"It's been two days, hasn't it." "Yes sir - he hasn't moved a muscle in two days." "Strange, isn't it." "That depends a good deal on the man." "Has he had any offers?" "Well, some of the Bethel commune from across town came to talk to him." "We need that man." "I'll have to talk with him." "Well, we can holler to him and tell him to come over." "He'd never hear." "Get a few men together." "You are going to leave the compound?" "If you know a way to get there without leaving the compound" "I'd be happy to consider it." "String beans are coming along here." "Yes, sir." "But being as dead as they were" "I think they're coming back real fine." "Good stock" "Good stock" "Yeah - what do you want?" "The Baron wants some men to go with him to the library" "No" "What for?" "Trying to recruit a new man." "Fighter?" "Looks like it." "God knows we could use one" "I'm going to talk to the man at the library." "Be carefull" "I hope he's the man you've been looking for." "So, you can hear me." "What's your name?" "I assume you're for hire or you wouldn't be standing here." "Well, I'm called the Baron." "The people of the commune took to using the term." "Whether it's said in respect is unknown to me." "What I'm telling you is the simple fact that we are not searching out to destroy." "We do not covet the lives or goods of any people" "We have a good and lasting supply of fresh water." "And, uh, we grow our own vegetables." "As our man, you are entitled to more than the others." "Three adult allotments of food and water each meal" "I don't know what your sexual requirements might be, but anything of that sort will have to be worked out on your own" "Your room will be dry and free of rats." "If you smoke, I have a large cache of cigars." "I believe that to be the extent of my offer." "Well, I can only think that your answer is no." "If you should reconsider, our compound is two city blocks away in the direction you are facing." "You'll see the barricade." "Help him, will you." "I'll show you the way." "Carrot!" "Baron's place." "Ah, the fighter joined up with him." "Now why do you figure the Baron needs him?" "He's got all the men he needs or can feed." "I want all of you to meet..." "Carson" "Carson" "He saved our lives just now." "Have some of the girls ready the room above the old tobacco shop." "When you are settled I'd like to talk." "Come right in." "Just push that material off the setee." "You don't flop in a chair." "Most people flop." "I hope your room was dry." "Oh yes, fine and as you said - no rats." "That brings me to something that I've been wondering about." "My pitch to you out there in the street what did I say say that caused you to join us?" "Might have been the promise of extra portions of food." "No?" "Well then, eh, maybe the fact that we don't seek the goods or lives of others." "No, nothing so noble." "You have a supply of cigars?" "You may be kidding me." "It's interesting what becomes valuable to us when most everything is taken away." "Twenty five to the box." "And all of them sealed in aluminum tubes and as fresh as the day they were made." "You can have all you want." "I believe I know this." "Hood ornament 1981 Cadillac" "My father had one." "It was the last year the car was made." "He really suffered when he couldn't get more gasoline to run it." "I don't believe he ever said another word" "Just sat there while his world was turned off around him." "And then - the epidemics" "No hospitals - no medicine" "He was one of the first to go - he and my mother." "Where were you born?" "Detroit" "Anybody there now?" "Mostly empty." "A few groups - something like this" "I haven't been there in quite a while" " I've been moving around making my way" "Not easy." "You have to be quick." "About this contract of ours I don't know how long I can work my end of it." "You're on your way somewhere." "I have some family living on an island off the coast of North Carolina out of the way of killers." "You know - people are beginning to eat people out there." "I've been hearing stories." "Interesting what you say about that island." "Does it have a good supply of water?" "Enough" "It's Robert Gant." "I have to talk to you." "Is it true there isn't any powdered milk?" "Not none, but not much." "We're worried about the baby" "My wife said she saw Clara take home some powdered milk today." "Is that true?" "Clara got some dried beans." "We put them in one of the sacks we usually use for powdered milk." "You want me to go and talk to Barrie?" "It might make it easier." "Beans!" "It's what Clara took home with her." "We put it in one of the bags we use for milk." "You're lying!" "I think they're telling the truth." "You'd let your own child starve, wouldn't you." "No, that's not true!" "There's powdered milk down in that old bakery stored up in there." "Nobody knows that." "It's been checked out." "Not really - not completely." "It's always been just a rumor." "It's just down the block - please, let's check it out." "No" "You coward!" "These seeds are the entire output of cultivation." "Every bit of it" " I count them every night." "I can get a lot more." "They'll multiply if we can find someplace to spread out." "More land" "Will you leave your garden start up somewhere else?" "I don't want to go but I will If we can find someplace safe enough for this." "You worked another miracle." "God knows, that's the least anybody can say." "It's that man that was at the library." "That's Carrot." "He's always there always waiting" "He looks very sure of himself." "Lots of years since I've seen things growing like this." "It's Cal's doing." "You think it's smart to climb