Well, this one's not as long as our other serious ones, but it's still good! :) And, we're not too sure about the title, so we'd appreciate any other suggestions. :) The X-Files and its characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013 and FOX. Have fun and please comment! ************* Exotic Prey by Mystic and Megan Reilly Nalvarez@delphi.com & zzcf89a@prodigy.com ********** Chantilly Halfway House Chantilly, Virginia October 13 5:12PM Jamie Martin stood on a pile of dirt he had mounded up to see the constructin across the street. At ten he stood four feet, five inches tall, normal for his age, but he hated bieng short - he could never see what was going on. He wiped a dirt covered hand across his forehead, to remove blond bangs from his grey-blue eyes, leaving a brown streak which matched the ones on his cheek and chin. He saw birds, all kinds of birds, perched on the satellite of the halfway house he lived in and on the trees surrounding him. There were birds on the beams of the construction site and on the brown old fence that seperated him from the street. They were silent as they stared at the monster of a building, the only sound Jamie heard was the voice of the wind - and he didn't like what it was saying. 'Do it now, kill him now, kill him quick and fly away, away with the wind.' And Jamie ran. * * * * * Construction Site 5:14PM Micheal Eisner carried a bag of cement over his shoulder as on any normal construction day. It was a hot day, but he would be leaving as soon as the clock struck five thirteen. It was a timeclock job, nine to five, and if you were late, you stayed late. He sometimes wondered why he left his safe, secure job at the Parrot Jungle in Florida to work in this crazy construction business with his brother. He had been thirteen minutes late, so now, thirteen minutes after everyone had gone home, he was still there, heaving cement. Micheal flipped on the radio, on high, in the seat of his truck after dropping the bag of cement into a barrel two feet from his truck. Some rock song ended and Alanis Morissette began to sing. Micheal rolled his eyes at the song and turned back to the half constructed building to get the jacket he;d left inside on a workbench. As he grabbed his jacket he dechided this would be his last week, at least the birds at Parrot Jungle let him go home on time. He could barely hear the first one take off over the music, but he felt the bite of the second and the third. He slapped at the masses of feathers and meat while attempting to avoid the pecking beaks. Blood streamed down his face and from the holes in his body as threads of skin were torn. He fell to the floor and they surrounded him, leaving him dead only a minute later. They flew away, like the wind, as the music blared, "And isn't it ironic? Doncha think?" ********** Chantilly, Virginia Construction Site October 14 9:13AM Scully looked at the body under the black sheet as Mulder spoke with the sheriff. She covered the body and stood looking for, and not finding, any birds. She supressed a smile at the thought of Mulder walking with a 'chain-gang' of crows. A hand waved in front of her face. "Earth to Scully." It was Mulder. "So, Mulder, did Sheriff McKinley tell you anything we didn't know?" She asked. "Not really. Do you concur with the coroner's preliminary cause of death, that this man was killed by a swarm of birds?" "I don't know. I'd have to perform an autopsy to rule out a coronary or any other physical ailments." Mulder lifted the sheet, exposing the face of the victim. One eyeball remained, skin was missing and half his lip was hanging loose. He looked up at her, "But would you say he's probably been pecked to death by a swarm of birds?" "Probably." She raised her eyes in defeat. She knew she would request a copy of the autopsy report from the coroners because an attack, by birds, was uncommon, almost absurd. But, she knew Mulder would think that, and she would have to go along for the ride he was about to take her on. And it was always a bumpy one. Scully jerked back as Mulder touched a black feather to the tip of her nose. "I want to check the halfway house across the street and the houses in the area, see if anyone noticed anything suspicious." "You don't think this was a bird attack, do you?" "Unless you know what happened, I haven't a better theory." "You think someone may have witnessed 'something' and not reported it?" She put her hand on her waist. Mulder loved it when she did that, but usually it happened further into a case. "Scully, someone might have seen something. Now, whether it was a man having a heart attack, or the ghost of Alfred Hitchcock in the directors chair," He paused, accepting the frustrated sigh she gave, "is what we'll find out." ********** Chantilly Halfway House 4:13PM Mulder rang the doorbell of the two story, Victorian styled house. A tall brunette opened the door, looking behind her as a large German Shephard came at her. The dog barked at Mulder and he looked at Scully, who was smirking. "At least it's not attached to my face." He quirked in her ear. She stopped smiling and looked at him. They both turned their attention to the woman at the door when the dog retreated to the voice of a young boy. "May I help you?" She asked. They pulled