Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Mariel.
I'm not crazy, Tom.
I saw my body in this water
Dead.
I want you to get a crew out here and dredge this.
And I want them to dig deep.
Hey, bloggers, it's Dave.
Four weeks after hurricane eve made landfall,
things aren't getting any less strange around here.
The aliens, or whatever they are.
.
my brother-in-law, Russel, says they're fish,
the military says they're squid.
I say both.
They're still swimmin' out there in the 'glades.
But it's the people, the people of the town
that I want to talk about today
Yeah, too many folks
spent entirely too many hours
in the water the night of the hurricane
not to have seen something
Yet, none of these so-called survivors are talking,
at least, not in public.
But they are having secret meetings
at this local church twice a day,
so yours truly is gonna swing by,
pay a little visit,
make sure we're not living in
"village of the damned" here.
I don't know who I am anymore.
I-I feel like
there's a storm brewing inside me
that feels more powerful than any hurricane.
My husband sees it and it scares him
and he's fighting hard to hang on to me, but he can't.
He can't.
Last night, I went to the place in the water
where I was found the morning after the hurricane and I saw
hi.
It's all right, Mariel.
Please, go on.
Do you know what, father ? I
I think this is just too much right now.
What I really feel like doing is having a drink
or two or three.
Listen, you guys are great,
so supportive, and if I am going crazy,
I can't imagine a better group of people to go crazy with.
Thank you for listening.
Well, you wanted a picnic ?
You're getting a picnic.
- Where are we ?
- We are in my secret spot.
- What secret spot ?
- My most favorite secret spot
to make out with my beautiful, pregnant wife.
- Ohh, that secret spot.
- Yeah.
What are you gonna do with me when I get all big and fat ?
this.
honey ?
Baby ?
What is it ?
the pond.
They've poisoned the pond.
The sons of ***.
This was the most beautiful place,
and they killed it.
Who ? Who, Russ ?
What happened here ?
I'll be back in five minutes.
Wait here.
- You can't come in here without a warrant !
- I'm not a cop !
Yeah, well, this ain't park land, either.
You can't just pop on in !You little
oh, the harvest looks good this year, Bob !
That fertilizer really works !
But it wasn't just fertilizer
you dumped out in the sewer this time, was it, huh ?
What'd you put in the water ?What'd you put in the water ? !
Carla, don't !
- Sit down !
- Son of a *** !
Sit your *** down !
You've been dumping there a long time, Bob,
but it was something else this time, wasn't it ?
Something much more toxic.
Russell !
What are you doing ?
Get back in the car.
What did you put in the water ?
Nothin'.
Just fertilizer,
and the only reason we dumped it there
is 'cause the place was already dead.
You're lying.
No.
We was there before the hurricane and it was fine.
We come back a week or so later,
and it's all gone ,brown crap everywhere.
You got phone service back yet ?Yesterday.
Call the police.
You call 'em.
- Call the police !
- Son of a *** !
I'l ll call them.
you're gonna pay for this !
Yeah, let's move mr.
Conlan out of I.
C.
U.
See if there's roomin the main unit.
Hey, doctor.
Hey, Dave.
Hey.
Here for a follow-up exam on the old legs.
You're pissed at me.
No.
I'm pissed at my ex-husband
who sent you to that meeting this morning, didn't he ?
What ? Russell ? No.
No, no, no.
- I went on my own.
- Why ?
Because I read about it in the papers ?
- It's for hurricane survivors, Dave.
- Hey, I survived.
Get this to dr.
Peacock.
Look, I was just curious about what goes on in there, okay ?
In case you haven't noticed,
there's been some pretty weird stuff happening in town lately.
- What stuff ?
- Stuff, weird behavior.
- Russell didn't send you ?
- No, I swear.
It's just a place for people to talk
who've had a similar experience.
Right, but they don't let you get drunk though, do they ?
Isn't that what you said you needed ?
I'm working, Dave.
Let me just buy you a beer.
I'm working.
You get a lunch hour ?
Mariel, I'm trying to reach out here.
Isn't that what group of yours is all about ?
What ?
I have a sTomachache.
From the baby ?
No, not from the baby.
Would you have killed that guy if I hadn't been there ?
No.
That's not what I tlooked like.
I think I'm gonna be sick.
You haven't had anything to eat.
Here.
sure you don't want a beer ?
Uh, they don't really like it when the doctors get drunk.
Right.
Good point.
So, I really, really hope
that you didn't run out of the church this morning because of me.
Well, actually, I did.
That's what I thought.
Why ?
Because what I was about to share was very personal.
I'm really sorry.
Okay.
I'm a little embarrassed.
I have to
I have to tell you I sort of
I half expected to walk into some kind of
ritualistic, uh, weirdo, something.
- "Village of the damned" ?
- Yeah.
