Chapter 3: The Connections That Unite Us
Mulder/Scully Farmhouse
Eastern Virginia
9:30 AM
A rented red 2018 Jeep Liberty SUV made its way down the long dirt driveway that led to Fox Mulder and Dana Scully's shared farmhouse before coming to a stop right in front of the house. The driver's side door came open, at which point Charles "Charlie" Scully stepped out and planted his feet on the ground below him. He had a very exquisite bouquet of white long-stemmed roses in one hand, as well as a very well-packed and worn-out suitcase in the other.
Charlie Scully was a short, handsome white man in his late 40's with long shaggy brown hair that was tied back into a neat ponytail. Additionally, his long yet well-trimmed beard often caused people to mistake him for some sort of seasoned trucker. He was dressed in a faded denim jacket with a generic black t-shirt underneath that read: "BANGKOK" in large bolded white lettering, faded denim jeans, and faux snakeskin cowboy boots.
Dana Scully's long estranged brother carefully made his way up the steps of the farmhouse before momentarily setting his suitcase down beside him and using his now free hand to knock on the screen door three times.
The home's inner door came open roughly 40 seconds later. Dana Scully, now dressed in a very oversized University of Maryland sweatshirt, white cotton pajama pants, and gray slippers, smiled as she held the screen door open for her brother.
"Hello Charlie!" she warmly and excitedly greeted as Charlie made his way through the doorway.
He put his things down once again as he wrapped his pregnant sister in a hug. "Hello, my beautifully pregnant sister!" Charlie said while hugging her for a long beat. "My God, Dana" he continued as he broke the embrace to take in his sister's expectant figure, "Look at you! When are you due again?"
"Four weeks from today", Scully replied, "I don't know if I told you when we talked on the phone, but Mulder and I are expecting a girl."
Charlie grinned with delight. "Really?" he said before kissing his sister on the forehead, "That's wonderful, sis. Have you guys decided on any names yet?"
Scully shrugged her shoulders. "Truthfully", she said, "We're both still on the fence in regards to a bunch of them, so I can't say that we've made any concrete decisions yet."
"You will", Charlie reassuringly replied. He then handed his sister the bouquet of white roses he had brought. "These are for you", he continued.
Scully sniffed the roses for a moment before crossing to the kitchen to fetch a vase from one of the cupboards. "Thank you", she said, "They're beautiful." She soon found the right vase, filled it with water, and delicately placed the roses inside before carefully setting them in the center of the kitchen table behind them.
She then crossed into the living room area, where she found Charlie beginning to unpack his suitcase. She raised an inquisitive eyebrow as she saw him remove a tightly sealed plastic bag containing what appeared to be an assortment of exotic-looking vegetables. "What is that exactly?" she curiously inquired.
"Vegetables from our farm in Thailand", Charlie replied as he crossed into the kitchen, "I thought that since you're the one who's supposed to be on bedrest, I thought I'd make us dinner tonight. Will Mulder be joining us?"
Scully regrettably shook her head. "Unfortunately, no" she explained, "He got called away to work a case in Texas, so he'll be gone for a while." She then decided to change the subject as she visually inspected some of the vegetables from Charlie's bag that were now laid out on a countertop cutting board. "What is all this stuff?" she asked.
"Kangkong", Charlie began, "Chinese chive, Chinese kale, pak choi, and mini cucumber. I figured I'd start chopping all this up now and put everything in the fridge to make a salad or a stew later tonight."
Scully nodded with a grin. "I see", she replied, "So your farm is near Bangkok, right?"
"Yep", Charlie gleefully said, "It's on the Chao Pharaya River not far from there. My girlfriend's dad owns it. I work for him."
"Ah", Scully replied, "I remember now. Her name's 'Amaya', right?
"Achara", Charlie corrected, "We've been together for about two and a half years now. She works as a children's tennis coach in Bangkok."
Scully nodded as she took in the information. "It must be hard working in two separate professions like that", she said with a concerned and very sisterly tone.
Charlie scoffed as he began chopping up the Chinese kale with an 8-inch chef's knife. "We make it work", he candidly replied, "Hell, if you and Mulder can make your dynamic work, we can too, right?"
Scully chuckled in response before playfully slapping her brother's shoulder blade. She then sat down at the kitchen table and watched her brother do his thing.
Harker's Cave
Stoker's Lane
Austin, Texas
10:00 AM
After acquiring a silver 2018 Chevrolet Impala FBI field sedan, Fox Mulder soon arrived at the crime scene outside Harker's Cave in Austin, now dressed in his navy-blue jacket with a white cotton t-shirt underneath, blue jeans, and a pair of black hiking boots. He exited the vehicle and found himself to be slightly overwhelmed by the presence of so many law enforcement vehicles on the scene.
