(Prison chapel room. Bare bricks with a cross at one end. About 20 prisoners are listening to the Reverend ORISON, 60's, preach. He has a very evangelical style.)

REVEREND ORISON: God's love will set us free. And I believe... if I pray for that love... if I get down on my knees... (he does) ... and allow God to enter my hardened, lonely miserable heart and change me through and through ... that miracle ... will come. (he gets up and walks through the prisoners) Now, who here believes that with me? Do you? Do you?

(BRIGHAM, a prisoner, gazes with adoration at REVEREND ORISON.)

BRIGHAM: Yes, sir, I believe it.

(REVEREND ORISON looks at another prisoner.)

REVEREND ORISON: (to DONNIE PFASTER) Do you? Well, believe, because God's love is not just some slogan. (ORISON moves on, preaching to the room, as the camera stays on DONNIE PFASTER) It's a promise straight to you from the Lord Almighty Himself. A promise paid for with the blood of his only begotten son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. All you have to do ... is believe.

PRISONERS: Amen!

(A GUARD is not pleased with REVEREND ORISON.)

REVEREND ORISON: God's love will set you free. Now, doesn't that just lift up your heart and make you want to say Glory! Amen!

(As he says "Glory, Amen," REVEREND ORISON stamps his foot on the floor and raises his uplifted palm. As the PRISONERS echo him, they also stamp their feet.)

PRISONERS: Glory! Amen!

(ORISON picks up a small glass dish filled with what we assume is holy water. He dips his fingertips in it and sprinkles various prisoners as he talks and they continue to echo his words and foot stomps.)

REVEREND ORISON: Join with me. Allow the spirit of Jesus Christ to show you the way up to our Heavenly Father. Glory! Amen!

PRISONERS: Glory! Amen!

REVEREND ORISON: Let God's love free you from your prison and deliver you to His side in heaven. Glory! Amen!

PRISONERS: Glory! Amen!

REVEREND ORISON: Praise His name. Praise His holy love. Glory! Amen!

(Focus on DONNIE PFASTER who is not stamping his foot, and not speaking.)

PRISONERS: Glory! Amen!

REVEREND ORISON: Glory! Amen!

PRISONERS: Glory! Amen!

REVEREND ORISON: Glory! Amen!

PRISONERS: Glory! Amen!

(Next morning. Prison sweatshop. Prisoners are working at assorted sewing and fabric cutting machines.)

(The prisoner, BRIGHAM is working with what seems like a very slow fabric bandsaw, a bible on one corner of his machine. He is not focused on the machine - he seems to be in a deliriously happy trance. His foot, operating the machine, raises and lowers in time to his chanting.)

BRIGHAM: Glory. Amen. Glory. Amen. Glory. Amen. Glory. Amen. Glory. Amen. Glory. Amen...

(DONNIE PFASTER brings up a garment to a GUARD for inspection. The GUARD is looking at BRIGHAM in disgust.)

GUARD: You believe that, Donnie? God loves a sack of crap like you?

DONNIE PFASTER: Bible says.

GUARD: Bible says you kill women, cut their pinkies.

(DONNIE PFASTER turns to watch BRIGHAM, who is now rocking from side to side in rhythm to the chanting.)

BRIGHAM: Glory. Amen.

GUARD: You're going to burn in hell

BRIGHAM: Glory. Amen.

GUARD: You listening to me? God's got a place for you, all right. Sick puke.

DONNIE PFASTER: Then where does that leave you?

(GUARD rips apart the garment that DONNIE had handed to him and DONNIE turns his head to look at him in shock.)

GUARD: (sarcastically) Sorry. Just not good enough for the Illinois penal system.

(BRIGHAM suddenly begins screaming.)

BRIGHAM: My hands! My hands!

(All his fingers have been cut off at the knuckle.)

(SLOW MOTION sequence begins. The GUARD runs to BRIGHAM. Other prisoners stand and stare. Other GUARDS run in. DONNIE PFASTER, the only person in the scene not in slow motion, looks around in surprise, then casually tosses the ripped garment over his shoulder and walks out.)

(SCULLY's apartment. Night. Scully wakes up suddenly as a gust of wind flips her hair into her face. She gets up and closes the windows in her room. She rearranges some papers near her Bible at the end of her bed which were tossed around by the wind. As she turns back to her bed she sees her RCA digital clock - the time says "6:66 AM". She picks it up to investigate, the clock goes dark, then the power comes back on as her bedside lamp comes on and the clock says 6:06 AM.)

(Prison. Later. Throughout the scene, MULDER seems very concerned about SCULLY and her reactions to the case.)

