Death

5.35AM- open land somewhere in Venezuela

The front of the plane crashed head first into the ground. Its back end was extended in the air and the roof had basically come off. Some of it was violently swinging backwards and forwards in the breeze.

The engines were turning dangerously and were sucking various leaves and debris into them and causing them to rupture.

Dead bodies littered the ground. The cockpit was clearly completely demolished. No one would have survived at the front of the plane.

Dana Scully's body lay in an unnatural position underneath an air plane chair which forced her deep into the ground- however, it was this chair which had saved her life.

The crash had occurred about twenty minutes before she came to. Scully slowly blinked as the area around her came into view very slowly and then she suddenly felt an extremely painful stab or pain in her left side, then her left arm and then her whole body started to ache. Scully felt tears run down her face as she felt the shock and pain fill her body. She couldn't control the tears.

Dust was covering her face and she frowned in concentration as she tried to get her breathing back in a steady rhythm. Scully's face contorted in pain as she attempted to move the chair which was holding her down. She tried to figure out if she was seriously injured or bleeding, the only thing she could think of in her shocked state was her broken arm, which she vaguely remembered from being in the plane and a large head wound as her vision was dodgy and was deteriorating.

She pushed the chair as hard as she could and screamed out in pain as felt the pressure on her arm. It took five attempts to get it to move and then when she had gotten it up in the air, she pushed it hard and it fell off her body.

Scully cried out in agony as the chair fell to her side and tumbled down a small hill. She looked around as far as her neck would let her without causing pain and saw the remains of the plane and some remains of… men.

Scully shook her head in disbelief and horror as she tried to block out these images in front of her. They were truly horrific.

She felt the hot Venezuelan sun on her face and knew that she needed water. She grunted in pain as she tried to move from her position and slowly she stretched her legs out. At one point, she feared that she had broken her right leg but then she managed to straighten it. Scully grimaced as the pain shot up and down her legs as she moved them out of the position they were stuck in.

After a few minutes of lying still on the ground and stretching her body, she managed to clamber to her feet and stand, her head dizzy and painful as she turned in shock and her eyes engulfed on the horrific scene all around her.

Scully felt sick. She felt like she would faint any second if she didn't get out of there. Bodies were scattered around the wreckage, some violently disfigured. Through her experience of being a scientist and after all the autopsies she had done, she had never seen a scene as bad as this. Scully didn't know if it was because she had been part of the disaster that was making her feel so ill, or because she was injured inside. She didn't have time to think about it as she heard the terrifying shout for help.

Scully turned quickly and ran towards the sound, shouting out in desperate reply. She located the voice and realised that the man must be under rubble so she started picking up rubble from where she heard the voice.

The sun beat down on her angrily as the morning birds started to enter the sky. After lifting up heavy load of rubble she saw movement and braced herself for the worst.

'It's all right, I'm a doctor. Just stay as still as you can.' She shouted down to the movement. 'Is it just you?' She asked.

'Yes!' The man shouted in a scared voice. Scully saw the rubble move away and then she caught sight of some fingers. She managed to get his hand out and she grabbed it and then pulled it as hard as she could to lift him out. She fell back in exhaustion and pain as her left arm throbbed in agony when she finished pulling him out. Scully took hold of her arm and gritted her teeth in pain. She closed her eyes and felt her head spin again. After a few moments, she looked up to see the man. However he wasn't there anymore.

'Hello?' She called out in confusion as she looked at the open space in front of her. She frowned in suspicion and managed to get to her feet. 'Hello?' She called out again, but saw no one. Scully instinctively grabbed for her gun which was thankfully still intact in its holster on her hip. She brought it out slowly and frowned in concentration as she scanned the area. Suddenly, the roaring engine started to make strange noises. Scully realised she was dangerously close to it and she jumped out of her skin as she heard the crashing noises from it. She ran away from it as fast as she could and felt the fear inside of her rise up her body and made her shake violently. Then, the engine exploded.

