“The Walk” is episode seven of season three of The X-Files.
An Army doctor is in the Army Hospital Psychiatric Ward at Ft. Evanston, Maryland, speaking to a man in a bed. The man, Lt. Col. Stans, has tried to commit suicide three times in the past three weeks. The doctor thinks these are cries for help; if Stans wanted to kill himself, he could. Stans says that he won’t let him die; when asked who, who indicates his reflection.
When the doctor leaves, Stans does as well, heading to Hydrotherapy. Inside, he turns the temperature of the hydrotherapy bath up to boiling, because of course a bath intended to help patients can be heated up to potentially lethal levels. He puts some wights into his night clothes, then hears a voice telling him to stand down. The door unlocks and the fire alarm shatters. Stans starts climbing in anyway and, when a nurse comes in, jumps into the water. Firemen arrive and get Stans out. He looks rather dead. Except he isn’t. Stans says that he told them, he won’t let Stans die.
Three weeks alter and Mulder and Scully are interviewing an alive, but in very poor shape, Stans. They want to know about the figure he saw in the room during the accident, the one who saved his life. Stans says it wasn’t an accident and the figure looks like a soldier. The figure knows Stans’ name and tells him that his time has come. Then started taking away Stans’ life. Scully thinks he has classic PTSD. According to Stans, the mystery person killed his family, burned them alive, but won’t let Stans himself die.
A female captain interrupts. General Callahan wants them to suspend their investigation’ he’s Stans’ commanding officer. Protocol is that criminal investigations regarding military personnel are carried out through military channels. Scully isn’t going to submit easily. She wants to know who they should call if they want to investigate Callahan and wants to speak to the general. Telling the captain the general needs to make time. First, though, they are going to finish with Stans. In case he tries to kill himself again.
A man delivering mail overhears and heads to a room where there are amputees in wheelchairs. One, Leonard (Ian Tracey), is a quadruple amputee and ridicules the others for trying to act like normal people. The counsellor running the session says he knows how Leonard feels. Leonard wishes that he would lose all his limbs, so he’d really know. The calls for the mailman, Roach (Willie Garson), to take him away. They served together and Roach explains about the FBI.
Mulder and Scully get to meet the general. He’s apparently put in a complaint about their gross misconduct which will not go unaddressed. Scully hopes not. Stans’ file does not mention the death of his wife and two children three months ago. No arson investigation was done. There is also another soldier who also lost all his family in a fire six months ago. He, too, wanted to die but claimed someone wouldn’t let him. This man succeeded, though, throwing himself into a woodchipper in the hospital grounds.
After they leave, Scully tells Mulder that she thinks Callahan is protecting his men from prosecution for killing their families. Mulder, of course, does not. He asks why Stans would have left the one entrance to his room undefended when he was trying to kill himself.
The captain apologises to the general, and he tells it’s okay and to go home. After she leaves, he sees a reflection and someone telling him his time has come. When he turns around, there’s no-one there. His answerphone also starts acting up. The captain is heading to the gym to go swimming. In the pool, she sees a shadow following her. There’s no-one else in the pool, though. An invisible force grabs her and drowns her.
Scully checks the captain’s body, then goes to speak to the general. She confirms that it doesn’t seem accidental; there are bruises consistent with finger-marks. Mulder arrives and says that security saw no-one else. He asks if the general has a family, because they may be in danger. And if he’s had anything unusual happen. To Scully, Mulder tells her that military bases have good security, yet no-one saw or heard anything. Callahan comes over, and asks about the unusual experiences. And explains about the phone. It’s happened before, at his home.
Mail is delivered to the Callahans’ home, and the son sees someone grab some of it. The general, Mulder and Scully arrive, and his wife tells him what happened. Callahan has the tape of the call. He says the phone didn’t even ring. Scully sees someone in the garden. Roach stole the mail, and has taken it to Leonard. Stans overhears Leonard talking. It seems he may recognise the voice.
Despite being a quadruple amputee and having had some horrible things happen to him, Leonard ‘Rappo’ Trimble is a thoroughly unsympathetic character.