WARNING: If you haven't read "Last One Standing" yet, there are many, many spoilers below!

LOTS AND LOTS OF NOTES: This is where I get to throw out a few asides for each chapter. What elements of the story were real? Does that Cracker Barrel really exist? How 'bout the Big Boy in Wheeling? Well. Here are the answers and maybe a few clues as to how this story got written.

GENERAL NOTES:

A word about the original characters in LOS: In fanfic, there's a fine line between creating original characters that can contribute to an XF story, and letting those original characters take over the work. I think (could be wrong here) that readers want interesting new characters, but they don't really want to read page after page about them -- after all, this *is* the XF and they're about Mulder and Scully and the other XF characters. So, with the exception of Roberta and Fluffy, my solution to this dilemma was to kill off my original characters fairly quickly.

Fluffy gets a lot of screentime, but I think that works because a) he ain't human, b) he's cute and furry, and c) almost every scene with Fluffy is all about his relationship with Mulder and Scully.

Roberta was more difficult. Since she had little time "onscreen" with Mulder and Scully, she ended up being used as a foil for Spender much of the time. And every time I was tempted to go off on a long tangent with her, I had to nip it in the bud. I had to remember that the story wasn't about *her,* but it was about Mulder and Scully and how she ended up in their *business.*

I don't know if I was completely successful with the balancing act. Was it too much or was it too little? It is something I'd like to hear about from readers. Did the original characters all serve the story? Or did the story end up serving them?

Locations: With the exception of Mulder's hometown, I've been to every location in this story. I don't think it would have mattered if this was a different kind of story, but because the details and landmarks in this post-Superflu world were so integral to plot details -- transportation, clogged highways, availability of food and water, where would M&S sleep -- I think my travels helped immensely. I tried not to get bogged down in detail, but I hope the little things (like the name of a restaurant or hotel) helped make the story more believable, or made it something readers could relate to a little bit better.

As for most of the really gross, dark, disgusting stuff (like all those "no great loss" death scenes): I have no idea where they came from. I'm really a happy, upbeat sort. Sometimes you just get to typing and it pops out of nowhere. Or maybe it's from a game of trying to conjure up hideous ways for these hideous guys to kick the bucket. Or maybe it's from reading too much Stephen King. ::shrug:: I have to admit that it takes alot to gross me out because I've seen quite a bit in RL. And I think RL is a whole heck of alot scarier than anything written on paper.

But for those things I can point to, read on.



CHAPTER ONE:

The whole Houston Detention facility scene: Well, the interior description isn't accurate, but that whole thing is based on an extradition I did there oh so many years ago. And the folks there were real nice and didn't comment on the cowboy boots I had just bought. (BTW, I still have and love those boots!)


CHAPTER TWO:

Okay. I admit it. Arlington Police Detective D.J. MacInerny is about as close to a "Mary Sue" as I'll ever write. (Hence, Ihad to kill her off quick!) She even smoked the same brand I did while I worked. And the whole scene at the car impound lot is true, down to the restoration of the VIN. "The Grind" coffee/muffin shop isn't really called "The Grind" (that was coffee house in Rolla, MO I frequented), but there *is* a coffee/muffin place I went to every morning. Religiously. But I always got a blueberry muffin. No stinkin' bran for me.

The Cellar Door was (is?) real. We'd sneak down there when the D.C. drinking age was still 18 so high school kids could get past the door.


CHAPTER THREE:

Things I learned: When one detective in the Criminal Investigations unit got sick, everyone got sick. Never keep the Kleenex box (or the candy bowl) on your desk. All the other detectives take them.

And the whole "Mrs. Scully's chocolate chip cookie dough" scene: That's one of my weaknesses making it into the story. "Mom mabtng" makes amazing dough. Battles with my siblings (and nephews/neice) are still fought and won. Injuries are nursed. I have the scars to prove it.


CHAPTER FOUR:

Regarding Walter Xavier Beauchamp dying in his Volvo: I am allowed to make any comments I want about the school colors of the College Of William & Mary. After all, my parents and I paid them quite a lot of money.

And I think this is the first "No great loss" character. (I think most readers noticed this phrase is only used for the non-sympathetic characters -- not for our good guys.) Someone asked if this was inspired by "Slaughterhouse Five." Well, you gotta ask Stephen King. Readers of the book should recognize the line. He used it often. (Darn. Wish I could take credit for it, though.)


CHAPTER FIVE:

The Holly scene: My friends know that I am definitely not a cat kinda gal. But, some of my best friends have cats. I thought Holly would have cats. And they'd be loyal in that cat kind of way. And since I knew about the dog who would later appear in LOS, I decided to give my friends a nice "cat moment." One or two of them purred, anyway.

The Skinner/Scully race to the hospital scene: For those of you from the D.C. area, I have to admit that this was not based on any "Annapolis Community Hospital." When I wrote it, I was envisioning Arlington Hospital (or whatever it's called now). So, if you know Arlington, then maybe that adds some detail for ya'.

