Chapter fourteen
The five walked down the stairs and ended up in a small storage room.
Kenny rushed forward, "I don't understand…where's the ladder? There was a ladder here that led down," he said as he inspected a pile of barrels that now occupied the area that had held a ladder.
"It can't have just disappeared," Stan said as he helped Kenny try to move the barrels, but they wouldn't budge.
"Hey, what's this thing here?" Shannon said standing next to the wall and inspecting what seemed to have been a lever.
It had been broken to just a nub.
"It may be a hidden door thing," Kenny said as he tried to move it, but couldn't get a grasp on it.
Stan and Mulder started looking around the room for a tool, or something could use to move it.
Mulder found large pliers. He used it on the lever and moved it down.
The barrels moved aside and revealed the ladder that Kenny mentioned.
Kenny decided to go first. He led the group down and stood in a familiar hallway bathed in red light.
"It's strange," Shannon said suddenly.
The four turned to look at her.
She shrugged, "I mean being in this darkness, with the red light…I kind of feel more at ease, I don't hurt so much anymore," she explained.
Mulder didn't notice it until she mentioned it, but he felt better now too. He had sort of been in pain since he had been infected, but now he felt better. He didn't take that as a good sign.
Stan and Kenny agreed.
"It makes sense to his research," Scully said, "Friedman wouldn't want to compromise the test subjects to the wrong lighting, and the other basement had red lights as well."
"Well, let's find him because I don't want to have to live in red light for the rest of my life," Mulder grumbled, moving on.
"Unless you want to end it in one go," Stan shrugged.
"Stan, knock it off, I don't want to…to die," Shannon said on the verge of tears.
"Yeah come on, man, knock it off," Kenny said putting an arm around his sister, "It's not over until it's over."
"I'm just being honest…it's practically over," Stan argued.
Kenny was about to respond, but Mulder interrupted him.
"Stop it, I know you all are just kids, but grow up!" Mulder snapped harshly, "Now let's go, we've got things to do and not a lot of time."
The three agreed and started walking.
Scully however held Mulder back.
"Mulder, are you okay?" she asked worriedly.
"No, I'm not. I'm with Stan, but one of us needs to be the leader or else those three will just bicker until no end," Mulder sighed, "Makes me rethink having children," he laughed lightly.
Scully gave him a small smile, "You don't have to be the strong one, all right, I can be leader too," she said.
"I need to be strong. I don't need to fall apart like them," Mulder admitted, "I want to believe that everything will turn out all right."
"It will," Scully said earnestly.
Mulder nodded and started walking. Scully followed.
Kenny, Shannon, and Stan had already entered the room and were looking around. The room held destroyed cages and the middle room was missing a door.
"Find anything?" Scully asked.
"Just these," Shannon said coming over to Scully with a file.
Scully took them and perused them. After a minute, a troubled expression came over her face.
"What's it say?" Mulder asked coming to stand with her.
"Well some pictures of the Mortifilia and other mutated test subjects," Scully said handing him the photos.
Mulder didn't really look at them. He didn't want to know what might happen to him if they were to fail.
"What else?" he said.
"It's just a logging of the mutations caused by the plant; Post-treatment mutations; Type 1: Generalized melanomic attack: Prolonged exposure to UV creates micro-cancers in every individual, combated by the cells using specific proteins. The treatment stops the creation of these proteins. The subject therefore develops numerous skin cancers. These cancers revive the inert mutagenous properties of the treatment. The cancer becomes general and often gives rise to type 2, 3 and 4 mutations. Type 2: Polytrophy of the members: Very frequent, this mutation causes hypertrophy in the subject or hypertrophy in one of its members. It manifests itself in the over-development of the arms, of only some phalanxes, the tongue, etc. The hypertrophy is sometimes generalized and causes wounds that are often gangrenous. Type 3: displacement of the central nervous system: The nervous system is relieved and then replaced by a hybrid nervous system. The symptom is spectacular, as the head is neglected to benefit other organs. It is often lost by the subject after long days left without blood flow. Type 4: merging: In a non-sterile environment, the subject sometimes comes into contact with foreign bodies. On occasion, these bodies (fly, ameba) have merged with the subject. The results are very variable.
