TITLE: Falling Snow, Chapter 5/10
AUTHOR: Snark
E-MAIL: snark_911@yahoo.com
CLASSIFICATION: SA (Story, Angst) plus some UST
KEYWORDS: NONE
RATING: PG-13 
SPOILERS: This story is set before the Two Fathers/
One Son episodes. While there are no true pre-requisites 
for this story, allusions are made to at least the 
following episodes: Sleepless, Red Museum, Detour, 
Triangle, Shapes, Alpha, Bad Blood, Clyde Bruckman's 
Final Repose, and Tithonus. 
DISTRIBUTION: OK to forward to ATXC newsgroup and to
Gossamer. Please ask permission before archiving anywhere
else, please. Or at least let me know that you have 
archived it, so that I can keep track of where it's listed.
DISCLAIMER: The characters of The X-Files universe belong
to Chris Carter, the FOX network and 1013 Productions.
No infringement is intended and no money is being made by
the existence of this story. (Unfortunately.) However, 
the characters of Khi Shaolin and Mobaje are my own creation. 
These characters are not for use by any other fanfic author 
without my express, written consent.
FEEDBACK: Mail comments to snark_911@yahoo.com.
AUTHOR HOMEPAGE: http://www.smartania.com/snark/index.html
SUMMARY: Mulder, Scully and a mysterious woman from Mulder's
past crash in the snowy landscape of the Colorado winter. 









------------
Chapter 5
------------

Scully thought she'd experienced pain before, but nothing had 
ever felt quite like this. The hail slammed into her body like 
sledge hammers, each one more painful than the last. As she felt 
the plane's floor fall away from her feet, she counted to five and 
pulled the chute cord. 

A few seconds later, she was jerked upwards as the chute opened 
and slowed her descent. Thank God it opened, she thought--she 
hadn't held onto the reserve cord on the way out, and did not 
want to think of having to find it in the midst of the storm. 

Remembering Khi's instructions, Scully bent her knees, tucking 
her arms up in a fighter's pose. The wait was living agony--she 
had no way to tell where she was above the earth, no way to 
prepare for the shock of landing.

That shock came much sooner than she had anticipated. Had she 
been able to focus, she would have sworn her knees touched the 
back of her throat as her legs tried to absorb the impact. Before 
she could even register the pain, though, she found herself rolling 
to the left, but not under her own power. Caught on a steep 
hillside, she tumbled over and over, able to do little to stop the 
motion. 

Scully finally came to a rest face down in  a deep drift, half 
buried in the snow. She carefully but quickly tested each limb, 
not wanting to aggravate a dislocated or broken bone by 
thrashing around wildly. She was grateful when she was able to 
move everything with a minimal amount of pain.

Slowly, she clawed her way out of the drift, fighting through not 
only the snow but the tangled web of the chute itself. As she 
emerged from the snow, though, she realized it had actually been 
providing her a small protection from the hail.

With fingers numb beyond the ability to feel, she ripped at her 
harness, tearing at the carabiners one after the other. She was 
finally able to slither out of the harness, turning over to start 
digging into the drift as quickly as she could. She was glad for 
the helmet--a person would have been rendered unconscious in 
seconds without its protective guard.

Keeping one strap of the harness wrapped around her hand, she 
managed to burrow her way far enough into the snow bank that 
she escaped the worst of the hail. She laid on her back, her body 
tucked up in a tight ball to protect against the chunks that did 
reach her. She curved her arms around her head, creating a 
pocket of air in which to breathe.

Scully wasn't sure how long she remained like that. It felt like an 
eternity, but the rational part of her brain knew it had been no 
more than 20 minutes. Hunkered in as she was, every muscle 
flexed against the pain, it had taken her a few seconds to realize 
that she was no longer being pummeled by the hail. She dug her 
way to the surface again, finally clearing the snow away from her 
face shield enough to look around her.

She could not believe what she saw. It was snowing heavily, the 
wind swirling and twisting the flakes into a thousand tiny 
whirlwinds. Evergreen trees towered above and all around her, 
restricting her field of vision to perhaps a hundred yards in any 
direction. She had somehow landed in a thin strip of clear land, 
tumbling between the huge trunks on either side. Had she landed 
10 yards to either the left or the right... Scully shuddered as she 
saw how narrowly she had escaped serious injury, or even death.
 
Mulder...

Gingerly testing each muscle and bone as she rose, she climbed 
to her feet. She made her way over to a tree, leaning against it as 
she fumbled to get her helmet off. Without the continuous 
pounding of the hail, she figured she needed to use her ears more 
than she needed to protect her skull.

"Mulder!" she yelled. Her voice was absorbed almost 
immediately by the surrounding snow and trees--sound would 
not travel very far in the dense forest, she realized grimly.

Find shelter and stay put. Khi's instructions were ringing in her 
ears as she surveyed the forest encircling her. Dark and 
forbidding, it seemed to be alive, watching her with sinister 
intent.

At the moment, though, she wasn't concerned about her ears. She 
wanted to get rid of the pain in her heart--the fear of losing 
Mulder was knifing through her chest with enough force to take 
her breath away. It didn't take her long to make up her mind what 
to do. 

Wrapping her parachute into a ball and tucking it under her arm, 
Scully set off into the forest, calling out the name of the only 
man she'd ever trusted.