The bridge/Sgt. Caldwell scene: Sgt. Caldwell is loosely inspired by a character in the horrific movie "Earthquake." If you've suffered through Victoria Principal's scenes in that one, you know which guy I mean.

And, yes. I hated killing Skinner off, but there was no way I could sustain his character throughout the story and I knew it. But I made sure I gave him an honorable death. :) I love Skinner.


CHAPTER SIX:

In the Qwik-EE Mart scene: The Ritz crackers line was inpsired by a game some of my friends used to play. They just had to prove that *anything* tastes good when it "sits on a Ritz." I'll spare you the details, but the game included insects...

Mulder watching Mel Hampton's Satelitte feed: The whole newsroom scene is straight from "The Stand." Just a little added thing for those who have read the book.


CHAPTER SEVEN:

"Hydell didn't know it at the time, but his case of the "flu" had really been just that. The common cold. So, he didn't die right away. Too bad for him. By the time his sniffles were fading away, his arm had swelled to the size of a mammoth deli tube of bologna -- angry black and green spider webbing crisscrossed the skin. And it smelled really bad. His fever climbed until it rivaled August in Las Vegas. His brain cooked inside his thick skull.
"And, on June 28, he finally died, whimpering on the drug store floor amidst the Tampax and Depends."

I gotta say that this was one of my favorites bits in LOS.

When Mulder is choosing videos from Mel Hampton's library: I mentioned the documentary on the American Prairie Dog for a reason. I had just been on a drive to Denver and the highways in Utah evoked images of a mass extinction or "Suicide of the Lemmings." There musta been a dead, squished prairie dog every fifty feet along the roadside. I finally decided it was some teenaged prairie dog ritual where they had to play chicken with cars to get in the Prairie Dog Crips -- and these were those who failed the initiation.


CHAPTER EIGHT:

Yes. I confess. The entire character of Zeke was inspired by a shopping trip to Von's. I was in the frozen fish section and I saw the Gorton's Fisherman. Therefore: Zeke. (BTW, you should try the "Zeke's Crabcake" recipe up on the website. They are yummy.)

The Siren of the Sea: I found it on some website. Beautiful boat. I wish I had that boat. The specs mentioned in LOS are straight from the web site.


CHAPTER NINE:

The whole New York City scene is an homage to the scenes in the book where Larry Underwood has to escape the city on foot. I gotta admit, it's hard for me to read these scenes now. I wrote that chapter a long time ago. I don't know if I'd write those parts today.


CHAPTER TEN:

This chapter begins with one of my favorite quotes/epigrams. The first time I saw the short film based on Bierce's story ("An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge") back around 1973, I was floored. And did ya'll know that the film premiered in the U.S. as an episode of "The Twilight Zone?" (Even though it wasn't produced as such.) That film still gets to me.

Mulder arrives at Mrs. Scully's House: When I was a kid, I always had to hold in the sentimental tears when I read "The Little House." The pictures in that book...I might choke up now. I put that in here because I thought it was perfect to represent the haven of Mrs. Scully's house and how Flagg would twist the image into something evil.

The letter: This is the first news of Scully we've had for a while. I chose to follow Mulder and ignore Scully's side of the story because I wanted the reader to be in Mulder's shoes. To feel his uncertainty. Don't know if it worked.


CHAPTER ELEVEN:

The whole Georgetown Park Mall area scene: There have been times I have been stuck in traffic around Wisconsin and M and I truly did wonder if everyone else wasn't dead in their cars. They were driving like they were dead. The only thing I didn't mention here was my favorite Argentian restaurant "Las Pampas." It's on M St. just a block or two from Wisconsin Ave. Or, at least, it *was.* I haven't been back there in a while.

Mulder falling over the dead looter in Scully's building: Well. I had to put in a dumb criminal commentary somewhere. The world as we know it has ended. There's no electricity. Give the flu a few more days for virtually everyone to be dead and the stores will be free of charge. But, no. Some idiots who survive the flu effects still need to commit burglary. And steal stereos they can't even use. Du'oh.


CHAPTER TWELVE:

When Mulder and Zeke enter Mulder's building: I won't go into great detail here, but that is how you feel when you're going into a closed space and you know there's an old dead body(ies) somewhere, but you aren't sure where. I'll leave it at that.


CHAPTER THIRTEEN:

First paragraph: "A fifth wheel. The ninth hot dog with that damn eight-pack of buns. There's a true conspiracy! The crumbly pieces that reside at the bottom of the Cap'n Crunch box. Yup. That's exactly what Zeke was." I just want everyone to know that I take every opportunity I have to promote Cap'n Crunch.


CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

Where we get introduced to the "Scully's chip ain't workin' no more" idea. Well. Remember I wrote this somewhere around the end of 1998. I originally had some other ideas bouncing in my head about this (like - maybe it was the only thing that made her immune from the Flu, and now it was failing), but ended up with the "ticking time bomb" arc because I thought it would fit in neatly with Spender's plans in the end.


CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

Bye, bye, Zeke. :sniff: Zeke was a symbolic character in a way, and this was time for him to make his exit. A kind of out with the old world, and in with the new world. He prepared them to face the new.

His funeral was inspired by a scene in the Burt Lancaster movie: "Rocket Gibraltar."

And Mulder and Scully take it on the road! These parts were fun for me. I've traveled the roads they take many times. And it was a challenge to try and imagine: What would I take on the road with me in this situation? And I had to keep track of everything they took. What gets left behind at various points. What ends up being important later on?

We get to hear Scully's shortened version of her time alone during the Flu. Okay. The scene where she hid in the car with the dead family - that kinda grossed me out. But I put it in to reinforce her will to survive.


CHAPTER SIXTEEN:

Wheeling, West Virginia. When I was growing up, every year, my family packed up the station wagon and headed off to visit family in Rolla, MO. Wheeling was a "must" stop. We always had to stop at the Fostoria place and we HAD to eat at Elby's Big Boy. I'm happy to say that both are still there. And. I have Roscoe's little amber glass bunny myself.

P.S. - Morgantown *is* a speed trap. You're forewarned. ;)

Roscoe P. Buntz - He was the first of a number of original characters that I played with in LOS so I could bring them out later in a book of original short stories I am writing. I really did like Roscoe for some odd reason. And his whole nose-picking thing was a direct reference to King's love for boogers.



CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

Roberta Parks makes her entrance. Funny, she apparently lives in my neighborhood because that's the world I described. And I think some readers should be able to identify with her internet habits.

The exit at St. Clairsville, Ohio is really there. I usually stop at the old gas station there when I'm driving cross country back to Virginia.


CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:

I can't believe I put poor Roberta on a bike on I15 in Barstow, CA in July! Anyone who's ever been there in the summer knows. Unfortunately, I had to do it to get her east. You don't have much of a choice in Southern California.

Fluffy makes his grand entrance! Fluffy owes his name partially to my addiction to the old Food TV Network show, "Ready, Set, Cook." If you watched the show, you'll understand. If not, sorry! I also worked with a K-9 dog who was briefly named Fluffy. Fluffy got his name changed because it was too dang embarrassing when we yelled his name in public.

And poor Spender. He ran out of cigarettes. I just had to put that in there (for more than the plot reasons). Any smoker on the planet knows you never end up packing enough smokes for your trip.

Oh! And Mulder murmurs some unidentified threat to Fluffy in order to get the dog to cooperate for his bath. Don't know if anyone caught it when the threat was revealed many chapters later.


CHAPTERS NINETEEN & TWENTY:

Roberta is stuck on Interstate 10 in the middle of nowhere. This has got to be one of the scariest places on the planet for motorists. Between Barstow and the CA/AZ border. Don't EVER enter this stretch of highway without a full tank of gas!

Richmond, Indiana and the Tornado: Yup. The Cracker Barrel is right where I put it. I *always* eat there when I'm on the road in those there parts. It does have a stone fireplace. In fact, I always stay at the Lee's Inn right next door so I can have easy access to Cracker Barrel. Gotta have that Hashbrown Casserole. g

Matthew Scully: The whole showdown between Flagg and Spender could have gone down several roads. Either Spender is totally evil and makes a pact with the devil, or he does what he always does: uses Flagg to further his own plan. At this point we don't know...and I left it open so I could change my own mind if I wanted.

Which also brings up the question of why I chose to have Matthew enter the equation at all. Well, a recurring theme in LOS seems to be the whole "Mulder stuck in the past, Scully has hope for the future." But, with Scully pretty sure her future is nil now, I wanted to give them both an impetus for moving forward. And Matthew kind of represents the innocence that has been lost by Mulder and Scully as well as the rest of the post-Flu world. Matthew is the hope for the future. (Not that I really thought it all out that way at the time I was writing, but it sort of developed in my head as the story continued.)


CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:

Regarding this quote: "Mulder took this as a good sign since he firmly believed that the greatness of any diner was directly related to the number of out of date calendars and menus it posted." This quote is absolutely true. I have scientifically proven it. The best diner ever is just outside of St. James, MO, on the state road en route to Maramec Springs Park.

The appearance of "The Kid" who shoots up the town: The Kid was a character in the novel. I thought he would be easy to work into LOS.


CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:

Spender fires the gun in his face-off with Roberta: The *only* reason I didn't kill Roberta off here was because I could never picture Spender changing a toddler's diapers. Roberta was saved by Huggies.

And Timmy Hoffman makes a reappearance. Hoffman is based on the bully in my second grade class.

Vandalia, Illinois *is* in the middle of nowhere on I-70. Never get stuck there in a blizzard.


CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE:

The Cahokia Mounds (Native American Burial Grounds) really are there. Go visit.

The fire Mulder & Scully see when they reach the I-44/270 interchange is an oil refinery that's just northeast of their location. My LOS sounding board, Nicole Mason, wanted to see them blown up, so...

Yes. The Sinclair Dinosaur and The Arch Motel really exist. Both are absolutely as tacky as they sound. Remember that this stretch of highway was the old Route 66. And there are many reminders of its heydey along this road. The Sinclair station is still operational, the Arch Motel is not.

And, FWIW, "Miss Swan" is my fave on "MadTV."


CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:

Just about everything in Rolla is real. You can probably tour the town based on what's in these chapters. :) "Stonehenge" *is* there. If you ever go there, be sure to eat at "MaidRite." Get a MaidRite and onion rings. The shakes are really good, too.


CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:

Guess how I spent my Sunday afternoons when I lived in Rolla? Yup. Super WalMart. Ya'll now have the complete layout of that store.

As for Lou Ella Tyson: She's based on several women I knew in Rolla. The path she takes in the store is the path I always took while shopping.

Maramec Springs is a state park. They have a catfish farm there. GREAT fishing, too. A freezing cold spring/river comes up outta the depths of a cave there. You *don't* want to wade in the water unless you have arthritic legs. I like to go there and tease the catfish. (You can feed 'em, so they're conditioned to respond when you wave your arm over the water...thinking you're throwing in food. Heh heh. So, just wave your arm and they go nuts...eg)

There is a nuclear reactor on the campus of UMR, so there is an FBI office in town to run background checks and stuff. I felt sorry for the agent assigned there.

The fire at the house: This is a major nitpick I have with movies, tv, and written fiction. The ones where people go running around burning buildings like the only way they'll be hurt is if the flames actually touch them. Truthfully, I should have made Scully a lot sicker for at least a day longer just from the smoke inhalation. If you've ever been anywhere near a burning building, you can probably understand what I'm getting at. Structure fire smoke is not anything like your backyard barbecue, or even a forest fire. When you breathe in hot smoke filled with chemicals, it just seems to coat your throat, like a film of saran wrap. And it burns. That's why more victims die from the smoke than the flames. As for the heat involved...let's just say: How does it feel when you stick your hand in your oven a few inches under the active broiler? Not good. Now multiply the temp of that radiant heat about three times. That's a structure fire.


CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

"Cookin' From Scratch" really does exist at the Newburg exit on I-44. It's one of those wonderful greasy spoon restaurants that has routine specials for each day of the week. You always have to go on pan-fried chicken night. I know folks who eat there *every* night.

And it is amazing. Every single gas stop and restaurant along the old Route 66 has the most wonderfully tacky 66 merchandise. Who knew there were Route 66 condoms?

Mother Abagail appears to Mulder: This parallels the book, where Mother Abagail and a small group move from her home in Nebraska to Boulder. It was one of my first nightmares at trying to make LOS dates coincide with dates in the "The Stand."

Back at the restaurant: Had to get in another dig at frosted Pop Tarts. Yeck. I hate the frosting.

As they hit the road again, I mentioned their portable electric cooler/heater. If you like road trips, these things are fabulous. I don't know what I'd do without mine. It holds plenty of soda and bottled water, plus anything else you want cold. No worries about ice. And if you wanna keep a casserole hot on the way to a covered dish dinner, you just flip a switch, and it's a heater. Which can also come in handy if you get stranded in winter and your car dies...as long as ya' got battery power, you've got a little heat.

The brake slamming ending scene: Can't tell you how many thought Mulder was about to hit Fluffy. eg


CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Opening Whitman epigram: Gotta say that I love this Whitman poem, "Song of the Open Road." When you get out west and point your car off the main highways, the possiblities seem endless.

Oh. BTW, that equation I give for the stopping time of a motor vehicle came straight from my Accident Reconstruction manual.

"Come visit the Ozark Church of Signs & Wonders! Behold the Power of God! (Take this exit...We're right next to Imo's Pizza!)": I love the sauce on Imo's Pizza. I confess. And there really are signs like this all over I-44 in Missouri. (more on that in a bit)

The return of the Dog: Did anyone actually believe I'd kill Fluffy? Please. ;)

The Theme from Banana Splits: How many readers out there remember this show? (I think it's on Cartoon Network now...cool.) You could always tell if the episode was gonna be a "Danger Island" day because then the intro at the beginning with the mutant animals was really short. Then you'd get to see a young, gorgeous Jan Michel Vincent running around the Island. If they started with a musical number, you knew it was a stupid cartoon day.

And I apologize for bringing up the whole Speed Racer theme song. That song bounced in my head for two freakin' weeks after I wrote this bit. Argh. And I never liked Spridel. BTW...am I the only person on the planet who watched Ultraman? That show rocked. I just got the 20th Anniversary of Ultraman video. :)

The road from Missouri to Texas: The Licking Youth for Christ sign really does exist (although it's not on 44). Everything mentioned in this section is real. The only one that truly creeps me out is the "Precious Moments Chapel." I've always thought someone should write a story where Mulder and Scully investigate this scary place. Maybe they could get trapped in there at night. Eek!

