Bringing you the coolest sounds
from KMGX, Tucson, the jewel of the west.
Let me warn all you good people,
it's gonna be a broiler today.
Predicted highs of 100 in Tucson, Phoenix,
and up to 120 in the desert,
so stay close to your swimmin' pools.
And those of you who may be planning
to visit the Maski Reservation this weekend
for the annual rain dance,
don't count on those dancers, bring your own water.
And now here we go back to the big C&W beat,
Crystal Gayle's "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue."
Where in the hell have you been?
Cleaning swimming pools.
What do you gotta show me?
Well, come on.
When did you find him?
Sunup.
Wave that thing, Ben.
Did you hear anything last night?
No, nothin'.
Keep it moving, Ben.
She didn't kick anything.
Her hooves are smooth.
Well, what do you think?
I don't know.
It was coyotes.
No, you would have heard 'em.
Besides, no coyote makes bites like that,
and no cat makes bites like that either.
What the hell did you do?
Sent for Walker Chee.
That wasn't right, Joe.
Well, it's my business, Duran.
You ought to know better than that.
The Pahana have no jurisdiction here.
Well, they got what I need.
Pahanas are like Anglo's, they got everything.
Whirlybirds, animal doctors.
And Chee, he gets things done.
All we've got here is a bunch of
goddamn priests chewin' datura root.
And you!
Came as quick as we could, Joe.
I appreciate that.
Hello Deputy.
You got no right being here, Chee.
Joe asked us over.
This is Maski territory,
or did you forget?
You're right, Duran.
I should have given you a call, but Joe had trouble.
Why are we arguing about territory?
We're all interested in the same thing.
And what's that?
To find out what killed Joe's mares, right?
I mean, that is the problem, or am I wrong?
Come on, Joe, show us the way.
In here.
Never seen anything like it.
Any ideas, doc?
No.
She'd have died of blood loss
if you hadn't shot her.
Gonna have to take some skin, blood samples.
What about the smell of ammonia?
That's right, it's strong as hell.
You use ammonia out here?
No.
Well, could you hurry it up, doc?
I got some important business back in Diamond Rock.
You selling the reservation this time?
Why don't you come off it, Duran?
I'm tired of your little putdowns.
I spent my whole life trying to bring some industry,
some help to this hellhole,
and not for my own people,
but for your people as well.
Now, you really want to know what's happening?
I'll tell ya.
Peabody Mining has found some shale oil
out in some of those canyons,
and I'm gonna nail that oil down
before it gets lost in the fine print
of the Indian Bureau's contract department.
So if you really want to be helpful,
you'll go back to your people
and have some of your priests
say a few prayers for me.
Whatever you say, Chee.
Only don't make any deals that include Maski.
Okay?
And that goes for your private police, too.
Right, Deputy, right.
What about you, Joe?
What about your mares?
What about them?
Well, I can tell you what's gonna happen.
Nothing's gonna happen.
What do you mean?
He'll file a report,
stick it in a cabinet in the bureau,
and that'll be it.
Let Chee find out what bled your animal to death.
Made bite marks no one's ever seen
and left a stink of ammonia.
So long, Joe.
Now, wait a minute, Duran-
No, no, no, you talk to Chee.
He's got whirlybirds and doctors.
Me, I'm just a dumb Maski cop.
He's right about one thing, though.
What's that?
These bites, they go right through to the bone,
just like razors.
Just like piranha fish.
Clean through the hide, right to the bone.
Hello, Duran.
That's quite a piece of artwork.
I'm sorry, boy, but they've all got to die.
Is that a fact?
Anybody I know?
Wine is good and cold, Abner.
Don't want any.
Menlo brothers worked hard to bring you this wine.
Imported from California.
They can keep it.
Now, you promised me
you would never make magic around me.
You told me you didn't believe in it.
That's not the point.
It scares the tourists.
No tourists around here.
Now, you know that's bullshit.
Two weeks ago, you stood in the middle of the highway naked,
covered in rabbit's blood, and wearing a coyote head.
And damn near wiped out a camper
full of little old ladies on their way to Vegas.
Them old ladies had blue hair!
It took me all afternoon to calm them down.
I sent for the fire clan priests.
They should see this.
The priests are afraid of you.
Everyone is afraid of you.
Everyone except you?
To me, you've always been a great man,
but you chased everyone away.
The time has come for them to die.
The priests?
Everyone.
They all got to go.
I saved the centre for the tablet of Yehwah.
The tablet's a myth, Abner.
No one's ever seen it.
I've seen it.
It's real.
It has great power.
You're stoned on datura root.
Have to open my mind.
You want some?
No, thanks.
I'll stick with the Menlo brothers.
Just what the hell are you up to, Abner?
I've opened a circle.
I'm ending the world.
The 4th world.
Hmm?
When?
Today.
I've decided to end the world.
They all have to go.
