Thanks all for reviewing my story. It was a real encouragement for me to continue with this story. Hope the formatting is better. Get ready for more gruesome murders and twists ahead. Here we go.

FBI HEADQUARTERS

29TH JANUARY 1994

10:06 AM

"Come in", Mulder said, in response to a knock on his office door.

"Good morning, Agent Mulder", Scully greeted, closing the door.

"Good morning", Mulder said, chomping his favourite sunflower seeds.

"So. what's with the message you sent me? Something about a gruesome murder", Scully remarked.

"It is gruesome. like most X-Files anyway."

"Come on, Mulder. you know me, I'm used to it.I do do autopsies, you know."

But Mulder wasn't listening. he was busy loading slides into his projector.

The X-Files were a kind of junkyard in the FBI - a junkyard for paranormal cases, cases that had no explanation, cases that would rather be thrown away than perused. Agent Mulder had been fascinated with these so-called X- Files, ever since aliens had abducted his sister, Samantha. He also had this distinct hunch, well, more than a hunch, that the X-Files had something (a lot, really) to do with secret government doings. Agent Scully had been sent by the FBI watchdogs to spy on Mulder, and to search for any possible excuses to shut down the X-Files. Now, however, Scully had been drawn into the web of the paranormal, though still stubbornly maintaining her scientific method stance.

Mulder flicked on his projector, a beam of light illuminated the white screen in front. He showed a picture of 15 boys sitting in a group.

"Class of 1984, Warren Newtonian Mechanics Engineering College", he said. He then showed a close-up of one of the boys sitting there.

"Jachson Walmick, high-flier, class leader," Mulder continued. He then switched to show a slide of the burnt blue bus. "Died yesterday in a bus crash in VSN Street, Warren, Rhode Island," he described.

"So what does this have to do with the X- Files, Mulder?" Scully queried.

In response, Mulder changed slides showing the upper half of Walmick's body.

"He died in a peculiar fashion," Mulder explained, "His body was sliced into half." To accentuate the last 6 words, he switched slides to show the lower half of Walmick's body. Scully's stomach writhed inside her. "So is this what we're investigating? How he died?" Mulder nodded his head slowly.

"This compares favourably with a series of killings 5 years ago . 6 people of the class of 1984 died inexplicable and gruesome deaths. The murders all happened in lonely areas, at exactly the same time, though no pattern of dates is seen."

After saying this, Mulder showed the close-ups of different boys in the class of 1984 picture.

"George Ancival - Died in a machine factory . sliced to death. How he got onto the conveyor belt into the machine - Unexplained"

"Richard Belgire - Died while along with his child on a merry-go-round. Even though the merry-go-round moved at normal speed, he was burnt to death."

"Roche Wenith - Died during a cycling race. His cycle just stopped downhill, according to eye-witnesses, and he slipped WHAM! into an oak tree. His skull collapsed in his helmet."

"Tony Timothy - Died while driving a truck. He had gone crashing through the windshield and the hood. Body found similar to Walmick's".

"Elan Norethe - Died while climbing a tree to take a mango. A branch fell on his eye, and literally took his eye, as well as his brain, out."

"Neville Nebrasco - Died in a boat .. actually drowned. How a light boat can drown . unexplained. The boat was exhumed later . no trace of any hole or anything. His body was exhumed too . no explanation for the thousands of bore holes on his skin."

Scully would have puked thinking about all these, however, being with Mulder, she had seen some equally gruesome murders before, even worse.

"So what's next, Mulder? Any weird theories, which could explain these murders? Awry alien experiments?"

"Actually, no, Scully. I got us two tickets to Rhode Island. We're leaving in 2 hours. Get your bags packed. "

Scully left the office, making a mental note to buy sickness pills from the nearest pharmacy.

Review please ... and help me better this story. I'm sorry if I'm a bit too . well. boastful about the 'gruesome-ity' of the murders .. that was the only way to lengthen this chapter. *wink*