Panic Room Page #15

---

-- the spring-loaded steel door SLAMS shut with tremendous

ferocity.

And then it's silent. Meg WAILS in agony, POUNDS on the

door.

She stands back, chest heaving, sobbing.

A looooong moment goes by.

Finally, a VOICE comes over the house's intercom system.

RAOUL (O.S.)

(calmly)

If you leave the house, we'll kill

her.

Meg sobs.

RAOUL (O.S.)

If I see a uniform in the house,

we'll kill her.

MEG:

Oh... oh...

RAOUL (O.S.)

You understand?

ON THE MONITORS,

Meg looks up at the camera in the master bedroom. She nods,

terrified.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Burnham pushes past Raoul, at the speaker button, and leans

forward. He's approaching exhaustion.

BURNHAM:

(into speaker)

I just... I just need forty-five

minutes.

Raoul stands behind him, muttering to himself.

RAOUL:

Saw my face, man. Saw my face.

ON THE MONITORS,

we see Meg's face, agonized, as she lunges toward the camera,

SCREAMING something up at it, the same thing, over and over.

But in here her voice is nearly muted, what bleeds through

the walls isn't enough to be heard.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Raoul looks at her image on the monitor, irritated.

RAOUL:

Shut up.

IN THE MASTER BEDROOM,

we abruptly hear her voice, full-throated.

MEG:

(shouting into the camera)

-- cine, she needs the MEDICINE!

GIVE HER THE --

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Sarah shivers in a corner, knees pulled up to her chest,

staring at the intruders, scared out of her wits, and looking

very, very sick.

Burnham looks at her, musters the most reassuring face he can

come up with under the circumstances.

BURNHAM:

It's gonna be cool, kid. Be outta

here before you know it.

No response from Sarah. Burnham c*cks a head, really looking

at her.

BURNHAM:

Are you okay?

RAOUL:

Hurry up, for Christ's sake!

Burnham turns, grabs his satchel, and drops to his knees in

the middle of the floor. Over his shoulder, we can see the

face of Meg on one of the monitors, shouting into the camera,

begging them to give Sarah her medicine.

Using his hand, Burnham measures six lengths in from the

wall, then digs his fingernails into the weave of the carpet,

looking for a seam.

He finds one, gets hold of it on one edge, and runs his other

hand along the seam till he finds a place where it seems to

turn a corner. He stands, hovering over the carpet, and

pulls back evenly with both hands.

The concealed carpet flap pulls back neatly, with the soft

sound of tearing VELCRO. Underneath the flap --

-- is the smooth metal door of a floor safe.

Burnham unsnaps his satchel and gives it a shove. It rolls

out and opens up onto the floor, revealing a neat array of

safecracking tools.

He begins his delicate work, but is suddenly jarred by a

POUNDING on the metal door. He turns, annoyed. Meg is still

SCREAMING outside the door.

BURNHAM:

The hell does she want?

RAOUL:

I don't know, she keeps screamin'

the same thing over and over.

Burnham turns, looks at the monitors.

ON THE MONITORS,

Meg is staring up at the camera, miming the act of giving

herself an injection in the arm.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Raoul laughs.

RAOUL:

Drugs. She wants drugs. What the

f***?

But Burnham thinks. His eyes fall on the bottle and the

leather pouch she hurled through the door, then whip over to

Sarah, who sags over into a fetal position on the floor. Her

lips are moving.

BURNHAM:

Oh, man...

He crawls over to Sarah, puts his ear down next to Sarah's

lips.

BURNHAM:

What is it?

Sarah tries to summon enough strength to speak, but her

breath comes hard.

SARAH:

I need...

BURNHAM:

Yeah?

SARAH:

... 'jection...

BURNHAM:

An injection?

Sarah nods. Burnham points to the pouch and the Glucogen, on

the floor nearby.

BURNHAM:

That stuff?

Sarah nods again.

