Mulder -
The
storm blew itself out in the night and morning brought light to see the
destruction the storm had wrought. The
southeastern corner of the hospital had lost part of the roof and they could
easily see the path the tornado had taken. “Do we
stay or go?” Skinner turned to Hal. “Good
question. I say we go on. We’ll probably have a couple of days at least, and
this place is more splinters than structure now. Skinner
nodded and they reloaded what little they had taken from the wagon and saddled
up. They shoved the wagon back through the doors, damaging them slightly as
they forced it through. They
picked the path of least resistance, heading east as always. They had left the
town proper and were out into the countryside when movement drew their
attention. To their shock, a young man ran toward them, waving his arms. “Help!
We need your help. We can't get her out!” Mulder
and Skinner exchanged glances. A trap? No, this guy obviously did need help of
some kind. “What’s wrong?” “The
house collapsed! Brenda’s trapped under the rubble.” Brenda?
“Where?” Mulder asked quickly. “This
way. I was looking for a car jack, I never thought . . . “ then he was running
back yelling that he had found help. Other heads rose above the rubble and
looked in disbelief at the people riding toward them. The
oldest man, still younger than Mulder, recovered first. “Over here!” Mulder
and Skinner dismounted and tossed their reins to Patti. Hal jumped down from
the wagon and Carolyn climbed down more slowly, holding those horses. Harry
started to climb down, but Carolyn barked for him to stay put. At her tone he
didn’t even attempt to argue. Patti
and Carolyn secured the horses and with Harry between them now, approached the
others. “I don’t
think she’s badly hurt, except for where her leg’s caught, but we haven’t been
able to shift anything and we’re afraid of making it worse,” said the man that
seemed to be her husband. Skinner
had walked around the area and nodded. Everyone seemed to have calmed down at
little with the additional help and looked to him automatically to lead. “We
need to shore up this side before we try to lift anything off of her.”
“Brenda,” the man in charge said. “My wife, I’m Carl. This is our son, Tom.
That’s Pete, his wife Lillian, her sister Rose and her friend, Trudy.” Skinner
made quick introductions of his companions, then he and Mulder took Pete and
they began carefully shifting rumble to see where to shore up the wall. They
worked quickly, following Skinner’s orders. Patti stayed in the hole, talking
with Brenda, explaining what was going on. Mulder
slipped down into the hole when everything was in place. “Brenda, we’re getting
ready to lift this off of you. When we do, Patti and Tom are going to pull you
out. They’re going to try not to hurt you, but we have to get you out and we
don’t exactly have all the safety equipment we’d like to have. Do you
understand?” Brenda
met his eyes and nodded, calmer herself now that Carl had more help. She could
be hurt worse by the rescue, paralyzed and she knew it, but there wasn’t much
choice. “Let’s do it,” she said, her voice steady. Mulder
winked at her and turned to Patti. “Be as careful as you can, but get her out.
We’re not going to be able to hold it up long.” “We’ll
do it,” she assured Mulder, patting Tom on the shoulder.
“Everyone ready?” Skinner called out. With the assent, he and Mulder put their
shoulders against the levers they had placed. Hal, Carl and Pete did the same
on the other side and slowly they felt the wall shift. “Do it!”
Mulder yelled to Patti. She
looked over at Tom and they each took one of Brenda’s arms and began easing her
out from her prison. Brenda bit her lips to keep from crying out and sweat
beaded on her forehead. Tom faltered, but Patti’s look made him continue.
Lillian and Rose were there to help carry her once she was free of the
obstruction. “She’s
free!” Patti called and men allowed the barrier to drop into place. Carl was
already racing to Brenda’s side. She
managed to open her eyes and gave him a small smile. “Good to be out.” Carl
nodded, unable to speak. “Let’s
move her out of the way here,” Skinner said, moving over to help with the
transport. As
gently as possible they moved her to a cleared area and Patti brought their
first aid kit over. Skinner and Mulder exchanged glances and shaking his head
slightly, Mulder took a look at her leg. It was obviously broken. “We’re
going to need a splint and some crutches. Is there anyone else here?” “No, we
haven’t seen anyone else in months. I can’t believe you showed up when you
did.” “Hal,
you and Patti need to ride back to the hospital. Get the supplies we need and
penicillin if you can find it.” They
nodded and mounted up, riding back toward the hospital. They were back quickly
with the supplies, including pain medication. Skinner
held her steady as Mulder closed his eyes for a moment, then pulled her leg
jerking it back into alignment. “Brenda?” “She’s
passed out, Mulder.” “Good.
