Day 1
"And so ladies and gentleman, that is why we do not approach a known dangerous suspect on our own." Fox Mulder, professor of criminal psychology, faced his hundreds of students and grinned crookedly. A rise of titters spread across the room life wildfire and he signified the end of the lecture. The room emptied as he started packing up his own papers into a leather brief case bought for him by someone his heart still ached for.
When he descended the podium steps he was confronted by two men in suits. Immediately he recognized the men from their demeanor and dress and sighed.
"You boys look a little old and serious to be taking my class but the more the merrier." He joked sardonically as he passed between them hoping to shake their presence from his tail but they insisted on following him.
"Agent Mulder," the tall man said.
"Professor Mulder now," Mulder corrected, feeling an odd sense of nostalgia at the use of his former title.
"Professor Mulder, we are both very familiar with your work on the X Files, we're big fans." The shorter and fatter agent said almost sincerely and Mulder looked for traces of exaggerated flattery.
"Well you've both come a long way just to get an autograph." Mulder said flatly. "And anyway it wasn't just my work." He averted his gaze momentarily, unhappy to deal with members of the same organization who destroyed his work so long ago, destroyed his life.
"That's actually what we're here to talk to you about." The shorter one was in back in charge and Mulder feared being dragged back into the bureau.
As the trio moved into the busy courtyard of Dartmourth University Mulder eyed the bustling students hurrying to get to class but the occasional straggler stopped to peer at the men in black. With a sign Mulder led them to his office which was surprisingly tidier than the old basement office he used to have. He sat behind his desk with baited breath, waiting for them to continue; later he would wish they hadn't.
"The past eight months we've been chasing a serial adductor operating across Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. A total of 12 people have disappeared in circumstances that leave bare minimum evidence, and no connection between victim." The agent paused mid dog-and-pony-act and Mulder nodded slowly.
"I'm aware of the case." He said blankly. "Five women and 7 men so far and only 9 bodies found, mutilated almost beyond all normal methods of recognition. And in each of the cases there is no connection between the victims, or to the apparent abductor." He only knew what had been reported in the papers but his knowledge appeared to impress his visitors. "So how is it I can help you?" He asked somewhat suspiciously as he leaned back in his chair.
"Well in each of the kidnappings a letter or note was left for the victim's loved one to find, not quite a ransom but not a sonnet either." Mulder made no comment and waited for the man to continue. He was so focused on the dominant skinny agent he didn't see the larger one reach into his Willet pocket and bring our a piece of paper sealed in a clear evidence bag. When Mulder saw it from his side of the table he eyed the two agents cautiously before taking it. He scanned over it silently;
Little spooky fox, caught in a trap,
Got himself all in a flap.
Cry cry cry does his little redhead,
Hope he can find her before she is dead.
He tried dissecting the words in his head, spinning them over and over and twisting them but he gave up and looked hard at the two men. A cold feeling started creeping stealthily through his veins.
"What is this?" He said feeling a distance, yet familiar fear hammering at the back of his mind.
"There's been a thirteenth abductee, a doctor in Virginia, this note was left by her car."
"Her?" Mulder inquired instinctively and the agents shared an anxious glance.
"Yes, we think the note was for you."
"For me? Based on what, Fox? I don't think I know anyone in Virginia." He lied, though unsure why; perhaps to quell the feeling that he knew what they were going to say before they said it.
"Well like I said that note was found by the victim's car and the victim is a Doctor Dana Scully." Though he had known this was the line of enquiry, it still felt like a cold bullet to his even colder heart.
Darkness was the first thing Scully saw when she opened her eyes, head pounding furiously. She tried to look around , tried to sit up but failed. She wondered if the darkness was real or only in her mind. She tried to sit again but froze when she heard shuffling to her right. Fear flooded her system making her blood stop right in her veins.
"Hello?" She called huskily. The shuffling stopped and her breath hitched. The noise grew closer.
"Hello," a young girl's voice came from a space too close to her head and it made her jump. The pain in her head intensified until she was sure she'd pass out again.
