PREY
"Escapes"
ACT TWO
FADE IN:
EXT. DESERT – DAY – UNIDENTIFIED POV
To a blue-eyed YOUNG BOY in a barren desert setting. STARK blue sky, CLIFFS BARREN of any vegetation. It's as if he's training for some athletic triathlon. He picks up an OBJECT and throws it ... the object seems very large and very heavy for a child of his age to handle. As the
OBJECT
FLIES through the air it seems to go very, very far before it lands with a SILENT, VISUAL THUD, kicking up the dust. The boy glances over at his
TRAINER
a man with ASH BLONDE HAIR, and BLUE EYES - who looks at his watch and then up with deep approval in his eyes. Suddenly in this scene we’re aware of sound
FOOTSTEPS as if approaching from other end of a long hallway ...
SMASH CUT TO:
INT. EMPTY DARKENED ROOM – TIME OF DAY AMBIGUOUS
TOM
wakessuddenly from a fitful sleep, to realize once again where he is. WIDENING we see the pool of light and the BARREN FLOOR around his cage and blackness beyond. He’s collapsed on the floor of the cage where there’s not even room enough to stretch out. Panic sets back in. We hear his labored breathing in the dead quiet as he struggles to gain control over his fear. Nobody's around, nobody seems near ... it starts to subside as he remembers the dream. The dream is comforting to him ... as he starts to relax back into it, suddenly he FLASHES ON
INT. HALLWAY JUST OUTSIDE THE DOOR – TIME OF DAY AMBIGUOUS
SOMEONE WE CAN’T MAKE OUT
is walking down the hall, toward the room SLOWLY. DELIBERATELY. Someone familiar to us.
CUT BACK TO:
INT. EMPTY DARKENED ROOM – TIME OF DAY AMBIGUOUS
TOM – CLOSE SHOT
realizeshis sixth sense is kicking back in. For the first time, he SMILES just a little to himself before laying his head back down on the floor of the cage as if lapsing back into fitful sleep. In the blackness beyond the light shining down on the cage, we hear a DOOR OPEN, then FOOTSTEPS, then we see a figure STEP into the light. Just the feet. HIGH HEELS. An amused voice asks:
LL (Voice Over)
How does it feel?
We FLASH on TOM’S EYES as they SNAP open and STARE at her. And us. Inhuman. He raises up and leans forward slightly as
LL
falters just a second and steps back from the cage. A barely discernable LOOK OF FEAR ripples across the calm of her face before it returns to its usual lack of EXPRESSION. There’s just a trace of malevolence in her EYES and the set to her MOUTH.
TOM
studies her for a second. Then shuts his eyes almost dismissively, but he’s really concentrating on his returning sixth sense. He can sense her dull, muddy curdled terror masked by a thin sheet of calm like it was a concrete thing. Funny. He's more aware of this in her than she is in herself. And strangely it draws him back from a black pit he's trying desperately not to fall into – it calls to him, like the scent of blood to a hungry shark. All of a sudden we see him LUNGE at her and at us, lightening speed. Out of the blue. Unexpected. His arms break through the cage and his hands reach around her neck. The thin sheet of calm SHATTERS into thousands of little pieces, and her face and eyes are the cold wet mold of rage and terror. Just one little twist ...
SLOAN (Voice Over)
Tom, stop. Please!
He blinks and sees
SLOAN’s face
before him, her unsettling green EYES looking up into his, imploring, panicked, as he REALIZES he’s gripping her fragile throat with his hands. Now his intensity shatters, no, melts and drains out of him.
TOM
Oh, Sloan ... I'm so sorry ...
His hand moves up to touch her FACE as it evaporates.
WIDENING we see TOM
slowly shift from his cramped position on the floor and settle himself against the cage. LL is still standing a safe distance away, her hair in place, her clothes neat and untouched, watching cautiously and curiously. We realize none of this violence really happened.
TOM
Why don't you come in and see for yourself?
A long beat between them.
LL
Not likely.
TOM
What do you think would happen?
(LL is silent)
TOM
I've worked with you.
Why would you do this to me?
LL
You know why! Your kind can't ever be trusted. That's why we have to exterminate you - ALL of you.