Scully screamed and was thrown forward as the force of the explosion pushed her to the ground painfully. She frowned in annoyance as she lay on the ground; a new graze from a rock was throbbing heavily on her left cheek.

Scully closed her eyes as she felt the reality of the situation getting clearer to her by the second. She had no idea where she was, she had no hope in getting anywhere safely, she couldn't see any civilisation for miles and she was cut for time to save…

'Mulder..' She whispered as she thought about him. The emotion this memory gave her was overwhelming and devastating. Scully reluctantly let her mind think that he was dead, that she was too late. She felt like her heart had been smashed into tiny pieces in that second.

'Help!' She screamed in hopelessness. 'HELP ME!'

Sobs grew in her throat and she gasped for air. There was a rustled of movement from the bushes in front of her. Scully raised her head in reaction and frowned in suspicion. Where had the man she had rescued gone? Why had he disappeared?

Scully frowned in concentration and slowly got to her feet again. She was aching all over, but the sounds of someone in the bushes had made her extremely curious. She heard it again and gasped in fear. She took a few steps forward and went for her gun with her right arm. She took another step forward and then, the man appeared right in front of her.

Scully gasped in surprise and held her gun out in front of her and clicked it into place. She frowned in confusion as she saw that the man was smirking.

'What are you doing?' The man asked, holding his arms up in defence. Scully shifted on her feet uneasily.

'Why did you run away? Who the hell are you?' She snapped, unsure.

'I wanted to try and find us some water, you are thirsty aren't you?' The man said calmly. Scully frowned.

'Whatever.' She snapped again. 'Are you the man that brought the plane down? Are you?' She shouted. The man let out a small laugh and then suddenly, when he saw that she wasn't amused and was serious, Scully saw his face turn sour and he frowned. That was when she knew.

'Stay away from me!' She shouted uneasily, her arm trembling with fear. Scully blinked away tears and tried not to let her shock and horrors control her hold on him.

'Now, now Miss Scully. Let's not get angry here… I did it for a reason…' He said defensively.

'You should have died in that plane. You should have suffered the same fate of the innocent people you killed!' She raged. The man shrugged.

'But I suppose it's not a bad thing that both you and I are still alive?' He asked, teasing her. Scully frowned in fury and pointed her gun further towards him.

'Why are you trying to stop me. WHY DAMMIT!' She screamed.

'Because I don't want you to find the cure for your friend. I've been sent, there will be more. And I'll not give up…' He threatened, taking a step towards her. Scully blinked away a tear and moved towards him before he could come any further.

'DON'T you dare…' She raged, and he nodded and stepped back again. Scully tried to process her thoughts.

'How much time do I have.' She asked the dreaded question.

'Not enough.' The man replied. Scully felt fury almost explode her body.

'HOW MUCH!' She shouted. The man saw the gun and sighed.

'About six hours, give or take a few.' He said angrily. Scully sighed and blinked away a tear for Mulder.

'Lead me to the man I'm looking for, and I'll spare your life.' She said.

'No you won't.'

'This isn't the time to argue with me.' She raged. The man paused for a few moments and kept his gaze with her.

'It's not too far on the road. You could drive from here, it would take about 3 hours.'

'I NEED MORE TIME!' She shouted.

'You don't have more time.' He said simply. 'Unless…' He started, but then stopped nervously.

'What?' Scully pressed. He didn't answer. 'UNLESS WHAT!' She shouted.

'Why would I tell you!' He shouted. Scully gritted her teeth in anger and shot her gun into his foot. He shouted out in agony and fell onto his knees. 'Aggghh you bitch!' He shouted. Scully frowned in fury.

'You were saying?' She pressed.

'Un… Unless you give him a special medication- that'll keep him alive for a few more hours.' He managed to say through gritted teeth.

'A few more hours?' Scully asked questioningly, and clicked her gun into place.

'I… I mean… about five or six more hours, then you could get the antidote to Mulder in time.' The man said nervously. Scully nodded and pointed her gun close to his temple.

