"Hello?" "I'm home!" "Mom!" "Dad!" "Bethany?" "Ah!" "Mom?" "Beth?" "Bethany?" "It's me, Cole." "Ahh!" "Did you do this?" "Who did?" "He who walks behind the rows." "He said to slay the righteous with the wicked." "Where is he?" "Just tell me where he is." "Don't move!" " Don't make me do it." " Baby killer." " Get back!" " Baby killer." " You're a baby killer." "Baby killer." "Don't make me do it, not again." "Baby killer!" "Baby killer." " Baby..." "Baby killer." "Baby killer!" "Get a grip on yourself, soldier." "Baby killer." "Guilty." "And a child shall lead them." "I'm so hot." "And not in a good way." "It shouldn't be much longer." "It's been over an hour, and not a single car has passed by." "We're still in California, there have to be cars." "Nice bit of deductive reasoning." "Well done." "What if we pour the rest of the water in the radiator?" "Which will get us, what, 40 feet maybe?" "Then we'd be stranded and without water." "Here." "Stay hydrated." "You're drinking for two now, baby." "Oh, God." "I'm gonna puke." "And so much for hydration." "Oh, God." "There's some telephone poles, maybe a house." "Stay here, I'll run up and call for a tow." "You kidding?" "I'm not gonna stay here and fry like an egg." "You sure you can handle the walk?" "I'm pregnant, I'm not dying." "All right, then." "Let's go make some friends." " Thanks, by the way." " For what?" "For not telling me what a limp dick I am for taking the scenic route." "I'm still allowed to think it, right?" "Oh, yeah, it's cool." "I like it." "Meth-lab chic." "Let's be nice." "Definitely do not want to antagonize the natives." "If the worst should happen, tell Little Bubba that his father was a great but flawed man." " Our kid's gonna be named Little Bubba?" " Mm-hmm." "OK." "Howdy." "I'm Tim Gleason and this is my wife, Allie." "We hate to bother you, sir, but our car broke down in the heat" " and we were wondering..." " Can't help you." "We don't need any help, just the use of your phone to call for a tow." "Ain't got no phone." "Thanks anyway." "Sorry to bother you." "Excuse me, just one more thing." "Since we're without wheels, can you tell us how far it is to your nearest neighbor or nearest anything?" "It be very far." " You sure you don't have a phone?" " He just said he didn't." "That sure looks a lot like a phone line to me." "Let's go, Allie." "Don't make a big deal out of this." "It's cool, we'll find another way." "It's all good." "It's not all good, it's 120 degrees." "We'll find a ride, OK?" "Let's go." " Just let me talk to him." " No, you heard him." "We're going." "Why?" "'Cause he might be a tweaker with a shotgun?" "Could you say that any louder?" "Sir?" "Hi." "We both know you have a phone..." " Asshole!" " Take it easy." " What is his problem?" " Let it go." "If I have a miscarriage, it's your fault!" " Let's go." "We're sorry!" " No, we're not!" "All right, you get yourself on in here." "It wouldn't be right to leave a woman in your condition out here in the heat." "Wouldn't be Christian." "So I'm Tim and this is Allie." "Helen." "And this is my husband, Cole." "But everyone around calls him Preacher." "Your accent." "Um, Romanian?" "Ukraine." "How long have you been in the states?" "Six years, almost." "Pretty cool flat-screen you got there." "You folks own dish or cable out here?" "We ain't got neither." "Just watch videos, huh?" "That's pretty much all you need now that The Sopranos is dead and buried." "I better make that call." "Uh, where's your phone?" "I will show you." "Thanks." "I imagine everything's long distance from here, so here," " let me leave a little." " Hundred." "Dollars?" "That's a bit steep for a phone call, no?" "Fifty, whatever you have spare." " Please don't tell my husband." " OK, sure." " Do you have any pot?" " What?" "No." " Cigarette?" " l don't smoke." "We're going to see Tim's grandfather." "He lives in Victorville." "Well, just north of Victorville." "He's not doing well." "Tim thought it would be a cool idea if we took the scenic route." "Always a good idea, right?" "So... you're pregnant?" "Yeah... first time." "Well, second time, really, but the first time didn't take." "Although I hardly thought of it as a first time." "More like a false start." "But this time it just feels... lt just feels kind of... different." "Yeah, we're out on Salt Valley Road." "It's about 140 miles east of Victorville." " No, Salt Valley." " I don't see