TRIPLICATE

I had to keep running, I had to keep running. I didn't want to go back there, never again, never, ever again. I couldn't help but be scared, but thankful I was, that I could still feel that emotion. My time in that place, it had seemed to sap every ounce of my being from me. The adrenaline flowed through me, and I was grateful. I think it's the only thing that kept me going, because physically, I could barely stand up. Whatever they did to me, they did a complete job and they did it well. I just hoped that I could get away.

The darkness helped, and although I had no idea what time it was, I knew it had to be late. No one was out, not a person, not a car. The lights in the houses whose backyards I transgressed were blackened, and I know that I hadn't heard an airplane flying overhead. I was in a neighborhood, from the looks of the houses, it was the suburbs, but of what city, I don't know. It didn't matter, not at all. Anywhere but here, that's where I needed to be. So I did the only thing that I could think of doing, I ran.

I was with someone else, someone who was in the same condition as mine, maybe a bit worse. He looked bad, and considering how I felt, I must have looked just like him. He must have been driven by the same fear, the same terror that I was, because he kept up with me step for step. Over fences, in-between cars, through bushes, it didn't matter what was in our path, we would get out of this place.

We couldn't afford to stop, not even to catch our breaths. I could still hear them coming after me, but I didn't dare look over my shoulder. That would cost me time, something that I didn't have. I kept my head straight, my goal within my sites, and I hoped that just a little dab of luck would fall upon my comrade and me.

We were in the backyards now, running from house to house, clearing the fences like Olympic hurdlers. Then, something that I would have never had guessed tripped me and my new friend up…a pool. A support beam caught my friend, sending him rolling to the side. That caught my attention, and as I looked towards him, I ran into the pool itself.

I fell to the ground, in shock at my own stupidity, trying to hold myself to ease the pain that I felt. The collision caused a ripple of agony throughout my entire being, causing me hold myself and cry out in pain. I felt something pop in my ankle, which was perhaps the worst thing that could have happened. My new friend also seemed down for the count; he hadn't moved an inch since he tripped.

I felt the breeze pick up, it was cool, but not as cool as I thought it would be. I gathered my strength, and picked myself up, attempting to lean myself against the pool, at least to sit up. I heard, faintly, albeit, in the distance, the approaching security personnel that were on our tails, and I knew that our attempt at escape had been foiled. I wondered what they were going to do to us, but I knew it couldn't be worse than the things that they had already done to us. I couldn't remember exactly what they were, but I felt what they had accomplished. I felt like I was going to die, I felt like I wanted to die.

In an instant, I made a decision that I knew I could never make if I were of sound mind and body. Well, neither of those were all that sound at the moment, and I knew that I would rather die than let them do anything else to me. I knew the only course that I could take, although I knew that it was the cowardly way. I was okay with that, honestly, I was.

The footsteps through the leaves on the ground grew louder, and I knew that my time of action was rapidly approaching. How would I do it? I wasn't sure, but in a momentary flash of brilliance, I would come up with something, I had to. I opened my eyes, I wanted to face my captors before denying them my body and my soul. I wanted to show them that they had lost, that I had found a way to defeat their plans, that I was in control, and not them. When they finally arrived on scene, I put up the best front that I could. I don't know if they bought it, but I know that I did.

There were four of them, all dressed like mall security guards, but I knew different. They had to be trained at a much higher level than that, probably military or former military. I had no idea what kind of facility I was at, but when I escaped and found myself in the middle of a neighborhood, I began to wonder. I couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation, but then again, my mind was focused on other matters.

Each of the four guards had their weapons trained on my. I couldn't tell what they were carrying, the pain as well as the night was reeking havoc with my vision. I imagines that there were four little red laser sites trained on my heart, or my head, or some other vital organ that they would fire upon if need be. At least I hoped that was the case. "Freeze, son, we've got you surrounded." He must have been the leader, the voice was soft, with a slight southern accent to it. Although it was soft, it exuded a power that could only come from the leader of such a group. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be."

I couldn't talk, but I smiled at him. It was all that I could do. Then, the flash that I was waiting for blinded me, and I reached around the waste of my pants, as if I was reaching for something tucked into the waste band in the small of my back. They would assume a gun, and they would fire, I know they would. I waited, but continued to make my move. Although I couldn't hear it, actually, I couldn't hear anything, I saw the plume of fire and smoke escape the front of the barrels. Four shots, all within ten feet. I felt one hit, and I felt a second hit. Both shots hit square in the chest. The other two, I felt the impacts on the side of the pool in which I was leaning against. I reached to the wounds, and although I know they hit me, I didn't feel pain, or at least it wasn't comparable to the pain that I already felt. I touched the wounds, and felt the warm, moist blood seeping from the wounds. Actually, it seemed more like bubbling, to be honest. I had been trained in first aid, and I knew what that meant, the bullet had punctured a lung.

I smiled even bigger, because I knew that I would surely be dead. I had as good a chance as dying from bleeding as I did from drowning in my own blood, but it didn't matter which way I went, neither could be as painful as what I had gone through.

I realized that I had stopped breathing, probably by choice. I mean, it isn't every day that you get shot, and I probably instinctively sucked in as much air as I could to brace against the shot of impact. And now, with a lung ripped apart, any breath that I would take would definitely be filled with pain as well as blood. Maybe it would make things go quicker.

I kept my finger on the wound, feeling my blood gurgle to the surface. I saw one of the guards take out a flashlight and shine it one me. I finally released my breath. To my surprise, I didn't feel any pain as I started to breath again. I took a deep breath, but there was nothing except the rush of oxygen into my lungs. I was shocked, there must be something wrong, or I had overestimated the extent of damage that I had incurred. I took another deep breath to confirm my suspicions, and when the air came in unopposed, I knew something strange was afoot.

My smile dissolved from my face, and when I my hearing returned to me, my eyes began to widen. "Holy crap," I heard from the guard with the flashlight. "What the heck is that crap coming out from him?"

The leader walked towards me, and I put up my hands in self-defense, letting my wound secrete as much blood as it wanted to. "Oh my Lord," he said when he got a look. I was confused, to say the least. I had been shot, and surely these fine gentlemen had seen someone bleed before. I couldn't understand what everyone was so unnerved about.

