Zombie Hell 4

Scene 15

Tommy, Davenport and Ogden enter the hotel and proceed to the great room silently. Tommy is composed but clearly uncomfortable. Odgen is shaken. Davenport is guarded.

Betty: What’s going on?

Maria: Let’s just get out of here.

Ogden: Can we check the phones again?

Jean checks her cell phone.

Jean: Still dead. Betty, check the landline in the office.

Betty: I’m staying here.

Jean: Then I’ll do it.

Jean exits then returns.

Jean: Dead.

Davenport: Likely to stay that way for awhile.

Peter: What’s happening?

Davenport, nodding toward the man and woman in handcuffs.

Davenport: Ask them.

The group turns toward the man and woman in handcuffs.

Maria: Yeah, what’s going on?

Nita: I don’t like any of this.

Tino hurries down the stairs.

Tino: Something is going on down there. People in the woods.

Davenport: They used to be people.

Maria: What does that mean?

Davenort shakes his head, then nods toward the man and woman in handcuffs.

Davenport: Ask them.

Man in handcuffs: My name is Mitch.

Maria: I don’t give a fuck about your name. What’s going on?

Davenport: You better tell them before they start taking pieces out of you.

Vinnie: Tommy, what goes on?

Tommy: That woman was cold as a corpse.

Mitchell: It’s a decline in body temperature. They should be cooler when the sun goes down. They need warmth to maintain their animation. They get sluggish.

Ogden: And how do you know this?

Mitchell: Please…

Michel pauses.

Mitchell: We never anticipated this.

The room becomes silent.

Davenport: Yeah, this is better than you could have hoped for.

Ogden: We need some answers, and not this vague bullshit. Now, if there is something out there we pretty obviously have to worry about, so what if we just stake these two out there until we get some answers.

Mitchell: That won’t, of course, be necessary. I’ll answer…

Ogden: Not this vague crap.

Tino comes down stairs.

Tino: We got a bunch of company.

Maria, looking out the window.

Maria: Oh, God. That’s a kid.

A group of a dozen figures shambles out of the woods.

Davenpot, to Tommy: You gonna shot this time?

Tommy cradles the rifle in his arm: Yeah.

Vinnie, to Jean: I think I’m going out there this time. Jean, why don’t you give Davenport his Baretta? You got a problem lending me that small piece?

Davenport: You know how to use it?

Vinnie and Tommy chuckle gravely.

Vinnie: I do.

Jean retrieves Davenport’s service pistol. Davenport hands his secondary pistol to Vinnie.

Vinnie: Four in, one gone?

Davenport takes a clip from his pocket and hands it to Vinnie. Vinnie accepts it and checks the pistol’s breach.

Vinnie: Good.

Ogden: When do I get into the gun club?

Davenport: Way things are going, soon.

Tino: I wouldn’t mind being in the club. I got my wife here.

Davenport: Right now, look out is a job you’re doing well. If things get worse, we might have to hook you up.

Davenport, to Ogden: I got a better job for you, looking after these two.

Woman in handcuffs hisses.

Ogden: Make sure they don’t run off. By any means.

Davenport: At this point, I don’t care how you keep them stickin’ around. Just keep ‘em ambulatory.

Ogden: I like my range of options.

Tino, at the window: They ain’t getting farther away.

Davenport: Let’s go.

Mitchell: We’re your prisoners…

Davenport to Ogden: You ever been deputized before?

Ogden: Nope.

Davenport: You are now. Just recognize the Geneva convention. But if things look bad, fuck it.

Ogden: Will do.

Woman in handcuffs: We have rights.

Tommy: You ever hear of Locke? He said when someone abrogates that contract by which human beings bind themselves to mutual defense, that person surrenders that basic scheme of rights in society…

Woman in handcuffs: Fuck you!

Vinnie: Nice application of philosophy.

Davenport: We ready.

Tommy: Yeah.

Vinnie: I’m ready.

Jean: Good luck.

Scene: 16

The three men proceed outside. Jean hurries to Mitchell’s side.

Jean: You better tell me. I’m probably your best bet for a fair shake around here. This is my home. I’m not going to panic…

Mitchell: I…Maybe you think you’re better than the rest of these kind folks. Maybe you are…

Jean: Don’t play games.

Woman in handcuffs: Don’t tell them anything.

Ogden, overhearing: Probably time for you to take the scenic tour.

Ogden walks up behind woman, yanks on her handcuffs and starts to lead her away. Ogden nods to Santos, who moves close behind Mitchell.

Ogden: Let’s take a stroll…

Woman in handcuffs: What so you can beat me? So you can rape me?

Ogden: Yeah, I’ll do that so I can go dick rotten…

Ogden leads woman in handcuffs away.

Jean, smiles at Mitchell: You are in a bad spot. These people know you are withholding valuable information from them, and they are getting scared, more scared by the minute, and unless you tell them what you know…or at least what they need to know, you have big problems.

Mitchell: And what happens when I give out the information, what cards am I holding then?

Jean: Doesn’t matter the cards you’re holding when a man is holding a Smith & Wesson on you. Didn’t you ever hear that? And we’ve got lots of guns here.

