The Stand – S01E01 – The End [Transcript]

Release date: December 17, 2020

A lethal weaponized strain of influenza (being called Captain Trips) is unleashed, causing an apocalyptic pandemic that kills billions in weeks, yet a small number of people remain immune. Geeky Harold Lauder vies for his former babysitter Frannie Goldsmith. Both of them quickly lose their loved ones to the virus and appear to be the only survivors in their hometown. After preventing Frannie from committing suicide, Harold suggests that they leave to find others. Stu Redman witnesses the death of Charles Campion, the man who was supposedly Captain Trips’ patient zero. While all of his friends die, Stu discovers he is immune and taken in by medical authorities. The facility’s staff ultimately succumbs to the disease and Redman is aided in escaping the facility by a sympathetic general. Months later in Boulder, Colorado, Harold helps his fellow survivors bury the numerous bodies while Stu and a very pregnant Frannie are in love regardless of their differences on age. Overcome with jealousy, Harold then schemes their deaths. In flashback, it is revealed that Campion was subtly manipulated in spreading the virus by the sinister Randall Flagg.

 

 

MOTHER ABAGAIL: There’s bitter days ahead– death and terror, betrayal and tears– and not all of you will live through ’em.

The Dark Man grows stronger all the time.

I know you feel it, too.

Soon he’ll come to destroy all who stand against him.

His kingdom’s in the West, and it is there you must go and make your stand.

This is what God wants of you.

♪ ♪

(insects buzzing)

(retching)

(man speaking indistinctly over radio)

MAN (over radio): Team two moving to second location.

(coughing loudly)

Do you copy?

Copy.

(guttural gasping)

There’s no shame, son.

No, sir. I was an EMT 26 years, and I thought I’d seen my share of death, but this…

Seven billion people dead.

You want to puke, son…

…you go right ahead.

I’m fine.

I just need a minute.

(insects buzzing)

How come you’re always taking movies?

World that’s left’s gonna need entertainment.

Once the power’s back on, I’m gonna open a drive-in up at the amphitheater, put up a big screen, double features Friday night.

You ever seen Risky Business?

No.

Oh, it’s a great one.

They f*ck on a train.

Let’s roll.

NORRIS: We put away almost a thousand units today.

It was dirty f*cking work.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s the most important job in the Zone.

But if you’ve had enough, if you feel like you can’t take another day, you won’t have to worry about avoiding me in the street.

But if you can’t cut it, it’s damn important you tell me now so I can bring somebody in to take your spot tomorrow.

Let’s see some hands. Who’s coming back?

Good. Let’s get a drink.

NEWSCASTER (over radio): Well, it’s shaping up to be a beautiful Fourth.

Our WFTJ Ogunquit AccuWeather forecast is predicting clear skies for our nation’s birthday with highs in the mid-80s.

And our good friends at the Maine State Police have asked us to remind you al that fireworks are not toy.

Be safe out there, Ogunquit.

(sneezes, coughs)

♪ 73 men sailed up ♪

♪ From the San Francisco Bay ♪

Hey, Daddy.

♪ Rolled off of their ship… ♪

Oh, hey.

Caught me digging, huh, Fran?

Hmm.

I brought you some water.

Thank you, darling.

How you feeling?

A little better?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Kind of lost track of time out here.

So how did, uh, Amy’s shower go?

Oh, it was a disaster. Hardly anybody showed.

They all have what you have.

Oh, yeah.

Can I talk to you about something?

(sneezes loudly, coughs)

Bless you.

(sneezes)

Oh, sorry.

Daddy, you’re burning up.

Yeah, well, maybe, uh… maybe I’ll have a nap, huh?

That’s a great idea.

Yeah.

Come on.

Okay.

So, uh, you said you wanted to talk to me about something?

We can talk about it later.

(laughs softly)

Okay.

All right.

FRANNIE: What time did you wake up?

Uh, about 6:00, I think?

How’d you feel then?

(gasps)

(grunts)

Got you, you peeping pervert!

Let me go! I didn’t do anything!

