The Fugitive Page #4

PROSECUTOR:

Did that fight cause the scratches

on your face and arms?

KIMBLE:

No. As I explained -

PROSECUTOR:

And how did this man enter your

house?

KIMBLE:

I don't know -

PROSECUTOR:

And you probably don't know why your

wife told the emergency operator You

were her attacker?

KIMBLE:

She didn't -

PROSECUTOR:

Your name is Richard, isn't it? Your

gun is a .38, isn't it? Your prints

were on the gun, the bullets, the

lamp, her neck, weren't they?

KIMBLE:

Look...

PROSECUTOR:

Weren't they?

CUT TO:

INT. COURTROOM - DAY

Richard Kimble sits behind the desk, but already he's a

shadow of the man we knew before, stares ahead passively as

Judge Bennett delivers the sentencing to hushed courtroom.

JUDGE BENNETT:

After careful and studied review of

all evidence presented during each

phase of this proceeding, and

because aggravated circumstances,

detailed at length, were present

the night of January 20th.

Kimble is silent, stunned, but all around him the sentence

shockwaves through the courtroom. Reporters push out rear

doors. Prosecutors share a look - with a hangman's

satisfaction. Nichols, watching behind Kimble's table,

lowers his head. Disbelief.

ANGLE ON RICHARD KIMBLE

He remains silent. Kimble is pulled gently to his feet by

bailiff. Gutherie whispers an "I'm sorry." Kimble doesn't

hear it.

JUDGE BENNETT (V.O.)

Therefore, it is the decision of

this court...

Looks over his shoulder to the emptying courtroom. Faces

stare back.

CUT TO:

INT. KIT ROOM - DAY

Judge Bennett's V.O. CONTINUES over:

A locker opening. Inside, a profusion of chrome and nickel

plating. Jailhouse jewelry. Handcuffs dragged out. Action

checked.

JUDGE BENNETT (V.O.)

... that you be remanded to Menard

State penitentiary...

CLOSE ON CUFFS:

Slapped down over wrists, ratcheting down tight.

Ankle cuffs dragged out. Pant legs raised, canvas shoes

exposed. Cuffs clamped down on ankles.

CHAINS RATTLED out. Snaked across the floor. Looped around

waists and locked to handcuffs to form belly chains.

JUDGE BENNETT (V.O.)

... where you will serve a sentence

of life imprisonment without

possibility of parole.

EXT . SALLY PORT (COOK COW TY JAIL) - NIGHT

The chain gang exits through the sally port. Kimble and

three other prisoners. Jailers escort them to...

An Illinois Department of Corrections guard moves alongside,

checking the undercarriage with a pole-mounted mirror.

The GAVEL CRACKS as we -

CUT TO:

INT. BUS - CLOSE ON KEY - DAY

Locking wire mesh cage inside bus.

An old DIESEL COUGHS to life.

EXT. COOK COUNTY JAIL - NIGHT

Main gates open. The BUS GRINDS onto the streets.

INT. BUS - DAY

The four prisoners sit scattered, still cuffed but no longer

chained together. Near the front, PRISONER #1 is eyeing...

The two prison guards seated beyond the caged door. YOUNG

GUARD lighting a smoke. OLD GUARD drowsing. Shotguns

bouncing on their knees. Prisoner #l shifts his gaze to...

The driver. Pistol on his hip.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. DESOLATE HIGHWAY - NIGHT

The BUS RUMBLES north, heading towards the horizon.

INT. BUS - NIGHT

PRISONER #1 rises. Through caging:

PRISONER #1

Hey. Illinois penal regulations

require a meal for transport

rides of four hours or more.

Young Guard shakes his head. "F***ing jailhouse lawyers."

Checks his watch: 4:00.

YOUNG GUARD:

Jack! Feedin' time.

Old Guard yawns to his feet, unhooks a key-ring from his

belt. Young Guard stows his shotgun in the weapons locker.

