Part 35.
John leaned wearily against the refrigerator as he stood in the kitchen of another cabin and listened to the rambling of the cabin owner. There was no sign of Monica.
Frustrated beyond belief, John left Mulder to deal with the confused owner as he walked back outside and wandered around the property.
This was the twenty-third cabin they had checked out since arriving in the mountains early that morning. So far they had seen nothing that might give them a clue as to where she might be.
John could see Scully standing by their car in the gravel driveway, talking a mile a minute on her cell phone. She was updating Skinner on what they had found so far. In turn, Skinner was digging around for records on all cabins in the Sierra's that were located within distance of a watch tower.
John found himself wandering even further away from the cabin and walked through a clearing that immediately turned into a dense forest. He didn't know why he kept going but he felt something pulling him in this direction. He wasn't about to question it as he guided himself along the imaginary trail.
Up ahead the trees started to give way to another clearing and a cabin came into view. A cabin within view of a watch tower.
Eager to look over the cabin, he called Scully and Mulder and told them about the cabin and its location.
Not willing to wait for them, John went up to the door of the cabin and knocked. Hearing no sound from the inside, John picked the lock and five seconds later the knob turned easily in his hand.
The cabin was dark and after flicking some switches, John concluded the power was definitely shut off. Crossing the kitchen floor John immediately saw the phone on the floor. Crouching down, John felt his heart skip a beat when he saw the blood on the phone receiver.
It had to be Monica's. She had tried to call him just a few days ago and was disconnected. The power must have been shut off when the Red Guns had realized what she was trying to do. Bastards.
With a feeling of dread, John stood up and walked through the cabin. He didn't see any more blood, but for some reason that worried him even more. John climbed up the stairs and found himself entering one of the little rooms. His eyes went directly to the broken window and John felt sick as he ran to the window and looked down. He felt such relief not to see Monica's mangled body that he nearly collapsed.
John made his way back down the stairs and went outside to wait for Mulder and Scully so he would have more help in combing over the cabin.
A sudden movement to his right had John whipping out his gun and pointing it at the figure.
"Kate?"
Kate stood only a few feet from him. John chuckled and walked over to her.
"What in God's name are you doing out-what the hell? "
Kate was indeed standing before him, but she didn't look all there. She wasn't see-through exactly…but something was definitely not right. Shit, was she astro projecting?
"Agent Doggett? I don't have much time. But you have to see something."
Kate turned around and bean to walk without waiting for John's reply. John fell into step with her and he saw that she was leading him around the cabin toward the back.
Right where he had just stared down from the window.
John then began to see what she wanted him to see. The grass was covered in dried blood, baking under the glare of the afternoon sun. He had been so relieved not to see her body sprawled out dead that he had been blind to the brick red blood that seemed brighter than ever. John felt tears swimming in his eyes as he bent down and got a closer look.
"She's not dead."
John looked up at her and just stared.
"You know as well as I do that she's not. You can feel it, here." Kate pointed to his heart and looked into the trees.
"Kate, is this where you saw her?"
"Yes, the last time I saw her and the last time I could locate her. She was upstairs and kept telling me to leave before the bad guys came."
"And you don't know where she is now?"
"No, I can't seem to pick up on her readings."
"Her readings?"
Yes. She and I are alike in that way. We have this sensitivity and are able pick up on each other. That's how I found her before. But now, she is so weak that I can't find her. Her body is almost ready to give up on her."
"She's still alive?" John stood up and stared at her. "You're sure?"
Kate nodded and looked into the trees. "I'm new at this but I do know I would feel it if she was gone. This connection Monica and I have…I think that's why these bad guys wanted us. Sometimes, when they make me have those dreams and I find myself walking in this mist...towards wherever they want me to go, I can hear them in the distance. They laugh, and they plan. They've wanted Monica from the beginning. She was essential, they said. Essential to the big plan to take over the world. Her ability to tap into feelings, into thought and ideas. I heard them laugh about something called the X-Files, about stupid alien chasers. They knew they had the perfect opportunity to take her away with the restart of the X-Files so they came up with a way to scare her into coming out here."
"And what was that?"
"They threatened your lives."
"Threatened our lives? But that happens quite frequently. Monica knows that. Something must have really spooked her for her to run like that"
Kate shrugged. "I'm not exactly sure. They did say that one of them left a note about astro projection in a FBI director's desk. They had a good laugh at how easy it was to manipulate."
John stood there and tried to process everything Kate was saying. Everything was starting to make sense is some sick and horrific way.
"Kate, why tell me this now and not before?"
"Because I…I was scared. The bad guys, these Red Guns, seemed to be with me wherever I went. I was too afraid that if I told you, they would kill me."
"So why tell me now?"
"They're gone. They have left me alone now. I was just a piece of the game, to lure Monica into their trap. Now they have her and they don't need me anymore."
John sighed and stared out into the forest that seemed to be closing in on him.
"Thank you, Kate, for showing me this and telling me what you have heard, what you have been through."
"I wasn't going to. But a nice guy urged me to tell you."
"A nice guy?"
