| Title: Manhunt Rating: PG Copyright: The X-Files and its affiliated characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and the Fox Network Summary: After a friendly game of manhunt goes out of control Piper and her friends have to stop the killer before it's too late.. Chapter 1 8:34 PM February 5, 1999 Warwick, Rhode Island The bright stars hung high in the night air. Piper hugged her arms around her shoulders. She was freezing and awaiting someone to find her. Many times she had crossed the lawns she was walking through. It was a familiar neighborhood for her, though not her own. Piper passed house after house. Below her, her feet crunched through the white snow. It had just recently fallen the night before. It looked beautiful but it was very cold outside. Piper walked a little farther, taking out a pair of gloves from her pocket. She passed a large, Catholic church and she walked around the perimeter of it. She looked into small ducts that surrounded the church, searching for anyone on the other team. Every Friday, Piper and her friends played a game of manhunt, no matter what the temperature. Piper turned around swiftly, sensing something behind her. She looked around but saw nothing around. She shuddered, not knowing what she had seen. Piper knew she was more than a little paranoid so she tried to shrug off the feeling that someone was following her but she couldn’t. Playing manhunt was definitely not something she loved doing but since her friends did it she did to. She had told her friends not to ditch her but they had left to pursue one of the other players on the other team. Piper had run the other way to catch another member of the opposite team, but she was unable to catch him. “AAAAHHHHH!” Something screamed in front of Piper. She gasped and fell backwards as something flew out of the bushes. Piper fell hard onto the ground and closed her eyes. She was afraid of what the creature was going to do to her. Piper laid on the ground for a few minutes, keeping her eyes closed. She was afraid if she opened them she would see something she didn’t want to see. Finally, she did open her eyes and saw a familiar face looming over her. “Piper, are you okay?” The person asked. Piper sat up so she was kneeling on the ground. The girl kneeled next to her and looked at her eyes. “Hannah, there’s something out there that jumped out of the bushes at me like a flying squirrel.” Piper explained. “Yea, it was Ian.” A voice said from behind Heather. The two girls stood up and walked to where the voice was coming from. It was another girl who was gripping the shirt of a boy, who was standing next to her. “Ian you…bad word!” Piper finally screamed. “You gave me the scare of my life.” “Kyla, where’d you find him?” Hannah asked. “When I heard Piper’s scream I went running to where I thought it was coming from. I saw him running in front of Jim’s house so I grabbed on to his shirt and he stopped.” Kyla said. Ian tried to wriggle free from Kyla’s grasp but she held fast. Piper brushed the grass and snow from her jacket. “Well, we got three out of the four members of your team, so we win.” Hannah said. Ian sighed deeply and followed Kyla and the other two girls around the neighborhood. Every once and a while they would scream out loud for anyone to hear that the game was over. A boy sprang from a nearby tree as they started walking towards Hannah’s house. They were in her and Jim’s neighborhood. Hannah’s and Jim’s backyards connected so it was easy to play manhunt inside the entire neighborhood. They all walked to Hannah’s yard where Candy was holding the other two members hostage. They all took a seat on Hannah’s front steps wondering if they should start another game before everyone had to go home. “Hey, Candy, where’s Kevin” Piper asked her. They had made two teams of four each. Basically, it was girls versus the boys. It was Ian, Jim, Kevin, and Hannah’s brother Russ on Piper, Kyla, Candy, and Hannah. “Yea, I thought you were keeping him hostage.” Hannah added in. “I was, but Russ came running around in the back of Hannah’s house, trying to free Jim or Nick. While trying to guard Jim, Russ slapped Nick’s hand and they both got away.” Candy explained. She jumped off the stairs into the snow, pretending to die. “I’m just one person.” She exclaimed. “If he’s not here than where is he?” Kyla asked. “Yea, we could hear you guys calling a hundred miles away.” Jim said, wondering how Nick couldn’t have heard their cries. “Nick!” They all shouted together. He didn’t come so they all shouted again. “We’ll have to go look for him.” Russ said. The group all nodded and they split up. Piper and Hannah went back towards the church to see if he was there. Candy and Kyla headed for the woods, wondering if he could have wandered out of bounds. Ian and Jim went on the Main Road to see if he was randomly walking around. Russ stayed behind at the house waiting for Nick to come back. After about a half hour, mostly everyone had given up. It was possible that his mom could have picked him up on the road but everyone was a little nervous. Piper and Hannah circled the church one more time. They were tired, cold, and hungry. They passed a small, fenced in playground that belonged to the church. Hannah stopped in front of it and peered through the linked fence. “There he is.” She said. Hannah pulled a bench over to the fence and hopped onto it. She got a firm grasp on the fence and pulled herself over. Piper did the same thing. They walked over to the swing where Nick was sitting and shook his shoulder. “Hey Nick, we’ve been calling what’s going on?” Piper asked. He didn’t respond. Hannah shook him harder and his entire body slumped over. It fell off the swing and onto the ground. Piper kneeled next to it and put her finger on his neck. “He’s dead.” She confirmed. Hannah backed away and ran back towards the fence. Piper followed. They both climbed on top of the slide and jumped over the fence. They both fell hard onto their knees but ignored the pain and ran back to Heather’s house. The rest of the teams were there, waiting for Hannah and Piper to come back. “Did you find him?” Candy asked. Piper nodded and fell to her knees. Hannah sat down next to her and they both sat in silence ignoring their friends pleads to find out where he was. Chapter 2 February 14, 1999 7:23 AM FBI Headquarters Washington DC “Scully, what’s going on?” Mulder asked walking into his office. She was sitting at his desk, flipping through a case file. He had gotten a call just an hour earlier from Scully to go to work because she had a case for them to investigate. “There’s been a murder committed. A young, fourteen year old boy, was murdered while playing a usual game of manhunt.” Scully explained. “Who was the boy?” Mulder asked. He sat down in front of his desk, facing Scully. He put his feet up, balancing himself so he wouldn’t fall over. “Nicholas Rosalini.” Scully said. “Usually this is your line, but why are we going on a case like this?” Mulder asked. He couldn’t understand why Skinner would just give them a random case. “I requested it. The murder took place in Rhode Island. Piper Alexander found the body.” Mulder perked up when he heard Piper’s name. They had worked together on previous cases that happened in Rhode Island. “I thought since we know her so well we could help her out on this one.” Mulder nodded and stood up. They both walked out of the office and headed towards the airport. * * * * Three hours later, Mulder and Scully arrived in Rhode Island. They got a rental car and drove to Hannah’s house. They stood at the doorway waiting for someone to answer. Finally, a young boy did. He stared at Mulder and Scully, wondering who the strange people were. “Is this the home of Hannah Barnabee?” Scully asked. The boy nodded as he kept the door slightly ajar standing behind it, keeping the strangers out. “Is Hannah around?” Scully asked seeing the boys obvious uneasiness. “She’s not here.” The boy answered. “Do you know where she is?” Scully asked. Her voice was slow and sweet as if she wanted to soothe the boy. “She’s at a friends house.” A woman said coming up from behind the boy. She motioned for him to go back into the house and he did as she wanted. She walked outside folding her arms in front of her chest. "Are you Hannah's mother?" Mulder asked. |
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