PART FIVE Please pardon me as this part is extraordinarily cheesy. Check part one for disclaimer XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Part five-Evacuation, or Welcome to the land of the late, great, plot device The normal childlike raucousness of the playground was now replaced with the noise of ambulances, police cars, assorted members of the police force, and two F.B.I. agents. Scully rushed up to an EMT and gave him an order to take to the hospital. "Tell Dr. DeLuca as soon as the bloodwork for this kid comes in to get us a copy of it down at the police station." "Yes, ma'am," the EMT said, and pushed the gurney holding the small child into the waiting ambulance. The sound of the siren starting up was hardly heard over the already loud din made by the assortment of kids beginning to gather at the now barred off entrance to the playground. Scully noticed that Molly and Alec were in this crowd. Scully's eyes followed the ambulance for a few seconds, then they went on to where Mulder was once again talking with Captain Avery. Her feet followed and soon she found herself face to face with the two men. "How's the boy?" Mulder asked. "Same as the others. Did you find out who he is?" she asked, looking between the two men. Avery nodded. "Yeah, but I don't want to go into it here. Let's wait till we're back at the station," he said, motioning with his head at the throng of students milling around, shouting questions at whatever officers were in hearing distance. "Are all of the students out of the schools yet?" Mulder questioned, looking at the students. "I'll find out," Avery said and called to one of his officers. "How many students have been sent home so far?" "Well, the high school has been let out, but the academy is still in session," the officer said, looking almost too eager to finally be out working on a case. "Thank you," Avery said, and the young officer walked off. "Well, there's not much else we can do here until the forensic team arrives, we might as well let the school know they can go home. It would probably make the team's job easier," Scully suggested. Mulder shrugged his concurrence. "Sounds good to me," Avery stated. The three began to make their way through the throng of students that seemed to have multiplied in a matter of seconds. They walked up the large front steps of the school and entered the building. The walked to the principal's office in the front hallway and knocked on the door. The principal, another nun, pulled it opened and looked at Avery, the only familiar face out of the three. "Yes?" "There are going to be more people coming to investigate here so it would be best if you dismissed the rest of the students for the rest of the day," Avery said. The principal nodded. "That's fine, but we're going to have to go around and tell the classes ourselves. The P.A. system is down today." Avery and the principal went off into the back wing of the school, past the cafeteria, and Scully and Mulder took the two classes in front of the building. Mulder knocked on the door to the kindergarten room and waited for the answering call from inside. When it came he pulled open the door to see a bunch of small, uniform clad kids crowding around the windows to find the source of the sirens. Watching over them was a matronly, grey haired woman dressed in a simple blouse and skirt. The light glinted off her reading glasses, efficiently hiding her eyes. "Yes?" she asked him. "The students are being dismissed for the day to make the police's job easier," Mulder said, still standing in the doorway. "The buses should be here in about twenty minutes." "Thank you," the grey haired woman smiled at him. Mulder nodded, feeling slightly awkward, and closed the door. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX The grey haired woman, Helen Calvert, stared at the door a few moments after the young man closed it. When she first saw his face her mind jumped years back into the past, to the face of a little boy she'd only had for one year in one of her earliest preschool classes before he mysteriously disappeared. Even after all these years she was still friends with the little boy's mother, Catriona Ramsay. That man seemed like he could have been the little boy, Fox, all grown up. Could it be after all these years, by pure chance...that it could be him? In a split second Helen made the decision to tell Catriona about this man, maybe to alleive some of the pain she'd carried for thirty-five years. 'But right now,' she thought as she turned to the kids scrambling for their bags and jackets, 'I've got these children to worry about.' XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "Is our bus coming any time soon?" Molly whined as she scanned the bustling parking lot with her hand over her eyes to block the sun. "We're not taking the bus," Alec said decisively as he walked up the Academy stairs to get a better look at the school grounds. Molly's eyes followed him up the stairs with a look on her face. "We're not?" she repeated snidely. He looked down at her apologetically. "I called Gramma when you were getting your stuff. She said to go to the bakery, along with Robynne, Brian, and Juliette. Which means..." he trailed off. Molly's face grew sour. "Damned mass transit," she muttered. At that moment two kids came rushing down the stairs, the smaller crashing into Alec's legs. "Where's the bus?" Juliette Parker asked as she untangled herself from his legs. Alec glanced down at his eight-year-old cousin, and then to her ten year old brother Brian. They both had classic Ramsay looks, taller than most with hazel eyes, but hair darker than his inherited from