Where Have All the People Gone (1974) - full transcript
A strange series of solar flares proves fatal for inhabitants of the Earth, except for the fortunate few who are somehow immune from the effects. Animals go insane and human beings turn to white powder, leaving behind only empty clothing. A handful of survivors attempt to rebuild their lives on the de-populated Earth.
(eerie music)
- [Deborah] It was a Sunday in August.
Mom, Dad, David, and I were on vacation
digging for fossils in the high Sierras.
Mom had to go back to LA that morning.
We didn't know that two
and a half hours later
the world as we knew it
would cease to exist.
(funky music)
- Deborah.
- Hm?
(camera clicking)
Daddy!
- (laughing) I gotcha.
I thought we made a deal.
I don't sneak any pictures,
and you don't play the radio.
(radio clicking off)
- Doesn't all this silence bother you?
- No.
You ready, Barbara?
- Yeah.
I wish I could stay on.
- Yeah, me too.
I tell ya what, why don't you radio in
and let somebody else take
care of those guinea pigs
for another week, huh?
- I wish I could, but you know old Phil
can't handle that experiment.
- Oh, yeah, mm-hm.
- And anyway, I've gotta
get cracking on that paper.
- Yes, the paper.
- I know, I know, I'm not
indispensable. (laughs)
- Never to me.
- Not if there's a cave left to explore.
(booming)
- That Tom?
- Yeah, he's around here somewhere.
- Hope he hurries.
- Tom!
Here, Tom!
Well, looks like we got rabbit stew
for dinner again tonight.
- Well, doesn't anybody wanna come
and tell their mother goodbye?
- I do.
(Barbara laughing)
What do you think?
- David!
- He's still in the cave.
- Hey ya, Pop.
Got 'em goin' away, clean as anything.
- Good shot, Tom.
Better get your gear together.
Ms. Anders's ready.
- [David] Mom!
- [Barbara] Sorry to get you
out of your cave. (laughs)
Aw.
- I forgot to look at my watch.
- You're already picking up my bad habits
and you're only 18.
- [Steven] Come on, you're
gonna miss your flight.
- Okay.
- Does anybody want me to
call somebody for them?
You want me to call your office?
- No, don't you dare.
That place doesn't exist
till this vacation's over.
Okay, have a good flight, hon.
- Thank you.
- Take care of yourself.
- 'Kay.
- See ya next week, huh?
- Easy on the gas now, hot rod.
Don't need no broken axle.
Say hello to your momma for me.
- Bye, Mom.
- Bye!
- See you later.
- Okay.
Bye, darling.
- [Steven] Bye.
(truck engine revving)
- Dad?
- Mm-hm?
- You think next year we
could spend our vacation
in someplace like Hawaii or Mexico?
- Hey, maybe Mexico.
They got some great
places to dig down there.
- I don't mean digging.
I mean, like staying at a hotel
and swimming in the ocean.
- We live on the ocean.
What do you wanna swim in the ocean for?
What kinda vacation is that?
- (laughing) I think what
you're sister's tryin' to say
is that she'd like a little
different kind of vacation.
- Yeah.
Maybe separate vacations.
I'm old enough now.
- You're not either, but let's discuss it
with your mother when we get home, huh?
- Okay.
(birds chirping)
(Jim humming)
(eerie chiming)
(ground rumbling)
- Earthquake, come on!
Out!
(rocks thudding)
Go on, get out!
- Daddy!
(David coughing)
- Okay.
All right.
- That musta hit six on the Richter.
- Man.
For a second there I
thought that whole mountain
was coming down.
- Hey!
Everybody all right?
- Okay, Clancy.
- (exhales forcefully)
Boy, that beat anything
I ever saw in my life.
I guess the Air Force musta tested
the biggest bomb they ever had.
- Bomb?
You sure that wasn't an earthquake?
- No, no, that weren't
no natural earthquake.
It got real quiet, and
the whole sky lit up
just like the good Lord
was snappin' a picture.
- You serious?
- It's the biggest 'un I ever seen.
- They're not doin' any
nuclear tests above ground.
- No.
- I'm tellin' ya, I had to cover my eyes.
Did the cave go?
- Well, I don't know,
but I'm not going back
in there to find out.
You look funny.
Why don't we go dust off, huh? (laughs)
(radio static crackling)
- You been on that thing three hours.
You gonna run them batteries down.
- I still can't get anything.
- Oh, great, now I can't
even listen to my music.
(Steven laughing)
- Nevermind the music.
Either the government set off a blast
or there's been some
kind of nuclear accident,
and I can't find out what the
radio has to say about it.
- You two are always so
tied up in your caves.
Now what are you gonna do?
- Oh, we can do some
fishing, play chess, hike.
Hey, come here a minute, Deb.
Take a look at this.
I think we found ourselves a real goody.
It's a trilobite, but it has--
- Dad?
- Clancy?
Hey, what is it?
- K niner calling K
niner X zero eight, over.
K niner, X zero niner.
This is K niner X zero eight.
Do you read me, over?
All I'm getting is static.
- Keep trying.
- K niner X zero niner.
- Come on, Mr. Clancy.
It's good for you.
- [David] K niner X zero niner--
- No, nevermind the food, Deb.
Just, uh, try to keep him as
comfortable as you can, hm?
- Zero niner, this is K niner zero eight.
Do you read me?
I don't understand.
The battery seems strong enough.
- Maybe Mrs. Clancy went out for a while.
- No, it's after 10:00.
She wouldn't leave the
receiver for that long.
Besides, Tom shoulda been home hours ago.
There must be somethin' wrong with it.
Do you think it's an
infection of some kind?
(Jim quivering)
- I don't know.
I don't know, David.
You're the physicist.
Could radiation poisoning
give these symptoms?
- I guess, but to happen that fast
would have to be a massive
dose, at least 200 roentgens.
Wish Clancy brought his Geiger counter,
then we'd know.
- Dad?
I think he's getting worse.
What are we gonna do?
- You better start a Mayday on the radio.
- What if I can't reach anyone?
- Well, we have to get him out of here.
In the morning we'll
make some kind of ladder
and carry him out.
- That's a two day hike.
- We don't have any choice, David.
Tom isn't due here for a week.
We can't sit around and
watch him get worse.
- Well, does anybody feel like eating?
- Yeah, I do.
- Good.
- No.
I don't know whether Clancy is suffering
from some sort of
radiation sickness or not,
but we have to accept
that as a possibility.
Now that means this whole
area can be affected,
and I don't think that we
can eat or drink anything
unless we had it with us down in the cave.
- Dad, we only had one canteen of water
in the cave with us.
How are we gonna survive
on that for two days?
- We'll have to.
- Well, wait a minute.
- Hm.
Yeah, that's not much, but it's calories.
Get started on the Mayday.
See if you can find Clancy
another blanket, Deb.
(radio static crackling)
- This is K niner X zero
niner, Mayday, Mayday.
This is K niner X zero
niner, Mayday, Mayday.
(fire hissing)
(Jim quivering)
- David.
Come on, we're ready to go.
- Give me a hand, will ya Deb, please?
Take just what you need, David.
The less weight, the better.
(birds chirping)
(wind howling)
Leave it, we don't need that.
- If there's a large dose of radiation,
it'll show on the film.
- How?
(camera clicking)
- The picture will come
out with white spots on it.
(beeping)
(suspenseful music)
- Daddy!
- Let's get outta here.
(Jim moaning)
All right, let's rest here.
Gently.
Now.
- Dad?
