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Speaker 5: Jim Hello, this is missus Horn.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 5: What do you mean he's missing?
Speaker 6: How is he missing?
Speaker 7: He's dead in the morgue? Did you misplace him? Well,
Speaker 7: I'm sorry. I just don't understand.
Speaker 5: How he could.
Speaker 2: But how can you?
Speaker 7: Look? I appreciate the call, but what exactly are you
Speaker 7: going to do to rectify this. You've already told me
Speaker 7: that I can't have him back until after the autopsy.
Speaker 7: Now you're telling me.
Speaker 6: He's he's what up and run off? Now you listen
Speaker 6: to me? Hello, Hello, God, damn it, I'm coming. Hold on.
Speaker 2: Corne, who's there? Hello? No, No, Hello, it's you're dead.
Speaker 2: They said you were dead.
Speaker 3: I was.
Speaker 2: I'm not now Jesus, Jimbo, can I come in in
Speaker 2: the shadows? He looked normal, like himself, like my dad's buddy,
Speaker 2: good old Jimbo. Jimbo, the steady, the kind, the regular
Speaker 2: Joe Jimbo who liked fishing and fiddling around the garage
Speaker 2: and war movies and a million other things that men
Speaker 2: of his generation turned to in late middle age. His
Speaker 2: voice and his presence were well worn grooves in my life.
Speaker 2: But this was all wrong. This Jim stepping closer so
Speaker 2: that the street light fell across his face, his normal face,
Speaker 2: with his normal smile, wearing his slacks and a button
Speaker 2: up shirt, his loafers on my porch like he'd been
Speaker 2: a million times?
Speaker 3: Can I.
Speaker 2: This sweet, normal Jimbo horn with his normal dead man smile.
Speaker 2: It was the eyes. There was something in the eyes,
Speaker 2: something off that I couldn't quite place, something that set
Speaker 2: every nerve in my body on edge, something that made
Speaker 2: my brain scream no, no, no, over and over. But
Speaker 2: then that thing in me, that lifelong practice of being polite,
Speaker 2: so much of a habit that I just spoke without thinking. Uh,
Speaker 2: of course, Jimbo.
Speaker 3: Shit, after you thanks.
Speaker 2: That the kitchen you know where it is all put
Speaker 2: on coffee.
Speaker 3: Coffee isn't necessary.
Speaker 2: Sit Sit, Jim, I'll stand, Jim. I'm going to be honest.
Speaker 2: This is this is scarying the shit out of me,
Speaker 2: Like I wish you'd just at least sit so I
Speaker 2: could stand on the far side of the kitchen island
Speaker 2: while we spoke.
Speaker 3: Okay, fair enough, I don't want to scare you. What's
Speaker 3: that on the counter.
Speaker 2: It's just an old keepsake box. What's inside keepsakes?
Speaker 3: Huh? Place feels different, doesn't Yeah? With your dad going
Speaker 3: it feels bigger, emptier.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it does. What the fuck is going on, Jimbo?
Speaker 2: You're dead.
Speaker 3: And yet here you are. I was as surprised as
Speaker 3: you are, kid.
Speaker 2: So talk what happened.
Speaker 3: It's a long story.
Speaker 2: Well, I can make the time to listen to a
Speaker 2: story about a man coming back from the dead.
Speaker 3: Fair enough. I don't remember a lot after I went
Speaker 3: into the hospital. The illness, it blurs everything. It was
Speaker 3: like having a hot knife in the middle of your skull,
Speaker 3: and I couldn't focus a hole of thought. It was
Speaker 3: just pain and a howl and sort of rage. I
Speaker 3: don't know. I was never a violent man, Karen, but
Speaker 3: I wanted to hurt, to destroy, to kill that street preacher.
Speaker 3: I remember getting my hands on him. I wanted to
Speaker 3: press my fingers through him. Remember, want to feel his
Speaker 3: skin give way, this strong need to press through his
Speaker 3: muscle and his veins, and get my hands into his
Speaker 3: visra to tear him apart and sell by self, and
Speaker 3: then well, it just flashes. After that, I had moments
Speaker 3: of clarity, of course, fear, remorse, sadness, the rage, eating
Speaker 3: it all, pressing against the insights of my skull, hot, feverish.
