Original subtitles

There can be no beginning without an end.

Eventually, something you know and understand

becomes expanding myriad possibilities.

Its original purpose and reason,

all but completely evaporated.

"Everything else is masturbation."

It just ends there.

Yeah, I... I need to find an ending.

You hate it, that's okay. It's all right.

No! I didn't say that I hate it! I don't hate it!

No, you think it's too, like, esoteric or abstract.

Oh, honey, you're putting words in my mouth.

- Fancy words. - I didn't say that!

It's all right.

What are you doing?

Nothing, I'll just put it where it belongs.

What are you doing?

What do you think? It's trash.

They're not gonna fucking get it anyway

because anytime I try to do anything

with any semblance of substance,

critics misrepresent it completely,

or members of my audience... It's lost on them.

It's like, you know, it's the final issue.

I'm trying to put a little bit of medicine in the sugar,

but nowadays everybody just wants

all fucking sugar all the time.

It's good, babe. It's good.

Like, good, real good?

And you know that it's good,

but you're just spinning right now, like you do.

- Mmm-hmm. - Okay? So close your eyes.

Close 'em and zip it.

- Close your mouth. - Mmm-hmm.

Breathe through your nose.

Open.

Feel better?

- A little bit. Thank you. - Welcome.

And I know I'm being dumb.

I just feel like this final issue of the comic

could be, you know,

my last chance to show the critics

that it actually means something, you know?

It's not just all the hype.

I know. And it will.

Thank you.

Babe, is that all you're bringing?

'Cause, like, I could've packed for you.

I could've helped you.

Yeah. It's, like,

I don't need to change my underwear every day.

No, no, that's...

Um, we could also just shorten the trip by flying.

This is a road trip that will be really fun

and really informative for my book,

and I appreciate your patience.

That was more like...

You know, when I sold it to the team,

I was talking more about, like, finding the people

in places that inspire the number one R-rated comic

in the genre.

Okay, I'm literally going to smack you.

- Mmm-hmm. - I said be supportive,

not be sarcastic.

You stop giving me suggestions

and focus on planning our vacation

for when you're out of a job.

- Oh, perfect, I did. - Yeah?

Vacation time awaits, right now.

- Yeah? - Yeah,

we get out of the house, hit the road,

- look at the scenery... - Mmm. Yeah?

You know? Yeah. Do some, like,

kinky stuff in the back while they drive...

Yeah, but this isn't our vacation, honey,

I don't want, um, Ezra and Aurora there.

Oh, I thought this was the vacation.

No, no, no, no, no, I want something nice just us.

Oh, we'll get some time in the motel on the road.

We'll see if the bed springs work.

They're here.

A romantic getaway

with your business partner and assistant.

Come on, hubba-hubba! "Hubba-hubba"?

We should probably get out there.

- We gotta break this up. - Ooh, bless him.

- Let's do it! - Yeah, let's go!

So, the Slasherman,

he's actually based on a real guy.

Some of our listeners may remember, is that right?

Inspired. Inspired by

the I-90 murderer, that's right.

That's right. From 1987-91,

there were six vicious murders,

there were over a dozen disappearances.

All within the same 200-mile stretch of I-90.

You know, our hero

is the serial killer himself.

That kind of protagonist, that kind of character

needs a special kind of ending. So, I...

For the final issue, I'm gonna be honest

with you and your listeners, I haven't found my ending yet.

Okay, itinerary.

We, uh... First up on the docket,

we have, um... Oh, Jesus Christ.

- Fuckin' hell, Aurora. - Um, we have, uh...

Put eyes on the road. Please.

- Yep, got it. - Want me to do it?

Nope, it's good. Got it. Um...

It's a test, this is a test.

All my assistants have to do this.

- Uh, so we got a... - 'Kay, listen up.

We got a quick pit stop in McBain,

and then, um, we are headed,

uh, to that... To that radio show with the guy

who would not stop, uh,

harassing me about getting an interview.

He sounds like a real fanboy.

I think he's gonna be pretty psyched

to see you and me, Todd.

Yeah, both of us, huh?

Uh, well, I don't know.

You know, he might... He might wanna be psyched

to hear, uh, the story of

a successful independent comic book publisher.

Oh, I thought you said he might talk to you.

Oh, fucking guy.

Finish your fucking comic. How about that?

You come off a little bit as like a huckster

when you... When you start.

"I'm the investor, I'm the...

- I know you meant that... - "...small business owner."

You meant that as an insult,

except for huckster's the nicest thing

anyone's said about me in months.

