Hi, this is my first time posting to this newsgroup, although I have
been reading all the storys off it for a while now. I am truly
addicted and wanted to try to write something myself. I hope it is
reasonably enjoyable. Please E-mail me, with comments and suggestions.
I have never had any real responses to anything I have written before,
so anything will be welcome. I explore characters and situations owned
by Chris Carter and Ten Thirteen Productions. Use of these characters
and situations is meant in no means as a copyright infringement, and
is only for the purpose of entertaineing the group that has spent so
long entertaining me.

Robin Scott, 15, Manchester, England.     

SOUL ON FIRE 

WASHINGTON D.C. 

J. EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING MAY 14 5:45pm 

Mulder leant back on his chair and sipped at his hot chocolate. Things
had been quite quiet recently. Simple routine buisness. Scully was
typing up a file on an attempted small town genocide, across the room.
She looked up briefly at mulder and cocked her head at him smiling
slightly, and then continued with her work. Mulder rocked back forward
replacing his mug on the coaster on the table. He got himself up from
the chair and wandered over to the filing cabinet in the far corner of
the room. He clicked open the draw and flicked through several of the
outstanding file. Two homicides, a disapearance, three suspected
terrorist acts and numerous missing persons.  He took out the two
homicides and began to flick through them on top of the cabinet,
looking for something that could keep him busy. Scully looked up again
smiling at Mulders back.

ELLIOT, DENVER MAY 15 1:13am 

Anna Romley lay quietly asleep in her four poster bed. The curtains
that lay next to her bay windows fluttered in the strong night wind.
Anna turned onto her side sighing.

Outside in the dimly lit streets, a gathering of the towns people was
forming in the town square under the statue of the towns founder. At
the center of this group stood a large wooden box. It had been set up
as a speaker podium and now a man approached. He stepped up onto the
soapbox, silencing the mutterings of the thirty or forty townsfolk. "
People of Elliot, we all know why we're here tonight. It has been
thousands of year since this ritual has been carried out in this town.
But now we find it necessary again." As he spoke the people of the
town organised themselves into a small circle around the speaker.
"This is because it has been thousands of years since we've all
realised that there was a witch in our presence!, "He screamed, "Begin
the ceremony of cleansing!" Torches burnt in unison, held high above
the crowd. The townsfolk all turned as one and began the march towards
the hill at the far end of the town.

Anna awakened sweating , fearfully hot. She threw her hands over her
face sobbing. Then she heard the sounds outside, voices, they were
shouting, screaming. They were right outside, in the grounds. Anna got
up and held her hands to her bosom, feeling her heart beat faster. It
might be the dream but it could be the people outside that was scaring
her. She went to the bay windows and stepped out onto the balcony. The
house was encircled and the people of the town were proceeding to set
fire to the bottom of the house. As they saw her come out onto the
balcony many of them jumped back pacing away from the start of the
fire. Then someone shouted. "Witch!" A chant began, "Witch, witch,
witch!" Anna's head glanced back and forth, erratically.  She looked
like a rat caught in a trap, as the flames flickered higher up the
building. She screamed. The townsfolk that surrounded the inferno
wouldn't forget that scream for years to come, none of them!

