PART TWO

Mulder was already half asleep as Scully drove them both back into town. He wondered just how close he had come to finding a fully intact giant skeleton and started thinking about the myriad ways to find the bones of Nancy Archer. A Geiger counter might detect her bones if there was any residual radiation on them and then there were cadaver-sensing dogs. He didn't know the name of the machines, but he also knew there were devices that used sound waves to read what was under the ground.

"What are those things that can read objects under the ground?" He asked.

"Metal detectors?" Scully responded.

"No," Mulder tried to think. "The things that use sound waves which bounce off anomalous objects underground."

"Mulder," Dana Scully rolled her eyes. "I want you to think about this logically. First off, there is no way for the human body to grow that big. It's just not built for it. She'd have a heart attack before she would reach twenty feet. Two, there's no way she would be able to stand. You're talking about the weight of an object multiplied height times width times thickness. She'd be almost forty-five tons if she'd reach fifty feet tall; she'd be barely able to stand."

"I know the physics for it actually happening is incredible." Mulder replied. "But the account of the incident has been reported. Over thirty people reported and testified to it."

"Mulder," Scully was still looking for signs of life as she wondered where the town was or if she was even driving in the right direction. "This is a small town. You probably can't take what they say as literal. They probably saw a parade balloon or heavy machinery run amuck. You can't be certain of what really happened thirty years ago."

"Who is going to make up a story about a giant woman?"

"Ambrose Bierce made up a story about a man vanishing in a field before witnesses." His partner answered back. "For three years after his book was published, communities from Gallatin, Tennessee to South Bend, Indiana started reporting their own missing people cases. All it takes is a person with an imagination."

Mulder braced his head silently on the window. He tried to the name of the man who had been hit by radiation that also grew to spectacular size. Was it Glen Manning or Glen Danning? As he tried to remind himself, Scully turned off the dirt road to the highway. As she did, her eyes checked for traffic for a few seconds as she turned the wheel to pull out on to the lonely country road. It was obviously late as she realized there was no other traffic. She and her partner truly felt alone way out here as the woods and fields around them whirled past the car. She then pulled her jacket a bit to keep her safety belt from restraining her. It felt tight as her eyes noticed her sleeve had pulled back two inches from her watch. Its band was tight around her wrist as it suddenly popped and fell to her feet under the seat. That wasn't right she thought. A creepy feeling came over her as she looked to Mulder and hoped he hadn't noticed that. Her eyes then started rounding fearfully as she felt her blouse actually growing tight on her as she looked down and noticed both of the straps on both her shoes actually pop open at the same time. This couldn't be happening to her! She glanced from the road in front of her, clenched the wheel a bit and tensed up as she felt numerous runs pop through her panty hose from her crotch and shoot down her legs to the gas pedals. The seam of her skirt under the belt popped and unraveled as it snapped apart. She felt her breasts becoming prisoners of her bra as her straps slapped from under her clothes and then a button pop off the front of her blouse. The zipper on the back of her skirt exploded under her seat as she continued driving and realizing what was happening to her. She glanced to Mulder as he lightly dozed and then stirred himself awake and turned to her.

"There's a chicken place up here on the corner if it's still op… Jesus Christ!" Mulder turned to her as he noticed her head touching the roof of the car. Her jacket looked as if it were made for a kid as it ripped at the shoulder as the car skidded to an immediate stop.

"This...cannot be..." Scully was slowly sinking into shock and disbelief as she felt her clothes actually trying to escape from her. "...Happening!" She stammered halfway into shock as her partner froze and then fought and fumbled with the door as he fought to get out of the car. What could he do! Sit and watch with a coke and box of popcorn as his partner started out-growing her clothes!

"I hate it when I'm right." He mumbled as he fought to get the door to pop open. Still tangled in his seat belt, he could only watch as Scully quickly began to outgrow her seat and her clothing. She was too much in shock to scream and say anything else. Mulder continued fighting with his doorway wondering if the pressure already on the car was keeping it from opening. The car around him was going to be his tomb as his partner broke from her shock to scream one word.

"No!"

Mulder woke with a start in his motel room. The images of his dream were still a bit vivid for him as he sat up and tried to compose himself. Still clad in his shirt and pants, he thought he had just sat laid down on the top of his bed to rest a bit and watch TV, but he must have fallen asleep. Cartoons were now running on the TV as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and felt for his shoes to pull them back on. The morning sunlight was streaming through the windows of the room as he sat up in his wrinkled clothing and reached for his jacket and shoulder harness on the chair by the bed. The whole room was lit up with shades of gray and orange as he tried to feel human once more. He checked to see if he had enough cash in his wallet to buy breakfast for himself.

The faint image of Scully still rested on his brain from the dream as he struggled with the sleeve of his jacket. He closed the door to his room and started across the courtyard of the motel for Scully's room on the other side. Police sirens and emergency vehicles were rushing around the block as he wondered if he should tell his partner about the dream. He lifted his curled fingers and knocked on the door of her room as it fell to the floor inside. Mulder's eyes lifted up as he saw the devastation inside it and beyond. The back of her motel room had been blown open to the Laundromat behind it. Both the back walls of both the buildings had been blown away and there was an obvious wide opening in the ceiling and roof as if something had exploded from within Scully's room. He tried to think rationally as he wondered if his dream was not that far-fetched after all.