X-Files Logo 'Daemonicus'

Story Code '#9X03'
by Frank Spotnitz
X-Files Cast

SCENE 1 - WESTON, WEST VIRGINIA

(It is night. We see a puddle which is reflecting the full moon. A truck pulls up, disturbing the water. Two men are inside looking over towards a house in the distance. A dog is barking somewhere. Cut to: inside house where the dog - Happy - is barking. EVELYN MOUNTJOY and her husband DARREN MOUNTJOY are playing ‘Scrabble’)

EVELYN:
Happy, stop that. Hap! What's with her all of a sudden?

(EVELYN gets up and walks over to the dog)

EVELYN:
Don't you look at my letters.

DARREN:
For God's sake.

(EVELYN lets the dog out and it quickly races away. DARREN quickly peaks at her letters and then takes his turn, the word TRIUMPHS. EVELYN returns)

DARREN:
Read 'em and weep my dear!

EVELYN:
Seven letters. fifty bonus points.

(We can hear the dog barking again. Suddenly it's cries turn to what sounds like distress. EVELYN looks at DARREN and he returns her worried gaze)

EVELYN:
Darren...

(Suddenly the lights go out)

DARREN:
Get in the basement.

EVELYN:
What are you going to do?

DARREN:
Just do what I say.

(DARREN runs upstairs and a hand suddenly appears, covering EVELYN's mouth. DARREN, meanwhile, is hurriedly loading bullets into his gun. He slowly comes down the stairs, gun raised. Down below he sees a shadowy figure moving towards him. DARREN aims the gun at the figure)

DARREN:
I've got a gun!

(The figure doesn't hesitate)

DARREN:
Stop!

(He fires twice and the figure falls, dead. DARREN runs towards the figure only to discover that their hands are bound behind their back and has tape covering their mouth. It is EVELYN. DARREN is shocked at what he has done. He turns as he hears strange voices. Two figures are moving towards him, they have strangely demonic-looking faces.)


OPENING TITLES


SCENE 2 - WESTON

(REYES is driving. She shows her ID to a police officer and then passes on. She pulls up and hops out. Cut to: the MOUNTJOY home where police are investigating. A photographer takes police photos - EVELYN and DARREN are seated at the table. The ‘Scrabble’ game is still there. REYES walks around and surveys the scene - DARREN has apparently been shot in the head and EVELYN is holding the gun. REYES looks at the ‘Scrabble’ board - there is only one word, in the centre: ‘DAEMONICUS’. She reaches for it and then hears the ceiling fan which is squeaking. We can see the shadow as it turns. REYES looks up - the fan isn't moving. Before she can take this in, DOGGETT enters behind her)

DOGGETT:
Reyes!

(She turns around, startled)

DOGGETT:
Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.

(The fan is now turning)

REYES:
They told me I'd find you inside.

DOGGETT:
I was out back talking to the detective in charge. You're the expert here, Monica. Everyone's waiting to hear what you have to say on this.

REYES:
What do we know?

DOGGETT:
Darren and Evelyn Mountjoy, married thirty-two years, three kids, five grand-kids. Not an enemy in the world. Just that dog out front. Neck's broken. Footprints in the mud. We're looking for two...

REYES:
Nothing's soiled in the house, nothing at all to suggest motive.

DOGGETT:
Well, it all fits the profile, right? This thing is staged to look like some kind of Satanic ritual.

REYES:
Placing victims in a suicide posture is ritualistic. And this word is undoubtedly Satanic.

DOGGETT:
Daemonicus.

REYES:
It means Satan in Latin, or Daemonicus - Demon Possession.

DOGGETT:
And it's worth fifty extra points. That's why they were posed like this. You think these folks were possessed, right?

REYES:
That would be the textbook explanation

DOGGETT:
Then I'll let 'em know.

REYES:
This may be something else.

DOGGETT:
Which is what?

(REYES looks at him and they turn as a medic wheels in a thing to take the bodies)

DOGGETT:
Hey, you say anything you want about Satanic ritual, but don't tell me you think the Devil did this, because we've got prints from out there. This case ain't even close to being an X-File.

