Frankenstein Page #13

He's the cholera! He's the one been spreadin' the plague!

... faces which turn into an angry mob, glaring sheer

hatred. Somebody hits him in the face with a heavy stick,

spinning him to the ground, loaves of bread scattering. they

surround him, hitting, flailing, throwing stones. He tries

to crawl, whimpering for them to stop.

VENDOR'S WIFE

BURN HIM! BURN HIM!

The Creature finds himself hoisted into the air, falling

back onto a sea of hands, kicking and screaming as the mob

sweeps him across the square like some pagan sacrifice. He

gets tossed onto the hard cobblestone in a thrashing heap,

scrambles to his knees as the crowd surrounds him. He's

wailing with terror now, long inhuman howls of fear. Men

start flinging lamp oil, spattering him, blinding him. A

torch is lit, swung toward him. Feel the heat.

The Creature lunges to his feet, panic and terror complete

bulldozing through the crowd to get away from the torch,

bowling people over, scattering them in all directions. He

breaks free, hobbling wildly across the square, greatcoat

billowing. The mob streams after him, thirsty for blood,

hurling rocks and sticks.

EXT - STREETS/ALLEYS - DAY

The Creature is weeping as he runs, bleeding from his many

cuts and bruises. He turns a corner, collapses against a

wall to catch his breath. He can hear them coming, shouting.

They'll be here any second.

He sees a death cart heaped with bodies. He hurls himself up

on the cart to conceal himself among the putrefying corpses.

The crowd streams past the mouth of the alley. The death

cart WORKERS appear, heaving another corpse onto the cart,

gaping fearfully at the confusion. They scramble into their

seats, snap the reins. The cart rattles off as we

DISSOLVE TO:

57

EXT - STREET - DAY

Elsewhere in Ingolstadt. Death carts and devastation. This

part of town was hit hard. Bodies are heaped in gutters,

stacked along the walls. People are huddled in doorways,

quaking with sickness and pestilence. CART WORKERS move

among them, faces shrouded with kerchiefs and burlap masks.

WORKER #1 moves down a row of the sick and dead, shaking

them to see which is which, his face hidden behind heavy

burlap. He pauses, seeing Victor unconscious against the

wall, pale and covered with filth, shaking with fever. The

worker's eyes widen. Stunned. He calls over his shoulder:

WORKER #1

over here!

WORKER #2 hurries over. Stares down. Eyes also widening.

WORKER #2

Oh my God.

Worker #1 rips his mask away. It's Henry. He leans down and

grabs Victor, trying to rouse him.

HENRY:

Victor

Worker #2 also sweeps his mask aside. Professor Krempe

KREMPE:

Don't dawdle, lad! The sick cart! Lift on three!

One, two, three!

They hoist Victor off the ground by his arms and legs and

carry him into the street. Victor rouses, feels himself

being carried. He sees a death cart looming ahead, stacked

with heaps of reeking dead. Staring. Waiting.

VICTOR:

(delirious, struggling)

No ... no ... I'm not dead ... please ... Don't

put me on the cart! I'm not dead! I'm not dead!

I'M NOT DEAD!

ANGLE WIDENS UP as they carry him kicking and screaming past

the death cart and on across the square ...

WIPE TO:

EXT - MASS CEMETERY - DAY

A death cart rattles past, bearing its load. PAN WITH IT to

reveal a scene utterly Dante-esque. Here's where the dead

are brought to be burned en masse. Fires are burning. Smoke

(CONTINUED)

58

is drifting in thick clouds, obscuring the sky. Soot is

drifting like black snow. BODIES are dumped into a slit-

trench, rolling and tumbling in heaps. Barrels are kicked

over. Streams of oil come pouring down, splashing and

soaking.

One of the corpses moves, heaving the others aside, The

Creature gazes around, terrified once again at the smell of

oil. He knows what that means. He pushes free, clambering

over bodies, desperately trying to scramble from the trench,

loose soil crumbling under his fingertips ...

ON THE LIP OF THE TRENCH

... as WORKERS prepare to light the blaze. A MAN turns

toward the trench with a burning torch ... And then the

Creature erupts from the trench of dead bodies right before

big eyes, The man SCREAMS. The Creature SCREAMS even louder,

cowering back. The man hurls the torch. The Creature ducks

as it goes spinning over his head into the trench.

WA-BOOOM! A massive wall of flame punches sky-ward. The

Creature whirls, stunned at the searing heat, arms thrown up

in horror. He flees, scattering the workers as he goes,

running from this ghastly place of flames and death ...

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT - WOODS - DAY

The Creature comes blundering into view. On the move. He

knows not where. Just away, He arrives at a pond. Water.

He's thirsty. He scrambles to water's edge, starts lapping

it up with his hands. He pauses, noticing his broken

reflection. The water settles and his face comes clearly

into view. He throws his hands up and SHRIEKS, terrified at

his own reflection ...

... and then he realizes it's him down there. He stirs the

water with his fingertips to make sure. He reaches up,

touching his face, utterly horrified at the sight of it...

... and utterly heartbroken. He drops his face into his hand

and weeps helplessly. BARKING DOGS in the distance. He looks

up, thinking they're after him. A moan of grief. He pushes

to his feet.

TRACKING THE CREATURE faster and faster through the trees,

running from this world he's been born into. Gasping for

breath. Crashing through branches.

(CONTINUED)

59

The BARKING draws closer. He hurls himself into a thicket,

scrambling to hide himself, covering himself with dead

leaves. Panic. Exhaustion. Mortal terror.

He flinches as something comes CRASHING through the brush

nearby. The legs of a DOE come into view. Staggering.

Falling. Thrashing down into a cushion of dead leaves. Two

arrows protrude from her heaving side.

A tiny FAWN stumbles into view on ungainly legs, mouth open,

frothing with exhaustion and terror. waiting for his mother

to rise. Her thrashing grows weaker. Dying.

The Creature moans at the sight. The fawn turns, meets his

gaze. An extended beat. A rush of empathy. The Creature

reaches out. The fawn takes a few hesitant steps toward him.

The BARKING draws closer. HUNTERS shouting. The Creature's

fingertips make contact with the fawn ...

A pack of the biggest, nastiest Staffordshire terriers

you've ever seen throw themselves HOWLING AND SNARLING onto

the doe, savaging her like whirling dervishes, The Creature

lets out a SHRIEK, snatches up the fawn as he lunges to his

feet, crashes off through the foliage with the fawn cradled

to his chest. The dogs take off after him.

DOLLYING THE CREATURE

Running full-tilt, SHRIEKING in terror all the way. Trying

to save the fawn. Trying to save himself. The dogs are

snapping at his heels, trying to sever his hamstrings and

bring him down. He hears RUSHING WATER ahead, crashes

headlong through a thicket ...

EXT - RIVER - DAY

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