badges and the woman looked at Mulder as he introduces himself and Scully to her. "We just wanted to know if you, or any of the children here saw or heard anything 'suspicious' yesterday afternoon, around five?" The woman opened the door and allowed them in. She offered them drinks but neither Mulder nor Scully were thirsty. The three sat in chairs in an office. "Where are all the children?" Scully asked. "There aren't that many here, 13, they're in their rooms doing their homework right now. They usually start coming out at four thirty." She paused, "I'm sorry, I'm Shelby Torrez." "Mrs. Torrez, were any of the children out yesterday around five?" Mulder asked. "Jamie Martin." She answered quickly. "But he came in." "Was he scared?" "He might have been, but Jamie is an odd little boy. He can be calm as a dead sea one minute and as nervous and jumpy as a squirrel the next. You can't tell with him." "How did his parents die?" Scully asked. "He lived in Africa with his parents, studying a tribe there. Another tribe came in and killed almost everyone in the tribe they were studying and his parents. There were only about five survivors, Jamie was brought back to the states and given to his grandmother, but she died three months ago from a heart attack." A wave of depression came over her as it always did when she had to recall the details of how a child came to be in this place. "What did he do when he came in yesterday?" Mulder asked. "He locked up our parakeet and ran to his room." "Did he say anything?" She thought a moment. "He told us not to let Pecker out, the bird." "Nothing else?" "No." "Mrs. Torrez, how did the bird act yesterday? Did it bite any of the children?" Scully flashed Mulder a glance. "It didn't bite any of the children, but as soon as Jamie was in his room the bird went crazy. It threw himself against the cage, we had to bury him this morning." "Mrs. Torrez, can we see Jamie?" Mulder stood and Scully followed suit. "Sure." Mrs. Torrez stood and walked past them. They follwed her up the stairs to a room with the name Jamie carved into wood, painted blue, hanging off a nail, stuck in the door. Mrs. Torrez knocked on the door. "Jamie?" She called. "It's open." It was the boy who called the dog. Mrs. Torrez opened he door and the dog stuck his head out and sniffed Mulder. Scully watched his body tense and Mrs. Torrez tried to pull the dog away. Jamie was lying in his bed watching them. He sat up and laughed. "Jamie, call him." Mrs. Torrez pleaded. Jamie smiled and said, "Max, come." The dog immediately ran to the boy and sat on the floor next to him. Mulder and Scully entered the room. Mrs. Torrez opened the door fully and left to check on another child. Mulder started, "Jamie, I'm agent Mulder, this is agent Scully..." "My dog doesn't like you." He told Mulder matter-of-factly. The dog walked to Scully and sat next to her leg, on the opposite side of Mulder. Scully continued, "We're with the FBI. Can we ask you a few questions, Jamie?" "Ok, but why?" Jamie answered. Mulder smiled, "Oh, so you'll talk to her, but not to me?" "My dog likes her." Jamie smiled back as Scully answered his question, "Jamie, there was a murder yesterday and you might have seen or heard something that could help us." "There were lots of birds yesterday." "Birds?" "There were birds on everything. They were not good birds, they weren't normal." A look of confusion entered his eyes. "How do you mean, 'not normal'?" Her eyebrows creased and she could see Mulder's interest was piqued. "They weren't here." He paused. "I mean they were *here*," he pointed around him, "But they weren't *here*." He put a finger on his temple. "They were hypnotized?" Mulder asked. "Yeah." His eyebrows shot up. "It was like they were hypnotized." "How could you tell?" Mulder asked. "Because the wind told them what to do. I heard it and ran inside because it wasn't saying very nice things." "What did the wind say? Did it tell the birds to kill Micheal Eisner?" "It didn't say a name, it just said to kill and to fly away." Scully looked at Mulder who kneeled in front of Jamie. "Did you hear the voice in your head?" "In the wind." "Could you feel it's presence?" "I could only hear the voice and see the birds." "What *did* you feel?" "Afraid." Scully tapped Mulder on the arm and led him out of the room. She closed the door and looked at him. "What?" He asked. "*What?*" She answered, her tone raising to that of suprise. "Mulder, you're leading the boy. He's saying what you're telling him to say." "No, he's not." "Yes, he was." He hands went to her hips. "Scully, I think that Jamie is psychic." He paused. "But only with animals, at least right now." "Psychic with animals?" "He's not crazy and the wind does not talk. I think he read the minds of the birds without knowing what he was doing. But that still leaves one question." She looked at him as if to ask, 'What?'