four flights in your condition?" "I know what I'm capable of." "I came here to say hello." "Hello" "The man they call Carrot I saw him through your bioculars." "We introduced ourselves." "He's tough." "Good organizer" "He can call on 30 or 40 men if he has to." "Should be able to take you over wipe you out." "Obviously - but I don't think he knows how few people we have left." "He'd like to have our well." "You know - looking at your people, I get a feeling they figure they won't last very long." "There's a certain fatalism." "They look to me for salvation." "There will be none." "You see, we've been doing something here" "Well, I say "we" - it's Cal actually." "He's the man on the roof." "Look - there are other communes but none has a Cal, that I have heard about" "He's a genius with things that grow - seeds." "Hybred seeds" "So far just odd crops squash, cucumbers, soybeans, stringbeans and now, Cal believes, tomatos." "The crops are resistant to all the diseases that wiped out cultivated growth during the plague." "You're going to give up on this place." "You got me in here just to delay the end." "I've been looking for a man who would combine several attributes." "You are a fighter." "But more important " "I see in you an instinct for survival." "You seem to make all the correct moves - intuitively." "A few people are going to be leaving." "Cal, for one." "And I'm asking you to lead them." "Where?" "An island I've heard about." "No, we wouldn't hurt any of the people living there." "But we've got something we could give to them." "Who else would be going?" "You've probably seen the pregnant girl, Melinda." "She's my daughter." "She carries my grandson." "Or granddaughter." "Have you seen Barrie?" "She's not in her room." "Your wife went out about an hour ago." "Went out?" "Did she have the baby?" "Yeah, she wasn't going to stop for anybody." "Take it up!" "Take it up!" "Barrie!" "I heard a sound, so I hid." "Where's the baby?" "Where's the baby?" "!" "Take him out of there." "We've got to go back." "No!" "No!" "I know where the milk is!" "Let go of me!" "I'I do it myself!" "If I help you, will you leave?" "Yes!" "We've got to leave." "Even if we don't find any milk, we won't keep looking." "We've got to take the baby and go!" "I promise!" "There's no mistake, Baron someone's been stealing from the garden." "And Cal told you this?" "I looked for myself - it was the tomatos." "It had to be one of our own people." "You could see where he stood." "He really broke up the plants, too." "Well, start looking around, will you." "Make a quiet search." "Yes, sir." "Okay!" "I knew it, didn't I tell you?" "Let's go." "You stay away from there!" "Stay away from there!" "Let go!" "Put me down!" "Put me down!" "I wonder what they were after?" "There's a baby." "Good piece of bait." "I must assume that they're dead." "You'd be quicker to ask me to go out there and get that baby if you weren't worried that I'd get myself killed off." "There'd be no way to get your grandson out of here." "Those people outside are waiting for me to go." "I've been getting two extra portions at every meal." "They'll want me to perform." "(baby crying)" "(crying stops)" "It's dead." "Get this thing up there!" "Alright - the rest of you outside!" "Hey, there he is!" "In the alley!" "(men shouting)" "Hey, there he is!" "This way!" "Come on!" "(whistles)" "Here he comes!" "They were all dead." "The street we're on is 29th street and one line of the entire system runs under our street through towns and subways." "In the basement of this building there is a trap door that goes down into a chamber where fans used to force fresh air into the tunnel." "I've outlined the tunnels to get you close to where you'll have to go." "(knock) Yes?" ""They're fighting over rations in the storeroom."" ""I think you'd better come."" "I'll be there as soon as I can." "How many people know you have this plan in mind?" "Just Melinda, Cal, and us." "You think the others would object?" "Yes - they'd feel betrayed." "They would claim what you were intimating   that I was saving my daughter's neck at their jeopardy." "But I'll tell you this I'd sacrifice any and all of this compound just to get Cal's work somewhere it would flourish." "It's a matter of values, Carson." "(shouting outside)" "I'd better tend to this argument." "You look that over." "You don't want me to go along?" "No." "It'll be political." "No use in your taking sides." "I'll be back as soon as I can." "You've got you own damn favorites!" "Come on - everybody gets the same!" "Your wife has a stock of her own!" "She saved out of her own rations!" "Nobody can save!" "Stop!" "You'd better put it down, Silas." "Come out." "Him and his wife's been stealing." "If that is true it will be known." "A man better get his before there's nothing to get." "If you believed someone was stealing, you should have come to me, Silas." "You've got your own problems, Baron what with Melinda, and all." "I'm not inaccessible." "You only need knock on the door." "We wouldn't want to interrupt you and Carson being holed up so much." "I don't notice where you've lost much weight." "Get out of here." "I'll find out if his accusation is true." "I was found in your room." "Somebody put it there, I swear it!" "I swear it!" "Who did?" "I'd tell you, wouldn't I?" "If I knew, I'd tell you!" "You were seen on the roof." "There were witnesses." "I went up on the roof." "Lots of people go up on the roof!" "Lots of people go up on the roof!" "I went up on the roof!" "Is there anyone here who wants to speak up for him?" "Is there anyone here who should speak up for him?" "Give