Basic Page #10

OSBORNE:

At least you and Kendall agree on

that.

HARDY:

What happened next? Dunbar shudders.

DUNBAR:

Pike came back.

INT. CABIN -- LAST NIGHT

Pike, staggering in through the door. The others get up

from where they are sitting - it's been awhile since they

arrived. Pike shouts at Mueller:

PIKE:

What the f*** happened to you-

MUELLER:

What the f*** happened to you? One

minute you're next to me and the

next you're gone and the sky lights

up like f***ing Christmas-

DUNBAR:

Where have you been, Jay?

53.

PIKE:

Wandering through a hurricane trying

to find this place. It's gettin'

bad out there

(looking around)

Where's West?

CHILDS:

Yeah, right. . .

DUNBAR:

Shut up.

(to Pike)

West's dead.

A beat.

PIKE:

What?

Silence. All of them staring at Pike.

DUNBAR:

Where have you been, Jay?

Pike, suddenly understanding. Fear creeping into his face.

PIKE:

Oh, no. . . no, f*** that-

He moves to the door, but. . .

NUNEZ:

Hey!

Nunez, with his PISTOL out. Trained on Pike.

PIKE:

Roberto, what the f***?

DUNBAR:

We just want to check your pack-

PIKE:

Why?

MUELLER:

Whoever shot the Sarge blew a grenade

first-

PIKE:

Blame the n*gger, then, huh? Someone

turns up dead, you just look for the

Darkest face in the crowd-

DUNBAR:

You know it's not like that

54.

PIKE:

Do I?

The CLICK as Nunez pulls back the pistol’s hammer.

NUNEZ:

Let him check your pack.

Pike stares at them and then throws his pack down, angrily.

Dunbar goes to it, opens it, and reaches in. Pulls his hand

out. Only TWO GRENADES. Looks at Pike. Sadly.

DUNBAR:

Tie him up.

INT. CABIN -- LAST NIGHT

Later. The fury of the storm has increased. Kendall, Childs,

Nunez, and Mueller, in the KITCHEN looking for food.

IN THE LIVING ROOM

Pike, tied to the chair. Dunbar sitting in a corner,

listening to the hurricane rage outside. Pike watches him.

PIKE:

Just like the first day, huh? You

standing guard on me.

A CREAKING as the cabin SHIFTS on it’s foundation. Dunbar

looks up at the roof, scared. It holds.

PIKE:

This place ain’t gonna hold much

longer.

Dunbar doesn’t reply. Still staring nervously at the roof.

Pike looks to make sure the others out of earshot, then:

PIKE:

You and me are friends, right?

No reply.

PIKE:

Right?

DUNBAR:

Yeah...

Pike takes a deep breath.

PIKE:

You gotta untie me.

(off Dunbar’s look)

I didn’t do this thing, Ray.

55.

DUNBAR:

You hated West more than any of us.

PIKE:

Maybe, but that don't make me a killer-

DUNBAR:

You're the only one missing a grenade.

PIKE:

Which anyone coulda taken out of my

gear on the chopper. Were you

watching your pack on the ride in?

Dunbar starts to get up.

PIKE:

Ray, this is my life here. I ain't

gonna pretend I'm not happy West is

gone, but you know I couldn't have

done this. It's not in me.

DUNBAR:

If not you, then who?

PIKE:

Mueller.

DUNBAR:

Oh, come on-

PIKE:

We're sweeping our area and suddenly

he's gone. Couple minutes later,

phosphorous grenade pops off about a

third of a click away-

DUNBAR:

That's exactly what he says about

you.

PIKE:

Who you gonna trust, Ray? Him or

your friend?

Dunbar stares at him.

DUNBAR:

You hated West, Mueller loved him-

PIKE:

Enough to go to prison? Childs' PX

Scam, Mueller was in on it-

DUNBAR:

Bullshit.

56.

PIKE:

Look in my pack.

DUNBAR:

Why?

PIKE:

Just look. Little pocket.

