WRITTEN BY
Howard Gordon
DIRECTED BY
Rob Bowman
AIRED ON
February 3, 1995
RUNTIME
45 minutes
STARRING
VIEWS
480
LAST UPDATE
2024-08-13 08:30:06
PAGE VERSION
Version 4
LIKES
0
DISLIKES
0
SUMMARY
Mulder and Scully investigate the mysterious deaths of two Marines stationed at a Haitian refugee camp in North Carolina. The deaths appear to be linked to voodoo rituals, with evidence pointing to a powerful bokor (voodoo priest) within the refugee community. As the agents navigate the tense atmosphere between the Marines and the refugees, they encounter strange phenomena and uncover a web of fear and manipulation involving both supernatural elements and human cruelty. The investigation leads them to question the influence of the supernatural in the deaths and the broader implications of cultural and military conflicts. The episode explores themes of power, belief, and the intersection of traditional practices with modern struggles.
STORY
No story yet.
BEHIND THE SCENES
- The name of the little boy Chester Bonaparte comes from "Alice in Wonderlands", where a talking cat can be seen in Chester. The cat appears and disappears as he wants, like the scene of the episode where Chester disappears. And just after, Mulder finds a cat.
QUOTES
Chester Bonaparte: Fresh bones. They pay good.
FILMING LOCATIONS
TOPICS
No topics yet.
REVIEWS
Boring as voodoo hell
Written by
Pike on 2016-01-01
★
BORING
Fresh Bones is exceptionally boring. The episode is really unappealing.
MILITARY
I particularly didn’t like the role of Colonel Wharton, nor its portrayal by Daniel Benzali. It reminisces of Colonel Belt from Space (1x09). This representation of a tough senior ranking member of the military is very cliché and not interesting.
LACK OF AMBITION
There is virtually nothing happening. We move from one scene to another, without caring about anything. Anything at all.
ROB BOWMAN
Rob Bowman can be applauded, as he really took a very poor script that could have turned into a stupid episode.
THEME
The theme is one of the weakest points of the episode. Voodoo. It is the same thing as with the werewolves theme from Shapes or the vampire theme from 3. There is nothing original about the treatment of those typical myths.
SUMMARY
Low screenplay with a good directing. Without Rob Bowman, Fresh Bones would have been a disaster. I still give it 1 out of 5. Boring as (voodoo) hell.
___________________________________________
classic one!
Written by
DuaneB on 2018-04-26
★
★
★
★
★
Folkstone - North Carolina ... A soldier belonging to the navy, leaves violently from home. At the wheel of his car, the visions of horror he had on getting up continue, it destabilizes him and makes him go straight into a tree. An inscription of voodoo origin is painted on the trunk of the tree. The army will claim suicide, but the Navy woman thinks that her husband was a voodoo curse. By wanting to autopsy the body, the agent Scully will discover the corpse of a dog in his place ...
X-Files here it is! If only the pre-generic scene, the most breathtaking I've seen, this episode fascinates me. Once again, the series shows us its best aspect: that of darkness. This is a pretty scary episode, heavy, very dark, and deliciously creepy. Well in the image of this second season. In this loner, Howard Gordon invites us to plunge into the harsh reality of the army and that of an immigrant camp. It should be noted that Rob Bowman's excellent accomplishment makes the social landscape really realistic, which has the effect of absorbing a little more. This is what I call a good classic, in the kind episode that we see with pleasure and we do not get tired.
It all starts with the alleged suicide of Private John McAlpin, who is the second in a week. Both soldiers were working on the surveillance of a refugee camp and immigrants. Some 12000 people. Most of these immigrants in transit come mainly from New Orleans, where superstition is commonplace. It is the person in charge of the last riot, Pierre Bauvais, who will teach Mulder the mysterious meaning of the graffiti that we always find on the scene of suicides. This is actually a "mirror Loco".
intersection, crossing between the two worlds, where each man is confronted with his inner self, according to Bauvais and the Spirit Loa. For a bit, you'd almost believe it, as realism is maintained, and the elements are perfectly connected to one another. And above all, by the explanation of this hypnotising Bauvais, eaten away by hatred, and tempered by his beliefs. As for Colonel Wharton, his apparent authority, which could still be understood, will ultimately prove to be a facet, that of form. We know that the bottom is different. What a flaw, the cast was perfect, in the typical facies of a camp leader, violent colonel, would miss more than the camera on the shoulder to believe in a documentary on social life in a refugee camp waiting for their blessing.
And then there is this 10-year-old boy, who died months ago, Chester Bonaparte, Scully's little protector, at the very beginning of the episode. Great intervention, small dose of lightness in this episode heavy, it's the shot of the chef's sauce to the main course! No, really, the introduction of Chester brings the right pinch of humanity and apparent lightness, which in fact was only symbol, since he was already dead. But that's the point of the episode.
And then the interest of voodoo, in this episode, serves only to explain - with plausible arguments and research - zombification, the power to bring back the dead. Seeing reappearing on the road McAlpin alive again goes in this direction. As a result, since one reappears, why not the other, since there have been two suicides. For the first. it was the soldier Manuel Guttierez. And the, a wet cemetery scene,
with the disturbing dog, one of my favorites! All the ingredients are there. It is true that I always speak in terms of "ingredients" to sell the qualities of a good episode of X files. but we must believe that the comparison is correct. Because a good soup is only successful if you do not put good ingredients. X-files is a soup, but high-end!
