Jeremiah (2002) s01e14 Episode Script
Tripwire
(Devon echoing) Jeremiah! Jeremiah! Jeremiah! Jeremiah! Jeremiah! Jeremiah! Jeremiah! Jeremiah! Jeremiah! Dad? You're here? Of course I'm here.
I said I'd only be gone an hour, remember? Dad, it's been 15 years.
An hour, tops.
Now, we gotta go.
Where's your brother? He's dead.
No time for games, Jeremiah.
We've gotta go now.
The last plane for Valhalla Sector is about to leave.
Now, where is your brother? I'm here.
Here you are.
He's not my brother.
Of course he is.
Go ahead, Ezekiel.
Tell your brother what you told me.
The thunder will change you forever, but everyone you love will fall at the end of the world.
Stop saying that! You're not my brother! (Devon) I got your letters and I read them.
All of them.
The thing is, and this is important, Jeremiah, so I want you to listen.
I want you to listen very carefully.
You've forgotten something.
[gasps.]
[panting.]
Hey, are you all right, man? Yeah.
It's just a bad dream.
Well, that's the third bad dream this week, dude.
Yeah, I know.
[sighs.]
Anything you want to talk about? No.
I'll be all right.
It's cool.
Then why are you sleepin' on the floor? 'cause I'm a creature of habit, 'cause the floor isn't goin' anywhere, and there's bad shit dreams up there.
Right.
(Jeremiah) 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.
OK, everybody, settle down.
If you can find a chair, use it.
First of all, I'd like to thank you all for coming, especially since the recall order was given on such short notice.
Erin? Except for a few teams that didn't make it back, this is the first time all search and recon teams have been gathered in the same place.
You should take a moment before you leave, talk amongst yourselves, and exchange any information you think is appropriate.
The rest of you were chosen for your skills in resource management, planning, construction, and other areas necessary to the work at hand.
Today, we're going outside in a big way.
We're gonna start rebuilding.
Danbury.
It's a small town 70 miles southeast of here.
Population is about 2,000.
We're sending out a full support crew and everything we've got that can move, dig, or plow.
That's a lot of resources to invest in one town.
And we don't have a lot to spare.
You're right, we don't.
But for our first time outside, we have to make a big impression.
Prove that we have the resources to help towns like Danbury start pullin' themselves up by their bootstraps.
It's important to start forming alliances.
Why? I mean, of all the towns out there, why Danbury? It's an awful long supply line to maintain.
There are other places closer that are just as deserving.
It's a strategic decision made by the council and Marcus.
You know, Lee, my father said that, uh, all answers are replies, but not all replies are answers.
I don't think I heard an answer in there.
Must be the acoustics.
Look over the reports.
We'll reconvene later.
That's all.
Hey, before y'all take off, uh, I'm looking for information on Valhalla Sector.
Any information pertaining to Valhalla Sector should be given to Lee, Erin, or myself, for review by the council.
We'll then give it to anybody else on a need-to-know basis.
Marcus.
What the fuck was that all about? You cut me off at the knees in front of everybody? You know how important it is for me to find Valhalla Sector.
You know why it's important.
Maybe too important.
What are you trying to say? He's saying you're not a team player, that your priorities may not be in sync with everybody else.
I don't believe the man was talking to you, Lee.
Oh, you really don't want a piece of this, Kurdy.
It's funny.
You're the only guy I've ever met who can say my name like it's a dirty word.
Guys, come on.
Hey, no, no, no, no.
Fuck that! Kurdy and I've worked our asses off for this place.
We've put our lives on the line a dozen times.
I ask you a couple of reasonable questions, you shut me down with this need-to-know bullshit? You wanna leave? There's the door.
Lee, that's not necessary.
Hey, fuck you! Kurdy, go talk to him.
Yeah, I'll talk to him.
I'll tell him he forgot the part about "fuck you and the snake you rode in on.
" All right, something's goin' on, man.
Something they're not tellin' us.
Yeah, you think? Look, don't cop an attitude with me.
I'm on your side.
Don't you forget that.
No, I know it, I know it, man.
It's just Remember when we got here? There were no sides.
Everybody was on the same side.
But now something's up, 'cause I'll tell you-- I talked to Marcus.
Yeah, well, that's your cross to bear.
Is he always like this? - Only when he's awake.
- Hey.
Hey, that was for that "you think?" You know, I don't need anybody to apologize for me, and I know that you always take up for him-- I told him he was wrong.
He was.
You have done a lot for this place, and he does owe you an explanation.
He wants to see both of you in the war room in 20 minutes.
War room? 20 minutes.
So, what? Am I supposed to borrow somebody's watch or somethin'? You think? Are you gonna be doing that all day now? Oh, yeah.
'cause you know, they only crucified Christ once.
That's 'cause he stayed put.
You keep slidin' down off the nails.
Somebody got to shove your ass back up there every once in a while.
Oh, you're sick, you know that? Oh, you think? It's a mistake to bring those two this close to our thoughts.
I've had my disagreements with Jeremiah and Kurdy, same as you.
They're inconveniently strong-willed.
I don't like it, but I'm willing to ride the roller coaster, because they're good at what they do.
You've had a problem with them since day one.
How come? Just a sense I've got.
Someday down the road, remember that I was the one to tell you this first: If this place ever falls, it'll be because of Jeremiah.
Wow.
That's some view, Marcus.
All the way to the gulf of Mexico, clear on up to the early warning line in Alaska.
A leftover from the nuclear age, which may not be as leftover as we thought.
How so? (Marcus) Every time the human race falls down, you can always rely on somebody to come along and pick up the pieces.
Problem is, as we get more advanced, the pieces become bigger and more dangerous.
When the Soviet Union fell, they weren't exactly diligent about picking up the pieces.
Nuclear silos and bases fell into the hands of several dozen smaller countries and provinces.
They couldn't do much without the launch codes, which were held in Moscow.
But it made everybody nervous for--for a long time.
(Marcus) Thanks to our recent encounter with major Quantrell I know who you are! We now know that Valhalla Sector is a real place and that it's a military operation, and that they're comin' out.
