Fire Demons

MULDER : 

You know, when I, uh... 

I first came to work at the FBI, 

I worked at Violent Crimes, 

and I saw, I saw 

The Worst of Humanity. 

I saw monsters and I wondered 

how they became that way, 

how these men became so evil. 

I know there were psychological explanations-- 

Victims of their environment, 

Victims of their parents-- 

But the scientific explanations 

were never truly satisfying. 

And I began to think about Evil like, like a disease. 

You know, that it goes from 

man to man or age to age. 

Most of us walk around thinking 

we're incapable of any 

Acts of Evil and we are. 

You know, we can stifle 

that momentary urge 

to kill or to hurt. 

We have some kind of 

immunity to it. 

But I think it's possible 

that there's... 

An occurrence 

in somebody's life, 

a Tragedy or a Loss 

that leaves them vulnerable, 

hurts their Immunity to Evil, 

and all of a sudden at that point 

in their lives when 

they're weakened —

They're open to Evil 

and they can become Evil.

DOGGETT: 

If that were True, 

then what you're saying is... 

Is that this man 

we wheeled in here tonight 

is Infected with Evil, 

The Same Evil 

that killed My Son. 

You really believe that, Agent Mulder?

MULDER: 

Uh, I'm not really a good test 

for questions like that. 

I'll believe almost anything, 

you know, but the, uh... 

The pisser is,

You may never know. 

It may be like Agent Reyes says. 

It could be random and meaningless-- 

Who it Affects, Who it Goes to.

DOGGETT: 

What if it isn't?

MULDER: 

Well, then you'd be 

Seeing Something 

that I don't, 

Agent Doggett.

SCENE 13

SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA

11:02 AM

(Payphone area we saw the night before. Sheriff's Deputies are walking around. DOGGETT pulls up in a rental car. He sees MULDER, in rolled-up shirt sleeves, casually leaning against a Sheriff's car.)

DOGGETT: 

What am I doing here?

MULDER: 

Been asking myself that same question, Agent Doggett. 

But it seems the tenacious Agent Reyes does not want to let go of this one.

DOGGETT: 

Of what?

(MULDER leads DOGGETT toward the crime scene.)

MULDER: 

She's got a murder victim out here, a woman found shot. 

She thinks it's probably the same man who killed those two people down in New Orleans-- this Jeb Dukes.

DOGGETT: 

What does she want from me?

MULDER: 

She wants to know if you See it, Too. 

What She's Been Seeing.

DOGGETT: 

I told you, there's no connection.

(DOGGETT looks over and sees REYES standing with the Deputies in a loose circle around something on the ground. The clothing is different, but the arrangement of people is identical to that of his flashback/vision in the hospital. As she did in the vision, REYES looks back at him.)

REYES: 

Agent Doggett.

(The circle of men breaks apart. DOGGETT comes to stand next to REYES. He looks at the body of the PAYPHONE WOMAN lying face down on the ground. Same position and angle of the body as that of his son in the file photo we saw earlier and the woman in New Orleans. DOGGETT takes a breath and speaks calmly. MULDER is a few feet away, watching them.)

DOGGETT: 

I'm sorry, Agent Reyes. 

I don't see it.

REYES: 

I Think You Do.

(DOGGETT starts to leave. He pauses.)

REYES:
You're just afraid to go there.

MULDER: 

Whoo. You just keep shooting till you hit something, don't you?

(REYES stays focused on DOGGETT.)

REYES: 

You'd rather blind yourself to the connections, but I can't.

DOGGETT: 

You keep talking about these connections.

 Connections to what? 

To who?

REYES: 

What if this is a Thread of Evil … 

Connecting through Time, 

through Men, 

through Opportunity, 

connecting back to you. 

In India, in Africa, in Iran, 

in the Middle East, in the Far East. 

Most of The World, 

they take it as a given. 

They see Evil in Death 

the way other people see God in a Rose.

MULDER: 

(dryly) 

I saw Elvis in a potato chip once.

(REYES glances to MULDER.)

REYES:
You know what I'm talking about.

MULDER: 

Yes, I do. I DO. 

But if this man doesn't see it, 

he doesn't see it, right?

(DOGGETT stares at REYES. MULDER leaves. REYES and DOGGETT continue looking at each other.)

SCENE 13

OUTSIDE THE MOTEL WINDOW

MULDER: 

They put up a cordon in a ten-mile radius. 

No sign of them. 

Best I can figure is they must have had an acetylene torch in the back of the truck. 

I don't know how else they could have done it.

SCULLY: 

I wasn't out of that room for more than two minutes, Mulder. 

Come on, there's someone I want to talk to again.

MULDER: 

Who?

SCULLY: 

Kevin's Father.

MULDER: 

Why?

SCULLY: 

He knew that Kevin was in danger. 

He warned us about a 

Powerful and Respected Man.

MULDER: 

The man's a nut case, Scully.

SCULLY: 

Maybe he is.

MULDER: 

But if Kevin is in immediate danger, even if his father has anything to say about Gates, it doesn't help us right now.

SCULLY: 

Well, it's not doing us a lot of good standing around here.

SCENE 14

THE INSTITUTION

(Mr. Kryder is looking at a portrait of Gates.)

MR. KRYDER: 

So this is the man who took my son.

SCULLY: 

You've never seen him before?

MR. KRYDER: 

No. Why would anyone want to hurt Kevin? What does he want?

SCULLY: 

You really don't know?

MR. KRYDER: 

I ... I'm ... I'm sorry. 

I'm just a little foggy right now.

MULDER: 

Scully?