Mitchell: Is that a threat?

Jean: No, it’s reality.

Mitchell: Maybe I have a few tricks left.

Jean: Everyone has got you marked already as a slippery character. Makes them harder to trick.

Mitchell: And you promise you’ll take my side…

Jean: I promise to do everything I can to get you a fair break. And if what you tell me puts you in danger, I promise to stand up for you. I won’t see you harmed for information you’ve volunteered.

Mitchell pauses:…alright. The wild woman is Genevieve. That’s Genevieve. Don’t call her Genny. She and her sister founded an eco defense group called Wildlife Guards. First it was called Wildlife because the group did pranks to call attention to animal issues. Ran naked though parks, painted their naked bodies like buffalo skins, that sort of thing. Not Genevieve. Her sister was more whimsical. Things were kind of fun until the membership decided they weren’t being taken seriously, Then things got a little darker. The group started vandalizing laboratories where animal experimentation was going on. Not exactly a wildlife issue, but it was trendy. The group became more animal rights oriented generally, and more radical. Things really turned really dark when Genevieve’s sister died during a burglary. The idea was to steal secrets from a company that was financing the cattle business in Brazil, which was cutting into the Amazon rain forest. What Millicent, the sister, and you could call her Lizzy for some reason, what Lizzy and company thought they would fine on their corporate raid escapes me, but Lizzy turned out to be a poor second story woman. She and the girls with her tripped an alarm and, in the panic to escape, Lizzy tumbled out of the window and fell. She died of brain injuries a week later.

Jean: Sad for Genevieve.

Mitchell: Maddening, you might say. She still refuses to believe it was an accident. Both of the girls who were on the raid with Lizzy testified that she fell accidentally, but Genevieve is convinced it wasn’t an accident.

Jean: I see. And what was your role in the burglary?

Mitchell, chuckling: I was against that one. Like I said, it struck me as pointless.

Jean: So, you were involved with the group from the beginning?

Mitchell: Hardly, I was in high school when they started pulling their stunts. When I went to Berkley, Lizzy was a junior. We met like any other college kids, at a drunken party, only I didn’t mind her extreme reputation. We bumped bodies when she wasn’t out on a raid or in jail or buried under books trying to catch up to the schoolwork she missed. Lizzy probably would have settled down to conventional activism. Only, little sister got involved a year later, and started pushing things.

Jean: So, Genevieve is the radical.

Mitchell: Genevieve takes things very seriously, particularly herself and, by extension, those things that are important to her.

Jean: The two of you are involved.

Mitchell: She looked at me as her sister’s boyfriend. Little sister infatuation that became more pronounced after the funeral.

Jean: And you didn’t mind the adoration…

Mitchell: I made it clear that I wasn’t ready to tumble into another relationship. She said she needed comfort, so…

Jean: But you and Lizzy weren’t in a relationship?

Mitchell: Couldn’t make Genevieve understand that.

Jean: And how hard did you try?

Mitchell: I state my peace and then people gotta make their own minds up about themselves.

Jean: Sounds like a convenient philosophy.

Mitchell: It is, but not an unfair one.

Jean: So how does convenient but fair translate into what we’ve been seeing through my picture window?

Mitchell: What do you know about the One Billion?

Jean: Just what I heard here.

Mitchell: Irony is, the One Billion was just a fantasy Lizzy and some of her friends cooked up, another prank. They knew they were being bugged, so they talked about these radical plans, but not in a way that could incriminate them. They made up another group called the One Billion. Its goal was to reduce the world population to one billion by persuasion, terrorism or, failing that, direct action, Destabilizing nuclear plants, poisoning drinking water, things like that. The One Billion was mysterious, just rumors spread along the eco-activist grape vine. The thing was, they only were rumors. The One Billion was a fantasy concocted to keep the cops busy. What Lizzy and her friends didn’t count on was police procedure. When you want to find someone, start applying pressure at that point on the grapevine where the talk is. And that’s what the cops did. Started hauling Lizzy and her friends and little sister in on weak pretenses and sweating them. But these were girls with balls. The more pressure the cops applied the more Lizzy and company wanted to do the kinds of things they thought the One Billion would do. That led to Lizzy’s unfortunate accident. It also lead to a real One Billion.

Jean: How?

Mitchell: Genevieve and some of Lizzy’s confederates, including the women who were with Lizzy when she died, came up with the scheme. The burglary. The two Lizzy brought along did time for burglary. They never signed on to Genevieve’s murder fantasies, but came around far enough, pointing out how she was last one through the window, they came around far enough to convince themselves that she might have been pushed. Hell, it all should have been a sorority myth, except Genevieve kept pushing it, making it her premise that Lizzy was building the One Billion in secret, planning the way, getting ready to put mankind in its place. Genevieve wasn’t invited along on the burglary. Survivor’s guilt? Or maybe she was pissed Lizzy didn’t trust her enough to bring her along…

Jean: And you were in on this.

