Platoon Page #18

Elias is coming out of the jungle. Staggering, blood disfiguring

his face and chest, hanging on with all his dimming strength,

looking up at them - trying to reach them.

Chris shakes Wolfe, his words drowned out by the roar.

The Chopper Captain looking down, dips. His co-pilot pointing.

The NVA are coming out of the jungle, closing on the spot where

Elias is.

Incoming rounds are hitting the chopper. The Door Gunner

maniacally firing.

Barnes looking down at the man, can't believe it.

Elias is on his last legs now, obviously being hit by the

incoming fire of the NVA. He falls to his knees, still

stretching upwards for life.

The Chopper Captain shakes his head at Wolfe.

The Chopper dips one more time firing at the NVA, low and fierce

over the jungle.

Chris looking back in horror.

Elias crucified. The NVA coming out now by the dozens from the

treeline.

Elias crumbling to the ground. Obviously dead or dying.

HELICAPTAIN ON RADIO

... we still got one on the deck. Bring the gunships

in.

Barnes drawing in.

Chris looking at him in revulsion. He knows. Barnes sees his

look, ignores it, all of them sitting there silent, living with

that final horrifying image of Elias.

EXT. UNDERGROUND HUTCH - BASE CAMP - NIGHT

The 'heads' are assembled - what's left of them. Rhah, King,

Francis, Doc, Adam, a quiet black kid, and Chris, who is

impassioned tonight.

CHRIS:

He killed him. I know he did. I saw his eyes when

he came back in ...

RADIO VOICE:

(puffing on his bowl)

How do you know the dinks didn't get him. You got no

proof man.

CHRIS:

Proof's in the eyes. When you know you know. You

were there Rhah - I know what you were thinking. I

say we frag the f***er. Tonight.

He looks to King who puffs on a joint, his eyes red.

KING:

I go with dat, an eye for an eye man.

DOC:

Right on, nothing wrong with Barnes another shot in

the head wouldn't cure.

RHAH:

(to Chris)

Sh*t boy you been out in the sun too long. You try

that, he'll stick it right back up your ass with a

candle on it.

CHRIS:

Then what do you suggest big shot?

RHAH:

(to Chris)

I suggest you watch your own asses cause Barnes gonna

be down on ALL OF 'EM.

FRANCIS:

How you figger that?

RHAH:

Sh*t man - Human nature.

Flashes the old knuckle - 'HATE'.

KING:

Then you jes gonna forget 'bout Elias and all the

good times we done had? Right in here.

RHAH:

He dugged his own grave.

DOC:

(correcting)

He dug it.

RHAH:

He DUGGED it too.

CHRIS:

F*** this sh*t!

RHAH:

You guys trying to cure the headache by cutting off

the head. 'Lias didn't ask you to fight his battles

and if there's a Heaven - and god, I hope so - I know

he's sitting up there drunk as a f***in' monkey and

smokin' sh*t cause HIS PAINS HE DONE LEFT DOWN HERE.

Baaaaaaaaa!

(a vehement movement of his head)

CHRIS:

You're wrong man! Any way you cut it Rhah, Barnes is

a murderer.

KING:

Right on.

RHAH:

I remember first time you came in here Taylor you

telling me how much you admired that bastard.

CHRIS:

I was wrong.

RHAH:

(snorts)

Wrong? You ain't EVER been right - 'bout nothing.

And dig this you a**holes and dig it good! Barnes

been shot 7 times and he ain't dead, that tell you

something? Barnes ain't meant to die. Only thing

can get Barnes ... is Barnes!

Barnes stands there, silhouetted in the trap door, looking down

at the men who are stunned to see him here.

He steps down into the hutch, his face now lit by candle light.

A bottle of whiskey in his hand, drunk, ugly, sweating, but as

always, with dignity, possessive of his silence. He feels their

fear in the silence, enjoys it.

BARNES:

(soft)

Talking 'bout killing?

He totters slightly as he circles the outer edge of the hutch.

No one talks.

BARNES (CONT'D)

Y'all experts? Y'all know about killing?

He takes the bowl from Adams, smokes it.

BARNES (CONT'D)

You pussies gotta smoke this sh*t so's you can hide

from reality? ...

(smokes again)

Me I don't need that sh*t. I AM reality.

Confronting Chris, he moves on, taunting them all.

BARNES (CONT'D)

There's the way it oughta be and there's the way it

is. 'Lias he was full of sh*t, 'Lias was a crusader

- I got no fight with a man does what he's told but

when he don't, the machine breaks down, and when the

machine breaks down, WE break down ... and I ain't

gonna allow that. From none of you. Not one ...

Walks past Rhah, past King, throws the pot bowl into the dirt of

the floor.

BARNES (CONT'D)

Y'all loved Elias, want to kick ass, I'se here - all

by my lonesome, nobody gonna know. Five you boys

'gainst me?

(pause, very soft)

Kill me.

Almost an appeal - naked, intense. Rhah, Francis, Doc look away.

King, the biggest one there, is about to say something, but the

moment passes.

Chris waits, his anger on the rise.

Barnes takes a swigger from the whiskey, then turns away

contemptuously.

BARNES (CONT'D)

I SH*T on all o' you.

CHRIS:

KILL YOU MOTHERF***ER!!!

Chris slams into Barnes, rushing him off his feet. Pounding his

face, solid blows.

KING AND OTHERS:

Get that mother, babe, go ... Kick his ass, kill that

cocksucker!!!

But Barnes is too quick and very strong and takes the blows,

getting outside Chris' arm, twisting and flipping him in a

wrestler's grip - throwing him hard onto his back on the dirt

floor.

The expression of the Men watching slumps, their hopes dashed.

Barnes springs around on Chris, straddles him, one hand pushing

his face back, hits him hard. Once. Twice.

Chris grimaces, groans, helpless now. A flick of sound.

A knife whipped out of Barnes' boot and pressing against Chris'

throat. Chris bleeding from the nose and mouth.

Rhah suddenly spinning into action, fast now, realizing what

Barnes intends to do.

RHAH:

EASY BARNES, EASY MAN!!!

Barnes is on the verge - about to kill again.

Chris waiting.

Rhah coaxing him, moving closer.

RHAH (CONT'D)

You'll do dinky dau in Long Binh Barnes. Ten years -

kill an enlisted. Ten years, Barnes, just climb the

walls. DON'T DO IT ...

Barnes' eyes tremble in the candle light, his scars ugly, a spasm

clenching and locking his facial muscles. Then suddenly he is

calm again, very calm. We sense a man of enormous self-control.

Suddenly he flicks his knife across Chris, leaving a mark below

his left eye.

Chris gasps. Looking up at Barnes rising off him. The boots

alongside his face.

The Men looking on, the tension lowering.

BARNES:

(contemptuous)

Death? What do you guys know about it?

He walks out. Quietly.

EXT. AIR SHOTS - JUNGLE, CHURCH - DAY

Chris sits at the very edge of a Huey Chopper, bandana around his

forehead, long hair blowing in the wind, Barnes' mark below his

eyes, slicked out now like a jungle veteran, looking down at the

VILLAGE where the massacre occurred.

The Village is still a smoking ruin, a few peasants and water

buffalo straggling like ants to reconstruct.

Bunny, next to Chris, pops his gum, indifferent. Barnes, next to

him, shifts, reads a map.

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