"WEAPONS" (2025)

Maybrook elementary stands proud in its little suburban plot. Yellow buses unload throngs of kids in the morning rush.

We follow JUSTINE (30s) as she makes her way through the river of youthful chaos. We don’t see her face, but we can feel her good mood. She likes these kids.

JUSTINE reaches a classroom door and steps into...

BLUE DRAFT (03/26/2024) 2.

The room is EMPTY.

She moves to her desk and drops her bag. We stay behind her observing the rows and rows of unoccupied desks. It’s eerily quiet here after the mayhem of the hall.

The camera slides to reveal a LITTLE BOY, ALEX sitting at a desk that Justine’s body was blocking from view.

The camera pushes past Justine toward Alex. He looks neither sinister nor innocent. Just blank.

A4 CUT TO BLACK. A4

An unlit, empty child’s bedroom. The red alarm clock by the bed reads 2:17.

Pan from the bed to the open door.

PINK PAGES (04/10/2024) 3.

Pan from the staircase through the living room.

Pass through the front door to the empty dark lawn.

MONTAGE: A series of super wide shots of SUBURBAN HOMES lit by moonlight and street-lamps. Each shot lingers on the house - still and calm, until the FRONT DOOR OPENS and a CHILD EMERGES.

Every child RUNS ACROSS THE YARD with the same CURIOUS POSTURE - body erect, ARMS OUTSTRETCHED in a downward V like someone holding heavy bags. They run like the naked Vietnamese girl covered in napalm from that iconic photo.

We watch 17 DIFFERENT HOUSES and 17 DIFFERENT CHILDREN make their escape into the dark that George is warning us about.

WEAPONS

A8 BLACK A8

MONTAGE:

Through a bedroom window we look down on a k9 unit searching a backyard.

WS from the woods looking toward the back of a home as 3 officers fan out and step into the trees.

Upstairs hallway: One officer steps up a ladder to the attic, as another in a bedroom squats to look under the bed.

Push through a front door toward the yard as parents talk to officers.

REVERSE - Push past parents and officers and land on a CU of a ring Camera.

Push on a cheap desk cam set up through a window and it’s reverse.

OTS another mounted security camera as another family in the front yard gesture to officers.

PUSH past kids playing to focus forest between two houses.

MONTAGE: Empty school hallways. Empty classrooms. Empty playgrounds. Empty parking lots. Empty gym. A shrine of flowers and candles sits near an empty front entrance.

PUSH through crowded halls with busy detectives.

PUSH IN on ALEX on a sofa between his parents. Two detectives lean forward peppering him with questions.

Move through another busy bullpen.

PUSH IN on the door to an INTERROGATION ROOM.

JUSTINE sits opposite two detectives.

The school sits empty. No cars in the lot. No activity.

MATCH CUT: The parking lot is full of cars. People file in, push through the halls to gather in the auditorium.

A16 CUT TO BLACK. A16

JUSTINE

JUSTINE sits in the front row, clenching her jaw, eyes on her lap. The STRESS of the last weeks is plastered all over her.

On stage, a COUNSELOR in a tweed coat addresses the room.

Heads turn as ARCHER (40’s, Powerful) rises.

Grunts of approval from others.

JUSTINE shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath.

-- JUSTINE stands at the podium before a sea of angry expectant faces.

JUSTINE hurries to her car, flanked by the COUNSELOR and MARCUS. Behind them angry parents spill from the school.

Marcus turns to head them off.

She shakes her head and shoves the keys in the ignition.

She yanks the door shut and starts the engine.

Justine steps from her car and walks through the parking lot toward a liquor store. She eyes a few people milling about at the end of the lot but they don’t notice her.

A HOMELESS MAN named JAMES stands by the entrance.

Justine moves through the aisles to the rear of the shop. She knows exactly where she’s headed.

She snatches a bottle of vodka and heads back toward the counter when her phone rings. She digs it out.

Only breathing.

More breathing. Justine stops.

Justine steps timidly from the store, fully paranoid.

She’s too focused on a DARK FIGURE in an IDLING PICKUP TRUCK across the street to answer.

She moves toward her car.

Justine cuts the engine and checks her mirrors. NO PICKUP in sight. Just a quiet suburban street.

She steps from her car and moves up the yard toward her door. She spots a COUPLE walking toward her from down the block and she picks up the pace.

She enters and locks the deadbolt immediately. Without turning on the lights, she moves to the window and peers through the curtains.

She waits until the couple enters her view. In a few moments they amble past without a glance her way.

She exhales.

A23 INT. JUSTINE’S HOME / KITCHEN - LATER A23

CU on the TELEVISION. SHARK TANK is on and some idiots are pitching bullshit.

Justine moves about the kitchen fixing herself a stiff vodka soda when...

She freezes. Listens.

She takes a few timid steps to the edge of the kitchen and peeks through the living room to the front door.

She turns it off.

No sound but the clock on the mantle.

She moves closer to the door.

No answer.

She takes a final step and looks through the peephole.

POV: Empty porch. No one.

She moves to the window.

POV: Nothing. Empty porch. Empty street.

She sighs and lets go of the curtain.

She makes her way back to the kitchen, grabbing the remote off the--

BANG! BANG! BANG!

She startles, drops the remote and wheels around.

No sound.

KITCHEN: She digs through a junk drawer and pulls out a little can of PEPPER SPRAY.

LIVING ROOM: She strides to the front window, pissed now.

She yanks back the curtain.

No one on the porch. No one in the yard.

Justine throws open her front door and strides out.

No one in sight. She scans the block and then she sees it.

Her CAR. Someone PAINTED its side in big SLOPPY RED LETTERS:

The sun is up and a hungover Justine scrubs the ‘WITCH’ with a large soapy sponge but it’s not coming off.

She steps back and sighs. Fuck it.

The ‘witch-mobile’ sits parked in a crowded lot, sticking out like a sore thumb.

Justine sits across the desk from PRINCIPAL MARCUS.

She forces a smile.

Marcus takes a breath.

She searches for it.

Marcus’s face says it all: Not happening.

YELLOW PAGES (04/19/2024) 16.

Justine walks to her car amidst the end of day rush as kids push into minivans and load onto buses.

In her wake we catch a couple of icy stares from adults and pointed whispers from children.

IN HER CAR: Justine sits and watches the children. An unexpected wave of emotion hits her. She fights the urge to cry when...

She spots ALEX drifting silently amongst the flow of kids, head down, alone in the crowd.

Justine leans forward, melting at the sight of him until he steps onto a waiting bus and is gone.

Justine stands in the parking lot behind an officer who squats and rubs at the paint on her car.

Percy Sledge’s At the Dark End of the Street plays as Justine sits at the bar, nervously sipping a vodka soda. PAUL ENTERS and makes his way over. She brightens and stands.

They do, but it’s awkward. They sit. She notices his right hand is bandaged.

She half stands to get his attention.

Beat.

He side eyes her.

Justine waves at Tony again but he’s not seeing her.

She futzes with her hair. He fidgets.

Tony sidles up.

Tony steps away and she rolls her eyes.

She leans back and stares at him, reproachful.

Tony returns with his coke.

Paul stares at his coke, picking his words.

She stares at him: Go ahead, shoot.

Justine smiles, genuine this time.

She leans in, flirty and smiling.

He stares at her.

Justine sits in a loose t-shirt on a chair by her dresser, sipping from a mug. A sly smile creeps across her face and she scoops up her phone, does some tapping and then sets it on the dresser.

A beat later her phone starts to play the peppy opening piano bars to Harry Nilsson’s ‘Gotta Get Up’.

REVEAL: PAUL asleep in bed. He stirs, eyes her and rolls the other way.

Justine smiles, sips her coffee and watches him.

She loves it.

YELLOW PAGES (04/19/2024) 23.

Justine drives and Paul rides shotgun.

Beat.

He sizes her up.

A33 EXT. BAR - DAY A33

She pulls into the bar parking lot and stops behind his car.

Paul takes a deep breath.

She nods.

He smiles awkwardly and gets out of the car. She watches him unlock his truck.

Once again, Justine sits behind the wheel, as kids flow toward their buses/cars.

She scans the tide of little heads until she sees ALEX moving quietly through the crowd like yesterday.

Justine follows the SCHOOLBUS past suburban homes.

It rolls to a stop and Alex disembarks.

She parks and watches him make his way down the block.

GREEN PAGES (05/07/2024) 25A.

MOMENTS LATER: She follows on foot as Alex heads toward the last house on the block.

As ALEX crosses the yard and ascends the steps, the DOOR SWINGS OPEN and an ADULT stands in the dark of the entrance.

Alex slides into house and the adult pulls the door shut.

She stares at the house. This feels off.

MOMENTS LATER: Justine rings the doorbell. No response.

She rings again and presses her ear to the door.

Nothing. She steps back and looks at the nearby window but the curtains are drawn.

She steps off the porch and sees another window has NEWSPAPER TAPED OVER THE GLASS.

Intrigued, she moves around to the side of the house. She steps through the tall grass and rounds the corner moving along the tiny side-yard.

Another window taped over with newspaper. She moves to it and sees a SMALL GAP between the newspaper and the frame.

She presses her face to the glass and peers inside.

POV: The room within is dark and cluttered. At first she can only make out the dim shapes of furniture. A dining room table off to one side, stacked with dishes and boxes, a television on a small cabinet. Trash strewn around the floor.

Then she sees it...

On a SOFA in the center of the room sit an ADULT MAN AND WOMAN. Their posture is rigid and they’re completely still.

Justine gasps and steps back KNOCKING over a RAKE beside her that lands with a LOUD CLACK.

She freezes, holding her breath. Hesitantly she moves her face back to the window.

The couple on the couch HAVEN’T MOVED an inch. There’s no way they didn’t hear her.

Justine backs away and turns toward the street to leave.

GREEN PAGES (05/07/2024) 27.

