"I always tell you to buy Fritos." "Aaron?" "Is that you, sweetheart?" "I hate those crusty cheese turds." "You're home." "I haven't eaten those since I was in, like, the fourth grade." "I'm sorry." "I forgot." "Oh, my Lord." "Like my new look?" "Oh, sweet baby..." "What happened?" "Your preacher fuck-toy set me on fire and tried to burn the evil right out of me, that's what happened." "I'm so sorry." "Are you?" "You sure you didn't put him up to it?" "How can you even think that?" "'Cause I'm a shitty son." "'Cause I fuck up your life every chance I get." "Because I look like my piece-of-shit father." "And you wish you'd never had me." "Aaron, that is not true." "Now the outside just matches the inside, right?" "I love you more than anything." "I have loved you since the day you came into this world." "Two weeks late, broke my tailbone, and I didn't even care... because you were the one that I had been waiting for my whole life." "Shh." "How'd you know my father?" "No, don't do anything to try to be useful here." "I got this." "Would you just tell us her name?" "Would you like to introduce yourself?" "What's the matter, you feeling shy today?" "I'm sorry, fellas, Helen's feeling a little shy." "Before you said you stopped it with my father." "What exactly did you stop?" "Hmm?" "He sure as hell does, right around the eyes." "I don't know what the hell you're doing, if you're fucking with me or what." "Thirty years ago, this pretty little wolf come to town, with instructions for all them folks who wasn't who they used to be." "Just like that white-haired motherfucker did a couple months ago." "Your father, he's the one who disrupted her playbook." "My father did that?" "It shouldn't surprise you that a man like your father would take 'em on..." "The only thing I know about my father is he abandoned me." "And my mother." "I think he figured out y'all would be a lot better off if he left town." "Patricia." "Hey, Reverend Shit-for-Brains." "Aaron." "Surprised to hear my voice?" "No, I'm..." "I'm relieved." "Your mother was worried sick." "Yeah, that's what she said." "May I speak to her?" "She's busy right now." "I just wanted you to know that... she's been thinking about you." "I've been thinking about you, too." "Put her on the phone, Aaron." "Aar..." "Here." "This should help." "Tylenol?" "Why not chewable fucking baby aspirin?" "Feels like my skin's trying to crawl right off my bones, Mom." "You ever think about Dad?" "Of course." "Been thinking how I'm a lot like him." "God, he was such a shit." "You need to rest." "And then first thing in the morning, we'll go to the doctor." "I used to hate being his son." "But lately I..." "I realized I'm grateful." "Because I've been primed to soak up all the dark shit swimming around in this world." "You are a good person." "I will never stop believing that." "I know you won't." "Patricia!" "Patricia!" "Patricia?" "Patricia." "Oh, shit." "Patricia!" "Don't try and speak." "Patricia, stay with me." "Patricia..." "Yes, I need an ambulance." "Come on, now." "Stay with me." "Patricia, stay with me." "A woman's been stabbed." "Patricia, stay with me." "Patricia..." "No." "No." "I'm so sorry." "Mom?" " Mom?" " Hmm?" "How long are we gonna sit here?" "I don't know." "Are we going home?" "I thought you didn't want to be there?" "Then where are we gonna sleep?" "Here." "Go get a sundae, okay?" "You can have MMs or gummies." "Hey." "What can I get for you?" "All finished?" "Hmm?" "Yeah." "I'm done." "They said they already cleaned the ice cream machine." "Come on, let's go." "Come on." "That boy was a troubled soul." "But I didn't think he was capable." "Maybe one of those things taken hold inside of him, too." "No." "No, that was all him." "Evil fuck." "Either way, I'm worried about you." "He called you." "Bragging." "Wanted you to see what he did." "If there is another name on his list it's yours." "Use me as bait." "In what world am I gonna use one of my oldest friends as bait?" "You just told me my name was next on a list." "Now either you let me help catch that little shit, or you're gonna have to lock me up in a cell." "Well, now the last time you tried to help, you burned a goddamn trailer to the ground." "So if those are my choices," "I think I prefer you to go on down to the station and sit this one out." "I'll make sure he gets there." "I don't have my pajamas." "Pretend like we're camping." "I would bring my pajamas camping." "Here." "Wanna see if