What else you got there, Aurora?

So, then we just have that one comic signing

at that store Mangopolis in Albany,

and then we're off to the Big Apple for the convention.

That's a big one.

How 'bout accommodations, are we stayin'?

I emailed you three weeks ago.

- It's fine, Ezra, it's fine. - Okay, all right, all right.

I learned to stop opening your emails ages ago.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

We are staying in all motels,

they're all rural, and they're all real.

- Four, five stars? - Stars?

Like a solid two-and-a-half.

Stars? Okay, there's no stars,

no diamonds. This is on the potato system.

It's just three solid fuckin' old potatoes.

And they all have the recurring theme of

- 21st century western decay. - Oh, my God.

And thank you, Aurora, for arranging that.

I really appreciate it.

I'm hoping this fucking book research was worth it...

What the fuck was he doing?

For Christ's sake, don't do that again.

You know what...

I'm so sorry! I...

I got it, I got it. Stay right here.

Motherfucker, I'm gonna go have a word with him.

No, no, no, no, babe. Don't, please.

I'm sorry. No. It was my fault.

- Kick his ass, Todd. - No,

don't go out there. People have guns here, okay?

We're not getting out of the car!

He could be crazy. He didn't even try to stop.

Yeah, well, they don't fuckin' know

how to drive, either? Come on. Jesus.

- Everyone's okay? - Yeah.

Okay.

Do you want me to drive?

No, it's fine. I just...

Okay!

All righty, boys, lady.

Whoo! Holy fuck! Where the fuck are we?

Oh, hey, bud.

Toilets are for paying customers only.

Uh, we are lookin' for gas,

we have money, that's no problem.

Um... Do these things have fuel in them though?

Uh...

- Okay, cool! - All right.

- You wanna... Thank you. - Good.

Well, this may be a terrible idea,

but I think I may have just found my first interviewee.

- All rural, all real. - Yeah.

Safe word is "help."

Hey, um, wondering if I could ask you a few questions?

Are you familiar with the I-90 killer?

Do you have meth?

Um, oh, yeah, another terrible idea,

I'm gonna go around to the back of this gas station,

hopefully just pee, not get murdered.

Or, you know, contract some terrible disease.

But if I do, lovely working with you all.

- Goodbye forever! - Adios!

So, um... So you're from around here, yeah?

An odd bird, isn't he?

Holy! Shit.

I didn't know places like this still existed.

Uh, what do they even fuckin' sell here?

Uh, pickled eggs.

Yeah, but I mean...

I meant... Let me rephrase that.

What do people actually buy from here in the last...

Nothing, apparently.

Um, is any of this, uh,

getting your creative juices flowing, you know?

All right, give it a rest.

This could be the scene of a massacre, yes.

Final issue startin' to

fuckin' get into your head now?

- No. It's... - It's my fuckin' job, man.

It's coming, all right? That's the whole point of me

designing, you know, the fuckin' road trip, all right?

It just, like, tingle stimulate some inspiration.

Final issue inspiration is the objective right now.

Or conversely, it doesn't have to be the last issue, buddy.

It's the last... We've talked about it, man.

I'm fuckin'... I can't... It's not healthy, you know?

You don't have to wake up in cold sweats and...

Whatever it takes.

I wish I wanted to eat some of this food

so I could make you pay for it.

No, none... None of this is edible.

Um...

Oh, my God. Look at this fuckin' thing.

Janked? The fuck is this supposed to be?

Looks to me like just a sold-out rack of Slasherman.

Are you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?

Oh, you know I'm thinkin' what you're thinking, buddy.

I think it's time for a refill.

Fuckin' right, it is. We got a trunk full of 'em.

Or we could maybe do that the next town over.

This is kind of... It's a little bit much...

- Nah, c'mon. - ...for them, no?

McBain & McBain.

He lived here when you were a kid.

Even if you don't remember those years,

you still have every right to explore this story.

I would say this rack would look better

with our comics on it than in its current state.

- Hey! Jesus Christ! - Oh! Shit!

Oh, my God!

You scared the shit out of me.

I'm sorry. I was in the bathroom

and then I was, like...

Have you been in there?

- It's fucking disgusting! - Yeah, it...

And I come out here and like...

What is this? Why is this here, you know?

- Like, that's somebody's pet! - The smell, it's...

Somebody's pet is just lying here dead.

And I don't get it! I'm, like...

You know what? Let's just not keep looking at it.

- I can't... Sorry. - I don't what I'm...

- Yeah. - I look like I'm fucking crazy

'cause I'm out here and I'm drawing this fucking dog.