Justine drives through town on her phone.

Beat.

Beat.

MOMENTS LATER: Justine drives faster.

Justine parks in front of a liquor store.

Justine enters, nods to the clerk and makes her way down toward the rear of the store. She doesn’t notice a WOMAN IN A BRIGHT RED JUMPER step in after her.

As Justine slowly winds her way down the aisles, we can tell that the woman in red is not shopping. She’s FIXATED on JUSTINE and moving with purpose.

Justine pauses, looking for her favorite bottle when the woman closes the distance, GRABS HER BY THE HAIR AND SHOVES HER to the ground.

Recognition hits Justine.

Donna snatches a BOTTLE OF VODKA from the shelf and TWISTS THE CAP OFF.

She holds the bottle upside down POURING the VODKA onto her.

Donna continues pouring like a maniac.

The CLERK arrives and pulls Donna back.

Justine sits in shock, SOAKED in vodka.

YELLOW PAGES (04/19/2024) 30.

CU on a vodka poured over ice.

Justine sips a stiff one on her couch as garbage plays on TV.

STAIRCASE: She stumbles her way up the steps.

We PUSH IN through the door on her ASLEEP IN BED.

Something’s off. Menacing score rises.

Push tighter on her face.

FLASH: An empty school hallway.

Justine twitches, troubled.

FLASH: The same hallway - we’re moving down it now.

Justine furrows her brow, the dream taking hold.

Justine is walking down the empty hall. The only sound is her heels on the hard floor echoing off the walls.

Something feels wrong. She checks over her shoulder as she goes but sees no one. Ahead, the door to her classroom slides closer.

Justine enters and moves toward her desk. The camera slides along with her just like in our cold open, but now the room is dark and there are no empty seats. Rows of children sit silently with their heads down against their desks.

As Justine stops at her desk the camera continues its slide, bringing ALEX into view.

It’s hard to see him clearly in the darkened recess of this room, but as we push around Justine and dolly forwards he slowly sits upright and we begin to see...

His face is covered in thick garish MAKEUP. Bright red lipstick paints a joker’s smile on his mouth. Smears of blue sit on his eyes and smacks of rouge pop on each white cheek.

Justine opens her eyes, and sits up in bed, gasping to catch her breath.

She takes in the room around her. All is as it was. She holds her chest, waiting for the adrenaline to subside.

She stares at the open door and into the hallway beyond. Did she see something move out there?

She stares at the dark space, waiting for any movement - any sound...

After a moment, she’s satisfied. She’s alone.

She lays back down and her eyes drift up and she sees it...

POV: A WOMAN looks down at her from above. The ceiling surrounds her waist as if it was a pool of water that she was standing in, UPSIDE DOWN. She’s craning her neck ‘up’ to look down at Justine and her face is CAKED IN BRIGHT MAKEUP - garish eyeliner and lipstick. She wears a BRIGHT GREEN RUNNING JACKET and large gold earrings. Gravity has no effect on her and her hair frizzes out and down her shoulders.

She rubs her palms together and SMILES with a manic PREDATORY GLEE at Justine who can only gasp in mute terror.

Justine blinks and the woman is gone.

She sits up in bed, gasping.

POV: In a CAR SIDE MIRROR we see ALEX walking home.

Justine steps from her little white car with the big red letters as he approaches.

Alex freezes, eyes wide with alarm. Not the warm reception she was hoping for.

He clearly doesn’t want to have this conversation.

He walks past her toward his house.

He doesn’t stop.

Alex whirls on her.

She freezes, startled. Alex turns and jogs across the yard. The front door is opened by the SAME MESSY ADULT.

Justine gathers her resolve and follows him.

-- She rings the bell once more.

She knocks on the door.

Nothing.

BLUE DRAFT (03/26/2024) 33.

-- HOURS LATER: The sun is setting. She sits slouched behind the wheel, SWIGGING from her BOTTLE, watching the house. A SOCCER MOM walking a dog passes by and she lowers her drink.

-- HOURS LATER: It’s full dark. The neighborhood is silent. Justine SLEEPS at the wheel. We watch her deep breathing for a beat and then the camera slowly slides, rotating behind her to bring the HOUSE into view through the windshield.

After a long beat the FRONT DOOR OPENS.

For another beat nothing happens. And then...

A FIGURE emerges and crosses the yard. As they pass under the street lamp, we can tell it’s a WOMAN with a RAGGED DRESS and messy TANGLED HAIR. She walks briskly and directly at us with her ARMS OUT AT HER SIDES at an unnatural angle, as if she were holding two large pieces of invisible luggage. She advances until she comes to a stop outside Justine’s window.

The figure stands just outside the door but her head is out of view.

She seems to be studying Justine who sleeps on, oblivious.

The woman moves to the rear of the car out of sight. The camera holds on Justine but we hear shuffling off screen and then...

CHUNK. The unmistakable sound of the PASSENGER DOOR OPENING, then the sound of ragged breathing as she SITS INTO THE CAR.

We hold on Justine’s sleeping face as a pale FILTHY HAND enters frame holding a large, dangerous looking PAIR OF SCISSORS.

The scissors reach slowly toward Justine’s unconscious head and for a moment we’re certain something dreadful is about to happen, but then...

SNIP. The hand cuts a large chunk of JUSTINE’S HAIR that lands on her shoulder.

The hand recoils from frame and then reappears without the scissors, PLUCKS UP the HAIR and withdraws once more.

ARCHER

Archer is a very large man in a very small bed. The room he’s sleeping in belongs to a 10 year old boy. Posters of athletes and television shows line the walls. Toys clutter the tabletops.

The door opens slightly and his WIFE pokes her head in.

Archer opens his eyes but makes no reply. She doesn’t wait for one. She leaves.

He sits up and rubs his face. His eyes land on a PHOTO on the desk of HIS SON’S LITTLE LEAGUE TEAM. 14 boys in uniform flanked by Archer and another smiling coach.

He lifts the photo, focusing on his child, MATTHEW, smiling at the camera.

Archer sits at the kitchen island watching his LAPTOP. On screen is FOOTAGE from his front door RING CAMERA.

For a beat it’s just a nighttime shot of the yard and street beyond. Then in the foreground, the DOOR SWINGS OPEN and MATTHEW, in pajamas, trots down the porch and into the yard.

He RUNS WITH HIS ARMS OUT AT HIS SIDES in the same unnatural posture of the woman who cut Justine’s hair. He moves in a straight line across the grass, past the sidewalk and into the street. In a few more steps he’s swallowed by the DARK.

Archer PAUSES the footage and stares at the darkness. He REVERSES it. Matthew is sucked back into view, toward the camera and disappears into the house.

He PRESSES PLAY and watches his son run away once more.

We look at the same yard but this time without the grainy digital filter. Archer steps from the front door, dressed for work and makes his way toward his truck. He studies the yard as he walks, forced to imagine Matthew’s trajectory.

GREEN PAGES (05/07/2024) 35.

Archer emerges from his F150 and strides toward a HOUSE UNDER CONSTRUCTION. Workers bustle around and we can tell his presence is acutely felt. He’s the boss.

A man in a hardhat approaches with a friendly nod.

Sure enough the shutters and door are red.

The Foreman has more bad news but doesn’t want to say it.

Archer deflates.

Archer suppresses a swell of rage.

Archer walks away.

LATER: Archer drops two heavy cans of RED PAINT into the bed of his truck and slides in the driver’s seat. His face is pure tension as he fires up the engine.

Archer sits in the FRONT LOBBY. Officers file in and out. A handcuffed man with a bloody head sits nearby. ED (50’s Captain) emerges from the back hall.

Archer stands.

Archer sits across the desk from Ed.

Ed sighs. He was hoping to avoid this line of talk.

Archer stares out the window and seethes.

He studies Archer.

Archer eyes him. He’s about to fire back--

Archer stands in the audience at the PTA meeting. We’re up close with him now, unlike last time this scene played out.

PARENT #1 Yes!

Archer moves with the tide of an angry crowd after Justine.

As Justine gets into her car, Archer veers from the flow. He hops into his pickup and starts the engine.

She pulls into a liquor store and he parks across the street. He watches as she exits her car and walks to the door of the shop, ignoring JAMES asking her for change.

Archer sits in his truck at the end of the block watching Justine tote her bag of booze into her house. Pan back from him in the cabin and land on the buckets of red paint in the flatbed.

Grainy footage of the yard. Matthew striding into darkness.

Archer sits at his kitchen island nursing a beer and watching the video. Rewinding it. Watching it again.

Archer wakes in his son’s bed. He sits up.

The room around him is dark and silent.

Archer rises and moves to the photo, lifting it from the desk. The CHILDREN are MISSING. It’s just an image of him and another coach on either side of an EMPTY SPACE that should have fourteen kids.

His breathing quickens and he sets the photo back on the desk. He turns and sees...

HIMSELF asleep in the bed.

He looks to the clock. 2:17

The BEDROOM DOOR OPENS abruptly. Archer turns and stares at it. No one is there. But then he hears...

FOOTSTEPS. Descending the staircase.

Archer emerges from the bedroom and reaches the top of the stairs just as the footsteps finish their descent.

Archer descends the steps quickly, fully alert. He moves into the kitchen.

He hears the turning of a deadbolt and rushes to the mouth of the kitchen to see the FRONT DOOR SWING OPEN on its own.

He exits the house and spots MATTHEW in the yard trotting away from him, ARMS OUT AT HIS SIDES like the video.

He runs after his child, across the yard and into the street.

A63 EXT. WOODS - NIGHT A63

He presses deeper and deeper into the woods, and soon it’s almost pitch black.

B63 EXT. ARCHER’S HOME - NIGHT B63

Archer pushes through the tree line only to find himself on another lawn facing an empty street across which is, impossibly - HIS OWN HOUSE.

As he struggles to comprehend how his house could be here, on the wrong side of the woods, he spots MATTHEW running up the front yard and INTO THE OPEN DOORWAY.

