"Dear dad, back at thunder Mountain, Marcus got a message from Jesse Montoya, one of his guys in the field who feeds us information from time to time." "Cryptic, but what else is new?" "He said to get down tocranston,fast." ""There's something yourpeopleshouldsee ."" ""His people."" "That would be us." "We'll park the rover further outside town than usual and walk in." "There's a lot of unspecified, bad shit going on around cranston." "All right, this is where we're supposed to meet him?" "Yeah, but why in the hell did Jesse pick this place?" "We could've met him someplace outside of town." "Look, we get in, we get out, we stay out of trouble." "Now, you see some shit, no matter how intriguing it looks, it's not our problem, all right?" "I don't like this, man." "Me, neither." "It looks pretty skiddy." "Hey, Jesse, you here at all?" "Shit!" "Help me!" "Help me!" "Kurdy!" "Cease fire!" "Whoo!" "Pretty cool, huh?" "Hey, guys." "How you doin'?" "My name's Michael." "Welcome to cranston." "Dear dad, it's been 15 years since the big death wiped out everyone over the age of innocence..." "The end of your world, the beginning of mine." "Pretty cool, huh?" "Still works great." "Between what we've got here at the base and what we scrounge up, we've got plenty of gas." "See, we've got teams out scouting' around, bringing back anything cool that still works, bringing back information." "That's how we found out about you guys, and the end of the world." "That's quite a name, the "end of the world."" "Thing is," "I hear it has another name." "Because, you see, the end of the world tells me what it is, but not where it is." "Now, I tried to find out from your pal Jesse, but it turned out he just sent information upriver, and not enough came back down for him to be any use to me." "So, you know." "Either one of you guys want to tell me what the other name is?" "Huh?" "Maybe you could tell me somethin' that, oh," "I don't know, could help me find it?" "Ok, that's cool." "I understand you're not supposed to talk about it." "You don't want to tell me where your crib is." "It's ok." "We've got plenty of time." "I'll let you two get settled in, and we'll talk later." "Get away!" "Just kill him." "Yeah, yeah!" "Kurdy?" "Yeah!" "This is bad." "Copy that." "That's it, man." "You'll fall." "I know, I know." "Leave her alone!" "No!" "Hey, hey, come on." "Give them a break, will you?" "Fuck you!" "No, leave her alone!" "It's a thing of beauty." "What is?" "The way in." "Ok." "I got what I needed." "Break it up and get the next group ready." "I want him to watch." "I'm going upstairs." "I got Julie some sparklers from town." "Shut the fuck up!" "We need 5 more." "You 3..." "You..." "And you." "No!" "No!" "And you." "I thought you said 5." "Michael says you're gonna watch." "What about him?" "He stays." "Insurance." "It's ok." "You just watch your back." "You got those two?" "I've got 'em." "Yes!" "That's it, Michael." "Oh, yeah." "Someone was excited." "Oh, yeah." "Oh, that's right." "We've got 'em, Julie." "We've got 2 guys from the end of the world." "This is where it starts, you know?" "We take what they got, we put it with what we got, and if what I hear is true, nobody can stop us." "What if they say no?" "We've just got to show 'em where the power is." "Make them understand what we got, what we're building, how far we're prepared to go." "So this was..." "You know, a good day?" "What do you think?" "Oh, Michael!" "Michael, it's beautiful." "How..." "How much is mine?" "All of it, 'cause it's been a great day." "Oh." "Hey..." "It's gonna be ok." "Is this your dad?" "Kinda." "I was just a baby when my real mom and dad died." "This is Cindy." "She used to baby-sit me." "How is he?" "He's asleep." "I think he'll be all right." "Thanks for helping." "Yeah, no problem." "So what is this place, and who the hell is this Michael guy?" "He's in charge." "Of what?" "Of everything." "Everything here, everything in town, everything." "He and his guys moved into the base right after the big death." "He's a smart guy." "The place had generators and gas storage tanks, guns, grenades, rocket launchers, plastique, ammunition." "Well, how'd he recruit all these guys?" "They used to be raiders working what was left of the highways." "They used to spend most of their time fighting each other." "Then Michael stepped up, organized them." "He's good at that stuff." "They think he's nuts, but as long as the goodies keep coming, they don't care." "That's why we're here." "So they