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The Walk
SCENE 1
ARMY HOSPITAL PSYCHIATRIC WARD
FORT EVANSON, MARYLAND
(A man sits at the bedside of a burn victim. He's looking at a chart. The burn victim is Lt. Colonel Stans.)
ARMY DOCTOR: I've reviewed your case and your service records. Combat duty in Panama... Grenada... distinguished service in the Gulf... great triumph and great tragedy. It's clear to me, Lt. Col., these suicide attempts of yours are simply just ...
STANS: Cries for help! (With boredom. He's heard it before)
ARMY DOCTOR: You've tried and failed to kill yourself in as many weeks. Frankly, if you wanted to ...
STANS: You don't understand... He won't let me. He won't let me die!
ARMY DOCTOR: Who? Who won't let you die?
(Silence.)
ARMY DOCTOR: Just relax a moment. I'll be back with something to help you sleep.
(The doctor leaves and Stans gets out of bed.)
SCENE 2
HALLWAY
(Stans leaves his room and looking to make sure no one sees him, proceeds down the hall with a purpose. He goes into the therapy room.)
SCENE 3
HYDROTHERAPY ROOM
(It's dark and in the middle of the room is a whirlpool bathtub. Stans enters and locks the door behind him. He turns the valves. He walks to the pool. The bathtub starts to heat. Stans turns it all the way up. The bath is bubbling with hot, scalding water. Stans looks into the water and is to put a leg into the bath.)
RAPPO: Stand down, Lt. Col!
(Stans sees a figure through the window of a door on the other side of the room from where he entered. The figure is a soldier standing at attention.)
STANS: NO! NOT THIS TIME!
(The door Stans entered unlocks by itself. The glass of a fire alarm box breaks and the fire alarm rages through the building.)
STANS: NO! LET ME GO!
(A nurse enters the room to see Stans jump into the bath.)
NURSE: Oh God!
(She rushes outside for help. Firefighters in full gear meet her at the door.)
FIREMAN: Where is he?
NURSE: In here.
(They run into the room. They turn off the heat and pull him out of the water. Stans is a red, blistered mess. They try to help Stans as much as they can. They lay him on the stretcher. He looks dead. Stans opens his eyes and spits out hot, steamy water.)
STANS: I told you... He won't let me die...
SCENE 4
LATER - STANS HOSPITAL ROOM
(Stans is in bed with a plastic burn mask on his face and all skin is bandaged. Mulder and Scully are interviewing him.)
STANS: I told you... I don't want to talk about it anymore. I told them and I told them and they won't listen.
MULDER: You mean they don't believe you.
STANS: No, sir.
MULDER: You said on the report that at the time of the accident you believed there was somebody else in the room.
STANS: It was no accident. Don't you understand?
MULDER: But this person saved your life. Is that right?
STANS: Look at me... Look! I have no life... He took it all away.
MULDER: You have any idea who it is?
STANS: I never see him clearly. But he looks like a soldier... always standing at attention.
MULDER: A GI?
STANS: Or one of Saddam's boys... come back to hold me accountable. Whoever it is... he knows my name.
MULDER: He speaks to you.
STANS: Your time has come, he said... Then he started taking it all away.
SCULLY: What did he start taking away?
STANS: Everything. My wife... my children...
SCULLY: And how did he do that?
STANS: How did he .. He burned them alive... Now he makes me suffer. Because he won't let me die.
(The door opens. A female captain, Draper, enters and looks at Mulder and Scully.)
DRAPER Agents Mulder and Scully? May I have a word with you?
(They leave the room.)
SCENE 5
HALLWAY
(Draper leads Mulder and Scully out to the hallway.)
DRAPER: I've been asked to have you suspend whatever investigation you've begun here.
MULDER: Asked by whom, Captain?
DRAPER: General Callahan. Lt. Col. Stans' commanding officer.
SCULLY: Is something wrong?
DRAPER: Protocol requires that all criminal investigation of military personnel to be conducted through military channels and their superior officer.
MULDER: What, we didn't sign in at the front desk?
DRAPER: You're in breach of code and procedure.
SCULLY: Excuse me, but is General Callahan the superior officer?
DRAPER: Ma'am?
SCULLY: Assuming we would want to investigate him, who would we talk to?
CAPTAIN: Investigate him for what?
SCULLY: Whatever.
DRAPER: General Callahan is the senior officer.
SCULLY: Well then we'd like to speak to him on our way out.
DRAPER: I don't know that he's available.
(Mulder is looking back and forth to each woman. He's got a little smile.)
SCULLY: Ask him to make himself available. Tell him that its our protocol. In the mean time, we'd like to finish up with Lt. Col. Stans. You never know when he might try to kill himself again.
(The two women exchange a look. Draper leaves down the hall. The hospital mailman, Roach, is watching the agents meekly.)
SCULLY: Let's finish this, Mulder.
(Scully walks into Stans' room. Mulder follows. Roach takes his cart and walks down the hall. He walks to the door of a therapy group.)