The damn Pahanas,
the federal court,
the Indian Bureau,
the mining companies,
and all them Anglo cities puttin' out their poison!
I set Yehwah free of the circle.
Look here.
You see that running figure between the snakes?
That's you.
You're coyote warrior clan.
You have more power than the fire clan priests,
and I need your help,
because I'm going to die tonight.
That's why I sent for you.
For what, Abner?
To see the painting.
To know I've opened a circle.
To know you are a part of it.
I'm sorry.
I got to end the world.
But it's a last chance for our people.
You understand that, don't you, boy?
Goodbye, Abner.
That's good, Lena.
Hold your breath and push.
That's good, push.
And just keep on pushing.
Push, push, that's good.
No, Dattor, no!
I need her to help me.
Push.
Come on, push.
Come on, come on.
No, please, no, I want her to help me!
That's good, that's good.
Now relax, relax, relax, relax.
That's good, breathe.
That's good.
Press under your legs if you have to.
Keep pushing.
That's good, relax.
I think we're almost there.
Come on, push, push.
That's good.
Hey, Robert.
Hi, Deputy.
Hi.
God, am I glad to see you.
I've missed you.
It was just last night.
Oh, last night was a long time ago.
What's the matter?
I just finished a report to the
Indian Bureau medical section.
We almost lost the baby.
What happened?
It was turned in the wrong position.
If we just had a clinic with prenatal care, x-rays!
I mean, just the basic facilities
that other Americans are provided with.
Maybe we could deal with these things better.
I just feel so inadequate.
I feel so alone.
You're not alone.
Not with me.
Let's go to Kachina Springs.
Every time you get emotionally upset,
you wanna take a hot bath.
Well, it worked for the Romans.
And look what happened to them.
Come on, grab your stuff.
It's great out there at sundown.
My God, we were so lucky to save that baby.
I love you, Anne.
Whatever happened to your foundation people?
They're at Selwyn's.
We're gonna take 'em out into the desert for a few days.
They gonna build us a hospital?
I hope so.
What tribe are they this time?
Some missionary group back east with lots of money.
Tell 'em we'll convert.
That should be worth at least a clinic.
Oh, yeah?
Since when are you the guardian of the Maski religion?
I've always been the guardian.
Abner says I'm coyote warrior clan.
Big power.
And you are my white goddess reborn,
risen out of a $200,000 Phoenix villa,
complete with swimming pool and tennis court.
What's the matter?
What's wrong?
I've been accepted at Baylor Medical.
Congratulations.
Duran, I've got to do it.
Yeah, sure you do.
What the hell?
I'll see you in five years.
Look, Houston isn't the moon.
And there's no law that says you can't visit.
Oh, terrific.
Save a weekend for me.
Oh for Christ sake, Duran,
I don't see why you can't understand.
I want to know more!
I don't like to feel helpless like this!
I don't like to watch people die,
because maybe I don't know enough.
I understand.
You know damn well I understand.
But it's tough.
It's tough as hell for me.
I have these visions of you,
strolling around campus with all those white boys,
driving their beautiful Spyder Porsches
to their beautiful swimming pools.
And I'm here looking at cactus and scorpions.
I'm jealous.
I'm sorry, I wish I wasn't, but I am.
Okay.
I can accept jealousy.
But the rest of it you can stuff.
You know,
today it's a good thing we came up here.
Running out of time.
Abner's ending the world.
Oh yeah, when?
Today.
You believe him?
Abner's a very great man.
What's the matter?
I don't know.
Just felt a chill.
Put your arms around me.
Okay, Abner.
Okay.
Of course these people need help.
I've dedicated my life to these people.
Speaking absolutely frankly,
as I know I can do amongst Christians,
I have poured love all over these people.
I have watered the gardens of their souls with love.
Then why did you give up your missionary work?
Because you can shout hallelujah at lizards
and get more gratitude than you can from an Indian.
I sell them food on credit,
and they hate me for it.
My generator runs that freezer
that they throw their meat in,
and do they thank me for it?
On the contrary, friends,
they hate me for it.
But you're married to an Indian woman.
Yes.
Married to an Indian.
My wife and daughters there
are just five more reasons for them to hate me.
I was not aware the Quaker mission
requires gratitude for its service.
Listen to me, friend.
I was full of thees and thous
when I come out here 40 years ago.
Full of the word, I was.
One day, I caught my congregation
chopping up an old woman.
"Why are they doing this?" I asked!
"Because she's a bad witch," they said.
And by heaven, they'd have chopped me up next
if I got in the way.
Indians.
Don't tell me about Indians, mister.
You mean to say they actually murdered an old lady?
Mr. Selwyn is a notorious exaggerator.
These are good, hard-working people,
and they don't believe in witches.
Well, friends,
we have got a celebrity in our midst.
The only law on the reservation,
Deputy Duran.
I have to talk to you.
I need some cornmeal,
a rope, and a white sack.
Who died?
