"EDDINGTON" (2025)

We begin on a CU of a weathered, sunwashed old sign on the * ground. “Say Yes to HOPE in 2016. VOTE TED GARCIA for Mayor.” *

In the BG, the bare, ravaged feet of a homeless man walks * toward us. The feet arrive at us and, avoiding the sign, * start walking left and we TRACK ALONGSIDE THEM. As we track, * we begin BOOMING UP along his body, passing his hand, which * clutches a dead pigeon. We finally arrive at a profile close- * up of the man’s MOUTH AND WET NOSE, glistening. We are * tracking left with the mouth and nose, keeping them centered * as the man rants to himself, spraying spit. This man has a * cold (or worse). This is LODGE’s mouth. *

LODGE * Oh God, why did I let go?! I was * holding her hand. I’m still...! So * why wasn’t it there?? * (suddenly struck by a * paranoid thought) * Did HE? Oh God. No. Why would he * take her, why would he take her? *

We stop tracking, allowing Lodge to pass, to reveal that we * are centered on a giant sign for a data center development. * “GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL.” A logo for * Solidgoldmagikarp in its corner. *

From off-screen, Lodge throws the dead pigeon at the sign. * Thunk! *

Meanwhile, we have had just enough time to begin reading the * sign before we RACK FOCUS past the sign to a HILL in the * distance with a blinking red light. *

We have punched in from the last shot to a LONG LENS WIDE * SHOT OF THE HILL, revealing the blinking red light to belong * to a 5G tower. Lodge (small in the shot, profile) is walking * along this ridge, from left to right. *

The edge of a hill sloping downward (away from us) in the * foreground. Below is a glorious view of Eddington, surrounded * by lonely NM desert. Lodge’s back enters frame to walk down * the hill, toward Eddington. *

LODGE * More wicked boxes! And I know who * set ‘em here. The Lord God gonna * SHOW His will to you that smile * with the pride a pigs and all the * pigs will listen when it's too * late. The pigs and liars will burn * forever when it's too late and all * your boxes will be sand! *

A TITLE HAS APPEARED OVER THIS: LATE MAY, 2020 *

Lodge disappears from view. *

We are on the back of a SHERIFF as he sits in the driver seat * of a parked car, eating a burger. This is JOE CROSS (50), an * upright man with friendly eyes. His phone, mounted on the * dash, plays a Youtube video (about convincing your partner to * want to have children). Outside is only darkness. *

Headlights appear ahead (through the windshield), shining * toward us. It is an oncoming vehicle, revealed to be a police * car when its gumballs flare. *

We cut to the POV of the oncoming CAR (a PUEBLO POLICE CAR). * It drives up to the side of Joe’s car, driver windows facing * each other. Inside the Pueblo vehicle are two officers: an * TRIBAL OFFICER (wearing an anti-5G baseball cap) at the wheel * and OFFICER BUTTERFLY JIMENEZ (30s), a solidly built Native * American officer (mask on chin), sitting passenger. *

TRIBAL OFFICER * What's this? *

TRIBAL OFFICER * That's our question to you. *

JOE * Okay. Then no. *

BUTTERFLY * This is Pueblo. *

JOE * Uhhhh, no it’s not. I was just at a * residence right back there. That’s * Sevilla County. *

The Tribal Officer starts rolling his window halfway up. *

TRIBAL OFFICER * Well, that might be. But right * there is the border. This is Santa * Lupe. *

BUTTERFLY * You guys don't ever come when we * ask for your help-- *

TRIBAL OFFICER * The real problem is that you're * directing your breath at us without * a mask-- *

JOE * What is this? You drove up to me! *

BUTTERFLY * You're trespassing! *

TRIBAL OFFICER * JOE *

(admonishing) * * Butterfly. * * (to Joe) * * People are dying of this * * thing. One of our medicine * You sure that's not from the * men is in a coma. When we get* diabetes? * sick, we don’t get your help.* We don’t get aid. We’re on * our own. And your naked * mouth? Like a spit in our * face! *

Joe is referring to Butterfly’s mask, which barely covers his * mouth. *

TRIBAL OFFICER * I am listening to you! Shut up! * When you’re on our soil, you put on * your mask. *

Joe just stares at him. *

Butterfly opens his door with the threat of stepping out. Joe * looks intimidated.

The stare-down is interrupted by the hiss of Joe’s RADIO. *

Joe is still looking to Butterfly and the Tribal Officer. He * then takes the call: *

JOE * 08, 04. *

JOE * (staring at the Pueblo * police) * ...I’ll take it. *

Joe shifts his gear into Drive. He then puts a mask over his * face. The Pueblo Police Car drives on, satisfied. *

MICHAEL (25), a well-built Black deputy, is at his cubicle in the sheriff’s office. On his desk is a big book on Cryptocurrency. *

MICHAEL * Okay. You sure? It’s at the mayor’s.

A moment of silence.

Back to Joe, staring back out at the bushes where the Land Grant hostiles are poised for battle. He kicks the gear into reverse.

Joe reverses. *

Joe's car roars over a hill, passing a “Now Entering” SIGN for the town of EDDINGTON, NM (Population 2,435, Elevation 6,072). The title “EDDINGTON” remains illuminated on the sign after the headlights pass it.

Beyond the sign holding our title: Eddington, a mile ahead, its lights twinkling in the otherwise desolate void.

The police cruiser disappears over the hill.

Two TEENAGED BOYS stand on a lonely sidewalk in the heart of town. They are ERIC GARCIA (19), Hispanic, and BRIAN (18), White. With masks on their chin, they share a joint while Brian watches a TEEN GIRL pointing to progressive captions (accompanied by DaBaby) on TikTok.

As Joe walks past them, making his way toward the other side of the street:

They don’t answer. “That’s what I thought.” Joe resumes walking toward the bar (called GARCIA’S) in the BG. Standing at the door is Lodge, who intermittently pulls at the locked door while yelling:

A WESTERN-STYLE BAR. This is the only bar in town, as well as its social nucleus. Mayoral campaign posters for Ted Garcia are especially prevalent here (one poster features a wholesome image of Ted and his son Eric, whom we just met).

Standing at the bar are three men. TED GARCIA (50s), a handsome Hispanic man wearing a KN-95. Beside him: his advisor WARREN (mid 40s), a Hispanic man with a mask on his chin. Sitting at the bar (6 ft apart) is PHIL (60s), a town council member. They are ignoring Lodge, who bangs away in the BG. On the wall is a banner that reads "Mayoral Decree: 2 Take-Away Margaritas = Price Of 1! Every Tuesday and Saturday.”

Joe, who has lingered outside the window through this, TAPS on the glass. Ted starts walking over, adding to Phil:

Phil wavers. Warren leans to whisper in his ear. Ted gets to the window, where Joe waits (and where Lodge is addressing him):

Ted points incredulously to Lodge.

Ted pulls his mask to his chin, anyway.

Joe looks to Lodge, incredulous. We hear Lodge say “If you just drop your remote and steer yourSELF and work for me. Can you cut it off your brain?”

Okay: you can’t just call * * whatever you want essential * * business. This is a bar, not * It’s a council meeting * Town Hall. * wherever council people *

congregate. It’s the Mayor’s * Office when I’m inside. *

JOE * TED *

Well, you’re open then. You * * got a payin customer bein * * locked out, tryin to make a * Customer. Okay. He’s * purchase. * aggressive. He’s dangerous. *

* He needs to be locked up. *

Where d’you want him to go?? * * Tell me and I’ll take him! * * These are your streets you’re* * lockin down, all except this * A la vez! They’re YOUR * bar! * streets! To make safe! AND *

Not when I’m * you never have a mask on! *

outside, talkin to you * through glass, that’s right--*

Lodge has managed to shake the door OPEN. The sound of the inside knob hitting the floor and rolling. Lodge is now inside.

Joe runs in to go after Lodge, who reaches over the bar to grab a bottle. Phil and Warren have retreated to the corner.

Lodge is referring to a torn five dollar bill (stained brown with dry blood) that he slapped onto the counter. Winded, he COUGHS.

Joe seizes Lodge and tries to forcibly usher him out. Lodge resists mightily. It is messy.

JOE * LODGE (CONT’D) *

Ugggh, Jesus, your breath... * I GOT A HOLE IN MY TOOTH! *

Lodge now gets the upper hand, pins Joe’s back to the ground and defensively slaps and hits Joe crazily about the face. Joe struggles to grab Lodge’s hands.

Lodge scrambles, jamming his foot into Joe’s stomach and launching himself toward the door. He runs out.

Joe drags himself off the ground, his shoulder hurt. He pulls an INHALER from his pocket to take a puff. As he does so, Ted sees Lodge’s left-behind five dollar bill on the bar-top.

Joe trudges to the door, dusting his clothes, rubbing his twisted shoulder. (Does Joe go back and snatch the money off the counter?)

Joe emerges to see Lodge up the road. He then turns the other way, walking past Eric, who still wields his phone.

Joe continues off.

A framed photo portrait of a severe, uniformed SHERIFF (60s) sitting upright. This was RICHMOND.

MAN’S VOICE (V.O.) - let's talk about the number 56 for a minute! Jesuit-educated Gavin Newsom said to California as he became the first governor to lock down his state, quote- "56 percent of you will get corona in 8 weeks," which is exactly 56 days. Of course they keep looking at that lab in Wuhan China, and if you look at when that lab in Wuhan was established, it was 1956. Of course that's the year Tom Hanks was born, the first celebrity to get the virus! Mr Sleepless In Seattle.

An offscreen door opens, letting in porch light and illuminating the portrait. Joe trudges in, holding the flower bouquet. He walks to the LIVING ROOM, where the fold-out couch has been converted to a bed, taking up half the room. One wall is dominated by embroidery and handmade dolls. If the art is on the amateurish side, it is also evidence of a teeming and perhaps disturbed imagination.

DAWN (70s), a strong woman in a nightgown, sleeps - and snores - on the fold-out mattress. On the coffee table is an open laptop, which is plugged into an old printer that holds a dense stack of paper. A video on 4Chan plays on the laptop:

MAN’S VOICE (V.O.) This is Gematria. Ancient practice of coding numbers into words, it's a simple practice, it's elementary--

Joe pauses the video and tiptoes past. He goes to the kitchen to cut the stems off the flowers.

Joe enters to find LOUISE (late 30s), a beautiful but depressed woman, sitting on the bed, her back to us. She’s putting the finishing touches on a handmade DOLL. Penetrating it over and over with a sewing needle. Focused. A VIDEO plays on her phone: a handsome man with many tattoos, named VERNON JEFFERSON PEAK, addresses the camera. As with the living room, handmade dolls adorn one wall.

Louise, seeing Joe, TURNS OFF her phone. Ignoring that, Joe sets the flowers down on a countertop.

Joe begins to disrobe.

Louise becomes alert - almost pale - at the mention of the bar.

Joe finishes undressing. He sees a NEW EMBROIDERY on the table: an image of a woman’s face framed by a man’s fist (instead of hair) and a man’s silhouette in each eye, instead of pupils.

It’s clear that Joe doesn’t know how to talk about Louise’s art, but is eager to be supportive.

Joe sees a stack of printouts from the internet on the dresser. Blogs/articles with titles like “A History Of The CRIMES Of The FEDERAL RESERVE. The Sinking Of The Titanic Was No Accident.”

He climbs into bed, curls up to Louise. She subtly shifts over.

He extends a peace offering of a kiss. She submits to the kiss, but not with great enthusiasm.

He tries again. She gives him a longer kiss to appease him. His hand strokes along her body to reach her breast.

LOUISE * JOE (CONT’D) *

I’m sorry. * No no... *

Joe turns away. He then goes for his phone and starts scrolling through Facebook. First up, an article: “Many Towns in NM Have Seen Zero Cases of COVID-19, So Why Are We Condemning Their Businesses to Death?” Joe clicks “like”.

He turns to her.

He kisses her. They go to bed.

Joe wakes groggily in an empty bed. Through the wall, Dawn and Louise are heard arguing in the kitchen.

least I’m conscious. *

Joe deflates. Grabs an INHALER from his bedside table and takes a puff.

Dawn stands at the sink, washing dishes. She lectures Louise, who sits at the table in her nightgown.

Joe pours himself some coffee.

Dawn picks up the laptop to bring it over to Louise.

LOUISE * DAWN (CONT’D) *

Pediatric oncologist. Who was* * molesting his children with * “Molesting.” * cancer by the hundreds. * They use that word *

as a catch-all. *

Louise, stifling frustration and avoiding conflict, grudgingly starts to read Dawn’s article.

Louise steels herself at the mention of “daddy.” Dawn has made herself sad by bringing him to mind. (Joe sits down with them.)

Louise nods, ignoring. Joe sits with his plate as Louise closes her eyes and clasps her hands, as if in prayer. Beat. Dawn looks incredulous. “Is she saying grace?”

Joe looks at Louise: “Why would you tell her?”

He shakes his head in deprecation and returns to his phone.

Dawn walks to the photo of Richmond and replaces the candle which has almost melted to the base. (This flame never goes out; even when it’s replaced, one must light a new candle before blowing out the old one.) Meanwhile, Joe takes Louise’s hand under the table. She smiles at him. They try to focus on their breakfast.

Close on Louise. The anger is there.

DAWN (O.S.) (CONT’D) Hello??

PRODUCTION MEETING DRAFT (2/29/24) 17.

Joe drives past a lone shuttered flower store (with the sign “CLOSED FOR NOW! STAY SAFE!”) to approach town. Playing from his car radio (bluetooth linked to phone):

Up ahead is a GROCERY STORE with a queue of seven masked people, all lined up (6 ft apart) against the building. At the entrance, an OLD MAN (unmasked) tries to enter, but a MASKED EMPLOYEE seizes him by the arm.

Activated, Joe turns off his radio, flashes his gumballs and turns to stop in the middle of the road (outside the entrance). He steps out, instinctively masking up.

Fred hesitantly steps inside. One person half-heartedly utters “Sheriff, what the heck...”

