Deep In The Heart Of Texas Part Two
By Katie Phillips
Disclaimer Information located in Part One
Chapter Seven
"Hello Agent Scully" Krycek said smiling slightly at her shocked expression.
Scully immediately felt for her weapon forgetting that she had placed in on the desk behind her.
"No need for that Dana" Krycek said raising his own weapon and causing Scully to freeze in her tracks.
"What are you doing here Krycek?" Scully said after pulling herself together.
"You see all of this?" Krycek began motioning to the building around him "This is one of my little pet projects."
"What exactly is your pet project?" Scully said hoping to stall Krycek until Mulder returned.
"Oh just a little biological weapon our shadow government has been developing." Krycek said motioning with his gun for her to step away from the desk. "If you would like, I will give you the grand tour."
Krycek grabbed Scully's arm and began to force her down the right hallway. They walked in silence for several minutes. Scully kept expecting them to run into Mulder, but they didn't.
She was beginning to get worried.
Those worries all disappeared when Krycek opened an unmarked door and unceremoniously pushed her through.
The room in which they were standing was huge and unlike the rest of the building was basked in a bright white light. All around them stood large tanks that reminded Scully of fish tanks except for the fact that they were totally enclosed.
Krycek had let go of her arm and she wandered over to one to take a peek at what was inside. She gasped involuntarily when she realized that what she was looking at was a human body floating in some sort of greenish liquid.
"What are these Krycek?" She said turning to face him "Who are those people?"
Krycek smiled wickedly at her. "To answer your first question Dana, these tanks are where we hold our specimens after they have expired. We don't want their bodies to decompose before we have a chance to examine them properly."
Scully just stared at him. He chuckled at her and continued. "And to answer your second question, the people are test subjects gathered from around the country. We tried to get as varied a sample group as possible."
Scully's eyes got huge at this and her temper began to rise. "What did you do to them Krycek?"
Krycek took her arm again and began leading across the room towards a door on the far wall. They passed by dozens of the specimen containers before he answered her.
"I know this may seem like an act of cruelty to you Dana," he said somewhat seriously "But we are truly trying to help all of mankind."
"By torturing innocent people?" Scully said trying once again unsuccessfully to pull her arm from his grasp.
"We sacrificed a few in hopes to save the world" Krycek said softly.
"Save the world from what?" Scully demanded.
They had reached the far door and Krycek paused to turn the knob and open the door. "Why alien invasion of course?"
Scully was too stunned to move into the room so Krycek gave her a little push. This room resembled a sitting room and Scully assumed it was where the research facility's staff took their breaks.
"I don't understand" Scully said after Krycek gently shoved her onto the couch.
"Dana, how can you have worked for all these years with Fox Mulder and still not get it?" He didn't wait for her answer. "We are expecting an alien invasion to occur sometime within the next twenty years. What is being created here is a biological weapon to be used against them and those of this planet who support them."
"That's impossible. You have no way to do accurate tests" Scully said looking puzzled.
Krycek smiled at her and shook his head not believing how naive she still was.
"Dana, there have been aliens on this planet for decades. We have been lucky enough to have gained the technology from them to make alien hybrids." He smiled again at Scully's skeptical look.
"The process itself is rather simple and can be achieved through a series of injections. In fact, everyone working in or living around the facility has been changed into a hybrid."
"And systematically destroyed." Scully said sighing heavily. She looked at him suspiciously "Why are you telling me all of this?"
Krycek face suddenly became very serious. "Because I want you to join our cause Dana."
"You want me to what?" Scully said getting up and facing Krycek. "You want me to leave Mulder and the X-files and work on ways to destroy people?"
"We are trying to save the world Dana and a woman with your background in medicine and your experience on the X-files. . ."
Scully cut him off. "Krycek the only person you have ever tried to save was yourself."
"True enough most of the time Dana" he said slowly walking towards her making her step backward until she was pushed up against the door. "But I have always had a soft spot for you and I would rather not have to destroy you."
Scully looked up at him and couldn't believe what she saw in his eyes. They were filled with tenderness with just a hint of desire. Krycek spotted the confusion in her eyes and acted swiftly.
Before she knew what hit her, he had pulled her close and was kissing her.
A small part of Scully had always found Krycek attractive the way the most prim and proper girl in high school finds herself drawn to the 'bad boy' of the class. That part of her was trying desperately to respond to his kiss while the rest of her was still in shock.
Krycek must have sensed this conflict for he broke off the kiss and looked down at her smiling, the mischief back in his eyes. "So what do you say Dana?"
"Are you with me or against me?"
Scully said nothing glaring at him through cold eyes.
