The characters, plotlines, quotes, etc. included here are owned by
Chris Carter and 1013 Productions, all rights reserved. The following
transcript is in no way a substitute for the show "The X-Files" and is
merely meant as a homage. This transcript is not authorized or
endorsed by Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, or Fox Entertainment.
It was painstakingly typed out by CarriKendl
and made available for your downloading enjoyment by moi, Tiny Dancer
from my website, Tiny Dancer's X-Files
Episode Guide .
Enjoy.
-------------------------------------
Leonard Betts 4x14
Mulder, they're worms.
Disclaimer: The X-files and all its characters and episodes are owned
by Chris Carter and 10-13 productions. This transcript was made
without their permission and it is absolutely forbidden to use it for
commercial gain.
Thanks, CarriKendl@aol.com
SCENE 1
PITTSBURGH, PA
(Ambulance on route to Hospital. EMT MICHELLE is driving,
EMT LEONARD BETTS is working on a patient in the back.)
MICHELLE: (on radio) Monogehela. We're en route with a male
cardiac, age 62. ETA in 12.
HOSPITAL DISPATCH: (voice) Copy. ETA in 12.
Crash unit standing by.
MICHELLE: How's he looking, Leonard?
LEONARD: Up to his ass in alligators.
(Patient is wheezing. MICHELLE keeps glancing over her shoulder to
watch LEONARD work.)
MICHELLE: Is he going into arrest?
LEONARD: No, he's not.
(LEONARD sticks a needle into the patient's chest. Vital signs on
monitor jump back to normal.)
MICHELLE: What did you do?
LEONARD: Aspirated his chest. He has a tension pneumothorax
pressing on his heart. It just looked like a cardiac.
MICHELLE: Nice catch. How did you know?
LEONARD: Because he's dying of cancer. It's already eaten
through one lung.
MICHELLE: That's amazing. How did you know, Leonard?
(Because MICHELLE is looking over her shoulder, she doesn't see
streetlight signal change from yellow to red. A pickup truck
broadsides the left side of the ambulance, completely crushing the
back. When the ambulance comes to a skidding halt, MICHELLE,
groggy and bleeding from a cut on her forehead, gets out and begins
looking for LEONARD.)
MICHELLE: Leonard? Leonard? Leonard?
(She sees LEONARD'S decapitated body lying near the crushed
ambulance, then sees his head a few feet away.)
MICHELLE: Oh, God. Leonard.
SCENE 2
(Morgue. MORGUE BOY closes the drawer containing the dead
patient. We also see a drawer labeled LEONARD BETTS.
MICHELLE, head now bandaged, looks in the morgue sadly.
She closes the door and leaves.)
(Later, MORGUE BOY has his headphones on and is reading.
There is a metallic rattling sound. MORGUE BOY listens for a
moment, then goes back to reading. He listens again as there
is a thumping sound.)
MORGUE BOY: Hello?
(MORGUE BOY goes to investigate. He sees LEONARD'S head lying
on the floor. When he bends down to investigate, a figure standing
behind him hits him on the head with a long metal object. MORGUE
BOY passes out. In the reflection of the metal drawers, we see the
naked figure walking through the morgue. The image is very distorted.)
Opening credits. Mulder … Whooo. Scully rocks.
SCENE 3
MONGHEHELA GENERAL HOSPITAL
PITTSBURGH, PA
(Next day. Morgue. MULDER and SCULLY are looking inside
LEONARD'S now empty drawer. Camera angle is from inside the
drawer. CarriK: Very cool shot.)
MULDER: Pretty cozy. Who'd ever want to leave.
SCULLY: Well, whoever happened to get locked in here last night,
I guess.
MULDER: That would be one Leonard Morris Betts, age 34. But
it should probably be noted that when Mr. Betts arrived here last
night he was sans head. He was decapitated when his ambulance
crashed. He was an emergency medical technician for this hospital
- a very good one, apparently. Slew of commendations, write-ups
in the local paper.
SCULLY: What about the morgue attendant?
MULDER: Somebody cold-cocked him and stole his clothes.
He didn't see who. No alarms tripped, no sign of a break in.
It's weird, huh?
SCULLY; Mulder, what are we doing here?
MULDER: Did I mention that Mr. Betts had no head?
SCULLY: Yes. So? I mean, you're not suggesting that a headless
body kicked his way out of a latched morgue freezer, are you?
Are you? Because I think it's obvious this is some kind of bizarre
attempt at a cover-up.
MULDER: Meant to conceal what?
