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The Field Where I Died
SCENE 1
MULDER: At times, I almost dream.
(Mulder is standing in a long field. The grass is tall, up to his waist, and there is no sign of habitation save for a fence. There is a slight breeze. He is looking sorrowfully at two pictures.)
I, too, have spent a life the sages' way and tread once more familiar paths. Perchance I perished in an arrogant self-reliance an age ago... and in that act, a prayer for one more chance went up so earnest, so... instinct with better light let in by death that life was blotted out not so completely... but scattered wrecks enough of it to remain dim memories... as now... when seems once more... the goal in sight again.
(The two pictures are very old and black-and-white, one of a civil war soldier, the other of a belle from the same time. The picture of the belle is ripped in half.)
SCENE 2
TEMPLE OF THE SEVEN STAGE; APISON, TENNESSE; 5:15 AM
BATF AGENT: Federal agents! We are armed!
(The soldiers burst into the room of an old warehouse, carrying riot gear. Most of the light is emanating from the flashlights on their helmets as they go through a hallway and towards a group of screaming people, mostly women.)
Move, move, move! Get down on the ground! We have warrants to search for the possession of illegal firearms!
(His small workforce files through the rooms, pushing people down and opening doors. Two open a door to find two small children being tended to by their mother.)
We are under orders to serve warrants for the arrest of Vernon Warren, also known as Vernon Ephesian!
(People scream and run like mad, afraid for their lives from these government troops. A few break for the door.)
Move it, move it, hold them back! Come on, come on, let's go! Move, move, move!
(Two soldiers run out after them. The whole "temple" is disarray. One poster on the inside of a door reads "Behold I am ALIVE For evermore Rev 1.18." The door is quickly kicked open and the agents pour in, including Mulder and Scully. The room is empty. A man pushed the bed.)
MULDER: Somebody tipped Ephesian off.
SCULLY: He's somewhere here on the compound.
(Sounds of officers making arrests continue in the other rooms. They walk out.)
Ephesian?
BATF AGENT: Nothing. We've covered ninety percent of the compound.
SCULLY: We have to find him.
BATF AGENT: There's no sign of the weapons, they've hid them somewhere.
(A glass door with a design catches Mulder's eye. In fact, it entrances him, as if triggering a memory.)
SCULLY: Where haven't we covered?
BATF AGENT: Well, we can check the machine shop again. Maybe they've got trapdoors.
(Mulder sees a window to a door through the glass he is looking through, one much plainer and leading outside. The sound fades away from him as he goes to the door.)
SCULLY: Mulder. Mulder!
(He walks through, still holding his gun. Scully looks back at the ATF Agent.)
Tear it apart.
(Mulder walks outside and sees agents training their guns on various boxes and grass knolls, searching for their targets. Scully walks out.)
Mulder? Mulder, where are you going?
(Mulder looks out at the field.)
Intelligence reported no hiding places beyond the yard.
(Mulder picks up the pace, jogging, followed by Scully. He stops again, being led on by something.)
Did you see someone?
(Mulder can hear a voice inside of his mind.)
WOMAN: I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold... I am alive forevermore...
(Scully grows suspicious of the field as well and clutches her gun tighter, starting off. A small voice can be heard. Mulder looks around for the location and sees wood glinting out from the dead grass.)
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: My God, in the name of the city. My God...
(Her voice grows lower in her prayer. He bends down to the hatch as Scully keeps his gun trained on it, having seen it as well.)
VERNON EPHESIAN: Amen.
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: As in heaven...
(Mulder flings the door open and he and Scully stand over the dark hole, guns aimed at the man and six women inside.)
MULDER: F.B.I.
(They are all holding glasses of red liquid. The woman who had been talking raises the cup to her lips.)
No!
(Mulder dashes in and smacks the cup out of her hand. She gasps, then spits in his face. Mulder flinches, but stares at her, knowing her from somewhere. Vernon reaches out and caresses her cheek.)
VERNON EPHESIAN: It's okay... it's okay...
(Mulder grabs his wrist and handcuffs him, but his attention is still drawn to the young woman that caught his eye. Later, mugshots are taken of Vernon Ephesian, a young blonde, a brunette, an older blonde, an african-american woman, a fat brunette, and Melissa.)
KILEY ON TAPE: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms transmission received... zero-two-thirty hours, five November '96, Apison, Tennessee. Confirmed telephone trace from within Seven Stars compound.
