Hey y'all! Thank you all so much for reading this story! I also want to thank anyone who has reviewed, favorited, or followed my story. You guys are amazing and your kind words keep me writing! Anyways, here's chapter 4! Enjoy! :)
Scully followed the old woman's directions and took a right off the road where the woman had said, but she was dismayed when she didn't come across a small village of people. Instead, she came across another long stretch of windy road that lead her further and further into the Oregon woods. After about 20 miles of driving, she saw a small cabin to her left. It looked old and dilapidated, but there were signs that someone was living there; a car in the driveway and fresh flowers in the windowsill.
She pulled into the drive way and knocked on the door. It wasn't long before she heard footsteps on the other side of the door and then a friendly face of an older gentleman, peering through the screen door.
Scully smiled at the man, "Hi, look, this is kind of strange, but my name's Dana Scully and I'm looking for a village, or a, uh, small town. I ran into an older woman in the last town back, and she gave me directions to this village, but for the life of me I can't find it. It is very, very important that I find it."
The old man suddenly looked sad. He opened the screen door and gestured for Scully to come inside.
"Please. I think I can help find what your looking for."
For some reason Scully felt safe. The old man felt gentle and calm, much to the contrary of the old woman she had encountered earlier.
She walked inside and was surprised by what she saw: a quaint little cabin, neatly decorated, with a fireplace blazing in the corner. A small couch and chair were nestled in the corner near the fireplace, and she went to sit down. The old man sat in the chair opposite her and cleared his throat before he began speaking.
"My name is George Ackers and..."
"Wait. Mr. Ackers?" Scully remembered his name from Mulder's case file. "I'm a federal agent and my partner was sent here to look for you and your wife on a tax evasion case. He's the reason I'm here; he's gone missing."
Mr. Ackers nodded his head, "Yes, I am Mr. Ackers. My story is a long one, but I will try to make it as clear and concise as possible for the sake of time. My wife and I were part of a small village that had a mysterious secret. But I'll get to that part later. We were all very close. My wife and I had three sons, we were happy and healthy. One day, my youngest son left our village. He was a...troubled child. Always searching, never truly happy. Well, he got involved in a robbery and encountered two federal agents when he was fleeing the scene. They tried to bring him in peacefully, but he resisted and pulled a gun on one of the agents. The other agent reacted and shot my son, killing him.
"When that happened, our once peaceful, happy village went into a downward spiral. My wife called the town to a meeting that night, declaring that justice be served in the case of our son's death. As heartbroken as I was that our son had died, I knew that the result of what happened to him was completely his fault, not the agents involved. My wife didn't see it that way."
The old man stood and started pacing in front of the fireplace. He had Scully's undivided attention.
"I left our village, and have resided here for the last 5 years. I could not stand what my wife, and my village had become. People filled with revenge and hate. If your partner stumbled into their hands, I shudder to think what they will do to him."
The man paused but Scully still had one unanswered question.
"What was the mysterious secret?"
Mr. Ackers gave her a sad smile.
"Ah, yes, the most important piece of information. Our little village, for whatever reason, for much longer than I have been alive, has had a secret that no one knows about. For reasons unbeknownst to me, our village cannot be found by anyone unless that person is given precise directions by a member in our village. And if they don't, the road to the village will be invisible to them. And even if they managed to come across the village, at it's exact location, they wouldn't be able to see it, feel it, or even hear it. The people in the village wouldn't even be able to see the trespassers."
He could see that Scully was having a hard time believing him, her face was incredulous.
"I understand that this is hard to believe, but it is true. If you want to find your partner, you need directions to the village and I, unfortunately, cannot give them to you."
By the time the man had finished, Scully noticed the sun had set, the fireplace was now the sole source of light in the house. His story was so crazy, but for some reason Scully believed him. At this point, she'd believe anything to find Mulder.
"So, the old woman that I encountered..."
"Yes, Jane. She was my wife. And, believe it or not, she used the be the love of my life."
Scully suddenly felt sorry for the man. He was alone and had lost, not just one son, but all three and his wife. His pain was eminent.