SCULLY: My guess would be body snatching for profit. There's
a shortage of - of teaching cadavers at medical schools. An
unscrupulous medical supplier might pay top dollar, no questions
asked.
MULDER: Yeah, but why take a headless one and leave so many
top-dollar bodies behind?
SECURITY GUARD: Sir? Those video grabs you asked for?
We found something. These are from the emergency room camera
taken at 4:13 this morning.
SCULLY: There's your perpetrator wearing a stolen uniform.
(Images on video are fuzzy. Where the head should be is just static.)
MULDER: Unfortunately, you can't see very much on these.
What - what's all this stuff here?
SECURITY GUARD: Bad video. The security system isn't exactly
state-of-the-art.
MULDER: Well, if this is our guy, what did he do with the corpse he
stole?
SCULLY: Well, maybe he got spooked and was forced to abandon it.
MULDER: They combed the facility. Where could he hide an adult
body where it wouldn't be found?
SCULLY: I'll show you.
(Later in front of the hospital disposal unit. MULDER looks sick
throughout the scene.)
SCULLY: All hospitals operate some form of medical waste processing.
This unit disposes of surgical remains - amputations, excised tumors.
They're ground up and heated with microwaves and the result is a uh,
sterile soot that's used as road fill. (She is putting on a face shield
and full arm gloves.)
MULDER: Well, then there's probably nothing there for us to find.
SCULLY: Well, that depends on how often they dispose of their waste.
Hopefully, only once every few days. (Holds out hand. MULDER
gives her flashlight. Opens door of unit. It is full of disgusting stuff.)
We're in luck.
MULDER: Are you sure about this, Scully? Because if you're not
sure I don't see that there's any reason to disturb all this stuff, just …
SCULLY: (reaching in unit, squishing sounds) Mulder, I think I'm
going to need your help. Your arms are longer.
(MULDER'S registers many things, none of them pleasure at the idea
of helping.)
(Later, MULDER and SCULLY in face shield and protective sleeves
are digging through the container of human remains.)
MULDER: Oh….. I think I got the toy surprise.
(Pulls up a slimy head.)
SCULLY: Leonard Betts.
MULDER: (still disgusted) That's his head. Where's his body?
There's not enough room in here. Maybe he didn't dispose of the body.
Maybe he got it out of here somehow.
SCULLY: Why did he take the time to dispose of the head?
MULDER: I don't know. Maybe there's an answer here.
Something we should check out.
SCULLY: Well, we already know how he died. In an automobile
accident. What more is there to know?
MULDER: Maybe nothing, but it's all we've got to go on right now.
You should see if you can find a place where you can examine Betts'
head.
SCULLY: While you do what?
MULDER: Check out his house. I know how he died. I want to see
how he lives.
SCULLY: Lived.
MULDER: Lived.
SCENE 4
(Examination room. SCULLY places BETTS' head on a scale.
It reads 10.9 pounds. She carries it to an autopsy table and picks
up a tape recorder.)
SCULLY: Case number 226897, Leonard Betts. As remains are
incomplete all observations refer to a decapitated head. Weight:
10.9 pounds. Remains show no signs of rigor mortis or fixed lividity.
Nor do the corneas appear clouded which would seem inconsistent
with the witnessed time of death now … (checks wall clock) 19 hours
ago. I'll begin with the intermastoid incision and frontal craniotomy
then make my examination of the brain.
(As SCULLY begins to make the incision, BETTS' eyes open and
the mouth slowly opens, startling SCULLY.)
SCULLY: Oh, God!
(SCULLY is shocked and drops scalpel.)
SCULLY: Mmm.
SCENE 5
(Interior of BETTS' apartment. Voices and a key in the lock are
heard outside. Figure runs past camera and out of sight.)
LANDLORD: (voice) This one here?
MULDER: (voice) This one here. (MULDER enters.)
Thanks, I'll lock up.
LANDLORD: Okay.
(MULDER walks through apartment. He sees framed newspaper
article naming LEONARD EMT of the year. In the bathroom the tub
is filled with dark liquid, clothes strewn about on floor. There are
prints on the open window. MULDER dips his fingers in the liquid
and smells it. He finds two large empty bottles of iodine under the sink.
His cell phone rings.)
MULDER: (on phone) Mulder.
SCULLY: (on phone, voice) It's me. Um, I've run into kind of a
unique situation, here.
MULDER: (on phone) What did you find?
