- The woods have always been
where I felt most comfortable.
Safe.
It's society and people that terrify me.
We hurt, terrorize, and kill each other
without a second thought.
For reasons that are meaningless.
In nature, animals only kill to survive.
This place was our chance to leave everything behind.
To start our own path.
Sorry, sorry. - Fuck, dude.
- Watch where the fuck you're going.
- My choices create my destiny, not a deck of cards.
Must be a new fad.
I saw another guy out here with a deck of those
offering readings for money.
Kinda funny when you think about it.
- What is?
- People who think their life is predetermined.
- I say if you're unhappy with your life,
then take charge and change it.
We only have ourselves to rely on in this world.
Take what you need to make yourself happy.
- As long as you're not hurting anyone.
I'm Noah.
- Like the Bible?
- Something like that.
- I'm Patrick.
- Like the saint?
- I haven't seen you around here before.
- I don't get out very often.
Everything seems so peaceful up here.
- Things aren't always as they seem.
- Perspective.
- Take it from personal experience.
You can get yourself into some bad situations
by making those kind of assumptions, especially up here.
What does this mean?
- I didn't bring the book.
But I think it has something to do with balance.
Fairness.
Doing the right thing.
- Hmm.
I respect that guy.
He knows what he wants and he's not afraid to go after it.
- Isn't that the guy that hangs out in front
of the dime store that hands out balloons with the bad wig?
- Howdy boys.
Name's Stan.
- Coming?
- I'm sorry, that wasn't very nice.
- So which one is it?
- Huh?
- You wanna fuck him or be him?
- Neither.
- Love doesn't exist on Devil's Path, sunshine.
- You better be careful.
- Huh?
- They look like you.
- Trail up ahead is closed.
- Why?
Why is it closed?
- A couple people been attacked recently,
and until we find out what happened to the guys
who went missing up there, it'll stay closed.
Oh, nice to see you on the main trail
instead of the side trails down below.
I'm Ranger Tom.
- Noah.
- This is-- - Mark.
I'm Mark.
- Tom, we need you down here
at the visitor's center pronto.
Someone let their dog off the leash
and it's chasing the damn deer.
- Copy.
People and their refusal to follow simple rules.
You two stay off the closed trail.
And make sure and make it down before dark.
Can't help you after that.
I mean it, it's not safe.
Could be a bear.
- Don't get out much, huh?
- Sometimes I like to watch.
Mark.
- I just prefer people not knowing my real name.
Especially up here.
- So is it really Patrick?
What are you doing?
- Don't be such a pussy.
Live a little.
You should see your face.
See, isn't this better than the lower trail?
- I guess that depends on what you're looking for.
- Look around you.
This is exciting, this is real.
- What, sex in the woods?
- Yes.
It's primal.
Tangible.
Nature at its finest.
- Seems a little bit lonely.
- I think that's pretty judgmental.
- No, no, no, I didn't mean it like that.
- How did you mean it?
- I walked by a guy back there who was just
standing in the woods waiting to be chosen.
Just seems like kind of a lonely way
to find love or romance.
- You really don't get out much, do you?
People don't come here for love or romance.
They come here to get off.
And besides, love is a chemical reaction in the brain.
It's not real.
- Isn't that a little judgmental?
- The truth is never judgmental.
You look as spooked as that ranger back there.
- Guys go missing, people getting attacked,
it's not a bear.
- How do you know?
- There'd be tracks or--
- Or?
- Remains?
- Sometimes people just do fucked up things,
and sometimes people just go missing.
- What do you mean by that?
- Motives can be overrated.
You're so scared, why did you come with?
What are these?
Is this some witchcraft or some shit?
- No, it's not witchcraft.
It's a cairn.
Hikers, they use those to mark alternate trails.
- You must be an avid hiker, or a witch.
- No, I'm not a witch.
I spent a lot of time in the woods growing up,
when I was a kid.
Michigan has a lot of hiking trails.
- Ah, I knew it.
Midwestern boy.
Small town?
- So small it wasn't even on a map.
- Midwestern boy from a small town who believes in love.
- What about you?
- Like what?
- Where you from?
- Not here.
- What do you do for work?
- What am I, a suspect?
- No.
No, I'm sorry.
I like to ask a lot of questions,
it makes me feel comfortable with a person.
I liken people to a Seurat painting.
- Is that the dot guy?
- Very good.
Each dot is like a shared experience.
You have enough shared experiences with somebody
and eventually they'll come into focus.
- I prefer to keep people up here to one dot.
