TRANSCRIPT: The Second Tale of Sodapop, Part 2

[Music: “Swamp Fever,” by Walt Adams]

Sodapop picks his way through a forest gone wrong. His shoulders ache a little, but he ignores it. His bad knee catches, but he shakes it off. 

Nearby, the thing with giant paws leads him up the hill again. Its footsteps send little electrical pulses through the dirt. They tingle when they reach his paw-pads. Sodapop tries to step over and around them, but their trajectory is hard to predict. 

Here and there, Big-Paws stops, tilts its head, and listens. Occasionally, it calls in a high, clear voice. Sodapop never hears a reply, but it seems this creature has a companion, or maybe even a pack.

The forest has grown uncannily dark, darker even than the room with black-out curtains where Lara sometimes sleeps. Distorted calls from changed animals echo through the night. The scent profile is dizzying. Big-Paws is the scent equivalent of a neon siren, a tangled mass of pheromones under a pungent sulfur smell. The bizarre, half-dead animals are almost masked by it, though he can find them if he concentrates. If Sodapop’s nose is to be trusted, night and day animals are out at the same time, and at least a third of them have been dead for weeks. If it doesn’t smell of death, it smells of fear. Sodapop has never encountered so many different kinds of fear.

While the big-pawed creature’s ultimate goal is unclear, it seems to want to protect the little dog. When it sees him cringe away from an underground pulse, it stops sending them his way. Instead, it turns its head toward him now and then. 

Once, a group of evil opossums draw near. It stomps its foot then, and Sodapop hears them shriek and run away. He follows a little closer after that.

Far above them, the sky begins to scream.

Before tonight, the worst sound Sodapop had ever heard was the low battery alarm on a smoke detector. The smoke detector is a horrible little creature that lives on the ceiling in Lara’s house. It lies silent for most of its life, but sometimes – usually when Lara makes dinner – it wakes up and screams. The low battery sound is shorter than the scream, but it is infinitely more painful. Its frequency pierces right through Sodapop’s brain. When he first heard that chirp, Sodapop shook all over, and he didn’t stop shaking until late into the night. Even after Lara took the smoke detector down, took out all its pieces, he still remembered the pain. It hasn’t chirped since she put it back together, but he’s careful of it all the same. That chirp is Sodapop’s greatest fear.

That is, until he hears the stars.

There is something wrong with the stars.

They appear in the sky as sickly bolts of light. As each appears, it begins to whine. The high-pitched sound blooms, rises, and falls, hits every discordant note across a thousand scales. The reverberations hit a pitch that Sodapop can’t even hear – but he still feels them, tearing through his eardrums, clawing at his eyeballs, rattling his bones. Sodapop screams, though he can’t hear himself screaming. He feels like he’s being compressed, every atom crashing into each other, then shaking loose only to settle closer, tighter, heavier. In desperation, he barks at his own body, at the attacker within and without. He cries for someone else to help him, and he cries in case it helps someone else.

Then there’s a ripple under his feet, and the sky goes quiet. Sodapop looks up to see the big-pawed creature by his side. It leans over and looks down at him. Its eyes glitter with broken moonlight. Everything smells like sulfur. Sodapop doesn’t mind.

It walks forward, and this time Sodapop stays very close, touching when he can. Its fur is rough, like uncut brush. He trembles at the sky. He trembles at the monster by his side. He is caught, he realizes. And he is so very far from home.

Suddenly, the monster stops. Its excitement fills the air around it, like static electricity. It lets out a piercing, rumbling roar. 

This time, another sound echoes back. Many sounds, actually. Rumbles, roars, cries. Big-paws has found its pack. 

They loom up out of shadows, differentiate themselves from thickets and grass piles. They could be bears, or they could be trees. Tall, mossy, human-like and plant-like and wild. They vary in size. The one who came here with Sodapop, which looks taller than any animal Sodapop has yet seen, might be the smallest one. It is the most like a human. The others take strange forms. One has antler-like growths sprouting from its head. Another has long, leathery flaps that sweep the earth behind it. All have four limbs, though. All have huge paws. All of them move both above and beneath the ground. 

By their sides, perched on their arms, following in their wake, are animals. Regular animals, alive ones, untouched by whatever decay has struck the other creatures of this place. Birds, field mice, furry things and feathery things and even a few scaly ones. They ought to be afraid of each other, but they’re too dazed, too exhausted. Like Sodapop, they can only huddle close and worry.

The tree-bear-beings move into a loose circle. They stand on their hind paws, whatever shape those take, and extend their front paws toward each other. Sodapop feels waves of energy pass between them. It’s electric, like before, but not uncomfortable. It pulses like a heartbeat.

Gradually, they begin to hum.  It’s a deep, rumbling note that drowns out the horrible screams of the stars and shakes loose muscles bound by fear. Sodapop looks around, and sees the other animals come back to themselves. He watches them relax. He looks up at the little big thing that brought him here. It glances down at him, its eyes soft. Then it looks to its companions and joins the hum.

Across the Beast-Ring, Sodapop spots a familiar spot of white-on-black fur. The Barn Cat is here, standing between the feet of a beast that looks like a giant pile of moss. She holds a kitten in her jaws. As he makes his way toward her, she sets the kitten down and cleans its ears. She pauses as he draws close, but a flicker of recognition runs through her, and she resumes cleaning. 

Sodapop sniffs them both. The kitten smells a little like the Barn Cat, but not much. It came from the same place, perhaps. But it isn’t hers. Still, she calms it. Then she turns back, toward the space behind the moss-beast. She twitches her tail, then plunges back into the darkness.

It’s still horrible out there. Sodapop can feel it. Everything is wrong, and the stars still scream. He moves to catch the Barn Cat, to call her back, but she’s gone before he can react. He looks at the kitten, tiny and forlorn at the feet of a mossy monster. He whines.

The Barn Cat darts back in with another kitten. Her hair is all on end. He can feel her frayed nerves, smell her pain and panic. Still, she licks the kitten once, sets it with its sibling, and races back into the forest again.

The kittens stare up at him with wide, frightened eyes. He sniffs at them carefully. The first kitten reaches up, tiny claws extended, and grabs onto his muzzle. He yelps and pulls backward. The Moss-Beast lets out a deep, subsonic grumble. Dog and cats freeze in place until it stops with a satisfied grunt.

Two more times the Barn Cat comes back with a kitten, sets it with the others, and runs away again. Each journey seems to hit her harder. By the time she gets back with the fifth kitten, smaller and stickier than its siblings, she moves slowly, like every joint hurts. Her hair sheds in tufts. She sets the tiny one with the others and leans against the moss-beast, exhausted. She looks at Sodapop, as if seeing him for the first time. Her ears twitch. He moves in and licks the kittens for her. The little one tastes like blood. Feline blood. Not its own.

It’s hard to say when Sodapop becomes aware that Lara is in trouble. The feeling creeps up on him, a tiny sensation running up his spine. He licks the kittens harder and harder until the Barn Cat steps between them with a hiss. That’s when he realizes how tense he is.

He pads back to the Big-Pawed creature, the young one who led him here. Young Big-Paws looks down at him. Sodapop whines. It seems to understand. It glances at the others. It moves one giant foot, just a little. Just enough to open a path to the outside.

Sodapop sniffs the air. He has to concentrate hard, as there’s a lot of interference now. The Big-Pawed creatures are overwhelming, so many of them all together emitting a series of pulses and pheromones. He pushes himself, though. Sulfur, electricity, mice, robins, crows, kitten, moss, sulfur, bat, kitten, squirrel, old dirt, new dirt, decay, water, life…a million scents accost him, and he presses past them all, sorts through them, looking for…

Nothing.

At the edge of this jumble of smells, there’s nothing. 

And deep inside the nothing, there’s a call.

It’s not a smell, or a sound, or anything else. It’s a force. A pull. The thing that pulls the tides, beckons waves to the shore and drags them back again. If it’s a light, then it’s a dull one. But it calls all the same.

He glances back at the barn cat. The kittens aren’t hers. But she still saved the kittens.

He looks up at the young Big-paw. It meets his gaze. He wags his tail. It nods.

The cacophony rushes back the second he leaves the circle. It takes all his senses with it. Sodapop can’t understand anything he passes. A group of elk fight over the carcass of a coyote. Bats slam into tree trunks, unable to hear themselves over the screaming sky. Everything smells of confusion, of fear, of blood.

Sodapop points himself at the nothing-smell and crashes wildly into the underbrush. He careens sideways, unmoored, like the time that a child tried to take him on a swing set and just kept pulling him back and forth. The nothingness is his beacon, a comforting bit of silence in this ocean of input, and he orients himself toward it. At its center is the urgent thing, the compulsion that pushes him on.

By the time he reaches the clearing, he is utterly confusing. The lifeless dirt feels like soft sand beneath his paws. The screaming stars blend with the voices of distressed animals and humans. To his overspent ears, they become a distant roar, the roiling of a lifeless surf. He staggers sideways, shakes his head, and searches again.

This time he feels it, a strange thump in his chest. He looks toward the center of this dead place. Past a sea of death and decay and panic lies the whole, entire world.

There is his human. And there is Lara. They are there together, very far away.

Sodapop summons the last of his strength and sprints. It takes everything he has to move in this place, but because he is a dog, he has everything to give. He runs. And as he runs, he howls at the moon.

Lara hears him first. Both of his humans are far away, somehow here and somewhere else. But when he cries, Lara turns. The movement is slow, dazed, but unmistakable. He leaps toward her outstretched arms, and in a moment, she’s only here.

It’s Lara who brings his human back. She reflects the human who is the sun, and she draws her from the darkness. His human wraps him in light, and for a moment everything is okay, even in this nightmare world. Sodapop helps Lara who helps Rose who helps Sodapop, just as it ought to be.

When his human rises, she is the brightest thing in the night. She throws a lantern into the center of the nothingness, and the monsters burst into flame. Lara is cool against the ensuing fire, her arms secure around his chest as she lifts him up and carries him away.

What follows after that is a blur. Sodapop falls asleep in the backseat of another car. When he wakes up, Mom has him. She is kinder than she was before. She gives him treats and takes him to a groomer, where he gets even more treats. The groomer picks at his paw pads and pulls at his matted hair. He hates this. But when the groomer finishes, Sodapop feels better than he has in days. This is most likely a coincidence.

Time passes slowly, until one day Mom takes him somewhere new. It’s a strange place, with slick floors and a bitey, antiseptic smell. She hurries him down the hall, though he wants to stop and sniff at everything he sees, and ushers him into a room. There, on a bed, is Rose. He knows that she is called Rose, because the humans keep saying it over and over. For the first time since he can remember, she seems happy. She is at peace. She smells of medicine and still carries hints of the forest, but she is well. He licks her face, and she laughs.

At the edge of her bed is Lara. Lara shrinks away from Mom, who touches Rose’s hair. Mom takes care of Rose, he thinks.  

Mom leaves the room so his humans can talk. He doesn’t know the words they say, but for once the tone seems soft, kind. 

As they talk, Sodapop watches Lara. She compels him, somehow. He’s never noticed that before. He feels her movements. There’s such comfort to her presence. She is quiet, and cool, and not always easy to read. But mostly, she is alone.

Sodapop thinks of the barn cat, watching the kittens that didn’t smell like her. He thinks of the big-pawed monster that saved him even though every instinct said that they should fight. He thinks of the ocean – the real ocean. He thinks of the moon and the tides.

The humans go quiet, and he knows they’re going to move apart again. This is the way of them, it turns out. Perfect pieces that never seem to fit. 

When Lara moves, Sodapop wants to follow. She needs him, he realizes. And he is a good boy. A good boy goes where he’s needed.

For the final time, his human envelops him in warm, healing light. She says something in a sad, determined voice. She sets him on the ground. Then Lara walks out the door, and Sodapop follows. Like the tide. Like a beacon in the night. 

They step out into the parking lot, and Lara lets out a shuddering breath. She stares into space for a long, quiet moment. Sodapop nudges her leg with his nose. Lara looks down at him and laughs.

Everything, he knows, will be okay.

The end. ‘Bye now.

[Outro song: “Dear Moon,” by Velvet Moon]

SEVEN OF HEARTS PROMO TRANSCRIPT

VOICE

Are you alone? Are you sure? Anyone could be watching, waiting…you wouldn’t know, would you? No, of course you wouldn’t.

Pause

ZACH

Still smoking, I see

ALEX

Still acting like I give a damn about your opinion.

Pause

CARM

There’s…nobody here. Nobody here, just…my imagination.

Pause

SAL

Look, you either need to leave me alone, or show yourself, because I’m not doing this.

Pause

VOICE

You don’t even know what’s coming. Don’t worry, I promise, in the end, it will be quick.

Pause

CARMIN

You really don’t see anything wrong with making a coke and mentos volcano in the dorm bathroom. Really?

SAL

No.

CONNOR

Nope.

TRANSCRIPT: The Second Tale of Sodapop, Part 1

SURPRISE! Happy Halloween! This feed has once again been quiet for much longer than anticipated, but I do want to reassure you all that the show is not going away. I am currently neck-deep in final script development for season 2, so keep an ear out for production announcements early next year. I also have some interviews with experts and other bonus content to help fill the time.

For now, please enjoy this story, which retells the events of episodes 6-10 from the perspective of Sodapop, world’s greatest dog. This story picks up right where the last Tale of Sodapop left off, so if you’re not familiar with that story – or with the events of season one of Believer – you might want to go back and listen.

My amazing Patrons are getting the entire story right now. They will also get a bonus non-Believer story in the next few weeks. If you’d like to join them, along with brand new patrons Sara Norris, The Beldam, and Justin Cone, you can find out more at Patreon.com/believerpod. 

And now please enjoy, The Second Tale of Sodapop, Part 1 - written and read by me, Julie Saunders.

THE SECOND TALE OF SODAPOP

On a little bed inside a broken room, a little dog watches the sunrise. The room’s outer wall is full of cracks and gouges that sharpen the sunlight into lines, blades of light that pierce the musty air. The streaks of sunlight form a dizzying pattern, a series of lines across the exposed wood floor. The lines cross and converge to a point at the center. There sits a human, her back to the dog, her unkempt hair lit like a halo. She traces the sun-lines with a sharp blade, deepens the scars in this crumbling bedroom. As she carves, she hums.

The human calls the dog “Sodapop.” Sodapop doesn’t call her anything. She is simply there, simply his, and so she never needs a name. She is his human.

Last night, Sodapop found his human lying near the top of a hill. She seemed like she was asleep, but her eyes were wide open, staring into a sky without stars. He licked her nose until the warmth came back to her fingertips and she laughed. That laugh rippled through him, spread from his ears to his wagging tail, and everything was okay again. Sodapop followed her down the hill as if they’d never been apart. After all, when the sun comes up, you don’t marvel at its return. You just get up and go about your day.

Halfway down the hill, they met Lara. Lara was Sodapop’s human’s human – or at least, she used to be. When Sodapop’s human left, Lara had taken care of him. But he didn’t need Lara now. And so when they reached the creaky old house at the bottom of the hill, and She walked inside without Lara, Sodapop followed. She called this place home. What else could it be?

The rest of the house is not broken. It’s just this room, the one with all of his human’s things in it. There are two other humans in the house. One is named Mom, and she doesn’t seem to like him much. Mom is afraid to come into the broken room, though. And there’s another human with a raspy voice, but that one never leaves the study. So in the broken room, things are quiet. 

His human sits on the floor, tracing lines in the floorboards. She hums something to herself. Sodapop huddles on the bed. He doesn’t want to touch the lines. He watches her.

He can’t tell if she’s really here or not. Well, she’s here. But her body responds to something else. When She tilts her head, or looks off into the distance, or when the soft chemicals that tell her nerves what to do gather and respond – it’s to something else. Something Sodapop can’t seem to find.

He watches, and he watches, and he watches. But he was out in the woods for a very long time. There were no naps during his long day and night in the forest, just terror and excitement. Here, where he is – well, not exactly safe, but certainly settled – he feels the adrenaline drain out of his body. His head grows heavy, and his eyes get narrow. Before he knows it, he’s somewhere else too.

Sodapop often dreams when he sleeps. His dreams are not usually complicated. Most are just moments – a familiar scent, the sight of a squirrel running, the evening breeze through an opened door. Bits and pieces. This dream is different.

In the dream, Sodapop stands on fine, silver sand. The sand stretches in every direction, farther than he can imagine. And somewhere ahead of him, he hears a huge body of water. It’s not the ocean. Sodapop has been to the ocean. The ocean has birds, and saltwater spray, and laughter. The ocean smells like sunscreen and fish guts. This place smells like nothing. At least, at first.

Slowly, a scent creeps up on him. It’s Her scent, just like it was in the forest, except instead of cutting through the night like an arrow, it seeps in from everything at once. Sodapop turns around and around in the fine, soft sand. It’s as if she’s everywhere and nowhere at the same time. 

Sodapop runs, but every direction is the same. No matter where he goes, he’s always running toward the ocean that isn’t an ocean, and he never gets closer to its edge. Always, he can smell his human, and always, she’s just around the corner and a million miles away.

Finally, he sees her. She sits with her back to him. She draws something in the sand – long, tangled lines. Sodapop runs toward her, but his paws slip on the sand and he falls. He opens his mouth to bark, but something steals the air from his lungs. He feels himself crying, whining, howling into a vast expanse of nothingness, but no sound leaves him. It could be hours that they sit there, Sodapop stuck in the sand, his voice gone, while She never turns around. It could be days. He can’t move, he can’t cry, he can’t – 

He wakes to find her face very close to his. Her skin is flushed, her eyes wild. Sodapop yelps, but she quiets him, runs her fingers along his neck, reassures him that he’s safe.

The door to the room is open, and from the hallway he can smell fear. A potent, piercing mix of sweat and racing blood, with a pheromone mixture that stabs at his brain. Something bad has happened. He starts to get up, moves to charge out into the hallway and right whatever’s wrong, but She shushes him again. 

She does not smell of fear. But something is still wrong. He presses his nose to her mouth, her nose, the top of her head. How did she leave without him noticing? Where has she been? There are no clues forthcoming.

She buries her face in his fur. She starts to whisper. He doesn’t understand the words she says.

When she finally lets him go, he struggles out of her arms and bursts into the hall. The house is unnaturally quiet. He sniffs for Mom and the raspy man. The raspy man is gone. Mom is…yes. Mom is the one who was afraid.

The front door is open. The people must be outside. Sodapop rushes out to investigate.

There, on the lawn, is Lara. Sodapop feels a rush of relief when he sees her. Lara is like a water bowl – something you don’t really notice until it’s been missing for a while. He races across the grass and leaps up onto her legs. She reaches down and pats his head. 

Then Lara goes tense. She has come outside. His humans are in one space again. Why don’t they ever seem happy about that?

His humans say words to each other. One is angry, the other dismayed. Sodapop lets out a little sigh.

The most frustrating part of having a human is the language barrier. Humans have a whole host of mouth-sounds they make, and only some of them seem to mean anything important. Meanwhile, they miss every physical cue. Most of them think there’s only one kind of tail-wag. You practically have to scream to get them to understand your meaning.

Sodapop sniffs at the bushes and the grass, an age-old way of signaling that everything is fine. “This is how much you don’t need to worry,” the gesture says. “The grass is more interesting than either of us. We are so safe that we can be curious.” They ignore him. He tries the high tail-wag, then the low one. He whines. He even flops onto his back and exposes his belly. Nothing.

Instead, they do something incomprehensible. His human picks him up and hands him over to Lara. That part is normal enough. She pats him on the head. That’s normal too. But her voice…there’s something wrong with her voice. She’s sad again.

Sodapop watches her mouth as she talks, hoping he’ll recognize a shape even if he doesn’t know the sounds. All he can tell is that something is happening. It’s not something that he wants to happen.

And then Lara carries him away.

Sodapop tries to explain that this situation is wrong. He struggles in Lara’s arms. He wails toward his human. Has she noticed that he’s leaving? Does she know he’s not following her inside? “I’m right here,” his whine says. “I’m over here!” Like a puppy away from his mother. I’m here, and I need you, he cries. But the Sun sets into the house, and Lara clips him into a car harness.

They ride for hours down dark, bumpy roads. Or maybe it’s minutes. It’s hard to tell when you’re a dog. Sodapop whines the whole time. There’s a cranky man in the front seat who gives him dirty looks. He doesn’t care. This is worse than the last time that Lara took him away. That time, his human walked out a door and didn’t come back. This time, he left her. With Lara. Lara, who doesn’t know how to find the itchy spot on the side of his neck. Who doesn’t remember that he likes the lamb treats more than the chicken ones. Lara, who takes him away from everything he loves, over and over again.

He loves Lara. He was glad to see Lara. But Lara is not his. 

He is so busy whining that he doesn’t hear the racoons until one lands with a THUMP on the top of the car. It’s followed by another, and another. He can hear them skittering, hissing, careening off the roof and onto the road. He can hear them running after the car when they land. He can smell that they’re wrong – rotted, dark, like the squirrels he met the day before. They’re strange like those squirrels too, working in packs, coordinating in a way racoons normally don’t. And there are other animals coming, too – some with hooves, some with wings.

Sodapop barks. If they know there’s a dog in the car, they might go away. They might not realize that he’s clipped into a harness and can’t actually get them. 

A cursed raccoon slips through the sunroof and into the car. Lara screams. It lets out a horrible hiss. Sodapop strains against his car harness – why did Lara restrain him like this? Didn’t she know this might happen? – and growls deep in his throat.

Lara grabs the racoon and throws it out a window. This is brave, Sodapop thinks. She still hasn’t unclipped him, which is silly of her. But she is brave.

A hooved thing slams into the side of the vehicle. The car careens sideways, fishtails back and forth across the road. Lara and the stranger yell at each other. Sodapop howls.

More things fall on the roof. He can hear them massing along the sides of the car, even approaching from the front.

The car turns. 

The humans scream.

They all crash into a tree.

The animals run away. Why did they run away? He must have barked very well.

The humans slam into the dashboard. The harness pulls at Sodapop’s shoulders, but otherwise keeps him in place. 

Lara groans. She’s hurt her head. Sodapop can’t reach her. 

He strains at the harness. 

There is a wound on the side of Lara’s head. There is blood. 

He can’t clean it.

He can’t look intently into her eyes.

He can’t lick her nose until she pushes him away. He can’t make her safe.

In the forest, something screams. It is coming closer.

In the front seat, Lara rouses herself. She wakes up the cranky man.

Sodapop can smell danger. Just through the window. Just past the bushes. He feels his hair stand on end.

Finally, finally, Lara turns to him. She is hurt, and a little confused. He licks her nose. She runs her hand along his body, gentle but firm, searching for hurt places. He stares hard at her face, looking for the same thing.

She is okay. A little disoriented, but she will live. 

The smell comes closer. Sharp, wild, strange. And close behind it…nothing.

Nothing. The worst thing.

Sodapop looks at Lara. She is hurt. He is not.

When she finally unclips his harness, he bolts out the window. He runs, without a thought, toward the danger.

Dogs don’t generally understand vengeance. They don’t think of pain as transferable, especially over time and distance. What they can do, though, is focus on one particular enemy, and keep going until it stops. They do that better than almost anything. 

Sodapop crashes through the underbrush. At the edge of a cluster of damp ferns, a demonic raccoon appears. It bares rows of glittering, needled teeth. This thing is nearly as tall as he is, and certainly heavier. It raises dextrous paws edged in thin, sharp claws. It smells of death, decay, and a third thing Sodapop can’t place. 

If Lara were here, she would pick him up, insist he leave it alone, tell him that no matter what he thinks, this thing could destroy him.

Lara is not here.

Sodapop hunches his head low, splays his paws out, tenses his shoulders. His tail goes down, ready to counterbalance and get out of the way. He’s never truly pounced on anything except for toys, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know how. He can’t see himself there, skinny and small, thorns tangled in his hair. Nor can he hear his own growl, a high-pitched parody of a forest wolf. The raccoon can, though, and it stands firm.

With a soft thud, another raccoon lands behind the first. A third limps out of the bushes, fresh from fighting the cranky man’s car. Soon there are a half-dozen of them, bloodshot eyes glittering behind branches and bushes.

Sodapop remembers the squirrels from the other night, climbing each other in a frenzied swarm to reach the owl that should’ve killed them. He remembers them crawling over it, weighing it down, ripping it to pieces. The smell of death, of open wounds and blood. He feels his hind legs tremble. 

Something ripples against his paw pads. It’s an odd sensation, like an echo in the dirt. A sort of electric pulse, emanating from behind him. Soon after, he hears a terrible roar. Like a bear, an elephant, one of the big creatures he’s seen on Lara’s TV. The cry of a monster.

The raccoons scatter. Sodapop barks at their retreating tails. The scent of death wafts away with them, and in its place he smells something…strange. An itchy smell. It’s not wrong, like the animals, or horrible, like the nothing-smell. It’s like every pheromone at the same time, tickling all his nerves. Sodapop sneezes.

Again, the ripple through the dirt. A heavy footstep. Sodapop turns.

The creature he sees is not an ape. It’s not a human. Some of its movements might remind you of a human, if you didn’t know humans very well. It’s a little like a bear, but the dream of a bear. A nightmare from someone who’s only ever heard a bear described, maybe. It walks on two legs, but it could drop to four if it wanted. It towers over him, taller than the tallest creature he’s ever seen. 

It takes a step forward. Its hind paws are enormous, wide and flat. But there’s something more than that. It’s as if it walks on top of the earth and underneath it at the same time. Its footsteps send out ripples, reverberations under everything. Its movement disturbs roots, splashes in underground rivers. It’s here, where Sodapop can see and smell it, but it’s everywhere else, too.

The creature stops, and Sodapop realizes he’s been growling. As strange as this thing is, he recognizes it somehow. In Sodapop’s deepest, deepest memory, he knows this for an enemy. 

The thing with the big paws hesitates. Slowly, slowly, it bends forward. It sets its front paws on the ground. It averts its gaze. 

This looks like dog language, predator appeasement. But this is not a dog. Sodapop stops growling, but he keeps his eyes hard, his head low, ready for anything.

The creature lowers itself completely, lies flat on its belly. And then finally…it rolls over.

Sodapop blinks. In canine language, there is no clearer sign. I’m not a threat, it says. I give up. Here are my softest parts, all at your mercy. Still, he hesitates. It’s always dangerous dealing with a different kind of animal. They don’t always speak the right way. Cats, for example, like to show you their belly just before they attack. That’s because cats are traitors. Then again, Sodapop made friends with a cat before, and it helped. Everything is upside-down here.

The creature bares no teeth or claws. Its massive paws are extended, palm-side up, toward the sky. It keeps its gaze averted. Sodapop takes an exploratory sniff. Its smell makes his spinal column ache. He knows it. He does not know how. But he knows it, like a baby squirrel ought to know an owl.

Big-paws lets out a low, soft rumble. It is not a threat. It wants him to know this. But it is dangerous. He knows that in his soul.

The trees and bushes smell of calm, as if the forest itself wants to reassure him. He considers this.

Carefully, Sodapop wags his tail. Big-paws gets the message. It rolls onto all fours in one smooth, languid motion. It keeps its eyes averted, its teeth covered.

Above them, a star streaks across the sky. Sodapop can’t make it out well, but the big-footed thing jerks in response to it. Sodapop takes two steps back and growls again. Big-paws raises one paw in a human-like gesture. In a human, it means “stop.” This is not a human, but Sodapop stops.

It wants to help him. Or it wants help from him. He can’t tell. 

He still does not like the way this thing smells. There’s something in him that wants to reject it, to chase it away. But he remembers the nothing-smell from a few nights before. He remembers a void that tried to erase the world. He thinks he remembers this creature running away from it. 

Sodapop relaxes. In response, the monster does too. It stands up on its hind feet. Its movements are graceful, almost plant-like. Its shaggy hair makes a soft whooshing sound, like the whispering of trees. It turns its odd, flat face toward the top of the hillside. It looks back at him. He wags his tail again. Assured, it turns back toward the hill and begins to walk.

Sodapop follows, at a distance. The odd, electrical pulse finds him now and then. He knows this thing, but it knows him too, somehow. The way a dog knows a wolf, maybe. The way a dog and a wolf know that they’re the same, and that they’re enemies.

Indeed, the big-pawed creature knows him well. It knows that he crawls up onto the bed with his human after she falls asleep. It knows he likes soft blankets, likes to lay his head on her leg. That he sits when she says sit, that he lets her lead him around on a length of rope. The only things Sodapop hunts are toys – small pillows, really – full of stuffing that he can’t even eat. He’s a nuisance, this little dog with his comical, high-pitched “woof.” A thorn in the side of all wild things, upsetter of ecosystems, ally of the enemy.

But Big-Paws also knows that he dreams of dark places, and small creatures that run. That sometimes, in his dreams, he rips open their bellies and finds not stuffing, but slick, sweet gore. It knows what he doesn’t know how to know. Maybe it thinks that he knows something too.

A star streaks across the sky. The creature flinches. Sodapop sniffs the air for danger and growls.

Together, they walk into a forest full of strangeness.

To be continued…

[Music: “Swamp Fever,” by Walt Adams]

TRANSCRIPT: 1.10 - Oblivion

A PDF of this transcript is available here.

RADIO TRANSMISSION

A little radio JINGLE plays.

ABE

Welcome back to W-K-C-H, Charity's only public radio. This is Abe Ramirez, broadcasting live as strange phenomena appear in the forest around Charity. So far we've heard reports of inky darkness -- darker than a foggy night -- unexplained power failure, and strange sounds. Could this be extraterrestrial activity here in Wasco County? 

JAKE (FROM AFAR)

It's not aliens!

ABE

(annoyed, trying to ignore him)

We're reaching out to paranormal experts as we speak.

JAKE

(a little closer, still not on mic)

It's never aliens, man.

ABE

(turns away from mic)

Jake, dude, I told you, if you're going to stay at my place, you have to stay out of the recording studio.

JAKE

(closer)

It's a wooden box in the middle of your living room, it's not like I can't hear what you're saying in there.

(grabs a mic)

Hello, Charity, it's Jake Talbott, host of Squatch Talk.

ABE

Hey! What are you doing?

JAKE

You need my expertise, man, just trust me on this.

ABE

Never record live, they told me. But did I listen?

JAKE

Abe, please. Let's be professional.

ABE

(scoffs)

Uh -- !

JAKE

People need to know what's going on. It's dangerous out there. They should stay off the roads and out of the woods.

ABE

Well, obviously nobody's going into the woods right now.

EXT. WOODS - NIGHT

Lara staggers through the underbrush. Sasquatch walks HEAVILY in front of her.

LARA

Sodapop? Are you out here?

JAKE (V.O.)

Be on the lookout for anything unusual, especially a strong, sulphur-like smell.

Lara sniffs.

LARA

Ugh. Oh my god. I'm sorry, I'm sure your smell is great for other -- whatever you are.

ABE (V.O.)

Is this about Bigfoot again? I'm telling you, man, it's not out there. Not tonight.

Sasquatch grunts.

LARA

I'm just really nauseous. Or is it nauseated? I'm nauseated. 

SASQUATCH

Grmph.

LARA

It's a concussion, right? It's gotta be. I don't supposed you can see my pupils.

Sasquatch suddenly stops, sniffs. It roars and runs ahead.

LARA

Right, you're busy. 

(calls)

Sodapop? Sodapop!

FADE TO:

INT. BASEMENT - NIGHT

Sounds of sleeping. Abe and Jake sound shifts to a small radio in the room.

ABE (V.O.)

In any case, for your own safety, everyone should stay indoors.

The door to the basement OPENS. Rose walks in.

JAKE (V.O.)

And if you do see anything, give us a call! Our lines are open.

ABE (V.O.)

What? No, they're not. I've got all these experts (I'm just waiting on a call back from)

JAKE (V.O.)

(overlapping)

Okay, then call me. It's Five-Oh-Three, Eight-Six --

Radio clicks OFF.

Rose approaches a sleeping Camille.

ROSE

Camille.

Camille wakes with a start.

CAMILLE

What -- oh, Rose.

ROSE

It's time. Wake the others.

CAMILLE

It's time? Are you sure?

ROSE

Yes. Wake them up. We're going into the forest. Now.

CAMILLE

Okay. Yeah. Let's go.

She gets up, quickly.

TITLES

NARRATOR

Believer. Episode Ten. Oblivion.

EXT. DEAD ZONE - NIGHT

Sasquatch sniffs, growls, shuffles its giant feet.

Lara crashes out of the underbrush, still unsteady on her feet.

LARA

Sodapop? Sodapop! God, it's so dark out here. My phone is totally dead.

Sasquatch growls a warning. Lara stops.

LARA

Wait, is this...the Dead Zone? From before? 

Sasquatch sniffs.

LARA

Oh my god.

VO LARA

It was absolutely covered in carcasses. Before there had been a lot of dead animals, but this -- it was like a carpet.

LARA

Were these...squirrels?

Sasquatch grunts another warning.

LARA

I won't touch it.

SASQUATCH

Hmph.

LARA

What's growing out of them?

VO LARA

Sickly white mushrooms sprouted out of each of the dead animals. I don't even know if white is the right...it was like they were drained of color. Have you ever seen those flowers that grow inside of caves? There's a variety of orchid that never sees the sun. But it grows anyway. Those are beautiful, though. These were...wrong. At the base they were black, oily, like the ones I found in the water pipe. But as they grew, the color drained out. And the caps were...disturbing. Bloated, pulsing, pustules ready to burst.

LARA

They're flowering. Ready to release their spores.

SASQUATCH

(yep)

Humph.

LARA

Is this -- did you bring me here? To see this? 

SASQUATCH

(yes)

Huh-whuff.

LARA

You want to help them...why can't you help them?

SASQUATCH

Hrmphf. 

LARA

Is it because you're not real?

Sasquatch growls.

LARA

Ow! God, watch it. Chewbacca-looking asshole.

Sasquatch growls, then stops, stiffens.

LARA

What...?

Footsteps approach. Voices humming. Sasquatch squeaks and rushes into the trees in the opposite direction.

LARA

Wait, Sass -- Sasquatch. And he's gone.

(beat)

How hard did I hit my head?

The CULT comes through the underbrush.

ROSE

We're here. Close the lanterns and keep them out of sight.

CAMILLE

Of course.

(to others)

Let's go.

She rushes off with a few others. Rose takes a step forward.

ROSE

There. The flowers. Do you see? God's fingers. They're even more beautiful than I dreamed.

Cultists murmur to each other.

ROSE

Everyone, line up around...

(stops)

Lara?!

LARA

Um...hi.

ROSE

Are you kidding me? What are you doing here?

LARA

So, long story -- there was a car accident, and I actually think I have a concussion. 

ROSE

Where's Sodapop?

LARA

He ran off. I was actually trying to find him, but, uh, I might just need the hospital?

ROSE

He ran off? He's out here somewhere?

LARA

Well, I'm looking for him.

ROSE

You were supposed to keep him safe!

LARA

I'm trying! Sorry. Listen, Rose, I don't know what's happening here, but (you don't have to do this) --

ROSE

(overlapping)

No, you don't. You don't know what's happening here. We're about to change the world, Lara. Make it new.

LARA

With mushrooms?

ROSE

Stop making fun of me!

The cultists stop and turn, whispering.

LARA

I'm not...

A star STREAKS across the sky, a distant squealing scream.

LARA

What is that?

ROSE

(relieved)

The stars. It's time.

(to Lara)

You can't stop this, Lara. Do you understand? It's already begun.

LARA

Rose...

ROSE

Find Sodapop. Take him somewhere far from here.

(to others)

Everyone! Gather around. Just like we practiced. 

LARA

Rose -- wait. Whatever's supposed to happen here -- you know it's not right. You sent Sodapop away, right? It doesn't look like your mom is here. Some part of you wants to protect the people you love.

Rose scoffs ruefully.

ROSE

(to herself)

Not everyone I love.

LARA

What?

CAMILLE

Sister Rose? We're ready.

ROSE

Good.

(to Lara)

It's too late, Lara. Join in or get out of the way. 

(to the others)

Form a ring! Get close, close to the beautiful, blooming flowers. 

(they move)

And now...it begins.

The cultists begin to chant.

CULT

All is nothing, and we are all. All in nothing, and we are all...

The stars begin to scream overhead.

LARA

Rose -- 

ROSE

(louder)

All is nothing! We are all!

LARA

Rose!

CAMILLE

(ugh)

Marcus, can you...?

Marcus grunts and grabs Lara.

LARA

Ow! Hey.

An odd groaning sound as animals move. Chittering noises. 

LARA

Wait...what's happening?

VO LARA

It's hard to describe what happened next. And not just because my head was swimming worse than ever. 

Chanting, star sounds continue. 

VO LARA

Shooting stars were streaking overhead, far too bright, far too close, and there was this odd sound -- it was like you could hear them breaking up against the atmosphere, squealing as the friction wore them down. But that wasn't the crazy part.

Animals begin to grunt and move.

VO LARA

Now listen, I know I was hallucinating at this point. I was definitely starting to see double, and that alone can...but that blanket of animal corpses? Those dead animals...started to move.

CULTIST CHILD

W-What is that?

CULTIST MOM

It's okay, honey. Say it with me: "All is nothing..."

LARA

Holy shit. Shit.

ROSE

Don't stop! We're nearly there! Bring the dead to life again!

VO LARA

Except it wasn't like the animals had come back to life. Their movements were strange, disjointed, like something else was controlling them. Piloting them.

ROSE

This is glory! This is beauty! This is life from death!

VO LARA

There's a type of parasite -- ophiocordyceps. You usually only see it in bugs. Ants or caterpillars, things like that. It takes over its host's central nervous system. They -- okay, I'm not talking about zombies. I mean people use them in zombie stories sometimes, but -- What it actually does is force its host to climb. The ant finds a tall tree and just goes up and up and up. Then, when the ant can't get any higher, it sends its spores through the air.

Grunting and chittering of reanimated animals.

VO LARA

These animals weren't going up, though. They were moving toward the cult members. 

LARA

Oh god. She's planning to infect the others. Can't you see? She's going to turn you all into parasites.

Marcus grunts and drags her away.

EXT. WOODS - CONTINUOUS

The chaos quiets as Marcus drags her quickly through the underbrush.

LARA

No! Let me go! Please -- okay, I'm very dizzy, so if you can slow down -- ugh. Stop! Listen to me. There has to be some way to -- ow. Careful, there's a slope here and my vision is kind of -- ahhh!

Lara trips, slides, and rolls down a hill.

LARA

(groggy)

I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm...I'm...

Lara groans and BLACKS OUT.

MARCUS

Huh.

Marcus shrugs and walks away.

EXT. DEAD ZONE

Cultists are getting alarmed now. Weird, haunted cries and heavy steps as the zombie animals move.

ROSE

Don't move away! Let them come to you! As Revelations says:

(quotes scripture)

"Surrounding God's throne were living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back." It's just as the scriptures say! Please!

Animals cry. A cultist SCREAMS.

CAMILLE

Here, I'll...I'll do it. I'll show you guys.

Camille steps forward.

An elk lumbers toward her.

CAMILLE

This elk...has been touched by Oblivion. I see it. Just like you said, Rose. Pale, moonlit flowers.

The other cult members go silent, watching.

Camille breathes, frightened.

The elk grunts and shies. 

Camille gasps.

ROSE

Don't move! It's okay. Just breathe. Just...breathe.

CAMILLE

Okay. 

(deep breaths)

All...is nothing...and we...are all...

The elk squeals.

FWOOSH! The mushrooms BURST. 

Everyone screams.

EXT. WOODS - NEARBY

Lara moans, trying to come to.

Two heavy FEET step up to her.

LARA

Where have you been?

She sniffs, then recoils.

LARA

Oh! God! It's so much worse at the feet, I...

Sasquatch grumbles softly.

LARA

Sorry. I'm sure it's...ohhhh, god. 

Lara starts to vomit, holds back, recovers.

Nearby, we hear SCREAMS.

LARA

Shit. Rose. The cult. Okay. Okay.

She staggers to her feet.

Sasquatch grunts.

LARA

Yeah, just...give me a minute. Okay. There's got to be some way to do something. 

(aha!)

The lanterns! They had, um, kerosene lanterns. And-and she wanted them out of sight. The mushrooms only grew at night. Light and heat! That's gotta be it, right?

Sasquatch makes a noncommittal noise.

LARA

Okay. Okay. You should stay away from here. Actually -- can you find my dog? You don't eat dogs, do you?

Sasquatch growls.

LARA

Okay. Okay. Let's go. Ready, uh, break.

Lara runs off.