(Mulder shows Scully the log of medications that Mr. Kryder has been receiving.)

SCULLY: 

Haloperidol. It's a powerful anti-psychotic. 

They've increased his dosage. 

Mr. Kryder? 

You said something before about coming full circle to find The Truth. 

What does it mean? 

Full circle to find The Truth?

MR. KRYDER: 

I don't know. I just can't remember.

(Mulder's cel phone rings. Scully walks out into the hallway while Mulder lags behind to take the call. He hangs up and runs to catch up with her.)

MULDER: 

Scully. They had a sighting of Gates. 

He tried to rent another car at the airport, under the name Forau again. 

Did you hear what I said?

(Scully is looking past him at a waste container against the wall. The container has a recycling symbol on it.)

SCULLY: 

Mulder, look. Arrows that form a circle. 

Full circle to find The Truth. 

Gates' Company owns a recycling plant near here. 

That's where he's taken Kevin.

MULDER: 

Scully, the man is at the airport. 

If he hasn't already killed Kevin, he's trying to get as far away as he can.

SCULLY: 

I don't think so, Mulder.

MULDER: 

You think it's you, don't you? 

You think you're the one who's been chosen to protect Kevin.

SCULLY: 

I Don't Know. 

Look, if I'm wrong, I'll meet you out at the airport. OK?

SCENE 15

21ST CENTURY RECYCLING PLANT

JERUSALEM, OHIO

(Inside the plant are Gates and Kevin.)

GATES: 

The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon will turn to blood, because of you, son.

KEVIN: 

Is that why you want to hurt me?

GATES: 

It's not a question of wanting. 

You have to die, Kevin. 

For everyone. For the New Age to come. 

You understand that, don't you?

(Gates sees drops of blood on the floor and checks Kevin's hands. They are bleeding through the bandages.)

GATES: 

The others were all false prophets. 

You are the only true one among the twelve.

(As Gates reaches for Kevin's throat, Scully appears, aiming her weapon at Gates.)

SCULLY: 

Stop! Federal agent, I'm armed! Let him go! 

Let him go and we'll talk about it!

(Gates pulls Kevin in front of him and they back away.)

GATES: 

There's nothing to talk about. 

I was called upon.

(He and Kevin slip behind some stacks of recycled trash. Scully pursues, but Gates pushes a stack over, blocking her way. He then carries Kevin up the stairs to the top of a shredding machine, while Scully struggles to get around the obstacles.)

KEVIN: 

No! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!

(Gates starts the shredding machine. He lifts Kevin up as if to throw him into the machine just as Scully reaches the bottom of the stairs. Both Gates and Kevin disappear over the edge.)

SCULLY: 

No!

(Scully rushes up the stairs and sees blood in the blades of the shredder. Leaning forward, she sees Kevin hanging to a ledge.)

SCULLY: 

Kevin! Hold on! Hold on!

(She reaches down and grabs Kevin's hand and pulls him up onto the platform grating. They embrace.)

KEVIN: 

I knew you'd come.

SCENE 16

THE SHELTER, TWO DAYS LATER

(Kevin and Scully are in one of the shelter bedrooms. Kevin has just finished packing his belongings.)

SCULLY: 

You all set?

KEVIN: 

(smiling) 

Thanks.

(He reaches out to shake hands with Scully. She turns his hand over and sees no sign of a wound on his palm, then shakes it. Kevin starts to leave.)

SCULLY: 

Maybe I'll see you again sometime.

KEVIN: 

(looking back) 

You will.

CARINA MAYWALD: 

(unseen, from the hall) 

You all ready, Kevin?

KEVIN: 

Yeah.

(Kevin leaves. Scully turns away from the door and looks down as Mulder enters. She brings a hand to her eyes to wipe away a tear, as Mulder picks up her coat and helps her into it.)

MULDER: 

You OK?

SCULLY: 

Yeah, I think so.

MULDER: 

We have a couple of hours before our flight. 

I told the sheriff we'd go down and make a formal statement about Gates' death.

SCULLY: 

I'd appreciate it if you'd handle that alone, Mulder. 

I have an errand I need to run.

MULDER: 

OK.

SCULLY: 

I'll see you at the airport.

SCENE 17

A CONFESSION BOOTH

SCULLY: 

Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. 

It has been..... six years since my last confession, 

and since then I've drifted away from The Church. 

I'm not sure why exactly.

PRIEST: 

Have you come to confess?

SCULLY: 

No, um, there's a man that I work with - a friend - and usually I'm able to discuss these things with him... 

but not this. 

Father, do you believe in Miracles?

PRIEST: 

Of course, I see them every day ... 

The rising sun, the birth of a child ...

SCULLY: 

No, I'm talking about events that defy explanation. 

Things that ... I believe helped me to save a young boy's life. 

But now I wonder if I saw them at all. 

If I didn't just imagine them.

PRIEST: 

Why do you doubt yourself?

SCULLY: 

Because My Partner didn't see them. 

He didn't ... he didn't believe them. 

And usually he ... he believes without question.

PRIEST: 

Maybe they weren't meant for him to see. 

Maybe they were only meant for you.

SCULLY: 

Is that possible?

PRIEST: 

With the Lord, anything is possible. 

Perhaps you saw these things because you needed to.

SCULLY: 

To find my way back?

PRIEST: 

Sometimes We Must Come Full Circle to Find The Truth. 

(Scully looks up at the priest) 

Why does that surprise you?

SCULLY: 

Mostly, it just makes me afraid.

PRIEST: 

Afraid?

SCULLY: 

Afraid that God is Speaking ... 

But that no one's Listening.

[THE END]