My dot is that I'm an EMT from all over.
- Have you ever saved someone's life?
- Yeah.
- Cool.
What was it like?
- It's just part of the job.
- So this stuff fulfills you then?
- What?
- Sex with strangers.
- No, no no no, it's not a judgment.
I'm genuinely curious.
- It makes me feel.
- Feel what?
- That's it.
It makes me feel.
- Do you get together with people more than once?
- I have to be honest, Noah, you're a good-looking guy
and all, but you and I are clearly looking
for two different things.
- What do you mean?
- It doesn't feel right if I know too much about a person.
I think this may be where you and I part ways.
- Wait, wait, I have to go to the bathroom,
can you just hang out for a minute?
I don't wanna be up here by myself,
and I'll be really quick.
Please.
- Noah?
Noah?
Fucking cock blocker.
Hey.
Noah.
Whoa, you all right?
- Oh, my head.
- Let me see.
Oh man, your head's bleeding, what happened?
- A guy attacked me.
- Why?
- I don't know, he didn't tell me.
- Can you walk?
- I just need a minute.
- All right, here, let's get you to your feet.
- I just need to get my balance.
It's a good thing you called out, you scared him off.
- You're good?
- Hey!
- Shit.
We gotta go.
- Get 'em!
Hey, over here!
Come back, you fucker.
You won't get away!
You can't hide!
Look, footprints.
Come on, this way.
Probably took off.
We should keep looking.
Let's go.
- Quiet.
They'll find us here eventually, we gotta get outta here.
Back country trails.
There's back country hiking trails
that run all the way down to the parking lot.
I've seen them on the visitor's center at the maps.
If we just head in, we'll hit one of those
and we can take that all the way down the mountain.
- Yeah, what if we get lost?
- There's a compass in a small pocket in the back.
Take it out quietly.
- You're gonna get us outta here with this thing?
- I grew up in the woods, remember?
Now they are gonna hear us when we run,
so we have to be faster than they are.
Are you okay to run with your asthma?
- Don't worry about me.
- Are you sure?
- I said I'm fine.
- One,
two,
three.
We gotta keep going.
- I need to relax.
Do you think we lost 'em?
- We'll see.
- What's wrong?
- Just dizzy.
Easy, easy, too much at once will--
- Jesus Christ.
This is fucking insane.
What are we gonna do?
- Whatever we have to.
- Where are you going?
- I just wanna get a closer look.
- Not too far.
- I won't.
You hear anything, take off running,
I'll follow the sound of your running, okay?
Okay?
- What the hell were you doing
leaving me back there for so long?
- I told you what to do if you heard anything.
Are you ready?
- Wait.
Water usually ends up somewhere.
Could this take us out?
- No.
This is just runoff from all the rain this year.
Now what we need to do is we need to find
that trail to get down.
- What happened to your back?
- Probably only a few more hours of daylight left.
- That's good.
Darkness should give us cover until morning.
- We can't be out here at night.
There's bears and mountain lions, and probably wolves.
I don't know, I don't like the dark.
Maybe we should just go back.
- It's not the animals we should be worried about.
- Noah, we've been out here forever
and we're getting nowhere.
- Patrick.
There are backwoods hiking trails
that lead all the way into the mountains.
If we keep going this way we're gonna
hit one of those trails and it's gonna take us out.
But if we're gonna get through this, you and I,
we need to work together.
And it is safer here than it is back there,
I can promise you that.
- Perspective.
- Hey, what the hell?
- I'm trying to listen out for whoever the fuck
is following us while you're sitting on your ass
making noise like we're playing house.
- You get angry, I shuffle cards.
We all cope with stress differently.
- Fuck!
- What?
All I wanted to do today was get my dick sucked,
and now we're being chased through wherever the fuck we are
by some psychopaths that you pissed off!
- Have you ever been on a road trip?
- What does that have to do with anything?
- When I was a kid, my family, we went on a road trip
to Wisconsin Dells.
On the way back we got a flat tire
and we didn't have a spare, so somebody had to go back
the couple of miles to the last town that we went through.
And my dad, he hurt his knee really bad in the wave pool,
so my brother and I, we volunteered.
But the only thing that we had was this old tricycle
in the trunk of our car that my dad kept forgetting
to donate.
So my big brother and I, we got on that tricycle
and we rode those five miles back to town.
It was the happiest I have ever been.
- Who the fuck cares?
- The point is that whenever anybody talked about that trip
the only thing that they talked about
was my big brother and me contorting ourselves
onto that tricycle and riding back to town.