. "If Jamie read the minds of the birds who are getting these messages, who's sending the messages?" ********** Construction Site October 15 3:26PM The men worked nervously looking around them for birds. None of them had said much this day, or the day before, Micheal had been a good friend to almost everyone in the unfinished building and everyone knew that he didn't deserve to die that way. A bird flew across the top of the building. Men stopped working for a second and watched it to make sure that no other followed it. It was decided that the manager, who sat in his trailer all day, was going to close the place down and sleep there with the building to make sure that there was no more suspicious behavior. It was a hectic day and not much work was actually accomplished before the bell had rung at five for the workers to go home, to be safe with family in the comforts of their home. A black car pulled into the construction site making enough noise on the gravel to make everyone turn heads. It was the guy who was paying for everything, this was his building, a building to make up for the one that had burned down just last year. It had been one hell of a year, and thankfully all of their records had been stored on a main computer in another office, in another building, in another state. No one had to worry about loosing clients. But employees were a different story. Some were hired by other agencies, some were picked up by another building of the same advertising agency, but had to relocate to another state. And then there were the few that were in the original building when it fell to the ground in a fireball. The man who stepped out of the car walked quickly into the trailer and as soon as he had gone in he was out and back in the car. He looked around as he drove off at the workers who stared back at him. Harry Gilman. Big business man. Already at the top and very afraid of falling off. He knew that if he didn't get this building finished on time he would lose a lot. He would lose some of his best workers and along with them some of his biggest clients and if that happened because he let the building get screwed up, he was gone. In the gutter. He drove away from the construction site feeling secure that he was not there anymore. He didn't want to be in a place where someone had been murdered, but he wondered who had done it. He knew that it couldn't have been what the police records say, birds do not attack people in real life. ********** Chanitilly Halfway House 5:42PM Jamie looked at the roof of his room hypnotized by the fan, glad that he had something to consume his time. The FBI agents had not come to visit him again and he was sad that they hadn't. He really liked to see his dog growl at that man, Mulder. That was when he heard the noise. At first he thought it was just the buzzing of the fan, but it grew louder and clearer. He sat up on the bed, knowing it wasn't the fan. His heart pounded in his ears but he could still hear it. "Kill him to save us." As though pulled by an unseen force, Jamie was drawn to get up and stand by the window. It overlooked the construction site across the street, which was deserted. The men had all gone home for the day. All of them except one. There was a big black car parked in front of the site and Jamie watched as a man in a suit and an overcoat got out of the car. He stood for a moment, looking at the site, before he began to move closer. There was a flock of birds gathered on the upper beams of the unfinished building. The man had been there earlier in the day. The birds had not. One bird jumped off the beam and flew down at the man, as though he was a target. The man saw the bird and waved his arms to try to drive it away. "Kill him and save us." Jamie shivered as he heard it again. The bird continued to fly around the man. Jamie saw him open his mouth to shout, to try to scare the bird away. He turned away quickly, but not quickly enough. He'd seen. He crawled back into bed, a cold chill settled over him as he imagined the birds had seen him watching. ************* Construction site 9:45 pm that night Scully had her hands on her hips as she walked in a circle around the dead man lying on the sidewalk. The coroner had already chalked an outline and taken photographs. Mulder glanced at the man, and saw that he looked impatient. He was waiting for the word from Scully to take the man away. Mulder looked at Scully again. She was thinking. "This was murder, Mulder," she said. Mulder nodded. That much was obvious to him. "Are you done here, lady?" asked the coroner demeaningly. "Don't know why the FBI had to be called, obviously it's a fluke of nature." She turned to him with angry, icy blue eyes. "Two bird attacks in such a short amount of time can't be a coincidence." "So they're angry birds," he shrugged, waving to his men to take away the body. Mulder saw Scully's frustration and touched her gently on the arm. "What are you thinking?" he asked. "The victims are connected. This man - Harry Gilman - he owns this land. Up until last year, there was an advertisting agency here. Then there was a fire and it burned the building to the ground. Last year, there was a similar fire at a place called the Parrot Jungle, in Florida. The other victim, Michael Eisner worked there. It also just happened to be Harry Gilman's favorite charity," Scully explained. Mulder nodded, waiting. He knew she was on to something. She continued. "Witnesses said they saw the birds fly out of the building shortly after the fire began to burn away the roof. But such facilities are often known for their cruely to animals." "You think some angry animal rights activists