Raven awakens with a start. Eyeball doesn’t notice.
What time is it?
EYEBALL
(checking his watch)
About eleven-thirty. Why?
RAVEN
Pull over.
EYEBALL
Why?
RAVEN
Just do it.
Eyeball pulls over to the shoulder. Raven gets out of the car and walks around to the front, stepping up on the hood. She sits down so that her back is up against the windshield.
Come on out!
EYEBALL
What are you doing?
EXT. RAVEN’S CAR - DESERT - NIGHT
Eyeball opens his door and gets out.
We’ve got people to catch, remember?
RAVEN
What are you in such a hurry for?
Eyeball walks around to the front of the car.
Because I want this to be over. I’m
sick of driving around in the wastelands
with you.
RAVEN
Well, I love you too. Now get up here
or I’ll blow your face off.
Eyeball sighs and climbs up. They sit silently for a moment.
What are we looking for?
RAVEN
(pointing up)
That.
Eyeball looks directly up ahead of them and sees the moon. One edge of it is covered by a massive shadow making its way across the face.
Wow…
RAVEN
Isn’t that something? I bet you didn’t
even know this was going to happen
tonight.
EYEBALL
No, I didn’t.
RAVEN
Here. Lie back or you’ll strain your
neck.
They lie back side-by-side on the roof of the car, watching the earth’s shadow slowly eat the moon.
It’s a syzygy.
EYEBALL
A what?
RAVEN
A syzygy. A conjunction. An eclipse.
My grandmother used to tell me that
when things suddenly become aligned,
it’s an opportunity for great change.
Sun, moon, earth.
EYEBALL
My grandfather said that stars are
the spirits of those who have died
before us, lights to help us find
our way home. They’re the ones who
left the world better than they found
it. But the ones who didn’t, and
destroyed more than they created,
those people go into the ground, and
their unresolved anger keeps the
earth warm, makes the fires rise.
That’s how they repay their debt, by
helping the living to survive and
making the plants grow.
RAVEN
The balance between good and evil.
EYEBALL
Right. Both inevitable, both necessary.
But it’s up to us to try… there’s some-
thing I feel I should tell you.
RAVEN
What’s that?
EYEBALL
My job wasn’t to witness the hit.
There wasn’t supposed to be a hit.
RAVEN
What do you mean?
EYEBALL
Right before you came into the bar,
I was on the phone with Jake, telling
him to come down there and stop you.
RAVEN
Big Ed’s idea.
Eyeball nods.
You ever stop to wonder why there’s
all this turbulence inside the Organ-
ization?
RAVEN
That’s what crime families do. They
kill each other off.
EYEBALL
They’re fighting over you, Raven.
She turns and stares at him.
You and Jake. They’re strongly divided
on who will be what they call “the
vessel”.
RAVEN
Vessel? Vessel for what?
EYEBALL
That’s what I can’t figure out. They
make money as a crime syndicate, but
it seems like they’re really trying
to find a certain person, someone
who can… I don’t know. From what
I’ve heard, it’s like they believe
there’s some kind of manifestation
of chaos that is coming, and one
of you will be its vessel.
RAVEN
Bullshit.
INT. RESTAURANT - NIGHT
So you’re not going to help me then?
SHARON
No. I won’t. You can’t win this time.
JAKE
I told you. I always win, and time is
all it takes.
Jake lets go of her hand, turns and walks away. She stares at her fingers. The nails of that hand have all turned black.
INT. RESTAURANT - LOBBY - NIGHT
Jake walks quickly through the lobby. People waiting part for him without noticing him. As he reaches the door, he looks up at Sidney the parrot, who is returning his gaze quizzically. Jake cups his hand to his mouth, leans in, and whispers something in Sidney’s ear. Then he’s out the door like a cold wind.
Sharon comes running through the crowd. She almost runs past Sidney, but something in the bird’s eyes makes her stop. They stare at each other for a second, then Sidney slowly opens his beak.
(is a deep, horrible voice, subtitled)
Moloch…
Her eyes fly wide in horror. Sidney’s beak closes. She throws open the front door and runs out onto the front walk.
INT. JAKE’S CAR - NIGHT
Jake drives away, tossing something out the window toward the base of the obelisk as he speeds away.