Michell: The planning? I wasn’t exactly part of the sorority, The nurturing force of mother nature versus the destructive preoccupations of man-kind. Genevieve wasn’t letting in then. Not me, lusting after big sister, jealous of her feminine power. I was hero and villain, useful when convenient. Played into her fantasies. Genevieve is very smart, top IQ and all that, but she’s almost delusional in her self-involvement. I was never a player, I was someone that was used when needed, both physically and as a helper to the organization.

Jean: So, nothing is your fault?

Mitchell: Sadly, it is. I underestimated Genevieve. After Lizzy died, she took over the organization. And she came up with a viable scheme.

Jean: Which was?

Mitchell: Ha! Gen, and don’t tell her I called her that, read about a scientist who was doing research on rabies and people in South America who were resistant to the virus. It’s endemic in their environment because of the number of vampire bats around. This guy was into viruses and other parasites that can influence a host’s behavior, like that cat virus that makes people who catch it more aggressive, more risk taking. Rabies does something like that in a more intense way, creating a state of mind that helps it get passed on, making victims more aggressive so they’re more likely to bite another creature and pass the virus on. He was researching ways parasites might be manipulated, to create a parasites that might make people less aggressive, particularly those predisposed to destructive aggression. Genevieve thought this research might be useful to the One Billion. It might lead to a virus that could cause mass sterilization or one that might make people predisposed to having fewer children or no children.

Jean: So they contacted this scientist?

Mitchell: No, they kidnapped him.

Mitchell has shifted Jean farther from Santos as they’ve been talking and moves finally between Santos and her. In a motion, he flips his handcuffs down and legs up, skipping over the chain, which he loops over Jean’s head and pulls toward her neck. Jean gets a hand up and grips the chain. Santos strides forward and gets behind Mitchel, covering Mitchell’s mouth and nose. Betty rushed forward and grabs the chain, pulling against Mitchell’s weight.

Santos: You’re going to suffocate long before she does.

Firing starts from outside. Mitchell drops chain. Santos throws him to the floor. Ogden rushes past with the woman. He gives Mitchell a sideways kick in the face as he passes.

Ogden: Fuck the Geneva Convention.

Santos picks up Mitchell and shoves him toward the window, hand grasping the handcuff chain. The group looks gathers by the window. Camera moves past them. The three men outside are lined up. The group of shambling figures, one and two at a time, sense the men in front of them and begin to rush forward. The men shoot down the figures, taking careful aim to fire into the heads of each target. Some shots miss and some hit low. The low shots pause the figures, but they rush forward again immediately. In a few moments, all are motionless on the ground.

Mitchell: That’s way too much noise. Tell them to get in here. Tell them to make if fast.

Ogden: You think we’re taking orders from you?

Jean: Betty, call them in.

Betty rushes out. Her voice calls outside.

Betty: You better get back in here.

The men are scanning the woods around them, pausing occasionally as if they have spotted something. Tommy says something to the other two men and all three trot inside.

Betty and the three men enter the common room.

Tommy: Everything alright?

Ogden grabs a now standing Mitchell and hurls him to the floor.

Ogden: Piece of shit tried to strangle Jean.

Vinnie moves forward and puts the muzzle of his pistol to the back of Mitchell’s neck.

Davenport: We need him alive. I don’t know everything.

Vinnie: His head will still be alive.

Mitchell: Please. I panicked. I’m sorry. Jean I’m sorry…

Jean approaches Vinnie.

Jean: I’m alright. Don’t do it for me.

Tommy: Vin, we need him.

Vinnie: And I need to shoot him somewhere. Hey, asshole, pick a spot.

Tommy: Vin.

Vinnie steps back, but keeps his gun on Michell.

Vinnie: Twitch and I got my excuse.

Genevieve: Leave him alone. Police brutality.

Vinnie: I ain’t a cop.

Davenport: Please, let’s calm down.

Tino comes down the stairs.

Tino; There’s a lot of people in those woods by the road.

Mitchell: The virus is in the nervous system. It affects their sight, their ability to feel pain. They respond to loud noises, though.

Davenport: Wonder how you know that.

Tommy: Let’s calm down. Tino, keep an eye out.

Tino rushes upstairs.

Tommy: Vin, get him up.

Vinnie yanks Mitchell to his feet, hard. Mitchell cries out.

Nita: You killed those people.

Davenport, softly: They aren’t people anymore.

Tommy faces Mitchell.

Tommy: How do you know so much about their behavior?

Genevieve: Shut up!

Betty rushes over and puts her hand over Genevieve’s mouth.

Betty: Shut up btch.

Genevieve tries to bite Betty’s hand. Betty looks at Santos and smiles, using her other hand to pinch Genevieve’s nose shut. Genevieve tries to bite Betty’s hand then gasps. She continues to squirm, with Ogden pinning her arms. She spits at Betty’s hand. Betty laughs.

Betty: That all you got, bitch?

Betty covers Genevieve’s mouth again, wiping the spit across her captive’s lips.

Tommy, to Mitchell: You want to survive the next few moments, you outta think about answering my question.

Mitchell: Experiments.

Tommy: Really.

Genevieve screams into Betty’s hand and squirms harder. Ogden thrusts her arms hard into her rips and Genevieve squeals.

Mitchell: Get her out of here. I’ll tell you.