'Tell me what the medication is.' She threatened. The man didn't answer for a few minutes. Scully kicked him in the shin on the other leg 'TELL ME!'

'You have to ask Alexander!' The man shouted in annoyance at the pain and Scully raised her head.

'You'd better not be lying to me.'

'I'm not.'

'So I'll know the medication when I find Alexander?' She asked. The man nodded weakly.

'You're going to kill me anyway, I was ready to die today.' He said simply, breathing heavily from the loss of blood. Scully shook her head in disbelief at the man.

'Tell me where Alexander is. TELL ME.' Scully shouted. The man winced.

'You have to get over the border, when you get over the border he lives in the first village you come to.'

'What's the village's name.' Scully asked, trying to control her voice. The man shook his head.

'It's called…' He started but didn't answer. Scully took a step forward.

'YES?' She forced. The man sighed.

'It doesn't have a name. It doesn't matter it is the first place you come to. It runs along the river Boa Vista.'

'You could have done so much more with your life, but you did this. Are you happy with yourself?' She asked angrily. The man looked up to her and met her gaze. His eyes were terrifying.

'Extremely.' He said with no remorse. Scully felt herself shiver in terror at his gaze. She knew that there was only one thing to do.

'Well, you'd better say your prayers.' She said angrily, and circled him. She took a deep breath and pointed her gun to his head. 'I'll make it quick.'

'Oh my god…' Skinner muttered breathlessly as he turned on the news.

It was 6am and he had just woken up from a not so restful sleep. He stared at the TV with disbelieving eyes as he saw the picture of a plane, completely dishevelled and destroyed and sending out smoke in the vast wasteland of Venezuela. Skinner shook his head and his mouth was open wide in shock. He saw the tail of the plane and recognised the numbers on it immediately. He hadn't wanted to recognise them.

Skinner suddenly felt faint as he realised, to his complete horror, that it was Scully's plane.

As she fled from the site, she heard the sound of helicopters coming towards them. She ran as fast as she could in her physical state, the leaves of the trees and bushes whipping her face as she ran fast, but she knew that she was out of time, and needed to get to the road as fast as she could. She also knew that she couldn't go to a hospital, the treatment would take too long and people would be looking for the missing passenger of flight MX6. Her mind was dizzy and clouded, but she kept thinking about Mulder, and that she had to save him, before she lost the man she loved more than anyone in the world.

After an hour of running, Scully turned up near a road in exhaustion. She had heard the sound of the cars and had been running towards them ever since. She felt her throat was dry and she desperately needed water, but she had to keep going- just to reach the road.

As she turned south and ran a few hundred metres, she reached the top of a small hill. As she reached the edge of it, Scully gasped with relief at what she saw. The first sign of civilisation.

There was a road running through a small town, and it looked like it had food and water, and also cars. Scully didn't know how far she would have to go to get a car, but she knew that everything was necessary.

She ran towards the road trying to keep cover behind various trees. Her boots scuffed the dusty ground and the sun made her sweat heavily. She wiped her forehead and took deep breaths of air in exhaustion. Scully started to make her way towards the small town.

Skinner ran a worried and over his bald head and then his pulled on his glasses to check that he had read the numbers right. He knew he was due at Scully's apartment to help Mulder now, but he was stuck about what to do.

Fumbling in shock for his phone, he dialled Scully's number- and there was no answer. He then dialled the number for the FBI, and they couldn't give him any more information apart from that Scully had definitely been on that plane.

Skinner turned back to the TV as the reporter started to speak. He turned his phone off and listening intensively, hoping for a sign.

'At approximately 0700 hours Venezuelan time, flight number MX8; a military aircraft carrying American government agents crashed into this southern region of the country. It is not sure whether there are any survivors of this crash yet, and we do not know the reason for the accident. Reporter Daniel-' The female reporter read.

Skinner had heard enough. He put his head in his hands and sighed heavily, fearing the worst.

Suddenly, he jumped at the sound of his phone ringing. He picked it up reluctantly and in fear of hearing bad news.