The leader walked away from the group. "Keep him there," he said as he left. I saw him pull something out of his shirt. It looked like a radio. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but I knew what it was anyway. He informed his superiors that he had captured the runaways.

I sat there, still bleeding, becoming weaker and weaker, although I wasn't feeling too much more pain. "They're coming," he said to his squad, and they looked releaved.

"What is he?" asked one of the younger guards who couldn't stop staring at me.

"I don't know, son. I just don't know." They stood there, waiting for their bosses to arrive, I was sure of it. I still didn't know what it was that had these people so spooked, and I wasn't about to ask them. Then suddenly, I felt a twinge in my chest. It felt like something moved, and that something tore. The pain was sharp, it almost blinded me. I screamed an unearthly bellow into the night sky, and as I did, the four guards took a step back. Tears began to run down my face uncontrollably, an obvious reaction to the intense pain that shot through my chest.

I reached for the wound, and felt the warm, moist blood soaking in my shirt. The pain continued to increase, I knew that I wouldn't be awake for long. I heard a car door close in the background, and some noises that resembled a person running through leaves. Two men in white coats arrived, both with their backs to me, both discussing the situation with the leader.

The pain continued to worsen and I let out another howl into the night. That gained everyone's attention, but I didn't care too much because I was fading fast. I felt like I was going to die, and that time would be very, very soon. I was relieved, although the pain was overwhelming. It would all be over soon, very soon. It also looked like I would be able to see the face of my captures before I died. They would have to show themselves quickly, because I would soon be gone. They didn't disappoint.

They were in shadows at first, behind the guards, but obviously maneuvering themselves for a better look. My eyes got heavy, I could hardly keep them up. The already dark night was becoming darker, but I had to stay conscious to see them, I just had to. Then, I did. I wish I hadn't. I reached out for the one closest to me, and he grabbed my hand. I tried to mouth some words towards him, but I couldn't. My eyes closed, and I was lost.

When I came to, I half expected to see a big bright white light, or pearly gates, or some sort of flaming pit. I awoke in a gurney of some kind, and there was an IV stuck into my arm. Some sort of black liquid was being pumped into me, drop by drop. I felt better, that much was certain. I didn't feel the pain that I had felt before, and I knew that was a good sign, a very good sign. The black liquid, though, was a tad worrisome. It looked like molasses or something like that. It seemed to have that consistency, too.

There were electronic controls on my bed, and figuring them out was not difficult. I raised the back of the bed so I would be in the sitting position. I had never been in this place before. It resembled a basement of some kind, the ceilings were low, it was cool and damp, and there was a staircase that led up to a door. It was a fully furnished basement, actually, it was a fully furnished hospital room, or at least it was close to that.

The room was illuminated by two lights, one over my bed, and the other light was over the bed of the man that I escaped with. I finally got a pretty good look at him, he was asleep, breathing normally, with the same black goo IV hanging next to him. He had curly brown hair, and if I had to bet, I would say that he was Italian. He had that look to him.

I looked around the room, trying to find anything that would distinguish it at all. There was a door near the foot of my bed that led into a different room. Other than that, it seemed like a normal basement, well, without the two men in hospital beds, that is.

I didn't dare speak, I had no idea what the heck was going on. I was frightened, but not anymore than I had been when I escaped the place where I had been. Nothing was in my hands now, I realized that. The little freedom that I did have was an illusion, at least it was beginning to look like that. So, I did the only thing that I could. I sat there, waiting for something to happen.

It didn't take long. The door at the foot of my bed slowly creaked open, and I waited for whoever opened it to come through. Finally, a rather short woman, obviously a woman, walked through. She was in the full getup, an isolation suit that one would find on someone who was studying an infectious disease. Her face was covered by the screen, and then by the facemask she wore under it. She had an instrument in her hand, I wasn't sure what it was, but she was walking around the room. Every so often she would turn to me and look me in the eyes. Her eyes were sympathetic towards me, that much I could feel from her. No, I'm not one of those psychic people or anything like that, but I could just tell.

After she was done with whatever she was doing, she left the room again. I was tired, so I closed my eyes. Sleep grabbed my rather quickly.

I awoke to a feeling, one that I wasn't exactly sure of what it was, but it was a feeling nonetheless. I was groggy, and I felt like I was hung over, but I knew that I wasn't. When I opened my eyes, I looked immediately at my arm. Where the IV had been, a bandage had taken its place. Just above the bandage was a hand. I followed up that hand to the wrist, arm, and then the shoulder. I noticed the short, red hair first, and then the eyes, the same sympathetic eyes. I panned out, and took in her entire face. Oh my God, I knew her. I couldn't remember exactly who she was, or where I knew her from, but I knew her.

"hecko there, John. How are you feeling?"

I tried to speak, but I couldn't. The words didn't form in my mouth, but then again, if they had, I didn't think I had the capability of speech yet. I tried, dammit, I really tried. I noticed behind her was a man, a rather tall, skinny man with short, dark hair. His face didn't show too much emotion, and he was obviously only observing, letting the woman do what she had to do. He was in a suit, I could tell that much.

"Don't try to say anything, you've been out cold for almost a week." She reached for something and returned with a glass of water. "Drink this, it will help you." It did. As soon as the water hit my tongue, my mouth began to feel normal again. I was definitely dehydrated, I didn't have to be a doctor to diagnose that. I started to gulp it, but she grabbed the cup from me. "Don't force it, take it gently." I did what she said, I knew that I trusted her, whoever she was. I finished the cup slowly. When I was done, I gave it back to her. "Good job, John. Now just lie there and be still. You need to gather your strength." I looked over at my counterpart, and then so did she. "He's not so good." She put her hand on my forehead. It was soft and comforting. I felt safe, I finally felt safe. I wasn't scared anymore, I wasn't scared.

She turned towards the other man, and his expression changed. "You know him?"

She began to nod. "Yes, I do. We grew up together, at least through middle school and high school. His name is John Ford." She turned and looked me again. "We were close."

"Ah," the man said, "it's all starting to fall into place. An old high school sweetheart, eh?"

"Nothing like that," she replied quickly. "We were really, really close friends."

"Oh," he said, with a definite change in tone. "I get it."

"Didn't you have any girl friends who weren't girlfriends, Mulder?"

He smiled at her. "A gentleman never tells his secrets."
"Ha ha, very funny. Help me check on this guy over here."

"Did you go to college with him? A study group member or something?"

