PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal (1996–2000): Season 2, Episode 6 - Devolution - full transcript

These stories are inspired
by the actual case files

of the Office of Scientific
Investigation and Research.

Hey, Garfield!

Did you get the door?

I have a hard enough time
sleeping during the day.

It's not normal.

Well, normal is a relative term.

You see, if I'm in bed before sunrise,

then normal is the last thing that I feel.

Hey, Greg.

Nice knowing you.



What are you thinking,
that she might try to make a run for it?

She's still a convict,
whatever shape she's in.

How long are you going to keep
her on life support system anyway?

Till the morning.

And then it's down to the
OR for a cornea donation.

Sad.

Somebody's going to get her eyes.

Ugh, they're different colors.

Knock it off.

I'd rather stay blind.

Were you ever awake even
long enough to talk to her?

Oh yeah, she was a real nice lady.

Who happened to have killed a cop.

All done, Lucy?



No, there is something to be said
for giving people a second chance.

Tell you what, when my shift's over,

why don't you and me drop by the
graveyard and make a fresh start?

I'd like that.

Sweet dreams, cowboy.

Freaky.

Fire !

The process of evolution involves the gradual
adaptation of a life form to its environment.

Consider, however, this process
being reversed and then accelerated.

In case file 567-212,

OSIR investigators encountered a phenomenon
which radically defied the laws of nature.

The victim's a 60-year-old woman,
Grey Callwood.

She was an inmate recently transferred here

from the Flat Rock Correctional
Facility for Women.

Why was she behind bars?

She was serving a life sentence
without the possibility of parole

for the murder of a
police officer in 1975.

She's in the secured
wing of the hospital.

But Callwood was 60 years old.
Was she considered dangerous?

They were just following federal regulations,
so her room was under 24-hour surveillance.

A guard, Tim Bailey,
was injured during the attack.

Some security.

When a killer gains access into her room,

slaughters her, then disappears
virtually without a trace.

I've never been very comfortable
in the sight of blood.

Well, as long as it's not my own,
I always say.

I'm Matt Prager, OSIR.

Ed Bain, St. James Hospital.

Lindsay Donner.

Thank you so much for
coming so promptly.

Is this Grey Callwood's room?

Yes.

It's a shame, really.

She had a sweet disposition,
you know.

For a cop killer.

Why was she here?

Hepatitis C and consequent liver failure.

Shortly after she was admitted, she suffered
a stroke and she slipped into a coma.

We put her on life support,
but she never really rallied.

She never regained consciousness.

Did she have any visitors last night?

No.

Grey was one of the forgotten people.

The only one who paid her any mind
was Lucy, the attending nurse.

What about next of kin?

She has a daughter, Mary.

She signed the forms to give us
permission to remove Grey's life support.

That must have been a
difficult decision for her.

I don't think so.

She never even looked
in on her mother.

Here are Grey's personal effects.

Will, all the articles
on the manifest are here.

Bible, clothes, eyeglasses.

Well, that's a show for life.

Mr. Baines, we're going to need to
see Grey Callwood's medical records.

Of course.

Anything we can do to help.

So...

No one entered the room
prior to the attack.

Not other than the attending
nurse and the guard.

But someone left afterwards.

What about the guard?

He's upstairs,
recovering from a mild concussion.

Why don't you talk to him,
see if you can jog his memory?

I'll contact the nurse, too.

Oh, and, uh...

Let's get copies of the surveillance video.

Right.

Thanks.

Tell me about Grey's anatomy.

Well, whatever ripped her apart,
took everything but the skin.

Organs, muscle tissue, blood,
skeleton, whole ball of wax.

Takes the litter,
but leaves the envelope.

Why?

This is interesting.

Her toxins in the victims remains
consistent with her original liver disease.

Pete, this woman was not only gutted
and consumed, she was burned to a crisp.

There's no scorching
anywhere else in the room.

This might not be an attack.

Spontaneous human combustion has been known
to generate this kind of internal heat.

What about the bloody footprints?

No.

This woman was murdered.

That's mine.

Excuse me?

The Baines guy told me these
things were my mom's. Do you mind?

No, no, not at all.

I'm Lindsay Donner.

I'm working with the hospital trying to
find out what happened to your mother.

Are you aware of how she died?

Yeah, she was attacked or something.

What are you,
some kind of reporter?

No, I'm an investigator with the Office
of Scientific Investigation and Research.

Are you aware of anyone who might
have wanted your mother dead?

- Besides me?
- I beg your pardon?

Look, my mom made a choice when she got
involved with the killing of that cop.

It's a choice that has
affected me all my life.

But if your mother was murdered, wouldn't
you want to know who was responsible?

My mother's dead.

She's always been dead
as far as I'm concerned.

Gee, it's been really great
talking about the good old days,

but I think I've got to go to work.

Nice meeting you.

How the hell did that get up there?

Beats me.

The incident was obviously violent.

What about the victim's blood?

There's no spray pattern per se.

And there's hardly any on
the floor or the ceiling.

I suppose it could have boiled
off given the extreme heat, but...

Nah.

Which is a lot of residue.

Yeah.

Something doesn't add up.

I spoke to the guard.

There's not much to tell.

He was overpowered from behind.

He didn't see his attacker.

There's not a lot of
places to hide in here.

Have you tracked down
the nurse on duty?

No, not yet.

But I did find something interesting.

Her name.

Lucy Westenra.

Should that tell us something?

In Bram Stoker's novel,

Lucy Westenra was Dracula's
first English victim.

This is Lucy's locker.

Elvira, eat your heart out.

Is this Lucy?

Yes.

What's this about?

We need to talk to
this woman right away.

The pentagram club.

If Lucy leads an unconventional lifestyle
in her own time, that's her business.

She's a terrific nurse and her work
in this hospital has been outstanding.

So where is she?

She's off until Thursday.

Is there a problem here?

I'm beginning to think Lucy's
connected to Grey Conwood's death.

Let's make some discreet inquiries.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I talked to Lucy.
She'll be here.

No!

Sacrifice goes with schedule.

Hang on, hang on.

Not to worry.

Everything is ready.

I think it's all a part
of a role-playing game.

Lucy Westenra is involved
in a subculture called Goth.

They're a community of...

Post-punk pagans.

They're into black dye,
tight corsets and crashing funerals.

Attitude and appearance
are a part of it,

but more significant are the Goth
culture's thanatological underpinnings.

They view death in romantic terms.

And act out kinky fantasies.

And that's a bad thing?

But Callwood's mutilation
suggests bloodlust.

Some ritualists have gone
into very dark territory.

All captured on America's
Goriest Home Videos.

What is that?

That thing fillets and burns a
human being in less than 15 seconds.

What about the blood trail?

It's all Callwood's AB negative.
Less than 1% of the population has it.

Okay, so we have to presume
the attacker didn't cut itself.

Whatever or whoever walked out of
Grey's room wears a size 7 shoe.

So does Lucy Westenra.

Matt?

You're telling me that that's
Lucy in some kind of disguise?

Or someone she let into the room.

I think we've come across a very sick,
very elaborate vampire fantasy.

Too bad we can't check Callwood's
neck for puncture wounds.

We haven't located Lucy yet, right?

No.

Well, something tells me she's not going
to want to miss the big sacrifice tonight.

I see Lucy Westenra.

It looks like they're getting
ready for a blood ritual.

How do you know this stuff?

How do I know what stuff?

Oh, you know,
how much blood goes in a Bloody Mary.

Looking good, buddy. Nice outfit.

Oh, just threw it together, you know.

Psyched to die.

Results are in from the husk analysis.

Looks like Grey Callwood was being treated

with an experimental cell repair
therapy called Zaldex.

Never heard of it. Was not on her ***

I know, it's not in any of the journals.

I had to track it down on the
net by way of the patent office.

Do you know who holds the patent?

Harrison Pharmaceuticals.

Chairman of the board,

Edward Baines.

Our contact at the hospital.

It appears that dr. Baines has been testing
experimental procedures on human beings.

That would explain my findings.

Embryonic hemoglobin and stem cells
found in great Callwood's remains.

Take a look.

They should not be there.

So if this all decks is triggering
some kind of new growth pattern,

that would mean a total
cellular retrofit, wouldn't it ?

That husk.

It's really dead cells
that have been rejected.

Peter, I think we've been
going down the wrong road.

Something didn't break
into great Callwood's room.

Something broke out.

Hey, you work in the hospital, don't you?

What about it?

I was working a shift in the
cafeteria the other night.

I heard something real
freaky happened on 3.

How do you know which
floor I work on?

I've seen you come through for coffee.

Oh, yeah?

Funny, I don't remember you.

Well, I would get canned if I came
to work like this now, wouldn't I?

You sure you work at the hospital?

I'd remember you.

This isn't gonna be as easy as I thought.

Lindsay, you alright?

Hold on,

I think someone's gonna
ask me to dance.

Lindsay, you alright? Talk to me.

Hey, I don't think I've
seen you here before.

You're different.

Oh yeah?

I don't know too many people that,
uh, talk to their... JEWELRY!

No offense, but my friend Lucy,
she says you're not on the guest list.

Oh, really? I'm disappointed.
I thought Lucy and I were friends.

Let's go.

Hey, I was just trying to be friendly, okay?

Right now.

All right, I'll leave with my own accord.

Let's go.

No !

Case log update.

We've admitted to hospital the
woman found at the Pentagram Club.

We're keeping her under observation.
Prager out.

I'm running a DNA analysis for confirmation,

but I'm sure that the tissue
that we found in the husks

is a match to Grey Callwood.

You mean to tell me that that's the
60-year-old woman who was on life support?

Incredible, isn't it?

Wow. What happens if she husks again?

Well, this glass is heat-resistant, and the
air conditioning in the room has been modified

to maintain a consistent
temperature in the room.

Good. Well, I've rigged the flow
cytometer for real-time sampling.

Any anomalies in her blood will be marked with
a fluorescent tag and recorded by the computer.

Wait a minute.

These are stem cells.

She's producing masses of them.

But why? Peripheral stem cells
are found in the bone marrow.

We shouldn't be seeing them in her blood.

Aren't stem cells also found in
embryos early on in their development?

Yes. That means that
she's regrowing herself.

I've prepared a protein supplement
that may do something at least to

offset the fact that she's
burning up her body mass.

I'll be in the lab.

No.

It's all right.

It's all right.

You're fine.

Can you tell me your name?

Grey.

Grey Callwood.

And how old are you, Grey?

That's a personal question.

Who are you?

I'm a doctor.

Anton Hendricks.

I'm just here to help, I assure you.

I'm 62.

I'll be 63 in November.

Do you recall anything that's
happened to you in the last few days?

I was being transferred
from prison.

It was my liver.

They had me hooked up to a machine.

The rest is a blur.

I'm not surprised.

Your temperature was very high.

There's something else
that we need to discuss.

What the hell?

I know this must be quite a shock.

Can you give me a mirror, please?

You were administered
an experimental drug.

It had an extraordinary effect.

Oh, my God !

Look at me !

How is this possible?

We don't know.
We're still working on it.

Have you contacted Mary?

Yes, we have.

I have to see her.

We want the same thing as you,
to help.

But we can't begin to do that until we
know what the hell's going on around here.

Okay.

Shoot.

Let's start with why you took
Grey Callwood out of the hospital.

They were using her like a lab rat.

I mean, after what happened that night,

I was worried they were going to
cart her off to experiment on her.

So you took her out to party?

Is that what you do
with all your patients?

Only those that turn inside
out and become half their age.

That is the wrong look for you.

I'm sorry about what
happened the other night.

Why did you steal the
blood from the hospital?

Authenticity for the sacrifice?

No.

No, it was for Grey.

Look, her red cell count was really low,
and I was worried she was anemic.

So I cross-matched the blood and
boosted it from the hospital

in case she needed a transfusion.

It turned out she didn't.

And I hate to see good
blood go to waste.

How did your friends at
the club react to her?

Oh, they were pretty cool.
Yeah.

She was going to be the
queen of the sacrifice.

Call me old-fashioned,
but I don't get it.

What's the attraction
to all this goth stuff?

Death ?

So hot.

So damn hot.

Here. Here. Hold that.