We caught you in broad daylight, Lauder.

Wait. You know this dipshit?

This is that psycho school shooter kid I was telling you about.

Already has his own manifesto, and read it in front of the whole class.

I’m a writer. It was fiction.

Then why’d they suspend you?

(grunting)

You’re dead, you sick f*ck!

Get the little prick!

Get after him!

Shit.

(dog barking)

(panting)

Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

F*cking T-1000.

(panting)

(cawing)

(screaming)

Aah! (groans)

Holy shit! Did you see that?

Is he f*cking dead?

(groans)

Lauder, are you dead?

I mean,

look at this sorry sack of shit.

Karma’s a bitch.

We don’t even have to kick your ass now.

I ever catch you back in this neighborhood,

I’m gonna shove your whole bike up your ass, you hear me?

I said, do you f*cking hear me?

I hear you!

Good.

F*cking better.

That’s our mom, you twisted little troll.

You’re gonna die a virgin, Lauder.

That’s for sure, especially after I post these on Instagram.

(sneezes)

(whimpering)

(crowd chatter)

(sneezes)

WOMAN: Bad news, Ogunquit.

The governor is now considering a ban on all public gatherings following the CDC’s announcement that flu season’s come early this year.

Well, I don’t know about you folks, but I’d never let fear of the sniffles keep me from…

(laughter)

Aw…

(man coughing)

(bike rattling on pavement)

(panting)

(woman coughing)

(wheezes)

(woman coughs)

Hey, Mom.

How you feeling?

MOTHER: Oh, horrible.

(coughs)

Your father’s on his way home.

He’s not feeling well, either.

(coughs)

How do you feel?

Fine.

Good.

You can clean up out there.

(coughs)

And don’t make me remind you again about mowing the lawn.

(coughs, wheezes)

AMY: Harold?

What the hell happened to you?

I fell off my bike.

You’re such a f*cking liar.

Some f*cking bridal shower.

(cries)

(music playing faintly)

♪ ♪

(screaming)

Shut the f*ck up, Harold!

RADIO HOST: Tonight’s show will be focused on the news coming out– or not coming out– of Arnette, Texas.

(panting)

The CDC has quarantined the area.

Men in U.S. Army uniforms are refusing to let anyone in, including credentialed media.

Cell phone service inside the perimeter has been apparently jammed, as has all phone and Internet service.

That’s right, folks.

The good people of Arnette…

(moaning)

are completely cut off from the rest of the world.

Just let that sink in.

(animal squeaking)

(lock buzzes)

Thank you, sir. I have got it from here.

Thank… You can go. Get a haircut, goddamn hippie.

(guard grunts)

(laughs)

Uh, Mr. Redman.

May I call you Stu?

Well, you kept me prisoner here for three days.

No lawyer, no phone calls.

I figure you can call me whatever you want.

Okay. I’m Jim. Jim Ellis.

Uh, my understanding is you’ve told the nursing staff that you’re done cooperating with our work here until they bring in someone who can answer your questions.

Yeah, I think it’s time someone tells me what the f*ck’s going on.

Okay. What do you want to know?

Well, for starters, how come you’re not wearing one of those masks?

I’m, uh, too good-looking.

Sorry. Uh, my psych profile says I use humor to cope with… stress.

No, the reason I’m not wearing a mask is because it appears that you’re not contagious.

How do you know that?

Um, turns out that guinea pigs are at least as susceptible as we are.

They start showing symptoms almost immediately. You guys have been breathing the same air. It’s been almost 70 hours, and there’s not one sniffle.

(guinea pigs squeaking)

So it’s a virus, what I got?

Actually, as far as we can tell, you haven’t got anything at all.

As to what Mr. Campion had, yeah, it’s a virus, some kind of super flu.

People are calling it Captain Trips.

Campion was the guy in the car, right?

(indistinct chatter)

Come on, let’s get some chips going so I can get some steak.

Oh, you ready?

Yeah, I’m ready.

Let’s go, boys. I’m in.