The Days Inn in Elk City, OK. This is a great, cheap hotel. (I think it was $29/night last time I stayed there.) Looks like a dump outside, but the tv gets cable with a bunch of stations including SciFi Channel. Yay! There's also a great home cookin' restaurant across the street now (at the HoJos). Nice place to stop for the night.

Amarillo, TX: No offense to Texans, but I call this the "Armpit of Texas" (partly because of the stockyards just west of town). Every location described here exists; although, unfortunately, the cow at Wolfen Square was taken down. ::sniff::

I'd also like to say that Scully's illness came in handy here as I had to stretch their trip out in order to make dates match up with the book. Can't tell you what a headache this was sometimes.


CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The scene between Roberta and Spender: Did a bit of foreshadowing here with the Life Savers. One thing about writing something so long and complicated -- you get to plant all sorts of ideas in the early parts of the story. The trick is to foreshadow, but not write yourself into a corner. If I had changed my mind later about Spender and the Flu, the Life Savers could have fallen by the wayside without nary a second thought. But, it became very important when I *did* decide to use the candy as a part of the plot later. There's a number of these moments throughout the story. Some things I used again, some I did not. So you *mention* things almost as asides, never place too much import on them until you commit yourself to an idea later.

Bill and Tara Scully: I've always been disappointed that so many fanfics depict Bill as a total jerk with no redeeming qualities. I think we only saw his "over protective big brother" routine on the show. He must have had some decency about him to have been married to Tara. She was always so perky and nice on the show. But, I think all of us are a bit different with our blood family than we are with the rest of the world. We revert to childhood habits, methinks, when we're with siblings (who we haven't even lived with in years). So, I wanted to give Bill a scene that showed where his heart really was. His wife and his son. And I wanted to show his sense of duty in some way. I hope it worked. And yes, the 7-Star hotel exists here in the San Fernando Valley. They have nice jacuzzi suites. :)

Las Vegas and the appearance of Krycek: I just had to get this man in some leather and put him in LOS. ;)


CHAPTER THIRTY

Mulder and Scully arrive in Boulder: The flashback to the Boulder Air Testing Facility is from the book, although I filled in the details. In the book, the new refugees find an old paper that refers to the facility. I wanted to flesh it out a bit.

Ralph Brentner is introduced: The first (other than M.A. and Flagg) of the main novel characters to make an appearance in LOS. I always liked Ralph the best.


CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

The house in Boulder: This is where I get to play a bit. Ever watch one of those apocalytic movies and wonder how *you* would survive it? What simple everyday things we take for granted would no longer be around? All I could think as I wrote this was: what happens when all the canned tuna is gone? Even Twinkies have a shelf life. They might have two years of canned good stores; then, I hope they find a way to produce some food! Same goes for medicines like penicillin. And what about simple things like salt and pepper and flour? Good thing LOS ends when it does!

Scully's cross necklace breaks: Another foreshadowing event, although, I committed myself a short time later when Mother Abagail warns Mulder to wear it and not take it off. I still had to work out a few details about why, but it was part of the plan from the very beginning.

Mother Abagail gives Mulder a lecture on patience and faith: I always thought Mulder needed this on the show. And this is where she tells him he looks too much to the past (echoing his mother's comments as she died), which is rather important by the end.


CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

The basketball game: We get to meet the rest of the Boulder gang from the book. I was sorry I couldn't do more with all of the novel folks, but there wasn't time enough in the universe, and it made it harder to connect the timelines.

Mulder and Scully finally do *it*: Sorry it wasn't on screen, folks. Aside from the fact that I just can't write smut, I desperately wanted LOS to be about the character of Mulder and Scully. About their differences and the things that bound them together. Their emotions, rather than what their bodies were doing. The outside forces that shoved them around. I thought smut would have taken something away from the story by distracting the reader. I thought "less is more" was the way to go...let the reader fill in the blanks. I know some readers didn't like this. Sorry.

Appendicitis, oh my! This is another parallel to the book. In the novel, a guy gets it on the road with Stu and company. They try to operate, but none of them have any medical training and the guy bites the dust. Another one of those creepy consequences of the Flu. A simple illness or injry now means death. This episode also goes back to Mulder's "patience" conversation with Mother Abagail. She goes missing and Mulder is ready to run off immediately, in spite of her warning. His appendicitis forces him to be patient.


CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Krycek meets with Flagg: Krycek rejects Flagg's offer for a new arm. Another foreshadowing event. Krycek still has some reservations about Flagg. Later on, it will be harder for him to make the right choice. Like Spender, he thinks he can use Flagg. But the tables are turned on him.

