Survivors (1975–1977): Season 3, Episode 1 - Manhunt - full transcript
(SNARLING)
(DOGS BARKING IN DISTANCE)
(BARKING)
Jack. That's it, Jack.
We met up at Whitecross with Charlie
before they moved back to Challoner,
before Charlie put the phone in.
Yes. He went off in the blue
with Greg and that Norwegian girl.
Must be six months since.
What's he doing this way?
Charlie never said.
I don't like the fever.
Well, I couldn't just leave him,
could I?
I don't like the fever.
Perhaps they've got it at Challoner.
No. No, he would have said.
Charlie would have said.
He got no rash or nothing, has he?
No lumps under his arms and that?
-No.
-(COUGHING)
What's the time?
It's too late for Challoner now,
we'll have to wait till morning.
Shouldn't you get his clothes off?
No. Keep him warm, sweat it out.
Fetch another blanket.
(QUIVERING)
SETH: What's that?
"Charles Vaughan." "Jenny Richards."
Letters for Charlie and Jenny?
What's he...
-What's he doing with them?
-Well, there's only one way to find out.
No!
No, not before asking.
We'll ask in the morning.
SETH: Charlie?
CHARLES: Yes, Seth.
Charlie, listen, I found Jack.
He's in a bad way.
He got two letters on him.
He's got what?
Two letters.
One for you and one for Jenny.
I've got them here,
do you want me to open them?
-Greg.
-What's that?
-It's got to be.
-What's that, Charlie?
(STAMMERING) Sorry. Seth.
Yes, listen. You can open mine.
No, no, wait. Um...
Seth, I'm coming over.
I'll be over to you as soon as I can.
-Right. Charlie?
-Yes?
He's sick. He's got a fever.
-Is it bad?
-Bad enough. He's in a coma.
Seth, is it plague?
No, I don't think so.
All right, Seth, I'm coming over.
-Don't forget to disconnect.
-Right.
(HANGS UP PHONE)
(WIND HOWLING)
JENNY: I'm coming, too.
And there's nothing you can do
to stop me.
Jack has got a fever.
He's also got a letter from Greg.
-Now, we don't know that.
-(SCOFFS) Who else?
It's dangerous.
I don't care.
She's right, Charlie.
It's 50 miles.
I'll be back tomorrow night.
-If you're lucky.
-Look, a bit of patience.
You must be joking.
No news for six months
and then a letter?
(GRUNTS)
Can't you do any better than that?
I'd like to see you do better.
Here you are.
All you have to do is warm it up.
Ah, thanks.
And Charlie, don't give it all to Seth.
(LAUGHS)
Here.
Now, with a bit of luck,
we should be there by 4:00
so don't forget to man the phone.
I will if I'm well enough.
What's the matter with you, Hubert?
-I've got a terrible toothache.
-Oh, that's tough.
You man the phone.
Yeah, all right.
Now, we'll keep going... Whoa!
Even if it's dark.
So we ought to be there
by at least 8:00.
HUBERT: Okay, okay.
Oh, please Charlie,
don't travel in the dark.
Bye.
See you tomorrow night.
(GRUNTING)
He's writing from a place in Suffolk,
Willingham.
Is the girl with him, Agnes?
Yes, and he says they're both all right.
And how about Jack?
Well, he's not so but it's not plague
and he's no worse.
-Well, that's something, I suppose.
-Now, Hubert...
-Yeah.
-Are you listening?
Yeah, I can hear you.
I can hear you, Charles.
Hubert, they got to Norway.
Did they, by heck?
Yes, and he says it looks good there.
But they need help,
they need food and they need people
and they need them quickly.
Well, what's to do, then?
We'll just have to wait
till Greg gets here.
Well, when's that?
Well, by my reckoning he...
he wrote the letter about a week ago,
so it's taken Jack
that long to get here.
Now, Greg's on his way back
and he says he's going to talk to
as many people on the way as he can.
Oh.
Look, I'd better be going.
Tell Pet I'll be there tomorrow night.
Yeah, okay.
I want to be with him.
Of course you do.
Won't be long now.
No, I want to go to him.
Jenny, he wrote that letter
over a week ago.
He won't be there any more.
He'll be on his way back.
No, he's going to other places.
On the way, yes.
I told myself he was dead.
Well, he isn't, is he?
I need him.
Just as he needs you.
He's got that other girl.
He's got Agnes.
Look. Jenny, love.
To Greg there's only one thing
more important
than getting
his blessed machinery going,
and that's you.
(SNIFFLING)
Then why doesn't he come back to me?
SUSAN: Oh, let her be.
She's tired and hungry.
Come on,
get yourself outside some of that.
(SOBBING)
(GROANS)
You ain't had a mouthful.
Pet cooked it, you know. I didn't.
Oh, Susan, it's not that.
I'm... I'm just not hungry.
Well, you ought to be
after riding all day.
You'll make yourself ill.
And for what, I'd like to know?
If you're not hungry,
I mean, if you really don't want...
Oh, no you don't.
Well, there's no sense
in letting it go to waste.
It won't go to waste.
They're yours, Seth.
-You're a big man.
-He's a big pig.
JACK: No! No!
No, you can't...can't do that.
You can't...
Greg! Greg!
Greg.
Jenny, no!
Greg.
Jack, it's all right.
Jack, it's Jenny.
Can you hear what I'm saying?
Jack, it's Jenny.
Jack!
Jack, can you hear what I'm saying?
(INDISTINCT MUMBLING)
What are you saying?
(MUMBLING)
Jack. Jack, listen to me, it's Jenny!
Ag... Agnes!
Greg...
They can't do it, you know...
A broken arm. Help me! Help me!
(COUGHING)
He's in trouble.
-Take it easy, love.
-I think Greg's in trouble.
-Easy, easy.
-I'm... I'm going to him.
Now, Jenny... Jenny. Jack is delirious.
I'm going to him, I tell you,
I'm going to him.
-Yes, yes, of course you are...
-He's in trouble.
He's broken his arm!
We'll go there just as soon
as I get the horses...
No, we're going now!
If you're not going, I'm going
because I don't think...
How is he?
He seems to have settled down again.
Now, Jenny, love. Listen.
We'll go first thing in the morning
as soon as it's light.
-They what?
-They went off at first light.
What for?
Oh, something about Greg
and a broken leg.
Something about?
(GRUNTING)
This tooth. Oh, it's giving me jip.
That doesn't affect your hearing.
That's all you know,
ear, nose and throat.
Oh, got teeth in your throat now,
have you?
Well, if you're feeling so poorly,
I'll take the 12:00 phone call.
Suit yourself.
-How is he?
-No change.
I had to cut the clothes off
and they were all caked with blood.
These gashes, they don't look very nice.
They're all inflamed.
Do you think you can find me
some shepherd's purse?
-Some what?
-Some shepherd's purse to put on him.
I saw some in the long meadow
down by the pigpen.
Oh, yeah, I'll look.
(GROANING)
Jack?