We've been waiting, biding our time.
Now we're just about ready to move, and when we do, we're gonna build a world based on power.
Doesn't like it, we'll push 'em aside or leave 'em behind, 'cause we've got the knowledge.
We've got the technology, we've got the guns, and we've got the will.
We'll bring back order and discipline.
We're gonna do it our way, because you people have had your chance.
We're talkin' here about a government by and for the military.
Martial law.
And if they've learned anything from history, their first step will be to reclaim the nuclear arsenal, make sure it's intact and not in the wrong hands.
Thunder Mountain was built to monitor our own strategic nuclear arsenal and to watch for trouble coming in from overseas.
Every nuclear installation in North America is hardwired into the big board.
You go into another base and so much as turn on a light bulb, it registers here that the base is active.
This is what North America looked like about 6 months ago: All quiet.
3 months ago, a base on the East Coast went active, right around southern Virginia.
Yeah? Looks like the wolf is in the henhouse, all right.
So, logically, they would go to the base closest to them, and that means Valhalla Sector is probably somewhere in Virginia.
That'd be my guess.
Now watch what happens over the next 3 months.
[beeping.]
Hot damn.
They were moving pretty fast, up until about a month ago, when you ran into that group trying to take over the Cranston Air Base.
When the base was destroyed, our friends at Valhalla Sector probably assumed it was wiped out by whatever nuclear assets were still present.
My guess is they waited to check it out before continuing.
So, now that they're sure it wasn't a nuclear blast, you're afraid that they're gonna advance again? Now, from this layout, it looks like these guys are headed west.
Right toward us.
All right, so what's this got to do with us helpin' out Danbury? They have a silo installation just outside of town.
It's the closest one to us.
I want to make sure they're on our side.
We need to start making alliances with the outside that can help us oppose the forces coming out of Valhalla Sector.
So you're using 'em.
We're helping them.
And yeah, we're using them.
We need to make a tripwire.
By making an alliance with Danbury, we'll know when the military arrives before they can get the systems working.
That'll hopefully give us 2 to 3 weeks' warning.
Warning about what? About when they're gonna come for us.
[sighs.]
Look, Marcus, I don't disagree with anything that you've said here today.
I mean, after all, you've got the big board.
You can't argue with the big board, Jeremiah.
But you're leaving something out.
My dad went to Valhalla Sector, and Quantrell said that he may still be there.
Alive.
Which is why we have to be careful.
We know that Valhalla Sector is the enemy, and if your dad went there of his own free will, there's a good chance that he's the enemy, too.
[men chattering.]
[truck brakes squealing.]
[generator engine humming.]
Well, will you look at that? They actually got that thing workin'.
[all laughing.]
Yeah, swell.
You think so? That's good to know, 'cause sometimes it's hard to tell with you.
You know, you got that aura of doom floatin' around you, even when things are swell.
You still trippin' over what Marcus said about your old man? No, it doesn't bother me.
He's full of shit, but it still doesn't bother me.
[metal clanking.]
Whatever Valhalla Sector's up to, whether my dad is there alive or dead, it doesn't change the fact that he's decent, a good man.
Oh, is that so? Yeah, that's so.
Why? Well, 'cause I can't help but think back to what you said about the last time you saw your dad and your mom.
We'll be gone less than an hour.
But why can't we come? You can't come, son.
It's too dangerous.
Half the roads are blocked.
The lab's under armed guard.
Keep the lights off and the doors locked.
Understand? I love you so much.
- Come on, honey.
We gotta go.
- I know.
We're gonna grab the files and get out before anyone knows we've been there.
So be ready to go the minute we pull up, all right? Let's go.
(Mary) Mommy's got to go.
Max has found an airfield just outside of town.
There's one last plane leaving for Valhalla Sector, so we gotta be on it, or it'll be too late.
He said he'd just be an hour.
Yeah, and he was carrying a shotgun.
So what? I mean, there was a riot goin' on.
There were-- There were guns everywhere, man.
He was carrying a shotgun, Jeremiah, and he was gonna break into his own office to steal some papers that had something to do with the Big Death.
And then he was gonna fly to Valhalla Sector from a private airfield.
Now, that sound like the guy next door to you? Look, if he was everything you said he was, what's all that about? Look, I don't know.
I mean, he--he was a researcher.
Maybe it had something to do with his work.
Which was what? I don't know.
He didn't talk about it.
What the hell are you gettin' at? I'm just asking questions, man.
And maybe some of 'em are the same questions you've asked yourself.
Maybe some of 'em are questions you need to be askin'.
[metal clanking.]
Let me tell you something about questions, Kurdy.
They're like paper cuts.
You get one good one, that's pretty much all you need.
[footsteps approaching.]
[people chattering.]
[car door closing.]
(Marcus) And we've got teams working to bring in water through the old pipe system.
Most of it's still intact.
Problem is keeping the pressure up.
So we've created a series of vertical water locks.
The water goes down into the pipes and then heads out horizontally, maintaining the necessary pressure.
Hmm.
That's very smart.
Thanks.
When can we check out the silo? As soon as we decide it's appropriate.
I make you nervous.
What? No, I was-- It's OK, Lee.
That's pretty much everyone's first reaction.
I don't think Damien takes it personally anymore.
Damien, how did you-- He was born seconds before his mother passed away from the Big Death.
He came out like this.
He's always been kind of between 2 worlds, you know? I'm sorry.
No, it's--it's all right.
I do see things.
Just not what everybody else sees.
See, Damien gets feelings off people.
Sometimes he can even get a sense of what's gonna happen.
He's really good at figuring out who we can and can't trust, who's hiding something.
He hasn't been wrong yet, so when the town voted to put me in charge, I wanted him right next to me.
You have a shadow on your heart.
[laughs.]
Are you afraid to die? Well, it's, uh I haven't given it much thought.
Well, you should.
Why's that? Bang.
He can go to the silo.
He stays.
Well, here it is.
Has anyone been down inside? What, are you kidding? Man, we don't go near this stuff unless we have to.