Made that trip unforgettable.
Why fight against what could be
a defining moment in your life?
This is my brother, Michael.
He used to come up here a lot.
Ever met him?
- No, I don't know him, and frankly I don't give a shit
about your family or your stories.
I just wanna get out of here.
- Okay then.
- Did you hear that?
How much longer till we hit one of those trails?
- I don't know.
Could be 10 minutes, or it could be two hours.
I mean, we can always stay out here
and then just go back when the sun comes up.
- When the sun comes up?
Fuck that, we keep moving.
- Whatever you say.
You really don't like the dark, do you?
- No, I don't, okay?
- Why?
- The faster we go the quicker we get there.
- Hey, what's that?
- Noah, come on, we gotta keep going.
- It's a baby bird, it's injured, we gotta help it.
- Kill it.
- What is wrong with you?
- You'd leave it out here to suffer?
That's fucked up, cruel.
See?
I put it out of its misery.
Now let's go.
Noah, you have to keep quiet.
Calm down or they'll hear you.
Okay Noah, you have to breathe through this.
Noah, listen to me, listen to the sound of my voice.
Slow, deep breaths in through your nose,
hold it, and release through your mouth,
I know what I'm talking about,
I deal with this all the time at work.
Put your arms above your head.
This always helps me with my asthma.
Putting your arms above your head
allows more air to get into your lungs.
Slow, deep breaths in through your nose,
hold it for four, two, three, four,
and release it on eight, two, three, four.
Hold it, two, three, four, release.
Focus on the sound of your breath.
Hey.
You wanna tell me what that was all about?
Are you sure we're still going in the right direction?
How about if I hold onto the compass for a little while?
Noah.
- Don't touch me.
- Oh, relax.
It was gonna die anyway, I did it a favor.
- It's not your decision to make about what lives or dies.
Yeah, it may have been injured, but it could've been saved.
- I think we're the ones who needs to be saved right now,
not a fucking bird.
Okay, I've been really nice about all this,
but I'm gonna give you five seconds
for you to take your hands off me
or I'm gonna knock your ass out.
What the fuck?
You swung a knife at my head.
- Brown recluse.
Simple thank you would suffice.
- Where'd you get that knife?
- My brother gave it to me, why?
- Because it's mine.
- No it isn't.
- Yeah, it is, I can prove it,
there's a D on the base of it.
See?
It's mine, now give it back to me.
- Well if you didn't know my brother
then how did he get your knife?
- It probably fell out of my bag along the trail somewhere.
- Bullshit.
You lied.
- No I didn't, you asked if I knew him, I don't.
- No no no, I asked if you'd met him,
you said you didn't know him.
- Semantics.
We hooked up once, all right?
And he probably stole it from me.
Now give it back.
- You're a liar.
- Come on, this way.
Anything?
- No.
I heard footsteps, anything your way?
- Not sure.
- All right.
Go.
Fuck.
Fuck!
- Not until they're gone.
I can't believe they're still following.
- I gotta get outta here.
It's gonna get dark soon.
- Good luck with that.
- I say if we haven't hit a trail
in the next 30 minutes we go back.
- My brother and I used to play a game to pass the time.
If you were stranded on a desert island,
what would you bring?
- A boat.
- We never thought of that.
- And you?
- My soulmate.
What do you have against love?
- It isn't real.
Love is a concept, it doesn't actually exist.
- So you really don't think that love can exist
between two people?
- Why is it that in nature, no animals stay together
after they fuck?
- Penguins do.
- That's because they're programmed that way, by instinct.
If human beings were, then they'd do it automatically.
But no, we get divorced, and cheat, and hurt each other.
We're constantly going against our own nature.
- Sounds a little cynical.
- And you sound a little naive.
Besides, I'm not a fucking penguin.
- We also have a much more complex brain
which allows us to choose.
I mean, you can't really compare free will to instinct.
- What are you trying to do?
- I'm not following.
- Whatever you're looking for, I'm not into it.
Let's just get outta here.
- I thought we were just sharing our opinions.
- Are we?
Because it seems like you're judging me for my opinion.
- You would see it that way, wouldn't you?
- Oh, fuck off.
- You fuck off.
What?
- Listen.
Water.
That has to lead someplace.
- This isn't a good idea.
- Well you're more than welcome
to follow that shitty compass,
but I'm getting the fuck outta here.
- The only way that we're gonna know that they're close by
is if we can hear them coming.
We're never gonna hear 'em coming if we're by the river.
- Okay.
Then what do you suggest?