are picking off the men responsible for the abuse and making it look like bird attacks," Mulder stated. She met his eyes. "You have other ideas." She crossed her arms over her chest, the look on her face saying, 'this ought to be good.' Mulder smiled. He wasn't about to let her down. They had such a good partnership, he thought, they were different sides of the same coin. "I think birds really did kill those men, Scully. And possibly set fire to the Parrot Jungle." "How'd they do that, Mulder? Rub two sticks together?" He didn't acknowledge her little joke although he thought it was clever. "What if these birds have been genetically altered to have a superior intelligence that would make them capable of such actions?" "Mulder, if you're suggesting that the sanctuary was a cover for government experimentation -" Scully stopped, because she knew that was exactly what he was suggesting. "Next you'll say you think it involved alien DNA to cause this superintelligence." "You said it, not me." She rolled her eyes and he grinned. "Let's go." "Where?" she asked, surprised by his sudden change of thought. He nodded to the window in the upper floor of the children's home across the street. "I think we'd better pay another visit to a boy and his dog." "Mulder, I don't know what you think he's going to say that we don't already know." "He has a window that overlooks the crime scene. He may have seen or heard something." "The voices he heard are a classic symptom of schizophrenia, Mulder." "What about his dog?" "The one who doesn't like you?" "Come on, Scully, you don't believe he can 'talk to the animals'?" "He's a disturbed little boy who was probably intimidated by our presence. Speaking on behalf of his dog was the only way he could express himself." "He's still a witness." "What makes you say that?" Scully asked, looking at Mulder. His eyes were fixed on the window. "He's watching us now." He looked at her. "Either that, or his dog is." ********** Chantilly House "Jamie, we'd like to ask you a few questions, is that all right?" asked Scully, edging carefully into the boy's room. He lay on the bed, unresponsive. Mulder took charge, walking in and turning on a light. "This is a nice telescope you have here, Jamie," he said, touching the object that sat on the windowsill. "Do you like to look at the stars at night?" "My dog doesn't like you," Jamie said. The animal growled right on cue. "Jamie, another man died today at the construction site. He was attacked by birds, just like the first man. Agent Mulder and I were wondering if you saw - or heard - anything that might tell us who did this." Scully said. "I didn't see anything!" Jamie cried, turning over in the bed to face the wall. Scully looked at Mulder, raising her eyebrows. He nodded to her, encouraging her to do more. Since the boy seemed to like her. He turned to peer through the telescope out the window. It afforded him a very clear, close view of the construction site. As though Jamie had focused the telescope on them while they stood down there, talking. Discussing him. "Jamie, I know this is hard on you," Scully said gently, placing on hand on the boy's shoulder. He flinched, but she didn't remove it. "I know that your mom and dad died last year and you're still dealing with that. But if you know anything at all that might help us to know who is responsible for the deaths of these two men, you've got to tell us." Mulder glanced up into the beams on the construction site. A hundred or more big black birds sat on the frame of the building. He almost dropped the telescope, startled by their number. It was as though they were watching him. "I didn't see anything!" Jamie repeated fiercely. "Agent Mulder believes you may have a special bond with animals and you this may explain why you heard what you did earlier today. Did you hear anything before the second murder?" Scully asked in that gentle way she had. Mulder took a second look at the birds, focusing the telescope tighter. He'd thought they were crows, but now he saw that they were exotic tropical birds. Could they be the ones that had escaped from the Parrot Jungle in the fire? "Jamie, it's very important that you-" Scully tried again. The dog, over in the corner, began to growl. "I don't think my dog likes you either," whispered Jamie, turning over again to look at her and Mulder. He'd been listening to what she said. Maybe it worked both ways. If he could hear what the birds said to each other, maybe he could talk to them with his mind too. He thought he'd try it. The dog got to its feet, its ears pulled back and its teeth bared in a snarl as it slowly walked across the room. Mulder's eyes widened as he looked from the dog to the boy and realized what was going on. "Scully! Look out!" he screamed a short moment before the dog sprung into the air. Scully was taken surprise by Mulder's shout, instinctively jerking back. She fell off the bed onto the floor and Mulder started toward her. The dog missed the bed, clipping one of its legs against the metal frame. It let out a sharp cry of pain, but that didn't keep it from advancing on Scully, limping and slobbering. "Jamie, call him off!" Mulder shouted, hesitant to make any sudden moves that would startle the dog.. Jamie just watched with wild