Abner.
Hard to believe.
I always thought the old bastard was immortal.
Was he a Christian?
Never, not even dead.
Abner was a witch.
A dangerous priest.
Had the power to talk to Yehwah.
Who is Yehwah?
The Maski god.
A monster who guards the gates of life and death.
Put it on my tab.
Your tab is gettin' big enough for a dowry.
When you gonna marry my daughter May?
I always hoped that Duran would
go for my daughter May.
May would never be trouble.
Hell, she don't even know who Mick Jagger is.
Sorry about Abner.
So am I.
He raised me.
He was a fine man years ago.
Where you gonna bury him?
Holy ground.
Place he loved, near River Canyon.
Where you taking those bible thumpers?
Hila Mesa.
You're not worried about me in the desert, are ya?
How long you gonna be out there?
A few days.
Going up to Mamoa's fishing,
and on over to the reservation for the rain dance.
Duran,
what's bothering you?
I don't know.
Is it Abner?
In a way.
Look, be careful out there.
I know you respect the desert, but be careful.
Promise me that.
Okay.
Fascinating, these burial rituals.
The half moon over his eye indicates
he was a priest of some importance.
I assume the Maski copied the half moons
from the Mayans and Aztecs.
Who the hell are you, mister?
My name's Phillip Payne.
You're trespassing,
and violating the remains of a Maski priest.
I assure you I mean no disrespect.
I saw the vultures outside --
Put that envelope back down.
These specimens are a biological necessity.
I can show you proper credentials.
I'm what you might call a specialist.
Put it down.
I apologise for what this looks like,
but if you give me a chance, I can explain.
You leave that envelope where it is.
Pack your bag, get in that fancy truck of yours,
and break the speed limit for a while.
It's too bad.
By studying the tissue content,
I might have found out the cause of his death.
You better leave while you can, mister.
You're making a mistake.
Abner Tasupi was a high priest of the Maski faith.
No one is gonna make a souvenir out of his body.
Get out!
You're not actually going to use that, are you?
One vulture is the same as another.
It's a shame, really,
but then, one can't fight superstition.
It's a very old enemy of mine.
You realise, of course, you've obstructed
a vital piece of research?
Well, you can always report me
to the people you work for.
I work for myself.
My skills are quite unique.
In biblical terms, you might call me
the exterminating angel.
Well, Abner,
I don't know if you were a good man or not,
but you were a great priest.
The two should go together, but they don't.
They were all afraid of you,
the priests, even the Anglo's.
You must have known something.
I'm on your side, Roger.
Look, we got a problem with the Maski,
but if there's oil up there, we'll get it out.
I understand.
Sure, I want this as soon as possible.
If necessary.
At the appropriate time,
I'll go to the Indian Bureau.
Not to worry, Roger.
I know my way around Washington, hmm?
Right.
Tomorrow, yeah.
Bye-bye, Roger.
You said this was important.
Right.
Do the words "Desmodus rotundus" mean anything to you?
Look, Payne,
I like that fancy rig you drive,
and I'm crazy about your English accent,
but I have no time for riddles.
Well, this riddle may save your entire nation.
What animal can turn circles
in the air around a fly,
has echo sensitivity equipment
superior to a billion-dollar bomber,
can see in the dark better than a cat,
communicates with high-frequency sounds,
converts the blood of other animals into its own blood,
mates all year round like a human,
can't live in harmony with other animals,
has no fear of humans,
and, in fact, thinks of us as food,
carries bubonic plague without dying of it.
Go on, I'm listening.
Yes, I hope so.
'Cause the only animal that fits that description
is the vampire bat.
Biological name Desmodus rotundus.
What has that got to do with me?
I have reason to believe that a vampire colony
has settled in a cave somewhere in this territory.
Payne, there are no vampire bats in the United States.
There weren't any in the Sonora mountains
in Mexico either, until 1973.
Two weeks ago, six vampires were found
in a church steeple near Alamogordo.
They're migrating.
I've pursued them.
But every colony I destroy always has a few survivors,
and those survivors multiply, flourish, mass, and move on.
And the last colony has settled somewhere in these canyons.
Payne, I've got my hands full
of Maski mysticism right now.
Rumours about vampire bats and bubonic plague-
I don't deal in rumours, Chee.
Well, when you get proof, you come and see me.
We'll talk again.
I might have had proof, if not for that deputy.
He confiscated critical tissue samples.
That's probably the most intelligent thing
Duran's ever done.
Right.
If you should come across any animal carcasses
drained of blood and smelling of ammonia,
you better find me fast.
Abner is dead.
I saw him go down into the Kiva.
When?
Last night.
I buried him yesterday.
Then what I saw was a vision.
He died without friends.
He has friends now.
You all treated him like he was nothing.
Abner became dangerous.
I buried a lonely old man.
You did a fine and noble thing to bury him.
His wounds bled after death.
He had great powers.