"Shut up and hand me the thermometer." He did as she instructed, and she took his temperature. I watched it all happen, all the time trying to understand what she was saying. I did know her, only I didn't remember. Apparently, we were friends, too. I closed my eyes, I had already exhausted my stamina allotment for the time being, and went back to sleep.

The next time I woke up, I was feeling almost one hundred percent. I sat up, and swung my legs over the side of the bed. It was time to stretch the legs a bit, take a stroll around this basement, and figure out where in the heck I was. The man with the woman, the woman I supposedly had been friends with in the past, the man named Mulder, was seated in a recliner not too far from the beds. "Welcome back to the land of the living," he said to me.

"Thanks," I croaked out, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I felt tired, but I felt good. That was the most important part of the whole thing. I felt good. "Do you know where I am?" I asked, knowing that he knew, but not knowing anything else. It was a simple question, actually.

"You're in a basement of a house in outside Norfolk, Virginia."

"Virginia?"

"Yeah, Virginia. Do you remember anything at all, Mr. Ford?"

I shook my head, I hadn't a clue at all. I couldn't remember a thing, which was very, very disturbing. I remembered my name, only because they had said it before. I knew it was right, though. "I don't remember anything, except being locked up."

"Locked up?"

"In some kind of, well, it seemed like a jail, or a prison, but there was more to it." I tried hard to think of where I had been, and what had happened to me. I couldn't come up with anything at all. "There was more to it, but I can't remember a damn thing from it."
"Are you sure about that?"

I nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. I can hardly remember anything."

He nodded. He turned away for a second. "Did you really know Scully back in the old days?"

I was puzzled, I didn't know who this "Scully" was. Then, I put it together. "Oh, her. I don’t remember that, either." At least I had a name, maybe that could help me remember.

"Okay, okay. You may want to go back and lie down, you look as white as a ghost."

I laughed a little bit at that. "That's strange, because I thought that I had died." I went back to my bed, and lied down. Soon, Scully, as this Mulder referred to her, entered the room.

"Mulder, I did some more checking on that serum that we used on John and the other man."
"Well, don't keep me is suspense."

"Yeah," I chimed up, "don't keep us in suspense." She looked at me and smiled, and then continued.

"It's an experimental drug that the FDA rejected almost a year ago. The report revealed that this thing didn't actually help any of the patients that it had been used on, it only worsened their conditions."

"What is it?"

"Well, that's the thing. I don't know what it's made of, and I already have the necessary tests being run to find that out, but none of the reports listen the ingredients of it, none at all."

"That's strange, don't you think?"

"A little more than strange, if you ask me."

I decided to join in the conversation. "Are you talking about the black stuff that you pumped into me?"

She nodded. "When we found you, you already had the IV started, and I didn't want to change anything, considering the conditions you were in."

I nodded. Then, I remembered something, it just popped into my head, seemingly from nowhere. "I know what that black stuff is," I said.

Mulder nodded. "I have a sneaky suspicion what it is, too."

For some strange reason, I knew what he was talking about as well. I had been exposed to two typed of black serums, one referred to as Black Cancer, which I took as a slang term, and another black substance which was called Triplicate. Mulder looked at me anxiously, as if he was waiting for me to continue. What I was about to talk about shouldn't be heard by a lot of people. heck, I didn't even know who these people were. "I won't tell you until you tell me what the heck is going on here."

Mulder nodded. "That's fair enough." He turned to Scully. "He's your friend."
She glared at him, but it wasn't something out of anger. More like annoyance, if anything. "Let's see. Almost a week ago, we stopped a large van that we thought contained stolen pharmaceuticals. We had been tracking this case for a while now, and this was the culmination of over a month of hard work."
"Are you both some kind of police or something?"
"Not exactly," Mulder said, walking around towards a table on the far side of the room. His suit coat was there, and he pulled out his wallet. "I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder, and this is Special Agent Dana Scully, and we both work for the-"

"Federal Bureau of Investigation, yes, I know the rest. So, you picked up this van?"

Scully continued. "Yes, we stopped them, and when we told them to get out of the car, they took off. We chased them for a while, but they ran into a parked car, and then scampered. When we examined the van, we found you two in there."

"What kind of drugs were you looking for?"
"Barbiturates and hallucinogens, mostly. After we found you, we brought you down here, to this safe house."

"Why?" I asked. It seemed a little bit strange that they wouldn't take me and the other guy to a hospital. But they didn't, and I wanted to know why.

"Because of that black stuff in the pouches, Mr. Ford. I recognized it."

"I see. What's so special about the black stuff that would prohibit you from getting me the proper medical care that me and my friend required?"

"Scully is a doctor, she was treating you."

I looked at her, into her eyes, knowing that they were familiar, but not being able to place them. I paused for a second, and I got the definite impression that Special Agent Fox Mulder wasn't thrilled with what I was doing, and I knew what that meant, and I understood completely. "I see. And since I seemed to have recovered, except for my strength, I am grateful."

"So, Mr. Ford, what is black stuff, then?"

"It's a drug."

"A drug? I was under the impression that it was more like a virus."

"A virus? I think that you have this confused with something else, Special Agent Mulder. This is a drug called Triplicate."

"Triplicate? I've never heard of it."

"I don't think that too many people have. It's an experimental drug that was, as Special Agent Scully said earlier, rejected by the FDA. In fact, it was banned."

"Why?"

"Because of what it is, and what it can do."

Mulder looked skeptical, and so did Scully. I, on the other hand, looked tired. "How do you know all this, yet can't remember anything else?"

"This just kind of popped into my head as we were talking about it." I tapped on my head. "Maybe I have a memory block or something like that. I don't know why, I just know that it's in my head."

"So, do you know what Triplicate does?"

I nodded. That was part of the recall that I had so graciously been given. "Triplicate acts as a genetic inhibitor. It's something that can be used to create, essentially, a made to order organism from the start."

"Something like that would have to be used starting when the organism is conceived, then, to be effective."

Scully finally entered the fray. "I don't know if something like that is feasible, though. Obviously, if this is what you claim it to be, the repercussions would be extraordinary."

I nodded. "It's the next advancement after cloning," I said. "Now you can make any living thing to specifications that you choose-"

"Bye stopping the genetic traits that you don't want," Mulder chimed in. "This is amazing."