Dry.
Remember me? Seth, the blacksmith.
And Susan, at Lyndon.
(CHUCKLES) Here, I found you in a tree.
-Dogs.
-That's what I thought.
Dogs got my horse.
Well, lucky they didn't get you.
-Greg, Agnes...
-Yeah, it's all right.
Charlie and Jenny
have gone after them to warn them.
-Charlie?
-And Jenny.
They left this morning.
-No, they mustn't.
-What?
-They can't do that to him.
-What, Jack?
-He'll kill him. He'll be killed.
-What's that?
Tear him to pieces.
-What's he saying?
-It's the fever.
-Miedel.
-SUSAN: What?
Stop him. He'll kill him.
Miedel.
(COUGHS)
What's he saying?
-Sounded like Miedel.
-Miedel?
And talk of killing.
-Dogs.
-No!
"He'll kill him," he say.
That's what he say, "He'll kill him."
But what does it mean?
SETH: You know, that's all he said
before we went into a coma again.
Seth, what am I going to do?
I don't know, um...
Don't rightly know. I reckon someone
ought to go after them and warn them.
-Go after them?
-Well, there's time.
They've only been gone six hours.
With two horses,
you ought to catch up,
they've got to rest.
But there's no one here.
They're all at Whitecross.
I'd go if I could,
but we've got no horses, you know.
Seth, there's only Hubert and me here
and I have to look after the children
and Hubert can't ride.
Who says I can't?
I can ride better than what you can.
Oh, Hubert, don't be so tiresome.
This is no time for boasting.
Who's boasting? I tell you, I'm fed up!
Treated like a dogsbody.
It's time I had a bit of respect.
I could ride before you was born.
And I'd be after them two
like a shot, I would.
If I wasn't crippled.
-Crippled?
-(SHOUTING) This tooth!
(GROANING)
Hubert, if you can ride,
I can give you something for your tooth.
What?
Something put by.
What, medicinal?
That's right. Medicinal.
Whoa!
(SNORING)
Hurts, does it?
Aye. Come on. There you go.
What's wrong?
Uh...
She's been favouring a leg.
It's very hot and swollen.
Oh, no!
Oh, she'll be all right
if we leave her here. She'll get better.
Hide the saddle away. We'll collect
them both when we come back.
-It's going to be dark soon.
-Aye.
Better eat that up.
You know what Pet's like.
She's worse than Jenny.
-You know what I think?
-What?
-She's not coming back.
-Who?
-Jenny.
-Why?
Don't know. Women's intuition.
Into what?
Not "into" anything. Intuition.
What women know without knowing why.
That's daft.
No, it isn't.
Boys don't know everything.
Come on, you two.
It's long past your bedtime.
How long will Jenny take to find Greg?
Well, with any luck
she might be there by tomorrow.
Now, no delaying tactics. Drink up.
(EXCLAIMS IN DISGUST)
We must be nearly there.
(SCREAMING)
MAN: Help me! Help me.
(BABBLING)
Help! Help me, they're crazy!
(SCREAMING) Please!
-Stay here.
-No.
Well, then, keep behind me.
MAN: Please help me!
Help me, for God's sake!
Help me!
(SCREAMING)
Help me! Mummy!
(CONTINUES BABBLING)
Mum! Help. Help me! Mum!
What happened? Who did this to you?
Hmm? What's happening?
Who are you? Where are you from?
Are you from Willingham?
Okay, listen, we're friends,
do you understand? Friends.
Now, tell us what's the matter
and we'll help you.
(GRUNTING)
Charles, I'm frightened.
You know, if I didn't know any different
-I'd say that kid was a junkie.
-A what?
A junkie, on drugs.
You'd be right.
Who are you and what do you want?
My name is Charles Vaughan
and this is Jenny Preston.
Richards.
There seems to be some doubt about it.
Richards is my maiden name.
Hmm. And may I ask
what you're doing here?
We're looking for a man, Greg Preston.
He wrote to us
over a week ago from here.
He's got a Norwegian girl with him,
Agnes.
-Your husband?
-We're not married.
But you cohabit with him?
No, not for six months.
Hmm, I see.
-Are you alone?
-CHARLES: How do you mean?
In coming here.
Well, just Jenny and me, yes.
What do you know of this place?
Just what we've seen, coming here.
They released Roberts.
All right, Jeff, you needn't hang about.
You seem very well organised.
We have to be.
Did Preston tell you anything
about what we do here in his letter?
Where is Greg?
-He's not still here?
-No.
-But he's all right?
-As far as we know. Mr Vaughan?
He said you had a scientist here,
a chemist.
He said he was a very valuable man.
Yes.
-Do please sit down.
-We'd rather stand, thanks.
Preston left here a week ago.
We did our best to persuade him to stay
but he was in a great hurry
to get back to you.
With a broken arm?
-I beg your pardon?
-JENNY: Greg broke his arm.
Really? And when did he do that?
Well, it must have been
when he was here.
-We were told Greg broke his arm.
-By whom?
-By Jack.
-Jack?
Jack Wood. He brought us
the letters from Greg.
Ah, yes, the sentimentalist.
-He is more confused than I thought.
-He was delirious.
He had a very bad cold when he left.
We did try to warn him
but he insisted on travelling.
-But Greg's all right?
-I can assure you
Preston is alive, uninjured
and making his way back to you
as fast as that Norwegian girl
will let him.
Her impatience is understandable.
Her countrymen are desperate.
We have two of them here.
They came over
with Preston and the girl.
We're doing what we can
but it takes time.
So what do you do? Apart from
staking out kids for dog bait?
We make drugs.
I heard we had visitors.
Let me introduce Professor Miedel.
-Jenny Richards, Charles Vaughan.
-Welcome! Welcome.
Eh, please forgive this,
it was an accident.
-Broken?
-Unfortunately.
At my age, it is easily done.
-They're friends of Greg Preston.
-Yes.
He talked a great deal about you both.
But to see you here, this is a surprise.
A most pleasant surprise.
Eh, he wrote to you?
Yes, I... We were worried about him.
We've not seen him for six months.
Of course.
A very remarkable man.
To make the journey to Norway and back,
a brave man.
A man of great determination.
-A man to be proud of.
-Yes.
But why are you standing
and why have you
not been offered refreshment?
Michael, where are your manners?
No, please, we have to go on.
-Go on?
-JENNY: After Greg.
But that's impossible.
-Why?
-After such a journey.
You must have been travelling for days.
Four.
-Then you would have met him.
-No.
They were going on
to a place called Nettleton.
-Nettleton?
-Lincolnshire.
They are following a list of places,
a list made up by the girl's father.
There's a metal worker in Nettleton.
Wrought iron.
How far is it?
My dear young lady,
it is at least a week since they left.
You will at least stay here tonight.
I think we should go on.
-With one tired horse?
-You see?
I thought perhaps
you would lend us horses.
Of course, but tomorrow.
I absolutely insist
that you stay overnight.
