The Crazies Page #9

As David and the others take their place in line, a small

miracle. The distraught mom spots her little girl. Bursts

into tears

DISTRAUGHT MOM:

AMY!!

Hugs her, frantically relieved. The reunion only heightens

David's loss. As he surveys the truckstop, plotting his

escape:

KEVIN MILLER:

Don't.

DAVID:

What?

KEVIN MILLER:

Whatever you’re thinking. There's

one way out of here and it's on

those buses. You got a seat on

one. A seat a lot of people wish

they had.

DAVID:

Let ‘em have it.

KEVIN MILLER:

David. This might your last

chance. Don’t lose it running off

on some fool's errand.

43.

DAVID:

Judy's a fool's errand?

KEVIN MILLER:

You know what I'm saying.

DAVID:

Tell you what, Kev. You don't ask

me why I can't leave without my

wife and I won't ask you why you

can.

A bit harsh but right on the money. Kevin Miller is left to

nurse his guilty conscience as David takes off.

We run with him down the narrow passage between two big rigs.

Quick stop. TWO ARMED GUARDS on patrol. David ducks under

the trailers, hiding until they’re gone. Moves on.

Squeezing through some temporary fencing, he jumps in the

back of a

SUPPLY TRUCK headed back into town.

INT. CLASSSROOM, ODGEN MARSH HIGH SCHOOL - NIGHT

SEDATED TOWNSPEOPLE strapped to gurneys in a social studies

classroom. Among them we find JUDY, semi-conscious, shoved

in here amid the overturned desks. An EXAMINER works from a

field kit, not providing medical care, taking tissue and

blood samples.

GUNFIRE erupts outside. The examiner stops his work and

stares out the window. He doesn’t move. Something terrible

is happening out there. Craning her neck, Judy can see

THE BALLFIELD DOWN THE HILL

where PANDEMONIUM has broken out. CRAZED TOWNSPEOPLE

attacking examiners, murdering medtechs. They overwhelm the

guards, shoot them with their own weapons, pull down the

fence at center field, causing a stampede.

ALL THE PRISONERS RUN INTO THE WOODS LIKE LUNATICS FLEEING AN

ASYLUM. The perimeter soldiers converge and open fire, but

they can’t stop the escape.

Seen through the haze of sedation, the horror is dreamlike.

Judy’s eyes flutter closed. Helpless on her gurney.

Yesterday’s homework assignment chalked on the blackboard

above her.

44.

INT. SUPPLY TRUCK - NIGHT

Sitting among stacks of BOXES, David watches the moonlit

prairie go by. Like a practical joke, an old ROAD SIGN goes

past:

"Welcome to Marsh County. Friendliest Place on Earth."

David looks at the boxes, curious what’s inside. He opens

one. Wishes he hadn't.

BODY BAGS.

INT. SHERIFF STATION - NIGHT

TICKING clock. Pot of coffee on the coffeemaker. The door

CREAKS open. David, crouched like a thief, hurries to his

desk, grabs his spare revolver, some bullets. A shotgun from

the gun rack. Shells.

Loading up, he catches sight of something horrific. Drops a

box of shells. On the floor of the holding cell

BILL FARNUM HIDEOUSLY CONTORTED IN DEATH. His back arched

high off the floor. Neck tendons, obscenely tight,

practically tearing the jaw from his face.

David steps back, right onto the BARREL OF A SHOTGUN aimed at

his head.

MAN'S VOICE

Easy.

David raises his arms, turns.

RUSSELL:

Chief?!

DAVID:

Stop surprising me like that.

Manly embrace. David goes to look at Farnum again. Russell

obstructs.

RUSSELL:

Don’t look at that.

DAVID:

They let you guys out?

RUSSELL:

Let us? People went nuts. Tore

the place apart. It was like a

human slaughterhouse. I just ran.

45.

Sound of a SPEEDING CAR interrupts them. They duck the FLARE

of its headlights. It’s that same BLACK SUBURBAN TEARING

PAST THE POLICE STATION at ninety miles an hour.

RUSSELL:

Judy, man, I tried to stop ‘em.

David nods, gathering shells from the floor. Stands, man on

a mission.

DAVID:

I’m going to get her.

Russell doublepumps the shotgun, the stress of the situation

bringing out his redneck roots.

RUSSELL:

Hoo-f***in'-yah, chief, let's go to

the high school.

INT. OGDEN MARSH HIGH SCHOOL - NIGHT

HYSTERICAL SHRIEKS and SCREAMS fill the school. Violent

chaos spilling from the classrooms. An EXAMINER runs down a

second-floor corridor past a half-dressed LUNATIC roaming the

halls in a head bandage.

EXAMINER:

(to staff)

Let’s go! Forget it, we’re

leaving! We are leaving!

EXAMINERS scramble for the exits.

INT. CLASSROOM - CONTINUOUS

The EXAMINER drawing blood samples hears the evacuation

order. Grabs his things and runs out, accidentally leaving a

needle embedded in the last victim’s arm. Blood drips onto

the floor.

PLIP. PLIP. PLIP.

We move up the arm to the face...

It’s JUDY.

She stares at the dripping blood. Hands strapped, she can’t

do anything to stop it.

46.

EXT. OGDEN MARSH HIGH SCHOOL - NIGHT

EXAMINERS and MEDTECHS jump in helicopters. SOLDIERS into

trucks. It’s obvious what’s happening. The military is

pulling out, conceding town center to the lunatics.

EXT. BACKYARDS - NIGHT

David and Russell, avoiding the main streets, cut through a

series of backyards in a dark residential neighborhood. The

night reverberates with DISTANT POPS of gunfire. They hop a

fence and David grabs Russell, pulls him sharply back.

A PSYCHOTIC HOUSEWIFE

sits at a picnic table in a bathrobe gutting a turkey.

Creepy uncomprehending stare. Her HUSBAND noosed from a tree

behind her.

PSYCHOTIC HOUSEWIFE

Did Peter call?

Madness. They move on, hop the other fence. The housewife

screaming in the b.g. -

PSYCHOTIC HOUSEWIFE

DID PETER CALL?!?

As they distance themselves, a look of dread comes to

Russell’s face.

RUSSELL:

That's gonna be me.

DAVID:

You don't know that.

RUSSELL:

Right out of my goddamn tree like

my Uncle Willard who swears on the

Bible he ate a tadpole and shat out

a bullfrog, and that’s without the

screwy water so -

DAVID:

Russ, we got enough problems

without you inventing ‘em.

RUSSELL:

Easy for you to say, you’re at the

end of the pipeline. I’m half a

mile from the Farnums.

47.

DAVID:

Who's the sheriff?

RUSSELL:

What?

DAVID:

Who's the sheriff of Marsh County?

RUSSELL:

You.

DAVID:

I am. Who's the deputy?

RUSSELL:

Me.

DAVID:

You are. Deputy does what the

sheriff tells him, that's the

balance of power. Now I'm telling

you you're not getting sick,

understand?

Russell nods, appreciating the sentiment.

RUSSELL:

Hope you're right, chief. I'm no

world beater but I had plans.

Crossing a street, they see MILITARY HELICOPTERS, perhaps a

mile away, lifting off into the night sky. David, alarmed,

quickens his stride.

DAVID:

That’s the school! They’re

bailing! Come on!

INT. CLASSROOM - CONTINUOUS

PLIP. PLIP. PLIP. Judy watching herself bleed. She could

die like this. One drip at a time. Gritting her teeth,

pronating her forearm, she manages to painfully scrape the

needle from her arm on the side of the gurney.

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