(train whistle blowing)

Hap needs a retirement fund.

Okay, flip the next card. I want to see what it is.

Get ’em, Hap.

Okay.

(indistinct chatter and laughter)

(tires squealing)

Two. Four.

Turn off your pumps, Hap.

What?

F*ck, shit.

Boy must be drunker than a fiddler’s bitch.

(tires screeching)

He was military, huh?

Afraid that’s classified.

(scoffs)

So he was military.

You f*cking guys.

You were in, yourself– barely a year, it says here.

Medically retired following a catastrophically ruptured right knee meniscus, all tendons. Ouch.

People I came in here with– you want to tell me about them?

That’s not a subject that I’m at liberty to discuss.

I woke up three days ago to men wearing MOPP suits holding M4s, saying, “Come with us. No need to be alarmed, sir.”

Look, I…

Want to tell me about that?

Hey, I advised against those MOPP suits, but it was kind of a tough sell with your dog on the porch, kind of shape he was in.

It was my wife’s dog.

Your wife– car accident, right?

I-I read about her in your file.

I’m very sorry for your…

Sorry for my loss?

Yeah. (sighs)

The people I came in here with, people I worked on rigs with, people I’ve known my whole life, my friends, my family– tell me about them.

Well…

What the f*ck did you guys do?

Okay.

How many of them had what Campion had?

All of them.

What do you mean, all of ’em? What…?

And how are they?

Ralph Hodges’, uh, youngest daughter, the four-year-old.

Eva?

Uh-huh.

She’s alive.

She was when I came in here.

What do you mean? What’s-what’s that supposed to mean–

“She’s alive”?

Mis-Mister Redman, I am so sorry.

This situation– it exists.

We’re working to contain it, and right now that is all that matters.

We’ve got the town of Arnette under quarantine.

We’re trying to recreate Campion’s route, figure out how many people he may have exposed before he ended up at Mr. Hapscomb’s gas station.

So, you spoke to him, right? Campion?

Uh, before the ambulance came?

(panting)

(coughing)

I got you.

Easy, easy, easy.

Grab his legs.

(groaning)

(coughing)

You’re gonna be all right. You hear me?

How’s my… how’s my wife?

How’s Sally? How’s my kid? (coughs)

(wheezing)

ELLIS: Ralph Hodges and you.

You were the only ones who made physical contact with Campion.

You’re telling me they’re all dead?

I am.

(sighs)

What about Campion’s family?

Anyone touch them?

STU: Just hang in there, all right?

(gasps)

Car just smashed into our pumps.

(breathing heavily)

Clock was red.

The clock?

(coughing)

Red clock means lockdown.

Whole place is supposed to seal. (coughs)

Hap?! How are we doing on that ambulance?

Ten minutes out.

(mutters)

I thought if I just… I thought if I moved fast enough…

STU: Campion came from California, right?

Some bioweapons facility out in the middle of the desert?

You know I can’t say.

My point is, he traveled 1,700 miles before he hit Arnette?

How many stops is that?

Got to gas up, pee, eat.

You think you can find every person he crossed paths with?

Well, as far as we can tell, everyone who comes in contact with this thing becomes infected.

Everyone but you, and we need to find out why.

We need to take as much blood from you as you can tolerate.

Couple of vials every couple hours.

Run it through every test we can think of.

Run the rest of you through every scan we have.

Hope that one of these tracks helps us identify what’s protecting you from this infection.

(chuckles): Come up with some way to protect the rest of us.

Keep any more four-year-olds from ending up like Eva Hodges.

Hey, your wife was a nurse, right?

What do you think she’d tell you to do?

All right.

All right?

Do what you got to do.

Hey, we’re back on. Bring in the tech.

Prep contrast fluid for an MRI.

(lock buzzes, latch clicks)

(sneezes)

Excuse me. Allergies.

Hello?

Can anybody hear me?

Hello?

(grunting)

Hello?

Anyone alive out there?

This is Harold Lauder. I live on Ocean Street.

Hello?

Anyone?

(whispers): I’m here, Harold.