-Thank you.
-Good.
I'll see to it.
Be sure we will
make you most comfortable.
(SIGHS)
(SNORING)
(EXCLAIMS)
(RATS SQUEAKING)
I am attempting to synthesise
a substitute for pethidine.
What's that?
(LAUGHING) Ah, yes.
It is in itself a substitute
for morphine.
It was used in Germany
during the Hitler war.
Uh, the opium poppy does not grow here,
you understand.
It was imported from Turkey.
And of course, the stocks are no more.
As a matter of fact,
I probably scavenged the last of it
from a factory near Nottingham.
I have some left, not much.
I keep it for the real emergencies.
And for a control.
No. Without opium, no morphine.
And it is far too expensive
to synthesise.
Expensive?
I speak in terms of time.
The raw materials
are difficult to come by
and the process is a long one.
No.
A synthesis of pethidine is the answer.
Yes. Well, it certainly sounds
as if you're onto a good thing.
None better.
But then, it has been my life.
CHARLES: What do you do with your drugs?
Do with them?
Well, even on the National Health,
there was a prescription charge.
Charge? There is no charge.
-You mean the drugs are given away?
-But of course.
Then how do you live?
-Please?
-You eat and drink, presumably.
You seem reasonably well looked after.
Ah, yes, I understand.
There is a small levy, of course.
Oh, of course. Of course. How small?
Oh, Mr Vaughan.
-I am disappointed in you.
-Are you?
Clearly you have been talking
to one of our malcontents.
Have I?
We ask for the raw materials
plus our subsistence,
and that is all.
Well, that sounds fair enough,
but who fixes the levy?
You or your friend Michael?
From each according to his ability,
to each according to his needs.
Oh, where have I heard that before?
We apply the principle here.
It is often misunderstood.
Quite often was, as I remember.
(GROANS) Mr Vaughan,
a person in pain will very naturally
object to the provision
of a very large amount
of willow tree bark
in exchange for a very small amount
of acetylsalicylic acid.
-What's that?
-Aspirin.
A man who has been brought up
in a corrupt economic system
will not be any more reasonable
with a bad headache.
So you soften him up
by leaving him for the dogs.
I'm sorry, I don't understand.
We came across one of your malcontents
on our way here.
He was staked out
on the ground. Crucified.
We let him go.
His name, I believe, was Roberts.
-Roberts?
-CHARLES: Yes, that's right.
(SPEAKING IN GERMAN)
-You let him go?
-If that's all right with you.
Was he harmed?
Depends how you mean.
He looked pretty ill to me.
Yes.
This is terrible.
I'm sorry that you had to see it.
Oh, you mean as a rule
you keep it better hidden.
I mean, Mr Vaughan,
that I did not know of it.
Well, I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to upset you.
Guest quarters are ready.
Ah, Jeffrey, thank you.
Will you please go with Maria?
She will see to it
that you are comfortable.
Do we have a choice?
Yes, Mr Vaughan. But I ask you to go.
Charles, please.
MIEDEL: Yes. Please.
Eh, Jeffrey?
Will you please ask Colonel Clifford
to come and see me?
Yes, Professor.
(GROANING)
(SCREAMING)
(EXHALES)
(MOANS)
Are you challenging
the way I run things?
In this, yes.
Such treatment was inhuman.
-No. That's an exaggeration.
-Exaggeration?
Vaughan and the woman,
they're overreacting.
-And I'm not?
-You, too. You're all...
-Let's say you're mistaken.
-Mistaken!
My methods are my own.
I'm accountable to no one.
-It's barbaric!
-I'm no barbarian.
But we have to be tough.
It negates all we stand for here.
No, it protects what we stand for.
-It protects you.
-No! Not like that.
Face facts.
You were nearly killed last week.
-No!
-No, no. No, Listen to me, please.
What happens to all we have here
with you dead?
Killed by something like Roberts?
-He didn't mean to!
-What does that alter?
What you've got in your head
isn't in books.
They're just records.
You've got a couple
of half-trained students.
Can you think of anything more lethal
than a half-trained chemist?
We've got enough problems
keeping the rabble out.
Roberts isn't rabble.
When he did that to you,
I let him go because you interceded.
He knew what to expect
if he came back to steal
and he came back last night!
Roberts is not responsible
for what he does!
Geert, come down
from those academic clouds.
The old liberalism is dead.
It died of the plague.
A junkie is what he is by choice.
If we'd been tougher in the old days,
we might have stamped it out.
As it was, we gave them prescriptions.
They queued at chemist shops.
And then went away to have
their blissful dreams in filthy corners.
My dear Michael,
-people with pain can't...
-With pain?
Or without guts?
(EXHALES)
Guest quarters?
It's another name for a prison.
No warders.
Charles, let's go.
-Go where?
-After Greg.
Without horses?
-They must let us have horses.
-Must they?
If Clifford doesn't want them to,
they won't.
Why should he want to keep us here?
I don't know.
Perhaps Greg and Agnes are still here.
What? Why?
I'm not sure.
There's too many questions, Jenny.
Why should Greg write
praising this place?
It's obvious to anyone
with even half an eye
that something is very wrong here.
And why should Jack be so worried
about a broken arm,
even if he was delirious?
I think Miedel was telling the truth.
Hmm, maybe.
And perhaps the old man
doesn't know it all.
It's pretty obvious who's the boss man.
Greg still here...
-Perhaps he found out something.
-About what?
About Clifford.
Oh, it doesn't take much figuring out,
does it?
They've got something here
that everybody wants
and Clifford's screwing them.
And you know Greg.
Yes, but why should they keep him here?
Charles,
he's not dead.
Is he?
Oh, Jenny.
Jenny.
I'm going to have a look around.
You stay here.
No, I'm coming, too.
Yeah, so people raid the place.
Mind you, this Colonel character,
this Clifford, he's in his element.
Do you know what he does
if they catch somebody?
He stakes them out for the dogs.
Yeah. Takes them out to the settlement
and pegs them to the ground.
I've met some cold-blooded devils
in my time,
but that one beats bullfighting.
I just hope he catches them in time
to warn them.
-Who?
-Charles and Jenny.
-No. I mean, who's gone after them?
-Oh, Hubert.
Hubert?
(CHATTERING)
Mr Vaughan?
Can I help?
Ah, no. No, thanks.
Just... Just taking a look around.
-No one's allowed in there.
-Oh! Er, why?
Regulations.
Ah.
Well, there seems to be
a lot of coming and going.
-Authorised personnel.
-Oh, and we're not?
-Sorry.
-Yeah. So am I.
How are you going to stop us? Shoot us?
If I have to.
-You're joking.
-No.
All I have to do is hit you in the leg.
Yes. Well... Hmm.
(SIGHS)
(YELLS)
Run, Jenny!
(MEN GRUNTING)
JEFFREY: Thank you.
I'd better take him to the Colonel.
You'd better stay, Jeff,
in case of any violent disagreement.
What were you looking for?
