Her motionless body was outlined by the shadows of the night. His footsteps echoed through the empty warehouse. With only the light of his flashlight to guide him, he saw what he dreaded the most. Her body was surrounded by a sea of her own blood with more still escaping from the hole cause by the bullet.
His hands hesitated to touch her body but he had to know. No sounds escaped her lips and her eyes remained closed. Was she or wasn't she? Her skin felt cool against his fingers as he searched for a pulse. There was none.
Shrouded in disbelief, he began to shake the body violently hoping that somehow he could jolt her awake. Soon the night sky was colored with the red and blue lights of police cars and ambulances. Medics pushed their way through the crowd and had the pry the dead woman out of the man's arms. Noting that there was nothing they could do for either of them, the medics coved the woman with a white cloth and placed her in an ambulance.
The man stood, silently watching, drowning out the world around him. His entire life slipped through his fingers and he fell to the ground, penetrating the noise of the officers with his own glass-shattering scream.
Mulder jolted upright and sweat drenched his body. His breathing was intense as he relived his dream. He turned to look at Scully and found her sitting next to him, rubbing his back with her hand.
"It's all right. I'm here," she said, trying her best to comfort him. He buried his head in her chest and wept. Of all the nightmares, this one was by far the worst. In the others, he at least had a chance to save her life but in this one, every chance was taken away from him.
Taking note of the time, Scully helped Mulder out of bed and led him to the bathroom. She drew him a bath and peeled the sweat soaked clothes off of his body. Mulder, though aware of Scully's actions, remained dazed. Fragments from his dream continuously haunted him as he sat in the tub.
Scully gently washed Mulder's body; her eyes never once leaving him. The warm water helped ease the tension in his muscles but his eyes remained glazed. When she was done, Scully helped Mulder out of the tub and dried him off. Her actions reminded Mulder of his mother when he was younger. She was doing everything for him and had begun dressing him. Her soft hands sent electricity up his spine and only caused him to sink in his depression deeper.
"Mulder, talk to me." Scully stared desperately into Mulder's eyes. She was used to him shutting her out but it was killing her this time. "Please, tell me."
"I can't," Mulder said coldly. He pulled Scully's arms off his body and went into the kitchen, leaving her alone in the bedroom. Dumfounded, Scully plopped down into the bed and hid beneath the sheets. She had no intention of going to work that day.
In the kitchen, Mulder made himself a cup of coffee. He hated himself for being so cold to Scully but he couldn't bear to tell her what his dreams were about. Wanting to get away, Mulder went back into the bedroom to retrieve his things. He could hear Scully sniffling under the covers. How desperately he wanted to comfort her but he was not ready for a confrontation.
"Scully..." Mulder tried to find the right words to say. "I'll tell Skinner you're not coming in today." He failed and left her alone.
Scully heard the door close. She dragged herself out of bed and felt a cool breeze pass by. Thinking that the window was open, Scully turned around but saw that the window was closed. Her eyes scanned the room and saw an ephemeral man standing in the corner. His lips moved as if he was trying to tell her something.
"Randy?" Her breathing became quicker as she neared him. Her hand reached out for him but he quickly disappeared.
A loud sigh escaped her lips and Scully decided to clear her mind in the shower. She had to talk to Mulder tonight. She had kept secrets from him too long; he deserved to know the truth even though he kept the truth from her. The beating of the water against her back relaxed Scully as she contemplated what to do for the rest of the day.
As she stepped out of the shower, the phone rang. Scully quickly covered herself with a robe and went to answer the phone.
"Hello?" She was slightly out of breath.
There was no answer.
"Hello?" She said this time with more conviction.
There was a click on the other side. Scully stared at the phone in confusion before hanging it up.
It's nothing, she told herself. The phone rang again.
"Hello?" She was irritated this time.
"Dana, is that how you greet your mother?"
"Sorry mom…what are you doing calling at this hour?"
"I got a call from Fox. He said you two had a fight this morning?"
Leave it to Mulder to make everything right.
"It's nothing really mom. It's just…"
"Just what honey?"
"Um…are you free this afternoon? I don't feel right talking about over the phone."
"How's 11:00? We'll meet for lunch."
"That sounds great mom. I'll meet you at your place."
They arranged the finer details of their meeting and said good-bye. Scully readied herself for the outgoing. She left earlier than necessary; she wanted to stop somewhere first.