REYES:
Something strange happened in here just before you came in. I can't explain it.

(The MEDIC jumps and screams)

DOGGETT:
What?

(DOGGETT looks down at the body of EVELYN. He pulls open her cardigan, to reveal a blood-soaked jumper. Suddenly, we see two small snakes wriggle out of her jumper. REYES and DOGGETT stand back)


SCENE 3 - F.B.I TRAINING ACADEMY, QUANTICO, VIRGINIA

(SCULLY writes 'DOCTOR DANA SCULLY' on the blackboard. She is in front of a group of FBI cadets and they are in a lecture theatre)

SCULLY:
Doctor Dana Scully. I have just been assigned to the Academy as a forensic investigator. For the past eight years I was part of a unit known as the X-Files. Some of you may have heard of it.

(Judging by the muffled laughter, they have. DOGGETT enters from the back)

CADET:
Ever slay a vampire?

SCULLY:
Sorry to disappoint you, but this is a course in forensic pathology. Hard science. An X-File is a case that has been deemed unsolvable by the Bureau, because such a case cannot be solved it may beg other explanations... a vampire, perhaps. Science, however, tells us that evil comes not from monsters, but from men. It offers us the methodology to catch these men, and only after we have exhausted these methods should we leave science behind to consider more... extreme possibilities.


SCENE 4 - F.B.I HEADQUARTERS

(REYES walks down a corridor and stands at the doorway of an autopsy room where SCULLY and DOGGETT are talking. One of the bodies is behind them. SCULLY notices REYES and DOGGETT turns. She enters)

REYES:
What did you find?

DOGGETT:
I asked Agent Scully for expertise on this. Looks like we can rule out the Exorcist after all.

REYES:
And why is that?

(SCULLY shows REYES something)

SCULLY:
There is adhesive residue on Missus Mountjoy's wrists and face. Do you see that? She was taped and bound and then shot at a range of ten to twelve feet with her husband's handgun.

REYES:
The husband shot her.

(REYES suddenly experiences something that can only be described as a vision. The husband fires his gun)

REYES:
He was tricked into it.

DOGGETT:
That's what we're thinking. Some kind of sick game.

SCULLY:
Well, there's also evidence of fingerprint bruising along his collarbone.

(SCULLY shows DOGGETT and REYES on the body of DARREN)

REYES:
They held him down.

(REYES has another vision, this time the husband is shot)

REYES:
Shot him in his chair.

DOGGETT:
Again, we're looking for two guys.

(SCULLY picks up a box containing the snakes extracted from the body of EVELYN)

SCULLY:
Snakes appeared to be purely symbolic. They're non-venomous species collected locally. They were sewn post-mortem into the body cavity with household thread, by someone who appears to have surgical skill.

REYES:
You've made a lot of headway.

SCULLY:
But there's something else. There's something that you're not saying.

REYES:
When I was alone in that house this morning I had the strong feeling I was in the presence of evil.

DOGGETT:
Look, Monica, the only reason you were called in on this thing is you've investigated hundreds of these kinds of cases.

REYES:
And not once did I find anything to support evidence of genuine Satanic activity.

DOGGETT:
I'm saying...

REYES:
I've never felt this before.

(DOGGETT's cell rings and he answers it

DOGGETT:
Excuse me. John Doggett

(DOGGETT turns away to talk)

REYES:
Agent Scully, have you ever sensed what I'm talking about?

SCULLY:
I've felt things that I couldn't understand. Things that I was afraid to admit even to myself.

REYES:
And what did you do?

SCULLY:
I learned not to ignore it... to trust my instincts.

(DOGGETT hangs up)

REYES:
What is it?

DOGGETT:
Mental hospital, 100 miles from here. They think one of their patients did this.


SCENE 5 - THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

(We are clearly in some dense undergrowth. Clouds fly past quickly. The truck from the teaser is driving. It stops and we see that there are two masks - the demonic faces - lying in the front in between two men. The men pick up their masks and step out, walking away, one carrying rope)


SCENE 6 - CHESSMAN STATE MENTAL HOSPITAL, KITSONVILLE

(DOGGETT and REYES are talking to one of the female doctors, DOCTOR MONIQUE SAMPSON.)

