THE X-FILES
"MALIKUDDA"
by Alien Girl
comixgirl@juno.com
Classification: Adventure / Case, with a bit of humor and angst and
romance
Rating: G or PG
Spoilers: a few from the movie and "The End", but not too much
Archive Info: Anywhere, Anyway, anyhow!
Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully and Co. belong to CC, 1013 Productions and
the Fox network, and I don't own them, but everyone knows if I did the
world would be a happier place to be for shippers. All other minor
characters, including the surfers, the lifeguard, the teens and, yes, the
Malikudda, belong to me and you can't have them so there! (I'm kidding,
you can borrow them with permission...) Obsidian belongs to me, of
course, and he's *still* an important character, even if you may not
think so.
Summary: Scully almost becomes lunch for a sea monster during an
investigation in Malibu...and almost drives Mulder nuts...
Author's note: "Malikudda" is my crowning achievement!...so far. It's
also the longest thing I've written, so if you're planning to print,
beware. I got the idea for this one while Riva and I were at Magic
Mountain and were wondering... "Hey, what if Mulder and Scully went to
Magic Mountain..." Although that's not what the story's about, it's
funny, and it's how it came about. This was written also when I was
starting to get better at writing angst and romance, if that was ever
possible for me. The climax is angsty. But be warned...after reading
this, it may be a while before you dare to venture into the water again!!
Dedication: This is the first time I've done a dedication, so here
goes... This story is dedicated to, who, of course, but my best friend,
fellow X-phile and shipper, and co-writer in the "Cumulation" series,
Riva. (Would you puh-leeze finish "Visions", already?!!) Troi rules
forever! This is also dedicated to Shannon and Bekka, hope you find time
to read this. This is dedicated to all the X-philes residing in Malibu or
near Zuma beach... (go sharks!!) The ocean rocks, even if there *are* sea
monsters swimming in it. Special thanks to Curry Chandler for providing
the Mulder-and-dollar-bill-in-the-soda-machine-scene. And finally,
although she will never read this, to Rachel Rivas, who helped me
overcome my fear of roller coasters. ;)
And now, on with the show!
--------------------------------------------
Malikudda
By Alien Girl
4:19 A.M.
Friday, November 30th, 1998
Malibu, coast of California
"This one's mine!"
Sarge Hanks swam with all his might into the crushing waves,
ignoring the cold water seeping into his wetsuit. He eagerly positioned
his flames-decorated surfboard onto the approaching wave and stood up.
"Wooo-hoo!" Sarge's little brother, Kyle, called after him as he
rode the wave a long ways, did a neat little turn and then splashed into
the surf. Spray, foam and ocean water went everywhere. Sarge's head
popped out of the water a moment after the wave broke. He laughed with
pure enjoyment and shook water from his jet-black hair. Sarge and Kyle's
two best friends, Jake and Antonio, were there as well, hoping to catch
as many waves as Sarge's expertise allowed them.
It would still be several hours before the sun came up, and the
water of the Pacific was freezing cold. But the foursome didn't care. No
one came to the beach this early in the morning, especially in the
winter, so they had the entire beach to themselves to surf as long as
they wanted.
The waves were perfect. Antonio caught one right after Sarge, and
then Kyle, then Sarge did again, and then Jake. So far, no one had wiped
out. They laughed, whooped and cheered and the tricks and antics each
person performed on their board.
"Hey, Sarge, mind letting us get one sometime this decade, dude?"
Jake called to Sarge.
"Maybe. Let me go out with Rachel, she's hot." he called back.
"No way, man! She's mine!"
"Then let me tepee Darthman's tower this time!"
"I was planning on spray-painting it!"
"I've got this one!" Kyle called to his friends. He swam out
towards the next approaching wave, surfboard ready to use. He began to
float with the current that rose him up and out of the water into the
base of the wave that was quickly beginning to foam over. Then he noticed
something between the spray and foam. The unmistakable triangular shape
jutting out of the water...
"Shark! Shark!!" Kyle hollered aloud. The other three surfers
gasped with alarm, but not with fear. They had dealt with sharks before,
and once Jake had even got his leg bitten by one. They didn't panic.
Sarge ordered everyone to swim quietly towards shore. Antonio groaned
with resentment and complained about how whenever they were in the middle
of really good surfing, a shark was spotted or a lifeguard spotted them.
Kyle tread as quietly as possible back over the breaking wave in an
effort to reach the shore. Boy, that thing was huge! It must have been a
monster of a Hammerhead, or maybe even a Tiger. He hoped it wasn't a
Great White; he wouldn't know what to do if he met one. The thing was
swimming in his direction, and swimming fast. Suddenly, something clasped
his leg and tugged him down.
"GAUULP!!!"
"Kyle!!" Sarge yelled aloud with horror. Something had pulled
Kyle under, surfboard and all. The shark's fin darted this way and that,
and flashes of black and blue showed through the waves. Sarge abandoned
his one chance to get to shore and swam furiously out towards the
underwater struggle.
"Sarge, come back!!" Jake roared as he and Antonio paddled for
the sand. Sarge ignored them and reached the point where the water was
churning and frothing furiously. The foam was tinted red. Sarge roared
with rage and prepared to bring a crushing blow with his surfboard on the
head of his brother's attacker. Instead, he too got pulled under the
surface.
"Sarge! Kyle!!" the two other surfers cried in panic. The
constant waves interrupted the fight and displayed only glimpses of it.
An arm here, a fin there, Sarge's face, etched over with absolute terror.
And then an enormous, reptilian-like head burst through the water. Jake
and Antonio stared at the thing in complete shock. The thing had a long,
pointed snout and dark, unblinking eyes. Blue and black scales and spikes
glistened in the water. The jaws opened to reveal a double set of long,
jagged teeth, from which a piece of ragged flesh was dangling.
The two teens didn't need any second bidding. They immediately
abandoned their boards and swam furiously towards the beach, their
life-long comrades forgotten. The thing gave a long, low, gurgling roar
of triumph and slowly vanished beneath the waves. Antonio and Jake
scrambled onto the beach and ran doggedly across the sand to their
rusty-red pickup truck, screaming at the top of their lungs. The sea
slowly regained its constant rhythm of pounding waves.
An hour later, half of a surfboard was washed up on shore and
implanted firmly in the sand.
8:58 A.M.
Friday, November 30th, 1998
Malibu, coast of California
The surfboard was still there when Mulder and Scully arrived.
Scully tried not to notice the crowds of policemen, paramedics
and onlookers that were spread all around the slightly tranquil scene.
She had seen it too many times for comfort. Rather, she concentrated on
the sun, shining down on the beach and burning away the morning fog. It
was a big improvement from the last couple of days she and Mulder had
spent in the snowy woods of Wyoming.
Scully couldn't remember the last time she had been to the west
coast, and she wished she could enjoy it without the added stress from
the fact that this was an investigation, not a vacation. It was then that
she remembered that she didn't even know what they were investigating.
She had been so tired she hadn't even asked Mulder what was wrong in
California; she had just hopped on the plane and come.
Mulder was talking to two young, stocky teenagers and a lifeguard
when Scully strode up to him. She tapped him lightly on his shoulder to
gain his attention. He turned to face her.
"Mulder, what are we doing here?"
Mulder broke into a grin. "I thought you'd never ask." He turned
back to the teens and the lifeguard. "This is my partner, Agent Dana
Scully. You'd better explain to her."
"I'm telling you!" the older teen turned on the lifeguard. "It's
not just a big shark, we saw it! It had huge spikes, and scales, claws,
fangs..."
Scully rolled her eyes. She had heard *this* before.
The lifeguard shot back just as angrily at the teen. "You stupid
kids, there's no monster out there! A big white lie, if I ever heard
one..."
"This looks like a job for Monster Boy," Mulder said to Scully in
a mocking tone.
"Shush!" Scully ordered the three rivals, who had begun an
all-out argument. "One at a time. You first," she nodded to the
lifeguard.
"Oh, yeah, *he* get's to talk first," the teen growled.
"I said shut up!" Scully snorted. "Now, you go ahead."
The lifeguard, a tall, muscular man with hair that almost matched
Scully's, cleared his throat and began to explain. "For the past eight
months or so there's been reports of some kind of large marine predator
swimming in this area. It's been a minor news thing or other, a modern
legend."
"And what, you don't believe it?"
"I didn't say I didn't believe it. I think I've seen it myself.
Just a big shark's fin sticking out of the water; goin' back and forth
beyond the waves. When I saw it, I called everyone out of the water on
shark alert. It swam away after a while."
Scully glanced disapprovingly at Mulder. "We were called all the
way down to California on such short notice to hunt for a shark?"
"Apparently not," Mulder said, looking at the lifeguard. "While
we were in Wyoming, someone swimming in this Zuma beach area was attacked
suddenly by something in the water. The victim bot both his legs bitten
off by something he claims to be a sea monster."
Scully sighed and looked at the two teens. "Alright. *Your*
turn."
The older teen faced Scully. "I'm Jake, and this is Antonio.
Something happened this morning, while we were surfing..."
"Unauthorized, dangerous sport..." the lifeguard added.
"Shut up, Darthman! I'm talking! Well, you only see two of us
here, right? Well, there's supposed to be two more, Sarge an' Kyle."
"Where are they?" Mulder asked.
Jake looked out at the ocean. "It got 'em, that's all. We were
lucky to get away in one piece."
"Do you know what happened to them?"
"Sure do," Antonio butted in. "Th' monster ate 'em."
Scully was beginning to feel more and more skeptic with every
turn the conversation took. "A monster? Not a shark, which would be more
likely?"
"No *way*. That was *no* shark. You should've seen it, it was
huge! Head like a crocodile, kinda snake-like body, spikes down it's
back, scales, and hundreds of enormous teeth," he stretched his arms wide
to emphasize, then looked at Scully. "Coulda eaten someone your size in
one gulp."
Scully gave Mulder an
If-I-hear-one-more-word-from-this-kid-I'm-gonna-
chuck-him-in-the-ocean kind of look. Mulder wasn't watching her. He was
staring at something poking out of the sand, several yards away from
them, resting right on the horizon. Jake and Antonio followed his gaze.
They gasped in surprise and began to race towards the object, sending a
spray of sand in their wake. Mulder, Scully, and the lifeguard, Darthman,
groaned and started after them.
They ran along the breaking waves for a long distance before
finally catching up to where the two boys stood. They were staring at the
thing with blank looks on their faces. Mulder and Scully stopped and
stared.
It was a surfboard, half-buried in the sand.
Scully began to walk towards it, then stopped and cringed with
disgust. But not from the fact that the bottom half of the board had been
bitten off completely; teeth marks still visible.
And not from the fact that the wristband was still attached to
the board. Or from the fact that the surfer's arm was still attached to
the wristband.
It was the fact that the arm was no longer attached to the body.
Under different circumstances, the scene would have been very
comical. Half of a lone surfboard, sticking out of the sand in the middle
of nowhere, with a limb attached to the board's wristband. But now,
Scully was getting a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach...
Mulder leaned over to her and began to hum the "Jaws" theme song.
"Mulder..."
"What's this?!" Darthman sputtered in surprise when he saw the
surfboard. "Some kind of practical joke?"
Jake and Antonio slowly backed away from the board. "Th-that was
Sarge's," Antonio finally stuttered. "He went out to save Kyle."
Mulder picked up the board and laid it down on the sand. "Those
look like teeth marks," he said, examining the bitten-off end. "Much
bigger teeth marks than I've seen on any shark."
Darthman was no convinced. "It's some kind of trick!" he turned
on Jake and Antonio. "Admit it! You put that there to make us think it
was some stupid monster!"
Jake snarled angrily at Darthman. "What's your problem, freak?
Where do you think we'd get a half-eaten surfboard? Or some dude's
*arm*?!"
The lifeguard looked at them coldly. "Some surfers will do
anything for publicity..."
Antonio raised his fist. "Are you saying we're some kind of
murderers, punk?!! are you saying we killed our best friends to get on
TV?!" With that, he and Jake pounced on the lifeguard and tried to
wrestle him to the ground.
"That's enough!" Scully pulled out her gun furiously and pointed
it at the three sprawling figures. They immediately ceased their
fighting. "Stand up! And not a word between any one of you!"
The three obeyed. Scully put her gun away and analyzed them
tiredly. "Alright, now let's try and sort things out. Jake and Antonio
say that a monster ate their two friends. Darthman says that Jake and
Antonio killed their friends to make it seem like a monster killed them."
"And what do you say?" Darthman asked.
"I think both your theories are ridiculous."
"*That* figures," Mulder muttered.
Scully ignored the comment and continued. "As for my opinion, I
think a large shark or other such marine predator is responsible for the
disappearance of those two boys. There definitely wouldn't be any sea
monsters, and I don't see how it could be murder."
They were silent for a moment. "What do *you* think?" Darthman
asked Mulder.
Mulder was staring out at sea, his eyes transfixed on the
horizon. "I'm wondering what that guy in that speedboat is doing out
there," he pointed to a small white blotch on the water.
The other's followed his gaze. Darthman gasped with surprise.
"This beach is supposed to be off-limits! He's not supposed to be
there!!" The lifeguard leaned over to Mulder, grabbed his cell phone
right out of his pocket and punched in a number. "Hey, Sanowsky! We've
got someone out there, in a boat, about south-south-west, heading west.
Yes, you heard me, we need coast guard to cut him off. Thanks."
He handed the phone back to Mulder, who returned it to his pocket
with a slight growl of annoyance. Police cars and lifeguard trucks began
to skit across the sand towards the two teens, the lifeguard and the
agents. A crowd of onlookers began to follow as well.
"We'd better get this out of here," Scully pointed at the
half-eaten surfboard. "We can use it as evidence later."
"Look, this is no murder," Antonio persisted. "There's something
*out* there, man. And it's not going to leave. This ocean ain't safe
anymore."
Scully watched the coast guard boats begin to approach the
speedboat from behind. The man, barely visible against the blue ocean and
now-strong glare of the sun, turned and saw the approaching vessels. The
speedboat picked up speed and began to race away from its pursuers.
"Maybe not," Scully said slowly. "Why would that guy be out there
alone in the middle of the ocean when the beach is off-limits? And why is
he running away from the coast guard?"
Now everyone was watching. The coast guard boats were easily
catching up to the small speedboat. Just then, a third police boat came
in from the other side. The man was trapped.
"Do you think he could be involved in this?" Mulder questioned.
"Do you think *he* could be responsible for those two teens?"
"Maybe," Scully answered, "but how? And why?"
"I'm telling you, it's no human!" Jake shouted again.
"Look," Mulder pointed out to sea. "What's he doing?"
The man in the speedboat was trapped between the three
approaching crafts. He glanced behind him, in front, and too all sides.
Then he clambered over the rail of his boat...and leaped into the sea!
"What the....?" Scully looked on with the others. The speedboat
nearly collided with the police boat and drifted off by itself. The three
other boats stopped where the man had jumped and began to search the
area.
"Call it a hunch," Mulder said slowly, "but I think that man just
made it onto our list of suspects."
"What, so we're suspects?" Jake shouted. "We get blamed for
*everything*. I'm telling you..."
"Not now," Scully shushed him. "We're not sure of anything yet.
As far as we know, there's too boys reported missing, and some kind of
large marine predator roaming around this beach for the past eight
months. The rest has been just exaggerated into a story about a monster."
"So what are we going to do?" Mulder asked impatiently.
"There's nothing more we can do here. The coast guard will find
that guy sooner or later, then they'll bring him in for questioning.
Until then, I think we should go back to where we were staying and see if
we can dig up any more info on this."
She turned to Jake, Antonio and Darthman. "You guys, don't go
far. I want to question you all a little further later."
The two teenagers and the lifeguard separated and went off into
the crowd. Scully gave instructions to some of the policemen as to wrap
up the surfboard for evidence. Then she and Mulder started through the
crowd of onlookers, with Scully flashing her badge at anyone in their
way.