SCENE 3
FEDERAL COMMAND CENTER; CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE; 7:25 AM
(The tape continues. Mulder and Scully listen intently. Mulder puts down the mugshot of Melissa.)
BATF, this is Agent Kiley.
MAN ON TAPE: Uh, look, I'm not going to talk long right here, I, I can't even believe that I'm doing this.
(The other man on the tape sounds fairly old and has a raspy voice. Other B.A.T.F.s are listening, as well as Skinner, who is pacing slowly.)
Brilliant. Lookit, Vernon... he, he's got a lot of good ideas. He's, he's right about a lot, a lot of things, but he's doing stuff to kids now that... it... it ain't good, right? And I, I, I'm telling you, it, it's not why I signed on.
KILEY ON TAPE: Okay, okay, easy. Can you tell me your name, sir?
MAN ON TAPE: Call me... Sidney. Now, like I said, Vernon, he's, he's hurting the little kids around here bad. It ain't right. And, man, the guns... my God. Yeah, you could beat the whole Korean army here. Oh, God... I can't talk no more, I gotta...
(The call is cut off and a dialtone comes up. Skinner presses stop.)
SKINNER: This call capped off an eighteen-month B.A.T.F. investigation of the Temple of the Seven Stars led by Vernon Ephesian. Sidney's call convinced the attorney general to give the go ahead for this morning's raid.
MAN #1: The intelligence reports were weak. I mean, our man Spooky found Ephesian in a bunker A.T.F. didn't even know was there.
MAN #2: The bureau is responsible for coordinating a...
(Scully leans over to Mulder, who's reaction was less than wonderful to being called "Spooky" again.)
SCULLY: How did you know that?
(Mulder shakes his head. The two men continue to argue.)
MAN #1: Garbage in, garbage out...
SKINNER: Knock it off! The reports are valid. Illegal activities were going on at the Seven Stars compound. Somehow, they were alerted in time to hide the evidence. Ephesian and his wives are being held on, frankly, B.S. charges of possession of dangerous chemicals... and you know their attorneys will be pushing for a quick arraignment. They'll be out of here in less than twenty-four hours if we cannot charge them. Agents on site will continue to search for illegal firearms. And even more critical, find the informant "Sidney." If they found out that he tipped us... it's likely we're looking for a murder. All right, go.
(The agents disperse and start out. Mulder closes the laptop in front of him as Skinner walks over. The agents stand.)
Agent Mulder, Agent Scully. You were assigned to this operation to investigate claims of Ephesian's paranormal abilities... channeling, astral projection...
SCULLY: We believe that Ephesian is a paranoid charismatic sociopath. He is obsessed with the book of Revelation and will use his knowledge of biblical text to get anything that he wants from his followers.
SKINNER: Ephesian had six women on the verge of suicide. You witnessed it. My concern is if the temple members are released, any subsequent federal investigation will ignite Ephesian's paranoia to such a degree that we won't have another Waco on our hands... we'll have Jonestown.
SCENE 4
8:12 AM
(Vernon looks up at his interrogator, Scully, who is sitting across from him. Another man, Ephesian's lawyer, is sitting next to Ephesian. Mulder is standing in the back, leaning against the wall.)
VERNON EPHESIAN: I knew you were coming. I've known for nine centuries. It was written in the Revelation of Jesus Christ... "Behold... the devil shall cast some of thee into prison that you may be tried... you'll have tribulation for ten days. Be thou faithful unto death and I'll give thee a crown of life.
(Mulder walks over to Scully.)
MULDER: But that message was to the church of Symrna. It's my understanding that your temple is the reincarnation of the church of Ephesia.
VERNON EPHESIAN: Mine... is the Temple of the Seven Stars. All seven churches receiving the Revelation. And the members are not a reincarnation of the church.
MULDER: Are you?
VERNON EPHESIAN: Oh, yes, I was present to hear Apostle John Mark deliver his message of the apocalypse.
(Mulder walks back to his wall.)
SCULLY: Vernon, if Sidney was unfaithful, did he receive a "crown of life?"
ATTORNEY: There are no members of the temple named or nicknamed "Sidney."
VERNON EPHESIAN: But I know you don't believe. See, I don't care if you think that I'm Jim Jones or David Koresh. I don't need you to believe or even like me. But just for a moment, I'd like you to put aside your investigation... for your own souls. It is vital that you understand that soon, very, very soon, all unfaithfuls, all disbelievers, all beasts, if that means me or... this "Sidney" or... you...
