"Ruiner" by Nine Inch Nails, from The Downward Spiral

His eyes adjust to the darkness slowly, and Jason Hart waits patiently until the moment when he can distinguish the huddled figure on the bed. A mirthless smile that momentarily crosses his face is the only sign of the relief he feels at seeing her. He hates this room, its hastily painted gray walls and absent windows. It would serve well as a cell in a dungeon, and the comparison gnaws at him. The woman who lives here is not a prisoner, not anymore, and he is careful in giving her as much freedom as she requires.

"Is she dead?"

Her voice is damaged, mutated just as everything else in his world. Hart doesn't want to give her the bad news but the reddish eyes ask for the truth, and the answer is a punishment he must endure for his negligence.

"Another woman died instead." He walks over to her and takes her hand, trying to share his body warmth with the icy fingers in his palm. "The man who was shooting... I won't let him make mistakes anymore." He bites his tongue before her name can roll off it. She doesn't want to remember who she was before. Marita Covarrubias is gone.

Marita had blonde hair, gray eyes, and smooth skin. She lived in a luxurious urban apartment and she could have had any man that she wanted. She had power and money, and any fairy-tale princess would have envied her.

The woman who never leaves this dark room has shaking hands, and he helps her dye her limp locks black. Her skin is gray, and it matches the color of her unkempt clothes. The faintest ray of light pains her red eyes. She is going blind. And the only man she has is Jason Hart, an aging doctor without a license to practice, who is suffering from a weak heart and pangs of conscience.

His love is a flimsy substitute for the body that betrayed her, for the way of life that she lost. He is among those responsible for her transformation, but she doesn't know that, and he will never tell her. They're the victims and survivors of the same storm, and they must cling to each other.

"I remember her...from before," she hugs her bony shoulders, rocks back and forth. "I've been remembering more lately. There are things... things that I know..."

Hart drapes her in a blanket, nodding encouragingly. Her memory is failing, and she struggles to keep the remaining fragments desperately, but he knows that this battle is fatal. "She was close to Samantha Mulder," he confirms. "That's all we need to know. You needn't try to remember so hard."

"Scully," her lips curl grotesquely. "You will make sure that she dies, won't you? We must get rid of everyone connected. Everyone responsible."

Hart shivers. Still, there are depths to fall, crimes to be committed, men who are paid to murder. There are others who share this deadly secret, but it is he who feels the brunt of the burden most strongly. No human who knows about the colonization, no human who bears any connection to the visitors, must remain alive. It is the only way to avoid the plague.

Until then, he will not allow his heart to stop beating. Until then, he will hope that she never escapes this cell.

The careful kiss he places on her cold cheek is a fervent promise.

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