Give her the penicillin. We need to immobilize this leg, and treat her other
cuts and scratches.” He looked up at Carl. “She’s going to be okay. She might
limp, I’m not a doctor, but I think she’ll be okay.” Carl
nodded his thanks. “I still can’t believe you showed up . . . “ After a
moment Lillian spoke, “We’ve got some lunch together for everyone.” Carl
didn’t leave Brenda’s side, but the rest moved away to give him some space and
recover themselves. They ate
the bread and cheese and discovered that Patti and Hal had added canned corned
beef to the sandwiches. Mulder nodded his appreciation. “Are you
all family?” Skinner asked Pete after they had eaten. “Uh,
no. After everyone disappeared, we headed out trying to find someone. Lillian
and I have been married a little over a year, no kids yet.” Skinner
nodded. They couldn’t be much more than twenty. “Rose is
Lillian’s sister. She and Trudy were visiting us when . . . Our parents,
Trudy’s family, they were gone. We got out here on bikes with what we could
carry and found Carl and Brenda. Rose knew Tom from school; he’s a few years
behind her.” “How old
- “ “Tom’s
ten. Rose and Trudy are fifteen.” Skinner
closed his eyes. Children, they were leading a caravan of children across
country. It was
decided that they would stay the rest of the day even though they had only
traveled a few miles. These people had lost everything, literally. Mulder,
Skinner and Hal settled the horses and had a quick meeting. “We have
to at least offer to take them with us,” Hal said. “I
know,” Mulder sighed. “How do we make this work? The wagon can’t carry them,
Brenda will have to ride, but we’ll need more supplies and have less room to
haul them.” He didn’t mention that they would be slowed down even more, there
was no need. “Patti
agrees,” Hal offered. Skinner
sighed, “We’ll think of something.” They
returned to find the women digging through the rubble to find what they could
salvage. Carl joined them, leaving Trudy to sit with Brenda. “Carl,
we’re on our way to
Washington.
We can’t stay here, but if you want to come with us . . . “ The man
looked around at the devastation that had been his home. “It was hard, before
this happened, now . . . “ he shook his head. “Don’t
suppose you have any horses in that barn?” Mulder nodded toward the slightly
damaged structure at the far end of the yard. “No,”
Carl managed a smile. “Only two cows and a calf.”
Skinner’s eyes popped. “You have cows?” “Uh,
yeah, but they’re not much good for riding.” Skinner
turned to Hal. “Can they carry supplies?” “Well,
sure.” Light dawned in his eyes. “That would free up two horses.” “It’s
still not enough.” “Uh,
we’ve been using bikes to get around and we have plenty of those. Everyone
around here had them and we’ve kind of collected them. They’re in the barn
too.” Skinner
looked over at Mulder shaking his head. Mulder just grinned. “Let’s start
packing.” They
found a dresser that had landed not far away and were able to recover some
clothing from it and from the dryer that for some reason was still in place
where the house had been. They piled the things that could be salvaged near the
wagon. These people really had lost just about everything. Once again there
was no way to leave them behind. Pete was
familiar with the area and led Mulder over to the nearest house where they were
able to gather a few more things. Hal had determined they should be on their
way in the morning while the weather held. Brenda
was their main concern when packing the wagon. Carolyn wasn’t a great rider,
but she joined Patti on her horse, her displeasure evident, and Harry rode with
Mulder. The others were on their bikes, carrying backpacks. They were slowed
down considerably, and Mulder’s nightmare from the night of the storm pulled at
him, but he managed to keep quiet. These people needed him. ***** They
traveled at a slower speed in deference to Brenda and the bikes, and Mulder
managed to hold his tongue. The nightmares seemed to have ended with the one at
the hospital. That scared him down to the bone, but he didn't speak of it.
Saying anything out loud was more than he could handle. So much of his life
he'd been alone, then Scully had come to him, been given to him. Now he was
constantly surrounded by people that needed him, wanted his help, his advice
while he only wanted her. The
dreams were still there, but they seemed more like regular dreams now. The
problem was, it was as though the nightmares had brought her closer to him.
