The Reaping

CONCEPCIN, CHILE

- No, thanks, buddy.

- Americans?

Yes.

They're out of it.

It could be something in the air.

- Maybe now's a good time.

- Yeah.

Father Bonilla...

I am blind... help bring light to my eyes.

The guy has been dead 40 years.

A month ago,

the earthquake broke open his tomb.

No. Don't put that in her mouth.

You'll only make her more sick.

Tell her.

There is no cure here.

Your girl will not get well this way.

Only the Devil...

...would try and stop God's miracle.

What did she say?

She thinks you're the devil.

Tell her I don't believe in him either.

Ben, check this out.

What do you think's under here?

What is that?

Yeah, well...

All right.

Katherine.

It's okay. It's okay.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

- Hey.

- It's okay.

Hey, hey, hey.

Hey. Hey. Relax.

Hey. Buddy, buddy, relax.

Hey. All right. All right, relax.

Deep well injection.

That's what it's called when a factory

drops hazardous waste down a dry oil well.

This kind of illegal

underground disposal...

...has been common practice

in Third World countries for years.

In this case, ethanol and methanol...

...mixed with the aromatic compound

DMSO and benzene...

...seeped out after an earthquake...

...running off into the sewer system

below the monastery...

...the fumes of which has the dual effect

of preserving human tissue...

...and, if inhaled,

creating intense hallucinatory effects.

Throw in a population economically deprived

enough to believe in almost anything...

...and you've got yourself a miracle.

A miracle created by a greedy,

cost-cutting corporation.

Instead of providing cures

for the faithful...

...it provided them

with lungfuls of toxic waste.

This puts me at 48 miraculous

occurrences I've investigated...

...with 48 scientific explanations.

I'm sorry to say, the only miracle

is that people keep believing.

Have a great weekend.

- Go, Tigers.

- They need a miracle.

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY

Professor, don't you have a TA

to help you carry that stuff?

I did, but once he got his master's,

they gave him an office next to mine.

Sounds like a bright guy.

And forgetful. My class was looking

forward to their guest speaker.

Sorry about that. I had a thing.

What was her name?

Her name was Theresa

and we met in church.

For old time's sake.

Professor Winter's office.

Father Costigan.

- Yeah, hold on.

- No. No.

Michael. It's been a long time.

It's nice to hear your voice.

What's going on?

I know how hard it is for you

to talk to me.

To remember.

I want you to know that

that's why I stopped calling.

I thought you stopped calling me

because you hate what I've become.

I could never hate you.

Katherine, you're going to think

I'm crazy.

I have all these photos of you in Africa...

...but...

But what?

In every photo I have of you,

your face is burnt.

It happened in front of my eyes.

Wait. What happened?

I think God has sent me a message.

He wants me to warn you.

If God was gonna send me a warning,

he should have done it a long time ago.

I understand why you stopped believing.

You've lost so much.

But, listen, Katherine,

the burns in the photos...

Put together, they formed a pattern.

- A pattern.

- Yes.

An ancient symbol.

I believe you're in danger.

I am not in any danger and I'm

really sorry, but I have to go now.

They formed the shape of a sickle.

An upside-down sickle.

- I'm sorry, I can't do this. I have to go.

- Please, wait.

- Bye, Michael.

- Don't hang up.

Katherine, why don't you go find Sarah?

Katherine, this is Doug Blackwell.

- Professor.

- Hi.

- I hope I'm not interrupting.

- No.

Doug has a problem

you might help with.

- Could Doug explain on the way to class?

- Sure.

- Thank you.

- All right, buddy.

You've got three bike paths

and a quad to make your case.

Well, I'll try.

I'm from a place called Haven. A few miles

past Fausse Pointe in the bayou?

Sounds nice.

Yeah. Up until three days ago, yeah.

Some of the fellas were out fishing

on the river.

Water kind of went red on them.

Dark red.

- Like blood.

- That's what it looked like.

Still does, in fact.

And nobody knows what's causing it?

They put me in charge of finding out.

I teach science and math,

grade three through 12.

Kind of makes me the town brainiac.

Well, when I'm called in,

there's usually a religious angle.

Well, that's why I'm here.

Some of the folks in town are worried

that this is a sort of plague.

As in Old Testament plague?

As in God, Moses, the whole deal.

They think there might be

more plagues on the way.

Heard a lot of Exodus

the last couple of days.

I could give 100 reasons

why your river's turned red.

Great. All I need is one.

Call TV stations. They'll round up 10

scientists begging to solve your problem.

No. Thank you.

Our town's the best secret

in the Bible belt.

I'm not interested

in becoming a punch line.

- I'm sorry. I wish that I could help...

- Professor.

They're blaming it on a little girl.

She found her brother dead on the river

the day it turned red.

Have they considered

the thing in the river?

They think she killed him.

They think she turned

the water into blood.

Girl's only 12 years old, Miss Winter.

Morning.

Did you sleep last night?

Yeah. Where are we?

Far enough that all I'm getting is this guy.

Jesus is the food on your table

and the gas in your car.

He is the beer in your bottle

and the bullets in your gun.

- You gonna be all right with this?

- I grew up in a place like this.

Every bump in the night's

a devil at the door.

Turn on the light, speak in a soft voice,

and they'll come right around.

Yeah, I meant because of the girl.

I'll be fine.

Thanks for asking, though.

Hi.

Yeah. Still no service?

All he wrote down

was 17 miles to the turnoff.

I'd rather talk to you anyway, over.

Well, ain't that sweet?

Copy.

Well, we're deep in it now.

I think it's kind of cute.

Sort of.

Hi. You must be the folks

from the college.

I'm Isabelle. They told me y'all would

start showing up right on about now.

All right, well, come on, then.

Let's park this thing out of the sun.

I kind of have the catbird seat

from over there inside the store.

- Thanks for meeting us.

- Don't thank me.

You are doing us a big old favor.

I tell you, this town

ain't seen nothing like this.

The McConnell boy, then the river.

Well, we all swim in it. Hank.

Look, he's my eldest.

That's him over there with his daddy.

Hey, baby.

- Hey, how you doing?

- Fine.

He just bought himself a Ski-Doo.

Hadn't even got it wet yet.

- How y'all doing?

- Good.

Don't y'all just love that sound?

- What is that it's made of?

- Fulgurite.

It's what happens to sand

when lightning strikes the ground.

You all must get a lot of lightning.

Most in three parishes.

We've been selling chimes all over.

Soon there'll be a piece

of Haven everywhere.

You know, we're even thinking website.

Hey, Janet. How you holding up?

Hey, pud.

Hey, little man.

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