'Walter Skinner?' He said. There was a loud fuzzy disturbance on the other end. Skinner couldn't hear anything but that for a moment. He felt his chest fill with hope as he suddenly guessed who it was. Skinner sat up straight and frowned in confusion and concern. 'Scully? SCULLY?' He asked loudly as the reception got worse, but slowly, it started to get a little better and over the crackle, he began to hear a female voice, one that he recognised anywhere.

'-stuck in Venezuela, but I'm all right… I'm not badly injured-' Scully's voice was frantic and hard to hear. Skinner raised his eyebrows in concern.

'I can hardly hear you Scully, thank god you're all right…' He sighed with relief, she seemed to hear him now.

'Can you hear me Sir?' She asked.

'Yes, yes I can hear you. What happened?'

'I was in a plane crash…' She started. Skinner thought that she sounded like she was out of breath and panicking. 'Someone tried to bring the plane down- a man who wants Mulder dead. I have to find Alexander and I'm going to try and drive there. I don't have much time-' Her voice was suddenly taken over by bad reception again and Skinner started to speak to her loudly.

'I can't hear you! Dana!' He said frantically, picking up on her frenzied and frightened tone of voice. 'SCULLY! SCULLY!' He shouted down the phone, but suddenly the phone line went dead.

'Dammit'! Scully shouted in fury as the phone died. She slammed it back on its hook and looked around her. A man was sitting away from her smoking a pipe with a suspicious look on his face. Scully sighed and turned away from his gaze and started to make her way along the dusty road again.

Skinner slammed the phone down angrily and ran out into the corridor to go and warn Mulder. He had to tell him, it was his right to know what was happening to her. He knew that he wouldn't like the news at all. Skinner sighed heavily and put a hand to his eyes to shelter them from the sunshine. He shook his head in defeat as he entered the warm breeze of Washington DC that afternoon and ran for the car.

Scully cursed under her breath as she ran along the roadside. She needed to hitch a ride quickly, she was desperate. The hot air was making her sweat nervously and angrily, but she was fuelled by a lasting and desperate force to help Mulder, to save his life.

'Excuse me?' She called out to a man who was walking to his car. He had on jeans and scuffed boots which was made from leather. Scully heard the sound of planes overhead and turned her head to see that they were flying towards the wreckage. She raised her eyebrows in worry as she realised that they would know that there was one person missing- and a man who had been shot in the head.

She turned back to the man and frowned with concentration. He looked at her rough appearance and her ripped shirt and trousers. He also saw the way she carried her arm, and Scully knew this. She tried desperately hard not to look desperate and hurt- it would give it away. He frowned in surprise.

'Please Sir, I need a ride.' She said politely. He looked to her cheek and saw the deep cut in it.

'What happened?' He asked in his accent. Scully shifted uncertainly on her feet and sighed.

'I… I live on a farm, the animals got too hard for me to handle.' She lied pathetically. The man looked sceptical and she sighed heavily at her stupid attempt at lying. 'Please, I'm too far away from home and I really need to get back to my family- they'll be worried about me.' She said.

There was a silence between them and Scully sighed heavily and thought of Mulder, dying. She blinked away a frustrated tear and the man seemed to have seen her sadness. At the sign on this emotion he shook his head in defeat.

'Fine, I will help you.' He said with a small nod. Scully smiled in relief.

'Thank you so much- thank you Sir.' She gushed, and walked towards the car door. She pulled it open and grimaced in pain in weakness. She got into the car as quickly as she could so she could get undercover and out of view.

'Where do you want to go?' The man asked, his dark eyes piercing into her as he turned to her after slamming the door shut. Scully took a deep breath at the awkward but necessary position she had thrown herself into.

'As far as you can go…' Scully said. The man looked at her with confusion. She lowered her head. 'I'm sorry- but I need to get to the border or close to it, so I can get to Brazil.'