- Really ?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah
exactly like "village of the damned.
"
yeah, I thought you all were gonna be like pod people.
Like what ?
You know, like,um, zombified.
You know, like "puppet master,""body ***" people,
but--
Instead, you look just like everybody else I see in church.
I don't want you to take this the wrong way, Dave
Go ahead.
But I really used to think you were an idiot.
Oh.
No, that's okay.
A lot of people think that.
But you're not.
You're not an idiot at all.
Thank you.
And you're not a pod person.
Are you ?
I don't know what I am now,
at least as far as Mariel's concerned.
I don't feel like her husband.
I don't feel like a friend.
I I feel cut off.
- What precipitated this ?
- Mariel's not like you and me, father.
She doesn't exactly embrace change.
She's afraid of losing her children.
She's afraid of letting go of the past.
And you're afraid of losing her ?
Yeah.
- But if she doesn't trust you, you will lose her.
- Yeah.
Well, what do I do ?
Give her a truth that's acceptable to everyone.
Lie ?
No.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.
Mariel will give you her faith
if you can just give her the evidence to support it.
- Why don't you call for some help ?
- 'Cause I don't need any help.
You're gonna lift that whole thing
into the truck by yourself ?
Yep.
- I'll help.
- No.
Hey, you should have let me take you home in the first place.
- You can't do it alone, Russell.
- I don't want you to hurt yourself.
Oh.
You don't want me to hurt myself,
but you take me to an armed drug dealer's house.
I told you to stay in the car.
Larkin, stop.
No.
Lift.
My god.
Do they all smell this bad ?
No, which is why this one's getting an autopsy.
- Well, that was nice.
- Yeah.
- Thank you.
- No problem.
Hey, Mariel.
If, you know, if you want to talk more
sometime, you know, since I know
we don't know each other that well,
- but we're kind of like family.
- Right.
- Sorta.
- Well, thank you.
Yeah.
And if you ever need to talk, I'm available as well.
Great.
- See you later.
- See you.
Thank you.
Mariel, hey.
Hey.
Um, hey, there's one just one thing I'd like to ask you about.
it'd just take a second.
Sure.
Thank you.
So, uh, all of you at the church, the survivors,
your one common denominator
is that you all spent a lot of time in the water
during the night of the hurricane, right ?
Uh, no, not all of us.
Some of us some experienced trauma afterwards.
- Right.
- Mm-hmm.
Okay, but has anybody actually told a story
about what happened to them in the water ?
You know, if they saw anything ?
Did you see anything ?
Not that night.
Not that night ?Mnh-mnh.
But since then
since the hurricane, you've seen something ?
'Cause I've seen something, too.
Mariel.
Hello, Dave.
Hey Tom.
So I'm gonna hit the road.
Thanks for the checkup, doc.
How's Dave ?
Dave's good.
Mariel
have you started dredging yet ?
No.
Are you sure that you want me to do this ?
Yes, I'm sure
and I want to be there.
Okay.
But if we find something,
I want you to promise me
that you'll work with me
to try and understand it.
I can't promise you that right now.
- Hey, Russ.
- Hey, Mona.
- Did you beat up Bob Bemming this morning ?
- No.
I had him arrested.
- Did you break his jaw ?
- What ?
He's in the hospital with a broken jaw.
Says you tried to kill him.
Why would you even mess with him, Russell ?
- You know his brother's a judge.
- That's insane.
D.
A.
'S consideringpressing charges.
Someone from his office called the park super
and asked about your record.
What record ?
He was probably talking about the work camp thing.
What work camp thing ?
That thing your uncle sent you to when you were a teenager ?
Yeah.
I thought that was voluntary.
It was.
I could come out here and work
or I could go to juvenile hall.
I thought this would be a better option.
I didn't know that would go on your record.
Well, now you do.
Careful, careful.
What was the crime ?
I already told you.
No.
No, you didn't.
You told me that you were running with a bad crowd,
and that you got into some trouble,
and that's about as specific as you got.
Larkin, I really don't want to talk about this right now.
You should put some gloves on, Mona.
Well, when do you want to talk about it, Russ, when you're in jail ?
- I'm not going to jail.
- Then what's all this about ?
That son of a *** poisoned my backyard, Larkin.
That's my home out there.
I'm not going to let him
or anybody else poison the only home I've ever known.
Well
if that's your home
then where do i live ?
What ?
If I'd only seen this on one corpse,
I probably wouldn't have called you.
But it's popped up a few times now.
oh, man.
Yeah, he smells worse than usual.
But I think this is the reason.
This man was a poacher shot out by johnson's pond.
It's near your place, isn't it ?Yeah
Well, this didn't kill him, but I'd sure like to know what it is.
It started eating the flesh, which is accelerating
the putrefaction process.
This female's got the same problem.
Where is she from ?
Don't know.
