From: amartin10@juno.com (Ann M Martin) -------- NEXT LIFE CHALLENGE Title: Hard Day's Night II Ann Martin Classification/Summary: Alternative universe/next life story-- Mulder and Scully, reincarnated, try to make some sense of a post-WW III world... Authors Note: This is fulfilling a request. Thanks for the first feedback. Disclaimer: I don't own this, since that would make me Chris Carter, and you can plainly see that my name is Ann Martin. I also don't own Scotty, Tas, or Chiller (they belong to the Lighthorsemen.) And, of course, my apologies to GA and DD for public humiliation. The Letters of Transit are Lochness's. ***** Mulder woke up in his corner of the wretched city. He was lonely in the dawn, but could see the sun coming up and shimmering brightly over the city. "Reconstruction," they called it, and simplification. Mulder heard the people talking about nuclear disarmament, technology, and most importantly, water and electric. The things he had until he had been thrown out of his home... into this world. Where he had found *her*. Mulder jumped up in the morning light. Where was she? Scully was missing, he didn't know where she was, and he couldn't remember her leaving in the night. He could see the pavilions with the bright orange crosses in the distance. Lines of people stood there, gathering up what they would need to carry on life. He began to walk down the alley, looking up and down at the crates and barrels . . . He ran into his younger friend, Krycek. It was said they walked on the same side of the street. He didn't care, neither of them did, when there was food and warmth, what anybody said about them. Mulder thought. "Krycek!" His friend looked up at him. "Mulder-- I've been looking all over for you. They've got her." "Who?" "The men in the van-- they took her this morning, I think she got up to make sure Pendrell hadn't come back yet." Mulder knew what that meant-- Scully had more trouble with the stronger, more powerful Pendrell. And if they were both in the Place, they would be together. She was already in enough trouble . . . ****** Scully awoke, as though she was caught in a bad dream. That's where she was, in the Bad Place, alone, and frightened. A Pedigree locked with the mongrels. Like her Fox. With the sad, puppy eyes. She couldn't have them, children to take care of like she did Mulder. She didn't know why, but there were strange things happening in the world now. Deformed children, terrified adults, and now her, with no puppies after months-- alone and afraid with a husband and no children outside waiting. They dumped him in with her about an hour later. He was severely bruised and beaten, bleeding on his back and near his neck. "Pendrell!" Pendrell looked up at her. "Where's Mulder? Did he leave you here?" "I don't think he even knows I *am* here..." "What happened, Scully?" "I came to look for you." "Why? The minute I'm out, I'm coming to find you..." "That's why I came. When you get out, we want to know." He stared at her. "It doesn't matter, it's an old grudge." "You shouldn't have carried it to this extreme." Pendrell approached her. "You had your chance to keep it from happening. He can't take care of you forever. I'll be there." They opened up the door then, and They carried her away. Through a door to a lab. Inside his soul, Pendrell knew what would happen. Vague memories... ****** The last time Mulder heard about her was *weeks* later. Pendrell slipped by their circle in the night, gathering up what was owed to him and paying off what he owed. He disappeared before Mulder could stop him. Running through the irky black night of the New District, Mulder called out to Pendrell. "What?!?" cried the mutt. "Can't I die? In peace..." Mulder spoke quietly. "What'd they.. *do*.... to you?" "Nothing they're doing to her." Mulder sighed, relieved, but there was only bad news waiting. "They took her into a separate room weeks ago. Must be her good breeding..." "For what?" Mulder cried, concerned. "Gene therapy." Mulder was confused, scared. "I don't know-- my owners weren't scientists..." Pendrell explained, "They want to use her-- to help Themselves. To show them how to fix things." And he disappeared. Forever... ****** Scully was often unconscious. They kept her in a small cage in this room, piled upon other cages of mice and small lizards. They hurt her, sometimes, when they got upset over the work, or sometimes doing the work itself... They stuck needles and probes and took samples all over, places They shouldn't have been, and it hurt sometimes. Other times, they would try to catch her in her sleep, so she wouldn't make a fuss. Scully was fast turning into just another Pendrell. When the dreams drove her to the edge of insanity, when she missed Mulder so much she didn't know if he was even there any more, she got anxious, and if anybody tried to touch her, she bit, hard and fast. She picked up an attitude of being suspicious of every move, and her memories started to disappear, as she fought for survival every moment. ****** "He's just been sitting there, for hours on end," Scotty said. "It's like he's given up..." Tas mused. "When she disappeared, it was like the life just... went out of him." Their other friends turned to watch