BURNHAM:

Can you do it yourself?

Sarah shakes her head no.

BURNHAM:

Well, I don't know how.

Sarah looks at him, eyes pleading. Raoul stands behind

Burnham.

RAOUL:

I don't f***ing believe this.

(to Sarah)

You gotta wait.

Sarah just looks at Burnham. Please.

BURNHAM:

Yeah, just like a half hour, maybe a

little more, and your mom'll give it

to you. You can wait a half hour,

can't you?

RAOUL:

Yeah. She can. She's fine, she's

just like, tired, she's gotta rest.

You rest, Kid. Half an hour.

Sarah looks terrified, shaking her head no.

RAOUL:

Come on.

He starts to pull Burnham away, but Burnham shakes his hand

off, violently. He bends down very close to Sarah's lips.

BURNHAM:

Tell me the truth, okay? What's

gonna happen if you don't get this?

Sarah swallows, licks her cracking lips. When she speaks,

it's breathy, almost inaudible.

But the words are clear.

SARAH:

Coma. Die.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT

Seen from overhead, Meg paces in the master bedroom, out of

her mind with worry, no idea how to communicate to the people

in the room the desperate situation.

Suddenly, a VOICE comes over the intercom speaker.

BURNHAM (O.S.)

I understand. I'll give her the

shot.

INT. PANIC ROOM - NIGHT

A HAND comes down into frame and picks up the Glucogen and

the leather pouch. Burnham stands, looking down at them.

Raoul grabs him, pulls him to the far end of the room.

RAOUL:

You're wasting your f***ing time,

man, you're wasting my time. You

don't know how to do this, and the

longer we stay in here, the more

likely she's gonna lose it and call

the cops!

BURNHAM:

Are you gonna open the safe?

Raoul looks at him.

BURNHAM:

Then shut up and get out of my way.

As Burnham crosses the room, Raoul makes eye contact with

Sarah, who is staring at him.

RAOUL:

Don't look at me.

ACROSS THE ROOM,

Burnham drops to his knees next to Sarah and unzips the

pouch.

BURNHAM:

Okay, kid, all I know about this is

what I've seen on TV, you gotta talk

me through it.

Sarah tries to form words, but she's too weak. Burnham

swallows.

BURNHAM:

Okay. No talking. No problem. TV

don't lie, right?

He reaches into the pouch, take out a syringe, a sterile pad,

and a length of rubber tubing. He takes Sarah's arm,

stretches it out, exposing the underside of her forearm.

BURNHAM:

You seem like a good kid. Your

mom... only saw her for a second,

but, woah. Beautiful, huh?

No answer. Burnham ties the rubber tubing around Sarah's

arm, pulls it tight.

BURNHAM:

Hey, nod or something, show me

you're still alive, will ya?

Sarah nods.

BURNHAM:

Attagirl. That too tight?

Sarah shakes her head no. Burnham takes the syringe, starts

to fill it from the Glucogen bottle.

BURNHAM:

You guys are pretty rich, huh?

Sarah shrugs. While Burnham goes through the process of

finding an exposed vein and giving the injection itself, he

goes on, as much to comfort Sarah as to comfort himself:

BURNHAM:

Yeah, you don't think about that

stuff. Good for you.

He looks at her, sees her looking at him. Thinking about

him.

BURNHAM:

I know, I know. I really screwed

the pooch this time. I never did

anything like this before. Break

into somebody's house? Not even

close. Bad cards, Kid. I swear to

God, I been on the wrong end of

maybe six straight years of bad

cards. House. Car. Wife.

(snaps his fingers --

gone)

Those are some seriously bad cards.

And still, every time I pick up a

fresh hand I swear to God, the rush

comes so hot and prickly I feel it

right down to my toes because this

time, this one time, it might be

there, this time it might be that

hand, that perfect hand, that

monster hand.

(shakes his head)

And you thought you were sick.

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