The Ghost and the Darkness Page #18

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SAMUEL, veering off and

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THORN TREES, as Patterson rips through them, unmindful of the

damage to his clothes or his skin and

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MORE THORNS- he plunges wildly ahead and

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A LARGE ANTHILL- it seems to be casting an unusual shadow-

Patterson slows, rifle ready, takes a breath, moves around it-

-nothing at all- just his imagination which has been working

overtime and is only getting worse-

Patterson stands there a moment, unsure where to go, what to do-

-and then SAMUEL'S VOICE on the wind- calling to him-

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PATTERSON, tracking the sound- Samuel's voice cries out again,

louder-

-Patterson starts to run and run, and as he rounds a bend-

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A FIELD OF WHITE GRASS. So lovely.

With one patch in the middle that is blood red.

Something is moving in the blood red area.

Patterson has his rifle ready-

-and then Samuel rises from the blood red patch.

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SAMUEL. In shock, in despair, call it what you want- he has seen

something beyond imagination.

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PATTERSON, rushing across the field of white grass, rushing to

where Samuel stands in the patch of blood red grass- he looks down

into the grass-

-clearly, Redbeard is there and clearly he is dead. Patterson and

Samuel stare mute at one another-

-and now, from frighteningly near them, comes the triumphant roar

of The Darkness. They don't even react.

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FLAMES RISING IN THE LATE AFTERNOON.

We should already have a sense of where we are; we've done this

before.

START PULLING BACK.

Samuel stands there, trying to hold it together.

KEEP PULLING BACK.

Patterson stands there too, trying to hold it together.

KEEP PULLING BACK TO REVEAL

REDBEARD'S FUNERAL PYRE. Flames consume the body.

Just Patterson and Samuel. No one else is there.

The flames lick at the sky...

HOLD...

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A LARGE BABOON. ONE LEG IS TIED TO THE END OF THE BRIDGE. GETTING

DARK NOW.

PULL BACK TO REVEAL

PATTERSON AND SAMUEL, both armed, climbing the crane tower in use

at the bridge, not far from the baboon.

PATTERSON:

You're positive lions hate baboons?

(Samuel is)

Pebbles?

(Samuel holds up a bag)

Let's get it over with.

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PATTERSON AND SAMUEL as they reach the crane tower platform,

fifteen feet from the baboon.

They help each other into position. Almost night.

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THE LARGE BABOON, baring its enormous teeth, shrieking out into

the darkness.

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PATTERSON AND SAMUEL on the platform. Samuel tosses a pebble

toward the baboon and the baboon cries out again, not in pain but

irritation-

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THE PLATFORM. PATTERSON AND SAMUEL ARE FLOODED BY MOONLIGHT. IT'S

THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.

They're both tired. Samuel throws another pebble. The baboon cries

out.

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PATTERSON, TENSE, ON THE PLATFORM. MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.

He's tossing pebbles now as Samuel dozes. Paterson looks wild;

only nervous energy is keeping him going now.

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THE SKY. The moon. Peaceful- then it turns bright yellow and

frightening black clouds gather and

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PATTERSON, blinking, coming hard back to reality because the sky

is not yellow nor were there black clouds- he's starting to

hallucinate.

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PATTERSON AND SAMUEL ON THE PLATFORM.

Samuel is awake now. Patterson stares at the river which is calm.

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THE RIVER, raging and black and lethal.

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PATTERSON, hallucinating again.

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JUST BEFORE DAWN

and The Darkness suddenly is there, creeping across the bridge

toward the shrieking baboon and the instant it appears-

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PATTERSON. Firing-

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-THE DARKNESS, and it's hit and it roars and goes down and-

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-PATTERSON, turning, reaching for Samuel's rifle, grabbing it,

turning back, ready to fire again-

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THE DARKNESS- gone.

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PATTERSON AND SAMUEL, blinking, looking around.

PATTERSON:

Where is it?

SAMUEL:

(pointing down)

Underneath.

(beat)

Somewhere.

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WHERE HE'S POINTING. The superstructure for the bridge- it goes

several levels beneath the level where the railroad will run.

They look at each other- not good news and we find out why when we

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EARLY MORNING LIGHT.

Patterson and Samuel climb carefully down from their platform to

the railroad level. They reach the railroad level. PAtterson

releases the baboon which races away.

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WHERE THEY ARE. At the end of the bridge where they began

construction. The bridge, two thirds finished, stretches away

before them.

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They begin to walk the incomplete bridge... carefully...

..as they go the look down through the crevices of their level,

making sure they miss nothing.

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SAMUEL. Terrified. Holding his rifle extremely tightly.

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PATTERSON. Ready for anything.

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THE BRIDGE up ahead of them. There are some holes.

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PATTERSON AND SAMUEL slowing.

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THE HOLES. The nearest one is the largest.

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PATTERSON. He goes on tiptoe, trying to see what's in the hole.

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THE HOLE. It seems empty.

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PATTERSON AND SAMUEL. One step forward. Another. They hold their

breaths.

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THE HOLE. It seems empty.

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A SHOT FROM BELOW BRIDGE LEVEL- The Darkness is there.

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PATTERSON, firing.

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THE DARKNESS, going down through another level of scaffolding.

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PATTRSON AND SAMUEL, trying to track it.

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THE SCAFFOLDING. Nothing is visible.

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PATTERSON AND SAMUEL- Frozen. They listen-

-nothing but their breathing.

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PATTERSON, looking around everywhere.

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THE HOLE. Nothing.

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THE FIRST LEVEL of scaffolding. Nothing.

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THE SECOND LEVEL of scaffolding. Nothing.

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SAMUEL, looking this way, that way.

SHOCK CUT TO:

THE HOLE AS THE DARKNESS JUST F***ING FLIES OUT OF IT- Patterson

falls back and fires and The Darkness is hit and goes down but it

gets up and

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PATTERSON, turning for Samuel's rifle-

-only Samuel isn't there-

-he's taken off for the trees at the end of the bridge and

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THE DARKNESS ROARING AND

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PATTERSON and he turns, starts running too, running across the

narrow half-completed bridge and it's a b*tch to do it without

slipping or falling and

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THE DARKNESS, wounded, sure, but the mother can still run and it

takes off after Patterson and

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SAMUEL, making it to the end of the bridge and jumping for the

nearest tree and

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PATTERSON running for his life across the bridge and

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THE DARKNESS, closing the gap and ordinarily Patterson would be a

dead man but even though The Darkness hasn't got its ordinary

speed, it's still faster than Patterson and

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PATTERSON, and he's never gone this fast in his life and

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THE TREE HE'S HEADED FOR, a different one from Samuel's and it's

just up ahead and

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THE DARKNESS, closing and

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THE TREE, and

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THE DARKNESS, springing into the air now and

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PATTERSON, diving for the lowest branch, grabbing hold with both

hands, swinging his body up as we

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THE DARKNESS, barely missing as Patterson gets his body onto the

branch and now comes this insane roar and

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