It was then that Mulder stared at someone staring at him from the
crowd; a young, tall, blond-haired girl, watching him with intense,
dark-brown eyes. There was something about her that Mulder didn't find
quite right... He dismissed the thought. Probably nothing. He and Scully
broke through the crowd on the beach and walked to their rental car in
the parking lot.
Scully decided that she enjoyed driving right along the beach,
looking over the ocean. She wished the rental car was a convertible so
she could put the top down and let the ocean wind whip through her hair.
But, there were other things to think about. Mulder, however, appeared to
be deep in thought as he drove the rental car through the winding hills
up to their hotel.
"Well," Scully finally sighed, "apparently, we're getting more
than we asked for from this case."
"Yeah," Mulder agreed. "I was hoping that we could get this case
over with, and then spend some time to enjoy ourselves. You know, spend a
day at the beach, hang out at some fancy restaurant, maybe see some movie
stars..."
"Movie stars?" Scully questioned.
"Yeah, you know. Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, Jane Seymour, David
Du-what's-his-name..."
Scully glanced over at Mulder. "Did I ever tell you that you look
like him?"
"No way! I'm *much* better looking than he is!"
Scully smiled and gazed out the window at the ocean, only to be
reminded of their actual problem.
"What are we going to do now?" Mulder asked, breaking the few
minute's silence.
"*I* am going to get back to our hotel and take a long nap,"
Scully said tiredly. "I didn't get a wink of sleep on the flight here."
"I doubt we'll be getting much sleep at all with this case."
"Mulder, this is completely absurd. The only thing in that ocean
that could have caused the anxiety among the people in Malibu is a large
shark. There's no such thing as sea monsters, and this definitely isn't
murder. There was no reason for us to be called out here, this is just an
incident or two on the beach that's grown into a modern legend."
Mulder gave her a slightly optimistic look. "What makes you think
there's no such thing as sea monsters?"
"Mulder, don't you even..."
"Wait, just hear me out," Mulder interrupted. "Think about it.
For centuries past, sailors and captains and all kind of people sailing
on the high seas have reported seeing large serpentine-like or
dragon-like creatures living in the oceans. Some of these creatures were
even said to have sunken ships. And not just from one spot, but all over
the world. These legends must have originated from somewhere, there must
be a reason there are so many reports of monsters from so many people.
And people seem to day more of monsters in the ocean than on
land. Think about it, oceans cover 2/3rds of this planet. Sometimes, the
depths of these oceans go miles down. There are trenches in the Pacific
bigger than Mt. Everest. Scientists are discovery new species of marine
life every day, and there are still thousands of species still down
there, just waiting to be found and categorized. Don't' you even wonder
if that thing is not just a big shark? Some kind of old, maybe
prehistoric creature that's remained hidden for thousands of years and
hasn't been discovered yet?"
Scully glared at him and summed up his explanation in a few
words. "A prehistoric sea serpent terrorizing Zuma beach and eating
surfers? Sounds a bit farfetched to me..."
Mulder sighed. Sometimes he wondered if Scully ever would believe
in the strange and paranormal. Even after the big incident in Antarctica,
she still seemed to be skeptic. Deep down, however, Mulder was sure she
believed, but she just didn't want to admit it.
There was no more conversation between them, because then Mulder
pulled the rental car into the parking lot of the Malibu Inn, the hotel
they were staying in. They quickly checked in and got their luggage,
which they had dropped off there earlier. Mulder and Scully trudged up
the stairs to their hotel room tiredly and walked in. Scully collapsed on
the bed as soon as she kicked off her shoes and opened the curtain to let
the sun shine in.
"I can't believe they're making us share a room," she commented.
"First you don't believe in sea monsters. Now you don't believe
in sharing rooms. I don't know, maybe the FBI wants to start on a
stricter budget."
"That's a first..."
"Go to sleep."
"I think I will, thank you very much."
Scully buried her head in a pillow and sighed. Mulder, meanwhile,
got himself comfortable in a chair and picked up the local paper,
entitled 'Malibu Surfside News'. His eyebrows rose as he read the bold
front headline:
"MALIKUDDA DEVOURS TWO TEENAGERS: FBI CALLED IN TO HUNT DOWN
MALIBU SEA MONSTER."
"Hey, Scully, we made the front page," he waved the paper in
front of her half-open eyes.
"Mulder, I'm trying to get some sleep. I don't even want to
*hear* about sea monsters."
Mulder shrugged and sat down to read the story. According to the
article, the strange creature was called the "Malikudda" by the Malibu
citizens. There had been several sightings of it for the past eight
months or so. Mulder hoped that it would give some unknown information on
the creature, but it didn't tell any more than they already knew.
Mulder tossed the paper aside and stared out the window at the
ocean thoughtfully. Perhaps he should follow Scully's example; they had
had little sleep for the past few days...
His thoughts were interrupted by a quick knock at the door.
"Who is it?" Mulder called.
"Ah...sir? May we come in?" a female voice came from the outside.
Intrigued, Mulder got up and opened the door. Two teenage girls
were standing in the hallway.
"Ah...can I help you?" Mulder said slowly.
"Who is it?" Scully called, getting up from the bed.
Mulder gasped with slight surprise. He recognized one of the
girls: the tall, blond one he had seen in the crowd at the beach. The
other girl was much shorter, and had dark brown hair and brown-blue eyes.
They stared at him sort of expectantly.
"Are you the FBI agents?" the brunette asked.
"Yeah..." Mulder answered. "What do you want?"
"I'm Rachel Williams," the blond pointed at herself. "And this is
my friend, Margaret Lewison."
"I'm Agent Mulder," Mulder introduced himself. "And this is Agent
Scully. How did you find us?"
"I think we can help you, Agent Mulder."
Mulder pulled up two chairs for Rachel and Margaret to sit in.
Scully was content with simply sitting on the bed. Mulder collapsed into
his own chair and sat watching them profoundly.
The two girls appeared to be rather nervous. "You tell them,"
Margaret whispered to Rachel.
"No, *you* tell them."
"Alright," Margaret looked at Mulder. "We know where the
Malikudda comes from."
The *what*?!" Scully said, puzzled.
"The monster," Mulder explained. Scully rolled her eyes. "Go on."
"I think it was about eight months ago," Margaret began. "And we
were out on my front porch, just talking. I'm not sure what time it was.
Late, I think. But suddenly, Rachel stopped talking and pointed out at
the ocean. My porch overlooks the ocean, you see.
And as we watched, this bright blue blotch appeared right in the
middle of the sea, just out of nowhere. It kept growing and growing
larger. We thought it would take up the entire ocean. Then it stopped
growing, and began to spin. It looked like an enormous whirlpool. It was
spinning very, very slowly, but you could still tell it was moving."
Rachel picked up where Margaret left off. "We drove down to the
big dock on the west side. My dad owns a few boats down there. We took
one of my dad's boats and went out to where we saw the whirlpool."
They stopped and stared at each other. Mulder waited, but they
didn't continue. Margaret fidgeted around nervously in her chair.
"Go on," Mulder said.
Margaret swallowed and got a queer look on her face. "We felt a
force. Very strong. And there were things...and a red ocean. Stars, too,
and these flashes of color in the sky."
Scully raised her eyebrows. This was getting even stranger and
stranger.
"And..." Rachel choked back tears. "We saw it..."
"Saw *what*?" Mulder said, becoming impatient.
The....it was gigantic! We thought we were going to die."
Margaret gasped pitifully. "Looked like something out of a storybook. We
were certain it was looking at us. Then it dived and swam away. It came
right though...the door."
"Door?"
"A hole in the sea. We only got a glimpse of the other side of
the whirlpool. All we know is that's where the Malikudda came from."
Margaret stopped and swallowed again. Mulder's head drooped and
Scully shifted on the bed with obvious skepticism and discontent. "Go
on," Mulder urged.
Rachel breathed in deeply several times before continuing. "And
then... this man came up, I think he was in a white speedboat or
something. Anyway, he took one look at us and began shouting and swearing
and everything ...and that whirlpool was still there, although the
Malikudda was gone.
He dragged us on board his boat and kept shouting at us. We were
too frightened to really hear what he was saying. But he made us
promise..." she stopped and swallowed again. "He made us promise not to
tell anyone what we'd seen. Not tell *anyone*. If we did..."
"He said he'd *kill* us," Margaret sobbed. "He said he'd come and
find us and kill us!" she leaned over and began to cry on her friend's
shoulder. Mulder looked over at Scully with a surprised expression.
"Do you think...?"
"If the man we saw out there today was the same man these girls
met," Scully concluded, "then he's our prime suspect. *He* might be
behind the murders of those two surfers."
Mulder glanced back at the two girls. "Don't worry. Nothing's
going to happen."
Rachel held back strangled sobs. "We thought that nothing would
happen. We thought that the Malikudda would just go away, not be what we
knew it was, not hurt anyone. Then we heard how people had begun spotting
it, and we grew worried. Then we heard about the two surfers. We felt
like we had to tell *someone*. But we're afraid that he'll come after us
now that we've broken our promise to him."
"We're not going to let anyone hurt you," Scully reassured them.
"We're here to solve this case, and we'll catch whoever's behind this."
"You can't catch it," Margaret warned. "*Nothing* can stop it.
The biggest harpoons and knives and weapons couldn't break those scales
and spikes."
Mulder pulled out a piece of blank paper and pen from his
suitcase and handed them to the two teens. "Do you think you can draw me
what you saw? Can you sketch what you saw come through the door?"
"I'll try," Margaret took the paper and pen, set them on the
nearby table and began to sketch. Mulder waited patiently, but it didn't
take her long to finish the picture.
"Here," she handed it to him. He took one glance at it, and knew
that they had found what they were looking for. Mulder's eyes widened as
he studied the picture. He handed it to Scully. "See what you make of
that."
Scully took the sketch. Her eyebrows rose, her eyes narrowed and
she got a very frustrated expression on her face.
"She's a good artist," Rachel said confidently.
Scully handed the drawing back to Mulder. "Is that all you wanted
to tell us?"
"Uh...yeah. Yeah, we felt like you were the people we should
tell."
"Why?"
"I think we read about you from somewhere, in some news article.
Yeah, you were trying to defuse this bomb or something in Texas; I have
relatives there. Some other news stories, too. You tracked down that
escaped psycho killer, Modell, or whatever his name was. You thought you
could help us the most."
"We'll help you any way we can. Thank you for telling us what you
know about this, I guarantee it won't give you any trouble. I think the
best thing you two can do is to go home and get some rest. Let us take
care of things."
"Thank you *so* much," Rachel sighed heavily. "You have no idea
how we feel, how much this means to us."
"We'll do everything we can," Mulder assured them. The two
teenagers thanked him again, then got up and quickly left.
As soon as they had gone, Mulder turned back to Scully. He gave
her a slightly mocking expression. "Well, what do you suggest now? A
shark that looks like a sea serpent? Or a murderer with a mind for clever
yet absurd hoaxes?"
Scully picked up the drawing again, looked at it, and threw it
down on the bed. "For the last time, Mulder, there is *no* sea monster.
But I still think those girls gave us a fresh lead. The man we saw down
at the beach has a strong connection to this. We need to find out what."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Mulder grabbed up the car keys
from the table. "Let's go take a ride."
1:38 P.M.
Friday, November 30th, 1998
Hughes Research Institute, Malibu
"HEY, YOU!!"
Jake and Antonio spun around with surprise. Their surprised faces
changed to scowls as they watched Darthman the lifeguard stride
purposefully up to them. His face was set in probably the biggest frown
ever formed that decade. The two teens faced him defiantly.
"What are you doing here?" Darthman motioned at all of the
surrounding scientific supplies. "Only authorized personnel are allowed
in this building! What are you fooling with?!"
"We came to get Sarge's board back," Antonio said flatly. He
pointed at the surfboard on the table, now wrapped entirely in plastic.
"This isn't just some stupid evidence you can treat like a piece of-"
"I told you to get out!" Darthman yelled again. "Only authorized
personnel."
"And since when the heck were you 'authorized personnel'?" Jake
shot back. "You're just a dang lifeguard, you're no cop! What are *you*
doing here?!"
"I got permission from the feds," Darthman answered coldly.
"The heck you got permission!" Antonio bellowed in his face. "You
probably just followed us here to try and spy on us! You're trying to get
us framed!!"
"That's enough!!" Scully's voice came from the doorway. The three
glanced over at the entrance to the lab room. There, glaring at them
decisively, were Agents Mulder and Scully.
"I think we need to know what's going on here."
All three started shouting at once. Mulder rolled his eyes
despairingly. Scully tried to shout over them, but it didn't work. It was
when she started to pull out her gun that they fell quiet.
"Sit down," she ordered. The teens and the lifeguard obeyed.
"Now, I want to know what you're doing here."
"We came to get Sarge's board," Jake demanded. "You can't just
take it and wrap it up like that. It belongs to us now."
Mulder turned to Darthman. "What about you?"
"I came here because I found out the coast guard didn't catch
that guy in the speedboat," Darthman answered. "I wanted to talk to some
of the coast guard guys to find out what happened. They're in the
conference room. I heard something back here, so I came running and found
these two."
"They *didn't* find the man?" Scully said worriedly.
"What's the coast guard doing at the Hughes Research Institute?"
Mulder asked.
"By the way, what exactly are *you* doing here?" Antonio
questioned, glaring.
"We found out something," Scully answered. "From two teenage
girls who claim to have seen this mystery creature close-up. The man who
escaped the coast guard today may have threatened those girls eight
months ago, and he *may* have killed your two friends. We're not sure
yet."
"How can you guys still think a *human* did this?" Jake insisted.
"We *know* what we saw. I swear we're not lying."
"Apparently, those girls saw the same thing," Mulder said. "Now
come on, you can't get suspicious of us either. This is only part of our
investigation. We're trying to find out who or what could be behind
this."
"Well then," Darthman sighed, "let's get started."
Mulder flipped through the transparencies patiently, one after
the other, his feet propped up on the research table. So far, nothing had
come up. He put one folder back in the file cabinet and began to flip
through another.
Scully waited while the computer scanned the imprint of the teeth
marks on the surfboard onto the screen. On the desk beside the board she
had laid out three rows of two dozen shark teeth, each tooth from a
different species. The Malibu H.R.I. came equipped with hundreds of
anatomic tools and samples of marine life taken from the Pacific, which
Scully decided would help her in trying to find out what sort of animal
had taken half of Sarge's surfboard.
Jake, Antonio, even Darthman tried to help out, although they did
so rather reluctantly. They flipped through newspapers and scientific
journals on recently-discovered marine life. The lab room of H.R.I. had
been their workplace for the last couple of hours.
Suddenly, Scully's computer beeped. "It's done scanning," she
announced. "Now we can find out exactly what bit Sarge's surfboard." The
others watched her type out commands into the computer. She frowned as a
small error box popped up on the screen.
"What the...? No match available with any cataloged specimens?
Okay... run analysis on tooth only..."
"What's wrong, Scully?" Mulder asked.
"The computer can't identify what kind of animal has the teeth
that match the teeth marks on Sarge's board. I'm running the program
again so the computer will at least show me what the tooth that matches
looks like..."
She continued typing. Another box filled the screen, this time
displaying a diagram of a triangular object. Scully backed away from the
computer with surprise. "Oh, good grief! If this thing is correct, the
animal that attacked Sarge had teeth eight inches long and two inches
wide. They were practically railroad spikes."
"I *told* you..." Antonio sneered.
"That's not all, Scully," Mulder held up a stack of
transparencies. "These are satellite photos of the Zuma beach area, taken
last February. I think you should look at them."
Scully, still slightly bewildered, took the transparencies and
studied them. There was the usual brownish-green hills to indicate land,
and the flat aqua-blue to indicate water. But...in the middle of the flat
blue, there was a strange-looking, whitish-silver blotch. She flipped
through the transparencies, and they all displayed the same white blotch.
"Do you know what that is?" Mulder asked.
"I don't know...maybe an error in the satellite programming, a
glitch in the color printer."
"Not likely," Mulder argued. "Notice how the blotch seems to grow
larger in later pictures. These were taken during a half-hour time
period. And the dates are in late February, about eight months ago. It's
almost the exact same time and place Rachel and Margaret said they found
the whirlpool."