Abner said he was ending the world.
He said he painted Yehwah free,
and the sacred tablet was in the painting.
Why?
Was the circle in the painting open?
Yes, he opened the circle.
Where is the painting?
It's gone.
I burned the shack, the painting,
the Kachina dolls, the magic sands, everything.
You did all things right.
If you're trying to play my offer against Seaboard,
you're making a mistake.
We mining companies never fight each other.
Now, I'm warning you,
don't play games with me!
I'm not playing any games with you, Roger.
I brought you out here so you could see for yourself.
These Maski cling to superstitions and ancient rituals.
I've got to deal with a council
full of primitive old priests
who are stoned out of their minds most of the time.
Well, then, you better start dealing with them.
What would you suggest, Roger?
They've been down in that Kiva pit praying for rain.
Been there three days.
Goddamn it, Chee, now you either get that damn permit
or forget it.
I need a few more days, Roger.
Excuse me.
You're on the wrong reservation.
I don't think so.
Then you're confused.
Duran, you don't offend me because I understand you.
I got loads of my own Indians just like you.
Dumb and poor.
That's life on the reservation.
But it doesn't have to be.
I've gone to the white schools
and mastered their world.
I go to D.C., New York,
L.A., Dallas.
I speak at their forums, at their dinners,
to prove to the Anglo that Indians are not drunks
and religious fanatics.
I've got three power plants,
and six proposed power plants on my reservation.
That says that Indians can do more than just make dolls.
Now you tell me, Duran,
how much have you done for your people?
Not much.
Well, you've got a wonderful opportunity now.
You see that Anglo up there?
He's Peabody Mining.
His experts tell me that Maski Canyon
sits on a shelf of shale oil.
It could mean a whole new world for our people.
Maski Canyon is sacred ground.
All right, Duran,
let's cut through the sophomoric bullshit.
Money is the white man's god,
his holy grail.
To me, it means schools,
clothing, food,
irrigation, and clinics.
These things should be more sacred to us
than some goddamn ghosts.
You tell that to the priests!
Tell them how rich they're gonna be.
A Mercedes Benz in every backyard.
A swimming pool in every adobe.
Trips to Disneyland, weekends in Vegas.
All they gotta do is let you strip-mine
the souls of their ancestors!
How come you don't court my pretty daughter May?
She's got a good brain.
She works harder than a mule,
and she'd never run around on you,
and she'd never want a Mercedes Benz.
I don't need a wife.
Yes, you do.
Every man needs a good wife.
Stop here.
Where the hell are we?
Holy ground.
What for?
To visit Abner's grave.
Hey, pass me the bottle!
I don't need to be any ways near Abner's grave.
You think Abner was a witch?
No, I think he's a wonderful person.
He really was, you know.
Like hell he was!
He was a killer priest!
Well, he can't hurt you now.
Uh-huh.
I knew it.
The bastard rose up.
Someone dug him up.
Uh-uh.
There's no shovel marks or footprints.
Grave robbers don't leave names.
It was the fire clan priests.
Or maybe that crazy Englishman.
No, no, no.
I tell you, he's risen.
You feel that wind?
He's here with us.
Um, I want the mother and father at the hospital too.
Okay.
Yeah, doc, I'll take care of it.
What do you think, doc?
I don't know.
Time is everything.
If you're not bled to death, you've got a chance.
Doctor, I'd like to show you something.
You, too, Chee.
I've got four species of flea on this slide.
Carnivore, dog,
exciopus, and bat.
I'm going to put a blood spot on the slide.
Now, what do you see?
Well, the bat flea is ingesting the blood.
No, keep looking.
Now what do you see?
It's a bacilli, and virulent.
You mind if I take a look at that?
Go ahead.
Where did you get that blood specimen?
Same place as the fleas, the dead sheep.
What kind of bacilli is that?
Bubonic plague.
Now, how the hell do you know that?
It's my business to know.
What do you think, doc?
Well, it certainly could be plague.
What mystifies me is the loss of blood
and the stench of ammonia and the bites.
I've never seen bites like that.
Bite marks come from the
incisor teeth of vampire bats.
The blood loss and the ammonia are one and the same.
Meaning what?
Vampires consume one and a half
times their weight in blood.
They piss the excess out
so they can get airborne again.
That excess blood turns into ammonia.
Make no mistake,
there's a highly intelligent colony of vampire bats
roosting in a great cave somewhere in these canyons.
Their attacks inevitably will be drawn closer
to mass human dwellings,
and with these attacks come the bubonic plague.
That's what you got to face, Chee.
What about placing the reservations under quarantine?
No, that won't help.
You can't protect people from nocturnal sweeps
of 30,000 or 40,000 vampire bats.
If you called a quarantine,
you'll create a greater disaster.
You'll have a small army of inexperienced
health department bureaucrats
stumbling around dropping
T.N.T. into those canyons.
They'll scatter this vampire colony
into every major city in the southwest.
