CHAPTER 13 – TWO COPIES, NOT GOOD
Ranting: One thing you probably might have learnt by now from this story, is that a boy who prefers to pig out in front of Cartoon Network rather than keeping his promises of fresh updates to his very first online story, does not usually keep his promises. Duh. Anyway, here I am, with this fresh chapter. The last half-month has been filled with activities. Before 17th June, I've been rushing to pack for vacation to the Philippines. After 17th June, I've been rushing to finish studying a chapter in Organic Chemistry. Quite peaceful here in the Philippines, you know. R&R please. This is the first chapter I've tried to inject some humour into. Please tell me if it is successful or not.
Disclaimer: If The X-Files were Buffy, I hope Giles is Skinner.
Curious Fact which is not of Much Importance (CFMI): I contorted Nayle's name from the thingy that you hit into a wall with a hammer.
Story Begins ... Here:
OFFICER JAMES OLZECK'S OFFICE
1st FEBRUARY 1994
11:05 A.M.
James remained seated in the chair until Nayle left. Nayle had not noticed that his father had not died, he had been only too happy to realize that he was one victim away from completing his cycle, to live for another 5 years, and then go on another killing spree.
When Nayle disappeared in green mist, James (or rather his faded form) walked to his office desk (floated, actually). Touching the head, his faded form began to dissolve into green mist, and the green mist – as if sucked into a whirlpool – began to be 'sucked' into the head.
The eyes of the decapitated head sprang open, the eyes green. Slowly, out of the neck, the blood globules began transforming into flesh, until the whole base of the neck was covered with flesh. The head upturned, literally standing on itself. Then, the process of reincarnation began.
The neck base began to bubble as if it were hot boiling flesh-coloured liquid. Two of the 'bubbles' began to expand, encompassing the other bubbles, until the bubbles burst and the neck now sported two feet. The feet began to grow out until the head looked like a ball with two hairy brown sticks. The legs continued to move outwards, forming the paunch, the arms, the biceps and finally James.
Now that James had grown back, his head could no longer stand the extra weight, and the torque caused him to fall sideward on the desk. Finally, his eyes stop flashing green. He sat up on the desk and stood up on the floor. Papers from the desk fell to the floor, but James didn't notice as he looked at himself, as new as ever. He winced as he got the feelings of the various parts of his body back. The process was quite painful, he had only done it once before. He then realized that he was naked, not a position for a police officer. Hurrying, he rushed for a change of clothes in a closet in his office. Since his wife died, he had been living in a single small apartment. Sometimes, his work caused him to work late nights. Aware of this, he had kept several police suits in a closet behind an oak-brown door in his office. He quickly slipped into his clothes, his bones still creaking from their first usages.
JAMESTOWN HOTEL
JAMESTOWN
1st FEBRUARY 1994
11:01 A.M.
After Olzeck left, Scully noticed the grey residue on the floor. Moving towards the bed, she picked up the grey residue, and her hand seemed to lose its body temperature. Dropping it, she looked around at Mulder. He was still standing behind the door, gun drawn.
Mulder lowered his gun, placed it in his holster, and moved towards the bed too. He reached under the bed and pulled Terry out. He no longer felt cooler, perhaps because Terry was not covered in grey now. Shivering a little, Terry laid himself on the bed, and covered himself in a warm sky-blue fur blanket. Scully felt his head, and got no indication that he had a cold.
"It's from the excess force my body utilized when it detected Nayle."
"How can your body detect Nayle, Terry?" Mulder asked curiously.
"It's like that. Motonists can detect unmotonables and vice-versa. I'm an unmotonable."
"So, what do these.. uh.. 'unmotonables' do?" Scully said, scepticism still in her voice.
"They're supposed to fight against motonists. You see, motonists are driven by the desires they have at the moment. However, these desires are amplified in their actions. Our duty is to quell these desires and make it easier to kill motonists."
It was as if a light had been flicked on in Mulder's brain. Looking to Scully, he said, "So that was why Nayle is killing all his classmates! Since he was picked on most, the resentment in him remained and built to a crescendo when he attained the power of motons!" Saying so, he raised his curled fists high up in the air in a gesture of fulfilment and happiness.
Scully looked at him with a mixed expression of surprise, pity and wonder. "Calm down, Mulder. That still doesn't explain other vital aspects of this case: why he is leaving Terry to be killed later. You told us, didn't you, Terry, that Nayle tied you up?"
"With green ropes."
"Green?"
"That made it easier for me to remove them," Terry said, with a 'duh' element in his voice.
Ignoring this 'duh' element, Scully continued, "Oh. Well, anyway, the key to all of this seems to lie in the book you keep talking to us about. Don't we have a lead, Mulder?"
"Yeah, Scully." Scrounging in his pocket, he realized a crumpled wad of paper that Terry-Nayle gave to him. Smoothening it open, the wad read:
WELLIS CAMTROPHE
555-0659
"Let's follow this lead after we meet Olzeck, Mulder. He's expecting us," Scully suggested.
"All right, but I don't feel safe leaving Terry around when Nayle is running free. Let's take him with us, Scully. He can stay in the car."
"Right, Mulder, and we can also tell everything we know to Olzeck. Perhaps he still has the book, and can lend it to us for reading."
"Good idea, Agents Mulder and Scully. I haven't finished reading the book myself, due to life commitments. Perhaps we can find some more answers to the questions that lie ahead of us in this case." Terry's voice was uncharacteristically bubbly.
"Terry, stop stealing my dialogue."
GROUND FLOOR
JAMESTOWN HOTEL
1st FEBRUARY 1994
11:32 A.M.
Scully was the first to get off the elevator, and the first to get out of the building. A gust of cold air hit her face and ruffled her silky red hair. She had been inside too long. She wanted to get some fresh ai-y-y-y..
Her sight landed on the damaged car that was once Olzeck's. From her point of view, she noticed that the top of the car was damaged, contusions the shape of semi-spheroids bulging outwards. Mulder and Terry had just come up behind her.
All three ran toward the car. Scully reached there, again, first. Practicing medical autopsy, Scully was not new to distended, disfigured, even dismembered bodies. This was a first time she had seen a decapitated head however. Feeling sick again, she looked at Mulder's and Terry's reactions. Both had the same sick expression as she did. However, Mulder and Scully had witnessed this sort of phenomena – that is why they were on the X-Files. Terry, however, was a newcomer to this. Sickened and disgusted, he backed up, his head began to swoon until Mulder and Scully blurred and faded into black, and Terry's head thudded against the rocky earth.
Blood began to flow from a small wound in Terry's head. Realizing what had just happened, the agents sprung into action. Scully knelt beside Terry, pulling a white handkerchief from her pocket. She folded the handkerchief into 32, and used the resultant cotton pad as a cotton gauze bandage and applied it to the small wound on Terry's head.
Meanwhile, Mulder flipped open his cellphone and dialled 555-5313.
555-5313
11:34 A.M.
James had just buttoned his shirt up, when his desk phone rung. Reaching for it, he picked it up and said (coughing as his throat muscles began their first actions), "Hello."
"Hello, Officer Olzeck. Are you all right? You sound sick."
"Oh, hi, Agent Mulder. Nothing much, my office is dusty. Why did you call?"
"I would like you to come over to the Jamestown Hotel pronto. There's been another murder."
"OK, Agent Mulder. I will, however, take some time to come there. My car has been stolen."
Looking at the car behind him, Mulder asked, "Is it a Blue GMC Cadillac, Officer?"
"Yes, Agent, how did you know?"
"You could call it intuition. All I know is that your car is right now here containing a dead body."
"Oh. OK, I'll be there in 10 minutes, Agent."
Saying so, James left his office and the precinct. He flagged down a passing taxi.
BESIDE OLZECK'S CAR
11:35 A.M.
"I just called Officer Olzeck, Scully. How's his condition?" Mulder said, nodding towards Nelson.
"Just a mild concussion, Mulder. Apparently, that body caused him to black out. He's still breathing. He's unconscious, he'll be awake in a few hours. Who do you think that body belongs to, Mulder?"
"I was just going to find out, Scully." Saying so, he reached for the door of the car. Opening the door, he looked inside. The body was sprawled on the front seats, blood spilling from its neck on to the seats, skin fibres jutting out stuck together sanguinarily. The body wore a police uniform, which implied it was a policeman who was killed. The entire setup gave a not-so-pleasant smell to the inside of the car. Crinkling his nose, Mulder began searching the pockets of the victim. The front pockets revealed nothing. Turning the body over, he found a wallet inside the back pocket.
4 MINUTES LATER
"But, Mulder, this couldn't be him. It really couldn't. Not unless he has the ability to be in two places at once. He just talked to you on the phone, right? How can he be dead and still talk to you on the phone?"
"That's the important question I think we should ask whoever-is-coming-here, Scully. I think you should look closely at the car, and make some deductions, Scully, because that's what you normally do."
Glaring at him, Scully marched to the car, Mulder close at her heels. Looking at the inside, Mulder pointed the bumps at the top of the car to Scully.
"Notice those, Scully? Notice the red blood lining each of those bumps have. My guess is that before this body was decapitated..."
"...the bumps were caused by the head being hit against the top of the car. The force could have decapitated it."
"Right, Scully. Unless this man was mentally disturbed, this proves my theory that motons control 'motion'. So the culprit must have been..." Mulder's voice trailed off, waiting for Scully to deduce his expected answer.
"Nayle," Scully had scored on this question. Before Mulder could confirm her answer or not, however, a screech behind him told him that Olzeck had arrived. Turning back, he saw Officer Olzeck paying the taxi fare. After paying, Olzeck strode over to where Mulder was standing.
"Good afternoon, Agent Mulder. What brings me here?"
"This, Officer." Saying so, agent led officer to the car and decapitated body. Olzeck put on a face of disgust and wrenched his eyes away. "Any ID on the body?"
"Surprisingly, yes. I found this," Mulder took out the wallet, "And this leads me to one question which I want to ask you."
Olzeck recognized his wallet. Fearful, he tried to put on a face that opposed his feelings, and said, "Shoot."
Opening the wallet, Mulder revealed:
This wallet belongs to:
Name: JAMES OLZECK
Profession: Police Officer
Address: 75-B Toneltoni St., Warren, Rhode Island, U.S.A.
"Can you tell us, Officer, how we found your body?"