Uroborus Series by Bobbi & BasBleu

Uroborus I: Sins by BasBleu

STORIES ON THIS SITE ARE INTENDED FOR ADULTS ONLY

Sins by BasBleu

NEAR SILVA, NC
6 November, 1995
1:21 a.m

The girl slipped quietly from the back of the barn door, an arm cradling her distended stomach. Barefoot, she picked her way along the rough path, regularly looking back over her shoulder to the large wooden structure from which she�d come, ablaze with light and the sounds of people clapping and shrieking an atonal tune. She shivered in reaction to the cold, watching her breath disperse into the dark night and she walked quickly, mindless of the dry twigs and branches that crackled and cut into her feet. Faster, faster was all she could think, then groaned as the baby growing inside her kicked as if cognizant of and resisting it�s mother�s flight.

She did not know exactly where to go, just headed in the direction of the big road, the one on which she�d watched the waterfall of lights every night, wondering. Papa Jode had told her the lights were demons but she didn�t believe that. Her scant fourteen years of wisdom knew better. She knew not to be afraid of the woods, knew not to be afraid of the dark. The things to be afraid of were the things she was leaving behind.

She stopped as the child kicked again, this time harder. She moaned and rested against a tree, letting the familiar sounds of the night soothe her. They�d think she left to go to the outhouse, knowing that women with babies needed to "go" a lot. She�d be along way away before they realized she was gone for good, her and her baby.

The unfamiliar hissing caught her ear and she stiffened, looking around wildly. Nothing moved, everything frozen by the unusually cold winter. Even her legs were numb and she couldn�t feel a thing. She�d stopped too long, it was time to go. She started to walk and promptly fell over onto her stomach with a scream.

Looking down, she tried to make out in the darkness what was around her ankles, something that held them close together. The moon passed behind a cloud, obscuring her light, so she reached down, letting her cold fingers touch whatever had tripped her; a tree root, maybe.

The "root" slowly began winding its way around her body and she started struggling, terror gripping her as she realized what it was. Turning on her stomach, she tried to pull herself along with her hands, screaming "O Lord, O Lord, NO!!!" as the "root" continued it�s casual winding up her swollen body.

The cracking of her breaking bones was the only unfamiliar sound amid the naked trees.

RALEIGH, NC
13 November, 1995
10:00 a.m.

The screen at the end of the large conference room showed a slide depicting what looked like a bundle of rags on a earthen floor. If the woman standing beside the screen had not just told them the bundle had been a young girl a scant five days earlier, FBI Agents Mulder and Scully never would have known.

"She was found by three geology students from Western Carolina University, in search of rock formations. They reported it to the local police right away. She�d been dead eight hours tops. No sign of a struggle and, since the ground is frozen, no tracks. We can�t tell if she was killed there, dragged or carried there. No fingerprints, no bruises, no sign of any other injury."

"Will I be able to autopsy the body?" Dana Scully asked.

" I don�t see why not. Nobody has claimed her as of yet. But I�ll warn you ahead of time - she�s the closest thing to a human bean bag there is." Special Agent Cait McHale paused a moment, swallowing bile as her own grisly memory of the girl�s body came to mind. "Her bones have been pulverized."

The slides progressed to another, a photograph taken from a distance of a series of crude shacks.

"There�s a possibility she�s a member of a religious community that makes its home in the hills."

Mulder�s ears perked up. "Religious community?" Memories of Brother Andrew and the Kindred came to mind.

"Mainly families led by a man named Papa Jode. They own a small plot of land up in the hills and basically carve out a spiritual and simplified existence there. Every once in a while, they�ll show up in town but nobody hears from them on a regular basis. They keep to themselves and don�t bother anyone."

"What makes you think she�s one of them?" Scully asked.

"The dress she was wearing was a coarse cotton smock, and she wasn�t wearing shoes. Strange attire for a mid-Winter night." Cait mused, then continued. "We questioned Papa Jode as to whether any of his followers were missing, and he stated that, I quote, his sheep wander away on their spiritual paths and there are many of those people who might fit our description and we�d have to be more specific." Her irritation with the religious leader was quite apparent.

"Has anybody tried to create a composite sketch as to what she might have looked like, asked around, scanned missing persons reports?" Mulder asked.

"The young woman�s facial structure is non-existent. We can�t even tell what color her eyes are because, quite simply, her eyeballs are missing, presumably ejected when her skull disintegrated. We have no idea what this girl looked like before she was crushed to death."

Cait turned switched off the screen as the lights came up in the room. Looking at the two agents before her, she smiled inwardly. Walter had come through for her just when she�d needed him. She hated calling in favors, but this case had confounded local police enough to make them drop regional prejudices and call in the FBI. She, in turn, had been baffled enough to place a personal call to the Assistant Director of the FBI and ask for his help. Help came in strange packages, she mused, as she evaluated Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. "Spooky" Mulder she�d heard of at the academy - who hadn�t?- and their reputation as a team preceded them. They were the best and they were here to help.

Mulder and Scully, in turn, were returning the evaluation. To be pulled off a case by Skinner was a monumental event. Within two hours, they were on their way to the Tarheel State to assist in a regional investigation. Landing at Raleigh-Durham, they were met by two agents and taken to the regional office where Agent Cait McHale met them. Her dossier, which they�d skimmed over on the plane, indicated that she was half-Scottish and half-Japanese, Cambridge educated and, quite simply,one of the best the Bureau had to offer. Actively recruited by the CIA as an analyst, she�d opted instead for the FBI, following in her father�s footsteps.

Mulder�s first reaction had been a physical one as he�d stood eye to eye with her, acknowledging that she was the tallest and most stunning woman he�d ever seen in his life, outside of the Playboy pages, with her dark hair, pale skin, and almond shaped-eyes that were a surprisingly deep shade of green.

Scully�s reactions had been more mundane. Taking in the agent�s expertly tailored silk suit and suede heels, she�d considered transferring to the regional bureau as the pay seemed to improve the further south one went.

Neither of them could ponder their initial reactions long as Agent McHale demonstrated why she was the most highly decorated operative in the Southeast. Guiding them into the plush burgundy and black conference room, she�d handed them detailed red files and started the slide show of the North Carolina mountains in their winter splendor and the grossly disfigured body that had warranted their trip south.

"We�re due at the airport in an hour for a commuter flight to a small airfield in the mountains. I hope ya�ll remembered to bring warm clothes and hiking boots."