[rattling.]
Yeah, man, sometimes I look at all this, and it's like there was once giants in the world and they just disappeared, left all their toys behind.
Anyone been around lately asking about these silos? Lately? Not that I've heard of, and I hear pretty much everything.
It's kind of like looking down the maw of the old world, isn't it? [laughs.]
Now, why'd you want to go down there anyway? Because hearing just about everything isn't the same thing as hearing everything.
Either way, 15 years of dust is gonna show footprints if anyone's been down here recently.
Come on.
[birds cawing.]
[hammering.]
Lee, who's that guy that you were talking to over there? I don't know.
He asked if I had any food to spare.
I said no.
Why? 'cause I've seen him before.
Once on the road, once at Thunder Mountain.
He told me his name was, uh--uh, Ezekiel.
Can't be the same guy.
[panting.]
[grunting.]
There's no way I'm lettin' you get away from me again, asshole.
You can't keep me here.
I have to go.
Go where? You're in danger.
I asked you a question.
Let me go! [groans.]
[grunts.]
Ahhh! [groaning.]
Don't make me hurt you.
It's a little late for that.
I'm sworn to protect you.
Sworn to who? You're gonna ruin everything.
We can't let them find you.
They can't know you're alive.
What are you talking about? Who's we? Who do you--you work for? My father, our father.
Your father.
You are lying.
It's true.
It's true? You know my dad? Then tell me, what is his name, huh? What's his name? Our father's name is Devon.
He'll be OK.
Get going.
Move! [moans.]
[groaning.]
[dog barks.]
Hey! Hey, man, where the hell have you been? I've been lookin' all over for You OK? Yeah, I think so.
What happened? I got sucker punched.
Oh, figures.
I leave your ass alone for one second, and you get in trouble.
Where's--where's Marcus? Do you know where he's at? Ezekiel said something about danger.
Everybody's down the street.
They're having a big thank-you party for all the help.
What's up? I think I was right.
My dad may still be alive.
What? Wha-- How're you just goin' drop a line like that on a cat a-and walk off? Hey, hey, hold it, hey, hey! Jeremiah, hold on.
[rifle clicking.]
[people chattering.]
No footprints.
The silo's clean.
[people applauding.]
Thank you.
Thank you all for coming.
You know, it won't be a shock to say that this is an important day for all of us.
It's a new day and a fresh start, all of which is thanks to our friends from out of town.
[people applauding.]
(Samuel) Now, before I introduce our guest of honor, I want to remind everyone that there is new corn and fresh chicken out back on the barbecue-- I've gotta see Marcus, Lee.
I don't have time for this shit.
Jeremiah, what the hell are you doing? I was right.
I think that my dad may be alive, but-- Hey, hey, this is not the time.
We may be in danger.
[clicking.]
[gasps.]
[people screaming.]
Up there.
Ow! [grunting.]
Shit.
Bang.
[grunting.]
[man screams.]
Shit.
Hang on, Marcus.
You'll be all right.
I hope you had time to give it some thought.
[people screaming.]
(Samuel) All right, put him on the couch.
On the couch! [Jeremiah grunting.]
We've got to get him back to the Mountain, Lee.
He's not going anywhere until we stop the bleeding.
Prep the kit.
What the fuck is that? What're you doing? I know how to do this.
I've trained as a field medic.
Scissors, let's go! Let's go! [grunts.]
[panting.]
Doesn't look like the bullet penetrated the lungs.
Hit the rib cage and bounced.
He's probably got bone shards all over the place.
Fuck, he's bleeding like a son of a bitch.
Compress, let's go! Come on.
What do you need me to do? Leave.
Leave? Fuck, no! I was on my way to warn him.
And if you hadn't gotten between us, I would've-- Yeah, well, maybe you'd be lying on the floor now instead of him.
What the fuck does that-- What are you talking about? You were standing right next to Marcus, less than a foot apart.
So what? So how do you know the sniper was aiming at Marcus? How do you know he wasn't aiming at you and missed? Lee, don't fight.
[coughing.]
And don't blame yourself.
No reason for the both of us to carry the world upon our shoulders.
Don't try to talk, Marcus.
I wasn't trying, I was succeeding, [wheezing.]
And doing a damn fine job of it.
[coughs.]
How bad is it? We think you'll be OK if we can stop the bleeding.
We'll get you stabilized, then we'll bring you back home as fast as possible.
This is gonna hurt bad.
[coughs.]
I don't think you wanna be here for this, Jeremiah.
Try to find out whatever you can about who-- [muttering incoherently.]
We gotta move.
We'll need some room.
Let's go.
Give me another compress, now.
[panting.]
Let's go, let's go.
You OK? I--I don't know.
It's too dark to tell.
It'll be light soon enough.
No.
No, it won't.
Hey.
Hey.
How's Marcus? Well, we won't know for a while.
You find anything? There's some blood over-- [light zapping.]
There's some blood over there.
Others tried to follow it, but they lost the trail.
What about him? No, nothin', and when I say nothin', man, I mean nothin'.
He had no food, no papers, just the clothes on his back.
Yeah, and that gun.
Yep.
Guns, I hate 'em.
What is it lately? Everybody and their brother seems to have a gun.
Yeah, well, lots of guns lying around after the Big Death, man, even more bullets.
Some towns, you can't find a can of tuna, but you can always find somebody with a bullet.
Yeah, it sucks.
I did find this, though.
Check it out.
I don't wanna see a dead man's ass.
Jeremiah, will you look? I knew you were weird.
I knew you were.
Look.
It's OK.
This is, uh, this is official business.
We're professionals.
[sighing.]
Underwear.
When was the last time you saw clean underwear? Hell, when was the last time you saw underwear? Now, people with electricity or copters or guns, that's trouble enough.
But you show me one group of people in all of this who have the free time and the resources to produce fresh, clean, new underwear, that's somethin' to worry about.
You can put him down now.
[thudding.]
Phew.
Glad to see your respect for the dead is still intact.
I say we bury him in bunny ears.
Make it easier to find him in hell, so we can kick his ass clear across the afterlife.
