"Time to call it a day, Mom." "Oh, we're really in the middle of hell's half-acre." "There's a town up ahead, but it's not on the map." "What is this now?" "No, Paul." "Just drive off." "Is that blood?" " I think it's ketchup." " Oh." " Evenin'." " Evenin', folks." "I'm going to have to ask you to please move your RV up ten feet, just past that town sign." "I'm already parked." "You got some rule about parking on the outskirts of town?" "Just move up past it and you won't have any trouble." "You folks have a good evening." "Now, what the hell was that all about?" "And what's with you, big Hertz?" "What was that?" "Is it that man again?" "Oh, look!" "Don't hurt him." "Don't." "Go round him." "Go round." "Oh." " What are you doing?" " I'm just going to scare him off." "Argh!" "Argh!" "Argh!" "Argh!" "Argh!" "Hey, Mom!" "Ken Griffey hit two home runs." "Wow!" "I mean, Juniorjacked two out of the yard." "You're right, sweetheart." "Hi." "Benny, it's me." "Save that tough-dog stuff for guys you don't know." "Come on, Benny." "He told me he wants you to move back with me and Mom." "Maybe you should have the same talk with Benny that you and I had." "OK, sweetheart?" "Um..." "Ann Watkins from work?" "She and Dave have separated." " Really?" " Yeah." "So Jordan and I are going to move in with them for a while." " Why don't you move back in?" " I want us to live here as a family." "It would be crazy to carry the mortgage with neither one of us living here." "Is that another way of telling me to sell it?" "I believe in the point of the house." "I really do, honey." "But we've lived here for a year and we haven't exactly been racking up the Kodak moments." "Selling would be giving in." "My heart believes what life could be here for us, Catherine." "I know." "But I don't know if we can get it back." "Will you call the real-estate agent?" "OK." " You want to use the phone?" " No." "I'm going." " Bye, Daddy." " Thank you for coming to the game." "Yes." "I'll see you..." " Next time." " Yeah." "Soylent Green is people." "Hello?" "You're finally looking at the file." " I paged you half a dozen times." " I was with my daughter." "Well, what we do affects our children's lives, Frank." "Tell me, Pete, in what way?" "What you're looking at, the Group feels you're right for this." "For what?" "I can tell from the images it was an animal attack." " The Group thinks it's time you go there." " I think you should save time and money." "It was an animal attack, simple as that." "Go there, Frank." "It's not that simple." " That what the hell you were talking about?" " Uh, it's perfect, if it's nonfat." "No, it's great." "Thank you." "Thank you, Cora." "Oh..." "Do you have cinnamon?" "Cinnamon?" "Um..." "Hi, y'all." "Uh... the other night, from my house up there, uh..." "I heard some... uh... commotion from down around the town sign." "Anybody know...?" "Hi." "Can I get a room?" "Yes, sir." " How long you here for?" " Don't know." " What's your name?" " Frank." "Frank Black." "Sit down." " It's on the house, Mr Black." " Thank you." "We've got plenty of rooms for our new sheriff." " I'm not your new sheriff." " You look like you are." " Doesn't mean I am." " We've been waiting a while." " What, since last week?" " Since..." "When was George Bush president again?" "Are there any law-enforcement officers in town?" "There's your deputy." " Who reported the attack?" " What attack was that?" "The one that occurred on the edge of town." "They sent me the photos." "Would there be anybody who knows, who might have contacted the authorities?" "How would we know?" "You're the sheriff." " When can I get my room?" " It'll be ready in about an hour." "But be back in half an hour." "Why?" "The sun'll be down." "Sheriff Black, excuse me." " Sheriff Black, you got a second?" " I'm not the town sheriff." "I relate to disassociating yourself with this town." "You're not from here." "Where you from?" " Seattle." " Seattle." "Mm." "Grande half-caf nonfat latte." " You live here?" " I do now." "My name's Michael Beebe." " Hello." " I lived in Los Angeles, I loved it." "Then one day last April, I was getting gas." "I see Bloods and Crips graffiti on the gas pumps." "In July my car stereo gets stolen from the carport." "Two minutes later my apartment starts to shake." "Earthquake?" "I look out, I see police helicopters, I see cop cars, I see battering rams." "They invade my neighbour's crackhouse condo." "I just thought to myself, my God, if this is what the West Side is coming to, screw