"Well, you can't blame a guy for trying." He grabbed her arm again and led her towards another door in the room that Scully had assumed was a closet.
She was wrong. He opened it and pushed her through. She stumbled through and froze at the sight of Mulder sitting tied to a chair looking a bit worse for wear.
"Mulder, what happened?" Scully said rushing over to her partner.
"I ran into Alex here just a few minutes after we separated. He was kind enough to escort me here." Mulder said obviously relieved to see that Scully was unhurt.
"I hate to break up this happy little reunion" Krycek said motioning for Scully to take the other chair in the room "But I do have a schedule to keep."
"And what exactly is that?" Mulder asked.
"Oh, I have to make sure that everyone with any association with this facility has been eliminated and then rig it all with explosives so that all evidence of our little project is destroyed."
Krycek took something from his pocket. "Look what I have here" he said holding up a syringe. "The last dose of the serum."
He walked over to where Scully and Mulder were sitting and looked at the two of them. "Would be a pity to waste, it wouldn't it? After all, it works just as well, if not better on humans than it does on hybrids. I believe we have a ninety percent kill rate."
Krycek waved the syringe between the two agents. "So which of you two is going to be the lucky recipient?"
"Me" they both said at the same time making Krycek laugh out loud. "You two are too funny. I guess I will have to choose then won't I?"
He paused a moment and looked at both of them a minute and then smiled. He pulled Scully up to her feet and taking her head between his hands kissed her again. He pulled back from her whispering "If you change your mind let me know."
Krycek began to move towards Mulder with the syringe when Scully attacked him from behind. Not surprised by her actions, he quickly spun and threw her against the nearest wall with all his might.
The last she remembered before she blacked out was saying 'no' over and over again.
Chapter Eight
Mulder struggled to release himself from his bonds as soon as he realized that Scully was going to throw herself at Krycek. Scully may be good at hand to hand combat but she was no match for Alex Krycek.
He winced as he saw Krycek throw her towards the wall and shouted out "Scully" as she collapsed in a heap. He continued his struggles until he saw Krycek straighten out his shirt and reach for the syringe that Scully had managed to knock from his hand.
"Well Fox, I guess you are going to be the lucky recipient" Krycek said walking over to Mulder and adjusting the syringe until a small drop of liquid appeared at its tip.
"Not to worry though, your beloved Scully should be awake in time to watch you die a slow and quite miserable death."
"Let her go Krycek" Mulder hissed through he teeth barely able to pull his eyes away from the sight of her crumpled body. "You know as well as I do that the X-files and everything that goes along with it will die right along with me. She will be no threat to you."
"That may be Fox" Krycek said and he gently tapped the syringe "but don't worry, I don't plan on destroying this facility quite yet. I plan to leave enough time for Dana to leave you behind and escape. But she is going to have to walk. I will make sure to disable your car so she can't take you with her."
Mulder pulled his eyes away from Scully and looked at Krycek "You would let her escape?"
"I have already given her the opportunity to escape with me, but she chose to stay with you. Perhaps you may be able to convince her otherwise. I will give you 24 hours until I blow this entire facility off the face of the Earth."
Mulder nodded his understanding wishing that he had told the Lone Gunmen to look for him earlier. Krycek smiled at him. "You may be still alive then Fox, but believe me, you will be praying for a quick death by then."
Mulder took a deep breath and concentrated on looking at Scully as he felt the needle puncture his skin. His last thought before being overcome by blackness, was of her.
Chapter Nine
Scully's head hurt. A lot. She tried to open her eyes but then immediately shut them when confronted with the bright lights of the room.
She took a couple of deep breaths trying to remember exactly what happened.
Her eyes flew open. "Mulder!" she said as she sat straight up ignoring the pain that threatened to rip her head apart.
Scully looked frantically around the room before spotting him. He had been released from his bounds, but was balled up in a corner of the room mumbling to himself and covered with sweat.
"Mulder" she said again as she forced herself to get up and go over to him. He didn't seem to hear her but jumped at the feel of her touch.
He was burning up. "Mulder, it's me."
Mulder looked up at her with eyes filled with fever. "Go" was all he managed to say to her.
"I am not going without you. Do you think you can walk?"
This question got a wry smile out of Mulder. "Can barely move" he whispered.
Scully nodded her comprehension and said "I will be right back"
She ran out of the room leaving Mulder shivering from fever in the corner. He was relieved to see that she was apparently alright, but didn't have the strength to think much more than that.
Mulder now knew what Krycek meant about praying for a quick death. It had been less than an hour since he had received the injection and already he was praying for the suffering to end. He couldn't even begin to think about what was yet to come.
He heard Scully coming back down the hallway and decided he would focus what strength he still had on getting her to leave him behind and save herself.
Scully burst into the room pushing a wheelchair. Mulder attempted to raise an eyebrow at the sight of it.
"Found this down the hall in one of the other examination rooms. Let's see if we can get you into it." She parked the chair next to his huddled form and reached down to help him up.
Mulder flinched at her touch but said nothing as she tried to lift him to his feet. He was dead weight and much too large to be managed by her.
"Go" he said again when she released him.
"Mulder, I am not leaving you behind. If you want to save me you are going to have to help me save you. Understand?"
Mulder shook his head not because of lack of understanding but because he knew that she really wouldn't leave him.
"Let's try this again, okay? On three. One . . . two . . . three" Scully lifted with all her might but only managed to get Mulder about six inches off the ground.
She stuck to it and was sweating quite heavily herself when, on the fifth try, they managed to get Mulder into the chair.
She smiled despite the fact that Mulder groaned in obvious pain at the contact with the chair. At least she had a way to move him now.
She glanced around the room before leaving and spotted her gun sitting on a small table. She picked it up and examined it quickly. It contained only one bullet.
"Krycek took out all the bullets but one" she said as she placed the gun back in her holster. "I wonder why?"
"That one is for me" Mulder said as he tried desperately to stay awake.
Scully looked puzzled for a moment and then nodded. Krycek had given her a way to end Mulder's suffering. "Isn't he kind?" she muttered to herself and she began to push Mulder down the hall.
Chapter Ten
It took awhile, but Scully finally managed to get Mulder out of the building. She paused for a second to wipe the sweat off of her face and Mulder's.
"What time is it?" Mulder croaked.
Scully looked at her watch. "Close to three, why?"
Mulder took a deep breath trying to summon the strength to speak. "Krycek going to blow this place up in 21 hours. Go!"
Scully stopped pushing the chair and walked around to the front of it so she could face him. Squatting down in front of him she looked him directly in the eye. "I am going to get both of us out of here Mulder. I am going to find you a place in the shade and then head back for the car."
"Car gone" Mulder whispered "He told me that"
"Damn" Scully said. With the car it would have been relatively easy for her to get Mulder out of the facility. Without it even she would have trouble surviving the trip back into town through the desert.
"Okay, give me a minute to think Mulder" Scully said still squatting in front of him.
He reached up and touched her gently. "Take your time. Not going anywhere."
Scully smiled at him and got to her feet. "First order of business is to try and get you out of this heat and way from any explosions." She walked behind the chair and started pushing it.
Scully pushed the chair slowly while chatting away to Mulder about this and that until they had gone past the last house in the facility. In the distance she spotted a relatively large rock formation and started for it.
With a bit of luck, that would be able to provide them with enough protection from whatever Krycek had in mind.
It took her about ten more minutes to reach the rocks and position Mulder in the small bit of shade they provided. "Do you want to stay in the chair?" she asked him.
"No, lie down" he said. His shivering had stopped for the most part but he was getting paler by the minute.
Scully helped him out of the chair and then got up and brushed off her pants. "Mulder, I am going to go look for supplies for us. I'll be back as soon as I can."
Mulder barely nodded and closed his eyes noticing that she had not left the gun with him for protection. Scully was no fool. She wanted to make sure that he didn't sacrifice himself for her.
Chapter eleven
Mulder was awake when Scully returned about an hour later carrying not only both their backpacks but several large blankets.
He couldn't help but smile as he watched her begin to unpack the backpacks and arrange the blankets. Leave it to Scully to come so well prepared.
Scully arranged him so he could sit up against the rocks and offered him some water from one of her water bottles. "I couldn't find any other water besides the four bottles I brought."
Mulder was about to tell her not waste it on him but stopped himself. He knew better so he took small sips as she instructed.
Scully felt his forehead. He was still burning up. She began poking through her pack again and pulled out a small bottle of ibuprofen.
She poured two pills into her hand and gave them to Mulder. "I am not sure if these are going to help but they definitely couldn't hurt." Mulder gave her a weak smile as he swallowed the pills with some difficulty.
Mulder was looking more tired by the minute, so Scully got him settled back into a lying position with his head on her lap and began to stroke his hair until he fell asleep.
Mulder was restless in his sleep, but seemed to calm down whenever she resumed the gentle stroking of his hair. Scully closed her eyes and wracked her brains looking for ways to break Mulder's fever and release him from the grip of Krycek's serum.
Thinking of nothing, she contented herself with just savoring every possible second with him and praying that he would be strong enough to survive.
Darkness fell and Scully removed herself from under Mulder's head and started a small fire. Once the sun had gone down the temperature had dropped dramatically but it was still quite warm. Scully wanted the fire more for its comforting light than its warmth.
She heard Mulder stir behind her and turned to see him struggling to sit up. Perhaps it was the cooler temperatures or even the ibuprofen, but he didn't seem quite so flushed with fever. He still, however, could barely talk above a whisper.
"Hey" she said settling down next to him.
"Hey" he said so softly that Scully had to put her head close to him to hear him "Scully, I don't suppose you will reconsider and leave in the morning."
"Sure, I will consider it" Scully said mockingly "as long as you leave too."
Mulder smiled weakly at her not at all surprised by her answer. "I don't know if I will still be here in the morning Scully."
"Mulder, don't talk like that. We have no idea how the serum will act on you since you have been exposed to not only the black oil but its antidote."
Mulder snorted at this but let her continue. "I have no intention of letting you die."
Mulder snorted again. "You are one stubborn woman Scully, you know that?"
"It's a trait I picked up from my partner. Here, drink so more water" she said opening on of the bottles.
"No Scully, you drink it. The water is just being wasted on me."
Scully said nothing but raised an eyebrow and handled him the bottle. Mulder took a small sip to make her happy then handed the bottle back.
"Are you feeling any better?" Scully said feeling his forehead with the back of her hand.
"You know when I was little, my mother always checked to see if I had a fever by kissing me." Mulder said looking at Scully and smiling.
Scully smiled back and planted a small kiss on his head. He still felt very warm but not as hot as he had during the afternoon. "I think those pills I gave you are keeping your fever down."
Mulder nodded. "I think they are helping too. I don't feel quite so much like my insides are frying any more. But to be honest with you Scully, it feels like my energy is just pouring out of my body."
"Well, then we need to get some back into you, won't we?" Scully said a bit too cheerily.
"And how do you plan to do that?" Mulder said trying his best not to sound too glum.
Scully poked around in her pack some more and pulled out a few things. "You have your choice of one of these granola bars or one of these miniature chocolate bars?"
Mulder broke out into a smile when he saw what was in her hands. The chocolate bars were smaller versions of the Swiss chocolates that Scully only allowed herself on special occasions.
"You must really think I am dying Scully to part with those" Mulder said pointing at the candy. "I think I will take the one in the red wrapper."
Scully put down the rest of the food and unwrapped the bar for Mulder seeing that his hands were trembling quite a bit. She handed the bar which he promptly broke in two.
"Here Scully" Mulder said when she tried to refuse it "I will tolerate you risking your life to stay with me, but I will not torture you by eating this in front of you."
Scully smiled and took the candy. They both stared at each other a moment before popping the chocolate into their mouths.
Mulder closed his eyes and savored the sensation of the chocolate melting over his tongue. Scully watched in fascination. She had never seen Mulder react like this but then again she had never seen him eat what could very well be his last meal.
"That was wonderful Scully" he said looking suddenly tired again. "Thanks"
"My pleasure" Scully said patting her lap for him to lay his head on.
Mulder shook his head at her invitation. "Scully would you do a couple of things for me?" he said looking at her straight in the eye.
"Sure partner, whatever you want." Scully responded worrying to herself that Mulder was beginning to make his dying requests to her.
"First" he began reaching over and cupping her face in his hand "if for some reason that God of yours decides to spare me, would you actually go out on a date with me?"
Scully smiled at him trying hard not to let the tears she felt coming fall.
"Sure Mulder, as long as I get to pick the restaurant."
Mulder smiled at her. "Deal. And the second thing" Mulder looked at her a bit unsure. "Would you mind terribly. . . uh. . . lying with me tonight when I go to sleep? I am not sure I will make it until tomorrow and I would like to spend at least one night in your arms."
Scully felt the tears coming and to keep herself from loosing it totally she simply nodded and stood up to fetch the extra blankets. She folded two of them up as pillows and put one of the ground.
"Which side do you want Mulder? Right or left?" she said after she managed to compose herself.
"The right side is fine with me" Mulder said using what was left of his strength to maneuver himself onto the blanket.
Scully lay with her back to him and Mulder quickly rolled over onto his side and wrapped his arm around her. He was incredibly warm but Scully hardly noticed.
"Thanks Scully" Mulder whispered into her hair.
"For what?" Scully answered still trying to hold back her tears.
"For making me human again" Mulder replied before drifting off to sleep.
It was only then did Scully let the tears come thinking that those would be the last words Mulder would ever say to her.
+++++++
End of part two - comments anyone???
Chapter Seven
"Hello Agent Scully" Krycek said smiling slightly at her shocked expression.
Scully immediately felt for her weapon forgetting that she had placed in on the desk behind her.
"No need for that Dana" Krycek said raising his own weapon and causing Scully to freeze in her tracks.
"What are you doing here Krycek?" Scully said after pulling herself together.
"You see all of this?" Krycek began motioning to the building around him "This is one of my little pet projects."
"What exactly is your pet project?" Scully said hoping to stall Krycek until Mulder returned.
"Oh just a little biological weapon our shadow government has been developing." Krycek said motioning with his gun for her to step away from the desk. "If you would like, I will give you the grand tour."
Krycek grabbed Scully's arm and began to force her down the right hallway. They walked in silence for several minutes. Scully kept expecting them to run into Mulder, but they didn't.
She was beginning to get worried.
Those worries all disappeared when Krycek opened an unmarked door and unceremoniously pushed her through.
The room in which they were standing was huge and unlike the rest of the building was basked in a bright white light. All around them stood large tanks that reminded Scully of fish tanks except for the fact that they were totally enclosed.
Krycek had let go of her arm and she wandered over to one to take a peek at what was inside. She gasped involuntarily when she realized that what she was looking at was a human body floating in some sort of greenish liquid.
"What are these Krycek?" She said turning to face him "Who are those people?"
Krycek smiled wickedly at her. "To answer your first question Dana, these tanks are where we hold our specimens after they have expired. We don't want their bodies to decompose before we have a chance to examine them properly."
Scully just stared at him. He chuckled at her and continued. "And to answer your second question, the people are test subjects gathered from around the country. We tried to get as varied a sample group as possible."
Scully's eyes got huge at this and her temper began to rise. "What did you do to them Krycek?"
Krycek took her arm again and began leading across the room towards a door on the far wall. They passed by dozens of the specimen containers before he answered her.
"I know this may seem like an act of cruelty to you Dana," he said somewhat seriously "But we are truly trying to help all of mankind."
"By torturing innocent people?" Scully said trying once again unsuccessfully to pull her arm from his grasp.
"We sacrificed a few in hopes to save the world" Krycek said softly.
"Save the world from what?" Scully demanded.
They had reached the far door and Krycek paused to turn the knob and open the door. "Why alien invasion of course?"
Scully was too stunned to move into the room so Krycek gave her a little push. This room resembled a sitting room and Scully assumed it was where the research facility's staff took their breaks.
"I don't understand" Scully said after Krycek gently shoved her onto the couch.
"Dana, how can you have worked for all these years with Fox Mulder and still not get it?" He didn't wait for her answer. "We are expecting an alien invasion to occur sometime within the next twenty years. What is being created here is a biological weapon to be used against them and those of this planet who support them."
"That's impossible. You have no way to do accurate tests" Scully said looking puzzled.
Krycek smiled at her and shook his head not believing how naive she still was.
"Dana, there have been aliens on this planet for decades. We have been lucky enough to have gained the technology from them to make alien hybrids." He smiled again at Scully's skeptical look.
"The process itself is rather simple and can be achieved through a series of injections. In fact, everyone working in or living around the facility has been changed into a hybrid."
"And systematically destroyed." Scully said sighing heavily. She looked at him suspiciously "Why are you telling me all of this?"
Krycek face suddenly became very serious. "Because I want you to join our cause Dana."
"You want me to what?" Scully said getting up and facing Krycek. "You want me to leave Mulder and the X-files and work on ways to destroy people?"
"We are trying to save the world Dana and a woman with your background in medicine and your experience on the X-files. . ."
Scully cut him off. "Krycek the only person you have ever tried to save was yourself."
"True enough most of the time Dana" he said slowly walking towards her making her step backward until she was pushed up against the door. "But I have always had a soft spot for you and I would rather not have to destroy you."
Scully looked up at him and couldn't believe what she saw in his eyes. They were filled with tenderness with just a hint of desire. Krycek spotted the confusion in her eyes and acted swiftly.
Before she knew what hit her, he had pulled her close and was kissing her.
A small part of Scully had always found Krycek attractive the way the most prim and proper girl in high school finds herself drawn to the 'bad boy' of the class. That part of her was trying desperately to respond to his kiss while the rest of her was still in shock.
Krycek must have sensed this conflict for he broke off the kiss and looked down at her smiling, the mischief back in his eyes. "So what do you say Dana?"
"Are you with me or against me?"
Scully said nothing glaring at him through cold eyes.
"Well, you can't blame a guy for trying." He grabbed her arm again and led her towards another door in the room that Scully had assumed was a closet.
She was wrong. He opened it and pushed her through. She stumbled through and froze at the sight of Mulder sitting tied to a chair looking a bit worse for wear.
"Mulder, what happened?" Scully said rushing over to her partner.
"I ran into Alex here just a few minutes after we separated. He was kind enough to escort me here." Mulder said obviously relieved to see that Scully was unhurt.
"I hate to break up this happy little reunion" Krycek said motioning for Scully to take the other chair in the room "But I do have a schedule to keep."
"And what exactly is that?" Mulder asked.
"Oh, I have to make sure that everyone with any association with this facility has been eliminated and then rig it all with explosives so that all evidence of our little project is destroyed."
Krycek took something from his pocket. "Look what I have here" he said holding up a syringe. "The last dose of the serum."
He walked over to where Scully and Mulder were sitting and looked at the two of them. "Would be a pity to waste, it wouldn't it? After all, it works just as well, if not better on humans than it does on hybrids. I believe we have a ninety percent kill rate."
Krycek waved the syringe between the two agents. "So which of you two is going to be the lucky recipient?"
"Me" they both said at the same time making Krycek laugh out loud. "You two are too funny. I guess I will have to choose then won't I?"
He paused a moment and looked at both of them a minute and then smiled. He pulled Scully up to her feet and taking her head between his hands kissed her again. He pulled back from her whispering "If you change your mind let me know."
Krycek began to move towards Mulder with the syringe when Scully attacked him from behind. Not surprised by her actions, he quickly spun and threw her against the nearest wall with all his might.
The last she remembered before she blacked out was saying 'no' over and over again.
Chapter Eight
Mulder struggled to release himself from his bonds as soon as he realized that Scully was going to throw herself at Krycek. Scully may be good at hand to hand combat but she was no match for Alex Krycek.
He winced as he saw Krycek throw her towards the wall and shouted out "Scully" as she collapsed in a heap. He continued his struggles until he saw Krycek straighten out his shirt and reach for the syringe that Scully had managed to knock from his hand.
"Well Fox, I guess you are going to be the lucky recipient" Krycek said walking over to Mulder and adjusting the syringe until a small drop of liquid appeared at its tip.
"Not to worry though, your beloved Scully should be awake in time to watch you die a slow and quite miserable death."
"Let her go Krycek" Mulder hissed through he teeth barely able to pull his eyes away from the sight of her crumpled body. "You know as well as I do that the X-files and everything that goes along with it will die right along with me. She will be no threat to you."
"That may be Fox" Krycek said and he gently tapped the syringe "but don't worry, I don't plan on destroying this facility quite yet. I plan to leave enough time for Dana to leave you behind and escape. But she is going to have to walk. I will make sure to disable your car so she can't take you with her."
Mulder pulled his eyes away from Scully and looked at Krycek "You would let her escape?"
"I have already given her the opportunity to escape with me, but she chose to stay with you. Perhaps you may be able to convince her otherwise. I will give you 24 hours until I blow this entire facility off the face of the Earth."
Mulder nodded his understanding wishing that he had told the Lone Gunmen to look for him earlier. Krycek smiled at him. "You may be still alive then Fox, but believe me, you will be praying for a quick death by then."
Mulder took a deep breath and concentrated on looking at Scully as he felt the needle puncture his skin. His last thought before being overcome by blackness, was of her.
Chapter Nine
Scully's head hurt. A lot. She tried to open her eyes but then immediately shut them when confronted with the bright lights of the room.
She took a couple of deep breaths trying to remember exactly what happened.
Her eyes flew open. "Mulder!" she said as she sat straight up ignoring the pain that threatened to rip her head apart.
Scully looked frantically around the room before spotting him. He had been released from his bounds, but was balled up in a corner of the room mumbling to himself and covered with sweat.
"Mulder" she said again as she forced herself to get up and go over to him. He didn't seem to hear her but jumped at the feel of her touch.
He was burning up. "Mulder, it's me."
Mulder looked up at her with eyes filled with fever. "Go" was all he managed to say to her.
"I am not going without you. Do you think you can walk?"
This question got a wry smile out of Mulder. "Can barely move" he whispered.
Scully nodded her comprehension and said "I will be right back"
She ran out of the room leaving Mulder shivering from fever in the corner. He was relieved to see that she was apparently alright, but didn't have the strength to think much more than that.
Mulder now knew what Krycek meant about praying for a quick death. It had been less than an hour since he had received the injection and already he was praying for the suffering to end. He couldn't even begin to think about what was yet to come.
He heard Scully coming back down the hallway and decided he would focus what strength he still had on getting her to leave him behind and save herself.
Scully burst into the room pushing a wheelchair. Mulder attempted to raise an eyebrow at the sight of it.
"Found this down the hall in one of the other examination rooms. Let's see if we can get you into it." She parked the chair next to his huddled form and reached down to help him up.
Mulder flinched at her touch but said nothing as she tried to lift him to his feet. He was dead weight and much too large to be managed by her.
"Go" he said again when she released him.
"Mulder, I am not leaving you behind. If you want to save me you are going to have to help me save you. Understand?"
Mulder shook his head not because of lack of understanding but because he knew that she really wouldn't leave him.
"Let's try this again, okay? On three. One . . . two . . . three" Scully lifted with all her might but only managed to get Mulder about six inches off the ground.
She stuck to it and was sweating quite heavily herself when, on the fifth try, they managed to get Mulder into the chair.
She smiled despite the fact that Mulder groaned in obvious pain at the contact with the chair. At least she had a way to move him now.
She glanced around the room before leaving and spotted her gun sitting on a small table. She picked it up and examined it quickly. It contained only one bullet.
"Krycek took out all the bullets but one" she said as she placed the gun back in her holster. "I wonder why?"
"That one is for me" Mulder said as he tried desperately to stay awake.
Scully looked puzzled for a moment and then nodded. Krycek had given her a way to end Mulder's suffering. "Isn't he kind?" she muttered to herself and she began to push Mulder down the hall.
Chapter Ten
It took awhile, but Scully finally managed to get Mulder out of the building. She paused for a second to wipe the sweat off of her face and Mulder's.
"What time is it?" Mulder croaked.
Scully looked at her watch. "Close to three, why?"
Mulder took a deep breath trying to summon the strength to speak. "Krycek going to blow this place up in 21 hours. Go!"
Scully stopped pushing the chair and walked around to the front of it so she could face him. Squatting down in front of him she looked him directly in the eye. "I am going to get both of us out of here Mulder. I am going to find you a place in the shade and then head back for the car."
"Car gone" Mulder whispered "He told me that"
"Damn" Scully said. With the car it would have been relatively easy for her to get Mulder out of the facility. Without it even she would have trouble surviving the trip back into town through the desert.
"Okay, give me a minute to think Mulder" Scully said still squatting in front of him.
He reached up and touched her gently. "Take your time. Not going anywhere."
Scully smiled at him and got to her feet. "First order of business is to try and get you out of this heat and way from any explosions." She walked behind the chair and started pushing it.
Scully pushed the chair slowly while chatting away to Mulder about this and that until they had gone past the last house in the facility. In the distance she spotted a relatively large rock formation and started for it.
With a bit of luck, that would be able to provide them with enough protection from whatever Krycek had in mind.
It took her about ten more minutes to reach the rocks and position Mulder in the small bit of shade they provided. "Do you want to stay in the chair?" she asked him.
"No, lie down" he said. His shivering had stopped for the most part but he was getting paler by the minute.
Scully helped him out of the chair and then got up and brushed off her pants. "Mulder, I am going to go look for supplies for us. I'll be back as soon as I can."
Mulder barely nodded and closed his eyes noticing that she had not left the gun with him for protection. Scully was no fool. She wanted to make sure that he didn't sacrifice himself for her.
Chapter eleven
Mulder was awake when Scully returned about an hour later carrying not only both their backpacks but several large blankets.
He couldn't help but smile as he watched her begin to unpack the backpacks and arrange the blankets. Leave it to Scully to come so well prepared.
Scully arranged him so he could sit up against the rocks and offered him some water from one of her water bottles. "I couldn't find any other water besides the four bottles I brought."
Mulder was about to tell her not waste it on him but stopped himself. He knew better so he took small sips as she instructed.
Scully felt his forehead. He was still burning up. She began poking through her pack again and pulled out a small bottle of ibuprofen.
She poured two pills into her hand and gave them to Mulder. "I am not sure if these are going to help but they definitely couldn't hurt." Mulder gave her a weak smile as he swallowed the pills with some difficulty.
Mulder was looking more tired by the minute, so Scully got him settled back into a lying position with his head on her lap and began to stroke his hair until he fell asleep.
Mulder was restless in his sleep, but seemed to calm down whenever she resumed the gentle stroking of his hair. Scully closed her eyes and wracked her brains looking for ways to break Mulder's fever and release him from the grip of Krycek's serum.
Thinking of nothing, she contented herself with just savoring every possible second with him and praying that he would be strong enough to survive.