Now, so far they haven't hit the populated area.
We still have time.
You mean to find them and kill them?
Yes.
Now, this is a formula I've used in the past.
It's a mixture of biotics,
myacins, and sulphur.
It's not a plague vaccine, but if injected early,
it does provide a degree of resistance,
much the same way as gamma globulin
provides limited resistance to hepatitis.
I suggest you fill it in quantity.
Now if you don't mind doctor,
I'd like to talk to Mr. Chee alone.
Of course, and thank you for your help, Mr. Payne.
I'll be in touch when I get back.
Can you trust him to stay calm?
Absolutely.
How do you know?
I pay him.
Why?
Because I'm gonna track this vampire colony.
I'm going to exterminate it.
I want no interference.
What we know remains with us.
There's no problem, Payne.
We have similar interests.
Yes.
For different reasons I suspect.
Will $25,000 cover your fee?
There's no price.
I kill vampire bats, that's what I do.
I find them and I kill them.
How long will it take you?
Three days at the outside.
Quiet, listen.
What is that?
It's a night owl.
They roost in the cactus holes.
Are they part of the Maski mythology, Miss Dillon?
The Maski people are desert people.
The desert creates its own mythology.
The Maski religion's just based on that mythology.
But in practical terms, it's all just superstition.
Isn't all religion?
That sounds close to blasphemy, Miss Dillon.
Well, I'm sorry, it wasn't meant to be.
I just mean that the time, the place,
and the events dictate the beliefs of any people.
I'm cold.
I'm gonna go check the weather report.
Why?
The night is so clear,
just look at all the stars.
Well, the wind seems to have changed,
and storms come up pretty quickly out here.
Miss Dillon tells that old Maski saying,
"The Indian builds a small fire
"and crouches close to it."
John, would you please toast me a marshmallow?
Of course.
With any luck at all, we'll have mountain trout tomorrow.
Trout in the desert?
Anne says there's a trout stream
up above the Mamoa Ranch.
You talk about that girl as if she were a prophet.
What was that?
What?
That sound.
Well, it must be the wind.
What else could it be?
Quiet, listen.
The camper!
Run!
Ow! Ow!
Open it!
- Pull on it! - I can't!
Pull on it!
Get back, I can't get the door open!
Please! Please!
John!
John please!
John! John!
John, wait!
You've got to open the door!
They'll bite me!
You've got to let them in!
You can't, they'll kill us!
Get her off mel
John! No, no!
Wait a minute!
You've got to open the door!
John! Oh God!
God! Please!
God, no, we've got to go back!
Please, you've got to go back!
Just bear with me.
We've got to get away!
Stop!
Stop the car!
Let me go!
No!
John, stop it!
Oh, God!
You ought to keep sucking that juice.
Cactus pulp's all we got.
Pray for me.
Please.
We're not expected for three days.
Save yourself,
I'm not gonna die.
Save your breath.
Where are you going?
Going fishin'.
No rain clouds yet.
I've been thinking of Abner.
His grave was empty.
Any tracks?
No.
But someone stole his body.
Abner stole the tablet of Yehwah,
and now he has great power.
How do you know that?
Abner told me.
He's driving all the whites away.
Yehwah is bringing back the civilization of the Maski,
and we're gonna rise up like we did 400 years ago
when we wiped out the Spaniard.
Abner told me that.
When did he tell you this?
This morning.
While I was praying, he came and told me.
Aren't the priests supposed to come up for the dance?
That has always been the custom.
I want permission to go down there.
Our laws say it is forbidden.
I know.
I have to go.
Female.
Caucasian.
Spine crushed by tyre.
Second corpse, female, burned.
Both bodies drained of blood,
heavy smell of ammonia,
no trace of survivors.
Wounds inflicted by vampire specie.
You fished for snakes,
that's really funny, you know.
I saw God while I slept.
Shh.
He knew me.
He said, "Welcome."
All right, let's get this body
down to the ambulance.
Now let's get these to the ambulance, too.
Any swelling on the bodies?
No, just grey.
What killed them?
No clear signs, but the froth on the mouth
does indicate pulmonary complications.
Toxic agents.
And no flea bites.
No buboes.
And no bite marks.
These symptoms are not the same as the Laloma boy.
Symptoms, my ass!
Those bodies are grey!
He's worried about losing a business deal,
but you're a doctor, so let's cut the crap!
Froth means lung infection,
and grey skin means no oxygen in the blood.
Those seven men died of pneumonic plague!
I've seen enough Maski die of pneumonia
to know it when I see it!
Well, pneumonic plague is a distinct possibility.
But there was no bat attack.
How did they contract the bacilli?
The fire clan priests stole Abner's body.
Why?
To be certain he had no afterlife powers.
The priests were afraid of Abner, afraid of his power.
Well,
at least we know what we're up against.
We can start the inoculation.
Against bubonic plague?