Ezra told me that if I have any ideas that could be used

for the final issue, then I should draw them.

And I want to prove to him

that I'm more than an assistant.

I'm a good artist.

But I have this thing where if it's in my head,

and I see that something's just like fucking awful,

I can't get it out of my head unless I draw it

and so, like, I'm...

I look fucking insane.

No, no, you don't, you don't. No, no.

Todd does exactly the same thing

and way weirder shit.

I'm sorry. Yeah, are these for your book or...

Uh, yeah. Yeah, it's, uh...

It's gonna be a book eventually.

Todd's told me a bit about it. I don't...

I don't know very much,

- but, like... - Yeah.

It sounds like it's gonna be amazing.

Thank you. Yeah.

It's like the true story behind Slasherman,

or something, right?

- Todd tell you that? - Am I wrong?

Well, no, it's not...

It's about Slasherman, but it's... Peripherally, it's...

It's, um, focusing on the victims. Um...

Oh! Okay, yeah.

It's about giving a voice to those who, um,

- no longer have a voice. - Fuckin' right.

Yeah, so Todd did the initial research

and, um, now I'm going a little bit deeper.

Is that one of them? Or...

Yeah, this is Henry Dunn.

He lived around here two decades ago.

Couple months after he was murdered,

his family just kept getting these cryptic phone calls

for about a year or two.

This is Ginny Adams, she was seven years old.

Oh, my God.

Last seen walking home from school.

This is Victim Zero. Belinda Cooksey.

She was murdered over Christmas dinner.

She was a single mother, active in her church.

Why is it weird that she's smiling?

She looks helpless, you know, 'cause...

You know something that she doesn't.

She's about to be murdered...

horribly.

And she's just helpless

and there's nothing we can do about it.

Yeah.

It's on the house.

Guess everything's comin' up me today.

Can you get the fuck outta my store, please?

Good evening, Jefferson County,

you're listening to WMXV The Eagle!

I'm Gary Ressin and this is Heartland at Night.

Tonight, we have a one hour special treat lined up for you

as I'm joined by none other than Todd Walkley,

brainchild behind one of the most successful

R-rated comics ever, Slasherman.

How's life treating one of

today's hottest comic creators?

Uh, great, great.

You know, we're just road trippin',

um, getting ready to, you know,

try to promote Slasherman.

I'm workin' on the final issue, uh...

Glad to be staying in Jefferson County,

found a great place to stay.

Can't say enough about my lodging

at the Comfy Suites.

It's pretty cool. Good stuff.

So, the Slasherman,

he's actually based on a real guy.

Some of our listeners may remember, isn't that right?

From 1987-91,

you saw a string of six particularly vicious murders,

over a dozen disappearances,

all in a 200-mile stretch of the I-90.

And in many of these cases,

the victim's families received suspicious phone calls.

The killer mutilated his victims,

turning their bodies into what I think looked like

grotesque sculptures.

The police never found a witness or suspect,

he just disappeared.

These are the very qualities

that lift these folks up from men to myth.

For some, frankly,

heroes or heroic-like figures in that they're untouchable.

That kind of protagonist,

that kind of character needs a special kind of ending.

So I... For the final issue,

I'm gonna be honest with you and your listeners,

I haven't found my ending yet.

And I presume you must feel

a certain sense of responsibility then

to get the I-90 story right.

I'm not sure what you mean.

I mean, I was just going off a quote I have

from The Atlantic here,

"But every page drips with

"Walkley's tired brand of senseless violence

"and morally bankrupt teen angst.

"Slasherman is nothing more than yet another toxic element

"of a dangerous culture than lionizes male violence."

Mmm-hmm. All the things that are going on

with our culture and my comic book's a problem.

Just got those in today.

The guy who makes 'em came by to fill up

and just gave 'em to me.

But is there a legitimate concern

the cultural toxicity could push the already unstable,

those just looking for a reason

over the edge into violence?

I mean, crazy folks are always gonna come up

with an excuse for their actions.

In this case, he's not killing for no reason,

I don't suspect. I think he's got a purpose.

I think he's got his purpose.

I believe he thought he was creating art.

And artists often do what?

They think they need to suffer their work.

He thought that as a true artist,

he needed to make others suffer.

Instead of inflicting pain on himself,

he thought he should seek...

the infliction of pain on others.

And, um, like so many that rise and fall,

he eventually ran out of inspiration.

Art. Inspiration?

Yeah.

I have a picture here, folks.

This is...

this was, Ginny Adams.

