Part 37.
Scully and John examined the blood stained grass as Mulder stood a few feet away on his cell phone. John couldn't help but stare at the rusty-colored grass as Scully looked at him worriedly.
"John? I think we've looked at this enough. Without a forensics kit, we won't be able to find much. Let's walk around." She grasped his arm and slowly dragged him away toward the trees.
As they entered the canopy of pine trees, they heard running footsteps and both turned around to see Mulder enter the forest.
"That wasn't the first house she was kept hostage in."
"What? Where else?"
Mulder looked at John, "About 2 miles away is a cabin. The owner of this cabin,"
Mulder nodded toward it through the trees, "says he heard a lot of noise coming from it a couple of nights ago. He called the Sheriff's department and they took a look the next day. They didn't see anyone, the house was locked up tight…except for a window leading out of the basement. The Sheriff found traces of blood around the windowsill. I'm thinking it has to be Monica's. Also, there were many boxes strewn all over the floor in front of the window. As if someone climbed up them and then it was knocked down later to hide the evidence."
"The Red Guns," John concluded with disgust.
Suddenly, John began to walk farther into the trees, and Mulder and Scully followed him.
Then he stopped and stared at a bush that looked trampled. "She ran. She ran through these trees and found this cabin. She was still alive yesterday…"
"And she could very well be alive right now." Scully gently took Mulder's hand and squeezed it as she watched John's face cloud up with controlled emotion. Taking a deep breathe, John turned around and began walked back to the car.
Once inside, John waited for the other two and then pulled out onto the road. Mulder and Scully knew where he was going and didn't say a word.
About three minutes into the drive, Scully saw John's hands tighten on the steering wheel.
"John?"
"Behind us...I could have sworn I saw the glint…yeah there it is. God damn, who are these people?"
John sped up and began to take the curves of the mountain with the ease of a man who had done quite a bit of off-roading. Still, Mulder and Scully hung on for their lives as they tried to see the car behind them.
Suddenly, John swerved to the right and backed into a little nook on the road. Engine idling, they waited for the car to pass.
Not a minute later a Mercedes roared past with two men sitting up front. They obviously didn't see the Explorer because they still kept racing up the mountain and John could see the light glint off the windows through the trees that aligned the road.
John pulled out and followed them at a safe distance. Mulder leaned forward with his binoculars and tried to get a good look at the car ahead of them. "Don't they know a Mercedes is the WORST car to go camping with?" Smirking, Mulder began to write down the make of the Mercedes and the license plate.
After calling it in to the police department, Scully stared ahead at the winding road.
"They said they would get back to us...but it's the same one isn't it?"
"Yeah" John stared ahead and was trying to gauge the best distance between them and the Mercedes.
Suddenly, the Mercedes disappeared. "What the hell?" John stopped the car and looked around rapidly for any sign of it.
"Now where could they have gone?" Mulder craned his head over Scully's shoulder and was practically breathing down her neck.
Scully whipped around and stared coolly at him. "You want to sit up front Mulder?"
Oblivious, Mulder said, "Oh no, no. I'm fine back here."
Scully glared at him and pushed him away slightly before asking, "What if they are doing the same thing to us? Waiting for us to drive by and then take after us?"
"No, I thought about that. But I don't think they actually saw us, or were even after us. We were just another car on the road and they never thought twice. I think they are unknowingly leading us right to Monica. Or were…" John scanned the road and the trees again.
John then slowly drove forward. All three stared out the windows, barely breathing as they tried to spot a road that the Mercedes might haven driven off of.
All of the sudden, Mulder spotted it and yelled the location. John stopped in front of it and all three stared down a gravel and weed path barely big enough for a car.
Shaking his head, John could barely suppress a grin as he felt excited that they were now physically getting closer. "Now we know that these Red Guns are idiots...taking such a nice car down a road like this." John drove forward and then parked in the trees.
From the road, the car was not visible but if anyone happened to be hiking by, they'd definitely see it. But there wasn't much they could do since they needed an escape car as close as possible.
All three got out and grabbed some equipment and walked back up the main road. Once in front of the weeded path, they slowly began to walk in the trees beside it, keeping an ear out for any engines or snapping of tree branches.
Part 38.
Monica woke groggily to darkness. Where was she? She was laying down on some cot in…a bedroom?
Monica slowly sat up and squinted at the neon green lights flashing the time at her.
"6:47," Monica read to herself. Was that in the morning or night?
Monica forced herself to stand up, which was rather difficult since her hands were retied behind her back. Her muscles protested at the movement but she ignored the pain.
Gritting her teeth, Monica finally managed to stand up, a little shaky, but she was up.