SCULLY: (on phone) Uh, so far, not much. I uh, did a PET scan on
Leonard Betts' remains actually four times now, and each time the
image has come out degraded uh, like it's fogged somehow.
MULDER: (on phone) Like the security footage.
SCULLY: (on phone) Well, this is cutting edge technology here,
Mulder. The technicians say the machine is working perfectly.
They also say that the only thing that could account for this kind of
image distortion is some form of radiation, but I don't see how or -
or where it could be emanating from.
MULDER: (on phone) What did your examination uncover?
SCULLY: (on phone) Well, I … I haven't exactly performed an
examination yet.
MULDER: (on phone) Why not?
SCULLY: (on phone) Well. Because I, uh … I experienced an
unusual degree of postmortem galvanic response.
MULDER: (on phone) The head moved.
SCULLY: (on phone) It blinked at me. I mean, I - I know exactly
what it is. It's residual electrical activity stored chemically in- in
the dead cells.
MULDER: (on phone) Blinked or winked?
SCULLY: (on phone, sighs)
MULDER: (on phone) You're afraid to cut into it. Scully, you're
not saying that … that - that it's alive, are you?
SCULLY: (on phone) No, I am certainly not saying that at all.
MULDER: (on phone) But has it crossed your mind that that it's
not quite dead, either?
SCULLY: (on phone) What do you mean?
MULDER: (on phone) I'm standing here in Leonard Betts' apartment.
Whoever we saw in those video grabs, his clothes are strewn all over
the floor. He made himself at home. Maybe he was home.
SCULLY: (on phone) Leonard Betts?
MULDER: (on phone) Yeah.
SCULLY: (on phone) Without his head.
MULDER: (on phone, embarrassed) Yeah.
SCULLY: (on phone) Mulder, I don't even know how to respond to that.
MULDER: (on phone) Well, I'm gonna call the local PD and have
them put the building under surveillance just in case whoever it is
comes back. I'll be in touch.
(MULDER hangs up and leaves. A moment later, LEONARD, with
a new head, sits up in the tub on iodine where he had been
submerged. He gently blows iodine out of his nose.)
(Commercial.)
SCENE 7
(Exterior of hospital. MICHELLE is walking to her ambulance.
MULDER approaches her.)
MULDER: Michelle? Michelle Wilkes? (shows badge)
MICHELLE: Yes?
MULDER: I'm Fox Mulder with the FBI. You're the person on record
who's responsible for the disposition of Leonard Betts' remains.
MICHELLE: He didn't have any family. No friends, either, as far as
I could tell.
MULDER: Except you?
MICHELLE: I liked him, but I wasn't really his friend. He didn't let
people get that close. I'm not sure I could even call myself his
partner. Mostly, I just stayed out of his way.
MULDER: What do you mean?
MICHELLE: Leonard was an amazing medical technician. He could
diagnose illness better than any doctor I've ever seen. You know how
they say some people can just look at you and tell you what's wrong?
MULDER: Mm-hm.
MICHELLE: Leonard could do that. Especially with cancer. I always
told him he should have been an oncologist or something. He used to
volunteer at the cancer ward - read to patients, stuff like that.
MULDER: Did you ever notice anything about him - anything odd?
MICHELLE: No. Well, he never got sick. That was pretty amazing -
doing what we do. He was the picture of health.
MULDER: Was he ever injured on the job?
MICHELLE: No. Never. I mean … until …
MULDER: Oh, yeah.
MICHELLE: I'm sorry. I don't know what all this has to do with
someone stealing Leonard's body. I mean, it almost sounds like
you're investigating Leonard.
MULDER: No, no. Thanks for bearing with my questions.
I appreciate your time. (leaves)
SCENE 8
(Hospital lab. MULDER and SCULLY watch as LEONARD'S head
is lifted dripping from a vat of epoxy.)
SCULLY: This procedure is called biopolymerization. It's basically a
high-tech mummification process. The remains are dipped in the
epoxy and once it's cured the specimen can be sliced for examination.
MULDER: Or you've got yourself a nice paperweight.
(MULDER laughs at his own joke.)
SCULLY: (NOT laughing) At any rate .. we should have some
autopsy answers for you soon.
(Later, a PATHOLOGIST holds up a thin slice of head and places it
under a microscope.)
PATHOLOGIST: I'm starting with an anterior slice from your Mr. Betts
- one favoring the frontal lobe. (puts it under microscope)
Well, this is certainly strange.
SCULLY: What?
MULDER: Is something wrong with the image?
PATHOLOGIST: In a manner of speaking. Here, see for yourself.
