"You thinking parts?" "I'm not sure." "So I heard these stories, right?" "Yeah?" "About these righteous chop-shops before the big death." "People'd steal these fine-ass Italian sports cars, like Maserati and ferraris." "Anyway, they'd break 'em down, sell the parts." "Yeah, but they're worth more in pieces." "Exactly, but still, I can't imagine that, man." "It's crazy." "You bought a car piecemeal, and you pay more for it than you would if you bought the whole thing, and then, at the end of the day, you've got to put humpty dumpty back together again." "Yeah, well, they catch you with a stolen car, you're dog meat, but if it's just a steering assembly, you're just a junk man." "Humpty dumpty?" "You're kidding me." "Get off of me!" "No!" "Why?" "No." "Stop it!" "No." "Ow!" "Stop it." "You're hurting me." "Please, stop it." "Shut up, whore." "We're not done with you yet." "You make a sound, you try to get away," "I'm gonna suck your eyeballs out like grapes." "Shh." "Shh." "What the fuck?" "I told you to tie the bitch up." "I did tie her up." "All right." "You're gonna be all right." "What the..." "Get up there, man." "Get it." "Get it the hell..." "Get it!" "Ow." "Kurdy!" "Hey." "Hey!" "Hey, hey, hey." "Come... come on!" "What are you doing, huh?" "You made your point." "What?" "Come on." "Go, go." "Fuck!" "Damn!" "Dear dad, it's been 15 years since the big death wipedouteveryone overtheageofinnocence..." "The end of your world, the beginning of mine." "Debriefing room." "Now." "The soup's not half bad." "It's not too hot, is it?" "You're a pretty girl." "Bet you've got a pretty name." "You want to tell me your name?" "No hurry." "The world out there, that's where everybody's rushing around like getting somewhere means something." "You and I know better." "Slow's just fine." "Slow's cool." "They really hurt you, didn't they?" "You just wanna hide..." "Somewhere where they can't hurt you, but they can't." "I promise." "I warned Marcus." "Something like this was bound to happen." "We brought in a kid." "It is not the end of the world." "Actually, it is..." "Technically." "It's a violation of protocol." "So's getting gang-raped by a band of street thugs." "You know what the stakes are here." "No, Lee, I forgot." "Why don't you tell me again?" "Don't fuck with me, Jeremiah." "Hey, you're worried about blowing this place's cover, right?" "Well, that didn't happen." "We made sure nobody followed us." "This isn't a goddamn homeless shelter." "The girl had been brutalized, sexually brutalized and beaten." "What the hell did you want us to do, look the other way?" "You have a job to do." "Yeah." "We did it." "Tell me about this blood sample." "It comes from a guy named Jimmy holcomb in a town called slag harbor." "Simon was supposed to meet with him." "And now they're both dead." "Of course." "Apparently, Simon wasn't the only one worried about the virus coming back." "Any evidence that it has?" "I don't know." "Whatever it is, it's confined to a small enclave up the willamette." "There's this scientist type named farralon working on developing some kind of a vaccine." "Now, holcomb was one of farralon's Guinea pigs, only whatever they shot him up with filled him full of tumors." "He wanted us to get this farralon guy his blood." "Hopefully, he could figure out what went wrong." "If there is a vaccine, we'd better find out about it." "And if the disease does come back, how does the world survive this time?" "We've got other questions to answer before we get to that one." "Like how many points you've got to earn to get a hot shower." "Not that I need one." "I'd say you've earned it." "I'll have our people look at this." "Once they've cleared it, I want you to pack up, find farralon." "It might take awhile." "That's a pretty long river." "This'll help." "G.P.S." "There was a series of coordinates in Simon's journal, including a location right on the willamette." "I didn't realize their significance until now." "Wait a minute." "I've read about this "g.P.S."" "It's all satellite, Luke Skywalker, space shit." "Now, how's it work, since there's no more space program?" "There's still a bunch of satellites still up there, including several over the northwest." "Really?" "I'll have Lee brief you on how it works." "I can hardly wait." "How's she doing?" "She's pretty traumatized." "It's gonna take some time." "Did you get her name?" "She hasn't said a word since she got here." "Nathaniel, I am begging you." "That got pretty crazy today, huh?" "You remember any time that it wasn't?" "You would have iced those guys out there if I hadn't stopped you, huh?" "I thought about it." "Seems to me like you weren't thinking at all." "You know, I don't really want a sermon, if that's what's coming next." "Good, Jeremiah, cause I wouldn't know how to give one." "You saw what they did to that girl." "As far as I'm concerned, there is no punishment too harsh for a rapist." "Man." "Man, I agree." "Now, if there's anybody who deserves to get strung up by the short hairs, it was those guys." "Then