DETOUR

     However, I must remind you, this goes against the Bureau's policy of male and female

        agents consorting in the same motel room while on assignment.

Two men are surveying an area of the Apalachicola National Forest in Leon County, Florida when they are attacked and killed by unseen assailants with glowing red eyes. Later that day, Michael Asekoff and his son, Louis, are hunting for opossums with their dog, Bo, in the same stretch of woods. Upon discovering a surveyor's bloody jacket, the father orders his son to take the dog and run home. As the son and dog take off, two shots are heard.

Meanwhile, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are carpooling with FBI agents Michael Kinsley and Carla Stonecypher en route to a "team building" seminar. When they are stopped at a roadblock by local police, Mulder decides to investigate. As he and Scully venture into the woods, they are informed by Officer Michele Fazekas that no conclusive evidence has been found to support Louis' report of a shooting. Mulder sees this as a perfect opportunity to ditch the seminar. Later, Mulder explains to Scully that no species native to North America will attack a stronger member of its prey when there is a weaker target available.

At the Asekoff residence, Bo becomes upset and begins barking. Mrs. Asekoff lets him outside but when she attempts to retrieve him, the dog refuses to budge. She turns around to discover that her door has been bolted from the inside. Louis hears his mother's screams and climbs out of bed, but a dark, shadowy figure with red eyes corners him. Louis barely escapes through the dog door and runs into Mulder, informing him that the creature is in the house. The next morning, Mulder shows Scully some tracks outside the house that appear to be human. Based on the weight distribution, however, the assailant evidently travels on the balls of its feet rather than from heel to toe. Additionally, that the creature lured Louis' mother out of the house in order to get to him suggests to Mulder that the creatures are paranormal in nature.

Jeff Glaser, a local technician armed with a FLIR device, joins Fazekas, Mulder, and Scully on a search for the creature. They soon spot two creatures on the FLIR which travel in separate directions, causing the four to split up. Fazekas is attacked and disappears. Mulder deduces from this that the creatures may be related to cryptids such as the Mothman. After a brief encounter with the creatures, Glaser takes off running and is swiftly killed by one of them. Mulder is grabbed by the other creature, though it releases him after Scully manages to wound it with her firearm.

The next morning, Scully falls through a hole into an underground chamber where the bodies of their missing companions are stored. Spotting a pair of red eyes, Scully realizes she does not have her firearm with her. Mulder drops his down to her as the bushes behind him begin to rustle. He jumps in the hole as Scully shoots the creature and kills it. As they examine the dead creature, they notice its almost human-like features and wood-like skin. Nearby, the words "Ad Noctum", Latin for "into darkness", are found carved into a tree trunk. Mulder, Scully, Asekoff, and Fazekas are rescued, but there is no sign of Glaser or the other creature.

Upon leaving the forest, Mulder states that the creature may, in fact, be an evolved version of the first Spanish conquistadors who had first settled in the forest 450 years before. Although Kinsley finds this idea ridiculous, Mulder believes that centuries of seclusion could be adequate for such drastic adaptations to happen. Afterwards, Mulder realizes that the creatures presume others' presence in their territory as threatening and rushes to the hotel room where Scully is packing her things. After ascertaining that she is finished packing, he firmly urges her to vacate the room, which she does. As Mulder closes the door behind them, the camera then pans under the bed where a pair of red eyes open

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