SCULLY: (looking at monitor) Oh, my God. His entire brain looks
like one giant glioma.
MULDER: He had cancer?
SCULLY: He was riddled with it - I mean every - every cell in this
sample. Every cell, essentially, in his entire head and in his brain
was … was all cancerous. It's completely pervasive.
MULDER: Could you live in this condition?
PATHOLOGIST: Live? This man would have been long dead before
reaching such an extreme metastatic stage.
MULDER: Well, how do you explain it?
PATHOLOGIST: Maybe the polymerization distorted the sample.
Maybe we're not really seeing what we think we're seeing.
MULDER: Mmmm. Mm. Maybe we're just seeing it clearly for the
first time.
SCULLY: What are you suggesting?
MULDER: Let's get a slice to go.
SCENE 9
(MICHELLE is driving in her new ambulance with her new partner.
She listens to radio exchange.)
EMT 1: (female voice) Monongahela, 136 en route with male, age 20
not responding to CPR. Please advise. Dispatch, somebody pick up
please.
EMT 2 (voice, sounds like LEONARD) Mobile Catholic 208 to base.
I know you're up to your ass in alligators but it sounds like your
patient may be in …
MICHELLE'S PARTNER: (getting her attention) Michelle?
EMT 2: (voice, sounds like LEONARD) … anaphylactic shock …
MICHELLE: Leonard?
EMT 2: (voice, sounds like LEONARD) … epinephrine ….
MICHELLE'S PARTNER: (wants her to help him unload their patient)
Michelle, come on.
EMT 1: (female voice) Ah, hold 208. Hey, that seems to be working.
Good call, 208. Thanks for the tip.
EMT 2: (voice, sounds like LEONARD) No problem. Glad I could help.
SCENE 10
DR. CHARLES BURKS' LAB
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
COLLEGE PARK
(DR. CHARLES BURKS' lab. MULDER and SCULLY show him the
slice of LEONARD'S head.)
BURKS: Oh, wow! I've never worked with a sample of human tissue
before. What exactly were you looking to find?
MULDER: I'll tell you if we find it.
BURKS: Excellent.
SCULLY: Are you ever asked to defend this as a legitimate scientific
process, Dr. Burks?
BURKS: Only if you're not happy with the results.
MULDER: Chuck did some of the pioneering work in Kirilian
photography in the US.
BURKS: Although I prefer the umbrella term "aura photography."
Basically, by applying high frequency electricity I am able to
photograph an organism's coronal discharge.
SCULLY: (skeptical) "Coronal discharge?"
MULDER: Coronal discharge, life force - the Chinese call it Chi.
It's an accepted fact in most eastern cultures.
SCULLY: And the theoretical basis of holistic medicine, of
acupuncture, but what is its application here?
MULDER: It may account for the fogging of your PET scan of
Leonard Betts' head.
(BURKS is developing photo.)
BURKS: You know, with this equipment I have been able to capture
phantom images of whole leaves that were cut in half or the vestigial
image of a lizard's tail long after it's been cut off … which, you
have to admit is pretty cool.
(BURKS places developed negative on lighted wall.
The image shows the faint outline of shoulders under the head.)
BURKS: Ah, looks like we got something here. Oh, yeah. Now
I don't know exactly what you're looking for, but …. Oh, yeah.
There's definitely some kind of energy happening here.
MULDER: (pointing at picture for SCULLY) Chuck, would you
believe that this man's head had been decapitated?
BURKS: (laughing) Oh, come on. No way.
MULDER: Way. (to SCULLY) Are we happy with the results?
(Later, MULDER and SCULLY leave the lab.)
MULDER: I don't know about you, Scully, but those sure as hell
looked like shoulders to me.
SCULLY: I don't even know how to explain that photo or even what it
proves.
MULDER: What if it proves that Leonard Betts is alive, somehow?
SCULLY: Mulder …
MULDER: You said that Betts' tissue was riddled with cancer.
Now, what is cancer but normal cells growing rapidly out of control
usually caused by some damage to their DNA.
SCULLY: I don't know where you're going with this?
MULDER: Well, let me tell you. What if there was a case where the
cancer was not caused by damaged DNA - where the cancer was not
a destructive or an aggressive factor, but was rather the normal state
of being?
SCULLY: Well, even if that were possible, he's been decapitated.
MULDER: What if this man's life force - his Chi, whatever you want
to call it, somehow retained a blueprint of the actual man himself?
Guiding rapid growth not as cancer, but as regeneration?
