Mother! Page #13

The GLEANER yanks the faucet and loots it.

GLEANER:

I called dibs...

Water sprays. Mother rinses her burning eyes.

The sound of three gun SHOTS blast from the kitchen. It’s

followed by a mad STAMPEDE of ransackers.

They swarm around Mother, pushing her in front of them asthey scramble for the

NURSERY:

Mother trips and falls on the steps as the panicking crowdsurges over her. She spots Man’s long lost METAL LIGHTERglinting from a grate on the floor.

Mother crawls to her feet. The blood stained floor is now a

gaping WOUND. Maggots infest it.

In the crib nook, there’s a newly constructed holding pen.

Imprisoned are YOUNG SLAVES, clothes ripped and torn, armsbound. They beg for help.

Mother tries to find an exit from the chicken wire pen butthe WHOREMONGER pins her against the wall. The SLAVEDRIVER

tosses another young girl into the holding pen.

The Whoremonger pries open Mother’s mouth examining her gumsand teeth. He squeezes her bosom, her pregnant belly.

SLAVEDRIVER:

How is she?

WHOREMONGER:

Tainted.

The power flips off as RIOT POLICE in full armor burst outfrom the bathroom. They attack the sex traffickers as theyrush towards Mother pushing her into the

96.

DRAWING ROOM:

Mother ducks into the corner as the riot police storm into astandoff between cops and PROTESTORS. Copies of the poem

burn in barrels between the two sides.

Someone tosses a Molotov cocktail and two OFFICERS explode inflames.

Mayhem as it turns into a full on riot. Another contraction

SLAMS Mother as she slips into the

STAIRWELL:

Where a BAND OF INSTIGATORS stand on a pile of debris andbroken furniture shouting slogans. Workers are reinforcingthe pile and turning it into a new structure -into some typeof tower.

A CHANTING CROWD bursts through the front door with signs andbanners.

Another STREAM OF MARCHERS pours down the stairs. Mother is

caught in the middle and pulled with them into the

DINING ROOM:

A BAND OF REVOLUTIONARIES stand over two lines of pronePRISONERS whose hands are bound behind them. Their heads are

covered with cheap plastic bags.

The swinging pantry door is gone. It is replaced by achicken wire gate, behind which more prisoners are beingheld.

As Mother cowers by the mantel, she sees an executionerwalking down the lines of prisoners, shooting each one in thehead. Mother screams.

The executioner turns to Mother. We see her face for the

first time. It is the Herald.

HERALD:

The inspiration! Where have you

been hiding?

(to revolutionaries)

Finish her.

Two revolutionaries grab Mother and push her to her knees andprepare to handcuff her wrists.

97.

REVOLUTIONARY GUARD

On your knees!

The Herald moves to the wire holding pen and starts to selecta few more prisoners.

HERALD:

All right six more.

An EXPLOSION tears out a window, killing the Heraldinstantly.

Armed MILITARY FORCES burst into the home. They rush through

doorways and smash through windows.

Mother is overwhelmed by a contraction. Still she flees,

stepping over the Herald’s mutilated body, back into the

HALLWAY:

Everything is covered in grey ash. The SOLDIER C*CKS his

gun.

SOLDIER:

Freeze!

(sees she is no threat)

Oh no... Come on.

The Solider leads Mother through the

STAIRWELL:

More troops burst through the front door. Guns are fired.

REFUGEES flee. Tear gas and explosions. The Soldier leads

her from the newly built tower to a corner in the

DRAWING ROOM:

Where they find a sheltered spot to rest.

SOLDIER:

Are you hurt?

MOTHER:

The baby...

A grenade goes off nearby tearing away the wall to thebasement. He shields her with his body.

A contraction hits again. The Soldier notices her condition.

98.

SOLDIER:

Medic!

He looks up and around. Someone SHOOTS him through the jaw.

He crumples in front of her.

Mother screams in terror and falls forward into the

NURSERY:

Which has become a killing field. CORPSES are everywhere.

SICK PLAGUE VICTIMS moan in agony. Mother sees the open

window by the bathroom.

Some refugees rush to exit the home.

REFUGEE:

This way. Hurry! Hurry!

She claws to it. She pulls herself up and over body after

body. Even when a contraction ROCKS her she keeps crawling.

Almost out when two hands GRAB HER. The man tears off his

gas mask, it’s HIM cloaked and hidden. He is crazed and wild-

eyed.

HIM:

(relieved)

It’s me. It’s me.

MOTHER:

What’s happening?

HIM:

I don’t know. I have to take yousomewhere safe.

MOTHER:

There! OUT!

HIM:

No, it’s too dangerous. Come with

me, quietly.

He takes her hand, starts dragging her towards the

GUEST BATHROOM:

Which is full of shanties, tents, and lean-tos. Refugees

have made small cooking fires. Grey ash covers all. She

follows as he pulls her through the

99.

KITCHEN:

Still more survivors. Ladders poke up through holes in the

floor. Pieces of field stone and beams from the foundation

have been used to make slightly more permanent encampments.

She spots the back door and the forest beyond:

MOTHER:

The door! The door!

HIM:

No, this way.

The filthy PENITENT notices HIM.

PENITENT:

It’s him, the poet! He hasn’t

forsaken us after all!

HIM:

Come, we need to hurry. Stay

close!

BEGGARS, THE SICK, AMPUTEES surge them. Mother and HIM run

through the

HALLWAY:

Around the growing tower of debris. Still they are swarmed.

HIM:

Get back!

PENITENTS:

Help us! / We’re hungry. / We’relost. / F*** him! / He abandoned

us.

In the

STAIRWELL:

The bottom steps are gone. The front door is boarded up.

Penitents follow and swarm in from all sides. They fight to

grab HIM.

HIM:

I’m sorry. I can’t.

Mother panics. Her contractions are quick and FURIOUS.

100.

HIM:

I’m sorry! I will not forget you.

He pushes and pulls against the swarm.

ZEALOT (O.S.)

Up here!

She looks up. The Zealot stands above them on the new tower.

It stretches up to the half landing.

HIM:

They will protect us.

Disciples swarm down to help the couple up the tower.

The mass of humanity follows them, others clambering up ontothe broken stairs.

ZEALOT:

Give me your hand!

Mother is pulled up with HIM to the

HALF LANDING:

HIM and the Zealot fight to keep the crowds back.

HIM:

Get back! I will return!

Mother leans against a wall just as another contraction hits.

She is delirious with pain.

HIM:

Sit here. Rest.

The HEALER emerges from the crowd.

HEALER:

I’m a doctor! I’m a doctor.

HIM:

A doctor! Help her please. I’ll

be right back.

The Healer takes a knee and feels Mother’s belly. Mother

doesn’t want any help. She wants nothing to do with these

strangers.

The study remains sealed shut. HIM starts kicking the planksthat seal the door with the heel of his boot.

101.

HEALER:

Look at me. Listen to my voice.

The baby’s almost here.

Mother SCREAMS in agony.

Humanity stretches, reaches, pleads for mercy: “Help us!

Help! Help us!” The disciples fight to keep them back.

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