Trapped

Jack falls to the ground and a red mark is now under his left eye.

BRYAN (CONT'D)

That’s for being stupid.

And Bryan shakes his head then heads back towards Veronica, who rubs the right side of her head with her left hand.

VERONICA:

I think I have a bruise.

Bryan checks the side of her head.

BRYAN:

It doesn’t look too bad. (Pauses) From now on, just stay to the left. Us three will be on the right.

VERONICA:

And what about my arm?

BRYAN:

You’ll be fine.

Veronica sighs and Bryan helps her get to her feet. They walk back towards the other two men.

Jack dabs at his face with a wipe from his first-aid kit. The four keep heading slowly north.

EXT. CABIN-NIGHT

Once the wolves have given up on trying to find the people, they split into two groups, three heading northwest (including the alpha wolf), and four (three white and one gray wolf) heading in the direction of Bryan and the other three survivors.

INT. VALLEY-EAST SECTION-NIGHT

The four remaining people inside the arena wind their way north.

VERONICA:

You know, I believe you’re innocent.

BRYAN:

Really?

JACK:

(Exasperated) Oh, give me a break.

Bryan shoots him a dirty look.

BRYAN:

It’s true. I AM innocent.

JACK:

Well then, prove it.

CURTIS:

I’m having enough of this conversation.

Curtis glares at Jack, who eyes him defensively.

BRYAN:

(Turns to Veronica) How’s your arm?

VERONICA:

It can be worse. I feel it’s slightly bruised, but nothing else is wrong with it.

BRYAN:

I see.

JACK:

I think we should stop soon.

Why?

BRYAN:

JACK:

I’m kind of getting exhausted.

CURTIS:

I’d hate to agree with him, but Jack’s right. We should stop for a breather.

BRYAN:

And risk getting attacked by the wolves? I don’t think so.

Veronica places a hand on Bryan’s shoulder. He looks at her questioningly.

BRYAN (CONT'D)

What?

VERONICA:

They’re right. We should stop.

BRYAN:

Alright.

Bryan sets down his bag, and sits down with the rest of the others near a group of large bushes.

Soon enough, the group hears howling somewhere behind the bushes.

Jack, who’s alert, gets back up to his feet and surveys the forest around him.

Get down.

BRYAN (CONT'D)

JACK:

Why? We need to get away from here.

BRYAN:

No. We’d be outrun.

JACK:

(Incredulously)

Wait-so we stay here? You can’t be serious.

BRYAN:

They’re so close that if we move, they’ll chase us wherever we decide to go.

JACK:

There has to be something we can do besides stay here.

BRYAN:

I can’t think of anything else.

VERONICA:

We need to defend ourselves.

CURTIS:

Right. Do we each have knives?

The four each check their own bags for weapons.

And indeed, all of the people in the group have at least a couple of knives.

BRYAN:

Alright. Let’s each have a knife per hand.

Bryan wields two twelve-inch-long army knives, and he keeps his eye on the bush in front of him and the group.

Curtis holds the largest knife, and the others are in between Bryan and Curtis (who is the strongest of them all).

The four wolves heading in their direction appear somewhere behind the bushes.

BRYAN (CONT'D)

They’re here.

And surely enough, the wolves emerge from behind the bush. They’re on the prowl.

The gray wolf eyes Bryan, while the three white wolves each eye the other three people.

Veronica’s knives shake in her hands.

BRYAN (CONT'D)

Come on. Don’t be nervous. It’ll only make things worse.

VERONICA:

How can I not be nervous?

Despite Veronica saying this, she stops shaking as much and simply locks eyes with the white wolf that’s staring at her.

Meanwhile, the wolves continue to close in on the people. They back up.

Then the gray wolf gives the other wolves a signal, and they charge at the people (with each wolf focusing on one person).

The fight:

Bryan injures the gray wolf, which retreats. Veronica kills her wolf by slashing its throat. Jack runs around, scaring his wolf until it retreats. And Curtis overpowers his by wrestling it to the ground and stabbing it repeatedly in the head.

BRYAN:

Is everyone alright?

CURTIS:

I think my leg might be broken.

The other three peer at Curtis’s leg: Blood seeps down his right shin.

BRYAN:

(Comes over to Curtis) Can you move your leg?

Curtis nods his head slowly.

CURTIS:

Not much.

BRYAN:

Let me see it.

Bryan takes a long look at Curtis’s leg. Although there’s no sign of a bone being broken, there’s already swelling that goes with a cut to his leg.

BRYAN (CONT'D)

(Relieves Curtis)

I don’t think your leg is broken. There’s just swelling.

CURTIS:

So will I be able to walk properly soon?

Bryan rubs his chin in thought.

BRYAN:

Right now, I don’t know. However, we’ll stay here for a bit to allow you to recover. And then we’ll walk slowly and see how things go from there. Is that ok with all of you?

The others nod in agreement to Bryan’s statement, and they all take a seat on the ground once again.

But this time, they hold onto their knives.

INT. CONTROL ROOM-NIGHT

The game makers watch as Bryan and the other three remaining survivors rest inside of the arena.

AMANDA:

I think we should add more wolves.

ERIC:

Why? One of the remaining people is already injured.

The other two game makers besides Eric and Amanda (SCOTT and PETER) side with Eric.

SCOTT:

I agree with Eric, to be honest.

AMANDA:

But what about Bryan, who keeps insisting that he’s innocent? I mean, the evidence is against him.

SCOTT:

(Perplexed) And your point is?

AMANDA:

My point is that since there’s a lot of evidence pointing to the fact that Bryan is guilty, we should just add more wolves to get rid of him. (Pauses) In other words, we don’t want a liar in our game.

Peter, the final game maker to speak, shakes his head quickly following Amanda’s rash statement.

The others don’t look very confident with Amanda as well.

PETER:

But what if he isn’t lying? We should take his word for it.

AMANDA:

Then why don’t we just take him out of the arena then, if we believe him?

PETER:

You know why. Because we’re not the main authorities. The government is.

Amanda has no answer to this.

ERIC:

So are we placing more wolves inside the arena, or not?

AMANDA:

Well, considering that no-one agrees with me, and that sending more wolves would risk the lives of the other contestants, I think we shouldn’t.

ERIC:

Then that’s settled.

And the four game makers continue to work frivolously on their game.

INT. VALLEY-EAST SECTION-NIGHT

Bryan glances at his watch. It’s 12:34 AM.

BRYAN:

I think we need to get moving.

The others wake up.

JACK:

(Complains)

Why? We’ve only been resting for a couple of hours.

BRYAN:

(Adamantly)

A couple of hours is enough.

JACK:

And what about which direction we’re supposed to head in?

BRYAN:

What do you mean?

JACK:

If the wolves go back and tell the others where we are, then we probably shouldn’t keep heading north.

Bryan takes a look at the others, who appear to be reluctantly in agreement with Jack.

He then peers at Veronica specifically. She returns his gaze and nods.

VERONICA:

We should probably head back south.

BRYAN:

(Very reluctantly) Ok. Let’s go.

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