Date: 23 Apr 1998

Title: Affreux
Category: X/A
Rating: PG-13 for some violence
Spoilers: Squeeze and Tooms
Summary: Tooms isn't quite dead yet... He has one more victim. Are the agents
in peril? Join us- same bat time, same bat-
channel for "Dead Mutants Don't Tell Tales" -or- "Liver Soup With A *Squeeze*
of Lemon."
By: Cancergir1 and Bradford

Authors' Note: I think you need at least an understanding of the
plotlines of Squeeze and Tooms to appreciate this story. For those not
fortunate enough to have seen it, it's probably available at your local
Blockbuster.

Got an opinion? I'd love to hear it! Likes, dislikes, problems with my
grammar? Please E-Mail YuppieGir1@aol.com
(and yes, that's G-I-R-ONE).

Disclaimer: Mulder, Scully, and Tooms belong to 1013 Productions and
Chris Carter. I don't own them or claim to, and no profit is intended.
The *other* character is mine, but it's not as if I'm going to make a
profit with that, either <g>. Oh yeah, and Ziploc and Blockbuster are
registered trademarks of someone, I'm sure.

Sub-Disclaimer: The last two scenes of Tooms HAVE BEEN POSTPONED until
*after* the episode. You call it cheap. I call it exerting my artistic
license. ;)

P.S. - The story takes off at the end of Tooms. The setting, to refresh
your memory, is in a shopping center, at night. Mulder has nearly been
killed by Tooms, barley escaping an involuntary liver-ectomy. Tooms has
apparently just been crushed under an escalator...

AFFREUX
By Cancergir1 and Bradford
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MARCH 20
66 EXETER STREET

You could hear the dull hum of the motor that powered the
escalator from across the lobby of the shopping center. A stream of blood
was carried farther up with each new step. Underneath the growling
machinery, Eugene Victor Tooms clutched the side of his head in pain. He
could feel his wet, warm blood under his hand. He gingerly felt his
injuries. His left ear was torn to shreds. He could feel a deep gash
running down the side of his face. His legs and back were scraped and
burned from being dragged by the gears of the escalator. Tooms knew they
would be back, those FBI agents that had followed him here.

Tooms half staggered, half crawled through the narrow bile-covered
tunnel leading back to his nest and curled up in the corner, his blood
still trickling down his head. He lay there, shivering from the cold
wetness.

* * * * * * *

Scully sat by Mulder's side, holding his hand as he lay on the
tile floor, waiting for an ambulance. Finally, they had ended this Tooms
case. It was over. Mulder was covered in stinking yellow bile. He was
still in shock. He had nearly been killed, going in after Tooms alone.
Scully had saved his life. They heard sirens in the distance and the
worried look in Scully's eyes softened a little. She was sure Tooms was
dead, or at least injured enough to be incapacitated. Mulder did what
needed to be done.

The ambulances arrived with a few police cars. As Mulder was
attended to by the EMTs, the officers surrounded the hole in the floor
directly in front of the escalator. They looked down apprehensively. "The
escalator dragged him back," Mulder called as strongly as he could.

* * * * * * *

Tooms sat in his nest, uncrumpling a wad of his clothing. He
pulled on a bile-covered shirt and a pair of pants, his animal control
uniform. He crawled out of his nest, grimacing with every movement. He
knew he didn't have much time. He ducked into a tunnel leading the
opposite direction of the first one, out of the building.

* * * * * * *

One officer took off his hat and cautiously lowered himself into
the hole. He crouched down into the blackness, turning on his flash
light. He looked around. "I don't see him!" he called. "I'm going
further in." The officer crawled through the narrow passageway, towards a
pile of soggy newspapers, searching for any sign of Eugene Victor Tooms.
"I don't see him!" he repeated. "I don't see him anywhere!"

Mulder stood up, and limped towards the officers. "What?" he
asked. "What do you mean?"

