X-Files 2x14 The Hand that Wounds (part 2)

Sorry for the bloody beginning! Part 1 is here.

HUMAN HEART AND EYES IN MRS PADDOCK' DRAWER

SCULLY: Take a look at this. I found this on the Internet "The discovery yesterday of a mutilated teenaged boy in the forest has police officials distressed about the possibility of a conspiratorial organization of Dark Forces."
MULDER: Where's that pulled from -- the local paper?
SCULLY: (READING) "The Jew is known to remove organs and sacrifice teens in their religious ceremonies". (TO MULDER) It's taken from "Volkischer Beobacter", a Nazi newspaper in 1934. The rumours are the same, but the blanks have been filled in with whoever must be feared or persecuted at the time. In this case, it's occultists.

MULDER CROUCHES DOWN BY THE DESK, LOOKS AT HER SERIOUSLY.
MULDER: Modern witches, known as Wicca, are a religion. They have a great reverence for all life in Nature, they do not cast harmful spells, they don't worship Satan. Even the Church of Satan has renounced murder and torture. Their influence here wouldn't account for the frogs, or the water draining backwards, or most importantly, the murder.

SCULLY: Well, if not witches, then what?

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MRS PADDOCK IS WHEELING AROUND A TROLLEY HOLDING A LARGE GLASS TANK FILLED WITH WHAT LOOKS LIKE DEAD PIGLETS. SHE IS DOLING THEM OUT TO THE STUDENTS AS SHE GOES.

PADDOCK: For your final examination, one-half of your grade will be based on your diagram of a dissected pig embryo. (SHE HANDS ONE TO SHANNON AUSBURY, WHO LOOKS AT IT WITH SOME REVULSION. THE BOY NEXT TO SHANNON LOOKS AT IT UNEASILY, THEN BACK AT SHANNON WHO LOOKS FAINTLY ILL) Be sure to remove the heart and lungs and draw a diagram of each. Be neat. (MRS PADDOCK STOPS HER TROLLEY BY A GLASS TANK CONTAINING A HUGE SNAKE. SHE OPENS THE LID AND TOSSES IN A DEAD HOG AS SHE TALKS) Extra credit will be given for dissecting the heart. (WE HEAR STUDENT GROANS IN BACKGROUND. SHE SMILES AT THE SNAKE, THEN CROSSES TO THE FRONT OF THE ROOM) You have until the end of the period.

SHANNON NODS, CAN'T TAKE HER EYES OFF THE HOG, CLOSES HER EYES AS WE HEAR THE SQUELCHY SOUND OF IT BEING CUT OPEN. CUT TO CU OF THE EMBRYO WITH ITS GUTS SHOWING. CUT BACK TO ECU ON SHANNON, SWEATING, HER EYES START OPEN, SHE GASPS, MAKES OTHER NOISE OF DISTRESS.
CUT BACK TO SHANNON, OBVIOUSLY VERY DISTRESSED. ECU ON EMBRYO HEART, WHICH BEATS. ECU ON SHANNON, WHO IS GASPING AS IF SHE CANNOT BREATHE. CU ON THE EMBRYO, WHICH MOVES ITS HEAD FROM SIDE TO SIDE. WE HEAR A SQUEAL WHICH TURNS INTO SHANNON (IN CU) SCREAMING. BRIEF SHOT OF OTHER KIDS IN THE CLASS, STARTLED, LOOKING ROUND. BACK TO SHANNON, WHO SCREAMS AGAIN AND AGAIN.
PADDOCK, LOOKING ON DISPASSIONATELY... KNOWING LOOK ON HER FACE.
SHANNON RUNS DOWN THE HALL, SOBBING WILDLY. MULDER RUNS AFTER HER.

MULDER: Shannon! You're remembering! (SHANNON SLOWS, HALTS JUST PAST THE DRINKING FOUNTAIN. SHE IS CRYING AGAIN, BUT MORE CONTROLLED THIS TIME. MULDER WALKS SLOWLY TOWARD HER, VERY CONCERNED. HE SAYS SOFTLY) Tell me what you're remembering.

18. EXT. DAY. BENCHES OUTSIDE SCHOOL, AWAY FROM THE MAIN BUILDING

SHANNON IS SITTING HUDDLED ON ONE SET OF BENCHES, FACING A VERY CONCERNED SCULLY SITTING OPPOSITE HER. MULDER STANDS BY SCULLY'S SIDE. SHANNON'S CRYING AND DISTRESS ESCALATES DURING THE SCENE; SHE HAS TROUBLE SPEAKING, THIS IS VERY HARD FOR HER. SHE IS CLEARLY FINDING THIS VERY PAINFUL.
SHANNON: (SOBBING, HALTINGLY) You know who my stepdad is, right? (MULDER AND SCULLY NOD) Jim Ausbury on the PTC. (DEEP BREATH). All right, well, my Mom, she's a teacher. Well, was a teacher. My real Dad, he uh, he ran away, and my Mom met Jim at some seminar or something. and they um, they got married. My sister and I moved up here when I was about. um, four. She was about two. Anyway. (OVER SHOT OF SCULLY, VERY CONCERNED, LISTENING) . A, a couple of weeks ago, my class, we took a field trip to what they call the American Stonehenge. I remembered when I was four years old, Jim took me in his car near there, and he um he made me, in the back seat. (MULDER AND SCULLY EXCHANGE GLANCES; SHANNON'S DISTRESS INCREASING) he told me that if I ever told anybody that he would hurt me. As he touched me, well, I would pretend that I was like, out of my body. Deep in the ocean, down with the fish, in the dark water. Somehow, I don't know, I managed to block out all these things, but lately it's all been, I'm remembering, you know? The others too.

SCULLY: Others? MULDER LOOKS QUICKLY AT HER, THEN BACK TO SHANNON

SHANNON: Yeah. Men and women. They would. come to the house, you know, when my Mom was away? And they would.. uh take me down to the basement. It was really dark. it was like painted red, with a dirt floor. They would wear these robes, black and red and they would sing and they would chant, and then they would tie me and my sister up, these men and women. they would make us do things. They called me a breeder! (RENEWED TEARS) They would get me pregnant, and then they would kill the babies. (SCULLY LOOKS AT MULDER, HER EXPRESSION UNREADABLE) I've had three children, and they're all buried in the cellar. (MULDER LOWERS HIS EYES) One night, Jim murdered my sister for a sacrifice. She was only eight years old! He told everybody that she died in an accident. (SCULLY MOVES TO SIT BESIDE HER; MULDER NOW LOOKS PAINED, THE STORY HAS TOUCHED A NERVE IN HIM) .Today brought it all back, clear like it happened yesterday.

SHE MOVES TOWARD SCULLY, WHO HOLDS HER AS SHE GOES INTO A FRESH BURST OF SOBBING.

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MULDER TO AUSBURY: Even the Devil can quote scripture to fit his needs.

AUSBURY TURNS AND SEES WHAT MULDER IS DOING. THE DOOR SLAMS SHUT BY ITSELF, STARTLING MULDER. AUSBURY DOESN'T SEEM TO NOTICE. HE IS FURIOUS, SHOUTING.

AUSBURY: How dare you! Get out of our house! (GESTURES ABRUPTLY). As far as I know, you put those ideas in my daughter's head. Now get -- out! (MULDER, LOOKING LESS CERTAIN THAN BEFORE, MOVES TO LEAVE. AUSBURY WATCHES HIM GO) The Devil travels in many forms. And you may be one!

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SHANNON RETAKES THE PIG DISSECTION EXAM BUT MRS PADDOCK DOES A RITUAL USING A CANDLE TO BURN HER HAND TO FOCUS, MAKING SHANNON CUT HER WRISTS.

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AUSBURY, DEBORAH, VITARIS AND CALCAGNI ARE STANDING IN THE RAIN, HUDDLED UNDER UMBRELLAS, WATCHING THE POLICE CARS AND OTHER ACTIVITY NEAR THE SCHOOL.
DEBORAH: I feel a dark angel is amongst us. It wants a sacrifice.
VITARIS: (INCREDULOUSLY) It's been years since we've done that.
CALCAGNI: Exactly. Exactly. We haven't kept our faith.
AUSBURY: (SHAKEN, ANGRY) Are any of you... responsible ... for my daughter? (HE DOES NOT LOOK AT THEM AS HE ASKS)
CALCAGNI: We all are. (AUSBURY LOOKS SHARPLY AT HIM) She was sacrificed... (HE LOOKS INTENTLY AT EACH OTHER MEMBER OF THE GROUP AS HE SPEAKS) ...for us. It's a portent. Shannon's death allows us to get rid of the police, the FBI... it can all be blamed on her. (AUSBURY IS SPEECHLESS)
DEBORAH: Jim. You tell them she had a thing for Jerry Stevens. She killed him out of jealousy.
VITARIS: (SLOWLY, AS IF THINKING IT OUT AS HE SPEAKS) She cut out his eyes, because she couldn't stand to have him look at another girl. And his heart, because she was heartbroken. (AUSBURY IS STONE-FACED)
CALCAGNI: When they leave, and they're gone, we must rekindle our faith rather than lose it.

LIGHTNING FLASHES, ILLUMINATING AUSBURY. THUNDER AS HE TURNS AND STARES AT THE OTHERS.