"And what exactly do you think this is, Mulder? An underwater
UFO? A secret US military base?"
"Actually," Mulder said, smiling, "I think it's some form of a
dimension door."
Scully almost dropped the transparencies with aggravation.
"Mulder, are you suggesting to me that a sea monster from another
dimension got stuck in some time warp and is now terrorizing Malibu
beach?"
"See? I *told* you!" Antonio exclaimed.
"Well, look at these satellite photos," Mulder persisted. "It
can't identify what that white blotch in the ocean is. and the computer
can't identify what kind of animal has teeth that bit Sarge's board. And
from the two girl's description..."
"But a *dimension door*? And a *sea monster*?! Mulder, I've heard
some strange ideas from you before, but this one ranks on my top ten
list!!"
"What are we supposed to do?" Darthman said. "Send out some men
to try and catch this monster or whatever? Fishing nets and harpoons, I
suppose?"
"No," Scully held up her hands for silence. "I don't think an
animal is responsible for what's been going on here. I think that man,
whoever he is and whatever he's doing, is accountable for all this. We
need to try and find him first."
"But what if these sightings and attacks continue even after
we've caught the guy?" Mulder asked.
"*Then* we'll know that it's an animal, a *shark* most likely.
Then we'll get someone to hunt the thing down."
"We're going to have trouble finding that guy, especially since
we don't know his name or what he looks like," Mulder sighed.
"Well, come on," Scully groaned, standing up. "Let's go talk to
the coast guard. Maybe we can find out something else..."
9:17 P.M.
Friday, November 30th, 1998
Malibu, California
"I can't believe we've gotten almost nowhere with this case,"
Mulder groaned.
Mulder and Scully's day had been extremely busy. After they had
finished getting the info they needed from the Hughes Research Institute,
they had had a long conversation with the coast guard on what had
happened to the man in the speedboat. The coast guard had searched the
area he had jumped into for hours, but they hadn't found a single trace
of him.
However, the coast guard had been able to give them a brief
description of the man: sort of short and stocky, perhaps in his early
40's, with brown-red hair and wearing a plain white T-shirt and jeans.
The speedboat had been brought in, and they found out it wasn't licenced,
so it was now just sitting at the dock until later. But besides that, no
one knew what had happened to the man.
Then Mulder, Scully, Jake, Antonio and Darthman had gone back
down to Zuma beach to watch for any more activity in the ocean. They had
only been there for an hour or so before the press invaded the beach and
bombarded the fivesome with questions and microphones in their noses. By
the time they finally got the news reporters off their backs, the sun had
almost set and it was too dark to search anymore. Mulder had taken Scully
out to some restaurant for dinner, and they were now in the car on the
way back to their hotel.
"For once, Mulder, I actually agree with you," Scully sighed.
"Tomorrow we'll have to keep looking. We'll see if we can trace the owner
of that speedboat, and then go down to the beach again and spot out
anything unusual. We *have* to find that guy, and I have a feeling that
he'll be coming back to the beach for something."
"But for what?" Mulder questioned. "I agree that the man in the
speedboat has a connection with this, but I think it's much bigger than
we realize. How do you explain the satellite photos? And those teeth
marks? Or Margaret's drawing?"
"I don't think the man just threatened those two girls, Mulder,"
Scully said wearily. "I think he *told* them to make up a story on a sea
monster and a whirlpool. There's no real monster. What we really need to
do is catch our actual suspect, not go chasing after fairy-tale fish."
"We'll see," Mulder said. The car turned and drove into the hotel
parking lot.
1;03 A.M.
Saturday, December 1st, 1998
Pacific Ocean
"Lemmie go! I said let me go!!"
"Shaddup! No one's gonna hear you!"
The waters of the Pacific were quiet and cold as the small white
speedboat raced across the waves. Very few stars were out; blacked out by
the LA smog. The Brown-haired Man glanced around nervously at the
lapping, assuaging waves, his shotgun ready to use. Young Margaret
struggled wildly against the ropes in vain, tears streaming down her
face.
The Brown-haired Man cut the engine. The white speedboat slowed
to a halt, and silence reigned. Even Margaret's whimpering seemed muted.
The Brown-haired Man's eyes scanned the horizon attentively, fearfully.
Satisfied that they were alone, he turned back to Margaret.
"I swear I didn't say anything!!" she sobbed. "Let me go, leave
me alone!!"
He didn't answer her. Instead, he pulled a small pocketknife out
of his jeans and started towards her. Margaret squirmed wildly against
the ropes that bound her. He grabbed her shoulder roughly - and cut the
ropes off with the knife.
Margaret started to cry again as he forced her hands behind her
back and marched her to the prow of the speedboat. She stared down into
the swirling, indigo-blue waters of the Pacific and kicked furiously at
her captor.
"Quiet!" the Brown-haired Man growled.
"Let me go already!"
"I warned you not to tell anyone. I've been watching you and your
friend. She's next. I told you not to tell, and this is what you get for
it!"
With that, he gave her a tough shove in the back. Margaret
screamed and toppled overboard into the sea.
The Brown-haired Man started up the engine again. He raced
quickly away from the still blue waters, back to the safety of the dock
and the shore. By the time Margaret's head broke the surface, he was too
far away to reach.
She shook salt water from her light-brown hair and shivered in
the freezing cold water. She had to get out of here. There was little
time. She forced herself to start kicking, pull one arm in front of the
other, taking long, powerful strokes, just as she learned in swimming
class.
She swam for five whole minutes without stopping. It would be
useless to call for help; she had to save her energy. there was no
telling how far she was from the shore. The cold water of the Pacific
numbed her arms and legs, making it harder and harder to force them
forward. She stopped and tread water and tried to catch her breath, tried
to think.
It was then that she noticed the approaching shark's fin.
Her eyes widened with total fear, her breath came in ragged
gasps. She forced her arms into motion again, kicking and paddling
furiously towards a shore that was miles away.
The shark's fin drew closer and started to rise out of the water.
Than a spike appeared behind the fin. Then another spike. Then another.
Blue and black scales rose, dripping slaty sea water. It was coming
closer.
Margaret's strokes seemed to be taking her nowhere. She glanced
behind her quickly, catching only a glimpse of the enormous reptilian
head, the jaws gaping open, the glaring yellow eyes staring down at her
hungrily. Then she felt something grab her leg and tow her beneath the
surface.
The Brown-haired man turned the white speedboat towards the empty
dock, deaf to the screams of the young girl and the gurgling roar of the
Malikudda. He breathed heavily, letting his fear br released through his
exhaling. He wasn't about to let the consequences of his actions take
control.
6:14 A.M.
Saturday, December 1st, 1998
Malibu Inn
Scully was only half-awake. She didn't plan to wake up entirely
for a long time yet. A busy day lay ahead of her and Mulder, and she
wanted to put it off as long as she could. The dawn's sunlight streamed
through the window of their hotel room, warming Scully's bed with its
pleasant glow. Scully sighed with brief contentment and let her head sink
back into the comfortable pillows. Just a few more minutes...
"Scully!!" A large hand gripped her shoulder and began shaking
her roughly. "Scully, wake up!!!"
Scully looked up at Mulder groggily, locks of red hair hanging in
her face. She groaned loudly and buried her head in the covers. "Just
five more minutes, Mulder...."
"No, Scully, look," he waved an issue of 'Malibu Surfside News'
in her face. "I just got today's paper. Margaret Lewison's been
kidnaped."
The first thing Scully noticed was the broken window. The
sunlight shone brilliantly through the jagged hole and onto the shards of
glass and ripped covers that littered the bedroom floor. Agent Mulder
stepped inside the tiny bedroom and gazed around at the ransacked mess.
Scully followed him inside.
"Not the neatest of jobs. I bet there'll be fingerprints all over
the place." He looked at Margaret's bed. The covers had been yanked off.
Nail polish and a spilled Dr. Pepper stained the thick white carpet.
"Looks like there was a struggle."
Scully got out of the doorway to let more policemen in. Mulder
glanced over at her expectantly. "Scully, I think this is somehow
connected to the Malikudda."
"How?" Scully asked, gesturing at the littered bedroom.
"Margaret and Rachel told us that the man by the strange
whirlpool had told them that if they told anyone what they saw, he would
kill them. Somehow, he must have found out that they spoke to us."
"You mean Margaret Lewison's been *murdered*?"
"Or is going to be soon."
Scully glanced anxiously out the broken window, wandering what
they should do next. Then she noticed something.
"What are *they* doing here?!"
Mulder followed her gaze out the window and groaned. "Jake,
Antonio and Darthman. Great. Wait here, I'll settle this."
"Wait!" Scully started after him. "Rachel Williams is with them!"
Mulder and Scully pushed their way through crowds of policeman
analyzing the crime scene and out the front door. More police cars lined
the front walk by the large, white-brick house. But there was also Jake
and Antonio's rusty-red pickup and Darthman's lifeguard truck. The three
were in the middle of an extremely heated argument when Mulder and Scully
walked up.
"We didn't do anything, already! You're always blaming everything
on us!" Jake bellowed.
"Then why do you have the girl's friend with you?!" Darthman
shouted back.
"She's my girlfriend!"
"The heck she's your girlfriend! For all I know she could be -"
"Well, aren't we the happy family," Mulder broke in irritably.
"Mind explaining to us what exactly is going on?"
"And one person at a time!" Scully added.
"He thinks we kidnaped Margaret Lewison!" Antonio jabbed a thumb
at Darthman. "He thinks we murdered her!"
"What makes you think they kidnaped her?" Mulder asked Darthman.
"They have Margaret's friend Rachel with them. They were probably
going to do something to her, too."
"Can somebody let me speak?" Rachel, who had been standing behind
Antonio, shoved the two surfers out of her way and walked up to Mulder
and Scully. It was apparent that she had been having a hard time with
this. Her cheeks were tear-streaked and her face was slightly pale.
"He's taken her."
"Who?" Mulder asked.
'*This* sounds familiar...' Scully thought to herself.
"That man," Rachel sobbed. "The man we saw at the whirlpool. He's
found out what we did, and he killed her. He's going to try and get me,
too."
Mulder and Scully exchanged glances. "Are you *sure* it was that
man?"
"I *know* he was. I saw his speedboat out there this morning, on
the Pacific. Just cruising back and forth. I didn't know what was
wrong...and then I found out that Margaret was gone. I didn't know what
to do. I went to Jake, and he drove me here..."
"Wait," Mulder stopped her. "You say you saw him out there? Do
you know if he's still there?"
"Probably. Last time I checked..."
"Scully, come on!" Mulder gripped her arm excitedly. "He's
probably still there. If we hurry, we can catch him in time. Let's go!!"
Mulder dragged Scully away from the group and to their car.
"Wait, Mulder, we need to inform the authorities what we're doing, we
need to have some backup in case..."
"We'll call them on the way!" he urged her on. "We don't have
much time, hurry!!" Mulder shoved her into the rental car, jumped in, and
started the vehicle down to Zuma beach. Jake, Antonio, Rachel and
Darthman watched them go, completely baffled by the entire situation.
8:33 A.M.
Saturday, December, 1st, 1998
Zuma beach, Malibu
The waves pounded unmercifully against the dock posts as the two
agents drove the rental car to the edge of the pier. It seemed as if they
were going to drive off the edge of the world. The clouded blue sky of
the early morning met the grey-blue ocean at a seemingly tangible
horizon.
The car stopped close to the edge of the pier. Mulder got out and
quickly pulled out a pair of binoculars from his pocket. Scully watched
him, puzzled, as he scanned the horizon attentively.
"You think that man is still out there?" she extended an open
palm towards the ocean.
He's *got* to be. And hopefully, where we find him, we'll find
the Malikudda."
"Mulder..."
"Scully, you don't need to tell me that you don't believe in sea
monsters. I know you think I'm being imprudent chasing after something
that doesn't exist, that we should be trying to catch the guy responsible
for the kidnaping."
"Mulder..."
"But I seriously think that the guy is not the whole story. He
may play a part, but I don't think he's the *real* murderer. It's
something bigger..."
"Mulder, stop talking and look at what I'm trying to show you!!"
Scully was shaking his shoulder and jabbing a finger down at the water
below them. Mulder followed her gaze. A brown-haired man in a white
speedboat was racing right by them, headed for the shore!
Mulder and Scully wasted no time. They scrambled for the car
doors, got inside, started the engine, did a sharp U-turn on the wide
pier and shot back towards the mainland. The car accelerated along the
wooden planks, creating a chorus of clanks and thumps. The speedboat
reached the dock just as the rental car reached the end of the pier.
The Brown-haired Man watched the two FBI agents leap out of the
car, guns and badges ready. He turned and raced along the dock until he
came to an old, white Cherokee. The engine started almost the moment he
jumped into the driver's seat.
"Back to the car!" Scully ordered. She and Mulder sprinted back
across the dock and reentered the rental car, knowing now that they would
never be able to overtake him on foot. The Cherokee and the rental car
tore across the wooden dock for a distance before the large jeep pulled
off right onto the sand of the beach.
Mulder attempted to follow; he yanked the steering wheel sharply
to the left and shot the car into the sand. It bounced and swerved like a
dare-devil motorcycle, but it was going fast enough to cruise over the
sand instead of getting stuck in it.
"Mulder, slow down!" Scully hollered, gripping the seat edge with
chalk-white knuckles as the car propelled across the sand. The Cherokee
rammed through an empty beach blanket and umbrella stakeout, sending
chairs and sodas flying. Mulder and Scully ricocheted through the debris.
The Cherokee reached the end of the beach. It bounced over the
sidewalk, through the parking lot and onto the main highway. The rental
car was not far behind. The two agents bounced up and down in their seats
as the car sailed over the edge of the sidewalk and scraped against a
parked Porsche' with an agonizing squeal. The Cherokee was far down the
highway when Mulder and Scully got out of the parking lot.
"Mulder, it's going to be difficult to catch up with him now,
especially if he turns onto the freeway," Scully warned.
"We can't let him get away."
Scully could tell that Mulder was not about to let her talk him
out of starting a high speed road-race with this guy. He pushed his foot
down on the gas pedal and accelerated forward, hearing the grinding and
crunching of sand still stuck in the engine. The Cherokee was several
cars ahead of them and picking up speed.
Mulder maneuvered their vehicle in and out of passing sports cars
and utility vehicles, all the while honking his horn for the man to stop.
He was obviously very desperate to get away. The road led them along the
beach and then finally through a canyon within the hills. The road went
in and out through the winding hills for a good ten minutes. Mulder
didn't want to speed up the car too fast lest they should go sailing over
the edge of a cliff into the canyon on a sharp turn, even though there
were no other cars nearby. But then, the two cars turned off the winding
hills road and onto the freeway. And, almost instantly, were stuck in
traffic.
Mulder shook the steering wheel with obvious frustration. Scully
remained calm, if not just annoyed, and pulled out her cell phone.
"Hello, I need to speak to the Malibu police chief and chief coast
guard...I know, but put them on anyway! Yes, sir?...this is Agent Dana
Scully, sir. We've spotted the suspect for kidnaping, he's on the 101
freeway, heading north. No, he doesn't have the girl with him. We're on
the 101 also, but we're stuck in traffic and we can't catch up to him. We
don't know where he's going. We need immediate backup..."
Mulder waited and drove while Scully listened. Her face dropped
with irritance. "What do you mean, you can't be here for another hour? It
only took us ten minutes to get on the freeway! Oh...oh, fine. This is
going to make it tough. Yes, I'll phone you then and tell you where we
are. Alright." Scully switched off the phone and put it back in her
pocket.
"What's going on?"
"The police can't be here for another hour. They have to
completely finish the first investigation and get the troops together.
We're on our own until then."
"Great."
The traffic was not too bad. The car was still moving at a
reasonably fast pace. But because there were so many cars, it was
impossible for them to actually catch up to the suspect. Mulder attempted
to maneuver around the endless lines of cars and trucks. But they still
weren't close enough, and even if they did catch up to him, what good
would it do in the middle of the freeway?