Scully stood up and joined him. "He was there. There's no way he
could have possibly-" She broke off, giving Mulder a confused look. The
officer climbed back out of the hole, his black uniform covered in yellow
bile. Mulder stepped forward. "May I?" he said gesturing towards the
hole and reaching for the flashlight. Mulder stepped into the shaft,
carefully taking in all the details. "There's a surprising amount of
blood on the floor and especially on the gears, and- " Mulder stopped,
reaching for something caught between the gears. It was a piece of human
flesh. He dropped it quickly. "-he's obviously suffered some damage, but
Scully, he's gone." Mulder climbed back out of the crevice in the floor,
and walked over to his partner.

"Search the building!" Scully cried to the police officers
standing by. "Check outside! We have to find him!"

* * * * * * *

Eugene Tooms staggered through the sewer systems under Arlington,
Virginia. He had been walking for miles. He had to keep going. The blood
from his injuries had soaked through his uniform. His pace faltered, and
he caught himself against the brick sewer wall. He put his head down and
breathed heavily.

Tooms took three more reeling steps forward, then fell to his
knees, then to his face, hitting the side of his head against the brick
floor.

* * * * * * *

A little girl sat on a bench on the side of a rural road, waiting
for the bus. She looked expectantly up at the horizon, squinting into the
sun. With both small hands she gripped a black vinyl satchel. Her dark
brown hair hung down past her shoulders, and her legs that hung off the
bench didn't touch the ground. She saw a blue and gray bus slowing as it
approached the bench. She slid off and got in line to board.

The little girl cautiously made her way down the aisle inside the
bus, tightly clutching her bag. A hand shot out into the aisle, trying to
wrench the bag from her hand. An adolescent male voice taunted her,
"What'cha got in the bag, little girl?". She clenched her teeth, and
turned away. Her eyes started to glow yellow. Still gripping her bag
with one hand, she let go with the other and raised a well-manicured hand,
ready to gouge out his...

"Now, come on dear." The girl felt a hand on her back, pushing
her gently forward and retrieving her satchel from the antagonist. The
girl's eyes cooled back to a dark brown, and she accepted her pouch from
the old woman, settling into a seat.

* * * * * * *

Mulder stormed up the street. He was getting extremely
frustrated. His flashlight beam bobbed over the ground, sweeping from one
side of the street to the other. He took long, quick, deliberate strides
as his shorter partner struggled to keep up with him.

"Mulder!" she said breathlessly. "Slow down!"

Mulder stopped and turned to her. "We're going to lose him,
Scully. He'll go back into hibernation. He's just looking for a place.
We have to catch him now if we're going to catch him at all." There was a
sound on the side of the road and Mulder ran towards it.

Scully stood in the middle of the dark street looking helplessly
at her partner. He was doing it again. Shifting all the blame on
himself. Mulder had nearly been killed. But after having escaped with
his life, all he could think about is how they didn't get Tooms. Scully
was about to follow her partner when her cellular phone rang.

"Scully," she answered it. "Yes....Uh-huh..." Scully's brow
creased as she slowly nodded her head listening to her phone. "I'll tell
him...Yes...Thank you." She hung up her cell phone just as Mulder emerged
from the shadows on the side of the street.

Mulder threw his hands up in disgust. "Nothing." His flash light
fell to the pavement. It bounced once and the light flickered and went
out. Mulder clenched his teeth as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Mulder. Calm down. You're stressed out, and you need to get
some rest. We have over a hundred officers looking for Tooms. Let them
search tonight. We can start again tomorrow, if they haven't already
found him by then."

"Tomorrow it will be too late. He'll have found a spot somewhere,
and he'll disappear off the face of the planet for thirty more years. He
has all five livers, Scully. We have to find him tonight."

"Mulder," Scully said in her most calming tone. "I just got off
the phone with the Baltimore PD. They found Monte's liver. Two blocks
from his house, in a garbage can. Only one bite was taken from it."

Mulder looked at her, his brow furrowed. "But why...?"

"Monte was suffering from a liver disorder. On his medical
records it showed he had liver cancer, due to bacterial infection, and
Hepatitis C. He was on a waiting list for a liver transplant, but wasn't
in dire need of one..."