what's the problem?" "Maybe it's all this stuff out there, man." "No rules, no one having to do right unless they want to." "Look," "I didn't ask to be the guy on the white horse, you know, but if I'm gonna put my butt on the line, it's got to be for something I believe in." "Now, I don't want to go out there and be about whacking people." "I don't care what they've done." "Shall I remind you of that next time somebody's got a knife to your throat?" "I didn't survive all this time by not taking care of business when it comes to living or dying." "But what about when it's somebody else's life on the line?" "When was the last time you seen me back down?" "See, you don't even hear me." "No, all I'm saying is no more dying than there's got to be." "Not one more body on that pile that don't have to be there." "The reason I went off..." "That guy reminded me of someone." "Someone bad." "Someone I owe." "Damn it!" "That's some pretty heavy payback." "Unless you've got something else eating you," "I'm signing off." "Somebody, come and get me." "That's a nasty cut." "Hold on." "I've almost got it." "It's weird." "It's like the..." "The minute I..." "I looked at it," "I started getting these..." "These..." "These pictures, you know, like..." "Like kind of being at..." "At a movie show." "What kind of pictures?" "I'm in this room." "It's a closet, maybe." "It's real tiny, and I'm scared, and my hand, it's cut inthesameplaceasthis," "and it's bandaged up." "You've opened an old wound, maybe literally and figuratively." "And there was writing on the wall." "What'd it say?" "You're gonna laugh." "Why would I laugh?" "Because people always laugh." "You've told this to people before." "No, you're the first one, but..." "Forget it." "Kurdy, what do you remember about those times?" "Nothing." "It's... it's a... a big blank." "Where did you live?" "I don't know." "A... a city, I guess." "I..." "I don't know exactly." "Do you remember your parents?" "Sort of." "Kurdy!" "I remember my mother's voice." "And your father?" "All right, I..." "I d-don't remember." "But you remember a little room..." "And writing on the wall." "I wrote it..." "In... in crayon or something." ""I am" ""alone." ""Somebody, come and..." "Get me."" "Oh, kurdy." "What?" "Is it bad?" "Elizabeth, if... if you know something, please, you've got to tell me." "I don't know anything, but maybe there's a way we can find out." "Marcus really wanted to meet you." "He must have got held up." "Whatever it is you're feeling, you've got to find a way to get it out." "You just can't keep it bottled up." "What those sons of bitches did to you, nothing's gonna change that." "Nothing's gonna make that right." "What's done is done, but so help me, you can fight back." "Those guys might be long gone, but they're still under your skin, still tearing you up inside." "Am I right?" "All right, then." "You know what I used to do?" "Don't laugh, now." "Whenever I needed to bust out and the person I was pissed at wasn't in target range," "I'd hit something, anything." "Hit this." "You think I'm kidding." "I want you to punch this pillow like it's every one of those neanderthals who violated you." "Come on." "Hit it." "Go ahead." "Come on." "You can hit better than that." "It's not the pillow, is it?" "It's ok." "I saw." "I was there." "Hit him." "Come on." "Hit it." "Hit him hard." "All of them." "Give it to them." "Yeah." "Just like that." "It's better." "Give it all you've got." "Oh!" "All right." "Oh!" "Are you ok?" "It's all right." "You did good." "You did real good." "Yeah, I think they felt that one." "Here we go." "I think we've got it." "I can't believe this stuff still works." "Most of it doesn't." "It's real hit and miss, but there's enough of the old databases left for some basic information." "Look." "It's all here, kurdy." "Those my parents?" "Nathaniel and demerius Malloy." "Portland." "Farralon's compound on the willamette, that's pretty nearby." "Yeah, a stone's throw." "Your parents have been gone for over 15 years." "What do you hope to find there?" "Did you ever wake up from a dream and close your eyes and try to go back to it?" "Usually it doesn't work." "Well, I'm hoping it will." "Damn, man." "What the hell happened to you?" "Oh, it's therapy." "Did it work?" "I think." "Hey, when we're done with this farralon cat, we need to make a pit stop." "Where's that?" "I'm going home." "Stop the truck." "What for?" "I need something." "What?" "Yeah." "We could always use some bait." "Anybody home?" "I like to think so." "Jerky or bait..." "Or, uh..." "Maybe you'd like a little tarot reading?" "Yeah." "Yeah, maybe." "Um..." "How do the earthworms look?" "About as slimy as most of my customers, present company excepted." "I'll take a handful." "Whatcha got to trade?" "Uh, um, wait." "Uh, oh, mushrooms." "Do you want these wrapped up or are you gonna eat 'em here?" "Cute." "I like to think so." "Name's Chloe." "Of course, you're probably gonna forget it the minute you walk out the door." "That's not likely, Chloe." "You