To return to the episode, the story intensifies as and when. With the story of Private Duham, frightened and under pressure ... All this confers a climate of anxiety and violence that reflects the situation. Not to mention the music inspired by the friend Snow who offers us each appearance of the voodoo symbol, a combination of sounds, terrible and essential dissonances.
In fact. if there is one thing to remember, which is the scully theory, it is that everything - especially voodoo - is based on fear. Fear sells corpses, frogs ... Voodoo is the imperturbable trade of these disturbed populations. And the episode shows us the reasons: overpopulation in a confined space, affront between refugees and the army, beatings ... etc. What's great about this series is that even in an episode dealing with a specific subject, we feel that writers have documented a minimum on the issue. And above all, it is one of the hallmarks of X-files, it is to make important the social context, the secondary characters. But finally, as the investigation progresses, we better understand this famous Wharton, and better understand that Guttierez and McAlpin did not commit suicide, but were killed by wharton himself, so that they do not testify bad treatment suffered. Same for Bauvais. Every warnings against Mulder and Scully are to be interpreted as symbols. Then we come to the final scene, with Scully and her horror vision (the hand coming out of her hand at her). Then the nightmare ends when Wharton is killed, and Scully catches the lucky charm sold by ... How to say? Chester Bonaparte or a black cat? Voodoo mystery!
An episode of good craftsmanship, an attractive story, endearing and scary characters, a horrible dog corpse ... We could rant hours on the qualities of this episode. Like many others in this season, they have a clean intensity, they are effective loners and radically glaucous. This does not prevent sketches of smile and other delights of small rare moments. But the cocktail was good, and we will see that little recomposed totally thereafter.
TRANSCRIPT
SCENE 1
FOLKSTONE, NORTH CAROLINA
(Early morning, winter. Residential street. House of PRIVATE JACK MCALPIN and his wife ROBIN MCALPIN. ROBIN MCALPIN is lying in bed alone just waking up to the sounds of a toddler crying.)
MRS. MCALPIN: (sleepily) Your turn. (no answer) Jack? (she gets out of bed and crosses to the bathroom door where she hears someone being physically ill) Honey? (toilet flushes) Are you still feeling sick?
PRIVATE MCALPIN: (angrily, coming out of the bathroom) What?s the matter with you? Can?t you hear the baby is crying?
(He roughly passes by her. Later, she sits at the breakfast table with their toddler eating breakfast. )
MRS. MCALPIN: (to toddler) How ?bout some cereal, Honey?
(PRIVATE MCALPIN, still angry, comes downstairs in army fatigues, pours himself cereal.)
MRS. MCALPIN: (quietly) You were having those awful dreams again last night.
PRIVATE MCALPIN: I didn?t sleep long enough to be dreaming.
MRS. MCALPIN: I want you to go to the doctor. Find out what?s wrong. Will you do that?
PRIVATE MCALPIN: (yelling) I?d just like to eat my breakfast in peace! Do you think that?s possible.
(MRS. MCALPIN cowers under his yelling and begins crying. The baby begins crying and she tries to comfort him. PRIVATE MCALPIN takes a bite of his cereal. When he looks in his bowl he sees an mass of wiggling meal worms. He spits out the food in disgust and runs out the door.)
MRS. MCALPIN: (crying, not understanding) Jack, what is it?!
(He runs out door past jockey statue that has been painted white. He gets in car and drives away quickly. Camera switches back to the statue which now has black maggoty things crawling on its face. PRIVATE MCALPIN is driving very fast. He looks at himself in the rearview mirror. His face is covered with black and red pustules, but only in the mirror. We see that his face is actually clear. He steers the car at full speed into the trunk of a large tree beside the road. The car is totaled. Camera pans around to show an intricate symbol painted on the backside of the tree.)
[OPENING CREDITS] [OPENING CREDITS] [OPENING CREDITS] [OPENING CREDITS] [OPENING CREDITS]
SCENE 2
COUNTY ROAD 10
FOLKSTONE, NORTH CAROLINA
(MULDER and SCULLY are driving along rural road. SCULLY looks through the file on PRIVATE MCALPIN.)
MULDER: Private John McAlpin-- one of the few, the proud ... the dead. Last week he wrapped his car around a tree. Died on impact.
SCULLY: (reading) Drug and alcohol tests came back negative. Car shows no evidence of brake, steering or any other mechanical failure.
MULDER: The military is calling it a suicide?They?re especially concerned because it?s the second one in as many weeks.
SCULLY: Both at the same base?
MULDER: Yeah, except that it's not exactly a base. Flip to the back. The Marines were all stationed at the Folkstone processing center in North Carolina. More than 12,000 refugees waiting for asylum from Uncle Sam.
SCULLY: Wasn't there a riot there about a month ago?
MULDER: A ten year old boy was killed but the uh, details of his death were never released.
SCULLY: Why did the military contact us?
MULDER: They didn't. Mrs. McAlpin contacted the Bureau when the military refused her request to investigate her husband's death further.
SCULLY: She doesn?t believe it was suicide.
MULDER: (pointing) There.
(MULDER stops beside the tree that MCALPINE ran into. They get out and look at the symbol painted on the tree.)
MULDER: This is the tree that stopped Private McAlpin's car. State police reported there's graffiti on the bark.
SCULLY: It looks like some kind of ritual symbol.
MULDER: Most of the refugees at Folkstone are Haitian.
SCULLY: Mrs. McAlpin believes voodoo was behind her husband's death?
MULDER: Mrs. McAlpin doesn't believe her husband killed himself. She wants to know who did.