MAN: I keep having the same dream almost every night. I know a lot of crips have the same dream. "The Walk". In my dream, I rise up out of my chair, and I can stand. I look down the hallway, I'm not in the ward anymore, I'm home. With my baby girl.
(One of the men in the group, Leonard Trimble (Rappo), armless and legless, is clearly bored.)
MAN: Not even thinking about it, I take a step towards her... I take another step... and I pick her up and I carry her outside with me. With my own two feet. Outside is my little boy. We run together... Running! Me. My legs like they were before. We play a little bit of football... I show him a few moves... like my old man used to do. We just walk home. No crutches, no wheelchair. I know I'll never walk again, but this dream just seems so real. I can't help but think that maybe someday...
(Rappo laughs.)
RAPPO: Don't hold your breath.
COUNSELOR: I think we'd all be interested in your point of view, Leonard.
RAPPO: Oh, you really want to know what I think? I pity all you guys, I really do. With your handicap basketball and your wheelchair races. You all act like we're normal people.
ANOTHER MAN: We are normal people.
RAPPO: I don't know if you've had a look in the mirror lately, my friend, but you are missing a leg.
(He looks at his own body, or what's left of it. He screams.)
RAPPO: I don't have any! Where... where'd my arms go?
COUNSELOR: We all know how you feel.
RAPPO: No, you don't. How the hell could you possibly know how I feel? There's only one way you could ever know. And I can only pray to God that he'll come down and take your legs and your arms away AND GIVE YOU A LITTLE TASTE OF WHAT IT FEELS LIKE!
(Since he stunned the group into silence, it's time to leave.)
RAPPO: Roach...
(Roach was standing by the door behind the counselor. He walks to Rappo and wheels him out.)
COUNSELOR: I'm sorry, gentlemen... let's begin again.
SCENE 6
HALLWAY
(Roach leads Rappo's chair down the hallway.)
RAPPO: What is it, Roach?
ROACH: What?
RAPPO: You've got that "I'm freaking out" look on your face. What's the matter?
ROACH: It's nothing.
RAPPO: Bull. I spent two years with your sorry ass in a gun turret, I think I know when you've got something on your mind. Come on, Private. Make your report.
ROACH: It's the FBI. They're downstairs. They're asking questions about the L.C.
RAPPO: The hell with the Feds. Roach? You hear me? The hell with them. Just forget about 'em.
SCENE 7
GENERAL CALLAHAN'S OFFICE
(It's an extremely dark office for the middle of the day, but the general is standing in it as Draper enters.)
DRAPER: General... Sir?
(The general turns around.)
DRAPER: Agents Mulder and Scully to see you Sir.
(They enter.)
GENERAL: Thank you, Captain.
MULDER: General.
GENERAL: I want you to know I've had the Captain contact the Justice Department and let them know about the FBI's gross misconduct here.
MULDER: I guess this isn't a good time to thank you for seeing us.
GENERAL: Let me assure you, this matter will not go unaddressed.
SCULLY: I would hope not, considering the extremity to Lt. Col. Stans' case.
GENERAL: What case? There's no case. Stans is a very sick man.
SCULLY: Yes, so we gathered. But his file is missing several interesting facts that came out of our interview with him.
GENERAL: I'm sure everything germane in Stans' situation is on file.
SCULLY: Except for any mention of the death of his wife and two children in a house fire three months ago.
GENERAL: Well, it was a tragic accident.
SCULLY: No doubt. But there is no record of any criminal or arson investigation.
DRAPER: Stans tried to save his family that night.
MULDER: Well, according to him, he was prevented from doing so by some kind of phantom soldier.
GENERAL: Look. I've known Stans a long time and there's no doubt that he suffered terribly.
SCULLY: Not unlike Staff Sergeant Kevin Aiklen... isn't that correct, Sir?
GENERAL: He served under me in the Gulf. Yes.
SCULLY: Six months ago, Aiklen also lost his family to a house fire. Afterwards he received psychiatric treatment for delusional behavior. Telling the doctors that he wanted to die, but that somebody wouldn't let him.
MULDER: Before throwing himself into a wood chipper on the hospital grounds. Now, unless that's procedure and protocol, I'd say that the incidents and details have been strangely overlooked, Sir.
GENERAL: Hold on. Just who's under suspicion, here?
(Pause.)
GENERAL: Look. I make no excuses for the sadness of these men's lives, they're casualties of war. Once brave men who we can do little but feel sorry for. If you think there's more to it, you are seriously mistaken.
SCULLY: That's your conclusion, General. But I'd hope you'll allow us the opportunity to come to our own.
(The general looks at Draper, who shows Scully and Mulder out. Callahan stands at attention by the flag in his office.)
SCENE 8
HYDROTHERAPY ROOM
(Mulder is by the tub and Scully is by the valves as they talk.)
MULDER: You really think the General's got something to hide?
SCULLY: No. I think he's got everything to hide.
MULDER: You don't think he's just closing ranks to protect his men?
SCULLY: Mulder, I know this isn't what drew you to this case to begin with...
(She walks over to him at the tub. He walks and looks around the room.)
SCULLY: But I think it's very clear what's going on here.
MULDER: What's that?
