Lieutenant Colonel Victor Stans locks himself inside a rehabilitation room at an army
hospital intent on committing suicide. The water temperature of a whirlpool tub is raised to
the boiling point, and Stans approaches, ready to throw himself in. As a disembodied voice
speaks to Stans, glass on an alarm box smashes, and the deadbolt lock to the rehab room
door slides open, as if moved by an invisible force. Stans throws himself into the scalding
tub, but he is quickly rescued by a nurse and firemen.
Mulder and Scully focus their attention on the case. Stans tells them a sort of phantom
soldier, whom he’s never seen clearly, killed his wife and child, and now wishes to see him
suffer by not letting him take his own life. The agents are approached by Army Captain Janet
Draper, who requests a suspension of whatever investigation the F.B.I. has begun. Protocol
requires any criminal investigation of military personnel to be conducted through military
channels and the superior officer.
Mulder and Scully turn to General Callahan, who accuses them of gross misconduct and
labels Stans’ misfortune a tragic accident. But Scully notes a similar case involving Staff
Sergeant Kevin Aiklen, who also served with Callahan in the Gulf War. Aiklen claimed he,
too, was prevented from killing himself by an unseen force after his family died in a tragic
“accident.” After the agents leave, Callahan is visited by the phantom soldier, who appears
in the reflection of a window. Shortly thereafter, Draper is drowned when water from a
swimming pool assumes human form and attacks her.
Mulder warns Callahan that if the pattern is at all consistent, his family may be in great
danger. Callahan reluctantly admits he was visited by the phantom soldier the previous
night. When Callahan returns home, his wife describes how their son Trevor saw a stranger
inside the house. Scully notices someone inside the Callahan’s backyard, but he escapes. A
fingerprint check leads the agents to Quentin Freely, nicknamed Roach. He is charged with
murder. A search of Roach’s apartment turns up mail from each of the victim’s homes.
Shortly thereafter, as a military MP stands guard, sand from a sandbox takes human form
and attacks Trevor, killing him.
During interrogation, Roach claims he is merely the “mailman” for a fellow vet named
Leonard Trimble, nicknamed Rappo. The agents rush to the army hospital, where they are
told Rappo is a quadruple amputee. When Mulder and Scully return to Roach’s cell, they find
his dead body, a bed sheet stuffed down his throat. Mulder suspects that Rappo is capable
of astral projection-the ability to leave his own body and travel virtually anywhere. Before
Callahan and his wife can pack up their belongings and leave, Mrs. Callahan is murdered.
Despondent, Callahan seeks out Stans. He pulls out a gun and attempts to shoot himself, but
the gun will not fire. Stans insists he knows the identity of the killer. Callahan enters Rappo’s
room at the hospital. After conversing with the amputee, Callahan decides not to kill him.
As Callahan attempts to leave the hospital, steam pipes in the sub-basement rupture.
Callahan is engulfed by the hissing steam, from which emerges the phantom soldier. Mulder
comes to the general’s aid, but he, too, is attacked by the force. Meanwhile, Stans gains
access to Rappo’s room. He locks the door, and using a pillow, smothers the amputee,
killing him. Back in the sub-basement, the invisible force dissipates.
THE X-FILES “THE WALK”
#3X07
Original Air Date: 11/10/95
Written by JOHN SHIBAN
Directed by ROB BOWMAN
Starring:
DAVID DUCHOVNY as Special Agent Fox Mulder
GILLIAN ANDERSON as Special Agent Dana Scully
Also Starring:
DERYL HAYES as Army Doctor
DON THOMPSON as Lt. Col. Stans
BEATRICE ZEILINGER as the Burly Nurse
NANCY SOREL as Capt. Draper
THOMAS KOPACHE as Gen. Callahan
WILLIE GARSON as Quinton “Roach” Freely
IAN TRACEY as Sgt. “Rappo” Trimble
ROB LEE as the Amputee
PAT BERMEL as the Therapist
BRENNAN KOTOWICH as Trevor Callahan
ANDREA BARCLAY as Mrs. Callahan
PAUL DICKSON as the Uniformed Guard
PAULA SHAW as the Ward Nurse
D. HARLAN CUTSHALL as the Guard