MARSHALL DADDO: Life without chance of parole for the premeditated and sadistic sexual murders of five Twin Cities women in 1994. Donald Addie Pfaster. (SCULLY takes the folder and steps away to look at it.) You two put this man away.

MULDER: Yeah. Someone forgot to throw away the key.

(SCULLY looks at DONNIE PFASTER's picture.)

MARSHALL DADDO: Ah, well, that's another story. Right now, we have to apprehend this man. We'd use all the help you can give us in understanding exactly who it is we're after.

MULDER: Donnie Pfaster is a death fetishist-- a collector of bone and dead flesh, of toenails and hair. It's what floats his boat, gets him off.

MARSHALL DADDO: He's a sick man.

MULDER: Sick would describe him. We found women's fingers in his freezer. He liked to eat them with his peas and carrots.

MARSHALL DADDO: So it's just women he's after?

MULDER: Just women. Been five years in here thinking about only that. I'm sure he's worked up quite an appetite.

MARSHALL DADDO: I happen to know you two agents have a particular forte-- a thing for... what is it called? The supernatural? (MULDER smiles) Now, the circumstances of the escape...

SCULLY: (turning back to the men) I promise you there is nothing supernatural about this man. Donnie Pfaster is just plain evil.

(MULDER watches as SCULLY walks out of the room. She goes into the prison chapel. There are several things written on the walls including "Sheep go the Heven, (sp) Goats go to Hell")

(Through the ventilation grate we hear a recorded rhythm and blues song playing. SCULLY walks closer to the vent to hear it and her face shows mild surprise.)

MUSIC: (man's voice) Don't look any further
Don't look any further
Someone to count on
In a world ever changing

(MULDER follows her into the chapel.)

MULDER: Case closed.

MUSIC: Here I am, baby

MULDER: Didn't look at the file, did you?

SCULLY: A man escaped from prison.

MULDER: (circling her) Not a man. Donnie Pfaster. And he didn't just escape, he walked out. He walked out of a maximum security facility and no one seems to know how he did it.

SCULLY: Isn't that why we're here?

MULDER: (walking toward her) That's why I'm here. I don't know about you. Why are you here? Go home, Scully.

SCULLY: Mulder, this case doesn't bother me.

MULDER: The man abducted you. Donnie Pfaster did a number on your head like I've never seen and it's okay ... to walk away.

SCULLY: Mulder, that man does things to people that no one should ever have to think about. It's not a question of if I should stay. I don't have a choice. So let's get to work.

MULDER: Well, this isn't the first incident. Two prisoners have escaped from maximum security facilities in neighboring states over the past year. at 6:06 this morning Donnie Pfaster made it three.

SCULLY: 6:06? And what's so supernatural about that?

MULDER: Dozens of witnesses, guards, and staff, and no one seems to remember anything. For a while, they didn't even know these guys were missing.

SCULLY: Have they been apprehended?

MULDER: No, neither of the men have ever been seen again.

(Interrogation room. MULDER is sitting with BRIGHAM. SCULLY is standing against the wall observing.)

BRIGHAM: I already told the Warden everything I know ... everything I saw that day.

MULDER: Yes, but I'm still a little confused. Maybe you could go over it again.

BRIGHAM: (proudly) I'm a Christian man.

MULDER: Then I know you'll tell me the truth.

BRIGHAM: Yeah, but I got no idea about Donnie Pfaster ... (to SCULLY) .... or how he broke out.

MULDER: You and Donnie Pfaster were in the garment shop at or about the time he disappeared.

BRIGHAM: Well, it wasn't just me. I mean, there was a lot of us in the shop.

MULDER: Yeah, but you had something happen. You had an incident.

BRIGHAM: Yeah. Something like that.

MULDER: You cried out to the guards that you'd cut your hands.

BRIGHAM: My fingers, man. I saw them all cut off.

(He holds up his hands, looking at them. The fingers are whole.)

MULDER: Others saw them, too.

BRIGHAM: No, but I felt them cut off.

MULDER: How do you explain that?

BRIGHAM: God works in mysterious ways, brother.

(MULDER raises and lowers his outstretched palm.)

BRIGHAM: (trancelike) Glory. Amen.

(As MULDER raises and lowers his hand, BRIGHAM raises and lowers his foot and says the words, a rapturous smile on his face.)

BRIGHAM: Glory. Amen. Glory. Amen.

(MULDER and SCULLY go out into the hall.)

MULDER: Post-hypnotic suggestion. Did you see him?

SCULLY: You mean, did I see him raise his foot? Yes, I saw that.

MULDER: A programmed behavior prompted and manifested by suggestion in this case, a rhythmic motion of the hands producing a unconscious act in a conscious state.

(MULDER raises and lowers his hand in front of SCULLY. Very cute.)