SCULLY: The general is protecting his men, but what he's protecting them from is prosecution for the murder of their families.
MULDER: Why would he do that?
SCULLY: I don't know. But I can think of several good reasons.
MULDER: Because they were his soldiers and he feels somewhat responsible for the tragedies that have played out?
SCULLY: That could be one.
MULDER: Maybe he knows the deeper secrets to their madness, the biological weapons they were exposed to during the war. The cause of the effect.
SCULLY: Considering the government's complete disavowment of Gulf War Syndrome, it's a pretty good reason to prevent our investigation.
(Pause.)
SCULLY: But you're not buying it.
MULDER: You know, what I can't figure out is why a man who so deliberately and methodically set out to commit suicide would leave the one entrance to the room unsecured. But then again, I obviously have a feeble grasp of Army protocol and procedure.
SCENE 9
CALLAHAN'S OFFICE
(Callahan reclines back on his chair at his desk. There's a knock on the door.)
GENERAL: Come in.
(Draper enters and walks to the desk.)
DRAPER: I want to apologize, Sir. I didn't mean to put you on the spot like that earlier.
GENERAL: I know that, Captain. This whole situation is unfortunate.
DRAPER: Is there anything more I can do?
GENERAL: No. Go home and get some rest. We'll deal with it in the morning. Relax, Captain. That's an order.
(She smiles.)
DRAPER: Yes, Sir.
(She salutes and leaves. Callahan stands and opens a bureau and pulls out a bottle of scotch. He's ready to pour himself a drink and he hears a voice.)
RAPPO: Your time has come, killer.
(The general sees a shadow of a soldier in the hallway on the opposite wall of the office. He turns to the door in a flash and there's no one there. He walks quickly to the door and looks down the empty hallway. His answering machine beeps. He turns and goes into his office.)
ANSWERING MACHINE: Fox.... my dream....
(And other gibberish squawks out of the machine. Callahan pushes the stop button. It keeps repeating it over and over. He unplugs the AC cord. The machine still plays. Only when he takes out the tape does the chanting stop.)
SCENE 10
FORT EVANSTON'S OFFICER GYM 10:32 PM
(Draper walks into the locker room and pulls her hair out of the bun. She starts to unbutton and unlocks her locker.)
SCENE 11
SWIMMING POOL
(It's quiet and dark. Draper jumps in and swims to the middle of the pool and floats on her back, gently kicking her arms and legs to stay afloat. We see her shadow on the bottom of the pool floating. Then another figure swims toward Draper. It pulls at her. She is startled. She looks under the water surface. There is nothing in the pool. She looks around the room. It's empty. She swims to the edge. Just as she's about to climb out, the water figure pulls her under and she is dragged to the bottom of the pool. She gets free and gets to the surface. Then she's like Chrissy and the shark at the beginning of Jaws as she struggles, then is pulled under water. The pool is calm and she hasn't resurfaced.)
SCENE 12
LATER
(We see Scully standing by the edge of the pool through the water, camera in the pool. Draper's body is pushed between the camera and the surface by a swimmer in diving gear. Draper is on the concrete by the pool in a body bag, face exposed. Scully examines her. She has red marks by her neck. There's murmuring by the police, military, and crime photographer flashes are going off.)
GENERAL: Thank you.
(Scully sees that he was talking to some MPs. Scully stands and takes the latex gloves off. She walks to Callahan.)
SCULLY: General Callahan...
GENERAL: One of the detectives are saying Catherine Draper's death wasn't accidental.
SCULLY: There are bruises around her neck and her shoulder, roughly the size of fingermarks.
GENERAL: Then someone drowned her?
SCULLY: The bruises and surrounding edema are consistent with a struggle. Will you be contacting her family?
GENERAL: She had no family. The Army was her family.
SCULLY: I'm sorry. Truly.
(Mulder enters.)
MULDER: I talked with security personnel. Other than Captain Draper, they saw no one enter the pool last night and no one leave.
GENERAL: But the officers are saying she was drowned...
MULDER: General, do you have a family of your own?
GENERAL: Yes. Why?
MULDER: If the pattern we've seen is at all consistent, you and your family may be in danger.
GENERAL: Based on what? The death of my adjutant?
MULDER: Keep an eye out. Watch for anything out of the ordinary.
(Mulder walks away and Scully follows.)
SCULLY: Mulder, you're serious?
MULDER: This is a military base, Scully. There's security everywhere yet nobody saw or heard a thing.
SCULLY: That's not so hard to believe. Her screams would have been muffled underwater. There would be no fingerprints.
MULDER: It also fits the MO of Lt. Col. Stans' phantom killer.
(From a distance, General Callahan can be heard as he walks toward them.)
GENERAL: Agent Mulder, what did you mean by that?
(They meet.)
MULDER: Well, just a word to the wise, Sir.
GENERAL: No. I mean anything out of the ordinary.
MULDER: Any unusual or unexplained phenomena.
GENERAL: Last night, I saw someone in my office. He said my name, but when I turned around, he was gone. Then my phone machine went all snaky again.
MULDER: Again? This happen before?
