Outbreak Page #8

IZZY:

There's our guy, Mr. Motaba.

GILLESPIE:

Ugly bastard, isn't he?

SALT:

I wouldn't let him date my sister.

CUT TO:

EXTREME CLOSEUP - MICROSCOPE FIELD

as the image comes INTO FOCUS we see a wavy purple outline

of a cell.

SALT (O.S.)

The blood test. Normal is this -pure

purple. But if you're

infected...

Focus changes and another image fills the screen: the

field is filled with wide patches of red circles.

Gillespie and Berman each peer into the scope.

GILLESPIE:

If you're red, you're dead. Is

that what you're telling me?

SALT:

That's right, Colonel. The virus

doesn't know the Cold War is over.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

42.

CONTINUED:

SALT (CONT'D)

(beat)

But the rest is just a quickie; I

haven't had time to refine it.

There are false negatives, purples

that should be red. I don't know

why yet.

GILLESPIE:

How long to fix it?

SALT:

Hard to say.

GILLESPIE:

How long?

IZZY:

Hey, don't pressure the kid! It

took the NIH guys eight months to

get the kinks outa the AIDS test...

And they didn't have to put up with

your nagging.

SMASH CUT TO:

INT. SMALL ANIMAL TESTING ROOM - TRAVELING SHOT

Gillespie, Berman and Salt moving rapidly through the

room within the BL-4 lab.

IZZY:

This bug definitely ate its

Wheaties.

ANGLE ON FOURTEEN CAGES

each contains three or four different small mammals -rats,

guinea pigs, small lab mice, hamster, and rabbits.

All stone dead.

IZZY:

It survives in air for twelve

hours, and it survives in water

for two hours.

GILLESPIE:

(incredulous)

Bullshit.

(CONTINUED)

43.

CONTINUED:

IZZY:

Hey, this little bugger's so hardy

it can read the whole Sunday NY

Times and not die, it can run the

hundred in nine flat, and it can

kill fish faster than my cat.

Voila!

A fish tank with a dozen dead fish floating on top.

IZZY:

No test species has survived, even

when I've treated them with all

antivirals, including every damn

antiserum. What's even worse is

there's a latency phase. Iwabi

didn't see this in Zaire, I don't

know why, but some of the animals

I've tested had the infection a

long time before they showed any

symptoms. They even tested

negative but had the disease. If

this is true of humans... why we

could have it ourselves and not

know it.

SALT:

Yet be spreading it.

IZZY:

Exactly.

SALT:

Holy sh*t.

INT. RUDY'S PET SHOP (BONNEVILLE, OREGON) - DAY

COMPUTER KEYS POUND: "BONNEVILLE, OREGON... FRIDAY,

AUGUST 31."

Jimbo slides a cage containing Betsy into a space beside

a cage containing a male brown RHESUS MONKEY. He grabs

the bars of his cage and HISSES. Betsy cowers.

RUDY ALVAREZ, the owner of the shop, slips on a pair of

gloves and opens the cage, reaches in for Betsy. She

tries to avoid his grasp.

RUDY:

You got the papers and all?

(CONTINUED)

44.

CONTINUED:

JIMBO:

Yeah, sure... I got the papers.

She's legal.

RUDY:

Whaddya mean 'she'?

Betsy takes advantage of the opening and bolts out of the

cage, heading for the window. As Rudy and Jimbo both

chase after her, Rudy is steaming.

RUDY:

I told you a male.

JIMBO:

You said 'she'.

RUDY:

Bullshit! I said 'he'. The

customer's already got a female

Colobos. He wants to breed 'em.

Betsy slams against the glass. Rudy grabs her.

RUDY:

C'mon, baby... c'mon.

She lashes out at his naked forearm, digging her nails

into him, drawing blood. He yelps and lets go, and she

runs away to the other side of the room, passing the

brown rhesus, who eyes a half-eaten banana in Betsy's

cage. He grabs it and scarfs it down.

Jimbo finally grabs Betsy from behind. Rudy grabs her

from the front and they thrust her back into her cage.

Rudy wipes the blood off his arm.

RUDY:

Get this b*tch outa here.

JIMBO:

What about my money?

RUDY:

Go back and get me a male Colobos.

JIMBO:

We ain't got one. This was the

only Colobos we had... Look, I'll

sell her cheap.

RUDY:

I wouldn't take her for free.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

45.

CONTINUED:

RUDY (CONT'D)

(indicating the

Brown Rhesus)

I can't even sell this one.

JIMBO:

(depressed)

Hey, I need some money now, man.

Rudy hesitates.

JIMBO:

I done you a lot of favors.

Rudy pulls out a billfold.

RUDY:

All right... Fifty bucks for

your expenses. A lot more when

you bring me a male.

JIMBO:

What am I going to do with her?

Rudy shrugs.

CUT TO:

SMALL ROAD DEEP IN FOREST - LATER THAT DAY

Jimbo opens the cage which is sitting on the side of the

road by the Nissan, but Betsy shrinks back in a corner

of the cage. Jimbo feels sorry for her.

JIMBO:

Look at all the trees. It's like

home.

Jimbo jabs her lightly with a drumstick. She runs out of

the cage but stops at the edge of the road, afraid of the

forest she doesn't know.

JIMBO:

(flicking pebbles

at her)

C'mon, get. Get!

She scampers off into the forest. Jimbo follows her

with his eyes, a little saddened.

CUT TO:

46.

INT. 757 CABIN

Jimbo Scott is asleep against the window in the back

row of the plane.

BILLY BOY (O.S.)

Bang, bang! You're dead.

Jimbo bolts up, and looks groggily at the four-yearold

boy standing on the next seat: he's dressed in

a cowboy's outfit with a huge sheriff's star pinned

to his chest. He sneezes right in Jimbo's face. His

mother puts down her Cosmo.

BILLY BOY'S MOTHER

Billy!? Say you're sorry.

(to Jimbo)

He's so excited; he's going to

see his cousins.

BILLY BOY:

My uncle's a real cowboy at a

rodeo.

Jimbo looks terrible. His eyes are red and he's

having trouble swallowing. He grabs his pillow and

blanket and gets up. Billy jabs his six guns into

Jimbo's belly:

BILLY BOY:

Where d'you think you're goin',

mister?

JIMBO:

Someplace they don't have lawmen.

He goes to the back of the plane where's it's deserted,

and lies down across three seats. His body shakes

with a chill. He pulls the blanket tight against his

chest.

CUT TO:

EXT. LOGAN AIRPORT (BOSTON) - DAY

COMPUTER KEYS POUND: LOGAN AIRPORT, BOSTON, SATURDAY,

SEPTEMBER 1.

The 757 glides almost silently over Boston Harbor as

it sweeps in towards Logan Airport.

47.

LOGAN AIRPORT - GATE

Jimbo lumbers out and is greeted by a young woman

with long scraggly hair who wears blue jeans and an

old, faded T-shirt that says "Metallica." Her name

is ALICE, and she puts her arm around Jimbo and hugs

him.

ALICE:

What'sa matter, honey?

JIMBO:

Some little brat gave me his cold.

She plants a kiss on him and pats his ass.

ALICE:

Too many late nights, that's all.

Come home to bed.

Jimbo smiles and pulls her close.

CUT TO:

EXT. MOUNTAIN FOREST - NIGHT

Betsy's eyes glow in the moonlight. She looks hungry

and sad. She hears the SHRIEK of a HAWK and freezes.

These are foreign sounds. She moves stealthily

across the forest floor.

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