Speaker 3: And then there is a light, like everyone says, I
Speaker 3: could see it coming from far above me, so far
Speaker 3: up above the hospital ceiling, above the clouds, out beyond
Speaker 3: the sun. Even was overtaken everything. It was warm, it
Speaker 3: was beautiful, everything they tell you, all of it. I
Speaker 3: could feel myself begin to float, could feel the warmth
Speaker 3: overtake me. I don't know, like I was back in
Speaker 3: the womb. It sounds crazy, but I was pulled back high.
Speaker 3: The light retreated a pinprick, and then it was extinguished,
Speaker 3: and all of the warmth and goodness went with it,
Speaker 3: and I was alone in this icy darkness, sized Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3: I was a lone Karin, more alone than I've ever been.
Speaker 3: And I've been alone when I was a little kid.
Speaker 3: My mom died, and it felt like being ripped from
Speaker 3: the world, like nothing could reach me, like I'd never
Speaker 3: feel love again.
Speaker 2: This was so much worse, Jesus Jim.
Speaker 3: And then I found myself back in the body. I
Speaker 3: was in the cabinet in the morgue. That feeling was
Speaker 3: still there with me, but I recognized it now, really
Speaker 3: recognized it for what it was.
Speaker 2: When was it?
Speaker 3: It was a terrible, terrible thirst, deep painful, like every
Speaker 3: cell in my body was screaming with it. I had
Speaker 3: crossed an infinite desert and was parched.
Speaker 1: And so I went looking to quench it. I managed
Speaker 1: to push my way out of the Morguel locker. I
Speaker 1: wasn't alone. There was a body laid out covered in
Speaker 1: a sheet. That preacher, the one I heard dead on
Speaker 1: the table. I never thought about him in life.
Speaker 3: You know, besides a couple of noise complaints here and
Speaker 3: there when he was on a tear, But besides being batshitt,
Speaker 3: you know, he was harmless. So I left him alone
Speaker 3: for years, maybe telling him to keep it down a little.
Speaker 3: But there was something sad and kind about him that
Speaker 3: I guess I always sort of admired, so I always
Speaker 3: just let him be. But here he was dead like
Speaker 3: me because of me. Any guilt I felt was cut
Speaker 3: short by the cutting thirst. And there was a water
Speaker 3: cooler in the room, and at first I moved toward it,
Speaker 3: but the thought of drinking it repulsed me, confused me.
Speaker 3: Even that confusion was shot lived, because before I had
Speaker 3: a chance to react, someone walked in. He was way
Speaker 3: on a face shield that I think must have fogged up,
Speaker 3: because I don't think that he registered me right away.
Speaker 3: But I registered him even halfway across the room. I
Speaker 3: could smell him, feel the heat of his body. I
Speaker 3: could sense to the flutter of the pulse of blood
Speaker 3: in his vein. And what's more, my teeth they suddenly itched,
Speaker 3: burned my gums as if they were shop and I
Speaker 3: understood the thirst. What are you doing stretching? How are you?
Speaker 1: I flew at him, knocking him over. Finally I was
Speaker 1: able to grab a hold of his hair, and with
Speaker 1: as much force as I could must slammed his head
Speaker 1: into the tile.
Speaker 3: I didn't have time to be horrified. I didn't even think.
Speaker 1: I just scrambled at his mask and collar.
Speaker 3: And sank my teeth into his neck. I can't fully
Speaker 3: describe it, the relief, the warmth of him entering me
Speaker 3: and spreading outward, tingling in my fingers and toes, and
Speaker 3: the world well just became God again, and I felt
Speaker 3: like me for the first time since Bachmann came to town
Speaker 3: with his axe. Don't look at me in that way, Corin,
Speaker 3: Did you kill him?
Speaker 2: Jimbo?
Speaker 3: I did, well, there was nothing else I could do.