As Matthew disappears inside, Archer is about to give chase but stops when LIGHTNING STRIKES AND DISTANT THUNDER booms. He looks up to see...

FLOATING some 30 feet in the SKY above his ‘house’ is a GIGANTIC, YACHT-SIZED, AR-15 ASSAULT RIFLE.

Archer stares dumbly at it, mesmerized. It floats there, towering above the trees. A moment later numbers appear in RED GLOWING FIRE on its stock: 2-1-7.

Archer swallows, collects himself and continues.

Archer enters. It’s darker than it was when he left here a minute ago. He pauses to listen...

Feet ascending the staircase.

Archer moves down the hall toward Matthew’s room. The door is closed.

Nothing. Archer places a trembling hand on the knob. He swallows and pushes it open.

From the doorway he can see MATTHEW IN BED, wrapped in sheets, with his BACK TO THE DOOR.

Archer paces cautiously across the room. He places a timid hand on Matthew’s shoulder, pulls him to reveal...

MATTHEW’S 10 year old face staring at him, blank.

Emotion floods Archer and he kneels.

Matthew only looks at him.

No response.

No response.

We CUT from Archer’s pleading face to Matthew in bed but this time it’s NOT MATTHEW under the sheets...

It’s the WOMAN from Justine’s vision. Her teeth are yellowed and long and her garish makeup almost pushes her into clown territory, but her expression is pure wicked glee. It says I FOOLED YOU.

Archer recoils and ...

GREEN PAGES (05/07/2024) 44.

... WAKES in the very position the woman was in a moment ago.

He flails, tosses off the sheets and scrambles back against the wall, clutching himself.

Sun comes through the windows. The PHOTO on the desk shows the ENTIRE TEAM smiling into the camera.

Archer sits at the table across from his wife, the two of them picking at their food.

He eyes her. She stabs at her eggs radiating a silent hostility. Archer sets down his fork, thinks for a long beat and clears his throat.

She slides her chair back, snatches up her plate and strides into the kitchen.

Archer deflates.

Archer exits the house, ready for work.

Something dawns on him. He pauses at the door, drops his duffel bag and walks slowly across the yard tracing Matthew’s trajectory. His eyes are fixed on something in the distance.

What’s he looking at?

We pan around him, landing over his shoulder and see...

A RADIO TOWER rising above the tree line.

Matthew ran toward that tower.

BLUE DRAFT (03/26/2024) 45.

Archer spreads a MAP on his kitchen table and slides his finger across it until he finds HIS HOME.

He circles HIS HOUSE with a felt tip pen. Then he slides his finger to the TOWER just four blocks away and circles that. He produces a RULER and carefully aligns it with his house and the tower.

He INKS A LINE from his HOUSE to the TOWER and then EXTENDS IT through the commercial district, through neighborhoods and all the way to the edge of the map.

He steps back and looks at the line which crosses almost half the town. He stares at the potential trajectory of his son looking for anything significant. Nothing stands out.

Archer parks in front of a nondescript house. He steps out and jogs to the front door and rings the bell.

Eventually a middle aged woman, ERICA, opens the door.

She nods. Clearly she’s hurting too.

He points at her ring camera.

She just stares.

He nods. Tries to think of an angle but lets it go.

LATER: He sits in his truck watching a Prius pull into the drive. As the driver emerges Archer hops out and jogs over.

The man turns, startled.

Archer stands over Gary’s shoulder, in his home office. The men stare at GARY’S DESKTOP. Erica watches from the doorway, arms folded in disapproval.

ON SCREEN: video of a YOUNG GIRL running across the yard in the SAME ODD POSTURE. Gary grimaces.

Gary rewinds and plays the video again.

Gary pauses it as her foot is on the sidewalk.

Archer points at the sidewalk panel that her foot touches. He counts the panels between that one and the driveway.

Archer paces down the cement path.

He kneels and sticks a LITTLE SURVEYING STAKE in the lawn where the girl stepped. Gary watches from the doorway.

Archer, almost giddy, trots across the lawn toward Gary.

Gary steps aside as Archer kneels in the doorway and produces a LASER POINTER. He squats and aims it at the stake. Then he lifts it and the dot slides across the street through a gap in the houses and landing on the back of another house some two hundred yards away.

-- Archer has spread the map out in the bed of his truck. He leans over it and makes two new little circles and then lays down the ruler, tracing a new line across the map.

Gary and Erica watch him from the window but he ignores them.

He DRAWS a LARGE CIRCLE over the neighborhood where the two lines meet. It contains some four residential blocks.

Archer cruises the neighborhood with the map on the seat beside him. House after house slides by.

He doesn’t know what he’s looking for, he’s just soaking in every detail he can.

Up ahead he sees JUSTINE’S WITCH car pulling into a gas station and his jaw tightens.

GREEN PAGES (05/07/2024) 49.

Archer whips a U turn at the intersection and pulls in. He steps out and approaches.

We clock that her HAIR is MISSING A JAGGED CHUNK.

She takes a deep breath.

Justine hardens.

Archer takes an aggressive step forwards.

Something behind Archer catches Justine’s eye. He turns to see what she’s looking at.

SPRINTING STRAIGHT AT THEM from across the street is PRINCIPAL MARCUS, COVERED IN BLOOD and what looks like BLACK BILE. His arms are extended, eyes bulging, teeth bared.

He bounds up the sidewalk, across the lot and before she can even process what is happening, he’s TACKLING HER TO THE GROUND. The HOSE yanks loose SPRAYING GASOLINE everywhere.

Archer watches in dumb confusion as Marcus BITES and CLAWS at her like an animal.

Archer activates, grabs him and yanks him backward, but Marcus is relentless, pulling hard, clawing at her.

Justine flips on her stomach and scrambles away, CRAWLING UNDER THE CAR.

Archer grips tighter but Marcus rocks his head back hard into Archer’s face and he falls backward into the stream of gasoline.

Marcus dives under the car, crawling after her.

Archer picks himself back up, temporarily blinded by the fumes and the blood in his eyes but he doesn’t hesitate. He rounds the front of the car and reaches the other side just as Marcus emerges from underneath.

Archer PUNTS HIM hard in the ribs knocking him over on his side but he’s immediately picking himself up again.

Marcus rises, snarls at Archer and charges.

BOOM!

The two man crash down - Archer landing hard on his back, stunned. Marcus is already rising, and looking toward Justine in the market but Archer grabs him by the belt, pulling him back down.

Marcus shifts his attention to Archer and grabs him by the neck, squeezing hard, choking him out. Eyes bulging, saliva pouring out onto his face in slimy ropes.

As Archer loses consciousness we...

BLUE DRAFT (03/26/2024) 51.

A76 CUT TO BLACK. A76

PAUL

Officer PAUL pins his phone to his ear with his shoulder as he fastens his utility belt.

Beat.

He hangs up and holsters his gun.

Paul pokes his head into Ed’s office.

Paul moves through the lot of squad cars when something catches his eye.

Near the front of the lot JUSTINE is standing beside her car with another officer.

She clocks him and they share a loaded moment. Paul half waves and she gives the slightest nod of acknowledgement.

Paul watches her for a beat and then gets in his cruiser.

PAUL cruises the streets, on patrol. A top 40 song plays quietly from the radio.

A80 INT. PAUL’S SQUAD CAR / INDUSTRIAL STREET - LATER A80

A new song on the radio and Paul idles at a red light in an empty industrial district. A block ahead, a figure jogs across the street and disappears down an alley. He perks up.

He cuts the music and slides through the red light.

He eases to a stop at the mouth of the alley.

Paul grabs his PA mic.

James startles, leaps off the dumpster and runs toward the far end of the alley.

With the dumpster where it is, he won’t be able to get the car through the alley. Paul steps on the gas. He speeds to the end of his block and turns right. As James speeds down the block, he can see James on his right a block up hauling ass. Paul floors it to the end of the block and turns right again.

In a short distance, he takes a final turn into an alley.

Up ahead, James comes into view, sprinting down towards the car.

In no time Paul yanks the car into a clearing, nearly missing James.

Like a pro, Paul throws it into park and is out the door as James touches down on the pavement.

A moment later Paul is sprinting after him.

JAMES doesn’t stop. Paul digs deep and in a few more yards he’s within reach. Paul leaps and tackles him to the ground.

Paul plants a knee on his back and gets the cuffs on him. He takes a beat to catch his breath.

Paul wipes his face and looks around. Empty block. His breathing settles.

Paul leans to check his face.

Paul stands and lifts James by his armpits.

Paul puts on latex gloves.

Paul slides a hand into James’s front pocket and --

He yanks his hand back and something small and glass falls to the ground.

By James’s filthy shoe is a DIRTY HYPODERMIC NEEDLE.

BOOM! Paul swings a RIGHT CROSS straight into the side of James’s head, sending the handcuffed man bouncing off the the car and onto the ground in a heap.

Paul grips his hand and squeezes the blood out his finger.

He steps around the cruiser, slides into the driver’s seat.

BLUE DRAFT (03/26/2024) 57.

He digs through the glove box and produces a small FIRST AID POUCH. Inside he grabs a bottle of SANITIZER and pours it onto the PUNCTURE WOUND.

He rubs it in frantically and looks at his hand. The bleeding has already stopped.

An awful thought dawns on him: THE DASH-CAM.

It’s aimed through the windshield right at the empty space where he and James were just standing.

He leans forward and looks for the power button. He doesn’t see one so he just PULLS THE CORD out.

Paul steps out and moves around the the car. On the other side James lays in a heap.

Paul leans over him.

Paul pulls him into a sitting position and leans him against the car. James winces and turns his head away.

James glares at him. His face bloody and already swelling.

James scowls.

Paul studies him.

Paul moves through the office and finds CAPTAIN ED talking with another officer. He finds his eye-line and shoots him a serious look.