- No, you, you drink, hon.
- I'm all right.
(Jim moaning)
- We shoulda brought
another canteen for him.
- We only had one canteen in the cave.
- He's already suffering from radiation.
Drinking radiated water
isn't gonna do him much harm.
- Woulda done him a lot
more harm than good.
- He can have my water.
- I didn't mean it that way.
- No, I know you didn't.
How are your muscles holding out?
- Okay.
- I think we better keep moving.
Ready, up.
(soft, eerie music)
- It's gonna be dark soon.
We'd better find a spot
to spend the night.
- [Steven] In an hour or so.
Can you hold out?
- I'll try.
(Jim groaning)
(Jim coughing)
- Put him down.
(Jim gasping)
He's gone.
(Deborah sobbing)
All right.
Go ahead and cry, Deb.
All right.
(insects chirping)
- A nuclear accident is the only thing
that makes any sense.
Deb?
- Debbie.
- Oh, sorry, I was
thinking of these pictures
I saw of Hiroshima.
- Now look, there's no
sense in our sitting around
frightening each other with speculation.
We'll find out what happened
when we get back to Rainbow.
- What about Clancy?
What do we do with him?
- We have to take him.
- Deb, he's dead.
But we gotta get outta
here as fast as we can.
- David, he's a friend!
You just can't leave him.
- Why should I be the one to feel guilty?
- David.
- Look, we've been exposed to radiation.
Not as bad as Mr. Clancy,
but maybe enough to kill us.
Now if we lose time lugging a dead body,
maybe we'll end up that way.
- Well, what do you know!
One year of college physics
and you think you know everything.
Well, we were in a cave.
We were in the cave, Daddy.
- That's right, hon, we were
and it probably saved our lives.
But I think David is right
and I think we have to
get back to civilization
as quickly as possible.
We'll take care of Clancy.
(Steven grunting)
All right, uh, we'll
cover it in with rocks.
Let's bring him.
- It's flat.
The bag's empty.
- That can't be.
He was dead!
(mysterious music)
Could radiation do that?
Could radiation do that?
- I don't know.
- Come on, let's get outta here.
Come on!
- As horrible as Clancy's death was,
we still believed it was
some kind of freak accident.
We thought that once
we got back to Rainbow,
everything would be all right,
that all the fears and
questions could be answered.
(sign creaking)
(soft, eerie music)
Daddy, there's no one here.
(doors banging)
- Stay here.
(cat meowing)
- You all right?
- Yeah.
- Dad?
- Yes, fine, I'm all right.
- What is going on?
Where is everybody?
- [Steven] Well, maybe they
had to evacuate the town.
Maybe they're all at home.
- No, people just don't leave their cars
in the middle of the streets.
Where is everybody?
Where are all the people?
- Nobody inside, no electricity.
(coins clinking)
(phone dinging)
- David.
(coins clinking)
(phone dinging)
(mysterious music)
- [David] Come on.
What's the matter with this thing?
Come on, hello?
Hello?
- It was a nuclear war.
- Deb, come on.
- It was a nuclear war!
It's not okay.
Everybody's dead!
- No.
- And we're all gonna end up that way!
We're all gonna be dead! (wailing)
- No, no!
No, no, no, no, no!
- David.
- No!
No!
Leave me alone!
It's not a nuclear war.
It's not the whole world.
It's just here, and that's all.
And Mom's not here.
She's home and she's alive, just like us.
- David!
David!
- Her stuff isn't here.
She must've got to the air field
and got outta here before
this thing happened.
- Wait here.
- Tom left his keys.
- Hello?
Ms. Clancy?
Tom?
- [David] Dad?
(phone clicking)
- They're both dead.
- The same way?
- Yes.
- Well, I checked the Blazer.
The battery's had it, and
the generator's burned out.
- Can you fix it?
- Well, I can try.
Well wait a minute.
This is Clancy's Geiger counter.
He showed me how to
work it the day we left.
- Is it still working?
- Well, I think so.
Let me see your watch.
(Geiger counter ticking)
It's working.
- Well, let's check out the food.
(light switch clicking)
Here.
- Nothin', no radio activity.
- I'll get Deb.
Debbie?
We found some food.
- Can we eat it?
- Yeah, it's okay.
(Deborah moaning)
Oh man.
Oh!
- Hey, we're gonna get sick.
- [Steven] Hm?
(laughing)
(somber music)
- Dad?
- Yeah.
- I checked all the cars I could find,
generators are gone in all of 'em.
But I found a good battery.
- How far can we get without a generator?
Batteries wear down.
- We only have to carry a
couple of 'em to get home.
(David groans)
Well, I think.
- David, tell me what to think.
It wasn't a nuclear blast, was it?
I guess you don't have to be a scientist
to know that radiation strong enough
to disintegrate human beings,
it'll kill everything else, birds,
animals, trees, everything.
What, bacteria, chemical?
- I don't think so.
It'd have to be an energy
source of some kind.
Knocked out the telephones, electricity,
even the car generators.
- The batteries work.
- Yeah, they're electrochemical.
They're self-contained.
- Well then, what?
A meteor or some kind of a comet?
- I don't know.
I don't know what to do with it.
(footsteps clacking)
- [Steven] Get some batteries here.
Check the oil, Dave.
Yeah, here are the batteries.
- [David] Oh, good.
Uh, get some oil, too.
- [Steven] Hello?
- It's the same thing.
- Better get some gas.
And I think we should change batteries
while we're here, too.
- I have to go to the bathroom.
- There's no electricity.
- We've only got a quarter of a tank.
Maybe we can siphon some from these cars.
- I have to go to the bathroom.
- All right, I'll take you, honey.
- I'll find a siphon.
- It's all right.
- You'll stay right out here?
- I will.
- Okay.
(phone bangs)
(suspenseful music)
(gasoline trickling)
- Dad!
Dad!
Dad, look.
- Hello.
Hello?
David, give me a hand.
- Hello?
What's your name?
- What do we do with her?
- We clean her up.
- No purse, no ID, nothing.
Nothing.
She said anything?
- Not a word.
I wish we knew more about her.
She wears a wedding ring.
- I wish I knew where
she was when it happened.
Was she underground in some
sort of shelter like we were?
The important thing is that she's alive.
That means there are probably others.
Whatever it was that
happened, there are survivors.
- Hey gang, tank's full
and battery's changed.
- Well, we take her with us.
- All right, we better get goin'.
There's only a couple
hours of daylight left.
- Come on, Anne.
- Anne?
Is that her name?
- We don't know, but
she looks like an Anne.
(David laughs)
(dog growling)
- Dog!
- Whoa!
- Deb!
Back away very slowly.
- Daddy, he's just scared.
- Hey, hold on, he might be rabid.
Go on back there.
(dog barking)
- Daddy, don't hurt him.
- Go on, get back, now!
- [Deborah] Daddy!
(Deborah screaming)
(dog squealing)
- Get in the car.
Get in the car!
(tool clanking)
(suspenseful music)
(engine igniting)
(engine revving)
- We drove all day without seeing anyone.
None of us wanted to talk about Mom.
I guess we were too frightened.
But finding Jenny meant
that there were survivors.
And the hope that Mom
made it, just like we did,
kept us going through all that lay ahead.
Dad?
You think she had a family?
- Probably.
- I wonder what happened to them.
You don't suppose that they all, uh...
(engine hissing)
- Hey, look.
- Maybe he could tell us what happened.
- Hi.
Boy, are we glad to see you.
We've been up in the Sierras.