I’m here, Harold.

HAROLD: Frannie?

Holy shit, it’s good to see you.

Um, obviously, I wish the circumstances were better.

Can I come in?

(exhales)

Thanks.

What happened to you? You’re all banged up.

Fell off my bike. (chuckles softly)

Is that…

I’m burying my dad.

(whispers): Yeah.

I guess you’ve had some experience with loss.

Your brother and all.

Well, what about your family? A-Amy?

Managed to get them to the funeral home before it closed its doors, and there they sit.

Doubt they’ll ever be buried.

No, someone will come back and bury them when this disease has burned itself out.

Who?

I don’t know, someone in authority.

Frannie. (chuckles)

Five will get you ten, it was the people in authority who did this.

Some government scientist said, “Look what I made. Kills almost everybody. Isn’t it great?”

(chuckles)

Probably got a medal and a raise.

And then somebody spilled it.

What are you talking about?

What planet have you been living on? It was all over the Internet before they shut it down.

I’ve been kind of busy.

I’m sorry.

Let me help you.

No, I got it.

Look at your hands.

You can’t do this…

Go home, Harold!

I’m not your f*cking babysitter anymore!

No one’s coming, Fran.

(quietly): F*ck.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

I love you, Daddy.

♪ ♪

(gurgling)

(panting)

(entry bell jingles)

(gags)

(coughs)

(coughs)

♪ ♪

PRESIDENT: My fellow Americans, we cannot afford to jump at shadows like children in the dark, but neither can we afford to take this serious outbreak lightly.

There is no truth to the rumor that this strain of influenza is universally fatal.

Furthermore, there is absolutely no truth to the vicious rumors started and spread via social media that it was engineered by this government.

Let me be clear.

We have never… (coughs) never engaged in the clandestine manufactue of substances outlawed by the Geneva Conventions or the Biological Weapons Convention.

My fellow Americans, I ask you to do your part… (coughing): by re– by re… by remaining calm and following the instructions of your emergency response personnel.

To maintain order and alleviate mass hysteria, I have author…

(child giggling)

(running footsteps)

(child giggles)

(child giggles)

(child giggles)

Hello, Frannie.

My name is Abagail Freemantle.

You come see me at Hemingford Home, Colorado.

Can you remember that for me?

(wind whistling)

(keys clacking, typewriter dinging)

(dinging and clacking continue)

(alarm blaring)

Hey!

Oh, good. You’re awake.

Am now.

Uh, we’re moving you.

There’s a car waiting for you downstairs.

Moving me? Where to?

Stovington, Vermont.

A secure CDC facility there.

It’s where this whole effort is being coordinated.

Why are we leaving in the middle of the night?

Stu, please, I could go to prison already for what I’ve t…

You-you know what? No. F*ck it.

Place is compromised.

Nurse’s kid tested positive about a half hour ago.

You’re telling me the Arnette quarantine extends all the way out here?

The nurse’s kid testing positive means we get our very own exclusion zone.

We’re the last living souls in or out.

For how long?

Long as it takes.

CDC’s still based in Atlanta, right?

Yeah, last I checked.

Why the hell aren’t we going there?

Trust me, you should be happy we’re not telling you more than we are.

Dr. Cobb here is gonna be joining our team.

STU: All right.

That’s funny, I wouldn’t have taken you for a doctor.

Yeah. I get that a lot.

He seems fun.

MAN: Come on, let’s go.

(engine starts)

(tires squealing)

Redman.

You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say this is one of those blackout hoods they put on Gitmo prisoners.

You know, keep ’em disoriented.

COBB: We’re headed to a classified facility.

You expect me to wear this thing the whole time we’re there?

COBB: Just on the way. Can take it off once we’re inside.

And how long’s the trip?

You know, it seems to me,

Mr. Redman, you might be under the misimpression that our only option as far as securing your cooperation is to f*cking ask for it.

Now, it’s gonna be a lot easier on everybody if you just let us do our jobs.

And what is that, exactly? Your job?

Well, my job, Mr. Redman, is to keep you safe.