The reason for this was the awe-inspiring but understandably supportive response of all the area law enforcement agencies who had come to honor their fallen colleague, Texas Game Warden Boyd Aikens, and his injured but thankfully now recuperating partner, Sergeant Mercedes Lucia. Multiple units from the Austin Police Department, the Travis County Sheriff's Department, the Texas Highway Patrol, and of course, the Texas Department of Fish and Game, had all responded in reaction to the sergeant's initial distress call and stayed on to assist the investigation afterwards.
Mulder briefly scanned around the scene before spotting someone waving at him. He was a tall, bald African-American man appearing to be in his early to mid-30's who was dressed in a brown suit and light brown loafers. Additionally, he was wearing what appeared to be an Austin Police Detective's badge on a small chain around his neck.
"Special Agent Mulder?" the man inquired as he stuck a hand out to Mulder.
Mulder very cordially shook the man's hand straight away. "Yes", he replied.
"I'm Detective Darnell Willmore", the detective said, "Austin PD Homicide. John Doggett said that you'd be coming. It's nice to meet you, sir."
Mulder broke the handshake and nodded. "Nice to meet you too, Detective" Mulder said, "What can you tell me?"
"Our fallen game warden's name is Boyd Aikens", Willmore began explaining, "He was twenty-four years old. He'd been working here in Travis County since he finished his training a little over three months ago. He and his field training officer were out here just before nine o' clock last night investigating a report of an injured bat inside this cave."
"Did this report have any kind of substance to it?" Mulder asked.
"That's just it, sir" Willmore said, "I don't know and, moreover, nobody who responded to his partner's call for help could really provide any helpful information on that either."
"Okay", Mulder replied, "Believe it or not, with the type of cases I'm used to working, that's actually a good start. I was told his partner is still hanging on, is that correct?"
Willmore nodded. "She is", he said, "Yes. She suffered several wounds to both arms and she also sustained a pretty bad fall that resulted in a concussion. Her name is Mercedes Lucia. She's a Sergeant with Texas Fish and Game. Every game warden and cop in this county knows her as 'Mercy' for short. She's recuperating in an isolation ward at Travis County General Hospital."
"Isolation?" Mulder curiously inquired.
"Yeah", Willmore replied, "The wounds on her arms looked a lot like bite wounds according to the paramedics. I spoke to the ER physician who treated her and he seemed to agree. When they heard she had contact with bats, they put her in isolation to check for rabies."
"Ah", Mulder said, "I get it now. Any word on her condition?"
"She was sleeping comfortably as of an hour ago", Willmore said, "Her rabies screening results aren't back yet, so they'd like her to remain in isolation until they know for sure."
Mulder nodded as he turned toward the mouth of the cave. "Alright then", he said, "I think I'll take a look inside the cave. I'll let you know if I find anything."
Detective Willmore produced a portable radio from his back pocket and handed it to Mulder. "There are a few mobile homes down the road from here", he said, "I'm going to grab a few of our patrol officers and go talk to the folks living there. Take this radio and give a holler if you need me. We should be back in about half an hour or less."
Mulder took the radio and nodded. "No problem", he said as he tucked the radio on to one of the belt loops of his jeans, "I guess I'll see you in a while."
The agent and the detective then parted ways and Mulder cautiously made his way into the cave. He removed a small tactical flashlight from his jacket pocket and turned it on.
Shining it around, the sharp beam of light illuminated rows and rows of sleeping bats before Mulder came upon a small yellow rectangular evidence marker with the letter "A" on it in large black lettering. He knew from his earlier browsing of the crime scene photos that this was where a pair of apparently regurgitated severed human fingers had been discovered by a crime scene unit.
Mulder stepped a bit further back inside the cave and quickly realized that he was going into an area that hadn't yet been searched by the police or the crime scene technicians. He now stood approximately 25 feet from the location of the yellow evidence marker, and as such, he shined his light directly in front of him, only to be met by a startlingly gruesome sight.
The stunned agent fell back onto his rear end before regaining his composure and shining his light back where it had been before. Sitting against the right-side wall of the cave in front of him was a dirt-covered albeit otherwise pristine human adult skeleton. Mulder hurriedly grabbed the radio from his belt loop and keyed the mic.
"Willmore?" Mulder anxiously said into the radio, "Detective Willmore? It's Agent Mulder. Do you copy?"
"I copy you, Agent Mulder" Willmore replied from the radio a few seconds later, "Go ahead."
"I'm going to need your medical examiner in here right away", Mulder said into the radio, "I just found additional human remains in the back of the cave."