We don't know what's going on.
What's happened to everybody?
- Oh, where are you from?
- Well, we were camping up
in the Sierras and then...
- Everyone get outta the car.
(suspenseful music)
Get out!
- Do as he says.
- This side.
Get away from there.
Over here.
- Deb.
- Quickly, please.
- Why are you doing this?
- I got a wife and kids in Phoenix.
I gotta get to them.
I'm sorry.
(engine igniting)
- Well, you can't just leave us out here
without food or water.
- Better that than dead.
- What's ahead of us?
- Nothing.
(engine revving)
(insects chirping)
(animal howling)
- Dad.
No, Anne, it's not a dog.
It won't hurt you.
Sit.
- I wish I'd had the rifle.
He wouldn't have got the Blazer.
- Why, would you have shot him?
- Yeah.
- Have we come to that already, Dave?
David, you're gonna lose us.
- You're goin' too slow.
- [Deborah] She can't walk any faster!
- I can't walk any slower.
- Well, what do you expect
us to do, leave her here?
- What about Mom?
How do we know what's happening to her?
She may need our help now
and she's slowin' us up.
- You know, I really
believe he'd leave her here.
What's happening to him?
- He's scared, hon.
I guess this is his way of hiding it.
Be patient with him.
(eerie music)
(birds chirping)
- Hello?
Hello?
Anybody home?
Hello, is anybody here?
No phone, no electricity.
The bedrooms are empty.
- Deb, take her inside,
see if you can find something to eat.
Let's see if they've got a car, David.
- Come on, Anne, there's
nothin' to be scared of.
- No car.
Guess whoever lived
here must've taken off.
Let's look around here.
(suspenseful music)
- They didn't disintegrate.
- They've been shot.
Doesn't look like too long ago, either.
David.
Don't look, but somebody's
pointing a gun at us
from the barn.
No, don't turn.
Uh, I want you to get back to the house.
- Dad--
- Just do it!
Now take the corral that way.
You'll be outta sight quicker.
- Uh, well, I'll go on back to the house.
- Dad?
David?
- Go back!
Debbie, don't come any further.
Just go on back to the house.
- Dad, who are they?
- I don't know.
David and I will bury them.
Now please, get back to the house.
- Anne?
She won't go.
- Anne, come on.
(gun firing)
David!
- You little idiot!
- What's happening?
Is David all right?
- It's all right, Debbie.
Go back to the house.
Who are those people, son?
- My mom and dad.
- Who did it?
- Two men, they took our car.
- [Steven] When?
- Yesterday.
- Come here, come on, son, we're friends.
(gun clicking)
- Billy?
Billy?
- I'm Michael.
- Billy.
- She spoke to me.
She thinks my name is Billy.
- Well, is it all right
if she calls you that
just for a little while?
- My name is Michael.
- Well, just for a little while.
Please?
Come on, Anne.
- Two weeks ago I was
manufacturing plastic cups,
now I'm harnessing horses.
Hope I did that right,
it's sure been a long time.
David.
- We need it.
- Dad!
(horse neighing)
I think she's coming out of it.
She looked at me when I touched her
and there were tears in her eyes.
- Ah, good, that's a great sign.
Take her back to the house and pack up.
We'll be leaving in a few minutes.
I wanna talk to Michael.
- Okay.
- All right.
Hey Michael, check out
this harness, will ya?
See if I did it right.
(horse snorting)
- Yeah, it's fine.
- Okay, good.
Now listen, I wanna ask ya some questions.
About what happened, did you
hear about it on the radio?
Did your parents tell you about it?
- I saw it.
- You were out in the open?
- Me and my dad, we were bailing hay.
- Was there a bright flash of light?
- Like a bomb?
- No, it was the sun.
It just got brighter and brighter
for a couple of seconds,
then there was the earthquake.
We tried listening to the radio
and that didn't work.
We tried the telephone and the lights
and that didn't work either.
My dad wanted to drive into town,
but my mom wouldn't let him.
She was scared.
- Did your car work?
- Then these two men came.
They were walking, and I was in my room.
My mom and dad went outside
to say hello to them.
They talked, and then they
went to where the garage was.
My mom and dad--
- Okay, Michael, it's all right.
You go help Debbie now, will ya?
We'll be leaving in a minute.
All right, you ready to
tell me what's going on?
Had a feeling ever since we left Clancy's
you had something on your
mind you didn't wanna share.
Is that for my protection
or yours or your sister's?
- I didn't know for sure.
- Come on.
David, this is not some
scientific experiment
where we can sit back and accumulate data
to write a paper later on.
I'm not a scientist.
I have to depend on you.
And we have to depend on each other.
Now tell me, do you think
something happened to the sun?
- Yeah, I do.
- What?
- Probably some kind of explosion.
- Would that reduce your mother's chances?
Come on, we have to accept the worst.
- No!
- All right, then.
All right, then let's accept the best.
Now you tell me all you know
or all you think you know.
- Could've been a solar flare.
- Solar flares, don't
they happen all the time?
- Yeah.
It would have to have been a big one,
bigger than anything ever recorded.
It was send out a tremendous
amount of gamma rays,
enough energy to knock
out the power sources.
- But what killed the people?
We know it wasn't radiation.
- I don't know.
It had nothing to do
with whether or not they were sheltered.
- That's right.
Clancy's family died, but
Michael and his parents lived.
And we're alive, so your
mother must be, too.
All right, let's go tell your sister.
(clucking) Come on, come on.
(hopeful music)
(horse hooves clopping)
Cross your fingers.
(birds chirping)
- The keys are in the ignition.
Of course the keys are in the ignition.
I am so stupid!
- What do you mean?
- An electrical overload
can only knock out a
generator that's working.
The ignition has to be on,
the engine has to be running.
Any other car should be fine.
- But you checked other cars in Rainbow.
- Only the ones with the
keys in the ignition.
They must've been running
when this thing happened.
We wasted all that time with
the Blazer and the batteries.
- Well, at least now we
know what to look for.
We'll find one.
(horse neighing)
Okay, get up.
(horse hooves clopping)
- Is she crazy?
- Something really
terrible happened to her.
She hasn't told us yet, but she will.
- She stares at me.
- That's a good sign.
That means you interest her.
- Easy there, boys, whoa.
(gentle music)
Looks like a used car lot.
- Any special make, color, or model?
- Deb, while David and I look for a car,
you can go in the market
and get some more food and water, huh?
Wup, wup, wup, wup.
Take those.
- Dad!
(gun firing)
- Back away from the car.
- Take the car.
I've got a family.
Don't shoot me.
- You were gonna shoot me.
- No, no, I'm just
tryin' to protect myself.
I've already had one car stolen.
- So have I.
- My name's McFadden, Jack.
- Steve Anders.
- Can I put my hands down?
- Yeah.
(horse hooves clopping)
- That your family?
- Yeah, part of it.
My wife's in Malibu.
- I came from LA.
Don't go there.
I got my wife and kids out.
The city's a nightmare.
Some people went mad, like the dogs.
Dogs everywhere, packs of them.
I've seen things, my
kids have seen things.
- What happened?
I mean, is it all over the world?
- I don't know.
The radio went off.
There was no communication.
I heard something about
an epidemic of some kind.
I don't know.
- Are there many survivors?
- You can drive for
miles, even in the city,
and not find anybody.
- Where's your family?
- Why?
- No, I mean, are they safe?
- We found a ranch outside of town.
We moved in.
We'll stay there.
