American Horror Stories (2021) s01e06 Episode Script
Feral
1
(woman screams)
♪
(howling)
(snarling)
(skittering)
(screeching)
(chittering)
JAY: And since we are representing
a greedy-ass corporation,
we might want to think about
filing a peremptory challenge.
Don't think about it. Just do it.
How they were even a firm
before they hired me
is a mystery that will haunt
me to the end of my days.
- Well, we agreed work was off-limits, remember?
- (exhales)
Hey, you don't see me grading papers.
I just want to make sure that I don't
return to the shambles
of my case on Monday.
And we're not technically
at the campsite yet, so
Well, just keep your eyes
on the road, please.
You're gonna drive us off a cliff
before we even get our
first mosquito bite.
You know, you said you were
gonna be positive about this.
(exhales) I said that 'cause I love you.
And we're not technically at
the campsite yet, remember?
Mm.
Uh, also, 4,000 years
of progress happened
so we wouldn't have
to sleep in the woods.
We're not just "sleeping in the woods."
This is about experiencing nature,
about getting outside our comfort zones.
Exactly.
You know the word for
"outside your comfort zone"?
"Uncomfortable." Here you go, honey.
Hey, honey, can you
not lick your fingers?
Use the straw.
- (chuckles)
- What do you say, buddy?
- You excited to go camping?
- I want TV.
Wow. (exhales) Tough jury.
(slurping)
♪
(howling)
ADDY: How far back are we?
Oh, right up next to the forest.
Great. So we won't wake anyone
up during the bear attack.
♪
(shuts engine off)
(Addy groans)
(bird calls)
Now just sit back
and watch a master outdoorsman at work.
(birds chirping)
One, two, three.
ADDY: Can I see? One more time?
Can I see one more time?
Oh, yeah, buddy. You see this?
Oh, my gosh. Daddy's making us a potty.
He's making us a potty.
(grunts)
(Addy and Jacob speak indistinctly)
- (frogs croaking)
- More, more, more.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Yes.
Mmm.
(bird calling)
JAY: You're feeling it, aren't you?
The wine? Yes.
(exhales)
- For me, it starts in the back of my neck.
- Mm.
When I actually let
go of all the bullshit
and realize I'm finally relaxing.
I, uh I think it might
be night-night time.
- I think it's tent time.
- JAY: Uh-oh.
Night-night time!
You ready, little guy?
You ready sweetheart?
Oh.
Let's give Daddy a kiss, okay?
- (grunts)
- (smooching)
Mwah!
Who wants to go in the
special sparkle cave?
- Go night-night.
- (whoops)
Ooh! (laughs)
(Addy and Jacob speaking indistinctly)
(bird hooting)
♪
(owl hooting)
(frogs croaking)
- He's so cute.
- Yeah.
(sniffles)
I'm officially glad we came.
- Mm.
- Yeah?
Yeah.
I, um I definitely think we
should come back. (inhales)
You know, in, like, ten years.
(chuckles softly)
(low howling)
What was that?
It's just something else to ignore
while I rip your clothes off.
Mm. (chuckles)
- (kissing)
- Mm.
(birds calling)
JACOB: One, two, three.
- JAY: I think that's the
- (groans) Good morn
No one talk to me.
Oh, God, I need caffeine. (groans)
- You want this?
- And it can swim upside down
- and stuff.
- Ooh.
Take this. Ah.
Hey, bud.
Can you hold one more thing for me?
This is my Boy Scout compass.
You be careful?
- Sure.
- All right.
(grunts) All right. Let's do it.
Let's go.
Do you like to hold it like this?
Or you want to hold it like this?
Oh. (chuckles)
There you go.
Hmm.
Buddy?
I don't know where he is.
Buddy?
- Boo!
- (laughing): Oh!
(giggling)
♪
JAY: Hmm.
If my name were Jacob, where would I be?
I don't know.
- Boo!
- Oh! (chuckles)
That was a good one, bud.
Hey.
Don't run off too far.
♪
(barking, howling in distance)
(gasps)
JAY: Jacob?
(chuckles): Jacob?
Boo!
Jacob?
Jacob. Come on, buddy.
What are you doing?
Jacob?
Jacob, come out right now!
Jacob?!
Jacob!
Jacob?!
Jacob!
Jacob!
- Jay! Jay. Where's Jacob?
- I can't find him.
- What?
- I can't find him anywhere.
He was here, we were playing,
and then he was gone.
- What are you talking about?
- I can't find him anywhere.
- What? Jacob! Jacob!
- Jacob!
- Jacob!
- Jacob! Come on out!
- Jacob! Jacob!
- Come on out. It's okay.
♪
- ADDY: Jacob!
- JAY: Jacob!
JAY: Jacob!
ADDY: Jacob?
JAY: Jacob!
♪
♪
♪
(loud knocking)
(knocking continues)
(exhales)
(groans, exhales)
Gantz?
- That's me.
- Bob Birch. We need to talk.
And you need to fuck off.
Tell Zeigler he can kiss my ass.
- I'm staying until my lease is up.
- Ho-Hold on, hold on.
I don't know what you're talking about.
I'm here because I have
information about your son.
- ♪
-
Guess some tenants found out
who I am and don't want a guy
who maybe killed his kid
living in the building.
- (opens bottle)
- They slash my tires,
leave messages on my phone,
slip love letters under the door.
Only reason you're standing here
is you don't look like a reporter.
I'm a hunter.
I lead tours up in the woods.
Mostly bankers trying
to find their balls.
They shoot a bear,
go home feeling like Iron Man
and continue fucking people over.
(beer cap clatters)
You must be proud of yourself.
(exhales)
(exhales)
Don't you want to know why I'm here?
Guess I'm just putting off
the disappointment. (exhales)
You're about the 200th person
who's come about my son.
I talk to all of 'em.
Psychics. Amateur detectives.
Plain crazy.
Which category you fall into?
- Eyewitness.
- (crinkling)
Every spring, I hang camera
traps around the park.
Keep track of game.
What's this?
