Predator Page #13

A tremendous climatic SCREAM from the foxhole AND THEN, SILENCE.

Schaefer and Ramirez approach, cautiously. Mac stands, his face and

clothes drenched in blood, some of it his, his breath coming in rapid

gasps. He looks at Schaefer, whispering hoarsely.

MAC:

Got the motherf***er...

As the flare breaks through the canopy, dying out in great flickering

bursts, the man stare down into the foxhole. A huge, jungle BOAR lies

mutilated in a pool of blood, still quivering in the final throes of

death. The flare dies out.

Mac, shaking from adrenaline, breathing heavily, looks down at the

dying animal.

MAC:

(incredulous)

A pig... just a f***ing pig...

Schaefer shines his TEKNA-LIGHT onto the boar, playing the light along

its massive hulk, its razor edges tusks gleaming in the light. Ramirez

appears by his side, looking down at the huge carcass.

RAMIREZ:

Holy sh*t, Mac.

Nearby, unnoticed by the men, Anna stoops, her hands still bound,

picking up an MP-5 from the ground. She turns, looking for an avenue of

escape, running for the jungle.

But the forest looks foreboding and sinister. She stops, staring at the

jungle, the moonlight reflected off leaves like a thousand eyes. For a

brief second she imagines she can see the Hunter's eyes, crashing

towards her, the shifting patterns of light and dark making the jungle

seem to strobe, like it is about to rush in at her. She freezes,

paralyzed by fear, by her memories of the attack.

She drops the MP-5 to the ground.

Back at the foxhole, Schaefer and Ramirez help the still shaken Mac

from the hole. Schaefer looks at Mac, at the huge gash across his

chest.

SCHAEFER:

Get a field dressing on that right away.

Suddenly he remembers, Anna.

SCHAEFER:

Where's the girl?

They all turn, ready to move and then stop. Coming forth from the

shadows Anna appears, still frightened, seeking the security of the

soldiers.

From the darkness nearby, Billy's VOICE in a hoarse WHISPER.

BILLY (O.S.)

(urgently)

Major, over here.

Schaefer turns, apprehensive, something in Billy's voice...

He walks over to Billy, standing with a FLASHLIGHT pointing to the

ground. They see Blain's BODY BAG slashed open, covered in blood.

Ramirez appears.

BILLY:

The body... it's gone.

RAMIREZ:

Came in through the trip wires, took it right out from under our

noses...

Anna appears between Schaefer and Ramirez, staring down at the empty,

blood-soaked body bag. She looks up, into Schaefer's eyes.

EXT. ENCAMPMENT - DAY (PRE-DAWN)

A patchy GROUND FOG covers the area. Anna, in her foxhole, awakens,

LISTENING to the rising SOUNDS of the jungle. MONKEYS begin to forage,

their noisy CHATTERING and SCREECHING filling the air.

A BIRD flutters back to its nest; a CHAMELEON emerges onto a leaf,

directly above Anna's head.

Anna carefully extends her arm, allowing the lizard to crawl onto her,

watching, fascinated as it changes colors. She carefully places the

chameleon back on the leaf, which changes color again, becoming nearly

invisible.

Near the empty PONCHO, Schaefer, Billy and Ramirez are examining the

ground and the trip wire to the flare. Billy stands, turns to Schaefer.

BILLY:

Boar set off the trip flare, Major. No other tracks.

Schaefer kneels and examines the thin, well hidden WIRE. He stands,

looking around the camp.

RAMIREZ:

How could anyone get through this, carry Blain out, right under our

noses without leavin' a trace?

SCHAEFER:

He knows our defenses.

RAMIREZ:

Why didn't he try to kill one of us last night?

Schaefer looks at him.

SCHAEFER:

He came back for the body.

(pause)

He's killing us, one at a time...

Schaefer turns and looks at Billy, asking with his eyes for a viable

explanation.

BILLY:

Like a Hunter.

Schaefer stares at him, the words sinking in. He looks up,

reconstructing in his mind the possible events of last night, his eyes

following the tree line, tracing the path of the intruder as he might

have traveled through the trees and down to the ground.

He looks up at Billy.

SCHAEFER:

He uses the trees.

Billy and Ramirez stare up at the trees, a wave of fear passing through

them... from the trees. Schaefer turns, moving to where Dillon is

guarding Anna, sitting on the ground. Reaching down, Schaefer pulls her

firmly to her feet, looking at her intensely.

SCHAEFER:

Yesterday. What did you see?

She stares back at him.

DILLON:

You're wastin' your time.

SCHAEFER:

No more games.

She looks at him a long moment, and then answers in English.

ANNA:

I don't know what it was. It...

Dillon does a double take. Schaefer continues to look at Anna. He

wasn't surprised: he knew it yesterday.

SCHAEFER:

Go on.

ANNA:

It changes colors, like the chameleon. It uses the jungle...

DILLON:

(derisively)

Sh*t, you trying to tell me Blain and Hawkins were killed by a f***ing

lizard? Don't listen to her. Its's a psych-job. Two, maybe three of

them, that's all. We keep our cool, out-think them 'til we're across

the border...

Ignoring him, Schaefer takes her hands, drawing his COMMANDO KNIFE,

looking squarely into her eyes.

SCHAEFER:

What's you name?

She looks back into his eyes.

ANNA:

Anna.

SCHAEFER:

Anna. He's hunting us. You know that?

She nods. With a sudden movement he slices through her bonds.

DILLON:

What the hell do you think you're doing?

SCHAEFER:

We're going to need everyone.

DILLON:

What are you talking about? We'll be out of here in ten minutes.

SCHAEFER:

We're not going.

DILLON:

That rendezvous is ten maybe twelve miles, at most! We're almost home.

But the chopper won't wait.

Schaefer turns to face him.

SCHAEFER:

Dillon... This thing doesn't care who we are, who she is. We make a

stand or there won't be anyone left to make that chopper.

Dillon stares back, not wanting to hear what he already knows to be

true.

Anna touches Schaefer's arm.

ANNA:

There is something else. When the big man was killed, you must have

wounded it.

(pause)

It's blood was on the leaves.

She touches her pant leg, the stain is faded but still there. Schaefer

turns to Dillon.

SCHAEFER:

If it bleeds, we can kill it.

EXT. ENCAMPMENT - MORNING (LATER)

Anna at the base of the rocks scans the jungle with binoculars watching

the tree line. Mac moves past her, uncoiling a trip wire linking up

four CLAYMORE mines hidden at various points with leaves and foliage.

In a tree at the edge of the clearing, Billy tosses an uncoiling roll

of wire to Ramirez who attaches it to a GRENADE, wedged it the crouch

of a tree.

Wires attached to GRENADES and CLAYMORE MINES lead off through the

underbrush and trees leaving a long, unmined corridor leading from the

camp and into the jungle.

At the corridor's end, where the rocks merge with the jungle, Schaefer

hauls down on a HEAVY VINE, straining with every ounce of strength, his

muscles bulging, while Dillon takes up the slack of the vine around the

base of a tree. The vine is attached to a forty foot SAPLING, arcing

closer to the ground in a gigantic bow with every pull, CREAKING and

GROANING with tension. With a last mighty heave, Schaefer draws the

tree almost within reach, gesturing to Dillon to tie it off, who does.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes