One More, Two More
-SPOV
"Agent Scully?"
"Yes?" Scully answered distractedly, the phone call interrupting her thoughts.
"This is Assistant Director Jones of the VCS. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but there's been an explosion."
"Oh my God! Mulder?" She interrupted, heart racing.
"Agent Mulder was reported to be in the building at the time of the explosion. He hasn't been found."
"Where's A.D. Skinner? I need to talk to him right away!" Scully said, desperate to get information from a source she trusted.
"Agent Scully…"
"Don't argue! Tell me where I can reach him!"
"Agent Scully, he was also reported to be in the building." Scully paled and collapsed back into her chair.
"Agent Scully?"
"I'm here." She whispered.
"The director assured me that a substitute will be provided at Quantico, and you can join the search immediately, if you wish." The man said gently, heart sinking as he remembered his own partner's tragic accident.
"Yes, yes. I'll be there." She said weakly, hanging up the phone with an eerie click of finality.
If they were dead… Mulder, Mulder would not have stopped, she knew that. She shouldn't have told Skinner, begged Skinner to watch over him. She knew Mulder would do as he pleased, and now… The only people she trusted were gone. And Skinner's death was her fault.
No, no they weren't dead. She would know if Mulder died. As illogical and irrational as it sounded, she would KNOW. And Skinner… He wasn't dead either. The connection wasn't as strong, yet it was there. That comfortable, familiar presence in the back of her mind, like the warmth of a winter sun on the coldest day of the year. She had to find them.
"Agent Scully! We found something!" A man shouted. Scully ran towards the searcher, carefully avoiding the flood-light illuminated debris.
"What? What did you find?" She asked, slowing to a stop in front of him. He held a twisted and charred pair of glasses in his gloved fingers.
"Do you recognize them?" He asked, holding them towards the light. Scully nodded.
"They're Skinner's." She said carefully, running through the ramifications of the find. They were here. Now the question was, did they survive?
Everything in the large cafeteria had been incinerated by the blast or the fires it caused, and the piles of rubble large enough to hold a body had been investigated. Unless the bomb had completely disintegrated them both, which was highly unlikely given the relatively small size, then they were still alive somewhere. But where? And why hadn't they contacted anyone? Scully had ordered round-the-clock observation of any John Does in nearby hospitals, but no one matching either of their descriptions had come in. What happened after the bomb? And where were they now? Mulder was known to take off with little thought, but Scully couldn't imagine Skinner forgetting something as important as verifying his survival.
A forensic team, growing impatient with the firemen's overzealous safety precautions, had moved their search down the hall, looking for signs that the men had escaped the blast. They found it. Bullets from two different guns, both FBI caliber, were found embedded in the cinderblock walls of a nearby hallway. An entire clip had been fired towards the far side of the hallway, but only two rounds had been fired in return. There was also a small amount of blood. Scully examined the evidence in confusion. How did a bomb blast turn into a fight at the O.K. Corral?
"Spread out!" She ordered. "I want a thorough search of this entire building! Look for blood, more slugs, or possibly an empty cartridge. I want you back here fast with your results! Now, go!" She finished, taking off in her self-assigned direction.
The crackle of her two-way interrupted her furious search.
"Agent Scully?" A masculine voice called through the static.
"Here. What have you got?"
"We found something in area 3-B. You better get down here." The man said mysteriously, a worrisome tone in his voice.
"Be right there."
"What is it? What did you find?" She asked breathlessly, high heels clicking harshly against the cement of the corridor. The young agent stood, revealing a large shotgun ominously fallen to the floor.
"It's been fired." Is all he said, watching her reaction carefully. Her silent face revealed nothing of the turmoil of her thoughts.
"Is there any blood?" She managed to ask in a deceptively calm voice. Her heartbeat seemed to slow as she waited for an answer.
"No." Her body nearly sagged in relief, and then tightened again as she heard his next words. "But we haven't found the bullets."
4