Speaker 3: The thirst korn when it takes you, it takes all
Speaker 3: of you, replaces every impulse you have, and makes you
Speaker 3: a starven animal, makes you insane. When I was young,
Speaker 3: I used to read stories about people who survived disasters
Speaker 3: or war. Couldn't get enough of it. Crazy stuff. A
Speaker 3: man riding a tank through the Iron Curtain to escape
Speaker 3: the Red Army, people who survived plane crashes, murder attempts.
Speaker 3: One of them was about a Navy officer who ship
Speaker 3: went down in the Second World War and how he
Speaker 3: managed to live for two weeks on a piece of scrap,
Speaker 3: an old crate or something out in the middle of
Speaker 3: the ocean. His small supply of water ran out, and
Speaker 3: so he drank his piss, and then when he got desperate,
Speaker 3: finally drank sea water, which just dehydrate you more. See,
Speaker 3: kidneys can't handle that much salt, so it tries to
Speaker 3: flush it out. You lose more water than you drink,
Speaker 3: so you vomit. You get delirious. Eventually, if you don't
Speaker 3: get enough regular water to balance it out, you die.
Speaker 3: This sailor he got saved before he died, but he
Speaker 3: went insane, literally insane with thirst. I can't tell you
Speaker 3: how I know, but this was worse. But when I
Speaker 3: drank from that man, it went away completely for a while.
Speaker 2: What happened next, Jimbo.
Speaker 3: Next, I cleaned myself up and found a pair of
Speaker 3: scrubs that fit me from a locker, and I walked
Speaker 3: right out of the hospital. It's funny, you know. I
Speaker 3: walked right by a couple of boys I worked with
Speaker 3: on the foss. They didn't even look up at me,
Speaker 3: like it didn't register who I was, just another doctor
Speaker 3: walking the halls of the hospital, even with though shoes on,
Speaker 3: looking like shit warmed over. Nobody cast me a funny look.
Speaker 3: So I walked right out the door and I made
Speaker 3: my way home, went barefoot, kept off the road as
Speaker 3: much as possible. It was cold, and you know how
Speaker 3: far the walk from that hospital and into town is,
Speaker 3: But I wasn't cold, never got tired. I felt impervious
Speaker 3: to it all. I felt strong, energetic now right out
Speaker 3: of the bar, senses heightened. I could feel the animals
Speaker 3: and the trees. Watching As I passed, I could sense
Speaker 3: the people in the cars that would go by. The
Speaker 3: colors of the world were sharper.
Speaker 8: And with each step I could feel it return, the hunger,
Speaker 8: just a little whisper in my ear at first. By
Speaker 8: the time I returned home it was a scream.
Speaker 6: Hello, God, damn it, I'm coming.
Speaker 3: Hold on, hello, han Uh, I'm really standing here. Uh,
Speaker 3: your dad, rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Speaker 2: Jim, Jim, is it really you?
Speaker 4: Jim, Jim Jim, Oh my god, you're icy cold.
Speaker 3: It's freezing out. Can we go in?
Speaker 5: Uh?
Speaker 7: Of course, Oh my god, Jim, Oh my god, go
Speaker 7: get some warm clothes on. I'll put on coffee. Oh oh,
Speaker 7: we need to call the hospital. They called just now
Speaker 7: to tell me that you're missing. Oh God, They're going
Speaker 7: to be so embarrassed. Jesus, how could they have pronounced
Speaker 7: you dead?
Speaker 3: Well? Why don't we hold off on, Colin. It will
Speaker 3: take a while to untangle all of this.
Speaker 7: Of course, get warm, Oh my god, jem my gym,
Speaker 7: Oh my gim, Oh my gym, God, how good this is.
Speaker 5: Thank God.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna get dressed. Of course.
Speaker 7: Go I'll be in the kitchen. I'm going to get
Speaker 7: the coffee and the warm fire.
Speaker 3: I can't quite describe the strange feeling I got walking
Speaker 3: through my house. It didn't feel like mine anymore. It
Speaker 3: felt like a perfect reproduction of my house, or perhaps
Speaker 3: a museum of a dead man's time on earth. But
Speaker 3: it was no longer mine. Maybe it was still Barber's,
Speaker 3: but the James walker Horn who owned this home and
Speaker 3: came back to it every night, no longer existed. I
Speaker 3: think that's when it fully sank in as they walked
Speaker 3: into the bedroom and peeled off the hospital scrubs and
Speaker 3: opened the drawer on my old mahogany dresser and put
Speaker 3: a dead man's clothes on this new body. I was
Speaker 3: no longer James or Jim or Jimmy or Jim bow.
