Dark City Page #17

In a small wooden box are several toys he examines with great

interest.

Walker picks up a book and opens it - the pages have been eaten

out by a swarm of ROACHES. He drops it in disgust as the insects

scurry over his hands.

INT. CORRIDOR/MEI'S BUILDING - NIGHT

A FAT MAN in a suit exits Mei's door, looks around, and paces

rapidly away down the corridor, adjusting his tie and fumbling with

his coat.

AS THE CAMERA PANS with him, it picks up several shadows climbing

the stairs towards the landing.

INT. MEI'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

MEI is walking towards the wooden screen, tying her robe around her

waist. As she walks she says something in her own language,

speaking to the UNSEEN PERSON behind the screen established earlier.

There is a KNOCK O.S.

Mei stops, walks to the door, saying something else as she does so.

INT. CORRIDOR/MEI'S BUILDING - NIGHT

The door swings open. Mei is smiling, but suddenly looks

frightened.

REVERSE ANGLE - MISTER HAND, MISTER SLEEP, and entourage stand in

the corridor.

Almost immediately Mister Hand pushes into the room. One of the

Strangers grabs Mei and puts a hand across her mouth. Mister Sleep

enters last, shutting the door behind him.

INT. KARL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Walker and Karl are standing in the open doorway of a small bedroom.

PAN AROUND ROOM - Walker's when he was a boy. Most of the things

have been put away, but there are still a few mementoes from his

childhood.

Karl points at the tiny single bed.

KARL:

You can sleep here tonight. It's

late, we'll get you home tomorrow.

Walker smiles and steps into the room.

KARL:

(Cont.)

It's good to see you again.

The old man smiles and shuts the door as he leaves.

Alone, Walker looks around the room. He steps across to a small

desk by the window.

ANGLE ON - Another picture of his parents, framed on the desk.

Walker picks this up and looks at it. Then he opens the drawer in

the desk.

Inside he finds a SMALL DOG-EARED DRAWING BOOK. He pulls this out.

It's the book he saw earlier - from the slide: HOW THINGS WORK -

BY JOHNATHAN WALKER, AGE NINE.

Walker sits down and flips through the book in the dim light. Page

after page is filled with neat handwriting and drawings. As he

reads the book he seems more and more disturbed. He flips through

faster and faster.

HIS P.O.V.

Pages flip past, stopping occasionally. Glimpses of DIAGRAMS. The

STRANGERS and THEIR WORLD. Cross-sections of the STRANGERS, the

cavity in their head with the INSECTS INSIDE clearly illustrated.

PUSH IN CLOSE on Walker. He looks up, STUNNED.

INT. KOWOLSKI'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Kate is crying hysterically. A COP is with her trying to calm her.

Bumstead enters and walks to ANOTHER COP speaking on the phone.

BUMSTEAD:

What's up?

The cop gestures towards Kowolski's bedroom.

INT. KOWOLSKI'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

The door swings open, unlocked. Bumstead enters. The room is pitch

dark.

An eerie silence.

Bumstead's foot bumps something. He looks down to see:

KOWOLSKI - slumped over the shotgun wedged in his mouth. A huge

eruption of blood on the wall behind his body.

COP O.S.

Looks like it's gonna be a busy

night.

Bumstead turns to see the cop standing in the doorway.

COP:

(Cont.)

They found another one.

Bumstead nods and turns back to Kowolski's body. In the gloom he

notices something else on the wall.

He finds a cigarette lighter on the floor - lights it...

The walls are covered in elaborate but hastily scrawled IMAGES.

Figures in long coats, with knives, insects, and a legend, it says:

WE ARE LIVING IN SOMEBODY'S DREAMS.

EXT. AERIAL - FLYING HIGH ABOVE THE DARK CITY

The city is layed out like some kind of intricate aerial map. All

around is darkness, but to one side the ocean shimmers in the

moonlight.

CAMERA MOVES IN AND DOWN

There is an illuminated SPIRAL down there, as we get closer we can

see it is a road that runs from the center of the city, outwards,

and ends at the ocean.

CAMERA CONTINUES DESCENT

A TINY FIGURE runs, mid-point along the spiral, amidst a dark

network of surrounding buildings, and AS THE IMAGE TIGHTENS we see

it is Walker.

INT. KARL'S APARTMENT/WALKER'S OLD BEDROOM - NIGHT

Walker startles awake to the SOUND OF: Uncle Karl snoring in the

next room.

He's lying on the tiny bed. The room is dark except for a reading

lamp. The little notebook lies open on his chest.

Walker stands and steps to the window. As he turns to go CAMERA

PUSHES TO THE WINDOW AND TILTS DOWN.

EXT. ALLEYWAY - NIGHT

IN THE ALLEYWAY BELOW - four figures enter the building. The last

one stops and LOOKS UP. Even from this distance it's obviously

Mister Hand.

INT. CORRIDOR/KARL'S BUILDING - NIGHT

Walker exits Karl's apartment, heads down a corridor. He sees some

stairs and takes them.

INT. ANOTHER CORRIDOR/KARL'S BUILDING - NIGHT

Walker steps into a waiting elevator. Punches the top floor button.

INT. ELEVATOR - NIGHT

Walker looks through the circular window in the door.

HIS P.O.V. - Floor after floor SLIDES PAST - deserted. He looks

at the floor indicator.

TIGHT ON NUMBERS lighting up: 16, 17, 18...

Then the elevator stops, the doors open.

EXT. ROOF/KARL'S BUILDING - NIGHT

Walker steps out onto the crumbling rooftop and gazes out over the

city.

INT. KARL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

TIGHT ON - The front door's handle turning.

THE DOOR swings open - SHADOWS move into the room.

ANGLE ON KARL - snoring with his mouth open - PAST HIM through

a doorway - OUT OF FOCUS - figures move about the room.

INT. CORRIDOR/KARL'S BUILDING - MOMENTS LATER

Walker is heading back to Karl's apartment when he hears something

MOVING UP the corridor towards him. It's dark and he can't make it

out. HE STOPS, peers into the shadows.

TIGHT ON A DAGGER - held in a small hand, scraping against a wall

as it moves.

WIDER - Mister Sleep advances towards Walker.

INT. ANOTHER CORRIDOR/KARL'S BUILDING

Walker tears around a corner - a dead-end. Nowhere to go. He can

hear SCRAPING approaching, behind him.

Rate this script:3.0 / 2 votes