I Walked with a Zombie Page #16

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HOLLAND:

You! What are you doing here?

Carre-Four continues his slow, implacable move forward. His

lifted hands start reaching outward.

HOLLAND (cont'd)

Get out of here.

Carre-Four comes on relentlessly, his great arms outstretched

toward Betsy, the enormous hands curving to seize her. Fear

comes into Holland's face. With a quick gesture, he presses

Betsy back and steps in front of her.

HOLLAND (cont'd)

(a little uncertainly)

Get out of here --

Carre-Four is almost upon them. His shoulders press forward

as he reaches out.

MRS. RAND

(quiet, with great

authority)

Carre-Four!

The single word freezes Carre-Four into immobility.

Astounded, Betsy and Holland turn to see Mrs. Rand at the far

end of the porch -- her face and hair pale above a dark, coat

like robe.

MRS. RAND (cont'd)

Carre-Four. Go back.

Slowly, the giant figure obeys. Carre-Four turns to face

her. His hands relax, his arms fall to his sides again.

In his blind fashion, Carre-Four moves back across the porch,

turns and goes down the steps to the garden. Holland, who

has been watching this transfixed, starts after him.

MRS. RAND (cont'd)

Paul!

Holland pauses at the head of the stairs and turns to her.

MRS. RAND (cont'd)

Let him go. Don't touch him, don't

try to stop him!

Betsy has come down the porch behind Holland and she and Mrs.

Rand stand together. All three of them look into the garden.

Carre-Four slips through the gates and is immediately lost to

sight in the darkness of the road beyond.

FADE OUT:

FADE IN:

INT. BETSY'S BEDROOM -- DAY

As Betsy steps into her room, she sees Rand standing by one

of the windows. In his face and his posture are complete

dejection, utter misery.

RAND:

Betsy, can I talk to you a minute?

BETSY:

(with quiet sympathy)

Of course, Wes.

She waits, inquiringly. Rand takes a few steps into the room

and turns to stare through the door, across the garden to

Jessica's room.

RAND:

Does she suffer? Does she know

what she is?

BETSY:

I don't know.

(trying to ease the truth)

I once asked Dr. Maxwell the same

question. He said he thought she

was like a sleepwalker who would

never waken.

RAND:

She hated sleep. She used to say

it was a thief -- stealing away her

life, an hour at a time...

BETSY:

(trying to speak lightly)

Not to a nurse. Sleep is a cure.

Betsy crosses to the dressing table and takes a small cotton

stoppered bottle from a drawer. She pulls out the cotton and

shakes two little pills into her hand.

BETSY (cont'd)

(going to Rand)

In fact, I'm prescribing sleep for

you right now.

She puts them into his hand.

BETSY (cont'd)

Be a good patient. Take these and

go to bed.

RAND:

(suddenly)

She's dead. The dead ought to be

buried.

BETSY:

(gently)

But she's not dead, Wes.

RAND:

(violently)

You know what she is! That's death

-- no mind, no senses -- no love,

no hate, no feeling -- nothing!

BETSY:

Please, Wes, do as I ask. You must

rest, you must sleep.

Rand turns his hand and lets the tablets fall to the floor.

RAND:

(dully)

She should have rest.

(looking up at Betsy)

She shouldn't have to walk and

walk, in that black emptiness.

(with realization)

You could set her free.

You could give her rest. You could

give her rest.

Betsy, alarmed and troubled, puts her hand on his arm.

BETSY:

Don't think of it, Wes. I couldn't

do that.

Rand turns and takes hold of her arm pleadingly, urgently.

RAND:

You could do it. You have drugs --

it would be so quick -- a single

injection. If you won't do it for

her sake, do it for Paul.

Betsy shakes her head.

BETSY:

No, Wes.

RAND:

Jessica was never any good for

Paul. You will be, you are. And

Mother -- seeing Jessica day after

day -- never able to escape, never

able to forget. Please, Betsy --

it's only merciful.

He looks into her eyes and sees the finality of her refusal

there. His hand drops from her arm and he turns away.

BETSY:

(with great pity)

Her heart beats, Wes. She

breathes. That's life -- I once

took an oath to guard life.

Rand straightens up and takes a deep breath.

RAND:

I know. I shouldn't have asked it.

He starts slowly to the open door.

DISSOLVE:

EXT. HOUMFORT -- NIGHT

The Houngan and the Sabreur are working over the doll again.

It begins to move.

EXT. GARDEN -- NIGHT

SHOOTING TOWARD the gates from behind Rand where he still

sits at the table. Jessica, dressed in a white nightgown,

comes slowly out of the tower and moves toward the gates.

Rand watches her. The gate stops her progress.

EXT. THE HOUMFORT -- NIGHT

The doll has stopped despite the frenzied efforts of the

Sabreur and the wild chanting of the voodoo adepts. Nothing

can make it move again. There is a whispered consultation

between the Sabreur and the Houngan. The Houngan lifts his

hand and the drums begin to beat a light rapid rhythm.

The Sabreur dances toward the doll, making a menacing move

with his saber. When he reaches the little image, he puts

the point of his saber in the ground and draws from his

bodkin, a long needle. With one swift movement, he stabs

this through the doll's back.

EXT. GARDEN -- NIGHT

As seen from Rand's ANGLE. He rises slowly, drains the

liquor in his glass, walks forward to where Jessica stands at

the gate. He looks at her for a long moment and then, as if

a resolve had formed in his mind, goes to the statue of St.

Sebastian, takes hold of one of the iron arrows. He tugs at

it, but it refuses to come free. He puts his foot up on the

wooden breast of the statue and gives a hard pull. The long,

iron arrow comes out in his hand. With this in his hand, he

walks to where Jessica stands. He pulls back the latch bar

and throws the gates wide open. Jessica moves out into the

darkness. Rand follows her.

EXT. ROAD IN FRONT OF FORT HOLLAND -- NIGHT

SHOOTING TOWARD the gates. Jessica, followed by Rand, walks

into the darkness.

INT. HOUMFORT -- NIGHT

The kettle of water, without a fire, is still boiling. The

CAMERA MOVES AROUND the room to show that it is empty. Then

MOVES UP ON a small shelf before which a candle is burning.

On this shelf, a few inches above the candle flame, stands

the cheap little doll dressed like Jessica, with the needle

in its back. Suddenly, the doll falls forward on its face.

EXT. SEASHORE -- DAY FOR NIGHT

Rand carrying Jessica's dead body in his arm, comes down to

the sand.

The surf. Rand reverently places the body in the lapping

water of the surf. The backward drag of an outgoing wave

draws it silently away from him. He watches it go.

A returning wave, tall and forward curving, upthrusts the

body of Jessica so that we see it in the semi-transparency of

the wave.

MED. CLOSE SHOT of Rand. The body comes floating to his

feet.

Rand carries the body a little further into the surf so that

the waves when they come in flow past his knees. Again, the

outsurge takes the body away.

A returning wave brings Jessica's body back again. (There is

a famous painting by Boecklin, called "And the Sea Gave Up

its Dead" which should somewhat influence the composition of

this scene.)

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