Joe, unmasked, steps into the store. He watches over Fred who scans the aisle nearest to the produce. The eyes of the other shoppers (all masked) are glued to them. The mood is tense.

Having made sure Fred isn’t being bothered, Joe walks past the first aisle, only to notice TED looking through the cereals at the other end. Joe can’t believe it.

MOMENTS LATER

Joe stands in the medicine aisle. Holding melatonin, he pulls SLEEPING PILLS from the wall. Suddenly the sound of hushed commotion near the front of the store.

WOMAN’S VOICE (O.S.) GET OUT! OUT!

Startled, Joe goes back to the start of the aisle to look toward the entrance, where he sees Fred being ushered out of the store by the masked OWNER, leaving behind his GROCERY CART. The WOMAN who screamed is pointing at the door, making sure he leaves.

A few masked customers clap their approval. One of them (a large, masked man) is right behind Joe. Joe looks at him, disgusted. Oblivious, the man burps into his mask.

Joe, hearing feet in front of him, turns to see the Store Owner approaching.

Joe notices someone filming them from the end of an aisle.

Joe turns sharply to see Ted behind him (and behind the burping man).

Joe gestures to an ELDERLY WOMAN talking to a cashier with her mask pulled halfway down (so they can hear her as she screams). The Owner goes over to her to politely ask her to put the mask all the way on.

* chance a transmission goes What’s 1.5 percent a down to 1.5 percent.

nothin? And what’s it gonna change to tomorrow? *

Joe, feeling the eyes on him, looks back to see an employee starting to unload Fred’s left-behind grocery cart.

The employee, confused, starts wheeling it toward Joe. Joe then grabs some nearby sewing needles and thread.

Joe brings this to the nearest cashier. As he does, Joe adds to Ted:

Joe walks out of the store, holding two bags. Fred is standing outside, distraught, taking manic photos of the grocery store on his phone.

Joe walks up to Fred and hands him a bag of groceries (after pulling out a six-pack of beer and a bottle of water).

Fred is stunned. As Joe walks off:

Fred runs up to Joe to take a SELFIE together. Joe smiles for the photo and then continues off.

Joe gets into his car, which he had left in the middle of the road outside the grocery store, and starts driving. Fraught. Wavering between feelings of humiliation and pride.

His phone DINGS with a notification. He has been tagged in a photo on Facebook. He opens it to see that it’s the selfie (that was just taken), posted by FRED BROWN. The caption: “One DECENT man left in Eddington!!!! Thank you, sherrif!!!!”

A PHONE CAMERA RECORDING. The phone mounted on the car dash. Joe, still in his car, speaks directly to us.

Joe parks in front of the sheriff’s office. Across the street stands LODGE, head tilted up, staring directly into the beating sun. *

Joe throws the bottle and it lands at Lodge’s feet. Confused, * Lodge turns to Joe. *

LODGE * Yeah right! *

Joe enters the SHERIFF’S OFFICE. It is a large space with a holding cell in the back. There are three main desks. The empty one is Joe’s. The others belong to MICHAEL, the Black deputy we met last night (his web browser displays “Bitcoin * Halving: How it works and Why it matters”), and GUY (30), a * self-serious, swaggering White deputy. His uniform is pristine and he sits upright. On one wall: a framed photo of Richmond, Joe’s deceased father-in-law (the same man memorialized in Joe’s foyer). Beside that is a memorial photo of a fallen 45 YEAR OLD BLACK OFFICER (Michael’s father). Beside that, a poster for identifying fentanyl.

Michael and Guy, who was just watching (probably re-watching) Joe’s announcement, look to him expectantly.

TEEN BOY * Okay, here comes another one. Three * cops for one kid. I’m not talkin to * anybody else. *

Joe has gone to a CHALKBOARD. He wheels it to the center of * the room. As he does, he sees an impaired TEEN BOY in the * holding cell.

MICHAEL * Day-drinker. O.W.I.

MICHAEL * He refused to take the field test.

Joe has written at the top of the chalkboard “SLOGAN IDEAS.” His E looks like a Disney E.

JOE * Guy: draw me up a man wearin a face * mask but he got X’s for eyes ‘cause * he’s dead. * (off their confusion) * Okay, this is what we’re doin now. * It’s the same thing. You boys’re * bein deputized. This is our * campaign office. *

Joe has walked to Guy’s desk and leans over. *

Guy goes to an AMATEUR WEBSITE featuring all of Louise’s dolls * and embroidery. They are priced at either $60 or $80.

GUY * Yes can do. Which one?

GUY * Is sixty bucks right? Should he * barter, to make it seem real? *

Meanwhile Joe is TEXTING Louise: “Will be home late tongiht. Got big news! Trust me.” *

Michael pulls up a photo on his phone of a TARGET SHEET bearing five bullet holes. Joe walks over to him. *

Joe is referring to a TARGET SHEET displayed on the wall, five bullets in the head. He passes it on his way to his * desk. *

The PHONE rings and Michael answers.

MICHAEL * Sheriff’s Department. * (to Joe) * For you, Sheriff.

Joe sits at his desk. *

Joe answers the phone. He MUTES it momentarily to tell Guy:

Guy spins himself in a circle in his chair. Joe UN-MUTES the * phone:

Joe steps out to find Ted across the street. Joe approaches with his phone sticking out of his breast pocket.

Joe arrives near him at the other end of the street.

Beat. Ted bites down his anger to offer, too sensitively:

Joe plays dumb.

Ted has crossed a line.

deputy took jobs in Rio Rancho! You can't keep your own office goin, but you're gonna take over mine?? Leave * your mess here and make a whole new one?

Joe is livid.

That does it. Joe pulls out his phone and frames the video camera on Ted.

‘cause a that. *

Beat. Ted laughs to himself (”I tried”) and walks away.

Ted’s eyes are buzzing with anxiety/rage as he walks away.

26 ZOOM COUNCIL MEETING / INT. TED’S HOUSE 26

A glitchy image of TED, eyes still buzzing, fills the screen. There are FIVE OTHER PEOPLE on the call. (To the side of the screen is a CHAT thread, which has citizens chiming in - mostly in confusion.)

A MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN cuts in, her image taking over the screen. This is PAULA.

PAULA * TED (CONT’D) *

What local revenue? * * Everything’s closed! * But this is gonna actually *

make things BETTER, and not * just for us! Cloud-computin, - *

A TEXT MESSAGE appears in the corner of the screen from Warren: “bring up the park”

servers! *

A TEXT MESSAGE from Warren has appeared: “dont be so defensive she sounsd crazy. just laugh”

COUNCIL MEMBER (ON ZOOM) * PAULA (ON ZOOM) (CONT’D) * He explained this already, * * Paula. * *

* Explained what? Why doesn’t * * he explain about the water * * and energy these data centers * * consume when we’re in a * TED (ON ZOOM) * drought?? *

Yeah. And we’re-- * Yes exactly. *

We’re always in a * *

drought. And we’re makin up * * for the energy and water with* Okay, so - so let’s * the solar we’re bringin in. * talk about the solar! *

Ted sits at his desk, facing his computer. Warren is visible on the couch in the other room (laptop on lap), watching Ted.

TED * PAULA (ON ZOOM) *

No: I’m sorry: you know what?* * Call the question, Phil. We * * gotta just call this. * Excuse me?? *

PHIL, whom we met at Ted’s bar, now takes over.

* agreed-upon Chairwoman! * * And we need to ALL be present *

Point of order! Council * for our votes -- * members MUTE theirself until * * it’s their turn to speak, and* Nuh-uh! No you don’t! Not * I now call the question! * without it being seconded! *

During that, Ted has muted himself on Zoom to urgently ask Warren:

TED * WARREN *

Can we not fuckin shut this * * bitch up?? * Try and chill. *

Ted’s front deck, in front of the house.

Warren tosses a DRAFT OF A BILL onto Ted’s lap. Its title: “Consolidated Report On Tech Advancements/Innovations In Global Communication/Remote Learning/Telehealth Programs For Employment Growth, Improved Quality Of Life, And Accelerated Pandemic Relief”, followed by a pen. Warren raises his phone and trains his camera on Ted.

Ted adjusts his mask and pretends to be jotting notes onto the bill as Warren takes photos.

Ted nods, “yeah yeah.”

Warren sees that Ted is distracted. He points to the bill.

go there. I meant that. *

Warren just looks at Ted, frustrated.

coupla times twenty years * ago, she was weird, she * wouldn’t let me touch her, so * I dropped it. Then outta * nowhere her wackadoo ma came * after me like six months * later when she apparently got * pregnant. *

Eric has emerged from the front door in the BG to approach, pass them, and then approach a CAR in the BG.

In the BG, Eric pulls mail from the box (on his way to the car).

Warren hands Ted the gift. It’s a box. He opens it to find a silver watch. An engraving on its back reads “From a Grateful Governor to a Marvelous Mayor. Here’s to a brighter future!”

During that, Ted has noticed ERIC arriving at the car in the BG. Before he can enter:

Ted stands up, leaves the deck and starts toward Eric.

Ted gets close:

TED * ERIC (CONT’D) *

You don’t seem to get this. * Whoa. That’s not six feet. * We’re in lockdown. I’m the * * one FORCIN lockdown. Anyone * * sees you out, late at night, * * at a gathering? My own son?? * I’m not even! It was hardly * Undermining my policies?? You* five people! Undermining? * catch this thing, you could * * die. You know how death * * works? No more Brian. * Yeah, well, I’m just tryin to *

see my friend so I don’t * hafta kill myself! *

Ted stares Eric down and then:

Good for her. What am I * * s’posed to do with that? You * (starts getting in car) * wanna send her a letter? She * I’m just sayin. Okay, * ain’t dropped us any pins * whatever, who cares?! * lately. *

As Eric closes the car door, Ted sees that he’s holding mail.

Michael, Joe and Guy watch TED’S CAMPAIGN VIDEO (posted one month ago) on Michael’s computer. Michael stands behind Joe, his phone poised. (As they watch, Joe will point to details that they should emulate for their video. He’s mostly engaging with Michael. Guy notices.)

JOE * TED (ON VIDEO) (CONT’D) *

Yeah, just not for your * * actual voters. * And as we walk towards a new *

term, I'm ready to continue * LEADING our town. And to * continue fightin this * pandemic and the racial and * economic inequities that * COVID only made worse. *

The video moves into a montage of Ted working with the community, bumping elbows with people on the street, taking a bite of a local taco (and putting his mask back on to chew), and playing piano in the middle of Main Street.

The video is wrapping up.

End of video. Joe turns to Michael. *

Guy points to the “ideas” board, covered in uninspired slogans. * Joe starts toward it. *

Joe considers it. Likes it. Claps his hands with excitement. * Starts writing it down. *

I got in with the city clerk,* * too. We need a treasurer and * * a chairperson and I already * And Sheriff: * got 43 names on the petition.* * We need 150. * Sheriff: I ran through the *

council meetins that’re all * on Youtube. Lookit this. *

Joe hands the marker to Guy, tells him to finish writing the * slogan. He then walks over, covertly TEXTING Louise: “Baby? * How we doing?”

Joe looks up to see that Michael has pulled up a council zoom video on Youtube. Joe gestures for him to hit PLAY.

item through is the man * that’s turned off his * people’s lights in the middle * of a global health pandemic! *

Joe and Michael walk up to the town’s most popular restaurant, Juanita’s. (Guy goes off down the other street with flyers and * a clipboard in hand. Does he stop someone to get their * signature?) A banner over the restaurant reads “As of May 28, * Operating At 50% Capacity!” A masked Latino Man standing at the * side gate hands take-away food to customers. Paula’s dialogue * from the zoom recording continues over this.

Joe and Michael sit with Paula at a table in the lovely courtyard. They are deep in conversation; Paula spilling beans about the data center tax incentive resolution vote:

POV: a PRETTY GIRL wearing a mask (17) stands with her friend, confidently holding court. She holds the book Women, Race and Class by Angela Davis. (This is the girl from the Tik-Tok that Brian was watching when we first met him.)

This is the POV of Brian and Eric, and we are at a “party” at an isolated dirt track (in the middle of the desert). Many young people from the surrounding small towns (late teens to early twenties) have gathered to smoke weed and drink beer. One kid rides around on a motorbike. Most of the kids wear masks on their chins.

BRIAN * ERIC *

Okay, I’m gonna go. Fuck. * * Okay... What if, like, mid- * * conversation... I just was * Mid what conversation? * like “oh I have COVID, by the* way.” Would that be funny? *

Brian has looked up the Wikipedia page for Angela Davis. * Noticing that Eric is going off: *

BRIAN * Where are you going? *

ERIC * Getting another beer. *

BRIAN * ERIC (CONT’D) *

Dude, you have to drive us * * back. * You have to eat your own *

fist. *

Brian works up the nerve to approach the girl, whose name we will soon learn is SARAH.

Sarah’s friend (TINA) speaks up.

They sort of nod, sort of shrug.

Brian awkwardly recedes and heads over to the DRINK AREA, where he grabs three beers from a kiddie pool filled with melted ice. A kid nearby is rolling around, way too drunk. Brian then turns around to SEE:

Eric is now conversing with Sarah. She looks reticent, but then Eric says something that provokes a LAUGH. Brian watches this, incredulous. After a moment, he begins to walk over.

Halfway there, Brian hesitates awkwardly. Not sure how to penetrate. Sarah and Eric are already flirting. Tina walks up to Brian.

Brian is already looking this up. He’s gone to Instagram.

Tina takes his phone to search. She finds MICHAEL’S PROFILE.

In the BG, we hear “Bernieeee, whyyy??”

Sarah and Eric look at him. He’s skating close to thin ice.

They all laugh, but Brian is mortified. Brian gives Eric a look: “What the fuck!” Eric returns a “what can I say?” look.

Down the block, Guy is putting up photocopied flyers that read “YOUR BEING MANIPULATED! KEEP BIG TECH OFF OUR LAND. No More Ted Garcia, No More Corruption”.