it, I'm outta here." "I moved to a place where it was safe, where you don't have to lock your doors." "And I built a beautiful house on a ten-acre lot and that's what I want to talk about." " Your ten-acre lot?" " No, my neighbour." "It's one thing the old coot lives in this shack that's technically on the lot." "But there's this putrid smell in the air and it's got something to do with him." " Does he have animals?" " I do hear weird noises, but only at night." "Noises?" "Yeah, sorta like dogs growling but there's also something..." "I don't want to come off as some New-Age fruitcake." "But at night, when I hear these noises, there's..." "It's more like there's something to feel than to see or hear." "Maybe I can't explain it but it does scare me and I know the old man has something to do with it." "Um, could you talk to him?" "This is a map I made and that's my house." "This is the woods." "That's the old man's squat." " I'll find it." "I'll find it." " There's a wood." "Thank you, Sheriff." "I'm not the sheriff." "Sun's going down." "Thank you." " Need a lift?" " No, thanks." "Sun's going down." "Hi!" "Locked out!" "I'm locked out!" "Please." "I'm bleeding." "I've been attacked by the dogs." "Why are they coming into town?" "Never happened, long as I've been here." "Twice in the last month." "First the RV, now the sheriff." "What did we do?" "We left them alone, we stayed in the boundary." "No one I know went past the town sign after sunset." "Maybe we should call downstate, get those Animal Control people." "No, they give up on us years ago." "They just don't get it." "I think they do." "They know it's nothing to do with animal control." "We could try shooting them down." "Well, I mean, if the rules have changed, who knows?" "Lynn and me have talked." "We've been thinking of moving up to Lakeside." "You've lived here 25 years." "And loved every minute, even with the situation here." "But you can't deny the situation has changed." " We can't let them drive us away." " It's not a good home if it's not safe, Nate." "And I know I can't do a damn thing about what's going on." "If the one person who can control things has lost control then we gotta find a new home." "Yeah, the sheriff?" "Looks to me like he ain't worth a damn." "You all know I'm not talking about the sheriff." "Hey." "What is that?" "Sheriff, do you smell what I smell?" " I mean, Sheriff, is that disgusting or what?" " Sh, sh, sh." " The old man, he lives over there." " I got it." "Here." " Yes." "Finally, someone who'll listen." " Hush." "No quick moves." "Move back." "Move back." " Call off your dogs." " They ain't my dogs." "Hey." "What are you doing here?" "I think you're supposed to tell me." " The Winnebago." " They left it for you to have a look." " What did you do with the bodies?" " Well, they were sent to their family." "And the explanation was?" "Did you happen to catch the May 1997 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report?" "It indicates that injuries from dog attacks increased 37 per cent in the last decade." "4.7 million people in the US were bitten by dogs in 1994." "About a million needed medical care, compared to half a million in 1986." "It's my job to keep an eye on information like that as the day nears." "Is that what you do for Millennium?" " The Group or the event?" " The photographs." "My name in yourjournal." "The gravestones in the ravine." " What makes you think they're gravestones?" " The snake." "The ouroboros." "It was used as a secret symbol in early Christian graves." "The markers, rough obelisks." " So, you've been looking into the Group." " Apparently not enough." "Apparently." "Were those the graves of past members?" "You know the significance of the ouroboros?" "The snake is symbolic of divine life." "It embraces cyclical systems." "Unity, multiplicity, evolution, involution, birth, death." "Hm." "That's all you need to know for now, Frank, about the Millennium Group." "The reason you're here is to learn about the event." "When I looked for good, then evil came unto me." "When I waited for the light, then came darkness." "The circle is about as good as it's gonna get." "No beginning, no end." "No boundaries." "Yet nothing but what lies inside the circle and what lies outside." " Go stand by that rock." " Oh, no, no, no." "Serial killers, spree killers, mass murderers, it's all just societal, genetic." "Inevitability." "You have no idea about true evil." "Now, go stand by that rock." "No." "One more step." "Well, you