The X-Files

Happy, Stop that.

Hap.

What's with her all of a sudden?

- Don't you look at my letters. - For God's sakes.

Read 'em and weep, my dear.

Seven letters.

50 bonus points.

Darren.

- Get in the basement. - What are you gonna do?

Just do what I say.

Igota gun.

Stop.

Hey.

Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you.

They told me I'd find you inside.

I was out back, talking to the detective in charge.

You're the expert. Everyone's waiting to hear what you have to say on this.

What do we know?

Darren and Evelyn Mountjoy. Married 32 years, three kids, five grandkids.

Not an enemy in the world. That's their dog out front. Neck's broken.

From the footprints in the mud, best guess is we're looking for two perps.

Nothing stolen from the house. Nothing to suggest motive.

It all fits a profile, right? This thing is staged to look like some kind of satanic ritual.

Placing victims in a murder-suicide posture is ritualistic.

And this word is undoubtedly satanic.

"Daemonicus"?

It means "Satan" in Latin.

Or daemonicus - demon possession.

And it's worth 50 extra points.

That's why they were posed like this,

so we'd think that these folks were possessed, right?

That would be the textbook explanation.

- I'll let 'em know. - This may be something else.

Which is what?

Say anything you want about satanic ritual, but don't tell me you think the devil did this.

Cos we got prints on the lawn out there. This case ain't even close to being an X-File.

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

Argh!

What?

Dr 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. - Did you ever slay a vampire?

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.

What'd you find?

I asked Agent Scully for her expertise on this.

Looks like we can rule out The Exorcist.

And why is that?

There's adhesive residue on Mrs Mountjoy's wrists and face.

Can you see that?

She was taped and bound

and then shot at a range of 10-12ft with her husband's handgun.

The husband shot her.

He was tricked into it.

That's what we were thinking. Some kind of sick game.

Well, there's also evidence of...

fingerprint bruising along his collarbone.

They held him down.

- Shot him in his chair. - Again we're looking for two guys.

The snakes appear to be purely symbolic.

They're a nonvenomous species collected locally.

They were sewn postmortem into the body cavity with household thread

by someone who appears to have surgical skill.

You've made a lot of headway.

But there's something else.

There's something that you're not saying.

When I was alone in that house this morning,

I had the strong feeling I was in the presence of evil.

Monica, we were called in on this because

you've investigated hundreds of these cases.

And not once did I find any evidence of genuine satanic activity.

I'm sayin'...

I've never felt this before.

Excuse me.

John Doggett.

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

I've felt things that I couldn't understand.

Things I was afraid to admit even to myself.

And what did you do?

I learned not to ignore it.

To trust my instincts.

Yeah. Thank you.

What is it?

A mental hospital, a hundred miles from here.

They think one of their patients did this.

We're pretty shaken up. We're trying to determine how he escaped.

Why do you think this patient, Kenneth Richman, was involved in these murders?

Dr Richman was committed cos he killed three patients.

He sewed strychnine into their stomachs in surgery. When I heard about the snakes...

The police believe two men committed this crime, Dr Sampson.

- Two men? - Any idea who the second man might be?

No. He didn't exactly keep pen pals.

Did Dr Richman display any knowledge of satanic lore

or speak of demonic possession?

No. He was perfectly cogent. He didn't suffer from those kinds of delusions.

I'm not really asking about delusions.

When you last spoke to him, did he seem himself?

"Seem himself"?

Did he display a personality other than his own?

Speak in tongues or in a language he didn't know?

You're asking me if he was possessed? This is the 21st century, Ms Reyes.

We stopped looking a long time ago for demons to explain mental illness.

I'm not really talking about mental illness.

Excuse me a moment.

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

You heard what she said. Dr Richman didn't know anything about satanic ritual.

That proves he was possessed?

Explain how else he commits a crime that's a perfect example of it.

Let's try the obvious. It was his accomplice.

Agents, I think the man you're looking for might be Paul Gerlack.

- Is he a patient here? - No. He's a guard.

He's been with us 12 years and no one can find him.

Who would be the last person who saw them together?

Mr Kobold?

My name is John Doggett. This is Monica Reyes. We're with the FBI.

The patient in the cell next to yours escaped last night. Did you see or hear anything?

You shared the same guard, Mr Kobold. Do you know anything about their relationship?

Why he would have helped him to escape?

You mean, did the guard force the patient to escape?

Or did the patient force the guard?

Or are they both of one mind?

Like a snake, eating its own tail.

You know something about this, Mr Kobold?

If you do, we need your help to stop them before they hurt more people.

You're too late for that.

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

Do you believe in the power of the devil, Mr Doggett?

I believe that the devil's a story made up to scare people.

Then how can you possibly protect me?

Consider the source, Monica.

He's been calling for Agent Doggett for an hour. He's extremely agitated.

Has he said why?

He keeps saying "prince of the apostles". I don't know what it means.

I had to restrain him. I thought it best not to sedate him till you speak to him.

- Mr Kobold, it's John Doggett. - He's speaking to me.

Whispering in my ear.

What's he saying to you, Mr Kobold?

He's... killed again.

- Who? - I don't know.

But I can show you.

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

All right, where is he, Mr Kobold?

There. I can take you.

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

- Think he's makin' it up? - Yeah.

That was a convincing show back there.

He's play-acting. Just cos he's good at it doesn't make it true.

Then why do it?

He wants some fresh air. Maybe he gets off sending the FBI on snipe hunts.

I don't think that's it.

It's the security guard. Paul Gerlack.

It appears he was shot in the chest.

His body was staged postmortem, just like the others.

- Someone likes to play games. - Or not.

"Prince of the apostles". Kobold kept repeating it in his cell.

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

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

You see that as proof the devil possessed the surgeon

and put him in touch with Kobold?

It's part of the literature.

He could be a medium, a willing host for Satan, communicating with Kobold.

- That's convenient. - He brought up the devil and the snakes.

- No one told him the details, but he knew. - That's cos he planned it.

I pulled his file. This guy's a master manipulator.

He was a 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.

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

I don't know yet.

You believe this guy, Agent Scully?

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

That's great. Just great.

Where are you going, Monica?

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

- Professor... - You found the body.

Yes.

Professor Kobold, we need your help to find him before anyone else gets hurt.

- I can't. - You can't or you won't?

I can't... in here.

He whispers to me in a thousand voices, but they're so hard to hear.

What can we do to help you hear?

I need a larger room.

One with space.