Speaker 3: I was no one's son, no one's husband. When I
Speaker 3: looked in the mirror, I couldn't see any trace of him,
Speaker 3: just clothes hanging on this new body, someone different, looking
Speaker 3: out the eyes and examining himself and Couren. He was so.
Speaker 1: Thirsty, and in the kitchen I could smell her through
Speaker 1: the freshly brewed coffee. Last week's dinner dishes forgotten in
Speaker 1: the sink. The smell of her pushed all the others away.
Speaker 1: I wanted her, Barbara.
Speaker 6: Ah, you scared me.
Speaker 7: Oh, jim My, jim My sweet husband.
Speaker 2: I thought i'd lost you.
Speaker 3: Shoh, it's all okay. I'm here now, Okay.
Speaker 7: I didn't know if you'd want a beer or coffee
Speaker 7: or what. So why don't you say it? I'll serve you.
Speaker 3: I think I'll stand if it's all the same.
Speaker 7: I guess you've been lying down for a while, haven't you,
Speaker 7: Poor Jim?
Speaker 3: Do you want me to make you something to eat
Speaker 3: that won't be necessary?
Speaker 7: I just can't believe it. I mean, they said you died.
Speaker 7: We're gonna have words with those doctors. I'll call my brother.
Speaker 7: I'll bet there's a malpractice lawsuit in all of this.
Speaker 5: Are you okay, Jim? I am great, Bob, you just
Speaker 5: seem different.
Speaker 3: Well, I did just come back from the dead.
Speaker 7: I suppose that would change a man. Are you sure
Speaker 7: you don't want something to eat?
Speaker 3: I'm not hungry.
Speaker 7: Oh well, gonna go grab a sweater from upstairs.
Speaker 5: It's a little chili. You want me to turn up
Speaker 5: the thermostat.
Speaker 3: It doesn't matter, you're so cold.
Speaker 2: Jim.
Speaker 3: There was a moment there when old Jimbo came rushing
Speaker 3: back into my head. Get away, He said, you love her, Bob, Bob.
Speaker 5: I think, Oh, don't worry about the beer, Jim, I'll
Speaker 5: clean it.
Speaker 3: No, Bob, I'd better go.
Speaker 7: No, no, don't go, Jim.
Speaker 1: I think I'm having trouble being close to you. I'm
Speaker 1: afraid I've hurting you.
Speaker 2: What do you mean hurt me?
Speaker 3: I'm still sick, Barbara. I'm sicker than I was before.
Speaker 2: I think, Honey, why don't you go lie down. I
Speaker 2: can call the doctor. Maybe they have some medicine.
Speaker 3: No, I should just get out of here, Jim, Jim,
Speaker 3: get off of me, Barbara. But it was too late.
Speaker 3: Her heart was beating too fast, too loud, and I
Speaker 3: could smell.
Speaker 1: It in the air, the iron and a blood, the salty,
Speaker 1: sweet taste of my tongue, and then my teeth was
Speaker 1: suddenly in a neck, that neck I kissed so many
Speaker 1: times in the past, and the rush of relief, the
Speaker 1: flood of joy into my system. I'm feeling more vital
Speaker 1: with every hot spurt of blood in it. And then
Speaker 1: the sudden repulsion of myself as I drained the life
Speaker 1: out of her.
Speaker 2: Jim, bow, did you did you kill Barbara?
Speaker 3: No? But I came awful close. She's still alive, I think, so,
Speaker 3: I hope.
Speaker 2: So should I go check on her?
Speaker 3: No, don't reach for the phone, even to call an
Speaker 3: ambulance for her. I'll make sure she gets help later. Jim,
Speaker 3: what's in that box corn?
Speaker 2: Nothing?
Speaker 3: You'll hover and like it's something.
Speaker 2: It's insurance against what I don't quite know.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, Corin for what.
Speaker 2: Jim, I'm just so thirsty.
