Carnival Page #12

---

BACK TO:

SHADY BAR:

Zodiac BREATHES hard, eyes still white.

Frowns, doesn’t like what she sees next. Not one bit.

SHIV:

What is it? What else do you see?

She comes out from his trance, still on edge.

ZODIAC:

You take him out... we go to war.

Dante doesn’t like the sound of that.

SHIV:

Where is Ace?

DANTE:

Let’s take a minute to think about

this -

SHIV:

(to Zodiac)

Where is he?

ZODIAC:

I don’t know. Couldn’t see

anything.

SHIV:

Look again.

ZODIAC:

He doesn’t know. He’s telling the

truth.

SHIV:

No, he’s not.

He puts a knife to her throat.

SHIV:

And neither are you.

ZODIAC:

I told you -

78.

SHIV:

Why are you lying to me -ZODIAC

I couldn’t see -SHIV

What’s your angle -ZODIAC

There’s no angle -SHIV

Tell me what you saw!

ZODIAC:

I -SHIV

Tell me!

ZODIAC:

I die in the war!

Shiv processes this in silence.

ZODIAC:

Just like I told you. The vision

it’s getting clearer.

GOLIATH:

What vision?

SHIV:

Screw this.

CLACK! - Shiv STABS the accountant’s hand - PINS it to the

table - makes him SCREAM in pain as:

SHIV:

Where is he?!

ACCOUNTANT:

I don’t know!

SLING! - Shiv unsheathes another knife -ACCOUNTANT

Alright! Alright!

His trembling finger points to an area on the map.

CUT TO:

79.

EXT. BABYLON STREET - NIGHT

The CARNIE TRUCK cruises through a sea of neon.

TRUCK’S CABIN

Shiv drives, soaked in a dozen different blood types.

SHIV:

I won’t let you die.

ZODIAC:

Then don’t kill Ace.

SHIV:

You’re asking me to choose between

you and my sister?

ZODIAC:

This time is different.

SHIV:

What’s changed?

She rests her head on his shoulder.

ZODIAC:

Everything’s changed.

SHIV:

How convenient for you.

ZODIAC:

I didn’t plan this.

SHIV:

The other night was a mistake.

ZODIAC:

I know.

He caresses her hair.

SHIV:

A nice mistake.

ZODIAC:

I know.

SHIV:

I need to think.

CUT TO:

80.

EXT. THE CARNIVAL - NIGHT

Glittering lights surrounded by inky darkness.

EXT. MIDWAY - NIGHT

Marion (Dante’s wife) strides along, PISSED. She weaves

through the crowd, against the tide of flowing townies.

INT. DANTE’S TRAILER - LATER

Marion enters, finds Dante in mid-deliberation with Goliath.

MARION:

(to Goliath)

Please, we need a minute.

Goliath nods and leaves them alone.

Once he closes the door...

MARION:

The fortune teller told me

everything.

DANTE:

Everything? I doubt that. She

always has a hidden angle.

MARION:

We’re going to war with the Black

Rose. Nothing hidden about that.

DANTE:

I tried talking the kid out of it.

I really tried, Marion. But he just

won’t quit...

MARION:

Doesn’t matter. You’ll quit.

DANTE:

He can’t storm Ace’s headquarters

on his own.

MARION:

That’s why you’ll quit. We can’t

let him start a war. Many lives are

at stake, not just his.

Off Dante, giving some serious thought to this...

81.

INT. BACKSTAGE TENT - NIGHT

Dante enters to find Shiv SHARPENING his knives with a

whetstone.

SHIV:

Saw Zodiac talking to your wife. I

can imagine what she told her. And

what your wife told you. And what

you’re about to tell me. Don’t

bother. I’m going after Ace.

DANTE:

I’m out.

SHIV:

You’re free to do whatever you

want.

DANTE:

But you’re not. I won’t let you do

this.

Shiv packs his sharpened knives as...

SHIV:

Don’t make me dig another grave.

He heads for the exit. About to leave when -

Goliath appears at the entrance, blocking his way.