Salt Valley..." " Sorry?" "It's not for service here." " Sure you got that right?" " l'm... ls there another name?" "Old Mine Road." "Nobody calls it Salt Valley anymore." " Old Mine Road." " That's quite a ways from here." "Sure love the quiet." "There's nothing like it in LA." " l..." "I just thought I saw..." " The heat'll do that to you." " Hello?" " Take me with you." " Mead's Auto Service?" " Mm-hmm." " ls..." " What can I help you with?" " We're broken down on Old Mine Road." " Old Mine?" "Out past where the road turns to dirt there?" " Uh, yeah." " What seems to be the problem?" "Radiator." "Yeah." " It's shot?" " The hose is busted for sure." "Be a while before we can get someone over there." "Late evening, early morning." " How much?" " Nine hundred plus road tax." " You have AAA?" " No..." "No, I'll have to get back to you." "We're here 'til six." "You know, it's really hard to get sweet iced tea in LA." "You have to especially ask for it." "Well?" "OK, two options." "Option one:" "We catch a tow out of Inyokern." " Three hours each way, 900 dollars." " Nine hundred dollars?" "Plus service cost at double-time since it's a Sunday." "Extortion, yeah, I know." "Not only that, their one car is on a run and won't be back until this evening, which means he can't even get here until 2:00am at the earliest, and possibly not at all." "All because of one stupid hose." "And the good option?" "That was a good option." "Burrelson's Garage, which is less than an hour away, is closed on Sundays." "As luck would have it." "What about our Mr. Pritchett?" "He's coming in the morning." "He could give them a ride to Burrelson's." "All right." "Pritchett?" "He comes every Monday morning around seven." "I'm sure he would be happy to give you a ride." "A very nice man." "We could pick up a radiator hose at Burrelson's, hitch back and save on the tow." "Get away for pocket change." "I'd hate to be a burden." "It's not a burden." "That's what our lord commands." "Well, now, that was perfect." "Actually, I became a vegan about a year ago, and I plan on staying that way through the pregnancy." "And probably even as long as I'm nursing." "Did you hear that?" "The wind gets very strong here." "Now, the spare room, such as it is, is right through that door, there." "I'm sure it'll be fine." "More than fine." "Please let me do the dishes, it's the least..." "You let Helen do that." "Please, it's how I relax." "OK, if you insist." "The outhouse is outside through the front door." "If you need running water, you can get that at the kitchen sink." "Got it." "We are very private people here." "And we expect that you will respect that privacy." " Of course." " Absolutely." "So don't go wandering around outside except to go to the outhouse." "And do not go anywhere that you are not invited." "Understood." "OK, tell me if I'm off here, but freaky old hermit buys himself a Russian wife off of the Internet and she thinks, "Woo-hoo, California, here I come,"" "but winds up so far off the grid that she might as well be on Mars." "Then she hits on a stranded motorist in the kitchen while his pregnant wife is getting the evil eye from freaky hermit guy." "Are you kidding?" "Are you sure she..." "Gave me a reach around while I was on the phone?" "And sitting on the kitchen table, skirt hiked up, legs open, blouse open to her nipples?" "Yeah." "But who am I to judge?" "Maybe that's how people cool off around here." "Jesus Christ." "No, I think that's freaky hermit guy's department." "That is when he's not making porn videos with his wife doing stranded motorists" " and selling them on the Internet." " You really think that he's..." "Why would he have all that video equipment with no TV hook-up?" "Dude's not making a living growing tumbleweeds" " or selling corn-husk dolls." " l know." "That is so freaky, right?" "Ooh, I'm really getting creeped out here." "OK, and that doesn't help either." "This really, really sucks." "I'm not the one who insisted on coming inside." " Really, then why am I pregnant?" " Even the cracks are little crosses." " Stop it." " Damn." " What?" "Shouldn't have drank all that iced tea." "You gotta be kidding me." "All right..." "Are you all right?" "Don't be afraid." "I'm not going to hurt you." "What's your name?" "Mine's Allie." "Grant me one hour and I will till the soil." "Grant me one day and I will plant the seeds." "Grant me one year and I will reap thy