know, it's not every day a pretty girl gives me worms." "Ahem." "You sure these aren't poisonous?" "Now, Chloe, you gonna go getting all picky on me?" "Is there anything else?" "Actually..." "There is." "The tower struck by lightning." "What does it mean?" "Look at it." "Ruin and devastation any way you slice it." "Great." "Destruction, loss, confusion." "The end of everything." "2 people falling." "I have a feeling you know who they are." "Am I right?" "Hey, I'm the one paying to ask questions." ""The ace of wands."" "Creation, invention, enterprise, virility." "All right, that's better." "Except it's upside-down." "Shit." "So?" "Decadence, ruin, what can I say?" "Majorly fucked-up stuff." "I'm out of here." "Well, maybe the next one will be good." "You paid for 3 cards." "Keep the change." "Oops." "Kurdy." "Come on, kurdy." "Come on, kurdy." "This is it." "You're not coming?" "No." "I ain't got time for a picnic." "Look, I..." "I didn't ask to come here first." "I said after we're done with this farralon cat..." "Whatever." "You've got your agenda," "I've got mine." "Let's go." "That's bullshit." "You're sick of riding the white horse?" "Then slide your ass on off." "Nobody said this was gonna be easy." "This ain't a road trip." "Wait." "Hold up." "I'm pulling my load, same as you." "Shit." "My load is you." "What?" "If that wasn't bad enough, then you go all, what, candy-assed pacifist on me." "It's like throwing away your umbrella in the middle of a shitstorm." "What the hell has gotten into you?" "You wanna stay on this trip, meet me back here at midnight." "If you're here, I'll take it as a sign you wised your ass up." "Fuck you, man." "Kurdy." "Kurdy!" "Hey, baby." "I'm here, mom." "I'm home." "No!" "No goddamn way!" "I'm begging you, Nathaniel." "No!" "Hello, meaghan." "You look familiar." "Uh, pizza delivery-man, right?" "Right." "No." "Ah, the man that takes out the trash." "That, too." "The guy who makes sure I have enough water, that I can breathe the air." "My librarian, my window washer, my bartender, oh, my shrink." "You've been reading my job description." "And the guy who keeps me from going crazy." "If only I could do the same for myself." "I love you." "You know that." "Now, you really have me worried." "You remember I told you about that new team we sent out into the field?" "What happened?" "They screw up?" "No, but the information they brought back..." "It's the disease, isn't it?" "Simon was right." "It's back." "It's too early to tell." "The information's still pretty sketchy." "You have to stop it, right now, where it stands." "You hesitate, you second-guess," "I don't even want to think." "He's destroying the ark." "Sorry?" "This place, the ark." "The only chance to start over." "God tells Noah to build an ark, to make provisions." "And just when the rains were starting to let up, what does he do?" "He sends a 500-millimeter torpedo straight up Noah's ass." "And you're Noah." "More like a goat." "You can stop it, Marcus." "Make that pygmy goat." "You can stop it." "It's beyond my reach." "It's just like everything you've ever wanted:" "Peace, hope, salvation..." "You." "I could break this glass and kiss you..." "But I'd have to kill you first." "It may just be a trade I'm willing to make." "You can't stay here, you know." "What'd you say?" "I said, you can't stay here." "This is my house." "Believe me, I..." "I wasn't thinking of moving in here." "Uh, I used to live here." "That's a damn lie." "I'd have known if you ever lived here." "Yeah, I'm talking about before the death." "Long time ago." "Wait a minute." "What's your name?" "Kurdy." "Get outta town." "That's not possible." "Wait." "Who'd you say you were?" "I didn't." "Name's ricki." "I lived here long since before the big, and I used to watch a kid named kurdy, when I was, like, 12, 13, for extra cash." "Holy shit!" "You used to give me baths." "Don't go getting any ideas." "It really is you." "I can't believe it." "Purdy kurdy, all grown up." "Ricki, you've been here all this time?" "Come on, I'll show you around." "This place is amazing." "How'd you get all these roses to grow in here?" "Uh, it wasn't easy, hauling every bit of water up here, too, but you give them enough sun and water, and roses grow just about anywhere." "They're tough little suckers." "Got these thorns to protect them, hmm?" "And they don't take shit from nobody." "Yeah, I know the feeling." "Mmm-hmm." "Why'd you come back, kurdy?" "Honestly?" "I'm not sure what happened to my parents." "What'd you think happened?" "They're dead." "I know they're dead." "I mean, that's not what I mean." "Somehow, I managed to blank it all out." "I mean, I barely remember anything about them at all, only lately, I've been getting these hits." "I've been seeing them and seeing bits of what happened." "Jesus, kurdy." "You know, don't you?" "You know the whole story." "I don't want to talk about it." "Ricki, you have to talk about it." "Now, I came all this way and you are my only shot." "If you know something, you have to