-Where's Jenny?
-She won't get far.
And she'll come to no harm.
(SCOFFS)
What were you looking for?
Greg Preston!
(GROANS)
-Why should you think he's here?
-Because you say he isn't.
You know, I don't fancy your chances.
-Of what?
-Of federating.
Unifying us, the survivors.
Isn't that what you
and Preston want to do?
We talked about it.
You'll need to develop skills
I don't think you have.
-Such as?
-Diplomacy. Politics.
-The art of devious manoeuvre.
-We can't all be alike.
You won't get through
to the frightened and suspicious
if you're frightened
and suspicious yourself.
When a cannibal entertains you
to dinner,
you don't sit by the pot
and ask him who's cooking.
He might interpret that as criticism
and then it gets...
Greg Preston!
What makes you so suspicious?
Greg appeared to like it here.
From what I've seen,
he must have been totally deluded.
-Yes, of course.
-Well, what does that mean?
It means that in your shoes,
I'd probably feel the same.
-Would you?
-Oh, yes.
Since Preston was here,
we've been under attack twice.
-From whom?
-From the frightened.
The ignorant, the greedy, the dropouts.
-That sounds very glib.
-I've had a lot of practice.
Preston took a different view from you.
As did Carlsson before him.
-Who's Carlsson?
-You don't know?
Oh, the Norwegian.
They took a different view
because I was in the background.
Geert Miedel
is what this place is all about.
-I'm only a soldier.
-You could have fooled me.
You have every right to be sour
but no right to a closed mind.
Now, will you please hear me out?
-I'll try!
-Good.
We're a small group here.
A small, specialist group.
33 of us, 35 as of 10 days ago.
Preston left behind
a couple of Norwegian students.
They're here to study
Miedel's methodology
and take it back with them.
He's a brilliant, saintly old man.
He came over from Germany in 1936
and has been avoiding
unpleasantness ever since.
A place like this was his dream
when he came through the plague,
and it would have remained a dream
if I hadn't happened along
and realised it.
(SCOFFS) Only a soldier.
-An open mind.
-Sorry.
This place is a pharmaceutical factory.
But a factory needs raw materials
and its workers need feeding.
We get our raw materials and food
from other communities.
In return, we give them what we produce.
Anything from aspirin
to synthesised plaster of Paris.
So why the aggro?
The aggro comes from misinformation,
ignorance, suspicion.
-You provide a good example.
-Oh, thank you!
Your sarcasm proves my point.
The chemical processing here
requires raw materials in bulk.
And there's very little
to show as an end product.
(COUGHS)
So, your suppliers accuse you
of extortion.
Exactly.
-But there's nothing in the accusation?
-Nothing.
Then why aren't you believed?
As I've said, ignorance and greed,
inherited habits of thought.
Drugs are now more precious
than gold ever was.
But surely this can be explained?
That's been tried. But ignorant
and greedy people get violent.
Miedel was attacked last week.
He was lucky to get away
with a broken arm.
I can't afford to take risks.
Without him there is nothing.
He's training a successor
but that takes time,
hence the tight security.
What about that kid Roberts?
He was kicked out six months ago
for stealing opium.
When we had some raw stuff imported.
He was Miedel's student.
And he dropped out.
One of the kind
who can't face the world as it is,
-only as they'd like it to be.
-He sounds a bit like me.
Which is why I'm careful.
He's tolerated in a primitive group
about 15 miles from here.
He stirs them up from time to time.
And there are kids like him.
They're after the muscarine alkaloid
we extract from the Amanita mushroom.
-The what?
-It's a substitute for LSD.
Why do you make it?
Miedel needs it
to make a substitute morphine.
The stuff he gave himself
when I set his arm.
Oh, to let a kid be eaten alive by dogs!
-(LAUGHING) Dramatic, don't you think?
-What's funny?
A professional soldier
doesn't enjoy killing, Vaughan.
-We leave that to the amateurs.
-There are exceptions.
Seven people were killed here
in the last year,
two of them ours.
All of them unavoidably
and none of them by dogs.
Oh, that's lucky!
You came in from the west.
If you'd come in from the other side,
the side most of our neighbours
come in from,
then you would have seen a skeleton.
It's staked out. Just as Roberts was.
Anybody who cares to examine it closely
will find it's made of plastic.
Only nobody ever does.
Jeff pinched it from Miedel's stuff.
Only, don't tell him, please.
Now, wait a minute.
A kid was staked out and we came...
-And watched by Jeff.
-Where they can't see me.
Did you have any trouble
in releasing him?
It's easy enough for them
to loosen a hand,
once they stop panicking.
And the self-congratulation
helps spread the word around.
It's a little trick I learned in Malaya.
-And you get away with it?
-Up until now, yes.
So, keep it to yourself.
Well, what happens when you get rumbled?
When your bluff's called?
Then I'll stop bluffing.
Miedel and what he's doing
must be protected.
Yes.
Yes, I see.
(EXHALES) Look...
-I'm sorry.
-What for?
-I misjudged you.
-Oh, I don't think so, Vaughan.
I'm not squeamish
and I don't ask to be loved.
But you and Preston
are in for a tough time.
-Oh, that's pessimistic.
-Realistic.
Well, there are still decent
and reasonable people left.
Oh, yes. Enough?
Well, that's what we've got to find out,
isn't it?
Good luck.
Yeah.
I got to find Jenny.
She'll be all right. Jeff.
(GROANS)
Sit down.
JENNY: Stop! Help me!
(PANTING)
Hubert!
-Hubert! Hubert.
-(SCREAMS) Oh!
Mind me tooth! Oh, oh.
(RUSTLING)
Hubert?
Cartridges!
(FOOTSTEPS RUSTLING)
-It's all right.
-JENNY: Stay back!
It's all right, I tell you.
It's the girl! She's got a gun
and there's someone with her.
JENNY: Charles!
Charles!
Get down.
How many are you?
-How many of you are there?
-20.
Get the others.
JENNY: Charles? Charles.
CLIFFORD: Lock them up.
JEFFREY: Come.
(GROANING)
(GASPS)
CLIFFORD: Where are the others?
JENNY: Wake up. Hubert, wake up.
I'm afraid you need a great deal
more treatment than I can give you,
but here's a souvenir.
Whoa!
Well, I'm glad to be rid of that.
(MIEDEL CHUCKLING)
Wish I could say the same.
-Oh, Charles!
-All right, all right.
Thank God I know where
to come to next time.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
-(LAUGHING) And what does that mean?
-It means "good luck".
-And you're going to need it.
-Well, good luck to you.
-We're going to need you.
-Oh, that's better.
A distinct improvement.
CHARLES: Let's go.
-Auf wiedersehen.
-Auf wiedersehen.
Geert. You're a sentimental old fool.
Come on. We've got work to do.
Come on, Charles, please.
-What's that, Hubert?
-Oh, it tastes like gin.
(COUGHS) Did you steal it?
Plenty of it about.