harvest." "It's worse. lt's way worse than we thought, OK?" "He's got a kid locked up in the storage shed and he's out in the garage." " The kid?" " No, Preacher." "He's out in the garage, which he turned into a church or a sex den, just chanting weird shit about planting and harvesting like some freaky..." " Slow down." " No, listen, we gotta get out of here." "Tonight." "But we gotta take that kid with us." "We can't leave him here with that sick bastard." "I want to kill him, I just wanna kill him!" " Hang on, slow down." "Deep breaths." " Don't patronize me." "He's some fucking psycho fucking pervert like those other sick fucks you read about." " 911, OK?" "We gotta call 911." " l'll do it." "Just..." "We need to get our shit together first." "You think I'm imagining this?" "I'm just saying..." "Remember that time you heard the bears attacking the tent in Kings Canyon?" "Yeah, what does that have to do with this?" "Turned out they were squirrels." " You don't believe me." " l do, but we need to be specific." "They're gonna ask me questions." "Did you..." "Did you see the kid?" "No, but I heard him." "I definitely heard him." "Yeah, but actually see him?" "Did you see who was in the shed?" " lt was padlocked, OK?" " OK!" "OK, so maybe..." " Maybe what?" " Could it have been...?" "I mean..." " What did you hear?" " Crying." " Helen." " No, it wasn't a woman crying in there, it was a little boy or little girl, a child." "Imagine if it was our child." " What if it was our child?" " OK, OK, OK. I'll call for help" " Thank you." " You say Preacher's in the garage?" "He was, I don't know about now." "You stay here, watch the window." "If you see him coming back..." "What?" "Never mind, just stay put." "I'll take care of it." " No, what if he catches you?" " l can take him if I have to." " You don't know that, he's big." " l took a judo class in high school." " Tim..." "Oh, shit." "Goddamn it." "Ahh!" "You scared the shit out of me." "Did you see him?" "Did you see the little kid?" " Yeah, all it is is little close-ups." " No, he was just in here." "What?" "Holy shit, what's with the blood?" "There's all sorts of broken glass and rusty nails out there." "He might still be in here." "Oh, God, he's coming." "You did make the call, right?" "Right?" " No, not yet, I..." " Un-fucking-believable." " Where are you going?" " Just make the call." "Hey, I... I was wondering if you could wait on the porch while I go to the outhouse." "It's dark and I'm a bit scared to be out there by myself." " Ain't you already been out there?" " No." "I've been kind of holding it." "Last time I was in an actual outhouse, I was a kid and we were visiting a state park..." "My brother pulled open the door and shoved me inside and held it closed, so you can see why I'm still a bit freaked by... I..." "I was out once... already." "Why?" "Did you go to the shed?" "I didn't." " l just... went to the outhouse and..." " Oh..." "Ain't no water out there, except where that hose leaks, and that's right... by the shed." "Stop." "I didn't mean to, I was... I..." "There were these noises, and I just..." "What noises were there?" "I..." "I don't know, I... I don't know." "I thought I heard something, but I went to check, and... ow." "What did I tell you about sneaking' around?" "!" "You have no idea." "I know there's a kid you keep in the shed back there." "And you film him, I know that much." "But you're right, I don't know any more than that and I don't want to know." "I just want to get through the night and be on our way when the delivery guy shows up, that's all." "I don't believe you." "How 'bout this:" "We go "don't ask, don't tell."" "And, in the morning, the second we're gone, you make sure that kid is out of the shed." "You delete these cards, throw some bleach on the floor there" " and it's our word against yours." " Tim." "Our word against yours, and not a stitch of evidence." "You think I'm in the grip of evil." "I didn't say that." "I'm fighting evil." "And you..." "You go back to your room... right now." "Her real name is Oksana." "And she deceived me." "She told me that she could tell from my letters that I was a good man, and there were very few good men in her country." "But she didn't tell me that she was pregnant." "That all she wanted was the chance for her son to be born on American soil." "Evil finds evil." "Your wife and her son, you think they're evil?" "Oh, no, she was just