tell me." "I don't know what started it." "Buttherewas thisbigargument." "Just shut up." "I don't want to hear this." "Nathaniel, you are burying your head in the sand." "You listen to me, woman." "I'm your husband, damn it." "Let's stop right here, right now." "Why don't you think about kurdy?" "I'm thinking about kurdy." "He's my son, too." "What kind of a man do you think I am?" "You swore you would love and obey." "That's all I'm asking." "Just respect the vows we made." "No!" "No goddamn way!" "I am begging you, Nathaniel." "No!" "There was blood all over the place." "He shot her, kurdy." "Your dad killed your mom." "Fuck." "You smoke?" "No." "I always figured I'd die soon enough without 'em." "You may be right about that." "My guys said you were carrying g.P.S. With these coordinates." "Really?" "I'm impressed." "Your guys don't look like they could spell g.P.S." "You wanna explain to me what you're doing here, smart ass?" "As soon as you explain to me where you got all this technology from." "My guns, my interrogation." "Yeah, that's usually how it works." "So I brought you a little present from a guy named Jimmy holcomb." "How did you get this?" "He didn't seem to have much use for it, being dead and all." "Your vaccine didn't work." "In fact, we think that's what killed him." "He thought you might be able to figure out why." "Shit." "Shit." "Shit!" "I want this analyzed." "Just so you know, Simon's dead, too." "So you're from thunder Mountain?" "I didn't know Simon long, but I know that he thought whatever you were working on here is pretty important." "Obviously, he overestimated my ability." "Yeah, but you are working on some kind of vaccine, right?" "Yeah, you saw how well our vaccine worked." "Simon thought that the... the virus was coming back," "Jimmy holcomb believed that, too." "Is that what you told them?" "The good news is nobody's died just yet, not that we know of." "But there are signs that the virus, or some form of it, may still be out there." "Simon felt that we were on the edge of the abyss." "The people that he worked for, they believe that, too." "If this goddamn thing is making an encore, then there are people who need to know." "I thought you said no one had died yet." "No, but there are those who are infected." "How many?" "I don't know." "All I know is 15 years ago when we started counting, we didn't stop until everyone we loved was gone." "That was then." "You know, I get the feeling that you're reacting more to what happened then, than what is out there now." "With something this contagious," "I sure as hell am going to err on the side of caution." "Well, I can think of something that is even more contagious that you might want to consider." "What's that?" "Panic." "I'm so sorry." "Maybe you'd been better off not knowing." "I remember that scream." "I kept hearing it in my dreams." "Once it was over," "I guess he realized what he'd done." "So he must have turned all that rage onto himself." "By the time I got into the room, he had shot himself in the head." "Murder." "Suicide." "No wonder I blocked it all out." "I looked all over for you," "Called out your name." "But I couldn't findyouanywhere." "Kurdy?" "Kurdy?" "It wasn't until, like, 3 or 4 days later that I found you." "You were still hiding in a closet off the living room..." "Passed out from dehydration." "I just can't get my mother's scream out of my head." "It wasn't your mother, it was me." "When I heard the first shot." "She never screamed?" "No, something's wrong with this picture, ricki." "Something's really wrong." "You said you found me in a closet..." "No!" "No goddamn way!" "I won't have any part of this." "You can't make me do this." "For God's sake, Nathaniel, would you listen to me?" "There is no other way." "I am begging you, Nathaniel." "If you love me, you won't let me suffer like this anymore." "Come on, baby, let..." "let's talk about this." "Come on." "I'm dying of the virus anyway." "Please don't let me die in pain." "No." "I love you so much." "Daddy, please." "Please, don't." "Please, daddy, don't." "I..." "Am alone." "Somebody come and get me." "Oh, kurdy," "I'm sorry." "It was an act of love." "He couldn't stand to see her suffer anymore." "And I just didn't understand it, so I blocked it out." "All these years..." "Listen, uh, kurdy," "About those things I said earlier..." "I didn't know I-if that enclave was full of the virus or not." "I figured there was no sense in both of us dying." "I knew that if I told you, you'd try to stop me, and..." "Tell me something." "It's like everywhere I look, love and dying are wrapped up together." "You think it was always like that?" "I wish I knew." "Uh, listen, man," "I need you to do me a solid." "Next time you're writing one of those letters to your dad," "mind tossing this one in the fire, too?" "Yeah, man." "It's a..." "It would be a privilege, my friend." "Iunderstandhowmuch youlovedher,dad , and how hard it must have been for both of you." "You did what you had to do." "And I guess thatgoesforme, too ."