Vinnie, nodding toward the corner of the great room: Get her over there.

Odgen and Betty maneuver Genevieve away.

Tommy: Keep her alive.

Tommy turns to Mitchell.

Tommy: What kind of experiments.

Jean: They kidnapped a scientist who was studying ways parasites. Parasites and viruses. How they affect human behavior.

Tommy: You infected people. Where did you get your victims?

Mitchell: It wasn’t me. I was just the boyfriend.

Tommy: You went along with it. Ever think of doing something? Maybe telling someone who your friends were playing with?

Mitchell: They were my friends.

Tommy: Your friends. So you helped them?

Mitchell: It wasn’t like that. I told them this shit was getting too radical. They would have killed me if I didn’t go along.

Tommy, to Davenport: What do you say?

Davenport: I’ve been investigating this bunch for a couple of years now. They were divided into cells. We knew about the kidnapping of Dr. Janeskis. We knew they were involved, but the group that grabbed him splintered. Went underground. The network is sophisticated. And it comes from money. This clown here is a trust fund baby. His friend comes from oil money. Real environmental. They had money, real money. And real lawyers.

Vinnie; Nice.

Davenport: But we tracked the money back. His money.

Mitchell: Sure, I financed some of the pranks. I’ve got a social conscience…

Vinnie: You don’t strike me as the conscientious type.

Davenport: Yeah, he laid back. Ran the safehouse. Let the girls do his dirty work.

Mitchell: I wasn’t involved in what they did.

Tommy: Okay, calm down. Michell, right? Okay. So, your friends had a scheme. Maybe you didn’t know about it at first.

Davenport: They got jobs on the army base. Janitorial. Got free run of the labs.

Tommy, to Mitchell: When did you figure out what they were up to?

Mitchell: I didn’t. I didn’t know much about this whole fuck up until a week ago. Genevieve told me what they were up to. They had this doctor guy…

Davenport: Janeskis…

Mitchell: I didn’t even know his name. Genevieve told me the cops were closing in. They had a virus. Something from rabies. If they used it, if they distributed it, they could cull the human race. They had kidnapped more people. Kids of the people they wanted to hurt. Rich kids who were living it up on their parent’s money.

Maria: People like her. People like you. Dr. Freud would have something to say about that.

Mitchell: Yeah. Guilt I guess…

Vinnie: Oh, what were you, their shrink?

Mitchell: I got in to deep…

Tommy, to Vinnie: Alright.

Tommy, to Mitchell: So she told you they experimented on them.

Mitchell: With the virus they had Janesk…What’s his name come up with. It was supposed to make them sick. But it took over…

Tino comes half way down the stairs.

Tino: I’d like that gun now. This is getting worse.

The group looks out the window. More figures shuffle out of the woods individually, in pairs and small groups. Santos sighs. Hands Tino is rifle.

Vinnie: How much ammo we got in the house?

Jean: Ammunition we can count on?

Mitchell; Just lock the doors. Be quiet. They don’t see so good. But they can hear better. And smell. They smell better than you. It’s the virus…

Tommy: Let’s get all the doors and windows locked. Ogden, you’re an engineer. Let’s put you in charge of that. You ought to be systematic.

Ogden: I want a gun first.

Tommy: Get the place locked down, we’ll get you a gun.

Mitchell: You’re going to give him a gun.

Ogden grins.

Ogden: Oh, I can get aboard that deal. I’m going to need everyone’s help. Jean, Betty, you know the house best, so you better secure the doors. The rest of you, just turn around and go in the direction in front of you and lock the windows. If anything doesn’t lock you come tell me.

Jean: Everything locks. We have to make sure we got things locked down for the winters here.

Ogden: Then let’s get things going. And don’t forget about my gun.

The group disperses under instructions from Ogden and Jean. Peter hesitates.

Peter: Is this really happening?

Ogden gives Peter a shove.

Ogden: Let’s assume something is.

Mitchell is left alone with Tommy, Vinnie and Davenport.

Vinnie: This gets serious right now. And don’t think we don’t know that half of what you told us is bullshit.

Mitchell: I’m telling you the truth.

Davenport: Truth isn’t something you know. It could bite you on the ass with sixty teeth, and you’d think it was a mosquito biting you.

Tommy: What I want to tell me about is the experiments. Not who you conducted them on. What was done and what was the result.

Mitchell: What Janeskis came up with was a variation on rabies. Genevive set up the lab. I don’t know a lot about that.

Tommy: I just want to know what you know.

Mitchell: Okay. Genevieve set up the lab. It wasn’t far from here. I wasn’t told about where it was or much about it. But I found out that the virus didn’t act the way everyone thought.

Tommy: The virus that Janeskis developed for Genevieve?

Mitchell: Right.

Davenport: That you didn’t know anything about.

Mitchell, to Tommy in great excitement: You gotta make them understand, I wasn’t part of setting any of this up. I just found out about most of us when Genevieve thought the cops were closing in. I guess she wanted to make sure someone kept the whole thing going…

As Mitchell focuses on Tommy, Vinnie bumps Davenport and shake his head. Davenport nods.

Tommy: Okay. Okay. Calm down. What about the experiments? Something went wrong?

