The following work is for the distribution and entertainment of EMXC members only. Any further distribution of this work without the author's consent is a violation of federal law. Please contact the EMXC host, Karen Enriquez (XFF SciNut@aol.com), if you have received this work from anywhere other than the above group without the author's permission. The X-Files, and the characters of Dana Scully and Fox Mulder belong to Chris Carter and Ten-Thirteen Productions and FOX Broadcasting. I have used the characters without permission. No copyright infringement intended. I started this sometime in August, and finished it uh November something let's say the 3rd. The story is based on my little trip to a diner, which if anyone ever comes to where I live I warn you not to go there, but the rest comes from my sick little mind. And any resemblance to the episode The List is purely coincidental. I came up with this first. They took it from ME. Oh yeah and any feedback on the story would be great, I'm all ready for them flames! And without further due: ************************** B u z z By: AgtScully0@aol.com ************************** The fly circled around the hamburger three times before deciding where it wanted to land. It prodded the piece of meat then flew away. Seconds later two more flies came and landed on the hamburger. That was the last straw, he was truly disgusted. "Excuse me miss? Miss?" Martin Lear couldn't believe the luck he was having today. First he was late for work, then he missed an important business meeting, on his way to play tennis at the YMCA a bus had splattered mud all over his new suit, someone then stole his pants so he had to walk around in his Umbros for the rest of the day, and now flies were all over his hamburger and no one was going to acknowledge it. "Miss!" The waitress turned around. After working in the diner the entire day, the last thing she needed was some jerk complaining about his food or the service. "Yes, Sir?" "There are flies back here. They are all over my food, and they keep biting me. Ow!" He bent down and rubbed his leg. "Don't expect me to pay for this." "Let me go get the manager," she said in that typical "bite me" tone. They both knew she had no intention of getting the manager. Another fly landed on his burger, and Martin hit it- killing it. A second fly landed on his leg, but before he could swat it away, it bit into him. Suddenly his head began to ache. He brought his hands up and rubbed his temples. He watched the flies land on the hamburger, then fly away. His headache was getting worse by the minute. Another fly landed on his right calf and bit him. This time blood slowly streamed out, running down his leg and coating the wall beneath the table with his blood. Martin looked down to see his blood flowing from the bite. He began to panic. Getting away was all he could think of as he scrambled to escape the booth. However, his feet entwined and he fell to the floor. The other few diners who were seated near him began screaming for the waitress. Martin grabbed his head feeling nausea spread over him and wave after wave of dizziness. He screamed out in pain as something under the skin of his head began moving. He screamed as long and as loud as he could until he felt his throat burn and his lungs protest from lack of oxygen. The waitress came running over to see the man see had spoken to not five minutes earlier screaming and bleeding on the floor. Suddenly the skin on the side of his head began to tear and instead of blood, a thick green liquid came gushing out. Everyone began to panic. Children started crying, women and men screaming, and the waitress felt her stomach turn as she ran in the opposite direction, towards the bathroom. On her way she hit into the manager, who was coming out of the kitchen to see what was going on. He was only halfway there when he saw the dead man with still more of the green liquid coming out. His mouth dropped open and he ran towards the phone. =========== Eatins Diner Losen, NH 2:35pm =========== He glanced at his watch. It had been almost two hours since he had called the State Police Forensic Lab at the Capital hoping someone there would have an answer. No one there, however, had any idea, but suggested that two FBI agents who were at the lab on other business might be of help. The agents, the lab director said, worked in some special section of the FBI dealing with abnormal crimes. "Just great," the Sheriff thought, "What the hell are abnormal crimes? Probably the FBI term for serial killings. What good are these two going to do," the Sheriff continued to wonder. "This is no serial killing. In fact, it probably isn't a killing at all. Just a strange death." The Sheriff had no clue to explain the green liquid and thought the FBI agents would be equally mystified. At least, he thought, he could tell his superiors that he consulted with