This photo was taken last week,
in the deep back.
Ain't no campgrounds or
trails around there for miles.
What the fuck are you trying to tell me?
When he disappeared,
your son was carrying
an old Boy Scout compass,
ain't that right?
Well, I found this where the
camera trap photo was taken.
♪
- Who are you?
- I told you. I'm a hunter.
Look at the photo.
That boy is about the same age
your son would be right now.
You think that's a coincidence?
You said my son was taken.
Mm. The past 15 years,
that whole area of the
park's been overrun
by illegal pot farms.
Pot farms?
These are bad folks,
some tied to the cartels.
And you're saying these
people took my son?
It ain't exactly news
that the cartels use kidnapping
to get what they want.
And some of these people
they're tied to trafficking.
Now, hold on.
All I know is that that photo
was snapped where they operate.
Now, I'm offering to take you there,
find out if I'm right.
Why?
What do you want?
Expenses.
Nothing more.
The growers, on the other hand
(inhales)
that's a different conversation.
♪
JAY: I know how it sounds,
but the man isn't even asking for money.
No. He just wants $10,000
for one of these drug people.
He has a contact with the growers.
He thinks if we pay him,
he may open up and
tell us what he knows.
It's a scam, Jay. It
It's so obviously a scam.
I can't believe you came
all the way down here
to put me through this again.
'Kay, will you at least
look at the photo?
No, I will not look at the
I cannot keep having my heart
ripped out over and over and over.
Every time we think there's a chance,
every time, it turns out to be nothing.
Please just let me live my life.
You call this a life?
Selling these boxes?
Well, I can't teach,
so I have to do something. I do this.
You need to find something.
- (sniffles)
- I need to find our son.
He's gone, Jay!
He's gone. He-he got lost (sniffles)
and drowned or froze to
death or an animal ate him.
(exhales, cries)
(crying, sniffles)
Maybe it's a scam and
maybe I'm an idiot,
but I can't ignore this.
And I don't have the money, Addy. I
- I need your help.
- (sniffles)
Goddamn you, Jay.
Goddamn you.
(crying)
- ♪
-
(wind howling)
Let me show you something, boss.
It's known as the Malvados.
It's where the trail cam
photo was snapped.
It's a good ten klicks from
here, mostly off trail.
Need to be at the growers'
camp before sunset
or we're in the shit.
Let's go.
(howling in distance)
(birds calling)
(exhales) What's Rob think of all this?
Uh, we split up. So, actually,
if you really want to know,
it's none of your business, Jay.
Okay. I just, uh
Haven't seen you in a year
and wanted to catch up.
He wanted to start a family.
That's what happened.
Oh.
I'm old-fashioned.
I believe in one family per lifetime,
and I already had mine.
Maybe that was our mistake.
We should have tried for another.
ADDY: You talk like I didn't want to,
like I'm the one who
asked for the divorce.
JAY: You didn't have to ask.
It was in every look,
every word you said,
every word you didn't say,
wanting it to be my fault.
I never blamed you, Jay, ever.
Not once. You just
You needed to believe I did.
You needed to sink into
your little pit of hell
and-and punish yourself.
And where you went, there
wasn't room for anyone else.
JAY: Do you think I wanted
the last ten years?
- Well, you surely didn't want anything else!
- Hey.
Hey.
This ain't no fucking marriage retreat,
and I sure as hell ain't Dr. Phil.
You can work out your shit later.
We need to keep moving.
Come on, buddy. Come on.
Great plan, Jay.
♪
BIRCH: We're coming up
on the ranger station.
Guy who runs this here's a
couple rounds shy of a clip.
Not so much a park ranger
as some kind of weird,
fucked-up Boy Scout.
If possible, avoid conversation.
(sniffs)
We can fill up here.
Come on. We got to check
in or he'll get squirrelly.
- Thanks.
- Awesome.
Thanks. Guess I'm the, uh water girl.
(knocking)
BIRCH: Goddamn. We're in luck.
What?
Nothing.
(exhales)
(water sloshing)
G'day.
Where you folks headed?
We're just, you know
just hiking the trails.
Me and my
You know, just getting out of the city.
Just hiking the trail, huh, Birch?
Yeah. Just running another tour, Stan.
Take 'em down the valley.
If there's time, go see the falls.
(exhales) The valley.
Falls.
Bullshit.
Am I right?
Yeah.
- You're right.
- Mm-hmm.
We're here to find our son.
- Your son.
- Yep.
You know who we are, don't you?
Recognize you from the news.
Well, we have reason to believe
that our son's still alive.
We're headed up into
those hills. Malvados.
Jesus Christ, Birch. What
are you telling these people?
Look, the Malvados is
nowhere you want to go.
We know about the growers.
I'm not talking about the growers.
There are things in those canyons
a million times worse than the growers.
ADDY: What?
What's in the canyons?
This is what I was afraid of.
We don't have to listen
to this. Let's go.
No, I'm sorry.
I want to hear. I want to hear this.
There's nothing to hear, honey.
It's a bunch of bullshit.
Hey, boss.
Let's not do this.
I was here, in this station,
the day your son went missing.
You were?
I'd only been in the country
a couple of months.
Didn't know if I wanted to stay, but
after that night,
I knew I could never leave.
The helicopters, the search parties
they were everywhere.
Thought it might have been a
bear spooked by the commotion.
But then I saw differently.
I asked myself,
who or what was walking around my
ranger station with feet like that?
(grunts)
Well
(child crying)
I got part of an answer.
- (crying continues)
- ADDY: Wait.
So you're saying
whatever this thing was, it was
was carrying our son?
Well, I can't legally say
what it is that I saw
or what it was carrying, but
I know I saw something.
Something you don't want to mess with.
Yeah. Well, thank you for telling us
what you legally can't say,
but I think we've heard enough.
We should get going.
Addy, we can't buy into this.
- Your husband's right.
- He's not my husband anymore.
BIRCH: I don't care.
We are racing the night.
We either move right now
or we go back the way we came.
You understand?
STAN (quietly): Be smart.