     *    *    *    *    *    *

It didn't take Scully very long to realize why Khi had told them 
to stay put wherever they landed--making headway against the 
sometimes 2- or 3-foot drifts was laborious, exhausting work. 
After only half an hour, Scully could feel her body rebelling 
against moving another inch. From her experience as a doctor, 
she knew exhaustion was usually one of the biggest factors 
leading to hypothermia.

So considering she'd only made a few hundred yards' progress, 
she decided to follow the advice she probably should have 
followed from the start. Finding a spot relatively free of snow 
beneath a broad-branched white pine, Scully spread the nylon 
chute out a bit and sat down to wait.

And wait...
                       And wait...
                                                And wait...

It was excruciating for her, alternately sitting and walking 
around, trying to keep as warm as possible. She had nothing to 
do but fill her mind with every horrible scenario imaginable. 
Mulder, down in the snow... Mulder, unconscious and bleeding... 
Mulder, dying...

Stop it, Dana, she lectured herself firmly. Your fear of what 
might be happening will prevent you from seeing what *is* 
happening. Right now, you don't have enough information to 
form any opinions. You're a scientist--act like one. Find the facts 
and then act on those facts.

Her speech didn't really make her feel any better, but it did serve 
to strengthen her resolve to stay focused. Scully began to 
formulate a strategy for both saving her strength and searching 
for Mulder. She knew she'd have to balance movement with rest 
periods, using the activity to stay warm without exhausting her 
body past its limits. Keep moving for 15 minutes, rest for 10, eat 
snow to keep herself hydrated--she knew it wasn't the best plan 
in the world, but she was consumed with the need to *do* 
something.

She had just rolled her parachute and emerged from underneath 
the tree when she heard something. She held herself perfectly 
still, straining to listen to the surrounding forest.

"Scul-eeee!" 

The voice was faint, but it was definitely there. Filling her lungs 
to the limits of their capacity, Scully bellowed an "Over here!" so 
loud that her throat hurt.

"Stay put!" the call came, the voice clear enough this time to  
answer her question of who had found her. It wasn't the answer 
she wanted, but at least it proved someone besides herself had 
survived the crash.

After a few minutes, she could make out movement up on the 
hillside. Khi was descending from slightly higher than Scully's 
position, using the hill itself to speed her descent. She would 
slide on her back as much as possible, not even trying to actually 
walk through the snow unless absolutely necessary.

Within five minutes, Khi was at Scully's side, breathing heavily 
from her exertions. She was bleeding from a cut on her forehead, 
but she waved off Scully's attempted inspection of her.

"It's nothing, and we don't have the time to spare," she said, 
glancing around her as she spoke. "We gotta find Mulder and we 
gotta find him right now."

"Why?" Scully asked. It wasn't that she didn't want to find 
Mulder as quickly as Khi did, but it looked to her as though the 
worst of the weather was over.

"Because this is just the calm before the storm, the eye of the 
hurricane," Khi said grimly. "Those clouds, low and black like 
that? They tell me that they're just beginning to dole out trouble. 
This snow is already falling much more heavily than it was 15 
minutes ago." She gestured up at the little bit of sky that showed 
through the treetops, the sky getting darker by the minute. 

"We've got a full-strength Colorado storm descending on us, 
Scully," she said, looking Scully straight in the eyes as her hand 
dropped back to her side. She paused for a minute, taking a deep 
breath before continuing--it was as if she needed to gather 
strength to even say her next words.

"And if we don't find Mulder now, they'll be digging his body 
out come springtime."

During the time Scully had been around Khi in the last few days, 
even during the frantic situation aboard the plane, Khi had 
always remained calm and sure. Her voice had always been 
steady and unwavering, a fixed point in the surrounding chaos. 
But not this time. This time, her voice shook slightly, a 
noticeable break in the timbre as she spoke those words.

Words that chilled Scully's heart like death itself.

     *    *    *    *    *    *

Scully clamped down on the terror rising inside her with iron 
control. Shoving all of her fear into a tiny chamber within 
herself, she bolted the door tightly shut. Mulder needed her 
strong and alert, now more than he ever had--she couldn't afford 
to give in to the pain threatening to overwhelm her.

"All right. What do we do?" she asked, cracking her shoulder 
blades a couple of times and taking several deep breaths. "Can 
you track him? How do we find him?"

Khi held up the small scanning device, gripping it in her right 
hand as she slowly turned around. "This tracks the beacon in 
your jump suits," Khi explained, working a couple of controls on 
the device with her left hand as she pivoted. "Unfortunately, it's 
range is severely limited--I found your location more by good 
fortune than by use of this equipment."

"So how do we find Mulder?" Scully said. "Is he showing up at 
all on that thing?" When Khi met her eyes as she returned to her 
starting position, Scully knew she didn't want to hear the answer.

"No," Khi said simply. Scully closed her eyes briefly, allowing 
herself just a moment of sheer panic before forcing control again. 

When she reopened them, she saw Khi searching the surrounding 
forest with meticulous care. Each section of the landscape was 
explored, each detail found and catalogued. To Scully, the forest 
looked equally bleak in every direction--she could only hope that 
Khi was seeing something more.

"I'm going to make the assumption that Mulder is ahead of us," 
Khi said finally, motioning in the general direction Scully had 
been moving. "I covered perhaps a mile and a half of terrain 
coming from the other way, and never picked up a signal for him. 
So time spent backtracking would be wasted--we need to 
maximize our search area, which means going northeast."