"I need to get your wife to tell me where Mulder is. She's my only hope at finding him."
Mr. Ackers gave Scully a gentle smile.
"I'm afraid that cannot be. You may try, but I know that she will continue to lead you astray. They have one scapegoat, they don't need another."
"Well, there has to be a way I can get to him!" Scully was on her feet now.
"There is only one way." Mr. Ackers sighed. "I can take you to the exact location of the town. It might be possible that you can leave a message for your partner, explaining his strange predicament. If he can escape and run beyond the border of our village, where the strange invisible veil ends, you might be able to save him."
Scully collapsed back onto the couch. "But it...it sounds impossible. How is it possible for me to get a message to him?"
With this the man suddenly showed Scully a mischievous smile and a glimmer of hope was in his eyes.
"I think I have an idea."
He never imagined that his life would end like this. He had devoted his life to the unknown, the paranormal, the unexplained, and he had always thought that his death would be related to those things in some way. He never once imagined that it would be for reasons so, human; reasons that weren't based on conspiracies and lies.
Instead, he thought to himself, my death will be the result of a run of the mill case gone bad. A normal case that should have been in and out. Something that doesn't even have anything to do with the X-Files.
He would have laughed if it didn't hurt so much.
He was in the middle of a forest in some no name town in Oregon, tied to a tree, both arms stretched as far back behind him and around the tree as possible. He could feel warm blood slowly oozing down his face; the inability to wipe it off was driving him crazy.
Fire danced in his vision as he focused on the scene in front of him. A large fire, about 20 feet away, was burning bright and he could hear excited voices and chattering from the 15 or so people sitting around it. Small children were running, screaming and laughing around the fire; their joy was evident. Just beyond the fire was a small village of broken down houses and huts. It was like he had stepped back in time. And he almost wished that was the case; at least then he'd be dying for an X-File, something strange and unexplainable.
Unfortunately, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Apparently, the 'Initiation Ceremony' involved tying Mulder to a tree on the outskirts of town and leaving him there overnight. The sun had just peaked below the tree line and Mulder guessed he had been tied to the tree for about 2 hours. He could tell that his fortitude was beginning to crumble, his muscles were beginning to seize and cramp and the cold, frigid air was causing him to shiver uncontrollably. His mental state was even worse. His feelings of hope were quickly waning and he was beginning to feel like his fate really did rest in these people's hands.
As the night carried on, the sounds of laughter and talking occurred less and less and a eerie hush fell over the village. The sudden lack of sound startled Mulder as he tried to make out what the people were doing. A rush of fear welled up inside him as he saw the people walking towards him, the old woman in the front; she had something in her hand. As they got closer, Mulder realized with horror what she had in her hand: a metal brand. He realized that the brand looked like the letters 'A' and 'J' overlapped. It looked to be about 4 inches by 4 inches.
The old woman stalked closer and closer to Mulder, the brand held firmly in her hand. He struggled to break free of his bonds, but they were too tight. He could feel a warmth in his wrists where the rope was cutting into his skin. The old woman held the brand over his ribcage, his right side. It hovered over his skin and Mulder could feel the warmth of it. The air was so cold, it almost felt pleasant. Almost.
The woman put her hand on Mulder's bare chest and pushed him up against the tree as hard as she could. Mulder held his breath as he saw the brand come closer, until it finally made contact with his skin. The first thing he noticed was the smell of burnt hair and then he felt the pain. It was pain unlike anything he had ever felt before. He had tried to mentally prepare himself for the pain, but it was so much more than he had expected.
He didn't know how long she held the brand to his side, but it felt like he had been screaming in agony for hours on hours.
"Please...please...stop..."
He knew they were his words but he didn't realize he had spoken them. He felt like his world was collapsing around him and he could feel his vision begin to fade; the fire off in the distance was becoming an orange haze. The pain was fading but he could still see the brand being pressed into his side. He looked into the crazed eyes of the woman before him, her smile a kind of evil he'd never known before.
That was the last thing he saw before he finally passed out.