GENERAL: No. Not what I saw. But the phone calls, yes. Twice before at my home.
SCENE 13
CALLAHAN RESIDENCE ROSSLYN, VIRGINIA
(A mailman walks up the driveway of a nice residence. He's carrying a mailbag. A boy, 8, Trevor, is playing soldiers on the living room floor. The door bell rings and mail slides through the mail slot.)
TREVOR: Mom! The mail's here.
(He goes back to playing. There's a shadow on him. He looks up to see a man's silhouette by the door.)
TREVOR: MOM! MOM!
(The man runs past the stairway, deeper into the house.)
TREVOR: MOM! MOM! MOM!
(Trevor stands and Francis Callahan comes running down the stairs to the living room and Trevor.)
FRANCIS: What is it? What is it, honey?
TREVOR: Mom, there's a man here.
FRANCIS: Who?
(He points to the door. They walk to the door. She opens the door and looks outside. The mailman is Roach from the hospital. He's seen in the hallway and walks past. Cars pull up outside, the General's Bronco type car and Mulder and Scully's rental. They get out and walk to the door. As they enter, Francis runs down the stairs.)
FRANCIS: Thank God you're home. I was trying to reach you. Trevor saw someone in the house. Just a few minutes ago.
GENERAL: Is he all right?
FRANCIS: He's just in his room, but he's terrified. I'm shaking myself.
GENERAL: Francis, these people are with the FBI.
(He motions to Mulder and Scully.)
FRANCIS: Is it about the break in?
GENERAL: Why don't you check on Trevor? I'll be right up.
FRANCIS: Why? What's happening?
GENERAL: Francis, please. We'll talk upstairs.
(She goes up the stairs.)
GENERAL: This way.
(He motions for Mulder and Scully to walk to his study.)
SCENE 14
STUDY
(We hear the same message from the office machine. Mulder and Scully are listening to the machine with Callahan standing by the desk.)
GENERAL: It just comes on. The phone doesn't even ring. At first, I thought it was a prank.
(Mulder rewinds the tape. He plays it again.)
MULDER: Did you save the other ones?
GENERAL: No. I erased them.
(While Mulder listens to the message, Scully looks around the room at the war memorabilia on the walls.)
GENERAL: I even called the phone company to have them check the line. They looked through the whole house, they couldn't find anything wrong.
MULDER: Have you noticed any other kind of electrical interference? The radio or the television?
GENERAL: Nope. Not a thing.
(She looks out the window and sees Roach running across the back yard.)
SCULLY: There's someone in the backyard.
SCENE 15
BACKYARD
(They rush out. A dog barks in the distance.)
SCULLY: There was someone out here, I'm sure of it.
(She runs to the sandbox, where she saw Roach run by. She points to the sandbox.)
SCULLY: Look.
(There are foot prints in the sand. Mulder turns to the General.)
MULDER: You'd better call the police, General.
SCENE 16
HOSPITAL
(A nurse is about to give Rappo a shot on his stump of an arm.)
NURSE: You're going to feel a little stick here.
(She attaches a tube to his arm to get blood.)
NURSE: Okay, this is fine. I'll be back in a minute.
(She gets up to leave. Roach is hiding by a pharmacy cabinet. When she leaves, he goes to Rappo.)
ROACH: That was too close, man. Too close.
(He shows a letter addressed to Callahan to Rappo.)
ROACH: I'm not doing it anymore, understand?
RAPPO: What?
ROACH: I said, I ain't doing it anymore.
RAPPO: You owe me, Roach. I wouldn't be in this damn chair if it wasn't for you.
(Roach starts to walk away.)
RAPPO: Hey! This isn't about you and me, man. This is about all the grunts and all the crips and all the boys who came home in a BOX! The enemy must be defeated. And we're going to do it! You're going to do your part and I'm going to do mine.
(Rappo looks down at the hose hanging from his arm.)
RAPPO: NURSE! (To Roach) Hey, what do you do, man, when I rap on the tank?
ROACH: Get some, get some. Fire at will.
RAPPO: Good. You're all right. NURSE! Come on! This is killing me here.
(The nurse rushes back. Stans is wheeled into the room.)
NURSE: You'll have to learn to sit still.
(She takes the tube out and leaves again. Stans and Rappo regard each other. Stans with I think shame at his looks, sorrow for Rappo's missing appendages. Rappo with contempt to Stans.)
SCENE 17
CALLAHAN RESIDENCE
(Scully enters. There are MPs all around.)
SCENE 18
STUDY
(In the study, they are listening to the tape again.)
SCULLY: Find anything?
MULDER: No. But I'm really beginning to like the tune.
SCULLY: Well, we've been a bit luckier. Whoever startled the General didn't just leave footprints... he left fingerprints as well.
MULDER: Really? Where?
SCULLY: Forensics just lifted two matching indexes and a thumb. On the mailbox next to the front door, and one on the door leading into the backyard.
MULDER: Want me to go run 'em?
SCULLY: They're on the way to the NCIC as we speak.
