Hold Your Breath

Ollie, Ada.

Mom's coming.

Come on, this way.

Girls!

Mom!

Rose!

Mom, where are you?

Mommy!

Help us! Mom!

- -

Dear Lord, we ask that you keep the storms at bay.

Calm the dust.

We thank you for bringing Henry this job.

Preserve those who travel.

Bring Henry in safety to his journey's end.

Let him earn enough to finish our home.

Plant a crop.

Help me.

Help me to see the gifts you've given me rather than the things you've taken away.

Help me to keep Rose and Ollie healthy and safe.

Don't let them fall ill like the other children.

Rose, toss down some hay, sweetheart.

Just a little.

We have to make it last.

Bruise me, bloody me,

if it means you won't touch a hair on their heads.

Please kiss Ada for me.

Promise her that I will fend off my human proneness

for evil so that we can be together again.

All of us.

And when I lie awake tonight, banish worry from my heart.

Reward me with peaceful black sleep.

Amen.

I asked your daddy to patch this.

There's just never enough time.

You think he'll see Philadelphia?

No, it's too far east.

Well, I wanna see it.

Hmm.

I wanna see what it's like.

Maybe next summer.

If the crops come in.

Lock this behind me.

Follow my finger as I read, okay?

"The Grey Man locked his lovely wife

and five children in the bedroom, then gathered embers from the fire.

He aimed to burn the six angels up, but fate had one more victim in mind.

As the flames leaped higher,

the Grey Man realized his shirt was caught.

It was no use.

The flames consumed him.

Now, during a dust storm, the Grey Man's ashes blow together.

He walks the night.

If you don't wear your mask, you'll breathe him in,

and he'll make you do terrible things."

You could come with me.

I won't put them in a tent, lose what little we have.

And I won't leave her out there.

Alone.

Girl...

So, how'd Henry get off last week?

- Well... - Yeah?

There were quite a few heading out.

Last man standing.

- Oh, I'm so sorry. - That's all right.

Just... It's hard to keep up with.

He's been at that all night.

Is it that cold that was going around?

It started out like that, but it's just... it's just gotten worse.

- It's pneumonia, Dr. Cox says. -

Oh, it's not catching.

Doctor says it's just too much dust in the air.

What are we meant to do about that?

It's a battle.

- -

Thomas has been poorly.

Well, they should go see that faith healer over in Guymon.

He pulled the arthritis right out of an old man's fingers.

Bones just straightened right out.

It's good you brought the girls, Margaret.

Why is that?

I guess you haven't heard about Calabash.

The daddy said the door was locked.

But the drifter got into the house somehow.

Ransacked the pantry.

They found him eating crackers over the baby.

No, Birdie, he'd already finished the crackers.

He was just looking at the baby.

He must have been hungry.

Hunger don't explain staring at a baby like that.

Just staring.

And it certainly don't explain what he did after.

He tied the daddy up

and made him watch while he killed the mama and the kids.

Gutted like hogs.

Can't keep up with chores as it is.

How am I supposed to watch out for fiends too?

You keep your guard up.

Always.

Did they ever catch him?

The drifter.

No, not yet.

And I can't figure it.

Nobody saw him leave.

It's like he just melted into the dust.

- -

Oh, sweet Jesus.

Goodness.

- You're not leaving today. -

Trying to.

The wind is terrible. There must be a storm coming.

There's always a storm coming.

But people die in them and you'll be exposed on that cart, Esther.

Unprotected.

All you need to do is make sure Thomas and Jacob stay inside.

Clean. Seal the house.

Even so, it seeps through everything.

Keep finding it in the oddest places.

I had a dream last night that, um...

He would not stop coughing.

I took a handkerchief, and I stuffed it in his mouth.

Over and over and over.

Sorry.

I just got to get my boys outta here.

Whoa. Easy. Easy.

Girls, grab the twine or you'll get lost in the dust!

Where's Ollie?

I can't see her.

- -

What man?

Stay here.

Mom, don't go out there.

The Grey Man?

You scared her with this, Rose.

Didn't I tell you to get rid of this?

Yeah.

This should help with the dust, okay?

What about that man?

That drifter that disappeared.

There isn't anyone out there.

Understand?

I'm taking this.

Will you tell us about the wheat?

The first year we planted, it just took hold.

When the wind blew, the weeds would wave like the ocean.

And one day, we played hide-and-seek in the tall grass for hours.

Come on.

Hurry up.

You could hide inches away, and I couldn't see you.

But I could always hear you giggling.

It was perfect.

Good night.

- - Mom, wake up!

What? What happened?

Ollie was right. Someone's outside.

See?

Wait here.