DOCTOR SAMPSON:
We're pretty shaken up. We're still trying to figure out how he could have escaped.

DOGGETT:
Why do you think this escaped patient Doctor Richmond was involved in these murders?

DOCTOR SAMPSON:
Doctor Richmond was committed here because he killed three patients. He'd sewn strychnine tablets in their stomach lining in. And I heard about the snakes.

REYES:
The police believe two men committed this crime, Doctor Sampson.

DOCTOR SAMPSON:
Two men?

DOGGETT:
Do you have any idea who the second man might be?

DOCTOR SAMPSON:
No, he didn't exactly keep pen-pals.

REYES:
Did Doctor Richmond display any knowledge of Satanic lure, or speak of demonic possession?

DOCTOR SAMPSON:
No, he was perfectly cogent. He didn't suffer from those kinds of delusions.

REYES:
I'm not really asking about delusions.

REYES:
When you last spoke to him did he seem himself?

DOCTOR SAMPSON:
Seem himself?

REYES:
I mean did he display personality other than his own? Speaking tongues or in any language which he didn't know?

DOCTOR SAMPSON:
You're asking me if he was possessed? This is the Twenty-First century, Miss Reyes. We stopped looking a long time ago to demons to explain mental illness.

REYES:
I'm not really talking about mental illness.

(DOGGETT and DR SAMPSON are uncomfortably looking for words. REYES smiles, she knows how SAMPSON feels)

DOCTOR SAMPSON:
Excuse me a moment.

(SAMPSON walks away)

DOGGETT:
You know, Monica, a room here just came open.

REYES:
You heard what she said. Doctor Richmond didn't know anything about Satanic ritual.

DOGGETT:
And that proves he was possessed?

REYES:
You explain to me how else he commits a crime that's a perfect example of it?

DOGGETT:
Well let's try the obvious - it was his accomplice.

(DR SAMPSON returns)

DOCTOR SAMPSON:
Agents... I, uh, think the man you're looking for might be Paul Gerlach.

DOGGETT:
Is he a patient here?

DOCTOR SAMPSON:
No, he's a guard. He's been here for twelve years and no one can find him.

REYES:
Who would be the last person who saw them together?

(The three walk away. We see the floor below them is a giant chessboard pattern. Someone is playing a game)


SCENE 7 - UNKNOWN LOCATION

(The two men from earlier are walking, both wearing their masks. We are still somewhere unknown.. One stops, dropping the rope. The other continues. He stops, wondering where the other is. The first man pulls out a gun and shoots the second)


SCENE 8 - MENTAL HOSPITAL

(JOSEF KOBOLD, a professor and patient is on his knees looking at the wall. DOGGETT and REYES enter)

DOGGETT:
Mister Kobold? My name is John Doggett, this is Monica Reyes. We're with the FBI.

REYES:
The patient in the cell next to you escaped last night. Did you see or hear anything? You share the same guard, Mister Kobold. Do you know anything about their relationship? Why he would have helped him to escape?

KOBOLD:
You mean than the guard forced a patient to escape, or did the patient force the guard? Or are they both of one mind, like a snake, eating its own tail?

DOGGETT:
You know something about this, Mister Kobold? If you do we need your help. To stop them before they hurt more people.

KOBOLD:
You're too late for that.

DOGGETT:
If you're afraid to help us, Mister Kobold, we can protect you. No harm will come to you.

KOBOLD:
Do you believe in the power of the Devil, Mister Doggett?

DOGGETT:
I believe that the Devil's a story made up to scare people.

KOBOLD:
Then how can you possibly protect me?


SCENE 9 - MENTAL HOSPITAL CORRIDOR

(DOGGETT and REYES are walking along a corridor)

DOGGETT:
Consider the source, Monica.


SCENE 10 - UNKNOWN LOCATION

(The killer is wiping his blood-stained hands. An owl hoots and he drops the rug. The strange voices start again. Cut to: where JOSEF KOBOLD is uttering what appears to be the sounds)

KOBOLD:
Daemonicus. Daemonicus

(KOBOLD continues)


SCENE 11 - MENTAL HOSPITAL

(DOCTOR SAMPSON and the AGENTS walk down a corridor)

DOCTOR SAMPSON:
He's been calling for Agent Doggett for the past hour. He's extremely agitated.