their father's side. "We got to take the public bus today. Gramma wants us to go to her bakery because no one's going to be home to take care of you." "Can't we go to Mom's bookstore instead," Brian whined. "And miss out on free food?" Molly grinned, trying to get him to come without argument. "Good point," Brian conceded. "So why aren't we walking to the bus stop?" Alec grimaced himself and began to look around the school grounds once more over various statues of saints, grass, and parking lots. "We're waiting for Robynne." Juliette giggled. "There're people and cops going around saying we can go home because the P.A. died again. I don't think they figured out yet that there's classes in the cottage." Molly looked up at Alec. They both sighed and simultaneously sat down on the steps, resigning themselves to a long wait due to the incompetence of the N.Y.P.D. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Mulder walked over to where Avery and Scully were standing in the front part of the principal's office. "I think that's it," he said. "Okay, let's get back to the station then," Scully said. "I'd like to take a look at the blood work on the latest victim." The principal walked into the room. "Did you remember the kids in the cottage?" she asked. Mulder glanced at Scully, who gave the unspoken equivalent of an 'Uh-oh.' "Cottage?" Avery said, voicing all their concerns. The principal nodded. "That little building to the right of us. There are a few classes in there. Can I assume you didn't tell them yet?" she asked as she crossed her arms over her chest. Mulder, Scully, and Avery looked at each other and reached a mutual decision. "I'll got tell them," Mulder said, and walked towards the big double doors. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Robynne Ramsay was bored. Make that really bored. One of the most bored eighth graders on the planet. She stared out the top floor windows at the school grounds-slash-parking lots, and twirled a strand of golden brown hair around her index finger. The grounds were bustling full of most of the population of N.D.A., yet Sister Anne Marie still persisted to teach. Her hazel eyes glinted in the light from the sun. Something was happening down there, and she wanted to be a part of it. She was smart enough to figure out the commotion was probably because all the cops and feds that had been crawling around the place since this morning, and randomly over the past few weeks, at least according to what Alec, her older brother, had told her. Sister Anne Marie began to drone on once more. "Okay class, can anyone tell me--" she was cut off by the sound of a sharp rap on the door. Robynne glanced up at the sky, as she often did, and mouthed 'thank you'. Like every other student in the class, Robynne turned to see who was at the door. The door was pulled open by Sister Anne Marie to reveal a tall, dark haired, hazel eyed man. "How can I help you?" she asked. Robynne's jaw dropped and she stared at the man. He could have been Alec's twin brother, except about fifteen years older. 'Okay,' she thought, 'there are coincidences, and there are coincidences, and then there's this. It's just too damn spooky.' She didn't hear any words that were spoken between the man and Sister; she was too busy lost in thought and staring off into space. By the time she came back to herself she realized the room was empty and Sister was standing over her. "Day dreaming?" Sister asked in an icy cold voice. Before Robynne could respond she spoke again "Class has been dismissed for the day. Get out of here." Robynne grabbed her bag and vaulted out of her seat for the door. Her first step would be to find Alec. He was going to have to hear about this one. She took the cottage stairs three at a time in her haste, and then burst out the door to the warm, early fall day. "Where are they?" she muttered, standing amidst students bustling around her trying to find their parents, buses, siblings, and the like. Robynne quickly spotted Molly's flaming hair that stood out sharply, and where one was, the other usually wasn't far off. She ran over to them, arriving breathless and panting. "Calm down, Robbie," Alec said, standing up. "You are not gonna believe what I just saw," Robynne gasped out. "One of the FBI agents--" "Let me guess," Alec said, looking over at Molly, "tall, dark haired, looks a hell of a lot like me?" he asked wryly. Alec and Molly began walking off the steps to leave the school property. "We know," they chorused. Robynne looked at Brian and Juliette, then up at the sky. "Can't we just marry them off already?" she pleaded to the sky. Brian and Juliette giggled, and then they all ran to catch the public bus. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Back at the 121st precinct the people working on the case were gathered in a conference room to discuss the latest developments. Avery stood at the head of the room and opened the file he was holding. "Latest victim is Jason Ericson, age ten. Preliminary exam says he exhibits the same symptoms as the others." Mulder broke into Avery's speech. "Whoever this is broke his pattern." He looked at Scully and she nodded slightly, she'd seen the differences too. Mulder continued. "This latest victim is only ten years old and in the fifth grade class. That's a far cry from the other victims. It's also been less than a week between attacks. The other attacks had at least seven days between them." Avery's second in command, Lewis Fishman, a tall, African American man with thinning hair, spoke up. "So whoever is poisoning these kids is becoming less selective with his victims." "He's escalating," Scully said. "Meaning