"Marcus, it's not like we're... we're complaining." "'Cause we would never do that, Marcus." "No, we wouldn't, because we love what we do." "Being out 16 days in a row, in the rain and the snow and the mud." "We live for that stuff." "Makes my nipples hard just thinking about it." "Thanks for the image." "The thing is, though, when we're out on the road, we work alone." "I mean, kurdy and I, we got a great shorthand." "I give him a look, he knows what I'm thinking." "I give Jeremiah a look, he knows what I'm thinking." "See that?" "Now, you send us out there with another team, it's going to ruin all that." "I-I-it would be wrong." "You're right." "It would be a terrible burden." "It would." "But I think they can handle it." "You know, I had him, until you made that nipple comment." "Hey, don't blame me for your charisma malfunction." "Jeremiah, kurdy, this is Anna and her sister, Maxine." "When we first started sending out recon teams a year or so after the big death, these two were one of the first teams out the door." "Well, I'm honored." "You should be." "There are a number of groups outside that have worked their way up from the big death far enough for it to be worthwhile contacting them." "Now that we're taking a more active role in the outside world, it's become even more important to start forming alliances." "I'm playing with the idea of putting together a formal meeting for as many of these groups as we can get on-board." "One group in particular we've been trying for years to bring into the fold, and we've done everything we can to get inside." "Moved into the area, established some lower-level contacts, but... can't get past the gatekeepers to the guy in charge." "Well, you might want to think about just jumping the gate and walking up and telling them who you are." "If Anna and Max reveal who they are and these guys turn us down, we won't have anyone left on the inside to keep an eye on them, let us know what side they're on." "It would take months to get somebody else on the inside." "And the way things are going, we don't have that kind of time." "That's where you two come in..." "Or leave, as the case may be." "What're we supposed to do?" "Contact whoever's in charge of this group, assuming that they don't kill you." "Invite them to join us." "Tell them that if they're willing to keep us posted as to what's going on in their area, and appoint someone to liaison with us, then we'll help them out with whatever resources we have that they need." "Uh, Marcus..." "Have a nice trip." "I know you guys will get along just great." "Marcus..." "How'd you learn to drive?" "I'm limited by my equipment." "Yeah, I've heard that before." "All right, so these guys we're looking for, what are they, like a smaller version of thunder Mountain, or what?" "Yes and no." "They spend a lot of time gathering information and resources, but they don't seem to hang on to much of it." "Mainly, they act as a conduit for other, smaller groups in different towns, creating supply lines for all kinds of stuff." "Like what?" "Books, tools, hardware." "We'd get a list of the things they wanted, leave the stuff at various drop points." "Once we were gone, they'd go in and pick it up in exchange for food and other supplies." "All we know about the guy Steve." "Supposedly, only the inner circle's ever seen him." "They keep him well protected." "There's a whole layer of cell groups between the outside world and the inner circle." "What happens to anybody who tries to slip inside?" "They get killed." "It's just, you know, the way they are." "Try not to take it personal." "Nice." "So how long have you usually got to wait after you make one of these drops before someone comes to pick it up?" "Don't know." "Any time we tried to stay and wait, nobody showed." "Maybe you didn't wait long enough." "And maybe they're watching." "And if they've got eyes on us right now, you'll have a long, cold night ahead of you." "Then maybe you two should stay and keep us warm." "Why?" "You've got each other." "Besides, we hear you like to work alone." "Course, too much working alone, you'll go blind." "Since you're both on lookout tonight, uh, you may want to wait until you get back to the Mountain." "You think Marcus told 'em?" "Yeah." "The man hates us." "Yeah." "Dear dad, it's been 15 years since the big death wipedouteveryone overtheageofinnocence..." "The end of your world, the beginning of mine." "I always thought the one was cool where they had the gold