-You'd better be careful, Hubert.
-Yeah.
Come on.
(DOGS BARKING IN DISTANCE)
(BARKING)
Jack. That's it, Jack.
We met up at Whitecross with Charlie
before they moved back to Challoner,
before Charlie put the phone in.
Yes. He went off in the blue
with Greg and that Norwegian girl.
Must be six months since.
What's he doing this way?
Charlie never said.
I don't like the fever.
Well, I couldn't just leave him,
could I?
I don't like the fever.
Perhaps they've got it at Challoner.
No. No, he would have said.
Charlie would have said.
He got no rash or nothing, has he?
No lumps under his arms and that?
-No.
-(COUGHING)
What's the time?
It's too late for Challoner now,
we'll have to wait till morning.
Shouldn't you get his clothes off?
No. Keep him warm, sweat it out.
Fetch another blanket.
(QUIVERING)
SETH: What's that?
"Charles Vaughan." "Jenny Richards."
Letters for Charlie and Jenny?
What's he...
-What's he doing with them?
-Well, there's only one way to find out.
No!
No, not before asking.
We'll ask in the morning.
SETH: Charlie?
CHARLES: Yes, Seth.
Charlie, listen, I found Jack.
He's in a bad way.
He got two letters on him.
He's got what?
Two letters.
One for you and one for Jenny.
I've got them here,
do you want me to open them?
-Greg.
-What's that?
-It's got to be.
-What's that, Charlie?
(STAMMERING) Sorry. Seth.
Yes, listen. You can open mine.
No, no, wait. Um...
Seth, I'm coming over.
I'll be over to you as soon as I can.
-Right. Charlie?
-Yes?
He's sick. He's got a fever.
-Is it bad?
-Bad enough. He's in a coma.
Seth, is it plague?
No, I don't think so.
All right, Seth, I'm coming over.
-Don't forget to disconnect.
-Right.
(HANGS UP PHONE)
(WIND HOWLING)
JENNY: I'm coming, too.
And there's nothing you can do
to stop me.
Jack has got a fever.
He's also got a letter from Greg.
-Now, we don't know that.
-(SCOFFS) Who else?
It's dangerous.
I don't care.
She's right, Charlie.
It's 50 miles.
I'll be back tomorrow night.
-If you're lucky.
-Look, a bit of patience.
You must be joking.
No news for six months
and then a letter?
(GRUNTS)
Can't you do any better than that?
I'd like to see you do better.
Here you are.
All you have to do is warm it up.
Ah, thanks.
And Charlie, don't give it all to Seth.
(LAUGHS)
Here.
Now, with a bit of luck,
we should be there by 4:00
so don't forget to man the phone.
I will if I'm well enough.
What's the matter with you, Hubert?
-I've got a terrible toothache.
-Oh, that's tough.
You man the phone.
Yeah, all right.
Now, we'll keep going... Whoa!
Even if it's dark.
So we ought to be there
by at least 8:00.
HUBERT: Okay, okay.
Oh, please Charlie,
don't travel in the dark.
Bye.
See you tomorrow night.
(GRUNTING)
He's writing from a place in Suffolk,
Willingham.
Is the girl with him, Agnes?
Yes, and he says they're both all right.
And how about Jack?
Well, he's not so but it's not plague
and he's no worse.
-Well, that's something, I suppose.
-Now, Hubert...
-Yeah.
-Are you listening?
Yeah, I can hear you.
I can hear you, Charles.
Hubert, they got to Norway.
Did they, by heck?
Yes, and he says it looks good there.
But they need help,
they need food and they need people
and they need them quickly.
Well, what's to do, then?
We'll just have to wait
till Greg gets here.
Well, when's that?
Well, by my reckoning he...
he wrote the letter about a week ago,
so it's taken Jack
that long to get here.
Now, Greg's on his way back
and he says he's going to talk to
as many people on the way as he can.
Oh.
Look, I'd better be going.
Tell Pet I'll be there tomorrow night.
Yeah, okay.
I want to be with him.
Of course you do.
Won't be long now.
No, I want to go to him.
Jenny, he wrote that letter
over a week ago.
He won't be there any more.
He'll be on his way back.
No, he's going to other places.
On the way, yes.
I told myself he was dead.
Well, he isn't, is he?
I need him.
Just as he needs you.
He's got that other girl.
He's got Agnes.
Look. Jenny, love.
To Greg there's only one thing
more important
than getting
his blessed machinery going,
and that's you.
(SNIFFLING)
Then why doesn't he come back to me?
SUSAN: Oh, let her be.
She's tired and hungry.
Come on,
get yourself outside some of that.
(SOBBING)
(GROANS)
You ain't had a mouthful.
Pet cooked it, you know. I didn't.
Oh, Susan, it's not that.
I'm... I'm just not hungry.
Well, you ought to be
after riding all day.
You'll make yourself ill.
And for what, I'd like to know?
If you're not hungry,
I mean, if you really don't want...
Oh, no you don't.
Well, there's no sense
in letting it go to waste.
It won't go to waste.
They're yours, Seth.
-You're a big man.
-He's a big pig.
JACK: No! No!
No, you can't...can't do that.
You can't...
Greg! Greg!
Greg.
Jenny, no!
Greg.
Jack, it's all right.
Jack, it's Jenny.
Can you hear what I'm saying?
Jack, it's Jenny.
Jack!
Jack, can you hear what I'm saying?
(INDISTINCT MUMBLING)
What are you saying?
(MUMBLING)
Jack. Jack, listen to me, it's Jenny!
Ag... Agnes!
Greg...
They can't do it, you know...
A broken arm. Help me! Help me!
(COUGHING)
He's in trouble.
-Take it easy, love.
-I think Greg's in trouble.
-Easy, easy.
-I'm... I'm going to him.
Now, Jenny... Jenny. Jack is delirious.
I'm going to him, I tell you,
I'm going to him.
-Yes, yes, of course you are...
-He's in trouble.
He's broken his arm!
We'll go there just as soon
as I get the horses...
No, we're going now!
If you're not going, I'm going
because I don't think...
How is he?
He seems to have settled down again.
Now, Jenny, love. Listen.
We'll go first thing in the morning
as soon as it's light.
-They what?
-They went off at first light.
What for?
Oh, something about Greg
and a broken leg.
Something about?
(GRUNTING)
This tooth. Oh, it's giving me jip.
That doesn't affect your hearing.
That's all you know,
ear, nose and throat.
Oh, got teeth in your throat now,
have you?
Well, if you're feeling so poorly,
I'll take the 12:00 phone call.
Suit yourself.
-How is he?
-No change.
I had to cut the clothes off
and they were all caked with blood.
These gashes, they don't look very nice.
They're all inflamed.
Do you think you can find me
some shepherd's purse?
-Some what?
-Some shepherd's purse to put on him.
I saw some in the long meadow
down by the pigpen.
Oh, yeah, I'll look.
(GROANING)
Jack?
Dry.
Remember me? Seth, the blacksmith.