"We might be in for a long ride," Mulder sighed, setting the car
at an even pace. "There's no telling when this guy's going to stop."
Mulder's words proved to be true. The rental car was cruising
down the freeway for another 45 minutes without any sign of letting up.
Mile after mile of brown and green hills rolled by, and every once in a
while, a few buildings. Every couple of turns they would get a glimpse of
the mud and dirt-splattered Cherokee, but then it would be lost again.
The only thing that remained constant was the cars, the road, and the
blue sky above them. Mulder switched on the radio and began lip-synching
to "Spirit in the Sky". Scully kept a weary eye on the Cherokee, looking
for any sign of it turning onto an exit.
"Hey, if we're lucky, we'll be on World's Scariest Police Chases
18," Mulder commented suddenly. Scully gave him a tired glare.
"And if you're lucky, you'll be on World's Most Idiotic FBI
Agents. We should have called for instant backup the moment we decided to
apprehend this guy. But you just *insist* that we take off without
another moment's thought in a ridiculous hope that we'll be able to catch
someone three steps ahead of us at the moment."
"Sounds like a plan to me."
"Whether or not it's a good plan is yet to be determined..."
"Scully..." Mulder was looking out through the windshield. "Ever
think of taking a day off?"
Standing right by the highway was an enormous wooden sign that
exclaimed "SIX FLAGS, MAGIC MOUNTAIN", in bold, bright letters.
Scully's jaw dropped. "He's going to the amusement park!!"
The white Cherokee turned off the freeway and onto an exit
labeled "Magic Mountain Parkway". Mulder and Scully stared at each other
for a moment, then followed him down the hill. The Cherokee and the
rental car followed a long line of cars right into the middle of the line
for the entrance fee to Magic Mountain.
"I don't believe this!!" Mulder exclaimed. "Of all the places for
a guy to hide, he goes to an *amusement park!*"
"Well, if you think about it, Mulder, it's actually a good idea.
With so many people and buildings crammed into one area, it would be very
easy to lose track of a single person."
Mulder groaned. "When is our backup supposed to get here?"
"If the traffic is as bad as it was before, about an hour."
Mulder groaned even louder. "Scully, do you know what the
*chances* are of us finding *one* person in a crowd of *thousands*?!"
"About 23,684 to one."
"Oh, shut up."
"Well, come on," Scully urged. "We have to follow him and try and
keep an eye on him until the Malibu police arrive."
Mulder wasn't listening. "Six dollars for a parking fee?!! What a
rip!"
"Just flash the badge."
"And how fair do you think that would be to the people who
actually have to pay?"
"You want to pay 60 bucks, be my guest!"
The rental car drove up to the entrance fee booth. An overweight,
bald guard stared at them suspiciously with piggy eyes. "Six dollars
parking for one day," he said, face completely deadpan.
"I'm Agent Mulder, and this is Agent Scully, we're with the FBI,"
Mulder flashed his badge. "We have reason to believe that a-"
"And I'm Prince William. Six dollars parking for one day," the
guard repeated flatly.
"Sir, we're in the middle of an investigation, and the FBI has
permission to-"
"You either park here or you don't," the guard growled back.
"You're holding up the line."
Mulder drove into the Magic Mountain parking lot with six dollars
less in his wallet. He and Scully parked the rental car as close to the
entrance as possible, then quickly got out of the car. They glanced all
around at the parking lot, and up at a large, wooden, white roller
coaster that loomed over them. Screams of either terror or joy could be
heard from the people sitting in the cars that raced down the track.
"Mulder, look," Scully pointed to their left. There was the
familiar white Cherokee, splattered over with sand and mud and spilled
soda.
Mulder nodded in acknowledgment. "Right, let's go."
They ran towards the park entrance, knowing they had little time
to waste. A long walkway through trees led them straight to the entrance
ticket booth...and another series of long lines.
"I am *not* paying 60 bucks to lose my lunch and possibly my
mind, too," Mulder said decisively. He and Scully pushed, shoved and
fought their way through crowds of people in line to get in and reached
one of the ticket booths.
"Mulder, FBI," he said simply, stopping at the booth only to slap
his badge against the window, and then sprint into the park. The ticket
salesman stared after the two agents with shock as they ran headlong into
the crowded amusement park.
They repeated the process at the ticket checker, although he
seemed to be reluctant to let them in. But by the time Mulder and Scully
actually got inside, it seemed all hope of catching their suspect their
suspect was gone.
For a moment, they stood there in an open plaza, unsure of what
to do. Then they both began to run frantically to and fro, forgetting
procedure and thinking only of apprehending the kidnaper. They ran
through candy and clothes stores, around crowds, under roller coasters
that loomed overhead and in and out of restaurants for a whole 30 minutes
before finally stopping to catch their breath by a large concrete sign
displaying pictures of "The Greatest Roller Coasters of All Time". The
whoops and screams of tourists an another coaster above them echoed
overhead.
"This isn't going to work," Scully said, gasping for breath. "We
have no idea where to look."
Mulder wiped sweat from his brow and pulled out a map of the park
he had picked up earlier. He scanned it for a minute. "Any idea where he
could have gone?"
Scully shook her head no. The screams of the coaster-riders
roared by again. She pulled out her cell phone an dialed a number. Mulder
though while Scully told the coast guard what had happened and what was
going on. She sighed with frustration at his reply, then hung up.
"They can be here in 30 minutes. When they come, we'll have
enough men to spread out across the park and track him down. but until
then, there's really nothing more we can do."
Mulder gazed up at the merciless sun beating down on them. In
California, it was *hot*, even in the winter. He motioned to Scully, and
they began to walk again. "We just have to keep looking."
They started back along the long, broad sidewalk, this time
walking much slower. This part of the park had few small attractions, a
pretzel stand here, a little kiddie ride there. Then Scully glanced over
at the entrance to the roller coaster above them. The word 'VIPER' was
painted in large letters on the wall. She looked at the sign, at the
track over their heads, at the overhang that shaded people standing in
lime. A slow smile spread across her face.
"Mulder..." she said slowly, casually.
"What?"
"I was just thinking...since we aren't probably going to be able
to locate our suspect until the police arrive and we have nothing else to
do... and since we *are* here, and we did pay six bucks for
parking...maybe we could try a ride, just once..."
Mulder stared at Scully, then at the roller coaster. Scully.
Roller coaster. His jaw dropped. "Scully...you're kidding me, right? You
don't actually want to go on a ride, do you?!"
"Of course I do! Come on, just once, the line's extremely
short..."
"Scully, no! Absolutely not! We *can't* ride a roller coaster
right now!"
She tugged on his arm and motioned towards the line entrance.
"Oh, come on! It'll be fun."
"Scully, we're FBI agents, we're supposed to be looking for a
kidnaper, not going on rides! This is very unprofessional..."
"Scully studied him suspiciously. "You're scared of the ride."
"I am not, I'm just..."
"Admit it, you're scared! You're such a wimp! Come on, just once,
I've always wanted to do this!"
"I am not a wimp! We just..."
"Wimp!"
"Stop calling me that!"
"Then come on the ride!"
Mulder glanced up at the red and white track and swallowed
nervously. "Um...............alright. But only *once*, and as soon as
we're done..."
"All right!" Scully gripped his arm and sprinted for the line
entrance. "Come on, Mulder, it'll be fun!"
"Easy for *you* to say..."
Scully excitedly ran through the near-empty line area and up a
flight of stairs with Mulder tagging along behind her. There was
practically no line, just some people at the very front waiting for the
next train.
"Let's sit in the front!!"
"Scully, no..."
"Wimp!"
"I am not!"
"You are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Scully, for goodness sakes, we sound like a bunch of little
kids! We're not even supposed to be doing this."
Scully ignored him and pulled him into the line for the front
row. There were only four people ahead of them, so they would get to ride
in the third train that came around. Mulder glanced around nervously at
the overhang filled with people, listening to the ear-splitting clanking
of each train going up the track.
It was clear that Scully was excited by this. The line moved
quickly and soon their train rolled in and stopped in front of them,
letting out a squeal of screeching rubber. The people who had just ridden
got out, and the doors opened for the next people to get in.
Mulder and Scully climbed into the two, incredibly-small front
row seats. Mulder looked around vainly for a seat belt. "Scully, I don't
think this is safe..."
"See, I *told* you you were scared! Look, there's a shoulder
harness right here."
"I'd get better security from toilet paper and spandex, for
crying out loud!" Mulder mumbled, but he strapped it on over his
shoulders anyway. Scully did the same. Mulder looked up at the steep hill
ahead of them and panicked.
"This thing doesn't have loops, does it?"
"It's got three!"
"I *hate* loops!"
"Wimp!"
"Stop calling me that!"
Unfortunately for Mulder, the harness locked in and the train
began to make a grinding noise as it started up the hill. The seats
tilted abruptly at a 45 degree angle. The train made an incredibly loud
clanking and thunking noise as it chugged uphill.
CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK...
"Scully, I don't want to go!"
"Too late now!"
CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK...
"I didn't realize how high it was!"
"Mulder, we're not even at the top yet! You're such a wimp!"
"I am not a wimp!"
"Wimp!"
CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK...
"Scully, we're FBI agents! Since when did FBI agents ride a
roller coaster during an investigation?!"
"Did you say you were FBI agents?!!" and excited teenage voice
came from the row behind them.
"I thought you didn't enjoy following procedure!"
CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK...
"Suddenly procedure sounds a lot more inviting!"
"Hey, Blake, there's FBI agents in the front row!"
"I'm serious, Mulder, you are such a wimp!"
"Stop calling me that already!!"
"Are you looking for a serial killer?!"
CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK...
"I wanna be an FBI agent when I grow up!"
"I'm gonna choke on this shoulder harness!"
"Wimp!!"
CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK...
The train neared the very top of the hill; two red flags waving
in the wind. "Hey, maybe we can see the kidnaper from up here!" Scully
yelled.
"No I can't," Mulder replied, eyes squeezed shut.
CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK-CLA-CLUNK...
"Can I see your badge?"
"I'll show it to you after the ride!!"
"For crying out loud,
Sculliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!"
Mulder's comment was turned into a horrified cry as the train
suddenly plunged down several stories. Mulder felt his stomach fly up
into his throat as the train plummeted towards the ground...and then rose
up again as it prepared to run a loop.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Mulder roared.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Scully whooped.
Her red-gold hair went flying into her face as the whole world
suddenly turned upside down and dropped again. The train jerked sideways
sharply, plastering the two agents to their seats and flinging them
sideways.
Mulder roared in anguish as he saw two *more* loops, approaching,
one right after the other. The train flew upside down again.
"S-SC-SC-SC-SC-SCUL-UL-UL-UL-LIE-LIE-IE-IE-IE-EE!! GET ME OFFA THIS
TH-TH-TH-TH-IIIIING!!!!!"
"WOOOOOOO-HOOOOO!!!" Scully whooped again.
The world flipped right side up again, then upside down, then
lingered on the second loop, and then plummeted down again. Mulder and
Scully were thrown forwards, then sideways, backwards, forwards, and
every other direction imaginable. The train lurched upwards and slowed.
"SCULLY, I'M GONNA KILL YOU WHEN WE GET OFF THIS
THIIIIIIAAAAAAAANG!!!"
The train picked up speed and dropped sharply. And *then* it
twisted into a sideways-double-loop. The train seemed to hang upside down
on the track for hours, putting strain on the harnesses. Scully's red
hair hung down across her face as she surveyed the sky below her and the
people and buildings above her.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOO!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Sideways, then upside down again.
"WOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
There was another sharp turn that slowly leveled out the train.
Mulder though his troubles were over...and then the track twisted into a
corkscrew form. The train chugged over, around and upside down at a-n
a-g-o-n-i-z-i-n-g-l-y slooooooooow pace, giving Mulder plenty of time to
confess all of his sins from the past couple of months and promise to
take out the trash every Thursday.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
The corkscrew leveled out and twisted into a sharp turn, then
banked to the right quickly and screeched to a halt at the place where
they had first started.
Scully's neatly combed-hair hung in pieces over her face. She was
still laughing and whooping; her mind still recovering from the shock of
the thrilling twists and loops. "Let's go again!!"
Mulder's face was pale, his hair a complete wreck, chalk-white
knuckles gripping the shoulder harness. He gasped for breath, still
trying to figure out if he was still alive or if his ghost was sitting
next to Scully. He looked over at her with a horror-stricken face. "I
can't believe my own partner tried to kill me!!"
"Hey, it wouldn't be the first time!" let's go again!"
"NO."
The shoulder harnesses unlocked, and Mulder and Scully walked
drunkenly out of the train and down a flight of stairs. They reached the
sidewalk with Mulder leaning on Scully's shoulder.
"I've got a headache..."
"Wimp."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"I haven't felt so utterly terrified since...since..."
"...Since when?"
"I'm trying to decide between when Linda Bowmen disguised herself
as you and made me think you shot yourself, or when Samantha was taken,
or when I found my dad dead on the bathroom floor, or when you told me
you had Cancer, or when they injected that stuff in the back of my neck,
or when..."
"Okay, I get the message," Scully pushed her hair out of her
face. "It's just a roller coaster. Now straighten up, we're going out to
look for the kidnaper again."
"Whatever you say..."
They started back down the sidewalk again. More people began to
get in line for 'VIPER' and the sun began the first few minutes of its
journey to the west horizon. Scully looked at Mulder.
"Have you decided yet?"
"Decided what?"
"What was the one time you were as utterly terrified as you were
on 'VIPER'?"
"When that hooded guy was about to decapitate you."
"Ha, ha. Very funny."
The two agents wound their way through a maze of food stands,
stores, restaurants, entrances to rides and people. Scully's sense of
post-coaster-thrill and excitement began to be replaced by the knowledge
that they had to get back to business.
She knew what their suspect looked like, and she scanned the
faces in the crowd for a familiar one. So far, he was nowhere to be seen.
They passed the entrance to a water-rafting ride and another roller
coaster that looked like it would collapse any minute. They had just
approached what looked like a ride that was cross between bungee-jumping
and skydiving when Scully's cell phone rang.
She picked it up. "Scully. Yes...yes, good, that's good.
Yes...we're already in the park. We've been looking for him. No, no sign
of him yet. He must be here somewhere. Yes...alright. Spread out all over
the place. Yes... good. We'll be there."
Mulder looked at Scully expectantly. "The Malibu police and coast
guard have arrived, and they've brought enough men to track the kidnaper
and capture him. They're spreading out all around the park right now; we
have to meet them at the main entrance," she explained.
"Then let's get moving," Mulder replied. They broke into a jog,
pushing through crowds of excited tourists and awestruck sightseers.
Mulder was glad they were finally leaving Magic Mountain; he was worried
that Scully would want to go on *another* roller coaster.
Right on cue, Scully pointed towards another green and black
coaster track. "Look, that one has *six* loops! Let's go on *that*!"
"Oh, Scully, no...."
"Mulder..." Scully suddenly became very serious and tense. She
was staring at something within the next wave of the crowd that
approached them. A barely-familiar, short, brown-haired face...
She gripped her partner's arm. "Mulder, it's him. I see the
kidnaper!"
"You do? Where?"
"Right ahead of us."
"Are you sure it's him?"
"Yes, I recognize his face and everything."
"Are you positive?"
"I'm positive."
The man was getting closer.
Mulder and Scully drew their badges and guns. "Alright, let's
move," Mulder whispered.
They jogged slowly at first, then picked up speed and began to
run, gazes fixed intently on their victim. The man noticed them as well.
His eyes widened with surprise and horror as he recognized the two agents
who had tracked him here...
He ran, pushing other tourists out of his path. Mulder and Scully
ran faster.
"Stop! Federal Agents!!" Scully shouted at the top of her lungs.
The man ignored her and kept running. The crowds quickly parted as Mulder
and Scully barged through.
"I said stop!!!" Scully roared again. This time, the man did
stop...sort of. The kidnaper turned around to see how close the agents
were - and ran smack dab into an enormous Marvin the Martian. The man hit
the concrete hard.
Mulder and Scully leaped into the fray, guns and badges ready.