SCULLY: You think that Leonard Betts regrew his head?
MULDER: The fluid that I found in Betts' bathtub was povidone iodine.
It's often used by lab researchers on reptiles and amphibians to aid
regeneration. We both know salamanders have grown entirely new
limbs - regenerated.
SCULLY: Salamanders are one thing, but no mammal possesses
that kind of regenerative power. I mean, there isn't a creature walking
this earth that can regrow its head.
MULDER: Worms. You cut a worm in half, you get two.
SCULLY: Mulder, they're worms.
MULDER: I'm just saying it's not unheard of in nature, that's all.
SCULLY: Well, unheard of or not, someone is going to great lengths
to dispose of the evidence.
MULDER: Well, maybe Betts is trying to protect his secret.
(SCULLY'S cell phone rings.)
SCULLY: (on phone) Scully … Yeah … Okay ..Great. Thanks.
(hangs up) Well, apparently, Leonard Betts did have some secrets --
one of them being that he had an alter ego named Albert Tanner.
MULDER: Who?
SCULLY: I had Danny run the fingerprints. Two names came up.
The second one was Albert Tanner. But, unlike Leonard Betts,
Albert Tanner has a living relative - Elaine Tanner, his mother,
who just happens to live here in Pittsburgh.. (TD NOTE: ummm ...
you're in Maryland, Scully!)
MULDER: (thinking) Huh.
SCENE 11
(TANNER house. Doorbell.
ELAINE opens door for MULDER and SCULLY.)
SCULLY: Elaine Tanner?
ELAINE: Yes.
SCULLY: I'm Agent Scully. This is Agent Mulder, we're with the FBI.
ELAINE: Oh, what can I do for you?
SCULLY: Is your son Albert Tanner? (ELAINE nods.) We'd like to
ask you some questions. (They enter.)
ELAINE: (leaving the room) Please excuse me for a second.
I've got something on the stove.
(MULDER finds a picture of a younger Betts on a coffee table.)
MULDER: Scully.
(ELAINE reenters.)
SCULLY: Mrs. Tanner, is this your son?
ELAINE: Yes, that's Albert.
SCULLY: We know this man as Leonard Morris Betts. Are you
familiar with that name?
ELAINE: No.
MULDER: Do you know if your son ever used any other names for
himself?
ELAINE: Why are you asking me about him?
SCULLY: Mrs. Tanner, are you aware that your son has recently died?
ELAINE: What do you mean "recently?"
MULDER: When did your son die?
ELAINE: Six years ago. He was killed in an automobile accident.
Why?
SCULLY: Would it be possible to get a copy of the death certificate
or some form of verification?
ELAINE: Of course. (leaves the room again)
MULDER: (to SCULLY) Confused yet?
SCULLY: (quietly) Yeah.
SCENE 12
ALLEGHENY CATHOLIC HOSPITAL
PITTSBURGH, PA
(Night. MICHELLE approaches an EMT.)
MICHELLE: Excuse me. Um, I'm looking for an EMT, the man
driving unit 208?
EMT: The new guy. Yeah. 208's over there. He just went off shift,
but you might catch him.
MICHELLE: Thanks. (She follows a figure toward grassy area near
dark parking lot.) Leonard? Leonard?
(LEONARD reluctantly turns to face her.)
MICHELLE: Oh, my God! It can't be. How can it be?
Leonard, is it you?
LEONARD: Hey, Michelle. (Opens his arms. She cautiously steps
into his embrace.) It's okay. It's okay. I just wish you hadn't found
me, that's all.
MICHELLE: What are you talking about? Leonard?
(He stabs her in the back with an autoinjector.
She begins convulsing in his arms.)
LEONARD: I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
(LEONARD lets MICHELLE, now dead slide gently to the ground.)
(SECURITY GUARD sees them.)
GUARD: Hey! You, there! Hold it! Stop! Stop where you are!
(LEONARD runs toward parking lot. GUARD pursues, tackles
LEONARD, and cuffs him to a car door handle.)
GUARD: (getting out radio) Stay there … Son of a bitch.
(to radio) Ronnie? Oh, pick up, man.
RONNIE: (voice) Go ahead.
GUARD: (walking away to check on MICHELLE) We got a situation
in the parking lot. This guy just attacked some woman. She's up
in the ambulance parking area.
(LEONARD begins to pull at his thumb. It's obviously very painful.
Tearing sound.)
GUARD: (voice) Better get a doc down here right away.
I'll check on that guy.