She's a hurricane jane.
But they're supposed to be buried this afternoon,
and I just wanted to make sure
you didn't want me to give them a closer look.
No, that's okay, arvin.
Let 'em rest.
Thanks for the call.
No problem, sheriff.
Door's always open.
four weeks after hurricane eve made landfall
- Hey.
- Hey.
- What are you doing here, sis ?
- What are you doing ?
- Getting out my blog.
- Okay.
Well, I'm getting out my blog, too.
You don't have a blog.
I just needed to use the internet.
- Well, why don't you go use the one at your office ?
- 'Cause I'm not going in today.
- Why not ?
- Because I'm not, okay ?
'Cause I'm celebrating being off bed rest, okay ?
Okay.
- Hello, Dave.
- Hi, Connie.
- I read your blog again last night.
- Oh, did you ?
- I found it fascinating,
- thanks.
- Have you explored the abandoned naval yard ?
- Listen, can you give me a minute ?
- I'm just kind of busy right now.
- Oh, I'm so sorry.
- Would you like a coffee ?
- No, I'm fine.
Thank you.
- Who's she ?
- Just one of my many fans.
Listen, I want to know what's going on with you.
What's up ?
Did Russell ever tell you that he has a criminal record ?
No.
Well, he does.
You know what he did ?
No.
That's why I'm here.
Do you know where to go to find out ?
Would you do it for me ?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thanks.
you sure you want to see this ?
Yeah.
It's an adult male american alligator.
The tumorous lesions indicate
something has defeated its immune system.
The corpse is really bloated.
So are you gonna tell me about your dark past ?
No.
the smell is highly abnormal
chemical or I don't know.
You're gonna tell your wife though, right, Russ ?
Tissue is necrotic and stiff
almost like it's been cooked inside.
You can't keep secrets from your wife, Russ.
Mona.
What ?
I'm gonna open the rib cage now.
Okay.
Can we focus on that ?
All right.
Are you gonna give me a hand ?
Sure.
Oh, god.
Do you want me to help you with the heart ?
Or do you just want to rip it out and stomp on it yourself ?
Everyone's ready to go out to the cove, sir.
Just give the word and the dredging will begin.
I wouldn't be running your hand through that water, sir.
We don't know what's in there.
I don't want anyone near this area.
And until further notice, this is a crime scene--
my crime scene, got it ?
Um, what's the crime, sir ?
Well, somebody has obviously been dumping lethal contaminants here.
And until we find out who, I want this entire area cordoned off.
But this is the park, sir.
I don't care if it's the white house rose garden.
I want it cordoned off.
And if the park super has a problem with that,
you tell him to give me a call, all right ?
Yes, sir.
Absolutely.
And are we gonna dredge biscayne cove, sir ?
I'll let you know.
I'll let you know.
Do you have a good lawyer ?
- I'm not gonna need a lawyer.
- You might, if Hemming has his way.
Hemming's a ***.
He's a pretty powerful ***.
And his brother's even more powerful ***.
All right, give me the towel.
I'm gonna open up the stomach.
Hey, Russ
oh, my god.
What are you guys doing ?
A necropsy.
Oh, god, that's disgusting.
What are you doing ?
Larkin's really upset with you.
You see ?
Yeah.
She, uh
she knows about what happened when you were a kid.
What does she know ?
I pulled up your criminal record online for her.
I'll just talk to her when I get home.
Why didn't you just tell her ?
what, what, what, what ?
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa !
You all right ?
holy crow.
Do we have any idea what we're looking at here ?
I hope you're all sitting down right now,
because I have got some major news.
The eagle has landed.
That's right, bloggers.
We found an actual piece of an alien life-form in the belly of a gator.
Ah, dreams do come true.
First thing Tomorrow morning, you're gonna find outall about it
because yours truly is going to be answering all of your questions
live from my favorite internet caf�.
And for those of you who can't wait that long,
well, I suppose that I could divulge a few of the little secrets--
the highlights, if you will
it was about a foot long,8 inches thick,
with a single prod shooting through the middle of it.
It is orange-pink in colorand actually looks
a little bit more like a piece of chicken
than anything you'd expect to find in another galaxy.
But it is definitely extraterrestrial.
It came out covered in this acid slime
that chewed right through our floorboards.
And although this is the most extraordinary find,
my silly brother-in-law Russellstill refuses to call in nasa.
Right now, actually, he's a little bit distractedwith my sister.
No one ever thought that
we'll have more on that later.
Larkin ?
Larkin, you here ?
Dave ! Larkin's not here.
Yeah, I know.
She said she was going out to johnson pond again.
Oh, great.
Oh, she'll be okay, man.
She was upset, but she's not gonna do anything crazy
I want to go talk to her.
What about the thing we found inside the gator ?
Mona took it to the lab.
We should have results back in an hour or so.