Come on, man.
I wanna take a shot at this blood trail.
Pink bunny ears, with bells on them.
[door creaking.]
[door closes.]
[dog barking.]
[gasps.]
I thought you were here to make sure I didn't get hurt.
I am, but I am.
Sometimes I'm not myself.
When that happens I don't know who I am, but I know you wouldn't like him.
[sighing.]
I grew up hearing about you.
I know all about you.
How you chipped your tooth when you were 3.
How you fell off a pony at your 5th birthday party and then you kicked a clown in the shin 'cause he laughed at you.
He said He said you were always a serious child.
As soon as I was ready, he sent me out to look for you, make sure you were still alive.
[crying.]
Oh, I looked for so long, Jeremiah.
But I found you, and our father was the happiest I've ever seen him.
How can he be our father? I've never seen you before this year.
He took me in.
He raised me as his own.
[crying.]
After my father, he just We all lost family.
[crying.]
No, you don't understand.
My father killed the world.
Everybody Everybody who died, it was his fault.
[sobs.]
But our father, he tried to save the world.
He's still trying, but there's so many of the others, and that's why they can't know.
They'll use you against him.
What about my mother? Dead.
I never had a chance to know her.
I'm sorry.
They're coming.
You've got to go now, while you still can.
They can't see you.
They can't catch you.
They can't know you're alive.
If they do What? It all falls apart.
Our father loves you.
He loves you and he misses you, but do not come looking for him.
Do not approach Valhalla Sector.
Ever.
[door opens.]
Goodbye.
No.
Ezekiel! [grunting.]
Ezekiel! [banging.]
[grunts.]
Ezekiel! Damn it.
Oh, Ezekiel.
[sighs.]
(Jeremiah) Hey.
Heard you were up, wanted to see me.
How you feelin'? Like I got shot in the chest by a high-powered rifle.
Oh, yeah, yeah, I know that.
I get that once in a while.
Leaves you with that not-so-fresh feeling.
When you gettin' out of here? - Tomorrow.
- Next week.
We're still negotiating.
He wants to go back to Danbury.
We still haven't gotten any reliable reports since the incident.
I want to find out what's going on.
Kurdy and I could go.
No.
I need to see firsthand, talk to Samuel and Damien.
I don't want them thinking that this has scared us off.
We need to present ourselves as a power, remember? What kind of power are we if we go running away every time somebody shoots at us? I'll make you a deal.
2 more days, then you can go.
Fair? Good.
Now, I know you two wanna talk privately, so I'll go in the hall like I have something to do and pretend that I'm not interested.
Later.
Hmm, so, why do we want to talk privately? Lee filled me in on what happened after I passed out.
You think this Ezekiel is from Valhalla Sector? Yeah.
Yes, I do.
He just shows up all the time in the wrong places, knows too much about this place and me.
Which doesn't mean that whoever shot me is from there or that they've been able to exert any influence in the area around Danbury.
But it is troubling, which is why I want to get back there as soon as possible.
Well, when you're up to it, Kurdy and I will take you.
You can ride shotgun.
Thanks.
Look, Jeremiah, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye.
I don't think we're supposed to.
Nonetheless, I think this Ezekiel was right about you and Valhalla Sector.
Marcus.
Just Hear me out.
There's an old saying that after a certain point, we start seeking our own death in the way we lead our lives.
In the old world, people drove too fast or drank too much, smoked too much.
Now maybe we learn too much for our own good.
Either way, we become the architects of our own annihilation.
Valhalla Sector is dangerous for all of us, but especially for you.
I can't shake the feeling that if you go there, if you actually find it, you'll never come back.
I'm not gonna stop.
I know, and I'm not asking you to.
I'm just saying keep a low profile for a while.
Let us gather information and pass it on to you.
If you want to steal the dragon's gold, let somebody else distract him for a few minutes, OK? I'll think about it.
In the meantime, we have something else to worry about.
Like what? That guy that took a shot at you.
Now, whoever he was, whoever sent him, they had prior knowledge that we were gonna be there.
His stuff was set up in advance.
He's a pro.
Whether he was from Valhalla Sector or not, whoever sent him in there knew that we were gonna be there.
They had enough knowledge to plan this thing and come damn close to pulling it off.
I know, and there's something else.
There are 3 silo installations between Danbury and the last one we saw go on-line.
All this time, they've been going step by step.
They wouldn't jump ahead like that unless-- They knew that we were there.
If they knew that we were going in We got a leak.
We have to get back there.
Right.
[vehicle approaching.]
(Kurdy) How come the streetlights are off? Something's not right.
Let's check it out.
(Marcus) Hi.
Yeah? I'd like to talk to you for a minute, if that's OK.
Yeah, just for a minute, All right? That's all I can spare.
Thanks.
I just wanted to let you know that our people will be coming back now that things have calmed down.
Keep the work going.
Marcus-- I--I noticed that the water had run dry again, but we can fix that-- We don't want your help, OK? Look, we--we've talked about it, and we just don't think we need it, that's all.
Now I've taken your equipment and stuff and we've put it at the edge of town.
We're not gonna keep it.
That's not our way.
Why the brush-off? I thought we were doin'pretty well for you guys.
Look, I I don't want to discuss it, all right? We've made our decision, and that's the end of it.
I'm sorry.
If you're sure.
Yeah, I'm sure.
Samuel, where's Damien? You know what, Marcus? I think you should leave, right now.
So now what do we do? Nothing we can do.
It's their town.
We can't force our way in.
We'll send some others around later, to pick up the equipment.
I'm sorry things didn't work out the way you planned, Marcus.
No, they did.
We set this up as a tripwire to find out when the other side was getting close.
We got what we came to get.
We know what we need to know.
They're movin' in.
They may not be here in force yet, but they're comin'.
Come on, let's get out of here.
[engine starting.]
[radio crackling.]
Unit 4.
Yes, sir.
They're headin' out.
[switch clicking.]
[beeping.]
Why bother? You know he's not in heaven.
He's in the other place, but not for long.
Our father's coming.