I guess eventually the
store food will give out
and we'll have to learn how to farm.
I'm a cost accountant.
I was born and raised in the city.
Always dreamed of having a ranch.
Now there are plenty of 'em.
We'd be pleased to have you as neighbors.
- No, we have to get to the coast.
I guess we'll just have to learn
to ask questions before
we pull the trigger.
- Yeah.
- [Steven] Michael,
come on down, would you?
And bring Anne, please.
- Okay.
- Let's see if we can find a car.
- Uh, just a minute.
Check inside the market
by the cash register.
Some of the employees
left their car keys there.
It's easier than crossing wires.
- Thanks.
- Well, good luck.
- Good luck.
David, take the horses
over there and tie 'em up.
- Right.
Come on.
Come on, let's go.
- Let's have a look.
- Whoa, whoa.
Whoa.
That's it.
(horse hooves clopping)
- [Steven] Can we give you a hand?
- [Jack] No thanks, I'll make it.
(Jack's car engine igniting)
- Come on, Michael,
help me find some keys.
You start there.
- Hey, here's some, look.
- Hey, fastest key finder in the West.
Good, good.
All right, you help Deb
get some food and drinks,
will ya?
- Okay.
Deborah?
- Hm?
- Do you think they'll mind
if we take the food without paying?
- Uh, nah, I don't think so.
- [Michael] Hm.
(suspenseful music)
- Here, take these.
- Okay.
- Hey, Debbie, we've got our car.
Got a full tank of gas.
- We should be home in a few hours.
- Let's get some supplies
and pack up the family.
Hey, we found a car, Deb.
Let's move it along.
- Oh, good!
Look, Dad, people are leaving messages.
(dog growling)
(eerie music)
(dogs barking)
- Where's Michael?
- I don't know.
Michael?
Michael!
- Michael.
Mike, where are you?
- [Deborah] Michael?
- Billy!
- David!
- My children, my children!
(dogs barking)
No!
Get off!
- Where's the shotgun?
- Uh, in the wagon.
Move very carefully.
Michael.
Michael.
Move very slowly.
I want you to do exactly what I tell ya,
but don't do it until I say go.
(dogs growling)
Now very slowly untie the horses.
No, not yet.
They're scared like we are
and they'll start running,
and as soon as they do,
you run as fast as you
can into the store, okay?
All right, get by the
door and hold it open.
All right, Michael, go!
(horses neighing)
(dogs barking)
- [David] Go!
Come on, come on!
- Run, Michael!
(gun firing)
- [David] There's two more!
Come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on!
(dramatic music)
- They did it.
They killed them!
The dogs.
The dogs killed my children! (sobbing)
I only left 'em for a minute.
I, I just wanted to take them home.
I never should have left the windows open.
I, I never should've left 'em alone.
I never should've left them! (sobbing)
- [Deborah] What's your name?
(somber music)
- Jenny.
- It'll be all right, Jenny.
We're gonna take care of you, okay?
(dogs barking)
(eerie music)
Los Angeles, empty and lonely.
It was almost as if I could feel and hear
all those people, and
there was no one there.
(car horn honking)
It was like they were haunting us
all the way to Malibu Canyon.
(faint car horns honking)
(children squealing)
(children chattering)
(school bell ringing)
(children shouting)
- [Steven] Where ya from, Jenny?
- Denver.
We were on our way to Disneyland.
The kids had never been there.
Then my husband got sick.
I took him to a hospital in Bakersfield.
He was gone so fast.
So fast.
Everybody was dying.
The nurses, the doctors, everybody.
I tried to get the kids back to Denver,
but we ran out of gas.
So I had to leave them in the car
and try to find another one.
I was only gone a few minutes.
Then I heard the dogs.
And the children were screaming.
I ran back.
But it was too late.
- Are you sure your husband
had the same sickness as everyone else?
- Yes.
(suspenseful music)
(birds chirping)
- All right, let's have a look.
- I smell fish.
- That's the ocean, Michael.
It's only a few miles.
- Generator's burned out.
- Blasted.
Well, we're just gonna have to walk.
David.
- Dad!
- Don't look!
Cover your eyes, cover 'em.
(soft chiming)
- Mommy!
- Hang on to him, hold him.
(ground rumbling)
- It was just like the last time.
- It was a flare, just like we thought.
And the flare set off the quake.
- Are we going to die?
- No, Michael, no, that can't hurt us.
- No, that quake wasn't as strong.
Must've been some kind of aftershock.
I guess if we lived through the first one,
we'll be all right, huh?
- Yeah, good.
Get the shotgun and some water.
Let's get home as quick as we can.
Come on.
(gentle music)
David!
David, wait for us.
- Mom?
Mom!
- Come on!
- Slow down, Dad.
Come on, Jenny.
- David?
(David sobbing)
Barbara.
Barbara!
- She's supposed to be alive.
Mom! (sobbing)
You're supposed to be alive.
- Dad!
- Why isn't she alive?
- Deb.
(Deborah sobbing)
Jenny, help me, please.
Michael, take care of her
for a minute, will you?
- Don't cry, Deb, don't.
Please, don't cry.
(David sobbing)
- David.
Dearest Steven, Deborah, and David,
I pray to God that
you're reading this note.
I know there are some
people who have survived.
It's been two days since
the solar flare, but,
already most of the people I know
are dead or dying.
Within 16 hours, we
managed to isolate a virus.
Some people, not many,
have a built-in resistance,
a gene, probably recessive.
I know I don't.
Fever has already brought me home to bed.
I pray for all of you.
I love you, and I want you to live.
Mom.
- I'd rather be dead.
- It's almost morning.
- Well, she almost made it.
A gene.
One stupid gene that God
gave to me and not to her.
- What are we gonna do?
- I loved her very much.
I feel so lost.
That's all that kept us going
was hoping that she was alive.
I never thought past this.
There's nothing else.
Nothing.
(fire crackling)
(eerie music)
(ocean waves crashing)
- Jenny.
Jenny!
(ominous music)
Jenny!
- Oh my god.
- Wait a minute.
- [Steven] Jenny!
Jenny.
Take it easy.
- Oh no.
- Take it easy, Jenny.
- No!
Leave me alone, leave me alone!
Let go!
No, let go!
Let go, please!
Leave me.
- Hang on to her.
- Let me go, let me go!
- It's all right.
- No, no, no!
No!
Let go, let go!
Let me go!
Leave me alone!
Let me die, leave me alone!
- Jenny!
(Deborah grunting)
Jenny!
- No!
(Jenny sobbing)
No!
No!
No!
No!
Please, no!
Let me go.
Oh, please.
Please, let me die.
Please.
There's nothing left.
- No.
- You said so yourself.
- I know I said that, Jenny.
I was wrong.
We're alive, Jenny.
There has to be a reason for that.
We are very special people
because we survived.
- No, no.
- Jenny.
- My husband!
- Listen to me.
- My children!
- Jenny.
The ones who died didn't have a choice.
We do.
We can walk out into
that ocean one by one,
or we can gather strength
from each other, and live.
Jenny.
Come here.
(somber music)
- [Deborah] We knew now
we were able to survive
that even more importantly
we wanted to survive.
We couldn't stay home because
there was no fresh water
or land for farming, so two days later
we left for northern California.
Ahead of us was a new world,
a world waiting for us to begin again.
- I can't hold it!
- No, you're doing fine.
Okay, now just lighten up and reel it in.
- Oh no, he got away.
- [Steven] Well, you'll catch another one.
There are millions of fish in the sea.
