p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"stronguspan lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Chapter 6/span/u/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"strongspan lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Northern lake shore parking lot/span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"strongspan lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"9.30 am/span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Scully and Mulder met half an hour before their meeting with the rangers, who should help them with the case and the mysterious Old Man in the Lake. During their hike to the shore of the lake they had time to chat. Mulder smiled widely at her and took in her outer appearance with a lot of approval in his eyes. She wore a navy blue shirt, a faded jeans and her hiking boots, a rain jacket was knotted around her small waist. She smiled back at him, returning the favor, because he was wearing the tight black jeans she admired and a green T-shirt, matching his mossy eye color. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"He had his navy-blue rain jacket slumped over his shoulder with his index finger hooked to it in front of his chest. He looked at her from the side, biting his lower lip, as he had an idea. Quickly checking that no one was around he grabbed her by her wrist, putting her arm behind her back and with that turning her quickly towards him till their bellies bumped. Catching her off-guard, he took his other arm to lay it around her neck, drawing her chin up and kissed her passionately. Tongues dueling, hearts speeding and sighing into each other's mouths. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Getting up for air and looking at him she said in a husked voice "That morning was…amazing." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"With a huge grin on his face, he held her tightly to him and replied "If we had enough time, I would like to repeat it right here, right now." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Letting his hand dance around her buttocks she kissed his neck, making her way up to his jawline, then to his lips and to his ear, whispering "God, you don't know how much I want that. I had a hard time concentrating this morning in the ME's office." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I had a hard time sleeping without you next to me. I missed you so much, it hurt." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"He shifted his position that he held her by her waist, lifting her to his height and kissed her with all what was in him. Gasping for breath they parted, missing the other's body right away. They knew they had to get going to catch up with the rangers. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Mulder entwined his fingers with hers and asked if she had news from Dr. Perenty and Darlene. She explained "We found new traces of the spores all over the deformed nasal cavity and under the skin particles beneath the noses of the victims, so we came up with the idea, that the fungus must have been entering the nostrils and moved up the nasal cavity till reaching the brain barrier. The victims also had little bleeding marks under their former noses. So I figured, that the fungus either could have been on their hands first to find their way up there by the victims sweeping their hand at their noses, or that something or someone must have put it there. The biggest problem is still that our fungus cannot exist in the woods or together with other funguses. So where does it come from? If somebody came in contact with it to spread it by its spores, how exactly does that work? Darlene then suggested, that it could come up the lake with one of the animals and because it is so warm started to grow again. But this is all a hypothesis and no evidence. Dr. Perenty alsospan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanasked what those spores might do when finally reached the brain? What happens to the victim then? He suggested that that fungus must have been the cause of death and the bodies might be mutilated afterwards. I agree with him, because that might explain the precise cuts due to the immobility of the victims. The three of us ended the sessions obviously with more questions than answers. I hope we find something more down here." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Mulder still holding her hand, their fingers entwined, was impressed by all the new information and said "I see you definitely think it is not out of the realm of extreme possibilities that there is a kind of creature, animal or parasite that entered the human body to spread the spores. I don't know how you see it, but that sounds a lot like me. I guess I have bad influence on you." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Smiling she squeezed his hand said "You could never be a bad influence. On the contrary, you broaden my horizon in any possible way." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"With that he made her stand still, taking both of her hands, locked eyes with hers and replied "When we finished this off here, we go somewhere nice and have some quality time together, so you can broaden my horizons in any possible ways as well. I love you". /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"He kissed her again and released her for the last 60 yards to the lake, so the rangers won't suspect anything. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Good morning", one of the rangers greeted them. "I am Peter Winslow and this is Janine Castle. Nice to meet you agents." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"They shook hands and Mulder introduced them. "We are very grateful for your time. We know it's not easy right now to make time because of the trouble with the tourists and he reporters." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Castle replied "Yeah, it's been stressful these days. However it is a big relieve that the reporters finally left and listened to the police, but two of them stayed here at the lodge but have been behaving themselves. Maybe you already saw them?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Scully frowned and said that they haven't seen those people and hoped that they won't come their way. She made a mental note to ask the desk clerk for the reporters and start being more cautious. Mulder thought about the same thing and shortly glanced at Scully before he went on "Anyway, we wanted to ask you some questions about the lake and the woods and hope you can help us with that." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Winslow shortly nodded, so Mulder asked "What do you know about the mysteries of the lake, or legends surrounding it?" Winslow explained:/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""There are some legends of the local native tribes, the Umpqua and the Klamath that try to explain how the lake came to be or some of its mysteries. Furthermore, there are also true stories that couldn't be explained until now. The Klamath believe that there have been a fight between two spirits of the earth and the sky because the one spirit fell in love with the daughter of the other, but she rejected him and he got angry, wanting to destroy the world of their people. So both spirits fought so hard that the mountain exploded, causing great landslides. It must have been dark for days. To calm the volcano gods, two medicine men sacrificed themselves and jumped into the raging volcano. The spirit of the above-world was impressed and fought even harder and won and expelled the other spirit to disappear into the earth. After that he collapsed and peace and tranquility covered up this dark battle field and filled it with the beautiful blue water." Both Mulder and Scully were impressed by this imagery. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Then Castle took over. "There are also legends about creatures in the lake, like the one of the Umpqua, saying that there was a group of hunters discovering the lake and one of them been immensely drawn towards it. By swimming in the lake and camping near it, he obtained greater power of the spirits. But he was killed by one of the creature spirits of the lake. That creature was jealous about the man's powers. Once however, the creature vanished in the water but observes the shores ever since, ready to strike at the next opportunity."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Mulder was thinking about the stories and tried to connect them to other native legends he came across while studying the old files. So he spoke "On the one hand, the essence of these legends is to explain things that the native people saw and couldn't came up with another idea. On the other hand, it is often to be interpreted as of seeing what those ancient tribes were afraid of and what they experienced. What I would take out of those stories is, that they couldn't explain a volcanic eruption and tried to break it down to essential human feelings like rage and jealousy but also their need to let it end in something positive and beautiful. You can also see that they experienced a good live here around the lake and admired it's beauty. The appreciation of nature is clearly recognizable. That's also the case in the second legend. But these people seemed to have experienced something dangerous in several occasions which is why they tried to explain the loss of the hunters. Maybe they also saw something bad and dark in the lake. Maybe they had a hazardous disease spread among them and tried to explain its origin with that legend. But that's only hypothetical." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"He finished and was confronted with surprised facial expressions of the rangers. "Wow, you really know your stuff, don't you?" replied Castle. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Scully smiled and found it was about time that someone recognized Mulder's potential and not being rejected by others and called Spooky. She really appreciated the attire of those rangers. So Mulder wanted to know more and said "Thank you. You really helped us with your knowledge about the lake. However, is there also something you know about that Old Man in the lake?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Both rangers looked at each other and chuckled slightly. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Winslow said "Ok, I see you are up for the most spooky story, which is very true and isn't a legend. Well, in 1987 a group of scientists tried to explore the bottom of the lake and collected samples and data about plants and animals in the lake. They did that with a small submarine with which only one person could sit. So that submarine explored this region here near Wizard Island. They already knew about that piece of driftwood called the Old Man in the Lake and weren't interested in it. But the Old Man created a problem by coming too close to the island and disturbing the explorations under it. So they towed it there with an anchor, as long as the exploration took place. The scientist in the submarine saw strange bubbles coming off of the ground and suddenly it got warmer at the bottom of the lake, fish swimming quickly to the surface and so he announced over the radio that he saw something strange and warned the others and came up with the submarine. After that the weather got worse and worse. Big storms seemed to chase the scientists and it wasn't possible for them to go on with their work. Locals told them that it was the Old Man hunting them for towing him and that he won't stop till he will be freed again. Of course the scientists didn't believe these superstitious story and just wanted to wait till everything was over. But it got worse till the temperature dropped so low that it started to snow. It was August, by the way. How likely was that? After some discussions, they decided that they could try their luck and release the Old Man." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Castle eagerly stopped him there and went on herself "Guess what. After they freed the Old Man, the weather returned to normal. Nice summer weather within hours. Creepy, huh?" With a big grin on her face she looked for the reaction of the agents./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Scully raised her typical eyebrow wanting to ramble on the possible causes of such a weather shift but Mulder laid a hand on her arm and stopped her, because he didn't want to lose the rangers as a source and a help. "Woah, that's a spooky story. (winking at Scully, making her grin at him) Are you sure there haven't been an explanation for that?" Castle answered "No, there have been meteorologists here, trying to find out what happened for a whole year but weren't able to find anything. So it must have been the Old Man." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Wilkinson took over "The driftwood always was object of different investigations for its origin and influences on the lake. We now know that it must have been in the lake for more than 450 years. One scientist found that out by carbon dating. They suggest, that a tree stump must have skittered into the lake on the steep parts and fell vertically into it. It must have had some stones attached to one of its ends that forced it to stand upright. More and more the lower half soaked up the water and the stones fell off, but it was so heavy that it still swam upright. The upper half is bleached out to nearly white and there is fountain moss growing on it. It circles the lake ever since and caused wild speculations on its influences on the water, the shades of blue and of course the weather." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Where is the Old Man now?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Wilkins replied "That's why we wanted to meet you here. Here have my googles. Look over there nearly 550 yards in southern direction from here. Can you spot it?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"First Mulder looked through the spy glasses and smiled. Handing it to Scully, she also awed at the Old Man. Impressive how such a little span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanstomp could arouse such huge speculations, she thought. With that they thanked the two rangers and made their retreat, heading back to the car and then to the precinct./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"On their way there, Mulder already came up with a theory of the murders connecting with the lake. "Due to all the information given here, I would say that the source of the fungus is in the lake, maybe also on the underside of the Old Man. This fungus might have been transported by an animal such as the newts which then might have been eaten or bitten by an insect that also attacked our UNSUB, transporting the spores of the fungus. So those spores then arrived in the human body and settled in the brain. It seems also to do something to the emotions or the rational thinking ability of its host and causes him to act violently."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Scully looked at him astonished. "Really? That is your theory? Even if it might make logical sense it doesn't make scientific sense at all. First of all, it is very hard for spores to cross the human barriers like skin pores, immune reactions to intruders till being able to reach the human brain by blood stream, before getting killed by white blood cells. This is highly unlikely or even impossible. Regardless of the unlikeliness of the transportation system you came up with in the first place. Second of all, there were only small amounts of the spores on the bodies. How could that affect the human actions in the way you are suggesting?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""So you really like my theory then?" he humored her and she just replied/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Yes, you're crazy as usual." Both laughed and went back to the precinct. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Sheriff Smith approached them as soon as he saw them and saying that there have been another body found near a campsite on the Cleetwood trail. So they climbed back into their cars and hiking up the mountain to reach the crime scene. During their walk from the campsite to the crime scene they didn't notice that they were observed through the thicket surrounding the crime scene./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"strongspan lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"…The 4supth/sup crime scene next to the Cleetwood trail/span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Mulder, Scully and the Sheriff arrived at the crime scene with shortage of breath and reddened cheeks because of the steep hike up there. Relieved that they brought some water with them, the three stood there ogling the scene and taking a short break before going to work. Scully stood up first and observed the victim, again noting down everything that she examined. What nearly sprang into her face was the hugeness of the body, the boots and the way the victim lay there. It seemed as if he wasn't dumped like the last once, but more like he laid down himself there in agony. The body lay in a fetal position, legs up to the stomach, like he had had cramps or being in tremendous pain. Even if the torso and the head have been cut with an axe as the former victims, everything else seemed different. She also noticed the different color of blood on the upper lip and the rest of the nose that lay beneath the tilted head. She called for Mulder, who tried to find traces and tracks like on the last crime scene./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""What's up, Dana?