SCENE 3
(MCALPIN?s house. The toddler plays on the floor as MRS. MCALPIN talks to MULDER and SCULLY at the kitchen table.)
MRS. MCALPIN: Jack used to tell these jokes. Well, they were pretty dumb, I guess, but the way he told them always made me laugh. Then he got transferred to the camp and nothing was very funny anymore.
SCULLY: Did he ever discuss with you what went on there? What his duties included?
MRS. MCALPIN: No. He'd just come home angry, mostly at himself though sometimes he'd turn it on Luke and me.
SCULLY: Was he ever treated for depression or stress?
MRS. MCALPIN: No. I tried getting him to talk to someone, even our minister, but Jack believed in dealing with his own problems.
MULDER: Did he believe in voodoo?
MRS. MCALPIN: The Marines, his family and football pretty much sums up everything Jack believed in.
MULDER: So, when did you first think that his death involved something out of the ordinary?
MRS. MCALPIN: One of the boys in his squad told me what they found at the accident and he said it was some kind of voodoo curse -- the same one they found on the stool that Puerto Rican boy used to hang himself.
MULDER: Who told you that?
MRS. MCALPIN: Harry Dunham. He's from New Orleans so he's pretty superstitious about that type of thing.
MULDER: What about you?
MRS. MCALPIN: My husband had just died so I didn't give it much thought either way... Not until Luke dug this up out of his sandbox.
(MRS. MCALPIN reaches down and produces a large pink conch shell with the same symbol that was on the tree painted on the lip of the shell. MULDER and SCULLY look at each other.)
MRS. MCALPIN: I know it sounds crazy me worrying about all this but the truth is, I'm scared. I'm scared for my child... And I just don't know what to do anymore.
SCENE 4
FOLKSTONE INS PROCESSING CENTER
(MULDER and SCULLY enter military-like compound with an armed escort, SCULLY a pace behind MULDER. Barbed wire fences and aluminum buildings. Not a pleasant place. Haitian male refugees stare at them. In the mess hall, one of the men grabs SCULLY and begins yelling at her in Creole. A young Haitian boy, CHESTER, pushes the man away from SCULLY.)
CHESTER: Go! Go! Get away! Get away! (the man leaves) He?s crazy. Too much rum. (smiles at SCULLY, a young con artist) For such a pretty lady it?s dangerous out here. You need something pour vous gardez --- for protection. (produces small decorated cloth bag from his pocket) Your lucky charm.
SCULLY: (ignoring him) Come on, Mulder.
MULDER: How much?
CHESTER: Five ? (changes mind) Ten.
MULDER: I?ll give you five.
SCULLY: (over it) Let?s go, Mulder.
MULDER: You should always carry protection. Hold on. (hands CHESTER money and takes small cloth bag) There you go.
(Later, MULDER and SCULLY sit in COLONEL WHARTON?s office. COLONEL WHARTON is tough, no nonsense Marine.)
COLONEL WHARTON: I'm still not clear just what it is you're investigating here.
SCULLY: Two of your men have died in the past two weeks allegedly of self-inflicted injuries.
COLONEL WHARTON: And I've taken every measure to see it doesn't happen again. I've even flown in the 528th combat stress control detachment from Camp LeJeune.
SCULLY: But your soldiers aren't in combat.
COLONEL WHARTON: In some ways what we're dealing with here is worse.
SCULLY: How so?
COLONEL WHARTON: We're soldiers. We're not prison guards. And we're being asked to police a hostile population of foreigners without the resources to feed or house them. There are bound to be some conflicts.
SCULLY: So your men are getting the brunt of the refugees' frustration?
COLONEL WHARTON: It's hatred, plain and simple. They hate us and all I can do is see that they're processed as efficiently as possible.
MULDER: Colonel Wharton, a, uh... A certain ritual sign was found at the scene of both deaths. Is there anything you can tell us about that?
COLONEL WHARTON: Not much. Apparently, it's some sort of voodoo marking.
MULDER: But you haven't investigated it as a possibility.
COLONEL WHARTON: Possibility of what? All I know is voodoo caused a riot in my camp. One night they held some secret ceremony. The next day all hell broke loose.
MULDER: We understand a refugee was killed-- a young boy.
COLONEL WHARTON: No one felt that tragedy more deeply than me. Fortunately, I was able to isolate the one responsible for instigating all the trouble.
MULDER: Who would that be?
COLONEL WHARTON: His name is Bauvais. Pierre Bauvais. Thinks he's some kind of revolutionary.
MULDER: Do you think we could speak with him?
COLONEL WHARTON: If you don't mind listening to his laundry list of complaints.
SCULLY: I'd also like to examine Private McAlpin's body. I have a signed consent from his wife.
COLONEL WHARTON: (indicating soldier standing at the door) Private Dunham will help you with whatever you need.
(PRIVATE DUNHAM opens door for them. MULDER guides SCULLY out, his hand on her lower back. As they pass him, PRIVATE DUNHAM glances nervously back at COLONEL WHARTON, then follows MULDER and SCULLY.)
SCENE 5
TEMPORARY CAMP MORGUE
(SCULLY is interviewing the coroner, FOYLE.)
CORONER FOYLE: Cause of death was no great mystery. That boy was doing 60 when he hit the tree.
SCULLY: So they pronounced him at the scene?
CORONER FOYLE: His head was hanging on his shoulders like a broken peony and he had no respiratory or cardiac functioning. I saw no reason to conduct an autopsy then and I still don't. Well, you can see for yourself.