Go back the way you came.
BIRCH: Told you that Aussie's crazy.
ADDY: He has no reason to lie to us.
I'm not saying he's lying.
I'm saying his Wheaties have
been in the milk too long.
So, what, the story he told us,
you think he imagined it?
What do you think?
Uh, I think a lot of
weird stuff happened
the night my son went missing.
Stuff no one ever wanted to talk about.
Like the deer I found
hanging from the tree.
- Deer?
- It was cut open, stuck from a tree.
Ooh.
It looked like some kind of sign.
And then those sounds we heard
Goddamn it. Look.
I have been hunting
these woods for 20 years,
and I've never seen nothin'
that I couldn't explain.
I never heard anyone else talk
about something they couldn't explain
except for Ranger fuckin'
Crocodile Hunter back there.
You believe him, honey,
you're just as fucking crazy as he is.
Hey, don't talk to her like that.
- It's okay, Jay.
- No, no, no.
Don't fucking talk to her like that.
(bird screeches)
(screeching)
(rustling)
(howling in distance)
(low howling)
♪
(keys jangling)
♪
Hold on.
ADDY: Oh, my God.
Jesus fucking Christ.
(creaking)
JAY: Birch, what the fuck happened here?
(breathing heavily)
Just give me a second.
Just shut the fuck up!
(flies buzzing)
JAY: What in the holy
fuck happened here?
It's got to be the cartel
or a rival cartel.
These people are always
killing each other.
That's got to be what it is.
Okay, so
- Jay. Jay.
- what do we do?
I'm thinkin'.
Well, is there any, um
is there anyone else
anyone else who could help us?
(breathing heavily)
(laughing)
Help us?
Yeah, find out about our son.
Your son?
Yes. Our son!
The whole reason we're here!
Where's our fucking son, Birch?
People, I don't have the first clue
where your son is. Never did.
And that photo I showed you
that was my nephew.
I shot that in the backyard.
- (crying)
- And the-the compass,
I bought that at the Salvation
Army store and dirtied it up.
Yeah, you wanted our money.
I needed that fucking money.
And so I made a deal
with these poor fucks.
I get the ten grand, and then
they make you disappear.
And then, in return, they
get your credit cards
and your ATM cards and then I go
back and I say we got separated
and-and then I lost you.
And everybody, everybody makes out!
- You son of a
- Jay!
I have to do this.
I don't want to do this.
But I can't just let
you walk out of here.
- Down on your knees.
- Fuck you.
- Get on your knees!
- No. No.
Fine.
(grunts)
Have it your way.
I told you I was gonna
reunite you with your boy.
And now you're gonna see him.
- (snarling)
- (screaming)
- (gunshots)
- (screaming)
- (groans) Oh, shit.
- (flesh ripping)
(screeching)
ADDY: Come on, come on.
Get up. You can get up. Come on.
(Birch groans)
(growls)
(groaning)
(screeching)
(growling)
(screeching)
(insects trilling)
- (Jay panting)
- (howling in distance)
(rustling)
Come on, you. Keep going. Come on.
- Jesus Christ.
- Come on, Jay.
- (Jay grunts)
- The hell happened to you?
He's been shot.
- ADDY: Okay, hold on.
- Sure, sure. Okay.
- Okay. (sniffles)
- (grunting)
Hey. Yeah, right here.
Where the hell's Birch?
- Birch is dead.
- (groans)
- Well, saw that coming.
- ADDY: Um, careful.
- (groans)
- Yikes.
- At least it's through and through.
- What?
- Would you please just help my husband?
- (groans)
It's basically a scratch.
Crack on, then. (grunts)
Tell me everything that happened.
- (groaning)
- Oh, Jesus.
I'm gonna throw up. I feel sick.
STAN: Do that later, please.
Right now, I need to know everything.
We, um we went to the place where
uh, where Birch said
the drug people were.
And-and, when we got there,
they were all dead.
Every one of 'em
was ripped apart.
As if by an animal.
And he said he was, um, he
was lying to us about our son
and that he-he was (sniffles)
he was trying to scam
us out of our money.
- Keep going.
- JAY: He was gonna kill us.
- Shoot us.
- Prick.
One of the bodies, it
it wasn't dead. It-it, uh
it attacked Birch. It
- It bit his neck.
- (Stan exhales)
All right, folks.
Do you know if they followed you?
I don't think so. I don't think so.
I think the gun scared 'em off.
If they didn't come after you,
it wasn't 'cause you had a gun.
Keep pressure on that.
What is out there? (panting)
What are those things?
(shushing)
- (insects trilling)
- (coyote yipping in distance)
Looks quiet.
I don't think they're coming.
JAY: Who's coming?
And don't say fucking Bigfoot,
because that wasn't any Bigfoot
that ripped out Birch's throat.
- (pants)
- You're better off not knowing.
Can't tell you even if I wanted to.
Not allowed.
JAY: Not allowed?
Those are the rules.
- Rules?
- What are you, a fucking parrot?
- Hey, man. Fuck you and your rules.
- Jesus Christ.
- Okay, Jay
- Get his shotgun.
- What? I
- Just go take his gun.
- Take it from him.
- (scoffs)
I don't know how many
bullets are left in this gun,
but, I swear, I will pump
you full of 'em to find out.
Give her the gun.
(chuckles softly)
- You ever held a gun before?
- (exhales)
(groans softly)
We've been lied to a
lot today, Mr. Ranger,
but, I swear, somebody
will tell us the truth
before the sun comes up.
I want to know everything
you say you can't tell us.
Fine.
(panting)
They're not Bigfoot.
Bigfoot is a fairy tale
compared to these things.
In my country, they call it the yowie,
but that's bullshit, too.
Uh
You really want to know everything,
I need to open that.
(exhales) Go ahead.
(groaning)
- (sighs)
- (keys jangle)
Believe me when I tell you,
I was only brought onto this two
years after your son went missing.
It's a little slice of American
history that's guarded,
like the Manhattan Project.
And that's this.