Mulder. It was strange, how his connection with her was so deep. They called it ‘love', a foreign concept to the boys. Chiller said, "If she's still there... we could go in and get her." Tas looked up sharply. "We shouldn't interfere with Them. I can only guess the pain she's enduring--" "You want it to *continue*?" Scotty stepped away from the group, to comfort Mulder and see if the sad, full-grown puppy would try. ****** The four made it to the back of the Place. They were a sloppy team-- Mulder with too-long, dreadlocked hair; Scotty anything *but* a Scotty, a huge Golden Retriever; Chiller, a weird, wiry one, who had spent his life with an "animal psychic" a definite weirdo who had been convinced his pet could read; and Tas, the muttiest of the group. They peered in through a grate, to see what was in there, how she was doing. "Hey, Chiller!" Mulder called. "See that sign, over that cage, there?" "Yeah... Jen etick fur tility sam pulls." "Who're Jen and Sam?" "Must be those two people, standing over there..." Suddenly, Tas called out to them. "We can try to climb up this garbage chute-- at least then we'd be inside." ****** Moments later, four dogs were creeping through the ventilation system of the Place. They could see all sorts of dogs through the grates below, silent in the afternoon, not betraying their friends' presence. Mulder pointed it out when they were above the room they had seen Jen and Sam in. Scotty crept over and tapped the grate with his nose. It clattered to the floor, and the dogs jumped back into the shadows. An old man picked it up. "This place is falling apart. Come along, Agent Anderson, we need to check in with the Red Cross, get some more supplies." She smiled. "Anything to get out of here..." He patted her on the back reassuringly. "Of course, we can also check in on David and Piper. I'm sure they'll show up soon-- together." She smiled. "I want to live to see one more of his rings on my hand." As they approached the door, the man said, "I don't know-- that's pretty hefty for an engagement diamond-- think you could handle another?" He chuckled. The two left, and Scotty leapt out of the shaft. "Scully!" he whispered. They heard a rustling noise in one of the cages, and then a low, deep growl. "Scully!" Mulder cried, running over and standing underneath her cage. Her hair was matted and not as brilliant as it had been before. Her eyes had no life in them... Mulder thought. She quieted to a whimper. "Tas!" Mulder cried, and watched as his friend jumped atop the cage and pawed the unhooked lock off. He led Scully to the floor. She looked up at Mulder, hope entering her face. A small smile began to spread across her lips... Scully colapsed. "I got her," Scotty said, picking her up by the scruff of her petite neck,and led them home. ****** Days later, Scully was beginning to look like her old self. She was considerably happier, but never left Mulder's side-- there was no reason to. Her fur was being worked on by Marita's puppies, vividly mischeivous golden labs, who raked their paws through it for hours. Mulder led her on walks every afternoon, to build up her strength. One day, they ventured near the tent with the bright orange x on it. A happy, loud reunion was taking place near where Mulder and Scully stopped to rest. Mulder recognized the woman, from where he didn't know, and Scully's eyes softened at the sight. "I have the letters of transit," the man said, "And we can leave tomorrow. Australia, the unspoiled land!" The woman sighed sadly. "Too bad they did this... We... were so fortunate, so lucky. Not everybody was..." she rumpled the little girl's hair. "It all right, Mommy. I like my new Daddieee--- look!" She pointed to the dogs. "Oh, Momma!" The woman stepped over to the dogs. "I think I recognize this pretty little lady from somewhere..." "Maybe your volunteer work, Gillian." "Oh, probably-- yes, that's it." she smiled. "She's sterile." David laughed. "Too bad-- she picked a good-looking one." "He looks like *you*, Daddy!" said the little girl. "Piper!" her mother began. "No, no, Gillian, she's right-- a perfect Fox Mulder! He even has the puppy dog face-- and she has your hair and eyes!" She chuckled. "Nice to know I have such a close resemblance to a *dog*... Oh, well, okay." "What?" "I give in... they're coming with us, aren't they?" "Yeah... Mulder and Scully." David smiled and picked his daughter up. "We'd better head on out-- all of us, even the strays." As Piper walked ahead, David smiled at the new Mrs. "Things'll be okay, I promise," he said, "And would I lie?" "Oh, nooo, Mr. Paycut Big Man, gonna take 100k an ep and...." ********** The End I'm sorry for the whole mushiness thing, I just like tying reality into these alternate universe stories. Again, I apologize and I'm not making any snide remarks about Ms. Anderson or Mr. Duchovny. Don't sue. I love feedback! Ann "Bother," said Pooh, as Mulder and Scully rushed in, guns drawn. "We're hackers-- this is what we live for!" -Lucas W **My name is Dana Scully. You ate my dog. Prepare to die. **My name is Fox Mulder. You took my sister. Prepare to die.** My name is Walter Skinner. You took my hair. Prepare to die. Kathie Lee says, "Faster-- Cody wants a pony." -- Craig Kilborn