He steps to Paul.

We watch through the glass as Paul finishes giving Ed the details of what happened.

INSIDE: Ed chews on what he just heard.

Paul nods gravely.

A doctor examines his finger.

Paul slides into his cruiser and stares out at the parking lot in front of him. He looks at his bandaged hand.

Ding. His phone pings. He digs it out and looks at a text.

JUSTINE: HEY

He stares at it.

Dressed in civilian clothes, Paul enters the dimly lit bar and sees Justine posted up at the end of the room. She smiles at him as he approaches.

They fuck.

Justine pulls out of the lot, leaving Paul standing by his car. He fishes his keys out.

CAR: Paul slides in and starts the engine. He feels horrible.

Pulls up to his house and parks in the driveway.

Paul lets himself in and moves through the foyer.

He freezes. What the fuck??

She trots down the steps, concerned.

She looks him over and her demeanor shifts to deadly serious.

He can’t think of a good answer.

He stares, mind racing for an acceptable lie. He can’t find one fast enough. She reads him like a book and hardens.

Paul, dripping with depression, fastens his belt, holsters his firearm and shuts his locker.

He moves through the hall. Ed’s door is closed but Paul lingers, peeking through the window as he passes.

Ed’s in there speaking with a suited man and for a brief moment they lock eyes - Ed gives him an unmistakably ICY GLARE. Paul averts his gaze and keeps moving.

Paul exits the station and moves down the steps when something catches his eye...

Halfway down the block JAMES is shuffling toward the station. His face is considerably more swollen than last we saw him.

James sees Paul and stops. They stare at each other.

James turns and sprints around the corner. Paul rushes to his squad car and hops in.

Paul tears out of the station. He reaches down and flips off the lock of the mounted shotgun beside him.

Then he reaches up and yanks out the little cord connected to the dash cam.

A96 CUT TO BLACK. A96

JAMES

In the pale light of morning, rain drizzles onto JAMES in his tent. Currently his face sports none of the wounds Paul gave him so we can tell we’re earlier in time.

At the moment he’s unharmed and smoking crack. Or trying to.

He sparks his lighter and holds the flame to his little glass pipe. He sucks at it but it produces no smoke.

With blackened fingers he digs in his little plastic tin, rummaging through DIRTY NEEDLES and CHARRED SPOONS, finally finding a piece of wire.

He scrapes the pipe with the wire and then stuffs the little charred bits back in.

He sparks it up. Nothing.

James speed-walks down the block, holding his phone to his ear. He pulls at every car door handle he passes, testing if they’re locked.

He hangs up the phone.

He walks on.

He tries the next car door and it opens. He dives in.

A97 EXT. ANOTHER STREET - LATER A97

James speed-walks down a rainy street untangling wires of little speakers.

James is let into a filthy apartment by a large BANGER. Another two sit on the couch smoking weed and watching TV.

Couch banger doesn’t even look at him.

James holds the speakers out.

The banger starts pushing him toward the door.

The banger punches him in the face hard. James staggers back into the door and drops the speakers.

He squats to snatch them back up.

James waits impatiently outside of a pawnbrokers. An employee appears and flips the closed sign to open.

James bounces in place at the counter, his skin on fire as the broker looks over the speakers.

He eyes a POSTER behind the man with a grid of photos showing the missing children with the the words ‘$50,000 REWARD’

The broker shakes his head.

Nothing.

James jogs across the street toward an alley behind an industrial warehouse.

He scampers up onto a dumpster, stands precariously and tries to jimmy a window open.

BWOOOOP!

He startles, nearly falling. At the mouth of the alley sits an idling police car.

James hops off the dumpster and sprints down the alley.

He rounds the corner and hauls ass down the block towards the car that is roaring toward him. The car turns into a clearing in an attempt to head him off.

James leaps up and over the hood and in the next moment PAUL is chasing after him on foot.

In a few short steps he’s on him.

GOLDENROD PAGES (05/18/2024) 66-67.

A103 EXT. ALLEY / CLEARING - LATER A103

-- James comes to, handcuffed and leaning against the cruiser. His head is bleeding badly. Paul squats over him.

James scowls through the blood.

James scowls.

Paul studies him.

B103 EXT. SUBURBAN BRIDGE - LATER B103

James ventures into the suburbs, battered and depressed.

James limps down the street. Blood stains his face and his legs are dirty but he’s still on a mission.

Something catches his eye and he stops.

ALEX’S HOUSE.

He eyes the DIRTY CAR and the OVERGROWN LAWN. He steps to the MAILBOX by the sidewalk and flips down the little hatch. It’s STUFFED with WEEKS OF MAIL.

Jackpot.

A104 OMITTED A104

He shuffles around the side, scanning for an access point clocking the PAPERED OVER WINDOWS.

In the back yard he steps onto the rear porch and tries the door but it’s locked. He steps back and studies the house.

-- He’s SCALING A STORM DRAIN with surprising skill and in no time he’s planted a foot on an outcropping near a window. A little effort and he manages to slide the window open.

Dark and musty in here. James worms his head through the window. For a beat he’s still, letting his eyes adjust to the dark.

The room before him is cluttered with furniture, hoarder style. Two beds, one sideways, two armoires, chairs, rolled up rugs and more jammed into the small space. He has to climb over the tangle of furniture to make his way to the door.

He steps out onto the hall landing. There’s a closed door at either side of the hall and a staircase in front of him leads down.

He moves left and pushes the door open to reveal...

BLUE DRAFT (03/26/2024) 69.

Messy twin bed, toys on the dresser, posters. Nothing valuable.

He steps to the bed and pulls the PILLOW CASE off a pillow.

James moves to the door opposite. He tries the knob. It’s LOCKED. He gives it a hard shake but it won’t give.

He steps back and considers kicking it in. Fuck it. I’ll try it later.

He moves to the stairs and makes his way down.

James creeps through the clutter. He’s so fixated on what he can steal that he doesn’t notice the MAN and WOMAN sitting on the couch until he’s almost on top of them.

He stumbles back and KNOCKS A LAMP OVER with a CRASH. The couple on the sofa don’t move. They sit bolt upright, eyes open wide but focused on nothing.

They don’t react.

Nothing. He takes a step closer and leans down.

He waves a hand in front of their eyes.

They look like they haven’t showered or changed in weeks. Their clothes are dirty and their eyes are yellow and dull. Greasy skin. But breathing. Definitely breathing.

He spots a game console and moves to it, unplugging the cables.

He creeps to the base of the stairs, craning to see up into the dark. Is it coming from the locked room?

He eyes the couple on the couch. They haven’t stirred.

A111 INT. ALEX’S HOUSE / KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS A111

He dumps a drawer of silver utensils into the pillow case, checking the doorway nervously as he operates.

B111 INT. ALEX’S HOUSE / FOYER - CONTINUOUS B111

James stops in front of a closed door.

He opens it.

It leads to the BASEMENT. He steps in and we rack to the couple on the couch. Still no movement.

James flips on the light but it only illuminates the landing. He takes a few cautious steps down, squats and peers into the dark of the room below.

And then he sees it...

STANDING in the near total dark of the basement are...

17 perfectly still 10 YEAR OLD CHILDREN.

They stand in a loose group occupying most of the room, all facing away from him.

James’s blood freezes. He gasps and stumbles back.

In unison every child TURNS and STARES AT HIM.

GREEN PAGES (05/07/2024) 71.

James darts out of the basement and slams the door shut behind him.

In the background we see the TWO ADULTS ON THE COUCH silently RISE TO THEIR FEET.

James hasn’t noticed. He’s preoccupied, dragging a small table in front of the basement door.

They’re crossing the room towards him when he finally sees.

He stumbles backwards toward the front door of the house.

In a full blown panic James pulls at the knob and then fumbles and paws at the deadbolts.

The dark figures close in.

But he manages to get the door open and sunlight floods into the foyer.

He’s out.

James tears out the door and into the rain, tripping and eating shit in the yard. But he’s soon back on his feet and sprinting down the street.

The pawnbroker has finished examining the stolen silver and wraps them in a cloth. A filthy James vibrates with anticipation as the broker counts out some cash.

Once again his eyes drift to the POSTER OF THE MISSING CHILDREN and this time the pieces fall into place.

$50,000?

James squats against a wall with a FULL PIPE at long last. He sucks the fumes down and holds it in his lungs.

Sweet relief. Absolutely worth it.

James talks into his phone.

PINK PAGES (04/10/2024) 73.

James shambles down the block toward the police station. He crosses the street when...

Paul is striding down the steps of the station house.

James turns and runs.

James sprints through the streets.

-- He cuts down an alley and --

A119 EXT. WOODS - CONTINUOUS A119

Enters a wooded path.

James trudges through the woods, confident he’s lost Paul.

*PING*

James stops. What the fuck was that sound?

It sounded like a SINGLE HIGH PITCHED PIANO KEY. Out here in the middle of the woods?

James’s hackles go up. He scans the forest.

Slow pan of the dark canopy revealing nothing but stretches of dark green until we catch some 100 yards away - a SPLASH of COLOR on the ground...

It’s hard to see detail from this distance but THE WOMAN FROM ARCHER’S DREAM appears to be sprouting out of the dirt WAIST UP - as if her lower half were buried.

Panic kicks in and he flees.

James scurries into his little camp and dives into his TENT.

He scuttles back from the flap and holds himself.

And then...

The snapping of twigs. SLOW FOOTSTEPS.

His eyes widen. Did I really hear that?

MORE FOOTSTEPS. Closer now.

He pops open his little drug tin and snatches up 3 HYPODERMIC NEEDLES, gripping them in his fist like a knife.

He stares at the flap, eyes wide.

Footsteps getting unmistakably closer.

A SHADOW creeps across the tent. James’s heart blasts in his ears. Someone is squatting on the other side of the fabric. He RAISES the NEEDLES, clenches his teeth and...