Your national park system
wasn't created to preserve
the country's natural beauty.
(groans)
What was it created for?
To keep Americans from things
that would kill and eat 'em.
- (sniffles)
- Go on. Take a look.
I call them Feral Nation.
They're a subpopulation of humans
that live in the deep
woods, like animals.
History and old newspaper articles,
they were known as wild men.
That was grafted onto the Bigfoot myth.
Lot of Bigfoot sightings
are these things.
You said "eat them."
These things eat people?
Yeah, whenever they
can, they go cannibal.
ADDY: Okay, why are
why do they look like this?
Inbreeding.
Genetic mutations over decades,
- maybe hundreds of years.
- I don't understand.
Why did you lie to us? Why
did you say it was Bigfoot?
I never said Bigfoot. You did.
- But you did say hundreds of years.
- (exhales)
Well, some think the
ferals have been here
since the Vikings landed
in Newfoundland.
(laughs)
I think that's pretty farfetched.
If you ask me, I think
they're descendants
of the old mountain men who never
came down out of the mountains.
Or maybe they're Civil War soldiers
who never surrendered after the war.
Hell, maybe they're just normal
people who checked out,
had enough of the world.
There are pockets of these
things in every national park.
Over 2,000 people have vanished
from the parks over the years.
(stammers) The-the government
just knows all about this
- and-and keeps it a secret?
- Oh.
Governments need their citizens
to believe they're in control.
Plus, the national parks
generate billions of dollars
in revenue every year.
It's capitalism, baby.
I mean, if people knew there were
feral cannibals running around,
attendance might drop off.
Instead, the government
chooses containment.
(scoffs)
Containment.
(exhales)
The day your son went missing,
you notice anything weird
about the search teams?
Yeah.
(indistinct chatter)
When the police were
searching the woods,
there was a group of soldiers.
They told us that it was
an Army Ranger unit
attached to the California
National Guard.
JAY: Yeah, they were supposed
to be helping with the search,
but they went into the woods
and never came out.
It was like they were running
their own operation.
STAN: They were. And it
wasn't to find your son.
Whenever there's an incident,
these units are called in
for population control.
Find and kill as many of
the ferals as possible.
Those soldiers weren't on a rescue
mission they were on a hunt.
This is crazy. I
- (exhales)
- I can't believe this.
I was on one of those sweeps.
Was there 'cause I was
familiar with the area.
So I can personally
tell you they happened.
Though they didn't always
go according to plan.
Soldiers can be cocky bastards.
Sometimes they'd forget they
weren't dealing with animals.
- (hissing, screeching)
- They were dealing with something else.
SOLDIER: Go, go!
- (shouting)
- (gasping)
- (screams)
- (gunfire)
- (screeching)
- (screaming)
(screaming)
- (snarling)
- (screaming)
Not everyone in those
sweeps came back alive.
But, for the most part,
we gave 'em more than we got.
ADDY: Okay, so you're
saying that our son,
he was taken by these
things, and they
If it's any consolation,
the things responsible didn't
make it through the day.
Oh, boy. (exhales)
Can I have my gun back now, please?
Oh.
Yeah.
Sorry.
(exhales)
All right, I'm gonna get on the GMR,
get someone out here to
take you to a hospital.
- GMR?
- The radio.
These things are moving into
areas they're not supposed to be.
And now you're telling
me about this massacre.
Sure, I mean, maybe it's the
growers that have 'em riled up.
Or the drought.
Maybe it's two grieving parents
walking into their
territory with a moron.
But whatever it is,
it's my fucking duty to
call in for another sweep.
Oh. By the way
try and go public with
this and I'll deny it.
People will believe me.
Everyone trusts a park ranger.
(gun thumps on table)
- (radio crackling)
- (sniffles)
KC Region 12 to INF
Forest North. Come in.
(static)
You were right. (exhales)
And I was wrong. Again.
- I almost got us killed.
- (exhales)
Brought this all back around.
- (inhales)
- Well
at least we know what
happened. (exhales)
Would have been better not to know.
I'm sorry for everything.
For Jacob, this,
pushing you away.
I wanted you to blame me. I
wanted to punish myself,
so I destroyed the
best thing I ever had.
Us.
KC Region 12 to INF
Forest North. Come in.
MAN: This is Forest North. Go ahead, KC.
- Forest North, we got a situation here.
- (clacking)
We're gonna need a
(growling)
- (snarling, screeching)
- Forest North
(Stan grunting)
(screeching)
- Jay.
- (screeching)
(thumping, screaming)
Jay
- ADDY: (screams) Oh, my God!
- (screeching)
- (screams) Oh, my God! Jay.
- Fuck!
(screeching)
Stay back!
- Get back!
- (screams)
(snarls)
- (screeching)
- (screams)
(snarling, screeching)
- (snarling)
- Come on.
- (whimpers)
- What the fuck?
- (snarling)
- Fuck. Fuck!
ADDY: Jay.
(snarling)
- Jesus fucking Christ. Stay back!
- (snarling)
(clicks)
- Jay.
- Shit.
- (growling)
- (screeching)
(snarls, screeches)
- (thud)
- (panting)
(screeching)
No. No.
Please wait. What (grunts)
(snarling)
- No!
- (screeching)
(screaming)
(groaning)
(ferals growling, screeching)
(ferals growling)
(snarling, growling)
- ADDY: Jay.
- JAY: Oh, no.
- Jay, no, come on, let's go.
- (grunts)
- Come on, Jay!
- (ferals growling)
Jay, faster. Come on.
(Jay groaning)
- (screeching, roaring)
- ADDY: (shouts) No!
(sobs) Jay, get up!
Jay. Come on.
(snarling, growling)
(snarling, screeching)
(shouts)
(snorts)
♪
Oh, my God.
- Boo!
- Oh!
(giggling)
Hi, Jacob. (inhales)
Jacob.
(sniffles)
Boo?