REYES:
Has he said why?

DOCTOR SAMPSON:
He keeps saying ‘Prince of the Apostles’ over and over again. I don't know what it means. I had to restrain him for his own safety and I thought it was best not to sedate him until you speak to him.

(They enter the cell where KOBOLD is restrained)

DOGGETT:
Mister Kobold, it's John Doggett.

KOBOLD:
He's speaking to me. Whispering in my ear.

REYES:
What's he saying to you, Mister Kobold?

KOBOLD:
He's killed again.

REYES:
Who?

KOBOLD:
I don't know. But I can show you.


SCENE 12 - FOREST

(Three cars pull up. The outer two are police cars. DOGGETT gets out of the other car, as does JOBOLD. REYES joins them)

KOBOLD:
You can't know what it feels like, being free of that cage, and to see the sky above me.

DOGGETT:
Right, where is he, Mister Kobold?

(KOBOLD signals ahead)

KOBOLD:
There, I can take you.

(DOGGETT stops him from moving)

DOGGETT:
That's far enough. Take him back to his cage now. Agent Reyes?

(DOGGETT and REYES start walking)

REYES:
You think he's making it up?

DOGGETT:
Yeah.

REYES:
That was a pretty convincing show back there.

DOGGETT:
He's play-acting, Monica. Just because he's good at it doesn't make it true.

REYES:
Why do it?

DOGGETT:
He wanted some fresh air. Maybe he gets off sending the FBI on snipe hunts.

(REYES stops. She looks at something)

REYES:
I don't think that's it.

(DOGGETT looks up too, the second man who was shot is hanging from the tree overhead)


SCENE 13 - AUTOPSY ROOM

(SCULLY is removing the demonic mask. DOGGETT and REYES are there also and they watch as the face is exposed)

DOGGETT:
This is the security guard, Paul Gerlach.

SCULLY:
It appears he was shot in the chest. His body was staged post-mortem, just like the others.

DOGGETT:
Someone wants to play games.

REYES:
Or not. Prince of the Apostles. Kobold kept repeating it in his cell.

SCULLY:
Saint Peter. He was said to have been crucified upside down.

REYES:
A symbol later adopted by the Satanists to mark the power of Antichrist.

DOGGETT:
Which you take as proof that the Devil possessed the surgeon who somehow put him in contact with Kobold.

REYES:
It's part of the literature. He could be a medium. A willing host for Satan. May be communicating with Kobold.

DOGGETT:
Well that's convenient.

REYES:
He brought up the Devil and the snakes. No one told him the details of the crime and yet he knew.

DOGGETT:
That's 'cause he planned it. I pulled his file. This guy's a master manipulator. He was a history Professor at the University of Miami, committed for grinding up six co-eds, that he tricked into his basement. He used their flesh as fertiliser in his garden.

REYES:
If Kobold's part of this then why is he still behind bars? Why not escape when he had the chance?

DOGGETT:
I don't know yet. You believe this guy, Agent Scully?

SCULLY:
I haven't formed an opinion about it yet, actually.

DOGGETT:
That's great. That's great.

DOGGETT:
Where are you going, Monica?

REYES:
This man Kobold can help us, John. I'm going to prove it to you.

(REYSE leaves the room. DOGGETT looks sceptically at SCULLY)


SCENE 14 - KOBOLD'S CELL

(After the fast clouds sequence, we fade in to see the face of JOSEF KOBOLD, kneeling in his cell as before. A guard unlocks the cell door. REYES enters the cell, DOGGETT stands in the doorway - he isn't believing this)

REYES:
Professor.

KOBOLD:
You found the body.

REYES:
Yes. Professor Kobold, we need your help. To find him before anyone else gets hurt.

KOBOLD:
I can't.

DOGGETT:
You can't or you won't?

KOBOLD:
I can't. In here. He whispers to me in a thousand voices. But they're so hard to hear.

