dear lord, thank you for your generosity in providing us today with this bountiful feast.
thank you for the many gifts that you have given me. thank you for your protection and your guidance. thank you for bringing me this far. i know my long journey's end is near. i ask now only for the strength and the courage to complete the task that you in your infinite wisdom saw fit to bestow upon me over all men. i won't let you down. amen.
hey. you hungry?
come on now.
i'm not going to hurt you.
here.
one good thing about no soap any more. you can smell the road agents a mile off.
nothing.
i can't do that.
it's real important you boys listen to me and understand. the man i work for, you do not want to cross him. see, i'm under his protection. you stand in my way, you stand in his. and he will cut you down with a righteous fury - through me. for i am his faithful instrument.
something like that.
i hear you. you lay that hand on me again and you will not get it back.
he's in shock. he means "kill him".
i told you you wouldn't be getting that back.
my name is eli.
take it and go on your way. and don't fall in with men like these again. no good can come.
god, the father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the holy spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins.
through the ministry of the church may he give you pardon and peace, and i absolve you from your sins in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy spirit. amen.
there are no good men on the road.
west.
no.
it ain't your concern. stay on the path. it ain't your concern. stay on the path.
you got an engineer or a fuelman around here?
thanks.
i'm not from around here.
i'm just a customer.
no. i'll set it down. okay?
i'm sorry, i forgot. i've been on the road a long time.
i'm not a-
i'm not one of them.
i'm just passing through. i need some help. i can pay.
i'm going to get something out of my pack. okay?
i know, i know. slowly.
years ago, in the outland back east aways.
yeah, it just needs a charge. can you do it? i got the cables.
i'll wait here.
what's this place across the street? they got any water?
i'll be back.
if that battery ain't here when i get back, i will use this gun on your kneecaps and i will put this building to the torch and i will watch it burn to the ground with you alive inside it. so help me god.
water.
that's the best i got.
fine specimen.
i didn't push him.
sorry. it won't happen again.
i don't want any trouble.
i know you. murderer of innocent travelers on the road. you're going to spend eternity drowning in a lake of fire for the things that you've done. did you know that?
you go on back to your table and i'll be on my way. all right?
cursed be the ground because of you. by toil shall you eat of it. thorns and thistles shall it sprout for you. from the ground were you taken. for dust you are.
and to dust you shall return.
go.
it ain't for me to judge you. your time for that's gonna come. believe me. now go on. get out of here.
thank you.
i'm sorry for all the mess.
nobody. a walker in the outland.
i had a battery needed charging and a canteen needed filling. i didn't come here looking for trouble.
no.
that's you out there on the street.
you had slaves build you a monument to yourself?
it's none of my business what you do here. like you said, it's your town. i just want to be on my way.
i read every day.
what do you want with me?
what?
i'm not interested.
i'm not your friend. and i'm not staying. i got someplace i need to be. out west.
i've been told different.
thank you for your offer. but i'd prefer to just leave right now. so you can either let me out of here, or i can kill my way out.
how's my battery?
how much longer?
you remember what i said would happen if i came back here and you didn't have my battery?
yeah? how'd you know that?
so you didn't send someone across the street to the engineer?
hello?
oh. thank you.
no, thank you.
you're carnegie's woman?
just making conversation is all. haven't had one of those in a while. not a real one, leastways.
you had a baby?
it's all right.
you want to eat some?
when did you go blind? in the war? you get caught in a flash?
lucky?
so did i.
come in.
someone was already here with food and water. i got everything i need.
no. my name's eli.
elijah.
look, i don't mean to be rude. but i'm really not interested.
it's not that. you're a very nice girl. but i'm not that kind of man.
i'm not.
i'm sorry. good night.
if you don't, what?
who will? carnegie?
maybe he and i oughta have words.
he's hurting you. he's hurting your mother. he's-
you want to have a conversation?
you know, you don't have to be afraid of me. what happened down there in the bar.
