Chapter 5: Remembering

Agent Scully slowly opened her eyes as she came to. At first, she thought her eyes were still closed, because when she opened them, everything was still black. But after a minute, her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she saw her blurry surroundings.

She took in her whereabouts and realized she was in a warehouse. A large, echoing warehouse. The water dripped through the holes in the roof, making dripping sounds around her. Wood rotted by the walls and the floor was made of floorboards that were ready to break at any moment.

Scully saw that her hands were tied up around a radiator, and, try as she might, she couldn't untie herself. Whoever tied her had tied her hands really tightly against the radiator with thick fabric. While she tried to figure out a way of escaping, Scully pieced together what happened the previous night in her head, as she tried to recollect how she ended up here.

She cast her mind back to last night. She remembered leaving the FBI J Edgar Hoover building at 5pm on Friday and said good night to Mulder, who was as always, sitting at his desk, reading over some old news paper clippings and matching them with an X File. Scully had been very insistent that he tidy the X Files office, as files and sheets of paper had crowded round the office and took up every avaliable spot.

After a while, Mulder reluctantly agreed and started tidying the office, starting with matching news papers to X Files cases. Scully left him and was on her way home. She remembered arriving at her apartment, before getting out of the car. As she got out, she felt something or someone come up behind her, and had just took out her gun, spun around, and was ready to confront who ever it was before she suffered a mighty blow to the head. She passed out and could remember nothing else. That was all Scully could remember.

She had no idea how she got to the warehouse, or what time it was or how long she'd been there tied up. But she felt hungry, and knew it was a while before she'd had any food. As she sat there, cold and hungry, Scully wondered who or what had bought her here. Then a movement in the darkness caught her eye.

She looked to her left and saw a shadow looming over her. "Who's there?" she demanded. The figure hesitated, before coming slowly into the light. In a small area of light from the hole in the roof, Scully could see a man's face. But it was a face that seemed to appear rather primitive with long hair and lots of facial hair. The figure grunted as it got near Scully. "Who are you?" Scully demanded, feeling vulnerable without her gun which she could see was hidden on the other side of the radiator where she couldn't reach.

When the figure still didn't answer, Scully tried again. "Look, who are you? Let me go I'm a Federal Agent!" she cried. Then the figure came close and looked her in the eyes. Scully saw that the figure wore no clothes, only a rag around his waist. She could smell his breath as he leaned towards her. Scully had the feeling that he wanted to mate.

Panic beginning to rise inside her, Scully once again struggled against the radiator. "Let me go!" she cried again. Then to her relief, she heard footsteps. "Scully?" a deep voice asked. Scully looked to her left to see where the voice was coming from. She recognised it instantly.

But before she could reply, the creature frowned at her and scowled at her rescurer. He stood and looked at the second figure, which was Skinner. Skinner held his gun in front of him. "I don't want to hurt you," he said with the gun aimed at the figure's chest. "Let her go, and then we'll talk," he added. The figure shook his head no, and got ready to pounce again. He stood up to his full height and screeched again, before leaping in front of Skinner as he had done with Mulder.

Before he could reach Skinner, Skinner fired his weapon and shot the man in the right shoulder. The figure screamed in anguish and pain, before running and scurrying back into the darkness. Without missing a beat, Skinner rushed over to Scully and began untying her hands. "I've got her!" Skinner called to the ASAC. "Scully's okay!" The ASAC and a few more police officers joined Skinner's officers as they crowded round Scully. "Thank you, Sir," she managed to say weakly as the officers and Skinner untied her. "The main thing is you're safe," Skinner said gently. He then felt her head. "You still hurt? We saw blood on the way up here," he said worriedly.

Scully nodded. "Just got a big bump on the back of my head," she said, and winced as she stroked the back of her head tenderly. "We'll get you to a hospital," Skinner said. "Where's Mulder?" Scully asked. "He's at the hospital, too," the ASAC replied as he handed Scully back her gun and gave her a drink of water. "You'll see him there," the ASAC said. Scully smiled and closed her eyes in relief. "Thank you," she managed to say.