Roberta quotes Schoolhouse Rock: Anyone else remember these from the 70s? How else would I remember the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution? Or what "Interjections" are? (that was my fave) You can buy these videos now... Yay!!!!!!!

Mulder's surgery: DrSteggy gets all credit here for procedures and a good one-liner ("real doctors work on more than one species"). When Scully goes into the lunchroom and starts considering the chip in Fluffy...well, that was a foreshadowing event I thought I was going to fully explore, but instead, ended up glossing over it simply because there were going to be too many details, and this one just didn't matter that much. But I had thought I would go into a whole scheme about pet identification chips and their nefarious use against us all. Kind of a play on the "Mark of the Beast" from Revelation. I really liked the idea, but again, sometimes you have to sacrifice fun ideas to make a tighter plot.


CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

John Doe makes his first appearance. Originally, I had planned for this character to be Detective Kresge, the detective who helped Scully in the whole Emily saga on the show. But, then another character was introduced on the show...and I thought he fit the bill better. I still can't believe no one figured it out (or maybe you did, but didn't tell me).


CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

The Meeting, Harold, and the Bomb: Logistically, this was one of the hardest parts to write. The book gives so much detail, how could I fit Mulder and Scully into the story without altering the narrative in the novel? I chose to use the confusion of the house scene to my advantage. Confusion leaves holes that can be filled with other characters. And I wanted Mulder to do his stealth thing at Harold's house, without running into Harold. So. This is what we got.

Return of Mother Abagail: This is where it was handy that Fluffy was a dog. I could fit him into the scene of her return without messing up the book's timeline. In the book, people find her staggering down the street. There's no reason they couldn't have been drawn to find her because of a dog. ;)


CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Again, this chapter parallels the book, with the same repercussions of death and injury (like Susan Stern dying and Ralph losing fingers). When Mulder runs off to help Stu with Fran, that's a scene directly from the book (a sofa lands on top of the pregnant Fran). Same with the posse searching for Harold.

Mulder and Scully meet with Mother Abagail: This was tough to fit in with the book timeline. I stretched it a bit, having them meet with her before Ralph and Stu, et al. have their chat with her (because she goes into a coma and dies right after that talk). Mother Abagail gives them two foreshadowing warnings: not to take medicines (which will be important because Scully will be able to notice the change in her symptoms) and for Mulder to keep the cross around his neck. She also mentions that "two will go and three will return." Well, guess she was right, huh?


CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Mulder and Scully talk at night: Mulder mentions "Scully scent." Okay. I confess. This is my dig at a fanfic cliche. ;)

Car Troubles: "It sounds like a Tasmanian Devil mating with a chalkboard." I heard that sound coming from my Explorer once. Not pretty. Always. Check. Your. Fan belt.

Pushing the car: I'm not big on reading where Mulder or Scully manipulates the other. In this one short instance, where the fate of their relationship did not hang in the balance, I thought it would be okay.

Mulder leaves like a Mentos commercial: Does anyone else think those Mentos commercials are the dumbest, most non-sensical things ever put on television?


CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Kimba the White Lion quote: I loved this cartoon as a kid. I still love this cartoon. I bought a bunch of the old videos recently. My nephew, Matthew (of all names), stole them. They're 2,500 miles away from me now. :(

Epigrams in general: It sure was fun coming up with these quotes at the beginning of chapters. Normally, I think epigrams at the start of stories are kinda boring and pretentious. In this case, King had made the decision for me. They were part of the novel. So, I had determined early on to make sure I followed his use of pop culture quotes and some biblical stuff thrown in. I think I ended up searching through nearly every book on my shelves (and there are many, many) to find the right ones. I hope, in the end, that they connected to the chapters in a not so esoteric way, and that they jogged a few memories.

Roberta names her captors: I do this in real life all the time with people I see (since I don't ususally have "captors"). In a sense, by doing this, I was hoping to give some character to the "bad guys." One-dimensional thugs can serve their purpose, but I wanted to try and at least have all my thugs in LOS two-dimensional. The idea that Roberta's guards -- Spender's minions -- could actually go through the Superflu disaster and not be affected by it on some level just did not seem realistic to me. After all, everyone looks after number one. So, I decided to insert Scotty in the picture. I was only sorry I couldn't spend more time developing him. I should have done some foreshadowing about him, but frankly, it didn't occur to me until just before writing this chapter when I realized I had developed every other bad guy *except* the thugs at the Compound. My bad.

Scully is stealth woman and catches J.D.: I would like to think that Scully has learned *something* about not letting people sneak up on her during her time on the XF. She's just too observant to let J.D. catch her unawares, methinks.

J.D. in this scene: It was harder than I thought to make his character questionable -- is he a bad guy or a good guy? And it was really hard to avoid making a slip as to his identity. eg But, these scenes held more clues for any reader paying attention.