He's coming fast, so fast, right behind you.
[gun firing.]
(Ezekiel) Told you.
original source: peritta synced and corrected: quinnell
I said I'd only be gone an hour, remember? Dad, it's been 15 years.
An hour, tops.
Now, we gotta go.
Where's your brother? He's dead.
No time for games, Jeremiah.
We've gotta go now.
The last plane for Valhalla Sector is about to leave.
Now, where is your brother? I'm here.
Here you are.
He's not my brother.
Of course he is.
Go ahead, Ezekiel.
Tell your brother what you told me.
The thunder will change you forever, but everyone you love will fall at the end of the world.
Stop saying that! You're not my brother! (Devon) I got your letters and I read them.
All of them.
The thing is, and this is important, Jeremiah, so I want you to listen.
I want you to listen very carefully.
You've forgotten something.
[gasps.]
[panting.]
Hey, are you all right, man? Yeah.
It's just a bad dream.
Well, that's the third bad dream this week, dude.
Yeah, I know.
[sighs.]
Anything you want to talk about? No.
I'll be all right.
It's cool.
Then why are you sleepin' on the floor? 'cause I'm a creature of habit, 'cause the floor isn't goin' anywhere, and there's bad shit dreams up there.
Right.
(Jeremiah) 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.
OK, everybody, settle down.
If you can find a chair, use it.
First of all, I'd like to thank you all for coming, especially since the recall order was given on such short notice.
Erin? Except for a few teams that didn't make it back, this is the first time all search and recon teams have been gathered in the same place.
You should take a moment before you leave, talk amongst yourselves, and exchange any information you think is appropriate.
The rest of you were chosen for your skills in resource management, planning, construction, and other areas necessary to the work at hand.
Today, we're going outside in a big way.
We're gonna start rebuilding.
Danbury.
It's a small town 70 miles southeast of here.
Population is about 2,000.
We're sending out a full support crew and everything we've got that can move, dig, or plow.
That's a lot of resources to invest in one town.
And we don't have a lot to spare.
You're right, we don't.
But for our first time outside, we have to make a big impression.
Prove that we have the resources to help towns like Danbury start pullin' themselves up by their bootstraps.
It's important to start forming alliances.
Why? I mean, of all the towns out there, why Danbury? It's an awful long supply line to maintain.
There are other places closer that are just as deserving.
It's a strategic decision made by the council and Marcus.
You know, Lee, my father said that, uh, all answers are replies, but not all replies are answers.
I don't think I heard an answer in there.
Must be the acoustics.
Look over the reports.
We'll reconvene later.
That's all.
Hey, before y'all take off, uh, I'm looking for information on Valhalla Sector.
Any information pertaining to Valhalla Sector should be given to Lee, Erin, or myself, for review by the council.
We'll then give it to anybody else on a need-to-know basis.
Marcus.
What the fuck was that all about? You cut me off at the knees in front of everybody? You know how important it is for me to find Valhalla Sector.
You know why it's important.
Maybe too important.
What are you trying to say? He's saying you're not a team player, that your priorities may not be in sync with everybody else.
I don't believe the man was talking to you, Lee.
Oh, you really don't want a piece of this, Kurdy.
It's funny.
You're the only guy I've ever met who can say my name like it's a dirty word.
Guys, come on.
Hey, no, no, no, no.
Fuck that! Kurdy and I've worked our asses off for this place.
We've put our lives on the line a dozen times.
I ask you a couple of reasonable questions, you shut me down with this need-to-know bullshit? You wanna leave? There's the door.
Lee, that's not necessary.
Hey, fuck you! Kurdy, go talk to him.
Yeah, I'll talk to him.
I'll tell him he forgot the part about "fuck you and the snake you rode in on.
" All right, something's goin' on, man.
Something they're not tellin' us.
Yeah, you think? Look, don't cop an attitude with me.
I'm on your side.
Don't you forget that.
No, I know it, I know it, man.
It's just Remember when we got here? There were no sides.
Everybody was on the same side.
But now something's up, 'cause I'll tell you-- I talked to Marcus.
Yeah, well, that's your cross to bear.
Is he always like this? - Only when he's awake.
- Hey.
Hey, that was for that "you think?" You know, I don't need anybody to apologize for me, and I know that you always take up for him-- I told him he was wrong.
He was.
You have done a lot for this place, and he does owe you an explanation.
He wants to see both of you in the war room in 20 minutes.
War room? 20 minutes.
So, what? Am I supposed to borrow somebody's watch or somethin'? You think? Are you gonna be doing that all day now? Oh, yeah.
'cause you know, they only crucified Christ once.
That's 'cause he stayed put.
You keep slidin' down off the nails.
Somebody got to shove your ass back up there every once in a while.
Oh, you're sick, you know that? Oh, you think? It's a mistake to bring those two this close to our thoughts.
I've had my disagreements with Jeremiah and Kurdy, same as you.
They're inconveniently strong-willed.
I don't like it, but I'm willing to ride the roller coaster, because they're good at what they do.
You've had a problem with them since day one.
How come? Just a sense I've got.
Someday down the road, remember that I was the one to tell you this first: If this place ever falls, it'll be because of Jeremiah.
Wow.
That's some view, Marcus.
All the way to the gulf of Mexico, clear on up to the early warning line in Alaska.
A leftover from the nuclear age, which may not be as leftover as we thought.
How so? (Marcus) Every time the human race falls down, you can always rely on somebody to come along and pick up the pieces.
Problem is, as we get more advanced, the pieces become bigger and more dangerous.
When the Soviet Union fell, they weren't exactly diligent about picking up the pieces.
Nuclear silos and bases fell into the hands of several dozen smaller countries and provinces.
They couldn't do much without the launch codes, which were held in Moscow.
But it made everybody nervous for--for a long time.
(Marcus) Thanks to our recent encounter with major Quantrell I know who you are! We now know that Valhalla Sector is a real place and that it's a military operation, and that they're comin' out.
We've been waiting, biding our time.
Now we're just about ready to move, and when we do, we're gonna build a world based on power.