robot." "I-I-it was gold-plated, and it had a little one behind him that was round, on wheels." "Yeah, and they had those big-ass sword things." "Yeah." "What was that called?" "Oh, shit, I don't know." "Who remembers titles?" "I just remember I was a kid when I saw it." "My dad had it on d.V.D." "Oh, d.V.D." "Oh, but did you ever see those  mad Max movies?" "No, I never saw..." "You saw that?" "No, no." "But I saw a whole lot of those other end-of-the-world movies." "They never quite got it right." "There was always one thing that was missing." "Like what?" "Us." "Man, we could've told them a thing or two about the apocalypse." "What could we have told them?" "Like it's overrated." "That's for sure." "Future ain't what it used to be." "Hey." "Kurdy, come on." "This is heavy, man." "What?" "Shit." "All right, look, we're just looking for the guy in charge." "We're friends." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "Too bad." "All my friends are dead." "Why don't you step down before you join 'em?" "We gotta do something with them." "Well, we don't kill 'em." "Not yet, at least." "Those are the rules." "Not until we find out who they are and what they want." "Michelle?" "Michelle, is that you?" "Is it?" "Why is it every time I see you, I end up getting knocked on my ass?" "You want to tell me?" "Jeremiah, what the hell are you doing here?" "Looking for you." "You're so full of shit." "Well, assuming I'm in the right place," "I am looking for the guy in charge around here." "His name's supposed to be Steve something-or-other." "You know him?" "Maybe." "What's your business with him?" "That's between us and him." "Oh." "Look, Michelle, it's important." "I gotta talk to this guy." "I gotta see him face to face." "I don't know." "He's a busy guy." "He doesn't like visitors." "Isn't there anything I can do?" "No, I think you've done enough." "Hmm." "Unless, of course, you want to untie these." "What do you think, boys?" "You think the boss'll be pissed off if we untie them?" "I think he'd be pissed." "Hmm." "Sorry." "Nothing I can do." "Hey, why don't we separate these two?" "All right?" "Just to be safe." "No, no, don't." "Listen, guys, you don't have to do that, all right?" "Just take me to him." "I'll say what I gotta say, and then we'll go, ok?" "Hey, don't put the blindfold back on." "I'll see what I can do." "Just..." "You suck." "Jeremiah,whatthehell...what  thehellareyou doinghere ?" "Jeremiah, is that you?" "Hi, mom." "I'm going to get you." "Don't tickle me." "Where's Michael?" "He's outside." "Keep an eye on him, Jeremiah." "He's the only brother you'vegot." "I love you, Jeremiah." "I love you, too, mom." "Goodnight,Jeremiah." "Good night, Michael." "Ah!" "Jesus Christ!" "What the fuck did you do that for?" "Stay right there." "Look, I didn't know anybody was here, all right?" "I-I'm not gonna hurt you." "Fuck, I'll just..." "I'll go." "You swear a lot." "Yeah, every time somebody hits me in the fucking head with shit." "Why are you crying?" "I'm not crying." "It's raining outside, in case you hadn't noticed." "Where are you from?" "You ask an awful lot of questions." "Yeah, 'cause I'm the one holding the knife, and I want to hear you talk." "Put the knife down." "Maybe I'll talk." "You talk, and I'll put the knife down." "What's your name?" "Jeremiah." "Cool." "Are you a prophet, too?" "No, I'm just wet." "This isn't much of a conversation, Jeremiah." "I think you're out of practice." "If you're hungry, I got some food." "Maybe you'll feel like talking once you've had something to eat." "Ok, I'm going to get this straight." "Now, first you whack me in the head with this thing, and then you threaten me with a knife, now you want to share your food with me?" "Yeah." "Youbeenon theroad alongtime?" "Ever since the big death." "You have any brothers or sisters?" "I had one of each, a younger sister and an older brother." "I remember my mom would always tell me not to use someone else's toothbrush." "Now if I find one, I use it." "I don't care where it's been or who used it last." "Don't you find the same thing?" "You ever not talk?" "Well, yeah, when someone else is doing the talking, but the way you're going, someone's got to pick up the slack." "Sometimes I don't..." "I don't see people for days, so I don't..." "I don't talk to anybody." "Wow, that must be hard for you." "Sometimes." "Sometimes I don't think I have anything to say that anybody else would want to hear." "Jeremiah, are you asleep?" "I don't sleep too