Thunderheart Page #13

LOOKS TWICE:

(outraged)

What are you doing?

COOCH:

James Looks Twice?

LOOKS TWICE:

That's right. What are you doing

here? This is a religious ceremony

you're desecrating.

Looks Twice shoots hawk-like black eyes onto Ray.

RAY:

We're FBI, James. We just need to

ask you a few questions.

LOOKS TWICE:

We are in the middle of a sweat lodge

ceremony. Do you drag people out of

your churches when they're in the

middle of prayer?

COOCH:

Let's take a walk, Jimmy. Come on.

Cooch takes a careful step behind Jimmy and cuffs him. Looks

Twice speaks to the others in LAKOTA, and they disband,

heading to a shade arbor where their clothes hang.

As Cooch starts marching Looks Twice toward the house, Ray

keeps an eye on the departing. One of them stops halfway to

the fence and turns. Grandpa Reaches looks at Ray with eyes

that have seen one hundred and one hard years in Indian

Country.

RAY:

Go ahead. You can all go home.

And he follows Cooch and the cuffed Jimmy to the house.

COOCH:

We just wanna take a look around

your place, Jimmy. We're not here to

bust your balls.

AT THE BACK OF THE HOUSE

Cooch leads the half-naked suspect to the backdoor. Cooch

show:
a warrant, tries the door but it is locked.

LOOKS TWICE:

What's this about?

COOCH:

Your good friend Leo Fast Elk.

LOOKS TWICE:

You think I killed him? Cuz he was

an apple? Well, let me tell you

something about Leo, Man --

COOCH:

-- don't "man" me, Jimmy. Where's

the key?

Jimmy doesn't answer. He glares with hatred into Cooch's

eyes.

COOCH:

Ray, use the federal master key.

Ray steps up, gets ready to throw a frontkick at the door.

LOOKS TWICE:

No. Don't do that. Don't deface the

property, man. The key's in there.

With his hands cuffed, he can only jerk his head toward a

big hole in the wall down near the foundation. Cooch quickly

drops to a knee and checks out the hole.

LOOKS TWICE:

Inside... in the coffee can.

Cooch reaches in, probes.

COOCH:

There's no coffee can in --

Something horrifying happens so fast, Cooch has no time to

react.

Whatever has taken his arm has done so with such force, his

body jolts like he's touched raw voltage. The South Dakota

BADGER rips through his leather jacket -- we get a glimpse

of its striped face and yellowed teeth -- through his shirt.

Through flesh, and deeper, GROWLING insanely while COOCH

HOLLERS in shock tries to pull free and --

Jimmy Looks Twice spins from the porch with a skillfully

executed back kick, knocking Ray off the step and to the

ground. The Indian bolts like a deer into the darkness.

Ray rolls in the grass, throwing his M-16 up. He hesitates.

But only for a moment before FIRING and decimating the corner

gutter, a junked car, several trees. But no sign of Jimmy.

Cooch falls back in the grass badly mauled. His arm has been

ripped open down to the bone.

COOCH:

Jesus... Jesus...

Ray starts toward Cooch.

COOCH:

Get him...

Ray takes off, crashing through weeds, into a stream, wading

through mud. He throws his flashlight left and right. He

crosses the river, shines the light in a field of wild sage.

Nothing. He runs like a sprinter, looking everywhere. But as

he enters an --

OPEN FIELD:

all he finds is Jimmy's towel. He picks it up and looks around

the area, breathing heavily.

And then suddenly, something leaps up out of the grass. Ray

swings his M-16 up, ready to blast. But it is a DEER, taking

off into a mystical blue night. THE DRUM. Beating fast. Heavy.

TURTLESHELL RATTLE. EAGLE BONE WHISTLES.

IN THE YARD:

Cooch traps his bleeding arm between his knees to stanch the

blood. He speaks quietly but firm into his radio, trying to

stay in control.

COOCH:

(into radio)

Assault on federal officers. Suspect

has left the area. One officer down.

Issue a Fugitive Alert immediately.

Over.

RADIO:

Has the officer been shot, X-22?

COOCH:

No, the officer's been bitten by a

f***ing badger, okay? Get a Fugitive

Alert f***ing now! Over.

EXT. BEAR CREEK RESERVATION - LANDSCAPE - SUNRISE

A mind-blowing Aurora. Living clouds. The incredible mesa.

PULLING BACK slowly to the dirt road where a line of federal

aerials high, enter Indian Country.

HEARTBEAT DRUM. But a fast heartbeat. A relentless pulse

throughout --

AN FBI SATURATION SEARCH

FOUR AGENTS surround a little tar-paper shack, rifles up and

ready. Two go in, and flush out an OLD WOMAN, an OLD MAN,

and some TEN CHILDREN. DOGS.

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