Meanwhile, Joe is excitedly painting a slogan (”Keep TECH’s Business Out Of YOUR Business. Vote Joe Cross for MAYOR!”) onto butcher paper that’s been taped to his sheriff’s cruiser. Michael, painting another sign on butcher paper on the sidewalk, sneaks a peek at his phone to see SARAH’S INSTAGRAM PROFILE. She just put up a new photo of herself with Eric, standing with affected apathy, cigarette dangling from her lips.

Michael TEXTS Sarah: “i thought you was anti gatherings”

Suddenly inspired, Joe turns to Michael.

JOE * Don’t you think? *

MICHAEL * Yeah. Of course. So what? Sargent? *

MICHAEL * Yeah! Thank you, Sheriff. I’m actually * older than my dad when he was Sargent. *

JOE * Yeah, well - and - when I was deputy, * he was Captain. So we all gotta take * these steps. Congratulations. *

MICHAEL * Thanks. *

JOE * You’re welcome. You earned it. *

MICHAEL * Maybe I’ll earn captain too one * day. *

JOE * Sure. After Lieutenant. *

Awkward beat. *

Two TEXTS from Sarah have hit Michael’s phone: “i thought i was too young” followed by “are you going to arrest me?”

Brian sits on bleachers at the party, which has died out. He’s high and drunk, watching Sarah, Eric and Tina (from a distance) huddled around Sarah’s phone in a fever of shared outrage. They are higher up on the bleachers.

Brian, sulking, starts scrolling down his Twitter timeline.

Brian scrolls past a Time article: “In a First, Twitter Adds 'Unsubstantiated' Warning to 2 of President Trump's Tweets.”

He then scrolls to an ARTICLE that reads: “Hundreds Demand Justice In Minneapolis After Police Killing”

He scrolls past this, ignoring two more posts about George Floyd’s murder, a “my plans/2020” meme, and then...

He arrives at a quote tweet of the Floyd article POSTED BY SARAH with the text “BLACK LIVES MATTER!!!!”

An idea seems to be kindling. He LIKES the tweet.

Joe’s cruiser - decked out with a few unfinished signs - rolls up to an unlit house. Joe hops out - a pep in his step - and pulls a handmade “Joe Cross for Mayor” SIGN from the trunk. Its slogan is “I CAN’T BREATHE” and features a cartoon of a dead man in a mask (with X’s for eyes) on his back, clutching his throat.

He PLANTS the sign in front of the driveway.

A dark, empty house. Joe steps in, holding the pharmacy goods. Nobody seems to be home.

Joe goes to his bedroom door, which is shut. He tries the knob, but it’s LOCKED.

Joe roams away from the door, confused.

Joe now notices that the laptop is open on the kitchen table, near where the coffee cup fell. Taking the laptop out of sleep mode, it reveals Joe’s announcement video.

Joe closes this to reveal the next open TAB (there are many). “Is Hillary Already In Gitmo? (And Before You Answer, Remember: She Has A Body Double)”.

Joe closes that tab, only to be faced with a BLOG POST platforming a VIDEO by “Vernon Jefferson Peak,” featuring his face and a photo of a distraught woman: “Her Husband Sold Her Daughter To A Congressman. Now She’s Begging Him To Disclose The Location Of Her Body”. He scrolls down to find another video: “How Masks Make It Easier To Smuggle Children.”

Joe hangs on this, and then goes to Dawn’s unmade bed (converted from the fold-out couch). He starts removing sheets.

Joe is asleep on the sheetless fold-out couch. Warm morning light plays on his face.

The sound of a CAR idling to a stop outside. This WAKES Joe. He looks to the front door to see Dawn and Louise entering. Louise walks past Joe, avoiding eye contact. Dawn stands at the door, trying to summon eye contact.

Louise arrives at the bedroom and tries the knob. She is confused to find it locked.

Dawn walks up to the door and UNLOCKS it with a key.

Louise enters the BEDROOM and starts getting undressed in the closet. She’s TEXTING with somebody. Joe walks to the doorway. Louise hides her body as she changes, keeping her back to him.

Louise ignores him.

Louise scoffs. She continues getting changed - with greater agitation.

Louise stops dressing. She just stands there, back to him. Seething.

Louise storms up to the door and SLAMS it in Joe’s face. This works Dawn up further.

Joe rushes out of the house.

PRODUCTION MEETING DRAFT (2/29/24) 43.

Joe has rounded the house to go to the WINDOW of his bedroom. Louise is lying on the bed. She turns her back to him.

Louise doesn’t respond.

Louise finally turns and speaks:

LOUISE * JOE (CONT’D) *

People’re gonna be lookin * * here now. Stickin their noses* * in. Shaming her. * *

No one’s lookin, Weez. *

This confuses Louise, which agitates her further. Meanwhile, Dawn has appeared around the corner, outside.

Louise puts her back to him again. Shaking her head.

JOE * DAWN (CONT’D) *

Rabbit? We can talk through * * it all. I’m your husband. I * * won’t do anything you don’t * Your real husband won't hafta * want. * say 'I'm your husband,' Lou! *

* He’ll listen to you. He'll * * understand you. He won’t need *

Baby? Rabbit? Please? We can * to wave your vows in your * decide together. I’ll retract* face. * it if you want. If you decide* that. At dinner? Lou? *

Joe claps his hands and he’s off on his way.

Joe stands outside a HARDWARE STORE doubling as an ANTIQUE/SECONDHAND SHOP, talking to the Owner. The front window features a racist LAWN JOCKEY welcoming visitors. Joe extends a sign toward the owner, who shakes his head no. Joe points the owner’s attention across the street to a very big campaign banner covering the outside wall of another establishment. A man sits on a bench outside this store.

Joe’s cruiser is now completely decked out in signage, including two blown-up photos of Warren and Ted. And on top of the cruiser, a speaker-box also serves as a four-sided sign demonizing Garcia. Joe drives slowly down one of the main streets, speaking into his microphone (so his voice blares). He’s videotaping himself on his mounted phone while Michael films him in the passenger seat.

During all that, ERIC has ridden up on a bike, holding out his phone and filming Joe through the open passenger window.

Joe stops the car as Eric accelerates past. Enraged, Joe drops the mic and stops recording.

He stares daggers at Eric’s back as he rides away. Eric, up ahead, stops for a moment (looking to his left), then looks back at Joe and proceeds to ride off.

Joe starts driving ahead again and turns left at the next street, swiveling his head to keep eyes on Eric.

Joe looks ahead to see A SMALL GATHERING of twelve kids (none Black), including BRIAN and SARAH, right in front of him. They are touting signs and tepidly protesting. Joe HITS THE BRAKES.

Joe looks to Michael, incredulous. Michael’s eyes are on Sarah with Brian. Joe steps out of the car and walks toward the pitiful gathering. Brian holds up his phone and films Joe’s approach.

Joe gestures helplessly to Michael. Michael steps halfway out his door.

Brian has noticed the intimacy in the way Sarah said “Michael.”

SARAH * JOE (CONT’D) *

Slavery was legal! During * * slavery it was ILLEGAL to * * free a slave. Or the Navajo * * Long Walk and what we did to * * them and the Apache?! That’s * You can always tell what * the same government making * somebody just learned in * the laws YOU enforce and a * Social Studies... * man was just brutally, * brutally murdered by a cop * given the absolute LEGAL * power to punish people * however he sees fit and he * saw fit to MURDER a * DEFENSELESS man and it * happens all the time-- *

Joe has receded back to the car and gotten in. Joe takes his microphone and speaks to the kids as Sarah keeps screaming.

Joe drives in reverse.

But Joe’s car is gone. Brian turns to Sarah, genuinely excited/inspired. Sarah looks upset.

We now cut to ERIC, who watches this at a distance, confused. He goes to Instagram on his phone to find that Sarah ACCEPTED HIS FRIEND REQUEST. He goes to her page.

advertisements for a free-to-download books: The End of Policing.

Eric then clicks on her Instagram STORIES. The first is a flyer for an EVENT that Sarah is attending: “Black Lives Matter Eddington.” Posted by “black.lives.eddington.brian”.

Joe, Michael and Guy are watching NEWS coverage of George * Floyd’s murder on Joe’s computer. We hear the coverage as they * take it in. Michael seems to already be privy to the * information. Joe’s head is swimming. *

JOE * What’d they pull this guy over for * in the first place? *

GUY * What’s gonna happen when they put out * the footage of him resisting? The * officers gonna get their jobs back? *

JOE * (to Michael) * When did you see this? *

MICHAEL * Yesterday. * (then) * Ain’t good for cops. *

JOE * Yeah well, if that’s the case, I won’t * be worried about the cops. * (a sudden concern) * How’re ya doin, Mike? You all * right? *

Joe picks up a SIGN to put up in the window: “TOWN HALL * TOMORROW! At Juanita’s! 5 PM! Joe Cross For MAYOR! Free Food! * Free Margaritas! Free Eddington - From Tyranny!!!” *

GUY * (finds an article) * Jesus Christ, lookit this! Minneapolis. * AND Texas. AND Missouri! Rioters goin * into small towns. Settin fire to * buildings, blowin things up! *

After putting up the sign, Joe TEXTS Louise “8 pm for * dinner?” It appears green. *

Guy is pointing to the mounted TV. It’s NEWS footage (on mute) * of a BLACK PICKUP TRUCK driving into a city CHURCH and * smashing down its doors, followed by a PUNCHED-IN FREEZE-FRAME * of the driver: a masked man dressed in black. “Antifa gear.” *

JOE * Okay. All right. Look! That’s not a * here problem! That’s across the * country. It’s a bad apple 3000 miles * away. He made some bad decisions. What * we gotta worry about is here. We don’t * engage. We let those kids blow off * their steam. Michael, are you okay?! *

The kids are now all down on one knee, in silence. One kid is timing the silent kneeling on his phone. Another kid finds something on his phone:

Meanwhile, LODGE has appeared in the BG. He’s walked up to the protester who’s timing the kneel, standing uncomfortably close. The protester moves slightly away. Lodge follows him.

Lodge COUGHS theatrically. The protesters move away from him.

Sarah turns to Brian.

Brian sits at the dining table for dinner, explaining the eight white identities to his MOTHER and FATHER (both 60s). This is a gun-friendly home (antique rifle displayed, several guns in gun cabinet, hunting rifle resting against wall).

Long silence.

BRIAN’S FATHER Are you fuckin retarded? You’re white.

PRODUCTION MEETING DRAFT (2/29/24) 51.

The clock on the wall, in the kitchen, reads 6:45. Through the window, Joe is seen running up to the house from his car. He scurries in with two grocery bags and a bouquet of flowers.

Silence.

Joe plops down the groceries in the kitchen, starts filling a pot with water, and begins using wet-wipes to sanitize the items in his bag.

Water boils on the stove while Joe chops vegetables. A sauce pan has onions and garlic simmering. A Lydia’s Kitchen recipe video plays on his phone.

He suddenly feels woozy. Needs to sit down. Quickly recovers. He returns to the stove, pauses the cooking video, and opens a voice recorder to dictate:

Joe stands bare-assed over the toilet, trimming his pubic hair with an electric trimmer.

Joe, dressed in a shirt and tie, has set the table on the back patio. He is now placing a hot bowl of freshly prepared pasta in the center. He then lights a candle and checks his * watch: 7:52. *

He goes to the corner to look expectantly to the road. *

LATER

Joe’s watch now reads 9:33.

A half-empty wine bottle rests beside an empty one. A plate has been placed atop the pasta bowl to retain heat/freshness. Joe’s laptop is now on the table and playing live Fox News coverage of black-clad “protesters” lighting a SIGN OF FLAMES on a building that reads “DEFUND PIGS”. Joe is ASLEEP at the table.

The SOUND of approaching steps WAKES Joe. *

Louise, upon seeing Joe at the table, is stricken by guilt.

DAWN LOUISE (CONT’D) *

(to the group) This is the son-in-law. Joe, I wrote you, but I just

saw my text didn’t go through!

Dawn, who is clearly tipsy, strolls over to the patio to see the set-up.

Joe waves at them, confused.

Vernon takes one. Everyone else follows suit. Louise sits * beside Vernon. Will and Nicolette uneasily sit on a bench. *

Dawn and Louise LAUGH at this, as if it’s an inside joke. Joe looks incredulous, stunned by this dynamic. Dawn has started helping herself to Joe’s pasta.

More laughter. Vernon rises to enter the house and approach the wall of Louise’s dolls. Dawn walks over to the open door, * just behind Joe. *

Vernon passes an embroidery of a child being attacked by bees inside her home. The next embroidery depicts a peculiar scene: a girl’s back, sitting on grass, some of which is tangled like tendrils around her.

Joe’s eyes are on Louise (to see how she’s taking this). She clearly feels “seen” by Vernon. Vernon arrives at a photo of Richmond.

Joe’s silence concedes. A fraught memory.

Vernon is watching this dynamic with inspired eyes. *

Louise nods.

Vernon looks to Louise. “I know I’m being made fun of, but I’ll play along for your sake.”

Joe just stares.

Louise looks hard at Joe, defensive.

Louise has started nervously wagging her foot. The story has gotten her wired. Joe notices.

Joe is gawking now.

Joe is taken aback by this. A new side of Louise.

Dawn’s eyes have gone wide. She suddenly seems extremely alert.

Everyone looks to Louise, who has picked up Vernon’s energy.

Dawn BURSTS out of her spot. *

Dawn goes to the kitchen sink and loudly DROPS her plate into the pile of dishes.

Joe looks to Louise, who looks humiliated. Dawn walks out of the room to her fold-out mattress.

She gets into bed, turning her back to them. Vernon leans over to Louise and says very quietly:

Louise is in thrall to him. She nods. Joe watches this, unnerved. Vernon rises.

PRODUCTION MEETING DRAFT (2/29/24) 59.

FROM JOE’S POV: Louise stands with Vernon at his Winnebago. They HUG goodbye. Will and Nicolette sit waiting in the car.

Joe stands at the window, watching this.

Joe is on his side, awake.