Grey, I'm trying to stabilize
your temperature. Please.

Hold on.

No, no, no!
No more drugs.

This is just a protein supplement.

- No. No!
- Please !

Stop! Please! No! Grey!
Stop! Stop! No! Grey!

Stop her!

Her temperature is still
extraordinarily high.

But the protein supplement is delaying the
regenerative process, at least for now.

I'm still having a hard time buying all this.

Since when can we crawl out of our own skin
like a butterfly bursting out of a cocoon?

She was being treated for a liver failure.

Now, the liver is the only organ
that is capable of rebuilding itself.

This Zoldex may have caused that regenerative
ability to extend to her entire body.

It's as if her growth
process is reversing itself.

So if we can't find a way to stop it,
she'll continue to devolve?

Indefinitely.

We better start asking the right
people the right questions.

Dr. Baines,
can we have a word with you, please?

Yes, of course.

How can I help?

Well, you could start by asking your
lab to send us two units of Zaldex.

It seems it interacted with Grey's medication

and caused a bizarre side effect.

It's an interesting theory, gentlemen,
but I'm afraid you're mistaken.

Talk to us, Dr. Baines.

Grey Callwood's life depends on it.

Grey Callwood is dead.

Is she?

After all the Zaldex
you pumped into her?

Zaldex is intended to stimulate cell
growth in the liver, and that's all.

That's all?

You're a doctor.

You're sworn to protect
your patients at all costs.

She was dying anyway.

Her organs were about to be harvested.

It's not as if we were using it
on some valued member of society.

Who gave you the right
to make that choice?

Her daughter did.

When she consented.

We have done everything
as required by the law.

That may well be,

but you have no excuse to use
this woman as a human guinea pig.

You gonna supply us with the samples,

or do we call the Board of Medical
Ethics and make a more formal request?

You'll have all the Zaldex you
need by the end of the day.

I've been testing the Zaldex on some
tissue samples from the most recent husk.

Now the tissue seems to absorb the drug
and then the old tissue was burned off

by the propagation of new cells.

You can imagine what this
would do to living tissue.

But how do you explain her strength?

I mean she practically
slammed me through the wall.

Oh her adrenal and pituitary
functions are totally out of sync.

And let's not forget she's
a convicted murderer.

She's dangerous.

Callwood was a mob prisoner
according to her prison records.

She was an accomplice after the fact.

She drove the getaway car.
She didn't pull the trigger.

She desperately wants to
see her daughter again.

Good let's use that.

And maybe Mary can convince her
mother we're just trying to help.

So where does that leave us?

We've got to find a way to suppress
the production of stem cells.

Because if this process continues there's
no limit to how far back Grey may regress.

Is this some kind of a sick joke?

What do you want from me?

Nothing. Nothing at all.
I know this is hard to believe.

Hard to believe.

One minute she's dead and now she's not
only alive, she's younger than me. Right?

Happens every day.

Look lady, if you bother me again,
I'm calling the cops.

Mary!

I just want you to talk with her.

I don't think so.

Mary Catherine, stop this instant!

I don't pretend to understand
any of this either.

But here we are.

This is impossible !

When you were three,
you fell and you cut your knee

in the alley behind our
house on Duran Street.

It took six stitches to sew you up.

You could have found
that out anywhere.

Do you remember the first
time you came to see me?

You wore that gingham dress.

The one that I made for you.

Just before...

I spilled something on it.

Nail polish.

You were trying to paint your nails

and make yourself look pretty
before you came to see me.

We could only touch our
hands through the glass.

Glass tag you called it.

Mary, I wanted to hold
you so much my arms ached.

Mary, look at me.

You look me in the eye and tell me you
don't believe that I'm your mother.

If that's true, if you're my mother,

then you tell me why
you threw me away.

I never threw you away.
I did what was best for you.

Then why did you spend more
than 20 years in prison?

Why didn't you ever get paroled?

Because they wanted admission of guilt

before they would
even consider it.

I did not shoot anybody.

I already lost you,
but I was not going to lose my dignity.

Now that sounds like my mom,
her pride at any price,

even if her kid had to foot the bill.

You think I wanted to rot in jail?

You were better off without me.