Krycek sells out: The question is open. Did Krycek sell his soul to Flagg out of his own free will, or did Flagg force it upon him? Or, was Flagg just clever enough to manipulate Krycek into accepting by using Krycek's weakness for revenge? And why did Krycek accept this time after refusing the first offer in Vegas? Hmmmm. I have several answers in my mind. Don't know which one I like best.

Scully collapses: There's a hint here that something is different.

The Mulder and Fluffy Show: You let the boys play alone, this is what happens. Besides, we had to set up a reason for J.D. to be left behind with Fluffy. Plot manipulation!

Scotty makes a decision: Again, a chance to show that Spender's men aren't complete automatons. Plus, it did give me a chance to plant the gun in the bathroom.


CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Mulder in the air shaft: "Holy Mother Of Pearl!" This line provoked ridicule from my web host. :PPPP (Shayna, ya' know I love ya' dahlin') It's a direct reference to a commercial for some company that does research for used car buyers (checking out a car history). A guy and his dog are in a pickup truck. The dog is driving. The dog rampages across the fields and the truck goes airborne, landing in a lake. The guy yells out "Holy. Motherofpearl!" I thought it apropos since Fluffy got them into this mess. Again, one of my obscure references that I put in only because it makes *me* laugh.

Mulder loses the cross: Just another chance to bang the reader over the head with Mother Abagail's warning. When he finds it and applies the "5 Second Dropped Oreo Rule," I was just mimicking what I see my guy friends do all the time.

Scully wakes up: Again, a hint that things in her head have changed. And a stronger hint that J.D. is a good guy. And a few more tips about his background if you watch Scully's thoughts.

Mulder dreams of food: The whole filet mignon with bearnaise is my own recipe I use when in the mood for a fabulous dinner. It truly is to die for. Try it sometime. I'll send you the recipe.

Mulder and Fluffy view each other as food: I think that speaks for itself, but it was damned fun picturing that scene as it would appear on tv...like one of those cartoon bubbles that appears above a character's head. I know I must have been very hungry when I wrote this scene.

Snakes! I hate snakes. They are evil. But they gave me a chance to show off what I learned watching Animal Planet.


CHAPTER FORTY

Mulder and Fluffy vs. The Snakes from Hell: The bit about a cop's gun on his/her hip is totally true. I still have a callous on the inside of my elbow. And I still catch myself tucking my elbow in, checking for a gun that isn't there. Then, there's Fluffy. This might be my own favorite Fluffy scene -- where he gives Mulder the Scully look at his Lethal Weapon joke. It really helped me to have a beanie baby version of Fluffy sitting atop my computer as I wrote. His expression looks like Scully's eyebrow thing. Must be the stitching.

Spender lies to Krycek: Our first hint that maybe Spender is not completely evil, but it isn't clear here because we don't know *why* he is lying. I had to debate this scene back and forth in order to come up with a lie that made sense, but wasn't overly involved. Thanks to Nicole Mason for solving the problem.

Snakebite: This is where Animal Planet comes in handy. Actually, most dogs and horses and such are not bitten on the leg. They get it in the nose when they lean down to check out the snake. They end up dying because their nasal passages swell up and the animals can't breathe. They suffocate. Out west, they tell folks who are horseback riding in the desert (or other snake areas) to take along two pieces of flexible rubber hose, about a foot long. If your horse gets bit on the snout, you're supposed to insert the hoses into his nose so he will still be able to breathe. Anyway, since many bites are "dry" bites, where no venom is released...or very little is, I thought I found a way to make Fluffy have to lay low, without hurting him so badly he couldn't save the day in the end. But I hated to make Fluff-Face suffer.

Roberta recalls her education: This is a dig at my own education. I always said, "You study nursing and become a nurse, you study engineering and become an engineer. I majored in International Relations....um...can I become an international relation?" My liberal arts education has ensured that I can win at Trivial Pursuit and Jeopardy. It served my career in law enforcement so well...

Scully and J.D. arrive to save the day: Again, more clues about J.D.'s background as they search the area.

Back at the Compound: Ever read a fic and wonder, "Wait a minute. What happened to all the dead bodies?" Well, I thought I'd take care of that little detail in LOS here (and in Chapter 42).

Scully and Mulder talk about J.D.: I had to establish some kind of reason for Mulder to give J.D. a modicum of trust here so that he and Scully could go on looking for Matthew. Fluffy was the perfect way to do this. When Mulder saw that Fluffy trusted the man, I felt that he would consider it, too. He didn't want to doubt Scully, but Fluffy's actions of trust reinforced Scully's instincts.

And again, when Scully and Mulder talk to J.D., revealing their background and that Matthew is being held as a hostage, there are more clues about J.D.

Mulder tells Scully a baseball story: This is a true story about arguably the two best players in the Negro Leagues who never had a chance to show their true skills in the Majors. Satchel Paige did pitch in the Majors, but he was quite old when he went up, past his prime. Gibson died at a very young age. I love all things baseball. (Go Cards!)