"So Tooms found he couldn't use the liver, and threw it out,"
Mulder finished for her. "So he still has another liver to go. There
will be another murder. Scully, we *had* him! I-"

"Mulder," she stopped him, "we have time. Tooms is most likely
very weak right now. He's definitely injured. He'll need time to rest.
He won't kill anyone tonight. Go home Mulder, get some sleep. Change
your clothes. Take a shower."

Mulder looked down at his stained and rumpled ensemble. He reeked
of drying bile. "Guess I am a little messy." He looked up at Scully with
a sheepish grin.

She smiled. "We'll continue the search tomorrow," Scully said as
she paced past him, back to the car.

Mulder nodded and picked up the flashlight he had dropped,
fiddling with it as he followed Scully. "Scully," he started slowly,
"would you mind if I stayed at your place tonight?"

She smirked. "Why, Mulder? Afraid of the boogey man?" She asked
as she got into the driver's seat.

"No, just a hundred-year-old-yellow-eyed-liver-eating-mutant." He
said as he climbed in beside her. He looked up from the flashlight and
she saw real concern in his eyes. "Seriously. We know Tooms went after
you once, and now that he's on the loose again..."

"Not to mention the fact that he went after *you*." She added.
"Yeah, all right." Scully shifted the car into drive and they left the
dark street.

* * * * * * *

The sound of the bus's engine died as it pulled to a stop at the
side of the road. The doors opened and the little dark-haired girl
stepped deliberately down the stairs. She turned back to watch the bus
depart. The light from its headlights reflected off the water droplets
hanging in the air of the misty night. When the bus was out of sight, the
little girl stepped out onto the quiet, desolate street. She stooped down
in the middle of the road, prying open the manhole cover, sliding it
aside. With her bag slung over her shoulder, she climbed down the ladder
to the sewer, pausing to pull the cover back in place.

She walked carefully in on the brick floor of the sewer, her steps
echoing in the small space. She walked a few paces, then turned the
corner. Directly ahead; illuminated by the streetlight's glow falling
through the sewer grate; was a still, motionless body. She approached
the prone figure almost reverently. The little girl stooped down beside
him, placing her hand on his head. She sat, and ran her fingers through
his dark, thick hair.

Eugene Tooms stirred. He looked up at the small girl touching him
and faintly smiled. He laid his head back down on the ground.

The girl opened her satchel, drawing out a Ziploc bag, and
retrieving its contents. She held the slimy, dead liver out to Eugene.

Tooms tried pushing himself up, attempting to sit up. The girl
reached over to steady him. He shakily accepted her offering and brought
it to his mouth, taking a large bite. The child opened her bag again, and
brought out another victual.

After consuming the first liver, Tooms hungrily accepted the
other. He could feel his energy returning, even if these organs were
dead. He would soon be able to acquire his last victim, then go into
hibernation.

Tooms stood, and the girl reached to brace him. Slowly, he
staggered as she led him through the sewer.

* * * * * * *

Mulder stood in the hallway as Scully fished for her keys. She
unlocked and opened the door to her apartment, then stepped inside.
Mulder followed, setting down his bag.

"The bathroom is right down the hall, and there are towels in the
cupboard on the left," she said, obviously implying what the first matter
of business was.

Mulder looked where she was pointing. "That's the bathroom Tooms
attacked you in, isn't it?" he asked seriously.

She nodded, recalling the scene. Tooms would've killed her if
Mulder hadn't come in when he did. And now that Tooms was out again,
Scully was rather grateful to have Mulder here.

Mulder picked up his things and headed to the bathroom. "Oh," he
turned back. "I brought some videos for later."

Scully raised an eyebrow suggestively.

He shook his head and grinned. "Planet of the Apes, The Blob, and
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes." Mulder went into the bathroom, and shut
the door.

Half an hour later, Scully was sitting at her kitchen table, with
the newspaper and a bowl of cereal when Mulder emerged from the bathroom.
He was dressed in blue jeans and a worn, blue, sleeveless New York Knicks
T-shirt. He sat down at the table running an off-white towel through his
wet hair.