Sometimes very little of the original individual can be recognized," Scully read.
"Sounds fun," Mulder deadpanned and started looking around the room with the others.
Scully wanted to reprimand him, but she knew that he was just scared and it was best if he didn't act like it. He was right; Kenny, Stan, and Shannon needed some sort of comfort and strength. If Mulder believed they would be fine, then they believed it and became more productive in helping instead of fighting each other and losing hope.
"There really isn't much here," Kenny said, "Earlier there were mostly monsters here, but I guess they got loose," he said.
"Well, let's keep moving," Mulder said.
Kenny led them to a door on the far side of the room. It was a heavy metal valved door. He unlocked it and walked through it.
They entered the next room. It held only two doors. After a moment, they felt the ground shake. After the shaking stopped, it did however continue to lightly vibrate.
"Leonard is getting active," Mulder said, "I wonder why?"
"The antidote," Scully said, "He's looking forward to being human again."
"Me too," Stan said and walked to the door on the right.
"No!" Kenny said stopping him.
Stan looked at him alarmed.
"It's a prison cell, there might be a monster in there," Kenny said.
Stan nodded, but gave him a puzzled expression.
"I've been this way before," was all Kenny offered.
Stan accepted it and instead opened the left door.
The room they entered was a small lab. It had an upper platform.
"Somebody cleaned the lab out," Scully said looking at a filing cabinet that had its contents pulled out and scattered.
"We have two choices," Mulder said indicating a door to their direct left and one on a platform.
"Platform," Stan and Kenny said.
The others agreed.
They walked up the platform and through the door.
It was another storage room with cages, mostly large ones on wheels.
They walked farther in and saw that on the far right was another heavy metal door and a ladder.
Mulder went to open the door. He looked out and saw that it was a familiar hallway.
"Hey, Scully!" Mulder beckoned to her to come and look.
"Isn't this the other side of the basements?" he asked for confirmation.
Scully scrutinized the corridor, "Uh, yeah, but this door was locked earlier," she said perplexed.
"Someone is running around cleaning up," Mulder said.
He came back into the room with the cages.
"Wanna try the ladder?" Stan said looking up and saw that it was closed at the top.
"Yeah," Mulder said.
Stan climbed up first and opened the hatch.
He looked around for a minute before he climbed the rest of the way into the room above.
"Hey, it's Friedman's office, the one in the library," Stan called down.
Everyone exchanged looks of bemusement and started up the ladder.
They stepped up into the room.
"So it is," Mulder said looking around.
The secret ladder had been located in the far left of the room and had been covered by a rug.
"So this is how Friedman has been getting around," Scully said, "He's got secret passages all around."
Mulder nodded, "Well, at least we know why we never ran into him. Slick," he said almost impressed.
"These are new," Scully said standing at Herbert's desk, thumbing though some files.
"What are they about this time?" Mulder asked.
"Some more pictures of someone mutating, really Herbert was sick, he has so many pictures," Scully said disgusted giving the pictures no more then a passing glance, "Anyway, the files are about his test subjects," she said and handed Mulder a file.
He looked at it: Subject 22 - February 17. Age: 17 years: Rhesus: 0 negative: Preparation for test No. 1735: Preparation in sterile conditions, for 50 hours at 37*C. Of 7.2 mg/ml of XGM and 100 mM of methylglioxak, prepared in a swab of phosphate 100 mM pH 7.8. Exposure time to UV after injection of the agent: 72 hours. Waiting time before Injection of the treatment: 20 days. Pathology level: Level 3 (metastatic): Reaction to the treatment: Day 1: General condition: stable pathology. Temperature: 33*C. Day 2: General condition: unstable pathology. Temperature: 38*C. Day 3: General condition: numerous hemorrhages. Temperature: 43*C. FAILURE: death of subject. CONCLUSION: In man, the apoptosis of parasites induced by the XGM is governed by the inducement of an oxidizing stress. This stress must be controlled.
