Militia Page #12

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KEATING:

No, but it rained all week. It's

probably safe to assume there's mud

near a cemetery if you're escaping

on foot.

GANNON:

Probably safe to assume you have

more than one pair of pants too,

detective--

KEATING:

--And why haven't you swabbed copper

and potassium chloride on our wrists

to see whose show gun powder residue?

Because you'd see I haven't shot a

gun in days? But one of them has?

Keating's eyes smile. Gannon tightens.

GANNON:

That doesn't prove-

KEATING:

--Please. And have you forgotten

that we live two miles from each

other?

GANNON:

And?

KEATING:

I assume you heard it? I thought it

was thunder at first. Then it kept

coming. So I turned on my police

scanner...

(beat)

'Shots fired on officer funeral, in

progress, explosive devices detonated,

multiple officers down, ten ten Wilcox

road, immediate assistance

requested...'

FLASHCUT:

Gannon's eyes widen as he listens to the police scanner in

his trailer...

BACK TO:

Gannon's eyes trained on Keating. The noose over his shoulder

almost like a thought bubble.

67.

GANNON:

So you know what they called in. You

could've heard it while you were

attack-

KEATING:

I could have heard a radio over an

AR-15 assault rifle? An average radio

sounds out at seventy decibels. A

single gun shot is at least-

GANNON:

One hundred and forty. You don't

need to do the math for me.

Keating smiles. Wasn't expecting that. Gannon assesses

Keating, looks him up and down. Takes in a breath of

certainty. Understanding.

GANNON (CONT'D)

I get it.

(beat)

You know, they always ask if I'm

lonely out there. They smile and nod

when I respond like they thought I'd

forget how to talk. They tell me

loneliness is dangerous as smoking.

Leads to heart disease. Depression.

Suicide. Premature death in all its

variants. But I say bullshit. I say

togetherness? Connection? That's

weakness.

(beat)

I say loneliness gave us everything.

All our great books. Music. I say

loneliness separates us. 'Us' being

the capable apart from the

incompetent. I say loneliness is

strength. Loneliness builds...

Keating perks up. Not expecting to be understood by someone

such as Gannon.

GANNON (CONT'D)

I lie.

Keating's eyes recognize the turn.

GANNON (CONT'D)

The truth is I'm the social castaway.

Tucked in a room with the blinds

pulled shut. Pop bottles on the floor.

Desk next to the bed and plates with

pizza soldered onto them.

(MORE)

68.

GANNON (CONT'D)

Pornsites a click away and a different

girl for every night of the week.

The genius who knows the smartest

ways to hate the world and the fastest

ways to go insane. Brilliant. Morose.

Typical. Just like you.

The word 'typical' hits Keating...

GANNON (CONT'D)

Both of us, carbon copies of a

thousand social ingrates. Each of us

thinking we're poles apart from the

other. Thinking we're the example

others look to. Each of us enjoying

all the fruits pretension has to

offer.

(beat)

You're brilliant, Keating. Just like

me.

A long beat as Keating adjusts.

Almost like he's getting ready to confess. Then:

KEATING:

Do you leave your TV on at night?

Off Gannon's silence. The noose now almost hanging over

Gannon's shoulder...

KEATING (CONT'D)

You know what happens in solitary

confinement:
Sensory deprivation.

Social skills nullified. They move

their beds to the wall so they can

feel something.

(beat)

Loneliness doesn't build. It

amplifies. It makes you notice what

you wished you didn't. And the

question is:
how do you fight that

feeling? Have friends you hate? Marry

who you don't love? Sleep with your

TV on? Join a militia for an unknown

reason?

Beat. Gannon doesn't dare try to speak.

KEATING (CONT'D)

What did put you out there by

yourself, Gannon? Eavesdropping on

the world that lost its use for you?

(MORE)

69.

KEATING (CONT'D)

Punishing society by depriving it of

your presence? And then what could

possibly bring you into this? I told

you why I joined the militia, but

why would you?

Gannon watches that question pass him by as if trying to

evade a predator by staying still. Hoping it won't see him.

KEATING (CONT'D)

You don't strike me as a minuteman.

So that takes belief out. And an ex-

cop moves out on his own suggests

you wanted to get away from guns,

not be near them again. So I'm left

with:
a person. Someone in here who

secretly matters to you. So, who is

it?

Gannon tries not to let it show.

KEATING (CONT'D)

As great as I am, I can't say it's

for me. Beckmann seems a little high

strung to be your friend. Hubbel no.

Morris no. That leaves Olsen...

Gannon is fuming at Keating, ready to pounce...

KEATING (CONT'D)

And Noah. What's so special about

him, Gannon? What's it going to feel

like having to hang someone so

important to--

Gannon picks up Keating's 'Catcher in the Rye,' tears out

pages, crumples them, grabs Keating by the throat.

His hand on Keating's nose, his thumb pressing into nostrils,

choking him as he jams the pages into Keating's mouth...

GANNON:

What'd you just say? Sorry what?

Keating's eyes bulge as his face turns beet red...

GANNON (CONT'D)

Not talking so much when you have to

eat your bullshit diary, are you?

Keating's eyes almost smiling at Gannon as he boards him

with his personal pages...

70.

GANNON (CONT'D)

F***in' say it, you little sh*t.

Gannon and Keating stay eye to eye. Keating's mouth full of

paper, choking...

GANNON (CONT'D)

F***in' say you did it or I'll feed

you your whole f***ing diary.

One more moment, and Keating will die.

Gannon lets him loose. Keating coughs out the paper. Spit

leaking from his mouth as his lungs gasp for air.

Gannon backs away from him. Staring at Keating, looking at

what he just did and not recognizing his own actions.

He hears footsteps coming. He looks over, expecting to see

Olsen and Hubbel coming to stop him...

Beckmann.

He walks over to Gannon, trying not to look at Keating, and

hands Gannon the piece of paper. Gannon opens it. '

HOTEL CHARLIE ECHO' on it. Underneath it...

'Kowalksi.'

Gannon's eyes close.

KEATING:

Bad news?

Gannon drops the paper. Lets it fall to the floor. Gannon

walks to the end of an aisle, and sits on the ground. Back

to the aisle's end. Defeated.

Olsen and Hubbel then enter. They see the scene of distress.

OLSEN:

Where we at with Holden Caulfield?

Gannon and Keating stare each other down. Keating smiles,

Gannon in the palm of his hand. Gannon just stares back at

Keating, unable to find his way around him.

OLSEN (O.S.) (CONT'D)

Gannon...

Gannon doesn't respond. He can't. Olsen looks to Hubbel:

OLSEN (CONT'D)

Bring Noah in.

71.

Gannon looks over at the copy of 'Catcher in the Rye.'

GANNON:

Not yet...

Olsen and Hubbel stop. They look over at Gannon as he reaches

for the book. He stands up...

GANNON (CONT'D)

Columbine. Aurora. Newtown...

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