- Why don't we just push up into the woods a little ways,
we'll get up far enough so that we can still hear the river
but we can also hear 'em coming.
And we'll just follow the river out from there.
- After you.
- Are you an only child?
- Why?
- Just seems like it.
- Maybe.
What are you implying?
- What are your folks like?
- Can we just focus on getting out of here?
- Sorry, I just thought, you know, once we hit the river
you might lighten up, even be friendly.
- What are you looking for?
- My pills.
I thought I put 'em in the side pocket.
- What kind of pills?
- Anxiety pills for my--
- Anxiety?
You're not gonna find 'em.
I threw 'em out.
- You what?
- Dude, relax.
- Why would you do that?
- Be calm, relax.
- Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you?
- I'm sorry, all right?
I saw them in your bag and I threw them out.
- Why would you do that?
- My mom got hooked on those things, okay?
I was a kid, she took too many,
I came home from school one day and she was dead.
I'm sorry.
And I didn't think you needed them.
I mean, you didn't, right?
You got through it, right?
- Touch my stuff again, and I'll fuckin' kill you.
- Hey, over here.
You can't hide from us!
Where are you!
- If they find us in here we're dead.
- They hear us?
- I don't know.
It's gonna be dark soon.
- Good, then at least we're safe until morning.
- I'm not staying here all night.
- Is that really necessary?
- Well they're not trying to suck our dicks.
So we need to be ready if they come back.
I say let's give it some time and then
try to make it back to the river.
- Patrick, staying in here is the safest place to be.
Running blindly out into the night,
that's only gonna get us killed.
- Do you have a flashlight?
- No, I don't.
- What if this is an animal den?
- This isn't an animal den.
If it was, there would be bones.
Better?
Hell of a day, huh?
- I'm sorry I threw out your pills, that was stupid.
- Forget it.
So much for your one dot limit out here with people, huh?
- You're really enjoying yourself, aren't you?
- I'm enjoying being in here, away from them
out there, yeah.
As much as I can, anyway.
- Well, I mean out here in the woods.
- I prefer being in the woods to being around people, yeah.
- Why?
- I feel safe in the woods.
I don't feel safe around people.
My experience, people are the root of all evil.
- Can't argue there.
- Tell me something that no one knows about you.
- Why?
- Pass the time.
- When I was a kid, my mom used to lock me in the closet
whenever she had one of her crazy spells.
That's why I'm afraid of the dark.
How about you?
- I killed someone once.
- Bullshit.
Who?
- My uncle.
- Okay.
I'm listening.
Why?
- 'Cause he tried to kill my brother.
- Did you shoot him or something?
- I beat him to death.
- What happened after?
- What do you mean?
- I mean, did you go to jail?
- My brother did.
He told the police that he did it.
- What did your parents say?
- My parents died a couple years earlier in a car accident.
My uncle was our only living relative,
so we had to go live with him.
- What happened to you?
- I was 13.
They sent me to a mental hospital.
- How long were you there for?
- Until this year.
My brother came and got me out when he got out of prison.
You know, they never told me that I could leave
when I turned 18.
I gotta pee.
- Right now?
What about them?
- I'll be quiet.
Don't worry.
- It's about time.
- So what were you looking for now?
- Huh?
- In my bag.
What were you looking for?
- Flashlight.
- I told you I didn't have one.
- Yeah, well you could've been lying.
- Why would I do that?
- I don't know.
- You're the one who hasn't been honest.
Go ahead, look in my bag.
- No, I believe you.
- I said look in my bag.
- I think maybe we should just get out of here.
- I'll make you a deal.
I'll get you out of here safe and sound tonight
if you do something for me.
- What do you mean?
- I mean I'm willing to risk my life for yours
if you do something for me.
- Okay.
Deal.
- Tell me where my brother is.
- What are you talking about?
- Stop the bullshit.
He went missing out here.
Tell me where he is.
- I don't know where your brother is.
I told you, we messed around, that's it.
- This is what you want, isn't it?
- Stop.
- I'll give you what you want.
- Stop.
- Please.
I'll do anything.
Just tell me where he is.
- I don't know where your fucking brother is.
- He came back one night with that knife.
He told me he found it in the park.
But I knew he was lying.
I thought he was stealing.
I didn't want him to go back to prison.
So I followed him.
I saw you together.
He left his cards behind.
He'd never do that.
Took them everywhere.
We found those cards together when we were kids.
He wouldn't leave them behind.
Michael!
And that's when I knew that something bad happened
on that trail.
And you were the last person with him before he disappeared.