Scully looked up at him. She noticed a dark red scratch on his
upper arm. "Are you okay?" she asked, gesturing to his arm.

"Yeah. It's just a surface wound. It must have happened when
Tooms attacked me under the escalator." He paused. A look of frustration
crossed his face as he spoke. "We almost had him, Scully." Mulder
clenched his fist as he continued. "We had him there, at the shopping
center, but all I could do was run away from him. If I hadn't-"

"Mulder, you were almost killed," Scully cut him off. "From what
we know, Tooms is a seasoned murderer. You were lucky to get out of there
alive." She gently placed her hand on his forearm.

Mulder relented, taking a deep breath. "I guess we should turn in
for the night," he said, glancing at the clock on the microwave. It read
3:04.

Scully checked the time also. "I don't think I can sleep tonight,
Mulder."

Mulder smiled and reached into his bag, pulling out three video
cassettes. "Take your pick."

Scully opened her eyes and blinked. She had fallen asleep. She
squinted blearily at he clock on her VCR. It said 4:18. The TV showed a
mob of people running from a giant piece of produce. The sound was muted,
but she could imagine their petrified screams. Scully looked over to her
right. Mulder was resting his head on the armrest of her couch, breathing
regularly.

Scully drowsily pushed herself up off the couch and stepped over
to the VCR, stopping the tape, then turning off the TV. She got a blanket
for Mulder from her linen closet, and spread it over his still form.
Scully paused a moment, then awkwardly lifted his feet up onto the couch,
pulling the blanket over his legs. She retired to her room and fell
asleep in her queen-sized bed.

* * * * * * *

Tooms lay wearily on a bed in a run-down motel. It had been
excruciatingly painful walking the short distance to the motel. It had
sapped nearly all his energy. His breathing was ragged. His eyes barley
hung open. The little girl was in the room's small bathroom.

She came out into the dirty, dimly lit, stale smelling room
holding a wet cloth. She carefully sat down beside him on the bed.
Slowly, she pressed the cloth to the gash on the side of Eugene's face.
He cringed and drew a sharp breath through clenched teeth. The girl
reached over, and placed a tiny hand on his forearm. Tooms's expression
softened.

The child stood up and stepped back from the bed. She stripped a
tattered blanket from the other bed, and spread it over Tooms. Eugene
forced his eyes open as he visually followed the little girl to the door.
With one last look back, the girl opened the door of the motel room,
stepped out, and locked it behind her.

PART TWO. FOR DISCLAIMER, SEE PART ONE.

* * * * * * *

Scully sat back in her chair, crossing her legs. Mulder sat at
his desk, tensely tapping the eraser end of a pencil repetitively on the
tabletop.

"Mulder," Scully started. "They still have officers searching the
area."

Mulder stopped tapping for a moment. "Scully, we lost him. And
now he's going to kill again." He gripped the pencil tightly with one
hand.

"For all we know, he could have collapsed somewhere and died. He
won't be killing any time soon. We'll find him." She said soothingly.

The phone on Mulder's desk rang. He sprang for it. "Mulder." he
answered. "There's *what*?" A disturbed look crossed his face, and Scully
walked over to him in concern. "Okay. Thank you." Mulder dropped the
phone back in its cradle.

"What is it?" Scully asked, worried.

"There's been a murder." Mulder bit off his words. He looked at
the ground. "A nine year old child." He brought his hand up to his head,
kneading his brow. His breathing became terse.

Scully put her hand on his arm. "Mulder, it's not your fault."

"Yes, it is," he continued angrily. "If we had arrested Tooms, or
even if he had killed me, he wouldn't have had to go after a defenseless
child." Mulder closed his eyes, turning away.

"Mulder..." Scully started helplessly.

Without even turning back, Mulder grabbed his jacket off the coat
tree and abruptly left the room.

Scully hurried after him, shutting the door behind her.