Mumbling sounds get his attention. They’re behind him. He turns to see Louise half-hunched over the bed, facing down, eyes shut. She’s talking to herself, but too quietly to make out. Is she asleep?

Long silence.

She lays down, her back to Joe. After a beat:

Louise doesn’t turn to him.

Louise remains stolid.

Beat.

Beat.

Louise doesn’t react at first. Then shakes her head “no.”

Louise is silent.

Silence.

Beat. She chuckles, barely. Then, hardly audible:

Long silence.

PRODUCTION MEETING DRAFT (2/29/24) 61.

Joe is awake in bed. He can’t sleep. It’s 5:35 AM.

He grabs a glass of water on his bedside table. Takes a sip. It hurts to swallow. He pauses at this. He swallows again. It is indeed sore. Weird.

He takes his phone and opens Facebook. He scrolls until he finds an amateur VIDEO of TWO MASKED MEN (dressed in all black) on a rooftop, holding sniper rifles. They run from side to side, shooting down at police officers. The caption: “PORTLAND RIGHT NOW! COURTESY OF GEORGE SOROS!!!”

are HERE!

A CALL from “John - antique store” comes in.

Joe answers the new call.

my goddamn windows smashed to hell and I cant get a fuckin--

Joe is driving quickly. He’s on speakerphone with Paula.

obvious, Paula, this is a blip. We’ll disperse it.

Joe then NOTICES a campaign sign in front of a business: “The Future Is Knocking? Ted Garcia Wants To OPEN The Door!”

As his head swivels, tracking as he overtakes the sign (while slowing down), someone JUMPS onto the hood of the car, bouncing the car. Joe BRAKES and looks ahead to see:

Joe starts idling toward the corner.

Confused (and a little hopeful), Joe rounds the corner to now see a PROTEST of about SIXTY YOUNG PEOPLE (many holding signs of police brutality). ERIC stands at the center, holding a SIGN which we can’t make out from here. Sarah stands beside him with a “POLICE THE POLICE” sign.

Joe kicks the car into reverse.

Joe arrives at the office. Guy, standing defensively in the back, is wearing RIOT GEAR. He is clearly in a panic. Michael sits at his desk.

Joe rushes to his desk. He fetches his fancy sheriff’s regalia (the one he saves for ceremonies). He starts changing into it. *

On the TV is coverage of a Santa Fe protest on the local news. Guy yells at the TV while Joe changes clothes in the corner.

Guy changes the channel to Fox News, where Tucker goes at it.

Joe has turned to him, now wearing half of his regalia.

Michael gestures to his computer. Joe hurries over. A HEADLINE reads: “Photo Reveals Police Brutality In Eddington, NM.”

Joe moves into Michael’s seat, which Michael clears. He reads * the article, which features an INSTAGRAM POST FROM ERIC. It * is the PHOTO, taken by Eric, of JOE WRESTLING LODGE (from the beginning of the movie). The caption reads: “We let Sheriff Cross disgrace the Badge. We gona let him disgrace the Mayors Office now too??!!”

GUY MICHAEL (CONT’D) *

I just know you ran into this* yesterday, so I’m tryin’a * Yeah. With the Sheriff. * unnerstand why it’s ten times* * bigger today. * It’s ten times bigger

everywhere! The fuck? *

Okay. Don’t on purpose disunderstand me. I’m askin a normal question.

Joe has been reading the article in a fever. Outside the * window, an IRATE WOMAN has appeared. *

IRATE WOMAN * What is going on?? There’s a riot * happening right in front of your face * and you’re checking our email?? *

Joe, looking officious in regalia, approaches the protest two * blocks away. Michael and Guy walk alongside. The Irate Woman * follows them. *

GUY * Sheriff, we go in there, we gotta * have a organized direction a * movement, direction a clearing. *

JOE * Mike: I need us finding pictures a the * cops that’ve been killed so far in the * protests. We gotta make a sign. * (to Guy) *

We gotta get the Town Hall ready. We can’t let Paula stop it. *

At the front of the PROTEST, which has already grown. In the center are protesters and scattered about outside are locals (some are counter-protesters). Lodge, coughing, is among the protesters; they avoid him like the plague. Off to the side is a WOMAN (40s) with a rifle strapped across her chest (yelling “I suggest you don’t threaten combat veterans, sweetheart!”), and central is a WHITE KID yelling statistics at an older MAGA MAN holding a "Black Crimes Matter" sign:

WHITE KID * MAGA MAN *

Capitalism is upheld by * * soldiers that started off as * * slave patrols! I’m givin you * You woulda been the SON of a * concrete shit! Three percent * slave owner! * a police budgets go to * * individual crimes, bro! * Screaming these things louder * Thirteen percent a the * doesn’t make ‘em more true. * population is black but * * they’re thirteen times more * * likely to be killed by * * police! * Yeah, why is that? * Why is what?? * Maybe it’s ‘cause 60 percent *

* a violent crimes are * KID * committed by Blacks! *

What did you fuckin say, you * racist piece a shit! You * racist piece a shit!! *

TEEN GIRL OLD MAN

If you're not with us, and you're not for Black Lives * Matter, then get the fuck * outta here!!! Then stop fuckin tearin our *

fuckin town down!!! *

The Old Man sees Joe walking past. He appeals to him:

We hear one protest leader yelling “Remember, guys! They can’t arrest all of us! We gotta stay as a unit and fill the jails if we need to!” Guy sees one PROTEST LEADER helping to boost morale.

PROTEST LEADER * GUY *

We gotta just keep the energy* * high and the tension low! To * * affect the people around us * * with a message of hope and * (stepping up) * positivity, Okay? * So what’s “no justice, no *

* peace,” then? That’s * OTHER KID * positive? That’s a threat. *

And fuckin SWAT gear?! That’s* a fucking threat! *

Meanwhile, Joe has spotted ERIC, holding his BIG SIGN. Eric turns it, concealing it from Joe. Joe instructs Michael to follow him, and storms the kids. Many kids react defensively. “Don’t touch me!” Seeing Sarah, Michael stops a bit short. As Joe approaches, Eric hands his phone to a kid, instructing him to film the following interaction.

Joe laughs. “What??”

JOE SARAH *

Defunding? What police state? You wanna see my budget?? Yes! Take away money from the

people MURDERING people with IMPUNITY and give it to people who DON’T murder!

An IRATE MIDDLE-AGED MAN steps out of the ANTIQUE/HARDWARE STORE (of which he is the owner) down the block. One of its windows has been smashed.

A YOUNG PROTESTER yells at him.

YOUNG PROTESTER ANTIQUE STORE OWNER (V.O.) *

So don’t put racist fuckin lawn jockeys on your Nazi-ass window! I’M a Nazi?! You're fuckin

destroyin property!

Joe now sees that two protestors have been training their phone cameras on him, and Eric’s sign is now turned in his direction: it features the photo of Joe wrestling Lodge.

Sarah jumps in:

We CUT AWAY for a moment to BRIAN, who is watching this from a block away. He looks livid. His thunder stolen.

Sarah finds Michael and confronts him:

SARAH MICHAEL (CONT’D) *

“Bad cops”?? Evil racist murdering cops! * Yeah! You think I’m arguin

with that??

Brian, now closer, summons the courage to yell:

Michael gives Brian a very intimidating look. Brian backs off. An aggressive kid adds fuel to the fire with:

Back inside the crowd, Joe is being cowed into silence.

A kid trains his phone on Eric and Joe. Joe clocks this, panicked. He tries to find Michael to bring him into this.

The owner of the antique store calls out to Joe.

Joe addresses Eric:

Joe sees red. He decides to escalate:

Eric has gone pale. Then:

Joe looks into the camera and explains to potential viewers:

her!

Joe gives the phone back to the girl.

Joe is walking backwards now...

Meanwhile, most of the kids are now getting down on the asphalt to lie on their stomachs, arms behind their backs.

Michael looks like he’s drowning. Joe RETREATS, getting Guy’s attention.

Guy looks torn. Should he leave this?

As Joe emerges, he passes the two old men that were chatting over each other in the grocery store, now lecturing part of the crowd, while they’re videotaped.

Stop ‘em from comin in! If * * you don’t let ‘em come in, * * they don’t start a fuss to * * begin with! All the residents* Just like I was sayin! Yep! * come out with guns, the * * threat leaves! Simple! * Yep. Stop ‘em not even with *

force. Just the promise a * combat. They ain’t trained. *

BRIAN awkwardly integrates with the crowd, his eyes on Eric and Sarah. Sarah seems to be consoling Eric, who then storms off, leaving the crowd. Sarah follows him. Michael is also watching this.

Joe, sweat-drenched, speed-walks down the street, eyes buzzing. * Kids follow behind, filming. *

JOE * I can’t. I can’t. Shit. *

He checks the time and rigidly picks up his pace. He * swallows. Rubs his throat. Quietly hacks. *

Joe enters the back door of the kitchen. He swallows. Rubs * his throat. Quietly hacks. *

JOE * I can’t. I can’t. Shit. *

A Mexican woman, listlessly preparing food, eyes him as he walks through.

Joe stops in a corner, scoping out the courtyard. Panicked. Only eight people are in the audience. Paula is a nervous wreck, not sure what to do. Guy, still in riot gear, is eating nachos at the snack table. He has one hand on his holstered gun, paranoid.

Joe gets Guy’s attention. Guy walks over.

Guy nods, “understanding.” Not helpful.

Guy pauses at this.

Joe now stands in front of the meagre crowd, lost. He picks up an unnecessary microphone.

Beat.

Joe looks up. Nothing from the audience. Guy raises his hand with a rehearsed question. Only him.

Uncomfortable silence in the audience.

Joe is starting to pace.

People look around. Guy looks confused and a little worried. But Joe just nods.

Joe nods, feeling some momentum. The tiny audience is stunned.

Joe looks both fired up and...unnerved. He steps off toward the back corner, where Guy is waiting.

Joe looks at him, ambivalent but addled.

The crowd of young protestors marches down a residential street. Brian walks among them.

Brian’s phone VIBRATES with an incoming text from ERIC. He opens it to find a PHOTO OF ERIC KISSING SARAH in the car (she’s clearly unaware of being photographed), with the attached text: “wish you were heeeere!!!”

Brian’s eyes harden.

A very stressed Michael runs through empty desert, firing an AR-* 15 rifle at a lineup of bottles 200 yards to his right. *

He stops, swings to the left and FIRES the rifle at a target * sheet 400 ft away. This one HITS the target’s foot.

DING! An alert for an Instagram MESSAGE REQUEST appears.

He opens Instagram. It’s an obscured PHOTO MESSAGE from an unknown account (Brian’s). Michael opts to VIEW the photo, revealing the pic of Sarah and Eric kissing. Michael’s heart jams in his throat.

Joe’s cruiser peels up to the house. Its headlights shine onto LOUISE who stands upright in the driveway. Dawn stands at the front door, suspended anxiously. Dawn’s energy suggests that she saw (before this scene) Louise behave in a way that frightened her.

Joe turns off the engine and opens the car door. Louise is staring at him with wide, penetrating eyes.

Louise is looking at him with a newly animated hatred.

Joe hears a vehicle behind him. He turns to see an APPROACHING VEHICLE - a very nice winnebago - in the near-distance. He turns back to Louise.

Joe looks back at the winnebago. It’s coming toward them.

Louise finally speaks, with true revulsion and a sort of animal fear at the unfamiliarity (or is it sudden familiarity?) of the man before her.

Joe is stunned.

Vernon helps Louise into the passenger seat. Vernon, still obscured by the headlights, looks to Joe. Joe vaguely shakes his head no.

Vernon continues to the driver seat, climbs in, and DRIVES OFF.

Joe stands frozen in the car’s wake. Dawn remains suspended by the door.

Joe enters the LIVING ROOM. The dolls in Louise’s collection are all still there. The room is eerie. It feels all wrong.

Joe just continues toward his bedroom.

Joe sits on his bed. Slowly, steadily, feeling overwhelmed, he takes two sleeping pills. Swallows them with water. Then he takes another.

Joe is asleep on top of his bed, lying in the same spot where he was sitting last night. The sun shines brightly. It’s 4:16 PM.

This was heard from outside, WAKING Joe. He looks haggard and * has been sweating (COVID). He sits up and looks out the * window to see Dawn outside, pacing on the phone.

This makes Joe reach for his PHONE, which has dozens of texts from several outraged sources, furious about the protests, property damage, etc. The top text is from GUY: “You ok sheriff?”

Joe goes to Facebook, clearly fatigued.

DAWN (O.S.) (CONT’D) What are you SAYING?! Your life is a fiction?! So WHO then? Who is your abuser? AM I?? Say the name if you call me a liar! Your mother a liar! With no warning! No honesty! Just poison!... BITCH!

Dawn hangs up outside, fraught. Through the preceding dialogue, Joe has found a new FACEBOOK POST BY LOUISE. It is a VIDEO of her talking to her WEBCAM. Joe plays it.

Joe’s stomach has dropped. A CALL comes in from Guy. He answers.

Joe, stunned, is thinking. And not about Guy’s question.

Joe is still silent.

An outdoor PARTY at Ted’s house. Tables of food are outfitted with industrial tubs of hand sanitizer. About 50 people mingle (most wearing masks). Signs enforcing “6 FT APART.” Another sign: “Together We Survive This. Together We BEAT This.”

JOE’S CAR (still outfitted for campaigning) pulls up under a tree, whose low-hanging branches scrape against the top of the campaign speaker-box. Red and blue flares (from the gumballs) streak across the party, disturbing the atmosphere.

Joe stops at this, then walks over, UNPLUGS THE TV. He then proceeds across the lawn, walking past a mystified Ted to go straight to the speaker system. He turns the music down and immediately starts speed-walking back. As he nears Ted:

Not able to speak, Joe ignores.

Joe passes Ted. Ted talks to Joe’s back as he continues off.

Joe keeps walking. He nearly arrives at his cruiser when suddenly the MUSIC VOLUME BLASTS LOUDER THAN BEFORE.

Joe freezes. He thinks for half a second and then storms back toward the speakers. He turns it down again, lower than before. Ted immediately turns it right back up.

