From: TCrow75704 Date: 23 Apr 2001 06:31:22 GMT Subject: New: Spin Cycle 1/2 Source: atxc Title: Spin Cycle Author: TCrow75704@aol.com (Taryn Crow) Rating: PG-13 Archive: Sure Disclaimer: I look nothing like Chris Carter. Summary: Mulder and Scully get caught in a storm. ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ When Scully woke up, the first thing she heard was the steady drumming of fingernails against plastic. At least that's what she thought it was until she opened her eyes and noticed the rain streaming down the car window. She let her eyelids fall closed again and rolled her head towards the drivers side of the car. The movement caused her hair to fall across her cheeks and she brushed it back behind her ears. "Have a good nap?" Scully felt the tip of a finger run along her forearm and Mulders voice cut through the tapping of the rain. "Mmmm. Are we there yet?" "Not yet. Hey, don't fall back asleep on me." Mulder shook her knee slightly. "The radio doesn't work out here, I need you to keep me company." "Remember that the next time you run off to the middle-of-nowhere, Kansas in search of Batman." Scully yawned and stretched in her seat. "We shouldve flown." "Batboy, Scully. I thought you didnt like to fly?" Mulder glanced over at her and she crossed her arms. "I also dont like driving cross country. How long has it been raining?" "Not too long. Twenty minutes maybe." "How much longer do we have?" "We just passed Kismet, so we still have another two hours, maybe more with the rain." "Hmm." Scully leaned forward in her seat and looked out the window, lifting her eyes to the gray sky. "Kismet? That's weird." "Too bad we werent going to Witchita. We'd pass Gas on the way." Mulder flashed her a smile, his hazel eyes sparkling. Scully raised an eyebrow at him, but her lips quirked up in amusement. "Gas, Mulder?" Mulder shrugged. A clap of thunder took their attention, followed by a flash of lightning. The rain started falling harder onto the two-lane road and Mulder turned up the windshield wipers a notch to full speed. Another bolt of lightning illuminated the sky and the crack of thunder that followed it was so loud it echoed through the car. "Uh-oh," Mulder mumbled. He took his foot off the gas pedal and the car started to slow down "Uh-oh what?" Scully looked out the passenger window again. The only thing she saw was an empty grass field and rain. An ocean of greens, flat and muddy from the downpour. "Mulder, uh-oh what?" Scully jumped in her seat as the car was showered with pebble-sized hail, similar to the sound of popcorn. The sky up ahead was almost black, blocking any view of the sun with huge, puffy storm clouds. Mulder pulled the car to the right and started to make a u-turn. "What're you doing?" The hail was getting louder, forcing Scully to raise her voice. "We have to find shelter." "Shelter from what? Oh god..." As soon as the car was turned around, Scully was in view of what Mulder had seen. On the north side of the road, less than a football field away was a cone-shaped swirl of air and dirt extending from the clouds and moving downward. "Mulder...theres a tornado outside." "Thank you Agent Obvious," Mulder said, tight-lipped. "Is it heading for us?" "You can't just guess the path of a tornado," he said. "They're unpredictable. They can go anywhere." "And how do you know so much about tornadoes?" "I had an aunt that lived in Nebraska. Ive been in a few." The hail was getting louder and bounced off the car with greater intensity. A large chunk, about the size of a walnut ricocheted off the windshield, eye-level with Scully. She jerked forward in surprise and was pulled back by the safety belt. The force of the wind was becoming so strong, that the car slid to the right and Mulder's arm went across her chest to hold her back. He moved his hand back quickly to pull the car out of another swerve. "Well, we're south of it. That's a good thing." "How?" "Most tornadoes move north. If we reach Kismet before that vortex reaches the ground, we'll have a good chance of making it to shelter." "I thought you just said it was unpredictable." "For the most part, it is." "And what if we don't make it to Kismet?" "We will." Scully looked back out the window at the growing tornado. It was getting larger at the top and the vortex was thinning out at the bottom, taking on a thick, cylindrical appearance. It was deep brown in color, darker at the top and light at the bottom. It was moving west, the same direction as the car, but it was trailing behind them at half the speed. "We're almost there," Mulder said, and swerved the car to avoid pieces of flying debris. He pulled the wheel to the left, narrowly avoiding a tree branch, but the side of the car was slammed with a piece of flying plywood. The back end of the car slid off the road and the tires spun wildly in the mud. They slid to a stop at a forty-five degree angle. Mulder pressed the gas pedal into the floor, but the wheels only kicked up mud and forced the car to sink further into the soft dirt. The back end fishtailed until finally becoming embedded in one place. "Shit," Mulder whispered, pumping the gas pedal harder. While Mulder was trying to get the car out of the rut, Scully focused her attention on the tornado. It was getting closer to touching down, about twenty feet from the surface. Now that they were stopped, the tornado seemed faster than before. The spinning tires splattered mud against the window, blocking her view. "Mulder, it's getting closer." continued in part 2..... See part 1 for disclaimer and notes... ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ "Get out!" Mulder yelled, yanking at his seatbelt. Scully fumbled with her own and reached for the door handle but Mulder stopped her. "No, we go out my way." He pushed against the door with his shoulder and bicep, forcing it open against the winds. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out with him into the pouring rain and wind. Her hair whipped across her face, stinging her cheeks. "Where are we going?" she shouted. Mulder didn't answer. He began pulling her across the road. The rain and hail were falling so hard that Scully felt like she was being showered with rocks. She threw her arm up over her head and face for protection. Her fingers were so wet and slippery that she was having a hard time keeping Mulders grip. As their fingers slipped against each other she fumbled to keep hold of him. At the same minute their hands disconnected, Scully felt herself sliding downwards, but she couldn't see anything in front of her. The wind was so strong she couldn't open her eyes. Her shoes were sinking and slipping against a wet slimy surface and she fell back on her butt, still sliding down. She hit bottom in a three inch pool of water and fell forward on her hands and knees. She struggled to stand up and brushed the hair out of her eyes. She was standing in the center of a long ditch about ten feet across and eight feet deep. The walls were mud and grass and they rose at an angle. She turned around and Mulder was behind her, stomping through the water in her direction. "Where are we?" she shouted. "Irrigation ditch," he yelled back, grabbing her upper arm. "There's a bridge up ahead." Scully found herself being pulled behind Mulder once again, and she stumbled after him. Her feet sank into the mud floor and each step was an effort to lift her legs up out of the water. She could see the bridge in the distance, but it seemed miles away. There were four concrete pillars holding up a concrete slab that extended the length of the ditch and was only a car length wide. When they reached the bridge, Mulder pushed Scully towards the far right pillar. "Get on your knees and put your arms around it!" Scully got on her knees and hugged the pillar to her chest, but her arms weren't long enough to reach around it completely. She tried to pull herself tighter against the pole, but her fingers kept slipping. "Mulder, I can't hold on!" she yelled as the winds pulled her away from safety. Suddenly she was smashed forwards against the pillar. Her cheekbone slammed against the concrete and she cried out in pain. She could feel Mulders body against hers and his arms wrapped around her and the pillar, pulling her tight against it. His arms were long enough to lace his fingers together and he pressed his palms against her fingers to hold them in place. He pulled his elbows in against her forearms to increase the pressure. "Keep your head down," he yelled into her ear. Scully slid her pulsing cheek down the side of the pillar and pressed her nose against his bicep. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the tornado move across the irrigation ditch behind them, and then zig-zag back across and disappear from her view. It was bowed out at the middle, like a letter 'c', and it was moving swiftly in their direction. The wind accelerated, and rain was blowing at them from all directions. Mulder pressed his face against the top of Scullys head. A loud whirling sound reverberated in her ear, and Scully ached to put her hands over her ears to block out the noise. The tornado came back into her view, directly over the center of the ditch and about fifteen feet away from them. Chunks of mud and grass came flying up and splattered over their bodies and the pillars. A baseball sized rock flew up from the ditch and hit Mulder square in the back. He groaned against Scullys back and his arms became limp. "Mulder!" Scully fumbled to grab onto his arm with one hand and her other started slipping from the pillar again. She linked her arm under his and struggled to pull them back against the pillar. "You're slipping!" "Just hang on!" The tornado moved directly above the bridge and the pillar vibrated with it's energy. And as fast as it had come, it was already gone. The noise and wind died down, and the rain stopped. Scully felt Mulder pull away from her, but she kept her arms wrapped around the pillar. Her heart was pounding and her cheek was throbbing, her arms ached and her knees were sore, but she was afraid to let go, or open her eyes. "Is it over?" she whispered. "Are we dead?" "It's over," Mulder answered. Scully finally let her arms drop from the pillar and she looked out at the clear blue sky. The faint colors of a rainbow were spreading across the sky in a perfect arch. She turned her cheek to look at Mulder, sitting in the mud. "Thatll be one hell of a shiner," Mulder said, reaching out to touch her cheek. "Sorry Scully." Scully shut her eyes and sighed. "You mad at me Scully?" "No." "You will be." "Whys that?" She opened her eyes. "We have to find the car." The End