They arrived at the crime scene, in a suburb of Baltimore. Mulder
did not speak during the trip over, merely stared at the road and clenched
his jaw. The house was in a quiet residential neighborhood. It was a
colonial style brick house with a large, green yard. Mulder and Scully
flashed their badges to the officer at the door, who led them up the
staircase to the child's bedroom. As they ducked under the yellow and
black crime-scene tape, they surveyed the scene.

It was obviously a child's room. Stuffed animals here and there,
a backpack tossed on a chair. There were sports awards and other mementos
on a shelf on the wall. But despite all these details, the room was not
unlike the scenes of Tooms's other murders. Furniture and belongings
strewn chaotically. Human blood splattered everywhere. The body that had
fallen beside the bed was covered with a light green sheet.

Scully made her way over to the body, carefully avoiding stepping
on anything on the floor. She stooped down by the body and lifted the
sheet. Scully inhaled sharply and recovered the body. She stepped back
outside, rejoining Mulder.

Scully nodded solemnly. "It looks like Toom's work."

Mulder stared at the ground.

The officer that had led them up there escorted them back down the
stairs. "The boy's name was Brent Arbor. The body was found at about 8:00
this morning. The mother says she was going in to wake up her son.
That's exactly how she left it. The point of entry seems to be the window
on the east wall. Apparently, the child's pillow was used either to
smother him or to muffle his screams. Unfortunately, we haven't been able
to find any fingerprints." The officer looked at Scully. "So you say
you've seen this sort of thing before?"

"It's happened before, yes. But never to a child." Scully stole
a glance at Mulder. He was staring off into the distance.

The officer left the two agents. "Mulder, I don't think it was
Tooms," she said.

He looked at her with surprise. "Scully, you said it yourself.
Tooms was probably very weak. But he needed his last liver. So he went
after a more defenseless human to fill his quota. Now he can go into
hibernation."

Scully shook her head. "I don't think it was him. In his
previous murders, Tooms attacked full grown adults. If killing children
provided enough sustenance for him, why didn't he always kill children?"
She took a deep breath. "It doesn't make any sense, Mulder."

* * * * * * *

A fluorescent glow from the streetlight reflected onto the eyes of
a slight, dark-haired girl. She spotted the house and narrowed her eyes
in determination. Glancing around the darkened street, she made sure it
was as abandoned as it seemed. Quietly cutting across the lawn of the
ranch-style home, the girl heard a faint creaking sound and paused. A
swing on a somewhat well used swing set was being pushed gently by the
night breeze. She took this information in with approval.

The child quickly scaled the four-foot chain link fence, and
studied each of the windows on the back of the house. The first window
didn't have curtains. Obviously the kitchen. The next window had dark
green drapes. Too mature. When she surveyed the third window, the
corners of her mouth slowly turned up. This window had white curtains,
peppered with logos and names of American Football League teams.

She methodically made her way over to the window. Pressing her
hands to the glass, she slid the panel to the right. With her long,
utilitarian fingernails, she popped the screen out of its groove and
carefully placed it on the ground, leaning it against the side of the
building.

Pressing down on the window sill with her hands, she strongly and
stealthily lifted her self off the ground. The young girl pushed back the
curtains and looked in, assessing the room. She stepped gently onto the
night table that was directly below the window, then lowered herself onto
the floor. She spotted him, asleep in his bed. He was a boy about
fourteen or fifteen years old, with tousled blond hair and a slight dimple
in his chin.

The girl stood over him, observing the sleeping boy. She reached
over him and started slowly sliding the pillow from behind his head. He
stirred, turning to lie on his back. Groggily he opened his eyes to see a
young girl with glowing, piercing yellow eyes. His tired eyes grew wide,
but before he could call for help, or scream, or even speak, the pillow
was yanked from behind his head and shoved down on his face. The only
noises that were emitted while the boy's life was ripped from him were
barley audible, muted shrieks.

* * * * * * *
MARCH 22
7:18 AM

"Mulder"

"Mulder, it's me," Scully said into her cellular phone. "I just
finished the autopsy on Brent Arbor. This wasn't done by Tooms."

"Scully-" he sighed. How could she not see that Tooms was doing
this because of him?