the FBI and they were stumped. Yes, it might even be a way to cover his butt. Anyway, where are they, he thought glancing again at his watch. They should have been here already. A car pulled into the parking lot behind him. He walked towards it, ready to tell the driver to pull out. The driver opened the car door and immediately the sheriff heard yelling and arguing. The driver and passenger both emerged at the same time, still arguing. The sheriff looked at the passenger, finding it remarkable that a little thing like her could yell that loud. "Scully, give me a break. I got us here on time didn't I?" "No Mulder, we're half an hour late. I told you the parkway would be faster. Why don't you ever listen to me?" It had been a long week for the two agents, and their annoyance with their present assignment had begun to show in their tempers. One week traveling up to the East Coast, meeting with State Forensic Labs to go over revised reporting procedures being requested by the FBI was not something they wanted to do or, for that matter, thought they should be assigned to do. This assignment had, in their minds, really nothing to do with the X-Files, although their superiors claimed otherwise. Mulder spent the week explaining that it was a conspiracy to interfere with their work. Scully was tired of hearing his paranoic diatribes on a routine assignment, but inwardly felt he was probably correct. Anyway, both agents were irritable and it showed The two looked forward and found the sheriff watching them with a half-smile on his face. All conversation abruptly stopped and professionalism came back. "Hello, Sheriff, we're from the FBI. I'm special agent Mulder and this is special agent Scully." Mulder took out his ID and watched Scully do the same. "Sheriff Sampson." He looked at them both one more time before saying, "The body is this way." The sheriff brought them through a small crowd of people outside and through the diner's front doors to the covered body, which was located at the rear of the diner. "I've got no idea what happened to this guy. It's a little strange. The man's name is Martin Lear." Scully knelt down at what appeared to be the head and removed the cover. Her expression changed from annoyance to amazement and horror. Seeing this, the other agent bent down for a closer examination. "Uh, Scully. . ." "Autopsy?" she managed to say. "Later today. At Doctor Philip Greenberg's office. He'd be assisting you, but he came down with a case of the flu. Ironic isn't it. So you'll have to do it by yourself, unless you feel safer with a more qualified person then we could wait for the doctor to get better." Scully looked up at the sheriff. He had that same smile that Hodge had had up in the Arctic when he accused her of being infected with the worm. She hated that smile. Mulder knew what was going to follow. It was never a good idea to piss off Scully. He decided before she could say anything that could get them kicked off the case, he'd change the subject. He quickly leaned over and squeezed her shoulder with his hand and nodded his head over to marks he had discovered on the body's leg. "What are these on his legs?" Before letting go of Scully, he made sure the sheriff went ahead of them to avoid another confrontation. Scully gave Mulder a dirty look, and bent down over the body. "They look like insect bites," she said. "From a. . . *mosquito*?" Mulder inquired. Scully looked at him, he was smiling and his eyebrow was raised. "Maybe," she said, giving him another one of her pleasant looks as she stood up and stepped away from his grasp on her shoulder. "Excuse me folks, but it's winter. There aren't too many mosquitos still hanging around." Some experts, the sheriff thought sarcastically. He took another look at the bites and noticed a stream of dried blood coming from one. "What kind of insect draws that amount of blood?" he wondered. The manager came up to the three of them. He looked very pale and focused his eyes everywhere else but in the vicinity of the body. "Um Sheriff, I got the waitress to calm down enough so that she could talk. She said that he was complaining about flies that they kept biting him." His gaze darted back and forth between the sheriff and the two agents waiting for one of them to comment. "Where is that waitress now, I would like to talk to her," said the taller agent. "She really can't talk too well. She's too shook up, we all are. This was a very unexpected incident. . . and not too easy to stomach. Although it might be easier for her to talk to the sheriff instead. FBI might just shake her up even more." Mulder nodded and walked back over to the body. "Are there usually flies around here?" "No, never. I run a very clean business. I have never even seen a fly in here." "Never?" "No." Mulder nodded again thinking that he answered that question a little too fast. He looked up at the booth, towards