- (chuckles)
- (crying)
- (growling)
- (rustling)
(ferals snarling)
(screeching)
- (screaming)
- (snarling)
(screaming continues)
(snarling, growling)
(woman screams)
♪
(howling)
(snarling)
(skittering)
(screeching)
(chittering)
JAY: And since we are representing
a greedy-ass corporation,
we might want to think about
filing a peremptory challenge.
Don't think about it. Just do it.
How they were even a firm
before they hired me
is a mystery that will haunt
me to the end of my days.
- Well, we agreed work was off-limits, remember?
- (exhales)
Hey, you don't see me grading papers.
I just want to make sure that I don't
return to the shambles
of my case on Monday.
And we're not technically
at the campsite yet, so
Well, just keep your eyes
on the road, please.
You're gonna drive us off a cliff
before we even get our
first mosquito bite.
You know, you said you were
gonna be positive about this.
(exhales) I said that 'cause I love you.
And we're not technically at
the campsite yet, remember?
Mm.
Uh, also, 4,000 years
of progress happened
so we wouldn't have
to sleep in the woods.
We're not just "sleeping in the woods."
This is about experiencing nature,
about getting outside our comfort zones.
Exactly.
You know the word for
"outside your comfort zone"?
"Uncomfortable." Here you go, honey.
Hey, honey, can you
not lick your fingers?
Use the straw.
- (chuckles)
- What do you say, buddy?
- You excited to go camping?
- I want TV.
Wow. (exhales) Tough jury.
(slurping)
♪
(howling)
ADDY: How far back are we?
Oh, right up next to the forest.
Great. So we won't wake anyone
up during the bear attack.
♪
(shuts engine off)
(Addy groans)
(bird calls)
Now just sit back
and watch a master outdoorsman at work.
(birds chirping)
One, two, three.
ADDY: Can I see? One more time?
Can I see one more time?
Oh, yeah, buddy. You see this?
Oh, my gosh. Daddy's making us a potty.
He's making us a potty.
(grunts)
(Addy and Jacob speak indistinctly)
- (frogs croaking)
- More, more, more.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Yes.
Mmm.
(bird calling)
JAY: You're feeling it, aren't you?
The wine? Yes.
(exhales)
- For me, it starts in the back of my neck.
- Mm.
When I actually let
go of all the bullshit
and realize I'm finally relaxing.
I, uh I think it might
be night-night time.
- I think it's tent time.
- JAY: Uh-oh.
Night-night time!
You ready, little guy?
You ready sweetheart?
Oh.
Let's give Daddy a kiss, okay?
- (grunts)
- (smooching)
Mwah!
Who wants to go in the
special sparkle cave?
- Go night-night.
- (whoops)
Ooh! (laughs)
(Addy and Jacob speaking indistinctly)
(bird hooting)
♪
(owl hooting)
(frogs croaking)
- He's so cute.
- Yeah.
(sniffles)
I'm officially glad we came.
- Mm.
- Yeah?
Yeah.
I, um I definitely think we
should come back. (inhales)
You know, in, like, ten years.
(chuckles softly)
(low howling)
What was that?
It's just something else to ignore
while I rip your clothes off.
Mm. (chuckles)
- (kissing)
- Mm.
(birds calling)
JACOB: One, two, three.
- JAY: I think that's the
- (groans) Good morn
No one talk to me.
Oh, God, I need caffeine. (groans)
- You want this?
- And it can swim upside down
- and stuff.
- Ooh.
Take this. Ah.
Hey, bud.
Can you hold one more thing for me?
This is my Boy Scout compass.
You be careful?
- Sure.
- All right.
(grunts) All right. Let's do it.
Let's go.
Do you like to hold it like this?
Or you want to hold it like this?
Oh. (chuckles)
There you go.
Hmm.
Buddy?
I don't know where he is.
Buddy?
- Boo!
- (laughing): Oh!
(giggling)
♪
JAY: Hmm.
If my name were Jacob, where would I be?
I don't know.
- Boo!
- Oh! (chuckles)
That was a good one, bud.
Hey.
Don't run off too far.
♪
(barking, howling in distance)
(gasps)
JAY: Jacob?
(chuckles): Jacob?
Boo!
Jacob?
Jacob. Come on, buddy.
What are you doing?
Jacob?
Jacob, come out right now!
Jacob?!
Jacob!
Jacob?!
Jacob!
Jacob!
- Jay! Jay. Where's Jacob?
- I can't find him.
- What?
- I can't find him anywhere.
He was here, we were playing,
and then he was gone.
- What are you talking about?
- I can't find him anywhere.
- What? Jacob! Jacob!
- Jacob!
- Jacob!
- Jacob! Come on out!
- Jacob! Jacob!
- Come on out. It's okay.
♪
- ADDY: Jacob!
- JAY: Jacob!
JAY: Jacob!
ADDY: Jacob?
JAY: Jacob!
♪
♪
♪
(loud knocking)
(knocking continues)
(exhales)
(groans, exhales)
Gantz?
- That's me.
- Bob Birch. We need to talk.
And you need to fuck off.
Tell Zeigler he can kiss my ass.
- I'm staying until my lease is up.
- Ho-Hold on, hold on.
I don't know what you're talking about.
I'm here because I have
information about your son.
- ♪
-
Guess some tenants found out
who I am and don't want a guy
who maybe killed his kid
living in the building.
- (opens bottle)
- They slash my tires,
leave messages on my phone,
slip love letters under the door.
Only reason you're standing here
is you don't look like a reporter.
I'm a hunter.
I lead tours up in the woods.
Mostly bankers trying
to find their balls.
They shoot a bear,
go home feeling like Iron Man
and continue fucking people over.
(beer cap clatters)
You must be proud of yourself.
(exhales)
(exhales)
Don't you want to know why I'm here?
Guess I'm just putting off
the disappointment. (exhales)
You're about the 200th person
who's come about my son.
I talk to all of 'em.
Psychics. Amateur detectives.
Plain crazy.
Which category you fall into?
- Eyewitness.
- (crinkling)
Every spring, I hang camera
traps around the park.
Keep track of game.
What's this?
This photo was taken last week,
in the deep back.