REYES:
What can we do, to help you here?

KOBOLD:
I need a larger room. One with space. And windows. To see the sky.

(REYES looks at him and is clearly believing. DOGGETT just continues to be sceptical. They leave and walk away)

DOGGETT:
You're not going along with this are you? Giving this guy what he wants?

REYES:
That's my general idea, yeah.

DOGGETT:
You're making a mistake.

REYES:
Look, even if you're right, even if this man is faking it, he can help us. I'm not willing to turn my back on that. Are you?


SCENE 15 - EXT. HOSPITAL

(DOCTOR SAMPSON gets into her car and drives off. Across the road, the pick-up belonging to the demonic men, follows her)


SCENE 16 - KOBOLD'S CELL

(KOBOLD is in his new room. Much larger than the previous one. He is looking out the window. DOGGETT and OFFICER CUSTER enter the room)

DOGGETT:
That's Officer Custer. He's going to keep an eye on you.

KOBOLD:
I'm familiar with Officer Custer.

OFFICER CUSTER:
I'm outside the door if you need anything, Professor.

KOBOLD:
Agent Reyes believes me. But you don't, Mister Doggett.

DOGGETT:
It doesn't matter what I believe.

KOBOLD:
I'm wondering, why a sceptic such as yourself would accept an assignment to an obscure unit of the FBI devoted exclusively to the investigating of paranormal phenomena.

DOGGETT:
You been checking up on me, Professor?

KOBOLD:
Ordinarily men do not pursue occupations against their own inclinations unless there's some strong countervailing reason. Seeking the love or approval of a woman, perhaps? Agent Reyes may have affection for you, but you for her? Of course it could be someone else. Or something else. Some... dark secret from your past.

DOGGETT:
That's enough.

KOBOLD:
An unsolved tragedy for which you feel responsible. In some morbid way you haven't even admitted to yourself, perhaps you feel that... chasing ghosts will answer the questions which damn you.

(KOBOLD is getting under DOGGETT's skin)

DOGGETT:
I don't have time for this. Tell me if he says anything.

OFFICER CUSTER:
Agent Doggett?

(The ghostly voices suddenly start in the cell. KOBOLD's head starts moving quickly. He looks possessed)

DOGGETT:
Agent Reyes! Get Agent Reyes!

(CUSTER leaves to find her)


SCENE 17 - DOCTOR SAMPSON'S HOUSE

(DOCTOR SAMPSON gets out of her car, collects the mail and goes inside. Out her window we see the pick-up)


SCENE 18 - KOBOLD'S CELL

(REYES enters the cell, where DOGETT is helping restrain KOBOLD as he is sedated. She moves closer. He is muttering)

KOBOLD:
Me-di-cus, me-di-cus.

REYES:
He's saying something. Medicus... a physician.

(REYES looks up)


SCENE 19 - DOCTOR SAMPSON'S HOUSE

(The pick-up drives off, narrowly missing the police cars. REYES, DOGGETT and a hoard of officers get out and run into the house)

DOGGET:
Doctor Sampson?

(REYES enters and looks around. She sees something out of the corner of her eye)

REYES:
John.

(DOGGETT enters the room REYES is now in. A still DOCTOR SAMPSON is sitting down but the blinds are drawn)

DOGGETT:
Doctor Sampson?

(DOGGETT moves closer, wary of any tricks. He turns the chair and we see she has been stabbed in the face with hypodermic syringes. She is definitely dead)


SCENE 20 - EXT. DR SAMPSON'S HOUSE

(DOCTOR SAMPSON, minus the needles, is wheeled away. REYES walks away, glancing at DOGGETT as she does. SCULLY walks up to DOGGETT)

SCULLY:
The syringes contained roperidol, that's the same anti-psychotic medication that she was giving to Doctor Richmond.

DOGGETT:
He's not the one calling the shots.

(We see JOSEF KOBOLD seated in the back of a car parked at the kerbside)

SCULLY:
You still think that it was Kobold?

DOGGETT:
This is not about demons, it's not about demonic possession, it's about men.