"Are they all the same?" Mulder asked when he finished.
Scully looked through a few other files and then nodded, "Yes, he failed with all of them," she answered.
"Didn't matter to him did it, he just kept going," Mulder said sickened.
"Anything for his brother," Scully said feeling the same contempt.
"There isn't much we can do here, the only door we haven't tried is the left door in the little lab," Shannon said.
"Let's head back then," Scully said and they backtracked to the lab.
They entered the door to the left and were stunned by what they saw.
The room was another lab, but there were trays of the Mortifilia growing. The room was set up to be a like a green house.
"He has so much," Shannon said as she touched the plant lightly.
"These aren't the original Mortifilia," Mulder said confused.
Scully studied them and saw that he was right.
The Mortifilia plant grew as reeds and looked likes trees when full grown; these were blossoming into flowers.
"He crossbred them…successfully by the looks of it," Stan said sounding defeated.
"But why?" Kenny asked.
"The spores. He wants the Mortifilia to be resilient, to spread," Mulder said in disbelief.
"Even if we destroy his subjects and his serum, these flowers will still bloom and give of the spores," Scully said, "They'll spread and create more. He won't lose his research or subject if he keeps these."
"We have to destroy them," Mulder said looking around the room frantically.
He picked up different vials with chemicals and started pouring them on the trays. The rest started helping him.
All the trays were drowned.
"They have to be dead," Mulder said inspecting them.
The chemicals had burned some of the flowers.
"Hopefully, unless he already has a sample on him," Kenny said.
"What? Are you taking over for Stan?" Shannon snapped, "Let's just assume he doesn't and that this will end tonight."
"Friedman has secret passages all around; maybe he already acquired a sample. I'm just being realistic," Kenny argued.
"I was as well, but you all jumped down my throat too," Stan grumbled.
Shannon glared at them, "I can't believe you, just stop being so negative!"
"I'm being honest!" Kenny shouted.
"You're being an idiot!" Shannon countered.
Kenny was about to retort, but was interrupted by Scully.
"Enough!" Scully said sharply glaring at all of them to challenge her.
The three grudgingly quieted. Mulder was slightly amused.
Scully walked towards a table full of papers and started to sift through them.
Mulder followed after her. She sighed heavily.
"I think I'm rethinking the whole having children thing," she said wearily, looking up at him.
"You'd do great, and besides I doubt you and your children would be doing this on a regular basis," he said earnestly.
Scully gave him a small appreciative smile and then sighed her frustration, "They're just scared, we all are, I know that," she said and gave up looking through the papers realizing they were worthless
Mulder nodded, "It's true, so we should keep moving then."
Scully looked around the room. She saw Kenny, Shannon, and Stan were softly conversing amongst themselves. She also took relevance of the door in the right corner and a ladder leading down on the left side.
"We should see what's on the other side of the door," Scully said.
"All right," Mulder nodded, "Hey, guys, let's go," he called to the three.
They opened the door and entered into the room.
The room was huge and was completely bathed in red light. The room was also full of think tree roots and to the left was the huge door. They finally found what they were looking for.
"It's the door," Kenny said walking over the stone door.
"Duh," Shannon rolled her eyes, but followed him.
"Hey be careful of what you touch," Mulder said indicating the roots, "I don't want Leonard to know we're here."
The group agreed and walked carefully to the door.
They inspected the door. It was made of thick stone and divided into four parts.
Kenny hit it, "How are we supposed to open it?"
"Open sesame!" Stan said grandly.
"Gee, I wonder why that didn't work," Kenny said sarcastically.
"Oh Stan," Shannon said, but was slightly amused.
"Worth a shot," he smirked.
"That's something I'd have expected from you," Scully said quietly to Mulder.
He shrugged, "I'm off my game today."
Scully shook her head, faintly amused, "I recall it having to do with the statues," Scully answered, "But how?"
"The last area to search is through the ladder," Shannon pointed out.
"Back we go," Stan sighed annoyed.
They headed down the ladder and into a storage room. The storage room had a door to the left. They entered it and stepped onto a metal mesh platform.