WASHINGTON D.C
 
J. EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING MAY 19 12:15 pm

Scully looked up at Mulder and then down at the freshly typed file
that had been dropped on top of her desk. She picked it up and started
to leaf through it reading the first few sentences on the briefing
page "A witch burning Mulder?" Scully asked looking questioningly. "It
was reported a few days ago by a dentist in Elliot, Kansas He's asked
for immunity against a press release of his name. Says the townsfolk
will kill him if they find out he was the one who reported." "Why not
just tell the towns police?"Scully asked as she began to the read the
report. "Reckons they were part of the lynch mob. According to the
report most of the town were."Mulder replied sitting down in his chair
and lifting his feet up onto his desk, crossing his legs and folding
his fingers together over his chest. "When are we leaving,"Scully
said, glancing at Mulder, averting her eyes from the paper. "We have a
flight scheduled for 7:00pm tonight, "Mulder said as he stood up from
the desk, lifting his jacket and slinging his briefcase over his
shoulder.  Scully stood up, knocking her papers on her desk to
straighten the stak into a neat pile. "If most of the town were part
of the lynching do I take it that we will be working strictly under
cover?,"She said.  "Yes,"replied Mulder,"So pack casual clothes, we
need to be inconspicuos" Mulder stepped to the door of the basement
offices that hid the X-files from most of the rest of the world. Many
people, Mulder felt, couldn't handle it any other way. The day that
the truth was admitted to the rest of the world was the day that
Mulder had looked forward to since he was six years old. Since his
sister was taken away. Samantha, the name brought back very unhappy
memories. Mulder shook his head, he was having a good day.  He held
the door open as Scully pushed her papers into a new card file,
stamped the front of it and left it neatly on her desk. She put her
coat on and threw her bag over her shoulder stepping towards the door.
She stopped midway through the door and looked up at Mulder. She loved
his smile when he was truly excited about a case. Actually thinking
about it she liked rather a lot of things about Fox Mulder. Mulder
cocked his head and looked questioningly at his partner,"What!"He
asked. "C'mon, let's go to lunch and then you can drive me home,"She
said linking her arm around his and stepping out of the office
laughing slightly.  --

It was cold in Elliot, as Mulder and Scully stepped off the plane. It
was also dark, and If they were going to find their contact and
somewhere to sleep for the night, they needed to get on with it.
Outside the airport Mulder hailed a cab and jumped in leaving his bags
for the driver to sort out. "The corner of East street and Main,
please,"Scully said leaning forward so the driver could hear her.
"Uh, huh,"he replied, putting the cab into gear and driving out of the
taxi park onto the streets. "So Fox, where are we staying
tonight?"Scully said. Mulder noticed the use of his first name,
something Scully had agreed never to do, and he looked at her
questioningly. "We'll have to keep the covers up tonight Fox don't you
think, getting quite cold,"Scully said cryptically. Mulder frowned,
but then understood. "Yes, you're right,of course Dana. My brother
Peter said that there was room in his flat above the surgery,"Mulder
said, grinning at the supense they were holding over the innocent taxi
cab driver who might not even have been listening to them. However it
seemed that Scullys precautions had been not completely unfounded.
"You talkin' about Peter Altante's dentists surgery?"  He said lifting
his head up to look into the rear view mirror so he could see them
while he was yalking to them. "Yeah,"Mulder replied,"he's my brother
"Nice to meet you,"The cabbie said holding his hand over the back of
the seat to shake with Mulder,"I'm Joel Mcullum, I live about three
blocks away from Mr Atlante.  Are you staying long?" "We've not really
decided. You know we're just taking a break from it all, and Peter
said this was a nice town. This is spe...Dana Scully she's a good
friend of mine from D.C." "Nice to meet you Joel,"Dana said shooting
knives at Mulders very unproffesional near slip, and reaching forward
to shake Joels hand.  "