(He points to Mulder.)
All will be destroyed by God's mighty men. It is what has been told by God will happen. It is what has been told by God we must do. Do this and the "Lord shall preserve you from all evil. He will preserve your soul. The Lord will preserve your going out... and your coming in."
SCENE 5
FEDERAL COMMAND CENTER; CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE
(Mulder continues to stare at Melissa's mugshot. Her prison number is "104622." Telephones ring and people chatter incessantly in the back.)
SCULLY: Skinner said no one else has come up with anything. As you can see, they've started to release members of the temple.
(A line of people are pouring up the stairs, hence the ruckus.)
The compound remains under federal control, though.
(Scully looks at Mulder for a second, worried over his obsession with the woman.)
Well, time is flying, we've got six wives to question. My estimate is twelve more hours of fire and brimstone and not a second about Sidney.
(She takes a sip of her coffee. Mulder holds up the picture.)
MULDER: Let's start with her.
SCENE 6
INTERROGATION ROOM
(The ashtray already has one butt, and Melissa picks the freshly-lit cigarette up and takes a drag off it.)
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: My name is Melissa Riedal-Ephesian, I'm twenty-five.
SCULLY: Melissa, do you understand your right to have an attorney present in this questioning?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: It's okay.
(Mulder, sitting across from her, stares at her, smiling slightly, entranced with her.)
MULDER: Where are you from?
(Melissa racks her brain, searching for an answer.)
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: I, I don't know.
SCULLY: What about your family, where do they live?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: My real family is here.
SCULLY: How long have you lived there?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: A year.
SCULLY: How long have you been married to Ephesian?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: A year.
MULDER: Does it bother you that he has other wives?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: "And on that day, seven women shall take hold of one man, saying 'we shall eat our own bread, we shall wear our own apparel, only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach.'"
SCULLY: That's quite a faith you have in Vernon there, Melissa. I'd have a tough time if my husband had so many children with other women.
(A tear starts to roll down Melissa's cheek. She shrugs, smirking.)
Do you have a child by Vernon?
(Melissa smiles.)
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: Someday. Vernon has to wait until God tells him when the right soul is ready to be reincarnated. That's why Vernon's children are the most sacred members of the temple.
MULDER: We were told that Vernon's been hurting the children.
(Melissa takes another slow drag.)
SCULLY: Have you ever witnessed any child abuse at the temple, Melissa?
(Melissa drifts off as Scully and Mulder watch her intently, confused slightly. Suddenly, she slams her fist down on the table, her face scrunched, her eyes narrow. Her voice is not only like Sidney's, but it is Sidney's.)
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: Lookit! I don't know where you two are getting that from! I mean, I saw a couple of things, I mean, you know, it, it, it could have been anything, right?
SCULLY: Melissa?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: Melissa? No. I don't know nobody called that.
MULDER: Sidney?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: What is this? The McCarthy hearings? No, no. Don't, don't know anybody by that name, no.
(Scully looks at her notes, aghast. Mulder isn't so surprised. Scully writes down "multiple personality" and shows it to Mulder.)
I saw a couple of things. It could have been anything, right?
(Mulder poises to write something.)
MULDER: Sidney, can you tell me who the president of the United States is right now?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: Who is the president of the United States? What the hell kind of dumb question is that?
(Mulder writes down "past life." Scully looks over at Mulder as if he's leaping to conclusions.)
That is a stupid question. Harry Truman!
(Scully looks back at Melissa, wide-eyed. Mulder and Scully lean over to each other, whispering.)
SCULLY: You're claiming Sidney is her past life just because she mentioned Joe McCarthy?
MULDER: It's not just that. Somehow I just knew.
(They look back at Melissa, who calmly takes a drag from her cigarette, back to normal.)
SCENE 7
FEDERAL COMMAND CENTER; CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE
(Mulder looks at a map of the surrounding area and bunkers. Scully is sitting. Skinner walks in, carrying a folder.)
SKINNER: Ephesian and his wives are being arraigned tomorrow morning. That's about fifteen hours to come up with something.
(He throws the folder down onto his desk.)
MULDER: Come up with something? We found "Sidney." Voice spectrogram confirms that Melissa Riedal's vocal pattern matches the A.T.F. "Sidney" call.
SCULLY: Melissa Riedal is not cooperating.
MULDER: But there is a personality in her that wants to. We need a psychological catalyst. I suggest we take her back to the compound. Maybe exposing her to that environment with Ephesian present will somehow enable Melissa to talk, or a personality inside her.
SKINNER: Agent Scully, could this be some kind of a stall or a staged diversion? It's my understanding that multiple personalities are rare.
SCULLY: They're extremely rare.
(She stands.)
In fact, many in the psychiatric community do not believe that dissociative identity disorder exists.
MULDER: What we witnessed meets the criteria established in the D.S.M.-IV. The presence of two distinct personality states that would currently take control over behavior, including the "protector" identity, Sidney. The inability to recall important personal information. She couldn't recall her own hometown. Transitions from one personality state to another are usually a matter of seconds and are often caused by psychosocial stress. Sidney appeared when we mentioned the children had been abused.
(Skinner looks at Scully.)
SKINNER: But you remain unconvinced?
SCULLY: I believe the disorder exists, but in this case, under these circumstances, I would have to know more.
SKINNER: If Melissa has multiple personalities, would her... his... testimony even be admissible?
MULDER: Judicial precedents have established that dissociative personalities are responsible.
SCULLY: Yes, but we are responsible for Melissa Riedal.
MULDER: What we are responsible for is the potential loss of fifty lives.
(They stare at each other for a moment, then look to Skinner.)
SKINNER: Do it.
(He walks out. Mulder walks over to the laptop and closes it up.)
SCULLY: You didn't even have the courage to tell Skinner what you really believe... that Melissa Riedal is being invaded by her past-life incarnations.
MULDER: Because he wouldn't believe me.
SCULLY: I don't believe that you feel responsible for those fifty lives... or Melissa Riedal. You are only responsible to yourself, Mulder.
(He puts on his coat, having finished packing up. He then proceeds to walk out angrily.)
SCENE 8
TEMPLE OF THE SEVEN STARS; 4:27 PM
(The two agents and Melissa have come back to the temple.)
MULDER: You're safe with us, Melissa. The murderer's not here.
SCULLY: We know that events occurred here that, uh, that may be painful. You may not want to talk about them. They may be so painful, you may be afraid to remember. But to help the others... to help the children and to help yourself... we're here with you to listen. To Melissa, to "Sidney," to whoever may need to talk.
(Melissa's eyes dart around quickly, her whole body tense. She walks into Ephesian's room. The bed has been moved back into place. Scully and Mulder watch her from a good distance. She walks over to a series of pictures with her and Vernon, starting to tear up. Scully walks next to her as she puts down her wedding picture and cries. Mulder closes the door and reads the poster. They walk into another section of the temple and find Melissa sitting at a child's desk as she tries to regather her emotions. The children's pictures are around, as well as some meager toys. Scully kneels down in front of her and Mulder sits off to the side.)
Melissa? Melissa.
(Melissa is coloring on the desk with a red crayon.)
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: Why you call me that?
(Her voice is in the tone of a little girl's.)
SCULLY: What should I call you?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: Lily.
(Scully glances over to Mulder.)
SCULLY: Lily... were any of your friends hurt in this room?
(Melissa looks up at her.)
What?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: Can you do this?
(She moves her bottom lip over her top lip, playing.)
SCULLY: Melissa, Lily... it's okay to tell me.
(She starts to cry and stands slowly. Suddenly, her face scrunches and she wags her finger wildly as before. As Sidney.)
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: Lookit, leave the kid alone. Hear me? She doesn't want to talk, right? No way. I'm sending her home.
MULDER: Sidney, you can all go home. You can all be safe if you tell us where they hid the guns.
(Melissa untenses and brushes the hair out of her voice. She stoically walks out of the room and looks through the glass door that Mulder spied before. As he did, she looks through the window to the door on the other side. She walks through both doors, Mulder and Scully quick to follow. He stops and looks out at the field again. Scully looks back at him, worried.)
SCULLY: What's wrong?
(He walks by her after Melissa. She follows. Melissa looks out into the field in almost the same way as Mulder did. She talks with a southern drawl.)
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: The weapons were placed in the bunker which they had built the night before.
(Scully takes out her notepad.)
SCULLY: That's why they weren't on the A.T.F. reports.