In the middle of the room was a large alter with four little alters connected to it.
In the middle of the alter were many roots from a tree that connected to gears and the alters.
"Leonard?" Mulder questioned.
"I have no idea," Scully said.
They walked over to the alter.
"Well, there are four alters so I assume the statues go in them," Shannon said.
Stan placed the four statues in the alters and the five waited.
"I guess we did it wrong?" Mulder said unsure.
Then the ground started to shake violently and the statues sunk into the ground. After a minute, the shaking subsided and the ground was still.
"Leonard should know someone's coming now," Mulder said steadying himself.
"Let's get back to the red room," Stan said.
"Wait!" Shannon said.
They all looked at her.
"Um, do we know what we're doing, or facing?" Shannon asked nervously.
"A tree that's human," Mulder said simply, "So I assume bullets still hurt like hell."
Shannon nodded and the group headed back to the huge red room. The door had opened.
They walked up to the opened door, but stopped when they heard yelling.
A few feet into the room were Herbert and Walden.
Mulder stopped them. He didn't want to interrupt them or be noticed when he saw Walden with a gun.
"Give me the antidote!" Walden yelled pointing a gun at Friedman.
Herbert backed away from him, fearful, and clutching a metal suitcase to his body.
"No. You've been exposed to too much light it won't work on you," Herbert said, "It'll be a waste."
"You tricked me you son of a bitch. You told Elisabeth to give me the wrong one," Walden screamed still waving the gun.
Herbert flinched, "I had to. You wanted to ruin me and my research," he said.
"I didn't. I'll admit I wanted to claim it as my own, I mean come on Herbert you're old, you won't live to reap the benefits," Walden said, "But then I realized that you've been old for so long; you've perfected it haven't you?" he said.
"I haven't you dolt, haven't you noticed that Elisabeth and I never leave the darkness. We can't, we'd die, and now so will you?!" Herbert exclaimed angrily.
"I won't goddamn it, give me that case!" Walden screamed.
"I can't let you ruin this Denny," Herbert said sorrowfully, "I have bigger plans for this, and you're not worth saving now."
"Neither are you Herbert," Walden said regretfully cocking the gun and aiming it at Herbert's chest.
"Walden!" Mulder called walking a little closer to them.
Walden looked at him surprised.
"Stop this, no one needs to die," Mulder said calmly, "He can help us."
"He can help me," Walden spat, "I have no intention of wasting a drop of the Mortifilia on you or your group."
Mulder aimed his gun at him, "At the moment you don't have a choice."
Walden seemed to be weighing his options.
"I can't save any of you!" Herbert said to Mulder and Walden.
"I know, you want to save Leonard first," Mulder said.
Herbert looked surprised that Mulder knew, "I have to. He's suffered longer then any of you have, longer then I have," Herbert said sadly, "I'm sorry for everything, but I have to continue my work, I can't let any of you ruin it."
"Give me the case Herbert now!" Walden said, "Don't be stupid, the Mortifilia makes you immortal not invulnerable, and I have the upper hand here!" Walden shouted; gun still trained on him.
"You may Denny, but I have no intention of being bullied, you deserve what's coming to you," Herbert said firmly.
Walden shook his head disappointed, "And so do you Friedman," Walden said and fired at him twice.
Herbert crumpled to the ground.
Walden rushed to him and grabbed the suitcase.
"NO! Damn it Walden," Mulder said.
Walden dove for cover when Mulder shot at him.
Walden hid behind a sidewall.
"I had to do it!" he called.
Mulder and the group walked farther into the room,
It was larger then the other room. It was full of roots and was more like a cave then part of the building. It also was lit with red light. Everyone stopped when they heard a low growling and saw movement from the middle of the room.
In the middle of a room was a large opening and out of it rose a thick tree root. It touched the ground and then reached for the ceiling. It broke though it slightly and used it to lift itself a little. Then another four roots reached out to the ceiling and the tree climbed up higher just to see what was going on. Another root came up in the middle. This one held a face. It was Leonard.