SCULLY:
Agent Doggett, have you considered that something else might be going on here?

DOGGETT:
I heard you say, Agent Scully, I heard you tell a classroom full of FBI cadets - most evil in the world comes from men.

SCULLY:
But I also said that once science fails, we have to consider extreme possibilities.

(DOGGETT exchanges looks with KOBOLD. This is uncomfortable for him

SCULLY:
I know what you're feeling. I know your frustration. But you can't let it cloud your objectivity.

DOGGETT:
Agent Reyes is thinking just what this guy Kobold wants her to think, and now you are too.

(DOGGETT walks off. SCULLY looks around. We can hear the demonic voices. SCULLY looks at KOBOLD. He returns her inquisitive stare)


SCENE 21 - KOBOLD'S ROOM

(OFFICER CUSTER enters)

OFFICER CUSTER:
Professor, you done with this meal?

(KOBOLD does answer. He is motionless, staring out of the window. DOGGETT enters the room carrying a report)

DOGGETT:
I brought something, Professor. Something to read. It's a monograph you wrote six years ago. Know the one I'm talking about, Professor? It's about the influence of Satan in Renaissance thinking.

(KOBOLD slowly gets up from the floor)

KOBOLD:
So, you found your proof. Circumstantial though it may be.

DOGGETT:
You planned this whole thing. I want to know why.

KOBOLD:
I've been thinking a lot about you, Agent Doggett.

(KOBOLD walks slowly around the room)

DOGGETT:
You're not answering my question, Professor.

KOBOLD:
About why someone so ill-suited would draw this duty. Clearly, you have feelings for her.

DOGGETT:
You ordered Doctor Richmond to kill these people, didn't you?

KOBOLD:
But you can't compete with the long-lost Agent Mulder. With his easy good looks, his Oxford education.

(DOGGETT is getting agitated

DOGGETT:
This is about you, Professor.

KOBOLD:
Mulder has what you can't have. What you stumble for. The flat-footed cop, thinking he could put handcuffs on a demon.

(DOGGETT's temper is rising

DOGGETT:
Answer the question!

KOBOLD:
You want her, but she feels sorry for you. They both do.

(DOGGETT grabs KOBOLD by the shirt. A thick orange liquid rushes out of KOBOLD's mouth and onto DOGGETT. He jumps back in shock. The liquid is flowing out of KOBOLD's mouth until suddenly the professor falls into the pool of orange. DOGGETT bangs on the door)

DOGGETT:
Guard! We need a medic! Guard! We need a medic!


SCENE 22

(SCULLY is examining KOBOLD. She finishes and walks out towards REYES and DOGGETT)

REYES:
She's coming.

SCULLY:
As far as I can tell physically he's fine.

DOGGETT:
Of course he is.

SCULLY:
What brought this on?

DOGGETT:
The guy's an expert on Satanic history, I, I confronted him on it.

REYES:
Which proves what?

DOGGETT:
Come on, Monica, you wanted to know who could stage a textbook example. This guy wrote the damn book!

REYES:
I can't explain those voices we heard in his room... or this.

(REYES holds up a small bottle of the orange liquid)

DOGGETT:
It's a trick.

REYES:
What if it's ectoplasm?

DOGGETT:
Ectoplasm?

REYES:
You've heard of it, Agent Scully?

SCULLY:
Agent Mulder used to refer to it as psychic plasma - a residual by-product of telepathic communication. In theory it would have inorganic properties that couldn't be explained otherwise.

DOGGETT:
So what are we talking now? The ‘Ghostbusters’?

REYES:
If I'm right an analysis of this sample could prove whether he's telling the truth or faking it.

DOGGETT:
Well, you can throw that crap away because I can tell you right now that this guy's liar. He's playing a game.

SCULLY:
Well, then let's just see how well he plays that game.

DOGGETT:
Why? So you can get suckered in even more? Listen to you two!

SCULLY:
Agent Doggett.

DOGGETT:
Listen, I'm telling ya. This guy threw this up for our benefit. He knew exactly what you'd say, he knew exactly what I'd say. He even knew that the two of you would be so blinded by this hocus pocus that you wouldn't see what's in front of your faces.

