Hey guys! I made a map of the town, but I guess I can't post images on here, so hopefully I've explained it enough to make sense!
Thanks again for the reviews and follows by the way. Here's chapter 8! :)
Scully woke up to the sunshine lightly filtering through her window. She stretched out her arms and yawned, savoring the cool morning breeze that was drifting through the open window. With a jolt, her eyes snapped open and she shot up, finally remembering where she was. She ran her hand through her hair as she recollected the events that led her to this point. Darting to her feet, she rushed to her open window and peered through the bars, looking for Mulder. He was now sitting upright, leaning against the side of his cell; she could see him holding his arm against his injured ribcage.
It dawned on her that she still had the pocket knife and suddenly, she had an idea.
She bolted to a dresser that was sitting next to her bed, and rifled through the drawers. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found what she was looking for: a piece of paper and a pencil.
Furiously, she wrote a note, folded it, and stuffed it in her pocket.
A nagging thought came to her mind.
Why did they leave the knife? They took my gun when they searched me, but I'd forgotten about the knife..."
Before she had too much time to dwell on it, she jumped as someone opened the door; she turned to look as a woman poked her head in.
"Miss Jane would like to have a word with you." She gave Scully a forced smile and opened the door all the way, motioning for Scully to follow her.
Tentatively, Scully followed the woman as she led her through a narrow hallway. Scully noticed that there was a bathroom across from her room and another room with a closed door. She glance behind her and saw a stairway to the left and an open door which appeared to lead to a kitchen; she could see two small children sitting at the dining table. She looked ahead at the woman leading her and it dawned on her that this was probably her house.
She looks so normal, Scully thought to herself. How did she end up in a place like this?
Scully cleared her throat as they walked through the front door.
"May I ask you a question?"
When the woman didn't answer, Scully decided to press on.
"How long have you lived here?"
The woman's answer was abrupt. "My whole life. We all have."
Scully nodded her head and realized they were walking to Jane's house, the biggest one. She kept looking over at Mulder and saw that he was now watching them; she felt a pang of distress for him.
As they approached Jane's house, Scully saw her sitting in a rocking chair on her porch; she motioned for Scully to sit in the one next to her.
The woman who led Scully suddenly turned and began walking back to her house. Scully felt she had no choice but to oblige Jane's request.
She sat in the chair awkwardly, not sure of what to say or if she should say anything at all. The silence was becoming uncomfortable so Scully opened her mouth to speak when Jane blurted out, "I don't expect you to understand all this."
More silence and Scully tensed.
"My husband, George, and I started this town many, many years ago. We were young and foolish then and we meddled with dark and evil forces."
The old woman shuddered and Scully was rapt.
"I won't go into details. I wouldn't even know how to explain it. But somehow we unleashed a force on this town that was unlike anything I'd ever dreamed possible. Our little village became invisible to the outside world, and it to us. At first we thought it was a curse but, after a while, we grew to appreciate the power that we had. The force only affected our village, our homes, but the rest of the town outside it was unaffected so we worked outside the force. We opened the gas station and started up a little store, that's how we get our supplies and money. It was all so perfect."
Scully let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and glance up at Mulder, who was still watching from afar. The woman continued.
"My son was... discontent with our way of life. He wanted to explore the world around him. He was restless, like a caged animal. He was murdered looking for happiness outside of our safe little town. Murdered by your kind."
Scully opened her mouth to protest then immediately shut it, reminding herself that it would do more harm than good.
"Shortly after, my husband left too. Our town became too closed in for him; he said he felt like he couldn't breath here anymore. He said that...that whatever force was keeping us safe, was also changing us somehow, making us different. So he left and I was left in charge. Since those events, our town has been in a state of unrest."
She paused and let out a deep sigh. Scully was now on the edge of her seat.
"Then your partner came waltzing into our laps and I couldn't resist. Finally, a way to put people's minds at rest. Finally, someone who could serve the punishment for my son's death. A way bring serve justice."
She looked at Scully with kind eyes.
"Like I said, I don't expect you to understand. But you and your partner can never leave here, ever."
Scully looked around, confusion spread across her face. Knowing what she already knew, she fully believe Jane's story but she also believed that she was crazy. She believed what Jane had said about George, that the force was changing the residents. It seemed like Jane was teetering between sanity and insane, cruel and kind; she was being pulled in opposite directions.
"You are free, however, to live and roam our town as you wish. You haven't done any wrong."
Scully decided to try to reason with her.
"But, neither has Mulder. Punishing him just doesn't make any sense. It isn't justice if an innocent man pays for the crimes of another."
The woman chuckled. "Your partner has already received his sentence, there's no hope trying to convince me. He will live the remainder of his days to do our bidding and to be punished for my son's death."
She is crazy, Scully thought to herself.
She looked again at Mulder and saw that he was still watching them. It could have been her imagination, but he seemed to be slumped over more. Scully racked her brain, trying to think of the best way to play this situation.