GOLIATH:

If he’s not going, I’m not going.

Speaking of which, you’re not going

either.

Shiv turns back to Dante.

SHIV:

I want you to picture your wife

with a bullet in her head, her

body hanging from a tree while

vultures feast on her flesh. What

would you do?

Dante thinks hard about it.

SHIV:

What would you do, Dante?

DANTE:

(sighs in defeat)

The right thing.

82.

SHIV:

Not asking you to come. Just to let

me go.

Dante nods at Goliath... who steps out of the way, letting

Shiv through. He’s about to leave when -

GOLIATH:

Knife boy.

Shiv stops.

GOLIATH:

Watch out for Tigra. She’s a

cornered beast, and she ain’t

stopping till she gets that stash

back.

SHIV:

She’ll never find it.

GOLIATH:

What makes you so sure?

SHIV:

I burned it.

GOLIATH & DANTE

(oh sh*t)

Why?

SHIV:

Because f*** her. That’s why.

CUT TO:

EXT. MIDWAY - NIGHT

Shiv and Zodiac standing close - the flowing throngs of

people behind them are just a BLUR.

ZODIAC:

You can’t go alone.

SHIV:

That’s why you knocked my team down

piece by piece like a set of

dominos?

ZODIAC:

You really expected me to do

nothing while you start a war and I

get crushed by the ripple effect?

83.

SHIV:

No.

He hands her an ENVELOPE in which she finds:

ZODIAC:

Train ticket?

SHIV:

Don’t come back until I call you.

ZODIAC:

Why...?

SHIV:

So the fallout won’t touch you.

ZODIAC:

It’s not that easy -

SHIV:

It is if you board that train and

get the hell away from this.

ZODIAC:

Fate has a way of correcting

itself.

SHIV:

You stopped your stepfather.

ZODIAC:

Somebody had to die.

SHIV:

Not this time.

ZODIAC:

Tigra won’t like this -

SHIV:

You’re out of this, even if I have

to slaughter Tigra and an army of

her goddamn minions.

ZODIAC:

(means it)

You’re so sweet.

He KISSES her.

84.

SHIV:

Cross me again and I won’t be.

CUT TO:

INT. ZODIAC’S TRAILER - NIGHT

With her BAGS PACKED, Zodiac sits alone on her cot, staring

at Shiv’s TRAIN TICKET.

She stares at it hard, as if it was a puzzle to be solved.

Her chest heaves as she gets more and more tense. Her eyes

start welling up with tears.

EXT. DARK DIRT ROAD - NIGHT

The CARNIE TRUCK speeds along on a mission, headlights

cutting across the misty blackness.

Shiv behind the windshield, eyes beaming focus.

Just a long stretch of empty road ahead until...

A BLOCKADE - two black CHEVY PICKUP TRUCKS parked across.

He hits the brakes --

Ten THUGS step down from the CHEVYS - wielding UZIs.

Shiv tries to back away in REVERSE but -Two

more CHEVYS skid to a halt behind him and CUT him off.

And then -RATATATATAT!!

- muzzle FLASHES - thugs unleash a shitstorm of

GUNFIRE -

The TRUCK’s tires BURST -

IN THE TRUCK:

Hell - windows CRASHING - bullets PINGING -

Shiv lays low as the RELENTLESS FIRE continues and glass

keeps raining down on him.

Then the firing STOPS.

And then, oddly, he hears an engine starting.

85.

And another.

And then another.

It may appear the thugs are taking off. He risks a peek to

confirm --

Yes, they’re leaving.

Huh?

LATER:

Shiv, alone, surveys what’s left of his ride. Someone left an

envelope on the hood. He opens it and finds:

Zodiac’s train ticket.

With a scribbled message on it.

SHIV (V.O.)

I recognize Tigra’s handwriting on

Zodiac’s ticket. She turned her

over to Ace and now they want to

trade her for the dope.

He lets go off the ticket in deep thought... the wind carries

it away as...

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote