Jeepers Creepers Page #13

WOOOONNNNKKKKKK!!!!! THE HORN FROM THE VAN BLARES AGAIN AND

THIS TIME THE TRAIN WHISTLE CALLS BACK TO IT.

TRISH:

Darry!!

DARRY:

Gun it, you can make it!!!

The van is gaining. The train nearing. BELLS CLANGING THEIR

WARNING.

TRISH:

Maybe down the tracks!

DARRY:

He'll kill us!

TRISH:

I can maybe get to the

conductor!

DARRY:

Are you crazy?!!!

WOOOONNNNKKKKKK!!!!!

DARRY:

You gotta do this, Trish!

JEEPERS CREEPERS

73

The van is all over both lanes, weaving back and forth.

BLASTING THAT HIDEOUS, TAUNTING HORN.

TRISH:

He wants us to!

Darry stares at her. She knows this?

DARRY:

Trish faster!!

TRISH:

(emphatically)

We are going to die!!!!

DARRY:

Just do it!!!

THE TRAIN HORN BLARES ITS FINAL WARNING.

Trish slams the pedal to the metal and takes her sedan

blasting through the barrier arms.

It lurches across the track as the train roars at them like

an iron beast.

They fly over the tracks. The train just nicking their rear

bumper. Sends them spinning.

Brother and sister collectively trying to grab the wheel.

Spinning out of control while the train cuts them off from

the van.

The van which slams on its brakes and swerves dangerously

close to the tracks and the train.

On the other side, the sedan stops spinning. Trish trying get her

bearings. Darry still has his hands on the wheel with hers.

TRISH:

Let go of the wheel!

Darry looks behind him. Nothing but the train CLANKING

NOISILY over the tracks.

DARRY:

We gotta move!

Trish grabs the gearshift but it won't budge. Darry sees this.

TRISH:

Something's wrong.

JEEPERS CREEPERS

DARRY:

Don't say that.

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK! The train's cars fly by -their only

barrier from the van and their predator.

TRISH:

The gears are sticking-

DARRY:

(jaw tightening)

Unstick 'em, Trish!

TRISH:

What do you want me to do?!

Trish and Darry both grapple the stick shift. Can't wrestle

the car into first gear.

DARRY:

Goddammit!!

TRISH:

You're gonna break it!

Not seeing, as we do, something black shooting into the sky

from the other side of the train.

BA-WAMMMM!!!! SOMETHING HITS THE TRUNK OF THE CAR. HITS IT

HARD. ROCKING IT VIOLENTLY.

Bro and sis stare out the back: The Creature is crouched

there -staring in at them with those horrible eyes.

DARRY:

He jumped over the train,

Trish...

Trish grinding that stickshift -trying with all her might..

DARRY:

He jumped over the train,

Trish!

ClUNK! The car's transmission falls into gear and Trish guns

the engine.

The car lurches ahead --jolting the Creature. It clutches the

sides of the car as she speeds forward.

Darry in a stunned, numbed kind of shock.

Trish dips onto the shoulder of the road. Trying to make the

ride rough. Swings across both lanes. Weaving erratically.

JEEPERS CREEPERS

Trying desperately to lose the thing on the trunk.

Trish slams on the brakes. The car swings sideways violently.

Finally flinging it into the air.

The kids watch as he flails into space. Coat flapping around

him -like a giant bat who has suddenly lost its equilibrium.

Hitting the asphalt hard and rolling and skidding. Things

falling out of his coat as he does.

The battle axe CLANGING noisily on the ground and another

insidious looking knife, bouncing on the asphalt with a

couple of others --like the Creature, coming to an abrupt and

violent halt.

DARRY:

What the Hell are those?

Trish just staring at the motionless heap of black under the

moonlight.

The train's final car moves down the tracks behind them.

Revealing the dark van just beyond the flashing railroad

lights.

Brother and sister staring ahead at the lifeless heap. THE

SOUND OF THE TRAIN FADES IN THE DISTANCE AND THE BELLS AT THE

TRAIN CROSSING CEASE.

Silence now. Only the sound of their breathing in the car

until Darry's whisper.

DARRY:

Hit him.

She looks at her little brother.

DARRY:

Hit him, Trish.

(off her look)

Hard.

She looks out the windshield. That lifeless mass sprawled on

the highway.

DARRY:

Do it!

She opens her mouth to respond -when the Creature's head

rises. It is staring at them. Those blind, ugly eyes burning

out toward them.

JEEPERS CREEPERS

Trish slams the pedal to the metal. Corrects the position of

the car and rockets forward with as much speed as she can

build.

The Creature's face caught in the glare of the headlights as

WHAM! Trish slams into it hard.

The car's wheels pummel it savagely. Both kids grimacing with

THE TERRIBLE SOUNDS OF CRACKING AND CRUNCHING BENEATH THEIR

TIRES....

Trish stops now. Looks back at her handiwork.

The cape has flapped over the Creature's head and its

lifeless figure, complete with tire tracks, lays a little

flatter on the two-lane.

Brother and sister exchange glances.

TRISH:

You think he's dead?

DARRY:

They never are.

TRISH:

Right.

Trish throws the car in reverse and speeds back at the

lifeless shape.

KER-POP! A sickeningly distinct sound as the tires roll over

its legs this time.

Trish comes to a halt behind it. Staring ahead into the high

beams:
there can be no mistaking this thing is flattened!

On the asphalt, at the end of one coat sleeve, a hand lay

crushed. Tire treads over it. Even bones crushed and flaking

like Greek pastry.

Blowing away now. The whole hand blowing away. Dust in the

wind....

In fact, LOTS of powder is blowing out from under that black

coat...

The kids watch in awe: Have they crushed this thing to dust?

DARRY:

Let's get outta here.

JEEPERS CREEPERS

77

TRISH:

I don't know how much farther

this car's gonna go.

DARRY:

Far enough.

Trish guns the engine again -a final trouncing for the Thing

in the road as they roar over it and speed into the distance.

INT. POHO COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPT. NIGHT. AN HOUR LATER.

Trish on a payphone in the empty lobby. Darry next to her, listening

in. These kids have been through Hell and they look it.

TRISH:

It's the Poho County Sheriff's

Department. It's right off the

main highway about twenty

miles before Trentdale.

I am serious mom, we're okay.

The car, I don't know. Tell

dad we may have to have it

towed someplace.

Darry turns away for a moment. Caught by something on an

opposite wall.

A long bulletin board of missing persons. An ocean of faces.

Men, women and children. Some of the headings read: HAVE YOU

SEEN ME?

TRISH:

(O.S.)

I love you. See you when you

get here.

Darry stares ahead numbly. All the faces staring back at him.

TRISH:

Hey...

(off his look)

They're on their way. Be here

in about an hour.

DARRY:

An hour and a half if mom

drives.

TRISH:

Right.

JEEPERS CREEPERS

DARRY:

Never thought I'd be so glad

to see mom and dad.

(looks to her)

Actually looking forward to

one of dad's "What in the name

of God did you do now?"

She smiles. In this look between them is a rare glimpse of

their true love for each other.

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