EXT. DEAD ZONE

It's chaos. Stars scream overhead. Cult members scream on the ground. Animals lunge and cry. 

ROSE

Stop! Please -- you have to believe. This is joy, come into the world!

The cult members run into the woods.

ROSE

Please! Come back! No!

Camille suddenly gasps, coughs. 

ROSE

See, everyone? Camille is...she's...

(to Camille)

Are you okay?

CAMILLE

I feel...amazing. Every piece of me is so alive.

ROSE

See? The animals, the flowers -- it's a blessing.

Camille coughs and chokes wildly.

ROSE

Camille?

CAMILLE

It's okay -- I just can't -- I can't quite breathe --

An elk BELLOWS, along with a chorus of SQUIRRELS. The cult members SCREAM.

ROSE

(nervous)

This isn't...this wasn't in my dream. All this noise.

Lara steps out of the bushes.

LARA

Rose. You have to stop this. Please.

ROSE

Lara. What are you holding?

LARA

Propane lantern. Somebody's lighter. 

ROSE

You can't bring that here.

LARA

Your people are all leaving. 

ROSE

It's my father. He didn't teach them what to expect. I didn't have enough time...

LARA

We can end this now. You can try again later.

Camille gasps and struggles, desperate.

CAMILLE

No! Rose, please. You can't stop now.

ROSE

It's too late, anyway. They're already awake.

LARA

It's just a theory, but...look. If you bring the fire close to them...

A zombie animal SCREAMS. The mushrooms SIZZLE.

ROSE

Lara! Stop! You're killing them!

LARA

They're already dead!

CAMILLE

No. You're dead.

Camille lunges at Lara.

LARA

Agh! Don't -- please --

ROSE

Camille -- let her go.

CAMILLE

Rose! You can't let her do this. Oblivion is -- it's so --

She breaks off, coughing. Lara recoils.

LARA

Eugh. Cover your nose and mouth.

ROSE

Lara, don't.

CAMILLE

Rose. I saw it. The oldest ocean. Older than old. And reaching across the sky...a dark embrace...

ROSE

(a big moment)

You saw it.

CAMILLE

I saw...everything. And ever since I breathed in God's love --

LARA

They're spores.

ROSE

Lara!

CAMILLE

Listen to me. It's more than just a vision. I can feel everything. I'm connected to it all. 

ROSE

What do you mean?

CAMILLE

It's all one, Rose.

LARA

The mycorrhizal network.

CAMILLE

One being. One entity. But it needs you.

ROSE

We need to get to the center.

LARA

Rose -- please --

ROSE

Lara. I know you don't understand this. I don't expect you to follow me. But you have to let me go.

VO LARA

I can't describe what she looked like there. Standing in the dirt, the world ending all around her. And her eyes...so bright, so sad.

ROSE

I can't be alone anymore, Lara. I've been alone in this for so long.

CAMILLE

I'm with you now, Rose.

ROSE

Thank you, Camille.

(to Lara)

Lara...please just...pretend you get it. Please?

Lara sets down the lantern and the lighter.

LARA

Wait. 

ROSE

Listen --

LARA

I'll come with you. I'll leave the lantern here, and I'll...I'll come with you.

ROSE

(hesitates)

You can't save me from this.

LARA

Everything is spinning. My head hurts so bad...

ROSE

Lara?

LARA

I won't try to save you. Can I just sit with you? Until the end, or whatever?

ROSE

You won't try anything?

LARA

Rose, I don't have anything either.

ROSE

(hesitates)

Okay. Let's go.

CAMILLE

Are you sure?

ROSE

I'm sure. Let's go.

EXT. DEAD ZONE - CENTER - MOMENTS LATER

A group of possessed SQUIRRELS skitter by.

LARA

Gah! Demon squirrels.

ROSE

Here. This is it.

Drone. They approach a giant pile of goo. It PULSES softly.

CAMILLE

It's beautiful.

LARA

It's a weird pile of goo.

ROSE

The heart of oblivion.

LARA

Yeah, that sounds better.

ROSE

Come on. Move in close.

CAMILLE

Of course.

ROSE

Whatever happens, you'll have to carry it with you. Without the congregation -- we'll have to find others. Quickly.

CAMILLE

We'll take God's love to the world.

LARA

Or we'll die.

Camille growls.

ROSE

Hush. She'll understand. If you want to be here, Lara --

LARA

I want to be here.

ROSE

Then lean in close. And get ready to breathe.

LARA

Okay.

ROSE

I'm glad you're here.

VO LARA

She reached for my hand. But just before our fingers touched...

FWOOM! The mushroom BURSTS.

VO LARA

Glittering spores filled the air. We breathed in, and...

LARA BREATHES IN. It merges with the sound of...

EXT. OCEAN - BEYOND TIME AND SPACE

THE LARGEST, OLDEST OCEAN laps against the shore.

LARA

What...? Where am I?

VO LARA

I suddenly saw myself in this wide...expanse. Silver sand dunes that stretched beyond my imagination. I stood at the top of one. The sky, the ground -- it was so immense, so massive, it was overwhelming. It felt crushing.

Far away, we hear Rose LAUGHING.

VO LARA

At some point, the sand became water. Like the ripples in a mirage. And the water was a huge, dark ocean.

There was nothing there. Anywhere. Nothing except...

ROSE

(far away)

Lara! Laaaraaaaa...!

LARA

Rose.

Lara runs.

Rose laughs.

VO LARA

I ran. Forever. Like on the road walking home that night, except, instead of frightened I was...

Lara laughs. She whoops.

VO LARA

Ecstatic.

Lara reaches Rose.

ROSE

You made it!

LARA

I made it.

ROSE

It's me.

LARA

It's you.

ROSE

It's us.

LARA

I'm so...

VO LARA

That's when I caught it. 

LARA

Wait...

VO LARA

I was so...happy. Unbelievably happy.

LARA

This is wrong. 

ROSE

No, Lara. It's finally right.

VO LARA

And people like me? We don't get to be happy.

LARA

I need to go back.

ROSE

Lara...there's nowhere to go.

VO LARA

She was right. I turned around and around. But everywhere, in every direction, everything was the same. 

LARA

There's nowhere to go.

(beat)

I'm so...I'm so...tired...

Lara collapses.

VO LARA

I don't know if you've ever felt everything just kind of...drain out of you. It's a hard thing to imagine, if you haven't been through it. 

I could feel myself shutting down. Piece by piece. All the sensation slid down my shoulders, through my arms, out my fingers, and then dissipated. I knew that somewhere there was a forest, and spores, and horror. But I didn't know what it meant anymore. It didn't seem important. 

I just wanted to...I didn't even want to fall asleep. I was just...empty.

LARA

I think I'm going to die.

ROSE

(still overjoyed)

What?

LARA

(matter-of-fact)

I'm going to die.

VO LARA

But then...

A distant BARK.

VO LARA

Listen, I don't really go in for all that "we don't deserve dogs" stuff. We spent thousands of years specifically engineering dogs to be ideal human companions, and then act all shocked when they turn out to be, you know, excellent companions. It's silly. 

More barking and whining.

VO LARA

But still...when I -- when I heard that dog...it's like I knew the way home.

EXT. DEAD ZONE - CENTER - AS BEFORE

The real world WHOOSHES back in - as SODAPOP RUNS IN, barking up a storm.

LARA

Sodapop!

Sodapop runs up and licks Lara's face. Lara laughs, weakly.

LARA

Hey, buddy, where've you been?

Sodapop licks her face and shakes himself off.

VO LARA

I guess it's just...What do you do when you have nothing left? You hold onto what you love, right? Even if you can't quite remember what loving something feels like.

Deep growls from the monsters around them. 

Camille looms, ragged and monstrous.

LARA

Holy shit!

CAMILLE

I knew you would ruin this.

LARA

Camille -- please --

Sodapop GROWLS and BARKS. Rose rouses.

ROSE

Sodapop? What's wrong, baby-dog?

CAMILLE

God damn it!

Camille ATTACKS Lara. For real this time. 

LARA

Don't -- aagh!

Camille tackles her to the ground.

CAMILLE

We're so close to Oblivion. Only you -- only you are in the way.

Camille CHOKES Lara.

LARA

(choking)

Please -- Camille -- I can't breathe -- 

ROSE

Camille! Stop!

Sodapop growls and LUNGES.

CAMILLE

Get off of me, you stupid dog!

Sodapop cries.

ROSE

No! Where's that -- lantern --

Rose SLAMS the lantern into Camille's head. Camille falls with a THUD. Lara coughs and passes out.

CAMILLE

Rose...how could you...?

ROSE

Oblivion. Like a spider. Like a hole. The mouth of nothing.

Rose flicks a LIGHTER.

CAMILLE

What are you doing...?

ROSE

I'm lighting the lantern. Lara. I see it. I know what we need to do.

(stops)

Lara? Lara -- 

She runs to Lara.

ROSE

Lara, wake up!

She slaps at Lara's face gently. Impulsively, she kisses her. Lara wakes, coughing.

LARA

Did you -- did you kiss me?

ROSE

You wouldn't wake up, so I...thought I'd try it.

LARA

Like a fairy tale?

ROSE

Shut up. We don't have time.

LARA

Right. I think you need to burn it.

ROSE

(overlapping)

We have to burn it.

LARA

Yeah.

CAMILLE

No...no...

Something GROWLS in the woods. Sodapop barks and whines.

ROSE

It's okay, puppy. Lara, can you stand? We're going to have to run.

LARA

Yeah, I can, um. I'll just...yeah.

CAMILLE

Please -- you can't --

ROSE

I'm so sorry, Camille.

Rose throws the lantern onto the fungus. It SHATTERS. Fire EXPLODES.

CAMILLE

Noooo! No! It's spreading to all of them! Everything -- burning -- 

The cursed animals SCREAM and SHRIEK.

LARA

They're taking it through the network.

CAMILLE

It burns!

LARA

Nothing's touching you, Camille. But it will in a minute if we don't --

Camille growls and shrugs her off.

CAMILLE

Don't touch me!

ROSE

She's part of it now.

LARA

No, that's not a thing. Camille, come on. The fire's spreading.

CAMILLE

You ruined everything.

LARA

Look, we need to go now -- 

Camille growls again, vicious.

CAMILLE

I'll kill you!

She lunges. Lara staggers back.

ROSE

Lara, you can't help her. 

LARA

But --

ROSE

Lara. Fire. Run!

LARA

Right! Come on, Sodapop.

They run off into the forest. 

The fire WHOOSHES.

Camille COUGHS.

Two large FOOTSTEPS approach. 

CAMILLE

(whines)

It's burning! It's...burning...

(sniffs)

What...

(it hits.)

You.

Sasquatch growls, deep and menacing.

CAMILLE

I know you.

SASQUATCH

Hrmph.

CAMILLE

You shouldn't be here.

SASQUATCH

(defiant)

Grrrmph.

CAMILLE

Alright, then. Let's do this.

Sasquatch growls. Camille steels herself. 

Camille lets out a BATTLE CRY.

Sasquatch ROARS in return.

FADE TO:

INT. RADIO TRANSMISSION

The little jingle/music sting plays again.

ABE

Good morning and welcome back to W-K-C-H. I'm Abe Ramirez.

JAKE

Ahem.

ABE

(grudgingly)

And this is my co-host, Jake Talbott.

JAKE

Co-host? Really? You mean it, buddy?

ABE

Yeah, why not.

JAKE

Yessss.

ABE

Okay, well, we're just catching everyone up on the massive wildfire that --

JAKE

(radio voice)

Chaos. Terror. Smoke blankets the valley as a mysterious fire starts deep in the Mt. Hood National Forest.

ABE

Dude!

JAKE 

Firefighters were able to contain the blaze, but questions remain.

ABE

In addition, citizens are encouraged to check their homes for a virulent strain of mold.

JAKE

(triumphant)

That's right! It is not just me.

ABE 

But could the mold and fire be related? Martha Arberg --

JAKE 

Who, as we know, has her farm right on the edge of the affected part of the forest -- 

ABE

(with increasing irritation)

Martha Arberg reports that the lingering smoke isn't just the last embers of a fire going out. That fire is still burning. 

JAKE

The Forest Service has locked down the area, so nobody can get close to investigate.

ABE

Could it be a controlled burn? Waste disposal? We don't yet know how the fire started, why it's still going, and more importantly -- what's still up there. 

JAKE

Or inside your homes!

ABE (RADIO)

For the next three hours, we'll be taking your calls. If you have any information about what's happening up there --

JAKE (RADIO)

I think it's aliens.

ABE (RADIO)

Dude, you have got to stop interrupting me.

(beat)

Wait, what?

JAKE (RADIO)

Yeah, it's got to be aliens.

ABE (RADIO)

You don't think it's Sasquatch?

INT. HOSPITAL - DAY

Hospital sounds fade in.

The transmission continues over a speaker inside the room.

Terri paces back and forth.

JAKE (RADIO)

Are you kidding? No way Sasquatch would be involved in something like that.

ABE (RADIO)

But the protection of nature is like, his whole thing.

JAKE (RADIO)

Man, you will never get it. It's like this, alright? Sasquatch, yes, is like the preserver. But at the same time, he would never -- 

The radio clicks off.

TERRI

That's enough of that.

ROSE

Come on, Mom, it's the news.

TERRI

That is not news.

Rose chuckles.

Lara knocks softly on the door.

LARA

Hey. Can I...come in?

TERRI

(cold)

Lara.

LARA

Mayor Boone.

ROSE

Hey, Lara. Yeah, it's okay.

TERRI

(quietly)

Rose, honey...

ROSE

It's okay, Mom. 

Terri hesitates.

TERRI

I'll be outside.