"And it's true."

Scully turned to me. "Then why were you being given this drug?"

I shook my head, that information hadn't come to me. Maybe it was because I didn't know, or just I didn't want to remember. "I can't tell you that. I don't remember."

I turned back to Mulder. "Did you think that this was the Black Cancer?" He seemed shocked that I would know about that. He nodded, though, confirming my suspicions. "I was given that, too."

His eyes widened, and he stepped back from me. Scully looked at me strangely, too. "What do you mean, you were given that, too?"

"I was exposed to the Black Cancer, but my body instantly rejected it. I don't know what happened, and I knew what was supposed to happen, but somehow, it didn't happen to me." I stopped, then grinned. "Although I am not totally sure what the Black Cancer is, although it seems to be a mind altering substance."

"You can say that," Mulder said deadpan. "So this genetic inhibitor, helped-" he stopped and suddenly went into the room. He pulled out the isolation suits, and handed one to Scully. "You're going to have to put this on, Scully."

He starting putting his on, and Scully knew what he was thinking, I could tell. She started to don hers, too. They were finished quickly, looking at me through the visors. It made me feel strange. "What's going on?" I asked.

Mulder started to speak. "I think I know what they did to you, Mr. Ford."

"Please, call me John."

He nodded. "Scully needs to take some blood from you to be sure."

I started to get the picture. I started to remember the awful truth. "You think it's going to be green, don't you?"

"Yes."

Scully looked at Mulder in amazement. "You think he's one of those clones?"

Clones? I remembered a rumor about the existence of a lot of clones, who were actually failures at some grand experiment, something that I think that I was a part of. I guess those rumors were just answered. "I'm not a clone. I think there's another term for it, but I can't remember."

"Guinea pig?" Mulder said immediately, then his face turned deathly sober. "Or is it hybrid?"
"Yeah, that's it." Scully approached me with a needle. She searched my arm for a vein and then stuck the needle in. But the substance that started coming out of my arm and into the vial wasn't green, and it wasn't read. It was purple.

Then I remembered…the guards. When I was shot, they freaked out.

And after the guards were there, I saw who was doing this to me. "Oh crap," I said. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap."

Scully looked at me and pulled the needle out immediately. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head, trying to get the cobwebs of my memory out of there. "Oh my God," I kept saying over and over again. I reached for my arm, rubbing the area that had been punctured. But it didn't hurt.

I calmed myself down. I told myself that there was nothing that I could do about it now, that it had already happened, and that it couldn't be reversed. It didn't make me feel any better.

Mulder and Scully were staring at me as I went through my tantrum. After I was as calm as I was going to be, I started to cry.

A few hours later, after the first meal that I had eaten in probably two weeks, I heard a groan from the other bed. I turned towards him, but Scully ran towards him. They had taken his blood sample, too, but it was more red than purple. He was still in the process of whatever changes were being made to him, and he wasn't taking it well at all.

"Mulder, we have to get this man out of here and to a hospital." The IV bag ad run out an hour ago, and Scully had replaced it with glucose. She didn't know what to do with him, not with Triplicate seeming like the only thing that could help him, and none of it being available.

"Do you think we can risk moving him?" he asked.

"We're going to have to." She turned away from him and bumped the rack of vials. The man's and mine fell to the ground. I saw Mulder swear, and then cover his mouth and nose. He shut his eyes, but when the vial shattered and my "blood" sprayed all over the floor, the reaction that he was looking for obviously didn't occur, for after a few seconds of no ill effects, he opened his eyes and uncovered his nose and mouth. He looked at it, then at me.

"My God, they perfected it."

Scully looked at him. "Perfected what?"

"He's the alien-human hybrid they have been trying to create."

"I thought you said that was Cassandra Spender."
"Just because she died and the research was lost doesn't mean they would press on. They found a new way to do it."

I knew what he was saying was true. In my heart, I knew it to be true. I didn't know for sure, but like I said, my heart told me.

"Whatever has been done to these two, this man is going to die unless we get him to a hospital."

Mulder looked at me, then at the man. "Scully, I'll take him to the hospital. You keep John hidden for the time being."

I looked at him, then at her. "I agree with that arrangement." It seemed like the best way, and I might be able to have Scully help me remember more. Then, maybe I could tell her everything that I had already remembered.

The three of us worked to get the man into a car; it was more difficult than I could imagine. Mulder and the man drove off, and I was left alone there with Scully.

"Are you hungry?" she asked me. "You probably should eat something. You're going to need your strength."

I looked at her hard, trying to remember anything about her. It was not coming back to me, none of I, no matter how much I wanted it to. "You're probably right, Agent Scully."

"John," she said, grabbing my hands, "it's me, it's Dana. Don't you remember at all?"

"I…I…I'm trying to, Dana, I really am." I pulled my hands from hers, not wanting to fill himself with empty hopes that I would recover the memories. She looked sad, like she had lost a close friend. In essence, she had. She stood up and walked for the door.

"I've got some sandwiches in the other room, I'll go get them."

I smiled at her. "Thank you, Dana." She was gone for a few minutes, and I thought about the memories that had come back to me. It was hard for me to remember them, given the ramifications of what they were. I don't know how I could live with myself, let alone face the new demons that had surfaced in my life. I wish it could be like before. The trouble is, I didn't know what before was like.

Then, out of nowhere, a wave of self-pity and sorrow filled me. It was overwhelming. It's hard to describe, but it felt like, well, it felt like I was shown the future, every single problem, solution, love, and hatred that was to come, yet I could not act on it. I started to weep, not out of self-pity, or out of fear for myself. I wept for the life that was taken away, and the overstuffed life that I inherited from it.

I put my head in my hands, trying not to make a sound. I heard Dana walk in the room, and I heard her stop. She noticed what was going on, and I knew that I had to tell her, tell her everything that I knew. I looked up at her, cheeks soaked with tears, eyes red from the same, and I reached for her, scared once again of everything around me. "I don't know what to do," I cried to her as she put her arms around me. "They took everything away from me." I felt her arms around me, I smelled her hair and her skin. Some people say that smell is the most powerful trigger for past memories. They may be right. Everything about her and I flooded my brain, I remembered it all. It only made me cry harder.