Khi took a minute to asses Scully's condition, wanting to know 
of any broken or bruised bones or strained muscles. Scully 
explained that she had actually missed the trees when she landed, 
avoiding any serious harm. She could breathe easily and had no 
symptoms of concussion.

Returning the question, Scully learned that Khi slammed into a 
tree trunk right after landing, dislocating her shoulder upon 
impact. But she had already reset the joint, a fact that surprised 
Scully slightly. Having a dislocated shoulder reset was a lesson 
in extreme pain--performing that reset without painkillers, by 
yourself, in the middle of a snowstorm... Despite herself, Scully 
felt her respect for Khi bump up a notch. 

With the exception of the gash on her forehead, she had sustained 
no other injuries. Reaching out to take Scully's chute, Khi 
unrolled it onto the snow, folding it into a large square perhaps 
eight feet by eight feet. She took both helmets and placed them 
towards one edge of the square. Then, performing a series of 
quick twists and folds, she fashioned a 'pack' out of the material, 
securing the helmets within the folds of material.

Scully was then able to step back into the harness and fasten it 
and the pack to her suit. The pack rested on her shoulders and left 
both arms with a free range of motion. Though not heavy, the 
pack was somewhat bulky--it took her a few minutes to find the 
right balance point for her movements.

Khi spoke as Scully tested the weight of the pack. "I'll lead. 
Follow at a distance of about 10 yards. Do *not* lose visual 
contact with me. If at any point you find yourself dropping back, 
or if you need to rest, yell out," Khi stressed. "My attention will 
be focused on the readout screen. If you were to fall behind, it 
might be several minutes before I would even notice."

"Understood," Scully said. 

"I packed the helmets for the same reason you probably took 
yours off to start with--we need to listen for Mulder much more 
than we need to keep our heads warm," Khi said. "However, it 
does leave us unprotected in the event of more hail. So be ready 
to either dive for shelter or to have me rip open that pack should 
we need them."

Scully nodded in silent agreement as Khi turned to lead off 
through the snow. Scully tried to watch and mirror Khi's 
movements, since she seemed to have a much easier time moving 
through the drifts. 

After only a few strides, though, Khi paused. Turning, she looked 
at Scully with a gaze so intense she felt as though she would go 
up in flames. Khi looked right past all of Scully's defenses, past 
the bolted-shut door in her soul, and somehow saw all the fear 
and pain she was harboring deep inside.

"We'll find him, Scully," Khi said simply. "We will." This time, 
her voice shook not with fear, but with the strength.

     *    *    *    *    *    *

Making headway was grueling work. The snow was neither light 
enough for them to pass through easily nor heavy enough for 
them to walk on top. It also hid the underbrush, making it hard 
find a clear path to move forward in many places. The wind, 
though somewhat lessened by the dense forest, still whipped with 
enough force to sting their faces and swirl their breath away.

But it was the utter silence that unnerved Scully the most. A 
storm was raging around her, but it made barely a sound--a 
muzzle had been dropped into place over the forest, cinched tight 
by a blanket of snow. 

On and on they pushed, Scully listening for any possible sign of 
Mulder as Khi kept watch over the scanner's readout. As they 
walked, Scully was amazed at Khi's physical prowess--she had 
not slowed one bit since setting out over an hour ago. Scully was 
still moving fairly well too, but she knew it was only because 
Khi was out there in front, blazing the trail in which Scully 
followed.

I should be used to it by now, she thought. How many times has 
it been Mulder out there in front, leading me down a dizzying 
path in pursuit of a goal I could only hope to understand? A goal 
that molds him, defines him, consumes him? One to which he's 
prepared to sacrifice his very life?

A sacrifice she hoped hadn't already taken place.

Khi drew to a stop up ahead, allowing Scully to catch up to her. 
Scully saw the cut on Khi's forehead had stopped bleeding, 
having left a trail of red down the side of her face. 

"We have to make a decision," Khi said. "We've got perhaps 20 
minutes of good daylight left. After that, it won't be long until it 
is completely dark. Forty-five minutes, tops." Khi paused, 
sweeping an arm up towards the sky as she continued.

"The temperature is dropping rapidly and the wind is picking up. 
An increasing wind at the end of the day is a bad sign," she said 
quietly. "We've got to get a shelter built before it's too dark to see 
what we're doing. Trapped in the open, we probably won't 
survive the night."

"Which means... Mulder won't survive the night if we don't find 
him," Scully said, struggling to get the words out of her throat. 
Khi just nodded in agreement. Through a small shrug of her good 
shoulder, she indicated it was Scully's decision now.

Scully looked around her, searching the forest for the solution, 
for the answer. But the dark evergreens gave no response, 
provided no guidance. They simply watched her. Waiting. 

Waiting for her to make the decision of who would live and who 
would die this night. 

Closing her eyes, Scully saw Mulder in her mind. A thousand 
different settings, a thousand different outcomes.

Reaching up to shake her hand that first day...

   Pouring his heart out by her bedside as she lay dying...

      Pointing a gun at her in a bright hospital room...

         Coming back from the dead to hug her in a crowded 
courtroom...

            Standing amidst the blackened ruins of his life...

               Telling her he loved her...