eyes. Scully scrambled to her feet. The dog jumped up, snarling, headed for her throat. It missed, but knocked her down again. Its teeth caught a mouthful of her suit sleeve and pulled. Mulder threw the telescope at the dog's head. It hit and bounced off. The dog shook its head and relaxed its bite for moment, long enough for Scully to rip herself free. The dog didn't go after her again. Its eyes were now fixed on Mulder. "Mulder, let's get out of here, now!" Scully cried, breathing hard. Mulder couldn't move. "Jamie, call off the dog, now!" Scully shouted at the boy, drawing her gun. She didn't think she could fire it safely in the small room but she would if she had to. There was a strange thumping sound at the window behind Mulder. Birds. Throwing themselves desperately against the window. One hit with its beak and cracked the glass. Scully whirled around and tried the door. It wouldn't open. "Jamie, stop this now!" Scully shouted. She looked at the boy and saw that there was blood pouring down his face from a cut near his hairline. He stared at the dog, which was menacing Mulder. Scully didn't know what to do. A few pieces of glass fell onto the floor as the birds made some progress. In a few moments, the entire flock of birds would fly into the room and assist the dog in killing them. And while she might be able to shoot the dog to keep it from attacking, Scully knew she couldn't fight a flock of birds. She turned her eyes from her partner, who was apparently attempting to stare down the dog, to the little boy who lay blank eyed on the bed. Bleeding from a place that corresponded to where Mulder had hit the dog. She couldn't believe that he was communicating with the animals through with his mind. He couldn't be telling them what to do. It was impossible. But she'd seen a hell of a lot stranger. Nevertheless, she couldn't shoot the boy on the suspicion. But maybe she could knock him out and hope that it wasn't a subconscious communication. She moved slowly so as not to attract the attention of the dog, who was snarling at Mulder and waiting for her partner to make a threatening move. Scully was able to approach Jamie from behind cautiously, unnoticed. The thumping grew louder. The glass in the window shattered and she could hear the flapping of the wings and the birds' cries as they fought to get into the room through such a small space. Scully brought the butt of her gun down on the back of the child's head, hoping for once in her life that Mulder was right. The room fell into eerie silence. The flapping of the bird's wings stopped as they seemed to lose all interest in entering the room. They were gone nearly as quickly as they'd appeared. The dog meekly slunk off into the corner of the room, where it walked in a circle three times before lying down on an old sweatshirt. Mulder and Scully shared a shaky look. Scully let her arm drop down by her side, and looked back at the unconscious child. "What the hell are we going to do?" she said. ********* Observation Ward Mercy Hospital three days later Mulder and Scully stood in the hall, looking in through the small glass panel set into the door. Jamie sat cross-legged on a sterile white hospital bed, looking at the television. Like a normal boy. "His parents let him play in the wilds of Africa with exotic birds. It's in his file that he ran away after the village was burned out and was not found for three days," Mulder said. "He always loved the birds." "He's been diagnosed schizophrenic, Mulder." "You were there in that room, Scully," he said, looking at her intensely. "You know what happened." Her eyes were on the boy's bandages. "Yes," she said. Wordlessly, as though they could read each other's thoughts, they turned from the window and started down the hall to the elevator together. Jamie could sense it when they left, without looking up. Every once he woke in the hospital, he'd been seeing and hearing and feeling things with incredibly intensity. The doctors said that sometimes head injuries could cause changes in perception. If only they knew, he thought. "How's it going, buddy?" the words appeared in his head. "Not too bad. I may need your help later. Yours and your friends. Think you can help?" Jamie thought. "Making your escape?" "They can't keep me here." "Take us with you?" "Of course," he thought, and winked up at the spider that lingered in the shadowy corner of the room where the wall met the ceiling. He could do more than hear their thoughts now. So much more. The end. ********** Ok, like? Weird eh? ;) Well, like I said, we'd appreciate another title suggestion and we're always up for comments. :) (Just remember to CC them to the other one of us, because we'd both like to read it.) ;) Mystic & Megan Nalvarez@delphi.com & zzcf89a@prodigy.com __________________________________________________________________________ XAngst Anonymous Member T h e - GLWG - - - -RP 1.5- Lone Gunwoman #41 \ / naXi .5 Melissketeer X Skinner Chick Extreme Possibilities Member / \ EMXC Mysterious & Suspicious Founder - - -Riley- X-Files Fan Fic Lover F i l e s Co-Founder Anti-Spellin' Brigade (tm) _________________________________________________________________________ Charctavius of the New Triumverate RHAUNCH-E 1996 Starbuck winner for 'Best Horror Story'!