Both Mulder and Scully nodded, remembering the hasty packing, musing over Skinner�s specific orders regarding their attire. Now they knew why. The only mystery left to ponder was how a lowly field agent, no matter how admired, could have contacted the AD directly and requested their presence.

NEAR SILVA, NC
13 November, 1995
12:30 p.m.

After landing at the tiny airstrip, the three agents found a navy blue Jeep Cherokee waiting for them, guarded by a droopy basset-hound and its equally droopy master, Emmett.

"Nice to see you again, Miss McHale." Emmett hawked a wad of tobacco in close proximity to Mulder�s boots.

"Same here, Emmett. Hey, Scrap." Cait bent to pet the somnolent dog. In response it lifted one eyelid to momentarily regard the agent before closing it again and emitting a loud snore of contentment.

With their bags stored in the back of the Jeep, they were soon on their way on a curving mountain road. There was nothing else in sight.

"Where�s the closest town?" Mulder asked, leaning forward between Cait and Scully�s seats from the back seat.

"About forty minutes." Cait answered, calmly placing a hand on Mulder�s head and shoving him gently back. "If I stop quickly to avoid an animal, you�ll go right through the windshield." She admonished, causing Scully to chuckle at Mulder�s surprised and then sulky look.

"It�s Winter; any animal in it�s right mind would be hibernating by now." Mulder muttered in the back, but stayed where he was.

"Forty minutes is long way to go for a hotel." Scully said.

"You�re right. That�s why we�re not staying in a hotel. We�re staying in my cabin." Cait expertly negotiated her way up a steep side road marked "PRIVATE DRIVE. NO TRESPASSING."

"The N.C. Regional Office wouldn�t happen to be hiring would they?" Scully asked, looking at the cabin wistfully.

Cait smiled. "The cabin isn�t exactly a result of the generous pay of the Bureau," she said, catching on. "This is more a result of my mother�s second marriage and the sound investor�s mind of her new husband." They carried their luggage inside and Cait showed them around. Then, "If ya�ll are ready, I�ll take you out to where the body was found. Then, we can go into town to examine the remains and confer with the local law enforcement"

"I�d also like to see this religious community." Mulder insisted as he hoisted himself into the Jeep, this time in the passenger seat.

"That will all depend on if they want to see you." Cait turned the car around and headed back down the driveway.

Frozen ground, dried twigs and dead leaves, but no sign of any footprints, any struggle, any movement. The place where the girl�s body had been found looked undisturbed, except for the bright yellow tape cordoning off the area as the site of a police investigation. A uniformed deputy, standing guard, eyed the trio warily as they ducked under the tape to survey the area.

"The body was found over here, by the tree." Cait explained, leading them to a solid patch of ground. "We can only assume that she was killed here. The body shows no evidence of being dragged here from another location. It is remarkably clean, except for the dirt under the fingernails, which we assumed was collected when she attempted to crawl away from whatever was killing her." Cait pointed to ten light striations clawed into the ground

"Owing to the position of the body and those marks, we assume that whatever killed her was here," she stepped away to another bare patch of ground. "But as you can see, there�s nothing here that in any way, shape or form could be considered evidence. The entire area has been searched and I think Sheriff Briggs� men have even gone so far as to turn over every dead leaf, looking for something that could help." She looked pointedly at Mulder, "So, ... any ideas?"

"How competent are Briggs� deputies?"

"Competent enough."

"Maybe the body will give us something." Scully suggested. "I�d like to get to that autopsy today." She looked back at the evidence of the girl�s terror and a sense of urgency hit her.

"Right." Cait said and started walking away.

"I�ll be right there." Mulder said, noticing that his boot lace had come untied. Bending down, he started adjusting the laces. A gleam of silver caught his eye, just to the right of the toe of his boot and he picked it up and looked at it carefully. It was a transparent shred of ... something, something he recognized but couldn�t quite identify. For a moment he considered it, then dropped it, and ran to catch up with Cait and Scully.

SILVA, NC 13
November, 1995
3:30 p.m.

Sheriff Beaufort Briggs didn�t much like the idea of Federals interfering in local cases but there were times when necessity overcame territorialism. However, when he�d learned that a woman had been assigned to the case, he�d started reconsidering his decision. Then, he�d been informed that two other agents would be coming in from "Warshington," D.C., one doctor and the other a specialist in the area and had been relieved, thinking that the Federals had decided to send in some more capable men to do the job. Now he wasn�t so sure of that decision anymore.

Besides the fact that the doctor was a woman, currently in the county morgue, autopsying the bag of bones that had once been a human being when his own coroner was fully capable of performing that duty, their so-called expert- being the only man among the group - didn�t inspire his confidence. Sitting across from him beside that McHale woman, the male agent didn�t seem to fit his image of an accomplished agent. Where were the ex-marines, the ex-law enforcement men like himself who�d made the transition to the big-time? Who was this wimpy looking intellectual?

"I took the liberty of visiting the murder site this afternoon with agents Mulder and Scully." Cait began.

"Of course you did, You don�t trust my coroner; why should you trust my deputies?" Briggs asked her rhetorically.

"Sheriff Briggs, Special Agent Mulder was sent down from Washington because he�s considered an expert in these sort of bizarre, unexplainable cases."

"Well, that�s we got us here - an unexplainable case. Got any ideas yet, ... Fox. is it?" Beaufort made no effort to hold back a grin.

Cait noticed Mulder�s setting of his jaw at the man�s use of his first name. Looking quickly around the room she noticed a stack of brightly colored flyers with Briggs� photo and a line of copy: re-elect Briggs. She gestured to them, "Election year, Sheriff? An unsolved case of the murder of a young girl could certainly cast some doubt about your abilities as Sheriff, couldn�t it? I�m sure you wouldn�t want to jeopardize your success in the race with your hostility towards the very people who might be able to solve it for you." Mulder was amazed at her ability to deliver the reprimand in a honey-sweet but ice-edged voice

Briggs colored but was silent.

"I�m sure we�ll have something more to go on once my partner is finished with the autopsy." Mulder sat forward in his chair.

"That body has already been autopsied, by a trained and competent coroner." Briggs bristled.

"I�m sure Jed Gray did a thorough job." Cait reasoned, "But, because of Agents Mulder and Scully�s specialized background, they may be able to recognize something or be looking for something that may be familiar to them and unfamiliar to Jed."

Briggs scowled before asking, "Have you seen many crushed bodies, Agent Mulder?"

"I can�t say I have." Mulder answered truthfully.