And Susan, at Lyndon.
(CHUCKLES) Here, I found you in a tree.
-Dogs.
-That's what I thought.
Dogs got my horse.
Well, lucky they didn't get you.
-Greg, Agnes...
-Yeah, it's all right.
Charlie and Jenny
have gone after them to warn them.
-Charlie?
-And Jenny.
They left this morning.
-No, they mustn't.
-What?
-They can't do that to him.
-What, Jack?
-He'll kill him. He'll be killed.
-What's that?
Tear him to pieces.
-What's he saying?
-It's the fever.
-Miedel.
-SUSAN: What?
Stop him. He'll kill him.
Miedel.
(COUGHS)
What's he saying?
-Sounded like Miedel.
-Miedel?
And talk of killing.
-Dogs.
-No!
"He'll kill him," he say.
That's what he say, "He'll kill him."
But what does it mean?
SETH: You know, that's all he said
before we went into a coma again.
Seth, what am I going to do?
I don't know, um...
Don't rightly know. I reckon someone
ought to go after them and warn them.
-Go after them?
-Well, there's time.
They've only been gone six hours.
With two horses,
you ought to catch up,
they've got to rest.
But there's no one here.
They're all at Whitecross.
I'd go if I could,
but we've got no horses, you know.
Seth, there's only Hubert and me here
and I have to look after the children
and Hubert can't ride.
Who says I can't?
I can ride better than what you can.
Oh, Hubert, don't be so tiresome.
This is no time for boasting.
Who's boasting? I tell you, I'm fed up!
Treated like a dogsbody.
It's time I had a bit of respect.
I could ride before you was born.
And I'd be after them two
like a shot, I would.
If I wasn't crippled.
-Crippled?
-(SHOUTING) This tooth!
(GROANING)
Hubert, if you can ride,
I can give you something for your tooth.
What?
Something put by.
What, medicinal?
That's right. Medicinal.
Whoa!
(SNORING)
Hurts, does it?
Aye. Come on. There you go.
What's wrong?
Uh...
She's been favouring a leg.
It's very hot and swollen.
Oh, no!
Oh, she'll be all right
if we leave her here. She'll get better.
Hide the saddle away. We'll collect
them both when we come back.
-It's going to be dark soon.
-Aye.
Better eat that up.
You know what Pet's like.
She's worse than Jenny.
-You know what I think?
-What?
-She's not coming back.
-Who?
-Jenny.
-Why?
Don't know. Women's intuition.
Into what?
Not "into" anything. Intuition.
What women know without knowing why.
That's daft.
No, it isn't.
Boys don't know everything.
Come on, you two.
It's long past your bedtime.
How long will Jenny take to find Greg?
Well, with any luck
she might be there by tomorrow.
Now, no delaying tactics. Drink up.
(EXCLAIMS IN DISGUST)
We must be nearly there.
(SCREAMING)
MAN: Help me! Help me.
(BABBLING)
Help! Help me, they're crazy!
(SCREAMING) Please!
-Stay here.
-No.
Well, then, keep behind me.
MAN: Please help me!
Help me, for God's sake!
Help me!
(SCREAMING)
Help me! Mummy!
(CONTINUES BABBLING)
Mum! Help. Help me! Mum!
What happened? Who did this to you?
Hmm? What's happening?
Who are you? Where are you from?
Are you from Willingham?
Okay, listen, we're friends,
do you understand? Friends.
Now, tell us what's the matter
and we'll help you.
(GRUNTING)
Charles, I'm frightened.
You know, if I didn't know any different
-I'd say that kid was a junkie.
-A what?
A junkie, on drugs.
You'd be right.
Who are you and what do you want?
My name is Charles Vaughan
and this is Jenny Preston.
Richards.
There seems to be some doubt about it.
Richards is my maiden name.
Hmm. And may I ask
what you're doing here?
We're looking for a man, Greg Preston.
He wrote to us
over a week ago from here.
He's got a Norwegian girl with him,
Agnes.
-Your husband?
-We're not married.
But you cohabit with him?
No, not for six months.
Hmm, I see.
-Are you alone?
-CHARLES: How do you mean?
In coming here.
Well, just Jenny and me, yes.
What do you know of this place?
Just what we've seen, coming here.
They released Roberts.
All right, Jeff, you needn't hang about.
You seem very well organised.
We have to be.
Did Preston tell you anything
about what we do here in his letter?
Where is Greg?
-He's not still here?
-No.
-But he's all right?
-As far as we know. Mr Vaughan?
He said you had a scientist here,
a chemist.
He said he was a very valuable man.
Yes.
-Do please sit down.
-We'd rather stand, thanks.
Preston left here a week ago.
We did our best to persuade him to stay
but he was in a great hurry
to get back to you.
With a broken arm?
-I beg your pardon?
-JENNY: Greg broke his arm.
Really? And when did he do that?
Well, it must have been
when he was here.
-We were told Greg broke his arm.
-By whom?
-By Jack.
-Jack?
Jack Wood. He brought us
the letters from Greg.
Ah, yes, the sentimentalist.
-He is more confused than I thought.
-He was delirious.
He had a very bad cold when he left.
We did try to warn him
but he insisted on travelling.
-But Greg's all right?
-I can assure you
Preston is alive, uninjured
and making his way back to you
as fast as that Norwegian girl
will let him.
Her impatience is understandable.
Her countrymen are desperate.
We have two of them here.
They came over
with Preston and the girl.
We're doing what we can
but it takes time.
So what do you do? Apart from
staking out kids for dog bait?
We make drugs.
I heard we had visitors.
Let me introduce Professor Miedel.
-Jenny Richards, Charles Vaughan.
-Welcome! Welcome.
Eh, please forgive this,
it was an accident.
-Broken?
-Unfortunately.
At my age, it is easily done.
-They're friends of Greg Preston.
-Yes.
He talked a great deal about you both.
But to see you here, this is a surprise.
A most pleasant surprise.
Eh, he wrote to you?
Yes, I... We were worried about him.
We've not seen him for six months.
Of course.
A very remarkable man.
To make the journey to Norway and back,
a brave man.
A man of great determination.
-A man to be proud of.
-Yes.
But why are you standing
and why have you
not been offered refreshment?
Michael, where are your manners?
No, please, we have to go on.
-Go on?
-JENNY: After Greg.
But that's impossible.
-Why?
-After such a journey.
You must have been travelling for days.
Four.
-Then you would have met him.
-No.
They were going on
to a place called Nettleton.
-Nettleton?
-Lincolnshire.
They are following a list of places,
a list made up by the girl's father.
There's a metal worker in Nettleton.
Wrought iron.
How far is it?
My dear young lady,
it is at least a week since they left.
You will at least stay here tonight.
I think we should go on.
-With one tired horse?
-You see?
I thought perhaps
you would lend us horses.
Of course, but tomorrow.
I absolutely insist
that you stay overnight.
-Thank you.
-Good.
I'll see to it.