On the way to the cemetery, Scully noticed an olive green car trailing her closely. Feeling that she knew the driver of the car, Scully quickly turned her head around to catch a better glimpse of the driver. The man in the car seemed slightly familiar but she could not place a name to the face. Scully was forced out of her thoughts when the olive green car bumped into her.
Though the jolt was light, Scully was still propelled forward and into the steering wheel. She momentarily lost control of her car but quickly recovered and sped up. Not surprisingly, the olive green car also increased its speed and soon it was directly behind Scully's car once more.
What was meant to be a reminiscent trip to the cemetery became a deadly game of follow the leader. Whatever Scully did, the driver behind her quickly followed, never giving her a chance for the element of surprise. Suddenly the driver sped up his pace and was driving in the next lane. His eyes contained fire as he inched his car nearer to Scully's.
Now she was trapped. On one side was the menace driver and on the other was a row of trees and decorated the desolate highway. She tried to speed up again but the driver quickly followed suit. They stayed that way for a good while, driving side by side, with nothing to change their game. Eyeing her cell phone, Scully quickly pressed the speed dial and waited for Mulder to answer.
Whatever tension had passed between them that morning was gone. She only wanted to hear his voice and derive strength from it.
"Mulder."
The sound of his voice already made the situation a hundred times better.
"I'm being followed."
Scully cut straight to the chase.
"What?"
He was confused.
"There's a car following me. Actually, he's more trapping me into a box."
It was obvious she was losing her cool.
"Where are you?"
"On the way to the cemetery."
Why was she going to the cemetery? Mulder thought.
"Can you get off anywhere?"
He was worried but kept his cool.
"Nah…"
She was cut off. The driver of the olive green car finally made his move and slammed into the passenger side of Scully's car. The force of the impact, however, was not enough to get her off the road.
"Scully! What happened?"
He could feel sweat dripping down his face. The scenario felt so much like his nightmares.
"He rammed me."
Before Mulder could get another word into the conversation, he heard the crunching of metal.
"Scully!"
The driver had rammed into Scully's car once more, this time with more force than the last. This caused her car to fly off the road and into the row of trees. Scully's eyes were full of fear as her car collided into the nearest tree. The airbag quickly inflated at the impact but did nothing to prevent injury.
Scully's head had hit the window upon impact causing the window to crack. Blood flowed out slowly from the cut on her head and her eyes fluttered. Mulder's worried voice could be heard from the cell phone; his fear growing each time Scully did not answer.
A few moments passed with only the sound of Mulder's voice. Somewhere in the depths of her head, Scully could hear his voice and though she tried, she could not make a sound. She painfully moved her head and opened her eyes.
"Mulder," she mumbled. It was so soft that she could barely hear it and was surprised when Mulder responded.
"Dana! What happened?"
Scully reached to grab the phone that had fallen into the passenger's seat when the driver of the olive green car opened the door. Her head sprang up at the sound and caused a hair-splitting headache. She let out a slight gasp when the man's hand tugged at her arm. Scully used her other arm to attack him but he commandeered that arm too. He violently pushed her back into her seat and unbuckled her seat belt.
On the other side of the line, Mulder could hear the struggle as he sat helplessly in his office. The driver of the car punched Scully in the face and left her dazed as he dragged her out of the car. As soon as she was out of the car, he dropped her to the ground and kicked the phone away. Mulder was still franticly shouting Scully's name.
The wet grass beneath her pulled Scully out of her trance. Her head throbbed and yet it was overly aware of what was happening to her. She spotted the man's leg from the corner of her eye and buried her teeth in it. The man let was a blood-curdling scream which was more out of the surprise than actual pain.
Mulder, still hanging on and listening through his phone, heard every scream. Each time his heart imagined the worse. The man pulled Scully up from the ground and slammed her violently into her car. Her body arched in pain but her face refused to display what she felt. Taking advantage of her situation, the man pulled out a syringe from his pocket and quickly injected its contents into Scully.
As Scully fell once more to the ground, the man noticed the sparkling ring on her left hand. He caught her arm and pulled the ring off examining it under the sun. He heard Scully utter a soft "no" and he dropped the ring on the ground next to her.
Before drifting off into unconsciousness Scully uttered Mulder's name one last time. The man stepped on the phone and all Mulder heard was a dial tone.