Arctic Blue Page #10

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Eric undoes his seat belt and rights himself, but his leg

gets caught in the tangled belt. He pulls out a Swiss Army

knife and cuts the rope binding Corbett's handcuffs to the

seat. Corbett pushes the passenger door open. Panicking,

Eric tries to pull loose of his seat belt, painfully

wrenching his ankle.

94 EXT. CESSNA

Corbett rolls out into the snow. With no time to grab his

supplies, Eric clambers from the wreckage. He and Corbett

crawl/roll down the incline of the plateau, away from the

plane.

A moment later the leaking gas reaches the burning engine

and the Cessna EXPLODES.

WIDER:

Eric tries to stand. He cries out and falls into the

powdery snow, clutching at his ankle.

(CONTINUED)

94 CONTINUED:

Corbett realizes Eric is at a disadvantage. But before he

can bolt, Eric grabs for the .357 magnum under his coat. He

lies on the snow, gasping, pointing the gun at Corbett's

midsection.

ERIC:

Stay put!

CORBETT:

You got the belly to look me in

the eye and pull the trigger?

Eric c*cks the gun's hammer with his thumb.

ERIC:

Be no different than shooting a

rabid dog.

The men face off for a tense moment.

Corbett smiles and zips up his jacket, dispelling the

tension. Letting the hammer down, Eric looks back at the

burning plane.

ERIC:

(continuing)

Next time you want to kill

yourself, don't include me.

CORBETT:

I took the odds on getting down

in one piece, and I made it. Now

we're in my territory.

ERIC:

With light clothing and no

supplies, this is nobody's

territory.

CORBETT:

You sound like the tourists.

Know-it-alls who read about

survival in a magazine. F***

you. You won't make it off this

mountain.

Corbett drops his facade of conviviality. Eric is too angry

to be intimidated. He takes the scarf from around his neck

and wraps his ankle with it.

ERIC:

Let's go.

(CONTINUED)

94 CONTINUED:
(2)

CORBETT:

(re Eric's ankle)

I'm not gonna carry you out of

here.

ERIC:

That's right. You're not.

CORBETT:

Look, take these cuffs off. We

need to work together.

ERIC:

Forget it.

Eric holds his wristwatch up, points the hour hand at the

sun, counts forward to noon, and, accordingly, makes an

approximation of their direction.

ERIC:

(continuing)

Last time I checked the flight

plan, we were forty miles

northeast of Devil's Cauldron.

Southwest is that way. No sense

waiting for a goddamn taxi.

Grimacing with pain, he gets up. Clutching the magnum, he

shoves Corbett in front of him and starts walking. Corbett

frowns -- it's tough to trudge through the snow with his

arms cuffed tightly behind his back.

Eric looks around and tries not to let his emotions register

on his face. They wouldn't be farther from the rest of

humanity on another planet. Smelling fear on Eric, Corbett

enjoys the view. And waits.

95 EXT. ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS - LATER THAT DAY

The Endicott range is full of jagged peaks, icy streams and

gnarled tundra valleys. Squinting in the glare of the snow,

Eric and Corbett trek through the grandiose Gates of the

Arctic area. The smoldering plane wreckage is a hard-won,

snow-covered mile behind them.

Intricate patterns of fragmented rock, strips of scruffy

tundra and bedrock outcrops produce lonely, foreboding

mosaics upon the landscape. The air is still. The silence

is itself a disconcerting presence. Ten miles ahead and two

thousand feet lower, the forest begins. But here, on the

rock face of the mountains, Eric and Corbett might as well

be in a desert.

(CONTINUED)

95 CONTINUED:

ERIC:

It'll be interesting, trying to

build a fire without any wood.

CORBETT:

Welcome to the environment, Mr.

Ecology. Out here, one mistake

is all you get.

Determined and dour, Eric pushes on.

CORBETT:

(continuing)

Why in hell you care enough about

me to die taking me in?

ERIC:

I don't plan on dying.

It's all academic. The sheer magnitude of the surroundings

makes them feel they're the only people in the world.

DISSOLVE TO:

96 EXT. ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS - DUSK

The sun drops behind the mountains. A wind whips up,

chilling the men through their clothing. Eric tries not to

shiver. He spies a small rock formation with a granite

elbow protruding from it, making an enclosed triangle of

solid rock.

ERIC:

We'll stop here, dig out a snow

shelter.

CORBETT:

Snow shelter. Okay. You dig.

I'll have a little sit-down.

Corbett sits on his haunches and smiles while Eric digs near

the rocks. Although he knows Corbett is testing his every

move, Eric refuses to let his patronizing air get to him.

CORBETT:

(continuing)

Even in the drifts, this snow's

too powdery to make a shelter.

When you're done jerking around,

reach down the back of my coat.

Eric approaches him suspiciously. He puts his hand down

through Corbett's collar. Something is stowed inside a

homemade flap in the lining of his coat. Eric pulls out a

(CONTINUED)

96 CONTINUED:

folded nylon tarp with twine threaded through corner

eyeholes. He shakes the eight by eight orange tarp open...

CUT TO:

97 EXT. NYLON SHELTER - EVENING

Eric and Corbett have stretched the tarp out tent-style next

to the granite rock formation, making a minimal but

functional refuge from the cold night.

98 INT. NYLON SHELTER

The men huddle inside the tarp. Eric keeps a wary eye on

Corbett -- at all times he treats him like a rattlesnake.

Eric unwraps his ankle and rubs it. It's swollen to the

size of a softball.

CORBETT:

Still quite a hike to Devil's

Cauldron.

(beat)

Days. A long stretch to go

without sleep, my friend. You

can hide behind that pistol for

now, but take your eyes off me

long enough to sneeze --

ERIC:

-- Turn around.

While poking the .357 in Corbett's ribs, Eric one-handedly

unlocks Corbett's right manacle, pulls his arm through the

granite elbow, then locks it back up again. He's learning.

FADE TO:

99 EXT. HAUL ROAD - DREAM - (AS IN SCENE 3)

Eric is hurrying along the pipeline in his business suit,

following the predator's paw prints in the snow. He peers

ahead and his prey becomes visible. But it isn't a wolf,

it's Corbett. His hands and face are covered in blood.

END DREAM:

100 EXT. ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS - DAWN

The sun peeks over the mountain tops, drenching them with

light and color.

101 INT. NYLON SHELTER

The light hits Eric's eyes. He bolts awake from a fitful

sleep. Corbett sits, already awake, looking like he'd

uproot the rock to which he's chained if he could. He waits

for an opportunity -- any opportunity -- with the patience

of a vulture.

CUT TO:

102 EXT. ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS - SMALL VALLEY - DAY

Eric and Corbett trudge up to the bank of a frozen stream

bisecting their path. It's simple -- to continue, they have

to cross it. Corbett takes in the scenery, in no particular

hurry. Frustrated, but making dead sure he's always got the

drop on Corbett, Eric puts a tentative foot on the ice.

CORBETT:

Ice is too thin -- you can see

the water moving underneath.

ERIC:

We're not sitting here 'til

November. There's a cargo plane

coming to Devil's Cauldron in

four days, and I'm putting you on

it.

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