I figured that out a long time ago.

There was never anything between us
but a glass wall and a prison phone.

My mother's dead.

She's been dead to me
since I was 10 years old.

Barry, no!

She's gone.

I was up on four
when Grey found me.

Look, she was freaking out.
What was I supposed to do?

Where is she?

I don't know.

This isn't one of your role-playing games.
She needs medical attention.

If you really want to help Grey,
you've got to trust us.

Hey, look, she ran by
here a few minutes ago.

Real upset.

So I gave her my key to the club.
Told her I'd be there after work.

How did she seem?

Not so good.

Oh, you.
You look better with your makeup on.

You look better lying on the floor.

Lucy sent a girl here, about 21.
You seen her?

Nope.

We don't have time for this.
Now where is she?

Nothing.

Oh my God !

It's okay.

Let's go.

It's okay.

You're safe.

It's alright.

It's okay.
It's okay. You're safe.

Wonder if she has any idea
what a miracle she is.

She's stable enough,
but she's still cranking out stem cells.

I get the feeling she's building
up for another big meltdown.

Yes, and it could be her last.

Even if she regresses
only to being an infant,

she'll never survive it,
physically or emotionally.

There's no way to stop it,
other than giving her a new liver.

So we need to find a transplant.

Well, finding an appropriate donor is
like finding a needle in a haystack.

What about her daughter?

Isn't a family member the most likely
donor candidate for a transplant?

I read something about a procedure

where an adult can donate a
portion of their liver to a child.

There is an advanced surgical procedure
known as orthotopic transplant.

It's used to treat biliary atresia.

Could it work?

It's worth a shot.

Yes, but if we can get
Mary Callwood to cooperate.

She has to.

Okay, so I don't know why I'm here.

But I am.

Is this going to take long?
I've got to get to work.

Mary, your mother's dying.

Again?

You're the only one
who can help her now.

And why would I want to do that?

Why don't you just drop the attitude?

If you come here to watch your mother die,
then you've got a front row seat.

So, where is she?

You're looking at her.

You people are ridiculous.
You never give up, do you?

Mary, you know I'm telling you the truth.
That little girl in there is your mother.

What's wrong with her?

She has maybe 24 hours left.

Without a liver transplant,
she has no hope.

You expect me to trade
my life for hers?

Of course not.

But there's a new procedure that
involves a partial transplant.

Because she's so small,
it could be enough to save her life.

Can't you get someone else?

You're the only one
who can help her now.

You're asking me to save a
woman I've hated all my life?

I've never had kids because of her.
I was so terrified I'd be a rotten mom.

Look at her.

She looks just like I did
when I was a little girl.

You can turn your back on her the
way that she turned her back on you.

Or you can learn to be the
mother that you never had.

Mary, she needs you.
And you need her, too.

She's peaking again.

We're going to have to increase
the protein supplement.

It's all right. It's okay.
It's all right.

Calm down.
I know you're getting hot.

We'll get you fixed up.
Here. That's good.

That's good. That's good.
It's all right. Are we in?

Yeah. Okay. There. There. It's okay.
It's all right, Grey. It's all right.

There's not much time.

Does she still know who I am?

She's doing great.
But don't stay too long.

Grey. do you
remember Miss Donner?

Sure she does.

And this is Dr. Hendricks.

Actually, we met before,
but it was a long time ago.

Special delivery for the
prettiest girls in the room.

Sorry.

Thanks.

Sorry, I don't remember everyone.

Maybe it was a twister.
Like when Dorothy forgot her friends.

We watched The Wizard
of Oz last night.

Mom says it was her favorite movie.
Have you seen it?

Sure. It's about a little girl
who goes on a magical journey.

Final case log.

The liver transplant was successful,

and the regression process that threatened
the life of Grey Callwood has been stopped.

The coroner's office acknowledged the
remains in the hospital as Callwood's body.

We're working with the
appropriate authorities

to enable mother and daughter
to continue living together.

Prager Out.

All of us encounter moments in our
lives when we wish for a second chance.

For one mother and daughter,

a strange series of events gave them a
rare opportunity to set things right.

I'm Dan Aykroyd for Psi Factor.

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