Badlands Page #7

Kit runs to the car with the lamp, caught off guard by the

force of the flames. They drive off.

INT. / EXT HOUSE ON FIRE – SERIES OF ANGLES – NIGHT

Various objects around the house burst into flames: a picture

we saw on the stairs, some peacock feathers, a cantaloupe

and a pomegranate left on the kitchen table, the living room,

Holly's bedroom, the bed itself, a doll on the bed, an A&W

Root Beer sign outside the house, a water can, flames swirling

out the front of the house. Holly's father in CLOSEUP in the

cellar, sheet music lifting off the piano. etc.

At length the CAMERA PANS over the charred frame of Holly's

bed. Outside a fireman moves with a flashlight through the

embers of the house.

INT. SCHOOL CORRIDOR

Holly collects her books from a locker at her school and

walks anxiously down a corridor towards the exit.

HOLLY (V.O.)

Kit made me get my books from school,

so I wouldn't fall behind. We'd be

starting a new life, he said, and

we'd have to change our names. His

would be James. Mine would be

Priscilla. We'd hide out like spies,

somewhere in the North, where people

didn't ask a lot of questions.

EXT. SCHOOL – DAWN

Holly breaks into a run as she comes through the front door

of the high school. Kit waits for her at the car. There is

nobody else in sight.

HOLLY (V.O.)

I could of snuck out the back or hid

in the boiler room, I suppose, but I

sensed that my destiny now lay with

Kit, for better or for worse, and

that it was better to spend a week

with one who loved me for what I was

than years of loneliness.

She gets into the car and they drive off.

INT. MERCURY – DAWN

Kit studies Holly for signs of her mood.

KIT:

How you doing?

HOLLY:

(neutrally)

I'm fine. Kind of tired.

KIT:

Yeah, me too.

The car sails down a quiet street.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. RIVER

The CAMERA DOLLIES with a tree floating down a swollen river.

Cottonwood trees cover the far bank.

HOLLY (V.O.)

We hid out in the wilderness, down

by a river in a grove of cottonwoods.

It being the flood season we built

our house in the trees, with tamarisk

walls and willows laid side by side

to make a floor. There wasn't a plant

in the forest that didn't come in

handy.

CLOSEUPS OF PLANTS – SERIES OF ANGLES

Details of the cottonwoods, willow and tamarisk. Music

continues under.

EXT. TREEHOUSE – SERIES OF ANGLES

Details of Kit and Holly building the treehouse. Kit pounds

a log into place with a tomahawk; Holly scrapes the bark off

a log with a piece of flint; Kit weaves tamarisk branches

through the frame of the house. This MONTAGE ends with a PAN

DOWN the four stories of the completed treehouse.

HOLLY (V.O.)

We planned a huge network of tunnels

under the forest floor, and our first

order of business every morning was

to decide on a new password for the

day. Now and then we'd sneak out at

night and steal a chicken or a bunch

of corn or some melons from a melon

patch... Mostly, though, we just lay

on our backs and stared at the clouds

and sometimes it was like being in a

big marble hall. The way we talked

in low voices and heard the tiniest

sound.

INT. TREEHOUSE

The CAMERA PANS off Holly's painting, a Maxwell Parrish,

onto Kit asleep with his pistol beside him, then onto Holly

under a quilt with a box of shells beside her. Her hand

quivers once.

EXT. TREE TOPS

Kit lifts an egg out of a bird's nest at the top of a tree.

He drops it down to Holly, fifty feet below.

HOLLY (V.O.)

They hadn't found but one set of

bones in the ashes of the house, so

we knew they'd be looking for us.

Kit made sure we'd be prepared.

EXT. TRAIL – SERIES OF ANGLES

Kit cuts a piece of twine that lies across a trail, whereupon

a ball full of spikes comes swinging down out of the trees

with lethal force. Kit ducks out of the way. We next see Kit

with a dew rag around his forehead, running laps through the

woods as part of his training. He exhorts himself to greater

effort.

HOLLY (V.O.)

He gave me lectures on how a gun

works, how to take it apart and put

it back together again, in case I

had to carry on without him. He said

that if the Devil came at me, I could

shoot him with a gun.

EXT. TAMARISK

Holly struggles through the undergrowth with a yoke over her

shoulders, carrying wood back to the teahouse.

HOLLY (V.O.)

One day, I carried thirty pounds of

wood a distance of five miles. Another

day, while hiding in the forest, I

covered my eyes with makeup, to see

how they'd come out.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes