Reindeer Games Page #21

MERLIN:

And Monster... he was talking with

the casino manager. Nick was talking

to him.

Gabriel darkens.

GABRIEL:

Get. Him. Back.

EXT. SNOWY MEADOW - DAY

Rudy races as best he can through the waves of snow. He keeps

struggling, losing his footing, fighting his way toward the

cover of trees. From far away...

ASHLEY (O.S.)

Nick! Run! RUN!!!

Rudy turns back to see Merlin, Jumpy and Pug round into view

back at the parking lot. They see him.

And charge into the snowfield.

Rudy breaks into the trees.

EXT. PARKING LOT

Gabriel pushes Ashley into the Nova and peals out of the

parking lot. Onto reservation roads.

EXT. WOODS - ON CHASE - DAY

Rudy darts among barren oaks and brush pines, crunching deeper

into snowdrifts, slowing him down. Stumbling forward,

shivering, breath frosting --

-- as Merlin, Jumpy and Pug reach the treeline. Gaining but

struggling too. With guns held.

Rudy keeps battling through the drifts --

-- as GUNSHOTS start to ring out. Rudy glances back to rest;

the truckers are a hundred yards distant. But as he turns to

struggle on, treebark SPLITS apart beside him.

Rudy keeps running.

INT. NOVA

Bouncing over a snowy dirt road, having found a shortcut

into the woods. Gabriel searches the trees, Ashley too.

EXT. WOODS

Merlin, Jumpy and Pug keep up their steady march. Rudy's

running figure now only fifty yards distant.

MERLIN:

You keep running, Nick! Keep running

now! Can't keep warm if you don't

keep running! We'll just be right

back here... keeping track of your

trail.

ANGLE to show Merlin's striding right in Rudy's bootprints.

Pug FIRES off two shots.

They KICK UP snow just behind Rudy, struggling, panting...

MERLIN (O.S.)

Wherever you run... we'll get there.

Fast as you want... we'll be there.

We drive for a living, Nick. Twelve,

fifteen, twenty-hour days.

Rudy's anguished, ducking behind some pines, trying to brush

away his footprints. Realizes it's useless.

A BULLET whistles through the pine branches.

MERLIN (O.S.)

We got nothing but time.

Rudy takes a breath, crashes onward --

-- then stops at the sound of a RUMBLING. Getting louder.

Closer. It's a car's engine.

Rudy spins for the source, focuses, and manages to make out

a snow-covered dirt road fifty yards away, down a swale.

Another BULLET smashes treebark. Rudy runs for it.

EXT. WOODED ROAD - DAY

As Rudy leaps out to wave down the car, as around the corner

comes a Chevy Nova --

-- with Gabriel and Ashley inside. Gabriel's eyes widen, he

floors the gas, RACING right for Rudy.

Rudy scampers toward the opposite roadside, a steep wooded

slope cradling a meadow and frozen river --

ASHLEY:

No!!!

-- as Ashley grabs Gabriel's steering wheel, swerving the

other way. Gabriel fights her for control --

-- as the Nova just misses Rudy, who dives off the road,

hits the slope and tumbles head-over-heels toward its bottom,

a hundred feet down, kicking up geysers of snow!

On the road, the Nova skids to a stop. Ashley and Gabriel

leap out, as Merlin, Jumpy and Pug reach the road.

AT THE SLOPE'S BOTTOM

Rudy pops to his feet, a dazed snowball.

BACK UP AT THE ROAD

Gabriel grabs a rifle from the Nova, steps to the slope-top

edge and takes aim --

ASHLEY:

RUN!!!

-- as Ashley suddenly slams into him from behind --

Sending the both of them tumbling down the slope! Sliding

and tangled, the rifle flying from Gabriel's grasp --

TO THE BOTTOM:

-- where they come to a tangled, snowy halt. Gabriel struggles

to clear the ice from his face --

-- as the butt of his rifle cracks him in the jaw.

RUDY:

That's for reading her mail.

He extends a hand to Ashley --

RUDY:

Come on.

-- and hauls her to her feet. Ashley beams. As Gabriel howls,

the two of them scramble away from the woods, Rudy with the

rifle, toward the meadow and its frozen pond.

More GUNSHOTS ring as Merlin, Jumpy and Pug slide their way

down the ravine.

EXT. FROZEN RIVER - CONTINUOUS

Rudy and Ashley race out across the ice. The traction's

slippery, but there's no way around. There's a highway bridge

two hundred yards away, with sparse truck traffic.

RUDY:

We get to the bridge, we're all right!

ASHLEY:

Nick, the ice is --

RUDY:

Get to the bridge!

(waving at traffic)

HEY! HEY! DOWN HERE!

He grips her hand tighter, as SHOTS crash into the ice at

their feet. Suddenly, the ground splinters and gives way --

-- and Ashley goes plummeting through to the river! She

vanishes from sight in an instant!

Rudy scrambles back, onto sturdy ice. He stares, stunned, at

the ripples in the freezing water.

Ashley's not coming up.

RUDY:

Looks to the truckers in pursuit. Coming down the ridge.

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