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: The federals would arrive in the morning, just before the sun.
(She walks out a little farther into the field. The agents follow, Scully taking notes.)
Realizing the government's might and number, most believed they, indeed, would never again see the light of day... just as they had watched their brothers die days before on Missionary Ridge.
(Scully looks up at her, recognizing the name. Melissa walks slowly again.)
We had received word of General Cleburn's retreat from the Union army. As a nurse, I had been ordered from Hamilton County to meet the troops, but... in actuality, I was searching for him, knowing that he would attempt to remain in Tennessee rather than retreat to Dalton.
(Mulder takes a few steps forward, her words ringing harshly upon his ears.)
I found him here amongst the others who had been lost as General Thomas pushed through the Confederate line. The federal troops would appear from that direction.
(She points over to the treeline where the sun is setting.)
Rather than retreat any further, they fought them... hiding us in the bunker. Inside, I could smell the smoke, hear their rifles... feel their bodies as they dropped onto the ground above. Every last one.
(She fights back her tears rigidly.)
Twenty-sixth of November. 1863.
(Scully has stopped taking notes and the two are watching her. Melissa turns to face them.)
I was here.
(Mulder looks up at her. Their eyes meet.)
As were you. This is the field where I watched you die.
(Tears well up in her eyes. Mulder shows no flicker of emotion, as if he knows this as well.)
SCENE 9
TENNESSEE
(Mulder and Scully are driving down a local road, Mulder at the wheel. Melissa is asleep in the back of the truck. Mulder has his cellular phone to his ear.)
SCULLY: Who are you calling?
MULDER: I'm arranging for a therapist trained in hypnosis to be at the command center.
SCULLY: Because hypnosis is used in the treatment of dissociative identities to bring forth a patient's various personalities?
MULDER: She wants to talk, Scully. It's a matter of getting it out of her.
SCULLY: No, it's about regressing her to a past life.
(She pulls on his arm and he turns off the phone.)
Don't do this to her, Mulder. This poor woman's mind, her life, is in shreds. Just being married to Ephesian indicates that, that she is susceptible to suggestion.
(Mulder hits the steering wheel, incredibly angry, screaming at the top of his lungs.)
MULDER: You, you were there, Scully! You saw it. You heard it. Why can't you feel it?
(Scully looks half-ashamed, half-worried.)
How could I know about a bunker in a field where I've never been?
SCULLY: And why is it that Vernon Ephesian is, reported by you, a paranoid sociopath because he believes that he lived in Greece a hundred years ago, and you're not, even though you believe you died in that field?
(Mulder looks away, anger and frustration in his eyes.)
SCENE 10
FEDERAL COMMAND CENTER; CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE
(Melissa sits in a chair, a desk-lamp near her. The therapist's soothing voice coats the air. Her eyes are closed and she rubs her thumb under her fingers, which is in the air, her elbow rested on the chair arm.)
THERAPIST: I'm talking to Melissa. In the last year, at the Temple of the Seven Stars, is there anything that happened that you thought was wrong that hurt you?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: Yes. There was a... woman who came to the temple. She and her son had been living on the street.
THERAPIST: What was her name?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: Elizabeth.
(A microphone is on the table between Melissa and the therapist, who is also sitting. Scully and Mulder are close by her, Mulder sitting.)
Her son was Scott. Vernon took a liking to the boy. He said that he was a prophet returning. He took the boy away from his mother.
THERAPIST: Took him away? How?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: Vernon's children are the grandchildren of God, kept separate from the others. The mother's heart was broken. She was afraid. The mighty men... late... night... Liz sneaks in to see Scott. Oh, he was happy.
(She smiles briefly.)
She bring, she brings him Butterfingers she stole from the kitchen.
(She starts to cry.)
Vernon... Vernon... Vernon catches them... the mighty men... they pull her away... and beat her in front of her son. The boy, "no! No, mom..."
(She weeps freely as the boy must have done that night. Scully takes notes as Melissa moans in tears.)
Vernon... Vernon... Vernon pulls him by... Vernon pulls him by his hair.
(She composes herself somewhat.)
Pulls down his pajamas, and he hit him. "you're not a child of God... garbage," he called him. Told him to sleep in the trash... with the rats. Oh, the mother... the mother cries...
(Tears well up again.)
But Vernon beats him in front of her. "Uh, oh, no, no, no, no..."