Ain't no campgrounds or
trails around there for miles.
What the fuck are you trying to tell me?
When he disappeared,
your son was carrying
an old Boy Scout compass,
ain't that right?
Well, I found this where the
camera trap photo was taken.
♪
- Who are you?
- I told you. I'm a hunter.
Look at the photo.
That boy is about the same age
your son would be right now.
You think that's a coincidence?
You said my son was taken.
Mm. The past 15 years,
that whole area of the
park's been overrun
by illegal pot farms.
Pot farms?
These are bad folks,
some tied to the cartels.
And you're saying these
people took my son?
It ain't exactly news
that the cartels use kidnapping
to get what they want.
And some of these people
they're tied to trafficking.
Now, hold on.
All I know is that that photo
was snapped where they operate.
Now, I'm offering to take you there,
find out if I'm right.
Why?
What do you want?
Expenses.
Nothing more.
The growers, on the other hand
(inhales)
that's a different conversation.
♪
JAY: I know how it sounds,
but the man isn't even asking for money.
No. He just wants $10,000
for one of these drug people.
He has a contact with the growers.
He thinks if we pay him,
he may open up and
tell us what he knows.
It's a scam, Jay. It
It's so obviously a scam.
I can't believe you came
all the way down here
to put me through this again.
'Kay, will you at least
look at the photo?
No, I will not look at the
I cannot keep having my heart
ripped out over and over and over.
Every time we think there's a chance,
every time, it turns out to be nothing.
Please just let me live my life.
You call this a life?
Selling these boxes?
Well, I can't teach,
so I have to do something. I do this.
You need to find something.
- (sniffles)
- I need to find our son.
He's gone, Jay!
He's gone. He-he got lost (sniffles)
and drowned or froze to
death or an animal ate him.
(exhales, cries)
(crying, sniffles)
Maybe it's a scam and
maybe I'm an idiot,
but I can't ignore this.
And I don't have the money, Addy. I
- I need your help.
- (sniffles)
Goddamn you, Jay.
Goddamn you.
(crying)
- ♪
-
(wind howling)
Let me show you something, boss.
It's known as the Malvados.
It's where the trail cam
photo was snapped.
It's a good ten klicks from
here, mostly off trail.
Need to be at the growers'
camp before sunset
or we're in the shit.
Let's go.
(howling in distance)
(birds calling)
(exhales) What's Rob think of all this?
Uh, we split up. So, actually,
if you really want to know,
it's none of your business, Jay.
Okay. I just, uh
Haven't seen you in a year
and wanted to catch up.
He wanted to start a family.
That's what happened.
Oh.
I'm old-fashioned.
I believe in one family per lifetime,
and I already had mine.
Maybe that was our mistake.
We should have tried for another.
ADDY: You talk like I didn't want to,
like I'm the one who
asked for the divorce.
JAY: You didn't have to ask.
It was in every look,
every word you said,
every word you didn't say,
wanting it to be my fault.
I never blamed you, Jay, ever.
Not once. You just
You needed to believe I did.
You needed to sink into
your little pit of hell
and-and punish yourself.
And where you went, there
wasn't room for anyone else.
JAY: Do you think I wanted
the last ten years?
- Well, you surely didn't want anything else!
- Hey.
Hey.
This ain't no fucking marriage retreat,
and I sure as hell ain't Dr. Phil.
You can work out your shit later.
We need to keep moving.
Come on, buddy. Come on.
Great plan, Jay.
♪
BIRCH: We're coming up
on the ranger station.
Guy who runs this here's a
couple rounds shy of a clip.
Not so much a park ranger
as some kind of weird,
fucked-up Boy Scout.
If possible, avoid conversation.
(sniffs)
We can fill up here.
Come on. We got to check
in or he'll get squirrelly.
- Thanks.
- Awesome.
Thanks. Guess I'm the, uh water girl.
(knocking)
BIRCH: Goddamn. We're in luck.
What?
Nothing.
(exhales)
(water sloshing)
G'day.
Where you folks headed?
We're just, you know
just hiking the trails.
Me and my
You know, just getting out of the city.
Just hiking the trail, huh, Birch?
Yeah. Just running another tour, Stan.
Take 'em down the valley.
If there's time, go see the falls.
(exhales) The valley.
Falls.
Bullshit.
Am I right?
Yeah.
- You're right.
- Mm-hmm.
We're here to find our son.
- Your son.
- Yep.
You know who we are, don't you?
Recognize you from the news.
Well, we have reason to believe
that our son's still alive.
We're headed up into
those hills. Malvados.
Jesus Christ, Birch. What
are you telling these people?
Look, the Malvados is
nowhere you want to go.
We know about the growers.
I'm not talking about the growers.
There are things in those canyons
a million times worse than the growers.
ADDY: What?
What's in the canyons?
This is what I was afraid of.
We don't have to listen
to this. Let's go.
No, I'm sorry.
I want to hear. I want to hear this.
There's nothing to hear, honey.
It's a bunch of bullshit.
Hey, boss.
Let's not do this.
I was here, in this station,
the day your son went missing.
You were?
I'd only been in the country
a couple of months.
Didn't know if I wanted to stay, but
after that night,
I knew I could never leave.
The helicopters, the search parties
they were everywhere.
Thought it might have been a
bear spooked by the commotion.
But then I saw differently.
I asked myself,
who or what was walking around my
ranger station with feet like that?
(grunts)
Well
(child crying)
I got part of an answer.
- (crying continues)
- ADDY: Wait.
So you're saying
whatever this thing was, it was
was carrying our son?
Well, I can't legally say
what it is that I saw
or what it was carrying, but
I know I saw something.
Something you don't want to mess with.
Yeah. Well, thank you for telling us
what you legally can't say,
but I think we've heard enough.
We should get going.
Addy, we can't buy into this.
- Your husband's right.
- He's not my husband anymore.
BIRCH: I don't care.
We are racing the night.
We either move right now
or we go back the way we came.
You understand?
STAN (quietly): Be smart.
Go back the way you came.