Ted SLAPS Joe across the face. Joe is stunned. A look of shock and disbelief plastered onto his face.

Beat. Ted isn’t satisfied. He SLAPS Joe again.

Joe looks insane. He stands motionless for a long time, the music blasting. His face is almost purple. After a moment, Joe stiffly turns around and starts toward his car. He walks past Warren, who avoids his eyes.

Continuing on, Joe looks off to see ERIC and SARAH covertly smoking weed at the far-end of the back side of the house. They look over their shoulders to follow him with their eyes.

Joe arrives at his CAR and opens the driver side door. He turns sharply back to the party. A sudden RUSH of purpose overtakes him - to do what? Return to Ted? He hesitates. That kills it.

He enters the cruiser and shuts the door. He sits. Conflicted. Aware that everyone is staring at him. After a beat, he JAMS the key into the ignition and drives in reverse.

Joe drives down Broadway Street, still purple with rage but also inscrutable. He drives past the sheriff’s office, whose window bears a sign: "Over 60 million Americans have police interactions per year. Many of these result in lives being saved."

Joe then sees a MAN walking his dog on the sidewalk. He gestures incredulously to Joe:

Joe then realizes that he’s driving in the wrong direction on a one-way road. Further ahead is a car driving toward us. Joe turns onto the first available street and continues ahead.

Coming up on TED’S BAR, Joe sees that ONE OF THE WINDOWS HAS BEEN SMASHED (a trash can sticks halfway out). Inside the unlit bar is a figure rooting around.

Joe, riding past the bar, immediately makes a U-turn and stops the car outside the bar. He steps out. COUGHING is heard from within. It’s LODGE. Joe unholsters his gun and approaches.

Lodge, red-eyed, stands behind the bar. He COUGHS violently, hoarsely - like a BARK. He holds two bottles of liquor - vodka in one hand, whiskey in the other. His back is to the door, but we see enough of his profile to see his chin glistening.

Joe has entered to stand at the door. His eyes are saucers.

Lodge swigs from one bottle, coughing. He says “fuckin same.” Then he swigs from the other bottle.

He smells both. It’s hard to tell if he’s scared or giddy:

Lodge is pulling more bottles and drinking. He turns and sees Joe.

He SLAMS his head against the counter.

Joe turns to see a FACE SHIELD on the hostess stand. He slowly picks it up and straps it on. He then picks up a glass candle from a table. Holds it.

Lodge, having swigged from another bottle, launches into a hacking, painful cough.

Joe suddenly and fiercely THROWS the candle at Lodge. It hits the bottles in front of Lodge, JOLTING him. Recovering from the shock, Lodge turns and THROWS a bottle at Joe. The bottle shatters against the wall. Joe flinches.

Lodge grabs another bottle. Throws it. Joe pivots to avoid it hitting his head.

Lodge grabs another bottle, and as he reels to throw it--

Joe pulls his gun and FIRES THREE TIMES in quick succession. Two bullets hit Lodge in the torso, the third shatters the mirror behind him. Lodge is down.

LATER

Joe, still wearing the face shield and now also a mask (as well as blue latex gloves), has closed most of the blinds on the windows. He closes the last blind, dropping the room into darkness.

LATER

Joe uses a pocketknife to dig the one bullet that didn’t hit Lodge out of the wall.

LATER

Joe, now in T-shirt, uniform off, starts putting Lodge’s legs into an oversized, heavy-duty trash bag. He then whips out another bag from the box. A mop and bucket are nearby, ready to be employed.

PRODUCTION MEETING DRAFT (2/29/24) 80.

The alley beside Ted’s bar. Joe DRAGS Lodge’s corpse, now wrapped in trash bags, out the back of the bar. The trunk of his parked car is open and also layered with trash bags.

Joe, still wearing mask and face shield, drags Lodge’s corpse toward the Rio Grande river. He unceremoniously ROLLS Lodge’s corpse into the water and it is carried off by the current.

Joe drops in exhaustion. His TEETH HAVE BEGUN TO CHATTER and chills take over his body. He looks like he might pass out. A fever. His eyes are addled as a terrible thought invades.

The end of the night. GIANT WINDOWS and a WIDE SLIDING-GLASS DOOR distinguish one wall of Ted’s living room. They overlook a DECK (littered with un-retired party ephemera), and beyond the backyard: A VAST HILL.

Ted enters from the kitchen (having made himself tea), now wearing sweatpants and a T shirt. He plops down onto his recliner and turns on the TV by remote.

He watches TV for a second, but then notices a PURSE on the coffee table. He stares for a moment.

Off-screen, from his room:

PING!

Eric, alarmed by the sound, come to the doorway and steps in. He sees Ted’s dead body, face locked in a wretched gasp.

Eric takes a few steps toward his father, but freezes when he realizes. He looks to the glass door. Beat. A MUZZLEFLASH appears on the dark hill beyond the house. The glass door SHATTERS and a bullet STRIKS the doorpost behind Eric, blasting wood and dust into the air.

Eric snaps out of his mortified trance. He turns to run, but a final bullet STRIKES Eric in the back. He is propelled forward, crashing face-first into a closed, mostly-glass door (one of two double-doors). He falls through the glass, killed instantly, his feet twisted in the jagged remaining shards in the doorframe. TV sounds continue.

ELEVATED POV (a scope’s CROSS-HAIRS dead-center): a high angle view of the living room. The back of Ted’s chair - motionless. Eric’s corpse lying face-down, blood pooling beneath him.

JOE draws his eye away from the SCOPE of his rifle. He then rises from his belly, lifting the rifle with him. He looks down to survey the stagnant, bloody scene from his elevated perch.

Joe bends down to gather two spent bullet casings and starts down toward the house. Every step is accompanied by a rattling sound - like a pebble bouncing against tin.

MOMENTS LATER

As Joe approaches the back of the house, he casually removes his shoes. Now in socks, his steps are painful against the rocky earth as continues toward the stairs to the deck.

Joe carefully walks through the obliterated sliding-glass door, avoiding the shattered glass.

He crosses the room, passing Ted and walking to Eric - avoiding stepping in the expanding pool of his blood - to peer down the empty hall. He then looks down at Eric. Disturbed, he quickly needs to look away.

Joe returns to the living room, pulling an AEROSOL CAN OF SPRAY PAINT out of his pocket. This is the source of the rattle.

Joe POCKETS this. As he re-commences spray-painting, his teeth begin to chatter again. We return our attention to Ted’s corpse, continuing to bleed profusely. We return to Eric’s corpse, pitiful in its arbitrary face-down position. Aerosol sounds continue.

Joe has finished writing. He steps back to judge his work.

Spray-painted on the wall: “NO JUSTICE NO PEACE”

Pre-dawn. The sun is about to rise. The landscape is a graphic match to the last shot. Joe’s cruiser speeds down the highway.

Joe, now wearing a T-shirt, looks ill as he drives. He tries calling Louise. It rings once and then goes to voicemail. He puts his phone in Airplane Mode.

The car speeds past a City Limits sign for a new town.

A mobile testing site. Joe’s car is at the end of a queue of 6 cars in another town.

LATER

Joe’s car has pulled up to a MEDICAL WORKER, who leans in through his window with a swab.

The medical worker JAMS the swab deep up his nostril.

Driving back, Joe hesitates before taking his phone out of AIRPLANE MODE. An avalanche of panicked texts pours in - from Guy, from Bob, from John, from Michael, etc.

Joe’s car pulls up to Ted’s house, which has been cordoned off by police tape. Guy waits for him out front, by the yard entrance, and Michael emerges from the far side of the house. Both wear booties.

Joe gets out of the car, back in his uniform and wearing a mask. His eyes are buzzing with nervousness. Michael, queasy, walks up to him.

Joe sees BRIAN, standing a small distance away. He has * stiffly turned his back to them. *

JOE * How long he been here? *

GUY * Oh. He’s new. *

Joe sees an old man, TOM, standing with his dog, near where Michael is. Joe walks up to him.

Joe now notices a PUEBLO POLICE CAR in the desert just beyond the house.

As Tom starts to explain, Joe proceeds to the BACK DECK...

INSERT: A SIGN ON THE HILL announcing that this is the border between Eddington and the Pueblo. Ted’s house looms in the BG.

BACK ON THE DECK: Joe looks out to see an indigenous officer on the hill from which Joe fired the shots. He’s rooting around.

Michael points to an OLDER INDIGENOUS MAN (60s) below the deck. This is the PUEBLO SHERIFF.

Joe incredulously to Michael and Guy.

Joe stands in the kitchen, just outside the crime scene, where the corpses of Ted and Eric are festering. Guy and Michael stand behind Joe.

Joe, wiping his nose with his sleeve, tries to think.

Joe looks out the kitchen door to see OFFICER BUTTERFLY JIMENEZ (30s), a solidly built Native American officer (mask on chin). He has ascended the stairs to stop at the back porch.

He turns to Michael, holding up a ZIP-LOC BAG containing one spent RIFLE CASING.

He and Michael have clearly been talking.

Joe hesitates at this.

Butterfly crosses to the other side of the deck and looks to the spray-painted sign. He notices the idiosyncrasy of the E, resembling a Disney E.

Butterfly points to the PURSE on the coffee table.

They all look.

Michael takes a careful step into the living room to take a zoomed-in photo of the bag. The purse bears a BLM pin. Guy, wearing gloves, walks over to it. He reaches into the bag.

Guy has frozen.

BUTTERFLY` Good point. Why don’t you pull your dick out and fuck the fuckin purse?

GUY * BUTTERFLY (CONT’D) *

But now you wanna help us. * * What’s your boys’s system out* * there? Whiskey in your * Not “out there.” Right here. * holsters? * I went to Quantaco, *

redneck. *

Guy finds Sarah’s ID in the bag. *

Michael is frozen at the mention of Sarah.

So you do what you want with * * the casing. There’s no cross-* * commission here. We respect * * your sovereignty. You respect* (incredulous) * ours. * You respect our sovereignty?? *

Okay! Then let’s just call * the Feds and the BIA right * now, see what they wanna do. * Easy. *

Butterfly pulls out his phone and looks to Joe. Joe returns the stare and then turns to Guy:

Joe walks off. Guy reluctantly follows (”that’s it??”).

Sarah (masked) stands opposite Guy and Joe, 6 ft apart, on the front porch of her house. Sarah’s phone is poised in her hand, as if she froze while texting. She is very emotional.

He’s not my boyfriend. He * * wasn’t. We barely even just * * met. * Whoever the boy was to you: *

* you‘re there yesterday, * * you’re in his house, and * * later that night he’s dead, * * his dad’s dead, your purse is * * in the room. I’m just tryin-- *

I was hardly there! *

* “free your communities, arm

(now pleading to Joe) yourselfs against the No, that’s out of context! * oppressor.” Dismantle this, Not literal arms. * defund that! Preachin riots

and lootin. Bein accessory to terrorism. That is terrorism, *

Terrorism?? The looters and kid. * rioters are completely * separate! They’re being * planted! *

We reveal that Sarah has been composing an unsent text to Michael on her phone. It reads: “Michael, your sheriff is at my house and I’m being”

PRODUCTION MEETING DRAFT (2/29/24) 90.

SARAH’S MOM stands nervously at the end of the hall, watching the police interview with her daughter through the distant open door.

Joe stands before CAMERAS manned by NM reporters. He stands with Michael and Guy at his side. A formally dressed woman * stands behind them. Guy nods along. Butterfly watches from * off-camera, bemused.

PRODUCTION MEETING DRAFT (2/29/24) 91.

JOE’S PRESS CONFERENCE CONTINUES ON TV.

Dawn is watching this on the couch. Eyes buzzing with worry. On her lap is a laptop: she’s composing a post on Facebook. What she’s written thus far: “Yesterday my daughter put up a video accusing me and accusing my son-in-law"

The news cuts to an Anchor.

A PRIVATE LUXURY PLANE COURSES WITH OMINOUS, SILENT PURPOSE OVER DESERT TERRAIN. It’s moving toward us, its image rippling in the heat - like a mirage. A giant orange sun behind it.

The news anchor’s voice continues over this.

PRODUCTION MEETING DRAFT (2/29/24) 92.

A gloriously decorated private plane. Everything - from the chairs to the carpet to the gilded mouldings on the ceiling - suggests obscene wealth. The TV continues to play the same news here.

We are creeping down the aisle, on the backs of TWO SITTING MEN (one thin and one muscular). On the floor in the BG is an athletic, shirtless THIRD MAN doing push-ups (the top of his head to us); he will soon rise to do BATTLE ROPES (which extend toward/under camera). One of the sitting men (the nearer of the two) wears a tye-dye t-shirt, although this is mostly made clear by his MUSCULAR, SUNBAKED ARM resting on the armrest. We creep in on the nearer, muscular man. A black, unapplied face mask dangles from his ear as he smokes from a cigarette, exhaling a sustained stream of smoke into the air. We push in toward the mask until it fills the frame with BLACK.

A long moment of BLACK...

...and then we begin to slowly PULL BACK to reveal a white header and footer, as on Instagram. The black has revealed itself to be a black square posted on Instagram on June 2, 2020, by bribrifrazee. Beside the handle on the header is a * blue checkmark.

Joe wakes up, covered in sweat. His teeth chattering. He pulls the covers onto himself, freezing. He then gets up to check the thermostat. It’s 75 degrees.

He grabs another blanket and gets under the covers.

Joe is reclined on his bed, in underwear, teeth chattering more lightly now. He stares at the ceiling, in intense thought. A thermometer protrudes from his mouth. On his laptop: “Coronavirus Symptoms to Be Concerned About.” Near one hand is his cell phone. Near the other is a notepad with the following names: “Sarah (BLM, purse, ANTIFA) / Ted’s assistent / Brian - Erics friend / John? - revenge 4 property”

Suddenly Joe has a thought and picks up his smartphone. An unsent text to Louise waits. The text reads “Dear Lou. My love. I love you”

Dawn, eyes baggy from lack of sleep (and sitting in the same spot as last night), looks up to a uniformed Joe emerging from his bedroom. He looks pale.