CHAPTER FORTY-ONE:

(Where we start to get some answers...)

Krycek in Mexico: Now that I live in Southern California, I have come to appreciate something I never understood before. The sun here is *very* intense. I'm not just talking temperatures here. I'm talking about how the sun just sears right through you even on a cool day. Watch the migrant farm workers and they wear long sleeved shirts in the middle of the day. Some of the guys I worked with here did the same. They explained that they were actually cooler than if they wore short sleeves. By keeping their arms and legs covered, they kept more moisture in their skin. They did not feel as hot. I tried it and it's true. I thought this would tie in nicely with the idea that Krycek would want to hide his prosthetic arm.

Also, if you've never been to the Imperial Valley, it is quite a sight. To the south, you can see the hills and rocks of Mexico. And you're standing in the middle of this amazingly fertile plain filled with crops, all because of the Hoover Dam. It's something else.

Krycek in the Compound: I wanted to start to convey that Krycek might not be completely Krycek anymore. I didn't want to blatantly spell it out, but thought I'd give Krycek a loophole in case some readers wanted to take it.

Krycek catches Mulder and Scully: "Payback's a bitch" will come back to haunt him.

The Handcuffs: What I describe here is true. The story Roberta recalls about the guy breaking numerous cuffs happened to me. It really ticked me off. You see, we were only issued one set by the department. I bought the other set I carried myself and they weren't cheap.

The Charades: This gave me a chance for Roberta and Scully to make some kind of tenuous connection from the start -- their ability to communicate silently when Mulder was clueless.

Krycek prepares the room for Scully: I wanted to show just how far Krycek had deviated from his normal modus operandi. Krycek was many things on the show, but he was never a rapist. Flagg was.

The Cross and The Switchblade: Okay. It wasn't a switchblade. It wasn't even an intentional play on the title of the Pat Boone/Erik Estrada movie. But it was the culmination of Mother Abagail's divine warning to Mulder. And Scully gets to kick butt and "Payback."

Spender's deathbed confessions: This section was written a long time before LOS was even near completion. I had to write it so early so that I would have something to write *toward.* Really, I don't think the details in his speech matter all that much. (Unless I was planning a sequel, which I'm not.) The main thing I had to do here was link Spender to the Superflu. Give the Superflu some kind of reason in the XF universe of conspiracies. And it did give me a chance to play with the idea that maybe Spender wasn't completely evil. Maybe he just made all the wrong choices for all the right reasons. I think, that up until the end, CC toyed with this idea on the show. And I enjoyed letting Spender pull one over on Flagg, since Spender is often equated with the devil.

The Chip and the Transmitter: Well, this bit evolved over the course of the story (I made up my mind somewhere around the scene where Krycek appears for the first time.) I opted for the explanation used in LOS simply because it tied all of the elements together: Matthew, Scully's cancer, Spender's motivations, the effects of the Superflu on technology, and the choice Scully would have to make in the end about letting go of Matthew. I think it worked better than my original idea -- which involved all kinds of experiments and a typically evil, one-dimensional Spender.

In the end, I think (again) that the point of the story wasn't the technical stuff. It was about emotions and relationships...about letting go of the past. And it was, above all, about faith. I hope that came through.


CHAPTER FORTY-TWO:

The end! At last!

The book timeline I had been so worried about since Chapter One finally gets taken out of the equation by the bomb in Las Vegas. (For those who have not read the book, Ralph, Larry, and Glen all died in Vegas as Flagg is destroyed. Stu got injured on the trek and never made it to the face down with Flagg. But Stu does make it back to Boulder.)

I chose to use the "downtime" between Krycek's death and the Vegas nuke to sort out all of the "hope" issues.

I toyed with the pairing of Roberta and John, hinting at a possible future without showing much. (After all, they did *just* meet.) And did anyone out there figure out J.D. was Doggett? Someone out there complained a bit because I didn't have Reyes in LOS. Well. Nothing against Reyes, but she wasn't in LOS because I started planning this story way before (4 years ago) anyone on the show even thought of Monica Reyes. I could fit Doggett in because his LOS character was already planned (albeit for another XF extra - Det. Kresge).

Other than that, I just let the story go where it needed to go. There was no way I could miraculously give Scully a solution to the chip/transmitter dilemma. That would have been a cheat. The best I could do was offer some hope. I tried to be true to the kind of ending King gave to his book.

As for Spender's warning of a possible alien action in the future, well, that's up to the reader's imagination. You all can make up your own sequels.

When I started LOS, I never dreamed it would take me FOUR years to complete it. I'm amazed that anyone out there had the patience to stick by it. I did finish it because 1) I had made promises that I *always* finish my WIPs and b) the story would never leave me alone. It bounced around in my head day and night, and I just had to get it out.

I just hope that you, the readers, had at least a little piece of the fun I had in writing "Last One Standing."

Thank you all!

mab