And to keep you cooperating.

Now, it’s totally up to you how comfortable you want to be while both of those things happen.

Now, you ready to cut the shit?

Yeah, just about.

COBB: Good.

Then put the f*cking hood on.

RADIO HOST: Major roads blocked by armored vehicles.

Hospitals overflowing.

Our Internet shut down.

(coughing)

It certainly does look like the end.

Humanity blinking out with a whimper.

(coughing)

Well, folks, not me.

The method of my demise…

(coughing)

…will not be Captain Trips.

So this will be me signing off.

(gunshot)

(gargles)

Frannie,

I know you’re in pain.

We both are.

(chuckles softly)

Frannie, I want you to come with me.

We’re the last living souls left in Ogunquit.

We can’t stay here.

It’s a coffin.

Fran… I have a plan.

F*ck, that rhymes.

(sighs)

Fran, tell me why, out of the entire town of Ogunquit… we’re the only ones spared.

Tell me why, out of the entire town of Ogunquit, we’re the only ones spared.

You and me.

ELLIS: What I heard, this is supposed to be the vice president’s room.

It’s a real step up from the last place, though, huh?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’d love to retire here.

How deep are we?

Oh, pretty f*cking deep. This place is a fortress.

I’ve never seen anything like it.

It’s all controlled from a central hub.

Even the elevators.

Really?

By who? Who’s the CO?

Army general, four-star.

Guy named Starkey, apparently.

I haven’t actually seen him.

Wow. Four-star. F*ck.

And how’s our good friend Cobb doing?

He’s always around.

You should not antagonize hi. He’s dangerous.

Yeah, no shit.

I think we could take him, though.

(laughs): Can you imagine?

(chuckles)

Yeah, I could.

Yeah, I’m stuck down here, the same as you.

It’s better than up there, though. Trust me.

Really? That bad, huh?

Yeah, I got to get on the phone with the World Health Organization in five minutes to get estimates that would make the Spanish flu look like a sham.

(Stu chuckles)

I’ll come back and check on you as soon as I can.

(door chimes)

All right, you know where to find me.

(door opens)

(coughs)

(door closes)

(engine shuts off)

♪ ♪

Frannie?

Frannie?

(flies buzzing)

Fran.

Fran?

(water running)

Fran?

Fran, I’m worried about you.

I’m coming in.

(grunts)

Jesus.

(grunting)

(weakly): I was in the corn, Harold.

I’m not gonna let you die, Frannie.

(gags)

(coughing)

It’s okay.

(“Changes” by Black Sabbath playing)

♪ I feel unhappy ♪

Hey.

♪ I feel so sad ♪

♪ I’ve lost the best friend ♪

How you feeling?

♪ That I ever had ♪

♪ She was my woman… ♪

How did you know?

Were you spying on me?

No, of course not. I-I…

♪ I’ve let her go… ♪

I came here… came here… (sniffs) to show you my plan.

See do you want to come with.

And-and just in the nick of time, I might add.

I wish you hadn’t, Harold.

I don’t want to be here anymore.

Well, neither did I.

Think of it like I’m returning the favor.

What favor?

Remember that nail you stuck in my wall, like, five years ago?

How do you not remember?

That was like the biggest moment of my childhood.

Harold, I don’t remember.

I was Amy’s friend, and you were her weird little brother.

I’d just gotten my first rejection letter.

You came over to babysit.

You wouldn’t even come out of your room.

See?

You do remember.

(sighs)

Yeah.

I nailed the letter to your wall, and I told you to never give up.

To this day,

I’ve put every one on that nail.

And I haven’t given up.

Frannie, we’re the only ones left alive in this whole town.

And, assuming there’s nothing special about this place, which… I think we both know is a pretty safe assumption, that means the fatality rate for this virus is well over 99%.

Means we can’t afford to lose a single person.

It means…

We’re the future.

♪ Through changes… ♪

Yes.

Us.

♪ I’m going ♪

♪ Through changes… ♪

Okay.

Let’s hear your plan.