Mitchell: Yeah, but that’s not exactly it. The virus Janeskis developed was really potent. Genevieve thought he was trying to mess the whole thing up. She was going to kill him. But they gave it to some kid and he started trying to attack everyone. They isolated him. It was like he was rotting from the inside out. He didn’t have normal brain function. It was like the virus was running him. I don’t have the biology to understand it all. I’m an eco scientist. I got my degree in eco science. That’s how I met Lizzy. We had the same classes…

Tommy: What do you mean, the virus was running him?

Mitchell: His physiology changed. His organs were shutting down, but that didn’t stop him. He should have been dead, but he kept up. It was like he only lived to spread the disease. It was like the virus took over. Ran him.

Tommy: That’s pretty frightening.

Mitchell: Scared the shit out of me. When I found out about it, I said, that’s nuts. We gotta stop this.

Vinnie raises his gun.

Vinnie: But you didn’t. That’s good enough for me.

Tommy grabs Vinnie’s arm.

Vinnie to Tommy: Get the fuck off me, you fuckin’ coward. If you’re afraid to deal with this asshole, I will.

Davenport: Let’s all calm down.

Tommy: We gonna grope in the dark, or are we going to survive this?

Vinnie: Always your problem. You don’t know when to pull the trigger. You got some woman, you got some problem, and you wanna think you’re in control. Let’s take control of this fuck and I’m getting’ outta here.

Davenport: Guys, calm down.

Mitchell: I can help you…

Tommy takes a long look at Vinnie: You want to take this the next step?

Vinnie: When this is over.

Tommy, to Mitchell: So, you thought this was all out of hand?

Mitchell: I did. So did they. I guess this was the worst part…

Tommy: What do you mean?

Mitchell: I mean, that this would run wild. Kill friend and foe. That’s what I mean.

Tommy: So, they were going to give up on it?

Mitchell: No, they were too far along. Too invested. They tried to come up with an antidote. Like, you know, a vaccine or something.

Tommy: So did they?

Mitchell: They experimented on some kid. They developed a test vaccine. They…some vagarants. They infected them. Tried to figure things out. He got bit by a subject. But he was fine. It took a long time I guess. But they thought they had come up with the vaccine. They took it. They tried experimenting with a dead version of the virus. A couple of volunteers, they inoculate themselves. Then the kid turned. Janieski’s said it took longer because she was so young. They thought he sabotaged the whole thing. Genevieve shot him.

Davenport: So Janeski is dead. The one expert on all this.

Mitchell: It got worse. The people innoculated started to turn, too. Jeniestki said it was too soon for a second trial. But the cops were closng in. They tried a life virus, treated with radiation. They were refining the vaccine when the Feds showed up.

Davenport: Meaning me and my team.

Mitchell: They had a vaccine. Radiated. They had it, Genny and the little clique she let work with Janeski .So, they let the virus go on the army base. It was their last chance.

Tommy: You got the inoculation?

Mitchell: Yeah. Yeah. You should have seen it man. They were creating rotting corpses in the laboratory, subjects, and, when we started seeing them come out of the base, they only let me have the last inoculation on hand. They held out. Until the end. My friends were going to let me get sick. Let me rot. Until they were covered. The shit hit the fan, and who was ever on hand got innocuated. I was lucky I was with them when it happened. But the thing is, I don’t know if it really works. Prime time. Full time. No time. No time to fully test it.

Tommy: So no more vaccine?

Mitchell: I don’t know. Gen said something about the stash. The plan was to get into town, everyone we could gather up, innoculated or not, get them to town and it would be alright.

Tommy: So, get into town to maybe find a vaccine that worked or maybe didn’t.

Mitchell: Genevieve said we could all make it into town. Don’t worry, she said. I wasn’t sure what to think. Did they have more? Was she just trying to get people moving?

Tommy: But did she say she had more of the vaccine?

Mitchell: She said she could make everyboy safe. In town. She was almost giddy about it. I know the others believed she had the vaccine stashed in town. So maybe she did. If it works.

Vinnie: So you would prefer not to get bit?

Tommy: What is gestation period?

Mitchell: About 30 hours. Give or take a dozen.

Davenport: Try 12 hours.

Mitchell: It’s different in the field than in the lab.

Tommy: Okay, where is the vaccine?

Mitchell, panicking: You want me to tell you want I know? Where it was? Where the vaccine was that I knew about? I told you it’s done. Finished. What we had. They panicked. They started spreading the virus before they created a mass quantity of vaccine…The cops…I don’t know! Maybe the pharmacy.

A gun reports twice.

Tino rushes down the stars with the rifle.

Tino: Two of the things. They came out aroudn the house. They were coming up on the porch…

Davenport: The sound will draw more.

Tommy: Were you keeping track of them.

Tino: Sure. Most I seen were down the other side of the little creek. They didn’t like trying to cross it. A few are on this side. But just going along like they didn’t know nothing. Then these two came along to the stairs. So I shot them.

Betty, approaching the window: Oh no. The group rushes to the window. Shambling figures are emerging from the woods to the right of the road.