MULDER: Doesn't work on you.

SCULLY: (smiling) I know what hypnosis is, Mulder.

MULDER: Group hypnosis.

SCULLY: If you're suggesting that Donnie Pfaster escaped from prison using a technique from a Vegas lounge act I'd think again.

MULDER: Mesmer was able to hypnotize and command entire audiences.

SCULLY: So, how would Donnie have acquired this amazing ability?

MULDER: I'm not saying that it was Donnie.

SCULLY: Well, then, who?

MULDER: Three inmates are missing from three separate prisons. One man has had possible contact with each of those cons. The prison chaplain. (bad Southern accent) Glory. Amen. (SCULLY again notices the song "Don't Look Any Further" playing. She walks over to the heating vent to hear it better.) Not God, the chaplain. Scully, what?

SCULLY: That song-- can you hear that?

MUSIC: Someone to count on

(MULDER joins her under the vent.)

MULDER: Barely.

MUSIC: Here I am, stop where you're standing...

SCULLY: I haven't heard that song since high school. That's the second time I've heard it in the last hour.

MULDER: (smiling) Well, I think if it was a make out song I think it'd be ruined forever now, huh?

MUSIC: Oh, babe, don't look any further

(Bus stop on a city street. Next door, a Waffle House-type of diner. DONNIE PFASTER, now wearing civilian clothes, enters and sits at a booth. He looks at the waitress, 40ish, thumbing through her open checks. Specifically, he looks at her fingers. The nails are painted a bright red. A low end hooker, BLUEBERRY, slides into the booth across from DONNIE PFASTER.)

BLUEBERRY: Looking for something to eat?

DONNIE PFASTER: Me?

BLUEBERRY: (showing her body) How about today's special?

(DONNIE PFASTER looks at her nails. They are blue - either from bad nail polish or malnutrition. Uncomfortably, she hides her hands.)

BLUEBERRY: You aren't a narc, are you?

DONNIE PFASTER: No.

BLUEBERRY: You're looking at my hands.

DONNIE PFASTER: You need a buff and polish.

BLUEBERRY: What are you? A freak?

DONNIE PFASTER: I... I just got out of prison.

(The WAITRESS notices BLUEBERRY.)

WAITRESS: Hey, Missy. Leave the customers alone!

DONNIE PFASTER: I'll do it for free.

BLUEBERRY: You just got out of prison and you want to give me a manicure?

DONNIE PFASTER: I'll even do your cuticles.

(She laughs.)

REVEREND ORISON: You receive the Lord's grace and this is your thanks?

(DONNIE PFASTER looks up as if the Lord is speaking.)

DONNIE PFASTER: What?

(REVEREND ORISON is standing beside the booth. DONNIE PFASTER turns to him.)

REVEREND ORISON: Who do you think got you out of prison?

DONNIE PFASTER: (irritated) I don't care. I'm busy right now.

REVEREND ORISON: The Grace of God got you out and it's the only thing that will keep you out.

BLUEBERRY: I thought you were kidding.

REVEREND ORISON: He's chosen you, Donnie.

(Outside, we see several police cars pull up.)

BLUEBERRY: (getting up and leaving) Later.

DONNIE PFASTER: (accusing, to REVEREND ORISON, as he gets up) You called them on me.

REVEREND ORISON: No.

DONNIE PFASTER: Then do something.

REVEREND ORISON: I have a car.

(REVEREND ORISON holds out a keyring with several keys and a crucifix on it.)

DONNIE PFASTER: We aren't going to make it to the car.

REVEREND ORISON: It's within His power.

(MARSHALL DADDO and some other police, US Marshals, enter the diner, obviously looking for DONNIE PFASTER. As they spot him, everything goes into slow motion.)

REVEREND ORISON: Glory, amen. Glory, amen.

(REVEREND ORISON jingles his keys. One of the customers at the counter reaches over and attacks the waitress. MARSHALL DADDO turns away from DONNIE PFASTER to deal with the situation at hand. Still in slow motion, the WAITRESS screams, grabs the pot of hot coffee and hurls the liquid into her attacker's face. When MARSHALL DADDO turns back to where DONNIE PFASTER and REVEREND ORISON were standing, they are gone. Outside, REVEREND ORISON walks out from between two parked buses and turns to see an older model car driven by DONNIE PFASTER coming towards him. The car runs him down then stops as DONNIE looks back at him. BLUEBERRY is in the passenger's seat. The car backs up to try and run him over again but misses as REVEREND ORISON, bleeding, rolls over out of the way. He's in pain as people begin to attend to him and DONNIE PFASTER drives off.)

(Same diner, later. Crime scene. MULDER and SCULLY get out of the car and join MARSHALL DADDO and the other police.)