"Then what could you possibly have to add?"

Before Mulder answered, there was a knock at the door. A deputy poked his head in and said, "Uh, Sheriff, I think you�d better handle this."

Briggs hefted his bulk out of his creaky chair and left the office, leaving Cait and Mulder confused.

"Does he always act like he has a bug up his ass?" Mulder muttered

Cait shook her head. "Briggs doesn�t have a lot of control over the mountains. His ideal is to stop things before they happen." She explained, adding "The mountains have a lot of hiding places, and a lot of questionable goings-on. Militant groups train up here, and with weekend warriors and hunters running around with guns, hillbillies guarding their stills, drunken college students, ... a lot of uncontrollable elements that he can�t do anything about until after someone�s hurt or dead. That�s why we were called in so quickly. Within the past eight years, there have been unsolved disappearances in the area. There�s no evidence, no bodies, nothing. This girl�s body may have some connection to those others, and if so, Briggs may have a serial killer on his hands. He has a young daughter. I think he�s just scared."

Briggs chose that moment to stick his head back in the room.

"Ya�ll better come see this."

Cait wondered about the slight smile on his face. She soon found out why.

They followed him out of the building across a parking lot and into the building housing the morgue. Mulder noticed a pick-up truck, circa 1950, outside the building. Inside, standing before the front desk were three people. A gargantuan man in a long black coat and hat, bearded, huge hands clutching a tattered black bible. He was flanked by a man of average height who looked minuscule beside him dressed in a brown corduroy coat and flannel short and trousers of a non-descript, rough looking fabric. Both men looked to be in their thirties. On the giant�s other side, a woman in her early twenties, who bore some resemblance to the giant, her straggly blonde-brown hair pulled back in a bun, in an olive drab corduroy coat over a cotton dress, roughly-made shoes on her feet that looked a size too small. They eyed Mulder suspiciously but seemed to recognize Cait. It was to her the big man addressed his request.

"We�ve come for the body."

Cait set her jaw. "What body?"

The other two looked at the man, a little confused, but he continued, "The body of our little lamb."

It clicked with Mulder. This was the cult? All hope of relocating The Kindred diminished.

Cait moved forward. "As I recall, Papa Jode, the last time we spoke, you indicated that none of your ... flock were missing. Are you telling me now that you�ve discovered someone missing?"

"Yes, I�m afraid so." Papa Jode answered. "Our lamb, Lulu."

"I see." Cait nodded, "Would you describe her please?"

"She�s ours. Give her back." The woman suddenly wailed and moved towards Cait but was halted by Papa Jode.

"Hush, Sarah."

She did, her eyes turned in an expression of pure awe towards Jode.

Papa Jode�s face took on a look of infinite patience. "Lulu went missing a few days ago. We thought she�d gone on a wanderin� as she�s wont to do. Usually, though, she�ll tell some �un. After you left, I became concerned and asked after all them�s that we thought went a wanderin�. Lulu wasn�t one of �em. Then, I had a vision last night durin� worship and saw our little child, askin� me to come and get her. We�re here to get our child. Now."

"Papa Jode, as you may well have surmised, if the child is your Lulu, she has been murdered and thus a part of an investigation. As of right now she is being autopsied and we are trying to determine cause of death. When the autopsy is done, we will contact you and you can come back and identify the body. If she is your Lulu, we�ll need a signature of an immediate family member to release the body."

"We are all her family." Papa Jode insisted.

"Her father or mother, Papa Jode."

"She has none. She is alone. �God sets the lonely in families.�" Papa Jode�s hands clutched convulsively around his bible.

Cait considered a moment. "When we�re done with the autopsy, we�ll let you, one of you, see the body. "

Papa Jode looked at his followers, then back at Cait, "We�ll wait outside."

They filed out and, through the front window, the Sheriff and the agents watched them climb into the truck. They waited.

"And they call me Spooky." Mulder muttered.

"You looked disappointed when you saw them. "Cait observed as she led Mulder to the back of the morgue to where Scully was.

"They weren�t who I expected them to be." Mulder admitted.

"Don�t you mean who you wanted them to be?" Cait asked, swinging open double doors at the end of a hallway.

In brightly lit examining room, Scully was just pulling off a pair of rubber gloves and tossing them in the waste can. She looked up as Cait and Mulder came in.

"You�re right on time. I just finished."

"Good." Cait gestured to the hall. "We have an interested party outside."

"The cult." Mulder added.

"So what did you find?" Cait asked, walking to the examining table and looking at the sheet covered hump.

"Do you mind if I take a look?" Mulder asked, hand on the sheet.

Cait shook her head while Scully looked away. She�d just spent several hours with the mutilated corpse. She didn�t need anymore time with it. The image would forever be burned into her memory. She started going over her notes.

"Caucasian female, early teenage years ..."

Mulder pulled back the sheet and resisted the urge to gag.

"Blonde hair, O positive blood, ..."

The grotesque heap of skin bore no resemblance to the human being it once had been.

"Five months pregnant."

That caught Cait�s attention. "There was no mention of that in Jed�s report."

"I noticed." Scully added. "It�s clearly evident. The fetus is small, undernourished, and deformed. It probably wouldn�t have lived long after birth "

Mulder pulled back the sheet, having seen enough.

"Any idea on what might have caused this?" Cait asked, turning her attention to Mulder.

He shook his head. "What makes you think it�s a �what?�"

"I can�t imagine another human being capable of doing that." Cait answered, then looked at Scully. "If you�re truly done, I�ll have to let Papa Jode in to identify the body."

Scully nodded and watched as Cait left the room.

"Mulder, I�ve never seen anything like it."

"Me neither, Scully. But I think Cait�s right--no human being could have done that." He gestured to the enshrouded form.

"Don�t tell me you think aliens ..."

Mulder shook his head. "Sometimes there are scarier things out there than beings from another planet. Besides, she wasn�t abducted."

"Just crushed."

Cait reentered the room and Scully had her first glimpse of the Papa Jode. When Cait pulled back the sheet for the identification, there was no sign of grief on his face, just resignation. He nodded, recognizing the dress that Lulu had last been seen in, and turned away.

"By the way, Papa Jode, you mentioned that Lulu had no immediate family. What about her husband?" Cait asked, interrupting his trek to the morgue door.

He stopped and stood still before turning to answer her question, "Husband?" His face was an expressionless mask and Scully�s warning bells went off.

"Yes, husband." Cait affirmed.

"She had no husband."