- Millions of 'em.
- Hey!
Are you guys ready to go?
- You bet.
- Mm-hm.
- [David] Hey, Michael.
(hopeful music)
(uptempo music)
- [Deborah] It was a Sunday in August.
Mom, Dad, David, and I were on vacation
digging for fossils in the high Sierras.
Mom had to go back to LA that morning.
We didn't know that two
and a half hours later
the world as we knew it
would cease to exist.
(funky music)
- Deborah.
- Hm?
(camera clicking)
Daddy!
- (laughing) I gotcha.
I thought we made a deal.
I don't sneak any pictures,
and you don't play the radio.
(radio clicking off)
- Doesn't all this silence bother you?
- No.
You ready, Barbara?
- Yeah.
I wish I could stay on.
- Yeah, me too.
I tell ya what, why don't you radio in
and let somebody else take
care of those guinea pigs
for another week, huh?
- I wish I could, but you know old Phil
can't handle that experiment.
- Oh, yeah, mm-hm.
- And anyway, I've gotta
get cracking on that paper.
- Yes, the paper.
- I know, I know, I'm not
indispensable. (laughs)
- Never to me.
- Not if there's a cave left to explore.
(booming)
- That Tom?
- Yeah, he's around here somewhere.
- Hope he hurries.
- Tom!
Here, Tom!
Well, looks like we got rabbit stew
for dinner again tonight.
- Well, doesn't anybody wanna come
and tell their mother goodbye?
- I do.
(Barbara laughing)
What do you think?
- David!
- He's still in the cave.
- Hey ya, Pop.
Got 'em goin' away, clean as anything.
- Good shot, Tom.
Better get your gear together.
Ms. Anders's ready.
- [David] Mom!
- [Barbara] Sorry to get you
out of your cave. (laughs)
Aw.
- I forgot to look at my watch.
- You're already picking up my bad habits
and you're only 18.
- [Steven] Come on, you're
gonna miss your flight.
- Okay.
- Does anybody want me to
call somebody for them?
You want me to call your office?
- No, don't you dare.
That place doesn't exist
till this vacation's over.
Okay, have a good flight, hon.
- Thank you.
- Take care of yourself.
- 'Kay.
- See ya next week, huh?
- Easy on the gas now, hot rod.
Don't need no broken axle.
Say hello to your momma for me.
- Bye, Mom.
- Bye!
- See you later.
- Okay.
Bye, darling.
- [Steven] Bye.
(truck engine revving)
- Dad?
- Mm-hm?
- You think next year we
could spend our vacation
in someplace like Hawaii or Mexico?
- Hey, maybe Mexico.
They got some great
places to dig down there.
- I don't mean digging.
I mean, like staying at a hotel
and swimming in the ocean.
- We live on the ocean.
What do you wanna swim in the ocean for?
What kinda vacation is that?
- (laughing) I think what
you're sister's tryin' to say
is that she'd like a little
different kind of vacation.
- Yeah.
Maybe separate vacations.
I'm old enough now.
- You're not either, but let's discuss it
with your mother when we get home, huh?
- Okay.
(birds chirping)
(Jim humming)
(eerie chiming)
(ground rumbling)
- Earthquake, come on!
Out!
(rocks thudding)
Go on, get out!
- Daddy!
(David coughing)
- Okay.
All right.
- That musta hit six on the Richter.
- Man.
For a second there I
thought that whole mountain
was coming down.
- Hey!
Everybody all right?
- Okay, Clancy.
- (exhales forcefully)
Boy, that beat anything
I ever saw in my life.
I guess the Air Force musta tested
the biggest bomb they ever had.
- Bomb?
You sure that wasn't an earthquake?
- No, no, that weren't
no natural earthquake.
It got real quiet, and
the whole sky lit up
just like the good Lord
was snappin' a picture.
- You serious?
- It's the biggest 'un I ever seen.
- They're not doin' any
nuclear tests above ground.
- No.
- I'm tellin' ya, I had to cover my eyes.
Did the cave go?
- Well, I don't know,
but I'm not going back
in there to find out.
You look funny.
Why don't we go dust off, huh? (laughs)
(radio static crackling)
- You been on that thing three hours.
You gonna run them batteries down.
- I still can't get anything.
- Oh, great, now I can't
even listen to my music.
(Steven laughing)
- Nevermind the music.
Either the government set off a blast
or there's been some
kind of nuclear accident,
and I can't find out what the
radio has to say about it.
- You two are always so
tied up in your caves.
Now what are you gonna do?
- Oh, we can do some
fishing, play chess, hike.
Hey, come here a minute, Deb.
Take a look at this.
I think we found ourselves a real goody.
It's a trilobite, but it has--
- Dad?
- Clancy?
Hey, what is it?
- K niner calling K
niner X zero eight, over.
K niner, X zero niner.
This is K niner X zero eight.
Do you read me, over?
All I'm getting is static.
- Keep trying.
- K niner X zero niner.
- Come on, Mr. Clancy.
It's good for you.
- [David] K niner X zero niner--
- No, nevermind the food, Deb.
Just, uh, try to keep him as
comfortable as you can, hm?
- Zero niner, this is K niner zero eight.
Do you read me?
I don't understand.
The battery seems strong enough.
- Maybe Mrs. Clancy went out for a while.
- No, it's after 10:00.
She wouldn't leave the
receiver for that long.
Besides, Tom shoulda been home hours ago.
There must be somethin' wrong with it.
Do you think it's an
infection of some kind?
(Jim quivering)
- I don't know.
I don't know, David.
You're the physicist.
Could radiation poisoning
give these symptoms?
- I guess, but to happen that fast
would have to be a massive
dose, at least 200 roentgens.
Wish Clancy brought his Geiger counter,
then we'd know.
- Dad?
I think he's getting worse.
What are we gonna do?
- You better start a Mayday on the radio.
- What if I can't reach anyone?
- Well, we have to get him out of here.
In the morning we'll
make some kind of ladder
and carry him out.
- That's a two day hike.
- We don't have any choice, David.
Tom isn't due here for a week.
We can't sit around and
watch him get worse.
- Well, does anybody feel like eating?
- Yeah, I do.
- Good.
- No.
I don't know whether Clancy is suffering
from some sort of
radiation sickness or not,
but we have to accept
that as a possibility.
Now that means this whole
area can be affected,
and I don't think that we
can eat or drink anything
unless we had it with us down in the cave.
- Dad, we only had one canteen of water
in the cave with us.
How are we gonna survive
on that for two days?
- We'll have to.
- Well, wait a minute.
- Hm.
Yeah, that's not much, but it's calories.
Get started on the Mayday.
See if you can find Clancy
another blanket, Deb.
(radio static crackling)
- This is K niner X zero
niner, Mayday, Mayday.
This is K niner X zero
niner, Mayday, Mayday.
(fire hissing)
(Jim quivering)
- David.
Come on, we're ready to go.
- Give me a hand, will ya Deb, please?
Take just what you need, David.
The less weight, the better.
(birds chirping)
(wind howling)
Leave it, we don't need that.
- If there's a large dose of radiation,
it'll show on the film.
- How?
(camera clicking)
- The picture will come
out with white spots on it.
(beeping)
(suspenseful music)
- Daddy!
- Let's get outta here.
(Jim moaning)
All right, let's rest here.
Gently.
Now.
- Dad?
- No, you, you drink, hon.
- I'm all right.
(Jim moaning)
- We shoulda brought
another canteen for him.
- We only had one canteen in the cave.