MULDER: Was he here?

MARSHALL DADDO: Well, um... We're trying to determine that.

SCULLY: Did you see him?

MARSHALL DADDO: Well, that's a good question. We thought we saw something, but apparently we didn't.

(POLICE look uncomfortable.)

MULDER: We got a call about a possible sighting of the suspect.

(No response.)

MULDER: Well, something happened here, huh?

WAITRESS: (pouring coffee) Guy got hit by a car.

MARSHALL DADDO: A prison chaplain, it turns out. A Reverend Orison. Paramedics took him to the hospital.

(SCULLY hears the song on the radio near the stove.)

MUSIC: Someone to count on

MARSHALL DADDO: He's in pretty bad shape.

MUSIC: In a world ever changing Here I am, stop...

(SCULLY walks over to the lunch counter. MULDER watches her.)

SCULLY: Excuse me, uh, could you turn that up, please?

(The WAITRESS turns up the volume.)

SCULLY: (looking very confused as she listens to the song) Yeah.

MUSIC: What you need is a lover
Someone to take over
Oh, girl
Don't look any further
And it's strange
When you think of the chances...

(Hospital. 4:20. SCULLY enters REVEREND ORISON's room. She looks at his chart.)

SCULLY: You're lucky to be alive, Reverend Orison.

REVEREND ORISON: Who are you?

SCULLY: Special Agent Dana Scully.

REVEREND ORISON: Believe in the Lord, Agent Scully. He believes in you.

SCULLY: (no nonsense) That's nice... But my partner and I are more concerned with several disappearances from maximum-security facilities that seem to involve you.

REVEREND ORISON: Don't be concerned. God has them.

SCULLY: What do you mean? Reverend?

REVEREND ORISON: You're a Believer, aren't you?

SCULLY: This has nothing to do with me, sir.

REVEREND ORISON: It has everything to do with you. You have faith... have had faith. You hear Him calling you but you're unsure what to do.

(SCULLY fingers her very visible cross.)

SCULLY: It's not exactly a long shot, sir.

REVEREND ORISON: You stand as you do now, neither here nor there... longing... but afraid, waiting for a sign. But the signs are everywhere.

SCULLY: What happened to the inmates, sir?

REVEREND ORISON: Everything has a reason, Scout. (SCULLY looks shocked.) Everything on God's earth. Every moment of every day the Devil waits for but an instant. As it is, it has always been. The Devil's instant is our eternity.

(MULDER enters the hospital room.)

MULDER: (very sarcastic) The Good Reverend. How do you do? Or maybe I should say, "How do you do it?"

REVEREND ORISON: His is the Word. I am but the Messenger who delivers it.

MULDER: Well, this delivery arrived a little late-- a little late and a little cold as a matter of fact. I thought you'd want to see it.

(MULDER hands a photo to REVEREND ORISON. It is of the hooker, BLUEBERRY, lying dead in a bloody bathtub - her hair and fingers cut off. REVEREND ORISON winces and looks away.)

REVEREND ORISON: What is this?

MULDER: Blood of the lamb, Reverend. Handiwork of Mr. Donnie Pfaster-- a young girl he picked up at the bus stop.

REVEREND ORISON: (very sad) Oh, Lord.

MULDER: Where is he, Reverend?

REVEREND ORISON: He took my car. She wasn't supposed to die.

MULDER: No. Donnie was supposed to die. You were supposed to kill him. That's why you freed him. God knows you're capable of it. (to SCULLY) The Reverend Orison is really Robert Gailen Orison-- convicted in 1959 of first degree murder. Served 22 years in Soledad.

REVEREND ORISON: God spoke to me. He told me to look after Donnie.

MULDER: When God spoke to you, Reverend, did He happen to mention where Donnie was headed?

(No answer. MULDER and SCULLY go out into the hall.)

SCULLY: Where are you going, Mulder?

MULDER: To prove that man's a liar.

SCULLY: How do you prove that somebody isn't being directed by God? You don't believe that it happens?

MULDER: God is a spectator, Scully. He just reads the box scores.

SCULLY: I don't believe that.

MULDER: You think God directs that man? You think He directs him to kill?

SCULLY: Donnie Pfaster isn't dead, and we don't know that the other inmates who escaped are dead, either.

MULDER: So, what? You think that God directs him to ... let the prisoners out to kill?

SCULLY: No, but I believe that the Reverend believes what he's saying-- that's it's God working through him.

MULDER: Well, plenty of nut bags do. Has he ever spoken to you?

SCULLY: (wounded) I'm trying not to take offense.

MULDER: (curious) What did he say?

(SCULLY sighs.)

