Bringing Out the Dead Page #8

Two boys, DRUG DEALERS, lie bleeding on the sidewalk. Frank

drops to his knees beside one, Walls the other. Larry wheels

out the stretcher.

FRANK:

(to Drug Dealer)

Where you hit?

VOICE IN CROWD:

Outlaw did this. He works for Cy.

Two white vials roll out of the Drug Dealer's shirt: marked

with red skull and crossbones. Frank looks over--they're

gone, swiped by eager hands.

Listening for a heartbeat, Frank calls to Walls:

FRANK:

Major Tom, I'm going to Misery. You

take yours to Bellvue.

CUT TO:

INT. 13 ZEBRA EMS VEHICLE--NIGHT

Larry charging through the night while, in back, Frank,

stethoscope in his ears, wrapping a tourniquet around the

Drug Dealer's arm: he's dying fast.

FRANK:

You're gonna feel a stick in your

arm. Don't move.

DRUG DEALER:

I don't want to die.

NOEL:

I want to die. I'm the one.

DRUG DEALER:

Oh Jesus, I don't want to die.

FRANK:

You're not going to die.

NOEL:

What did you say?

FRANK:

(to Noel)

Shut up. You're going to die and

he's not. Got it.

DRUG DEALER:

(weak)

Hold my hand.

FRANK:

I can't. I got to do the other arm.

DRUG DEALER:

Please.

FRANK:

(to Noel)

Hold this--right there. If you let

go, I swear, I won't kill you.

Noel holds IV bag as Frank searches for a vein, inserts second

IV needle.

CUT TO:

EXT. MERCY EMERGENCY--NIGHT

Larry pulls into Our Lady of Mercy Emergency. Frank says to

the boy:

FRANK:

It's all right. We're here.

No answer. Frank feels for a pulse, listens with the

stethoscope:
nothing. Larry opens the doors.

LARRY:

Noel, let's go.

Frank turns to his partner:

FRANK:

He's not breathing. Call a code.

Larry and Frank pull the dead boy out of the bus.

CUT TO:

INT. MERCY ER--NIGHT

Frank finishes his report, hands a copy to the clerk, looks

around the now almost empty waiting area. John Burke sleeps

slumped in one of the chairs. Griss stands at his post.

Pulling out a pack of cigarettes, Frank steps outside.

CUT TO:

EXT. MERCY EMERGENCY--NIGHT

Frank exits, lights up. The sky is going blue. Inside the

open rear doors of 13 Zebra, Larry mops up bloody floor.

Mary Burke, weary, steps beside Frank.

MARY:

Hello again.

He offers a cigarette. She accepts:

MARY (CONT'D)

You shouldn't smoke.

FRANK:

It's okay. They're prescription.

(beat)

Works better with a little whiskey.

MARY:

That's my brother's problem. He's

passed out inside.

Larry jumps theatrically out of the ambulance, swings the

mop wildly over his head:

LARRY:

That's it! I can't do it anymore!

Mary laughs once, less than a second. She notices blood stains

on Frank's shirt:

MARY:

That boy you brought in, he was shot,

wasn't he?

FRANK:

Yes.

MARY:

He's dead, huh?

FRANK:

Yes.

MARY:

(pause)

I think this place stinks.

FRANK:

Our Lady of Misery.

MARY:

Did you see my father?

FRANK:

No.

MARY:

It's crazy in there. What's wrong

with that doctor? He keeps mumbling,

poking himself in the eye when he

talks to me.

FRANK:

He's working a double shift.

MARY:

Thing is, I'm supposed to be the

fuckup. The one on the stretcher in

there--that's supposed to be me.

With my parents crying out here. I

got a lot of guilt, you know what I

mean?

He does.

MARY (CONT'D)

My father's in a coma, now my mother's

going crazy. It's like she's in a

trance.

FRANK:

She should go home.

MARY:

I'd take her, but then who would

stay here?

Frank looks at her, trying to say the right thing. He notices

Mrs. Burke coming from inside.

FRANK:

Here she is.

Mrs. Burke, dazed, steps out. They join her.

MRS. BURKE

It wasn't him.

MARY:

You saw him?

MRS. BURKE

They showed me someone. It wasn't

him. It wasn't my husband.

FRANK:

Mrs. Burke, please, they'll take

care of him. You should go home now.

MRS. BURKE

I should know my own husband. They

wouldn't let me see him.

She drifts away. Frank speaks to Mary:

FRANK:

Larry and I'll drop her back home.

Help me get her to the ambulance.

MRS. BURKE

You want some coffee? I have some

apple sauce cake too.

They walk Mrs. Burke to 13 Zebra.

MARY:

Thank you.

Mary watches as Larry backs up the EMS vehicle, Frank sitting

in the back with her mother, pulls into first light.

DISSOLVE TO:

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