Darkness fell and Scully removed herself from under Mulder's head and started a small fire. Once the sun had gone down the temperature had dropped dramatically but it was still quite warm. Scully wanted the fire more for its comforting light than its warmth.
She heard Mulder stir behind her and turned to see him struggling to sit up. Perhaps it was the cooler temperatures or even the ibuprofen, but he didn't seem quite so flushed with fever. He still, however, could barely talk above a whisper.
"Hey" she said settling down next to him.
"Hey" he said so softly that Scully had to put her head close to him to hear him "Scully, I don't suppose you will reconsider and leave in the morning."
"Sure, I will consider it" Scully said mockingly "as long as you leave too."
Mulder smiled weakly at her not at all surprised by her answer. "I don't know if I will still be here in the morning Scully."
"Mulder, don't talk like that. We have no idea how the serum will act on you since you have been exposed to not only the black oil but its antidote."
Mulder snorted at this but let her continue. "I have no intention of letting you die."
Mulder snorted again. "You are one stubborn woman Scully, you know that?"
"It's a trait I picked up from my partner. Here, drink so more water" she said opening on of the bottles.
"No Scully, you drink it. The water is just being wasted on me."
Scully said nothing but raised an eyebrow and handled him the bottle. Mulder took a small sip to make her happy then handed the bottle back.
"Are you feeling any better?" Scully said feeling his forehead with the back of her hand.
"You know when I was little, my mother always checked to see if I had a fever by kissing me." Mulder said looking at Scully and smiling.
Scully smiled back and planted a small kiss on his head. He still felt very warm but not as hot as he had during the afternoon. "I think those pills I gave you are keeping your fever down."
Mulder nodded. "I think they are helping too. I don't feel quite so much like my insides are frying any more. But to be honest with you Scully, it feels like my energy is just pouring out of my body."
"Well, then we need to get some back into you, won't we?" Scully said a bit too cheerily.
"And how do you plan to do that?" Mulder said trying his best not to sound too glum.
Scully poked around in her pack some more and pulled out a few things. "You have your choice of one of these granola bars or one of these miniature chocolate bars?"
Mulder broke out into a smile when he saw what was in her hands. The chocolate bars were smaller versions of the Swiss chocolates that Scully only allowed herself on special occasions.
"You must really think I am dying Scully to part with those" Mulder said pointing at the candy. "I think I will take the one in the red wrapper."
Scully put down the rest of the food and unwrapped the bar for Mulder seeing that his hands were trembling quite a bit. She handed the bar which he promptly broke in two.
"Here Scully" Mulder said when she tried to refuse it "I will tolerate you risking your life to stay with me, but I will not torture you by eating this in front of you."
Scully smiled and took the candy. They both stared at each other a moment before popping the chocolate into their mouths.
Mulder closed his eyes and savored the sensation of the chocolate melting over his tongue. Scully watched in fascination. She had never seen Mulder react like this but then again she had never seen him eat what could very well be his last meal.
"That was wonderful Scully" he said looking suddenly tired again. "Thanks"
"My pleasure" Scully said patting her lap for him to lay his head on.
Mulder shook his head at her invitation. "Scully would you do a couple of things for me?" he said looking at her straight in the eye.
"Sure partner, whatever you want." Scully responded worrying to herself that Mulder was beginning to make his dying requests to her.
"First" he began reaching over and cupping her face in his hand "if for some reason that God of yours decides to spare me, would you actually go out on a date with me?"
Scully smiled at him trying hard not to let the tears she felt coming fall.
"Sure Mulder, as long as I get to pick the restaurant."
Mulder smiled at her. "Deal. And the second thing" Mulder looked at her a bit unsure. "Would you mind terribly. . . uh. . . lying with me tonight when I go to sleep? I am not sure I will make it until tomorrow and I would like to spend at least one night in your arms."
Scully felt the tears coming and to keep herself from loosing it totally she simply nodded and stood up to fetch the extra blankets. She folded two of them up as pillows and put one of the ground.
"Which side do you want Mulder? Right or left?" she said after she managed to compose herself.
"The right side is fine with me" Mulder said using what was left of his strength to maneuver himself onto the blanket.
Scully lay with her back to him and Mulder quickly rolled over onto his side and wrapped his arm around her. He was incredibly warm but Scully hardly noticed.
"Thanks Scully" Mulder whispered into her hair.
"For what?" Scully answered still trying to hold back her tears.
"For making me human again" Mulder replied before drifting off to sleep.
It was only then did Scully let the tears come thinking that those would be the last words Mulder would ever say to her.
+++++++
End of part two - comments anyone???