These new dreams still included her but weren’t terrifying, which in itself was
terrifying. He spent
a lot of silent hours on his horse wondering what that meant. With Patti there
to keep an eye on him, he no longer isolated himself, but he couldn’t talk about
this. Fear was always there, that what had happened to her during that torture
had . . . How many times could he shove that thought away. His Scully was
strong, that was what he needed to remember. They
continued their trek eastward, moving slightly north now. They had followed I90
across the mountains then I25 down into
Wyoming.
They had picked up I80 then which had led them into Nebraska and I29 down into
the tip of Kansas and on into Missouri. Avoiding the larger cities was easier
on the interstates, they all had bypasses and with the manpower their small
caravan now had, there was no problem in moving the traffic tie ups aside. The
problem was there were a lot of cities to go around, and more coming up here in
the mid-west. They were headed for
Kentucky
and all too soon the Appalachian mountains. Skinner
pulled out his collection of maps and began to study again. ***** Mulder
pulled up and pointed. “What the hell is that?” Everyone
turned to look over at a huge square building off in the distance. It was Carl
who answered. “It’s one of the “Big Box” stores. They sell everything in bulk,
no frills. We went to once when they had an open day, trying to get more
customers. You had to be a ‘member’. We didn’t join; it was too far away to be
practical for us.” “Think
there’d still be stuff there?” “We
ought to try. No one or two groups our size could have made a dent and carried
it away. Sure wish I had the minivan working.” “Me
too,” Mulder admitted, but this place wasn’t his main reason. They
reached the place late that evening and forced their way inside. “Whoa!” Mulder
took a shallow breath and stepped back outside. “They sold meat.” “Yep,
hadn’t thought about that,” Carl admitted. “You’d
think six-seven months later it would be okay.” “We
can’t sleep inside. Let’s set up camp at the edge of the driveway. That way
the horses can graze and it’ll be better on their hoofs,” Hal advised and
climbed back up on the wagon. After
they were settled, everyone but Carolyn, Harry, Patti and Brenda headed inside
with kerchiefs around their noses and mouths. Carl had assured them that Brenda
was an excellent shot, and Patti wasn’t bad with a shotgun, so they had left
them armed. Each
member of the party headed to a different section of the store to see what was
still available. Mulder and Skinner headed toward the food section, closer to
the source of the stench, but necessary. They could see where former visitors
had taken meat, not realizing that the power wasn’t coming back on. Ignoring
the meats entirely, they headed for the dried goods. They had to be careful,
there was just so much the wagon could hold and now Brenda was riding. Still
they picked up several five pound bags of flour and sugar. Beans and rice were
added to their cart, along with a couple of large cans of Crisco. The rest of
their designated space went for spices, salt and pepper. “Hey
guys!” Pete called and they turned toward him. “Look.” He pointed toward a
cart-like thing attached to a bike. “What is
it?” Skinner asked. “A
rickshaw. You can take the kids for a ride.” “We only
have Harry and he’s - “ “We can
put supplies in them too. I don’t know how sturdy they are for long distance
travel, but we could try,” Pete looked over at Carl who nodded. “You
know that’s a good idea, even if they only hold up for a little while, we could
put the short term supplies in them. How many are there?” “Three
and one’s already assembled. Know what I’m going to do this evening,” Pete
grinned. They
caught up with the girls who had their own supplies. Mulder looked over at the
largest bag which seemed to be full of skeins of yarn. “Yarn?” “All
kinds of sewing stuff, pins, needles, and all the yarn we could stuff in. If
Brenda sets her mind to it, she could knit you a three-piece suit. These
clothes aren’t going to last forever. We picked up underwear for all of us and
socks.” Skinner
looked over at Mulder and grinned. “Makes me very glad we’ve got females
along.” Mulder laughed as they headed for the front of the store. The
sound of a gunshot outside stopped most of them in their tracks. Mulder and
Skinner were racing away, pulling their own guns as they ran. It was a
standoff for now. Brenda had shot one of the men, the other three seemed to be
in shock, but the closest one was recovering and bringing his gun up. “Don’t do
it,” Mulder said, the man already in his sights. The other two men began to
back away. “She
shot my bro!” “Did you
give her a reason?” Skinner drew his attention and the surly younger man looked
even angrier. The
others poured out of the store then and their assailant spotted the other
girls. That seemed to enrage him and his gun came up, pointing at Mulder.