Doesn't like it, we'll push 'em aside or leave 'em behind, 'cause we've got the knowledge.
We've got the technology, we've got the guns, and we've got the will.
We'll bring back order and discipline.
We're gonna do it our way, because you people have had your chance.
We're talkin' here about a government by and for the military.
Martial law.
And if they've learned anything from history, their first step will be to reclaim the nuclear arsenal, make sure it's intact and not in the wrong hands.
Thunder Mountain was built to monitor our own strategic nuclear arsenal and to watch for trouble coming in from overseas.
Every nuclear installation in North America is hardwired into the big board.
You go into another base and so much as turn on a light bulb, it registers here that the base is active.
This is what North America looked like about 6 months ago: All quiet.
3 months ago, a base on the East Coast went active, right around southern Virginia.
Yeah? Looks like the wolf is in the henhouse, all right.
So, logically, they would go to the base closest to them, and that means Valhalla Sector is probably somewhere in Virginia.
That'd be my guess.
Now watch what happens over the next 3 months.
[beeping.]
Hot damn.
They were moving pretty fast, up until about a month ago, when you ran into that group trying to take over the Cranston Air Base.
When the base was destroyed, our friends at Valhalla Sector probably assumed it was wiped out by whatever nuclear assets were still present.
My guess is they waited to check it out before continuing.
So, now that they're sure it wasn't a nuclear blast, you're afraid that they're gonna advance again? Now, from this layout, it looks like these guys are headed west.
Right toward us.
All right, so what's this got to do with us helpin' out Danbury? They have a silo installation just outside of town.
It's the closest one to us.
I want to make sure they're on our side.
We need to start making alliances with the outside that can help us oppose the forces coming out of Valhalla Sector.
So you're using 'em.
We're helping them.
And yeah, we're using them.
We need to make a tripwire.
By making an alliance with Danbury, we'll know when the military arrives before they can get the systems working.
That'll hopefully give us 2 to 3 weeks' warning.
Warning about what? About when they're gonna come for us.
[sighs.]
Look, Marcus, I don't disagree with anything that you've said here today.
I mean, after all, you've got the big board.
You can't argue with the big board, Jeremiah.
But you're leaving something out.
My dad went to Valhalla Sector, and Quantrell said that he may still be there.
Alive.
Which is why we have to be careful.
We know that Valhalla Sector is the enemy, and if your dad went there of his own free will, there's a good chance that he's the enemy, too.
[men chattering.]
[truck brakes squealing.]
[generator engine humming.]
Well, will you look at that? They actually got that thing workin'.
[all laughing.]
Yeah, swell.
You think so? That's good to know, 'cause sometimes it's hard to tell with you.
You know, you got that aura of doom floatin' around you, even when things are swell.
You still trippin' over what Marcus said about your old man? No, it doesn't bother me.
He's full of shit, but it still doesn't bother me.
[metal clanking.]
Whatever Valhalla Sector's up to, whether my dad is there alive or dead, it doesn't change the fact that he's decent, a good man.
Oh, is that so? Yeah, that's so.
Why? Well, 'cause I can't help but think back to what you said about the last time you saw your dad and your mom.
We'll be gone less than an hour.
But why can't we come? You can't come, son.
It's too dangerous.
Half the roads are blocked.
The lab's under armed guard.
Keep the lights off and the doors locked.
Understand? I love you so much.
- Come on, honey.
We gotta go.
- I know.
We're gonna grab the files and get out before anyone knows we've been there.
So be ready to go the minute we pull up, all right? Let's go.
(Mary) Mommy's got to go.
Max has found an airfield just outside of town.
There's one last plane leaving for Valhalla Sector, so we gotta be on it, or it'll be too late.
He said he'd just be an hour.
Yeah, and he was carrying a shotgun.
So what? I mean, there was a riot goin' on.
There were-- There were guns everywhere, man.
He was carrying a shotgun, Jeremiah, and he was gonna break into his own office to steal some papers that had something to do with the Big Death.
And then he was gonna fly to Valhalla Sector from a private airfield.
Now, that sound like the guy next door to you? Look, if he was everything you said he was, what's all that about? Look, I don't know.
I mean, he--he was a researcher.
Maybe it had something to do with his work.
Which was what? I don't know.
He didn't talk about it.
What the hell are you gettin' at? I'm just asking questions, man.
And maybe some of 'em are the same questions you've asked yourself.
Maybe some of 'em are questions you need to be askin'.
[metal clanking.]
Let me tell you something about questions, Kurdy.
They're like paper cuts.
You get one good one, that's pretty much all you need.
[footsteps approaching.]
[people chattering.]
[car door closing.]
(Marcus) And we've got teams working to bring in water through the old pipe system.
Most of it's still intact.
Problem is keeping the pressure up.
So we've created a series of vertical water locks.
The water goes down into the pipes and then heads out horizontally, maintaining the necessary pressure.
Hmm.
That's very smart.
Thanks.
When can we check out the silo? As soon as we decide it's appropriate.
I make you nervous.
What? No, I was-- It's OK, Lee.
That's pretty much everyone's first reaction.
I don't think Damien takes it personally anymore.
Damien, how did you-- He was born seconds before his mother passed away from the Big Death.
He came out like this.
He's always been kind of between 2 worlds, you know? I'm sorry.
No, it's--it's all right.
I do see things.
Just not what everybody else sees.
See, Damien gets feelings off people.
Sometimes he can even get a sense of what's gonna happen.
He's really good at figuring out who we can and can't trust, who's hiding something.
He hasn't been wrong yet, so when the town voted to put me in charge, I wanted him right next to me.
You have a shadow on your heart.
[laughs.]
Are you afraid to die? Well, it's, uh I haven't given it much thought.
Well, you should.
Why's that? Bang.
He can go to the silo.
He stays.
Well, here it is.
Has anyone been down inside? What, are you kidding? Man, we don't go near this stuff unless we have to.
[rattling.]
Yeah, man, sometimes I look at all this, and it's like there was once giants in the world and they just disappeared, left all their toys behind.
