The Crazies Page #15

The first lunatic lashes out, loops a RINSE HOSE around

David's neck. A noose. The lunatic on the roof yanks it

taut using the overhead swing arm as a winch to pry David out

of the car.

Choking, head jammed against the ceiling, David throws the

car into the reverse, creating slack in the hose. Judy

frantically unwinds it from his neck. Freed, David goes full

throttle. The WHIRRRRRRR of the spinning tires becomes a

piercing SCREEEEEEECH as they catch the asphalt at the end of

the tracks.

But at the last second, one of the lunatics loops the hose

around

BECCA’S NECK

As the car peels out, the hose snaps taut and YANKS HER

BACKWARDS OUT THE REAR WINDOW!

Judy whips around SCREAMING, jams her foot on the brake.

EXT. CAR WASH - CONTINUOUS

Jumps out and runs to Becca who is dangling from the swing

arm. David and Russell jump out right behind her, dropping

the attackers at close range. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

BANG!

Judy grabs Becca around the torso, supporting her weight as

she tries to get the hose from around her neck. A desperate

effort and a futile one. The hose is too tight and

BECCA IS DEAD. Neck snapped. Noosed by the high-pressure

hose.

David comes over, turns Judy away. She fights it and then

reality hits. She hammers her fists on his chest in anger

and then collapses against him in grief, sobbing.

Meanwhile, in the b.g., the Coupe De Ville, left idling in

neutral, rolls across the lot and comes to a stop in the

road. It sits there idling as Judy returns to Becca now,

needing to get her down.

75.

JUDY:

Help me!

David pulls his knife and cuts the hose. Becca slumps into

Judy’s arms. Judy cradles her down into a seated position,

weeping over the girl’s body.

The scene would end on that image, but it’s here that the

APACHE revisits them. SCREAMING across the prairie to open

fire on the exposed Coupe De Ville. Bullets strafe the car

lengthwise. It catches fire and burns.

They watch in silence. Russell nodding to himself like a man

reveling in God’s authority. David and Judy’s expressions

edging toward doom. The smoke, blowing across their faces,

paints Judy’s tears black.

EXT. HIGHWAY 50 - LATER

They walk on. Judy looks ready to give up.

JUDY:

They’ll never let us in without

testing us. I already failed that

test once.

DAVID:

And you know why.

JUDY:

Oh Jesus, David. Even if you’re

right, how are we gonna prove it?

DAVID:

I’m feeling persuasive.

Up ahead is a FAMILY STATION WAGON stopped by a spike strip.

David checks the ignition as they walk up.

KEYS.

He reaches in, tries to start the engine.

JUDY:

The tires are flat.

DAVID:

It'll drive on the rims.

The engine turns over, won't start. He pops the hood. All

the SPARK PLUG CABLES HAVE BEEN CUT.

DAVID:

Bastards.

76.

Slams the hood down. Moment of despair. David looks wearily

down the highway. Hears something behind them. A CAR

APPROACHING. There in the distance, coming fast.

DAVID:

Move!

They all take cover behind the station wagon. Here it comes,

racing down the highway...

THE BLACK CHEVY SUBURBAN

JUDY:

Maybe they'll help.

DAVID:

Did you just block out the last

seventy-two hours of your life?

They're not even gonna stop.

RUSSELL:

Sure, they are.

With a deranged smile Russell kicks the SPIKE STRIP - buried

in the dirt behind the stopped wagon - across the road.

THE SUBURBAN HITS IT AT A HUNDRED MILES AN HOUR, SKIDS

SIDEWAYS AND GOES INTO A BARREL ROLL.

Pieces fly off as it tumbles. A bumper. A door. It comes

to rest on its side in the cornfield. Russell goes jogging

off toward it, rifle in hand. David and Judy in utter shock.

JUDY:

If they’re alive he’ll kill ‘em.

David takes off after Russell, hollering his name.

EXT. BLACK SUBURBAN WRECKAGE / FIELD - DAY

A nondescript man of fifty crawls from the wreckage.

Buzzcut. Shattered gasmask hanging from his face. A

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER. He's on his hands and knees,

bleeding from the mouth, from a gash in his hairline.

Russell puts a gun to his head.

RUSSELL:

Welcome to Marsh County.

Friendliest Place on Earth.

David runs up. Judy behind.

DAVID:

Russ! Russ! Let me talk to him!

77.

Russell mulls it over, gun on the guy’s head. Backs off.

DAVID:

(to Intelligence Officer)

What did you people spill?

The Intelligence Officer spits blood, looks up at David,

dazed, angry.

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER

Who the f*** are you?

DAVID:

The guy standing between you and a

bullet.

The Intelligence Officer spits more blood then shifts

painfully into a seated position. Pulls off the shattered

gasmask. Tosses it aside.

DAVID:

What were we exposed to?

After a moment, with a sigh of resignation:

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER

Zoonotic agent, rhabdoviridea

prototype.

JUDY:

Rhabdoviridea... You mean, rabies?

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER

With a few alterations and

enhancements.

DAVID:

What’s he talking about?

JUDY:

(shocked; sickened)

A weapon. A biological weapon.

DAVID:

Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute,

you guys engineered this crap?!

You got any idea what it does to

people?!

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER

It does what it was designed to do.

Destabilize a population. In this

case, the wrong one.

(off their stunned looks)

(MORE)

78.

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER (cont'd)

We lost a plane, fellas, what do

you want me to say?

DAVID:

How about ‘sorry for destroying

your whole goddamn town’?!

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER

Take it up with the pilot, I came

down here to help!

David has no answer for that. The Intelligence Officer, like

Billy Babcock, defies the ‘enemy’ label, just another guy on

a different side of the issue doing his job.

JUDY:

What’s the incubation period?

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER

Forty-eight hours. After that,

you’re either dead or you don’t

have it. But they’re afraid it

could go airborne. It’s rare but

it happens and they’re not taking

any chances.

JUDY:

How rare?

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER

One-in-a-million.

DAVID:

You guys are gonna let us die here

for one-in-a-million odds?

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER

When the risk is global pandemic?

You’re goddamn right. One carrier

is all it takes. Nobody leaves.

Grim silence. The Intelligence Officer struggles to his

feet, leans wobbly-legged against the wreckage, somebody’s

husband, somebody’s father, the beaten hero of his own story.

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER

(apologetic)

For what it’s worth, I -

BANG! - his head jerks back as a bullet rips through his

forehead. Russell just shot him from behind David.

DAVID:

NOOO!!!

79.

Judy is SCREAMING. Falls down as she staggers backwards.

Has never seen someone shot at close range. David grabs

Russell two-fisted by the shirt and walks him backwards into

the field, yelling in his face.

DAVID:

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?!

WHERE'S YOUR HEAD AT?! I SAID I

WANTED TO TALK TO HIM!!

Russell holds David's stare, coldly indifferent.

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