"Who are you?" She demanded, clearing her throat to sound stronger.
"My name is Lucy, I've been here for a few days." The girl said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She could not be more than 20.
"Where is here?" Scully asking forcing calmness into her voice as she used to former training to squash the rising panic.
"I don't know. There are others though. I saw a man yesterday who went away and didn't come back and a woman was in your space until two nights ago." The girl responded in a voice that belied her 20 years. Scully shut her eyes and tried to wake herself from the nightmare.
"Hello? Is there someone else there?" A desperate male voice called from the left somewhere. His voice was strained and broken. Scully whipped her painful head around.
"Hello." The girl said with vigor as if she was a young girl at a party not a 20 year old woman trapped in a dark cell.
"Who's there?" The man said with a voice devoid of hope.
"I'm Lucy," the girl said.
"I'm Dana," Scully offered weakly, mentally trying to work out the size of the room. "What about you?"
"Mike." He said and the forthcoming silence was broken by the sound of metal rattling.
"Oh my god I'm in a cage!" He almost screamed, panic overwhelming him.
"Shh, you'll bring him back." Lucy hushed him urgently, sounding panicked herself but this did not stop the man from howling.
"Lucy who will come back?" Scully demanded of the young girl but she had shrunk into the corner of her cage and was crying pitifully. "Lucy! Who will come back? WHO?" Scully cried desperately and rushed forward to speak to the girl but ran head first into her own cage.
Then the overhead strip lighting snapped on and the door flung open. With the bright lights on, after being momentarily blinded and adjusting, Scully was able to get a full layout of the room. Through what felt like a newborn's eyes she was able to made out 4 caged off sections with a narrow walkway of no more than 2 feet between them. At the end of the walkway was a small square window high up on the wall which allowed the moon to trickle in. The young girl, whom Scully could now see crying softly in the corner was in a cage next to her on her right. Opposite Scully's cage was man who wasn't much younger than Mulder. The thought of him made her chest ache. Next to the Mike's and opposite Lucy was an empty cage showing remnants of someone who had previously been evacuated. A figure moved down the walkway slowly and insidiously.
"Hey! Hey you can't keep us locked up like dogs!" Scully argued diplomatically, her face pressed against the bars of her cage. The man moved with unnatural speed and in a heartbeat his inhuman features were mere millimeters from her face. It startled her enough to make her jump back despite her rising nausea.
"Ah Doctor Scully, welcome to your humble abode." The man drawled in a malicious tone that made her shiver.
"THIS IS INHUMANE!" The man shouted from the corner and the figure moved almost gracefully over to the man in the corner, pressing his grotesque face against the bars.
"It would do you well to keep quiet son, you're going to be here a while." Their captor said calmly and turned his attentions away from Mike who had started to weep mutely. "And I HATE noise!" The captor bellowed unexpectedly, screaming straight at Mike who howled in mental anguish and flung himself at the back corner of his cage. The evil entity laughed joyously to himself as Scully watched the exchange in horror, her own eyes clouded by crystal unshed tears. The man passed by her cage again flashing an inhuman smile and with that he was across the threshold and he slammed the door loudly. The lights however were left on and Scully watched the other two as she retreated to lay on the mattress bare and hard but a welcome change to the cold hard floor.
Whilst the other two occupants of this prison had already been broken by their predicament Scully's analytical mind was working hard as she evaluated her surroundings; each 'cell' had nothing but a mattress with a limp hessian blanket and straw pillow. She watched as Lucy weakly crawled onto her mattress like a dejected puppy and sobbing, she pulled the blanket over her to hide.
Mike sat rigid against the wall at the back of his cell, picking at the breeze block wondering if he could dig his way out.
Without warning the lights shut off and the trio were plunged into darkness save for the pale moonlight shining through the window. With a sigh she took off her Willet, rolled it into a ball and laid down. She lay there for several minutes before wondering what the time was. She ended up fumbling in the dark for her watch (the one HE bought her) but there was nothing enclosed on her wrist; it had been lost in the struggle at the hospital. She felt a severe sense of desolation and began to cry quietly.