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AUSBURY: My religion, my family, Agent Mulder, goes back in this town seven generations. They fled persecution from people being persecuted, all in the name of religion. (SAID WITH DISTASTE. HE TURNS TO FACE MULDER) I was raised to believe Christianity was synonymous with hypocrisy. Man's natural tendency was to

do as thou wilst,

not do unto others. (HE WALKS SLOWLY PAST MULDER. MULDER TURNS, WATCHING HIM) We believe man is nothing but an animal, no better, no worse, than those who walk on four legs. And though I believed our faith kept us powerful in the community, wealthy, good health, I came to see hypocrisy in the others. (HE TURNS TO LOOK AT MULDER) In me. (EMPHATICALLY) When they told me to blame my dead daughter for Jerry Stevens' death, my reaction... I was sick that they would villify an innocent... someone I loved... (BECOMING EMOTIONAL) just to protect themselves. And at that moment, I knew... I am better than an animal! That my previous beliefs were responsible for her no longer being with us. And that it was time to talk to you.

MULDER NODS SYMPATHETICALLY.

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LIGHTNING, THUNDER. PADDOCK IS IN ANIMALISTIC GROANING MODE AGAIN, HOLDING SCULLY'S PEN OVER THE CANDLE. (WHICH CAUSES MULDER TO THINK HE GOT A PHONE CALL FROM SCULLY TO GET AWAY FROM AUSBURY)

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AUSBURY, SITTING ON THE FLOOR NEXT TO THE STAIRS, IS CRYING. HE IS THE PICTURE OF DESPAIR. THE CAMERA PANS UP HIS CUFFED ARM TO THE TOP OF THE STAIRS. CUT TO CU OF THE BOLT, WHICH SUDDENLY SLIDES OPEN. MCU OF THE DOOR CREAKING QUIETLY OPEN; THERE IS NOBODY THERE. AUSBURY DOES NOT NOTICE.
THE SNAKE FROM THE LAB SLIDES INTO VIEW AND STARTS MAKING ITS WAY DOWN THE STAIRS. WE FOLLOW IT DOWN, WATCHING PAST AUSBURY WHO REMAINS UNAWARE OF IT UNTIL IT SLIDES OVER HIS RIGHT SHOULDER AND AROUND HIS NECK. HE YELLS IN FRIGHT AND TRIES TO SHAKE IT OFF, BUT IT WINDS AROUND AND AROUND HIS NECK AND BODY. WE SEE HIM TRYING TO PULL IT OFF, THEN HEAR HIM STARTING TO CHOKE; FAINT CRACKING SOUNDS CAN BE HEARD, IMPLYING HIS BONES BEING CRUSHED.

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54. INT. NIGHT. CELLAR, AUSBURY RESIDENCE

CU OF HANDCUFFS, STILL ATTACHED TO THE BANNISTER BUT NOW EMPTY. AUSBURY HAS VANISHED. MULDER AND SCULLY REACH THE CELLAR FLOOR AND SHINE THEIR LIGHTS AROUND. MULDER'S LIGHT PICKS OUT A CRUSHED AND BLOODY SKELETON, FOLDED IN ON ITSELF, ABOUT A METRE AWAY. THEY GO OVER TO IT, BOTH CROUCH DOWN.
SCULLY: My God. (FASCINATED) You think that's some kind of acid?
MULDER TURNS, SHINES HIS TORCH ON THE STAIR POSTS.
MULDER: There's no evidence of any reaction of the wood from the acid. (HE TURNS BACK) There are tracks in the dirt... they're from a snake.
SCULLY: (BRUSHING HAIR BACK, DISBELIEF) That's impossible! It would take a large python hours to consume and weeks to digest a human being.
MULDER: You really do watch the Learning Channel. (HE GETS UP, GOES TO PICK SOMETHING UP FROM THE FLOOR. HE HOLDS IT UP, PLAYING HIS TORCH OVER IT) Scully. (SHE TURNS TO LOOK) Snakeskin.
SCULLY: (PAUSES BRIEFLY) There's a python in Paddock's room.

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VITARIS: (MATTER OF FACTLY) Sheriff Oakes called me. Jim Ausbury is dead. He was talking to the FBI.
DEBORAH: (IMPASSIVE) Did they kill him?
CALCAGNI: (SEEMS JUST SLIGHTLY AGITATED, BUT IN CONTROL) You know who killed him. Ausbury was no believer. He had no real faith, no devotion. He was punished for his doubts. (HE LOOKS BETWEEN THEM) We have to act. Or the same thing will happen to us. If it's not already too late.
DEBORAH: (SWALLOWING -- SHE LOOKS RATTLED FOR THE FIRST TIME) We have to assume Jim told them who we are.
CALCAGNI: (CALM, RATIONAL) If Mulder knows, it will make the offering all the more meaningful.

THEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER. A FAINT MOTOR NOISE OUTSIDE IS HEARD. DEBORAH CROSSES TO THE WINDOW AND LOOKS OUT. WE SEE HER POV: MULDER AND SCULLY'S CAR ARRIVING.

DEBORAH: They're here. (VITARIS BLOWS OUT THE CANDLES. CALCAGNI CROSSES TO THE DOOR, DEBORAH AND VITARIS FOLLOW HIM. CALCAGNI OPENS THE DOOR) Lock the office.

CALCAGNI FEELS AROUND IN HIS JACKET.

CALCAGNI: No keys. (SLIGHT NOTE OF PANIC) They were in my pocket!

LATER WHEN MULDER AND SCULLY ARE TAKEN BY THE GROUP...

59. INT. NIGHT. CROWLEY HIGH SCHOOL GYMNASIUM SHOWERS
CALCAGNI TURNS THE WATER ON IN TWO STALLS. WATER FLOWS OUT FULL-BORE; MULDER AND SCULLY, LYING ON THE TILES, COUGH AND SPLUTTER AS IT HITS THEM. MULDER IS BLEEDING FROM A HEAD WOUND.
CALCAGNI: It'll make the blood easier to clean up.

SHOT OF DEBORAH AND VITARIS LOOKING DOWN AT THE AGENTS. DEBORAH RAISES HER HANDS TO EYE LEVEL. SHE IS CLASPING A LARGE, CEREMONIAL, DAGGER.

DEBORAH: Dominus Inferus Vobisum!

CALCAGNI/VITARIS: Et conferum (?)

THEY SHINE THEIR TORCHES ON MULDER AND SCULLY. DEBORAH MOVES OVER TO MULDER AND KNEELS. SHE RAISES THE DAGGER HIGHER, PREPARING TO STRIKE. WE HEAR THE SHOTGUN BEING COCKED IN THE BACKGROUND.
DEBORAH: Seine ist die hand die verletzt.
(PAUL RAISES THE GUN AND AIMS IT)
Forum duba(?). (SHE BRINGS THE DAGGER DOWN SHARPLY. WE HEAR A SHOT)

CALCAGNI CRACKS OPEN THE GUN AND THE SPENT CARTRIDGES POP OUT ONTO THE FLOOR. HE REACHES INTO HIS POCKET FOR MORE AMMUNITION. HE IS STARING FIXEDLY DOWNWARDS. CUT TO MULDER AND SCULLY, BOTH STILL ALIVE, STRUGGLING, TURNING TO LOOK UP AT HIM. BACK TO CALCAGNI, WHO RAISES THE GUN, UP, UP UNTIL IT IS POINTING AT HIS OWN HEAD. CUT TO MULDER AND SCULLY, WHO EXCLAIM IN HORROR AND LOOK AWAY. A FLASH, A SHOT RINGS OUT.

63. INT. NIGHT. PADDOCK'S OFFICE
CU OF A SET OF KEYS DROPPING ONTO THE DESK. CU PADDOCK THROUGH THE CANDLE FLAME.
PADDOCK: You're right. It is already too late. SHE BLOWS OUT THE CANDLE

MULDER AND SCULLY ARE STRUGGLING TO GET FREE.

SCULLY: Oh God... Mulder, did you see his face? (HE NODS, SHE CAN'T SEE HIM) It was as if something else had control of him.
MULDER: Paddock.

65. INT. NIGHT. SCIENCE LAB

MULDER AND SCULLY, NOW FREE, SOAKED, COME INTO THE LAB, LOOKING AROUND.
SCULLY: Mrs Paddock? (MULDER WALKS TO WHERE THEY LEFT HER. THERE IS NO SIGN OF HER, ONLY THEIR COATS) Mulder.
MULDER GOES OVER TO HER. SHE IS AT THE BLACKBOARD. MULDER SHINES HIS TORCH WHERE SHE IS LOOKING. THERE IS WRITING ON THE BOARD. WE PAN WITH THE LIGHT ALONG THE WORDS... "Goodbye. It's been nice working with you."
MULDER AND SCULLY LOOK AT EACH OTHER. THE POWER SUDDENLY RETURNS. THEY SWITCH OFF THEIR TORCHES AND LOOK AROUND THE ROOM, WHICH IS A MESS, STOOLS, RACKS ETC KNOCKED OVER, EQUIPMENT SMASHED AND BROKEN. THEY TURN BACK TO THE BOARD, THEN BACK TO EACH OTHER. FADE TO BLACK.