Scully landed on the man's chest and pointed her gun at his throat. "FBI!
Don't move!!"
Mulder pulled out a pair of handcuffs from his pocket. "You're
under arrest for kidnaping and possible murder. You have the right to
remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used against
you..."
Mulder was about halfway through his required speech when a
familiar voice from the crowd called, "Alright, it's the FBI guys! Hey,
Blake, they caught the serial killer!!" A large crowd of onlookers
stopped in a circle around the two agents, staring with open mouths and
whispering in shocked tones. Mulder forced the man to his feet and
slapped the handcuffs on him.
Scully pulled out her cell phone. "Chief, we've got him, meet us
here as soon as possible. We're right by a ride called 'THE RIDDLER'S
REVENGE'. Yes, that's great. Thanks.
"The police are coming right this minute," Scully informed Mulder
when she hung up the phone. Mulder glanced around at the ever-growing
crowd of shocked and curious onlookers. The crowd parted while Mulder
continued to blurt out the remainder of the warrant statement and forced
him to march.
They had not gone very far with their prisoner when several men
in blue and black law enforcement uniforms and several more in park
security uniforms surrounded them. Mulder handed the man over to the
Malibu police chief. "We'll take care of him," the police chief assured
them. The two agents, the security guards and the policemen moved out of
the crowds and started towards the park exit.
Mulder glanced up at the sky. "Looks like rain."
"Very funny, Mulder."
"No, Scully, I'm serious," he pointed towards the heavens. "I
think it's gonna rain soon." Indeed, the clouds above them had begun to
swirl and grow threateningly. Scully shrugged with astonishment and
rejoined the policemen.
2:04 P.M.
Saturday, December 1st, 1998
Malibu Police Headquarters
Rachel stared at Dr. Nicholas Norheiff with accusing, sincere,
dark-brown eyes. Margaret's necklace had been found in the white
speedboat on the dock, and the coast guard had found scraps of material
from her nightshirt littering the shore. Rachel's feeling of grief and
sorrow had long since been replaced by complete anger and hatred towards
her friend's murderer.
"Rachel?" Scully opened the door and looked at her. "Could you
step outside now? The police need to talk to Dr. Norheiff."
Rachel said nothing, but glared one last time at him and walked
out. She met up with Jake, Antonio and Darthman in the hall, and they
started down the hallway. Even though it was clear that Jake and Antonio
had nothing to do with the situation, the lifeguard was still following
their every move.
Mulder came up to Scully, a large packet of folders under one
arm. She sighed at the man within the confinement-questioning room and
turned to Mulder. "Did you talk to him?"
"The whole bit," Mulder replied, launching into his explanation.
"He admits that he did kidnap Margaret Lewison, that the white speedboat
at the dock is his own, and that he did take her to a spot somewhere on
the Pacific ocean and threw her overboard. The coast guard has been
searching, but they haven't found the body yet. The man still hasn't
explained his motives yet. They're giving him ten years sentence so far."
"Who is he?" Scully asked.
Mulder opened the packet of folders and flipped through them.
"His name is Dr. Nicholas Norheiff, he's 39 years old. He's worked at the
Hughes Research Institute for the past six years, but then he was fired.
No record of close family; no record of previous criminal offenses."
Scully thought for a moment. "It doesn't make any sense as to why
he would kidnap a 15-year old girl and throw her into the Pacific."
"Rachel had identified him as the man she and Margaret met out on
the ocean eight months ago."
"That still doesn't explain anything."
Mulder flipped through the folders again. "For the first year and
a half at H.R.I, he specialized in atomic and subatomic technology. He
was very knowledgeable in the field and became assistant director over
all subatomic technology researching and field testing.
He worked with atom smashers for a long time, and it was said
that he invented a miniature atom smasher that could accelerate the speed
of atoms to the speed of light. It would be a tremendous breakthrough in
science, a device that could break the barrier of time and space.
Possibly could even create a wormhole on earth."
Scully raised her eyebrows. "Did he ever accomplish this?"
"Almost. He had almost perfected his invention when the H.R.I.
began to cut down on his funding. Told him his methods were unorthodox
and his ideas ridiculous. This only made him more determined to break the
time/space barrier. He literally went nuts over his work. And then, all
of a sudden, he was kicked out of H.R.I, lab and all. I never found out
why."
"When was he fired?"
"About eight months ago, early February," Mulder glanced at his
partner. "Around the time Margaret and Rachel found the strange
whirlpool."
Mulder and Scully began to walk down the hall, both deep in
thought. "Did you ask him about any of this when you questioned him?"
"He told me very little; he seemed to be reluctant to talk about
his work. But he did tell me why he kept returning to the Pacific..."
"Why?"
"His invention, the miniature atom smasher, is lying on the
bottom of the Pacific. He says that it was part of his 'experiment'. But
something went wrong during the experiment, and he left his instrument
there. And he's also demanding to have it returned to him."
Scully was feeling even more confused. "What kind of experiment
could you do with a miniature atom smasher in the middle of the ocean?"
Mulder gave her a peculiar look. "Something that breaks the
barrier of time and space? A wormhole in the ocean? A dimension door?"
"It's not possible, Mulder," Scully argued. "There's absolutely
no such thing as lost dimensions, and certainly not *sea monsters* from
other dimensions."
"But would it be a possibility?" Mulder interrupted. "Atoms being
forced to travel at the speed of light in a strong gravitational pull?
Something *must* happen, something that affects and changes and alters
all surrounding time, space, sound everything. An instrument that can
open up the door to an entirely different dimension. If used properly,
could possibly even be a means of time travel."
Mulder stopped his partner. "I think Dr. Norheiff *did* create an
atom smasher that really worked. It he *did* attempt to test it in a
place where it would be the least obvious: the middle of the ocean. And
that when he placed the object on the ocean floor, it opened up a
makeshift dimension door. And then, that's when the Malikudda came in. It
swam through the door on accident.
And when Dr. Norheiff realized what he had done, he was
terrified. He had unknowingly unleashed a monster from another dimension.
If anyone found out he had done this, he was finished. That's why he
threatened Rachel and Margaret when they found the whirlpool. He wants to
keep the origin of the Malikudda a secret."
Scully was obviously very skeptical. She was about to say
something when Mulder continued. "We need to retrieve that miniature atom
smasher. It's the key to this whole thing, it's how the Malikudda got
here in the first place. We *have* to go down to the spot where he left
it and look for it. If we can find it and somehow reverse it, we may be
able to get rid of the Malikudda."
Scully sighed. "Mulder, I agree with you."
Mulder put on a look of total shock and surprise. "You do?"
"It all makes sense. If the man put an electronic device on the
bottom of the ocean, particularly a subatomic accelerator instrument, it
would completely explain the attacks on people..."
Mulder's face dropped. "You don't believe me."
"No, I think that the atom smasher device that the man dropped is
sending out some sort of strange electronic signal that is altering the
behavior of the local marine life. The electronic signal is attracting
sharks and causing them to attack people instead of feeding on their
normal diet of fish."
"But that doesn't explain Margaret's drawing. Or the satellite
photos. Or the teeth marks on Sarge's surfboard. I've never heard of a
shark with teeth eight inches long and two inches wide."
"All those can be explained easily," Scully counterattacked. "But
either way you look at it, it's still vital that we retrieve that atom
smasher device. Once we get it and examine it, we'll finally be able to
solve this case, and that'll be the end of this Malikudda. We'll make
arrangements tonight at the hotel; get some men and equipment for
scuba-diving."
Mulder sighed in exasperation. Scully had killed their
conversation; there was nothing more for him to say. Scully could tell
that Mulder was upset and annoyed. No one believed him.
"Come on, I want to talk to Dr. Norheiff myself before they lock
him up. Then we can make arrangements with the coast guard and other
people..."
------------------------------------
4:16 P.M.
Saturday, December 1st, 1998
Zuma beach, Malibu
The sun peeked through the clouds, unsure if it should make
itself known to the world as the days rolled into the month of December.
Despite this fact, the beach was still crowded, and the sand still
stinging hot. The waves became more fierce and frequent as high tide
approached.
There were mostly Malibu frequents, teens and young adults that
lay on a towel or in the sand on the backs, hoping to burn their skin
with enough radiation to darken it, but not enough to give them cancer.
Then there were the large groups of families, the adults far outnumbered
by the noisy kids that dug holes in the sand, chased sea gulls and
splashed happily in the surf. There were the loners who sat in beach
chairs reading romance novels, the surfers and boggie-boarders, and the
occasional lifeguard on the lookout. The only difference was that the
number of Malibu frequents had decreased; they were still weary of the
water after hearing reports of the deadly Malikudda. But other than that,
Zuma beach was still in full swing.
Jeffery Quinn did not notice the crowds on the beach, or the sun
attempting to find a hole in the blanket of clouds. He concentrated only
on watching the waves, studying each ripple to see if it could be a good
one. Jeffery had taken up bodyboarding about a month ago, and he loved
it. No waxing boards, no getting snagged on rocks, all you needed was
your own body and a wave.
All he needed now was the wave. But all of the big waves were
breaking too close to shore, and he was too far out to get anything but
ripples. The Pacific ocean felt cold and clammy against his skin that
wasn't covered by his wetsuit. He decided to give it up for the day; the
waves just weren't working out. Perhaps tomorrow, after the lecture he
had to attend at Pepperdine...
Something suddenly brushed against his leg.
Jeffery felt it only for a second. Something large, possibly even
scaly. He could feel it moving through the water around him. A shark? Or
just a piece of drifting kelp that had gotten tangled around his leg?
Jeffery wasn't going to stick around to find out. He moved his arms in
powerful strokes in the direction of the beach, now ready to head back
in.
The thing touched his leg again. Only this time it was a harder
grip, as if someone had grabbed him from below. An incredibly strong
force tugged him under the water, giving him no time to scream for help.
Jeffery fought madly against the thing that ensnared his
leg...but what was it? He could barely make out the shape of it's head,
covered over in scales and webbed-like spikes down its back and face. And
two dark, unblinking eyes staring back at him through the darkness...eyes
watching him intently, hungrily.
And then it happened. But it happened so fast that he couldn't
believe it. The jaws of the creature snapped once over his right arm,
then let go. Jeffery screamed in panic and kicked towards the surface,
scales and bubbles and blood surrounding him.
His head broke the surface just as he ran out of air. He glanced
to him right and screamed again.
His arm was gone.
Where one of his limbs should have been was now a ripped, bloody
stump. The thing had bitten off his arm completely. He was swimming in an
ocean tinged red with his own blood. The thing was nowhere in sight.
"Help! Somebody help me!!"
The water was near freezing, but he felt very little of it. The
wetsuit insulated most of his body from the temperature of the liquid and
kept him warm. Despite this, he still felt a shiver run down his back as
he descended down, down. The sound of his breathing echoed in his chest
at a rhythmic pace, ticking away seconds of his time left in the air
tanks. The utility belt and air tanks clunked and scraped against each
other. He wondered how much further it was until the bottom...
His thoughts were interrupted by a rush of parting water and a
bump against one side.
His head darted left, right, searching for the thing that had
just touched him. There was nothing but the dark, impenetrable salt
water. The echoes in his chest grew more quickly-paced. There was
something else down here...
The bump came again, harder this time. He shined his flashlight
in the direction that the feeling had come from.
The beam of the flashlight quivered in his hand as the thing came
at him once more. An enormous, reptile-like head, long body, fearsome
eyes and hundreds of teeth were looking back at him. And they were coming
at him fast. The jaws were opened wide, and they were ready to spring
like a steel trap.
The echoing in his chest became a thundering of frantic beating.
His arms and legs and body went numb with terror and panic. He forced
himself to dodge just as the monster rushed by him, tearing past in a
rush of bubbles. But it turned back to him again, jaws open once more,
this time determined not to miss. He didn't know what to do, how to do
it. He knew only that he was about to be killed, that it was about to all
end, and it completely paralyzed him. His instincts kicked into gear just
as the thing was inches from his face...and it was too late.
The eight-inch teeth easily tore away the two wetsuits, one made
of steel and the other made of rubber. He screamed as a horrific pain
shot through his entire body. Snaps, crunches, ripping and tearing of his
own flesh and bone and muscle reached his near-deaf ears. The monster
gnashed its teeth on him, cutting off all feeling of any of his body
parts. Blood stained the salt water and filled his darkening vision. He
screamed again as more flesh was torn from his body. The thing chewed on
him once more to make sure he was completely dead, then threw back its
long neck to swallow...
Mulder awoke to complete darkness. The breathing in his chest
sounded piercingly loud, or perhaps it was just from his horrified
gasping for breath. His eyes slowly became adjusted to the darkness.
There was the TV, the two chairs and table, and the moonlight filtering
through the hotel bedroom window. Scully's bed was to his left. Scully
mumbled something in her sleep and turned over, rustling the covers.
Cold sweat trickled from Mulder's dark hair and down his back. He
wiped the sweat from his forehead tiredly, wearily. He looked over at the
digital clock on the desk between the beds: 2:01 A.M. he groaned under
his breath and laid his head back on the pillow. His breathing was slower
now, more relaxed. Just a dream. Now he had to work on getting back to
sleep, and that wasn't going to be easy.
Mulder allowed darkness to fill his vision once more. He needed
to get to sleep. His eyelids closed in what he hoped was genuine sleep.
He had gotten over his scare; it had only been a dream.
But Mulder knew that, more often than not, what he dreamed
earlier became reality later...
9:57 A.M.
Sunday, December 2nd, 1998
Malibu Inn
Scully stared out the hotel window at the rain gloomily. She was
sick of rain. All she ever saw back in D.C. was that stupid rain. The one
time she and Mulder come to California, and it rains! It was more than
just ironic to her, it was downright ridiculous.
She glanced at her watch, then at Mulder, who was looking at the
paper. "We have to be at the dock at 11:00. Are you ready to go?"
Mulder glanced up from the paper worriedly. "Yeah, I'm ready. You
ready?"
"What are you so nervous about?"
Mulder sighed. "Why do *we* have to be the ones to dive down and
find that atom smasher device? Don't they have any more experienced scuba
divers? Why us?!"
"I don't know, but it's not really our decision. I think it has
to do with these special suits we need for diving. It won't be that hard,
just go down, find the object and bring it back up. These people know
what they're doing; they'll make sure we're safe."
Mulder didn't answer her. He was looking at the paper again.
"What now?"
He held up the headline for her to see: "MALIKUDDA STRIKES AGAIN:
THREE VICTIMS IN ONE DAY".
"Mulder..."
"*Three* people, Scully," Mulder interrupted. "One person,
Jeffery Quinn, had his right arm bitten off. He was screaming about a
monster when the authorities talked to him. The other two people, Sarah
King and Griffin Black, were reported missing, and they haven't been
heard from yet. So diving down in the middle of monster-infested waters
makes me uncomfortable, that's all."
"Mulder, we've been over this. There's no sea monster. It'll be
fine. Come on, let's go, they're waiting on us.
11:21 A.M.
Sunday, December 2nd, 1998
dock at Zuma beach
The rain had let up, or at least it had for now. Mulder and
Scully walked along the dock's wooden planks until reaching their
destination: a large scientific research boat named 'The Stingray'. The
agents recognized some of the coast guard men and some of the policemen.
But mostly it was people who worked at H.R.I. and experienced divers that
would tell them what to do.
But it was four other people that caught Mulder and Scully's
attention the most: Jake, Antonio, Darthman and Rachel were there as
well, talking among themselves. The two agents looked at each other, both
with I-should've-seen-this-coming looks on their faces. Mulder pushed his
way through H.R.I. researchers until he reached the odd foursome.
"What are *you* doing here?" he asked suspiciously.
Jake answered him. "We're here to watch you die, man."
Mulder sniffed at him with slight disdain. "I guess that's a good
reason..."
"Actually, sir," Rachel corrected, "we came to see if maybe we
could help. We're the ones who know what *really* happened, after all.
We'll be able to tell when the Malikudda is coming."
"And *he's* just following us around," Antonio pointed at
Darthman.