"Mulder, listen to me. It's not Tooms." She spoke deliberately.

"How can you be sure?" he asked.

"I was examining the liver extraction wounds. The liver was
ripped out by hand just like in all of Toom's murders, that much is
apparent. But the gouges, they're deeper, and closer together than any of
the other murders. In all the wounds, the distance between the fingers
was noticeably smaller. I'd say this was done by someone with smaller
hands, and longer fingernails. Mulder, I think the murderer is female."

Mulder absorbed this information. He could hardly imagine one
person killing the way Tooms did, and now Scully was telling him there was
another, and that she was female. "What do you think the situation is?"
He started slowly. "Is it a copycat killer? Are they working together?"

Scully shook her head. "I don't know. I don't even know where to
begin forming a hypothesis about this." She pursed her lips, looking over
the body again.

* * * * * * *

A sound came from the opposite side of the battered motel door.
Tooms sat up quickly, his eyes giving a sudden flash of yellow. Nausea
and dizziness rushed over him. Half-closing his eyes, Tooms lowered
himself back down on the bed. The door creaked open, and a little girl
slid through, then closed it behind her. Tooms relaxed. The girl
approached the bed silently, in the dimly lit chamber.

The child held out the bloody offering, the boy's liver. The
liver was dead, but it would provide greatly needed restorative energy for
the injured serial killer. Soon, he would be able to kill again.

* * * * * * *

MARCH 23
8:17 AM

"Scully"

"Scully, it's me. There's been another murder. A fourteen
year-old boy." Mulder's voice was low and grave as he spoke into the
phone.

Scully's face registered obvious concern. "Where, Mulder?"

"In a suburb of Baltimore. Look- I'm going to come pick you up-
I'm heading over there now." Mulder stopped. "Scully, I agree with your
theory. Tooms only needed one more liver. The murders should have
stopped. Scully, what's going on here?"

"I don't know, Mulder. Listen, I'll be ready as soon as you get
here."

"All right." Mulder hung up his phone.

Scully pressed the END button on her cell phone, and grabbed her
coat.

* * * * * *

A little hand extended the glass of water. Tooms readily accepted
it. She crawled up beside him on the sagging bed. Tooms was sitting up
now. One more liver, and he would be able to make his last kill, and go
into hibernation.

The girl and Tooms didn't need to speak, they each knew what the
other was thinking. The girl had worked her way up, and was now ready to
kill an adult human. But this one had to be *good*. It had to be
meaningful. She knew what Tooms wanted.

He wanted Mulder.

* * * * * * *

The crime scene had been almost identical to the new murderer's
last victim's. The only notable difference was that they found a print. A
well-preserved, intact, elongated, trademarkedly Tooms print.

The print was re-sized into proportion, and checked against that
of Eugene Tooms. It did not match.

It was decided to check the print in IFIS. A tech for the FBI
prepared the fingerprint for the immense IFIS system. A few hours later,
in what would be the equivalent of months of hand-searching, the computer
returned the results. The print belonged to no one. There were no
matches. There were hundreds of thousands of prints in the IFIS system,
all the prints on record in the United States.

The search was run again. The previous results were confirmed.
No match.

Mulder and Scully sat in their basement office. The familiar
musty smell that all basements have hung in the air. Mulder was pacing.
Scully sat at a table, once again looking over the case file.

Mulder was thinking out loud. "At least we know we have two
different murderers on our hands. That doesn't make it any easier,
though. All we know from the fingerprint is that whoever it is doesn't
have a record, and isn't a naturalized citizen."

Scully looked up from her notes. "Mulder, we've learned more from
this. The print they found, is not an adult's print. Even the elongated
print is smaller than Tooms's, and the proportional one is child-sized."

Mulder shook his head. "Scully, a minor couldn't do that. Those
are gruesome murders, even for an adult. And besides, for a child,
especially a female child, to overpower a healthy fourteen year-old boy,
would require abnormal physical strength."

"Tooms seemed to have exceptional physical strength. He attacked
and murdered men nearly twice his size. Maybe the murderers are related."
Scully shrugged.