we better find this guy before he speeds up even more and gets more random with his victim selection." There was a knock on the conference room door. "Yeah," Avery said gruffly. A small woman in a flowery dress opened the door with a wary expression on her face. "Sir," she began, wringing her hands together nervously, "there's a reporter from the Advance outside. She wants to ask you some questions about the boy who was found behind N.D.A. today." "Shit!" Avery exploded and slammed his fist down on the table. "I thought I had called for a media blackout on this whole situation." So far no one who wasn't involved with the case or the victims hadn't heard about the first four attacks, but now it suddenly changed. "You did," Fishman reassured. "But we can't control who the high school kids talk to. One of them probably mentioned it to someone, and somehow it got to the press." Avery took a deep breath and unclenched his fist. He turned back to the group. "All right. The media blackout is still on. Anyone asks any questions-no comment!" Hearing this the woman in the flowered dress shut the door to go deal with the reporter. Avery sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Now how are we supposed to catch this bastard?" "I think," Mulder started "we're going to have to catch this guy in the act. The only things that indicate the kids were attacked are that they're left in relatively the same spot. As gruesome as it sounds we're going to have to catch this guy mid attack." "It's going to be a bit hard to stake out a forest though?" another voice spoke up. "A forest that size? It's going to be very hard to surveille that inconspicuously," Avery said, biting his lip. "The thing is we've got to get people out there as soon as possible." Mulder felt a strange buzzing, whirling feeling inside his head. Discretely he leaned back against the conference room wall and shut his eyes. An idea, from somewhere unknown, began to form in his head. But this wasn't a normal idea, though, it was more of a feeling. A feeling that something was going to happen. Eventually, or in the space of a few seconds, he found his lips were forming a word. 'Tomorrow,' he kept mouthing, and then suddenly his eyes popped open and his head cleared. Whatever or whoever it was was going to attack again tomorrow. He straightened up and looked over at Scully, poring over the latest tox screen that was just delivered. Avery was staring at a map of Grimes Hill frustrated, trying to find exactly where would be the best place to position his men. "Dammit, we're not going to be able to get this many people out until Sunday," Avery muttered, mentally calculating how many men it would take to provide a good watch over the forest. "Scully and I can go out there tomorrow," Mulder piped up. Both Scully and Avery looked at him, the former with a 'what the hell are you talking about' look on her face, the latter with a 'you have two heads' expression. "Hear me out," he said. "Scully and I haven't gotten a good look at where the other four kids were found yet. We'll go out to look at those, and it we run into anything, we're armed and we have our cell phones." Scully bit back a comment about how many times he'd lost his gun and his cell phone. Avery shrugged. "What the hell. It can't hurt. Just be careful and carry extra bullets. I've got enough problems with this case already." "Okay," Mulder said. Scully walked over to him with a stern look on her face. He just knew that she was going to say something about it. "Can I speak to you for a sec, Mulder?" Scully asked, jerking her thumb to the door to the conference room. "Sure," Mulder said, and they walked out of the room. Scully led them down the hall to one of interrogation rooms. Once in there she turned to face him with fire in her eyes. "What the hell is going on Mulder?" she asked with an edge to her voice. "We've got to be out there tomorrow. This thing is going to attack again tomorrow and we've got to be out there to stop it," Mulder insisted. "But how do you know?" Scully asked, pushing her face close to his. "I've got a feeling," Mulder said, looking down at her. "A feeling?" "Yeah. I know it sounds like a weak idea, but I've got such a strong feeling that this thing is going to be out there again tomorrow, and we can catch this creature," he pleaded. "Why don't you just ask Avery for some men to come with us then for an informal stakeout?" Scully asked, trying to urge him to think rationally. Mulder sighed and propped himself up on the table in the small, dark room. "I would ask them but I honestly don't think they'll be able to help us catch this creature." "It's a creature now?" Scully asked, puzzled. "Call it Fox Mulder's spooky sense," he grinned. "And it's telling me that we have to be out in the forest behind the school tomorrow, early tomorrow morning, in order to stop the creature." Scully was still wary, but Mulder's deep conviction in his feeling was something she knew to trust. "Okay," she conceded. "But if this feeling of yours lands you in the hospital again, I won't be responsible for my actions," she finished sternly. Mulder hopped off the table, grasped her by the upper arms and placed a light kiss on her forehead. "Don't worry," he said softly. "Everything will be fine." "I hope so," she said, but even that couldn't allay the sense of foreboding building in her stomach. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX END PART FIVE- Evacuation or Welcome to the land of the late, great plot device I apologize for my comments about the NYPD. They are actually my own gripes about the cops in my area, who are basically a bunch of schmucks.