Mulder rapped hard on the door at the rear entrance of the surgery. It
was 11:39pm. The wind was bitingly cold, and cut through to places
that the two agents thought were hidden by their large jackets. "Hang
on, Hang on,"came a voice from upstairs,"Christ, do you know what time
it is,?" "Mr Atlante,?"Scully asked as the door was opened to a tall
man in his late forties. Large horn-rimmed glasses adorned his face.
It looked like it had been several years since a smile had dorned this
mans lonely face, Scully noted to herself, as she reached inside her
coat producing her F.B.I. badge and holding it up to the mans tired
eyes.  "Mr Atlante,"She repeated,"I am F.B.I. special agent Dana
Scully, this is special agent Fox Mulder. We have been sent here by
the bureau to in vestigate a very serious report that you sent us a
number of days ago. Can we come in?" The tall man stepped back
ushering the two threw the door and up the stairs that lead to the
flat above the surgery. "I had no idea whether you would come at all,
never mind this soon. You see I wasn't sure whether anyone would
really believe me at all. You do believe me don't you?" He suddenly
became very defensive and backed up the stairs away from the two
officers.  His eyes were burning with a wild intensity that Scully
recognised as an expression she had seen on Mulders face one morning
in Philadelphia. It was a powerful fear and need for help. This was
it, that look. He was begging for help. "Don't worry, Mr
Atlante"Mulder stepped forward and placed his hands on the mans
shoulders to comfort him,"We promise we will use everything at our
disposal to find out what's really going on in Elliot. We told the
cabbie, a man called Joel Peterson, that I was your brother and myself
and Ms Scully had decided to come and visit you for a break. Is that
okay with you?" The man noticeably lightened up and even dropped the
hint of a smile, showing definite signs of relief.He turned round
again and started to walk up the stairs again.  "Yes, Agent Mulder
that's certainly alright with me. But I think your definitely going to
have to be the younger brother,"He said as he opened the door to the
flat Mulder and Scully laughed and walked in.

Small as the flat was Mr Atlante managed to provide separate bedrooms
for the two, though Scully suspected he had given up his own room for
one of them and would probably be spending the night on the couch.
Dana changed out of her clothes, hot and sweaty from a long day
travelling and unpacked some of the items in her suitcase. Then
exhausted she lay beck on the bed and tucked her hand under the
pillow, wrapping the soft warm quilt around herself to shut out the
cold draught.

Suddenly Dana sat bolt upright in the bed scared. Why had she just
felt a draught. The room had no windows and was actually very warm.
She looked at the door to see if that was the culprit, no there was a
draught excluder.  Slowly she lay back down on the bed and soon she
was fast asleep. Dana Scully lay quietly asleep in her four poster
bed, The curtains that lay next toher bay windows fluttered in the
strong night wind. Dana turned onto her side sighing.

Mulder awoke with a crick in his neck, that felt like it would snap
his spine in two. What he wouldn't give for Carey to be here to
massage it. He looked at the clock on the bedside table 9:45am. Scully
wouldn't be up for another couple of hours yet, and he doubted whether
dentists got up early on a Sunday.  He swung his legs round to the
side of the bed and stepped onto the bare floor.  It was nicely
chilling on his feet which reminded him he would be dressing for the
chilly, Denver climate. He grabbed into his F.B.I. issue duffel bag
and pulled out a huge wooly jumper. He threw it to one side and pulled
on a pair on faded, ripped jeans. He put on a tee-shirt he had brought
when he had been at Oxford that had grown just a tad tighter over the
years but still fitted rather neatly, and anyway Fox happened to like
it. Over this and several other tee-shirts Mulder pulled the heavy
wool-knit jumper. He slipped on the tennis shoes he had brought with
him and as quietly as possible opened the door to his room and exited.
He started to head for the door out of the flat but then changed his
mind and headed back down the corridor to the room that Atlante had
put Scully in the night before. Quietly he eased the door open until
he could see through. Scully was lying on her back in the very center
of the bed. Clinging to the remaining pillow across her chest. The
other two lay on the floor around the bed, as did the quilt. Puzzled,
Mulder entered the room, and lifted the quilt back on top of Scully,
who grabbed at it smiling, pulling it up around her. She opened her
eyes partially and saw Mulder standing over her. "Rough night eh?"He
said gently. "Hmmm "was the best she could manage as a reply, as she
rubbed her eyes to clear them.  She glanced across at her watch.
"Mulder, it's just before ten, we travelled all day yesterday. Go back
to bed."It sounded more like an order than a suggestion but then
again, thought Mulder, she's tired. He shook his head,and replied.
"I'll be back around eleven. Hopefully you'll be less tired by then
and we can start work."He smiled, and started for the door. "Don't bet
on it."Scully muttered smiling herself as she drifted back to sleep.