Mulder dived to the side as the man pulled the trigger. Mulder fired his own
shot from where he lay and the younger man flew backward. The
other two stood like statues, afraid to move. Mulder
leapt to his feet and hurried over to the prone body, taking the gun from his
nerveless hands. Then he felt for a pulse. He looked up at Skinner and shook
his head. “Is
everyone okay?” Mulder turned to look at his people. “Patti!” There was blood
on her sleeve and he raced to her. “It
burns, but I think it’s just a scratch.” “Let’s
get off that shirt.” He took hold of the neckline of her t-shirt and ripped it
down the arm without thought. “Mulder
- “ He
looked up into her face and realized what he’d done. “Sorry.” He started to
step back but she took his hand. “Is it
bad?” He met
her eyes, then looked down at her arm. She'd called it; just a scratch, thank
goodness. He closed his eyes in relief, then smiled at her. “You were right.
Let’s get inside and clean it up. Barely needs more than a band aid.” She
managed a smile then, pulling her t-shirt more closely around her. “Uh,
sorry about that.” “I
understand and, and I appreciate it.” He
grinned slightly and took her good arm to lead her toward the others. “Is she
okay?” Skinner asked quickly. Mulder
nodded. “What about him?” Skinner
shook his head. “Brenda’s going to be taking her turn at guard duty,” he said
quietly to Mulder. They looked over at her to find her shaking and crying in
Carl’s arms. The
three of them approached her. “Brenda?” Skinner’s voice was soft,
compassionate. “I’ve
never . . . I didn’t . . . “ “Brenda,
you saved us, saved all of our lives. Those men would have killed us; they
would have caught us unaware. They’d probably have killed Harry and, and taken
you and all the women. You understand what that would have meant?” She
looked up at him, her face wet with tears, but she nodded. “Do you
believe it?” he asked just as gently. She
looked down then and Carl hugged her. Skinner
straightened up then and motioned for Mulder and Patti to follow him. “It’s
going to take her a little while,” Skinner said. Mulder
nodded. He remembered his first kill and he’d been trained. “I need to take
care of Patti’s arm.” “Need
any help?” “No,
it’s just a scratch.” “When
you’re through, we need to question the other two. They look pretty subdued for
now, but I need to relieve Hal and Pete.” Mulder
and Patti moved back into the building and found the first aid aisle. He
cleaned the wound and bandaged it. “We’ll have to look for penicillin at the
next pharmacy. In the mean time, take these aspirin. It’s going to feel like
you’ve had a tetanus shot, sore. Uh, you better go pick out a t-shirt to
replace this one.”
“Thanks.” She grinned but did as he advised. He left
her, returning outside to assist Skinner in the questioning. The two remaining
men were subdued and restrained now. They both flinched when Mulder approached. “What do
we know?” Mulder asked Skinner. “Not
enough. Gary and Joe here say they’re innocent.”
“Innocent? I’m stunned, and you don’t believe them?” “It’s
hard, but somehow . . . “ Skinner said dryly. “I
swear! I didn’t, we didn’t know Psycho or Playboy before things went
crazy. They were friends, well, gang members together, but Joe and I weren’t
part of any gang. We weren’t with them. They found me when I was scavenging
for food and a few days later we found Joe.” “You
stayed with them.” “We’d
have starved! No one can make it completely alone, not now.” “He’s
right,” Joe finally spoke up. “We didn’t have a lot of choice. We’ve not seen
anyone else. They were crazy, but at least we ate. It was the women that set
them off. We haven’t seen a woman in over a year. When he saw one, just
sitting there with all these horses - “ “One?” “We, we
didn’t see the one, the one in the wagon, the one that shot Playboy. We didn’t
know she was there.” “So if
you had known these women could defend themselves you would have left them
alone?” Mulder asked, his voice hard. “No, I .