SCENE 19
APARTMENT BUILDING
(A bang and a burst of men as they run through the doorway and up the stairs, guns drawn, kevlar vests and helmets on. They run down the hall and wait. Roach is watching TV. Someone pounds on the door.)
SCULLY: FBI! Open the door!
(They burst into the room.)
ROACH: Don't shoot! Don't shoot.
MULDER: Hands up. Hands up. Put your hands over your head.
(Roach does.)
ROACH: Okay, okay, okay.
(All the FBI is in the apartment.)
MULDER: Put your hands down behind your back. (To an FBI) Cuff him.
(He does.)
SCULLY: Mr. Freely, you are under arrest for suspicion of murder. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
(They lead him out with Scully following.)
SCULLY: If you want an attorney, we will get you one...
(Her voice trails off. Mulder stays in the kitchen. He opens a drawer. There are bugs, ants, in the drawer on top of letters, such as the Callahan letter. Mulder takes them out and shoos the bugs off. Scully returns. They go through the letters.)
SCULLY: Captain Janet Draper... Staff Sergeant Kevin Aiklen... Lt. Col. Victor Stans...
MULDER: General and Mrs. Thomas Callahan...
SCULLY: We've got him, Mulder.
SCENE 20
CALLAHAN RESIDENCE
(Trevor is in the sandbox, with a wide deep trench in it, playing a war game. Soldier lined up and helicopters coming in for an attack. Trevor is making machine gun fire noises. He feels a presence. A shadow overtakes him and his toy soldiers. He turns to see a soldier meant to protect him.)
SOLDIER: Watch your left flank, there.
TREVOR: Okay.
(Trevor smiles at him and continues playing. The soldier walks around the house and lights a cigarette. Back at the sandbox, a clump of sand lifts and sand and some soldiers fall into the trench. Trevor looks, then an invisible figure comes out of the sand and takes Trevor under. The soldier looks at the sandbox and doesn't see Trevor.)
SOLDIER: Trevor? Hey Trevor!
(He runs to the sandbox. He only sees Trevor's hand sticking out of the sand. He starts shoveling the sand away with his hands to free Trevor.)
SCENE 21
INTERROGATION ROOM
(Scully is across the table from Roach. Mulder is standing in the distance.)
SCULLY: In addition to accessory to murder, you're looking at conspiracy, breaking and entering, commission of a felony on federal property...
ROACH: Can I get a cigarette?
MULDER: No!
SCULLY: We know you weren't acting alone, Quentin. We know you had an accomplice.
MULDER: How did he do it, Quinton?
ROACH: I don't know. I don't know what you're talking about.
MULDER: How did he get past the guards? How did he kill him? Trevor was only 8 years old.
ROACH: I don't know. I didn't kill anybody.
(He's crying.)
ROACH: I'm just the mailman.
MULDER: What does that mean, you're just the mailman?
ROACH: Rappo's mailman.
SCENE 22
HALLWAY
(A nurse is walking with Mulder and Scully towards Rappo's room.)
NURSE: Leonard Trimble, right?
SCULLY: If that's the man they call Rappo.
NURSE: Well, that's him. What's he done?
SCULLY: He's a suspect in two homicides.
NURSE: Rappo? You must be making some kind of mistake.
SCULLY: How's that?
(They get to the room. The nurse points through the glass on the door.)
NURSE: There.
(Scully looks to see the armless and legless Rappo laying in bed.)
NURSE: See for yourself. He's a quadruple amputee.
(The nurse leaves.)
SCULLY: Damn it! He lied to us.
MULDER: He said he was the mailman. What did he mean by that?
SCULLY: I don't know. I'm adding it to the list. Are you coming?
MULDER: I'll catch up with you later.
(Scully walks away. Mulder looks at Rappo sleeping.)
SCENE 23
RAPPO'S ROOM
(Rappo is in fact, not sleeping. He's in a trance of some sort. Eyes fluttering, mouth twitching. We see Mulder walk away from the window.)
SCENE 24
ROACH'S CELL
(Roach is not happy. He's scared. He's yelling.)
ROACH: He knows this place! He'll find me here! He's been here before!
(He starts pounding on the door.)
ROACH: I'm not safe here!
GUARD: Hey! Keep it down in there!
ROACH: Get me out of here! He's going to kill me! Let me out! LET ME OUT!
(The guard opens the window on the cell door.)
GUARD: I'm not going to tell you again.
ROACH: He's going to kill me!
(The guard shuts the window and walks down the hall hearing Roach scream. He closes the door at the end of the hall.)
ROACH: He's here! HE'S HERE!
SCENE 25
LATER
(The guard and Scully walk down the same hall to Roach's cell. It's quiet.)
GUARD: You don't want to get him started again. He was pretty worked up about an hour ago.
SCULLY: Not as worked up as I'm going to be.
(Guard opens the window to the cell.)
GUARD: Visitor. On your feet.
(Roach has a sheet shoved down his throat.)
GUARD: God, almighty.
(Guard opens the door and they enter. Scully sees the dead Roach. She calls on her cell phone.)
SCENE 26
LATER
(Roach's body is wheeled out of the cell. Mulder is at the door outside as the stretcher is taken out. Scully walks to him.)