a mother and like every mother, she wanted what was best for her child." "But I have forgiven her deceit as God commands." "How can you condemn her child when he's only five years old?" "He's not her child." " Not anymore." " l thought you said he..." "Oh." "I'm from Gatlin, Nebraska." "The people in Gatlin, they know more about certain things certain unspeakable things than you could even imagine." "Things like how easy it is to corrupt a poor child's soul or even just to steal that soul outright." "If I hadn't been in the Army and stationed overseas when the massacre happened, I'd be dead now like all the rest of my friends and my family." "Every single adult in Gatlin..." " ...was slaughtered by children." "Good children." "Christian children." "You tell me, Mr. Gleason." "What could make a child do something like that?" " 911, what's the emergency?" " Hi, we've been..." "Well, it seems that uh you too, have a deceitful wife." " What happened?" " The phone, it just..." " How?" " l don't know." " Did you get through?" " l don't know. I don't think so." "It's alright, it's OK, it's OK." "Why the hell didn't you make the call?" "You had the time." "I was trying to put the camera on the stand so he wouldn't know." " Now it's too late." " l'm sorry." " One thing..." "You had one thing to do." " l know, I know." " Let's go." "Let's just go." " lt's the middle of the night." " Where are we gonna go?" " l don't know. I don't care," " just..." "Please, let's just go." " All right, come on." "Ah!" "Tim." "Don't try and stop us." "Oh, God..." " Who's doing this?" " l told you, but you didn't listen." "Come on." "They never do." " What the fuck?" "!" " Something in this house" " doesn't want us to leave." " Damn it, like what?" " A poltergeist?" "A ghost?" " l don't know!" "The same thing happened with the phone, it just jerked out of my hand." "This house is rigged." "Pastor thinks he's David fucking Blaine." " That's not it." " Well, what is it then?" " You won't believe me." " Try me." "Someone in this house is psychokinetic, like off the charts." "Who?" "The kid?" "Or Preacher or Helen/Oksana or whoever, someone we don't even know about yet." "Tim!" " Oh, my God!" " l'm OK." "It wants you to return to your room." "You, the deceitful wife and you, the cheating husband." "Don't worry, it'll release you at dawn." "I hope." ""l hope?" "l hope?" What the hell does that even mean?" "I'm sorry, we'll get through this." "I promise you, we'll get through..." "Allie?" " You lied to me." " What?" " No, what are you talking about?" " You fucked her, didn't you?" "How can you say that?" "Because of what that lunatic said?" "You believe him?" "Just tell me yes or no." " Did you fuck her in the kitchen?" " l told you what happened." "And that's all?" "I know that everything's going insane right now, but that's no reason for us to start doubting each other, OK?" "My God, all we have is each other right now." "You gotta hang on to that." " You didn't touch her?" " God, no!" "You fucking pig." "You spineless fucking pig!" "How could you do this to me?" "!" "I don't know what you think you know or saw, but you gotta believe me..." "Fuck you!" "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry." "Wait." "Wait." "The police." "You got through!" " Hey!" "Officer!" " Help us!" " Officer, please look over here!" " Hey!" "Hello!" " Hey!" "Over here!" " Officer!" "Hello!" " Look over here!" " What are you doing?" " Why can't he hear us?" " l don't know..." " Here!" "Hey!" " Please!" "What the hell's wrong with you?" "Look over here, damn it!" " Please!" "Mr. Police Officer!" " Hey!" "Look over here, we're here!" "Hey, cop!" "This isn't happening." "It's not happening." "Did you see them slip anything into our food or the tea?" " A hallucinogenic or something?" " No, not that I could tell." "Think." "Anything odd or out-of-place when we first got here?" "Everything was odd and out-of-place." "What if..." "What if we're dead?" "What if we never got out of the car?" "Like what?" "We're still dead on the roadside?" "From what?" "I don't know." "Accident?" "Heat stroke?" "I don't know." "No, I'm not going there." "There's gotta be a better explanation than that." "We pounded on the window." "The cop, he should have heard us, seen us." " There's no way he could've missed us." " lf he was even really there at all." "You saw what happened." "That shit just does not happen in waking