James LUNGES through the flap SWINGING the NEEDLES into...

...PAUL’S FACE!

Paul recoils, scrambling back on his ass.

James scurries the opposite direction but gets tangled up in the tent which collapses around him.

Paul yanks a syringe from his cheek, and gawks at it.

He’s up in a flash, grabbing James by the ankles and pulling him from the mess of nylon.

Paul snatches up his shotgun from the ground.

Paul shoves the gun into James’s face, ready to fire.

Paul hesitates.

Paul gathers himself.

GREEN PAGES (05/07/2024) 75A.

Paul shoves a handcuffed James into the backseat and slams the door. He gets in the driver’s seat and checks himself in the vanity, wincing at the bloody holes in his face.

He turns to James.

Paul grimaces and starts the engine.

The patrol car rolls down the street toward Alex’s house.

James leans toward the bulletproof divider.

Paul parks in front of the house and looks it over.

Paul snorts and opens his door.

Paul glares at him and steps out. James watches as he slams the door and walks toward the house.

Paul reaches the front door and knocks.

A beat later, the front door opens.

Paul is chatting with someone but James can’t see who.

Paul steps inside and the door closes.

HOURS LATER: The sun has set and the squad car hasn’t moved. James sits as before, still cuffed.

He kicks at the bulletproof divider.

The front door of the house OPENS. He perks up.

Paul emerges and walks toward the car, but he’s not the same. His ARMS ARE OUT AT HIS SIDES in the signature angle.

James senses something is very wrong. He recoils from the door.

He grabs at James.

James kicks at him but Paul seizes his legs and YANKS HIM FROM THE VEHICLE.

Paul DRAGS a writhing James across the grass toward the open door of the house.

A126 CUT TO BLACK A126

MARCUS

Marcus holds his phone to his ear as he pushes a shopping cart. His husband Terry drops in products as they go.

Terry holds up two bags of cookies. Marcus nods at the Oreos.

Terry holds up two bags of chips. Marcus nods at the Fritos.

Terry holds up two salad dressings, he motions to one and Terry considers them but drops the other in the cart.

He hangs up.

YELLOW PAGES (04/19/2024) 80.

Marcus works at his desk. He looks up and watches through the frosted glass that lines his office to see the blurry shape of his secretary, MARGE moving toward his door.

Knock knock.

She pokes her head in.

She doesn’t move.

Something in her expression reads: Prepare yourself.

Marge nods solemnly and turns back toward the hall.

Marcus watches as a new shape passes along the frosted glass. This one is BRIGHT AS A PEACOCK with loud blues and reds from head to toe.

Marge steps back to give her a wide birth as GLADYS steps through the door.

She looks... striking. Clad in a BRIGHT NEON JUMPER with a clashing top and bottom, caked in COLORFUL MAKEUP, RED HAIR frizzing out in all directions and GAUDY JEWELRY everywhere.

He crosses and shakes her hand, taking in her outfit.

Marge frowns and shuts the door. Marcus and Gladys sit.

Marcus studies her. Taking in the lipstick and eyeliner. The bracelets and tennis shoes. She smiles at him expectantly.

Beat.

Marcus frowns.

Gladys frowns.

Terry prepares a tray of elaborately arranged junk food. Hot dogs, cookies and sodas. He hums to himself as he carries it into the...

Terry sets the tray on the coffee table and takes his place on the couch next to Marcus. They watch a nature documentary on tv.

The doorbell rings.

Marcus frowns, rises and moves to the door. He pulls it open to reveal GLADYS standing there with a bag slung over her shoulder fanning herself.

Terry appears behind Marcus.

Gladys pushes in past Marcus and squeezes Terry’s hand.

Marcus moves to a cabinet as Gladys PLOPS HER BAG on the kitchen island.

They stare at her.

He rummages for a bowl as Gladys digs in her bag.

Marcus fills the bowl with water.

He places the BOWL on the counter. Gladys smiles and pulls a STICK from her bag. Wrapped around it is MARCUS’S BLUE RIBBON from the office.

Gladys slides her hand against a thorn and SLICES HER PALM OPEN.

She rubs her hand across the stick COATING IT IN BLOOD. She smiles with a ‘Silly me’ head shake.

Terry steps forward with a washcloth as Gladys reaches in her bag and snatches out a PAIR OF SCISSORS. Quick as a cat, she reaches out and SNIPS OFF a chunk of Terry’s HAIR.

Terry leaps back clutching at his head. Gladys WRAPS the LOCK OF HAIR tightly around the BLOODY STICK.

But Gladys has all she needs. She lifts from her bag a SMALL GOLDEN BELL and...

Ding.

Something shifts in Marcus. He slumps and drops his arms at his sides. Terry stares in horror.

Gladys sets down the bell, picks up the STICK and SNAPS IT IN HALF.

On cue, Marcus turns and LUNGES at Terry.

In the next instant Marcus is TACKLING Terry to the floor. He straddles him and WRAPS HIS HANDS AROUND HIS THROAT.

Gladys saunters to the sink and runs her bloody hand under the faucet.

She grabs another rag and wraps her hand. She turns to watch Marcus snarling over his husband.

Terry, bug-eyed, claws at Marcus’s face, unable to scream.

Marcus OPENS HIS MOUTH wide and...

Then Marcus rears his head back and...

BAM! Slams his forehead down hard into Terry’s nose. He rears again...

BAM! Another head-butt.

Gladys has created a neat little bandage out of the dishcloth. She examines her hand, admiring her neat work.

BAM! ... BAM! ... BAM!

Gladys turns back to the island and plucks up the bloody sticks. She drops them in the bowl of water and the head- smashes stop.

Marcus stands, relaxed and neutral - totally at ease despite the bleeding cuts on his face and the black vomit that runs down his chest.

Gladys pulls the sticks from the bowl and unties the lock of hair.

She reaches into her bag and pulls out ANOTHER LOCK OF HAIR that we recognize as JUSTINE’S. Gladys removes a few strands from this lock and wraps them around a fresh stick. She ties them quickly and then coils the ribbon around it as if she’d done it a thousand times.

She looks at Marcus and snaps the stick.

On cue, Marcus turns and dashes for the front door. He throws it open and runs out of the house.

Gladys calmly collects her possessions and returns them to her bag. She steps over Terry’s body and exits.

Gladys strolls out into the pleasant suburban daylight toward her car parked just outside.

Before she gets in she turns to see Marcus, already about two blocks away sprinting toward the center of town.

Gladys smiles and slides into the car.

YELLOW PAGES (04/19/2024) 88A.

Marcus runs down the street with blood smeared across his face, and vomit splattered down his chest. His arms are out in the same unique posture we’ve seen before.

-- He bounds across suburban lawns, under a yard carport, through hedges, across a parking lot where a family is loading into a minivan and he nearly gets hit by a car, through a parking garage, through an outdoor restaurant his way through a commercial district. People stop and stare at the sprinting man with blood smeared across his face. He begins to grunt with exertion.

He rounds a corner and cuts diagonally across the town square.

YELLOW PAGES (04/19/2024) 89.

Eventually the GAS STATION comes into view and Marcus beelines it across the length of a city block. Justine and Archer talk, oblivious to his approach.

As he mounts the pavement she turns and sees him.

He closes the gap and TACKLES her, knocking the HOSE from the car and GASOLINE SPLASHES out in an arc.

He’s on top of her just like he was on Terry minutes ago, clawing at her face and growling like an animal.

Archer takes a moment to process the violence before springing to action grabbing Marcus by the back of his shirt and pulling him off of her.

But Marcus is ferocious and he lunges again, clawing at her face and biting at her hands.

Justine manages to flip onto her stomach and crawl under her car worming away from him.

Marcus head-buts Archer and breaks free. A moment later, he’s slithering under the car after her, but Justine’s already out on the other side.

She pulls herself up and launches herself toward the doors of the gas station. Marcus comes clawing out from under the car after her as Archer is rounding the front of the vehicle.

Justine staggers inside and makes for the back of the shop.

The clerk cranes to look past her at the action outside. Justine turns to see Marcus picking himself from on top of an unconscious Archer. He’s locked eyes with her and lunges toward the doors.

Justine moves down an aisle and comes to a wall of refrigerated doors that line the rear of the shop. She turns left and sprints along the refrigerators till she comes to a bathroom door. She tries it but it’s locked.

Marcus has been tracing her route and now appears at the far corner. He locks onto her and comes sprinting along the row of fridges, closing the distance, eyes bulging, teeth gnashing when --

WHAM! Archer comes full sprint down the aisle between them and BODY CHECKS Marcus hard INTO THE FREEZER GLASS, SHATTERING it and sending glass and beverages flying. Both men go down.

Marcus picks himself up immediately. He’s bleeding profusely from a cut in the side of his face but his eyes never leave Justine. He throws himself at her, chasing her toward the front of the store.

She doesn’t even wait for him to respond. She runs past the counter once more and out the doors with Marcus, bloodier than ever, close behind.

Justine sprints to her car, yanks open the passenger door and dives in, slamming it shut as Marcus collides with it.

She watches in horror as he pounds on the glass with pure animal rage.

She wriggles into the driver’s seat and starts the car.

SMASH! The passenger window shatters and Marcus reaches in, grabbing at her.

She puts it in drive and peels out.

Archer stumbles out of the store clutching a bloody arm to his chest just in time to see JUSTINE FLOORING IT down the block and MARCUS ON FOOT chasing after her.

He bolts to his truck.

TRUCK: Archer fumbles with his keys, dropping them on the floor.

He manages to retrieve them and get them in the ignition. He throws the truck in drive and peels out after them.

By the time he’s on the road, Justine’s already some three blocks ahead. She’s running stop signs and putting real distance between her and Marcus who is a block and a half away, running full speed down the middle of the street.

Archer clenches his jaw and steps on the gas, rapidly closing the distance between him and Marcus.