You know this is huge, don't you ?
You found a piece of the rock, Russell--
a chunk of a real E.
B.
E.
You're gonna be a star.
You know ?
All right, all right,Russell--Russ, Russ !
What ?
Look, just tell her the truth, okay ?
That's what she wants to hear right now.
She just wants to know who you really are.
Good luck !
Okay.
Okay what ?
I've got a team, and they're going to the cove.
You ready ?
I'll meet you there.
All right.
Larkin ?
I, uh, I came out here to apologize.
I don't know if an apology is gonna cut it, Russell.
Can I tell you a story then ?
Okay.
When I was 10 years old, I got off the boat from cuba,
and I moved in with my uncle Max.
He was my only family here,
and I had to respect him because that's what you do.
But I didn't like him.
He wasn't a nice person.
He treated people miserably.
He was also a gangster.
He owned a lot of crooked businesses.
He sold a lot of drugs, mostly coke.
And by the time I was 17, I was selling it for him.
Look, I didn't like it.
I never used it.
But I sold it
'cause if I didn't, he'd beat the hell out of me.
I saw him punch his girlfriend once so hard,
he put her eye out.
And she stayed with him after that.
That's how sick it was.
And one day--I had this friend Leon.
Leon was thishe was this little guy.
He was a really sweet kid.
He'd always come over to the house
and hang out with me sometimes.
My uncle would always make fun of him.
He'd always make fun of the way he talked
because he had this speech impediment,
and he'd mock him.
One day, I just told my uncle to shut up.
I'd had it.
I didn't want to hear it anymore.
And instead of hitting me, or even getting angry at me
he takes out a gun and he shoots leon.
And then he starts laughing.
He tells me to get a rag to clean the blood off the carpet.
And I guess something in me just snapped,
'cause I grabbed this statue off my uncle's desk,
this stupid statue of a guy on a horse,
and I just slammed it into his skull.
And the police came, and they took his body away,
and they took leon's body away.
They arrested me.
I was a minor, and my lawyer argued that I'd killed my uncle in self-defense,
so I got off light, and the judge sent me to a detention camp
here in the everglades
which is how I fell in love with this place
and where I fell in love with you.
Why didn't you tell me this before ?
It's a hard story to tell.
Because I didn't kill my uncle in self-defense, Larkin.
I killed him because he deserved it.
hey, doc.
hey.
You're listening to my old buddy holly records.
Yeah.
And you're drinking my beer.
yeah, how about that ?My second one.
- Hope you don't mind.
- No.
So did you get off work early or something ?
I'm on my way to biscayne cove.
What's out there ?
Water.
Yeah.
I was taking a look at your clippings.
You've got some pretty interesting stuff here.
Yeah.
That's just, uh
that's just, uh
uh, it's research.
I'm not a pod person, Dave.
Okay.
But I am different
in a way I can't explain.
You said you saw something in the water.
What did you see ?
I, uh
Mariel
I don't
no, no, no, no.
Don't back off now.
I have to know.
Doctor-patient privilege.
Okay.
What did you see ?
Have you ever heard of an E.
B.
E.
?
No.
It's an acronym.
It stands for extraterrestrial biological entity.
- So you saw a martian ?
- No.
No, no.
I saw a bright orange
something
that attacked me.
Russell told you that a gator did this.
Remember ?
A gator did not do that.
I'm sure it was an E.
B.
E.
What did you see in the water ?
Me.
How much longer do you want me to do this ?
Have they looked everywhere ?
Every square inch.
Twice.
I know what I saw, Tom.
Okay.
All right.
Russ, you out there ?
Yeah, Mona.
I got the preliminary test results back from the lab.
And ?
The thing's filled with all kinds of poisons.
It definitely killed that gator,
probably everything else around it.
That's not the scary part.
They may have found some human D.
N.
A.
What ?
Yeah, I know.
They won't be certain for a couple of days,
but what's up with that ?
That thing didn't look like any human I've ever seen.
I was gonna put back on the tie again,
but then I figured,why push ?
I came in here this morning expecting you all to be
a bunch of kool-aid swiggers.
But I've really come around.
Really.
One of your own, actually, set me straight.
I think I get it now.
You're all just people who are looking
to find someone to share the experience with, right ?
So ifif you guys don't mind,
I'd really like to keep coming back here for a little while.
I can share my stories with you.
You can share your stories with me.
And, uh, who knows ?
Maybe together we could change the world.
All right.
Okay.
I think I got them right where I want them.
- Mare
- I know.
- You've done everything you could
- I wish I could do more.
sheriff ! We got something !
Mariel.
It was caught down deep.
Show me the face.
I want to see the face.
It's all right.
Get on her I.
D.
Run it across the missing list.
I was so sure.
You were sure because you did see a body.
But it wasn't you.
It wasn't you.