(CORONER FOYLE roughly opens the drawer. They stare in shock at the badly decayed dog carcass lying where a human body should be.)
CORONER FOYLE: What kind of a sick joke is this? Jackson!
JACKSON: (voice off camera) Sir?
CORONER FOYLE: (exiting) Who the hell's been in here?! Someone?s tampered with McAlpin?s body and I want to know who!
(SCULLY looks down at the dog corpse.)
SCENE 6
PROCESSING CENTER BRIG
(Same time, PRIVATE DUNHAM leads MULDER down to BAUVAIS?s cell, solitary lockup area.)
MULDER: You?re Harry Dunham.
PRIVATE DUNHAM: Yes, sir.
MULDER: You knew Private McAlpin? His wife said you were friends.
PRIVATE DUNHAM: We were in the same squad.
MULDER: Any idea why he might have killed himself?
PRIVATE DUNHAM: I can't say, sir.
MULDER: You can't say or you won't say?
PRIVATE DUNHAM: I'll be right here if you need me.
(MULDER enters BAUVAIS? chain link cell. BAUVAIS is a large Haitian man, very calm and mysterious. Thick Creole accent.)
MULDER: My name is Mulder. I'm with the FBI. I was hoping you could answer some questions about the two US Marines who took their own lives.
BAUVAIS: It is a terrible shame.
MULDER: I'm not convinced it's as simple as that.
BAUVAIS: You do not believe I was involved in this, do you? How could I be... When they keep me locked up in here?
MULDER: You tell me. These photographs were taken at the sites of both deaths. (shows him photos) The shell was found buried under one of the soldiers' homes. Can you tell me about the symbol?
BAUVAIS: Why? What do you expect to learn from this?
MULDER: Just the truth. One of the Marines left behind a wife. She's too frightened to even mourn. She deserves some peace of mind.
BAUVAIS: It is the Loco-Miroir the crossroads between the two worlds-- the mirror in which a man must confront his true self. These Marines... Maybe they didn't like what they saw.
MULDER: Colonel Wharton says you incited the riot last month.
BAUVAIS: My country was born on the blood of slaves. Freedom is our most sacred legacy.
MULDER: Does that mean you would kill to preserve it?
BAUVAIS: Wharton will not let us return home... Which is all we ask.
(SCULLY enters.)
SCULLY: Mulder, I need to speak with you.
BAUVAIS: She?s come to tell you the Marine is gone.
(BAUVAIS and SCULLY stare at each other. SCULLY is clearly unnerved by the man.)
SCULLY: How did you know?
BAUVAIS: It?s the spirits. The Loa have warned you.
(BAUVAIS stands backlit. SCULLY can only see his outline. Shades of "Irresistible".)
SCULLY: Somebody stole McAlpin's body and replaced it with what looks like a dog's corpse.
BAUVAIS: They will only warn you once. After that, no magic can save you.
(MULDER quickly steps between BAUVAIS and SCULLY blocking her from the prisoner?s intense stare.)
MULDER: Come on, Scully. Let's go.
(They exit.)
SCENE 7
(Night. MULDER and SCULLY on the road. SCULLY driving.)
MULDER: So what do you think happened to Private McAlpin?
SCULLY: Somehow, Bauvais must have switched the bodies.
MULDER: It's quite a trick considering he's been confined for the last month.
SCULLY: Well, then he had somebody else do it.
MULDER: But you said there was no trace evidence. And security is practically impossible to breach.
SCULLY: I was only suggesting that whoever did it was clever and thorough. I wasn?t suggesting that some kind of spirit did it.
MULDER: Well, just in case, I believe in covering my bases.
(MULDER hangs the cloth charm he bought from CHESTER in the camp on the rearview mirror. SCULLY rolls her eyes.)
SCULLY: Mulder, voodoo only works by instilling fear in its believers. You saw how Bauvais tried to intimidate me. I'll admit the power of suggestion is considerable but this is no more magic than a pair of fuzzy dice.
MULDER: Scully, look out!
(SCULLY slams on brakes almost hitting a figure who is walking in the middle of the road as if sleepwalking. MULDER and SCULLY get out of the car and approach him.)
MULDER: Hey...
SCULLY: Private McAlpin?
(MCALPIN does not respond.)
SCENE 8
PCYCHIATRIC INFIRMARY
(Camp medical facilities. MCALPIN sits rocking, still in a daze.)
SCULLY: He?s nonverbal, nonresponsive to voice, touch or pain. The neurologists suspect he suffered a severe concussion resulting in amnesia.
MULDER: It?s a plausible diagnosis. Only I'm more interested in how he came back to life.
SCULLY: Well, obviously, he never left. Dr. Foyle made a gross mistake when he signed the death certificate. It?s not the first time something like that?s happened.
MULDER: Did you get a copy of the blood test?
SCULLY: Yeah. (reads) Electrolytes, white and red counts are all normal. Except this is strange. The lab detected trace levels of tetrodotoxin in his blood. (MULDER begins pacing.) That's a poison found in the liver and reproductive organs of puffer fish-- a Japanese delicacy.
MULDER: Somehow, I get the feeling Private McAlpin didn't frequent too many sushi bars.
SCULLY: You have a theory how it got into his blood?
MULDER: What do you know about zombies?
SCULLY: Well, I hope you don't intend to tell Robin McAlpin that she married one?
MULDER: In 1982, a Harvard ethnobotanist named Wade Davis did extensive field research in Haiti on the zombification phenomenon. He analyzed several samples of zombie powder prepared by voodoo priests and he found tetrodotoxin to be common to all of them.
SCULLY: But, Mulder, it?s a lethal poison.
MULDER: But in small enough doses it can cause paralysis and depress cardiorespiratory activities to such a low level that the victim might appear clinically dead.
SCULLY: Well, zombie or not, Jack McAlpin is alive.
MULDER: Exactly. Which is what makes me wonder about the other Marine who allegedly killed himself.
SCENE 9
FOLKSTONE MUNICIPAL CEMETERY
(Graveyard. Day. MULDER and SCULLY walk into the cemetery.)
SCULLY: Why did they bury Private Guttierez here?
( A large black dog growls at them. GROUNDSKEEPER comes up behind the dog. )
GROUNDSKEEPER: They beat you to it. You're the FBI, aren't you? (to dog) Stay. Easy, Wong.
MULDER: (showing badge) Yeah. We've arranged to exhume the body of Manuel Guttierez.
GROUNDSKEEPER: Right. The Marine. I prepared the dig as soon as I got the judge's order, but it's too late.
SCULLY: Too late?
GROUNDSKEEPER: Yeah. The body snatchers got there first. I caught them more than few times right in the act but it's getting I can't keep up anymore. That's, uh, why I got this.
(Opens his coat to show them a pistol.)
SCULLY: Don't the police intervene?
GROUNDSKEEPER: They got their hands full trying to protect the lives of the living. I am all these people have to preserve their rest.
MULDER: These body snatchers ? What do they do with the bodies?
GROUNDSKEEPER: Ah, they sell them.
MULDER: To who?
GROUNDSKEEPER: Well, it varies. When the local medical school ran short of cadavers rumor had it that the snatchers got $200 a head. But mostly, it's the voodoo types who do the buying. A lot of folks in these parts go in for that with the medicines and the potions and... Yeah, here we are.
(They look into an empty grave.)
GROUNDSKEEPER: Look at that. They dug him up right under my nose. How?s he supposed to rest in peace like this? (MULDER looks at the name on the coffin) They can do what they like with the pigs and the chickens but this is a desecration. This is uncool.
SCULLY: Mulder ..
(She points to a figure digging near a grave several yards away.)
GROUNDSKEEPER: Look at that. See what I?m talking about?
(Begins to pull out his pistol, but MULDER stops him.)
MULDER: Let us take care of this.
GROUNDSKEEPER: Knock yourselves out.
(MULDER and SCULLY run toward the figure digging near a grave. It is the young boy from the prison, CHESTER. He tries to run, but MULDER grabs hold of him.)
CHESTER: (struggling in MULDER?s grasp) Let me be! I didn't do nothing! What did I do?
MULDER: Maybe you can tell us.
(They look down at CHESTER?s bag which has fallen open. It is full of live frogs which begin hopping away. MULDER and SCULLY look at each other.)
SCULLY: (looking at the frogs) Maybe I should kiss a few and find out if one is Guttierez.
(Later, they sit in a fast food restaurant. MULDER and SCULLY watch as CHESTER greedily devours a cup of french fries.)
CHESTER: Fresh bones. They pay good. But I go there for the frogs. You find the best frogs at the cemetery.
SCULLY: How do you get out of the camp?
CHESTER: I go, and then I come back.
SCULLY: What about your parents? Are your parents at the camp?
MULDER: What about a name?
CHESTER: (proudly) Chester Bonaparte.
MULDER: What do you do with the frogs, Chester?
CHESTER: For each one I catch, I get 50 cents.
MULDER: From who? Who pays you for them?
CHESTER: (mysteriously) Bauvais. His magic is the most strong. He even made my fries disappear.
MULDER: Hey, Chester. I got magic, too, and I bet I can make your fries reappear.
CHESTER: Merci!
(MULDER opens his wallet and hands CHESTER some money. CHESTER grins and runs off to the counter for more fries.)
SCULLY: Mulder, certain frog species secrete a substance called bufotoxin. It's chemically similar to what we found in Private McAlpin?s blood. I think we should ask Bauvais what he's doing with those frogs.
MULDER: (speaking very quietly to SCULLY) I didn't want to say anything before because I wasn't sure, but I think we're being followed. It's a gray four-door sedan in the parking lot. Keep an eye on Chester.
(MULDER goes outside and sneaks around to the driver?s side of a gray car. He points his gun at PRIVATE DUNHAM.)
MULDER: Out of the car, Private. You've been following us.
PRIVATE DUNHAM: Look, I had to warn you.
MULDER: You didn?t seem too interested in helping us before.
PRIVATE DUNHAM: I couldn't talk then-- not with Colonel Wharton so close by. And not with him right there. (indicates CHESTER as SCULLY helps him into the backseat of her car)
MULDER: Chester? He's just a little boy.
PRIVATE DUNHAM: No, sir, he is not.
SCULLY: (approaching the men) What?s going on?
MULDER: Private Dunham was just about to tell us why we're in danger.
PRIVATE DUNHAM: You're putting yourselves into the middle of something you don't understand.
MULDER: But you do?
PRIVATE DUNHAM: Bauvais warned him. He told the Colonel he'd take his men one by one unless...
MULDER: Unless what?
PRIVATE DUNHAM: Unless the Colonel let his people go back to Haiti. But the Colonel... He just had us turn up the heat on all them beatings and all.
SCULLY: Colonel Wharton sanctioned beatings of the refugees?
PRIVATE DUNHAM: He ordered it, and worse. The things he is making us do to those people.
SCULLY: Why hasn't anybody stepped forward or filed a complaint?
PRIVATE DUNHAM: None of us feel good about it, Ma?am, but you don't join the Marines to feel good.
MULDER: You said that Bauvais threatened the Colonel?s men.
PRIVATE DUNHAM: He said he'd take their souls.
MULDER: You believe he can do that?
PRIVATE DUNHAM: Jack was my friend, and look what happened to him.
SCULLY: Well, we don't know what happened to him but there is a medical explanation for his condition.
PRIVATE DUNHAM: Back home, an associate of my daddy's, Clyde Jessamin, once crossed a man on some kind of real estate deal. And not two weeks passed before Jessamin's daughter took ill with something the doctors couldn't make heads or tails of. All they could do was shoot her full of morphine the pain was so bad. She died five minutes past midnight on her wedding day, and when they did an autopsy to try and figure it out, all they could find was a bunch of snakes squirming around inside her belly.
SCULLY: Sounds like an old wives? tale.
PRIVATE DUNHAM: No, Ma?am. It?s not. You see, I?m the one who was supposed to marry her.
(MULDER and SCULLY watch him drive away then head back to their own car.)
SCULLY: Think he?s telling the truth?
MULDER: Till I can figure out why he?d lie, yeah.
SCULLY: He?s superstitious, and superstition breeds fear. It?s what Voodoo is all about. It?s just as irrational as avoiding a crack in the sidewalk.
MULDER: Why would he be trying to avoid Chester?
(Their car is empty, CHESTER?s fry cup on the back seat.)
MULDER: Chester? Chester?
(They see him several yards away. MULDER chases him on foot, SCULLY follows with the car.)
MULDER: Chester! Chester! Stop! I?m not going to hurt you! (to SCULLY) It?s okay. I?ll get him. Chester! Chester!
(MULDER reaches the end of the pier. It is deserted. He looks in the water. A black kitten is on top of a barrel near the end of the pier. It meows. MULDER stares at it in confusion, then looks around.)
SCENE 10
(Next morning. COLONEL WHARTON?s office. He is eating.)
PRIVATE KITTEL: Can I get you anything else, sir?
(Knocking at the door. COLONEL WHARTON is irritated.)
COLONEL WHARTON: Just get the door.
(MULDER and SCULLY enter.)
COLONEL WHARTON: (dismissively) I?m sorry. I?m having my breakfast.
MULDER: (polite sarcasm) That?s all right. We already ate.
(PRIVATE KITTEL leaves.)
COLONEL WHARTON: I understand you obtained a court order yesterday to exhume Private Guttierez.
MULDER: That?s right.
COLONEL WHARTON: You should know I filed a complaint with the Justice Department.
MULDER: His body was missing-- stolen from his coffin apparently.
COLONEL WHARTON: Now you see what we're facing here. What kind of barbaric religion would desecrate a grave?
SCULLY: We suspect it was an act of retaliation.
COLONEL WHARTON: Retaliation?
SCULLY: For your mistreatment of the detainees.
COLONEL WHARTON: What the hell are you talking about?
SCULLY: Physical abuse of political refugees is a prosecutable crime under international law.
COLONEL WHARTON: (chuckles) It's Bauvais, isn't it? He's the one you're getting this garbage from. Look, nobody ever said this was a hotel but it's hardly a concentration camp.
SCULLY: Then there is no official policy of harassment?
COLONEL WHARTON: If anything, it?s my men who are being harassed. The UN, the relief organizations, they?re all so busy protecting the rights of these refugees nobody?s looking out for my men.
MULDER: Well, we?ll let you finish. Wouldn?t want your breakfast to get cold.
(MULDER and SCULLY exit. COLONEL WHARTON returns to his breakfast. As he cuts the slice of ham, he stops in horror as he sees fresh blood pouring out of the ham.)
(MULDER and SCULLY outside are getting into their car, SCULLY driving.)
MULDER: Wharton?s left these people no choice but to fight back with the only weapon they have.
SCULLY: Sorry, Mulder, there?s a big difference between nasty looks and raising the dead.
MULDER: Not according to Private Dunham.
(SCULLY cries out as she takes hold of the steering wheel.)
SCULLY: Ah!!!
MULDER: What?
(SCULLY pulls a vine covered with thorns from the steering column.)
SCULLY: More scare tactics. (tosses vine out the window)
MULDER: (reaching for SCULLY?s bleeding hand) Let me see that.
SCULLY: No. It?s nothing.
(As they drive away, camera shows the symbol painted on the pavement under the car.)
SCENE 11
(BAUVAIS?s cell. PRIVATE KITTEL has been beating BAUVAIS. COLONEL WHARTON stands outside the cell.)
PRIVATE KITTEL: I don't think he's in any condition to talk.
COLONEL WHARTON: That's right, Private. You don't think. You follow orders.
PRIVATE KITTEL: But sir...
COLONEL WHARTON: You're dismissed.
(PRIVATE KITTEL leaves reluctantly. COLONEL WHARTON approaches BAUVAIS.)
COLONEL WHARTON: (threatening, grabs BAUVAIS?s collar) Ouvri barriere pou' moi. I want the secret. Maybe you should tell me now while you can still talk.
BAUVAIS: Ma vie nan mains bon dieu..
COLONEL WHARTON: No, papaloi. Your life is in my hands.
SCENE 12
(MULDER enters his hotel room. Something falls from the top of the door. A playing card, the 10 of diamonds.)
SCENE 13
COUNTY ROAD 10
(Later, night, next to diamond shaped road sign, route 10. MULDER sits in the car. Another car arrives. X opens the passenger door and gets in the car.)
MULDER: I was surprised to get your card. I had assumed our last contact... would be our last. Why are you here?
X: Your investigation is faltering, Agent Mulder.
MULDER: I've got a renegade Marine who may be violating every human rights provision...
X: These people have no rights. In 24 hours all access to Folkstone will be restricted to military personnel. No press, no third-party monitoring.
MULDER: What about Scully and me?
X: You'll be called back to Washington on a priority matter.
MULDER: (sighs) They're making the camp invisible. Why?
X: In case you haven't noticed, Agent Mulder, the Statue of Liberty is on vacation. The new mandate says if you're not a citizen you'd better keep out.
MULDER: Why hold them up? Why not just repatriate them?
X: During our most recent involvement in Haiti three US soldiers took their own lives. Of those men, two were under Colonel Wharton's command.
MULDER: You?re saying the military's sanctioning Wharton's revenge? These people are innocent civilians. Some people in Congress might have a real problem with that.
X: By the time they get a committee together it'll be as if none of this ever happened.
(X gets out of the car.)
SCENE 14
(SCULLY?s hotel room. She is on the phone, frustrated.)
SCULLY: (on phone) You don't understand. I've been on hold for half an hour. I'm trying to locate a Private Dunham.
(SCULLY scratches at her hand which is puffy and still bleeding. She looks up at her reflection in the mirror with concern.)
SCULLY: (on phone) Yeah. Yeah. Thanks.
(SCULLY hangs up then knocks at MULDER?s door, #7.)
SCULLY: (through door) Mulder, I just got through to Dunham?s barracks. Mulder? Your door's unlocked.
(SCULLY enters MULDER?s room and crosses to the bathroom where there is the sound of water.)
SCULLY: Mulder, listen to this. Dunham's been AWOL since last night...
(SCULLY sees bloody water seeping out from under the bathroom door.)
SCULLY: Mulder?
(Slowly, SCULLY enters the bathroom. A dead man lies in the overflowing tub. It is PRIVATE DUNHAM.)
SCULLY: Oh, God.
(SCULLY turns off the water, then turns to see PRIVATE MCALPIN stumble into the bathroom.)
MULDER: Scully? (enters bathroom holding gun on PRIVATE MCALPIN)
SCULLY: (relieved) Yeah.
MULDER: I found him wandering around outside. You all right?
SCULLY: Yeah. It's Dunham.
MULDER: When I found him. He had this in his hand.
(Shows her a bloody knife.)
SCENE 15
(MULDER and SCULLY interrogate MCALPIN back at the base. COLONEL WHARTON is also present.)
MULDER: Do you recall leaving the hospital?
PRIVATE MCALPIN: These past few days I don't recall much of anything... Except feeling real heavy like I?m asleep and I can't wake up.
MULDER: Do you remember killing Private Dunham?
PRIVATE MCALPIN: All I remember is being there seeing him in all that blood.
SCULLY: Why did you sign the confession?
COLONEL WHARTON: The Private asked and I apprised him of what you found at the crime scene.
PRIVATE MCALPIN: Who else might it have been?
MULDER: Colonel... Can we have a word outside?
(COLONEL WHARTON steps out of the cell with MULDER and SCULLY.)
MULDER: What exactly did you tell him?
COLONEL WHARTON: If you're suggesting that I coerced Private McAlpin...
MULDER: I need to know that he signed that confession voluntarily?
COLONEL WHARTON: Of course he did.
MULDER: Since his ? reappearance has Private McAlpin had any contact with Bauvais?
COLONEL WHARTON: Not to my knowledge.
MULDER: Well, we'd still like to speak with Bauvais.
COLONEL WHARTON: I'm afraid that's impossible.
MULDER: Why?
COLONEL WHARTON: (smug) Because he's dead. Last night he cut his wrists with a bedspring. I'll have the report sent to your motel along with the Private's confession. Since both matters are being handled internally I?ll assume your business here is finished.
(COLONEL WHARTON leaves. SCULLY rubs her head with a small moan. )
MULDER: What's wrong?
SCULLY: (holding her head) I'm fine. It's just a headache.
(MULDER?s phone rings. While he talks, SCULLY turns away and rubs her hand. She is NOT fine. )
MULDER: (on phone) Mulder. ??.. Okay, Mrs. McAlpin. We can be there in fifteen minutes.
SCENE 16
(MCALPIN house. MRS MCALPIN is very upset.)
MRS. MCALPIN: First I thought I lost him... As if that wasn't hard enough to deal with. Now they're saying he's killed Harry.
SCULLY: He said it himself. He signed a confession.
MRS. MCALPIN: I don't care. It doesn't make sense. Jack and Harry were friends.
MULDER: Mrs. McAlpin, you said on the telephone that Private Dunham came here last night. What did he want?
MRS. MCALPIN: He was on his way to see you.
MULDER: For what reason?
MRS. MCALPIN: He wouldn't tell me. He said if anything happened to him... (crosses to a drawer) I should give this to you. He told me not to open it.
(She hands them a sealed envelope. Off camera, we hear the baby crying )
MRS. MCALPIN: Luke's been in a mood since all this started. It's almost like he knows what's going on. I'll be right back.
