10 X-Files Fates Worse Than Death

Zachary Ansley's Billy Miles is another tragic case in The X-Files universe.

Introduced in the pilot episode, Billy Miles was supposedly under alien control. After a car accident, he was left in a waking coma and therefore was not immediately suspected of abducting and murdering his classmates until Mulder and Scully were brought onto the case. Nevertheless, ultimately there was a lack of evidence of his guilt.

Eight years later, Billy contacted Mulder and Scully concerning disappearances in his hometown, leading to his eventual abduction, along with Mulder himself. He was returned one year later, in a severe state of decomposition, but alive. Awakening in a hospital and shedding his rotting flesh, revealing himself to be fit and healthy underneath, Billy developed two heartbeats and claimed that his abductors had saved him.

The sad fact was, however, that Billy had actually died in the hospital after his return and became a super soldier acting on behalf of a malevolent alien race. Focused on preventing mankind from developing a human-alien hybrid, the former Billy Miles apparently desired the deaths of both Scully and her unborn child. He was memorably crushed in a garbage truck before regenerating himself and starting his pursuit of Scully again, only to mysteriously vanish after witnessing the birth of her son.

It is disturbing to consider that part of Billy's humanity may actually have survived his rebirth, but he certainly didn't deserve this fate.