Scully realized there was no decision to make.

"If we've got 20 minutes of daylight, we search 20 more 
minutes," Scully said simply. Khi said nothing, giving only a 
swift nod before turning and leading the way again. 

Shrouded beneath the falling snow, the forest watched them, a 
silent witness to their journey towards what they both knew 
would be their own deaths.

At precisely 19 minutes after they resumed searching, Khi 
stopped suddenly. Scully, wrapped up in her own thoughts, didn't 
notice until she nearly knocked Khi down. She asked what was 
wrong, but got no response. Scully stepped around Khi's right 
side, following her gaze down towards her hands.

There, at the very edge of the readout screen, a small green light 
was blinking.

     *    *    *    *    *    *

Within 25 minutes, Scully and Khi were closing in on the 
beacon's location. The hope of finding Mulder alive, however 
slim that hope might be, had revitalized them. When she had first 
looked at the readout screen, Scully had physically felt the rush 
of adrenaline enter her bloodstream--she could still feel it 
pumping through her as they drew closer.

Time was their enemy, though. Darkness was falling as heavily 
as the snow now, continually reducing their field of vision. 
Although she didn't mention it to Scully, Khi knew that in this 
light they could pass within 70 feet of Mulder and not see him. 
They had begun to take turns yelling out for Mulder, hoping he 
would be able to hear them and indicate his position.

Khi finally drew to a stop. As Scully approached her, she held up 
the scanner to Scully could see the readout screen. The blinking 
light was squarely in the center of the display's gridlines.

"According to this, we should be standing right on top of him," 
she said, beginning to look around for any sign of Mulder. Khi 
thought for a moment, options and strategies turning in her mind. 
"Let's do a 1/2, 3/4 circle search for him."

At Scully's blank stare, Khi began drawing a picture in the snow 
as she talked. "Think of it as using circles to search a square grid. 
We start 15 yards from each other. You do a half-circle around 
my stationary position, so that you end up on the other side of 
me. I then do a 3/4-circle around you, so that I end up 'north' of 
you, again at 15 yards. You do another half-circle, I again wrap 
around you in a 3/4-circle. After three iterations, we 'skip out' a 
step, widening the grid like a spiral each time."

Scully saw the efficiency of the search pattern immediately--each 
person would never be more than 15 yards from the other, yet 
they would cover a large amount of ground quickly. She nodded 
her understanding to Khi.

"OK, then, let's start. Remember, you aren't just looking for a 
human form--the chute itself will be the biggest locator," Khi 
stressed. "You are looking for *anything* that is anomalous or 
out of place. Feel with your feet as well. Your feet might catch a 
buried chute or..." 

The word 'body' hung in the air unspoken. 

They began the search pattern, looping around each other over 
and over as they continued to yell out. Khi was still using the 
scanner, knowing its limited capabilities may have gotten 
confused by the storm--she had no way of verifying if it was 
even showing the correct location. 

But the scanner kept displaying the beacon in the same spot, the 
location from which they had originally started. As they finished 
the fourth complete spiral, Khi motioned for Scully to join her. 

"The beacon remains steady where we first started, but we saw 
nothing there," she explained, her voice tight. "We have to 
consider the possibility that Mulder is buried beneath the snow 
entirely, especially if... if his chute didn't open."

"No, he's here, he's alive" Scully said, somehow managing to 
sound rational. "I know he's here, we just have to find him." 

"Scully, we're at near total darkness. I can barely see you and 
you're standing right next to me," Khi said. "We need to take 
shelter or we're going to die out here."

"No, I won't leave him, Khi" Scully said, her voice barely above 
a whisper. "I can't." She turned and headed back to their original 
location, not even bothering to see if Khi was following her.

As she reached the starting point, Scully knew that the already 
slim chance of finding Mulder had been reduced to nothingness. 
She knew that she should follow Khi's advice and ensure her own 
survival--Mulder had most likely met his death and would not 
benefit from her actions.

But she also knew she would never forgive herself if she quit. 
Her own death would start at the moment she gave up, as part of 
her very soul fell away.

Scully closed her eyes, tipping her face up towards the sky in 
silent prayer. She remembered Mobaje's words earlier, that the 
sky and the earth together were the givers of life and the keepers 
of death. Though she had been raised on traditional Christian 
beliefs, she had felt a strong attraction to the worldview that 
Mobaje had described, finding both peaceful and full of power.

Show me the way M'alvahe, she prayed. Guide my path and give 
me the strength to follow you on the course you have chosen for 
Mulder. 

Whatever Scully had been seeking, whatever ray of light or hope 
she had hoped to find, remained hidden from her. She felt 
nothing but an ever-increasing sense of dread and fear as it 
settled around her heart. She opened her eyes, barely registering 
the snow that swept against them.

"Khi!" 

The word tore from Scully's throat like a living thing, escaping 
with force enough to cause physical pain. Khi was at her side 
within seconds, following her gaze upwards.

Forty feet above them, barely visible against the sky's blackness, 
Mulder's unmoving form was hanging from his chute harness.

     *    *    *    *    *    *

Khi was at Mulder's side in less than fifteen seconds. Hand over 
hand, feet searching for traction on the snow-covered branches, 
she scaled the tree as easily as a primate. She reached the branch 
even with Mulder's position, easing herself towards him. She 
pulled a glove off and felt for a pulse at the side of his neck.

