a city hospital, 8:00 p.m.
an unexpected visitor has just arrived
bearing unwelcome tidings—
a disease so new
the textbooks haven't recorded it.
this then is its first case history
documented from the medical files
of the twilight zone.
i'm nurse hendricks.
may i help you?
it's my eyes.
i need to see the doctor.
get dr. peterson.
let me take a look.
no.
please. We can't help you if we don't know what's wrong.
don't touch me.
i'll show the doctor.
get me the doctor, immediately.
name?
jean reed.
mrs. Jean reed.
address?
1705 fairmont street.
please, where's the doctor?
i've got to see him.
dr. peterson is on his way.
take a seat.
there isn't much time.
oh...
oh, god.
no...
it's too late.
what's too late?
don't you understand?
i can't see.
i'm blind.
let me see.
come with us, please.
good morning.
can't you do something?
try the clinic.
clinic's full.
my wife hasn't been well.
i think maybe it's her heart.
we just need somebody to see her.
maybe a day or two in here.
mr. wells, without medical insurance
or some guarantee of payment
we cannot admit her.
i'm sorry.
it's hospital policy.
there's nothing i can do.
come on, sweetheart.
what kind of hospital
is this?
i thought you're supposed to look after sick people.
i couldn't help overhearing.
are you all right?
i'm fine.
it's not my decision.
it's hospital policy.
people should understand that.
got it.
mrs. Hendricks, mrs. Reed is asking for you.
she says she has to talk to you.
she was quite insistent.
you wanted to see me, mrs. Reed?
yes. Hello.
won't you sit down, please?
i have a great deal of work to do.
i have something to tell you.
sit down, please.
mrs. Hendricks, we're alike, i think.
you and i.
i don't even know you
and i don't think you know me.
no, but i sense that we're alike.
we are two of a kind.
mrs. Reed, shouldn't you be sleeping?
you're changing the subject.
of course.
i know because i used to do the same thing.
it's easier, isn't it?
prescribe a pill, suggest a nap
anything to not think about a person
or talk to them.
sleep is the best thing for you.
dr. freidman will be in at 9:00.
he's our chief of staff,
and one of the country's finest eye specialists.
you'll feel much better after he talks to you.
i feel all right now, mrs. Hendricks.
it's you i'm worried about.
that's very kind of you.
now get some rest.
i don't care what your figures show.
my phone bill is wrong.
yes.
no, it's not.
it's $50 higher than it should be.
well...
computers make mistakes.
no, i don't want to hold...
looks like you need a vacation, claire.
it's the way
people treat you sometimes.
you want to...
never mind.
what can i do for you?
you talked to mrs. Reed yesterday.
did she mention her family, her husband?
not that i recall.
why?
he's here.
did he come in about his wife?
no. he didn't even know she was here.
emergency picked up the call about an hour ago.
he was calling for help.
an ambulance just brought him in.
he's gone blind, claire, without apparent cause.
it's contagious?
he claims he's had it since last night.
if it's contagious, she got it from him.
but if she knew...
knew, and left him there
and came in here to save herself.
he says he begged her not to leave him.
he must have passed out.
fear, i guess.
when he came to, she was gone.
he crawled around the house until he found a phone.
that's hard to believe.
she knew exactly what was happening.
she must have seen it happen to him.
mr. reed...
it's dr. peterson.
do you have any news?
what's causing this?
we don't know yet.
then leave me alone.
mr. reed,
would you like to be in a room with your wife?
i wouldn't share her air
if it was the last oxygen on earth.
do you have any idea
what it's like to wake up blind, alone,
calling for someone over and over who isn't there,
realizing you've been abandoned?
i don't need to talk to her or to you
or anyone till someone
tells me they've found a cure.
leave me alone.
i don't care what happens to her.
don't you understand?
i don't care.
there you are.
you both better come downstairs.
all hell's breaking loose.
stay calm.
i'll get to you.
i must see a doctornow.
i'm sorry.
others are ahead of you.
i need a doctor.
please...
this is an emergency.
wait your turn.
you're the same as everybody else.
who do you think you are?
go to the end of the line.
i can't see anything.
wait your turn.
help me, please.
get to the end of the line.
i can't see.
i'm right here.
it's all right.
i was at work.
i'm not sure what happened.
we'll take care of you.
they're blind, claire.
they're all blind.
stoned blind, we used to call it.
blindness is not new, this is.
this growth, this ocular window shade
is beyond my experience.
i was informed that the center for disease control in atlanta
is on full alert and that the surgeon general
has convened an emergency meeting in washington
of top physicians.
delay in responding to this
could cost us dearly.
agreed.
any clue to the disease's origin?
dr. gordon's been calling atlanta on that.
he went home
to shower and change.
he should be back by now.
dr. gordon came in
an hour ago.
he's blind.
my god.
we've had reports
of an estimated 500 cases in new york city.
los angeles is running about the same.
it seems we have an epidemic on our hands.
what about the press?
not being very helpful, are they?
unless we say something constructive soon,
we'll have a full-blown panic on our hands.
people are scared.
there must be something we can do.
there is and we are.
the difficult part is this waiting for someone
to come up with a cause.
then we can proceed.
until then all we can do
is keep running tests and wait.
when did you last get some sleep?
i don't know.
go home and rest.
consider that an order.
you too, eddie.
i need my staff alert and clearheaded.
all right, but i'll be back
for my regular shift tonight.
ditto.
who is it?
it's me.