Joe, not having a response, moves to the kitchen to pour himself coffee.

Joe sips the coffee. Winces. He dumps his cup into the sink.

He opens the machine to see that the used filter is stuffed with wet coffee.

Joe smells the damp coffee grounds in the filter. Touches them to his tongue. Have I lost my taste and smell??

Dawn looks to Joe, fraught. Joe looks back, distracted by his loss of taste. Then:

Joe just looks at her.

A TEXT FROM GUY hits Joe’s phone with a DING! Joe looks. It * reads: “Come to office! Kid with info” *

Joe, driving through town, sees BUTTERFLY standing at the side door to Ted’s bar. He is talking to the man who was walking his dog when Joe drove in the wrong direction. Butterfly notices Joe driving by. Joe’s paranoia has been triggered.

Joe’s cruiser pulls up to the office. He steps out to see Butterfly’s cruiser coming down a side street in the near- distance. Butterfly parks on the other side of the road and begins approaching.

Butterfly just smiles as he approaches.

Butterfly raises his eyebrows, mock-intrigued.

Butterfly makes an innocent face: “What’s what?”

Unnerved, Joe smiles and nods at Butterfly, not sure what to do with his face. He proceeds to the front door of the sheriff’s office. *

Joe enters the reception room. Butterfly behind him. The * Antique Store Owner waiting. BRIAN, teary-eyed, is a few seats * apart from him. *

ANTIQUE STORE OWNER * I actually ain’t movin ‘til * somethin gets done. *

Joe continues past them to enter the office, where Guy walks * up to him. *

GUY * (covertly) * Hey Sheriff. * (re: Brian) * Kid says he’ll only talk to you. Been avoidin eye contact like he’s on somethin.

Joe looks to the kid and then to the front window, where he * sees Butterfly inspecting his tires. *

Brian sits. Joe sits across from him, listening as Brian * struggles through a story.

Brian nods.

Joe gets up, goes to the door and enters the main space of the office.

We go to MICHAEL, whose eyes narrow with burgeoning suspicion. Guy walks over to the interrogation room while Joe runs outside. Michael looks over to Butterfly, who looks back at him.

Joe’s phone is on the desk, recording audio. The recording is now 5 minutes long.

Joe looks to Guy, who looks mesmerized. Brian becomes defensive:

Guy says into Joe’s ear:

Brian steps out of the interrogation room. He and Michael face each other. Awkward. Brian doesn’t know where to look.

Guy is conspiring with Joe. *

Joe is in his head, listening to Guy, thinking.

Joe is following the logic. Ambivalent.

JOE * What whole time? His dad was here first. *

They’ve told me. All the * other colors is just fake minorities takin their coupons away. They hate ‘em more than whites. *

Joe and Guy exit the interrogation room to approach Michael.

Joe gestures to Brian that he can leave, which he does. Joe * sits down beside Michael. Guy hovers. *

Michael is silent.

Michael reluctantly starts to hand over his phone.

Michael goes to Instagram. He hands his phone to Joe, who finds the message. Before he opens it:

Joe holds it up for Butterfly, who hangs in the reception * area. Guy takes a video of the screen. Joe opens the message * and clicks on the photo.

Joe shows him the photo.

Michael is trying to get his head around this.

Guy walks away, roaming outside. Butterfly watches that, * bemused. *

JOE MICHAEL (CONT’D) *

Like eighteen? So Not eighteen? No: she is. But even if she *

wasn’t: I stopped it before * it started. Not that it * woulda been wrong if I * didn’t. *

Guy appears at the back door.

Joe walks OUTSIDE to the parking lot and sees Guy standing by Michael’s car. Michael follows.

Joe walks up to Michael’s back window. An AR-15 RIFLE pokes out * from under blankets on the back seat.

Yeah, which you knew. I was * takin it out for target practice. Why HAVE you been practicin * Sheriff: you told me to * so much? You gotten pretty practice. * good too, ain’t ya? * Why’d I ever use a gun that I know you know I got?? How * stupid am I gonna be? * Just a coincidence, right?! (appealing to Joe) Just the same gun with the Sheriff. Are you for real? I same caliber bullet! * did get the picture last * night - three nights ago. I * * did. But that gun is there Yes, you did, you did! And ‘cause I didn’t even think now you got a gun that uses about it. You think I’d keep the same bullets that fuckin that shit here if I used it shot ‘em dead in your fuckin * for murder?? car right now. * (to Guy) * Man, FUCK you! The fuck you * tryin’a do? Tryin to frame my * ass? Did YOU do this shit? * *

Joe looks to Butterfly, who looks pointedly back. *

Joe suppresses a cough.

MICHAEL GUY *

That I put under blankets so it’s not a gun that’s OUT. * So you didn’t forget it was (to Joe) * there! You put blankets on Please: give it to * it! ballistics! You will see that* it is not the same gun ‘cause* it’s not! *

MICHAEL * You don’t need my permission to * search my unit. *

JOE * I know that, but I’m askin you. *

Guy starts going, strapping on gloves. *

JOE * Why not? *

MICHAEL * ‘Cause I don’t trust him. *

Michael looks to Butterfly.

Michael steps back to make room. Beat. Butterfly relents. “Okay, let’s play this game.”

Seen from Michael’s POV, Butterfly roams to the driver door. He looks under the seat and in the center cubby. He then goes to the back seat, moves the blanket off the gun, looks under the seat. And then crosses to the passenger door, looking to Guy and then Joe.

Still from Michael’s POV, Butterfly opens the passenger door and checks the glove compartment. He looks under the seat and PAUSES with an eyebrow raised. He reaches underneath to pull out a WATCH BOX. The same box that Joe took from Ted’s house. Butterfly reads the engraving and slowly, skeptically holds it * up. Joe is stoic.

The fuck is that? The fuck is that? Bro. What?

That was not there.

Guy walks up to Butterfly to look at the watch. He reads the engraving: “From a Grateful Governor to a Marvelous Mayor... Here’s to a brighter future!”

Joe comes over and looks at it. Reads it. Looks nauseous.

GUY MICHAEL (CONT’D) *

You know what that says, Mike? That is not from me!

Butterfly, again, seems more interested in Joe than the watch. Joe ignores that.

Beat. Joe turns to Michael. *

JOE * Oh fuck, Mikey... *

It hits Michael. He’s being arrested. He starts panicking. *

Guy pulls his CUFFS. Michael backs up. *

Guy is reaching Michael. Michael instinctively gets on his * knees and puts his hands behind his head. *

Guy has cuffed him and starts leading him back into the building.* Joe stays behind. *

Michael and Guy disappear inside. Fierce ambivalence raging * in Joe’s eyes. He turns to Butterfly, who is watching him * closely.

BUTTERFLY * Pretty incredibly stupid to keep * that watch in the car. With the * gun. And drive it here. *

JOE * Yeah. Good intel. *

Guy deposits Michael into the TINY PRISON CELL (a closet-sized room with a toilet) at the end of the office.

THE DOOR SLAMS SHUT. Michael is seen through the window. Butterfly enters the Office to watch as Joe roams over to his desk.

Joe has walked to his desk to pick up a CORDLESS PHONE. He walks it to Michael. This is seen from BUTTERFLY’S POV. Joe’s body language betrays that he knows he’s being watched.

Opening the door, Joe hands Michael the phone - Michael looks Joe in the eye, but Joe avoids him - and closes the door.

Joe goes to his desk and looks at Michael, whose back is now turned to the door as he makes his call. Joe’s expression is inscrutable. He feels Butterfly’s eyes on him.

Michael hangs up. Redials. Joe stifles a cough. He’s starting to look bad. Our attention (Butterfly’s, that is) travels from Joe to the “SLOGAN IDEAS” chalkboard. The slogans themselves have been half-heartedly erased, but the title half-remains.

Butterfly notices the style of the E on the chalkboard. It matches the E in the spray-painted sign at Ted’s. He HANGS on this.

Joe can sense a shift in the atmosphere.

BUTTERFLY STORMS OFF. Joe’s eyes go to him, alert.

Butterfly has run across the street to get into his cruiser and DRIVE OFF.

Joe gets into his cruiser. He’s starting to sweat.

A few blocks ahead is Butterfly’s diminishing cruiser. Joe starts his car and ACCELERATES to catch up.

When Joe is a block and a half behind Butterfly’s car, he slows down to maintain a healthy distance.

As he does this, he notices: to his side, a block away, is the TOWN PLAZA, where a CANDLELIGHT VIGIL has assembled. Many people are still lighting their candles, but the space is already warmly illuminated by the glow of illuminatas. On the central gazebo, WARREN stands at a microphone before the crowd.

Joe has slowed down to take this in. He sees that BRIAN is on the stage behind Warren (he’s the next speaker).

Joe speeds off to catch up to Butterfly.

Joe remains on the tail of Butterfly, who arrives at the driveway of JOE’S HOUSE. Joe idles to a stop on the side of the approaching road, having a distant but clear view of his property. He fetches binoculars from the back seat to see: *

BINOCULAR’S POV: Butterfly has parked his cruiser in front of * the house. He walks to the door and knocks.

While Joe watches this, he is hit by a wave of sickness. His head pounding, he closes his eyes and makes a pained moaning sound. He pulls a couple aspirin from a bottle and downs them with water. It tickles his throat and he COUGHS, which further agitates his headache. He forces himself to look ahead.

JOE’S POV: Butterfly has come down the porch and is now roaming, peering in through windows. He disappears behind the house.

Joe stares at the notification, too afraid to open it. Distant chattering brings Joe’s eyes (now beginning to fog over) back up to his house.

JOE’S POV: Butterfly is circling back to the front door to meet a distraught DAWN, in her nightgown on the porch. She is desperately telling Butterfly a story. Butterfly looks overwhelmed.

Joe goes to his phone to open his DoorBird app. He pulls up PORCH CAM FOOTAGE of Dawn and Butterfly. He turns up the volume to hear:

DAWN (ON VIDEO) BUTTERFLY (CONT’D) *

My daughter was brainwashed * and she went off with a man * * and she ceased all contact. I* * think he's keeping her from * I... Ma’am... * usin her phone. And I think * they - or she, or HE - were * * just back here. I was on a * walk, hardly gone at all - * they musta been watching the * * premises, because when I came* * back, all a her stuff was * * gone, all her artwork - Okay, ma’am: I’m sorry: everything-- that’s... I’m just here to

ask you: (shows photo on phone) Do you have a gun like this in the house? Please look. *

Joe’s phone starts VIBRATING. He looks. It’s GUY. He answers.

A now-frantic Joe drives past the VIGIL. (It has thinned out, but is still in progress.) Brian is on the stage now, provoking the ire of a frustrated crowd. As Joe drives past, we hear:

Someone is subtly pulling the mic away from Brian. He grabs it.

Joe frantically parks and runs to the office. The DUMPSTER next * to the building has been set afire. It blazes intensely. GUY has* been waiting for him outside, distraught. *

GUY * I was puttin the stupid gun and watch * into evidence! *

Joe runs past Guy and into the building. *

JOE * The gun and watch are stupid? *

Joe enters and stomps to the front of the office. *

JOE * You weren’t supposed to be gone at * all! *

He looks by his desk for the extinguisher. *

GUY * I used it all, it wasn’t enough. *

Joe turns to now see Michael’s cell, whose door has been * opened (the key still in the lock). The cell is now EMPTY. * Joe is stunned. Guy sees and immediately. *

JOE * What the fuck! *

GUY * That was the other thing. That’s * the new thing. *

Joe goes into the holding cell. *

JOE * What is this? What am I lookin at? *

He then sees that the key is in the door? *

GUY * No, I... *

Guy checks his key ring and then his desk. Joe is already * moving out the door. *

Joe opens the trunk of his car to fetch a FIRE EXTINGUISHER. * He then SNUFFS OUT the fire. *

JOE * WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?! *

Guy doesn’t have the answer. *

GUY * Yeah. Yeah. *

JOE * (rushing to his cruiser) * Is it just him? Someone had to’a * let him out, right? *

Guy doesn’t know the answer. *

Guy runs to his cruiser. As Joe gets into his car, he sees * Guy’s car go RACING. Joe turns on his engine and turns to * drive in the other direction. *

Guy speeds ahead, determined to the point of possession. He turns his TORCHLIGHT from side to side, illuminating every dark space he finds, searching with piercing eyes.

Joe drives, manic. His eyes are busy as he tries to devise a plan. For a moment, he looks hypnotized by panic.

Arriving at the end of a long road, he turns down a side road toward Main Street, but slows down as he sees something ahead. A distant fire glows in his eyes as he gawks ahead and we pull back to reveal the reflection of a flaming arrow pointed upward in the glass of the windshield.

Joe has stopped to gaze on the street beyond the next major intersection. The street rises up a hill and curves at the top to disappear into desert, and DRAWN IN FIRE on the asphalt is a GIANT ARROW POINTED UPWARD.

Joe, marveling at this, suddenly sees SOMEONE ON THE ROOF of a building - a shuttered flower store - to his left. He DUCKS under the steering wheel. After a moment of inactivity, he rotates his head to look up. It’s a human-sized ZOZOBRA doll on a store’s rooftop (”White Supremacy” written across its torso).

Joe speeds forward, turning up the hill indicated by the flaming arrow. He drives through the sculpted fire.

Joe’s cruiser, leaving asphalt, speeds up to the TOP of a dirt hill. Here he gains a panoramic view of the surrounding desert. He sees a lone FIRE burning in the valley below. MICHAEL stands next to it.

Joe ACCELERATES down the hill. Arriving at the bottom, Joe pulls off the road to arrive near Guy’s cruiser.

Joe pulls up to Guy’s parked cruiser. He steps out to see that Guy, now 30 ft ahead of his car, is standing with his gun aimed at a terrified Michael, who stands alone in the desert (next to the bonfire). He seems scared to move.

MICHAEL GUY

Sheriff, stop! Don’t move! * Shut the fuck up! Don’t you

move!

Joe has stopped.