"He's alive!" Khi yelled, hoping Scully could hear her above the 
wind. The wordless cry of joy that reached her ears seconds later 
told her the message had been received.

Khi began unbuckling the carabiners and untwisting the harness, 
trying to free Mulder enough so that she could ease him out. But 
the awkward angle at which he was hanging made it difficult--
she couldn't keep hold of him and reach everything 
simultaneously.

She reversed direction and descended from the tree, jumping the 
last 10 feet to land next to Scully.

"Where is he?!" Scully yelled above the wind.

"I can't get him free," Khi yelled back. "I can't hold him safely 
while unhooking everything. I need to find something to cut him 
out of there." Khi delved into the pack that still hung at her waist, 
searching for anything that might work to sever the harness 
straps. 

"Wai-wai-wai-wai-wait," Scully mumbled rapid-fire, slapping a 
hand down onto her lower leg. She immediately began stripping 
down, paying no attention to the cold or the snow. Or to Khi , 
who was staring at her as though Scully had gone mad.

As she peeled her right jean leg down, she unstrapped the knife 
from her leg and held it out to Khi. "Here, use this," she said as 
she handed it over.

Khi unsheathed the blade, the knife heavy in her hands. "You can 
have a spot in my lifeboat anytime, Scully," Khi said, tossing her 
a look of respect.

"Go get Mulder," Scully said, acknowledging Khi's comment 
with a brief nod.

"I'm going to try to cut him free and get him across my shoulders 
in a fireman's carry," Khi explained. "I can make a controlled 
descent that way. But it might be difficult, considering the angle 
he's at up there. Worst case scenario, I slash his harness and he 
comes out of the tree freefall. Be ready."

Scully nodded, watching as Khi scrambled up the tree again and 
was soon lost to the blackness. The seconds passed slowly, each 
more agonizing than the last. She was completely cut off from 
them, unable to see or hear anything. "C'mon, c'mon," she 
whispered aloud. "Where the hell are you?"

Finally, she could discern movement above her. At first, it 
appeared as if Mulder were floating downwards, feet first, of his 
own accord. But Scully soon saw that Khi was holding him by 
the remains of his harness at the back of his neck. Somehow, she 
was controlling her descent with her right arm while taking 
Mulder's full weight on the left. 

A left arm that had been dislocated, Scully remembered. She 
could not even imagine the extreme pain Khi must have been 
experiencing.

Slowly, branch by branch, they made the descent. As Khi put her 
weight on the next branch, though, she felt it start to give way 
from the main trunk. Strong enough to have held just her 
previously, the weight of her and Mulder together was too much 
for it. 

The branch fell away from beneath Khi's feet even as she tried 
desperately to maintain her hold on the branch above her. Scully 
hoped, for one brief second, that Khi would be able to hang on, 
to somehow hold them both and get down safely. 

But the hope was short-lived. Watching in horror from below, 
Scully saw Khi and Mulder plummet from the tree.

Mulder hit the ground first, Khi dropping directly on top of him--
she had been straight above him during the descent, and simply 
did not have enough time to try to change her position. She rolled 
off immediately, lifting her body up and falling away to the side.

Scully was at Mulder's side instantly, checking his pulse again 
and beginning to do a quick check for injury. As Khi stood, 
trying to catch her breath, she saw Scully jerk her hand back as 
she ran a hand down his right leg.

The twisted, splintered end of the broken branch had been driven 
clear through Mulder's upper thigh.

     *    *    *    *    *    *

Scully was not a squeamish woman. She had seen death in all its 
forms, had seen more genetic abnormalities and human mutants 
in five years than most people would in five lifetimes. She prided 
herself on her ability to look at her work clinically, to distance 
herself from the horrors she saw.

But not this time. As she looked down at Mulder's leg, she felt 
his pain course through her as if it were her very own. A dizzying 
wave of agony washed up over her, enveloping her, drowning 
her. She had to fight with every ounce of her strength to keep 
control, to resist being overcome.

Concentrate, Dana, she said to herself. You didn't come all this 
way to pass out now. Mulder needs you, he needs both your 
strength and your help to get through this. Concentrate.

Scully knew she had to get the branch out of Mulder's leg 
immediately--God only knew how much damage had been 
caused as the splintered wood tore through his musculature. She 
reached out to feel around the wound, to try and asses how to 
best remove the branch. But Khi's hand stopped her.

"Shelter first, Scully," Khi yelled, her hand encircling Scully's 
forearm and holding it away from Mulder's body.

"But he needs medical attention *now*," Scully insisted, trying 
to break free of Khi's grasp. She was annoyed when she realized 
she couldn't--Khi held her as easily as if she had been a child.

"No, he needs to get out of this wind and he needs heat. And 
we're only going to give him that if we find shelter and build a 
fire," Khi yelled. Scully still struggled, not listening as Khi tried 
to calm her down. She wanted only to reach Mulder, to help him, 
to save him. 

"Scully!"

The word rocked Scully like a physical blow. She felt the force 
of it cut through her as if Khi had struck her across the face. Her 
struggling ceased as Khi hauled her to her feet.

"Listen to me, Scully. Out there, in that world, in *your* world, 
you don't have to listen to me," Khi yelled. "You don't have to 
like me, you don't have to trust me, you don't have to do a damn 
thing I say. But here... in *this* world..."