passed." "Oh, this is like matter itself, Frank." "Neither good nor evil can be destroyed and both will always be here." "It's meant to be." ""The Lord hath made all things for Himself:" "yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. "" "Our role is to achieve equilibrium." "And as we do that we must respect evil, and we must make evil respect us." "But... at times such as now, events indicate that we're losing balance." "And time is running out." "Well, it's good to meet you." "The dogs." "That's why they're coming into town." " Because Beebe built his house in an area..." " ..." "That upset the balance." " The townspeople don't have any idea?" " It's over their damn heads, Frank." "Their fear shrinks the world to the size of nothing but their own lives." "It blinds them to anything beyond their own houses." "All they think is "Why me?" "Please, just leave me alone. "" "All they hope is that it'll go away." "But it won't go away." "That's why people like you are sent here." "You have a gift." "But unlike a bad tie at Christmas, your gift is unreturnable." "I don't have the gift any more." "The images, things I see..." "My personal life has upset the balance." "It'll come back, and you'll think it's diminished." "But actually it'll be greater than before." "You're moving to a new plane, Franklin." " They'll kill Michael." " Huh." "Surprised it ain't happened already." "How can I respect that?" "I can't respect him." "My neighbour did nothing to help his or our situation but run away." "And from crime, of all things." "Crime is not evil." "Any of us would steal if we were hungry." "And any of us might even kill if we were without hope." "So, we confront evil." "But there isn't much time." "We can't waste time on one ignorant man." " You could teach him." " Huh." "Well, then, I haven't taught you." "My name is not Franklin." "Having a heat wave" "A tropical heat wave" "The temperature's rising, it isn't surprising" "She certainly can..." "Cancan" "She started a heat wave by letting her seat wave" "And in such a way that the customers say that she certainly can cancan" "Gee, gee, gee" "Her anatomy makes the mercury rise to 93" "Oh." " Sheriff Black, did you talk to him?" " Can you put that down?" "I was caught without one during the riots." " I think we can all just get along." " Well, come on in, come on in." "Right here." "Have a seat over there." " What a beautiful house." " Thank you." "It's my baby." " Well, did you talk to him?" " Michael, I don't know how to explain this, but it would be my advice to you that you might consider moving." " Do..." "What?" " You're in trouble, Michael." "What is this?" "The sheriff running me out of town?" "I was run out of my last home." " I'm not going to run." " Listen." "Standing on a sinking ship, you don't try to figure out why." "You get off." "You saw what I saw, you heard the noises." " Yeah, I heard them earlier tonight." " What?" "You know, I'm such a bad host." "You want a diet drink, or you want some popcorn?" "What did that old man say?" "That you don't belong here." "You..." "Get out, just out." "I don't care if you are the sheriff." "Just out of my house." "Notjust you, Michael, anyone." "What does that mean?" "This is my home." "I gave up everything to come here." "Would you sell your home because someone said you didn't belong?" "Hello?" "Didn't think so." "No one would." "Michael, close the door." " They're surrounding the house." " Coming for you." "They can't get in the house." "There's no way they can get in the house, right?" "We could go through the garage, get in the car and drive out." " But your car's parked on the driveway." " Oh, God." "Oh, maybe they're gone." " Ow!" "Sorry, bad back." " Push it." " Is this thing loaded?" " God, I hope so." "Down!" "More shells, Michael." "It's the wrong gauge." "Sheriff Black." "There were five dogs, but you killed one." "That's what I've been trying to tell you." "There will always be another dog." "Another one?" "You learned it yet?" " Get what you need." " Get what I need?" " You're leaving." " For how long?" "When do I come back?" "You don't." " What the hell are you doing?" " Is that necessary?" "If I don't, we'll never get out of here alive, him, you or me." "A guy like you, I'm sure you're covered." " Frank, what are you doing?" " It's not for sale." " The house is already on the market." " I can't." "We can't run away after all that's happened." "Are you moving back?" "Yup." "When it's a home again." "I made this."