Joe notices a whirring sound above. He looks up to see: a DRONE hovering in the sky.

A strong smell hits Joe. *

JOE * (looking down, trying to trace it) * What’s that smell? *

MICHAEL * They said they’d shoot me if I move! * They put things all around! They’re * gonna shoot me! *

GUY * Sheriff, this feels really not good. *

Guy has started walking carefully forward again. *

MICHAEL * They PUT me here! Lord Jesus, please, * they-- *

At that moment, AN EXPLOSIVE IS DETONATED 10 FT TO THE LEFT * OF GUY, BLOWING HIM AWAY. Michael, 20 ft back, is blown * backwards. Guy’s cruiser windows shatter and the tires blow. * JOE (FARTHER BACK) IS BLOWN 7 FT BACK. The blast-wave has * filled the air with violently swirling dust and debris. *

The site of the explosion has IGNITED a CONTROLLED FIRE THAT * SPREADS RAPIDLY TO THE LEFT AND RIGHT to violently form a * FLAMING “O.” (The fire has coursed across Guy’s torso and * encircled the car.) Joe is just beyond the fire, his feet * almost touching the bottom of the O. The fire is heard * spreading swiftly in opposing directions, beyond the O. *

Michael, face riddled with bits of shrapnel, lies unconscious. *

Joe, covered in dust, lies in a stunned daze. Momentarily * blinded and coughing, Joe struggles to rise off his back. He * turns to his right to see that the fire is spreading briskly to * the side (at an impressive distance) like a FLAMING TRAIL OF * DOMINOES. It seems to be some sort of S.O.S. sign. *

We cut briefly to an extreme high angle (being recorded by * the drone) that reveals the flaming sign as it fully * materializes: “NO PEACE” *

Joe pries himself off the ground. Now on his knees, he feels * for his holster to pull his gun, but it’s gone. He doesn’t * remember that he was holding it before the blast. He starts * looking for it. *

As he pats around, coughing and searching, he sees GUY’S BLOWN- * OFF ARM, STILL HOLDING A PISTOL several yards away. Joe crawls * to this and pulls the pistol free from Guy’s disembodied hand. * He then stumbles onto his feet, delirious. He points the * pistol up at the drone and SHOOTS at it. *

400 yards ahead: The SOUND of a CAR’S ENGINE STARTING. *

Joe turns to see a TRUCK in the distance, parked beyond a * nearby arroyo (beyond the flaming sign extending toward it), * its headlights off (and a masked man at the wheel, operating a * remote?). The drone has started to retreat and descend toward * the truck. Is the driver operating it? Joe then SEES... *

Joe instinctively swings his gun and takes aim at the masked * thin man. The man sees this and turns to retreat. As he does * so, his smartphone’s FLASHLIGHT accidentally turns on. *

Joe FIRES his gun at the fleeing man. Misses him. Starts to * pursue, although he is incredibly weak. The thin man DROPS * HIS PHONE (visible because of the flashlight) and continues * toward the truck, leaving the phone behind. *

Joe FIRES his gun again. Just then, an ONSLAUGHT OF MACHINE * GUN FIRE comes from the driver of the truck. Bullets kick up * dirt all around Joe. He drops to the ground, lying on his * stomach as the surrounding earth is chewed apart. The stream * of bullets then trails off to Joe’s CRUISER, demolishing its * windows and tires. *

The thin masked man arrives at the truck and jumps into the * passenger seat. The TRUCK ACCELERATES IN REVERSE, swings a 180, * and speeds off. *

Joe remains on his belly, wheezing. *

Joe limps to arrive at the MASKED MAN’S DROPPED SMARTPHONE, its flashlight still beaming. The flaming sign burns tepidly in the BG.

Joe picks up the phone, which is still recording VIDEO. Joe stops the video and sits down on the dirt. He goes to the PHOTO LIBRARY, which is all videos. Joe clicks on one.

It is a VIDEO of the muscular masked man - wearing a BLM duffel bag - dumping gasoline into the dumper outside the police station. Then the thin one ignites the fire with a * road flare.

Joe goes to another VIDEO. It features the muscular masked man throwing a burning Bible into a farmhouse window.

Joe goes to the next VIDEO, from the POV of someone in the passenger seat of a truck, fixed at first on the black-clad masked man at the steering wheel. He laughs as he accelerates and the camera swings forward to the windshield as the car speeds toward a Louisiana CHURCH. The car smashes through the entrance, collapsing the wall. Congregants scream and panic.

Joe cycles through more videos, each featuring acts of domestic terrorism - throwing a molotov cocktail into a rural police station, igniting the words “PIG ROAST NEXT” onto a prison wall, and finally a video of THREE MASKED MEN IN ALL-BLACK firing SCOPED RIFLES from the roof of a building down at bystanders. This is the same video that Joe saw on Facebook.

MOMENTS LATER

Joe walks over to Michael, who lies unconscious, face pocked with bloody flesh wounds. Joe bends down to confirm that Michael is breathing. He is.

Joe gently slaps his face to rouse him. Michael doesn’t stir.

Joe walks heavily through the desert, a trail of dust floating in his wake. He holds the masked man’s smartphone in one hand and his gun in the other. He coughs a dry cough.

Joe is coming up on his driveway. The windows of his house glow. Parked in front is a TAXI CAB whose engine is running.

Over Joe’s confused face: the sound of a phone VIBRATING. Joe looks down at the masked man’s phone. GUY is calling. He answers.

Joe looks at the phone. The phone is asleep. No call.

Joe enters through the back to find an empty bedroom. The lights are all off. He pauses to look around and see that all of Louise’s dolls and needlework are now missing. He then hears hurried but quiet movement in the bathroom.

Joe crosses to his closet, where he finds a RIFLE. He sets it on a surface and then finds bullets for his handgun. He starts loading the pistol, but then hears the bathroom door open.

He looks to the hallway through the open door to see Louise move swiftly down the hall and over to the living room.

LOUISE, barely visible in the darkness and wearing an overcoat, has just gathered two suitcases by the back window (behind the couch). She turns to start toward us when--

She stops, obscured by the dark. Silhouetted by the window.

Louise just stares. Joe steps into the living room to look out both windows.

He turns back to Louise. It’s impossible to make out her expression in the dark.

Louise now speaks, but it’s DAWN’S voice.

Beat. Joe looks confused. We cut to his POV to reveal that he is indeed looking at DAWN, wearing the same overcoat. It was her the whole time? Joe is devastated.

Joe looks squarely at her.

Silence from Dawn. Joe steps toward her. Her weight transfers from the front of her feet to her heels. He feels it.

Something outside the BIG WINDOW (to Joe’s right) gets his attention. A glint of vague light.

Harsh VIBRATION. In Joe’s back pocket. He reaches to pull out the masked man’s PHONE. A “Restricted Number” is calling. He holds it up for her, as if this is divine proof.

Joe answers the vibrating phone and puts it to his ear. All he hears are night insects and a rumbling, idle car engine. Beat. He’s looking out the big window.

Then a brief FLASH from behind Dawn, the sound of a MUFFLED GUNSHOT (muffled, that is, by a silencer) over the phone, and--

SMASH! The WINDOW BEHIND DAWN SHATTERS.

As Joe gawks stupidly, BLOOD dribbles into his eye, rendering half of his POV dark red. A vague sound of shattering outside (in front of the house) goes unacknowledged.

Joe touches his temple to realize that BLOOD IS POURING DOWN HIS FACE. The bullet grazed the top of his head, causing a minor flesh wound which is nonetheless bleeding profusely. He then turns to see Dawn standing frozen with shock.

Now activated, Joe runs to Dawn (as he does, another distant muzzleflash) and he TACKLES her to the ground. This happens just as a bullet strikes the far wall, narrowly missing her.

Joe starts scrambling on his belly, getting onto ALL FOURS and crawling desperately toward the front door. Blood continues to flow down his face as he gets to the door.

Joe crawls outside, moving down the steps toward the TAXI, whose engine is still rumbling. The right side of the windshield has been pierced by a bullet and the driver’s head rests on the steering wheel, the back of his head sporting an exit wound.

Joe opens the driver door and starts to pull out the driver’s corpse, but behind Joe (and to his left) shatters the driver window.

Joe falls back onto his ass and starts crawling backwards. He looks to the far road and sees a distant muzzleflash (from the window of a truck), whose ensuing bullet kicks sand violently into Joe’s eyes. Joe scrambles up to his feet and runs away. As he does so, he hears tires rolling from the source of the last gunshot. He looks to see the truck’s vague shape (and the faint glow of its rear taillights) starting up his driveway.

Joe runs down the hill that slopes steeply downward (toward a valley, beyond which are tall hills) to the side of his house. He hears feet now running distantly to the left and then a controlled rolling/scraping down a hill.

Joe descends the steep incline, careful to not fall - but not careful enough. He trips and tumbles down the sandy hill. Grabbing sand, he scrapes to a stop, and then runs ahead through a tree-pocked valley. He looks to his right to see the TRUCK now driving almost in parallel with him (600 feet away, still slightly behind) on rough terrain. It bounces mightily as it gains ground.

Just then, a MUZZLEFLASH (let’s say this belongs to “sniper * 1”) appears to Joe’s left, about 1,000 feet away. The bullet * strikes a tree in front of him (just to his right). *

Joe arrives at a clearing in the middle of the valley and sees the truck starts to curving toward him to his right. Just then, another muzzleflash from sniper 1 kicks up dirt near Joe’s feet.

The truck, its suspension jostling as it trundles messily over rocks, is driving on an off-road curving toward Joe. It BLASTS through a giant cactus bush, only to then ride up onto a VAST TANGLE OF CACTI. The tires get caught, riddled now with giant thorns, and the truck finds itself suspended atop the cacti. The driver leans on the gas, but the tires spin impotently. The driver tries to go in reverse, but no luck.

The HEADLIGHTS TURN ON, illuminating the cacti beneath the truck and the road ahead as Joe, faintly visible, nears the end of the clearing.

The passenger door opens, and a black-clad MUSCULAR MASKED MAN - source 2 - leans out, propping himself up with one foot on the door’s storage compartment. He hoists up a SEMI-AUTOMATIC ASSAULT RIFLE (with silencer), takes aim, and fires a rapid succession of rounds at the fleeing figure of Joe. Orange muzzleflash strobes the desert.

We track laterally with Joe as a hailstorm of bullets kicks up dust all around him, chewing away at the surrounding earth. This happens just as Joe gains cover from a giant tree, behind which we still feel the strobing muzzleflash and the headlights. The tree dances and shakes wildly from the bullets. Joe is panting, crying, COUGHING - nerves shredded.

Joe arrives the base of a tall rocky cliff. He starts to climb it. We hear the truck revving in reverse and breaking away from the cacti. One more bullet from sniper 1 (behind Joe and to his left) strikes the rock beside Joe. He scrambles a little higher, gaining cover.

BRIAN is pinning printed photos of him and Eric to a memory board of Eric and Ted on a corner of the street.

He then hears the sound of distant wheezing, coughing and running. He looks up to the Eddington water tower, where he sees Joe’s silhouette arriving at the top and then descending toward us.

Panting and coughing, Joe is now halfway down the hill, running toward town. He runs through several cactus patches (this hill is especially riddled with cacti) and is on a trajectory toward two roofs at the end of the slope.

Joe arrives at the end of the slope, but the hill ends abruptly, presenting a 15 ft drop and leaving 20 ft between him and the house whose roof he was running for. He hears distant running to his left side and a vehicle trundling distantly on the right. Suddenly a MUZZLEFLASH from his left delivers a bullet to a tall cactus beside him. It explodes toward Joe.

Joe reacts by jumping off the hill and dropping 20 ft to land on a TABLE. It collapses underneath him, breaking his fall.

Joe rises, in pain, and moves toward the BACK DOOR of the small EDDINGTON MUSEUM. He kicks the flimsy door (near the knob). It doesn’t break open. He then BREAKS the door from the frame by using his shoulder.

Breaking through the door, Joe runs through the tiny Eddington museum - a collection of antiques, photographs and miscellany from Eddington’s illustrious past. (Also, a family of lifelike Native American statues sits about.)

The museum door swings open and Joe comes running out. He is bounding for the BANK ATM DRIVE-THRU across the street when we hear a soft tock from behind (to Joe’s left). A bullet creates a SPARK in the pavement just ahead/to the right of Joe.

Joe disappears under the sheltering ROOF of the ATM drive-thru just as another shot is fired, striking the top of an ATM.

Joe is safe for the moment. Wheezing and coughing, he turns to run along the length of the BANK and approaches a glowing LAUNDROMAT on the next block (beyond the next road).

Joe, crossing the street, almost reaches the laundromat when another bullet strikes the pavement in front of him. He turns to see the sniper’s silhouette, now on top of another building to the north (he clearly just went jumping from roof to roof).

Joe changes his trajectory to now be running south. As he runs through an INTERSECTION, two muzzleflashes appear two blocks to his right (from a truck window). Both bullets just miss Joe, one striking a trash can.

Joe clears the intersection, and another muzzleflash from behind (the sniper on the roof) delivers a bullet to the sidewalk at Joe’s feet.

Seeing a GLASS DOOR to his right, Joe throws his body sideways to SMASH through. We PULL OUT to reveal the store of the shattered door: GUNTHER’S PISTOL PALACE

The street outside the gun shop. It’s quiet. EMPTY. Wind blows.

Suddenly Joe emerges manically from the shattered door, holding a .338 NORMA MAGNUM MACHINE GUN. He has a full bandolier (ammunition belt) strung slash-style over his shoulder, and over his shoulder is an AR-15. Immediately upon exiting, Joe FIRES EXTREMELY LOUD ROUNDS into the darkness from which the last muzzleflash appeared.

This is heard from behind Joe, followed by the sound of a gunshot and a bullet hitting the wall beside Joe’s head.

123 Startled by this, Joe swings his massive gun, FIRING IT 123 as he spins 180 degrees, riddling every storefront on the way with massive bullets...