Anyone been around lately asking about these silos? Lately? Not that I've heard of, and I hear pretty much everything.
It's kind of like looking down the maw of the old world, isn't it? [laughs.]
Now, why'd you want to go down there anyway? Because hearing just about everything isn't the same thing as hearing everything.
Either way, 15 years of dust is gonna show footprints if anyone's been down here recently.
Come on.
[birds cawing.]
[hammering.]
Lee, who's that guy that you were talking to over there? I don't know.
He asked if I had any food to spare.
I said no.
Why? 'cause I've seen him before.
Once on the road, once at Thunder Mountain.
He told me his name was, uh--uh, Ezekiel.
Can't be the same guy.
[panting.]
[grunting.]
There's no way I'm lettin' you get away from me again, asshole.
You can't keep me here.
I have to go.
Go where? You're in danger.
I asked you a question.
Let me go! [groans.]
[grunts.]
Ahhh! [groaning.]
Don't make me hurt you.
It's a little late for that.
I'm sworn to protect you.
Sworn to who? You're gonna ruin everything.
We can't let them find you.
They can't know you're alive.
What are you talking about? Who's we? Who do you--you work for? My father, our father.
Your father.
You are lying.
It's true.
It's true? You know my dad? Then tell me, what is his name, huh? What's his name? Our father's name is Devon.
He'll be OK.
Get going.
Move! [moans.]
[groaning.]
[dog barks.]
Hey! Hey, man, where the hell have you been? I've been lookin' all over for You OK? Yeah, I think so.
What happened? I got sucker punched.
Oh, figures.
I leave your ass alone for one second, and you get in trouble.
Where's--where's Marcus? Do you know where he's at? Ezekiel said something about danger.
Everybody's down the street.
They're having a big thank-you party for all the help.
What's up? I think I was right.
My dad may still be alive.
What? Wha-- How're you just goin' drop a line like that on a cat a-and walk off? Hey, hey, hold it, hey, hey! Jeremiah, hold on.
[rifle clicking.]
[people chattering.]
No footprints.
The silo's clean.
[people applauding.]
Thank you.
Thank you all for coming.
You know, it won't be a shock to say that this is an important day for all of us.
It's a new day and a fresh start, all of which is thanks to our friends from out of town.
[people applauding.]
(Samuel) Now, before I introduce our guest of honor, I want to remind everyone that there is new corn and fresh chicken out back on the barbecue-- I've gotta see Marcus, Lee.
I don't have time for this shit.
Jeremiah, what the hell are you doing? I was right.
I think that my dad may be alive, but-- Hey, hey, this is not the time.
We may be in danger.
[clicking.]
[gasps.]
[people screaming.]
Up there.
Ow! [grunting.]
Shit.
Bang.
[grunting.]
[man screams.]
Shit.
Hang on, Marcus.
You'll be all right.
I hope you had time to give it some thought.
[people screaming.]
(Samuel) All right, put him on the couch.
On the couch! [Jeremiah grunting.]
We've got to get him back to the Mountain, Lee.
He's not going anywhere until we stop the bleeding.
Prep the kit.
What the fuck is that? What're you doing? I know how to do this.
I've trained as a field medic.
Scissors, let's go! Let's go! [grunts.]
[panting.]
Doesn't look like the bullet penetrated the lungs.
Hit the rib cage and bounced.
He's probably got bone shards all over the place.
Fuck, he's bleeding like a son of a bitch.
Compress, let's go! Come on.
What do you need me to do? Leave.
Leave? Fuck, no! I was on my way to warn him.
And if you hadn't gotten between us, I would've-- Yeah, well, maybe you'd be lying on the floor now instead of him.
What the fuck does that-- What are you talking about? You were standing right next to Marcus, less than a foot apart.
So what? So how do you know the sniper was aiming at Marcus? How do you know he wasn't aiming at you and missed? Lee, don't fight.
[coughing.]
And don't blame yourself.
No reason for the both of us to carry the world upon our shoulders.
Don't try to talk, Marcus.
I wasn't trying, I was succeeding, [wheezing.]
And doing a damn fine job of it.
[coughs.]
How bad is it? We think you'll be OK if we can stop the bleeding.
We'll get you stabilized, then we'll bring you back home as fast as possible.
This is gonna hurt bad.
[coughs.]
I don't think you wanna be here for this, Jeremiah.
Try to find out whatever you can about who-- [muttering incoherently.]
We gotta move.
We'll need some room.
Let's go.
Give me another compress, now.
[panting.]
Let's go, let's go.
You OK? I--I don't know.
It's too dark to tell.
It'll be light soon enough.
No.
No, it won't.
Hey.
Hey.
How's Marcus? Well, we won't know for a while.
You find anything? There's some blood over-- [light zapping.]
There's some blood over there.
Others tried to follow it, but they lost the trail.
What about him? No, nothin', and when I say nothin', man, I mean nothin'.
He had no food, no papers, just the clothes on his back.
Yeah, and that gun.
Yep.
Guns, I hate 'em.
What is it lately? Everybody and their brother seems to have a gun.
Yeah, well, lots of guns lying around after the Big Death, man, even more bullets.
Some towns, you can't find a can of tuna, but you can always find somebody with a bullet.
Yeah, it sucks.
I did find this, though.
Check it out.
I don't wanna see a dead man's ass.
Jeremiah, will you look? I knew you were weird.
I knew you were.
Look.
It's OK.
This is, uh, this is official business.
We're professionals.
[sighing.]
Underwear.
When was the last time you saw clean underwear? Hell, when was the last time you saw underwear? Now, people with electricity or copters or guns, that's trouble enough.
But you show me one group of people in all of this who have the free time and the resources to produce fresh, clean, new underwear, that's somethin' to worry about.
You can put him down now.
[thudding.]
Phew.
Glad to see your respect for the dead is still intact.
I say we bury him in bunny ears.
Make it easier to find him in hell, so we can kick his ass clear across the afterlife.
Come on, man.
I wanna take a shot at this blood trail.
Pink bunny ears, with bells on them.
[door creaking.]
