Outbreak Page #11

JULIO SANCHEZ:

Gillespie's the only one who can

tell us.

Robby has mixed emotions: the last person she wants to

involve is her ex-husband.

ROBBY:

Send him everything by stat

courier.

JULIO SANCHEZ:

Got it.

(CONTINUED)

59.

CONTINUED:

He hangs up. STAY WITH Robby: her mind racing. She

punches in a speed-dial key. An operator answers:

OPERATOR (V.O.)

Center for Disease Control.

ROBBY:

This is Dr. Keough. Put out a

stage three alert.

OPERATOR (V.O.)

Your password, Doctor?

ROBBY:

Zebra, Apple, Charley, Kill.

CUT TO:

WAR ROOM OF C.D.C (23:00)

A wan Drew Reynolds enters this large, frenetic room

crowded with doctors and staff man the phone banks and

fax machines that take up an entire wall. Along another

wall is a huge electronic map of the U.S. A red circle

blinks on Boston. Reynolds knows that if Motaba Virus

rips through America, he's scapegoat number one. He

makes his way to --

Robby at the large desk in the middle of the room.

ROBBY:

(into phone)

Great! Now get the list of all

his friends in San Jose. I want

to know every contact the last

last five days.

She hangs up, turns to Lisa Aronson, on the phone at the

next desk.

ROBBY:

Paitent Zero didn't take a

commercial plane to Portland.

Presumably he went by car. Fax

every emergency room in the

Portland area a description of the

disease. Then hit every hospital

along every freeway from San Jose

to Portland.

LISA ARONSON:

Right.

(CONTINUED)

60.

CONTINUED:

Drew Reyonlds sits down at Robby's desk. Suddenly he

looks much older.

DREW REYNOLDS:

We don't even have confirmation.

This could all be for noth -

ROBBY:

-- Worst first. My father never

made the same mistake twice.

Reynolds is humbled.

CUT TO:

INT. BONNEVILLE GENERAL HOSPTIAL - INTENSIVE CARE UNIT

Corinne stands at Henry's bedside. She's getting sick

too:
pale, sweating, starting to cough, but she's more

worried about Henry, who's barely conscious.

DR. MASCELLI

Henry, we got it early, and you're

gonna make it. But I need you to fight.

Henry stares at him with blank eyes.

CORRINE:

Fight, Henry. Fight hard.

The OVERHEAD PAGING SYSTEM GOES OFF.

PAGING OPERATOR (V.O.)

Dr. Mascelli, E.R. stat. Dr.

Mascelli, E.R. stat...

Dr. Mascelli rushes out.

CUT TO:

EMERGENCY ROOM:

Two paramedics wheel in Tracy, the Movie Counter Salesgirl

with the spiked haircut. Her father runs alongside.

TRACY'S FATHER

Doc, she got sick so fast. I

thought it was the flu, then she

fainted in the bathroom. She's

hot, Doc, so hot.

HOLD ON Dr. Mascelli's fear, then -

CUT TO:

61.

E.R. HALLWAY - MASCELLI - MINUTES LATER

He's searching through a thick book on infectious

diseases. Nurse Emma approaches, near tears:

EMMA:

What's wrong with these people?

DR. MASCELLI

I don't know.

INTERCUT EMERGENCY ROOM - B.G.

We see a roomful of people waiting to check in, including

Mrs. Logan (the black woman with purple hair) and her

toddler. Suddenly the toddler starts coughing and

coughing. His lips turn blue.

MRS. LOGAN

(screams)

My baby. My baby!

Dr. Mascelli throws down the book and rushes out, past -

The FAX MACHINE, spitting out a sheet of paper. The words

at the top declare: "Center for Disease Control, Atlanta,

Emergency Bulletin."

FADE UP the ROAR of a CHOPPER and -

CUT TO:

FT. DETRICK - HELIPORT (23:50)

As the BELL CHOPPER emblazoned with the Boston Police

logo hits ground, Gillespie, Berman, Salt and Owi yank

open the doors and pull out the two shiny aluminum

coffins.

INT. GILLESPIE'S BL-4 LAB

The aluminum coffins containing Jimbo Scott and Alice

still lie open. Gillespie, Berman, and Owi anxiously

watch Salt slip a slide under the scope and peer though

the eyepieces. A long beat. He moves carefully from one

field to the next.

IZZY:

C'mon, for chrissakes.

Salt shifts to another field, looks at it long and hard.

Pulls his head back: hopelessness in his eyes.

CUT TO:

62.

INT. FORD'S OFFICE

A fuzzy, bright fluorescent glow FILLS the SCREEN. As

the image comes INTO FOCUS, we see the ugly, large red

circles of Motaba.

ANOTHER ANGLE:

A shaken Bill Ford pulls back from his scope. He tries

to project an air of calm:

FORD:

P.C.R. tests are tricky. It's

easy to make a mistake -GILLESPIE

-- Yeah, I followed your orders

instead of my gut.

He grabs the phone and punches in a long distance number.

GILLESPIE:

I should've blasted our African

findings across every newspaper

in the country.

(into phone)

Robby.

INTERCUT C.D.C. WAR ROOM - ROBBY

One person after another sees her on the phone and realizes

what this is about. Within seconds the room is silent.

Drew Reynolds squeezes his tennis ball. Robby's

shoulders sag with dismay.

ROBBY:

(into phone)

You're sure?

Reynolds drops the ball. Around the room: shock; even

though they all anticipated the positive result, nobody

can quite believe it.

GILLESPIE:

(into phone)

You need my help, Robby.

Robby, flustered, doesn't answer.

GILLESPIE:

I know this virus, you don't.

I've worked this virus, you

haven't. How many people are

infected?

(CONTINUED)

63.

CONTINUED:

She's afraid to tell him.

GILLESPIE:

How many?

ROBBY:

We don't know. We've only got a

whole emergency room full of

people in Bonneville, Oregon, and

we don't know what they've got.

GILLESPIE:

(dismayed)

How could that many people get

infected so fast?

ROBBY:

We're not sure.

GILLESPIE:

Robby, don't get anywhere near

this thing.

Robby doesn't answer.

GILLESPIE:

You've been in an office for years.

You've forgotten what these things

are like.

ROBBY:

I worked with the A.I.D.S. virus.

GILLESPIE:

That's level two, nothing! This

is level four. Stay the f***

away, Robby.

ON ROBBY:

She is scared.

BACK TO SCENE:

GILLESPIE:

Please, Robby. Stay away.

ROBBY:

I need to be able to test a lot of

people and quickly. I need the

primer -

(CONTINUED)

64.

CONTINUED:

GILLESPIE:

Why has it always been so hard for

you to admit that you need

anything from me?

ROBBY:

I don't have time to fight with

you. I'll have a courier pick up

the primer at 01:00.

She hangs up without giving him a chance to respond.

GILLESPIE:

Robby!

Hands trembling, he hangs up the phone. Ford says

nothing, but in his eyes -- pity.

GILLESPIE:

Request permission to bring my

team to Bonneville, Oregon, sir.

FORD:

Request denied. Civilian infections

are not within our mandate -

GILLESPIE:

-- A Presidential order can override -

FORD:

Let the C.D.C. do its job. If they

need help, they know we're here.

GILLESPIE:

The Goddamn fuse is lit! What're

you gonna do? Wait for the bomb

to go off?

FORD:

We don't live in the African bush.

We don't crap in our streets, we don't

drink dirty well water filled with

spit. The disease will be stopped.

GILLESPIE:

Yeah? Today, maybe they've got a

handful... By tomorrow they could

have a hundred, and the day after

that, a thousand. When the

President and Congress ask why you

didn't bring in one group, the

only group in the entire world

with experience in fighting this

disease, what're you gonna say?

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