claire hendricks.
i'm glad you've come to see me.
please, sit down.
you must be exhausted.
the others were talking about you,
how hard you work.
they call you
a dedicated woman.
is that what they call me?
dedicated?
they used to call me that, too.
i was very businesslike.
nothing bothered me.
why did you come to visit me?
i don't know.
i was on my way home...
normally you don't visit much, do you?
the other nurses mentioned that, too.
is it because you sense it, too—
that we're two of a kind, you and i?
i should let you get some sleep.
i know what's happening to us.
i know how it's happening
and why it's happening.
would you like to hear?
yes.
it's because we're monkeys.
remember...
see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil?
we used to be courteous.
we used to care.
we used to rise up in outrage
if someone was in pain, abused, unsheltered,
but now...
don't you see?
we've cut ourselves off from so much
we refuse to see what's going on.
we turn a blind eye to pain.
now it's catching up with us.
now it truly is a blind eye.
that's preposterous.
is it?
i heard your husband went blind first,
and you abandoned him.
is that true?
he'd just gotten a call his mother had died.
they weren't very close.
when he heard, it was like someone discussing the weather.
that's when he became a monkey,
and i ran.
i ran to save myself.
now i'm a monkey, too.
this new growth is irritated and inflamed.
the ocular muscles are function normally, though,
leading us to believe the eye itself is undamaged
though hidden beneath a curtain of flesh.
there's a chance surgery can remove this
without injuring the eye
but we won't know for certain until we try it.
atlanta has no news on causes?
they may have a theory
but they're tight-lipped
until they can confirm.
they estimate that at the present rate
those afflicted could reach 100,000 by week's end.
what about quarantine?
i can confirm
it's being discussed,
but that's all.
there's always a chance it may not be a disease at all
but some latent mutation
triggered by some change in the environment.
what's got 100 arms, 100 legs, 50 heads, and no eyes?
the south wing of this hospital.
could i have your attention?
i've just received a fax from washington.
at 1700 on 10 april—
only hours before the first case was discovered—
an explosion was reported
at a top secret biological research lab in alaska.
it is presumed certain unstable bacteria
may have been released into the atmosphere.
it is estimated that their effects could be
unpredictable.
it is fairly certain the bacteria released
cannot survive long...
outside the laboratory.
well, i suggest...
we adjourn.
claire?
hello, eddie.
thought you were leaving?
i was, but there's no reason to go home.
jim and i have separated.
he moved out.
sorry, i didn't know.
nothing acrimonious, all very calm and sensible.
we just stopped connecting.
we led our separate lives
like two strangers just sharing the same space.
no connection, no involvement, just lost in our indifference.
i came in here and started thinking about me
about all of us.
she's right, eddie.
we're monkeys.
claire, you're not making any sense.
do you know, i can't remember
the last time i looked a patient in the eye.
somewhere along the line
i stopped treating them as individuals.
they're just numbers to me.
they don't have life stories.
they have charts.
i'm no different from you.
but you are.
you're an excellent nurse.
it's just part of the job.
isn't that a fine excuse?
isn't that a comfortable bandage on our diminished humanity?
the phone company overcharges us,
there's nothing they can do about it.
we turn sick people away
because they don't have the right insurance.
it's just part of the job.
so we lie to ourselves
and cut ourselves off further and further
because there's so much pain.
you were in the meeting with us.
you heard the reports from washington
just as i did.
they know what the cause is now
without a shadow of a doubt.
if you keep chasing this around in your head...
there's something happening.
that report doesn't explain
why only some people are susceptible and some aren't.
what does it say in the bible?
"if thine eye offend thee,
pluck it out."
stop this.
you're upset.
this has all been a terrible strain on all of us.
what you need to do is go home.
get some sleep.
yes, i'm sure that will solve everything.
good night, eddie.
oh!
god!
oh! oh, my...!
help me.
somebody...
help!
it's okay, i'm here.
claire, it's me.
i'm blind, eddie.
i'm blind.
oh, god.
oh, god!
dr. freidman.
ah, eddie.
good.
thank you.
dr. peterson will play guide dog for a while.
how's claire?
she's the same.
no vision.
none at all?
no, i'm afraid not.
mrs. Reed, good.
i was hoping to see you.
dr. peterson here.
yes.
could you drop by mrs. Hendricks' room
maybe help cheer her up a little?
she thinks a lot of you.
of course.
i'd be glad to.
nurse.
mrs. Hendricks.
it's me, jean.
can i visit for a while?
of course.
well, isn't that exciting?
we're going to see again.
operation works.
20 out of 20 successful in l.a.
dr. freidman's getting his this afternoon,
and i'm tomorrow.
and you?
when are they planning to operate on you?
they're not.
they're what?
the operation isn't really the answer.
you said it yourself, remember?
you're right.
that was before we knew about the bacteria...
now we have an easy answer
solid and uncomplicated.
but it won't last.
it will happen again
and they'll think of something else.
what if we run out of solutions?
easy answers?
it's time to go now, mrs. Reed.
wait, dr. peterson.
aren't they going to operate on mrs. Hendricks?
no.
an operation isn't the answer in her case.
how will she ever see again?
she'll see again.
it will just take her a little longer.
enigma draped in hospital sheets
in self-imposed darkness
with the added sobering thought
that claire hendricks is perfectly correct
in her own diagnosis.
take it as a warning, a cry for humanity
or a simple plea for responsibility
from the dark places of the twilight zone.