Mitchell: The pharmacy. In the town, Genevieve got friendly with the pharmacist. I know he helped her out somehow. She shook it, and she was playing with his pills. Maybe there. She could have stored some there. She was gonna give out the vaccine to the people who she decided deserved it.

Vinnie: Okay, now shut up. What do we do?

Tino: They keep trying to cross that little river. A lot more of them on the other side. If they get across, we’re gonna need a lot more guns.

Betty: We got a problem on this side of the creek, anyway. Here they come.

Tommy, to Jean: If they’re coming this way, then less of them are going toward the cottage.

Jean: If they don’t want to try the creek, we may have more running down on the other side. Little streams, creeks, all coming up off the side of the hills. It’s a morass out here, all leading to the big creek, then the lake. And running water beside the cottage. My grandfather didn’t build it where the mosquitoes were thick.

Vinnie: So we got a secure spot behind, clear field of fire in front.

Jean: However long the ammunition lasts. The live ammunition.

Vinnie: So, let’s move that way. Something’s got to be going outside in the big wide world. They’ve got to be doing something.

Tommy: You want to run up to a dead end?

Vinnie: Hey, you don’t seem so smart all of the sudden. We should have gotten out of this place first sign of this shit!

Tommy: Alright, don’t get your panties in a bunch.

Vinnie: Panties!

Jean: Alright! Enough. Can we do this?

Tommy: Jean, we’re going to need more guns to be sure we can break through.

Jean: Betty, let’s go.

Tommy: You calm enough to scout the path?

Vinnie: You remembered your balls?

Tommy to Santos: Santos, could you take charge of this? And watch her (indicating Genevieve) and…( indicating Ogden). We might still need them.

Santos: Alright.

Santo grabs Michell by the shirt.

Mitchell: Not so rough big guy. I’m cooperating.

Santos: Can I hit him if he keeps talking?

Vinnie: Of course. Just don’t leave any marks.

Santos: I can do that.

Tommy: Tell Jean we’ll be right back.

Tommy and Vinnie exit through the rear.

Scene 16,

Behind the building. Tommy and Vinnie appear.

Vinnie: So how are we doing?

Tommy: You don’t really have to get so personal.

Vinnie, chuckling: I wanted to put a look on you face. Convince him.

Tommy: Alright. So what do we know?

Vinnie: That Michie boy is a lying puke. How many times did he contradict himself?

Tommy: Well, he was definitely in that lab.

Vinnie: And he was screwing both the sisters.

Tommy: He was all over this.

Vinnie: And all over them.

Tommy: Yuck, yuck. You here that rustling in the woods?

Vinnie: You really want to scout. I say we just push through.

Tommy: This is why I hate working with Marines.

Vinnie: Now you’re bing funny.

Tommy: Question is: Did they stash the vaccine in town or is he just trying to push us that way so he can try to escape?

Vinnie: Is it relevent? Or do we just skate? We hit the woods and keep giong with what we have?

Tommy: We go about 20 yards visibilty in those woods.

Vinnie: Yeah, but what’s come has been thin, looking thicker. We move fast, we got a better shot than waiting.

Tommy: As much as we could see…

Vinnie: It’s what we got.

Tommy: We get to a stong point, secure it, and then get out. If we keep going and it’s too thick…

Vinnie: So, we got the Alamo?

Tommy: Maybe. Or Rourke’s Drift. Somewhere we can make a stand.

Vinnie: I like moving, but checking it out couldn’t hurt. But quick. Agreed?

Tommy: We secure the windows, lock the doors and move.

Vinnie: Alright...But, how do we handle the lovely couple back there?

Tommy: Same way. Far as they see, we disagree.

Vinnie: Not good on group solidarity.

Tommy: Never argue on direction, just value of our new buddies.

Vinnie: Trust Davenport?

Tommy: To an extent. He has his own agenda. But I think its close to ours.

Vinnie: The girl? Gennie?

Tommy: We carry her if we have to. She actually knows what’s going on.

Vinnie: Mitchie?

Tommy: He’ll cross us up first chance he gets.

Vinnie: I’ll take care of it. No fun playin’ the buddy and putting him down.

Tommy: I’ll be closer. If its you, then its you, but if it goes the way we think it will, I’ll do it. Short and sweet.

Vinnie: Alright. (Pauses) Nothing going to be pretty about this.

Tommy: Circumstances could get tight. Whatever these things are, looks likely they’re going to be on us the whole way to town. Just hope they aren’t too many.

Vinnie: Wish we had more edge weapons.

Tommy: Wish we could trust the others to use them. Anyway, let’s hope they at least use the guns.

Vinnie: Less than half will.

Tommy: Then we keep them moving. Run them like scared rabbits if we have to. Let’s take a quick look out.

Vinnie: So, what do you think is in town?

Tommy: I hope it’s the whole fuckin’ New York National Guard.

Scene 17

The hotel great room. Nita, Jean, Maria and Betty have gathered to the side away from the others. Ogden sees and relinquishes charge of XXX to an unhappy Santos and slides over during the conversation.

Maria: I say we just go.

Jean: We don't know what's out there. We stick together.

Maria: We go.