the unfinished burger. "Was that his table?" "Yes, I think so. I saw him to his seat. Unless he moved, which is very unlikely, that's his seat." Mulder got up from his crouching position to look at the remnants of his food. "Well, I'd hate to break this to you, Sir, but there is a dead fly on this burger." The manager gave him a dirty look, turned around, and stormed out through the door. The sheriff looked over at Mulder, who shrugged. "Anyway back to the autopsy. Agent Scully was it? Are you going to perform it?" She disliked this guy already. What was it with these small town sheriffs. They all think they're better than everyone else. "Yes I will be." She looked over towards Mulder. He was still examining the hamburger. "Anything?" "Yeah. Do have one of those evidence bags on you?" She reached in her pocket of her overcoat, pulled out one and handed it to him. "These flies are about all we have for now." He looked down at the body and the green liquid. "Let's take a sample of that, too." ========================= Office of Doctor Greenberg 4:28 pm ========================= "Mulder, this was pretty bizarre," Scully said as she walked towards her partner. "Oh, and I missed it." "Where were you?" "Just checking up on our victim. Med records mainly." "Did you find anything unusual?" Scully questioned as she slumped into the overstuffed leather chair in the doctor's lab. "Nope. Why?" "Well, when I cut open the body. . . not even you would be able to stomach what I saw." "Try me." "There was a lot of this green stuff-" " Stuff'. I love those medical terms of your's, Scully." "I haven't identified it yet, Mulder. Anyway, I found microscopic organisms of some kind throughout the body." She brought him over to the microscope and focused the lens over the slide. He bent over the scope and looked through, seeing all these tiny white organisms crawling around. They seemed to be attacking each other with the victors consuming the bodies of the vanquished. "What are they?" "Nothing I've ever seen. They seem almost cannibal like, but once I add some of the victims blood," she took out a small dropper with some blood on it and squeezed the contents on the slide, "they leave each other alone and go after the blood." "So they eat the blood?" "Not exactly. I examined some of this man's blood afterwards. The organisms were still present, but they weren't moving, they just died. However, I also found eggs. They laid eggs in the blood, then died" Mulder started to back away from the microscope, mouth open, looking a little sickened. "Scully, if that waitress was right, these bugs could be a larval stage of that fly I found on the hamburger." "Mulder these "bugs" as you call them are. . .well I don't know exactly what they are, but the larval stage of flies are maggots. And regular house flies do not bite. Horse flies and deerflies bite, but neither lays it's eggs in a humans blood and neither would cause this green fluid to come out. This fly," she took the bag in her hand, "is a regular house fly." "Well maybe this is a new species of fly." "That is highly unlikely, Mulder. Now can I just give you some more of the information I found?" He nodded. "This man's head was filled with this green liquid, his brain looked. . .well it was almost as if. . . as if it had exploded inside his skull." "Exploded?" "Yes, I have never heard of anything like that ever happening. . .but there were small pieces of his brain scattered around, unless maybe his brain was eaten. There were traces of the eggs all around the skull. The pieces of the brain I found were covered in eggs." If Mulder wasn't sick before, he was now. "What about that blood on his leg," he managed to croak. "What about it?" "If the fly did bite him how did it draw that much blood?" "I already wondered that myself, so I magnified the bite." She took out a pocket microscope and held it over the bite in his leg. "If you look closely you'll see very tiny teeth marks." Mulder bent over the microscope and looked at the marks. "But flies don't have teeth." "I took some pictures of it maybe we could have the guys in Washington analyze it." "Maybe. Why don't we look at that green stuff now." While she was preparing a new slide Mulder couldn't help but wonder. "Scully isn't it true that flies could live as parasites under the skin of animals causing myiasis? Maybe, if this is a new fly, instead of maggots, it starts as these little bugs." "Maybe, but Mulder most likely these are regular house flies that have been. . . disturbed, much like the killer bee, which could possibly disrupt the fly's regular behavior." She made a few adjustments and looked through the microscope. "Oh dear god." "Scully? What is it? What's wrong?" All the blood rushed out of her face and she turned white. "You might just be right, Mulder." That caught him a little off guard. Although he was surprised she had actually