TOM
But not all of us –
LL
We don’t want peace with you. I’ve studied evolution of man. War is inevitable when two species fill the same ecological niche. And WE intend to strike the first blow. In fact we’ve just struck the first blow.
TOM
What do you mean?
LL
We - very recently – tricked a group of your kind
(TOM listens stunned, fascinated)
who claimed to want peace. We lured them to a deserted place, under pretext of granting them protection under the United Nations. And then we opened fire and slaughtered them.
TOM
knows he must find another way of working on this black muck of fear within her. Snapping her neck isn’t an option – for more than one reason.
TOM
But you can trust me.
(urging)
Open the cage and see what happens.
LL
appears to be DRAWN, a fleeting expression of fascination crosses over her face. Then she breaks free of it and
LL
How can we trust you - you don't even know yourself what you're capable of doing from one second to the next!!!
She stomps away quickly. Just before exiting, she looks back over her shoulder and says,
LL
Get ready. We're going to find out.
We hear her voice outside as she speaks to the guard ...
LL (Voice Over)
Keep him caged like the dangerous, unpredictable animal he is.
CLOSE ON TOM
as he looks after her ... glowering ... reflecting ... and then strangely sympathetic. He smiles knowingly and says
TOM
I'm more dangerous to you in this cage than I could ever be outside of it.
INT ED’S LIVING ROOM – NIGHT
Where an emergency meeting is about to take place after Walter’s press conference.
SLOAN and ED are anxiously cleaning from their card game. Waiting. There’s a persistent POUNDING on the door.
We STAY on ED as he opens the door to reveal a somewhat disheveled
WALTER
standing in his portal, a large manila envelope in his hand.
ED and SLOAN
Walter!
ED
Come in.
SLOAN
Where’s Ray?
WALTER
I sent him home to his family. He’s been worried sick about them.
ED
So have they – about him. It’s good to see you, man.
WALTER
Thanks.
The three of them have already exchanged some information over the phone, such as Tom’s abduction, and what really happened with the peaceful dominants. We STAY on WALTER as he walks in to
INT. ED’S KITCHEN – CONTINUOUS
and sits down at the kitchen table.
ED
sets something to eat and drink in front of him, which Walter gratefully accepts.
SLOAN
sits down beside him. It’s like he hasn’t eaten for three days.
SLOAN
Walter, where did your boss take Lewis that night he was captured? Was it the same place you were going to send Tom the night he came back to kill us?
WALTER
I know of a couple of possibilities – but I don’t think Tom or Lewis were taken there.
ED
Why not?
Walter grabs a manila envelope he’s laid on the table, pulls out a stack of pictures, and hands them to Ed who goes dead quiet as he shuffles through them before reluctantly handing them to Sloan.
WALTER
Because of these. I don’t think my employer would do this.
ED
I thought Dragon Lady was your employer.
WALTER
She
thought so too.SLOAN
looks through the pictures as a grim silence settles on the room. We should feel like we’re sitting on top of a time bomb that’s about to explode – and want to run for cover. Finally
SLOAN
How did you get these?
WALTER
John Maxwell got these in his email yesterday. The address was untraceable.
(beat)
We think they may have come from one of the more militant animal rights groups.
ED
The ones that put plants inside labs to expose and disrupt animal experiments?
Walter nods.
SLOAN
And you think Tom was taken to this place?
She JERKS up a picture of Lewis and holds it in front of him.
WALTER
Yes.
SLOAN
Well
, how do we find out for sure?WALTER
We’re already working on it, Sloan. We’re already talking to people at the facilities we know about-
SLOAN
Talking
? Walter, these pictures tell me we don’t have much time! We have to find him NOW –Walter interrupts rather emotionally – unusual for him.
WALTER
We will FIND him!
His voice becomes gentler.
WALTER
Sloan. I know how much you care for Tom. And you probably won’t believe me, but – I consider him part of our team. Dominant or not. We will find him.
SLOAN
looks as if she’s going to weep.
WALTER
Sloan, you must use the tools you wield best in this fight – and let me use mine. We are looking to you for scientific leadership. This new species was yours - and Anne’s – discovery.