him to the street people." "No!" "You're about a month away from turning out that baby." "Just about precisely." "That'll be a fine day, that day." "We think we've got a place to go to." "Yeah, the Baron was telling me that Carson knows about some place." "Some island, somewheres." "Bet I've heard that story two dozen times." "Carson's been there - he's going back to it." "Father's the only thing that's keeping it all stuck together." "I know, but it has lasted a lot of years." "It's the only home some of these people have ever had." "Your own will be born here." "Cal - he's worried that you won't be ready when it's time." "I'll never really be ready." "But I told the Baron I'd go." "No!" "It's Cal - on the roof!" "Get up to the roof!" "Pull up the rope." "And get rid of those planks." "Is Cal alright?" "I'll get you to your room." "I said is Cal alright." "Cal is dead." "That farmer had an answer." "I was afraid you lost your baby last night." "I loved Cal." "I know you did." "I'm not going." "Not going?" "It doesn't make sense to me." "You and Carson take the seeds get them going somewhere." "What do you suppose Cal would have said to that?" "It seems to me he would have said "Get out of here find a place for my baby."" "Some warm tea - drink it." "You think it over." "(knock) Yeah." "You alright Carson?" "Sure" "Sit down." "If I did it might suggest that there is time to talk." "There isn't." "Oh - it's that time." "Carrot can smell something here   the weakness." "He's probing." "He must know that Cal is dead." "This place is about lost." "You'll have to go today." "Melinda is very upset - she says she's not going, but" "I'll have her ready." "Cal's death changed her mind." "Yes" "Will I have to take her out by force?" "She'll be asleep by the time you get to my room." "She'll sleep for about an hour." "You drugged her?" "If she drank her tea, I did." "Come over here" " I'll show you." "From my door, you have to go downstairs to the right." "It leads to the basement." "You know, of course, you'll have to deliver the baby somewhere along the way." "I was wondering when you'd get around to that." "Joe, wake up." "There's somethng going on." "Why was he going down there?" "Carrying one of those packs backpacks." "Are you sure it was the Baron?" "Of course." "Okay" " I'll take a look." "If it comes to saving one or the other save the seeds." "She'll come around soon." "I'm going to close it again so you won't be able to come back." "Good luck, Carson." "How much food did they take with them, Baron?" "!" "No more than they deserved." "And how much was that?" "Only a few tins of meat that I had stored for a few years." "Two cans of water." "Why'd they leave?" "!" "You must know something we don't!" "No!" "I'm still here, am I not?" "A good Goddamn that does anybody!" "Your daughter's got Carson!" "Well, I'll get another man." "And we'll build the garden again." "Until then, we'll eat the tinned meat you've got stored away?" "Is that what you're saying?" "There were only a very few cans." "You'd better go back to your rooms." "Turning on our own will only destroy us." "When the day cools, we'll go up to the roof and see about the garden." "He sold us!" "Damn him!" "It's open." "Baron, why?" "One of the Baron's men just walked in here." "He says he's quit the commune." "We got ourselves a traitor." "Starting to break up over there, eh?" "He says the fighter and the Baron's daughter took off down below." "They went underground." "You get me the Harkness brothers and Lippert." "Welcome, friend." "I hear you've got some news for us." "So close to the heat." "Tell us about the seeds." "They've got seeds." "Tomatos, right?" "They took them." "Took the seeds?" "Yes, yes" "See these men?" "They're the best underground trackers alive." "You tell them - tell them about the fighter." "Open your eyes and look at them!" "He went into the cellar." "We want him!" "The girl - the girl." "The old man's daughter, right?" "She went with him." "Where'd they go in?" "Into the basement commune." "That's the end of the pipe tunnel." "How long ago?" "Ten minutes!" "You have anything else to tell us?" "No, no" "(screams)" "The rats are running." "There must be a reason." "Can you walk?" "Billy - go get Carrot." "All ready, eh?" "Yeah - we got a line on them." "Go!" "They're coming now." "Two of them." "My screaming back there gave you away, didn't it." "Something like that." "I won't do it again." "There will be more." "Ambush!" "Where's my brother?" "!" "He's dead!" "This the way?" "Yeah, a mile under the subway." "I know where they'll be." "I'll get ahead of them." "You just keep moving him along!" "Keep it going, Lippert." "Maybe we'll try the street." "It's rusted through." "I'm getting cramps." "It cannot be time yet, can it?" "No, not for two weeks or so." "Can I just rest a couple minutes?" "The Baron that man is more than I can believe." "Now, don't you turn out that baby until we get to the island, right?" "I'll try to keep it where it is." "Are you still mad at us?" "I don't think so." "I guess I just felt safe there." "I suppose Cal thought it was safe, too." "If you last on the streets as long as I have and you've seen lots of men die after a while, it becomes like doing push ups - daily exercise." "But that man dying bothered me." "We have to go down below again." "Pull him down." "I've got to stop - got to." "You can make a little scream if you want to." "I won't" " I won't" "You have to tie a knot in it." "(baby crying)" "Here's your son." "Thanks" "Hurry up!" "He's in here!" "Come back here!" "I knew they'd be worthless." "We're gonna go together." "Together!"