accepted his theory, he was also a little scared by her reaction. He looked through the microscope and saw many tiny maggot-like creatures. "What the hell?" They looked at each other and then towards the dead fly in the bag. ============== Sheriff's Office 20 minutes later ============== Both Mulder and Scully came running into the office only to find a sleeping sheriff. "Sheriff!" He jumped up onto his feet immediately fully alert and hand on gun. "What!?" "You have got to isolate that diner, do not let anyone in. And I would like a list of the people in the diner when that man died, we need to test them for infection." "What? What are you talking about? What did you find?" Scully tossed the report to the sheriff and began explaining about the eggs, bites, and the maggots-like creatures. "We sent the fly out to get tested. The results should be here either later tonight or early tomorrow morning. The green liquid is also with it, as well as some blood samples." "Let me get this straight. You want me to gather up everyone who was in the diner that day and ask them to come down to my office so we could see if there are any killer bugs in their blood. Then I am supposed to close down the diner and prevent people from going in and these little flies out. Do I have this all right?" "Yes, Sheriff. I know this might sound a little odd, but this could be some genetically altered fly." He's crazy. This man is damn crazy. "Uh-huh a genetically altered fly." He gave each agent a glance, seeing that they weren't kidding. "Okay I'll bring the people, but you're going to do the explaining." He looked back up at the pair to see if either changed their minds before saying, "Doctor's office okay?" * * * * =================== Office of Dr. Greenberg =================== "Maybe we should wait for the tests to come back on the fly before doing anything, Mulder." "Scully, if these people have those bugs that means it could spread. It could also kill. We have to." The minute the sheriff walked through the door the hallway began booming with shouts of protest. The sheriff poked his head into the room. "They're heeeere." * * * * "Well that kills that thought." Mulder, feeling both disappointed and relieved, slumped down into the doctor's chair. "Maybe this Martin Lear was just a very sick man. Maybe he just possessed some kind of parasite." "Scully, a parasite wouldn't make his brain explode, it wouldn't have these bugs in the body, and it wouldn't have the larvas encased in that green stuff." "Mulder there is no proof that. . ." "Is the sheriff still questioning people?" "Yes. He's asking questions that don't even pertain to the case." "Hmm I think I'll go pay the sheriff a visit. Why don't you call Washington, see if they came up with anything." * * * * Mulder came back into the sheriff's office with a grin on his face. He looked around for his partner and saw her sitting in the doctor's chair arguing to someone on the phone. "No, not later NOW. . .no *I* can't, but I know people who will if you won't give me what I'm asking for. . .Fine. . .Yes I understand. . .no I won't. . . yes. . .goodbye." She looked up to see Mulder grinning like a big idiot. "What did you find?" "I asked them if they had been bitten. Everyone said no. I thought that was a little strange that the flies would bite one person, so I filled out a chart of where everyone was seated. Our Mr. Lear was seated in the back booth, everyone else was further forward . The closest person to him was two booths forward to the left. What did you find out?" "Something very interesting. The fly had a needle puncture in it. That's all he would tell me over the phone and I had to fight just to get that." "Could they have been injected with something that could produce those bugs? When are the results coming back?" "The report is being faxed out in an hour. But I don't know, Mulder, who would inject flies?" "I think we should take another trip to the diner." ============ Eatins Diner Next day ============ "I thought you two said no one is allowed in?" "Right." This sheriff was really starting to get annoying. Why he was joining them Mulder would never know. "The flies only attacked the man in the back booth, they left everyone else alone." "When we were here yesterday we were at the back booth and I didn't see any flies." "Maybe the flies are nocturnal." "If they are, why are we here now?" "It's only a guess, Sheriff. Anyway if they are, we'll be safer now rather than tonight." Mulder shivered sub-consciously in memory of the last time he had dealt with nocturnal bugs. The door had been locked shut. Only the sheriff and manager had a key. The air inside was very damp and heavy. Scully reached toward the light switch and turned on the lights. For only being abandoned for a day the place had a remarkable amount of cobwebs. The sheriff started towards the booth and pulled something out of