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Not noticing the usage of her first name, she made him crouch in front of the dead body and spoke "This is so weird, the way that body is lying here. I have the feeling that this man is deeply connected to the former victims but definitely died in a different way. I need to rush to Dr. Perenty and perform that autopsy. If I didn't know it better, I would say that he is the UNSUB we were looking for." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Mulder was surprised and asked "How do you come up with that?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Mulder, look at the boots and the body. It must be him. I will check that thoroughly. But what is really weird about him is, that the mutilations are nearly the same, with the same precision of an axe. I know it might sound unusual for me to come up with a bizarre theory but it is like the murderer adapted everything from his predecessor as if he follows the same M.O. It is highly unusual to have two people acting as serial killers exactly the same. Maybe it has something to do with the fungus. Maybe it makes their hosts act like that. If my biology classes taught me something than it is, that all creatures on earth have an instinct for survival and procreation. What if that fungus wants it's host to spread it further so that it can survive? What if it creates a reaction in the human brain tissue that makes these men act like killers? What if the fungus suppresses everything like moral or any kind of positive emotion, so that the host only can act on that? Like in the case in that volcano years ago. Maybe it's the same fungus working here or at least some related breed." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"After she had finished, she studied Mulder's face for a reaction. She saw him putting on one of his wanton looks and the biggest smile she ever saw on him, speaking "Scully, you definitely worked too long with me. Never in a million years, I expected you to say anything like that. Are you coming onto me, Agent Scully?... Wait, no. Is that a marriage proposal? Because, that would be impossible for me to decline right now." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Scully laughed and wanted to return an inuendo but lost herself in his mossy-hazel eyes and went deadly serious instead, just saying "Yes." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"The smirk vanished from his face immediately and searched her eyes, replying "OK. Then let's make this relationship official and legal."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Oh my god. Are you saying that you want to…?" Scully said flabbergasted./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"He didn't break their eye-lock and nodded slowly. Dana already had tears in her eyes and let them fall at that nod. Fox took her hand and quickly led her behind a big tree some feet away from the crime scene, where nobody could see them, pulled her to him and kissed her deeply with one hand behind her head, supporting her and the other on the small of her back. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"After both came up for air, he hugged her intimately and said into her ear "Dana, you are the love of my life and I cannot imagine a life without you. I am nothing without you. I already felt married to you for years, this is just the legalization of our deep and loving relationship. Will you marry me?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Scully released a breath she didn't realize she was holding, took his hand in hers, lacing their fingers and said "Yes. Of course I will marry you." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Then her voice broke, overcome by emotion. They kissed languidly again showing their love to each other in that one wonderful exploration of their mouths. They were only stopping when they heard something rustling in the bushes on their right side. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Startled by the noise, Mulder released his grip on her, his hand going straight to the Sig Sauer in his hip holster. Scully did the same. Only by eye-contact, they communicated that they should approach the source of the noise from different angles, being as silent as possible. As they came to a holt above the bushes, Mulder saw something or someone behind the leaves and suddenly grabbed for it. The man crouching in the bushes fell on his butt, looking startled. Mulder swung his weapon in front of the face of the man, yelling "Federal Agent. Freeze!" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"The man used that moment to jump up to his feet, reaching for Mulder's gun, not seeing Scully, who went behind him quickly to push her weapon into his back. Stumbling backwards, the man got really angry and outraged. He used his hands and his axe to target the agents with very sudden movements. Mulder shot him in his arm, but the man didn't stop but got more violent by the second. Scully shot him into his calf which made him fall to the ground. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"After steading himself a bit, he just roared "You cannot take me down. I need a new host. So, no one can stop me." and stood up and tried to run away. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"While Scully nearly got cut by the axe, Mulder jumped into her and put her down, covering her with his body. Not succeeding and knowing that this would lead only into trouble, the men ran back into the depths of the forest. Obviously, he needed a new plan to get that FBI agent as his new host. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"strongspan lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Northern lake shore parking lot/span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"strongspan lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"9.30 am/span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Scully and Mulder met half an hour before their meeting with the rangers, who should help them with the case and the mysterious Old Man in the Lake. During their hike to the shore of the lake they had time to chat. Mulder smiled widely at her and took in her outer appearance with a lot of approval in his eyes. She wore a navy blue shirt, a faded jeans and her hiking boots, a rain jacket was knotted around her small waist. She smiled back at him, returning the favor, because he was wearing the tight black jeans she admired and a green T-shirt, matching his mossy eye color. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"He had his navy-blue rain jacket slumped over his shoulder with his index finger hooked to it in front of his chest. He looked at her from the side, biting his lower lip, as he had an idea. Quickly checking that no one was around he grabbed her by her wrist, putting her arm behind her back and with that turning her quickly towards him till their bellies bumped. Catching her off-guard, he took his other arm to lay it around her neck, drawing her chin up and kissed her passionately. Tongues dueling, hearts speeding and sighing into each other's mouths. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Getting up for air and looking at him she said in a husked voice "That morning was…amazing." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"With a huge grin on his face, he held her tightly to him and replied "If we had enough time, I would like to repeat it right here, right now." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Letting his hand dance around her buttocks she kissed his neck, making her way up to his jawline, then to his lips and to his ear, whispering "God, you don't know how much I want that. I had a hard time concentrating this morning in the ME's office." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""I had a hard time sleeping without you next to me. I missed you so much, it hurt." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"He shifted his position that he held her by her waist, lifting her to his height and kissed her with all what was in him. Gasping for breath they parted, missing the other's body right away. They knew they had to get going to catch up with the rangers. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Mulder entwined his fingers with hers and asked if she had news from Dr. Perenty and Darlene. She explained "We found new traces of the spores all over the deformed nasal cavity and under the skin particles beneath the noses of the victims, so we came up with the idea, that the fungus must have been entering the nostrils and moved up the nasal cavity till reaching the brain barrier. The victims also had little bleeding marks under their former noses. So I figured, that the fungus either could have been on their hands first to find their way up there by the victims sweeping their hand at their noses, or that something or someone must have put it there. The biggest problem is still that our fungus cannot exist in the woods or together with other funguses. So where does it come from? If somebody came in contact with it to spread it by its spores, how exactly does that work? Darlene then suggested, that it could come up the lake with one of the animals and because it is so warm started to grow again. But this is all a hypothesis and no evidence. Dr. Perenty alsospan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanasked what those spores might do when finally reached the brain? What happens to the victim then? He suggested that that fungus must have been the cause of death and the bodies might be mutilated afterwards. I agree with him, because that might explain the precise cuts due to the immobility of the victims. The three of us ended the sessions obviously with more questions than answers. I hope we find something more down here." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Mulder still holding her hand, their fingers entwined, was impressed by all the new information and said "I see you definitely think it is not out of the realm of extreme possibilities that there is a kind of creature, animal or parasite that entered the human body to spread the spores. I don't know how you see it, but that sounds a lot like me. I guess I have bad influence on you." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Smiling she squeezed his hand said "You could never be a bad influence. On the contrary, you broaden my horizon in any possible way." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"With that he made her stand still, taking both of her hands, locked eyes with hers and replied "When we finished this off here, we go somewhere nice and have some quality time together, so you can broaden my horizons in any possible ways as well. I love you". /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"He kissed her again and released her for the last 60 yards to the lake, so the rangers won't suspect anything. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Good morning", one of the rangers greeted them. "I am Peter Winslow and this is Janine Castle. Nice to meet you agents." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"They shook hands and Mulder introduced them. "We are very grateful for your time. We know it's not easy right now to make time because of the trouble with the tourists and he reporters." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Castle replied "Yeah, it's been stressful these days. However it is a big relieve that the reporters finally left and listened to the police, but two of them stayed here at the lodge but have been behaving themselves. Maybe you already saw them?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Scully frowned and said that they haven't seen those people and hoped that they won't come their way. She made a mental note to ask the desk clerk for the reporters and start being more cautious. Mulder thought about the same thing and shortly glanced at Scully before he went on "Anyway, we wanted to ask you some questions about the lake and the woods and hope you can help us with that." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Winslow shortly nodded, so Mulder asked "What do you know about the mysteries of the lake, or legends surrounding it?" Winslow explained:/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""There are some legends of the local native tribes, the Umpqua and the Klamath that try to explain how the lake came to be or some of its mysteries. Furthermore, there are also true stories that couldn't be explained until now. The Klamath believe that there have been a fight between two spirits of the earth and the sky because the one spirit fell in love with the daughter of the other, but she rejected him and he got angry, wanting to destroy the world of their people. So both spirits fought so hard that the mountain exploded, causing great landslides. It must have been dark for days. To calm the volcano gods, two medicine men sacrificed themselves and jumped into the raging volcano. The spirit of the above-world was impressed and fought even harder and won and expelled the other spirit to disappear into the earth. After that he collapsed and peace and tranquility covered up this dark battle field and filled it with the beautiful blue water." Both Mulder and Scully were impressed by this imagery. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Then Castle took over. "There are also legends about creatures in the lake, like the one of the Umpqua, saying that there was a group of hunters discovering the lake and one of them been immensely drawn towards it. By swimming in the lake and camping near it, he obtained greater power of the spirits. But he was killed by one of the creature spirits of the lake. That creature was jealous about the man's powers. Once however, the creature vanished in the water but observes the shores ever since, ready to strike at the next opportunity."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Mulder was thinking about the stories and tried to connect them to other native legends he came across while studying the old files. So he spoke "On the one hand, the essence of these legends is to explain things that the native people saw and couldn't came up with another idea. On the other hand, it is often to be interpreted as of seeing what those ancient tribes were afraid of and what they experienced. What I would take out of those stories is, that they couldn't explain a volcanic eruption and tried to break it down to essential human feelings like rage and jealousy but also their need to let it end in something positive and beautiful. You can also see that they experienced a good live here around the lake and admired it's beauty. The appreciation of nature is clearly recognizable. That's also the case in the second legend. But these people seemed to have experienced something dangerous in several occasions which is why they tried to explain the loss of the hunters. Maybe they also saw something bad and dark in the lake. Maybe they had a hazardous disease spread among them and tried to explain its origin with that legend. But that's only hypothetical." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"He finished and was confronted with surprised facial expressions of the rangers. "Wow, you really know your stuff, don't you?" replied Castle. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Scully smiled and found it was about time that someone recognized Mulder's potential and not being rejected by others and called Spooky. She really appreciated the attire of those rangers. So Mulder wanted to know more and said "Thank you. You really helped us with your knowledge about the lake. However, is there also something you know about that Old Man in the lake?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Both rangers looked at each other and chuckled slightly. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Winslow said "Ok, I see you are up for the most spooky story, which is very true and isn't a legend. Well, in 1987 a group of scientists tried to explore the bottom of the lake and collected samples and data about plants and animals in the lake. They did that with a small submarine with which only one person could sit. So that submarine explored this region here near Wizard Island. They already knew about that piece of driftwood called the Old Man in the Lake and weren't interested in it. But the Old Man created a problem by coming too close to the island and disturbing the explorations under it. So they towed it there with an anchor, as long as the exploration took place. The scientist in the submarine saw strange bubbles coming off of the ground and suddenly it got warmer at the bottom of the lake, fish swimming quickly to the surface and so he announced over the radio that he saw something strange and warned the others and came up with the submarine. After that the weather got worse and worse. Big storms seemed to chase the scientists and it wasn't possible for them to go on with their work. Locals told them that it was the Old Man hunting them for towing him and that he won't stop till he will be freed again. Of course the scientists didn't believe these superstitious story and just wanted to wait till everything was over. But it got worse till the temperature dropped so low that it started to snow. It was August, by the way. How likely was that? After some discussions, they decided that they could try their luck and release the Old Man." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Castle eagerly stopped him there and went on herself "Guess what. After they freed the Old Man, the weather returned to normal. Nice summer weather within hours. Creepy, huh?" With a big grin on her face she looked for the reaction of the agents./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Scully raised her typical eyebrow wanting to ramble on the possible causes of such a weather shift but Mulder laid a hand on her arm and stopped her, because he didn't want to lose the rangers as a source and a help. "Woah, that's a spooky story. (winking at Scully, making her grin at him) Are you sure there haven't been an explanation for that?" Castle answered "No, there have been meteorologists here, trying to find out what happened for a whole year but weren't able to find anything. So it must have been the Old Man." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Wilkinson took over "The driftwood always was object of different investigations for its origin and influences on the lake. We now know that it must have been in the lake for more than 450 years. One scientist found that out by carbon dating. They suggest, that a tree stump must have skittered into the lake on the steep parts and fell vertically into it. It must have had some stones attached to one of its ends that forced it to stand upright. More and more the lower half soaked up the water and the stones fell off, but it was so heavy that it still swam upright. The upper half is bleached out to nearly white and there is fountain moss growing on it. It circles the lake ever since and caused wild speculations on its influences on the water, the shades of blue and of course the weather." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Where is the Old Man now?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Wilkins replied "That's why we wanted to meet you here. Here have my googles. Look over there nearly 550 yards in southern direction from here. Can you spot it?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"First Mulder looked through the spy glasses and smiled. Handing it to Scully, she also awed at the Old Man. Impressive how such a little span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanstomp could arouse such huge speculations, she thought. With that they thanked the two rangers and made their retreat, heading back to the car and then to the precinct./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"On their way there, Mulder already came up with a theory of the murders connecting with the lake. "Due to all the information given here, I would say that the source of the fungus is in the lake, maybe also on the underside of the Old Man. This fungus might have been transported by an animal such as the newts which then might have been eaten or bitten by an insect that also attacked our UNSUB, transporting the spores of the fungus. So those spores then arrived in the human body and settled in the brain. It seems also to do something to the emotions or the rational thinking ability of its host and causes him to act violently."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Scully looked at him astonished. "Really? That is your theory? Even if it might make logical sense it doesn't make scientific sense at all. First of all, it is very hard for spores to cross the human barriers like skin pores, immune reactions to intruders till being able to reach the human brain by blood stream, before getting killed by white blood cells. This is highly unlikely or even impossible. Regardless of the unlikeliness of the transportation system you came up with in the first place. Second of all, there were only small amounts of the spores on the bodies. How could that affect the human actions in the way you are suggesting?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""So you really like my theory then?" he humored her and she just replied/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Yes, you're crazy as usual." Both laughed and went back to the precinct. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Sheriff Smith approached them as soon as he saw them and saying that there have been another body found near a campsite on the Cleetwood trail. So they climbed back into their cars and hiking up the mountain to reach the crime scene. During their walk from the campsite to the crime scene they didn't notice that they were observed through the thicket surrounding the crime scene./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"strongspan lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"…The 4supth/sup crime scene next to the Cleetwood trail/span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Mulder, Scully and the Sheriff arrived at the crime scene with shortage of breath and reddened cheeks because of the steep hike up there. Relieved that they brought some water with them, the three stood there ogling the scene and taking a short break before going to work. Scully stood up first and observed the victim, again noting down everything that she examined. What nearly sprang into her face was the hugeness of the body, the boots and the way the victim lay there. It seemed as if he wasn't dumped like the last once, but more like he laid down himself there in agony. The body lay in a fetal position, legs up to the stomach, like he had had cramps or being in tremendous pain. Even if the torso and the head have been cut with an axe as the former victims, everything else seemed different. She also noticed the different color of blood on the upper lip and the rest of the nose that lay beneath the tilted head. She called for Mulder, who tried to find traces and tracks like on the last crime scene./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""What's up, Dana?