(Sidney reemerges, much to the surprise of her onlookers. Her finger wags wildly, her eyes squinted.)
Lookit! Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant move. What do you want to know? Just, just leave Melissa alone. She doesn't need to go through that anymore.
(The therapist looks over to Scully, who mouths the words "ask her where the guns.")
THERAPIST: Where are the guns?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: The... the bunkers, yeah. The, uh, uh... the Civil War bunkers, yeah. Vernon, Vernon, Vernon and his goons know, but I don't. I really don't.
(Scully leans over to Mulder.)
SCULLY: Maybe there's a map of the battlefield down in the records.
MULDER: You know how to find the other bunkers.
SCULLY: Mulder...
(He waves her off slightly and looks back at Melissa.)
MULDER: Melissa...
(Melissa suddenly tenses, Sidney receding.)
It's me, Melissa. I want you to go back... back to the field.
(She opens her eyes and looks over to him.)
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: Oh... oh...
(She reaches out to him, smiling. Her voice becomes brighter, a southern drawl protruding.)
Your eyes may have changed shade, but it cannot color the soul behind them. We have come together in this life, this time. Only to meet in passing.
(She starts to cry, placing her hand over her heart.)
It is so heartbreaking to wait.
(She starts to sob. Mulder's eyes grow tears as well.)
I miss you.
(They stare at each other before Melissa leans back in her chair, that past life fading. Scully leans over to Mulder again as he rubs the tears out of his eyes.)
SCULLY: Mulder, this is a product of her illness. She couldn't answer the question of the battlefield. She gave us no specific names, no information to prove her validity. There is nothing we can do to prove that this is the truth.
MULDER: There is one way.
SCULLY: Mulder, Ephesian's arraignment is in two hours. There is no time to be doing this.
MULDER: Wouldn't you, Scully? Wouldn't anybody?
(Mulder is now in the chair, his hand also raised in the same way, his eyes closed.)
THERAPIST: I want you to go into your past, beyond your life as Fox Mulder.
(His breathing is ragged.)
What do you see?
(He sighs and moans. Scully is standing in the back.)
MULDER: Ghetto streets... shattered glass... bodies of the dead... I'm a woman... a Jewish woman... Poland. My son is with me. He is Samantha.
THERAPIST: Samantha? I thought Samantha was your sister.
MULDER: In this life, she is my son.
(His eyes open.)
I see my father.
(He looks down, tearful.)
He's dead in the street. He is Scully...
(Scully's eyes widen slightly.)
But now... he's gone on now... waiting for us. The souls... come back together... different... but always together... again and again... to learn. I can't go to my father.
(He shakes his head, almost crying.)
Gestapo is standing next to him. An officer... he's Cancer Man... evil returns as evil...
(He lifts his head now, holding his eyes closed for a few seconds. He then opens them, and they are more hopeful.)
But love... love... souls mate eternal... my... husband... is taken away from me. To the camps. He is Melissa. We're always taken away.
(He starts to cry. Scully is deeply saddened by this, almost crying herself. He looks up, tears fading.)
I'm rising... I'm rising now... I'm rising now... high above... my body. Above the field. My face is bloody. Near the bunker... the federals are gone... my sergeant is also dead. He is Scully.
(Scully is less shocked by this, listening closely.)
Sarah holds me. She is sad.
(His tears well up again. He shakes his head slightly.)
She is Melissa. She lives... near... the battle... Hamilton County... her name is Kavanaugh. Sarah Kavanaugh...
(Scully writes this down.)
And my name... is Sullivan Biddle.
(Sadness grows inside him again.)
She doesn't know... she doesn't know... that, that I'm waiting for her... that we will live again. We will live again. Oh, God... oh, my soul is tired.
(Scully kneels down in front of him.)
SCULLY: Mulder, it's Scully. Do you see any bunkers in the field?
MULDER: My soul is tired. I want to rest.
(She stands up.)
SCENE 11
HAMILTON COUNTY HALL OF RECORDS; 4:12 AM
(Scully traces her finger over a map of the battlefield. She folds up the book, which is "Maps and Battle Plans; 1863-1865." She looks over to the county register, containing files from 1800-1900. Placing down a book, she flips through pages until she comes to the name she wants: "Biddle, Sullivan." Then she finds the next name: "Kavanaugh, Sarah." Gasping slightly, she pulls open a drawer containing photographs and digs through until she finds the picture that Mulder was holding. On the back, it reads "Sullivan Biddle, 1862." Scully looks at the picture for a second, then digs through and finds "Sarah Kavanaugh, 1858." It is the second picture Mulder had.)