"I'm going to help you, John," she said to me. "We'll find out who did this to you, and we'll make it better, I promise." She was gently rocking me back and forth, it was comforting, extremely comforting. I remembered what we meant to each other back when we grew up. We understood each other then, we were a perfect fit, best friends who had everything in common. No secrets, no lies, we were completely and totally honest with each other. We could talk about anything, and usually did. We weren't in love, no never in love, that would have ruined our perfect friendship. We were friends, and that was good enough for us.

I tried to gather myself, and did a fairly remarkable job. I only had the sniffles when I looked up at her. Something in my eyes gave me away, because she smiled at me, just like she did before, back in the old days. "You remember, don't you?" I shook my head yes.

"Just now, it all came back to me. Well, maybe not the entire set of memories, but I know about us, about what we meant to each other." I wiped the tears from my cheeks, and she fixed my hair a bit.

"I figured it was only a matter of time."

"There is something else that I remember, too," I started. "I know who did this to me."
She immediately became the hardened FBI agent that I had already seen bits and pieces of. "Who is it?" she asked anxiously.

"It's Sean. I saw him right after they shot me."

She looked at me strangely. "Your brother Sean?" I nodded. "And you say that you were shot?"

"Yeah, in the chest." I lifted up my shirt and pointed to the point where the wound was. In its place was a red patch of skin that looked like it would eventually develop into a scar. I was as surprised as she was that the wound wasn't there, that it had healed up after only a week. I suspected that it had healed up in a little quicker time, if she had not already picked up on it.

"The wound is healed, or at least in the last stages of it. When do you say you were shot?"

"When I was running from the guards, through the backyards in the neighborhood."

She shook her head. "You never told this to us before."

"I didn't?" Hadn't I? Or had I just remembered this myself? I couldn't be sure. "It doesn't matter too much anymore, though, does it?"

"It might help us in determining just what happened to you."

I had to agree with that. With the scattered memories that had returned to me, I still wasn't sure exactly what had gone on. I know that I escaped, I know that I ran from them, and I was frightened of them, of what they did to me, and what they were going to do to me when they caught me. By some dumb luck, I was saved, and by fate, or destiny, or whatever you want to call it, the person who saved me was my best friend, my best friend from a past I hardly remembered, from a life that was forever gone. At least most of it was gone. I still had a little bit to hold onto. Too bad hope wasn't part of it.

"I'll try to remember as much as I can, Dana, but I can't promise anything."

"Just tell me all that you can."

"Up to the time that I escaped, I don't remember too much, actually nothing at all. I saw a chance to escape and I took it. My door was open, and I wasn't restrained or anything. I simply got out of bed, walked out the door, and headed out."

"What about the man that was with you? How did he get caught up in it?"

"I don't know how he got there, or why he was there, but when I was walking down the hall, his door was open, too, and I peeked my head in there. 'You want to get out of here?' I asked him, and he nodded. 'Let's go,' I said and we took off down the hall. We slipped through a side door, and we were out in a parking lot. We saw trees, so we ran for them. I thought it might be a large wooded area, but it wasn't. It cleared rather quickly into a series of backyards, houses part of a subdivision or something like that. So, we weaved in and out of the houses, and through the backyards, all the while being chased by security personnel or something like that. Eventually, the other guy tripped, and I ran into a pool. They caught us. I wanted to die, so I pretended to reach for a weapon, and they all shot at me. I know I was hit in the chest, because I felt my blood."

"Maybe they were rubber bullets or something like that?"

"I felt the entry wound, too. It was a hole about the size of a dime. I know that I was shot, and they didn't miss."

"So what about your brother, how did you know he was involved?"

"Because I saw him. He was there, he was one of the doctors that they called in to collect us."

"You saw him?"

"Something happened in my chest, some excruciating pain, it was too much for me to handle. I started passing out, I thought I was dying. I wanted to see who it was that was doing this to me. There were two doctors, one turned to me, and it was Sean. I reached for him, then I passed out. After that, I ended up here." I handled that well, surprisingly so considering the emotional roller coaster that I was riding. I was proud of myself, it was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. Sometimes, that's all that matters.

"How could your brother get involved with something like this?"

"That's where I'm confused, too. He was a physical chemistry major, and went to grad school to become a doctor. Maybe he branched out or something like that."

"At least we have a lead that we can follow."

"I guess. I don’t care about that, I just want to get back to a relatively normal life."

She gave me a half a smile. "I don't know if your life can ever be normal again."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." We sat there, just looking at each other for the longest time. I didn't know what to say, and I bet she didn't, either. It was an awkward situation, to say the least. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore. "When was the last time that we talked to each other?"

"Hmm, let me think a second. Oh yes, we wrote a few times in college, and then, we just sort of lost track of each other." Maybe that was it, but then again, maybe that wasn't the whole story. I didn't know, and maybe I would never know the whole story. I just know what's happening right now, with a few little extras thrown in.

We weren't talking again, just sitting there in silence. I didn't know what to say, everything I knew, everything I remembered had already been said. I wasn't sure how far back to probe, I didn't know if I wanted to remember anything about what happened, or how it happened. I wanted it to be over, I wanted it all to be over. It was far from over, however. Some things were puzzling me, though. "So, Dana, how did you get caught up in all of this?"

"It's a long story, John."

I looked at my wrist, but found no watch. No matter. "It seems like we have a few minutes."

She smiled and started her story. "I was assigned to Mulder rather quickly after the academy, I was sent to debunk his work."

"Debunk him? How?"

"Well, I was a scientist, and a doctor. Mulder was, and we still are, working on a project called the x-files. These were cases that remained unexplained or unsolved."

"Wow, they actually have something like that?"

"You wouldn't believe how many files he had. So, we started working together, although it was a little rough. Mulder always came up with some out there theory to explain what was happening, and I would come up with a scientific theory to explain the same. We started uncovering a very complex situation, which is still unresolved."

"A conspiracy?"

"Yes, a conspiracy. We have differing opinions as to the nature of the conspiracy, but there is definitely a conspiracy."

"Which I am a part of."

"You may be a victim of it."

"So, what do you think about the conspiracy? Is it some kind of experimental research, or is it more, um, otherworldly."

"I still don't know what to think, I've seen so many things."

"I think it's all going to heck." She looked at me kind of strangely, but then again, the conversation wasn't completely normal. Then, her cell phone rang.

"Scully," she answered, the listened. She looked at me strangely again, then hung up the phone. "Mulder will be here in a few minutes. Get ready to move."

"What?" I was confused. Something happened, something big had just happened.

"Mulder got sighted at a hospital by who he thinks is someone from the van that you were in. He didn't get to drop the man off at a hospital, and he's headed back here. He thinks he's being tailed, so we have to be ready to go."

I didn't like this at all. "This doesn't feel too good."

"I know what you mean." She headed up the stairs, and I followed. They led to a kitchen that looked extremely normal, as any kitchen would. She turned off all the lights, the entire house was bathed in darkness. I was ready to get moving, although I was already feeling light-headed. I hadn't moved that much since I last escaped.

She led me to the living room, where there were a few boxes of what looked like costumes. "What are those for?"

"It's Halloween, John, and we have to disguise ourselves." She pointed at them. "Pick one."

Both were basic costumes, nothing too fancy. There was a mask and a black robe for each of them. Surprisingly the masks were the same, big giant alien heads. They were the classic aliens, the bulbous heads with the big, black slanted eyes. I grabbed one, and so did she. With the robes on, we looked like two normal, happy-go-lucky alien trick-or-treaters. "Hey John," Dana called to me after she was dressed.

"What?"

"Remind me to punch Mulder when this is over."

"Actually, I think it's a nice touch." She shook her big alien head and headed to the door.

"We're looking for a red minivan, okay?"

"Gotcha," I said. Then I thought of something else. "How will we know which minivan it is?"

"He'll pull up along side us. We'll be able to see him." I took a deep breath as Dana opened the door and stepped outside, in her hands a black pillowcase already halfway filled with candy. I saw one that I thought must be for me, and I picked it up.

"heck, you two thought of everything, didn't you?"

She nodded again. "Hopefully. Come on."

I don’t know what it was, but immediately my head started to pound. I got extremely hot almost instantly, and I had to slow as a result. Dana knew something was wrong almost instantly. "What is it?" she asked immediately.

"I, I don't know. I feel terrible all of a sudden."

"We have to keep going," she said with a strong determination that helped my fight through the pain and heat. She grabbed my hand, and our fingers interlocked. She pulled me down the street. "Mulder will be here any second, and then we have to get out of here."

The scene outside was unlike any that I had remembered, event though my memory wasn't so good. The street was filled with costumed children and their costumed parents, all of them laughing and skipping and jumping about. It was a great scene, it was happy, it was life, it was the way that it should be. Little did they know what they were walking close to, something, namely me, that may be the harbinger of doom to the entire planet. I didn't know that for certain, not at all, but damn, that was the feeling that I had consistently. Whatever was done to me wasn't done for any good reason, that much was for sure.

These children laughed and played and had a good time, never thinking that today might be their last day, that the world was going to change in a way that would effectively take their lives. I felt sorry for these happy children, I didn't want what happened to me happen to any of them.

"There he is," she said, pulling me towards the approached red van. A white van turned the corner moments after Mulder had, and the continued their pursuit, albeit a low speed pursuit. Whoever these people were, they didn't seem willing to run over a bunch of children to do what they had to.

The closer we got to the van, the worse I felt. My head started to pound, I could feel my pulse increasing rapidly, the world seemed to start spinning around me. I was having trouble walking, but I pressed on, pressed on as much as I could. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we made it to the van. The side door slide open, and me and Dana climbed in. Mulder was in the driver's seat, and the other man was in the passenger's seat, and he was awake. "Everyone buckle up for safety," Mulder said, "this could get a little unsafe."

The man was visibly ill, and his grip on consciousness was probably tenuous at best. "I'd like to introduce you to Antonio." He didn't move too much as Mulder told us his name. "He woke up as I pulled into the emergency entrance, and then reacted to one of the guards at the door. I thought it was best that we relocate ourselves."

Dana helped me get situated, but sitting down had already helped me out. Too much movement too soon was the probably cause of my condition, at least I hoped that was the only cause. I didn't think I was that bad off, I guess I was.

When I was secure, she turned to Mulder. "What's your plan?"
"You're gonna love this one, Scully. My plan was to pick you up, and then have you come up with a plan."
"Great." She sat back, thinking. "Where can we possibly go."

"Away from them," he exclaimed and swerved hard to the left. Three more cars pulled out in front of the van, cutting us off, forcing us on the sidewalk. "Hold on, it's gonna be a bit bumpy." Mulder gained control of the van, narrowly avoiding a group waiting to cross the street. Mulder got the van back on the street, and accelerated. The cars fell in behind us in hot pursuit. Mulder turned hard, and then turned hard again, but the cars stayed on out tails.

"I can't shake them." Then I heard gunshots coming from behind, and I felt one of the rear tires explode. The van veered to the right, and I thought we were going to tip. We were still moving, but decelerating, too. "Hold on, I'm gonna make a run for the park up there." He guided the wounded vehicle into the parking lot, and stopped. "Let's go," he said and then jumped out of the car. He took out his gun, Dana did the same. I unbuckled myself and opened the side door. Mulder went around and opened the passenger door, helping Antonio out of the van. He started running for a patch of trees ahead, Dana and myself were not too far behind.

We entered the cover of the trees as we heard the cars skidding to a halt in the parking lot behind us. We couldn't stop now, they'd be running after us. We kept moving forward, hoping that we could find something to shelter us. To our surprise, we did.

The fuselage of an old aircraft was on display. The door was open, obviously people could go inside and see what it was like to fly inside one of these. The fuselage itself was probably resistant to small arms fire, which was probably was we would be encountering, so this was the best chance that we had. Since it was evening, no one was in the park, which was a stroke of luck for everyone involved.

We made it into the fuselage before they emerged from the trees. We watched through small windows as flashlight after flashlight popped into view, and then emerged from the trees. There were at least ten of them, and I would imagine that they all had weapons. When they exited the trees, they stopped, trying to pick up on our trail. With any luck, the trail would grow cold and they would retreat back to their cars and leave us. No such luck.

They knew exactly where to find us, and all the flashlights seemed to point at the fuselage at the same time. We were caught, we knew it. "How far are you willing to go for this, Agent Mulder?" I asked him. He flicked the safety off of his weapon.

"I don't know how much you actually know about this situation, but these are the battles that need to be fought, and won." I nodded, and understood his line or reasoning.

"I hope it doesn't have to come to that."