(GUARD returns to where he left LEONARD. Cuffs are bloody,
LEONARD is gone, a thumb lies on the ground.)
(Commercial.)
SCENE 13
(Parking lot. Day. Light sleet. MULDER and SCULLY at crime scene.
MULDER puts thumb in an evidence bag.)
MULDER: (holding up the thumb bag) Siskel or Ebert?
What's the story?
SCULLY: Michelle Wilkes was murdered, but, uh, we wouldn't know
that if the security guard hadn't witnessed it.
MULDER: Why is that?
SCULLY: I found a spent autoinjector in the grass. She was given
a lethal dose of potassium chloride. It's an electrolyte found
naturally in the body and a coroner doesn't usually check for it.
MULDER: Betts was here, Scully. She must have discovered that
and then he had to kill her to protect his secret.
SCULLY: Well, the security guard did ID him as her attacker. He
worked as an EMT, but his coworkers said his name was Truelove.
MULDER: Do you know how this man escaped? He tore off his
thumb because he knew he could re-grow another one.
SCULLY: Mulder, it just doesn't work that way.
MULDER: But is it unimaginable? Is Betts' ability to regenerate
any greater a leap forward than our ancestors' ability to communicate
with language or to walk upright?
SCULLY: But, but language, evolution - I - it's a process of steps,
not leaps.
MULDER: Recent evolutionary theory would disagree. What
scientists call "punctualism" or "punctual equilibrium" - it theorizes
that evolutionary advances are cataclysmic, not gradual. That
evolution occurs not along a straight, graphable line, but in huge
fits and starts and that the unimaginable happens in the gaps - the
gap between what we are and what Leonard Betts has become.
SCULLY: What you're describing is someone so radically evolved
that you wouldn't even call him human.
MULDER: On the other hand, how evolved can a man be who drives
a Dodge Dart?
(MULDER and SCULLY open the hatchback of the Dart and find a
cooler filled with bags of medical waste. Plaque says human organs
for transplant. SCULLY reads some of them.)
SCULLY: Oh, my God. Myeloid Sarcoma, Epithelial Carcinoma -
these are all cancerous tumors. This is surgical waste that's been
tagged for disposal. What do you think he wanted with them?
MULDER: (looking a little sick) You may not want to know.
Scully, there's a great possibility that Leonard Betts not only is
cancer …
SCULLY: But that he needs it for survival? (MULDER nods)
So you're saying that this is …?
MULDER: Snack food. Wouldn't it make sense that evolution or
natural selection would incorporate cancer - the greatest health
threat to our species as part of our genetic makeup?
SCULLY: Why do I think that Charles Darwin is rolling in his grave
right now.
MULDER: Ask yourself: Why is Leonard Betts an EMT?
Why does he regularly visit cancer wards? Access.
POLICEMAN: The car's registered to one Elaine Tanner,
3108 Old Bank Road.
SCULLY: Betts' mom.
MULDER: Do you think Mom knows her dead son is tooling around
in her car?
SCENE 14
(TANNER house. MULDER and SCULLY and a group of police greet
ELAINE TANNER when she opens the door.)
SCULLY: Elaine Tanner? We have a warrant to search the premises.
(They enter and begin searching.)
SCULLY: Mrs. Tanner, we know that your son is alive and that you're
in contact with him. You need to tell us where we can find him.
Last night, he murdered a woman in cold blood. By lying to protect
him, you are considered an accessory to murder.
MULDER: (entering with large empty bottle of iodine) Can you tell
me what you use this for? It's a pretty big bottle. Do you get a lot
of cuts?
ELAINE: When my son was eight years old, there were two boys
who picked on him because he was different. (CarriK: I'll say.
Just think what would have been in his lunch box.) He just ignored
them. He knew he was better than they were. One day, they cornered
him walking home. Beat him up. He didn't even try to fight back -
just lay there taking the blows. So, I don't believe you when you
tell me he killed anyone. But if he did, he had his reasons.
SCULLY: What reasons, Mrs. Tanner?
ELAINE: God put him here for a purpose. God means for him to stay,
even if people don't understand. And that's all I've got to say.
SCENE 15
(Seedy bar. BEARDED MAN sits at bar drinking, smoking and
coughing. LEONARD watches him. He hides his thumb which is
now a little bud. BEARDED MAN gets up and goes outside to his car.
LEONARD follows, holding a scalpel. Outside, LEONARD approaches
BEARDED MAN.)
LEONARD: Excuse me. I'm sorry, but you've got something I need.