(pauses to let it sink in)
You know you have to do this, Sloan.
SLOAN
How can Ed and I do anything when we can’t even get back into our lab?
Walter grabs a few more bites and takes a hasty swallow.
WALTER
After I get done with these pictures, you’ll be back in the lab. Give me 48 hours.
SLOAN
Okay, you and Ray do your thing, but I haven’t stepped out of this search for Tom, Walter. This building of co-existence must be built brick by brick. We won’t always be given second chances. We’ve already blown it with those poor, peaceful dominants. Tom trusts us. THAT is our cornerstone! Without it, there will be no Habitat for Humanity, Walter!
Off SLOAN we
INT. GOVERNMENT RESEARCH PREP LAB SOMEWHERE UNSPECIFIED – DAY
A GLOVED HAND
LIFTS and WIPES a BLOODY SCALPEL. We can't see what's underneath it. WIDENING we see an attractive, rather short, dark-haired scientist in a white coat, laying down a scalpel beside the CARCASS of a white rat.
THE DOOR
opens and
THREE MEN
enter the room. One, a nondescript middle-aged man, also wears a lab coat and acts like he’s been there before. The other two, in suits, look around apprehensively to see cats RESTRAINED in cages. Electrodes are implanted in their brains.
CHARLES
Sleep studies.
(he rolls his eyes and shudders.)
DAVE, THE DARK HAIRED SCIENTIST
laughs as he pulls off his gloves.
DAVE
Not ours, thank goodness!
CHARLES
Dave, I want to introduce two new members of our team. This is Dr. Jonathan Mitchell, a biochemist, from Penn State University and Dr. Bob Santiago, a biological anthropologist from UC Berkeley.
DAVE
The NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) guys! Dave Samuels, neurology, Purdue. Have you seen the 23T magnet yet? First of its kind!
BOB
A SLENDER, INTENSE MAN with receded hairline and passionate dark eyes, who looks to be in his forties. Bob should be very excited to see a 23T magnet, but he’s not.
BOB
Dr. Samuels.
(beat)
Jon and I were told this project was an important part of the national scientific agenda.
CHARLES
It is. National defense.
BOB
We just reviewed the design plan. You can’t tell me these subjects are participating voluntarily.
DAVE
Not everyone can do the noninvasive experiments you guys do.
(exchanges glances with Charles)
You know and I know - eventually you gotta cut ‘em open and take a look inside.
BOB
turns to his partner JONATHAN MITCHELL, a bearded man wearing GOLD-RIMMED glasses. INSCRUTABLE save for a few warmth wrinkles which materialize around his brown eyes.
BOB
This is obscene!
JONATHAN
Just what are these experiments supposed to tell us?
Just at that moment, the door SWINGS open and LL enters.
LL
Hello, gentlemen.
They all nod as she walks up to Jonathan and Bob.
LL
(smiles slightly)
You’re not happy with our state-of the-art facility, Dr. Santiago?
BOB
I was just saying -
LL
Gentlemen, you’re here because you are experts in your field. And I want to hand you the opportunity of your careers. Just think - if you had a chance to get your hands on a new species of human - what would you want to know about them?
BOB
That’s not a fair question! This is evolution! As yet we can't even imagine the possibilities, let alone know what questions to ask - and if you proceed with this plan – we may destroy our chances of ever knowing!
LL passes a BIG STACK of pictures to Jonathan and Bob. Pictures of the school children. Lynch’s victims. Spanish Flu victims. As Jonathan and Bob leaf through them she says
LL
And if you knew they wanted you dead? And if you knew they could tell you were coming at least five seconds before you could possibly be seen, heard, or smelled? And if you knew they could reproduce four times the rate that you could ... For the sake of your own children’s future ... what would you want to know about them?
A long beat.
JONATHAN
Their physiology ... they must have some weakness, some vulnerability ... A way we could kill as many of them as efficiently and as quickly as possible.
BOB
The ‘Final Solution,’ Jon? Listen to what you’re saying for Christ’s sake!
JONATHAN
Ultimately we'd want to do a side by side comparison of their physiology and ours. Some MRI. And solid and liquid state NMR spectroscopy of tissue samples from various organs ...
LL
We’ve decided to assemble an interdisciplinary team to approach this project. Our earlier - ah - attempts - were haphazard, and resulted in premature damage to our - samples. The experimenters tended to fight with each other over opportunities for - access. Charles Dancer will be the coordinator between the groups.
(indicates Charles)
Let him know your timelines and what your needs will be.
She walks to the door and SURVEYS them.
LL
It’s them or us, Gentlemen. Let’s get to work.
Off LL we
INT. EMPTY DARKENED ROOM – NOON
(It will be left up to the actor/reader to decide how to represent the following passage.)
TOM
little by little is regaining his strength after the gene therapy. He discovers he can track time, day and night, by sensing the people who move throughout the building. But mostly, his mind, when he's awake, wanders back to those hours when he was fully human - as if it's reluctant to turn it loose, let it go – even after he's started to revert and after he's been yanked away from the experience into this place of deprivation and humiliation and fear. All the myriad new feelings tumbling over him so fast he couldn't even sort them out, ones he didn't even know existed. The strange new way of perceiving things ... and the absence of the stark, grim necessity which always seemed to have its foot pressed against his throat. That experience did something else for him as well, he discovers ... it spoke to that loneliness within ... since he'd stepped into that no-man's land between the two species.
It felt good to belong?
Suddenly he hears a question he'd sidestepped a whole world ago.
SLOAN (Voice Over)
Now do you understand your feelings for me?
CLOSER ON TOM as we watch
A FLOOD OF JUMBLED MEMORIES - CONTINUOUS
replay themselves in front of his EYES.
He RELIVES and REACTS as ... he sees the WEDDING COUPLE descend the steps of the church ... SLOAN stands so close to him in the basement that they seem to be pulled into each other – an overwhelming sense of attraction he doesn’t know what to do with ... nor does she . . . the strangeness and uncertainty barely hold them apart ... he stands in her kitchen after she'd made him promise to come back and he'd brought her THE MUMMY ... those feelings of sympathy and affection confusing him ... holding him there when everything in him tells him to run ... he kneels down with her IN FRONT OF LEWIS – he’s ready to die with her .... he lays beside HER in bed at the motel and admits an ugly, frightening side of himself to another for the first time ... why was that so painful? Finally her beauty, so tantalizingly near him, and her absolution break down all the barriers ... they pull him in ... and he takes her in a sweet momentary KISS ... oh, how good she feels to him! And her feelings – they take his breath away, how he wants to stay and explore this newness, satisfy this ever present hunger deep within ... then suddenly he’s back in the ARMCHAIR in her apartment, the fever setting in as he starts to revert ... END INTERCUT.
We
SMASH CUT TO:
INT. EMPTY DARKENED ROOM – NOON
ALL THE LIGHTS suddenly flip on as
TWO GUARDS
enter wheeling a gurney.
GUARD
We’re ready for you.
CLOSE ON TOM
No! He doesn’t want to leave her, NO!
INT. EXECUTIVE OFFICE IN DOWNTOWN LA – DAY
CLOSE ON JOHN MAXWELL
as he speaks on the PHONE with a member of the press.
JOHN MAXWELL
Yes, in an hour. Al Paxter will be with me.
(beat)
The Director of P.E.T.S.
(beat)
Partners for Ethical Treatment of All Species – an animal rights group. I’m sending the glossies ahead. Hold the presses until my man shows up.
(beat)
I want them to get the full effect.
He smiles at Ray as he hands him a
BROWN MANILLA ENVELOPE containing the glossies.
JOHN MAXWELL
Welcome aboard.
Ray’s moving up in the world. He now sports a National Security Agency Badge with security clearance, and a gun.
RAY
Are you sure this won’t backfire? I mean, aren’t things inflamatory enough right now?
JOHN MAXWELL
If we do this right, this publicity will throw water on the fire, Ray. We want it to shock people and arouse sympathy. And it will put pressure on certain offices to make some changes in personnel.
RAY
But what if she decides to destroy the evidence?
JOHN MAXWELL
I’m choosing to take that chance.
(as Ray raises his eyebrows)
This will get our lab back. And it may get them released.
RAY
One way or another?