good, you know?" "Yeah, I know." "I have them, too." "The big death took away my mother, my stepfather, and my older brother." "I loved my older brother, Jeremiah." "I loved him so much." "After they were gone, it was just my little sister and me." "We were so scared, but we were gonna make it." "And we did, you know, for about 6 months, and then..." "She just gave up." "She stopped eating, and she just cried." "God, she cried all the time." "I think she cried herself to death." "I had a little brother," "and he's dead because I turned my back on him." "I promised my dad I'd take care of him." "I let him down." "I don't know how I could ever tell him." "Not that I'll ever have the chance." "Hey, I was thinking about what you said about your father, and I think I have a solution." "What?" "All the things you never got a chance to tell him..." "Here." "Write him a letter." "What's the point?" "He's never gonna read it." "Just try it, all right?" "For me." "Tell him how you feel, why you feel..." "See, my brother had me write a letter like this to my dad." "During the big?" "Mmm-mmm." "Bad things happened to people even before the big death." "The big death just gave everybody something in common, so that's why I get it." "Don't worry, I won't read it." "It's ok." "You can if you want." "Hey, w..." "Wha... hey..." "Now it's delivered." "Now you know if you can't talk to me or anyone else, you've got him." "Michelle!" "Hey!" "You've packed?" "You're leaving." "Yeah." "I have to." "Why?" "Because we both have things to do." "We didn't survive the big death just to die without hope, without doing something to help change the world." "I know as long as I stay here with you," "I can forget that world out there." "Thanks." "Goodbye, Jeremiah." "Stay as long as you need, but remember, you have things to do, too." "I hope you find your answers." "In the meantime, keep writing your dad." "Hey, wake up, wake up." "Hey, wake up, wake up." "Wake up, mister." "Time to go." "It's time." "Time for what?" "That's up to the boss." "Here, I brought you some soup." "Look, uh," "I know how all this looks." "I'm just the guy in the trenches, man." "I gotta do what I'm told, or I get it worse than you." "I got nothing against you or your buddy." "It's just, uh, it's the way things are, you know?" "Yeah, well, thanks." "What's your name again?" "Doug." "Thanks, Doug." "It's ok." "We gotta go now." "Oh, man, I hate to eat and run." "Andwehavetobecareful allthetime, 'cause people can't always be trusted." "You sound pretty clear-headed for a little kid." "My mom wants me to grow up to be responsible." "Where are your parents?" "My mom lives here with me." "What about your dad?" "Never seen him." "Jeremiah?" "Kurdy?" "Yeah." "You all right, man?" "Yeah, man, I'm all right." "You have any idea where we're at?" "Man, I haven't the slightest, but from what I just heard, it sounds like we're about to meet the big man himself." "Oh, great." "Ooh, ooh, fuck, it's bright." "Hey, hydro." "You got electricity." "I think you'll find we have quite a lot of things." "Ok." "So how long we gotta wait?" "You don't." "What do you mean?" "You said you wanted to meet Steve." "Yeah." "You're talking to him." "You're Steve?" "When it's in my best interests to be Steve, yeah." "Well, why all the pretense?" "You know, why use a guy's name?" "I may not like the way the world is, but that doesn't mean I can play by different rules." "The idea of a big, scary, charismatic leader named Steve is far more acceptable to our friends and foes out there than "Michelle" would be." "Yeah, big, scary, but, come on, "Steve"?" "Steve was my older brother." "You got something to say about it?" "It's a good name, Steve." "Having "Steve" allows me to go out into the field without putting myself at risk." "Everybody goes after the guy in charge, but nobody goes after the spear carriers, right?" "Exactly." "Something about having the top dog in the room kills everyone's spontaneity." "Our success and our failure relies on people feeling secure about letting us know what their gripes and fears are." "Well, aside from these guys, how many people know you and Steve are the same person?" "Just the inner core, my people here in the compound, and you two." "So why don't you start by giving us the message you came here to give Steve?" "Kurdy and I represent a group of people at a place called thunder Mountain." "Marcus sent you." "You know Marcus, too?" "Well, we're not out here collecting trading