"Me neither."

We waited, the flashlights were holding their positions. That was a good sign. We didn't know what to expect, and all we could do was wait. Then, Antonio let out a guttural cry that shook me to my very soul. Scully looked at me and Mulder after she gave Antonio a once over. "His pulse is weakening, he's dying."

That was the worst news that we could get. I began to think that maybe Antonio could only be saved if we surrendered him to them. I couldn't live with myself if I did that, and I felt, somehow, that I would rather have him die than let him be their guinea pig, their lab rat. It wasn't my call, though. I bet Mulder was thinking the same thing I was. I wouldn't get the chance to ask him, though, because a voice cut through the tension and the night.

"This is Dr. Ford. I know that you are in there, and it is very important that I talk to Lieutenant Commander Ford, please."

I felt my eyes widen, and also the piercing stare of Mulder and Dana on me. "Lieutenant Commander?" Mulder asked me, rhetorically, I think. I shrugged my shoulders, I didn't remember that at all. But then the voice continued.

"I need to speak to him, it concerns the man that is accompanying him. If I don't act soon, he will die."

Mulder nodded and then got closer to one of the small windows. "We need some assurances."

"Name them."

"You can come in here, alone. Also, none of your goons can follow you in here, they stay were they are."

There was a short pause. "Accepted. I'm coming in."

We, well I was anxious to see what would develop out of this. My brother was on his way, and he had called me lieutenant commander. I was a bit worried about what I was going to learn, but I couldn't let that deter me from the truth. I did remember something, though, that a friend had told me. The truth is a pain in the can that will set you free. It will set you free, but never forget that it is a pain. Well, the truth was walking towards me right now.

I felt strange, and it wasn't physical. All of a sudden, I knew that Dana and Mulder couldn’t dare trust me, even with all they had gone through. I wasn't sure what to think, because my only hope for salvation had doubts. And what of this poor man, Antonio, whose life now seemed to rest in my hands. It was hard to think of what was going to happen, what I was going to learn. I was scared again.

Dr. Sean Ford approached the fuselage and immediately had a gun pointed at him. Mulder was taking no precautions, and I didn't blame him for that. "Step inside slowly," he instructed, and Sean did exactly that.

"I'm not armed, Agent Mulder. I'm hear to help my brother, and Lieutenant Martucci."

"Wait a second, Dr. Ford. Are you saying that both of these men are military?"

"Yes, I am. They probably don't remember too much, do they?"

"No, they don't."
"That's the side effect of the treatments. I can get you personnel files, if you need them."
I stepped from the shadows and into the conversation. "Sean, what is all this? What did you do to me?"

"I saved you, John."

"What?" I said. I was totally confused.

"When we found them," Dana started, "they were being treated with a failed experimental drug that only has a few, rather obvious and terrifying uses."

Dr. Sean Ford looked at Dana Scully for the first time in years, back when he was in middle school and high school, back when his older brother John and her had a strong friendship. "Dana, is that you?"

"Never mind that, Sean. What about Triplicate."

"It's good to see you, Dana, after all these years. I thought I heard stories about you in the circles, but I wasn't sure it was you."

"What about it?"

"Well, Dana, Triplicate is neither a failure or experimental. It's been used for some time now, and it is a complete success."

"What does it do?"

"It has two major uses, something which may be important to you and your partner." He pointed towards Mulder. "It is used as a so called genetic suppressor, which can be used to basically tell which genetic traits to work, and which ones not to. It's a medium to hold the programming that we want to use against the natural development cycles of just about anything that grows. It can be used on that sense to fight diseases, it's almost a generic vaccine against virtually anything."

Mulder's face lit up. "You've developed the vaccine, haven't you?"

Dr. Ford turned to Mulder. "I don't know what you are talking about," he said evenly, then he gave him a smile. Mulder nodded, he knew what that meant.

I knew what that meant, too. "What about me, though? What do I have to do with this project, then?"

He took a deep breath, which meant it was a long story. "You are the reason that I got involved in this project in the first place."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, John, you were in charge of the military side of it, and they were looking for recruits. You mentioned my name, and apparently they liked what they saw. They approached me, I refused. A little while later, they approached me with an offer that I couldn't refuse."

"They did something to me?"

He nodded. "They infected you with the Black Cancer, which is a particularly nasty virus. I was never told what it was exactly, except that you had contracted the disease, and I needed to find your cure."

"And this is my cure?"

"I am a chemistry guy, I'm not a doctor. I attacked the problem from a different angle than the doctors did, and I came up with the genetic suppressor, which is just a bunch of chemicals mixed together. They aren't biological, but they have certain influences over biologicals."

"So you got to analyze the Black Cancer?" Dana asked.

"Yes."

"What did you find?"

"I found that it is organic, it's very much like blood, but even more, damn, how can I say this, it's more meaty. It's more than just blood, it's almost like it is it's own organism. It's a remarkable virus."

Mulder spoke up. "So you don't know anything else about it than that?"

"No, not at all, no one tells me more than what I need to know. I've heard about you, though. You are off limits to any of us."

"What do you mean?"

"We aren't supposed to tell you anything at all, and to report any activities you may be involved with."

"Wow, I'm flattered."

"I bet you are."

"So what do you want to do with Antonio?"

"I need to take him back to the labs and continue treatment. He was infected with the Black Cancer, and if he doesn’t resume his treatment, he'll die."

"What about me?"

He thought for a second. "I know that I should take you back, but you are finished with your treatments. You are totally immune to the Black Cancer now, your body will reject it. If I follow my orders, then I should have you sent to the Air Force, they'll take care of you there."

That didn't sound good at all. "But I won't. I can fake your death pretty easily. Here's some vials of your blood." He pulled five vials of pink fluid from his pocket. "Break them in here, it'll be the DNA evidence we will need to identify the body."

"What body?"

"Why, yours, of course. You're already dead in my van. I'll throw your body in here and then burn the fuselage. It's a perfect setup."

"You planned this, didn't you?"

"You're my brother. You might have been part of it before, but they exposed you to get to me. I succeeded for them, but I'll take that away from them, because of what they did to us."

Mulder decided to speak again. "The vaccination exists, though, right?"

"Against the Black Cancer?"

"Yeah."

"It sure does."

"Good, then we can stop them."

"What do you mean, stop them?"

