Outbreak Page #23

134.

BACK TO COMMAND CENTER

A long beat. Then:

SANDMAN ONE (V.O.)

Yes, sir.

CUT TO:

EXT. COMMAND CENTER

Salt drives up in a Jeep. Immediately he's surrounded by

MP's, and taken into custody.

SMASH CUT TO:

INT. ROBBY'S ROOM

Gillespie stares out the window at the rain. Just visible

in the distance:
The blue and red lights of the

approaching Chinooks.

He moves back toward Robby, still comatose. The bag of

Betsy's antiserum is empty.

He reaches for Robby's hand. Her finger twitches. Beat.

Her eyes open.

CUT TO:

NURSING STATION:

Gillespie grabs one phone. The line's dead. He grabs

another. Dead. He throws it aside. Races to the window.

The choppers' lights burn brighter.

GILLESPIE:

Stop!

But nobody's listening. He runs down the hall screaming.

CUT TO:

INT. COMMAND CENTER

SANDMAN ONE (V.O.)

General McClintock, we are ready

to commence phase one.

McCLINTOCK

Proceed.

135.

CLOSE ON YOUNG MAJOR

agonizing. He leaves his post.

YOUNG MAJOR:

Sir, General Ford ordered --

McCLINTOCK

Sit down, Major, or I will have

you arrested.

The Young Major hesitates. McClintock draws his pistol.

Salt enters, escorted by two MP's. The MP's survey the

situation, with the General facing off against a young

Major. What the hell is going on?

EXT. HOSPITAL HELIPORT - GILLESPIE

races for the Black Hawk. Throws the door open and grabs

the RADIO. A beat, then it FLICKERS to life.

CUT BACK TO:

INT. COMMAND CENTER

Gillespie's voice rings out over the radio:

GILLESPIE (V.O.)

Stop! The antiserum works.

McCLINTOCK

Turn it off!

The radioman hesitates.

INTERCUT Sandman One in his chopper.

GILLESPIE (V.O.)

This is Colonel Gillespie. And I'm

ordering you... begging you... to

stop. We can save these people.

McClintock punches off the radio.

ON FACES OF OFFICERS

in the room, wavering.

(CONTINUED)

136.

CONTINUED:

SALT:

You do this, every night for the

rest of your life you will wake

up screaming.

INTERCUT Sandman One. A long beat.

SANDMAN ONE:

This is Sandman One... we are

returning to base.

McCLINTOCK

(into radio)

You will be shot for dereliction

of duty in a national crisis. Do

you understand?

Sandman One doesn't answer. McClintock turns to the

Young Major.

McCLINTOCK

Order him to proceed.

The Young Major hesitates. McClintock points the gun at

his head.

"no."

The Young Major trembles, but shakes his head

SALT:

No!

McClintock turns the gun to Salt.

YOUNG MAJOR:

No, sir... Please.

McCLINTOCK

I cannot allow a catastrophe to

occur -

He puts the PISTOL into his own mouth and PULLS the

TRIGGER.

Dead silence. Then:

SALT:

(to the Young Major)

As the ranking officer, you are

in command...

(punching on the

radio)

Until -

137.

AT BLACK HAWK:

Gillespie has heard this entire action on the radio.

SALT (V.O.)

Colonel Gillespie gets here.

Gillespie pulls his coat up over his head to shield

himself from the driving RAIN and begins to run toward

the quarantine perimeter.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. BONNEVILLE GENERAL HOSPITAL - NIGHT (03:00)

The rain has stopped, as if for a brief moment man's

battle with nature has been suspended. Buses loaded

with the townspeople of Bonneville pass by. We

recognize the Police Chief, Tommy Hulls' wife and

children, Sherry Templeton's kids. All the windows

and doors of the buses have been sealed with tape.

TRACK PAST Betsy being loaded into the back of a van TO:

GILLESPIE:

pushing Robby on her gurney into an Army truck. He

seals the back tight with tape. Then climbs inside:

CAB:

Salt turns the key and the ENGINE ROARS to life.

CUT TO:

EXT. COLUMBIA RIVER - NIGHT (03:10)

Eerie silence. A PLANE CRUISES over the forest on the

Bonneville side. A waxy grey cloud fills the air. One

second. Two seconds. The forest erupts in a wall of

fire.

CUT BACK TO:

CONVOY OF TRUCKS AND BUSES

heading out of town. The fire burns in the b.g.

As the end of the convoy leaves the town, PLANES ROAR by.

As they drop a waxy grey cloud over the town of

Bonneville -

DISSOLVE TO:

138.

EXT. DESERT - DAY

A C-5A transport gliding to a landing on a runway carved

out of the desert.

Waiting anxiously for the plane to disembark:

Wally, Mike, and Robby, in a wheelchair. They move

forward to greet the small African man who emerges from

the plane. Dr. Iwabi smiles and quickens his pace.

The cargo hold doors open to reveal cage after cage of

Colobos monkeys.

SHOCK CUT TO:

BLACK SCREEN:

COMPUTER KEYS POUND; the letters leap ACROSS the SCREEN:

November 21 -- the CDC announced that no evidence of

aquatic spread of the Motaba Virus had ever been obtained,

and that its intensive monitoring of the Columbia River

would be scaled back.

March 14 -- researchers at the University of San

Francisco announced the production of the first synthetic

antibodies effective against the mutated Motaba Bonneville

strain. Mass production of the antibodies began four

weeks later at the CDC and at the Military Disease

Institute.

May 12 -- Dr. Roberta Keough and General Michael Gillespie

were married for the second time.

ROLL CREDITS and -

SHOCK CUT TO:

EXT. DUGWAY (UTAH) - DUSK

A gila monster hunts for prey, its eye darting back and

forth, its tongue twitching hungrily. It moves past:

The barbed-wire fence emblazoned with the sign warning:

"U.S. MILITARY PROPERTY: TRESPASSING STRICTLY

PROHIBITED."

Behind the fence the duplexes are dark and abandoned.

The gila monster catches a fly and disappears into the

night.

FADE OUT.

THE END:

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