Be sure we will
make you most comfortable.
(SIGHS)
(SNORING)
(EXCLAIMS)
(RATS SQUEAKING)
I am attempting to synthesise
a substitute for pethidine.
What's that?
(LAUGHING) Ah, yes.
It is in itself a substitute
for morphine.
It was used in Germany
during the Hitler war.
Uh, the opium poppy does not grow here,
you understand.
It was imported from Turkey.
And of course, the stocks are no more.
As a matter of fact,
I probably scavenged the last of it
from a factory near Nottingham.
I have some left, not much.
I keep it for the real emergencies.
And for a control.
No. Without opium, no morphine.
And it is far too expensive
to synthesise.
Expensive?
I speak in terms of time.
The raw materials
are difficult to come by
and the process is a long one.
No.
A synthesis of pethidine is the answer.
Yes. Well, it certainly sounds
as if you're onto a good thing.
None better.
But then, it has been my life.
CHARLES: What do you do with your drugs?
Do with them?
Well, even on the National Health,
there was a prescription charge.
Charge? There is no charge.
-You mean the drugs are given away?
-But of course.
Then how do you live?
-Please?
-You eat and drink, presumably.
You seem reasonably well looked after.
Ah, yes, I understand.
There is a small levy, of course.
Oh, of course. Of course. How small?
Oh, Mr Vaughan.
-I am disappointed in you.
-Are you?
Clearly you have been talking
to one of our malcontents.
Have I?
We ask for the raw materials
plus our subsistence,
and that is all.
Well, that sounds fair enough,
but who fixes the levy?
You or your friend Michael?
From each according to his ability,
to each according to his needs.
Oh, where have I heard that before?
We apply the principle here.
It is often misunderstood.
Quite often was, as I remember.
(GROANS) Mr Vaughan,
a person in pain will very naturally
object to the provision
of a very large amount
of willow tree bark
in exchange for a very small amount
of acetylsalicylic acid.
-What's that?
-Aspirin.
A man who has been brought up
in a corrupt economic system
will not be any more reasonable
with a bad headache.
So you soften him up
by leaving him for the dogs.
I'm sorry, I don't understand.
We came across one of your malcontents
on our way here.
He was staked out
on the ground. Crucified.
We let him go.
His name, I believe, was Roberts.
-Roberts?
-CHARLES: Yes, that's right.
(SPEAKING IN GERMAN)
-You let him go?
-If that's all right with you.
Was he harmed?
Depends how you mean.
He looked pretty ill to me.
Yes.
This is terrible.
I'm sorry that you had to see it.
Oh, you mean as a rule
you keep it better hidden.
I mean, Mr Vaughan,
that I did not know of it.
Well, I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to upset you.
Guest quarters are ready.
Ah, Jeffrey, thank you.
Will you please go with Maria?
She will see to it
that you are comfortable.
Do we have a choice?
Yes, Mr Vaughan. But I ask you to go.
Charles, please.
MIEDEL: Yes. Please.
Eh, Jeffrey?
Will you please ask Colonel Clifford
to come and see me?
Yes, Professor.
(GROANING)
(SCREAMING)
(EXHALES)
(MOANS)
Are you challenging
the way I run things?
In this, yes.
Such treatment was inhuman.
-No. That's an exaggeration.
-Exaggeration?
Vaughan and the woman,
they're overreacting.
-And I'm not?
-You, too. You're all...
-Let's say you're mistaken.
-Mistaken!
My methods are my own.
I'm accountable to no one.
-It's barbaric!
-I'm no barbarian.
But we have to be tough.
It negates all we stand for here.
No, it protects what we stand for.
-It protects you.
-No! Not like that.
Face facts.
You were nearly killed last week.
-No!
-No, no. No, Listen to me, please.
What happens to all we have here
with you dead?
Killed by something like Roberts?
-He didn't mean to!
-What does that alter?
What you've got in your head
isn't in books.
They're just records.
You've got a couple
of half-trained students.
Can you think of anything more lethal
than a half-trained chemist?
We've got enough problems
keeping the rabble out.
Roberts isn't rabble.
When he did that to you,
I let him go because you interceded.
He knew what to expect
if he came back to steal
and he came back last night!
Roberts is not responsible
for what he does!
Geert, come down
from those academic clouds.
The old liberalism is dead.
It died of the plague.
A junkie is what he is by choice.
If we'd been tougher in the old days,
we might have stamped it out.
As it was, we gave them prescriptions.
They queued at chemist shops.
And then went away to have
their blissful dreams in filthy corners.
My dear Michael,
-people with pain can't...
-With pain?
Or without guts?
(EXHALES)
Guest quarters?
It's another name for a prison.
No warders.
Charles, let's go.
-Go where?
-After Greg.
Without horses?
-They must let us have horses.
-Must they?
If Clifford doesn't want them to,
they won't.
Why should he want to keep us here?
I don't know.
Perhaps Greg and Agnes are still here.
What? Why?
I'm not sure.
There's too many questions, Jenny.
Why should Greg write
praising this place?
It's obvious to anyone
with even half an eye
that something is very wrong here.
And why should Jack be so worried
about a broken arm,
even if he was delirious?
I think Miedel was telling the truth.
Hmm, maybe.
And perhaps the old man
doesn't know it all.
It's pretty obvious who's the boss man.
Greg still here...
-Perhaps he found out something.
-About what?
About Clifford.
Oh, it doesn't take much figuring out,
does it?
They've got something here
that everybody wants
and Clifford's screwing them.
And you know Greg.
Yes, but why should they keep him here?
Charles,
he's not dead.
Is he?
Oh, Jenny.
Jenny.
I'm going to have a look around.
You stay here.
No, I'm coming, too.
Yeah, so people raid the place.
Mind you, this Colonel character,
this Clifford, he's in his element.
Do you know what he does
if they catch somebody?
He stakes them out for the dogs.
Yeah. Takes them out to the settlement
and pegs them to the ground.
I've met some cold-blooded devils
in my time,
but that one beats bullfighting.
I just hope he catches them in time
to warn them.
-Who?
-Charles and Jenny.
-No. I mean, who's gone after them?
-Oh, Hubert.
Hubert?
(CHATTERING)
Mr Vaughan?
Can I help?
Ah, no. No, thanks.
Just... Just taking a look around.
-No one's allowed in there.
-Oh! Er, why?
Regulations.
Ah.
Well, there seems to be
a lot of coming and going.
-Authorised personnel.
-Oh, and we're not?
-Sorry.
-Yeah. So am I.
How are you going to stop us? Shoot us?
If I have to.
-You're joking.
-No.
All I have to do is hit you in the leg.
Yes. Well... Hmm.
(SIGHS)
(YELLS)
Run, Jenny!
(MEN GRUNTING)
JEFFREY: Thank you.
I'd better take him to the Colonel.
You'd better stay, Jeff,
in case of any violent disagreement.
What were you looking for?
-Where's Jenny?
-She won't get far.