"You really don't know what the Black Cancer really is, do you?"

"No, not really."

Mulder looked at Dana, then at me, and then back to Sean. "It's extra-terrestrial."

"It's alien?"

"It is an alien. Hundreds of thousands of them. It's their essence."

"I don’t know about that, but I do know that I need to get Antonio to the lab."

Mulder shook his head, agreeing to let Antonio go. He was convinced that Sean was doing good work, work for us all. An ally, of sorts.

"Thank you, Agent Mulder."

"Just save his life."

He shook his head. "You should escape through the back of the fuselage. I'll take care of the rest." Sean reached out his hand towards me, and I took it. He had saved me, and the he let me be free. Soon, I'll be dead, at least in the eyes of the world, free of whatever hold they had on me. He took Antonio around the waist and led him from the fuselage. He watched as the flashlights retreated into the trees, and then blinked out of existence.

A week later, I found myself waking up on the couch in Dana Scully's apartment, I had been staying with her until I got all my strength back. She worked terrible hours, but when she was home, we talked. Mostly we talked about the old times, of which my memories were slowly blinking back into my head. She received a package from my brother that was really for me, and I read them. It explained that my memory may never return, that I might be stuck with a half life. I could live with that. Some things are best left in the past, and some things are best left forgotten.

I hadn't seen Special Agent Fox Mulder since that night, and I doubted that I would see him ever again. It wasn't a big deal, I was in the clear, and he had the new information that he needed for his crusade. Dana had explained it all to me, it really was a remarkable story. I wished him well, and I hoped things would end for the best.

I had read the story in the newspaper about the fire at the park, and how a certain Lieutenant Commander was killed in the fire. Why he was there, no one was sure, but suicide seemed to be the logical answer. I wasn't thrilled with that demise, but I could accept it. I had to, so I could move on.

In the package that my brother sent me, there was almost fifty thousand dollars in cash. It was enough to help me get started again, and that's all I really needed. I was going to find a nice, quiet little town and settle down, maybe work at a bar or a restaurant. Maybe, just maybe I would start writing, which was something that I dreamed of doing when I was in high school and college.

This was my final day with Dana, I was sad to see it come to an end. My new name was Michael McGuire, taking my father's first name and my mother's maiden name. Dana told me that Mulder had assigned me a new social security number, and today I would be getting the card, as well as a driver's license from the state of Virginia. She said it was essentially the witness protection program that was doing this, so everything was legal. I got a new name, a new identity, and a fresh start.

I had my brother's pager number, in case there was any kind of health emergency that would require any kind of hospitalization or medical tests. He supplied me with prescriptions for various drugs that were tailored to my condition, like pain relievers, a few antibiotics, and other common needs. I could fight of most minor illnesses now, thanks to him.

Mulder came by to say goodbye, and good luck. I appreciated that. He is a good man, a man that I could have called a friend if I could stay around. I would help him in his quest. He thanked me for that, although he knew I had to leave town. I told him to keep on fighting the good fight.

Dana and I parted on different terms. We were sad to be going our separate ways, I would cherish the time that I had with her, just like I did with our previous relationship. I wish things could have been different, I would have liked to stay close to her. Her friendship meant more to me than anything possibly could. She was in good hands with Mulder, and I could tell that they cared deeply for each other. That made me feel better about leaving.

I was given a car, actually, it was a sports utility vehicle. It was an older one, one that the witness protection program hooked me up with. I would take it and head north, probably to upstate New York. I just wanted to get away from all of the hassle that was sure to come.

The drive was gorgeous. I wasn't sure if I had been this way before, so everything was new to me, and I loved every second of it. I had a line on a job working in a tavern in the town of Dovestown, New York. It was a small town, but it was beautiful. I could live here the rest of my life. It was only a few hours to Albany from here, so I was never too far from civilization.

I settled into a small but comfortable home, renting it from the tavern owner. He was a nice man, fun to talk to and easy going. I would get along here. Soon, I met all the regulars in the tavern, which was called the Starlight Inn. I even started to write, working on a not-so-fictitious account of what actually went on back in Virginia.

I had already been there a few months before I started to actually feel like a local. I felt accepted, I felt loved, and I felt wanted. It was nice, very nice.

On night, I was working the late shift in the tavern. It was slow, there were only three people in one of the booths across the bar. I heard the door open, and then shut. The footsteps were slow and methodical, and then stopped. I heard the rustling of the barstools as this person sat down. Then, I smelled cigarette smoke. "Bartender," the man asked, "I'd like to order a drink, please."

I turned to him, and saw a face that I thought that I recognized. He was an old man, the wrinkles gave away more information than they should. He had seen a lot, done a lot, and made a lot of hard decisions. I could tell that much about him.

He slowly reached to his mouth with his cigarette firmly clinched between his thumb and index finger. "What can I do for you?"

"How about a beer?" I filled a glass with the cheapest beer we had. I gave it to him. "Thank you," he said. I was transfixed by his eyes, they seemed to burrow into my soul. He took a sip, then another drag. "I'm looking for a friend of mine," he said. "His name is Lieutenant Commander John Ford."

Oh my God, I thought to myself. He knew me. "I'm sorry," I said, "there isn't anyone in this town by that name."

"I'm sure there isn't," he said. He put the cigarette out in the ash tray in front of him, and pulled the pack out of his jacket pocket. He retrieved another one and lit it. "I am in no rush to talk with him, I just wanted to leave him a message. Can you handle that for me?"

"I told you, sir, that there is no one by that name here."

"I know you did. I know he will be here sometime soon, and I would be grateful if you could give him the message."

I sighed, and picked up a piece of paper and a pen. "Go ahead, sir. I'll keep it here in case he shows up."

He smiled. "Good, thank you. Please tell LCDR Ford that I know he's here, and I'll come calling on him soon enough?"

"That's a little dark, isn't it?"

"Oh, not really. It isn't anything bad, it's just, well, we have worked together in the past, and we will need to work together in the future."

I pocketed the note. "I'll see that if there is a LCDR Ford around, that he gets the message."

"Thank you. It's a pity I wasn't able to see my friend."

"I'm sure it was." The man got up and walked towards the door. He pulled out his wallet and threw a ten dollar bill on the bar. I watched him leave, and again, that feeling of fear started to creep back into my life. I wanted it to be over, but I guess it never would be.

THE END