"But ..." Scully started but Cait interrupted.

"Thank you, Papa Jode. We�ll prepare the body for proper burial."

He looked at Cait. "We came to take her home. She belongs there."

"I�m sorry, I can�t allow that. State law dictates that the dead have to buried in a cemetery plot. I�m not aware of any state sanctioned plots at your encampment. If you want to take the body, I would advise you to find and deliver proof of an official burial plot."

Something sparked in the preacher�s eyes, something belying the calm of his outward appearance and Cait had to fight the urge to step back. The spark was gone a moment later, and he intoned, "The plans of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful."

"Well, you may be the righteous, Papa Jode, but I am the law."

The silence was deafening, as Cait and the preacher stood in eye-to-eye combat. Then, abruptly, he turned on his heel and left, the double doors of the morgue, swinging in his wake.

All three agents let out audible sighs of relief as he left.

"Is that true? About North Carolina law?" Mulder asked.

"Only partly. Scully, I�d like all three of us to look over the body again. There�s something we�ve missed, if Papa Jode wants her that badly." Cait reached for a set of rubber gloves and pulled back the sheet again, her lips set in a grim line of determination.

NEAR SILVA, NC
14 November, 1995
2 a.m

Scully couldn�t sleep. After tossing and turning for hours, she gave up and sat up, pulling her white robe around her. A glance at her watch told her it was a.m. Maybe Cait would have some herbal tea - that usually helped her sleep.

She made her way down the stairs and was surprised to see lights burning in the kitchen. Walking in, she saw Cait sitting at the counter, hands wrapped around a steaming mug, staring out the window at the mountain view.

She�d been up for at least an hour. Sleep proved as elusive as an explanation to the murder. Images of Lulu�s broken form infiltrated her dreams, providing new nightmares that merged with the older ones. Cait tried not to think about the significance.

Their second attempt at the autopsy ended in frustration. They were as mystified as they had been before. As they left the morgue, Cait hoped her request to Sheriff Briggs for a guard over the body had not fallen on deaf ears.

"Can�t sleep either?" Cait asked, catching Scully�s reflection in the window.

Scully shook her head and settled onto the stool beside her. She inhaled, "Chamomile?"

"Usually does the trick." Cait smiled, sliding off the stool, "Would you like some?"

Scully nodded.

"So, is your insomnia a direct cause of this case or something else?" Cait lit the range and spooned loose tea leaves into a water-filled tea kettle before placing it over the flame.

Strangely enough, Scully felt the need to tell her. "It�s this state. The first time I ever came here, on a case, it was right after my father died. I guess I really missed him because ... " She halted, "We were investigating a serial killer who claimed to have psychic abilities. He ... he said he had a message from my father and would relay it to me right before his execution."

"You didn�t see him before the execution, did you?" Cait poured the steaming, pale brown liquid into a mug and placed it before Scully.

Scully shook her head. "No." She took a sip of the tea, letting the hot liquid soothe the rawness of her throat. "I always wondered, though. Being back here reminds me of him and I regret it."

"What could he possibly have told you that you didn�t know about already? I mean, he was your father."

Cait didn�t understand why Scully gave her a strange look, as if surprised by her answer. For a moment, she thought she had overstepped her bounds until the red-head gave her a small smile and nodded.

"You�re right." Cait was right - she had her memories, she didn�t need the message. But still ...

"Maybe he could have told me what is to come, what�s past death?

"You�re a scientist, Dana. Would you have believed it or would you have needed tangible proof?"

Again, Scully ran it through her mind then grinned wryly. "I would have needed proof, I guess." She groaned, rubbing her hands over tired eyes. "God, sometimes I wish I was more like Mulder."

Cait laughed, "No, I think one Mulder is enough. Besides, Mulder probably wishes he was more like you."

"THAT would never happen." Scully chuckled.

"You�re a lot like my mother, Scully. She�s retired now but she was a scientist once, a researcher. She was always so grounded, both she and my father. Right after he died, though, she changed, started believing in, well, in a lot of the same things Mulder believes in."

"What brought about the change? Your father�s death?"

"I honestly don�t know." Cait paused, then continued, "My father was murdered when I was sixteen, shot at close range. It�s ... unsolved. Mother and I left Washington right after it. I have nightmares about it, the scene replays itself in my head and I always wake up right before the killer turns and looks at me, right before he shows me his face."

"You were there?" Scully asked, horrified,

Cait was still a moment before answering, "No. No, I wasn�t there. I guess I just ... imagine what it must have been like." She wouldn�t look at Scully, merely sipped her tea, eyes focused on the darkness outside the window. Scully got the feeling she wasn�t telling her the truth, but refrained from challenging her. Besides, they�d confided enough in each other, for being virtual strangers. Still, Scully had the strangest feeling that, with this commiseration over the demise of their respective fathers, she and Cait had just formed a bond. They sat in companionable silence until Scully asked the question that she and Mulder had both been pondering.

"What�s your connection with AD Skinner?"

"Walter?" Cait smiled at the thought of him. "Walter has been a permanent fixture in my life since I was nine years old. My father was his superior for about seven years. And his mentor, in a sense. They always had a mutual admiration for each other. My father said he was the best to come out of Quantico in a long time, with an uncanny sense of judgment that never wavered. Walter always knew what was the right thing to do in a given situation, ... maybe not the best thing or the wisest thing, but the right thing. And I always trusted him." She smiled, sheepishly, "He�s the other reason I joined the Bureau, much to my mother�s disappointment."

"She doesn�t like the FBI? But your father ..." Scully trailed off.

"Exactly. My mother has an inexplicable fear that I�ll end up like my father. I keep trying to tell her that my father�s death and his job were unrelated, but then she starts blaming herself. It�s safer to let her believe what she wants to believe. Like Mulder." Cait added, smiling, then asked, "Why does he believe in the things he believes in?"

Scully related the story of Samantha�s abduction.

"I hope he finds her." Cait twirled her mug in her hands. "I don�t think anyone else will be able to give him the answers he seeks."

Scully disagreed, remembering her own abduction experience and how little of it she remembered. "It�s possible she won�t have any answers." She caught herself yawning and laughed, "This stuff really works." She gestured to her empty mug then stood, pulling her robe securely around her. "I think I�m going to try sleeping again. Thanks for the talk." She added, sincerely.

Cait nodded. "Sweet dreams." She turned her attention back to the night sky.

Scully left her as she found her.

SILVA, NC
14 DECEMBER
9:30 a.m.

"What do you mean, she�s gone?"

They stood in the morgue, surrounding a drawer that was supposed to have housed Lulu�s body. It was empty.

Cait�s question was directed at Jed Gray, whose current complexion lived up to his surname. He�d come in this morning, early, and seen the doors to all the drawers open, all the slabs pulled out, and only one corpse missing. Which wouldn�t have been so bad if the Federal Agents hadn�t just walked in right after he did, demanding to know what had happened.

"Jed, what happened? What about the guard that was supposed to be stationed here all night?" Cait asked.

"What guard?"

"Sheriff Briggs ..." Cait didn�t finished the sentence. Shaking her head, she launched herself out of the room, leaving Mulder, Scully and the shaken coroner to contemplate the new development in their case.

She found Briggs pacing in his office. Gangly Deputy Stokes had thought better of stopping her entrance into the station and conveniently made himself scarce as she slammed open the door of Briggs� office.

"Now, don�t start in on me, Ms. McHale ... " Briggs started, but was cut off.

"You lost a body and I�m not supposed to reprimand you for it?! What the hell are you thinking, Briggs? Where was the guard?" Cait fumed.

"I don�t know. I assigned one of my deputies and I haven�t seen him since. Nobody has, not his wife or his friends, not anyone."

"You mean to tell me that there are two missing bodies now?" Cait�s voice was calm and dangerous.

Briggs� face, an unappealing shade of red, fell. He�d lost a man, he was sure of it, and been embarrassed in front of this female federal. "My men are getting ready to search the area."

Cait turned on her heel and reached for a phone. "I want your men mobilized to move, now. I only know one place where Lulu�s body could be and I don�t think they�ll take too kindly to us storming in there without a warrant. What�s your fax number?"

Papa Jode�s� encampment consisted of several small, crudely built shacks surrounding a larger barn-like building, definitely in better shape than any of the smaller dwelling places of the camp inhabitants. Cait, warrant in hand, surveyed the camp as she waited for Papa Jode to appear, surrounded by an ever-increasing crowd of children, women and a few men.. She recognized the woman Sarah from the day before, her arm around a twelve year old child with the slanted eyes and broad face characteristic of Downs' syndrome. Beside her, her fellow FBI agents calmly stood by, taking in the scene as well. Behind them, they could hear the sheriff and two deputies shifting uncomfortably.

Papa Jode appeared, led by a small, grimy child, and made his way through the crowd. His face, expressionless as always, bore the signs of a sleepless night. Cait did not have to ponder much to determine that a little modern morgue-robbing had caused his insomnia.

"Lulu�s body was stolen from the morgue last night. I have a warrant to search the premises for it as it is evidence for a murder case." Cait held the warrant up to the preacher�s face.

"You�ll not find her here." Papa Jode assured her, but stepped aside to enable her to search the area.

The search of the outlying buildings did not take long at all. One room shacks with blankets spread on the floors, rough wooden tables and stools and no indoor plumbing. Scully felt like she had stepped back in time as she noted the outhouse. Oddly enough, the residents seemed to look healthy, if not a little grimy. She couldn�t help but note the number of young girls, ...the number of young pregnant girls among their numbers. And the children--so many children.

Mulder approached her, looking disgruntled. He looked behind them, at Briggs and Cait and shook his head.

"She doesn�t know what the hell she�s doing." He confided in Scully. "There is no reason why the body would be here. Whoever killed her disposed of the body."

"So, you think she was killed by a who and not a what?" Scully asked, a little surprised.

Mulder leveled a measuring gaze at her. "What�s that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, I just thought you�d be the first to believe Cait�s theory that she�d been killed by something other than another human being."

"Just because I believe in aliens doesn�t mean that I don�t believe in homicidal maniacs. The two are not mutually exclusive and can exist in the same universe." he shook his head, "This is not an X-file. Skinner�s just wasting our time--it�s a simple murder with an obvious perp." Old anger at Skinner for not understanding the exclusive nature of the X-files fired up.

"And not an obvious murder weapon." Scully reminded him.

Mulder paused a moment before commenting, "I thought you�d be the last person to believe that there could be an alternative explanation."

Scully looked at Cait. "I�m just interested in finding out exactly what happened and how. I have to side with Cait on this one." Scully looked apologetically at her partner.

"Since when did you become such great friends?"

Scully quirked an eyebrow at her partner, a little perturbed. "She�s a fellow law enforcement officer. Even though she�s not a Detective Angela White or a Doctor Bambi or a Phoebe Green, she deserves our help."

Mulder didn�t know how to respond.

"There�s nothing here." Briggs was telling Cait. "Nothing in the surrounding area, nothing in the houses. I have some men checking the worship hall," he indicated the largest building, a barn-like structure, "but I know right now there�s probably nothing there neither." His tone indicated his opinion of her plan, accusing her city-bred instincts of underestimating the abilities of the hill people. These people weren�t stupid. Even if they had taken the body, they probably wouldn�t have brought it back here, the first place the law would look. His annoyance had increased when he saw Cait come round the corner of the worship hall and realized he hadn�t seen her participating in the search; instead, she�d disappeared for a while. Just like Feds--letting the locals do all the work!

Cait looked a little crestfallen and said, "You know, Sheriff, you�re right. I just thought we�d be quick enough and get here before they had a chance to get rid of the body. I guess I was wrong."

A little puffed with pride, Briggs gestured to his men and indicated that they halt the search. The trooped back to their vehicles as Cait turned to the approaching Papa Jode.

"Thank you for you cooperation, Papa Jode. I apologize for inconveniencing you."

Jode smiled benevolently, but was silent. Cait noticed that throughout the exchange, the child that had previously clung to Sarah was now standing behind Jode, watching her intently. She began to walk away, Jode in the other direction. Behind her she heard him say, "Come away from there, Micah."

Cait began making her way back to the Cherokee, seeing Mulder and Scully standing by it, the former with a sour look on his face, the latter looking a little unsure. There was obviously tension between them. They all climbed in silently and Cait, instead of starting the car, turned to Mulder and asked, "What?"

"You seriously underestimated these people by thinking the body would be there. They may be backwards but they�re not stupid."

Cait was silent a moment, considering Mulder under a leveling gaze before she responded. "Fine. You can join Sheriff Briggs and his mutual blow-job society tonight at Cue-Ball�s Pool Hall, commiserating over the incompetence of the female Federal Agent. In the meantime, Scully," she turned to face the backseat, "there�s a dirt road that runs about a mile behind the compound. The hill dividing the compound and the road shouldn�t pose too much of a problem to hike and we�ll have plenty of light, if the calendar is right about it being a full moon, though," Cait frowned, "we�ll have to do something about that hair." She continued, "I noticed some huge tubs near the outhouse, filled with boiling water. Either it�s community bath night in preparation for some special event or they�re planning on plucking a lot of chickens dry. Either way, there should be something to see tonight."

Mulder�s jaw dropped. "You weren�t looking for the body."

Cait turned to him, "If you promise not to underestimate me again, Mulder, I�ll let you come too."

Cait was right about the full moon. And the road. And the hill. The only thing she seemed wrong about was the difficulty of the hike. The three of them caught their breaths as quietly as they could when they reached the summit. All in black--Scully with her hair pulled back in a cap--they blended into the shadows of the trees, heading towards the brightly lit worship hall. Already, they could hear a kind of singing, accompanied by the clinking of worn-out tambourines, the tune and the language unrecognizable.

They slid one by one along the back wall of the building. Cait squatted down at a corner and her fingers worked quickly to pull a wooden board away from the wall, one that had been propped at such an angle to hide a small hole in the wall.

"Made it this afternoon, when no-one was looking." Cait whispered, then motioned Mulder down to look through it while she and Scully took to opposite sides of him, standing guard, listening.

The bizarre scene that greeted Mulder reinforced his opinion of organized religion. Candles lit the entire hall, the people moving in a circle, leaving a wide open space in the middle. A crude altar stood along the opposite wall from him, laden with burned down candles, wooden boxes with padlocks under it. As he listened, he realized that the song being sung by the people was not in a different language at all-- it was in several different languages; they were speaking in tongues. As the song progressed, the orderly circle lost its shape as people started moving about, eyes closed, dancing in jerks and sways, narrowly missing crashing into each other, arms raised, fingers waggling. The dancing and singing seemed to rise in to frenzy before it stopped suddenly, as if a director had walked into the scene and called, "Cut!"

Mulder then noticed why. Papa Jode came to the middle of the circle, shadows and wavering candle flame making him appear larger than he seemed that afternoon. He raised a hand to the woman--or girl rather--closest to him and lightly passed his hand across her forehead, a caress that sent a shudder of disgust up Mulder�s spine. She couldn�t have been more than seven years old and Jode looked at her lasciviously.

"Brothers and Sisters in Christ, there is evil in the world. That same evil that murdered our sister was the same evil that visited us earlier today. We must not let them bring their false words into our community and spread the doubts and lies of Satan. We are the righteous and God will enable us to triumph over the evildoers. Do not let them tempt you, do not let them soil your pure souls with their filth, their lies, their prevarications. Resist them as we resist the eternally cursed Satan as he crawls on God�s earth"

The noise of the crowd rose to an uproar, some singing, some speaking in tongues, some screaming "Amen," all eyes fixated on Papa Jode in awe as they swayed toward and away from him intermittently, never quite able to reach him totally.

Jode turned to the box behind him, fiddled with the box, and extricated something from it. As he turned around, Mulder fought the urge to jerk back from the hole. The snakes curled sinuously in the man�s hands, up the man�s arms, tongues flicking in and out. The people stopped again, a low moaning sound coming from them as Jode began to move with the copperhead, dancing arrythmically, bare feet hopping on the floor. The moaning grew.

A boy came forward--the boy Cait had identified as Micah--came forward, a cup in his hands. The young girl whom Jode had noticed before was pushed forward from her place in the crowd. For a moment, she seemed scared. Her eyes raised to Jode and, with his smile, she reached for the cup. Eyes on his, she raised the cup to her lips and drank. The woman named Sarah screamed and rent the front of her dress, another man fell to the floor in convulsions, a child cried at its mothers breast. The frenzy began anew

Having seen enough, Mulder grabbed the board by him and slipped it slowly across the hole as he silently moved away. Cait and Scully followed him as he scrambled down the hill, wanting to put as much distance between himself and the worship hall as quickly as possible.

They didn�t start the engine of the Jeep but pushed it a distance down the road before getting in. Cait began driving.

"So, what did you see?" Scully asked.

"They�re handling snakes. The girls ... Jode," Mulder shook his head as he tried to direct his thoughts, "I have a feeling Jode�s sowing something a little more corporal than the word of God." Disgust made his stomach churn.

"How do you mean?" Scully asked.

Mulder recounted the events in the worship hall, carefully remembering every detail. When he had finished, they were silent.

"Why the hell would they do anything like that?" Mulder asked, horrified.

"�And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name, they will drive out demons; they will speak with tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all.�" Cait quoted, then looked at a stunned Mulder and Scully, "Mark, Chapter 16, verses 16-17. At least in the Scofield Study Bible I used in college."

"Maybe Jode thought the girl was running to the police and wanted to stop her from telling them about what was going on there. What he does constitutes statutory rape." Mulder sputtered, pacing in the wide open living room of the cabin.

"You didn�t actually see him do it." Cait reminded him.

"He was going to. I know it." Mulder argued, but knew she was right.

Scully remembered all the pregnant young girls in the crowd and fought the rise of bile. She struggled to focus her own thoughts, "But could he really have done that? I mean, I know he�s a big man, but I seriously doubt he�s capable of crushing someone."

"True. And I still stick to my theory--that no human being could have done that to another human being." Cait insisted.

"Then what else could have done that?"

No one had an answer.

Cait stifled a yawn. "Look, I don�t think any of us is going to come up with an answer tonight. Let�s sleep on it--maybe our collective subconscious will come up with something."

Somehow, they all knew that they wouldn�t get much sleep that night.

Scully dreamed of Lulu, pathetically trying to reform her body and trying to tell her something.

Mulder dreamed of the scene in the worship hall, only the young girl had Samantha�s face.

Cait dreamed of her father.

15 November
5:15a.m.

Scully woke in a cold sweat at dawn, decided that going for a run would help clear her foggy mind. She dressed quickly and ran down the stairs, not surprised to find lights on in the kitchen and the smell of coffee in the air. Cait sat at the corner desk, frowning at the screen of the computer.

"What are you doing?" Scully asked.

"Research." Cait�s tone indicated that was all the answer she was going to give. Scully shrugged and ran out the door.

Forty minutes later, she was back. Through the front windows, she could see Cait gesticulating wildly at Mulder.

" ... it�s the only answer." Cait was saying as Scully came in the door.

"What�s the only answer?" Scully asked, noting that Mulder was dressed for running also, lacking his shoes.

"Boa constrictor, of the family boidae."

"Excuse me?" Scully asked.

"Boa constrictor�s crush their victims before eating them."

"Lulu wasn�t eaten." Mulder reminded her. "And there�s never been a reported case of a boa attacking a human being."

"And boas aren�t indigenous to the Southeastern U.S." Scully put in.

"One could have been brought here by Jode."

"Snakes hibernate during Winter and don�t go around murdering pregnant children" Mulder added, "Unless of course, Jode has managed to train a snake to do it for him."

"So, as far as you�re concerned, this is an open and shut murder case." Cait shook her head, "Then how do you explain the crushing?"

"I don�t know!" Mulder yelled, throwing his hands up in the air, then stopping as he realized that both Scully and Cait were staring at him. The dreams of Samantha had seriously unsettled him. He needed to run, to think. He bent down to tie his shoe laces and stopped.

"Shit." He muttered under his breath. He looked up, concession written in his eyes. "Alright, so maybe Jode does have a pet snake."

Scully and Cait watched as Mulder retraced his steps at the murder site, looking for something.

"Mulder, if you�d just tell us what you�re looking for, we could probably help you look for it." Cait suggested.

"Skin, molted skin." He muttered under his breath, well aware that the flimsy stuff could have disappeared by now, blown away in a strong gust of wind, and chastising himself for not recognizing what it was when he�d first seen it.

Scully huffed and turned away. A flash of color caught her eye and she peered between the trees.

"Cait." She said, gaining the agent�s attention. When Cait turned, she inclined her head in the direction of what she�d seen and started strolling in that direction. She noticed Cait began to walk in the other direction. If luck held out, they�d come upon the person watching them at the same time.

Six feet from him, the boy started running.

"Hey, wait!" Scully yelled and started chasing him. She discarded the idea of yelling "Federal Agent, Freeze," for obvious reasons.

It was Cait who caught him, grabbing the boy�s shoulders as he stumbled by, making him drop his pail. Three, long, shiny, black and yellow objects spilled out and lay in a clump, right before Scully�s feet as she skidded to a halt beside them. It took a moment for her to realize what they were and she stepped back quickly, resisting the impulse to cringe at the sight of the three snakes wrapped together. It took another moment for her to realize that the snakes were inert, still drowsily intent on hibernation.

"Hold on now, Micah. We�re not going to hurt you." Cait�s voice had softened, her accent thickening. The tone and use of the boy�s name calmed his squirming. She released his shoulders and he didn�t run, just stepped back clumsily, regarding the two women warily.

Scully gestured to the snakes, "You�re brave to be collecting these."

"Won�t hurt me." Micah said, softly."They�re asleep."

"Where do you find them?" Scully continued, hoping her questions might put the child at ease.

"Hidin�, hidin� under rocks."

"Were you watching us back there?" Cait asked, leaning down and dragging the bucket towards her. Carefully, she reached out to touch the still reptiles, noticing that Micah watched her every move.

He didn�t answer.

"Did you know Lulu?" Cait asked, scooping up a snake in her gloved hand and depositing it gently in the bucket.

"Lulu left." Micah answered, still watching Cait. "Lulu was bad."

"Did Papa Jode tell you that?"

He shook his head. "Momma."

"Momma? You mean, Sarah?" Cait deposited a second snake in the bucket.

Micah looked at Cait apace before nodding. Cait wished she could have read the expression in the boy�s eyes.

"You collect these for your Uncle, then?"

The boy didn�t seem to recognize the word.

"You uncle? Jode?" Cait dropped the last snake in the bucket.

"Papa Jode. No Uncle Jode, Papa Jode." The child insisted adamantly. "Papa Jode." He responded. a little agitated.

"Papa Jode." Cait repeated. "What ... "

"Scully! Cait! I found ... " Mulder appeared out of nowhere. Micah�s eyes opened wide in terror at the interruption and he quickly picked up the bucket and ran off, as quickly as he could.

Cait started after him but Scully put out a hand to restrain her. " I seriously doubt he�ll talk to us again."

Cait had to agree.

"Here." Mulder handed her a plastic evidence bag. "I�m sure if you have that analyzed, you�ll find out it�s molted snake skin, from a boa."

Cait looked at the translucent flakes in the bag. "Even if they are, unless we find the snake on the premises, we�ll never get a conviction. We don�t have a body." Cait continued, "And I�d like to see us try to convince a jury that Jode allegedly trained his as-yet-unseen pet boa constrictor to crush a girl who he allegedly raped and impregnated and who may have been running away to report him to the authorities, none of which can be prove because we�ve lost the body and have no way of blood-testing the fetus to see if it could possibly be Jode�s" She looked up the way that Micah had run. "We have nothing until we find that snake."

Unlike the previous night, the camp was silent and the moon offered little illumination. Mulder crept around the wall of the worship house, aware of the movement of the two others behind him even thought they were as silent as he was. He stopped and Scully and Cait moved in opposite directions. They returned moments later.

"Clear." Scully whispered.

"Clear." Cait whispered.

Mulder moved to enter the building, but felt a hand on his arm.

"I should go. You and Scully are more used to working together like this."

Mulder shook his head, then realized Cait couldn�t see his response. "You haven�t seen the inside of that place; I have. I know exactly where those boxes are."

After a moment, the hand released his arm.

The door wasn�t locked, and was, thankfully, well oiled. He slipped inside and topped, listening for any sounds that might indicate that he was not alone. Hearing none, he clicked on his flashlight.

He oriented himself, looking towards the back wall and trying to guess where the altar was before moving in that direction. Playing the beam of light over the altar, he found the crates. He moved towards them.

Padlocked shut, all of them.

Turning he shone the light around the windowless room, searching for a crow-bar of some sort, anything he could use to pry open those locks and gain access to the danger within.

His beam picked up a ladder leaning to a loft area, high above the building floor. Maybe there�d be something up there.

His light focused on the ladder, he moved in that direction. Halfway there, he tripped suddenly, hitting the wooden floor with a dull thud. Pain shot through his nose and he felt the warm wetness of blood.

At the same time he felt it, something heavy across his ankles, and he reached down--probably a rope in some primitive boobytrap for snooping FBI agents.

What he felt did not feel like hemp.

What he felt was moving, curling, insinuating itself under and over his legs, to his knees now, winding it�s way up, slowly increasing it�s pressure.

He�d found the boa.

"Scully!" he yelled, not caring whether the entire camp heard it, hoping at least his partner would.

He stayed still, remembering that if he struggled the snake would probably climb faster, increase the pressure faster, crush him faster, kill him faster. Or maybe that was quicksand.

The door swung open and two figures appeared, one towering over the other.

"Mulder! Mulder, where are you?"

"Over here." He screamed, feeling the thing start around his hips.

Cait�s light shone in his direction, picked up his still body, ran down and saw the snake.

He saw Scully aim and the flash of fire from her gun barrel was followed by a thunk then pain in his leg and he yelled. Suddenly the pressure abated, and his legs were free from the crushing coils of the big snake.

"Where is it? Where the hell did it go?" Cait entered the building and Scully ran to Mulder. Just as she thought, the bullet hadn�t even touched him, had probably embedded itself in the girth of the snake.

"You shot me again." Mulder muttered as Scully helped him to his feet.

Cait�s flashlight beam ran over the floor around Mulder, to the sides. They heard the sound of something slithering through hay come from up above them.

"The loft." Cait moved to the ladder and was on the first rung when a shout came from the doorway.

"Don�t go up there."

All three turned to the door to see Papa Jode framed in it, candle in hand, and figures running from other parts of the compound, converging on the meeting house.

"There�s a murder weapon up there." Cait started climbing the ladder again. Jode stepped forward and Mulder pulled his weapon on him, other hand holding a handkerchief to his nose.

"I wouldn�t interfere with a murder investigation if I were you." He warned, seeing Cait move further up the ladder with Scully right after her out of the corner of his eye.

They walked carefully, Cait�s swinging her flashlight beam in slow arcs while Scully swung the Mulder�s dropped light in the opposite direction.

They heard the sobbing in the corner.

The twin lights arrived at the same point at Micah�s huddled figure.

"Micah, where�s ..."

Scully�s light picked up the blood pouring from the right side of the boy�s chest ... from a gunshot wound.

"Oh sweet Jesus!" Cait croaked as she realized what had happened.

"Scully! Cait! What�s going on up there?"

Mulder�s voice carried up to them.

Before they could answer, a scream came from the door and Sarah busted through the crowd. Jode caught her shoulders as she ran past him but she flung him off, right into Mulder who stumbled as he tried to stop himself from falling with the huge man on top of him. When he�d righted himself, he saw Sarah�s foot disappearing over the ladder.

Sarah stop and faced the two women with weapons drawn in front of her. Her feral gaze lit on her child, whimpering in the corner and tears began to flow from her eyes.

"Let me at my child." Sarah�s tone held warning.

"Stay back." Scully�s voice was as dangerous.

"Mama?" The child�s voice trembled, weakened, dying.

For a moment, no one moved then Cait stepped back.

"Let her through, Scully."

Scully moved and Sarah rushed to her son, knelt and cradled him to her breast. She rocked him as she cried.

"I�m a good boy, Mama. I am, I am."

"Yes, honey, you are, you are, the best boy." She whispered, still rocking. She looked up at Cait and Scully, the madness gone from her eyes, and shook her head. "He just didn�t want them to turn out like him. Micah knew he was their father and thought that ... that ... they�d be just like him, damaged. I tried to tell him, I tried, I tried ... Micah saw things he shouldn�t have seen, saw him come to me and go to the others and he thought ... he thought ..." The child in her arms shuddered once, twice then stilled and Sarah wailed, bowing over the still body in her arms.

Cait turned from the scene and looked over the ledge at Jode who, upon hearing his sister�s scream, had crumpled to his knees before a confused Mulder. Behind her, she heard Scully click on the safety of her Glock.

16 NOVEMBER
12:00 a.m.

They were to leave the next morning, back to Washington. Scully had retired early, exhausted after giving statements. Jode was in jail, though not for the murder of Lulu--or for those of the other young girls missing from the camp in the past two years. The murder--as well as unsolved cases of missing pets--was attributed to an errant boa that Jode admitted to having, though he wouldn�t look the interrogator in the eye when he�d admitted it. No boa was found around the camp. Briggs still had deputies on alert for it but the Federal agents knew they�d never find one.

Cait looked out the upstairs porch window to see Mulder sitting quietly on the swing, looking out over the mountains. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and went outside.

"Hi." She said, moving to lean against the banister next to him.

His eyes flicked over to her, to the bottle in her hand. "What�s that?"

"It�s a root bottle." She explained. "An old, local southern tradition. This one�s been aging for about a year and a half now." As Mulder still looked a little nervous about the prospect, Cait explained. "It�s gin, with juniper berries, cinnamon stick and a little ginger root thrown in for good measure."

She offered it to him.

He shook his head. "Don�t drink."

She shrugged, "Neither do I ... often. But I find that a little of this keeps the cold out."

Debating a moment, he reached for the bottle. He was cold; inside he was cold.

The liquor burned down his throat, leaving an aftertaste of spicy-sweet honeyed cinnamon. Immediately, warmth filled him and he grinned as he handed it back to her.

"Local brew?" He asked. He saw spots before his eyes.

She nodded her head, taking it from him as she moved to sit on the opposite side of the swing. The bottle was placed between them.

"Where�s Scully?" he asked after his partner.

"She�s asleep." Cait answered. "I don�t think she�s quite justified shooting that kid."

Mulder was silent.

"The blood test results came back from the lab. It was Micah�s blood spattered on your pants leg." Cait told him, knowing he wouldn�t like the news.

He shook his head. "It wasn�t Micah. It was a boa."

"I know that." Cait conceded. "We all know that because we all saw it. But there was no boa in that building, no boa in the loft, ... and it was Scully�s bullet in Micah�s chest." She took a drink from the bottle, not knowing what else to say.

She shrugged. "Maybe it�s these mountains. People in the mountains are always seeing things that aren�t there. Like abominable snowmen and ghosts and ..."

"Lights in the sky?" Mulder completed the sentence, taking another gulp from the bottle.

Cait smiled. "Yeah. Ever wonder why it�s always the hillbillies who always report the UFOs?" She gestured to the bottle in his hand. "There�s your answer. Root bottles and moonshine."

He placed the bottle back between them.

They sat in companionable silence, looking out.

In the distance, a light appeared, moving across the sky quickly before disappearing.

"Too fast for an airplane." Cait intoned.

"Too slow for a shooting star." Mulder countered.

Simultaneously, Cait and Mulder looked at the bottle between them.

Continue to Uroborus II