SCULLY: Mulder, I have heard that song three times now. That may not mean anything to you but it means something to me.

MULDER: What does it mean?

SCULLY: I never thought about it before. It never meant anything to me until yesterday when it made me remember something.

MULDER: (gentle) What?

SCULLY: (sighs again) When I was thirteen my father was stationed in San Diego. I was listening to the radio to that song when my mother came in and told me that my Sunday School teacher had been killed.

MULDER: (sympathetic) Hmm...

SCULLY: He had been murdered in his front yard... And that's the first time that I ever felt that there was real evil in the world. Mulder, Reverend Orison called me "Scout." That's the same name that my Sunday School teacher called me. Donnie pfaster escaped from prison at 6:06 a.m. That's exactly the same time that I woke up yesterday morning when my power went out.

MULDER: So, what do you think that God is telling you?

(SCULLY has no answer.)

MULDER: Well, all right. Come with me, Scout. I'll show you how the Reverend talks to God.

(DONNIE PFASTER has parked REVEREND ORISON's car on the side of a rural road. He is listening to the police report on the radio.)

REPORTER: Police are involved in a four-state manhunt for a prisoner who escaped maximum security in Marion, Illinois. He was last seen driving a green 1970 Chevrolet Impala with a black landau top. He is described as six feet tall, medium build...

(DONNIE PFASTER gets out of the car and uses a pocketknife to rip the fabric top off of the car He pulls two blood stained prison uniforms out of the trunk and then finds a gym bag. He opens it, discards a Bible and then pulls out a wallet with a driver's license for Reverend Orison which reads: Robert Gailen Orison, 1476 Wicks St., Equality, Illinois 62934. He holds up a keychain with one key which he finds in the bag and slams the trunk shut. Cut to ....)

(MULDER and SCULLY are looking at a computer generated scan of REVEREND ORISON's brain.)

MULDER: It's a cerebral edema.

SCULLY: Swelling of the brain-- a trauma not uncommon with this kind of head injury or accident.

MULDER: Except this isn't accidental. The cause, in fact, as it was stated to me is self-inflicted. There's a small hole here in the skull which allows oxygen into the brain cavity, the result of which is the Reverend Orison has three times the normal blood volume pumping through his brain.

SCULLY: And he did this himself?

MULDER: Yeah. My guess is he-he probably did it when he first got into prison-- when he first learned how to use its powers.

SCULLY: "Its powers."

MULDER: There's a theory that at this point in human evolution our mental capabilities are limited only by inadequate blood supply. In fact, centuries ago, in the Peruvian Andes, Holy Men used to physically remove parts of their skulls in order to increase blood volume or drill small holes.

SCULLY: So this hole in his head enables Reverend Orison to help these prisoners escape?

MULDER: The practitioners of this found that they could perform certain mental tricks one of which they called "stopping the world."

SCULLY: Well, nobody can stop the world, Mulder. I don't care how many holes they have in their head.

MULDER: Yeah, but maybe they can alter perception of it creating a disparate version of reality which they can then project through hypnosis.

SCULLY: But why? I mean, even if he could, why?

MULDER: Donnie Pfaster is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole. That's the final judgment as far as society is concerned but not in the eyes of God or in the eyes of a man who thinks he's God's tool.

SCULLY: Well, then, if Reverend Orison meant to kill Donnie Pfaster then why is he still alive?

MULDER: I don't know. Maybe he unleashed something that he couldn't control. Maybe he thought he was opening the door of perception but then unwittingly he... opened the gates of Hell.

(REVEREND ORISON's hospital room. Evening. A MARSHAL is guarding him, reading a paper. The beeping of the heart monitor slows and goes down in pitch.)

MARSHAL: What?

REVEREND ORISON: Glory. Amen. Glory. Amen. Glory. Amen.

(The heart monitor is now beeping even more slowly. REVEREND ORISON gets out of bed. The MARSHAL does not respond except to look confused. The beeping continues slowly. The MARSHAL is in a trance, still holding the paper. REVEREND ORISON takes the MARSHAL's gun and leaves the room.)

(An apartment. Hasn't been redecorated since the 70's. DONNIE PFASTER is in the kitchen wearing only a pair of tighty-whitey men's shorts and blue slippers. He finishes closing a plastic baggie and picks up the other baggie on the counter. They both contain women's fingers. He puts the baggies into the freezer next to some waffles. There is a knock at the door. He smiles and answers it with the door-chain still in place. It is the LADY IN RED, a higher class call girl than BLUEBERRY was. She is wearing a tight red dress. Her hair is bright red, piled high on her head with tendrils curling at her shoulders.)

LADY IN RED: Are you Donald?

DONNIE PFASTER: Yes.

LADY IN RED: I'm from Tip-Top Gentlemen's Service.

(He removes the door-chain, lets her in and closes the door.)

LADY IN RED: This isn't your place, is it?

DONNIE PFASTER: No. Why?

LADY IN RED: 'Cause I was coming up the stairs and got stopped by the landlord-- like it's any of his business. He told me some Reverend Orison lives here. Now, you ain't no preacher, are you?

DONNIE PFASTER: No.

LADY IN RED: Good. They always like the weirdest things. (She removes her jacket and puts it down on the couch.) You know what I mean?

(DONNIE PFASTER stares at her fingers then drifts his gaze up to her beautiful hair. He licks his lips slightly.)

LADY IN RED: You okay?

DONNIE PFASTER: Yes.

LADY IN RED: Something you want to say?

DONNIE PFASTER: Love your hair.

(REVEREND ORISON's apartment, later. The LADY IN RED's manicured hand reaches out from the bubbles to turn off the bath water. She lays her head back on the bathtub and closes her eyes. Candles are burning all over the room. DONNIE PFASTER, now dressed in a robe, enters with an armful of hair-care products.)

LADY IN RED: What are you doing?

DONNIE PFASTER: Is your hair chemically treated?

LADY IN RED: My hair?

DONNIE PFASTER: I don't know which product to use.

LADY IN RED: You're not using no product-- I'm clean, my hair's clean, if you're going to be that weird about it I ought to just leave.

(She starts to get up.)

DONNIE PFASTER: I'm being a gentleman.

LADY IN RED: Well, be a gentleman and get me a towel. I'm going to get out of here.

(DONNIE PFASTER acquiesces and puts the bottles into the sink. He gets a towel and wraps it around her as she stands. He looks closely at the back of her neck. The hairline is now wet and he sees two different hairlines.)

DONNIE PFASTER: (furious) It's a wig. They lied to me. (he tears the wig off of her head) You lied to me!

(As he throws the wig at the sink in a rage, the LADY IN RED picks up one of the candles and flings the hot wax in DONNIE PFASTER's face. She then punches him and he falls to the floor, hitting his face off the sink. She runs out of the room. Cut to ...)

SCULLY: Where did he go?

MULDER: Marshal?

(No response. MULDER smacks him gently on the face to wake him up.)

MULDER: Marshal?

MARSHAL: (confused) What?

SCULLY: The prisoner... the man you were guarding in this room. What happened to him?

MULDER: (looking at the MARSHAL's empty holster) He's gone, Scully, so's the Marshal's gun.

SCULLY: You didn't see him?

(The MARSHAL stands up and walks around the room in a daze trying to sort it out.)

MULDER: Let's go, Scully.

(SCULLY finds a pad of paper on the bedside table. She picks it up and reads it.)

MULDER: What is it?

SCULLY: What does this mean?

(SCULLY shows MULDER the pad of paper. Written on it are the words, "DON'T LOOK ANY FURTHER.")

MULDER: Did you tell him?

SCULLY: No, I only told you.

MULDER: Oh, he must have... overheard us when we were talking in the hallway.

SCULLY: I didn't mention the name of the song.

MULDER: I'm sure you did.

SCULLY: No, I'm sure I didn't, Mulder.

MULDER: Well... maybe this was meant for you. Don't look any further.

(Bathroom. DONNIE PFASTER gets up off the floor and positions himself over the sink to wipe away some of the wax from his face. He looks up at the mirror, blood trickling down from his cut temple, as REVEREND ORISON cocks a gun behind him.)

REVEREND ORISON: Whosoever shedeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed.

DONNIE PFASTER: What are you doing?

REVEREND ORISON: Taking you home. The wicked... will be punished.

(Night. REVEREND ORISON is digging a grave, DONNIE PFASTER is beside him on his knees with his hands tied behind his back.)

REVEREND ORISON: Pray for God's love, Donnie. Find the humility in yourself to allow God into your heart. All you have to do is believe. Repent. You'll feel God's love come to show you the way to His heavenly kingdom.

(DONNIE PFASTER whimpers and cries softly. ORISON points a gun at DONNIE's face.)

REVEREND ORISON: Are you sorry for what you've done?

DONNIE PFASTER: You... (mumbling)

REVEREND ORISON: What did you say?

DONNIE PFASTER: Never... No... No...

REVEREND ORISON: Why are you crying?

DONNIE PFASTER: I can't... I can't...

REVEREND ORISON: Beg His forgiveness for what you did to those girls. For what you did to all those poor, helpless girls.

DONNIE PFASTER: My violence is always waiting... for an instant. For when His back is turned. You can see it now.

REVEREND ORISON: Are you crying for your sins? Or for yourself?