Her and I were really close,

and then she disappeared walkin' home from school

right along I-90.

- I'm sorry to hear that. - Yeah, I'm sure.

You know what keeps me up at night

all these years later?

Just thinkin' about what would have been

going through her mind right at the end.

Right in that moment she realized what was coming.

Her mother hanged herself.

She couldn't take not knowing who did it or why...

Probably, never know, you know,

it could've been anyone for any reason.

Could've been your hero.

That's not what I meant by "hero." Hero is a...

I could've said "protagonist," "main character."

It's a writer term. Don't... That's what I meant.

Well, I'm sure if you have

no personal connection to any of this,

feel free to just pull this stuff out of your ass.

I mean a machete, a Mack truck.

Some type of vintage welder's mask, come on.

I mean, the welder's mask

was something that connected to me.

All right? It's a comic book.

A damn successful one, too,

and if you don't enjoy it, that's your choice.

I'm glad I got you some ratings though.

That's... That's cool for you.

Okay.

Oh, hold on there, Mr. Walkley.

Can't have you leaving just yet.

One more moment of your time, all right?

Now we got a call from your first fan.

Belinda Cooksey, you're on the air.

Hello?

Hello?

One.

Twelve.

Eighteen.

One.

Twelve.

Eighteen.

One.

Twelve.

Eighteen.

Okay, here's the thing.

With cats, I never have to know

the temperature of their feces.

That is why cats are the superior animal.

And, okay...

And you care about that because, what reason?

Because I don't wanna...

- Okay, cats' litterboxes... - That's such a small little thing to nitpick about.

I don't have to know.

That's your deal-breaker?

Cats are warm.

Dogs are unconditionally loving.

You just don't want to like them.

They will never hurt you intentionally.

It's just because

everybody likes dogs, I think, and...

- Cats are... - You just don't wanna

fit in with...

- Adam! - Yes.

It smells like weed again!

You hate dogs! You hate me!

Yes, it does smell like weed.

Is that okay?

Do you hate sunshine and children, too?

All right, there we go.

Everybody good?

Yeah, I almost got my seatbelt on.

- Got it? - Yeah.

Okay. Well, too bad. She's lying, we're out.

Here we come!

That was a nice place, eh, Hannah?

- Oh, yeah, so nice! - How was the couch?

Light it up.

Light it up!

You're having a little,

I don't know why you're saying no.

No! Excuse me, no, no. I'm not, no!

Meg's getting high!

- No! I am not getting high. - Meg's getting high!

- Meg's getting high tonight! - No, I'm not!

Oh, my God, don't be a child.

Pass it to Meg.

- No, I don't want it, no! - Yes!

I rolled this especially for you, on your...

Don't! It's not a fucking candle!

Did you...

Oh, my God!

You're fucked.

Megan, do you ever get tired of being such a fucking nerd?

Excuse me...

Hey, you cannot talk to me like that on my birth...

Fuck.

What happened?

It sounded like we ran into something,

but you weren't on the shoulder though.

And you didn't... The wheel didn't get caught

on the shoulder, we didn't...

What are you talking...

...hit like a rock or some shit?

Why are you narrating this?

The car didn't just stop!

Is that an engine problem? Is that...

"Is that..." Do I look like a fucking car expert to you?

I don't know! I don't know!

Guys! We are in the middle of nowhere,

- we need to figure this out! - Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Who's getting out? Are you... Is anyone gonna get out?

It's my fucking birthday, I'm not getting out!

- Just, fucking... - Fuck you guys.

I'll fucking do it if you want me to.

Fuck!

Fuck!

Fucking car is fucked.

Come on, you fucking...

Don't you have a spare?

Do you know how to change a fucking tire?

Hey! Hey, someone's coming!

Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck, yes!

Hey, we're over here!

Hey! Hey!

Oh, my God!

Oh, my God!

Hi.

Why isn't he getting out?

- What the fuck? - Huh?

Holy shit.

Hi!

- Hey, man. - Hey.

Um...

Thank you! Thank you for stopping for us

but I just called my friend and he's coming,

so we're gonna be okay! But thank you!

Yeah. We're good!

Phones don't work out here!

No, no, no! Ours works!

Ours is working!

You need one of these!

She's gonna call right now again, see?

Yeah, man, we're...

- Thank you so much... - It's fine.

- ...but we're good! - Thank you!

I'm calling again. I'm calling again.

Seriously, man. We're really good. Thanks.

Let's get back in and fucking lock the car.

Oh, my God, what the fuck is going on?

He's not fucking gone yet. What the fuck!

Why is he not going?

He might know someone in the area!

He had a fucking mask on!

Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

Oh, my God!

Please, no! No, please!

Oh, my God. Help me!

One. Twelve.

Eighteen.

One.

Twelve.

Eighteen.

One.

Twelve.

Eighteen.

"I am he that liveth, and was dead,

"and, behold, I am alive forevermore.

"Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death."

...a lot of respect.

No... Yeah, absolutely.

It's about...

It's about remembering him.

Yes. That's the whole point. I...

Okay.

Yes! Okay, I... I look forward to meeting you.

Um... And thank you so much, this means the world to me.

Okay. Okay. Bye.

That, um, that was Henry Dunn's sister,

and she agreed to me interviewing her in New York.

Awesome.

Wow. Wow.

- It's a big deal. Um... - Yeah.

It's a big deal.

No, I've just been writing to her and I was afraid

that she was just going to shut me down,

thinking I was trying to exploit her, but...

Yeah... Just don't tell her you're with me.

I feel like

you should have got an interview

with Reston yesterday, too, he's...

in a similar camp, you know?

Close to the victim

and really pissed at me, but, like,

he's got insight, you know?

If that's the perspective that...

Are you kidding me right now?

It's probably aligned perspective, right?

They've got... were close to it...

I come in here, I have the best news

I've had in like, months.

- I mean, I've been... - I know.

You've been working hard.

Yes, I've been working really hard

and you literally make this about your interview?

Which, yes, was fucked up,

but how you could draw parallel

between the two of them like that?

They're both close to the incidents.

And they both have a feeling about it.

They're probably not a fucking fan of my franchise.

This book isn't about you, so...

Nah, kind of.

Kind of is, isn't it?

All the things in the world

that you chose to write about,

and the biggest fuckin' critique about my work

you've chosen to hone in on?

You shut your eyes to that, you just...

I'm doing my job! But like I said in there

it's not... I'm not a nonfiction writer,

I don't have to... Every moviemaker,

everybody that makes a movie

or draws a fucking cartoon has to...

Okay, but don't talk, please don't talk to me like I'm him.

Okay, I'm not interviewing you, it's not fair.

Well, it's kind of blurring together.

- It's blurring together? - Yeah. You're a little bit...

So, I'm like one of your fans,

I'm like one of your fans, or like...

What? No.

He wasn't my fucking fan, was he?

- Here's what really bugs me. - Tell me what bugs you.

What really bugs me is everyone

talks about Slasherman. Everyone talks about the murders,

Here we go, uh-huh.

nobody ever talks about the victims,

and those are the people that matter!

This guy, whether he's a fucking pig, demon,

piece of shit, he went and did something,

and now people are examining that,

people who... if things happen to, sorry,

I know I couldn't say this in public, I'm not, like,

I know it's an un... It's an unpleasant thing to say,

but let's not pretend...

But you don't really believe that.

- I believe that people... - I don't think you be...

...watch and make things that are compelling for a reason,

not just a list of people that things happen to.

I'm highlighting who this monster killed.

- That's what I'm doing. - Mmm-hmm.

I'm not attacking you.

Derek, what are you telling me?

What, you can't find them?

We shipped them three weeks ago.

Fuck, sorry, Derek from Mangopolis

seems to have misplaced our box full of comics.

What does it look like? It's a fucking cardboard box.

It's fine, though.

I'm losing, Derek, can you hear me? Derek?

Fuck you!

Maybe we don't go.

- I fucking hate this guy. - Hey, it's okay.

Whoa, what the fuck's all this?

Hmm?

Some kind of traffic stop, is it an accident?

Come on, come on, come on.

Oh, my God!

Put that tarp down, what the fuck!

Get going, move, now, go!

I told you no pictures till the road's cleared.

Move, move, move, move!

No partners, no groups, please.

We'll sign posters, we'll sign pictures,

we'll sign T-shirts, we will not sign weapons.

You saw what those people looked like.

Like the triptych, am I right?

- Yes. - Don't.

Wait, what do you mean the triptych?

- Nothing, that's... - Sorry, what's the...

I mean... this is nothing to you?

- Okay, let's... - Todd!

He's jumping to conclusions, okay?

That doesn't mean...

He's just seeing something

- that isn't there, possibly. - Really?

I've drawn what, a thousand kills?

And once in a while, one of them might

match up with something that happens

in this fucking crazy country.

What do you wanna know?

All kinds of bad things happen to people.

Bad men, dead women.

Belinda Cooksey,

she had a son who saw everything that night

and he was fucking catatonic after that.