PRISONER #2 looks at Kimble. Kimble stirs awake... watches

the cage door open, Young Guard moving back. And across the

aisle...

PRISONER #3, a big man named COPELAND, wags his head

between his knees. Something slides out of his shirt and

CLANKS to the dimpled steel floor. It's a razor sharp

plastic shank.

Heart quickening, Kimble looks forward. Young Guard is

handing a petrified sandwich to Prisoner #1. Kimble snaps

a look back to Copeland, who palms the shank.

COPELAND:

Breathe, and you're first.

Old Guard watches from the open cage door, shotgun

carelessly ready.

Young Guard reaches Kimble and extends a sandwich. Kimble

doesn't respond.

YOUNG GUARD:

Suit yourself.

He offers the sandwich to Copeland. In the exchange,

sandwich drops. Copeland leans down for it.

Up front, Old Guard yawns again just as...

KIMBLE:

Look out!

Too late... Jackknifing up, Copeland drives the shank into

Young Guard's gut.

Prisoner #2 dives for Young Guard's holster. As the gun comes

out, Young Guard gets a hand on it. A SHOT FIRES...

Jolting Old Guard. He chambers his shotgun. Kimble hits the

floor. The Old Guard jams a key into the cage door and surges

inside, but...

Prisoner #1 broadsides Old Guard. SHOTGUN DISCHARGES...

Opening a big Gainsburger hole in the driver. He sinks under

the steering wheel. A knee hits the accelerator.

The CAGE DOOR SLAMS locked behind the Old Guard.

EXT. DESOLATE HIGHWAY - NIGHT

As the bus careens off the road, accelerating.

INT. BUS - NIGHT

Young Guard wrestles gun from Prisoner #2 and FIRES, killing

prisoner #2. Copeland grapples with wounded Young Guard.

Old Guard shotgun-butts Prisoner #1, flips the gun, PUMPS

ONE ROUND into the man's chest. Dead. He turns just as...

EXT. OPEN LAND - NIGHT

As the driverless BUS BUCKS ant BANGS over open ground.

INT. BUS - NIGHT

Old Guard reloads. Copeland drops down behind a seat.

Old Guard jams his SHOTGUN under the seat. But just as the

Old Guard pulls the trigger the bus jerks. The SHOT goes

off target as...

EXT. OPEN LAND - NIGHT

The BUS ROARS into a gravel embankment. ROARS up the slope

and CRASHES down on its side - sliding to a stop at the

bottom of a small ravine.

INT. BUS - NIGHT

ENGINE DIES. Dusty silence. We don't know up from down.

On his knees, Old Guard makes his way to the driver. Finds

him dead. Now a SOUND. Old Guard whips his shotgun around

at...

Kimble. Rising between the seats.

A hairy beat. Old Guard might kill him just to finish things

off. But a GROAN turns Old Guard's head.

Young Guard, trying to hold his guts in. Old Guart turns to

find Kimble.

OLD GUARD:

(to Kimble)

You. You're a doctor. C'mere.

He slides to the Young Guard as the Old Guard scrounges up a

medical kit, shoves Kimble down on Young Guard.

OLD GUARD:

Do something.

Kimble looks at his cuffs. "In these?" Old Guard digs out

his key ring and unlocks Kimble's hands - only his hands.

Kimble opens medical kit. It's been ransacked - just

Band-Aids now. Kimble looks into the wound.

KIMBLE:

He isn't going to make it unless he

gets to a hospital. Fast.

OLD GUARD:

ZL.

In this delicate moment a SHIVER runs through the bus. Is it

just settling?

With other things to worry about, Kimble tries to stop Young

Guard's bleeding.

ANGLE UNDER SEAT

We see Copeland, alive. The crash has ripped the bars from a

back window and shattered the glass. He works to get out the

opening.

BACK TO KIMBLE:

A second SHIVER ripples through the bus, stronger. Kimble

retracts his hands to touch a metal panel - and feels a

growing vibration.

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