DONNIE PFASTER: No, Reverend. I cry for you. Because you cannot kill me.

(DONNIE PFASTER's face shifts into that of a demon. ORISON backs away. Cut to ...)

(Gravesite, next day. Crime scene team is uncovering REVEREND ORISON's dead body. MULDER and SCULLY observe.)

MULDER: You know, it's funny, when all is said and done, there's... not much mystery in murder.

SCULLY: And for that I owe you an apology, Mulder.

MULDER: What do you mean?

SCULLY: Well, you were right. I was looking too hard for connections that weren't there. Orison was a murderer, plain and simple. He liberated those prisoners so he could bring them out here and pass judgment on them.

MULDER: I guess in his own twisted way he was making good with his God. Glory, Amen. Let's go home, Scully.

SCULLY: You know, Donnie Pfaster placed the call to the police that led us out here. It's almost like he's begging us to hunt him down.

MULDER: This X-File is over... lying dead there in a grave he dug himself. Let's let the US Marshals take over from here. Don't look any further, Scully.

(SCULLY's apartment. That evening? DONNIE PFASTER enters and looks around. He goes into her bedroom and takes her Bible from the chest at the foot of her bed and places it in a drawer. SCULLY enters the apartment and TURNS ON LIGHTS??? Yes, she turns on lights in every room. Great view of the apartment. She sets her keys on the table, her gun on the dresser, then begins taking off her suit and sleeveless navy top as DONNIE PFASTER watches from the closet.)

(SCULLY's apartment. She changes into a pair of gray flannel pajamas while DONNIE PFASTER watches from the closet. VERY creepy. SCULLY is about to put her work clothes in the closet when she sees that her clock again says 6:66. She picks up the clock and the power goes off plunging the room into darkness, save for the streetlights which shine in the windows. SCULLY looks at her closet door which is ajar, realizes something is wrong and starts to throw herself at the door to close it when it flies open and DONNIE PFASTER bursts out.)

CUT TO:

(MULDER's apartment. His phone rings. The answering machine picks up.)

MULDER: (recorded voice) This is Fox Mulder. Leave a message after the ... (beep).

MARSHALL DADDO: (voice) Agent Mulder, Marshall Joe Daddo in Marion. Just talked to a call girl who i.d.'d Donnie Pfaster as an attacker. Claims Pfaster got real upset when she was wearing a red wig. Upset she wasn't a redhead. This mean anything to you? Appreciate a call back.

(As the machine disconnects, MULDER enters his apartment. He does not check his messages.)

CUT TO:

(SCULLY is thrown against a wall. DONNIE PFASTER picks her up, grabbing her by the throat. She fights back and manages to gouge his eyes with her thumbs, drawing blood. He yells in pain and releases her as he reaches for his eyes. She punches him and runs across the room to grab her gun. He runs at her and flings her repeatedly against the bureau mirror, breaking it. The pieces shatter all over the floor and she drops the gun. She kicks him, busts a lamp over his head, breaks free, dumps one of the bookcases on top of his head, and runs to the phone in the hall and dials 911. DONNIE PFASTER chases her and flings her to the floor on her stomach and lands on top of her.)

SCULLY: Go back to hell!

(DONNIE PFASTER has her hands behind her back. He looks at her fingers.)

DONNIE PFASTER: Who does your nails, girly girl?

SCULLY: (trying to reason with him) Let me go! The only reason why you're alive is because I asked the judge for life! The only reason why you're alive is because we didn't kill you when we could!

DONNIE PFASTER: You're the one that got away. You're all I think about.

SCULLY: I'm a federal agent. You do anything to me and they will not give you a break this time.

DONNIE PFASTER: I'm going to run you a bath.

(SCULLY screams. He clamps his hand over her mouth.)

CUT TO:

(MULDER's apartment. He is in his bathroom brushing his teeth. He goes into his bedroom to set his radio alarm. The last alarm was set at 7 PM. Hmm. He sets it for 5 AM. While setting it, he hears a fragment of the song "Don't Look Any Further." He turns it back on while he finishes brushing and swallows the toothpaste. He looks thoughtfully at the radio.)

MUSIC: Don't look any further
Day-o, umba day-o
Mambu ji ay-o...

CUT TO:

(SCULLY's apartment. DONNIE PFASTER has tied SCULLY arms behind her back with her own pantyhose. Another pair, clean, I hope, has been used to gag her. He drags her, feet first, into a closet.)

DONNIE PFASTER: Now, be good and don't cause me any problems.

(DONNIE PFASTER closes the closet door and goes into her bathroom. SCULLY hears water running and her phone ringing. DONNIE PFASTER pushes "play" on her CD player. The song, "Don't Look Any Further" comes on.)