Scully caught up with Mulder. "They're going to cast off soon. We
need to get aboard."
"Alright, let's go," Mulder motioned to the three teens and the
lifeguard. They followed him across the dock and up the gangplank to the
ship.
'The Stingray' was a well-equipped research ship. The vessel was
coated with a coat of fine white paint that had not yet faded. Telescopes
and large winces with cranks loaded down with wire to lower people into
the water lined the deck. A newly-furnished captain's quarters stood at
the prow of the ship, and there were several tracking and research
stations below deck. Jake, Antonio, Rachel and Darthman went below deck
to find a place to sit until they cast off. Mulder and Scully met up with
a young woman in a wetsuit that was to be their instructor.
"Agents Mulder and Scully," she extended an open hand. "Katherine
Rayman; you can call me Kat. I've heard the entire story from the coast
guard and the people at H.R.I, I know what's going on. I'll be providing
you with the equipment you need when you dive and giving you instructions
on what to do."
Scully studied the young woman in her early twenties. She had
sandy-blond hair, a fair complexion and nicely-tanned skin. Scully
decided that she liked her, even though she usually didn't agree with
good-looking women and Mulder being in the same area.
Kat motioned for the two agents to follow her. "Come on, we'll be
casting off in five minutes. I'll show you around the ship."
The remainder of the H.R.I. scientists and the ship's crew
finished boarding the ship. The H.R.I. people consisted mostly of marine
biologist and zoologists, as well as a few subatomic-technology
specialists. As soon as Scully had explained to the police what they had
learned of Dr. Norheiff's experiment and the necessity of finding his
invention, the H.R.I. scientists had immediately agreed to the idea and
had set up the expedition. The only trick was, Mulder and Scully were the
ones voted to dive 100 feet down into the Pacific and retrieve the
object.
A whistle sounded on the prow, and the gangplank was raised. A
few sailors on the dock helped untie the ropes that held the research
ship. The clouds massed and the waves slapped against the hull as 'The
Stingray' chugged out to sea.
Mulder stood on the prow of the ship while Scully talked with
Kat. The ocean was a deep indigo blue with a slight green tinge. The
water churned and frothed from blue to white in the wake of the big ship.
Mulder stared down at the sea thoughtfully, wondering what sort of
creature could be watching him through the blanket of opaque liquid
beneath him...
After a while, he sighed and turned away from the water. There
was no use worrying about it now; they had a job to do. The ship plowed
through the water at a moderate pace. Dolphins raced the ship for the
first few minutes, then swam away. Sunlight filtered through the passing
clouds at intervals, giving the atmosphere a strange, lukewarm feeling. A
full 30 minutes passed with no sign of them stopping.
Mulder had gone back to look over the prow again when the ship
suddenly ground to a halt. There were no waves this far out; the water
was perfectly calm. Scully walked up and tapped him on the shoulder.
"We're there. The H.R.I. scientists have determined that this is the
place where we should find Dr. Norheiff's invention. Come on, let's go
get ready."
Scully led Mulder to the center of the ship where Kat, Jake,
Antonio, Rachel and Darthman and all of the scientists were gathered. Kat
had out two set of diving clothing and equipment. She was shaking her
head and groaning with frustration.
"What is it?" Mulder asked when he came up to her.
"We have a problem with one of the diving suits...yours, in
fact."
Mulder raised his eyebrows. "Huh?"
"There's a large hole in your steelsuit, down the side of it.
It's your most protective piece of equipment, and it's vital that you
have it."
"Well...isn't there something we can do? Patch up the hole? Put
on another wetsuit over it?" Mulder stuttered, looking back at Scully
worriedly.
"The hole would take months to repair. We only have two available
steelsuits; they are very expensive, thousands of dollars each. But I'm
not about to send a person down in these waters without a steelsuit,
especially with all these frequent shark attacks I've been hearing about.
I'm sorry, Agent Mulder, but you can't go down there without a steelsuit
in good condition."
Mulder and Scully stared at each other. They both knew what this
meant... Scully would have to go down and find the object by herself.
Scully seemed to read his thoughts. "I'll be fine, Mulder," she
assured him. "I won't get hurt."
"Scully, I...I can't let you go down there by yourself. You could
run into the..."
"I'll be fine," she repeated. "Really."
"Agent Mulder, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll put you on the
other end of the radio communications system. There's a radio between the
diver and the people on the surface. Agent Scully, come with me, I'll get
you suited up..."
Mulder watched Scully follow Kat below deck. He didn't know
whether to be relieved or even more anxious. He could only hope that
Scully would be alright without him there...
Scully stepped out of the first dressing room. The wetsuit felt tight and
undersized about her body, although she had been told this was the
smallest size the suits cam in. She met Mulder and Kat ouside, where they
had the rest of her diving outfit.
"Hey, looking good," Mulder winked at her. Scully sighed. She
never had enjoyed walking around in swimwear. Of course, she had never
had to until now. Kat held up her final layer of clothing.
"What *is* that thing?"
"It's your steelsuit. I'll help you put it on."
Scully stared at the suit. It looked like a modern version of a
suit of armor. The suit was made entirely of closely-linked chains of
stainless stell. It looked *extremely* uncomfortable.
"This will protect you from any marine predators, particularly
sharks. This stuff is stainless steel; almost nothing can bite through
it."
Kat helped Scully fit the steelsuit around her body. It fit
rather snugly, and Scully felt like she had just gained ten pounds. Then
she fit the steel gloves on her hands and buckled a large utility belt
around her waist.
"I'm going to explain the items on the belt to you," Kat said.
"This large scabbard on your left holds your hunting knife. The blade is
six inches long. If anything attacks you , use this to defend yourself.
And this thing on the back is your shock-stick," she showed Scully what
looked like a policeman's club.
"This little switch right here indicates how much electricity
you're using. Your highest level is 5000 volts. Switch this on and hit
something with it, and the creature you strike will instantly get a shock
of electricity. This you also use to defend yourself.
The hook on the front attaches you to the lifeline, which I'll
explain later. There's also hooks on the back to attach the air tanks.
The rest of the belt is lined with ballast weights. If you're surfacing
in a hurry, you unhook some of these ballast weights and you'll rise
faster."
Scully felt herself gain another 20 pounds as two large air tanks
were positioned on her back. Finally, Kat strapped a large snorkel mask
to her head and connected the breathing tube to the air tanks. She felt a
rush of pure oxygen enter her lungs as she breathed in.
"Can you breathe alright?"
"Yeah," Scully said through the mouthpiece.
"There's a radio built into the mouthpiece. The transmission
should be pretty clear all the way down.
Mulder looked her up and down, observing the cumbersome air tanks
and strange-looking mask. "I guess this give a whole new meaning to the
phrase 'buns of steel'..."
"Mulder..."
Scully finished putting on a pair of large, rubber flippers and
tramped awkwardly out on deck, Mulder and Kat right behind her. Jake,
Antonio, Rachel, Darthman and a few of the ships crew were up on deck,
preparing for Scully's solo descent.
"Here," Darthman handed Mulder a radio headset. "Your cell phone
for the day."
Scully was presented with a powerful, underwater flashlight to
use when she reached the bottom. At the edge of the ship was a large
winch loaded down with thick wire and a crank. She attached the end of
the wire to her belt with a grappling hook.
"This is your lifeline," Kat explained. "If anything should
happen to you, call and we'll pull you back up. However, there's only
enough wire to last about 3/4s of the way down. When the lifeline runs
out, just detach it and sink the rest of the way down."
"Wait a minute," Mulder held up his hands. "What's with this
stuff? Knives, electric sticks, lifelines? I thought nothing was going to
happen down there! I thought..."
"They're just precautions, Mulder," Scully interrupted.
"Nothing's going to happen to me." She walked to the edge of the ship.
"Ready?"
"I'm ready."
"Can you hear me?" Mulder spoke into the headset.
"I hear you fine."
"Alright....go!"
Scully dropped off the ship and into the indigo water with a loud
splash.
The shock of the cold liquid against her skin made her start,
even through the layers of steel and rubber. Bubbles swirled around her
head as the surface closed over her, sealing her in salty liquid. She
suspended herself there for a minute, her body trying to decide whether
to obey gravity or water density. Finally, though, she began to sink. She
glanced above her and watched Mulder's face blur and then disappear
behind the inky darkness. She was alone.
Mulder watched the winch unravel Scully's lifeline as she
descended into the depths. Mulder swallowed hard. "Scully, can you read
me?" he said into the headset.
"Yeah, I'm doing fine. Kind of hard to see; it's very dark."
Scully kicked towards the unseen ocean floor. She shined her
flashlight down, but it only illuminated about five feet below her. The
water was cold and empty; there were no fish in sight. Her breathing
echoed into her chest and out into the air ranks, creating what seemed
like a deafening sound. Her heart was pounding furiously.
'What are you so worried about? There's nothing to be afraid of,'
she told herself. And it was true, there was nothing but water all around
her.
She continued to descend, kicking sometimes, but mostly just
letting the ballast weights drag her down. Mulder talked to her via the
radio and helped unwind the lifeline. She had used up ten minutes of her
30-minute air time and was still going at a steady pace.
"Anything yet?"
"No, but I feel like the water's gotten a bit warmer. I still
can't see the bottom."
"Keep going, you're about halfway down."
BUMP.
Scully started. Her air tanks clunked against her steelsuit
unsteadily. She glanced to the left, right, top and bottom. She didn't
see anything.
"Scully, what is it?"
"Something just brushed against me."
Mulder became worried. "What is it?"
"I don't see anything. I think it was just a piece of dead kelp,
or..."
KA-BUMP.
She felt the thing again, only harder this time. Now she became
worried. She had heard that sharks usually bumped, or tested their
victims right before they attacked. She turned around fast, and caught a
glimpse of an enormous tail flipping by in a rush of bubbles.
"Mulder...I'm not alone."
Mulder gripped the boat rail and stared down into the calm blue
water. The lifeline continued to be let out as his partner sank down.
"Scully, can you see it? What's happening?!"
"Mulder, I-" she stopped. Something very *large* was coming
towards her from below. She couldn't quite make out the thing, but if it
*was* a shark, it was extremely big and strangely shaped. She shined her
flashlight down.
"Mulder!!"
"Scully, what?!"
"I see it!"
"*What*?!!"
The thing was...*humongous*! The head was shaped like a dragon's
or a crocodile's, with webbed spikes and huge ears extending from its
face. The body was long and serpentine, with more webbed spikes and a
shark's fin down its back. Black and blue scales sparkled in the
flashlight's eerie glow. It swam by pushing forward with its powerful
tail and front claws.
Those cold, reptilian eyes fixated on her; it's defenseless prey.
The jaws separated, revealing teeth that she had seen only once before;
on the computer at H.R.I. Bubbles swirled upwards towards the surface and
her. It was hunting her.
"Mulder, I-*KHHHHT*-mething coming, it's-*KRXXXXXYT*-kudda!
Tracking sys-*KKKHT*-going to-*KZZZZZZT*-use knife."
"Scully! Scully, can you read me?" Mulder cried, listening hard
into the headset. "You're breaking up! What's going on?!"
The lifeline continued to unravel. "Be ready to pull her up the
minute I tell you!" Mulder shouted to Jake, Antonio and Darthman,
motioning to the winch and crank. "Scully, do you read me?"
Scully was thrown backwards as the Malikudda charged at her,
missing her by mere inches. It stopped just above her and snarled with
anger, then started down again. Scully unsheathed the hunting knife and
stood ready. Her heart pounded furiously in her chest. She couldn't
believe what she was seeing...but she couldn't think about it now.
Whatever this thing was, it meant to kill her.
The Malikudda charged again. It opened its jaws wide and snapped
them closed just as Scully dodged. Now the monster's head was below her;
dark, unblinking eyes staring up at her hungrily. She brought the hunting
knife down between the monster's eyes with a mighty thrust.
SNAP.
The blade broke clean in two. The monster's scales were so tough
that even her huge knife couldn't pierce them. Scully grew more frantic
at this realization. She tossed the hunting knife aside and reached for
her shock-stick in the back, but it was caught in the air tank tube.
"Mulder, I need-*KKKHHHT*-rying to ge-*KHHHHHHT*-need help!"
Mulder tried to listen, but static kept interfering with Scully's
words. Something was attacking her down there, but he had no way of knowing
what.
The monster prepared to charge at Scully one more time. She was
completely paralyzed with fear; she knew only that this undersea predator
was going to eat her alive and there was no way she could escape.
"Scully, answer me!"
It was ten feet away.
"Scully!!!"
Five feet.
She forced herself to think, to awake herself from her trance.
She had to get out of here; she had to fight back! She kicked to one side
to dodge again, still struggling to free the shock-stick.
She didn't move fast enough.
The Malikudda was upon her in a flash. The enormous teeth and
watchful eyes filled her vision from within the mask entirely. The jaws
opened wide... and closed over her left leg.
SNAP!
The unbelievably painful shock traveled from the nerves in her
leg to her brain. She felt the steel scrape against her leg, the
scratching of flesh, the tearing of tendons and the cracking of bone as
muscles, ligaments, bone and tissue were twisted and squeezed against
their will within the monster's teeth. Scully screamed in agonized pain
and terror.
Mulder heard the quick snap, like old bamboo cracking, and
Scully's scream. He heard the scuffling and roaring from the fight,
muffled beneath the surface of the water. His expression had changed from
worry to fear to downright panic. "Scully, talk to me! Please!!"
"Mulder! It's-*KKHHHHT*-broken, trapped-*KHT*-can't
ge-*KXXXXXXXYT*-gonna eat-*KKKRTT*-I nee-*KKKKKKKXT*-pull m-*KYYT*-up,
now!-*KRRRRRRRKT*-up! No! Mul-*KRT*-help me!!!"
KZZZZZZZZZZZZZYYYYYYYYYYYYING!!!
The winch suddenly began to unwind at a record pace; something
was pulling Scully down. the wire made a squealing sound as it emptied
into the water. Mulder watched it go for two seconds, his face a mask of
total fear as he realized what was happening...
"Scully, no!!" he roared into the headset. He leaped at the crank
just as the winch ran out of wire. The winch made a groaning noise as
something large continued to pull on the other end. He snatched the crank
and turned it with all his might, crying out at his inability to rewind
the wire. "Help me!"
The Malikudda dived, taking Scully along with it. Her leg was
still trapped within the jaws of the sea monster; it was attempting to
drown her. She stared at the thing's gargantuan head with absolute terror
and kicked her leg. The jaws remained locked; she couldn't escape. She
kept trying to free the shock-stick from the air tank tube and talk to
Mulder, but the transmission was going bad and she heard only static.
She had to escape. Scully pounded with her fists on the
creature's snout wildly. It didn't even blink at her. It just continued
to dive even deeper, pulling Scully further away from the surface and
Mulder and any hope of surviving.
But then, the wire that attached her to the boat suddenly went
taunt, causing her to snap backwards at a crazy angle and lose all
balance. The Malikudda stopped as it realized it's prey was still
attached to something above. It lashed about furiously in the water,
trying to drag Scully even deeper. She could feel the horrible pain in
her leg that was trapped inside the monster's mouth.
On deck, Mulder, Jake, Antonio and Darthman were pulling on the
crank with all their strength. They had only rewound the wire two times.
Mulder was utterly shocked at the strength this thing had. Sweat trickled
down his forehead and back and the muscles in his arm strained from the
work.
"Scully, answer me!" he shouted again. Nothing but static. The
wire strained against the two forces. Mulder and the Malikudda were in a
tug-o-war, and Scully was the rope. But Mulder wasn't about to let this
monster have her...
SKA-TWANGG!!!
All four were thrown to the deck on their backs in a unanimous
'thud'. The crank and winch made an agonizing scream as the wire rewound
itself at a rapid pace, the crank spinning backwards wildly, as if
someone had let go of the other end. Mulder rightened himself as the
lifeline came spinning up to the surface...
The end of the wire flew up out of the water and landed on the
deck next to Mulder. The other half of the wire, the grappling hook and
Scully were no longer attached to it. Mulder stared at the bitten-off
wire, his heart pounding with ultimate fear and realization...