SCULLY:
Agent Reyes is just trying to get to the truth, okay? What are you doing?

REYES:
Maybe this is a hoax. Maybe you're right. But now you're saying we should turn away from evidence? It's not like you, John. I don't understand why.

DOGGETT:
I already told you why.

(DOGGETT turns and leaves. REYES is uncertain of what to say. DOGGETT stops outside the cell and looks in on KOBOLD)


SCENE 23 - THE HOSPITAL

(It is night, and there is a storm out. CUSTER is reading a magazine in the main foyer. The voices start and CUSTER jumps up. The lights go out and CUSTER moves to KOBOLD's cell. KOBOLD is standing in the darkness, lightning is illuminating him. KOBOLD's face suddenly turns demonic)


SCENE 24 - SCULLY'S CAR

(SCULLY is driving. She stops and answers her cell phone)

SCULLY:
Scully.

DOGGETT:
Agent Scully, I tried to reach you at Quantico.

SCULLY:
I'm on my way back to DC. What is it?

DOGGETT:
Kobold. He told the guard he knows where we can find Doctor Richmond.

SCULLY:
Where?

DOGGETT:
Well, let's just say it sounds like a joke. Another game. It's a place called Happy Landing.

(SCULLY pauses)

DOGGETT:
Scully?

SCULLY:
On state road 710, near Annandale.

DOGGETT:
What are you talking about?

SCULLY:
There-there's old marina there. I passed it on my way home, in fact I'm almost there right now.

DOGGETT:
(To REYES) State road 710 near Annandale. (To SCULLY) All right, we're going to meet you there.


SCENE 25 - HAPPY LANDING

(SCULLY's car pulls up at the marina. She cautiously gets out. The floorboards creek. SCULLY hears a noise and turns, gun in hand. There is nothing. Someone, however, is approaching from behind. She turns as he runs towards her. SCULLY screams)


SCENE 26 - HAPPY LANDING, LATER

(Police cars pull up. REYES and DOGGETT jump out of one and see SCULLY's car)

REYES:
Where is she?

DOGGETT:
I don't know. But I know who does.

(DOGGETT races over towards KOBOLD, who is seated in the back of one of the cars)

DOGGETT:
Where is she, Professor?

KOBOLD:
Game's over, Mister Doggett.

DOGGETT:
Tell me where she is right now, you son of a bitch, I swear to God I'll kill you where you sit!

REYES:
John...

KOBOLD:
You lost.

DOGGETT:
Where is she!!?

(KOBOLD just laughs in his face. REYES turns at a gunshot from behind. She and DOGGETT race towards where the sound was, OFFICER CUSTER is now walking towards KOBOLD. DOGGETT and REYES enter a building to where a body, in a demonic mask, lies on the ground, in a pool of blood)

DOGGETT:
Agent Scully?

SCULLY:
Agent Doggett, over here.

DOGGETT:
I don't understand.

SCULLY:
He held me at gunpoint until you arrived and then he shot himself.

REYES:
It doesn't make sense.

DOGGET:
Yes, it does. Game's over.

(DOGGETT races back outside. He sees the car door open. A man, presumably KOBOLD is running away)

DOGGETT:
Josef Kobold! Stop there! I'm armed! I will shoot!

(DOGGETT fires and hits the figure who falls into the water. All three agents run to the edge, but the body does not surface)


SCENE 27 - QUANTICO ACADEMY

(SCULLY is writing on the blackboard)

SCULLY:
Uncertainty. Not matter how thorough the investigation, some doubts inevitably remain. Just as juries seek to convict beyond reasonable doubt, the forensic investigator will seek conclusions supported by a preponderance of evidence. Rarely will you encounter a case where all of the variables, all of the open questions, are fully answered.

(The bell rings. The class get up and head out. SCULLY seems relieved)

SCULLY:
I'll see you Monday.

(DOGGETT and REYES come down to meet her)

REYES:
Have you filed your report on the case yet?

SCULLY:
I was going to do it on my way home.

REYES:
We'd rather you didn't.

DOGGETT:
We haven't accounted to Kobold's actions. Not all of them.