EXT. MIDDLE OF NOWHERE - NIGHT
The moon, fully eclipsed above the horizon, is blood red. A small pop comes from the base of the Middle of Nowhere obelisk. It shudders, the lights wink out, and then it tilts like a falling tree directly toward the front door of the restaurant, where Sharon is standing. She dashes back in a fraction of a second before the top ten feet of it obliterates the front of the building.
INT. HOTEL BATHROOM - NIGHT
Tom leans against the bathroom sink, his back to the mirror. The lights are out, his face in his hands. Suddenly a wide beam of red light comes in the window, falling across his shoulders. He notices the change of light and looks out the window. The moon is glowing a deep red. He turns, letting the light fall across him. He looks at himself in the mirror, meeting his own gaze with new strength.
INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT
The bathroom door opens. Tom comes out, moving with purpose. Kara is sitting provocatively on the edge of the bed, waiting for him. He walks right by her, to the chair he has laid his jacket across. He picks it up and hands it to her.
Here. You’ll need this.
KARA
Why?
He helps her to her feet, puts his hands on her shoulders and stares deeply into her eyes.
I’m going to do what I always dreamed
about doing.
She smiles, puts on the jacket hurriedly. He takes her hand and leads her toward the door.
Tom!
He opens the door and leads her out into the reddened night.
EXT. HOTEL - NIGHT
He leads her across the parking lot to a lone tree that stands near the road. The moon-shadows through the branches look like cracks across the ground.
What are you doing?
Tom suddenly reaches into the jacket, and Kara looks confused when his hands comes out holding the weather-beaten copy of Something Wicked This Way Comes.
Let’s get comfortable.
They sit down under the tree. He leans back against the trunk, Kara lies with her head in his lap, looking up at the moon.
(reading)
“First of all, it was October, a
rare months for boys. Not that all
months aren’t rare. But there be
bad and good, as the pirates say. Take
September, a bad month. School begins…”
As he reads, Kara closes her eyes and smiles.
EXT. RAVEN’S CAR - DESERT - NIGHT
Eyeball and Raven are still watching the Earth’s shadow move across the moon.
I’m not going to let you do it.
I won’t let you kill Kara.
RAVEN
Because you think I might be this
“vessel”?
EYEBALL
Yes. You haven’t heard them talk
about it! It’s like there’s a real
being who’s waiting to take over the
soul of whoever is the best vehicle
for chaos! For Jake, it has something
to do with his family history. He
must have been bred for it, or some-
thing. But you! You chose this path
That’s what makes you so powerful.
And order has to be restored.
Eyeball jumps down onto the ground, looks out into the desert.
What?
EYEBALL
(over his shoulder)
I can see it now. You and me. We’re
the destroyers. We belong here in
the desert.
Raven jumps down off the car after him.
What the hell do you even know about
me? I didn’t choose anything! You
think I wanted to end up this way?
I had to kill to survive!
EYEBALL
It doesn’t matter why. It only matters
that you did.
Raven growls in frustration and shoves the barrel of her gun into his face. Eyeball raises his hands and backs up against the car, genuinely afraid.
(softly, carefully)
And what happens if you kill me,
Raven? Will that set you free?
Raven stops, realizes what she’s doing, and slowly lowers her gun. Eyeball slumps back against the car. The two look at each other, but Raven’s eyes are sill completely blank. This enrages him, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his own gun, shoving it up against her left eye. She falls to her knees, as if asking him to do it.
There! Feel that! Feel anything! I
should do it! You’re already dead!
Suddenly, the moon above them, totally eclipsed, turns a deep shade of red, exactly the same as that night long ago when Raven lost part of herself. Raven looks at him, and his gun, his eye, and the red moon directly behind him all come into an EXACT LINE.
I’m not dead. I’m still here… just…
Her eyes open wide and roll like a frightened horse.
INT. ALLEY - NIGHT
Covered in blood and lying across the hood of a white car, Raven’s eyes flicker open, see the moon dripping and red above her. A shadow suddenly swipes across it.
EXT. ROAD - NIGHT
Suddenly, something snaps. Raven drops her face into her twitching hands. Eyeball lowers his gun, and her shaking suddenly stops. When she look up again, her eyes register real, painful emotion. She stands and runs off to the side of the road, where she is violently sick over the guardrail. Eyeball does not watch her. Instead, he stares at the gun in his hand, and angrily hurls it over the car and into the desert.
No comments:
Post a Comment