XFC: Hungry
7X03 HUNGRY

It is after midnight when an LTD pulls into the drive-through of Lucky
Boy Burgers in Costa Mesa, California. The young guy at the wheel
waits impatiently and receives only silence from the speaker. He
calls out for service and the neon "open" sign instantly flickers out.
Angered, the guy honks his horn. The microphone clicks on and a
man says the restaurant is closed. The driver doesn't give up easily
and yells threats to the speaker. The voice at the other end
sheepishly tells him to drive through. The guy pulls up, but no one is
there. So he leans out of his car to get a better look. In one quick
instant, a monster appears in the window and ferociously yanks the
guy from his car. The driverless car, still in gear, creeps toward a
curb.

Three days later, Lucky Boy employee Rob Roberts pulls up to the
restaurant and gives himself a pep talk before heading in. He works
at the front register as Mulder and Scully approach, flashing their
badges. They ask Rob's manager to round up the employees for
questioning. They inform the group that a Lucky Boy Burger
promotional button was found on a body in the trunk of a car. The
employees, including Rob, all pull out their buttons. A
thuggish-looking Derwood Spinks hides in the back, claiming he left
his button at home. His co-workers eye Derwood suspiciously.
Mulder and Scully clear out the restaurant and search the kitchen.
They don't see Rob outside as he switches on the drive-through
microphone and listens to their conversation at the menu board.
Mulder theorizes that the victim's brain was sucked out by a tongue
or some kind of proboscis. Scully is not convinced. Mulder spots
dried blood under a counter. He is squeamish that it is brain matter.
Scully notes that it is merely ground beef. Rob isn't settled by this
news.

Rob comes home and rushes into the bathroom where he pulls from
the bathtub a Lucky Boy uniform soaking in pink water. He cannot
scrub out the blood stains and decides to dump the shirt. He is about
to remove the trash bag when there is a knock at the door. Mulder
wants to ask Rob a few more questions about his closing up the
restaurant on the night of the murder. Rob complies, telling him that
he dumped thirty-five pounds of spoiled beef that night. Out of the
corner of his eye he catches the bloody water seeping out from the
trash bag but Mulder doesn't see it. After Mulder leaves, Rob tosses
the wet bag into a garbage truck outside. He realizes his hands are
covered with dried blood and sucks his fingers, enjoying the taste.
While doing so he notices a man parked across from the apartment
building watching him. Rob nervously approaches, thinking the man
is Mulder. The unidentified man tells Rob to get lost.

Back in the apartment, Rob's answering machine tapes a message
from Dr. Mindy Rinehart, a psychiatrist assigned by Lucky Boy to aid
its employees. He ignores the message, intently watching the man
staked outside the building. Rob goes in the bathroom and pops out
his triangle-shaped, shark teeth. As they clink in the sink, his
stomach loudly growls. Later that night, Rob tries to overcome his
hunger. He chomps on appetite suppressant gum and memorizes the
words of a videotaped motivational speaker. But he is still starving.
He goes outside to the man in the parked car and opens his
toothless mouth. Needle-sharp teeth spring into place as he lunges
at the man.

Rob is asleep on his couch the next morning when Derwood breaks
in. He tells Rob that he has been fired from Lucky Boy. He also says
that he found Rob's prescription bottle of diet pills in the restaurant
the morning after the murder. He shows Rob the bottle and the
bloody thumbprint on its cap. Derwood demands payment to keep
his mouth shut. They are interrupted by a neighbor, Sylvia, who asks
if Rob saw a man that had been parked outside. Rob dismisses her,
and Derwood warns him not to skip town. Rob heads to his car and
sees Mulder approaching. Although Mulder doesn't give any
indication that he suspects Rob, he does tell him that the police
believe that Derwood is the killer. Rob goes to Dr. Rinehart's office for
his mandatory consultation. He can't concentrate as his stomach
growls. When the doctor gets a call from Mulder, Rob bolts out,
claiming he has to be at work.

Rob hallucinates that the burgers he is frying are brains. Derwood
shows up at Lucky Boy to threaten Rob again. Scared of getting
caught, Rob rummages through Derwood's house for the prescription
bottle. When Derwood comes home, Rob hides in the closet. As
Derwood approaches the closet armed with a baseball bat, Rob
starts to dismember his fake human parts to reveal the monster
underneath. Derwood opens the door and the monster's tongue
lashes out, poking a hole through Derwood's forehead.

Rob goes to see Dr. Rinehart again and admits that he has an eating
disorder. She writes down the location of an Overeaters Anonymous
meeting. Rob's stomach growls and he rushes out, saying "I really
am trying to do right." Dr. Rinehart ponders his statement. Rob
returns home to find Mulder and Scully waiting to ask him about
Derwood Spinks's disappearance. Mulder tells Rob that he believes
the killer is some sort of genetic freak who feeds on humans, but Rob
plays dumb.

With no other hope, Rob attends the Overeaters Anonymous meeting
and runs into his neighbor, Sylvia. She encourages him to introduce
himself. He describes in salacious detail his cravings for meat. The
group members salivate. Rob stops when he spots a bald man in the
front row. The man's brain seems to be throbbing through the skull,
causing Rob to lick his lips in hunger. Rob makes a friend in Sylvia
as he walks her to her apartment after the meeting. She says
goodnight and closes her door. He turns to leave but his stomach
begins to growl. He turns back to her door, knocks, and removes his
teeth, ready for his next meal.

Rob makes a plan the next day. He demolishes his apartment with
Derwood's baseball bat and screams in terror. He beckons his
neighbors to call the police. Mulder and Scully arrive and listen to
Rob's questionable story that Derwood threatened him to keep quiet.
The agents ask Rob about a missing private eye hired by Sylvia's
husband who was staked out in front of the building. Rob has no
answers and quickly tells them that Sylvia is not at home.

Rob frantically packs his belongings when Dr. Rinehart shows up.
She senses that Rob is at fault for the murders and tries to soothe
him. Enraged, Rob begins to pull off his human body parts to show
her his secret. Dr. Rinehart is horrified but still sympathetic. She
touches his face. Suddenly, the door crashes in and Mulder and
Scully enter with guns drawn. They yell for the doctor to move away,
but she defends Rob and tells him to be the good person he means
to be. Rob is hesitant, then lunges at the agents, knowing they will
open fire. A dying Rob falls to the floor as Dr. Rinehart's eyes tear up.
She asks him why he caused his own death. He whispers, "I can't be
something I'm not."

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