CUT TO:

(MULDER lying in his bed with the phone to his ear. Finally, he hangs up and gets up.)

CUT TO:

(DONNIE PFASTER filling SCULLY's tub with water and bubble bath.)

CUT TO:

(SCULLY in the closet peering under the crack at the bottom of the door at her gun on the bedroom floor. She looks up at the door handle.)

CUT TO:

(DONNIE PFASTER testing the bath water and turning it off.)

CUT TO:

(SCULLY standing up in the closet and opening the door with her tied hands.)

CUT TO:

(DONNIE PFASTER picks up a bottle of her shampoo. Willow Lake, made by the Lamour Corporation in Minneapolis.)

MUSIC: Ooh Oh, whoa, whoa Oh
Someone to count on
In a world ever changin'
Here I am
Stop where your standin'

CUT TO:

(SCULLY hiding under the bed as DONNIE PFASTER passes her into another room.)

MUSIC: What you need is a lover
Someone to take over
Oh, girl
Don't look any further
And it's strange
When you think of the chances
That we've both been in a state of mind
Too cool to be careless
Lookin' for the right thing

(SCULLY, grunting, makes her way along the floor to the other side of the bed where her gun is. Meanwhile, DONNIE PFASTER, in search of candles, has gone into her kitchen, taken out a silverware caddy and removed a knife and a pair of scissors.)

MUSIC: Oh, baby
Don't look any further
Tonight
We're gonna take a trip to paradise
Rockin' all night long
Baby
Daylight
Daylight
I'll still be lookin' in your heavenly eyes
And we'll go on and on

(SCULLY is close to her gun, but she freezes in fear, blood trickling out of her nose as DONNIE PFASTER passes her again.)

MUSIC: Day-o, umba day-o
Mambu ji ay-o
Don't look any further
Day-o, umba day-o
Mambu ji ay-o
Don't look any further

(In the bathroom, DONNIE PFASTER is lighting a LOT of candles. Scully apparently likes them a lot. There must be 40-50 in the room that he has collected throughout the apartment.)

MUSIC: Someone to count on
In a world ever changing
Here I am, baby
Stop right where you're standing
What you need is a lover
Someone to take over
Here I am, babe
Don't look any further, further...

(SCULLY gets her feet, clad in very cute fuzzy slippers, through her hands, putting her hands in front of her. She keeps crawling to the gun over the shards of mirror on the bedroom floor. In the living room, DONNIE PFASTER turns off the stereo and heads for SCULLY. SLOW MOTION sequence starts. MULDER enters the front door and draws his gun on DONNIE PFASTER. CarriK's lip reading ability says that he says "Put your hands up!" and puts his hand on DONNIE's shoulder. DONNIE PFASTER does not obey. Instead, he turns his head as SCULLY enters the room, her hands unbound, the gag around her neck and her gun hanging loosely in her right hand. She is focused solely on DONNIE PFASTER. It looks like MULDER asks, "Did he hurt you?" [Others say he says, "Don't shoot!", but according to TD's brand new super-duper VCR he definitely says "Did he hurt you?"] We see a bullet casing hit the floor, SCULLY's face illuminated by a gunshot, DONNIE PFASTER having a slight reaction as the bullet passes through him, MULDER turning as the overhead light is blown out by the bullet. MULDER stares at SCULLY who is still holding the gun where she fired it into DONNIE PFASTER's ribcage. She is horrified at what she has done. The screen goes black as a gunshot rings out.)

(SCULLY's apartment, later. Crime scene. MULDER has been talking to a policeman. He sees SCULLY, now with a shawl wrapped around her pajamas, go into her bedroom and close the door.)

MULDER: Excuse me.

COP: Yeah. Sure.

(SCULLY closes the window and takes off the shawl. MULDER enters SCULLY's bedroom.)

MULDER: If you want to pack some things, we can get out of here.

SCULLY: Yeah.

(SCULLY pulls her Bible back out of the drawer and looks at MULDER.)

MULDER: You can't judge yourself.

SCULLY: (sitting on the bed) Maybe I don't have to.

MULDER: The Bible allows for vengeance.

SCULLY: But the law doesn't.

MULDER: (leaning into her) The way I see it... he didn't give you a choice. And my report will reflect that... in case you're worried. Donnie Pfaster would've surely killed again if given the chance.

SCULLY: He was evil, Mulder. I'm sure about that, without a doubt. But there's one thing that I'm not sure of.

MULDER: What's that?

SCULLY: Who was at work in me. Or what... what made me... what made me pull the trigger.

MULDER: You mean if it was God?

SCULLY: I mean... what if it wasn't?

(MULDER has no answer.

[Fade to black]

[THE END]