Ogden: And what do we do with our friends. The fun couple.

Maria: Leave them. Just run for our fuckin' lives.

Jean: Where. Where do we run?

Maria: To the town. How do we get there? They got cops. People got guns. This is the fuckin' sticks. People got guns. They' re gonna defend themselves. They got State Troopers, maybe the fuckin' National Guard. We got nothin' but a few guns, ammunition that we don't know works and a couple of fuckin' idiots that think they're in charge. We just run.

Jean: Tom and Vinnie seem to know what they're doing.

Maria: Nobody knows what the fuck they are going. Looking that fuckin' Davenport there. He knows more about what the fuck is going on then anyone, and he just keeps looking out the window.

Nita: Tino is taking watch, too.

Maria: Who the fuck cares? He's looking out the fucking window, too. Where the fuck does that get us. I go home, people got guns. But when things get bad in the Bronx, and they get bad in the Bronx, no matter what that fuck Bloomberg says, they run. They run if they don't got enough guns. We don't have enough guns, not if those things keep coming. We fucking run.

Jean: Enough. Enough with the hysterics. Enough with the damn mouth.

Maria: What? You don't like the way I fucking talk lady?

Jean: I don't like it. And if you don't shut the fuck up, I'll knock you down myself.

Maria: Yeah, old lady...

Betty: She can do it. And if she can't, I will.

Maria: Oh, yeah, bitch.

Ogden: Ladies, as much as I would enjoy an ol' fashion cat fight, I'd like to be the arbiter in this. Maria's right in this: We don't know why we're not out of here yet. But, I have to side with Jean in saying, heading out into the woods without knowing what's how there might not be in our best interests. Those New York boys might be a little overbearing, but I say, give them 15 minutes, but if they aren't back, we get out of here. And someone give me a goddamn gun then, if you don't mind. I gotta go back.

Ogden returns to the other side of the room, where Davenport and Santos are holding the prisoners. Dianne, who has been holding her child on the nearby joins the women's conversation.

Diane: We hold on for Tommy and Vinny to get back.

Maria: And who asked you, Miss Bitch?

Diane: Calm down, and watch your mouth around my child.

Maria: Watch my mouth? Your child. You think you're the only one's got a kid. What if the whole world's going to shit, and where's my boy. His grandma can protect him. My boyfriend is supposed to be here. Bad enough I'm paying for this romantic weekend. Romantic weekend...no more use to me than he is to his son...

Diane: I don't know what's going on with you or anyone else. You want to get to your boy. I understand. But he wants his mother back, and the prospects of that happening by her running headlong through those woods don't seem so right by your boy.

Maria: I want to get to my boy. Okay, I want to get to my boy. I don't want to be here. What the fuck an I doing there. I don't even want to be with his chickenshit paleface daddy. Reminds my of you, lady. Nice manners, and I'll take care of everything. He says he's taking care of me. When he wants...fucking don't want him anymore anyway...but my boy...

Diane: Okay, let's calm down.

Maria reaches out to stroke Diane's baby.

Maria: I'm sorry, but we have to go. I have to see my boy.

Tino comes half way down the stairs.

Tino: It's getting worse out there. We gotta go.

Scene 18

Vinnie and Tommy approach the cottage. A figure stumbles across the front.

Tommy: Just one.

Vinny: We can see. Where there's one there's more.

Tommy: But it's pretty quiet.

Vinny: What's on the other side of the creek starts coming, won't stay quiet.

Tommy: Agreed. Let's move the the people back there on up.

Vinny raises his gun.

Vinny: Deal with this one now or later?

Tommy: Not like that. Quiet.

Vinny: How?

Tommy takes a thick branch from the forest floor. He approaches the figure brusquely. It initially doesn't notice him, but, when he gets close wheels and rushes forward. Tommy holds the branch in front of the figure. It tries to grab the end, but as it lunges, Tommy wheels and strikes it with an overhand blow to the back of the skull. The creature's skull deforms and it falls forward but tries to regain its feet. Tommy raises the branch and strikes its skull, spewing blood and brain matter. He grunts and returns to Vinny.

Vinny: Not squeemish at this juncture are we.

Tommy: Let's get back while we can.

The turn and proceed back the way the came. A sound catches their attention. A figure emerges from behind the house. A young woman with an arm stump torn away above the wrist. She shambles toward the downed figure, slowly than at a rush. She begins to tear at the exposed neck with her teeth.

Vinny: Oh, that's fuckin' beautiful.

Tommy: Yeah, we're deep in the shit.

Vinny: Gimme that stick.

Tommy: We gotta move.

Vinny: You want to bring folks back to this?

Tommy: Let's hope that piece of meat will keep anything around occupied. Whatever's around will be right where we can eliminate it.

Vinny: What if it's like chum and it draws them in.

Tommy: We still get a look at what's in the soup. If it's too heavy, we try the woods.

Vinny: Lovely choices we got.

Tommy: Yeah, so let's get back before our choices get worse.

Vinny: Yeah.

Tommy: We get back, you remember you're pissed at me.

Vinny: I'm pissed at you for not giving me the stick.

The woman approaches Vinny and Tommy, but lungs to feed on the corpse.

