Chapter 9 The Fight

    Mulder's car screeched to a halt  outside Scully's apartment building. Hegot out of the car and stood for a moment. His eyes scrutinised  the fourthfloorwindows. There was a light on in Scully's apartment. She was there, allright. And he was sure that Tooms was there with her.

　　Mulder rushed into the entrance of the building and ran upstairs. In a shorttime he was at Scully's door.

　　"Scully!" He banged on the door. There was no answer.

　　"Scully!"Still no answer. He tried the knob. Scully had been careful, as usual. Thedoor was tightly locked.

　　Mulder put his ear to the door. There were sounds coming from inside theapartment, as though some sort of fight was going on.

　　At least she's still alive, Mulder told himself. But he knew that unless hegot in there fast, Scully had only a few minutes left to live.

　　Scully knew she had to get out of  Tooms's hold. And she had to get hergun back. Frantically she got hold of the bathroom door frame. Using all herstrength, she pulled herself towards it. At the same time she kicked violentlyat the arm that held her ankle . She kicked again. This time she managed towrestle free of Tooms's grip.

　　Still on her back, she slid away from the duct and into the bathroom.

　　She paused for a second, terrified and breathless. Then she watched indisbelief as Tooms's body stretched impossibly long and narrow and shotout of the air duct.

　　Scully never even had time to shout. One second he was in the air. Thenext he'd landed on top of her, pinning  her to the ground.

　　Scully struggled to escape, but Tooms was too powerful for her. He heldher down with the strength of ten. He stank  of sweat and bile.

　　Scully wrenched  her body to the side, trying to throw him off her.

　　Tooms grabbed her chin with one hand. Then he lifted his other hand. Sheknew what he was planning. He was going to hit her and knock her out sothat he could take what he wanted without a fight.

　　Scully didn't know if she had enough strength to escape him. But shecertainly had enough to make things difficult. Before he could hit her, shelanded a hard uppercut on his jaw. Tooms's head snapped back, andScully felt a flash of hope. At least he could be hurt.

　　Tooms drew back his arm again. This time Scully reached up with bothhands. Like a cat, she went for his eyes with her nails, scratching. If shecould blind him, she'd have a chance.

　　With a cry of rage, Tooms seized her wrists. She gasped as he slammedthem to the floor above her head. With one hand he pinned them there.

　　And with the other he reached for her right side. His eyes burned fire redwith hunger.

　　Scully's heart was beating so fast she thought it would explode. Terrorflashed through her. This was it. She knew exactly what was going tohappen. The same thing that had happened to the other victims. Tooms wasgoing to kill her so that he could live and kill again.

　　And she was helpless to stop him.

　　Mulder kicked open Scully's door and rushed to the bathroom. He entered.

　　For a second he didn't even notice Tooms. All he saw was that Scully wasstill alive.

　　Then Mulder's brain quickly made sense of the scene. Tooms had releasedher. He stood with his face to the bathroom window. A shattering soundfilled the room as Tooms's bare fist  smashed through the frosted glass .

　　With inhuman strength, Tooms stretched his hand up and began to lifthimself towards the opening in the glass.

　　But Scully was up. And she wasn't about to let Tooms escape. Shegrabbed his legs.

　　"Freeze !" Mulder shouted. But he couldn't shoot. Scully was in the way.

　　Mulder's heart sank as Tooms turned on Scully.

　　He grabbed her throat and pushed her backwards. Mulder had a good ideahow strong Tooms was. Scully was about two seconds away from having herneck snapped.

　　Quickly Mulder opened his handcuffs and went after Tooms.

　　He seized Tooms's arm, but he wasn't fast enough to cuff him.

　　Tooms let go of Scully and whirled to face Mulder. Like an angered bull,Tooms charged , knocking Mulder to the floor.

　　Mulder rolled, then kicked at Tooms. It didn't stop Tooms, but it boughtMulder a little time and distance. He knew that if Tooms actually got hold ofhim, he wouldn't have a chance.

　　Tooms stood over him now, roaring like a hurt animal.

　　Scully caught Tooms's other arm. She snapped Mulder's open handcuffaround Tooms's wrist and fastened the other cuff to the bathtub faucet .

　　Instantly Mulder was up, his automatic trained on Tooms. Tooms jerkedat the metal cuff. He twisted and pulled. But the old fixtures  were strong.

　　And gradually Tooms settled down. This time he couldn't escape.

　　With his gun on Tooms, Mulder glanced at Scully. She was leaningagainst the wall, still breathing hard. "Are you all right?" Mulder asked her.

　　Scully nodded. She was trembling and she looked exhausted.

　　Mulder glanced back at their prisoner. "Well, at least he's not going to getthis year's quota."Scully smiled, for the first time all day.