Scully could not take it anymore as her tears started flowing freely down her pale face.
Mulder stood up and told Scully to do the same as she wrapped her arm around his waist and Mulder placed his head onto the crown of Scully's head. Scully let out small, slow whimpers into Mulder's chest.
"They were here, Mulder, they were here. We are..." Scully's breathing was hectic and tears were flowing freely "we are just too late. Imagine being down here, scared, alone and chained to a post…"
Mulder didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth to speak but no words left his mouth. All he could do was hug Scully with his arm around her small frame and his head on the crown of her head.
Scully just stood there, crying into him, his heart broke to see her like this. A strong, independent woman that barely let anything touch her emotionally or physically. She put on such a strong persona he only rarely saw this side of her, occasionally her raw emotional state. Mulder sighed, his chest rose and fell. His breathing was calm and controlled. Scully listed to his heartbeat and managed to control her breathing. Before saying her next sentence.
"I think we should go. Call the forensic team when we get out of here. And call Skinner, see if he has any idea about Freya and her recent transition."
"Ok" Scully walked first through the metal door and through the small rooms until they were back outside, the sun shining down onto them as Scully rang skinner.
10 minutes later, Scully's facial expression still hadn't changed. There was a lot of sighing and slumped shoulders during the call. Skinner told them that there was still no activity on her credit cards or phone, and more agents had been assigned to work the case. But there was one lead; an abandoned hospital nearby, called Vidant Chowan Hospital. It has been deserted for years so that may be a good place to start.
Both Mulder and Scully got into the car and punched the quotients of the hospital into the sat nav. About 30 minutes had passed as they both sat in silence, not knowing what they were going to walk into nor if they were actually going to find Freya alive. And even if she was alive, what state would she been in. Mulder could tell that Scully was feeling apprehensive about everything, even if she would not say a word. He knew her better than that. All he could do was silently watch her and comfort her the way he knew how.
They pulled up to the Hospital, not expecting much and it indeed did look like it was a derelict building, but it looked like it had new doors to one of the entrances which was slightly strange. Scully turned off the engine and just sat there, not moving, not talking, nothing.
Mulder knew better than to ask what was wrong and tried and give her the space she needed. She didn't often break down while on a case. It was very rare. She was a strong, independent woman or at least that's what she portrayed. But he knew, deep down she was hurting, and this is just the way she coped.
Scully turned to look at him and then put her hand on the handle of the car and walked out. Soon Mulder followed suit.
"I think we should go once around to perimeter, then we will find a way of getting in"
Scully sighed under her breath then proceeded to nod and followed him. The building in its day would have been pristine white with a small helipad to the front of the building, to the right. It was a L shaped building with the main block of the hospital off to the right and L part to the left. There was a church Edenton United Methodist quite close to the hospital the next road infarct.
But now, the building was a dark grey colour, with over grown grass everywhere the roof looked like it was about to collapse and there were severe cracks throughout the building walls. The windows were a dark brown colour, from dust and dirt that had gathered over the years. They both looked around and all they could see was weed as far as the eye can see and the car park was dry and cracked. It was made apparent that it was not maintained over the years and had not been used in quite some time.
Mulder noted that there was a side door, which he thinks he could have opened and silently shook it, but Scully thought it would be better if they waited for back up, so they went back to the car. Scully could see the frustration on Mulder's face and to be honest she wanted to get in there as much as he did, but if there were people in there, it could have been a very bad idea, especially if one of them got hurt.
Freya woke up on the concrete floor. She didn't know what time of day it was. All she knew is that the voices were still there. But something was different, she could hear familiar voices. But it couldn't be them. She tried to shake it off. She put her hands in front of her and pushed herself off the ground. As she stood up, she felt dizzy and weak. The voices were stronger now. Her head screamed in pain, but she was determined. Freya listened carefully It was differently them she could hear them chatting among themselves.
"Mulder, I think we should wait for back-up"
"Yes, but what if she is there, what if she hurt? you could help her."
"Please, Mulder, we don't know if she is there. What if we're walking into a trap, what if you got hurt? You're not thinking clearly."
Freya shouted as far as her voice could let her, which wasn't a lot. She was still very sore and hoarse.
"I am Here, please. I am here. Help me. Just come in, I can't hear anyone here, please"
She shouted and shouted but they could not hear her.
"We should head back to the motel, wait for re-enforcements and update Skinner" Freya heard Scully say.
"No, please. Don't leave me here. God, please, just hear me. I beg of you. Please don't go."
Freya soon fell to the ground, with her knees tucked under her body, her elbows on her knees and her palms on her head, covering her face - crying.
About ten minutes had passed and she could no longer hear Mulder or Scully. she stood herself back off. She knew no one could hear her she didn't care. She was angry, frustrated, sore, but blind rage took over as she shouted.
"How could you do this to me? I am No one, I am Nothing. Was this all a sick game to you? How could you put a child through this? How dare you put me through this, you sick son of a bitch!"
Freya's heart was racing, her blood boiling. Then the was an all might smashing of glass. She didn't know where from, but she knew it was close it wasn't the windows as they were still in one peace . They then the speaker turned on, she didn't even realise there were speakers in the room.
A man started to speak; he sounded old she didn't recognise it at first.
"We did this to you because you are special, your parents are special. We needed to test your response to the virus." There was a long pause. "You passed, by the way, you have become one of the post important parts to our plan. That and a teenage boy on the run." then she heard a deep inhale like someone taking an inhale of a cigarette.
Then Freya knew exactly who he was. She hasn't seen him in many years, but it was him - her uncle.
"You sick son of a bitch, how could you do this to your niece. You know what I have seen through how could you put me through more of this torture the experiments?" Freya shouted
"You were never my flesh and blood, and I have done a lot worse to my own flesh and blood."
Then the speakers went dead. Freya tried to listen for him, her nose now streaming with blood, but she didn't care. She listened and listened but there was nothing but silence.