BIRCH: Told you that Aussie's crazy.
ADDY: He has no reason to lie to us.
I'm not saying he's lying.
I'm saying his Wheaties have
been in the milk too long.
So, what, the story he told us,
you think he imagined it?
What do you think?
Uh, I think a lot of
weird stuff happened
the night my son went missing.
Stuff no one ever wanted to talk about.
Like the deer I found
hanging from the tree.
- Deer?
- It was cut open, stuck from a tree.
Ooh.
It looked like some kind of sign.
And then those sounds we heard
Goddamn it. Look.
I have been hunting
these woods for 20 years,
and I've never seen nothin'
that I couldn't explain.
I never heard anyone else talk
about something they couldn't explain
except for Ranger fuckin'
Crocodile Hunter back there.
You believe him, honey,
you're just as fucking crazy as he is.
Hey, don't talk to her like that.
- It's okay, Jay.
- No, no, no.
Don't fucking talk to her like that.
(bird screeches)
(screeching)
(rustling)
(howling in distance)
(low howling)
♪
(keys jangling)
♪
Hold on.
ADDY: Oh, my God.
Jesus fucking Christ.
(creaking)
JAY: Birch, what the fuck happened here?
(breathing heavily)
Just give me a second.
Just shut the fuck up!
(flies buzzing)
JAY: What in the holy
fuck happened here?
It's got to be the cartel
or a rival cartel.
These people are always
killing each other.
That's got to be what it is.
Okay, so
- Jay. Jay.
- what do we do?
I'm thinkin'.
Well, is there any, um
is there anyone else
anyone else who could help us?
(breathing heavily)
(laughing)
Help us?
Yeah, find out about our son.
Your son?
Yes. Our son!
The whole reason we're here!
Where's our fucking son, Birch?
People, I don't have the first clue
where your son is. Never did.
And that photo I showed you
that was my nephew.
I shot that in the backyard.
- (crying)
- And the-the compass,
I bought that at the Salvation
Army store and dirtied it up.
Yeah, you wanted our money.
I needed that fucking money.
And so I made a deal
with these poor fucks.
I get the ten grand, and then
they make you disappear.
And then, in return, they
get your credit cards
and your ATM cards and then I go
back and I say we got separated
and-and then I lost you.
And everybody, everybody makes out!
- You son of a
- Jay!
I have to do this.
I don't want to do this.
But I can't just let
you walk out of here.
- Down on your knees.
- Fuck you.
- Get on your knees!
- No. No.
Fine.
(grunts)
Have it your way.
I told you I was gonna
reunite you with your boy.
And now you're gonna see him.
- (snarling)
- (screaming)
- (gunshots)
- (screaming)
- (groans) Oh, shit.
- (flesh ripping)
(screeching)
ADDY: Come on, come on.
Get up. You can get up. Come on.
(Birch groans)
(growls)
(groaning)
(screeching)
(growling)
(screeching)
(insects trilling)
- (Jay panting)
- (howling in distance)
(rustling)
Come on, you. Keep going. Come on.
- Jesus Christ.
- Come on, Jay.
- (Jay grunts)
- The hell happened to you?
He's been shot.
- ADDY: Okay, hold on.
- Sure, sure. Okay.
- Okay. (sniffles)
- (grunting)
Hey. Yeah, right here.
Where the hell's Birch?
- Birch is dead.
- (groans)
- Well, saw that coming.
- ADDY: Um, careful.
- (groans)
- Yikes.
- At least it's through and through.
- What?
- Would you please just help my husband?
- (groans)
It's basically a scratch.
Crack on, then. (grunts)
Tell me everything that happened.
- (groaning)
- Oh, Jesus.
I'm gonna throw up. I feel sick.
STAN: Do that later, please.
Right now, I need to know everything.
We, um we went to the place where
uh, where Birch said
the drug people were.
And-and, when we got there,
they were all dead.
Every one of 'em
was ripped apart.
As if by an animal.
And he said he was, um, he
was lying to us about our son
and that he-he was (sniffles)
he was trying to scam
us out of our money.
- Keep going.
- JAY: He was gonna kill us.
- Shoot us.
- Prick.
One of the bodies, it
it wasn't dead. It-it, uh
it attacked Birch. It
- It bit his neck.
- (Stan exhales)
All right, folks.
Do you know if they followed you?
I don't think so. I don't think so.
I think the gun scared 'em off.
If they didn't come after you,
it wasn't 'cause you had a gun.
Keep pressure on that.
What is out there? (panting)
What are those things?
(shushing)
- (insects trilling)
- (coyote yipping in distance)
Looks quiet.
I don't think they're coming.
JAY: Who's coming?
And don't say fucking Bigfoot,
because that wasn't any Bigfoot
that ripped out Birch's throat.
- (pants)
- You're better off not knowing.
Can't tell you even if I wanted to.
Not allowed.
JAY: Not allowed?
Those are the rules.
- Rules?
- What are you, a fucking parrot?
- Hey, man. Fuck you and your rules.
- Jesus Christ.
- Okay, Jay
- Get his shotgun.
- What? I
- Just go take his gun.
- Take it from him.
- (scoffs)
I don't know how many
bullets are left in this gun,
but, I swear, I will pump
you full of 'em to find out.
Give her the gun.
(chuckles softly)
- You ever held a gun before?
- (exhales)
(groans softly)
We've been lied to a
lot today, Mr. Ranger,
but, I swear, somebody
will tell us the truth
before the sun comes up.
I want to know everything
you say you can't tell us.
Fine.
(panting)
They're not Bigfoot.
Bigfoot is a fairy tale
compared to these things.
In my country, they call it the yowie,
but that's bullshit, too.
Uh
You really want to know everything,
I need to open that.
(exhales) Go ahead.
(groaning)
- (sighs)
- (keys jangle)
Believe me when I tell you,
I was only brought onto this two
years after your son went missing.
It's a little slice of American
history that's guarded,
like the Manhattan Project.
And that's this.
Your national park system
wasn't created to preserve
the country's natural beauty.
