Chapter twelve
Mulder, Scully, Stan, Kenny, and Shannon headed to the east side of the school. They ended up in front of the gate that was locked with chain and padlock.
Kenny cut them off and they walked through the door.
They were in the area that Kenny had been when they saw him on the tape.
"I'm guessing that the gardens are locked again," Stan said indicating the door to the far right.
Kenny walked over to the door and tried to open it, "It is," he said and walked back to the group.
"Wow, Herbert really doesn't want anyone in here," Mulder said as he touched the thick lock and chain on the dormitory building.
"Or is it to keep something in?" Kenny said warily as he tried to look through a window.
"Only one way to find out," Stan said as he tried to cut through the lock.
It took him and Kenny to do it since the chain was so thick and heavy.
They opened the door and the group entered into the building.
They stood in a long and dilapidated corridor. It was very dark, but slight illuminated by the moonlight.
"Well Herbert hasn't had housekeeping here in a while," Mulder said waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, "Really what did Vick do for a living?"
"Be quiet Mulder," Scully said on edge, "I think I hear something."
"I think I hear a bunch of somethings," Shannon said and clung to Stan's arm.
"I think they're in that room," Scully said pointing to a door to their left.
Scully walked towards the door. She could hear whispering and someone moaning in what sounded like pain.
"I think there are people here, quite a few from what I can tell," Scully said looking at Mulder.
"People, as in not going to kill us, or people, as in I should have brought more bullets?" Mulder questioned concerned.
Scully gave him a thoughtful look, "I'm going to go with the latter," she said.
He nodded and he and Stan pulled out their guns.
Kenny gave them an inquiring look, "How come I don't have one?"
Mulder handed over the shotgun and ammo he had picked up from Vick to Kenny and then pulled out his own issued gun. He felt more comfortable with it.
"Can you use it?" Mulder asked Kenny.
"Think so," Kenny said as he checked that it was loaded.
"Just don't kill one of us," Shannon said dryly, "And it'll prove you can use it."
Kenny gave her a sarcastic smile. She only smiled kindly at him.
Scully pulled out her own gun and quietly opened the door.
Inside the room was a bunch of torn up chairs and couches, and damaged tables placed haphazardly around the room. The windows were boarded up because they had been smashed. Broken glass littered the floor and the ceiling seemed ready to cave in. The room seemed completely unlivable.
They cautiously walked a few feet inside.
Mulder suddenly stopped and held the rest back. They looked at him curiously. Mulder then pointed around the room silently.
Around the room were the infected people. They ignored them for the moment. All lost in their world of pain and confusion.
Scully counted at least twelve people.
They were either just staring at the walls blankly or hugging their sides and moaning in pain.
"What do we do?" Stan tried to whisper as soft as possible.
The room was overly quiet, any small noise was noticeable, and they were noticed.
The infected turned to look at them.
The group became nervous, but the infected just went back to ignoring them.
"We should go," Scully said to Mulder.
He nodded and was about to back out of the room with the rest, but he stopped when he noticed when one of the infected, a young girl with dark hair, was still focused on them.
She got up from where she was sitting, at a table, and began to walk slowly towards them.
Stan aimed his gun at her, but Mulder pushed his gun down and shook his head. Stan complied and watched to see what Mulder wanted to do.
The girl walked over to them timidly.
She was very tiny, that Mulder thought that maybe she was still in junior high, or elementary school.
She was sickly looking like a normal infected, but she didn't seem to be in any pain or distress.
The girl stopped a few feet from them.
"Are you the new test subjects?" she asked in a soft voice.
"In a manner of speaking," Mulder answered, "Who are you?"
"Ms. Wickson calls me Olivia," she said, "I assume that's who I am. I've forgotten so long ago."
"The tests make you forget?" Scully asked once it was assessed that Olivia was safe.
"Sometimes. I forget who I am, but never the test," Olivia said, "I wish it were the other way around," she said sadly.
"I'm sorry," Shannon said.