SCULLY:
But Agent Reyes told me that Kobold accessed information about all of us over the Internet. About Mulder too.

DOGGETT:
Well, that explains how he knew how we'd respond to the first killings. Why he staged them to look like Satanic ritual, to make sure that we would.

SCULLY:
He wanted us on the case, we know that.

DOGGETT:
He bent everyone to think and do whatever he wanted.

SCULLY:
But we know all this already. It was a game, every move was played out perfectly. Except the last one.

REYES:
Not unless that was part of the game, too.

SCULLY:
What, to get shot in the back?

REYES:
No. Kobold's body still hasn't been found.

SCULLY:
Kobold's dead. Agent Doggett shot him. We all saw that.

(DOGGETT picks up a piece of chalk and writes ‘DAEMONICUS’ on the blackboard)

DOGGETT:
Did we? Think back to Agent Reyes' question - why didn't Kobold escape with the others when he had the chance? Why? Because he wanted to escape without anyone knowing he'd escaped, so that by the time it was discovered, he'd be too far away for anyone to find him.

SCULLY:
Satan.

(In flashback, DOGGETT enters KOBOLD's old cell and looks around)

DOGGETT:
Daemonicus. The beginning and the end of our case. The snake eating its own tail. We lost. Kobold told me so. He wanted us to see how brilliantly he played the game.

(DOGGETT reaches behind some loose padding and pulls out a clipping from a phonebook. The names of DARREN and EVELYN are circled. We see their address as ‘41 Palm Road’)

DOGGETT:
How thoroughly we lost. The first victims, Darren and Evelyn Mountjoy.

(SCULLY is now holding the clipping in her hands)

SCULLY:
Chosen from the phone book. For what reason?

DOGGETT:
No reason. Other than their names.

(DOGGETT underlines the letters ‘DAE’ on the blackboard)

SCULLY:
And the third victim?

DOGGETT:
The doctor. Monique Sampson.

(DOGGETT underlines the letters MONI on the blackboard)

DOGGETT:
And the last. The man whose body is at the bottom of that river.

(We see a body being lifted from the water using a crane and a stretcher)

SCULLY:
It's not Kobold.

DOGGETT:
The guard we assigned to him. The guard he knew he'd have when we transferred him

SCULLY:
Custer.

DOGGETT:
Checkmate.

(DOGGETT looks at the women's faces, both wondering now, and he makes his exit)

SCULLY:
Something still bothering you, Agent Reyes? You don't believe this explanation?

REYES:
It all makes sense to me as far as it goes. But there's something else, something he's afraid to explain.

SCULLY:
You mean that you felt the presence of evil?

REYES:
No, I mean that he felt it, too.

(SCULLY ponders this though. We cut to the clouds moving across the sky and the demonic voices before fading out)

[THE END]



Gillian Anderson (Special Agent Dana Scully), Robert Patrick (Special Agent John Doggett), Annabeth Gish (Special Agent Monica Reyes), Robert Beckwith (FBI Cadet), Sarah Benoit (Evelyn Mountjoy), Andi Chapman (Doctor Monique Sackheim), Rueben Grundy (Forensic Techincian), Tim Halligan (Darren Mountjoy), Elijha Mahar (Guard), Tony Mittleider (Doctor Kenneth Richman), Shane Nickerson (Police Photographer), James Rekart (Paul Gerlach)James Remar (Professor Josef Kobold), Lou Richards (Officer Custer), Melissa Spotnitz (FBI Cadet)

Directed by Frank Spotnitz

TX:
US TX - 2nd December 2001

Notes:
*Featuring Special Special Agent Dana Scully, Special Agent John Doggett and Special Agent Monica Reyes

*‘Daemonicus’ is Latin for ‘Satan’

*During the credits sequence there is a flash-frame of a document containing the names of many online X-Philes and some anagrams of ‘X-Files’ characters (e.g. ‘Deform Lux’ is Fox Mulder) under the heading ‘FBI Contacts, Witnesses and Contributors’:



*Writer/director Frank Spotnitz’s wife, Melissa, appears as one of the cadets in Scully’s Quantico class