his coat. "What's that?" "Raid. Just in case something happens." The two agents followed his lead. The hamburger had been removed and thrown away even though Mulder had told them to preserve it. The floor had been washed and cleaned, once more against Mulder's orders. The three came upon the back booth, and began to search for any traces of flies. "Agent Mulder, I think I've found something." Both Mulder and Scully came over to where the sheriff was kneeling. Peering down they saw what had caught his attention. "What the. . .?" Attached to the wall was a translucent green casing. Inside the casing movement could be seen. The agents focused hard on the casing and soon realized the movement was caused by tiny maggots, which were slowly forming into flies right before their eyes. The sheriff got up, holding his hand against his mouth, and ran towards the bathroom. Mulder watched him wondering if he should do the same, instead he took deep breaths and moved away from the table. "Mulder, we have to remove it. If these are the pupa stage of this fly that means they'll be hatching soon. We have to remove the case and destroy it." "Destroy it?" "Oh, no. I am *not* having this conversation with you all over again. Maybe if it could be contained we could send it to Washington for further testing, but we have to get it out now." By that time, the sheriff emerged from the bathroom, wiping his mouth and spraying some Binaca into it. "Sheriff do you have a pocketknife handy?" The sheriff handed it to Mulder. "Okay thanks. Now where are we going to put it? "There are some food containers in back I could get." The sheriff left then came back with a container. "Hold it underneath the casing and don't let the casing touch you." Mulder placed the knife at the top and brought it down behind the casing to peel it away from the wall. Mulder noticed blood at the very back of the casing, which he realized, must have been the medium for the flies to develop the casing. As he cut it away, it made strange sucking sounds as it slid off the wall. The case fell with a sploosh into the container. The sheriff's hand started to quiver. "Thanks, Sheriff I'll take it now." Mulder placed the cover on top of the container and turned to go before remembering Scully. "Scully?" He heard someone whisper "Mulder" in a barely audible voice. He looked around and saw Scully standing very still, her arm on one of the tables, and her eyes fixed on her arm. He took a closer look and saw one of the flies on it. She opened her mouth just a little to whisper, "Get it the hell off of me." He matched Scully's rigid position, waiting for a chance to spring forward and kill it. The fly kept walking around her arm, taunting her. The sheriff walked up to the table from behind Mulder then walked to the left so he was right in front of the fly. He took out his can of Raid and a lighter. "Agent Scully I'm going to spray him, once I do I want you to get back," he whispered. Mulder tightened his hold on the container and watched the sheriff bring the can closer to the fly. Sheriff Sampson looked directly at Scully and mouthed one. . .two. . .three. He sprayed it and Scully darted back. Before the fly could re-orient itself, the sheriff clicked the lighter on and sprayed the Raid, again aiming once more toward the fly. The fly and half the table lit up in a brilliant orange flame. "Mulder, get me that fire extinguisher." Before putting out the fire, the sheriff waited until he was sure the fly was dead. Scully collapsed to the floor in relief, then looked at her arm making sure it hadn't bitten her. She was shaking. "Scully, are you okay?" Mulder was immediately at her side. "I'm fine, Mulder. Thank you Sheriff." She slowly calmed herself down and walked towards the bathroom to wash her arm off. Both men waited in silence for her to return. ============== Sheriff's office ============== "Here's the technician's report. Needle puncture in body. . .traces of an unidentified chemical. Here's something interesting: it was identified as a housefly, but it had a mandible and maxillae, which would allow it to bite." "What about that chemical?" asked Mulder. "All he says is that it could not be identified." "So what we're talking about some mutant bug,"the sheriff joined in the conversation only to get strange looks from the agents. "Maybe, but more like an altered bug. A genetically altered fly. If this fly was implanted with a mandible it won't know how to bite. A fly knows how to bite through it's genes. This fly's genes would also have to be altered or implanted. Mulder did you talk to them about the casing yet?" "Yeah. I'm sending it out on the next plane there. They're going to test it, but for the meantime they want us to quarantine the building and keep watch on the people that were there." "So what, that's it. Keep watch? What about the flies? Can't they get out of the diner?" the