Khi paused, releasing Scully's left arm to gesture around them at 
the forest, the wind, the snow. 

"This is *my* world. Our course so far has been determined by 
you only because I wanted to find Mulder as much as you. But 
now we hold his life in our hands," she said. "And if you want to 
save that life, you are going to have to listen to me... you are 
going to have to trust me."

Scully could make no response. She simply shook her head as 
she kept her eyes on Mulder. When it came to trust, there was 
only one person she would ever say those words to. 

"I know you trust only him," Khi said more gently, even though 
she was still yelling to be heard. More seriously than she would 
have ever admitted, Scully wondered if Khi were partially 
telepathic. "I know that. And I know that now, he trusts only you. 
But when we knew each other, Mulder trusted only me. What he 
and I used to be are what the two of you have now become. 
That's going to have to be enough, Scully. You're going to have 
to trust me through him."

Still holding Scully's arms, Khi waited. Despair, agony, distrust--
all were clearly visible on Scully's face. Khi could only hope that 
she would see what was right in front of her. That only Khi could 
see them through this now. All of them.

"Yes."

A single word, spoken a thousand times by people every day. But 
Khi knew how hard it had been for Scully to say it. Khi released 
Scully, swiftly nodding her head to acknowledge the effort and  
to assure her that she meant no harm.

Khi wasted no further time. "We passed a suitable place about 
ten minutes back," she yelled, indicating the way they had come. 
As Scully turned to look, she was shocked to see that their path 
had already been almost completely filled with blowing snow.

"Get out of your harness, unroll the chute and remove the 
helmets," Khi fell into command mode quickly. "Put one on, put 
the other on Mulder. Refold the chute to a 12 by 3 rectangle. 
Find at least three tie straps in here." She unclipped the pack at 
her waist and handed it to Scully.

Moving to Mulder's side, Khi assessed both the broken branch 
and the injury to his leg. She offered up silent thanks when she 
saw that the branch was only a little over an inch in diameter. 
The wood had torn completely through the flesh on his inner 
thigh, entering from the back side and protruding above the skin 
a couple of inches.

Rolling Mulder onto his side, she gripped the branch with both 
hands, as close against the back of Mulder's leg as she could. Khi 
began to apply pressure, wanting to break the branch off within a 
couple inches of the thigh. 

Expecting more resistance, she was thrown slightly off balance 
when the wood snapped quite easily. Khi felt the weight of the 
broken branch, realizing the wood was dry and brittle. It was no 
wonder it had cracked beneath their weight. 

Khi was busy breaking the remainder of the branch into foot-long 
pieces when Scully finished folding the chute. "What now?" 
Scully asked, easing a helmet onto Mulder after checking for 
obvious neck injury. 

"The wood in Mulder's leg is acting as a plug against bleeding, 
and we're going to leave it that way until we can remove it 
safely," Khi said, directing Scully to drag the chute over to 
Mulder's side. "The chute will serve as a travois--we put Mulder 
on it, strap him in and drag him over the snow."

Khi did what she was explaining, rolling Mulder up onto his side 
and motioning for Scully to position the chute next to him. When 
it was in place, the extra length all to one end, Khi gently slid 
Mulder onto it and let him roll onto his back. Knowing they 
would need the dry wood soon, she also packed the short pieces 
of the branch around his sides. They then slid the tie-straps 
underneath him and cinched him in tightly, making sure his arms 
were crossed over his chest.

Khi stood up, tying the ends of the chute together and slipping 
the resulting loop over her head. She threaded her arms through 
the loop as well, positioning the fabric as high on her upper chest 
as possible. She would be able to drag Mulder straight behind her 
with minimal effort, her hands and arms left free for balance.

"I'll take the lead, you follow as closely as possible behind 
Mulder," Khi yelled. "Do *not* get distracted. In this darkness, it 
would take only a couple of seconds to lose sight of the chute 
and get separated. Got it?"

"Got it," Scully yelled back, grabbing up Khi's pack and zipping 
it shut. As Khi stepped forward to lead off, Scully saw that the 
travois was pulled along like a child's toboggan, sliding easily 
across the snow. 

As Scully fell into position behind Mulder, she followed Khi's 
instructions. She focused on the red and white stripes of the 
chute, training her body on keeping pace. To keep her mind 
clear, she fell into a simple mental cadence as she moved, 
repeating the same phrase over and over, a mantra against the 
storm.

M'alvahe find us, M'alvahe find us, M'alvahe find us...

She would have been surprised to know someone else was 
already trying to do just that.

     *    *    *    *    *    *

When Khi drew to a stop some fifteen minutes later, Scully had 
to catch herself before walking right up Mulder's body. Having 
concentrated solely on the chute as it slid along in front of her, 
Scully found it something of a shock when the travois suddenly 
halted.

By the time Scully had moved past Mulder, Khi was already out 
of the travois. She untied the loop and tucked the extra length 
over Mulder, shielding him slightly from the snow and wind. 
Standing, she took the pack from Scully and removed the 
scanning device, slipping it inside her suit. She then took the 
knife out, zipping the pack as she handed it back to Scully.

"Stay with him. Do not move from this spot," Khi stressed. She 
then turned and headed off to their right, disappearing quickly in 
the swirling snow. It did not occur to Scully to ask what she was 
doing or where she was going--when Scully had decided to trust 
Khi, she had done so as wholeheartedly as she did everything 
else in her life. 

