Panic Room Page #18

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They look at the wall.

Somebody is on the other side, pounding like hell.

RAOUL:

The walls are steel, right?

BURNHAM:

Not that one.

RAOUL:

NOT THAT ONE?!

BURNHAM:

Hey man, it's the neighbor's house,

who breaks in through the neighbor's

house?!

WHOMP! CRUNCH!

Louder. Closer. Burnham turns, SCREAMS at the wall.

BURNHAM:

WHO THE F*** BREAKS IN THROUGH THE

NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE?!

RAOUL:

We've got the Kid!

(shouting at the wall)

WE'VE GOT YOUR KID!! What the f***

is she thinking?!

WHOMP! CRUNCH!

BURNHAM:

She's got your gun, that's what

she's thinking! The F*** you had to

bring a gun for?!

Burnham throws himself back on the floor, goes back to work

on the safe. Fires up the drill again, it SCREAMS into the

metal.

BURNHAM:

Almost there...

The POUNDING keeps up from next door. We hear sheetrock torn

away on the far side. Bricks, SCRAPING out of place.

Sarah, in the corner, is energized, excited. While Burnham

and Raoul are distracted, she grabs the leather pouch, palms

the three syringes that are left in there.

BURNHAM:

ALMOST THERE...

Finally, the door to the safe CRUNCHES in on one side,

yielding to the drilling --

-- at the very moment that the head of a sledgehammer CRASHES

through the wall of the panic room. Raoul grabs hold of

Sarah, Burnham maintains his focus, throwing open the safe,

revealing --

-- nothing.

CRUNCH!

The sledgehammer head strikes again, opening up a hole about

a foot across. Light spills through from the other side, as

well as the voice of the hysterical Neighbor.

Raoul hurls Sarah against the far wall, leaps over to the

side of the hole, and waits, poised above it.

At the safe, Burnham doesn't lose his cool, just opens a

false bottom in the safe, revealing a manila envelope.

He snatches it up, RIPS it open, and his eyes dance as he

holds up fourteen individual one million dollar U,S, Treasury

Bearer Bonds. He fans them out, eyes drinking from his

Grail.

BANG!

A gunshot whizzes right through one of the bonds, setting it

aflame before it SLAMS into the far wall, sending up a little

cloud of plaster dust.

BURNHAM:

JESUS!

He whirls, sees an arm poking through the hole in the wall,

gun extended.

But Raoul is standing just above the hole, and already has

his boot raised, over the hand. He brings it down, a

CRUNCHING blow that stomps right on Meg's wrist.

Meg SCREAMS, loses her grip on the gun, and it CLATTERS into

the space between the houses.

BETWEEN THE WALLS,

the gun falls into oblivion, the space between the walls,

where no one can get to it.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Burnham shoves the loose bonds into his jacket.

BURNHAM:

I GOT THE MONEY, LET'S GO!!!

Raoul grabs Sarah and turns, jabs the green button to open

the door.

Behind them, Meg SCREAMS in anger and wriggles through the

opening. Before she's even all the way through, she gets

hold of Raoul's leg and pulls herself into the panic room,

scraping and bloodying herself on the edges of the too-small

hole.

BURNHAM:

GO, LET'S GO, OUTTA HERE!!

But Raoul is deep in a violent rage. Still holding Sarah

with one hand, he bends down, grabs Meg by the hair, and

drags her toward the doorway.

RAOUL:

YOU KNOW HOW THIS IS GONNA GO!

BURNHAM:

F*** YOU, I'M GONE!

He bolts out of the room, through the metal door, which is

just finishing its slow crank open, its heavy spring coiling

in the wall.

Raoul drag Meg across the floor by the hair, right into the

track of the open steel door.

She looks up, sees the infrared safety beam over her head,

and realizes with horror what his intention is.

Still with one arm holding Sarah, who is kicking and

struggling viciously, Raoul holds Meg's head down on the

floor, below the safety beam that would prevent the door from

closing. He reaches for the "close" button.

Sarah raises her arm, stuffed with three syringes, and jabs

them into Raoul's neck. Raoul SCREAMS in pain.

Meg manages to raise her head, breaking the beam.

INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT

On the stairwell, Burnham, stops, frozen, his face twitching

with indecision. He hears the murder taking place just above

him.

He runs down three steps.

Stops again.

Runs down the rest of the stairs.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT

Raoul stretches to push the red "close" button for the door,

but he has to hold Meg's head down, out of the lower beam

with one hand, all with Sarah savagely attacking him at the

same time, and three syringes hanging out of his neck.

Finally, he gets Meg's head all the way down, onto the floor.

Looking up, Meg sees the red beam become complete again.

Raoul jabs the button --

-- just as Sarah throws her hand into the upper beam, the one

at shoulder level. Sarah's hand turns red, the beam is

broken, the door will not close.

Raoul ROARS in anger and twists violently, sending Sarah

flying across the room.

Meg strains, gets her head off the floor again, breaking the

beam. Raoul starts jamming the close button, over and over

again, the beam completes, then breaks, completes, then

breaks, never the button and the beam at the same time.

But it can't go on forever. Meg's tiring, she can't keep it

up, her head trembles --

-- and collapses onto the floor.

The beam completes --

-- Raoul SMACKS the red button --

-- and Burnham appears on the other side of the door. He

reaches in, grabs hold of Raoul, to pull him off her, but

Raoul loses his balance, falls forward --

-- into the gap --

-- and his head is crushed by the spring-loaded steel door

that SLAMS forward just as Meg draws herself back.

Meg falls across the panic room, grabs Sarah, and holds on

tight.

The door detects the obstruction and opens again, slowly.

Raoul's body slumps to the floor, dead.

Burnham stands there, looking down at Meg and Sarah.

They stare at each other, wordless, their first face to face

contact. She sees the bonds protruding from his jacket.

She just looks at him. There will be no understanding here.

He zips his jacket, turns, and hurries away.

INT. ENTRY FLOOR - NIGHT

Burnham races down the steps, hurries to the entry door,

throws it open --

-- and finds a gun barrel pointed directly into his nose. He

blinks, tries to focus on whoever's on the other end of that

gun.

It's the Cop, the first Cop, the one who came to the door and

was so suspicious of Meg. The Cop looks down, sees blood

smeared all over Burnham's jacket, sees more than enough to

know his suspicions were correct.

COP 1

Put your hands up.

Burnham freezes, silhouetted in the doorway. Wind and leaves

blow into the house, a real gale outside.

From behind Cop 1, MORE COPS SHOUT, all at once, must be a

half dozen of 'em there, but Burnham can't see anything in

the stinging light, and can't hear much either, over the

ROARING wind.

Burnham moves suddenly, flinging the door shut right in the

Cop's face. The door SLAMS hard, Burnham turns to run but

doesn't get more than a few paces before three sharp GUNSHOTS

CRACK through the door behind him.

Brilliant white light spills through the bulletholes in the

door, but it's not the light that gets you, it's the chunks

of lead. They rip through Burnham's back and come out his

chest, a triangle pattern.

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