Mulder lay asleep in his bed and he felt his head swimming. He felt sick and his head ached heavily. He couldn't bear the pain much longer- it was so torturous. He felt like his chest was going to collapse any moment. Thinking away from the pain in his chest, he realised that he was feeling delirious and started to fall into a dream of being well again, and seeing Scully coming through his door, a smile on her face and then moving into his arms. Mulder sighed heavily with happiness as he imagined her in his arms, his chest was breathing easily and he was healthy. He then imagined picking her small and beautiful body up in his arms and then laying her down on his sofa, while he moved up her body kissing her tenderly, his heart beating furiously with passion…

'Mulder!'

Skinner was beside him. Mulder gasped in shock and opened his eyes wide as Skinner's loud shout woke him out of his delirious state. He felt as if he had been in heaven and had just come crashing down into hell.

'Sir?' Mulder rasped weakly, his chest was so painful he felt it would burst. Skinner seemed to realise this and ran for his medicine quickly then gave it to him carefully. Mulder swallowed the tablets and took a sip of the disgusting medicine that had been made by Scully and Dr Fessen. He almost retched at the taste every time but he knew that it was what would make him feel better.

'Mulder, I'm sorry I woke you like this. I've got some news- about Scully.' Skinner said nervously and regretfully. Mulder almost spat out the medicine in surprise and he grabbed Skinners arm.

'What… what is it… what?' Mulder asked desperately between breaths. Skinner sighed and saw that this was making his condition worse.

'Please Mulder, you've got to calm down.' Skinner said angrily, only because he was worried. He forced Mulder down onto his back and looked at him seriously. 'Just listen to me carefully.'

'WHAT has happened to her.' Mulder rasped angrily and glared at Skinner.

'The plane she was on was ambushed and was brought down. She survived the crash.' Skinner added hastily as he saw Mulder's face turn white. 'She's on her way to Brazil now, I hope. She's going to get there, she wanted me to tell you that she's fine.' He said reassuringly as Mulder seemed to look like he was going to kill someone. 'She's fine Mulder.'

There was a silence between them and Mulder's expression was devastating. Thoughts of panic rushed through his head. All he cared about what he safety, that was it. Scully was in a plane crash? What a terrible thing to happen to her! Mulder felt hatred and fear for her make his heart feel like it was breaking. He looked up at Skinner.

'You're sure… she's all right?' Mulder said weakly. Skinner nodded and sighed.

'She said that she was. I'm sure she is. She's very lucky to have survived the crash Mulder, very lucky.'

'Well, she's always been lucky...' Mulder said with a touch of happiness and adoration to his voice; however this was quickly cut off with fear for her life and his face turned white and fearful again. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, terrified for her.

'You need to save your strength, she's fighting for you.' Skinner said, and got up and turned away from the bed. He made his way out of the room to leave Mulder alone for a few moments. Skinner sighed heavily with sadness and rested his arm on the doorway. He frowned and rubbed his forehead with his fingers as he felt the stress and worry of the situation take its toll on his body. He felt sleepy himself, but just as he was about to drift off into sleep, the doorbell rang announcing Dr Fessen's morning arrival.

Scully looked across uneasily at the man as he seemed to look at her like she were mad.

'Brazil?'

'Yes, I need to get to the border.'

'You're getting in a car to go all the way to Brazil?' The man asked incredulously. Scully sighed heavily and shook her head desperately as he didn't make a move to start the car. She felt frustrated tears cloud her eyes.

'Please, I am trying to save my friend's life. I need to get to Brazil or as near as you can get me. I can't get a plane because I'll never get through in time. I have to make my own way.' She begged, then turned to the man desperately and put a hand on his arm. He looked surprised as she looked deeply into him with her tear stained eyes. 'I'm begging you, please, please help me.' She pleaded. The man frowned in concern and confusion, and after a few minutes he sighed and nodded, taking his arm away from her grasp and putting it back on the wheel. He started the car.

'I'll take you as far as I can.' He said blankly, and Scully realised the tone wasn't asking for a thank you. She nodded and closed her eyes as the car started and sped off down the road. She was finally on her way, but time was definitely not on her side…