The Terminator Page #2

CAMERA MOVES WITH REESE as he leaps to the fire escape and

clambers up to the first landing to crouch beside another

NAKED MAN who appears to be entangled in the ironwork. The

man is contorted with pain as his screams die to a shivering

gasp. CLOSER ANGLE reveals that he has been skewered through

the abdomen by the horizontal iron slats and through the

shoulder by a railing. He has materialized in the same

space occupied by the fire escape structure. The figure

slumps, motionless.

Reese quickly checks for signs of life. The man is dead.

Reese descend to the alley floor and crosses to the drunk

huddled in the doorway.

A pair of flamboyantly dressed women, obviously working

girls, passes by the alley mouth. They do a double take

when they see Reese, but walk on without breaking stride,

completely jaded. He's certainly not a potential customer.

Reese crouches down as if to speak to the drunk.

DERELICT:

Say, buddy...did you see a

real bright light?

CUT TO:

8 EXT. ALLEY/SAME - NIGHT 8

A brilliant white glare stabs into the alley mouth as an

LAPD cruiser glides slowly by on the street. The search-

light illuminates the figure of Reese, crouching over the

sprawled drunk, just pulling on the other's trousers.

The cruiser chirps to a stop. The doors fly open and two

cops leap out.

FIRST COP:

Hold it, right there!

Reese hitches his pants and bolt like a shot. The cops

draw their guns and race into the alley after him.

HANDHELD CAMERA or PANAGLIDE, rushing with Reese along the

narrow alley. He vaults a pile of tumbled trashcans.

Whips around a corner. Leaps the hood of a parked car in

the cross alley.

PANAGLIDE PRECEDING COPS, as they snake through the night

maze.

CUT TO:

9 EXT. CROSS ALLEY - NIGHT 9

PANAGLIDE WITH REESE as he hits a chain link gate at a

dead run and scrambles over it.

10 EXT. ALLEY JUNCTION - NIGHT 10

WHIP PAN ON COPS, skidding to a stop at the corner in time

to see Reese vault the fence. They separate.

DOLLY WITH SECOND COP, as he runs to the gate.

CUT TO:

11 EXT. ALLEY/NEARBY - NIGHT 11

LOW PANAGLIDE WITH REESE, running full tilt, displaying

incredible agility.

REESE'S POV, the alley walls blur by. The view of a hot-

wired rat in an urban maze.

C.U. - REESE, CAMERA hugging him as he sprints and turns,

alternately front-lit, side-lit and silhouetted as the

electric glare of the city wheels about him.

ANGLE - ALLEY MOUTH, Reese flashes though intermittent

cross-lighting in the B.G.

Another unit arrives out front and Reese melts back into

the alley, only to see a cop round the corner behind him.

Sandwiched. Reese crashes into a steel door, rending the

lock, and vanishes into the darkness within.

The newly arrived cops are a K-9 unit. They open the back

door of the squad car to release a large black Doberman.

CUT TO:

12 INT. DEPARTMENT STORE - NIGHT 12

Reese finds himself among the display racks of a discount

department store. A searchlight stabs in the front

window as he dashes into the maze of aisles.

Three cops enter behind him through the shattered door.

FAST PANAGLIDE WITH REESE, as he crab-runs low among the

moving shadows where flashlights quarter the darkness. He

bolts the open space behind a display window. Sees the

outside searchlight sweep toward him. Freezes.

ANGLE - REESE, his feral face frozen among the smooth-

featured, smiling mannequins. As the light passes, Reese

silently moves on.

ANGLE - COP, passing the end of a long aisle B.G. while in

the F.G. a hand ENTERS FRAME, removing a knit shirt from a

hanger. Reese slips the shirt on quietly and does a fast

crab-walk across the aisles to melt into the other racks

and shadows, CAMERA MOVING LOW with him.

CUT TO:

13 INT. DEPARTMENT STORE/AISLE - NIGHT 13

With a shocking GROWL the police dog hurtles out of the

shadows, LEAPING RIGHT AT CAMERA.

ANGLE - REESE AND DOG, a dark blur with teeth, extremely

Doberman, flies toward Reese. He spins. Catches it by

the throat in mid-air. Arcs it to the floor with unflinching

precision.

C.U. - DOBERMAN, suddenly on its back and held by the throat,

THE DOG YELPS and stares at Reese, who leans very close.

Inches from its eyes he fixes it with a gaze of uncompromis-

ing dominance. Some ancient communication seems to pass

between the two.

Reese releases the animal and turns his back on it, selecting

a long overcoat from a rack. The dog backs away from him,

stiff-legged and confused.

CUT TO:

14 INT. DEPARTMENT STORE - NIGHT 14

TRACKING WITH REESE as he rounds a corner on the run, still

shrugging into his long coat.

Running smack at him is another cop, gun aimed.

Without slowing, Reese leaps toward him, twisting in mid-air

like a cat. The cop FIRES. Misses. Goes down under Reese's

tackle and they slide together on the polished floor.

Before they even come to rest Reese snatches the cop's gun,

aiming it at the other's face two-handed.

REESE:

What day is it? The date...

COP:

Thursday...uh...May twelfth.

REESE:

(viciously)

What year?

A SHOT whines off the metal side of an escalator behind

Reese's head. He vaults the escalator rail, leaving the

amazed cop lying on the floor.

Reese bounds up the frozen steps, pocketing the .38 Police

Special in his coat.

Cops dash through the maze of aisles, converging at the

escalators.

CUT TO:

15 INT. DEPARTMENT STORE/SECOND FLOOR - NIGHT15

WHIP PANNING WITH REESE, as he hurtles between displays.

He stops for a moment beside a rack of shoes. Slaps one of

a pair of tennis shoes sole-to-sole against his bare foot.

Too small. Another. Holding the shoes he runs on.

CUT TO:

16 EXT. SECOND FLOOR FIRE ESCAPE LANDING - NIGHT 16

A door opens quietly and Reese slips out.

CAMERA TRACKS WITH HIM as he moves like a panther along the

narrow catwalk. TILT DOWN to include the first LAPD cruiser

parked at the mouth of the alley.

CUT TO:

17 EXT. ALLEY/STREET - NIGHT 17

Reese drops cat-like beside the unattended police car.

Cautiously, he opens the door of the cruiser, removes the

RIOT GUN, an Ithaca pump model, from the dash rack and slips

it under his coat. Cradled in a vertical position, the

shortened weapon is virtually invisible.

He walks out onto the street and away, unhurriedly, an

innocuous pedestrian soon lost in the rain.

CUT TO:

18 EXT. STREET/NEARBY - NIGHT 18

Reese enters a telephone booth. Harsh light rakes across

his face, outlining the long scar. He opens the directory,

leafs through it.

ANGLE - MACRO ON PAGE, Reese's finger slides down a column.

Stops beside the following listings in the big metropolitan

white pages:

CONNOR, SARAH

CONNOR, SARAH ANN

CONNOR, SARAH J.

DISSOLVE TO:

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