Scully took a couple of minutes to carve out a deep depression in 
the pathway, scooping the snow behind her and off to the side. 
Sitting down inside the hole and leaning forward, she hooked her 
hands under Mulder's shoulders and pulled him as far onto her 
lap as she could. She folded the chute around him again, 
knowing that both the chute and the 'walls' of the pathway were 
providing at least some protection from the wind. She crooked 
her arms around Mulder's body and held him close, telling 
herself it was to try and help him conserve body heat.

How did I get here, she wondered as she waited for Khi to return. 
Yesterday at this time, I was having a nice, relaxing evening. 
Now I'm huddled in the snow, holding my near-dead partner in 
my arms and doubting if we'll ever get out of this. What the hell 
happened?

Scully had never been one to wonder about the 'why' of the 
world. As a doctor, she had always looked at life through the lens 
of science. She had rested firm in the belief that events happened 
for quantifiable reasons, even if the human mind could not yet 
comprehend those reasons. Things simply were they way they 
were, she had always thought.

But what if I've been wrong, she asked herself. What if each 
decision, each action, each thought changes the outcome of the 
future? She knew of infinite-universe theories which stated that a 
universe existed for each possible outcome of every decision 
made. That, in this universe, when she decided to turn left at 
some intersection, another universe popped into existence in 
which she had decided to turn right.

If I hadn't decided to come on this trip, she wondered, would 
Mulder be in his hotel room safe and sound right now? Would he 
be flipping through the channels and eating the remains of a 
delivered pizza, just like always? Did my decision to try to 
*protect* him from harm become the very action that *caused* 
him harm? 

She decided she didn't want to know the answer.

     *    *    *    *    *    *

Even though she was keeping a close eye out for Khi's return, 
Scully was still a bit startled when Khi reappeared just in front of 
her. The driving snow had provided a cloak of whiteness over 
Scully's vision, causing Khi to seemingly coalesce out of 
nothingness.

"Get up and follow me," Khi yelled, wasting no time on 
pleasantries. She handed Scully the knife and the scanner, 
indicating to return both to the pack. As Scully did so, Khi 
recreated the travois loop and stepped into it. Checking to make 
sure Mulder was still securely tied in place, Khi turned and began 
retracing her path. Scully simply carried the pack this time as she 
fell into the rear position. 

After just a couple of minutes, Khi made a sharp turn to her left. 
Scully soon realized they were heading into thick undergrowth, 
young trees crowded together closely under the limbs of the older 
forest. 

Making progress became increasingly difficult as the brush 
became thicker, the snow deeper. Scully found that she was 
having to pay attention not only to the travois, but to branches 
snapping around her as Khi passed through. Scully took a small 
token of pleasure in the fact that even Khi was being slowed this 
time--Scully was not falling behind, even though she knew they 
were going more slowly than before.

Suddenly, the travois paused ahead of Scully. She couldn't really 
see Khi ahead of her, but the slight shaking of the travois told 
Scully that she was still there. After a few moments, the travois 
moved forward again, more slowly this time. 

Moving up alongside Mulder, Scully soon saw that Khi had 
turned backwards and dropped to the ground, pulling Mulder 
behind her as she scooted backwards. She was pulling Mulder 
through the opening of a small hut-like shelter, formed right out 
of the young trees themselves. Scully wasted no time on sight-
seeing, though, crawling in right behind them as soon as she 
could.

Once inside, a strange sensation fell over her, one that she 
couldn't place right away. She finally realized she was no longer 
being buffeted by the wind. After being out in the howling storm 
for so long, the interior of the shelter seemed eerily still. 

Glancing around, Scully could see that Khi had created the hut 
out of the living forest itself. After clearing the 10x10 area of any 
brush and saplings, Khi had then bowed the young trees along 
the edges, tying them overhead to form the ribs of a dome. Pine 
boughs were woven amongst the small trunks to form the curving 
walls of the shelter.

"Don't get comfortable," Khi warned, struggling a bit to get out 
of the travois in the short confines of the shelter. Although wide 
across its base, the shelter was no more than five feet high at its 
center. "I wanted to get Mulder out of the wind as soon as 
possible. But we now need to pack the exterior, cut more pine 
boughs for insulation beneath us, and try to find firewood."

Scully noticed they were able to converse in something less than 
a full yell inside the shelter, a welcome change from fighting the 
howling wind outside. Every time she had opened her mouth 
outside to speak, she had had the uncanny feeling that an icy arm 
of the storm itself was reaching down her throat to take steal her 
breath.

"Let me check him first," Scully said, though her words weren't 
really a request for permission. Pulling off a glove, she eased her 
fingers up underneath the helmet to feel for a pulse. As cold as 
she knew her hands were, she was frightened to realize that 
Mulder was even colder. The seconds ticked by as she frantically 
pressed his throat, as she searched for the beating of his heart.
 
As her own heart stood still.

Finally, she found it. Weak and thready, barely whispering 
against her fingertips, but there. She closed her eyes briefly, 
taking a couple deep breaths to calm her shaking body. 

Moving down his body, she quickly inspected the leg wound, 
relieved to find no signs of additional bleeding. A feel of his 
ribcage turned up no immediate signs of broken bones, but she 
could not be sure. She'd have to perform a more thorough 
examination as soon as possible to be certain of his condition. 

