“Drive” is episode two of season six of The X-Files.
A new helicopter is following a police chase. A man is driving a car and a woman, apparently his hostage, is in the back seat. She seems to be hearing a painful noise. The police deploy a stinger, bringing the car to a halt and the driver is dragged out. The woman is placed in the back of a police car, where she starts banging her head against the window. Then blood explodes all over the window.
Mulder and Scully are in Bude, Idaho, tracking down fertiliser purchases when Mulder notices the article on the news about the car chase. Outside, Scully finds him offering their services to the police. Scully doesn’t want to go to Nevada; like it or not, this is the job they’ve been given and the only way they have a chance of getting back into the work they were doing is following orders. Scully thinks the woman died of a gunshot; according to Mulder, the police captain said she just sort of popped. And the man who took her hostage was her husband, who looks like he was trying to warn the cops before he died. They’ll be in and out in a day.
In Elko, Nevada, the driver is locked up. Blood starts trickling from his nose, then it seems he starts hearing a sound. He panics and calls for help.
Captain Van Gelder is telling Mulder and Scully that the driver, Crump, had a fit in his cell, saying the police were going to kill him like they killed his wife. A doctor is seeing Crump now; after what happened to the wife, they don’t want to take chances. Crump has no history of mental illness nor a record until now. He pulled a teenager out of the car and drove off. Scully wants to take a look at Mrs Crump. Mulder will stay and see if he can talk to Crump. He looks at the map and talks to the captain about where Crump went. Crump headed to the Utah border then, for some reason, doubled back on himself.
The coroner tells Scully this is a new one on her. The side of Mrs Crump’s head is blown out and there’s no entry wound. Only an exit wound. The coroner says it’s as if a little bomb went off in her ear. Scully prods inside the wound, then something explodes, splashing her gown in blood. She probably wishes she wore a face mask now.
Crump is now being taken to hospital in an ambulance. Mulder follows in his car. Crump starts getting better in the ambulance, then Mulder sees it start to swerve then come to a stop. Then Crump comes out with the gun of the cop who was in it.
Scully calls Mulder – the lab is now quarantined – and tells him that they need to assume it’s communicable. There’s another body with the same apparent cause of dead. The CDC has been called and Crump may be infected. He needs to be quarantined in his cell and so does anyone who has been in close contact with him. Mulder needs to have no contact with him whatsoever. Mulder tells her that many be a little tough, then hands the phone to Crump who is in the backseat with a gun trained on him. Police cars are following.
Scully talks to the captain via her mobile and he fills her in. CDC needs to be onsite when Crump is stopped and the car decontaminated and Mulder and Crump the same then quarantined separately. Then an officer speaks to the captain. Crump has threatened to kill Mulder if the police don’t pull back. So, they do.
Crump is in pain and when the car comes to a junction and slows down, he starts to panic as the pain gets worse. Mulder pulls off; it seems Crump gets better as they go faster. Crump says if they stop moving, he dies. Mulder thinks he’s seen this movie. Crump’s life is in Mulder’s hands, so he should tell him everything. Crump blames the government. Mulder tells him to shut up; there will be a roadblock 2-3 miles ahead and there’s a helicopter keeping watch.
The captain tells Scully that they’ve lost Mulder and Crump; the car drove into heavy trees. He’d hoped Mulder would steer Crump towards the roadblock. Scully wonders if Mulder steered him away; perhaps Mulder knows something they don’t. There’s no evidence of infection in either victim.
Kersh checks up on them; he knows they are not doing their job. He will assign agents from the Las Vegas field office to help because at this point, he probably wants to see Mulder alive more than Scully. Crump definitely gets worse as they slow down, and direction seems important as well. He’s also not terribly likeable, though he does get better, and Mulder is a hostage with a definite attitude.