sheriff asked, having his nervousness seep into his voice. "Sheriff all the doors and windows are shut, locked, and sealed up. A fly cannot get out of there. Besides there is nothing else we can do. All we could do now is watch and wait. ================ Scully's Apartment Washington, DC Three weeks later ================ "X-File #X278G9A1: The case of Martin Lear and the death he encountered at Eatins Diner in Losen, NH by a mysterious fly of unknown origins. The housefly Agent Mulder found in the diner had been injected with an unknown chemical, when analyzed it was also found that it had a mandible and maxillae- these two features alien to a housefly-allowing it to be able to pierce the skin of its host. The small bugs that were found in the blood of Lear have also yet to be identified, although it is speculated that they are the larval stage of this "fly". After extensive testing it was found that these bugs could reproduce themselves as long as the eggs were in the host's blood. It is my theory that the flies were injected with the bug and upon puncturing the skin, released the bug into the host, where they would develop into the pupa stage inside of the casing. The flies had an accelerated development, and would change from one stage to the other, as long as they were provided with blood and protection, in a few hours. Upon genetic testing and research, the fly was found to have two different pairs of genes. One of which was again, alien to a housefly, belonging to a fly most likely resembling that of mosquito but not belonging to an actual mosquito. The other was that of a housefly. The organisms found in the casing- which I speculated earlier were the pupa stage of this creature- were also unidentified, as they had all died immediately after removal from the casing. It is my guess that if they did hatch they would have the same characteristics as the fly from which they came. There has been no attempt as of yet to study the casing. The body of Martin Lear was quarantined by the government to prevent the possible spread of the bug. Both Agent Mulder and I as well as the patrons who were at the diner, and all others who had come in contact with the body and the flies have just been released after a two week quarantine. No one became infected with the bug. Eatins Diner was destroyed in a mysterious fire. Nothing more remains of it, including any remaining flies, which may have been in the diner. There has been no talk about rebuilding another diner." Scully turned away from the computer for a moment. She rubbed her eyes that were now burning from staring at her computer screen. She reached over to her coffee table and took another bite of her pizza, then she turned back towards her computer to finish typing. "Because there is no evidence as to how the flies got to the diner or to who injected the flies and corrupted their genetic makeup, this case remains open and unsolved." Scully let out a sigh of relief as she typed the last word. She turned back towards her pizza and stopped dead in her tracks. Her mouth fell open and her eyes filled with horror. For there, on her pizza, was a large black fly. The fly walked on the pizza, then flew off, onto her hand. She stared at it, unable to move. She felt it's legs on her skin as it walking up and down her fingers. Finally it flew away, back out the window from which it came. Scully lunged towards the open window, and slammed it shut. She then let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, and sagged back down into her chair. Suddenly the phone rang. She made an attempt to get up, but was too drained. "Screw it," she thought. The machine answered and a familiar voice came on. "Scully? Scully it's me pick up. Scully?" Scully jumped up and raced towards the phone. Mulder's voice did not sound pleasant. She yanked the phone up from the stand. "I'm here." "There's been another one." "What?" "Another death in a town fifty miles south of Losen. All they would say was that someone died under the same cause as the one in New Hampshire. And I just got a call from an agent in New York, he said another person fell victim. The body is going to the CDC. Scully, this time nearly fully developed flies were in the green liquid when the guy's head opened up." "How could that be? The flies were destroyed in the fire, a-and the body is in quarantine, and the infection tests came back negative. . ." "Well Scully, somehow something has survived, and migrated." Scully's mouth opened slightly in recognition, her heartbeat began to quicken, her face went pale, and her body began to shake. She looked at her half-eaten pizza, and then slowly turned her head to look out the closed window. Through it, she could almost hear the faint buzzing in the distance. Her grip on the phone loosened, and it fell to the floor with a thump. "Scully? Scully are you there? Are you okay? Scully?" THE END