There's no such vaccine.
Payne gave me a formula, he said it's resistant.
I brought a batch with me.
We'll inoculate the reservation.
And what then, the whole southwest?
Now, you pay attention, Chee.
Right here, Black Mesa, seven bodies.
East of Hila, the Laloma boy.
And outside of Morami, Abner.
So within an area of 500 square miles,
a bat virus, turning pneumonic,
has killed nine people.
There's two more.
What?
Payne radioed.
He found two more bodies.
Women.
30 miles or so east of here.
Jesus Christ.
Anne Dillon's party.
Relax, Duran.
It wasn't your lady friend.
The two corpses were middle-aged women.
The bodies bore the same wounds and ammonia smell.
That means Anne's still out there with survivors.
You're panicking, Duran.
If Payne found two women,
Anne must have escaped in the camper.
So we have a localised problem, and we can contain it.
How?
You want to quarantine the Maski?
Then the Pahana nation?
You're worried about an oil business deal.
What about Arizona and New Mexico?
And you're worried about Anne Dillon!
You're goddamn right, I am!
I want both of your choppers
in front of my office in the morning.
Now, what the hell for?
To search for Anne Dillon
and what's left of her party.
And one more thing,
when we're through with this,
I'm going to alert every
health agency in the state.
Now, wait a minute, Duran!
Come here.
I wanna talk to you.
Look Duran, I may be a lot of things to you,
but I'm not stupid,
and I'm not a killer.
I know what we're up against,
and I also know that if you tell
the state health authorities,
they'll alert the Atlanta disease control,
and then we're gonna have an army,
a white army of amateurs running all over the place
spreading panic and plague.
A lot of people are going to die.
We can't afford to panic, Duran.
Now I need your help.
Help with what?
Give Payne 36 hours.
I've seen his credentials and checked them out.
He's one of the five acknowledged experts in the world.
Expert in what?
In tracking and exterminating vampire bats.
He's the only real chance
we have to stop this thing.
All I'm asking for is 36 hours.
Then you can go ring all the bells you want,
and I'll ring them right alongside of you, all right?
Okay, you got the 36 hours,
but I still want those choppers tomorrow morning
with a full medical team.
Okay.
Maybe we owe Anne Dillon that much.
All right, you got the choppers,
but you better organise your men
and start the inoculations.
Clock's running, Chee.
Those choppers,
in front of my office, sunup.
You have my word.
He's panicked.
In the morning, I want that
Maski son of a bitch in handcuffs.
I read your last heading.
Should be there before noon if the jeep holds up.
The terrain is rough as hell.
I'm signing off now.
Night voices of 30,000 cycles.
Vampire colony coming from the west.
Going up to 200,000 cycles.
Cutting mic arc to 90 degrees.
Now some late breaking news
relating to yesterday's tragic events
at the Maski rain dance,
which was marred by the sudden
death of seven elderly priests.
At first it was thought that the deceased
were victims of the swine flu.
Autopsies show, however, that
the victims died of a botulism
contracted from unrefrigerated food
left in their ceremonial chamber.
And now a weather advisory to all desert campers.
Temperatures today will reach a scorching 128 degrees.
Be certain you have ample water and shade,
and under no circumstances venture out
into the desert alone.
Another health advisory from the
Pahana Police Headquarters at Diamond Rock.
A jackrabbit turned in by Deputy Duran has proven
to have an animal form of plague.
Deputy Duran is being sought by authorities
so they can administer necessary vaccines.
Anyone seeing Deputy Duran...
You're late, Duran.
I didn't figure on a blown radiator.
Tell me, how much farther could you go on foot?
Another 10 feet.
You remember where you found those women?
Yes, of course.
Well, Anne can't be far away from there.
Jump in, if she's alive, we'll find her.
Anne.
Anne, can you hear me?
I knew you'd come.
I never gave up.
Let me have a look.
I want to thank you, Payne.
You can thank me after we've
destroyed the vampires.
What do you mean "we"?
She's dehydrated.
No bite marks.
No sign of plague.
Try to give her some water.
Here.
Just a sip.
No, easy.
How'd you find me?
The tracks,
and the smoke.
Am I okay?
You're fine.
They're all dead.
I know.
I was in the camper.
They came just after dark.
Thousands of them.
They filled the sky.
It was like the end of the world.
You don't kill bats with that, do you?
No, this shoots a small electronic dart,
an F.M. sending unit.
It's hard to believe that this
helps me track their movements.
You know where the colony is?
Yes, somewhere in Maski Canyon.
You sure?
Absolutely.
Then why the darts?
Well, there are lots of caves in the canyon.
When we get near to Maski, I'll nail one of them
and hopefully track them to the right cave.
This is what I use to kill them, cyanide gas.
Earlier today, when we found Anne, you said "we."
When "we" kill the bats.
What did you mean by that?
You know Maski Canyon,
you can help me find the colony.
The dart's never foolproof.
That canyon is the holiest ground in the Maski religion.
Yes, I know.
What do you say, will you help me?
I don't want Anne in any danger.
There's no way of sending her back.
Yes, I understand,
but we take no chances with her.
Yes, of course.
Tell me, Payne, why do you do it?
Why do you kill them?
Somebody has to.
But why you?
It's what I do, it's what I know.
How do you survive?
I'm S rey?
Money.
I have a grant from the World Health Organisation.
It's not much, but that's not important.
It just doesn't seem natural for a man to spend his life,
his entire life killing bats.
Not just bats, vampire bats.
I kill them because they're evil.
There's a mutual grace
and violence in all forms of nature,
and each specie of life gives something
in return for its own existence.
All but one, a freak.
The vampire bat alone is that specie.
Have you ever seen one of their caves?
No.
I killed over 60,000 of them last year in Mexico.
You really understand the presence of evil
when you go into their caves.
The smell of ammonia alone is enough to kill you.
The floor of the cave is a
foul syrup of digested blood.
And the bats,
up high, hanging upside down,
rustling, fighting, mating,
sending constant messages,
waiting for the light to fade,
hungry for blood,
coaxing the big females to wake up
and flex their night wings
to lead the colony out across the land,
homing in on any living thing.
Cattle, sheep, dogs,
children.
Anything with warm blood.
And they feast, drinking the blood and pissing ammonia.
I kill them because they're the quintessence of evil.
To me, nothing else exists!
The destruction of vampire bats is what I live for.
Payne, come in.
I'm all over the band.
Come in, Payne.
This is Payne, go ahead.
I've got critical problems.
I need you here.
That's impossible, I found the colony.
Where are you?
Hila Mesa.
The northwest side, you'll find me there in the morning.
Have you seen Duran?
I've seen no one, I'm sighing off now, Chee.
Wait a minute, for Christ sake-
We're 100 miles from Hila Mesa.
Yes, I know.
So why did you send him there?
Because I don't want a bunch of amateurs
dropping T.N.T. into the canyons.
Why did you protect me?
Because I need you.
You take a chopper up to Hila Mesa at daybreak
and find that bastard Payne.
What about Duran?
We'll take the other chopper
and start where Payne found
those two foundation women.
You meet us there.
Keep the quarantine bulletins going,
but no mention of vampire bats.
Okay.
You got a drink here, Chee?
Yeah, sure.
You know, Deputy Duran suddenly becomes damned important.
Why?
Well, with those Maski priests dead,
Duran's the only authority left.
Duran will never agree to sell
the mining rights to Maski Canyon.
Sure he will.
How do you know that?
When you sent police instead of medics
in those two helicopters,
why didn't Duran blow the whistle?
He could have alerted all the state agencies.
He threatened to, didn't he?
Yeah.
But he would never take the responsibility for that.
A panic call would paralyse the whole state,
and Duran knows better.
He played poker with me,
hoping I'd send the choppers with medics
to find his girlfriend.
I sent the police instead.
He figured my play.
You bet he did.
Duran's a smart son of a bitch.
He's been out in the world.
You told him about shale oil in Maski, right?
Sure I did.
And you can bet your ass he was listening.
Duran's our deal maker.
Duran hates my guts.
But he doesn't hate money.
Those Maski priests were fanatics,
but Duran,
Duran's like all of us, Chee.
He can be bought.
Maski Canyon.
The home of Yehwah,
the ghost pueblos and the eternal fires.
Any ideas?
You can set the lab up here.
I'm going to climb those high ridges.
The bat cave would have to have an open top.
I might get lucky.
All right.
But make sure you're back here
at least an hour before dark.
I don't want you running into any of those bastards.
So strange that something that evil
would settle in such a sacred place.
Not so strange.
Abner had a winged figure in the painting.
You don't really believe Abner
conjured them up, do you?
There are limits, even to superstition.
One man's superstition is another man's religion.
Hello, son.
Hello, Abner.
You did right to take datura.
You have to open your mind.
I'm fighting you, Abner.
No!
You saw the painting.
Yehwah is let out,
and you're in the painting.
You killed our own people.
Yehwah will keep the good
Maski out of the underground!
The rest will have to die.
Where are the bats?
Tell me, uncle, where are they?
The flying animals are Yehwah messengers!
I can't let you kill everyone.
You're a good boy.
You'll do the right thing.
I'm fighting you, Abner.
Don't fight me, boy.
I have to fight you!
Plague quarantine area
now includes the southern rim of the Black Mesa.
Also the towns of Mowan Copy and Tupa City.
Tribal officials say the plague will be under
control very soon.
Under control.
I hope they informed the bats.
Are you sure they can't bite through this?
You can survive a bite.
You might even survive a plague,
but if they settle on you in a group,
they'll bleed you to death in minutes.
And you set the batteries at 115 volts,
then throw the switch.
God, I'm sorry.