- He's already suffering from radiation.
Drinking radiated water
isn't gonna do him much harm.
- Woulda done him a lot
more harm than good.
- He can have my water.
- I didn't mean it that way.
- No, I know you didn't.
How are your muscles holding out?
- Okay.
- I think we better keep moving.
Ready, up.
(soft, eerie music)
- It's gonna be dark soon.
We'd better find a spot
to spend the night.
- [Steven] In an hour or so.
Can you hold out?
- I'll try.
(Jim groaning)
(Jim coughing)
- Put him down.
(Jim gasping)
He's gone.
(Deborah sobbing)
All right.
Go ahead and cry, Deb.
All right.
(insects chirping)
- A nuclear accident is the only thing
that makes any sense.
Deb?
- Debbie.
- Oh, sorry, I was
thinking of these pictures
I saw of Hiroshima.
- Now look, there's no
sense in our sitting around
frightening each other with speculation.
We'll find out what happened
when we get back to Rainbow.
- What about Clancy?
What do we do with him?
- We have to take him.
- Deb, he's dead.
But we gotta get outta
here as fast as we can.
- David, he's a friend!
You just can't leave him.
- Why should I be the one to feel guilty?
- David.
- Look, we've been exposed to radiation.
Not as bad as Mr. Clancy,
but maybe enough to kill us.
Now if we lose time lugging a dead body,
maybe we'll end up that way.
- Well, what do you know!
One year of college physics
and you think you know everything.
Well, we were in a cave.
We were in the cave, Daddy.
- That's right, hon, we were
and it probably saved our lives.
But I think David is right
and I think we have to
get back to civilization
as quickly as possible.
We'll take care of Clancy.
(Steven grunting)
All right, uh, we'll
cover it in with rocks.
Let's bring him.
- It's flat.
The bag's empty.
- That can't be.
He was dead!
(mysterious music)
Could radiation do that?
Could radiation do that?
- I don't know.
- Come on, let's get outta here.
Come on!
- As horrible as Clancy's death was,
we still believed it was
some kind of freak accident.
We thought that once
we got back to Rainbow,
everything would be all right,
that all the fears and
questions could be answered.
(sign creaking)
(soft, eerie music)
Daddy, there's no one here.
(doors banging)
- Stay here.
(cat meowing)
- You all right?
- Yeah.
- Dad?
- Yes, fine, I'm all right.
- What is going on?
Where is everybody?
- [Steven] Well, maybe they
had to evacuate the town.
Maybe they're all at home.
- No, people just don't leave their cars
in the middle of the streets.
Where is everybody?
Where are all the people?
- Nobody inside, no electricity.
(coins clinking)
(phone dinging)
- David.
(coins clinking)
(phone dinging)
(mysterious music)
- [David] Come on.
What's the matter with this thing?
Come on, hello?
Hello?
- It was a nuclear war.
- Deb, come on.
- It was a nuclear war!
It's not okay.
Everybody's dead!
- No.
- And we're all gonna end up that way!
We're all gonna be dead! (wailing)
- No, no!
No, no, no, no, no!
- David.
- No!
No!
Leave me alone!
It's not a nuclear war.
It's not the whole world.
It's just here, and that's all.
And Mom's not here.
She's home and she's alive, just like us.
- David!
David!
- Her stuff isn't here.
She must've got to the air field
and got outta here before
this thing happened.
- Wait here.
- Tom left his keys.
- Hello?
Ms. Clancy?
Tom?
- [David] Dad?
(phone clicking)
- They're both dead.
- The same way?
- Yes.
- Well, I checked the Blazer.
The battery's had it, and
the generator's burned out.
- Can you fix it?
- Well, I can try.
Well wait a minute.
This is Clancy's Geiger counter.
He showed me how to
work it the day we left.
- Is it still working?
- Well, I think so.
Let me see your watch.
(Geiger counter ticking)
It's working.
- Well, let's check out the food.
(light switch clicking)
Here.
- Nothin', no radio activity.
- I'll get Deb.
Debbie?
We found some food.
- Can we eat it?
- Yeah, it's okay.
(Deborah moaning)
Oh man.
Oh!
- Hey, we're gonna get sick.
- [Steven] Hm?
(laughing)
(somber music)
- Dad?
- Yeah.
- I checked all the cars I could find,
generators are gone in all of 'em.
But I found a good battery.
- How far can we get without a generator?
Batteries wear down.
- We only have to carry a
couple of 'em to get home.
(David groans)
Well, I think.
- David, tell me what to think.
It wasn't a nuclear blast, was it?
I guess you don't have to be a scientist
to know that radiation strong enough
to disintegrate human beings,
it'll kill everything else, birds,
animals, trees, everything.
What, bacteria, chemical?
- I don't think so.
It'd have to be an energy
source of some kind.
Knocked out the telephones, electricity,
even the car generators.
- The batteries work.
- Yeah, they're electrochemical.
They're self-contained.
- Well then, what?
A meteor or some kind of a comet?
- I don't know.
I don't know what to do with it.
(footsteps clacking)
- [Steven] Get some batteries here.
Check the oil, Dave.
Yeah, here are the batteries.
- [David] Oh, good.
Uh, get some oil, too.
- [Steven] Hello?
- It's the same thing.
- Better get some gas.
And I think we should change batteries
while we're here, too.
- I have to go to the bathroom.
- There's no electricity.
- We've only got a quarter of a tank.
Maybe we can siphon some from these cars.
- I have to go to the bathroom.
- All right, I'll take you, honey.
- I'll find a siphon.
- It's all right.
- You'll stay right out here?
- I will.
- Okay.
(phone bangs)
(suspenseful music)
(gasoline trickling)
- Dad!
Dad!
Dad, look.
- Hello.
Hello?
David, give me a hand.
- Hello?
What's your name?
- What do we do with her?
- We clean her up.
- No purse, no ID, nothing.
Nothing.
She said anything?
- Not a word.
I wish we knew more about her.
She wears a wedding ring.
- I wish I knew where
she was when it happened.
Was she underground in some
sort of shelter like we were?
The important thing is that she's alive.
That means there are probably others.
Whatever it was that
happened, there are survivors.
- Hey gang, tank's full
and battery's changed.
- Well, we take her with us.
- All right, we better get goin'.
There's only a couple
hours of daylight left.
- Come on, Anne.
- Anne?
Is that her name?
- We don't know, but
she looks like an Anne.
(David laughs)
(dog growling)
- Dog!
- Whoa!
- Deb!
Back away very slowly.
- Daddy, he's just scared.
- Hey, hold on, he might be rabid.
Go on back there.
(dog barking)
- Daddy, don't hurt him.
- Go on, get back, now!
- [Deborah] Daddy!
(Deborah screaming)
(dog squealing)
- Get in the car.
Get in the car!
(tool clanking)
(suspenseful music)
(engine igniting)
(engine revving)
- We drove all day without seeing anyone.
None of us wanted to talk about Mom.
I guess we were too frightened.
But finding Jenny meant
that there were survivors.
And the hope that Mom
made it, just like we did,
kept us going through all that lay ahead.
Dad?
You think she had a family?
- Probably.
- I wonder what happened to them.
You don't suppose that they all, uh...
(engine hissing)
- Hey, look.
- Maybe he could tell us what happened.
- Hi.
Boy, are we glad to see you.
We've been up in the Sierras.
We don't know what's going on.
What's happened to everybody?
- Oh, where are you from?
- Well, we were camping up
in the Sierras and then...
- Everyone get outta the car.