MULDER: How did it happen?
SCULLY: Suffocation. The bed sheet was stuffed down his throat.
MULDER: Had anybody been in the cell with him?
SCULLY: He did it all by himself.
MULDER: Not likely.
SCULLY: Not likely?
MULDER: Yeah. He had help. Scully, and he wasn't lying because I think the man who killed him was Leonard Trimble.
SCULLY: Rappo?
MULDER: Yeah.
SCULLY: He can't even walk, let alone kill somebody.
MULDER: You see this?
(He holds something up.)
MULDER: This is an X-ray dental plate.
SCULLY: I know. You've been walking around with that thing since we got here.
MULDER: No, actually, the ones I've been walking around with I had developed at the hospital.
(He holds the plate up to the light. He takes one out of his left hand with his right one by one as he talks.)
MULDER: See, this is the one I was carrying when we first met Stans... this one in the rehab room, in the pool, in the General's office, and this one in the General's house. All of them exposed to some kind of radiation.
SCULLY: From what?
(Mulder pulls Scully aside for privacy.)
MULDER: From Stans' phantom soldier. I came down here wondering if it could be true, what Lt. Col. Stans was describing was a case of astral-projection.
SCULLY: What you're saying is this man, Rappo, is leaving his body and floating around town killing people?
MULDER: Practitioners claim that during a self hypnotic trance, the astro body can actually detaches itself and can float virtually anywhere, sometimes invisible, but sometimes appearing as a apparition. They even claim that the astro-body has psychokinetic capabilities that is far greater than the corporeal body.
SCULLY: Mulder... then why would he need Quintin Freely?
MULDER: Well, maybe he needs a psychic connection to a place. A thing or an object ... a letter! That's why Quinton called himself the mailman.
(Scully shakes her head.)
SCULLY: That's insane...
MULDER: Sometimes the only sane response to an insane world is insanity.
(He takes a micro tape recorder out of his pocket. He rewinds the tape in it.)
MULDER: Do you know anything about backwards masking?
SCULLY: You mean, messages recorded backwards in songs?
MULDER: Yeah, or on the General's answering machine. Check this out.
(He plays the tape. It sounds the same as before, but he plays it backwards.)
TAPE: Your time has come, killer. Your time has come.
SCENE 27
RAPPO'S ROOM
(Rappo is in bed watching an old movie. Mulder and Scully walk in.)
MULDER: Leonard Trimble?
RAPPO: No, it's Fred Astaire.
SCULLY: Mr. Trimble, we'd like to ask you a few questions about Quinton Freely.
RAPPO: Roach? What'd he do now?
MULDER: He's dead.
(Rappo shrugs.)
RAPPO: Well... serves him right.
SCULLY: How's that?
RAPPO: How's that? Oh, he's only the guy that turned me into second base by getting my arms and legs blown off. Other than that, he was a real good guy.
MULDER: Why did you kill him?
(Rappo looks at his arm stumps.)
RAPPO: What's wrong with this picture?
MULDER: I read your medical record, Leonard. We know that you refused all efforts at rehabilitation. You've even refused to be fitted with prosthetic limbs.
RAPPO: Big deal... Maybe I don't want any of that crap.
MULDER: Maybe because you don't need it. Because you can leave your body anytime you want. Kill anybody you want to kill.
(Rappo looks at Scully.)
RAPPO: If I could leave my body right now, I could think of something else I'd rather be doing.
(Mulder sits on the bed and gets in his face.)
MULDER: Like kill General Callahan's boy? Lt. Col. Stans' family? Sergeant Aiklen?
RAPPO: You're a real trip.
MULDER: Oh, I'm a trip, because I figured you out? You're a soldier. You knew what you were getting into when you enlisted. Now you want to blame everybody else. Why do you want to blame your COs?
RAPPO: I blame him for what happened to all of us. You don't know what it was like... You sat home and watched the war on cable TV like it was a damn video game. You have no idea about the guys that died. About the blood... the sand. What it feels like when a hit comes. Thing is, you just don't care, do you? You got your crude oil. Just change that station, right? Killer got his prime time. LC got his fancy little medals. Now, take a good look at me, WHAT DID I GET?! Nobody knows how I feel. They took my life away.
MULDER: So you took theirs.
RAPPO: If I only could. Now if you're through questioning me, I'd like to get a little shut eye.
MULDER: No sleepwalking.
RAPPO: That's good. I haven't heard that one yet. Hardy-har-har.
HALLWAY
(Scully and Mulder go into the hallway.)
SCULLY? What do you want to do?
MULDER: Call General Callahan... tell him to stay out of his house.
SCENE 28
CALLAHAN HOUSE
(Francis is picking up Trevor's toy soldiers he was playing in the living room with just earlier that afternoon. The General walks down the stairs and sees his wife in the living room.)
GENERAL: Francis...
(She doesn't answer him, doesn't even look at him, just continues putting the soldiers in a plastic tub. He goes to her side.)
GENERAL: Honey. Leave that.
FRANCES: I know how it upsets you when his... toys are spread all over the place.
