From: Lisa Stiles Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2010 00:05:34 -0700 (PDT) Subject: story submission Source: direct TITLE: December 23, 2012 AUTHOR: Bugmouthga E-MAIL: bugmouthga@yahoo.com DISTRIBUTION: archive freely- please let me know RATING: PG CATEGORIES: Story KEYWORDS: post-series, colonization SPOILERS: The Truth SUMMARY: Colonization, baby! Disclaimer: The X-Files is owned by 20th Century Fox and 1013 Productions Author's Notes: This was written as a 500 words or less challenge at http://anewspace.20.forumer.com/privmsg.php?folder=inbo x Please let me know if you liked it! "December 23, 2012" The clone walked through the desolate battlefield. The fighting was over, but the devastation still evident. He stepped over the dead bodies. Two species that were born worlds apart, yet not entirely dissimilar. Inhaling his Morley- a habit engineered from the original- the clone continued his search until he found whom he was searching for... The man, tall, lanky and surprisingly boyish for his fifty plus years, lay in the dirt, his eyes closed, his clothing torn, contusions adorning his handsome face. A small, red-haired beauty, a woman in her forties, lie beside the man. She, too, had cuts and bruises about her lovely face, and was bleeding from a wound in her shoulder. Her titian head lay upon the man's chest, their bodies clinging together. How touching, the clone thought with a sarcastic snort. Even in death they still want to protect each other... Dropping his spent cigarette on the ground beside the fallen lovers before quickly lighting another, the clone turned thoughtful. During the battle, he- and others like him- were holed up safely in a secret bunker, buried thirty feet below the White House. They saw none of the terror that the rest of the population of the earth had experienced. Staring down at the couple, the clone couldn't help but smile. He addressed them out loud, willing them to hear him. "Ah, such fools you are... yet, you have done exactly what we wanted you to do all along. My master copy, who died all those years ago in the forgotten ruins... he gave you the incentive you needed to succeed. "We always knew that stating the obvious to you would pay off for us eventually. We knew your perseverance and integrity would save us all. The conspirators never really wanted negotiation. We wanted salvation! But we were not willing to sacrifice ourselves. We just needed to find our champion, someone who we could manipulate if need be. Someone who would win at all costs. And we got two of you!" He let his voice trail off into the acrid winds. Casually flicking his second cigarette at the tragic figures, the clone made his way out of the battlefield, longing to begin preparation of running the new earth. He glanced back once, and was sure his eyes deceived him. He swore he saw the tall, lanky man and the petite redhead struggling to stand. Dismissing it as an illusion, Spender lit yet another cigarette and kept walking, stepping over the dead soldiers and lost souls. What superstitious drivel, he laughed. "Hey!" he heard a male voice shout into the winds. Clone Spender spun around to see that his "illusion" had been anything but. The heroes stood before him, battered, but still alive. They were a glorious sight to behold, even to someone as jaded as he. The titian-haired beauty spoke. "And just where do you think you're going, you black-lunged son-of-a-bitch?!" CGB Spender could only smile and take another puff on his Morley.