(suspenseful music)
Get out!
- Do as he says.
- This side.
Get away from there.
Over here.
- Deb.
- Quickly, please.
- Why are you doing this?
- I got a wife and kids in Phoenix.
I gotta get to them.
I'm sorry.
(engine igniting)
- Well, you can't just leave us out here
without food or water.
- Better that than dead.
- What's ahead of us?
- Nothing.
(engine revving)
(insects chirping)
(animal howling)
- Dad.
No, Anne, it's not a dog.
It won't hurt you.
Sit.
- I wish I'd had the rifle.
He wouldn't have got the Blazer.
- Why, would you have shot him?
- Yeah.
- Have we come to that already, Dave?
David, you're gonna lose us.
- You're goin' too slow.
- [Deborah] She can't walk any faster!
- I can't walk any slower.
- Well, what do you expect
us to do, leave her here?
- What about Mom?
How do we know what's happening to her?
She may need our help now
and she's slowin' us up.
- You know, I really
believe he'd leave her here.
What's happening to him?
- He's scared, hon.
I guess this is his way of hiding it.
Be patient with him.
(eerie music)
(birds chirping)
- Hello?
Hello?
Anybody home?
Hello, is anybody here?
No phone, no electricity.
The bedrooms are empty.
- Deb, take her inside,
see if you can find something to eat.
Let's see if they've got a car, David.
- Come on, Anne, there's
nothin' to be scared of.
- No car.
Guess whoever lived
here must've taken off.
Let's look around here.
(suspenseful music)
- They didn't disintegrate.
- They've been shot.
Doesn't look like too long ago, either.
David.
Don't look, but somebody's
pointing a gun at us
from the barn.
No, don't turn.
Uh, I want you to get back to the house.
- Dad--
- Just do it!
Now take the corral that way.
You'll be outta sight quicker.
- Uh, well, I'll go on back to the house.
- Dad?
David?
- Go back!
Debbie, don't come any further.
Just go on back to the house.
- Dad, who are they?
- I don't know.
David and I will bury them.
Now please, get back to the house.
- Anne?
She won't go.
- Anne, come on.
(gun firing)
David!
- You little idiot!
- What's happening?
Is David all right?
- It's all right, Debbie.
Go back to the house.
Who are those people, son?
- My mom and dad.
- Who did it?
- Two men, they took our car.
- [Steven] When?
- Yesterday.
- Come here, come on, son, we're friends.
(gun clicking)
- Billy?
Billy?
- I'm Michael.
- Billy.
- She spoke to me.
She thinks my name is Billy.
- Well, is it all right
if she calls you that
just for a little while?
- My name is Michael.
- Well, just for a little while.
Please?
Come on, Anne.
- Two weeks ago I was
manufacturing plastic cups,
now I'm harnessing horses.
Hope I did that right,
it's sure been a long time.
David.
- We need it.
- Dad!
(horse neighing)
I think she's coming out of it.
She looked at me when I touched her
and there were tears in her eyes.
- Ah, good, that's a great sign.
Take her back to the house and pack up.
We'll be leaving in a few minutes.
I wanna talk to Michael.
- Okay.
- All right.
Hey Michael, check out
this harness, will ya?
See if I did it right.
(horse snorting)
- Yeah, it's fine.
- Okay, good.
Now listen, I wanna ask ya some questions.
About what happened, did you
hear about it on the radio?
Did your parents tell you about it?
- I saw it.
- You were out in the open?
- Me and my dad, we were bailing hay.
- Was there a bright flash of light?
- Like a bomb?
- No, it was the sun.
It just got brighter and brighter
for a couple of seconds,
then there was the earthquake.
We tried listening to the radio
and that didn't work.
We tried the telephone and the lights
and that didn't work either.
My dad wanted to drive into town,
but my mom wouldn't let him.
She was scared.
- Did your car work?
- Then these two men came.
They were walking, and I was in my room.
My mom and dad went outside
to say hello to them.
They talked, and then they
went to where the garage was.
My mom and dad--
- Okay, Michael, it's all right.
You go help Debbie now, will ya?
We'll be leaving in a minute.
All right, you ready to
tell me what's going on?
Had a feeling ever since we left Clancy's
you had something on your
mind you didn't wanna share.
Is that for my protection
or yours or your sister's?
- I didn't know for sure.
- Come on.
David, this is not some
scientific experiment
where we can sit back and accumulate data
to write a paper later on.
I'm not a scientist.
I have to depend on you.
And we have to depend on each other.
Now tell me, do you think
something happened to the sun?
- Yeah, I do.
- What?
- Probably some kind of explosion.
- Would that reduce your mother's chances?
Come on, we have to accept the worst.
- No!
- All right, then.
All right, then let's accept the best.
Now you tell me all you know
or all you think you know.
- Could've been a solar flare.
- Solar flares, don't
they happen all the time?
- Yeah.
It would have to have been a big one,
bigger than anything ever recorded.
It was send out a tremendous
amount of gamma rays,
enough energy to knock
out the power sources.
- But what killed the people?
We know it wasn't radiation.
- I don't know.
It had nothing to do
with whether or not they were sheltered.
- That's right.
Clancy's family died, but
Michael and his parents lived.
And we're alive, so your
mother must be, too.
All right, let's go tell your sister.
(clucking) Come on, come on.
(hopeful music)
(horse hooves clopping)
Cross your fingers.
(birds chirping)
- The keys are in the ignition.
Of course the keys are in the ignition.
I am so stupid!
- What do you mean?
- An electrical overload
can only knock out a
generator that's working.
The ignition has to be on,
the engine has to be running.
Any other car should be fine.
- But you checked other cars in Rainbow.
- Only the ones with the
keys in the ignition.
They must've been running
when this thing happened.
We wasted all that time with
the Blazer and the batteries.
- Well, at least now we
know what to look for.
We'll find one.
(horse neighing)
Okay, get up.
(horse hooves clopping)
- Is she crazy?
- Something really
terrible happened to her.
She hasn't told us yet, but she will.
- She stares at me.
- That's a good sign.
That means you interest her.
- Easy there, boys, whoa.
(gentle music)
Looks like a used car lot.
- Any special make, color, or model?
- Deb, while David and I look for a car,
you can go in the market
and get some more food and water, huh?
Wup, wup, wup, wup.
Take those.
- Dad!
(gun firing)
- Back away from the car.
- Take the car.
I've got a family.
Don't shoot me.
- You were gonna shoot me.
- No, no, I'm just
tryin' to protect myself.
I've already had one car stolen.
- So have I.
- My name's McFadden, Jack.
- Steve Anders.
- Can I put my hands down?
- Yeah.
(horse hooves clopping)
- That your family?
- Yeah, part of it.
My wife's in Malibu.
- I came from LA.
Don't go there.
I got my wife and kids out.
The city's a nightmare.
Some people went mad, like the dogs.
Dogs everywhere, packs of them.
I've seen things, my
kids have seen things.
- What happened?
I mean, is it all over the world?
- I don't know.
The radio went off.
There was no communication.
I heard something about
an epidemic of some kind.
I don't know.
- Are there many survivors?
- You can drive for
miles, even in the city,
and not find anybody.
- Where's your family?
- Why?
- No, I mean, are they safe?
- We found a ranch outside of town.
We moved in.
We'll stay there.
I guess eventually the
store food will give out
and we'll have to learn how to farm.
I'm a cost accountant.
I was born and raised in the city.
Always dreamed of having a ranch.
Now there are plenty of 'em.