GENERAL: We can handle this, Francis.
(She looks at him quietly pleading.)
FRANCES: I don't want to handle it. I want my son back.
(She walks out of the room. The General puts his hand to his forehead. Francis cries as she puts the toy box on the desk in the other room. The general takes out a bottle of Scotch. He takes a swig. He paces. He takes another drink. He turns and sees Rappo clearly in Army fatigues. With arms and legs. He rushes to the door, Rappo is gone. He looks down and sees bloody footprints going down the hard wood floored hall and up the white carpeted stairs.)
GENERAL: Frances?!
(He runs to the stairs.)
GENERAL: Frances!!
(He gets to the door of Francis' room.)
GENERAL: Oh...
(He enters the room, looking at the floor by the desk.)
GENERAL: Oh, no.
(She's lying on the floor with blood all over her.)
GENERAL: My God...
(The phone rings. Instead of answering it, he goes into the drawer of the desk and takes out a gun. He makes sure it's loaded and leaves.)
CAR
(Mulder and Scully are in their rented car. Mulder is driving and Scully's on the phone.)
SCULLY: No one's answering and the machine's not picking up.
(Mulder speeds up.)
SCENE 29
STANS' HOSPITAL ROOM
(It's dark and Stans is in bed. General walks in with gun drawn. He slowly walks to the bed. Stans wakes.)
STANS: General?
GENERAL: Lt. Colonel.
(Stans sees the gun.)
STANS: What are you doing?
GENERAL: You were right, Victor. He won't let you die.
STANS: Sir...
GENERAL: He kills our wives and children, but he won't let us die...
(The general raises the gun to his right temple and fires. Once, twice, four times in all. The only thing that comes out of the gun is the sound of clicks.)
STANS: I know who he is, General. I know who he is.
SCENE 30
HALLWAY
(The elevator opens at we see at feet level as a man wearing shiny black shoes walks out of the elevator and down the hall to Rappo's room. General opens the door of Rappo's room.)
SCENE 31
RAPPO'S ROOM
(Rappo sees the General enter.)
RAPPO: General Callahan, Sir. I've been waiting for you.
GENERAL: Who are you?
RAPPO: One of your boys, General.
GENERAL: You killed my wife.
RAPPO: That's right, Sir. I did, and the boy, too.
(The General takes the gun out of his pocket and cocks it.)
RAPPO: Come on, killer.
(The general walks closer to the bed.)
RAPPO: Come on, Killer Callahan, get some! GET SOME!
(The general stares at Rappo with complete and utter hatred.)
RAPPO: Come on, Killer. Do it! Fire at will!! Come on, Killer, do it.
(The General fires all bullets in the chamber. 6 in all. Rappo, with eyes shut, feels no physical pain and opens his eyes. He looks up. The shots went into the wall above his head.)
RAPPO: Come on, Killer. You can do better than that. Come on.
(There are voices outside, obviously startled by the gun fire.)
GENERAL: You're going to suffer like the rest of us.
(The general slowly turns to the door.)
RAPPO: Oh, you think I'm going to let it end this way? Do you?! Is that what you think?!
SCENE 32
HALLWAY
(The general leaves Rappo's room, gun first. The gun's not in the threatening position, just in his hand. Nurses runs the other way. Mulder and Scully walk to him.)
SCULLY: General?
(They walk all the way to him.)
SCULLY: General?
GENERAL: He wanted me to kill him. I stood down.
(Mulder runs into Rappo's room. The General gives the gun to Scully.)
GENERAL: I'm done here.
(The General walks away.)
MULDER: (from Rappo's room off screen) Scully?
(She walks into Rappo's room. She walks to Rappo. His eyes are shut and fluttering. His mouth twitches.)
SCULLY: He's having some kind of a seizure.
MULDER: No, I don't think so.
(Mulder runs out of the room. Scully goes too.)
SCULLY: Nurse!
(Mulder runs by a nurse at the end of the hall. He follows where Stans went. The nurse joins Scully in Rappo's room.)
SCENE 33
HALLWAY
(Mulder sees Callahan in the distance.)
MULDER: General Callahan!
(The elevator door shuts just as Mulder gets to it. He looks up to see which floor it goes to. It's going down VERY fast. It stops at SB. (sub basement?) Mulder bursts through a door going to the SB (Whatever it is) Callahan pushes the L button. Nothing happens. He pushes it again and the door opens. Callahan tries the buttons on the elevator again. Nothing happens. He leaves the elevator. The elevator door shuts behind him. He sees the stairway door. He tries it. It won't open. He hears Rappo down the hall.)
RAPPO: Killer? Come on Killer.
(Callahan doesn't see anything. He's startled by steam escaping from pipes. He walks through it. It's very hot. He sees a barbed wire gate. He tries to burst through it. It's locked with a chain and padlock. He continues through the steam down the hall.)
RAPPO: Your time has come.
(Callahan sees an invisible outline the steam forms of a man walking toward him. The figure pushes Callahan against the barbed wire. He gets up and finds an unlocked door. He goes through it and shuts the door behind him. The pipes burst in the room and the hot steamy water flushes down on Callahan. He turns and sees a steam man come toward him and punch him. Callahan screams as he hits the floor.)