life." "So we're dreaming." "Asleep and dreaming." "No, I didn't say that." " No, we're not dreaming." " How can you know for sure?" "Look, we can sit here and run through every pop-culture explanation you want, but that is not gonna help us." "That is not gonna get us out of here." "Helen." "We gotta talk to Helen." "We gotta get her side of this." "We gotta get her away from Preacher, she's a completely... I'm just trying to get us out of here." "No. I'll talk to her, you just get her away from her husband." "Preacher, I need to talk to you." "I know you're in there, I need to talk to you now." " l need to talk to your husband." " He doesn't want to speak with you." "I don't give a shit." "You're only going to make it angry." "I already made it angry, and I'm still here." " Not for long." " ls that a threat, or a premonition?" "Or are you just trying to fuck with my head again?" "Not to mention my wife's." " Come here." " What do you want?" "Don't play innocent with me." "I know you want me to think it's the kid that's somehow doing all this." " You know it is." "You saw the tape." " l don't know what I saw." "Evil's just another kind of life, and like all life, it doesn't come into this world fully formed." "It's uh... lt's like a seed, floating in the wind." "That's where the Bible got it wrong." "I'm gonna skip, for the moment, what you did to my husband or why." "But, believe me, I'll come back to it and it won't be pretty." "Why do you keep your little boy locked up in that shed?" "Look, I know you're afraid of your husband, but whatever it is you think that he can do to you, is nothing compared with 25 years to life in a prison full of homicidal mothers who would love to carve you up" "like a Christmas goose for what you're doing to your own child." "You saw the signs." "Maybe if you hadn't been looking for them, you wouldn't have noticed them." "But you saw them." "Just like you, I had to be sure." "I studied those images for weeks." "I don't know what I saw." "It's growing inside of him." "Learning, developing." "Rapidly, like a child." "At first it started out with just simple things" " like rattling the dishes" " and fluttering little pieces of paper." "But then it moved on to other things." "My husband is not a man of God." "He pretends to be, but he's not." "He brought me over here to be his wife." "And to bear his child." "Wait..." "That's..." "That is his child?" "Of course." "Why would he lock his own child in that shed?" "He didn't." "I did." "The children in Gatlin, they called it, "He who walks behind the rows."" "So it kills a cop and it keeps us here hostage." " For what?" " lt wants your wife." "That means you're the expendable one." "Of course, all the men are expendable once the seeds are sewn." "How do you even know any of this?" "I see things." "It puts pictures in my head, I don't know why." "Like what?" "Like your wife's abortion after her first pregnancy." " lt was a miscarriage." " That's what she says to you." "I don't believe this." "Any of it." " She was unsure." " Of what?" "Of you." "I was trying to protect him from my husband." "I locked him in a shed." "I didn't know what else to do." " Call the cops?" " You saw what he did to that policeman." "Your husband did that?" "He will blame our son, but it's not true." "Our son is innocent, like all children." "The evil is in him." "You know, I can make the case that you're behind all of this." "You could." "And that's the misery of it." "I have to go." "What does this thing want with my wife?" "What does it want?" "It's a seed." "A seed that lives inside of other seeds." "It wants her baby." "Why?" "It lives inside of children, but children, they grow up." "They become adults." "And adults can become... unwilling." "To what?" "To kill." "I provide it with whatever it needs, and what it needs the most are children." "Little lambs." "To replace those that were sacrificed to adulthood." "Just tell me one thing." "How do we get out of this house?" "When it's asleep." "Great." "How do we know if it's asleep?" "You won't." "You'll only know when it's awake." "We don't even know what to watch for." "Everything." " Don't lean against the door." " Why?" "I don't know why, just don't do it!" "All right." "When you had the miscarriage, it was a miscarriage, right?" "Not a..." "Not what?" "Not what, Tim?" "Nothing." "It's the delivery guy." " Not yet, not yet." "Wait." " What?" "Howdy." "Got