"So all of these are the missing students?" Kenny asked, "I thought there were more, unless they all have changed already."
"There are more. Some are around in the other rooms," Olivia said.
"How many?" Scully asked.
"About thirty-two to forty right now," Olivia answered.
"That's more them twenty-five," Mulder said to Scully.
She nodded, "I know."
"Why does Friedman put you guys here?" Stan asked looking at the appearance of the room, "It's a dump."
Olivia nodded, "I agree, but he puts us here because it protects us from light. As you see there are no lights bulbs in the fixtures and all the windows are boarded up," she said.
The group looked around and saw that she was right.
"And he doesn't care what the dorms look like because we all will die eventually. Whether to failure of the testing or mutating and needing to be killed, or another of us mutating and killing us," Olivia said, "I've seen it all happen. I've been here awhile."
"Why haven't you succumbed to one of the three?" Mulder asked.
"Friedman says I'm resistant. I'm infected and have a chance to mutate, but I don't comply with his testing, so he leaves me here because I don't want to be destroyed," Olivia said, "I may never be normal, but I don't want to die yet."
"He let you have a choice?" Scully asked perplex.
"Yes, because he knows that it's a matter of time before I change. He won't kill me as a human," Olivia explained, "I know it's a matter of time as well. Everyday I feel that I'm changing, the pain and feelings increase, but I'm able to fight it."
"Is everyone here like you?" Shannon asked.
"No. They all will either be picked up for testing or mutate soon," Olivia said.
"Why don't any of you fight back?" Kenny asked, "Why not make Friedman stop?"
"Because we all were fools in the beginning," Olivia said darkly, "The others still are."
"How do you mean?" Scully asked.
"He infected us against our will, but he promised that if he succeeds with his research, he'll be able to cure us," Olivia said, "But I learned that it was a lie, once he succeeds, he'll just kill us."
"How do you know that?" Kenny asked.
"Because I heard him talking with Elisabeth, the nurse," Olivia said, "He means to cure his brother, and then together they will continue their work, but he will scrap the leftovers, us subjects he didn't use or didn't die."
"God, that's horrible," Shannon said horrified.
Olivia nodded, "Its fine. I've come to terms with my fate, as long as I don't change."
"Have you seen anyone else other then the nurse and Friedman around here?" Mulder asked.
"No, only those two. They don't allow anyone else to see us," Olivia answered.
"Do they stay here too?" Scully asked.
"No, I don't know where they stay, but I know they are always on campus because they are infected, and need to stay out of the light so they don't mutate," Olivia said.
"So Friedman only does the testing?" Mulder asked.
"Yes. Elisabeth was hired as a nurse so that she could find test subjects for Friedman, and then she takes care of the rest of us," Olivia said.
"How do you know that?" Shannon asked surprised.
"She talks to me often, and I hold no ill-will towards her for choosing me, I'm infected. No point in being completely angry, besides it increases the infection to take over faster," Olivia shrugged, "So why are you here?"
"We're F.B.I. agents," Mulder said indicating him and Scully, "We got locked in trying to find missing students."
"I was a test subject," Kenny said.
"And we just got caught in the middle," Stan said with Shannon agreeing.
She looked at them sadly, "I'm sorry, are all of you infected?"
"Nearly," Mulder said, "But we did come here for a reason."
"What is it, can I help?" Olivia asked eagerly.
"Possibly," Mulder said, "Do you know of a safe anywhere in this dormitory?"
Olivia became thoughtful.
"Yeah, I have one now. A boy, Alan, I think, he gave me one last week," Olivia said, "He was taken to the labs though," she frowned.
"We know, he's dead apparently," Scully said.
"I figured that. If you leave here, and don't come back after a few hours, you're never coming back," Olivia said, "He's been gone the whole week."
Mulder nodded, "So can you show us the safe? We found a note from him that it could be useful."
"Yes, I can show you," Olivia said pushing past them, "Follow me, but don't talk to anyone."
The group followed her back into the main corridor.