can take whatever we have and put us to work getting more stuff for them." "Give it back to me, man." "Give it back." "How do we get out of here?" "We don't." "Nobody does." "You hear me?" "Cut it!" "Do you know what this is all about?" "Yes." "I'm sorry." "Then stop it." "I can't." "Hey, how's it goin'?" "Are you settling in ok?" "Yeah, all the comforts of home." "Good, good." "Yeah, I wanted you to, uh, see this, give you a little better idea of what I'm trying to do here." "Check it out." "Hi." "How you doin'?" "I'm Michael." "Nice to meet you." "What's your name?" "Jeff." "My name's Jeff." "Hi, Jeff." "Let me ask you somethin'." "Do you believe in God?" "I, uh..." "Yeah." "I mean, I think so." "Do you believe in the efficacy of prayer?" "The..." "The efficacy of prayer." "That it works." "It would sure help right about now." "Give it a shot." "Pray to God that you're gonna get out of this alive." "I don't know what you want from me." "Now, please!" "Hey, what the hell..." "God, get me out of this." "Please, God, just get me out of here." "Jesus..." "I'm sorry." "Who?" "Jesus." "What about you?" "And I don't believe in God." "You son of a bitch!" "What the hell are you doin'?" "It's all right, it's all right." "Just wait, you'll see." "And your name is?" "Lisa." "Hi, Lisa." "Do you have anything you'd like to say to me?" "Do you believe in the efficacy of prayer?" "Yes," "I..." "Michael, I pray to you." "I pray to you for my life." "I pray to you." "Done." "I'm Rick." "Save me, Michael." "And so I shall." "I'm Adam." "Save me." "Where is the end of the world?" "Don't do this." "Where is the end of the world?" "There is no such place." "Please," "Michael," "I pray to you." "Please." "Michael, spare my life." "I pray to you." "Do you really think God answers every prayer?" "No!" "No!" "It's ok, it's ok." "We'll try again tomorrow." "And tomorrow," "I'll ask you twice." "The day after that," "I'll ask you 4 times." "And I'll keep doubling it every day." "The number of times that God will disappoint his people is entirely in your hands." "You're free to go." "You'll have to work for the tribes, helping them find stuff, fix things, whatever." "But you owe your lives to me." "Never forget that." "Don't fight this." "It isn't gonna work." "Someone said," ""power comes out of the barrel of a gun."" "I've got all the firepower in the world right here." "Hey, man." "What happened out there?" "Hey." "What happened out there?" "Michael," "I have great news." "I'm pregnant." "Michael," "I thought you'd want to know." "I..." "I'm pregnant." "Hey, Michael, guess what?" "I've got a little psycho in the oven." "It looks just like you." "Julie?" "Did you say somethin'?" "No, no." "Just clearing my throat." "Hey, you're sittin' in my spot." "I said, you're sittin' in my spot." "Your fucking spot, you asshole?" "Your fucking spot?" "Here!" "How about this fucking spot?" "Anybody else got a fuckin' spot?" "You ok?" "Yeah." "You went away." "I know." "I'm back." "How about these guys?" "They're fine." "So you got a plan?" "No." "No, I don't." "What do you mean, you don't?" "Your ass always has a plan." "Ever since I met you, you've got a plan for every damn thing." "You don't take a piss unless you've got a plan." "Oh, that is so not true." "Yes, it is." "No, it's not." "Every time you tell a lie, Jesus bleeds." "Where did you come up with that?" "Every time you tell a lie, Jesus bleeds." "Every time you tell a lie, Jesus bleeds." "Every time you tell a lie, Jesus bleeds." "We're all set." "You really gonna do it?" "Oh, yeah." "I am." "You know what they call these things?" "Daisy cutters." "Is that a pretty name or what?" "The end of the world." "They call it that, but don't even know what it really means." "It's time to help them understand." "Hey, come on, both of you." "What about them?" "Screw them." "Get up." "No." "You want to try that again?" "Look, Michael wants us alive and cooperative." "If you pull that trigger, we are neither, and your boy Michael is really pissed off." "You want to be the guy to piss him off?" "I didn't think so." "So, here's the deal." "While we're gone, you make sure nothing bad happens to those people, otherwise when we come back, we'll just go back to being uncooperative." "Ok, fine." "Sure, whatever." "What the fuck are you lookin' at?" "And I thought you said you didn't have a plan." "That's as far as it went." "Oh, shit." "Hey." "Oh, hi." "Maybe I should go." "No, don't, uh..." "Don't leave because of us." "Yeah." "There's