(groans)
What was it created for?
To keep Americans from things
that would kill and eat 'em.
- (sniffles)
- Go on. Take a look.
I call them Feral Nation.
They're a subpopulation of humans
that live in the deep
woods, like animals.
History and old newspaper articles,
they were known as wild men.
That was grafted onto the Bigfoot myth.
Lot of Bigfoot sightings
are these things.
You said "eat them."
These things eat people?
Yeah, whenever they
can, they go cannibal.
ADDY: Okay, why are
why do they look like this?
Inbreeding.
Genetic mutations over decades,
- maybe hundreds of years.
- I don't understand.
Why did you lie to us? Why
did you say it was Bigfoot?
I never said Bigfoot. You did.
- But you did say hundreds of years.
- (exhales)
Well, some think the
ferals have been here
since the Vikings landed
in Newfoundland.
(laughs)
I think that's pretty farfetched.
If you ask me, I think
they're descendants
of the old mountain men who never
came down out of the mountains.
Or maybe they're Civil War soldiers
who never surrendered after the war.
Hell, maybe they're just normal
people who checked out,
had enough of the world.
There are pockets of these
things in every national park.
Over 2,000 people have vanished
from the parks over the years.
(stammers) The-the government
just knows all about this
- and-and keeps it a secret?
- Oh.
Governments need their citizens
to believe they're in control.
Plus, the national parks
generate billions of dollars
in revenue every year.
It's capitalism, baby.
I mean, if people knew there were
feral cannibals running around,
attendance might drop off.
Instead, the government
chooses containment.
(scoffs)
Containment.
(exhales)
The day your son went missing,
you notice anything weird
about the search teams?
Yeah.
(indistinct chatter)
When the police were
searching the woods,
there was a group of soldiers.
They told us that it was
an Army Ranger unit
attached to the California
National Guard.
JAY: Yeah, they were supposed
to be helping with the search,
but they went into the woods
and never came out.
It was like they were running
their own operation.
STAN: They were. And it
wasn't to find your son.
Whenever there's an incident,
these units are called in
for population control.
Find and kill as many of
the ferals as possible.
Those soldiers weren't on a rescue
mission they were on a hunt.
This is crazy. I
- (exhales)
- I can't believe this.
I was on one of those sweeps.
Was there 'cause I was
familiar with the area.
So I can personally
tell you they happened.
Though they didn't always
go according to plan.
Soldiers can be cocky bastards.
Sometimes they'd forget they
weren't dealing with animals.
- (hissing, screeching)
- They were dealing with something else.
SOLDIER: Go, go!
- (shouting)
- (gasping)
- (screams)
- (gunfire)
- (screeching)
- (screaming)
(screaming)
- (snarling)
- (screaming)
Not everyone in those
sweeps came back alive.
But, for the most part,
we gave 'em more than we got.
ADDY: Okay, so you're
saying that our son,
he was taken by these
things, and they
If it's any consolation,
the things responsible didn't
make it through the day.
Oh, boy. (exhales)
Can I have my gun back now, please?
Oh.
Yeah.
Sorry.
(exhales)
All right, I'm gonna get on the GMR,
get someone out here to
take you to a hospital.
- GMR?
- The radio.
These things are moving into
areas they're not supposed to be.
And now you're telling
me about this massacre.
Sure, I mean, maybe it's the
growers that have 'em riled up.
Or the drought.
Maybe it's two grieving parents
walking into their
territory with a moron.
But whatever it is,
it's my fucking duty to
call in for another sweep.
Oh. By the way
try and go public with
this and I'll deny it.
People will believe me.
Everyone trusts a park ranger.
(gun thumps on table)
- (radio crackling)
- (sniffles)
KC Region 12 to INF
Forest North. Come in.
(static)
You were right. (exhales)
And I was wrong. Again.
- I almost got us killed.
- (exhales)
Brought this all back around.
- (inhales)
- Well
at least we know what
happened. (exhales)
Would have been better not to know.
I'm sorry for everything.
For Jacob, this,
pushing you away.
I wanted you to blame me. I
wanted to punish myself,
so I destroyed the
best thing I ever had.
Us.
KC Region 12 to INF
Forest North. Come in.
MAN: This is Forest North. Go ahead, KC.
- Forest North, we got a situation here.
- (clacking)
We're gonna need a
(growling)
- (snarling, screeching)
- Forest North
(Stan grunting)
(screeching)
- Jay.
- (screeching)
(thumping, screaming)
Jay
- ADDY: (screams) Oh, my God!
- (screeching)
- (screams) Oh, my God! Jay.
- Fuck!
(screeching)
Stay back!
- Get back!
- (screams)
(snarls)
- (screeching)
- (screams)
(snarling, screeching)
- (snarling)
- Come on.
- (whimpers)
- What the fuck?
- (snarling)
- Fuck. Fuck!
ADDY: Jay.
(snarling)
- Jesus fucking Christ. Stay back!
- (snarling)
(clicks)
- Jay.
- Shit.
- (growling)
- (screeching)
(snarls, screeches)
- (thud)
- (panting)
(screeching)
No. No.
Please wait. What (grunts)
(snarling)
- No!
- (screeching)
(screaming)
(groaning)
(ferals growling, screeching)
(ferals growling)
(snarling, growling)
- ADDY: Jay.
- JAY: Oh, no.
- Jay, no, come on, let's go.
- (grunts)
- Come on, Jay!
- (ferals growling)
Jay, faster. Come on.
(Jay groaning)
- (screeching, roaring)
- ADDY: (shouts) No!
(sobs) Jay, get up!
Jay. Come on.
(snarling, growling)
(snarling, screeching)
(shouts)
(snorts)
♪
Oh, my God.
- Boo!
- Oh!
(giggling)
Hi, Jacob. (inhales)
Jacob.
(sniffles)
Boo?
- (chuckles)
- (crying)
- (growling)
- (rustling)
(ferals snarling)
(screeching)
- (screaming)
- (snarling)
(screaming continues)
(snarling, growling)