Stu breaks his leg when he falls in a dry riverbed, and must be left behind with Glen's dog, Kojak. The remaining three are captured by Flagg's forces a few days later, and Glen is separated from Larry and Ralph. Flagg orders Lloyd to shoot and kill Glen after he taunts Flagg. As Larry and Ralph endure a show trial on Fremont Street, Flagg uses his powers to silence a dissenter, striking him with a ball of plasma energy emitted from his fingers. "Trashcan Man" arrives at that moment towing a stolen nuclear warhead with an ATV and showing signs of radiation poisoning, so Flagg orders Lloyd to kill him. Flagg is unable to stop the energy ball from transforming into a spectral hand, the Hand of God, and it detonates the nuclear bomb as the voice of Mother Abagail declares that God's promise has been kept, and welcomes Larry and Ralph into heaven. Las Vegas is destroyed by the nuclear blast, and Flagg is apparently killed along with all of his followers. Stu is rescued by Tom, and they witness the nuclear explosion together. Tom and Stu find a working car and make it to a nearby cabin where Tom sets Stu's leg just as a winter storm arrives. Stu contracts the flu, but in a dream, Nick comes to Tom and tells him which medicine to give him. Stu recovers from the infection after a number of days, and the two of them return to Boulder in a snowstorm via a Snowcat. Stu finds that Frannie has given birth to a daughter, whom she has named Abagail. The baby has contracted the superflu, but she is able to fight off the virus. Lucy reveals that she is pregnant with Larry's child, and Joe sees a spectral image of Mother Abagail, as she blesses the newborn baby. Assured that the immune survivors can safely reproduce, the inhabitants of Boulder set to work rebuilding the world. Cast Development As a theatrical film King and George A. Romero's first conversations with each other were about the development of an adaptation of 'Salem's Lot (1975) in the late 1970s; although Romero wouldn't be involved in any adaptation of that novel, he did express interest in adapting The Stand during these discussions. While King initially didn't think of the novel being worthy of a film version, Romero's reason was the amount of traveling