"Scully!!" he screamed into the headset. "Scully, answer me!!
Answer me!!!"
There was static. Then Scully screamed in pain and terror again.
There was a sickening sound of crunching and tearing. And then there was
silence. No static, no sound. A bead of sweat trickled down Mulder's
forehead. The radio was dead.
"Scully!!!"
Complete silence.
The wire that had been pulled taunt went slack. Scully cried out
and grasped desperately for the lifeline, but it was quickly pulled up to
the surface by something else. The monster continued to dive.
"Mulder, help me!"
But there was no sound; the radio had gone dead. Her leg, which
had been stuck between two teeth, had begun to slip. In response, the
monster had bit down on it again, causing even more bone to crack. She
could only hope that the steel chains had held up and that her leg had
not been impaled on one of those railroad spikes.
She looked back up as the wire disappeared from view. Her one
chance of escape was gone.
But she wasn't about to let this thing eat her, not for a million
years. She tugged at the handle of the shock-stick...and yanked it free!
The Malikudda took no notice of her actions; it just continued to dive.
Scully switched the stick to 500 volts and brought it down on her
attacker's head.
K-THWUMP!
The thing didn't even so much as blink.
She switched it to 1000 volts and tried again, striking it twice
across the face with two loud K-THWUMPS. This time, the creature blinked
and growled in annoyance. She *had* to get it to let go of her.
2000 volts. K-THWUMP. She could feel electricity coursing through
the weapon, and the monster inwardly flinching, as if being scraped by a
thorn. The pressure was increasing greatly; she could feel her limbs
getting weaker and weaker. How much air time did she have left? Ten
minutes? Five minutes? Whatever it was, it wasn't much, and Mulder
couldn't help her now.
But that certainly wasn't going to stop him from trying. He tore
the headset from his face in panic and leaned over the edge of the rail.
"Scully! Scully!!"
The water remained calm and quiet. Mulder stared desperately at
the surface and gazed into his own frightened reflection. It was all his
fault. He shouldn't have let Scully go down there alone. He shouldn't
have even brought her here in the first place, shouldn't have dragged her
on this mission to prove the Malikudda was real. He felt downright
pathetic, like he had tried to catch a legend monster fish...and used
Scully as bait.
"Scully!!!"
No answer.
Jake stood up and looked at Mulder staring over the boat rail at
the empty water. "Hey, so she's dead, man. Get over it."
"Shut up!" Mulder whirled around and landed his fist straight in
Jake's left eye. The surfer was thrown head-over-heels onto the deck with
a black eye. "Just shut up!!"
Antonio came to his friend's aid, who was busy protecting his
swollen eye and thinking up as many cuss words as there were in his
vocabulary and hurling them at Mulder. "Hey, we warned you!" Antonio
sneered. "We told you if she went down there she ain't comin' back up.
It's not our fault she got gulped down by that-"
"I said *SHUT UP*!!!" Mulder, in a terrible fury, grabbed Antonio
by the collar and threw him to the deck. Both teens struck up a chorus of
insults and cuss words at the agent.
"We've lost all contact with her," Kat announced, coming up on
deck. "What happened?"
"Agent Mulder...I'm sorry..." Rachel said with a grieved look on
her face. "I know how you feel..."
"No!" Mulder shouted in anguish, his eyes brimming with tears.
"I'm gonna find her, she's not dead!!" he ripped off his coat, kicked
away his shoes and started for the boat rail.
"Agent Mulder, no!!" Kat, Rachel and Darthman seized Mulder by
the arms and dragged him back. "There's nothing you can do. Even if she
did escape, she's over 75 feet down and she only had eight minutes left.
You can't save her."
Mulder unwillingly allowed himself to be dragged away from the
rail. He didn't care about what the others said; about the facts. He knew
only that somewhere down there, Scully could be dying within the gnashing
jaws of a hungry monster and crying for help he could not give.
The Malikudda had become very frustrated. The small creature it
had caught was fighting back with a vengeance. It had eaten such
creatures before; small, weak, easy to kill and rather appetizing. But
this one had dodged its first charges, even attempted to wound it with
something. It had become even more confused when it couldn't bite through
the creature's tough skin and when it had to slice through something
holding its prey to the surface.
The creature had, of course, reacted wildly when it seized its
leg, that was typical. The Malikudda was hoping to drown this thing
quickly, it didn't want it squirming around inside later. But even after
dragging it down way past its limit it hadn't quit thrashing. And now it
was counterattacking, striking the Malikudda over the head multiple times
with a stick that stung harshly.
Scully was busy living up to the monster's angry reputation of
her. She had switched the shock-stick to 4000 volts and was pounding
desperately on the thing's snout. The Malikudda growled, flinched and
twitched with pain, but it still didn't let go. Scully was in a reckless
frenzy. She switched the stick to 5000 volts, its highest level of power,
and snapped it across her attacker's eyes.
The monster had had quite enough; this was too much. The jaws
separated and parted their full length to let loose a roar...and released
Scully's broken leg. If it couldn't charge her, couldn't injure her and
couldn't drown her, it was going to swallow her whole.
Scully was unable to escape the sudden flow of water rushing into
the monster's gaping mouth, and she was swept inside the jaws. She would
have been instantly devoured if she hadn't quickly grabbed onto the
monster's snout. She was filled with a petrifying, overwhelming sense of
horror and panic as she stared at hundreds of eight-inch, serrated teeth
and a black hole for a throat that led to what could be her final resting
place. The ghastly reek of digesting flesh made her nauseated. The
monster, once more in possession of its prey, began to close its jaws
over her again.
She had to think fast, and she had to act fast.
She did both.
Scully seized the shock-stick in her hand and shoved it down the
monster's gullet with a quick thrust. Then she dived backwards and
outwards, giving the Malikudda a sharp kick in the upper jaw with her
fin. She swam clear of the giant mouth as it snapped shut. She was free!
Scully wasted no time. She swam insanely for the surface, using
both arms and kicking her one good leg. She unhooked the ballast weights
one by one instantly, regardless of the fact that the sudden pressure
change could rupture her lungs. She knew only that the surface was above
her and that she needed to reach it!
The Malikudda choked back on the shock-stick for a minute, but
finally swallowed it. It glanced up at its escaping meal and roared with
enraged fury. It started up after her, and this time, it wasn't going to
waste time trying to drown her first. Scully knew that she would be
unable to outswim that enormous creature, especially with a broken leg,
but she didn't care. She had to escape, that was all there was to it!
And suddenly, she felt her breath stop in her throat. She sucked
at the mouthpiece, but her lungs were empty. She had run out of air! She
tore the mouthpiece from her lips and ripped off the air tanks, knowing
they would only weigh her down now.
Below her, the Malikudda was growing ever closer. The enormous
tail and front claws were easily overtaking Scully's weak limbs. Why
hadn't it been shocked yet? Scully was too terrified to look behind her
and notice the monster was only five feet away, ready to devour her in
one bite. She still couldn't see the surface, and she felt like her lungs
would burst any minute.
And suddenly, the monster stopped. It gagged, choked and thrashed
wildly in the water at some unseen enemy. It roared at Scully once more
and began to sink back downward slowly, still thrashing. The shock-stick
was zapping the monster from inside itself, and it howled in pain and
anger as it tried to regurgitate the weapon. Scully continued to surface.
Mulder had his head against the boat rail; his limbs had all gone limp.
It had been over 30 minutes since Scully had dived down, and over 20
since she had been attacked and broken off from all radio communication.
Mulder's eyes were moist and blurry. He felt a terrible pain in his
chest, as if his heart had just cracked in two.
They were going to leave without her. Kat had convinced Mulder
that Scully had been under too long for her to have survived, there was
nothing they could do, they would have to go back to shore for more
extensive equipment to search for the object and Scully's body.
The rain had started again. The dark clouds massed and swirled
and dripped their contents down onto the boat. The rain slapped,
splattered and splashed against the wooden deck, breaking the eerie
silence. Mulder was alone with his thoughts and the rain. Unwilling to
believe that Scully was dead, unable to accept that the dream he had had
last night had become reality; that what should have been his body being
crushed and mutilated and shredded had become Scully's fate.
A single bubble broke the surface of the still water.
Mulder ignored the rain drenching him and the rumble under his
feet from the ship's engine starting. He couldn't think, couldn't react,
all he could do was stare down into that vast, empty expanse of water
and-
Another bubble. Then another.
He watched the water carefully. More and more bubbles appeared.
Something was rapidly approaching the surface. His body tensed with
inexplicable fear; perhaps that monster was coming back for a second
helping. He gripped the boat rail tightly and narrowed his eyes. It was
coming closer...
Scully's head burst through the water in a spray of foam. She
spat and choked and sucked in air eagerly, all while clawing desperately
for the boat's edge. Her vision was blurred by salty sea water and her
entire body was numb, but she knew only that she could breathe again, and
she filled her lungs with precious oxygen.
Mulder stared at the splashing figure for a moment. His entire
mind had gone blank; he felt like he was watching a flying fish jump out
of the water. Then his senses returned to him.
"Scully! Scully!!"
Scully grabbed at the rope that was thrown over the rail to her.
She heard Mulder calling her name, and she swam desperately towards his
voice.
Kat rounded the corner of the ship and saw Mulder leaning over
the side. "Agent Mulder, we're casting off now. I'm terribly sorry about
Agent Scully, but there was nothing you could do..."
Mulder turned to face her...holding Scully in his arms.
"Oh my g...Agent Scully!!"
Mulder lay Scully down on the deck. She was shivering horribly,
almost convulsing, from shock and cold and relief. She gazed up at Mulder
through weak, salt-filled eyes that could barely stay open, and her hair
hung in loose pieces all across her face. Mulder looked back down at her,
his eyes filled with wonder. For a moment, he didn't know what to say. So
he said the first thing that came to his mind:
"Wimp."
Scully raised a fist wearily. "Mulder, *never* provoke anyone
wearing a steel glove!!"
Kat stared at the two for a moment, then started shouting orders
to no one in particular. "Stop the engines! We found Agent Scully. We
need medical assistance over here. Stop the boat and get over here, now!"
People began to rush out from their stations on the boat; Jake,
Antonio, Darthman and Rachel first of all. Mulder drew in Scully, who was
trying to quit convulsing, and cradled her head in his arms. Now they
were *both* trying to recover from shock.
"Scully, I...what happened down there? I heard you scream and
this crunching and roaring, then the lifeline broke and the radio went
dead...I thought you were...Scully, can you talk? What happened?"
Scully gasped and coughed again. "I...it attacked me...bit my
leg, I think it's broken...it was dragging me down...the wire snapped,
and I couldn't escape...I fought back with the shock-stick...almost
got...it broke my knife, swallowed my shock-stick...I almost got..." she
broke into more shivering and coughing.
"It's okay, Scully," Mulder held her close. "It's gone now."
Antonio stared down at her, eyes wide with surprise. "Hey, how
come you're still alive?"
Mulder and Scully looked at Antonio with murder in their eyes.
Rachel gave Antonio an angry glare and dragged him away.
"Can you stand?" Mulder asked Scully. She tried, but she toppled
down again, crying out with pain.
"My leg hurts..."
"Get that steelsuit off her," Kat ordered. Mulder and Darthman
tore the chain-link suit from Scully's body, revealing the original black
wetsuit beneath it. Kat rolled up the suit on the left leg, exposing bare
skin.
Mulder felt along her leg until he reached a point where a large
lump appeared and her leg was twisted. Scully winced in pain. "It's
broken, Scully. Probably in more than one place. You twisted it so badly,
I think you tore a ligament or something, too. What happened down there?"
Scully stared at the lump on her leg indicating the bone that had
been snapped and twisted out of place. She winced again. "It was coming
at me, and I dodged, but I don't think I moved quick enough. It bit down
on my leg hard and I heard it snap.
"You're not bleeding. You weren't impaled."
"I think it got stuck in the gap between two teeth. It *hurts*.
It was pulling me down, I couldn't get free...Mulder, I was so terrified,
I thought I'd never see you again..."
"Can you describe it?" Mulder asked. "Did you see it? Do you know
what it looks like?"
"It was absolutely enormous; it had a long body and head like a
lizard. There were spikes, scales, I think, front and back claws. The
head was almost eight feet long, the teeth were huge, almost eight inches
long..." Scully stopped, finally realizing exactly what she was saying.
Mulder smiled. "You still don't believe in sea monsters?"
"Oh, shut up. I'm fine, really..."
"Scully, you were nearly eaten alive! You're still in shock. You
need to get to a hospital..."
"I'm cold, and it's raining. I want to go home..."
KA-BRUMP.
Mulder landed on the deck next to Scully as the ship rocked back
and forth from impact. There was a loud groaning and creaking. The waves
slapped up angrily against the hull.
"What was that?!"
KA-BROOM."
The ship shook again. Something was striking the vessel from
below... something strong enough to shake the entire research ship. The
rain poured down harder. A deep rumble sounded from the sea below.
"Mulder..."
The roar came again. And then, through the crashing waves
appeared a single shark's fin...
"Mulder...that's what attacked me..." she began to shiver again.
"It's after me!"
A spray of salt water shot up as the shark's fin cut through the
waves towards the boat. It disappeared just as it reached the ship...
KA-BROOM!
The craft lurched over again.
"I thought it had been electrocuted. It swallowed my
shock-stick..."
"It must have spit it back out."
KA-BROOM!
People were scrambling all over the ship, grabbing the boat rail
and each other for support. Shouts from the people and the creaking and
groaning from the boat almost over powered the sound of the rain. Mulder
held onto the rail and Scully held on to Mulder as the ship vibrated
again.
"We've sprung a leak!" Kat cried, repeating what she had heard
below deck. "The hull is cracked!"
Scully was suddenly filled with an overpoweringly paralyzing
sense of terror. She felt like she was responsible for all this; that the
monster was seeking revenge for her escape. That even after she had
fought it off single-handedly, it still wanted to get a piece of her, if
not all of her...
Almost 100 feet below the surface, a small, black rod sank to the
ocean floor and struck a circular, metallic object lying in the sand...
"Mulder, it's after me!" Scully cried in anguish. Mulder pulled
her away from the rail lest they should fall overboard, and tried to calm
her.
"It's okay, Scully, we'll get out of this somehow. We're still on
the boat, I won't let that thing get you again..."
"Mulder!..."
The boat rumbled again.
Then, for a moment, it was deathly still. No roaring, no
splashing and no shouting. Even the rain seemed to be muted by the
silence. Then the clouds pouring their contents above began to swirl in a
definite circular pattern...
The waves slapping against the ship grew louder, creating a
rhythmic thumping sound. The waves whirled in a circle, slowly at first,
then beginning to pick up speed. The rain followed the cloud's motion in
an enormous ring, seeming to form a tornado of water.
People all over the ship were screaming in terror. Mulder was not
one of them. He was still staring at the water. In the very center of the
forming whirlpool, the waves seemed to be *glowing*. The bright blue
light stretched out, further and further, expanding until it went to the
ship. The entire craft was illuminated from beneath in the ocean's eerie
glow, casting shadows where none could have existed at that time of day.
Mulder clutched Scully tightly, who had her eyes squeezed shut.
The ship creaked and groaned, then slooooowly tilted to one side.
A spray of foam and salt water shot up from one side and drenched the
deck. The whirlpool continued to spin....and 'The Stingray' was pulled
into its current. The rain sprayed not downwards, but instead sideways in
all directions, attacking the people aboard the ship like millions of
silver bullets.
An incredible roar sounded from within the whirlpool. Mulder
forced his eyes open against the pummeling rain to look. The Malikudda
was caught within the whirlpool's swirling waves, howling and paddling
uselessly against the current. Salt and water shot up and out from around
its scales, plowing claws and snapping teeth. All Mulder could do was
stare at it and wonder....wonder how Scully could ever have managed to
escape that thing in one piece.
The whirlpool acted like a gigantic magnet, pulling everything
within range towards its deadly core. The vessel was starting to move by
itself, the anchor useless against the pressure of the churning water.