how'd you know that?
you know, i don't rightly remember.
better than this.
i swear, it's true. nowadays it's not the same. if you're sick or you're weak or you're old you won't last long out on the road.
can i read you something?
not just any book.
the lord is my shepherd. i shall not want. he makes me lie down in green pastures. he leads me beside still waters. he restores my soul. he leads me in the paths of righteousness.
though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death, i will fear no evil. for you are with me. your rod and your staff, they comfort me. you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. you anoint my head with oil. my cup runs over. surely goodness and mercy shall follow me, all the days of my life. and i will dwell in the house of the lord forever.
i guess you could think of it that way. it's from the holy bible.
it's about love, and forgiveness, and life and death, and mercy, and revenge, and the beginning and the end of the world. i guess it's about a little bit of everything.
i'm sorry. i'm charged to protect this book. i can't trust it with anyone. not even for a while.
it's the last one. there are no other books like this. all the others are gone - destroyed by the war or in the burnings that came after. this is the only one that survived until now. the last one anywhere.
i just know.
it led me to this place, i don't really know where. and i found this book buried deep under some rubble. no way no-one was ever going to find it if they didn't know exactly where to look.
that's right. and that voice told me to carry the book west.
i'm not crazy. i didn't imagine it. i know what i heard.
a very important, very powerful man.
what?
i think you're probably right.
i'm sorry. i'm leaving tomorrow. and i won't be back this way, ever.
are you hungry?
there's some food on the table over there. let's eat.
it's okay, it's okay. he's with me. don't be afraid, pal. this is solara. she's our friend.
it's okay. it means he likes you.
trust me, if he didn't like you, you'd know about it.
mean what?
sure.
our father, we thank you for this meal which you have been so gracious to place before us.
we thank you for a warm bed and a roof over our heads on a cold night such as this.
amen.
and now we eat.
it ain't your concern. stay on the path.
dammit.
let her go.
i reckon you're right.
this, though? with this i'll shave the hairs clean off your balls at a hundred paces. you believe me?
no.
the lord himself told me that if i carried this book west, one day i would find the place where it was needed. where it would be safe. where it belonged.
but this ain't it.
come on.
you shall not make for yourself any graven image.
now we can go.
i told you where i'm going. you're free to go wherever you want.
you're only going to slow me down.
the man was hurting you. i don't like that, so i put a stop to it. now you're free. he can't hurt you any more. no need to thank me.
whatever you want. that's what being free is.
i have to get where i'm going. i can't be worrying about someone else along the way.
it's dangerous in the outland. i wouldn't want you to get hurt.
you don't want this life. i gotta do what i gotta do. don't have no choice in it. but you do. and i can't let you choose this. you don't want to be like me. you don't want to spend your life alone.
i'm sorry. look, maybe it's best you just go on back to town.
i offer you both one final chance in this life to seek forgiveness for your sins so that your souls may find salvation. will you say with me the act of contrition?
some might think it'd be most fitting to leave you here like this. let you die slow in the sun. but i know better. i know where you're going. and the sooner you get there, the sooner you'll get what's coming to you.
repeat after me. oh god, i am heartily sorry for having offended thee, and i detest all my sins.
i firmly resolve, with the help of thy grace, to confess my sins, and do penance, and to amend my life. amen.
what are friends for?
this is the deal. you keep up. you pull your weight. you fall behind, i can't help you. okay?
there's nothing can be done for her.
it's good eating, is what it is.
if you're going to be on the road, you can't be picky about what you eat. you eat what's there to eat.
father, we thank you for your generosity in providing us with this meal. bless this food to our use and us to thy service, and keep us ever mindful of the needs of others. amen.
tastes like chicken.
it's a saint christopher medal.
christopher was a man who lived a long time ago. he wanted to be a good man, he wanted to help people. so he would stand by a river that had no bridge and carry people across. he was a big strong man and there was no one he couldn't carry.
