Hero Page #7

Murmurs in the cabin. What does this mean? SUSAN looks a

question at GALE, puzzled as Flight Attendants LESLIE and FREDDY

take their positions to demonstrate safety procedures.

LESLIE:

First make sure your seat belts are

fastened securely. Then brace your

arms against the seat ahead at you

like this. You can use pillows

or blankets...

KELLY:

(waking up)

Mommy, what's going on?

SUSAN:

Everything's going to be fine,

honey.

GALE'S eyes meet SUSAN'S eyes. Fear. Brave smile.

INT./EXT. BERNIE'S CAR/EXIT/HIGHWAY - NIGHT

Pulling off the freeway, BERNIE peers at the signs that greet

him as he slows to a stop at the foot of the exit.

Unable to read them through the windshield he has to open the

door and stand in the rain.

Even then, the sign is obscured by torrents of rain.

INT. MAIN CABIN/727 IN FLIGHT - NIGHT

All eyes are on LESLIE as she continues her instructions...

LESLIE:

-- when you reach the bottom of the

chute you should immediately move

as far away from the plane as

possible in the event of a fire on

the aircraft.

Glancing around, GALE glimpses pale, strained FACES.

She sees the ELDERLY WOMAN holding the arm of a man, her SON.

She sees a MRS. BROWN squeezing a MR. BROWN'S hand tightly.

Looking back down the aisle she sees MR. FLETCHER putting his

arm around RICHIE'S shoulder, father and son united against

fate.

Beside her she sees SUSAN trying to comfort KELLY.

LESLIE:

Those of you who can should help

others who may be unable to move

quickly.

GALE is acutely aware that everyone around her is comforting

someone else. Only she is alone.

INT. TOYOTA/HIGHWAY - NIGHT

Back at the wheel, BERNIE is turning right onto an unlit

highway, his single headlight stabbing weakly at the storm ahead

while his useless wipers clatter loudly and the engine chugs...

farts... misses.

BERNIE:

I'm late already! Don't quit on me

now, for Chrissake! This ain't the

time!

The engine struggles, continues.

BERNIE:

Come on, come on !

The engine surges to life again... then begins to throb with

downright vigor.

BERNIE frowns. It's getting louder.

AND LOUDER! AND LOUDER! IT'S ROARING.

BERNIE'S eyes bug with the realization that either he's about

to take off... OR THAT ISN'T HIS ENGINE THUNDERING, THUNDERING.

A great shadow blurs in the rain ahead.

BERNIE brakes hard, skidding, sliding wildly.

BAWHOOOOOOOOM! HUGE NOISE. IMPACT! GRINDING!

BERNIE skids to a halt, eyes shut tight to prevent himself from

dying.

But he's not dead. He opens his eyes. Stares out the

windshield.

A blank wall greets him, bouncing back his headlights in a blur

of rain.

BERNIE:

Now what?

EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT

BERNIE gets out of his car. Everything is spooky quiet.

The tail section of a huge aircraft blocks the road directly

in front of Bernie's car. He skidded to a stop two feet short

of ramming the twenty-five foot high vertical fin. The rest

of the craft is sprawled off the low bridge and into the water,

lost for the most part in the darkness.

Suddenly, a VOICE calls out... from somewhere forward along the

fuselage.

VOICE:

Hey! Help! Somebody! Help.

BERNIE frowns. Helping is not his instinct. Approaching the

edge of the bridge, he peers into the darkness.

The plane is corkscrewed through the bridge at such a freak

angle that the tail rear doors are wedged shut by the metal

super-structure, the wing exits are blocked by the up-bent wing

stubs, and the right forward doors are canted hopelessly toward

the sky while the left exit is partially jammed in the mud near

the river bank in three feet of water.

VOICE:

Please! Help us. We're stuck.

Hello! Anybody!

BERNIE:

Whatsa problem, pal?

INT. MAIN CABIN/727 AT REST - NIGHT

Engulfed in darkness except for strings of floor lights leading

to the exits, the cabin is a confusion of GROANS, COUGHS, CRIES

and the piercing WAIL of a screaming BABY. The floor lights

seem to be on the walls, high on one side and low on the other,

as the cabin is dramatically canted, making movement along

aisles nearly impossible.

LESLIE, battered from the impact, her uniform torn, is

struggling to open the forward emergency exit. Angled downward,

the door will only open six inches before being blocked by mud.

Water pours in around her ankles as she shoves furiously.

LESLIE:

Somebody give me a hand.

A VOICE:

We're on fire.

LESLIE:

Let's stay calm, everybody.

Everybody, stay calm, please.

Please stay calm. Everything will

be all right if we stay calm.

Somebody give me a hand with this

door.

Her flashlight stabs the darkness, reveals frightened FACES.

Slumped, motionless forms.

LESLIE:

Help the people around you,

everybody. Please help each other.

AAAAAAAAAH! SCREAMS as the plane suddenly shifts violently from

the interior movement, canting further.

ANGLE ON GALE:

Staggering from her seat. WHAM! Hand luggage slams into her

from an overhead rack. As GALE goes down, a PASSENGER lands

on top of her catching her arm at an angle, breaking it. The

PASSENGER climbs off her and struggles down the slope.

GALE realizes she can't get up, her leg is wedged in the

framework of a seat. PASSENGERS are climbing past her, heading

forward.

SUSAN is fighting her way out of her canted seats, clutching

the terrified KELLY to her.

GALE:

I... I can't move. I'm caught.

SUSAN glances at her and their eyes meet. KELLY is screaming.

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