SCENE 12
FEDERAL COMMAND CENTER; CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE
(Mulder stares at the two pictures placed in front of him.)
SCULLY: Ephesian's being taken down to his arraignment. He and Melissa are going to be released soon.
MULDER: Dana, if, um... early in the four years we've been working together... an event occurred that suggested or somebody told you that... we'd been friends together in other lifetimes... always... wouldn't it have changed some of the ways we looked at one another?
SCULLY: Even if I knew for certain, I wouldn't change a day.
(She heads for the door then looks back.)
Well, maybe that Flukeman thing. I could've lived without that just fine.
(She smirks and walks out. He smiles. Later, he and Melissa are listening to the tape of Melissa's regression.)
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN ON TAPE: We have come together in this life, this time. Only to meet in passing.
(Her voice cracks on the tape.)
It is so heartbreaking to wait.
(She sighs.)
I miss you.
(Mulder stops the tape.)
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: I don't believe in it.
MULDER: Why?
MELISSA RIEDAL-EPHESIAN: Those tapes are saying that we chose the lives we live before we're born, and who we live with. It's a nice idea. It's a beautiful idea. I want to believe.
(Mulder is surprised by her choice of words.)
And if I knew it were true, I'd want to start over. I'd want to end this pointless life.
(Mulder leans forward, speaking with a slight southern drawl.)
MULDER: Sarah... if it were true... no life would be pointless.
(She looks down at Kavanaugh's picture, then back up at Mulder. The door opens and Vernon looks in, his followers behind him.)
VERNON EPHESIAN: Melissa... it's time to leave.
(Melissa rips up the picture of Kavanaugh and walks out with it. Mulder sighs and stands, then folds his arms against the cabinet and lays his head against it in defeat.)
MAN: All right, let's go, y'all.
(Scully walks in.)
SCULLY: I've reported to investigators on the site about the possible existence of other bunkers.
SCENE 13
TEMPLE OF THE SEVEN STARS
(Vernon's group is congregated in the woods. Scully speaks over the scene.)
SCULLY: It's not the property of the Seven Stars, so the B.A.T.F. is continuing to search.
(The rest of the temple runs out to greet their returning leaders.)
GIRL: Mommy!
(Vernon wades through the crowd, stopping to hug a few people. Along with a mighty man, they see troops combing the area. Vernon looks over to Melissa, who stares at the ground and shows no emotion.)
SCENE 14
FEDERAL COMMAND CENTER; CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE
(Mulder is looking at the map, Scully is sitting. Skinner is also standing near the table.)
SKINNER: Agent Mulder, the attorney general is furious as is, there's no way we're going to get a go-ahead for a second move on the compound.
MULDER: Ephesian preaches and his followers' believe that the F.B.I. and the A.T.F. are the devil's army, prophesied in Revelations 12:17, to make war on "the seed which keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ."
SCULLY: Revelations tells of Christian faith defeating that army.
SKINNER: You're saying he'll attack the A.T.F. agents searching for the bunker, and believing his prophesied, he'll win?
MULDER: I would be saying that if I thought he believed in Revelations in its entirety... but he hid the weapons.
SCULLY: Ephesian knew that he couldn't defeat us.
MULDER: If he doesn't believe that he can defeat the devil's army, he may think that by denying himself and his followers to the devil... by denying himself, do you understand? He will achieve for them the reward of life "forevermore..." and our worst fears will be realized.
SCENE 15
TEMPLE OF THE SEVEN STARS
(A mighty man opens the doors to a large room in the temple, followed by fellow worshippers.)
MIGHTY MAN: All members to worship. The Lord shall preserve you from all your evils. He shall preserve your soul.
(Men and women file out of rooms down the hallway. Melissa stares coldly at the mighty man. Vernon reaches out for her.)
All members to worship. The Lord shall preserve you from all your evil.
(Vernon grabs her arm gently and walks with her towards the main room.)
He shall preserve your soul.
(The congregants gather in front of a podium where Vernon stands. Melissa walks in slowly.)
VERNON EPHESIAN: Marvel not, my brethren, that the world hate you.
(Two men with assault rifles barricade the door and take positions near the windows.)