cards." "We're gathering information." "He's been up there, what, 15 years now?" "Hiding out when everyone else is doing the heavy lifting." "You know where I've been?" "Out here, working, doing what it takes to make a new and better world." "That may be true, but it doesn't change the fact that we came here to help." "We came to offer our services and to work together." "Now, if you don't want to be down, that's fine." "That's your call." "But don't act like tying us up and fucking with our heads is any better than the world you stand there complaining about." "Untie 'em." "Not that I care what you think of my little organization here, but in the interests of accuracy, why don't I show you what we're up to?" "Thunder Mountain is about rebuilding things, acquiring stuff." "It's about whoever gets the most toys wins, only on a huge scale." "Yeah, well, I see a lot of stuff here, too." "Mmm-hmm." "It comes in, and it goes right back out again." "In exchange for food, hardware, and other supplies, we provide information and resources to places that are trying to pull themselves back up." "A lot of towns have the will, but they don't have the knowledge, the information they need to put it all back together." "Hell, just knowing how to fix the plumbing is a damn miracle to some of those people out there." "This group is responsible for copying blueprints and manuals and getting them out to the various towns." "Once they've got the first few steps down, we show them how to make hand generators, so that we can operate the old radios." "This way, we can create a communications system between them and us." "We've got cells everywhere." "Some of them are farmers supplying chicken, corn, cattle, horses for transport." "Others concentrate on alternative power sources:" "Windmill, solar technologies." "We focus on manuals and copying, maintenance of what we have." "And, when needed, we use the old rail lines with horses and wagons." "Explains the handcart." "Yeah." "So sorry about the way we reeled you in." "When Max and Anna brought two new guys to our party, we thought that we should find out who you were and what you wanted." "So you ambushed us?" "Uh-huh." "Uh, can you guys excuse us for a minute?" "Thanks." "I'll be back." "That farmhouse where we met, you ever get back there?" "Not so much anymore." "When I started all this," "I made it my first safe house and storage depot." "I was out there negotiating for Steve, talking for Steve, and I needed a safe place to be." "It had some good memories." "Yeah." "Yes, it did." "Are you still writing those letters?" "Every day." "Mom?" "I just wanted to hug you goodnight, ok?" "Mmm, sweetie, you can hug me any time you like." "He's your... your son?" "I mean, you're his mother?" "Mmm-hmm." "Gabe, I'd like you to meet Jeremiah." "Hi." "Hi, Gabe." "It's, uh, it's a nice name." "I gave birth to him in the gift shop of a museum." "First time I saw him, he looked like one of those angels on the postcards." "That's why I named him "Gabriel."" "How old are you, Gabe?" "Almost 5." "Almost 5." "Gabe, why don't you go and tuck yourself in, all right?" "And I'll be there in a second." "Ok." "Ok." "It was about 5 years ago that we met." "Uh-huh." "I met a lot of guys around that time." "Michelle..." "Listen, from the first instant" "I knew that I was pregnant with Gabe," "I recognized that he was my responsibility alone." "If..." "Jeremiah, you've been on the road." "You know what it's like." "You hook up with someone for a few hours, a few days, and then that's it." "The nuclear family doesn't live here anymore." "Now, if you're asking whether or not he's your son," "I could probably sit down and do the math, but you know what?" "I never did." "Why should I make my son long for a father he'd never know?" "This is pretty cool stuff, man." "There's a whole lot more we could be doing to help people if we had the resources, if they weren't being wasted." "Wasted?" "How?" "I mean, thunder Mountain already has most of this technology, and we're stuck here reinventing the wheel, literally." "Well, sometimes you gotta do what you can with what you got." "Maybe." "And maybe we're not making the best of what comes in." "Not everybody here thinks thunder Mountain is the enemy." "Way I see it, what we've been doing, what you've been doing, we have a lot we can offer each other." "We should be working together, not fighting each other." "I'm just wondering..." "I'm wondering if there's some way we can make that