Samantha was smug with the overconfidence that came from downing Scully so quickly. She stared down at the dazed agent and saw her as small and weak.  Although she, herself, was not much taller than Scully, she saw it as an advantage in herself. Because she was small, people didn't perceive her as a threat and tended to underestimate her. Samantha should have seen that the same applied to Scully; she was taken by total surprise by the leg that swung around and swept her off her feet. She hit the ground hard and looked over to see Scully roll to the side and reach for her gun. Samantha was angry with herself for showing such weakness and shot out toward the gun, snatching it up the moment before Scully reached it, and bringing it up to point directly at Scully as she slowly rose to her feet. She stood looking down at Scully as she crouched where the gun once lay.

"You almost had me there, Dana," she smiled. "What's the phrase? Ah, yes.  'Close, but no cigar.'" Then she aimed Scully's weapon and fired.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Alyssa was just emerging from the tree line when she heard the sound of a gunshot. She stood still and listened. From where she stood, by the dock and the lone speedboat, she could tell that the shot had originated from the opposite side of the cabin. She waited for the sound of a second shot, or any sound at all, but nothing came. She continued her trek towards the cabin quietly, yet faster than she had previously been moving. The shot could have meant anything and the sooner she found out what, the better.

Circling around the back of the cabin, she kept her back to wall and edged her head to peak around the corner. She was dismayed at what she saw. There, standing just inside the tree line, was Alpha; and lying at her feet was the body of a woman with red hair. She watched as Alpha tucked a gun under her belt and then stooped down to grab the legs of the still agent. Alyssa looked, but couldn't detect any sign of movement coming from Scully and she dared not touch her mind to check if she were alive. She was going to have to act under the assumption that she was alive, because she knew that dead or alive, Mulder was not going to leave his partner behind.

Alyssa waited until they had made it to the front of the cabin and were no longer visible, before she turned the corner completely and approached the front herself. She stopped halfway there to glance into one of the windows off the main living room. There she watched as Alpha dragged Scully across the floor, a trail of blood marking their passage. Scully needed help quickly. At the apparent rate of blood loss, she would bleed to death if she didn't get help soon.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mulder had managed to pull out two of the bolts in the wall and was working on getting the second two when he heard a door being slammed open above him. He stood and listened as something was dragged across the floor a few feet. Then he heard the sound of something being dropped.

"What's she doing up there…?"

The next sound that he heard came from the window above his head. He watched as the edges of it sparked then slowly parted from the frame as it opened. First one hand then another gripped the edge of the window and slowly pushed it forward. He had never been so relieved to see the face of his sister peaking through a window.

"Mulder?" Alyssa whispered.

Mulder came to the window and reached up to clasp her hand, "And here I thought that I was the one most likely to be a peeping tom."

"Mulder, we don't have much time. I'm sure she'll be coming straight down. The woman who took you, the only thing that she has in common with your sister is her face. The similarities end there. She's like me, Mulder, only stronger. They called her Alpha and she was the strongest and most insane of their experiments.  I don't know if I can defeat her. So you'll have to be prepared when she comes.  She's got Scully."

The gunshot took them both by surprise. It had come from outside, behind Alyssa.  The next thing that she was aware of was the sticky wet feeling spreading under her. She glanced down in disbelief as blood gradually darkened her jumper. She looked up and registered a look of horror coming from her brother before releasing his hand and turning to face her attacker. There stood Alpha, with such a gleam of triumph that it made Alyssa sick. The pain hadn't registered yet and she took advantage of that and lunged at Alpha, missing her and collapsing to the ground. The last thing that Alyssa heard was the manic laughing of a madwoman, and then all she could feel was the pain coursing through her chest.