"Yes, he stopped by and said he was a friend of Agent Monica's and of the other agents from Washington DC that had just questioned me. His name was…I think his name was Gibson. He knew that I was part of the investigation and wanted to thank me for my help. Then it was like he could read my mind because he told me to tell you everything before he left. He said it was Monica's last chance of being found alive."
John didn't know what to say to that. "How did you know where we were?"
Kate grinned. "It wasn't that hard. I knew you would end up here sooner or later. I wanted to tell you about this place after I knew that the bad guys didn't want me anymore, but I didn't know how to find you. Gibson told me I would know when you had reached this place and to come when I felt your presence."
Kate laughed at John's bewildered expression and instantly transformed back into her old thirteen-year-old self. Gone was the look of a child lost and frightened. "I know this is all so totally weird."
"No, it's not weird. You're very brave and I really appreciate this."
Kate shrugged embarrassed. "I have to go…I'm not suppose to travel this far, and for this long." Kate began to back away and John reached forward to shake her hand and was shocked when his hand passed through her hand. Kate giggled and cast a somber look over her shoulder as she ran off. The forest swallowed her up and John was alone once again.
He could see the Explorer pulling in at the end of the clearing and jogged over. He had lots to tell them, even though his mind kept telling him it had to be bogus at what he had just witnessed.
Part 36.
Monica sat, staring out the window and into the sky. She could see the magnificent colors of the sunset through the thicket of the vast trees. The warm colors of orange, pink and yellow seemed to burst over the limitless sky and gleefully cover every inch of darkening blue. The owls were beginning to hoot in the early evening air and crickets chirped a steady rhythm.
Monica welcomed the noise. The silence throughout most of the day made her want to scream in rage. Even the faint hooting of owls couldn't make the deafening silence go away. But now, now she felt more at ease.
Despite the fact she was being held hostage.
Monica wiggled her numb fingers for what seemed like the umpteenth time and tried to get her blood circulating again. She still had the knife and there was no way in hell she was giving it up.
Monica glanced out the window again and saw that the sky was much darker now. Now was good a time as any to try and escape.
Gripping the knife in her right hand, Monica began see-sawing it against the rope that held her hands together. After five minutes, Monica felt sweat begin to drip down her brow and sting the open gashes on her forehead. That damn rope wasn't coming loose!
Then again, she was only using a butter knife.
What felt like an eternity, Monica finally felt triumph as the rope snapped into two.
Pumping her hands up and down the rope began to slide off. But just as she was about to free her hands, the door opened
Glancing up, Monica tried to keep the terror of being discovered out of her eyes as she stared into the eyes of Knowle Roher.
Knowle didn't seem to notice her hands, or chose to ignore it as he sat down across from her. Monica shifted her eyes and stared blankly over his left shoulder. She wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of her attention.
Knowle smiled, as if he knew what she was thinking and leaned back comfortably in his chair.
"Well well well, so we meet again Monica."
Silence.
"What? You're not going to talk to me? Well, that's all right. I have some things to say to you anyway.
Knowle leaned forward until he was face to face with Monica. She still refused to look at him. Knowle sighed in frustration.
"You don't seem to understand what I'm offering you Monica. A chance to escape what will be the inevitable. We are giving this opportunity to so few humans. You would be smart to take it."
Yeah right, he wasn't going to let her escape. The son of a bitch would kill her right on the spot after she was done doing whatever the hell they needed her to do. But…it would buy her time.
Monica finally looked into his eyes and stared coldly at him.
Thinking he had just won her over, Knowle laughed and leaned back comfortably into his chair. This was going to be fun, he thought.
"What we need you for is your ability to believe, and to make others believe."
"Ability to believe and make others believe?"
"Yes. I've done my research. You're the next best thing to Fox Mulder. You have this ability to not turn a blind eye to what is viewed to humans as…the unthinkable. You're also intelligent and people listen to you. You are…now let me think, what did they call you in New Orleans? Ah yes, the black sheep. You see, you will be of great help to us."
Monica couldn't believe this. They wanted her to help them manipulate.
"And what if I don't go along with this ridiculous plan? What would you do then? And speaking of which, you're suppose to have this amazing ability to manipulate. So why not manipulate me into manipulating these people you want to manipulate?"
Monica felt a headache brewing. What the hell did she just say? Bunch of mumbo jumbo… and she could see by the narrowing of Knowle's eyes that she had managed to piss him off as well.
"We could manipulate you. But that would be too easy and too messy. No, we need you. Willingly or not, you will help is. And don't think your friends are going to come and save you. They're probably already dead or will be soon. They're falling into my trap even as we speak and it will be only a matter of time before we are finished with them. Then we move forward and finish what we came here to do."
Monica was so angry and frightened at the aspect of not being able to warn John and everyone else that she felt sick. "You're delusional."
"No, I like to think I'm just brilliant." Knowle smiled and stood up. "It's you who is delusional if you think you can stop me."
"We've done it before and we'll do it again."
Knowle stared at her for a few seconds and then burst out laughing. Monica shivered from the evilness behind the laugh. She suddenly began to feel dizzy and her throat felt dry and achy. Knowle's laugh swirled around her as she suddenly pitched forward and threw up the small amount of food she had been able to consume since being knocked out in the jewelry store.