happen." "And you're thinking about making that happen without Michelle?" "She's the one setting up the walls between us." "We would have tried to contact you earlier, but we have not had the chance until now." "I don't think Jeremiah's going to be inclined to go along with that." "I don't know exactly what went down between those two, but it was pretty important to him." "I understand that." "But I also wonder how he'd feel if he knew the truth." "I don't want to diminish what Michelle's done here, but let's not ignore the warts either, right?" "Fact is, St. Michelle's dirty." "She may be talking big about wanting to spread the wealth and everything, but she's skimming off the top and making a nice little stockpile of goodies for herself." "Hey." "Hey." "How'd it go?" "I don't know, man." "Between this Steve business, and..." "I-I'm still working it out." "What?" "Tell you one thing, this woman is full of surprises." "Maybe more than you know, Jeremiah." "What do you mean?" "Look, man, there's just a real good chance that this whole thing could be a scam for her benefit." "I..." "I just don't buy it, man." "Jeremiah!" "Sh-she wouldn't do it, kurdy." "You don't know her like I do." "That was a long time ago, all right?" "People change." "Not that much." "Not in 5 years, they don't." "Look, I'm not the one making the accusation." "It's Doug." "And I'd say at this point in her life, he knows her a hell of a lot better than you do." "No, it's not possible, man." "Look..." "look at what she's done here." "You know?" "I mean, look at all this stuff." "Look at what she has going on." "Having all this going on, looking at it every day, the idea of just skimming a little off the top could be tempting for anybody." "Not her." "What if I said there's proof?" "Look, Doug says they keep records of all the materials they get via these drop-off points." "They know what to expect, and they know what's supposed to arrive." "The whole setup is to keep these couriers honest, but, apparently, your girl Michelle, she's been dipping out on her own time." "Sometimes 2, 3 times a week." "And whatever it is she picks up does not make it on the inventory, on anybody's inventory." "Look, you know what?" "Maybe it's nothing." "All we have to do is follow her." "I don't know." "Look, we came here to do a job, all right?" "Let's keep that in mind." "Now, if Doug is right, we stop the skimming." "Thunder Mountain gets somebody in here who wants to work with them, everybody wins." "Yeah, except Michelle." "What about her?" "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." "What the hell are you two doing here, huh?" "What's in the bag?" "Is that all you're good for, sneaking up on people?" "Hey, I'm not the one talking out of both sides of my mouth." "What?" "So you want to tell us what you're doing sneaking out in the middle of the night to pick up deliveries?" "Are you accusing me of something?" "Is there something to accuse you of?" "You know, I should've known that you guys would come here and try and find some way to bring us down." "Fuck you." "Oh, cut the shit." "What's in the bag?" "What are you skimming, Michelle?" "Who told you that?" "It doesn't matter." "You sanctimonious piece of shit." "You dare stand there and act as though you're the one who's been betrayed." "Fuck you." "All right, you want to see what I've been skimming?" "Do you know how much value art has these days, Jeremiah, huh?" "Do you?" "Zero." "Zero, all right?" "No one gives a shit, nobody but me." "Hey, take a look." "It's my own personal museum." "Ok, I have to ask." "Why?" "Art only has value in a society that has the free time and the expendable money to appreciate it." "Out there, you've got guys who'd burn a painting to keep warm." "They want what they can use, what they can eat." "Whatever's left, they torch." "Do you know how many museums" "I've seen burned to the ground, paintings scattered, sculptures destroyed?" "I know." "I've seen it." "I created a whole organization that's tried to serve as a bridge between the old world and this one, but as happy as I am with how that's turned out, it's still about living day to day." "I want more than that." "I wanted to create some sort of beauty in the world, because, all right, it may not be worth anything to anybody right now, but it is our history, in inks and oils and in stone." "When I gave birth to Gabe in that museum, surrounded by all that beauty," "I knew that someday he'd want to look back on who we are in the