they have Disney Channel?" "Top stories tonight: rising gas prices, the president's position in the polls and the trouble with illegal immi..." "Spring Harvest Dance now." "It'snevertooearlyto start thinking about outfits." "I mean, I already know what I'm going to wear to your funeral." "My Insane Clown Posse T-shirt." " That'll look great on you!" " Yeah, no shit." " Trying to impress a lady?" " Trying to impress all of 'em." "He left her alive... in all that pain... just so I could watch her die." "Where are you going?" "Rev..." "Come on, what are you doing?" "Hi,it'sPatricia." "Please leave a message at the beep." "I got your message, Aaron." "Oh, shit." "The one you scrawled in her blood on the wall." " Jesus." "Hang up." " You want to hurt me?" "You want me dead?" "You give it your best shot." "I'll be waiting for you at the church." "What the hell?" "You want to get out right now?" "You don't need to be a part of this." "Rev, look, it is not your fault that she's gone." "Murdered." "Butchered." "Not "gone."" "Okay, fine." "But making yourself a martyr, it's not gonna bring her back." "Are you getting out or not?" "Get that damn thing out of my eyes." "Sorry." "It didn't look like anyone was..." "Did you find him?" "No." "No, not yet." " But..." " Spit it out." "Patricia MacCready was murdered tonight." "They said Aaron did it." "It's all hands on deck." "The whole force is out looking for him." "Well, why aren't you?" "'Cause I found something else." "Get the hell in here!" "I found her limping up the old highway." "She wouldn't tell me how she got out there." "Well, what kind of shit have you stepped in, Evelyn?" "I was kidnapped this morning." "They locked a bunch of us up in a metal cage out at the salvage yard." " They?" " Chief Giles and that junkyard hermit." "We would have been dead, Betsy and me, except..." "Kyle Barnes came and let us loose." "He said to tell you what happened out there." "And that it wasn't just him that you were up against." "And what'd you say?" "Nothing." " Nothing?" " I'm sorry." "I should have been more careful." "I won't let that happen again." "I want this place up and running by tomorrow." "Unless you'd prefer to join your late husband out in the leach line." "And what are you standing around for?" "Get out there and find Aaron." "Changed the lock." "Like I'm some kind of petty thief." "Yeah, well, you did just break into the place, so..." "They sure didn't let the grass grow under their feet." "Erasing every last trace of me." "Like I was never even here." "What now?" "What are you doing?" "All right, now, wait." "Not two days ago, you were twisting yourself in knots 'cause you almost burned this kid alive." "If he'd burned, she'd still be here." "This isn't you." "Yeah, well, maybe it needs to be, huh?" "The man I was was useless." "People suffered because of him, because of his weaknesses," " his naiveté." " Rev, that's not true." "Evil needs to be rooted out, Kyle." "Burned, crushed." "Who deserves to be on this Earth more, huh?" "Patricia or that little piece of..." "So the ends justify the means, no matter what?" " Well, maybe." " That's bullshit." "Maybe your father was right." "Maybe his idea was right." "By killing a woman?" " Fighting." " He didn't fight for me." "He didn't fight for my mother." "He put whatever crusade he was on ahead of his family, and look how that worked out." "If we take this too far... if we lose ourselves... then, Rev, what's the point?" "Being a husband, being a father." "I mean, that's it." "That's why I'm fighting." "No matter what this fight looks like in the end..." "I won't let my family hate me for it." "Get back!" "Shit!" "Come on!" " What's wrong?" " It's blocked." "Damn it!" "Shit." "Kyle, come on!" "Shit!" " It's not opening!" " Get out of the way!" "Move!" " Go!" " No, go!" "I'll be right behind you." " Are you hurt?" " No." "Are you all right?" "Is that the best you got?" "You went to all this trouble." "Well, here I am!" "So come on, coward!" "Show yourself, Aaron!" "Holly?" "Holly!" "What are you doing?" "Get away from my daughter!" "Whoa, relax." "I was just giving her change for the machine." "What were you thinking?" "Never disappear like that." "Never talk to strangers." "What's so goddamn funny?" "I don't know, kid." "She doesn't really look like a killer to me." "What?" "She keeps going around telling stories like that, and someone might just believe her." "What did you say to him?" "Holly, what