LARA

I heard the nurse's station has one of those coffee pod machines. If you ask nicely, I bet --

TERRI

Excuse me.

She walks out.

Lara steps into the room.

LARA

Well, she still hates me.

ROSE

She's been through a lot.

LARA

Yeah.

Lara grabs a chair and sits.

LARA

How are you feeling? 

ROSE

I'm okay. They keep talking about scans and keeping me for observation, but I feel fine. How's your head?

LARA

Better. I'm over the worst of the concussion, so they're discharging me. No lingering effects from the -- from the forest.

ROSE

That's good.

Doctor Simmons knocks on the door.

SIMMONS

How's the patient?

LARA

Doctor Simmons?!

SIMMONS

(awkward)

Oh. Lara. Hello.

ROSE

It's okay. I'm feeling better.

LARA

You're not...seeing patients, are you?

SIMMONS

No. No, no. I'm on a bit of a sabbatical.

LARA

Oh.

SIMMONS

Yes. Seemed best. But I helped synthesize the treatment that Rose and a few of the others who inhaled the spores last night are getting.

LARA

(suspicious)

You did? Nobody told me about anything like that.

SIMMONS

Well, no. Your body seems to have cleared itself of them all on its own. I'd love to find out more about that, but -- 

(off Lara's look)

Ah, I suppose I should -- I'm going to go. The Sheriff is meeting me here. About Camille.

LARA

Have they found her?

SIMMONS

She survived the fire. That's all they know.

LARA

Oh.

ROSE

I'm so sorry, Doctor Simmons.

SIMMONS

It's not your fault. She...Camille does what she's going to do.

(sighs)

I'm assisting where I can, but...well, I suppose I should focus on my own recovery. It appears I had a bit of exposure. Might have been...affected.

LARA

Yeah.

SIMMONS

They're -- they're good at what they do. The search teams. And she...I'm sure she's fine. With treatment, we'll all be fine.

LARA

Yeah.

SIMMONS

You saw them, then. The spores?

ROSE

Yeah.

SIMMONS

Are any of them (still intact)?

LARA

(overlapping)

We burned them all.

SIMMONS

(surprised)

Oh. Well, I'm sure that's fine.

ROSE

What do you mean?

SIMMONS

Well, some species of fungi reproduce through forest fires. The flames actually release the spores from the soil, so they only fruit in burn zones.

(off their expressions)

But I'm sure it's fine. It's fine.

ROSE

Um...

SIMMONS

(clears throat)

Well, I was just stopping by to see how you were. I'll -- I'll go.

LARA

(to Rose)

She hasn't tried to examine you, has she?

ROSE

What? Why?

SIMMONS

(annoyed)

I'm not seeing patients. 

(sighs)

I hope you continue to improve.

ROSE

Thanks.

She leaves.

ROSE

What was that about?

LARA

Long story.

Beat.

ROSE

You know, Lara, I...I'm glad you were there last night.

LARA

Me too.

ROSE

Did you really see it? 

LARA

Hm?

ROSE

When we -- when the spores burst out. 

LARA

Why don't you tell me what you saw?

ROSE

It was...the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. The stars came down to the earth, these beautiful balls of dancing light. And they sang. Like, really sang. I could see the tendrils from the -- the mushrooms? Reaching up. And when they met the stars...it was like everything...it was peace. Perfect peace.

LARA

Hm.

ROSE

You didn't see that?

LARA

I...had a dream. But it was different.

ROSE

You didn't see the stars?

LARA

There was an ocean. I think. But no stars. And definitely no song.

ROSE

(disappointed)

Oh.

LARA

I'm sorry, Rose. I wish I...I don't know why you see dancing stars and I just see...emptiness. Mold spores and mushrooms.

ROSE

It went wrong, anyway. There was that one moment of bliss and then...you said something about dying, I think? And it fell apart. I had the most horrible feeling, like everything was just...falling out of me. It was like this tingling feeling, like every bit of me...my nerves were just...freezing fire. And the nothingness wasn't an embrace anymore. It was...

(shudders)

I'm glad. I'm glad we burned them all.

LARA

I'm sorry it didn't end the way you thought.

ROSE

Yeah. Me too.

(beat)

I can't believe you didn't see the stars. And you don't -- you didn't feel anything, either? That piece of something greater?

LARA

I think it's just who I am. It's why I can't...be the person for you.

ROSE

Lara...

LARA

It's okay.

A quiet moment.

ROSE

You know, my mom used to tell me this story, that her mom told to her. About the sun and the moon.

LARA

Yeah?

ROSE

Mm-hmm. She said in the beginning, the sun and the moon were strangers. The sun gave us light and heat, and the moon moved the tides and brought the rain. And the sun watched over the day, while the moon watched over the night. But at sunrise and sunset, they could see each other. Just for a moment. Across the sky. And over the years, they fell in love.

LARA

That's sweet.

ROSE

Yeah. They lived like that for a long time, catching glimpses between day and night, until one day...they tried to be together. But when the sun and moon came together, the earth lost them both. 

LARA

An eclipse.

ROSE

Everything went dark and cold. The tides wouldn't move. And soon, the plants and animals began to die. 

LARA

Hm.

ROSE

So the sun and the moon agreed to stay apart. They leave messages for each other in the clouds, catch glimpses when one rises or sets. And once in a while, after years of isolation, they come together. But only ever for a moment.

LARA

That's...sad.

ROSE

The sun and the moon love each other. But they love the rest of us more. That's what my mom always said.

LARA

It's a good story.

ROSE

Yeah.

Little doggy claws tick-tack on the floor in the hall, and then SODAPOP bursts into the room.

ROSE

Sodapop! 

LARA

Hey, buddy!

Terri follows on his heels.

TERRI

Look what I found.

Sodapop jumps up on the bed and crawls all over Rose.

ROSE

Oh, hi, baby. What a good boy. Oh, someone cut your hair!

TERRI

He was a mess after all that time in the woods. And your cousin's ex-girlfriend grooms dogs, so...

A NURSE pokes her head in.

NURSE

Ma'am, you can't have dogs in here.

TERRI

It's just for a moment.

LARA

Do you know who this is? She's the mayor of Charity.

NURSE

What?

LARA

Charity? It's, like, twenty minutes from here!

NURSE

(dubious)

Well, it's hospital policy.

TERRI

Alright. Give us just a minute.

NURSE

One minute.

The nurse leaves.

LARA

They don't mess around here.

Sodapop rushes over to her.

LARA

Oh! Hey, Sodapop. I'm so happy you came back, bud. What a good boy.

Lara stands.

LARA

Well. I should probably get out of your way.

TERRI

Thank you.

ROSE

Will you take care of him? Of Sodapop?

LARA

Do you mean...?

ROSE

(surprise)

You'll take him home, won't you?

LARA

Are you sure? He -- you know, he was always your dog.

ROSE

He's your dog, Lara. 

LARA

I don't know about that. I mean, look at him, he...

(realizes)

He's following me.

ROSE

See?

LARA

He doesn't do that.

TERRI

Apparently, he does. 

LARA

Huh. Come on, buddy.

Sodapop makes happy dog noises.

Lara walks to the door. She pauses.

LARA

Goodbye, Rose.

ROSE

Goodbye, Lara.

Nurse returns.

NURSE

Ma'am? I really need you to remove that dog.

LARA

I've got him. 

(picks up Sodapop)

Come on, buddy, let's go. 

Sodapop licks her face.

Lara walks out.

TERRI

(to Rose)

How are you feeling?

ROSE

(for the hundredth time)

I'm fine, Mom.

TERRI

Good. Oh, did I tell you about Sheriff Tate? Apparently when they started on his mold abatement, they found a bunch of gold.

ROSE

What?

TERRI

Yeah. In the walls, under the floorboards. They were just sitting on it the whole time. He is pretty happy.

ROSE

I bet.

The scene fades out.

INT. LARA'S CAR

Lara gets into the driver seat. She shuts the car door behind her and buckles her seatbelt. Sodapop whines in the backseat.

LARA

Alright, buddy, you ready? We can go see Shayne. Run around on the farm. Sound good?

Sodapop whines.

LARA

Okay. Let me just plug in my phone...

The phone BEEPS.

PHONE

You have 216 new messages.

LARA

Great.

She sighs and puts the car into gear.

LARA

Just great.

(to phone)

Play messages.

PHONE

First message sent Wednesday...

FADE OUT

RECORDING

Recording clicks on, as with Lara's VO.

LARA

So that's...what happened. I think.

THERAPIST

Hmm. What do you think happened? I mean, really?

LARA

I think...you can love someone and just not be right for them, you know? The moon chases the sun. And as long as it never catches it, everything's okay. As long as it's just close enough to -- to reflect it, once in a while. So even if love Rose...maybe I'll always...

You know, in tarot the Moon represents illusion, deception, but also unconscious knowledge. Rose reads Tarot. I mean, I don't think that's what meant, but.

You can love the sun, and still recognize that it needs to stay...where it is.

(beat)

Or, sorry -- did you mean the Bigfoot stuff? Yeah, no, there's no Bigfoot. I had a concussion.

INT. MYSTERIOUS ROOM

High-tech machinery whirs. Recording continues from a small speaker.

VO LARA

There are species of fungus that can survive in space. Like, not just a vacuum, but actual space. So maybe when they had that meteor shower, a fragment came through with...something weird on it. Or maybe there was a weird strain there all along, down under the dirt. Rose got exposed, and with her existing issues...and you  know, small towns can get this kind of mass hysteria. So I guess it was a combination of things. And I just...got in the middle somehow.

THERAPIST (V.O.)

Hm.

VO LARA

So anyway, yeah. That's my story. That's why I came to a psychotherapist.

THERAPIST (V.O.)

Mm-hmm. 

(beat)

I think you should see me twice a week.

VO LARA

Yeah. That makes sense.

The recording clicks off.

The same voice as the therapist speaks, but very different now. 

ASSISTANT

So what do you think?

A MAN, deep voice, aggressively cheerful, replies.

MAN

It's fascinating. She's coming here?

ASSISTANT

She's on her way.

MAN

And she doesn't know we're here?

ASSISTANT

She thinks she's visiting her mother.

MAN

Good. Good.

ASSISTANT

You seem pleased.

MAN

Well, I suppose there is a reason they call me The Grinning Man.

A VERY DRAMATIC MUSICAL STING plays.

END OF EPISODE

OUTRO

Music: "I Will Fool You," by Bothnia

Whaaaaat?!? Guys! I guess you’ll have to come back for season two!

I just want to thank you for sticking around through the season one finale. It’s been a wild time. Did I think it would take me TWO YEARS to release one season of this show? No, my friends, I did not. But life happens, and here we are.

Completing these last five episodes was only possible because of Patreon, Zencastr, the Saunders Family, and the ongoing support of all you lovely people.

A special thank you to our Patreon supporters, including new Patrons Timothy Diaz, Adam Alexander, Rafael Fuentes, and Debbie (who I’m pretty sure is my mom. Hi, Mom.) Patreon supporters get all episodes early, as well as access to behind-the-scenes information, updates, bonus content, and more. To find out more or join in yourself, go to Patreon.com/believerpodcast. That’s P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com, slash believerpodcast.

Remote recording during the pandemic has only been possible because of our sponsor, Zencastr. When we lost access to in-person recording, I really thought we were done-for. But Zencastr made the transition to remote recording really easy. It’s browser-based, so everyone could log in from home, and it records high-quality audio on separate tracks, which is something you don’t get from general internet-video-call services. To learn more and get 30% off a pro plan, use the referral link in the show notes or enter promo code “believer” at checkout.

This episode features the voice talents of Mara Hernandez, Sara Gorsky, Miles Langerman, Jason Markoff, Rosa Delgado, Samantha Ronceros, Jillian Cardillo, Kip Parshall, Duke Parshall, Seth Ellsworth, Julie Saunders, and Archie. The Grinning Man was played by Javier Ronceros (who killed it).

This episode was written and directed by Julie Saunders, with sound design by Ester Ellis. Additional sound design assistance by Andrew Wardlaw. Andrew runs the Lamplight Radio Play, which adapts original dark fiction stories into audio. If you want to hear an episode directed by me, check out episode 11, “The Elevator Girl." Ester Ellis is the creator of Station Blue, and provides sound design for Dungeons and Daddies, Hit the Bricks, Arden, and much more. 

Season two will begin production later this year! In the meantime, if you experience an unexpected head injury -- or even, really, an expected head injury -- you should get that checked out. It’s pretty serious, even if you don’t see Bigfoot. (Although if you do see Bigfoot, will you tell him hi from me? He’s not returning my calls.)

Bye now.

TRANSCRIPT: 1.08 - FINGERS

A PDF of this transcript is available at this link.

A quick note - this episode contains quite a few car noises, so if you’re driving while you listen to this, please be careful.

TITLES

Believer Theme Music fades in.

NARRATOR

Believer, Episode 8: Fingers.

INT. LARA'S CABIN - MORNING

A sunny morning. Birds chirp.

Lara finishes dressing. She zips up a jacket.

On the floor, Jake stirs. Lara pauses.

JAKE

(in his sleep)

Apples for everyone...

He falls back asleep. Lara exhales.

LARA (V.O.)

For the record, I'm glad nothing happened with Jake. Well, you know, nothing much. Not that I would've been doing anything wrong. I mean, Rose was very clear about things. Not that she...oh, I don't know. It just would've complicated things, I think.

Lara pours herself a glass of water at the sink.

LARA (V.O.)

And to be honest, I still don't really know what Jake's deal was.

Lara gasps.

LARA

The water!

Jake stirs in response.

LARA

No no no, back to sleep...

Jake falls back to snoring.

LARA

Good man.

Jake snores on.

JAKE

(in his sleep)

Skunk Ape...