"At least..." She composed herself, "at least let me examine my partner. I'm a medical doctor, let me make sure he doesn't die on you."
The old woman smiled kindly at Scully. "There is a first aid kit in the kitchen under the sink. You may retrieve it and tend to your partner."
"Thank you..." Scully breathed.
She ran into the kitchen, quickly found the first aid kit, and ran to Mulder's cell. She glanced behind her and realized that Jud was following her closely. When she arrived, Jud pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked Mulder's door and let Scully in. She walked in as Jud closed the door, locked it again, and sat in a chair that was near the firepit, just within earshot.
Scully turned her attention to Mulder, who was sitting, leaning against the bars, his arm still around his ribcage.
"Hey Scully, fancy seeing you here." He smirked.
She couldn't help but smile a little. Leave it to Mulder to find humor in every situation.
She knelt down next to him and quickly surveyed his injuries.
His face was bruised and one eye was nearly swollen shut. He had a large gash above his left eye and was sporting several small cuts on his face. His torso was also bruised and he had several abrasions, not to mention small moderate burn marks all over his body. She gently pulled Mulder toward her, away from the bars, so she could see his back.
"Oh, Mulder..."
She inhaled sharply when she saw the damage done by Jud the previous night. His back and the back of his arms were covered in welts and bruises. He was a wreck.
She gently eased him back against the bars and moved his arm away from his ribcage, glad to see there weren't any protruding bones but she felt anger well inside her when she saw what the brand was.
Jane's initials.
She gently felt his ribcage, then sighed and looked Mulder in the eyes, all traces of humor were long gone.
"I don't think any of your ribs are broken, just fractured. Have you coughed up any blood at all?"
Mulder slowly shook his head. "No. But it sure hurts like hell."
Scully gave him a weak smile. "I don't doubt it."
Mulder returned her smile and reached for her hand, squeezing it tight.
They sat like that for a long time before Scully opened the first aid kit and started working on Mulder. She fixed him up the best that she could, but she just hoped he didn't say anything else that would cause him more pain. Before she left, she kissed him on the forehead squeezed his hand. Jud escorted her back to the house where she was being locked up at. The woman who lived there informed Scully that they were eating dinner and Scully obliged, unsure of when her next chance would be to eat.
As she sat there at the dinner table, eating with a strange family she knew nothing about, she still couldn't believe how unbelievable their situation was in. She chuckled to herself.
If case deserves to be an X-file, this one sure does.
Mulder watched Scully walk away, eternally grateful for her being there for him, but not happy that she was there. The last thing he ever wanted was for her to get mixed up in this situation.
At least they only seem to be interested in me.
He looked up as Jud escorted Scully to one of the houses and started walking away, towards Jane's house. Mulder's hand was clenched on his lap and once he was sure that Jud was out of sight enough, he uncurled his fist; there was a note inside.
Mulder unfolded the note and read it, the handwriting was sloppy, but unmistakable:
Mulder, I don't know if you've come to this conclusion yet yourself, but I can say with certainty, that we are somehow caught in the middle of a strange force that is keeping this town invisible to outsiders. The outside world is invisible to them and they are invisible to it. Beyond that, outsiders can't enter without precise directions from a resident of the town or, as I've found out first hand, by a resident pulling you in. I don't have time to elaborate, but Jane's husband lives a few miles from here, and he's the reason I know all this and that I'm here in the first place. I managed to leave him my cell phone with indirect instructions to call Skinner and explain our situation. With everything I said previously being true, I know that Skinner won't be able to get us out because he can't come in, but I would feel better about escaping if the whole Bureau is waiting for us outside. I'm sure you were already thinking the same thing, we don't really have a choice but to escape. I don't know when we'll get a good opportunity, but it'll have to be at night and we'll have to be sneaky. I'll try to alert you somehow when the time is right. That's all I have time for for now. Hang on Mulder, we're going to get of this.
P.s.
Make sure that you destroy this note and hide the evidence.
Mulder put down the note and smiled. For the first time since his hellish first day here, Mulder felt hope and it felt good. Before, it was all up to him but now he had Scully and he felt that together they could do anything.
Skinner's first impression of George was that he was an odd fellow; his story certainly was. He stood looking at the tree that George had described in his story and was wondering if this was all a waste of time. He knew that Mulder believed in all this science fiction crap, but he sure as hell didn't. Still, he knew Mulder and Scully were missing, and this was their only lead.
When the team had arrived, he received permission from George to search his property, but they found no traces of Mulder and Scully. As far as he could tell, his story checked out. He knew that George had gotten Scully's phone somehow, and the forensic team and found traces of Mulder's blood at the nearby gas station.
George had told him that their only hope of getting in and saving them was to wait for one of the residents to come out, grab them, and force them to bring them in, one by one. It was a flimsy plan at best, but Skinner decided to go along with it for now.
So now all they could do was wait.