Elliot was only just beginning to come to life.  To Mulders suprise most
of the towns people were up and about, and the streets were clearly far 
from empty. Mulder walked about half a mile down main street, passing dozens
of tiny shops that given more time he would have looked into, but he had
told Scully he would return at about eleven and he would make a concerted
effort to do just that. But having said that, there was one thing he was 
walking towards with a certain amount of purpose. He had seen it from the
windows of the living room in Atlante's flat and it had intrigued him. It
was what appeared to be the remains of a house. It was nothing like the 
other buildings in Elliot as it was alone on the top of a hill. A huge cast
iron fence surrounded the remains but as Mulder got closer he noticed that
both of the gates had come off their hinges and lay on top of each other
outside the grounds. "Look, but never touch! "whispered a voice behind 
Mulder. Mulder span round his hand dropping to where his gun would be if
he had thought it necessary to bring it with him. An old man leant on a 
stick and grimaced at Mulder."You're not from round here are you?"The man 
said. To Mulder it seemed that he wasn't really asking so much as saying.
 As if it was written on his forehead. So much for being inconspicuos
thought Mulder. "No. I'm staying with a relative in these parts. My
brother."He said loosening up and letting his arm drop from his side
"In that case you would be, young Fox Atlante I presume?"The old man
said straightening and holding out a hand to Mulder. Heard you'd
arrived, last night. How long will you be in town?" "Word travels
fast!"Mulder said genuinely suprised.  "It's a small town,"The old man
remarked grinning. "I'm not sure how long I'll be here for. We've just
come up for some time out"He said answering the old mans previous
question. "What, do you do Fox?"the man asked. The question threw
Mulder, as did the use of his first name. He hadn't expected to be
called upon to answer this one. Not yet anyway. "I, er...I work for a
printers in D.C."He finished satisfied that he had answered well.  "Oh
yes,"The man asked,"what is the name of the company?"Mulder wasn't
keen on being on this side of interrogation, he wasn't used to it. It
agitated him and made him very edgy that this man was so interested in
him.  "Excuse me, I believe you have me at a disadvantage, you know my
name yet I have no idea as to your identinty,"Mulder said cutting the
way the conversation was going dead in it's tracks. "My name is
Pines...Slocombe Pines,"The man proclaimed stretching himself up to
his full height and amazing Mulder by being a good couple of inches
taller than himself.  "I will be about my business now,"Pines said,
his voice had suddenly grown a lot less friendly and worried Mulder
slightly,"but I warn you Mr Atlante, you ought to be careful where you
tread in these parts, things are not what they seem in Elliot". He
turned and strode off at a pace well capable of a man one third of his
age.  " When Mulder arrived back at the house, Scully was seated in
the dining room eating pancakes and reading the paper. Mr Atlante was
still nowhere to be seen.  As Mulder entered Scully looked up smiling
and obviously pleased that he was back.  "Where's our host?"Mulder
said sitting down at the table and buttering a piece of toast from
Scullys side plate. "Oh, what about, Good morning Dana. How did you
sleep?"Scully commented still smiling. "Good morning Dana.  How did
you sleep?"Mulder said between mouthfuls of toast, smiling himself
now. "Perfectly well, thank you Fox"She replied. Mulder shot her a
glance as she called him Fox, but decided that if their cover would
hold, he was going to have to get used to it. "You're brother Peter is
in the kitchen,"Scully laughed. Mulder grinned and pushed away from
the table, standing up and walking towards the kitchen. Inside, the
small kitchenette, Mr Atlante was working at the cooker, with a long
white apron on.  "Good morning agent Mulder. Could I interest you in
some pancakes. Your colleague Miss Scully has a very healthy
appettite,"He said as he saw Mulder enter. "No, thankyou. I don't eat
much breakfast. What time today are you going to be able to talk to us
about why we're here,"Mulder said. Atlantes face fell noticeably. He
started to look more like the author of the report that Mulder had
been reading the day before, a paranoid fearful man. "Didn't I give
you enough in the report?"he mumbled trying to continue with the
cooking, but clearly shaken up. "No, it's not that.  The report was
fine, but we need to hear it straight from you. There isn't a problem
with that, is there?"Mulder asked. Atlante took his apron off, pulling
it over his head. He wiped his hands on it and threw it into the sink.
"I suppose now's as good a time as any,"He said stepping past Mulder
into the dining room.  Scully looked up as Mulder and Atlante entered.
"Mr Atlante would like to get our interview with him over and done
with, so he suggests that we do it now. I agree. How do you feel about
it?" "I'll just get my notebook,"Scully said getting up from the table
and leaving the room.