Vinny, quietly but to the female figure: Eat hardy, bitch. Wait 'til you see what I'm brining back for you.

Scene 19

Vinny and Tommy burst through the front door.

Vinnie: We gotta go now.

Ogden: Finally.

Tommy: We have to organize this carefully. Whatever happened to these people, their dangerous. We need to move, and we need to recognize that we have to put anyone who gets in our way down.

Jean: We need to be careful. We've got friends out there, trying to survive this. We can't be indiscriminate.

Betty: Bobby is out there, and he's trying to get to me.

Ogden: Then, dammit, let's meet him half way.

A gun reports three times.

Nita: Tino.

Tino stumbles down the stairs.

Tino: You wouldn't believe what's going on out there. It's nuts.

Tommy: What happened.

Tino: They got distracted. They were trying to eat the cat!

Betty: Socks?

Tino: I don't know its name. They all rushed it. They almost had it. I shot one in the head, and the cat got away. They don't go down when you hit them anywhere but the head.

Davenport: Or the heart. They still need that.

Tino: I'm aiming for the heads. More of them down the road. Gimme me a damn machine gun if you want me to go up there again.

Nita: Tino.

Tino: Sorry, babe, but this is bad.

Vinnie: We're getting out.

Tino: Thank the Lord.

Vinnie: It's still risky.

Tino: It's risky here. It's gonna get worse. I want my wife outta here. This is startin' to look like a last stand. Let's get moving.

Tommy: Okay, let's get everyone organized.

Mitchell: He's right let's...

Ogden: Shut the fuck up! Give me a fuckin' gun and let's go.

Vinnie, to Tommy: I guess we gotta...

Tommy, to Jean: How many guns do we have?

Jean: I told you, it's not the guns, its the ammunition.

Ogden: I'll take my chances. At least give me something I can hit 'em over the head with.

Tommy, to Mitchell: You have anything helpful to add?

Mitchell: Besides get the hell out of here, no.

Tommy: Anything helpful? Behavior?

Mitchell: Just let's go. They'll bite anything they think is fresh meat.

Vinnie: We know enough! Let's go.

Tommy: Who is calling the shots here?

Vinnie: You?

Vinnie nods toward Mitchell.

Vinnie: Let's cap these two and go.

Tommy: We all go. Let's see what we got and what we can run with.

Jean, to Betty: Get the pistol from the old desk, please.

Betty exits.

Tommy, to Jean: You sure.

Jean nods. Betty returns with an old revolver. Jean hands over the revolver to Ogden. He opens the cylinder.

Ogden: Where are the rest of the shells?

Jean: It's a forty-four. You want to find where my farther kept the rest of his bullets, you can hang around here and look,

Ogden, muttering: Six shot. Three bullets.

Vinny: Follow me out.

Vinny begins leading the group toward the back. Tommy holds Jean back.

Tommy: You sure you want a hot head with a gun?

Jean: Six shots. He's gotta chose who he shots most carefully.

Tommy nods. He and Jean follow the group out.

-20-

Vinny leads the group across the lawn behind the hotel and, cautiously into the woods along the road. The group follows.

Santos, watching the wood: Something's out there.

Vinny: Just keep moving. Keep your hands off triggers. No noise.

They proceed through the woods. As they approach the cabin clearing, Vinnie stops and holds up a fist. Carl stumbles into him.

Carl: Sorry.

Vinny: Shhhhh. This means stop and be quiet.

Carl steps back: Sorry.

Vinnie makes a slight whistle with his teeth.

Vinnie, over his shoulder: Wanna come up here, bright boy.

Mitchell, talking to Tommy, as he passes; How much do you trust him?

Tommy proceeds.

The group approaches the cabin. The woman with the detached hand is wandering near the door. He mouth is bloody.

Vinnie: I guess the diet is off.

Ogden raises his gun, Tommy quickly presses it down.

Tommy: Wait.

Ogden: What the fuck?

Tommy: Let's figure this out quietly.

Tommy, to Vinnie: You wanna go down the right or left?

Vinnie: Right's closer.

Tommy: Okay.

The two divide around the house. Looking behind it and returning. The woman notices Vinnie and begins to follow, sniffing the air. They return to the starting point, the woman speeding in her pursuit.

Vinnie: Shit, shoulda gone left.

Ogden raises his gun again, Santos, pushing it aside, from behind returns with a stout branch. He rushes forward as the woman picks up speed toward the group. He strikes her head, smashing her skull and she falls. Santos returns to the group, looking at Ogden.

Santos: Quiet.

Ogden smiles.

Ogden: Show off.

Tommy, from inside: All done.

Santo, loudly: Yeah. How's the inside?

Tommy: I'll let you know.

-21-

Tommy follows his gun through the lower level of the house. He returns to the lobby by the stairs. Vinny comes from side.

Vinnie: Clear. No raccoons, either.

Tommy: What about upstairs?

Vinny: Yeah.

They begin up the stairs, guns drawn. They check the rooms, moving between shadows and light. Something moves, they wheel guns but don't fire.

Tommy: Good fire discipline.

Vinny: Thanks.