somethin' to be said for having witnesses around." "I didn't catch your name earlier." "Julie." "I'm Jeremiah, and this is kurdy." "How's it goin'?" "I got the impression earlier that, uh, you didn't like what you saw." "No, it's just..." "It takes a very special kind of person to organize all this, get people to follow him, so Michael's just very..." "Complex, you know?" ""Complex"" "is a word you use when you don't want to say anything bad." "You complex, too?" "Not really." "Not that complex, anyway." "You know that by staying with him, you're helping him, right?" "Why do you stay with him?" "Because he saved me..." "Years ago." "I was lost, stuck in this desert for days, and I passed out." "I would've died there, but I woke up and he was standing there looking down at me, and he had food and water..." "And he said the way I lay there, I looked like an angel that had fallen out of heaven." "He was younger then, different." "I mean, he always knew that there was something big in front of him, you know, but he wasn't like this." "He wasn't..." "He has this image of himself, see, and it's gotten bigger." "And now, it's like it's almost bigger than he is." "I don't think he understands what he's doing sometimes." "But you do." "And sooner or later, you're gonna have to decide." "Ok." "I've been thinking." "The problem is you don't know me, and I don't know you." "You have no reason to trust me, but I know that we're gonna work this out one way or another." "A couple of ways we can do that." "First of all, just so things don't seem so one-sided," "I'll give you something if you give me something." "What's that?" "We could share information." "Save you a lot of time finding out who's gonna be a problem." "There's you guys." "There's the rocky Mountain brigade." "There's the posse commitatus from down around Montana." "They're going to be all up in your ass pretty soon from what I hear." "There's the army of the South." "There's Mitchell gang." "There's Valhalla sector." "I see you've heard of that one." "Yeah, I've heard of it." "Everybody's heard of it." "What do you hear?" "Enough to know that we have a mutual enemy." "The old world's dead and buried, but those fuckers, they just don't want to get the message." "They've been arming up for a long time." "Tell you the truth," "I thought they were gonna come after us about a year ago, but somethin' stopped them." "Something scared them." "The point is the Valhalla sector is a perfect example of why we should work together." "At the end of the day, they'll fight you guys just as hard as they'll fight us." "Look, why's all this so important to you?" "Because I am meant for something better." "I'm meant for something special, important." "I knew it even as a child, I just didn't know what it was, and then the big death happened." "And everyone I knew died, and everyone they knew..." "Died." "All those people, billions and billions..." "Died." "And I thought:" "There must be a reason." "And I realized the only way the big death could have happened" "was if God..." "Was dead." "And if God is dead..." "Someone has to take his place, right?" "I've got my tribes," "I've got my people," "I've got believers, and I've got a vision." "I've got a vision for the new world, and I see flags, and I see banners, and I see armies marching in my name, and it's all right here." "What?" "So, like, you're God?" "I don't know, man." "I just thought you'd be taller." "No, I'm not a God." "To be a God, you have to get people to believe in you." "Jesus," "Mohammed," "Buddha..." "All the good gods started out as regular guys." "They worked their way up." "I mean, you've got to start somewhere, right?" "Christianity wasn't spread by love." "It was spread at the point of a sword." "There were crusades." "There were inquisitions." "There were soldiers saying, "believe or die."" "The only difference between that and this is that I'm not gonna wait until after" "I'm dead to get the ball rolling." "Now, you can be a part of it, or you can be in my way." "Either way..." "I just need to know where you stand." "And I will." "Do you remember that little problem we were having in east Cameron?" "Yeah." "East Cameron's a little town about 30 Miles from here, about 200 people." "It's pretty, but, you know..." "Anyway, the way we keep everybody happy is to cut them in for a little piece of everything that's going on in their area." "But it seems east Cameron just doesn't want to play anymore." "Julie, is that east Cameron on the t.V.?" "Yes." "Look, I don't get it." "What the fuck..." "This is an army base." "We've got guns, we've got tanks, we've got jeeps, we've got latrines, we've got cafeterias, we've got mines, we've got rocket launchers, and just like every self-respecting army base" "in what used to be the United States, we've got 114 Daisy-cutter bombs." "Non-nuclear, but these babies will incinerate anything within 600 yards." "That's 6 football fields, boys and girls." "The hand of God." "Now, I've placed 6 of these bombs in east Cameron." "Difficult for me to part with them, you understand, but I need you gentlemen to realize just how serious I am." "You want to know why you should either side with me or stay the fuck out of my way?" "Michael, no, please." "Take a look at the future, gentlemen." "It looks an awful lot like this." "All I want is the truth." "You withheld that truth, and a town had to die." "Understand that I am merciful, understand that I can forgive, but also understand" "I have 108 more of those." "This is so fucked up, man." "I have never seen anything like..." "I mean, you know, you... you hear about stuff like that from the old world and you forget it's there, or you figure somebody exaggerated." "Yeah." "This, like, all right..." "You know that all these..." "These armies and these navies and these marines or whatever..." "If they know they're gonna die, then on their way out, the least they could have done was gotten rid of this shit, instead of leavin' it lyin' around for crazy motherfuckers to get ahold of them" "and blow up whole fuckin' towns." "All right, Jeremiah, you know me." "You know, I don't like getting involved in other people's problems." "Yes, I know." "But we've got to take this motherfucker out, so you come up with a plan, because if you don't, I will." "Man, did you see the looks on their faces?" "Oh, man, that was somethin' else." "It really was like..." "Like the hand of God, you know?" "I'm tempted to cap off 3 more of those things to see the sky light up like that again." "Baby, you look a little pale, uh..." "Are you feelin' all right?" "Yeah, yeah." "It's just, uh..." "Michael," "I'm pregnant." "You sure?" "Yeah." "I, uh..." "I told you I don't want kids." "I know, but..." "Because you're gonna love it more than you love me, and I..." "I just can't have that." "No, Michael..." "Well, there you go." "Michael..." "You're my angel." "Angels don't have kids." "She stays the night, then tomorrow..." "Kill her." "Promise me..." "Promise me you'll take me to the end of the world." "No." "I mean it." "Promise me, and I'll get you out of here, both of you." "No." "Please?" "Tell you what." "I'll make you a deal." "You get the rest of these people out of here," "I'll take you there." "Anything, just take me away from here." "We're gonna need more than this, a whole lot more." "That's a good start." "Hey." "Open the gate." "I don't think you're supposed to..." "No!" "Everybody, come on, go!" "Go!" "Move!" "Go!" "Go!" "Hold up!" "Wait a sec." "Check it out." "No shit!" "All right, come on." "You gotta come down." "Get down." "Let's go!" "Come on, go!" "Go!" "Run!" "Kurdy, get her back to thunder Mountain." "Tell Marcus what happened." "Wait a second." "What about you?" "I'm not goin'." "Like hell you're not." "Somebody has got to stop this psycho." "You said it yourself." "Otherwise, what's to keep him from blowing up one town after the other until he gets what he wants?" "What are you gonna do about it?" "Let's say even if you cap this guy, there's still 50 other cats waitin' to pick up where he left off." "Kurdy, if you can save somebody, it's worth it." "Angels don't have kids." "Idon'tthinkheunderstands whathe'sdoingsometimes." "But you do." "And I see flags, and I see banners, and I see armies marching in my name, and it's all right here." "I'll think of somethin'." "I'll do it." "You go." "I can stop him, stop all of them forever." "Get in the fuckin' truck!" "She's going with me." "Come on." "Ok, we know how far those trucks can go on the gas." "We send everybody we can." "If anyone gives you any trouble, kill 'em." "Hey..." "This is important." "Hey, God..." "It's your angel." "Dear dad, i don't have very much tosaytonight." "Some days there just aren't the words, youknow?" "But I think about alltheotherbases that must have survived thebigdeath." "How many more Michaels areoutthere waiting to happen?" "I don't think I'llsleepmuchtonight." "To tell you the truth, i may not sleep again fora longtime."