We'd be pleased to have you as neighbors.
- No, we have to get to the coast.
I guess we'll just have to learn
to ask questions before
we pull the trigger.
- Yeah.
- [Steven] Michael,
come on down, would you?
And bring Anne, please.
- Okay.
- Let's see if we can find a car.
- Uh, just a minute.
Check inside the market
by the cash register.
Some of the employees
left their car keys there.
It's easier than crossing wires.
- Thanks.
- Well, good luck.
- Good luck.
David, take the horses
over there and tie 'em up.
- Right.
Come on.
Come on, let's go.
- Let's have a look.
- Whoa, whoa.
Whoa.
That's it.
(horse hooves clopping)
- [Steven] Can we give you a hand?
- [Jack] No thanks, I'll make it.
(Jack's car engine igniting)
- Come on, Michael,
help me find some keys.
You start there.
- Hey, here's some, look.
- Hey, fastest key finder in the West.
Good, good.
All right, you help Deb
get some food and drinks,
will ya?
- Okay.
Deborah?
- Hm?
- Do you think they'll mind
if we take the food without paying?
- Uh, nah, I don't think so.
- [Michael] Hm.
(suspenseful music)
- Here, take these.
- Okay.
- Hey, Debbie, we've got our car.
Got a full tank of gas.
- We should be home in a few hours.
- Let's get some supplies
and pack up the family.
Hey, we found a car, Deb.
Let's move it along.
- Oh, good!
Look, Dad, people are leaving messages.
(dog growling)
(eerie music)
(dogs barking)
- Where's Michael?
- I don't know.
Michael?
Michael!
- Michael.
Mike, where are you?
- [Deborah] Michael?
- Billy!
- David!
- My children, my children!
(dogs barking)
No!
Get off!
- Where's the shotgun?
- Uh, in the wagon.
Move very carefully.
Michael.
Michael.
Move very slowly.
I want you to do exactly what I tell ya,
but don't do it until I say go.
(dogs growling)
Now very slowly untie the horses.
No, not yet.
They're scared like we are
and they'll start running,
and as soon as they do,
you run as fast as you
can into the store, okay?
All right, get by the
door and hold it open.
All right, Michael, go!
(horses neighing)
(dogs barking)
- [David] Go!
Come on, come on!
- Run, Michael!
(gun firing)
- [David] There's two more!
Come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on!
(dramatic music)
- They did it.
They killed them!
The dogs.
The dogs killed my children! (sobbing)
I only left 'em for a minute.
I, I just wanted to take them home.
I never should have left the windows open.
I, I never should've left 'em alone.
I never should've left them! (sobbing)
- [Deborah] What's your name?
(somber music)
- Jenny.
- It'll be all right, Jenny.
We're gonna take care of you, okay?
(dogs barking)
(eerie music)
Los Angeles, empty and lonely.
It was almost as if I could feel and hear
all those people, and
there was no one there.
(car horn honking)
It was like they were haunting us
all the way to Malibu Canyon.
(faint car horns honking)
(children squealing)
(children chattering)
(school bell ringing)
(children shouting)
- [Steven] Where ya from, Jenny?
- Denver.
We were on our way to Disneyland.
The kids had never been there.
Then my husband got sick.
I took him to a hospital in Bakersfield.
He was gone so fast.
So fast.
Everybody was dying.
The nurses, the doctors, everybody.
I tried to get the kids back to Denver,
but we ran out of gas.
So I had to leave them in the car
and try to find another one.
I was only gone a few minutes.
Then I heard the dogs.
And the children were screaming.
I ran back.
But it was too late.
- Are you sure your husband
had the same sickness as everyone else?
- Yes.
(suspenseful music)
(birds chirping)
- All right, let's have a look.
- I smell fish.
- That's the ocean, Michael.
It's only a few miles.
- Generator's burned out.
- Blasted.
Well, we're just gonna have to walk.
David.
- Dad!
- Don't look!
Cover your eyes, cover 'em.
(soft chiming)
- Mommy!
- Hang on to him, hold him.
(ground rumbling)
- It was just like the last time.
- It was a flare, just like we thought.
And the flare set off the quake.
- Are we going to die?
- No, Michael, no, that can't hurt us.
- No, that quake wasn't as strong.
Must've been some kind of aftershock.
I guess if we lived through the first one,
we'll be all right, huh?
- Yeah, good.
Get the shotgun and some water.
Let's get home as quick as we can.
Come on.
(gentle music)
David!
David, wait for us.
- Mom?
Mom!
- Come on!
- Slow down, Dad.
Come on, Jenny.
- David?
(David sobbing)
Barbara.
Barbara!
- She's supposed to be alive.
Mom! (sobbing)
You're supposed to be alive.
- Dad!
- Why isn't she alive?
- Deb.
(Deborah sobbing)
Jenny, help me, please.
Michael, take care of her
for a minute, will you?
- Don't cry, Deb, don't.
Please, don't cry.
(David sobbing)
- David.
Dearest Steven, Deborah, and David,
I pray to God that
you're reading this note.
I know there are some
people who have survived.
It's been two days since
the solar flare, but,
already most of the people I know
are dead or dying.
Within 16 hours, we
managed to isolate a virus.
Some people, not many,
have a built-in resistance,
a gene, probably recessive.
I know I don't.
Fever has already brought me home to bed.
I pray for all of you.
I love you, and I want you to live.
Mom.
- I'd rather be dead.
- It's almost morning.
- Well, she almost made it.
A gene.
One stupid gene that God
gave to me and not to her.
- What are we gonna do?
- I loved her very much.
I feel so lost.
That's all that kept us going
was hoping that she was alive.
I never thought past this.
There's nothing else.
Nothing.
(fire crackling)
(eerie music)
(ocean waves crashing)
- Jenny.
Jenny!
(ominous music)
Jenny!
- Oh my god.
- Wait a minute.
- [Steven] Jenny!
Jenny.
Take it easy.
- Oh no.
- Take it easy, Jenny.
- No!
Leave me alone, leave me alone!
Let go!
No, let go!
Let go, please!
Leave me.
- Hang on to her.
- Let me go, let me go!
- It's all right.
- No, no, no!
No!
Let go, let go!
Let me go!
Leave me alone!
Let me die, leave me alone!
- Jenny!
(Deborah grunting)
Jenny!
- No!
(Jenny sobbing)
No!
No!
No!
No!
Please, no!
Let me go.
Oh, please.
Please, let me die.
Please.
There's nothing left.
- No.
- You said so yourself.
- I know I said that, Jenny.
I was wrong.
We're alive, Jenny.
There has to be a reason for that.
We are very special people
because we survived.
- No, no.
- Jenny.
- My husband!
- Listen to me.
- My children!
- Jenny.
The ones who died didn't have a choice.
We do.
We can walk out into
that ocean one by one,
or we can gather strength
from each other, and live.
Jenny.
Come here.
(somber music)
- [Deborah] We knew now
we were able to survive
that even more importantly
we wanted to survive.
We couldn't stay home because
there was no fresh water
or land for farming, so two days later
we left for northern California.
Ahead of us was a new world,
a world waiting for us to begin again.
- I can't hold it!
- No, you're doing fine.
Okay, now just lighten up and reel it in.
- Oh no, he got away.
- [Steven] Well, you'll catch another one.
There are millions of fish in the sea.
- Millions of 'em.
- Hey!
Are you guys ready to go?
- You bet.
- Mm-hm.
- [David] Hey, Michael.
(hopeful music)
(uptempo music)