SCENE 16
(TANNER house.)
MULDER: Scully?
SCULLY: Did you find something?
MULDER: No sign of him, not even a stray sock. Just this.
SCULLY: Receipt for a storage locker.
MULDER: Yeah, and the key on his key ring with the number 112
engraved on it.
SCULLY: Let's check it out.
SCENE17
(Storage locker 112. LEONARD has pulled the BEARDED MAN'S
car in to the locker. LEONARD is naked, obviously very uncomfortable,
blood on his mouth. He proceeds to give birth to another fully formed
LEONARD out of his mouth. Ewww. The New LEONARD screams in
agony.)
SCENE 18
(MULDER and SCULLY arrive at the U Keep It storage locker.
They see blood seeping out from under the door.)
MULDER: Scully.
(They draw their guns and roll open the door. Dead BEARDED MAN
falls out. Then LEONARD speeds the car straight at them. MULDER
pushes SCULLY out of the way, then they stand and fire at the car.
The car violently explodes.)
(Commercial)
SCENE 19
(Hospital autopsy bay. SCULLY examines BEARDED MAN.)
SCULLY: Mr. John Gilnitz. Death from massive blood loss due to
what I can only describe as a skillful removal of his left lung.
MULDER: It's Betts.
SCULLY: Doing what?
MULDER: I guarantee, Scully, this man's medical records will show
he had lung cancer and Leonard Betts was in need of what he had.
SCULLY: How would he have known that?
MULDER: His partner said he had an ability to diagnose cancer.
Maybe his need provided a heightened sense.
SCULLY: Well, whatever he was doing he is taking the secret to his
grave.
MULDER: Yeah, for the second time.
(They walk over to LEONARD'S burned body on another table.)
SCULLY: Mulder, Leonard Betts is dead. Of that I am absolutely
certain. And he is not coming back.
MULDER: You would have said the same thing about Albert Tanner.
SCULLY: I don't understand.
MULDER: Six years ago. Albert Tanner dies in a car accident.
His mother buries him. Several days ago, the same man shows
up as Leonard Betts. Explain that to me.
SCULLY: Obviously, someone is lying. Maybe the first death was
staged.
MULDER: You want to bet on that?
(Later, MULDER and SCULLY stand between LEONARD'S body and
an unopened coffin. SCULLY covers her nose as the coffin is cranked
open revealing a corpse identical to that of LEONARD.)
MULDER: Will the real Leonard Betts please stand up?
SCULLY: Mulder, these men may be no more than monozygotic twins.
MULDER: I don't think so, Scully. I think that what we're standing
witness to here goes way beyond the regeneration of a thumb or a
limb or even a new head.
SCULLY: Mulder, I don't know what you're getting at here.
Regeneration of an entire body? I don't know why I'm standing here
listening to this.
MULDER: Because I think that the fiery crash that killed this man
was a ruse, a decoy and that this man lying here is actually still at
large.
SCENE 20
(A trembling, whimpering LEONARD sits in the bathtub at the TANNER
house. The tub is filled with iodine and ELAINE gently sponges him.)
ELAINE: I'm scared. The FBI. They seem to know all about you.
They dug up the coffin. They found your friend. I don't think they're
ever going to leave you alone, and you're weak. You have to restore
your strength. You know what you have to do.
LEONARD: (moans softly)
ELAINE: I'm your mother and it's a mother's duty to provide.
SCENE 21
ELAINE TANNER RESIDENCE 11:32 PM
(Exterior TANNER house.
MULDER and SCULLY are in car on stakeout.)
SCULLY: If this man really exists, what makes you think he'd come
back here?
MULDER: The only person connected with Betts who knows his
secret is his mom. If we're going to get him, it'll be through her.
(Sound of siren approaching. MULDER and SCULLY get out and
pull guns on EMT's getting out of ambulance.)
MULDER: Get out of the truck!
SCULLY: Federal agents!
MULDER: Get out of the truck!
EMT: Whoa! Whoa! What the hell?
SCULLY: What are you doing here?
EMT2: We-we got a call - elderly woman, massive chest trauma and
blood loss - 3108 Old Bank.
EMT: Believe me. That's all we know.
SCULLY: Stay here.
(MULDER kicks in door.
SCULLY goes upstairs to ELAINE'S bedroom.)
SCULLY: Mulder, get the EMTs up here.
MULDER: (calling to EMTs) You guys get in here.
(ELAINE is unconscious on the bed, bandage on her chest.