faces of who we were." "That's funny." "What?" "That you'd want him to see who he was in the faces of strangers he never met, instead of the face of someone like..." "His father." "Look at that." "Dogs playing poker." "The difference is a painting on a wall never leaves." "What I don't get is why you have to keep it all such a secret." "Because people would ask why we're trading good food and good resources for a piece of canvas with spilt ink on it." "It's about being practical." "Art is many things, but practical isn't one of them." "Well, it looks to me like you're running out of room." "I know." "You know," "I was thinking, maybe you could stay here, help out, work with us." "There's no end to what you and I could do together." "It's like you said a long time ago," "I got other things to do." "But I'll make you a counter-proposal." "Maybe we can help you." "How?" "Well, I know that you think" "Marcus is all about acquiring things, but you're wrong." "He gives a lot of that stuff away, but you're also right." "He has scavenger teams out looking for anything useful that they can bring in." "So?" "So, thunder Mountain's a big place." "We could store this stuff for you." "Maybe even look in places that you haven't been yet." "We can organize this stuff." "You won't have to do it secretly." "In exchange for what?" "We want you to share your resources and your information with us." "We want you to give us updates on what you find out there, and..." "There's more?" "You may not think so, but Marcus is coming out of thunder Mountain in a big way." "He's thinking about putting together a big meeting of people like yourselves to start getting things organized on a much bigger level." "Now, if you were to be a part of that," "I'm sure Marcus would be quite appreciative." "So would I." "Fine." "Fine." "Fine." "But first, there's another piece of business that needs attending to." "Guys, when you get a second, I'd like to talk to you about some changes we're going to be making." "Funny you should put it that way, Doug." "I had almost the exact same thought in mind." "I know what you tried to pull." "You've wanted to set yourself up here for quite some time." "These two show up, and suddenly you found a way to push me aside." "You lied to me." "Like hell I did." "I know what you're trying to do, Michelle, and you can call it whatever you like." "I call it a waste of time and resources." "For every bag of crap you bring up to that place of yours, we lose a bag of stuff we need." "You're losing focus here on what's important and what isn't." "And who gets to decide what's important here, Doug?" "You?" "Everything that I brought in was on a separate order." "It was never on the inventory." "Now, after what these guys told me," "I went and I checked out the roster, and you're right." "Stuff is missing, but I never took it." "You did." "So what'd you figure?" "You pin the blame for the missing inventory on Michelle, get her out of the way, set yourself up here?" "It's not bad." "Stupid, but not bad." "Now, just a second." "Now, I've told everybody what you've tried to pull, and no one's ever gonna listen to anything you have to say." "But if you try to undermine anything that I've created here, you're a dead man." "You need to follow the southwest spur until you get to Colorado Springs." "We'll send a truck." "We'll meet you there, pick up the stuff, take it the rest of the way to the Mountain." "Got it." "God, it's like letting go of your children." "You'll take good care of it." "Yes, I will." "It'll be in a climate-controlled room." "You can come see it whenever you like." "I'll give you a tour, maybe." "Oh, hey, uh, let me help you with that." "Hey." "Throw me that ball." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "You're a natural." "I'm not too good at catching yet." "That's ok." "You've got a lot of time to practice." "So, Gabe, let me ask you, your mom, does she, uh, talk about your dad much?" "Not really." "Not really." "She says I'm better off that way." "We should probably get going." "You gonna visit my mom again?" "Maybe." "You take care of yourself." "You, too." "Jeremiah?" "It was really good seeing you again." "I don't know, maybe next time we can sit and talk for a while." "It was always really good to hear you talk." "Yeah, we'll do that." "Kurdy?" "You ever been going down a road and take a left turn instead of a right, only when you go back," "the road isn't there anymore?" "Every day, my man." "Every day."