- 16 -

His eyelids blinked as he lay on the bed of his impersonal room. His
hands rested on both sides of his bodies but Dominique could tell
that he was slowly getting his senses back. Patiently he waited and
smiled when Mulder eventually seemed to become aware of his
surroundings.
Dominique handed him a glass of water and smiled as he sat on the edge
of the bed. 'How do you feel, Fox?'

'I don't know,' Mulder mumbled, feeling the dryness in his throat.
Thankfully he emptied the glass of water and leaned back tired
against the pillows of his bed. 'What happened?'

'You were very ill. We had to take care of you. Don't you remember
that you passed out in the dining room this morning?'

'I passed out?' Mulder asked with a thick voice. 'How come?'
'You didn't take well to our homeopathic products, but we've corrected
that now. It's been a rough patch for you but the doctor said you
should be feeling better soon.'

Mulder closed his eyes, rubbing his eyelids with his fingers. 'I
remember something I saw Scully.'
'Scully?'
'My FBI-partner ... a friend. She came here to talk to me. But she
left.' 'That must have been a dream, Fox. There was no one here.'

Mulder rolled on his side, trying to get a grip on the dizziness he
felt. He remembered vaguely things that were out of the ordinary. He
remembered being locked up, two men grabbing him, a syringe, sitting
in the yard and listening to Scully. His left arm ached as if he had
been injected. He stared at the floor, ignoring Dominique who waited
until he would look at him again.
'It was a dream, Fox,' Dominique said with that voice that was so hard
to disbelief. 'You've been very ill and I feel guilty about it. But
that won't happen again. I guarantee that from now on we'll monitor
you day and night to make sure you're adapting to our ways. You'll
feel better soon.'
Dominique offered his hand with two different tablets in it. 'Here,'
he said. 'Just take these and you'll feel better. They're sleeping
pills. You'll wake up bright and fresh in the morning.'

Mulder didn't object but swallowed the two pills down with a glass of
water. Then he sighed and said, 'I'm so tired, Dominique.'

'I know, Fox,' the man responded, pulling a blanket over Mulder's cold
body. 'Just rest.'
Within a few moments Mulder's breath was normal and deep. Dominique
smiled and looked down at the agent. He would not wake up again.
Tonight this place would burn down and they would find the agent
sleeping in his bed.
Dominique left the room and locked the door. Inside the room Mulder
slept a drug-induced dream.

But then the door was unlocked again, and a woman slipped in, locking
the door carefully from within with the key that Dominique had left.

'Fox,' Vickie said as she shook him by the arm, trying to wake him up.
Mulder startled and mumbled something.

'Come on, Fox,' she said, 'I need you. I'm afraid.'

Mulder slowly opened his eyes. His eyelids seemed to weigh too heavy
at first. He stared at her. 'I can't ' he said, not recognizing her.

She pulled his heavy body up, trying to get him to move. 'You've been
drugged, Mulder,' she said, trying to get him to move on his own. 'We
need to get you alert. Think! Did he give you pills?'

Mulder sighed, slumping forward. 'Don't remember '
'Think were it pills?'

Mulder nodded. Vickie pulled him up until they both swayed on their
feet. Slowly she forced him to make his way to the bathroom, helping
him to sit down before the toilet bowl. 'I'm sorry, Fox,' she said,
'I need you awake.'
He stared at her, understanding what she wanted to do. He nodded,
forcing two fingers down his throat until he convulsed and puked out
all that was left in his stomach. He hadn't eaten since dinner. All
that came out were the nearly digested tablets in his empty stomach.

Vickie reached up and handed him a glass of water. Carefully she
cleaned his mouth with the washcloth. He sighed, trying to get his
thoughts straight.
'Listen to me, Fox,' Vickie said, putting his face between her hands
so that he had to look at her. 'I think your friend is in trouble.
They say she left but I saw her car at the back of the building. I
don't know where she is, but you need to find out. Her life might be
in danger.'
'Scully?' he asked.

'The one you were talking with. I don't know her name. A redhead.'

'Scully,' he confirmed, 'so it wasn't a dream.'

'Is that what they said? What did they do to you, Fox?'

'Don't remember. A syringe. They drugged me. I saw her and he said it
was a dream.'

'She's here somewhere. We need to get out of here. Dominique is going
to kill us all tonight. I heard him say it. They think I'm still
taking that stuff, but I haven't since two days. I'm okay now, but
the others aren't well. He didn't feed us this afternoon. He has
something planned for tonight. I try to tell them I don't know what
he's doing I see things '
'Switch drugs,' Mulder whispered. 'Medication in Dominique's bedroom.'

'I need you to help me. I can't do this by myself.'

Mulder grabbed her by the arms. 'You have to. Don't let him do this to
you.'
She nodded. 'What are you going to do?'

'I need you to tell me where she might be. Where did they take her?'

'I don't know. I haven't been here long enough. There are lots of
rooms that aren't being used. But if they have her, she might be in
one of the basements. You have to find her there. I can't help you.'

She reached in the back of her pocket and lifted out a cell phone. It
wasn't his. It had belonged to one of the guards. 'I just found
this,' she whispered. 'I didn't dare call my mother, but I thought
you would know who to contact.'
Mulder could hug her and smiled reassuringly when she asked if he
could stand on his own two feet now. He pulled himself up and swayed
a bit, but at least he could stand. He grinned. 'Hey, at least I got
a bit of rest.'
She smiled back. 'I have to go,' she said.

'No,' he said, 'promise me something. Meet me within an hour at the
gates. If I'm not there by then, stay out of the way and find a
hideout. If Dominique's planning on killing you, you don't want to be
around.
He nodded. She left. The door was unlocked now. All he had to do was
get out of here and find his partner before they found him.

He waited until Vickie's footsteps were gone. He tucked the cell phone
in his jeans and put on a sweater over his T-shirt. He felt naked
without gun and means to defend himself, but at least he had all his
senses. That was worth something.


He opened the door. The moment he did, two pairs of strong hands
grabbed him before he was able to move. He wanted to scream and shout
but a large hand covered his mouth. Then a sharp sting in his left
arm made his body limp and numb, and he slumped forward into the arms
of Dennis.
The last thing he remembered before he passed out, were Dominique's
eyes staring at him in the semi-darkness of his room, and his voice
demanding to know who had unlocked the door.