We know we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.
SCENE 16
FEDERAL COMMAND CENTER; CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE
(The B.A.T.F. Agent is furious at Skinner and the two agents.)
BATF AGENT: No, I will not remove our people, we're close to finding the weapons.
SKINNER: All I want is a cooling-off period.
(Agent Riggins walks in.)
RIGGINS: Ephesian's gathered all temple members in the worship hall. A parabolic mike we have aimed at the compound just picked this up.
(He puts a tape into the player and presses play.)
VERNON EPHESIAN ON TAPE: Marvel not, my brethren, that the world hate you.
(There is a sound of the door locking.)
We know we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. Hereby perceive we the love of God because we make heaven's life for us.
(Scully, realizing something, boots up her laptop. Riggins stops the tape.)
RIGGINS: The temple began running an interference frequency.
SCULLY: First epistle of John, Chapter Three: "He laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."
SKINNER: Okay, Mulder.
(Mulder starts off.)
SCENE 17
TEMPLE OF THE SEVEN STARS
(A red liquid is being poured into glasses from a incredibly large container.)
VERNON EPHESIAN: Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life.
(It is clear what the liquid is, since there is a large separate bottle clearly marked "poison" next to it. Men start to pass out the glasses.)
My little children... let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and truth.
(Melissa tentatively takes a glass.)
And hereby we know that we are the truth.
(Seeing agents gather a few yards away, the assassins of the temple break the window with the tip of their guns and start firing rounds off.)
And shall the stewards...
(The B.A.T.F. agents fire back, but one screams as he is hit.)
MAN #1: Man down! Man down!
(Melissa stares at the glass. Two vans drive up.)
Get him out of there!
MAN #2: Cease fire! Hold your fire, hold your fire!
(Mulder and Scully run out of the van and over to an agent.)
MULDER: Is there contact with the temple?
AGENT: If you call that "contact."
(They look over to the downed man being checked on. A man talks into a walkie-talkie.)
MAN: ...needs to be transported right away. Yeah
(Inside, Vernon is in full swing now, pacing around his followers.)
VERNON EPHESIAN: "...and enter in through the gates into the city. For without... are dogs... and sorcerers...
(Men and women start to take drinks of their poison shots.)
"And whoremongers... and murderers... idolaters...
(Slowly, the whole congregation is drinking to their death. Vernon stops walking and looks down at Melissa, speaking softly.)
"And whomsoever... loveth and maketh a lie."
(Melissa looks up at him, her finger wagging, her face scrunched, eyes squinted. Outside, Mulder, perhaps empowered by Sullivan Biddle again, takes off his coat and walks towards the temple, hands in the air.)
SCULLY: Mulder, no! You're dead!
(Inside, the only sounds are the screams of the agents. Everyone is dead. Bodies are strewn across each other. Mulder reaches the door. Melissa's eyes flutter open and she looks over at the massacre around her. Only she has survived... save for Vernon, who stands over her. She starts to cry. Mulder breaks open the door.)
VERNON EPHESIAN: "Behold... I am alive forevermore."
(He hands her a fresh glass of poison as she sobs softly. Mulder races down, trying to stop. Melissa looks out of the window, out onto her field, then looks down with new clarity. Mulder reaches the main room and opens the door... to find a massacre. Stepping over fresh bodies, he makes his way amidst the horror to the podium, where he kneels and finds Vernon dead, hand over the Bible. But he does not look at Vernon, but Melissa, clutching the ripped photograph of Sarah Kavanaugh in her wake. He starts to cry and takes the picture. Scully walks in with agents and stares at Mulder, who caresses Melissa's shoulder and looks out onto their field through the window. His voice echoes over the scene.)
MULDER: At times, I almost dream.
(Mulder is standing in a long field. The grass is tall, up to his waist, and there is no sign of habitation save for a fence. There is a slight breeze. He is looking sorrowfully at two pictures.)
I, too, have spent a life the sages' way and tread once more familiar paths. Perchance I perished in an arrogant self-reliance an age ago... and in that act, a prayer for one more chance went up so earnest, so... instinct with better light let in by death that life was blotted out not so completely... but scattered wrecks enough of it to remain dim memories... as now... when seems once more... the goal in sight again.
(The two pictures are very old and black-and-white, one of a civil war soldier, the other of a belle from the same time. The picture of the belle is ripped in half.)
[THE END]