The Reaping Page #3

Have you changed their food?

Give them any new supplements, hormones?

Ain't nothing like that.

All my cattle's corn- and hay-fed.

What about pesticides?

Could they have gotten into another field?

I did a line walk.

Fences are all good.

Anyhow, there ain't any

growing farms around here.

Cows drink up to...

...12 gallons of water a day.

If whatever's contaminating the river

got into the water...

My animals get their water from a well.

Same as we do.

We're gonna go in.

This is getting a little hard

to ignore, Katherine.

We're four for four, chapter and

the verse. And I mean actual verse.

- Blood, frogs, flies, dead livestock.

- These cows aren't dead.

No, not yet. But from where I'm standing,

it looks pretty damn serious.

God sent the plagues as warnings

to the Pharaoh to let his people go.

What is he supposed to be saying here?

Yeah, well, maybe it's not from him.

The Pharaoh's sorcerers used magic

to match God, plague for plague.

- Evil against good.

- Who is responsible? Satan?

I didn't say that.

I don't know, but what I do know

is that we are witnessing biblical events.

All right.

- You wanna talk plagues?

- Yeah.

- Let's talk plagues.

- Okay.

In 1400 B.C., a group of nervous Egyptians

saw the Nile turn red.

Oh, God. Come on.

But what they thought was blood

was actually an algae bloom...

...which killed the fish, which prior to

that had been living off the eggs of frogs.

Those uneaten eggs turned into

record numbers of baby frogs...

...who subsequently fled to land and died.

- Right.

Their little rotting frog bodies

attracted lice and flies.

The lice carried the bluetongue virus,

which killed 70 percent of Egypt's livestock.

The flies carried glanders, a bacterial

infection which in humans causes boils.

After, the Nile River Valley

was hit with a three-day sandstorm...

...otherwise known

as the plague of darkness.

- Katherine.

- During the sandstorm, heat can combine...

...with an approaching cold front to create

not only hail, but electrical storms...

...which would have looked to the

Egyptians like fire from the sky.

The wind would've blown the Ethiopian

locust population off course...

...and right into downtown Cairo.

Hail is wet, locusts leave droppings...

...spread both on grain,

and you've got mycotoxins.

Dinnertime in Egypt meant

the first-born got the biggest portion...

...which meant he ate the most toxins,

so he died.

Ten plagues. Ten scientific explanations.

Gotta wash up.

Late night, huh?

Can't sleep.

I bet.

Are those your cows?

The ones out there?

Of course.

Who's that with them?

Girl from before.

Before?

When she made the cows lie down.

Did you see her?

Hey, you know,

that's a really pretty picture.

Do you think maybe I could have it?

Okay. I'm drawing a fire truck now.

Thank you.

I let you handle things when

the McConnell boy died. Didn't I, Cade?

- Yeah.

- And, Doug...

When that river turned to blood

where Loren found him...

...I let you handle it, didn't I?

- You did.

No one's done a damn thing.

Now this town's living in fear

waiting for the next plague to come.

If you're doing your job,

why am I looking at a man's livelihood...

...lying dead on the ground not two miles

from where the McConnells live?

Now, do I have to bring

this family in myself?

How did Brody McConnell die, sheriff?

- I don't know.

- What do you know?

Well, I got the call about 2.

The girl found Brody by the river

and he wasn't moving.

Which is where and how he was

when I got there.

And there wasn't a mark on him.

Somebody just snuck up

and stole the life right out of him.

That doesn't mean Loren did it.

Loren, her mother...

...or one of their degenerate friends.

There's something unnatural.

I want it stopped. Hear me?

Stopped before God ups and makes

an example out of this whole town.

What do you mean by "unnatural"?

It was Wake's wife what saw it.

Last Christmas...

...Brynn and some of the other ladies

brought cookies out to the McConnells.

Community outreach or something.

Brynn said when she got there, there

was a bunch of motorcycles out front.

Then she heard some singing.

More like chanting.

Then she stuck her head in the window.

She saw something big

butchered in the sink.

It wasn't dead yet.

You didn't think to tell me?

It's a rumor.

The worst kind.

Brynn don't got the imagination

for it not to be true.

Father?

Are you all right?

Yes. Thank you, Sister. I'm fine.

Come here.

There you go.

Katherine.

Doug?

Hello?

Doug?

She seems like a good person.

Katherine.

The power is out.

I didn't mean to disturb you.

It's probably the breaker. I'll flip it.

It's okay, really.

Take your time.

At least let me buy you a drink.

What is it?

It's local.

Some folks think it tastes like bourbon.

Have they ever had bourbon?

Yeah.

Sam used to clean

her paintbrushes with it.

- How long were you married?

- Seven years.

Six of them cancer-free.

We wanted a big family and were

trying for our first kid, you know?

She started feeling sick.

Went to the doctor thinking we were

having a boy and came out...

I'm sorry.

Still hear her in the kitchen sometimes.

- That goes away after a while.

- I'm not sure I want it to.

When did you?

Five years ago. David and Sarah.

So how'd you pick the Sudan?

I had a friend, Michael Costigan,

a priest who ran a camp there.

He asked me to come.

David, my husband, didn't wanna go,

not with Sarah being so young...

...but I was the one with a calling.

I'd just been ordained

and I knew what was best.

- You were doing a good thing.

- So I thought.

We showed up with our crate of Bibles

and our clean T-shirts...

...and our very good intentions.

And then it didn't rain a drop

for a full year.

The crops died, the animals died,

the people died.

And they blamed us.

My family was murdered

as a sacrifice to God.

The first night I stopped praying

was the first night I slept.

I have a lot of work tomorrow.

Loren.

Wait.

Katherine, why don't you see

if you can find Sarah?

Haman.

Sacrificing that animal

won't help your crop.

- Hey. I'm so lucky.

- How come?

Because, silly, God gave me you.

He's right behind you.

Katherine. Katherine, wake up.

Katherine, Katherine, Katherine.

Katherine, Katherine.

It's Ben, it's Ben, it's Ben.

Just breathe. Just breathe.

I saw her.

Sarah?

Yeah.

Hey, if you wanna get out of here,

we're gone.

I'm fine. I just...

I just thought I was...

...through with some of this stuff.

Come here, Katherine. Come here.

It's all right.

I'm sorry...

...about before, in the pasture.

- No.

You know...

...God protects his children

even if they don't know it yet.

Get some sleep.

Caught me snooping.

Yeah. Kind of hard to snoop

in your own house.

What is that?

That is a healthy bovine cell.

Strong walls. Good color.

And then...

...comes Pfiesteria.

- And that's from the Wakemans' cattle?

Nope. That's just it.

But this...

- This is.

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