everything there." "You're about a month early on that acorn squash, so I had to swap that out for zucchini." "You got your sweet corn, that's nature's candy." " What do you think?" " Shh!" "I got you two little hams instead of the one big one," " but it's about the same weight, so..." " Fine, fine." "And what's this here?" "Well, that there is something special for one lucky little boy." "No, no, I did not order anything for any boy." "It was me." "I had something like that when I was a little boy." "I run that thing into the ground." "Gonna need you to do us a favor." "We got a couple of young people got stranded out here last night." "Yeah, I seen the car broke down." "Think you could give them a lift into Burrelson's Garage?" "Sure, yeah." "That's on my way and everything." "Here, let me help you get this stuff inside, there." "Oh, no, everything's fine, just leave them right where they are." "Okey-dokey." "Well, y'all..." "Y'all keep a cool stool." "I see you got a visit from the police, there." "None of my business." "Hey, tell your guests I gotta be rolling in about five minutes." "Appreciate it." "I don't like this." "Hey, y'all, come on over. I don't bite." "Mr. Pritchett, I'm Tim Gleason, this is my wife, Allie." "It's real nice to meet you." " l appreciate you helping us out." " You know what?" "I know what it's like to get stuck out in the boonies." "I've been stuck out here, like, 33 years." " Here you go." " You got room up there for both of us?" "No, I just..." "I barely got room for one, you're gonna have to ride in the back, there." "I'll get you to Burrelson's as quick as I can." "You know, before it gets too heated-up." "I got some blankets and stuff in here if it'd make you more comfortable." "Let's go." "OK, come on, let's go." " What's wrong?" " He left the lights on." "Come on, come on, come on." "It's a more comfortable ride, I'll give you that, but I wouldn't recommend stealing, or borrowing, a police car." "Please." "Please." "Please, please, please." "Come on." "Go, go, go, go, go!" "Hell, I..." "I reckon that takes care of our little police problem." "Oh, God." "Yes." "I brought you something." "I hope you like it." "Please don't be angry with me." "I will take you away from all of this." "I promise." "Soon, very soon." "Mommy loves you." "Mommy will always love you." "No matter what." "What really happened back there?" "I mean, taking away all the he said, she said?" "It was some kind of a cult." "And that kid, if he's even a kid at all, is at the center of it." "What if he's just an innocent child?" "Then he'll be taken away from those freaks and given to a good home." "One thing seems pretty clear." "Whoever, or whatever did all that, was playing with our perceptions," " getting inside our heads." " Yeah." "So, I have to admit it's got me wondering now just what was real back there and what wasn't." "including what really went on between you and Helen." "Come on, when Preacher said what he said, he was baiting me." "He knows his wife, he knows what she's capable of." "He doesn't know me." "OK." "You're forgiven." " Forgiven?" "I didn't do anything!" " Forgiven just in case you did." "I think I can live with that." "Honey, I don't like the looks of that." "Yeah, that top one seems loose, doesn't it?" "Yeah, speed up and go around it." "Wait, no." "Just slow down and let it get ahead of you." " Make up your mind." " Slower." "Wait, never mind." "You know, it looks like it's gonna hold." " For Chrissakes, Allie!" " l'm sorry, I don't like it!" "Just go around it!" "What are you doing?" "You wanted me to go around it, I'm making sure it gets out of the way." "Oh, my God, Tim, look out!" " Oh, my God!" " Ahh!" " Oh, my God!" " Hold on." " Come on!" "Be careful!" "Oh, my God!" " Ahhh!" " Watch out!" " What is going on?" " Tim, I love you." "Tim." "Tim?" "No..." "No..." "Poor thing." "Got yourself in quite a pickle here, don't you?" "I'm gonna get you out of here." "I'll get you fixed up good as new." "I'm sorry about your hubby." "Looks like he's in the arms of Jesus now." "Here we go." "Come on." "There she is." "Little worse for the wear, but she's still pretty as a peach." "I don't know how you do it." "Each one of them's sweeter than the last." "Whoever receives the child..." "Do not despise the little ones, for they are..." "Blessed children do not follow the rules of their fathers..." "And a child shall lead them."