"Alan was different from all of us," Olivia began, speaking to the group, "He was always sneaking out of the dorms to wander the school. He knew that he shouldn't, but he didn't want to let Friedman get away with this."
"I woul-won't either," Kenny said firmly.
Olivia nodded, "He was stronger willed then us. Anyway, he was always finding things. He found the safe first in the attics of the main school and bought it back, and then he started finding reports and papers in the school. He brought those back too and put them in the safe," Olivia said, "He never showed me, he didn't want me to get in trouble in case he was caught."
Olivia took them up to the second floor. They passed more of the infected.
"One night, he had gone out on his nightly walks, he came back after a couple of hours in a frenzy, he was so frightened, he quickly put something away in the safe and then asked me to help him hide it," Olivia said as she entered her room.
She walked over to her bed.
"He told me to take care of it and gave me the combination to it too," Olivia said, tears forming in her eyes, "He then he told me to never give what was in the safe to Friedman no matter what, I was allowed to give it to anyone who wasn't Friedman or Wickson."
She dropped to her knees and crawled under the bed.
Olivia continued talking, "We hid it in the wall," she pulled the wall apart and pulled out a rusted safe and put it on her bed.
"What ever Alan took that night; it must have been important, because a couple of hours after Alan came back, Friedman came yelling at him and then took him for testing," Olivia said, "He never came back, but Friedman, not that you can tell, tore this house apart looking for whatever Alan had put in the safe," she said and set to opening the safe.
It took her a few tries, but she got it to unlock.
"Well, whatever this is, I hope it was worth his life, and that it helps," Olivia said standing up.
"You don't want to know what's in it?" Shannon asked.
"Alan never wanted me to look in it, he said to keep it safe and pass it on," Olivia said sorrowfully, "Besides whatever it is, it can't help me, or the other's; it's too late."
"Thank you, Olivia," Mulder said.
"You're welcome," Olivia said and started for the door, but turned back to them, "Oh, by the way, have you seen Elisabeth, she hasn't been by tonight?"
The group shared a look.
"I'm sorry Olivia, but uh, Elisabeth was killed tonight," Scully said as gently as possible.
"Oh…well it was bound to happen," Olivia said lightly, "Thank you for telling me, bye," she said and left the room.
"God how I am hating this," Shannon said angrily, "She was only a little girl!" she exclaimed.
"She was a freshman," Kenny corrected, "She only looked little,"
"Shut up, you insensitive jerk," Shannon snapped.
"Knock it off!" Mulder said firmly, "What's in the safe?" he asked to Scully.
Scully opened the safe and pulled a journal and pieces of paper. Scully sifted through them.
"Well this is a letter from the Office of Technology of the Congress, it says; Dear Sirs, Following the conference in Seattle, where your publications and particularly your work entitled "Eternal life is possible" were the subject of much discussions, the experts examined your research...As it was generally accepted that the use of your knowledge cannot be controlled, nor can the ecological, social and ethical consequences of your discoveries in the field of life be measured, we had to reach a decision on the maintenance, or not, of the research budgets. What safeguard can be imposed against the eugenic temptation foreseen by your hypotheses? Sacrificing the enrichment of breeding for the benefit of an artificial and very certainly contagious life cannot receive our support. The contribution of your work to the knowledge of individual characteristics is one thing, but modifying the transmission of these characteristic by such inhuman means is another. As a consequence, the Office of Technology of Congress, in agreement with the international scientific commission has issued a report ruling on your expulsion, for life, from this community. We will be required to legislate on the archiving or destruction of your research on cellular prolongation. In conclusion, no assistance will be allocated to you; your equipment and all your work will be confiscated and re-sold. Sworn State agents will arrive on 8th of October to seal up the premises. As regards Leafmore High school, a commission will decide on the necessity of closing it or not. Cordially yours."Scully read.
Mulder took the letter from Scully, "This was only a few years ago."
"It is, so someone did know, but Herbert was smart to just hide it all in the basements of the school," Scully said.