Once she had her balance, Monica squeezed her eyes shut and tried to put the pain out of her mind. She told herself her legs didn't feel like muscles spasms…her eyes didn't burn like fire…her gashes and cuts didn't sting horribly…she was fine. Her broken wrist and punctured feet were not going to stop her.
She could do this...she just had to take it slow. First thing first was to get her hands untied. Those bastards had taken her knife. Well, now what? Spying a metal desk in the corner, Monica hobbled toward it and turned around so her back was to the corner of it. The edge wasn't very sharp but it was the best thing she could come up with. Resting her hands below the corner, she began to pump them up and down. And almost screamed.
The pure agony...her sore and skinned wrists were sheer piercing pain. She could feel blood running down her hands and slowly dripping off her numb fingers. She imagined a pool of blood was forming on the floor.
But she didn't look, just kept pumping. She suddenly lost feeling in her right worst, the broken wrist. Monica felt the silent tears rain down her cheeks as she moaned in pain.
Then, all of the sudden, success! The rope slid off and Monica nearly collapsed with relief.
Monica gingerly picked up a small towel on the bureau and loosely wrapped it around her broken wrist.
Okay, she was free. Now how to get out of the room?
Monica went to the door and to her surprise it wasn't locked. Okay, think like an agent, she told herself. She had to have a weapon. Scanning the room, Monica decided that the pen by the small window was her best bet for now. If the aliens tried to stop her, she would just have to stab them with the pen…Monica chuckled from the thought. She was definitely losing her mind.
Creeping to the door again, Monica pressed her ear to it to see of she could hear any voices. She could hear two men talking but couldn't quite make out what they were saying.
Easing the door open a few inches, Monica scanned the hallway and slowly crept out. At the end of the hallway she could see a light shining from under a door. The door appeared to be partly open. Damn, that's where the stairs seemed to be!
Monica began to tip-toe down the hallway. It took her awhile, but at least she wasn't making any noise. Suddenly a noise made Monica jump back in surprise. Two men were climbing up the stairs! Monica turned around and tried the first door she came to. It was open!
Monica slid inside and could feel the blood pounding in her head as she struggled to keep her labored breathing under control. The men reached the top of the stairs and went into the occupied room.
Monica eased out and began to tip-toe again. As she neared the door, she could catch a drift of what was being said.
"What do you mean, you lost them?"
"We had them, and then they were gone. They were checking out the cabin that the woman had run to and were looking at the blood soaked grass."
"Blood soaked grass?"
Knowle Rohrer, Monica decided. But who was he talking to?
"Well, I told you we had trouble with her. She just tumbled from the window and left a mess."
"Left a mess? You idiot! We are to give nothing to these agents! I don't want them finding her! I want them out of the way, PERIOD! The FBI has tried to bring me down once and they will not succeed again! Now find them and get rid of them! Understand?"
"Perfectly."
"Get out of here."
Monica's heart raced. What should she do? She was standing right next to the door!
Thinking fast, Monica ran past the door and down the stairs. She was bound to run into a Red Gun but she had no choice.
Amazingly, she was able to run with great speed through the cabin's main floor and to the front door. At the door, Monica came to a halt. Four Red Guns stood just outside the door. They seemed to be scanning the trees with night vision binoculars. They were wearing black clothes and had machine guns at their hips.
"Oh great!" Monica whispered and turned around. There had to be another way out! Hearing heavy footsteps coming down the stairs, Monica's eyes darted around the room and then settled on the couch. Just as they reached the bottom step, Monica dove behind the couch.
"How many men will we have on the South Side?"
"About 150 sir."
"Excellent. We will begin at sunrise."
The two men left the room and Monica's mind was racing. 150? Begin? Begin what? Oh God, she had to get out of there! There was some much she had to do, people to warn! She had to find Mulder and Scully...and she had to find John.
Monica looked out the window and saw that the men were still standing there, binoculars glued to their faces.
Okay, plan B. Seeing a window across the room, Monica crawled toward it and pried it open. The window opened smoothly and, looking around quickly, Monica climbed out and landed on the other side with a soft thud.
By this time her body was telling her to give it up. She was almost drained of energy. She had hardly eaten in the past few days and whatever she had managed to swallow had been promptly thrown up.
Gotta keep going. She could do it. She was almost there. Monica scanned the trees.
Where should she go? Were the Red Guns watching all of the trees surrounding the property? How many Red Guns were there, exactly?
Seeing the barn in the moonlight, Monica made a quick decision and half raced, half limped toward it.
She could do it, she knew she could. Just a few more steps and she was safe!
Success! Monica reached for the heavy door and pulled it open slightly. She looked behind her but there was no movement. So far so good. Monica slipped inside the small opening and shut the door.
Breathing heavily, Monica slumped against the door. She had no more energy. She needed rest.
Just as her eyes closed, a light exploded in front of her and shattered the silky darkness.
"Oh my God!"