12 Monkeys Page #11

---

ANGLE ON COLE, wind in his hair, eyes shining, gulping air blissfully.

INT. RAILLY'S APARTMENT - MORNING

Two POLICE OFFICERS and an anxious MARILOU MARTIN listen to an

answering machine's message while a hungry CAT cries plaintively.

ANSWERING MACHINE

Dr. Railly -- this is Palmer from Psych

Admitting. There was a guy here this

afternoon looking for you. He seemed

very agitated. We tried to keep him, but

he refused 'n I kept thinking, I know

this guy. Then, just a few minutes ago,

it came to me. It's Cole! James Cole.

Remember him? The paranoid who pulled

the Houdini back in '89. Well, he's

back and he's...cuckoo...and he's looking

for you. I thought you oughta know.

The machine switches off. The POLICE OFFICERS exchange a look.

MARILOU MARTIN:

It's just as I told you -- my husband

and I had gone ahead -- she never

showed. That's totally unlike her!

OFFICER TWO:

(pulls out his notebook)

Do you happen to know the make of her car?

MARILOU MARTIN:

Um...Acura...'92 Acura. ... Also, that

cat's starving! She would never neglect

her cat!

EXT. MOTEL - MORNING

The ACURA is parked outside room 46 of the HIGHWAYS & BYWAYS

MOTEL, which has definitely seen better days.

INT. MOTEL ROOM 46

The TV is on. A commercial is just starting. A catfood jingle.

The sound of HEAVY BREATHING.

ANGLE ON COLE, sweating, BREATHING HEAVILY, sprawled on one side

of the double bed, sound asleep.

INT. CONCOURSE/AIRPORT - DAY (THE DREAM)

GUNSHOT! YOUNG COLE glimpses the BLONDE MAN staggering, wounded.

The mysterious BRUNETTE races past him toward the BLONDE MAN, and

YOUNG COLE again glimpses the resemblance to RAILLY, in spite of

the dark hair, the make-up, the flashy earrings.

Close at hand, YOUNG COLE'S FATHER, his face still out of view, says,

FATHER'S VOICE (o.s.)

Son, it's important for your cat to

have the nourishment necessary for

healthy bones and a rich coat.

INT. MOTEL ROOM 46

COLE comes awake with a start. He stares, disoriented, at the

CATFOOD COMMERCIAL on the TV.

RAILLY'S VOICE (o.s.)

Please untie me. I'm very uncomfortable.

COLE turns to RAILLY, beside him on the bed, frightened and

helpless, her jacket arranged to restrain her like a strait-jacket.

COLE'S instinct is to free her at once, but he controls his

impulse. He looks away, gets up, and, wincing, limps to the

dresser, stepping around empty fast-food cartons. He pulls a

razor and shaving soap from a paper bag, then goes into the

bathroom, leaving the door open, and starts to shave.

COLE:

You were in my dream just now. Your hair

was different, but I'm sure it was you.

RAILLY:

We dream about what's important in our lives.

And I seem to have become pretty important

in yours. What was the dream about?

COLE:

About an airport...before everything

happened. It's the same dream I always

have -- the only one. I'm a little kid

in it.

RAILLY:

And I was in it? What did I do?

COLE:

You were very upset. You're always

very upset in the dream, but I never

knew it was you before.

RAILLY:

It wasn't me before, James. It's

become me now because of...what's

happening. Please untie me.

Finished shaving, COLE re-enters the bedroom, toweling his face.

COLE:

No, I think it was always you. It's

very strange.

RAILLY:

You're flushed. And you were moaning.

I think you're running a fever. What

are you doing?

COLE is rummaging through RAILLY'S wallet, pulling out money.

COLE:

I'll be back in a minute.

He heads for the door.

RAILLY:

No! Don't leave me here like this!

Too late! He shuts the door behind him, leaving her alone.

ANGLE ON THE TV SCREEN, where an ANCHORMAN sits at a News Set.

TV ANCHORMAN:

And in Fresno, California...crews

continue to attempt to rescue nine year

old Ricky Neuman.

ANGLE ON RAILLY, twisting and struggling on the bed, trying to

get loose, tears welling in her eyes.

TV ANCHORMAN (cont. o.s.)

The boy was playing ball with four

other children when he literally

disappeared off the face of the earth.

EXT. MOTEL CORRIDOR - MORNING

COLE puzzles over a junk food vending machine, inserts coins tentatively.

INT. MOTEL ROOM

ANGLE ON TV, the picture of RAILLY filling the screen.

----------------------- PAGE 52 MISSING -----------------------

COLE:

My notes. Observations. Clues.

RAILLY:

Clues? What kind of clues?

COLE:

A secret army. The Army of The Twelve

Monkeys. I've told you about them.

They spread the virus. That's why we

have to get to Philadelphia. I have to

find them -- it's my assignment.

RAILLY:

What will you do...when you find

this...secret army?

COLE:

I just have to locate the virus in its

original form before it mutates. So

scientists can come back and study it

and find a cure. So that those of us

who survived can go back to the surface

of the earth.

RAILLY maintains a professional deadpan, says nothing as they pass

a pickup truck with a MOTHER, FATHER, and five KIDS in the back.

COLE stares at the KIDS, a sad look in his eyes.

COLE:

You won't think I'm crazy next month.

People are going to start dying. At

first the papers will say it's some

weird fever, some virus. Then they'll

begin to catch on. They'll get it.

RADIO NEWSCASTER (o.s.)

We interrupt this program with a

special bulletin...

RAILLY and COLE both react to the radio, suddenly alert.

RADIO NEWSCASTER (o.s.)

This report just in from Fresno,

California. Naval sonar specialists

who were flown to the site...

COLE:

I thought it was about us. I thought

maybe they'd found us and arrested me

or something.

RAILLY stares at COLE.

COLE:

Just a joke.

RADIO NEWSCASTER (o.s.)

-- an hour ago have been unable to

determine the location of the boy in the

150 foot shaft...but a TV sound man who

lowered an ultra-sensitive microphone into

the narrow tube claims he heard breathing

sounds coming from approximately seventy

feet down...

COLE reaches over and changes stations. MUSIC again.

RAILLY:

Does that disturb you, James? Thinking

about that little boy in the well?

COLE:

When I was a kid I identified with that

kid, down there alone in that pipe...a

hundred feet down -- doesn't know if

they're going to save him.

RAILLY:

What do you mean -- when you were a kid?

COLE:

Nevermind. It's not real -- it's a

hoax. A prank. He's hiding in a barn.

Hey, turn left here. Left!

COLE quickly checks the map as RAILLY stares, then turns left.

EXT. SKID ROW STREET/PHILADELPHIA - DAY

An elderly EVANGELIST with long stringy hair, wearing a tattered

bathrobe, stands on a Skid Row corner WAVING a worn Bible as he

rants at disinterested DERELICTS, WINOS, and BAG LADIES.

EVANGELIST:

"And the wild beasts of the islands

shall cry in their desolate houses and

dragons in their pleasant palaces: and

her time is near to come, and her days

shall not be prolonged."

ANGLE ON RAILLY'S ACURA, crawling down the street, RAILLY driving,

COLE, beside her, staring out the window.

INT. ACURA/SKID ROW STREET

COLE is scrutinizing the crumbling walls, boarded-up store

fronts, tattered posters, decaying signs, miserable "RESIDENTS".

Rate this script:4.5 / 2 votes