BAM! A sedan flies through the intersection and SMASHES INTO MARCUS at a solid 30 mph flinging him like a rag-doll.

-- He walks across the road to Marcus’s body as the DRIVER of the car that hit him comes running up, already sobbing.

Archer stares at Marcus’s dead and broken body.

We watch through an open door as Archer sits on an examination table while a nurse bandages his arm. A cop stands by, jotting in a notepad.

Archer moves down the hall and sees Justine at the front desk. They lock eyes.

They step into the parking lot and eye each other, awkwardly.

Beat.

She stares at him.

They sit in his truck in the hospital parking lot. Archer flips on the dome light and digs around in his work bag.

He unfolds the map on the dash and shows her the trajectories and the circle where they intersect.

Awkward moment.

He points to the circled neighborhood. Justine leans forward.

She points at a house in the dead center of his circle.

Beat.

She stares at him and nods. They share a loaded beat as the implications land.

A141 CUT TO BLACK A141

ALEX

Alex sits at his desk. Pull back to reveal he’s amongst his very present classmates.

A GIRL behind him raises her hand.

Alex moves amongst the flow of kids toward lunch. A larger boy, MATTHEW (Archer’s son) rushes up from behind and BODY CHECKS him into the wall. ALEX whirls.

Alex fumes, turns and keeps walking. Matthew and his crew keep pace behind him.

It’s the end of the school day. Alex moves through the crowd of kids loading into cars and minivans. He spots his dad’s SUV and makes his way over.

Alex’s dad smiles as he loads in.

A145 I/E. SUV / STREET - DRIVING - DAY A145

Alex throws his bag into the back as his dad pulls into the street.

His dad smiles at him again.

Alex and his Dad step into the living room and we see it’s a world away from the dingy cave that we know it as. It’s bright, tidy and cozy. Alex’s mom fusses in the dining room.

His dad crosses and gives her a smooch before moving into the kitchen. She smiles at Alex.

He rolls his eyes and heads upstairs.

Alex lays in bed when the splash of car headlights cross his room. He rises and moves to the window.

In the driveway his father exits the car to help a VERY FRAIL GLADYS (noticeably older than we saw her with Marcus) from her seat.

She looks like she weighs all of 80 pounds. Her face is gaunt and her limbs look like they could snap if a breeze hit them. Her head, however bears incongruously SHINY RED HAIR.

Once she’s on her feet she points to the back seat and Alex’s Dad retrieves a SMALL POTTED TREE. He cradles the tree in one arm and she clings to the other.

She’s rail thin and deathly pale with sunken eyes. Every step is a delicate one.

Sounds of activity in the living room.

Alex emerges from his room and moves down the hall toward his parents bedroom, careful to give a wide berth to the shut door to the guest room.

He steps into his parents’ room and hears them arguing in the master bath.

His mom steps out and sees him.

Alex brushes his teeth. He pauses, eying the jack and jill door that leads to Gladys room.

He sets down his toothbrush and moves to the door, listening for any sound from within.

He rests his hand on the knob and turns it as slowly and silently as he can. He eases the door open with a crack.

POV: The room slowly comes into view. The first thing he sees is the CURIOUS POTTED TREE sitting on the dresser. It has thorns and LITTLE BLACK LEAVES, like he’s never seen before.

He opens the door wider revealing a small styrofoam head upon which the SHINY RED HAIR rests. He pauses studying the odd WIG.

Then he opens the door wider revealing the foot of the bed, her body under the sheets, and finally her gaunt face. She looks like she’s on deaths door - hollow cheeks, whisps of white hair, and sunken eyes that stare at the ceiling.

Alex studies her through the crack in the door until...

She TURNS and LOCKS EYES with him.

He gasps, pulls the door shut and retreats to his room.

Alex’s Dad drives him to school.

His dad weighs this for a beat.

His dad checks to see if the message is received but Alex only stares out the window.

Alex hops out of the car.

Alex shuts the door and makes his way inside.

Alex and the class take a test in silence.

Matthew turns and throws his pencil into Alex’s face.

Alex nods and looks at his test as if nothing happened.

Alex looks for his dad amidst the end of day chaos. One by one the busses roll out and the minivans depart.

No dad.

-- Alex stands in the same place but the crowd has evaporated and the last two kids hop into a nearby minivan.

He’s the last one.

A passing adult lingers.

Alex starts walking, worry on his face.

He walks in a neighborhood and eventually greener residential blocks until...

He arrives at his house. His dad’s car sits in the driveway.

Alex enters the living room.

He slows. Something’s off. His parents stare at the table with dull eyes. His father takes a long beat before letting his gaze drift to Alex.

His father’s gaze returns to the bare table before him.

No response.

GLADYS steps from the kitchen.

She’s DIFFERENT. Her face has color. Her eyes have a twinkle and she’s spry on her feet. She sports her wig and a bright jumpsuit and is drying a plate with a rag.

He stares, dumbstruck.

She beams at him.

They don’t look up. Gladys squats before him.

She smiles and cocks her head as if this were a silly question.

She looks up slowly.

He recoils from her and stares coldly. She hardens.

His breathing deepens. He wants to cry but he fights it.

He glares at her.

Alex reaches for the glass of water sitting in front of his father and splashes it into his dads face.

His father slowly raises a hand to wipe his cheek. His eyes never leave the table.

He stares daggers at her, tears coming.

He storms upstairs.

Alex lays in bed, eyes wide, tears running down his face.

A161 INT. HALLWAY - MORNING A161

Alex emerges from the bedroom and stands at the top of the stairs listening for any sound of his family. All is quiet. The other bedroom doors are shut.

His parents haven’t moved from the table. Their posture is more slumped, their jaws slack, drool oozes from their open mouths.

Between them Gladys sits at the head of the table. She eyes him, coldly.

He moves his father and shakes his arm, gently.

He moves to the table and sits opposite her.

He doesn’t answer.

She pulls from her lap a small stick wrapped in human hair. Thorns poke through the strands and she presses one into the pad of her index finger. She rubs the finger delicately along the hairs, coating it in blood.

She SNAPS THE STICK in half and his parents act in unison. They each SNATCH A FORK from the table and STAB THEMSELVES IN THE FACE, hard and repeatedly.

Thwack thwack thwack thwack ...

Again and again they drive their forks into their cheeks. Tiny red holes soon form rivulets of BLOOD that cling to their hands and run down their necks.

Alex moves to his father, grabbing for his hands but it’s no use. He keeps smashing the fork into his face.

She places the BROKEN STICK into a BOWL OF WATER and his parents immediately put the forks on the table.

He stares at her in horror.

He nods.

He stares.

Alex rides the bus, staring out the window.

Alex sits despondent as Justine lectures.

Alex walks home from the bus stop.

Alex enters and scans the room, now dark. The windows have all been covered in cardboard and newspaper. In the dining area, his parents sit as before.

Gladys is nowhere to be found.

PINK PAGES (04/10/2024) 107.

Alex creeps to the top of the steps and moves toward the open door to the guest room.

It’s completely cluttered. Heaps of furniture, a bed on it’s side, dressers and rugs and chairs all stuffed in like a storage unit..

At the end of the hall the door to his parents’ room is cracked open with the warm glow of candle-light coming from within.

Alex approaches and peeks inside.

Gladys has removed all of the furniture, and the room is bare.

She sits cross legged in the center of the floor. Before her, sits the small POTTED TREE. Beside it sit little clusters of sticks tied together with string and hair. Other odds and ends are spread out and five candles surround her and her collection of items.

He says nothing.

A167 INT. KITCHEN - DAY A167

Alex braces a soup can between his knees and tries to operate the can opener. Soup spills down onto the floor.

-- Alex presses a new can against the counter and manages with some effort to use the can opener correctly.

Alex spoon feeds soup into his unresponsive parents’ mouths.

Alex sits and listens.

PINK PAGES (04/10/2024) 107A.

Alex rides the bus.

Alex loads cans of soup from the shelf into his basket.

PINK PAGES (04/10/2024) 108.

He walks home overloaded with his backpack and his groceries.

A172 INT. KITCHEN - DAY A172

Alex has bought pop top cans and opens one with ease.

Alex SPOON FEEDS his parents SOUP. They look sicker and frailer than before.

Alex wakes in the middle of the night.

He sits up, instantly alert.

He steps from his bed and moves to the door, opens it slowly and peeks out.

POV: Down the hall through the open door of his parents room he can see the lower half of Gladys’s body laying on the floor, her head and shoulders blocked by the doorframe.

A175 INT. ALEX’S HOUSE / UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS A175

Alex creeps down the hall toward Gladys room. Gladys convulses.

Alex comes to the doorway.

PINK PAGES (04/10/2024) 108A.

B175 INT. ALEX’S HOUSE / GLADYS’S ROOM - CONTINUOUS B175

Gladys is laying in front of her little tree with her head in a kitchen pot. She breathes the heavy gasps. She turns to him. It’s his first time seeing her without her wig. Her hair, grey and thin, stringy with sweat, clings to her face. She looks diminished. Weaker.

She grabs his wrist and pulls him down to his knees. She gives an ironic smile as if to say ‘Can you believe this?’

She smiles again, warm this time.

A twinkle in her eye, crafty now.

She tightens her grip on his wrist and pulls him closer.

He thinks this over.

She smiles.

Alex rides the bus to school, focused on his mission.

Alex sits among his classmates listening to Justine teach. He studies the children around them. What to take?

His eyes drift to the rows of CUBBY BINS along one wall. One bin for each child.

Alex watches his classmates play at recess from the edge of the gym. He slinks off. Rack focus to Justine with her back to him, watching the other children.

Alex moves quickly by himself down the hallway.

Alex let’s himself into the empty classroom.

He moves to the wall of cubbies where each child has a little plastic bin. Every bin has a tiny handmade name-card on it that has been drawn and adorned by each student.

