Outbreak Page #21

Inside, the RADAR OPERATORS scan. They're pissed.

(CONTINUED)

121.

CONTINUED:

RADAR OPERATOR:

Where the hell did it go?

CUT TO:

BLACK HAWK (DIRECTLY BELOW ON INTERSTATE 5)

flies just thirty feet above the freeway, at the same

speed as the traffic. The Black Hawk's RADAR DETECTOR

SQUAWKS each time the AWACS radar scans it, every two

seconds.

INSIDE BLACK HAWK

Salt flies anxiously. One moment of inattention could

bring the Black Hawk down on top of one of the cars on

the freeway.

SALT:

It moves like a truck, it reflects

radar like a truck, but guess what?

It ain't a truck.

ON INTERSTATE BELOW BLACK HAWK

An IRATE DRIVER is watching Salt and yelling into his

cellular phone:

IRATE DRIVER:

That's right, Sheriff -- flying

too Goddamn low -

INT. COMMAND CENTER (19:05)

Ford hangs up the phone.

FORD:

We got him!

McClintock smiles, grabs his flight helmet and races -

EXT. COMMAND CENTER

His squadron of Apaches takes off. A FAX MACHINE WHINES

O.S.

INT. COMMAND CENTER

Ford scans the fax.

(CONTINUED)

122.

CONTINUED:

The other officers in the room grow silent as they see

his face grow grim and serious.

FORD:

Gentlemen, I have in my hand the

final authorization to proceed,

signed by the President. I know

that each of us has doubts about

what we are about to do. It is

only human to have doubts when you

are commanded to take the lives of

other human beings. Remember your

wives, remember your children...

they will all get the disease and

die if we let fear govern our

hearts. We are doing what is

right, and what the nation

requires of us.

PAN ACROSS the grim faces.

FORD:

I expect each man to do his duty.

I know you won't fail.

CUT TO:

BLACK HAWK (19:
20)

Gillespie standing beside the open door aiming an

infrared heat-sensing device down at the forest which is

so thick with trees you can only rarely catch glimpses of

the forest floor.

ON COMPUTER MONITOR

Swirls of colors -- like gases moving on the surface of

the sun -- diffuse across the screen. Gradually, we see

that one bright red band is moving faster than the

others.

SALT (O.S.)

The monkey!

GILLESPIE (O.S.)

No, it's moving too fast.

FOREST BELOW:

A deer scurries across a clearing.

123.

ANOTHER ANGLE:

DISCOVER Betsy:
Only a few hundred feet away from the

deer. Afraid of man and his loud machines, she runs

deeper into the forest, hiding herself under the branches

of trees.

GILLESPIE:

picks up another swirl of red on the infra-red sensing

device. He points to it.

GILLESPIE:

Circle in.

ANOTHER ANGLE:

OPEN WIDE to show the chopper moving in a tight circle.

BETSY:

hearing the ROAR of the CHOPPER LOUDER AND LOUDER,

scurries up a tree and tries to hide.

GILLESPIE:

stares at the monitor. A faint red band appears in the

corner of the screen, then disappears.

GILLESPIE:

Starboard!

The chopper veers to the right and the red band glows

brighter and brighter.

GILLESPIE:

Lock!

The chopper hovers, then starts to descend straight down.

Gillespie looks through binoculars at:

GILLESPIE'S POV

Nothing but trees... trees... more trees... Stop! A patch

of black and white. A pair of frightened eyes.

Betsy hisses at the terrifying monster.

124.

BACK TO SCENE:

SALT:

Drive her down! She falls from

that height, she'll bleed out.

Gillespie jams cartridges containing turquoise liquid

into the M-16. He FIRES. The bullets land above Betsy.

She jumps onto a lower branch. The bullets keep coming.

She jumps onto:

ON GROUND:

Gillespie FIRES. Misses. The blue liquid splatters

against a tree trunk.

BETSY:

caught in the open, darts toward a thick patch of trees -safety.

She's only a step away.

GILLESPIE:

FIRES again.

ANGLE ON BETSY - SLOW MOTION SHOT

Betsy's hit. She spins, grabbing her arm in pain, then

gets up. Tries to make it to the next tree. Goes down

on one knee. Then the other. She reaches out. Cries

for freedom. Then collapses.

As Gillespie lowers himself out the door -

CUT TO:

HORIZON:

The Apaches approaching fast.

INT. CHOPPER

Gillespie stows Betsy in the back. Salt sees the

glistening lights of the Apaches.

GILLESPIE:

Up! Fast!

Salt yanks the wheel back. The Black Hawk starts

climbing.

The Apaches quickly surround it. INTERCUT:

125.

COMMAND CENTER - LEAD APACHE

on a radar screen, Ford can see Gillespie's chopper and the

Apaches. He and Gillespie and McClintock converse through

their radios:

FORD:

Give me the monkey, Mike.

The Black Hawk climbs higher and higher, through the thick

layer of clouds, now absolutely black in the darkness of

the night.

GILLESPIE:

If the antibodies work, we'd have

a way to stop the epidemic by

medical means -

FORD:

-- We have no way to produce them

in quantity -

GILLESPIE:

-- Dr. Iwabi -

FORD:

There's no time for that now.

In the lead Apache, snipers lean out the window. Their

telescopic sights lock on Gillespie and Salt.

McCLINTOCK

Give me an order to fire, sir. We

don't need the monkey.

GILLESPIE:

You do. Because if you fail to

contain the virus, you're going

to be racing to synthesize an

antiserum. How long did it take

you to do the last one? A year?

Two years? Five?

Ford's torn.

GILLESPIE:

If the monkey's antibody is

effective, you could use it as

a template. Maybe you could

save Europe.

Ford hesitates.

McCLINTOCK

Sir, let me -

The Black Hawk blasts through the cloud cover and emerges:

126.

ABOVE CLOUDS - NIGHT

A full moon illuminates the Black Hawk.

The Apaches burst through the clouds, too.

INT. BLACK HAWK

GILLESPIE:

Fire away! Nothing's going to

survive the crash.

ANGLE ON FORD:

a long beat. Gillespie's got him.

FORD:

You've got until midnight, Mike.

CUT TO:

FOREST SURROUNDING TOWN

The forest looks dark and primeval in the damp night. The

sounds of BIRD CALLS and CRICKETS CHIRPING can be heard in

the background. This is what a biological meltdown looks

like -- nothing at all. Then suddenly a deer drops to

its knees, stricken with the Motaba Virus. It struggles

to rise, but fails. The deer keels over, barely

breathing.

CUT TO:

OUTSIDE QUARANTINE PERIMETER - STAGING AREA

Large canisters of deadly nerve gas are loaded onto

Chinook helicopters. The canisters are clearly marked

with the skull-and-crossbones for "poison" and big red

"CAUTION!" labels.

CUT TO:

HOSPITAL HELIPORT - BLACK HAWK

settling down.

CUT TO:

127.

HOSPITAL LAB:

Tubes run from Betsy to a blood separator as Salt works

feverishly to separate the antibodies out. As the

centrifuge spins faster and faster -

CUT TO:

HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - GILLESPIE

moving rapidly past the patients 'til he gets to:

IZZY'S ROOM

Gillespie's alarmed. Izzy looks terrible, his voice a

whisper:

IZZY BERMAN:

Mike... I know you never liked

my name.

GILLESPIE:

What?

IZZY BERMAN:

My nickname -- Izzy. You never

really liked it.

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