Put in the foster care system,

and no one around here saw him after that.

Jesus Christ.

Uh... Did you fucking make this yourself?

Slasherman's like, my life...

- My religion, I find it... - inspiring.

Look inside.

Oh, my God.

It's Slasherman's truck with his kill studio.

Yeah?

Three.

Twelve.

Who is this?

- Four. - Huh, who the fuck are you?

What?

- Three. - Who the fuck are you?

Man, fuck this.

Oh.

It's the same voice from the Reston phone call shit

with the numbers. It was the same...

I'm not tripping, man.

How the fuck did this person get your number?

He got it, all right? It's the same fucking voice.

It's probably not that hard, honestly.

And then, somebody lays

the triptych out all nice for us...

Exactly, so that's why...

Let's go to the fucking cops, man.

- We need to call the cops. - Go and... Tell them what?

All right, that there's a killer running around,

re-creating murders from my comics?

And that we just happen to have a binder

of all the murder victims,

like, I don't fucking think so, dude.

All right. I don't understand...

...what harm it would do if...

I don't wanna go to the cops,

I wanna go away from the cops.

We go to the cops,

we tell them someone cut your fucking hand,

we tell them about the phone calls.

We tell them that the crime scene looks

very fucking familiar to us, we just do it.

In the morning, we go to the cops.

I don't know, man.

Okay?

I'll think about it.

Okay?

- All right, all right. - All right, okay.

Hey, how's your hand?

Oh, my God, I'm so, fuck...

No, that's fine, that's fine.

- Cool, that's fine. - I'm so sorry,

I didn't mean to startle you, I'm just, uh...

- Yeah, uh... - How's it going?

It's okay. Can I get you anything?

No I'm, I'm great, great. How are you?

Um, I'm good, yeah, I'm, um...

And how are you?

I'm, uh, yeah, I don't know. Really?

Just a little freaked out.

I'm sorry. I was just, like,

a lot of, um...

It was just really horrible, what we saw,

and I'm just like, kind of trying to...

Yeah, I know.

...deal with it a little bit, but I'm okay.

I'm just gonna... I'll just probably go draw.

I'm gonna... I'm gonna go do the same.

Yeah, draw, draw. Just kind of...

- Yeah. Draw this shit out. - Forget about it.

Uh... But call me or text me if you need anything.

And I'll... Fuck!

Jesus Christ.

Phew! This fucking day.

All right, so...

- Yeah. Yeah. - Be careful.

- Goodnight. - Thanks, night.

Hey.

What...

What's going on with you?

Uh, me? I'm fine.

- Fine? - Chilling, yeah.

Yeah? Really? Because you don't...

You don't really seem so fine.

A little edgy, maybe.

Yeah, I'm having a hard time, babe.

I don't know.

I don't really know what's happening and...

Um, but...

I'm sorry about earlier, you know,

what's important to you is important to me.

Truly I, I lost sight of that, I recognize that

and I'm sorry. Okay?

It's gonna get better,

we'll be done with this whole thing,

get the fuck out of here

- and go home, you know. - Yes. Yeah.

And I promise it'll get better, okay?

Okay.

All right.

I'm gonna go in, you wanna come in?

Uh, no. I still got a little work to do.

- I'll be in in a little bit. - Sure.

I love you.

Three, four...

Three, 12...

Uh, three...

Three...

Twelve...

"And she shall then continue

"in the blood of her purifying."

- Nice. - What do you mean "nice"?

Hour-and-a-half late?

Do you have any idea

how many fucking hours I've been putting in this place?

Do you have any idea how many fucking hours

I've just been standing here waiting for you as per usual?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I thought...

- Guess what though? - What?

Got a puppy for us.

No, you didn't.

- Yeah, I swear to God. - Are you lying?

Give me a kiss. Yeah, no, really...

- Why? - It's like...

You're trying to make me feel better.

Okay, I didn't get a puppy. I got a gerbil.

Oh!

Yeah, um, Aurora works for me.

She's terrific. She's...

Was, um, really helpful

in a whole number of things, uh, namely...

With your comic book.

Yeah.

Slasherman.

Were you with him?

- I was passed out. - You were passed out.

She texted me, I was passed out.

You know what she looked like...

- Oh. - ...when we found her?

- I don't wanna, come on. - No, you're gonna have to look

because...

Well, actually, what we found of her.

Oh, God.

Ezra.

Todd drew this.

Todd drew it.

And you let him do it.

No, he didn't do this.

He drew this.

Somebody did this.

You seen this particular comic before?