"Leave him, Scully," Khi called out, somehow managing to 
soften the utter command in her voice with a layer of gentleness. 
"We've got work to do. Bring the knife and follow me." After 
receiving an acknowledging word from Scully, Khi dropped to 
her knees and crawled outside.

Scully draped the chute over Mulder again, taking care not to 
jostle him. Without conscious thought, her hand lingered on his 
chest for just a moment, caressing him gently even though he 
could not feel it.

"You'll be OK, Mulder, you just have to hang on for a little while 
longer," she whispered as she stood. "You have to hang on."

You just have to.

     *    *    *    *    *    *

Crawling outside, Scully was met by the blast of the raging 
storm. After the relative calm of the shelter's interior, Scully was 
slightly disoriented. She stood slowly, trying to get her bearings 
in the surrounding darkness. 

"Give me the knife, I'll go cut boughs," Khi yelled, leaning in 
close to Scully. Her voice and light touch to Scully's arm was a 
welcomed point of reference. "Pack snow on every exterior 
surface of the shelter, as thickly as you can. Throw it up top, let it 
fall down the sides. You're done when there's no more green, got 
it?"

"Understood," Scully yelled, passing the knife to Khi as she 
headed into the blackness of the forest. 

Scully turned to the shelter and started pushing snow against the 
sides as quickly as she could. It was too cold for the snow to 
really pack,  she knew, but she found she could work the snow in 
amongst the branches. Then, with repeated shoveling motions, 
she could cover the boughs completely.

She moved around the shelter clockwise, working from the 
ground up as she looped around the shelter. Each successive ring 
of snow rested on the level beneath it. She was about halfway up 
the shelter when Khi returned the first time, unloading a pile of 
broad pine boughs next to the entryway before disappearing 
again. Scully had no idea how Khi was able to keep her bearings, 
but did not want to question the advantage it provided. Scully 
knew that left to her own sense of direction, she would have been 
lost within seconds.

The activity warmed her slightly--she could feel a tiny measure 
of heat working its way through her body. She was careful not to 
over-exert herself though, working at a slow enough pace that 
she could still breathe comfortably through her nose. 

Khi returned the second time just as Scully was beginning to 
scoop and throw snow onto the top of the shelter. Khi dropped 
the boughs next to the first pile, then stepped around the shelter 
to find Scully.

"I'm going for firewood now," she yelled. "If you get done before 
I get back, start bringing the boughs inside. Line the floor, 
leaving a bare area in the middle." 

Khi headed back into the night again as Scully continued 
throwing snow onto the shelter. It was rough going, in a way, 
since she had no bucket or shovel to assist her. The storm swirled 
away a large portion of her efforts before they ever reached the 
roof of the shelter. 

She kept at it, though, knowing the snow would provide the 
insulation they needed to survive. Eventually, Scully had covered 
all but the very center of the roof--she couldn't find a way to get 
the snow up that far before it blew away. 

Assuming Khi would be able to solve that problem, Scully turned 
her attention to bringing the pine boughs inside. Khi had 
originally positioned Mulder in the center of the shelter, so 
Scully was able to line the floor without moving him. Khi had 
cut enough for nearly three full layers of boughs around the 
interior. As she began overlapping them on the second layer, 
Scully was surprised to realize how soft the boughs were beneath 
her. She would not have imagined that pine needles could be 
anything other than prickly, but these were very long and very 
soft, almost plush.

Scully had just begun the third layer when Khi returned. She had 
cut another bough to use as a sled, and Scully was heartened to 
see a sizeable stack of dead twigs and branches piled on it. Khi 
pulled the whole stack right inside the shelter, unloading it 
swiftly and restacking the wood along the wall. She then used the 
sled bough itself to seal up the small entrance to the shelter, 
weaving it into the edges of the doorway. 

She wastes nothing, Scully realized as she watched Khi work. 
Words, motion, materials--all were used precisely and without 
excess, achieving their goal efficiently. Again, Scully was 
reminded of a military bearing, the attitude that if you didn't need 
it, you left it behind. 

"There, that's that," Khi said as she turned from the wall. At least, 
that's what Scully assumed she had done. Whatever meager light 
had been provided through the doorway was now gone--sealing it 
had plunged the interior of the shelter into a black hole.

"Now what?" Scully asked. 

"Where's the pack?" Khi asked in reply. 

"It's right... I think it's... uh...," Scully mumbled as she groped 
behind her in the darkness. She knew that she had set the pack 
along the wall, but was having trouble finding it. "Ah, here you 
go." 

She held the pack out towards Khi's general direction and felt it 
lifted from her hand as she heard Khi move forward. She heard 
first the zipper, then the sounds of Khi rustling through the 
contents of the pack.

"So how are you going to start a fi-" 

The telltale sound of a striking match cut off Scully's words. She 
just stared at the tiny flame for a moment, watching as it 
flickered slightly. 

"Khi, you can have a spot in my lifeboat anytime," Scully said 
slowly, tossing Khi's previous comment back at her.

The howling of the storm proved no match for the relieved 
laughter that erupted from inside the tiny snow-covered hut.


      *** 30 *********  Section End  *********** 30 ***
 

Continued in Section Six, Chapter 6/10...

http://members.tripod.com/~koosn/falling_snow-6.txt