- Whatever you think happened to your brother,
I had nothing to do with it!
- Hey, give me that.
- You think this is love, Noah?
This is some fucked up shit.
- You don't get to decide what love is,
especially when it's something that you're
not even capable of.
You wanna know what happened to my back?
My uncle used us as his own personal whipping bench
and punching bag.
He kept us locked in the basement in a dog cage
and fed us slop, sometimes nothing at all.
We had to sleep in our own piss
while he spent every dime that my parents ever made.
My brother is the only reason that I didn't give up hope.
When you go through something like that,
you develop an unbreakable bond.
That is love, Patrick.
A love that crosses all boundaries.
And it is real,
and pure,
and beautiful.
'Cause I'm not the one who's out here taking
and taking and taking and taking and never giving back,
because the only thing that you care about is yourself.
That's fucked up.
You're just like him.
And I know that my brother wasn't the only one.
Because I saw you with that other guy
right before he went missing too.
Remember, I like to watch.
- That guy was just another trick!
- Tell me where my brother's body is
or I swear on his life I will take yours.
- Okay!
Let's go.
- Hey.
Where the fuck you think you're going, huh?
- Where's the guy you jumped?
- What?
- That his blood?
We caught you, you fuckin' homophobic piece of shit!
- Oh my god, you okay?
- You killed them.
- It was them or me.
He said something that I jumped a guy.
- That would've been me.
- Whoa!
Hey.
Are you all right?
- That guy, that guy that I was with, he attacked me.
I think he's the one who's attacking people out here,
please, you gotta get help.
You gotta get help, I'm gonna hide,
you gotta get help, please.
- You made them think I attacked you?
- I had to.
You were gonna go off with that other guy.
I needed more time with you.
- You're crazy.
Seriously fucked up!
- Was it an accident?
Like him?
I will let you walk outta here right now.
Just tell me what happened to my brother!
Did you lose something?
I've given you every opportunity to admit to what you did.
And you just keep lying.
Daryl?
You left your wallet in your bag.
Someone once told me that
it'd be cruel, or fucked up,
to leave something out here to suffer.
I'm gonna find him.
Whether it takes days, weeks, months, even years.
I will never give up.
I got you.
I got you, bro.
Goodbye.
What happened to him?
- He showed up.
Turns out he just ran off with his boyfriend.
Probably can't say the same for him.
- I'm sure he'll show up.
- Right.
Trail up ahead's closed.
- Noah.
I'm so sorry that it had to be this way.
I wanted it to be different, I really did.
You waited all those years for me only to let you down.
I want you to know that I don't regret
going to prison for you.
In fact, it was my proudest moment.
All I ever wanted in this world was to protect you.
When you saw me with that guy,
yes, I saw you too.
I saw the pain I caused you.
It broke my heart.
That's when I knew
I had to give up my life so that I wouldn't screw up yours.
That's why I left those cards for you,
hoping you'd find them to remember me by.
Those cards were all we had when we were kids.
They always seemed to help us when we
couldn't help each other.
I want so many things for you, Noah.
You can have a beautiful life.
You were so much stronger than I ever was.
You never lost hope.
Please know that I wasn't alone in the end,
and I wasn't afraid.
I had you right here with me.
Thinking of you and I riding that tricycle down that empty,
open road towards that perfect fire-orange sunset,
wind in our hair, smiles on our faces,
and love in my heart.
Please forgive me, Noah.
I love you.
My brother.
My soulmate.
- How is it that a stupid little pebble
can cause so much pain?
- It's 'cause you're putting all your weight on it
with every step you take.
- That was a rhetorical question.
Are those tarot cards?
- Yeah.
- What are you, some new agey weirdo or something?
- No.
Not anymore.
Somebody really special gave these to me.
- Hmm.
I'm Steve.
- I'm Noah.
It's really nice to meet you, Steve.
- What am I supposed to do?
- Just pick a card.
- Is this good?
- Depends.
Keep it, keep it.
- Just moved here.
Really love the nature.
What about you?
- I used to.
Nature, for me, it used to be like home, safe.
But now it's just another reminder.
- Hmm?
Oh yeah, man, me too.
Love it out here.
- That you'll never belong anywhere.
- Bright day, sunny sky, beautiful.
- Or with anyone.
- Yeah man, for sure.
- That you'll never really be able to live.
Just survive.
That you've become so broken that you've allowed yourself
to become exactly what you hate.
- Yep, gotta love the nature.
Hey, I'm gonna catch a friend.
Nice to meet you, Neil.
- A monster.