Outbreak Page #7

Over the treetops, three camouflage-painted DC-3 gunships

emerge, CANNONS FIRING right on target.

The Patrol Boat explodes into a shower of splinters.

The DC-3 Gunships turn and arc high into the sky.

On the ground the soldiers sight the planes. They OPEN

FIRE but the planes are out of range.

The ju-ju man comes out of his cave and watches the planes

circle back and release a waxy grey cloud.

The ju-ju Mmn raises his arms defiantly. He bares his

teeth and screams, and his cry fuses with:

(CONTINUED)

36.

CONTINUED:

EXPLODING NAPALM. The planes press on relentlessly,

extending the fireball mile after mile, extinguishing

all life.

CUT TO:

INT. FORD'S OFFICE - SHORT TIME LATER

Gillespie bursts in. Ford looks up from his desk.

GILLESPIE:

The rebels hit Iwabi's camp.

FORD:

I know.

He swivels around in his chair to the world map on the wall.

FORD:

They hit Kisangani, Bukavu, and

Mbandaka as well. Three hundred

thousand acres of forest burned,

at least thirty-seven dead. I'm

trying to find out about Iwabi.

GILLESPIE:

He's all right, thank God. He was

in Kinshasha at his clinic but

his entire field staff was killed.

His whole lab destroyed.

FORD:

Terrible.

GILLESPIE:

I want to continue working on

Motaba, sir.

FORD:

Look, as a scientist, I appreciate

the fact that this one fascinates

you -

GILLESPIE:

-- It scares the sh*t out of me,

sir.

FORD:

Colonel, the Pentagon's biting my

ass cause we're months behind on

the Anthrax studies. Get 'em

finished. Take the heat off me.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

37.

CONTINUED:

FORD (CONT'D)

Then you can fiddle with Motaba

as much as you like.

GILLESPIE:

Sir, if this virus came to

America -

FORD:

-- Then it'd be outside our

mandate. The CDC takes care of

civilian problems. Christ, now

you've even got me buying into

your paranoia. We can't protect

everybody against everything.

We've got to make decisions based

on the odds, and the odds of

Motaba causing us any more trouble

are a billion to one.

INT. BL-4 LAB

Gillespie, Salt and Izzy search through the round freezer.

IZZY:

Every sample of Motaba gone...

Where the f*** did he put it?

Owi looks contrite.

OWI:

General Ford ordered me to move

all tubes to the sealed vault in A

wing... Only he has access. He

said you weren't gonna need it

for months.

Gillespie and his men are despondent.

GILLESPIE:

Those were the only samples in the

world of Motaba, Iwabi lost all

his in the fire.

(to Owi)

There's got to be a way to get

that access code from Ford's

computer.

OWI:

Sir, I don't want any more

trouble.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

38.

CONTINUED:

OWI (CONT'D)

It's bad enough that I already

made one mistake and forgot to

transfer one of the tubes of

Motaba. I seemed to have mixed

it up with a tube of common cold

virus. If I give you the tube,

I'm sure you'll fix my mistake,

sir.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a gleaming

aluminium test tube with the words "Motaba #48" written

on the side.

GILLESPIE:

I love it when you make mistakes,

Owi.

OWI:

How do you know? I never made

one before now.

Hold on their grins, FADE UP the sound of FURIOUSLY

RUSHING WIND and:

CUT TO:

EXT. PACIFIC SEAS

A Dutch freighter plowing through the heavy seas.

COMPUTER KEYS POUND: "THE DUTCH FREIGHTER APELDORN.

AUGUST 29."

INT. FREIGHTER

In a cramped dark hold, Betsy stares sadly through the

bars of her cage at her captor, SEAMAN SECOND CLASS

DIETER JANS, 21-years-old and making his first trip.

SEAMAN JANS:

(in Dutch)

What's the matter, girl?

Dieter pushes a banana through the bar of the cage, and

Betsy snatches it. Then she retreats with it to the far

corner of the cage and studies Seaman Jans with plaintive

eyes. PULL BACK to show the ship headed for the Golden

Gate Bridge.

SMASH CUT TO:

39.

EXT. DOCKS (SAN FRANCISCO) - DAY

Betsy stares out from her cage as it swings down from

ship to wharf.

CUT TO:

BIOTEST ANIMAL HOLDING FACILITY (SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA)

We're in a long aisle with monkey cages stacked two high

on both sides. A translucent skylight gives this place

a greenhouse glow.

A forklift putters down the aisle with Betsy's cage in

front. Betsy's cage is lifted up and placed into a slot.

Betsy stands out from all the other monkeys because she

is the only black and white Colobos -- the other monkeys

are all brown rhesus.

Betsy's cage slides into place. BETSY SHRIEKS at the

man in the forklift.

JIMBO SCOTT, 23-years-young, long, scraggly hair, an

aspiring rock and roll drummer working here to make ends

meet. Jimbo's BEEPER SOUNDS. He checks the message,

then looks puzzled.

CUT TO:

EXT. BIOTEST GUARD GATE - NIGHT

Jimbo's red Nissan pulls up to the exit lane of the guard

gate. The GUARD leans over.

GUARD:

Hey, Jimbo, I saw your band last

night. Hot! I didn't know you

were such a good drummer, man.

JIMBO:

Wait'll I get my new traps. The

world'll never be the same.

The Guard raises the gate and Jimbo drives forward.

CUT TO:

SIDE OF DARK ROAD

Jimbo opens the trunk to reveal Betsy, drugged, asleep

in her cage. Jimbo slides Betsy's cage out of the trunk

and places it in the back seat.

CUT TO:

40.

INTERSTATE FIVE (OREGON) - DAY

Jimbo speeds along in his red Nissan.

INT. RED NISSAN

In her cage in the back seat, Betsy moves back and forth

restlessly, a baby bottle of water in her hand.

JIMBO:

Cars put babies to sleep, why

not you?

Betsy takes a mouthful of water and spits it on Jimbo.

His reaction is instant rage. He slams the cage:

JIMBO:

You stupid f***ing monkey!

Why'dya wanna go and do that?

He shoves the cage further away. Then he sees it - a

small cut on his hand, caused by a couple of wire protrusions

on the cage. He rubs the blood off on his shirt.

The Nissan roars down the road.

CUT TO:

EXTREME CLOSEUP - TISSUE CULTURE - THROUGH ELECTRON

MICROSCOPE:

A normal cell.

SALT (O.S.)

A normal healthy liver cell.

The image changes.

SALT (O.S.)

Infected cell.

The infected cell is swollen and filled with black brick-

like structures.

SALT (O.S.)

Bricks of virus. They multiply

until...

The image changes: the bricks have completely overrun the

cell, shattering its outer membrane so that bricks run

rampant inside and outside the cell.

(CONTINUED)

41.

CONTINUED:

SALT (O.S.)

They explode the cell and destroy

it. Then they move on to the next

healthy cell. And the next. 'Til

there's nothing left to kill.

INT. BL-4 LAB - M.I.D.U.

Gillespie, Berman, and Salt, dressed in their biosafety

suits, peer at the video monitor hooked up to the electron

microscope. Salt flicks a switch on the console to

change the magnification. The fuzzy brick-like structures

are computer enhanced and enlarged to razor-sharp crystalline

structures that look like huge ominous steel balls

climbing up the sides of thick pillars.

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