Atlanta.

The CDC.

If there are still people there working on the flu, maybe we can help them.

How?

Like…

let them run tests on us?

Exactly.

They must be looking for people who are immune.

That’s actually…

That’s a really smart idea.

I’m not a little kid anymore, Frannie.

♪ Her last goodbyes ♪

♪ Now all my days ♪

♪ Are filled with tears ♪

♪ Wish I could go back ♪

♪ And change these years ♪

♪ I’m going through changes. ♪

(birds chirping)

(baby crying)

(baby crying)

(wolf growls)

(gasps)

(door chimes)

(coughing)

No.

Uh, pretty much sums it up.

See, the first rule of epidemiology is, you don’t end up on the wrong end of the stethoscope.

(sniffles)

(coughing)

Goddamn it.

The bright side is, it looks like you won’t have Dr. Cobb to worry about anymore.

Cobb has it, too?

(chuckling) Yeah.

Pretty much everyone has it.

There’s reports of immunes like you out there, but there’s nothing confirmed.

Oh, God.

Can you imagine that just, like, a month ago, we were all worried about Ebola.

(hacking laughter)

(coughing)

What can I do for you, huh?

(hawks)

(spits)

(sighs) Jesus.

What happens now?

(sniffles) Now, uh, it’s game over.

I was gonna use this. You know, just…

Painful, all right, but, you know, seems smarter than choking to death on my own snot.

(exhales) And then I had a similar attractive idea.

I was gonna, uh, raid the pharmacy down the hall to see if I can’t shuffle off this mortal coil with a little bit of style.

(chuckles)

Yeah.

Forgive me, what are they gonna… what are they gonna do with me?

Unknown.

Well, no one has heard or seen of General Starkey in 19 hours.

He sealed off the command center and shut down all movement between floors.

(sniffles) Sometimes he opens the door for me.

Sometimes he doesn’t.

He’s un-f*cking-predictable, that one.

(sniffles)

(groans)

How many floors?

There’s one way to find out.

Yeah.

Come on, Doc. You got to tell me how to get the f*ck out of here.

(stammers)

I wish I could offer you something better.

(chuckles, sniffles)

(coughing)

God.

(inhales deeply) I really thought– I thought I was gonna be the one that was gonna stop this thing.

You know? The most important vaccine in the history of man.

And get the magazine covers and the Nobel…

(sniffles) …Prize.

(door chimes)

(Cobb coughs)

How you doing, Doc?

I wondered where you got to.

I thought maybe you opted for the, uh… the early checkout, you know?

Beat the traffic.

(exhales) So, what’s this?

A tearful goodbye, huh?

(laughs)

(coughing)

(coughs loudly)

(pants) Now let’s take a walk.

What are you doing here, Cobb?

Get… the f*ck out.

I’m not gonna tell you again.

Come on, Cobb.

(gagging)

(panting)

(door chimes)

MAN (over P.A.): Right this way, soldier.

(beeping)

(panting)

Follow the lights, Mr. Redman.

Climb aboard.

Leave the gun.

(Puccini’s “Vissi d’arte” playing)

♪ ♪

Looks like we’re the last men standing here.

♪ ♪

Tell you the truth, I’m halfway surprised you didn’t blast me when I came through the door.

Finish what your man couldn’t.

Sergeant Cobb was not… one of mine.

(exhales)

You’re a f*cking four-star.

Whose command was he under?

Would you believe I don’t know?

No.

(Starkey chuckles, coughs)

Well, that’s fair. I guess, in your position, I wouldn’t either.

So, are you telling me that Cobb’s orders came from outside?

Our last contact with the outside was two days ago.

Somebody cut your comm lines.

This place was built to withstand a 50-megaton blast.

Our comms are fine.

Two days ago was just… the last time we heard anybody talk back.

My guess, Cobb was following a checklist.

Contingencies.

If “X,” then “Y.”

You’re telling me he was ready to kill me to keep a secret?

There…

(coughing)

There ain’t no one left for me to tell.