then one day a young child came to the river and asked to be carried across. christopher tried to carry him but he was too heavy. he was just a small boy but he was heavier than any man he had ever carried. the boy explained that he was the son of god, and that he was so heavy because he bore all the sins of the world. after that, christopher was able to carry him across and when they got to the other side the boy baptized him in the river. and that's how he became a saint. later on, he was known as the patron saint of travelers.
it's someone who spent their life doing good things for others. enough that god himself took a special interest in them.
no. not like me. saints ain't killers. and i done too much of that. spilled too much blood.
it's late. you should get some sleep. maybe tomorrow.
what are you doing?
on the road you sleep with one eye open. i asked you what you were doing.
you want to see the book, you ask me. nobody touches it but me. ever. until it gets where it's going. do you understand?
tell me you understand!
it's no use to you anyway. you don't know how to read it.
maybe. get some sleep.
no.
i told you. my path has been laid out before me.
by almighty god.
you want to stay on this road with me, don't ever let me hear you take his name in vain like that again.
god has a reason for everything being the way it is. it's not always apparent to us. but it is his plan nonetheless.
it's not like that. it's kinda hard to explain. i'm guided by faith.
it means you know something even though you don't know it.
it doesn't have to.
i don't know.
stay behind me.
yeah.
shit.
my name is eli. this is solara. we're travelers, that's all. we don't mean you any harm.
i'm sorry. we didn't think anybody lived here. we thought it was abandoned, like all the rest.
no, sir. i.  like what you've done with the place.
no business. we're sorry to have troubled you. if you'll let us down we'll happily be on our way.
it's.  uh.
have you always lived here?
i don't understand how you've survived out here this long.
we have to get out of here.
they're worse than that.
they didn't just kill these people.
there's a disease in the outland. spread by eating human meat. it affects the brain. dementia, loss of motor function. did you notice the old woman's hands shaking? she's got it. they've both got it.
we really must be going.
yes, i'm afraid so.
yes. thank you again for the tea.
are you sure?
back inside.
hand me my pack.
it's all right. we're going to be all right. trust me.
you remember what i told you about faith?
we're going to get out of this alive. both of us. i know.
because god told me.
he didn't mention you.
solara?
are you all right?
come on. we're going out the back. we're running.
solara.
you're wrong.
i told you we'd both live. now do you have faith?
thought you'd gone back to town.
for what?
you did what you believed you had to.
i forgive you.
thank you.
same as always. keep heading west.
but i still have my faith.
it's grass. it used to grow all over the place.
i don't know. less poison in the air this near to the ocean, maybe.
nothing. just a cramp.
do you smell that?
salt in the air. we're close to the ocean. we're almost there.
come on.
watch your footing. step where i step.
what's left of it.
do you see that?
that's it.
my name is elijah stone. i have a message for your boss. i need you to tell him that i have a king james bible in my possession.
elijah stone.
been carrying it with me for twenty- five years.
i was sent here by god.
it's a little beat-up. but it'll do the job.
is there someplace we could sit?
do you have something you can write with?
bring a lot of it.
are you ready?
pay close attention and write down every word exactly as i say it.
the first book of moses called genesis. chapter one, verse one. in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth. verse two. the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. and the spirit of god was hovering over the face of the waters. verse three. and god said, "let there be light," and there was light.
dear lord, thank you for giving me the strength and the conviction to complete the task you entrusted to me. thank you for guiding me straight and true, through the many obstacles in my path.
thank you for your protection and for your many signs along the way.
thank you for the good that i have done. for whatever light you were able to shine into the darkness of this world through me.
thank you for the friend i made.
please watch over her as you watched over me.
thank you for allowing me finally to rest. i'm so very tired. the time of my departure is at hand and now i surrender my soul into your care, at peace in knowing that i have carried out your will. that i have done right with my time on this earth.
i have fought the good fight. i have finished the race.
I have kept the faith.