SCENE 34
RAPPO'S ROOM
(Rappo's eyes flutter.)
SCENE 35
SUB BASEMENT
(Mulder is trying to find Callahan through the steam.)
MULDER: General Callahan?!
(Mulder goes through the same door and sees Callahan laying out cold on the floor. A burst of steam knocks Mulder across the room and he falls to the floor.)
SCENE 36
STAIRWAY
(Stans is using a crutch to get himself up the stairs. It's taking all his strength. He grunts with each step.)
SCENE 37
SUB BASEMENT
(Callahan slowly gets up and still dazed. He is immediately punched again. He falls to the floor.)
SCENE 38
RAPPO'S ROOM
SCULLY: He's non responsive.
(She looks to the nurse.)
SCULLY: Come on.
(Scully leaves.)
SCENE 39
STAIRWAY
(Stans makes it to the top. He opens the door and steps into the hallway just in time to see Scully and the nurse exit Rappo's room.)
SCULLY: Put him on monitors and prep the crash cart. He's going into cardiac arrest.
NURSE: Okay.
(She goes. Scully yells after her.)
SCULLY: And make sure the team ...
(Scully stops as she hears a noise behind her, in Rappo's room. The nurse stops and turns. Scully walks to the now closed door of Rappo's room. She looks through the window and sees Rappo in bed. Stans moves in front of the window and looks at Scully.)
SCULLY: Lt. Colonel!
(She turns to the nurse.)
SCULLY: Get the keys, we have to open the door.
(She jiggles on the knob as the nurse goes.)
SCULLY: Open the door!
(Stans walks to Rappo's bedside.)
SCULLY: Lt. Colonel, open the door!
(She tries with all her might to open the door as Stans puts a pillow over Rappo's face and puts all his weight on it.)
SCENE 40
SUB BASEMENT
(Mulder stands. He walks to where Callahan was last he checked.)
SCENE 41
HALLWAY
(Scully is trying to open the door.)
SCENE 42
RAPPO'S ROOM
(Stans is still holding the pillow tight to Rappo's face.)
SCENE 43
SUB BASEMENT
(The steam man rushes to Mulder, but disappears before he reaches Mulder. The steam in the room clears. Mulder rushes to Callahan on the floor. He turns him over.)
MULDER: General Callahan... are you hurt?
GENERAL: I'm okay.
SCENE 44
RAPPO'S ROOM
(Stans takes the pillow off Rappo's now dead head. Scully is just sick at the window for witnessing a murder. Stans, out of breath, sits on Rappo's bed, exhausted. He gives Scully a sorrowful look and then looks at the floor.)
SCENE 45
X-FILES OFFICE
(Day. Mulder is writing as we hear his voice over.)
MULDER: No evidence was found linking Leonard Trimble to the deaths of General Callahan's wife and son. Officially, the case remains open. The murders unsolved.
(He leans back in his chair and eats a sunflower seed.)
SCENE 46
GENERAL CALLAHAN'S OFFICE
(The General is behind his desk. We still hear Mulder's voice over.)
MULDER: Leonard Trimble's family requested his burial at Arlington National Cemetery. The Army denied this request. Trimble was cremated, his ashes interred at a civilian cemetery in Tannersville, PA. Leonard Trimble's mission was not to kill his enemies... but to shatter their lives... to keep them alive. To suffer the pain that he felt. To see the view from his wheel chair. (NOTE: Closed captioning during this voice over : The Army Board of Inquiry declined to press charges against Lt. Col. Victor Stans after a lengthy investigation. Stans was released from the hospital and posted under medical supervision at Ft. Evanston.)
(Stans is at the door in civilian clothes. He enters as Mulder's voice over continues.)
MULDER: Amputees sometimes feel the pain of phantom limbs... ghosts of hands still clenching... legs, still aching.
(Stans is the new mailman. He gives Callahan his mail. He's no longer wearing the face plate.)
MULDER: Is it not possible that Trimble developed a phantom soul? A malevolent psyche that took its revenge on those he held accountable?
(The two men regard each other. Stans then goes to the door and leaves, closing the door behind him. We see Stans push the cart past the door. We hear Mulder's voice over as Stans pushes the cart down the hall. Note the differences in the closed captioning and the actual voiceover.
MULDER: (CLOSED CAPTIONING: Leonard Trimble was a casualty of the Gulf War. A victim of friendly fire. The wounds of war, however, can go beyond the physical and mental injuries of battle. There was a spiritual toll on the combatants, the attack against the psyche that leaves in its wake only bitterness and anger. It was war that destroyed Leonard Trimble's body and released his phantom soul. And it was war that destroyed those parts of himself that make us civilized human beings... those better angels of our nature.)
(WHAT THE REST OF US HEARD:)
It was war that destroyed Leonard Trimble's body... but his wounds went deeper than the loss of his limbs... What destroyed those parts of him that make us human beings? Those better angels of our nature? I cannot say.
[THE END]