The Severed Arm

I don't know.

Hello, special delivery package.

Sign here, please.

That's very good, that'll do it.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Yeah, so did I, it was a great evening.

I'm opening a package.

Christmas is early, I guess.

What time should I come over?

Yeah, you know it.

Dr. Sanders, please.

Jeff Ashton.

Tell him it's urgent.

- May I help you, sir? - My name is Jeff Ashton.

Oh, yes, the doctor's expecting you.

Mr. Ashton is here.

- He'll be right with you. - Thank you.

Come on in, Jeff.

- Hold all my calls, huh? - Yes, sir.

You didn't call the police, did you?

Are you kidding?

Of course not.

What'd you do with it?

I got rid of it.

What would you want me to do, donate it to a medical school?

All right, all right, take it easy.

It's just...

- Drink? - Yeah, a scotch.

It's just that it's such a hell of a shock

after all this time.

God.

Whose arm do you think it is, anyway?

Who knows?

Maybe one of the others.

Mark or Bill?

Who the hell knows?

I knew it.

I knew we hadn't heard the last of this.

- It's Ted, isn't it? - Gotta be.

The last thing he said to us was he'd never forget.

I thought he was in some institution somewhere?

- He's out. - He's out?

- I just called there. - He's a raving maniac!

That's right!

Either he got better or he put on a damn good act.

Important thing is he's out.

Jesus.

Jesus, that miserable place.

How the hell could I have enjoyed such a thing?

Crawling around some damn hole in the ground.

It's going to come back at us, Jeff.

Hard.

After five nightmarish years.

Jeff.

Are you sure you know where the hell we're goin'?

I told ya.

It's about two miles, right over that hill.

Should we carry packs?

No, if it's not any further than that,

we can hike up there and come back for the packs.

It's your cave, Jeff, what do you say?

Let's take my pack, leave the others here.

Bring the Colman's.

You're the boss!

What's Colman's?

Why don't you guys relax and I'll rig up the elevator.

That'll hold okay.

Solid.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, solid.

Okay.

- My pack. - Here's your hat.

I'll take the first ride.

Ready?

- Yeah. - Give him a hand, guys.

Okay, next!

How's it look down there?

Looks okay from here.

Not very big, though.

Come on down!

Okay, I'll go next.

Looks like there was a cave-in over here.

Oh, that's old stuff, probably happened years ago.

What do you think, is it safe?

Hell, I don't know.

That's what makes it exciting.

What do you say we split this cave and go to Vegas?

This stuff is really rotten.

Why don't you guys stop worrying and get some samples?

We oughta be outta here in time

to get back to the Rover before dark.

When's lunch?

Fantastic.

Well, this old mountain's blown up top a couple times.

I don't know, you've seen one cave, you've seen 'em all.

Look at that.

Look how this formation has pushed its way up through there.

Oh, yeah!

Hey, Herman, what the hell are you doin'?

Well, isn't that what we're down here for?

Collecting rocks?

- You see what you did? - It's an old cave.

It's a cave-in!

Take it easy!

It's locked, we're trapped!

I told ya, god damn it, I told ya, I told ya!

Stop it, Ted!

Stop it, Ted!

You wanna start another cave-in?

Help him!

I can feel air, it's comin' through here.

It's open up above somewhere.

It's solid, we'll never make it.

- Well, we gotta keep trying! - Wait a minute, wait.

- Easy, ea, easy. - No! '

That's no good, we need to get it to the Rover.

Well, we don't have it, so let's keep at it, huh?

All right!

Come on, it's fine, let's think.

Let's think.

There's gotta be a way.

They'll find us, probably lookin' right now.

This was a two-week trip, remember?

- Who's expecting us now? - Oh, god, nobody.

We'll wait.

Must conserve every bit of energy we can.

There's no food and damn little water.

How many days now, Ray?

Just seven.

"Just seven," he says.

If I don't get anything to eat soon,

there won't be anything left to rescue.

I once wrote a short story about a group of sailors

who were lost at sea for 60 days.

Know how they kept alive?

Fish?

Nope.

They ate the weakest member of the crew.

Swell.

Now we've come to cannibalism.

We'll have to hold off until tomorrow.

I can't eat meat on Friday.

You'd make an exception this time, wouldn't ya?

They should've found us two weeks ago.

We've had it, and you know it.

Ray?

How much longer can we hold out?

That's the last of the water.

Maybe tomorrow.

There isn't one chance in hell

of anybody finding us by then.

What if...

What if the men on that raft had,

had only eaten parts of each other?

Could they have survived?

Why?

Think about it.

I don't have to think about it!

I know what's on your mind, you're crazy!

It's a way.

Take a part from everyone in turn.

You wouldn't like me.

I'd give you high cholesterol.

You're serious.

You're god-damn serious.

I'm trying to stay alive.

You're talking about cannibalism.

He's talking about survival.

If anyone died, it would be pure murder.

That's cop talk, Mark.

What would you call it?

Like Ray said.

Survival.

I don't think I could eat human flesh.

Christ.

I know I couldn't.

Hey.

Hey, this whole thing is sick!

Just knock it off.

So we just sit here and rot?

Now, uh...

Don't get me wrong...

I'm not for it.

Like, how would we decide?

On who'd be first.

We draw straws.

It's crazy.

Would you rather die?

That's going too far.

You know a better way?

What part gets cut off the loser?

That's up to the loser.

Now, wait a minute.

You sound like this has already been decided.

Who gave you...

You've already been told that some of us,

maybe all of us, can't make it through tomorrow.

Is that true?