Quick as he can he moves down the rows of bins, plucking the name-cards off each bin, pausing briefly at his own name, before plucking it as well. As he snatches the final child’s card--

He looks up to see her standing at the head of the class. Is he caught?

He shoves the cards into his bag as stealthily as he can and approaches. Justine kneels.

She smiles at him. Studies him.

He nods.

She smiles.

Alex rides the bus clutching his swollen backpack.

YELLOW PAGES (04/19/2024) 112.

Alex lugs his big backpack down his block.

Alex enters. His parents sit like statues at the table. No sign of Gladys.

He reaches the top of the stairs and moves to Gladys’ closed door.

Alex upends his backpack and the name-cards come falling out onto the floor in a pile. He kneels, sifts quickly through them and finds his own name. He crumples it up and puts it in his pocket as he moves back toward his bedroom.

Push in on Alex’s alarm clock as it clicks over to 2:15. He sits up in bed.

Alex creeps down the steps. His parents sit like statues at the dining room table. He notices the glow of candles coming from the kitchen. He steps closer to see Gladys sitting at the head of the table, wig-less and lost in some intimate chant.

He enters slowly, taking in the scene. Arranged on the counter in front of her are all the name-cards, but now they’ve been torn into small pieces. In the center of the table is a LITTLE CANDLE and a small CUP of BROWN LIQUID.

A bowl in front of Gladys contains a mixture of leaves and little bits and pieces of each name-card submerged in a brown liquid.

Gladys opens her eyes and shoots a look ordering silence.

Whoooooshhh!

CU: The clock behind her reads 2:17.

Gladys plucks up her little brass bell and...

A187 I/E. ALEX’S HOUSE / FRONT DOOR - NIGHT A187

They stand side by side looking out into the dark of the neighborhood.

CHILDREN running through the dark. First by themselves, then MERGING INTO GROUPS.

The street before them is dark and silent. Nothing but leaves shifting in the breeze. Until...

A FIGURE at the far end of the block emerges, with ARMS OUTSTRETCHED, running from the shadows STRAIGHT FOR THEM.

Alex gasps. Behind that, ANOTHER CHILD emerges.

Then another. The first child comes rushing up the lawn, it’s face blank as it zips between Alex and Gladys. Alex looks back out to the yard and here come some SEVEN MORE CHILDREN.

Gladys smiles.

Alex sits at his desk. Pull back to reveal an EMPTY CLASSROOM. Justine enters and sets her bag on the desk with a bewildered look on her face.

Alex sits on a couch as various suited adults bustle around him, clearly the alarm bells have been rung.

BLUE DRAFT (03/26/2024) 114.

Gladys SHAVES his FATHERS FACE and COMBS HIS HAIR. She’s wearing a brightly colored outfit and makeup.

Alex’s father stands by the front door, vacant as ever but all cleaned up. Gladys opens the door and beckons him out. As his father steps from the house obediently Alex looks to his mom, still seated at the dinner table - clutching a large kitchen knife in her fist. Gladys stares at him and nods.

Alex rides in the back as Gladys drives and his father sits shotgun.

Alex sits between Gladys and his father opposite two detectives.

Alex looks up.

He shakes his head again.

A195 INT. KITCHEN - DAY A195

Alex pops the top on many cans of soup.

Alex SPOON-FEEDS his PARENTS on the couch.

Alex SPOON-FEEDS the CHILDREN in the dark. Currently it’s MATTHEW’S TURN. He dabs at his chin for him.

Alex watches Gladys harvest a stick from the tree, with the care of a surgeon performing an amputation.

She delicately picks up a RAZOR and CUTS HER FINGER. She allows blood to flow down toward her palm and then lovingly RUBS THE BLOOD along the body of the stick, avoiding it’s thorns.

A198 INT. KITCHEN - DAY A198

Alex scrapes the empty cans of soup off the counter and into a garbage bag.

B198 INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY B198

Alex pulls the newspaper off the windows.

-- He plugs in the vacuum cleaner and starts it up.

GOLDENROD PAGES (05/18/2024) 115A.

Alex holds a flashlight for Gladys as she moves among the children. One by one she removes a thread from their shirts/nightgowns/pajamas.

He thinks on this.

Gladys holds the stick, now wrapped in the various strings, harvested from the children. She opens the door, points the stick, and the CHILDREN RUSH silently in a stream out into the yard. They hop the fence and flow INTO THE WOODS beyond.

Men in suits step into the freshly cleaned living room. Gladys smiles and welcomes them in.

YELLOW PAGES (04/19/2024) 116.

Alex sits with DIFFERENT CHILDREN in a DIFFERENT CLASSROOM.

Alex rides the bus home.

A203 INT. KITCHEN - DAY A203

Alex pops more soup cans open.

He spoon-feeds his parents.

He spoon-feeds the children.

Alex sits at his desk.

Alex walks home from school. Suddenly, JUSTINE step out of a parked car.

Alex freezes. Just over her shoulder is his house. He scans the windows but sees no sign of Gladys watching.

He fights panic.

He walks past her.

He doesn’t stop.

He’s focused on the UPPER WINDOWS of his house and sure enough, in the dark rectangle of his bedroom window he sees GLADYS’ PALE FACE.

Alex whirls on her.

She freezes. Alex turns and runs across the yard. He scales the steps as his Father opens the front door.

Alex steps in. His Father shuts the door.

Alex moves to the foot of the steps and looks up.

He starts up the steps when...

Ding Dong.

He freezes midway up, afraid to move a muscle. He cranes to peek over the railing at the front door.

Ding Dong.

Alex rushes to the top of the stairs. *

SALMON PAGES (06/24/2024) 117A.

A208 INT. GLADYS'S ROOM / PARENTS’ BEDROOM - DAY A208 *

Gladys’s door is cracked open and he moves to it, pushing it * wider. *

Gladys stands and stares out of the window. *

Alex makes his way to the other window beside Gladys and peeks out.

In the yard below, an aggravated Justine is moving back toward her car.

Alex studies Gladys who stands stone still, watching Justine.

Outside Justine gets into her car but doesn’t start the engine.

Gladys watches.

BLUE DRAFT (03/26/2024) 118.

He rides to school.

He buys groceries.

He carries them home and stops when he sees the police car parked outside his house.

Alex carries in the groceries and notices immediately that the COUCH is EMPTY. Where are his parents?

He sets down the groceries and steps deeper in.

Alex scans the room and spots...

PAUL standing in the shadows of the rear of the room, still and silent. Alex takes a fearful step back and almost walks into...

JAMES standing behind him.

Alex scurries to the foot of the steps and sees Gladys standing at the top.

She glares at him and then walks toward his parents’ room.

He stares fearfully at James and Paul - their faces twisted in that familiar way.

He moves to the top of the stairs and sees his PARENTS standing sentinel, side by side outside the open door to their (now Gladys’s) bedroom. Gladys moves between them.

She shuts the door. Alex looks down and sees a LINE OF SALT stretching across the hallway in front of them.

He sits up in bed. He moves to the window, looks out and sees Archer’s truck pull to a stop outside.

Justine and Archer sit in his truck. Paul’s squad car parked just in front.

They stare a beat.

The front door opens.

They watch the dark of the doorway. After a long beat a figure emerges.

The person takes a slow step from the dark of the house.

It’s PAUL. He stands still - vacant.

Paul raises an arm and slowly makes a ‘come here’ gesture.

They stare.

He beckons again and steps back into the house.

They look at each other.

Alex watches Justine and Archer exit the truck and approach the house.

He hops off his bed and moves to the bedroom door. He cracks it open and peeks out.

At the other end of the hall the dark shapes of his MOTHER and FATHER stand guard at Gladys’s door.

Archer and Justine step inside. They linger in the foyer letting their eyes adjust to the dark.

No sound. Just the large cluttered maze of shadows.

Archer squints to see PAUL standing near the rear of the room.

He raises a clumsy hand and beckons her forward once more.

No answer.

Justine steps past Archer and crosses the room toward Paul.

To Archer’s side JAMES HURLS HIMSELF out of the darkness and LEAPS ONTO HIM.

As Justine reacts, PAUL RUSHES at her.

They collide.

Alex steps onto the hallway from his room. Sounds of combat drift up from below but Alex ignores it.

His mother and father make no move.

He CREEPS to the EDGE of the SALT BOUNDARY. He looks at his parents and takes a deep breath.

James is on top of Archer, scratching and punching at his face. Archer wrenches James and maneuvers himself on top, delivering three solid punches to James’s face. He looks over to see Justine has managed to squirm away from Paul, crawling past the front door and into the dining room.

Paul comes crawling after her. She slithers under the dining room table trying to lose him amongst the chair legs.

She emerges from the far end of the table, pulls herself to her feet and rushes into the kitchen as Paul comes crawling after, already picking himself up to pursue.

A220 INT. ALEX’S HOUSE / KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS A220

She snatches a PAN from the stove and hurls it at him, bouncing off his face with a BONG but he doesn’t even notice.

She maneuvers herself around the island.

Paul jukes left and right, anticipating her movement.

GREEN PAGES (05/07/2024) 123.

Alex steels himself and cautiously raising one foot and extending it slowly over the line of salt.

He watches his parents as he slowly lowers it.

The instant it touches the ground on the other side...

His parents spring into action and SPRINT AT HIM.

Alex turns and bolts back down the hallway, into his room and slams the door moments before his parents slam into it.

Archer rises to his feet and takes a step back but James is already picking himself up. Archer spartan kicks James hard in the chest, sending him flying toward the back of the room and out of sight.

Archer puts a hand on the wall, taking a moment to gather his...

James comes lunging back out of the dark. Archer plants his feet grabs him and twists, using James’s momentum to fling him like a rag-doll into the dark of the foyer.

James comes running at him again and once more Archer judo- tosses him, sending him flying into the living room, losing sight of him amongst the shadows and furniture there.

This time Archer stays ready. He looks at the dark where James vanished, anticipating his next--

James comes charging but not where we (and Archer) were expecting.