No. No.

No? You read a lot of their comics?

Kathy, do you like their comics?

I don't. It's not...

It's not really my thing.

It's not your thing.

'Cause it's really gory shit.

It's all tortured women

and bisections and disemboweling and...

Who comes up with this stuff?

- Todd. - Todd.

Our friend is dead

because what came out of your fucked-up head.

That was in your head.

Girls...

mutilated,

bound up and tortured.

You know what? That's why you can't come up

with an ending to your book.

You have nothing to say.

You legitimize violence.

You fetishize evil.

And my life is in danger because of it.

Motel surveillance cameras

corroborate your story. You're free to go.

We have to call her parents.

You're right.

No, I just have a fucking heart.

Even if you didn't kill this girl,

in the eyes of everything I hold dear,

you may as well have.

Your minds are all over this mess.

You were supposed to go this way.

The other stop sign, no, we were supposed to go left.

Honey, slow down.

No, what are you talking about?

What?

What?

What is it?

Oh, my God.

Fuckin' him.

Four. Eight. 35.

Is it the fucking numbers?

What do you mean?

Those numbers at the fucking radio station.

- Four, eight, 35. Hold on. - And then he called him again

- at the fucking comics shop. - What? What?

Let me find it, wait a second.

Is it... It's Bible shit?

Why the fuck are you reading a Bible?

Because I found it before, okay? Last couple ones.

Why did... Oh, my God.

I think there's a pattern here,

hold on a second. Four, eight, 35.

He called us from her phone.

Four, eight, 35.

He called us from her fucking phone.

Four, eight, 35. There's no fucking 35.

What?

- What? - What? What is it?

- It's the fucking com... - What?

Year, issue, page, it's the comics.

- It's the comics. - A year issue page?

Remember, at the radio station,

he called, right? And he said 1-12-18.

Year, issue, page.

- Year one, uh, issue 12, page 18. - Okay.

Take a look, take a look, take a look. 1-12-18.

- Oh, my God. - What? What, what?

What is it, what is it?

There's the fucking triptych.

- Oh, my God. - Oh, my God.

Um, the next one, the next one was, uh, 3-12-4.

Three... Year 3, Issue 12, Page 4.

Fucking, it's "The Gift." God damn it.

No, no, no, no.

He's been telling us!

He's been fucking telling us what he's gonna do.

He just called, when he called and he said four...

What'd I say when he called? Four, uh...

Uh, 4-8-35.

Page 35 on, uh, year...

Year 4, Issue 8. 4-8-35.

All right, I mean...

It's the fucking "Wish You Were Here"

thing with the dead family, is the...

Oh, no, no, no, no.

It's the fucking family...

They aren't all the fucking...

There's a fucking family ahead of us!

It means he's fucking watching us.

Where the fuck is he?

We have to fucking warn them.

Hey! Pull over!

- Stop! - Pull over! Pull over!

- What do you want? - Pull over! Pull over!

- We'll call 911. - Get the fuck away from us!

It's not safe! Pull over!

Get outta here!

Call 911! Call 911!

Fuck, where the fuck is this guy?

Fuck!

Oh, shit.

Okay, we gotta go, we gotta go.

No, no. We have to help them. We have to fucking help them.

Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck.

That's fucking him.

- Oh, no, no, no, no. - Oh, my God, he's got a gun!

- Gun, he's got a gun. - He's got a fucking gun.

Call 911, call 911. Tell a cop.

- He's got a fucking gun. - I'm calling.

Fuck. No, no, no, no.

Yeah. Yeah, I'm on Interstate 90,

outside of McBain...

All right, there's a family,

he's fucking shooting a family.

- Oh, my God. - 90, Interstate 90.

He's got a fucking gun. We've got to fucking go.

What the fuck is he doing?

Fucking shit!

We should fucking help them.

Run! Now!

He's fucking shooting!

He's fucking shooting them!

Fuck, no, no, no!

Oh, my God, we gotta go, we gotta go!

He's shooting, all right? Just get here now!

- No, no, no. - Save somebody...

There's a kid in the back seat!

He just shot a fucking kid!

Get out of here. No, no, no, no.

Go, go, go, go, go. No, no, no, no. Go, go, go.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

Ow... Oh, Kath.

Kath. Oh!

Fuck.

Kathy. Baby.

Hey. Ah...

Sweetheart... Come on, sweetheart. Hey.

No. No, no, no, no. Hey. Fuck off.

Fucking get away from her.

No, no.

Take me, take me, no.

Babe. Babe. Babe.

Kathy.