Speaker 3: I'm just so goddamn thirsty.
Speaker 2: And then chaos. It happened so quickly, faster than a
Speaker 2: man of his eyes should Jim Horn lunged at me,
Speaker 2: catching my shirt sleeve in and pulling me tight against
Speaker 2: him his freezing, frenzied flesh. And then he backed away,
Speaker 2: clutching a sucking hole in the center of his chest,
Speaker 2: dark blood gushing out, his eyes, almost feral, an animal dying,
Speaker 2: His mouth twisted in hatred, two sharp fangs bared at me,
Speaker 2: and then he was still. It was then that I
Speaker 2: felt it in my hand, warm and sure, Josiah's wooden steak.
Speaker 2: It's truly incredible how quickly the numbness sets in when
Speaker 2: your world is altered beyond belief, the loss of a
Speaker 2: loved one, being laid off from a lifelong job, finding
Speaker 2: out that vampires are real, and then killing one in
Speaker 2: the same instant. I had to move to do something,
Speaker 2: to be anywhere but here. I grabbed the stale pack
Speaker 2: of cigarettes from the back of the spice cabinet, where
Speaker 2: I'd hidden them from Dad over the years. I walked outside.
Speaker 2: I didn't even think to close the door. No Jesus,
Speaker 2: tastes like shit. Corin. Who's there, Marie? Oh my god,
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry. I oh, oh no? What uh are you?
Speaker 2: Is that blood there was? Are you hurt?
Speaker 9: No?
Speaker 2: Here, let me see Marie. No, no, no, it's not
Speaker 2: It's not me.
Speaker 9: Is there is there someone else here in your house?
Speaker 2: Yes? Yeah, okay? Can I go in and check?
Speaker 9: Yes?
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, okay. I waited for the telltale scream. It
Speaker 2: didn't come. Instead. Did he scratch you, bite you? Did
Speaker 2: you get any blood in your eyes or your mouth?
Speaker 1: Karen?
Speaker 2: I need you to think no, uh uh no, he
Speaker 2: didn't hurt me at all. I mean probably bruised my
Speaker 2: arms and I twisted my ankle a little bit. Okay, Okay,
Speaker 2: you're Okay, then, Marie, there's a dead fucking body in
Speaker 2: my house. A body that was already dead got up
Speaker 2: and came to my house and tried to drink my blood.
Speaker 2: I am very, very goddamn far from fucking Okay.
Speaker 9: Okay, okay, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. You're right.
Speaker 9: That is a lot to process. What are you?
Speaker 2: What are you even doing here?
Speaker 7: Well?
Speaker 2: I had a message for you, of what a message? Yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: what's that?
Speaker 9: Well, it's not gonna make any sense.
Speaker 2: What is it? Who's it from?
Speaker 9: It's from Ken McLean who he was. He was an
Speaker 9: indigent that was brought in last week. I think he
Speaker 9: was attacked by the dead man in your kitchen.
Speaker 2: Brother Ken the street preacher.
Speaker 9: Yes, yes, he uh well, he did scream a few
Speaker 9: Bible verses when he came back. Came back, yeah, Kreen,
Speaker 9: like the man on your floor came back from the dead.
Speaker 2: He sat up and walked out of.
Speaker 9: The morgue and happened on my floor, where he was
Speaker 9: then tackled by the National Guard and chained to a
Speaker 9: bed for observation.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 9: Yeah, well, at least he seemed relieved to be tied down,
Speaker 9: but he was suffering. I was sent into checking vitals
Speaker 9: and his heart was beating, but he was as cold
Speaker 9: as a grave.
Speaker 2: Only was chattering Bible verses.
Speaker 9: He said your name?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 9: When I pressed him, he said that you'd.
Speaker 2: Know what to do, that it was in your blood.
Speaker 2: What was the Holy spirit? I don't know.
Speaker 9: He said your family killed vampires. Okay, sorry, that is
Speaker 9: absolutely not funny given the circumstances.
Speaker 2: You mean, the dead vampire in my kitchen. Yeah? What
Speaker 2: are they gonna do to Ken?