[door closes.]
[dog barking.]
[gasps.]
I thought you were here to make sure I didn't get hurt.
I am, but I am.
Sometimes I'm not myself.
When that happens I don't know who I am, but I know you wouldn't like him.
[sighing.]
I grew up hearing about you.
I know all about you.
How you chipped your tooth when you were 3.
How you fell off a pony at your 5th birthday party and then you kicked a clown in the shin 'cause he laughed at you.
He said He said you were always a serious child.
As soon as I was ready, he sent me out to look for you, make sure you were still alive.
[crying.]
Oh, I looked for so long, Jeremiah.
But I found you, and our father was the happiest I've ever seen him.
How can he be our father? I've never seen you before this year.
He took me in.
He raised me as his own.
[crying.]
After my father, he just We all lost family.
[crying.]
No, you don't understand.
My father killed the world.
Everybody Everybody who died, it was his fault.
[sobs.]
But our father, he tried to save the world.
He's still trying, but there's so many of the others, and that's why they can't know.
They'll use you against him.
What about my mother? Dead.
I never had a chance to know her.
I'm sorry.
They're coming.
You've got to go now, while you still can.
They can't see you.
They can't catch you.
They can't know you're alive.
If they do What? It all falls apart.
Our father loves you.
He loves you and he misses you, but do not come looking for him.
Do not approach Valhalla Sector.
Ever.
[door opens.]
Goodbye.
No.
Ezekiel! [grunting.]
Ezekiel! [banging.]
[grunts.]
Ezekiel! Damn it.
Oh, Ezekiel.
[sighs.]
(Jeremiah) Hey.
Heard you were up, wanted to see me.
How you feelin'? Like I got shot in the chest by a high-powered rifle.
Oh, yeah, yeah, I know that.
I get that once in a while.
Leaves you with that not-so-fresh feeling.
When you gettin' out of here? - Tomorrow.
- Next week.
We're still negotiating.
He wants to go back to Danbury.
We still haven't gotten any reliable reports since the incident.
I want to find out what's going on.
Kurdy and I could go.
No.
I need to see firsthand, talk to Samuel and Damien.
I don't want them thinking that this has scared us off.
We need to present ourselves as a power, remember? What kind of power are we if we go running away every time somebody shoots at us? I'll make you a deal.
2 more days, then you can go.
Fair? Good.
Now, I know you two wanna talk privately, so I'll go in the hall like I have something to do and pretend that I'm not interested.
Later.
Hmm, so, why do we want to talk privately? Lee filled me in on what happened after I passed out.
You think this Ezekiel is from Valhalla Sector? Yeah.
Yes, I do.
He just shows up all the time in the wrong places, knows too much about this place and me.
Which doesn't mean that whoever shot me is from there or that they've been able to exert any influence in the area around Danbury.
But it is troubling, which is why I want to get back there as soon as possible.
Well, when you're up to it, Kurdy and I will take you.
You can ride shotgun.
Thanks.
Look, Jeremiah, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye.
I don't think we're supposed to.
Nonetheless, I think this Ezekiel was right about you and Valhalla Sector.
Marcus.
Just Hear me out.
There's an old saying that after a certain point, we start seeking our own death in the way we lead our lives.
In the old world, people drove too fast or drank too much, smoked too much.
Now maybe we learn too much for our own good.
Either way, we become the architects of our own annihilation.
Valhalla Sector is dangerous for all of us, but especially for you.
I can't shake the feeling that if you go there, if you actually find it, you'll never come back.
I'm not gonna stop.
I know, and I'm not asking you to.
I'm just saying keep a low profile for a while.
Let us gather information and pass it on to you.
If you want to steal the dragon's gold, let somebody else distract him for a few minutes, OK? I'll think about it.
In the meantime, we have something else to worry about.
Like what? That guy that took a shot at you.
Now, whoever he was, whoever sent him, they had prior knowledge that we were gonna be there.
His stuff was set up in advance.
He's a pro.
Whether he was from Valhalla Sector or not, whoever sent him in there knew that we were gonna be there.
They had enough knowledge to plan this thing and come damn close to pulling it off.
I know, and there's something else.
There are 3 silo installations between Danbury and the last one we saw go on-line.
All this time, they've been going step by step.
They wouldn't jump ahead like that unless-- They knew that we were there.
If they knew that we were going in We got a leak.
We have to get back there.
Right.
[vehicle approaching.]
(Kurdy) How come the streetlights are off? Something's not right.
Let's check it out.
(Marcus) Hi.
Yeah? I'd like to talk to you for a minute, if that's OK.
Yeah, just for a minute, All right? That's all I can spare.
Thanks.
I just wanted to let you know that our people will be coming back now that things have calmed down.
Keep the work going.
Marcus-- I--I noticed that the water had run dry again, but we can fix that-- We don't want your help, OK? Look, we--we've talked about it, and we just don't think we need it, that's all.
Now I've taken your equipment and stuff and we've put it at the edge of town.
We're not gonna keep it.
That's not our way.
Why the brush-off? I thought we were doin'pretty well for you guys.
Look, I I don't want to discuss it, all right? We've made our decision, and that's the end of it.
I'm sorry.
If you're sure.
Yeah, I'm sure.
Samuel, where's Damien? You know what, Marcus? I think you should leave, right now.
So now what do we do? Nothing we can do.
It's their town.
We can't force our way in.
We'll send some others around later, to pick up the equipment.
I'm sorry things didn't work out the way you planned, Marcus.
No, they did.
We set this up as a tripwire to find out when the other side was getting close.
We got what we came to get.
We know what we need to know.
They're movin' in.
They may not be here in force yet, but they're comin'.
Come on, let's get out of here.
[engine starting.]
[radio crackling.]
Unit 4.
Yes, sir.
They're headin' out.
[switch clicking.]
[beeping.]
Why bother? You know he's not in heaven.
He's in the other place, but not for long.
Our father's coming.
He's coming fast, so fast, right behind you.
[gun firing.]
(Ezekiel) Told you.
original source: peritta synced and corrected: quinnell