did you say?" "The truth." "There's nothing available." "You know what?" "For you, let me talk to my manager." "Oh, my God!" "This never happens." "He's making room for you." "What are you trying to do?" "You want someone to punish me?" "You want to go live with strangers in some foster home and never see me again?" "Is that what you want?" "Holly... what happened was an accident." "It was an accident." "I..." "I loved him." "It was an accident." "Any word on that MacCready boy?" "No, Chief." "Fire Department gave the church an all clear though." "Sit your ass down." "When I first moved to Rome," "I wasn't made to feel particularly welcome." "Had to buy house paint in bulk to cover up the filth that was written on our garage door so Rose wouldn't see it." "I just figured it was the price I had to pay to do this job." "This... man wouldn't stand for it." "He got up on Sunday morning and he called those motherfuckers out." "And you earned my respect forever." "But when you lie to me!" "When you don't trust me!" "I got a short supply of friends, John." "I can't spare to lose you." "Especially when I can beat you at poker." "Maybe we should make an agreement." "No more dipshit plans that we don't tell each other about." "We're in this, together... or we got nothing." "I figured I'd find you here." "This place is your mistress." "Make sure you don't get too seduced by it." "We're closed." "I had a... a municipal question." "The chief of police..." "he's not elected, right?" "He answers to you." "That's right." "So you allowed Giles and his junkyard sidekick to round us up like stray dogs." "I don't know what's worse." "That you were too stupid to see it, or too impotent to stop it." "If you can't keep that police chief on a short leash... what good are you to us?" "Patricia MacCready died tonight, did you know that?" "Apparently, her son carved her to shreds and left her bleeding on the living room floor." "What a shame." "You think I don't know you've been keeping Aaron MacCready as a pet?" "I didn't say shit about it, and now my friend is dead." "Your friend?" "Have a little self-respect." "Self-respect?" "And you were the animal who's been snatching little boys." "Mayor Boyd is a good person." "I happen to value what he gave me, including his friendships." "This Officer Nuñez, she seems like a real up-and-comer." "Smart, ambitious." "You know, if something should happen to your... your good friend, Giles," "I bet she'd make a sharp replacement." "Eager to please." "But I guess you'll have to decide how much more blood on your hands you can live with." "Megan?" "Hi, Mom." "What are you doing here?" "I didn't have anywhere else to go." "♪Oh, mourner, let's go down ♪" "I like the old stuff." "I like to feel like..." "I'm out of step with time." "She didn't... believe him, did she?" "My mom." "He was like me and she thought he was crazy." "I don't know what to say." "It's a hard idea to swallow." "I mean, hell, you don't even know what to believe and you got the power to send 'em back wherever the hell they came from." "Yeah, how do you stop them?" "You and my father sent enough of 'em back." "Would you look around?" "Does it look like we stopped any damn thing?" "I mean, does it?" "You tried." "It's what you thought you were doing when you killed that woman." "Right?" "Thirty years ago, I lost every goddamn thing that meant anything to me." "I was angry." "I wanted to help your daddy wipe 'em out." "You can only stay angry for so long." "It never occurred to you to come and see me?" "Explain what the hell happened?" "The only promise I ever made was to try to make sure that damn body stayed buried." "Other than that, not my problem." "You think what's going on in Rome is not your problem?" "I like the way my head feels in the sand." "It's quiet in there, just me and my thoughts." "No people, no problems." "Look... your dad used to keep a place over on Shadow Lane." "Now, I picked up the option when it came up 'cause I thought he might come back and need it." "You might want to look at it." "Your father's away on business, but he'll be over the moon to see Holly when he gets back." "What a darling girl." "Certainly would like to know her better." "I wish you would have called us about Mark." "We had to find out about it from people at Sunday service." " Sorry." " Well, your father and I are just... heartsick." "Mark was a lovely man." "I always considered him one of our own." "One of your foster