MULDER joins SCULLY.)
SCULLY: She has an open wound, a surgical cut.
MULDER: Three guesses what was removed. He did this to her and
then he called an ambulance.
(EMTs enter and care for ELAINE.)
SCULLY: Judging by the response time, he might still be here.
(MULDER leaves.)
(Later, outside. ELAINE is being loaded into ambulance.
MULDER comes from behind house.)
MULDER: Betts is gone. He must have taken off on foot.
SCULLY: She's gonna be okay, Mulder. She's not out of the woods,
but I think we might be able to get where he went out of her.
MULDER: You stay with her. (pulls out cell phone) I'll call local
PD and have them cordon off the area.
SCULLY: Okay. (She gets in the ambulance and it leaves.)
MULDER: (on phone) This is Special Agent Mulder with the FBI.
I've got an emergency situation in progress. I need all available units
to 3108 Old Bank Road. I'm searching for a murder suspect.
SCENE 22
(ER entrance at hospital. ELAINE is taken out of ambulance.
SCULLY calls MULDER.)
SCULLY: (on phone) Mulder, it's me. We've got Mrs. Tanner going
into the ER, but she took a downturn en route. They defibrillated her
to try and get her to try and get her heart back, but there's no chance
of getting anything cogent from her. Not tonight, anyway. What
about on your end?
MULDER: (on phone) We're going house-to-house, here. That's
the only thing I can think to do. We got a chopper coming in, but
until then I'd say Betts has got a pretty good chance of getting away.
If he steals a car or gets a ride, he could get away for good.
(SCULLY notices dark fluid has dripped onto her head from top of
ambulance.)
MULDER: (on phone, voice) I mean, he obviously worked this thing
out pretty well, Scully, so if there's anything you can get out of Mrs.
Tanner tonight, anything at all, at this point we don't have much else
to go on.
SCULLY: (on phone) Mulder, get over here right now.
MULDER: (on phone) What?
SCULLY: (on phone) Get over here now.
(MULDER hangs up and runs to his car.)
(SCULLY draws her gun and climbs up ladder on side of ambulance to
look on top., LEONARD grabs her foot and pushes her in the vehicle.)
SCULLY: Ahh!
LEONARD: I'm sorry … but you've got something I need.
(SCULLY stares at him in shock for a moment. LEONARD comes at
her with a scalpel, and she fights him off. Then when he comes at her
again, she turns the power on the defibrillators to full and zaps him on
the head. LEONARD flies out the back of the ambulance and lies
twitching on the pavement. SCULLY pants heavily as people begin
running out from the ER.)
EMT: Oh, my God.
EMT2: Let's get a crash cart.
(SCULLY stares at LEONARD.)
SCENE 23
(SCULLY is sitting quietly in passenger side of car.
MULDER comes out of the hospital and leans over to talk to her.)
MULDER: They pronounced Betts ten minutes ago.
SCULLY: He's dead?
MULDER: As near as anyone can tell. His mom's alive though,
mainly due to the fact that Betts dressed her wounds so carefully.
She's going to pull through, at least for the present.
SCULLY: (quietly) Cancer?
MULDER: Yeah. It's uh …(checks his notepad) metastatic
rhabdomyosarcoma, to be precise. She was treated for it previously
but got a clean bill of health about three months ago.
SCULLY: (no answer)
MULDER: (gently) You did a good job, Scully. You should be proud.
SCULLY: I want to go home.
(MULDER nods and closes her door, goes around to drivers side and
gets in. He drives her away from the hospital.)
SCENE 24
(SCULLY'S bedroom. 2:08 am. SCULLY wakes up coughing. She
finds a spot of blood on her pillow. She realizes her nose is bleeding.)
The End
US Airdate: January 26, 1997
writers: Vince Gilligan, John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz
director: Kim Manners
STARRING:
David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully
Guest Cast:
JENNIFER CLEMENT as Michele Wilkes
PAUL MCCRANE as Leonard Betts
LUCIA WALTERS as EMT
MARJORIE LOVETT as Elaine Tanner
KEN JONES as the Bearded Man
SEAN CAMPBELL as the Local Cop
GREG NEWMEYER as the New Partner
DAVE HURTUBISE as the Pathologist
BILL DOW as Dr. Charles Burks
BRAD LOREE as the Security Guard
PETER BRYANT as the Uniformed Cop
DON ACKERMAN as the Night Attendant
LAARA SADIQ as the Female EMT
J. DOUGLAS STEWART as the Male EMT