7ABX07 Orison

Marshall Daddo: Life without chance of parole, for the premeditated and sadistic sexual murders of five Twin Cities women in 1994. Donald Eddie Pfaster. You two put this man away.

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

Marshall Daddo: 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? Now, the circumstances of the escape...

Scully: I promise you there is nothing supernatural about this man. Donnie Pfaster is just plain evil.

---

Mulder: Case closed. Didn't look at the file, did you?

Scully: A man escaped from prison.

Mulder: 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: 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 neighbouring 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.

---

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: 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 intact hands]

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] Glory. Amen. [As Mulder raises and lowers his hand, Brigham raises and lowers his foot, his face alight with a rapturous smile] Glory. Amen. Glory. Amen.

---

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 behaviour prompted and manifested by suggestion in this case, a rhythmic motion of the hands producing a unconscious act in a conscious state. [He raises and lowers his hand in front of Scully] Doesn't work on you.

Scully: 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 hypnotise 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. Glory. Amen. Not god, the chaplain. Scully, what?

Scully: That song — can you hear that?

Mulder: Barely.

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

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

---

[Donald Pfaster is studying the waitress's bright red nails, when a prostitute slides into the booth across from him]

Blueberry: Looking for something to eat?

Donald Pfaster: Me?

Blueberry: How about today's special? [She shows off her body, but Donald Pfaster is more interested in her nails] You aren't a narc, are you?

Donald Pfaster: No.

Blueberry: You're looking at my hands.

Donald Pfaster: You need a buff and polish.

Blueberry: What are you? A freak?

Donald Pfaster: I... I just got out of prison.

Waitress: Hey, Missy. Leave the customers alone!

Donald Pfaster: I'll do it for free.

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

Donald Pfaster: I'll even do your cuticles.

Reverend Orison: You receive the Lord's grace and this is your thanks?

Donald Pfaster: What? [Reverend Orison is standing beside the booth]

Reverend Orison: Who do you think got you out of prison?

Donald Pfaster: 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. [Several police cars pull up outside]

Blueberry: Later. [She leaves]

Donald Pfaster: You called them on me.

Reverend Orison: No.

Donald Pfaster: Then do something.

Reverend Orison: I have a car.

Donald Pfaster: We aren't going to make it to the car.

Reverend Orison: It's within His power. Glory, amen. Glory, amen.

---

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.

Mulder: We got a call about a possible sighting of the suspect. Well, something happened here, huh?

Waitress: Guy got hit by a car.

Marshall Daddo: A prison chaplain, it turns out. A Reverend Orison. Paramedics took him to the hospital. He's in pretty bad shape.

[Scully hears the same song on the radio]

Scully: Excuse me, uh, could you turn that up, please? Yeah.

---

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: 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: It's not exactly a long shot, sir. [She fingers her cross]

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. 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 room]

Mulder: 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 Reverend Orison a photo of Blueberry, she is lying dead in a bloody bathtub]

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: 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?

---

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 happened?

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: I'm trying not to take offence.

Mulder: What did he say?

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: What?

Scully: 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: 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 6:06am. 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? Well, all right. Come with me, Scout. I'll show you how the Reverend talks to god.

---

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 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 judgement 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.

---

Lady in Red: Are you Donald?

Donald Pfaster: Yes.

Lady in Red: I'm from Tip-Top Gentlemen's Service. This isn't your place, is it?

Donald 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?

Donald Pfaster: No.

Lady in Red: Good. They always like the weirdest things. You know what I mean? You okay?

Donald Pfaster: Yes.

Lady in Red: Something you want to say?

Donald Pfaster: Love your hair.

---

Lady in Red: What are you doing?

Donald Pfaster: Is your hair chemically treated?

Lady in Red: My hair?

Donald Pfaster: I don't know which product to use.

Lady in Red: Look, 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.

Donald 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. [Donald Pfaster hands her a towel, but now that her hair is wet, notices that she has two hairlines]

Donald Pfaster: It's a wig. They lied to me. [He tears the wig off of her head] You lied to me!

---

Scully: Where did he go?

Mulder: Marshall? Marshall?

Marshall: What?

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

Mulder: He's gone, Scully, so's the Marshall's gun.

Scully: You didn't see him?

Mulder: Let's go, Scully. What is it?

Scully: What does this mean? [On the pad of paper from the bedside table 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.

---

Reverend Orison: Whosoever shedeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.

Donald Pfaster: What are you doing?

Reverend Orison: Taking you home. The wicked... will be punished.

---

[Reverend Orison is digging a grave, Donald 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. Are you sorry for what you've done?

Donald Pfaster: You...

Reverend Orison: What did you say?

Donald Pfaster: Never... No... No...

Reverend Orison: Why are you crying?

Donald 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.

Donald 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?

Donald Pfaster: No, Reverend. I cry for you. Because you cannot kill me.

---

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 Marshalls take over from here. Don't look any further, Scully.

---

Marshall Daddo: [talking to Mulder's answering machine] Agent Mulder, Marshall Joe Daddo in Marion. Just talked to a call girl who IDed 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.

---

Scully: Go back to hell!

Donald Pfaster: Who does your nails, girly girl?

Scully: 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!

Donald 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.

Donald Pfaster: I'm going to run you a bath.

---

Mulder: If you want to pack some things, we can get out of here. You can't judge yourself.

Scully: Maybe I don't have to.

Mulder: The Bible allows for vengeance.

Scully: But the law doesn't.

Mulder: 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?