But it was the sea monster that was in the most trouble. It was caught
right in the middle, and despite its incredible strength, was easily
getting sucked down. Mulder could feel an unbelievably powerful force
pulling from within, a monster swallowing a monster, and one that
couldn't be stopped by any force on earth.
The clouds and rain rumbled in time with the roaring of the
whirlpool and its captive. Walls of water collided with the ship one
after another after another until no one could remain standing.
Mulder got one last glimpse of the Malikudda before it was
sucked, howling and clawing, down into the monstrous whirlpool. The scaly
tail thrashed about and then disappeared as the monster returned to
whatever lost realm it had come from. The Malikudda was gone.
The rain tornado collided with the boat forcefully, enlarging
whatever leaks the monster had caused earlier. The whirlpool weakened,
collapsed, its currents thinning and dispersing. More spray and salt flew
in all directions. The research vessel was tossed about in the waves like
a toy boat. Mulder fell to the deck with a 'thud', slammed against a
window, collided with two other people and was flung against the winch,
but still managed to stay conscious. Somewhere in the middle of the
collisions and thuds, Scully was torn from his grasp. He didn't know
where she was now.
The glow of the water had lessened and finally died. The roaring
of the whirlpool was reduced to a low whine and the slapping of the
waves. Finally, even the strong current slowed, and the waves shrank to
ripples. The ship had stopped its spinning and groaning.
And ultimately, all movement stopped. The rain and clouds were
the only things shifting on the ocean. The water was calm once more.
Mulder lay sprawled flat across the deck, his entire body aching with
bruises and cuts. He watched people begin to pick themselves up from
various parts of the ship through half-open eyes. He forced himself to
his feet despite his trembling knees and looked around dazedly.
Scully was flat on her back, her face white with shock and pain,
her left leg twisted out of place even more. She was unconscious. Shouts
and orders from the recovering crew reverberated within the sound of the
pouring rain. Mulder limped over to her and held her in his arms,
promising himself never to let go of her again...
10:13 A.M.
Friday, December 7th, 1998
Zuma beach, California
The waves broke against the distant shore one after the other,
composing a rumbling and booming like a muted drum and dampening the sand
to dark brown. The stretch of brown sand was wider because of the low
tide. The white sand below and the cloudless blue sky above formed a
border for the ocean; stripes of light blue, blue and then white lined
the horizon.
Scully watched the rumbling waves with a sigh, the ocean wind
rustling through her red hair. She wished for all the world that she
could be out there by the beach right now, relaxing in the sun, instead
of having to catch a flight all the way back to wet-and-gloomy D.C. and
even worse, she was now going around on crutches.
Scully may have been a doctor, but that didn't mean she enjoyed
them, either. As it turned out, she had broken her leg in three places,
as well as having torn a ligament. She had been in the hospital for the
past four days, and now that she was finally out, she had to keep her leg
in a cast for a week. She positively *hated* walking around as what
Mulder called "a flamingo that lost one shoe".
Scully turned around as she heard Mulder calling to her. He stood
by a vending machine next to the public bathrooms, a slightly-crumpled
dollar bill in his hand.
"Scully, it won't work," he whined, pounding on the soda machine
in front of him. He inserted the dollar bill again, only to have it
rejected back into his hand. He tried again. Same response. "You don't
think there's another bomb in here, do you?"
Scully sighed and rolled her eyes. Lifting her bandaged leg off
the ground, she limped over to Mulder and the soda machine, her shoulders
supported by two large crutches. Mulder inserted the dollar bill again to
demonstrate the machine's imperfection.
Scully took the dollar bill, flipped it so that it was face up
and stuck it into the machine slot. Then she punched on a Pepsi, and
grabbed up the can when it fell to the bottom of the machine. Mulder
watched her with a scowl as she began to guzzle the soda, smirking.
"Thanks," Mulder growled sarcastically.
"Anytime."
The two walked back to the parking lot of the beach. Their rental
car was parked by the sidewalk, as was Jake and Antonio's rusty pickup
and Darthman's lifeguard truck. The lifeguard was leaning against the
hood when the two agents reached their car.
"Don't even bother going down to the dock. The second research
ship searched for the past three hours; they didn't find a thing."
Darthman sighed.
"Nothing?" Scully asked, eyebrows raised.
"Nothing. No monster, but no little micro-atom-smasher-thingy
either. They used tracking systems, scanners, a gang of half a dozen
divers, the whole bit. They couldn't find a thing. And there haven't been
any sightings or attacks since last Sunday when Agent Scully fought it
off. I think whatever happened at that strange whirlpool solved all of
our problems. I think that Malikudda is gone for good."
Rachel had been sitting in Jake and Antonio's truck, waiting for
the two surfers to return from the food stand on the beach with a
semi-healthy lunch. She got out as Mulder and Scully approached and faced
them.
"Agent Mulder and Agent Scully...I wanted to thank you guys for
everything that you did. You...basically saved our lives."
"But if it weren't for us, your friend would still be..."
"No, not just me. Everyone who lives in Malibu, everyone who
wants to enjoy the beach without fear. And especially you, Agent Scully.
You risked your life and you even got injured to stop that thing."
Scully glanced down at her cast and crutches. "Thank you, but I
was only doing my job."
"No, really, you caught the guy who caused all this and kidnaped
Margaret. He's going to be in prison for life. And you even managed to
get rid of the Malikudda. I think that deserves quite a bit of thanks,"
Rachel smiled. Then she turned and started to run down the beach as the
familiar sounds of Jake and Antonio's arguing drifted in.
Scully looked at Mulder. "That's the first time anyone's ever
thanked us for our efforts. Does this mean that we've finally solved a
case for good?"
"Somehow," Mulder stared out at the vast, sapphire ocean, "I have
a feeling that we haven't..."
Scully sighed. "Come on, you wimp, we've got a flight to catch."
"Wimp yourself."
Mulder got into the driver's seat of the sand-splattered rental
car while Scully limped into the passenger seat, throwing the crutches in
the back as soon as she sat down. The car started up, turned out of the
parking lot and drove down the highway leading to the airport.
For a very long time, neither of the two agents spoke. Scully was
staring out the window at the passing ocean thoughtfully, its silver-blue
hues churning into white foam as constant waves pounded against the sandy
shore. It all seemed so quiet, so stunning...so empty...
Scully's thoughts were interrupted by Mulder's sudden breaking
into fits of snickering. She turned to face him. He was giggling
uncontrollably and shaking his head.
"What's so funny?"
"Oh, I was just thinking...you and your dog Queequeg are so much
alike. You're both small, you both have red hair and big eyes, and you
both got chomped on by aquatic monsters..."
Mulder ducked a blow from Scully's fist. "My leg may be broken,
but my arm is in perfect condition!!"
"Hey, okay, I'm sorry," Mulder smiled, holding up his hand in
defeat.
The silence returned. Both agents appeared to be deep in thought
as the rental car cruised down the highway running parallel to the sea.
Mulder looked over at Scully gazing out the window and sighed. He tried
to imagine what it would be like if Scully wasn't there, if she hadn't
survived...and it sent a shiver down his spine. He had to swallow before
speaking.
"Scully, I..."
"What?" she turned to face him.
"I...just wanted to know that I'm glad you're alright. I don't
know what I would do if you weren't...I mean I know that it's partially
my fault that you...Scully, I would go *nuts* if you ever got...I
mean...never mind."
Scully stared at her partner thoughtfully, wishing she could read
his mind like that Gibson Praise kid and know exactly what he wanted to
say. He was mumbling excuses to himself and tripping over his words. Was
it her fault that he was in so much confusion? Ever since they had seemed
to finally admit that they did...now it had only seemed to make things
worse. But was she finally admitting that she loved him...or had she done
that long ago? Scully didn't understand why he didn't tell her straight
out what he wanted to say...She sighed. No, she wouldn't press it. It
would never work out. If they did, it would never be the same again.
The rental car turned from the highway onto the road through the
hills, leaving the vast expanse of ocean behind.
5:00 P.M.
Sunday, December 9th, 1998
FBI Headquarters, Washington D.C.
Scully arrived sometime after Mulder. She came into Skinner's
office limping unhappily, weighed down by the heavy cast on her leg. She
collapsed into the second chair, leaned the crutches against the wall and
handed a manila folder to Skinner, who was sitting at the desk across
from them.
The warm afternoon sunlight flooded through the window behind
Skinner and gave the room what would have been a pleasant feeling...but
the warmth was overwhelmed by a more repulsive heat. The familiar acrid
odor of cigarette smoke clung to the furnished scent of the Assistant
Director's office. The odor clogged the breath in Scully's chest,
reminding her of her terrible scare in the Pacific when her air tanks ran
out. The Cigarette-smoking Man was leaning against a file cabinet like a
well-trained bloodhound or Doberman, guarding the file cabinet almost
ironically. There was nothing neither Scully nor Mulder nor Skinner would
have liked better than to shove all that filthy smoke back down his
throat and choke him. The Cigarette-smoking Man had gotten them into more
situations, conspiracies, close escapes and near-death experiences than
they really cared to remember. And yet he was always there, blowing on
another light, watching them without saying a word.
But they weren't going to question his presence. They hadn't for
the past five years, anyhow. Skinner placed the manila folder by him on
the desk, giving the agents the obvious sign that he would talk to them
first and go over the details later.
"Agent Mulder, for now, I'd like to hear your version of the
facts first. Did you discover the origin of the attacks and
disappearances?"
Mulder shifted around in his chair before answering. "Yes, sir.
We found that an animal of some sort is behind the attacks, but
ultimately, a human is responsible for it. Dr. Nicholas Norheiff was a
scientist and researcher at Hughes Research Institute until he was fired.
And we thing that afterwards, he continued on with his experiments
privately and either directly or indirectly released or provoked an
animal whose main diet consisted of humans..."
"What sort of animal, Agent Mulder?" Skinner asked.
Mulder swallowed. "I believe it to be a large, carnivorous
creature, a sea serpent or such other related species, who's origin is
not of this time or dimension."
Skinner was not surprised. These were the only kind of
explanations he received from Mulder: paranormal, extra-terrestrial,
psychological or just downright weird. Cancer Man said nothing.
And then there was Scully. Skinner could always count on a sound,
scientific explanation from her regarding a case...although far too often
he kept hearing the word "inconclusive".
He looked her up and down. she was very tired, and clearly
aggravated by the cast on her left leg. Another familiar sight. It seemed
like every time those two agents came in, they had broken legs, or broken
arms, or broken fingers, or cuts or bruises or scratches or gunshot
wounds or implants in their necks, or one came in claiming the other was
dead or missing or abducted or all three. It was all Skinner could do
from groaning aloud.
"Agent Scully, I understand that you were involved in some sort
of diving trial that had to do with the investigation, in which case you
were attacked and injured by something. Can you tell me what it was?"
Scully stared down at the cast thoughtfully. "I believe that it
was a previously unidentified large marine predator, possibly a shark or
barracuda. It disappeared before we had a chance to identify it."
Mulder groaned under his breath. "You were attacked?" Skinner
pressed.
"Yes, sir. It bit me on my leg and dragged me down about 50 feet
or so."
"A shark or barracuda dragged you down 50 feet when you had
20-pound air tanks, a lifeline and a suit of steel, and were armed with a
knife and electric weapon?"
Now it was Scully's turn to swallow. "Yes, sir."
Skinner straightened the papers on his desk for no apparent
reason. "May I ask why *you* were told to attempt this diving expedition
when there were more professional and experienced people present?"
"I don't know, sir. I assumed that the FBI was required to do
this as part of our investigation."
Skinner sighed. It was clear that he was either very agitated or
very confused. He straightened another stack of papers that were already
neat. "Thank you, Agent Scully. I'll go over your full report later.
You're dismissed."
Mulder got up and helped Scully to her feet. She then picked up
the crutches and limped out the door after her partner. Skinner watched
them go, as did Cancer Man. Skinner glowered at him and pointed an
accusing thumb towards the door. Skinner had long since banned Cancer Man
from his office, but he kept showing up anyhow. The man had too much
help...too many hit mans, assassins, and officials in higher levels of
power that could can Skinner instantly than he dared to cope with. But
despite Cancer Man's repeated visits, Skinner refused to speak to him.
Cancer Man took his hint and exited, leaving behind the faint, repugnant
odor of burning nicotine...
"You were afraid to tell him the truth, weren't you?" Mulder
glared accusingly at Scully. "Large, unidentified marine predator? What,
are you scared that saying a sea monster attacked you will make you some
sort of insane freak?"
Scully glared back at Mulder almost twice as disapprovingly. "To
tell you the truth, Mulder, I don't even know *what* happened down there.
The water was extremely dark and I lost my flashlight. The urgency of the
moment plus the shock of the attack could have caused me to exaggerate
the actual dimensions of the creature..."
"Scully," Mulder's aggravated look turned into one of sorrow.
"Why can't you just let yourself believe, just once? Why, even after you
were nearly devoured, can't you just accept that this may be something
that science can't explain?"
"Because," Scully sighed, "it's the only thing that keeps us
together. My hardcore scientific views are the only reason they allow me
to work with you. They're after us, Mulder. They know that we know what
they're planning, and they're desperate now. And if I suddenly started
believing that every case we came across was part of a cover-up or
conspiracy, they'd find some way to wipe us both out. Mulder, sometimes I
*do* want to believe...but I feel like I can't."
Mulder's pace slowed. He let this thought sink in...no matter how
hard they tried, things would never be the same again. Scully limped
ahead into the waiting elevator, and Mulder followed her.
A man watched them from a corner in the hallway. His jet-black
hair hung in wavy curls in front of his attentive blue eyes. He scratched
his goatee and straightened his tie, then started back down the hall, his
shoes making no sound on the floor. His eyes drifted to Skinner's office
as he passed by and caught a glimpse of the Assistant Director thumbing
through the report.
Time was running out. The date was set, and it was drawing ever
so closer...to close for comfort. He needed to contact them, somehow,
warn them. Obsidian knew his position, and the position of the
agents...he needed to think of something...
9:21 P.M.
Monday, December 10th, 1998
Zuma beach, Malibu
The indigo waves did not reflect the moonlight, but seemed to
glow on their own accord. Or perhaps it was from the brightening lights
of the city. Salt and minerals mixed within the water clung to the rocks
and wooden dock posts like microscopic barnacles, slowly wearing away the
fibers that held each sliver of wood together. The waves made no sound.
Rachel Williams dangled her legs over the edge of the pier,
gazing down into the fathomless depths of the black liquid beneath her.
The water moved in an irregular pattern, the light glinting off its
rippling surface in a million different patterns like a hundred silver
snakes. Rachel removed a slightly-crumpled magnolia from her pocket and
turned it over in her hand absently, her mind as lost as the drifting
kelp on the tide. Magnolias had been Margaret's favorite flower.
She dropped the blossom into the water and whispered a silent
good-bye to her best friend. The magnolia floated on the surface of the
ocean for a minute, then overtook water and sank down to rest among
hundreds of colorless kelp like a single star in the LA-smog-clouded
night sky. Rachel watched it sink and let out a heavy sigh, knowing that
she had finally laid her friend to rest. She stood and gazed out at the
unswerving horizon.
She backed away from the edge of the pier slowly, her eyes
fixated on something out on the ocean. Her eyes widened and her breathing
issued in ragged gasps. The ocean did not respond to her sudden fright.
She turned on her heel and thundered back down the dock, her feet
knocking out different notes on each wooden plank. She didn't turn
around, but she just kept running, fearing not for herself but for her
sense, that which she felt like she had none left of. Nothing even
mattered now.
A single shark's fin cut through the water like a hunting knife;
blue and black scales barely visible through the blanket of ocean.
-------------------------------------
THE END
Author's note: So, whadja think? Creepy ending, huh? If you read this
first and are wondering about a thing or two as far as characters go and
junk like that, you can read "Impulse", or "Absolute Zero", which were
also written by yours truly. Sorry about any typos. Questions, comments,
complaints, cries? Send them all to , and I'll get them eventually.
(
geocities.com/area51/underworld) (
geocities.com/area51)