Men like Cobb… (sighs) …don’t stop following orders just because the orders stop making sense.

What about you?

I have no orders regarding you, Mr. Redman.

All right. So…

Free to go, then?

My daughter gave me this book years ago for my birthday.

I put it on a shelf and… never even opened it.

Until four days ago, when… I learned that… she was dead.

Now I can’t put it down.

Poetry.

And I do believe Mr. Yeats was onto something about how it looks when the shit hits the fan.

I was proud of our soldiers.

(coughing)

All the units maintained discipline much longer than the… predictive models told us we could expect.

The predictive models?

Jesus Christ.

You f*cking…

(scoffs softly)

…gamed the apocalypse?

Of course.

“In the event of a global-level extinction event, every effort will be made to maintain continuity of national government.”

And if you think that everybody else were not planning along the same lines, you are very much mistaken.

Okay, after we’re finished here, that key card gets you out that exit door.

Take the emergency stairs up to the surface level.

(coughs)

(sighs)

If anyone asks, if there’s anyone left to ask…

…please tell them I stood my post…

to the end.

I will.

Thank you, General.

If you’ll indulge me?

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre,

“the falcon cannot hear the falconer.

“Things fall apart.

“Mere anarchy is loosed

“upon the world.

“The blood-dimmed tide is loosed,

“and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned.

“The best lack all convictio, while the worst

“are full of passionate intensity.

“Surely some revelation is at hand.

“Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

“Somewhere in sands of the desert

“a shape with lion body and the head of a man,

“a gaze blank

“and pitiless as the sun

“is moving its slow thighs.

“And what rough beast,

“its hour come round at last,

slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”

(sighs)

Good luck to you, Mr. Redman.

Thank you, General.

♪ ♪

(woman singing opera)

(gunshot)

(spray can hissing)

(“Furr” by Blitzen Trapper playing)

♪ Yeah, when I was only 17 ♪

I didn’t know your middle name.

♪ I could hear the angels whispering ♪

♪ So I droned into the woods and wandered aimlessly about♪

(sighs)

♪ Until I heard my mother shouting through the fog ♪

♪ It turned out to be the howling of a dog ♪

♪ Or a wolf to be exact ♪

♪ The sound sent shivers down my back ♪

♪ But I was drawn into the pack ♪

♪ And before long ♪

(engines start)

♪ They allowed me to join in and sing their song ♪

♪ So from the cliffs and highest hill ♪

♪ Yeah, we would gladly get our fill ♪

♪ Howling endlessly and shrilly at the dawn… ♪

(indistinct shouting)

(rapid typing)

HAROLD: It’s said that the two great human sins are pride and hate.

Are they?

I choose to think of them as the two great virtues.

To give away pride and hate is to say you will change for the good of the world.

To embrace them, to vent them is more noble.

The world must change for the good of you.

I am on a great adventure.

(rhythmic beeping)

That’s it!

Straight back. Straight back.

Whoa!

(grunts)

Whoa, whoa.

You just saved my f*cking life, man.

Whew! Mm.

(chuckles)

I owe you so many beers.

HAROLD: There was a time– an hour, maybe just an instant– when he contemplated jettisoning the hate.

In that hour or instant, he was aware that he could simply accept what was.

(whistles) Good eye today, Hawk.

HAROLD: And that knowledge exhilaratd and terrified him.

For that space of time, he knew he could become a new Harold Lauder.

(engine starts)

Pretty f*cking great, right?

Yeah.

There’s your screen.

The projectionist throws from there.

That’s about 150 feet…

HAROLD: He could let go of all the old grudges, hurts, unpaid debts…

We have a ticket booth and…

…worthless as the paper money choking the cash registers of this new America.

I always saw a partner in this.

(laughs)

(typewriter bell chimes)

But to seize it would have been to murder himself.

The ghosts of every humiliation he had ever suffered cried out against it.

(wolf howling)

His murdered dreams and ambitions came back to eldritch life and asked if he could forget them so easily.

(panting)

(whooshing)

(“The Stranger” by Billy Joel playing)

(melodic whistling)

In Boulder, he could only ever be Harold Lauder.

Out west…

…he could be a prince.

(panting quietly)

(indistinct chatter)

FRANNIE: Thank you very much.

Have a good day.

Oh, hey, Harold.

Hey, guys.

Oh, look at you.

Yeah.

Getting bigger every day.

Yeah. Okay.

Is it kicking yet?

Sometimes.

No, that’s just breakfast.

(laughter)

Okay.

You off to work?

Yes, sir.

Another day on the body crew.

Yeah, I can’t tell you how much we appreciate what y’all are doing out there.

Out on the front lines.

Ah, well…

Yeah.

We’re all in this together.

Yes, we are.

You should come over for dinner sometime.

We can, you know, heat you up some canned beans or something.

Yeah, sure.

I’d love that.

Yeah, me, too.

All right.

All right.

Hey.

Great to see you guys.

Yeah, you, too.

Have a good one.

Have a good one.

Have a good day. Bye.

Hi.

Hi.

(screaming)

HAROLD: My great pleasure this delightful postapocalypse season will be to kill Mr. Stuart “Dog Cock” Redman.

And just maybe… I’ll kill her, too.

(phone ringing)

Blazer One Actual. This is…

This is General Fitzpatrick.

Yes, sir.

Identify yourself.

Private First Class Charles Campion, sir.

I’m getting alerts. Are the readings elevated on your en?

Yes, sir. I see the readings, but there’s no…

(alarm sounding)

I just got a secondary aler.

What are you seeing?

Sir.

Go ahead.

Is this an exercise?

No, Private, this is not an exercise.

Hold a moment, please, sir.

(alarm continues)

Campion?

Campion!

(screaming)

AUTOMATED VOICE: Attention, all personnel, initiate containment protocol.

This is not a drill.

(buzzing)

Attention, all personnel, initiate containment protoco. This is not a drill.

Attention, all personnel, initiate containment protocol.

This is not a drill.

(alarm blaring)

(panting)

Sally. Get up, get up. You got to wake up.

Charlie?

Wake up.

Get up, get up. We got to go. Come on.

We got to go now. Get LaVon.

What’s happening?

Get LaVon.

What’s going on?

Come on, hurry up!

Wait, where are we going?

We have to go. Come on, come on, baby.

(baby crying)

(engine starts)

(“The Stranger” by Billy Joel playing)

(melodic whistling)

(baby fussing)

(“The Stranger” by Billy Joel playing)

♪ Well, we all have a face that we hide away forever ♪

♪ And we take them out and show ourselves ♪

♪ When everyone has gone ♪

♪ Some are satin, some are steel ♪

♪ Some are silk and some are leather ♪

♪ They’re the faces of a stranger ♪

♪ But we’d love to try them on ♪

♪ Well, we all fall in love ♪

♪ But we disregard the danger ♪

♪ Though we share so many secrets ♪

♪ There are some we never tell ♪

♪ Why were you so surprised ♪

♪ That you never saw the stranger? ♪

♪ Did you ever let your lover ♪

♪ See the stranger in yourself? ♪

♪ Don’t be afraid to try again ♪

♪ Everyone goes south every now and then ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh ♪

♪ You’ve done it, why can’t someone else? ♪

♪ You should know by now ♪

♪ You’ve been there yourself ♪

♪ Once I used to believe ♪

♪ I was such a great romancer ♪

♪ Then I came home to a woman ♪

♪ That I could not recognize ♪

♪ When I pressed her for a reason ♪

♪ She refused to even answer ♪

♪ It was then I felt the stranger ♪

♪ Kick me right between the eyes ♪

♪ Well, we all fall in love ♪

♪ But we disregard the danger ♪

♪ Though we share so many secrets ♪

♪ There are some we never tell ♪

♪ Why were you so surprised ♪

♪ That you never saw the stranger? ♪

♪ It was then I felt the stranger ♪

♪ Kick me right between the eyes ♪

♪ Ooh-ooh ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh. ♪