The Ghost and the Darkness Page #14

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THE ENTIRE CAMP, NIGHT, WITH ALL THE FIRES BURNING- AND

PATTERSON'S TENT AREA IS CLOSE BY-

-but the New Hospital is on the other end, a good distance away.

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PATTERSON AND REDBEARD, rifles ready- but no sound reaches them.

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HAWTHORNE, out of his tent, because he's close by and he heard it

and he lights a torch, starts for the gate of the camp as Samuel

does his best to stop him-

-but Hawthorne rips free and we

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A SECOND TENT, as it starts to collapse and

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THE MEDICINE TENT, as The Ghost and The Darkness enter and

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MEDICINE, flying across the tent and

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GLASS, shattering and more medicine is destroyed and

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A BLIZZARD OF CUTS, of lions' claws and lions' teeth and those

terrible bright blazing eyes and

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A TENT POLE, being pulled out of the ground and

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THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS and what they are doing is this:

destroying the New Hospital and

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MORE TENTS collapsing and

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THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS. CLOSE UP. Eyes crazed.

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HAWTHORNE ALONE IN THE NIGHT, scared shitless as he runs.

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SHADOWS, moving, as Hawthorne's torch lights the surroundings and

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HAWTHORNE, heart pounding, looking around and then he gasps as we

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THE AREA NEARBY- TWO LARGE EYES are staring at him.

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HAWTHORNE, panicked, stumbling, falling, getting up, staring

around-

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THE AREA AROUND HIM- the eys are gone-

-and now there are loud shrieks in the night coming from the New

Hospital and the instant they are heard

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REDBEARD AND PATTERSON, grabbing torches, throwing the gate open

and they're off as we

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HAWTHORNE, running toward the New Hospital just up ahead now.

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PATTERSON AND REDBEARD, tearing through the night.

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THE NEW HOSPITAL. (We see all this next through Hawthorne's eyes.)

The tents are all down. The place is devastated.

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INSIDE THE FIRST TENT. Filled with the dead and the dying.

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HAWTHORNE. Ashen. Moving on.

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PAN ALONG THE TENT

Dead. Blood. Pain.

PAN TO THE SECOND TENT

More dead.

More dying.

It's a slaughterhouse.

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HAWTHORNE. He's crushed. His body sags. He takes a breath, his

last.

THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS are on him, roaring.

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PATTERSON AND REDBEARD as the roar reverberates- they glance at

each other-

-then they slow.

Because the New Hospital has come into view.

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REDBEARD, CLOSE UP, staring at the disaster.

And this terrible crosses his face. For a moment, you think he's

going to fall. His body seems drained of all its power. He stands

there. Just stands there. Unable to move.

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PATTERSON. And he does move. Slowly. Carefully. Into the chaos.

He stares around- the dead and the dying are everywhere.

Hawthorne, his face clawed almost unrecognizably, lies alone.

All that's left now is this: the sound of pain.

HOLD.

Dust rises. It covers everything. Only the sound remains.

Now different sounds take over-

-an incredible babble of human voices.

AND A RAILROAD TRAIN.

Patterson walks through the dust. Samuel, a worried look on his

face, is a few steps behind.

We are at the STATION AREA and it is jammed. A train has pulled

into the station-

-only you almost can't tell it's a train: all you can see are

workers climbing up, and the inside is full so the workers clamber

up onto the roofs of the cars-

-covering the cars-

-everyone is leaving-

-Patterson can only watch.

Abdullah stands on one of the cars-

-the train begins to pull out of the station.

More and more workers chase after it, get pulled on.

Now the station area is empty, the flat car roofs full.

Patterson still watches, eyes vacant.

Abdullah sees him, looks away.

The train gathers speed.

Rounds a corner...

...gone...

Patterson turns from the scene, begins to walk. Samuel stays close

behind him, the worried look still there.

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THE OLD HOSPITAL.

A FEW AFRICAN ORDERLIES do the best they can. Patterson watches

only a moment, walks on. Samuel still behind him.

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THE CAMP as Patterson walks through. A ghost town now. Only

Africans remain.

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THE CONTRAPTION where the coolies missed The Darkness. Patterson

looks at it a moment, walks on.

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THE ANTHILL IN THE CLEARING where Patterson misfired. Patterson

looks at it a moment, walks on. And now, at last-

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PATTERSON'S TENT AREA. One or two Africans. Samuel darts into his

tent, emerges with something, holds it out to Patterson.

IT'S A NECKLACE OF LION CLAWS.

Patterson makes an almost courtly bow of thanks, puts it on- he

never takes it off again. He walks on alone now until at last-

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THE BRIDGE.

It stops abruptly, halfway done; the foundations are in place, a

lot of the scaffolding, but it's useless. Late afternoon.

Desolate.

Redbeard sits alone, high on one of the foundations. He looks as

he did the night before.

Patterson walks to the top of the near embankment. He is unshaven,

wrinkled, he fingers the lion claw necklace.

For a moment, neither says a word. Then-

REDBEARD:

(out of the blue)

It would have been a beautiful

bridge, John. I never noticed

before, occupied with other

business, Isuppose...

(He's rambling)

...never really pay much attention

to that kind of thing but I've had

the time today, nothing else on,

and this... it's graceful and the

placement couldn't be prettier...

and...

(He goes silent now,

stares off)

PATTERSON:

You just got hit.

(Redbeard nods)

The getting up is up to you- but

they're only lions-

(beat)

-and I'm going after them crack

of dawn...

(And on that-)

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A LONG SHOT OF A HIGH ROCKY CLIFF-

-we haven't seen anything like it before- it's hundreds of feet

tall- gorgeous early morning light.

As we watch, we realize there are two dots on the side of the

cliff.

As we watch a moment more, we realize the dots are moving.

CAMERA MOVES CLOSER.

THE DOTS are Patterson and Redbeard, working their way along the

rock face. Patterson is much more nimble. It's dangerous, of

course, but neither of them seems to have that uppermost in mind.

They travel lightly- small knapsacks and their weapons.

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THE TWO OF THEM as they make it over the cliff face. They stand,

stare out.

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WHAT THEY SEE:
the world. They move on.

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A RAVINE. They are moving along the edge. It's tricky going- if

you fell you wouldn't much like it. They are both concentrating on

their movements, paying no attention to each other as Redbeard

starts to speak. They don't stop moving.

REDBEARD:

In my town, when I was little,

there was a brute, a bully who

terrorized the place.

(beat)

But he was not the problem. He

had a brother who was worse than

he. But the brother was not the

problem.

(beat)

One or the other of them was

usually in jail. The problem came

when they were both free togther.

The two became different from

either alone.

(beat)

Alone they were only brutes.

Together they became lethal,

together they killed.

PATTERSON:

What happened to them?

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