Oh...

Kathy.

Ah... Kath.

Hey.

Hey, Kathy.

Shh, shh. Okay.

We'll figure it out, okay? You got me, I'm right here.

How are we gonna figure it out?

I'm right here. I'm gonna get you out of here.

Why... Why am I...

I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?

I'm gonna get you out of here, sweetheart.

Oh, God!

Oh, God. Ezra. Oh, oh...

It's not...

Okay, okay. We're okay.

What are you doing?

We gotta get the fuck out of here.

- Stop, just stop. - Hey...

Listen to me, just listen to me.

Don't fucking give up on me right now, okay.

Listen to me.

- We're not okay. - Hey, don't do that...

He is going to kill us.

Don't you fucking say that right now.

- Listen. Listen to me. - Don't give up on me

- right now, okay. - Listen to me.

Okay, listen to me.

This is it. It's over.

- It's over. - No.

- Yeah, I, I... - Mmm-mmm.

Please just stop, stop, stop!

I'm so sorry, sweetheart.

It's okay. It's okay.

It's okay.

I don't want the end of my life

to be panic and fear, I don't.

And...

And it doesn't have to be.

- Because you are with me. - Mmm-hmm.

And I love you and we're together.

- Hey. - I love you.

- Fuck that. All right? - No.

Nobody's taking you.

All right, and you hear me? Look at me, look at me.

Take a deep breath, okay?

In... and out.

And out.

Now.

You gotta get home. You don't wanna die, right?

- I don't wanna... - You don't wanna die.

- I don't wanna die. - So don't, all right?

That's all it is, there's no choice.

But I can't let you fucking die. I won't.

Okay, you live.

Look at me, you live.

Okay? Get up. Up with me.

Come on. Come on.

All right, here we go, here we go.

Run, Kath. Run, run, run!

Go. Go.

Don't... no.

Run, Kath. Don't stop.

Kathy!

Kath! Kath!

Kath!

Kath! Kath!

Fuck! Kathy.

God, get the fuck off me.

Five. 12. 35.

Why, you sick motherfucker?

I can't wait to show you.

Help!

Help me, please!

Help!

Help me!

Someone, please help!

Please!

Fuck.

Kath!

Kath!

Kathy...

Kath?

Kath?

Kathy. Fuck, where are you? Where are you?

I won't scream for you.

I will not scream...

Fuck you!

Kath!

What...

35. 5-12-35...

Five, five, five...

Three, three, 34...

No.

No, no, no. Fuck.

34. No. No!

No. Fuck!

? O little town of Bethlehem

? How still we see thee lie!

? Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

? The silent stars go by

? Yet in the dark streets shineth

? The everlasting light

? The hopes and fears of all the years

? Are met in thee tonight

? For Christ is born of Mary

? And gathered all above

? While mortals sleep, the angels keep

? Their watch of wond'ring love

? O morning stars, together

? Proclaim the holy birth

? And praises sing to God the King

? And peace to men on earth

? Oh, holy child of Bethlehem

? Descend to us, we pray!

? Cast out our sin, and enter in

? Be born in us today

? We hear the Christmas angels

? The great glad tidings tell

? Oh, come to us

? Abide with us

? Our Lord... ?

Oh, Kath.

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

No, no, no.

I got you.

No, no.

Our ending.

I was going to kill you, too, that night.

But there was something about that drawing.

No one had ever drawn me before.

But you... You saw something.

You saw what I did

and you saw that it was fucking beautiful.

Hmm?

You showed me I could be something.

You showed me who I'm supposed to be.

I've been reading your comic, since the beginning.

I knew as soon as I saw it...

You were keeping my work alive.

And I didn't feel the need to kill anymore.

But when I found out our work was coming to a close

and you hadn't found an ending yet,

I knew you needed me.

So here it is.

Our final... issue.

Isn't it beautiful?

True art is created by inflicting pain on others.

You showed me that.

I inspired you.

And now you've inspired me.

Together, we will inspire so many more

and they will never forget what we've done here.

Kill me...

so the world can see our ending,

and know our story.

Kill me.

And together we will kill the world.

Help me.

Fuck your ending.

There can be no beginning without an end.

There can be no darkness without color and light.

There can be no accidents

without there first being a design.

Enter truth, cold-hearted,

unforgiving, and specific.

The closer you look at anything,

the less you will see.

Eventually something you know and understand

becomes an expanding myriad possibilities.

Its original purpose and reason

all but completely evaporated.

Truth is the forced perspective

that mutates the abstract into reality.

Real art is born of truth.