Dunbar walks over to Pike's pack and unzips it. Checks the

little pocket. Pulls out a VIAL and a SYRINGE.

PIKE:

Combat grade morphine. Mueller sold

it to me. .

DUNBAR:

You're lying-

PIKE:

Pull up my sleeve. Right arm.

Dunbar does to reveal a cluster of TRACK MARKS.

PIKE:

That look like a lie to you? I been

using solid for the last eight weeks.

Dunbar sits down. Not knowing what to say.

PIKE:

After that first night on the parade

Grounds with you, I was bad Exposure,

malnutrition, the works.

I needed something to keep me from

crashing. Mueller found me.

INT. CADET SHOWERS -- EIGHT WEEKS AGO

Empty except for Pike. He sits, nude, curled up on the tile,

as the nozzles blast STEAMING WATER down onto his shivering

form. FOOTSTEPS approaching. Mueller. He leans down next

to Pike, speaking to him. Kindly.

PIKE (V.O.)

He said he knew guy who had an in at

the PX, could hook me up. This is

before I knew what a dick he was.

As Mueller produces a SYRINGE from his pocket...

INT. BASE PX -- BACKROOM -- SIX WEEKS AGO

A covert meeting among stacks of supplies. Childs stands

with Mueller, talking to a gaunt Pike. Behind Pike are a

group of other SICKLY LOOKING CADETS, all jonesing.

57.

PIKE:

Later on Childs got assigned there,

started running the sh*t out to every

cadet who needed it. But I was our

class's first customer.. .

Pike hands the smiling Mueller a WAD OF CASH...

INT. CABIN -- LAST NIGHT

Dunbar staring open mouthed at Pike. Shocked.

DUNBAR:

Why... why didn't you tell me?

PIKE:

Becoming a morphine addict during

Basic ain't exactly something you

want to broadcast. Only Mueller and

Childs know.

A beat. Dunbar gets to his feet.

DUNBAR:

That still doesn't mean you didn't

kill him.

PIKE:

You saw West, right? How was he

killed?

DUNBAR:

Full clip to the body-

PIKE:

From up close or far away?

DUNBAR:

His chest was hamburger-

PIKE:

That's close range. You go full

auto on a guy from close range, you're

gonna be swimming in blood. Look at

my uniform. Nothing.

Dunbar looks. Not a speck of blood on it.

PIKE:

And where's Mueller's? When I came

in, he was only wearing a t-shirt.

Dunbar looks over to fireplace, where ashes are smoldering...

FLASHCUT TO - When Dunbar first entered the Cabin: Mueller,

standing there in a T-SHIRT, a FIRE burning in the hearth.

58.

PIKE:

Way I figure it, West must have found

out about their little business and

was gonna bust them, so they decided

to get rid of him first...

DUNBAR:

(softly)

They?

PIKE:

Mueller and Childs. One of them

must've taken the grenade from my

pack on the chopper...

INT. TRANSPORT HELICOPTER (FLYING) -- EARLIER LAST NIGHT

The Sectioners sit, stonefaced, staring out the window.

CLOSE ON - Mueller's hand as it snakes into Pike's pack and

extracts a phosphorous grenade.

EXT. LOUISIANA BAYOU -- EARLIER LAST NIGHT

Mueller and Pike, twenty feet apart, scouring the brush for

targets. Mueller looks to Pike and then slips away...

PIKE (V.O.)

Then Mueller ditches me during the

exercise and heads for the creek.

EXT. LOUISIANA BAYOU -- CREEK BED,-- EARLIER LAST NIGHT

Mueller stands on the hill and pulls the grenades pin, tossing

it down the embankment. ..

PIKE (V.O.)

He blows the grenade to frame me and

gets West to come running... .

The grenade BLOWS, setting the entire area AGLOW...

EXT. LOUISIANA BAYOU -- EARLIER LAST NIGHT

Kendall and Childs, turning towards the sound...

Note:
Each shot of Kendall and Childs in this sequence should

correspond exactly to Kendall's Flashback.

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