"Herbert must have been desperate, they were about to take his research away for good," Mulder said, "But why did they let him keep the school?"
"It's a school, no one would know that he would use it as his new lab and start using his student's as lab rats," Scully said, "He had the perfect cover."
"Yeah, well, it all ends here today," Mulder said earnestly, "What else is there?"
"Well, there's a map to the basements, the labs are labeled on here," Scully said, "And a key to Herbert's secret office," she said as she took a key that fell out of the labeled paper.
"It says it's in the library," Mulder said picking up the paper and continuing to read it, "Well, now we know where Herbert took off to earlier."
"And Alan's journal," Scully said as she flipped through it, "Alan Gardner."
"What's in it?" Kenny asked.
"Well, just some newspaper articles, some stuff we already knew like the missing students, and that he's wondered why the police have never looked into the school," Scully read.
"Well here we are, and now I get why they avoided coming here," Mulder said darkly, "Herbert was doing the police a favor," he said peeved.
Scully looked over at Mulder and gave him a look that said, 'I know you're upset, please keep it in check'.
He nodded his apology, "What else does he write about?"
"The school was founded in 1902 by the Friedman twins, he notices that Herbert is still the principal and must be over a hundred by now, and he wonders why they haven't aged, especially Wickson," Scully said skimming down the pages, "Birth certificate of all three, and wedding certificate of Wickson and Leonard."
"So how old is Friedman really?" Stan asked.
"He would be one-hundred and fifty-seven," Scully said, "Assuming all this is true," she added.
"I was waiting for that, you haven't been skeptical enough for me through this," Mulder quipped.
Scully gave him a dry look and continued reading, "Alan mentions the plane crash and the lack of a crash site, plane, and body,"
"Guess I was right," Mulder said.
"Also some articles about their experimentation when it was just on animals and research," Scully read, "In 1890 they went on an expedition to Africa to find medicinal plants. They had stayed for six months and brought back a large number of, at that time, unknown varieties of plants, including the Mortifilia. It was the main subject of their research."
"So they brought this thing back from Africa," Mulder said, "I've never heard of it. How did they come across it?"
"I have no idea Mulder, and it doesn't say, only Herbert can answer that for us," Scully said, "Also there's just some pictures of the infected people in a lab, the experiments."
"Is there anything in there that we don't know?" Mulder asked slightly annoyed.
Scully skimmed it a little, "Ah, actually there is, Alan figured out where the lab is and how to enter it."
"Well, we have the map now," Stan said, "So how did he get in?"
Scully read a bit further, "Um, actually he didn't get in, but he found the way to open that gate in the stone courtyard," she began, "The lab is in the basement, and their house is where it is,"
"Their house is on campus?" Shannon asked confused, "I never knew,"
"That's why the gardens were always off limits," Kenny said, "I found it when I went after him that night," he shuddered a bit.
Shannon took his hand supportively.
"There are things down there I wish to never see again," Kenny said.
"We have to go there," Stan said, "It's the only way to stop Friedman."
"I wish it weren't," Kenny said.
"Well, he was able to get a hold of Herbert's notes. According to the notes, the anti-aging serum has yet to be perfected, prolonged exposure to the sun results in mutation and failure of the serum," Scully read, "And he mentions the door that Wickson was talking about, but nothing about it really, he also mentions 'little statues', three around the library, and one in the gardens, he was going to see about it the next day."
"Obviously he didn't make it," Mulder stated, "We will, we have to."
"What statues do you think he means, I've never seen any," Stan said curiously.
"Well, there's an odd note, it says to look in the chimney flue," Scully said reading a note that fell out.
Kenny walked over, put his hand up the flue, and pulled out a statuette of a person kneeling with its hands behind its back.
"So we're looking for more of these," Kenny said.
"Good, now let's head over to the library," Shannon said.
They exited down to the ground floor careful not to be too noticeable to the infected.
They passed the common room. Olivia was talking to one of the infected who seemed to just be ignoring her.