And she'll come to no harm.
(SCOFFS)
What were you looking for?
Greg Preston!
(GROANS)
-Why should you think he's here?
-Because you say he isn't.
You know, I don't fancy your chances.
-Of what?
-Of federating.
Unifying us, the survivors.
Isn't that what you
and Preston want to do?
We talked about it.
You'll need to develop skills
I don't think you have.
-Such as?
-Diplomacy. Politics.
-The art of devious manoeuvre.
-We can't all be alike.
You won't get through
to the frightened and suspicious
if you're frightened
and suspicious yourself.
When a cannibal entertains you
to dinner,
you don't sit by the pot
and ask him who's cooking.
He might interpret that as criticism
and then it gets...
Greg Preston!
What makes you so suspicious?
Greg appeared to like it here.
From what I've seen,
he must have been totally deluded.
-Yes, of course.
-Well, what does that mean?
It means that in your shoes,
I'd probably feel the same.
-Would you?
-Oh, yes.
Since Preston was here,
we've been under attack twice.
-From whom?
-From the frightened.
The ignorant, the greedy, the dropouts.
-That sounds very glib.
-I've had a lot of practice.
Preston took a different view from you.
As did Carlsson before him.
-Who's Carlsson?
-You don't know?
Oh, the Norwegian.
They took a different view
because I was in the background.
Geert Miedel
is what this place is all about.
-I'm only a soldier.
-You could have fooled me.
You have every right to be sour
but no right to a closed mind.
Now, will you please hear me out?
-I'll try!
-Good.
We're a small group here.
A small, specialist group.
33 of us, 35 as of 10 days ago.
Preston left behind
a couple of Norwegian students.
They're here to study
Miedel's methodology
and take it back with them.
He's a brilliant, saintly old man.
He came over from Germany in 1936
and has been avoiding
unpleasantness ever since.
A place like this was his dream
when he came through the plague,
and it would have remained a dream
if I hadn't happened along
and realised it.
(SCOFFS) Only a soldier.
-An open mind.
-Sorry.
This place is a pharmaceutical factory.
But a factory needs raw materials
and its workers need feeding.
We get our raw materials and food
from other communities.
In return, we give them what we produce.
Anything from aspirin
to synthesised plaster of Paris.
So why the aggro?
The aggro comes from misinformation,
ignorance, suspicion.
-You provide a good example.
-Oh, thank you!
Your sarcasm proves my point.
The chemical processing here
requires raw materials in bulk.
And there's very little
to show as an end product.
(COUGHS)
So, your suppliers accuse you
of extortion.
Exactly.
-But there's nothing in the accusation?
-Nothing.
Then why aren't you believed?
As I've said, ignorance and greed,
inherited habits of thought.
Drugs are now more precious
than gold ever was.
But surely this can be explained?
That's been tried. But ignorant
and greedy people get violent.
Miedel was attacked last week.
He was lucky to get away
with a broken arm.
I can't afford to take risks.
Without him there is nothing.
He's training a successor
but that takes time,
hence the tight security.
What about that kid Roberts?
He was kicked out six months ago
for stealing opium.
When we had some raw stuff imported.
He was Miedel's student.
And he dropped out.
One of the kind
who can't face the world as it is,
-only as they'd like it to be.
-He sounds a bit like me.
Which is why I'm careful.
He's tolerated in a primitive group
about 15 miles from here.
He stirs them up from time to time.
And there are kids like him.
They're after the muscarine alkaloid
we extract from the Amanita mushroom.
-The what?
-It's a substitute for LSD.
Why do you make it?
Miedel needs it
to make a substitute morphine.
The stuff he gave himself
when I set his arm.
Oh, to let a kid be eaten alive by dogs!
-(LAUGHING) Dramatic, don't you think?
-What's funny?
A professional soldier
doesn't enjoy killing, Vaughan.
-We leave that to the amateurs.
-There are exceptions.
Seven people were killed here
in the last year,
two of them ours.
All of them unavoidably
and none of them by dogs.
Oh, that's lucky!
You came in from the west.
If you'd come in from the other side,
the side most of our neighbours
come in from,
then you would have seen a skeleton.
It's staked out. Just as Roberts was.
Anybody who cares to examine it closely
will find it's made of plastic.
Only nobody ever does.
Jeff pinched it from Miedel's stuff.
Only, don't tell him, please.
Now, wait a minute.
A kid was staked out and we came...
-And watched by Jeff.
-Where they can't see me.
Did you have any trouble
in releasing him?
It's easy enough for them
to loosen a hand,
once they stop panicking.
And the self-congratulation
helps spread the word around.
It's a little trick I learned in Malaya.
-And you get away with it?
-Up until now, yes.
So, keep it to yourself.
Well, what happens when you get rumbled?
When your bluff's called?
Then I'll stop bluffing.
Miedel and what he's doing
must be protected.
Yes.
Yes, I see.
(EXHALES) Look...
-I'm sorry.
-What for?
-I misjudged you.
-Oh, I don't think so, Vaughan.
I'm not squeamish
and I don't ask to be loved.
But you and Preston
are in for a tough time.
-Oh, that's pessimistic.
-Realistic.
Well, there are still decent
and reasonable people left.
Oh, yes. Enough?
Well, that's what we've got to find out,
isn't it?
Good luck.
Yeah.
I got to find Jenny.
She'll be all right. Jeff.
(GROANS)
Sit down.
JENNY: Stop! Help me!
(PANTING)
Hubert!
-Hubert! Hubert.
-(SCREAMS) Oh!
Mind me tooth! Oh, oh.
(RUSTLING)
Hubert?
Cartridges!
(FOOTSTEPS RUSTLING)
-It's all right.
-JENNY: Stay back!
It's all right, I tell you.
It's the girl! She's got a gun
and there's someone with her.
JENNY: Charles!
Charles!
Get down.
How many are you?
-How many of you are there?
-20.
Get the others.
JENNY: Charles? Charles.
CLIFFORD: Lock them up.
JEFFREY: Come.
(GROANING)
(GASPS)
CLIFFORD: Where are the others?
JENNY: Wake up. Hubert, wake up.
I'm afraid you need a great deal
more treatment than I can give you,
but here's a souvenir.
Whoa!
Well, I'm glad to be rid of that.
(MIEDEL CHUCKLING)
Wish I could say the same.
-Oh, Charles!
-All right, all right.
Thank God I know where
to come to next time.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
-(LAUGHING) And what does that mean?
-It means "good luck".
-And you're going to need it.
-Well, good luck to you.
-We're going to need you.
-Oh, that's better.
A distinct improvement.
CHARLES: Let's go.
-Auf wiedersehen.
-Auf wiedersehen.
Geert. You're a sentimental old fool.
Come on. We've got work to do.
Come on, Charles, please.
-What's that, Hubert?
-Oh, it tastes like gin.
(COUGHS) Did you steal it?
Plenty of it about.
-You'd better be careful, Hubert.
-Yeah.
Come on.