Archer falls onto the landing with James on top of him attacking with renewed energy.

Archer gags and writhes against him and as he struggles for air, he catches sight of...

The CHILDREN. They stand in a loose unconscious crowd.

Archer’s eyes go wide in disbelief.

Paul hisses at Justine from across the island.

Justine manages to stay on her feet as Paul grapples with her, pressing her into the cabinets at her back. She spots a knife on the counter and reaches for it, but only knocks it to the floor. She fumbles for the next reachable tool. A VEGETABLE PEELER. She snatches it up and PRESSES IT AGAINST HIS FACE and *shuuuck* JERKS IT DOWNWARD peeling the skin from his cheek and nose in a thick white ribbon.

Paul shows no sign of pain. He throws a punch at her head, which she dodges and his fist smashes through the cabinet shattering the glasses inside.

Justine smashes the peeler to his face again *shuuuuck* rips another stripe of skin from his chin and lips.

Paul smacks it from her hands and it goes clattering against a far wall. He grabs her with both hands at the back of her neck and leans in to bite her, his newly tattered lips revealing more teeth than normal.

Justine manages to hold him off with one hand pressed against his face.

He gnashes his teeth, inching closer to her face, pulling harder against her neck with both hands.

And then with her left hand she raises... HIS SERVICE PISTOL. She’s unholstered it where we hadn’t been able to see. She presses it to his throat and...

BANG. Blood gushes from his neck in red pulses, but his face remains a mask of rage. He still pulls at her.

She raises the gun to his temple.

Alex takes a frightened step back from the door. His parents attacking it from the other side like crazed animals.

A fist splinters the wood and he sees his mothers livid face peering through the crack at him.

He darts to the side and into the Jack and Jill bathroom, just as the bedroom door explodes open and his parents come roaring in.

GREEN PAGES (05/07/2024) 125.

A225 INT. ALEX’S HOUSE / BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS A225

Alex slams and locks the bathroom door. His parents are already hurling themselves against it as he pulls open the opposite door leading into the guest room.

Alex emerges from the guest room, into the hallway. Behind him his parents have already doubled back through his bedroom and appear in the doorway.

He darts away from them toward Gladys’ room as they come flying after him.

AA227 INT. ALEX’S HOUSE / BASEMENT LANDING - CONTINUOUS AA227

Archer, still flat on his back struggles against James who straddles him and claws at him like a--

BANG!

James’s head comes apart and his body slumps forwards revealing Justine standing in the doorway, aiming the gun.

Archer shoves James aside and immediately makes his way down to the children below.

Justine stares at James’s body. She turns toward the kitchen where Paul’s legs poke through the doorway.

What have I done?

She drops the gun.

A227 INT. GLADYS’ ROOM - CONTINUOUS A227

Alex rushes in, and slams and locks the door. He turns to see an...

EMPTY ROOM. Just her knick knacks, candles and the tree.

No Gladys.

WHUMP! His parents collide with the door but it holds steady for the moment.

BLUE DRAFT (03/26/2024) 126.

Archer reaches the bottom of the steps, gawking at the children standing in the dark.

None of them respond.

He grabs a nearby little boy and pulls him into the light. Not Matthew.

He moves deeper into the dark grabbing children, craning to see the faces.

Paul lays face down on the tile, with blood pooling around his head. Justine crosses the room and kneels beside him, placing a loving hand to his back.

PUSH IN on Paul. We’re sure he’s going to reanimate in some terrible way.

Alex takes a cautious step into Gladys’ room. He inches deeper into the room craning to look into the bathroom...

No Gladys.

Where could she be?

Archer moves among the children. He digs out his phone, turning on its flashlight.

He moves deeper into the dark. Shining his light on strange face after strange face until...

GLADYS LUNGES from within the crowd. Quick as lightning she SNATCHES HIS NECKLACE AWAY FROM HIM.

Justine tries to pull Paul into a position that could aide... what? Mouth to mouth? Compressions?

The door behind her BURSTS OPEN and she whirls to see Archer rushing out of the darkness, eyes bulging, lethal and vacant.

Justine turns to flee but he lunges, grabbing her from behind and pulling her into him. He wraps his arms around her neck and tries to squeeze the life from her.

Gladys appears in the doorway behind him, smiling and wrapping a cloth around her bleeding hand.

She steps lazily up to watch Justine writhe and gag against Archer’s grip. He arches his back and her feet come off the ground.

Behind Alex his parents’ attack the door. A panel is already beginning to splinter.

He moves deeper into the room and snatches the stick with the hair of the children from the ground in front of the little black tree.

He moves quickly to the far wall and snatches Gladys’ cancer wig from a little mannequin head.

SMASH! His parents come roaring through the door and Alex darts to the MASTER BATHROOM.

BUFF PAGES (06/10/2024) 128.

Alex pulls the door shut just in time. His parents pounding, begins immediately.

He locates a thorn and stabs it hard into his hand. He SQUEEZES THE BLOOD ONTO THE STICK, snatches Gladys’ cancer wig, and flips it inside out. He plucks some of her grey hairs from the inner mesh and pulls them free. He wraps them around the wood, takes a deep breath and then...

Snaps it.

A rumbling sound. Gladys whips her head around.

BOOM! The children come exploding out of the basement like a single organism.

Gladys sprints out the front door.

As Gladys flails her way down the steps and across the yard the children EXPLODE THROUGH WINDOWS, SMASH THROUGH THE DOORWAY - some falling, some leaping over the fallen.

AAA236 EXT. 2ND HOUSE - CONTINUOUS AAA236

Gladys runs into the side door of the neighboring house.

AA236 INT. 2ND HOUSE - CONTINUOUS AA236

She slams the door shut and throws the lock.

She rushes through the living room of this house but the kids come smashing through the rear windows after her.

She’s through the house and out the front door.

BUFF PAGES (06/10/2024) 128A.

A236 OMITTED A236

B236 OMITTED B236

SALMON PAGES (06/24/2024) 129.

A237 INT. BREAKFAST HOUSE - CONTINUOUS A237

A family of three sit at the breakfast table calmly enjoying a meal when Gladys runs past the bay window shrieking her head off. They crane to watch her pass.

A moment later the stampede of children rush after her.

B237 INT. ALEX’S HOUSE - MASTER BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS B237

Alex braces himself against the door as his parents smash their way in. His mother’s head fills a gap in the wood, glaring down at him.

C237 EXT. BREAKFAST HOUSE - CONTINUOUS C237

Gladys runs along the house through the backyard and comes to a tall wooden fence. She throws the gate open, slides through and slams it shut behind her. *

She darts for the side door of the closest home.

The children move like a freight train HITTING THE FENCE * behind her like a tiny riot, PILING THEMSELVES AGAINST IT til * the WOOD BREAKS. Some from the rear simply run up the pile of * kids and leap over into the lawn after her. *

A man mowing his yard watches as half a block away a screaming Gladys runs as fast as she can out of one house, through the side yard to another and disappears inside.

A stream of screaming children pursue her.

A238 INT. ALEX’S HOUSE / KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS A238

Justine plants her feet on the counter by the sink and pushes herself against Archer’s grip, buying precious room to breathe.

SALMON PAGES (06/24/2024) 129A.

We follow the lead child as it leaps through a window, into the kitchen where a shocked family eats breakfast. In the center of the frame Gladys is already darting through the living room toward the front door.

We follow the child as he rushes past the bystanders toward Gladys who is out the house and slamming the door behind her, but our kid veers right and leaps out the window beside it.

Gladys sprints out into the yard but the STAMPEDE OF KIDS comes blasting out of every orifice of the house, exploding through doors and windows.

They catch her before she reaches the street and leap upon her like a pack of rabid wolves bringing down a stag. In an instant, she’s on the ground swarmed by 17 shrieking children who BITE and TEAR at her with level 10 ferocity.

Soon parts of her come loose. Her face is reduced to pulp, someone bites off an ear. She’s lifted off the ground by their collective pulls like a woman being drawn and quartered.

Children leap onto the pack from the edges ‘til it’s just a bloody scrum with pieces of her coming loose in the frenzy.

At some point she stops screaming.

The rage on Archer’s face dissolves. His hands loosen from Justine’s throat. She gasps. He relaxes, drops her and staggers outside.

Justine rubs at her throat, finally able to breathe.

A241 EXT. ALEX’S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS A241

Archer staggers and then begins to run, following the carnage the children left.

B241 INT. ALEX’S HOUSE / KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS B241

Justine pulls herself to her feet and stumbles through the destroyed dining room.

C241 INT. 2ND HOUSE - CONTINUOUS C241

Archer pushes into the rear of the house, through the now destroyed living room where another bewildered family takes stock of the wreckage and out into...

Justine limps her way up the stairs.

PINK PAGES (04/10/2024) 130A.

AA244 EXT. BREAKFAST HOUSE / YARD - CONTINUOUS AA244

We follow Archer past the broken fence.

A244 INT. ALEX’S HOME / UPSTAIRS - CONTINUOUS A244

Justine reaches the top of the stairs and moves toward the smashed door to Alex’s parents’ room.

Archer stops at the doorstep, taking in the scene.

Alex wrapping his arms around his two kneeling parents.

Push in on Justine. She almost lets herself smile.

Archer emerges into the front yard where 17 children stand idly, covered in blood.

One child among them turns slowly and looks at him.

Archer beams.

He runs to his bloody child, scoops him up and holds him tight.

PUSH IN on Archer as he carries his son down the block, away from the gore and the mayhem. A joyful tear runs down his face.

Alex hugs his parents tight.

PUSH IN ON THEIR FACES - they stare absently at the wall behind him.

PUSH IN on a blood covered Matthew, pressed against his father’s neck.

His eyes are open but they are vacant.

Empty.

BLUE DRAFT (03/26/2024) 132.

Push in slowly on the unharmed tree as credits roll.