kids, you mean." "They always meant more to you than your own." "We were just trying to do our Christian duty." "Taking in all those abused and abandoned kids." "Offering them comfort and protection." "I just wish you would appreciate that." "And I wish you'd had a little of that comfort and protection left over for me." "We weren't perfect, Megan." "We made mistakes." "We all make mistakes." "Well, Holly wanted to sleep in the den, so I made up the sofa bed." "And there's another comforter in the closet if you need it." "What,areyoujust gonna sit there all night?" "Huh?" "Were you hoping to finger that cute dispatch girl while everyone else is out looking for me?" "Say something, asshole." "What do you want?" "Well, you made me an offer." "Are you chicken-shitting out or what?" "Reverend." "Reverend, you can't leave." " Where are you going?" " Tell the chief I'm returning to the scene of my crime." "Chief?" "Is he with you?" "Who?" "Is Anderson with you?" "No." "You kept your word." "Points for that." "Take a picture, it'll last longer." "You did this to me." "You barbecued me into a circus freak." "It was a mistake." "That's a real comfort." "Thank you." "You know what it's like to have fire licking up the side of your face?" "Not good." "How could you do what you did to your mother?" "Oh, you mean pull a knife through her gut?" "Leave her bleeding and gasping on the floor?" "Pleading for her life." "You meant everything to her." "So, you planning on punishing me like a real man?" "Or are you gonna pussy out and smother me with forgiveness just like her?" "Your mother was a good person." "She thought you were a good person too." "She had faith in you, and nothing could shake it loose." "You sure fucking tried, didn't you?" "To turn her against me." "I can't undo what already's been done." "But I can honor that faith." "I owe it to her... to try and pull you out of this river of shit that you've thrown yourself into." "You're gonna pay for what you've done." "You're going to jail." "At least you'll get a chance for some kind of redemption." "No." "Who says I want redemption?" "Oh, this?" "Oh, my dad used to point this at my mom when he'd get really pissed at her." "Now, you really want to save me?" "Tell me about how I can be redeemed if I just cast out the demon inside of me." "You don't have anything inside of you, Aaron." "You're nothing more than a broken little boy... grasping at things that you will never understand." "You know, maybe I don't have a demon on board yet, but I will." "See, I'm gonna be part of something bigger than this stupid little town." "And we're gonna bring the world down on your heads." "Pick it up... and pour it all over yourself." "What'd you think, I was just gonna shoot you in the head?" "Like some old dog with a broken leg?" "No, that would be merciful, and I'm not feeling fucking merciful." "I want to see you burn." "Now, I'm a better shot than that, just so you know." "Do it." "All over." "You're a real pro." "You've had some practice." "I'm gonna light you up now." "Have any last words for me?" "Or God?" "No." "Huh?" "He's armed!" " You okay?" " Yeah, I'm okay." "Oh..." "Get up." "Dear God." "Please forgive me for being mean to my mom." "It wasn't her fault." "It was... the monster inside of her." "Please forgive me." "See what Grandma Jeanie found for me?" "I just wanted to say good night." "Will you be here when I wake up?" "Of course." "I don't want to be taken away from you." "Okay." "Please don't leave me here." "I won't." "I promise." "There is nothing more important to me in the world than you." "I love you so much." "You could... sleep in here." "Sure." "Grandma Jeanie said, if I pray hard enough," "God will always protect us." "Well... that's what she believes." "I'm gonna pray for you, so that the monster doesn't get back inside." "I'm gonna pray for you every second of every day." "Please don't let the monsters get back inside." "Please don't let the monsters get back inside." "Please don't let the monsters get back inside." "Please don't let the monsters get back inside." "Please don't let the monsters get back inside." "Please don't let the monsters get back inside." "Please don't let the monsters..." "Pleasedon't let the monsters get back inside." "Please don't let the monsters get back inside." "Please don't let the monsters get back inside." "Please don't let the monsters get back inside." "Please don't let the monsters get back inside."