When the bats hit the mesh,
you throw the switch.
How can I be so sure they're gonna come?
They're close.
They'll soon find us.
You okay?
Yeah.
There are a lot of legends about bats.
The Koran said Jesus created the first bat.
He was in the hills outside Jerusalem
and couldn't see the Western horizon,
so he took some clay and made a winged creature
into which he blew life.
That creature, the bat,
flew out at night to tell
Jesus of the setting sun.
The Egyptians believed that
the presence of bats ensured fertility.
To the Mayans, the bat was a demon god.
The Aztecs made blood sacrifices to vampire gods,
but it didn't help.
Their civilizations disappeared.
The vampires came out of the jungles hungry and thirsty,
invaded their cities, and destroyed them.
There's something on the scope, Payne.
Here they come, only minutes after sunset.
West northwest bearing directly towards us
in a tight formation, listen.
All right, you hold that pole.
Anne, hit the switch the moment I say so.
Keep your nerve and don't throw it too soon.
Oh God, that sound.
They're tearing the pole away.
Hit the switch!
Not yet.
Hit!
Payne!
Now, Anne!
Hit it, Anne!
Somebody help me!
It won't work!
Hit the switch!
Christ, Payne, I can't!
Hit the switch!
It's not working!
Hit the goddamn switch!
Oh, my God!
Something's wrong, Payne, will you help me?
The clips are off.
I can't connect the damn thing!
They're getting through!
They're getting through, Payne!
Now.
Duran!
Go back and get me the axe and the lantern.
What are you doing?
Come.
I want you to stay here.
Duran, you're not leaving me.
Damn it, Anne!
Don't argue with me!
Payne!
Can you hear me?
My wrist's caught, I can't get down!
I'm coming out, Payne!
Not a chance, it's getting dark.
They'll be awake by the time you're halfway up.
Where's the poison gas?
Gone down in the pool.
Oh, my God.
Listen to me, I want you to cut the line.
The drop's too far.
I'll catch the rocks.
Take out your knife,
hold it ready,
and start to swing your body.
Shit, it won't work, Duran!
I won't clear the rocks!
You can clear the rocks!
Now, do what I tell you.
There's soft sand over there.
Swing your body towards it.
I'll tell you when to cut the rope.
It won't work.
It's solid ammonia.
If I don't clear the rocks,
I'll fall in.
I'll be finished in three seconds.
I'd rather die up here.
You want to die up there?
You want to be bled to death?
You want them to piss your
life's blood out into the floor?
Look at them!
They'll be up soon!
They'll be all over you!
Your eyes, your mouth,
your neck, your body!
I know how to kill them,
but if you don't try, I'm walking out!
Payne!
They win!
Payne!
That's it.
Now push out with your feet.
Kick.
That's it.
Push out with your feet.
The light's starting to go.
Keep going.
Put the knife against the rope, hold it.
Don't look up.
I'll yell now.
Now, cut it, Payne!
He needs morphine.
Too late, it's too late.
Bite into this.
Night sky, it's too late.
Bite.
Chew, chew.
God, help him.
He's going into shock, we have to keep him warm.
At least he's alive.
We gotta get him out of here.
Oh God.
Duran.
If he wakes up, give him some of this.
Hello, Duran.
I'm closing the circle, Abner.
Duran, the bats are waking up,
we're running out of time!
Anne, help me!
What are you doing?
I won't let it end, Abner.
Who are you talking to?
You gotta help me close the circle.
What are we doing?
This shale's full of oil.
I'm gonna close the circle
and light the eternal fire.
Just do what I say!
Give him some datura, I'll finish this.
They're waking up.
Go!
Now!
Don't close the fire ring!
I've got to close the circle.
Duran, the light's gone!
The circle.
I've got to close the circle.
Duran, they're here!
You can't light the eternal fire!
You can't destroy your own god!
What kind of god kills his own people?
I have to end the world.
No, I won't let you.
You're not god.
You're not anyone's god.
You're not even real.
It's a last chance for our people.
Join me, boy!
I did it for you!
I did it for our people!
The tablet of Yehwah says:
"The god of death shall be consumed by fire."
I'm lighting the eternal flame.
You don't have the power!
You said I was warrior clan!
I have greater power than fire clan,
a greater power than yours!
I'm sorry, Uncle, it's too late.
I'm closing the circle!
No, no!
Get back with Payne, Anne!
Get him up.
Come on!
The choppers are on the way.
Afraid I'm not much at acrobatics.
It took a hell of a lot of courage to cut that rope.
I didn't have much choice, did I?
I got careless up there.
Too confident.
That canyon's gonna burn forever.
Guess there won't be any mining there.
Looks as if you won.
Abner won.
He knew the vampire bats were in Maski Canyon.
He used them.
Used you, me,
Chee, and the priests, he used everyone.
Nature, religion,
and his own powers to stop that mine.
He summoned the eternal fires.