Carnival Page #16

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reveal:

Shiv has entered the arena.

His eyes bore into her.

She swallows hard.

They stare at each other for a moment.

Like gunslingers about to draw.

The tent is starting to BURN - ash flakes float in the air

like apocalyptic snow.

SLING! - he unsheathes another knife.

ZODIAC:

I helped you.

SHIV:

You did what you did to save your

ass. Like you always do.

She takes this in. Considers her next move very carefully.

And then...

She throws her TAROT CARDS away, like a soldier laying down

his weapon.

107.

ZODIAC:

I won’t fight you. You want a piece

of me? You’ll have to murder me in

cold blood.

This wasn’t in his plans.

ZODIAC:

The question is, can you do it?

His hand GRIPS the handle tighter.

ZODIAC:

I don’t think you can.

She walks towards him.

ZODIAC:

Wanna know why?

She now stands right in front of him.

ZODIAC:

Because despite all the stupid

mistakes I made... I’m still the

same girl you fell in love with.

He doesn’t notice that:

She’s still got a TAROT CARD up her sleeve.

And it slowly SLIDES OUT into her hand, like a snake coming

out its hole -It’s

the THREE OF SWORDS.

ZODIAC:

Deep down inside you still love me,

don’t you?

It happens in less than a second - her jaw tightens - she

makes a move to swipe his throat -BUT

HE STABS HER FIRST.

She gasps in pain and surprise.

SHIV:

Love takes two.

She drops like a puppet cuts off its strings - he catches

her.

108.

He’s CRUSHED by this. Can’t help himself, he hugs her tight

as she breathes her last breaths.

SHIV (V.O.)

I can think of a hundred cruel

things she could say to punish me

for what I did. But she does

something worse.

She HUGS him back.

Silhouetted against roaring flames: Shiv and Zodiac’s shadow

embracing each other lovingly, just like in her vision.

LATER:

Shiv keeps holding her, caressing her hair, but her arms now

hang loose at her side and her head tilts back.

SHIV (V.O.)

I hold her tight until her body

goes cold.

One last kiss.

SHIV (V.O.)

And then I kiss her dead lips

goodbye.

CUT TO:

A BLACK ROSE:

Lying by a gutter. It’s the one that Zodiac threw out the

window. Hours go by in seconds as the flower WITHERS and

DIES...

SHIV (V.O.)

News of our victory spread

throughout Babylon.

POLICE STATION HOLDING CELLS

A POLICE OFFICER opens a cell door - SHOVES inside two GOONS

wearing Black Rose tats on their necks.

SHIV (V.O.)

Cops and judges grow some balls.

109.

CITY HALL:

A BURLY CITIZEN rolls up his sleeves and starts scrubbing off

the Black Rose graffiti. A SUITED CITIZEN puts down his

briefcase and joins him. Then another one. Make that two.

SHIV (V.O.)

The Black Rose took a big hit.

THE CARNIVAL:

Shiv BURIES Zodiac along with Tigra.

SHIV (V.O.)

We all did.

Zodiac’s body gradually disappears under shovels of dirt. Her

skin, eerily pale. Death gifted her with a doll-like beauty.

SHIV’S TRAILER

Shiv stirs on his cot, sweating and hyperventilating. Bad

anxiety attack.

SHIV (V.O.)

I sheath my knives and finally face

the fact that Ayleen’s gone.

ZODIAC’S CIRCUS FLIER

Grimy and half-burned.

SHIV (V.O.)

Zodiac’s ghost still haunts my

thoughts now and then.

SHIV’S TRAILER

Shiv battles the anxiety rush. Tries to breathe like Ayleen

taught him.

In and out. In... and out...

SHIV (V.O.)

And it probably will for a long

time.

110.

ZODIAC’S GRAVE

Her face DISAPPEARS under a shovel of dirt.

SHIV’S TRAILER

Shiv now breathes steadily, his eyes closing in peaceful

sleep.

SHIV (V.O.)

But at least I don’t dream of her

anymore.

EXT. DESERT ROAD - DAY

A caravan of CARNIE TRUCKS kicks up dust, speeding along a

dirt road that cuts through the middle of nowhere.

SHIV (V.O.)

We hit a new town, always on the

move.

EXT. CARNIVAL - DAY

ROUSTABOUTS unpack and set up tents.

SHIV (V.O.)

We lose some performers...

A hand RIPS Zodiac’s poster from the side of a TRAILER.

SHIV (V.O.)

But we gain some too.

Another POSTER is glued in its place:

“MALIKA” is the name of the VOODOO PRIESTESS, written with

letters made of interweaving thorny vines. A feral AFRICAN

WOMAN stirs a caldron, its swirling steam forms ghostly claws

that caress her body, making her arch in ECSTASY.

INT. THE THORN’S BLACK CHOPPER - NIGHT (FLYING)

The Thorn holds Shiv’s poster in his hand, staring at it with

his cold, catlike eyes.

SHIV (V.O.)

I know the Black Rose is coming for

me.

111.

INT. BIG TOP - PERFORMANCE RING - NIGHT

The stands are PACKED, the public watching as...

ACROBATS enter the stage, combining dance techniques and

various other moves, doing their performance right between

Shiv and an ASSISTANT strapped to a spinning wheel.

Shiv is BLINDFOLDED. He can’t see the ACROBATS, but he can

HEAR them because they wear RATTLES strapped to their arms

and legs.

Shiv THROWS a knife -It

flies across the ring...

Slipping through the flowing mass of acrobats...

Flying inches above an acrobat’s head who just crouched to do

a ROLL...

Slicing a lock of another acrobat’s hair, who’s doing a

cartwheel...

Jockeying through a web of limbs and flesh until...

CLACK! - the knife SEVERS the tip of a flower caught between

the assistant’s teeth - it’s a BLACK ROSE -

The severed BUD flies like a chopped off head in battle,

hanging in the air as...

SHIV (V.O.)

Bring it.

SMASH TO BLACK.

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