Lara tip-toes out.

EXT. LARA'S CABIN - CONTINUOUS

Lara walks in the tall grass.

LARA (V.O.)

It was weird leaving SodaPop's leash hanging by the door. No morning walks. No happy dog. Just sneak past the sleeping man on the floor and go about your day.

LARA

Now, where do you think the water comes from?

She take a few more steps and then...

LARA

Aha!

LARA (V.O.)

Okay, well, if mold had taken over Jake's house, then maybe that explained some of his experiences -- the lapses in memory, the odd behavior. But what if there was more? What if there really was something in the water?

She clears aside some grass...and gasps.

LARA

What the...

LARA (V.O.)

Jake had his own water pump. Probably for a well system instead of the city water program -- pretty common in rural areas like this. And growing all around it, under the grass, close to the ground, were these...

LARA

What are those?

LARA (V.O.)

They were like little mushrooms. Tiny, black, oily-looking lumps with sickly gray stems and dark caps. At first I thought they were just growing around the water pump -- you know, moist soil and all that -- but when I looked closely I could see...

LARA

Oh my god.

LARA (V.O.)

There were tiny cracks in the pipe around every little mushroom. They were growing inside the water pump.

She pulls out a little baggy and snips some out of the dirt.

LARA (V.O.)

So I took some samples.

Lara straightens up, wipes her hands on her jacket.

LARA

I should see that doctor.

INT. SIMMONS'S LAB - MOMENTS LATER

Machines whir. Simmons shuffles through papers with an urgent, busy air.

SIMMONS

(to herself)

Now, yes, if you line up the mycelia at just this angle -- yes! Yes! But this -- and that -- you've almost got it, Penelope.

Lara taps on the door and opens it.

LARA

Doctor Simmons? Your assistant said...

SIMMONS

No entry!

LARA

Oh, sorry, I just --

SIMMONS

This area is restricted. You'll have to go back to the waiting area, Miss --

LARA

Campbell. Lara Campbell?

SIMMONS

Lara Campbell. Lara Campbell? Lara Campbell!

LARA

Uh. Yeah.

SIMMONS

Come in, come in.

LARA

Yeah, um, Camille said that you'd been trying to...whoa.

SIMMONS

What? Oh, don't mind that. Just doing a bit of research.

LARA

This is all research? Taped onto the walls and cabinets and...everything?

SIMMONS

Oh!

(laughs)

It's a bit unorthodox, isn't it? It's just easier to see this way. I like to lay it all out, you know, make sense of it.

Lara steps into the room, distracted.

LARA

Yeah. Can I ask -- what are these lines?

SIMMONS

You recognize those?

LARA

Maybe. What are they?

SIMMONS

That, my dear, is the mycorrhizal network.

LARA

Myco-what?

SIMMONS

Mycology. Fungus. Fungal networks.

LARA

Like mushrooms?

SIMMONS

Yes! Well, no. Mushrooms are just the bit we see, the reproductive organs. No, no, fungi are so much more than that. They project themselves meters underground, burrowing deep, making connections between nutrients and elements.

LARA

So like tree roots?

SIMMONS

No, no, no. On a DNA level, they have more in common with humans than plants.

LARA

Wait -- really?

SIMMONS

So you can think of them as limbs.

LARA

(realizing)

Fingers. Reaching through the dirt.

SIMMONS

(indifferent)

If you like.

Simmons moves a sheaf of papers aside.

SIMMONS

Here, look.

Lara moves close.

SIMMONS

This. You see this diagram?

LARA

The trees?

SIMMONS

This is a forest. This is what we see when we look at a forest. Different trees, ferns, bushes, plants. Distinct organisms. Yes?

LARA

Sure.

SIMMONS

But underneath, underneath the dirt -- look.

(flips a page)

Everything is connected.

LARA

What do you mean?

SIMMONS

Okay. Trees have roots, right? To survive, trees need to synthesize light from the sun. But they also need to draw water and other nutrients up from the dirt. Hence, roots.

LARA

Right.

SIMMONS

But there are trees who get cut off from their food sources and still manage to thrive. There are even plants that never experience sunlight. And they still live. How?

LARA

I guess they...

SIMMONS

Mycelia! You see, the trees send out roots. But roots only get them so far. Fungus -- fungus fills in the gaps. Each fungus sends out these long strings, these tendrils --

LARA

Lines.

SIMMONS

They have more control over where they place them, how they travel.

And if they place themselves next to a tree's roots, they can communicate.

LARA

So they attach themselves? Like parasites?

SIMMONS

Not parasites. Symbiotes. An exchange. The tree secretes glucose. In return, the fungal network carries water, carbon, phosphorus -- whatever the tree needs to survive. And not just that! Information, Lara. There have been cases where one tree develops a disease, and the other trees around it boost their disease resistance in response. They talk to each other. Through the fungal network.

LARA

That's...crazy.

SIMMONS

You see, don't you? We think of the forest as just an area. A collection of trees. Separate things. But no. It's a single organism. The fungus is its central nervous system.

LARA

Every forest is like this?

SIMMONS

This is what it is, Lara. Life. All life. We are all worlds inside of worlds inside of worlds. A body full of organisms full of cells. Do you see it? Do you see?

LARA

Yeah. Yeah, it's, um, interesting.

SIMMONS

Interesting? Interesting?! This is vital. This is the stuff of life itself!

LARA

Yes. Yeah.

SIMMONS

You don't see. None of them can see.

LARA

No, actually, I came here to ask you -- well, I found this weird kind of mushroom inside somebody's water pipes.

SIMMONS

(very excited)

What?! Show me.

LARA

Uh, well, I got a little sample -- hey!

She pulls out the bag. Simmons snatches it away.

SIMMONS

Let me see.

She inspects.

SIMMONS

Oh yes. Oh yes. Let me see, where are the other sample photos...

She rapidly rummages through stacks of paper, sending papers flying.

LARA

Those lines...is that what it actually looks like? The fungus?

SIMMONS

(distracted)

Well, it's an artist's rendering.

LARA

Just like Rose's room.

SIMMONS

Hm?

LARA

Nothing. This fungus -- can it make people sick?

SIMMONS

Why do you think I'm studying this, exactly? For fun? Lara -- can I call you Lara?

LARA

(she's been calling her Lara for like 5 minutes) Uh, yeah.

SIMMONS

Fungal infection is one of the most common types of illness a person can have. That's what yeast infections are.

LARA

Ew. Really?

SIMMONS

Yeast is a fungus. They're everywhere!

LARA

Well, that's...

SIMMONS

Breathe in the spores, consume contaminated food, eat the wrong mushroom...they think fungal-infected wheat could be the cause of the Salem Witch Trials, did you know that?

LARA

I heard something about that.

SIMMONS

Most cause regular respiratory infections, skin inflammation, that kind of thing. But a few -- here.

She rips several pages off the wall and reads.

SIMMONS

Cryptococcus can penetrate the blood-brain barrier and cause confusion, disorientation, sensitivity to light.

LARA

Huh.

SIMMONS

Candida Albicansis, when spread to the brain, causes symptoms remarkably similar to Alzheimer's Disease.

LARA

It can cause memory loss?

SIMMONS

Memory loss, confusion, disorientation, all kinds of mental and neurological symptoms.

LARA

So what kind of fungus did I find?

SIMMONS

Lara. You understand, don't you? Something is infecting this town. Not just the people, though it's getting them too. No. It's everything, Lara. The plants, the animals, the dirt itself. You've seen it, haven't you? There are a few vector sites -- the Boone House, the condemned church, a few spots in the woods. Anyone who comes into contact with them becomes violently ill. Everyone. Except you.

LARA

Yeah. That's weird, right?

Simmons moves closer to Lara.

SIMMONS

I will study this sample. But if we really want to defeat this, we're going to need more. Much more. You understand?

LARA

I can check the rest of the water supply. Maybe a few more of those sites have these mushrooms at them.

SIMMONS

I need a sample from you, Lara. To see the antibodies.

LARA

Oh. Of course.

SIMMONS

So you agree? To a sample?

LARA

Yeah, if you think it'll help.

SIMMONS

I think it's very important, Lara.

LARA

Okay...so do you want to do a cheek swab, or...?

SIMMONS

Let me take some readings first.

She tightens a velcro strap around Lara's arm.

LARA

Oh -- is this for a blood pressure monitor, or...?

SIMMONS

It's all standard, dear.

She straps down the other arm.

LARA

Are you...strapping me to the chair? I don't think I'm comfortable having both arms restrained.

Simmons laughs, a little unhinged.

SIMMONS

Don't be silly!

Simmons forcefully tightens the strap.

LARA

Ow!

SIMMONS

Now, the best method for killing fungus is beta-glucan targeting. The body doesn't produce beta-glucans. So you target what's unique about the fungus itself. In the wild, nitrogen, bleach, that kind of thing is fine, but in the body...now where did I put that...

LARA

Doctor Simmons --

SIMMONS

Here we go! Now, just hold still...

LARA

Whoa, hey, don't you usually use a syringe?

SIMMONS

Oh, yes, but you see, I need so much blood, it just seems more efficient to use the scalpel, don't you think?

LARA

Um, no? Whoa!

Lara scoots the chair quickly back across the floor.

SIMMONS

Oh! Now, you see? I've missed! If I'd known you were squeamish, I would've done your legs. Let's -- try -- again!

They struggle. Simmons lunges at Lara, who pulls back again, strains against the straps, scrapes the chair back and forth.

LARA

No!

SIMMONS

Now it's very important that you -- hold -- still!

Lara screams.

LARA

Somebody help me! Help!

SIMMONS

Oh, dear, she can't hear you. Though now that you mention it, I would be better off getting cerebro-spinal fluid.

LARA

This is now how you do a spinal tap!

Simmons lunges for Lara again. Lara kicks her. Simmons GRUNTS and falls backward. She takes a few breaths, steadies herself.

SIMMONS

You know what? You're right. This is insane.

LARA

Uh-huh.

SIMMONS

I need a much better tool.

Simmons grabs a BONE SAW. Revs it up.

LARA

Why would you even have a bone saw in here? This isn't an operating room!

SIMMONS

(duh)

It's a lab! You need all sorts of things!

She lunges at Lara. Lara struggles, twists, and finally breaks free of one restraint.

LARA

Ha!

SIMMONS

Now if you slip the restraints, this gets so much more complicated.

LARA

Ahhh!

Arm free, Lara deflects Simmons just in time. Simmons trips backward and slams into a counter full of lab equipment.

Lara quickly pulls off the other velcro strap and scrambles to her feet.

SIMMONS

Lara, please, if you'll just sit back down, this could save a lot of people.

LARA

Stay away from me!

The saw whirs. Lara shoves the chair at Simmons, who falls over. Lara races to the door, wrenches it open, and dashes back into --

INT. LARA'S INBOX

VOICEMAIL

At the end of your message, press one.

BEEP!

JAKE

Hey, Lara, it's Jake. Listen, I hope it wasn't too awkward when, uh... well, I hope you got out okay this morning. Anyway, uh, I went back to my house earlier and -- you'll never believe this -- my house is covered in black mold. Must've grown overnight. We're talking all over the walls, absolutely everywhere. Crazy, right? Anyway, I'm gonna stay at my friend Abe's for a while until I can get it taken care of. So if you come back and I'm not there, that's why. But, you know, if you want to you should -- I mean, you can call me. If you need anything. And try to stay out of the main house, okay? There's, like, a lot of mold. Must be something with the rain or something. Okay. Okay, okay. See you around.

VOICEMAIL

End of message.

EXT. BOONE HOUSE - LATER

Lara runs on the sidewalk, breathing hard. She stops to catch her breath.

An AMBULANCE rushes past, siren blaring.

LARA

(out of breath)

An ambulance...? I didn't know they had those out here.

The front door of the BOONE HOUSE opens. TERRI BOONE and SHERIFF TATE emerge, in conversation.

SHERIFF

Well, if anything else comes up, don't hesitate to call.

TERRI

Thank you, Sheriff Tate. Now if...

(sees Lara)

What the hell?

LARA

Uh...

TERRI

Lara Campbell? Are you kidding me?!

LARA

Terri Boone? How did I get to your house? God, I swear this town is like, ten feet wide.

SHERIFF

Is there a problem here, Terri?

TERRI

I'd say so.

LARA

No, listen, I swear I didn't come here on purpose. I just had to get away from -- actually, Sheriff, I really need to talk to you. It's about the doctor.

Sodapop races out through the still-open front door of the Boone House.

LARA

Oh, Sodapop! Hey, buddy.

Rose follows after him.

ROSE

Sodapop!

(she stops)

Lara?

LARA

Rose.

ROSE

What are you doing here?

LARA

Okay, so, like I was just explaining, I was running away from Doctor Simmons.

SHERIFF

Penelope Simmons?

LARA

She attacked me.

SHERIFF

What?

TERRI

(overlapping)

Oh, come on.

LARA

Listen, this stuff you guys have been messing with -- it's so dangerous. It messes with your head. Doctor Simmons has been experimenting with it and it's just driving her -- well, if you come with me, you'll see.

TERRI

Right. Everyone's crazy but you, right Lara?

LARA

That's not what I said.

SHERIFF

Right, but this -- what did you say it was?

LARA

It's a kind of fungus. I think.

SHERIFF

And this fungus doesn't affect you?

LARA

No, I seem to have some kind of immunity.

TERRI

Isn't that convenient? Everyone else has the problem.

SHERIFF

Sure sounds convenient to me.

LARA

No, listen -- I found mushrooms in the water supply, mold in the house, and Reverend Boone's church --

SHERIFF

So you did trespass at the church? After our conversation the other day?

LARA

Um, that's not really -- that's not what I'm trying to say.

TERRI

You know what? I really cannot deal with you right now.

SHERIFF

Terri, why don't you go back inside. I'll handle this.

TERRI

I want it clear that she's trespassing, Sheriff.

SHERIFF

I know, Terri.

LARA

Wait -- Terri -- Mayor Boone --

TERRI

Just -- get her out of here.

Terri storms back inside. The front door SLAMS behind her.

ROSE

(offended)

A fungus, Lara?

LARA

The symptoms -- everything that's been happening. It's consistent with a toxic fungus outbreak.

ROSE

Why would you think that?

LARA

The doctor and I talked it over.

SHERIFF

The doctor who attacked you.

LARA

Well, I mean, before that.

SHERIFF

Okay. Why don't you come with me, and we'll discuss it further, okay?

LARA

Um...

ROSE

Sheriff, wait.

Lara. I heard you've been to the woods. The Sanctum. You saw the basement.

LARA

Yeah.

ROSE

And you think all of that is fungus.

LARA

Well, if you look at how fungal networks work, then the images you drew...god, how do I explain this?

ROSE

Why do you do this, Lara?

LARA

Do what?

ROSE

You take the things I love -- the things I believe in -- and you make them sound so...small. So stupid.

LARA

That's not what I'm trying to do.

ROSE

This is real, Lara. And it's bigger than you know.

LARA

I know it feels that way, but...

ROSE

Would you stop? I swear to God, every time I try to tell you...it's not all in my head, Lara. It never was.

LARA

I don't mean it like that. Just because something's in your head doesn't mean (it's not real.)

ROSE

(overlapping)

Just...enough. Please.

SHERIFF

Alright, Miss Campbell.

LARA

Rose -- wait --

ROSE

Just get her out of here, please.

LARA

If I could just (explain it all -- )

SHERIFF

(cuts her off)

That's enough, Miss Campbell. Now I can give you a ride home or I can take you down to the Sheriff's station in The Dalles. Your choice.

LARA

Okay.

(beat, to Rose:)

I'm sorry.

SHERIFF

Come on.

They take a few steps on the grass. SodaPop whines.

ROSE

Lara -- wait.

Lara turns, hopeful.

LARA

Yeah?

ROSE

You should take the dog.

LARA

SodaPop?

He whines again.

ROSE

He shouldn't be here. He needs -- you need to take him away.

LARA

Are you sure? He seems so happy.

ROSE

I can't...it's better. If he's not here.

LARA

Rose, if we could just talk...please.

ROSE

Take him back to Portland and...and I'll call you. Okay? We can talk.

LARA

Okay. Yeah. I guess that's best.

ROSE

It is.

LARA

Um, Sheriff, do you mind if I take him?

SHERIFF

Fine. Just stick him in the back.

Lara picks up Sodapop. He CRIES loudly.

SHERIFF

Is he going to cry like that the whole time?

LARA

Um...probably.

SHERIFF

(sighs)

Well, come on then.

ROSE

Goodbye, puppy.

SodaPop whines.

ROSE

I'm sorry. I hope...I hope you understand someday.

SHERIFF

Let's go, Miss Campbell. I've got other business today, you know.

LARA

Yeah...okay.

She takes a few steps in the grass.

LARA

Goodbye, Rose.

ROSE

Goodbye.

Lara sighs. Sodapop whines. Lara walks away.

EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - LATER

The SUV drives down a quiet road. In the backseat, SodaPop whines.

LARA

I can't believe you had a dog seat belt back there.

SHERIFF

Well, my wife and I take the Shih Tzu out with us.

LARA

Oh, you have a Shih Tzu? They're cute.

SHERIFF

Wife's idea.

LARA

Right...um, you see what I'm saying about Doctor Simmons, though, right?

SHERIFF

(unconcerned)

I will go see her as soon as I drop you off.

LARA

And the water supply?

SHERIFF

I'll mention it at the next city council meeting.

LARA

(annoyed)

Sure. That'll solve it.

The car suddenly THUMPS over something in the road, then swerves. Tires SQUEAL.

SHERIFF

Shit!

LARA

What was that?

SHERIFF

Hold on!

LARA

Is that a deer?

SHERIFF

It was a possum. I think.

A loud WHUMP as something drops onto the top of the car.

LARA

Is something...falling on us?

SHERIFF

Probably just pine cones.

WHUMP, WHUMP. Muffled ANIMAL CACKLES. The sound of skittering feet.

LARA

There's something on top of the car.

SHERIFF

Could be raccoons. They climb the trees, but I've never seen one drop onto a car --

WHUMP, WHUMP, little feet SCRATCHING. And then suddenly, a loud HISS.

LARA

Oh my god, it's trying to come through the sunroof.

SHERIFF

Close it!

LARA

(overlapping)

How do you -- where's the button?

SHERIFF

(overlapping)

Little busy here! This road is a mess.

LARA

(overlapping)

Let me just --

A RACCOON squeals and then falls into the cabin of the car, hissing.

Sodapop BARKS frantically.

SHERIFF

Shit! Oh, shit!

LARA

Raccoon in the car! Raccoon in the car!

The Raccoon HISSES viciously.

LARA

Ahhh! I think there's something wrong with it.

Sodapop BARKS again.

LARA

Sodapop, no! Leave it.

SHERIFF

Get it off me! Get it off me!

Lara grabs it. The raccoon SQUEALS.

LARA

Stop the car!

SHERIFF

I'm trying, but the breaks...!

LARA

Okay, come here, you demonic little -- ahh!

It hisses again.

Another few THUMPS on the roof.

LARA

Close that sunroof, would you? Let me get the window --

She rolls down the window, throws out the raccoon with a grunt.

LARA

There. Jesus, it rolled over and just started chasing the car --

KA-WHAM! An ELK slams into the side of the car. Lara screams.

SHERIFF

Where'd that elk come from?

LARA

You have got to stop the car.

SHERIFF

The breaks are out. I'm trying to slow it down, but --

He honks the horn. Tires squeal. More THUMPS on the roof and sides of the car.

LARA

Oh my god. Oh my god.

SHERIFF

Come on, come on, come on...

LARA

Look out for that --

BAM! Something slams into the car. It spins out of control. Tires squeal.

SHERIFF

Hold oooon!

Lara screams.

And CRASHHHHHHHHH! The car crashes into a tree.

And...THUD. Silence from the passengers. A long, sustained HORN SOUND as Sheriff Tate rests against the wheel.

END OF EPISODE

Thank you for listening to Believer! This episode was written and directed by Julie Saunders. Voice acting by Jason Markoff, Samantha Simmonds Ronceros, Rosa Delgado, Regen Wilson, Julie Saunders, and Archie. Sound design by Chad Ellis and Julie Saunders.

We are just two episodes away from the end of season one, so now is a great time to tell your friends about the show. Maybe you know someone with some travel coming up who might like some spooky listening? I hear this show pairs well with Tunnels, which just published their SERIES FINALE. Tunnels is a serialized audio drama about the mysterious tunnels beneath a small Georgia town, the things that live within them, and the people who want to control them. Find out more at HauntedGriffin.com. That’s griffin spelled “g-r-i-f-f-i-n.”

This episode was recorded using Zencastr and features music and effects from Epidemic Sound. If you’re interested in either of those services, please use our referral link - it’s in the show notes or you can find it at BelieverPodcast.com/support. That page also includes information about our Patreon and a link to our Teepublic store, for all the Believer fans in your life. Once again, that’s BelieverPodcast.com/support.

The next episode will be out in just a few weeks. Until then, if the temperature suddenly drops, and you feel a chill on the back of your neck that nobody else seems to notice…you’ve probably been out in the cold for too long. Get into shelter, and wear a scarf next time. Unless it’s not cold where you are. Then it might be a ghostly warning to get your iron and thyroid levels tested. Both can make you sensitive to the cold. Thank you, Doctor Ghost.

Bye now.

TRANSCRIPT: 1.06 - The Rules

A PDF version of this transcript is available here.

CONTENT NOTES: Cults, imprisonment, serious illness, hallucinations

---

Hello, my lovely Patrons. I just wanted to thank you all for

sticking with us through this long hiatus. It’s been a tough

year for many of us out there, and your grace and support

has meant the world. We went off-schedule for Halloween, but

from now on release days will be Tuesday of each week.

You’ll get each of those one week in advance here on

Patreon.

Now, please enjoy, Believer, Season One, Episode Six: The

Rules.

LARA'S INBOX

VOICEMAIL

You have unheard messages. First

message.

Rustling from the other end. Camille speaks to someone away

from the phone.

CAMILLE

Nothing that time either? Well, then

where is her phone? It wasn't on her.

Maybe we should --

It cuts off.

BEEP.

VOICEMAIL

Next message.

COMPUTER VOICE

Lara Campbell. You are in danger.

Lara Campbell. You are in --

BEEP.

VOICEMAIL

End of messages.

TITLES

NARRATOR

Believer. Episode Six. The Rules.

INT. BASEMENT - HOLDING ROOM - DAY

A small, concrete room. Lara stirs on an air mattress on the

floor.

CAMILLE

Good morning, Lara.

Lara jumps.

LARA

Gah! Ugh...

CAMILLE

(sympathetic)

How's your head?

LARA

Pounding.

CAMILLE

Yeah, you probably have a pretty bad

hangover. There's water and pills by

the bed if you want any. Yeah, there.

LARA

I'm not taking medicine from you.

CAMILLE

(rolling her eyes)

It's just aspirin, Lara.

LARA

Uh-huh.

CAMILLE

Do you want me to take it first?

Here.

She grabs the pill bottle, sticks some pills in her mouth.

CAMILLE

See?

LARA

Well, now it has your spit on it.

CAMILLE

Get more from the bottle.

She hands the bottle to Lara. Lara sets it down.

LARA

I'm good.

CAMILLE

At least drink some water. It's

filtered.

2.

LARA

I'm good.

Camille sighs.

CAMILLE

This isn't how I wanted to do this,

you know.

LARA

The kidnapping, you mean?

CAMILLE

It's not kidnapping.

LARA

You drugged me and took me to a...

(looks around)

Concrete room. Is this your basement?

Does your mom know about this?

(yells)

Hey! Doctor Simmons!

Camille rushes to shush her.

CAMILLE

Shhh!

LARA

Don't touch me!

CAMILLE

Lara, I'm a friend.

LARA

That's what I thought before the

kidnapping.

CAMILLE

I didn't mean to hurt you. I just had

to get you out of the Sanctum.

LARA

Reverend Boone's old church?

CAMILLE

It used to be a church. Now it's

something...more.

LARA

Oh, god.

3.

CAMILLE

Only Reverend Boone and his daughter

are allowed to go there. I've been

asking, but -- it's very sacred. And

dangerous. It takes weeks of study

and meditation to be ready.

LARA

Because it's full of psychedelic

substances, and if you don't

brainwash yourself first you might

have the wrong visions?

Camille is offended, cold.

CAMILLE

This was a mistake.

LARA

Like I was saying.

CAMILLE

(realization sets in)

You're not ready to be here.

(panic)

Oh, god. Oh no. What did I do?

LARA

Camille? Camille, it's okay. You can

just let me go.

CAMILLE

No, no, no. I need to think.

LARA

Camille...

CAMILLE

Sit here. I'll be -- I'll be right

back.

LARA

Camille, wait!

CAMILLE

Drink some water.

She hurries out the door, shuts it behind her. The CLICK of

a lock.

LARA

Camille. Camille!

4.

She tries the door, then pounds on it. No response.

LARA

Can someone at least check on my dog?

No response.

Lara sits down on the air mattress.

LARA

Maybe Jake will notice I'm gone.

She takes a breath.

LARA

(to herself)

Now, where am I?

LARA (V.O.)

I know, right? Actual cult

kidnapping. It's like there was some

kind of Creepy Small Town checklist

this place was working from.

Lara walks around the room.

LARA (V.O.)

Small concrete room. Underground. It

was probably supposed to be a storage

closet. One window up high...

Lara jumps. Grunts. No dice.

LARA (V.O.)

Too high to reach, naturally. But the

really interesting thing...

Lara stops. Touches the wall.

LARA

Wait. What's that?

LARA (V.O.)

All over the room -- the floor, the

walls -- there were these scratch

marks. Long, shallow grooves crossing

every surface. At first it seemed

random, but...

She moves the air mattress.

LARA

Wow.

5.

LARA (V.O.)

It was a pattern. I think. The lines

converged, or maybe began, in this...

tangle in the middle of the room. The

lines would loop out and away from

each other, then converge again, so

many layered at these convergence

points that it almost became a

circle, or a star. And then away

again. The way that they split, and

twisted, and grew, it made me think

of...it's hard to explain, but it

wasn't random. It seemed...organic.

Like Rose's room, like the church,

but so much more...deliberate.

Lara rubs and scratches the floor, examining it.

LARA (V.O.)

I mean, it was carved into the floor.

Someone was determined. Someone...

Through the ceiling, a soft, rhythmic BEEPING sound.

LARA

What is that...beeping?

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Suddenly, a KNOCK at the door.

LARA

Um. Hello?

No response.

Beep. Beep. KNOCK.

LARA

Who's doing that?

Beep. Beep. Knock-knock-knock.

LARA

You guys locked it from the ouside,

remember? I can't really --

A smattering of KNOCKS, from all directions this time.

Something TAPS on the window.

LARA

Is someone out there? I could really

use some...help...

6.

She trails off as a CACOPHONY OF KNOCKS breaks out, coming

from everywhere. Something THUMPS hard on the door, like a

large, wet body throwing itself against it.

LARA

Oh, no. Not again. No, no, no.

Similar THUMPS against the window this time, like something

trying to break through. Lara covers her ears.