(MRS. MCALPIN leaves the room to attend to the crying baby. MUDLER and SCULLY look at a black and white photo of soldiers in a tropical area.)
SCULLY: (looking at picture) That?s Bauvais. And Wharton? They must have known each other when Wharton served in Haiti.
MULDER: When in Rome ?
SCENE 17
(Night. COLONEL WHARTON?s office. MULDER and SCULLY enter the deserted office and begin looking around with a headlight on a stick. SCULLY finds a paper in the trashcan.)
SCULLY: Mulder ? Dunham and Guttierez both filed complaints against Colonel Wharton. They both cited incidents of abuse --- dates, times ?
(MULDER finds a set of dogtags in a trunk.)
MULDER: Scully ?. Look at this. Check out the name on the dogtags.
(Door opens. PRIVATE KITTEL interrupts their snooping and holds them at gunpoint.)
PRIVATE KITTEL: Come with me, please. Take the light out of my eyes.
MULDER: Where?s Wharton?
PRIVATE KITTEL: You?ll find out soon enough.
MULDER: He killed Bauvais. If you know anything about it you?ll be tried as an accessory to murder?
PRIVATE KITTEL: Shut up! Bauvais got what he deserved. After what he did to McAlpin and Guttierez?
SCULLY: It wasn?t Bauvais.
PRIVATE KITTEL: (unsure) What are you talking about?
SCULLY: Those men were about to testify against Colonel Wharton. He stopped them before they did.
MULDER: If you don?t believe us, look in the trunk.
(PRIVATE KITTEL does. Sees human bones.)
MULDER: (handing over dogtags) This is what?s left of Private Guttierez. Now where?s Bauvais? body?
PRIVATE KITTEL: We buried him ? this afternoon .. in the municipal graveyard.
SCENE 18
(Later, in graveyard. Night. Lots of candles surround gravesite. COLONEL WHARTON drags a coffin out of the ground.)
COLONEL WHARTON: (places knife on coffin, then sprinkles a powder around the coffin) Au nom de saints? et de la lune. Au nom de saints? et de la lune. Au nom de saints et des etoilles.
(MULDER and SCULLY arrive at the graveyard. SCULLY has her hands over her face as if in pain.)
MULDER: What is it, Scully?
SCULLY: I?m all right.
MULDER: You don?t look all right.
SCULLY: No, I?m fine. I?ll catch up with you. Just go get Wharton.
(MULDER nods, gets out of the car and heads across the graveyard. SCULLY watches him go then looks around herself nervously. She scratches her hand which is very swollen. She looks in the rearview mirror then begins gasping for air in terror. She looks back at her hand. A clear pus like fluid seeps out of the wound then a pair of men?s fingers push up through the wound. SCULLY screams weakly, and the man who approached her when she first arrived at the camp suddenly appears in the car with her and begins throttling her.)
(CUT TO: MULDER walking through graveyard toward COLONEL WHARTON who is making the symbol on the ground.)
MULDER: Federal Agent! Drop the knife, Wharton.
COLONEL WHARTON: (speaking Creole)
MULDER: Drop the knife!
(COLONEL WHARTON, still speaking Creole, begins to lower knife to the ground, but then suddenly stabs it into the earth. MULDER screams in pain and falls to the ground clutching his gut.)
MULDER: Ah!!!
(COLONEL WHARTON is startled to see BAUVAIS standing behind him.)
BAUVAIS: Ca qui fait mal, ce mal li we. He who does evil, evil he will see.
(BAUVAIS blows powder into WHARTON?s face. WHARTON screams and falls back.)
(CUT TO: Interior of car. SCULLY still being choked by the Haitian man who is speaking Creole to her. SCULLY desperately reaches for the charm hanging on the mirror. As soon as her fingers close around it, the man disappears. SCULLY looks down at the charm in her hand which is not hurt. She is startled by a cat?s meow. She looks up to see the black kitten on the hood of the car. Shaking, SCULLY gets out of the car. SCULLY runs to MULDER and helps him sit up.)
SCULLY: (breathing heavily) Mulder ?
MULDER: You?re okay?
SCULLY: I feel better than you look.
(They sit for a moment catching their breath and looking at each other.)
SCULLY: What happened?
MULDER: I don?t know.
(SCULLY looks at COLONEL WHARTON.)
SCULLY: He?s dead. Did you kill him?
MULDER: No. It was Bauvais.
(SCULLY opens the coffin and sees BAUVAIS, also dead, lying in it.)
SCENE 19
(Next day at the camp. Detainees are being loaded into trucks. MULDER and SCULLY arrive.)
SOLDIER: Here?s the passenger manifest you asked for.
SCULLY: Thank you.
SOLDIER: They?re petitioning to have Bauvais returned to Haiti.
MULDER: Too bad it has to be in a box.
SCULLY: Is this a complete list?
SOLDIER: As far as I know.
SCULLY: There was a boy. His name was Bonaparte. Chester Bonaparte?
SOLDIER: Poor kid. He died six weeks ago in that riot.
(Surprised, MULDER and SCULLY watch the soldier leave. They don?t look at each other.)
SCENE 20
(Graveyard, day. Dog stands over an open grave barking. GROUNDSKEEPER drives up in bulldozer to fill in the grave. Camera pans down to inside the casket in the ground as it is covered. COLONEL WHARTON is conscious and panicked as he realizes what is happening to him. He screams and beats on the casket, but there is no chance of him being overheard over the sound of the barking dog and the motor of the bulldozer. Fade to credits.)
[THE END]
No history.