Speaker 9: I don't know. They'll probably take him somewhere more secure,
Speaker 9: but I think that things are getting ready to get
Speaker 9: even more scary.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure about you, but I'm already scared as shit. Jesus,
Speaker 2: What the fuck am I gonna do? Do you have
Speaker 2: someone you can call?
Speaker 9: Family, a close friend?
Speaker 2: What about oh God, Sylvie? Yeah? Uh huh? I mean
Speaker 2: should I call the cops? Cops? What are they gonna do?
Speaker 7: Well?
Speaker 2: I don't know the CDC.
Speaker 9: I can call the contact person. They'll send someone over,
Speaker 9: but they're gonna want to bring you in. Look. If
Speaker 9: I was you, i'd get in your car and drive
Speaker 9: away from Havoc for a few days.
Speaker 2: Check in with me tomorrow. I'll give you any news.
Speaker 2: That's incredibly nice of you. Won't you get in trouble.
Speaker 9: I'll say I was checking in on you and found
Speaker 9: the door open.
Speaker 2: No, no, I need to be here, No, no, listen
Speaker 2: to me.
Speaker 9: I've been at the hospital for a while and I
Speaker 9: have never seen the sort of anxiety that I've been
Speaker 9: seeing there. It's not just the staff, the CDC, doctor
Speaker 9: is the National Guardsman. Nobody's seen anything like this illness.
Speaker 9: I mean, nobody's used to the dead rising from the grave.
Speaker 2: They're scared.
Speaker 9: Look, something is happening here, something big and sudden that
Speaker 9: none of us can really understand. There will be more
Speaker 9: death karn and the response to it by the government
Speaker 9: will be swift and will absolutely make it worse. And
Speaker 9: I have a job to do here, so I can't leave.
Speaker 9: But you can so get the hell out of town,
Speaker 9: far away. Hide in a motel because this place it's
Speaker 9: getting ready to burn.
Speaker 2: All right. Now, Wash yourself.
Speaker 9: Off, pack a bag, get in your car and then drive.
Speaker 9: You're gonna avoid check points and you don't stop until
Speaker 9: you get an hour away.
Speaker 2: Copy move. I did as I was told, quick rints
Speaker 2: in the shower. A week in Beg. I didn't go
Speaker 2: back to the kitchen, but said Mike god bye to
Speaker 2: Marie at the front door. I got in the car
Speaker 2: and pulled out of my drive down my street to
Speaker 2: the intersection. A turn left would take me to the highway.
Speaker 2: I would drive to Maine. Had an old friend who
Speaker 2: lived on the coast. I'd stay with him just a
Speaker 2: few days until things blew over. When I came back,
Speaker 2: everything would be under control. At least that's what should
Speaker 2: have happened with a simple left turn, a quiet exit, safety,
Speaker 2: a decision not to be involved in whatever horror would
Speaker 2: come next, a shit, which is why I turned right.
Speaker 4: Havoctown was created by me Aaron Mankey. The show was
Speaker 4: written and directed by Nicholas Takowski. This episode was edited
Speaker 4: and sound designed by Rima lk Ali. Starring Jewels State
Speaker 4: as Coreyne Abbys, Chrystal Lee as Demeris, Robin Bloodworth as Jimbo'horn,
Speaker 4: Summer rain Menkey as Barbara Horn, with additional voice acting
Speaker 4: from Jonathan Baron and Aaron Mankey. This season is directed
Speaker 4: by Nicholas Takoski, with assistant directors Sarah Klein and Jake Diamond.
Speaker 4: Casting by Sunday Bowling CSA and meg Mormon CSA production
Speaker 4: coordinator Wayna Calderon. Our theme song was created by Chris
Speaker 4: Childs executive producers Aaron Mankey, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick,
Speaker 4: with supervising producer Rima Lkali and producers Nomes Griffin and
Speaker 4: Jesse Funk. Havoctown is set in the Bridgewater Audio Universe,
Speaker 4: which includes the hit fiction podcasts Bridgewater and Consumed. Learn
Speaker 4: more about both shows, as well as Havoctown at grimandmild
Speaker 4: dot com, and find more podcasts from iHeartRadio by visiting
Speaker 4: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 4: your favorite shows