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Not noticing the usage of her first name, she made him crouch in front of the dead body and spoke "This is so weird, the way that body is lying here. I have the feeling that this man is deeply connected to the former victims but definitely died in a different way. I need to rush to Dr. Perenty and perform that autopsy. If I didn't know it better, I would say that he is the UNSUB we were looking for." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Mulder was surprised and asked "How do you come up with that?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Mulder, look at the boots and the body. It must be him. I will check that thoroughly. But what is really weird about him is, that the mutilations are nearly the same, with the same precision of an axe. I know it might sound unusual for me to come up with a bizarre theory but it is like the murderer adapted everything from his predecessor as if he follows the same M.O. It is highly unusual to have two people acting as serial killers exactly the same. Maybe it has something to do with the fungus. Maybe it makes their hosts act like that. If my biology classes taught me something than it is, that all creatures on earth have an instinct for survival and procreation. What if that fungus wants it's host to spread it further so that it can survive? What if it creates a reaction in the human brain tissue that makes these men act like killers? What if the fungus suppresses everything like moral or any kind of positive emotion, so that the host only can act on that? Like in the case in that volcano years ago. Maybe it's the same fungus working here or at least some related breed." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"After she had finished, she studied Mulder's face for a reaction. She saw him putting on one of his wanton looks and the biggest smile she ever saw on him, speaking "Scully, you definitely worked too long with me. Never in a million years, I expected you to say anything like that. Are you coming onto me, Agent Scully?... Wait, no. Is that a marriage proposal? Because, that would be impossible for me to decline right now." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Scully laughed and wanted to return an inuendo but lost herself in his mossy-hazel eyes and went deadly serious instead, just saying "Yes." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"The smirk vanished from his face immediately and searched her eyes, replying "OK. Then let's make this relationship official and legal."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;""Oh my god. Are you saying that you want to…?" Scully said flabbergasted./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"He didn't break their eye-lock and nodded slowly. Dana already had tears in her eyes and let them fall at that nod. Fox took her hand and quickly led her behind a big tree some feet away from the crime scene, where nobody could see them, pulled her to him and kissed her deeply with one hand behind her head, supporting her and the other on the small of her back. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"After both came up for air, he hugged her intimately and said into her ear "Dana, you are the love of my life and I cannot imagine a life without you. I am nothing without you. I already felt married to you for years, this is just the legalization of our deep and loving relationship. Will you marry me?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Scully released a breath she didn't realize she was holding, took his hand in hers, lacing their fingers and said "Yes. Of course I will marry you." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Then her voice broke, overcome by emotion. They kissed languidly again showing their love to each other in that one wonderful exploration of their mouths. They were only stopping when they heard something rustling in the bushes on their right side. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"Startled by the noise, Mulder released his grip on her, his hand going straight to the Sig Sauer in his hip holster. Scully did the same. Only by eye-contact, they communicated that they should approach the source of the noise from different angles, being as silent as possible. As they came to a holt above the bushes, Mulder saw something or someone behind the leaves and suddenly grabbed for it. The man crouching in the bushes fell on his butt, looking startled. Mulder swung his weapon in front of the face of the man, yelling "Federal Agent. Freeze!" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"The man used that moment to jump up to his feet, reaching for Mulder's gun, not seeing Scully, who went behind him quickly to push her weapon into his back. Stumbling backwards, the man got really angry and outraged. He used his hands and his axe to target the agents with very sudden movements. Mulder shot him in his arm, but the man didn't stop but got more violent by the second. Scully shot him into his calf which made him fall to the ground. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"After steading himself a bit, he just roared "You cannot take me down. I need a new host. So, no one can stop me." and stood up and tried to run away. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Verdana',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"While Scully nearly got cut by the axe, Mulder jumped into her and put her down, covering her with his body. Not succeeding and knowing that this would lead only into trouble, the men ran back into the depths of the forest. Obviously, he needed a new plan to get that FBI agent as his new host. /span/p