Strange Days Page #26

FAITH:

I love you.

Lenny is reeling with these revelations. His best friend

is the killer. And the woman he loved loves him. But the

tape is not over...

THE POV CONTINUES as Max's eyes whip around in response to

a sound behind them. The bedroom door is opening. Tran

is standing there, stunned. Maybe the first time he's

ever been surprised in his life. What a way to start.

Like lightning we are off the bed snatching our .45 from

the night stand and whipping around... putting the muzzle

right in Tran's face. We pull him roughly across the

room, too stunned to resist.

TRAN:

You're going to die, you're both

going to f***ing die.

We slam him back against the mirror wall and jam the

muzzle of the gun right in his mouth: a deadly gag. Using

the gun we push him down until he is sitting on the floor

with his back to the mirror.

Our eyes whip to Faith. She is freaking out. We see

Max's reflection in the mirror as he talks to her, talking

fast.

MAX:

This piece of puke hired me to kill

you, baby. Do you believe that?

Isn't that right, Tran? You

pinhead.

FAITH:

Oh my God. I don't believe this is

happening.

MAX:

Believe it. Now bring me the

trodes, baby. Come on, quick.

FAITH:

What're you going to do?

Still in a kind of stupor, she hands him the trodes. Max

puts the trodes on Tran's head, then pulls something out

of his pocket. It is a booster box. He plugs it into the

deck. He takes the gain control and cranks it all the way

up. He's setting up a cook-off. Tran's eyes go wide when

he figures that out, starts to splutter.

FAITH:

You can't just... kill him.

MAX:

I'm not. Just a little poach job.

FAITH:

Jesus.

MAX:

Hey, he was going to kill you. And

this ratfuck paid to have Iris

killed, to save his own sorry ass.

Tran freaks at that point but Max jams the gun deep into

his throat, up to the trigger guard, choking off his

words.

MAX:

You shut the f*** up, right now,

I'm gonna pull this f***in' trigger!

K-BANG! Faith shrieks, thinking Max shot him. But it's

just the start of the fireworks outside (remember all this

has already happened relative to Lenny entering the

suite).

MAX:

Look, baby, it's now of never... the

guy is a known input junkie, so a

little OD won't surprise anybody.

It's the only way we can be

together. You know it's true.

FAITH:

My God.

We don't know if her reaction is to the horror of what is

about to happen, or to the realization that she has the

capacity to let it happen.

MAX:

Here's how much I love you, baby.

She stares, transfixed, as Max reaches for the deck. He

punches PLAY. Max puts his hand over Tran's mouth to

muffle his screams as the input hits his brain like a

screaming chainsaw of static from Hell. The screaming

outside, the pandemonium, give the moment a special

madness.

The POV turns, looking out the window... staring fixedly

at burst after burst of brilliant fireworks. Like the

fireworks inside Tran's head.

THE TAPE ENDS.

Lenny takes off the trodes. He is wrung out, drenched

with sweat. We see that there is a figure standing in the

doorway behind him. Lenny turns, not surprised to see Max

there with his .45 aimed at Lenny's chest. Max's surgical

gloves look incongruous with his tux.

MAX:

Don't make any assumptions about our

friendship, Lenny.

Lenny stands up, slowly.

LENNY:

No. I suppose not. I didn't know

you were colorblind, Max.

MAX:

Only way I could stand your ties.

Max moves up to him cautiously, and takes the Glock out of

Lenny's waistband.

MAX:

I'll have that. Glock 22. Nice.

LENNY:

Where's Faith?

MAX:

I sent her to the party. I figured

I'd wait up here until you killed

Tran.

LENNY:

What makes you think I'm gonna kill

Tran?

Max looks out the window at the fireworks. Waits for a

flash, knowing that the bang will follow. Keeping his own

.45 on Lenny, he aims Lenny's Glock at the catatonic Tran.

BLAM! One right into Tran's forehead. The crack of

thunder from the fireworks masks the sound.

MAX:

You just did.

LENNY:

Jesus!

MAX:

You know, statistically that's the

second most common word people say

right before they die. Sh*t being

number one.

Max sticks Lenny's Glock in his waistband, keeping his own

.45 trained on Lenny. Lenny knows the next bullet is for

him. He does what he does best... talk.

LENNY:

So... I killed Tran. Then you ran

in, being on his payroll, and shot

me.

MAX:

That's pretty much the way it

happened.

CUT TO FAITH in the living room, moving silently up to the

edge of the door frame. She looks through the crack

between the door and the jam. Her POV: Max with the gun

on Lenny.

LENNY:

Wait a minute. Now I'm remembering.

I killed Iris too, didn't I?

MAX:

That's right. They'll find the

original of her snuff clip in your

apartment. The one I left for you

at the club was a copy.

LENNY:

Was I a really busy guy? Did I do

Tick too?

MAX:

You bet. Did you like it?

Lenny drops the cutesy role.

LENNY:

So why Max... why d'ya have to do

Iris? She never hurt anybody.

CU FAITH, reacting to this.

MAX:

Picture it... I feel like I gotta

share this with somebody. It's too

perfect.

LENNY:

I won't say anything.

MAX:

I know. So, I'm working for this

puke, right? And he says he'll pay

me quite large to do the hooker.

But also I gotta do his b*tch

girlfriend cause she knows the whole

score and she's totally out of

control.

Lenny nods. Starting to see it.

MAX:

Only he doesn't know about me and

Faith. So I say to myself, if I

turn the job down, he just gets

somebody else. And I lose Faith...

to coin a phrase. So to buy time, I

do the skank. I still gotta do

something about Tran... I figure

it's him or me... but I can't cap

him without a chump to take the

fall. And who better than his

girlfriend's loser ex-boyfriend... a

known criminal... who has been seen

hassling them in public numerous

times.

LENNY:

And who was, regrettably, also your

best f***ing friend.

MAX:

No plan is perfect, Lenny. Hey,

cheer up. World's gonna end in ten

minutes anyway.

LENNY:

You must be so pleased, I followed

your jellybean trail right here,

like a good little chump.

MAX:

You got froggy on me a couple times.

CUT TO:
The Underground Garage, where Tick has been

cooked-off. We see Max running his number on Mace and

Lenny. Lenny buying it.

MAX (V.O.)

I thought that riff about the Death

Squad was pretty good. I hadda keep

you from bringing the cops into it.

AND BACK again to REAL TIME.

LENNY:

So there never was a death squad.

MAX:

Naawww.

LENNY:

Just those two loose-cannon cops

running around covering their butts.

MAX:

Yeah. Pretty zany, huh? All this

sh*t caused by a random traffic

stop. Hey... nothing means nothing.

You know that. Look around... the

whole planet's in total chaos. You

gotta take what you can, while you

can. Cause some shitbird can come

up and put a f***in' .22 in the back

a your head any second.

CUT TO:
A brief, violent flash from the Jeriko tape: Spreg

shoots Jeriko.

LENNY:

How did you hook up with Faith?

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