The noise CRESCENDOS louder, the BEEPING getting loud,

insistent. Lara moans, unable to block it out.

The sound rises and rises until --

THE DOOR OPENS.

CAMILLE

Lara?

All sounds stop.

Except the distant, muffled BEEP, BEEP, BEEP...

Camille takes a few steps into the room.

CAMILLE

Lara? Are you okay?

Lara flinches away.

LARA

I'm fine!

CAMILLE

Oh. Sorry. Well, I was just checking.

She turns to leave.

LARA

Camille. Wait.

Camille stops.

CAMILLE

What?

LARA

This is the Boone House, isn't it?

CAMILLE

How did you...?

7.

LARA (V.O.)

The beeping. Reverend Boone's heart

monitor.

LARA

I can...feel it.

CAMILLE

What do you feel, Lara?

LARA

These marks...did Rose make them?

CAMILLE

Yes. Rose was here when the visions

overtook her. You can feel that?

LARA

Do you think I can't sense Rose's

presence? There's so much of her

here.

CAMILLE

She locked herself in here for three

days, a few months ago. When she came

out...that's when everything began.

LARA (V.O.)

Oh my god.

LARA

The lines. Reaching. In the dirt.

CAMILLE

I knew you could sense her. That's

what I was trying to -- you were

supposed to lead me to Rose and then

just go home. I didn't realize that

Oblivion would reach you, too.

LARA

Oblivion. Is that what you call it?

CAMILLE

Yes.

LARA (V.O.)

There was only one way out of there.

LARA

I see its signs everywhere. In my

dreams, on the walls, in the Sanctum.

8.

CAMILLE

In the Sanctum? You had a vision?

What did you see?

LARA

It was...indescribable. Camille. Help

me understand. What do you worship

here?

CAMILLE

The hand of God.

LARA

Yes. Of course.

CAMILLE

You can feel it, right? What do you

feel?

LARA

I...I guess I feel...

CAMILLE

Nothing.

LARA

What?

CAMILLE

The sweet release of nothingness.

LARA

Yes. I feel...nothing. Absolutely

nothing.

Camille sighs, happy, relieved.

CAMILLE

I think you should meet the others.

LARA

I'd love that.

CAMILLE

Come on.

Camille opens the door. They walk out.

INT. BASEMENT - MAIN ROOM - DAY

A cozy hangout room. A few STRANGERS sit around, talking

quietly. They go silent when Camille and Lara walk in.

9.

CAMILLE

Everyone? This is Lara.

LARA

Hi.

Silence. They are not impressed.

LARA (V.O.)

It was a pretty typical basement

hangout room. Couches, TV, stereo.

Pretty popular when Rose was in high

school, I bet. There were probably

about a dozen people in there. All of

them staring at me.

CAMILLE

Lara has seen the Nothingness.

Excited murmuring from the others.

CAMILLE

(to Lara)

Come on, let's sit over here.

LARA

Okay.

LARA (V.O.)

So I'm not a cult expert, but I know

a few things. Rule One: never tell

someone who's in a cult that they're

in a cult. It'll just make them mad.

LARA

So your group seems...friendly.

CAMILLE

We try to be welcoming. It's hard

because, you know, it's so easy to

misunderstand.

LARA (V.O.)

Rule Two: Everyone outside the cult

is bad. Not just confused, but

actively evil. So try to be an

insider.

LARA

It's so simple, though. They must not

understand.

10.

CAMILLE

You know, some people just have a

really hard time with new ideas.

LARA

I've noticed that.

CAMILLE

You know, people think that these

things -- suffering, division -- are

just part of life.

LARA

So that's what the Nothingness is,

then? The end of suffering?

CAMILLE

Kind of. But it's more than that.

See, pain, loneliness, isolation --

those are symptoms. They mean that

something's wrong. Oh, Reverend Boone

explains it better than I can. But

we're not trying to end the world. We

just want it to work the way it's

supposed to.

LARA

And this reaching...thing --

CAMILLE

The hand of God.

LARA

It can do that.

CAMILLE

That's all it wants.

A beat. They look around.

LARA

Okay, well, this has been amazing.

But I really think I should go check

on my dog.

CAMILLE

Wait -- Lara --

A door opens and closes across the room.

11.

LARA

He knows Rose better than anyone, so

I'll just go him and come right back.

Now if you'll excuse me --

TERRI

I wouldn't recommend that.

Where did Mayor Terri come from? Well, she's here now.

LARA

Mayor Boone!

TERRI

They actually call me The Conductor

here.

LARA

Sure. Of course.

TERRI

Camille mentioned that we had a new

inductee who's already had her first

vision of the Hand of God. I figured

it was probably you.

LARA

Yep. That's me.

TERRI

(niceness laced with

malice)

Well, isn't that lovely.

LARA

Listen, um...

TERRI

The Reverend would like to greet you

personally.

The STRANGERS mumble, surprised excitement.

CAMILLE

The Reverend? Really? But I just

started teaching her the basics.

TERRI

It was his personal request.

CAMILLE

Of course. Lara, this is quite an

honor.

12.

LARA

I -- yeah. I'm honored.

LARA (V.O.)

Rule three: Never question the

leader. Ever.

TERRI

I'll take her upstairs, Camille. Why

don't all of you here prepare for a

vision ceremony? It's been a while,

after all.

CAMILLE

Sure, Mayor -- um, Madam Conductor.

TERRI

Just Conductor is plenty, Camille.

CAMILLE

Yes, ma'am -- uh, Conductor.

Terri sighs.

TERRI

Come on.

INT. BOONE HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER

FADE IN on Mitchell Boone's various medical machinery.

Terri walks over to check on Mitchell.

TERRI

He's asleep. Good. I swear this is

the only room in the house where

those people can't overhear us.

LARA

Um, you can hear the beeping

downstairs, actually.

TERRI

So talk more quietly than the

beeping.

LARA

Right, um...sorry, what's going on?

13.

TERRI

We are going to wait until the

'shrooms kick in downstairs, and then

you are going to go very far away

from here.

LARA

So all this -- Oblivion, the Hand of

God, resetting the world -- you don't

actually believe any of it.

TERRI

Here's what I know, Lara. You cannot

find Rose.

On "Rose," Mitchell's heart monitor picks up.

LARA

What?

TERRI

Rose is gone. She needs to stay gone.

And you need to get away from here.

LARA

I don't understand --

Mitchell GASPS, waking with a start.

MITCHELL

(rasps)

The Sacred Rose! My Rose -- my Rose

in the scorched, packed earth.

He coughs.

TERRI

Mitchell -- Mitchell, stay calm.

Please, honey, you're confused.

MITCHELL

You. You.

He grabs Lara's arm.

LARA

Hey, whoa!

MITCHELL

You will find my Rose. You will

bring...the one...salvation...

14.

TERRI

Mitchell, do you hear me? Honey, you

need to let go of Rose's friend.

MITCHELL

Fore...fore-runner...the herald...I

didn't see it, but...

He coughs.

TERRI

Shh, shh...

LARA

Sir, I think that you should rest.

MITCHELL

No. No! She is so close...you must...

please...

He groans, then falls asleep again.

TERRI

Mitchell. Mitchell?

His machines stabilize.

LARA

Is he okay?

TERRI

He's sleeping. He's not...he gets

confused, lately.

LARA

Terri...

TERRI

Time to go.

LARA

Oh. Okay.

TERRI

Down the hall, out the door. Run.

Now.

LARA

If you --

TERRI

Now!

15.

LARA

Okay. Okay.

Lara runs out.

Terri strokes Mitchell's hair.

TERRI

Just a few more days, Mitchell.

You'll see.

EXT. BOONE HOUSE - EVENING

It's getting toward evening. Crickets have started to sing.

Lara slips out the front door.

She runs across the grass...then suddenly TRIPS and falls.

LARA

Ah!

And that's enough. The basement door swings open and Camille

appears.

CAMILLE

Lara? The rest of the group's down

here.

LARA

Oh, uh...

CAMILLE

You weren't leaving, were you? I

thought you enjoyed it here.

LARA

I do! I just -- I got a feeling. A

vision. So I need to go now.

CAMILLE

Is it Rose? I'll come with you!

LARA

No! Uhh...I need to go alone.

CAMILLE

(suddenly serious)

I should really come with you.

LARA

But if you meditate here...

16.

CAMILLE

No, Lara. I'm coming with you.

Sorry -- we're coming with you.

Two other cult members, MARCUS and JUNIPER come up the

basement stairs

MARCUS

Hey.

JUNIPER

Hi.

LARA

Right.

(to herself)

Lot of strength training in this

group, I guess.

CAMILLE

What was that?

LARA

Nothing. Let's, uh, let's go.

CAMILLE

(brightly)

Great! Come on, guys.

LARA (V.O.)

Cult rule four: getting out is a lot

harder than getting in. They make

sure of that.

Camille and the others catch up to Lara.

LARA

I was just going into the woods.

Right here.

CAMILLE

Sounds good. Marcus and Juniper love

hiking. They work out a lot.

LARA

That's great.

They walk off into the woods.

17.

LARA'S INBOX

VOICEMAIL

Next message.

BEEP.

SIMMONS

This is Doctor Penelope Simmons,

General Practitioner, calling once

again to try to make an appointment.

Miss Campbell, there is a serious

infection emerging in the town of

Charity, Oregon. Source and

progression of the disease remains

unclear, but your resistance could be

key to determining next steps. Please

be on the lookout for symptoms such

as visual or auditory hallucinations,

difficulty breathing, or anything

that...

(beat)

Is that...no. It can't be.

(shakes it off)

Um. As I was saying, I...

(beat)

Hello? I'm not currently seeing

patients. If you don't have an

appointment...Richard? Is that you?

It can't be. You're dead.

(beat)

Richard, what are you -- Richard,

don't touch that. No, it's not

Richard. You're not Richard! It's

nothing. Nothing.

(to the vision)

Go away! You hear me? You are

nothing! Nothing! Nothing, nothing,

noth --

BEEP.

VOICEMAIL

Message deleted.

EXT. FOREST - NIGHT

Forest sounds. It's a quiet night. Rain falls softly on the

fir trees.

Lara, Camille, Marcus, and Juniper walk through the brush.

18.

CAMILLE

Are we getting close?

LARA

I think so.

LARA (V.O.)

I had this idea that once we got out

into the woods, I could just lose

them. It was getting dark, and the

rain and fog had already moved in. I

stepped off the path so there wasn't

an obvious way to go. It should've

been easy, right?

CAMILLE

Whoa, it is dark out here. I feel

like I can barely see at all. Lara,

I'm gonna hold onto your arm, okay?

LARA

Oh, um --

CAMILLE

Marcus, why don't you grab her other

arm? Juniper, you stay close. It's

slippery out here.

Marcus GRUNTS acknowledgment.

LARA

(to herself)

Damn it.

CAMILLE

What was that?

LARA

Almost there!

LARA (V.O.)

I forgot about Rule Five: don't

assume cult members are stupid. Cults

really like smart, well-educated

people, actually. People don't join

cults because they don't know better;

they do it because the cult has

something they need at that moment. I

wonder what that first thing was for

Camille.

19.

CAMILLE

I guess when I heard Reverend

Mitchell's message I was just, you

know, I was really lost. Like, here I

am back in my home town, this place I

swore I'd get away from, I'm just

getting away from this horrific

relationship, and it just seemed like

there was no purpose to any of it. I

mean, this guy I was with at school

was just...I mean, I won't get into

it, but I was pretty broken.

LARA

Uh-huh.

CAMILLE

And it's like, how does a loving God

create a person like that, and then

not even warn me that I'm in his

path? It just seemed senseless. But

then...

Sound of a dog ID TAG AGAINST A COLLAR.

LARA

Shhh!

CAMILLE

What? Are we there?

LARA

Do you hear that?

Silence.

CAMILLE

Hear what?

A dog BARKS.

LARA

SodaPop!

Lara shakes off Marcus and breaks into a run.

CAMILLE

Lara -- wait!

The others chase after Lara.

LARA

SodaPop! Come here --

20.

(she stops)

Buddy...

She trails off. Camille and the others catch up. They stop.

They gasp.

CAMILLE

It's her.

SodaPop whines happily.

Rose steps forward.

ROSE

Hello, Lara.

LARA

Hi...Rose.

BUMP BUMP BUHHHH.

END OF EPISODE

Thank you for listening to Believer. We’re so excited to be

back. Your support has meant the world over the last year,

and I want to thank everyone who’s sent messages or told

friends about the show. I can’t tell you how much it

mattered during this difficult time away. If you want to get

in touch, you can follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, or

Facebook at Believerpod or send us an email at

believerpod@gmail.com. For transcripts, cast and crew

information, and to support the show, go to

BelieverPodcast.com.

Episodes will release every other Tuesday until the end of

the season. Patreon supporters receive each episode one week

early, along with other extras and behind-the-scenes

information. Find out more at Patreon.com/BelieverPodcast

This episode was written and directed by Julie Saunders and

features the voice talents of Sara Gorsky, Rosa Delgado,

David Pinion, Samantha Ronceros, Mara Hernandez, Seth

Ellsworth, Julie Saunders, and Archie. Sound design by Julie

Saunders and Chad Ellis.

Speaking of voice acting by Rosa Delgado, our pod-cousins at

Elaine’s Cooking For the Soul have just returned with season

two! Rosa stars as the titular Elaine and even wrote one of

the episodes this season, so you definitely want to check

that out. Stick around for their trailer.

21.

Until next time, if you see strange shapes from the corners

of your eyes, or children with unnaturally dark eyes come

knocking at your door…don’t worry, it’s probably just trickor-

treaters. It is Halloween, after all. (But still, don’t

invite them inside.)

22.