Bringing Out the Dead Page #18

CUT TO:

EXT. MERCY EMERGENCY--NIGHT

Frank walks toward Sixteen XRay as Walls gets out of the

front seat. The EMS vehicle is dented and rusted, a relic of

wars and a hodgepodge of parts.

WALLS:

Frank, what do you know. It's you

and me again tonight, the Rough

Riders, tearing up the streets just

like old times.

(kicks the front tire)

This old bus is a warrior, Frank,

just like us. I have tried to kill

him and he will not die. I have a

great respect for that.

Frank makes a "be right back" gesture, walks into ER.

CUT TO:

INT. MERCY ER--NIGHT

Saturday night at the Knife and Gun Club: the joint is

hopping, the sound system blaring.

Frank passing Griss holding back an angry Hispanic man with

a bleeding arm:

GRISS:

Don't make me take off my sunglasses.

FRANK:

Morning, Griss.

NURSE CONSTANCE:

We're full up tonight, Frank.

Frank walks over to unit three, Mr. Burke's cubicle, pulls

back the curtain. Burke lies sedated, wired and tubed. Frank

leans over, feels Burke's pulse.

Frank's expression changes--he looks at the EKG monitor:

green lines seem to be at war, normal beats marching in

formation against wild-looking rhythms, the heart working

hard and not getting much done.

Burke's face twitches. Burke's voice speaks in Frank's head:

BURKE'S VOICE

Go to the bank, boy, take out

everything you can.

Frank turns up the EKG amplitude:

FRANK:

Mr. Burke?

BURKE'S VOICE

I'm going. I've had enough.

The alarms start to ring: EKG first, followed by the bells

off the oxygen saturation monitor and low drone of ventilator.

Intern Milagros pulling open the curtain behind Frank, shaking

her head, reaching for the defribilator paddles, handing

them to Frank. He steps back:

FRANK:

You do it.

MILAGROS:

Can't reach. You're taller.

BURKE'S VOICE

Don't do it.

FRANK:

I thought he was getting better.

MILAGROS:

Technically, yeah. I suppose. It

doesn't matter.

FRANK:

Why not?

MILAGROS:

Tha family wants us to do everything

to save him--so, that's it. They

want to keep him alive, they want to

believe in miracles, we keep him

alive. Shock him, Frank. He'll come

back. He always comes back.

FRANK:

(takes paddles)

Clear!

Frank shocks Burke: his body convulses.

BURKE'S VOICE

Ow!

The heartbeats on monitor return to regular formation.

BURKE'S VOICE (CONT'D)

You son of a b*tch.

MILAGROS:

Should I increase the lidocaine?

Frank, despondent, not listening, walks away.

CUT TO:

EXT. AVENUE A--NIGHT

16 XRay driving past a strip of night clubs and restaurants:

the sidewalks full of young people laughing, jostling,

embracing.

Walls driving. In addition to the EMS two-way and AM radio,

Walls keeps a police band walkie-talkie open. He looks into

the back of the bus:

WALLS:

Frank, what you doing back there?

Frank places an open drug box on the stretcher, pulls out an

IV set, wraps a tourniquet around his left bicep.

FRANK:

I'm sick, Tom. I need a cure.

(injects himself)

Vitamin B cocktail, followed by an

amp of glucose and a drop of

adrenaline. Not as good as beer, but

all I got.

WALLS:

Come on, Frank. There's blood spilling

in the streets.

Frank crawls back in front carrying the IV bag, puts on the

oxygen mask, turns on the main tanks, takes a deep hit.

FRANK:

(pulls off mask)

These are hard times, Tom.

WALLS:

Yeah. Great, isn't it?

FRANK:

Great to be drunk. Sobriety's killing

me.

WALLS:

Look up, Frank. Full moon. The blood's

gonna run tonight. I can feel it.

Our mission:
to save lives.

FRANK:

Our mission is coffee, Tom. A shot

of the bull, Puerto Rican espresso.

WALLS:

Ten-four. El Toro de Oro. Blast off.

Walls hits the sirens, accelerates.

FRANK:

The cure's not working, Tom. Maybe

we should go back to the hospital.

WALLS:

Don't worry, kid. Tom'll take care

of you. Put your head out the window,

get some of that summer air. Listen

to the music. El Toro de Oro. Andale.

Pronto.

Walls turns up the radio, drums his hands against the wheel.

DISPATCHER:

Okay, units, it's suicide hour.

Fourteen Boy, I show you in the

hospital sixty minutes but I know

you're in the diner on 14th. Put

down the burger, I got a call for

you around the corner, 14 and 3rd, a

man with a noose around his neck and

nothing to hang it on. Sixteen XRay,

don't even think about getting coffee,

I have a call for you too.

WALLS:

(on radio)

Sixteen XTerminator here. We like

our coffee bloody. Make it good--my

partner's dying to help someone.

DISPATCHER:

You're in luck, X: your patient awaits

you with bleeding wrists on Avenue C

and Fourth.

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