Joe finishes spinning around, still firing the immense gun. Having turned 180 degrees, he fires unknowingly at Butterfly. ONE ROUNDS HITS BUTTERFLY IN THE LEG - just below his knee, blowing the bottom half of his leg off/backwards.

Joe runs to the wailing Butterfly, who is trying to sit up.

As Joe arrives at Butterfly, who writhes in pain, a distant phump is heard (from behind), followed by a bullet striking the top of Butterfly’s crown, EXPLODING his head into a flap.

Joe spins to the source of the gunshot. He then sees a single, distant MUZZLEFLASH (again, from the darkness of the north side), followed by an echoey whump. A bullet impacts the muzzle of Joe’s massive gun with a metallic ting (a blinding SPARK flashes), sending vibrations through Joe’s body and almost knocking him to the ground.

In panicked response, Joe FIRES HIS MACHINE GUN at the darkness, and RUNS in terrified retreat.

Joe now runs through a vast parking lot. Another muzzleflash strobes the intersection three blocks in Joe’s wake and shatters a CAR WINDOW beside Joe.

Joe turns, backpedaling. Another muzzleflash from the same sniper sends a BULLET WHIZZING BY JOE’S EAR, and Joe offers a brief barrage of return fire. Having stopped firing, Joe is able to see shooter running off to the right and disappearing.

Joe continues through the parking lot (the gun and bandolier rattling as he goes), only to then hear running footsteps to his right. He slows to confirm, then sees the sniper who was recently on the rooftops now running alongside him in parallel (two blocks to his side). Joe fires his machine gun at the sprinting sniper, but no shots connect before the sniper clears out of view. Joe has now run out of bullets. He throws the giant gun and switches to the AR-15.

Joe continues to the end of the road, coming up on an INTERSECTION.

Joe is now facing the right, running sideways, knowing to expect an attack from the north. A muzzleflash appears behind the pillar of an archway in front of a small business. The bullet misses Joe, but Joe was ready. He unleashes hellfire in response, demolishing both the pillar and the sniper behind it.

Joe, standing in the center of the street, swings around. He’s catching his breath. Deranged. He starts running again down the next street (just needing to get out of the intersection).

Joe halts in the middle of the large PARKING LOT, struggling to breathe. He starts scanning desperately. He has arrived at a spot that leaves him utterly exposed.

Joe turns to face one direction, then the next (always aiming the gun), gasping for breath. He hears movement on top of the building to his side. His attention darts crazily between that rooftop and the car (behind which the running figure disappeared).

Suddenly Joe hears distant RUNNING - boots against gravel - coming from behind him. Joe TURNS toward the sound, but before he can see the source, A BULLET CHEWS PAVEMENT AT HIS FEET. Joe staggers, looking up to see the MUSCULAR MASKED MAN running toward him, aiming a PISTOL.

Joe SCREAMS and tries firing at the man, but his gun CLICKS (out of ammo, or jammed). The masked man (now only about 100 ft away) fires again, HITTING JOE IN THE ARM. Joe drops the gun and scream in pain. The man pulls the trigger again, but his gun clicks.

The Masked Man drops the gun and swiftly reaches for his hip to PULL A HUNTING KNIFE.

The Masked Man swings the knife upward and arrives at Joe to SWIFTLY BRING THE KNIFE DOWN ONTO JOE’S HEAD, eliciting a deep grunt. The blade lodges into the skull, not very deep.

The Masked Man YANKS back the knife, brutally dislodging the blade, and he SWINGS IT BACK DOWN INTO JOE’S TEMPLE.

We cut briefly to Joe’s POV as the blade imbeds itself into his skull/brain. ELECTRIC ZAP/CRACKLE SOUNDS as neurons explode/die. The masked man releases the knife handle and we stumble back, moaning stupidly (like a lobotomized cow). The masked man disappears from view as we FALL WOOZILY BACKWARDS. A loud, hollow KONK as the back of our head knocks the asphalt.

Suddenly - and we leave Joe’s POV for this - a GUNSHOT is heard, and a BULLET hits a wall beyond the Masked Man.

The Masked Man turns to see the source of the gunshot. It’s BRIAN, running 50 ft in front of the destroyed car that the figure (revealed now to have been Brian) hid behind.

The bullet misses. The Masked Man wobbles into a defensive stance. Brian jogs forward, FIRING his gun again. And again. And again. (We see this from the POV of Brian’s video.)

The Masked Man reaches for his belt. Brian keeps firing his pistol - HITTING THE MAN IN THE CHEST OF HIS BULLET-PROOF VEST, THEN IN THE CROTCH, and then IN THE SIDE OF THE FACE (exploding the side of his head). He is spun away from Brian, who fires once more. This shot hits the back of the masked man’s head, which causes his face to BURST APART at the nose, although his mask remains intact. He falls onto his stomach.

BACK TO JOE’S POV. Knife still visibly lodged in our head. We are letting out a sustained, barely audible moan as we stare up at the night sky.

Brian comes into view. He leans down to confirm that we are breathing. Our unbroken exhale sounds like the inside of an industrial freezer. In the distance, the sound of an incoming SIRENS.

The sky beginning to subtly change colors with the flashing of offscreen gumball lights. But our eyelids are beginning to shut.

When our eyes flutter back open, refusing to fully shut, we reveal ourselves to DRIFTING QUICKLY AND BUMPILY below the night sky. Offscreen ambulance lights streaking across our vision. We are being pushed. On a gurney? A masked PARAMEDIC - the one who’s pushing us - dips in and out of view.

Suddenly the AWNING OF AN EMERGENCY ROOM ENTRANCE COMES INTO VIEW and then a HOSPITAL GUARD, wearing a mask and face shield, looking down at us.

The guard reads our temperature with a no-touch, infrared thermometer.

The paramedic shakes his head in deprecation (”gonna die on his way to the tent”) and pulls us away from the awning to cart us in the other direction.

Our eyes roll back into our head, BLACKING US OUT.

FADE IN. Louise sits on a deck chair in the hills behind her off-screen house. She is looking out at the landscape, while finishing the sewing of a doll’s head. Her phone plays an interview with Jacob Needleman about Gurdjieff’s teachings.

Joe, clean-shaven (save for a well-groomed mustache), steps out. He is “well dressed.” He stands in front of her, barely concealing a giddy smile. He looks at her as if to say “guess what??”

Beat. She turns off her phone.

Joe smiles, almost ready to cry. Louise puts on a happy face.

Joe receives her. They hug.

She smiles. A real smile this time.

He kisses her. We hold on her face.

Fade out on her face.

After a moment of BLACK...

Still in JOE’S POV, we are now in the center of the back seat of a van being driven on the highway. Our view of the car is obscured by a SMARTPHONE being held horizontally for us (basically filling the frame) by someone reaching back from the passenger seat. On the phone plays a heavily edited TIK- TOK video, titled One Year Anniversary of the Eddington Protest Terrorist Attack, comprised of the following footage (accompanied by triumphant/sentimental music)...

- Slow-motion footage of Brian running/shooting at the masked man.

- Brian surrendering to police as they arrive at the scene.

Footage from Fox News of Brian with the responding police. * Headline reads: “Antifa Terrorists Murder Mayor, Teen and Two * Police Officers.” This transitions to a photo of Brian and * the headline “Armed Teen Vigilante Neutralizes Threat.” *

- A screen-shared ARTICLE briefly takes over: “Marjorie Taylor Greene nominates Brian Frazee for the Congressional Gold Medal.”

- BRIAN - now a year older (with peach fuzz for a mustache) - posing for a video in front of a new house in Jacksonville, Florida. He stands beside a new GIRLFRIEND.

- Brian and girlfriend kiss in slow-motion while sitting beside a desert fire at night. Heart emojis dance.

- Brian hosting a podcast. Behind him are ads for an energy drink he’s launching. He interviews Jon Voight--

Through the windshield, we see that we are approaching a HUMONGOUS, NEWLY BUILT DATA COMPOUND. It looms off the side of the freeway, in the center of the desert. The stereo, drawing bluetooth off Dawn’s phone, plays:

MAN’S VOICE (V.O.) (OVER STEREO) - and when they broadcast the 18 gigahertz signal for one minute three different times as a pulse, it’ll cause these lipid nanoparticles that are baked into the shots to swell and release those pathogenic contents--

PRODUCTION MEETING DRAFT (2/29/24) 127.

From Joe’s POV, we’re at the RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONY. Dawn’s back stands before us as she speaks into a microphone at a podium. A two-sided sign reads “SolidGoldMagikarp Supercomputing Data Center, June 2021 Opening.”

She gestures back to us and all eyes go briefly to us. Sitting right beside us (and in our view) is the [EX] PUEBLO SHERIFF (from the first scene), now wearing a pristine white suit. He looks to us with disdain.

Polite chuckles from the audience. One guy provides a loud “HA!”

Our POV has settled on the front of the crowd, where MICHAEL stands. He wears a sheriff’s uniform and trains his SMARTPHONE on the stage, clearly taking a video...

We CUT now to an EXTREME CLOSE UP of JOE’S EYES. They are fixed intensely, one eyebrow arched hideously.

JOE’S ENHANCED POV: We have punched in on Michael’s aimed smartphone. We rack focus past it to find a sheriff’s badged affixed to his breast pocket.

DAWN (O.S.) (CONT’D) And we are now home to an advanced supercomputing infrastructure powering the future of a technology that will indeed change everything and solve problems we never been able to solve -

MICHAEL’S PHONE: He is filming Dawn’s speech. But we ZOOMS IN past Dawn and the ex-Pueblo sheriff to become a CLOSE-UP of JOE, who is now consigned to a wheelchair. He’s PARALYZED, mouth twisted into a hideous contortion, one eye locked alarmingly open (and staring directly at us).

DAWN (ON VIDEO) (CONT’D) - and all while using the least amount a energy and water as any data complex in the southwest! And that’s ‘cause a what we’re doing in solar. And what the Pueblo’s doin, too!

A community building is being restored in the Pueblo. It bears a large new MEMORIAL MURAL featuring Butterfly’s heroic face. Beyond this building: a few massive wind turbines. Dawn’s speech continues over this.

We punch out to reveal the whole of SANTA LUPE PUEBLO in the distance. Several community buildings are being reconstructed or built anew, as new money seems to be getting distributed generously about. An array of WIND TURBINES looms just beyond.

A car speeds past us in the FG and we PAN with it, revealing its back to be that of Joe’s wheelchair accessible van.

Dawn drives the van up a dirt hill, arriving at a LARGE, LAVISH HOUSE. The van parks in front of this, their new home.

PRODUCTION MEETING DRAFT (2/29/24) 129.

Dawn stands outside the van as Joe, in wheelchair, is slowly descended by the van’s built-in escalator.

DAWN * Plane hits a building - two buildings - * they don’t fall that way. That’s how * they go in controlled demolitions. You * detonate the bottom... *

The front door opens and Dawn wheels Joe in. She pushes him up a ramp, facing a wall that is dominated by a photo of Richmond.

Dawn - in a robe - cuts Joe’s hair on the back deck, * overlooking a mountain view. A hot tub waits in the FG, jets * bubbling. *

Joe, now in pajamas, sits in his wheelchair, a blanket draped over his lap. He faces an 85” TV (mounted on a glass wall, overlooking the mountain view). John Ford’s Young Mr Lincoln * plays. Dawn sits on a comfy chair, laptop propped on her lap. * She’s scrolling through 4Chan while the following audio plays: *

WOMAN’S VOICE (V.O.) * I’m not calling it “The Great Reset”! * That’s the literal title of his book. His * father moved 18 billion dollars into Swiss * banks for the Nazis and now he’s doin just * what they did. *

Dawn GASPS. *

WOMAN’S VOICE (V.O.) * Mass murder on a global, global scale -- *

She pauses the audio. She was searching “seed oils” and * stumbled on an anti-government group - THE KNIGHTHOOD - whose * mascot is ONE OF LOUISE’S DOLLS. It wears the group’s UNIFORM * and INSIGNIA. *

Dawn starts desperately searching for more. She comes to an INVITATION TO A RALLY whose main image is an embroidered image of the mascot, also clearly by Louise’s hand. This is evidently the group’s identifying image.

Dawn is audibly distraught. Joe, whose chair is turned away, tries to look over, but is unable to move his head.

LATER

THE VIDEO: a RALLY taking place in a public park. On stage is VERNON. He makes an impassioned speech at a microphone, preaching with intense charisma. (Behind him is a GIANT, INFLATABLE VERSION OF ONE OF LOUISE’S DOLLS, as well a GIANT EMBROIDERED SIGN, also made by Louise.)

The video has cut away to a few of the people sitting behind Vernon. Among them is LOUISE. She looks totally different. She has several tattoos on her arms, one tattoo across her chest, her hair is dyed black, and she’s fervently nodding along to Vernon’s sermon. She is pregnant.

The video cuts away from Louise, and Dawn quickly rewinds it to PAUSE on Louise’s image.

Joe and Dawn gaze on this, destroyed.

CU of Louise on the video. Happier and more self-possessed than we’ve ever seen her.

Dawn, now in her nightgown, uses a Lift to transfer Joe from * his wheelchair to a king-size bed. He hangs midair in a sling * as Dawn prepares the bed for him. *

DAWN * Is that comfortable? * (waits for blinks) * Do you want looser? *

They lie in silence.

The faint crackle of a distant gunshot, barely audible.

Michael lies on his stomach, aiming a rifle at a target sheet (very far away) in the same area in the desert where his unconscious body was abandoned by Joe after the explosion.

He fires once, hitting the target’s neck.

He cocks the gun and fires again, hitting its chest.

He cocks again and fires once more. This one strikes the HEAD.

On the three separate swells of the gunshot’s echo, we CUT OUT silently to a contained wide shot of the area (recalling a shot of the night that Michael was stranded there by the bonfire), and then CUT OUT to an even wider, more vast wide, and then we CUT OUT TO:

A highly composed tableau.

In the distance, the twinkling lights of Eddington. In the FG, the massive data complex. It looms large, a castle perched above its kingdom.

Roll credits over this shot.