. . that’s not - “ “What do
you mean?” “I’m
sorry. We shouldn’t have . . . but he would have cut us again.” “Cut
you?” Gary reached for the hem of his t-shirt and Skinner’s gun
came back up. “No! I’m not armed, only Psycho and Playboy had weapons. I was
gonna show you my, my scars.” Skinner
relaxed slightly. “Go ahead.” Gary lifted his shirt and exposed a multitude of scars,
small cuts that were obviously torture. “Joe and I, we didn’t always agree with
. . . “ his voice trailed off. “What’s
that?” Mulder moved closer to look at some sort of pattern in the scars. “Psycho
. . . he didn’t know how to do a tattoo and he wanted Joe and me to match the
one that he and Playboy had.” Skinner
looked over at Mulder, disgusted with the two dead men. “What did you do,
before?” “Me? I
uh, I sold insurance.” Skinner
turned away; if people weren’t traumatized or dead he’d want to grin. He got
control and looked over at Joe. “I was
in grad school, public health.” Skinner
looked over at Mulder who was barely managing to keep a straight face himself.
“Looks like both of your professions got wiped out quick.” The two younger men
nodded, still looking terrified. “Can we
trust you?” Mulder asked almost conversationally. “Yes!
Just let us prove it. We weren’t part of them, we were just . . . just along
for the ride, well for the food anyway.” “Any
more of you, hiding?” Both men
shook their heads. “That was part of the problem. There weren’t enough of us
to just settle somewhere. Those two,” he glanced at the bodies, now covered and
over to the side, “didn’t have any intention of working to get food, so we had
to keep moving.” “Any
place particular in mind?” Gary looked over at Joe and they shrugged. “No. We were
headed east but I don’t think it was planned. They wanted it to be close and
easy. Riding the bikes really hurt their pride. I think they tried every car
we passed.” Skinner
sighed and looked over at Mulder. “We need to talk.” They left the two, still
bound and not resisting, and moved over to Hal. He had gathered everyone
together on the far side of the wagon, feeding them and letting them calm down. Skinner
took the food that Hal handed him and took a seat close to Brenda. “You feeling
any better?” “Maybe a
little,” she gave him a slight smile. “Good.
Just give yourself some time. Mulder and I need to talk to all of you.” Everyone
looked up. It was Carl that spoke. “We’re taking them with us, aren't we?” “I don’t
see how we can leave them. They can’t look after themselves.” “Are
they going to try to kill us in our sleep?” Carolyn asked bitterly, causing
Harry’s eyes to go wide. Mulder,
in exasperation, shook his head. “I believe we can handle these two.” “How?
How can you guarantee that?” she demanded her voice getting louder and shriller. “Well,
for one thing they’re not armed and weren’t even when Psycho and Playboy
attacked - ” “Psycho
and Playboy? Their names were - “ “Yes,
the two of them knew each other before. Gary and Joe were picked up by them
after things fell apart. They were tortured but didn’t have anywhere to go.” “You
feel sorry for them,” Carolyn said sounding outraged. “Yeah, I
do. If we hadn’t found you, it could have happened to you and . . . “ he
glanced at Harry. “Why do
you believe them? What did they say that makes you think - ” “We saw
their scars. Look, we’re not going to let them have complete freedom; they’ll
have to prove themselves, but personally I’d rather have them with us than
behind us. There were more bicycles in there. They can pull the new rickshaws,
that way we can keep them busy and contained. You’ll just have to trust that
Skinner and I will keep an eye on them. Any other objections?” There
were none and they ate the rest of the meal in silence, trying not to think
about what had happened. The men dug two shallow graves and buried Psycho and
Playboy, then Mulder and Skinner returned to Gary and Joe. They had eaten,
under guard from Hal and Patti and no longer looked in fear of their lives.
Mulder heard Joe again apologize to Patti for her wound. “Okay,
we’ve talked among ourselves and we’re willing to let you come with us. You’ll
be under guard until you can prove yourselves to us, but - “ “Thank
you,” Gary interrupted. “We’re not going to cause you any problems.
As far as I’m concerned you rescued us. Those two,” he indicated the graves,
“were getting more psychotic by the day. Whatever you need to do to feel safe
around us, it’s okay.” Skinner
nodded solemnly. “That’s good. We’ll be staying here a couple of days,
rearranging supplies, getting some rest. When we leave, you’ll both be on bikes
and we’re assembling some kind of rickshaw thing that each of you will be
pulling. We’re going to be hitting the mountains soon, so we’ll need every
hand. We’ll see what you’re made of then.” Both men
nodded and seemed to heave a sigh of relief.
*****
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