Mulder scratched his chin. "What if they are? That could be it,
Scully. We should check the microfilms again."

"Tooms didn't have any records," she said. "Why would this
murderer?" Scully glanced at her watch. "Mulder, we've done all we can
today. Why don't we call it a day. Maybe if we sleep on it, something
will come."

Mulder glanced quickly at her. "Need some company tonight? I
mean, now that we know it's only a child, if you don't..."

"This child seems to be working her way up. I wouldn't be
surprised if the next victim is an adult." she said. Even though the
murderer was almost certainly a child, the thought of a killer on the
loose still made her uneasy. She looked up at Mulder. "And no, Mulder, I
wouldn't mind your company."

The agents gathered their things, and walked out of the building
together. As they climbed into the car, they noticed the surprisingly
bright moon, and the stars muffled by Metro-DC lights. But they didn't
notice the glowing yellow eyes in the shadows.

* * * * * * *

Mulder and Scully both turned in as soon as they got to Scully's
apartment. After spending the last few days on a strenuous sleeping
schedule, they certainly needed it. Scully's eyes were closed almost
before her head hit the pillow. She had gotten Mulder situated on the
couch, and changed into her pajamas, not even realizing how tired she was
until she got into bed.

Mulder lay on the couch, staring at the ceiling. Mulder was one
of the few people for whom sleep was not a necessity; although he knew if
he didn't sleep now, he'd regret it later. He pushed aside the blanket
and made his way over to the TV, and felt around for the power button. He
flipped a few channels and found a B-movie from the 50's playing on an
obscure cable channel, and turned the volume down. He lay on his back and
closed his eyes, half-listening to the movie.

The window above Scully's kitchen sink was slowly pushed open. A
tiny dark-haired girl climbed from the fire escape and onto Scully's
counter. She dropped stealthily to the floor. Creeping into the living
room, she saw Mulder's sleeping figure illuminated by the light from the
black-and-white movie. Her eyes flared yellow, and she could feel her
mouth watering in anticipation, even though this one wasn't for her. This
was for Tooms. The mere thought of killing made her eyes burn.

The girl picked up a pillow Mulder had left on the floor. She
knew the female FBI agent was here also. She needed to keep it as quiet
as possible. She raised the pillow to smother Mulder, when a scream came
from the television set. Mulder's eyes fluttered open, and he saw
glinting yellow eyes staring at him.

Mulder gasped, and dove for his gun on the end table. "Scully!"
he yelled. The girl was already off. He barley caught a glimpse of her as
she scrambled out the window, down the fire escape.

Scully jumped out of bed and reached for her gun when she heard
Mulder call. Very disoriented, she bolted out into the living room, in
time to see Mulder climbing out the window.

The girl clambered down the fire escape. The man was slow and
more awkward. She sprinted into the street and yanked back a manhole
cover, clambering in. She had already gotten some distance on Mulder. The
girl ran through the brick sewer, her footsteps echoing rhythmically off
the walls. Stealth was no longer an issue, only speed. She was stupid to
try to take on an adult, especially when his partner was in the next room.
If he caught her, he would kill her. He had already tried to kill Tooms.

Mulder followed the girl into the sewer, retching at the smell.
Clad only in a sleeveless T-shirt and blue jeans, the cold night air bit
at him. He followed the girl as best he could, trying to keep up with her
twisting, turning path through the dark tunnels. He was catching up.

The dark-haired child kept looking over her shoulder. She had
almost lost him. She located a ladder and scaled the metal rungs, shoving
open the heavy cover at the top. Dodging the sparse traffic, she ran
across the road to the motel. The garish orange neon sign lit the parking
lot. She found the door, opened it, and locked it behind her.

Tooms sat up at the sudden noise. He cast a worried look at the
girl. Before either of them could do anything, the door burst inward.
Mulder crashed into the room, gun in hand. "FREEZE! FBI!" he yelled. He
saw Tooms sitting on the bed, dried blood still caked on his face. Mulder
scanned the room for the girl.

