Scully stumbled back, reflexively putting her own hand over the hand that covered her mouth.
"Shhh, shhh, Scully, it's me," Mulder whispered, as he took his hand away from her mouth. "We're surrounded; don't make a sound."
Scully felt her heartbeat go somewhat back to normal as she looked at Mulder. "Mulder," she whispered, "what do we do?"
Mulder grabbed her hand and began to pull her towards another shrub, staying close to the ground as they scuttled into the brush.
Situated between two medium-sized shrubs, Mulder and Scully saw two additional men approach the cabin.
"I thought you said the woman was here." A musky voice yelled over to the cabin.
"She was- I only saw Mulder leave." Another voice said, coming out from the cabin. Scully pushed some of the brush aside so she could see the man behind the voice. A tall man, apparently taller than Mulder, stood on the cabin porch, holding an automatic weapon. With black hair down to his collar and a matching black beard, Scully noticed that the most distinguishing feature of the man was his black eyes that seemed to lack any emotion. She said a silent prayer of thanks that she hadn't been found by this man.
"She can't be far then. Check the brush around the cabin. She left these IDs and cash- she wouldn't have left these if she was going somewhere. She probably made you jackasses before you got in the cabin." The dark-eyed man said.
"Yo, Hodge," Another man, dressed in black said. "Do you want her dead or alive when we find her?"
Hodge, the soulless-looking, dark-eyed man, slowly scratched his course beard. "Bring her in alive. We can use her to get to Mulder. We're going to need him to do some…things for us. She can ensure that he'll carry out the plan."
Scully felt her heartrate increasing again, as she started breathing heavily and backed into Mulder. Mulder grabbed her hand and gave it a light squeeze. "Scully, calm down, they'll make us if we're not quiet."
Scully nodded her head and tried to control her breathing. She touched her back to feel for her gun and looked from the cabin to the woods behind Mulder.
"How do we get out of here? I've counted at least four men- there might be more." Scully whispered.
"I left the car on the side of the road about a mile past the cabin. They have two military-grade trucks up there- we'll have to go deeper through the woods until we get to the other side of the highway."
"How far is that?" Scully asked.
"About six miles."
Scully shut her eyes and nodded her head as she noticed more men flocking the cabin. "We need to move fast, Mulder, they're going to find us if we sit here."
Mulder nodded and looked behind him. "If we can make it to the river down there, the tree line should give us some cover."
Scully nodded and drew her weapon. "Let's try not to use these- we'll be outnumbered if they hear us."
Mulder and Scully carefully started backing up into the brush, careful not to make any noise. When they were a good 200 yards away from the nearest assailant, they broke off into a hunched sprint and darted past the river and tree line.
After rushing though the woods, Scully stopped and put her hand on her hips, bending over to take in some air.
"Mulder, something doesn't make sense. How do they keep finding us? No one who didn't know where that cabin was could have found it." Scully said.
"I've been wondering that too, Scully. It doesn't make much sense. The only thing I can think of is that one or both of us might be being tracked." Mulder said.
"What?"
"They might be tracking us. Not our exact location, but they're able to find roughly where we are. Once we get a little further, I want to check for tracking devices." Mulder said.
"Well what exactly are we looking for?" Scully asked impatiently. "Like the chip in my neck?"
"Yeah, it could be something like that. Or maybe even a rounder metallic object under the subcutaneous layer. Let's get somewhere with a little more cover and we can check there."
"Look where, exactly, Mulder?" Scully asked.
"Could be anywhere, but most likely somewhere you're not likely to notice it right away. It could be in a tooth or even at the base of hairline. It could be under the ribs from the back or behind the ear. Have you noticed any dental pain?" Mulder said.
"No, Mulder. The searing pain in my abdomen has kept me occupied enough to notice any new cavities." Scully said in an annoyed tone.
Mulder nodded and pulled Scully over to a more wooded area of the forest. "Open your mouth."
Instead of questioning Mulder, Scully opened her mouth and allowed him to inspect her teeth. "Well, Dr. Scully, I commend you on your excellent oral hygiene."
"Loo shee manythin Muller?" Scully gurgled.
"No, I don't see anything. It doesn't look like it's your mouth. Turn around."
Scully turned around and felt Mulder pull at her ponytail. She jumped in surprise and pain when he applied a small amount of pressure on her upper neck, where her hairline began.
"I think we've found ourselves a winner." Mulder said, as he stepped away from Scully.
Scully grabbed Mulder by the shoulder and turned him around. "Bend down, Mulder, I can't see your neck from where I am."
Mulder knelt to the ground as Scully inspected her hairline. He jumped when she applied pressure to the same place that he had applied to her neck.
"We need to get these out, Mulder. We're not going to be able to outrun these men much longer if they're tracking us. Do you think they put more than one tracker in us?" Scully said.
"Not likely. They wouldn't want to draw attention to the trackers in the first place. Any headaches, bumps, or pain could be associated with getting knocked around as you will- we weren't likely to question it. We can do a more thorough search when we get out of here."
"Well we need to get these out. Do you have a knife?" Scully asked.
"Scully…that's going to hurt like Hell."
"I have a feeling that if they catch us, it's going to hurt a lot more. Cut it out of me, Mulder. Then I'll get yours."
Mulder nodded and withdrew his pocketknife from his belt. He moved Scully's hair aside and located the small bump where the piece of metal lay under her skin.
"Ready?" Mulder asked.
"Just do it, Mulder." Scully winced.
Mulder dug the tip of his knife into Scully's neck, feeling warm blood ooze down his hand. He heard her breathe deeply and exhale sharply, but she never made loud noise or told him to stop. After what seemed to be forever, Mulder pulled his hands away and showed Scully the little round ball, about the size of a pea, that had been lodged in her head. Mulder looked at the blood on his hands, causing Scully to address his thoughts.
"Head wounds are bloody, Mulder, it's just superficial. Let me get yours, now."
Mulder got on his knees and handed Scully the knife, which she wiped off on her flannel shirt. "As a doctor, I can't believe I'm doing this."
Scully located the bump under Mulder's skin and precisely cut the instrument from under his skin. "There," she said.
Holding both little metallic balls in his hands, Mulder closed his fist and shoved the trackers into his pocket.
"Mulder, what are you doing? We should get rid of those!"
"No, let's find something to stick them on and get them off of our trail." Mulder said, as he looked around.
"Like what, a carrier pigeon?" Scully asked sarcastically.
"No, like that river over there." Mulder said, as he pointed. "A truck or car would have been optimal, but this will do."
Mulder walked up to the hastily flowing river and looked down. Probably extending a good 50 miles or so, Mulder figured if he could get the trackers to travel down the river, him and Scully could get a good head start on their pursuers. Ripping piece of cloth from his shirt, Mulder wrapped the two metal balls up and dropped the package into the river. He watched as the cloth was swept up by the river's current and headed down, away from sight.
Grabbing Scully's hand, Mulder led her further into the forest, towards the safest, nearest road.