"So Mr Atlante, Could you please repeat to us what you said in your
report, and tell us what happened in Elliot, Denver, on the night and
early morning hours of May 15 and 16. Feel free to add anything you
missed out or forgot when writing your original letter to us." Mulder
started.  The three of them were sat around the small round dining
room table, Scully and Mulder facing Atlante. Mulders tape recorder
whirred away in the centre of the table. Scullys pencil hovered over
her notepad waiting for Atlantes reply. He drew in a long breath, and
started to tell the story as well as he could remember it. The fear
was obviously still very fresh in his mind. He had heard a crowd
gathering in the village square, only a couple of hundred yards away
from his shop, and he had dressed left the house and walked toward the
square to see what was happening.  He had been aware of a certain
amount of unrest in the townspeople for sometime and had been quite
worried by it. There was talk about the young girl living in the old
house on the hill. Some said she was evil and was trying to corrupt
the young men in the town. Several people claimed she had visited
their dreams and was torturing them in these dreams. Those who had
spoken to her said she could read minds and had answered their
questions before they had even asked them. One young man by the name
of Robert Heyland had been emotionally involved with the Romley girl,
he had scoffed at all the townsfolk calling them 'pathetic gossiping
old fools'. They had been a couple and had been seen together around
the town.  One day Mrs Heyland had visited the sherrifs station
violently worried that something had happened to her son as he had not
returned home the previous night. Robert Heyland was nowhere to be
found, Ms Romley had claimed that they had argued and then he had left
the house and she had not seen him since. The Sherrif and the Heyland
family had made it clear that they did not believe this but no
evidence was found to say anything different and Robert Heyland had
been filed as a missing person.  On the night that Peter Atlante had
entered the town square Thomas Heyland, the eldest of the two Heyland
boys had been standing on a soapbox screaming at the crowd. The evil
in the boys eyes had scared Mr Atlante, and when the chanting had
begun and they had started to march towards the house on the hill
carrying those blazing torches he had run back to his house and bolted
the doors. "Everyone there was fueled by this violent passion to kill.
I feared that if I had stayed it would have found some hold on me. The
next day I was confronted by Thomas Heyland. He threatened me, saying
that if I said anything to anyone I would die as well. That was the
first time I realised they had killed her. They had burned he alive.\
"The tears that had been welling in his eyes through the entire story,
finally exploded and he broke down sobbing on the table. Scully looked
up at Mulder, questioningly. He nodded slowly and she put her pad away
into her top pocket as he reached across the table and switched off
the taperecorder. Peter Atlante slowly raised his head off the table
and looked up at the two agents. "I'm sorry, that's really all I know.
No one in town has spoken about, Romley, Robert Heyland or that night
since. It's as if they think that by not talking about it, it won't
have happened and in a way it hasn't. Well as far as they're
concerned. If any of them feel any remorse about it, it certainly
doesn't show. Have I been any help at all?"He asked, still sobbing
slightly. "Don't worry about it sir. You've given us more than enough
to start on." Dana said standing up and resting her hand on his
shoulder.  "We'll do everything we can,"Mulder agreed.