Suddenly, he was tackled, his gun skittering across the warped
floor. Mulder felt a fiery pain rip through his side. He cried out.
Mulder looked up, and saw the glowing yellow eyes on the face of the small
girl. She gouged at his face. Mulder heaved her off with all his might.
She landed on the floor, but picked herself up and tore back at him. She
jumped on him again, furiously gouging at any flesh she could.

Mulder rolled himself over, pinning the flailing child. Her head
hit the linoleum floor. She stopped moving. He reached for his gun, a
few feet away on the floor; glancing around for Tooms. A heavy blow to his
side knocked him off of her. Mulder's head slammed into the wall and he
groaned. A sharp kick to his midsection forced him to double over in
pain.

Tooms, still weakened, shoved the agent onto his back, slashing at
his body. Mulder could barley move, let alone fight back. Tooms slammed
him against the wall again and again, trying to force Mulder into
unconsciousness. Blood was everywhere, and it was all Mulder's. Blood
from the wounds on his head mingled with blood from the gouges from both
Tooms and the girl.

Finally, after one last groan, Mulder stopped moving. Tooms
pushed back Mulder's shirt. With his eyes glowing, he raised one
disproportioned hand in the air, ready for the kill.

"FEDERAL AGENT! FREEZE!" Scully burst in the room, aiming her
gun directly at Tooms. Tooms, startled, turned away from Mulder. He
stood up, and lunged at Scully. BOOM. BOOM. Scully fired two shots,
catching Tooms square in the chest. Tooms crumpled to the cold floor, a
pool of blood growing around him.

Scully ran over to the unconscious child, and picked up a limp
arm, ending in 7-inch fingers. She quickly cuffed the girl then went to
Mulder's side. He wasn't moving. His hair was matted with sticky, drying
blood. He was covered in deep gashes. She felt his pulse. He was still
alive. Scully reached for the hotel phone and called for paramedics.

* * * * * *

EPILOGUE
MARCH 24
2:23 PM

Scully sat in the uncomfortable vinyl chair, PowerBook on her lap,
typing steadily. The case was closed, and she was finishing up her field
reports. The girl had come-to about half an hour later, but Mulder was
still unconscious. She knew he would pull through, he always did; but like
always, she had that nagging feeling in her stomach that someday he may
not. She tried to distract herself, going back to her laptop computer,
but she kept finding herself staring expectantly at Mulder.

Mulder groaned slightly. Scully's eyes snapped onto the hospital
bed next to her. He tried to turn his head, but gave up and let it drop
back to the pillow. Mulder's eyes lazily opened. Scully smiled faintly.

"Good morning," he said groggily.

"Mulder, it's two in the afternoon." Her face turned concerned.
"Are you okay?"

Mulder assessed his current condition. The gouges all over his
body had been bandaged, and the deeper ones stitched. He had a horrible
headache, and assumed he had at least a mild concussion. The last thing
he remembered was Tooms, standing over him, his eyes glowing yellow. The
thought made him shudder mentally.

"I'm fine," he lied. "Where's Tooms?" he asked seriously. His
expression changed. "Actually, why am I still in possession of all my
major organs?"

Scully partially closed her PowerBook. "Tooms is dead," she said
gravely.

His brow creased. "How?"

"I followed you to the motel room. When I got there, you were
already unconscious. Tooms tried to attack me, and I shot him." She
paused. "He nearly killed you, Mulder. What made you go there?"

"It was the girl. She was in your apartment. I followed her
there. She's the one, Scully. It was her eyes. They were the same as
Tooms. Where is she?"

Scully sighed. "She's in custody at a hospital for the criminally
insane. Her prints matched the ones we lifted at the last murder. We
weren't able to find any records on her, and she refuses to speak at all,
let alone give her name."

Mulder stared at the wall. "I hope to God this is over," he said
wearily.

* * * * * * *

In her solitary cell, a little girl sat on her bed, holding the
day's newspaper. Carefully tearing a strip from Page 1, she licked the
entire length of it, then the back. Crumpling the soggy strip with her
right hand, she tossed it in the corner of her cinder-block cell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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